Logical se^ 
 
 I SIS' 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 
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BAXTER I AN A 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 A SELECTION 
 
 JROM THE 
 
 WORKS OF BAXTER 
 
 COLLECTED BY 
 
 ARTHUR YOUNG, ESQ. F.R.S, 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. HATCHARD, BOOKSELLER TO 
 HER MAJESTY, 19A PICCADILLY. 
 
 1815. 
 
Loaion : Printed by B. M-MiUan. 
 Sow-Street) Covent-Garden. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE person who offers to the Public such a work 
 as I have now prepared, upon a subject which has not 
 formed the principal business of his life, nor even 
 commanded during the greatest portion of it his parti- 
 cular attention, may be expected to explain the mo- 
 tives which have induced him to step out of the usual 
 line of his pursuit. In answer to any enquiry of this 
 tendency, the collector of these sheets is ready to give 
 what he hopes will be thought a candid reply. Eigh- 
 teen years ago he suffered a severe domestic calamity, 
 which, for the first time in his life, led his mind into a 
 train of thought very different from all that had formed, 
 till then, his pursuits, pleasure, or occupation. For 
 the first time, he began seriously to think of that 
 which a Christian ought to think ©f every day of his 
 existence — a future state. When the chains which tie u* 
 to this world begin to break, it is time to reconsider 
 the principles of the religion we have professed : the 
 heart demands consolation, and nominal Christianity 
 has it not to give: for any solid comfort, we must drink 
 deeper. I read much, and sometimes conversed on 
 the subject, enough to hear it urged, that a man who 
 had been publishing books all his life, should make an 
 open profession of his faith, by adding one to the 
 
iv 
 
 INTRODUCTION t 
 
 number : in truth, I should have done this long ago, 
 but found the admirable productions already before the 
 public so numerous, that it appeared presumption to 
 publish any work confessedly inferior to those I was in 
 the habit of perusing. For my own improvement, I 
 began very early in reading, to extract passages the 
 most impressive ; but in a course of years these be- 
 came so extended, that the idea of printing, gave way 
 to the conviction that such a work would be too ex- 
 pensive, and voluminous to be read. The works of 
 Baxter had furnished so many of these passages, that I 
 thought a selection of them might be useful to many 
 readers, who had neither the time nor the opportunity 
 to consult the originals; especially as some of these 
 could not be procured but with difficulty: accordingly, 
 all copied from that truly pious and excellent divine, 
 were selected: nor was it without some surprise that I 
 found them sufficient to form a moderate volume. If 
 they should prove as useful to others, as I hope and 
 trust they have been to me, the reader will forgive the 
 present intrusion. 
 
 I will not lay down the pen without most earnestly 
 intreating those who are but entering on life, to be 
 persuaded to pay a constant attention to the duties of 
 religion, especially the four great means of grace, 
 prayer, public worship, reading the scriptures of truth, 
 and, as much as circumstances will permit, meditating 
 on their contents. I can with truth assure such, that 
 when I reflect on the various errors and miscarriages of 
 my life, previous to rny mind taking a serious turn, I 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 V 
 
 am clearly convinced that I should have avoided many, 
 had I listened with more submission to the persuasion 
 of a most valuable and pious mother, whom I did not 
 learn sufficiently to esteem till many years after I had 
 lost her; and I speak this in allusion both to temporal 
 and eternal objects. In truth, there is but one princi- 
 ple that ought to govern mankind; to think, speak, 
 and act in such a manner as will please God, and to 
 avoid all that will offend him: not the supreme being, 
 the great Jirst cause of modern philosophers, but the 
 God of Revelation. O my young friends, let me with 
 truth assure you, that though I have experienced some 
 highly flattering, and partook of many brilliant scenes, 
 yet would I not exchange the consolation and hope 
 which Christianity gives me while blind, and quickly 
 descending to the grave, for the most pleasing moments 
 of my former life, with rejuvinescence to enjoy them. 
 
 The tranquillity of a mind gradually reposing in the 
 clearest hope of a better world, is an enjoyment that 
 cannot be purchased at too dear a rate. It is not easy, 
 sufficiently to value the peaceful close of a busy life, 
 provided that repose is founded on the bright views of 
 christian hope looking beyond the grave: the mist of 
 doubts and perplexities dissipated in the meridian splen- 
 dour of gospel truth ; the storms of life softening into 
 silence; the delirium of pleasure, and the dreams of dis- 
 sipation fled, and the freed mind resigned to the dictates 
 of reason ; the wounds of conscience cured by the balm 
 of eternal love ; the heart, lacerated by the loss of those 
 •nee so dear to us, in full expectation of a re-union 
 
vi 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 never more to be broken ; every angry passion bushed 
 into peace ; the evils of life sunk in resignation to the 
 divine will; the fervent desires of the renovated heart 
 approaching the verge of never-ending enjoyment ; and 
 the whole soul reposing on the bosom of a Saviour's 
 love. These ought to be the privileges of a real 
 Christian, and will be so in proportion to the steadi- 
 ness of his faith. May the perusal of the excellent 
 Baxter, contribute to increase and strengthen such 
 faith, and excite such hope in the mind of every reader. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 Moral State of Man — Human Depravity — Original 
 Sin — Actual Sin, page I 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 Of the Truth, and essential Doctrines of the Christian 
 Religion, 41 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 Remedy for the disordered State of Man — Justifica- 
 tion by Faith alone, 62 
 
 BOOK 17. 
 Of Conversion, <?1 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 The Holy Spirit, 10(5 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 Necessity of Good Works, , . . 130 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 Death and Judgment, 5287 
 
BAXTERIANA 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 MORAL STATE OF MAN. — HUMAN DEPRAVITY.— 
 ORIGINAL SIN. ACTUAL SIN. 
 
 Chap. I. — Original Sin, universality of 
 
 A LL men are born with a serpentine malice and 
 enmity against the seed of Christy which is rooted 
 in their very natures. Custom in sin increaseth 
 this to more malignity; and it is only renewing 
 grace that doth overcome it. — Works, vol. iv, 
 p. 803. 
 
 Chap. II. — Nature of Sin. 
 
 He that is in a state of sin, hath habitually and 
 predominantly a greater love for some pleasures, 
 or profits, or honours of this world, than he hath 
 to God, and to the glory which he hath promised : 
 he preferreth, and seeketh, and beholdeth (if he 
 can) his fleshly prosperity in this world, before the 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 NATURE OF SIN. 
 
 favour of God and the happiness of the world to 
 come. His heart is turned from God unto the 
 creature, and is principally set on things on earth. 
 Thus his sin is the blindness, and madness, and 
 perfidiousness, and idolatry of his soul, and is for- 
 saking of God, and his salvation, for a thing of 
 nought. It is that to his soul, which poison, and 
 death, and sickness, and lameness, and blindness, 
 are to his body. — Works, vol. i. p. 7. 
 
 Sin is (formally) the violation of the perfect, 
 holy, righteous law of God. 
 
 It is a denial or contempt of the authority or 
 governing power of God ; as if we said, thou shalt 
 not be our governor in this. 
 
 It is an usurping the sovereign power to ourselves 
 of governing ourselves, in that act; for when we 
 refuse God's government, we set up ourselves in 
 his stead; and so make gods of ourselves as to our- 
 selves ; as if we were self-sufficient, independent, 
 and had right hereto. 
 
 It is a denying or contempt of the wisdom of 
 God, as if he had unwisely made us a law, which 
 is unmeet to rule us. 
 
 It is a setting up of our folly in the place of 
 God's wisdom, and preferring it before him ; as if 
 we were wiser to know how to govern ourselves, 
 and to know what is fittest and best for us now to 
 do, than God is. 
 
 It is a contempt of the goodness of God, as he 
 is the maker of the law; as if he had not done that 
 which is best, but that which may be corrected or 
 contradicted; and there were some evil in it to be 
 avoided. 
 
 It is violation of God's propriety or dominion, 
 robbing him of the use and service of that which is 
 absolutely and totally bis own. 
 
MALIGNITY OF SIN. 
 
 3 
 
 It is a claiming of propriety in ourselves, as if we 
 were our own, and might do with ourselves as we 
 list. 
 
 It is a contempt of the gracious promises of God, 
 by which he allured and bound us to obedience. 
 
 ' It is a contempt of the dreadful threatenings of 
 God, by which he would have restrained us from 
 evil. 
 
 It is a contempt or denial of the dreadful day of 
 judgment, in which an account must be given of 
 that sin. — Vol. i. p. 7- 
 
 Chap. III. — Malignity of Sin. 
 
 Look always on sin as one that is ready to die, 
 and consider how all men judge of it at the last. 
 What do men in heaven say of it? And what do 
 men in hell say of it? And what do men at death 
 say of it? And what do converted souls, or awak- 
 ened consciences say of it? is it then followed with 
 delight, and fearlessness, as it is now ? Is it then 
 applauded? Will any of them speak well of it? 
 Nay, all the work! speaks evil of sin in the general 
 now, even when they love and commit the several 
 acts. Will you sin when you are dying? 
 
 See that malignity in every one of your particu- 
 lar sins, which you can see and say, is sin in gene- 
 ral. — Works, vol. i. p. 81, 82. 
 
 Esteem thy want of love to God (with the turning 
 of it unto the creature) to be the heart of the old 
 man; thy most comprehensive odious sin; and ob- 
 serve this as the life of all thy particular sins, and 
 hate it above all the rest. This is the very death, 
 and greatest deformity of the soul ; the absence of 
 
4 
 
 MALIGNITY OF SIN. 
 
 God's image, and Spirit, and objectively of him- 
 self. I never loathe my heart so much, as when I 
 observe how little it loveth the Lord. Methinks 
 all the sins that ever I committed, are not so loath- 
 some to me as this want of love to God. And it is 
 this that is the venom, and malignity of every par- 
 ticular sin. I never so much hate myself, as when I 
 observe how little of God is vnthin me, and how far 
 my heart is estranged from him. I never do so 
 fully approve of the justice of God, if he should 
 condemn me, and thrust me for ever from his pre- 
 sence, as when I observe how far I have thrust 
 him from my heart. If there were any sin which 
 proceedeth not from a want of love of God, I could 
 easilier pardon it to myself, as knowing that God 
 would easilier pardon. But not to love the God of 
 Love, the fountain of love, the felicity of souls, is 
 a sin unfit to be pardoned to any till it be repented 
 of, and partly cured: Christ will forgive it to none 
 that keep it. And when it is incurable, it is the 
 special sin of hell; the badge of devils and damned 
 souls. If God will not give me a heart to love 
 him, I would I had never had a heart. If he will 
 give me this, he giveth me all. Happy are the 
 poor, the despised, and the persecuted, that can 
 but live in the love of God. Oh miserable empe- 
 rors, kings, and lords, that are strangers to this 
 heavenly love, and love their lust above their 
 Maker ! Might 1 but live in the fervent love of 
 God, what matter is it in what country, or what 
 cottage, or what prison I live ? If I live not in the 
 love of God, my country would be worse than ba- 
 nishment; a palace would be a prison; a crown 
 would be a miserable comfort to one that has cast 
 away his comfort, and is going to everlasting shame 
 and woe. Were we but duly sensible of the worth 
 of love, and the odiousness and malignity that is 
 
FOLLY OF SIN. 
 
 5 
 
 in the want of it, it would keep us from being 
 quiet in the daily neglect of it, and would quicken 
 us to seek, and to stir it up! — Works, vqI. i. p. 117- 
 
 Chap. IV.— Folly of Shu 
 
 Take every temptation in its naked proper sense, 
 as coming from the devil, and tending to damna- 
 tion, by enticing your hearts from your subjection 
 unto God : suppose you saw the devil himself in 
 his instruments offering you the bait of preferment, 
 or honour, or riches, or fleshly lust, or sports, or 
 of delightful meats, or drinks, to tempt you to 
 excess ; and suppose you heard him say to you 
 plainly, " take this for thy salvation ; sell me for 
 this thy God, and thy soul, and thy everlasting 
 hopes; commit this sin, that thou mayst fall under 
 the judgment of God, and be tormented in hell 
 with me for ever. Do this to please thy flesh, that 
 thou mayst displease thy God, and grieve thy Sa- 
 viour: I cannot draw thee to hell, but by drawing 
 thee to sin ; and I cannot make thee sin against thy 
 will, nor undo thee, but by thy own consent and 
 doing ; therefore I pray thee consent, and do it thy- 
 self, and let me have thy company in torments. " 
 This is the naked meaning of every temptation ; 
 suppose JjienR'ore you saw and heard all this, with 
 what <$iiglfctkm then would you reject it? With 
 what h$jKv would you fly from the most enticing 
 bait ? — Works, vol. i. p. 70. 
 
6 
 
 EVIL THOUGHTS. 
 
 Chap. V. — Hardness of He an. 
 
 Labour for a full apprehension of the evil and 
 danger of a hardened heart. It is the death of 
 the soul, so far as it prevaileth ; at the easiest, it 
 is like the stupidity of a paralytical member, or a 
 seared part. Observe the names which scriptures 
 giveth it ; the hardening of the heart, (Prov. xxviii. 
 14) ; the hardening of the neck, (Prov. xxix. 10), 
 which signifieth inflexibility; the hardening the 
 face, which signifieth impudency, (Prov. xxi. 29); 
 the searedness of the conscience, (1 Tim. iv. 2) ; 
 the impenitency of the heart, (Rom. ii. 5). Some- 
 times it is called sottishness, or stupidity (Jer. iv. 
 22). Sometime it is called a not caring, or not 
 laying things to heart, and not regarding, (Is. xlii. 
 25, and v. 12, and xxxii. 9, 10, 11). Sometime 
 it is denominated metaphorically from inanimates, 
 a face harder than a rock, (Jer. v. 3); stony 
 hearts, (Ezek. xi. 19, and xxxvi. 26) ; a neck with 
 an iron sinew, (Isa. xlviii. 4), and a brow of brass ; 
 it is called sleep, and a deep slumber, and a spirit 
 of slumber, ( Rom. xiii. 11, and xi. 8; Matt. xxv. 
 5) ; and death itself, (t Tim. v. 6; Ephes. ii. 1, 5; 
 Col. ii. 13; Jude, xii). — Works, vol. i. p. 163. 
 
 Chap. VL— Evil Thoughts. 
 
 As to the case of fleshly lasts; if your bodily 
 temper be addicted to it, as you love your soul, 
 keep at a sufficient distance from the bait. If you 
 feel your fancy begin to be infected towards any 
 person, whose comeliness enticeth you, be sure 
 
EVIL THOUGHTS. 
 
 7 
 
 that you never be with them alone without neces- 
 sity, and that you never be guilty of any immo- 
 dest looks, or touch or words ; but keep at such a 
 distance that it may be almost impossible for you to 
 sin. You little know what you have done, when 
 you have first broke the bounds of modesty ; you 
 have set open the door of your fancy to the devil ; 
 so that he can almost at his pleasure ever after, 
 represent the same sinful pleasure to you anew : he 
 hath now access to your fancy to stir up {James, i. 
 13, 14) lustful thoughts and desires ; so that when 
 you should think of your calling, or of your God, 
 or of your soul, your thoughts will be worse than 
 swinish, upon the filth that is not fit to be named. 
 If the devil here get in a foot, he will not easily 
 be got out. And if you should be once guilty of 
 fornication, it will first strongly tempt you to it 
 again, and the devil will say, if once may be par- 
 doned, why not twice ? and if twice, why not 
 thrice ? And next, the flames of hetl will be hot- 
 ter in your conscience, than the flames of lust were 
 in your flesh ; and if God do not give you up to 
 hardness of heart, and utterly (1 Thes. iii. 7) 
 forsake you, you will have no rest till you return 
 from sin to God ; which, if you be so happy as to 
 do, you little think how dear it may cost you ; 
 what terrors ! (Psal. li.) what heart-breaking ! and 
 perhaps a sad and disconsolate life even to your 
 death. 
 
 And you will not suffer alone : O what a grief 
 will it be to all the godly, that know or hear of 
 you ? What a reproach to religion ? What a hard- 
 ening to the wicked, to make them hate religion 
 to their damnation ? The malignant vrill triumph, 
 and say, no doubt, they are all alike : these are your 
 puritans ! your precisians ! your holy brethren ! 
 And if you thus wound religion, God will wound 
 
8 
 
 EVIL THOUGHTS. 
 
 your conscience and reputation at the last. — Works, 
 vol. iv. p. 185. 
 
 Rather than you will spend one hour in a day or 
 a week in serious thoughts of the state of your 
 souls, and the life to come, you will cast them 
 away upon news and tales, and other people's bu- 
 siness that do not concern you; yea, you will cast 
 them down the sink of covetousness and malice, 
 and lust, and wantonness, and make them servants 
 to the devil and the flesh. If you have a brook 
 running by your land, you will endeavour to turn 
 it over your ground, that seeing it must run, it 
 may as well run where it may do good, as run in 
 vain. So when your thoughts must run, is it not 
 better that you turn them to your own hearts and 
 states, to prepare for the world that you are ready 
 to step into, than to let them run in vain ? if you 
 see a man go into a wine-cellar (though it be his 
 own), and pull out all the spiggots, and let the 
 wine run about the cellar, and sutler no body to 
 catch it, or be the better for it, what would you 
 conceive of the wisdom and charity of that man? 
 Your thoughts are a thing more precious than 
 wine, and such a thing as should not be spilt. 
 And yet is not this your every day's practice ? You 
 are before him that know your thoughts ; deny it 
 if you can. What hour of the day can a man 
 come to you, and find your thoughts altogether 
 idle ? What minute of an hour can a man come 
 and ask you, what are you novo thinking on t and 
 you can truly say, nothing. I know as long as you 
 are awake you are always thinking of somewhat 
 (and perhaps when you are a sleep), and what is it 
 on ? This body shall have a thought, and that 
 body a thought ; every word you hear, and every 1 
 wrong that's done you, almost every thing you 
 
EVIL THOUGHTS. 
 
 9 
 
 look upon, shall have a thought; and God and 
 your own salvation shall have none ; that is, you 
 will loose them, and let them run in waste; but 
 you will do no good with them, nor take in any 
 profit by them to yourselves.— -Direct, to a sound 
 Conversion, 12mo. 17^2, p. 50. 
 
 Another part of self to be mortified and denied, 
 is self-imagination. 
 
 It is the selfishness of men's thoughts that is the 
 vanity of their thoughts ; and these are the imagi- 
 natio7is that are only evil continually. The thoughts 
 should be let out on God and his service ; so that 
 our meditation of him should be sweet, and we 
 should delight in the Lord, (Psal. civ. 34), and in 
 the multitude of our thoughts within us, his com- 
 forts should delight our souls, (Psal. xciv. 19). His 
 ivord sliould be our meditation all the day, (Psal. 
 cxix. 97, 99) ; and in his law we should meditate 
 day and night, (Psal. i. 2). God should be the 
 spring, the end, the sum of all our thoughts ; if 
 we find a thought in our minds that savoureth not 
 of God, yea, that is not sent by him, and doing 
 his work, we must disown it, apprehend it, and 
 cast it out. But alas, how contrary is the case 
 with the most ? As self is advanced highest in 
 their imagination, so doth it there attract and dis- 
 pose of the thoughts. What are all the thoughts 
 of unsanctified men employed for, but for them- 
 selves and theirs ? Their fantasies hunt about the- 
 world ; but it's their own game and pleasure that 
 they range about. The thoughts of one man run 
 upon his covetousness, and another man's upon 
 his filthy lusts, and another man's on his sports 
 and pleasures, and ano'her upon his honour and 
 reputation with men ! They feed f lie imaginations 
 cf their mind upon almost nothing but selfish 
 
10 
 
 WILFUL SINS* 
 
 things ! sometimes delighting themselves with the 
 very thoughts of men's esteem of them, or of their 
 worldly plenty, or of theii sinful lusts and plea- 
 sures, and sometimes troubling themselves with 
 the thoughts of their wants, or low condition, or 
 crosses, or injuries from men; sometimes contriv- 
 ing how they may attain their desires, and carking 
 and caring for accomplishing their selfish ends. 
 Morning and evening, at home and abroad, as 
 the thoughts of the sanctified are on God and 
 heaven, and the way thereto, so the thoughts of 
 the unsanctified are all upon self and the interest 
 of self, and the means thereto. O cleanse your 
 minds, sirs, of this great self-pollution; keep them 
 more clean and chaste to God. Deny self this 
 room in your imaginations, and waste not thoughts 
 and precious time, on such unjust and unprofitable 
 employment.' — Works, vol. iii. p. 3/0. 
 
 Chap. VII.— Wilful Sins. 
 
 The remembrance of the wilfulness of sinning, 
 and how poor a bait prevailed with us, and what 
 mercies and motives we bore down, will make us so 
 displeased and angry with ourselves, and so to 
 loathe such naughty hearts as will not admit a 
 speedy or easy reconciliation. Yea, when we re- 
 member that we sinned against knowledge, even 
 when we remembered that God did see us, and 
 that we offended him, it will keep us long in 
 doubt of our sincerity in the soul, and make us 
 afraid, lest still we have the same hearts, and 
 should again do the same if we had the same temp- 
 tations. Never look for joy or peace as long as you 
 live in wilful, and beloved sin : this thorn must be 
 
HABITUAL SINS. 
 
 11 
 
 taken out of your hearts before you will be eased 
 of the pain ; unless God leave you to a senseless 
 heart, and Satan give you a deceitful peace, which 
 doth but prepare for greater sorrow. — Works, vol. iv. 
 p. 839. 
 
 If your heart be not, (Psal. xxxii. 1, 2, 3) sin- 
 cere in your consent to the covenant, you will re- 
 main unpardoned in your sin and misery till it be 
 sincere. 
 
 If you fall into a particular sin, you must be 
 restored by renewed repentance for it through faith 
 in Christ. But as you love God and your soul, 
 take heed of wilful sinning. — H'orks, vol. iv. p. 179. 
 
 Chap. VIIL— Habitual Sins. 
 
 A common cause of trouble of mind is the guilt 
 of some great and wilful sin, when conscience is con- 
 vinced, and yet the soul is not converted, sin is 
 beloved, and yet feared : God's wrath doth terrify 
 them, and yet not enough to overcome their sin ; 
 some live in secret fraud and robbery, and many 
 in drunkenness and fleshly lusts, cither self-pollu- 
 tion or fornication, and they know that for such 
 things the wrath of God cometh on the children of 
 disobedience; and yet the rage of appetite and lust 
 prevaileth, and they despair and sin ; and while 
 the sparks of hell frill on their consciences, it 
 changeth neither heart nor life, there is some more 
 hope of the recovery of these than of dead- hearted 
 or unbelieving sinners, who work unclean ness with 
 greediness, as being past feeling, and blinded to 
 defend their sins, and plead against holy obedience 
 to God. Biutishness is not so bad as diabolism and 
 
12 
 
 THE CAUDAL MIND. 
 
 malignity. Their sorrow is not overmuch, but too 
 little, as long as it will not restrain them from their 
 s>in. 
 
 But yet if God convert these persons, the sins 
 which they now live in, may possibly hereafter 
 plunge their souls into such depths of sorrow, in 
 the review, as may swallow them up. 
 
 And when men truly converted, yet dally with 
 the bait, and renew the wounds of their consciences 
 by their lapses, it is no wonder if their sorrow and 
 terrors are renewed. Grievous sins have fastened 
 so on the conscience of many, as have cast them 
 into incurable melancholy and distraction. — JForks^ 
 vol. iv. p. 837. 
 
 Chap. IX. — The Carnal Mind. 
 
 A carnal mind apprehendeth not a suitableness 
 in the spiritual and heavenly things to his mind, 
 and therefore he sets light by them. When you 
 tell him of everlasting glory, he heareth you as if 
 you were persuading him to go play with the sun ; 
 they are matters of another world, and out of his 
 element ; and therefore he hath no more delight in 
 them, than a fish would have to be in the fairest 
 meadow, or than a swine hath in a jewel, or a dog 
 in a piece of gold : they may be good to ethers, 
 but he cannot apprehend them as suitable to him, 
 because he hath a nature that is otherwise inclined \ 
 he savoureth not of the things of the spirit, (Rom, 
 viii. 5.) — Works, vol. iv. p. 731. 
 
THE WORLDLY MIND. 
 
 Chap. X.— The Worldly Mind. 
 
 O what a strange and horrible thing it is, that 
 the man that hath the wit to manage his affairs 
 as plausibly as any of his neighbours, that can 
 over-wit others in matters of the world ; that can 
 govern towns and countries; that is learned in his 
 profession, in law, in physic, in merchandize, in 
 navigation, or any the like, 1 say that a man of so 
 deep a reach, so plodding and active a wit as this, 
 should yet be Unresolved, yea thirty or forty years 
 old be unresolved, whether to be sanctified, or un- 
 sanctified; whether to be holy and saved, or to be 
 unholy, though God hath professed expressly, that 
 such shall not see the face of God, (Heb. xii. 14). 
 These are our wise men, these are too many (be- 
 sides the ignorant countrymen) of our gentlemen, 
 our worshipful, our honourable men, our great 
 scholars, and men of noble or reverend esteem ; 
 and yet are unresolved, whether to be saved or 
 damned. Though God hath written a bible to re- 
 solve them, and a thousand books are written to 
 resolve them, and preachers are studying and 
 preaching to resolve them; and a thousand mercies 
 are cast into the scales, that one would think 
 should help to turn them ; and some sharp afflic- 
 tions are helping to resolve them, and twenty or 
 forty years' certain experience of the vanity of this 
 world, the deccitfulness of riches, of honours, of 
 pleasures, and the unprofitableness of sin, one 
 would think should resolve them ; yet after all they 
 are unresolved, whether they should presently let 
 go their sin, and whether God or the flesh should 
 lae pleased or displeased? If this be the wisdom of 
 
THE WORLDLY MIND. 
 
 these men, the Lord bless me and all his chosen,, 
 from such wisdom. — H 'orks,' vol. ii. p. tKM. 
 
 An earthly mind is an hindrance to be carefully 
 avoided. God and Mammon, earth and heaven, 
 cannot both have the delight of thy heart. When, 
 the heavenly believer is blessing himself in his God, 
 and rejoicing in hope of the glory to come; per- 
 haps thou art blessing thyself in thy worldly pros- 
 perity, and rejoicing in hope of thy thriviug here. 
 VVhen he is comforting his soul in the views of 
 Christ, of angels and saints, whom he shall live 
 with for ever ; thou art comforting thyself with thy 
 wealth, in looking over thy bills and bonds, thy 
 goods, thy cattle, or thy buildings, and in think- 
 ing of the favour of the great, of the pleasure of a 
 plentiful estate, of larger provision for thy children 
 after thee, of the advancement of thy family, or 
 the increase of thy dependents. If Christ pro- 
 nounced him a fool, that said, Soul, take thine 
 ease, thou hast much laid up for many years; how 
 much more so art thou, who, knowingly, speakest 
 in thy heart the same words ? Tell me, what dif- 
 ference between this fool's expressions, and thy 
 affections ? Remember, thou hast to do with the 
 searcher of hearts. Certainly, so much as thou 
 delightest, and takest up thy rest on earth, so 
 much of thy delight in God is abated. Thine 
 earthly mind may consist with thine outward pro- 
 fession and common duties; but it cannot consist 
 with this heavenly duty. Thou thyself knowest 
 how seldom and cold, how cursory and reserved 
 thy thoughts have been of the joys above, ever 
 since thou didst tread so eagerly for the world. 
 O, the cursed madness of many that seem to be 
 religious ! They thrust themselves into a multitude 
 
THE WORLDLY MIND. 
 
 15 
 
 of employments, till . they are loaded with labours, 
 and clogged with cares, and their souls are as unfit 
 to converse with God, as a man to walk with a 
 mountain on his back; and as unapt to soar in me- 
 ditation, as their bodies to leap above the sun ! 
 And when they have lost that heaven upon earth, 
 which they might have had, they take up with a 
 few rotten arguments to prove it lawful; though 
 indeed they cannot. I advise thee, Christian, who 
 have tasted the pleasures of a heavenly life, as ever 
 thou wouldst taste of them any more, avoid this 
 devouring gulph of an earthly mind, if once thou 
 come to this, that thou wilt be rich, thou fallest 
 into temptation, and a snnre, and into many fool- 
 ish and hurtful lusts. (I Tim.v'i.9). Keep these 
 things loose about thee, like thy upper garments, 
 that thou mayst lay them by whenever there is 
 need ; but let God and glory be next thy heart. 
 Ever remember, that the friendship of the world is 
 enmity with God. Whosoever therefore will be a 
 friend of the world, is the enemy of God. (James 
 iv. A). 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, (\ John ii. 15). 
 This is plain dealing, and happy he that faithfully 
 receives it ! — Saints Rest, p. 244. 
 
 As the creature would be man's felicity, or any 
 part of his true felicity, so it is to be hated, resist- 
 ed, and crucified. If the world would know its 
 own place ; but if it will needs pretend to be what 
 it is not, and will promise to do what it cannot, 
 and so would not only be used, but enjoyed, we 
 must take it for a deceiver. — Works, vol. iii. p. 450. 
 
 Whom will you match with God? or set up 
 against him, and prefer before him ? W 7 hat will 
 
16 
 
 THE WORLDLY MIND. 
 
 you choose, if you choose not him ? What shall be 
 your ponion instead of heaven ? Dotli it excuse 
 you, that the world hath so lovely an aspect ? Yes, 
 if God be not more amiable than it, and if his 
 face and favour be not more desirable. Doth it 
 excuse you that the baits of the world are pleasant, 
 and that it offered you fair? Yes, if God had not 
 outbid it, and offered you ten thousand times 
 more. Doth it excuse you that the world is near 
 and certain, and heaven uncertain, or out of sight ? 
 Yes, if you are beasts that have no reason to know 
 what will be, but only sense to feel what is; or if 
 God have not given you an infallible promise, be- 
 friended by reason, sealed by multitudes of uncon- 
 troled miracles, and transcribed on his servants' 
 hearts ; and if the greatness of the glory promised 
 were not sufficient to do more at a distance with a 
 man of faith and reason, than childish trifles near 
 at hand ; as the sun at a distance giveth us more 
 light, than a glow-worm that is hard by. Yea, and 
 if the world, which you think so certain, were not 
 certainly transitory and vain ; so that he that gets 
 it, is certain shortly to be no gainer; and he that 
 loseth it. to be no loser. It is one thing to take 
 God and heaven for your portion, as believers do, 
 and another thing to be desirous of it as a reserve 
 when you can keep the world no longer. It's one 
 thing to submit to heaven, as a lesser evil than 
 hell ; and another thing to desire it as a greater 
 good than earth. It's one thing to lay up trea- 
 sures and hopes in heaven, and seek it first ; and 
 another thing to be contented with it in our neces- 
 sity, and to seek the world before it, and give 
 God that the flesh can spare. Thus dhTereth the 
 religion of serious christians, and of carnal worldly 
 hypocrites. — Works, vol. lit • p. 439-40. 
 
THE WORLDLY MIND. 
 
 17 
 
 . The believer must have heaven secured, and God 
 obeyed. Men sell not their souls for sorrow, but 
 for mirth; they forsake not heaven for poverty, but 
 for riches; they turn not away from God for the 
 love of sufferings and dishonour, but for the' love 
 of pleasure, preferments, dignities and estimation in 
 the world. And is that state better, and more de- 
 sirable for which all that perish turn from God, 
 and sell their souls, and are befooled and undone 
 for ever ? Or that which no man ever sinned for, 
 nor forsook God for, or was undone for? Read 
 over this question once again, and mark what 
 answer your hearts give to it, if you would know 
 whether you live by sense or faith ? And mark 
 what contrary answers the flesh and faith will give 
 it when it comes to practice ? I say, though many 
 sin in poverty and in sufferings, and in disgrace, 
 yea, and by occasion of them, and by their tempta- 
 tions, yet no man ever sinned for them : they are 
 none of the bait that stealed away the heart from 
 God. Set deep upon your heart, the sense of the 
 danger of a prosperous state, and fear and vigilancy 
 will help to save you. — Works, vol. iii. p. 627. 
 
 Such a bedlam is most of the world become, 
 where madness goeth for the only wisdom, and he 
 is the bravest man that can sin and be damn'd with 
 reputation and renown, and successfully drive or 
 draw the greatest number with him into hell ; to 
 which the world hath no small likeness, forsaking 
 God, and being very much forsaken by him. 
 
 This is the world which standcth in competi- 
 tion for my love, with the spiritual blessed world : 
 much of God's mercies and comforts I have here 
 had; but their sweetness was their taste of divine 
 love, and their tendency to heavenly perfection* 
 
18 
 
 THE WORLDLY MIND. 
 
 What was the end and use of all the good that ever 
 I saw, or that ever God did for my soul or body, 
 but to teach me to love him, and long for more ? 
 How many weaning experiences ? How many 
 thousand bitter or contemning thoughts have I had 
 of all the glory and pleasures of this world ? How 
 many thousand love-tokens from God have called 
 me to believe and taste his goodness ? Wherever 
 I go, and which way so ever 1 look, I see vanity 
 and vexation written upon all things in this world, 
 so far as they stand in competition with God, and 
 would be the end and portion of a fleshly mind ; 
 and I see holiness to the lord written upon 
 every thing so far as it declareth God, and leadetk 
 me to him as my ultimate end. God hath not for 
 nothing engaged me in a war against this world, 
 and commanded me to take and use it as mine 
 enemy. The emptiness, dangerness, and bitter- 
 ness of the world, and the all-sufficiency, trusti- 
 ness, and goodness of God, have been the sum of 
 all the experiences of my life ; and shall a worldly 
 backward heart overcome the teachings of nature, 
 scripture, the spirit of grace and -all experience? 
 Far be it from me! — TFvrks, vol. iii. p. 7 15. 
 
 Alas ! what did man when he forsook the love 
 and obedience of his God ? How just is it that this 
 flesh and world should become our prison, which 
 we would make our home, and would not use as 
 our Lord appointed us, as our servant and way to 
 our better state? Though our way must not be our 
 home, our father would not have been so strange to 
 us in the way, if we had not unthankfully turned 
 away from his grace and love. 
 
 It is to us, that know not the mysteries of infinite 
 wisdom, the saddest thought that ever doth possess 
 
THE WORLDLY MIND. 
 
 our minds, to consider that there is no more grace 
 and holiness, knowledge of God, and communion 
 with him in this world : that so few arc saints, and 
 those few so lamentably defective and imperfect, 
 that when the sun shineth on all the earth, the 
 sun of righteousness shineth on so small a part of 
 it, and so few live in the love of God, and the joy- 
 ful hopes of future blessedness ; and those few have 
 so low a measure of it, and are corrupted and trou- 
 bled with so many contrary affections. Infinite 
 goodness is not undisposed to do good : he that 
 made us capable of holy and heavenly affections, 
 gave us not that capacity in vain. And yet, alas! 
 how little of God and glory taketh up the hearts of 
 men ! 
 
 But man hath no cause to grudge at God : the 
 devils, before their fall, were not made indefecti- 
 ble: divine wisdom is delighted in the diversity of 
 his works, and maketh them not all of equal excel- 
 lency. Free will was to act its part: hell is not to 
 be as good as heaven, and sin hath made earth to 
 be next to hell: so much sin, so much hell: what 
 is sin but a wilful forsaking of God? And can we 
 forsake him, and yet love him and enjoy his love ? 
 God's kingdom is not to be judged of by his jail or 
 gibbets. And if my want of knowledge and love of 
 God, and joyful communion with the heavenly so- 
 ciety, be my prison, and as the suburbs of hell, 
 should it not make me long for the day of my re- 
 demption, and the glorious liberty of the sons of 
 God? My true desires of deliverance, and of holi- 
 ness and perfection, are my evidences that I shall 
 obtain them. — Works, vol. iii. p. 90/. 
 
 When the devil and the flesh will make it their 
 bait to draw away our hearts from God, and to 
 steal that love, desire, and care, which is due to 
 
20 
 
 THE WORLDLY MIND. 
 
 him, and begin to tell us of rest, or satisfaction, or 
 felicity here, it's time to cry out, Crucify it, crucify 
 it. — Works, vol. iii. p. 451. 
 
 Alas, to be merry for a dav, and then to lye in 
 misery for ever, is a thing deserving no encourage- 
 ment. We see it's a merry world with many that 
 have least cause of mirth ; but how long will tliey 
 continue it? To see a man laugh and play, and 
 feast in a chariot that drives on so f?.st to death, in 
 a vessel that is in so swift a stream that ends in the 
 gulf of endless horror, is a doleful sight. O how 
 quickly will that merry countenance turn sad ; and 
 those proud looks be turned to an earthly paleness, 
 and those wanton eyes be mouldered to dust, and 
 leave the empty holes to warn the next spectators 
 to use his eyes more wisely while he hath them ? 
 How quickly will these same sensual persons ex- 
 change their mirth for sighs and groans, and end- 
 less torments, and fruitless lamentations, when 
 they shall have everlasting leisure to peruse their 
 lives, and to consider of their ways, which now 
 there is no persuading them to consider of?— 
 Works, vol. iv. p. 814. 
 
 How foolish and unsafe it is to think and speak, 
 and do as the most do, unless you would speed as 
 the most do for ever; and how unmeet it is for 
 them to be conformed to this world, who hope 
 to be for ever separated from them? — Works, 
 vol. iv. p. 190. 
 
 Mark any that grow more in loving and caring 
 for unnecessary, wordly fleshly things, and you 
 shall find that they grow more indifferent to prayer, 
 and to all holy exercises that employ the mind ; a 
 little of this will serve their turns : mark them that 
 
THE WORLDLY MIND. 
 
 21 
 
 overmind their ornaments, their conveniences, their 
 appetites, or their worldly gain, and you shall see 
 how heartless and dead they grow towards God, 
 and holiness, and heaven, when shadows seem 
 substances, and substance goeth but for a shadow ; 
 a little of God will serve them, when a little of the 
 world will not serve them, and spiritual things lose 
 all their sweetness, when fleshly pleasures and 
 hopes grow too sweet. — JVorks, vol. iv. p. 693. 
 
 Are those so sincerely devoted to Christ? A.nd 
 do they so deny themselves, whose daily thoughts, 
 and care, and labour, is how they may live in more 
 reputation and content, and may be better provided 
 for the satisfying of their flesh ? If they be low 
 and poor, and their condition is displeasing to 
 them, their greatest care is to repair to their minds; 
 if they be higher and more wealthy, their business 
 is to keep it or increase it, that hunt after honour, 
 and thirst after a thriving and more plenteous state; 
 that can stretch their consciences to the size of all 
 times, and humour those that they think may ad- 
 vance them, and be most humble servants to those 
 above them, and contemptuously neglect whoever 
 is below them ; that will put their hands to the 
 feet of those that they hope to rise by, and put 
 their feet on the necks of their subdued adversaries, 
 and trample upon all that stand in their way ; that 
 applaud not men for their honesty, but their 
 worldly honours, and will magnify that man while 
 he is capable of advancing them, whom they would 
 have scorned, if Providence had laid him in the 
 dust; that are friends to all that befriend their in- 
 terest and designs, and enemies to the more upright 
 that cross them in their course ; that love not men 
 so much because they love God, as because they 
 
22 
 
 THE WORLDLY MIND. 
 
 love them : are these devoted to God, or to them- 
 selves ? — Works, vol. iv. p. 712. 
 
 See that the flesh be thoroughly mortified, and 
 your hearts be thoroughly taken off the world, and 
 all its pleasures, profits, and honours, and that 
 you think not of reconciling God and the world, as 
 if you might secure an interest in both. 
 
 This is a very common cause of deceit and de- 
 struction to such as think they are converted. It is 
 the very nature and business of true conversion, to 
 turn men's hearts from the flesh, and from the 
 world, to God, and from an earthly and seeming 
 happiness, to a heavenly and everlasting happiness. 
 And when men are affrighted into some kind of 
 religiousness, and yet never learn to deny them- 
 selves, and never mortified their fleshly mind, but 
 the love of the world is still the chiefest principal at 
 their hearts; and so go on in profession of godli- 
 ness, with a secret reserve that they will look as 
 well as they can to their outward prosperity, what- 
 ever become of their religion, and they will have 
 no more to do with the matters of another world, 
 than may stand with their bodily safety in this 
 world; and these are the deceived deluded hypo- 
 crites, whose hopes will prove as the giving up of 
 the ghost ? whom Christ will disown in their great- 
 est extremities, after all their seeming religiousness. 
 O sirs, look to this, as ever you would be happy. 
 It's an easy, it's a common, it's a most dange- 
 rous thing, to set upon a course of outward piety, 
 and yet keep the world next your hearts, and take 
 it still as a great part of your felicity, and secretly 
 to love your former lusts, while you appear to be 
 converted. The heart is so deceitful, that you 
 have great cause to watch it narrowly in this point ; 
 
SENSUALITY. 
 
 23 
 
 it will closely cherish the love of the world, and 
 your fleshly pleasures, when you seem to renounce 
 them, and your tongue can speak contemptuously 
 of them. If you will needs have happiness in this 
 world, in the contenting of the flesh, there is no 
 hopes of having it in another world, in the fruition 
 of God. God will not call that love to him sin- 
 cere, which is not a superlative love, and make 
 you to hate all those things that would draw away 
 your affections and obedience from him, (Luke, xiv. 
 26, 27). Can you voluntarily, for the love of 
 Christ and the hopes of glory, take up your cross 
 and follow him in poverty, in losses, in reproaches, 
 through scorns, and scourgings, and prisons, and 
 death ? Do you value his loving kindness better 
 than life ? (Psal. lxiii. 3). Can you deny your eyes 
 and your appetites their desires ? Can you con- 
 sent to be vile in the eyes of men ? If you cannot 
 consent to those terms, you cannot be christians, 
 nor you cannot be saved. If you must needs be 
 rich or must be honourable, yea, if you must needs 
 save your estates, or liberties, or lives, it's past 
 all question, you must needs let go Christ and 
 glory : if you must needs have the world, you 
 must needs loose your souls. If you must have your 
 good things here, you must not have them here- 
 after too, but be tormented when Christ's sufferers 
 are comforted, (Luke, xvi. 25). — IVorks, vol. ii. 582. 
 
 Chap. XI. — Sensuality. 
 
 Though selfishness hath defiled the whole man, 
 yet sensual pleasure is the chief part of its interest, 
 and therefore by the senses it commonly works, 
 and these are the doors and windows by which ini- 
 
24 
 
 PRIDE. 
 
 quity entereth into the soul ; and therefore a prin- 
 cipal part of self-denial, consisteth in denying the 
 sensitive appetite. — Works, vol. iii. p. 3J1. 
 
 Chap. XII. — Pride. 
 
 There are two sad instances of pride which are 
 too familiarly seen among us. The one is the case 
 of many convinced hypocrites, yea, and many pas- 
 sionate feeble christian, who are affrighted with 
 the terrors of the Lord, and partly disturbed by 
 their guilt, or passions, and partly take it to be an 
 honourable sign of humility to condemn them- 
 selves ; and therefore will fill the ears of ministers 
 with sad complaints of their fears and doubts, and 
 sins, and wants, as if they would hardly be kept 
 from desperation. And yet if they know that an- 
 other doth believe them, and think and speak as 
 bad of them as they speak of themselves; yea, if 
 he do but slight and prefer others before them, or 
 plainly reprove them for any disgraceful sin, they 
 swell with the wrath of pride against him, and will 
 not easily think or speak well of such a one : and 
 they love him best that thinketh best of them, and 
 praiseth them most, even when they most dispraise 
 themselves; which sheweth that a man may be 
 really humbled in some respects, and seem to be 
 humble in more, and yet at the heart be danger- 
 ously proud. — Works, vol. iii. p. 633. 
 
 The unconverted are abominable to God; I 
 know many persons that are most deeply guilty, 
 especially men of honor and esteem in the world, 
 who would scorn to have the title of sinners given 
 to them. But verily, God is not fearful of of- 
 
IDLENESS AND SLOTH. 
 
 25 
 
 fending them, nor so tender of their defiled ho- 
 nour as they are of their own, or as they expect 
 the preacher should be. — Works, vol. i. p. 12, 
 Christian Direct, 
 
 Chap. XIII. — Idleness and Sloth. 
 
 Idleness is a constant sin, and labour is a duty: 
 idleness is but the devil's home for temptation, and 
 for unprofitable, distracting musings : labour pro- 
 fiteth others, and ourselves. — Works, vol. iv. p. 844. 
 
 When men have time to spare : this is a most evi- 
 dent mark of idleness; for God hath given us no 
 time in vain ; but hath given us full work, for all 
 our time. — Works, vol. iii. p. 639. — Read the 
 w T hole passage, for it is excellent. 
 
 A slothful spirit is an impediment to a heavenly 
 life, and I verily think there is nothing hinders it 
 more than this in men of a good understanding. If 
 it w r ere only the exercise of the body, the moving 
 of the lips, the bending of the knee; men would as 
 commonly step to heaven, as they go to visit a 
 friend. But to separate our thoughts and affections 
 from the world, to draw forth all our graces, and 
 increase each in its proper object, and to hold them 
 to it till the work prospers in our hands ; this,, this 
 is the difficulty. — Saints Rest, p. 251. — The whole 
 passage is interesting. 
 
26 
 
 DISSIPATION. 
 
 Chap. XIV. — Dissipation. 
 
 Avoid those tempting and deluding objects, 
 which are still enticing your hearts from obedience; 
 and avoid that diverting crowd, and noise of com- 
 pany, or worldly business, which drowns the voice 
 of God's commands. — Works, vol. i. p. 70. 
 
 Your mirth is disingenuous and dishonest, as long 
 as you are without a title to heaven : you slight the 
 Lord, that can find such matters of rejoicing, when 
 you have not his favour to rejoice in, and are un- 
 der his displeasure ! While you are refusing Christ, 
 abusing grace, resisting the spirit, serving the 
 flesh, and undoing your own souls, it cannot be 
 an honest or ingenuous thing for such as you to live 
 in joy. 
 
 If your mirth were truly honourable, to you it 
 were the more excusable. But to laugh in sin and 
 misery, and make merry so near the endless woe, 
 is a greater shame to your understandings, than to 
 make sport to set your house on fire: this is the 
 laughter of which Solomon might well say, thou art 
 mad; and the mirth of which he saith, what dot ft 
 it? (Eccl. ii. 2.) — Works, vol. iv. p. 814. 
 
 Would thy mirth do thee any good we would 
 not discourage it; yea, if it did not do thee harm. 
 But, O how many are now in sorrow by the means 
 of their unseasonable sinful mirth? They are too 
 jocund to hear the preacher, or their consciences, 
 or to observe the checks and motions of God's spi- 
 rit; or to spend now and then an hour in retired, 
 sober thoughts of their everlasting state. Should 
 we but presume to call them to exercise their rea- 
 son, and mind them of these most needful things, 
 
HYPOCRISY. 
 
 27 
 
 and tell them, O poor distracted mortals, your 
 time is given you for greater things than to fiddle, 
 and dance, and drink, and jest, and prate, and 
 compliment it away; should we not be thought 
 morose, or melancholy, or fanaticks ? — Works, 
 vol. iv. p. 8J4. 
 
 Chap. XV. — Ingratitude. 
 
 Those men that seek themselves, and live to 
 themselves, and not to God, are unfaithful and 
 treacherous both to God and man. As they neg- 
 lect God in prosperity, so they do but flatter him 
 in adversity, (Psal. lxxviii. 34, 35, 36, 37). — 
 Works, vol. iv. p. 713. 
 
 Chap. XVI. — Hypocrisy. 
 
 The self-deceiving hypocrite doth frequently pre- 
 tend to an exceeding great reverence in the manag- 
 ing of the outward part of ivorship; and to an ex- 
 traordinary zeal about the circumstantials of reli- 
 gion. He accounts them all scismatical and pro- 
 phane, that place not as much of their religion as 
 he doth in gestures and forms, and other accidents 
 of worship, acquainting us, that the pharasaicai 
 temper in religion is natural, and will continue iu 
 the world. 
 
 If the temptation of the hypocrite lie on the 
 other side, he can withdraw himself into some 
 small or separating society, and place his religion 
 in the singularity of his opinions, or in the strict- 
 ness of the way and party that he owneth, and ia 
 
SIN 5 OF INATTENTION, 
 
 bis couceited ability in his conceived or ready ex- 
 pressions in prayer : and can cry on t as much upon 
 the formalist, as the formal hypocrite upon him, 
 and glory in his zeal, as the other in his modera- 
 tion. It is in the heart that hypocrisy hath its 
 throne, from whence it can command the outward 
 acts into any shapes that are agreeable to its ends; 
 and can use materials of divers natures as the fuel 
 and nutriment of its malignity. And whatever 
 party such are joined to, and whatever way they 
 have been trained up to, whether formality, or 
 schism, or more regular, sober, equal ways, m aD 
 of them their religion is but com, and they do but 
 deeeive themselves by all. — PTorfc?, vol. iv. p. 
 
 Chap. XVII. — Swt of iRoitemtimu 
 
 What barbarous, yea, devilish; yea, worse than 
 devilish ingratitude is this ? The devils never had a 
 Saviour offered them, but thou hast, and dost thou 
 yet make light of him r — Works, vol. iv. p. 735. 
 
 That which men highly esteem, they wiH so di- 
 ligently seek after, that you may see it in the smc- 
 rcss, if it be a matter within their reach. You may 
 see how many make light of Christ, by the little 
 knowledge they have of him, and the little commu- 
 nion with him,* and communication from him; and 
 the little, yea none of his special graces in them. 
 Alas ! How many ministers can speak it to the sor- 
 row of their hearts, that many of their people know 
 almost nothing of Christ, though they hear of him 
 daily ! Nor know they what they must do to be 
 saved : if we ask them an account of these things, 
 thev answer as if they understood not what we say 
 
SIN OF INATTENTION. 
 
 29 
 
 to them, and tell us they are no scholars, and 
 therefore think they are excusable for their igno- 
 rance. Oh, if these men had not made light of 
 Christ, and their salvation, bat had bestowed but 
 half so much pains to know and enjoy him, as they 
 have done to understand the matters of the trades 
 and callings in the world, they would not have 
 been so ignorant as they are ; they make light of 
 these things, and therefore will not be at the 
 pains to study or learn them. When men that can 
 learn the hardest trade in a few years, have not 
 learned a catech : sm, nor how to understand the 
 creed, under twenty or thirty years preaching, nor 
 cannot abide to be questioned about such things ; 
 doth not this shew that they have slighted them in 
 their hearts? How will these despisers of Christ 
 and salvation be able one day to look him in the 
 face, and to give an account of these neglects? — 
 Works, vol. iv. p. 735. 
 
 A man that hath a cause to be heard to-morrow, 
 in which his life or honour 1* concerned, cannot for- 
 get it: A wretch that is condemned to die to-mor- 
 row, cannot forget it. And yet poor sinners, that 
 are continually uncertain to live an hour, and cer- 
 tain speedily to see the majesty of the Lord, to 
 their unconceivable joy or terror, as sure as now 
 they live on earth, "can forget these things for 
 which they have their memory; and which one 
 would think should drown the matters of this world, 
 as the report of a cannon doth a whisper, or as the 
 sun obscureth the poorest glow-worm. O wonder- 
 ful stupidity of an unrenewed soul ! O wonderful 
 folly and distractedness of the ungodly ! That ever 
 men can forget, I say again, that they can forget, 
 eternal joy, eternal woe, and the eternal God, and 
 the place of their eternal unchangeable abode, when 
 
so 
 
 SIN OF INATTENTION. 
 
 they stand even at the door, and are passing in, 
 and there is but the thin veil of flesh between them 
 and that amazing sight, that eternal gulf ; and they 
 are daily dying, and even stepping in. O could 
 you keep your honours here for ever; could you 
 ever wear that gay attire, and gratify your flesh 
 with meats, and drinks, and sports, and lusts; 
 could you ever keep your rule and dignity, or your 
 earthly life in any state, you had some little poor 
 excuse for not remembering the eternal things, as 
 a man hath, that preferreth his candle before the 
 sun: but when death is near and inexorable, and 
 you are sure to die as you are sure to live ; when 
 every man of you that sitteth in these seats to day 
 can say, / must shortly be in another world, where 
 all the pomp and pleasure of this world will be for- 
 gotten, or remembered but as my sin and Jolly, 
 one would think it were impossible for any of you 
 to be ungodly, and to remember the trifles and no- 
 things of the world, while you forget that everlast- 
 ing all, whose reality, necessity, magnitude, excel- 
 lency, concernment, and duration, are such, as 
 should take up all the powers of your souls, and 
 continually command the service and attendance of 
 your thoughts against all seekers, and contemptible 
 competitors whatsoever. But alas, though you 
 have the greatest helps (in subserviency to these 
 commanding objects), yet will you not remember 
 the matters which alone deserve remembrance. — 
 Works, vol. iv. p. 
 
 Chap. XVIII. — Sins oj Memory. 
 
 The crcwd of cares and worldly businesses, and 
 the tumultuous noise of foolish sports, and other 
 
SELF-DEPENDENCE. 
 
 31 
 
 sensual passions and delights, do take up the 
 minds of the unconverted, and turn them from the 
 observation of the things of the greatest everlasting 
 consequence. They have a memory for sin and 
 the flesh, to which they are alive; but not for 
 things spiritual and eternal, to which they are 
 dead. They remember not God himself as God, 
 with any effectual remembrance ; God is not in all 
 their thoughts, (PsaL x. 4). They live as without 
 him in the world, (Eph.il. 12). And if they re- 
 member not God, they cannot remember sin as sin, 
 •whose malignity lieth in its opposition to the will 
 and holiness of God. — Works, vol. iv. p. 799. 
 
 Chap. XIX. — Self- dependence. 
 
 Is it not imcomparably more honourable to be 
 God's, than to be your own? And to live to him 
 than to yourselves? The object and end doth no- 
 bilitate the act, and thereby the agent. It is more 
 honourable to serve a prince than a ploughman. 
 That man that least seeks his own honour or carnal 
 interest, but most freely denieth it, and most en- 
 tirely seeks the honour of God, is the most highly 
 honoured with God and good men, when self- 
 seekers defraud themselves of their hopes. — Works, 
 vol. iv. p. 713. 
 
 He hath an ill master that is ruled by himself. 
 A master that is blind, and proud, and passionate, 
 that will lead you unto precipices, and thence de- 
 ject you; that will effectually ruin you, when he 
 thinks he is doing you the greatest good ; whose 
 work is bad, and his wages no better, that feedeth 
 his servants in plenty, but as swine, and in the 
 
32 
 
 SELF-DEPENDENCE.. 
 
 day of famine denieth them the husks : whatever you 
 may now imagine while you are distracted with 
 sensuality, I dare say, if ever God bring you to 
 yourselves, you will consider that it is better to be 
 in your father's house, where the poorest servant 
 hath bread enough, than to be fed with dreams 
 and pictures, and to perish with hunger : reject not 
 God till you have found a better master. 
 
 If you will needs be your own, and seek your- 
 selves, you disengage God from dealing with you 
 as his in a gracious sense : If you will not trust 
 him, nor venture yourselves upon his promise and 
 conduct, but will shift for yourselves, then look to 
 yourselves as well as you can ; save yourselves in 
 danger, cure your own diseases, quiet your own 
 consciences, grapple with death in your strength, 
 plead your own cause in judgment, and save your- 
 selves from hell if you can; and when you have 
 done, go and boast of your own sufficiency and 
 atchievements, and tell men how little you were 
 beholden to Christ. Woe to you, if upon these 
 provocations God should give you over to provide 
 for youn-clves, and leave you without any other 
 salvation than your own power is able to effect. — 
 Works, vol. iv. y. 713- 
 
 Trust not yourselves too far ; the will goeth not 
 against the mind's apprehensions; and a man's 
 mind is a very dark, weak, mutable thing: what a 
 temptation, or a subtle wrangler, or argument, or 
 a new thought may do upon us, we do not well 
 know. Presumption seldom escapeth danger. A 
 wise man feareth and departeth from evil : confi- 
 dence in our own understanding, goodness and 
 stability, is the prognostick of back sliding. Away 
 from the temptations which do most strongly allure 
 the flesh : to be over-pleased with things temporal 
 
PROCRASTINATION. 
 
 33 
 
 and sensible, turneth the heart from things spi- 
 ritual and eternal. To desire a more pleasing con- 
 dition to the flesh, is to desire stronger tempta- 
 tions and greater danger to the soul. — Works, 
 vol. iv. p. 703-4. 
 
 Chap. XX. — Procrastination. 
 
 Some that arc convinced, do put off their conver- 
 sion with delays, (Mat. xxv. 3, 8, 12, andxxiv. 43, 
 44), and think it is time enough hereafter, and 
 are purposing till it he too late, and life, and time 
 and hope be ended. And some that see there is a 
 necessity of holiness, are cheated by some dead 
 opinions or names, or shows and images of holiness ; 
 (John, viii. 39, 42, 44; Rom. in. 1, 2; Gal iv. 
 29; Mat. xiii. 19, 20, 21, 22; Mat. xv. 2, 3, 6; 
 Gal. i. 14) ; either because they hold a strict opi- 
 nion, or because they are baptized with water, and 
 observe the outward parts of worship ; and perhaps 
 because they offer God a great deal of lip-service, 
 and lifeless ceremony which never savoured of a holy 
 soul. Thus deadness, sensuality, and hypocrisy, 
 do hinder millions from sanctification and salvation. 
 — Works, vol. iv. p. 198. 
 
 Chap. XXI. — Sins of Omission. 
 
 Sins of omission are always accompanied with 
 some positive sensual affection to the creature, 
 which diverteth the soul, and causeth ttie omis- 
 sion ; and so omission is no small part of the reign- 
 ing sin. — Works, vol. i. p. 27* 
 
COUNSELLORS PLEADING 
 
 Chap. XXII. — Counsellors pleading against their 
 
 Consciences. 
 
 If all counsellors, and solicitors of causes, did 
 truly Like themselves for God's, and not their ourn, 
 they durst not plead for, nor solicit a cause they 
 knew which God disowneth. They would remem- 
 ber, that what they do against the innocent, or 
 speak against a righteous cause, is done and said 
 against their Lord, from whom they may expect 
 ere long to hear, inasmuch as yon said or did this 
 against the least of these, you said or did it against 
 me. God is the great patron of innocency, and 
 the pleader of every righteous cause ; and he that 
 will be so bold as to plead against him, had need 
 of a large fee to save him harmless. Say not, it 
 is your calling, which you must live by, unless you 
 that once listed yourselves in your baptism under 
 Christ, will now take pay, and make it your pro- 
 fession to fight against him. The emptier your 
 purses are of gain so gotten, the richer you are ; or 
 at least the fuller they are, you are so much the 
 poorer. To deal freely with you, gentlemen, it is 
 a matter that they who are strangers to your pro- 
 fession, can scarce put any fair construction upon; 
 that the worst cause for a little money should find 
 an advocate among you ! This driveth the standers 
 by upon this harsh dilemma, to think that either 
 your understandings, or your consciences, are very 
 bad. If indeed you so little know a good cause 
 from a bad, then it must needs tempt men to 
 think you very unskilful in your profession. But 
 when almost every cause, even the worst that 
 comes to the bar, shall have some of you for it, and 
 some against it; and in the palpablest cases you 
 are some on one side, and some on the other, the 
 
AGAINST THEIR CONSCIENCES. 35 
 
 strange difference of your judgments doth seem to 
 betray their weakness : but if you know the causes 
 to be' bad which you defend, and to be good which 
 you oppose, it more evidently betrays a deploratc 
 conscience : I speak not of your innocent or ex- 
 cusable mistakes in cases of great difficulty, nor 
 yet of excusing a cause bad in the main from un- 
 just aggravations : but when money will hire you 
 to plead for injustice against your own knowledge, 
 and to use your wits to defraud the righteous, and 
 spoil his cause, or vex him with delays, for the ad- 
 vantage of your unrighteous client, I would not 
 have your conscience for all your gains, nor your 
 accompt to make for all the world : it's sad that 
 any known unrighteous cause, should have a pro- 
 fessed christian in the face of a christian judicature 
 to defend it, and Satan should plead by the tongues 
 of men so deeply engaged to Christ ; but it's in- 
 comparably more sad, that almost every unjust 
 cause should find a patron, and no contentious, 
 malicious person should be more ready to do wrong, 
 than some lawyers to defend him for a (dear- 
 bought) fee ! Did you honestly obey God, and 
 speak not a word against your judgment, but leave 
 every unjust man to defend his own cause, what 
 peace would it bring to your conscience? What 
 honour to your now reproached profession ? What 
 relief to the oppressed ? And what an excellent 
 cure to the troublesome contentions of proud or 
 malicious men? (1 Cor. vi.) — Works, vol. lv. 
 
 p- 717* 
 
So 
 
 SINS OF BELIEVERS. 
 
 C ha p . XXIII . — Sins of Believers. 
 
 Though a little sm must be hated, and universal 
 obedience must prove our sincerity, and no one sin 
 must be wilfully continued in, yet it is certain that 
 God's servants do not oft commit sins materially great 
 and heinous (as fornication, drunkenness, perjury, 
 oppression, deceit, &c), and yet that they often 
 commit some lesser sins (as idle thoughts, and idle 
 words, and dullness in holy duties, defective . > 
 in the love of God, and omission of holy thoughts 
 and words, &c.) ; and that the tempter oft getteth 
 advantage even with them, by telling them that 
 the sin is small, and such as God's servants or- 
 dinarily commit; and that naturally we fly with 
 greater fear from a great danger than from a less : 
 from a wound at the heart than a cut finger! And 
 therefore one reason why idle words and sinful 
 thoughts are even deliberately oftener committed 
 than most heinous sins, is because the soul is not 
 awaked so much by fear and core to make resist- 
 ance; and love needeth the help of fear in this 
 our weak condition. — life and Tune, p. 8. 
 
 Believers have oftener confessed their sins than 
 others, and spoke odiously of it, as the vilest 
 thing, and aggravated it to God and man. 
 
 Their many prayers against it, and all their la- 
 bour in hearing, and reading, and sacraments, and 
 other means, do aggravate it. 
 
 Their sins are aggravated by all the reproofs, 
 and exhortations which they have used to others, 
 to tell them how unreasonable and bad it is to pro- 
 voke the Lord. — Works, vol. L p. 80. 
 
CONSEQUENCES OF SUN, 
 
 37 
 
 The more pleasure you have in sin, the more sor- 
 row it will bring you; and the more you know it to 
 be sin, and conscience tells you that God is against 
 it, and yet you will go on, and bear down con- 
 science, the sharplier will conscience afterward 
 afflict you, and the hardlicr will it be quieted when 
 it is awakened to repentance ; yea, when a hum- 
 bled soul is pardoned by grace, and believeth that 
 he is pardoned, he will not easily forgive himself. — 
 Works, vol. iv. p. 839. 
 
 Even sin against knowledge and conscience are 
 too oft committed by regenerate men ; for they 
 know more than others do, and their consciences 
 are more active : happy were they indeed if they 
 could be as good as they know they should be, and 
 lore God as much as they know they should love 
 him, and were clear from all the relicts of passion 
 and unbelief, which conscience tells them are their 
 sins. — Works, vol. iv. p. 842. 
 
 Chap. XXIV. — Consequences of Sin. 
 
 Are yon well acquainted with the nature and de 
 grees of future miseries which tempt you to think 
 God is cruel ? They are not all of one degree ; 
 what if still much of them be voluntary to the mi- 
 serable souls? The devils who are now tormented 
 in hell, are yet inhabitants of the air, and exercised 
 in voluntary acts of malice. I take it to be no small 
 degree of hell which the ungodly choose, and love 
 and possess among us here upon earth, and will 
 not be dissuaded from ; they are without all holy 
 communion with God, and they would be so; they 
 are out of heaven, and they would be so ; they are 
 
38 
 
 CONSEQUENCES OF SIN. 
 
 debased and confined to sensual pleasures, and 
 worldly vanities, and they will be so; they are the 
 drudges of the devil and the servants of the flesh, 
 and the slaves of men, and they would be so ; they 
 are defiled by sin, and imprisoned in their own con- 
 sciences, and they would be so; they are corrupted, 
 tantalized, and vexed, and tossed up and down by 
 their irregular desires; in a word, they have the 
 plague of sin, and have neither holiness, nor true 
 happiness, and so they will have it to be, and will 
 not be cured ; now these tempted persons can see 
 a misery in pain, but can see no such evil in sin, 
 for which the pain should be inflicted ; when as 
 sin itself, and that which they are willing of, is so 
 great a part of their misery, as that in this life, the 
 rest is as nothing to it. And though, no doubt, 
 much will be involuntary hereafter, we know not 
 what the proportion will be between the voluntary 
 and involuntary part. — Works, vol. ii. p. 926. 
 
 And Whereas you tell us of preaching terribly to 
 you, we cannot help it ; if the true and righteous 
 threatening 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, (2 Cor. v. 11). 
 Either it's true, that the unquenchable fire will be 
 the portion of the impenitent, 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 would 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 terrible a thing as hell, and 
 tell them that it will certainly be their lot, un- 
 less they be new creatures, and not speak terribly 
 to them ? O sirs^ it is the wonder of my soul, that 
 
CONSEQUENCES OF SIN. 
 
 it seems no more terrible to all the ungodly, that 
 think they do believe it. Yea, and I would that it 
 did seem more terrible to the most, that it might 
 affright you from your sin to God, and you might 
 be saved. If you were running ignorantly into a 
 coal-pit, would you revile him that 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? 
 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's 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 unmer- 
 ciful, but you are foolishly cruel and unmerciful 
 to yourselves. Do not think to despise the patience 
 and mercy of the Lord, and then think to escape 
 by accusing him of being unmerciful, and by say- 
 ing, it's terrible doctrine we preach to you impeni- 
 tent sinners ! I confess to thee it is terrible, more 
 terrible than thy senseless heart imagined, or yet is 
 aware of. One day, if grace prevent it not, thou 
 shalt find it ten thousand times more terrible than 
 thou canst apprehend it now. When thou seest 
 thy judge with millions of his angels coming to 
 condemn thee, thou wilt then say, his laws are ter- 
 rible indeed. — Works, vol. ii. p. 803. 
 
 Use sin as it will use you. Spare it not, for it 
 will not spare you. It is your murderer, and the 
 murderer of the world ; use it therefore as a mur- 
 derer should be used. Kill it before it kills you ; 
 and then though it kill your bodies, it shall not be 
 able to kill your souls ; and though it bring you to 
 the grave, as it did your head, it shall not be able 
 to keep you there. If the thoughts of death and 
 
40 
 
 CONSEQUENCES OF SIN. 
 
 the grave, and rottenness, be not pleasant to you, 
 hearken to every temptation to sin, as you would 
 hearken to a temptation to self-murder : and as you 
 would do if the devil brought you a knife, and 
 tempted you to cut your throat with it, so do when 
 he offereth you the bait of sin. You love not 
 death ; love not the cause of death. — Works, vol. iv. 
 p. 750. 
 
41 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 OF THE TRUTH, AND ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES OF 
 THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 Chap. I. — Of the Trulh of Christianity, 
 
 Compare the christian religion with all others 
 in the world ; and seeing it is certain that some 
 way or other God hath revealed his will to guide 
 man in his duty unto the end, you will see that 
 it must needs he this : 
 
 1. The way of the Heathenish idolaters cannot 
 he it; the principles and the effects of their religion 
 may easily satisfy you of this. The only true God 
 would not command idolatry, nor befriend such 
 ignorance, error, and wickedness, as do constitute 
 their religion, and are produced by it as its ge- 
 nuine fruits. 
 
 2. The way of Judaism cannot be it ; for it doth 
 but lead us up to Christianity, and bear witness to 
 Christ, and of itself is evidently insufficient ; its 
 multitude of ceremonies being but the pictures 
 and alphabet of that truth which Christ hath 
 brought to light, and which hath evidence, which 
 to us is more convincing than that of the Jewish 
 law. 
 
 3. The Mahometan delusion is so gross, that it 
 scemeth vain to say any more against it, than it 
 saith itself, unless it be to those who are bred up 
 
42 
 
 OF THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 in such darkness, as to hear of nothing else, and 
 never to see the sun which shineth on the chris- 
 tian world, and withal are under the terror of the" 
 sword, which is the strongest reason of that bar- 
 barous sect. 
 
 4. And to think that the Atheism of infidels is 
 the way (who hold only the five articles of the 
 Unity of God, the Duty of Obedience, the Immor- 
 tality of the Sold, the Life of Retribution, mid the 
 Necessity of Repentance), is but to go against 
 the light. For, 1 . It is a denial of that abundant 
 evidence of the truth of the Christian faith, which 
 cannot by any sound reason be confuted. 2. It 
 is evidently too narrow for man's necessities, and 
 leaveth our misery without a sufficient remedy. 
 3. Its inclusions and exclusions are extraordinary ; 
 it asserteth the necessity of obedience and repent- 
 ance, and yet excludeth the necessary means (the 
 revealed light, and love and power) by which both 
 obedience and repentance must be had. It exclud- 
 eth Christ and his spirit, and yet that which none 
 but Christ and his spirit can effect. 4. It pro- 
 poseth a way as the only religion which few ever 
 went from the beginning (as to the exclusions), as 
 if that were God's only way to heaven, which 
 scarce any visible societies of men can be proved 
 to have practised to this day. 
 
 Which of all these religions have the most wise, 
 and holy, and heavenly, and mortified, and righ- 
 teous, and sober persons to profess it, and the 
 greatest number of such ! If you will judge of the 
 medicine by the effects, and take him for the best 
 physician, who doth the greatest cures upon the 
 souls, you will soon conclude that Christ is the 
 way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh to 
 the Father but by him, (John, xiv. 6). — Works, 
 vol. iii. p. 550. 
 
OF THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 43 
 
 Naturally men are prone to spin themselves a 
 web of opinions out of their own brain, and to 
 have a religion that may be called their own ; and 
 it's their own in two respects : 1. Because it is of 
 their Town devising, and not of God's revealing or 
 appointing; 2. Because it suiteth with their own 
 carnal ends and interests. Men are far readier to 
 make themselves a faith, than to receive that 
 which God hath formed to their hands, and they 
 are far readier to receive a doctrine that tends to 
 their carnal commodity, or honour or delights, than 
 one that tends to self-denial, and to abase them- 
 selves and exalt the Lord. — Works, vol. iii. p. 3(>4. 
 
 The selfish unsanctified man disliketh God's go- 
 vernment, at least in the particulars, and would 
 govern himself. The law of God contained in his 
 word and works he murmurs at as too obscure, or 
 too precise and strict for him. He finds that it 
 crosseth his Jcarnal interest, and speaks not good 
 of him but evil ; and therefore he is against it, as 
 supposing it to be against him, and his pleasure, 
 profit, and honour, in the world. Jf men had but 
 the government of themselves, what a difference 
 would there be between their way and God's? If 
 corrupt unsanctified selfish man might make a law 
 for himself, instead of the word of God, what a 
 law would it be? And how much of the law of 
 God should be repealed ? If sinners might make a 
 scripture, you should find in it no such passages as 
 these — except a man be converted, or bom again, 
 he cannot enter into the kingdom, of heaven : with- 
 out holiness none shall see God. If self might 
 make laws, you should not read in them if ye live 
 after the flesh, ye shall die ; but if by the spirit ye 
 mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live ; nor 
 should you there find, that the gate u strait, and 
 
44 
 
 ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES. 
 
 the way is narrow that leads to life, and few there 
 be that find it ; or that the righteous are scarcely 
 saved. — Works, vol. iii. p. 348. 
 
 Chap. II. — Essential Doctrines. 
 
 Through the whole course of our ministry, we 
 must insist most upon the greatest, and most cer- 
 tain and necessary tilings, and be more seldom and 
 sparing upon the rest. If we can but teach Christ 
 to our people, we teach them all. Get them well 
 to heaven, and they will have knowledge enough. 
 The great and commonly acknowledged truths are 
 they that men must live upon, and which are the 
 great instruments of raising the heart to God, and 
 destroying men's sins. And therefore we must 
 still have our people's necessities in our eyes. — 
 Works, vol. iv. p. 358. 
 
 It is not unlikely that some of those wits that 
 are taken more with things new, than with things 
 necessary, will marvel that I chose so common a 
 subject, and tell me that they all know this already. 
 But I do it purposely upon these following conside- 
 rations. 1. Because I well know, that it is these 
 common truths that are the great and necessary 
 things, which men's everlasting happiness or mi- 
 sery doth most depend upon. You may be igno- 
 rant of many controversies and inferior points, 
 without the danger of your souls, but so you can- 
 not of these fundamentals. 2. Because it's appa- 
 rent by the lives of men, that few know these com- 
 mon truths savingly that think they know them. 
 3. Because there are several degrees of knowing the 
 same truths, and the best are imperfect in degree, 
 
ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES. 
 
 45 
 
 the principal growth in knowledge that we should 
 look after, is not to know more matters than we 
 knew before, but to know that belter, and with a 
 clearer light and firmer apprehension, which we 
 darkly and slightly knew before. You may more 
 safely be without any knowledge at all of any 
 lower truths, than without some further degree of 
 the knowledge of those which you already know. 
 4. Besides, it is known by sad experience, that ma- 
 ny perish who know the truth, for want of the con- 
 sideration of it, and making use of what they know, 
 and so their knowledge doth but condemn them. 
 We have as much need therefore to teach and help 
 you to get these truths which you know, into your 
 hearts and lives, as to tell you more. 5. And, in- 
 deed it is the impression of these great and master 
 truths, that are the very instruments of the great 
 works that are to be done upon the heart by the 
 spirit and ourselves. In the right use of these it 
 is that the principal part of the skill and holy wis- 
 dom of a christian doth consist ; and in the dili- 
 gent and constant use of these lieth the life and 
 trade of Christianity. There is something amiss in 
 men's hearts or lives, but it is for want of sound 
 knowing and believing, or well-using these funda- 
 mentals. — Works, vol. iv p. J(59. 
 
 I must tell you, that it was these essentials of 
 Christianity that were the instrumental causes of 
 your first conversion, and were more needful and 
 useful to you then, than ten thousand others ; so 
 it is the very same points that you must always 
 live upon, and the confirmation and growth of 
 your souls in these, will be more useful to you 
 than the adding ten thousand truths more, which 
 yet you know not: and therefore take this advice, 
 as you love your peace and growth j neglect not to 
 
46 
 
 ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES. 
 
 know more, but bestow many and many hours in 
 labouring to know better, the great truths which 
 you have received, for one hour that you bestow in 
 seeking to know more truths which you k know not, 
 believe it, this is the safe and thriving way. You 
 know already that God is all sufficient, and infi- 
 nitely wise and good and powerful : and you know 
 not perhaps the nature of free will, or of God's de- 
 crees of election and reprobation, or a hundred the 
 like points. True knowledge of any of the revealed 
 things of God is very desirable : but yet, I must 
 tell you, that you are forty times more defective 
 here in your knowledge of that God winch you do 
 know, than of the other which you know not; that 
 is, the want of more degrees of this necessary 
 knowledge. Is more dangerous to your souls than 
 the total want of the less necessary knowledge. 
 And the addition of more degrees to the more need- 
 ful parts of knowledge, will strengthen and enrich 
 you more than the knowing of less necessary things, 
 which you knew not before at all. You know 
 Christ crucified already; but perhaps you know 
 not certain controversies about church government, 
 or the definitions and distinctions of many matters 
 in divinity: it will be a greater growth now to 
 your knowledge, to know a little more of Christ 
 crucified, whom you know already, than to know 
 these lesser matters, which you know not yet at 
 all. If you had already a hundred pounds in 
 gold, and not a penny worth in silver, it would 
 more enrich you to have another purse full of gold, 
 than a purse full of silver. Trading in richer com- 
 modities is liker to raise men to greater estates, 
 than trading for matters of a smaller rate. They 
 that go to the Indies for gold and pearl, may be 
 rich if they get but little in quantity ; when he 
 *nay be poor that brings home ships laded with the 
 
ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES. 
 
 47 
 
 greatest store of a poor commodity. That man 
 that hath a double measure of the knowledge of 
 God in Christ, and the clearest and deepest, and 
 most effectual apprehensions of the riches of grace 
 and glory to come, and yet never heard of most of 
 the questions in Scotus, or Ockam, or Aquinas, 
 is far richer in knowledge, and a much wiser 
 man, than he that hath those controversies at his 
 fingers' ends, and yet have not half his clearness 
 and solidity of the knowledge of God and Christ, 
 of grace and glory. There is enough in some one 
 of the articles of your faith, in one of God's attri- 
 butes, in one of Christ's benefits, in one of the spi- 
 rit's graces, to hold you study all your lives, and to 
 afford you still an increase of knowledge. To 
 know God the Father, Son, and Spirit, and their 
 revelations to you, and operations for you, and 
 your duties to them, and the way of communion 
 with them, is that knowledge in which you must 
 still be growing, till it be perfected by the celestial 
 beatifical vision. Those are not the wisest men 
 that can answer most questions; but those that 
 have the fullest intellectual reception of the infinite 
 wisdom. You will confess that he is a wiser man 
 that hath wisdom to get and rule a kingdom, than 
 he that hath wit enough to talk of a hundred trivial 
 matters, which the other is ignorant of. That's 
 the wisest physician that can do most to save men's 
 lives; and not he that can read a lecture of ana- 
 tomy, or is readiest in the terms of his art. Know- 
 ledge is to be esteemed according to the use of it, 
 and the dignity of its object, and not according to 
 the number and subtil ity of notions. And there- 
 fore I beseech you all, that are young and weak in 
 faith, take much more pains to grow in the fuller 
 acquaintance with the same faith you have received 
 than to be acquainted with the smaller controverr 
 
48 
 
 ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES. 
 
 sial truths which you never knew. Men use to 
 call these higher points, because they are more dif- 
 ficult ; but certainly the articles of your faith are 
 much higher in point of excellency, though they 
 are lower in the due order of learning them, as the 
 foundation i-> the lowest part of the building, and 
 is first laid, but is that which must bear up all the 
 rest. And here you must observe, how gracelessly 
 and unlike to christians those men speak, that say, 
 they care not for reading such a book, or hearing 
 such and such a minister, because he tells them no 
 more than they knew already, and on that account 
 some of them stay away from church, because they 
 hear nothing but what they knew already. It is a 
 certain sign that they do not know already the na- 
 ture of God, and the riches of Christ, which they 
 say they know ; for if they did, they could not hear 
 or think too much of them: they would long to 
 know more, and therefore hear more of the same 
 things. It's a sign that the ministers take the 
 course that tends to your edification and enriching 
 in knowledge, when he is most upon the great and 
 most necessary truths. All saints do make it their 
 constant study to comprehend the height and 
 breadth, and length, and depth, and know the 
 love of God in Christ: but when they have done, 
 thev confess that it passeth knowledge (Eph. iii. 
 17/ 18, 19): It's a graceless wicked soul, in a 
 state of damnation, that conceits he knows so 
 much of God and Jesus Christ, and the essentials 
 of Christianity, that he cares not for hearing these 
 things any more, but had rather hear novelties, 
 and let these alone; and feeleth not any need of 
 knowing much more, and more of the same truths; 
 and of using and living upon these vital principles 
 which he knows. You have eaten bread, and 
 drank beer an hundred times; but perhaps you 
 
ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES. 
 
 49 
 
 never did cat of sturgeon or whale, of a bear or a 
 leopard, of ehesnuts or pignuts, or many strange 
 or dangerous fruits in all your life. And yet I 
 hope you will not seek after these because they are 
 novelties, and give over eating bread, because you 
 have eaten of it already. Nor will you churlishly 
 refuse to go to a feast, because there is no meat 
 but what you have eaten of before. We have not 
 a new God to preach to you, nor a new Christ, 
 nor a new spirit, nor a new gospel, nor a new 
 church, nor a new faith, nor a new baptismal co- 
 venant, nor a new heaven, or hope or happiness to 
 propound (Gal. i. 9, 10; Eph, iv. 3, 4, 5). Your 
 growth in methods, and definitions, and distinc- 
 tions, and in additional points of knowledge, is 
 principally to be valued as it cleareth your under- 
 standings in the foresaid great essential points, 
 and brings you up to God himself. Some wretches 
 think they have quickly learned past the essential 
 articles of the faith, and, ere long, they are past 
 the higher points; and shortly they are past the 
 scripture itself, and throw it by, as a scholar that 
 has learnt one book, and must be entered into 
 another. They understand not, that the ministry 
 and spirit are but to teach them the word of the 
 gospel; but they think they must outgrow the 
 word and ministry, and the spirit must teach them 
 some other doctrine, or gospel, which the written 
 word doth not contain. 1 pray mark the Apostle's 
 warning, Heb. xiii. 9, Be not carried about with 
 divers and strange doctrines; for it is a good thing 
 that the heart be established in grace; and Eph. iv. 
 14, That we henceforth be no more children, tossed 
 to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doc- 
 trine, by the sleight of men, and cunning crafti- 
 ness. — Works, vol. ii. p. 953. 
 
50 CHRISTIANITY A RELIGION OF MOTIVES. 
 
 Chap. III. — Cliristianity a Religion of Motives. 
 
 The first thing that God looks at, is what you 
 would do, and the next is, what you do. If you 
 do it, but had rather leave it undone, you lose 
 your reward, and God will take it, as if you had 
 not done it: for it was not you that did it, if you 
 did it not from love; but it was fear that dwelleth 
 in you. God takes men's hearty desires and will, 
 instead of the deed, where they have not power to 
 fulfil it; but he never took the bare deed instead of 
 the will. A blockish kind of worship, consisting 
 in outward actions, without the heart, is fit to be 
 given to a wooden god, a senseless idol ; but the 
 true and living God abhors it. He is a spirit, and 
 will be worshipped in spirit and in truth; such 
 worshippers he seeketh, and such only will he ac- 
 cept (Jok. iv. 23, 24) . A beggar will be glad of 
 your alms, though you give it with an ill-will, be- 
 cause he needeth it ; but God hath no need of you, 
 nor of your service, and therefore think not that 
 he will accept you on such terms. That people 
 worship God in vain, that draw near him with 
 their mouths, and honour him with their Hps, 
 when their heart is far from him. (Matt. xv. 8, 
 9). A man's heart is where his love is, rather 
 than where his fear is. If you should lie still upon 
 your knees, or in the holy assembly ; if you should 
 be the strictest observer of the ordinances on the 
 Lord's days, and yet had such hearts in you, as 
 had rather let all these alone, if it were not for 
 fear of punishment; it will all be disregarded, and 
 reckoned to you according to your wills, as if you 
 had never done it at all. It's love that must win 
 love, or make you fit for love to entertain. If you 
 
SALVATION OFFERED TO ALL. 
 
 51 
 
 give your goods to the poor, or your bodies to be 
 burned, in a cause that is in itself good, and yet 
 have not love, it availeth nothing, (1 Corr. xiii. 1, 
 2, 3, 5). You will not think your wife had conju- 
 gal affection that loveth another man better than 
 you, and had rather be gone from you, if she could 
 live without you. It's an unnatural son that loves 
 not his father, but had rather be from him than 
 with him. — Works, vol. ii. p. 590. 
 
 Chap. IV. — Salvation offered to all. 
 
 It is the most astonishing part of all God's pro- 
 vidence to me, that he so far forsaketh almost all 
 the world, and confineth his special favour to so 
 few; that so small a part of the world hath the 
 profession of Christianity, in comparison of heathen, 
 Mahometans, and other infidels ! and that among 
 professed christians, there are so few that are 
 saved from gross delusions, and have but any com- 
 petent knowledge: and that among those there are 
 so few that are seriously religious, and truly set 
 their hearts on heaven. — Life and Time, p. 131. 
 
 All our enemies in hell, or earth, cannot make 
 us miserable without ourselves; nor keep a sinner 
 from true conversion and salvation, if he do it not 
 himself; no, nor compel him to one sinful thought, 
 or word, or deed, or omission, but tempting and 
 enticing him to be willing : all that are graceless, 
 are wilfully graceless. None go to hell, but those 
 that choose the way to hell, and would not be per- 
 suaded out of it: none miss of heaven, but those 
 that did set so light by it, and refused the holy way 
 that leadeth to it. — Works, vol. i. p. 21. 
 
52 
 
 SALVATION OFFERED TO ALL. 
 
 God, who in himself is infinitely good, in his 
 infinite wisdom seeth it best to make his creatures 
 in great variety, and not to communicate the same 
 degrees of excellency to them all : as you see that 
 every star is not a sun, nor all stars equal, nor the 
 clouds like the stars, nor the earth and water so 
 pure as the air, nor so active as the fire, as you 
 see a difference between men and beasts, and birds 
 and worms, and trees, plants, and stones in won- 
 derful variety: and it is folly to accuse God for not 
 making every worm a man, or every man an angel, 
 or every stone a star or sun : because he is a free 
 creator and benefactor, and may make or not make, 
 give or not give, as he pleaseth, and knoweth well 
 why he doth what he doth, which we poor worms 
 are unfit to know. 
 
 Even so some reasonable creatures he hath made 
 so glorious in Jwliness and perfection, that they 
 cannot sin, that is, they never will sin; I mean the 
 angels: and some he hath made such as may please 
 1dm, and be happy if they ivill (assisting them by 
 abundance of instructions and mercies, and afflic- 
 tions) ; and yet (Prim i. 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 
 &c.) may sin and perish if they will not be per~ 
 suaded. And among these, even mortal men, he 
 freely giveth more mercy to some than he doth to 
 others: but to all so much as that nothing can 
 undo them, if they do not wilfully, obstinately, 
 and impenitently refuse, and abuse the mercy 
 which is given and offered them even to the last. 
 
 Now it is true, that God could make every man 
 an angel, and every wicked man a saint : and all 
 those to whom he hath left a possibility either to 
 stand or fall, as themselves shall cnoose, he could 
 have made such, as that to sin should have been 
 impossible to them. But it pleased him to do 
 otherwise, and he well knoweth why. — JVorks, 
 vol. iv. p. 188. 
 
SALVATION OFFERED TO ALL. 53 
 
 God did at first make a perfect law, which 
 (Rom. iii. 21, &c. and v. throughout) forbid all 
 sin on pain of death ; and man did break this law, 
 and we all still break it from day to day by every 
 sin ; and God being merciful, hath given us a Sa- 
 viour, and by him the forgiveness of all our sins: 
 but how? not absolutely : but he pardoneth us all 
 by an act of oblivion, a pardoning law ; and this 
 law maketh our faith and true repentance (or con- 
 version) to be the condition of pardon. And in it 
 God affirmeth and protesteth, that he will pardon 
 and save (Mark, xvi. 16; John, iii. 16, 18, 19; 
 2 The*, ii. 7, 8, 9, 10; Heb. ii. 3, 4; Heb. iv. 1, 
 and Heb. xii. 2J, 28, 29) all that believe and are 
 converted : and he will never pardon or save them 
 that continue unconverted in their sin and unbe- 
 lief. God hath already given out a pardon to all 
 the world, if they will but take it thankfully on his 
 terms, and cease their rebellion and turn to him; 
 and hath resolved that they that continue to refuse 
 this pardon and mercy, shall be doubly punished, 
 first for their common sins, and then for their 
 base unthankfulness and contempt of mercy. And 
 now bethink you whether it be not foolishness, for 
 any to say, I hope God will forgive me, and be 
 better than his word ? He hath already forgiven 
 you, if you repent and turn to him ; but if you will 
 not, it is impudence for a man at the same time to 
 rej use forgiveness and yet to hope for it, to despise 
 mercy, and say I hope for mercy. — Works, vol. iv. 
 p. 150. 
 
 If your trouble be about your sins, or want of 
 grace, and spiritual state, digest well the following 
 truths and counsels, and it will cure you : 
 
 I. God's goodness is equal to his greatness ; even 
 to that power that ruleth heaven and earth. His 
 
54 SALVATION OFFERED TO ALL. 
 
 attributes are commensurate ; and goodness will do 
 good to capable receivers. He loved us when we 
 were enemies, and he is essentially love itself. 
 
 II. Christ hath freely taken human nature, and 
 made satisfaction for the sins of the world, as full 
 as answereth his ends, and so full, that none shall 
 perish for want of sufficiency in his sacrifice and 
 merits. 
 
 III. Upon these merits Christ hath made a law, 
 or covenant of grace, forgiving all sin, and giving 
 freely everlasting life to all that will believingly 
 accept it; so that all men's sins are conditionally 
 pardoned by the tenor of this covenant. 
 
 IV. The condition of pardon and life is not that 
 we sin no more, or that by any price we purchase 
 it of God, or by our own works do benefit him, or 
 by his grace ; but only that we believe him, and 
 willingly accept of the mercy which he freely giveth 
 us, according to the nature of the gift, that is, 
 that we accept of Christ as Christ, to justify, sanc- 
 tify, rule, and save us. 
 
 V. God hath commissioned his ministers to pro- 
 claim and offer this covenant and grace to all, and 
 earnestly intreat them in his name to accept it, and 
 be reconciled to him ; he hath excepted none. 
 
 VI. No man that hath this offer is damned, but 
 only those that obstinately refuse it to the last 
 breath. 
 
 VII. The day of grace is never so past to any 
 sinner, but still he may have Christ and pardon if 
 he will ; and if he have it not, it is because he will 
 not. And the day of grace is so far from being 
 past, that it is savingly come to all that are so wil- 
 ling ; and grace is still offered urgently to all. 
 
 VJII. The will is the man in God's account, and 
 what a man truly would be and have, he is, and 
 shall have ; consent to the baptismal covenant is 
 
SALVATION OFFERED TO ALL. 
 
 55 
 
 true grace and conversion, and such have right to 
 Christ and life. 
 
 IX. The number and greatness of former sin, is 
 no exception against the pardon of any penitent 
 converted sinner : God pardoneth great and small 
 to such ; where sin aboundeth, grace superabound- 
 eth, and much is forgiven, that men may be 
 thankful, and love much. 
 
 X. Repentance is true, though tears and pas- 
 sionate sorrow be defective, when a man had rather 
 leave his sin than keep it, and sincerely, though 
 imperfectly endeavoureth fully to overcome it. No 
 sin shall damn a man which he more hateth than 
 loveth, and had truly rather leave than keep, and 
 sheweth this by true endeavour. 
 
 XL The best man hath much evil, and the 
 worst have some good ; but it is that which is pre- 
 ferred, and predominant in the will, which dif- 
 ferenceth the godly and the wicked. He that in 
 estimation, choice and life, preferreth God, and 
 heaven and holiness, before the world, and the 
 pleasure of sin, is a truly godly man, and shall be 
 saved. 
 
 XII. The best have daily need of pardon, even 
 for the faultiness of their holiest duties, and must 
 daily live on Christ for pardon. — Works, vol. iv. 
 p. 841. 
 
 If all free agents have abused their liberty and 
 undone themselves ; if God so far shew mercy to 
 them all, as that they may all be happy if they 
 will, and none of them shall perish but for wilful 
 and final refusing the saving means and mercy 
 which is offered to them; and if they will, they 
 may live with God himself, and Christ and angels 
 in endless glory; and none shall lose this free given 
 felicity, but for final refusal and contempt, prefer- 
 
56 
 
 SALVATION OFFERED TO ALL. 
 
 ring certain vanity and dung before it. — Works, 
 vol. ii. p. 925. 
 
 My censures of the papists do much differ from 
 what they were at first ; I then thought that their 
 errors in the doctrines of faith were their most dan- 
 gerous mistakes, as in the points of merit, justifi- 
 cation by works, assurance of salvation, the nature 
 of faith, &c. ; but now . I am assured that their 
 mis-expressions, and misunderstanding us, with our 
 mistakings of them, and inconvenient expressing 
 our own opinions, hath made the difference in 
 these points to appear much greater than they are; 
 and that in some of them, it is next to none at all. 
 But the great and unreconcilable differences lie in 
 their church tyranny and usurpations, and in their 
 corruptions and abasement of God's worship, toge- 
 ther with their befriending- of ignorance and vice. 
 At first I thought that Mr. Perkins well proved 
 that a papist cannot go beyond a reprobate; but 
 now I doubt not but that God hath many sancti- 
 fied ones among them, who have recehed the true 
 doctrine of Christianity so practically, that their 
 contradictory errors prevail not against them, to 
 hinder their love of God and their salvation; but 
 that their errors are like to a conquerable dose of 
 poison, which nature doth overcome. And I can 
 never believe, that a man may not be saved by that 
 religion which doth but bring him to the true love 
 of God, and to a heavenly mind and life ; nor that 
 God will ever cast a soul into hell that truly loveth 
 him. — Life, p. 131. 
 
SALVATION OF HEATHJsNS. 
 
 5? 
 
 Chap. V. — Salvation of Heathens. 
 
 No part of my prayers are so deeply serious, as 
 that for the conversion of the infidel and ungodly 
 world, that God's name may be sanctified, and his 
 kingdom come, and his will be done on earth as it 
 is in Heaven ; nor was I ever before so sensible 
 what a plague the division of languages was, which 
 hindereth our speaking to them for their conver- 
 sion ; nor what a great sin tyranny is, which kcep- 
 eth out the gospel from most of the nations of the 
 world. Could we but go among Tartarians, Turks, 
 and Heathens, and speak their language, I should 
 be but little troubled for the silencing of eighteen 
 hundred ministers at once in England, nor for all 
 the rest that were cast out here, and in Scotland 
 and Ireland; there being no employment in the 
 world so desirable in my eyes, as to labour for 
 the winning of such miserable souls; which maketh 
 me greatly honour Mr. John Eliot, the apostle of 
 the Indians in New England, and whoever else have 
 laboured in such a work. — Life and Time, p. 131. 
 
 Heathens and infidels are not less unredeemed 
 under the remediless curse and covenant of inno • 
 cency, which we broke in Adam, but are a!! 
 brought by the redemption wrought by Christ, 
 under a law or terms of grace. I. God made a 
 covenant of grace with all mankind in Adam, 
 (Gen. Wi. 15), who was, by tradition, to acquaint 
 his posterity with it, as he did to Cain and Abel, 
 the ordinance of oblation and sacrifice. 2. This 
 covenant was renewed with all mankind in Noah, 
 o. This covenant is not repealed, otherwise than 
 by a perfect edition to them that have the plenary 
 gospel, 4. The full gospel covenant is made for 
 d5 
 
58 
 
 SALVATION OF HEATHENS. 
 
 all, as to the tenor of it, and the command of 
 preaching and offering it to all. 5. They that have 
 not this edition, may yet be under the first edition. 
 The Jews were under the first edition, and were / 
 saved without believing in the determinate per A/ 
 son of Jesus, or that he should die for sin, and rise 
 again, and send down the spirit; for the Apostles 
 believed it not before-hand, (Luke, xviii. 34; Joh. 
 xii. 16; Lnke,\x. 45; Mark, ix. 34; Luke, xxiv. 
 21, 25, 26; Acts, i. 6, 1, 8). Yet were they 
 then in a state of saving grace, as appeareth 
 by John xiv. and xv. and xvi. and xvii. through- 
 out. 7. The rest of the world that had not the 
 same supernatural revelation, were not then bound 
 to believe so much as the Jews were about the 
 Messiah. 8. God himself told them all, that they 
 were not under the unremedied curse of the cove- 
 nant of innocency, by giving them a life full of 
 those mercies which they had forfeited, which all 
 tended to lead them to repentance, and to seek 
 after God, (Rom. ii. 4; Acts, xvii. 27), and find 
 him; yea, he left not himself without witness, for 
 that which may be known of him, and his invisible 
 things, are clearly seen and manifested in his works, 
 so that the wicked are without excuse (Rom. i. 19, 
 20 ; Acts, xiv. 17) ; so that all heathens are bound 
 to believe that God is, and that he is a rewarder of 
 all them that diligently seek him, (Heb. xi. 6), and 
 are all under the duty of using certain means, in 
 order to their recovery and salvation, and to believe 
 that they are not commanded to do this in vain ; 
 so that God's own providence, by a course of such 
 mercies, which cannot stand with the execution of 
 the unremedied violated law of innocency, together 
 with his obliging all men to repentance, and to the 
 use of a certain course of means, in order to their 
 salvation, is a promulgation of u law of grace, a^- 
 
OF NOMINAL CHRISTIANS. 
 
 59 
 
 cording to the first edition, and distinguishes man 
 from unredeemed devils. 9. Of a truth, God is no 
 respecter of persons, but in every nation he that 
 fears God and worketh righteousness is accepted 
 with him, {Acts, x. 34, 35). For God will ren- 
 der to every man according to his deeds; to them 
 who .j\ patient continuing in well doing, seek for 
 glory and honour, and incorruptibility, eternal 
 life, (Bom. ii. 6, 7)? glory, honour, and peace to 
 every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and 
 also to the Greek, (verse 10), for there is no 
 respect of persons with God, (verse 11) ; for when 
 the Gentiles which have not the law, do by nature 
 the things contained in the law, these having not 
 the law, are a law unto themselves ; which shew 
 the work of a law written in their hearts, their con- 
 sciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts 
 also at the same time accusing or excusing one 
 another, (ver. 14, 15) ; and they shall be judged 
 according to that law which they were under (na- 
 tural or Mosaicnl) even by Jesus Christ, (verse 12, 
 16) ; and it is the work of the spirit promised to 
 believers to write the law of God in their hearts. 
 It is enough for us therefore to know, that the visi- 
 ble church hath manifold privileges above all others, 
 {Rom. in. 1, 2, 3, &c.) ; and that salvation is 
 more easy, sure, and plenteous, where the gospel 
 cometh, than with any others, and that we have 
 therefore cause to rejoice with thankfulness for our 
 lot.— Works > vol. ii. p. 928. 
 
 Chap. VI. — Of Nominal Christians. 
 
 The religion that is but delusory and vain, may 
 be accompanied with much alms, and works of 
 
60 INSTRUCTION IN CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 seeming justice and charity, (Matt.wl. 1, 2; Luke, 
 xviii, 11, 12). He may have many virtues called 
 moral, and be a man of much esteem with others, 
 even with the best and wisest, for his seeming 
 wisdom, and piety, and justice: he may be no 
 extortioner, unjust, adulterer, but as to gross sins 
 seem blameless, {Luke, xviii, 11, 12; Psal. iii. 6), 
 and be much in reproaching the scandalous lives of 
 others, and thank God that he is none such, 
 (Luke, xviii. 11). — Works, vol. iv. p. 448. 
 
 He that hath but a ram religion, may in his 
 judgment approve of saving grace, and like the 
 more zealous, upright, self-denying, heavenly 
 lives of others, and wish that he might die their 
 death, and wish himself as happy as they, so it 
 might be had on his own terms ; and he may have 
 some counterfeit of every grace, and think that it 
 is true, (Numb, xxiii, 10; Jam. ii. 14, and 1 Cor. 
 xiii. 1, 2, 3; Mark, vi. 20.— Works, vol. iv. 
 p. 448. 
 
 None will be more forward to call another hypo- 
 crite, than the hypocrite, nor to extol sincerity and 
 uprightness of heart and life. And thus you see 
 what vain religion is made up with. — Works, vol. iv. 
 p. 448. 
 
 Chap. VII. — Instruction in Christianity. 
 
 Ignorant hearers cannot receive much in few 
 words, but must have a little matter in many words 
 oft and oft repeated, that their wits may have lei- 
 sure to work upon it. — Works, vol. iv. p. 196. 
 
BLESSING OF CHRISTIANITY, &c. 
 
 61 
 
 Chap. VIII. — Blessing of Christianity in the Great 
 and Wealthy. 
 
 Honour those ever with a double honour, that 
 are great and godly, rich and religious 5 not be- 
 cause they are rich, but because they are so strong 
 and excellent in grace, as to overcome such great 
 temptations: and to be heavenly in the midst of 
 earthly plenty, and to be faithful stewards of so 
 much. Religious faithful princes and magistrates 
 cannot easily be valued and honoured too much. 
 What wonders are they in the most part of the 
 1 earth ! what a blessing to the people that are ruled 
 by them ! were they not strong in faith, they could 
 not stand fast in such a stormy place. Where is 
 there in the world a more lively resemblance of 
 God, than a holy prince or governor, that liveth 
 no more to the flesh than the poorest, for all his 
 abundance of fleshly accommodations, and that 
 devoteth and improveth all his power and honour 
 and interest, to the promoting of holiness, love, 
 and concord, — Works, vol. iv, p. 4/8. 
 
62 
 
 book nr. 
 
 REMEDY FOR THE DISORDERED STATE OF MAN. 
 
 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE. 
 
 Chap. I.— Of Faith. 
 
 The christian faith which is required at b'ip- 
 tism, and then professed, and hath the promise of 
 justification and glorification as a true belief of 
 the gospel, and an acceptance, and consent unto 
 the covenant of grace, is, a believing that God 
 is our creator, our ruler, and our chief good; and 
 that Jesus Christ is God and man, our saviour, 
 our ransom, our teacher and our king: and that 
 the Holy Ghost is the sanctifier of the church of 
 Christ: and it is an understanding, serious consent, 
 that this God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
 be my God, and reconciled Father in Christ, 
 my saviour and my sanctifier; to justify me, sanc- 
 tify me, and glorify me, in the perfect know- 
 ledge of God, and mutual complacence in hea- 
 ven: which belief and consent wrought in me 
 by the word and spirit of Christ, is grounded 
 upon the veracity of God as the chief revealcr, and 
 upon his love and mercy as the donor; and upon 
 Christ and his Apostles as the messengers of God ; 
 and upon the gospel, and specially the covenant 
 of grace, as the instrumental revelation and dona- 
 
MEANS OF FAITH. 
 
 63 
 
 tion itself : and upon the many signal operations of 
 the Holy Ghost, as the divine infallible attestation 
 of their truth. — Works, vol. hi. p. 556. 
 
 Chap. II.— Objects of Faith. 
 
 Remember that God and Heaven, the unseen 
 things, are the final object of true faith ; and that 
 the final object is the noblest; and that the prin- 
 cipal use of faith, is to carry up the whole heart 
 and life from things visible and temporal, to things 
 invisible and eternal; and not merely to comfort us 
 in the assurance of our own forgiveness and salva- 
 tion. — JVorks, vol. iii. p. 554. 
 
 Chap. III. — Means of Faith. 
 
 Trust not only to your understandings, and 
 think not that study is all which is necessary to 
 faith: but remember that faith is the gift of God, 
 and therefore pray as well as study. (Prov. iii. 5). 
 Trust in the Lord, with all thy heart, and lean not 
 to thy own understanding. It is a precept as neces- 
 sary in this point as in any. In all things God ab - 
 horreth the proud, and lookcth at them afar off, 
 as with disowning and disdain: but in no case 
 more, than when a blind ungodly sinner shall so 
 overvalue his own understanding, as to think if 
 there be evidence of truth in the mystery of faith, 
 he is able presently to discern it, before or without 
 any heavenly illumination, to cure his dark distem- 
 pered mind. Remember, that as the sun is seen 
 
64 
 
 MEANS OF FAITH. 
 
 only by his own light, so is God our creator and 
 redeemer. Faith is the rift of God, as well as re- 
 pentance; (Eph. ii. 8; 2 Tim. ii. 25, 26). Apply 
 yourselves therefore to God by earnest prayer for 
 it. As he (Mark, ix. 24) : Lord, / believe; help 
 thou my unbelief. And as the disciples (Luke, xvii. 
 5), increase our faith* A humble soul, that waiteth 
 on God in fervent prayer, and neglecteth not to 
 study and search for truth, is much liker to become 
 a confirmed believer, than ungodly students, who 
 trust and seek no further than to their books, and 
 their perverted minds. For as God will be sought 
 to for his grace ; so those that draw near him, do 
 draw near unto the light; and therefore arc like as 
 children of light, to be delivered from the power 
 of darkness: for in his tight we shall see the light 
 that must acquaint us with him. — IJ^orks, vol. iii. 
 p. 553. 
 
 There are certain things which I would especially 
 advise you to, against temptations to unbelief. 
 Enter not into the debate of so great a business 
 when you are uneapable of it: especially when 
 your minds are taken up with worldly business, or 
 other thoughts have carried them away, let not 
 Satan then surprise you, and say, Come now and 
 question thy religion : you could not resolve a 
 question in philosophy, nor cast up any long- ac- 
 count, on such a sudden, with an unprepared mind. 
 When the evidences of your faith are out of mind, 
 stay till you can have leisure to set yourselves to 
 the business with that studiousness, and those 
 helps, which so great a matter doth require, — 
 Works, vol. iii. p. 551. 
 
SAVING FAITH. 
 
 C5 
 
 CfiAr. IV. — Saving Faith. 
 
 Thousands of poor souls have been in the dark, 
 mid unable to see themselves to be believers, 
 merely for want of knowing what saving faith is. — 
 Works, vol. ii. p. 853. 
 
 Faith entereth at the understanding; but it 
 hath not all its essential parts, and is not the gos- 
 pel faith indeed, till it hath possessed the will. The 
 heart of faith is wanting, till faith hath taken pos- 
 session of the heart. For by faith Christ dwelleth 
 in the heart (EpJu iii. 17). And if he dwells not 
 in the heart, he dwells not in the man, in a 
 saving way. It is in the heart that the word 
 must have its rooting, or else it will wither in 
 time of trial. It is seeking with the whole 
 heart that is the evidence of the blessed (Psal. 
 cxix. 2). And it is a feigned turning when men 
 turn not to God with the whole heart (Jer. iii. 
 10). This is God's promise concerning the elect; 
 1 will give them a heart to know me that I am the 
 Lord, and they shall be my people, and I will be 
 their God: for they shall return unto me with their 
 whole heart (Jer. xxiv. 7)- See then that the 
 heart be unfeignedly delivered up to Christ; for if 
 Christ have it not, the flesh, the world, and the 
 devil will have it. Your heart must be a dwelling 
 for one of these masters, chuse you which. — 
 Works, vol. ii. p. 579. 
 
 Be sure to fix this truth deep in your mind, that 
 justifying faith is not an assurance of our justifica- 
 tion; no, nor a persuasion or belief that we are 
 justified or pardoned, or that Christ died more for 
 
66 SAVING FAITH. 
 
 us than for others. Nor yet is affiance or resting 
 on ■ Christ the vital, principal, certain, constant 
 full act, but it is the understandings, belief of the 
 truth of the gospel, and the will's acceptance of 
 Christ, and life offered to us therein; which ac- 
 ceptance is but the hearty consent, or willingness 
 that he be yours, and you his. This is the faith 
 which must justify and save you. — Works, vol. ii. 
 p. 854. 
 
 Wicked men are willing to have remission, justi- 
 fication, and freedom from hell (for no man can be 
 willing to be unpardoned and be damned); but 
 they are not willing to have Christ himself in that 
 nature and office which he must be accepted; that 
 is, as an holy head and husband, to save them both 
 from the guilt and power, and all defilement and 
 abode of sin, and to rule them by his law, and 
 guide them by his spirit, and to make them happy 
 by bringing them to God, that being without sin, 
 they may be perfectly pleasing and amiable in his 
 sight, and enjoy him for ever. Thus is Christ of- 
 fered, and thus to be accepted of all that will be 
 saved; and thus no wicked man will accept him 
 (but when he ceaseth to be wicked). To cut all 
 the rest short in a word, I say, that in this fore 
 described willingness or acceptance, repentance, 
 love, thankfulness, resolution to obey, are all con- 
 tained, or nearly implied ; so that the heart of 
 saving faith, is this acceptance of Christ, or wil- 
 lingness to have him to justify, sanctify, guide and 
 govern you. Find but this willingness, and you 
 find all the rest, whether you expressly see them 
 or not. — Works, vol. ii. p. 854. 
 
 True faith is a jewel, rare and precious, and not 
 60 common as nominal careless christians think. 
 
LIFE OF FAITH. 
 
 67 
 
 What say they, are we not all believers; will you 
 make infidels of all that are not saints? Are none 
 christians, but those that live so strictly? Answer, 
 I know they are not infidels by pi % oj'ession ; but 
 what they are indeed, and what God will take them 
 for, you may soon perceive, by comparing the de- 
 scription of faith with the inscription legible on 
 their lives. — JVorks, vol. iii. p. 518. 
 
 Chap. V. —Effects of Faith. 
 
 Do we not say that such a divine revelation is 
 as sure, as if the things were in themselves laid 
 open to our sight ? Why then are we no more af- 
 fected with them ? Why are we no more tran- 
 sported by them ? Why do they no more command 
 our souls, and stir up our faculties to the most vi- 
 gorous and lively exercise, and call them off from 
 things that are not to us considerable? — Works, 
 vol. iii. p. 518. 
 
 Chap. VI. — Life of Faith. 
 
 It is not living ordinarily by sense, and looking 
 when God will cast in the light of faith extraor- 
 dinarily, which is indeed the life of faith : nor is it 
 seeming to stir up faith in a prayer or sermon, and 
 looking no more after it all the day : this is but to 
 give God a salutation, and not to dwell and walk 
 with him : and to give heaven a complimental visit 
 sometimes, but not to have your conversation there* 
 (2 Cor. v. 7, 8). —JVorks, vol. iii. p. 553. 
 
(58 
 
 JOY IN BELIEVING. 
 
 Chap. VIL — Support in Faith. 
 
 We must not be content to be once satisfied of 
 the truth of the life to come; but we must men- 
 tally live upon it and for it, and know how great 
 business our souls have every day with our glori- 
 fied Lord; and the glorified society of angels, and 
 the perfected spirits of the just: and with the 
 blessed God of Love and Glory; we must daily 
 fetch thence the motives of our desires, and hopes 
 and duties, the incentives of our love and joy. 
 The confutation of all temptations from the flesh 
 and the world ; and our supporting patience in all 
 our sufferings and fears. Read oft John xvii. 22, 
 23, 24, and xx. 17; Heb. xii. 22, 23, 24 ; Matt. vi. 
 19, 20, 21,33; Col. iii. 4, 5; 2 Thes. i. 10,11; 
 Heb. xi.; 2 Cor. iv. 16, 17, and v. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 
 7, 8; Phil i. 21, 23, and iii. 18, 19, 20. They 
 that thus live by faith on God and glory, will be 
 prepared for a joyful death. — Works, vol.iv. p. 143, 
 
 Chap. VIII. — Joy in Believing. 
 
 It glorifieth God by shewing the excellency of 
 faith, when we contemn the riches and honour of the 
 ivorld, and live above the worldling things, account- 
 ing that a despicable thing which he accounts his 
 happiness, and losethhis soul for. As men despise 
 the toys of children, so a believer must take the 
 transitory vanities of this world, for matters so 
 inconsiderable, as not to be worthy his regard, save 
 only as they are the matters of his duty to God, or 
 as they relate to them or the world to come : saith 
 
JOY IN BELIEVING. 
 
 m 
 
 Paul, 2 Cor. iv. 18, " We look not at the things 
 which are seen (they are not worth our observing 
 or looking at), but at the things which are not 
 seen ; for the things which are seen, are temporal, 
 but the things which are not seen are eternal. The 
 world is under a believer's feet, while his eye is 
 fixed on the celestial world. He travelieth through 
 it to his home." — Works, vol. i. p. 142. 
 
 1 . Rejoice that your names are written in heaven. 
 It's you, christians, that joy of right belongs to. 
 Little know the lovers of pleasure more than God, 
 that they lose a thousand-fold more pleasure than 
 they win. And that by running from a holy life 
 for pleasure, they run from the fire into the water 
 for heat, and from the sun into a dungeon for 
 light. O shew the unbelieving world by your re- 
 joicing, how they are mistaken in their choice ! Be 
 ashamed that an empty sot, and one that must be 
 for ever a firebrand in hell, should live a more 
 joyful life than you! O do not so wrong your 
 Lord, your faith, your endless joys, as to walk in 
 heaviness, and cast away the joy of the Lord which 
 is your strength, and to be still complaining, when 
 those that are prepared for the slaughter are as 
 frolick as if the bitterness of death were past. It's 
 well that you have so much life as to feel your 
 sicknesses ; but it is not well, that because you are 
 yet diseased, the life of grace and of glory should 
 be so uneffectual to your comfort. And yet, alas ! 
 how common is it to see the most miserable frisk 
 and fleer, while the heirs of life are sinfully vexing 
 themselves with the inordinate fears of death ! Lift 
 up thy head, christian, and remember whence 
 came thy graces, even thy least desires, and whi- 
 ther do they tend I Where is thy father, and thy 
 head, and the most of the dear companions ? 
 
70 
 
 JOY IN BELIEVING. 
 
 Where is it that thou must live to all eternity ■: 
 Doth it beseem a companion of angels, a member 
 of Christ, a child of God, an heir of heaven, to be 
 grieved at every petty cross, and to lay by all the 
 sense of their felicity, because some trifle of the 
 world falls cross to their desires and commodity ? 
 Is it seemly for one that must be everlastingly as 
 full of joy, as the sun is full of light, to live in 
 such a self-troubling, drooping state, as to dis- 
 grace religion, and frighten away the ungodly from 
 the doors of grace, that by your joyful lives might 
 be provoked to enter ? I know as to your happi- 
 ness, the matter is not comparatively great ; be- 
 cause if mistakes, and the devil's malice, should 
 keep you sad here a hundred years, yet heaven will 
 wipe away all tears, and those joys will be long 
 enough when they come; and as the joy of the 
 ungodly, so the sorrows of the humble, upright 
 soul, will be but for a moment : and though you 
 weep and lament when the world rejoiceth, as 
 their joy shall be turned into sorrow, so your sor- 
 row shall be turned into joy, and your joy shall no 
 man take from you. But in the mean time, is it 
 not shame and pity that you should live so unan- 
 swerable to the mercies of the Lord? That you 
 should sinfully grieve the comforting spirit, by the 
 wilful grieving of yourselves j and that you should 
 peevishly cast away your precious mercies, when 
 you so much need them, by reason of the troubles 
 of a vexatious world, which you cannot avoid i 
 That you, even you that are saved by the Lord, 
 should still be questioning it, or unthankfully de- 
 nying his great salvation, and so much hinder the 
 salvation of others ? For the Lord's sake, chris- 
 tians, and for your soul's sake, and in pity to the 
 ungodly, yield not to the tempter that would trou- 
 ble you when he cannot damn you ? Is God your 
 
JOY IN BELIEVING. 
 
 71 
 
 father, and Christ your saviour, and the spirit your 
 sanctifier, and heaven your home ? And will you 
 make all (for the present) as nothing to you, by a 
 causeless obstinate denial? If you are in doubt, 
 let not mere passionate fears be heard ; and let not 
 the devil, the enemy of your peace, be heard ; but 
 peruse your evidences, and still remember as the 
 sum of all, that the will is the man ; and what you 
 would be, that you are, before the Lord. 
 
 And look not for more, as necessary to your 
 comforts, than God hath made necessary. Is it 
 nothing to have a title to eternal life, unless you be 
 also as holy as you desire? Yea, is it nothing to 
 have a desire to be more holy ? Will you have no 
 comfort as long as you have distractions, or dull- 
 ness, or such like imperfection in duty? And 
 till you have no disease of soul to trouble you, 
 that is, till you have laid by flesh, and arrived at 
 your perfect joy? Dare not to disobey the voice of 
 God, (Psal. xxxii. 11). Be glad in the Lord, and 
 rejoice ye righteous, and shout for joy all ye that 
 are upright in heart, (1 Thess. v. 16). Rejoice 
 evermore. Let it be something that heaven cannot 
 weigh down, that shall suppress thy joy. Art thou 
 in poverty ? And is not heaven sufficient riches ? 
 Art thou in disgrace? And shalt thou not have ho- 
 nour enough in heaven ? Art thou in danger from 
 the injustice or the wrath of man ? And is he not 
 Almighty that hath undertaken to justify thee ? 
 (Rom. viii. 33, 34). Dost thou languish under 
 pining sicknesses ? And is there not everlasting 
 health in heaven ? Art thou weak in knowledge, 
 in memory, in grace, in duty; troubled with un- 
 commanded thoughts and passions ? And was it 
 not so on earth with all that are now in heaven ? 
 O christians, make conscience of obeying this com- 
 mand ; rejoice that your names are written in hea- 
 
72 
 
 JOY IN BELIEVING. 
 
 ven. Did you but know how God approveth such 
 rejoicing, and how much it pleaseth him above 
 your pining sorrows ; and how it strengthened the 
 soul, and sweetcneth duty, and easeth suffering, 
 and honoureth religion, and encourageth others, 
 and how suitable it is to gospel grace, and to your 
 high relations and ends, and how much better it 
 serves to subdue the very sins that trouble you, 
 than your fruitless, self-weakening complainings 
 do; I say, did you well consider all these things, it 
 would sure revive your drooping spirits. 
 
 And do not say now, / would rejoice if I were 
 sure that my name were written in heaven; but I am 
 not sure. For L How is it that you are not sure? 
 You may be sure that he that valueth and seeketh 
 heaven as belter than earth, and that lovetli the 
 holy way to heaven, and the most heavenly 'people, 
 is indeed an heir of heaven; and you may be sure, 
 if you will, that this is your own case : and yet you 
 say you are not sure that your names are written 
 in heaven. If God give you his grace, and you 
 deny it, will you therefore deny your right to 
 glory, and make one sin the excuse for another? 
 
 2. And if you are not sure, is it nothing to have 
 your probabilities and hopes, and the judgment of 
 your able, faithful pastors, that your souls are in 
 a safe condition ? We dare not say so to the care- 
 less world, nor to the most of men, as we do to 
 you. 
 
 Especially take heed lest melancholy habituate 
 you to jears and griefs; and then religion must bear 
 the blame, and you undergo a calamitous lije, 
 though you are the heirs of heaven. To this end, 
 1. U$e not musing serious thoughts beyond the 
 strength of your brain and intellect. 2. Place not 
 too much of your religion in perusals and study of 
 your hearts: but (for such as are inclined to me- 
 
ASSURANCE. 
 
 73 
 
 lanclioly) it is the fruitfullest way to be much in 
 expending duties abroad, and labouring to do good 
 to others: such duties have less of self, and as 
 much of God, and divert the troubling melancholy- 
 thoughts, and bring in more comfort by way of 
 reward, than is usually got by more direct enquir- 
 ing after comfort. 3. Use not too much solitari- 
 ness and rctiredness: man is a sociable creature: 
 and as his duty lyeth much with others, so his 
 comfort lyeth in the same way as his duty. 4. 
 Take heed of worldly sorrows, and therefore of 
 overvaluing worldly things. 5. Take heed of idle- 
 ness, or of thinking that the duty of holiness is all 
 that you have to mind; but make conscience of 
 being diligent in a particular calling, which di- 
 verts the hurtful troubling thoughts, and is pleas- 
 ing unto God. 6. Take not every sickness of your 
 souls for death, but rejoice in that life which ena- 
 bleth you to be troubled at your diseases. Keep 
 under melancholy by these means, (and the ad- 
 vice of the physician), and you will escape a very 
 great hindrance to this high and holy duty of /iea- 
 venly rejoicing, — Works, vol. iv. p. 815. 
 
 Chap. — Assurance. 
 
 It is no easy matter to get assurance that God is 
 reconciled to you, and that he hath forgiven all 
 your sins. — Works, vol. iii. p. 717. 
 
 Certainty of our faith and sincerity, is not ne- 
 cessary to salvation, but the sincerity of faith itself 
 is necessary. He shall be saved that giveth up 
 himself to Christ, though he know not that he is 
 
 E 
 
74 
 
 ASSURANCE. 
 
 sincere in doing it. Christ knoweth his own grace, 
 when they that have it know not that it is sound. 
 It is but few true christians that attain to certainty 
 of salvation; for weak grace clogged with much 
 corruption, is hardly known, and usually joined 
 with fear and doubting. — f Forks, vol. iv. p. 842. 
 
 But the scripture is so full and plain in assuring 
 pardon and salvation to all true believers, that if 
 you can but be sure you are a believer, you need 
 not make any doubt of your interest in Christ, 
 and your salvation. — Works, vol. ii. p. 853. 
 
 Scripture shews, that certainty of salvation may 
 be attained, and ought to be laboured for : when it 
 tells us so frequently, that the saints before us 
 have known their justification and future salvation: 
 when it declares, that whosoever believeth in 
 Christ shall not perish, but have everlasting life ; 
 which it would be in vain to declare, if we cannot 
 know ourselves to be believers or not: when it 
 make such a wide difference between the children 
 of God, and the children of the devil: when it 
 bids us give diligence to make our calling and elec- 
 tion sure; and earnestly urges us to examine, 
 prove, know our own selves, whether we be in the 
 faith, and whether Jesus Christ be in us, except 
 we be reprobates : always when its precepts re- 
 quire us to rejoice always, to call God our Father, 
 to live in his praises, to love Christ's appearing, to 
 wish that he may come quickly, and to comfort 
 ourselves with the mention of it. But who can do 
 any of these heartily, that is not in some measure 
 sure that he is the child of God? — P. 145. 
 
 But the great hindrances are in men's own hearts. 
 Some are so ignorant, that they know not what 
 
ASSURANCE. 
 
 75 
 
 self-examination is, nor what a minister means 
 when he persuadeth them to try themselves: or 
 they know not that there is any necessity for it; 
 but think every man is bound to believe that his 
 sins are pardoned, whether it be true or false, and 
 that it is a great fault to make any question of it; 
 or they do not think that assurance can be attain- 
 ed ; or that there is any great difference between 
 one man and another, but that we are all chris- 
 tians, and therefore need not trouble ourselves any 
 farther: or at least they know not wherein the dif- 
 ference lies. They have as gross an idea of regene- 
 ration, as Nicodemus had. Some will not believe, 
 that God will ever make such a difference between 
 men in the life to come, and therefore will not 
 search themselves whether they differ here. Some 
 are so stupified, say what we can to them, they lay 
 it not to heart, but give us the hearing, and there's 
 an end. Some are so possessed with self-love and 
 pride, that they will not so much as suspect they 
 are in any danger. Like a proud tradesman, who 
 scorns the prudent advice of casting up his books. 
 As fond parents will not believe or hear any evil of 
 their children. Some are so guilty, that they dare 
 not try; and yet they dare venture on a more 
 dreadful trial. Some are so in love with sin, and 
 so dislike the way of God, that they dare not try 
 their ways, lest they be forced from the course 
 they love, to what they loath. Some are so re- 
 solved never to change their present state, that 
 they neglect examination as an useless thing. Be- 
 fore they will seek a new way, when they have 
 lived so long, and gone so far, they will put their 
 eternal state to the venture, come of it what will. 
 Many men are so busy in this world, that they can- 
 not set themselves to the trying their title to hea- 
 ven. Others are so clogged with siothfulness of 
 e2 
 
76 
 
 ASSURANCE. 
 
 spirit, that they will not be at the pains of an 
 hour's examination of their own hearts. But the 
 most common and dangerous impediment is, that 
 false faith and hope, commonly called presump- 
 tion, which bears up the hearts of the greatest part 
 of the world, and so keeps them from suspecting 
 their danger. — P. 147. 
 
 The directions how to examine thyself are these : 
 Empty thy mind of all other cares and thoughts, 
 that they may not distract or divide thy mind. 
 This work wil be enough at once, without joining 
 others with it. Then fall down before God in 
 hearty prayer, desiring the assistance of his spirit, 
 to discover to thee the plain truth of thy condition, 
 and to enlighten thee in the whole progress of this 
 work. Make choice of the most convenient time 
 and place. Let the place be the most private; and 
 the time, when you have nothing to interrupt you; 
 and, if possible, let it be the present time. Have 
 in readiness, either in memory or in writing, some 
 scriptures, containing the descriptions of the saints, 
 and the gospel terms of salvation ; and convince 
 thyself thoroughly of their infallible truth. Pro- 
 ceed then to put the question to thyself. Let it 
 not be, whether there be any good in thee at all ? 
 Nor, whether thou hast such or such a degree and 
 measure of grace? But, whether such or such a 
 saving grace be in thee in sincerity or not ? If thy 
 heart draw back from the work, force it on. Lay 
 thy command upon it. Let reason interpose and 
 use its authority. Yea, lay the command of God 
 upon it, and charge it to obey upon pain of his dis- 
 pleasure. Let conscience also do its office, till thy 
 heart be excited to the work. Nor let thy heart 
 trifle away the time, when it should be diligent at 
 the work. Do as the psalmist, " my spirit made 
 
ASSURANCE. 
 
 77 
 
 diligent search." He that can prevail with his 
 own heart, shall also prevail with God. If, after 
 all thy pains, thou art not resolved, then seek out 
 for help. Go to one that is godly, experienced, 
 able, and faithful, and tell him thy case, and de- 
 sire his best advice. Use the judgment of such an 
 one, as that of a physician for thy body ; though 
 this can afford thee no full certainty, yet it may be 
 a great help, and stay to direct thee. But don't 
 make it a pretence to put off thyself from examina- 
 tion : only use it as one of the last remedies, when 
 thy own endeavours will not serve. When thou 
 iiast discovered thy true state, pass sentence on 
 thyself accordingly; either that thou art a true 
 christian, or that thou art not. Pass not this sen- 
 tence rashly, nor with self flattery, nor from me- 
 lancholy terrors; but deliberately, truly, and ac- 
 cording to thy conscience convinced by scripture 
 and reason. Labour to get thy heart affected with 
 it's condition, according to the sentence passed on 
 it. If graceless, think of thy misery. If renewed 
 and sanctified, think what a blessed state the Lord 
 hath brought thee into. Pursue these thoughts, 
 till they have left their impression on thy heart. 
 Write this sentence at least in thy memory : " At 
 such a time, upon thorough examination, I found 
 my state to be thus, or thus." Such a record will 
 be very useful to thee hereafter. Trust not to this 
 one discovery, so as to try no more; nor let it hin- 
 der thee in the daily search of thy ways : neither 
 be discouraged, if the trial must be often repeated. 
 Especially take heed, if unregenerate, not to con- 
 elude of thy future state by the present. Don't 
 say, " Because I am ungodly, I shall die so; be- 
 cause I am an hypocrite, I shall continue so/' 
 Don't despair : nothing but thy unwillingness can 
 keep thee from Christ, though thou hast hitherto 
 
ASSURANCE. 
 
 abused him, and dissembled with him. — Smmi's 
 Rett, p. 145, 147, 157- 
 
 If a man should break through ail hindrances, 
 CLod set upon the duty of self-examination, yet as- 
 surance is not presently attained. Too many de- 
 ceive themselves in their enquiries concerning it, 
 through one or other of the following cases. There 
 is such confusion and darkness in the soul of man. 
 especially of an uhregenerate man, that he can 
 scarcely tell what he does, or what is in him. As 
 in a house where nothing is in its proper place, it 
 will be difficult to find what is wanted; so it is in 
 the heart, where all things are in disorder. Most 
 amen accustom themselves to be strangers at home, 
 and too little observe the temper and motions of 
 their own hearts. Many are resolved what to 
 judge before they try. like a bribed judge, who 
 examines as if he would judge uprightly, whey* lie 
 is previously resolved which way the cause shall go. 
 Men are partial in their own cause; ready to think 
 their great sins small, and their small sins none; 
 their gifts of nature to be the work of grace, and 
 foamy, all these have 1 kept from my youth; I am 
 rich and increased in goods, and have need of no- 
 thing. Most men search but by the halves. If it 
 will not easily and quickly be done, they are dis- 
 couraged, and leave off. They try thenWlres by 
 false marks and rules; not knowing wherein the 
 truth of Christianity doth consist; some looking be- 
 yond, and same short of the scripture standard. 
 And frequently they miscarry in this work, by at- 
 tempting it in their own strength. As same expec t 
 the spirit should do it without them, so others at- 
 tempt it of themselves, without seeking or expect- 
 ing the help of the spirit. Both these will cer- 
 tainly miscarry in their assurance. 
 
ASSURANCE. 
 
 7!) 
 
 Some other hindrances keep even true christians 
 from comfortable certainty. As for instance, the 
 weakness of grace. Small things are hardly dis- 
 cerned. Most christians content themselves with 
 a small measure of grace, and do not follow on to 
 spiritual strength and manhood. The chief re- 
 medy for such would be, to follow on their duty, 
 till their graces be increased. Wait upon God in 
 the use of the prescribed means, and he will un- 
 doubtedly bless you with increase. O that chris- 
 tians would bestow more of that time in getting 
 more grace, which they bestow in anxious doubt- 
 ings whether they have any or none; and lay out 
 those serious affections, in praying for more grace, 
 which they bestow in fruitless complaints ! 
 
 I do not ask, whether thou be assured of salva- 
 tion ; nor whether thou canst believe that thy sins 
 are pardoned, and that thou art beloved of God in 
 Christ: These are no parts of justifying faith, but 
 excellent fruits of it, and they that receive them, 
 are comforted by the-:!; but perhaps thou mayest 
 never receive them whilst thou livest, and yet be a 
 true heir of rest. Do not say then, * I cannot be- 
 lieve my sins are pardoned, or that I am in God's 
 favour, and therefore I am no true believer/' This 
 is a most mistaken conclusion. The question is, 
 whether thou dost heartily accept of Christ, that 
 thou mayest be pardoned, reconciled to God, and 
 so saved ? Dost thou consent that he shall be thy 
 Lord who hast bought thee, and that he shall bring 
 thee to heaven in his own way? This is justifying, 
 saving faith, and the mark by which thou must try 
 thyself.— Saint's Rest, p. 149, 155, 159. 
 
 If your heart be false, it will be lying; but if it 
 be not, it will not be lying, though you maybe 
 uncertain. The truth of your consent is one thing, 
 
80 
 
 ASSURANCE. 
 
 and your certainty of it is another : that it be true, 
 is necessary to your salvation; but not that you be 
 sure that it is true. But there is much difference 
 between one that truly consenteth and rcsolveth, 
 but is afraid lest his deceitful heart is not sin- 
 cere in it. Because all that can be expected from 
 us is, that we speak our minds according to our 
 best acquaintance with them, otherwise we must 
 forbear all thanksgiving for special mercies, and 
 a great part of our worship of God, till we are cer- 
 tain of the sincerity of our own hearts, which 
 too many are not. — Works, vol. iv. p. 178. 
 
 The saints themselves being sanctified but in 
 part, are but imperfectly assured of their salvation; 
 and therefore in that measure, as they remain in 
 doubt, or unassured, death may be a double terror 
 to them. They believe the threatenings, and know 
 more than unbelievers do, what an insufferable loss 
 it is, to be deprived of the celestial glory! and 
 what an unspeakable misery it is to bear the end- 
 less wrath of God: and therefore, so far as they 
 have such fears, it must needs make death a terror 
 to them. — Works, vol. iv. p. 744. 
 
 It appeareth how little judgment is to be made 
 of a man's condition by his melancholy apprehen- 
 sions, or the sadness of his mind at death : and in 
 what a different manner men of the same eminency 
 in holiness and sincerity may go to God! — Life 
 and Time, p. 431. 
 
 It much increased my peace, when God's provi- 
 dence called me to the comforting of many others 
 that had the same complaints: while I answered 
 their doubts, I answered my own ; and the charity 
 which I was constrained to exercise for them re- 
 
IMPERFECTION OF FAITH. 
 
 81 
 
 dounded to myself, and insensibility abated my 
 fears, and procured me an increase of quietness of 
 mind. 
 
 And yet after all, I was glad of probabilities in- 
 stead of full undoubted certainties; and to this 
 very day, anno 1664, though I have no such de- 
 gree of doubtfulness as is any great trouble to my 
 soul, or procureth any great disquieting fears, yet 
 cannot I say that I have such a certainty of my 
 own sincerity in grace, as excludeth ait doubts and 
 fears of the contrary. — Life and Time y p. 9. 
 
 Chap. X, — Imperfection of Faith. 
 
 Most true believers are weak in faith. Alas ! 
 how far do we all fall short of the love, and zeal, 
 and care, and diligence which we should have, if 
 we had but once beheld the things which we do be- 
 lieve? Alas! how dead are our affections? How 
 flat are our duties ? How cold, and how slow are 
 our endeavours? How unprofitable are our lives, 
 in comparison of what one hour's sight of heaven 
 and hell would make them be? — Works, vol. iii. 
 p. 518. 
 
 A weak christian loveth God as one that is infi- 
 nitely better than himself and all tilings, or else he 
 did not love him at all as God. But in the exer- 
 cise he is so much in minding himself, and so sel- 
 dom and weak in the contemplation of God and 
 his perfections, that he feeleth more of his love to 
 himself than to God ; and feeleth more of his love 
 to God, as for the benefits which he receive in and 
 by himself, than as for his own perfections - } yea, 
 S 5 
 
82 
 
 IMPERFECTION OF FAITH. 
 
 and often feelcth the love of himself to work more 
 strongly than his love to the church, and all else in 
 the world. The care of his own salvation is the 
 highest principle which he ordinarily perceiveth in 
 any great strength in him ; and he is very little, 
 and weakly carried out to the love of the whole 
 church, and to the love of God above himself, 
 (Phil. ii. 20, 21, 22; 1 Cor. x. 24; Jen xlv. 5), 
 — Works, vol. ii. p. 968. 
 
 The weak christian hath more love to God and 
 holiness than to the world and fleshly pleasures ; 
 but yet his fear of punishment is greater than his 
 love to God and holiness. To have no love to 
 God, is inconsistent with a state of grace, and 
 so it is to have less love to God than to the world, 
 and less love to holinesss than to sin ; but to 
 have more fear than love, is consistent with sin- 
 cerity and grace ; yea, the weak christian's love 
 to God and holiness is joined with so much back- 
 wardness and averscncss, and interrupted with 
 weariness, and with carnal allurements and di- 
 versions of the creature, that he cannot perceive 
 whether his love and willingness be sincere or 
 not. He gceth on in a course of duty, but so 
 heavily, that he scarce knows whether his love 
 or loathing of it be the greater. He goeth to it 
 as a sick man to his labour or meat: all that he 
 doth is with so much pain or indisposedness, that 
 to his feeling averseness seemeth" greater than his 
 willingness, were it not that necessity makes him 
 willing. For the habitual love and complacency 
 which he hath towards God and duty, is so op- 
 pressed by fear and averseness, that it is not so 
 much felt in act as they. — Works, vol.ii. p. 968. 
 
 The weak christian is taken up but very little, 
 
IMPERFECTION OF FAITH. 
 
 88 
 
 with the lively exercises of love and praise, nor 
 with any studies higher than his own distempered 
 heart: the care of his poor soul, and the com- 
 plaining of his manifold infirmities and corruptions, 
 is the most of his religion : and if he sets himself 
 to the praising of God, or to thanksgivings, he is 
 as dull and short in it, as if it was not his proper 
 work, (Psat. hatvii. ; Mark, ix. 24 - } andxvi. 14.) 
 — Works, vol. ii. p. 9G9. 
 
 The weak christian, though he hath no sin but 
 what he is a hater of, and fain would be delivered 
 from, yet alas, how imperfect is his deliverance ? 
 and how weak is the hatred of his sin, and mixed 
 with so much proneness to it, that his life is much 
 blemished with the spots of his offences. Though 
 his unbelief and pride and worldliness, are not pre- 
 dominant in him, yet are they (or some of them) 
 still so strong, and fight so much aga nst his faith, 
 humility, and heavenliness, than he can scarcely 
 tell which hath the upper hand ; nor can others 
 that see the failings of his iife, discern whether the 
 good or evil be the most prevalent. Though it be 
 heaven which he most seeketh, yet earth is so 
 much regarded by him, that his heavenly minded- 
 ness is greatly suppressed and damped by it. And 
 though it be the way of godliness and obedience 
 which he walketh in, yet is it with so many stum- 
 blings and falls, if not deviations also, that maketh 
 him oft a burthen to himself, a shame to his pro- 
 fession, and a snare or trouble to those about him. 
 His heart is like an ill-swept house, that hath 
 many a sluttish corner it; and his life is like a 
 moth-eaten garment which hath many a hole, 
 which you may see if you bring it to the light. 
 (1 Cor. iii. 1, 2, 3; and vi. 6, /, 8; and xi. 18, 
 21, 22, &c.)— Works, voL ii. p. 9/0, 
 
84 
 
 IMPERFECTION OF FAITH. 
 
 Consider that it is not a small, but an exceed- 
 ing glory that is promised you in the gospel, and 
 which you live in hope of possessing for ever; 
 and therefore it should be an exceeding love that 
 you should have to it, and an exceeding care that 
 you should have of it. Make light of heaven, and 
 make light of all ; truly, it is an unsuitable, unrea- 
 sonable thing, to have one low thought, or one 
 careless word, or one cold prayer, or other perform- 
 ance about such a matter as eternal glory. Shall 
 such a thing as heaven be coldly or carelessly 
 minded and sought after ? Shall the endless frui- 
 tion of God in glory, be looked at with sleepy 
 heartless wishes ? I tell you, sirs, if you will have 
 such high hopes, you must have high and strong 
 endeavours ! 
 
 Consider also, that it is not only low and smaller 
 matters that you receive from God, but mercies 
 innumerable, and inestimable and exceeding great ; 
 and therefore it is not cold affections and dull en- 
 deavours, that you should return to God for all 
 these mercies. Mercy brought you into the world; 
 and mercy hath nourished you and bred you up ; 
 and mercy hath defended and maintained you, and 
 plentifully provided for you. Your bodies live 
 upon it ; your souls were recovered by it ; it gave 
 you your being; it rescued you from misery, it saved 
 you from sin, and Satan, and yourselves : all that 
 you have at the present you hold by it; all that 
 you can hope for, for the future, must be from it : 
 it is most sw eet in quality ; what can be sweeter to 
 miserable souls than mercy ? — Works, vol. ii. p. 945.. 
 
 Overmuch sorrow would swallow up faith itself, 
 and greatly liindereth its exercise. They are mat- 
 ters of unspeakable joy which the gospel calleth us 
 to believe ; and it is wonderful hard for a grieved 
 
IMPERFECTION OF FAITH. 
 
 83 
 
 troubled soul to believe any thing that is matter 
 of joy ; much less of so peat joy as pardon and 
 salvation are. Though it dare not flatly give God 
 the lie, it hardly believes his free and full promises, 
 and the expressions of his readiness to receive all 
 penitent returning sinners. Passionate grief serveth 
 to feel somewhat contrary to the grace and pro- 
 mises of the gospel, and that feeling hinders faith. — 
 Works , vol. iv. p. 833. 
 
 This man's religion must needs be vain, who wants 
 the life of faith itself, and heartily believeth not 
 in Christ ; he hath but an opinion of the truth of 
 Christianity, through the advantage of his educa- 
 tion and company ; and thereupon doth call him- 
 self a christian, and heartlessly talk of the mystery 
 of redemption as a common thing : but he doth 
 not, with a humble, broken heart, betake himself 
 to Christ as his only refuge from the wrath of God, 
 and everlasting misery, as he would lay hold on the 
 hand of his friend, if he were drowning: the sense 
 of the odiousness of sin, and of the damnation 
 threatened by the righteous God, hath not yet 
 taught him to value Christ, as he must be valued 
 by such as will be saved by him. These hypocrites 
 do but talk of Christ, and turn his name as they do 
 their prayers, into the matter of a dry and custo- 
 mary form : they fly not to him as the only physi- 
 cian of their souls, in the feeling of their festering 
 wounds ; they cry not to him as the disciples in the 
 tempest, save, master, ice perish: they value him 
 not practically (though notionally they do), as the 
 pearl for which they must sell all, (Matt. xiii. 44, 
 45, 46). Christ doth not dwell in his heart by 
 faith, nor doth he long with all the saints to com- 
 prehend what is the breadth, and length, and 
 depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ 
 
80 WEAK FAITH. 
 
 which passeth all knowledge, (Eplu iii. 17, 18, 
 19).— Works, vol. iv. p. 448. 
 
 Chap. XL— Weak Faith. 
 
 If the fearful doubting soul shall say, 1 know it 
 is a great comfort to them that are in Christ, but 
 what is it to me, that know not whether I have any 
 part in him? I answer, 1. The foundation of God 
 still slandeth sure ; the Lord knoweth his own, 
 even when some of them know not that they are 
 his own. He knoweth his mark upon his sheep, 
 when they know it not themselves. God doubteth 
 not of his interest in thee, though thou doubt of 
 thy interest in him ; and thou art faster in the arms 
 of his love, than by the arms of thy own faith; as 
 the child is surer in the mother's arms, than by its 
 holding of the mother. And moreover, your 
 doubts and fears are part of the evil that shall be 
 removed, and your bitterest sorrows that hence 
 proceed, shall with the rest of the enemies be de- 
 stroyed. 
 
 2. But yet take heed that you unthankfully plead 
 not against the mercies which you have received, 
 and be not friends to those doubts and fears which 
 are your enemies, and that you take not part with 
 the enemy of your comforts. Why dost thou 
 doubt (poor humbled soul) of thy interest in Christ, 
 that must make the conquest? Answer me but 
 these few questions from thy heart. 
 
 1 . Did Christ ever shew himself unkind to thee ? 
 Or unwilling to receive thee, and have mercy on 
 thee ? Did he ever give thee cause to think so 
 poorly of his love and grace, as thy doubts do inti- 
 
WEAK FAITH. 
 
 87 
 
 mate thou dost ? Hast thou not found him kind 
 when thou wast unkind ? And that he thought on 
 thee, when thou didst not think on him? And 
 will he now forget thee, and end in wrath that 
 begun in love? He desired thee when thou didst 
 not desire him, and gave thee all thy desires after 
 him; and will he now cross and deny the desires 
 which he hath caused ? He was found of thee 
 (or rather found thee) when thou soughtest not 
 after him ; and can he reject thee, now thou criest 
 and callest for his grace ? O think not hardly of 
 his wond'rous grace till he give thee cause. Let thy 
 sweet experiences be remembered, to the shame of 
 thy causeless doubts and fears ; and let him that 
 hath loved thee to the death, be thought on as he 
 is, and not as the unbelieving flesh would misre- 
 present him. 
 
 2. If thou say that it is not his unkindness, but 
 thy own, that feeds thy doubts, I further ask thee, 
 is he not kind to the unkind, especially when they 
 lament their unkindness ? Thou art not so unkind 
 to him as thou wast in thy unconverted state, and 
 yet he then exprest his love in thy conversion : he 
 then sought thee when thou wentest astray, and 
 brought thee carefully home into his fold, and there 
 he hath kept thee ever since; and is he less kind 
 now when thou art returned home ? Dost thou 
 not know that all the children have their froward- 
 ness, and are guilty of unkindnesses to him ? And 
 yet he doth not therefore disown them, and turn 
 them out of his family; but is tender of them in 
 their froward weakness, because they are his own. 
 How dealt he with the peevish prophet Jonah, that 
 was exceedingly displeased and very angry, that 
 God spared Nineveh, lest it should be a dishonour 
 to his prophesy, insomuch that he wished that he 
 might die, and not live; and after repined at the 
 
88 
 
 WEAK FAITH. 
 
 withering of his gourd, and the scorching of the 
 sun that beat upon him ? The Lord doth gently 
 question with him, Dost thou well to be angry t 
 And after hence convince him, that the mercy 
 which he valued to himself, he should not envy to 
 so many, {Jonah, iv.) How dealt he with the Dis- 
 ciples that fell asleep, when they should have 
 watched with Christ, in the night of his great agony ? 
 He doth not tell them, You are none of mine, be- 
 cause they could not watch with me one hour; but 
 tenderly excuseth that which they durst not excuse 
 themselves, — the spirit is willing, but the flesh is 
 iveak. When he was on the cross, though they 
 all forsook him and fled; he was then so far from 
 forsaking them, that he was manifesting to admi- 
 ration that exceeding love that never would forsake 
 them. And knowest thou not, poor complaining 
 soul, that the kindness of Christ overcometh all the 
 unkindness of his children ? And that his blood and 
 grace is sufficient to save thee from greater sins 
 than those that trouble thee ? If thou hadst no 
 sin, what use hadst thou of a saviour? Will thy 
 physician ^erefore cast thee off because thou art 
 sick? — Works, vol. iv. p. 760. 
 
 In the storm of temptation, I questioned awhile, 
 whether I were indeed a christian or an infidel, and 
 whether faith could consist with such doubts as I 
 was conscious of; but my judgment closed with 
 the reason of Dr. Jackson's determination of this 
 case, which supported me much, that as in the 
 very assenting act of faith there may be such 
 weakness as may make us cry, Lord increase our 
 faith; we believe, Lord help our unbelief; so when 
 faith and unbelief are in their conflict, it is the 
 effects which must shew us which of them is victo- 
 rious. And that he that hath so much faith as will 
 
UNSOUND FAITH. 
 
 89 
 
 cause him to deny himself, take up his cross, and 
 forsake all the profits, honours, and pleasures of 
 this world, for the sake of Christ, the love of God, 
 and the hope of glory, hath a saving faith, how 
 weak soever; for God cannot condemn the soul 
 that truly lovetli and seeketh him ; and those that 
 Christ bringeth to persevere in the love of God, he 
 bringeth to salvation, — Life and Time, p. 22. 
 
 Chap. XII. — Unsound Faith. 
 
 The main cause of the slighting of Christ and 
 his salvation, is a secret root of unbelief in men's 
 hearts. Whatsoever they may pretend, they do not 
 soundly and thoroughly believe the word of God : 
 they are taught in general to say, the gospel is true; 
 but they never saw the evidence of its truth, so far 
 as thoroughly to persuade them of it; nor have 
 they got their souls settled on the infallibility of 
 God's testimony, nor considered of the truth of 
 the particular doctrines revealed in the scripture, 
 so far as soundly to believe the words of this gos- 
 pel, of the evil of sin, of the need of Christ, and 
 what he hath done for you, and what you must 
 be and do, if ever you will be saved by him ; and 
 what will become of you for ever if you do it not ; 
 I dare say it would cure the contempt of Christ, 
 and you would not make light of the matters of 
 your salvation. But men do not believe while they 
 say they do, and verily think that they do them- 
 selves. There is a root of bitterness, and an evil 
 heart of unbelief, that makes them depart from the 
 living God, {Heb. ii. 12, and iv. 1, 2, 6). Tell 
 any man in this congregation that he shall have a 
 
I 
 
 90 UNSOUND FAITH. 
 
 gift of 10,OOOL if he will but go to London for it ; 
 if he believe you, he will go ; but if he believe 
 not, he will not ; and if he will not go, you may 
 be sure he believeth not, supposing that he is 
 able. I know a slight belief may stand with a 
 wicked life: such as men have of the truth of 
 a prognostication — it may be true, and it may be 
 false ; but a true and sound belief is not consistent 
 with so great neglect of the things that are be- 
 lieved. — Works, vol. iv. p. 731. 
 
 By this time you may see that the life of faith is 
 quite another thing, than the lifeless opinion of 
 multitudes that call themselves believers. To say, 
 J believe there is a God, a Clirist, a heaven, a hell, 
 is as easy as it it is common : but the faith of the 
 ungodly is but an uneffectual dream. To dream 
 that you are fighting, wins no victories; to dream 
 that you are eating, gets no strength; to dream that 
 you are running, rids no ground; to dream that 
 you are ploughing, or sowing, or reaping, procur- 
 eth but a fruitless harvest; and to dream that you 
 are princes, may consist with beggary. If you do 
 any more than dream of heaven and hell, how is it 
 that you stir not, and make it not appear by the 
 diligence of your lives, and the fervour of your 
 duties, and the seriousness of your endeavours, that 
 such wonderful, inexpressible, overpowering things 
 are indeed the matters of your belief? As you love 
 your souls, take heed lest you take an image of faith 
 to be the thing itself. Faith sets on work the 
 powers of the soul, for the obtaining of that joy, 
 and the escaping of that misery, which you believe. 
 — Works, vol. iii. p. 518. 
 
91 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 OF CONVERSION. 
 
 Chap. I. — State of the Unconverted. 
 
 If you marvel what the hypocrite wants, that 
 makes his religion delusory and vain, I shall now 
 tell you, I hope, to your conviction and satisfaction. 
 
 1 . For all his religion, he wants the spirit of 
 Christ, to dwell as his sanctifier within him; and if 
 any man have not the spirit of Christ, the same is 
 none of his, (Rom. viii. 9). But because this is 
 known by the effects, I add, 
 
 2. He wants that spiritual new birth, by which 
 he should be made spiritual, as his first birth made 
 him carnal, (John, iii. 5, 6; Rom. viii. 6,7, 8). He 
 is born of the will of the flesh, and of man, but 
 not of god, (John, i. 13). From the first man, 
 Adam, he is become a living soul; but by the second 
 man, Christ, the Lord from Heaven; he is not yet 
 quickened in the spirit, (1 Cor. xv. 45, 46). He is 
 not born again of the incorruptible seed, the word 
 of God, that liveth and abideth for ever, (1 Pet. i. 
 23). He is not yet saved by the washing of rege- 
 neration, save only as to the outward baptism, and 
 by renewing of the Holy Ghost, which is shed by 
 Christ on all his members, that being justified by 
 his grace, they should be made heirs according to 
 the hope of eternal life, (Tit. iii. 5, 6). They are 
 not new creatures, old things being not passed 
 
■ 
 
 92 STATE OF THE UNCONVERTED. 
 
 away, and all things with them become new: and 
 therefore it is certain that they are not in Christ, 
 (2 Cor. v. 17). They have not put off the old man 
 with his deceitful lusts, and deeds, nor have put on 
 the new man, which after God is created in righte- 
 ousness, and true holiness, (Eph. iii. 22, 23, 24; 
 Col. iii. 9, 10). They have but patched up the old 
 unsanctifled hearts, and smoothed over their carnal 
 conversations with civility and plausible deport- 
 ment, and so much religion as may cheat them- 
 selves, as well as blind the eyes of others : but they 
 are strangers to the life of God, (Eph. iv. 18), and 
 never were made partakers of the divine nature, 
 which all the children of God partake of, (2 Pet. i. 
 4), nor of that holiness, without which none shall 
 see the Lord, (Heb. xii. 14) . — Works, vol. iv. p. 448. 
 
 O the time you have lost, the means and help 
 that you have neglected, the motions that you have 
 resisted, the swarms of evil thoughts that have filled 
 your imagination, the streams of vain and idle 
 words that have flowed from your mouth, the works 
 of darkness in public and in secret, that God hath 
 seen you in ! And all this while, how empty were 
 you in inward holiness, and how barren of good 
 works to God or man ? What have you done with 
 all your talents ? And how little or nothing hath 
 God had of all? 
 
 And now consider what a case you are in, while 
 you remain unconverted. You have made your- 
 selves the sinks of sin, the slaves of Satan and the 
 flesh ; and are skilful in nothing, but doing evil : if 
 you be called to prayers, or holy meditation, your 
 hearts are against it, and you are not used to it, and 
 therefore you know not how to do it to any purpose. 
 But to think the thoughts of lust or covetousness, 
 or hatred, or malice, or revenge ; this you can do 
 
STATE OF THE UNCONVERTED. 
 
 93 
 
 without any toil; to speak of the world, or of your 
 sports and pleasures, or against those that you bare 
 ill will to, this you can do without any study. You 
 are such as are spoken of, Jer. iv. 22. My people 
 are foolish, they have not known me: they are 
 foolish children, and have no understanding: they 
 are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no 
 knowledge. You are grown strangers to the God that 
 made you, in whose love and service you should 
 live, and find your chief delights. Your hearts are 
 hardened, and you are dead in your sins : the guilt 
 of the sins of your lives are still upon you; you can 
 neither look into your hearts or lives, no, not on 
 one day of your lives, or the best hour that you 
 have spent, but you must see the ugly face of sin, 
 which deserveth condemnation. You have made 
 God your enemy, that should have been your only 
 felicity. And yet you are always at his mercy and 
 in his hands. Little do you know how long his pa- 
 tience will endure to you, or what hour he will call 
 away your souls: and if death comes, alas, what a 
 case will it find you in! how lamentably unready 
 are you to meet him ! how unready to appear before 
 the dreadful God whom you have offended! and 
 what a terrible appearance do you think that will 
 be to you? Most certainly if you die before you are 
 converted, you will not be from among the devils 
 and damned souls an hour. — fVorks, vol. ii, 
 p. 560. 
 
 If you are persecutors, or haters, or deriders of 
 men, for being serious and diligent in the service 
 of God, and fearful of sinning, and because they go 
 not with the multitude to do evil, it is a certain sign 
 that you are in a state of death : yea, if you love 
 not such men, and desire not rather to be such 
 
94 STATE OF THE UNCONVERTED. 
 
 yourselves, than to be the greatest of the ungodly. 
 SeeGal.lv. 29; Acts, xxvi. 11; 1 Tim. xiii. 1; 
 Pet. iv. 2, 3; v. 4; Psal. xv. 4; 1 John, iii. 8, 
 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15; John, xiii. 35; Psal 
 lxxxiv. 10. 
 
 If you love the world best, and set your affec- 
 tions most on things below, and mind most earthly 
 things; nay, if you seek not first God's kingdom, 
 and the righteousness thereof, and if your hearts be 
 not in heaven, and your affections set on things 
 that are above, and you prefer not your hopes of life 
 eternal before all the pleasures and prosperity of 
 this world, it is a certain sign that you are but 
 worldly and ungodly men. See this in Matt. vi. 19, 
 20, 21; Phil iil 18, 19, 20; Col. iii. 1,2,3,4; 
 Psal. lxxviii. 25; 1 John, ii. 15, 16, 17; James, i. 
 27; Luke, xii. 20, 21, and xvi. 25. 
 
 If your estimation, belief, and hopes of everlast- 
 ing life through Jesus Christ, be not such as will 
 prevail with you, to deny yourselves, and forsake 
 father and mother, and the nearest friends, and 
 house and land, and life, and all that you have for 
 Christ, and for these hopes of a happiness hereafter, 
 you are no true christians; nor in a state of saving- 
 grace. See Luke, xiv. 26, 33; Matt. x. 37, 38, 
 39; Matt. xiii. 21, 22. 
 
 If you have not been converted, regenerated and- 
 sanctified, by the spirit of Jesus Christ, making you 
 spiritual, and causing you to mind the things of the 
 spirit above the things of the flesh ; if this spirit be 
 not in you, and you walk not after it, but after the 
 flesh, making provision for the flesh, to satisfy its 
 desires, and preferring the pleasing of the flesh, be- 
 fore the pleasing of God, it is certain that you are 
 in a state of death. See Matt, xviii. 3; John, iii. 
 3, 5, 6; Heb. xii. 14; Rom. viii. 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 
 
STATE OF THE UNCONVERTED. 
 
 95 
 
 10, 11, 12, 13; and xiii. 13, 14; Luke, xvi. 19, 25; 
 andxii. 20, 21; Heb. xi. 25,26; 2 Cor. iv. 16, 17, 
 
 18, and v. 7; Rom. viii. 17, 18. _ 
 
 If you have any known sin, which you do not 
 hate, and had not rather leave it than keep it, 
 and do not pay, and strive and watch against it, as 
 far as you know and observe it, but rather excuse 
 it, plead for it, desire it, and are loth to part with 
 it, so that your will is habitually more for it than 
 against it, it is sign of an impenitent unrenewed 
 heart. (1 John, iii. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 24; 
 Gal. v. 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25; Rom. vii. 
 22, 24, and viii. 13; Luke, xiii. 3, 5; Matt. v. 
 
 19, 20; 2 Tim. ii. 19; Psal. v, 5; Luke, xiii. 
 27).— Works, vol. L p. 11. 
 
 When you are heartless and dull under the ordi- 
 nances of God, and scripture hath little life or 
 sweetness to you, and you are almost indifferent 
 whether you call upon God in secret or no; and 
 whether you go to the congregation and hear the 
 word, and join in God's praises and communion of 
 the saints, and you have no relish in holy confe- 
 rence, or any ordinance, but do them merely almost 
 for custom, or merely to satisfy your consciences, 
 and not for any great need you feel of them, or 
 good you find by them; this shows for certain you 
 want some more of the rod and spur, your hearts 
 are not sufficiently broken and awakened, but God 
 must take you in hand again, — Works, vol. ii. 
 p. 574. 
 
 Mark those professors that prove apostates, and 
 forsake the way of godliness which they seemed to 
 embrace, and see whether they be not such as 
 either took up some bare opinions and outward du- 
 ties, upon a flash of superficial illumination, or 
 
96 
 
 STATE OF THE UNCONVERTED. 
 
 else such as were frightened into a course of reli- 
 gion, and so went on from duty to duty, for fear of 
 being damned, when all the while their hearts were 
 more another way, and they had rather have been 
 excused. These hypocrites are they that are dis- 
 puting so oft the obligations to their duty, and ask- 
 ing, how do you prove that it is a duty to pray in 
 my family, or duty to observe the Lord's day, or 
 to come constantly to the congregation, or to use 
 the communion of the godly in private meetings, 
 or to repeat sermons, or to sing psalms and the 
 like ? Intimating that they are as birds in a cage, 
 or hens in a pen, that are boring to get out, and 
 had rather be at liberty : if it were not for the fear 
 of the law of God that is upon them, they had 
 rather let all these duties alone, or take them up 
 but now and then at an idle time, when Satan and 
 flesh will give them leave. If a feast be prepared 
 and spread before them, a good stomach will not 
 stand to ask, how can you prove it my duty to eat? 
 But perhaps the sick that loathe it may do so. If 
 the cup be before the drunkard, he doth not stand 
 on those terms, how do you prove it my duty to 
 drink this cup, and the other cup ? No, if iie 
 might have but leave he would drink on, without 
 ever questioning whether it be a duty; if the game- 
 ster, or the whoremonger, might be sure that he 
 should escape the punishment, he would never stick 
 at the want of a precept, and ask, is it my duty? If 
 there were but a gift of twenty pounds a man to be 
 given to all the poor in the town, yea, and to all 
 the people in general, I do not think I should meet 
 with many people in the town that would draw 
 back and say, what icord of God commandeth me 
 to take? or, how prove you that it is my duty? 
 And why is all this ? But because they have an in- 
 ward love to the thing; and love will carry a man 
 
si ATE OF THE UNCONVERTED. 97 
 
 to that which seemeth good for him, without any 
 command or threatening. If these ungodly wretches 
 had one spark of spiritual life in them, and any 
 taste and feeling of the matters that concerns their 
 soul's salvation, instead of asking, how can you 
 prove that I am to pray with my family, or that I 
 must keep the Lord's day, or that I must converse 
 with the godly, and lead a holy life? they would 
 be readier to say, how can you prove that 1 am not 
 to pray with my family f And that I may not sanc- 
 tify the Lord's day ? And tliat I may not have 
 communion with the saints in holiness? Seeing that 
 so great a mercy is offered to the world, why may 
 not I partake of it as well as others? I can per- 1 
 ceive in many that I converse with, the great dif- 
 ference between a heart that loves God and holi- 
 ness, and a heart that seems religious and honest 
 without such a love; the true convert percciveth 
 so much sweetness in holy duties, and so much spi- 
 ritual advantage by them to his soul, that he is loth 
 to be kept back; he cannot spare these ordinances 
 and mercies, no more than he can spare the bread 
 from his mouth, or the clothes from his back; 
 yea, or the skin from his flesh, no, nor so much. 
 He loveth them, he cannot live without them; at 
 the worst that ever he is at, he had rather be holy, 
 than be unholy, and live a godly than a fleshly 
 worldly life. And therefore if he had but a bare 
 leave from God, without a command, to sanctify 
 the Lord's day, and to live in the holy communion 
 of the saints, he would joyfully take it with many 
 thanks; for he need not to be driven to his rest 
 when he is weary, nor to his spiritual food when he 
 is hungry, nor to Christ the refuge of his soul, 
 when the curse and accuser are pursuing him. But 
 the unsanctified hypocrite, that never loved God 
 or godliness in his heart, he stands questioning 
 
 F 
 
98 NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 
 
 and enquiring for some proof of a necessity of these 
 courses. And if he can but bring himself to hope 
 that God will save him without so much ado 
 (which by the help of the devil, he may be easily 
 brought to hope) away then goes the duty; if you 
 could not shew him that there is a necessity of fa- 
 mily prayer, and a necessity of sanctifying the 
 Lord's day, and a necessity of forsaking his tip- 
 pling and voluptuousness, and a necessity of living 
 a heavenly life, he would quickly resolve of another 
 eourse; for he had rather do otherwise if he durst. 
 He never was religious from a true predominant 
 love to God, and a holy life, but for fear of hell, 
 and for other inferior respects. — Direct, to a Sound 
 Conversion, \2mo. IJFQS^ p. 208. 
 
 Chap. II.— Necessity of Conversion. 
 
 But if thou wilt needs sleep on, be it known to 
 thee, sinner, it shall not be long, if thou wilt 
 awake no sooner, death and vengeance will awake 
 thee. Thou wilt awake when thou seest the other 
 world, and seest the things which thou wouldst 
 not believe, and comest before thy dreadful judge ! 
 Thy damnation slumbereth not! (2 Pet. xxiii.) 
 There are no sleepy souls in heaven, all are awake 
 there; and the day that has awakened so many 
 shall awaken thee;* Watch then, if thou love thy 
 soul, lest thy Lord come suddenly and find thee 
 sleepine;, (Mark, xiii. 34, 35, 36, 37). What I say 
 to one, I sav to all, " Watch V— Works, vol. i. 
 p. 22. 
 
 It is time for you to look home (2 Cor. xiii. 5; 
 
SIGNS OF CONVERSION. 
 
 Psal. iv. 4; 2 Pet. i. 10), and understand now 
 what state your souls are in. That you were made 
 capable of holiness and happiness, you know; that 
 you and all men are fallen from God, and holiness 
 and happiness, unto self, and sin, and misery, you 
 know; that you are so far redeemed by Christ, you 
 know, as to having a pardoning and saving cove- 
 nant tendered you, and Christ and mercy offered 
 to your choice. But whether you are truly penitent 
 believers, and renewed by the Holy Ghost, and so 
 united unto Christ, this is the question yet unre- 
 solved; this is the work that is yet to do, without 
 which there is no salvation; and if thou die before 
 it is done, Wo to thee that ever thou wast a man ! 
 Except a man be (John, iii. 5;* 2 Cor. v. 17; Rom. 
 viii. 7, 9; Phil. iii. IS, 20) regenerate by the Spt- 
 rit, and converted and made a new creature, and of 
 car)ial be made spiritual, and of earthly be made 
 heavenly, and of selfish and sinful be made holy 
 and obedient to God, he can never be saved, no 
 more than the devil himself can be saved. — Works, 
 vol. iv. p. 198. 
 
 Chap. III. — Signs of Conversion. 
 
 The predominancy or prevalency of the interest 
 of God as our God, and Christ as our Saviour, and 
 the spirit as our sanctifier, in the estimation of the 
 understanding, the resolved choice of the will, and 
 the government of the life, against all the worldly 
 interest of the flesh, is the only infallible sign of a 
 justified regenerate soul. — Works, vol. ii. p. 1000. 
 
 You may easily see wherein your stability, 
 f 2 
 
100 EFFECT OF CONVERSION. 
 
 strength, and growth doth consist. 1. It doth not 
 most, or much consist in speculations, or less useful 
 truths. 2. It doth not consist in the mere heat of 
 affections; for zeal may be misguided, and do hurt, 
 and may prove sometimes but a mere natural or 
 distempered sinful passion. 3. It consisteth not in 
 mere fears, or purposes, that you are frightened into 
 against your wills. 4. Nor doth it consist in the 
 common gifts of grace or nature. 5. Nor yet in 
 running into groundless singularities, and unusual 
 strains. But, in a word, it consisteth in holy love 
 kindled by effectual faith. When a firmly-believ- 
 ing soul is fullest of the love of God, and Christ, 
 and holiness, this is the most confirmed state of 
 soul; and in this your chiefest growth consisteth. — 
 Works, vol. ii. p. 954. 
 
 Whether conversion began now, or before, or 
 cfter, I was never able to this day to know. — Life 
 *nd Times, p. iii. 
 
 Chap. IV. — Effect of Conversion. 
 
 A state of holiness is nothing else but the habi- 
 tual and predominant devotion and dedication of 
 soul, and body, and life, and all that we have, to 
 God; an esteeming, and loving, and serving, and 
 seeking him, before all the pleasures and prosperity 
 of the flesh; making his favour and everlasting 
 happiness in heaven our end, and Jesus Christ our 
 way, and referring all things in the world unto 
 that end, and making this thejscope, the design, 
 and business of our lives. — Works, vol. i. p. 7- 
 
INSUFFICIENT CONVERSION. 
 
 101 
 
 Chap. V. — Insufficient Conversion. 
 
 There is no hope of the salvation of a sinner 
 that eontinueth unconverted: flatter not yourselves 
 with foolish hopes of the devil's making. As sure 
 as God's word is true, there is no hope of it. 
 Everlasting despair in hell is the portion of all that 
 die unconverted and unsanctifiecl. They will then 
 cry out for ever, All our hope is past and gone: we 
 had once hope of mercy 9 but we refused it, and now 
 there in no hope. This thought that there is no 
 more hope will tear the sinner's heart for ever. 
 This is the state that I would keep you from : And 
 do I not then seek to keep you from despair? (Job, 
 viii. 13, 14, and xi. 20, and xxvii. 8; Prov. xi. 7» 
 and xiv. 32; Isa. lvii. 10; 1 Pet. i. 3, 21, and iii. 
 15 1 1 John, lYi. 3). — Works, vol. iv. p. 150. 
 
 Many a thousand that are now past help, have 
 had the word come near them, and cast them into 
 fear, and make some stir and trouble in their souls, 
 awakening their consciences, and forcing them to 
 some good purposes and promises : yea, and bringing 
 them to the performance of a half reformation ; but 
 this is not it that will serve your turn. Many have 
 been so much changed as not to be far from the 
 kingdom of God, and yet came short of it, (Mark, 
 xii. 34). There is no promise in scripture that you 
 shall be pardoned if you do almost repent and be- 
 lieve, or be saved if you be almost sanctified and 
 obedient ; but, on the contrary, the Lord has 
 plainly declared, that you must turn or die, though 
 you almost turn ; and repent or perish, though you 
 almost repent; and that you shall not enter into 
 the kingdom of heaven, without conversion and a 
 
102 
 
 INSUFFICIENT CONVERSION. 
 
 new birth, although you came never so near it, 
 God hath resolved upon the terms of your salva- 
 tion, and it is in vain to hope for salvation upon 
 any other terms. 
 
 So, if you will be shrinking and drawing hack, 
 and favouring your flesh, and will not go to the 
 quick, you will make your conversion much more 
 difficult; you must be brought to it again, and 
 fetch your groans yet deeper than before, and w eep 
 over all your former tears; your doubts will be mul- 
 tiplied, your fears and sorrows will be increased; 
 and all will go sorer with you than the first. O 
 what a case will you be in, when your sores must 
 be lanced a second time, and your bones as it were 
 broken again! then you will wish you had gone 
 through with it at the first. 
 
 Consider further, that half conversion doth often 
 prove a delusion to men's souls, making them 
 quiet on a miserable state, and so keeping them 
 from being converted to the last. If you had never 
 done any thing in it, you would the more easily be 
 persuaded that your case is bad, and that there is 
 still a necessity of a change. But when you have 
 had some convictions and troubles of mind, and 
 fears and sorrows, and so have fallen into an out- 
 side partial reformation, and now are persuaded 
 that you are truly converted, when it is no such 
 matter, what a dangerous impediment to your con- 
 version may this prove. 
 
 I know that a half conversion, if it be known to 
 be no more, is much better than none; and doth 
 often prepare men for a saving work. But when 
 this half conversion is taken for a true and saving 
 change, as it too commonly is, it proves one ot 
 the greatest impediments to'salvation. Whenever 
 Christ shall afterwards knock at your door, you 
 will not know him, as thinking that he dwells with 
 
INSUFFICIENT CONVERSION. 
 
 103 
 
 you already. If you read any books that call on 
 you to be converted, or hear any preacher exhort 
 you to turn, you have this at hand to cheat your- 
 selves with, and frustrate ail. You'll think this is 
 not spoken to me; for I am converted already. 
 O how quietly do such poor deluded sinners, daily 
 read and hear their own misery and doom, and 
 never once dream that they are the men meant, 
 and therefore are never dismayed at the matter! 
 This formeth you into a state of hypocrisy, and 
 makes the course of your duties and lives to be hy- 
 pocrital. If another man that knows himself to 
 be still unconverted, do but read the threatenings of 
 the word against such, or hear of the terrors of the 
 Lord from a minister, he may be brought to con- 
 fess that this is his own case, and so perceive the 
 misery of his condition. But when such as you do 
 read and hear these things, they never trouble you, 
 for you think they do not touch you ; you are 
 scripture-proof and sermon-proof ; and all by the 
 delusion of your half conversion. O how zealously 
 will such a man cry out against the sins of others J 
 and tell them of their misery, and persuade them to 
 turn, and shew them the danger that is near if they 
 do not : and in the mean time little thinks that this 
 is his own case, and that he speaks all this against 
 his own soul. How will such men applaud a ser* 
 mon that drives at the conversion of a sinner, and 
 tells them their misery while they are unconverted } 
 O, thinks he, this touched such and such ; I am 
 glad such a man and such a one heard it : and he 
 little thinks it as nearly touches himself. How 
 smoothly will he go on in any discourse against 
 wicked and unregenerated men, as David heard 
 the parable of Nathan, and it never once entered 
 into their thoughts that they speak all this against 
 themselves ; till the judge shall tell them when it 
 
104 INSUFFICIENT CONVERSION. 
 
 is too late, thou art the man? It will turn not only 
 the stream of your thoughts into hypocrisy and 
 self-deceit, but also the stream of your speeches to 
 others 5 yea, and the current of your prayers, and 
 ail the rest of your religious performances. When, 
 in confession, you should acknowledge and confess 
 your carnal and unregenerate state, you will only 
 confess you have the infirmities of the saints, and 
 that you have this or that sin, which yet you think 
 is mortified. When you should importunely beg 
 for renewing grace, you will only beg for strength- 
 ening grace or assurance ; when you should be 
 labouring to break your hearts, you will be study- 
 ing to heal them, and will be hearkening after 
 present comforts, when you have more need of 
 godly sorrow. It will fill your mouths in prayer 
 with pharasaical thanksgivings for the mercies of 
 regeneration, justification, adoption, and sanctifi- 
 cation, which you never received. Little doth 
 many a soul know, what sanctification, and the 
 several graces of the Spirit are, that frequently give 
 God thanks for them. — Works, vol. ii. p. 552. 
 
 Moreover, you know that you are uncertain of 
 the continuance of the gospel. You know not 
 whether you shall have such lively serious preachers 
 as you have now ; nor you know not whether you 
 shall have such godly neighbours and company to 
 encourage you, and help you in the work. God 
 will remove them one after another to himself, and 
 then you will have the fewer prayers for you, and 
 fewer warnings and good examples, and perhaps 
 be left wholly to the company of deceived ungodly 
 fools, that will do nothing but hinder and discou- 
 rage you from conversion. And you are net sure 
 that religion will continue in that reputation it is 
 now in. The times may turn before you turn; 
 
INSUFFICIENT CONVERSION. 105 
 
 godliness may become a scorn again, and it may be 
 a matter of suffering, and cost you your lives, to 
 live as the servants of Christ must do. And, there- 
 fore, if you stop at it now as a difficult thing, 
 when you have all the helps and encouragements 
 you can expect, and the way to heaven is made so 
 fair; and when magistrates, and ministers, and 
 neighbours, are ready to encourage and help you, 
 what will you do in times of persecution and dis- 
 couragement? If you cannot turn when you have 
 all these helps and means, what will you do when 
 they are taken from you ? — Direct, to a Sound Cm* 
 version, 12mo. 1/02, p. 6. 
 
 *6 
 
m 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 Chap. l.—The Holy Spirit. 
 
 It is certain that every good thought which 
 cometh into our minds, is some effect of the work- 
 ings of God's spirit, as every good word and every 
 good work is. — Works, vol. iii. p. 647. 
 
 It is a great truth, not sufficiently considered by 
 the wiser sort of christians, that God in his course 
 of government over the souls, even of the justified, 
 doth exercise great rewards and great punishments 
 here ; and these are much more upon the soul 
 within, than upon the body without; even the 
 giving of more of the operations of his spirit, is his 
 great reward, and the withholding, the withdraw- 
 ing, or denying its operations, is this great punish- 
 ment. The sin which provoketh him is unthank- 
 ful neglect of convictions, and holy persuasions 
 of the Spirit, and much more wilful resistance of 
 them : when we sin, it is not the bare sin that is 
 all, as to the act itself, but especially the resist- 
 ing of the Spirit, which in that sin we were guilty 
 of, which we pay dearest for: when the Spirit con- 
 vinceth us, reproveth us, and striveth with our 
 hearts, and we will not yield but overcome it; and 
 the punishment of withdrawing the Spirit's opera- 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 tions, is the more dangerous, by how much the less 
 perceived and lamented. Usually the signs of this 
 judgment are, for men to lose their life and love to 
 goodness by degrees, and to grow indifferent in the 
 matters of God ; to grow formal in meditations* 
 exhortations, and prayer, and to keep up only an 
 affected fervency; to grow stranger to God and the 
 life to come, and more bold with sin, and more 
 worldly-wise, to prove duty to be no duty, and sin 
 no sin, and to plead for every fleshly interest. Many 
 a true christian that loseth not all grace, yet comes 
 to so low a state of faith, that faith doth but live, 
 but acteth not with the conquering and quickening 
 vigour as it ought. 
 
 And alas ! I must tell you, that one gross sin, or 
 many wilful lesser sins, may so quench the spirit, 
 as that many a year's time doth not recover it; nay, 
 with some it is never recovered in the same degree 
 to their death. O, if we knew what one hour's sin 
 may lose us this way, we would not commit it for 
 a world. — Works, vol. iv. p. 224. 
 
 Carefully observe and cherish the motions of the 
 Spirit of God. If ever thy soul get above this 
 earth, and get acquainted with this heavenly life, 
 the Spirit of God must be to thee, as the chariot 
 to Elijah ; yea, the very living principle by which 
 thou must move and ascend. O then, grieve not 
 thy guide, quench not thy life, knock not off thy 
 chariot wheels! You little think how much the 
 life of all your graces, and happiness of your souls,, 
 depend upon your ready and cordial obedience to 
 the Spirit. When the Spirit urges thee to secret 
 prayer, or forbids thee thy known transgressions, 
 or points out to thee the way in which thou 
 shouldst go, and thou wilt not regard, no wonder 
 if heaven and thy soul be strange. If thou wilt not 
 
108 
 
 THE MEANS OF GRACE. 
 
 follow the Spirit, while it would draw thee to 
 Christ and thy duty, how should it lead thee to 
 heaven, and bring thy heart into the presence of 
 God? What supernatural help, what bold ac- 
 cess, shall the soul find in its approaches to the 
 Almighty, that constantly obeys the Spirit ? And 
 how backward, how dull, how ashamed, will he 
 be in these addresses, who hath often broke away 
 from the Spirit that would have guided him? 
 Christian reader, dost thou not sometimes feel a 
 strong impression to retire from the world, and 
 draw near to God ? Do not disobey, but take the 
 offer, and hoist up thy sails while this blessed gale 
 may be had. The more of this Spirit we resist, 
 the deeper will it wound ; and the more we obey, 
 the speedier will be our pace. — Saint's Rest, p. 205. 
 
 Chap. II. — The Means of Grace. 
 
 1st, When you meet with any difficulty, or temp- 
 tation, vou must still remember that it is your own 
 dark mind, or backicard heart, that is the cause; 
 and never suspect God's word or ways, no more 
 than a sick man will blame the meat instead of 
 his stomach, if he loathe a feast. But take occasion 
 to renew your repentance, and think, all this is 
 wrong of myself, who spent my youth in sin and 
 folly, which I should have spent in hearing the 
 word of God, and practising a godly life : What need 
 have 1 now to double my labour to overcome all 
 this? 
 
 2nd, Resolve to wait patiently on God in the use 
 of all his weans ; and teaching, time, and use and 
 grac e will make all plain and easy and delightful to 
 
THE MEANS OF GRACE. 
 
 109 
 
 you. Do not expect that it should come all on a 
 sudden, without time, and diligence, and patience. 
 
 3rd, Keep still as an humble disciple of Christ in 
 a learning mind and way, and turn not in self-con- 
 ceitedness to cavil against what you do not under- 
 stand. This is the chief thing in which conversion 
 maketh us like Hi tie children, (Matt, xviii. 3). Chil- 
 dren are conscious of their ignorance, and are teach- 
 able, and do not set their wits against their teach- 
 ers, till they grow towards twenty years of age; and 
 then they grow wise in their own conceits, and be- 
 gin to think that their tutors are mistaken, and to 
 set their wits against the truth which they should 
 receive.- — Works, vol. iv. p. 181. 
 
 Instead of over-tedious trying and fearing whe- 
 ther you truly consent and obey or not ; set your- 
 self heartily to your duty; study to please God; and 
 to live fruitfully in good works; resolve more against 
 those sins which make you question your sincerity, 
 and the practice of a godly life, and the increase of 
 your grace, will be a constant discernible evidence; 
 and you will have the witness in your self, that you 
 are the son of God. — Works, vol. iv. p. 182. 
 
 1st, Reading and hearing the word of God, and 
 its explication and application, by your teacher. 
 (2 Tim. iv. 1, 2; 1 Tim. iv. 13, 14; 1 Thes. v. 
 12, J3; Acts, ii. throughout; 1 Cor. ii. 14; Heb. 
 xiii. 7» 17; Jame*, v. 16). 
 
 2nd, Prayer, thanksgiving, praises to God, and 
 the Lord's supper, in communion with the church. 
 
 3rd, Holy discipline, in submission to yourguides, 
 in obedience, in penitently confessing sins when 
 necessary, and the like, if you live where such dis- 
 cipline is exercised. Also your labour or calling not 
 to be neglected. Adam was to labour in innocency: 
 
110 THE MEANS OF GRACE, 
 
 »ix days must you labour and do all that you have 
 to do. (Ex. xx). He that will not (2 This, iii. JO) 
 labour (if able) is unworthy to eat. Idleness was 
 ©ne of Sodom's sins. Religion must be no pretence 
 for slothfulness. You must not (1 John, ii. 15, 16), 
 love the world as your felicity, or for itself, or for 
 your fleshly lusts ; but you must make use of the 
 world in the service of your Creator; Yea, and love 
 it as a sanctified means of your salvation, a; d as a 
 wilderness-way to your promised inheritance. As 
 the mariner loveth not the sea for a dwelling", but 
 as a passage to his desired port. Good husbandry 
 is not unbecoming a good christian. You may la- 
 bour for your daily bread as well as pray for it ; yea, 
 for the maintenance of your family, and that you 
 may have things decent, and give to him that need- 
 eth. (Rom. xii. 17 j 2 Cor. viii. 21 ; Eph. iv. 28: 
 1 Tim. v.8). 
 
 But this is the thing that you must principally 
 remember, that God and the (Matt. vi. 19, 20, 
 33; John, vi. 27; Col. iii. 3, 4, 5) heavenly glory 
 is your end, which must still be desired for itself 
 and above all; and the world, and all things in it, 
 are but means to help you to that end; and only as 
 they are such, must be valued, loved, desired, 
 sought; and whenever they oppose God and your 
 heavenly interest, must be forsaken, (Luke, xiv. 
 26, 33; Tit. i. 15), and used as we do hated things. 
 — Works, vol. iv. p. 178. 
 
 The Spirit is from God and our Saviour, and 
 leadeth to them. Its operations are; (Matt, xii.) 
 1 Holy Life, or vivacity toward God. 2. Holy 
 Light to know and believe God. 3. Holy Love, to 
 love God, and his government and children. If 
 you have these, you have God's Spirit : for it is 
 nothing else. These are God's restored image on- 
 
SIGNS OF GRACE. 
 
 Ill 
 
 the soul, and the new divine nature of his regene- 
 rate adopted children. 
 
 The motions of the Spirit are, h Always fitted to 
 God and holiness as the end. 2. And always actu- 
 ate the three aforesaid habits, of holy life, light, 
 and love, 3. And they are always agreeable to the 
 holy scriptures: and by them must be tried.— 
 Works, vol. iv. p. 179-SO. 
 
 Chap. III.-— Signs of Grace. 
 
 1. By what evidence or signs to judge, (Matt. 
 xxviii. 19; Mark, xvi. 16; John, iii. 16, 18; Gal. 
 v. 6, 13, 22, 23, 24; Rom. xiii. 10; Matt. v. 3, 
 4, 5, 6, 7> 8, 9; Rom. viii. 1, 9, 13; John, iii. 19, 
 20, 21, 22; Matt. vi. 20, 33; 2 Cor. v. 8; 1 John, 
 iii. 14), even by faith working by love to God and 
 man; or, by your true consent to the covenant of 
 grace, expressed in a holy obedient life. Particu- 
 larly, ] . If God, to be seen and loved in the joys of 
 the heavenly glory, be the chief endof your heart and 
 life. 2. If Christ be taken for your only Saviour. 
 3. If you are desirous that by his Spirit he should 
 perfectly sanctify you. 4. If you have no sin but 
 what you had rather leave than live in. 5. If you 
 love the word and means which should sanctify you, 
 and love a holy life, and had rather have more holi- 
 ness, than have all the wealth and pleasure of the 
 world. 6. If you are willing to use God's means 
 hereto. 7. If the main desire of your heart and 
 drift of your life be to please God. 8. If you love 
 God's servants for their holiness, and desire the in- 
 crease of holiness in the world, and labour to do 
 
112 
 
 SIGNS OF GRACE. 
 
 good to the souls and bodies of others in your place 
 as you are able; all these will prove the truth of 
 your consent to the covenant of God, and that you 
 have his Spirit. 
 
 2. And having the certain marks before you, 
 examine your state impartially by them, as one 
 that is going to the judgment ofGod; and what 
 you cannot do at one time, do at another: and 
 cease not till you are able to conclude, thai your 
 soul is sincerely devoted to God, and trust eth on 
 Christ for the pardon of your sin*. And if you can- 
 not satisfy your conscience without help, advise 
 with some able faithful minister. 
 
 3. And when you see God's graces evident in 
 you, give him thanks for them, and rejoice in his 
 love, and watchfully study to keep and exercise 
 and increase the grace which he hath given you. 
 And let not Satan make you still question all again 
 at his pleasure. — Wjorks s vol. iv. p. 226. 
 
 Your strongest probabilities are from the strong- 
 est consideration of the work of God upon your 
 souls, and the present frame and inclination of your 
 soul to God. You may know that you have work- 
 ings above nature in you; and that they have been 
 kept alive and carried on these many years against 
 all opposition of the flesh and the world; it hath 
 not been a mere flash of conviction which hath been 
 extinguished by sensuality, and left you in the 
 darkness of security and profaneness, as others are. 
 You dare not give up your hopes of heaven for all 
 the world : you would not part with Christ, and say 
 let him go, for all the pleasures of sin and treasures 
 of the earth : if you had (as you have) an offer of 
 God, Christ, grace, and glory, on one side, and 
 worldly prosperity in sin on the other side, you 
 would choose God, and let go the other: you dare 
 
 * 
 
SIGNS OF GRACE. 
 
 113 
 
 not, you would not give over praying, hearing, 
 reading, and christian company, and give up your- 
 self to worldly, fleshly pleasures; yet you are not 
 assured of salvation, because you find not that de- 
 light and life in duty, and that witness of the Spirit, 
 and that communion with God, nor that tenderness 
 of heart, that you desire. It is well that you de- 
 sire them : but though you be not certain of salva- 
 tion, do not you see a great likelikood, and proba- 
 bility in all this ? Is not your heart raised to hope, 
 that yet God is merciful to you, and means you 
 good ? Doubtless this you might easily discern. — 
 IVorks, vol. ii. p. 870. 
 
 How should I get more grace ? That is a busi- 
 ness of great difficulty. I answer, understand what 
 I told you before, that as the beginning of grace 
 is in your understanding, so the heart and life of it 
 is in your will, and the affections and passionate 
 part are but the fruit and branches. If therefore 
 your grace be weak, it is chiefly in an unwilling- 
 ness to yield to Christ, and his word and spirit. 
 Now how should an unwilling soul be made will- 
 ing? Why thus, 1. Pray constantly as you are 
 able, for a willing mind, and \ielding inclinable 
 heart to Christ. 2. Hear constantly those preachers 
 that bend their doctrine to inform your understand- 
 ing of the great necessity and excellency of Christ, 
 and grace, and glory, and to persuade the will by 
 the most forcible arguments. A persuading quick- 
 ening ministry, that helps to excite your graces, 
 and draw up your heart to Christ, is more useful 
 than they that spend most of their time to persuade 
 you of your sincerity, and give you comfort. 
 3. But especially lay out your thoughts more in 
 the more serious considerations of those things 
 ■which tend to breed and feed those particular 
 
114 
 
 SAVING GRACE. 
 
 graces which you would have increased. Objects 
 and moving reasons, kept much upon the mind by 
 serious thoughts, are the great engines appointed 
 both by nature and by grace to turn about the soul 
 of man. Thoughts are to your soul, as taking in 
 the air, and meat and drink into your body. Objects 
 considered, do turn the soul into their own nature. 
 Such as are things you most think and consider of 
 (I mean in pursuance of them) such will you be 
 yourself. Consideration, frequent serious conside- 
 ration, is God's great instrument to convert the 
 soul, and to confirm it ; to get grace, and to keep 
 it, and increase it. If any soul perish for want of 
 grace, its ten to one, it's mainly for want of serious 
 consideration. — Works, vol. ii. p. 879. 
 
 Chap. IV. — Saving Grace. 
 
 1. Are you heartily willing to take God for your 
 porti n ? And had you rather live with him in 
 glory, in his favour and fullest love, with a soul 
 perfectly cleansed from all sin, and never more to 
 offend him, rejoicing with the saints in his everlast- 
 ing praises, than to enjoy the delights of the flesh 
 on earth, in a way of sin, and without the favour 
 of God ? 
 
 2. Are you heartily willing to take Jesus Christ 
 as he is offered in the gospel ? that is, to be your 
 only Saviour, and Lord, and to give you pardon by 
 his bloodshed, and to sanctify you by his word and 
 spirit, and govern you by his law ? 
 
 3. Are you heartily willing to live in the per- 
 formance of those holy and spiritual duties of heart 
 
SAVING GRACE. 
 
 1)5 
 
 and life, which God hath absolutely commanded 
 you ? And are you heartily sorry that you perform 
 them no better ? with no more cheerfulness, delight, 
 success, and constancy ? 
 
 4. Are you so thoroughly convinced of the 
 worth of everlasting happiness, and the intolerable- 
 ness of everlasting misery, and the truth of both ; 
 and of the sovereignty of God the Father, and 
 Christ the Redeemer, and your many engagements 
 to him; and of the necessity and good of obeying 
 him, and the evil of sinning, that you are truly 
 willing ; that is, have a settled resolution to cleave 
 to Christ, and obey him in the dearest, and most 
 disgraceful, painful, hazardous, flesh-displeasing 
 duties ; even though it should cost you the loss of 
 all your worldly enjoyments, and your life ? 
 
 5. Doth this willingness or resolution already 
 so far prevail in your heart and life, against all the 
 interest and temptations of the world, the devil, 
 and your flesh, that you do ordinarily practise the 
 most strict and holy, the most self-denying, costly 
 and hazardous duties that you know God rcquireth 
 of you, and do heartily strive against all known sin, 
 and overcome all gross sins; and when you fall 
 under any prevailing temptation, do rise again by 
 repentance, and begging pardon of God, through 
 the blood of Christ, do resolve to watch and resist 
 more carefully for the time to come ? 
 
 In these five marks is expressed the gospel de- 
 scription of a true christian. 
 
 Having laid down these marks, I must needs 
 add a few words for the explaining some things in 
 them, lest you mistake the meaning, and so lose the 
 benefit of them. 
 
 I, Observe that it is your willingness, which is 
 the very point to be tried. And therefore, 1. 
 Judge not by your bare knowledge. 2. Judge not 
 
116 
 
 SAVING GRACE. 
 
 by the stirring or passionate working of your affec- 
 tions. I pray you forget not this rule in any of your 
 self-examinations : it is the heart that God requir- 
 eth : My son, give me thine heart, (Prov. xxiii. 26). 
 If he hath the will, he hath the heart. He may 
 have much of our knowledge, and not our heart ; 
 but when we know him so thoroughly as to will him 
 unfeignedly, then he hath our heart. Affectionate 
 workings of soul to God in Christ, are sweet things, 
 and high and noble duties, and such as all chris- 
 tians should strive for ; but they are not the safest 
 marks to try states by: 1. Because there may be a 
 solid, sincere intention, and choice in, and of the 
 will, where there is little stirring perceived in the 
 affections. 2. Because the will is the master com- 
 manding faculty of the soul; and so if it be right, 
 that man is upright and safe. 3. Because the pas- 
 sions and affections are so mutable and uncertain. 
 The will can command them but imperfectly ; it 
 cannot perfectly restrain them from vanities; much 
 less can it perfectly raise them to that height, as is 
 suitable to the excellency of heavenly objects. But 
 the object itself, with its sensible manner of appre- 
 hension, moves them more than all the command of 
 the will. And so we find by experience, that a 
 godly man, when, with his utmost private endea- 
 vours, he can not command one stirring pang of 
 divine love or joy in his soul, yet upon the hearing 
 of some moving-sermon, or the sudden receiving of 
 some extraordinary mercy, or the reading of some 
 quickening book, he shall feel perhaps, some stir- 
 ring of that affection. So when we cannot weep in 
 private one tear for sin, yet at a stirring- sermon, or 
 when we give vent to our sorrows, and ease our 
 troubled hearts into the bosom of some faithful 
 friend, then we find tears. 4. Because passioni 
 and affections depend so much on the temperature 
 
SAVING GRACE. 
 
 117 
 
 of the body. To one they are easy, familiar, and 
 at command; to another, (as honest) they are diffi- 
 cult, and scarce stirred at all. With most women, 
 and persons of weaker tempers, they are easier than 
 with men. Some cannot weep at the death of a 
 friend, though never so dear, no nor perhaps feel 
 very sensible inward grief; and yet, perhaps, would 
 have redeemed his life at a far dearer rate (had it 
 been possible) than those that can grieve and weep 
 more abundantly. 5. Because worldly things have 
 so great an advantage on our passions and affec- 
 tions. They are sensible and near us, and our 
 knowledge of them is clear, but God is not to be 
 seen, heard, or felt, by our senses: he is far from 
 us, though locally present with us, we are capable 
 of knowing but little, very little of him. Earthly 
 things are always before our eyes, their advantage 
 is continual. 6. Earthly things being still the object 
 of our senses, do force our passions, whether we 
 will or not, though they cannot force our wills. 
 7. Because affections and passions rise and fall, and 
 neither are nor can be in an even and constant frame, 
 and are therefore unfit to be the constant and cer- 
 tain evidence of our state; but the will's resolution 
 and choice may be more constant. So that I ad- 
 vise you rather to try yourself by your will, than by 
 your passionate stirrings of love, or longing of joy 
 or sorrow. — Works, vol. ii. p. 859. 
 
 Thousands deceive themselves, by misunder- 
 standing some common passages that are spoken to 
 comfort afflicted consciences, viz. That the least 
 true desires after grace do prove the soul to be gra- 
 cious. This is true, if you speak of the least de- 
 sires which are predominant in the soul ; when 
 our desire is more habitual than our unwillingness, 
 and we thus prefer Christ before all the world, the 
 
118 
 
 SAVING GRACE. 
 
 least of this is an evidence of saving grace. But 
 such desires as are subdued by the contrary desires, 
 and such a will as is accompanied with a greater 
 unwillingness habitually, and such a faith as is 
 drowned in greater unbelief; these are not evi- 
 dences of a saving change, nor can you justly ga- 
 ther any special comfort from them. 
 
 Such as the very habit and bent of the heart is, 
 such indeed is the man. It's possible for a man, 
 even a good man, to have two contrary ends and 
 intentions, yea, ultimate ends ; as that which is 
 desired for itself, and referred to nothing else, is 
 called ultimate ; but it is not possible for him to 
 have principal predominant ends. So far as we are 
 carnal still, we make the pleasing of our flesh, the 
 ultimate end ; for, doubtless, we do not sin only 
 by pleasing the flesh, as a means to God's glory, 
 nor only in the mischoosing of other means ; but 
 yet this is none of our principal end, so far as men 
 are truly sanctified. And because that is called a 
 man's mind or will, which is the chiefest and 
 highest in his mind and will, therefore we use to 
 denominate men, from that only which beareth rule 
 in them, and thus we may say with Paul, It is not 
 I, but sin that dwelleth in me. For a disowned 
 act that proceedeth from us against the bent and 
 habit of our wills, and the course of our lives, from 
 the remnants >of a carnal misguided will, is not it 
 that must denominate the person, nor is so fully 
 ours as the contrary act; and therefore, though in- 
 deed we sinfully participate of it, yet when the 
 question is, whether believing or unbelief, sinning 
 or obeying, be my work, it is not comparatively to 
 be called mine, which I am much more against 
 than for. So on the other side, if the unsanctified 
 have some transient, superficial, unerTectual acts, 
 er desires, or faith, or love to God, which are con- 
 
EFFECTS OF GRACE. 
 
 119 
 
 trary to the bent and habit of their hearts, this is 
 not theirs, nor imputable to them, so far as hence to 
 give them their denomination; it is not they that 
 do it, but the common workings of the Spirit upon 
 them. — Works, vol. ii. p. 579. 
 
 He that will claim any title to Christ, and par- 
 don, and salvation, must have something to shew 
 for it more than you, and more than most of the 
 world have to shew; for the most shall be shut out. 
 Every man therefore that regardeth his salvation, 
 must seriously ask his soul this question, what have 
 I to shew for my title to salvation, more than most 
 of the world can shew? It is not saying I hope to 
 be saved, that will serve the turn, except I can 
 give a reason of my hopes. Thousands that lay 
 claim to salvation will miss of it, because they have 
 no title to it. And that which you must have to 
 shew, is this, a promise, or deed of gift, on God's 
 part, and the fulfilling of the condition on your 
 part. God saith to all men, whosoever repenteth, 
 believeth, or is converted, shall be saved. When 
 you have found that you repent of all your sins, and 
 truly believe, and are converted to God, then, and 
 not till then, you may conclude you shall be saved. 
 — Works, vol. ii. p. 5/8. 
 
 Chap. V. — Effects of Grace. 
 
 Were you but converted, you would be the liv- 
 ing members of Christ, and his precious benefits would 
 be yours ; his blood would cleanse you from your 
 sins, and they would be all freely forgiven you j 
 
m 
 
 EFFECTS OF GL. i 
 
 God would be reconciled to you. 
 friend, yea, your father and your God : a 
 take you for his household serrants aod 
 children: the Holy Ghost woukl dwell in 
 guide your understanding's, and shew you 
 flesh and blood cannot reveal, and bring you into 
 an acquaintance with the mysteries of God: he 
 will be a spirit of light and life within you, and 
 work your hearts yet more to God, and give 
 stronger inclinations and affections 
 He will help you when yoo are 
 you when you are dull, and be 1 
 when you are forgetful of necessary thing*. He 
 will help you in prayer, both for 
 aod help you in meditation, and 
 other duties : he will wr.rn you of y 
 strengthen rou aj-ah..-: : :: ; : ;:.tions, and 
 to overcome ; and if you fall, he will help 
 again, he will be an in-dwelling comforter to van, 
 and so effectually speak peace to you in tine nuus; - 
 your disquietness. thai r-y spe^ki: p it he will car- 
 ate it in you : and in the 
 within you, his comfo: :> 
 O what a life might you rive, if Christ by his 
 did once live in you : You r. :.v t ashy 
 how tender Christ would be of his own 
 how dearly he would love them, how constar: y • 
 would watch over them, and how plentifully 1 t 
 would provide for them, and how safely he aanU 
 preserve them. And if you should come into a 
 rough way, he would lead you out: RTfltctjon? 
 would never be laid upon you but for your goo: . 
 and continue no longer than your need require.!:, 
 them, and be taken off at las: y. ~r satisfodfic:. 
 «nd contentment. Indeed your life would be a life 
 cf mercies; and that which is but a common mercy 
 to common men, would be a special mercer 
 
EFFECTS OF GRACE. 
 
 121 
 
 as coming from your father's love, and furthering 
 vour salvation, and hinting out to you your ever- 
 lasting mercies. 
 
 What life and joy would your souls receive from 
 the many, the full, and free promises of grace t 
 Were you once but truly sanctified and made anew, 
 your condition would be often comfortable, but 
 always safe; and when you were in the greatest 
 fears and perplexities, you would still be fast in the 
 arms of Christ: and what a life would that be, to 
 have daily access to God by prayer; to have leave 
 in all your wants and dangers to seek to him with 
 a promise of hearing and success; that you may be 
 sure of much more from him, than a child can 
 from the tenderest father, or a wife from the most 
 loving husband upon earth. What a life would it 
 be, when you may always think on God as your 
 felicity, and fetch your highest delights from him, 
 from whom the ungodly have their greatest terrors ? 
 And it is no contemptible part of your benefits, that 
 you may live among his people, and in their spe- 
 cial love, and have a special communion with them, 
 and an interest in their prayers, and may possess 
 among them the privileges of the saints and the or- 
 dinances of God : that instead of idle talk, and the 
 unprofitable fellowship of the children and works 
 of darkness, you may join with the church of God 
 in his praises, and feed with them at his table on 
 the body and blood of Christ, and then have con- 
 veyances of renewed grace, and a renewed pardon 
 sealed to your souls; but long should I stay, if 1 
 should but tell you of one half of the blessings of a 
 sanctified and spiritual state. In a word, God 
 would be yours, Christ would be yours, the Holy 
 Ghost would be yours, all things would be yours; 
 the whole world would have some relation to your 
 welfare; devils would be subdued to you, and cast 
 
 G 
 
122 
 
 APPLICATION OF GRACE. 
 
 out of your souls; sin w ould be both pardoned, and 
 overcome; angels would be ministering spirits unto 
 you for your good : the promises of scripture would be 
 yours; and everlasting glory would at last be vours; 
 and while you staid on earth, you might comfort 
 yourselves as oft as you would, with the believing 
 foresight of that inconceivable, unspeakable^ end- 
 less felicity. — Works, vol. ii. p. 561. 
 
 Chap. VI. — Application of Grace. 
 
 Live in the exercise of those graces and duties, 
 which are contrary to the sins which you are most 
 in danger of. For grace and duty are contrary to 
 sin, and killeth it, and cureth us of it, as the fire 
 cureth us of cold, or health of sickness. — Works, 
 ▼ol. i. p. 82. 
 
 Remember that your part in affliction is to do 
 your duty, and to get the benefit of it; but to re- 
 move it is God's part: therefore be you careful 
 about that part which is your own, and then make 
 no question but God will do his part. Let it be 
 your first question therefore If hat is it that I am 
 obliged to in this condition? What is the special 
 duty of one in this sickness, this poverty, impri- 
 sonment, restraint, contempt, or slander which I 
 undergo? Be careful daily to do that duty, and 
 then never fear the issue of your suffering: nothing 
 can go amiss to him that is found in the way of his 
 duty. 
 
 And let it be your next question, what spiritual 
 good may be got by this affliction ? May not my 
 repentance be renewed ? My self-denial, humility, 
 
PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 123 
 
 contempt of the world, patience, and confidence 
 on God, be exercised and increased by it ? And is 
 not this the end of my heavenly father? Is not his 
 rod an act of love and kindness to me? Doth he 
 not offer me by it all this good? — Works, vol. iii. 
 p. 643. 
 
 Chap. VII. — Perseverance, 
 
 The very point that no justified man shall ever 
 fall from Christ, is not so clear and fully revealed 
 in scripture, and past all doubt from the assault of 
 objections, as that a poor soul in his relapsed es- 
 tate should venture his everlasting salvation wholly 
 on this, supposing that he were certain that he was 
 once sincere. For my own part, I am persuaded, 
 that no rooted believer, that is habitually and 
 groundedly resolved for Christ, and hath crucified 
 the flesh and the world (as all have that are tho- 
 roughly Christ's) do ever fall quite away from him 
 afterwards : but I dare not lay my salvation on this. 
 And if I were no surer of my salvation, than I am 
 of the truth of this my judgment, to speak freely, 
 my soul would be in a very sad condition. — Works, 
 vol. ii. p. 900. 
 
 Lastly, bethink you well what is the meaning of 
 all these texts of scripture, and the reason that the 
 Holy Ghost doth speak to us in this manner, (Col. 
 i. 21, 22, 23). And you hath he reconciled to 
 present you holy, if ye continue in the faith ground- 
 ed and settled, and be not moved away from the 
 hope of the gospel, (John, xv. 4) . Abide in me 
 and I in you. 6. If ye abide not in me, he is cast 
 forth as a branch, and withered. 7» If ye abide in 
 
124 
 
 PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 ine, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what 
 ye will. (Heb. iv. 1). Let us therefore fear, lest 
 a promise being left us of entering into his rest, 
 any of you should seem to come short of it, (Jude, 
 21). Keep yourselves in the love of God, (1 Cor. 
 x. 4, 5, 12). They drank of that spiritual rock 
 that followed them, and that rock was Christ; but 
 with many of them God was not well pleased; 
 wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take 
 heed lest he fall ; (Rom. xi. 20, 21). Be not high- 
 minded, but fear, for if God spared not the natural 
 branches, take heed lest he spare not thee, (Gal. 
 v.'4). Ye are fallen from grace, (Matt. x. 22). 
 He that endureth to the end shall be saved, (Matt. 
 xxiv. 13; Heb. iii. 6, 14). Whose house are we, 
 if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of hope 
 firm unto the end ; for we are partakers of Christ, 
 if we hold the beginning of confidence stedfast un- 
 to the end, (Heb. iv. 11). Let us labour therefore 
 to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the 
 same example of unbelief, (Rev. ii. 23). Hold 
 fast till I come, (26). And he that overcometh 
 and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I 
 give power over the nations, (Rev. iii. 2, 3 ; and 
 ii. 4). — Works , vol. i. p. 487. 
 
 I confess, when a man is truly converted, the 
 principal part of his danger is over ; he is safe in 
 the love and care of Christ, and none can take him 
 out of his hands. But this is but part of the truth, 
 the other part must be taken with it, or we deceive 
 ourselves. There is still a great deal of work be- 
 fore us, and holiness is still the way to happiness, 
 and much care and diligence is required at our hands, 
 and it is no more certain that we shall be saved by 
 Christ, than it is that we shall be kept in faith, and 
 iore, and obedience by him. It is as true that none 
 
PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 125 
 
 can separate us from the love of God, and from a 
 care to please him, and from a holy diligence in 
 the work of our salvation, as that none can take us 
 out of his hands, and bring us into a state of con- 
 demnation. He that is resolved to bring us to 
 glory, is as much resolved to bring us to it by per- 
 severance in holiness, and diligent obedience, for 
 he never decreed the one without the other, and he 
 will never save us by any other way. Indeed, when 
 we are converted, we have escaped many and 
 grievous dangers 3 but yet there are many more 
 before us, which we must by care and diligence 
 escape. We are translated from death to life, but 
 not from earth to heaven. We have the life of 
 grace, but we are short of the life of glory. And 
 why have we the life of grace, but to use it, and 
 live by it? Why came we into the vineyard, but 
 to work ? And why came we into the army of 
 Christ, but to fight ? Why came we into the race, 
 but to run for the prize ? Or why turned we into 
 the right way, but to travel in it? We never did 
 God faithful service, till the day of our conversion, 
 and then it is that we begin; and shall we be so 
 sottish as to think we have done when we have but 
 begun ? Now you begin to live that before were 
 dead : now you begin to awake that before were 
 asleep: and therefore you should now begin to 
 work who before did nothing, or rather a thousand- 
 fold worse than nothing. Work is the effect of 
 life, it is the dead that lie still in darkness, and do 
 nothing : if you had rather be alive than dead, you 
 should rather delight in action than in idleness. It's 
 now that you set to sea, and begin your voyage for 
 the blessed land; many a storm, and wave, and 
 tempest you must expect. Many a combat with 
 temptations you must undergo; many a hearty 
 prayer have you yet to pour forth ; many and many 
 
126 
 
 PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 a duty to perform to God and man. Think not to 
 have done your care and work, till you have done 
 your lives. Whether you come in at the first hour 
 or the last, you must work till night if you will re- 
 cieve your wages. And think not this a grievous 
 doctrine. It is your privilege, it is your joy, your 
 earthly happiness, that you may be so employed ; 
 that you, that till now have lived like swine, or 
 moles, or earthly vermin, may now take wing and 
 fly to God, and walk in heaven, and talk with saints, 
 and be guarded by angels ; is this a life to be ac- 
 counted grievous ? Now you begin to come to your- 
 selves, to understand what you have to do in the 
 world, to live like men, and you may live like angels ! 
 And therefore, now you should begin accordingly to 
 bestir yourselves. 1 would not have you retain the 
 same measure of fears of God's displeasure, nor the 
 same apprehensions of your misery, nor the doubts 
 and perplexities of mind, which you were under at 
 your first conversion; for these were occasioned by 
 the passage in your change, and the weakness of 
 your grace in that beginning, and your former folly 
 made them necessary for a time; but I would have 
 you retain your fear of sinning, and be much more 
 in the love of God, and in his service, than you 
 was at first. Temptations will haunt you to the last 
 hour of your lives ; if therefore you would not fall 
 by those temptations, you must watch and pray to 
 the last. Give not over watching till Satan give 
 over tempting, and watching advantages against you. 
 The promise is still but on condition that you per- 
 severe and abide in Christ, and continue rooted 
 and stedfast in the faith, and overcome and be 
 faithful unto death, as you may see in John, xv. 
 throughout; John, viii. 31; Rev. ii. and iii.; 
 Col i. 22, 23. Work out therefore your salvation 
 with fear and trembling, (Phil. ii. 12). If you 
 
HOPE. 
 
 127 
 
 have begun resolvedly, proceed resolvedly. It's the 
 undoing of men's souls, to think that all the danger 
 is over, and lose their apprehensions of it, when they 
 are yet but in the way; when their cares and holy 
 iears abate, their watch goes down ; the soul is 
 laid open as a common wilderness, and made a prey 
 to every lust, and therefore still know your work is 
 not done, till your life be done.— Works, vol. ii. 
 p. 950. 
 
 Chap. VIII. — Imputation, 
 
 The imputation of Christ's righteousness to us, 
 is not a scripture phrase, and therefore not neces- 
 sary : nor is sanctification a scripture phrase.— 
 Works, vol. iii. p. 556. 
 
 Chap. IX. — Hope: 
 
 Flatter not yourselves with the hope of living 
 long on earth, and look not at death and the fol- 
 lowing life as a great way off. The power of tempt- 
 ing vanities lveth in men's hopes of long enjoying 
 them; to a man under the sentence of present death 
 they have little power, and the best things that 
 seem far off, do not much and powerfully affect us. 
 Live therefore as dying men, and you will have the 
 mind and choice of dying men. — Works, vol. iv. 
 
 P . 704. 
 
 Hope is that Grace by which a soul that believeth 
 the gospel to be true, doth comfortably expect that 
 
128 
 
 REJOICING. 
 
 the benefits promised shall be its own: it's an ap- 
 plying act. — Works, vol. iv. p. 833. 
 
 Overmuch sorrow greatly hindereth hope; when 
 men think that they do believe God's word, and 
 that his promises are all true to others, yet cannot 
 they hope for the promised blessings to themselves : 
 hope is that grace by which a soul that bclieveth the 
 gospel to be true, doth comfortably expect that 
 the benefits promised shall be it's own ; it's an 
 applying Act. The first act of faith, saith the 
 gospel, is true, which promiseth grace and glory 
 through Christ. The next act of faith saith, I will 
 trust my soul and all upon it, and take Christ for 
 my Saviour and help ; and then hope saith, 1 hope 
 for this salvation by him: But melancholy, over- 
 whelming sorrow and trouble is as great an adver- 
 sary to this hope, as water is to fire, or snow to 
 heat. Despair is its very pulse and breath. Fain 
 would such have hope, but they cannot. All their 
 thoughts are suspicious, and misgiving, and they 
 can see nothing but danger, and misery, and a help- 
 less state. And when hope, which is the anchor 
 of the soul, is gone, what wonder if they be con- 
 tinually tost with storms ! — Works, vol. iv. p. 833. 
 
 Chap. X. — Rejoicing. 
 
 You must seek first the kingdom of God and its 
 righteousness, and then other things shall be added 
 to you, (Matt. vi. 33); so must you rejoice first in 
 the kingdom of heaven, and the righteousness that 
 is the way thereto, and then you may add a mode- 
 rate rejoicing in the things below, in a due sub- 
 
REJOICING. 
 
 129 
 
 ordination thereunto. You have the sum in the 
 words of the Holy Ghost, (Jcr. ix. 23, 24), Thus 
 saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his 
 wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might; 
 let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him 
 that glorieth, glory in this, that he tinders tandeth 
 and kuoweth me, that I am the Lord, which exercise 
 loving kindness, and judgment, and righteousness, 
 in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the 
 Lord, — Works, vol. iv. p. 814. 
 
130 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 NECESSITY OF GOOD WORKS. 
 
 There are readers who will think the distribu- 
 tion of subjects under this head erroneous: but the 
 common idea of good works amongst nominal 
 christians, appears to the collector of these papers to 
 be utterly mistaken : thousands attach no other 
 idea to the expression, but that of giving away 
 money ; but this is a notion contrary to the first 
 great command of the moral law. When many 
 are so apt to draw vague comparisons between faith 
 and works, it becomes the more necessary that the 
 notion of works should be correct, and not con- 
 tracted within the narrow sphere to which worldly- 
 minded men are so ready to settle the limits. 
 
 Chap. I. — Love of God. 
 
 1 . The love of God and goodness is the divine 
 nature: and God cannot but love his own nature 
 in us: it is his image, which (as in its several de- 
 grees) he loveth for himself, and next to himself. 
 
 2. The love of God is the rectitude of man's soul 5 
 
LOVE OF GOD. 
 
 131 
 
 its soundness, health and beauty : and God loveth 
 the rectitude of his creatures. 
 
 3. The love of God is the final, perfect operation 
 of the soul ; even that end which it was created 
 and redeemed for: and God loveth to have his 
 works attain their end, and to see them in their 
 perfection. 
 
 4. The love of God is the goodness of the soul 
 itself; and goodness is amiableness, and must needs 
 be loved by him that is goodness and perfection 
 himself. 
 
 5. The love of God is our uniting adhesion to 
 him : and God, that first draweth up the soul 
 to this union, will not himself reject us, and 
 avoid it. 
 
 6. Love is a pregnant, powerful, pleasing grace : 
 it delivereth up ourselves, and all that we have, to 
 God : it delighteth in duty : it conquereth difficul- 
 ties : it contemneth competitors, and trampleth on 
 temptations ; it accounteth nothing too much, nor 
 too dear for God. Love is the soul's nature, appe- 
 tite and pondus, according to which it will ordina- 
 rily act. A man's love is his will, his heart, him- 
 self: and if God have our love, he hath ourselves, 
 and our all: so that God cannot but love the soul 
 that truly loveth him as God. — Works, vol. iv. 
 p. 545. 
 
 1. The sanctifying of the soul by renewing grace. 
 This is the giving of the spirit, as he is given to all 
 true christians. 
 
 2. Herein the Holy Ghost makes us perceive 
 the exceeding desirableness of the love of God, and 
 maketh us most desire it. 
 
 3. He givetb the soul some easing hope of the 
 love of God. 
 
132 
 
 LOVE OF GOD. 
 
 4. He quieteth the doubts, and fears, and trou- ; 
 bles of the soul. 
 
 5. He raiseth our hopes, by degrees, to confident 
 assurance. 
 
 6. Then the thoughts of God's love are pleasant 
 to the soul, and give it such delight as we feel in 
 the love and fruition of our most valued and beloved 
 friends. 
 
 7. The soul in this state is as unapt to be jealous 
 of God, or to question his love, as a good child or 
 wife to question the love of a parent or husband, or 
 to hear any that speak evil of them. 
 
 8. This then becomes the habitual state of the 
 soul, in all changes to live in the delightful sense 
 of the love of God, as we do live in pleasure with 
 our dearest friends. 
 
 O blessed state, and first- fruits of heaven. And 
 happy are they that do attain it ! And though lower 
 degrees have their degree of happiness, yet how far 
 short are such, in goodness, amiableness, and com- 
 fort, of those that are rich in grace. 
 
 This pre-supposeth, 1 . Knowledge of God and 
 the gospel. 2. True belief and hope. 3. A sincere 
 and fruitful life. 4. Mortification as to idol 
 worldly vanities. 5. A conviction of our sincerity 
 in all this. 6. A conclusion that God doth love us. 
 
 But yet it is somewhat above all this. A man 
 may have this in his mind and mouth, and yet want 
 this gust of effused love upon his heart. These are 
 the way to it, but not itself. 
 
 This is the greatest good on this side heaven ; to 
 which all wealth and honour all fleshly pleasure 
 and long life, all learning and knowledge, are un- 
 worthy to be once compared : briefly, 
 
 1. It is the flower and highest part of God's 
 image on man. 
 
 2. It is the soul's true communion with God, 
 
LOVE OF GOD. 
 
 133 
 
 and fruition of him, which carnal men deride- 
 even as our eye hath communion with the sun, and 
 the flourishing earth enjoys its reviving heats. 
 
 3. It is that which all lower grace doth tend to, 
 as childhood doth to manhood : and what is a world 
 of infants comparatively good for? 
 
 4. It is that which most properly answereth the 
 design of redemption, and the wonders of God's 
 love therein ; and all the tenor of the gospel. 
 
 5. It is that which is most fully called the Spirit 
 of God, or Christ, in us : he hath lower works, hut 
 this is his great work, by which he possesseth us, 
 as God's most pleasant habitation ; for we have not 
 received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but 
 the spirit of power and love, and a sound mind, 
 (2 Tim. i. 7). 
 
 6. It is only that which all men in general de- 
 sire, I mean, the only satisfying content and plea- 
 sure that man is capable of on earth. All men 
 would have quieting and constant pleasure, and it 
 
 , is to be found in nothing else but the effused love 
 of God. 
 
 7. It is that which will make every burden light; 
 and all affliction easy: when the sense of God's 
 love is still upon the soul, all pains and crosses will 
 be but as blood-letting by the kindest physician, to 
 save the patient's life. God will not be suspected 
 or grudged at in suffering ; his love will sweeten 
 all. 
 
 8. It will overcome abundance of temptations, 
 which no men's wit, or learnini'-, or knowledge of 
 the words of scripture will overcome. No argu- 
 ments will draw a loving child or wife, from parents 
 or husbands that they know doth love them. Love 
 is the most powerful disputant. 
 
 9. It puts a mellow sweetness into all our duties: 
 when we hear the word or receive the Sacrament, it 
 
134 
 
 LOVE OF GOD. 
 
 is to such a soul, as pleasant food to the most 
 healthful man: when we pray, or praise God, 
 it comes from a comforted heart, and excites 
 and increaseth the comfort it comes from. O who 
 can be backward to draw near to God in prayer of 
 meditation, who tasteth the sweetness of his love ? 
 This is religion indeed, and tells us what its life, 
 and use, and glory is: this is true, walking with 
 God in the best degree: when the soul liveth 
 in the taste of his love, the heart will be still with 
 him, and that will be its pleasure: and God most 
 delights in such a soul. 
 
 10. This is it that putteth the sweetest relish on 
 all our mercies : deny God's love, and you deny 
 them all. If thou taste not his love in them, you 
 taste little more than a beast may taste: poor food 
 and raiment is sweet, with the sense of the love of 
 God. Had I more of this, I should lie down, and 
 rise, and walk in pleasure and content : I cculd 
 bear the loss of other things : and though nature 
 will feel pains, I should have pleasure and peace in 
 the midst of all my pains and groans. This is the 
 white stone, the new name : no man well knoweth 
 it who never felt it in himself. 
 
 There is no dying comfortably without this expe- 
 rienced taste of the love of God. This will draw 
 up the desires of the soul : love tasted, casteth out 
 fear: though God be holy and just, and judgment 
 terrible, and hell intolerable, and the soul hath no 
 distinct idea of its future state out of the body, and 
 though we see not whither it is that we must go, 
 the taste of God's love will make it go joyfully, as 
 trusting him ; as a child will go any where in his 
 father's power and hand. 
 
 But all the knowledge in the world without this, 
 quiets not a departing soul. 
 
 A man may write as many books, and preach as 
 
LOVE OF GOD. 
 
 135 
 
 many sermons of heaven as I have done, and 
 speak of it, and think of almost nothing else, and 
 yet till the soul be sweetened and comforted with 
 the love of God shed abroad on it by the Holy 
 Ghost, death and the next life will be rather a 
 man's fear than his desire. And the common fear 
 of death which we see in the far greatest part even 
 of godly persons, doth tell us, that though they 
 may have saving desires and hopes, yet this sense 
 of God's love on the heart is rare. — Works, vol. iii. 
 p. 942. 
 
 This effused love would confute temptations that 
 are drawn from thy afflictions ; and make thee be- 
 lieve that they are not so bad as flesh representeth 
 them : it would understand that every son that 
 God loveth he chasteneth, that he may not be con- 
 demned with the world; and that he may be par- 
 taker of his holiness, and the end may be the 
 quiet fruit of righteousness ; it would teach us to 
 believe that God in very faithfulness doth afflict 
 us ; and that it is a good sign that the God of Love 
 intendeth a better life for his beloved, when he 
 trieth them with so many tribulations here : and 
 though Lazarus be not saved for his sufferings, it 
 signifieth, that God, who loved him, had a life of 
 comfort for him, when he had his evil things on 
 earth. When pangs are greatest, the birth is near- 
 est. — Works, vol. iii. p. 945. 
 
 Exercise thyself in palms of praise, and daily 
 magnify the love of God, that the due mention 
 of it may warm and raise thy love to him, who 
 will answer thy fears, which arise from mere weak- 
 ness of grace and duty: indeed it will give no other 
 comfort to an unconverted soul, but that he may 
 be accepted if he come to God by Christ, with 
 
136 
 
 LOVE OF GOD. 
 
 true faith and repentance ; and that it is possible. 
 But it should be easy to believe, that a tender father 
 will not kill or cast out a child for weakness, crying, 
 or uncleanness. Divine love will accept and cherish 
 even weak faith, weak prayer, and weak obedience and 
 patience, which are sincere. — Works, vol. iii. p. 945. 
 
 Millions love the world that miss of it : but no 
 man misseth of God that loveth him above the 
 world. — Works, vol. iii. p. 440. 
 
 In the very exciting and exercise of this holy 
 love, your assurance of your own special interest 
 in Christ, would be sooner and more comfortably 
 brought about, than by searching to find either 
 evidence of pardon before you find your love to God; 
 or to find your love to God, before you have la- 
 boured to get and ' exercise it. — Works, vol. iii. 
 p. 554. 
 
 Let the knowledge and love of God, and your 
 obedience to him, be the works of your religion ; 
 and the everlasting fruition of him in heaven, be 
 the continual end and ruling motive of your hearts 
 and lives, that your very conversation may be with 
 God in heaven. 
 
 You are so far holy, as you are divine and hea- 
 venly. A christian indeed is casting up his ac- 
 counts, being certain that this world doth make no 
 man happy, hath been led by Christ to seek a hap~ 
 piness with God above. If you live not for this 
 everlasting happiness, if you trade not for this, if 
 this be not your treasure, your hope and home, the 
 chiefest matter of your desire, love and joy, and if 
 all things be not prest to serve it, and despised 
 when they stand against it, you live not indeed a 
 christian life. God and heaven, or God in heaven, 
 
LOVE OF GOI>. 
 
 137 
 
 ii, the life and soul, the beginning and the end, the 
 sum, the all of true religion. And therefore it is 
 that we are directed to lift up our heads and hearts, 
 and begin our prayers with, Our Father which art 
 in heaven, and end them with ascribing to him the 
 kingdom, power, and glory. It is not the creatures, 
 but God the Creator, that is the Father, the guide 
 and the felicity of souls, and therefore the ulti- 
 mate end and object of all religious actions and 
 affections. Dwell still upon God, and dwell in 
 heaven, if you would understand the nature and 
 design of Christianity. Take God for all, that is, 
 for God; study after the knowledge of him in all 
 his works ; study him in his word, study him in 
 Christ, and never study him barely to know him, 
 but to know him that you may love him : take 
 yourselves as dead when you live not in the love of 
 God ; keep still upon your hearts, a lively sense of 
 the infinite difference between him and the crea- 
 ture ; look on all the world as a shadow, and on 
 God as the substance ; take the very worst that 
 man can do, to be in comparison of the punish- 
 ments of God, but as a flea-biting to the sorest 
 death; and take all the dreaming pleasures of the 
 world, to be less in comparison with the joys of 
 heaven, than one drop of honey is to a thousand 
 years' possession of all the felicities upon earth. 
 Think not that all the pleasures, honours, or riches 
 of the world, are worthy to be named in compari - 
 son of heaven; nor the greatest of men to be worthy 
 to be thought on, in comparison to God. As one 
 straw or feather won or lost, would neither much 
 rejoice or trouble you, if all cities or lands were 
 yours; so live as men whose eyes are open, and 
 who discern a greater disproportion between the 
 ortion of a wordiing and a saint. Let God be your 
 ing, your father, your master, your friend, your 
 
138 
 
 LOVE OF GOD. 
 
 wealth, your joy, your all. Let not a day go over 
 your heads, in which your hearts have not some 
 converse with God in heaven. When any trouble 
 overtake you on earth, look to heaven, and remem- 
 ber that it is there that rest and joy are prepared 
 for believers. When you are under anv want, or 
 cross, or sorrow, fetch not your comforts from any 
 hopes of deliverance here on earth, but from the 
 place of your final full deliverance. If you feel any 
 strangeness and backwardness on your minds to 
 heavenly contemplation, do not make light of them, 
 but presently by faith get up to Christ, who must 
 make your thoughts of heaven familiar, and seek a 
 remedy before your estrangedness increase. The 
 soul is in a sad condition, when it cannot fetch en- 
 couragement from heaven, for then it hath none, 
 or worse than none. When the thoughts of hea- 
 ven will not sweeten all your crosses, and relieve 
 your minds against all the encumbrances of e:-.rth, 
 your souls are not in a healthful state ; it is time 
 then to search out the cause, and seek a cure be- 
 fore it come to worse. 
 
 There are three great causes of this dark and 
 dangerous state of soul, which make the thoughts 
 of heaven unerTectual and uncomfortable to us, 
 which therefore must be overcome with the daily 
 diligence of your whole lives. 
 
 First, Unbelief, which makes you look towards 
 the life to come, with doublings and uncertainty ; 
 and this is the most common, radical, powerful, 
 and pernicious impediment to a heavenly life. The 
 second is the love of present things, which being 
 the vanitv of a poor low fleshly mind, the reviving 
 of reason may do much to overcome it ; but it's 
 the sound belief of the life to come that must pre- 
 vail. The third, is the inordinate fear of death, 
 
SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. 
 
 139 
 
 which hath so great advantage in the constitution 
 ©f our nature, that it is commonly the last enemy 
 which we overcome, (as death itself is the last 
 enemy which Christ overcometh for us). Bend all 
 your strength and spend your days in striving 
 against these three great impediments of a hea- 
 venly conversation ; and remember, so far as you 
 suffer your hearts to retire from heaven, so far they 
 retire from a life of Christianity and peace. — fVorks, 
 vol. ii. p. 956. 
 
 The heart God made for himself, and the heart 
 lie will have; or else whoever hath it shall have it to 
 its woe. He will be its rest, or it shall never have 
 rest; and he will be its happiness, or it shall be 
 miserable everlastingly. — Works, vol. iii. p. 450. 
 
 Chap. II. — Sovereignty of God. 
 
 The first thing that I would have you oft to 
 think on, is the nature of that God with whom ye 
 have to do. Consider, that if he be the most wise, 
 it is the strongest reason in the world that he 
 should rule you. If he be good and infinitely good, 
 there is all the reason in the world that you should 
 love him ; and there is no shew of reason why you 
 should love the world or sin before him. If he be 
 faithful and true, his threatenings must be feared, 
 and his promises must not be distrusted, and there 
 is no reason that you should make any question of 
 his word. If he be holy, then holiness must needs 
 be most excellent, and those that are the holiest 
 must needs be the best, because they are like to 
 
140 
 
 SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. 
 
 God; and then he must be an enemy to sin, and 
 to all that are unholy, because they are contrary to 
 his nature. 
 
 Consider that he is Almighty, and there is no 
 resisting him, or standing out against hirn; in the 
 twink of an eye can he snatch thy guilty soul from 
 thy body, and cast it where sin is better known. 
 A word of his mouth can set all the world against 
 thee, and set thine own conscience against thee 
 too ; a frown of his face can turn thee into hell ; 
 and if he be thy enemy it is no matter who is thy 
 friend, for all the world cannot save thee if he do 
 but condemn thee. They are blessed whom he 
 blesseth, and they are cursed whom he curseth. 
 He was from eternity, and thou art as it were but 
 of yesterday ; thy being is from him, thy life is 
 in his hands, thou canst not live an hour without 
 him, thou canst not fetch a breath without him, nor 
 think a thought, nor speak a word, nor stir a foot 
 or hand without him; thou mayst better live with- 
 out bread or drink, or fire, or air, or earth, or 
 water, than without him. All the world is before 
 him but as a drop of the bucket, or as a little sand 
 of dust that should be laid in balance with all the 
 earth. Hadst thou but compassed about this lower 
 world, and seen all the nations of it, and it's won- 
 derful furniture, and seen the great deeps of the 
 mighty ocean, and the abundance of creatures 
 that be in all, O what thoughts then would thou 
 have of God! But if thou hadst been above the 
 stars, and seen all the sun in its glory, and seen 
 the blessed glorious Angels, and all the inhabitants 
 of the higher world, O then what thoughts of God 
 would thou entertain? O, but if it were possible 
 that thou had seen his glory, or seen him in Christ, 
 the now glorified Redeemer, what apprehensions 
 would thou have of him then ? Then how would 
 
FEAR OF GOD. 141 
 
 thou abhor the name of sin, and how weary would 
 thou be of the pleasantest life that sensuality 
 could afford thee ? Then thou wouldest quickly 
 know that no love can be great enough, and no 
 praises can be high enough, and no service can be 
 holy and good enough for such a God; then you 
 would soon know that this God is not to be ne- 
 glected or dallyed with, nor a God to be resisted, 
 nor provoked by the breaking of his laws. It is 
 eternal life to know this God, (Jok. xvii. 3). And 
 for want of knowing him, it is that sin aboundeth 
 in the world. This maketh holiness so scarce and 
 so lean, men worship they care not how, because 
 they worship they know not whom. O therefore 
 dwell on the meditations of the Almighty. So far 
 as he doth possess thy mind, there will be no place 
 for sin and vanity. One would think, if I should 
 set you no further task, and tell you of no other 
 matter for meditation, this one should be enough, 
 for this one is in a manner all. — Works, vol. ii, 
 p. 559. 
 
 Chap. III. — Fear of God. 
 
 Would you know who it is that is the christian 
 indeed ? He is one that liveth (in some measure) 
 as if he saw the Lord: believing in that God that 
 dwelkth in the inaccessible light, that cannot be seen 
 by mortal eyes, he liveth as before his face. He 
 speaks, he prays, he thinks, he deals with men, as 
 if he saw the Lord stand by. No wonder therefore 
 if he do it with reverence and holy fear. — Works, 
 vol. iii. p. 517. 
 
 Our walk with God must be with the greatest re- 
 
142 
 
 TRUST IN GOD. 
 
 verence; were we never so much assured of his spe- 
 cial love to us, and never so full of faith and joy, our 
 reverence must be never the less for this. Though 
 love cast out that guilty fear which discourageth the 
 sinner from hoping and seeking for the mercy which 
 would save him, and which disposeth him to hate 
 and fly from God, yet doth it not cast out that relief - 
 ence to God, which we owe him as his creatures, 
 so infinitely below him as we are. It cannot be 
 that God should be known and remembered as 
 God, without some admiring and awful apprehen- 
 sions of him. Infiniteness, omnipotency, and in- 
 accessible majesty and glory, must needs affect 
 the soul that knoweth them, with reverence and 
 self-abasement. — Works, vol. hi. p. 712. 
 
 Chap. IV.— Trust in God. 
 
 Sometimes the guilt of renewed infirmities, and 
 decays, doth renew distrust, and make us shrink, 
 and we are like the child in the mother's arms, 
 thatfeareth iclien he loseth his hold, as if his safety 
 were more in his hold of her, than in her hold of 
 him. Weak duties have weak expectations of suc- 
 cess. In this case, what an excellent remedy hath 
 faith, in looking to the perpetual intercession of 
 Christ; Is he praying for us in the heavens, and 
 shall we not be bold to pray, and expect an answer? 
 Oh ! remember that he Is not weak, when we are 
 weak; and that it concerneth us, that he prayeth 
 for us; and that we have now an unchangeable 
 priest, who is able to save them to the utmost, or 
 to perpetuity, that come (sincerely) to God by him, 
 seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them, 
 
TRUST IN GOD. 
 
 143 
 
 (Ffeb. vii. 24, 25). If you heard Christ pray for 
 you, would it not encourage you to pray, and per- 
 suade you that God will not reject you ? Undoubt- 
 edly it would. — Works, vol. i. p. 60. 
 
 Understand the true method of peace of consci- 
 ence, and judge not of the state of your souls upon 
 deceitful grounds. As presumptuous hopes do keep 
 men from conversion and embolden them in sin, 
 so causeless fears do hinder our love and praise of 
 God, by obscuring his loveliness ; and they destroy 
 our thankfulness and our delight in God, and make 
 us a burden to ourselves, and a grievous stumbling 
 block to others. The general grounds of all your 
 comfort, are, 1. The gracious nature of God 
 (Exod. xxxiv. 6). 2. The sufficiency of Christ 
 (Heb. vii. 25), and the truth, and (John, iv. 42) 
 universality of the promise, which giveth Christ 
 and life to all, if they will accept him ; but this 
 acceptance is the proof of your particular title; 
 without which, these do but aggravate your sin. 
 Consent to God's covenant is the true condition and 
 proof of your title to God as your father, saviour, 
 and sanctifier, and so to the saving blessings of 
 the covenant : which consent if you survive, must 
 produce the duties which you consent to. He that 
 heartily consenteth that God be his God, his savi- 
 our and sanctifier, is in a state of life. But this 
 includeth the rejection of the world. {John, iii. 
 16; 1 Tim. iv. 10, and 24; Matt, xxviii. 19, 20; 
 Rev. xxii. 17; Isa. Iv. 1,2, 3, 6, 7)« Much know- 
 ledge, and memory, and utterance, and lively affec- 
 tions, are all very desirable; but you must judge 
 your state by none of these, for they are all uncer- 
 tain. But 1. If God and holiness, and heaven, 
 have the highest estimation of your practical judg- 
 ment, as being esteemed best for you, 2. And be 
 
144 
 
 TRUST IN GOD. 
 
 preferred in the clioice and resolution of your wills, 
 and that Jiabitually, before all the pleasures of the 
 world. 3. And the first and cliiefty sought in your 
 endeavours, this is the infallible proof of your sanc- 
 titication. — Jf'orks, vol. iv. p. 203. 
 
 Very many are my experiences of that wondrous 
 mercy which hath measured my pilgrimage, and 
 rilled up my days. Never did God break his pro- 
 mise with me; never did he fail nor forsake me: 
 had 1 not provoked him by rash and wilful sinning, 
 how little interruption of my peace and comforts 
 had I ever been likely to have had ? And shall I now 
 distrust him at the last? Shall I not trust, and 
 quietly trust, that infinite icisdom, love, and power, 
 whom I have so long trusted, and found so good? 
 — J Forks, vol. iii. p. 91 1. 
 
 I am more solicitous than I have been about my 
 duty to God, and less solicitous about his dealiugs 
 with me, as being assured that he will do all things 
 well; and as acknowledging the goodness of all the 
 declarations of his holiness, even in the punish- 
 ment of pan; as knowing that there is no rest but 
 in the will and goodness of God. 
 
 Though my works were never such as could be 
 any temptation to me to dream of obliging God by 
 proper merit, in communative justice ; yet one of 
 the most ready, constant, undoubted evidences of 
 my uprightness and interest in his covenant, is the 
 consciousness of my living as devoted to him: and 
 I the easier believe the pardon of my failings 
 through my Redeemer, while I know that I serve 
 no other master, and that I know no other end, or 
 trade, or business; but that I am employed in his 
 work, and make it the business of my life, and 
 live to him in this world, notwithstanding my in- 
 
TRUST IN GOD. 
 
 145 
 
 firmities, and this bent and busi?iess of my life, 
 with my longing desires after perfection, in the 
 knowledge and belief, and love of God, and in a 
 holy and heavenly mind and life, are the two stand- 
 ing, constant, discernible evidences, which most 
 put me out of doubt of my sincerity; and I find 
 that constant action and duty is it that keepeth the 
 first always in sight; and constant wants and weak- 
 nesses, and coming short of my desires, do make 
 those desires still the more troublesome, and so the 
 more easily still perceived. 
 
 Though my habitual judgment and resolution, 
 and scope of life be still the same, yet I find a great 
 mutability as to actual apprehensions and degrees 
 of grace; and consequently find that so mutable a 
 thing as the mind of man, would never keep itself 
 if God were not its keeper. — Life, p. 134. 
 
 To distrust all creatures, even^hyseif is not un- 
 reasonable; but to distrust God, hath no just ex- 
 cuse. Fly from sin, from Satan, from temptations, 
 from the world, from sinful flesh and idol-self; 
 but fly not from him that is goodness, love, and 
 joy itself: fear thine enemy, but trust thy father: 
 if thy heart be reconciled to him, and his service, 
 by the Spirit, he is certainly reconciled to thee 
 through Christ; and if he be for thee, and justify 
 and love thee, who shall be against thee, or con- 
 demn thee, or separate thee from his love ? If thy 
 unreconciled will do make thee doubt of his recon- 
 ciliation, it's time to abhor and lay by thy enmity: 
 consent , and be sure that he eonsenteth: be willing 
 to be his, and in holiness to serve him, and to be 
 united in joyful glory to him, and then be sure 
 that he is willing to accept thee, and receive thee 
 to that glory. O dark and sinful soul ! how little 
 dost thou know thy friend, thy self, or God, if 
 
 H 
 
146 
 
 TRUST IN GOD. 
 
 thou canst more easily and quietly trust thy life, 
 thy soul, and hopes to the will of thy friend, or of 
 thy self (if thou hadst power) than to the ivill of 
 God ? Every dog would be at home, and with his 
 master; much more every ingenuous child with 
 his father; and though enemies distrust us, wife 
 and children will not do so, while they believe us 
 just. And hath God ever shewed himself either 
 unfaithful or unmerciful to me? — fVorks, vol. iii. 
 p. 911. 
 
 " To thee, O Lord, as to a faithful Creator, I 
 commit my soul (I Pet. iv. 19). I know that thou 
 art the faithful God, who keepest covenant and 
 mercy with them that love thee, and keep thy Com- 
 mandments (Dent. vii. 9). Thou art faithful, who 
 hast called me to the communion of thy son Jesus 
 Christ our Lord (1 Cor. i. 9). Thy faithfulness 
 hath saved me in and from temptation (1 Cor. x. 
 13). It hath established me, and kept me from 
 prevailing evil (2 Thess. iii. 3). And it will keep 
 my spirit, soul, and body to the coming of Christ 
 (1 Thess. v. 23, 24). It is in faithfulness that 
 thou hast afflicted me (PsaL cxix. Jh), and shall 
 not I trust thee then to save me ? It is thy faithful 
 word, that all thine elect shall obtain the salvation 
 which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory ; and if 
 we be dead with him, shall live with him, and if 
 we suffer, we shall also reign with him (2 Tim. x. 
 11, 12). 
 
 " To thee, O my Saviour, I commit my soul; 
 it is thine own by redemption, it is thine own by 
 covenant, it is marked and sealed by thy spirit as 
 thine own, and thou hast promised not to lose it, 
 (John, vi. 39). 
 
 " Thou wast made like us thy brethren, that 
 thou mightest be a merciful and faithful high priest 
 
TRUST IN GOD. 
 
 147 
 
 in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation 
 for our sins: by thy blood we have boldness to en- 
 ter into the holiest, even by the new and living 
 consecrated way: cause me to draw near with a 
 sincere heart, in full assurance of faith, by thee 
 that art the high priest over the house of God ; for 
 he is faithful that has promised life through thee 
 (Heb. xix. 20, 21, 22, 23). Thy name is faithful 
 and true (Rev, xix. 11), and faithful and true are 
 all thy promises (Rev. xxii. 6, and xxi. 5). Thou 
 hast promised rest to weary souls that come to thee 
 (Matth. xi. 28; 2 Thcss. i. 7). I am weary of suf- 
 fering, and weary of sin ; weary of my flesh, and 
 weary of my darkness, and dullness, and distance, 
 and of this wicked, blind, unrighteous, and con- 
 founded world; and whither should I look for rest, 
 but home to my heavenly father and to thee ? I am 
 but a bruised reed, but thou wilt not break me; I 
 am but a smoaking flax, but thou wilt not quench 
 what thy grace has kindled; but thou in whose 
 name the nations trust, wilt bring forth judgment 
 unto victory (Matt. xii. 20, 21). The Lord re- 
 deemeth the souls of his servants, and none of them 
 that trust in thee shall be desolate (Psal. xxxiv. 
 22) . Therefore will I wait on thy name, for it is 
 good, and will trust in the mercy of God for ever 
 (Psal. Hi. 8, 9). The Lord is good; a strong 
 hold in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them 
 that trust in him (Nah. i. 7). Sinful fear is a 
 snare ; but he that putteth his trust in the Lord, 
 shall be set on high (Prov. xxix. 25). Blessed is 
 the man that maketh the Lord his trust, and re- 
 specteth not the proud, and such as turn aside to 
 lies (Psal. xl. 4). Thou art my hope, O Lord 
 God, thou art my trust from my youth : by thee 
 have I been holden up from the womb, and my 
 praise shall be continually of thee: cast me not otf 
 h2 
 
148 
 
 TRUST IN' GOD. 
 
 now in the time of age; forsake me not when my 
 strength faileth, O God, thou hast taught me from 
 my youth, and hitherto I have declared thy won- 
 drous works : now also when I am old and grev, O 
 God, forsake me not (Psal. xvii. 5, 6, 9, 17, 18). 
 Leave not my soul destitute, for mine eyes are to- 
 ward thee, and my trust is in thee (PsaL xiv. 8). 
 1 had fainted unless I had believed to see the good- 
 ness of the Lord in the land of the living: even 
 where they that live shall die no morel The sun 
 may cease to shine on man, and the earth to bear 
 us; but God will never cease to be love, nor to be 
 faithful in his promises. Blessed be the Lord, 
 who hath commanded me so safe and quiet a dutv, 
 as to trust him, and cast all my cares on him, as 
 on one that hath promised to care forme. — Works, 
 vol. iii. p. 912. 
 
 As the eyes of a servant are on the hand of his 
 master, so are his eyes on God for all supplies; 
 and this is the part of the work of the spirit of 
 adoption, who teacheth us to cry Abba, father; and 
 as children, not to be very careful for ourselves, 
 but to run to our father in all our wants, and tell 
 him what we stand in need of, and beg relief ; and 
 to be careful for nothing; but in every thing by 
 prayer with supplication and thanksgiving to make 
 hwwn our requests to God, (Phil, iv. 6). And this 
 acquiescence of the soul in the love of God, is it 
 that keepeth our hearts and minds in that peace of 
 God which passeth all understanding, so that the 
 more of self-denial, the less is a man dependent 
 on himself or troubled with the cares of his own 
 preservation ; and the more doth he cast himself on 
 God, and is careful to please him that is his true 
 preserver, and then quieteth and resteth his mind 
 in his all sufficiency, and infinite wisdom and love, 
 
TRUST IN GOD. 
 
 149 
 
 and so is a mere dependent upon God. — Works, 
 vol. iii. p. 347. 
 
 It much honoureth God when his servants can 
 quietly and fearlessly trust in him, in the face oj 
 all the dangers and threatenings which devils or 
 men can cast before them; and canjoyjully suffer 
 pain or death, in obedience to his commands, and 
 in confidence on his promise of everlasting happiness, 
 — Works, vol. i. p. 143. 
 
 The world is an inn, and the christian will be 
 thankful if his way be fair, and if he have his daily 
 bread ; but it is not his home, nor doth he make 
 any great matter, whether his usage in it be kind 
 or unkind, or whether his inn be well adorned or 
 not. He is almost indifferent whether for so short 
 a time, he be rich or poor, in a high, or in a low 
 condition, further than as it tendeth to his master's 
 service. Let men see that you have a higher birth 
 than they, and higher hopes, and higher hearts* 
 by setting light by that which their hearts are set 
 upon as their felicity. When seeming christians 
 are as worldly and ambitious as others, and make 
 as great a matter of their gain, and wealth, and 
 honour, it showeth that they do but cover the base 
 and sordid spirit of worldlings, with the vizor of the 
 christian name, to deceive themselves, and bring the 
 faith of christians into scorn, and dishonour the holy 
 name which they usurp. — Works, vol. i. p. 142. 
 
 By the spirit of adoption is meant, 1 , That spirit, 
 or those qualifications or workings in their souls, 
 which the gospel of God giveth only to his sons. 
 2. And which raise in us some child-like affections 
 to God, inclining us in all our wants to run to him 
 in prayer, as to a father, and make our moan to him, 
 
150 
 
 TRUST IN GOD. 
 
 and open our griefs and cry for redress, and look 
 to him, and depend on him as a child on the father. 
 This spirit of adoption you may have, and yet not 
 be certain of God's special love to you. The know- 
 ledge only of his general goodness and mercy, may 
 be a means to raise in you true child-like affections. 
 You may know God to have fatherly inclinations to 
 yon, and yet doubt whether he will use you as a 
 child, for want of assurance of your own sincerity; 
 and you may hope God is your father, when yet 
 you may apprehend him to be a displeased father, 
 and so he may be more your terror than your 
 comfort. Are not you ready, in most of your fears, 
 and doubts, and troubles, to go to God before all 
 others for relief ? And doth your heart sigh and 
 groan to him, when you can scarcely speak ? Doth 
 not your troubled spirit "there find it's vent? And 
 say, Lord, kill me not ; forsake me not ; my life is 
 in thy hands; O soften this hard heart; make this 
 carnal mind more spiritual! O be not such a 
 stranger to my soul ! Woe to me, that I am so igno- 
 rant of thee 1 so disaffected to thee ! so backward 
 and disinclined to holy communion with thee! Woe 
 to me, that I can take no more pleasure in thee ! and 
 am so mindless and disregardful of thee ! O that 
 thou would stir up in me more lively desires, and 
 workings of my soul towards thee ! and suffer me 
 to lie at such a distance from thee. 
 
 Are not such as these the breathings of your 
 spirit? Why these are child-like breathings after 
 God ! This is crying Abba, father. This is the 
 work of the spirit of adoption, even when you fear 
 God will cast you off. You much mistake (and 
 these that tell you so) if you think that the spirit 
 of adoption lieth only in a persuasion that you are 
 God's child, or that you may not have the spirit 
 of adoption, without such a persuasion of God's 
 
GOD GLORIFIED IN HIS WORKS. 
 
 151 
 
 adopting you. For God may adopt you, and give 
 you that spirit which he gives only to his children, 
 and possess you with true filial affections towards 
 him, before ever you know yourself to be adopted; 
 much more, though you may have frequent return- 
 ing doubts of your adoption. — Works, vol. ii. 
 p. 856. 
 
 Chap. V. — God glorified in his Works. 
 
 Our walking v:ith God is not only a sense of that 
 common presence which he must needs afford to all, 
 but it is also a believing apprehension of his gracious 
 presence, as our God and reconciled father, with 
 whom ice dwell, being brought near unto him by 
 Christ, and who dwelleth in us by his Spirit. 
 
 To walk with God (as here we are in flesh) in- 
 cludeth not only our believing his presence, but also 
 that we see him (as the chief cause in the effects) 
 in his creatures, and his daily providence, that we 
 look not on creatures as independent or separated 
 from God, but see them as the glass, and God as 
 the represented face; and see them as the letters 
 and words; and God as the sense of all the creatures 
 that are the first book which he appointed man to 
 read. We must behold his glory declared by the 
 heavens, (Psal. xix. 1), and see him shining in the 
 sun; and see his power in the fabrick of the world, 
 and his wisdom in the admirable order of the whole : 
 we must taste the sweetness of his love in the 
 sweetness of our food, and in the comforts of our 
 friends, and all our accommodations; we must see, 
 and love his image in his holy ones, and we must 
 hear his voice in the ministry of his messengers. 
 
1*2 
 
 GRATITUDE TO GOD. 
 
 Thus every creature must become a preacher to us, 
 and we must see the name of God upon it; and thus 
 all things will be sanctified to us, while holiness to 
 the Lord is written upon all. Tho' we must not 
 therefore make idols of the creatures, because God 
 appeareth to us in them, yet must we hear the mes- 
 sage which they bring us, and reverence in them 
 the name of the Creator which they bear. — Works, 
 vol. iii. p. 709. 
 
 Do you not know that all this earth is no bigger, 
 in comparison of all the world, than one inch of 
 ground is to all the earth? And how many thou- 
 sand, thousand, thousand times, is all the earth 
 greater than one inch ? And are not all the rest of 
 the vast and glorious parts of the world as like to be 
 fully inhabited as this ? How know you but those 
 unmeasurable regions have a thousand, thousand 
 millions of blessed angels and spiritual inhabi- 
 tants, for one nicked man or devil I hat is damned? 
 Are you sure it is not so? — Works, vol. if. 
 p. 190. 
 
 Chap. VI.— Gratitude to God. 
 
 Ke that will be false to God, whose interest in 
 him is so absolute, is unlikely to be true to men, 
 whose interest in him is infinitely less: he that can 
 shake off the great obligations of creation, redemp- 
 tion, preservation and provision, which God laveth 
 on him, is unlikely to be held by such slender 
 obligations as he receives from men. I'll never 
 frust that man far, if I know him, that's false to his 
 
DELIGHTING IN GOD. 
 
 153 
 
 Redeemer: he that will sell his God, his Saviour, 
 his soul, and heaven, for a little sensuality, vain- 
 glory, or worldly wealth, I shall not wonder if he „ 
 sell his best friend for a groat. — Works, vol. iv. 
 
 p. 713. 
 
 How much you are beholden to God, who hath 
 made you by his grace to be one of those few that 
 shall be saved. 
 
 How excellent a people those few should be, 
 above the common rates of men, whom God hath 
 called out of so great a number to himself. How 
 fervently should they love him, and how holily and 
 heartily should they serve him. 
 
 O that we could be such as this mercy doth de- 
 serve! — Works, vol. iv. p. 190. 
 
 Chap. VII. — Delighting in God, 
 
 In my younger years my trouble for sin, was most 
 about my actual failings in thought, word or action^ 
 but now! am much more troubled for inward defects, 
 and omission or want of the vital duties or graces 
 in the soul. My daily trouble is so much for my 
 ignorance of God, and- weakness of belief, and want 
 of greater love to God, and strangeness to longing 
 to be with God in heaven, as that I take not some 
 immoralities, though very great, to be in them- 
 selves so great and odious sins, if they could be 
 found as separate from these. Had I all the riches 
 of the world, how gladly should I give them, for 
 a fuller knowledge, belief, and love of God and 
 everlasting glory 1 . These wants are the greatest 
 burden of my life, which oft maketh mv life itself 
 h5 
 
154 DELIGHTING IN GOD. 
 
 a burden. And I cannot find any hope of reaching 
 so high in these, while I am in the flesh, as I once 
 hoped before this time to have attained: which 
 maketh me the wearier of this sinful world, which 
 is honoured with so little of the knowledge of 
 God. 
 
 I was once wont to meditate most on my own 
 heart, and to dwell all at home, and look a little 
 higher: I was still poring either on my sins or 
 wants, or examining my sincerity ; but now, though 
 .1 am greatly convinced of the need of heart-ac- 
 quaintance and employment, yet I see more need 
 of a higher work, and that I should look oftener 
 upon Christ, and God, and heaven, than upon my 
 own heart. At Iwme I can find distempers to 
 trouble me, and some evidences of my peace: but 
 it is above that I must find matter of delight, and 
 joy, and love, and peace itself. Therefore I would 
 have one thought at home upon myself and sins, 
 and many thoughts above upon the high and ami- 
 able and beautifying objects. — Life, p. 129. 
 
 Behold him in the infinite perfections of his 
 being; his omnipotence, omniscience, and his 
 goodness, his holiness, eternity, immutability, &c. 
 And as your eye delighteth in an excellent picture, 
 or a comely buildings, or fields, or gardens, not 
 because they are yours, but because they are a de- 
 lectable object to the eye; so let your minds de- 
 light themselves in God considered in himself, as 
 the only object of highest delight. Delight your- 
 selves also in his relative attributes, in which is 
 expressed his goodness to his creature ; as his all- 
 sufficiency, and faithfulness, or truth, his benig- 
 nity, his mercy and compassion, and patience to 
 sinners, and his justice unto all. Delight your- 
 selves in him as his glory appcarcth in his wondrous 
 
DELIGHTING IN GOD. 
 
 155 
 
 works, of creation and daily providence. Delight 
 yourself in him as he is related to you as your uod 
 and father, and as all your interest, hope and hap- 
 piness is in him alone. Delight yourselves in him, 
 as his excellencies shine forth in his blessed Son. 
 And as they appear in the wisdom and goodness 
 of his word, in all the precepts and promises of the 
 gospel. (Psal. cxix. 162. Jer. xv. 16). De- 
 light thyself in his image, though but imperfectly 
 printed on thv soul ; and also on his holy servants. 
 (Gal. ii. 30 j 1 Cor. xv. 10; 2 Cor. vii. 18). De- 
 light yourself in the consideration of the glory that 
 he hath from all his creatures, and the universal 
 fulfilling of his will : and the prosperity and happi- 
 ness of your friend delighteth you, and the success 
 of any excellent enterprises, and the praise of ex- 
 cellent things and persons, and as you have a 
 special delight in the success of truth, and the 
 nourishing order, and unity, and peace, and pros- 
 perity of kingdoms, especially of he church, much 
 more than in your personal prosperity (unless you 
 have selfish, private, base, unmanly dispositions) ; 
 so much more should you delight in the glory and 
 happiness of God. Delight yourselves in the safety 
 which you have in his favour and defence : and the 
 treasure you have in his all-sufficiency and love, 
 for your continual supplies in every want, and de- 
 liverance in every danger, and the ground of quiet 
 contentedness and confidence which is offered to 
 fearful souls in him. Delight yourselves in the par- 
 ticular discoveries of his common mercies to the 
 world, and his special mercies to his saints; and 
 his personal mercies to yourselves, from your birth 
 to this moment: both upon your souls, and bodies, 
 and friends, and name, and estates, and affairs in 
 fcU relations. Delight yourselves in the privilege 
 you enjoy of speakUg to him, and of him, and 
 
156 
 
 DELIGHTING IN GOD. 
 
 breathing from him, and adoring, and worship- 
 ping him, and singing, and publishing his praise, 
 and in the communion which your souls may have 
 with him through Christ, on his days, and at all 
 times, in his sacraments and in all your lives. And 
 say as Solomon, (1 Kings, viii. 27), And will God 
 indeed dwell on er.rth : Will he dwell, and walk 
 with sinful men, when the heaven of heavens can- 
 not contain him i — PsaL xJ. 16, Let those that 
 seek him rejoice and be glad in him; and cxxii. 1, 
 Let us be glad to go to the house of the Lord, and 
 join with his holy assemblies in his worship — Psal. 
 xlviii. 4, The streams of his grace make glad the 
 city of God, the holy tabernacles of the most high : 
 God is the midst of her, she shall not be moved. 
 Delight yourselves above all, in the forethoughts 
 and hope of the glory which you shall see and 
 enjoy for ever. — Works t vol. i. p. 130. 
 
 If you are devoted to God, what do you do for 
 him? Is it his business that you mind? How much 
 of vour time do you spend for him : How much of 
 your speech is for him ? How much of your estates 
 yearly is serviceable to his iuterest ? Let conscience 
 speak whether he have your studies and affections ; 
 let vour families be witnesses whether he have your 
 speeches and best endeavours; let the church wit- 
 ness what you have done for it; and the poor wit- 
 ness what vou have done for them; and the souls 
 of ignorant and ungodly men what you ha\ e done 
 for them: Shew by the work you have done, who 
 you have lived to, God or your carnal serves. If 
 indeed you have lived to God, something will be 
 seen that you have done for him ; nay, it is not a 
 something "that will serve the turn, it must be 
 the best. Remember that it is by your works that 
 you >hall be judged, and nc\ by your pretences, 
 
DELIGHTING IN GOD. 
 
 157 
 
 professions or conplimcnls; your judge already 
 knows your case, he needs no witnesses ; he will He1 
 be mocked with saving you are for him; shew it, 
 or saying it will not serve. — Works, vol. iv. p. "['2. 
 
 It much honoureth God, when the hopes of ever- 
 lasting joys do cause believers to live much more joy- 
 fidly than the most prospering worldlings: not with 
 their kind of doting mirth, in vain sports, and 
 pleasures, and foolish talking, and uncomely jests ; 
 but in that constant cheerfulness, and gladness, which 
 beseemeth the heirs of glory. Let it appear to the 
 world, that indeed you hope to live with Christ, and 
 to be equal with the angels: doth a dejected coun- 
 tenance, and a mournful, troubled, and complain- 
 ing life, express such hopes? or rather tell men 
 that your hopes are small, and that God is a hard 
 master, and his service grievous? Do not this 
 dishonour him by your inordinate dejectedness? Do 
 not this affright and discourage sinners from the 
 pleasantness of the service of God? — Works, vol. i. 
 p. 143. 
 
 The kingdom of heaven consisteth in righteous- 
 ness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost: and that 
 the Spirit hath undertaken to be the comforter of 
 believers, who is sent upon no low or needless 
 work. Nor did Christ purchase his people's joys in 
 vain, by the price of his grievous sufferings and 
 sorrows. Having borne our griefs, and being made 
 a man of sorrows, that we that see him not might 
 rejoice in believing, with joy unspeakable and full 
 of glory. Nor is it in vain that he hath filled his 
 word with such matter of delight and comfort, in 
 the gladdest tidings that could come to man, and in 
 such free, and full, and faithful promises. Nor 
 hath he multiplied his commands for his rejoicing. 
 
158 
 
 WALKING WITH GOD, 
 
 and delight in vain : again and again commanding 
 us to rejoice, and always to rejoice. Nor is it in- 
 significant that he hath forbidden those worldly 
 caret, *\vj fears, and griefs, which would devour 
 their joys. Nor that he hath so dearly shewed 
 them the way to joy, and blameth them, if they 
 walketh not in it. He filleth up their lives with 
 mercies and matter of delight by his direction, sup- 
 port, provision, and disposals; and all this in their 
 way of trial, and in the valley of tears. How ten- 
 der is he of their sufferings and sorrows : not ahlict- 
 ing willingly, nor delighting to grieve the sons of 
 men ? He taketh not away their delight arid com- 
 fort, till they cast it away themselves, by sinning, or 
 self- afflicting, or neglecting his proposed pleasures. 
 He never faileth to meet them with his delights 
 while they walk in the way prescribed to the end : 
 unless when it tendeth to their greater pleasure, to 
 have some present interruption of the pleasure. — 
 Works, vol. i. p. 131. 
 
 Chap. VIII. — Walking with God. 
 
 Set yourself more to the daily exercise of divine 
 praises and thanksgiving, to actual love and joy, 
 than to any other part of duty. Not that you have 
 done repenting; but that these are the chief, the 
 life, the top, the end of all the rest. — Works, vol. 
 iv. p. 182. 
 
 The question is not, what men call themselves, 
 but what they are; not, whether yon say you take 
 God for your God, but whether you do so indeed; 
 not, whether you profess yourselves to be atheists, 
 
WALKING WITH GOD. 
 
 159 
 
 but whether you are atheists indeed or not. If you 
 are not, look over what I have here said, and ask 
 your consciences, do you walk with God ? Who 
 is it you submit yourselves willingly to be disposed 
 of by? To whom are you most subject? And 
 whose commands have the most effectual authority 
 with you? Who is the chief governor of your hearts 
 and lives ? Whom is it that you principally desire 
 to please? Whom do you most fear? and whose 
 displeasure do you principally avoid ? From whom 
 is it that you expect your greatest reward ? and in 
 whom, and with whom do you place and expect 
 your happiness ? Whose work is it that you do, as 
 the greatest business of your lives ? Is it the good- 
 ness of God in himself, and unto you, that draw- 
 eth up your hearts to him in love? Is he the ulti- 
 mate end of the main intentions, design, and indus- 
 try of your lives ? Do you trust upon his word as your 
 security for your everlasting hopes and happiness ? 
 Do you really live as in his presence? Do you de- 
 light in his word, and meditate on it? Do you love 
 the communion of the saints? And to be most fre- 
 quent and familiar with them that are most fre- 
 quent and familiar with Christ? Do you favour 
 more the particidar affectionate discourse about his 
 nature, will, and kingdom, than the frothy talk of 
 empty wits, or the common discourse of carnal 
 worldlings? Do you love to be employed in thank- 
 ing him for his mercies, and in praising him, and 
 declaring the glory of his attributes and works ? Is 
 your dependence on him as your great benefactor, 
 and do you receive your mercies as hi* gifts? — 
 Works, vol. iii. p. 713-14. 
 
 To despise earth is easy to me ; but not so easy 
 to be acquainted and conversant in heaven. I have 
 nothing in this world which I could not easily let 
 
1G0 
 
 WALKING WITH GOD. 
 
 go ; but to get satisfying apprehensions of the other 
 world is the great and grievous difficulty. 
 
 I am much more apprehensive than long ago, 
 of the odionsncss and danger of the sin of pride; 
 scarce any sin appeareth more odious to me : hav- 
 ing daily more acquaintance with the lamentable 
 naughtiness and frailty of man, and of the mis- 
 chiefs of that sin, and especially in matters spiri- 
 tual and ecclesiastical : I think so far as any man 
 is proud he is kin to the devil, and utterly a 
 stranger to God and to himself; it's a wonder 
 that it should be a possible sin, to men that still 
 carry about with them, in a soul and body, such 
 humbling matter of remedy as we all do. 
 
 I more than ever lament the unhappiness of the 
 nobility, gentry, and great ones of the world, who 
 live in such temptation to sensuality, curiosity, and 
 wasting of their time about a multitude of little 
 things, and whose lives are too often the transcript 
 of the sins of Sodom; pride, fulness of bread, and 
 abundance of idleness, and want of compassion to 
 the poor. And I more value the life of the poor 
 labouring man ; but especially of him that hath 
 neither poverty nor riches. I am much more sen- 
 sible than heretofore of the breadth, and length, 
 and depth of the radical, universal, odious sin of 
 selfishness, and therefore have written so much 
 against it ; and of the excellency and necessity of 
 self-denial, and of a public mind, and of loving 
 our neighbour as ourselves. 
 
 I am more and more sensible, that most contro- 
 versies have more need of right stating than of 
 debating; and if my skill be increased in any thing, 
 it is in that, in narrowing controversies by explica- 
 tion, and separating the real from the verbal, and 
 proving to many contenders, that they differ less 
 than they think they do. 
 
WALKING WITH GOD. 
 
 161 
 
 I am more solicitous than I have been about my 
 duty to God, and less solicitous about his dealings 
 with me, as being assured that he will do all things 
 well ; and as acknowledging the goodness of all the 
 declarations of his holiness, even in the punish- 
 ment of man, and as knowing that there is no rest 
 but in the will and goodness of God. — Life and 
 Time, p. 134. 
 
 If God perceive thee either taking thy pleasure in 
 thy prosperity, which thou shouldst take in him 
 alone, or hoping at least that the world may here- 
 after prove more amiable and delightful to thee, 
 the more he loveth thee, the more his providence 
 shall conspire with his grace, to change thy mind, 
 by depriving thee of thy unwholesome dangerous 
 delights. Use the world as a traveller for the ends 
 to which it was ordained, to the service of God, 
 and the furtherance of thy salvation, and then thou 
 shalt find that God will furnish thee with all that 
 is necessary to these necessary ends ; but if the 
 world must have your love and care, and must be 
 your chiefest business and deligltt, and your excuse 
 for not attending upon God, murmur not, nor 
 marvel not, if he dispose of it and you accord ingly, 
 if you are yet too healthful to think with seriousness 
 on your eternal state ; if you are too rich to part 
 with all for Christ, or openly to ov:n his cause ; if 
 you are too much esteemed in the world to own a 
 scorned, slandered religion ; if you are so busy for 
 earth, that you cannot have time to think of hea- 
 ven ; if you have so much delight in house or land, 
 or in your employments, or recreations, or friends, 
 that God and godliness can have little or none of 
 your delight: marvel not then if God do shake 
 your health, or waste your riches, or turn your 
 honour into contempt, and surfer men to slander 
 
162 
 
 WALKING WITH GOD. 
 
 and reproach you, and spit in your face, and make 
 you of no reputation : marvel not if he turn you 
 out of all, or turn all to your grief and trouble, 
 and make the world a desert to you, and the inha- 
 bitants as wolves and bears. It is sad that we 
 should be so foolish and unkind, as to stay from 
 God, as long as any preferments, or pleasures, or 
 profits in the world, will entertain us; but seeing it 
 is so, let us be thankful both to that grace and that 
 providence which cureth us. Let this be the issue 
 of all our sufferings, and all the cruelties and in- 
 juries of the world, to drive us home to converse 
 with God, and to turn our desires, and labours, and 
 expectations, to the true felicity that never will for- 
 sake us, and then the will of the Lord be done ! 
 Let him choose his means, if this may be the end ; 
 let us kiss the rod, and not revile it, if this may 
 be the fruit of his corrections. — Works, vol. iii. 
 p. 741-2. 
 
 No wonder if the christian make lighter of the 
 smiles or frowns of mortal man, than others do 
 that see none higher ; and if he observe not the 
 lustre of worldly dignity or fleshly beauty, wisdom, 
 or vain glory, before the transcendent incompre- 
 hensible light, to which the sun itself is darkness. 
 When he awaketh he is still with God, (Psal cxxxiv. 
 8). He sets the Lord always before hini, because he 
 is at his right hand, he is not moved, (Psal. xvi. 8). 
 And therefore the life of belie vers is oft called 
 a ivalking with God, and a walking before God, 
 as (Gen. v. 22, 24, and vi. 9, and xvii. 1) in the 
 case of Enoch, Noah, and Abraham. All the day 
 doth he wait on God, (Psal. xxv. 5). Imagine 
 yourselves what manner of person he must be that 
 sees the Lord ; and conclude that such (in his mea- 
 sure) is the true believer; for by faith he seeth him 
 
WALKING WITH GOD. 
 
 163 
 
 that is invisible (to the eye of sense) and there- 
 fore can forsake the glory and pleasures of the 
 world, and feareth not the wrath of princes, as it's 
 said of Moses, (Heb. xi. 27). — Works, vol. iii. 
 p. 517. 
 
 A passage well deserving attention on this sub- 
 ject, is to be found in — Works, vol. iii. p. 709. 
 
 O how few are the christians that are eminent in 
 humility, meekness and self-denial, that are con- 
 tent to be accounted nothing, so that Christ may 
 be all, and his honour may be secured ; that live 
 as men devoted to God, and honour him with their 
 substance, and freely expend, yea, study for oppor- 
 tunities to improve all their riches and interest to 
 his service! How few are they that live in heaven 
 upon earth, with the world under their feet, and 
 their hearts above with God their happiness ? That 
 feel themselves to live in the workings and warmth 
 of love to God, and make him their delight, and 
 are content with his approbation, whoever disap- 
 prove them ! That are still groaning, and seeking 
 after him, and long to be with him, to be rid of 
 sin, and see his blessed face, and live in his perfect 
 love and praises ! That love and long for the ap- 
 pearance of Jesus Christ, and can heartily say, 
 Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. How few are 
 they that stand in a day of trial ? If they are tired 
 but with a foul word, if tried but with any thing 
 that toucheth their commodity; if tried but with 
 the emptiest reasonings of deceivers, much more if 
 they be tried with the honours and greatness of the 
 world, how few of them stand in trial, and do not 
 fall and forget themselves, as if they were not the 
 men that they seemed to be before! what then 
 
164 
 
 KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 
 
 would they prove if they were tried by the flames. — 
 Works, vol. ii. p. 944. 
 
 Chap. IX. — Knowledge of God. 
 
 By knowing thy self and God, it is easy to 
 know what primitive holiness and godliness is. 
 Even hearty, entire, and absolute resignation of 
 the soul to God, as the infinite power, wisdom and 
 goodness, as our creator, our owner, governor, 
 and felicity or end, fully submitting to his dis- 
 posals, obeying his laws, in hope of his promised 
 rewards, and fear of his threatened punishments, 
 and loving and delighting in himself, and all his 
 appearances in the world; and desiring and seek- 
 ing the endless sight and enjoyment of him in hea- 
 venly glory; and expressing these affections in 
 daily prayer, thanksgiving and praise. This is the 
 use of all thy faculties, the end and business of thy 
 life; the health and happiness of thy soul. This 
 is that holiness or godliness which God doth so 
 much call for. — Works, vol. iv. p. 197. 
 
 Luke, xii. 47, Knowing God's will, and not 
 doing it, prepareth men for many stripes. See 
 Rom. ii. — And as barren knowledge is oft made 
 the aggravation of sin, so true knowledge is usually 
 made the cause or means of love and obedience 
 (1 John, iv. 8) . He that loveth not, knoiveth not 
 God (2 Pet. i. 2). Grace and peace be multiplied 
 to you, through the knowledge of God. (2 Per. ii. 
 20, 21), and many such like. — Works, vol. iv. 
 p. 543. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 165 
 
 Chap. X. — Looking unto Jesus. 
 
 Till humiliation makes a sinner feel his sin and 
 misery, it is not possible that Christ as Christ 
 should be heartily welcome to him; or received 
 in that sort as his honour doth expect. Who cares 
 for the physician that feels no sickness, and fears 
 not death? He may pass by the door of such a 
 man, and he will not call him in ; but when pain 
 and fears of death are on him, he will send and 
 seek, and bid him welcome. Will any man fly to 
 Christ for succour, that feels not his wants and 
 danger? Will they hold on him, as the only refuge 
 of their souls, and cleave to him as their only hope, 
 who feel no need of him ? Will they lie at his feet, 
 and beg for mercy, that feel themselves well 
 enough without him ? When men do but hear of 
 sin and misery, and superficially believe it, they 
 may coldly look after Christ and grace, and feel 
 the worth of the latter, in such a manner as they 
 feel the weight of the former. But never is Christ 
 valued and sought after, as Christ, till sorrow hath 
 taught us how to value him; nor is he entertained 
 in the necessary honour of a Redeemer, till humi- 
 liation throw open all the doors; no man can seek 
 him with his whole heart, that seeks him not with 
 a broken heart. — Works, vol. ii. p. 571. 
 
 It hindereth the soul's approach to God, when 
 the infinite distance makes us think that God will 
 not regard or take notice of such contemptible 
 worms as we : we are ready to think that he is too 
 high for our converse or delight. In this case the 
 soul hath no such remedy, as to look to Christ; 
 and see how the father hath regarded us, and set 
 
166 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 bis heart upon us, and sent his son to seek and 
 save us; Oh! wonderful astonishing condescension 
 of eternal love ! believe that God assumed flesh to 
 make himself familiar with man ; and you can never 
 question whether he regard us, or will hold com- 
 munion with us. It hindereth our comfortable ac- 
 cess to God, when we are deterred by the glory of 
 his infiniteness and majesty : as the eye is not able 
 to gaze upon the sun, unless it be overshadowed. 
 So the soul is afraid of the majesty of God, and 
 overwhelmed by it when it should be delighted in 
 it. Against this, there is no such remedy as to be- 
 hold God appearing to us in his son, where his 
 majesty is veiled, and where he approacheth us 
 familiarly in our nature, to invite us to himself 
 with holy confidence, and reverent boldness. 
 Christ did not appear in a terrible form ; women 
 durst discourse with him: beggars and cripples, 
 and diseased people durst ask his help: sinners 
 durst eat with him: the proud contemned him, 
 but the lowly were not frightened from him. He 
 took upon him the form of a servant, and made 
 himself of no reputation, that he might converse 
 familiarly with the meanest, and those of no repu- 
 tation. Though we may not debase the godhead 
 to imagine he is humbled in glory, as it was on 
 earth, in the flesh of Christ; yet this condescension 
 is unspeakable encouragement to the soul to come 
 with boldness unto God that was frighted from 
 him. — Works, vol. L p. 58. 
 
 Alas ! without Christ we know not how to live an 
 hour; nor can have hope or peace in any thing we 
 have or do; nor look with comfort either upward 
 pr downward, to God or the creature, nor think 
 without terror of our sins, of God, or of the life to 
 come. Resolve therefore, that as true converts, 
 
LOOKING UNTO JKSUS. 
 
 167 
 
 you are wholly to live upon Jesus Christ, and to do 
 all that you do by his spirit and strength ; and to 
 expect all your acceptance with God upon his ac- 
 count: where other men are reputed philosophers 
 or wise, for some unsatisfactory knowledge of these 
 transitory things, do you desire to know nothing 
 but a crucified and glorified Christ: study him, 
 and take him (objectively) for your wisdom : when 
 other men have confidence in the flesh, and in the 
 shew of wisdom, in will-worship, and humility, 
 after the commandment and doctrines of men (Col. 
 ii. 20, 21, 22, 23), and would establish their own 
 righteousness, do you rejoice in Christ your righte- 
 ousness; and set continually before your eyes, his 
 doctrine and example as your rule. Look still to 
 Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith, who 
 contemned all the glory of the world, and trampled 
 upon its vanity, and subjected himself to a life 
 of suffering, and made himself of no reputation 
 but for the joy that was set before him ; endured 
 the cross, despised the shame, and underwent the 
 contradiction of sinners against himself. Live so 
 that you may truly say as Paul (Gal. ii. 20), 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. 
 — Works, vol. i. p. 20. 
 
 O sirs, if a thought of your hearts, if a word of your 
 mouths, have not some relation to Christ, suspect 
 it, yea reject it. Call it not a sermon, or a prayer, 
 or a duty, that hath nothing of Christ in it. 
 Though the pure Godhead be your principal end, 
 yet there is no way to this end but by Christ; and 
 though love, which is exercised on that end, must 
 animate all your graces and duties, as they are 
 
166 
 
 Ia>OKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 means to that end ; yet faith hath love in it, or eke 
 it is not the christian faith; and Christ is the ob- 
 ject of your faiih and love: and your perfect ever- 
 lasting love will be animated by Christ; for your 
 love and praise will be to him that was slain, and 
 redeemed us to God by his blood out of every kindred, 
 tongue, and nation, and made us kings and priests 
 to God. — Directions to a Sound Cotwersiou, p. 16/. 
 
 Things that men highly value will be remembered; 
 they will be matter of their freest and sweetest 
 thoughts ; this is a known case. 
 
 Do not those then make light of Christ, an*? sal- 
 vation, that think of them so seldom and coldly 
 in comparison of other things? Follow thy own 
 heart, man, and observe what it daily runneth out 
 after, and then judge whether it moke not light of 
 Christ. 
 
 We cannot persuade men to one hour's sober 
 consideration what they should do for an inte- 
 rest in Christ, or in that thankfulness for bis love, 
 and yet they will not believe that they make fight 
 of him. 
 
 Things that we highly value will be matter of our 
 discourse; the judgment and heart will command 
 the tongue. Freely and delightfully will our speech 
 run after them; this also is a known case. 
 
 Do not these men then make light of Christ sad 
 salvation that shun the mention of his name, un- 
 less it be in a vain cr sinful use ? Those that love 
 not the company where Christ and salvation is 
 much talked of, but think it troublesome precise 
 discourse; that had rather hear some merry jests 
 or idle tales, or talk of their riches or business in 
 the world. When you may follow them from 
 morning to night, and scarce have a savoury wold 
 of Christ; but perhaps some slight and areary men- 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 169 
 
 tion of him sometimes; judge whether these make 
 not light of Christ and salvation. How seriously 
 do they talk of the world ! (Psal. cxiv. 8, 11). And 
 speak vanity ! But how heartlessly do they make 
 mention of Christ and salvation! 
 
 The things that we highly value we would secure 
 the possession of, and therefore would take any 
 convenient course to have all doubts and fears 
 about them well resolved. Do not those men then 
 make light* of Christ and salvation, that have lived 
 twenty or thirty years in uncertainty whether they 
 have any part in these or not, and yet never seek 
 out for the right resolution of their doubts? Are all 
 that hear me this day certain they shall be saved? 
 Oh that they were ! Oh, had you not made light of 
 salvation, you could not so easily bear such doubt- 
 ings of it; you could not rest till you had made it 
 sure, or done your best to make it sure. Have 
 you nobody to enquire of, that might help you in 
 such a work ? Why, you have ministers that are pur- 
 posely appointed to that office. Have you gone 
 to them, and told them the doubtfulness of your 
 case, and asked their help in the judging of your 
 condition? Alas, ministers may sit in their studies 
 from one year to another, before ten persons among 
 1000 will come to them on such an errand ! Do not 
 these make light of Christ and salvation ? When 
 the gcspel pierceth the heart indeed, they cry out, 
 Men and brethren, wliat shall we do to be saved! 
 {Acts, xvi. 30; and ix. 6). Trembling and astonished 
 Paul cries out, Lord, what icilt thou have me to 
 do? And so did the convinced Jews to Peter. 
 {Acts, ii. 37). But when hear we such questions? 
 — Works, vol. iv. p. 734. 
 
 Consider, 1. Thou makest light of him that 
 made not light of thee, who didst deserve it. Thou 
 
170 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 was worthy of nothing but contempt. As a man, 
 what art thou but a worm to God? As a sinner 
 thou art far viler than a toad : yet Christ was so far 
 from making light of thee and thy happiness, that 
 he came down in the flesh, and lived a state of suf- 
 fering, and offered himself a sacrifice to the justice 
 which thou hadst provoked, that thy miserable 
 soul might have a remedy. It is no less than mira- 
 cles of love and mercy that he hath shewed us: 
 and yet shall we slight them after all ? 
 
 Angels admire them, whom they less concern, 
 (1 Pet, i. 12); and shall redeemed sinners make 
 light of them ? What barbarous, yea, devilish, yea, 
 worse than devilish ingratitude is this? The devils 
 never had a Saviour offered them, but thou hast, 
 and dost thou yet make light of him? 
 
 2. Consider the work of man's salvation by Jesus 
 Christ, is the masterpiece of all the works of God, 
 wherein he would have his love and mercy magni- 
 fied. As the creation declareth his goodness and 
 power, so doth redemption his goodness and mercy; 
 he hath contrived the very frame of his worship so, 
 that it shall much consist in the magnifying of this 
 work; and after all this, will you make light of it ? 
 His name is wonderful, (Isa. ix. 6). He did the 
 work that none could do, (John, xv. 24) . Greater 
 love could none shew than his, (John, xv. 13). 
 How great was the evil and misery that he delivered 
 us from ? The good procured for us ? All are won- 
 ders, from his birth to his ascension, from our new 
 birth to our glorification, all are wonders of match- 
 less mercy : and yet do you make light of them ! 
 
 3. You make light of matters of greatest excel- 
 lency and moment in the world : you know not what 
 it is that you slight: had you well known, you 
 could not have done it. As Christ said to the wo- 
 man of Samaria, (John, iv. 10), hadst thou known 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 171 
 
 who it is that speakest to thee, thou wouldst have 
 asked of him the waters of life : had they known, 
 they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory, 
 (1 Cor. ii. 8). So had you known what Christ is, 
 you would not have made light of him ; had you 
 been one day in heaven, and but seen what they 
 possess, and seen also what miserable souls must 
 endure that are shut out, you would never sure 
 have made so light of Christ again. — Works, vol. 
 iv. p. 735. 
 
 Depend in the constant exercise of faith and 
 prayer upon the love of the Father, the grace of 
 the Son, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, 
 and seek to please God as your greatest pleasure, 
 and so live by the faith of the Son of God, that 
 you may say it is Christ that liveth in you, (Gal. ii. 
 19, 20). And then none can take you out of his 
 hands, nor separate you from the love of God, 
 (Rom. viii. 38, 39), nor take your chosen portion 
 from you. 
 
 In a word, that your choice may be unchange- 
 able, you must firmly trust to the unchangeable 
 promise of the unchangeable God, for the un- 
 changeable kingdom, as purchased by Christ, and 
 our title sealed by his Spirit : the world and the 
 flesh must be crucified, dead and buried to you by 
 the virtue of his cross believed in, and you must 
 be risen with him to a heavenly mind, and hope, 
 and conversation : every weight must be laid by, 
 and the sin which doth so easily beset us, (Heb. 
 xii. 1). And we must not look back to the forsaken 
 world behind us, but press forward for the prize 
 unto the mark, (Phil, iii.), looking still to Jesus, 
 the author and finisher of our faith, who, for the 
 joy that was set before him, endured the cross, and 
 despised the shame, and is set down at the right 
 i2 
 
172 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 hand of the throne of God: we must consider him 
 that endured such contradiction of sinners, lest 
 we be weary and faint: we must count nothing 
 dear to us, that we mav finish our course with joy; 
 and must know by faith, that our labour is not in 
 vain in the Lord, if we would be siedfast and im- 
 moveable, always abounding in the work of tlie 
 Lord, (1 Cor. xv. 58). We must serve God ac- 
 ceptably, with reverence, and godly fear, as for a 
 kingdom which cannot be moved; and all this in 
 dependence on the grace of Christ, (Heb. xii. 28). 
 Considerate men know by sense and experience, that 
 this world is vanity and vexation: if we know also 
 by a living constant faith, that a better world of 
 holy joy is the near and certain portion of the faith- 
 ful, it will fix the will in a resolved choice, and we 
 shall not be like profane Esau, that sold his 
 birth -right for one morsel; and the living eternal 
 God will be eternally our life and joy, to whom all 
 the blessed with Christ shall give glory and praise for 
 ever. Amen. — Works, vol. iv. p. 704. 
 
 Oh, if it might stand with the will of God that 
 i might chuse what effect this sermon should have 
 upon your hearts, verily it should be nothing 
 that should hurt you in the least : But this it 
 should be, it should now be to fasten upon your 
 souls, and pierce into your consciences, as an ar- 
 row that is drawn out of the quiver of God; it 
 should follow thee home to thy house, and bring 
 thee down on thy knees in secret, and make thee 
 there lament thy case, and cry out in bitterness of 
 thy spirit, Lord, I am a sinner that have neglected 
 thee; I have tasted more sweetness in the world 
 than in thy blood, and taken more pleasure in my 
 earthly labours and delights than I have done in 
 praying to thee, or meditating on thee; I have 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 173 
 
 complimented thee with a cold profession, but my 
 heart was never set upon thee : and here should it 
 make thee lie in tears and prayers, and follow 
 Christ with thy cries and complaints, till he should 
 take thee up from the dust, and assure thee of his 
 pardon, and change thy heart, and close it witli 
 his own. If thou were the dearest friend that I 
 have in the world, this is the success that I would 
 wish this sermon with thy soul, that it might be 
 as a voice still sounding in thine ears, that when 
 thou art next in thy sinful company or delight, thou 
 mightest as it were hear this voice in thy conscience, 
 is this thine obedience to him that bought thee? 
 That when thou art next forgetting Christ, and 
 neglecting his worship in secret, or in thy family, 
 or publick, thou mightest see this sentence as it 
 were written upon thy wall, Kiss the Son, lest he be 
 angry, and thou perish: That thou mightest see 
 it, as it were, written upon the tester of thy bed 
 as oft as thou liest down in an unregenerate state; 
 and that it may keep thy eyes waking, and thy 
 soul disquieted, and give thee no rest, till thou 
 hadst rest in Christ. In a word, if it were but as 
 much in my hands as it is in yours, what should 
 become of this sermon, I hope it would be the best 
 sermon to thee that ever thou heardest : it should 
 lay thee at the feet of Christ, and leave thee in his 
 arms : Oh, that I did but know what arguments 
 would persuade you, and what words would work 
 thy heart hereto : if I were sure it would prevail, 1 
 would come down from the pulpit, and go from 
 man to man upon my knees with this request and 
 advice in my text; O kiss the Son, lest he be angry, 
 and you perish. — Works, vol. iv. p. 727. 
 
174 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Chap. XI. — Prayer, 
 
 In holy, faithful, fervent prayer, a christian 
 hath very much of his converse with God ; for 
 prayer is our approach to God, aud calling to mind 
 his presence and his attributes, and exercising all 
 his graces in a holy motion towards him, and an 
 exciting all the powers of our souls to seek him, 
 attend him, and reverently to worship him : it is 
 our treating with him about the most important 
 businesses in the world, a begging of the greatest 
 mercies, and a deprecating his most grievous 
 judgments; and all this with the nearest familiarity 
 that man in flesh can have with God. So that the 
 soul that is most and best at prayer, is most and 
 test at walking with God, and hath most commu- 
 nion with him in the Spirit; and to withdraw from 
 prayer, is to withdraw from God. When we are 
 commanded to pray, it includeth a command to 
 repent, and believe, and fear the Lord, and desire 
 his grace. Forfait!, and repentance, and fear and 
 disi:c, are ^together in action in a serious prayer; 
 and, as it were, naturally each one takes his place, 
 and there is a holy order in the acting of these 
 graces in a christian's prayers, and a harmony which 
 he doth seldom himself observe. He that in medi- 
 tciion knoweth not hew to be regular and methodi- 
 cal, when he is studiously contriving and endea- 
 vouring it, yet in prayer before he is aware, hath 
 repentance, and faith, and fear, and desire, and 
 every grace fall in its proper place and order, and 
 constitute its part to the performance of the work. 
 The neir nature of a christian is more immediately 
 and vigorously operative in prayer, than in many 
 ether duties ; and therefore every infant in the 
 
PRAYER. 
 
 175 
 
 family of God can pray, (with groaning desires, and 
 ordered graces, if not with well-ordered words). 
 When Paul began to live to Christ, he began 
 (aright) to pray. Behold he prayeth, saith God to 
 Ananias, (Acts, ix. 11); and because they are sons, 
 God sends the Spirit of his Son into the hearts of 
 his elect, even the spirit of adoption, by which they 
 cry Abba, father, (Gal. iv. 6), as children naturally 
 cry to their parents for relief. And nature is more 
 regular in its works than art or human contrivance 
 is. Necessity teaches many a beggar to pray better 
 for relief to men, than many learned men (that feel 
 not their necessities) can pray to God. The Spirit 
 of God is a better methodist than we are. And 
 though I know that we are bound to use our ut- 
 most care and skill for the orderly actuating of 
 each holy affection in our prayers, and not pretend 
 the sufficiency of the Spirit for the patronage of our 
 negligence or sloth, (for the Spirit makes use of 
 our understandings for the actuating of our wills 
 and affections) ; yet withal it cannot be denied, but 
 that it was upon a special reason that the Spirit 
 that is promised to believers, is called a spirit oj 
 grace and supplication, (Zech. xii. 10). And that 
 it is given us to Jielp our infirmities, even the infir- 
 mities of our understanding, when we know not 
 what to pray for as we ought, (Rom. viii. 26.) And 
 that the Spirit itself is said to make intercession for 
 us, with groanings which cannot be uttered. — Works. 
 
 vol. iii. p. 710, 711. 
 
 Think not thrice or continued praying to be toe 
 much, or that importunity is in vain, (Luke, xviii. 1). 
 Christ spake a parable to this end, ihat men ought 
 always to pray, and not wa^r faint. Whether God 
 deliver us or not, prayer is not lost ; it is a good 
 posture for God to find us in \ we may get better if 
 
17o 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 we get hot what we ask. Obev and prav, and trust 
 God. 
 
 But what answer iloth the Lord give to Paul's 
 thrice praying? He said, My grace is sufficient for 
 thee, and my strength is manifested in weakness. 
 
 1. It was not a promise that the thorn sfwuld de- 
 part. 
 
 2. It seems to be rather a denial at the present, 
 and that Paul must not be yet cured of his thorn ; 
 for it is called a weakness that must continue for the 
 manifesting of God's strength : and what was the 
 sufficiency of grace and strength for, but to endure 
 the thorn ? 
 
 3. But this promised grace and strength is better 
 than that which was desired. — Works, vol. iv. p. 917. 
 
 Besides many more common objects of prayer 
 which many writers as well as Baxter tell us the 
 real christian may be sure of receiving, he adds, 
 these are very reasonably to be expected ; the use of 
 bibles, the benefit of a faithful minister, sacra- 
 ments, christian society, time of preparation for a 
 comfortable death, &c. — Woihs. vol. iii. p. 832. 
 
 Let great men have a double interest in your 
 prayers. They have a double need of grace and 
 help, and we have a double need that they should 
 be gracious. O think how hard it is to save their 
 faith, their innocency and their souls, and to save 
 the gospel and the public peace in the midst of so 
 many and great temptations. And therefore pray 
 hard, where praver is so needful. — Works, vol. iv. 
 p. 478. 
 
 Labour when you are about to pray, to stir up 
 in your souls the most lively and serious belief of 
 those unseen things, that your praxers have respect 
 
PRAYER. 
 
 177 
 
 to ; and to pray as if you saw them all the while : 
 even as if you saw God in his glory, and saw 
 heaven and hell, the glorified and the damned, and 
 Jesus Christ your mediator interceding for you in 
 the heavens. As you would pray if your eyes be- 
 held all these, so strive to pray while you believe 
 them ; and say to yourselves, Are they not as sure 
 as if I saw them ? Are they not made known by the 
 Son and Spirit of God ? 
 
 Labour for a constant acquaintance with your- 
 selves, your sins and manifold wants, and necessi- 
 ties, and also to take an actual special notice of your 
 case, when you go to prayer. — Works, vol. i. 
 p. 459. 
 
 Prayer is the breath of the new creation. The 
 spirit of adoption given to every child of God, is a 
 spirit of prayer, and teacheth them to cry, " Abba, 
 father," and helpeth their infirmities, when they 
 know not what to pray for as they ought. 
 
 The first workings of grace are in desires after 
 grace, provoking the soul to fervent prayer, by 
 which more grace is speedily obtained. Ask then, 
 and ye shall have, seek and ye shall find, knock, 
 and it shall be opened to you. {Luke, xi.9). — 
 Works, vol. i. 
 
 Little do we know how we wrong ourselves, by 
 shutting out of our prayers the praises of God, or 
 allowing them so narrow a room as we usually do, 
 while we are copious enough in our confessions and 
 petitions. Reader, 1 ent& at thee, remember this ; 
 let praises have a larger room in thy duties; keep 
 matter ready at hand to feed thy praise, as well as 
 matter for confession and petition. To this end, 
 study the excellencies and goodness of the LoYd, 
 as frequently as thy own wants and unworthiness; 
 i 5 
 
178 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 the mercies thou hast received, and those which are 
 promised, as often as the sins thou hast committed. 
 " Praise is comely for the upright." " Whoso 
 offereth praise, glorifieth God." M Praise ye the 
 Lord, for the Lord is good; sing praises unto 
 his name, for it is pleasant." (Psal. xxxiii. 1; 
 1.23; cxxxv. 3). " Let us offer the sacrifice of 
 praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our 
 lips, giving thanks to his name. (Heb. xi'ri. 15). 
 Had not David a most heavenly spirit, who was so 
 much in this most heavenly work? Doth it not 
 sometimes raise our hearts, when we only read the 
 song of Moses, and the Psalms of David ? How 
 much more would it raise and refresh us, to be 
 skilful and frequent in the work ourselves ? O the 
 madness of youth, that lay out their vigour of body 
 and mind upon vain delights and fleshly lusts, which 
 is so fit for the noblest work of man ! And O the 
 sinful folly of many of the saints, who drench their 
 spirits in continual sadness, and waste their days in 
 complaints and groans, and so make themselves, 
 both in body and mind, unfit for this sweet and 
 heavenly work ! Instead of joining with the people 
 of God in his praises, they are questioning their 
 worthiness, and studying their miseries; and so 
 rob God of his glory, and themselves of their con- 
 solation. But the greatest destroyer of our com- 
 fort in this duty, is our taking up with the tune 
 and melody, and suffering the heart to be idle, 
 which ought to perform the principal part of the 
 work, and use the melody to revive and exhilarate 
 itself.— Saints' Rest, psr263. 
 
 Desire first, and pray next; and remember that 
 desire is the soul of prayer. — Works, vol. iii. p. 651 . 
 
 The desire of increase of grace, and highes 
 
PRAYER. 
 
 179 
 
 measures, is an unspeakable mercy; for the desire 
 of perfection is the mark of sincerity, and so of sal- 
 vation. — Works, vol. iii. p. 833. 
 
 A desire of holiness is heart-prayer. — Wlrks, 
 vol. iii. p. 827. 
 
 An hypocrite that hath no other religion but delu- 
 sory and vain, may observe weaknesses of persons 
 that are of lower education and parts, and may loath, 
 their indiscretion, in conference and behaviour, and 
 their unhandsome expressions in prayer and other 
 duties, and shake the head at them, as silly, con- 
 temptible, self-conceited fellows; and his heart 
 may rise against their disorder, tautologies and affec- 
 tations : and it's like enough, that hereupon he will 
 jest at conceived prayer, or extemporate (as they 
 call it) and bless himself as safe in his parrot-like 
 devotions, because the same spirit teacheth not 
 fine words, and rhetorical language to all that it 
 teacheth to pray with unutterable siglis and groans, 
 (Rom. viii. 26, 27), though the searcher of hearts 
 (who is not delighted with compliments, and set 
 speeches) doth well understand the meaning of the 
 Spirit. — Works, vol. iv. p. 448. 
 
 Go to God in all affliction, but not with carnal 
 discouraged hearts. He maketh you thus feel the 
 need of his mercy, that you may with the prodigal 
 think of home, and cry for mercy, and abuse it no 
 more. Christ did not blame the blind and lame for 
 crying out, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on 
 us ; nor the Canaanite woman for begging for the 
 crumbs : is any afflicted, let him pray, and send 
 for the elders' prayers. The thorn in the flesh will 
 make us feel, and feeling will teach us to repent 
 and pray> and prayer Is the means of hope for the 
 
180 
 
 PUBLIC WORSHIP. 
 
 deliverance of body and soul ; grace maketh us not 
 stupid, yet there are some that think a man be- 
 haveth not himself like a believer if he cry and 
 pray that the thorn may depart ! What think they 
 of David, in Psal. vi. and xvii. and lxxxviii., and 
 many more? What think they of Christ that 
 prayed, that if possible the cup might pass by him ? 
 He did it to shew that even innocent nature is 
 averse to suffering, and death through grace makes 
 us submit to the will of God; (we continue men 
 when we are believers), we must mourn with them 
 that mourn, and yet not love others better than 
 ourselves; nor feel their thorns more sensibly than 
 our own. We must neither despise chastenings 
 nor faint. 
 
 But how doth Paul pray? Doth he make any 
 great matter of his thorns ? he besought the Lord 
 thrice, that it might depart. — Works, vol. iv. p. 916. 
 
 Chap. XII. — Public Worship. 
 
 Look into our congregations, and judge but by 
 their very looks, and carriage, and gestures, how 
 many even of those that we think the best, do so 
 much as seems to be earnest and serious in prayer 
 and praise, when the church is upon that work ! 
 Though it be the highest and noblest part of wor- 
 ship, and should be done with all the heart and 
 might, and with a participation of a kind of ange- 
 lical reverence, devotion, and spirituality; and if 
 it were so, we should see it by some of the sighs of 
 reverence and affection; yet, alas! when we think 
 the best of them should be striving with God, or 
 wrapt up in his praises, they do but hear us pray, 
 
PUBLIC WORSHIP. 
 
 181 
 
 as they hear us preach, and think they have done 
 well to give us the hearing. They sit on their 
 seats in prayer, or use some crooked leaning ges- 
 tuie, perhaps looking up and down about them ; 
 perhaps half asleep ; hut few of them with eyes 
 and hands and hearts lift up to heaven, do be- 
 have themselves as though they believed they had 
 not so nearly to do with God. I know reverent 
 gestures may easily be counterfeited, but that shews 
 that they are good, when hypocrites think them a 
 tit cover for hypocrisy, for they use not to borrow 
 credit from evil, but from some good to be a cover 
 to the evil; and it leaveth the neglects of the godly 
 more unexcusable, when they will not go so far 
 herein as hypocrites themselves, nor by their be- 
 haviour in a public ordinance, so much as seems to 
 be seriously employed with God. — Works, vol. ii. 
 p. 943. 
 
 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 
 knowledge, are ordinarily mixt, and good and bad 
 are strangely complicate, and twisted together in 
 the same affections and works. And the love that 
 begins in the spirit is apt to degenerate into carnal 
 love, and to have too much respect to riches, or 
 honour, or personage, or birth, or particular con- 
 cernments of our own, and so it is corrupted, as 
 wine that is turned 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. — Works, 
 vol. ii. p. 817. 
 
182 
 
 READING THE SCRIPTURES. 
 
 Chap. XIII. — Reading the Scriptures. 
 
 Ignorance is your disease, and knowledge must, 
 be your cure. I know the ignorant have many ex- 
 cuses, and are apt to think that the case is not so 
 bad with them as we make it to be ; and that there 
 is no such need of knowledge, but a man may be 
 saved without it. But this is because they want 
 that knowledge that should shew them I he misery 
 of their ignorance, and the Worth of knowledge. 
 Hath not the scriptures plainly told you, that " If 
 the gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, 
 whose minds the God of this world hath blinded, 
 lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who 
 is the image of God, should shine unto them:" 
 (2 Cor. iii. 4). I know that many that have much 
 Knowledge are ungodly ; but what of that ? Can 
 any man therefore, be godly, or be saved without 
 knowledge? You may have a bad servant, that yet 
 is skilful enough in his work, but yet you will not 
 mend the matter by taking one that hath no skill 
 at all. You may send a man on your errand that 
 knows the way, and yet will not go it, but loiter 
 and deceive you. But what of that? Will you 
 therefore think to mend the matter by sending one 
 that knows not a step of the way, nor will not 
 learn it? Though a man of knowledge may be a 
 servant of the devil, yet no man without know- 
 ledge (that hath the use of his reason) can be the 
 servant of God. A man may go to hell with know- 
 ledge ; but he certainly shall go to hell without it. 
 — Direc. to a Sound Conversion, p. 18. 
 
 Bethink you well, if God should but send a 
 book or letter to you, how reverently you would 
 
READING THE SCRIPTURES. 
 
 183 
 
 receive it ! How carefully you would peruse it, 
 and regard it beyond all the books in the world ! 
 and how rather should you do so, by that book 
 which is indited by the Holy Ghost, and recordeth 
 the doctrine of Christ himself, whose authority is 
 greater than all the Angels! — Works, vol. i. p. 453. 
 
 Remember that the scripture is the will and tes- 
 tament of your Lord, and the covenant of most 
 full and gracious promises, which all your com- 
 forts, and all your hopes of pardon and everlasting 
 life are built upon. Read therefore with love and 
 great delight. Value it a thousandfold more than 
 you would do the letters of your dearest friend, or 
 the deeds by which you hold your lands; or anything 
 else of low concernment. If the law were sweeter 
 to David than honey, and better than thousands 
 of gold and silver, and was his delight and medi- 
 tations all the day, Oh! what should the sweet 
 and precious gospel be to us? — tVorks, vol. i. 
 p. 453. 
 
 If you be not satisfied in the doctrine which the 
 minister delivers unto you, first search the scrip- 
 tures yourselves, and if that will not do, go to him 
 and desire him to shew you his grounds for it in 
 the word of God, and join with you in prayer for a 
 right understanding of it. Do you question whe- 
 ther there be so severe a judgment, and a heaven, 
 and a hell, as ministers tell you? Search the scrip- 
 tures, (Matt. xxv. and 2 Thes. i. 8, 9, 10 ; Joh. v. 
 29; Matt. 13). Do you question whether a man 
 may be saved without conversion, regeneration and 
 holiness? Open your bibles, and see what God 
 saith, (Joh. iii. 3, 6; Matt, xviii. 3; 2 Cor. v. 17 j 
 Roin. viii. 9 ; Heb. xii. 14). Do you think a man 
 may be saved without knowledge ? Let scripture 
 
184 
 
 MEDITATION AND CONSIDERATION. 
 
 judge, (2 Cor. iii. 4; Joh. xvii. 3; Hos. iv. 6). Do 
 you think a man may be saved that doth as most do, 
 and goeth in the common way of the world? Search 
 the scriptures and see, (Matt. vii. 13, and xx. 16, 
 and xxii. 14 ; Luke, xii. 32). Do you think an un- 
 humbled soul may be saved that never was contrite 
 and broken-hearted for sin ? Try by Isaiah, lvii. 15, 
 andlxvi.2; Psal. li. 17; Luke,iv. 18.; Matt, xi.28. 
 Do you think a man can be the servant of God, and 
 live a fleshly life and will keep his sin ? Try by 
 Rom. viii. 13; Joh. iii. 12; Eph. v. 5, 6; 1 John, 
 iii. 9, 10. Do you doubt whether it be necessary 
 to make so much ado about being saved, and be so 
 strict, and make religion our chiefest business ? 
 Try by Psal. i. 1, 2, 3; 1 Pet. iv. 18; Heb. xii. 
 14; Luke, x. 42; Luke, xtii. 24 ; Eph. v. 15, 16. 
 Do you think a man can be saved that is a world- 
 ling, whose heart is more on earth than in heaven? 
 Try by 1 Joh. ii. 15; Phil. iii. 19; Col. iii. 1; 
 Luke, xiv. 26, 33. Do you doubt whether you 
 should serve God with your families, and instruct 
 them, and pray with them ? Try by Jos. 24, 15 ; 
 Dcut. vi. 6, 7; Dan. vi. 10, 11 ; Exod. xx. 10. 
 — Works, vol. ii. p. 558. 
 
 Chap. XIV. — Meditation and Consideration. 
 
 Dwell on the believing forethoughts of the 
 everlasting glory which you possess. Think what 
 it is that others are enjoying while you are here ; 
 and what you must be, and possess, and do for 
 ever. Daily think of the certainty, perfection, and 
 perpetuity of your blessedness. What a life it will 
 be, to see the blessed God in his glory, and taste 
 
MEDITATION AND CONSIDERATION. 185 
 
 of the fullness of his love, and to see the glorified 
 Son of God, and with a perfected soul and body, 
 to be perfectly taken up in the love, and joy, and 
 praises of the Lord, among all his holy saints and 
 angels, in the heavenly Jerusalem. You must by 
 the exercise of faith and love, in holy meditation 
 and prayer, even dwell in the Spirit, and converse 
 in heaven, while your bodies are on earth, if you 
 would entertain the news of death as beseems a 
 christian. — Works, vol. iii. p. 404. 
 
 To this end, you must know in their several de- 
 grees, what subjects are in themselves most excel- 
 lent to be meditated on. As the first and highest 
 is the most blessed God himself, and the most 
 glorious person of our Redeemer, and the New 
 Jerusalem, or heaven of glory where he is revealed 
 to his saints ; and the blessed society which there 
 enjoyeth him, and the holy vision, love, and joy, 
 by which he is enjoyed; and mixt is the wonderful 
 work of man's redemption, and the covenant of 
 grace, and the sanctifying operations of the Holy 
 Ghost, and all the graces that make up God's 
 image on the soul. And then is the state and pri- 
 vileges of the church, which is the body of Christ, 
 for whom all this is done and prepared. And next 
 is, the work of the gospel by which this church is 
 gathered, edified, and saved ; and then the matter 
 of our own salvation, and our state of grace, and 
 way to life ; and then the salvation of others ; and 
 then the common public good, in temporal re- 
 spects ; and then our personal bodily welfare ; and 
 next the bodily welfare of our neighbours; and 
 lastly, those things that do but remotely tend to 
 these. This is the order of desirableness and 
 worth, which will tell you what should have esti- 
 mative precedency in your thoughts and prayers. — 
 Works, vol. i. p. 214. 
 
186 MEDITATION AND CONSIDERATION. 
 
 Be not too seldom in solitary meditation ; though 
 it be a duty which melancholy persons are disabled 
 to perform, in any set, and long, and orderly man- 
 ner; yet it is so needful to those who are able, 
 that the greatest works of faith are to be managed 
 by it. — Works, vol. iii. p. 553. 
 
 Baxter has with great propriety cautioned me- 
 lancholy tempers not to indulge in solitary medita- 
 tion, as they are unable to bear it; but recom- 
 mends their busying themselves in the more active 
 duties of life. — Works, vol. iii. p. 764. 
 
 O that these drowsie and those waking nights, 
 those loitered, lost, and empty hours, had been 
 spent in the humblest converse with Him, which 
 have been dreamed and doted away upon. — Works, 
 vol. iii. p. 763. 
 
 He wanteth neither work nor pleasure, that in 
 his solitude is taken up in the believing contem- 
 plations of eternal love, and of all his blessed attri- 
 butes and works. O then what happy and delight- 
 ful converse may a believer have with God alone ! 
 He is always present, and always at leisure to be 
 spoken with, and always willing of our access and 
 audience. He hath no interest cross to our feli- 
 city, which should move him to reject us (as 
 worldly great ones often have). He never misun- 
 derstandeth us, nor chargeth that upon us which 
 we were never guilty of. — Works, vol. iii. p. 754. 
 
 Many I have known that have been greatly 
 troubled, because they could not bring themselves 
 to that length or order of meditation, for which 
 they had neither ability nor time. — Works, vol. iv. 
 p. 833. 
 
MEDITATION AND CONSIDERATION. 187 
 
 Turn your cogitations often in soliloquies, me- 
 thodically and earnestly preaching to your own 
 hearts, as you would do on that subject to others 
 if it were to save their souls. As this will keep 
 you in order, from rambling and running out, and 
 will also find you continual matter (for method is a 
 wonderful help both to invention, memory, and 
 delight) ; so it will bring things sooner to your af- 
 fections. — Works, vol. i. p. 245. 
 
 Turn your meditations often into ejaculatory 
 prayers, and addresses unto God; for that will keep 
 you reverent, serious, and awake, and make all 
 the more powerful, because the more divine.— 
 Works, vol. i. p. 245. 
 
 Obey all that God revealeth to you in your me* 
 ditations, and turn them all into faithful practice, 
 and make not thinking the end of thinking. — 
 Works, vol. i. p. 246. 
 
 I value above all, things according to their use 
 and ends; and I find in the daily practice and ex- 
 perience of my soul, that the knowledge of God 
 and Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and the truth of 
 scripture, and the life to come, and of a holy life, 
 is of more use to me, than all the most curious spe- 
 culations. I know that every man must grow (as 
 trees do) downwards and upwards at once; and 
 that the roots increase as the bulk and branches 
 do. Being nearer death and another world, I am 
 the more regardful of those things which my ever- 
 lasting life or death depend on. Having most to 
 do with ignorant miserable people, I am command- 
 ed by my charity and reason, to treat with them 
 of that which their salvation lieth on; and not to 
 dispute with them of formalities and niceties, when 
 
188 MEDITATION AND CONSIDERATION. 
 
 the question is presently to be determined, whether 
 they shall dwell for ever in heaven or in hell. In a 
 word, my meditations must be upon the matters of 
 my practice and my interest; and as the love of God, 
 and the seeking of everlasting life is the matter of 
 my practice and my interest, so must it be of my 
 meditation. That is the best doctrine and study 
 which maketh men better, and tendeth to make 
 them happy, I abhor the folly of those unlearned 
 persons, who revile or despise learning because 
 they know not what it is; and I take not any piece 
 of true learning to be useless: and yet my soul ap- 
 proveth of the resolution of holy Paul, who deter- 
 mined to know nothing among his hearers, that is, 
 comparatively, to value and make ostentation of no 
 other wisdom, but the knowledge of a crucified 
 Christ; to know God in Christ is life eternal. As 
 the stock of the tree affordeth timber to build 
 houses and cities, when the small though higher 
 multifarious branches are but to make a crow's 
 nest or a blaze: so the knowledge of God and 
 of Jesus Christ, of heaven and holiness, doth build 
 up the soul to endless blessedness, and affordeth it 
 solid peace and comfort; when a multitude of 
 school niceties serve but for vain janglings, and 
 hurtful diversions and contentions: and yet I would 
 not dissuade my readers from the perusal of Aqui- 
 nas, Scotus, Ockam, Armiuiensis, Durandus, or 
 any such writer, for much good may be gotten 
 from them; but I would persuade him to study 
 and live upon the essential doctrines of Christianity 
 and godliness, incomparably above them all. And 
 that he may know that my testimony is somewhat 
 regardable, I presume to say that in this I as much 
 gainsay my natural inclination to subtil ity and ac- 
 curatencss in knowing, as he is like to do by his, 
 if he obey my counsel. And I think if he lived 
 
MEDITATION AND CONSIDERATION. 189 
 
 among infidels and enemies of Christ, he would 
 find that to make good the doctrine of faith, and of 
 life eternal, were not only his noblest and most 
 useful study, but also that which would require the 
 height of all his parts, and the utmost of his dili- 
 gence, to manage it skilfully to the satisfaction of 
 himself and others. I see that the Holy Ghost in 
 another manner is the witness of Christ, and his 
 agent in the world: the spirit in the prophets was 
 his first witness ; and the spirit by miracles was the 
 second; and the spirit by renovation, sanctification, 
 illumination, and consolation, assimilating the 
 soul to Christ and heaven, is the continued witness 
 to all true believers : and if any man have not the 
 spirit of Christ, the same is none of his, (Rom, 
 viii. 9).— Life, p. 128. 
 
 Urgent and oppressing business doth almost ne- 
 cessitate the thoughts. Therefore avoid as much 
 as you can such energies when you would be free 
 for meditation. Let your thoughts have as much 
 diverting matter as may be, at those times when- 
 you would have them entire, and free for God. — 
 Works, vol. i. p. 243. 
 
 Are we reasonable in this, or are we not ? Hath 
 the eternal God provided us such glory, and pro- 
 mised to take us up to dwell with himself, and is 
 not this worth thinking on? Should not the strong- 
 est desires of our hearts lie after it ? Do we believe 
 this, and yet forget and neglect it? If God will not 
 give us leave to approach this light, what means 
 all his earnest invitations? Why doth he so condemn 
 our earthly mindedness, and command us to set 
 our affections on things above ? 
 
 If God says love not the world, nor the things of 
 the world, we dote upon it. How freely, how fre- 
 
190 MEDITATION AND CONSIDERATION. 
 
 quently can we think of our pleasures, our friends, 
 our labours, our flesh, and its lusts, yea, our 
 wrongs and miseries, our fears and sufferings? But 
 where is the christian whose heart is on his rest? 
 I require thee, reader, as ever thou hopest for a 
 part in this glory, that thou presently take thy 
 heart to task, chide it for its wilful strangeness to 
 God, turn thy thoughts from the pursuit of vanitv, 
 bend thy soul to study eternity, busy it about the 
 life to come, habituate thyself to such contempla- 
 tions, and let not those thoughts be seldom and 
 curson-, but bathe thy soul in heaven's delights : 
 and if thy backward soul begin to flag, and thy 
 thoughts to scatter, call them back, hold them to 
 their w ork, bear not with their laziness, nor con- 
 nive at one neglect. And when thou hast, in obe- 
 dience to God, tried this work, got acquainted 
 with it, and kept a guard on thy thoughts till they 
 are accustomed to obey, thcu wilt then find thyself 
 in the suburbs of heaven, and that there is indeed 
 a sweetness in the work and way of God, and that 
 the life of Christianity is a life of jov. — Saints' 
 Best, p. 216,217,218. 
 
 When others are ready, like Baal's priests, to 
 cut themselves because their sacrifice will not burn ; 
 thou mayest breathe the spirit of Elijah, and in the 
 chariot of contemplation soar aloft, till thy soul 
 and sacrifice gloriously flame, though the flesh and 
 the world should cast upon them all the water of 
 their orposing enmity. Say Dot, how can mortal 
 ascend to heaven? Faith hath wings, and medita- 
 tion is its chariot. — Saints' Rest, p. 228. 
 
 Consideration is a duty that you may perform if 
 you will. You cannot say that it is wholly out of 
 ycur power; so that you are left inexcusable if you 
 
MEDITATION AND CONSIDERATION. 191 
 
 will not be persuaded to it. You say you cannot 
 convert yourselves, but cannot you set yourselves to 
 consider your ways, and bethink you of those 
 truths that must be the instruments of your con- 
 version? Your thoughts are partly at the command 
 of your will ; you can turn them up and down from 
 one thing to another. Even an unsanctified minis- 
 ter, that has no saving relish for spiritual things, 
 can think of them, and spend most of his time in 
 thinking on them, that he may preach them to 
 others: and why cannot you then turn your 
 thoughts to them for yourselves ? You can think of 
 house, and land, and friends, and trading, and of 
 any thing that aileth you, or any thing that you 
 want, or any thing that you love or think would do 
 you good ; and why cannot you think of your sin, 
 and danger of God, and of his word and works, 
 and the state of your souls, and everlasting life ? 
 Are you not able to go sometimes by yourselves, 
 and consider of these matters ? Are you not able 
 when you are alone in your beds, or as you travel 
 in the way, or at your labour, to bethink how 
 things stand with your souls? Why are you not 
 able? What is it that could hinder you, if you 
 were but willing? — Works, vol. i. p. 563. 
 
 It is not improper to illustrate a little the man- 
 ner in which we have described this duty of medi- 
 tation, or the considering and contemplating of 
 spiritual things. It is confessed to be a duty by all, 
 but practically denied by most. Many that make 
 conscience of other duties, easily neglect this ; 
 they are troubled if they omit a sermon, a fast, or a 
 prayer in public or private; yet were never troubled 
 that they have omitted meditation perhaps all their 
 lifetime to this very day; though it be that duty 
 by which all other duties are improved, and by 
 
192 MEDITATION AND CONSIDERATION. 
 
 which the soul digesteth truths for its nourishment 
 and comfort. It was God's command to Joshua, 
 u This book of the law shall not depart out of thy 
 mouth, but thou shall meditate therein day and 
 night, that thou mayest observe to do according to 
 all that is written therein, (Josh. i. 8). As diges- 
 tion turns food into chyle, arid blood, for vigorous 
 health ; so meditation turns the truths received and 
 remembered into warm affection, firm resolution, 
 and holy conversation. 
 
 This meditation is the acting of all the powers 
 of the soul. It is the work of the living, and not 
 of the dead. It is a work of all others the most spi- 
 rited and sublime, and therefore not to be well per- 
 formed by a heart that is merely carnal and earthly. 
 They must necessarily have some relation to heaven, 
 before they can familiarly converse there. I suppose 
 them to be such as have a title to rest, when I per- 
 suade them to rejoice in the meditations of rest. 
 And supposing thee to be a christian, I am now 
 exhorting thee to be an active christian. And it is 
 the work of the soul I am setting thee to, for bodily 
 exercise doth here profit but little. And it must 
 have all the powers of the soul, to distinguisli it 
 from the common meditations of students ; for the 
 understanding is not the whole soul, and therefore 
 cannot do the whole work. 
 
 It is the mistake of christians, to think that medi- 
 tation is only the work of the understanding and 
 memory ; when every school-boy can do this, or 
 persons that hate the things which they think on. 
 So that you see there is more to be done, than 
 barely to remember and think of heaven; as some 
 labours not only stir a hand, a foot, but exercise 
 the whole body, so doth meditation the whole soul. 
 As the affections of sinners are set on the world, 
 are turned to idols and fallen from God, as well as 
 
MEDITATION AND CONSIDERATION. 193 
 
 their understandings; so must their affections be re- 
 duced to God, as well as the understanding; and as 
 their whole soul was filled with sin before, so the 
 whole must be filled with God now. See David's 
 description of the blessed man, " His delight is in 
 the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he medi- 
 tate day and night." Psal. i. 2. 
 
 Now, though I would persuade you to that which 
 is mixed with your common labours, and also that 
 which special occasions direct you to; yet I would 
 have you likewise make it a constant standing duty, 
 as you do by hearing, praying, and reading the 
 scriptures; and no more intermix other matters 
 with it, than you would with prayer or other stated 
 solemnities. 
 
 The Lord's day is exceeding seasonable for this 
 exercise. When should we more seasonably con- 
 template on rest, than on that day of rest which 
 typifies it to us ? It being a day appropriated to 
 spiritual duties, methinks, we should never exclude 
 this duty, which is so eminently spiritual. I verily 
 think this is the chief work of a christian Sabbath, 
 and most agreeable to the design of its positive 
 institution. What fitter time to converse with our 
 Lord, than on the Lord's day ? What fitter day to 
 ascend to heaven, than on that which he arose from 
 earth, and fully triumphed over death and hell? 
 The fittest temper for a true christian, is, like John, 
 to be in the Spirit on the Lord's day. (Rev. i. 10). 
 x\nd what can bring us to joy in the Spirit, but the 
 spiritual beholding of our approaching glory? Take 
 notice of this, you that spend the Lord's day only 
 in public worship; your allowing no time to private 
 duty, and therefore neglecting this spiritual duty of 
 meditation, is very hurtful to your souls. You 
 also that have time on the Lord's day for idleness, 
 and vain discourse, were you but acquainted with 
 K 
 
194 
 
 MEDITATION AND CONSIDERATION. 
 
 this duty of contemplation, you would need no other 
 pastime; you would think the longest day short 
 enough, and be sorry that the night hath shortened 
 your pleasure. Christians, let heaven have more 
 share in your sabbaths, where you must shortly 
 keep your everlasting sabbath. — Saints' Rest, p. 269, 
 &c. 
 
 Be sure to fix with a serious faith upon the invisi- 
 ble glory as your portion; and then look at all 
 things in this world, as good or bad, as they respect 
 your end : and judge of them as they help or hinder 
 you in the main. — Works, vol. iii. p. 440. 
 
 Think much and seriously on the great and 
 certain things which first converted and resolved 
 your wills : they are the same, and as good now as 
 they were then, and you should know them better. 
 A man that loveth and chuseth rationally, knoweth 
 why he doth it t and the fixing and renewing of your 
 knowledge and belief, is it that must fix your love 
 and choice. — Works, vol. iv. p. 704. 
 
 Use often to set yourself purposely at seasonable 
 hours (as you are able) to meditate on the heavenly 
 glory, and though we must form no image in our 
 minds of God himself, but think of him as an infi- 
 nite Spirit, infinitely powerful, wise and good; yet 
 we may, and must think by the help of imagina- 
 tion, of the glorified humane nature of Christ, and the 
 glorious state of heaven itself. And as int uitively we 
 here know our own souls in act, our vitality, under- 
 standing and wills; so by knowing ourselves, we may 
 know in part what God, and Angels, and holy soul6 
 are. And as our bodies shall be glorified, so we 
 may have answerable apprehensions of them ; and 
 where we may not think of imagined glories, (as of 
 
-MEDITATION AND CONSIDERATION. 
 
 195 
 
 the light of the sun, or shining bodies) as if the 
 glory of spirits were just the same, yet we may 
 think of them as resemblances or similitudes; 
 (1 Cor. iii. 11, 12; 2 Cor. iii. 8). As the New 
 Jerusalem is described, (Rev. xxi. and xxii.) And 
 from the sense and thoughts of all the delights of 
 man on earth, we may aggravate the unconceivable 
 joys of heaven. Set therefore oft before your eyes, 
 the certainty, the nearness, the greatness of that 
 glory; think how many millions of holy souls are 
 there in joy, while we are here in fears and cares; 
 think of the excellent servants of God who have 
 passed thither through a world of trials, and 
 were lately compassed with such infirmities as 
 ours, and passed through death, as we must do; 
 remember that we go not an untrodden path, but 
 are followers of all the spirits of the just; think how 
 much better it is with them than with us; how they 
 are freed from all our sins and sufferings, doubts 
 and fears. O think what it is for a perfected holy 
 soul, to see the glorified Redeemer, and all the holy 
 company of saints and angels ; yea, to see the glory 
 of God himself, and to have the knowledge of all 
 his glorious works; to feel his love poured out unto 
 us, and to be wrapt up in loving and praising him 
 for ever, in the most transcendant joy and pleasure 
 of the soul. Think of your holy acquaintance that 
 are gone before you, and frequently fetch as it were 
 a walk in the streets of the city of God : suppose 
 you saw their glory, and heard their concordant 
 praises of their Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. 
 Let these kind of thoughts be so oft and serious, 
 that they may be your daily work and pleasure, and 
 the daily conversation of your minds with God 
 above. — Works, vol. iv. p. 226. 
 
 See that your meditations and belief be practical, 
 k2 
 
196 
 
 MEDITATION AND CONSIDERATION. 
 
 and brought close to the heart : and take not bare 
 flunking of God and heaven as enough, but know- 
 that holy thoughts fall short of their use and end, 
 if they come not to the heart and life. 
 
 It is not the speculative disputing christian that 
 hath the fixed will and choice, unless he be also a 
 hearty practising experienced christian : he that hath 
 a heavenly heart and conversation, and hath felt the 
 power and sweetness of things spiritual, will hold 
 them fast, when bare hearsay and opinion will let 
 them go. — Works, vol. iv. p. 704. 
 
 If ever thou wouldst be saved, oppress not reason 
 by sensuality or diversions, but sometimes (PsaL 
 iv. 4; Hag. i. 5; Deut. xxxii. 7> 29), retire Jot 
 sober consideration. Distracted and sleepy reason 
 is unuseful; God and conscience have a great deal 
 to say to thee, which in a crowd of company and 
 business thou art not fit to hear. It is a (Isa. i. 3), 
 doleful case, that a man who hath a God, a Ovist, 
 a soul, a heaven, a hell to think of, will allow them 
 none but running thoughts, and not once in a week 
 bestow one hour in manlike serious (Job. xxxiv. 27* 
 Jer. xxiii. 20; PsaL cix. 59) consideration of 
 them! Sure thou hast no greater things to mind! 
 Resolve then sometimes to spend half an Lour in the 
 deepest thoughts of thy everlasting state. — Works, 
 vol. iv. p. 198. 
 
 Let vour first and chief labour be even- day about 
 yourheart; stirupyour soul when you find it sluggish. 
 Learn how to preach to it in your meditations, and 
 {PsaL xlii. 5, 11; and xliii. 5) to chide it, and 
 urge it to it's work. — Works, vol. iv. p. 192. 
 
 In thy meditations, in all the incentives of love, 
 preach them over earnestly to thy heart, and expos- 
 tulate and plead with it by way of soliloquy, till thou 
 
MEDITATION AND CONSIDERATION. 197 
 
 feel the fire begin to burn. There is more in this 
 than most christians are aware of, or use to prac- 
 tise. It is a great part of a christian's skill and duty 
 to be a good preacher to himself. — Works, vol. i. 
 p. 125. 
 
 Is not that man actually mad already, who hath 
 a God to serve, and a soul to save, and a heaven to 
 get, and a hell to escape, and a death to prepare 
 for, and spends his life in worldly (Luke, xii. 20; 
 Psal. xiv. 1; andxcii.6; Jer. xvii. 11 ; Prov. xiv. 
 9; EccL v. 1, 4; Luke, xxiv. 25) fooleries that 
 all perish in the using, and leaveth all this work 
 undone? Is he not mad, and worse than mad, that 
 setteth more by these trifles than by his God ? 
 But when men have reason for trifles, and none 
 for their salvation, and are wise in nothing but 
 unprofitable vanities, and cunning to cheat 'them- 
 selves out of all their hopes of heaven, and go to 
 hell with ease and honour ; God bless us from such 
 wit as this! — Works, vol. iv. p. 148. 
 
 If you would not have the work of conversion 
 miscarry, my advice is this : 
 
 See that ye be much in the serious consideration 
 of the truths which you understand between God 
 and you in secret. 
 
 The greatest matters in the world will not work 
 much upon him that will not think upon them. 
 Consideration opens the ear that was stopt, and the 
 heart that was shut up; it sets the powers of the 
 soul a-work, and awakens it from the sleep of in- 
 cogitancy and security. The thoughts are the first 
 actings of the soul, and set a-work all the rest. 
 Thinking on matters that must make us wise, and 
 do the work of God on the heart, is that which 
 lieth on us to do in order to our conversion. Bv 
 consideration a sinner makes use of the truth, which 
 
198 MEDITATION AND CONSIDERATION . 
 
 before lay by, and therefore could do nothing, lis 
 consideration he takes in the medicines to his soul, 
 which before stood by and could do no work. By 
 consideration a man makes use of his reason, which 
 before was laid asleep, and therefore could not do 
 its work. When the master's from home, the 
 scholars will be at play. When the coachman is 
 asleep, the horses may miss the way, and possibly 
 break his neck and their own. If the ploughman 
 goes away, the oxen will stand still, or make but 
 bad unhandsome work. So when reason is laid 
 asleep, and out of the way, what may not the ap- 
 petites do ? And what may not the passions do r 
 And what may not temptations do with the soul ? 
 A wise man, when he is asleep, has as little use of 
 his reason as a fool. A learned man, when he is 
 asleep, cannot dispute with an unlearned man that 
 is awake. A stroDg man that is very skilful at his 
 weapons, is scarce able when asleep to deal with 
 the weakest child that is awake. Why all the 
 powers of your soul are as it were asleep, till con- 
 sideration awake them and set them to work ; and 
 what are you the better for being man and having 
 reason, if you have not the use of your reason when 
 you need it? As men are inconsiderate because 
 they are wicked, so they are the more wicked be- 
 cause they are inconsiderate. The keenest sword, 
 the greatest cannon, will do no execution against 
 an enemy, while they lie by and are not used. 
 There is a mighty power in the word of God, and 
 the example of Christ to pull down strongholds, 
 and conquer the strongest lusts and corruptions. 
 But thev will not do this while they are forgotten 
 and neglected. Will heaven entice the man that 
 thinks not of it? Will hell deter the man that 
 thinks not of it? Why is it that all the reasoning 
 in the world will do no more good on a man that 
 is oca/, than if you said nothing I But because the 
 
REPENTANCE. 
 
 199 
 
 passage to his thoughts and understanding is blockt 
 up. And if you have eyes and see not, and ears 
 and hear not, and wilfully cast it out of your 
 thoughts, what good can any thing do you that ^ 
 spoken? — Works, vol. ii. p. 559, 567. 
 
 Chap. XV. — Repentance. 
 
 Sect. 1. — Necessity of Repentance. 
 
 Suppose you met a man riding post towards 
 York, and thinketh verily he is in the way to Lon- 
 don, and tells you, I ride for life, and must be at 
 London at night; you tell him that he must turn 
 back again then, for he is going the quite contrary 
 way, and the further he goeth, the further he hath 
 to go back again : he answereth you, alas, 1 hope I 
 have not lost all this time and travel; I hope I may 
 come this way to London. Will not you tell him 
 that his hopes will deceive him ; there is no hope 
 of coming to London that way, but he must needs 
 turn back? And if he answer you, you would drive 
 me to despair ; I will hope well and go on. What 
 would you say to this man? Would you not take 
 him for a fool ? And tell him, if you will not be- 
 lieve me, ask somebody else, and know better be- 
 fore you go on any further. 
 
 There is nothing more hindereth men from re- 
 pentance and being saved, than hoping to be saved 
 without true repentance, for who will ever turn to 
 God, that still hopeth to be saved in the worldly 
 ungodly way that he is in? Who will turn back 
 again, that hopeth he is right and safe already? — 
 (Jam. in. 40; Ezek. xxxiii. 9, 11, 49; and xviii. 
 21, 30, 32 ; and xiv. 6).— Works, vol. iv. p. 150, 
 
200 
 
 HUMILIATION, 
 
 Sect. 2. — Humiliation. 
 
 I had doubts, because my grief and humiliation 
 was no greater, and because I could weep no more 
 for this. 
 
 But I understood at last that God breaketh not 
 all men's hearts alike, and that the gradual pro- 
 ceedings of his grace might be one cause, and my 
 nature not apt to weep for other things, another ; 
 and that the change of our heart from sin to God, 
 is true repentance, and a loathing of ourselves is 
 true humiliation! And that he that had rather 
 leave his sin, than have leave to keep it, and had 
 rather the most holy, than have leave to be un- 
 holy, or less holy, is neither without true repent- 
 ance, nor the love of God. — Life, p. 7- 
 
 One use of humiliation, is to fit the soul for its 
 approach to God himself, from whom it had re- 
 volted. As it beseems not any creature to approach 
 the God of heaven, but in reverential humility, so 
 it beseems not any sinner to approach him but in 
 contrite humility: who can come out of such wick- 
 edness and misery, and not bring along with him 
 the sense of it on his heart ? It beseemeth not 
 a prodigal to meet his father as confidently and 
 boldly, as if he had never departed from him; but 
 to say, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and 
 before thee, and am no more worthy to be called 
 thy son, (Luke, xv. 18). It is not ingenuous for a 
 guilty soul, or one that is snatcht as a brand out of 
 the fire, to look towards God with a brazen face, 
 but with shame and sorrow to hang down his head, 
 and smite upon his breast and say, God be merci- 
 ful to me, a miserable sinner. For God resisteth 
 the proud, but giveth grace to the humble, '1 P<K 
 
PROOFS OF REPENTANCE. 
 
 201 
 
 v. 5 ; Jam. iv. 6). Though the Lord be high, yet 
 he hath regard unto the lowly ; but the proud he 
 knoweth afar off, (Psal. cxxxviii. 6). For thus 
 saith the high and holy one that inhabiteth eter- 
 nity, whose name is holy, and I dwell in the high 
 and holy place ; with him also that is of an hum- 
 ble and contrite spirit, to revive the spirit of the 
 humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite 
 ones, (tea. lvii. 15). To this man will I look, 
 even to him that is of a poor and contrite spirit, 
 and trembleth at my word, (tea. lxvi. 2). The 
 Lord is nigh to them that are of a broken heart, and 
 saveth such as be of a contrite spirit, (Psal. xxxiv. 
 18). The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit : a 
 broken and a contrite heart, O God thou wilt not 
 despise, (Psal. li. 1J). There is no turning to God, 
 unless we loath ourselves for all our abomination:, 
 (Ezek. xvi. 63). — Works, vol. ii. p. 6/2. 
 
 Sect. 3. — Proofs of Repentance. 
 
 Being in expectation of death, by a violent 
 cough, with spitting of blood, &c. of two years 
 continuance, supposed to be a deep degree of a 
 consumption, I was yet more awakened to be se- 
 rious and solicitous about my soul's everlasting 
 state: and I came so short of that sense and se- 
 riousness, which a matter of such infinite weight 
 required, that I was in many years doubt of my 
 sincerity, and thought I had no spiritual life at all. 
 I wondered at the senseless hardness of my heart, 
 that could think and talk of sin, and hell, and 
 Christ and Grace, of God and heaven, with no 
 more feeling : 1 cried out from day to day to God 
 for grace against the senseless deadness; I called 
 myself the most hard-hearted sinner, that could feel 
 nothing of all that I knew and talked of \ 1 was not 
 
PROOFS OF ETFENTAXCF. 
 
 then sensible of the incomparable excellency of 
 holy love and tUlLrht in God. nor much employed 
 in thanksgiving and praise. But all my groans were 
 for more contrition and a broken heart, and I 
 P raved most for tears and tenderness. — Life and 
 Time, p. 5. 
 
 It is true, that if you truly repent, you are for- 
 given ; but it is as true, that true repentance is the 
 first conversion of the soul from sin to God, and 
 leave: h not any man in the power jxf sin. It is 
 not for a man, when he hath had all the pleasure 
 that sin will yield him, to wish then he had not 
 committed it (which he may do then at an easy 
 rate), and yet to keep the rest that are still plea- 
 sant and profitable to his flesh. If thou have true 
 repentance, it hath so far turned thy heart from 
 sin, that thou wouldst not commit it, if "it were to do 
 again, tho' thou hast all the same temptations; 
 and it hath so for turned thy heart to God and ho- 
 liness, that thou wouldst live a holy life, if it were 
 all to do again, though thou hadst all the same 
 temptations as afore against it. because thou hast 
 not the same heart. This is the nature of true re- 
 pentance : such a repentance indeed is never too 
 late to save; but I am sure it never comes too soon. 
 — Works, vol. L p. 6, /• 
 
 Repentance hath its anger, its hatred, and its 
 revenge; I am truly angry with my heart that hath 
 so oft and foolishly offended thee; methmks I hate 
 that heart that is so cold and backward in thy love, 
 and almost grudge it a dwelling in my breast. — 
 Works, vol. iiL p. JtiS. 
 
 They follow much the temperature of the body , 
 and some have much grief and many tears, thar 
 
MUST BE PARTICULAR. 
 
 203 
 
 have little or no grace, and some want them that 
 have much grace. The tcork of repentance co/t- 
 sisteth in loathing and falling out with ourselves, 
 for our sins, and in forsaking them with abhorrence, 
 and turning unto God.-— Works, vol. i. p. 163. 
 
 And hereupon they take more pains with them- 
 selves to affect their hearts with sorrow for sin, and 
 to wring out tears, than they do for many greater 
 duties; but when God calleth them to love him, 
 and to praise him, and to be thankful for his mer- 
 cies, or to love every enemy, or forgive a wrong; 
 when he calleth them to mortify their earthly 
 mindedness, their sensuality, their pride, their 
 passion, or their disobedience, they yield but little 
 to his call, and shew him much greater hardness 
 of heart, and yet little complain of this, or take 
 notice it. — Works, vol. i. p. 163. 
 
 Sect. 4. — Must be Particular. 
 
 If you fall into any sin, rise sp^?dily to sincere 
 repentance ; and take heed both of a delay, and 
 of a palliate cure, (Luke, xiii. 3, 5; and xxii. 32. 
 
 Take heed of trusting to a general repentance, 
 or a converted state, instead of a particular repent- 
 ance, and conversion from any known sin, especi- 
 ally which is more than the ordinary unavoidable 
 infirmities of a saint. For it is not general repent- 
 ance indeed which reacheth not to every known 
 particular. If temptation have east you down, 
 take heed of lying there, but speedily get up again : 
 what the apostle saith of wrath, ( Eph. iv. 26), the 
 same 1 may say of other falls ; let not the sun go 
 down upon them : but go out with Peter and weep 
 with him, if you have sinned with him. If your 
 bones be out of joint, or broken, get them set pre- 
 
204 
 
 MUST BE PARTICULAR, 
 
 sently, before they settle in their dislocation ; and 
 let the cure be thorough, and spare not for a little 
 pain at first: let as open confession as the case 
 requireth, and as full restitution, signify the since- 
 rity of your repentance: for a gentle handling of 
 yourselves may undo you; and palliation is the hy- 
 pocrite's cure. O take heed, lest you presume to 
 sleep one night in your unrepented sin, and take 
 heed, lest delay encourage the tempter to offer you 
 the bait again and again, and to say, why not once 
 more? why may you not be as well pardoned for 
 twice as for once; and for thrice as for twice, &c. ? 
 It's dangerous playing or sleeping at the brink of 
 hell. Away from the temptation and occasion of 
 your sin; stand not disputing, but resolve and be- 
 gone ; and sin no more, lest a worse thing come 
 upon you, (John, v. 14). Stick not, man, at the 
 shame, or loss, or sufferings which confessions, 
 restitution or reformation may bring; but remember 
 that you can never escape damnation at too dear a 
 rate. This is Christ's meaning when he speaks of 
 cutting off a right hand, or plucking out a right 
 eye, if it offend; that is, ensnare and tempt you to 
 sin, (Matt. v. 29, SO). Not that you should do 
 so indeed, for you have an easier way to avoid the 
 *in; but that, this is far the lesser of the two evils, 
 to lose a hand or eye, than lose the soul, and there- 
 fore to be chosen if there were no other remedy. 
 If the thief had no other way to forbear stealing 
 than to cut off his hands; or the fornicator to cure 
 his lust, than to put out his eyes, it were a cheap 
 remedy. A cheap and easy superficial repentance 
 may skin over the sore, and deceive the hypocrite; 
 but he that would be sure of pardon, and free from 
 fear, must go to the bottom. — Works, vol. ii. 
 p,96L 
 
CONFESSION. 
 
 205 
 
 Sect. 5. — Confession. 
 
 Humiliation consisteth expressively in the out- 
 Avord action, when opportunity is offered: and it is 
 not true in the heart, if it refuse to appear without, 
 when God require it in your ordinary course. The 
 outward acts of humiliation are these: 1. a volun- 
 tary confession of sin to God and to man, when God 
 requireth it; and that is, when it is necessary to 
 his honour, to the healing of them that we have 
 endangered, and satisfying the offended; at least 
 in the hearing of men, in such cases as these to 
 confess them openly to God; an unhumbled soul 
 will refuse this for the shame; but the humble will 
 freely take shame to themselves, and warn their 
 brethren, and justify God, and give him the glory, 
 (1 John, i. 9). If we confess our sins, he is faith- 
 ful and just to forgive us our sins. Read Mark, 
 iii. 6; Levit. v. 5; and xvi. 21, and xxvi. 40; 
 Numb. v. 6, 7; James, v. 16. " Confess your 
 faults one to another, and pray one for another, 
 that ye may be healed," (Prov. xxviii. 13). " He 
 that hideth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso 
 confesseth and forsaketh them, shall have mercy 
 Not that any man is to confess his secret sins to 
 others, except in cases that he cannot otherwise 
 find relief : nor that a man is to publish those 
 offences of his own, by which he may further dis- 
 honour God and hinder the gospel: but when the 
 sin is open already, and especially when the offence 
 of others, the hardening of the wicked, the satis- 
 faction of the church concerning our repentance, 
 do require our confession and open lamentation ; 
 the humble soul both must and will submit to it; 
 but the rotten hearted, unhumbled hypocrite will 
 
208 
 
 SORROW FOR SIN. 
 
 A mistake to be carefully avoided, is, the plac- 
 ing of your humiliation, either only, or principally, 
 in the passionate part, or in the outward expres- 
 sion of those passions. I mean, either in pinching 
 grief, and in sorrow of heart, or else in tears. But 
 you must remember that the life of it is, in the 
 judgment and the will. It is not the measure of 
 passionate sorrow and anguish, that will best shew 
 the measure of your sincere humiliation; much 
 less is it your tears, or your outward expressions. 
 But it is your low esteem of yourselves, and con- 
 tented ness to be vile in the eyes of others; and 
 your displaeency with yourselves, and willingness 
 to mourn and weep for sin, as much as God would 
 have you, with the rest of the acts of the judgment 
 and will. 
 
 Two great dangers are here before you to be 
 avoided. First, some there be that have terrible 
 pangs of sorrow, and are ready to tear their own 
 hair, yea, to make away with themselves as Judas, 
 in the horror of their consciences; and these may 
 seem to have true godly sorrow, and yet have none. 
 And some can weep abundantly at a sermon, or in 
 a praver, or in mentioning their sin to others, and 
 therefore think they are truly humbled, and yet it 
 may be nothing so. For if at the same time their 
 hearts are in love with sin, or had rather keep it 
 than let it go, or have not an habitual hatred to it, 
 and a predominant superlative love to God, their 
 humiliation is no saving work. That which is in 
 the passions and tears, may be even forced against 
 your wills; and it signifies scarce so much as a 
 common grace, where you are not willing of it. 
 Many a one can weep through a passionate, wo- 
 manish tender nature, and yet not only remain un- 
 humbled, but proud in a high degree. How many 
 such do we ordinarily see; especially women that 
 
 M 
 
SORROW FOR SIN. 
 
 209 
 
 can weep more at a duty or conference, than some 
 that are truly broken hearted could do in ail their 
 lives ) and yet so far from being vile in their own 
 eyes, and willing to be so in the eves of others, 
 that they will hate and reproach and rail at those 
 that charge them with the faults that they seemed 
 to lament, or at least that charge them with dis- 
 graceful sins ; and they will excuse and mince their 
 sins, and make a small matter of them, and love 
 none so well as those that have high thoughts of 
 them. So that pride doth ordinarily reign in their 
 hearts, and break out in their words and lives, and 
 make them hate the faithfullest reprovers, and live 
 in contention with any that dishonour them, for all 
 the tears that come from their eyes. Judge not 
 therefore by passions, or tears alone, but by the 
 judgment and the will as aforesaid. 
 
 Another sort there are, much better and happier 
 than the former, that yet to their great trouble are 
 mistaken in this point; and that is, they think 
 they have no true humiliation, because they find 
 not such pangs of sorrow, and freedom of tears, as 
 others have, whereas their hearts are contrite, even 
 when they cannot weep a tear. Tell me but this- 
 are you vile in your own eyes, because you are 
 guilty of sin, and that against the Lord whom you 
 dearly love? Do you loath your sins, because of 
 your abominations, and could you heartily wish, 
 that you had been suffering when you were sin- 
 ning? And if it were to do again, would you choose 
 to suffer rather than sin ; have you a desire to 
 grieve, when you cannot passionately grieve, and 
 a desire to weep, when you cannot weep ? Can 
 you quietly bear it when you are vilified by others, 
 because you know yourselves to be so vile ? And 
 are you thankful to a plain reprover, though he 
 tell you of the most disgraceful sin ? .Do you think 
 
210 
 
 •SORROW FOR SIN. 
 
 meanly of your own sayings and doings, and think 
 better of others, where there is any ground, than 
 of yourself? Do you justify God's afflictions, and 
 men's true rebukes, and think yourselves unworthy 
 of the communion of saints, or to see their faces, 
 and unworthy to live on the face of the earth ? Yea, 
 would you justify if he should condemn you? This 
 is the state of an humbled soul. Find but this, 
 and you need not doubt of God's acceptance, 
 though you were unable to shed a tear. There is 
 more humiliation in a base esteem of ourselves, 
 than in a thousand tears; and more in a will, or 
 desire to weep for sin, than in tears that come 
 through force of terror, or moisture of the brain, 
 ©r passionate tenderness of nature : if the will be 
 right you need not fear. It is he that most hateth 
 sin, and is hardliest drawn to it, that is trueliest 
 humbled for it. He that will lament it to day, and 
 commit it to morrow, is far less humbled and peni- 
 tent, than he that would not be drawn to it with 
 the hopes of all the pleasure in the world, nor 
 commit it, if it were to save hislife. — Works, vol. ii. 
 p. 572. 
 
 How often have I heard a common drunkard, 
 with tears cry out against himself for his sin, and 
 yet go on in it? And how many gracious persons 
 have I known, whose judgments and wills have 
 been groundedly resolved for God and holiness, 
 and their lives have been holy, fruitful, and obe- 
 dient, and yet could not shed a tear for sin, nor 
 feel any great sorrows or joys? If you judge of a 
 man by his earnestness in some good moods, and 
 not by the constant tenor of his life, you will think 
 many an hypocrite to be better than most saints. — 
 Works, vol. ii. p. 997. 
 
hKLF-EX AMI NATION. 
 
 211 
 
 Chap. XVI . — Self-examination. 
 
 I have proved, from the word of God, by what 
 infallible signs an ungodly man may know that he 
 is ungodly if he will : may yon not know whether 
 it be thus with you, if you are willing to know? 
 May you not know if you will, whether your desire 
 and designs of life, be more for this world, or that 
 to come? And whether heaven and earth be pre- 
 ferred and sought first ? And whether your fleshly 
 prosperity and pleasure, or your souls, be princi- 
 pally cared for and regarded? May you not know it 
 if you will, whether you love or loath the serious 
 worshippers of God ? And whether you had rather 
 be delivered from your sins, or keep them ? And 
 whether your, wills be more against them, or for 
 them ? And whether you love a holy life or not ? 
 And whether you had rather be perfect in holiness 
 and obedience to God, or be excused from it, and 
 please the flesh ? And whether you had rather be 
 such a one as Paul, or as Caesar? A persecuted 
 saint in poverty and contempt, or a persecuting 
 conqueror or king? May ycu not know if you will, 
 whether you love a searching ministry, that telleth 
 you of the worst, and would not deceive you? 
 May you not know whether you are resolvedly de- 
 voted and given up to God the Father, Son, and 
 Holy Ghost, as your father and felicity, your Sa- 
 viour and Sanctifier j and whether the scope, design, 
 and business, is more for God than for the flesh, 
 for heaven or earth \ and which is it that bears the 
 sway? And which is it that comes behind, and 
 hath but the leavings of the other, or only so 
 jeiuch as it can spare ? Certainly these are thing* so 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 
 
 near you, and so remarkable in your hearts, that 
 you may come to the knowledge of them if you 
 will. But if you will not, who can help it?- — 
 Works, vol. i. p. 12. 
 
 When we have attained the clearest sight of our 
 sincerity, we little think how quickly all such ap- 
 prehensions may be lost; and the misjudging 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 fruit of the spirit, or linea- 
 ments of the image of God upon itself. How con- 
 fident upon good ground, is many a heart of its 
 sincerity ? How certain that it desireth to be per- 
 fectly holy ? 1 . That it would be rid of the near- 
 est and dearest sin. 2. That it loves the saints. 
 3. That it loves the light of the most searching 
 ministry. 4. And loveth the most practical sanc- 
 tifying truths. 5. And love the ministry and 
 means that have the most and greatest tendency to 
 make themselves more holy (all 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 contrary with 
 them. — frorlc$ r vol. ii. p. 813. 
 
 He that consented) to learn, will learn, and he 
 that consenteth to obey, will obey: your life must 
 also testify the truth of your consent (Tit.i. 16; 
 Jam. ii. 14; and Matt. xxi. 31, 32, 33). There- 
 fore, instead of over tedious trying and fearing 
 whether you truly consent and obey or not — set 
 yourself heartily to your duty; study to please God, 
 and to live fruitfully in good works; resolve more 
 against those sins which make you question your 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 
 
 213 
 
 sincerity, and the practice of a godly life; and the 
 increase of your grace will be a constant discerni- 
 ble evidence; and you will have the witness in 
 yourself that you are the son of God. But take 
 care that Satan do not tempt you to security, and 
 tell you that now you are converted, all is sure, 
 and you never need to fear any more. Those that 
 have true grace, can never lose it; and sins once 
 pardoned, are never unpardoned again, and there- 
 fore now all your danger is past. And if he can 
 thus take off all your fear and care, he will quickly 
 take off vour zeal and diligence. — Works, vol. iv. 
 p. 182. 
 
 If you are not your own, remember that nothing 
 else is your own; what can be more your own than 
 yourselves ? 
 
 1 . Your parts and abilities of mind and body are 
 not your own, use them therefore for him that 
 owneth them. 
 
 2. Your authority and dignities are not your own, 
 see therefore that you make the best of them for 
 him that lent them you. 
 
 3. Your children themselves are not your own ; 
 design them for the utmost of his service that trusts 
 you with them, educate them in that way as they 
 may be most serviceable to God. It is the great 
 wickedness of too many of our gentry, that they 
 prepare their posterity only to live plenteously, and 
 in credit in the world, but not to be serviceable to 
 God or the commonwealth. Design them all that 
 are capable to magistracy or ministry, or some use- 
 ful way of life ; and whatever be their employment, 
 endeavour to possess them with the fear of the 
 Lord, that they may devote themselves to him. 
 Think not the preaching of the gospel a work too 
 low for the sons of the noblest person in the land. 
 
214 
 
 SELF-EXAMINATION. 
 
 It would be an excellent furtherance to the work 
 of the gospel, if noblemen and gentlemen would 
 addict those sons to the ministry that are fit for it, 
 and can be spared from the magistracy: they might 
 have more respect f;om their people, and easier 
 rule them, and might better win them with bounty 
 than poor men can do. 1 hey need not to contend 
 with them for tythes or maintenance. 
 
 4. If you are not your own, your whole families 
 are not your own : use them therefore as families 
 that are dedicated to God. 
 
 5. If you are not your own, then your wealth 
 is not your own : honour God therefore with your 
 substance, and with the first fruits of your increase, 
 (Prov. iii. 9). Do you ask how? Is there no poor 
 people that want the faithful preaching of the 
 gospel for want of means, or other furtherance? 
 Is there no godly scholars that want means to main- 
 tain them at the universities, to lit them for this 
 work ? Is there no poor neighbours about you that 
 are ignorant, that if you buy them bibles and cate- 
 chisms, and hire them to learn them, might come 
 to knowledge and to life ? Are there no poor chil- 
 dren that you might set apprentices to godly mas- 
 ters, where soul and body might both have helps? 
 The poor you have always with you. It is not for 
 want of objects for your charity; if you hide your 
 talents, or consume them on yourselves, the time 
 is coming when it will do you more good to have 
 laid them outto your master's use, than in pamper- 
 ing your flesh. 
 
 Some grudge that God should have the tenths ; 
 that is, that they should be consecrated to the 
 maintenance of his service: but little do they con- 
 sider that all is his, and must ait be accounted for. 
 Some question, whether now there be such a sin as 
 sacrilege in being : But little do they consider that 
 
HUMILITY. 
 
 215 
 
 every sin is a kind of sacrilege. When you dedi- 
 cated yourself to God, you dedicated all you had \ 
 and it was God's before, do not lake it from him 
 again: remember the halving of Annanias, and give 
 God all. 
 
 Objection. But must we not provide for our 
 families ? 
 
 Answer. Yea, because God requires it, and in 
 so doing you render it to him: That is given to 
 him, which is expanded in obedience to him, so 
 be it you still prefer his most eminent interest. 
 
 Lastly, If you are not your own, then must not 
 your works be principally for yourselves, but for 
 him that ownetk you. As the scope of your lives 
 must be to the honour of your Lord, so be sure 
 that you hourly renew these intentions ; when you 
 set your foot out of your doors, ask whether your 
 business you go upon be for God : when you go to 
 your rest, examine yourselves what you have done 
 that day for God; especially let no opportunity 
 over-slip you, wherein you may do him extraordi- 
 nary service. You must so perform the very la- 
 bours of your callings, that they may be ultimately 
 for God : so love your dearest friends and enjoy- 
 ments, that it be God that is principally loved in 
 them. — Works, vol. iv. p. 717. 
 
 Chap. XVII.— Humility. 
 
 There is a preparatory humiliation that goes be- 
 fore a saving change, which is not to be despised, 
 because it is a drawing nearer unto God, though it 
 be not a faithful closure with him. This prepara- 
 
216 
 
 HUMILITY. 
 
 tory humiliation, which many have that perish^ 
 doth chiefly consist in these things following. 
 
 1 . It lieth most in the fear of being damned ; as it 
 is most in the passions, so most in this of fear. 
 
 2. It consisteth also in some apprehension of the 
 greatness of our sins, and the wrath of God, that 
 hangs over our heads, and the danger that we are 
 in, of being damned for ever. 3. It consisteth also 
 in some apprehensions of the folly that we are 
 guilty of in sinning, and of some repentings that 
 ever we did it, and some remorse of conscience for 
 it. 4. Hereto may be joined some passions of 
 sorrow, and this expressed by groans and tears. 
 5. And all this may be accompanied by confessions 
 of sin to God and man, and lamentations for our 
 misery, and in some it proceeds to desperation it- 
 self. 6. And lastly, it may proceed to an indig- 
 nation against ourselves, and to the taking of a 
 severe revenge on ourselves, yea, more than God 
 w r ould have men take; as Judas did by self-destroy- 
 ing. This desperation and self execution are no 
 parts of the preparatory humiliation; but the ex- 
 cess and error of it, and entrance upon hell. 
 
 An humble soul is truly willing to grieve for the 
 sins which he hath committed, and to be as deeply 
 sensible of them, and afflicted for them, as God 
 would have him. Even when he cannot shed a 
 tear, yet his will is to shed them. When he can- 
 not feel any deep afflicting of his soul for sin, his 
 heart's desire is, that he might feel it. He doth an 
 hundred times weep in desire, when he doth not in 
 act. — Works, vol. ii. p. 558. 
 
 Tiie humility, and meekness, and patience, of 
 christians, much honour God and their holy faith : 
 as pride, and passion, and impatience dishonour 
 Jftm. Let men see that the Spirit of God doth 
 
SELF-DENIAL. 
 
 217 
 
 cast down the devilish sin of pride, and maketh 
 you like your master, that humbled himself to as- 
 sume our flesh, and to the death of the cross, and 
 to the contradiction and reproach of foolish sinners, 
 and made himself of no reputation, but endured 
 the shame of being derided, spit upon, and cruci- 
 fied, {Phil. ii. 7, 9; Heb. xii. 2), and stooped 
 to wash the feet of his disciples. It is not stout- 
 ness, and lifting up the head, and standing upon 
 your terms, and upon your honour in the world, 
 that is the honouring of God. When you are as 
 little children, and as nothing in your own eyes, 
 and seek not the honour that is of men, but say, 
 not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to thy name be 
 the glory, (Psal. gxv. 1), and are content that 
 your honour decrease and be trodden into the earth, 
 that his may increase, and his name be magni- 
 fied : this is the glorifying of God. So when you 
 shew the world, that you are above the impotent 
 passions of men ; not to be insensible, but to be 
 angry and sin not, and to give place to wrath, and 
 not to resist and avenge yourselves, (7?om. xii. 19); 
 and to be meek and lowly at heart, (Matt. xi. 29) ; 
 it will appear that you have the wisdom which is 
 from above, if you be first poor, then peaceable, 
 gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy, and 
 good fruits, without partiality, and hypocrisy, 
 (James, iii. 17). — JVorks, vol. i. p. 143. 
 
 Chap. XVIii.— Self-Denial. 
 
 A confirmed christian is one that taketh self- 
 denial for the one half of his religion j and there- 
 in 
 
218 
 
 SELF-DENIAL. 
 
 fore hath bestowed one half of his endeavours to 
 attain and exercise it. He knoweth that the fall of 
 man was a turning to himself from God; and that 
 selfishness, and want of love to God, are the sum 
 of all corruption and ungodliness, and that the love 
 of God and self-denial are the sum of all religion ; 
 and that conversion is nothing but the turning of 
 the heart from carnal self to God by Christ : and 
 therefore on this hath his care and labour been suc- 
 cessfully laid out, that he hath truly and practi- 
 cally found out something that is much better than 
 himself, and to be loved and preferred before him- 
 self, and which is to be his chiefest ultimate end. 
 He maketh not a God of himself any more, but 
 useth himself for God, to fulfil his will as a creature 
 of his own, that hath no other end and use. He 
 no more preferreth himself above all the world, but 
 esteemeth himself a poor and despicable part of the 
 w r orld; and highlier valueth the honour of God, and 
 the welfare of the church, and the good of many, 
 than any interest of his own. — Works, vol. ii. 
 
 P . 972. 
 
 Many a civil ingenious gentleman, and other per- 
 sons, will forbear the disgraceful sins of drunken- 
 ness, filthy speaking, whoredom, incivility, notori- 
 ous profaneness, even because they are disgraceful, 
 and therefore are against the interest of self; so 
 much as self can possibly spare, a carnal heart may 
 be brought to part with; but still self is alive and 
 predominant with them ; still it is the ruling end 
 and principle. — Works, vol. iii. p. 352. 
 
 Such as a man's principal end is, such is the 
 man, and such is the course of his life. He that 
 takes this world for his portion, and makes the 
 felicity of it his end, is a carnal, worldly, unsanc- 
 
SELF-DENIAL. 
 
 219 
 
 titled man, whatever good and godly actions may 
 come in upon the by. It is he, and only he, that 
 is a sanctified believer, who looks on heaven as his 
 only portion, and his sailing through the troubled 
 seas of this world, of purpose to come to that de- 
 sired harbour ; not loving these seats better than 
 the land of rest, which he is sailing to, but pa- 
 tiently and painfully passing through them, be- 
 cause there is no other way to glory. And it is 
 the desire of the land to which he is sailing, that 
 moveth the mariner or passenger to do all that he 
 doth in his voyage ; and the desire of his home or 
 journey's end, that moveth the traveller all the 
 Way ; and the desire of a perfect building that 
 moveth the builder in every stroke of his work ; so 
 it must be the love of God, and the desire of ever- 
 lasting blessedness, that must be the very engine 
 to move the rest of the affections and endeavours of 
 the saints, and must make men resolve on the ne- 
 cessary labour and patience of believers. Take off 
 this weight, and all the motions of Christianity 
 will cease. No man will be at labour and sufferings 
 for nothing, if he can avoid them. It is a life of 
 labour, though sweet to the spirit, yet tedious to 
 the flesh, which Christianity doth engage us in; 
 and there is much suffering to be undergone; and 
 this is to the very last, and to the denial of our- 
 selves; and if God require it, to the loss of all the 
 comforts of the world; for no less than forsaking all 
 that we have, will serve to make us Christ's disci- 
 ples. — Works, vol. ii. p. 589. 
 
 l2 
 
220 
 
 HOLINESS 
 
 Chap. XIX.— Holiness. 
 
 The life of grace lietb, 1. In the preferring of 
 God and heaven, and holiness, in the estimation of 
 our minds before all worldly things; 2. In the choos- 
 ing them, and resolving for them with onr wills, 
 before all others ; 3. In the seeking of them in the 
 bent and drift of our endeavours. These three 
 make up a state of holiness. — Works, vol. i. p. 163. 
 
 To be heartily devoted to God as his own, is the 
 form of sanctification ; and to live as God's own, 
 is the truly holy life.— On Self-Detual, Works, 
 vol. iii. p. 345. 
 
 When the threatening and punishment only can 
 prevail with men, and men love not God and god- 
 liness for themselves, but had rather have liberty 
 to live as the ungodly, I shall never take one of 
 these for a sanctified man, nor have any hope of 
 the saving such a soul, how far so ever his fears 
 may carry him from his outward sins, or to cat- 
 ward duties, till God shall give him a better con- 
 version than this ; I say, I have not the smallest 
 hope of this man's salvation. Then you are God's 
 children, when the honour, the work, the family, 
 the name of your father, are lovely and delightful 
 to you : and when you grieve, that there is any 
 remnant of sin in your souk, and when your sins are 
 to you as lameness to the lame, that pains them 
 every step they go, and sickness to the sick, that 
 makes them groan, and groan again, and long to 
 be rid of it ; and when you think those the happiest 
 men on earth that are th j most holy, and wish 
 from your heart that you were such as they, though 
 
HOLINESS. 
 
 221 
 
 you had not a house to put your head in : when 
 you look towards God with longing thoughts, and 
 are grieved that your understandings can reach ne 
 nearer him, and know no more of him, and that 
 your hearts do not embrace him with a more burn- 
 ing love: when you admire the beauty of a meek, 
 a patient, a mortified, spiritual, heavenly mind, 
 and long to have more of this yourself, yea, to be 
 perfect in all holiness and obedience : when your 
 hearts are thus brought over to God, and that you 
 had rather have him than any other, and rather 
 live in his family any where, and rather walk in his 
 ways than in any; then are you indeed converted, 
 and never till then, whatever other dispositions you 
 may have. — Works, vol. ii. p. 592. 
 
 If you are contented with that measure of holi- 
 ness that you have, you have none at all, but a 
 shadow and conceit of it. Let those men think of 
 this, that stint themselves in holiness, and plead 
 for a moderation in it, as if it were intemperance 
 or fury to love God or fear him, or seek him, or 
 obey him, any more than they do ; or as if we 
 were in danger of excess in these. If ever these 
 men had feelingly, and by experience, known what 
 holiness is, they would never have been possessed 
 with such conceits as these. — fVorks, vol. ii. p. 936. 
 
 As the excellency of the work doth honour the 
 workman, so must your graces and lives honour 
 God. You have the souls of the weak to confirm 
 by your lives. You should all be preachers, and 
 even preach as you go up and down in the world, 
 as a candle lighteth which way so ever it goeth. 
 As we are sent to save sinners, as embassadors of 
 Christ, by public proclamation of his will, so are 
 you sent to save them as his servants and our 
 helpers, and must preach by your lives and fami- 
 
222 
 
 HOLINESS. 
 
 liar exhortations, as we must do by authoritative 
 instruction. A good life is a good sermon, yea, 
 those janay be won by your sermons, that will not 
 come to ours, or will not obey the doctrines which 
 they hear. Even to women that must keep silence 
 in the church, doth Peter command this way of 
 preaching, (1 Pet. iii. 1, 2) ; that if any of them 
 have husbands that obey not the word, they may 
 without the word be won by the conversation of 
 their wives. Thousands can understand the mean- 
 ing of a good life, that cannot understand the 
 meaning of a good sermon ! By this way you 
 may preach to men of all languages, though your 
 tongues had never learnt but one. For a holy, 
 harmless, humble life, doth speak in all the lan- 
 guages of the world, to men that have eyes to read 
 it. This is the universal character and language, 
 in which all sorts may perceive you speak the won- 
 drous works of the Holy Ghost. I charge you 
 therefore, christians, deprive not God of the ho- 
 nour you owe to him, nor the church or souls of 
 wicked men, of this excellent and powerful help 
 which you owe them, by continuing in your weak- 
 ness and unsettled minds and spotted lives; but 
 grow up to that measure that may be fit for such a 
 work. As you durst not silence the preachers of 
 the gospel, so do not dare to silence yourselves 
 from preaching by your holy and exemplary lives. 
 And alas 1 do you think that feeble, giddy, scanda- 
 lous professors, are likely to do any great matters 
 by f heir lives ! Would you wish the poor world to 
 wnr? after such a crooked and blotted copy ? Will 
 it win men's hearts to a love of holiness, to talk 
 with a christian that can scarce speak a word of 
 sense for his religion ? Or to see a professor as 
 greedy of a little gain as the veriest worldling that, 
 hath no other hope? Or to hear them rail, lie, or 
 slander? Or to see them turn up and down like a 
 
HOLINESS. 
 
 223 
 
 weather-cock, according as the wind of temptation 
 fits ? And to follow every new opinion that is but 
 put off with a plausible fervency, do you think that 
 men are like to be won by such lives as these? — 
 Works, vol. ii. p. 939. 
 
 A soul that doth not set its affections on things 
 above, disobeys the commands, and loses the most 
 gracious and delightful discoveries of the word of 
 God. The same God that hath commanded thee 
 to believe, and to be a christian, hath commanded 
 thee to seek the tilings which are above, where 
 Christ sittcth at the right hand of God, and to set 
 your affections on things above, and not on things 
 on the earth, (Col. iii. 1,2). The same God that 
 hath forbidden thee to murder, steal, or commit 
 adultery, hath forbidden thee the neglect of this 
 great duty; and darest thou wilfully disobey him? 
 Why not make conscience of one, as well as the 
 other? He hath made it thy duty as well as the 
 means of thy comfort, that a double bond may en- 
 gage thee not to forsake thy own mercies. Besides, 
 what are all the most glorious descriptions of hea- 
 ven, all those discoveries of our future blessedness, 
 and precious promises of our rest, but lost to thee? 
 Are not these the stars in the firmament of scrip- 
 ture, and the golden lines in that book of God? 
 Methinks thou shouldst not part with one of those 
 promises, no, not for a world. As heaven is the 
 perfection of all our mercies, so the promises of it 
 in the gospel, are the very soul of the gospel. It 
 is a comfortable word from the mouth of God, of 
 such worth, that all the comforts of the world are 
 nothing to it. And dost thou neglect and over- 
 look so many of them ? Why should God reveal so 
 much of his counsel, and tell us beforehand of the 
 joys we shall possess, but to make us know it for 
 our joy ? If it had not been to fill us with the de- 
 
224 
 
 HOLINESS. 
 
 light of our foreknown blessedness, lie might have 
 kept his purpose to himself, and never have let us 
 known it till we came to enjoy it. Yea, when we 
 had got possession of our rest, he might still have 
 concealed its eternity from us, and then the fear of 
 losing it would have much diminished the sweet- 
 ness of our joys. But it hath pleased our Father 
 to open his counsel, and let us know the very in- 
 tent of his heart, that our joy might be full, and 
 that we might live as the heirs of such a kingdom. 
 And shall we now overlook all ? Shall we live in 
 earthly cares and sorrows, and rejoice no more in 
 these discoveries, than if the Lord had never wrote 
 them ? If thy prince had but sealed thee a patent 
 of some lordship, how oft wouldst thou cast thine 
 eye upon it, and make it thy delightful study, till 
 thou shouldst come to possess the dignity itself? 
 And hath God sealed thee a patent of heaven, and 
 dost thou let it lie by thee as if thou hadst forgot 
 it ? O that our hearts were as high as our hopes, 
 and our hopes as high as those infallible promises ! 
 
 Once more consider, there is nothing but hea- 
 ven worth setting our hearts upon. If God have 
 them not, who shall ? If thou mind not thy rest, 
 what wilt thou mind? Hast thou found out some 
 other God? Or something else that will serve thee 
 instead of rest ? Hast thou found on earth an eter- 
 nal happiness? Where is it? What is it made of ? 
 Who was the man that found it out? Who was he 
 that last enjoyed it? Where dwelt he? What was 
 his name ? Or art thou the first that ever discovered 
 heaven on earth? Ah, wretch! trust not to thy 
 discoveries, boast not of thy gain, till experience 
 bid thee boast. Disquiet not thyself in looking for 
 that which is not on earth, lest thou learn thy ex- 
 perience with the loss of thy soul, which thou 
 mightest have learned on easier terms, even by the 
 
HOLINESS. 
 
 225 
 
 warnings of God in his word, and the Joss of 
 thousands of souls before thee. If Satan should 
 take thee up to the mountain of temptation, and 
 shew thee all the kingdoms of the world, and the 
 glory of them, he could shew thee nothing that is 
 worthy thy thoughts, much less to be preferred 
 before thy rest. Indeed, so far as duty and neces- 
 sity require it, we must be content to mind the 
 things below; but who is he that contains himself 
 within the compass of those limits? And yet if we 
 ever so diligently contract our cares and thoughts, 
 we shall find the least to be bitter and burthen- 
 some. Christian, see the emptiness of all these 
 things, and the preciousness of the things above. 
 If thy thoughts should, like the laborious bee, go 
 over the world from flower to flower, from creature 
 to creature, they would bring no honey or sweet- 
 ness home, save what they gathered from their re- 
 lations to eternity. Though every truth of God is 
 precious, and ought to be defended, yet even all 
 our study of truth should be still in reference to 
 our rest ; for the observation is too true, that the 
 lovers of controversies in religion, have never been 
 warmed with one spark of the love of God. % And 
 as for minding the affairs of church and state, so 
 far as they illustrate the providence of God, and 
 tend to the settling of the gospel, and the govern- 
 ment of Christ, and consequently to the saving 
 our own souls, and those of our posterity, they are 
 well worth our diligent observation; but these are 
 only their relations to eternity. liven all our deal- 
 ings in the world, our buying and selling, our eat- 
 ing and drinking, our building and marrying, our 
 peace and war, so far as they relate not to the life 
 to come, but tend only to the pleasintr of the flesh, 
 are not worthy the frequent thoughts of a chris- 
 tian. And now doth not thy conscience say, that 
 
226 
 
 THE WILL. 
 
 there is nothing but heaven, and the way to it, 
 that is worth thy minding? — Sai?it$' Rest, p. 234, 
 239. 
 
 Chap. XX.— The Will 
 
 The WiU is the Man in God's account, and what 
 a man truly would be and have, he is, and shall 
 have. — Works, vol. iv. p. 841. 
 
 He that will glorify God, must live in, and to 
 the icill of God, and seek to reduce his own will 
 wholly into God's, and to destroy in himself all will 
 that striveth against God's id//. 
 
 1. The disposing will of God our owner must be 
 absolutely submitted to, and the bounteous will of 
 God our benefactor, than/fully and joyfully acknow- 
 ledged. 
 
 2. The ruling will of God our lawgiver, must be 
 with daily study and care obeyed, and his punish- 
 ing and rewarding justice glorified. 
 
 3. The final felicitating will and love of God our 
 v.ltimate end and object, that we may please him, 
 and be everlastingly pleased in him, love him, and 
 be loved by him, must be totally desired and sought, 
 as the only and perfect rest of souls. 
 
 O ! that is the holy, the joyful, the honourable 
 christian, who daily laboureth (and in some mea- 
 sure doth prevail) to have no will but the icill of 
 God, and that which wholly is resolved into it ; who 
 looketh no further to know what he should do, but 
 to know by his word what is the law or will of God ; 
 who believeth that all that God wiUeth is good, 
 and had rather have his life, and health and wealth, 
 and friends, at God's will and disposal, than his 
 
THE WILL. 
 
 227 
 
 own ; who knoweth that God's icill is love itself, 
 and that to please him is the end of all the world, 
 and the only felicity of men and angels; andresteth 
 wholly in the pleasing of that will. What can be 
 more wise and just than to have the same will (ob- 
 jectively) with him who is infinitely wise and just? 
 What can be more honourable, than to have the 
 same will as God himself, and (so far) as his chil- 
 dren, to he like our father? What can be more 
 orderly and Jiarmonious, than for the will of the 
 creature to move according to the Creator's will, 
 and to be duly subservient to it, and accurately com- 
 pliant with it? What can be more holy, nay, what 
 else is holiness, but a will and life devoted and 
 conformed to the icill of God ? What can be more 
 safe, or what else can be safe at all, but to will the 
 same things which the most perfect wisdom doth 
 direct to, and infinite love itselj' doth chusef And 
 what can be more easy and quieting to the soul, 
 than to rest in that will which is always good, 
 which never was misguided, and never chose amiss, 
 and never was frustrated, or miss'd of it's decreed 
 ends? If we have no will but what is (objectively) 
 the same with God's, that is, if we wholly comply 
 with, and follow his icill as our guide; and rest in 
 iiis will as our ultimate end, our wills will never be 
 disordered, sinful, misled, or frustrate. God hath all 
 that he wilkth (absolutely), and is never dis- 
 appointed ; and so should we if we could icill no- 
 thing but what he willetli. And would you not 
 take him unquestionably for a happy man, who hath 
 whatsoever he would have; yea, and would have 
 nothing but what is more just and good ? There is 
 no way to this happiness but making the will of 
 God our will. God will not mutably change his 
 will, to bring it to ours : should holiness itself be 
 conformed to sinners, and perfection to imperfao 
 
228 
 
 THE WILL. 
 
 tion? But we must (by grace) bring over our will* 
 to God's, and then they are in joint, and then, only 
 will they find content and rest. O what would I 
 beg more earnestly in the world, than a will con- 
 formed wholly to God's will, and cast in that 
 mould, and desiring nothing but what God willeth ! 
 —fVorks, vol. iv. p. 828. 
 
 All the works of a christian are so far truly holy, 
 as they are the effect of holy iow: for, 1. hofy lore 
 is but a holy in//, and the will is the mem, in point of 
 morality, 2. And the Jove of God is oar final «rf 
 itpor. the final object ; and all other gracious sets are 
 some way mecht subservient to this end: and the 
 end is it that informeib nil the v.oc they beirg 
 such only as they are adapted to :: 
 
 And in this sense it is true, which is said in the 
 schools, (though many Protectants misunderstand- 
 ing it, have contradicted it) that love is the .form of 
 all other graces: that is, it is the heart of the new 
 creature; or it is that by which the mam i* moraihf 
 to be reputed and denominated ; and it is tfte final 
 grace which animateth the rest as means. 
 
 And thus it is true, that when you will prove any 
 grace to be sincere and saving, or any evidence cer- 
 tain, you must prove it to participate of the /ore of 
 God and goodness, or you have failed and said 
 nothing. (Yea, you must prove it to be conjunct 
 with predominant love, which setteth God above 
 all creatures). And if you will prove any good wort 
 to be acceptable to God, (prayer, praise, alms, jus- 
 tice, &c.) you must first prove that it com eth from 
 this predominant lore: For it is so far and no further 
 acceptable to God. — Works, vol. iv. p, 644. 
 
 What is it that you are afraid of but lest you miss 
 of your own wills ? For sure you fear not lest God's 
 
THE WILL. 
 
 229 
 
 will should be overcome and frustrate: What are 
 your cares about his ? What are your sighs, and 
 groans, and tears for? And what is it else that 
 you complain of, but that your own wills are not 
 fulfilled? It is not that God hath not his will. 
 
 What is it that you are so impatient of, but the 
 crossing of your own wills ? This person crosseth 
 them, and that accident crosseth them, and God 
 crosseth them, and you cross them yourselves; and 
 crossed they will be while they are as a bone out of 
 joint; there is no ease till it be set right, in a 
 word, a will that is contrary to God's will, and 
 striveth and struggleth against it, is the offspring of 
 the devil, the sum of all sin, and a fore-taste of 
 hell, even a restless self-tormentor; and to will 
 nothing but what God willeth, and to love his will, 
 and study to please him, and rest therein, is the rec- 
 titude and only rest of souls; and he that cannot 
 rest contentedly in the will of God must be for ever 
 restless ; and when such a holy will and contentment 
 appeareth in you, mankind will reverence it, and 
 see that your natures are as divine; and as they dare 
 not reproach the will of God, so they will fear to 
 speak evil of yours; when they see that you chuse 
 but what God first chuseth for you, and your wills 
 do but follow the will of God, men will be afraid of 
 provoking God against them as blasphemers, if they 
 should scorn, deride, or vilify you. And could 
 we convince all men that our course is but the same 
 which God commandeth, it would do much to stop 
 their reproach and persecution; and if they see 
 that we can joyfully suffer reproach, or poverty, or 
 ^>ains, or death, and joyfully pass away to God when 
 he shall call us, and live and die in a contented com- 
 placency in the will of God, they will see that you 
 have a beginning of heaven on earth, which* no 
 tyrant, no loss, or cross, or suifering can deprive 
 
230 
 
 CHRISTIAN TEMPER. 
 
 you of while you can joyfully say, The will of the 
 Lord be done, (Acts, xxi. 14). — Works, vol. iv. 
 p. 828. 
 
 Chap. XXI. — Christian Temper. 
 
 If you have a froward wife, or husband, or child, 
 that hath a harsh and passionate nature, and hath 
 so much grace only as to lament this when they 
 are calmed, and to strive against it, but not to for- 
 bear the often exercise of it; though such a nature 
 may be pardoned to the penitent, yet it may prove 
 such a thorn in your own side, and such a smoke 
 or continual dropping in your house, as will make 
 you weary of it. I have oft known men that have 
 liad wives of so much folly, and passion, and un- 
 ruliness of tongue, that yet they hoped had some 
 saving grace, that have made them even weary of 
 their lives, and wish they had met with a gentle 
 nature. And methinks, that you should know that 
 corruption in yourselves is much more dangerous 
 and hurtful to you than it can be in wife or hus- 
 band; and should be much more offensive and 
 wearisome, and grievous to you. It's a desperate 
 sign of a bad heart, that can bear with corruption 
 in themselves, and cannot bear with a wife or hus- 
 band, or those that do them wrong by their corrup- 
 tions. If weakness of grace do leave your nearest 
 friends thus liable to wrong and abuse you, and 
 thus trouble you; consider that your own weakliest 
 leaves you liable to greater and oftener offences against 
 God, and this should trouble you much more. — 
 Works, vol. ii. p. 942. 
 
RESIGNATION. 
 
 231 
 
 Chap. XXII. — Resignation. 
 
 The short pain of pulling out a tooth, is ordina- 
 rily endured to prevent a longer. A woman doth 
 bear the pains of her travail because it is short, and 
 tends to the bringing of a child into the world. 
 Who would not submit to any labour or toil for 
 a day, that he might win a life of plenty and de- 
 light by it? Who would not be spit upon, and 
 made the scorn of the world for a day, if he might 
 have his will for if, as long as he liveth on earth? 
 And should we not then chearfully submit to our 
 momentary afflictions and troubles of a few days, 
 (which are light, andmixt with a world of mercies), 
 when we know that they are working for us a far 
 more exceeding eternal weight of glory ? (2 Cor. iv. 
 17). — Works, vol. iv. p. 759. 
 
 If we try the graces, or obedience of professors, 
 alas, how small shall we find them in the most? 
 How little are most acquainted with the life of 
 faith? How little do they admire the Redeemer 
 and his blessed work ? How unacquainted are they 
 with the daily use and high improvement of a sa- 
 viour for access to God, and supportation, and 
 corroboration of the soul, and for conveyances of 
 supplies of daily grace, and help against our spi- 
 ritual enemies? How few are they that can rejoice 
 in tribulation, persecution, and bodily distresses, 
 because of the hope laid up in heaven? And that 
 can live upon a promise, and comfortably rely upon 
 God for the accomplishment? How few that live 
 as men that are content to live on God alone, and 
 can chearfully leave their flesh, and credit, and 
 worldly estate to his disposal, and be content to 
 
232 
 
 RESOLUTION. 
 
 want or suffer when he sees fit, or good for them r 
 "VVhat repinings and troubles perplex our minds, if 
 the flesh be not provided for, and if God do but 
 cross us in these worldly things, as if we had made 
 a bargain with him for the flesh, and for this 
 world, and had not taken him alone for our por- 
 tion? — Works, vol. ii. p. 9-d3. 
 
 Chap. XXIII.— Resolution. 
 
 K It is a common and a very dangerous mistake, 
 that many are undone by, to think that every good 
 desire is a certain sign of saving grace: whereas 
 you may have more than bare desires, even pur- 
 poses and promises, and some performances, and 
 yet perish for want of resolution and regeneration. 
 
 Do you think that Judas himself had not some 
 good desires, that followed Christ so long, and 
 preached the gospel? Do you think that Herod 
 had not some good desires, that heard John so 
 gladly, and did many things accordingly ? Agripna 
 had some good desires when he was persuaded 
 to be almost a christian. They that for a time be- 
 lieve, have surely some good desires, and more ; 
 (Matt. xiii. 20) ; and so had the young man that 
 went away sorrowful from Chris% when he could 
 not be his disciple, unless he would part with all 
 that he had (Luke, xviii. 23; Matt xix. 22] . And 
 doubtless those had more than good desire, that 
 had known the way of righteousness, and had es- 
 caped the pollution of the world, through the 
 knowledge of the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ 
 (2 Pel. ii. 20, 21). And so had those (Heb. x. 
 2t>, 29), that had received the knowledge of the 
 
HOPE, 
 
 233 
 
 truth, and were sanctified by the blood of the 
 covenant. And those (Heb. vi. 4, 5, 6), that 
 were once enlightened, and tasted of the heavenly 
 gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 
 and tasted of the good word of God, and the pow- 
 ers of the world to come. And sure, Annanias,. and 
 Sapphira, had more than some good desires, when 
 they sold all, and brought half the price to the 
 Apostles. 
 
 Believe, sirs, there are none of your desires or 
 endeavours that will serve your turn, or prove 
 you in a state of grace, unless they be accompa- 
 nied with firm resolution. Be it known to you, 
 that you are converted, if you are not habitually 
 resolved. And therefore I must here entreat you 
 all to put the question close to your hearts. Are 
 you resolved, firmly resolved, to give up yourselves 
 and all to Christ, and to be wholly his, and follow 
 his conduct, or are you not? The question is not, 
 what good meanings, or wishes, or purposes, you 
 may have; but whether you are resolved, and firmly 
 resolved? — Works, vol. ii. p. 602. 
 
 Chap. XXIV.— Hope. 
 
 Blessed be God, who hath made it my duty to 
 fiope for his salvation. Hope is the ease, yea, the 
 life of our hearts, that else would break, yea, die 
 within us. Despair is no small part of hell". God 
 cherisheth hope, as he is the lover of souls. Satan, 
 our enemy, cherisheth despair, when his way of 
 blind presumption faileth. As fear is a foretaste of 
 evil, before it is felt, so hope doth anticipate and 
 foretaste salvation, before it is possessed. It is 
 
234 
 
 HOPS. 
 
 then the worldly hypocrite's Jwpe that perisheth, for 
 all that liope for true or durable happiness on earth, 
 in the pleasures of this perishing flesh, must needs 
 be deceived. But happy is he who hath the God of 
 Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his 
 God, which made heaven and earth, which keep- 
 eth truth for ever (Psal. cxlvi. 5, 6). Wo to me, 
 were my hope only in the time and matters of this 
 fleshly life (1 Cor. xv. 19). But the righteous 
 hath hope in his death (Prov. xiv. 32). And hope 
 maketh not ashamed (Rom, v. 5). Blessed is the 
 man that tnisteth in the Lord, whose hope the 
 Lord is (Jer. xvii. 7). Lay hold then, O my 
 soul, upon the hope which is set before thee (Heb. 
 vi. 18). It is thy firm and stedfast anchor, (i cr. 19) ; 
 without it thou wilt be as a shipwrecked vessel. 
 Thy foundation is sure; it is God himself: our 
 faith and hope are both in God (1 Pet. i. 21). It 
 is Jesus our Lord who is risen from the dead, and 
 reigneth in glory Lord of all (1 Tim. i. 1). Yea, 
 it is Christ who by faith doth work within us, who is 
 our hope of glory (Eph. iii. 17; CoL i. 27). In 
 this hope, which is better than the law that Moses 
 gave, it is that we draw nigh to God (Heb. vii. 19). 
 It is the Holy Ghost that is both our evidence, and 
 the efficient of our hope (Gal. v. 5; Rom. viii. 16, 
 23). By him we hope for that which we see not, 
 and therefore wait in patience for it, (rer. 24, 25). 
 Bv hope we- are saved : it is an encouraging grace 
 which will make ns stir, whereas despair doth kill 
 endeavours : it cureth sloth, and makes us diligent 
 and constant to the end, and by this doth help us 
 to full assurajice (Heb. vi. 11, 12). It is a desiring 
 grace, and would fain obtain the glory hoped for. 
 
 It is a quieting and comforting gjace (Rom. xv. 4). 
 The God of hope doth fill us with joy and peace, 
 
 in believing that we may abound in hope through 
 
HOPE, 
 
 235 
 
 the power of the Holy Ghost, (ver. 13) . Shake off 
 despondency, O my soul, and rejoice in hope of 
 the glory of God (Rom. v. 2). Believe in hope, 
 though dying flesh would tell thee that it is against 
 hope (Rom. iv. 18). God, that cannot lie, hath 
 confirmed his covenant by his immutable oath, 
 that we might have strong consolation who are fled 
 for refuge to the hope which is set before us (Heb. 
 vi. 18). What blessed preparations are made for 
 our hope ? The abundant mercy of God the Father 
 hath begotten us again to a lively hope, by the re- 
 surrection of Christ, to an inheritance incorruptible 
 and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved 
 in heaven for us (I Pet. i. 3). Grace teacheth us 
 to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live 
 soberly, righteously, and godly, in this world, as 
 looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious ap- 
 pearing of the great God and our Saviour (Tit. ii. 
 12, 13). We are renewed by the Holy Ghost, and 
 justified by grace, that we should be made heirs 
 according to the hope of eternal life (Tit. iii. 6, J), 
 We are illuminated, that we may know the hope 
 of Christ's calling, and what is the riches of the 
 glory of his inheritance in the saints (Eph. i. 18, 
 19). The hope that is laid up for us in heaven, is 
 the chief doctrine of the gospel, which bringeth 
 life and immortality into clearer light (Col. i. 5; 
 2 Tim. i. 10). It is for this hope that we keep a 
 conscience void of offence, and that God is served 
 in the world (Acts, xxiv. 15, 16, and 26-7) ; where- 
 fore gird up the loins of thy mind, put on this hel- 
 met, the hope of salvation (1 Thess. v. 8), and let 
 not death seem to thee as it doth to them that have 
 no hope (1 Thess. iv. 13). The love of the Father and 
 our Saviour, have given us everlasting consolation, 
 and good hope through grace to comfort our hearts, 
 and establish them in every good word and work 
 
236 
 
 HOPE. 
 
 (2 Thess. ii. 16, 17). Keep therefore the rejoic- 
 ing of hope firm to the end (Heb. iii. 6). Conti- 
 nue grounded and settled in the faith, and be not 
 moved away from the hope of the gospel (Col. i. 2, 
 3 3 1 Pet. i. 13). And now, Lord, what wait I 
 for? My hope is in thee (Psalxxxix. 7). Uphold 
 me according to thy word, that I may live, and let 
 me not be ashamed of my hope (Psal. cxix. 116). 
 Though mine iniquities testify against me, yet, O 
 thou that art the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in 
 the time of trouble, be not as a stranger to my soul 
 (Jer. xiv. 7, 8). Thy name is called upon by me, 
 O forsake me not, (ver. 9) . Why have our eyes be- 
 held thy wonders, and why have we had thy cove- 
 nant and thy mercies, but that we might set our 
 hope in God (Psal. lxxviii. 5, 7). Remember the 
 word to thy servant, upon which thou hast caused 
 me to hope (Psal. cxix. 49.) If thou, Lord, 
 shouldst mark iniquity, O Lord, who should stand? 
 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayst 
 be feared (Psal. cxxx. 3, 4, 5, 7). — Works, vol. in, 
 p. 913. 
 
 No sin lieth heavier on me, than that my hopes 
 of glory raise me to no higher joy, and that the 
 great weakness of my faith appeareth by such dull 
 thoughts of glory, or by withdrawing fears. Sure 
 there is enough in the glory of God, soundly be- 
 lieved and hoped for, to make a man rejoice in 
 pain and weakness, and to make him long to be 
 with Christ. I live not according to the nature of 
 Christianity, if I live not as in peace with God, and 
 in the joyful hopes of promised glorv. — Works, vol. 
 iii. p. 942. 
 
 A christian in the holy assemblies, and in his 
 reading, learning prayer, conference, is laying up 
 
CHARITY. 
 
 237 
 
 for everlasting, when the worldling in the market, 
 in the field, or shop, is making provision for a few 
 days or hours : thou gloriest in thy riches and pre- 
 eminence now, but how long wilt thou do so ? To- 
 day that house, that land, is thine ; but canst thou 
 say it shall be thine to-morrow f Thou canst not : 
 But the believer can truly say, my God, my Christ 
 is mine to-day, and will be mine to all eternity .' 
 O death ! thou canst take my friends from me, and 
 my worldly riches from me ! but take my God, my 
 Christ, my heaven, my portion, from me, if thou 
 canst ! — Works, vol. iii. p. 675. 
 
 Chap. XXV.— Chariiy. 
 
 I can never forget what a sinful thought was 
 once in my mind, which I will venture to confess, 
 because it may possibly be of use to others, that so 
 they may beware : hearing of some that used to 
 lay by the tenth part of their yearly income, for 
 charitable uses, I purposed to do so too, and 
 thought it a fair proportion: but since I have per- 
 ceived what a vile and wicked thought that was, to 
 offer to cut out a scantling for God, or to give him 
 a limited share of his own, or say, so much shall 
 he have, and no more. Though we cannot say 
 that God must have all, in any one kind of service 
 only; either only for the church, or only for the 
 poor, or only for public uses; yet we must resolve 
 that in one way or other he must have all; and the 
 particular portions to the poor, or church, or other 
 uses, must be assigned by truly sanctified prudence, 
 considering which way it may be most serviceable 
 
238 
 
 CHARITY. 
 
 to God. I must relieve my own family, or kindred 
 if they want, but not because they are my own, 
 but because God hath commanded me, and so hath 
 made it a part of my obedience. But if I see where 
 I may do more service to God by relieving a stranger, 
 and God doth require it, I must yet prefer them 
 before all the kindred 1 have in the world. When 
 the christian pattern was set up by the primitive 
 church, (Acts, ii. and iv.), they sold all, and laid 
 down the whole price at the Apostle's feet, which 
 was not distributed to their natural kindred only, 
 but to all the poor christians that had no other rela- 
 tion to them, even as every one had need. And as 
 it is the loving of our spiritual brethren in Christ, 
 that is made the sign of our translation from death 
 unto life, so is it the relieving of Christ in these his 
 members, that is, the relieving them, because they 
 are his members, that is made the very matter of 
 our cause in the last judgment, and the ground of 
 the sentence of life or death, (Matt. xxv). I must 
 provide for my own body, and you must provide for 
 your children ; but this is (as I said before) not as I 
 am my own, nor as your children are your own; 
 but as I am a servant of Christ that must be sup- 
 ported in his service, or as yourselves, and yours 
 are put under your care and duty by God. So that 
 I may give it to myself or others, w hen I can truly 
 say I do but principally use it for God, and think 
 that the principal service I can do him by it; but I 
 may neither take to myself nor give to any that are 
 nearest to me, any more than God commandeth, 
 or his service doth require. When you and yours 
 have your daily bread (which also must be used for 
 him), you must not go to flesh and blood, but to 
 God, to ask which way you shall dispose of the re- 
 mainder. This is a strange doctrine to the un- 
 sanctified world, but this is because they are -un- 
 
CHARITY, 
 
 239 
 
 sanctified. And it is a doctrine that a worldly hy- 
 pocrite is loth to believe and understand ; but that 
 is because of carnality and hypocrisy, that always 
 deals with God, like Annanias and Sapphira, lying 
 to the Holy Ghost, and giving God but half (and 
 few so much as half), when they daily confess that 
 all is from him, and should be his, and pretend to 
 be wholly devoted to him. There are few men so 
 bad, but will spare God something rather than go 
 to hell ; but indeed this is not to devote it to God, 
 but to use it for themselves, thinking by their sa- 
 crifices to stop the mouth of justice, and to please 
 God by a part, when they have displeased him in 
 the rest. I much fear (and not without much ap- 
 parent cause), that abundance among us, that 
 think themselves christians, do worship and serve 
 God, but as some Indians are said to offer sacrifice 
 to the devil, not for any love they have to him, or 
 for his service, but for fear he should hurt them. 
 And there are few hypocrites but will pretend it is, 
 but from very love. O sirs, it's a great matter to 
 resign and give up yourselves, and all you have to 
 God, and heartily to quit all claim to yourselves, 
 and all things, than many a thousand self-deluded 
 professors do imagine. Many look at this but as 
 some high extraordinary strain of piety. And the 
 Papists almost appropriate it to a few, that live in 
 monastical orders, when indeed the sincerity of this 
 resignation, and dedication, is the very sincerity of 
 sanctification itself. And let me tell you, that the 
 unfeigned convert that attains to this, hath not 
 only pluck'd up the root of sin, (though all of us 
 hath too many strings of it), not only stopt up the 
 spring of temptation, and got the surest evidence 
 of his uprightness, but also is got himself into 
 the safest, and most comfortable state. For when 
 he hath absolutely resigned himself^ and all to God, 
 
240 LOVE OF THE BRETHREN". 
 
 how confidently may he expect that God will ac- 
 cept him, and use him as his own ? And how com- 
 fortably may he commit himself and his cause, and 
 all good affairs to God, as knowing that God can- 
 not be negligent and careless of his own ? It's an 
 argument that may make us confident of success, 
 when we can say as David, (Psal. cxix. 94). I 
 am thine, save me, (/.9a. Ixiii. ID). Even Christ 
 himself doth ingratiate his elect with the father on 
 this account (John-, xvii. 6, 9, 10). Thine they 
 were, and thou gavest them me : I pray for them : 
 I pray not for the world, but for them which thou 
 hast given me: for they are thine; and all mine are 
 thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in 
 them, and in deed by resigning all to God, it is the 
 more our own ; that is, we have unspeakably more 
 of the benefit of it, and so there is no way to make 
 it our own, but by quitting it absolutely up to God : 
 this is the mystery that the world will not learn, but 
 God will teach it all that will be saved by his Spi- 
 rit^ and by faith, (Matt. xvi. 24, 25, 26) ."— Works, 
 toI. ii. p. 584. 
 
 Chap. XXVI.— Love of the Brethren. 
 
 And are they not then notorious hypocrites, to 
 profess to believe in God, and yet scorn at those 
 that diligently seek him (Heb. xi. 6) ; to profess 
 faith in Christ, and hate those that obey him ; to 
 profess to believe in the Holy Ghost as the Sancti- 
 fier, and yet hate and scorn his sanctifying work ; 
 to profess to believe the day of judgment, and ever- 
 lasting torment of the ungodly, and yet to deride\ 
 
REGULATION OF THE THOUGHTS. 241 
 
 those that endeavour to escape it ; to profess to be- 
 lieve that Heaven is prepared for the godly, and yet 
 to scorn at those that make it the chief business of 
 their lives to attain it ; to profess to take the Holy 
 Scriptures for God's word and law, and yet to scorn 
 those that obey it ; to pray after each of the ten 
 commandments, Lord have mercy upon us, and 
 incline our hearts to keep this law, and yet to hate 
 all those that desire and endeavour to keep them ? 
 What impudent hypocrisy is joined with this ma- 
 lignity ? Mark whether the greatest diligence of 
 the most godly be not justified with the formal pro- 
 fession of those very men that hate and scorn 
 them ? — Works, vol. i. p. 20. 
 
 Two sorts of men do most dangerously sin against 
 or abuse the Holy Ghost : the first is the profane, 
 who through custom and education can say, w I 
 believe in the Holy Ghost ; and say, that " He 
 sanctifieth them, and all the elect people of God 
 but hate or resist all sanctifying words and motions 
 of the Holy Ghost, and hate all those that are sanc- 
 tified by him, and make them the objects of their 
 scorn, and deride the very name of sanctification, 
 or at least the thing. — Works, vol. i. p. 61. 
 
 Chap. XXVII.— Regulation of the Thoughts. 
 
 Overmuch sorrow disableth a man to govern 
 his thoughts ; and ungoverned thoughts must 
 needs be both sinful and very troublesome : grief 
 carrieth them away as in a torrent ; you may almost 
 as easily keep the leaves or trees in quietness and 
 order in a blustering wind, as the thought^ of one 
 M 
 
242 REGULATION OF THE THOUGHTS. 
 
 in troubling passions. If reason would stop them 
 from perplexing subjects, or turn them to better 
 and sweeter things, it cannot do it ; it hath no 
 power against the stream of troubling passions. — 
 Work*) vol. iv. p. 833. 
 
 Keep up a constant government over your 
 thoughts and tongues, especially against those par- 
 ticular sins which you are strongliest tempted to, 
 and which you see other christians most overtaken 
 with. 
 
 Keep your thoughts employed upon something 
 that is good and profitable ; either about some use- 
 ful truths, or about some duty to God and man, of 
 your general or particular calling ; yea, about all 
 these in their several seasons : learn how to watch 
 your thoughts, and stop them a f their first excur- 
 sions, and how to quicken them, and make them 
 serviceable to every grace and every duty. You 
 can never improve your solitary hours if you have 
 not the government of your thoughts. — IVorks, 
 vol. ii. p. 959. 
 
 Methinks you should consider how dispropor- 
 tionably and unequally you lay out your thoughts. 
 Cannot you spare God the tenth, no, nor the hun- 
 dredth part of them r Look back upon your lives, 
 and trace your thoughts from day to day, and tell 
 me how many hours in a week, in a month, in a 
 year, you have spent in serious thoughts of the 
 state of your souls and of the life to come. Is it 
 one hour of a hundred, of a thousand, of ten thou- 
 sand, with some of you, that is thus spent ? Nay, I 
 have very great cause to fear that there are some, 
 yea, that there are many, yea, that there is far the 
 greatest number, that never spent one hour since 
 they were born, in withdrawing themselves pur- 
 
INSTRUCTING OTHERS. 
 
 243 
 
 posely from all business, and soberly and in good 
 sadness, bethinking themselves what case they are 
 in, what evidence they have of their salvation, or 
 how they must be justified at the bar of God; no, 
 nor what business they have in the world, and to 
 What end they were made, and how they have done 
 the work they were made for. Ah, sirs ! doth 
 conscience justify you in this? Or rather, will it not 
 torment you one day to remember it ? What ! did 
 thy land, and livings, worldly matters, deserve all 
 thy thoughts ; and did not the saving of thy soul 
 deserve some of them ? Did thy lusts, and sports, 
 and wantonness deserve all ; and did not God de- 
 serve some of them ? Was it not worth now and 
 then an hour's time, no, nor one hour's study in all 
 thy life, to bethink thee in good sadness how to 
 make sure of a life of endless joy and glory, and 
 how to escape the flames of hell ? This is not an 
 equal distribution of thought, as thou wilt confess 
 at last in the horror of thy soul. — Works, vol. i. 
 p. 564. 
 
 Chap. XXVIII .—Imtructing Others. 
 
 All you whom God hath intrusted with the care 
 of children or servants, I would persuade to the 
 great work of helping them to the heavenly rest. 
 Consider, what plain and pressing commands of 
 God, require this at your hands. " These words 
 thou shalt teach diligently unto thy children, and 
 shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, 
 and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou 
 liest down, and when thou risest up," (Dent. vi. 
 6, J). " Train up a child in the way he should 
 go 5 and when he is old, he will not depart from it," 
 
244 
 
 INSTRUCTING OTHERS. 
 
 (Prov. xxii. 6). " Bring up your children in the 
 nurture and admonition of the Lord," (Eph. vi. 4). 
 " Joshua resolved that he and his house would 
 serve the Lord," (Josh. xxiv. 15). And God him- 
 self said of Abraham, " I know him, that he will 
 command his children, and his household after 
 him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord," 
 (Gen. xviii. 19). Consider it is a duty you owe, in 
 point of justice, to your children. From you they 
 received the defilement and misery of their natures, 
 and therefore you owe I hem all possible help for 
 their recovery. Consider how near your children 
 are to you. They are parts of yourselves. If they 
 prosper when you are dead, you take it as if you 
 lived and prospered in them ; and should you not 
 be of the same mind for their everlasting rest? 
 Otherwise you will be witnesses against your own 
 souls; yea, all the brute creatures may condemn 
 you. Which of them is not tender of their young? 
 Consider, God hath made your children your charge, 
 and your servants too. Every one will confess they 
 are the minister's charge. And have not you a 
 greater charge of your own families, than any mi- 
 nister can have of them ? Doubtless, at your hands 
 God will require the blood of their souls. It is the 
 greatest charge you were ever entrusted with ; and 
 woe to you, if you suffer them to be ignorant or 
 wicked for want of your instruction- or correction. 
 
 On the other side, think what a comfort you 
 may have, if you be faithful in this duty. If you 
 should not succeed, you have freed your own souls, 
 and have peace in your own consciences. If you 
 do, the comfort is inexpressible, in their love and 
 obedience, their supplying your wants, and delight- 
 ing you in all your remaining path to glory. Yea, 
 all your family may fare the better for one pious 
 child or servant. But the greatest joy will be, 
 
DUTIES IN WHICH BELIEVERS ARE BACKWARD. 245 
 
 when you shall say, Lord, here I am, and the 
 children thou hast given me ; and shall joyfully 
 live with them for ever. Consider, how much the 
 welfare of church and state depends on this duty. 
 Good laws will not reform us, if reformation begins 
 not at home. This is the cause of all our miseries 
 in church and state, even the want of a holy edu- 
 cation of children. I also intreat parents to consi- 
 der, what excellent advantages they have for saving 
 their children. They are with you while they are 
 tender and flexible. You have a twig to bend, not 
 an oak. None in the world have such interest in 
 their affections as you have. You have also the 
 greatest authority over them. Their whole de- 
 pendence is upon you for a maintenance. You 
 best know their temper and inclinations. And you 
 are ever with them, and can never want opportuni- 
 ties : especially you mothers, remember this, who 
 are more with your children while young, than 
 their fathers. What pains are you at for their bo- 
 dies ? What do you suffer to bring them into the 
 world ? And will you not be at as much pains for 
 the saving of their souls ? Your affections are ten- 
 der; and will it not move you to think of their pe- 
 rishing for ever ? 1 beseech you, for the sake of 
 the children of your bowels, teach them, admonish 
 them, watch over them, and give them no rest till 
 you have brought them to Christ. — Saints' Rent. 
 p. 186-188. 
 
 Chap. XXIX. — Duties in ivhich Believers are back- 
 ward. 
 
 Among all duties, I think the soul is most back- 
 ward to these following. 1. To secret prayer, be- 
 
246 DUTIES IN WHICH BELIEVERS ARE BACKWARD. 
 
 cause it is spiritual, and requires great reverence, 
 and hath nothing of external pomp or form to take 
 us up with, and consisteth not much in the exer- 
 cise of common gifts, but in the exercise of special 
 grace, and the breathings of the spirit, and search- 
 ings, pantings, strivings, &c. of a gracious soul 
 towards God. I do not speak of the heartless re- 
 peating of bare words, learned by rote, and either 
 not understood, or not uttered from the feeling of 
 the soul. 2. To serious meditation also, is the 
 soul very backward ; that is, either to meditate on 
 God, and the promised glory, or any spiritual sub- 
 ject, to this end, that the heart may be thereby 
 quickened and raised, and graces exercised (though 
 to meditate on the same subject, only to know or 
 dispute on it, the heart is nothing near so back- 
 ward). Or else to meditate on the state of our own 
 hearts, by way of self-examination, or self-j udging, 
 or self-reprehension, or self-exciting. 3. Also to 
 the duty of faithful dealing with each other's souls, 
 in secret reproof and exhortation, plainly, (though 
 lovingly) to tell each other of our sins and danger ; 
 to this the heart is usually very backward ; partly 
 through a sinful bashfulness, partly for want of 
 more believing, lively apprehensions of our duty, 
 and our brothers' danger, and partly because we are 
 loth to displease men and lose their favour, it be- 
 ing so common for men to fall out with those (if 
 not hate then ) that deal plainly and faithfully with 
 them. 4. Also to take a reproof, as well as to give 
 it, the heart is very backward; even godly men 
 (through the sad remainders of their sinfulness) do 
 too commonly frown, and snarl, and retort out re- 
 proofs, and study presently how to excuse them- 
 selves, and put it by, or how to charge us with 
 something that may stop our mouths, and make 
 the reprover seem as bad as themselves : though 
 
DUTIES IN WHICH BELIEVERS ARE BACKWARD. 247 
 
 they dare riot tread our reproofs under feet, and 
 turn again, and all to rent us, yet they oft shew 
 the remains of an evil nature, though when they 
 review their ways it cost them sorrow; liker an ap- 
 proving than a reproving them, liker a flattery than 
 a faithful dealing with them ; and yet when we 
 have done all, they go down very hardly, and that 
 but half-way, even with many godly people, where 
 they are under a temptation. 5. The like may be 
 said of all those duties which do pinch upon our 
 credit, or profit, or tend to disgrace us, or impo- 
 verish us in the world ; as the confessing of a dis- 
 graceful fault; the free giving to the poor or sa- 
 cred uses, according to our estates; the parting 
 with our right or gain for peace; the patient suf- 
 ferings of wrong, and forgiving it heartily, and 
 loving bitter abusive enemies, especially the run- 
 ning upon the stream of men's displeasure, and in- 
 curring the danger of being utterly undone in our 
 worldly state (especially if men be rich, who do 
 themselves hardly y;et to heaven as a camel through 
 a needle's eye) ; and above all, the laving down our 
 lives for Christ. It cannot be expected that godly 
 men should perform all these with perfect willing- 
 ness; the flesh will play its part, in pleading its 
 own cause, and will strive hard lo maintain its own 
 interest. O the shifts, the subtle arguments, or 
 at least the clamorous and importunate contradic- 
 tions that all these duties will meet with in the 
 best, so far as they are renewed, and their graces 
 weak! so that you may well hence conclude that 
 you are sinners, but you may not conclude that 
 you are graceless, because of a backwardness, and 
 some unwillingness to duty.— Works, vol, ii. p. 860. 
 
248 
 
 CHRISTIAN CONDUCT. 
 
 Chap. XXX.— Christian Conduce 
 
 Sect. 1. — Knowledge. 
 
 Labour after a right understanding of the true 
 nature of Christianity, and the meaning of the gos- 
 pel which is sent to convert you. You are natu- 
 rally slaves to the prince of darkmss, and live in a 
 state of darkness, and do the works of darkness, 
 and are hastening apace to utter darkness; and it is 
 the light of saving knowledge that must recover 
 you, or there is no recovery. God is the father of 
 light, and dwelleth in light; Christ is the light of 
 the world, his ministers are also the light of the 
 w r orld, as under him, and sent to turn men from 
 darkness to light, by the gospel, which is a light 
 unto our feet ; and this is to make us children of 
 the light, that we may no more do the works of 
 darkness; but may be made partakers of the inhe- 
 ritai ce of the saints in light (2 Cor. iv. 3, 4j 
 1 John, xv. 9; Jam. i. 17: Matt. i. 5, 14; Acts, 
 xwi. 18; John, viii. 12; 2 Pet. xix.; Eph. v. 8, 
 lb; Cot. i. 12). Believe it, darkness is not the 
 way to the celestial glory ; ignorance is your dis- 
 ease, and knowledge must be your cure. 1 know 
 the ignorant have many excuses, and are apt to 
 think that the case is not so bad with them as we 
 make i to be; and that there is no such need of 
 inow ledge but a man may be saved without it : but 
 this is bevause they want that knowledge that 
 should shew them the misery of their ignorance, 
 and the worth of knowledge. Hath not the scrip- 
 ture plaiuly told you, that if the gospel be hid, it 
 is hid to them that are lost, whose minds the god 
 of this w orld hath blinded, lest the light of the 
 
CHRISTIAN CONDUCT. 
 
 249 
 
 glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, 
 should shine unto them? I do not say that you 
 must all be men of learning, and skilled in the 
 arts and sciences, and languages; but you must 
 have the knowledge of a christian, though not of a 
 scholar. Can you love or serve a God that you 
 know not? Can you let go friends and goods^ and 
 life, for a glory that you have no knowledge of? 
 Can you make it the principal business of your life, 
 to seek for a heaven whose excellency you know 
 nothing of? Can you lament your sin and misery 
 when you are unacquainted with it ? Or will you 
 strive against sin as the greatest evil, when you 
 know not the evil of it? Will you believe in a 
 Christ whom you do not know, and trust your soul 
 and all upon him ? Will you rest upon a promise, 
 or fear a threatening, or be ruled by a law which 
 you do not understand? It is not possible to be 
 christians without knowing the substance of Chris- 
 tianity; nor is it possible for you to be saved with- 
 out knowing the way of salvation. 
 
 Labour therefore to be well acquainted with the 
 grounds and reasons, and nature of your religion. 
 The clearer your light is, the warmer and livelier 
 your hearts will be: illumination is the first part of 
 sanctification. The head is the passage to the 
 heart. Study therefore what God is, and what he 
 is to you, and what he would be to you. Study 
 what sin is, and what the damnation is which it 
 deserveth. Study what Christ is, and hath done and 
 suffered for you, and what he is willing to* do, if 
 you neglect him not. Study what the world is, 
 and what is the utmost sin will do for you. Study 
 what the everlasting glory is which you may h'ave 
 with God, if you lose it not by your folly. And 
 study what faith is, and what repentance is, and 
 what love and joy, and a holy and heavenly life., 
 
250 
 
 READING. 
 
 and how little reason you have to be afraid of 
 them. If this understanding have but deeply pos- 
 sessed you, it will biass your hearts, and make 
 you resolved, settled converts. Whereas if you 
 seem to turn, and scarce know why, and seem to 
 take up a christian life before you are possessed 
 with the nature, grounds, and reasons of it, no 
 marvel if you are quickly lost again in the dark, 
 and if every caviller you meet with can nonplus 
 you, and make you stagger, and call in question*, 
 all you have done, and ravel all you work; or if 
 you do but run from one party to another, and fol- 
 low every one that tells you a fair tale, and never 
 know what to fix upon, nor when you are in the 
 way, nor when you are out. 
 
 The apprehensions of the mind do move the 
 whole man; wisdom is the guide and stay of the 
 soul. Sinning is doing foolishly (2 Sam. xxiv. 10). 
 And sinners are fools (Prov. i. 22; Psal. Ixxv. 4). 
 Their mirth is but the mirth of fools, and their 
 song the songs of fools (Eccl. v. I). And such 
 are not fit for the house of God; for God hath not 
 pleasure in fools (Eccl. v. 4). He hath need to 
 have his wits about him, and know what he doth 
 
 that will be the servant of the God of heaven, and 
 escape the deceits of a subtle devil, and get to 
 heaven through so many difficulties as are before 
 him. Above all getting, therefore get wisdom. — 
 
 Works, vol. ii. p. 556. 
 
 Sect. 2. — Reading. 
 
 O for a man or woman, that is under a load of 
 iin, unassured of pardon and salvation, that is near 
 to death, and unready to die, to be seen with a 
 story or romance in their hand! what a gross incon- 
 gruity is this ? It's fitter the book of God should be 
 
CONVERSATION. 
 
 251 
 
 in your hand; it's that which you must live by 
 and be judged by. — Works, vol. iii. p. 378. 
 
 Sect. 3. — Conversation. 
 
 Provide matter of holy discourse of purpose be- 
 forehand. As you will not travel without money 
 in your purses to defray your charges, so you 
 should not go into company without a provision of 
 such matter as may be profitable for the company 
 that you may be cast upon. — Works, vol. iii. p.377- 
 
 Whenever God's holy name or word are blas- 
 phemed, or used in levity, or jest, or a holy life is 
 made a scorn, or God is notoriously abused or dis- 
 honoured, be ready to reprove it with gravity when 
 you can, and when you cannot, at least let your 
 detestation of it be conveniently manifested. — 
 Works, vol. i. p. 142. 
 
 Beware of the company of the ungodly ; not that 
 I would dissuade thee from necessary converse, 
 or from doing them any office of love; especially, 
 not from endeavouring the good of their souls, as 
 long as thou hast any opportunity or hope; nor 
 would have thee conclude them to be dogs and 
 swine, in prder to evade the duty of reproof ; nor 
 ever to judge them such at all, as long as there is 
 any hope for the better; much less can I approve 
 of their practice, who conclude men dogs and 
 swine, before ever they faithfully and lovingly ad- 
 monish them, or perhaps before they have known 
 them, or spoke with them. But it is the unne- 
 cessary society of ungodly men, and too mueh 
 familiarity with unprofitable companions, that I 
 dissuade you from. Not only the open prophane,, 
 the swearer, the drunkard, and the enemies of 
 
252 
 
 CONVERSATION. 
 
 godliness, will prove hurtful companions to us, 
 though these indeed are carefully to be avoided, 
 but too frequent society with persons merely civil 
 and moral, whose conversation is empty and unedi- 
 fying, may much divert our thoughts from heaven. 
 Our backwardness is such, that we need the most 
 constant and powerful helps. A stone, or a clod, 
 is as fit to arise and fly in the air, as our hearts are 
 naturally to move towards heaven. You need not 
 hinder the rocks from flying up to the sky ; it is 
 sufficient that you do not help them. And surely 
 if our spirits have not great assistance, they may 
 easily be kept from soaring upward, though they 
 never should meet with the least impediment. O 
 think of this in the choice of your company ! W hen 
 your spirits are so disposed for heaven, that you 
 need no help to lift them up, but as flames you are 
 always mounting, and carrying with vou all that 
 is in your way, then you may indeed be less care- 
 ful of your company ; but till then, as you love the 
 delights of a heavenly life, be careful herein. What 
 will it advantage thee in a divine life, to hear how 
 the market goes, or what the weather is, or is like 
 to be, or what news is stirring? This is the dis- 
 course of earthly men. What will it conduce to 
 the raising of thy heart God ward, to hear that 
 this is an able minister, or that an eminent chris- 
 tian, or this an excellent sermon, or that an excel- 
 lent book, or to hear some difficult but unimportant 
 controversy? Yet this, for the most part, is the 
 sweetest discourse thou art like to have from a for- 
 mal, speculative, dead-hearted professor. Nay, 
 if thou hadst newly been warming thy heart in the 
 contemplation of the blessed joys above, would not 
 this discourse benumb thy aflections, and quickly 
 freeze thy heart again? 1 appeal to the judgment 
 of any man who hath tried it, and maketh obser- 
 
CONVERSATION. 
 
 253 
 
 vations on the frame of his spirit. Men cannot 
 well talk of one thing and mind another, especially 
 tilings of such different natures. You, young men, 
 who are most liable to this temptation, think se- 
 riously of what 1 say; can you have your hearts in 
 heaven among your roaring companions in an ale- 
 house or tavern? Or when you work in your 
 shops, with those whose common language is 
 either filthiness, or foolish talking, or jesting? Nay, 
 let me tell you, if you chuse such company when 
 you might have better, and find most delight in 
 such, you are so far from a heavenly conversation, 
 that as yet you have no title to heaven at all, and 
 in that state, shall never come there. If your 
 treasure was there, your heart could not be on 
 things so distant. In a word, our company will 
 be part of our happiness in heaven, and it is a 
 singular part of our furtherance to it, or hindrance 
 from it. — Saints' Rest, p. 246. 
 
 Let thy eternal rest be the subject of thy fre- 
 quent serious discourse ; especially with those that 
 can speak from their hearts, and are seasoned 
 themselves with a heavenly nature. It is pity 
 christians should ever meet together, without some 
 talk of their meeting in heaven, or of the way to 
 it, before they part. It is pity so much time is 
 spent in vain conversation and useless disputes, and 
 not a serious word of heaven among them. Me- 
 thinks we should meet together on purpose to 
 warm our spirits with discoursing of our rest. To 
 hear a christian set forth that blessed glorious state, 
 with life and power, from the promises of the gos- 
 pel; methinks should make us say, " did not our 
 hearts burn within us, while he opened unto us 
 the scriptures?" (Luke, xxiv. 32). If a Felix will 
 tremble when he hears his judgment powerfully 
 
254 
 
 CONVERSATION. 
 
 represented, why should not the believer be re- 
 vived when he hears Ins eternal rest described ? 
 Wicked men can be delighted in talking together 
 of their wickedness : and should not christians 
 then be delighted in talking of Christ? and the 
 heirs of heaves in talking of their inheritance? 
 This may make our hearts revive, as it did Jacob's 
 to hear the message that called him to Goshen, 
 and to see the chariots that should bring him to 
 Joseph. O that we were furnished with skill and 
 resolution, to turn the stream of men's common 
 discourse to these more sublime and precious 
 things! And when men begin to talk of things 
 unprofitable, that should tell how to put in a word 
 for heaven, and say, as Peter of his bodily food, 
 " Not so, for I have never eaten of any thing that 
 is common or unclean!" O the good that we 
 might both do and re.eive by this course? Had it 
 not been to deter us from unprofitable conversation, 
 Christ would not have talked of our giving an ac- 
 count of every idle word in the day of judgment, 
 (Matt. xii. b6). Say then, as the Psalmist, when 
 you are in company, " let my tongue cleave to the 
 roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above 
 mv chief joy." {PsmL exxxvii. 6), — Saints' Rett, 
 p.' 259. 
 
 Make choice of such christians for your familiar 
 friends, and the companions of your lives, as are 
 holy, humble, heavenly, serious, mortified, chari- 
 table, peaceable, judicious, experienced in the 
 ways of God; and not of ungodly persons, or 
 proud, self-conceited, sensual, worldly, opinion- 
 ative, censorious, dividing, injudicious, unexpe- 
 rienced, superficial, lukewarm, or unsettled pro- 
 fessors. 
 
 Your company is a matter of exceeding great 
 
DISPUTATION. 
 
 255 
 
 concernment to you, as one of the greatest helps 
 or hindrances, comforts or discomforts, of all your 
 lives, especially those that you dwell with, and 
 those that you choose for your familiars and hosom 
 friends. And therefore (so far as God's providence 
 doth not forbid you, and make it impossible) 
 choose such as are here described, or at least one 
 such for your bosom friend, if you can have ac- 
 quaintance with no more. It is of unspeakable 
 importance to your salvation, with whom you are 
 associated for most familiar converses. A good 
 companion will teach you what you know not, or 
 remind you of what you forget, or stir you up 
 when you are dull, or warm you when you are 
 cold, and watch over you and warn you of your 
 danger, and save you from the poison of ill compa- 
 nions. O what a help and delight is it to have a 
 holy, judicious, faithful friend to open your hearts 
 to, and watch within the ways of life. And how- 
 exceeding hard it is to escape sin and hell, and get 
 well to heaven, in company and familiarity with 
 the servants of the devil, who are posting unto 
 hell? Let not your companions be worse than 
 yourselves, lest they make you worse; but as much 
 wiser and better as you can procure. See Eceles. 
 iv. 9, 12; Psalm, xvi. 22, and cxix. 63; Prov. 
 xiii. 20. — Woiks, vol. ii. p. 959. 
 
 Sect. 4. — Disputation. 
 
 Avoid frequent disputes about lesser truths, and 
 a religion that lies only in opinions. They are 
 usually least acquainted with a heavenly life, who are 
 violent disputers about the circumstantiais of re- 
 ligion. He, whose religion is all in his opinions, 
 will be most frequently and zealously speaking his 
 opinions ; and he, whose religion lies in the know- 
 
256 
 
 DISPUTATION. 
 
 ledge and love of God and Christ, will be more 
 delightfully speaking of that happy time when he 
 shall enjoy them. He is a rare and precious chris- 
 tian, who is skilful to improve well known truths. 
 Therefore let me advise you who aspire after a hea- 
 venly life, not to spend too much of your thoughts, 
 your time, your zeal, or your speech, upon dis- 
 putes that less concern your souls; but when hy- 
 pocrites are feeding on husks and shells, do you 
 feed on the joys above. I wish you were able to 
 defend every truth of God, and to this end would 
 read and study; but still I would have the chief 
 truths to be chiefly studied, and none to cast out 
 your thoughts of Eternity. The least controverted 
 points are usually most weighty, and of most ne- 
 cessary frequent use to our souls. Therefore study 
 well such scrpture precepts as these ; " him that 
 is weak in the faith, receive ye, but not to doubt- 
 ful disputations/' (Rom. xiv. 1). u Foolish and 
 unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do 
 gender strifes, and the servants of the Lord must 
 not strive," (2 Tim. xi. 23, 24). " Avoid foolish 
 questions and genealogies, and contentions, and 
 strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable 
 and vain," (Tit. iii. 9). " If any man teach other- 
 wise, and consent not to wholesome words, even 
 the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the 
 doctrine which is according to godliness ; he is 
 proud, knowing nothing, but doting about ques- 
 tions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, 
 strifes, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disput- 
 ings of men of corrupted minds, and destitute of 
 the truth, supposing that gain is godliness; from 
 such withdraw thyself," (1 Tim. vi. 3, 5).— Saints' 
 Rest, p. 248. 
 
 Baxter gives excellent advice to believers, (Life 
 
WEALTH AND POVERTY. 
 
 257 
 
 of Faith) against entering into debates in defence 
 of Christianity at improper times and seasons, and 
 by persons unequal to cope with the devil. — 
 Works, vol. iii. p. 551. 
 
 Sect. 5. — Wealth and Poverty. 
 
 He is not the poor man that hath but little, but 
 he that would have more; nor is he the rich man 
 that hath much, but he that is content with what 
 he hath. If you pray for your daily bread, be not 
 such hypocrites as by the bent of your desires to 
 cross your prayers. — Works, vol. iii. p. 440. 
 
 Look to your end, and secure the main : dream 
 not that you have any full propriety; remember 
 that you are God's stewards; set therefore your 
 master's name, and not your own, upon every pen- 
 nyworth you possess; let holiness to the Lord be 
 written upon all. Possess nothing but what is de- 
 vo'ed to him, to be used as he would have you. 
 Put him not off with scraps and leavings, that gave 
 you all. So much as you save from him, you lose; 
 and so much as you lose for him, and surrender to 
 him, and improve for him, you save, and more 
 than save. For godliness with content is great 
 gain, and he that is faithful in a little, sha 1 be 
 made ruler over much. — Works, vol. iii. p. 440. 
 
 Though the prosperity of fools destroy them, do 
 not hence accuse God that giveth them prosperity; 
 nor do not think to excuse yourselves ; nor do not 
 think that riches are evil ; for the things are good, 
 and mercies in themselves, and being rightly used, 
 may further their felicity. But it is the folly and 
 corruption of their hearts, that thus abuseth them, 
 and maketh good an occasion of evil. I may allude 
 
258 
 
 WEALTH AND POVERTY. 
 
 to Paul's words concerning the law, (Rom. vii. 7, 
 13). x\re they sin? Or is that which is trt>od made 
 death to them ? God forbid, but sin, thai it may 
 appear sin, worketh death by that which is good : 
 because they are carnally sold under sin. Nor 
 must you cast away your riches, or refuse them 
 when offered by God. But take them as a faithful 
 steward doth his master's stock, not desiring to be 
 overburdened or endangered with the charge, but 
 bearing what is imposed on you, resolving to im- 
 prove it all for God. Not loving or desiring 
 wealth, authority, or honour, nor yet so lazy, ti- 
 morous, or distrustful as not to accept the burden 
 and charge, w hen God may be served by it. To 
 cast away or hide your talents, is the part of an 
 unprofitable servant.- — Woiks> vol. iv. p. -478. 
 
 Whenever you have several ways before you for 
 the laviug out of voi r money or your time, let the 
 question be seriously put to your heart, which of 
 these ways shall 1 wish at death and judgment that 
 I had expended it ? And let that be chosen as the 
 way. — JYorfo, vol. iii. p. 441. 
 
 When you begin to taste more sweetness in the 
 creature, and be more tickled with applause and 
 honour, and pleased more with a full estate, and 
 more impatient with poverty, or wants, or wrongs 
 from men, and crosses in the world; and when 
 you are set upon a thriving course, and are eager 
 to grow rich, and in love with money ; when you 
 drown yourselves in worldly cares and businesses, 
 and are cumbered about many thin_s by your own 
 choice, this shews indeed that you are dangerously 
 unhumbled, and if God have mercy for you, he 
 will bring you low, and make your riches gall and 
 wormwood to you, and abate your appetite, and 
 
INDUSTRY. 
 
 259 
 
 teach you to know that one thing is needful ; and 
 to be more eagec after the food that perisheth not, 
 and hereafter to choose the better part, (Luke, x. 
 41, 42 ; Joh. vi. 27. 
 
 When you can return to play with the occasions 
 of sin, or look upon it with a reconcileable mind, 
 as if you had yet some mind on it, and could al- 
 most find in your heart to be doing it again; when 
 you begin to have a mind of your old company and 
 courses, or begin to draw as near it as you dare, 
 and are gazing upon the bait, and tasting of the 
 forbidden thing, and can scarce tell how to deny 
 your fancies, your appetites, your senses and de- 
 sires; this shews that you want some awakening 
 work. God must yet read you another lecture in 
 the black book, and set you to spell those lines of 
 blood which it seems you have forgotten; and kin- 
 dle a little of that fire in your conscience, which 
 else you would run into, till you feel and under- 
 stand, whether it be good playing with sin, and 
 the wrath of God, and the everlasting fire. — Works, 
 vol. ii. p. 575. 
 
 Adam says, I see the devil's hook, and yet will 
 be nibbling at the bait. 
 
 Sect. 6. — Industry. 
 
 No man can be excused from doing all the good 
 he can to others, by any pretence of looking to his 
 soul ; for he can no way more surely further his 
 salvation ; nor can he hinder it more, than by sin- 
 ful negligence or sloth. — IVorks, vol. iii. p. 639. 
 
 A christian indeed is faithful and laborious in his 
 calling, and that not out of a covetous mind; but 
 obedience to God, and that he may maintain his 
 family,' and be able to do good to others. For 
 
RESIDENCE. 
 
 God has said, In the sweat of thy face shalt thou 
 eat thy bread (Gen. iii. 19). And six days shalt 
 thou labour (Eocod. xx. 10). And with quietness 
 men must work, and eat their own bread, and if 
 any will not work, neither should lie eat (2 Thess. 
 iii. 10, 11, 12). Abraham and Noah, and Adam, 
 laboured in a constant course of employment. He 
 knoweth that a sanctified calling and labour is a 
 help, and not a hindrance to devotion; and that 
 the body must have work as well as the soul, and 
 that religion must not be pretended for slothful 
 idleness, nor against obedience to our master's will 
 (Prov. xxxi.) — Works, vol. ii. p. 986. 
 
 Sect. 7. — Residence. 
 
 Do your best to settle yourselves where there are 
 the greatest helps and smallest hindrances to the 
 redeeming of your time; and labour to accommo- 
 date your habitation, condition, and employments 
 more to the great ends of your life and time, th m to 
 your worldly honour, ease, or wealth. — Works, 
 vol. i. p. 227. 
 
 Do you not know that you are more like to over- 
 love pleasing accommodations, sumptuous houses, 
 fin** furniture, with gardens, walks, and decorated 
 grounds, than a mean habitation ? Why should you 
 be such enemies to your own salvation, as to make 
 temptations for yourselves? Have you not tempta- 
 tions enough already? Do you deal with those you 
 have so well, and overcome them so easily and so 
 constantly, as that you have reason to desire more' 
 — Works, vol. iii. p. 380. 
 
 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the 
 love of God the Father, and the communion of the 
 Holy Ghost, do shut up your liturgy by way of 
 
AFFLICTION. 
 
 261 
 
 benediction; but it is almost all shut out of your 
 sermons, unless a few heartless customary pas- 
 sages ; and when there is nothing Less in your 
 preaching, than that which is the substance of your 
 baptismal covenant and Christianity, and your cus- 
 to. nary benediction; you do but tell the people 
 what kind of Christianity you ha-e, and what bene- 
 diction : that is, that you are neither truly chris- 
 tians, nor blessed. 
 
 True morality, or the christian ethicks, is the 
 love of God and man, stirred up by the spirit of 
 Christ through faith; and exercised in works of piety, 
 justice, charity, and temperance, in order to the 
 attainment of everlasting happiness, in the perfect 
 unison and fruition of God. And none but igno- 
 rant or brain-sick sectaries, will be orrended for the 
 preaching of any of this morality (Luke, xi. 42). — 
 Works, vol. iii. p. 610. 
 
 Sect. 8. — Retirement and Solitude. 
 
 They that do but little good (according to their 
 ability) must expect but little comfort. They have 
 usually most peace and comfort to themselves that 
 are the most profitable to others. — Works, vol. iii. 
 p. 755. 
 
 Baxter has a passage upon the business of a 
 christian with God, in solitude, that well deserves 
 reading. — Works, vol. iii. p. 758. 
 
 Sect. 9. — Affliction. 
 
 Mark well, whether you find not that yourselves 
 and others are usually much better in affliction than 
 in prosperity; and whether there be not something 
 in the one to make you better, and in the other to 
 
262 
 
 AFFLICTION. 
 
 delude men, and make them worse. O look and 
 tremble, at the dangers and doleful miseries of most 
 that are lifted high! how they are blinded, flat- 
 tered, and captivated in sin, and are the shame of 
 nature, and the calamity of the world! and mark 
 when they come to die, or lie in sickness, how en- 
 lightened, hew penitent, how humble, how mor- 
 tified, and reformed they then seem to be, and 
 how much they condemn all sin, and justify a 
 holy life; and observe yourselves, whether you be 
 not wiser and better, more penitent, and less 
 worldly in an afflicted state : and will you think that 
 intolerable, which so much bettereth almost all 
 the world? Alas, were it not for affliction, there 
 are some Nebuchadnezzar s that would never be 
 humbled, and some Pharaohs that would never 
 confess their sins, and some Manassehs that would 
 never be converted. Many in heaven are thankful 
 for affliction, and so should we (Eccles. vii. 2, 3, 
 4, 5, 6). — Works, vol. iii. p. 645. 
 
 We are not yet come to our resting place. Doth 
 it remain ? How great then is our sin and folly, to 
 expect it here ? Where shall we find the christian 
 that deserves not this reproof? We would all have 
 continual prosperity, because it is easy and pleas- 
 ing to thefiesh; but we consider not the unreason- 
 ableness of such desires. And when we enjoy con- 
 venient houses, goods, lands, and revenues; or 
 the necessary means God hath appointed for our 
 spiritual good; we seek rest in these enjoyments. 
 Whether we are in an afflicted or prosperous state, 
 it is apparent, we exceedingly make the creature 
 our r^st. Do we not desire creature enjoyments 
 more violently, when we want them, than we de- 
 sire God himself } Do we not delight more in the 
 possession of them, than in the enjoyment of God? 
 
AFFLICTION. 
 
 203 
 
 And if we lose them, doth it not trouble us more 
 than the loss of God ? Is it not enough, that they 
 are refreshing helps in our way to heaven; but 
 they must also be made our heaven itself? Chris- 
 tian reader, I would as willingly make thee sensi- 
 ble of this sin, as of any sin in the world, if I 
 could tell how to do it; for the Lord's greatest 
 quarrel with us is in this point. In order to this, I 
 most earnes ly beseech thee to consider the rea- 
 sonableness of present affliction, and the unreason- 
 ableness of resting in present enjoyments; as also of 
 our unwillingness to aie, that we may possess eter- 
 nal rest. 
 
 To shew the reasonableness of present afflictions, 
 consider, they are the way to rest, and they keep 
 us from mistaking our rest, and from losing our 
 way to it; they quicken our pace towards it; they 
 chiefly incommode our flesh; and under them 
 God's people have often the sweetest foretastes of 
 rest. 
 
 Consider, that labour and trouble are the com- 
 mon way to rest, both in the course of nature and 
 grace. Can there possibly be rest without weari- 
 ness? Do you not travel and toil first, and rest 
 after? The day for labour is first, and then follow 
 the night for rest. Why should we desire the 
 course of grace to be perverted, any more than the 
 course of nature? It is an established decree, 
 " that we must through much tribulation enter the 
 kingdom of heaven" (Acts, xiv. 22) . And that " if 
 we suffer, we shall also reign with Christ" (2 Tim. 
 ii. 12). And what are we, that God's statutes 
 should be reversed for our pleasure ? 
 
 Afflictions are exceeding useful to us to keep us 
 from mistaking our rest. A christian's motion to- 
 ward heaven is voluntary, and not constrained. 
 
264 
 
 AFFLICTION. 
 
 Those means, therefore, are most profitable, which 
 help his understanding and will. The most dan- 
 gerous mistake of our souls is, to take the creature 
 for God, and earth for heaven. What warm, affec- 
 tionate, eager thoughts have we of the world, till 
 afflictions cool and moderate them? Afflictions 
 speak convincingly, and will be heard when 
 preachers cannot. Many a poor christian is some- 
 times bending his thoughts to wealth or flesh- 
 pleasing, or applause, and so loses his relish of 
 Christ and the joy above ; till God break in upon 
 his riches, or children, or conscience, or health, 
 and break down his mountain, which he thought so 
 strong ; and then, when he lieth in Manasseh's 
 fetters, or is fastened to the bed with pining sick- 
 ness, the w r orld is nothing, and heaven is some- 
 thing. If our dear Lord did not put these thorns 
 under our head, we should sleep out our lives, and 
 lose our glory. 
 
 Afflictions are also God's most effectual means 
 to keep us from losing our way to our rest. With- 
 out this hedge of thorns on the right hand and 
 left, we should hardly keep the way to heaven. If 
 there be but one gap open, how ready are we to 
 find it, and turn out at it ? When we grow wan- 
 ton, or worldly, or proud, how doth sickness, or 
 other afflictions reduce us? Every christian, as 
 well as Luther, may call afflictions one of his best 
 school-masters ; and with David may say, " Be- 
 fore I was afflicted, I went astray; but now have I 
 learnt to keep thy word." Many thousand recovered 
 sinners may cry, " O healthful sickness! O com- 
 fortable sorrows? O gainful losses! O enriching 
 poverty! O blessed day that ever I was afflicted!" 
 Not only the green pastures, and still waters, but 
 the rod and staff, they comfort us. Though the 
 
AFFLICTION* 
 
 265 
 
 word and spirit do the main work, yet suffering so 
 unbolts the door of the heart, that the word hath 
 easier entrance. 
 
 Afflictions likewise serve to quicken our pace in 
 the way to our rest. It were well if mere love would 
 prevail with us, and that we were rather drawn to 
 heaven, than driven. But seeing our hearts are so 
 bad, that mercy will not do it j it is better to be 
 put on with the sharpest scourge, than loiter, like 
 the foolish virgins, till the door is shut. O what 
 difference is there betwixt our prayers in health 
 and in sickness ; betwixt our repentance in prospe- 
 rity and adversity! Alas! if we did not some- 
 times feel the spur, what a slow pace would most 
 of us hold towards heaven? Since our vile natures 
 require it, why should we be unwilling that God 
 should do us good by sharp means? Judge, 
 christian, whether thou dost not go more watch- 
 fully and speedily in the way to heaven, in thy 
 sufferings, than in thy more pleasing and prosper- 
 ous state? — Saint's Rest, p. 191. 
 
 I am persuaded, our discontents and murmur- 
 ings are not so provoking to God, nor so destruc- 
 tive to the sinner, as our too sweet enjoying, and 
 resting in, a pleasing state. If God should cross 
 you in wife, children, goods, friends, either by 
 taking them away, or the comfort of them, try whe- 
 ther this be not the cause. — Saint's Rest, p. 199. 
 
 Take it not for a calamity, but for a precious ad- 
 vantage, when God calls thee to a hazardous costly 
 service, which is like to cost thee much of thy 
 estate, to cast thee to the loss of thy chiefest 
 friends, the loss of thy credit, the indignation of 
 great ones, or the painfullest diligence and trouble 
 of body : shift it not off, but take this opportunity 
 N 
 
266 
 
 AFFLICTION. 
 
 thankfully, lest thou never have such another for 
 the clearing of thy sincerity, and the obtaining 
 more than ordinary consolations from God. Thou 
 hast now a prize in thy hands for spiritual riches, 
 if thou hast but a heart to improve it. I know all 
 this is a paradox to the unbelieving world. But 
 here is the very excellency of the christian religion, 
 and the glory of faith. It looks for its greatest 
 spoils, and richest prizes, from its conquests of 
 fleshly interests. It is not only able to do it, but 
 it expecteth its advancements and consolations by 
 this way. It is engaged in a war with the world 
 and flesh; and in this war, it plays not the vapour- 
 ing fencer, that seems to do much, but never 
 strikes at home, as hypocrites and carnally worldly 
 professors do: but he lays it home and spares not, 
 as one that knows, that the flesh's ruin must be 
 his rising, and the flesh's thriving would be his 
 ruin. In these things the true christian alone is 
 in good sadness, and all the rest of the world but 
 in jest. The Lord pity poor deluded souls ! You 
 may see by this one thing, how rare a thing true 
 Christianity is among the multitudes, that take 
 themselves for christians ! And how certain there- 
 fore it is, that few shall be saved ! Even this one 
 point of true mortification and self-denial, is a 
 stranger among the most of professors. 
 
 In your preventing sin, and maintaining your 
 innocency, if you cannot do it without denying 
 your credit, and exposing yourself to disgrace, or 
 without the loss of friends, or a breach in your 
 estate, do it nevertheless; yea, if it would cost 
 you your utter ruin in the world, thank God that 
 put such an opportunity into' your hands for ex- 
 traordinary consolations. For ordinarily the mar- 
 tyr's comforts exceeded other men's, as much as 
 their burthen of duty and sufferings doth. Cyprian 
 
TEMPTATION. 
 
 26/ 
 
 is fain to write for the comfort of some christians in 
 his time, that at death were troubled that they 
 missed of their hopes of martyrdom. So also, if you 
 cannot mortify any lust without much pinching 
 the flesh, do it cheerfully ; for the dearer the vic- 
 tory costeth you, the sweeter will be the issue and 
 review.— Works, vol. i. p. 891, 892. 
 
 Sect. 10. — Temptation. 
 
 Cast not yourselves wilfully upon temptations, 
 but avoid them as far as lawfully you can ; and if 
 you are cast upon them unwillingly, resist them 
 resolutely, as knowing that tbey come to entice 
 you into sin and hell, from God and your everlast- 
 ing happiness; and therefore be well acquainted 
 with the particular temptations of every company, 
 calling, relation, business, time, place, and con- 
 dition of life, and go always furnished with parti- 
 cular antidotes against them all. 
 
 Strong graces will do more against strong temp- 
 tations, than weak graces against weak ones. 
 Temptation is the way to sin, and sin is the way to 
 hell. If you saw the dangerousness of your station, 
 when you cast yourselves upon temptations, you 
 would tremble and fly, as for your lives. I take 
 that man as almost gone already, who chooseth 
 temptation, or avoids them not when he may. Espe- 
 cially be acquainted with the diseases and greatest 
 dangers of your soul, and there keep up a constant 
 watch. Are yo»: liable to a gluttonness, pleasing ap- 
 petite ? Avoid the temptation ; set not that before 
 you which may be your snare : let a little, and that 
 of the least tempting kind of food, be your ordi- 
 nary provision. Sit not at the glutton's table 
 (who fareth delicious! y every day), if you would 
 escape the glutton's sin and misery. Or if the pro- 
 
268 
 
 TEMPTATION. 
 
 vision be of other men's disposal, at least rise 
 quickly and be gone. Are you inclined to please 
 your appetites in drinking? Avoid such strong 
 drink as may please your appetites, and tempt you 
 to intoxication ; and avoid the place and company 
 that draw you to it. Are you inclined to fleshly 
 lusts? Avoid the presence of such of the other 
 sex as are temptations to you : look not on them, 
 nor talk not of them ; but above all, take heed of 
 familiarity and privacy with them ; and of all op- 
 portunity of sin. When the devil hath brought 
 the bait to your hand, and telleth you, now you 
 may sin without molestation and discovery, you 
 are then in a very dangerous case. Some that 
 think they would not be guilty of the sin, will yet 
 tempt themselves and delight to have it in their 
 power, and to have the opportunity of sinning, 
 and to come as near it as they dare ; and these are 
 gone before they well perceive their danger. So if 
 you are inclined to pride and ambition, avoid the 
 society of those that tempt you to it: come not 
 among superiors and gallants, or such as kindle 
 your ambition. A retired life, in company of mean 
 and humble persons, is fittest for one that hath 
 your disease. Mind not high things, but conde- 
 scend to men of low estate, (Rom. xii. 16). But 
 if you cannot avoid the temptation, be sure yet to 
 avoid the sin ; take it as if you saw the devil him- 
 self, and heard him persuading you to sin, and 
 damn your souls. Abhor the motion, and give 
 not the devil a patient hearing when you know 
 what he cometh about: resolution scapeth many a 
 danger, which those are ruined by, who stand dis- 
 puting and dallying with the tempter. Especially 
 look about you when the devil employs great men, 
 or learned men, or godly men, or nearest friends, 
 to be his instruments. And if their subtility puz- 
 
TEMPTATION IN BELIEVERS. 
 
 269 
 
 zle you, go to the stronger and more experienced 
 christians for advice and help. Watch and pray, 
 that ye enter not into temptation, (Matt. vi. 13 ; 
 and xxvi. 41). It is a dreadful thing to think what 
 persons' temptations have overthrown, (Luke, xviii. 
 13; Heb.vi. 6, 7). How wise and learned, and 
 excellent men, have been outwitted by Satan, and 
 sinned like fools, when they have let go their 
 watch. — Works, vol. ii. p. 957. 
 
 The victory of God's spirit over the flattering, 
 enticing world in prosperity, is great and glorious, 
 if not more so, than that over the frowning world 
 in adversity. And therefore find the one, and 
 you need not fear the other. — Works, vol. ii. 
 p. 862. 
 
 \ . **• . , »'iiA*uvt 
 
 Be not confident of your own strength; keep 
 away from the tavern and ale-house ; come not 
 within the doors, except in cases of true neces- 
 sity : keep out of the company of tiplers and drunk- 
 ards. Let not the (Matt. xvi. 13; Matt. xxvi. 
 41 ; Luke, viii. 13) tempting cup be in your sight; 
 or if you be unwillingly cast upon temptation, let 
 holy fear renew vour resolution. — Works, vol. iv. 
 p. 185. 
 
 ' •>:*m?j jrrr. i/i-v;! n\ih}ti tuO / 
 
 Sect. 1 1 . — Temptation in Believers. 
 
 The devil will strive to lose and bewilder you in 
 some mistakes, or to make you think that your con- 
 version was not true, beeause you had no more 
 brokenness of heart for sin ; or because you know 
 not just the time when you were convened ; or he 
 will make you think that all religion lieth in striv- 
 ing to weep, and break your heart more ; or that you 
 have no grace, because you have not such a lively 
 
270 TEMPTATION IN BELIEVERS. 
 
 sense of things invisible, as you have of things that 
 are seen; or he will tell you that now you must 
 not think nor talk of the world, but all your 
 thoughts -and talk must be of God, and his word 
 and holy tilings 5 and that all other is idle thoughts 
 and talk; and that you must tie yourself to longer 
 tasks of meditation and prayer than you have time 
 and strength to carry on. — Works, voL iv. p. 181. 
 
 # Did not the devil plead scripture with Christ in 
 his temptations? (Matt. iv). And doth he not, 
 (2 Cor. ii. 14, 15) transform himself into an angel 
 of light to deceive? When he cannot keep you in 
 security and profaneness, he will put on a vizor 
 of godliness: and whenever the devil would seem 
 religious and righteous, he will be religious and 
 righteous overmuch. 
 
 (Saul). What geitelhhe by this? Would he make 
 us wore religious f 
 
 (Paul). You little know what he hopeth to get 
 by it. Over-doing is undoing all: He would de- 
 stroy all your religion by it. If you run your horse 
 till you tire him or break his wind, is not tha' the 
 way to lose your journey? Nothing ever-violent is 
 durable. If a scholnr study so hard as to crack his 
 brains, he will never be a good scholar or a wise 
 man, ti!4 he is cured. Our souls here are united 
 to our bodies, and must go on that pace that the 
 body can endure. If Satan can tempt you into a 
 longer and deeper musing (especially on the sadder 
 objects in religion) than your body and brain can 
 bear, you will grow melancholy before you are 
 aware, and then you little know how ill a guest you 
 have entertained. For when once you are melan- 
 choly, you will be disabled then from secret prayer 
 and from meditating at all : it will but confound 
 you: you cannot bear it: and so by over-doing, 
 
TEMPTATION IN BELIEVERS. 2/1 
 
 you will come to do nothing of that sort of duty. 
 And you will then have none but either fanatick 
 whimsies, and visions, and prophecyings, or else 
 (more usually) sad despairing thoughts in your 
 mind: all that you hear, and read, and see, you 
 will think maketh against you : you will believe 
 nothing that soundeth comfortably to you : you can 
 think none but black and hideous thoughts. The 
 devil will tell you a hundred times over, that you 
 are an hypocrite and unsanctified, and all that you 
 ever did was hypocrisy, and that none of your sins 
 are yet forgiven ; and that you shall as sure be in 
 hell as if you were there already; that God is your 
 enemy, that Christ is no saviour for you ; that you 
 have sinned against the Holy Ghost, or that the 
 day of grace is past; that the spirit is departed, 
 and that God hath forsaken you ; that it is now too 
 late, too late to repent and find mercy ; and that 
 you are undone for ever. These black thoughts 
 will be like a beginning of hell to you. 
 
 And it is not yourself only that will be the suf- 
 ferer by this, but many of the ignorant and wicked 
 will, by seeing you, be hardened into a love of se- 
 curity and sensuality, and will fly from religion as 
 a frightful thing which doth not illuminate men, 
 but make them mad, or cast them into desperation. 
 And so Satan will use you, as some Papists have 
 drawn the picture of a Protestant like a devil, or 
 an ass, to affright men from religion ; or as we set 
 up maukins to frighten birds from the corn ; as if 
 he had written on your back, for all to read, " see 
 what you must come to, if you will be religious." — 
 Works, vol. iv. p. 182. 
 
272 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 Sect. 12. — Leaving Fortune by Will 
 
 He that will not labour, saith Paul, let him not 
 eat, (2 T/im. iii.), much more in such greater cases. 
 According to God's ancient law, (Dent, xxi.), 
 they forfeit their lives, and the parents there were 
 to cause them to be put to death, that were obsti- 
 nately unreformed. And is the case so altered, 
 think you now, as that you are bound to make 
 such children rich, that parents then were bound 
 to put to death ? I am not bound to give unne- 
 cessary provisions to an enemy of God, to mis- 
 employ it, and strengthen him to do mischief, 
 and be more able to oppress God's servants, or op- 
 pose his truth, or serve the devil. — Works, vol. iii. 
 p. 442. 
 
 Sect. 13. — Hie Christian Life. 
 
 A confirmed christian, as contrary to a weak one, 
 1. Is not to be judged by his freedom from all 
 scruples, doubts or fears. 2. Not by his eminence 
 in men's esteem, or observation. 3. Nor by his 
 strength of memory. 4. Or freedom of utterance 
 in praying, preaching, or discourse. 5. Or by his 
 seemly deportment or courtesy towards others. 
 6. Nor by his sedate, calm, and lovely temper, and 
 freedom from some haste or heats which others' 
 tempers are more prone to. 7- Nor by a man's 
 pleasing or dissembling faculty to bridle his tongue, 
 when it would open the corruption of the mind, 
 and suppress all words which would make others 
 know how bad the heart is. There are many endow- 
 ments laudable and desirable, which will not shew 
 so much as sincerity in grace; and much less a state 
 of confirmation and stability. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 2/3 
 
 But confirmation lietli in the great degree of all 
 those graces which constitute the christian. And 
 the great degree appeareth in the operations of 
 them. As, 1. When holiness is as a new nature 
 in us, and giveth us a promptitude to holy actions, 
 and maketh us free and ready to them, and maketh 
 them easy and familiar to us : whereas the weak go 
 heavily, and can scarce drive on and force their 
 minds. 2. When there is a constancy, or fre- 
 quency in holy actions; which sheweth the strength 
 and stability of holy inclinations. 3. When they 
 are powerful to bear down opposition and temp- 
 tations, and can get over the greatest impediments 
 in the way, and make an advantage of all resist- 
 ance, and despise the most splendid baits of sin. 
 
 4. When it is still getting ground, and drawing 
 the soul upward and nearer to God, its rest and 
 end. And when the heart groweth more heavenly 
 and divine, and astranger to earth and earthly things. 
 
 5. And when holy and heavenly things are more 
 sweet and delectable to the soul, and are sought 
 and used with more love and pleasure. All these 
 do shew that the operations of grace are vigorous 
 and strong, and consequently that the habits are 
 so also. 
 
 And this confirmation should be found, first, 
 in the understanding; secondly, in the will; thirdly, 
 in the affections; and fourthly, in the life. 
 
 When the mind of man hath a larger compre- 
 hension of the truths of God, and the order and 
 method, and usefulness of every truth; and a 
 deeper apprehension of the certainty of them, and 
 of the goodness of the matter expressed in them ; 
 when knowledge and faith come nearest unto 
 sight or intention, and we have the fullest, the 
 truest and firmest, and most certain apprehension 
 of things revealed and unseen; when the nature 
 n 5 
 
271 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 and the reason, and the ends and benefits of the 
 christian religion, are almost clearly, orderly, de- 
 cently, constantly, and powerfully printed on the 
 mind, then is that mind in a confirmed state. 
 
 When the will is guided by such a confirmed un- 
 derstanding, and is not brutishly resolved, he know- 
 eth not for what, or why! When light hath fixed 
 it in such resolutions as are past all notable doubt- 
 ings, deliberations, waverings, or unwilling back- 
 wardness: and a man is in seeking God and his 
 salvation, and avoiding known sin, as a natural 
 man is about the question, whether he should pre- 
 serve his life, and make provision for it, and whe- 
 ther he should poison or famish, or torment him- 
 self? When the inclination of his will to God, and 
 heaven and holiness, are likest to its natural incli- 
 nations to good as good, and to its own felicity! 
 And its action is so free as to have least in deter- 
 mination, and to be likest to natural necessary acts, 
 as those are of blessed spirits in heaven! When the 
 least intimation from God prevaileth, and the will 
 doth answer him with readiness and delight ! And 
 when it taketh pleasure to trample upon all oppo- 
 sition, and when all that can be offered to corrupt 
 the heart, and draw it to sin, and loosen it from 
 God, prevaileth but as so much filth and dung 
 would do, (Phil. iii. 7 5 8> 9) : This is a confirmed 
 state of will. 
 
 When the affections do proceed from such a will, 
 and are ready to assist, excite, and serve it, and to 
 carry us on in necessary duties ! When the lower 
 affections of fear and sorrow do cleanse, and re- 
 strain, and prepare the way, and the higher affec- 
 tions of love, and delight, adhere to God, and a 
 desire and hope do make out after him, and set the 
 soul on just endeavours; when fear and grief have 
 less to do, and arc delivering up the heart still 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 2/5 
 
 more and more to the profession of holy delight 
 and love! And when those affections, which are 
 rather profound than very sensible, immediately 
 towards God himself, are sensible towards his 
 word, his servants, his graces, his ways, and against 
 all sin, then are the affections, and the man, in a 
 confirmed state. 
 
 When ourselves, our time, and all that we have, 
 are taken to be God's, and not our own : and are 
 entirely, and unreservedly resigned unto him, and 
 used for him ; when we study our duty, and trust 
 lo him for our reward; when we live as those that 
 have much more to do for heaven than for earth, 
 and with God, than with man or any creature; 
 when our consciences are absolutely subjected to 
 the authority and laws of God, and bow not to 
 competitors ; when we are habitually disposed as 
 his servants to be constantly employed in his works, 
 and make it our calling and business in the world; 
 as judging that we have nothing to do on earth, 
 but with God, or for God; when we keep not up 
 any secret desires and hopes of a worldly felicity, 
 nor purvey for the pleasures of the flesh, under the 
 cloak of faith and piety, but subdue the flesh 
 as our most dangerous enemy, and can easily deny 
 its appetites, and concupiscence; when we guard 
 all our senses and keep our passions, thoughts, and 
 tongues, in obedience to the holy law; when we 
 do not inordinately set up ourselves in our esteem or 
 desire, above, or against our neighbour and his 
 welfare: but love him as ourselves, and seek his 
 good, and resist his heart as heartily as our own, 
 and love the godly with a love of complacence, and 
 the ungodly with a love of benevolence, though they 
 be our enemies; when we are faithful in all our 
 relations, and have judgment to discern our duty, 
 that we run not into extremes; and skill, and readi- 
 
THE CHRISTIAN UFB. 
 
 ness, and pleasure in performing it, and patience 
 under all our sufferings; — this is the life of a con- 
 firmed christian, in various degrees as their strength 
 is various. — Works, vol. ii. p. 935. 
 
 I find abundance of ignorant people, that talk 
 much of Christ, but know very little of him; that 
 can scarce tell us whether he be God or man, or 
 which person in the Trinity he is, or to what end 
 he was incarnated, and died, nor what relation he 
 stands in to us, or what use he is of, or what he 
 now is, or what he is engaged to do for us. But 
 if we ask them their hopes about salvation, they 
 almost overlook their redemption by Christ, and 
 tell us of nothing but God's mercies, and their own 
 good meanings and endeavours. And I am afraid, 
 too many professors of piety (do look) almost all, 
 at the natural parts of religion, and the mending 
 of their own hearts and lives (and I would this 
 were better done), while they forget the superna- 
 tural part, and are little affected with the infinite 
 love of God in Christ. I desire such to consider 
 these things; 1. You overlook the sum of your re- 
 ligion, which is Christ crucified, besides whom 
 Paul desired to know nothing. 2. You overlook 
 the fountain of your own life, and the author of 
 your supplies; and you strive in vain for sanctifi- 
 cation, or justification, if you seek them not from 
 a crucified Christ. 3. You leave undone the prin- 
 cipal part of your work, and live like moral hea- 
 thens, while you have the name of christians. Your 
 daily work is to study God in the face of his son ; 
 and to labour with all saints to comprehend the 
 height, and breadth, and length, and depth, and 
 to know the love of Christ, which passeth know- 
 ledge (Eph. iii. 18, 19). All your graces should 
 be daily quickened, and set on work by the life of 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 277 
 
 failh, in the contemplation of the Redeemer and 
 his blessed work. This is the weight that must 
 set all the wheels agoing. You do God no service 
 that he can accept, if you serve him not in this 
 gospel work of loving, trusting, and admiring, and 
 praising him in the Redeemer, and for his redemp- 
 tion. 4. And so you rob God of the principal part 
 of his glory which you are to give him; which is 
 for his most glorious work of our redemption. 
 5. Moreover, you rob yourselves of your principal 
 comfort, which must all come in, by living upon 
 Christ. 6. And you harden the antimonians and 
 libertines, and tempt men to their extremes, that 
 run from us as legalists, and as men that savour 
 not the doctrine of free grace, and are not of a gos- 
 pel spirit and conversation. I would our great neg- 
 lect to Christ had not been a snare to those mis- 
 taken souls, and a stumbling block in their way. 
 
 O sirs, if a thought of your hearts, if a word of 
 your mouths, have not some relation to Christ, 
 suspect it, yea, reject it. Call it not a sermon, or 
 a prayer, nor a duty, that hath nothing of Christ 
 in it. 
 
 Though the pure god-head be your principal 
 end, yet there is no way to this end, but by Christ, 
 and, through love, which is exercised on that end, 
 must animate all your graces and duties, as they 
 are means to that end ; yet faith hath love in it, or 
 else it is not the christian faith; and Christ is the 
 object of your faith and love ; and your perfect 
 everlasting love will be animated by Christ, for your 
 love and praise will be to him that was slain, and 
 redeemed us to God by his blood, out of every kin- 
 dred, tongue, and nation, and made us kings and 
 priests to God. — Works, vol. ii. p. 581. 
 
 This is the thing that I would persuade you to ; 
 
278 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 Take yourself for God's steward: remember the 
 time when it will be said to you, Give account of 
 thy stewardship; though alt be no longer steward. 
 Let it be your every days contrivance, how to lay 
 out your gifts, time, strength, riches, or interest 
 to your masters use. Think which way you may 
 do most, first, to promote the gospel, and the 
 public good of the church; and then, which way 
 you may help towards saving of particular men's 
 souls; and then, which way you may better the 
 commonwealth, and how you may do good to 
 men's bodies, beginning with your own, and those 
 of your family, but extending your help as much 
 further as vou are able. Ask yourself every morn- 
 ing, which way may I this day most further my mas- 
 ter's business, and the good of men? Ask yourself 
 every night, what good have I done to day? And 
 labour as much as may be, to be instruments of 
 some great and standing good, and of some public 
 and universal good, that you may look behind you 
 at the year's end, and at your live's ends, and see 
 the good that you have done. A piece of bread is 
 soon eaten, and a penny or a shilling is soon spent: 
 but if you could win a soul to God from sin, that 
 would be a visible everlasting good. If you could 
 be an instrument of setting a godly minister in a 
 congregation that wants, the everlasting good of 
 many souls, might in part be ascribed to you: if 
 you could help to heal and unite a divided church, 
 you might more rejoice to look back on the fruits 
 of your labour, than any physician may rejoice to 
 see his patient recover health. I have told rich 
 men what opportunities they have to do good, if 
 they had hearts: how easy were it with them to 
 refresh men's bodies, and to do very much for the 
 saving of souls! To relieve the poor, to set their 
 children to trades, to ease the oppressed. How 
 
EMPLOYMENT AND VALUATION OF TIME. 2/0 
 
 easy to maintain two or three poor scholars at the 
 universities, for the service of the church? But I 
 hear hut a few, that do more in it, than three or 
 four of my friends in these parts. Let me further 
 tell you, God doth not leave it to them as an indif- 
 ferent thing (Matt. 25). They must feed Christ 
 in the poor, or else starve in hell themselves: they 
 must clothe naked Christ in the poor, or be laid 
 naked in his fiery indignation for ever. How much 
 more diligently then must they help men's souls, 
 and the church of Christ, as the need is greater, and 
 the work better? O the blinding power of riches! 
 O the easiness of man's heart to be deluded! Do 
 rich men never think to lie rotting in the dust ? 
 Do they never think that they must be accountable 
 for all their riches, and for all their time and power, 
 and interests? Do they not know that it will com- 
 fort them at death, and judgment, to hear in their 
 reckoning, item, so much given to such and such 
 poor? So much to promote the gospel? So much 
 to maintain poor scholars, while they study to pre- 
 pare themselves for the ministry, &c. ? Than to 
 hear so much in such a feast : to entertain such 
 gallants: to please such noble friends: so much at 
 dice, at cards, at horse-races, at cock-fights: so 
 much in excess of apparel; and the rest to leave 
 mv posterity in the like pomp. — IVorks, vol. ii. 
 p.' 893. 
 
 Sect. 14. — Employment and Valuation oj Time. 
 
 I was taught highly to esteem of time: so that 
 if any of it passed away in idleness or unprofitable- 
 ness, it was so long a pain and burden to my mind ! 
 So that I must say to the praise of my most wise 
 conductor, that time hath still seemed to me much 
 more precious than gold, or any earthly gain, and 
 
302 
 
 ANGELS. 
 
 that they are deputed to bear his servants in their 
 hands, that they dash not their foot against a stone, 
 that they are ascending and descending, and are 
 present with the churches in their holy worship, 
 and that they rejoice at the conversion of one sin- 
 ner; and that the least of Christ's servants, have 
 their angels beholding the face of God ; and that 
 the law was given by their disposition or ordina- 
 tion, and they attend the departing of the souls of 
 believers; and that they should contend against evil 
 spirits for our good, and are encamped about us, and 
 that they shall attend the Lord at his coming to 
 judgment, and be his glorious retinue, and instru- 
 ments in the work ; and that they are numbered 
 with us, as members of the same heavenly Jerusa- 
 lem, and that we shall be like, or equal with them 
 (Luke, ii. 14, 15; Mark, iv. H; Luke, xxii. 43; 
 Acts, x. 6, 7, 22; Psal. xxxiv. 7, and xci. 11; 
 Matt, xiii.39, 41, and xvi. 27, and xxiv. 31, and 
 xxv. 31, andxxvi.53; Luke, xvi. 22; Matt, xviii. 
 10; 2 Thess. i. 7; Luke, xx. 36; Mark, xii. 25; 
 Jets, vii. 65; Gal hi. 19; Heb. xii. 22; 2 Pet. 
 ii. 11; Luke, xv. 10; Joh. i. 51). Yea, men 
 must be either confessed or denied, owned or dis- 
 owned, before the angels (Luke, xii. 8, 9). See 
 Rev. xix. 18; Rev. xii . 5. But if all this seems 
 not sufficient to persuade you, that the angels are 
 so far interested in the affairs of God about the re- 
 deemed, as to behold and admire him in this bless- 
 ed work, take notice of the express affirmations of 
 the Scriptures (1 Pet. i. 12). Which things the 
 Angels desire to look into ; and why, but to ad- 
 mire and see the wisdom, and power, and goodness, 
 and mercy, and justice of God, shining forth in 
 the Redeemer ? If this be not plain enough, mark 
 well those words (Eph. hi. 10). To the intent 
 that now unto the principalities, and powers in 
 
ANGELS. 
 
 303 
 
 heavenly places, might be known by the church, 
 the manifold wisdom of God. You see here that 
 the church of the redeemed, is that admirable look- 
 ing-glass, which God hath set up to this very in- 
 tent, that his Angels may in it, or by it, behold the 
 manifold wisdom of God ; yea, and that upon the 
 full revelation of Christ by the gospel, they saw 
 that which did more fujly inform and illuminate 
 them. No doubt but the very work of the creation, 
 yea of this inferior wor d, that are made for the 
 habitation, and use of man, are far better known 
 to angels than to men ; for we know but little of 
 what we daily see and use : and consequently it is 
 by angels more than men, that God is beheld, ad- 
 mired and glorified in them. And if it be so in 
 these works of creation, we may well say it is so in 
 the works of redemption. — IVorks, vol. ii. p. 572. 
 
 THE END, 
 
 London : Printed by B. M'Millan, 1 
 y«w-Stie«i, Covent Garden. } 
 
INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Affliction, 261 
 
 Angels, 301 
 
 Assurance, 73 
 
 Believing, joy in, 68 
 
 Brethren, love of, 240 
 
 Chanty, 237 
 
 Christian life, 27 2 
 
 Christian conduct, 248 
 
 Christianity, a religion of 
 
 motives, ... 50 
 
 instruction in, 60 
 
 ■ truth of, 41 
 
 Confession, 205 
 
 Consideration, 184 
 
 Conversation, 251 
 
 Conversion, necessity of, 98 
 
 ' signs of, ... 99 
 
 effect of, ... 100 
 
 insufficient, 101 
 
 Counsel pleading, 33 
 
 Day of judgment, 300 
 
 Death, 297 
 
 preparation for, .. 287 
 
 Disputation, 255 
 
 Dissipation, 26 
 
 Doctrines, essential, 44 
 
 Duties in which believers 
 
 are backward, 245 
 
 Faith, imperfection of, ... 81 
 
 weak, 86 
 
 unsound, 89 
 
 Faith, 62 
 
 objects of, 63 
 
 — — means of, 63 
 
 saving, . 65 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Faith, effects of, 67 
 
 life of, 67 
 
 — — support in, 68 
 
 God, sovereignty of, 139 
 
 fear of, 141 
 
 trust in, 142 
 
 glorified, 151 
 
 gratitude to, 
 
 delighting in, ...... 153 
 
 walking with, 158 
 
 knowledge of, 164 
 
 love of, 130 
 
 Good works, 130 
 
 Grace, means of, 108 
 
 signs of, - . ... Ill 
 
 saving, 114 
 
 effects of, 119 
 
 application of, 122 
 
 Great and wealthy, 61 
 
 Heart, hardness of, 6 
 
 Heaven, 296 
 
 Holiness, 220 
 
 Holy spirit, 106 
 
 Hope, 127, 233 
 
 Humiliation, 200 
 
 Humility, 215 
 
 Hypocrisy, 27 
 
 Idleness, 25 
 
 Imputation, 127 
 
 i Inattention, 28 
 
 I Industry, 253 
 
 5 Ingratitude, 27 
 
 I Instructing others, 243. 
 
 I Intermediate state, 298 
 
 Jesus, looking unto, ...... 165 
 
INDIX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Knowledge, 248 
 
 Looking unto Jesus, 165 
 
 Meditation, 184 
 
 Memory, sins of, 30 
 
 Mind, carnal, 12 
 
 Mind, worldly, 13 
 
 Nominal christians, 59 
 
 Omission, sins of, 33 
 
 Original sin, universality of, 1 
 
 Perseverance, 123 
 
 Prayer, 1 74 
 
 Pride, 24 
 
 Procrastination, 33 
 
 Public worship, 180 
 
 Reading, 250 
 
 Rejoicing, 128 
 
 Repentance, 199 
 
 necessity of, 1 99 
 
 : proofs of, ... 201 
 
 particular, 203 
 
 Resignation, 231 
 
 Residence, 260 
 
 Resolution, 232 
 
 Retirement, 261 
 
 Salvation offered to all, ... 51 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Salvation of heathens, ... 57 
 
 Scriptures, reading, 182 
 
 Self-dependance, 31 
 
 Self-denial, 217 
 
 Self-examination, 211 
 
 Sensuality, 23 
 
 Sin, sorrow for, 206 
 
 — of inattention, 28 
 
 — nature of, 1 
 
 — malignity of, 3 
 
 — folly of, 5 
 
 — wilful, 10 
 
 — habitual, 11 
 
 — of believers, 36 
 
 — consequences of, 37 
 
 — of omission, 33 
 
 Sloth, 25 
 
 Solitude, 261 
 
 Temper, christian, 230 
 
 Temptation, 267 
 
 in believers, 269 
 
 Thoughts, dying, 291 
 
 evil, 6 
 
 regulation of, 241 
 
 Time, employment of, ... 279 
 
 Unconverted, state of, ... 91 
 
 Wealth and poverty, 257 
 
 Will, leaving fortune by, 272 
 
 Will, the, 226 
 
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Pnncnon Theological S*minary-Sp«r Library 
 
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