h - .1 
 
 Theological Seminary, 
 
 PRINCETON, N.J. ^ 
 
 . BX 5201 .Al B39 1828 
 
 Baxter, Richard. 
 '* On the mischiefs of self- 
 ignorance 
 
 . ' 
 
 I 
 
SELECT 
 CHRISTIAN AUTHORS, 
 
 WITH 
 
 {NTRODUCTORY ESSAYS. 
 N° 45, 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arclnive 
 in 2015 
 
 lnttps://arcliive.org/details/onmischiefsofseiOObaxt 
 
' r WILLIAM CCLLINS GLASSOV 
 
ON THE 
 
 MISCHIEFS 
 
 OF 
 
 SELF-IGNORANCE, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 BENEFITS 
 
 OF 
 
 SELF-ACQUAINTANCE. 
 
 RICHARD BAXTER. 
 
 WITH 
 
 AN INTRODUCTORr ESSAY, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. DAVID YOUNG, 
 
 GLASGOW: 
 PRINTED FOR WILLIAM COLLINS; 
 
 WILLIAM WHYTE & CO. AND WILLIAM OLIPHANT, EDINBURGH ; 
 K. M. TIMS, AND WM. CUKRY, JUN. & CO. DUBLIN; 
 G. B. WHITTAKER, AND UAJIILTON, ADAilS, & CO. LONDON. 
 
 1828. 
 
Pfinted by W. CotUui & Co. 
 Glasgow. 
 
It is the sentiment of Pope, in his celebrated 
 ethical poem, that " the proper study of mankind is 
 man." We scarcely alter this sentiment by saying, 
 that the proper study of every individual man is 
 himself; and although no advantage were to be de- 
 rived from this department of research, we might 
 expect to see him drawn to it by an irrepressible 
 curiosity. Whatever be the origin of our being, 
 or the end for which it was given us, it must be 
 obvious to every one, that the phenomena which it 
 exhibits are pre-eminently interesting. The me- 
 chanism of our bodies, so complicated iu its parts, 
 and yet so exact in its adaptations, is confessedly a 
 specimen of exquisite skill; our capacities of thought 
 and rational activity, so restless and versatile, and 
 powerfully discursive, exalt us above the loftiest of 
 nature's material productions, and loudly proclaim 
 us the first of its wonders; while the singular con- 
 junction of mind with matter, of which our being 
 consists, invests us with a mysterious grandeur, 
 which is fitted to arrest the dullest intellect, and 
 awaken the roost intense inquiry. And when we 
 
 I 
 
vi 
 
 add to these things, the consideration, that this is 
 the solitary instance among the creatures of earth, 
 in which the subject and the student are one and 
 the same; that man is the only being, here below, 
 •who is capable of examining and knowing himself; 
 that the singular assemblage of constituent proper- 
 ties, to which we have adverted, so opposite in its 
 elements, but so admirably assorted and harmonized, 
 is not separate from him, but his very self, the seat 
 of his living consciousness, and strictly identical with 
 all that he is, it seems necessary to infer, that this 
 branch of knowledge must take precedence of every 
 other, or, at the very least, that other knowledge 
 will be valued only in as far as it tends to reveal its 
 secrets, or unfold its physical and social relations. 
 
 Thus much might be expected from mere curi- 
 osity; but if we pass from these things to yet graver 
 matters, if we consider that this wonderful existence, 
 which we so fondly call ourselves, is, in all its parts, 
 the workmanship of God; that its elevation, on the 
 scale of being, has raised it up to responsibilities, 
 which renders it strictly accountable to him for all 
 its voluntary operations; that it is destined to con- 
 tinue for ever amidst felicities the most refined, or 
 sufferings the most painful, according to the moral 
 condition in which it enters the future state — that 
 the present life is the crisis of its destiny, where the 
 felicities of the future are to be lost or won, and 
 that to meet this crisis, in such a way as to secure 
 these felicities, the knowledge of ourselves and our 
 moral relations, is absolutely indispensable — if we 
 consider these things, and take so much as a general 
 survey of their character and importance, they raise 
 
Vll 
 
 the expectation inconceivably higher, and seem as if 
 they would constrain us to conclude, if man be rea- 
 sonable at all, that, whatever other topics of research 
 may occasionally attract him, yet the history of his 
 own being, and circumstances, and prospects, is sure, 
 in every instance, to be thoroughly explored. 
 
 Such is the verdict of theory, as founded in rea- 
 son and enlightened self-love; but fact, alas! de- 
 plorably belies it. The phenomena of our nature are 
 sedulously studied, as topics of rational amusement, 
 or as ministering to the advancement of mere science, 
 whether physical or ethical, or from the sordid de- 
 sire of turning the many, to the supposed advantage 
 of the few, whose deeper secular sagacity, or daring 
 in sensual wickedness, may have given them the 
 ascendency. In this latter respect, especially, our 
 nature is eagerly studied, and extensively known. 
 Its powers and competencies, in body or in mind, 
 are industriously scanned, and correctly estimated ; 
 its likings and aversions are carefully ascertained, 
 and even its foibles, and weak points, are marked and 
 appreciated, all for the purpose of making it subser- 
 vient \o an ever-working and multiform selfishness. 
 Such is the kind of acquaintance with man, wliich 
 is actively cultivated, and highly extolled, by the 
 votaries of worldly wisdom: and were this the study 
 of which we speak, our task would be easily accom- 
 plished, for all that is talent or enterprise in the 
 busy world around us, is already in vigorous pursuit 
 of it. So far from leading man, however, to a just 
 and rational acquaintance with himself, it docs the 
 very reverse, it averts his attention from the proper 
 subject; for the habit of looking outward makes him 
 
viii 
 
 forget to look inward : it leaves him little leisure, 
 and less inclination, for considering the origin and 
 end of his being ; it obliterates the contrast be- 
 tween what he ought to be, and what he is, and 
 thereby vitiates his moral feeling; it inures him to 
 that which is shadowy and perishing, till the spiritual 
 and vital are utterly forgotten. 
 
 But the knowledge of which we speak, has the 
 man's self for its object — his whole constitution, 
 corporeal and mental; the moral complexion, and 
 continued workings of the thinking principle within 
 him; the particular kinds of good or evil to which 
 he feels himself prompted, by inward moral bias, 
 or influence from without: the responsibilities by 
 which he is bound, as a reasonable being, under law 
 to the Author of all being; the favourable circum- 
 stances in which he is placed, by the tender mercy 
 of the God that made him, and the awfully solemn 
 inquiry whether he is, or is not, so improving these 
 circumstances, as to warrant the hope of a happy im- 
 mortality. These are a few of the leading topics, 
 which must of necessity be examined, before a man 
 can have any pretensions to the first and highest of 
 all acquirements — the knowledge of himself; for our 
 standing here is not isolated, but morally and spiri- 
 tually related, and it is impossible to explore the 
 mystery of our being, or to meet its duties and ad- 
 vantages, except in as far as its moral relations are 
 ascertained and appreciated. Situated as we are, it 
 is indispensable, that, in order to know ourselves, we 
 should know the God that made us; and the moral 
 constitution which he has given us; and the law 
 under which he has placed us; and the spiritual 
 
ix 
 
 calamity which afflicts us; and the remedy which 
 God has provided for us ; and the duties which we 
 owe to that Hving community, in the midst of which 
 he has placed us. All these things enter vitally 
 into the exercise of self-inquiry ; and ignorance 
 of any one of these, or error about it, is sure to 
 involve a corresponding error in the use of Christian 
 privilege, or the practice of Christian duty. 
 
 It is this important consideration that we wish 
 the reader to carry along with him to the perusal of 
 the volume before us. We wish him, in short, to 
 see it as a truth, and to adopt it as a settled maxim, 
 that, to be he knows not what, as a moral and reli- 
 gious being, or to think himself to be what he is not, 
 on the one extreme or on the other, is to carry about 
 with him a state of mind, which is sure to mislead 
 his religious practice. If his eye be misguided, 
 when turned inward on his moral condition as a sin- 
 ner, it cannot but commit a corresponding error, 
 when turned outward on that dispensation of right- 
 eousness and love, which God has revealed for his 
 life and salvation; for the last is adapted to the first, 
 with a most amazing exactness, as the antidote to 
 the poison, or the remedy to the disease; and if a 
 man's views of his moral condition be deficient, or 
 exaggerated, or confused and inconsistent, the moral 
 harmony is destroyed, and he is constrained to regard 
 the Christian remedy as superfluous or inadequate, 
 or, in one respect or other, alien or inappropriate. 
 But if this be the effect of self-ignorance on the 
 formation of religious opinions, it must produce the 
 same effects on individual practice, for man feels as he 
 thinks, and acts as he feels, when not restrained by 
 A 3 
 
X 
 
 circumstances, and no man will embrace the gospel, 
 which is the vital act of all religion, while he feels 
 a moral incongruity between his wants and its pro- 
 visions. He may respect the gospel, his conscience 
 may constrain him to admit its general excellence ; 
 he may wish it would appear to him as he believes 
 it does to others ; but he has not self-knowledge 
 enough, to enable him to embrace it. We plead 
 not for perfection in the knowledge of ourselves, in 
 order to a truly religious practice; for a man may be 
 ignorant of things about himself, which are more or 
 less remote from the essentials of religion, while 
 this ignorance may be quite compatible with his in- 
 terest in the Christian deliverance. Even in these 
 cases, however, the man is injured, although the 
 injury amounts not to absolute ruin; but if the lep- 
 rosy of bis ignorance — for it is, in fact, a dis- 
 ease — be so deep and pervasive, as to reach the 
 vital parts of that relation, in which he stands to the 
 universal moral Lawgiver, it is dangerous in the 
 extreme; throwing a moral impossibility between 
 him and the salvation of his soul, and convincing all 
 who can estimate his condition, that he must be 
 made to know himself, or perish for ever. 
 
 Reasonings of this kind invest the subject with 
 an overwhelming importance, and, alarmed at the 
 deadly injury which inattention to it is inflicting on 
 persons of all classes around us, we request the 
 reader gravely to ponder it in the three following 
 points of view : namely, as it bears on his conversion 
 from sin to godliness ; on the gradual renovation of 
 his nature; and the inward satisfaction with which 
 he engages in religious duties. 
 
xi 
 
 I. Self-knowledge is indispensable to a genuine 
 conversion from sin to godliness. Of course, we 
 speak of such as have the use, as well as the faculty, 
 of understanding; and who are therefore required to 
 deport themselves in religion, after the manner 
 of reasonable beings ; for all such are forbidden to 
 expect that they shall pass unconsciously, or without 
 the gravest exercise of reason, from guilt to acquit- 
 tance, or from darkness to light, or from- the power 
 of Satan unto God. To harbour such a hope, is 
 impiously to suppose, that reason has been given to 
 us in vain ; for if this high attribute be good for any 
 thing, its primary use must certainly be, to carry on 
 religious intercourse with the great Being from v. hom 
 it came. We could live by instinct as a beast lives, 
 but it is reason alone which enables us to adore. 
 
 Now, it is a plain doctrine of Scripture, that, since 
 it is intelligent beings who require to be saved, no 
 man can be converted from sin to godliness, without a 
 positive mental apprehension of that remedy for sin 
 which God has provided and set forth in the atoning 
 sacrifice of Jesus Christ. To be ignorant of this 
 remedy, or essentially to mistake its true character, 
 is to remain in a state of total unregencracy ; " for 
 tliere is none other name under heaven, given among 
 men, whereby we must be saved," except the name 
 of .Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, and raised 
 from the dead, to give repentance and remission 
 of sins. There is no salvation in any other, and 
 it is a belief in him, not simjily as one wlio still 
 exists, and bears the name of Saviour, but as one 
 " whom God hath set fortli to be a propitiation 
 through faith in his blood, to declare his righteous- 
 
xii 
 
 ness for the remission of sins," which is the leadinc 
 characteristic of a converted man. " He that be- 
 lieveth in him," as made known by that which he 
 has achieved on the cross, " shall be saved ; and he 
 that believeth not, shall be condemned." But it is 
 morally impossible for any man to avail himself of 
 this announcement, simple and gracious although it 
 be, without a previous or concurrent belief in the 
 realities of his own condition, as a creature who is 
 guilty and perishing. Jesus Christ is truly God; he 
 assumed our nature into union with his own divine 
 person ; and " gave himself for us," in the strictly 
 vicarious sense of the expression, " an offering and 
 a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour." 
 " He was wounded for our transgressions, he was 
 bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our 
 peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are 
 healed." The value of his sacrifice, by this in- 
 spired account of it, is unspeakably great ; for the 
 people who constitute the Church of God, were 
 purchased with his own blood : and we know that 
 such 3 ransom-price was indispensable, just because 
 it was determined on by Him who alone could count 
 the cost, or fix the terms of human redemption. 
 
 These are the views of the subject which the 
 Scriptures of truth invariably furnish ; and it is not 
 to be denied, that the adoption of them is at once 
 the essence of Christian belief, and the very turning 
 point of genuine conversion ; but how is it possible 
 for a man to adopt them, unless his estimate of sin 
 in general, and particularly of his oticn sin, be such 
 as to correspond with them ? He cannot concur 
 in the device of mercy farther than he sees it called 
 
xiii 
 
 for. He cannot admire the power, and wisdonj, 
 and righteousness, and love, which are so finely 
 blended in the work of redemption, unless his con- 
 sciousness of human wretchedness convince him of 
 its adaptations. He cannot approve of expiation at 
 all, whether made by the sinner himself, or by his 
 accepted Substitute, unless his views of the nature 
 of sin, as committed against a God of eternal right- 
 eousness, shall convince him it was indispensable. 
 Much less can he appreciate the stupendous- fact, 
 that sin was expiated by God, in our nature, without 
 seeing his own case to be so awfully desperate, that 
 no less a sacrifice was equal to his rescue. Still all 
 this is necessary in order to conversion ; for it be- 
 longs to the very essence of the Christian remedy : 
 and to believe in Christ for salvation, is just to 
 know that fact, viewing it precisely as it is. But 
 these views of sin are just the beginnings of a gen- 
 uine self-knowledge — the first openings of the 
 mind on the sad realities of its moral condition. 
 We call them the convictions which precede or ac- 
 company a turning to God, and so they are; for they 
 are as really necessary to that important change, as 
 the pain of a frost-bitten hand or foot to the recov- 
 ery of vital circulation. But their very name, con- 
 victions, is expository of the point ; for it tells us 
 most explicitly that they consist in saddening sights, 
 and painful feelings, of which the man himself — nay, 
 the very conscience of the man — is peculiarly the 
 theatre. 
 
 Thus we say, that self-knowledge is indispens- 
 able to a genuine conversion from sin to godliness. 
 There are many mysteries about a man which invite, 
 
xiv 
 
 and may receive, a portion of his regard, but the 
 grand and dreadful mystery which claims his pri- 
 mary and paramount attention, as a prisoner of hope 
 addressed by the gospel, is the mystery of iniquity 
 in his heart. He must see sin as it exists within 
 him, and, irrespective of its outbreakings, to be a 
 deadly moral calamity, disturbing the harmony of his 
 moral constitution ; perverting tlie obvious dictates 
 of nature, and working its way, by certain advances, 
 to the settled predominance of misery unmingled. 
 From his own experience of its evil nature, he must 
 be brought to abhor it in all its forms, whether 
 milder or more virulent, as the one thing in the 
 moral universe, which effectually poisons the human 
 soul ; as so directly opposed to the great Supreme, 
 in his very being and administration, that he cannot 
 forgive it, and ought not to do so, without a perfect 
 satisfaction for the offence it has given, and security 
 against its recurrence; and as so ineffably deep in 
 its demerit, that no satisfaction could ever have been 
 found, had not the Son of God, in our nature, 
 " who knew no sin, been made sin for us, that we 
 miffht be made the righteousness of God in him." 
 Such are the views of sin in their substance, although 
 not in all their latitude of import, which must be 
 realized within a man, in order to bring him to the 
 point of conversion ; for to turn from sin is to escape 
 for his life : but so firm is its hold of the human 
 heart, and so bewitching the love of its gratifications, 
 that he never can be brought to forsake it, till he 
 see it as his mortal foe, exhausting his comforts, 
 and filling up his cup of misery, by its own intrinsic 
 contrariety to the very being of the God that made 
 
XV 
 
 him. We know that isolated self-inquiry will never 
 furnish him with such convictions. In order to 
 arrive at them, he must look out of himself, and 
 form his estimate of moral evil, as it stands displayed 
 in the word of God ; but the end for which God has 
 given this display, and the grand reason for study- 
 ing it which any individual should propose to him- 
 self, is just to supply him with correct information 
 about the nature and tendency of moral evil, as it 
 exists and operates in his own heart. In this view 
 of the Bible, it is Heaven's appointed instrument, 
 for curing the sinner of his self-ignorance, and set- 
 ting before him an adequate view, not simply of sin 
 in general, but of his own specific moral condition, 
 as it is estimated by the God that made him : and it 
 is only when he is led to make this use of the Bible ; 
 to carry home its information to his own particular 
 case ; to survey himself in the light of its stern dis- 
 closures ; to turn away, in short, from tl)at which is 
 outward and general, and give himself to that which 
 is inward and special, that he is brought to feel those 
 moral alarms which are the first symptoms of a re- 
 turn to God. 
 
 This is the kind of self-knowledge which is in- 
 dispensable to radical reformation; and it is the want 
 of this knowledge, or ignorance of self, at this very 
 point, which causes so many to come short of true 
 and saving conversion. There are some who plead 
 the very greatness of God, or tlie absolute inde- 
 pendence of his being, as a protection to them in 
 their trespasses, arguing as if it were beneath him, 
 as the Governor of a universe, to take any serious 
 interest in the actions of a creature so insignificant 
 
XVI 
 
 as the wayward child of Adam: and there are others, 
 who seem to judge of their God very much as they 
 judge of their king ; thinking it quite enough to con- 
 form in externals to the letter of his law, and deny- 
 ing his right to be offended, so long as his authority 
 is thus far respected. These persons cannot be 
 converted, not however because they are sinners, for 
 it is sin which makes a man a subject for conversion, 
 but because, while conversion is effected by the ex- 
 ercise of moral intelligence, and moral feeling, they 
 are so ignorant of themselves, that they cannot ap- 
 preciate the character of God, and know not what 
 is meant by being a sinner, on the one hand, or 
 a saint on the other; and therefore, are shut out 
 by the grossness of their moral stupidity, from 
 using any of the means which God has graciously 
 ordained, for removing men from the one state of 
 being, and placing them in the other. They may 
 know these means— a Christian education may have 
 fixed them in their memories — but they cannot 
 make the appointed use of them, because they be- 
 lieve them to be nearly superfluous. But the worst 
 of it is, that, while the one of the classes referred 
 to, suppose themselves sheltered in their own insig- 
 nificance, by ejecting God from the government of 
 his creatures, the other are not only retained in 
 their sins, but fortified in them, by overlooking his 
 eternal Godhead. They admit the necessity of a 
 conversion, at least in the case of the openly im- 
 moral, but they measure it exactly by their views of 
 sin, confining it entirely to the outward conduct; 
 and when such a conversion as they approve, has 
 
xvii 
 
 been accomplished on themselves or others, they 
 hold the point as finally settled, and consider the 
 doctrine of a sinner's repentance as no longer suit- 
 able for them. Their ignorance of themselves, as 
 the subjects of sin, involves a corresponding error 
 about the nature of conversion ; and this error, per- 
 verting their judgment, and quieting every alarm, 
 deludes them with the shadow, instead of the sub- 
 stance, and trains them to live in practical Atheism. 
 
 II. Self-knowledge is indispensable to that pro- 
 gressive renovation of nature, which follows a genuine 
 conversion to godliness. Conversion produces a 
 radical change in the moral condition of the sinner's 
 mind, but it does not free him all at once from the 
 practical influence of sin ; and, after he has attained 
 it, a process of sanctification is still necessary to fit 
 him for the enjoyments of the heavenly state — for 
 heaven is the scene of perfected happiness ; but there 
 can be no perfect happiness, except where holiness 
 is previously made perfect, any more than perfect 
 health, when disease is still disturbing the functions 
 of bodily life. But let it ever be kept in mind, that, 
 although this process of sanctification, as well as 
 conversion itself, be entirely the work of God's free 
 grace, in respect of all efficient agency, it is not, 
 by any means, a work in which the man himself 
 is altogether passive. Its very nature is an inter- 
 dict on every such opinion. It consists, not in the 
 implanting of any new principles, but in clearing, 
 and settling, and nursing to maturity, the principles 
 of grace which were previously planted; in progres- 
 sively eradicating the principles of evil ; in destroy- 
 ing old habits, and forming new ones ; in efforts 
 
xviii 
 
 to rise above the influence of sin, as it vitiates the 
 heart, or pollutes the lips, or misleads the man in his 
 daily deportment. But, if this be its nature, it is 
 plainly impossible to carry it forward in the heart of 
 any man, who has the use of his understanding, ex- 
 cept in as far as it gains th^ concurrent exercise of 
 his own mental faculties. It is the work of the man 
 himself, as the intelligent, responsible, moral agent, 
 through whose instrumentality the grace of God 
 puts forth its gradually renewing efficacy; and, as a 
 proof that it is so, the language of Scripture, enjoin- 
 ing it, is uniformly addressed, in the form of precept, 
 to the consciences of those who are supposed to be 
 converted. " Work out your own salvation with 
 fear and trembling, for it is God that workelh in you 
 both to will and to do of his good pleasure." " Fol- 
 low holiness, without which no man can see the 
 Lord." 
 
 But, if the agency of the man himself be thus in- 
 dispensable to sanctification, it is easy to sec, that a 
 clear and accurate knowledge of himself is no less 
 indispensable to the success of that agency. The case, 
 indeed, is such that he can apply himself to the work 
 only in so far as his self-knowledge enables him to 
 do so ; and in whatsoever department the fiicts of his 
 moral condition are hid from him, or mistaken by 
 him, there he is sure, not only to commit error, or 
 to come short in the exercises which minister to sanc- 
 tiBcation, but this shortcoming is just as sure to re- 
 tard the growth of his regenerated nature in every 
 one of its parts. The case of an individual may 
 illustrate this : " I sincerely desire to be sanctified," 
 it has often be said, " but, such is my situation, that 
 
xix 
 
 I can neither make progress in holiness, nor make 
 up my mind to relinquish the pursuit of it. I know, 
 by education, and, perhaps, by belief, that the doc- 
 trines, promises, precepts, and institutions of the 
 gospel, are Heaven's accredited means of holiness, and 
 that these means are made efficient, by the effectual 
 working of the Holy Ghost ; but, although some- 
 what attentive to the use of them, I have scarcely 
 any experience of their efficiency in my particu- 
 lar case. An arrest, if not a retrograde, is imposed 
 upon all my efforts to work out my sanctification ; 
 and, after a lapse of years of very considerable 
 assiduity, I find I have gained nothing, but a vast 
 accumulation of disappointment and sorrow." We 
 are aware that such a statement as this may some- 
 times be founded in mistake; for important advances 
 in holiness are frequently made, while circumstances 
 prevent them from being discernible. But we are also 
 aware, that the case of many a reputable Christian is 
 substantially such as this statement represents it; and 
 we would say to such a Christian, Although, perhaps, 
 you have no thought of it, yet, in all likelihood, the 
 cause of the evil of which you complain, is a culpable 
 ignorance of yourself, in one or more important parti- 
 culars. You are sound enough in all essential points 
 of evangelical belief; you cling, with something like 
 desperation, to the grand regenerating principle, that 
 the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanses 
 from all sin : and without reserve, it may be, you 
 lay open your heart, so far as you know it, to the 
 cleansing efficacy of that blood. But, what if there 
 be something in your heart, which you have never 
 thus laid open, just because you have never detected 
 
XX 
 
 it, or, if you have detected — have seen it only in 
 disguise, but have never dreamed of half the extent 
 to which it sinfully prevails within you ? What if 
 there does lurk within you a particular inoral bias 
 undiscovered, and therefore unresisted, which, in 
 less, or more, is your characteristic, and so inclines 
 you indirectly to some particular sin, or class of 
 sins, as to make them easily besetting, or peculiarly 
 apt to entice you into trains of thought, or scenes 
 of intercourse, where the temptation to commit them 
 operates with peculiar force ? Suppose, for instance, 
 that this bias is covetousness — and it may be any 
 one of twenty things as well as this — that it never 
 rises to such a height, as to drive you to deeds of 
 flagrant dishonesty, but hides itself under the mask 
 of a laudable frugality, and finds scope for its opera- 
 tions, within the limits which the easy Christianity 
 of this world has prescribed to respectability — sup- 
 pose this to be your case, and at once you have 
 found out, if not the real cause, at least a very 
 likely one, for all your want of success in the prose- 
 cution of holiness. This one passion, which, al- 
 though restrained, is not subdued, exerts all the in- 
 fluence of a ruling passion within you, debasing 
 your whole habit of mind, by its gross and grovel- 
 ling affinities, subduing your other evil propensi- 
 ties, which interfere with its gratification : in this 
 way, leading you to ascribe to religion, that in which 
 religion has no part, and insidiously laying your 
 every faculty under contribution to its interests. 
 Nor need you wonder that so base a passion should 
 work so extensively without your knowledge, for 
 you are its satisfied victim, and of all men on earth 
 
xxi 
 
 the least likely to find it out. The picture may 
 be yours, as certainly as your countenance is the 
 likeness of man; and yet, at this moment, while 
 you read these lines, you may be found indignantly 
 to disown it. It is your fondling among the vices 
 entwined around your heart, and scarcely separable 
 from your consciousness of existence. It has scarcely 
 ever appeared to you, since first it gained the ascen- 
 dency, except in the form of a virtue, and often have 
 you thought yourself a pattern of economy, when 
 doing sacrifice to its net, and burning incense to its 
 
 drag- 
 But, think of the influence of this one sin, in re- 
 tarding your sanctification. It misleads your view 
 of your other sins, especially those which are opposed 
 to it, by inducing you to load them with aggravations 
 they do not possess, or which you, at least, would 
 not have ascribed to them apart from its dictation, 
 and training you to a hatred of expensive vices, not 
 purely because they are vices, but because they in- 
 terfere with its sordid cravings. It restrains the 
 exercise of your Christian benevolence, by teaching 
 you to undervalue the most amiable social virtues. 
 Judas preached economy, and frowned on a fine ex- 
 pression of love ; not because he loved economy, but 
 because he was a thief and had the bag: and the 
 heart of many a Christian is chargeable with the 
 same offence, although his hands were never stained 
 with a deed of dishonesty. It vitiates your estimate 
 of holiness. Viewing holiness in mere idea, or as 
 it exists in heaven, or as it imbues the Bible, your 
 conception of it may be just; but, viewing it as a 
 practical thing, to be cherished in t/our own heart, 
 
xxii 
 
 and exemplified in your oison life, it is lowered and 
 made gross, by your covetous dispositions. It wo- 
 fully misguides your prayers and exertions, by en- 
 gaging your attention with minor impurities, while 
 the spring of its own pestiferous influence, the teem- 
 ing source of your foulest pollution, continues unex- 
 plored. These are some of its direct bearings against 
 the process of purification, and to all this extent it is 
 sure to frustrate the transformation of your mind and 
 character. But all this would be of little account, 
 were you aware of its existence, and prepared to bring 
 it fairly into contact witli the means of its mortifica- 
 tion ; for the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, 
 cleanses from all sin : and when you see the evil of 
 this one, and are brought to afflict yourself because 
 of it, with weeping and supplication, at the foot of 
 the cross, your deliverance is at hand. But it is your 
 ignorance of its magnitude, or your deeply infatuated 
 tolerance of its subtle operations, which renders it so 
 very formidable; for, with Christianity at all in your 
 bosom, you cannot see it as it really is, or be truly 
 conscious of its disastrous tendency, without feeling all 
 the energies of your renewed nature, your faith and 
 prayer, and religious assiduity, excited to counteract 
 it, as the one thing which presses your spirit down 
 to tlie dust, and baffles all your anxious efforts to 
 eradicate evil propensity. Think not that a man 
 can grow holy, while any positively sinful affection 
 is concealed in his bosom, and maintains a hidden 
 ascendency over him ; for, although sinful affections 
 may disagree when out in quest of their separate 
 indulgences, they are congenial in nature, and where 
 any one of them bears rule, the rest are sure to re- 
 
 1 
 
xxm 
 
 eeive protection. The spirit which animates the 
 whole is one and the same, and one of them cannot 
 live while all the rest are dead; nor can the rest be 
 made to decay at the root, (whatever appearances 
 may show to the contrary,) while so much as one of 
 them maintains itself in vigour. 
 
 This, however, is but one of the instances in 
 ■which ignorance of the state of the heart, retards the 
 progress of sanctification, and is sadly sufficient to 
 account for an evil, of which so many so loudly com- 
 plain. There are a multitude of others, could we 
 stay to detail them, which would easily bear a simi- 
 lar comment, and clearly indicate similar results. 
 Besides that particular moral bias, only one modifi- 
 cation of which we iiave set before you, we might 
 specify many other things ; such as your peculiar dis- 
 positions, as these are connected, not so much with 
 the prevalence of any besetting, sinf ul propensity, but 
 with your youthful training, or bodily temperament, 
 or the scenes in life tlirough which you have passed, 
 and are thereby favourable or adverse to the growth 
 of your religious character — or your constitutional 
 cast of mind, as tending to feeling rather than spe- 
 culation, or to speculation rather than feeling; or 
 as dull and obtuse, incapable of progress, except at 
 the expense of unwearied application, and under the 
 spur of constant excitement ; or quick and impatient, 
 prone to be superficial, grasping at once so much as 
 it cares for, and hasting away to somctliing new, 
 tlius requiring the ceaseless exercise of restraint and 
 circumspection, in order to render its activities pro- 
 fitable — or the particular habitudes, moral or educa- 
 tional, or merely accidental, in which, to speak so, 
 
xxiv 
 
 you have insensibly incased your mind, under the 
 unobserved influence of the impressions and activities 
 of the years that are past, and the tendency of which 
 is to mislead or embarrass your religious exercises, 
 or to give to these exercises a congenial support- 
 er these nameless things, which are called the weak 
 points of your character; their nature, their number, 
 the occurrences, within or around you, from which 
 they take occasion, the frequency with which they 
 betray you, the best means of surmounting them, 
 and the extent of injury which they entail on that 
 grand interest, with which, as a religious man, you 
 feel yourself entrusted. 
 
 Such are a few tangible points, which a moderate 
 share of reflection may distinctly recognize; but they 
 are points of great importance for clearing your 
 knowledge of your true character, as a professing 
 Christian, in the sight of God; and we set them 
 before you together, that you may ponder them at 
 leisure, and ascertain what it really is to arrive at 
 even a limited acquaintance with that most interest- 
 ing existence, which you cherish so very tenderly, 
 and often so very complacently designate yourself. 
 And these, be it remembered, are not the meta- 
 physics, but the morals of self-knowledge; not the 
 remote abstractions of the theme, which all, except 
 the learned, may warrantably overlook; but its plain, 
 proximate, practical points, in ignorance of which it 
 is impossible for you to improve your present privi- 
 lege, or arrive at the adequate use of yourselves in 
 the exercises of religion. Nor are they few, but 
 alarmingly numerous, in the case of almost every 
 individual. The specimens we have mentioned are 
 
XXV 
 
 but general heads, to which large additions might be 
 easily made; and under each of these heads there are 
 included a great variety of separate items, any one of 
 which may be quite sufficient (and a number may 
 co-operate at once) to intercept that spiritual nourish- 
 ment, and put an arrest on that growth in grace, by 
 which the man of God is made perfect, being tho- 
 roughly furnished unto every good work. But if 
 every one of these be a hidden thing, as subtle in 
 its working, and as likely to elude detection, as the 
 covetous bias already described ; if there be some- 
 thing in its very nature which creates the illusion, 
 in which it so safely conceals itself; if its lurking- 
 place within be so deep and intricate, that muhitudes 
 of men of the keenest intelligence, and the most 
 diversified information, have failed to find it out, 
 how tremendous an interest does this create around 
 the subject of self-knowledge ! — with what distrust 
 of his best appearances should the Christian search 
 for this knowledge ! — what sacrifices should he make 
 in order to attain it ! — how wistfully should he look 
 for the aid of Omniscience ! — and with what despair 
 of his own efforts should he utter the prayer, " Ex- 
 amine me, O Lord, and prove me ; try my reins 
 and my heart !" 
 
 III. Self-knowledge is indispensable to the in- 
 ward satisfaction with which you engage, or ought 
 to engage, in religious duties. That religious ob- 
 servances are intended to be pleasurable, even in 
 this world, is obvious from the fact, that they are 
 the medium of intercourse with God in Christ, who 
 is the fountain of all good. We grant indeed, that 
 B 45 
 
xxvi 
 
 tlic immediate end for which they are prescribed to 
 Christians on earth, is not the production of happi- 
 ness, but tlie production of hohness, or the prepara- 
 tion of the child of grace, in connection with a pro- 
 cess of painful discipline, for his future manhood of 
 glory, in the immediate presence of God and the 
 Lamb. Still they have the nature of privilege, as 
 well as of requirement ; and are intended to yield a 
 measure of enjoyment, in the meantime, to alleviate 
 the ills of the present life, to soothe the sorrows of 
 contrition, to recruit the strength of the spiritual pil- 
 grim, and to quicken his desire for his heavenly home, 
 by continued foretastes of its exquisite felicities. This 
 has been matter of promise, as well as of experience, 
 ever since the commencement of the dispensation of 
 mercy. But it is only in connection with religious 
 duty that such enjoyment can be warrantably ex- 
 pected ; for among those who are already in a state 
 of favour, it is not in a detached or separate form, 
 but in connection with dutiful religious activity, 
 that a solid consciousness of the divine favour can 
 cither be acquired or preserved. " The way of the 
 Lord is strength to the upright," in as much as it 
 ministers enjoyment. But while it is thus the na- 
 ture of religious duties to minister religious enjoy- 
 ment, we may say farther, that they must do so in 
 order to their own specific maintenance ; for man is 
 not capable of persisting in that which he feels to 
 be utterly insipid : and were the experience univer- 
 sal, that waiting on God, in the institutions of his 
 grace, is a matter of form without life, or of service 
 without enjoyment, the whole system of religious 
 duty would be speedily disowned. The want of 
 
XXVll 
 
 this would infallibly indicate want of authority in 
 the system itself : for man is easily able to infer, 
 that a system which rewards not in the act of obe- 
 dience, is not very likely to punish the disobedient ; 
 and where love and fear, or delight and apprehension, 
 are both at an end, it is not possible, in the nature 
 of things, that the observance of religious institutions 
 can long survive them. 
 
 Still, there are instances, and these very numerous, 
 in which the observance of these institutions, even 
 when very exemplary, yields no enjoyment, or at 
 least, so very little, that, in the estimate of indivi- 
 duals, it amounts to none. So distressing withal, 
 are the cases of these individuals, that they know 
 not whether to persevere in religion, or to give it 
 up as a hopeless pursuit ; and are only restrained 
 from this last alternative, by an undefined horror at 
 the result to which it leads. Now, it is manifest, 
 that in such a case as this, there must be something 
 seriously wrong: and from what has already been 
 said, we may conclude, with the utmost certainty, 
 that the root of the evil is to be found, not in the 
 institutions of religion, nor in the mere sovereignty 
 of the God who has ordained them, but in the in- 
 dividuals themselves. To the question, what is the 
 cause of this want of enjoyment ? it is easy to answer, 
 in a general way, that it is sin deadening the affec- 
 tions, and defeating the influence of religious truth; 
 and to the Christian professor who utters the com- 
 plaint, we would say, in the bowels of brotherly 
 affection, it is just as sure as you exist, that in one 
 respect or other, your heart is not right with God, 
 nor sound in his statutes. This you may fix down, 
 li 2 
 
XXVlll 
 
 as a first principle in the matter. We say of the 
 man who puts honey into his mouth, but has no con- 
 sciousness of its sweetness, that his palate is vitiated; 
 but, with equal certainty, may we say of the man 
 who engages in religious exercises, without a con- 
 sciousness of their spiritual sweetness, that his moral 
 taste is vitiated : and as, in the former case, the 
 diseased taste is usually an index of disease in the 
 animal system, so it is, in the latter case, with still 
 greater certainty, an index of disease in the moral 
 system. For although a man has been found in 
 bodily health, who could not discern the sweetness 
 of honey, yet a man in spiritual health was never 
 found, who could not appreciate the pleasures of re- 
 ligion. The very same sins or short-comings, which 
 interfere with your progress in holiness, are sure to 
 interfere with your religious enjoyment; by inflicting 
 the one injury on your well-being, they necessarily 
 inflict the other, and much that was stated under 
 the former head, is equally applicable to this. 
 
 But it is necessary here to come a little nearer 
 to the point. You complain of the want of religious 
 enjoyment ; and we tell you that the cause of it is, 
 sin in your heart, and, of course, in your life. But 
 you reply, that although this may be true in general, 
 yet you know not any particular sin, or class of sins, 
 to which the evil can be fairly traced. Well, here 
 is the very point where your self-knowledge fails 
 you, and where a renewed prosecution of it must 
 commence, in order to your deliverance ; for you 
 must come to particulars, and pass from one parti- 
 cular to another, in eager self-research, till you 
 arrive at the identical sin or sins which, more than 
 
xxix 
 
 - any others, " have separated between you and your 
 God, and caused him to hide his face from you." A 
 little attention will show you, that, although your 
 religious concern be perfectly sincere, and your de- 
 sires considerably earnest, yet you cannot desire, 
 with all your heart, that God would effectually wean 
 your soul from every secondary source of enjoyment, 
 and fill it exclusivelv with deHght in himself. You 
 may attempt this, or inadvertently suppose you can 
 do it; but if you set yourself to it with grave con- 
 sideration, you will detect within you, a latent mis- 
 giving, a deep and subtle mental reservation, which 
 very sensibly chills the desire, and interferes with 
 its entireness, while you are in the act of breathing 
 it out. Now, it is this very thing, however minute 
 you take it to be, which is the bane of your enjoy- 
 ment ; and until it be discovered, confessed, and 
 forsaken, in its true and proper consistence within 
 you, and in its certain tendency to practical ini- 
 quity, you cannot expect your case to be remedied ; 
 for be assured, it is only when desire is free and 
 enlarged, the fair expression of a whole heart, that 
 it proves itself the harbinger of spiritual delio-ht. 
 
 This lurking element of evil, which so sensibly re- 
 presses your spiritual desires, may be of various kinds. 
 It may be the principle of frivolity, or spiritual 
 indolence, or impure affection, or inordinate propen- 
 sity to the gains, or honours, or dissipating plea- 
 sures of this fleeting world, or any one of the name- 
 less forms which inward depravity so often assumes. 
 It may be no more than a single root of bitterness, 
 or it may consist of several acting in conjunction. 
 But, whatever it be, it is latent, deeply imbedded in 
 
XXX 
 
 the affections of your heart, exerting its pestiferous 
 influence almost entirely unperceived; and unless 
 you are brought to see it in its true and proper 
 enormity, your heart cannot go out to the fountain 
 of all goodness, and the springs of spiritual solacc- 
 nient cannot be opened within you. 
 
 Addressing you as a Christian, we know of no 
 stronger motive for urging you to know yourself in 
 this department, than an appeal to your present un- 
 happy condition. You are in a state of painful un- 
 certainty about your real standing in the sight of 
 God. You enter his sacred presence, and attempt 
 to engage in the acts of his worship, in doubt about 
 the character in which you approach him; you inter- 
 meddle with holy things, in a state of dark uncer- 
 tainty about the relation in which you stand to these 
 holy tilings ; weeks, or months, or years elapse, 
 while the cloud of this uncertainty still continues to 
 envelop your mind, and fill you with distressing an- 
 ticipations. This is your condition, and it must 
 continue to be so, without the slightest hope of 
 change, so long as you shun the point of inquiry 
 which has been set before you ; for a man must know 
 what he is in any circumstances, in order to acquaint 
 himself with what he has to do in these circum- 
 s?ances; and it is only in doing that which becomes 
 him, even under a dispensation of the sovereign 
 grace of God, that his heart can arrive at satisfac- 
 tion. This is a maxim of practical piety, as well as 
 of common life. To adhere to it, is to follow the 
 dictates of wisdom, and arrive at wisdom's reward ; 
 but, to depart from it, is to unsettle your exercise, 
 and render it unavailing. You bewail the want of 
 
xxxi 
 
 religious enjoyment, and in this you are deeply to be 
 sympathized with, for who, that has ever tasted this 
 enjoyment, can cease to lament the loss of it ; but, 
 if you neglect all the while to appreciate the gift of 
 God that is in you, or to search out, and ascertain, 
 the opposite agencies which counteract it, you inflict 
 the injury with your own hand, and nurse the very 
 evil of which you complain. By this one omission, 
 which the cause of your uneasiness disposes you to 
 palliate, you deny to God the highest honour which 
 any creature can pay to him; (for it is not the spirit 
 of bondage, but of liberty and delight, which illus- 
 trates the true glories of the Christian dispensation :) 
 and do you think it meet, that ho should deny him- 
 self also, and reward you for doing him dishonour, 
 by lifting up upon you the light of his countenance ? 
 Assuredly it is not meet, and common reason might 
 convince you, without the aid of higher arguments, 
 that thus to smile on your perversity, would neither 
 be fit nor desirable. Let experience tell you how 
 the matter stands, and if it shall testify to your face 
 that you fail to peruse the Scriptures, or to utter a 
 prayer, or to enjoy the rest of the Sabbath, or to 
 prosecute the general duties of religion with the spe- 
 cial relish of the spiritual man, just because you halt 
 between two opinions, and dare not pronounce your- 
 self a spiritual man, then is it clear as the light of 
 noon, that this is the grand point of inquiry which 
 demands your immediate and earnest attention. 
 
 To the question, how shall I attend to it, so as to 
 arrive at a satisfactory result ? it may be briefly re- 
 plied, that the Bible says of men, "by their fruits 
 ye shall know them," that is, by their appearances of 
 
xxxii 
 
 conformity or disconformity to the requirements of 
 Christian law. But these appearances are not the 
 test, by which you can arrive at a knowledge of your 
 true character, as converted or unconverted in the 
 sight of God. Appearances of ungodliness may be 
 so uniform, as to be quite decisive against a man's 
 conversion; but appearances of its opposite, however 
 regular or well-sustained, cannot be relied on, as a 
 sure sign that he has passed from death unto life. 
 They may satisfy a Christian brother, who sees not 
 beyond the exterior of character, but they ought not 
 to satisfy you, who are furnished with the means, and 
 solemnly charged with the duty, of searching into your 
 heart. But this is not all : the necessity for looking 
 into the heart, is awfully enforced by the consider- 
 ation, that, in a state of society like ours, there are 
 so many inducements to Christian decency, which 
 have no vital connection with Christianity itself. 
 Open ungodliness is generally checked by the force 
 of a virtuous education, or the prevailing spirit of 
 society, or the influence of settled habit, or the con- 
 trol of a legal conscience, or a constitutional super- 
 stition, or a desire for religious respectability, or the 
 hope of success in secular pursuits, among those by 
 whom piety is esteemed. These things, and others 
 like them, are often powerful enough, especially when 
 they operate in combination, to form a character, 
 which man must allow to pass for Christian; although, 
 *in the judgment of Him who seeth the heart, it is 
 rejected as spurious, because not a particle of genuine 
 Christianity has entered into its formation. 
 
 It is not external actions then, but the spirit of 
 actions, the motives from which they spring, or the 
 
XXXIU 
 
 moral ingredients of which they are composed, which 
 you are called to examine, in ascertaining your true 
 character. There must be a tracing of actions back 
 to their origin, in the interior of the soul, a detect- 
 ing of their primary impulses, a separating of these 
 impulses from every thing casual or secondary, a 
 bringing of them, as thus separated, to the test of 
 Christian sentiment and Christian law, and a deci- 
 sion pronounced upon them, according to this test, if 
 you wish to throw light on the momentous question, 
 whether you are, or are not, " created anew in Christ 
 Jesus." Not only is it necessary that all this should 
 be done, but you must be the doer of it, for it is 
 properly your business; and, under the eye of 
 Heaven's omniscience, with the aids of his word and 
 Spirit, it is yours alone, for no creature else is in 
 possession of the secrets which enter essentially into 
 its details. 
 
 But if such inquiries are necessary, to show you to 
 yourselves, and thereby to clear your way to confi- 
 dence and joy in religious exercise, you cannot en- 
 tertain a doubt, that often-repeated recurrence to 
 them is indispensable to their proper management. 
 The inference indeed is unavoidable, that, if the 
 work you have got to perform be at once so delicate 
 and so arduous — if your comfort here, and prepara- 
 tions for futurity, depend so much on the right per- 
 formance of it, — and if the responsibilities which it 
 involves, belong to you, and admit of no transfer to 
 any other, then surely you are the person, if a per- 
 son there be in the moral universe, who cannot afford 
 to lose an hour, or neglect a single opportunity, 
 which can be improved for its advancement. The 
 B 3 
 
xxxiv 
 
 more you solemnly think of the subject, the more 
 certain must the conclusion appear, that if the se- 
 crets of your heart are to be sought out, and in- 
 spected so very minutely, there must be seasons, at 
 which you carry it away from every sort of inter- 
 course with every other heart, secluding it entirely 
 from the living world, giving it back to itself in the 
 presence of its Almighty Proprietor, stirring it up 
 to wakeful research, and constraining it to take it- 
 self to task, and account to itself for the precious 
 things entrusted to it, and even for the very spirit of 
 these emotions which have gone out of it in the 
 business of secular or reli<rious life. Estrangement 
 from this exercise, is sure to perpetuate estrange- 
 ment from self-knowledge, and always to deny your- 
 self time for the exercise on any ground whatever, is 
 to allow the paramount business of life to go into 
 fearful confusion. 
 
 These thoughts we offer the reader, as a very 
 appropriate counterpart, if not a direct continuation, 
 of our Essay to Judge Hale " On the Knowledge 
 of Christ Crucified." There we attempted to show, 
 that the knowledge of the true God, of our moral 
 relations to him as the Great Supreme, and of that 
 dispensation which he has revealed, to deliver us 
 from sin and misery, is infinitely superior to the 
 most splendid attainments in science and philosophy. 
 Here we introduce the knowledge of ourselves, as 
 absolutely indispensable to a saving improvement of 
 the dispensation of mercy. And we earnestly soli- 
 cit the reader to keep these two topics distinctly in 
 his view, in perusing the pages of Sir Matthew 
 
XXXV 
 
 Hale, as well as the Volume now before him ; for he 
 cannot separate the one from the other, in his efforts 
 for personal religious improvement, without the cer- 
 tainty of greatly perplexing his meditations and in- 
 quiries. So exactly do they reciprocate in their 
 influence and illuminations, that the one is utterly 
 unattainable without the aid of the other. We can 
 never know ourselves, except in as far as the light of 
 the knowledge of God in Christ unfolds us to our- 
 selves, by dispelling the darkness of our own under- 
 standings ; and we can never know God in that reme- 
 dial dispensation, which discloses his mercy, except in 
 as far as our conceptions are just, and our feelings 
 suitable, about our own inward moral condition. But, 
 if we prosecute the two together, eliciting from the 
 one its illustrations of the other, in humble de- 
 pendance on the spirit of grace, we may look for rapid 
 advancement in our acquaintance with practical piety, 
 and be able to say, with ravishments of delight, 
 " This is life eternal, to know thee the only true 
 God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." 
 
 It was with feelings of high satisfaction, that we 
 placed the former Essay under the suffrage of a name, 
 so celebrated as that of Sir Matthew Hale, and it is 
 with emotions somewhat similar, that we connect the 
 present Essay with the volume before us. We have 
 but touched the subject of Self- knovvlcdge; or endea- 
 voured to awaken the reader's attention to its diffi- 
 culty and importance, and if we have succeeded in 
 exciting a desire for instruction in this most inte- 
 resting department, our end is accomplished ; as there 
 are ample means of gratifying that desire, in the ex- 
 tended Treatise now to be introduced. 
 
xxxvi 
 
 Baxter's Treatise on the " Mischiefs of Self- 
 Ignorance, AND Benefits of Self-Acquaint- 
 ANCE,"islessknown to the readhig public than most of 
 his other works, not because it is lessValuable, but be- 
 cause it has not been regularly supplied in separate 
 and successive editions. Its excellence consists, not 
 in doctrinally unfolding the economy of grace, or in 
 directly pressing upon the reader the necessity of 
 " repentance towards God, or faith towards our 
 Lord Jesus Christ," but in tracing out the involu- 
 tions of that most intricate economy of thought and 
 feeling, judgment and action, moral liking and moral 
 antipathy, which exists entire, and works apart in the 
 bosom of every individual ; and in tiiis way it is 
 powerfully subservient to repentance and faith, by 
 disturbing the apathy, and combatting the ignorant 
 indifference, which so fatally shut them out from 
 men's consciences and hearts. Its general scheme of 
 thought is instructively arranged ; and although its 
 topics are numerous, they are not diffusely treated, 
 while, under each of them, there is a rich variety of 
 illustrative matter, judiciously selected, and very aptly 
 introduced. It is idle to say more of its manner of 
 writing, than that it is the manner of Richard Bax- 
 ter; showing the man in every page, but clear, con- 
 cise, and simple, beyond several of his other pieces, 
 while it is second to none of them in persuasive elo- 
 quence and impressive fervour, clothing thoughts, 
 which are not familiar, in very conspicuous language, 
 and adapting itself, with uncommon felicity, to the 
 inexperienced and the undisciplined. The whole 
 style and spirit of the work is exactly suited to the 
 nature of the subject, and we do think it well enti- 
 
xxxvu 
 
 tied to a place among the few books, which the Pa- 
 rent selects for his child, or the Pastor for the young 
 of his flock, or the Guardian for his pupil, as a 
 means of awakening religious inquiry, and forming 
 habits of early refection. 
 
 In conclusion, we would say to our youthful 
 readers, to whom the science of moral self-acquaint- 
 ance is a region unexplored, this is peculiarly a book 
 for you. If other books be more copious in evan- 
 gelical sentiment, few can better prepare you for 
 appreciating such sentiment. If it be sparing in 
 the balm of inward consolation, it is fitted to awaken 
 those sensibilities, which alone can impel you to 
 seek for consolation. If it fill you with alarm, by 
 unfolding the extent to which sin has so fearfully 
 unmade you, it may also shut you up to the happy 
 conclusion, that " there is not another name, given 
 under heaven among men, whereby we must be 
 saved, but the name of Jesus Christ." But read it 
 patiently, topic after topic, at seasons consecrated to 
 reflective secrecy, and with the honest determination 
 to use it as a mirror in which to look yourself full 
 in the face. And to give you courage for this, con- 
 sider the tremendous fact, that while you are a 
 perishing sinner, placed within the reach of Heaven's 
 forgiving clemency, yet ignorance of yourself is 
 hopeless incapacity for the use of this stupendous 
 privilege. God has given you a reasonable soul, a 
 very prominent attribute of which is, the power of 
 discerning its own operations, and thereby conducting 
 its education for eternity. You have fallen into sin, 
 with its curse upon your head, and its manifold evil 
 agencies constantly at work within you. In this con- 
 
xxxviii 
 
 ilition, so dismal and so desperate, he has brought 
 near to you a great salvation, which commences with 
 the remission of sins, and terminates in the glories 
 ot immortality. He is urging this salvation on 
 your instant acceptance, and positively " waiting to 
 be gracious." But while you know not yourself, 
 you cannot accept it in any sense which can ever 
 avail you ; and while your knowledge of yourself is 
 limited and erring, through your culpable neglect 
 of means, you cannot possibly prosper, even after 
 you have accepted it, in the daily use of its spiritual 
 benefits. Attainment in the one department, must 
 ever be measured by attainment in the other, just 
 because you have a reasonable soul, which must be 
 accounted for to Him who gave it. Know your- 
 selves, and you shall know God ; judge yourselves, 
 and you shall not be judged. 
 
 D. Y. 
 
 Perth, December, 1828. 
 
I 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 IXTRODUCTION. Directions to those who would be 
 
 acquainted with themselves, 
 
 CHAP. I. Wherein Self-Knowledge consists, . . 57 
 
 CHAP. II. The Mischiefs of Self-Ignorance, . . .61 
 
 CH.AP. III. Self-Ignorance detected and reproved, . 87 
 
 CHAP. IV. Motives to Self-Acquaintance, . . .114, 
 
 CH.\P. V. Exhortations to cultivate Self-Acquaintance, 14-9 
 
 CHAP. VI. Exhortations to the Ungodly, . . .172 
 
 CH.\P. VII. Exhortations to the Godly, to know their 
 
 sins and wants, ....... 2.32 
 
 CHAP. VIII. Exhortatior.s to the Godly, to know their 
 
 Graces and Duties, 273 
 
 CHAP. IX. Motives to labour to Know our Sanctification, 285 
 CHAP. X. External Hinderances of Self- Acquaintance, . .318 
 C HAP. XI. Internal Hinderances of Self-Acquaintance, 362 
 
TropertT^ 
 
 ON 
 
 SELF-ACQUAINTANCE. 
 
 2 Cor. xiii. 5. 
 " Know ye not your own selves." 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Directions to those 'who isoould be acquainted with 
 themselves. 
 
 He that is a stranger to himself, his sin, his misery, 
 his necessity, &c. is a stranger to God, and to all 
 that might denominate him wise or happy. To have 
 taken the true measure of our capacities, abilities, in- 
 firmities, and necessities, and thereupon to perceive 
 what is really BEST for us, and most agreeable to 
 our case, is the first part of true, practical, saving 
 knowledge. Did the distracted mindless world con- 
 sider, what work they have at home for their most 
 serious thoughts, and care, and diligence, and of 
 what unspeakable concern and necessity it is, and that 
 men carry within them the matter of their final doom, 
 and the beginning of endless joy or sorrows, they 
 would be called home from their busy idleness, their 
 laborious loss of precious time, and unprofitable va- 
 garies, and would be studying their hearts, while 
 
4>2 
 
 they are doting about a multitude of impcrtlnencies, 
 and would bo pleasing God, while they are purveying 
 for the flesh; and they would sec that it more con- 
 cerneth them to know the day of their salvation, and 
 now to lay up a treasure in heaven, that they may die in 
 faith, and live in everlasting joy and glory, than in the 
 crowd and noise of the ambitious, covetous, voluptu- 
 ous sensualists, to run after a feather, till time is past, 
 and mercy gone, and endless woe hath unexpectedly 
 surprised them. Yet do these dead men think they 
 live, because they laugh, and talk, and ride, and go, 
 and dwell among gnats and flies in the sunshine, and 
 not with worms and dust in darkness: they think 
 they are awake, because they dream that they are 
 busy ; and that they are doing the works of men, 
 because they make a noise for finer clothes, and 
 larger rooms, and sweeter morsels, than their poorer, 
 undeceived neighbours have: they think they are 
 sailing to felicity, because ihcy are tossed up and 
 down: and if they can play the pike among the 
 fishes, or the wolves in the flocks of Christ ; or if 
 they can attain to the honour of a pestilence, to be 
 able to do a great deal of hurt, they are proud of it, 
 and look as high as if they saw neither the grave nor 
 hell, nor knew how quickly they must be taken 
 down, and laid so low, that " the righteous shall sec 
 it, and fear, and laugh at them, saying, Lo, this is 
 the man that made not God his strength, but trusted 
 in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened him- 
 self in his wickedness. — Behold these are the un- 
 godly tliat prosper in the world, and increase in 
 riches; surely they are set in slippery places, and 
 cast down to destruction, and brought to desolation 
 
43 
 
 as in a moment, and utterly consumed with terrors: 
 as a dream when one awaketh, so, O Lord, when 
 thou awakest, thou shall despise their image." 
 Though, while they lived, they blessed themselves, 
 and were praised by men ; yet, when they die, they 
 carry nothing away ; " their glory shall not descend 
 after them ; like sheep they are laid in the grave : 
 death shall feed on them, and the upright shall have 
 dominion over them in the morning ; man in honour 
 abideth not : he is like the beasts that perish ; this 
 their way is their folly; yet their posterity approve 
 their sayings." They shall find that God is not 
 afraid to lay the hand of justice on the stoutest of 
 them, and will be as bold with silken, shining gal- 
 lants, as with the poorest worms ; and will spit in the 
 face of that man's glory, who durst spit in the face of 
 the glory of his Redeemer, and will trample upon the 
 interest which is set up against the interest of Christ. 
 The jovial world do now think that self-study is too 
 melancholy a thing, and they choose to be distracted 
 for fear of being melancholy ; and will be mad, in 
 Solomon's sense, that they may be wise and happy 
 in their own : " The heart of fools is in the house 
 of mirth, and the heart of the wise in the house of 
 mourning." And yet there is most joy in the hearts 
 of the wise, and least solid peace in the hearts of 
 fools : they know that conscience hath so much 
 against them, that they dare not hear its accusations 
 and its sentence : they dare not look into the hideous 
 dungeon of their hearts, nor peruse the accounts of 
 their bankrupt souls, nor read the history of their 
 impious, unprofitable lives, lest they should be tor- 
 mented before the time : they dare not live like 
 
44 
 
 serious men, lest tliey should lose thereby the delights 
 of" brutes. O sinful men ! against what light, both 
 natural and supernatural, do they offend ! They 
 see how all tilings haste away; the names of their 
 predecessors are left as a warning to them: every 
 corpse that is carried to the grave, being dead, yet 
 speaketh; and every bone that is thence cast up, 
 doth rise as a witness against their luxury and lust: 
 and yet they will have their wills and pleasure while 
 they may, whatever it cost theqi ; and they will set 
 their houses on fire, that they might have one merry 
 blaze, and warm them once before they die. 
 
 I shall give a few directions to those that would 
 be well acquainted with themselves, and would com- 
 fortably converse at home. 
 
 Direct. 1. Let him not overvalue or mind the 
 deceitful world, that would have fruitful converse with 
 God and with himself. Trust not such a cheater 
 as hath robbed so many thousands before us, espe- 
 cially when God and common experience call out to us 
 to take heed. The study of riches, and reputation, 
 and pleasures, agreeth not with this study of God, 
 and of our hearts : and though the world will not 
 make acquaintance with us, if we come not in their 
 fashion, nor see us, if we stand not on the higher 
 ground; yet it is much b.etter to be unknown to 
 others, than to ourselves. A retirement, therefore, 
 must be made, from the inordinate pursuit of worldly 
 things, and the charms of honours, riches, and de- 
 lights: and if some present loss does seem to follow, 
 it is indeed no loss, which tendeth to gain. Me- 
 thinks they that sincerely pray, " Lead us not into 
 temptation," should not desire to have bolts and 
 
45 
 
 bars between God and them, and to dwell where 
 salvation is most hardly attained ! Desire not to be 
 planted in any such place, though it seem a paradise, 
 where God is most unknown, and used as a stranger, 
 and where saints are wonders, and examples of seri- 
 ous piety are most rare, and where a heavenly con- 
 versation is known but by reports, and reported of 
 according to the malice of the servant, and repre- 
 sented hui as fancy, hypocrisy, or faction : where 
 sin most prospereth, and is in least disgrace; and 
 where it is a greater shame to be a saint than to be 
 a sinner; a serious Christian, than a seared, stupi- 
 fied sensualist. Bless you from that place where the 
 weeds of vice are so rank, that no good plant can 
 prosper near them : where gain is godliness; and im- 
 piety is necessary to acceptable observance ; and a 
 tender conscience, and the fear of God, are charac- 
 ters of one too surly and unpliable to be counte- 
 nanced by men ; where the tongue, that nature 
 formed to be the index of the mind, is made the 
 chief instrument to hide it; and men are so conscious 
 of their own incredibility, that no one doth believe 
 or trust another: where no words are heart-deep, 
 but those that are spoken against Christ's cause and 
 interest, or for their own ; where a vile person is 
 honoured, and those contemned that fear the Lord. 
 Bless you from the place where truth is intolerable, 
 and untruth cloaked with its name; where holiness 
 is looked at as an owl or enemy, and yet hypocrisy 
 must steal its honour from it; where he is a saint 
 that is less wicked than infamous transgressors; and 
 where Dives' life is blameless temperance; and 
 where pride, idleness, fulness of bread, and filthy 
 
46 
 
 fornication and lasciviousness, arc the infirmities of 
 pious and excellent persons; where great sins are 
 small ones, and small ones are none; and where the 
 greatest must have no reproof, and the physician is 
 taken for the greatest enemy ; where chaff is valued 
 at the price of wheat, and yet the famine is of 
 choice : where persons and things are measured by in- 
 terest; and duty to God derided as folly, whenever it 
 crosseth the wisdom of the world, and hatod as some 
 hurtful thing, when it crosseth fleshly men in their 
 desires: and where Dives' brethren are unwarned; 
 and none are more secure and frolicsome, than those 
 that to-morrow may be in hell. Old travellers are 
 usually most addicted to end their days in solitude; 
 learn to contemn the world at cheaper rates than 
 they : neither hope, nor wish to live an Alexander, 
 and die a Socrates: a crowd or concourse, though 
 the greatest, where there is the greatest tumult of 
 affairs, and confluence of temptations, is not the 
 safest place to die in; and I have most mind to live 
 where I would die. Where men are Christians in 
 name, and infidels in conversation, the sweetness of 
 their Christian names will not preserve them or you 
 from the danger of their unchristian lives. It was 
 not the whole of Lot's deliverance to be saved from 
 the flames of Sodom, but it was much of it to be 
 freed from their malicious rage, and filthy grievous 
 conversations: the best medicine against the plague 
 is to keep far enough from the place that hath it. 
 Desire not that condition, where all seem friends, 
 but none are friends indeed; but they that seem to 
 be your servants, are by flattery serving themselves 
 by you : where few persons or things are truly re- 
 
47 
 
 presented ; but men are judged of by the descrip- 
 tions of their enemies, and the lambs have the skins 
 and names of wolves : and the best are odious when 
 bold calumniators load them with odious accusations. 
 In a word, desire not the place where the more men 
 seek, the less they find, and the more they find, the 
 less they have; and the more they have, the less 
 they do enjoy: where the more are their provisions, 
 the less are their supplies; the more their wealth, 
 the more their want; the more their pleasure, the 
 less their peace; the greater their mirth, the less 
 their joy; the greater their confidence, the less 
 their safety : where the great mistake about their 
 happiness, their best interest, their end, doth make 
 their lives a constant error, and death a doleful dis- 
 appointment. 
 
 Direct. 2. Keep all clean and sound within, that 
 there may be little of loathsomeness to disaffect you, 
 or terror to frighten you from yourselves; it is afright- 
 ful thing to be much conversing with a guilty soul, 
 and hearing the accusations of a conscience not 
 cleansed by the blood of Christ: and it is an un- 
 pleasant thing to be searching in our wounds, and 
 reading the history of a life of folly; especially of 
 wilful sin, and of ungrateful neglect of offered 
 grace. Make not such work for yourself, if you 
 love it not. We make our beds ill, and then we 
 are weary of them, because they are so hard : our 
 comforts are more in our own hands than in any 
 others : the best friend or pastor cannot do so much 
 to promote them, nor the greatest enemy so much 
 to destroy them, as ourselves. If we will surfeit, 
 and make ourselves sick, we must endure it. If 
 
48 
 
 wasps and vipers be our guests, no wonder if we 
 dwell not quietly at home ; and if we sit not at ease, 
 when we carry thorns about us. Folly and concu- 
 piscence breed our misery: it is the scent and smart 
 of our ulcerated minds that most annoyeth us. We 
 cannot waste our peace, and have it. Turk and 
 Pope, and all the terrible names on earth, are not 
 so deservedly terrible to a sinner as his own : the 
 nearest evil is the most hurtful evil. If a scolding 
 wife be such a continual dropping, and trouble- 
 some companion, as Solomon tells us, what then is 
 a distempered, troubled mind, and a chiding con- 
 science? It is a pity that man should be his own 
 afflicter, but so it is. Folly, and lust, and rashness, 
 and passion, are sorry keepers of our peace : dark- 
 ness and filth do make a dungeon, and not a delight- 
 ful habitation of our hearts; God would take plea- 
 sure in them, if we kept them clean, and would walk 
 with us in those gardens, if we kept them dressed: 
 but if we will defile his temple, and make it unpleas- 
 ing to him, he will make it unpleasing to us. 
 Terror and trouble are the shadow of sin, that follow 
 it, though the sun shine ever so brightly. Keep 
 close to God; obey his will: make sure of your re- 
 conciliation and adoption ; keep clear your evidences, 
 and grieve not the Holy Spirit, who sealeth you, 
 and must comfort you. And then it will do you 
 good to look into your heart, and there you shall 
 find the most delightful company: and the Spirit 
 that you have there entertained, will there enter- 
 tain you with his joys. 
 
 But if disorder have prevailed and made your 
 hearts a place of trouble, yet fly not from it, and re- 
 
49 
 
 fuse not to converse with it: for though it be not 
 at the present a work of pleasure, it is a work of 
 necessity, and may tend to pleasure in the end: 
 conversing wisely and faithfully with a disordered, 
 ' troubled heart, is the way to make it a well-ordered 
 and quiet heart. 
 
 Direct. 3. In judging of your present state and 
 actions, let one eye be always on the end: this will 
 both quicken you to be serious in the duty, and 
 direct you in all particular cases to judge aright. 
 As the approach of death doth convince almost all 
 men of the necessity of studying themselves, and 
 calleth them to it from all other studies; so the con- 
 siderate foresight of it would do the same in better 
 time. And it is the end that communicateth the 
 good or evil to all things in the way: and therefore, 
 as they have relation to the end, they must be judged 
 of. When you peruse your actions, consider them 
 as done by one that is entering into eternity, and as 
 those that must all be opened in a clearer light. 
 If we separate our actions in our considerations from 
 their ends, they are not of the same signification, 
 but taken to be other things than indeed they arc. 
 If the oaths, the lies, the slanders, the sensuality of 
 impure sinners, had not relation to the loss of hea- 
 ven, and to the pains of hell, they were not matters 
 of that exceeding moment as now they are. And if 
 the holiness, obedience, and watchfulness of believers, 
 had no relation to the escaping of hell-fire, and the 
 attainment of eternal life, they would be of lower 
 value than they are. The more clearly men dis- 
 cern that God is present, that judgment is at hand, 
 that they are near to heaven or hell, where millions 
 C 40 
 
50 
 
 have already received their reward, the more seri- 
 ously will they study, and the better will they know 
 themselves. 
 
 Direct. 4. Though you must endeavour to judge 
 yourself truly as you are, yet rather incline to think 
 meanly than highly of yourself, and be rather too 
 suspicious than too presumptuous. My reasons for 
 this direction are, because man's nature is generally 
 disposed to sclf-exalting ; and pride and self-love 
 are sins so common and so strong, that it is a thing 
 of wondrous difficulty to overcome them, so far as to 
 judi^e ourselves impartially, and to ecr as little in ou 
 own cause, as if it were another's; and because 
 self-exalting hath far more dangerous effects than 
 self-abasing, supposing them to exceed their bounds. 
 Prudent humility is a quieting grace, and avoideth" 
 many storms and tempests, which trouble and shake 
 the peace of others. It maketh men thankful for 
 that little as undeserved, which others repine at as 
 short of their expectations: it telleth the sufferer 
 that God doth afflict him much less than he de- 
 serveth ; and causeth him to say, " I will bear the 
 indignaton of the Lord, because I have sinned 
 against him." It teacheth us a cautious suspicion 
 of our own understandings, and a just submission to 
 those that are wiser than ourselves. Pride keepeth 
 out wisdom, by keeping out the knowledge of our 
 ignorance. And as Pliny tells us of some nations, 
 where they are grey-headed in their infancy, and 
 black-headed when they are old; so pride maketh 
 many wise so soon, that they never come to be truly 
 wise: they think in youth that they have more than 
 the wisdom of age, and therefore in age they have 
 
51 
 
 less than what beseemeth them in youth. Every 
 hard report or usage is ready to break a proud man's 
 heart; when contempt doth little disquiet the hum- 
 ble, because they judge so meanly of themselves. 
 The proud are frequently disturbed, because they 
 climb into the seats of others ; when humility sits 
 quietly, and no one bids it rise, because it knoweth 
 and keepeth its own place. Therefore it is, that 
 true contrition having once told us of our folly to the 
 heart, doth make us walk more circumspectly while 
 we live; and that no man is better resolved than he 
 that was once in doubt, and that no man standeth 
 faster than he that hath had a fall: and no man is 
 more safe, than he that hath had most assaults. If 
 you love your safety, desire not either to be, or to 
 seem too high. Be little in your own eyes, and be 
 content to be so in the eyes of others. As for 
 worldly greatness, affect neither the thing nor the 
 reputation of it : look up, if you please, to the tops 
 of steeples, masts, and mountains; but stand be- 
 low if you would be safe. And for spiritual en- 
 dowments, desire them, and improve them; but de- 
 sire not inordinately the reputation of them. It 
 seldom increaseth a man's humility to be reputed 
 humble: and though humility help you to bear ap- 
 plause, yet the remnants of pride are ready to take 
 fire, and other sins to get advantage by it. 
 
 Direct. 3. Improve your self-acquaintance to a 
 due apprehension of what is most suitable, most pro- 
 fitable, and necessary for you, and what is most 
 hurtful, unsuitable, and unnecessary. He that hath 
 taken a just measure of himself, is the better able 
 to judge of all things else. How suitable will 
 c 2 
 
52 
 
 Christ and grace appear, and how unsuitable will 
 worldly pomp appear to one that truly knows him- 
 self! How suitable will serious, fervent worship 
 appear, and how unsuitable the ludicrous shows of 
 hypocrites ! If a man knew aright the capacity and 
 tendency of the reasonable nature, and the evil of 
 sin, and the necessity and distress of an unrenewed 
 soul, what sweet, what longing thoughts would he 
 have of God, and all that tendeth to the pleasing 
 and enjoying of him ! How little would he think 
 himself concerned in the trivial matters of honour or 
 dishonour, riches or poverty, favour or displeasure, 
 further than as they help or hinder him in the things 
 that are of more regard ! Know yourself, and you 
 will know what to love and what to hate; what to 
 choose and what to refuse; what to hold and what 
 to lose; what to esteem and what to slight; what to 
 fear, and when to be courageous and secure: the 
 curing the dotage thus, would cure the niglit-walks 
 of the dreaming, vagrant world. And they that 
 find that music cureth not the stone or gout, would 
 know that mirth and gallantry, and vainglory, are 
 no preservatives from hell, nor a sufficient cure for a 
 guilty soul: and that if an aching head must have a 
 better remedy than a golden crown, and a diseased 
 body a more suitable cure than a silken suit, a dis- 
 eased soul doth call for more. 
 
 Direct. 6. Value not yourself by mutable accidents, 
 but by the essence and substance of Christianity. 
 " A man's life consisteth not in the abundance which 
 he possesseth." Paul knew better what he said, 
 when he accounted all but loss and dung for tiie 
 knowledge and fruition of Jesus Christ, than they 
 
53 
 
 that dote on wealth as their felicity. And is a man 
 to be valued, applauded, and magnified for his wealth, 
 or for his personal endowments ? Judge not of the 
 person by his apparel, when the foolishest and the 
 worst may wear the same. The master and inhabi- 
 tants honour the house more than the house doth 
 the master and inhabitants. All the wit and learn- 
 ing in the world, with all the riches, honour, and 
 applause, yea, and all the civility and winning de- 
 portment, will not make a Christian of an infidel or 
 atheist, nor a happy of a miserable man. As nothing 
 will make a man honourable indeed, that hath not 
 the use of reason, which difFerenceth men from brutes; 
 so nothing will make or prove him holy, or happy, 
 or safe, that hath not the holy image of God, which 
 must difference his children from his enemies. If 
 he be unsanctified, and be not a new creature, and 
 have not the Spirit of Christ within him, he is an 
 atheist, or infidel, or an ungodly wretch, let him be 
 ever so rich, or great, or honourable. And as a 
 harlot is never beautiful in the eyes of the wise and 
 chaste, so a wicked man is never happy in the eyes 
 of any but his phrenetic society. 
 
 Direct, 7. Think not that a few, seldom, hasty 
 thoughts will bring, and keep you in acquaintance 
 with yourself. It must be diligent observation, and 
 serious consideration, that must accomplish this. 
 Many a man walketh where he doth not dwell. A 
 transient salute is not a sign of intimate familiarity. 
 It is enough, sometimes to step into your neigh- 
 bour's house for a charitable visit ; but you must 
 dwell in your own : be more busy and censorious at 
 home than the proud and malicious are abroad ; and 
 
54 
 
 be as seldom and tender in censuring others, as such 
 hypocrites are in censuring themselves. Think not 
 that you are unconcerned in the danger or safety of 
 your neighbour, but remember that you are more con- 
 cerned in your own. It is here most reasonable to 
 say, that charity begins at home, when self-neglect 
 will disable you to help another. And if, some- 
 times, your falls or frailty do find you matter for 
 purging, troublesome thoughts, and interrupt your 
 sweeter, comfortable meditations, refuse not the 
 trouble when you have made it necessary : it is many 
 a sad and serious thought that the ministers of 
 Christ have for the cure and safety of their flocks : 
 and should not the people have as serious thoughts 
 for themselves ? Your reason, your wisdom, care, 
 and diligence, are more your own than any one's 
 else; and, therefore, should be more used for your- 
 self than for any. And if, after much thoughtful- 
 ness and labour, you find your heart to be no whit 
 better, yet labour and believe. It is not the last 
 blow of the axe alone that cuts down the tree, 
 though it fall not till the last. The growth of 
 grace, as of plants, and fruits, and flowers, is not per- 
 ceived by immediate inspection. There is much 
 good obtained when we discern it not : and nothing 
 is more certain, than that honest diligence is never 
 lost in the things of God and our salvation. It is 
 worth all our labour, if we grow no better, to keep 
 our spark from going out, and to see that we grow 
 no worse. And the preventing of evil is here an 
 excellent good. " O keep the heart with all dili- 
 gence, for out of it are the issues of life." Actions 
 receive their specification and quality from the 
 
55 
 
 earth. " Death and life are in the power of the 
 tongue, but the tongue is in the power of the 
 heart." 
 
 Direct. 8. Let not your self-knowledge be merely 
 speculative, but also practical. Be not contented 
 that you know what you are, and what you have 
 done, nor that your heart is much afi'ected with it ; 
 but let all tend to action, to mend what is amiss, and 
 to maintain, improve, and increase what is' good : 
 and let the next question be, ' What am I now to 
 do ?' or, ' What must I be for time to come ?' It 
 is a lamentable mistake of many, that tire themselves 
 with striving to make deep, affecting impressions on 
 their hearts; and when they have got much sorrow, 
 or much joy, they think they have done the greatest 
 matter, and there they stop. But affections are 
 the spring that must move to action ; and if you 
 proceed not to your duty, affection is much lost ; 
 and, if with smaller affection or passion, you can 
 steadfastly and resolutely cleave to God, and do 
 your duly, you have the principal thing, and are 
 accepted : not that outward actions are accepted 
 without the heart ; but that there is most of tiie - 
 heart, where there is most of the estimation and 
 will, though less of passion ; and there is most of 
 will, where there is most endeavour : and inward 
 action is the first part of obedience ; and without 
 these no speculations will avail. However you find 
 your heart, be up and doing in the use of means to 
 make it better, and wait on God for further grace. 
 
 Direct. 9. Manage your self-acquaintance pru- 
 dently, cautiously, and with the help of your skilful 
 friend or pastor. Think not that it is a work that 
 
5G 
 
 you need no helper in : if you mistake your accounts, 
 and put down a wrong sura, and call yourself confi- 
 dently what you are not, or deny God's graces, 
 whenever, through melancholy or distemper, you 
 cannot find them, and pass false conclusions against 
 God's mercies and yourself, this were to turn a duty 
 into a sin and snare. 
 
 And you must do it seasonably : melancholy per- 
 sons arc most incapable of it, who do nothing but 
 pore upon themselves to little purpose ; such must 
 do more of other duty, but lay by much of this till 
 they are more capable, and make much use of the 
 judgment of their guides. And weaker heads must 
 take but a due proportion of time for self-searching 
 meditations, lest they contract that troublesome dis- 
 ease : duties must be used with profitable variety, 
 and all done under good advice. But young per- 
 sons, and those that are yet unconverted, have need 
 to fall upon it without delay ; and to follow it till 
 they have made sure their calling and election. O 
 what a dreadful thing it is, for a man to come newly 
 to the study of his soul, as a thing that he is unac- 
 quainted with, when sickness is upon him, and death 
 at hand, and he is ready to pass into another world ! 
 To be then iiewly to ask, ' What am I ?' and, 
 ' What have I done?' and, 'Whither am I going?' 
 and, ' What will become of me for ever ?' is a most 
 fearful state of folly. 
 
 Direct. 10. Terminate not your knowledge ulti- 
 mately in yourself ; but pass up unto God in Christ, 
 and to the blessed privileges of the saints, and the 
 joyful state of endless glory, and there let your me- 
 ditations be most frequent and most sweet. 
 
57 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Wherein Self-Knovaledge consists. 
 
 The Corinthians, being much abused by false 
 teachers, to the corrupting of their faith and man- 
 ners, and the questioning of the Apostle's ministry, 
 he acquainteth them in my text with an obvious re- 
 medy for both these maladies ; and lets them know, 
 that their miscarriages call them to question them- 
 selves, rather than to question his authority or gifts, 
 and that if they find Christ in themselves, they must 
 acknowledge him in his ministry. 
 
 He, therefore, first, most importunately urgeth 
 them to the immediate duty of self-examination : 
 " Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith : 
 prove your own selves." Self-examination is but the 
 means of self-knowledge. This, therefore, he next 
 urgeth, first, in general, by way of interrogation, 
 *' Know ye not your own selves ?" and then, more 
 particularly, he tells them, what it is of themselves, 
 that it most concerneth them to know, " How that 
 Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates." 
 As if he should say, 'Alas, poor souls; you have 
 more cause to question yourselves than me : go to, 
 therefore, examine and prove yourselves. It is a 
 shame for a man to be ignorant of himself. Know 
 ye not your own selves ? Either Christ is in you, 
 by faith, and by his Spirit, or he is not : if he be 
 not, you are yet but reprobates, that is, disapproved of 
 God, and at present in a forsaken, or condemned 
 c 3 
 
58 
 
 state yourselves; (which is a conclusion that you 
 will be loath to admit, but more concerneth you :) if 
 Christ be in you, it was by the means of my minis* 
 try ; and, therefore, that ministry hath been power- 
 ful and effectual to you, and you are my witnesses ; 
 the seal of my ministry is upon your own souls: Christ 
 within you bears me witness, and therefore, of all 
 men, you have least cause to question or quarrel with 
 my ministry.' 
 
 This paraphrase opening all that may seem diffi- 
 cult in the text, I shall immediately offer you a 
 double observation, which the words afford us; first, 
 as considered in themselves, and then, as respecting 
 the inference for which they are premised by the 
 Apostle. 
 
 The first is, that All men should kfiow themselves : 
 or, it is a sharie for a man to be unacquainted with 
 himself. 
 
 The second is, that Not Knowing ourselves . is the 
 cause of other errors : or. The knovoledge of our- 
 selves, wozdd much conduce to the cure of many other 
 errors. 
 
 In handling this, I shall show you, 
 
 I. What it is to know ourselves. 
 
 II. How far it is, or is not, a shame to be igno- 
 rant of ourselves. 
 
 III. What evils follow this ignorance of our- 
 selves, and what benefits self-knowledge would pro- 
 cure. 
 
 IV. How we should improve this doctrine by 
 application and practice. 
 
 I. Self-knowledge is thus distinguished according 
 to the object. 
 
.59 
 
 1. There is a physical self-knowledge: when a 
 man knows what he is as a man ; what his soul is, 
 and what his body, and what the compound called 
 man. The doctrine of man's nature, or this part of 
 physics, is so necessary to all, that it is first laid down, 
 even in the Holy Scriptures, in Genesis, chap. i. ii. 
 iii. before his duty is expressed. And it is pre-sup- 
 posed in all the moral passages of the Word, and in 
 all the preaching of the Gospel. The subject is 
 pre-supposed to the adjuncts. The subjects of God's 
 kingdom belong to the constitution ; and, therefore, 
 to be known before the legislation and judgment, 
 which are the parts of the administration. Morality 
 always pre-supposeth nature. The species is in or- 
 der before the separable accidents. Most ridicu- 
 lously, therefore, doth ignorance plead for itself 
 against knowledge, in them that cry down this part 
 of physics, as human learning, unnecessary to the 
 disciples of Christ. What excellent, holy medita- 
 tions of human nature do you find oft in Job, and in 
 David's Psalms, concluding in the praise of the in- 
 comprehensible Creator, " I will praise thee, for I 
 am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are 
 thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well." 
 
 2. There is a moral self-knowledge very necessary. 
 And this is, the knowing of ourselves in relation fo 
 God's law, or to his judgment. The former is the 
 knowledge of ourselves in respect of our duty: the 
 second, in respect of the reward or punishment. 
 And both of them have respect to the law of nature, 
 and works, or to the remedying law of grace. 
 
 The ethical knowledge of ourselves, or that which 
 respecteth the precept of our duty, is twofold. Th« 
 
60 
 
 first is, as we have performed that duty. The se- 
 cond, as we have violated the law by non-perform- 
 ance or transgression. The first is, the knowledge 
 of ourselves as good ; the second as evil. And both 
 are either the knowledge of our habits, (good or 
 evil,) or of our acts; how we are morally inclined, 
 disposed, or habituated ; or what, and how we have 
 done: we must know the good estate of our nature 
 that we are created in ; the bad estate of sinful na- 
 ture that we are fallen into ; the actual sin commit- 
 ted against the law of nature, and what sin we have 
 committed against the law of grace; and whether 
 we have obeyed the call of the gospel of salvation or 
 not. So that as man's state, considered ethically, is 
 threefold, the state of upright nature ; the state of 
 sin, original and actual; and the state of grace; we 
 must know what we are in respect to every one of 
 these. 
 
 And as to the judicial knowledge of ourselves, 
 that is, as we stand related to the promises, and 
 threatenings, the judgment, the reward and punish- 
 ment ; we must know, first, what is due to us ac- 
 cording to the law of nature, and then, what is due 
 to us according to the tenor of the law of grace. By 
 the law of nature or of works, death is the due of 
 fallen mankind ; but no man by it can lay claim to 
 heaven. All men are under its curse or condemna- 
 tion, till pardoned by Christ ; but no man can be 
 justified by it. By the promise of the Gospel, all 
 true believers, renewed and sanctified by the Spirit 
 of Christ, are justified, and made the sons of God, 
 and heirs of everlasting glory. To know whether 
 we are yet delivered from the condemnation of the 
 
61 
 
 law, and whether our sins are pardoned or not, and 
 whether we are the children of God, and have any 
 part in the heavenly glory; is much of the self- 
 knowledge that is here intended in the text, and 
 that which most nearly concerneth the solid comfort 
 of our souls. 
 
 II. But is all self-ignorance a shame, or dan- 
 gerous ? 
 
 Answ. 1. It is no other shame, than what is com- 
 mon to human frailty, to be ignorant of much of the 
 mystery of our natural generation, constitution, in- 
 tegral parts, and temperament. There is not a 
 nerve, or artery, or vein, nor the breadth of a hand, 
 from head to foot, but hath something unknown to 
 the most excellent philosopher on earth. This little 
 world called man, is a compound of wonders. Both 
 soul and body have afforded matter of endless con- 
 troversy, and voluminous disputations, to the most 
 learned men ; which will not admit of a full deci- 
 sion, till we are past this state of darkness and mor- 
 tality. 
 
 2. There are many controversies about the na- 
 ture, derivation, and punishment of original sin, 
 which a humble and diligent Christian may possibly 
 be ignorant of. 
 
 3. The degrees of habitual sin, considered sim- 
 ply, or proportionably and respectively to each other, 
 may be much unknown to many that are willing and 
 diligent to know : and so many divers actual sins, 
 such as we know not to be sin, through our imper- 
 fect understanding of the law ; and such as, through 
 frailty, in a crowd of actions, escape our particular 
 observation. And the sinfulness or aggravations of 
 
62 
 
 every sin, are but imperfectly known and observed 
 by the best. 
 
 4. Tlie nature and beauty of the image of God, 
 as first planted on created man, and since restored 
 to man redeemed : the manner of the Spirit's access, 
 operation, testimony, and inhabitation, are all but 
 imperfectly known by the wisest of believers. The 
 frame, or admirable composure or contexture of the 
 new man, in each of the renewed faculties ; the con- 
 nection, order, beauty, and special use of each par- 
 ticular grace, are observed but imperfectly by the 
 best. 
 
 5. The very uprightness and sincerity of our own 
 hearts, in faith, hope, love, repentance, and obe- 
 dience, is usually unknown to young beginners in 
 religion ; and to the weaker sort of Christians, 
 how old soever in profession, and to melancholy 
 persons, who can have no thoughts of themselves 
 but sad and fearful, tending to despair; and to 
 lapsed and declining Christians, and also to many 
 an upright soul, from whom, in some cases of special 
 trial, God seems to hide his pleased face. And 
 though these infirmities are their shame, yet are they 
 not the characters or prognostics of their misery and 
 everlasting shame. 
 
 6. The same persons must needs be unacquainted 
 with the justification, reconciliation, adoption, and 
 title to everlasting blessedness, as long as they are 
 uncertain of their sincerity. Yea, though they up- 
 rightly examine themselves, and desire help of their 
 guides, and watch and pore continually upon their 
 hearts and ways, and daily beg of God to acquaint 
 them with their spiritual condition, they may yet 
 
63 
 
 be so far unacquainted with it, as to pass an unright- 
 eous judgment on themselves, and condemn them- 
 selves vvhen God hath justified them. 
 
 But, 1. To be continually ignorant of the excel- 
 lency and capacity of your immortal souls. 2. To 
 be void of an effectual knowledge of your sin and 
 misery, and need of the remedy. 3. To think you 
 have saving grace, when you have none ; that you 
 are regenerate by the Spirit, when you are only sa- 
 cramentally regenerate by baptism ; that you are 
 the members of Christ, when it is no such matter ; 
 that you are justified, adopted, and the heirs of 
 heaven, when it is not so; all this is doleful and 
 damnable unacquaintedness with yourselves. 
 
 To be unacquainted with a state of grace, when 
 you are in such a state, is sad and troublesome, and 
 brings many and great inconveniences. But to 
 be unacquainted with a state of death, when you 
 are in it, doth fasten your chains, and hinder your 
 recovery. To be willing and diligent to know your 
 state, and yet be unable to attain to assurance and 
 satisfaction, is common to many true believers ; but 
 to be ignorant of it because you have no grace to 
 find, and because you mind not the matters of your 
 souls, or think it not worth your diligent considera- 
 tion or inquiry, this is the case of the miserable de- 
 spisers of salvation. 
 
64 
 
 CHAPTER ir. 
 
 The Mischiefs of Sef- Ignorance. 
 
 1. Atheism is cherished by self-ignorance. The 
 knowledge of ourselves as men, doth greatly conduce 
 to our knowledge of God. Here God is known 
 but darkly, and as in a glass, and by his image, and 
 not as face to face. And, except his incarnate and 
 his written Word, what glass revealeth him so clearly 
 as the soul of man? We bear a double image of 
 our Maker: his natural image in the nature of our 
 faculties ; and his moral image in their holy qualifi- 
 cations, in the nature of grace, and frame of the 
 new man. By knowing ourselves, it is easy to 
 know that there is a God; and it much assisteth us 
 to know what he is, not only in his attributes and 
 relations, but even in the Trinity itself. He may 
 easily know that there is a primitive being and life 
 that knoweth he hath himself a derived being and 
 life. He must know that there is a Creator, that 
 knoweth he is a creature. He that findeth a capa- 
 cious intellect, a will and power in the creature, and 
 that is conscious of any wisdom and goodness in 
 himself, may well know that all these are infinite in 
 the first cause that must thus have in itself whatso- 
 ever it doth communicate. He that knoweth that 
 he made not, and preserveth not himself, may well 
 know that he is not his own, but his that made him 
 and preserveth him, who must needs be his absolute 
 Proprietor and Lord. He that knoweth that he is 
 
65 
 
 an intellectual moral agent, and therefore can act 
 morally, and is moved by moral means ; and that 
 he is a social creature, a member of the universe, 
 living among men, may well be sure, that he is made 
 to be a subject, and governed by laws, and by moral 
 means to be directed and moved to his end ; and, 
 therefore, that none but his absolute Lord, the In- 
 finite Wisdom, Goodness, and Power, can be his 
 absolute and highest sovereign. He that is con- 
 vinced that he is, he lives, he hopeth, and onjoyeth 
 all that is good, from a superior bounty, may be 
 sure that God is his principal Benefactor. And to 
 be, ' The first and infinite being, intellect, will, power, 
 wisdom, goodness, and cause, of all things; the ab- 
 solute Owner, the most righteous Governor, and 
 the most bounteous Benefactor,' is to be God. 
 This being the description of Him that is so called ; 
 such a description as is fetched from his created 
 image, man, and expressed in the terms that him^ 
 self hath chosen, and used in his word, as knowing 
 that if he will be understood by man, he must use 
 the notions and expressions of man ; and though 
 these are spoken but analogically of God, yet are 
 there no fitter conceptions of him that the soul of 
 man, in flesh, is capable of. So that the atheist 
 carrieth about him that impress and evidence of the 
 Deity, which may convince him, or condemn him 
 for his foolishness and impiety. He is a fool, in- 
 deed, that " saith in his heart there is no God," 
 when that heart itself, in its being, and life, and 
 motion, is his witness ; and soul and body, with all 
 their faculties, are nothing but the effects of this 
 Almighty Cause. And when they prove that there 
 
66 
 
 is a God, even by questioning or denying it, being 
 unable, without him, so much as to deny him ; that 
 is, to think, or speak, or be. As if a fool should 
 write a volume, to prove that there is no ink or 
 paper in the world, when it is ink and paper by 
 which he writes. 
 
 And whether there be no representation of the 
 Trinity in unity in the nature of man, let them 
 judge that have well considered, how in one body 
 there are the natural, vital, and animal parts, and 
 spirits; and in one life or soul, there are the vege- 
 tative, sensitive, and rational faculties ; and in one 
 rational soul as such, there are an intellect, will, and 
 executive power, morally perfected by wisdom, good- 
 ness, and promptitude to well-doing. As in one 
 sun there are light and heat, and moving force. So 
 that man is both the beholder and the glass ; the 
 reader and the book; he is the index of the God- 
 head to himself; yea, partly of the Trinity in unity. 
 We need not say. Who shall go up into heaven ? 
 Saith Seneca himself, by the light of nature, 
 "God is nigh us; with us; within us; a holy 
 Spirit resideth within us; the observer of our evil 
 and good, and our preserver; he useth us as he is 
 used by us; no good man is without God." Saith 
 Augustine, " God is in himself as the Alpha and 
 Omega ; in the world as its governor and author : 
 in angels, as their sweetness and comeliness; in the 
 church, as the master of the family in his house; 
 in the soul, as the bridegroom in his bed-chamber; 
 in the righteous, as their helper and protector," &c. 
 and as all declareth him, so all should praise him. — 
 " Let the mind be exercised in loving him, the tongue 
 
67 
 
 in singing him, the hand in writing him ; iet these 
 holy studies be the believer's work." 
 
 2. He that knoweth himself, may certainly know 
 that there is another life of happiness or misery for 
 man, when this is ended. For he must needs know, 
 that his soul is capable of a spiritual and glorioua 
 felicity with God, and of immaterial objects, and 
 that time is as nothing to it, and transitory creatures 
 afford it no satisfaction or rest; and that the hopes 
 and fears of the life to come, are the divine engines, 
 by which the moral government of the world is 
 carried on ; and that the very nature of man is such, 
 as that, without such apprehensions, hopes, and 
 fears, he could not, in a connatural way, be governed, 
 and brought to the end, to which his nature is in- 
 clined and adapted ; but the world would be as a 
 wilderness, and men as brutes. And he may well 
 know that God made not such faculties in vain, nor 
 suited them to an end which cannotbe attained, nor to 
 a work which would prove but their trouble and de- 
 ceit ; he may be sure that a mere probability or pos- 
 sibility of an everlasting life, should engage a rea- 
 sonable creature in all possible diligence, in piety 
 and righteousness, and charity to attain it : and so 
 rehgious and holy endeavours become the duty of 
 man as man ; there being few such infidels or 
 atheists to be found on earth, as dare say, they are 
 sure there is no other life for man ; and, doubtless, 
 whatsoever is by nature and reason made man's duty, 
 is not delusory and vain : nor is it reasonable to 
 think that falsehood, frustration, and deceit, are the 
 ordinary way by which mankind is governed by the 
 most wise and holy God. So that, the end of man 
 
68 
 
 may be clearly gathered from his nature ; forasmuch 
 as God doth certainly suit his works to their proper 
 use and ends. It is, therefore, the ignorance of 
 ourselves, that makes men question the immortality 
 of souls ; and, I may add, it is the ignorance of the 
 nature of conscience, and of all morality, and of the 
 reason of justice among men, that makes men doubt 
 of the discriminating justice of the Lord, which is 
 hereafter to be manifested. 
 
 3. Did men know themselves, they would better 
 know the evil and odiousness of sin. As poverty 
 and sickness are better known by feeling than by 
 hearsay;, so also is sin. To hear a discourse, or 
 read a book of the nature, prognostics, and cure of 
 the plague, consumption, or dropsy, doth little affect 
 us, while we seem to be sound and safe ourselves: 
 but when we find the malady in our flesh, and per- 
 ceive the danger, we have then another manner of 
 knowledge of it. Did you but see and feel sin as 
 it is in your hearts and lives, as oft as you read 
 and hear of it in the law of God, I dare say sin 
 would not seem a jesting matter, nor would those 
 be censured as too precise, that are careful to avoid 
 it, any more than they that are careful to avoid in- 
 fectious diseases, or crimes against the laws of man, 
 that hazard their temporal felicity or lives. 
 
 4. It is want of self-acquaintance that keeps the 
 soul from kindly humiliation : that men are insensible 
 of their spiritual calamities, and lie under a load of 
 unpardoned sin and God's displeasure, and never 
 feel it, nor loathe themselves for all the abominations 
 of their hearts and lives, nor make complaint to God 
 or man with any seriousness and sense. How many 
 
69 
 
 hearts would be filled with wholesome grief and 
 care, that now are careless and almost past feeling ! 
 and how many eyes would stream forth tears that 
 now are dry, if men were but truly acquainted with 
 themselves ! It is self-knowledge that causeth the 
 solid peace and joy of a believer, as conscious of that 
 grace that warranteth his peace and joy : but it is 
 self-deceit and ignorance that quieteth the pre- 
 sumptuous, that walk as carelessly, and sleep as 
 quietly, and bless themselves from hell as confidently, 
 when it is ready to devour them, as if the bitterness 
 of death were past, and hypocrisy would never be 
 discovered. 
 
 5. It is unacquaintedness with themselves that 
 makes Christ so undervalued by the unhumbled 
 world : that his name is reverenced, but his office 
 and saving grace are disregarded. Men could not 
 set so light by the physician, that felt their sickness, 
 and understood their danger. Were you sensible 
 that you are under the wrath of God, and shall 
 shortly and certainly be in hell, if Christ, received 
 by a hearty, working, purifying faith, do not deliver 
 you, you would have more serious, savoury thoughts 
 of Christ, more yearnings after him, more fervent 
 prayers for his healing grace, and sweet remembrance 
 of his love and merits, example, doctrine, and in- 
 estimable benefits, than lifeless hypocrites ever were 
 acquainted with. Imagine with what desires and 
 expectations the diseased, blind, and lame, cried after 
 him for healing to their bodies, when he was on 
 earth. And would you not more highly value him, 
 more importunately solicit him for your own souls, 
 if you knew yourselves? 
 
70 
 
 6. It is unacquaintedness with themselves that 
 makes men think so unworthily of a holy, heavenly 
 conversation ; and that possesseth them with fooHsh 
 prejudices against the holy care and diligence of be- 
 lievers. Did men but value their immortal souls, 
 as reason itself requireth them to do, is it possible 
 they should venture so easily upon everlasting 
 misery, and account it unnecessary strictness in 
 them that dare not be as desperately venturous as 
 they, but fly from sin, and fear the threatenings of 
 the Lord ? Did men but consider the worth and 
 concern of their souls, is it possible they should 
 hazard them for a thing of naught, for the favour of 
 superiors, or the transitory pleasures and honours of 
 the world ? Could they think the greatest care 
 and labour of so short a life to be too much for the 
 securing of their salvation ? Could they think so 
 many studious careful days, and so much toil, to be 
 but meet and necessary for their bodies, and yet 
 think all too much that is done for their immortal 
 souls? Did men but practically know that they are 
 the subjects of the God of heaven, they durst not 
 think the diligent obeying of him to be a needless 
 tinng, when they like that child or servant best, 
 that is most willing and diligent in their service. 
 Alas ! were men but acquainted with their weakness, 
 and sfnful failings, when they have done their best, 
 and how much short the holiest persons come of 
 what they are obliged to by the laws and mercies of 
 the Lord, they durst not make a scorn of diligence, 
 nor hate or blame men for endeavouring to be better, 
 that are sure, at best, they shall be too bad. When 
 the worst of men, that are themselves the greatest 
 
71 
 
 neglecters of God and their salvation, shali cry out 
 against a holy life, and making so much ado for 
 heaven, (as if a man that lieth in bed should cry out 
 against working too much or going too fast,) this 
 shows men's strangeness to themselves. Did the 
 careless world but know themselves, and see where 
 they stand, and what is before them, and how much 
 lieth on this inch of time ; did they but know the 
 nature and employment of a soul, and why their 
 Creator placed them for a little while in flesh, and 
 whither they must go when time is ended, you should 
 then see them in that serious frame themselves, 
 which formerly they disliked in others : and they 
 would then confess, that if any thing in the world 
 deserved seriousness and diligence, it is the pleasing 
 of God, and the saving of our souls. 
 • 7. It is for want of acquaintance with themselves, 
 that men are so deceived by the vanities of the 
 world; that they are drowned in the love of plea- 
 sures and sensual delights ; that they are so greedy 
 for riches, and so desirous to be higher than those 
 about them, and to waste their days in the pursuit 
 of that which will not help them in the hour of their 
 extremity. Did the voluptuous sensualist know 
 aright that he is a man, he would not take up with 
 the pleasures and felicity of a brute, nor enslave his 
 reason to the violence of his appetite. He would 
 know that there are higher pleasures which beseem 
 a man ; even those that consist in the well-being 
 and integrity of the soul, in peace of conscience, in 
 the favour of God, and communion with him in the 
 Spirit, in a holy life, and in the forethoughts and 
 hopes of endless glory. 
 
72 
 
 Did the covetous worldling know himself, he 
 would know that it must be another kind of riches 
 that must satisfy his soul, and that he hath wants of 
 another nature to be supplied : and that it more 
 concerncth him to lay up a treasure in heaven, and 
 think where he must dwell for ever, than to ac- 
 commodate this perishing flesh, and make provision 
 with so much ado, for a life that posteth away while 
 he is providing for it : he would rather make him 
 friends with the mammon of unrighteousness, and 
 lay up a foundation for the time to come, and labour 
 for the food that never perisheth, than to make such 
 a stir for that which will serve him so little a while; 
 that so he might hear " Well done, thou good and 
 faithful servant," &c. rather than " Thou fool, this 
 night thy soul shall be required of thee; then whose 
 shall those things be which thou hast provided ?" 
 
 Self-knowledge would teach ambitious men, to pre- 
 fer the calmest, safest station before the highest ; and 
 to seek first thekinjidom of God and its righteousness, 
 and to please him most carefully that hath the keys 
 of heaven and hell ; and to be content with food and 
 raiment in the way, while they are ambitious of a 
 higher glory. It would tell them, that so dark and 
 frail a creature should be more solicitous to obey 
 than to have dominion ; and that large possessions 
 are not the most congruous or desirable passage to a 
 narrow grave; and that it is the highest dignity to 
 be an heir of heaven. Would men but spend some 
 hours in the study of themselves, and seriously con- 
 sider what it is to be a man, a sinner, a passenger 
 to an endless life, an expectant of so great a change, 
 and withal to be a professed believer, what a change 
 
73 
 
 would it make in their cares, and tlieir desires and 
 conversations ! " Wliat strive you for, O worldlings? 
 what is here but a brittle glass full of dangers ? and 
 by how many dangers must you come to greater 
 dangers? Away with these vanities and toys, and 
 let us set ourselves to see the things that have no 
 end." — August inc. 
 
 8. It is for want of self-acquaintance that any 
 man is proud. Did men considerately know what 
 they are, how quickly would it bring them low ! 
 Would corruptible flesh, that must sliortly turn to 
 loathsome rottenness, be stout and lordly, and look 
 so high, and set fortii itself in gaudy ornaments, if 
 men did not forget themselves? Did rulers behave 
 themselves as those that are subjects to the Lord of 
 all, and have the greatest need to fear his judgment, 
 and prepare for their account : did great ones live as 
 men that know that rich and poor are equal with the 
 Lord, who respects not persons; and that they must 
 speedily be levelled with the lowest, and their dust 
 be mixed with the common earth, what an alteration 
 would it make in their deportment and affairs ! and 
 what a mercy would it prove to their inferiors and 
 themselves ! If men that swell with pride of parts, 
 and overvalue their knowledge, wit, or elocution, did 
 know how little indeed they know, and how much 
 they are ignorant of, it would much abate their 
 pride and confidence. The more men know indeed, 
 the more they know to humble tliem. It is the 
 novices,* that, " being lifted up with pride, do Aill 
 into the condemnation of the devil." They would 
 loathe themselves if they knew themselves. 
 
 9. It is self-ignorance that makes men rush upon 
 D 45 
 
74' 
 
 temptations, and choose them, when they customarily 
 pray against them. Did you know what tinder 
 lodgcth in your natures, you would guard your 
 eyes and ears, and appetites, and be afraid of the 
 least spark ; you would not be indifferent as to your 
 company, nor choose a life of danger to your souls, 
 for the pleasing of your flesh ; to live among the 
 snares of honour, or beauty and bravery, or sensual 
 delights; you would not wilfully draw so near the 
 brink of hell, nor be looking on the forbidden fruit, 
 nor dallying with allurements, nor hearkening to the 
 deceiver or his messengers. It is ignorance of the 
 weakness and badness of your hearts, that maketh 
 you so confident of yourselves, as to think that you 
 can hear any thing, and see any thing, and approach 
 the snare, and treat with the deceiver without any 
 danger. Self-acquaintance would cause more fear 
 and self-suspicion. 
 
 If you should escape well a while in your self- 
 chosen dangers, you may catch that at last that may 
 prove your woe. Temptation puts you on a combat 
 with the powers of the earth, and flesh, and hell ! 
 And is toil and danger your delight ? " Danger is 
 never overcome without danger," saith Seneca. It 
 is necessary valour to charge through all which you 
 are in; but it is temerarious fool-hardiness to seek 
 for danger, and invite such enemies, when we are so 
 weak. Goliath's " give me a man to fight with," is 
 a prognostic of no good success. Rather foresee all 
 your dangers to avoid them; understand where each 
 temptation lieth, that you may go another way if 
 possible. " Chastity is endangered in delights; 
 humility in riches; piety in business ; truth in too 
 
75 
 
 much talk; and charity in this world." — Bernard. 
 Alas ! did we but think what temptations did with a 
 Noah, a Lot, a David, a Solomon, a Peter, we 
 would be afraid of the enemy and weapon that such 
 worthies have been wounded by, and of the quick- 
 sands where they have so dangerously fallen. When 
 Satan durst assault the Lord himself, \Vhat hope will 
 he have of such as we? When we consider the mil- 
 lions that are blinded, and hardened, and damned by 
 temptations, are we in our wits if we will cast our- 
 selves into them ? 
 
 10. Self-acquaintance would confute temptations, 
 and easily resolve the case when you are tempted. 
 Did you considerately know the preciousness of your 
 souls, and your own concerns, and where your true 
 felicity lieth, you would abhor allurements, and en- 
 counter them with that argument of Christ, " What 
 shall it profit a man, if he win the world and lose his 
 soul? or what shall a man give in exchanse for his 
 soul?" The fear of man would be conquered by a 
 greater fear, as the Lord commandeth : " And I say 
 unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill 
 the body, and after that have no more that they can 
 do: but I will forewarn you whom you shall fear; 
 fear him, which, after he hath killed, hath power to 
 cast into hell : yea, I say unto you. Fear him." 
 
 11. It is unacquaintedness with themselves, that 
 makes men quarrel with the word of God, rejecting 
 it when it suits not with their deceived reason, and 
 to be offended with his faithful ministers, when they 
 cross them in their opinions or ways, or deal with 
 them with that serious plainness, which the weight of 
 the case, and their necessity doth require. Alas, sirs ! 
 
 D 2 
 
76 
 
 if you were acquainted with yourselves, you would 
 know that the holy rule is straight, and the crooked- 
 ness is in your conceits and misapprehensions; and 
 that your frail understandings should rather be sus- 
 pected than the word of God; and that your work is 
 to learn and obey the law, and not to censure it; 
 and that quarrelling vvith the holy word which you 
 should obey, will not excuse, but aggravate your 
 sin ; nor save you from the condemnation, but fasten 
 it, and make it greater. You would know that it is 
 more wisdom to stoop than to contend with God ; 
 and that it is not your physicians, nor the medicine, 
 that you should fall out with, hut the disease. 
 
 12. Self-acquaintance would teach men to be 
 charitable to others, and cure the common censori- 
 ousness, and envy, and malice of the world. Hath 
 thy neighbour some mistakes about the disputable 
 points of doctrine, or doubtful modes of discipline or 
 worship? Is he for the opinion, or form, or policy, 
 or ceremony, which thou dislikest ? Or is he against 
 those which thou approvest ? Or afraid to use them, 
 when thou thinkest them laudable? If thou know 
 thyself, thou darest not break charity or peace for 
 this. Thou darest not censure or despise him : but 
 wilt remember the frailty of thy own understanding, 
 which is not infallible in matters of this kind; and in 
 many things is certainly mistaken, and needs for- 
 bearance as well as he. Thou wouldst be afraid of 
 inviting God or man to condemn thyself, by thy 
 condemning others; and wouldst think with thyself: 
 ' If every error, of no more importance, in persons 
 that hold the essentials of religion, and conscien- 
 tiously practise what they know, must go for heresy. 
 
77 
 
 or make men sectaries, or cut them off from the fa- 
 vour of God, or the communion of the church, or the 
 protection of the magistrate, and subject them to 
 damnation, to misery, to censures, and reproach ; 
 alas, what then must become of so frail a wretch as 
 I, of so dark a mind, of so blameable a heart and 
 life, that am like to be mistaken in matters so great, 
 where I least suspect it !' It is ignorance of them- 
 selves, that makes men so easily think ill of their 
 brethren, and entertain all hard or mis-reports of 
 them, and look at them so strangely, or speak of 
 them so contemptuously and bitterly, and use them 
 so uncompassionately, because they are not in all 
 things of their opinion and way. They consider not 
 their own infirmities, and that they teach men how 
 to use themselves. The falls of brethren would not 
 be over-aggravated, nor be the matter of insult or 
 contempt, but of compassion, if men knew them- 
 selves. This is implied in the charge of the Holy 
 Ghost: " Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a 
 fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in 
 the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou 
 also Ije tempted : bear ye one another's burdens, and 
 so fulfil the law of Christ." The Pharisee, that 
 seeth not the beam of formality and hypocrisy in his 
 own eye, is most censorious against the motes of to- 
 lerable particular errors in his brother's eye. None 
 more uncharitable against the real or supposed errors 
 or slips of serious believers, than hypocrites, that 
 have no saving, serious faith and knowledge, but 
 place their religion in opinion and show, and wholly 
 err from the path of life. 
 
 13. It is ignorance of themselves that makes men 
 
78 
 
 divide the church of Christ, and pertinaciously keep 
 open its bleeding wounds, and hinder concord, and 
 disturb its peace. How far would self-acquaintance 
 go to the cure of all our discords and divisions ! Is 
 it possible that the Pope should take upon him the 
 government of the antipodes, even of all the world, 
 (and that, as to spiritual government, which requir- 
 elh more personal attendance than secular,) if he 
 knew himself, and consequently his natural incapa- 
 city, and the terror of his account for such a usurped 
 charge ? Self-acquaintance would depose their in- 
 quisitions, and quench their flames; and make them 
 know what spirit they are of, that inclineth not to 
 save men's lives, but to destroy them. Did they 
 know themselves, the Papists durst not multiply new 
 articles of faith, and ceremonies, and depart from 
 the ancient simplicity of the Gospel, and turn the 
 Creed or Scripture into all the volumes of their coun- 
 cils, and say, " All these decrees or determinations 
 of the church are necessary to salvation;" and so, 
 make the way of life more difficult, if not impossible, 
 (had they indeed the keys,) by multiplying their 
 supposed necessaries. Did they but know them- 
 selves aright, it were impossible they should dare to 
 pass the sentence of damnation on the far greater 
 part of the Christian world, because they are not 
 subject to their pretended Vice-Christ. Durst one 
 of the most leprous, corrupted sort of Christians in 
 the world unchurch all the rest that will not be as 
 bad as they, and condemn all other Christians as 
 heretics or schismatics, either for their adhering to 
 the truth, or for errors and faults, far smaller than 
 their own ? Did they know themselves and their 
 
79 
 
 own corruptions, they durst not tlius condemn them- 
 selves, by so presumptuous and blind a condemnation 
 of the best and greatest part of the Church of Christ, 
 which is dearest to him, as purchased by his blood. 
 If either the Protestants, or the Greeks, or the Ar- 
 menians, Georgians, Syrians, Egyptians, or Ethio- 
 pian Churches, be in as bad and dangerous a case, 
 as these usurping censurers tell the world they are, 
 what then will become of the tyrannous, supersti- 
 tious, polluted, blood-thirsty Church of Rome? 
 
 What is it but self-ignorance that perverteth the 
 unsettled among us, and sends them over to the 
 Roman tenets ? No man could rationally become a 
 Papist, if he knew himself. Let me prove this to 
 you in these four instances: 
 
 1. If he had but the knowledge of his natural 
 senses, he could not take them to be all deceived, 
 (and the senses of all others as well as his) about 
 their proper object; and believe the priests, that 
 bread is no bread, or wine no wine, when all men's 
 senses testify the contrary. 
 
 2. Some of them turn Papists because they see 
 some differences among other Christians, and hear 
 them call one another by names of contumely and 
 reproach ; and therefore they think that such can be 
 no true Churches of Christ: but if they knew them- 
 selves, they would be acquainted with more culpable 
 errors in themselves, than those for which many 
 others are reproached; and see how irrational a thing 
 it is to change their religion upon the scolding words 
 or slanders of another; or, which is worse, upon their 
 own uncharitable censures. 
 
 3. Some turn to the Papists, as apprehending 
 
80 
 
 their ceremonious kind of religion to be an easier 
 way to heaven than ours: but if they knew them- 
 selves, they would know that is a more solid and 
 spiritual sort of food that their nature requires, and 
 a more searching physic that must cure their diseases; 
 and that shells and chaff will not feed, but choke and 
 starve their souls. 
 
 4. All that turn Papists, must believe that they 
 were unjustified and out of the catholic church be- 
 fore, and consequently void of the love of God and 
 special grace: for they receive it as one of the Romish 
 articles, that out of their church there is no salvation. 
 But if these persons were indeed before ungodly, if 
 they knew themselves, they would find that there is 
 a greater matter necessary, than believing in the 
 Pope, and turning to that faction; even to turn to God 
 by faith in Christ, without which no opinions or 
 profession can save them. But if they had the love 
 of God before, then they were justified, and in the 
 church before; and therefore Protestants are of the 
 true church, and it is not confined to the Roman 
 subjects: so that if they knew this, they could not 
 turn Papists without a palpable contradiction. 
 
 The Papists' fugitives tell us, we are no true 
 ministers, nor our ministry effectual and blessed of 
 God. What need we more than imitate Paul, when 
 his ministry was accused, and call them to the know- 
 ledge of themselves, " Examine yourselves, whether 
 ye be in the faith? Prove yourselves: know ye not 
 your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, 
 except ye be reprobates ?" If they were ungodly, 
 and void of the love of God, while they were under 
 our ministry, no wonder if they turn Papists. For 
 
81 
 
 it is just with God, that those that "receive not the 
 love of the truth that they may be saved, be given 
 over to stroncp delusions to believe a lie." But if" 
 they received themselves the love of God in our 
 churches by our ministry, they shall be our witnesses 
 against themselves. 
 
 And others as well as Papists would be kept from 
 church divisions, if they did but know themselves. 
 Church governors would be afraid of laying things 
 unnecessary, as stumbling-blocks before the weak, 
 and of laying the unity and peace of the church 
 upon them ; and casting out of tlie vineyard of the 
 Lord, and out of their communion, all such as are 
 not, in such unnecessary or little things, of their 
 opinion. The words of the great Apostle of the 
 Gentiles, so plainly and fully deciding this matter, 
 would not have stood so long in the Bible, as utterly 
 insignificant, in the eyes of many rulers of the 
 churches, if they had known themselves, as having 
 need of their brethren's charity and forbearance. 
 " Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not 
 to doubtful disputations: for one believeth that he 
 may eat all things, another, that is weak, eateth 
 herbs. Let not him that eateth, despise him that 
 eateth not, (much less destroy him, or excommuni- 
 cate him,) and let not him which eateth not, judge 
 him that eateth : for God hath received him. Who 
 art thou that judgest another man's servant? To 
 his own master he standeth or fallethj yea he shall 
 be holden up, for God is able to make him stand. 
 One man esteemeth one day above another; another 
 esteemeth every day alike : let every man be fully 
 persuaded in his own mind." " Let us not there- 
 D 3 
 
82 
 
 fore judge one another anymore; but judge this 
 rather, that no man put a stumbHng-block, or an 
 occasion to fall, in his brother's way." " For the 
 kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righ- 
 teousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." 
 " For he that in these things serveth Christ, is ac- 
 ceptable to God, and approved of men." " We 
 then that are strong, ought to bear with the in- 
 firmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves." 
 " Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also 
 received us, to the glory of God." Self-acquain- 
 tance would help men to understand these pre- 
 cepts; and be patient with the weak, when we our- 
 selves have so much weakness, and not to vex or 
 reject our brethren for little or unnecessary things, 
 lest Christ reject or grieve us that have greater 
 faults. 
 
 Self-acquaintance, also, would do much to heal the 
 dividing humour of the people; and instead of se- 
 parating from all that are not of their mind, they 
 would think themselves more unworthy of the com- 
 munion of the church, than the church of their's. 
 
 Self-acquaintance makes men tender and compas- 
 sionate, and cureth a censorious, contemptuous mind. 
 It also silenceth passionate, contentious disputes, 
 and makes men suspicious of their own understand- 
 ings, and therefore forbiddeth them intemperately 
 to condemn dissenters. It also teacheth men to 
 submit to the faithful directions and conduct of their 
 pastors ; and not to vilify, forsake, and disobey them, 
 as if they were above them in understanding, and 
 fitter to be guides themselves; so that in all these 
 respects, it is ignorance of themselves that makes 
 
83 
 
 men troublers of the church, and the knowledge of 
 themselves would much remedy it. 
 
 14u And it is ignorance of themselves also, that 
 makes men troublers of the state. A man that doth 
 not know himself, is unfit for all society : if he be a 
 ruler, he will forget the common good, and instead 
 of clemency and justice, will violently exercise an 
 imperious will. If he be a subject, he will be cen- 
 suring the actions of his rulers, when distance and 
 unacquaintance makes him an incompetent judge. 
 He will think himself fitter to rule than they, and 
 whatever they do, he iraagineth that he could do it 
 better. And hence comes suspicions and murmur- 
 ings against them, and Corah's censures, " Ye take 
 too much upon you: are not all the people holy?" 
 Were men acquainted with themselves, their weak- 
 nesses, and their duties, they would rather inquire 
 whether they obey well, than whether their su- 
 periors rule well ; and would think the lowest place 
 to be most suitable to them ; and would quiet them- 
 selves in the discharge of their own duty, " making 
 supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiv- 
 ings for all men ; for kings, and for all that are in 
 authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable 
 life, in all godliness and honesty ; for this is good 
 and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour." 
 It would quiet all the seditions and tumults of the 
 world, if men were well acquainted with tliemselves. 
 
 15. Self-acquaintance would end abundance of 
 controversies, and very much help men to discern 
 the truth. In the controversy of free-will, or human 
 power; to know ourselves as we are men, would be 
 to know that we have the natural power and freedom 
 
84 
 
 consisting in the self-determining faculty and prin- 
 ciple. To know ourselves as sinful, would inform 
 us how mucli we want of the moral power which 
 consisteth in right inclinations, and the moral liberty, 
 from vicious dispositions and habits. Would time 
 permit, I might show it in the instances of original 
 corruption, of the nature of grace, of merit, the 
 cause of sin, and many other controversies, how 
 much error is promoted by the ignorance of our- 
 selves. 
 
 16. Self-acquaintance makcth men both just and 
 merciful. One cannot be so much as a good neigh- 
 bour without it, nor yet a faithful friend. It will 
 teacli you to put up with injuries, and to forgive; 
 as remembering that you arc hkely to be injurious 
 to others, and certainly are daily so to God. It is 
 such only that " with all lowliness, and meekness, 
 and long-suffering, forbear one another in love," 
 and " recompense to no man evil for evil," and " be 
 not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." 
 He that is drawn to passion and revenge, is over- 
 come when he seems to overcome by that revenge. 
 It teacheth us to forgive, to know that much is 
 forgiven us by Christ, or at least, what need we 
 have of such forgiveness. " Let all bitterness, 
 and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speak- 
 ing, be put away from you, with all malice ; and be 
 ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one 
 another, even as God for Christ's sake hath for- 
 given you." O that this lesson were well learned ! 
 
 17. Self-acquaintance will teach us the right 
 estimate of all our mercies : when we know how un- 
 worthy we are of the least, and what it is we prin- 
 
85 
 
 eipally need ; it will teach us thankfulness for all, 
 and teach us which of our mercies to prefer. Men 
 know not themselves and their own necessities, and 
 therefore they slight their chief mercies, accounting 
 them burdens, and are unthankful for the rest. 
 
 18. Self-acquaintance is necessary to the solid 
 peace and comfort of the soul. Security and stu- 
 pidity may quiet the ungodly for a while, and self- 
 flattery may deceive the hypocrite into a dream of 
 heaven ; but he that will have a durable joy, must 
 find some matter of joy within him, as the eflPects and 
 evidence of the love of God, and the prognostics 
 of his endless love. To know what Christ hath 
 suffered, and done, and merited, and promised, is 
 to know the general and principal ground of our re- 
 joicing; but something is wanting to make it peace 
 and joy to us, till we find the fruits of his Spirit 
 within us, without which no man can be his. " If 
 a man think himself to be something when he is 
 nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man 
 prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoic- 
 ing in himself alone, and not in another." The 
 seal, and witness, and beginnings of life, must be 
 within you, if you will know that you are the heirs 
 of life. 
 
 19. Self-ignorance causcth men to misinterpret 
 and repine at the providence of God, and to be fro- 
 ward under his most righteous judgments. Be- 
 cause men know not what they have deserved, and 
 what is good for tliem, tliey know not the reason 
 and intent of Providence ; and therefore they quarrel 
 with their Maker, and murmur as if he did them 
 wrong : when self-acquaintance would teach them ta 
 
86 
 
 justify God in all his dealings, and resolve the blame 
 of all into themselves. The nature of man doth 
 teach all the world, when any hurt is done to so- 
 cieties or persons, to inquire by whose will, as well 
 as by whose hands, it was perpetrated; and to re- 
 solve all the crimes that are committed in the world 
 into the will of man, and there to leave the guilt 
 and blame, and not excuse the malefactors upon any 
 pretence of the concourse or predetermination of the 
 first or any superior cause : and to justify the judge 
 and executioner that takes away men's lives, or 
 estates, as long as themselves are proved to deserve 
 it. And surely the knowledge of the nature and 
 depravity of man should teach us to deal as equally 
 with God, and finally resolve all guilt and blame 
 into the free and vitiated will of man. Humbhng 
 self-knowledge maketh us say, with Job, " Behold, 
 I am vile, what shall I answer thee? I will lay my 
 hand upon my mouth :" and when God is glorifying 
 himself on our relations, or ourselves, by his judg- 
 ments, it teacheth us, with Aaron, to hold our peace, 
 and to say, with Eh, " It is the Lord, let him do 
 what seemeth him good." And with David, " If 
 I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord he will 
 bring me again, and show me it, and his habitation : 
 But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; be- 
 hold here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good 
 to him." And as the afflicted church, " I will bear 
 the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned 
 against him." Even a Pharaoh, when affliction 
 hath taught him a little to know himself, will say, 
 " The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are 
 wicked." When llehoboam and his princes are 
 humbled, they say, " The Lord is righteous." 
 
87 
 
 20. Lastly, it is for want of the knowledge of 
 ourselves, that precious time is so much lost, and 
 coming death no more prepared for. Did we carry 
 still about us the sensible knowledge of our mor- 
 tality, and the inconceivable change that is made by 
 death, we should then live as men that are continu- 
 ally waiting for the coming of their Lord ; and as if 
 we still beheld our graves. For we carry about us 
 that sin and frailty, such corruptible flesh, as may 
 tell us of death as plainly as a grave or a skeleton. 
 So great, so unspeakably necessary a work, as the 
 serious, diligent preparation for our end, could not 
 be so sottishly neglected by the ungodly, did they 
 thoroughly and feelingly know what it is to be a 
 mortal man ; what it is to have an immortal soul ; 
 what it is to be a sinner ; and what it is to pass into 
 an endless life of joy or misery. 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 
 Self- Ignorance detected and )eproved. 
 
 And now I may suppose, that the best of you 
 all, the most honourable, the most learned, the most 
 religious, (of them 1 dare affirm it,) will acknow- 
 ledge, that I want not sufficient reason to urge you, 
 with the question in my text, " Know ye not your 
 own selves ?" Judge by the forementioned effects, 
 whether self-acquaintance, even in the most weighty 
 and necessary respects, be common among professed 
 Christians. Doth he duly know himself as a man, 
 
88 
 
 that doubteth of a Deity, whose image is his very 
 essence, though not the moral image that must be 
 produced by renewing grace ? Or he that doubteth 
 of a particular Providence, of which he hath daily 
 and hourly experience ? Or he that doubteth of 
 the immortality of his soul, or of the life to come, 
 which is the end of his creation and ciulowments, 
 and is legibly engraven on the nature and faculties 
 of his soul ? Do they morally know themselves, 
 that make a jest of sin; and make it their delight? 
 That bear it as the lightest burden, and are not so 
 much humbled by all the distempers and miseries of 
 their souls, as they would be by a leprosy, an im- 
 prisonment, or disgrace ? That have as cold, un- 
 thankful thoughts of Christ, and of his grace and 
 benefits, as a sick stomach of a feast ? That com- 
 pliment him at the door, but will not be persuaded 
 to let him in, unless he will come upon their terms, 
 and dwell with their unmortified sin, and be a ser- 
 vant to their flesh, and leave them their worldly 
 prosperity and delights, and save them for these 
 fruits of the flesh, when sin and the world shall cast 
 them off? 
 
 Do those men truly know themselves, that think 
 they need not the Spirit of Christ for regeneration, 
 conversion, and sanctification ; nor need a diligent, 
 holy life ; nor to be half so careful and serious for 
 their salvation, as they are for a shadow of happiness 
 in the world ? That would, without entreaty, be- 
 stir themselves if their houses were on fire ; and yet 
 think he is too troublesome and precise, that en- 
 treateth them to bestir themselves for heaven, and to 
 quit themselves like men for their salvation ; and to 
 
89 
 
 look about them, and spare no pains for the escaping 
 everlasting misery ; when this is the time, the only 
 time, when all this must be done, or they are utterly 
 undone for ever. 
 
 Do they know themselves, and what they want, 
 and what indeed would do them good, that itch after 
 sensual delights, and please their appetites and lusts, 
 and waste their time in needless sports, and long for 
 honour and greatness in the world, and study for 
 preferment more than for salvation, and think they 
 can never stand too high nor have too much . as if it 
 were so desirable to fall from the highest pinnacle, 
 or to die forsaken by that, for which they forsook 
 the Lord. 
 
 Do our feathered, gaudy gallants, or our frizzled, 
 wanton dames, understand what it is that they are 
 so proud of, or do so carefully trim up and adorn ? 
 Do they know what flesh is, as they would do, if 
 they saw the comeliest of their companions, when he 
 hath lain a month, or twelve months, in the grave ? 
 Do they know what sin is, as a sight of hell would 
 make them know, or the true belief of such a state? 
 If they did, they would think that another garb doth 
 better beseem such miserable sinners ; and that per- 
 sons in their case have something else to mind, than 
 toyishly to spruce up themselves like handsome pic- 
 tures for men to look upon ; and something else to 
 spend their hours in, than dalliance and compliments, 
 and unnecessary ornaments ; and that the amiable 
 and honourable beauty, and comeliness, and worth, 
 consisteth in the holy image of God, the wisdom and 
 heavenly endowments of the soul, and in a heavenly, 
 charitable, righteous conversation, and good works; 
 
90 
 
 and not in a curious dress or gaudy attire, which a 
 fool may wear as well as a wise man, and a Dives, 
 that must lie in hell, when a Lazarus may lie in 
 sores and rags. 
 
 Do they know themselves that fear no snares, but 
 choose the life of the greatest temptations and danger 
 to their souls, because it is highest, or hath most 
 provision for the flesh ? and that think they can keep 
 in their candle in the greatest storms, and in any 
 company maintain their innocency ? And yet, can- 
 not understand so much of the will of God, nor of 
 their own interest and danger, as to resist a tempta- 
 tion when it comes, though it offer them but the 
 most inconsiderable trifle, or the most sordid and 
 unmanly lust. 
 
 Do they know themselves, that are prying into 
 unrevealed things, and will be wise, in matters of 
 theology, above what is written ? That dare set 
 their shallow brains, and dark, unfurnished under- 
 standings, against the infallible word of God; and 
 question the truth of it, because it suiteth not with 
 their lame and carnal apprehensions ; or, because 
 they cannot reconcile what seemeth to them to be 
 contradiction ; nor answer the objections of every 
 bold and ignorant infidel ? In a word, when God 
 must not be God unless he please them ; nor his 
 word be true, unless it be all within the reach of 
 them, that never employed the time and study to 
 understand it, as they do to understand the books 
 that teach them languages, arts, and sciences, and 
 treat of lower things : and when Scripture truth 
 must be called in question, as oft as an ignorant eye 
 shall read it, or an unlearned, graceless person mis- 
 
91 
 
 understand it: when offenders, that should bewail and 
 reform their own transgressions of the law, shall turn 
 their accusations against the law, and call it too pre- 
 cise or strict, and believe and practise no more than 
 stands with their obedience to the law of sin, and 
 will quarrel with God, when they should humbly 
 learn, and carefully obey him ; and despise a life of 
 holy obedience, instead of practising it; and in ef- 
 fect, behave themselves, as if they were fitter to rule 
 themselves and the world than God is; and as if it 
 were not God, but they, that should give the law, 
 and be the judge ; and God were the subject, and 
 man were God ? Do you think, that sinful, creep- 
 ing worms, that stand so near the grave and hell, do 
 know themselves, when they think, or speak, or live 
 according to such unreasonable arrogancy ? Do 
 they know themselves, that reproach their brethren 
 for human frailties, and difference of opinion in 
 modes and circumstances, and errors smaller than 
 their own ? And that, by calling all men heretics, 
 sectaries, or schismatics, that differ from them, do 
 tempt men to turn infidels or Papists, and to take 
 us all for such as we account each other ? And 
 that, instead of receiving the weak in faith, whom 
 God receiveth, will rather cast out the most faithful 
 labourers, and cut off Christ's living members from 
 his church, than forbear the imposing of unnecessary 
 things ? I dare say, were it not for unacquainted- 
 ness with our brethren and ourselves, we sliould put 
 those in our bosoms as the beloved of the Lord, 
 that now we load with censures and reproaches : and 
 the restoring of our charity would be the restoring 
 of our unity. If blind men would make laws for 
 
92 
 
 the banishment of all that cannot read the smallest 
 characters, you would say, they had forgot them- 
 selves. Nay, when men turn Papists or Separatists, 
 and fly from our churches, to shun those that per- 
 haps are better than themselves, and to get far 
 enough from the smaller faults of others, while they 
 carry with them far greater of their own ; when 
 people are more apt to accuse the church than tliem- 
 selves, and say the church is unworthy of their com- 
 munion, rather than that they are unworthy the 
 communion of the church, and think no room in the 
 house of God is clean and good enough for them, 
 while they overlook their own uncleanness; when 
 men endure a hundred calujnnics to be spoken of 
 their brethren, better than a plain reprehension of 
 themselves; as if their persons only would render 
 their actions justifiable, and the reprover culpable ; 
 judge whether these men are well acquainted witii 
 themselves. 
 
 What, should we go further in the search, when, 
 in all ages and countries of the world, the unmerci- 
 fulness of the rich, the murmuring of the poor, the 
 hard usage by superiors, the disobedience of in- 
 feriors, the commotions of the state, the wars and 
 rebellions that disquiet the world, the cruelty, 
 covered with pretences of religion, the unthankful- 
 ness for mercies, the murmuring under afflictions, 
 too openly declare that most men have little knowledge 
 of themselves ; to conclude, that when we see that 
 none are more self-accusing and complaining than 
 the most sincere, and none more self-justifying and 
 confident than the ungodly, careless souls ; that none 
 walk more heavily, than many of the heirs of life, 
 
93 
 
 and none are merrier than many that must lie in hell 
 for ever : that all that a minister can say, will not 
 convince many upright ones of their integrity, nor 
 any skill or industry suffice to convince most wicked 
 men that they are wicked ; nor, if our lives lay on 
 it, we cannot make them see the necessity of con- 
 version, nor know their misery, till feeling tell them 
 it is now too late: when so many walk sadly and la- 
 mentingly to heaven ; and so many go fearlessly and 
 presumptously to hell, and will not believe it till they 
 are there; by all this judge, what work self-igno- 
 rance raaketh in the world. 
 
 "Know thyself," is many a man's motto, that is 
 a stranger to himself, as the house may be dark 
 within that hath the sign of the sun hanging at the 
 door. It is easy to say, men should know them- 
 selves, and out of the book or brain, to speak of the 
 matters of the heart: but, indeed to know ourselves 
 as men, as sinners, as Christians, is a work of greater 
 difficulty, and such as few are well acquainted with : 
 Shall I go a little further in the discovery of it ? 
 
 1. Whence is it that most are so unhumbled ; so 
 great and good in their own esteem ; so strange to 
 true contrition and self-abhorrcnce, but that they are 
 voluntary strangers to themselves? To loathe 
 themselv£s for sin, to be little in their own eyes, to 
 come to Christ as little children, is the case of all 
 that know themselves aright. And Christ made 
 himself of no reputation, but took upon him the form 
 of a servant, and set us a pattern of the most won- 
 derful humiliation that ever was performed, to convince 
 us of the necessity of it, that have sin to humble us, 
 when he had none. " Learn of me, for I am meek 
 
94 
 
 and lowly." And one would think it were a lesson 
 easily learned by such as wc, that carry about us, 
 within and without, so much sensible matter of hu- 
 miliation. " Had Christ bid us learn of him to 
 make a world, to raise the dead, and work miracles, 
 the lesson had been strange : but to be meek and 
 lowly is so suitable to our low condition, that if we 
 knew ourselves we could not be otherwise." — An- 
 gustme. 
 
 To be holy without humility, is to be a man- with- 
 out the essentials of nature, or to build without a 
 foundation. It is the contrite heart that is the habi- 
 tation and delight of God on earth; the acceptable 
 sacrifice. " He that humbleth himself shall be ex- 
 alted, and he that cxalleth himself shall be brought 
 low." We must not overvalue ourselves, if we w'ould 
 have God esteem us; we must be vile and loathed 
 either in his eyes or our own. " It is specifical to 
 the elect to think more meanly of themselves than 
 they are." — Gregori/. But I urge you not to err in 
 your humility. It were low enough, if we were as 
 low, in our own esteem, as we are indeed : which 
 self-acquaintance must procure. IHe is least dis- 
 pleased with himself, that least knoweth himself; 
 and he that hath the greatest light of grace, perceiv- 
 eth most in himself to be reprehended." — Gregory. 
 Illumination is the first part of conversion, and of 
 the new creature; and self-discovery is not the least 
 pari of illumination. There can be no salvation 
 without it, because no humiliation. 
 
 But how rare this is, let experience determine. 
 To have a poor habitation, a poor attire, and per- 
 haps of choice, (though that is not usual,) is much 
 
95 
 
 more common than an humble soul. It is the most 
 ill-favoured pride that stealeth some rags of humility 
 to hide its shame. And saith Jerome truly, " It is 
 easier to change our clothing than our mind, and to 
 put off a gaudy habit, than our self-flattering, tume- 
 fied hearts." Many a one can live quietly without 
 gold rings and jewels, or sumptuous houses and at- 
 tendance, that cannot live quietly without the esteem 
 and applause of men, nor endure to be accounted as 
 indeed he is. 
 
 O therefore, as you would escape divine contempt, 
 and the most desperate precipitation, know your- 
 selves. For that which cast angels out of heaven, 
 will keep you out, if it prevail. As Hugo acutely 
 saith, " Pride was bred in heaven, (no otherwise 
 than as death in life,) but can never hit the way 
 thither again, from whence it fell." Open the win- 
 dows of our breast to the Gospel light, to the laws of 
 conviction, to the light of reason, and then be un- 
 humbled if you can. Nature is low, but sin and 
 wrath are the matter of our great humiliation, that 
 have made us miserably lower. 
 
 2. The abounding of hypocrisy showeth how little 
 men are acquainted with themselves. I speak not 
 here of that gross hypocrisy which is always known 
 to him that hath it, but of that close hypocrisy, 
 which is a professing to be what we are not, or to 
 believe what we believe not, or to have what we 
 have not, or to do what we do not. What article of 
 faith do not most of us confidently profess ? What 
 petition of the Lord's Prayer will they not put up ? 
 Which of the Commandments will they not profess 
 their obedience to ? While the stream of their con- 
 
90 
 
 versation testifieth, that in their hearts there is none 
 of the belief, the desire, or the obedience, in sincerity, 
 which they profess. Did they know themselves, 
 they would be ashamed of the vanity of their profes- 
 sion, and of the miserable want of the things pro- 
 fessed ; and that God, who is so nigh their moutlis, 
 is so far from their hearts. If you heard an illiterate 
 man profess, that he understandeth all the languages 
 and sciences, or a beggar boasting of his wealth, 
 would you take any of these to be the words of one 
 that knows himself? Surely they are in the dark 
 that spend their days in dreaming visions : but they 
 have their eyes so much on the beholders, that they 
 have no leisure to peruse themselves : they are so 
 careful to be esteemed good, that they are careless 
 of being what they seem. 
 
 Especially, if they practise not the vicious inclina- 
 tions of their hearts, they think they have not the 
 vice they practise not, and that the root is dead be- 
 cause it is winter : when it is the absence of tempta- 
 tions and occasions, and not of vicious habits or in- 
 clinations, that smooths their lives with seeming 
 innocency, and keeps their sins from breaking forth 
 to their own or others' observation. " The feeble 
 vices of many lie hid: there are wanting instruments 
 of drawing forth their wickedness. So a poisonous 
 serpent may be safely handled, while he is stiff with 
 cold, and yet it is not because he hath no venom, but 
 because it is stupificd : so it is with the cruelty, 
 luxury, and ambition of many." — Seneca, The 
 knowledge of yourselves is the bringing in of light 
 into your souls, which will awaken you from the hy- 
 pocrite's dream, and make such apparitions vanish. 
 
97 
 
 Come near this fire, and the paint of hypocrisy will 
 melt away. 
 
 3. The common impatience of plain reproof, and 
 the love of flattery, show us how much self-ignorance 
 doth abound. Most men love those that have the 
 highest estimation of them, be it true or false. They 
 are seldom offended with any for overvaluing them. 
 They desire not much to be accounted well when 
 they are sick, nor rich when they are poor, but to be 
 accounted wise though they are foolish, and godly 
 when they are ungodly, and honest and faithful 
 when they are deceitful and corrupt: this is a cour- 
 tesy that you must not deny them ; they take it for 
 their due. They will never call you heretics for 
 such errors as these: and why is it, but because they 
 err about themselves, and therefore would have others 
 do so too. 
 
 A wise man loveth himself so well, that he would 
 uot be flattered into hell, nor die as Sisera or Sam- 
 son, by good words, as the harbingers of his woe- 
 He loveth ingenuous penitence so well, that he can- 
 not love the flatterer's voice, that contradicteth it. 
 Faithful reprovers are the messengers of Christ, that 
 call us to repentance, that is, to life: unfaithful flat- 
 terers are the messengers of the devil, to keep us 
 from repentance, and harden us in impeiiitency unto 
 d«ath. If we know ourselves, we sliall know that 
 when we are over-valued and over-praised as being 
 being more learned, wise, or holy than we are, it is 
 not we that are loved and praised ; for we are not 
 such as that love or praise supposeth us to be. Vices, 
 like worms, are bred and crawl in the inward parts^ 
 unseen, unfelt of him that carrieth them about him ; 
 
 £ 45 
 
98 
 
 and therefore, by the sweetmeats of flattery and sen- 
 suality, they arc ignorantly fed : but it is bitter 
 medicines that must kill them; which those only 
 will endure, that know they have them, and what 
 they are. You speak bitterly, saith the impatient 
 sinner to the plain reprover ; but such are sweet and 
 excellent men that meddle not with the sore. But 
 it is bitter things that are wholesome to your souls, 
 that befriend your virtues. " Sermons.not piercing, 
 but pleasing, are not wise," saith Jerome. But, alas ! 
 men follow the appetite of their vices, not only in 
 choosing their meat, and drink, and company, and 
 recreations, but also in the choice of the church that 
 they will hold communion with, and the preachers 
 that they will hear : and they will have the sweet, 
 and that which their corruption loveth, come of it 
 what will. Nay, pride hath got so great dominion, 
 that flattery goeth for due civility ; and he is ac- 
 counted cynical or morose that useth it not. To 
 cal^ men as they are, or to tell them of their faults 
 with necessary freedom, though with the greatest 
 love, and caution, and deprecation of offence, is a 
 thing that most, especially great ones, cannot digest. 
 A man is supposed to rail, that speaketh without 
 fiattery ; and to reproach them, that would save them 
 from their sins. Saith Jerome, " The vice of flat- 
 tery now so reignctli, and, which is worst, goeth un- 
 der the name of humility and good-will, that he that 
 knoweth not how to flatter is reputed envious or 
 proud." Indeed, some men have the wit to hate 
 a feigned hypocritical flatterer, and also modestly to 
 take on them to disown the excessive commendations 
 of a friend; but these mistaken, friendly flatterers, 
 
99 
 
 seldom displease men at the heart. Saith Hierony- 
 mus, " We can say we are unworthy, and modestly 
 blush ; but, within, the heart is glad at its own com- 
 mendation." Saith Seneca, " We soon please our- 
 selves to meet with those that call us good men, wise 
 and holy : and we are not content with a little praise : 
 whatever flattery heapeth on us without shame, we 
 lay hold on it as due ; we assent to them that say we 
 are the best and most holy, when we oftentimes 
 know ourselves that they lie." All this is for the 
 want of the true knowledge of themselves. When 
 God hath acquainted a sinner effectually with him- 
 self, he quickly calleth himself by other names than 
 flatterers do. Vv'ith Paul he saith, " We ourselves 
 were sometime foolish, disobedient, serving divers 
 lusts an'd pleasures ;" that he was mad against the 
 saints in persecuting them. He then speaks so 
 mucli against himself, that, if tender ministers and 
 experienced friends did not think better of him than 
 he of himself, and persuade him to more comfortable 
 thoughts, he would be ready to despair, and think 
 himself unworthy to live upon the earth. 
 
 4. Judge also how well men know themselves, 
 when you have observed, what different apprehen- 
 sions they have of their own ftiults and of other 
 men's ; and of those that are suitable to their dispo- 
 sitions or interests, and those that are against them. 
 They seem to judge of the actions by the persons, 
 and not of the persons by the actions. Though he 
 be iiimself a sensualist, a worldling, drowned in am- 
 bition and pride, whose heart is turned away from 
 God, and utterly strange to the mystery of regene- 
 ration and a heavenly life, yet all this is scarcely dis- 
 E 2 
 
100 
 
 ceriied by him, and is little troublesome, and less 
 odious than the failings of another, whose heart and 
 life is devoted to God. The different opinions, or 
 modes and circumstances of worship, in another that 
 truly fcareth God, is matter of their severer cen- 
 sures and reproach, than their own omissions, and 
 averseness, and enmity to holiness, and the dominion 
 of their deadly sins. It seems to them more into- 
 lerable for another to pray without a book, than for 
 themselves to pray without any serious belief, or 
 love, or holy desire, without any feeling of their sins, 
 or misery, or wants; that is, to pray with tlie lips 
 without a heart ; to pray to God without God, even 
 without the knowledge or love of God, and to pray 
 without prayers. It seemed to the hypocrital Pha- 
 risees, a greater crime in Christ and his disciples, to 
 violate their traditions, in not washing before they 
 eat, to break the ceremonious rest of their Sabbath 
 by healing the diseased, or plucking ears of corn, 
 than in themselves to hate and persecute the true 
 believers and worshippers of God, and to kill the 
 Lord of Life himself. They censured the Samari- 
 tans for not worshipping at Jerusalem, but censured 
 not themselves for not worshipping God, that is a 
 Spirit, in spirit and in truth. Which makes me 
 remember the course of their successors, the ceremo- 
 nious Papists; that condemn others for heretics, and 
 fry them in the flames, for not believing that bread 
 is no bread, and wine is no wine, and that bread is 
 to be adored as God, and that the souls of dead men 
 know the hearts of all that pray to them in the world 
 at once; and that the Pope is the vice-christ, and 
 sovereign of all the Christians in the world; and for 
 
101 
 
 reading the Scriptures, and praying in a known 
 tongue, when they forbid it; and for not observing 
 a world of ceremonies; when all their enmity to rea- 
 son, piety, charity, humanity, all their religious ty- 
 ranny, "hypocrisy, and cruelty, do seem but holy zeal, 
 and laudable in themselves. To lie, dissemble, for- 
 swear, depose and murder princes, is a smaller mat- 
 ter to them when the Pope dispenseth with it, and 
 when it tends to the advantaf^e of their faction, which 
 they call the church, than to eat flesh on Friday, or 
 in Lent, to neglect the mass, or images, or cross- 
 ing, &c. 
 
 And it makes me remember Hall's description of 
 a hypocrite, " He turneth all gnats into camels, and 
 cares not to undo the world for a circumstance. 
 Flesh on Friday is more abominable to him, than 
 his neighbour's bed: he abhors more not to uncover 
 at the name of Jesus, than to swear by the name of 
 God, &c." It seems, that prelates were guilty of 
 this in Bernard's days, who saith, " Our prelates 
 strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel, while permit- 
 ting greater matters, they discuss (or sift) the less. 
 Excellent estimators of things indeed, that in smaller 
 matters employ great diligence; but in the greatest, 
 little or none at all." And the cause of all this par- 
 tiality is, that men are unacquainted with themselves. 
 They love and cherish the same corruptions in them- 
 selves, which they should hate and reprehend in 
 others. And saith Jerome, " How can a prelate of 
 the church reform the evil that is in it, that rusheth 
 into the like offence ? Or with what freedom can 
 he rebuke a sinner, when his conscience secretly tells 
 him, that he hath himself committed the same faults 
 which he reproveth ?" 
 
102 
 
 Would men but first be acquainted witli them- 
 selves, and pass an impartial jLulgment on the affec- 
 tions and actions that are nearest them, and that 
 most concern them, they would be more competent, 
 and more compasyiouatc judges of tiieir brethren, 
 that are now so hardly used by tiiem. It is excel- 
 lent advice that Austin gives us : " When neces- 
 sity constraineth us to reprove any one, let us think 
 whether it be such a vice as we never had ourselves; 
 and then let us think that we are men, and might 
 have had it : or, it" we once had such, but have not 
 now, then let the remembrance of common frailty 
 touch us, tiiat compassion and not hatred may lead 
 the way to our reproof: but if we find that we have 
 the same vice ourselves, let us not chide, but groan, 
 and move, (or desire) that we may both equally lay 
 it by." 
 
 5. It shows how little men know themselves, 
 wlien they must needs be the rule to all other men, 
 as far as they are able to commend it; and that in 
 the matters that men's salvation dcpeudeth on, and 
 in the smallest, tender, disputable points; and even 
 in those things where themselves are most unfit to 
 judge. ' In every controverted point of doctrine, 
 (though such as others have much better studied 
 than themselves,) he that hath strength to suppress 
 all those that differ from him, must ordinarily be 
 the umpire; so is it oven in the modes and circum- 
 stances of worship. Perhaps Christ may have the 
 honour to be called the King of the church, and 
 the Scripture have the honour to be called his laws. 
 ]jut indeed it is they that would be the lords them- 
 selves; and it is their wills and words that must jbe 
 
103 
 
 the laws; and this under pretence of serving Christ, 
 and interpreting his laws; when they have talked 
 the utmost for councils, fathers, church-tradition, it 
 is themselves that indeed must be all these ; for 
 nothing but their own conceits and wills must go for 
 the sense of decrees, or canons, fathers, or tradition. 
 Even they that hate the j>ower and serious practice 
 of religion, would fain be the rule of religion to all 
 others : and they that never knew what it was to 
 worship God in spirit and truth, with delight and 
 love, and suitableness of soul, would needs be the 
 rule of worship to all others, even in the smallest 
 circumstances and ceremonies. And they would be 
 the governors of the church, or tlie determiners of 
 its mode of government, that they would never be 
 brought under the government of Christ themselves. 
 , If it please them better to spend the Lord's-day in 
 plays or sports, or compliment or idleness, than ia 
 learning the will of God in his word, or worshipping 
 him, and begging his mercy and salvation, and 
 seriously preparing for an endless life, they would 
 have all others do the like. If their full souls 
 loathe the honey-comb, and they are weary of being 
 instructed above an hour, or twice a day, they would 
 have all others forced to tlieir measure, that they 
 may seem as diligent as others, when others are 
 compelled to be as negligent as they. Alas! did 
 men but know themselves, the weakness of their un- 
 derstandings, the sinful bias that personal interest 
 and carnal inclinations have set upon their wills, 
 they would be less arrogant and more compassionate, 
 and not think, by making themselves as gods, to 
 reduce the unavoidable diversities that will be found 
 
104. 
 
 among mankind, to a unity in conformity to their 
 minds and wills, and that in the matters of God and 
 salvation; where every man's conscience that is wise 
 and faithful, will be tenacious of a double interest 
 (of God and of his soul) which he cannot sacrifice 
 to the will of any. But be so just as not to mistake 
 and misreport me in all this, as if I pleaded for 
 libertinism or disorder, or spoke against govern- 
 ment, civil or ecclesiastical; when it is only private 
 ambition, uncharitableness, and cruelty, and papal 
 usurpations over the church and consciences of men, 
 that I am speaking of; which men, I am sure, will 
 have other thoughts of, when God hath made them 
 know themselves, than they have while passion hin- 
 dereth them from knowing what spirit they are of : 
 they will then see, that the weak in faith should 
 have been received, and that catholic unity is only 
 to be founded in the universal Head, and End, and 
 Rule. 
 
 6. The dreadful change that is made upon men's 
 minds, when misery or approaching death awakes 
 them, doth show how little they knew themselves 
 before. If they have taken the true estimate of 
 themselves in their prosperity, how come they to be 
 so much changed in adversity? Why do they 
 begin then to cry out of their sins, and of the folly 
 of their worldliness and sensuality, and of the vanity 
 of the honours and pleasures of this life? Why 
 do they then begin to wish, with gripes of con- 
 science, that they had better spent their precious 
 time, and minded more the matters of eternity, and 
 taken the course as those did whom they once de- 
 rided, as making more ado than needs ? Why do 
 
105 
 
 they then tremble under the apprehensions of their 
 unreadiness to die, and to appear before the dreadful 
 God, when formerly such thoughts did little trouble 
 them ? Now there is no such sense of their sin or 
 danger upon their hearts. Who is it now that ever 
 hears such lamentations and self-accusations from 
 them, as then it is likely will be heard ? The same 
 man that then will wish, with Balaam, that he might 
 " die the death of the righteous, and that his latter 
 end might be like his," will now despise and grieve 
 the righteous. The same man that then will pas- 
 sionately wish that he had spent his days in holy 
 preparations for his change, and lived as strictly as 
 the best about him, is now so much of another mind, 
 that he perceives no need of all this diligence; but 
 thinks it is timorous superstition, or at least, that he 
 may do well enough without it. The same man that 
 will then cry, ' Mercy, mercy — O mercy, Lord, to a 
 departing soul, that is laden witli sin, and trembleth 
 under the fear of thy judgment,' is now perhaps an 
 enemy to serious, earnest prayer, and hates the fami- 
 lies and persons that most use it; or at least is pray- 
 erless, or cold and dull himself in his desires, and 
 can shut up all with a few careless, customary words, 
 and feel no pinching necessity to awaken him, im- 
 portunately to cry and strive with God. Doth not 
 all this show, that men are befooled by prosperity, 
 and unacquainted with themselves, till danger or 
 calamity call them to the bar, and force them better 
 to know themselves. 
 
 Your mutability proveth your ignorance and mis- 
 takes. If indeed your case be now as good as pre- 
 sent confidence or security do import, lament it not 
 E 3 
 
lOG 
 
 in your adversity; fear it not when tleatli is calling 
 you to the har of the impartial Jutigc. Cry not out 
 then of your ungodliness and sensuality ; of your 
 trifling hypocrisy, your slight contemptuous thoughts 
 of God, and of your casting away your hopes of 
 heaven, by wilful negligence and delays. If you are 
 sure that you are now in the right, and diligent, 
 serious believers in the wrong, then stand to it be- 
 fore the Lord. Set a good face on your cause if it 
 be good; be not down in the mouth when it is tried; 
 God will do you no wrong: if your cause be good, 
 he will surely justify you, and will not mar it. Wish 
 not to die the dearth of the righteous; say not to 
 them, " Give us of-your oil, for our lamps are gone 
 out." If all their care, and love, and labour, in 
 " seeking first the kingdom of God and its righteous- 
 ness," be a needless thing, wish not for it in your 
 extremity, but call it needless then. If fervent 
 prayer may be spared now while prayer may be heard, 
 and a few lifeless words that you have learned by 
 rote may serve the turn, then call not on God when 
 answering is past, seek him not when he will not be 
 found. " When your fear cometh as desolation, 
 and your destruction as a whirlwind; when distress 
 and anguish come upon you," cry not, " Lord, Lord, 
 open unto us, when the door is shut." Call them 
 not foolish then that slept, but them that watched, if 
 Christ was mistaken, and you are in the right. 
 
 O sirs, stand but at the bedside of one of these 
 ungodly, careless men, and hear what he saith of 
 his former life, of his approaching change, of a holy 
 or carnal course, whether a heavenly or worldly life 
 is better, (unless God have left him to that de- 
 
107 
 
 plorable stupidity which an hour's time will put an 
 end to); hearken then whether he think that God 
 or the world, heaven or earth, soul or body, be more 
 worthy of man's chief care and diligence; and then 
 judge whether such men did know themselves in 
 their health and pride, v/hen all this talk would have 
 been derided by them as too precise, and such a life 
 accounted over-strict and needless, as then they are 
 approving and wishing they had lived. When that 
 minister or friend should once have been taken for 
 censorious, abusive, self-conceited, and unsufFerable, 
 that would have talked of them in that languaije as 
 when death approacheth, they talk of themselves; 
 or would have spoken as plainly, and hardly of them, 
 as they will then do of themselves. Doth not this 
 mutability show, how few men now have a true know- 
 ledge of themselves ? 
 
 What is the repentance of the living, and tlie 
 desperation of the damned, but a declaration that 
 the persons repenting and despairing, were unac- 
 quainted with themselves before ? Indeed the er- 
 roneous despair of men, while grace is offered them, 
 comes from ignorance of the mercy of God, and 
 willingness of Christ to receive all that are willing 
 to return. But yet the sense of sin and misery, 
 that occasioneth this erroneous despair, doth show 
 that men were before erroneous in their presumption 
 and self-esteem, Saith Bernard, " Both the know- 
 ledge of God and of thyself is necessary to salva- 
 tion ; because, as from the knowledge of thyself, the 
 fear of God cometh into thee, and love from the 
 knowledge of God : so, on the contrary, from the 
 ignorance of thyself cometh pride ; and from the 
 ignorance of God comes desperation." 
 
108 
 
 Poor men that must confess their sin and misery 
 at last, would show a more seasonable acquaintance 
 with themselves, if they would do it now, and say, 
 with the prodigal, " I will arise and go to my father, 
 and say to him. Father, I have sinned against hea- 
 ven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be 
 called thy son." In time, this knowledge and con- 
 fession may be saving. Even a Seneca could say, 
 without the Scripture, " The knowjedge of sin is the 
 beginning of recovery (or health): for he that knows 
 not that he sinneth, will not be corrected. Reprehend 
 thyself, therefore, as much as thou canst. Inquire 
 into thyself: first play the part of an accuser, then 
 of a judge : and lastly, of one that asketh pardon." 
 
 It is not because men are innocent or safe, that 
 we now hear so little confession or complaint; but 
 because they are sinful and miserable in so great a 
 measure, as not to know or feel it. Saith Seneca, 
 "Why doth no man confess his vices ? Because 
 he is yet in them. To tell his dreams is the part 
 of a man that is awake : and to confess his faults, is 
 a sign of health." If you call a poor man rich, or 
 a deformed person beautiful, or a vile, ungodly per- 
 son virtuous, or an ignorant barbarian learned, will 
 not the hearers think you do not know them ? And 
 how should they think better of your knowledge of 
 yourselves, if any of you that are yet in the flesh, 
 will say you are spiritual ? And those that hate 
 the holiness, and justice, and government of God, 
 will say they love him ? Or those that are in a state 
 of enmity to God, are as near to hell as the execu- 
 tion is to the sentence of the law, will persuade them- 
 selves and others, that they are the members of 
 
log 
 
 Christ, the children of God, and the heirs of hea- 
 ven ? And take it ill of any that would question it, 
 though only to persuade them to make it sure, and 
 to take heed what they trust to, when endless joy 
 or misery must be the issue ! 
 
 7. Doth it not manifest how little men know 
 themselves, when in every suffering that befals them, 
 they overlook the cause of all within them, and fall 
 upon others, or quarrel with every thing that standeth 
 in their way ? Their contempt of God doth cast 
 them into some affliction, and they quarrel with the 
 instruments, and meddle not with the mortal cause 
 at home. Their sin finds them out, and testifieth 
 against them ; and they are angry with the rod, and 
 repine at providence, as though God himself were 
 more to be suspected of the cause than they : yea, 
 it is become with many, a serious doubt, whether 
 God doth not necessitate them to sin; and, whether 
 they omit not duty merely because he will not give 
 them power to perform it; and, whether their sin 
 be any other than a relation unavoidably resulting 
 from a foundation laid by the hand pf God himself. 
 Do men know tliemselves, that will sooner suspect 
 and blame the most righteous, holy God, than their 
 own unrighteous, carnal hearts? " Man drinketh up 
 iniquity like water, but there is no unrighteousness 
 with God." And is not such a frail and sinful wight, 
 more likely to be the cause of sin than God? and 
 to be culpable in all the ill that doth bcfal us? 
 
 And it shows, that men little know themselves, 
 when all their complaints are poured out more 
 fluently on others than themselves : like sick sto- 
 machs, that find fault with every dish, when the 
 
110 
 
 fault is within tlicm. If tlicy want peace, content, 
 or rest, they lay the blame on this place or that, this 
 or that person or estate; they think if they had their 
 mind in this or that, they siiould be well : and there- 
 fore they are still contriving for somewhat which 
 they want, and studying changes, or longing after 
 this or that, which they imagine would work the 
 cure: when, alas, poor souls, the sin, the sickness, 
 the want is in themselves ! It is a wiser mind, a 
 better, more holy, heavenly will, that is wanting to 
 them ; without which nothing in the world will 
 solidly content and comfort them. Did you know 
 yourselves in all your griefs, it is there that you 
 would suspect and find your malady, and there that 
 you would most solicitously seek the cure. 
 
 By this time, if you are willing, you may see 
 where lieth the disease and misery of the world, 
 and also what must be the cure, Man hath lost 
 himself, by seeking himself; he hath lost himself in 
 the loss of God: he departed from God, that he 
 might enjoy himself; and so is estranged from God 
 and himself. He left the sun, and retired into 
 darkness, that he might behold himself, and not the 
 liaht : and now beholdeth neither himself nor the 
 light; for he cannot behold himself but by the light. 
 As if the body should forsake the soul, and say, I 
 will no longer serve another, but will be my own. 
 What would such a selfish separation procure, but 
 the converting of a body into a loathsome carcass, 
 and a senseless clod.'' Thus hath the soul dejected 
 itself, by turning to itself, and separating from God; 
 without whom it hath neither life, nor light, nor 
 joy. By desiring a selfish kind of knowledge of 
 
Ill 
 
 good and evil, withdrawing from its just dependence 
 upon God, it hath involved itself in care and misery, 
 and lost the quieting, delighting knowledge which 
 it had in God. And now poor man is lost in 
 error : he is straggled so far from home, that he 
 knowet^i not where he is, nor which way to return, 
 till Christ in mercy seek and save him. 
 
 Yet could we but get men to know that they do not 
 know themselves, there were the greater hope of their 
 recovery. But this is contrary to the nature of their 
 distemper. An eye that is blinded by a suffusion 
 or cataract, seeth not the thing that blindeth it : it 
 is the same light that must siiovv them themselves, 
 and their ignorance of themselves. Their self- 
 ignorance is part of the evil which they have to 
 know. Those troubled souls that complain that 
 they know not themselves, do show that they begin 
 at least to know themselves. But a Pharisee will 
 say, "Are we blind also?" They are too blind to 
 know that they are blind. The Gospel shall be 
 rejected, the apostles persecuted, Christ himself 
 abused and put to death, the nation ruined, them- 
 selves and their posterity undone, by the blindness 
 of these hypocrites, before they will perceive that 
 they arc blind, and that they know not God or 
 themselves. Alas ! the long calamities of the church, 
 the distempers and confusions in the state, the la- 
 mentable divisions and dissensions among believers, 
 have told the world, how little most men know them- 
 selves ; and yet they themselves will not perceive it. 
 They tell it aloud to all about them, by their self- 
 conceitedness and cruelty, uncharitable censures, re- 
 proaches, and impositions, that they know not them- 
 
112 
 
 selves, and yet you cannot make them know it. 
 Their afflicted hrethren feci it to their smart ; tlie 
 suffering, grieved churches tee! it; thousands groan 
 under it, that never wronged them ; and yet you 
 cannot make them feel it. 
 
 Did they well know themselves to be men, so 
 many would not use themselves like beasts, and care 
 so little for their most noble part. Did they know 
 themselves aright to be but men, so many would 
 not set up themselves as gods ; they would not ar- 
 rogate a divine authority in the matters of God, and 
 the consciences of otliers, as the Roman prelates do: 
 nor would they desire so much that the observation, 
 reverence, admiration, love, and applause, of all that 
 should be turned upon them ; nor be so impatient 
 when they seem to be neglected; nor make so great 
 a matter of their wrongs, as if it were some deity 
 that were injured. 
 
 O what a change it would make in the world, if 
 men were brought to the knowledge of themselves ! 
 How many would weep, that now laugh, and live in 
 mirth and pleasure ! How many would lament 
 their sin and misery, that now are pharisaically con- 
 fident of their integrity ! How many would seek 
 to faithful ministers for advice, and inquire what 
 they should do to be saved, that now deride them, 
 and scorn their counsel, and cannot bear their plain 
 reproof, or come not near them I How many would 
 ask directions for the cure of their unbelief, and 
 pride, and sensuality, that now take little notice of 
 any such sins within them ! How many would cry 
 day and night for mercy, and beg importunately for 
 the life of their immortal souls, that now take up 
 
113 
 
 with a few words of course, instead of serious, fer- 
 vent prayer ! Do but once know yourselves aright, 
 know what you are, and what you have done, what 
 you want, and what is your danger; and then be 
 prayerless and careless if you can ; then sit still and 
 trifle out your time, and make a jest of holy dili- 
 gence, and put God off with lifeless words and com- 
 pliments if you can. Men could not think so lightly 
 and contemptuously of Christ, so unworthily and 
 falsely of a holy life, so delightfully of sin, so care- 
 lessly of duty, so fearlessly of hell, so senselessly 
 and atheistically of God, and so disregardfully of 
 heaven as they now do, if they did but thoroughly 
 know themselves. 
 
 And now, sirs, methinks your consciences should 
 begin to stir, and your thoughts should be turned 
 inwards upon yourselves, and you should seriously 
 consider what measure of acquaintance you have at 
 home, and what you have done to procure ai.d main- 
 tain such acquaintance. Hath conscience no use to 
 make of this doctrine, and of all that hath been said 
 upon it? Doth it not reprove you for your self-ne- 
 glect, and your wanderings of mind, and your alien, 
 unnecessary fruitless cogitations ? Had you been but 
 as strange to your familiar friend, and as regardless 
 of his acquaintance, correspondence, and affairs, as 
 too many of you have been of your own, you may 
 imagine how he would have taken it, and what use 
 he would have made of it : some such use it be- 
 seemeth you to make of estrangedness to yourselves. 
 Would not he ask, " What is the matter that my 
 friend so seldom looketh at me; and no more mind- 
 eth me or my affairs? What have 1 done to him ? 
 
114 
 
 How have I deserved this? What more beloved 
 company or employment hath he got ?" You have 
 this and mucli more to plead against your great 
 neglect aud ignorance of yourselves. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Motives to Self- Acquaintance, 
 
 In order to your conviction and reformation, I 
 shall first show you some of those reasons, that 
 should move you to know yourselves, and conse- 
 quently should humble you for neglecting it: and 
 then I shall show you what are the hinderances that 
 keep men from self-acquaintance, and give you some 
 directions necessary to attain it. 
 
 In general consider, it is by the light of know- 
 ledge that all the affairs of your souls must be di- 
 rected: and therefore, while you know not yourselves, 
 you are in tlie dark, and unfit to manage your own 
 affairs. Your principal error about yourselves will 
 influence all the transactions of your lives; you will 
 neglect the greatest duties, and abuse and corrupt 
 those which you think you do perform. While 
 you know not yourselves, you know not what you 
 do, nor what you have to do, and therefore can do 
 nothing well. For instance, 
 
 I. When you should repent of sin, you know it 
 not as in j^ourselves, and therefore cannot savingly 
 repent cf it. If you know in general that you are 
 sinners, or know your gross and crying sins, which 
 
115 
 
 conscience cannot overlook, yet the sins which you 
 know not, because you will not know them, may 
 condemn you. How can you repent of your pride, 
 hypocrisy, self-love, self-seeking, your want of love, 
 and fear, and trust in God, or any such sins, which 
 you never did observe? Or if you perceive some 
 sins, yet if you perceive not that they reign and are 
 predominant, and that you are in a state of sin, how 
 can you repent of that state which you perceive 
 not? Or if you have but a slight and superficial 
 sight of your sinful state and your particular sins, 
 you can have but a superficial, false repentance. 
 
 2. If you know not yourselves, you cannot be 
 duly sensible of your misery. Could it be expected 
 that the Pharisees should lament, that they were of 
 their father the devil, as long as they boasted that 
 they were the children of God ? Will they lament 
 that they are under the wrath of God, the curse of 
 the law, and the bondage of the devil, that know 
 not of any such misery that they are in, but hope 
 they are the heirs of heaven ? What think you is 
 the reason, that when Scripture telleth us that few 
 shall be saved, and none at all but those that are 
 new creatures, and have the Spirit of Christ, that 
 yet there is not one of many that is sensible that the 
 case is theirs ? Though Scripture peremptorily 
 concludeth, " That they that are in the flesh cannot 
 please God," and that " to be carnally minded is 
 death," and that " without holiness none shall see 
 God," and that all " they shall be damned that be- 
 lieve not the truth, but have pleasure in unrigh- 
 teousness," and that *' Christ will come in flaming 
 fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, 
 
IIG 
 
 and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting de- 
 struction, from the presence of the Lord, and the 
 glory of his power, when he shall come to be glo- 
 rified in his saints, and admired in all them that be- 
 lieve." And would not a man think that such 
 words as these should waken the guilty soul that 
 believes them; and make us all to look about us? 
 I confess it is no wonder, if a flat atheist or infidel 
 should slight them and deride them. But is it not 
 wonder if they stir not those, that profess to believe 
 the word of God, and are the men of whom these 
 Scriptures speak? And yet among a thousand that 
 are thus condemned already; (1 say, by the word, 
 that is the rule of judgment, even condemned al- 
 ready; for so God saith, John iii. 18.) how few 
 shall you see, that with penitent tears lament their 
 misery ! How few shall you hear, with true re- 
 morse, complain of their spiritual distress, and cry 
 out as those that were pricked at the heart, " Men 
 and brethren what shall we do?" How few hearts 
 are affected with so miserable a case ! Do you see 
 by the tears, or hear by the complaints, of those 
 about you, that they know what it is, to be unpar- 
 doned sinners, under the wrath of the most holy 
 God? And what is the matter that there is no 
 more such lamentation ? Is it because there are 
 few or none so miserable? Alas! no: the Scrip- 
 ture, and their worldly, fleshly, and ungodly lives, 
 assure us of the contrary. But it is because men 
 are strangers to themselves : they little think that it 
 is themselves, that all the terrible threatenings of 
 God do mean. Most of them little believe or con- 
 
117 
 
 sider what Scripture saith ; but fewer consider what 
 conscience hath to say within, when once it is 
 awakened, and the curtain is drawn back, and the 
 light appeareth. Did all that read and hear the 
 Scriptures know themselves, I will tell you how 
 they would hear and read it. When the Scriptures 
 saith, " To be carnally minded is death;" and " If 
 ye live after the flesh ye shall die;" the guilty man 
 would say, I am carnally minded : and I live after 
 the flesh : therefore I must turn or die. When 
 Scripture saith, " Where your treasure is, there 
 will your heart be also;" the guilty conscience 
 would assume, my heart is not in heaven, therefore 
 my treasure is not there. When Scripture saith, 
 " Except ye be converted and become as little 
 children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of 
 heaven," and " Except a man be regenerate and 
 born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom 
 of God;" and " If any man be in Christ, he is 
 a new creature: -old things are passed away, 
 behold all things are become new ;" and " If any 
 man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of 
 his;" — the guilty man would assume, I was never 
 thus converted, regenerate, born again, and made a 
 new creature : I have not the Spirit of Christ : 
 therefore I am none of his, and cannot enter into 
 the kingdom of heaven, till this change be wrought 
 upon me. When the Scripture saith, *' Whore- 
 mongers and adulterers God will judge;" — the 
 guilty man would say. How then shall I be able to 
 stand before him ? 
 
 Yea, did but men know themselves, they would 
 perceive their danger from remoter principles, that 
 
118 
 
 mention the dealing of God with others. When 
 they hear of the judgment of God upon the un- 
 godly, and the enemies of the church, they would 
 say, " Except I repent, I shall likewise perish." 
 When they hear that "judgment must begin at the 
 house of God," they would infer, " What shall be 
 the end of them that obey not the Gospel of God?" 
 And when they hear that " the righteous are 
 scarcely saved," they would think, " Where then 
 shall the ungodly and sinner appear?" 
 
 3. If you know not yourselves, you cannot be 
 Christians: you cannot have a practical belief in 
 Christ; for he is offered to you in the Gospel, as 
 the remedy for your misery ; as the ransom for your 
 enthralled souls; as the propitiation for your sin, 
 and your peace-maker with the Father; without 
 whose merit, satisfaction, righteousness, and inter- 
 cession, your guilty souls can have no hope. And 
 can you savingly value him in these respects, if you 
 know not that sin and misery, that guilt and thral- 
 dom, in which your need of Christ consisteth ? 
 Christ is esteemed by you according to the judg- 
 ment you pass upon yourselves. 
 
 They that say they are sinners, from a general 
 brain-knowledge, will accordingly say, Christ is their 
 Saviour and their hope, with a superficial belief ; and 
 will honour him with their lips, witii all the titles 
 belonging to the Redeemer of the world; but they 
 that feel that they are deadly sick of sin at the very 
 heart, and are lost for ever if he do not save them, 
 will feel what the name of a Saviour signifieth; and 
 will look to him, as the Israelites to the brazen 
 serpent, and will yield up themselves to be saved by 
 
119 
 
 hiai, in his way. An ineffectual knowledge of your- 
 selves, may make you believe in a Redeemer, as all 
 the city do of a learned, able physician, that will 
 speak well of his skill, and resolve to use him when 
 necessity constraineth them ; but at present they 
 find no such necessity. But an effectual sight and 
 sense of your condition, will bring you to Christ; 
 as a man in a dropsy or consumption comes to the 
 physician, that feels he must have help, or die. 
 Saith Bernard, " You will not take the Son of God 
 for a Saviour, if you be not affrighted by his threat- 
 enings." And if you perceive not that you are lost, 
 you will not heartily thank him that came to seek and 
 save you. Will you seek to him to fetch you from 
 the gates of hell, that find not that you are there? 
 
 But to the self-condemning soul, that knoweth 
 itself, how welcome would a Saviour be! How 
 ready is such a soul for Christ ! Thou that judgest 
 thyself, art the person that must come to Christ to 
 justify thee. Now thou art ready to be healed by 
 liim, when thou findest that thou art sick, and dead. 
 Hast thou received the sentence of death in thyself? 
 Come to him now, and thou shalt have life. Art 
 thou weary and heavy laden ? Come to him for rest : 
 come, and fear not ; for he bids thee come. Dost 
 thou know, that " thou hast sinned against heaven 
 and before God, and art not worthy to be called a 
 son ?" Do but cast thyself, then, at his feet, and 
 tell him so, and ask forgiveness; and try whether he 
 will not welcome and embrace thee, pardon and en- 
 tertain thee, clothe thee and feast thee, and rejoice 
 over thee, as one that " vvas lost and is found; was 
 dead and is alive." For, " he came to seek and 
 to save that which was lost." While thou saidst, 
 
no 
 
 " I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need 
 of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, 
 and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked :" 
 thou vvouldst not " buy the tried gold that thou 
 mightest be rich ; nor his white raiment that thou 
 mightest be clothed, that the shame of thy naked- 
 ness might not appear; nor Christ's eye-salve, that 
 t-liou mightest see." But now thou art poor in 
 spirit; and findest that thou art nothing, and hast 
 nothing, and of thyself canst do nothing, that is 
 acceptably good; and that of thyself thou art insuf- 
 ficient to think any thing that is good ; now thou art 
 readier for the help of Christ, and a patient fit for 
 the tender healing hand of the physician. Whilst 
 thou saidst, " God, I thank thee that I am not as 
 other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, nor 
 as this publican," thou wast farther from Christ and 
 justification, than now that thou standest as afar off, 
 and darest scarcely look up to heaven, but smitest 
 on thy breast, and sayest, " Lord, be merciful to 
 me a sinner." Not that extortioners, unjust, adul- 
 terers, or any that are ungodly, are justified, or can 
 be saved, while they are such: not that a smiting on 
 the breast, with a " Lord be merciful to me a sin- 
 ner," will serve their turn, while they continue in 
 their wicked lives; but when thou art brought to 
 accuse and condemn thyself, thou art prepared for 
 his grace that must renew and justify thee. None 
 sped better with Christ, than the woman that con- 
 fessed herself a dog, and begged but for the chil- 
 dren's crumbs; and the centurion that sent friends 
 to Christ, to mediate for him, as being unworthy to 
 come himself, and unworthy that Christ should come 
 under his roof. For, of the first, Christ said, " O 
 
woman, great is thy faith : bo it unto thee even as 
 thou wilt;" and of the second, hesaith, with admira- 
 tion, " I have not found so great faith, no, not in 
 Israel." Though tlioii art ready to deny the title 
 of a child, and to number thyself with the dogs, yet 
 go to him, and beg his crumbs of mercy. Though 
 thou think that Christ will not come to such a one 
 as thou, and though thou beg prayers of others, as 
 thinking he will not hear thy own, thou little think- 
 est, how this self-abasement and self-denial prepar- 
 eth thee for his tenderest mercies, and his esteem. 
 When thou art contrite (as the dust that is trodden 
 under feet), and poor, and tremblest at the word, 
 then will he look at thee with compassion and re- 
 spect. " For thus saith the high and lofty One that 
 inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in 
 the high and holy place : with him also that is of a 
 contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the 
 humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones : 
 for I will not contend for ever, neither will I be al- 
 ways wroth ; for tiie spirit should fail before me, and 
 the souls which I have made." When thou art 
 using the self-condemning words of Paul, " I am 
 carnal, sold under sin : wiiat I would, that I do not; 
 and what I h;ite, that do I. For 1 know that in me, 
 
 (that is, in my flesh) dwclleth no good thing 
 
 I find a law, that, when I would do good, evil is pre- 
 sent with me . A law in my members warring 
 
 against the law of my mind, and bringing me into 
 
 captivity to the law of sin ," when thou cricst 
 
 out with him, " O wretched man that I am, who 
 shall deliver me from the body of tliis death ;" thou 
 art then fitter to look to thy Redeemer, and use the 
 • F 4j 
 
122 
 
 following words, " I thank God through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord." When thou didst exalt thyself", 
 thou wast obnoxious to the storms of justice, which 
 was engaged to bring thee low : but now thou hum- 
 blest thyself, thou liest in the way of mercy, that is 
 engaged to exalt thee. Mercy looketh downward, 
 and can quickly spy a sinner in the dust ; but cannot 
 leave him there, nor deny him compassion and relief. 
 Art thou cast out as helpless, wounded by thy sin, 
 and neglected by all others that pass by? Thou art 
 the fittest object for the skill and mercy of Him that 
 washeth sinners in his blood, and tenderly bindeth 
 up their wounds, and undertakes the perfecting of 
 the cure, though yet thou must bear the surgeon's 
 hand, till his time of perfect cure be come. Now 
 thou perceivest the greatness of thy sin and misery, 
 thou art fit to study the greatness of his mercy ; and 
 with all saints (to strive) " to comprehend what is 
 the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and 
 to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." 
 Now thou hast " smitten upon the thigh," and said, 
 " What have I done?" thou art fitter to look upon 
 him that was wounded and smitten for thy transgres- 
 sions, and to consider what he hath done, and suf- 
 fered : how he " hath borne thy grief and carried 
 thv sorrows, and was bruised for thy iniquities; the 
 chastisement of our peace was laid upon him, and we 
 are healed by his stripes: all we like sheep have 
 gone astray : we have turned every one to his own 
 way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of 
 us all." Art thou in doubt whether there be any 
 forgiveness for thy sins; and whether there be any 
 place for repentance? Remember that Christ 'a 
 
123 
 
 *' exalted by God's right hand to be a Prince and a 
 Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel, and forgive- 
 ness of sins." And that he himself hath spoken it, 
 that " all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be for- 
 given unto men, except the blasphemy against the 
 Spirit." And this forgiveness of sins thou art 
 bound to believe as an article of thy creed: that it is 
 purchased by Christ, and freely offered in the Gos- 
 pel. Mercy did but wait all this while, till thou 
 wast brought to understand the want and worth of 
 it, that it might be thine. When a Peter, that de- 
 nieth Christ with oaths and cursing, goeth out and 
 weepeth, he speedily finds mercy from him without, 
 that he but now denied within. When so bloody a 
 |)ersecutor as Paul findeth mercy, upon his prostra- 
 tion and confession ; and when so great an offender 
 as Manasseh is forgiven upon his penitence, in bonds; 
 when all his witchcraft, idolatry, and cruelties are 
 pardoned, upon a repentance that might seem to have 
 been forced by a grievous scourge ; what sinner, 
 that perceives his sin and misery, can question his 
 entertainment if he come to Christ. Come to him, 
 sinner, with tliy load and burden; come to him with 
 all thy acknowledged uiiworthiness : and try whether 
 he will refuse tiiee. He hath professed that "him 
 that Cometh to him he will in nowise cast out." He 
 refused not his very murderers, when they were 
 pricked at the heart, and inquired after a remedy ; 
 and will he refuse thee ? Hath our Physician 
 poured out his blood to make a medicine for dis- 
 tracted sinners ; and now is he unwilling to work the 
 cure? O sinner! now thou art brought to know 
 thyself, know Christ also, and the cure is done. Let 
 F 2 
 
lliv lliouglits of tl)e remedy be deciicr, and larger, 
 and longer, than all tliy thoughts of thy misery : 
 it is thy sill and shame if it he not so. Why wilt 
 thou have twenty thoughts of sin and misery, for 
 one that thou hast of Christ and mercy? when 
 mercy is so large, and great, and wonderful as to 
 triumph over misery : and grace aboundeth much 
 more where sin hath abounded. Saith Augustine, 
 "Behold the wounds of Christ as he is hanging; 
 the blood of him dying, the price of him redeeming, 
 the scars of him rising. His head is bowed to kiss 
 thee; his heart open to love thee; his arms open to 
 embrace thee ; his whole body exposed to redeem 
 thee." 
 
 Saith Augustine, " The Maker of man was made 
 man ; that he might suck the breasts that rules the 
 stars ; that bread might hunger ; the spring (or foun- 
 tain) might thirst ; the light might sleep ; the way 
 might be weary in his journey ; that the truth might 
 be hidden by false witnesses ; that the Judge of 
 quick and dead might be judged by a mortal judge: 
 justice might be condemned by the unjust ; disci- 
 pline might be scourged ; the cluster of grapes might 
 be crowned with thorns; the foundation might be 
 hanged on a tree ; that strength might be weakened : 
 that health might be wounded ; and that life itself 
 might die." This is the wonderful mystery of love, 
 which will entertain the soul that comes to Christ, 
 and which thou must study to know when thou 
 knowest thyself. But till then all these will be rid- 
 dles to thee, or little relished : and Christ will seem, 
 to thy neglecting heart, to have died and done all 
 this in vain. 
 
125 
 
 And hence it is, that as proud, ungodly, sensual 
 men, were never sound believers, so they ofttinies 
 fall from that opiiiionative common faith which they 
 had, and of all men do most easily turn apostates : it 
 being just with God, that they should be so far for- 
 saken as to vilify the remedy, that would not know 
 their sin and misery, but love it, and pertinaciously 
 hold it, as their felicity ! 
 
 4. If you know not yourselves, you will not know 
 what to do with yourselves, nor to what end, and for 
 what work you are to live. This makes the holy 
 work neglected, and most men live to little purpose, 
 wasting their days in matters that themselves will 
 call impertinent, when they come to die; as if they 
 were good for nothing else: whereas, if they knew 
 themselves, they would know that tiiey are made and 
 fitted for more noble works. O man, if thou wcrt 
 acquainted well with thy faculties and frame, thou 
 wouldst perceive the name of Gud thy Maker, to he 
 so deeply engraven in thy nature, even in all thy 
 parts and powers, as should convince thee that thou 
 wast made for him ; that all thou art, and all thou 
 hast, is nothing worth, but for his service : as all the 
 parts and motions of a clock, or watch, are but to tell 
 the hour of the day. Thou wouldst know then the 
 meaning of sanctification and holiness; that it signi- 
 fieth but the giving God his own, and is the first 
 part of justice, without which no rendering men their 
 due can prove thee just. Thou wouldst then know 
 the unreasonableness and injustice of ungodliness 
 and all sin : and that to serve thy fleshly lusts and 
 pleasures, with those noble faculties, that were pur- 
 posely formed to love and serve the eternal God, is 
 
126 
 
 absurd and villanous. O man, didst thou but know 
 thyself, and for what employment thy faculties are 
 made, thou wouldst lift up thy head, and seriously 
 think, who holds the reins ? who keeps the breath 
 yet in thy nostrils, and continueth thee in life ? and 
 where it is that thou must shortly fix thy unchange- 
 able abode ; and what is now to be done in prepara- 
 tion for such a day ? Thou wouldst know that thy 
 higher faculties were not made to serve the lower : 
 thy reason to serve thy sensual delights. O man ! 
 hadst thou not lost the knowledge of thyself, thou 
 wouldst be so far from wondering at a holy life, that 
 thou wouldst look upon an unholy person as a mon- 
 ster. 
 
 I confess, my soul is too apt to lose its lively sense 
 of all these things ; but whenever it is awake, I am 
 ibrced to say, in these kind of meditations, If I 
 had not a God, to know and think on, to love and 
 honour, to seek and serve, what had I to do with 
 my understanding, will, and all my powers ? What 
 should I do with life and time? What use should 
 I make of God's provisions? What could J find to 
 do in the world, that is worthy of a man ? Were 
 it not as good to lie still, and sleep out my days, and 
 professedly do nothing, as to go dreaming, with a 
 seemine seriousness, and wander about the world as 
 in my sleep, and do nothing with such a troublesome 
 stir, as sensual, worldly persons do ? Could not I 
 have lived as a beast, without a reasonable, free- 
 working soul ? Let them turn from God, and 
 neglect the conduct of the Redeemer, and disregard 
 the holy approaches, and breathings, and workings 
 of the soul towards its beloved centre and felicity, 
 
127 
 
 that know not what an immortal soul is, or know 
 how else to employ their faculties, with satisfaction 
 or content to themselves. I profess here, as in his 
 presence, that is the Father of spirits, and before 
 angels and men, I do not, I know not, what else to 
 do with ray soul that is worth the doing, but what is 
 subservient to its proper object, its end and ever- 
 lasting rest. If the holy service of God, and the 
 preparation for heaven, and seeking after Christ and 
 happiness, be forbidden me, I have no more to do in 
 the world, that will satisfy my reason, or satisfy my 
 affections, or that, as a man or a Christian, I can 
 own. And it is as good not to live, as to be de- 
 prived of the uses and ends of life. Though my 
 love and desires are infinitely below the Eternal 
 goodness, and glory, which they should prosecute 
 and embrace, yet do my little tastes and dull desires, 
 and cold affections consent, unfeignedly, to say. Let 
 me have God or nothing: let me know him and his 
 will, and what will please him, and how I may enjoy 
 him : or, O that I never had an understanding to 
 know any thing ! Let me remember him ; or, O 
 that I had never had a memory ! Let me love him, 
 and be beloved of him ; or, O that I never had such 
 a thing as love within me ! Let me hear his teach- 
 ings, or have no ears ; let me serve him with my 
 riches, or let me have none ; and with any interest or 
 honour, or let me be despised. It is nothing that 
 he gives not being to ; and it is useless that is not 
 for his glory and his will. If God have nothing to 
 do with me, I have nothing to do with myself, and 
 the world hath nothing to do with me. 
 
 Let dark and dreaming sinners declare their 
 
128 
 
 shame, ami speak evil of what they never knew, anti 
 neglect the good they never saw ; let them that 
 know not themselves or God, refuse to give up 
 themselves to God, and think a life of sensuality 
 more suitable to them. But " Lord lift thou up the 
 light of thy countenance on me," and let me no 
 longer be a man, nor have reason, or any of thy ta- 
 lents in my trust, if I shall not be thine, and live to 
 thee. I say as Bernard, " Worthy is that man, O 
 Christ, to die, that refuseth to live to thee : and he 
 
 ' that is not wise to thee, is but a fool; and he that car- 
 eth to he, unless it be for lliee, is good for nothing, 
 and is nothing. For thyself, O God, hast thou made 
 all things ; and he that would be to himself, and not 
 to thee, among all things, beginneth to be nothing." 
 
 5. If you know not yourselves, you know not 
 how to apply the vvord of Gpd, which you read or 
 hear; you know not how to use either promises or 
 threatenings, to the benefit of your souls: nay, you 
 will misapply them to your hurt. If you are unre- 
 generate, and know it not, you will put by all the 
 calls of God, that invite you to come and be con- 
 verted, and think that they belong to grosser sinners, 
 but not to you. All the descriptions of the un- 
 sanctified and their misery, will little affect you; and 
 all God's threatenings to such will little move you ; 
 
 - for you will think they are not meant of you; you 
 will be pharisaically blessing yourselves, when you 
 should be pricked at the heart, and laid in contrition 
 at the feet of Christ: you will be thanking God that 
 you are not such as indeed you are; you will be 
 making application of the threatenings to others, and 
 pitying them when you should lament yourselves; 
 
129 
 
 you will be thundering when you should be trem- 
 bling; and speaking that evil of others that is your 
 own; and convincing others of that which you had 
 need to be convinced of; and wakening others by 
 talking in your sleep; and calling other men hypo- 
 crites, proud, self-conceited, ignorant, and other 
 such names that are indeed your own : you will read 
 or hear your own condemnation, and not be moved 
 at it, as not knowing your own description when you 
 hear it, but thinking that this thunderbolt is levelled 
 at another sort of men. All the words of peace and 
 comfort, you will think arc meant of such as you. 
 When you read of pardon, reconciliation, adoption, 
 and riglit to everlasting life, you will imagine that 
 alj these are yours. And thus you will be dreaming 
 that you are rich and safe, when you are poor and 
 miserable, and in the greatest peril. And is it not 
 pity that the celestial, undeceiving light, should be 
 abused to so dangerous self-deceit ? And that truth 
 itself should be made the furtherance of so great an 
 error? And that the eye-salve should more put out 
 your eyes? Is it not sad to consider, that you 
 should now be emboldened to presumption, by that 
 very word which (unless you be converted) will judge 
 you to damnation ? And that self-deceit should be 
 increased by the glass of verity that should unde- 
 ceive you ? 
 
 6. If you know not yourselves, you know not how 
 to confess or pray. This makes men confess their 
 sins so seldom, and with so little remorse to God 
 and man; you hide them because they are hidden 
 from yourselves; and therefore God will open them 
 to your shame: whereas, if they were opened to vou, 
 F 3 
 
130 
 
 tliey would be opened by you, and covered by God. 
 Saith Augustine, " I did not cover, but open that 
 thou mayest cover : I concealed not, that thou 
 mightest hide. For when man discloseth, God 
 covereth : when man hideth, God maketh bare : 
 when man confesseth, God forgiveth." For want 
 of self-acquaintance it is that men hypocritically 
 confess to God in way of custom, the sins which 
 they will deny or excuse to man; and will tell God 
 formally of much, which they cannot endure to be 
 told of seriously by a reprover: or, if they confess 
 it generally with a seeming humility to others, they 
 cannot bear that another should faithfully charge it 
 upon them, in order to their true humiliation and 
 amendment. Saith Bernard, " It is the sign of true 
 confession, if, as every one saith he is a sinner, he 
 contradict not another that saith it of him. For he 
 desireth not to seem a sinner, but righteous, when 
 one confesseth himself a sinner, when none reproveth 
 him. It is the vice of pride, for a man to disdain to 
 have that spoken to him of others, which he stuck 
 not to confess of his own accord concernincr himself." 
 
 And for prayer, it is men's ignorance of themselves 
 that makes prayer so little in request: hunger best 
 teacheth men to beg. You would be oftener on 
 your knees, if you were oftener in your hearts. 
 Prayer would not seem needless, if you knew your 
 needs. Know yourselves, and be prayerless if you 
 can. When the prodigal was convinced, he pre- 
 sently purposeth to confess and pray. "When Paul 
 was converted, Ananias hath this evidence of it from 
 God, " Behold he prayeth." Indeed the mward 
 part of prayer, is the motion of a returning soul to 
 
131 
 
 God. Saith Hugo, " Prayer is the turning of a 
 pious, humble soul to God, leaning upon faith, hope, 
 and love. It is the relief of the petitioner, the 
 sacrifice of God, the scourge of devils." 
 
 And self-knowledge would teach men how to 
 pray. Your own hearts would be the best prayer- 
 books to you, if you were skilful in reading them. 
 Did you see what sin is, and in what relation you 
 stand to God, to heaven and hell, it would drive 
 you above your beads and lifeless words of course, 
 and make you know, that to pray to God for pardon 
 and salvation, is not the work for a sleepy soul. 
 Saith Gregory, " He ofiFereth the truest prayer to 
 God, that knoweth himself, that humbly seeth he 
 is but dust, and ascribeth not virtue to himself," itc. 
 Nothing quenchelh prayer more than to be mistaken . 
 or mindless about ourselves. When we go fiom 
 home this fire goes out ; but when we return, and 
 search our hearts, and see the sins, the wants, the 
 weaknesses, that are there, and perceive the danger 
 that is before us, and withal the glorious hopes that 
 are offered us, here is fuel to inflame the soul, and 
 cure it of its drowsiness and dumbness. Help any 
 sinner to a clearer light, to sec into his heart and 
 life, and to a livelier sense of his own condition, and 
 I warrant you he will be more disposed to fervent 
 prayer, and will better understand the meaning of 
 those words, " That men ought always to pray and 
 not to faint;" and " pray without ceasing." You 
 may hear some impious persons now disputing 
 against frequent and fervent prayer, and saying, 
 " What need all this ado?" But if you were able 
 to open these men's eyes, and show them what is 
 
132 
 
 within them and before them, you would quickly 
 answer all tlicir arguments, and convince them better 
 than words can do, and put an end to the dispute. 
 You would set all the prayerless families in town 
 and country, gentlemen's and poor men's, on fervent 
 calling upon God, if you could but help them to 
 such a sight of their sin and danger, as shortly the 
 stoutest of them must have. Why do they pray, 
 and call for prayers, when they come to die, but 
 that tliey begin a little better to know themselves? 
 They see then that youth, and health, and honour, 
 are not th.c things, nor make thern so happy, as de- 
 ceiving prosperity once persuaded them. Did they 
 believe and consider what God saith of them, and 
 not what flattery and self-love say, it would open 
 the mouths of them that are most speechless. But 
 those that are born deaf are always dumb. How 
 can they speak that language with desire to God, 
 which they never learned by faith from God, or by 
 knowledge of themselves ? 
 
 And self-knowledge would teach men what to 
 ask. They would feel most need of spiritual mer- 
 cies, and beg hardest for them; and for outward 
 things, they would ask but for their daily bread, 
 and not be foolishly importunate with God for that 
 which they know not to be suitable or good for 
 them. " It is mercy to be denied sometimes when 
 we pray for outward things: our physician, and not 
 we, must choose our physic, and prescribe our diet." 
 And if men knew themselves, it would teach them 
 on what terms to expect the hearing of their prayers. 
 Neither to be accepted for their. merits, nor yet to 
 be accepted without that faith, and repentance and 
 
133 
 
 desire; that seriousness, humility, and sincerity of 
 heart, which the very nature of prayer to God doth 
 contain or pre-suppose. " He that nameth the 
 name of Christ, must depart from iniquity," and 
 must " wash himself and make him clean, and put 
 away the evil of his doings from before the eyes of 
 God, and cease to do evil, and learn to do well." 
 As knowing that though a Simon Magus must repent 
 and pray, and the " wicked, in forsaking his way, 
 and thoughts, and returning to the Lord, must seek 
 him while he may be found, and call upon him while 
 he is near;" and the prayers of an humble publican 
 are heard, when he sets his prayer against his sins: 
 yet if he would cherish his sin by prayer, and flatter 
 himself into a presumption and security in a wicked 
 life, because he useth to ask God forgiveness : if he 
 thus " regard iniquity in his heart, God will not 
 hear his prayers;" and " we know tiiat such im- 
 penitent sinners God heareth not." And thus the 
 prayers of the wicked, as wicked, (which are not a 
 withdrawing from his wickedness, but a bolster of his 
 security, and as a craving of protection and leave to 
 sin) are hut " an abomination to the Lord," The 
 bullet, the thorn must be first got out, before any me- 
 dicine can heal their wounds. Did men know them- 
 selves, and who they have to do with in their prayers, 
 they would not go from cards, and dice, and glut- 
 tony, and fornication, and railing, lying, or reviling at 
 the servants of the Lord, to a few hypocritical words 
 of prayer, to salve all till the next time, as if one 
 sin had procured the forgiveness of another. Nor 
 would they shut up a day of worldliness, ambition, 
 sensuality, or profaneness, with a few heartless words 
 
134. 
 
 of confession and supplication ; or with the words of 
 penitence, while their hearts are impenitent ; as if, 
 when they have abused God by sin, they would 
 make him amends, or reconcile him by their mockery. 
 Nor would they think to be accepted by praying for 
 that which they would not have ; for holiness, when 
 they hate it, and for deliverance from the sins which 
 they would not be delivered from, and would not 
 have their prayers granted. 
 
 7. If you know not yourselves, it will unfit you 
 for thanksgiving: your greatest mercies will be least 
 esteemed; and the lesser will be misesteemed. And 
 while you are unthankful for what you have, you 
 will be absurdly thanking God for that which indeed 
 you have not. What inestimable mercies are daily 
 trodden under feet by sinners, that know not their 
 worth, because they know not their own necessities! 
 They have time to repent, and make preparation for 
 an endless life : but they know not the worth of it, 
 but unthankfully neglect it, and cast it away on the 
 basest vanities : as if worldly cares, or wicked 
 company, or fleshly lusts, or cards, or dice, or revel- 
 lings, or idleness, were exercises in which they 
 might better improve it, than the works of holiness, 
 justice, and mercy, which God hath made the busi- 
 ness of their lives : or, as if the profits, and plea- 
 sures, and vainglory of this world, did better deserve 
 it than their Creator, and their own souls, and the 
 heavenly inheritance. But if their eyes were opened 
 to see where they stand, and what they are, and 
 what are their dangers and necessities, how thankful 
 would they be for one year, one month, one day, 
 one hour, to repent and cry to God for mercy ! And 
 
135 
 
 how sensibly would they perceive that a hundred 
 years' time is not too long to spend in serious pre- 
 paration for eternity ! 
 
 They have now the faithful ministers of Christ, 
 inviting them in his name to come to him and receive 
 the riches of his grace, and " beseeching them, in 
 his stead, to be reconciled unto God." But they 
 stop their ears, and harden their hearts, and stiffen 
 their necks, and love not to be disturbed in their 
 sins, but are angry with those that are solicitous for 
 their salvation, and revile them as too precise and 
 strict, that tell them of the " one thing needful," 
 and persuade them to choose the better part, and 
 tell them where their sin will leave them. They 
 take them for their friends that will encourage them 
 in the way that God condemneth, and be merry with 
 them in the way to endless sorrow, and flatter them 
 into security and impenitency till the time of grace 
 be past; but they hate them as their enemies that 
 faitlifully reprove them, and tell them of their tolly, 
 and call them to a safer, better way. Alas, sirs, 
 there would not be so many nations, congregations, 
 and souls now left in darkness and misery by their 
 own doing, having driven away the mercy of the 
 Gospel, and thrust their faithful teachers from them, 
 if they knew themselves. Men would not triumph 
 in their own calamity, when they have expelled their 
 faithful teachers, (the dust of whose feet, the sweet 
 of whose brows, the tears of whose eyes, and the fer- 
 vent prayers and groans of whose hearts must witness 
 against them,) if they knew themselves. They 
 would not be like a madman that glorieth that he 
 hath beaten away his physician and his friends, and 
 
136 
 
 is left to himself, if they knew themselves. When 
 they have the earnest calls of the Word without, and 
 convictions and urgings of the Spirit of God, and 
 their consciences within, they would not wilfully go 
 on, and cast these mercies at their heels, if they 
 knew themselves. 
 
 They have leave to join in the communion of 
 saints, and to enjoy the benefit of holy society in 
 prayer, and conference, and mutual love and spiri- 
 tual assistance, and in the public worship of God : 
 but they pass these by, as having more of trouble 
 and burden than of mercy, because they little know 
 themselves. 
 
 And their inferior mercies of health, and wealth, 
 and food, and raiment, and friends, and accommoda- 
 tions, they misesteem and misuse; and value them 
 but as provision for the flesh, and the satisfaction of 
 their sensual and inordinate desires, and not as ne- 
 cessary provision for their duty in the way to heaven ! 
 And therefore, they are most thankful for their 
 greatest snares : for that honour and abundance 
 which are stronger temptations than they can over- 
 come: for those fleshly contentments and delights, 
 which are the enemies of grace, and the prison of 
 their noblest faculties, and the undoing of their 
 souls. If they could for shame speak out, they would 
 thank God more for sensual pleasures, or riches, or 
 preferment, or lands, or houses, than ever they did 
 for all the offers of Christ and grace, and all the in- 
 vitations to a holy life. For there is much more 
 joy and pleasure in their hearts in the former than 
 in the latter. 
 
 And self-ignorance will also corrupt your thanksr 
 
137 
 
 giving, and turn it into sin and folly. Is it not 
 shame and pity to hear an unpardoned enemy of 
 holiness, and of God, to thank God that he is justi- 
 fied and reconciled to God, and adopted to be his 
 child, and made a member of Jesus Christ? And 
 to hear a carnal, unregenerate person give thanks 
 for his regeneration and sanctification by the Holy 
 Ghost? As it is to hear a leper give thanks for 
 perfect health, or a fool or madman thank God for 
 making him wiser than his neighbours? Is it not 
 pity to hear a miserable soul thank God for the grace 
 which he never had ? and one that is near eternal 
 misery to thank God for making him an heir of glory? 
 O how many have thanked God pharisaically for the 
 pardon of their sins, that must for ever suffer for 
 those sins! How many have thanked him for giv- 
 ing them the assured hopes of glory, that must be 
 thrust out into endless misery! As I have known 
 many, that by their friends and by themselves have 
 been flattered into confident hopes of life, when they 
 were ready to die, have thanked God that they were 
 pretty well, and the worst was past; which, in the 
 eyes of judicious standers-by, was not the least ag- 
 gravation of their sad and deplorable state. Me- 
 thinks it is one of the saddest spectacles in the world 
 to hear a man thanking God for the assurance of 
 salvation, that is in a state of condemnation, and 
 likely to be in hell for ever ! These absurdities 
 could not corrupt your highest duties, and turn them 
 into sin, if you knew yourselves. 
 
 A man that knowcth his own necessities and un- 
 worihinessj is thankful for a little to God and man. 
 Mercy is as no mercy, where there is no sense of 
 
138 
 
 need or misery. Therefore, God useth to humble 
 them so low in the work of conversion, whom he 
 meaneth ever after to employ in the magnifying of 
 his grace. And then that which is folly and hypo- 
 crisy from a Pharisee, will be an acceptable sacrifice 
 from an humble, grateful soul; and he that by grace 
 is difterenced from other men, may (modestly) thank 
 God that he is not as other men. For had he no- 
 thing more to thank God for, than the ungodly 
 world, he would be rejected and perish with the 
 world: and if he have more than the world, and- yet 
 be no more thankful than the world, he would be 
 guilty of greater unthankfulness than the world. 
 Saith Augustine, " This is not the pride of one 
 lift up, but the acknowledgment of one that is not 
 unthankful. Know that thou hast, and know that 
 thou hast nothing of thyself, that thou mayest nei- 
 ther be proud, nor yet unthankful. Say to thy 
 God, I am holy, for thou hast sanctified me: for I 
 have received what I had not; and thou hast given 
 me what I deserved not." The thanksgiving of a 
 faithful soul is so far from being displeasing to God 
 as a Pharisaical ostentation, that it is a great and 
 excellent duty, and a most sweet and acceptable 
 sacrifice. " Offer unto God thanksgiving — He 
 that oflereth praise glorifieth me." 
 
 8. And as to the Lord's Supper, what work they 
 are there like to make that are unacquainted with 
 themselves, you may conjecture from the nature of 
 the work, and the command of self-examination and 
 self-judging. Though some may be welcomed by 
 Christ, that have faith and love, though they doubt 
 of their sincerity, and know not themselves to be 
 
139 
 
 children of God ; yet none can be welcome that 
 know not themselves to be sinners condemned by the 
 law, and needing a Saviour to reconcile and justify 
 them. Who will be there humbled, and thankful 
 for a Redeemer, and hunger and thirst for sacramen- 
 tal benefits, that knoweth not his own unworthiness- 
 and necessities ? O what inestimable mercy would 
 appear in a sacrament to us, in the offers of Christ 
 and saving grace, and communion with God and with 
 his saints, if our appetites were but quickened by the 
 knowledge of ourselves ! 
 
 9. And I beseech you consider, whether all your 
 studies, and learning, and employments, be not ir- 
 rational, preposterous, and impertinent, while you 
 study not first to know yourselves ? You are near- 
 est to yourselves, and therefore should be best ac- 
 quainted with yourselves. What should you more 
 observe than the case of your own souls? and what 
 should you know better than what is within you, and 
 that which methinks you should always feel, — even 
 the bent of your own estimations and affections, the 
 sicknesses of your souls, your guilt, your wants, and 
 greatest necessities? AH your learning is but the 
 concomitant of your dotage, till you know yourselves. 
 Your wisest studies are but the workings of a dis- 
 tracted mind, while you study not yourselves, and 
 the things of everlasting consequence. To study 
 whether it be the sun or earth that raoveth, and not 
 consider what motion is predominant in thy soul and 
 life, is a pitiful, preposterous study : to tiiink more 
 what stars are in the firmament, than what grace is 
 in thy heart; and what planet reigneth, tlian what 
 disposition reigneth in thyself; and whether the Spi- 
 
110 
 
 rit or tlie flesh have the dominion, is but to be 
 learnedly beside thyself. 
 
 Is it not a laborious madness to travel into far 
 countries, and compass sea and land, to satisfy a cu- 
 riosity; and to be at so much cost and pains to know 
 the situation, government, and manners, of the cities 
 and countries of the world, and in the meantime to 
 be utterly strange at home, and never bestow one 
 day or hour in a serious survey of heart and life? 
 To carry about a dark, unknown, neglected soul, 
 while they are travelling to know remotest things 
 that less concern them ? Methinks it is a pitiful 
 thing, to hear men ingeniously discoursing of the 
 quality, laws, and customs of other nations, and to 
 be mute when they should express their acquaintance 
 with themselves, either in confession and prayer to 
 God, or in any humble, experimental conference 
 with men. To keep correspondence with persons of 
 all degrees, and to have no correspondence with them- 
 selves. To keep their shop-books and accounts with 
 diligence, and never regard the book of conscience, 
 nor keep account of that for which they must ere 
 long be accountable to God. It is a pitiful thing to 
 see men turn over voluminous histories, to know 
 what hath been done from the beginning of the 
 world, and regard no more the history of their own 
 lives, nor once look back with penitent remorse upon 
 their ungodly, careless conversations, nor say, ' What 
 have we done?' To see men have well-furnished 
 libraries, and read over a multitude of books, and 
 never read the state and record of their souls ! 
 
 It maketh you but objects of wonder and com- 
 passion, to read laws and records, and understand all 
 
141 
 
 cases, and never endeavour to understand the case 
 of your immortal souls ! To counsel others for their 
 temporal estates, and never understand your own 
 spiritual state ! To study the mysteries of nature, 
 and search into all the Works of God, except your- 
 selves, and that which your happiness or misery de- 
 pends on ! To study the nature, and causes, and 
 signs of bodily diseases, and their several remedies, 
 and never study the diseases of your own souls, nor 
 the precious remedy which mercy hath provided you ! 
 To cure the sicknesses of other men's bodies, and 
 never feel a stony, proud, or sensual heart ! To 
 know the matters of all arts and sciences, to be able 
 to discourse of them all to the admiration of the 
 hearers, is but an aggravation of thy lamentable 
 folly, if thou be all this while a stranger to thyself, 
 and thai because thou art mindless of thy soul's con- 
 dition ! It is more necessary to know yourselves, ' 
 your sin, your duty, your hopes, your dangers, than 
 to know how to cat, or drink, or clothe yourselves. 
 Alas ! it is a pitiful kind of knowledge, that will not 
 keep you out of hell ; and a foolish wisdom, that 
 teaches you not to save your souls ! Till you know 
 yourselves, the rest of your knowledge is but a con- 
 fused dream. Self-knowledge will direct you in all 
 your studies, and still employ you on that which is 
 necessary, and will do you good, when others are 
 studying but unprofitable, impertinent things; and 
 indeed are but ''• proud, knowing nothing, (when 
 they seem to excel in knowledge,) but doting about 
 questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, 
 strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of 
 men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, that 
 
142 
 
 take gain for godliness." Self-knowledge will help 
 you in all your studies. " You will know in what 
 order, with what study, and to what end every thing 
 should be known. In what order, that that may go 
 first, that most promoteth our salvation : to what 
 end, that it be not for vainglory and ostentation, but 
 for your own and other men's salvation." — Bernard. 
 
 And as it is ourselves and our own affairs that are 
 nearest to us, and therefore first in order to be 
 known ; so it is ourselves that we have a special 
 charge of, and that we are most obliged to study and 
 to know; and it is our own condition and soul affairs 
 that most concern us. Though sun, and moon, and 
 earth, be not little things in themselves; yet the 
 knowledge of them is a small, inconsiderable matter 
 to thee, in comparison of the knowledge of thyself. 
 The words even of Seneca are so pungent on this 
 subject, that I shall recite some of them, to shame 
 those professed Christians that are so much short of 
 a heathen. " What furtherance to virtue is the 
 enarration of syllables, the diligence of words, the 
 remembering of fables, and the law and modification 
 of verses? What of these taketh away fear, and 
 bridleth concupiscence ? — The geometrician teacheth 
 me to measure spacious grounds: let him rather 
 teach me to measure how much is sufficient for a 
 man. Thou canst measure rounds: if thou be an 
 artist, la^asiire the mind of man; tell him how great 
 it is, or how little or low. Thou knowest a straight 
 line : and what the better art thou if thou know not 
 what is -right or straight in thy own life? — This 
 diligent study of the liberal arts, doth make men 
 troublesome, unseasonable, wordy, self-pleasing, and 
 
143 
 
 such as therefore learn not things necessary, be- 
 cause they have learned things superfluous." 
 
 When our nearer, greater works are done, then 
 those that are more distant will be seasonable, and 
 useful, and excellent in their proper places. When 
 men understand the state and affairs of their souls, 
 and have made sure of their everlasting happiness, 
 they may then seasonably and wisely manage politi- 
 cal and economical affairs, and prudently order and 
 prosecute their temporal concerns: when they " first 
 seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness," 
 subordinate things may be seasonably considered.' 
 But for a man to be taken up about matters of law, 
 or trade, or pleasure, when he mindeth not the mat- 
 ters of his salvation; and to study languages, arts, 
 and sciences, when he studieth not how to escape 
 damnation, is not to be learned, but to dote; nor 
 to be honourably or prudently employed, but to walk 
 as a man in a dream, and live besides the reason of a 
 man, as well as below the faith of a Christian. These 
 seemingly wise and honourable worldlings, that la- 
 bour not to know what state and relation they stand 
 in to God, and his judgment, do live in a more per- 
 nicious distraction than he that is disputing in mood 
 and figure, while his house is burning over his head. 
 
 Even works of charity seem but absurd, prepos- 
 terous acts, in those that are not charitable to them- 
 selves. To be careful to feed or clothe the bodies 
 of the poor, and senseless of the naketJness and 
 misery of your own souls, is an irrational, distracted 
 course of mercy : as if a man should be busy to pull 
 a thorn out of another's finger, and senseless of a 
 stab that is given himself in the bowels, or at the 
 
144 
 
 ^ heart. To love yourself, and not your neighbour, 
 is selfish and uncharitable. To love neither your 
 neighbour nor yourself, is inhuman. To love your 
 neighbour and not yourself, is preposterous, irra- 
 tional, and scarcely possible. But to love first your- 
 self, (next to God,) and then to love your neighbour 
 as yourself, is regular, orderly. Christian charity. 
 
 10. Consider also, that the ignorance of your- 
 selves doth much unfit you to be useful to others. 
 If you are magistrates, you will never be soundly 
 faithful against the sin of otliers, till you have felt 
 how hurtful it is to yourselves. If you are ministers, 
 you will scarcely ever be good at heart-searching 
 work, till you have searched your own ; nor will you 
 know the deceitfulness of sin, and the turnings and 
 windings of the crooked serpent, till you have ob- 
 served them in yourselves; nor will you have due 
 compassion on the ignorant, impenitent, ungodly, 
 unconverted, or on the tempted, weak, disconsolate 
 souls, till you have learned rightly to be affected 
 with sin and misery in yourselves. If men see a 
 magistrate punish offenders, or hear a minister re- 
 prove them, that is as bad or worse himself, they will 
 but deride the justice of the one, and reproofs of the 
 other, as the acts or words of blind partiality or hy- 
 pocrisy, and accost you with a " Physician, heal 
 thyself." The eye of the soul is not like the eye of 
 the body, that can see otiicr things, but not itself. 
 There are two evils that Christ noteth in the reproofs 
 of such as are unacquainted with themselves, — hypo- 
 crisy, and unfitness to reprove. " Why beholdest 
 thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but con- 
 siderest not the beam that is in thine own eye ? Or 
 
145 
 
 how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the 
 mote out of thine eye, and behold, abeam is in thine 
 own eye ? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam 
 out of thine own eye, and then thou shalt see clearly 
 to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." Thy 
 own vices do corrupt thy judgment, and cause thee 
 to excuse the like in others, and to accuse the virtue 
 that in others is the condemner of thy vice, and to 
 represent all aS odious that is done by those that by 
 their piety and reproofs are become odious to thy 
 guilty and malicious soul. Dost thou hate a holy, 
 heavenly life, and art void of the love of God, and of 
 his servants? Hast thou a carnal, dead, unconverted 
 heart? Art thou a presumptuous, careless, worldly 
 wretch? Hast thou these beams in thy own eye? 
 And art thou fit to quarrel with others that are bet- 
 ter than thyself, about a ceremony, or a holiday, or 
 a circumstance of church-government or worsliip, or 
 a doubtful, controverted opinion ? And to be pull- 
 ing these motes out of thy brother's eye — (yea, 
 rather wouldst pull out his eyes, to get out the mote) 
 — first get au illuminated mind, and a renewed, 
 sanctified heart; be acquainted with the love of God, 
 and of his image ; and cast out the beam of infidelity, 
 ungodliness, worldlincss, sensuality, malice, and hy- 
 pocrisy, from thine own eye ; and then help to cure 
 him of his lesser involuntary errors and infirmities. 
 Till then, tlie beam of thy sensuality and impiety 
 will make thee a very incompetent judge of the mote 
 of a different opinion in thy brother. Every word 
 that thou speakest in condemnation of thy brother, 
 for his opinion or infirmity, is a double condemnation 
 of thyself for thy ungodly, fleshly life. And if thou 
 G 45 
 
146 
 
 wilt needs have "judgment to begin at the house of 
 God," for the failings of his sincere and faithful ser- 
 vants, it may remember thee to thy terror, " what 
 the end of them shall be that obey not the gospel of 
 God." And if you will condemn the righteous for 
 their lamented weaknesses, " Where think you the 
 ungodly and the sinner shall appear ?" 
 
 1 1. If you begin not at yourselves, you can make 
 no progress to a just and edifying knowledge of ex- 
 trinsic things. Man's self is the alphabet or primer 
 of his learning. " In vain doth he lift up his heart 
 to see God, that is yet unfit to see himself. For 
 thou must first know the invisible things of thy own 
 spirit, before thou canst be fit to know the invisible 
 things of God. And if thou canst not know thy- 
 self, presume not to know the things that are above 
 thyself." — Hugo. You caiinot see the face which 
 it representeth, if you will not look upon the glass 
 which representeth it. God is not visible, but ap- 
 peareth to us in his creatures; and especially in our- 
 selves. And if we know not ourselves, we cannot 
 know God in ourselves. " The principal glass for 
 the beholding of God, is the reasonable soul behold- 
 ing itself." — Hugo. 
 
 And you will make but an unhappy progress in 
 your study of the works of God, if you begin not 
 with yourselves. You can know but little of the 
 works of nature, till you know your own nature: 
 and you can know as little of the works of grace, till 
 self-acquaintance help you to know the nature and 
 danger of those diseases that grace must cure. 
 The unhappy error of presumptuous students, about 
 their own hearts, misleadeth and perverteth them in 
 
147 
 
 the whole course of their studies. It is a lament- 
 able sight to see a man turning over fathers and 
 councils, and diligently studying words and notions, 
 that is himself in the gall of bitterness and bond of 
 iniquity, and never knew it, nor studieth the cure. 
 And it is a pitiful thing to see such in a pulpit, 
 teaching the people to know the mysteries of salva- 
 tion, that know not, nor ever laboured to know, 
 what sins are predominant in their own hearts and 
 lives; or, whether they stand before God in a justi- 
 fied or a condemned state ! To hear a poor, un- 
 sanctified man, as boldly treating of the mysteries of 
 sanctification, as if he had felt them in himself: and 
 a man that is condemned already, and stayeth but 
 a while till the stroke of death, for final execution, 
 to treat as calmly of judgment and damnation, as if 
 he were out of danger ; and exhorting others to 
 escape the misery which he is in himself, and never 
 dreameth of it ! This showeth how sad a thing it 
 is for men to be ignorant of themselves. To see 
 men run out into damnable and dangerous errors on 
 each hand, some into the proud self-conceitedness of 
 the fanatics, enthusiasts, and libertines ; and some 
 into contempt and scorn of holiness, and every one 
 confident, even to rage, in his own distractions: this 
 doth but show us, whither men will go, that are un- 
 acquainted with themselves. 
 
 This also maketh us so troubled with our audi- 
 tors, that when they would learn the truth that should 
 convert and save them, are carping and quarrelling 
 with us, and hear us as the Pharisees and Herodians 
 heard Christ, to catch him in his words. And they 
 must tell us themselves what medicine must be given 
 G 2 
 
148 
 
 ihem, what doctrine, and what administrations they 
 must have. Yea, they that will not be directed or 
 healed by us, will blame usif others be not healed, and 
 hit the minister in the teeth with tiie errors and iaults 
 of his unteacliable hearers. Though we do our best, 
 in season and out of season, and they cannot tell us 
 what we have neglected, on our part, tiiat was like 
 to do the cure (though I confess we arc too often 
 negligent) : and though we succeed to the conver- 
 sion of many others, yet must we be reproached with 
 the disobedience of the impenitent ! As if it were 
 not grief enough to us, to have our labours frus- 
 trated, and see them obstinate in their sin and 
 misery, but we must also be blamed or derided for 
 our calamity ! 
 
 12. Lastly, consider but how many great and 
 necessary things concerning yourselves you have to 
 know, and it will show you how needful it is to 
 make this the first of your studies. To know what 
 you are as men; with what faculties you are en- 
 dowed, and to what use; for what end you live; in 
 what relation you stand to God and to your fellow- 
 creatures ; what duties you owe; what sin is in your 
 hearts; and what hath been, by commission and 
 omission, in your lives ; what humiliation, contrition, 
 and repentance you have for that sin ; whether you 
 have truly entertained an offered Christ; and are 
 renewed and sanctified by his Spirit; and unre- 
 servedly devoted to God, and resolved to be entirely 
 his: whether you love him above all, and your 
 neighbours as yourselves: whether you are justified 
 and have forgiveness of all your sins: whether you 
 you can bear afflictions from the hand, or for the 
 
149 
 
 sake of Christ, even to the forsaking of all the 
 world, for the hopes of the heavenly, everlasting 
 treasure : how you perform the daily works of your re- 
 lations and callings : whether you are ready to die, 
 and are safe from the danger of damnation, O did 
 you but know how it concerneth you to get all these 
 questions well resolved, you would find more matter 
 for your studies in yourselves, than in many volumes. 
 You would then perceive that the matters of your 
 own hearts and lives, are not so lightly and care- 
 lessly to be passed over, as they ordinarily are by 
 drowsy sinners. 
 
 If you have but many and weighty businesses to 
 think on in the world, you are so taken up with care, 
 that you cannot turn away your thoughts. And 
 yet do you find no work at home, where you have 
 such a world of things to think on, and such as, of 
 all the matters in the world, do most nearly concern 
 you? 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Exhortations to cultivate Self- Acquaintance. 
 
 Having showed you so much reason for this 
 duty, let me now take leave to invite you all, to the 
 serious study of yourselves. It is a duty past all 
 controversy, agreed on by heathens as well as Chris- 
 tians, and urged by them in the general, though 
 many of the particulars to be known are beyond their 
 light. It brutifieth man to be ignorant of himself: 
 "Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, (him- 
 
150 
 
 self especially,) is as the beasts that perish." Saith 
 Boetius, " It is worse than beastly to be ignorant of 
 ourselves, it being a vice in us, which is nature in 
 them." 
 
 Come home, you wandering, self-neglecting souls ; 
 lose not yourselves in a wilderness or tumult of im- 
 pertinent, vain, distracting things; your work is 
 nearer you ; the country that you should first sur- 
 vey and travel, is within you ; from which you must 
 pass to that above you : when by losing yourselves 
 in this without you, you will find yourselves, before 
 you are aware, in that below you. And then (as 
 Gregory speaks) he that was " a fool in sinning, will 
 be wise in suffering!" You shall then have time 
 enough to review your lives, and such constraining 
 help to know yourselves, as you cannot resist. 
 O that you would know but a little of that now, 
 which then you must else know in that overwhelm- 
 ing evidence which will everlastingly confound you! 
 And that you would now think of that for a timely 
 cure, which else must be thought of endlessly in 
 despair. Come home then, and see what work is 
 there. Let the eyes of fools be in the corners of 
 the earth I Leave it to men beside themselves, to 
 live as without themselves, and to be still from 
 home, and waste that time in other business, that 
 was given them to prepare for life eternal. " The 
 soul is more laudable that knows its own infirmity, 
 than he that without discerning this doth search 
 after the compass of the world, the courses of the 
 stars, the foundations of the earth, and the heights 
 of the heavens." — Augusfi?ie. Dost thou delight 
 in the mysteries of nature? Consider well the 
 mysteries of thy own. " Some men admire the 
 
lol 
 
 heights of mountains, the huge waves of the sea, 
 the great falls of the rivers, the compass of the 
 ocean, and the circuit of the stars, and they pass 
 by themselves without admiration." The com- 
 pendium of all that thou studiest without thee, is 
 near thee, even within thee, thyself being the epi- 
 tome of the world. If either necessity or duty, na- 
 ture or grace, reason or faith, internal inducements, 
 external repulses, or eternal attractives and motives, 
 might determine the subject of your studies and 
 contemplations, you would call home your lost, dis- 
 tracted thoughts, and employ them more on your- 
 selves and God. 
 
 But before I urge this duty farther," I must pre- 
 vent the misapplication of some troubled souls. I 
 must confess it is a grievous thing for a guilty soul 
 to judge itself, and see its own deformity and dan- 
 ger: and I observe many troubled, humbled souls, 
 especially where melancholy much prevails, are ex- 
 ceedingly prone to abuse this duty, by excess and 
 misdoing it. Though wandering minds must be 
 called home, we must not run into the other ex- 
 treme, and shut up ourselves, and wholly dwell ou 
 the motions of our own distempered hearts. Though 
 straggling thoughts must be turned inward, and our 
 hearts must be watched, yet must we not be always 
 poring on ourselves, and neglect the rest of our in- 
 tellectual converse. To pore too long on the dis- 
 ordered motions, the confused thoughts, the wants, 
 the passions of our diseased minds, will but molest 
 us, and cast us into greater disquiet and confusion. 
 The words of Anselme notably express the straits 
 that Christians are here put to, " O grievous strait ! 
 
152 
 
 If I look into myself, I cannot endure myself: if I 
 look not into myself, I cannot know myself. If I 
 consider myself, my own face affrightcth me: if I 
 consider not myself, my damnation deceiveth me: if 
 I see myself the horror is intolerable: if I see not 
 myself, death is unavoidable." 
 
 In this strait we must be careful to avoid both 
 extremes; and neither neglect the study of our- 
 selves, nor yet exceed in poring on ourselves. To 
 be carelessly ignorant of ourselves, is to undo our- 
 selves for ever. To be too mucli about ourselves, is 
 to disquiet rather than to edify ourselves ; and to turn 
 a great and necessary duty into a great unnecessary 
 trouble. 
 
 Consider, 1, That we have many other matters 
 of great importance to study and know, when we 
 know ourselves. We must chiefly study God him- 
 self, and all the books of Scripture, nature, and 
 governing providence, which make him known. 
 What abundance of great and excellent truths have 
 we in all these to study ! What time, what in- 
 dustry is necessary to understand them ! And 
 should we lay out all this time about our own hearts 
 and actions, which is but one part of our study ? 
 What sinful omissions should we be guilty of, in 
 the neglcctinf: of all these ! It is indeed but the 
 burying of our talent of understanding, to confine it 
 to so narrow a compass as ourselves, and to omit the 
 study of God, and his word and works, which are 
 all, with delight and diligence, to be studied. We 
 have also Christ, and his gospel mysteries and bene- 
 fits to study. We have the church's ease, its dan- 
 gers, sufferings, and deliverances to study: we have 
 
153 
 
 the state of our neighbours and brethren to consider 
 of; the mercies, and dangers, and sufferings, both of 
 their souls and bodies: we have our enemies to think 
 of with due compassion; and our duty to all these. 
 
 2. And as it is negligence and omission to be all 
 at home, and pass by so great a part of duty; so is it 
 a double frustration of our labour, and will make 
 even this study of ourselves to be in vain. (1.) We 
 cannot come, by all our study, to the true knowledge 
 of ourselves, unless we also study other things be- 
 sides ourselves. For we are related to God, as his 
 creatures, as his subjects, and as his dependent chil- 
 dren, as his redeemed, and his sanctified ones, or 
 should be such. And if we know not God as 
 Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier ; as our Owner, 
 Ruler, and Benefactor; and know not what his crea- 
 tion, redemption, sanciification, his title, govern- 
 ment, and benefits mean, it is not possible that we 
 should know ourselves. Mutual relations must be 
 known together, or neither can be known. 
 
 (2.) And if we could know ourselves, and know 
 no more, it were but to know nothing, and lose that 
 knowledge: for this is but the entrance into wisdom, 
 and the means and way to higher knowledge. This 
 learning of our primer is lost, if we learn no farther; 
 you are therefore to study and know yourselves, 
 that you may advance to the knowledge of Christ 
 and his grace, and be acquainted with the remedy 
 of all that you find amiss at home : and that by 
 Christ you may be brought unto the Father, and 
 know God as your happiness and rest; you are not 
 your own ultimate ends, and therefore must go 
 farther in your studies than yourselves. 
 
 G 3 
 
154 
 
 3. We shall never attain to rectitude or solid 
 comfort, unless our studies go farther than ourselves; 
 for we are not the rule to ourselves, but crooked 
 lines : and cannot know what is right and wrong, 
 if we study not the rule as well as ourselves. And 
 alas ! we are diseased, miserable sinners. And to 
 be always looking on so sad a spectacle, can bring 
 no peace or comfort to the mind. To be still look- 
 ing on the sore, and hearing only the cry of con- 
 science, will be but a foretaste of hell. When we 
 would be humbled, and have matter of lamentation, 
 we must look homeward, where troubling corruptions 
 grow. But if we would be comforted and lift up, 
 we must look higher, to Christ and to his promises, 
 and to everlasting life: our garden beareth no 
 flowers or fruits that are so cordial. 
 
 Two sorts of persons have great need of this 
 caution, that they dwell not too much on themselves. 
 One is, poor n alancholy people, that can think of 
 almost nothing else : their distemper disposeth them 
 to be always poring on themselves, and fixing their 
 thoughts on their sin and misery, and searching 
 into all their own miscarriages, and making them 
 worse than indeed they are : you cannot call off their 
 thoughts from continual self-condemning, and musing 
 on their own misdoings and unhappiness. They 
 have a God, a Christ, a heaven, a treasure of pre- 
 cious promises to meditate on: and they cannot hold 
 their thoughts to these, unless, as they aggravate 
 their sin and sorrows, but live as if they had nothing 
 to think on but themselves, and were made to be 
 their own tormentors: day and night, even when 
 they should labour, and when they should sleep, 
 
155 
 
 they are busy in a fruitless vexation of themselves. 
 These poor afflicted souls have need to be called 
 from the excessive study of themselves. 
 
 Another sort is, those Christians that are wholly 
 taken up in inquiring, whether they have saving 
 grace or not; while they neglect that exercise of 
 their grace, in doing all the good they can to others, 
 and following on the way of faithful duty, which 
 might do more to their assurance than solitary trials. 
 
 The former sort, by overdoing this one part of 
 their work, disable themselves for all the rest; they 
 tire and distract their minds, and raise such fears as 
 hinder their understandings, and cast their thoughts 
 into such confusion, that they quite lose the com- 
 mand of them, and cannot gather them up for any 
 holy work: yea, while they study nothing but them- 
 selves, they lose even the knowledge of themselves : 
 they gaze so long upon their faults and wants, till 
 they can see nothing else, and know no apprehen- 
 sions, but dark and sad ; and wilfully unlearn the 
 language of thanksgiving and praise; and the burden 
 of all their thoughts and speeches, is Miserable and 
 Undone; as if there were for them no mercy, no 
 help, no hope, but they were utterly forsaken, and 
 cast off by God. 
 
 The other sort do so exceed in the measure of 
 that self-love, which in itself is good, that they 
 neglect the study of the love of God, and are still 
 thinking what they are and have been, when they 
 should consider what they must be. They spend 
 so much time in trying their foundation, that they 
 can make but little progress in the building. They 
 are all day putting on their armour, and preparing 
 
15G 
 
 their weapons, when they should be fighting. When 
 they should instruct the ignorant, exhort the obsti- 
 nate, confirm the weak, or comfort the afflicted, they 
 are complaining of" their own ignorance, obstinacy, 
 weakness, or affliction ; and help not others, because 
 they feel such need of help themselves. They un- 
 derstand not that it is one of the mysteries of god- 
 liness, that teaching others doth inform themselves, 
 and the light which they bring in for others, will 
 serve themselves to work by ; and that reproving 
 others doth correct themselves; and exhorting others 
 doth prevail with themselves ; and persuading the 
 obstinate wills of others, doth tend to bend and re- 
 solve their own ; and that comforting others, doth 
 tend to revive and raise themselves: their own spirits 
 may be a little revived, by the very smell of the 
 cordials they prepare for others. In this case, giv- 
 ing is both begging and receiving. Doing good is 
 not the least effectual kind of prayer; and that we 
 may be so employed, is not the smallest mercy. 
 Many a one hath thus grown rich by giving: many 
 a one hath convinced himself, by confuting his own 
 objections from another: and many a one hath raised 
 and comforted himself, by offering comfort to others 
 that have the same infirmities ; and have banished 
 their own excessive doubts and fears, by frequent 
 compassionate answering the same in others, whose 
 sincerity they have less suspected than their own. 
 
 None thrive more than they that grow in the 
 sunshine of God's blessing : and God blesseth those 
 most that are the most faithful in his work : and the 
 work of love is the work of God. To do good, is 
 to be most like him j and they that are most like 
 
157 
 
 him, do best please him. In subordination to Christ, 
 in whom we are accepted, we must, by his Spirit, 
 be made thus acceptable in ourselves: we must be 
 amiable if we will be loved. And those that God 
 loveth best, and is most pleased with, are like to re- 
 ceive most plenteously from his love. It is neces- 
 sary, therefore, to our own safety, and holiness, and 
 consolation, that we look much abroad at the neces- 
 sities of others, and study our brethren, and the 
 church of God, as well as ourselves : that we " look 
 not every man on his own things, but every man 
 also on the things of others." 
 
 There may be somewhat of inordinate selfishness 
 even about our souls; and sinful selfishness is always 
 a losing course. As he that will be a self-saver, in 
 point of estate, or honour, or life, taketh the ready 
 way to lose them; so he that, for the saving of his 
 soul, will confine all his care and charity to his own 
 soul, taketh not the way indeed to save it. We 
 keep not ourselves; we quicken not, we comfort 
 not, we save not ourselves; but only as agents under 
 Christ, manuring the land, and sowing the seed, to 
 which he alone can give the blessing : it is not, 
 therefore, our inordinate self-studying that will do 
 it. With all our care, without his blessing, we 
 cannot add one cubit to the stature of our graces : 
 therefore, it must needs be our safest course, to be 
 as careful and faithful as we can in duty, and lay 
 out most of our study to please him; and then if we 
 come not to assurance of his love, or discern not his 
 image and grace upon us, yet we must trust him 
 with our souls, and leave the rest to his care and 
 goodness, that hath undertaken that none shall be 
 
158 
 
 losers by him, nor be ashamed, or have their hopes 
 frustrated, that wait upon him : " Let us commit the 
 keeping of our souls to him in well doing, as unto 
 a faithful Creator." " As the eyes of servants look 
 to the hand of their masters, — so our eyes, in a way 
 of duty, must wait upon the Lord our God, till he 
 have mercy upon us." And though we " grow 
 weary of crying, and our throat be dried, and our 
 eyes fail while we wait for God," yet " our hope is 
 only in him, and therefore we must continue to wait 
 upon him." " And they that wait for him shall 
 not be ashamed," 
 
 It is not the pretended necessity of one work, 
 that will excuse him that hath many as necessary to 
 do; especially when they are conjunct in nature and 
 necessity, and must go together, to attain their end. 
 Concerning God, as we may well say that we must 
 love and serve him only, and none but him, because 
 we must love nothing but for his sake, and as a 
 means to him, the end of all ; and so, while it is God 
 in all things that we love, we are more properly said 
 to love God than the creature by that act, because 
 he is the ultimate first intended end, and principal 
 object of that love; and as the means, as a means, 
 hath its essence in its relation to the end ; so the 
 love of the means, as such, is accordingly specified ; 
 and- so we may say of our study and knowledge of 
 God, that nothing but God is to be studied or 
 known ; because it is God in the creature that must 
 be studied. It is a defective similitude, as all are, 
 to say, ' As it is the face that we behold the glass 
 for :' for God is more in the creature than the face 
 in the glass. But though all the means be united 
 
159 
 
 in the end, yet are they various among themselves. 
 And therefore, though we must study, know, and 
 love nothing but God, yet we must study, know, and 
 love many things besides ourselves: the means that 
 are many, must all be thought on. 
 
 All men will confess, that to confine our charity 
 to ourselves, and to do good to no others, is unlike 
 a Christian. To deny to feed and clothe our 
 brother in his need, is to deny it unto Christ: and 
 it will be no excuse, if we were able to say, ' I laid 
 it out upon myself.' And the objects of our charity 
 must be the objects of our thoughts and care : and 
 it will not suffice for our excuse to say, ' I was taken 
 up at home, I had a miserable soul of my own to 
 think on.' 
 
 And yet, if these self-studying souls, that confine 
 almost all their thoughts to themselves, would but 
 seek after God in themselves, and see his grace and 
 benefits, it were the better; but, poor souls ! in the 
 darkness of temptation, they overlook their God; 
 and most of their study of themselves, is to see 
 Satan and his workings in themselves ; to find as 
 much of his image as the'y can, in the deformities 
 or infirmities of their souls; but the image of God 
 they overlook, and hardly will acknowledge. And 
 so, as noble objects raise the soul, and amiable ob- 
 jects kindle love, and comfortable objects fill it with 
 delight; and God, who is all in one perfection, doth 
 elevate and perfect it, and make it happy ; so in- 
 ferior objects depress it; and loathsome objects fill 
 it with distaste and loathing; and sad and mournful 
 objects turn it into grief : and therefore, to be still 
 looking on our miseries and deformities, must needs 
 
160 
 
 turn calamity anil woe into the temperament and 
 complexion of the soul. 
 
 This much I thought needful to be spoken here, 
 to prevent misundcrstaucling and misapplication ; that 
 while I am pressing you to study and know your- 
 selves, I may not encourage any in extremes, nor 
 tempt them to make an ill use of so great and neces- 
 sary a doctrine. And, indeed, the observation of 
 the sad calamity of many poor, drooping, afflicted 
 souls, that are still poring excessively on their own 
 hearts, commanded me not to overpass this caution. 
 And yet, when I have done it, I am afraid lest 
 those in the contrary extreme, will take encourage- 
 ment to neglect themselves, by my reprehensions of 
 those that are so unlike them. 
 
 And therefore I must add, to save them from 
 deceit; 1. That it is but very few that are faulty 
 in over-studying themselves, in comparison of the 
 many thousands that err on the other hand, in the 
 careless neglecting of themselves. 2. And that it 
 is symptomatically and effectively far more dangerous 
 to study yourselves too little than too much. Though 
 it be a fault to exceed here, yet it is, for the most 
 part, a sign of an honest heart to be much at home, 
 and a sign of a hypocrite to be little at home and 
 much abroad. Sincerity maketh men censurers of 
 themselves ; for it maketh them more impartial, and 
 willing to know the truth of their condition ; it 
 cureth them of that folly, that before made them 
 think that presumption shall deliver them, and that 
 they shall be justified by believing promises of their 
 own, though contrary to the word of God ; yea, by 
 believing the promises of the devil, and calling this 
 
161 
 
 a faith in Christ. They are awakened from that 
 sleep, • in which they dreamed that winking would 
 save them from the stroke of justice, and that a 
 strong conceit, that they shall not be damned, will 
 deliver them from damnation ; and that they are 
 safe from hell if they can but believe that there is 
 no hell, or can but forget it, or escape the fears of 
 it. These are the pernicious conclusions of the un- 
 godly ; discernible in their lives, and intimated in 
 their presumptuous reasonings, though too gross to 
 be openly and expressly owned : and therefore they 
 are indisposed to any impartial acquaintance with 
 themselves. 
 
 But grace recovereth men from this distraction, 
 and makes them know, that the judgment of God 
 will not follow the conceits of men ; that the know- 
 ledge of their disease is necessary to their cure, and 
 the knowledge of their danger is necessary to the 
 prevention; and that it is the greatest madness to 
 go on to hell, for fear of knowing that we are in the 
 way; and to refuse to know it, for fear of being 
 troubled at the news. 
 
 And an upright soul is so far fallen out with sin, 
 that he taketh it seriously for his enemy, and there- 
 fore is willing to discover it, in order to its destruc- 
 tion, and willing to search after it in order to a dis- 
 covery. And he hath in him some measure of the 
 heavenly illumination, which maketh him a child of 
 light, and disposeth him to love the light, and there- 
 fore Cometh to it, " that his deeds may be made 
 manifest." Hypocrites are quick-siglited in dis- 
 covering the infirmities of others ; but at home they 
 shut the windows, and draw the curtains, that they 
 
162 
 
 may not be disturbed or frightened in their sin : 
 darkness suits the works of darkness. It is a good 
 sign when a man dare see his own face in the glass 
 of God's word ; and when he dare hear his con- 
 science speak. I have ever observed it in the most 
 sincere-hearted Christians, that their eye is more 
 upon their own hearts and lives, than upon others: 
 and I have still observed the most unsound professors 
 to be least censorious and regardful of themselves, 
 and hardly drawn to converse at home, and to pass 
 an impartial judgment on themselves. 
 
 Hence, therefore, you may be informed of the 
 reason of many other differences between sincere 
 believers and the ungodly. Why is it that the sin- 
 cere are so ready to discourse about matters of the 
 heart; and that they so much relish such discourse; 
 and that they have so much to say when you come 
 to such a subject ? It is because they know them- 
 selves in some good measure. They have studied, 
 and are acquainted with the heart, and therefore can 
 talk the more sensibly of what is contained in a 
 book which they have so often read. Talk with 
 them about the matters of the world, and perhaps 
 you may find them more simple and ignorant than 
 many of their neighbours : but when you talk about 
 the corruptions of the heart, and its secret workings; 
 the matter, and order, and government of the 
 thoughts, and affections, and passions; the wants 
 and weaknesses of believers ; the nature and work- 
 ings of inward temptations ; the ways of grace, and 
 of the exercise of each grace ; the motions and ope- 
 rations of the Spirit upon the heart ; the breathings 
 of love and desire after God; the addresses of the 
 
163 
 
 soul to Christ by faith, and dependence on him, and 
 receivings from him ; about these secret matters of 
 the heart, he is usually more able in discourse than 
 many learned men that are unsanctified. 
 
 And hence it is that upright, self-observing souls 
 are so full in prayer, and able to pour out their 
 hearts so enlargedly before the Lord, in confessing 
 their sins, and petitioning for grace, and opening 
 their necessities, and thanking God for spiritual 
 mercies. Some that are themselves acquainted 
 with themselves, and the workings of grace, despise 
 all this, and say, ' It is but an ability to speak of 
 the things which they are most used to.' I doubt 
 not but mere acquired abilities and custom may ad- 
 vance some hypocrites, to pray in the language of 
 experienced Christians. And I doubt not but natu- 
 ral impediments, and want of right education, may 
 cause many to want convenient expressions, that 
 have true desires. But the question is, from whence 
 it comes to pass, that so great a number of those 
 that are most careful and diligent for their souls, 
 are so full in holy conference and prayer, when very 
 few others that excel them in learning and natural 
 parts, have any such ability ? And doubtless the 
 chief reason is, that the care and study of these 
 Christians hath been most about their spiritual 
 estate; and that which they set their hearts upon, 
 they use their tongues upon : generally it cannot be 
 imagined, why they should use themselves to those 
 studies and exercises which procure those abilities, 
 but that they more highly esteem, and most seriously 
 regard, the matters that concern their salvation, which 
 are the subject. I doubt not but God bestoweth 
 
164 
 
 his gifts upon men in the use of means, and that it 
 is partly use that maketh men able and ready in 
 these services of God. But what reason can be 
 given, why one part of men use themselves to such 
 employments, and another part are unable through 
 disuse, but that some do set their hearts upon it, and 
 make it their business to know themselves, their sins, 
 and wants, and seek relief, when by the others all 
 this is neglected ? Some hypocrites may be moved 
 by lower ends, both in this and in other duties of 
 religion; but that is no rule for our judging of the 
 intentions of the generality, or of any that are sin- 
 cere. As a man that hath lived in the East or West 
 Indies, is able to discourse of the places and people 
 which he hath seen ; and perhaps another, by a map 
 or history, may say somewhat of tlie same subject, 
 though less distinctly and sensibly; but others can 
 say nothing of it: so a man of holy experience in 
 the mysteries of sanctification, that is much conver- 
 sant at home, and acquainted with his own heart, is 
 able (if other helps concur) to speak what he feels, 
 to God and man, and from his particular observation 
 and experience, to frame his prayers' and spiritual 
 conference; and a hypocrite, from reading and 
 common observation, may do something affectedly 
 that is like it : but careless, self-neglecting world- 
 lings, are usually dumb about such matters, and 
 hear you as they do men of another country, that 
 talk in a language which they do not understand, 
 or at least cannot make them any answer in. 
 
 But if any of you will needs think more basely 
 and maliciously of the cause of holy prayer and con- 
 ference in believers, let us leave them, for the pre- 
 
165 
 
 sent, (to the justification of Him that gave them the 
 spirit of suppHcation, which you reproach,) and let 
 us only inquire what is the reason that men that can 
 discourse as handsomely as others, about worldly 
 matters, have nothing to say, (beyond a few, cold, 
 affected words, which they have learned by rote,) 
 either to God or man, about the matters of the soul, 
 the methods of the Spirit, the workings of a truly 
 penitent heart, or the elevations of faith, and the 
 pantings of desire after God. Why are you dumb 
 when you should speak this language, and frequent- 
 ly and delightfully speak it? Is it because your 
 reason is lower than those men's that speak it, whom 
 you despise ? No ; you are wise enough to do 
 evil : you can talk of your trades, your honours, or 
 employments, your acquaintance and corresponden- 
 ces all the day long; you are more wordy about 
 these little things, than the preachers themselves, 
 that you count more tedious, are about the greatest. 
 You are much longer in discoursing of your delusory 
 toys, than the lovers of God, whose souls long after 
 him, are in those prayers, which trouble you with 
 their length. Many a time I have been forced to 
 hear your dreaming, incoherent dotage : how copi- 
 ous you are in the words that signify no greater mat- 
 ters than flesh-pleasing, or fanciful honours and 
 accommodations. As the ridiculous orator, "you 
 strain and gape an hour, or a day together, to say 
 nothing." Set all the words of a day together, and 
 peruse them at night, and see what they are worth : 
 there is little higher than visible materials, than meat 
 and drink, and play and compliment, than houses, or 
 lands, or domineering affections, or actions, in many 
 
166 
 
 hours or days' discourse. I think of you sometimes, 
 when I see how ingeniously and busily children do 
 make up their babies of clouts, and how seriously 
 they talk about them, and how every pin and clout 
 is matter of employment and discourse, and how 
 highly they value them, and how many days they 
 can unvveariedly spend about them. Pardon my 
 comparison : if you repent not of your discourses 
 and employments more than they, and do not one 
 day call yourselves far worse fools than them, then 
 let me be stigmatized with the most contumelious 
 brand of folly. 
 
 It is not then your want of natural faculties and 
 parts, that makes you mute in the matters of God 
 and your salvation, when men of meaner parts than 
 you do speak of those things with the greatest free- 
 dom and delight. 
 
 And surely it is not for want of an ingenuous 
 education ; as you would take it ill to be thought 
 below them in natural endowments, so much more in 
 those acquisitions and furniture of the mind, which 
 comes by due culture of your faculties. You would 
 disdain, in these, to be compared with many poor 
 rustics and mechanics, that are almost as fluent in 
 speaking of the great things of immortality, as you 
 are in talking of your transient occurrences, your 
 sublunary felicities, and the provisions of your appe- 
 tites. What, then, can be the cause of this dumb 
 disease, but that you are unacquainted with your- 
 selves? And as you have not a new birth, and - a 
 divine nature, and the Spirit of Christ, to be either 
 the spring and principle, or the matter of your dis- 
 course ; so you have not the due knowledge of your 
 
167 
 
 sin and misery, which should teach you in the 
 language of serious penitents, before you have the 
 language of justified believers. 
 
 If you say again, ' It is because we have not been 
 used to this kind of speech.' I answer, And 
 whence is it that you have not been used to it ? If 
 you had known the greatness and goodness of the 
 Lord, as sensibly as they, would not you have used 
 to pray to him, and speak of him as well as they ?• 
 If you had known, and considered your sin, and 
 wants, and miseries, or dangers, as well as they, 
 would you not have been used to beg mercy, pardon, 
 and relief, and to complain of your distress as much 
 as they ? If you did as highly value the matters of 
 eternal consequence as they do, and laid them to 
 heart as seriously as they, would not your minds and 
 hearts have appeared in your speeches, and made you 
 use yourselves to prayer and holy conference as well 
 as others? 
 
 If you say, ' Tliat many have that within them 
 which they are not able to express, or which they 
 think not meet to open unto others,' I answer, 
 
 1. As to ability, it is true of those that have ex- 
 cessive bashfulness, melancholy, or the like ; and of 
 those that are so lately converted, that they have not 
 had time to learn and use themselves to a holy 
 language : but what is this to them that are of as 
 good natural parts, and free elocution, as other men, 
 and suppose themselves to have been true Christians 
 long ? 
 
 2. And, as to the point of prudence which is 
 pleaded for this silence, it is so much against nature, 
 and so much against the word of God, that there is 
 
168 
 
 no room at all for this pretence, unless it be for in- 
 feriors, or such as want an opportunity to speak to 
 their superiors, or to strangers ; or, unless it be 
 when the thing would be unseasonable. 
 
 Nature hath made the tongue the index of the 
 mind ; especially to express the matters of most ur- 
 gency and concern. Do you keep silent on the 
 matters which you most highly esteem ; which you 
 most often think of; which you take your life and 
 happiness to consist in; and which you are most 
 deeply affected with, and prefer before all other mat- 
 ters of the world? What a shameful pretence is it, 
 for those that are dumb to prayer and holy confer- 
 ence, for want of any sense of their condition, or love 
 to God, which should open their lips, to talk on 
 them ? Is it because their prudence directeth them 
 to silence? When they hold not their tongues 
 about those matters, which they must confess are 
 ten thousandfold less regardable, they can discourse, 
 unweariedly, about their wealth, their sport, their 
 friend, their honour, because they love them : and, 
 if a man should here tell them, that the heart is not 
 to be opened or exercised by the tongue, they would 
 think he knew not the natural use of heart or tongue : 
 and yet, while they pretend to love God above all, 
 they have neither skill nor will to make expression 
 of it, you strike them dumb when you turn the 
 stream of conference that way ; and you may almost 
 as well bid them speak in a strange language, as pray 
 to God from the sense of their necessities, and yet 
 they say, their hearts are good. 
 
 Let the word of God be judge, whether a holy, 
 experienced heart should hide itself, and not appear 
 
169 
 
 in prayer and holy conference by the tongue. 
 " Pray continually." " Christ spake a parable to 
 this end, that men ought always to pray, and not 
 wax faint." " Be careful for nothing; but in every 
 thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, 
 let your requests be made known unto God." 
 
 And how they must pray, you may gather from 
 2 Chron. vi. 29. In case of dearth, pestilence, 
 mildews, locusts, caterpillars, enemies, sicknesses, or 
 sores, " Then what prayer or supplication soever 
 shall be made of any man, or of all the people, when 
 every one shall know his own sore, and his own 
 grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house, 
 then hear thou from heaven," &<;. I am not speak- 
 ing of the prescribed prayers of the church, nor de- 
 nying the lawfulness of such in private ; but if you 
 have no words but what you say by rote, and pray 
 not from the knowledge of your own particular sore 
 and grief, it is because you are too much unac- 
 quainted with yourselves, and strangers to those 
 hearts, where the greatest of your sores and griefs 
 are lodged. 
 
 And whether good hearts should he opened in , 
 holy conference (as well as prayer), you may easily 
 determine from the command of God, " As every 
 man hath received the gift, so minister the same one 
 to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of 
 God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles 
 of God." " Let no corrupt communication proceed 
 out of your mouth, but that which is good to the 
 use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the 
 hearers." " Exhort one another daily, while it is 
 called to-day, lest any of you be hardened through 
 H 45 
 
170 
 
 the deceitfulness of sin." " The mouth of the 
 righteous spcakcth wisdom, and his tongue talkcth 
 of judgment: the law of his God is in his heart," 
 &c. " Let my mouth be filled with thy praise 
 and with thy honour all the day." " The mouth 
 of a righteous man is a well of life. The lips of 
 the righteous feed many." And Christ himself 
 decideth it expressly, " Out of the abundance of 
 the heart the mouth spcaketh. A good man, out of 
 the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good 
 things." 
 
 For a man that hath no heart to prayer or holy 
 conference, but loathes them, and had rather talk of 
 fleshly pleasures, to pretend that yet his heart is 
 good, and that God will excuse him for not express- 
 ing it; and that it is his prudence, and his freedom 
 from hypocrisy, that maketh his tongue to be so 
 much unacquainted with the goodness of his heart, 
 this is but to play the hypocrite to prove that he is 
 no hypocrite, and to cover his ignorance in matters 
 of his salvation, with the expression of his ignorance 
 of the very nature and use of heart and tongue, and 
 to cast by the laws of God, and his own duty, and 
 cover this impiety with the name of imidowe. If 
 heart and tongue be not used for God, what do you 
 either with a heart or tongue ? 
 
 The case is plain, to men that can see that it is 
 your strangeness to yourselves, that is the cause that 
 you have little to say against yourselves, when you 
 should confess your sins to God ; and so little to say 
 for yourselves, when you should beg his grace; and 
 so little to say of yourselves, when you should open 
 your hearts to those that can advise you : but that 
 
171 
 
 you see not that this is the cause of your dumbness, 
 who see so Utile of your own corruptions, is no 
 wonder, while you are so strange at home. Had 
 you but so much knowledge of yourselves as to see 
 that it is the strangeness to yourselves that maketh 
 you so prayerless and mute; and so much sense as 
 to complain of your darkness, and be willing to come 
 to the light, it were a sign that light is coming in 
 to you, and that you are in a hopeful way of cure. 
 But when you neither know yourselves, nor know 
 that you do not know yourselves, your ignorance 
 and pride are likely to cherish your presumption and 
 impiety, till the light of grace, or the fire of hell, 
 have taught you better to know yourselves. 
 
 2. And here you may understand the reason why 
 people fearing God, are so apt to accuse and condemn 
 themselves, and to be too much cast down ; and why 
 they that have cause of greatest joy, do sometimes 
 walk more heavily than others. It is because they 
 know more of their sinfulness, and take more notice 
 of their inward corruptions and outward failings, 
 than presumptuous sinners do of theirs. Because 
 they know their faults and wants, they are cast 
 down ; but when they come further to see their in- 
 terest in Christ and grace, they will be raised up 
 again. Before they are converted, they usually 
 presume, as being ignorant of their sin and misery : 
 in the infancy of grace they know these, but yet 
 languish for want of more knowledge of Christ and 
 mercy. But he that knoweth fully both himself 
 and Christ, both misery and mercy, is humbled and 
 comforted, cast down and exalted. As a man that 
 never saw the sea, is not afraid of it; he that seeth 
 H 2 
 
172 
 
 it but afar off, and thinks he shall never come near 
 it, is not much afraid of it ; he that is drowned in 
 it, is vvorse than afraid ; he that is tossed by the 
 waves, and doubteth of ever coming safe to harbour, 
 is the fearful person; he that is tossed, but hath 
 good hopes of a safe arrival, hath fears that are 
 abated or overcome with hope : but he that is safe 
 landed is past his fears. The first is like him that 
 never saw the misery of the ungodly; the second is 
 like him that seeth it in general, but thinks it doth 
 not belong to him ; the third is like the damned, 
 that are past remedy ; the fourth is like the humbled, 
 doubting Christian, that seeth the danger, but doth 
 too much question or forget the helps; the fifth is 
 like the Christian of a stronger faith, that sees the 
 danger, but withal seeth his help and safety ; the 
 sixth is like the glorified saints, that are past the 
 danger. 
 
 Though the doubting Christian know not his 
 sincerity, and therefore knoweth not himself so well 
 as the strong believer doth, yet, in that he know- 
 eth his sinfulness and unworthiness, he knoweth 
 himself better than the presumptuous world. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Exhortations to the Ungodly. 
 
 All persons to whom I can address this exhor- 
 tation, are either godly or ungodly; in the state of 
 sin, or in the state of grace. And both of them 
 have need to study themselves. 
 
173 
 
 I. And to begin with the unrenewed, carnal sort, 
 it is they that have the greatest need to be better 
 acquainted with themselves. O that I knew how 
 to make them sensible of it; if any thing will do it, 
 methinks it should be done, by acquainting them 
 how much their endless state is concerned in it. 
 In order hereunto, let me yet add to all that is said 
 already, these few considerations: 
 
 1. If you know not yourselves, you know not 
 whether you are the children of God, or not; nor 
 whether you must be for ever in heaven or hell; no, 
 nor whether you may not, within this hour, behold 
 the angry face of God, which will frown you into 
 damnation. And is this a matter for a man of rea- 
 son to be quietly and contentedly ignorant of? It 
 is a business of such unspeakable concern, to know 
 whether you must be everlastingly in heaven or hell, 
 that no man can spare his cost or pains about it, 
 without betraying and disgracing his understanding. 
 You are sure you shall be here but a little while ; 
 those bodies, you all know, will hold your souls but 
 a little longer ; as you know that you that are now 
 together here attending, must presently quit this room 
 and be gone, so you know that, when you have stayed 
 a little longer, you must quit this vvorld, and be 
 gone into another. And I think there is not the 
 proudest of you but would be taken down, nor the 
 most sluggish or dead-hearted but would be awak- 
 ened, if you knew that you must go to endless mis- 
 ery, and that your dying hour would be your entrance 
 into hell. And if you know not yourselves, you 
 know not but it may be so. And to know nothing to 
 the contrary, would be terrible to you if you well con- 
 
174- 
 
 sidered it, especially when you have so much cause to 
 fear it. O sirs, for a man to live here senselessly, 
 that knows not hut he may hurn in hell for ever, 
 and knows not, hecause he is hiind and careless; how 
 unsuitable is it to the principle of self-preservation? 
 And how much unbeseeming the rational nature, 
 to have no sense or care, when you look before you 
 into the unquenchable flic, and the utter darkness. 
 
 If any of you think that all these matters arc to 
 be put to the adventure, and cannot now be known, 
 you are dangerously mistaken. As you may cer- 
 tainly know by Scripture, that there is a future life 
 of joy to the godly, and of misery to the wicked, so 
 may you know, by a faithful trial of yourselves, to 
 which of these at present you belong, and whether 
 you are under the promise or the threatening; know 
 yourselves, and you may know whether you are 
 justified or condemned already, and whether you are 
 the heirs of heaven or hell. Surely He that com- 
 forteth his servants with the promise of glory to all 
 that believe and are new creatures, and sanctified 
 by his Spirit, did suppose that we may know whether 
 we believe, . and are renewed and sanctified or not : 
 or else, what comfort can it be to us ? If blinded 
 infidels, have no means to quiet themselves but their 
 unbelief, and a conceit that there is no such life of 
 misery, they have the most pitiful opiate to ease 
 them in the world ; and may as well think to become 
 immoLtal, by a confident conceit that they shall never 
 die. / If they befool themselves with the ordinary 
 questions, ' Where is hell, and what kind of fire is 
 it?' &c. I answer them, with Augustine, " It is 
 better to be in doubt about tilings that are hidden 
 
175 
 
 from us, than to quarrel about things that are un- 
 certain to us.; I am past doubt that we must under- 
 stand that that rich man was in the heat of pain, 
 and the poor man in a refreshing place of joys : 
 but how to understand that flame in hell, that bosom 
 of Abraham, that tongue of the rich man, that finger 
 of the poor man, that thirst of torment, that drop 
 for cooling or refreshment, perhaps will hardly be 
 found by the most humble inquirers, but never by 
 contentious strivers." 
 
 So that I may conclude, that the greatness and 
 dreadfulness of the case, should make every person 
 that hath an eye to see, an ear to hear, and a heart 
 to understand, to read, inquire, and consider; and 
 never rest till they know themselves, and understand 
 where it is that they are going to take up their 
 abode to everlasting. 
 
 2. Consider, that all men must shortly know 
 themselves. Presumption will be but of short con- 
 tinuance. Though ever so confident of being 
 saved without holiness, you will speedily be unde- 
 ceived. If the Spirit's illumination do not convince 
 and undeceive you, death will undoubtedly do it at 
 the farthest. Thousands and millions know their 
 sin and misery now, when it is too late, that would 
 not know it when the remedy was at hand. Sinners! 
 your souls are now in darkness: your bodies are your 
 dungeon ; but when death brings you out into the 
 open light, you will see what we could never makei 
 you sec. O how glad would a faithful minister of 
 Christ be, if, by any information, he could now give 
 you half the light that you shall then have, and 
 now make you know at the heart with the feeling 
 
176 
 
 of repentance, that which you must else quickly 
 know, even at the heart with the feeling of despair. 
 Sirs, I hope you think not that I speak mere fancies 
 to you, or any thing tliat is questionable or uncer- 
 tain: you cannot say so without denying yourselves 
 to be Christians; no, nor without contradicting the 
 light of nature, and debasing your souls below the 
 heathen, who believe an immortality of souls in a 
 different state of joy or misery in the life to come: 
 and if you are once below heathens, what are you 
 better than brute beasts ? Better in your natural 
 faculties and powers, as not being made brutes by 
 your Creator; but worse as to the use of them, and 
 the consequences to yourselves, because you are 
 voluntary, self-abusing brutes., But to believe you 
 shall die as a beast, will not prevent the miserable 
 life of an impenitent sinner. It will not make your 
 souls to be mortal, to believe they are mortal. Faith 
 and reason can both assure you, that your souls lie 
 not down with your bodies in the dust, nor are 
 annihilated by the falling of your earthly tabernacle; 
 no more than the spirits when the glass is broken 
 that held them : or than the bird is annihilated tliat 
 is got out of tlie shell : nor any more than the angels 
 that appeared to the apostles or others, were anni- 
 hilated when they disappeared: or, (if I must speak 
 more suitably to the ungodly,) no more than the 
 devil, that sometimes appeareth in a bodily shape, is 
 annihilated when that appearance vanisheth. As I 
 suppose there is not a person in all this populous 
 city, that was here but sevenscore years ago, so I 
 suppose there is none of you that expect to be here 
 so long a time ; they arc gone before you into a 
 
177 
 
 world where there is no presumption or security : 
 and I tell you all, you are going after them apace, 
 and are almost there, i 
 
 O sirs, that world a world of light. To the 
 damned souls it is called outer darkness, because 
 they have none of the light of glory or of comfort ; 
 but they shall have the light of a self-accusing, self- 
 tormenting conscience, that is gone out of the dark- 
 ness of self-ignorance and self-deceit, and is fully 
 cured of its slumber and insensibility. 
 
 Do you now take a civilized person for a saint ? 
 You will not do so long. Doth the baptism of 
 water only go with you now for the regeneration of 
 the Spirit? It will not be so long: you will shortly 
 be undeceived. Doth a ceremonious Pharisee thank 
 God for the sincerity and holiness which he never 
 had? He will shortly be taught better to know 
 the nature of holiness and sincerity, and that Cod 
 justifieth not all that justify themselves. Doth a 
 little formal, heartless, hypocritical devotion, now 
 cover a sensual, worldly mind ? The cover will be 
 shortly taken off, and the nakedness and deforraity 
 of the Pharisee will appear. Doth the name of a 
 Christian, and the heartless use of outward ordi- 
 nances, and that good esteem of others, now go for 
 godliness and saving grace? The autumn is at 
 hand, when these leaves will all lie in the dust, and 
 will go for fruit no longer. Do you now take it for 
 true religion to be hot for lust, and pride, and gain, 
 and cold for God and your salvation ? and to obey 
 God as far as will stand with your outward pros- 
 perity, and as the flesh, or your other masters will 
 give leave ? This is an opinion that never accom~ 
 
178 
 
 panied any man beyond the grave. Do you think 
 to be saved by all tliat devotion, which gives God 
 but the leavings of the flesh and world, and by a 
 religion that gives him but the outer rooms (when 
 pleasure and gain are next your hearts), and that 
 makes him but an underling to your covetousness 
 and ambition Think so if you can, when you are 
 gone hence. Cannot the preacher now make the 
 ungodly to know that they are ungodly, the un- 
 sanctified to know they are but carnal, and the Pha- 
 risee to know that his religion is vain ? Death can 
 convince tlie awakened soul of all this in a moment. 
 
 You can choose whether you will believe us; but 
 death will so speak as to be believed. You must 
 be voluntary in knowing your misery now : but then 
 you shall know it against your wills. You must 
 open your eyes, if you will see yourselves by the 
 light which we bring to you ; but death irresistibly 
 throws open all. To say, in pride and obstinacy, 
 ' I will not believe it,' will now serve the turn to 
 quiet your consciences, and make you seem as safe 
 as any ; but when God saith, ' You shall feel it,' 
 your unbelief is ineffectual : it can then torment 
 you, but it can no longer ease you. There is then 
 no room for ' I will not believe it.' /' God can, 
 without a word, persuade you of that wlwch you were 
 resolved you would never be persuaded oL j While 
 you are in the body, you are every one affected 
 according as you apprehend your state to be, whether 
 it be indeed as you apprehend it or not; but when 
 death hath opened you the door into eternity, you 
 will be all affected with your conditions as they are in- 
 deed. To day you are quiet, because you think your 
 
179 
 
 souls are safe; and some are troubled, that think 
 they are in a state of misery : and it is likely that 
 some on both sides are mistaken ; and the quiet of 
 one, and the disquiet of another, may arise for want 
 of the knowledge of yourselves. But death will rec- 
 tify both these errors ; and then, if you are unsanc- 
 tified, no false opinions, no unbelief, no confident 
 conceits of your integrity, will abate your desperation, 
 or give any ease to your tormented minds; nor will 
 there be any doubts, or fears, or despairing, self- 
 afflicting thoughts, to disquiet those that Christ 
 hath justified, or abate their joys. 
 
 O how many thousands will then think much 
 otherwise of themselves than they now do ! Death 
 turns you out of the company of flatterers, and calls 
 you out of the vvorld of error, where men laugh and 
 cry in their sleep; and bringeth you among awakened 
 souls, where all things are called by their proper 
 names, and all men know themselves to be as they 
 are indeed.^ Serious religion is not there a derision; 
 nor loving/ and seeking, and serving God with all 
 the heart, and soul, and might, is not there taken for 
 unnecessary preciseness. God judgeth not as man, 
 by outward appearances, but with righteous judg- 
 ment: " That which is highly esteemed among men, 
 is abomination in the si^ht of God." And he will 
 make you then to judge of yourselves as he hatli 
 judged you. Though wisdom now be justified but 
 of her children, it shall then be justified by all: not 
 by a sanctifying, but a constrained, involuntary, tor- 
 menting light; and though now men can believe as 
 well of themselves, as self-love and the quieting of 
 their consciences doth require, yet then they will 
 have lost this mastery over their own conceits. 
 
180 
 
 O therefore, seeing you are all going into an ir- 
 resistibly convincing light, and are almost in that 
 world where all must fully know themselves; seeing 
 " nothing is covered that shall not be revealed, nor 
 hid that shall not be made known," and no unsanc- 
 tified hypocrite doth flatter himself into such high 
 presumption, but a dying hour will take him down, 
 ■ and turn it all into endless desperation, if true con- 
 version prevent not;, I beseech you be more conver- 
 sant with conscience than you have been: be ashamed, 
 that you who know nothing better than flesh to adorn 
 and to be careful of, should bestow more hours 
 in looking into the glass, than you bestow to look 
 I into God's word and your own hearts; yea, more 
 in a year, than you have thus bestowed in all your 
 lives ! / 
 
 O that you knew what a profitable companion 
 conscience is for you to converse with ! You would 
 not then think yourselves so solitary as to be desti- 
 tute of company and employment, while you have so 
 much to do at home, and one in your bosom that you 
 have so much business with. 
 
 And it is a necessary and inseparable companion- 
 If conscience should chide you when you had rather 
 be flattered; yet there is no running from it for more 
 pleasant company. / Conscience is married to you 
 please it on safe terms as well as you can; but do n6t 
 think to overrun it: for it will follow you; or you 
 must return to it home again, when you have gone 
 your furthest. There is no expectation of a divorce'; 
 no, not by death : it will follow you to eternity^ And 
 therefore be not strange to conscience, that will be 
 your comforter or tormentor at the hour of death ; 
 
181 
 
 that can do so much to make sickness, and all suffer- 
 ing, light or grievous ; and to make death welcome 
 or terrible to you. Fly not from conscience, that 
 must dwell with you for ever. 
 
 O foolish sinners ! do you want company and 
 business to pass away your time ? Are you fain to 
 go to cards or dice to waste this treasure,»which is 
 more precious than your money ? Do you go to an 
 alehouse, a playhouse, to seek for company or pas- 
 time? Do you forget what company and business 
 you have at home ? As you love your peace and hap- 
 piness, instead of conversing with vain, lascivious, or 
 ungodly persons, O spend that time in converse with 
 your consciences ! You may there have a thousand 
 times more profitable discourse. Be not offended to 
 give conscience a sober, faithful answer, if it ask you, 
 What have you done with all your time ? and how 
 you have lived in the world ? and how you have 
 obeyed tl)e calls of grace? and how you have enter- 
 tained Christ in your hearts ? and whether you have 
 obeyed him or his enemy ? and whether you have 
 been led by the Spirit or the flesh? and what for- 
 wardness the work of your salvation is in ? and what 
 assurance you have of your justification and.salva 
 tion ? and what readiness to die ? Think it not 
 presumption in conscience thus to examine you : 
 though you have perhaps unthankfully disdained to 
 be thus examined by your pastors, whose office is to 
 help you, and watch for your souls, yet do not dis- 
 dain to be accountable to yourselves. Accountable 
 you must be, ere long, to God; and that friend that 
 would help you to make ready such accounts, on which 
 so great a weight dependeth, methinks should be 
 
182 
 
 welcomed vvitli a tliousand thanks. Ministers and 
 conscience sliould Ije acccjitable to you, tiiat come on 
 so necessary a work. 
 
 The chidings of conscience are more friendly lan- 
 guage than the flattery of your ignorant or proud 
 associates; and should be more grateful to you than 
 " the laif^ghter of fools, which is like the crackling of 
 thorns in the fire." Thy own home, though it be a 
 house of mourning, is better for thee than such a 
 sinful house of mirth. Hear but what conscience 
 hath to say to you. No one will speak with you, 
 that hath words to speak which more nearly concern 
 you. I beseech you, sirs, be more frequent and 
 familiar with conscience than most men are. Think 
 not the time lost vviien you walk and talk with it 
 alone. Confer with it about your endless state, and 
 where you are likely to be for ever, and what 
 thoughts you will have of your sins and duties, of 
 the world and God, of yielding or overconring at the 
 last. Is there no sense in this discourse ? Thou art 
 dead and senseless if thou think so. Is idle talk and 
 prating better ? I hope you are not so distracted as 
 to say so. If you have not blinded, deceived, or 
 bribed it, I tell you, conscience hath other kind of 
 discourse for you ; more excellent and necessary 
 things to talk of, than wantons, or worldlings have. 
 It is better to be giving conscience an account, what 
 business thou hast had so often in such company; 
 and how thou wouldst have looked, if death had 
 found thee there, than, without leave from God or 
 conscience, to go thither again. 
 
 The thriving way is neither to be still at home, 
 nor still abroad ; but to be at home when home-work 
 
183 
 
 is to be done, and to be abroad only for doing and 
 xrettin'r cood, in a way of dilijient Christian tradincf, 
 and to brine that home that is sot abroad. When 
 you have done with conscience, converse with others 
 that yonr business lieth with, and go abroad when it 
 is for your Master's work : but go not upon idle 
 errands ; converse not with prodigal wasters of your 
 time, and enemies to your souls. One time or other 
 conscience will speak, and have a hearing: the sooner 
 the better. Put it not off to a time so unseasonable 
 as death : I say, not unseasonable for conscience to 
 speak in, but unseasonable for it to begin to speak 
 in; and unseasonable for those terrible words that 
 need a calmer time for answer; and unseasonable for 
 so many things and so great, as self-betrayers use to 
 put off until then, which need a longer time for due 
 consideration and despatch. 
 
 3. And I beseech you consider, with what amaz- 
 ing horror it must needs surprise you, to find on a 
 sudden, and unexpectedly, when you die, that all is 
 worse with you than you imagined or would believe! 
 After a whole life of confident presumption, to be 
 suddenly convinced by so dreadful an experience of 
 your so long and wilful a mistake ! To find, in a 
 moment, that you have flattered your souls into so 
 desperate a state of woe ! To see and feel all the 
 selfish cavils and reasonings confuted, in one hour, 
 which the wisest and holiest men on earth could never 
 beat you from before ! O, sirs, you know not what a 
 day, what a conviction, that will be! You know not 
 what it is for a guilty soul to pass out of the body, 
 and find itself in the plague of an unsanctified state, 
 and hated of the holy God, that never would know 
 
184- 
 
 it till it was too late. You know not what it is to 
 be turned, by death, into the world of spirits, where 
 all self-deceit is detected by experience, and all must 
 undergo a righteous judgment ; where blindness and 
 self-love can no more persuade the miserable that 
 they are happy, the unholy that they are sanctified, 
 the fleshly-minded men that they are spiritual, the 
 lovers of the world that they are the lovers of God. 
 Men cannot there believe what they list; nor take 
 that for a truth which makes for their security, be it 
 ever so false: men cannot there believe that they 
 are accepted of God, while they are in the bonds of 
 their iniquity; or that their hearts are as good as the 
 best, while their tongues and lives are opposite to 
 goodness, or that they shall be saved as soon as the 
 godly, though they be ungodly. 
 
 It is easy for a man to hear of waves, and gulfs, 
 and shipwreck, that never saw the sea; and, without 
 any trouble, to hear of sickness and tormenting pains, 
 and cutting off of limbs, that never felt such things. 
 It is easy for you, in the midst of health, and peace, 
 and quietness, to hear of a departing soul, and where 
 it shall appear, and what it shall there see, and how 
 great a discovery death will make. But, O sirs, 
 when this must be your case, (as you know it must 
 be, alas, how speedily !) these matters will then seem 
 considerable : they will be new and strange to those 
 that have heard of them a hundred times, because 
 they never heard of them sensibly till now. One of 
 those souls that have been here before you, and have 
 passed into eternity, have other thoughts of these 
 things than you have ! O how do they think now, 
 of die fearless slumber and stupidity of those thafc 
 
185 
 
 they have left behind ! What think they now of 
 those that wilfully fly the light, and flatter themselves 
 in guilt and misery, and make light of all the joys 
 and torments of the other world? Even as- the damned 
 rich man in Luke xvi. thought of his poor brethren, 
 that remained in prosperity and presumption upon 
 earth, and little thought what company he was in, 
 what a sight he saw, and what he did endure ! 
 
 Poor careless souls ! you know not now what it 
 is, for the ungodly to see that they are ungodly, by 
 the irresistible light of another world ; and for the 
 unholy to feel in hell that they are unholy, and to 
 be taught by flames, and the wrath of the Almighty, 
 what is the difi'erence between the sanctified and the 
 carnal, between an obedient and a rebellious life. 
 While here, you little know these things: you see 
 them not, you feel them not; and the Lord granft 
 you may never so know them by woful experience. 
 That you may escape such a knowledge, is the end 
 of all that I am saying to you : but that will not be, 
 but by another kind of knowledge, even the know- 
 ledge of belief and serious consideration. 
 
 For your souls' sake, therefore, come to the light, 
 and try yourselves, and shuffle not over a work of 
 such unspeakable consequence, as the searching of 
 your hearts, and judging of your spiritual state ! O 
 be glad to know what you are indeed ! Put home the 
 question, ' Am I sanctified or not ? Am I in the 
 Spirit or in the flesh ?' Be glad of any help for the 
 sure resolution of such doubts. Take not up with 
 slight and venturous presumptions. It is your own 
 case; your nearest and your greatest case ; all lies 
 upon it : who should be so willing of the plainest 
 
186 
 
 dealing, the speediest and the closest search, as you ? 
 O be not surprised by an unexpected sight of an un- 
 renewed, miserable soul at death ? If it be so, see it 
 now, while seeing it may do good : if it be not so, 
 a faithful search can do you no harm, but comfort 
 you by the discovery of your sincerity. Say not too 
 late, ' I ihouglit I had been born again of the Spi- 
 rit, and had been in a state of grace: I thought I 
 had been a child of God, and reconciled to him, and 
 justified by faith !' O what a heart-tearing word 
 would it be to you, when time is past, to say, ' I 
 thought it had been better with me !' 
 
 4. Consider, also, that It is one of Satan's princi- 
 pal designs of your damnation, to keep you ignorant 
 of yourselves. He knows, if he can but make you 
 believe that you are regenerate, when you are not, 
 you will never seek to be regenerate; and that if he 
 can make you think that you are godly, when you 
 are ungodly, and have the Spirit of Christ, while 
 you are servants to the flesh, he may defeat all the 
 labours of your teachers, and let them call on you to 
 be converted till their hearts ache, to no purpose, but 
 leave you as you are. He knows how light you will 
 sit by the physician, if he can but make you believe 
 that you are well ; and how little care you will take 
 for a pardon, if you think that you have one already. 
 In vain we may call on you to turn, and become new 
 creatures, and give up yourselves to Christ, if you 
 think that you are good Ciiristians, and are in the 
 way to heaven already. 
 
 And when you know beforehand, that there lieth 
 the principal game of the deceiver, and that it will be 
 his chief contrivance, to keep you unacquainted with 
 
187 
 
 your sin and danger, till you are past recovery, one 
 would think there should be no need to bid you to 
 be diligent to know yourselves. 
 
 3. And I beseech you consider also, that without 
 this design there is no likelihood that Satan could 
 undo you: if he keep you not ignorant of yourselves, 
 he is never likely to keep you in his power: you 
 come out of his kingdom when you come out of 
 darkness. He knoweth that if once you did but 
 see how near you stand to the brink of hell, you 
 would think it time to change your standing. 
 
 There is a double principle in nature, that would 
 do something towards your repentance and recovery, 
 if your eyes were opened to see where you are. 
 
 1. There is, since the seduction and ruin of man, 
 by Satan's temptations, an enmity put into the whole 
 nature of man against the whole satanical, serpentine 
 nature; so that this natural enmity would so much 
 conduce to your deliverance, as that you would not 
 be contented with your relation, if you knew that 
 you are the slaves of the devil; nor would you be 
 charmed into sin so easily, if you knew that it is he 
 indeed that doth invite you: no language would be 
 so taking with you, which you knew was uttered by 
 his voice. It would do much to affright you from 
 his service, if you knew that it is he indeed that 
 setteth you on to work, and is gratified by it. He 
 kecpeth men in his bondage, by making them believe 
 that they are free : he pcrsuadeth men to obey him, 
 by persuading them that it is God that they obey: 
 and he draweth them to hcU by making them believe 
 that they are following Christ to heaven; or at least, 
 that they are following the inclination of their nature 
 in a pardonable infirmity. 
 
188 
 
 2. And the natural principle of self-love would, 
 in order to self-preservation, do much to drive you 
 from your sinful state, if you did hut know what a 
 state it is. There is no man so far hateth himself, 
 as to be willing to be damned. You cannot choose 
 a habitation in hell; for such a place can never be 
 desired. Surely he that cannot choose but to fly 
 from an enemy, or from fire, or water, or pestilence, 
 when he perceives his danger, would fly from hell if 
 he perceived his danger. 
 
 I beseech you all, that are secure in an unsancti- 
 fied state, do but look inwards, and help me in 
 preaching this doctrine to your hearts, and tell your- 
 selves, whether you do think that your state is good, 
 and that you are the children of God as well as 
 others ; and that though you are sinners, yet your 
 sins are pardoned by the blood of Christ, and that 
 you shall be saved if you die in the state that you 
 are in? And are not these thoughts the reason why 
 you venture to continue in your present state, and 
 look not after so great a change as Scripture speaketh 
 of as necessary ? 
 
 And I pray you deal plainly with your hearts, 
 and tell me, you careless sinners, young or old, that 
 live here as quietly as if all were vvell with you, If 
 you did but know that you are at this hour unre- 
 generate, and that without regeneration there is no 
 salvation: if you did but know that you are yet car- 
 nal and unholy, and that " without holiness none 
 shall see God :" if you did but know that you are 
 yet in a state of enmity to God while you call him 
 Father, and of enmity to Christ, while you call him 
 your Saviour, and of enmity to the Holy Spirit, 
 
189 
 
 while you call him your Sanctifier : if you did but 
 know, that your sins are unpardoned, and your souls 
 unjustified, and that you are condemned already, 
 and shall certainly be damned if you die as you are, 
 Could you live quietly in such a state ? Could you 
 sleep, and eat, and drink quietly, and follow your 
 trades, and let time run on without repenting and 
 returning unto God, if you knew that you are past 
 hope, if death surprise you in this condition ? For 
 the Lord's sake, sirs, rouse up yourselves a little, 
 and be serious in a business that concerneth you 
 more than ten thousand natural lives; and tell me, 
 or rather tell yourselves, If you did but know that 
 while you live here, you are unrenewed, and there- 
 fore under the curse of God, and in the bondage of 
 the devil, and are hastening towards perdition, if you 
 be not sanctified and made new creatures before you 
 die — could you forbear going alone, and there bethink 
 yourselves, ' O what a sinful, dreadful condition are 
 we in! What will become of us, if we be not re- 
 generate before we die ! Had we no understand- 
 ings, no hearts, no life or sense, that we have lin- 
 gered so long, and lived so carelessly in such a state! 
 O where had we been now, if we had died unregen- 
 erate ! How near have we been oft to death ! How 
 many sicknesses might have put an end to life and 
 hope ! Had we died before this day, we had been 
 now in hell without remedy.' Could any of you 
 that knew this to be your case, forbear to betake 
 yourselves to God, and cry to him, in the bitterness 
 of your souls, ' O Lord, what rebels, what wretches 
 have we been! We have sinned against heaven and 
 before thee, and are no more worthy to be called 
 
190 
 
 thy children ! O how sin Iiath captivated our un- 
 standings, and conquered our very sense, and made 
 us live like men that were dead, as to the love and 
 service of God, and the work of our salvation, which 
 we were created and redeemed for ! O Lord, have 
 mercy upon these blind and senseless miserable 
 souls ! Have mercy upon these despisers and abusers 
 of thy mercy ! O save us or we perisli ! Save us 
 from our sins, from Satan, from thy curse and 
 wrath 1 Save us, or we are undone and lost for 
 ever ! Save us from the unquencliable fire, from 
 the worm that never dieth ! from the bottomless pit, 
 the outer darkness, the horrid gulf of endless misery ! 
 O let the bowels of thy compassion yearn over us ! 
 O save us for thy mercy sake; shut not out the cries 
 of miserable sinners. Regenerate, renew, and sanc- 
 tify our hearts ; O make us new creatures ! O plant 
 thine image on our souls, and incline tliem towards 
 thee, that they may be wholly thine ! O make us 
 such as thou commandest us to be ! Away with 
 our sins, and sinful pleasures, and sinful company ! 
 We have had too much, too much of them already ! 
 Let us now be thine, associated with them that love 
 and fear thee; employed in the works of holiness 
 and obedience all our days ! Lord, we are willing 
 to let go our sins, and to be thy servants : or if we 
 be not, make us willing.' 
 
 What say you, sirs, if you knew that you were 
 this hour in a state of condemnation, could you for- 
 bear making haste with such confessions, complaints, 
 and earnest supplications to God ? And could you 
 forbear going presently to some faithful minister, or 
 godly friend, and telling him your case and danger, 
 
191 
 
 and begging his advice, and prayers, and asking 
 him, what a poor sinner must do to be recovered, 
 pardoned, and saved, that is so deep in sin and 
 misery, and hath despised Christ and grace so long? 
 Could you tell how to sleep quietly many nights 
 more, before you had earnestly sought for help, and 
 made this change? How could ^ you choose but 
 presently betake yourselves to the company, and 
 converse, and examples of the godly that are within 
 your reach ? (For whenever a man is truly changed, 
 his friendship and company is changed, if he have 
 opportunity.) And how could you choose but go 
 and take your leave of your old companions, and 
 with tears and sorrow tell them, how foolishly and 
 sinfully you have done, and what wrong you have 
 done each other's souls, and entreat them to repent 
 and do so no more, or else you will renounce them, 
 and fly from their company as from a pestilence ? 
 
 Cnn a man forbear thus to fly from hell, if he 
 saw that he is as near it as a condemned traitor to 
 the gallows? He that will beg for bread, if he be 
 hungry, would beg for grace, if he saw and felt how 
 much he needeth it: and seeing it, is the way to 
 feel it. He that will seek for medicines when he 
 is sick, and would do almost any thing to escape a 
 temporal death, would he not seek to Christ, the 
 remedy of his soul, if he knew and felt that other- 
 wise there is no recovery ? and would he not do 
 much atrainst eternal death ? " Skin for skin, and 
 all that a man hath, he will give for his life," was a 
 truth that the devil knew, and maketh use of in his 
 temptations. And will a man then be regardless of 
 his soul, that knows he hath an immortal soul ? and 
 
192 
 
 of life eternal, that knows his danger of eternal 
 death ? 
 
 O, sirs, it is not possible, but the true knowledge 
 of your state of sin and danger, would do very much 
 to save you from it. For it is a wilful, chosen 
 state. All the devils in hell cannot bring you to it, 
 and continue you in it against your will. You are 
 willing of the sin, though unwilling of the punish- 
 ment. And if you truly knew the punishment, 
 and your danger of it, you would be the more un- 
 willing of the sin ; for God hath affixed punishment 
 to sin for this end, that they that else would love 
 the serpent, may hate it for the sting./ Foreseeing 
 is to a man, what seeing is, to a beast ; if he see it 
 before his eyes, a beast will not easily be driven 
 into a coal-pit or a gulf; he will draw back and 
 ' strive, if you go about to kill him. And is he a 
 man, or some monster that wants a name, that will 
 go on to hell, when he seeth it, as it were, before 
 him ? and that will continue in a state of sin, when 
 he knows he must be damned in hell for ever, if he 
 so continue to the end ? | Indeed sin is the defor- 
 mity of the soul. He is a monster of blindness 
 that seeth not the folly and peril of such a state, 
 and that a state of holiness is better. And he is a 
 monster of slothfulness, that will not stir when he 
 finds himself in such a case, and seek for mercy, and 
 value the remedy, and use the means, and forsake 
 his sinful course and company, till mercy take him 
 up and bring him home, and make him welcome, as 
 " one that was lost but now is found, was dead, but 
 is alive," 
 
 I do not doubt, for all these expostulations, but 
 
193 
 
 some men may be such monsters, as thus to see 
 that they are in a state of wrath and misery, and yet 
 continue in it. 
 
 As, 1. Such as have but a gHmmeriiig, insuffi- 
 cient sight of it, and a half beHef, while a greater 
 belief and hope of the contrary, that is, presumption, 
 is predominant at the heart. But these are rather 
 to be called men ignorant of their misery, than men 
 that know it; and men that believe it not, than men 
 that do believe it, as long as the ignorance and pre- 
 sumption is the prevailing part. 
 
 2. Such as, by the rage of appetite and passion, 
 are hurried into deadly sin, and so continue, when- 
 ever the tempter offereth them the bait against their 
 conscience, and some apprehension of their misery. 
 But these have commonly a prevalent self-flattery 
 secretly within, encouraging and upholding them in 
 their sin, and telling them, that the reluctancies of 
 their consciences are the Spirit's strivings against 
 the flesh, and their fits of remorse are true repen- 
 tance; and though they are sinners, they hope they 
 are pardoned, and shall be saved, so that these do 
 not know themselves indeed. 
 
 3. Such as, by their deep engagements in the 
 world, and love of its prosperity, and a custom in 
 sinning, are so hardened, and cast into a slumber, 
 that though they have a secret knowledge, or sus- 
 picion, that their case is miserable, yet they are not 
 awakened to the due consideration and feeling of it; 
 and therefore they go on as if they knew it not: but 
 these have not their knowledge in exercise. It is 
 but a candle in a dark lantern, that now and then 
 gives them a convincing flash, when the right side 
 
 I 45 
 
happens to be towards them ; or like liglUning, tliat 
 rather frightens and amnzcth them, than directeth 
 them. And, as I said of the former, their self- 
 ignorance is the predominant part, and therefore 
 they cannot be said indeed to know themselves. 
 
 4. Such as, being in youth or health, do promise 
 themselves long life, or others that foolishly put 
 away the day of death, and think they have yet time 
 enough before them ; and therefore, though they 
 are convinced of their misery, and know they must 
 be converted or condemned, do yet delay, and quiet 
 themselves with purposes to repent hereafter, when 
 death draws near, and there is no other remedy but 
 they must leave their sins, or give up all their hopes 
 of heaven. Though these know somewhat of their 
 present misery, it is but an ineffectual knowledge ; 
 and they know little of the wickedness of their 
 hearts, while they confess them wicked, otherwise 
 they could not imagine, that repentance is so easy a 
 work to such as they, as that- they can perform it 
 when their hearts are further hardened, and that 
 their salvation may be ventured on it by delays. 
 Did they know themselves, they would know the 
 backwardness of their hearts; and manifold difficul- 
 ties should make them see the madness of delays, 
 and of longer resisting and abusing the grace of the 
 Spirit, that must convert them, if ever they be saved. 
 
 5. Such as have light to show them their misery, 
 but live where they hear not the discovery of the 
 remedy, and are left without any knowledge of a 
 Saviour. I deny not but such may go on in a state 
 of misery, though they know it, when they know 
 no way out of it. 
 
195 
 
 6. Such as believe not the remedy, though they 
 hear of it, but think that Christ is not to be be- 
 lieved in, as the Saviour of the world. 
 
 7. Such as beheve that Christ is the Redeemer, 
 but beheve not that he will have mercy upon them, 
 as supposing their hearts are not qualified for his 
 salvation, nor £ver will be, because the day of grace 
 is past, and he hath concluded them under a sen- 
 tence of reprobation ; and therefore thinking that 
 there is no hope, and that their endeavours would 
 be all in vain, they cast off all endeavours, and give 
 up themselves to the pleasures of the flesh, and say, 
 ' It is as good to be damned for something, or for 
 a greater matter, as for a less.' 
 
 So that there are three sorts of despair, that are 
 not equally dangerous. 1. A despair of pardon and 
 salvation, arising from infidelity, as if the Gospel 
 were not true, nor Christ a Saviour to be trusted 
 with our souls, if predominant, is damnable. 2. A 
 despair of pardon and salvation, arising from a mis- 
 understanding of the promise, as if it pardoned not 
 such sins as ours, and denied mercy to those that 
 have sinned so long as we ; this is not damnable ne- 
 cessarily of itself, because it implieth faith in Christ ; 
 and not infidelity, but misunderstanding, hindereth 
 the applying, comforting act; and therefore this ac- 
 tual personal despair, is accompanied with a general 
 actual hope, and with a particular personal, virtual 
 hope. 3. A despair of pardon and salvation, upon 
 the misunderstanding of ourselves, as thinking both 
 that we are graceless, and always shall be so, because 
 of the blindness and hardness of our hearts. Of 
 this despair, I say as of the former, it is joined 
 J 2 
 
196 
 
 with faith, and with general and virtual hope: and, 
 therefore, is not the despair that, of itself, con- 
 demneth. Many may be saved that are too much 
 guilty of it- 
 
 But if either of these two latter sorts shall so far 
 prevail, as to turn men off from a holy, to a fleshly, 
 worldly interest and Hfe, and make them say, ' We 
 will take our pleasure while we may, and will have 
 something for our souls before we lose them,' and 
 do accordingly; this kind of desperation is damnable 
 by the effects, because it takes men off the means of 
 life, and giveth thera up to damning sins. 
 
 Thus I have showed you of seven sorts of persons 
 that may know themselves, their sin and danger, with 
 such an ineffectual, partial knowledge as I have 
 described, and yet continue in that sin and misery. 
 
 And in two cases, even sound believers may pos- 
 sibly go on to sin, when they see the sin: and not 
 only see the danger of it, but despairingly think it 
 greater than it is. As, 1. In case of common, un- 
 avoidable failings, infirmities, and low degrees of 
 grace : we are all imperfect, and yet we all know 
 that it is our duty to be perfect, (as perfection is 
 opposed to sinful, and not to innocent perfection,) 
 and vet this knowledge maketh us not perfect. We 
 know we should be more humbled, and more be- 
 lieving, and more watchful, and love God more, and 
 fear and trust him more, and be more fruitful and 
 diligent, and obedient and zealous ; and yet we are 
 not what we know we should be in any of these. 
 In these we all live in sin against knowledge; else 
 we should be all as good as we know we ought to 
 be, which no man is. And if, through temptation. 
 
197 
 
 any of us should be ready to despair, because of any 
 of these infirmities, because we cannot repent, or 
 love God, watch, or pray, or obey more perfectly, 
 or as we should, yet grace ceaseth not to be grace, 
 though in the least degree, because we are ready to 
 despair for want of more. Nor will the sincerity of 
 this spark, or grain of mustard seed, be unsuccessful, 
 as to our salvation, because we think so, and take 
 ourselves to be insincere, and our sanctification to be 
 none; nor yet because we cannot be as obedient and 
 good as we know we should be. For the Gospel 
 saith not, ' He that knoweth he hath faith or sin- 
 cerity shall be saved ; and he that knoweth it not, 
 shall be damned : or he that is less holy or obedient 
 than his conscience tells him he should be, shall be 
 damned.' But, " He that believeth and repenteth, 
 shall be saved," whether he know it to be done in 
 sincerity or not : and " he that doth not, shall be 
 damned," though he ever so confidently think he ■ 
 doth. So that, in the degrees of holiness and obe- 
 dience, all Christians ordinarily sin against know- 
 ledge. 
 
 2. And besides what is ordinary, some extraor- 
 dinarily, in the time of a powerful temptation, go 
 further than ordinarily they do. And some, under 
 melancholy or choleric distempers of body, or under 
 a diseased, violent appetite, may transgress more 
 against their knowledge, than otherwise they would 
 do. When the spirits are flattened, the thoughts 
 confused, the reason weakened, the passion strength- 
 ened, and the executive faculties indisposed, so that • 
 their actions are but imperfectly human or moral; 
 (imperfectly capable of virtue or vice, good or evil) 
 
198 
 
 it is no wonder here, if poor souls not only perceive 
 their sin, but think it and the danger to be tenfold 
 greater than tliey are, and yet go on against their 
 knowledge, and yet have true grace. 
 
 This much I have said, both to stay you from 
 misunderstanding what I said before, concerning the 
 power of conviction to conversion, and also to help 
 you to the fuller understanding of the matter itself, 
 of which I treat. But exceptions strengthen and 
 not weaken any rule or proposition in the points not 
 excepted. Still I say, that out of these cases, the 
 true knowledge of a sinful, miserable state, is so 
 great a help to bring us out of it, that it is hardly 
 imaginable, how rational men can wilfully continue in 
 a state of such exceeding danger, if tliey be but well 
 acquainted that they are in it. I know a hardened 
 heart hath an unreasonable, obstinate opposition 
 against the means of its own recovery: but yet men 
 have some use of reason and self-preserving love and 
 care, or they are not men. And though little 
 transient lightnings often come to nothing, but leave 
 some men in greater darkness; yet could we but set 
 up a standing light in all your consciences, could we 
 fully convince and resolve the unregenerate, that they 
 cannot be saved in the carnal state they are in, but 
 must be sanctified or never saved; what hopes 
 should we have, that all the subtleties and snares of 
 Satan, and all the pleasures and gain of sin, and all 
 the allurements of ungodly company, could no longer 
 hinder you from falling down at the feet of mercy, 
 and begging forgiveness, through the blood of 
 Christ, and giving up yourselves in covenant to the 
 Lord, and speedily and resolutely betaking your- 
 
199 
 
 selves to a holy life ! Could I but make you tho- 
 roughly known unto yourselves, I should hope that 
 all the unsanctified would date their conversion from 
 this very day; and that you would not delay till the 
 next morning, to bewail your sin and misery, and 
 fly to Christ, lest you should die, and be past hope 
 this night. 
 
 And doth so much of our work, and of your re- 
 covery, lie upon this point, and yet sh;ill we not 1)8 
 able to accomplish it ? Might you be brought into 
 the way to heaven, if we could but persuade you 
 that you arc yet out of the way ; and will you be 
 undone, because you will not suiFer so small and 
 reasonable a part of the cure as this ? O God for- 
 bid ! O that we knew how to illuminate your 
 minds so far, as to make you find tliat you are lost! 
 hovv ready would Christ be then to find you, and to 
 receive and welcome you, upon your return ! Here 
 is the first difficulty, which if we could but overcome, 
 we should hope to conquer all the rest. O that any 
 of you that know the nature of self-deceit, and know 
 the fallacious reasonings of tiie heart, could tell us 
 but how we might undeceive them ! O that any 
 of you that know the nature of human understand- 
 ing, with its several maladies, and their cure, and 
 know the power of saving truth, could tell ns what 
 key will undo this lock! what medicine will cure 
 this disease, of wilful, obstinate, self-deceiving ! 
 Think but on the case cf our poor people, and of 
 ours, and sure you cannot choose but pity both them 
 and us. We are all professors of the Christian 
 faith, and all say we believe the word of God. This 
 word assureth us, that all men are fallen in Adam, 
 
200 
 
 and are " by nature children of wrath," and increase 
 in sin and misery, till supernatural grace recover 
 them. It tells us, that the Redeemer is become, by 
 office, the Physician or Saviour of souls ; washing 
 away their guilt by his blood, and renewing and 
 cleansing their corrupted natures by his Spirit. It 
 tells us, that he will freely work the cure, for all 
 that will take him for their physician, and will for- 
 give and save them that penitently fly to him, and 
 value, and accept, and trust in his grace : and that 
 except they be thus made new creatures, all the world 
 cannot save them from everlasting wrath. This is 
 the doctrine that we all believe, or say we believe. 
 Thus doth it open the case of sinners. We come 
 now, according to our office, and the trust reposed 
 in us, and we tell our hearers what the Scripture 
 saith of man, and what it commandeth us to tell 
 them. We tell them of their fall, their sin and 
 misery ; of the Redeemer, and the sure and free 
 salvation, which they may have if they will but come 
 to him. But, alas ! we cannot make them believe 
 that they are so sick, as to have need of the Physi- 
 cian : and that they are dead, and have need of a 
 new creation, as to the inclination of their hearts, 
 and the end, and bent, and business of their lives. 
 We are sent to tender them the mercy of Christ, 
 but we cannot make them believe that they are 
 miserable. We are sent to offer them the riches, 
 and eye-salve, and white raiment of the Gospel; 
 but we cannot make them know that they are poor, 
 and blind, and naked. We are sent to call them 
 to repent and turn, that they may be saved; and we 
 cannot make them know that they need a change of 
 
heart and life. Here they sit before us, and we 
 look on them with pity, and know not how to help 
 them. We look on them, and think, Alas, poor 
 souls, you little see what death will quickly make 
 you see ! You will then see that there is no salva- 
 tion, by all the blood and merits of Christ, for any 
 but the sanctified : but O that we could now make you 
 understand it ! We look on them with compassion; 
 and think, Alas, poor souls, a change is near ! It 
 will be thus with you but a little while, and where 
 will you be next ? We know, as sure as the word 
 of God is true, that they must be converted and 
 sanctified, or be lost for ever: and we cannot make 
 them believe, but that the work is done already. 
 The Lord knoweth, and our consciences witness to 
 our shame, that we be not half so sensible of their 
 misery, nor so compassionate towards them as we 
 ought to be. But yet sometimes our hearts melt 
 over them, and fain we would save them from the 
 " wrath to come;" and we should have great hopes 
 of the success, if we could but make them know 
 their danger. It melts our hearts to look on them, 
 and think that they are so near damnation, and 
 never likely to escape it, till they know it ; till they 
 know that their corruption is so^reat, that nothing 
 but the quickening Spirit can recover them, and no- 
 thing less than to become new creatures will serve 
 the turn. O that wc knew how to get within them, 
 to open the windows, that the light of Christ might 
 show them their condition ! But when we have 
 done all, we find it past our power. We know they 
 will be past help in hell, if they die before they are 
 regenerate. And could we but get themselves to 
 I 3 
 
202 
 
 know it, they would bettor look about tbcm and be 
 saved. But we are not able. It is more than we can 
 do. We cannot get the grossest worldling, the bas- 
 est sensualist, the proudest child of the spirit of 
 pride, to know that he is in a state of condemnation, 
 and must be sanctified or be damned. Much less 
 can we procure the formal Pharisee, thus to know 
 himself. We can easily get them to confess that 
 they are sinners, and deserve damnation, and cannot 
 be saved without Christ ; but this will not serve : 
 the best saint on earth must say as much as this. 
 There are converted and unconverted sinners, sanc- 
 tified and unsanctified sinners, pardoned and unpar- 
 doned sinners ; sinners that are members of Christ, 
 the children of God, and heirs of heaven, and sin- 
 ners that are not so. They must know not only 
 that they are sinners, but that they are yet uncon- 
 verted, unsanctified, unpardoned sinners ; not only 
 that they cannot be saved without Christ, but that 
 they have no special interest in Christ : they will 
 not so value and seek for conversion, and remission, 
 and adoption, as to obtain them, while they think 
 they have them already. They will not come to 
 Christ that they may have life, while they think 
 tliey have part in Christ already. Paul, after his 
 conversion, was a sinner, and had need of Christ: 
 but Paul, before his conversion, was an unsanctified, 
 unjustified sinner, and had no part in Christ. This 
 is the state of sin and misery that you must come 
 out of, or yon are lost : and how can you be brouglit 
 out of it, till you know^that you are in it ? 
 
 O therefore that we knew how to make you know 
 it ! How should we make poor sinners see that 
 
^03 
 
 they are within a few steps of everlasting fire, that 
 we might induce them to run away from it, and be 
 saved ! We cry so often, and lose our labour, and 
 leave so many in their security and self-deceits, that 
 we are discouraged, and remit our desires, and lose 
 our compassion ; and, alas ! grow dull, and too in- 
 sensible of their case, and preach too often as coldly 
 as if we could be content to let them perish. We 
 are too apt to grow weary of holding the light to 
 men asleep, or that shut their eyes and will not see 
 it. When all that we have said is not regarded, 
 and we know not what more to say, this damps our 
 spirits ; this makes so many of us preach almost as 
 carelessly as we are heard. Regardless, sleepy 
 hearers, make regardless, sleepy preachers. Fre- 
 quent frustration abatelh hope : and the fervour and 
 diligence of prosecution ceaseth^ as hope abateth. 
 This is our fault : your insensibility is no good ex- 
 cuse for ours: but it is a fault not easily avoided. 
 
 And when we are stopped at the first door, and 
 cannot conquer Satan's outworks, what hope have we 
 of going further? If all that we can say, will not 
 convince you that you are yet unsanctified and un- 
 jxistified, how shall we get you to the duties that 
 belong to such, in order to the attainment of this 
 desirable state ? 
 
 And, here, I think it not unreasonable to inform 
 you, why the most able, faithful ministers of Christ 
 do search so deep, and speak so hardly of the case of 
 unrenewed souls, as much displeaseth many of their 
 hearers, and makes them say, they are too severe and 
 terrible preachers. The zealous Antinomian saith, 
 they are legalists ; and the profane Antinomian saith, 
 
^04 
 
 they rail and preach not mercy, but judgment only, 
 and would drive men to despair. But will they tell 
 God he is a legalist, for making the law, even the 
 Gospel law, as well as the law of nature, and com- 
 manding us to preach it to the world ? Shall they 
 escape the sentence, by reproaching the law-maker? 
 Will not God judge the world ; and judge them by 
 a law ; and will he not be just, and beyond the reach 
 of their reproach ? O, sinner, this is not the small- 
 est part of thy terror, that it is the Gospel that speaks 
 this terror to thee, and excludes thee from salvation, 
 unless thou be made new : it is mercy itself that thus 
 condemneth thee, and judgeth thee to endless misery. 
 You are mistaken, sirs, when you say we preach not 
 mercy, and say we preach not the Gospel, but the 
 law: it is the Gospel that saith, "Except a man be born 
 again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven ! 
 and that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, 
 the same is none of his." The same Gospel that 
 saith, " He that believeth shall be saved," saith 
 also, that " He that believeth not shall be damned." 
 Will you tell Christ, the Saviour of the world, that 
 he is not merciful, because he talks to you of dam- 
 nation ? Mercy itself, when it tells you that " there 
 is no condemnation," doth limit this pardon to them 
 *' that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the 
 flesh, but after the Spirit." It is sanctifying mercy 
 that must save you, if ever you be saved, as well as 
 justifying mercy. And will you refuse this mercy, 
 and by no entreaty yield to have it, and yet think to 
 be saved by it ? What ! saved by that mercy which 
 you will not have ? - And will you say, we preach 
 not mercy, because we tell you, that mercy will not 
 
205 
 
 save you, if you continue to reject it ? To be saved 
 by mercy without sanctification, is to be saved and 
 not saved ; to be saved by mercy, without mercy: 
 your words have no better sense than this. And are 
 those afraid, lest preachers should make thera mad, 
 by showing them their need of mercy, that are no 
 wiser than to cast away their souls upon such sense- 
 less, self-contradicting conceits as these? 
 
 I beseech you, tell us whose words are they, that 
 say, " Without holiness none shall see God ?" and 
 that " He that is in Christ, is a new creature," and 
 such like passages which offend you. Are they ours, 
 or are they God's ? Did we indite the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, or did the Holy Ghost ? Is it hard of us, if 
 there be any words there that cross your flesh, and 
 that you call bitter ? Can we help it, if God will 
 save none but sanctified believers ? If you have any 
 thing to say against it, you must say it to him : we are 
 sure that this is in his word : and we are sure he can- 
 not lie : and, therefore, wc are sure it is true. We 
 are sure that he may do with his own as he list, and 
 that he oweth you nothing, and that he may give his 
 pardon and salvation to whom, and upon what terms 
 he please: and, therefore, we are sure he doth you 
 no wrong. But if you think otherwise, reproach 
 not us that are but messengers; but prepare your 
 charge, and make it good against your Maker, if you 
 dare and can. You shall shortly come before him, 
 and be put to it to justify yourselves : if you can do 
 it by recrimination, and can prevent your condemna- 
 tion, by condemning the law and the Judge, try 
 your strength and do your worst. 
 
 Ah, poor worms ! dare you Uft up the head, and 
 
206 
 
 move a tongue ngainst tlie Lord ! Did Iiifiiiiic 
 ^^'isdom itself want wisdom, to make a law to rule 
 the world? And did Infinite Goodness want good- 
 ness to deal mercifully, and as was best with man ! 
 And shall Justice itself be judged to be unjust ? and 
 that by you ! by such silly, ignorant, and unrigh- 
 teous ones as you ! as if you had the wisdom and 
 goodness, which you think God wanted when he 
 made his laws ! 
 
 And whereas you tell us of preaching terribly to 
 you, we cannot help it, if the true and righteous 
 threatenings of God be terrible to the guilty. It is 
 because we know the terrors of the Lord, that we 
 preach them, to warn you to prevent them. And 
 so did the apostles before us. Either it is true that 
 the unquenchable fire will be the poition of impeni- 
 tent, unbelieving, fleshly, worldly, unsanctified men, 
 or it is not true. If it were not true, the word of 
 God were not true : and, then, what should you do 
 with any preaching at all, or any religion ! But if 
 you confess it to be true, do you think in reason it 
 should be silenced ? Or, can we tell men of so ter- 
 rible a thing as hell, and tell them that it will cer- 
 tainly be their lot, unless they be new creatures, and 
 not speak terribly to them ! O, sirs, it is the won- 
 der of my soul that it seemeth no more terrible, to 
 all the ungodly, that think they do believe it. Yea, 
 and I would it did seem more terrible, that it might 
 affright you from your sin to God, and you miglit 
 be saved. If you were running ignorantly into a 
 eoal-pit, would you revile him tiiat told you of it, 
 and bid you stop if you love your life ! would you 
 tell him that he speaks bitterly or terribly to you ? 
 
207 
 
 It is not the preacher that is the cause of your dan- 
 ger : he doth but tell you of it, that you may 
 escape. If you are saved, you may thank him : but 
 if you are lost, you may thank yourselves. It is 
 you that deal bitterly and terribly with yourselves. 
 Telling you of hell doth not make hell : warning 
 you of it, is not causing it : nor is it God that is 
 unmerciful, but you are foolishly cruel and unmerci- 
 ful to yourselves. Do not think to despise the pa- 
 tience and mercy of the Lord, and then think to 
 escape, by accusing him of being unmerciful, and by 
 saying, it is a terrible doctrine that we preach to you, 
 impenitent sinners ! I confess to thee it is ter- 
 rible, and more terrible than thy senseless heart 
 imagineth. One day, if grace prevent it not, thou 
 shall find it ten thousand times more terrible than 
 thou canst apprehend it now. , When thou seest 
 tliv JudjTc, with millions of his angels, comiu" to 
 condemn thee, thou wilt then say his laws are ter- 
 rible indeed. Thou hast to do with a lioly, jealous 
 God, who is a "consuming fire;" andean such a 
 God be despised, and not be terrible to thee? He 
 is called, " The great, the mighty, and the terrible 
 God." " With God is terrible majesty." " He 
 is terrible out of his holy place." " He is terrible 
 to the greatest, even to the kings of the earth." It 
 is time for you, therefore, to tremble and submit, 
 and think how unable you are to contend with him :' 
 and not revile his word or works, because they are 
 terrible ; but fear him for them, and study them on 
 purpose that you may fear and glorify him. And as 
 David, " Say unto God, How terrible art thou in 
 thy works ! Through the greatness of thy power 
 
208 
 
 shall thy enemies submit themselves unto thee— 
 Come and see the works of the Lord f He is ter- 
 rible in his doings towards the children of men," 
 " Let them praise thy great and terrible name, for 
 it is holy." And will you reproach God, or his 
 word, or works, or ministers, with that which is the 
 matter of his praise? If it be terrible to hear of 
 the wrath of God, how terrible will it be to feel it ? 
 Choose not a state of terror to yourselves, and 
 preaching will be less terrible to you. Yield to the 
 sanctifying work of Christ, and receive his Spirit : 
 and then that which is terrible to others will be com- 
 fortable to you. What terror is it to the regenerate 
 (that knoweth himself to be such), to hear that none 
 but the regenerate shall be saved? What terror is 
 it to them that mind the things of the Spirit, to hear 
 of the misery of a fleshly mind, and that they that 
 live after the flesh shall die ? The word of God is 
 full of terror to the ungodly: but return with all 
 your hearts to God, and then what word of God 
 speaks terror to you? Truly, sirs, it is more in 
 your power than ours, to make our preaching easy 
 and less terrible to you ! We cannot change our 
 doctrine, but you may change your state and lives: 
 we cannot preach another Gospel, but you may 
 obey the Gospel which we preach. Obey it, and it 
 will be the most comfortable word to you in the 
 world. We cannot make void the word of God, 
 but you may avoid the stroke by penitent submission. 
 Do you think it fitter to change our Master's word, 
 and falsify the laws of God Almighty, or for you to 
 change your crooked courses, which are condemned 
 by his word, and to let go the sin which the law 
 
209 
 
 forbiddeth ? It is you that must change and not 
 the law. It is you that must be conformed to it, 
 and not the rule that must be made crooked to con- 
 form to you. 
 
 Say not as Ahab of Michaiah, of the minister : 
 " I hate him, for he prophesieth not good of me, 
 but evil for a Balaam could profess, that if the 
 king " would give him his house full of silver and 
 gold, he could not go beyond the word of the Lord 
 bis God, to do less or more," or " to do either good 
 or bad of his own mind." What good would it do 
 you for a preacher to tell you a lie, and say that you 
 may be pardoned and saved in an impenitent, un- 
 sanctified state ? Do you think our saying so, 
 would make it so ? Will God falsify his word to 
 make good ours? Or would he not deal with us as 
 perfidious messengers that had betrayed our trust, 
 and belied him, and deceived your souls ? And would 
 it save an unregenerate man to have Christ condemn 
 the minister for deceiving him, and telling him that 
 he may be saved in such a state ? 
 
 Do but let go the odious sin that the word of 
 God doth speak so ill of, and then it will speak no 
 ill of you. 
 
 Alas, sirs, what would you have a poor minister 
 do, when God's command doth cross your pleasure; 
 and when he is sure to offend either God or you ? 
 Which should he venture to offend? If he help 
 not the ungodly to know their misery, he ofTendeth 
 God: if he do it he ofFendeth them. If he tell you, 
 that " All they shall be damned that believe not the 
 truth, that have pleasure in unrighteousness," your 
 hearts rise against him for talking of damnation to 
 
210 
 
 you: and yet it is but the words of the Holy Ghost, 
 which we are bound to preach ! If he tell you that 
 " If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die," you will 
 be angry, and if he do not tell you so, God will be 
 angry ; for it is his express determination. And 
 whose anger, think you, should a wise man choose ; 
 or whose should he most resolutely avoid — the anger 
 of the dreadful God of heaven, or yours? Your 
 anger we can bear; but his anger is intolerable. 
 When you have railed, and slandered us and our 
 doctrine, we can live yet; or if you kill the body you 
 can do no more : you do but send us before, to be 
 witnesses against you, when you come to judgment. 
 But who can live, when God will pour out wrath 
 upon him ? We may keep your slanders and in- 
 dignation from our hearts; but it is the heart that 
 the heart-scarcliing God contendcth with: and who 
 can heal the heart which he will break? You may 
 reach the flesh ; but he that is a Spirit can afflict 
 and wound the spirit: " And a wounded spirit who 
 can bear?" Would you not yourselves say he were 
 worse than mad, that would rather abuse the eternal 
 God, than cross the misguided desires of such worms 
 as you; that would displease God to please you, and 
 sell his love to purchase yours? Will you be in- 
 stead of God to us, when we have lost his favour? 
 W^iU you save us from him, whom he scndeth for 
 our souls by death, or sentenceth us to hell by judg- 
 ment? Silly souls! how happy were you, could you 
 save yourselves ! Will you be our gods if we for- 
 sake our God? Blame not God to use them as 
 enemies and rebels, that will change him for such 
 earthen gods as you. We have one God, and but 
 
211 
 
 one, and he must be obeyed, whether you like or 
 disUke it : " There is one Lawgiver that is able to 
 save and destroy," and he must be pleased, whether 
 it please your carnal minds or not. If your wisdom 
 now will take the chair, and judge tlie preaching of 
 the Gospel to be foolishness, or the searching appli- 
 cation of it to be too much harshness and severity, I 
 am sure you shall come dovvn ere long, and hear his 
 sentence that will convince you, that the " wisdom 
 of the world is foolishness with God, and the fool- 
 ishness of God (as blasphemy dare call it) is wiser 
 than men." And God will be the final Judge, and 
 his word shall stand when you have done your worst. 
 The worst that the serpent can do, is but to hiss 
 awhile and put forth the sting, and bruise our heel ; 
 but God's day will be the bruising of his head, and 
 " Satan shall be bruised under feet." 
 
 The sun will shine, and the light thereof discover 
 your deformities, whether you will or not. And if 
 adulterers or thieves, that love the works of dark- 
 ness, will do their worst by force or flattery, they 
 cannot make it cease its shining, though they may 
 shut their eyes, or hide themselves in darkness from 
 its light. Faithful teachers are the " lights of tlie 
 world." They are not lighted by the Holy Ghost, 
 to be " put under a bushel, but on a candlestick, 
 that they may give light to all that are in the house." 
 What would you do with teachers but to teach you? 
 and what should they make known to you, if not 
 yourselves? 
 
 \erily, sirs, a sinner under the curse of the law, 
 unsanctified and unpardoned, is not in a state to be 
 jested and dallied with, unless you can play in the 
 
212 
 
 flames of hell: it is plain dealing that he needs. 
 A quibbling, flashy sermon, is not the proper medi- 
 cine for a lethargic, miserable soul, nor fit to break 
 a stony heart, nor to bind up a heart that is kindly 
 broken. Heaven and hell should not be talked of 
 in a canting, or pedantic strain. A Seneca can tell 
 you, that it is'a physician that is skilful, and not one 
 that is eloquent, that we need. It is a cure that we 
 need ; and the means are best, be they ever so 
 sharp, that will accomplish it. Serious, reverend 
 gravity, best suiteth with matters of such incompre- 
 hensible concern. You may play with words when 
 the case will bear it : but as dropping of beads is too 
 ludicrous for one that is praying to be saved from 
 the flames of hell ; so a sleepy, or a histrionical 
 speech, is too light and unlikely a means to call 
 back a sinner that is posting to perdition, and must 
 be humbled and renewed by the Spirit, or be for 
 ever damned. This is your case, sirs: and do you 
 think the playing of a part upon a stage doth fit 
 your case ? O, no ! So great a business requireth 
 all the serious earnestness in the speaker that he 
 can use. I am sure you will think so, ere long, 
 yourselves; and you will then think well of the 
 preachers that faithfully acquainted you with your 
 case: and (if they succeed to your perdition) you 
 will curse those that smoothed you up in your pre- 
 sumption, and hid your danger, by false doctrine, 
 or misapplication. God can make use of clay and 
 spittle to open the eyes of men born blind; and of 
 rams-horns to bring down the walls of Jericho: but 
 usually he fitteth the means to the end, and works 
 on man agreeably to his nature : and therefore, if a 
 
213 
 
 blind understanding must be enlightened, you cannot 
 expect that it should be done by glow-worms, but 
 by bringing into your souls the powerful celestial 
 truth, which shall show you the hidden corners of 
 your hearts, and the hidden mysteries of the Gospel, 
 and the unseen things of the other world. If a 
 hardened heart be to be broken, it is not stroking, 
 but striking that must do it. It is not the sounding 
 brass, the tinkling cymbal, the carnal mind pulFed 
 up with superficial knowledge, that is the instrument 
 fitted to the renewing of men's souls: but it is he 
 that can acquaint you with what he himself hath 
 been savingly acquainted. The heart 4s not melted 
 into godly sorrow, nor raised to the life of faith and 
 love, by a game at words, or useless notions, but by 
 the illuminating beams of sacred truth, and the 
 attraction of Divine displayed goodness, communi- 
 cated from a mind that by faith hath seen the glory 
 of God, and by experience found that he is good, 
 and that liveth in the love of God : such a one is 
 fitted to assist you, first in the knowledge of your- 
 selves, and then in the knowledge of God in Christ. 
 
 Did you consider what is the office of the ministry, 
 you would soon know what ministers do most faith- 
 fully perform their office, and what kind of teaching 
 and oversight you should desire: and then you 
 would be reconciled to the light: and would choose 
 the teacher (could you have your choice) that would 
 do most to help you to know yourselves, and know 
 the Lord. 
 
 I beseech you judge of our work by our com- 
 mission, and judge of it by your own necessities. 
 Have you more need to be acquainted with your sin 
 
214 
 
 and danger? or to be pleased with a set of handsome 
 words, which, when they are said, do leave you as 
 they found you; and leave no light, and life, and 
 heavenly love upon your hearts: that have no sub- 
 stance that you can feed upon in the review ? 
 
 And what our commission is you may find in 
 many places of the Scripture : " When I say unto 
 the wicked, thou shalt surely die; and thou givest 
 him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked 
 from his wicked way, to save his life; the same 
 wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood 
 will I require at thy hand : yet if thou warn the 
 wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor 
 from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, 
 but thou hast delivered thy soul :" and " If thou 
 warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, 
 and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he 
 is warned, also thou hast delivered thy soul." 
 
 And what if they distaste our doctrine, must we 
 forbear? "Tell them, thus saith the Lord God, 
 whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear." 
 So Ezek. xxxiii. 1 — 10. 
 
 You know what became of Jonah for refusing to 
 deliver God's threalenings against Nineveh. 
 
 Christ's stewards must give to each his portion. 
 He himself threateneth damnation to the impenitent, 
 the hypocrites, and unbelievers, (Luke xiii. 3, 5. 
 Mark xvi. IG. Matt. xxiv. 51.) Paul saith of him- 
 self, " If I yet pleased men, I should not be the 
 servant of Christ." Patience and meekness is 
 commanded to the ministers of Christ, even in 
 the instructing of opposcrs, but to what end, but 
 *' that they may escape out of the snare of the devil, 
 
215 
 
 ulio are taken captive by him at his will?" So that, 
 with all our meekness, we must be so plain with you 
 as to make you know that you are Satan's captives, 
 taken alive by him in his snares, till God, by giving 
 you repentance, shall recover you. 
 
 The very office of the preachers sent by Christ 
 was " to open men's eyes, and turn them from dark- 
 ness to light, and from the power of Satan unto 
 God, that they may receive remission of sins, and 
 inheritance v,'ith the sanctified by faith in Christ;" 
 which telleth you, that we must let men understand, 
 that till they are converted and sanctified, they are 
 blind, and in the power of Satan, far from God; 
 unpardoned, and having no part in the inheritance 
 of saints. 
 
 Christ tells the Pharisees, that they were of their 
 father the devil, when they boasted that God was 
 their Father. And how plainly he tells them of 
 their hypocrisy, and asked them how they escape 
 the damnation of hell, you may see in Matt, xxiii. 
 
 Paul thought it his duty to tell Elymas, that he 
 *' was full of all subtlety and mischief, the child of 
 the devil, and the enemy of all righteousness, a per- 
 verter of the right ways of the Lord." And Peter 
 thought meet to tell Simon Magus, that he had 
 " neither part nor lot in that matter: that his heart 
 was not right in the sight of God;" that he was in 
 " the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity." 
 
 The charge of Paul to Timothy is plain and 
 urgent, *' I charge thee before God, and the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the 
 dead at his appearing and his kingdom ; Preach the 
 word; be instant in season and out of season; reprove, 
 
216 
 
 rebuke, exhort." And to Titus, " Rebuke them 
 sharply, that they may be sound in the faith." 
 
 Judge now, whether ministers must deal plainly 
 or deceitfully with you, and whether it be the search- 
 ing, healing truth that they must bring you, or 
 & smooth tale that hath no salt or savour in it. 
 And would you have us break these laws of God, 
 for nothing but to deceive you and tell you a lie, 
 and make the ungodly believe that he is godly, or to 
 hide the truth that is necessary to your salvation? 
 Is the knowledge of yourselves so intolerable a thing 
 to you ? 
 
 Beloved, either it is true that you are yet unsanc- 
 tified, or it is not. If it be not, it is none of our 
 desire you should think so : but if it be true, tell me, 
 why would you not know it ? I hope it is not be- 
 cause you would not be tormented before the time. 
 I hope you think not that we delight to vex men's 
 consciences with fear, or to see men live in grief and 
 trouble, rather than in well-grounded peace and joy. 
 And if indeed you are yet unregenerate, that is not 
 severe in us that tell you of it, but of yourselves that 
 wilfully continue it. Do we make you ungodly, by 
 telling you of your ungodliness? Is it we that hin- 
 der the forgiveness of your sins, by letting you know 
 that they are not forgiven ? O no ! we strive for 
 your conversion, to this end that your sins may be 
 forgiven; and you hinder the forgiveness of them, 
 by refusing to be converted. When God forsaketh 
 stubborn souls for resisting his grace, note how he 
 expresseth his severity against them : "That seeing 
 they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may 
 hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should 
 
217 
 
 be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them." 
 You see here, that till they are converted, men's sins 
 are not forgiven them; and that whoever procureth 
 the forgiveness of their sins, must do it by procuring 
 their conversion ; and that the hindering of their con- 
 version is the hindering of their forgiveness; and 
 that blindness of mind is the great hinderance of 
 conversion. And therefore, undoubtedly, the teacher 
 that brings light into your minds, and first showeth 
 you yourselves, and your unconverted, unpardoned 
 state, is he that takes the way to your conversion 
 and forgiveness : as the forecited text showeth you, 
 " I send thee to open their eyes, and to turn them 
 from darkness to light, (that they may first know 
 themselves, and then know God in Jesus Christ,) 
 and from the power of Satan (who ruled them as their 
 prince, and captivated them as their gaoler) unto 
 God, (whom they had forsaken as a guide and go- 
 vernor, and were deprived of as their protector, por- 
 tion, and felicity,) that they may receive forgiveness 
 of sins, (which none receive but the converted,) and 
 an inheritance among them that are sanctified;" for 
 glory is the inheritance of the saints alone; and all 
 this " through faith that is in me," (by believing in 
 me, and giving up themselves unto me, that by my 
 satisfaction, merits, teaching. Spirit, intercession, 
 and judgment, it may be accomplished). 
 
 Truly, sirs, if we knew how to procure your con- 
 version and forgiveness, without making you know 
 that you are unconverted and unpardoned, we would 
 do it, and not trouble you needlessly with so sad a 
 discovery. Let that man be accounted unworthy to 
 be a preacher of the gospel, that envieth you your 
 K 45 
 
218 
 
 peace and comfort. Wc would Tiot have you think 
 one jot worse of your condition than it is. Know 
 but the very truth, what case you are in, and we 
 desire no more. 
 
 And so far are we, by this, from driving you to 
 desperation, that it is your desperation that we would 
 prevent by it; which can no other way be prevented. 
 When you are past remedy, desperation cannot be 
 avoided; and this _ is necessary to your remedy. 
 There is a conditional despair, and an absolute de- 
 spair. The former is necessary to prevent the latter, 
 and to bring you to a state of hope. A man that 
 hath a gangrened foot may despair of life, unless it be 
 cut off ; that so, by the cure, he may not be left to an 
 absolute despair of life. So you must despair of 
 being pardoned or saved without conversion, that 
 you may be converted, and so have hope of your sal- 
 vation, and be saved from final, absolute despair. I 
 hope you will not be olFended with him, that would 
 persuade you to despair of living, unless you will eat 
 and drink. You have no more reason to be offended 
 with him that would have you despair of being par- 
 doned or saved without Christ, or without his sanc- 
 tifying Spirit. 
 
 Having said so much of the necessity of ministers 
 endeavouring to make unregenerate sinners know 
 tliemselves, I shall next try what I can do towards 
 it, with those that hear, by proposing these few 
 (]uestions to your consideration : — 
 
 Qiicst. I. Do you think that you were ever un- 
 sanctified, and in a state of wrath and condemnation, 
 or not? » If not, then you are not the offspring of 
 
219 
 
 Adam; you are not then of the human race: for the 
 Scripture telleth you, that " we are conceived in 
 sin ;" and that " by one man sin entered into the 
 world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon 
 all men, for that all have sinned;" and that "by the 
 offence of one, judgment came upon all men to con- 
 demnation ;" and that *' all have sinned, and come 
 short of the glory of God." " If we say that we 
 have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is 
 not in us;" and " the wages of sin is death." 
 
 And I hope you will confess, that you cannot be 
 pardoned and saved without a Saviour; and there- 
 fore, as you need a Saviour, so you must have a 
 special interest in him. It is as certain that Christ 
 saveth not all, as that he saveth any; for the same 
 word assureth us of the one and of the other. 
 
 (lues/, 2. But if you confess that once you were 
 children of wrath, my next question is. Whether 
 you know how, and when, you were delivered from 
 so sad a state ^- or at least, whether it be done, or 
 » not ? Perhaps you will say, it was done in your 
 baptism, which washeth away original sin. But, 
 granting you that all that have a promise of pardon 
 before, have that promise sealed, and that pardon 
 delivered them by baptism, I ask. 
 
 Quest. 3. Do you think that baptism by water 
 alone will save, unless you be also baptized by the 
 Spirit? Christ telleth you the contrary, with a 
 vehement asseveration : " Verily, verily, 1 say unto 
 thee, Except a man be born of water and of the 
 Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." 
 And Peter tells you, that it is " not the putting 
 away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good 
 K 2 
 
220 
 
 conscience towards God." " If therefore you have 
 not the Spirit of Ciirist," for all your baptism, " you 
 are none of his;" for " that which is born of the 
 flesh is (but) flesh," and you must be born of the 
 Spirit if you vvill be spiritual. 
 
 I shall further grant you, that many receive the 
 Spirit of Christ even in their infancy, and may be 
 savingly, as well as sacramentally, then regenerate. 
 And if this be your case, you have a very great 
 cause to be thankful for it. But I next inquire of 
 you, 
 
 Qiiest, 4. Have you not lived an unholy, carnal 
 life, since you came to the use of reason ? Have 
 you not since then declared, that you did not live 
 the life of faith, nor walk after the Spirit, but after 
 the flesh ? If so, then it is certain that you have 
 need of a conversion from that ungodly state, what- 
 ever baptism did for you ; and therefore you are still 
 to inquire, whether you have been converted since 
 you came to age. 
 
 And I must needs remind you, that your infant 
 covenant made in baptism, being upon your parents' 
 faith and consent, and not your own, will serve your 
 turn no longer than your infancy, unless when you 
 come. to the use of reason, you renew and own that 
 covenant yourselves, and have a personal faith and 
 repentance of your own. And whatever you received 
 in baptism, this must be our next inquiry. 
 
 Quest. 5. Did you ever, since you came to age, 
 upon sound repentance, and renunciation of the flesh, 
 the world, and the devil, give up yourselves unfeign- 
 edly, by faith, to God the Father, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost; and show, by the performance of this holy 
 
221 
 
 covenant, that you were sincere in the making of it? 
 I confess it is a matter so hard to most, to assign the 
 time and manner of their conversion, that I think it 
 no safe way of trial. And therefore I will issue all 
 in this one question : 
 
 Quest. 6. Have you the necessary parts of the 
 new creature now ; though perhaps you know not 
 just when, or how it was formed in you? The ques- 
 tion is, whether you are now in a state of sanctifica- 
 tion ? And not, whether you can tell just when you 
 did receive it? It beginnelh so early with some, 
 and so obscurely with others, and in others the pre- 
 parations are so long or notable, that it is hard to say 
 wlien special grace came in. But you may well dis- 
 cern whether it be there or not. And that is the 
 question that must be resolved, if you would know 
 yourselves. 
 
 And, though I have been long in these exhorta- 
 tions, to incline your wills, I shall be short in giving 
 you those evidences of the holy life, which must be 
 before your eyes while you are upon the trial. In 
 sum, if your very hearts do now unfeignedly consent 
 to the covenant which vou made in baptism, and your 
 lives express it to be a true consent, I dare say you 
 are regenerate, though you know not just when you 
 first consented. Come on, then, and let us inquire 
 what you say to the several parts of your baptismal 
 covenant. 
 
 1. If you are sincere in the covenant you have 
 made with Christ, you do resolvedly consent, that 
 God shall be your only God, as reconciled to you by 
 Jesus Christ. Which is, 1. That you will take 
 him for your Owner, or your absolute Lord, and give 
 
222 
 
 up yourselves to him as his own. 2. That you will 
 take him for your supreme Governor, and consent to 
 be subject to his government and laws, taking his 
 wisdom for your guide, and his will for the rule 
 of your wills and lives. 3. That you will take 
 him for your chiefest Benefactor, from whom you re- 
 ceive and expect all your happiness, and to whom 
 you owe yourselves and all, by way of thankfulness ; 
 and that you take his love and favour for your hap- 
 piness itself, and prefer the everlasting enjoyment of 
 his glorious sight and love in heaven, before all the 
 sensual pleasures of the world. I would prove the 
 necessity of all these by Scripture as we go, but that 
 it is evident in itself; these three relations being es- 
 sential to God, as our God in covenant. He is not 
 our God, if not our Owner, Ruler, and Benefactor. 
 You profess all this, when you profess but to love 
 God, or to take him for your God. 
 
 2. In the covenant of baptism you do profess to 
 believe in Christ, and take him for your only Savi- 
 our. If you do this in sfncerity, 1. You do unfeign- 
 edly believe the doctrines of his Gospel, the articles 
 of the Christian faith, concerning his person, his of- 
 fices, and his sufferings and works. 2. You do take 
 him unfeignedly for the only Redeemer and Saviour 
 of mankind, and give up yourselves to be saved by 
 his merits, righteousness, intercession, &c. as he hath 
 promised in his word. 3. You trust upon him and 
 his promises, for the attainment of your reconciliation 
 and peace with God, your justification, adoption, 
 sanctification, and the glory of the life to come. 
 4. You take him for your Lord and King, your 
 Owner and Ruler, by the right of redemption; and 
 
223 
 
 your grand Benefactor, that hath obliged you to love 
 and gratitude, by saving you from the wrath to come, 
 and purchasing eternal glory for you by his most 
 wonderful condescension, life, and sufferings. 
 
 3. In the baptismal covenant, you are engaged to 
 the Holy Ghost. If you are sincere in this branch 
 of your covenant, I. Vou discern your sins as odious 
 and dangerous, as the corruption of your souls, and 
 that which displeaseth the most holy God. 2. You 
 see an excellency in holiness of heart and hfe, as the 
 image of God, the rectitude of man, and that which 
 fits him for eternal blessedness, and maketh him ami- 
 able in the eyes of God. 3. You unfeignedly desire 
 to be rid of your sin, how dear soever it hath been to 
 you, and to be perfectly sanctified by the Holy Spi- 
 rit, in the use of the means which lie hath appointed; 
 and you consent that the Holy Ghost, as your Sanc- 
 tifier, do purify you, and kindle the love of God in 
 you, and bring it to perfection. 
 
 4. In baptism, you profess to renounce the world, 
 the flesh, and the devil ; that is, as they stand for 
 your hearts against the will and love of God, and 
 against the happiness of the unseen world, and 
 against your faith in Christ your Saviour, and 
 against the sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost. If 
 therefore you are sincere in this part of your cove- 
 nant, you do, upon deliberation, perceive all the 
 pleasures, profits, and honours of this world, to be 
 so vain and worthless, that you are habitually re- 
 solved to prefer the love and favour of God, and 
 your salvation, before tliem ; and to be ruled by Je- 
 sus Christ, and his Spirit and word, rather than by 
 the desires of the flesh, or the world's allurements, 
 
224. 
 
 or the will of man, or the suggestions of the devil; 
 and to forsake all rather than forsake the Father, the 
 Saviour, the Sanctifier, to whom yon are devoted, 
 and the everlasting life, which, upon his promise, 
 you have taken for your hope and portion. This is 
 the sense of baptism, and all this in profession being 
 essential to your baptism, must be essential to your 
 Christianity. Your parents' profession of it was 
 necessary to your infant title to the outward privi- 
 leges of the church. Your own personal profession 
 is necessary to your continuance of those privileges, 
 and your visible Christianity and communion with 
 the adult. And the truth of what you profess, is 
 necessary to your real Christianity before God, and 
 to your title to salvation ; and this is what is to be 
 now inquired after. You cannot hope to be admitted 
 into heaven upon lower terms than the sincerity of 
 that profession which entereth you into the church ; 
 while we tell you of no higher matters necessary to 
 your salvation, than the sincerity of that which is 
 necessary to baptism and Christianity. I hope you 
 will not say we d(?al too strictly with you. Inquire 
 now, by a diligent trial of your hearts, whether you 
 truly consent to all these articles of your baptismal 
 vow or covenant. If you do, you are regenerate by 
 the Spirit: if you do not, you have but tlie sacra- 
 ment of regeneration ; which aggravateth your guilt, 
 as a violated profession and covenant must needs do. 
 And I do not think, that any man worthy to be dis- 
 coursed with, will have the face to tell you, that any 
 man, at the use of reason, is, by his baptism, or any 
 thing else, in a state of justification and salvation, 
 whose heart doth not sincerely consent to the cove- 
 
225 
 
 nant of baptism, and whose life expressetli not that 
 consent. 
 
 Hence, therefore, you may perceive that it is a 
 thing unquestionable, that all these persons are yet 
 unregenerate, and in the bond of their iniquity. 
 
 1. All those that have not unfeignedly devoted 
 themselves to God, as being not their own, but his. 
 His by the title of creation : " Know ye that the 
 Lord he is God; it is he that hath made us, and not 
 we ourselves: we arc his people, and the sheep of his 
 pasture." And his by the title of redemption : for 
 " we are bought with a price." And he that un- 
 feignedly taketh God for his Owner, and absolute 
 Lord, will heartily give up himself unto him; as Paul 
 saith of the Corinthians, " They first gave up their 
 own selves to the Lord, and to us by the will of 
 God." 
 
 And he that entirely giveth up himself to God, 
 doth, with himself, surrender all that he hath in de- 
 sire and resolution. As Christ, with himself, doth 
 " give us all things," and " addeth other things to 
 them that seek first his kinrfdom and its riijhteous- 
 ness," so Christians, with themselves, do give up all 
 they have to Christ. 
 
 And he that giveth up himself to God, will live 
 to God : and he that taketh not himself to be his 
 own, will take nothing for his own ; but will study 
 the interest of his Lord, and think he is best dis- 
 posed of, when he honourcth him most, and servetli 
 him best. " Ye are not your own, for ye are bought 
 with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, 
 and in your spirit, which are God's." 
 
 If any of you devote not yourselves unfeignedly 
 K 3 
 
226 
 
 to God, and make it not your first inquiry, what 
 God would have you be and do, but live to your- 
 selves, and yet think yourselves in a state of grace, 
 you are mistaken, and do not know yourselves. 
 How many might easily see their miserable condi- 
 tion in this discovery, who say in effect, " Our lips 
 are our own : who is Lord over us !" and rather 
 hate and oppose the interest of God and holiness in 
 the world, than devote themselves to the promoting 
 of it ! " Do ye thus requite the Lord, ye foolish 
 people and unwise ? Is not he thy Father that hath 
 bought thee ? Hath he not made thee, and estab- 
 lished thee ?" 
 
 2. All those are unregenerate, and in a state of 
 death, that are not sincerely subjected to the govern- 
 ing will of God, but are ruled by tlieir carnal in- 
 terest and desires; and the word of a man that can 
 gratify or hurt them, can do more with them than 
 the word of God. To show them the command of a 
 man that they think can undo them if they disobey, 
 doth more prevail with them, than to show them the 
 command of God, that can condemn them to end- 
 less misery. They more fear men, that can kill the 
 body, than God, that can destroy both soul and 
 body in hell-fire. When the lust of the flesh, and 
 the will of man, do bear more sway than the will of 
 God, it is certain that such a soul is unregenerate. 
 " Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized 
 into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death ? 
 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into 
 death ; that like as Christ was raised from the dead, 
 by the glory of the Father, even so we also should 
 walk in newness of hfe — Knowing this, that our 
 
227 
 
 old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin 
 might be destroyed ; that henceforth we should not 
 serve sin. — Know ye not, that to whom you yield 
 yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to 
 whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obe- 
 dience unto righteousness ?" " Forasmuch, then, as 
 Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm your- 
 selves hkewise with the same mind; for he that hath 
 sulFered in the flesh hath ceased from sin : that he 
 no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh 
 to the lusts of men, but to the will of God." 
 
 3. All those are unregenerate, that depend not 
 upon God as their chief benefactor ; and do not most 
 carefully apply themselves to him, as knowing that 
 " in his favour is life," and that " his loving-kind- 
 ness is better than life," and that to his judgment 
 we must finally stand or fall: but do ambitiously 
 seek the favour of men, and call them their benefac- 
 tors, whatever become of the favour of God. He is 
 no child of God, that preferreth not the love of God 
 before the love of all the world. He is no heir of 
 heaven, that preferreth not the fruition of God in 
 heaven, before all worldly glory and felicity. " If 
 ye be risen with Christ, seek the tilings that are 
 above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of 
 God. Set your affections on things above, not on 
 things on the earth." The love of God is the 
 sum of holiness; the heart of the new creature; 
 the perfecting of it is the perfection and felicity of 
 man. 
 
 4. They are certainly unregenerate, that believe 
 not the Gospel, and take not Christ for their only 
 Saviour, and his promises of grace and glory, as 
 
228 
 
 purchased by liis sacrifice and merits, for the foun- 
 dation of their hopes, on which they resolve to trust 
 their souls for pardon and peace with God, and end- 
 less happiness. " Neilher is there salvation in any 
 other: for there is none other name under heaven 
 given among men whereby we must be saved." 
 "This is the record, that God has given us eternal 
 life; and this life is in his Son. He that hath the 
 Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Sou, hath 
 not life." 
 
 \V hen our happiness was in Adam's hands, he 
 lost it : it is now put into safer hands, and Jesus 
 Ch rist, the second Adam, is become our treasury. 
 He is the head of the body, from whom each mem- 
 ber hath quickening influence. The life of saints 
 is in him, as the life of the tree is in the root, un- 
 seen. Holiness is a living unto God in Christ; 
 though we are dead with Christ, to the law, and to 
 the world, and to the flesh, we are alive to God. 
 So Paul describeth our casein his own, " I through 
 the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto 
 God. I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I 
 live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the 
 life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith 
 of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself 
 for me." " Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to 
 be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord." " Christ is the vine, and 
 we are the branches ; without him we can do 
 nothing. If you abide not in him, and his words in 
 you, you are cast forth as a branch, and withered, 
 which men gather and cast into the fire, and they 
 are burned." In baptism you are married unto 
 
229 
 
 Christ, as to the external solemnization ; and in spi- 
 ritual regeneration, your hearts do inwardly close 
 with him, entertain him, and resign themselves unto 
 him by faith and love; and by a resolved covenant 
 become his own. 
 
 3. That person is certainly unregcnerate, that 
 never was convinced of a necessity of sanctification, 
 or never perceived an excellency and amiableness in 
 holiness of heart and life, and loved it in others, and 
 desired it himself ; and never gave up himself to 
 the Holy Ghost, to be further sanctified in the use 
 of his appointed means ; desiring to be perfect, and 
 willing to press forward towards the mark, and to 
 abound in grace. Much less is that person renewed 
 by the Holy Ghost, that hateth holiness, and had 
 rather be without it, and would not walk in the fear 
 and obedience of the Lord. 
 
 The spirit of holiness is that life by which Christ 
 quickeneth all that are his members. He is no 
 member of Christ that is without it. "According 
 to his mercy, he saved us, by the washing of regen- 
 eration, and renewhig of the Holy Ghost." 
 
 6. That person is unregenerate, that is under the 
 dominion of his fleshly desires, "and mindeth the 
 things of the flesh above the things of the Spirit," 
 and hath not mortified it so far, as not to live ac- 
 cording to it. A carnal mind, and a carnal life, are 
 opposite to holiness, as sickness is to health, and 
 darkness to light. " There is no condemnation to 
 them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after 
 the flesh, but after the Spirit. — For they that are 
 after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh ; but 
 they that are after the Spirit the things of the 
 
230 
 
 Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death ; but to 
 be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the 
 carnal mind is enmity against God ; for it is not 
 subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 
 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 
 — For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die ; but 
 if by the Spirit ye mortify the deeds of the body, ye 
 shall live." " Now the works of the flesh are ma- 
 nifest, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, 
 lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, 
 emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envy- 
 ings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; 
 of which I tell you before, as I have also told you in 
 time past, that they which do such things shall not 
 inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the 
 Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, 
 goodness, faith, meekness, temperance : against such 
 there is no law. And they that are Christ's have 
 crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts." 
 
 7. Lastly, That person is certainly unregenerate, 
 that so far valueth and loveth the world, or any of 
 the carnal accommodations thereifi, as practically to 
 prefer them before the love of God, and the hopes 
 of everlasting glory : seeking it first with highest 
 estimation, and holding it fastest; so as that he will 
 rather venture his soul upon the threatened wrath of 
 God, than his body upon the wrath of man ; and 
 will be religious, no further than m".y consist with 
 his prosperity or safety in the world, and hath some- 
 thing that he cannot part with for Christ and 
 heaven, because it is dearer to him than they. Let 
 this man go ever so far in religion, as long as he 
 goeth further for the world, and setteth it nearest to 
 
231 
 
 his heart, and will do most for it, and, consequently, 
 loveth it better than Christ, he is no true Christian, 
 nor in a state of grace. 
 
 The Scriptures put this also out of doubt, as you 
 may see, Matt. x. 37, 38. Luke xiv. 25, 27, 33. 
 " He that loveth father or mother more than me, is 
 not worthy of me, &c. Whosoever doth not bear 
 his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 
 Whosoever ho be of you that forsaketh not all that he 
 hath, he cannot be my disciple." — " Know ye not that 
 the friendship of the world is enmity with God ? who- 
 soever, therefore, will be a friend of the world, is the 
 enemy of God." No wonder, then, if the world must 
 be renounced in our baptism. " Love not the world, 
 neither the things that are in the world. If any man 
 love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 
 
 You see, by this time, what it is to be regene- 
 rate, and to he a Christian indeed, by what is con- 
 tained even in our baptism : and, consequently, how 
 you may know yourselves, whether you are sancti- 
 fied, and the heirs of heaven, or not. 
 
 Again, therefore, I summon you to appear before 
 your consciences. And if indeed these evidences of 
 regeneration are not in you, stop not the sentence, 
 but confess your sinful, miserable state, and condemn 
 yourselves ; and say no longer, I hope yet that my 
 present condition may serve the turn, and that God will 
 forgive me, though I should die without any further 
 change. Those liopes, that you may be saved with- 
 out regeneration, or that you are regenerate when 
 you are not, are the pillars of Satan's fortress in your 
 hearts, and keep you from the saving hopes of the 
 regenerate, that will never make you ashamed. 
 
232 
 
 Uphold not that vvhich Christ is eiifraged against : 
 down it must, cither by grace or judgment : and, 
 therefore, abuse not your souls, by under-propping 
 such an ill-grounded, false, deceitful hope. You 
 have now time to take it down so orderly and safely, 
 as tiiat it fall not on your Iieads, and overwhelm you 
 not for ever. But if you stay till death shall under- 
 mine it, the fall will be great, and your ruin irre- 
 parable. If you are wise, therefore, know yourselves 
 in time. 
 
 CHAPTER Vir. 
 
 Exhortatio7is to the Godly, to Jcnovo their sins and 
 •wants. 
 
 II. I HAVE done with that part of my special ex- 
 hortation which concerned the unregenerate : I am 
 next to speak to tliose of you, that by grace are 
 brought into a better state ; and to tell you, that it 
 very much concerneth you also, even the best of you, 
 to labour to be well acquainted with yourselves : and 
 that, both in respect of, I. Your sins and wants ; 
 and, II. Your graces and your duties. 
 
 I. Be acquainted with the root and remnant of 
 your sius : with your particular inclinations and cor- 
 rupt affections ; their quality, their degree, and 
 strength : with the weaknesses of every grace; with 
 your disability to duty ; and with the omissions or 
 sinful practices of your lives. Search diligently and 
 deeply; frequently and accurately peruse your hearts 
 and ways, till you certainly and thoroughly know 
 yourselves. 
 
233 
 
 And I beseech you, let it not suffice you that 
 you know your states, and have found yourselves in 
 the love of God, in the faith of Christ, and possessed 
 by his Spirit. Though this be a mercy worth many 
 worlds, yet this is not all concerning yourselves that 
 you have to know. If yet you say that you have no 
 sin, you deceive yourselves. If yet you think you 
 are past all danger, your danger is tlie greater for 
 this mistake. As much as you have been humbled 
 for sin ; as much as you have loathed it ; as often as 
 you have confessed it, lamented it, complained and 
 prayed against it, yet it is alive : though it be mor- 
 tified, it is alive. It is said to be mortified as to 
 the prevalency and reign, but the relics of it yet sur- 
 vive : were it perfectly dead, you were perfectly de- 
 livered from it, and might say, you have no sin : but 
 it is not yet so happy with you. It will find work 
 for the blood and Spirit of Christ, and for your- 
 selves, as long as you are in the flesh. And, alas ! 
 too many that know themselves to be upright in the 
 main, are yet so much unacquainted with their hearts 
 and lives, as to the degrees of grace and sin, as that 
 it much disadvantageth them in their Christian pro- 
 gress. Go along with me in the careful observation 
 of these following evils, that may befal even the re- 
 generate by the remnants of sclf-ignorancc. 
 
 1. The work of mortification is very much hin- 
 dered, because you know yourselves no better, as 
 may appear in all these following discoveries. 
 
 (1.) You confess not sin to God or man so peni- 
 tently and sensibly as you ought, because you know 
 yourselves no better. Did you see your heart, with 
 a fuller view, how heavily would you charge your- 
 
234 
 
 selves ! repentance would be more intense and more 
 effectual ; and when you were more contrite, you 
 would be more meet for the sense of pardon, and for 
 God's delight. It would fill you more with godly 
 shame and self-abhorrence, if you better knew your- 
 selves. It would make you more sensibly say, with 
 Paul, " I see another law in my members warring 
 against the law of my mind, and bringing me into 
 captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. 
 O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me 
 from the body of this death ?" And with David, 
 " I will declare my iniquity; I will be sorry for my 
 sin. They are more than the hairs of my head. I 
 acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity 
 have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgres- 
 sions to the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of 
 my sin." i Repentance is the death of sin ; and the 
 knowledge of ourselves, and the sight of our sins, is 
 the life of repentance. / 
 
 (2.) You pray not against sin, for grace and par- 
 don, so earnestly as you should, because you know 
 yourselves no better. O that God would but open 
 these too close hearts, and show us all the recesses 
 of our self-deceit, and the filth of worldliness, and 
 carnal inclinations that lurk within us, and read us 
 a lecture upon every part; what prayers would it 
 teach us to indite! That you may not be proud of 
 your holiness, let me tell you. Christians, that a full 
 display of the corruptions of the best of you, would 
 not only take down self-exalting thoughts, that you 
 be not lifted up above measure, but would teach you 
 to pray with fervour and importunity, and make you 
 cry, " O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver 
 
235 
 
 me!" If the sight of a cripple, or naked person, 
 move you to compassion, though they use no words, 
 surely the sight of your own deformities, wants, and 
 dangers, would affect you if you saw them as they 
 are. How many a sin do you forget in your con- 
 fessions, that should have a particular repentance ! 
 And how many wants do you overlook in prayers, 
 that should have particular petitions for a merciful 
 supply ! And how many are run over with words 
 of course, that would he earnestly insisted on,- if 
 you did but better know yourselves ! O that God 
 would persuade you better to study your hearts, 
 and pray out of that book whenever you draw nigh 
 to him, that you might not be so like the hypocrites, 
 that draw near to him with the lips, when their 
 hearts are far from him. To my shame I must 
 confess, that my soul is too dry and barren in holy 
 supplications to God, and too little affected with my 
 confessed sins and wants ; but I am forced to lay all, 
 in a very great measure, upon the imperfect ac- 
 quaintance that I have at home. I cannot think I 
 should want matter to pour out before the Lord in 
 confession and petition, nor so much want fervour 
 and earnestness with God, if my heart and life lay 
 open to my view, while I am upon my knees. 
 
 (3.) It is for want of a fuller knowledge of your- 
 selves, that you are so negligent in your Christian 
 watch — that you do not better guard your senses — 
 that you make no stricter a covenant with your eyes, 
 your appetites, your tongues — that you no more ex- 
 amine what you think, affect, and say — that you call 
 not yourselves more frequently to account : but days 
 run on, and duties are carelessly performed, as of 
 
236 
 
 course, and no daily reckoning made to conscience 
 of all. The knowledge of your weaknesses, and 
 readiness to yield, and of your treacherous corrup- 
 tions that comply with the enemy, would make you 
 more suspicious of yourselves, and to walk more 
 " circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise," and to 
 consider your ways, before you were too bold and 
 venturous. It was the consciousness of their own 
 infirmity, that should have moved the disciples to 
 w.itch and pray. " Watch and pray, that ye enter 
 not into temptation : the spirit indeed is wiHing, but 
 the flesh is weak." And all have the same charge, 
 because all have the same infirmity and danger. 
 " What I say to you, I say unto all, Watch." 
 Did we better know how many advantages our own 
 corruptions give the tempter, that charge of the 
 Holy Ghost would awake us all to stand to our 
 arms, and look about us : " Watch ye, stand fast 
 in the faith ; quit you like men, be strong." " Put 
 on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able 
 to stand against the wiles of the devil; for we 
 wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against prin- 
 cipalities and powers, against the rulers of the dark- 
 ness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in 
 high places." 
 
 The knowledge of ourselves doth show us all the 
 advantages of the tempter; what he hath to work 
 upon, and what in us to take his part, and conse- 
 quently where he is most likely to assault us: and 
 so puts us into so prepared a posture for defence, as 
 very much hinderelh his success. But so far as we 
 do not know ourselves, we are like blind men in 
 fencing, the adversary may hit in what part he 
 
237 
 
 please. What sin may not Satan tempt a man 
 into, that is not acquainted with the corruptions and 
 frailties of his own heart! 
 
 (■i.) It is for want of self-acquaintance that we 
 seek not for help against our sin, to ministers or 
 other friends that could assist us: and that we use 
 the confirming ordinances with no more care and 
 dih'gence. All the abilities and willingness of others, 
 and all the helps of God's appointment, will be ne- 
 glected, when we should employ them against our 
 sins, so far as sclf-ignorance doth keep us from dis- 
 cerning the necessity of them. 
 
 (3.) It is for want of a fuller knowledge of our- 
 selves, that many lie long in sins unobserved by 
 themselves; and many are on the declining hand, 
 and take no notice of it. And how little resistance 
 or mortifying endeavours we are likely to bestow 
 upon unknown or unobserved sins, is easy to con- 
 ceive. How many may we observe to have notable 
 blemishes of pride, ostentation, desire of pre-emi- 
 nence and esteem, envy, malice, self-conceitedness, 
 self-seeking, censoriousness, uncharitableness, and 
 such like, that see no more of it in themselves, than 
 is in more mortified men ! How ordinarily do we 
 hear the pastors that watch over them, and their 
 friends that are best acquainted with them, lament- 
 ing the miscarriages, and the careless walking and 
 declining of many that seem religious, when they 
 lament it not themselves, nor will be convinced that 
 they are sick of any such disease, any more than all 
 other Christians are ! Hence it is, that we have all 
 need to lament, in general, our unknown sins, and 
 say, with David, " Who can understand his errors ? 
 Cleanse thou me from secret faults." 
 
238 
 
 There are few of us that observe our hearts at 
 all, but find, both upon any special illumhiation, and 
 in the hour of discovering trials, that there were 
 many distempers in our hearts, and many miscar- 
 riages in our lives, that we never took notice of be- 
 fore. The heart hath such secret corners of un- 
 cleannessj such mysteries of iniquity, and depths of 
 deceitfulness, that many fearing God, are strangely 
 unacquainted with themselves, as to the particular 
 motions and degrees of sin, till some notable provi- 
 dence, or gracious light, assist them in the discovery. 
 I think it not unprofitable here to give you some 
 instances of sin, undiscerned by the servants of the 
 Lord themselves that have it, till the light come in 
 that makes them wonder at their former darkness. 
 
 In general, first observe these two. 1. The 
 secret habits of sin, being discernible only by some 
 acts, are many times unknown to us, because we 
 are under no strong temptation to commit those sins. 
 And it is a wonderfully hard thing for a man that 
 hath little or no temptation to know himself, and 
 know what he should do, if he had the temptations 
 of other men. And O, what sad discoveries are 
 made in the hour of temptation ! What swarms 
 of vice break out in some, like vermin, that lay hid 
 in the cold of winter, and crawl about when they 
 feel the summer's heat ! What horrid corruptions, 
 which we never observed in ourselves before, do 
 show themselves in the hour of temptation ! Who 
 would have thought that righteous Noah had, in 
 the ark, such a heart as would, by carelessness, fall 
 into the sin of drunkenness! Or that righteous 
 Lot had carried from Sodom the seed of drunken- 
 
S39 
 
 ness and incest in him ! Or that David, a man so 
 eminent in holiness, and a man after God's own 
 heart, had a heart that had in it the seeds of adul- 
 tery and murder ! Little thought Peter, when he 
 professed Christ, that there had been in him such 
 carnality and unbelief, as would so soon have pro- 
 voked Christ to say, " Get thee behind me, Satan, 
 thou art an offence unto me; for thou savourest not 
 the things that be of God, but those that be of 
 men." And little did he think, when he so vehe- 
 mently professed his resolution rather to die with 
 Christ than deny him, that there had been then 
 in his heart, the seed that would bring forth this 
 bitter fruit, i Who knows what is virtually in a 
 seed, that never saw the tree, or tasted of the fruit ? 
 
 Especially, when we have not only a freedom 
 from temptations, but also the most powerful means 
 to keep under vicious habits, it is hard to know how 
 far they are mortified at the root. When men are 
 among those that countenance the contrary virtue, 
 and where the vice is in disgrace, and where ex- 
 amples of piety and temperance are still before their 
 eyes; if they dwell in such places and company, 
 where authority, and friendship, and reason, do all 
 take part with good, and cry down the evil, no 
 wonder if the evil that is unmortified in men's 
 hearts, do not much break out to their own or 
 others^ observations, through all this opposition. 
 The instance of King Joash is famous for this, who 
 " did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, 
 all the days of Jehoiada the priest that instructed 
 him," but " after his death, when the princes of 
 Judah flattered him with their obeisance, he left the 
 
240 
 
 house of God and served idols, till wrath came upon 
 the land:" and was so hardened in sin, as to murder 
 Zechariah, the prophet of God, and son of that 
 Jehoiada that had brought him out of obscurity, and 
 set him upon the throne, even because he spake, in 
 the name of the Lord, against his sin. Who would 
 have thought that it had been in the heart of Solo- 
 mon, a man so wise, so holy, and so solemnly en- 
 gaged to God, by his public professions and works, 
 to have committed the abominations mentioned, 
 1 Kings xi. 4.? 
 
 If you say, ' That all this proveth not that there 
 was any seed or root of such a sin in the heart be- 
 fore, but only that the temptation did prevail to 
 cause the acts first, and then such habits as those 
 acts did tend to.' I answer, 1. I grant that temp- 
 tations do not only discover what is in the heart, 
 but also make it worse when they prevail ; and that 
 is no full proof that a man had a proper habit of sin 
 before, because, by temptation, he commits the act : 
 for Adam sinned by temptation, without an antece- 
 dent habit. 2. But we know the nature of man to 
 be now corrupted, and that this corruption is virtu- 
 ally or seminally all sin, disposing us to all; and 
 that this disposition is strong enough to be called a 
 general habit. When grace in the sanctified is 
 called a nature, there is the same reason to call the 
 sinful inclination a nature too; which can signify 
 nothinjr else than a strong and rooted inclination. 
 Knowing, therefore, that the heart is so corrupted, 
 we may well say, when the evil fruit appears, that 
 there was the seed of it before. And the easy and 
 frequent yielding to the temptation, shows there was 
 
241 
 
 a friend to sin within. 3. But if it were not so, 
 yet that our hearts should be so frail, mutable, and 
 easily drawn to sin, is a part of self-knowledge ne- 
 cessary to our preservation, and not to be disre- 
 garded. 4. I am sure Christ himself tells us, that 
 " out of the heart proceed the sins of the life," and 
 that the " evil things of evil men come out of the 
 evil treasure of their hearts." And when God per- 
 mitted the fall of good King Hczekiah, the text 
 saith, " God left him to try him, that he might 
 know all that was in his heart ;" that is, that he 
 might show all that was in his heart, so that the 
 weakness, and the remaining corruption of Hcze- 
 kiah's heart, were shown in the sin which he com- 
 mitted. 
 
 2. And as the sinful inclinations are hardly dis- 
 cerned, and long lie hid till some temptation draw 
 them out; so the act itself is hardly discerned in 
 any of its malignity, till it be done and past, and 
 the soul is brought to a deliberate review. For 
 while a man is in the act of sin, either his under- 
 standing is so far deluded, as to think it no sin in 
 its kind, or none to him that then committeth it; 
 or that it is better to venture on it than not, for the 
 attaining of some seeming good, or the avoiding of 
 some evil : or else the restraining act of the under- 
 standing is suspended and withdrawn ; and it dis- 
 cerneth not practically the pernicious evil of the sin, 
 and forbiddeth not the committing of it, or forbids 
 it so remissly and with so low a voice, as is drowned 
 by the clamour of contradicting passion : so that the 
 prohibition is not heard. And how can it be then 
 expected, that when a man hath not wit enough in 
 L 45 
 
242 
 
 use, to see his sin so far as to forbear it, he should 
 even then see it so far as rightly to judge of him- 
 self and it ? And that when reason is low, and 
 sensuality prevaileth, we should then have the right 
 use of reason for self-discerninj; ? When a storm 
 of passion hath blown out the light, and error hath 
 extinguished it, we are unlikely then to know our- 
 selves. ; When the sensual part is pleasing itself 
 with its forbidden objects, pleasure so corrupts the 
 judgment, that men will easily believe that it is 
 lawful, or that it is not very bad : so that sin is 
 usually least known and felt, when it is greatest in 
 exercise, and one would think should then be most 
 perceptible. Like a frenzy or madness, or other 
 delirium, that is least known when it is greatest and 
 most in act, because its nature is destructive to the 
 reason that should know it. 
 
 And thus you see that, through self-ignorance, it 
 comes to pass, that both secret habits, and the most 
 open acts of sin, are ofttimes little known. A man 
 that is drunk, is in an unfit state to know what 
 drunkcnsiess is ; and so is a man that is in his pas- 
 sion : you will hardly bring him to repentance till 
 it be allayed. And so is a man in the brutifying 
 heat of lust : and therefore abundance of unknown 
 sin may remain in a soul, that labourcth not to be 
 well acquainted with itself. 
 
 And as I have showed you this in general, both 
 of habits and acts of sin, let us consider of some in- 
 stances in particular, which will yet more discover 
 the necessity of studying ourselves. 
 
 1. Little do we think what odious and dangerous 
 errors may befal a person that now is orthodox ! 
 
243 
 
 What a slippery mutability the mind of man is 
 liable to ! How variety of representations causeth 
 variety of apprehensions : like some pictures that 
 seem one thing when you look on them on one side, 
 and another thing when on another side ; if you 
 change your place, or change your light, they seem 
 to change. Indeed God's word hath nothing in it 
 thus fitted to deceive: but our weakness hath that 
 which disposeth us to mistakes. The person that 
 now is a zealous lover of the truth, (when it hath 
 procured entertainment by the happy advantage of 
 friends, acquaintance, ministers, magistrates, or 
 common consent being on its side) may possibly 
 turn a zealous adversary to it, when it loseth those 
 advantages. When a minister shall change his 
 mind, how many of tlie flock may he mislead ! 
 When you marry, or contract-any intimate friend- 
 ship with a person of unsound and dangerous prin- 
 ciples, how easily are they received ! - When the 
 stream of tlie times and authority shall change, and 
 put the name of truth on falsehood, how many may be 
 carried down the stream I How zealous have many 
 been for a faitiiful ministry, that have turned their 
 persecutors, or made it a great part of their religion 
 to revile them, when once they have turned to some 
 sect that is possessed by the malicious spirit ! 
 
 And O that we could stop here, and could not 
 remember how faithfully and honestly some have 
 seemed to love and obey the word of God, and to 
 delight in the communion of saints, that by seducers 
 have been brought to deny the divine authority of 
 the Scriptures, and to turn their backs on all God's 
 public ordinances of worship, and excommunicate 
 L 2 
 
244 
 
 themselves from the society of the saints, and vilify 
 or deny tlie works of the Spirit in them ! Little 
 did these men once think themselves, whither they 
 should fall, under the conceit of rising higher: and 
 little would they have believed him that had told 
 them what a change they would make. Had these 
 men known themselves in time, and known what 
 tinder was in their hearts, they would have walked 
 more warily, and, it is likely, have escaped the snare; 
 but they fell into it, because they feared it not : 
 and they feared it not, because they knew not or 
 observed not, how prone they were to be infected. 
 
 2. Little do many think, in their adversity or 
 low estate, what seeds are in their hearts, which 
 prosperity would turn into very odious, scandalous 
 sins, unless their vigilancy, and a special preserva- 
 tion, do prevent it. Many a man that in his shop, 
 or at his plough, is censuring the great miscarriages 
 of his superiors, doth little think how bad he might 
 prove, if he were in the place of those he ceusureth. 
 Many a poor man, that freely talks against the 
 luxury, pride, and cruelty of the rich, doth little 
 think how like them he should be, if he had their 
 temptations and estates. How many persons that 
 lived in good repute for humility, temperance, and 
 piety, have we seen turn proud, and sensual, and 
 ungodly, when they have been exalted ! I must 
 say that this age hath given us such lamentable in- 
 stances. Would the persons that once walked with 
 us in the ways of peace, and concord, and obedience, 
 have believed that man that should have foretold 
 them twenty years ago, how many should be puffed 
 up and deluded by successes, and make themselves 
 
245 
 
 believe, by tlie ebullition of pride, that victories 
 authorized thera to deny subjection to the higher 
 powers, and, by right or wrong, to take down all 
 that stood in their way, and to take the government 
 into their own hands, and to depose their rightful go- 
 vernors, never once vouchsafing to ask themselves the 
 question that Christ asked, " Man, who made me a 
 judge or a divider over you ?" They would have 
 said as Hazael, " Am I a dog that I should do 
 this?" If one had told them before, that when 
 God hath charged every soul to be subject, on pain 
 of condemnation, and they had vowed fidelity, they 
 should break all these bonds of commands and vows; 
 and all because they were able to do it : when the 
 ministers of the Gospel, and their dearest friends, 
 bore witness against tlie sin, tlie heart could not, by 
 all this, be brought to perceive its guilt ; or that it 
 was any sin to overturn, overturn, overturn, till they 
 had overturned all, and left not themselves a bough 
 to stand upon. The unrighteous usage of magis- 
 tracy and ministry, and the licentious indulgence of 
 the open enemies and rcvilers of botii, and of all the 
 ordinances and churches of the Lord, do proclaim 
 sloud to all that fear God, ' The depths and deceits 
 of the heart are wonderful, and you little think 
 what an hour of temptation may discover in you, or 
 bring you to: O therefore know yourselves, and 
 fear, and watch.' 
 
 3. A man that in adversity is touched with peni- 
 tent and mortifying considerations, and strongly rc- 
 solveth how holily and diligently he will live here- 
 after, if he be recovered or delivered from his suf- 
 feriug, doth ofttiraes little think what a treacherous 
 
246 
 
 heart he hath, and how little he may retain of all 
 this sense of sin or duty, when he is delivered, and 
 that he will be so much worse than he seemed or 
 promised, as that he may have cause to wish he had 
 been afflicted still. O how many sick-bed promises 
 are as pious as we can desire, that wither away, and 
 come to almost nothing, when health hath scattered 
 the fears that caused them ! How many, with that 
 great imprisoned Lord, do,' as it were, write the 
 story of Christ upon their prison walls, that forget 
 him when they are set at liberty ! How many are 
 tender-conscienced in a low estate, that when they 
 are exalted, and converse with great ones, do think 
 that they may waste their time in idleness and scan- 
 dalous recreations, and be silent witnesses of the 
 most odious sins from day to day ; and pray God 
 be merciful to them when they go to the house of 
 Rimmon; and dare scarcely own a servant, or hated 
 and reproached cause of God ! O what a pre- 
 servative would it be to us in prosperity, to know 
 the corruption of our hearts, and foresee in adversity 
 what we are in danger of! We should then be 
 less ambitious to place our dwellings on the highest 
 ground, and more fearful of the storms that there 
 must be expected. How few are there (to a won- 
 der) that grow better by worldly greatness and pros- 
 perity ! Yea, how few that hold their own, and 
 grow not worse ! And yet how few are there (to 
 a greater wonder) that refuse, or that desire not this 
 perilous station, rather than to stand safer on the 
 lower ground ! Verily, the lamentable fruits of 
 prosperity, and the mutability of men that make 
 great professions and promises in adversity, should 
 
247 
 
 make the best of us jealous of our hearts, and con- 
 vince us that there is greater corruption in them, 
 than most are acquainted with, that are never put to 
 such a trial. The height of prosperity shows what 
 the man is indeed, as much as the depth of ad- 
 versity. 
 
 Would one have thought, that had read of Heze- 
 kiah's earnest prayer in his sickness, and the miracle 
 wrought to signify his deliverance, and of his written 
 song of praise, that yet Hezekiah's heart should so 
 deceive him, as to prove unthankful? You may see 
 by his expressions, his high resolutions to spend his 
 life in the praise of God : " The living, the living, 
 he shall praise thee, as I do this day : the fathers 
 to the children shall make known thy truth. The 
 Lord was ready to save me : therefore we will sing 
 our songs to the stringed instruments, all the days 
 of our life, in the house of the Lord !" Would you 
 think, that a holy man, thus wrapt up in God's 
 praise, should yet miscarry, and be charged with 
 ingratitude? And yet it is said of him, "But 
 Hezekiah rendered not ajjain accordinirto the benefit 
 done unto him ; for his heart was lifted up : there- 
 fore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah 
 and Jerusalem." And God was fain to bring him 
 to a review, and humble him for being thus lifted 
 up, as the next words show : " Notwithstanding, 
 Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his 
 heart." O sirs, what Christian that ever was in a 
 deep affliction, and hath been recovered by the tender 
 hand of mercy, hath not found how false a thing 
 the heart is, and how little to be trusted in its best 
 resolutions, and most confident promises ! Heze- 
 
248 
 
 kiah still remained a holy, faithful man ; but yet 
 thus failed in particulars and degrees. Wliich of 
 us can say, who have had the most affecting and 
 engaging deliverances, that ever our hearts did fully 
 answer the purposes and promises of our afflicted 
 state ! and that we had as constant sensible thanks- 
 givings after, as our complaints and prayers were 
 before ! Not I ; with grief I must say. Not I, 
 though God hath tried me many a time. Alas ! 
 we are too like the deceitful Israelites : " When he 
 slew them, then they sought him ; and they returned 
 and inquired after God : and they remembered that 
 God was their Rock, and the high God their Re- 
 deemer. Nevertheless they did flatter him with 
 their mouth, and they lied unto him with their 
 tongues: for tlieir heart was not rif^ht with him, 
 neither were they steadfast in his covenant." Pros- 
 perity oft shows more of the hypocrisy of the un- 
 sound, and the infirmity of the upright, than ap- 
 peared in adversity. When we feel the strong 
 resolutions of our hearts to cast off our sin, to walk 
 more thankfully and fruitfully with God than we 
 have done, we can hardly believe that ever those 
 hearts should lose so much of those affections and 
 resolutions, as in a little time we find they do. 
 Alas ! how quickly and insensibly do we slide into 
 our former insensibility, and into our dull and fruit- 
 less course, when once the pain and fear is gone ! 
 And then, when the next affliction comes, we are 
 confounded and covered with shame, and have not 
 the confidence with God in our prayers and cries as 
 we had before, because we are conscious of our cove- 
 nant-bi caking and backsliding; and at last we grow 
 
249 
 
 so distrustful of our hearts, that we know not how 
 to beheve any promises which they make, or how to 
 be confident of any evidence of grace that is in 
 them ; and so vve lose the comfort of our sincerity, 
 and are cast into a state of too much heaviness, and 
 unthankful denial of our dearest mercies. And all 
 this comes from the foul, unexpected relapses, and 
 declinings of the heart, that comes not up to the 
 promises we made to God in our distress. 
 
 But if exaltation be added to deliverance, how 
 often doth it make the reason drunk, so that the 
 man seems not the same ! If you see them drowned 
 in ambition, or worldly cares or pleasures; if you 
 see how boldly they can play with the sin that once 
 they would have trembled at; how powerful fleshly 
 arguments are with them ; how strangely they now 
 look at plain-hearted, zealous, heavenly Christians, 
 whose case they once desired to be in : and how 
 much they are ashamed or afraid, to appear openly 
 for an opposed cause of Christ, or openly to justify 
 the persons that he justifieth, as if they had forgot 
 that a day is coming, when they will be loath that 
 Christ should be ashamed of them, and refuse to 
 justify them, when the grand accuser is pleading for 
 their condemnation ! I say, if you see these men 
 in their prosperity, would you not ask with wonder, 
 ' Are these the men that lately, in distress, did seem 
 so humble, penitent, and sincere : that seemed so 
 much above these vanities : that could speak with so 
 much contempt of all the glory and pleasures of the 
 world : and with so much pity of those giddy men 
 that they now admire?' 
 
 O what pillars have been shaken by prosperity ! 
 L 3 
 
250 
 
 What promises broken ! What sad eruptions of 
 pride and worldliness ! What openings and sad 
 discoveries of heart, doth this alluring, charming 
 trial make ! And why is it that men know not 
 themselves when they are exalted, but because they 
 did not sufficiently know themselves when they were 
 brought low, nor suspected enough the purposes and 
 promises of their hearts, in the day of their dis- 
 tress ! 
 
 4. We would little think, when the heart is 
 warmed, and raised even to heaven, in holy ordinan- 
 ces, how cold it will grow again, and how low it will 
 fall down ! And when we have attained the clearest 
 sight of our sincerity, we little think how quickly 
 all such apprehensions may be lost ; and the mis- 
 judging soul, that reckons upon nothing but what it 
 sees, or feels at present, may be at as great a loss, 
 as if it had never perceived any fruits of the Spirit, 
 or lineaments of the image of God upon itself. 
 How confident, upon good grounds, is many an 
 honest heart of its sincerity ! How certain that it 
 desireth to be perfectly holy ! 1 . That it would 
 be rid of the nearest, dearest si;i. 2. That it loves 
 the saints. 3. That it loves the light of the most 
 searching ministry. 4. And loveth the most prac- 
 tical, sanctifying truths. 5. And loves the ministry 
 and means that have the greatest and most powerful 
 tendency to make themselves more holy (all of which 
 are certain evidences of sincerity). How clearly 
 may the heart perceive all these, and write them 
 down ; and yet, ere long, have lost the sight and 
 sense of them all, and find itself in darkness and 
 confusion, and perhaps be persuaded that all is con- 
 
251 
 
 trary with them ! And wlien they read in their 
 diary, or book of heart-accounts, that at such a day 
 in examination, they found such or such an evi- 
 dence; and such a one at another; and many at a 
 third ; yet now they may be questioning, whether 
 all this were not deceit, because it seems contrary to 
 their present sight and feeling ; for it is present light 
 that the mind discerneth by, and not by that which 
 is past and gone, and of which we cannot so easily 
 judge by looking back. They find in their accounts, 
 At such a time I had my soul enlarged in prayer; 
 and at such a time I was full of joy; and at another 
 time I had strong assurance, and boldness with God, 
 and confidence of his love in Christ, and doubted 
 not of the pardon of all my sins, or the justification 
 or acceptance of my person. But now, no joy, no 
 assurance, no boldness, or confidence, or sense of 
 love and pardon doth appear ; but the soul secmeth 
 dead, and carnal, and unrenewed : as the same trees 
 that in summer are beautified with pleasant fruits 
 and flowers, .in winter are deprived of their natural 
 ornaments, and seem as dead, when the life is re- 
 tired to the root. The soul that once would have 
 defied the accuser, if he had told him that he did 
 not love the brethren, nor love the sanctifying word 
 and means, nor desire to be holy, and to be free 
 from sin, is now as ready to believe the accusation, 
 and will sooner believe the tempter than the minister 
 that watcheth for them, as one that must give ac- 
 count. Yea, now it will turn the accuser of itself, 
 and say as Satan, and falsely charge itself with that 
 which Christ will acquit it of. The same work 
 that a well composed believer hath in confuting the 
 
252 
 
 calumnies of Satan, the same hath a minister to do, 
 in confuting the false accusations of disturbed souls 
 against themselves. And how subtle, how obsti- 
 nate and tenacious are they ! As if they had learned 
 some of the accuser's art: such as the uncharitable 
 and malicious are against their neighbours, in pick- 
 ing quarrels with all that they say or do ; just such 
 are poor disquieted souls against themselves. 
 
 And there is not a soul so high in joy and sweet 
 assurance, but is liable to fall as low as this. And 
 it makes our case to be much more grievous tlian 
 otherwise it would be, because we know not ourselves 
 in the hour of our consolations, and think not how 
 apt we are to lose all our joy, and what seeds of 
 doubts, and fears, and grief, are still within us, and 
 what cause we have to expect a change. And 
 therefore, when so sad a change befalleth us, it sur- 
 priseth us with terror, and casteth the poor soul 
 almost into despair. Then crieth the distressed 
 sinner, ' Did I ever think to see this day ! are my 
 hopes and comforts come to this ! Did I think so 
 long that I was a child of God, and must I now 
 perceive that he disowneth me 1 Did I draw near 
 him as my Father, and place my hope in his relief; 
 and now must my mouth be stopped with unbelief, 
 and must I look at him afar oft", and pass by the 
 doors of mercy with despair ! Is all my sweet fami- 
 liarity with the godly, and all my comfortable hours 
 under the precious means of grace, now come to 
 this !' O how the poor soul here calls itself ' O 
 vile apostate, miserable sinner ! O that 1 had never 
 lived to see this gloomy day ! It had been belter 
 for me never to have knovvn the way of righteous- 
 ness, than thus to have relapsed; and have all the 
 
253 
 
 prayers that 1 have put up, and all the sermons I 
 have heard, and the books that I have read, to 
 aggravate my sin and misery.' O how many a poor 
 Ciiristian in this dark misjudging case, is ready, with 
 Job, to curse the day that he was born, and to say 
 of it, " Let it be darkness, let not God regard it 
 from above, neither let the light shine upon it : let 
 it not be joined to the days of the year: let it not 
 come into the number of the months: — Wherefore 
 is light given to ]iim that is in misery, and life unto 
 the bitter in soul : which long for death, and it 
 Cometh not — which rejoice exceedingly, and are 
 glad when they can find the grave? Why is light 
 given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God 
 hath hedged in ?" Such are the lamentations of 
 distressed souls, that lately were as in the arms of 
 Christ. Their lives are a burden to them; their 
 food is bitter to them; their health is a sickness to 
 them; their dearest relations are become as strangers; 
 and all their comforts are turned into sorrows, and 
 the world seems to them as a howling wilderness, 
 and themselves as desolate, forsaken souls. They 
 are still as upon the cross, and will own no titles, 
 but vile, unworthy, lost, undone, forlorn and deso- 
 late; as if they had learned no words from Christ, 
 but " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken 
 me!" 
 
 And much of this comes from the ifrnorance of 
 ourselves in the time of peace and consolation. We 
 are as David, that saith, " In my prosperity I said, 
 I shall never be moved. Lord, by tliy favour thou 
 hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst 
 hide thy face, and I was troubled." One frown 
 of God, or withdrawing the liglit of his countenance 
 
254 
 
 from us, would quickly turn our day into night, and 
 cover us with sackcloth, and lay us in the dust. 
 
 Take warning, therefore, dear Christians, you 
 that are yet in the sunshine of mercy, and were 
 never at so sad a loss, nor put to grope in the dark- 
 ness of mistake and terror. No man is so well in 
 health, but must reckon on it that he may be sick. 
 When you feel nothing but peace and quietness of 
 mind, expect a stormy night of fears, that may dis- 
 quiet you. When you are feasting upon the sweet 
 entertainments of your Father's love, consider that 
 feasting is not likely to be your ordinary diet, but 
 harder fare must be expected. Look on poor 
 Christians, in spiritual distress, with compassion, 
 and join in hearty prayer for them, and remember 
 that this may prove your case. If you say, To 
 what purpose should you know beforehand, how 
 subject you are to this falling sickness: I answer, 
 not to anticipate, or bring on your sorrows; but if it 
 may be, to prevent them; or if that may not be, at 
 least to prevent the extremity and terror, and to be 
 provided for such a storm. When you are now in 
 health of body, and not disabled by melancholy, nor 
 overwhelmed with the troubles of your mind, you 
 have leisure calmly to understand the case of such 
 misjudging and distressed souls; and accordingly you 
 may avoid the things that cause it: and you may be 
 furnished with right principles, and with promises, 
 and experiences, and recorded evidences of grace; 
 and when comfort is withdrawn, you may by such 
 provision understand, that God changeth not, nor 
 breaks his covenant, nor abates his love, when your 
 apprehensions change : and that this is no sign of a 
 
255 
 
 forsaken soul: and that the ceasing of our feast, and 
 withdrawing of the table, is not a turning us out of 
 the family. 
 
 And what I have said of the loss of comfort may 
 be said also of the diminished and interrupted opera- 
 tions of all grace. We little think, in the vigour 
 of our holy progress, what falls, and languishings 
 we may find. When you have access with bold- 
 ness in prayer unto God, and lively affections and 
 words at will, and comfortable returns, remember 
 that you may come to a sadder case; and that many 
 a true Christian hath such withdrawings of the spirit 
 of prayer, as makes them think they are possessed 
 with a dumb devil, and question whether ever they 
 prayed acceptably at all, and cannot so much as ob- 
 serve the groanings of the Spirit in them. 
 
 When you are warm and vigorous in the work 
 of God, and find delight in all the ordinances, 
 remember that you are subject to such sicknesses as 
 may take away your appetite, and make you say, I 
 have no mind to hear, or read, or pray : metliinks I 
 feel no sweetness in them ! I was wont to go up 
 with comfort to the house of God ; I was glad when 
 the Lord's-day was come, or nigh : it did me good 
 to see the faces of the saints : O the meltings, the 
 strivings, the lively workings of soul that I have had 
 in their sweet communion ! when they have preached 
 and prayed as full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith : 
 but now I do but force myself to duty : I go to 
 prayer as against my will: I feel small relish in the 
 word of life. O how many Christians, that little 
 thought of such a day, cry out that spiritual death 
 is upon them ; that they are dead to prayer, and 
 
256 
 
 dead to meditation, and dead to holy conference; 
 and tliat once they thought they were dead to the 
 world, and now they find they are dead to God. 
 Understand before that you are liable to this, and 
 you may do much to prevent it: and if you should 
 fall into a sickness and loss of appetite, you may be 
 able to distinguish it from death. 
 
 When you are sweetly refreshed at the table of 
 the Lord, and have there received a sealed pardon, 
 as from heaven into your bosoms, and have found 
 delightful entertainment with the Lord, remember 
 that the day may come, when dulness, and unbelief, 
 and fears, may so prevail, as to make that an ordi- 
 nance of greatest terror to you, and you may sit 
 there in trembling, lest you should eat and drink 
 your own damnation: and you may go home in fears, 
 lest Satan have there taken possession of you, or 
 lest it have sealed you up to wrath : or you may fly 
 from that feast which is your due, and Christ invites 
 you to, through fears, lest it belong not to you, and 
 should but harden you more in sin: for, alas! this 
 sad and sinful case is too often the case of true be- 
 lievers, that little feared it in their spiritual pros- 
 perity. So that the very high expectations of such 
 workings of soul, which they cannot often or ordi- 
 narily reach, and the frustrating of those expecta- 
 tions, doth so often turn the table of the Lord into 
 the bitterness of wormwood, into distracting fears 
 and troubles, that I cannot tell whether any other 
 part of worship occasion so much distress to many 
 that are upright at the heart as this doth, which is 
 appointed for their special consolation. 
 
 So, when you are clear and vigorous in the life of 
 
257 
 
 faith, and can abhor all temptations to unbelief, and 
 tlie beams of sacred verity in the Scriptures have 
 showed you that it is the undoubted word of God, 
 and you have quietly established your soul on Christ, 
 and built your hopes upon his promises, and can 
 with a cheerful contempt let go the world for the 
 accomplishment of your hopes; remember yet that 
 there is a secret root of unbelief remaining in you, 
 and that this odious sin is but imperfectly mortified 
 in the best; and that it is more than possible that 
 you may see the day when the tempter will assault 
 you with questionings of the word of God, and 
 trouble you with the injections of blasphemous 
 thoughts and doubts, whether it be true or not! 
 And that you that have thought of God, of Christ, 
 of heaven, of the immortal state of souls, with joy 
 and satisfied confidence, may be in the dark about 
 them, affrighted with wicked suggestions of the 
 enemy, and may think of them all with troublesome, 
 distracted doubts, and be forced to cry, witli the dis- 
 ciples, " Lord increase our faith." And, " Lord, I 
 believe, help thou my unbelief." Vea, worse than 
 so; some upright souls have been so amazed and 
 distracted by the tempter, and their distempered 
 hearts, as to think they do not believe at all, nor 
 yet are able sincerely to say, " Lord help thou my 
 unbelief." When yet at that time their fears and 
 their abstaining from iniquity show, that they be- 
 lieve the threateniiigs, and therefore indeed believe 
 the word. Now, if we did but thoroughly know our- 
 selves, when faith is in its exercise and strength, 
 and consider whither the secret seeds of remaining 
 unbelief may bring us, being forewarned, we should 
 
258 
 
 be fore-armed, and should mortify our faith the 
 better, and be provided against these sad assaults. 
 And if the malignant spirit be suffered to storm this 
 fortress of the soul, we should more manfully resist: 
 and we should not be overwhelmed with horror, as 
 soon as any hideous and blasphemous temptations 
 do assault us. When Christ himself was not ex- 
 empted from the most blasphemous temptation, even 
 the worshipping of the devil instead of God; though 
 in him there was no sinful disposition to entertain it. 
 
 0 watch and pray, Christians, in your most pros- 
 perous and comfortable state ! " Watch and pray, 
 lest ye enter into temptation:" for you little think 
 what is yet within you ; and what advantage the 
 deceiver hath; and how much of your own to take 
 his part; and how low he may bring you, both in 
 point of grace and peace, though he cannot damn 
 you. 
 
 1 am troubled that I must tell you of so sad a 
 case, that even the children of God may fall into, 
 lest by troubling you with the opening of your dan- 
 ger, I should do any thing to bring you into it. 
 But because self-ignorance, and not being before- 
 hand acquainted with it, may do much more, I have 
 timely showed you the danger with the remedy. 
 
 5. Another instance of the darkness even of a 
 heart that in part is sanctified, is in the successes of 
 the temptations of adversity. When we want no- 
 thing, we think we value not the world, and we 
 could bear the loss of all, but when poverty or danger 
 comes, what trouble and unseemly whining is there, 
 as if it were by a worldling that is deprived of his 
 idol, and all the portion that ever he must have ! 
 
259 
 
 And by the shameful moan and stir that we make 
 for what we want, we show more sinful overvaluing 
 of it, and love to it, than before we observed or 
 would believe. O how confidently and piously have 
 I heard some inveigh against the love of the world, 
 as if there had been no such thing in them; who yet 
 have been so basely dejected, when they have been 
 unexpectedly stripped of their estates, as if they had 
 been quite undone ! 
 
 How patiently do we think we could bear afflic- 
 tion, till we feel it ! and how easily and piously can 
 we exhort others unto patience, when we have no 
 sense of what they suflPer ! But when our turn is 
 come, alas! we seem to be other men. Suffering is 
 now another thing; and patience harder than we 
 imagined. And how inclinable are we to hearken 
 to temptations, to use sinful means to come out of 
 our sufferings ! Who would have thought that 
 faithful Abraham should have been so unbelieving, 
 as to equivocate in such a danger, and expose the 
 chastity of his wife to hazard, as we read in Gen. xii. 
 and that he should fall into the same sin again, on 
 the same occasion, (Gen. xx.) to Abimelech, as be- 
 fore he had done with Pharaoh ! and that Isaac 
 should, after him, fall into the same sin, in the same 
 place! The life of faith doth set us so much above 
 the fear of man, and show us the weakness and no- 
 thingness of mortal worms, and the faithfulness and 
 all-sufficiency of God, that one would think the 
 frowns and threatenings of a man should signify no- 
 thing to us, when God stands by, and givcth us 
 such ample promises and security for our confirma- 
 tion and encouragement : and yet what base deject- 
 
260 
 
 edness, and sinful compliances are many brought to, 
 through the fear of man, that before the hour of this 
 temptation, could talk as courageously as any ! This 
 was the case of Peter, and of many a one that hath 
 a wounded conscience, and wronged their profession 
 by too cowardly a disposition; which if it were fore- 
 known, we might do more for our confirmation, and 
 should betake ourselves in time to Christ, in the 
 use of means, for strength. Few turn their backs 
 on Christ, or a good cause, in the time of trial, that 
 are jealous of themselves beforehand, and afraid lest 
 they should forsake him. Few fall that are afraid of 
 falling : but the self-ignorant and self-confident are 
 careless of their way, and it is they that fall. 
 
 6. Another instance that I may give you, is, in 
 the unexpected appearances of pride in those that yet 
 are truly humble. Humility speaks in their confes- 
 sions, aggravating their sin, and searching heart and 
 life for matter of self-accusation : they call them- 
 selves " Less than the least of all God's mercies." 
 They are ready, with the woman of Canaan, even to 
 own the name of dogs, and to confess themselves 
 unworthy of the children's crumbs, and unworthy to 
 live upon the patience and provisions of God : they 
 will spend whole hours, and days of humiliation, in 
 confessing their sin, and bewailing their weaknesses 
 and want of grace, and lamenting their desert of 
 misery. They are often cast down so much too low, 
 that they dare not own the title of God's children, 
 nor any of his special grace, but take themselves for 
 mere unsanctified, hardened sinners; and all that 
 can be said, will not convince them that they have 
 any saving interest in Christ, nor hinder them from 
 
261 
 
 pouring out unjust accusations against themselves. 
 And all this is done by them in the uprightness of 
 their hearts, and not dissembhngly. And yet, 
 would you think, that, with all this humility, there 
 should be any pride ? and that the same persons 
 should lift up themselves, and resist their helps to 
 further humiliation ? Do they think, in their de- 
 jections, that it is in their hearts so much to exalt 
 themselves ? I confess many of them are sensible 
 of their pride, even to the increase of their humility; 
 and, as it is said of Hezekiah, " do humble them- 
 selves for the pride of their hearts, so that God's 
 wrath doth not come upon them." But yet, too 
 few are so well acquainted with the power and root- 
 edness of this sin at the heart, and the workings of 
 it in the hour of temptation, as they should be. Ob- 
 serve it but at such times as these, and you will see 
 f^a^ break forth, that before appeared not. 1. When 
 we are undervalued and slighted, and meaner per- 
 sons preferred before us; and when our words and 
 judgments are made light of, and our parts thought 
 to be poor and low; when any blot or dishonour is 
 cast upon us, deserved or undeserved; when we are 
 slandered or reproached, and used with despite : 
 what a matter do we make of it, and how much, 
 then, doth our pride appear in our distaste, and of- 
 fence, and impatience ! So tliat the same person, 
 that can pour out words of blame against himself, 
 cannot bear half as much from othecs, without dis- 
 pleasure and disquietncss of mind. It would help 
 us much to know this by ourselves, in the time of 
 our humility, that we may be engaged to more watch- 
 fulness and resistance of our pride. 
 
262 
 
 2. When we are reproved of any disgraceful sin, 
 how hardly goes it down, and how many excuses 
 have we ! How seldom are we brought to down- 
 right penitent confessions ! What secret distaste is 
 apt to be rising in our hearts, against the reprover ! 
 And how seldom hath he that hearty thanks, which 
 so great a benefit deserves ! And would any think, 
 in our humiliations and large confessions unto God, 
 that we were so proud ! To know this by our- 
 selves, would make us more suspicious and ashamed 
 to be guilty of it, 
 
 3. When any preferment or honour is to be given, 
 or any work to be done that is a mark of dignity, 
 how apt are we to think ourselves as fit for it as any, 
 and to be displeased, if the honour or employment 
 do pass by us ! 
 
 4. When we are admired, applauded, or exces- 
 sively esteemed and loved, how apt are we to be too 
 much pleased with it ! which showeth a proud desire 
 to be somebody in the world; and that there is much 
 of this venom at the bottom in our hearts, even when 
 we lay ourselves in the dust, and walk in sackcloth, 
 and pass the heaviest judgment on ourselves. 
 
 7. Another instance of our unacquaintedness 
 with our hearts, and the latent, undiscerned corrup- 
 tion of them, is our little discerning or bewailing 
 those secret master-sins, which lie at the root of all 
 the rest, and are the life of the old man, and the 
 cause of all thg miscarriages of our lives. As, ]. 
 Unbelief of the truth of the Holy Scriptures, of the 
 immortality of the soul, and the life of joy or misery 
 hereafter, and the other articles of the Christian 
 faith. What abundance of Christians are sensible 
 
263 
 
 of their unbelief, as to the applying acts of faith that 
 tend to their assurance of their own salvation, that 
 are little sensible of any defect in the assenting act, 
 or of any secret root of unbelief about the truth of 
 the Gospel revelations ! And yet, alas ! it is this 
 that weakeneth all our graces: it is this that feedeth 
 all our woe ! O happy men, were we free from 
 this ! What prayers should we put up ! What 
 lives should we lead ! How watchfully should we 
 walk ! With what contempt should we look on the 
 allurements of the world ! With what disdain 
 should we think on fleshly lusts ! With what in- 
 dignation should we meet the tempter, and scorn his 
 base, unreasonable motions, if we did but perfectly 
 believe the very truth of the Gospel, and world to 
 come ! How careful and earnest should we be, to 
 make our calling and election sure ! How great a 
 matter should we make of sin, and of helps and hin- 
 derances in the way to heaven ! How much should 
 we prefer that state of life that furthereth our salva- 
 tien, before that whicli strengtheneth our snares, by 
 furthering our prosperity and pleasure in the world, 
 if we were not weak or wnntinc in our belief of the 
 certain verity of these things ! Did we better know 
 the badness of our hearts herein, it would engage us 
 more in fortifying the vitals, and looking better to 
 our foundation, and winding up this spring of faith, 
 which must give life to all right motions of the 
 soul. 
 
 2. How insensible are too many, of the great im- 
 perfection of their love to God ! What passionate 
 complaints have we of the want of sorrow for their 
 sin, and want of memory, and of ability to pray, &c. 
 
264 
 
 when their complaints for want of love to God, and 
 more affecting knowledge of him, are so cold and 
 customary, as shows us they little observe the great- 
 ness of this sinful want ! This is the very heart, 
 and sum, and poison, of all the sins of our soul and 
 life. So much as a man loves God, so much he is 
 holy : and so much he hath of the Spirit and image 
 of Jesus Christ : and so much he hath of all sav- 
 ing graces : and so much he will abhor iniquity : 
 and so much he will love the commands of God. 
 As love is the sum of the law and prophets, so 
 should it be the sum of our care and study, through 
 all our lives, to exercise and strencthen it. 
 
 3. How little are most Christians troubled for 
 want of love to men, to brethren, neighbours, and 
 enemies ! How cold are their complaints for their 
 defects in this, in comparison of other of their com- 
 plaints ! But is there not cause of as deep humi- 
 liation for this sin, as almost any other? It seems 
 to me, that want of love is one of the most prevalent 
 diseases among us, when I hear it so little seriously 
 lamented. I often hear people say, O that we could 
 hear more attentively and affectionately, and pray 
 more fervently, and weep for sin more plenteously: 
 but how seldom do I hear them say, O that we did 
 love our brethren more ardently, and our neighbours 
 and enemies more heartily than we do, and set our- 
 selves to do them good ! There is so little pains 
 taken to bring the heart to the love of others, and 
 so few and cold requests put up for it, when yet the 
 heart is backward to it, that makes me conclude that 
 charity is weaker in most of us than we observe. 
 And indeed it appearcth so when it comes to trial : 
 
265 
 
 to that trial which Christ will judge it by at last, 
 Matt. XXV. When love must be showed by any 
 self-denial, or costly demonstration, by parting with 
 our food and raiment to supply the wants of others, 
 and by hazarding ourselves for them in their distress, 
 then see how much we love indeed ! Good words 
 cost little; so cheap an exercise of charity as is men- 
 tioned, (James ii.) " Depart in peace, be warmed, and 
 filled," is an insufficient evidence of the life of grace, 
 and will do as little for the soul of the giver, as for 
 the body of the receiver. And how little hazardous 
 or costly love is found among us, either to enemies, 
 neighbours, or to saints ! Did we better know our 
 hearts, there would be more care and diligence used 
 to bring them to effectual, fervent love, than to those 
 duties that are of less importance; and we should 
 learn what this meaneth, " I will have mercy and 
 not sacrifice," which Christ sets the Pharisees twice 
 to learn. 
 
 8. Another instance of unobserved corruption of 
 the heart, is, the frequent and secret insinuations of 
 selfishness in all that we do towards God or man. 
 When we think we are serving God alone, and have 
 cleansed our hearts from mixtures and deceit, before 
 we are aware, self-interest, or self-esteem, or self- 
 conceit, or self-love, or self-will, or self-seeking, do 
 secretly creep in, and mar the work. We think we 
 are studying, and. preaching, and writing purely for 
 God, and the common good, or the benefit of souls; 
 and perhaps little observe how subtlely selfishness 
 insinuates, and makes a party, and biasseth us from 
 the , holy ends, and the simplicity and sincerity, which 
 we thought we had carefully maintained: so that we 
 M 43 
 
26G 
 
 are studying, and preaching, and writing for ourselves, 
 when we take no notice of it. When we enter upon 
 any office, or desire preferment, or riches, or honour 
 in the world, we think we do it purely for God, to 
 furnish us for his service, and Httic think how much 
 of selfishness is in our desires. When we are doinsr 
 justice, or showing mercy, in giving alms, or exhort- 
 ing the ungodly to repent, or doing any other work 
 of piety or charity, we little think how much of sel- 
 fishness is secretly latent in the bent and intention 
 of the heart. When we think we are defending the 
 truth and cause of God, by disputing, writing, or by 
 the sword; or when we think we are faithfully main- 
 taining, on one side, order and obedience, against 
 confusion, and turbulent, disquiet spirits, or the 
 unify of the church against division; or, on the other 
 hand, that we arc sincerely opposing pharisaical cor- 
 ruptions, and hypocrisy, and tyranny, and persecu- 
 tion, and are defending the purity of divine worship, 
 and the power and spirituality of religion; in all 
 these cases we little know how much of carnal self 
 may be secretly unobserved in the >vork. 
 
 But above all others, Christ himself, and the Holy 
 Ghost, that searclieth the hidden things of the heart, 
 hath warned one sort to be suspicious of their hearts ; 
 and that is, those that cannot bear the dissent and 
 infirmities of their brethren in tolerable things, and 
 those that are calling for fire from heaven, and are 
 all for force and cruelty in religion ; for vexing, im- 
 prisoning, banishing, or otherwise doing as they 
 would not be done by, proportionably in their own 
 case. He tells his two disciples, in such a case, 
 " Yc know not what manner of spirit ye are of." 
 
267 
 
 As if he should say, ' You think you purely seek my 
 honour in the revenge of this contempt and opposi- 
 tion of unbelievers, and you think it would much re- 
 dound to the propagation of the faith; and therefore 
 you think that all this zeal is purely from my Spirit: 
 but you little know how much of a proud, carnal, 
 selBsh spirit is in these desires ! You would fain 
 have me, and yourselves with me, to be openly vin- 
 dicated by fire from heaven, and be so owned by God 
 that all men may admire you, and you may exercise 
 a dominion in the world ; and you stick njt at the 
 sufferings and ruin of these sinners, so you may at- 
 tain your end: but I tell you, this selfish, cruel spi- 
 rit, is unlike my Spirit, which inclineth to patience, 
 forbearance, and compassion.' 
 
 " Him that is weak in the faith, receive ye." 
 " Who art thou that judgest another man's ser- 
 vant ?" " Why dost thou judge thy brother? and 
 why dost thou set at nought thy brother? We 
 shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ." 
 *' Every one of us shall give account of himself to 
 God." " We then that are strong ought to bear 
 the infirmities of the weak, and not to please our- 
 selves. Let every one of us please his neighbour 
 for his good to edification." " Brethren, if a man 
 be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore 
 such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering thy- 
 self, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's 
 burdens, and so fulfil the law of Ciirist." 
 
 So, also, men arc frequently mistaken, when they 
 are zealously contending against their faithful pas- 
 tors and their brethren, and vilifying others, and 
 quenching love, and troubling the church, upon pre- 
 M 2 
 
268 
 
 teuce of greater knowledge or integrity in themselves, 
 which is notably discovered, and vehemently pressed, 
 by the apostle, James iii. 1. &c. where you may see 
 how greatly the judgment of the Spirit of God, con- 
 cerning our hearts, doth differ from men's judgment 
 of themselves. They that had a masterly, conten- 
 tious, envious zeal, did think they were of the wiser 
 sort of Christians, and of the highest form in the 
 school of Christ; when yet the Holy Ghost telleth 
 them that their wisdom descended not from above, 
 but was^arthly, sensual, and devilish; and that their 
 envy and strife doth bring confusion, and every evil 
 work ; and that the wisdom from above is neither 
 unholy nor contentious, but " first pure, and then 
 peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated," 
 
 You see, then, how often and dangerously we are 
 deceived by unacquaintedness with ourselves; and 
 how selfish, carnal principles, ends, and motives, are 
 often mixed in the actions which we think are the 
 most excellent for wisdom, zeal, and piety. O there- 
 fore, what cause have we to study, and search, and 
 watch such hearts, and not too boldly or carelessly to 
 trust them ! 
 
 And it is not only hypocrites that are subject to 
 these deceitful sins, who have them in dominion, but 
 true believers, that have a remnant of this carnal, 
 selfish principle, continually offering to insinuate and 
 corrupt their most excellent works, and even all that 
 they do. 
 
 9. The strong eruption of those passions that 
 seemed to be quite mortified, dolh show that there is 
 more evil lurking in the heart than ordinarily doth 
 appear ! How calmly do we converse together, how 
 
269 
 
 mildly do we speak, till some provoking word or 
 wrong do blow the coals ! And then the dove ap- 
 peareth to partake of a fierce nature ; and we can 
 perceive that in the flame, which we perceive not in 
 the spark. When a provocation can bring forth 
 censorious, reviling, scornful words, it shows what 
 before was latent in the heart. 
 
 10. We are very apt to think those affections to 
 be purely spiritual, which, in the issue, appear to be 
 mixed with carnality. Our very love to the assem- 
 blies and ordinances of worship, and to ministers, 
 and other servants of the Lord; to books, and know- 
 ledge, are ordinarily mixed ; and good and bad are 
 strangely complicated, and twisted together in the 
 same affections and works. And the love that be- 
 ginneth in the Spirit, is apt to degenerate into car- 
 nal love, and to have too much respect to riches, or 
 honour, or personage, or birth, or particular con- 
 cerns of our own, and so it is corrupted, as wine that 
 turneth into vinegar, before we are aware. And 
 though still there be uprightness of heart, yet too 
 much hypocrisy is joined with it, when it is little 
 perceived or suspected. 
 
 And thus, in ten instances, I have showed you 
 ' how much the servants of Christ themselves, may 
 be mistaken, or unacquainted with their hearts; and 
 how the work of mortification is hindered by this 
 covering of so many secret, unobserved sins. But 
 I must here desire you to take heed of running into 
 their extreme, who hereupon conclude, that their 
 hearts, being so dark and so deceitful, are not at all 
 to be understood; and, therefore, they are still so 
 suspicious of the worst, as that they will not be per- 
 
270 
 
 suaded of the grace that plainly worketh in them, 
 and will condemn themselves for that which they 
 are not guilty of, upon suspicion that they may be 
 guilty, and not know it, and think that all the sin 
 that they forbear, is but for want of a temptation ; 
 and that, if they had the same temptations, they 
 should be as bad as any others. 
 
 I would entreat these persons to consider of these 
 truths, for their better information : 
 
 1. Temptations do not only show the evil that is 
 in the heart, but breed much more, and turn a spark 
 into a flame. Adam was made a sinner by tempta- 
 tion. 
 
 2. There is no Christian so mortified, but hath 
 such remnants of corruption and concupiscence, as 
 would quickly bring forth heinous sins, if tempta- 
 tions beyond strength were let loose upon him. 
 What need you more proof than the sad instances 
 of Noah, Lot, David, Solomon, and Peter? It 
 did not prove that any of these were graceless hypo- 
 crites before, because they fell so foully by tempta- 
 tions. And yet these objectors think they are grace- 
 less, because some strong temptations might make 
 them fall. 
 
 3. Is it not God's way of saving men, to give 
 them so much inward grace as no temptation can 
 overcome, but to preserve and bring them safe to 
 heaven, by moral conduct, together with internal 
 changes of their hearts. And, therefore, he keep- 
 eth men from sin, by keeping them from tempta- 
 tions that are too strong for them. All human 
 strength is limited: and there are none on earth 
 have such a measure of grace, but a temptation may 
 
271 
 
 be imagined so strong, as to overcome them. And 
 if God should let Satan do his worst, there must be 
 extraordinary assistances to preserve us, or we should 
 fall. Bless God if he " lead you not into tempta- 
 tion, but deliver you from the evil," by keeping you 
 far enough from the snare. This is the way of 
 preservation that we are taught to pray and hope 
 for. 
 
 4. And, therefore, it is our own duty to keep as f;>r 
 from temptations as we can ; and if we have grace 
 to avoid the sin by avoiding the temptation, we have 
 such grace as God useth for the saving of his own; 
 not that he hath saving grace that would live wick- 
 edly, if he were but tempted to it by those ordinary 
 trials that human nature may expect ; but the soul 
 that preferreth God and glory before the pleasures 
 of sin for a season, if it so continue, shall be saved, 
 though possibly there might have been a temptation 
 so strong as would have conquered the measure of 
 grace that he had, if it had not been fortified with 
 new supplies. Avoid temptation, that you may avoid 
 the sin and punishment. Make not yourselves worse, 
 on pretence of discovering how bad you are. All 
 men are defectible, and capable of every sin, and 
 must be saved from it by that grace which worketh on 
 nature according to that nature, and prevaileth with 
 reason by means agreeable to reason. If we think 
 we are wicked, because we find that we have hearts 
 that could be wicked, were they let alone, we may 
 as well say, Adam was wicked in his innoccncy, much 
 more David, Solomon, and Peter, before their falls. 
 It is not he that can sin that shall be punished ; but he 
 that doth sin, or would sin if he could, and had rather 
 
272 
 
 have the sin for its pleasure, than be free from it, 
 and be holy, in order to salvation, and the favour, 
 and pleasing, and enjoying of God in endless glory. 
 
 5. Lastly, Let such persons try themselves by 
 their conquest over the temptations which they have, 
 and not by imaginary conflicts with all that they 
 think may possibly at any time assault them. You 
 have still the same flesh to deal with, and the same 
 world and devil, that will not let you go to heaven 
 without temptation. If the temptations which you 
 have already, keep you not from preferring the love 
 and fruition of God before the pleasure of the flesh ; 
 and a life of faith and holiness, before a life of infi- 
 delity, and impiety, and sensuality, so that you had 
 rather live the former than the latter, I am sure, then, 
 your temptations have not kept you from a state of 
 grace. And you may be assured, that, for the time 
 to come, if you watch and pray, yoii may escape the 
 danger of temptation; and that God will increase 
 your strength, if he increase your trials : be not se- 
 cure, be you ever so holy. Think not that you 
 have a nature that cannot sin, or cannot be tempted 
 to T love of sin: but "let him that thinketh he 
 standeth, take heed lest he fall. There hath no 
 temptation taken you, but such as is common to 
 man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to 
 be tempted above that you are able; but will, with 
 the temptation, also make a way to escape, that you 
 may be able to bear it." 
 
 And thus I have showed you how self-ignorance 
 hinderetb the conquest and mortifying of sin, even in 
 the godly, and now shall add some further motives. 
 
 2. Not knowing ourselves, and the secret corrup- 
 
273 
 
 tions of our hearts, doth make sin surprise us the 
 more dangerously, and break forth the more shame- 
 fully, and wound our consciences the more terribly. 
 The unsuspected sin hath least opposition, and, when 
 it breaks out, doth, like an unobserved fire, go far 
 before we are awakened to quench it. And it con- 
 foundeth us witFi shame, to find ourselves so much 
 worse than we imagined. It overwhelmeth the soul 
 with despairing thoughts, to find itself so bad, when 
 it thought it had been better. We are still ready 
 to think whatever we discern that is good within us, 
 that we may as well be mfstaken now as we were be- 
 fore. And thus, our present self-ignorance, when 
 discovered, may hinder all the comforts of our lives. 
 
 3. Lastly, not knowing ourselves, and our parti- 
 cular sins, and wants, and weaknesses, doth keep us 
 from a particular application of the promises, and from 
 seeking those particular remedies from Christ which 
 our case requireth; and so our mercies lie by ne- 
 glected, while we need them, and do not understand 
 our need. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Exhortations to the Godly to Jcnova their Graces and 
 Duties. 
 
 II. I AM next to persuade believers to know their 
 graces and their happiness. Good is the object of 
 voluntary knowledge, but Evil of forced involuntary 
 knowledge, unless as the knowledge of evil tcndeth 
 M 3 
 
274 
 
 to some good. Therefore, methinks, you should be 
 readiest to this part of the study of yourselves : and 
 yet, alas ! the presumptuous are not more unwilling 
 to know their sin and misery, than some perplexed 
 Christians are backward to acknowledge their grace 
 and happiness 1 How hard is it to convince them of 
 the tender love of God towards them, and of the sin- 
 cerity of their love to him ; and to make them be- 
 lieve that they are dear to God when they loathe 
 themselves ! How hard is it to persuade them that 
 the riches of Christ, the promises of the gbspel, and 
 the inheritance of the saints, belonfr to them ! And 
 the reasons, among others, are principally these : 
 
 1. The remnant of sins are so great, and so ac- 
 tive, and troublesome, as that the feeling of these 
 contrary dispositions doth hinder them from ob- 
 ser\'ing the operations of grace. It is not easy to 
 discern the sincerity of faith among so much unbe- 
 lief; or the sincerity of love, where there is so much 
 averseness; or of humility, where there is so much 
 pride; or of repentance and mortification, where 
 there is so much concupiscence and inclination to 
 sin: especially when grace, by its enmity to sin, doth 
 make the soul so suspicious and sensible of it, as 
 that the observation of it turns their mind from the 
 observation of the contrary good that is in them. 
 Health is not observed in other parts, when the 
 feeling of the stone, or but the toothache, takes us 
 up. The thoughts are called all to the part af- 
 fected ; and sickness and wounds are felt more sen- 
 sibly than health. The fears of misery and sin, 
 are more easily excited, and more passionate than 
 love and hope, and all the affections that are em- 
 
275 
 
 ployed in the prosecution of good. And, in the 
 midst of fears, it is hard to feel the matter of our 
 joys: fear is a tyrant if it exceed, and will not per- 
 mit us to believe or observe the cause of hope. 
 These fears are useful to our preservation, but they 
 too often pervert our judgments, and hinder our due 
 consolation. Saith Seneca, " He that feareth snares, 
 doth not fall into them : a wise man escapeth evil 
 by always fearing it." And the Holy Ghost saith, 
 " Happy is the man that feareth alway ; but he that 
 hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief." 
 
 Moderate fears, then, are given to believers for 
 their necessary preservation, that, walking among 
 enemies and snares, they may take heed and escape 
 them. But when this passion doth exceed, it 
 abuseth us, and drowns the voice of reason ; it 
 maketh us believe that every temptation is a sin, 
 and every sin is such as cannot stand with grace, 
 and will hardly ever be pardoned by Christ. Every 
 sin against knowledge and conscience doth seem al- 
 most unpardonable; and if it were deliberate, after 
 profession of religion, it seems to be the sin against 
 the Holy Ghost. As children and other fearful 
 persons, that fear the devil by way of apparitions, 
 do think in the dark he is ready to lay iiold on 
 them; so the fearful Christian is still thinking 
 that thing he feareth is coming upon him. The 
 fear of an unrcgeneratc, unpardoned state, doth make 
 him think he is in it; and the fear of the wrath of 
 God doth make him think that he is under it. It 
 is wonderfully hard, in a fearful state, or indeed in 
 any passion that is strong, to have the free use of 
 judgment for the knowing of ourselves, and to dis- 
 
276 
 
 cern any grace, or evidence, or mercy, which is con- 
 trary to our fears, especially when the feeling of 
 much corruption doth turn our eyes from the obser- 
 vation of good, and we are still taken up with the 
 matter of our disease. 
 
 2. Another cause that we hardly know our graces, 
 is because they are weak and small; and therefore, 
 in the midst of so much corruption, are oftentimes 
 hardly discerned from none. A little faith, even as 
 a grain of mustard-seed, may save us ; a little love 
 to God that is sincere will be accepted; and weak 
 desires may be fulfilled ; but they are frequently un- 
 discerned, or their sincerity questioned by those that 
 have them, and therefore bring but little comfort. 
 Peter's little faith did keep him from drowning, but 
 not from doubting and fearintj he should be drowned, 
 nor from beginning to sink. " He walked on the 
 water to go to Jesus; but when he saw the wind 
 boisterous he was afraid; and, beginning to sink, he 
 cried, saying. Lord, save me. And immediately 
 Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and 
 said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst 
 thou doubt?" So the little faith of the disciples 
 kept them from perishing, but not from their fear of 
 perishing. " When a great tempest arose, so that 
 the ship was covered with waves, they cry, Lord, 
 save us, we perish : and he saith to them. Why are 
 ye afraid, O ye of little faith ?" The little faith of 
 the same disciples entitled them to the fatherly pro- 
 tection and provision of God; but it kept them not 
 from sinful cares and fears, about what they should 
 cat or drink, or wherewith they should be clothed. 
 " Take no thought for your life, what you shall 
 
277 
 
 eat, or drink, or for your body what you shall put 
 on. — Why take you thought for raimeut ? — If God 
 so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and 
 to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much 
 more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" So in 
 Matt. xvi. 7, 8. The seed that Christ likeneth his 
 kingdom to, hath life while it is buried in the earth, 
 and is visible while a little seed ; but is not so ob- 
 servable as when it cometh to be a tree. Though 
 God " despise not the day of little things," and 
 though he " will not break the bruised reed, or 
 quench the smoking flax," yet ourselves or others 
 cannot discern and value these obscure beginnings, 
 as God doth. But because we cannot easily find a 
 little faith, and a little love, when we are looking 
 for it, we take the non-appearance for a non-exis- 
 tence, and call it none. 
 
 3. Sanctificalion is oft unknown to those that 
 have it, because they do not try and judge them- 
 selves by sure infallible marks, the essentials of the 
 new man; but by uncertain qualifications, that are 
 mutable, and belong but to the beauty and activity 
 of the soul. 
 
 The essence of holiness, as denominated from 
 the object, is the consent to the three articles of the 
 covenant of grace. 1. That we give up ourselves 
 to God, as our God and reconciled Father in Jesus 
 Christ. 2. That we give up ourselves to Jesus 
 Christ, as our Redeemer and Saviour, to recover us, 
 reconcile us, and bring us unto God. 3. That we 
 give up ourselves to the Holy Ghost as our Sancti- 
 fier, to guide and illuminate us, and perfect the 
 image of God upon us, and prepare us for glory. 
 
278 
 
 The essence of sanctificatlon, as denominated 
 from its opposite objects, is nothing but our renun- 
 ciation and rejection of the flesh, the world, and the 
 devil ; of pleasures, profits, and honours, as they 
 would be preferred before God, and draw us to for- 
 sake him. 
 
 The essence of sanctification, as denominated 
 from our faculties, which are the subject of it, is 
 nothing but this preferring of God, and grace, and 
 glory, above the said pleasures, profits, and honours. 
 1. By the estimation of our understandings. 2. By 
 the resolved habitual choice of our wills. 3. And 
 in the bent and drift of our endeavours in our con- 
 versations. In these three acts, as upon the first 
 three objects, and against the other three objects, 
 lieth all that is essential to sanctification, and that 
 we should judge of our sincerity, and title to salva- 
 tion by, as I before showed. 
 
 But besides these, there are many desirable 
 qualities and gifts, which we may seek for, and be 
 thankful for; but are not essential to our sanctifica- 
 tion. Such are, 
 
 1. The knowledge of other truths, besides the 
 essentials of faith and duty, and the soundness of 
 judgment, and freedom from error in these lesser 
 points. 
 
 2. A strong memory to carry away the things 
 that we read and hear, 
 
 3. A right order of our thoughts, when we can 
 keep them from confusion, roving, and distraction. 
 
 4. Freedom from too strong affections about the 
 creatures, and from disturbing passions. 
 
 5. Lively affections, and feeling operations of 
 
279 
 
 the soul towards God, in holy duty, and tender 
 meltings of the heart for sin, which are very desir- 
 able, but depend so much on the temperature of the 
 body, and outward accidents, and are but the vigour, 
 and not the life and being of the new creature, that 
 we must not judge of our sincerity by them. Some 
 Christians scarce know what any such lively feelings 
 are; and some have them very seldom, and, I think, 
 no one constantly; and, therefore, if our peace, or 
 judgment of ourselves, be laid on these, we shall be 
 still wavering and unsettled, and tossed up and 
 down as the waves of the sea; sometimes seeming 
 to be almost in heaven, and presently near the gates 
 of hell : wlien our state doth not change at all, as 
 these feelings and affectionate motions of the soul 
 do; but we are still in our safe relation to God, 
 while our first essential graces do continue, though 
 our failings, dulness, weaknesses, and wants, must 
 be matter of moderate filial humiliation to us, 
 
 6. The same must be said of all common gifts, 
 of utterance, in conference or prayer, and of quick- 
 ness of understanding, and such like. 
 
 7. Lastly, The same must be said also of all that 
 rectitude of life, and those degrees of obedience 
 that are above mere sincerity; in which one true 
 Christian doth exceed another; and in which we 
 should all desire to abound; but must not judge 
 ourselves to be unsanctified, merely because we are 
 imperfect; or to be unjustified sinners, merely be- 
 cause we are sinners. 
 
 In judging ourselves by our lives and practices, 
 two extremes must be carefully avoided : on the 
 left hand that of the profane, and of the Antiuo- 
 
280 
 
 mians. The former cannot distinguish between 
 sanctified and unsanctified, justified and unjustified 
 sinners; and when they have once conceited that 
 they are in the favour of God, whatever they do, 
 they say, ' We are but sinners, and so are the best.' 
 The latter teach men, that when once they are jus- 
 tified, they are not, for any sins, to doubt again of 
 their justified state, lest they should seem to make 
 God changeable. 
 
 On the other hand must be avoided this extreme 
 of perplexed doubting Christians, that make all 
 their sins, or too many of them, to be matter of 
 doubting, which should be but matter of humilia- 
 tion. 
 
 I know it is a very great difficulty that hath long 
 perplexed the doctors of the church, to define what 
 sins are consistent, and what inconsistent, with a 
 state of holiness and salvation, which, if any distin- 
 guish by the names of mortal and venial, taking the 
 words in no other sense, I shall not quarrel with 
 them. At present I shall say but this, for the re- 
 solving of this great and weighty question. 
 
 1. It is not the bare act of sin, in itself con- 
 sidered, that must determine the case; but the act 
 compared with the life of grace, and with true re- 
 pentance. Whoever hath the love of God and life 
 of grace, is in a state of salvation ; and therefore, 
 whatever sin consisteth with the fore-described es- 
 sentials of sanctification, namely, the habitual devo- 
 tion of the soul to God, the Father, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost, and the habitual renunciation of the flesh, 
 the world, and devil, consisteth with a state of life. 
 And true repentance proveth the pardon of all sin ; 
 
281 
 
 and therefore, whatever sin consisteth with habitual 
 repentance, which is the hatred of sin, as sin, and 
 hath actual repentance when it is observed, and 
 there is time for dehberation, consisteth with a state 
 of grace. Now, in habitual conversion or repen- 
 tance, the habitual willingness to leave our sin, 
 must be more than our sinful habitual willingness to 
 keep it. Now you may by this discern, as to parti- 
 cular acts, whether they are consistent with habitual 
 hatred of sin. For some sins are so much in the 
 power of the will, that he that hath a habitual 
 hatred of them, cannot frequently commit thera. 
 And some sins are also of so heinous a nature or 
 degree, that he that habitually hateth sin, cannot 
 frequently commit them ; not at all, while his hatred 
 to them is in act. And he that truly repenteth of 
 them, cannot frequently return to them; because 
 that showeth that repentance was indeed either but 
 superficial, or not habitual. But some sins are not 
 so great and heinous, and therefore do not so much 
 deter the soul, and some are not so fully in the 
 power of a sanctified will, as passions, thoughts, &c. 
 and therefore may oftcner be committed in consis- 
 tency with habitual repentance or hatred of sin. To 
 examine particulars, would be tedious and digressive. 
 
 2. And I must further answer, that our safety, 
 and, consequently, our peace and comfort, lieth in 
 flying as far from sin as we can. And therefore, he 
 that will sin as much as will consist with any sparks 
 of grace, shall bury those sparks by his sin, and 
 shall not know that he hath any grace, nor have the 
 comfort of it; as being in a condition unfit for actual 
 assurance and comfort, till he be brought to actual 
 repentance and amendment. 
 
282 
 
 Thus have I showed you, by what you must try 
 your sanctification, if you will know it; which I be- 
 fore proved to you from Scripture. 
 
 4. Another cause that many Christians are igno- 
 rant of their state of grace, is their looking so much 
 at what they should be, and wliat others are that 
 have a riglit degree of grace, and what is commanded 
 as our duty, that they observe not what they have 
 already, because it is short of what they ought to 
 have. We are thus too much about outward mer- 
 cies. We are more troubled for one mercy taken 
 from us, than comforted in many that are left us. 
 We observe our diseases and our sores, more sensi- 
 bly than our health. David, for one Absalom, is so 
 afflicted, that he wished he had died for him though 
 a rebel ! when his comfort in Solomon, and his other 
 children is laid aside. As all the humours flow to 
 the pained place, so do our thoughts; and so we 
 overlook the matter of our comfort. 
 
 5. And it very much hindereth the knowledge of 
 our graces, that we search upon so great disadvan- 
 tages as hinder a true discovery. Among many 
 others, I will instance but in two or three. 
 
 1. We surprise our souls with sudden questions, 
 and look for a full and satisfactory answer, before 
 we can well recollect ourselves, and call up our 
 evidences ; and we expect to know the sum or pro- 
 duct, before our consciences have had leisure deli- 
 berately to cast up their accounts. Yea, when we 
 have set to it, and by diligent search with the best 
 assistances, have discovered our sincerity, and re- 
 corded the judgment, if conscience cannot presently 
 recall its proofs, and make it out upon every surprise. 
 
283 
 
 we unjustly question all that is past, and will never 
 rest ill any judgment, but are still calling over all 
 again, as if the cause had never been tried. And 
 then the judgment passeth according to our present 
 temper and disposition, when many of the circum- 
 stances are forgotten, and many of the witnesses are 
 out of the way, that last assisted us. 
 
 2. Perhaps we judge (as I said before) in the fit 
 of a passion of fear or grief, which imperiously over- 
 ruleth or disturbeth reason : and then no wonder, if 
 in our haste we say, that all men that vvould comfort 
 us are liars. And if, with David, in the " day of 
 our trouble, our souls do even refuse to be com- 
 forted ;" and if we remember God, and we are 
 troubled more, and if " our spirit be overwhelmed 
 in us: when he holdeth our eyes waking, and we are 
 so troubled that we cannot speak." And if we 
 question whether " the Lord will cast off for ever, 
 and will be favourable no more." Whether " his 
 mercy be clean gone for ever, and his promise fail 
 for evermore:" whether " he hath forgotten to be 
 gracious, and hath shut up his tender mercies in 
 displeasure:" till a calm deliver us from the mistake, 
 and make us say, * This is our infirmity,' we think 
 that God doth cast off our souls, and " iiideth his 
 face from us," when " our soul is full of troubles, 
 and our life draweth nigh unto the grave : when we 
 are afflicted and ready to die from our youth up, and 
 are distracted, while we suffer the terrors of the 
 Lord;" as he complaineth. Passion judgeth accord- 
 ing to its nature, and not according to truth. 
 
 3. Or perhaps we judge, when our friends, our 
 memory, and other helps are out of the way, and we 
 are destitute of due assistance. 
 
€84. 
 
 4. Or when our bodies are weak or distempered 
 with melancholy, which representeth all this in black 
 and terrible colours to the soul, and will hear no 
 language but forsaken, miserable, and undone. You 
 may as well take the judgment of a man half drunk, 
 or half asleep, about the greatest matters of your 
 lives, as to take the judgment of conscience in such 
 a state of disadvantage, about the condition of your 
 souls. 
 
 5. Another hinderance to us, is, that we cannot 
 take comfort from the former sight of grace that we 
 have had, unless we have a continued present sight. 
 And so all our labour in trying, and all our experi- 
 ences, and all God's former, manifestations of him- 
 self to the soul are lost, as to our present comfort, 
 when our grace is out of sight: like foolish travellers, 
 that think they are out of the way, and are ready to 
 turn back, when ever any hill doth interpose, and 
 hinder them from seeing the place they go to. As 
 if it were no matter of comfort to us, to say, I did 
 find the evidences of grace; I once recorded a judg- 
 ment of my sincerity: but the former is still ques- 
 tioned rather than the latter. When, with David, 
 we should " consider the days of old, the years of 
 ancient times, and call to remembrance our songs in 
 the night, and commune with our hearts in such a 
 diligent search," and remembrance of the mercies 
 formerly received. 
 
 6. Lastly, The operations of man's soul are na- 
 turally so various, and, from corruption, are so con- 
 fused and so dark, that we are ofttimes in a maze and 
 at a loss, when we are most desirous to judge aright; 
 and scarcely know where, in so great disorder, to find 
 
285 
 
 any thing that we seek; and know it not when we 
 find it: so that our hearts are almost as strange to 
 themselves as to one another; and sometimes more 
 confident of other men's sincerity than our own, 
 where there is no more matter for our confidence. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Motives to labour to Know our Sanctification. 
 
 Having thus showed you the causes of our ig- 
 norance of our sanctification, I shall briefly tell you 
 some reasons that should move you to seek to be 
 acquainted with it, where it is. 
 
 1. The knowledge of God is the most excellent 
 knowledge: and therefore the best sort of creature- 
 knowledge is, that which hath the most of God in 
 it. And undoubtedly there is more of God in holi- 
 ness, which is his image, than in common things. 
 Sins and wants have nothing of God in them; they 
 must be fathered on the devil and yourselves, and 
 therefore the knowledge of them is good but by acci- 
 dent, because the knowledge even of evil hath a 
 tendency to good: and therefore it is commanded 
 and made our duty, for the good which it tendeth 
 to. It is the Divine nature and image within you, 
 which hath the most of God; and therefore to know 
 this, is the high and noble knowledge. To know 
 Christ within us, is our happiness on earth, in order 
 to the knowledge of him in glory " face to face," 
 which is the happiness of heaven. To " know God, 
 
286 
 
 tliougli darkly through a glass," and but in part, is 
 far above all creature-knowledge. The knowledge 
 of him raisetli, quickeneth, sanctifieth, cnlargeth, 
 and advanceth all our faculties. It is " life eternal 
 to know God in Christ." Therefore, where God 
 appeareth most, there should our understandings be 
 most diligently exercised in study and observation. 
 
 2. It is a most delightful felicitating knowledge, 
 to know that Christ is in you. If it be delightful 
 to the rich to see their wealth, their houses, and 
 lands, and goods, and money: and if it be delightful 
 to the honourable to see their attendance, and hear 
 their own commendations and applause; how delight- 
 ful must it be to a true believer to find Christ within 
 him, and to know his title to eternal life ? If the 
 knowledge of " full barns," and " much goods laid 
 up for many years," can make a sensual worldling 
 say, " Soul, take thy ease, eat, drink and be merry," 
 methinks the knowledge of our interest in Christ 
 and heaven, should make us say, " Thou hast put 
 gladness in my heart, more than in the time that 
 their corn and wine increased." " Return unto thy 
 rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully 
 with thee." If we say, with David, " Blessed are 
 they that dwell i-n thy house; they will be still 
 praising thee," much more may we say, Blessed are 
 they in whom Christ dwelleth, and the Holy Ghost 
 hath made his temple, they should be still praising 
 thee. " Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, 
 and causest to approach unto thee, that he may 
 dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the 
 goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple." 
 But this is upon supposition, that he be first blessed 
 by Christ's approach to him, and dwelling in him. 
 
287 
 
 If you ask, ' How is it that Cliiist dvvelleth in 
 us;' I answer, 1. Objectively, as he is apprehended 
 by our faith and love: as the things or persons that 
 we think of, and love and delight in, are said to 
 dwell in our minds or hearts. 2. By the Holy 
 Ghost, who, as a principle of new and heavenly life, 
 is given by Christ the head, unto his members; and 
 as the agent of Christ doth illuminate, sanctify, and 
 guide the soul. " He that keepeth his command- 
 ments, dwelleth in him, and he in him: and hereby 
 we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which 
 he hath given us." That of Ephes. iii. 17. may 
 be taken in either, or both senses comprehensively, 
 " That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." 
 
 3. Did you know that Christ is in you by his 
 Spirit, it might make every place and condition 
 comfortable to you ! If you are alone, it may re- 
 joice you to think what company dwelleth continually 
 with you in your hearts. If you are wearied with 
 evil company without, it may comfort you to think 
 that you have better within : when you have com- 
 munion with the saints, it is your joy to think that 
 you have nearer communion witii the Lord of saints. 
 You may well say with David, " When I awake, 
 I am still with thee." " I have set the Lord always 
 before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall 
 not be moved." 
 
 4f. Did you know Christ within you, it would 
 much help you in believing wliat is written of him 
 in the gospel. Though to the ungodly the mys- 
 teries of the kingdom of God do seem incredible, 
 yet when you have experience of the power of it on 
 your souls, and find the imago of it on your hearts, 
 
288 
 
 and the same Christ within you conforming you to 
 what he commandeth in his word, this will work 
 such a suitableness to the gospel in your hearts as 
 will make the work of faith more easy. Saith the 
 Apostle, " We have seen, and do testify, that the 
 Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world :" 
 (there is their outward experience;) " and we have 
 known and believed the love that God hath to us. 
 God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth 
 in God, and God in him:" (there is their faith con- 
 firmed by their inward evidence: no wonder if they 
 that have God dwelling in them by holy love, do be- 
 lieve the love that God hath to them.) This is the 
 great advantnge that the sanctified have in the work 
 of faith, above those that much excel them in dis- 
 puting, and are furnished with more arguments for 
 the Christian verity: Christ hath his witness abiding 
 in them. " The fruits of the Spirit bear witness to 
 the incorruptible seed, the word of God, that liveth- 
 and abideth for ever." The impress on the lioart 
 bears witness to the seal that caused it. Labour to 
 know the truth of your sanctification, that you may 
 be confirmed by it in the truth of the word tliat 
 sanctifieth you, and may " rejoice in him that hath 
 chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the 
 Spirit, and belief of the truth." 
 
 5. If you can come to the knowledge of Christ 
 within you, it will be much easier to trust upon him, 
 and fly to him in all your particular necessities, and 
 to make use of his mediatorship with holy confidence. 
 When others fly from Christ with trembling, and 
 know not whether he will speak for them, or help 
 them, but look at him with strange and doubtful 
 
289 
 
 thoughts, it will be otherwise with you that have 
 assurance of his continual love and presence. When 
 you find Christ so near you, as to dwell within you, 
 (and so particular and abundant is his love to you, as 
 to have given you his Spirit, and all his graces,) it 
 will produce a sweet delightful boldness, and make 
 you run to him as your help and refuge, in all your 
 necessities. When you find the great promise ful- 
 filled to yourselves, " I will put my laws in their 
 hearts, and in their minds will I write them ; and 
 their sins and iniquities will 1 remember no more:" 
 you will " have boldness to enter into the holiest by 
 the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which 
 he hath consecrated for us through the vail, that is 
 to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over 
 the house of God, you may draw near with a true 
 heart, in full assurance of faith, having your hearts 
 sprinkled from an evil conscience," (or the conscience 
 of evil) " as your bodies are washed" (in baptism) 
 " with pure water." " In Christ vve may have bold- 
 ness and access with confidence, by the faith of him." 
 This intimate acquaintance with our great High 
 Priest that is " passed into the heavens," and yet 
 abideth and reigneth in our hearts, will encourage 
 us to " hold fast our profession, and- to come boldly 
 to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, 
 and find grace to help in time of need." When by 
 unfeigned love, we " know that we are of the truth, 
 and may assure our hearts before him, and our heart 
 condemneth us not, then we have confidence towards 
 God; and whatever we ask we receive of him, be- 
 cause we keep his commandments, and do those 
 things that are pleasing in his sight." 
 
 N 45 
 
290 
 
 G. W'licn once you know that you liave Cliiist 
 within you, you may cheerfully proceed in the way 
 of life; when doubting Christians, th:U know not 
 whether tliey are in the way or not, are still looking 
 behind them, and spend their time in perplexed 
 fears, lest they are out of the way, and go on with 
 heaviness and trouble, as uncertain whether they 
 may not lose their labour; and are still questioning 
 their groundwork, when the building should go on. 
 It is an unspeakable mercy, when a believing soul is 
 freed from these distracting hindering doubts, and 
 may boldly and cheerfully hold on his way, and be 
 walking or working, when other men are fearing 
 and inquiring the way; and may, with patiei)ce and 
 comfort, wait for the reward, the crown of life, vvhen 
 others are still questioning, whether they were ever 
 regenerate, and whether their hopes have any ground. 
 We may be "steadfast, unmoveable, always abound- 
 ing in the work of the Lord, when we know that 
 our labour is not in vain in the Lord." We may 
 then " gird up the loins of the mind, and in sobriety 
 hope unto the end, for the grace that is to be brought 
 us, at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 
 
 7. When you are assured that you have Christ 
 within you, it may preserve you from those ter- 
 rors of soul that affright them that have no such 
 assurance. O ! he that knoweth what it is to 
 think of the intolerable v;rath of God, and says, 
 ' I fear I am the object of this wrath, and must bear 
 this intolerable load everlastingly,' may know what a 
 mercy it is to be assured of our escape. He that 
 knows what it is to think of hell, and say, ' I know 
 not but those endless flames may be my portion,' 
 
291 
 
 will know what a mercy it is to be assured of a de- 
 liverance, and to be able to say, " I know I am saved 
 from the wrath to come;" and that " we are not 
 of them that draw back to perdition, but of them 
 that believe to the saving of the soul;" and that 
 " God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain 
 salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for 
 us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live 
 together with him:" we may "comfort ourselves 
 together, and edify one another," when we have this 
 assurance. 
 
 They that have felt the burden of a wounded 
 spirit, and know what it is to feel the terrors of 
 the Lord, and to see hell-fire, as it were, before 
 their eyes, and to be kept waking by the dreadful 
 apprehensions of their danger, and to be pursued 
 daily by an accusing conscience, setting their sins 
 in order before them, and bringing tiie threatenings 
 of God to their remembrance ; these persons will 
 understand, that to be assured of a Christ within us, 
 and, consequently, of a Christ tint is preparing a 
 place of glory for us, is a mercy that the mind of 
 man is now unable to value, accordin'r to the ten 
 thousandth part of its worth. 
 
 8. Were you assured that Christ himself is in 
 you, it would sweeten all the mercies of your lives. 
 It would assure you, that they are all the pledges 
 of his love; and love in all, would be the kernel and 
 the life of all. Your friends, your healtli, your 
 wealth, your deliverances, would be steeped in the 
 dearest love of Christ, and have a spiritual sweet- 
 ness in them, when to the worldling they have but 
 a carnal, unwholesome, luscious sweetness; and to 
 N 2 
 
292 
 
 the doubting Christians, they will be turned into 
 troubles, while they are questioning the love and 
 meaning of the Giver; and whether they are sent 
 for good to them, or to aggravate their condemna- 
 tion; and the company of the Giver will advance 
 your estimation of the gift. To have money in 
 your purses, and goods in your houses, and books in 
 your studies, and friends in your near and sweet 
 society, are all advanced to the higher value, when 
 you know that you have also Christ in your hearts ; 
 and that all these are but the attendants of your 
 Lord, and the fruits that drop from the tree of life, 
 and the tokens of his love, importing greater things 
 to follow. Whereas, in the crowd of all those 
 mercies, the soul would be uncomfortable, or worse, 
 if it missed the presence of its dearest friend : and 
 in the midst of all, would live but as in a wilderness, 
 and go seeking after Christ with tears, as Mary at his 
 sepulchre, because they had "taken away her Lord, 
 and she knew not where they had laid him." All 
 mercies would be bitter to us, if the presence of 
 Christ do not put into them that special sweetness 
 which is above the estimate of sense. 
 
 9. This assurance would do much to preserve you 
 from the temptation of sensu;il delight. While you 
 had within you the matter of more excellent con- 
 tentment, and when you find that these inferior 
 pleasures are enemies to those which are your hap- 
 piness and life, you would not be easily taken with 
 the bait. The poorest brutish pleasures are made 
 much of by them that never were acquainted with 
 any better. But after the sweetness of assurance 
 of the love of God, how little relish is there to be 
 
293 
 
 found in the pleasures that are so valued by sensual 
 unbelievers ! Let them take them for rae, saith 
 the believing soul ; may I but still have the comforts 
 'ot the presence of my Lord, how little shall I miss 
 them ! How easily can I spare them ! Silver will 
 be cast by, if it be set in competition with gold. 
 The company of common acquaintance may be ac- 
 ceptable, till better and greater come; and then 
 they must give place. Men that are taken up with 
 the pleasing entertainment of Christ within them, 
 can scarcely aflPord any more than a transient saluta- 
 tion or observance to those earthly things that are 
 the felicity of the carnal mind, and take up its de- 
 sires, endeavours, and delight; when the soul is 
 tempted to turn from Christ, to those deceiving 
 vanities that promise him more content and plea- 
 sure, the comfortable thoughts of the love of Christ, 
 and his abode within us, and our abode vvith him, 
 do sensibly scatter and confound such temptations. 
 The presence of Christ, the great reconciler, doth 
 reconcile us to ourselves, and make us willing to be 
 more at home. He that is out of love with the 
 company that he hath at home, is easily drawn to 
 go abroad. But who can endure to be much abroad, 
 that knoweth of such a guest as Christ at home? 
 We shall say as Peter, " Lord, to whom shall we 
 go ? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we 
 believe, and are sure, that thou art that Christ, the 
 Son of the living God." And as when he saw him 
 in a little of his glory, " Master, it is good for us to 
 be here." And if the riches of the world were 
 offered to draw a soul from Christ, that hath the 
 knowledge of his special love and presence, the 
 
294 
 
 tempter would have no better entertainment than 
 Simon Magus had with Peter, Their money perish 
 with them, that think Christ and his graces to be 
 no better than money. 
 
 10. How easy and sweet would all God's service 
 be to you, if you were assured tliat Clirist abideth 
 in you ! Wliat delightful access might you have 
 in prayer, when you know tliat Clirist himself speaks 
 for you ! Not as if the Father himself were un- 
 willing to do us good, but that he will do it in the 
 name, and for the sake and merits of his Son : which 
 is the meaning of Christ in those words, which seem 
 to deny his intercession, " At that day ye shall ask 
 in my name : and I say not unto you, that 1 will 
 .pray the Father for you; for the Father himself 
 loveth you, because ye have loved me." I appeal 
 to your own hearts, Cliristians, whether you would 
 not be much more willing and ready to pray, and 
 whether prayer would not be a sweeter employment 
 to you, if you were sure of Christ's abode within 
 you, and intercession for you, and, consequently, that 
 all your prayers are graciously accepted of the 
 Lord ? You would not then desire the vain society 
 of empty persons ; nor seek for recreation in their 
 insipid, frothy, insignificant discourse. The open- 
 ing of your heart to your heavenly Father, and 
 pleading the merits of his Son, in your believing 
 petitions for his saving benefits, would be a more 
 contenting kind of pleasure to you. 
 
 How sweet would meditation be to you, if you 
 could still think on Christ, and all the riches of his 
 kingdom, as your own ! Could you look up to 
 heaven, and say, with grounded confidence, ' It is 
 
295 
 
 mine, and there I must abide and reign for ever !' 
 Could you think of the heavenly host, as those that 
 must be your own companions, and of their holy 
 employment as that which must be your own for 
 ever, it would make the assent of your minds to be 
 more frequent, and meditation to be a more pleasant 
 work. Were you but assured of your special in- 
 terest in God, and that all his attributes are, by his 
 love and covenant, engaged for your happiness, ex- 
 perience would make you say, " In the multitude 
 of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight 
 my soul." " I will sing unto the Lord as long as 
 I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have 
 my being. My meditation of him shall be sweet; I 
 will be glad in the Lord." Could you say, with 
 full assurance, that you are the children of the pro- 
 mises, and that they are all your own ; how sweet 
 would the reading and meditation on the Holy 
 Scriptures be to you ! How dearly would you love 
 the word ! What a treasure would you judge it! 
 " Your delight would be then in the law of the 
 Lord, and you would meditate in it day and night." 
 To find such grounds of faith, and hope, and riches 
 of consolation in every page, and assuredly to say, 
 ' All this is mine,' would make you better under- 
 stand why David did indite all the cxix. Psalm, in 
 high commendations of the word of God, and would 
 make you join in his affectionate expressions, " O 
 how love 1 thy law I it is my meditation all the 
 day. Thou, through thy commandments, hast 
 made me wiser than mine enemies : for they are 
 ever with me." 
 
 Sermons, also, would be much sweeter to you, 
 
296 
 
 when you could confidently take home tlic consoia- 
 tary part, and use our ministry as a help to your 
 faith, and hope, and joy ; whereas your doubts and 
 fears, lest you are still unre<renerate, will turn all 
 that you hear, or read, or meditate on, into food and 
 fuel for themselves to work upon ; and you will 
 gather up all that tends to your disquietude, and 
 say, It is your part ; and cast away all that tendetli 
 to your consolation, and say. It belongeth not to 
 you. And the most comforting passages of the 
 word will be turned into your discomfort: and the 
 promises will seem to you as none, while you ima- 
 gine that they are none of yours : and the loss of 
 your peace and comfort will not be the worst : but 
 this will increase your backwardness to duty; and 
 when your delight in the worship of God is gone, 
 your inclination to it vvill abate, and it will seem a 
 burden to you. 
 
 The same I may say of the sacrament of the 
 Lord's Supper. How sweet will it be to you, if 
 you are assured, that the same Christ that is there 
 represented as broken and bleeding for your sins, 
 doth dwell within you by his Spirit ! What welcome 
 entertainment would you expect to find, if you knew 
 that you brought the feast, and the Master of the 
 feast, with you, in your hearts ; and had there en- 
 tirely entertained him, with whom you expect com- 
 munion in the sacrament ! How boldly and com- 
 fortably would your hungry souls then feed upon 
 him ! With what refresliing acts of faith would 
 you there take the sealed promise and pardon of 
 your sins ! Whereas, when you come in fears and 
 doubting, and must take the body and blood of 
 
S97 
 
 Christ, in their representations, with your hand and 
 mouth, while you know not whether you receive 
 him with the heart, and whether you have any spe- 
 cial interest in him, O what a damp it casteth on 
 the soul ! How it stifleth its hopes and joys, and 
 turneth the sacrament, which is appointed for their 
 comfort, into their greater trouble ! It hath many 
 a time grieved me to observe, that no ordinance doth 
 cast many upright souls into greater perplexities, 
 and discouragements, and distresses, than the Lord's 
 Supper ; because they come to it with double reve- 
 rence, and by the doubtings of their title, and ques- 
 tioning their preparedness, and by their fears of eat- 
 ing and drinking unworthily, their souls are utterly 
 discomposed with perplexing passions, and turned 
 from the pleasant exercise of faith, and the delight- 
 ful intercourse that they should have with God ; 
 and they are distempered, and put out of relish to 
 all the sweetness of the gospel : and then they are 
 frightened from the sacrament by such sad ex- 
 periences, and dare come thither no more, for fear 
 of eating judgment to themselves. And should not 
 Christians labour to remove the cause of such mis- 
 erable, distracting fears, that so much wrong both 
 Christ and them, and to recover their well-croundcd 
 peace and comfort? 
 
 11. Your love to God, which is the heart and 
 life of the new creature, doth so much depend upon 
 your knowledge of his love to you, as should make 
 you much more desirous of such a knowledge. Love 
 is the end of faith ; and faith the way to love. So 
 much of love as is in every duty, so much holiness is 
 in it, and no more. Love is the sum of the com- 
 N 3 
 
298 
 
 mandments. It is the fulfillinji of the law, Tlioush 
 God loved us first, as purposing our good, before 
 we loved him : and we, therefore, " love him, be- 
 cause he first loved us," yet doth he love us by 
 complacency and acceptance, because we love the 
 Father and the Son : " For the Father himself 
 loved you, because ye loved me, and have believed 
 that I came out from God." And what will more 
 effectually kindle in you the fervent love of Christ, 
 than to know that he lovcth you, and dvvelleth in 
 you? All this is expressed by Christ himself: 
 " At that day ye shall know that I am in my Fa- 
 ther, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath 
 my commandments, and kcepeth them, he it is that 
 lovcth me ; and he that loveth me shall be loved of 
 my Fatlier, and I will love him, and will manifest 
 myself to him. — If a man love me, he will keep 
 my words : and my Father will love him, and we will 
 come unto him, and make our abode with him." 
 " If any man love God, the same is known of him," 
 with a knowledge of special love and approbation. 
 This is no disparagement to faith, whose nature and 
 use is to work by love. What a man loveth, such 
 he is. The love is the man. Our love is judged 
 by our life, as the cause by the effect: but the life 
 is judged by the love, ns the fiuits by tlie tree, the 
 effects of the cause. If Plato could say, " To be a 
 philosopher, is to love God," much more should we 
 say, ' This is the doctrine and work of a Christian, 
 even the love of God.' Indeed it is the work of 
 the lledccmer to recover the heart of man to God, 
 and to bring us to love him, by representing him to 
 us as the most amiable, suitable object of our love : 
 
299 
 
 and the perfection of love is heaven itself. " The 
 yoke of holy love, Oliowsueetly dost thou surprise! 
 How gloriously dost thou enthral ! How pleasantly 
 dost thou press ! How delightfully dost thou load ! 
 How strongly dost thou bind ! How prudently 
 dost thou instruct ! — O happy love, from vvhich 
 ariseth the strength of manners, the purity of affec- 
 tions, the sublilety of intellects, the sanctity of de- 
 sires, the excellency of works, the fruitl'ulness of 
 virtues, the dignity of deserts, the sublimity of the 
 reward," — Bernard. 1 appeal to your own con- 
 sciences, Chriblians, would you not think it a fore- 
 taste of heaven upon earth, if you could but love 
 God as much as you desire? Would any kind of 
 life that you can imagine, be so desirable and de- 
 lightful to you ? Would any thing be more accep- 
 table unto God ? And, on the contrary, a soul 
 without the love of God, is worse than a corpse 
 without a soul. " If any man love not the Lord 
 Jesus Chribt, let him be Anathema, Maran-atha." 
 
 And do I need to tell you, what a powerful in- 
 centive it is to love, to know that you arc beloved ? 
 It will make Christ much more dear to you, to know 
 how dear you are to him. What is said of affective 
 love in us, may partly be said of attractive love in 
 Christ. " Many waters cannot quench love, neither 
 can the floods drown it :" no riches can purchase 
 what it can attract. When you find that he hath 
 set you " as a seal upon his arm and heart," and 
 that you arc dear to him as the "apple of his eye," 
 what holy flames will this kindle in your breast ! If 
 it be almost impossible, with your equals upon earth, 
 not to love them that love you, (which Christ tellcth 
 
300 
 
 you that even publicans will do,) how much more 
 should the love of Christ constrain us abundantly to 
 love him, when, being infinitely above us, his love 
 desccndcth, that ours may ascend I His love puts 
 forth the hand from heaven to fetch us up. 
 
 O Christians, you little know how Satan wrong- 
 cth you, by drawing you to deny, or doubt of the 
 special love of God ! How can you love him that 
 you apprehend to be your enemy, and to intend your 
 ruin .'' Doubtless, not so easily as if you know him 
 to be your friend. In reason, is there any more 
 likely way to draw you to hate God, than to draw 
 you to believe that he hateth you ? Can your 
 thoughts bo pleasant of him, or your speeches of 
 him sweet f or can you attend him, or draw near him 
 with delight, while you think he hateth you, and 
 hath decreed your damnation You may fear him, 
 as he is a terrible avenger ; and you may confess Ins 
 judgments to be just: but can you amicably embrace 
 the consuming fire, and love to dwell with the ever- 
 lasting burnings ? 
 
 O, therefore, as ever you would have the love of 
 God to animate, and sanctify, and delight your souls, 
 study the greatness of his love to you, and labour, 
 with all possible speed and diligence, to find that 
 Christ, by his Spirit, is within you. It is the whole 
 work of sanctification that Satan would destroy or 
 weaken by your doubts : and it is the whole work of 
 sanctification, that by love would be promoted, if you 
 knew your interest in the love of Christ. 
 
 12. It is the knowledge of (Christ dwelling in 
 you, and so of the special love of God, that must 
 acquaint you with a life of holy thankfulness and 
 
301 
 
 praise. These highest and most acceptable du- 
 ties, will be out of your reach, if Satan can hide 
 from you that mercy which must be the chiefest mat- 
 ter of your thanksgiving. Will that soul be in tune 
 for the high praises of the Lord, that thinks he 
 meaneth to treat him as an enemy ? Can you look 
 for any cheerful thanksgiving from him that looks to 
 lie in hell ? Will he not rather cr^y, with David, 
 "In death there is no remembrance of thee: in the 
 grave who shall give thee thanks?" " What profit 
 is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? 
 Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy 
 truth ?" Shall the damned praise thee, or shall they 
 give thee thanks that must be scorched with the 
 flames of thine indignation ? Can you expect that 
 joy should be in their hearts, or cheerfulness in their 
 countenances, or praises in their mouths, that think 
 they are reprobated ? Undoubtedly Satan is not 
 ignorant, that this is the way to deprive God of the 
 service which is most acceptable to him, and you of 
 the pleasures of so sweet a life. And, therefore, he 
 that envieth both, will do his worst to damp your 
 spirits, and breed uncomfortable doubts and fears, 
 and wrongful suspicions in your minds. Whereas, 
 the knowledge of your interest in Christ, would be 
 a continual store-house of thanksgiving and praise, 
 and teach your hearts as well as your tongues to say, 
 with David, " Blessed is the man whose transgres- 
 sion is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the 
 man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and 
 in whose spirit there is no guile. — Be glad in the 
 Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous : and shout for joy all 
 ye that are upright in heart." *' Bless the Lord, 
 
302 
 
 C) my soul, ami forget not all his benefits : wliofor- 
 giveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy dis- 
 eases ; who redccincth thy life from destruction ; 
 who crowneth thee with lovirg-kindness and tender 
 mercies." " O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, 
 and thou hast healed mc. O Lord, thou hast brought 
 up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept mo alive, 
 lliat I should not go down to the pit. Sing unto 
 the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the 
 remembrance of his holiness. For his anger endurelh 
 but a moment ; in his favour is life." Thanks- 
 giving would be the very pulse and breath of your 
 assurance of Christ dwelling in you. You would 
 say, with Paul, " Blessed be the God and Father of 
 our Lord Jesus Clirist, who. hath blessed us with all 
 spiritual blessings in celestials in Christ. Accord- 
 ing as he hath chosen us in him before the founda- 
 tion of the world, that wc should be holy and blame- 
 less before him in love. Having predestinated us 
 to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to him- 
 self, according to the good pleasure of his will, to 
 the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath 
 made us accepted in the Beloved : in whom we have 
 redemption through his blood, the remission of sins, 
 according to the riches of his grace ; wherein he hath 
 abounded toward us." Thus faith and assurance, as 
 they have an unspeakable store to work upon,' so it 
 is natural to them to expatiate in the praise of our 
 Redeemer, and to delight in amplifications and com- 
 memorations of the ways of grace. Just so doth 
 Peter begin his first epistle, " Blessed be the God 
 and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, accord- 
 ing to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again 
 
303 
 
 unto a lively liope, by the resurrection of Jesus 
 Clirist from the dead, to an inheritance incorrupti- 
 ble, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in 
 heaven for you, wlio are kept by the power of God 
 through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in 
 the last time : wherein ye greatly rejoice," &c. 
 
 No wonder if the heirs of heaven be inclined to 
 the language and the work of heaven. I think there 
 are few of you that would not rejoice, and by your 
 speech and countenance express your joy, if you had 
 assurance but of the dignities and dominions of this 
 Vvorld. And can he choose but express his joy and 
 tliankfulness, that hath assurance of the crown of 
 life? What fragrant thoughts should possess that 
 mind that knoweth itself to be possessed hy the Spi- 
 rit of the living God ! How thankful will he be, 
 that knows he hath Christ and heaven to be thank- 
 ful for ! What sweet delights should fill up the 
 hours of that man's life, that knows the Son of God 
 living in him, and that he shall live in joy with 
 Christ for ever ! How gladly will he be exercised 
 in the praises of his Creator, Redeemer, and Sancti- 
 fier, that knows it must be his work for ever ! No 
 wonder if this joy be a stranger to their hearts, that 
 are strangers to Christ, or strangers to their interest 
 in his love. No wonder if they have no hearts for 
 these celestial works, that have no part in the celes- 
 tial inheritance, or that know not that they have any 
 part therein. 
 
 But to that man that is assured of Christ within 
 him, heaven and earth, and all their store, do offer 
 themselves as the matter of his thanks, and do fur- 
 nish him with provisions to feed his praises. What 
 
304 
 
 a shame is it, that an assured lieir of heaven should 
 be scant and barren in comfort to himself, or in 
 thanks and praise to Jesus Chiist, when he liatli so 
 much h)ve and mercy to fetch his motives from, and 
 hath two worlds to furnish liim with the most pre- 
 cious materials ; and hatli no less than Infinite Good- 
 ness, even God himself, to be the subject of his 
 praise ! " () give thanks unto the Lord; for he is 
 ffood : because his mercy cndureth for ever. Let 
 Lsrael say, let the house of Aaron say, let them that 
 fear the Lord say, that his mercy cndureth for ever." 
 The knowledge of our interest fitteth us for his 
 praise. " Thou art my God, and I will praise thee; 
 thou art my God, I will exalt thee." " O Lord, 
 truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the 
 son of thine handmaid : thou hast loosed my bonds. 
 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and 
 will call upon the name of the Lord." "His praise 
 is for the congregation of his saints. Let Israel re- 
 joice in him that made him : let the children of Zion 
 be joyful in their King." " Let them praise the name 
 of the Lord : for his name alone is excellent ; his glory 
 is above the earth and heaven. He also exalteth the 
 horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even 
 of the children of Israel, a people near unto him." 
 " I will also clothe his priests with salvation, and his 
 saints shall shout aloud for joy." Praise is a work 
 so proper for the saints, and thanksgiving must be 
 fed with the knowledge of your mercies, that Satan 
 well knoweth what he shall get by it, and what you 
 will lose, if he can but hide your mercies from you. 
 The height of his malice is against the Lord, and 
 the next is against you : and how can he show it 
 
305 
 
 more than by drawing you to rob God of his thanks 
 and praise, when he hath blessed and enriched you 
 with the chiefest of his mercies ! Labour, there- 
 fore, Christians, to know that you have that grace 
 that may be the matter and cause oF so sweet and 
 acceptable an employment as the praises of your 
 Lord. 
 
 13. jNIoreover, you should consider, that, without 
 the knowledge of your interest in Christ, you can- 
 not live to the honour of your Redeemer, in such a 
 measure as the gospel doth require. The excel- 
 lency of gospel- mercies will be veiled and obscured 
 by you, and will not be revealed and honoured by 
 your lives. Your low and poor dejected spirits will 
 be a dishonour to the faith and hope of the saints, 
 and to the glorious inheritance, of which you have 
 so full a prospect in the promises. The heirs of 
 heaven, that know not themselves to be such, may 
 live like the heirs of heaven as to uprightness and 
 humility, but not in the triumphant jdv, nor in the 
 courageous boldness, which bccomcth a believer. 
 What an injury and dishonour is it to our Redeemer, 
 that when he hath done and suffered so much to 
 make us happy, we should walk as heavily as if he 
 had done nothing for us at all ! And when he hath 
 so fully secured us of everlasting happiness, and told 
 us of it so expiessly, that our joy may be full, we 
 should live as if the gospel were not the gospel, and 
 such things had never been promised or revealed ! 
 When heaven is the object, and the promise of God 
 is the groundwork of our faith, we should live above 
 all earthly things, as having the honours and plea- 
 sures of the world under our feet, accounting all as 
 
306 
 
 "loss and dung for tlie excellency of the knowledge 
 of Jesus Christ," whom we should love, though " we 
 have not seen him ; in whom, though now we 
 see him not, yet believing, we should rejoice with 
 joy unspeakable and full of glory, as those that 
 must receive the end of their faith, the salvation 
 of our souls." And how can we do this, if we 
 are still questioning the love of Christ, or our inte- 
 rest in it ! 
 
 Believers should, with undaunted resolution, 
 charge through the armies of temptation, and con- 
 quer difficulties, and suffer for the name of Christ 
 with joy ; accounting it a blessed thing to be perse- 
 cuted for righteousness' sake, because " theirs is the 
 kingdom of heaven." Because of the greatness of 
 the reward, they should " rejoice and be exceeding 
 glad." And how can they do this, that believe not 
 that the reward and kingdom will be theirs ! 
 
 The joys of faith and confidence on the promise 
 and strength of Christ, should overcome all inordi- 
 nate fears of man : " For he halh said, I will never 
 leave thee nor forsake thee. So that we may bold- 
 ly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear 
 what man shall do unto me." And how can we do 
 this, while we are questioning our part in Christ, 
 and the promise that we should thus boldly trust 
 upon ? 
 
 14. Lastly, consider, that the knowledge of your 
 part in Christ, may make all sufferings easy to you. 
 You will be so much satisfied in God your portion, 
 as will abate the desires, and drown the joys and 
 sorrows of the world. You will judge the "suffer- 
 ings of this present time unworthy to be compared to 
 
307 
 
 the glory that shall be revealed in us." You will 
 choose rather " to suffer affliction with the people of 
 God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season ; 
 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than 
 the treasures of the world, as having respect to the 
 recompense of the reward." All this must be done, 
 and will be done by true believers, that have an assur- 
 ance of their own sincerity; they must and will for- 
 sake all, and take up the cross and follow Christ, in 
 hope of a reward in heaven, as it is offered them in 
 the gospel, when they know their special interest in 
 it. For these are Christ's terms, which he imposeth 
 on all that will be his disciples. But you may cer- 
 tainly perceive, that it will be much more easy to 
 part with all, and undergo and do all this, when we 
 have the great encouragement of our assured interest, 
 than when we have no more but the common offer. 
 To instance in some particulars. 
 
 I. Do you live where serious godliness is derided, 
 and you cannot obey the word of God, and seek first 
 the kingdom of God, and its righteousness, without 
 being made the common scorn, and the daily jest and 
 by-word of the company? Let it be so: if you 
 know that you have Christ within you, and are se- 
 cured of the everlasting joys, will you feel, will you 
 regard such things as these ? Shall the jest of a 
 distracted, miserable fool, abate the joy of your 
 assured happiness ? Princes and noblemen will not 
 forsake their dominions or lordships, nor cast away 
 the esteem and comfort of all they have, because the 
 poor do ordinarily reproach them as proud, unmer- 
 ciful oppressors. They think they may bear the 
 words of the miserable, while they have the pleasure 
 
308 
 
 of prosperity. And shall not we give losers leave 
 to talk ? We will not be mocked out of the com- 
 fort of our health or wealth, our habitations or our 
 friends : and shall we be mocked out of the comfort 
 of Christ, and of the presence of the Comforter him- 
 self? If they that are sick deride you for being 
 well, this will but make you more sensible of your 
 felicity, and pity them that have added such folly to 
 their wants : so will it increase the sense of your 
 felicity, to find that you are [lossessed of so unspeak- 
 able a mercy, which others have not so far tasted of 
 as to know its worth. If you are in your Father's 
 arms, you may bear the scorns of such as stand with- 
 out the doors. 
 
 2. If you have the contradictions and opposition 
 of the ignorant or malicious, speaking evil of things 
 they know not, and persuading you from the ways of 
 righteousness, how easily may all this be borne while 
 you have Christ within you to strengthen and en- 
 courage you ! Had you but his exam])le before 
 you, who is " the Author and Finisher of your faith ; 
 who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the 
 cross, despising the shame, and endured such contra- 
 diction of sinners against himself, it should keep you 
 from being weary and fainting in your minds." But 
 when you have his presence, his Spirit, and his 
 help, how much should it corroborate and confirm 
 you ! 
 
 3. How easy may you bear the slanders of your 
 own or the gospel's enemies, as long as you are sure 
 of your interest in Christ ! How easily may you 
 suffer them to call you by their own names, " pesti- 
 lent fellows, and movers of sedition among the 
 
309 
 
 people, ringleaders of a sect, profaners of tlie temple," 
 as Paul was called, as long as you liave Christ within 
 you, that was called Beelzebub for your sakes. 
 Your Judge, that must finally decide the case, is 
 your dearest friend, and dwelleth in you. It is 
 " He that will justify you ; who is he that condemn- 
 eth you?" His approbation is your life and com- 
 fort. How inconsiderable is it as to your own feli- 
 city, what mortal worms shall say or think of you ? 
 What if they call you all that is naught, and stain 
 your names, and obscure your innocency, and make 
 others believe the falsest accusations that Satan can 
 use their tongues to utter of you ? You have enough 
 against all this within yon. What if you go for 
 hypocrites, or what malignity can call you, until the 
 day of judgment ? As long as you have so good 
 security of being tlicn fully cleared of all, and your 
 righteousness vindicated by your Judge, how easily 
 may you now bear the slanders of men, that prove 
 themselves wicked, by falsely affirming it of you ! 
 Y'^ou may well endure to be called proud, while you 
 are humble ; and factious, while you are lovers of 
 unity and peace ; or hypocrites, while you are sin- 
 cere. How boldly may you say, with the prophet, 
 " The Lord (iod will help me ; therefore shall I not 
 be confounded : therefore have I set my face like a 
 flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He 
 is near that justifieth me ; who will contend with me? 
 let us stand together: who is mine adversary? 
 let him come near to me. Behold the Lord God 
 will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? 
 Lo, they shall all wax old as a garment ; the moth 
 shall eat them up." 
 
310 
 
 Had you but Paul's assurance and experience of 
 Christ dwelling in you, you might imitate him in 
 a holy contempt of all the slanders and revilings of 
 the world: " For I think that God hath set forth 
 us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death : 
 for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and 
 to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's 
 sake, but ye are wise in Christ : we are weak, but 
 ye are strong : ye are honourable, but we are de- 
 spised. Even unto this present hour, we both hunger, 
 and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and 
 have no certain dwelling-place; and labour, working 
 with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being 
 persecuted, we suffer it ; being defamed, we entreat : 
 we are made as the filth of the world, and are the 
 ofFscouring of all things unto this day." Thus 
 may we " do and suffer all things through Christ 
 that strengtheneth us." What matter is it what 
 men call us, if God call us his children and friends, 
 and Christ be not ashamed to call us brethren ? 
 With us it will be a very small thing to be judged 
 of man, while we know " the Lord that must judge 
 us, is on our side." It lieth not on our hands to 
 justify ourselves : it is Christ that hath undertaken 
 to answer for us ; and made it the work of his office 
 to justify us; and to him we may boldly and com- 
 fortably leave it: and let all the accusers prepare 
 their charge, and deal with him, and do their worst. 
 
 4. How easily may you bear imprisonment, ban- 
 ishment, or other persecution, as long as you are 
 assured of the love of Christ ! Can you fear to 
 dwell where Christ dwells with you? If he will 
 go with you through fire and water, what need you 
 
311 
 
 fear? Those owning, appropriating words, will 
 make us venture upon the greatest perils, " Fear 
 not : for 1 have redeemed thee, I have called thee 
 by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest 
 through the waters, I will be with thee ; and through 
 the rivers, they shall not overflow thee : when thou 
 walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt : 
 — For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of 
 Israel, thy Saviour." Who would not, with Peter, 
 cast himself into the sea, or walk with confidence 
 upon the waters, if Christ be there, and call us to 
 him ? 
 
 The eleventh chapter to the Hebrews doth reca- 
 pitulate the victories of faith, and show us what the 
 hope of unseen things can cause believers patiently 
 to undergo. How cheerfully will he endure the 
 foulest way, that is assured to come safe to such a 
 home? What will a man stick at, that knows he 
 is following Christ to heaven ; and knoweth that he 
 " shall reign with him, when he hath suffered with 
 him ?" He is unworthy of Christ, and of salva- 
 tion, that thinks any thing in the world too good to 
 lose for them. What matter is it, whether death 
 finds us in honour or dishonour, in our own country 
 or in another, at liberty or in prison, so we arc sure 
 it finds us not in a state of death ? Who would 
 not rather pass to glory by as straight a way as 
 John the Baptist, Stephen, or other martyrs did, 
 than with their persecutors, to prosper in the way to 
 misery ? Who can, for shame, repine at the loss 
 of temporal commodities, that is secured of the eter- 
 nal joys? If assurance of the love of God, would 
 not embolden you to patient suffering, and to lay 
 
312 
 
 down life aiul all for Christ, what do you think 
 should ever do it? 
 
 But wlicii you are afraid lest death will turn you 
 into hell, what wonder if you timorously draw baek? 
 When you know not whether ever you shall have 
 any better, no wonder if you are loath to part with 
 the seeming happiness which you have. Those 
 doubts and fears enfeeble the soul, and spoil you of 
 that valour that becomes a soldier of Christ. 
 
 5. All personal crosses in your estates, your fa- 
 milies, your friends, your health, will be easily 
 borne, if you are once assured of your salvation. 
 To a man that is passing into heaven, all these are 
 most inconsiderable things. What is Lazarus the 
 worse now for his sores or Tags? Or what is the 
 rich man the better for his sumptuous attire and 
 fare ? Whether you be poor or rich, sick or sound ; 
 whether you are used kindly or unkindly in the 
 world, are questions of so small importance, that 
 you are not much concerned in the answer of them: 
 but whetlier you have Christ within you, or be re- 
 probates; whether you are the heirs of the promise, 
 or are under the curse, are questions of everlasting 
 consequence. 
 
 6. Lastly, You may comfortably receive the sen- 
 tence of death, when once you are assured ot" the 
 life of grace, and that you have escaped everlasting 
 death. Tliough nature will be still averse to a dis- 
 solution, yet faith will make you cheerfully submit, 
 "desiring to depart and be with Christ," as the best 
 condition for you. When you " know that if the 
 earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, you 
 have a building of God, an house not made with 
 
313 
 
 hands, eternal in the heavens^" you will then *'groan, 
 earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with your 
 house, which is from heaven : not to be unclothed, 
 but to be clothed upon, that mortality might be 
 swallowed up of life. This God doth work you for, 
 who giveth you the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore, 
 as men that know, while you are at home in the 
 body, you are absent from the Lord; and that walk 
 by faith, and not by sight, you would be always con- 
 fident, and willing rather to be absent from the body, 
 and present with the Lord." 
 
 Though it be troublesome to remove your dwell- 
 ing, yet you would not stick upon the trouble, if you 
 were sure to change a cottage for a court : nor 
 would you refuse to cross the seas, to change a 
 prison for a kingdom. The holy desires of believers, 
 do prepare them for a safe death ; but it is the as- 
 surance of their future happiness, or the believing 
 expectation of it, that must prepare them for a death 
 that is safe and comfortable. The death of the pre- 
 sumptuous may be quiet, but not safe : the death of 
 doubting, troubled believers may be safe, but not 
 quiet : the death of the ungodly, that have awakened, 
 undeceived countenances, is neither safe nor quiet : 
 but the death of strong believers, that have attained 
 assurance, is both. And he that findeth Christ 
 within him, may know, that when he dieth, he shall 
 be with Christ: his dwelling in us by faith, by love, 
 and by his Spirit, is a pledge that we shall dwell 
 with him. Clirist within us, will certainly carry us 
 unto Christ above us. . Let Socinians question the 
 happiness of such departed souls, or doubt whether 
 they be in heaven before the resurrection ; I am 
 O 45 
 
314 
 
 sure that they are with Christ, as the forecited places 
 show, (2 Cor. V. 7, 8. PhiHp. i. 23.) and many 
 other. We are following him, that when he had 
 conquered death, and went before us, did send that 
 message to his doubting, troubled disciples, (which is 
 to me so full of sweetness, that methinks I can scarcely 
 too often recite it,) " Go to my brethren, and say 
 unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Fa- 
 ther, and to my God and your God." O piercing, 
 melting words, which methinks do write themselves 
 upon my heart, whenever I read them with attention 
 and consideration 1 Know once that you are his 
 brethren, and that his Father is your Father, and 
 his God is your God, and that he is ascended and 
 glorified in your nature; and then how can you be 
 unwilling to be dismissed from the bondase of this 
 flesh, and be with Christ ! For in his " Father's 
 house are many mansions 1 and he is gone before to 
 prepare a place for us ; and will come again and re- 
 ceive us unto himself, that where he is, there we 
 may be also." And that this is his will for all his 
 servants, he hath declared in that comfortable pro- 
 mise, (which also I have found so full of sweetness, 
 that I value it above all the riches of the world,) 
 " If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where 
 I am, there shall also my servant be : if any man 
 will serve me, him will ray Father honour." The 
 Spirit of Christ within you, is the earnest of all this. 
 Be assured of your faith, and hope, and love, and 
 you may be assured to possess the good believed, 
 and hoped for, and loved. " The incorruptible seed, 
 which livcth and abideth for ever," of which you are 
 newborn, doth tend to the "incorruptible crown, 
 
315 
 
 even the crown of righteousness, which the righteous 
 Judge will give to all that love his appearing." 
 " And so shall we ever be with the Lord," as the 
 Apostle comfortably speaks, and seasonably annexeth 
 the use of such a cordial, " Wherefore comfort one 
 another with these words." 
 
 Whether we are to die by the decay of nature, 
 or by the storm of any violent disease, or by the 
 hand of persecutors, or any other instruments of 
 Satan, the difference is small; they are but several 
 ways of landing at the shore of happiness, which we 
 were making towards, through all the duties and 
 difficulties of our lives. May I die assured of the 
 love of God, how little regardable is it, whether I 
 be poor or rich till then ; or in what manner death 
 shall do its execution? And how little cause have 
 blessed souls to envy them that are left on earth, in 
 a quiet and prosperous passage to damnation ! 
 
 And what an ease and pleasure is this to a man's 
 mind through all his life, to be able, with well- 
 grounded comfort, to think of death ! What cares 
 can vex him that hath secured his everlasting state? 
 What losses should afflict him that is sure he shall 
 not lose his soul, and is sure to gain eternal life? 
 What fears should disquiet him that is sure to 
 escape the wrath of God ? W^hat wants should 
 trouble him that knoweth he is an heir of heaven ? 
 Why should the indignation or threatenings of man, 
 be any temptation to turn him out of the way of 
 duty, or dismay his mind, who knoweth that they 
 can but " kill the body," and dismiss the soul into 
 his blessed presence, whom it loveth, and labourcth 
 and longs to see? What should inordinately grieve 
 o 2 
 
316 
 
 that man that is certain of eternal joy ? What else 
 should he thirst for, that hath " in him the well 
 of living waters, springing up to everlasting life?" 
 And what should deprive that man of comfort, that 
 knowetli he hath the Comforter within him, and 
 shall be for ever comforted with his Master's joy? 
 And what should break the peace and patience of 
 him that is assured of everlasting rest? If the as- 
 surance of a happy death cannot make it welcome, 
 and cannot make affliction easy, and fill our lives 
 with the joys of hope, I know not what can do it. 
 
 But, alas for those poor souls that know not 
 whither death will send them, or, at least, have not 
 good grounds of hope ! what wonder if, " through 
 the fear of death, they be all their lifetime subject 
 to bondage?" Methinks, in the midst of their 
 wealth and pleasure, they should not be so stupid 
 as to forget the millions that are gone before them, 
 that lately were as jovial and secure as they ; and 
 how short their dreaming feast will be. Methinks 
 at any time it should damp their mirth, and allay 
 the ebullition of their frenetic blood, to remember, 
 ' For all this I must die,' and it may be " this 
 night, that the fool must deliver up his soul; and 
 then, whose shall those things be which he hath 
 provided?" Then who shall be the lord, and who 
 the knight or gentleman ? Methinks, Solomon's 
 memento should bring them to themselves. " Re- 
 joice, O young man, in thy youth ; and let thy 
 heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk 
 in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine 
 eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God 
 will bring thee into judgment." And as the sound 
 
317 
 
 of these words, ' 1 must shortly die,' methinks 
 should be always in your ears; so in reason, the 
 question, 'Whither I must then go?' should be 
 always, as it were, before your eyes, till your souls 
 have received a satisfactory answer to it. O what 
 an amazing dreadful thing it is, when an unsancti- 
 fied, unprepared soul must say, ' I must depart 
 from earth, but I know not whither ! I know not 
 whether unto heaven or hell; here I am now, but 
 where must I be for ever ?' When men believe 
 that their next habitation must be everlasting, me- 
 thinks the question, ' Whither must I go?' should 
 be day and night upon their minds, till they can say, 
 upon good grounds, ' I shall go to the blessed pre- 
 sence of the Lord.' O had you but the hearts of 
 men within you, methinks the sense of this one 
 question, ' Whither must I go when I leave the 
 flesh?' should so possess you, that it should give 
 your souls no rest till you are able to say, ' We 
 shall be with Christ, because he dwelleth in us 
 here, and hath sealed us, and given us the earnest 
 of his Spirit ;' or at least, till you have good hopes 
 of this, and have done your best to make it sure. 
 
 And thus I have told you of how great impor- 
 tance it is to believers, to attain assurance of the 
 love of God, and to know that Christ abideth in 
 them. And now I think you will confess, I have 
 proved the necessity of self-knowledge, both to the 
 unregenerate and the regenerate, though in several 
 degrees: and having opened the disease, and showed 
 you the need of a remedy, I am next to direct you 
 in the application for the cure. 
 
318 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 External Hinderances of Self-Acquaintance. 
 
 I DOUBT not but there are many that, by this 
 time, are desirous to be instructed, how this self- 
 knowledge may be attained : for whose satisfaction, 
 and for the reducing of all that hath been spoken 
 into practice, I shall next acquaint you with the 
 hinderances of self-knowledge (the removing of them 
 being not the least point in the cure), and with the 
 positive directions to be practised for the attainment 
 of it. And because the hinderances and helps are 
 contrary, I shall open both together as we go on. 
 
 The hinderances of self-knowledge are some of 
 them without us, and some within us; and so must 
 be the helps. 
 
 I. The external hinderances are these. 
 
 ]. The failing of ministers in their part of the 
 work, through unskilfulness or unfaithfulness, is a 
 great cause that so many are ignorant of themselves. 
 They are the lights of the world; and if they are 
 eclipsed, or put under a bushel; if they are darkened 
 by the snufF of their own corruptions; or if they 
 feed not their light by the oil of diligent studies, 
 and other endeavours; or if they will not go along 
 with men into the dark and unknown corners of 
 the heart, what wonder if men's hearts remain in 
 darkness, when those that, by office, are appointed 
 to afford them light, do fail them? It is not a 
 general dull discourse, or critical observations upon 
 
319 
 
 words, or the subtle decision of some nice and 
 curious questions of tlie schools, nor is it a neat and 
 well-composed speech, about some other distant 
 matters, that is likely to acquaint a sinner with him- 
 self. How many sermons may we hear, tliat are 
 levelled at some mark or other, that is very far from 
 the hearers' hearts, and, therefore,'are never likely 
 to convince them, or open and convert them ? And 
 if our congregations were in such a case, as that 
 they needed no closer quickening work, such preach- 
 ing might be borne with and commended; but when 
 so many usually sit before us, that must shortly die, 
 and are unprepared, and that are condemned by the 
 law of God, and must be pardoned or finally con- 
 demned; that must be saved from their sins, that 
 they may be saved from everlasting misery, I think 
 it is time for us to talk to them of such things as 
 most concern them ; and that in such a manner as 
 may most effectually convince, awaken, and change 
 them. When we come to them on their sick-beds, 
 we talk not then to them of distant or impertinent 
 things, but of the state of their souls, and their ap- 
 pearing before the Lord, and how they may be 
 ready, that death may be both safe and comfortable 
 to them: (though a superstitious miserable fellow, 
 that knowetii no better things himself, may talk to 
 the sick of beads, and relics, and of being on this 
 side or that, for this ceremony or the otiier, and 
 may think to conjure the unholy spirit out of him, 
 by some affected words of devotions, uttered from a 
 graceless, senseless heart; or to command him out 
 by papal authority, as if they would charm his soul 
 to heaven, by saying over some lifeless forms, and 
 
320 
 
 using the gospel as a spell; yet ministers indeed, 
 that know themselves what faith and what repentance 
 is, and what it is to be regenerate, and to be pre- 
 pared to die, do know that they have other work to 
 do.) The gospel offereth men their choice, whether 
 they will have holiness or sin ; and to be ruled by 
 Christ, or by their fleshly lusts; and so whether 
 they will have spiritual or carnal, eternal, or tran- 
 sitory joys. And our work is to persuade them to 
 make that choice which will be their happiness, and 
 which eternal joy depends upon; whether we come 
 to them in sickness or in health, this is our business 
 with them. A man that is ready to be drowned, 
 is not at leisure for a song or dance : and a man 
 that is ready to be damned, roethinks should not 
 find himself at leisure to hear a man show his wit 
 and reading only, if not his folly and malice against 
 a life of holiness: nor should you think that suitable 
 to such men's case, that doth not evidently tend to 
 save them. But, alas, how often have we heard 
 such sermons, as tend more to diversion than direc- 
 tion, to fill their minds with other matters, and find 
 men something else to think on, lest they should 
 study themselves, and know their misery ! A 
 preacher that seems to speak religiously, by a sapless, 
 dry discourse, that is called a sermon, may more 
 plausibly and easily divert him : and his conscience 
 will more quietly suffer him to be taken off the ne- 
 cessary care of his salvation, by something that is 
 like it, and pretends to do the work as well, than by 
 the grosser avocations, or the scorns of fools: and 
 he will more tamely be turned from religion, by 
 something that is called religioUj and which he hopes 
 
321 
 
 may serve the turn, than by open wickedness, or 
 impious defiance of God and reason. But how oft 
 do we hear applauded sermons, which force us, in 
 compassion to men's souls, to think, O what is all 
 this to the opening a sinner's heart unto himself, and 
 showing him his unregenerate state ! What is this 
 to the conviction of a self-deluding soul, that is 
 passing unto hell with the confident expectations of 
 heaven ! To the opening of men's eyes, and turning 
 them from darkness unto light, and from the power 
 of Satan unto God ! What is this to show men 
 their undone condition, and the absolute necessity of 
 Christ, and of renewing grace ! What is in this 
 to lead men up from earth to heaven, and to acquaint 
 them with the unseen world, and to help them to 
 the life of faith and love, and to the mortifying and 
 the pardon of their sins ! How little skill have 
 many miserable preachers, in the searching of the 
 heart, and helping men to know themselves, whether 
 Christ be in them, or whether they be reprobates ! 
 And how little care and diligence are used by them 
 to call men to the trial, and help them in the examin- 
 ing and judging of themselves, as if it were a work 
 of no necessity ! " They have healed also the hurt 
 of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, 
 peace; when there is no peace, saith the Lord." 
 " Because, even because they have seduced my 
 people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and 
 one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with 
 untempered mortar: say unto them which daub it with 
 untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be 
 an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, 
 shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it. Lo, 
 o 3 
 
322 
 
 when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, 
 Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed 
 it?" 
 
 It is a plain and terrible passage, *' He that saith 
 to the wicked, Thou art righteous ; him shall the 
 people curse; nations shall abhor him." Such in- 
 justice in a judge, or witnesses, is odious, that de- 
 termine but in order to temporal rewards or punish- 
 ments. But in a messenger that professeth to 
 speak to men in the name of God, and in the stead 
 of Jesus Christ, when the determination hath respect 
 to tlje consciences of men, and to their endless joy 
 or torment, how odious and horrid a crime must it 
 be esteemed, to persuade the wicked that he is 
 righteous; or to speak that, which tendeth to per- 
 suade him of it, though not in open, plain expres- 
 sions ! What perfidious dealing is this against the 
 Holy God ! What an abuse of our Redeemer, 
 that his pretended messengers shall make him seem 
 to judge clean contrary to his holiness, and to his 
 law, and to the judgment which indeed he passeth, 
 and will pass, on all that live and die unsanctified ! 
 What vile deceit and cruelty against the souls of 
 men are such preachers guilty of, that would make 
 them believe that all is well with them, or that their 
 state is safe or tolerable, till they must find it other- 
 wise to their woe ! Wiiat shame, what punishment 
 can be too great for such a wretch, when the neglect 
 and making light of Christ and his salvation, is the 
 common road to hell ? And most men perish, be- 
 cause they value not, and use not, the necessary 
 means of their recovery; for a man, in the name of 
 a ■minister of the gospel, to cheat them into such 
 
323 
 
 uudervaluings and neglects, as are likely to prove their 
 condemnation; what is this but to play the minister of 
 Satan, and to do his work, in the name and garb of 
 a minister of Christ? It is a damnable treachery 
 against Christ and against the people's souls, to hide 
 their misery, when it is your office to reveal it; and to 
 let people deceive themselves in the matters of salva- 
 tion, and not to labour diHgently to undeceive them. 
 But some go further, and more opeidy act the part 
 of Satan, by reproaching the most faithful servants 
 of the Lord, and labouring to bring tlie people into 
 a conceit, that seriousness and carefulness, in the 
 matters of God and our salvation, are but hypocrisy 
 and unnecessary strictness : and in their company 
 and converse they give so much countenance to the 
 ungodly, and cast so much secret or open scorn upon 
 those that would live according to the Scriptures, 
 as hardencth multitudes in their impenitency. O 
 dreadful reckoning to these unfaithful shepherds, 
 when they must answer for the ruin of tlieir miser- 
 able flocks ! How great will their damnation be, 
 which must be aggravated by the damnation of so 
 many others ! When the question is, ' How come 
 so many souls to perish?' The answer must be, 
 ' Because they set light by Christ and holiness, 
 which should have saved them.' But what made 
 them set light by Christ and holiness ? It was their 
 deceitful confidence, that they had so much part in 
 Christ and lioliness, as would suffice to save them, 
 tiiough indeed they were unsanctified strangers to 
 both. Tiiey were not practically acquainted with 
 their necessities. But how came they to continue 
 thus ignorant of themselves till it was too late ? 
 
324 
 
 Because they had teachers tliat kept them strange 
 to the nature of true holiness, and did not labour, 
 publicly and privately, to convince them of their un- 
 done condition, and drive them to Christ, that by 
 him they might have life. Woe to such teachers 
 that ever they were born, that must then be found 
 under the guilt of such perfidiousness and cruelty ! 
 Had they ever felt themselves, what it is to be pur- 
 sued by the law of conscience, and with broken 
 hearts to cast themselves on Christ as their only 
 hope and refuge, and what it is to be pardoned, and 
 saved by him from the wrath of God; and what it 
 is to be sanctified, and to be sensible of all his love, 
 they would take another course with sinners, and 
 talk of sin, and Christ, and holiness, at other rates, 
 and not deceive their people with themselves. 
 
 Direct. 1. My first direction, therefore, to you, 
 is in order to the knowledge of yourselves, that, if 
 it be possible, you will live under a faithful, soul- 
 searching, skilful pastor; and that you will make use 
 of his public and personal help, to bring you, and 
 keep you in continual acquaintance with yourselves. 
 
 As there is a double use of physicians; one gene- 
 ral, to teach men the common principles of physic, and 
 the other particular, to apply these common precepts 
 to each individual person as they need: so is there a 
 double use of ministers of the gospel; one to deliver 
 publicly the common doctrines of Christianity, con- 
 cerning man's sin and misery, and the remedy, &c. 
 and the other to help people in the personal applica- 
 tion of all this to themselves. And they that take 
 up only with the former, deprive themselves of half 
 the benefit of the ministry. 
 
325 
 
 1. In public, how skilful and diligent should we 
 be, in opening the hearts of sinners to themselves ! 
 The pulpit is but our candlestick, from which we 
 should diffuse the holy light into all the assembly; not 
 speaking the same things of all that are before us, as 
 if it were our work to trouble men, or only to comfort 
 them : but, as the same light will show every man the 
 things which he beholdeth, in their varieties and dif- 
 ferences, so the same word of truth which we deliver, 
 must be so discovering and discriminating, as to ma- 
 nifest the ungodly to be ungodly, and the carnal to 
 be carnal; the worldling to be a worlding; the hypo- 
 crite to be a hypocrite; and the enemies of holiness 
 to be as they are ; and the sincere to be sincere; and 
 the renewed soul to be indeed renewed. The same 
 light must show the excellency of sanctification, and 
 the filthiness of sin ; the glory of the image of Christ, 
 and the deformity of that spiritual death, which is its 
 privation. It must show the righteous to be "more 
 excellent than his neighbour," and help men to 
 "discern between the righteous and the wicked; 
 between him that serveth God, and him that serveth 
 him not." We must not be like the miserable un- 
 godly preachers, that cannot describe the state of 
 grace with clearness and feelingly, because they never 
 knew it; or that dare not discover the unsanctified, 
 lest they detect themselves, nor judge them according 
 to their office, lest they condemn themselves ; and 
 that preach to the ungodly as if all were well with 
 them; and they dare not awaken the consciences of 
 others, lest they should awaken and affright their 
 own : and therefore are ready to scorn at all dis- 
 tinguishing preachers, and to take the discovery of 
 
326 
 
 regeneration to be but tlie boasting of hypocrisy; as 
 if he tliat woultl difler from the most, or did pretend 
 to the speclnl privileges of the saints, did but as the 
 Pharisee, " Thank God that he is not Hke other 
 men ;" or say, " Stand by, I am more holy than thou." 
 And if these preachers could prove that all men 
 should be saved that will but say they are Christians, 
 they might then have hope of being saved themselves, 
 without that serious piety which they so distaste. 
 No wonder, therefore, if they preach in the language 
 of Korah : " Ye take too much upon you, seeing 
 all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and 
 the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up 
 yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?" But 
 the Lord saith, " If you take, forth the precious from 
 the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth : let them return 
 unto thee, but return not thou unto them." If you 
 love not differencing preaching, make no difference 
 from the true members of Christ by your hypocrisy 
 or ungodly living; be such as they, and we shall not 
 difference you from them. Read but the first Psalm, 
 and the fifteenth Psalm, and the third of John, and 
 the eighth to the Romans, and the third Epistle of 
 John ; and then tell me whether the Scripture be not 
 a differencing word, condemning some, and justifying 
 others, and showing the true state of the difference 
 between them. What ! is there no difference be- 
 tween the heirs of heaven and hell ? Or is the dif- 
 ference no more, than that one hath the name of a 
 Christian, and not the other? O no! when the 
 dreadful differencing day is come, men shall find that 
 there was another kind of difference between the way 
 of life and death : when many shall say, " Lord, 
 
327 
 
 Lord, have not we prophesied in thy name ? and iu 
 thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name 
 done many wonderful works?" To whom Christ 
 will profess, " I never knew you : depart from me, 
 ye that work iniquity." When " many shall come 
 from the east and west, and shall sit down with 
 Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of 
 heaven : but the children of the kingdom shall be cast 
 out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and 
 gnashing of teeth." What a difference will appear 
 between those that now converse together, between 
 whom the world, that judgeth by the outside, dis- 
 cerns but little or no difference ! When those things 
 shall be executed that are written in Matt. xxv. and 
 2 Thess. i. () what a difference will then appear ! 
 When of those that were in the same church, the 
 same house, the same shop, the same bed, one shall 
 be- taken, and the other left: and the felicity that 
 -was hid in the seed of grace, shall shine forth to the 
 astonishment of the world, in the fulness of eternal 
 glory ! 
 
 I know preachers are ordinarily hated that thus 
 difference between the godly and the ungodly : the 
 very names of difference are matter of scorn to guilty 
 souls, because they imply the matter of their ter- 
 ror. I have often noted this with admiration, in the 
 success of Christ's own doctrine upon the Jews, 
 when he had so preached the gospel, as that he had 
 the testimony of the multitude that wondered at the 
 gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth, yet 
 some were cavilling and believed not; and he saitli, 
 " I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in 
 the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three 
 
328 
 
 years, &c. But unto none of them was EJias sent, 
 save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, to a woman that 
 was a widow. And mnny lepers were in Israel in 
 the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them 
 were cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian." But how 
 was this differencing doctrine of Christ entertained 
 by the Jews? It is said, " All they in the syna- 
 gogue, when they heard these things, were filled 
 with wrath, and rose up, and thrust him out of the 
 city, and led him to the brow of the hill, whereon 
 their city was built, that they might cast him down 
 headlong." Read it, and consider what moved these 
 men to so much rage against Christ himself for 
 preaching this doctrine, which restrained the fruit of 
 the gospel to a few ; and then you will not wonder, 
 if those preachers that imitate Christ in this, be used 
 no better than their Master. 
 
 But let ministers know that this is their duty, to 
 show every man himself, his deeds, and state, as in- 
 deed they are : and let Christians choose and love 
 such ministers. Choose not the glass that makes 
 you fairest, but which is truest, and representeth 
 you to yourselves as God accounteth you ; whether 
 he do it with more eloquence or less, with smoother 
 or with rougher language : hear him if you may, that 
 will best acquaint you with the truth of your condi- 
 tion, and choose not those that speak not to the 
 heart. 
 
 2. And when you have heard the best, the most 
 searching preacher, do not think that now you can 
 do all the rest of the work yourselves, and that you 
 have no further need of help ; but make use of their 
 more particular personal advice. 
 
329 
 
 1. In case that, after your most diligent self- 
 examination, you are yet at uncertainty and doubt, 
 whether you are truly sanctified or not, the settling 
 of your states for all eternity, and the well-ground- 
 ing of your hopes and comforts, is a matter of such 
 unspeakable moment, as that you should not remain 
 in careless, negligent uncertainty, while God hath 
 provided you any further means that may be used 
 for assurance. Yea, if you were not troubled with 
 doubting, yet if you have opportunity of opening 
 your evidences to a judicious, faithful minister or 
 friend, I think it may be worth your labour, for the 
 confirmation of the peace and comforts which you 
 have. You cannot make too sure of everlasting 
 happiness. 
 
 2. And not only in the first settling of your 
 peace, but also when any notable assault or danger- 
 ous temptation shall afterward shake it, which you 
 cannot overcome without assistance, it is seasonable 
 to betake yourselves to a physician ; and also, in 
 case of any dangerous lapse or declining, that hath 
 brought you into a state of darkness. 
 
 4. Also, in case of any particular corruption or 
 temptation, your particular inclinations may, cau- 
 tiously, be opened to a faithful guide, that, by his 
 prudent and lively counsel, you may be strength- 
 ened. If you say, ' To what end do ministers 
 preach to me, and why do I hear them opening the 
 natures of grace and of hypocrisy, if I cannot judge 
 of myself by the doctrine which they preach ?' I 
 answer, I. You may and must judge yourselves by 
 the public common helps, as far as you are able; but 
 a personal, applying help, added unto this, is a 
 
330 
 
 further advantage. And humility should teach you, 
 not to think better of your understandings than there 
 is cause ; nor to think you are so wise as to need 
 but one help, when God hath provided you two. 
 And doth not your own experience convince you ? 
 Do you not find, that, after the best public preach- 
 ing, you are yet in doubt, and at a loss about your 
 spiritual state, and therefore that you have need of 
 further help ? 
 
 2. I further answer you : There is so great a 
 diversity of particular circumstances in the cases of 
 particular persons, that a great deal of help is neces- 
 sary to most, to pass a right judgment, when they 
 do understand both the law and the fact. Will yon 
 think it enough that you have the statutes of the land, 
 and the law-books, to judge of all your own cases by ? 
 Or will you not think that you have also need of 
 the counsel of the wisest lawyer, in your weightiest 
 cases, to help you to judge of your cause by the par- 
 ticular application of the law to it ? It is not read- 
 ing a book only, or hearing a lecture, that can make 
 you as understanding as the masters of the profes- 
 sion. So is it in matters of the soul. When you 
 have heard much, and understand much, you cannot 
 in modesty think that all the sense of Scripture, 
 about those points, is known as exactly to you, as 
 to your most judicious teachers; and that you are as 
 able at once to see all the passages of the word, and 
 of the fact, as may enable you to pass so clear a 
 judgment on it. Perhaps you will say, that you 
 know your own hearts and actions better than they 
 do. I answer, you do so, or should do so; and it 
 is you that they must know it from ; and yet, when 
 
331 
 
 you have done, you may not be able to judge of 
 your state by those acts which you say you know. 
 You must show the lawyer all your evidences : he 
 cannot see them, till you show them him ; and yet 
 when he seeth them, he can judge of them whether 
 they are good or bad, and of your title by them, 
 better than you can that have the keeping of them, 
 because he better understands the law. 
 
 But perhaps you will say, that when you have 
 gone to ministers, and opened your case to them, 
 they cannot resolve you, but you are still in doubt. 
 
 I answer, 1. Perhaps when they have resolved 
 them, yet you would not be resolved. Have they 
 not told you the truth, and you would not believe it? 
 Or directed you to remedies which you would not 
 use? They cannot, when they have told you the 
 truth, compel you to believe it; nor when they have 
 told you what will do the cure, they cannot make 
 you use it if you refuse. 
 
 2. And what if the nature of the disease be ob- 
 stinate, and will not be cured easily and at once, but 
 with time, and diligence, and patience? Will you 
 therefore think the means are vain ? Must you at 
 once, or in a short time, be resolved, and delivered 
 from all your doubts, about your title to eternal life, 
 or else will you cast oft' all advice? Should your 
 children learn thus of their teachers, they were likely 
 to make unhappy scholars. As you will not have 
 done with Christ, if he cure you not at once, nor 
 give over praying, if you have not all your desires 
 at once, (if you love yourselves,) so you must not 
 have done with the counsel of your guides, if they 
 satisfy not your doubts at once : as you cease not 
 
332 
 
 hearing them in public, though you have still your 
 doubtings; so why should you cease advising with 
 them personally upon that account? Use God's 
 means, and be thankful, if" by degrees they do cure, 
 and prevail at last. 
 
 Object. * But I find it is God only that can speak 
 peace; and therefore it is vain to hang on men.' 
 
 I answer, God spcaketh by his word and Spirit: 
 his word is to be delivered, expounded, and applied 
 to you by his ministers: if therefore you will have 
 it from God, you must not refuse his own appointed 
 ordinary means. The Spirit comforteth by the 
 promise: as in conversion God useth not to do it by 
 the Spirit, without, but in, and by the ministry of 
 the word, so also in all our directions, and satisfac- 
 tion and comfort afterwards. As he that will run 
 from the ministry of the word, because it is God 
 that must convert, doth indeed run from God, and 
 is not likely to be converted; so is it in point of 
 assurance and consolation. The teachers of the 
 church " are to be accounted of as the ministers of 
 Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God," " by 
 whom the people have believed;" " not having 
 dominion over their faith, but being helpers of their 
 joy;" " who are comforted in all their tribulations, 
 that they might be able to comfort them that are in 
 any trouble, by the comfort wherewith they them- 
 selves are comforted of God." They are to be 
 " faithful and wise stewards, whom the Lord maketh 
 rulers over his household, to give them their portion 
 of meat in due season." Thus Christ has given 
 " authority to his servants, and appointed to every 
 man his work," and " given pastors and teachers to his 
 
333 
 
 church, for the perfectuig of the saints, for the 
 work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body 
 of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, 
 and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect 
 man." These, therefore, being Christ's oflScers, and 
 this their appointed work, we must receive so much 
 of God's mercies by their hands, as belongeth to 
 their office to administer. " If there be a mes- 
 senger vvith him, an interpreter, one among a thou- 
 sand, to show unto man his uprightness, then God 
 is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from 
 going down to the pit; I have found a ransom." 
 
 So that you see it is God's way to show to man 
 his uprightness, and to speak peace to souls by his 
 messengers and interpreters that are fitted and 
 authorised thereto. 
 
 Object. ' But it is but few that are able thus to 
 discuss the case of unsettled, doubting souls, and 
 to give them clear and safe directions, that may save 
 both from presumption and despair: in many places 
 the ministers are senseless of these things, and un- 
 acquainted with the concerns and works of conscience, 
 and have nothing to say to us, unless to deride us 
 as scrupulous and precise; and bid us not trouble 
 our heads about such matters, seeing God is merci- 
 ful, and Christ died for sinners. They will dis- 
 course with us long enough about news, or worldly 
 businesses, or opinions, or controversies ; but when 
 we open to them the state of our souls, and desire 
 their advice for the " making our calling and elec- 
 tion sure," they have no sense or savour of such 
 discourse: and many ministers that are truly con- 
 scientious, are yet so unskilful and so weak, that we 
 
334 
 
 have no encouragement to acquaint them with our 
 state.' 
 
 To this I answer : It cannot be denied but all 
 this is too true; and it is matter of lamentation, and 
 must send us to God, with the old petition which 
 Christ himself hath put into our mouths, " The 
 harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few: 
 pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he 
 will send forth labourers into his harvest." 
 
 But consider that this is no unusual thing ; for 
 all this, there is no nation under heaven, that hath 
 more able, faithful ministers of Christ, than are in 
 these nations. Alas, how much of the church is 
 guided by mere ignorant readers ! And how much 
 by superstitious deceivers ! Did you know the case 
 of the poor Christians in the Ethiopian, the Greek, 
 and the Roman churches, you would bless God that 
 it is so well with us; even when the church was in 
 a narrower room, yet God complained, " Many 
 pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trod- 
 den my portion under foot, they have made my 
 pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have 
 made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth 
 unto me. — Woe be unto the pastors that destroy 
 and scatter the sheep of my pasture ! saith the Lord. 
 Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against 
 the pastors that feed my people. Ye have scattered 
 my flock, and driven them away, and have not 
 visited them; behold, I will visit upon you the evil 
 of your doings, saith the Lord. — And I will set up 
 shepherds over them, which shall feed them; and 
 they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed." Then 
 was the church fain to take up this lamentation. 
 
335 
 
 " Woe is me for my hurt ! my wound is grievous: 
 but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it. 
 My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are 
 broken : my children are gone forth of me, and they 
 are not; there is none to stretch forth my tent any 
 more, and to set up my curtains. For the pastors 
 are become brutish, and have not sought the Lord : 
 therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks 
 shall be scattered." 
 
 But the voice of healing mercy saith, " Only ac- 
 knowledge thine iniquity, 8cc. — Turn, O backsliding 
 children. See. — and I will give you pastors according 
 to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge 
 and understanding." 
 
 You see, in all other professions, that require not 
 supernatural illumination, there are but few that at- 
 tain to excellency; it is but in few that nature layeth 
 the foundation, or giveth that capacity to be excel- 
 lent, which grace doth elevate and improve. 
 
 Take, therefore, the advice of the ablest you can 
 get. I will not persuade you to go always to the 
 minister of your parish, to open the case of your 
 souls, be he fit or unfit; but to the fittest that you 
 can have access to : the Papists themselves will give 
 men leave to choose others for their confessors. 
 Where there is most of the heavenly illumination, 
 and holy skill in the matters of the soul ; where 
 there is the soundest and most exact judgment, 
 joined with experience and tendcrcompassion, and 
 faitliful plainness, and cautious secrecy, there open 
 your hearts, if you have an opportunity, and take 
 the help of such faithful counsellors to acquaint yon 
 with yourselves. 
 
336 
 
 Object. ' But such ministers being few, and hav- 
 ing more of greater work than they can turn them 
 to, are not to be spoken with as oft as my necessity 
 requireth help.' 
 
 A/isw. Use then the best that are at leisure; and 
 it is not only ministers that you must use, but any 
 other Christian friend that hath such abilities and 
 qualifications, as fit them to assist you: whosoever 
 hath the light, refuse not to come to it; God's gifts 
 and graces may be helpful to you in a parent, a hus- 
 band, a neighbour, and not only in a minister. 
 
 Qiiest. ' But how far may a dark and doubting 
 person take up and rest in the judgment of a minister, 
 or of others, about the state of his soul, when he is 
 not satisfied himself ?' 
 
 Aiisw. This question is of very great use, and 
 therefore the more carefully to be resolved; I shall 
 answer it, therefore, 1. Negatively, and, 2. Affirma- 
 tively. 
 
 1. No man's judgment of your state is to be 
 taken as absolutely infallible or divine: nor is man 
 to be believed, as God is, with a divine belief. 
 When they tell you, that ' If you are regenerate, 
 you are justified,' then they do but tell you what 
 God hath told you, and, therefore, this is to be 
 taken as of infallible certainty, not as it is their 
 word, but as it is God's. So also, when they tell 
 you, that ' If you are unconverted, you are not for- 
 given.' But when they tell you, that 'you are con- 
 verted or unconverted, pardoned or unpardoned,' this 
 judgment is not to be taken as infallible or divine. 
 
 2. For the bare matter of fact (whether you re- 
 pent or not; whether you had rather be holy or 
 
337 
 
 unholy, &c.) there is no minister that can know 
 your heart so well as yourselves may know it, ex- 
 cept in case when melancholy or passion, or a weak- 
 ness of understanding on one side, or a wilfulness 
 of presumption on the other side, doth make men 
 judge of their own condition quite contrary to the 
 evidence that appeareth in their lives to others. 
 
 3. It is not safe to rest on the judgment of one 
 that is either an enemy or stranger to the workings 
 of a careful, troubled soul ; or one that is fond of 
 any private opinion of his own, and layeth out his 
 zeal to form people into his opinion, as if the life of 
 religion lay in that : nor yet of a weak, unskilful 
 man. 
 
 4. It is not safe for you to rest much in the 
 judgment of one that knows you not, and is not ac- 
 quainted of the bent and manner of your lives, but 
 must judge only by the present expressions of your 
 own mouths. 
 
 5. It is not safe for you to rest on the judgment 
 of any one single person, when the judgment of 
 most of your judicious acquaintance is contrary to it. 
 
 2. Affirmatively, I answer, 
 
 1. By a divine faith you are bound to believe all 
 the promises of Scripture that your pastor (or any 
 other) shall acquaint you with. 
 
 2. As a disciple of Christ, you are bound to learn 
 the meaning of those promises (and other passages 
 of the Scripture) from your teachers, duly authorised 
 to instruct you : and with such a human belief, as a 
 scholar oweth to his teacher in arts or sciences, you 
 are bound to believe your teachers concerning the 
 meaning of the promises, in cases wherein you are 
 
 P 45 
 
338 
 
 unable yourselves to understand tlic word by its 
 proper light and evidence, as well as they; and in 
 case you see no evidence of falsehood in their ex- 
 position, nor have any special reason to distrust them. 
 He that will believe nothing that his teacher telleth 
 him, in order to his own understanding, shall never 
 understand by teaching. If you know as much as 
 he already, you need no teacher: if you do not, you 
 must believe him, or else you can never learn of 
 him. But this is not to take him for omniscient, 
 or infallible in himself, but to credit him as a man. 
 
 3. You are bound, when he judgeth of your par- 
 ticular case, upon your opening to him the matter of 
 fact, to allow him so much credit as is due to the 
 proportion of his understanding. You tell him how 
 you feel your hearts affected, and what the actions 
 of your lives have been ; when you have told it him, 
 he judgeth by God's word, whether this be a state 
 of saving grace which you describe, or not; if upon 
 much stronger parts, or longer study, and more ex- 
 perience, he know more of the meaning of the word, 
 and of the nature of grace, and so be abler to judge 
 than you, modesty requireth that you do in that 
 measure submit your understanding unto his, and 
 believe him according to the measure of his skill, 
 upon supposition that you deceive him not in your 
 information. Even as you will believe a lawyer 
 about your title to your lands, when you have showed 
 liim your evidence ; or a physician about your disease, 
 when you have told him what you feel. 
 
 4. You are bound to add also, all that credit that 
 his honesty and fidelity requireth, if he be a godly 
 man, unwilling to deceive you. 
 
339 
 
 5. And you are bound to add so much belief, as 
 in the case is due to a stander-by that is not blinded 
 by self-love, or partiality, or passions, or any selfish 
 bias, as most men are to themselves. 
 
 6. If you are darkened by melancholy, or any 
 other weakening distemper, that maketh you in- 
 capable of judging for yourselves, you are bound to 
 allow another so much credit, as the advantage of 
 his sounder understanding, and more composed judg- 
 ment doth require. If every child, or sick person, 
 will believe nobody that doth not say as they, their 
 self-conceitedness and their distrust of others will be 
 their wrong. 
 
 7. In the manner of reception, you are bound to 
 do all this with such a submission as belongeth to 
 an officer of Christ : not that you are to believe any 
 falsehood that he bringeth you, and fathereth upon 
 Christ ; nor to put out your own eyes, and see with 
 his; but to learn of him to understand yourselves, 
 and receive what he bringeth you, according to his 
 office. 
 
 8. You may yet more boldly and confidently give 
 credit to the judgment of such a minister of Christ, 
 when he is not singular, but speaks according to the 
 concurrent judgment of the generality of able, ex- 
 perienced men : modesty will forbid you to think 
 yourselves wiser than all the able ministers about you. 
 
 9. You have the less reason to suspect his judg- 
 ment, when you may be sure that he is not per- 
 verted by any self-interest or self-respect, and frus- 
 trateth not the truth for fear of displeasing you, or 
 bringing any discredit or suffering on himself. 
 
 10. Lastly, Wheu all these things concur, you 
 
 p 2 
 
340 
 
 may, with the greater confidence, rest upon his 
 judgment. And though still he is but an imperfect 
 man, and no absolute certainty of your state can be 
 had from his bare judgment, (though from his doc- 
 trine, and the effects and signs, there may,) yet such 
 a judgment should weigh very much with you, to 
 the raising of fear and care in the ungodly, and for 
 the quieting of a troubled soul. 
 
 Let us now apply this direction to both parties. 
 Beloved, if any of you can look before you to eter- 
 nity, and do not, with awakened thoughts, conclude, 
 that all probable means should be used in time, to 
 make sure of your final justification at the dreadful 
 day of God, that man wants either the faith of a 
 Christian, or the feeling of a considerate man. Are 
 you all desirous to be sure beforehand, what sen- 
 tence shall pass upon you then, or are you not ? 
 If you are, come on, and let me make a motion that 
 you cannot reasonably refuse : the business is of 
 unspeakable consequence : to be deceived, may be 
 to be undone for ever. Will you advise with those 
 that God hath appointed to give you advice in so 
 great a case ? Well then ; will you go and faith- 
 fully open your state to some able, faithful minister 
 of Christ ? Not to an ignorant, carnal, unexperienced 
 man, but to one that is skilled in spiritual affairs, 
 and that will be faithful to you, and deal with that 
 serious gravity and reverence as beseems him that is 
 helping to prepare a soul for the bar of Clirist. 
 Will you tell him, whether ever you were con- 
 vinced of your sin and misery ? And whether ever 
 you saw the need of Christ ? And whether you 
 have loathed yourselves for your iniquities, and fled 
 
341 
 
 to Christ, as your only refuge from the wrath of 
 God, and have turned away, with resolution, from 
 your former ungodly, careless life, and have changed 
 your company, your business, and your delights ? 
 Whether you make it your chief business to please 
 God, and to save your souls ? and resolve to take up 
 with the hopes of heaven as your only portion, and 
 not to hazard it for any worldly interest, or fleshly 
 pleasure whatsoever? " Whether in your eyes a 
 vile person be contemned, but you love and honour 
 them that fear the Lord ?" Tell these, and other 
 such particulars of your state, to your faithful pas- 
 tors : answer them to these, and such like questions, 
 and then take their judgment (with the cautions be- 
 fore expressed) of your spiritual state. Hear what 
 they will tell you of it. Alight not this course con- 
 vince thee of thy miserable state, that never hadst 
 any such evidences as these to show ? and might it 
 not awaken thee in time, to bethink thee of a safer 
 course? Go to any faithful minister in the world, 
 and tell him the plain truth, that yet thou art a 
 secret fornicator, or drunkard, or flesh-pleaser in 
 some sensual way; or if thou sinnest not so grossly, 
 that yet thou art a formal hypocrite, and hast a 
 secret enmity to those that are most seriously reli- 
 gious, and live the most heavenly lives, and that 
 thou art thyself a stranger to sanctification : and I 
 dare assure thee that he will tell thee, if thou art 
 thus indeed, thou art in the " gall of bitterness, and 
 the bond of iniquity," and must be speedily re- 
 newed and sanctified, and justified, or thou art un- 
 done for ever. I tell thee, there is not a man that 
 is worthy the name of a minister, but will pass this 
 
342 
 
 judgment on the condition of thy soul. And, yet, 
 wilt thou bear it out with a senseless heart, a seared 
 conscience, and a brazen face ; and still live as care- 
 lessly as if all were well with thee ! What ! is thy 
 soul of no more worth ? Is it so small a matter with 
 thee, what becometh of thee? Or is the judgment 
 of able, faithful ministers, in the way of their own 
 office, of no more regard with thee ? They show 
 thee the plain word of God against thee ; and that 
 his threatening contains the virtual sentence of thy 
 condemnation : they are, by office, the interpreters of 
 the law of God to you ; it hath been the study of 
 their lives. Do they pronounce you miserable, as 
 being strangers to the Spirit of Christ ? So they 
 did by themselves, when they saw their sin ; and, 
 therefore, they are impartial : they have had before 
 them multitudes, (alas ! too many,) in your case: and 
 you will regard the judgment of a pliysician, that 
 hath had many hundreds in hand that had the same 
 disease as you. They are men that are not willing 
 to deceive you. They deny themselves, in telling 
 you of your danger : they know that smoother words 
 would please you better; and they have natures that 
 desire men's love and favour, rather than displeasure. 
 They are more impartial than you are, and have not 
 your self-interest and passion to blind them : they 
 are not abused in their judgment by the temptations 
 of evil company, or of worldly, fleshly things as you 
 are ; for these temptations more hinder us from 
 judging ourselves than other men. They are the 
 messengers of Christ, appointed to give to each their 
 portion ; and should not their judgment be regarded, 
 in the business committed to their trust? And it is 
 
343 
 
 not one man or two, or a hundred only, that are of 
 this mind. Open thy case to all the judicious, 
 faitiiful ministers in the land, and open it truly, and 
 they will all tell thee, that ' If thou die without 
 converting, sanctifying grace, thou art lost for ever 
 and that all the world cannot save thee from the 
 everlasting wrath of God. Try as many of them 
 as you will, and see if all of them tell you not the 
 same thing. And is all this nothing to thee, pre- 
 sumptuous sinner, that in the judgment of all the 
 most able, faithful ministers of Christ, thy soul 
 should be in a state of death ? If all the physicians 
 in the country should tell thee, that ' Thou hast a 
 disease that will certainly be thy death, unless thou 
 take some one effectual medicine in time,' I think 
 thou wouldst not slight their judgment, and say, 
 they are too censorious, that thou knowcst thy con- 
 dition better than they. I think it would affright 
 thee to seek after the remedy. And why should not 
 the judgment of the faithful ministers, about the 
 state of thy soul, be so far regarded, as to awaken 
 ihee to a more careful inquiry, and stir up a pre- 
 venting and remedying fear? 
 
 O the madness of a hardened sinner ! that when 
 he showeth, by the fruits of an ungodly life, that he 
 is a stranger to sanctification, and liveth in the sins 
 wliich the Scripture threatcncth damnation to, and 
 hath no evidence of true conversion to show, will yet 
 be confident of pardon and salvation, let God and all 
 his ministers say what they will against it ! and will 
 rather be offended with his spiritual physicians, for 
 telling him of the danger of his state, and rail at them 
 as if they did him wrong, than he will see his dan- 
 
344 
 
 ger and prevent his misery ! Let such a one hear 
 the word of God, if he have ears to hear, " Lest 
 there should be among you a root that beareth gall 
 and wormwood, and it come to pass, when he hear- 
 eth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in 
 his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk 
 in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunken- 
 ness to thirst : the Lord will not spare him, but then 
 the anger of the Lord, and his jealousy shall smoke 
 against that man, and all the curses that are written 
 in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall 
 blot out his name from under heaven. And the 
 Lord shall separate him unto evil." 
 
 And, on the other hand, is there any soul among 
 you, that, in doubts, hath opened his case to the 
 faithful ministers of Christ, and their judgment is, 
 that your state is safe ? Is this the judgment, not 
 only of the weakest, but the wisest ; not only of one 
 or two, but of ail, or most of the judicious ministers 
 that ever you opened your case to; even of the most 
 honest and impartial, tliat would not flatter nor de- 
 ceive you ? Yea, and perhaps, when desertions, or 
 melancholy, or passion, or ignorance, do make you 
 unmeet to judge of yourselves. And doth all this 
 seem nothing to you ; or a small matter ? It is not 
 nothing ; it is not small. I confess it is no ground 
 of certainty : they are but men : it is a human testi- 
 mony ; but yet it is a testimony that may weigh down 
 many of your own surmises, and take off much of 
 your distressing fears, and may give much ease to 
 troubled souls, while they arc seeking after surer 
 knowledge. It is a ground of comfort, not to be 
 despised, or made light of. Till you can come to 
 
345 
 
 see your evidences yourselves, and to be acquainted 
 with the indwelling Spirit as your witness, you may 
 much quiet your minds, and take much comfort, in 
 this judgment and witness of the servants of the 
 Lord, that have a spirit of discerning, and have that 
 grace which acquainteth them with the nature of 
 grace in others, and that have been long exercised in 
 the discerning of men's states. It is possible a hy- 
 pocrite (especially one that wilfully giveth them a 
 false relation of himself) may deceive them ; but it is 
 probable that it is not one of many they are deceived 
 in, when they know or have a good description of 
 the person. If in a fever, all the ablest physicians 
 tell you the danger is past, it is possible they may be 
 all deceived : but yet, I think, you would take some 
 comfort in such a testimony ; so should you here. 
 Though the judgment of ministers be not infallible, 
 it may be much better than your own, though about 
 yourselves ; and it may be set against the jealousies 
 and fears of a disquiet soul, and against abundance of 
 tlie molesting suggestions of the accuser. 
 
 I do not, by all this, draw you to lay too much on 
 man; I advance them not too high, and make them 
 not lords of your faith, but helpers of your joy. I 
 bid you not fully and finally rest in the judgment of 
 man ; I bid you not neglect any means to come to 
 fuller knowledge, and certainty of your own sincerity. 
 I bid you not forbear any means that tend to the 
 getting of true grace. If you have it, and know 
 it not, the same means may increase it, which you 
 use to get it : and if you have it not, when it is 
 thought you have it, the means may work it, that 
 are intended to increase it. Do all that you can to 
 p 3 
 
346 
 
 repent, believe, and love God, and live to liim, whe- 
 ther you ever did these before or not. But yet let 
 the judgment of your faithful pastors, the officers and 
 experienced servants of the Lord, keep off despond- 
 ency and despair, that would disable you from the 
 use of the means, and would weaken your hands, 
 and make you sit down in unprofitable complaints, 
 and give up all as hopeless. Let their judgment 
 quiet you in the way of duty ; lean on them in the 
 dark, till you come into the light. Yea, be glad 
 that you have so much encouragement and hope, 
 from those that are by Christ appointed to subserve 
 the Spirit, in the comforting as well as the sanctify- 
 ing work, and to show to man his uprightness, and 
 to say to the righteous, " It shall be well with him." 
 I tell you, all the wealth of the world is not worth 
 even this mucli ground of comfort. Live upon this 
 much, till, by diligent attendance, and waiting on 
 the Spirit of grace and comfort, you can get higher. 
 
 2. The second extrinsic hinderance of Self-know- 
 ledge is prosperity, and the flattery that usually 
 attendeth it. The one disposeth men to be de- 
 ceived, and the other putteth the hood over their 
 eyes, and tells them the falsehoods which deceive 
 them. 
 
 When men prosper in the world, their minds are 
 lifted up with their estates; and they can hardly be- 
 lieve that they are indeed so ill, while they feel 
 themselves so well ; and that so much misery is 
 joined with so much content and pleasure. They 
 cannot taste the bitterness of their sin, and God's 
 displeasure, while the sweetness of worldly delights 
 
317 
 
 and honours is in their mouths. The rich man in 
 Luke xvi. would have (fiven a man but an unwelcome 
 entertainment, that had come to tell him that, within 
 a few days or years, he should lie in hell, and not be 
 able to get a drop of water to cool his tongue ! 
 What need we doubt of that, when his five brethren, 
 that he left on earth behind him, would not be per- 
 suaded (to know their danger of those flames, and to 
 use the necessary means to escape them), though 
 one had come to them from the dead ! You plead 
 against their feeling, when you tell them of their 
 misery, when they feel prosperity. And, therefore, 
 it is a matter of lamentable difficulty, to make a pros- 
 pering sinner well acquainted with his misery. He 
 is drunken with fleshly pleasures and contentments : 
 and when the drink is in a man's head, you can 
 hardly make him sensible of his misery. The 
 devil is therefore willing to reach his servants as 
 full a cup of prosperity as he can, that their 
 drunkenness may keep them from the true use of 
 their reason : for if they once come to themselves, 
 they will come home to God, When misery 
 brought the prodigal to himself, he rcsolveth pre- 
 sently of going to his father. The bustle of his 
 worldly business, and the vain discourse that is in his 
 ears, and the mirth and sport that takes him up, 
 will not allow him so much of reason, as seriously to 
 consider of his soul's condition, Alas ! when poor 
 men, that must labour all day for food and raiment, 
 can find some time for serious converse with God, 
 and with their consciences, the great ones of the 
 world have no such leisure. How many are going 
 apace towards hell, and say, they cannot have time 
 
348 
 
 to bethink themselves what way they are in, or whi- 
 ther it is that they are going ! That which they 
 have all their time for, they have no time for, be- 
 cause they have no hearts for it. Prosperity doth 
 so please tlieir flesh, that they can give no heed to 
 conscience or reason : it doth so charm their minds, 
 and enslave their wills to sense and appetite, that 
 they cannot endure to be so melancholy, as to pre- 
 pare for death and judgment, or to consider seriously 
 how this will relish with them at the end ; nor scarcely 
 to remember that they are men, that should rule their 
 senses, and be ruled by God, and that have another 
 life to live. 
 
 And as prosperity in itself is so great a hinderance 
 to the knowledge of yourselves, so flatterers, that are 
 the flies of summer, are always ready to blow upon 
 the prosperous, and increase the danger. What 
 miserable men are extolled as wise, and virtuous, and 
 religious, if they be but rich and great ! their vices 
 are masked, or extenuated, and made but little human 
 frailties ; though they were gluttons, or drunkards, 
 or filthy fornicators, or mere flesh-pleasing, sensual 
 brutes, that waste most of their lives in ease and 
 sports, and eating and drinking, and such delights ; 
 yet, with their flatterers, all these shall go for pru- 
 dent, pious, worthy persons, if they can but seek, 
 when they have done, to mock God and their con- 
 sciences with some lip-service and lifeless carcase of 
 religion. O happy men, if God would judge of 
 them as their flatterers do; and would make as small 
 a matter of their wickedness, and as great a matter 
 of their outside, hypocritical, heartless worship I 
 But they must be greater than men or angels, and 
 
349 
 
 higher than either earth or heaven, before God will 
 flatter them. When they can make him afraid of 
 their high looks or threatenings, or when they can 
 put him in hope of rising by their preferment, then 
 they may look that he should comply with their pa- 
 rasites, and compliment with his enemies, and justify 
 the ungodly ; but not till then. O did they con- 
 sider how little flattery doth secure them, and how 
 little the Judge of all the world regards their worldly 
 pomp and splendour ; yea, how greatly their great- 
 ness doth aggravate their sin and misery, they would 
 frown their flatterers out of doors, and call for plain 
 and faithful dealers. Of all the miseries of worldly 
 greatness, this is not the least, that usually such 
 want the necessary blessing of a glass that will truly • 
 show them their faces ; of a friend at hand that will 
 deal plainly and justly with their souls. Who tells 
 them plainly of the odiousness, and bitter fruits of 
 sin ; and of the wrath of God, and endless misery ? 
 How few such true and faithful friends have they ! 
 and what wonder, when it is a carnal inducement 
 that draweth men to follow them. It is their wealth 
 and honour, and their power to do men good or hurt 
 in outward things, that makes their friends. They 
 are attended by these flies and wasps, because they 
 carry the honey-pot which they love. And God 
 saith to his followers, " Love not the world, nor the 
 things that are in the world: if any man love the 
 world, the love of the Father is not in him." And 
 it is for love of worldly things, even the lust of 
 the flesh, the lust of the eye, and pride of life, &c. 
 which are not of the Father, but of the world : it is 
 for these that great men have their friends and fol- 
 
350 
 
 lowers : and, therefore, it is plain, that the worst sort 
 of men are ordinarily their friends ; for those are the 
 worst men, that have not the love of the Father in 
 them, but arc tlie friends of the world, and, there- 
 fore, the enemies of God. And the best, though 
 fit to be their truest friends, are seldom their fol- 
 lowers, as knowing that the attractive of the sensual 
 world is a shadow, unfit to deceive those that are ac- 
 quainted witli its vanity, and a snare, unfit to take 
 those that have observed how Satan lays and baits 
 the trap, and how they have fared that have been 
 taken in it. A despised Christ, that hath the words 
 of eternal life, is much more followed by men that 
 have the heavenly relish. Such gracious souls, 
 whose appetites are not corrupted by the creature, 
 have more mind to flock after a spiritual and power- 
 ful messenger of Christ, that talks to them of his 
 kingdom, and the righteousness thereof, which they 
 first seek, than to gape after the preferment and vain- 
 glory of prosperity. Christ, that despised the offer 
 of all the kingdoms and glory of the world, doth 
 teach his followers to despise them. 
 
 Seeing, then, the ordinary attendants of the pros- 
 perous are the worst of men, that seek themselves, 
 and are purveying for the flesh, what wonder if they 
 be flatterers, that have neither skill, nor will, to 
 speak that unpleasing language of reproof, that 
 should make the prosperous know themselves ! O 
 how seldom (or never) do they hear, what the poor 
 can hear from every mouth ! If a man of low de- 
 gree be wicked, or offend, his enemy dare tell him 
 of it, and his friend dare tell him of it, and his angry 
 neighbour, or companion, will be sure to tell him of 
 
351 
 
 it ; and they dare tell him frequently till he amend, 
 and tell him plainly. But if great ones be as bad, 
 and need more help, as having more temptation, yet, 
 alas ! they may sin, and sin again, and perish, for 
 any body that will deal faithfully with their souls, 
 except some faithful minister of Christ, whose 
 plainness is taken but for a thing of course. And 
 usually, even ministers themselves arc some of them 
 so unfaithful, and some so fearful, and some so pru- 
 dently cautious, that such persons have no such 
 help from them to know themselves, as the poorer 
 sort of people have. If we deal freely with them, 
 if it olFcnd, yet offence may be easily borne, as 
 bringing no ill consequents to our ministry ; but if 
 we deal so with the great ones of the world, what 
 outcries would it raise, and by what names should 
 we and our preaching be called ! Though yet I 
 doubt not but it is borne and loved by those that 
 have true grace; and that if David sin, he can en- 
 dure to hear from Nathan, " Thou art the man." 
 And an Eli can bear the prophecy of Samuel, and 
 say, " It is the Lord ; let him do what seemeth him 
 good." And a Hczekiah can say, " Good is the 
 word of the Lord which thou hast spoken ;" and 
 Josiah can bear the threatenings of Iluldah. And 
 it is a double honour in persons that have so great 
 temptations, to love the plain discoveries of their 
 sin; but a Joash will slay even Zcchariah, the son 
 of Jchoiada, that set him up ; and a Herod, that 
 hath so much religion as to fear John, as knowing 
 that he was a just man, and a holy, and to observe 
 (or save him); and when he heard him, to do many 
 things, and hear him gladly, had yet so much love 
 
352 
 
 to his fleshly lust, aud so little power to resist a 
 flatterer, as that lie coiikl sell both the head of John 
 and his own soul, for so pitiful a price as this. So 
 true is that saying of Christ himself, " For every 
 one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither comcth 
 to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved (or 
 discovered). But he that doeth truth cometh to 
 the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, 
 that they are wrought in God." 
 
 And, indeed, there is none that more opposeth 
 Micaiah than Zedekiah, as being concerned for the 
 honour of his flattering prophecy, to bring plain 
 dealing into disgrace. It is he that smiteth him, 
 and saith, " Which way went the Spirit of the 
 Lord from me, to speak unto thee?" But saith 
 Solomon, " He that rebuketh a man, afterward shall 
 find more favour than he that flattereth with the 
 tongue." And, " Faithful are the wounds of a 
 friend ; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." 
 When prosperity is vanished, the flatterer and the 
 faithful dealer will be better known. None of them 
 will admire or applaud you when you are low, and 
 the tide is gone, and hath left you in contempt: 
 these kind of men will be as ready as any to reproach 
 you ; as Shcmei that honoured David in his pros- 
 perity, but curseth him, and revileth him as a rebel 
 against Saul, and casteth stones at him, when he 
 saw him flying in distress. Commonly men in 
 misery, or at death, have better thoughts of faithful 
 plainness, and worse of smoothing man-pleasers, than 
 before. 
 
 But whom can the prosperous blame so much as 
 themselves, if they are undone by the deceit of flat- 
 
353 
 
 terers ? It is their own choice ; they love to have 
 it so; they will not endure faithful dealing. When 
 they contract those diseases which will not be cured 
 without bitter medicines, they hate the physician 
 that offereth them ; their appetites and sensual lust, 
 and not their believing-reason, doth choose their 
 work, their pleasures, and their company, and pre- 
 scribe what language must be spoken to them. 
 And he that resolves to cast away the remedy, and 
 will please his appetite and fancy, come of it what 
 will, must take what he gets by it, and bear the 
 endless wrath of God, that could not bear the ne- 
 cessary warnings and self-knowledge that should 
 have prevented it. Did these men hate sin, and 
 the messengers of Satan, they would not hate the 
 justice and messengers of God ; but while they 
 damnably love fleshly pleasures, they cannot savingly 
 love the word that chargeth them to let go those 
 pleasures, nor the persons that cross them in the 
 things they love. And thus, poor worldlings are 
 ruined by their own desires; it seemeth so sweet to 
 them to live in sin, that they cannot endure to know 
 the bitter fruits of misery, which it will at last bring 
 forth. They are conquered by their fleshly lusts, 
 and, therefore, they hate the messengers of that 
 Spirit which would fight against them. Satan doth 
 perfect his former victories in them, by dispelling, or 
 dispersing, the auxiliaries of Christ, that were sent 
 for their rescue and relief. They live as if they 
 were purposely made great, that they may be able 
 to drive away the messengers of salvation, and to 
 keep the voice of mercy far enough from their ears ; 
 and to command that which the Gadarenes did en-. 
 
f 
 
 354 
 
 treat, that Christ would go out of their coasts, be- 
 cause they would not be troubled with him. They 
 so much love the way to hell, that they cannot abide 
 to be told whither it leadeth them, and, therefore, 
 they come thither before they are aware, and must 
 know themselves by the unquenchable fire, because 
 they would not know themselves by the discovering 
 recovering light. And thus, by prosperity and 
 flattery, Satan pursues and wins his game. 
 
 Direct. 2. In opposition to this hinderance, two 
 things are to be done. 1. Desire not so perilous a 
 station as worldly prosperity and greatness is. Love 
 not, and seek not, a condition so hazardous to your 
 souls. Leave that to them that take it for their 
 portion, as not, believing what they must lose and 
 suffer by it; or what God hath revealed of the life 
 to come. 
 
 Or if you be in such prosperity, not by your de- 
 sire, but by the will and providence of God, let your 
 fear and watchfulness be doubled, as your dangers 
 are; be not like those sensualists, that " feed them- 
 selves without fear." Use not prosperity to the 
 pleasing of the flesh, and the prospering of your 
 lusts, but deny yourselves in the midst of your 
 abundance; and turn it into an adversity to your 
 sensual inclinations, by taming the body, and bring- 
 ing it into subjection, and suspecting yourselves, 
 and walking humbly with God and man. 
 
 And when adversity is upon you, improve the op- 
 portunity for the knowledge of yourselves. Then 
 take a just survey of your former course of life. 
 Then try your ways, when the drunkenness and de- 
 ceits of prosperity are past, and the hand of God 
 
355 
 
 hath brought you into a sober and considerate state. 
 O how many souls do know that in one day, when 
 adversity hath made them wise and sensible, which 
 before they knew, and would not know ; they saw 
 it, but did not understand and feel it ! Then, on a 
 sudden, they are able to pass a right judgment, upon 
 their yielding to temptations, and the value of the 
 things that tempted them, and upon their worldly 
 designs, and fleshly wisdom, and their neglects of 
 God, and heaven, and duty, than before they could do, 
 though they had ever so much instruction. Affliction 
 taketh away the deceiving advantages of fleshly ob- 
 jects, and unmasketh the glory and profit of the 
 world, and awakeneth the rational faculties to per- 
 form their ofSce, and, therefore, is an excellent op- 
 portunity for self-acquaintance. The prodigal came 
 to himself, when he was denied to fill his belly with 
 the food of swine. Nature teacheth men to under- 
 stand that it is the principal lesson that affliction 
 readeth to us, to know ourselves, and our ways, as 
 they are related to God and to his judgment. 
 
 2. If you are in prosperity, be the more suspicious 
 of flatterers, and drive them away with the greater 
 detestation. And be the more solicitous to procure 
 such faithful overseers and physicians for your souls, 
 as will do their best to save you, though they dis- 
 please you. O that you knew what an advantage 
 it is to have a faithful pastor, and a faithful friend, 
 that seek not yours but you, and make no advantage 
 to themselves by flattering you, but choose the means 
 that tend most to your salvation ! And O that you 
 knew the great disadvantage of those that want 
 such a pastor, and such a friend ! You would then 
 
356 
 
 be sure to give it as your strictest charge to both, 
 to deal plainly with you, and never to hide or ex- 
 tenuate your sin or danger. You would charge 
 your teachers, ' Whatever you do, deal faithfully 
 with my soul ! If you see me in any dangerous 
 course, I beseech you tell me of it; if I should be 
 hardened against your warnings and reproofs, I 
 beseech you deal not lightly with me, but labour to 
 awaken me, and set it home, and pull me out of the 
 fire, and save me as with fear. O suffer me not to 
 be quiet in ray sins.' The like charge, also, you 
 would give to your friends that are about you, and 
 converse with you ; choose such pastors, and such 
 friends, as are fittest, to prove your friends indeed ; 
 and charge and entreat them, as they love your 
 souls, and as they will answer it before God, that 
 they suffer you not to sin for fear of displeasing you 
 by plain reproofs ; and resolve to submit and take it 
 well. A stander-by hath the great advantage of 
 impartiality, and, therefore, may see that in you 
 what you observe not in yourselves : self-love doth 
 not hinder us so much in judging of other men's 
 cases as our own. Friendly and faithful dealing, 
 in the matters of eternal consequence, is the princi- 
 pal use and benefit of friendsliip. This differenceth 
 the communion of saints from Beelzebub's swarm of 
 flies and caterpillars. Thus, " two are better than 
 one : for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow : 
 but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he 
 hath not another to help him up." Much more 
 woe to him, that hath a multitude to cast him and to 
 keep him down. 
 
 Hind. 3. The third extrinsical impediment to 
 
357 
 
 self-knowledge, is conversing only with such as are 
 as bad as ourselves; and not with such whose lives 
 display the spiritual endowment, and excellencies 
 which we want. Though Christians that know 
 better the common disease, do know that there must 
 be a common humiliation and remedy, yet these 
 indeed are the thoughts of most ; they know not 
 that it is a matter of dishonour and lamentation, to 
 be no better than the most, and to lie in the common 
 corruptions of the world, and to have no better hearts 
 than they had by nature. To heqj preachers talk 
 of holiness, and a Divine nature, and a new birth, 
 and of being made new creatures, and of living in 
 the love of God, and in the joyful hopes of endless 
 glory, doth seem to them but as the talk of a world 
 in the sun, or the description of an angel, which 
 humbleth not them at all, for not being such, nor 
 exciteth in them any great desires to be such : as 
 long as they see not the persons that are such, they 
 think these are but devout imaginations, or the pious 
 dreams of melancholy men ; and that indeed there 
 are no such persons in the world. They judge of 
 all the world, or almost all, by those about them ; 
 and they think that God should be unmerciful if he 
 should condemn so great a number as they see are 
 like themselves ; and shcaild save none but those few 
 transcendent souls that they describe, but are unac- 
 quainted with. 
 
 It sometimes melteth my heart, in pity of many 
 great ones of the world, to think how hard a matter 
 it is for them to know indeed what holiness is; when 
 they seldom hear so much as one heavenly prayer 
 or discourse, or any serious talk of the matters of 
 
358 
 
 sanctification, and communion with Christ. When 
 prof'aneness and wickedness dwell about them, and 
 make such as are but civil and temperate, and good- 
 natured persons, to seem saints : when they see but 
 few that fear the Lord, and love him unfeignedly, 
 and live by faith : and those few are perhaps of the 
 more cold, and timorous, and temporizing strain, that 
 show forth but little of the heavenly nature, and the 
 virtues of their holy faith; that dare scarce open 
 their mouths to speak against the wickedness which 
 they see or heaj^; that dare not discourse like the 
 saints of the Most High, and the heirs of heaven, 
 for fear of being made the scorn and by-word of the 
 rest, or of falling under the frowns and dislike of 
 their superiors ; so that they live among others al- 
 most like common men, save only that they run not 
 with them to their excess of riot; and think it enough 
 that by such forbearance of gross sin, they are in 
 some measure evil spoken of: when they that should 
 " let their light so shine before men, that they might 
 see their good works, and glorify their heavenly 
 Father, do hide their religion, and put their light as 
 under a bushel, and not in a candlestick, that it 
 might give light to all that are in the house;" and 
 so, when religion never appeareth in its proper splen- 
 dour and power, and heavenly tendency, to those 
 great ones that have no better company, what wonder 
 if they never know themselves, nor truly understand 
 the nature, necessity, or excellency of religion ? 
 When they know it, for the most part, but by hear- 
 say, yea, and when they hear it more reproached 
 than applauded, it must be a miracle of mercy that 
 must make such men to be sincerely and heartily 
 
359 
 
 religious. When they see so many about them 
 worse than themselves, and so few better, and those 
 few that are better do hide it, and live almost as if 
 they were no better; and when the godly, whom 
 they see not, are described to them by the serpent's 
 seed, as if they were but a company of whining, 
 melancholy, brain-sick hypocrites, who can expect 
 that ever such men should savingly know themselves 
 or Christ, unless a wonder of mercy rescue them, 
 and bring them from this darkness and delusion into 
 the light? O how oft have I wished in compassion 
 to many of the great ones of the world, that they 
 did but hear the humble, holy, heavenly language, 
 that we have heard ! And hear the faithful fervent 
 prayers that many poor Christians pour out before 
 the Lord ! and saw but the humble, harmless, exem- 
 plary, and heavenly lives of many poor Christians, 
 that are represented to them as the filth and the 
 ofFscouring of the world, and perhaps no more re- 
 garded than Lazarus was at the rich man's gate. 
 Did they but see and hear, and know such holy and 
 heavenly believers, and were as well acquainted with 
 them as we are, how many of them would better 
 know themselves, and see what they want, and what 
 they must be, and better discern between the righ- 
 teous and the wicked, between those that fear God, 
 and those that fear him not ? 
 
 Direct. 3. It will, therefore, be a great help to 
 the knowledge of yourselves, if you will converse 
 with those that bear the holy image of their Creator, 
 and whose lives will tell you what it is to live by 
 faith, and what it is to walk in the Spirit, to mortify 
 the flesh, and to live above all the alluring vanities 
 
360 
 
 of the world. We can more sensibly perceive the 
 nature of holiness, when we see it in action before 
 our eyes, than when we only read a description of it. 
 Many thousands can honour the name of a saint, 
 and the Scripture descriptions of a saint, that hate 
 the life of holiness, when it appeareth to them in 
 practice, and cannot endure a saint indeed. It will 
 most convincingly tell you what you want, when you 
 see what others have. To see how naturally they 
 breathe after heaven, will most convincingly show you 
 the dulness and earthliness of your minds: to see 
 how easily they can love an enemy, and forgive a 
 wrong, will acquaint you most sensibly with the evils 
 of your passionate, revengeful minds. Do but lay 
 by your prejudice and partiality, and see whether 
 there be not in serious Christians another spirit 
 than in the world : and whether they live not upon 
 the things above, which your belief and love did 
 never reach? Look upon believers, and consider 
 why they pray, and watch, and study to please God, 
 and then bethink yourselves, whether you have not 
 as much cause to do so as they : and so you may 
 perceive your negligence by their diligence ; your 
 senselessness by their tenderness of heart and con- 
 science ; your fleshliness by their spirituality; and 
 the rest of your sins by the lustre of their graces. 
 As Isidore saith, " Men know not themselves by 
 themselves alone." 
 
 Hence, therefore, the servants of God may see 
 how exactly they should live, and of what conse- 
 quence it is that they be eminently holy ; when it is 
 they that, by their heavenly excellency, must convince 
 the world of their sinfulness and misery. O Chris- 
 
361 
 
 tians, do you live such exemplary and convincing 
 lives? Is there indeed that excellency of holiness 
 appearing in you, which may show men, to the glory 
 of your Redeemer, how the heirs of heaven do differ 
 from the world ? Al as ! our common, careless living, 
 doth wrong to multitudes as well as to ourselves ; and 
 is a cruelty to the souls whose salvation we are bound, 
 by our examples, to promote. What then do those 
 men, that by tbeir vicious, scandalous conversation, 
 do harden the ungodly, and cause them to think con- 
 temptuously, and to speak scornfully, of the holy 
 way ! O woe to them, if they repent not, by whom 
 such offence cometh ! 
 
 Especially, ministers should see that their lives be 
 a continual lecture. And, therefore, Chrysostora 
 concludeth, " That a priest that is bad, doth acquire, 
 by his priesthood, not dignity but disgrace. For 
 (saith he) thou sittest in judgment on thyself : if 
 thou live well and preach well, thou instructest the 
 people: if thou preach well and live ill, thou con- 
 demnest thyself. For by living well and preaching 
 well, thou instructest the people how to live : but by 
 preaching well and living ill, thou instructest God, as 
 it were, how to condemn thee." 
 
 And hence it is, also, that the servants of God 
 should have the care of their fame, as well as of their 
 conversation ; because the reputation of religion de- 
 pendeth much on the reputation of the religious : and 
 reputation doth much to the encouraging or discour- 
 aging of the ungodly that are strangers to the things 
 themselves. Saith Augustine, " Conscience is neces- 
 sary for thyself : and thy good name is necessary for 
 thy neighbour." When we raind our fame for the 
 Q 45 
 
3G2 
 
 good of others, and the service of God, and not to 
 please a proud, vainglorious mind; and when we do it, 
 •without immoderate care, seeking it only by righteous 
 means, and referring ihe issue to the will of God, as 
 being prepared for evil report as well as good, this 
 is but to improve our talent to our Master's use. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Internal Hinderances of Sdf-Acqiiaintance. 
 
 H. I come next to tlie internal impediments to 
 self-acquaintance, especially in the worser sort of 
 men. 
 
 I. The first that I shall acquaint you with is, 
 Tliat natural, deep-rooted sin of pride, which strongly 
 inclineth men to think well of themselves, and to de- 
 sire that all others do so too : so that, where pride 
 is not discovered and subdued by grace, men will 
 scarcely endure to be closely questioned by ministers 
 or otlver friends, about their sin, and the condition of 
 their souls. What ! question them whether they 
 are ungodly, unsanctified, the servants of sin and 
 Satan ; in a state of death and condemnation ! Their 
 hearts will rise with indignation against him that will 
 put such questions to them. What ! question them 
 whether they have any saving grace ! Whether 
 they are regenerate, pardoned, and have any well- 
 grounded hopes of heaven ! They love not the 
 searching word of God; they love not the dis- 
 tinguishing passages of Scripture; they love not a 
 
SG3 
 
 faithful, searching minister, because they would dis- 
 honour and trouble them with such doubts as these. 
 A proud man judgeth not of himself as he is, but as 
 his tumified, distempered fancy representeth him to 
 himself to be : to " think himself something when 
 he is nothing," and so to be wilfully his own de- 
 ceiver, is his disease. And as pride is one of the 
 deepest-rooted sins in man, and of greatest strength, 
 and most hardly extirpated and overcome, so true 
 self-acquaintance must be accordingly difficult, it 
 being carried on but by such degrees as we get 
 ground and victory against our pride. A proud man, 
 how wise soever in any other matters, as to the right 
 knowledge of himself, is like one that is crack- 
 brained, and hath not indeed the right use of reason: 
 pride was his fir*t tutor, and taught him what to be- 
 lieve of himself : so that Christ, who comes after with 
 a humbling doctrine, cannot be believed, nor scarcely 
 with any patience heard. O what a disease is to be 
 cured, before a proud person wUl well know himself ! 
 What labour do we lose in all our sermons ! Yea, 
 how oft doth the medicine irritate the disease ! So 
 that a poor wretch, that is under the wrath of God, 
 and knoweth not, when he is gone out of the assem- 
 bly, whether the justice of Heaven will not take ven- 
 geance on him before he can come hither again, yet 
 cannot abide to hear of this, but, with Ahab, hateth 
 the pr eacJicr that prophesieth evil of him, be it ever 
 fio Uue. It is pride that leadeth up that array of 
 corruptioos, tliat here strive against the light of 
 itrutli, that is sent to convince and convert the guilty. 
 And is a man hke to be saved by the word, while 
 S 2 
 
364 
 
 he hateth it, and bends his thoughts and passions all 
 against it ? 
 
 Direct. 1. He, therefore, that will ever know 
 himself, must first let in so much of the light as may 
 take down his arrogancy, and bring him, as a little 
 child, to the school of Christ. First know what thou 
 art as a man ; and then know what thou art as a 
 sinner, and sentenced by God, that so thou mayest 
 come to know what thou art as one that is under the 
 hopes and duties of the redeemed. When thy 
 proud heart rcbelleth against conviction, remember 
 with whom thou hast to do. Will God speak sub- 
 missively to thee for fear of offending thee ? Will 
 he cry thee mercy for handling thee so roughly as to 
 tell thee thou art yet the child of wrath ? Is he 
 afraid to talk to thee of death or of damnation ? 
 Will he recal his tlireatenings, and repent him of 
 the severity of his laws, because such worms are 
 angry with them, or will not believe them ? Per- 
 haps thou mayest make a false-hearted, fearful, man- 
 pleasing minister, to change his strain or plainer 
 dealing, and become thy flatterer, or be silent : but 
 will God be silenced ? O no; he will one day tell 
 thee what thou art with another voice than this of a 
 a mortal and despised man, and in another manner 
 than preachers tell it thee. If thou canst frown the 
 preacher out of the pulpit, or out of his fidelity to 
 God and thee, yet canst thou not frown God out of 
 heaven. He will speak to thee more terribly than 
 the most terrible preacher that ever thou heardst: and 
 if thy pride shall rise up, and tell him that he doth 
 thee wrong, how quickly will thy " mouth be stop- 
 ped," and thou be forced to confess thy guilt ! O 
 
365 
 
 stoop to the humbling word of grace, or God will 
 make thee stoop to the words and strokes of wrath ! 
 Fear Him that will make the proudest fear, before 
 he hath done with them. Judged thou must be ; 
 by thyself, to self-abasing and conversion, or by God 
 to desolation and confusion : and canst thou easier 
 bear God's judgment than thy own ! Stoop, fool- 
 ish, self-deluding dust ! Stoop, sinful wretch, and 
 know thy misery I If thou stand it out a little 
 longer, an undiscerned blow may bring thee down ; 
 and thou shalt not see the hand that strikes thee, 
 till thou art humbled in the grave and hell. O how 
 absurd, yet pitiful a sight is it, to see poor sinners 
 brave it out against the humbling message of the 
 Lord, as if they could make good their cause against 
 him ! And scorn to know that they are going to 
 hell, till they are there ! And then will pride pre- 
 serve them from the knowledge of it ? It is shame- 
 ful folly to be proud and obstinate, where a man 
 knoweth beforehand that he must submit at last, and 
 is not able to stand it out. 
 
 2. The second intrinsical impediment to self-ac- 
 nuaintance, is an unreasonable tenderness of our- 
 selves; when an inordinate love of ease and quiet- 
 ness of mind doth prevail with us to hold fast all that 
 thus quieteth us at the present, without regard of due 
 provision for the time to come; in this there is a mix- 
 ture of unreasonableness and self-love: it is indeed 
 the very brutish disposition. A beast will have at 
 present what he loveth, though you feed him for the 
 slaughter ! for he hath not reason to foresee what 
 foUoweth. Fleshly-minded men have thus brutified 
 themselves, so that they judge of things by present 
 
366 
 
 feeling, and have not reason and faith to look before 
 them, and judfre of things by the good or hurt that 
 will follow in the end. It is a very terrible trouble- 
 some thing, for a man that is unregcnerate, unjus- 
 tified, and unreconciled to God, to know it; for a 
 man that hath any feeling left, to find himself in a 
 state of condemnation : this is to stir up all the ter- 
 rors of his soul, and cast him into perplexing fears 
 and disquietments of mind ; so that he cannot eat or 
 drink, or sleep in quietness, but the troublesome 
 thoughts of sin and everlasting wrath torment him; 
 and the inconsiderate man, that judgeth of things by 
 present feeling, will not endure this. As most men 
 hate those that speak against them, be the matter 
 ever so true, so they cannot endure those tlioughts 
 that do accuse them, nor to have a reprover so near 
 them, even in their own breasts; a conscience within 
 them, to preach to them night and day : not one 
 hour in a week, but wherever they go, and what- 
 ever they are doing; to be so near, so constant, so 
 precise, and so severe and terrible a preacher, as 
 usually a newly enlightened and awakened conscience 
 is : this seemeth intolerable to them ; and whatever 
 come of it, this preacher must be silenced, as turbu- 
 lent and vexatious, and one that would make them 
 melancholy or mad. " And this is the condemna- 
 tion (of these miserable souls), that light is come 
 into the world, and they loved darkness rather than 
 light, because their deeds were evil : for every one 
 that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to 
 the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." And 
 thus, while men are so tender of themselves, that 
 they will do nothing that troubleth or hurteth them 
 
367 
 
 at the present, they venture upon all tlie miseries 
 that they are forewarned of. 
 
 Direct. 2. Be not unreasonably tender of a little 
 disturbance at the present, nor unbelievingly careless 
 of the misery to come. Cannot you endure to know 
 your sin and misery, and yet can you endure to bear 
 it ? Will you go to hell, for fear of knowing that 
 you are in the way ? Must you not know it w ith 
 everlasting woe and vengeance when you come thi- 
 ther, if, by knowing your danger, you prevent not 
 your coming thither ? Is it easier to bear God's 
 wrath for ever, than to find at present that you have 
 offended him .'' Sirs, the question is, \\'hethcr you 
 are under the condemnation of the law, or not ? 
 Whether you are regenerate and justified, or yet in 
 your sin ? If you arc justified, far be it from me to 
 persuade you to think that you are under condem- 
 nation : I leave that to Satan and the malicious 
 world, who arc the condemners of thase that Chii>t 
 doth justify. But if you are unregenerate and un- 
 justified, what will you do at death and judgment ? 
 Can you stand before God, or be saved upon any 
 other terms? You cannot; if God be to he be- 
 lieved, you cannot : and, if you know the Scriptures, 
 you know you cannot. And if you cannot be saved 
 in an unrenewed, unjustified state, is it not needful 
 that you know it? Will you cry for help before 
 you find yourselves in danger ? or strive to get out 
 of sin and misery, before you believe that you are iii 
 it? If you think that you have no other sin than 
 the pardoned infirmities of the godly, you will never 
 so value Jesus Christ, and pray and strive for such 
 grace as is necessary to them that have the unpar- 
 
368 
 
 doned, reigning sins of the ungodly. If it be ne- 
 cessary that you be saved, it is necessary that you 
 value and seek salvation ; and, if so, it is necessary 
 that you know your need of it, and what you must 
 be and do, if you will obtain it. If you can prove, 
 that ever any was converted and saved, by any other 
 way, than by the coming to the knowledge of their 
 sin and misery, then you have some excuse for your 
 presumption : but if Scripture tell us of no other 
 way ; yea, that there is no other way, and you know 
 of none that ever was saved by any other, I think it 
 is time to fall to work, and search and try your hearts 
 and lives. You should rather think with your- 
 selves. If we can so hardly bear the forethoughts of 
 hell, how shall we be able, everlastingly, to bear the 
 torments ? 
 
 And consider, that Christ hath made the dis- 
 covery of your sin and misery to be now compara- 
 tively an easy burden, in that he hath made them 
 pardonable and curable. If you had not had a Sa- 
 viour to fly to, but must have looked on your misery 
 as a remediless case, it had then been terrible in- 
 deed ; and it had been no great mistake to have 
 thought it the best way to take a little ease at pre- 
 sent, rather than to disquiet yourselves in vain. But, 
 through the great mercy of God, this is not your 
 case ; you need not despair of pardon and salvation, 
 if you will but hear while it is called To-day. The 
 task that you are called to, is only to find out your 
 disease, and come and open it to the physician, sub- 
 mit to his advice, use his means, and he will freely 
 and infallibly work the cure. It is but to find out 
 the folly that you have been guilty of, and the dan- 
 
369 
 
 ger that you have brought yourselves into, and come 
 to Christ, and, with hearty sorrow and resohition, 
 to give up yourselves to his grace, to cast away your 
 iniquities, and enter into his safe and comfortable 
 service. And will you lie in hell and say, ' We are 
 suffering here, that we might escape the trouble of 
 foreseeing our danger of it, or of endeavouring in time 
 to have prevented it !' O sirs, be warned in time, 
 and own not, and practise not, such egregious folly, 
 in a business of everlasting consequence. Believe 
 it, if you sin, you must know that you have sinned: 
 and if you are in the power of Satan it cannot long 
 be hid. Did you but know the difference between 
 discovering it now while there is hope, and here- 
 after when there is none, I should have no need to 
 persuade you to be willing to know the truth, what- 
 ever it should cost you. 
 
 Hind, 3. Another great impediment of the know- 
 ledge of ourselves, is, that self-love so blindeth men 
 that they can see no great evil in themselves, or any 
 thing that is their own. It makes them believe that 
 all things are as they would have them be; yea, and 
 better than they would have them : for he that would 
 not indeed be holy, is willing by himself and others 
 to be thought so : did not the lamentable experience 
 of all the world confirm it, it were incredible that 
 self-love could so exceedingly blind men. If charity 
 think no evil of another, much more will self-love 
 cause men to see no evil by themselves. No argu- 
 ment so cogent, no light so clear, no oratory so per- 
 suading, as can make a self-lover think himself as 
 bad as indeed he is, till God, by grace or terror, shall 
 convince him. When you are preaching the most 
 23 
 
370 
 
 searching sermons to convince him, self-love con- 
 futeth or misapplieth them ; when the marks of trial 
 are most plainly opened, and most closely urged, 
 self-love doth frustrate the preacher's greatest skill 
 and dilitrence. When nothincf of sense can be said 
 to prove the piety of the impious, and the sincerity 
 of the formal hypocrite, yet self-love is that wonder- 
 ful alchymist, that can make gold not only of the 
 basest metal, but of dross and dirt. No cause so 
 bad which it cannot justify : and no person so miser- 
 able but it will pronounce him happy, till God, by 
 grace or wrath, confute it. Self-love is the grand 
 deceiver of the world. 
 
 Direct. 3. Subdue this inordinate self-love, and 
 bring your minds to a just impartiality in judging. 
 Remember that self-love is only powerful at your 
 private bar; and it is not there that your cause must 
 be finally decided : it can do nothing at the bar of 
 God; it cannot there justify, where it is condemned 
 itself: God will not so much as hear it, though you 
 will hear none that speak against it. Self-love is 
 but the vicegerent of the grand usurper, that shall 
 be deposed, and have no show of power, at Christ's 
 appealing, when he will judge his enemies. 
 
 And if you would have the benefits of friendship, 
 discourage not plain dealing. " I know a reprover 
 should be wise, and love must be predominant if he 
 will expect success ;" but we must take heed of judg- 
 ing that we are hated, because we are reproved ; that 
 is, that a friend is not a friend, because he doth the 
 office of a friend. Of the two, it is fitter to say of 
 a reproving enemy, ' Pie dealeth with me like a 
 friend,' than of a reproving friend, ' He dealeth with 
 
371 
 
 me like an enemy.' It is a happy enmity that help- 
 eth you to deliver you from sin and hell ; and a 
 cruel friendship that will let you undo your soul foe 
 ever, for fear of displeasing you by hindering it. 
 
 There are two sorts that deprive themselves of 
 the saving benefit of necessary reproof, and the most 
 desirable fruits of friendship : the one is tlie Hypo- 
 crite, that so cunningly hideth his greatest faults, 
 that his friend and enemy never tell him of them: 
 he hath the happiness of keeping his physician un- 
 acquainted with his disease, and, consequently, of 
 keeping the disease. The other is the Proud, that 
 can better endure to be ungodly than to be told of 
 it, and to live in many sins, than to be freely ad- 
 monished of one. 
 
 Consider, therefore, that it will prove self-hatred 
 in the effect, which is now called self-love : and that 
 it would seem but a strange kind of love from another, 
 to suffer you to fall into a coal-pit, for fear of telling 
 you that you are near it. If you love another no 
 better than thus, you have no reason to call yourself 
 his friend : and shall this be your wisest loving of 
 yourselves? If it be love to damn your souls for 
 fear of knowing your danger of damnation, the devil 
 loveth you. If it be friendship to keep you out of 
 heaven, for fear of disquieting you with the light 
 that should have saved you, then you have no ene- 
 mies in hell. The devil himself can be content to 
 grant you a temporal quietness and ease, in order to 
 your everlasting woe. Let go your hopes of heaven, 
 and he can let you be merry a while on earth ; while 
 the strong armed man keepeth his house, the things 
 that he possesscth are in peace. If it be not friend- 
 
372 
 
 ship, but enmity, to trouble you with the sight of 
 sin and danger, in order to your deliverance, then 
 you have none but enemies in heaven : for God 
 himself doth take this course with the dearest of 
 his chosen. No star doth give such light as the 
 sun doth : no minister doth so much to make a sin- 
 ner know himself, as God doth. Love yourselves, 
 therefore, in the way that God loveth you : be im- 
 partially willing that God and man should help you 
 to be thoroughly acquainted with your state : love 
 not to be flattered by others, or yourselves. Vice 
 is never the more lovely, because it is yours: and 
 you know that pain is never the more easy or desir- 
 able to you, because it is yours. Yoiir own diseases, 
 losses, injuries, and miseries, seem the worst and 
 most grievous to you : and why should not your own 
 sins also be most grievous ? You love not poverty or 
 pain, because it is your own ; O love not sin, be- 
 cause it is your own [ 
 
 Hind. 4. Another impediment to self-acquaint- 
 ance, is, that men observe not their hearts in a time 
 of trial, but take them always at the best, when no 
 great temptation puts them to it. A man that never 
 had an opportunity to rise in the world, perhaps doth 
 think he is not ambitious, and desireth not much to 
 be higher than he is, because the coal was never 
 blown. When a little affront doth ferment their 
 pride into disquietness and desires of revenge ; or 
 applause doth ferment it into self-exaltation, they 
 observe not then the distemper when it is up and 
 most observable, because the nature of sin is to 
 please and blind, and cheat the mind into a consent. 
 And when the sin seems past, and they find them- 
 
373 
 
 selves in a seeming humility and meekness, they 
 judge of themselves as then they find themselves, 
 as thinking that distemper is past and cured, and 
 they are not to judge of themselves by what they 
 were, but what they are. And, by that rule, every 
 drunkard or whoremonger should judge themselves 
 temperate and chaste, as soon as they forbear the 
 act of sin. And what if poverty, age, or sickness, 
 hinder them from ever committing either of them 
 again ? For all this, the person is a drunkard or 
 fornicator still ; because the act is not pardoned, nor 
 the heart sanctified, and the habit or corrupt inclina- 
 tion mortified. And thus passionate persons do 
 judge of themselves by their milder temper, when 
 no temptation kindleth the flame. But little doth 
 many a one know what corruption is latent in his 
 heart, till trial shall disclose it, and draw it into 
 sight. " If these persons be not always sinning, they 
 will not take themselves for sinners : but he that 
 hath once sinned knowingly, in God's account con- 
 tinueth in the sin, till his heart be changed by true 
 repentance." — Augustine. 
 
 Yet, on the other hand, I would not wrong any 
 upright soul, by persuading them to judge of them- 
 selves as they are at the worst, in the hour of temp- 
 tation ; for so they will be mistaken as certainly, 
 though not as dangerously, as the other. 
 
 You may ask then, ' What is to be done in such a 
 difficult case .'' If we must neither judge of ourselves 
 as we are at the best, out of temptation, nor yet as 
 we are at the worst, in the hour of temptation, when 
 and how then shall we judge of ourselves ?' 
 
 I answer, it is one thing to know our particular 
 
374 
 
 sins, and their degrees, and another thing to know 
 our state in general, whether we arc justified and 
 sanctified, or not. To discern what particular sin 
 is in us, and how apt it is to break forth into act, 
 we must watch all the stirrings and appearings of it, 
 in the time of the temptation : but to discern whe- 
 ther it be unmortified and have dominion, we must 
 observe these rules : 
 
 1. There is no man on earth that is perfectly free 
 from sin; and, therefore, it is no good consequence 
 that sin reigneth unto death, because it is not per- 
 fectly extinguished, or because it is sometimes com- 
 mitted, unless in the cases after expressed. 
 
 2. No sin that is truly mortified and repented of, 
 shall condemn the sinner: for pardon is promised 
 to the truly penitent. 
 
 3. Whatever sin the will, according to its habi- 
 tual incl ination, had rather leave than keep, is truly 
 repented of and mortified. For the will is the prin- 
 cipal seat of sin; and there is no more sinfulness, 
 than there is wilfulness. 
 
 4. There are some sins which cannot be frequently 
 committed in consistency with true grace, or sincere 
 repentance; and some which may be frequently com- 
 mitted in consistency with these. As where sins 
 are known and great, or such as are easily subject to 
 the power of a sanctified will, so that he that will 
 reject them, may, as one such sin must have actual 
 repentance, if actually known; so the frequent com- 
 mitting of such will not consist with habitual repen- 
 tance. Whereas those sins, that are so small as 
 upright persons, perhaps, may not be suflBciently ex- 
 cited to resistance; or such as, upon the sincere use 
 
375 
 
 of means, are still unknown, or such as a truly sanc- 
 tified will may not subdue, are all of them consistent 
 with repentance and a justified state: and in this 
 sense we reject not that distinction between moral 
 and venial sin; that is, between sin inconsistent with 
 a state of spiritual life, and sin consistent with it, 
 and consequently pardoned. He that bad rather leave 
 the former sort, (the mortal sins,) will leave them; 
 and he that truly repents of them, will forsake them. 
 But for the other (consistent with life) we must say, 
 that a man may possibly retain them, that yet had 
 rather leave them, and doth truly repeat of them. 
 
 5. A sin of carnal interest (esteemed good, in 
 order to something which the flesh desireth; and so 
 loved and deliberately kept) hath more of the will, 
 and is more inconsistent with repentance, "than a sin 
 of mere passion or surprise, which is not so valued 
 upon the account of such an interest. 
 
 6. They that have grace enough to avoid temp- 
 tations to mortal or reigning sin, and consequently 
 that way to avoid the sin, shall not be condemned 
 for it, whatever a stronger temptation might have 
 done. 
 
 7. Where bodily diseases necessitate to an act, 
 or the omission of an act, the will is not to be charged 
 with that which it cannot overcome, notwithstanding 
 an unfeigned willingness. As if a man in a frenzy 
 or distraction should swear or curse, or blaspheme; 
 or one in a lethargy, or potent melancholy, cannot 
 read, or pray, or meditate, &c. 
 
 8. As frequent commissions of venial sins (or such 
 as are consistent with true grace) will not prove the 
 soul unsanctified ; so the once committing of a gross 
 
376 
 
 sin by surprise, which is afterward truly repented of, 
 will not prove the absence of habitual repentance, or 
 spiritual life, so as the frequent committing of such 
 sins will. 
 
 So that I conclude, in order to the detection of 
 the sin itself, we must all take notice of ourselves as 
 at the worst, and see what it is that temptation can 
 do : but in order to the discovery of our state, and 
 whether our sins are pardoned or not, we must espe- 
 cially observe whether their eruptions are such as 
 will consist with true habitual repentance, and to 
 note what teinptations do with us. To this end, 
 
 Direct. 4. Observe then the workings and dis- 
 coveries of the heart, and judge of its abundance, or 
 habits, by your words and deeds. Note what you 
 were when you had opportunity to sin, when the full 
 cup of pleasure was held out to you, when prefer- 
 ment was before you, when injury or provoking 
 words did blow the coal: if then sin appeared, judge 
 not that you are free, and that none of the roots are 
 latent in your hearts: or if you are sure that such 
 dispositions are hated, repented of, and mortified, yet 
 you may hence observe what diseases of soul you 
 should chiefly strive against, to keep them under, 
 and prevent a new surprise or increase. It is usual 
 for such licentiousness, such self-seeking, such ugly 
 pride and passion, to break forth upon some special 
 temptations, which for many years together did never 
 appear to the person that is guilty, or to any other, 
 that it should keep the best in fear and self-suspicion, 
 and cause them to live in constant watchfulness, and 
 to observe the bent and motions of their souls: and 
 to make use afterward of such discoveries as they 
 have made to their cost in time of trial. 
 
377 
 
 And it much concerneth all true Christians, to 
 keep in remembrance the exercise and discoveries of 
 grace, which formerly, upon trial, did undoubtedly 
 appear, and did convince them of the sincerity which 
 afterward they are apt again to question. Will'you 
 not believe that there is a sun in the firmament, 
 unless it always shine upon you ? It is weakness 
 and injurious rashness in those Christians, that, upon 
 every damp that seizeth on their spirits, will venture 
 to deny God's former mercies, and say, that they had 
 never special grace, because they feel it not at pre- 
 sent; that they never prayed in sincerity, because 
 some distemper at present discomposeth or over- 
 • whelmeth them; that their former zeal and life was 
 counterfeit, because they are grown more cold and 
 dull ; that former comforts were all but hypocritical 
 delusions, because they are turned now to sor- 
 rows: as much as to say, ' Because I am now 
 sick, I was never well.' O, were it not for the ten- 
 der compassions of our Father, and the sure perform- 
 ance of our Lord and Comforter, and that our peace 
 is more in his hand than our own, (though more in 
 our own than any others,) it could never be that a 
 poor, distempered, imperfect soul, should here have 
 any constancy of peace, considering the power of 
 self-love and partiality on one side, and of grief, and 
 fear, and other passions, on the other; and how 
 little a thing doth shake so moveable and weak a 
 thing, and muddy and trouble a mind so easily dis- 
 turbed; and how hard it is again to quiet and com- 
 pose a mind so troubled, and bring a grieved soul to 
 reason, and make passion understand the truth, and 
 to cause a weak afflicted soul to judge clean contrary 
 
378 
 
 to what they feel ! All this considered, no wonder 
 if the peace and comfort of many Christians be yet 
 but little, and interrupted, and uneven. To show 
 us the sun at midnight, and convince ns of love while 
 we feel the rod; and to give us the comfortable sense 
 of grace, while we have the uncomfortable sense of 
 the greatness of our sin ; to give us the joyful hopes 
 of glory, in a troubled, melancholy, dejected state: 
 all this is a work that rcquireth the special help of the 
 Almighty, and exceeds the strength of feeble worms. 
 Let God give us ever so full discoveries of his ten- 
 derest love, and our own sincerity, as if a voice from 
 heaven had witnessed it to us, we are questioning 
 all if once we seem to fed the contrary, and are per- % 
 plexed in the tumult of our thoughts and passions, 
 and bewildered and lost in the errors of our own dis- 
 turbed minds. Though we have walked with God, 
 we are questioning whether indeed we ever knew 
 him, as soon as he seemeth to hide his face. Though 
 we have felt another life and spirit possess and actu- 
 ate us than heretofore, and found that we love the 
 things and persons which once we loved not, and 
 that we were quite fallen out with that which was 
 our former pleasure, and that our souls broke off 
 from their old delights, and hopes, and ways, and 
 resolvedly did engage themselves to God, and un- 
 feignedly delivered up themselves unto him; yet 
 all is forgotten, or the convincing evidence of all 
 forgotten, if the lively influences of heaven be but 
 on'ce so far withdrawn, as that our present state is 
 clouded and afflicted, and our former vigour and 
 assurance is abated. And thus unthankfully we deny 
 God the praise and acknowledgment of his mercies, 
 
379 
 
 longer than we are tasting them, or they are still be- 
 fore us: all that he hath done for us is as nothing, 
 and all the love which he hath manifested to us, is 
 called hatred; and all the witnesses that have put 
 their hands to his acts of grace, are questioned, and 
 his very seals denied, and his earnest misinterpreted, 
 as long as our darkened, distempered souls, are in a 
 condition unfit for the apprehension of mercy, and 
 usually when a diseased or afflicted body doth draw 
 the mind into too great a participation of the affliction. 
 And thus, as we are disposed ourselves, so we judge 
 of ourselves and of all our receivings, and all God's 
 dealings with us. When we feel ourselves well, all 
 goes well with us, and we put a good interpretation 
 upon all things; and when we are out of order, we 
 complain of every thing, and take pleasure in nothing. 
 And thus, while the discoveries, both of sin and 
 grace, are at present overlooked, or afterwards for- 
 gotten, and almost all men judge of themselves by 
 present feeling, no wonder if few are well acquainted 
 with themselves. 
 
 But as the word and the works of God must be 
 taken together, if they be understood, and not a 
 sentence, part, or parcel, taken separated from the 
 rest, which must make up the sense; so also the 
 workings of God upon your souls must be taken al- 
 together, and you must read them over from the first 
 till now, and set altogether, and not forget the part 
 that went before, or else you will make no sense of 
 that which followeth. And I beseech all weak and 
 troubled Christians to remember, also, that they are 
 but children and scholars in the school of Christ; 
 and therefore, when they cannot set the several 
 
380 
 
 parts together, let them not overvalue their inexpe- 
 rienced understandings, but, by the help of their 
 skilful, faithful teachers, do that which of themselves 
 they cannot do. Inquire what your former mercies 
 signify : open them to your guides, and tell them 
 how God hath dealt with you from the beginning, 
 and tell them how it is with you now ; and desire 
 them to help you to perceive how one conduceth to 
 the ri^ht understanding of the other. And be not 
 
 D O 
 
 of froward, but of tractable, submissive minds : and 
 thus your self-acquaintance may be maintained, at 
 least to safety, and to some degree of peace, if not 
 to the joys which you desire, which God reserveth 
 for their proper season. 
 
 I should have added more on this necessary sub- 
 ject, but that I have said so much of it in other 
 writings, especially in the " Saints' Rest," part iii. 
 chap. 7. and in my " Treatise of Self-denial," and 
 in " The Right Method for Peace of Conscience." 
 
 I must confess I have written on this subject as I 
 did of Self-denial, namely, with expectation that all 
 men should confess the truth of what I say; and yet 
 so few be cured by it of their self-ignorance, as that 
 still we must stand by, and see the world distracted 
 by it, the church divided, the love of brethren inter- 
 rupted, and the work of Satan carried on by error, 
 violence, and pride; and the hearts of men so 
 strangely stupified, as to goon incorrigibly in all this 
 mischief, while the cause and cure are opened before 
 them, and all in vain, while they confess the truth; 
 so that they will leave us nothing to do, but exer- 
 cise our compassion, by lamenting the delirium of 
 \ frenetic men, while we are unable to serve the 
 
381 
 
 churcli, their brethren, or their own souls, from the 
 lacerations and calamitous effects of their furious 
 self-ignorance. But Christ that hath sent us with 
 the light which may be resisted, and abused, and in 
 part blown out, will speedily come with light irre- 
 sistible, and will teach the proud, the scornful, the 
 unmerciful, the self-conceited, the malicious, and the 
 violent, so effectually to know themselves, as that no 
 more exhortations shall be necessary for the recep- 
 tion of his convictions; nor will he or his servants 
 any more beseech men to consider and know their 
 sin and misery, nor be beholden to them to believe 
 and confess it. (See Jude 14, 15.) And is there 
 no remedy for a stupified, inconsiderate soul? Is 
 there no prevention of so terrible a self-knowledge, 
 as the light of judgment, and the fire of hell, will 
 else procure ? Yes, the remedy is certain, easy, and 
 at hand : " Even to know themselves till tliey are 
 driven to study, and seek, and know the Father, and 
 his Son Jesus Christ;" and yet is the salvation of 
 most as hopeless almost as if there were no remedy, 
 because no persuasion can prevail with them to use it. 
 Lord, what hath thus locked up the minds and hearts 
 of sinners against thy truth and thee ! What hath 
 made reasonable man so unreasonable, and a self- 
 loving nature so mortally to hate itself! O thou 
 that openest, and no man shutteth, use the key that 
 openeth hearts; come in with thy wisdom, and thy 
 love, and all this blindness and obstinacy will be 
 gone ! At least, commit not the safety of thy 
 flock to such as will not know themselves : but 
 " gather thy remnant, and bring them to their folds, 
 and let them be fruitful and increase; and setup 
 
382 
 
 shepherds over them, which shall feed thera, and let 
 them fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor be lack- 
 ing." " Ordain a place for thera, plant them, and 
 let them dwell therein unmoved ; and let not the 
 children of wickedness waste thera any more." " As 
 a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he 
 is among his sheep that are scattered, so seek out thy 
 sheep, and deliver them out of all places where they 
 have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day." 
 *' Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance : feed 
 them also, and lift thera up for ever." 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 Printed by W. Collins & Co. 
 Glasgow. 
 
Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries 
 
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