Chapter III (part 1 of 2)

Chapter III (part 1 of 2)

THE GENERAL GRAND DIRECTIONS FOR WALKING WITH GOD, IN A LIFE OF FAITH AND HOLINESS: CONTAINING THE ESSENTIALS OF GODLINESS AND CHRISTIANITY.

I am next to direct you in that exercise of grace, which is common to all christians. Habits are for use: grace is given you, not only that you may have it, but also that you may use it. And it is fit that we direct you how to use it, before we direct you how to know that you have it; because it is grace in exercise that you must discern; and habits are not perceived in themselves, but by their acts; and the more lively and powerful the exercise is, the more easily is grace perceived: so that this is the nearest and surest way to a certainty of our own sincerity:--he that useth grace most and best, hath most grace; and he that hath most, and useth it most, may most easily be assured that he hath it in sincerity and truth.

In these directions, I shall begin with those great internal duties, in which the very life of all religion doth consist; and the general practice of these principles and graces: and all these generals shall be briefly set together, for the easiness of understanding and remembering them. And then I shall give you such particular directions, as are needful, in subordination to those generals.

[Sidenote: For a well-grounded faith.]

Grand Direct. I. Labour to understand well the nature, grounds, reason, and order of faith and godliness; and to believe upon such grounds, so well understood, as will not suffer you to stagger, or entertain a contrary belief.

Ignorance and ungrounded or ill-grounded persuasions in matters of religion, are the cause that abundance of people delude themselves, with the empty name and dead profession of a faith and religion which they never were indeed possessors of. I know there are low degrees of knowledge, comparatively, in many that are true believers; and that there may be much love and holiness, where knowledge is very small or narrow, as to the objective extent of it; and that there is a knowledge that puffeth up, while charity edifieth; and that in many that have the narrower knowledge, there may be the fastest faith and adherence to the truth, which will conquer in the time of trial. But yet I must tell you, that the religion which you profess, is not, indeed, your own religion, if you know not what it is, and know not in some measure the true grounds and reasons why you should be of that religion. If you have only learned to say your creed, or repeat the words of christian doctrine, while you do not truly understand the sense; or if you have no better reasons why you profess the christian faith, than the custom of the country, or the command of princes or governors, or the opinion of your teachers, or the example of your parents, friends, or neighbours; you are not christians indeed. You have a human belief or opinion, which objectively is true; but subjectively in yourselves, you have no true, divine belief. I confess, there may be some insufficient, yea, and erroneous reasons, which a true believer may mistakingly make use of, for the proof of certain fundamental truths; but then that same man hath some other reason for his reception of that truth, which is more sound: and his faith is sound, because of those sound, infallible principles, though there be a mixture of some other reasons that are unsound. The true believer buildeth on the rock, and giveth deep rooting to the holy seed, Matt. vii. 24; xiii. 5-8. Though some deluded men may tell you, that faith and reason are such enemies, that they exclude each other as to the same object; and that the less reason you have to prove the truth of the things believed, the stronger and more laudable is your faith; yet, when it cometh to the trial, you will find, that faith is no unreasonable thing; and that God requireth you to believe no more, than you have sufficient reason for, to warrant you, and bear you out; and that your faith can be no more, than is your perception of the reasons why you should believe; and that God doth suppose reason, when he infuseth faith, and useth reason in the use of faith. They that believe, and know not why, or know no sufficient reason to warrant their belief, do take a fancy, an opinion, or a dream, for faith. I know that many honest-hearted christians are unable to dispute for their religion, or to give to others a satisfactory account of the reasons of their faith or hope; but yet they have the true apprehension of some solid reasons in themselves; and they are not christians they know not why: and though their knowledge be small as to the number of propositions known, yet it doth always extend to all that is essential to Christianity and godliness, and they do not believe they know not what; and their knowledge is greater intensively, and in its value and operation, than the knowledge of the learnedst ungodly man in the world.

Though I may not here digress, or stay so long, as largely to open to you the nature, grounds, reason, and method of faith and godliness which I am persuading you to understand, yet I shall first lay before you a few propositions, which will be useful to you when you are inquiring into these things, and then a little open them unto you.

Prop. 1. A life of godliness is our living unto God as God, as being absolutely addicted to him.

2. A life of faith is a living upon the unseen, everlasting happiness as purchased for us by Christ, with all the necessaries thereto, and freely given us by God.

3. The contrary life of sense and unbelief, is a living, in the prevalency of sense or flesh, to this present world, for want of such believing apprehensions of a better, as should elevate the soul thereto, and conquer the fleshly inclination to things present.

4. Though man in innocency, needing no Redeemer, might live to God without faith in a Redeemer; yet lapsed man is not only unable to redeem himself, but also unable to live to God without the grace of the Redeemer. It was not only necessary that he satisfy God's justice for us, that he may pardon and save us without any wrong to his holiness, wisdom, or government; but also that he be our teacher by his doctrine and his life, and that he reveal from heaven the Father's will, and that objectively in him we may see the wonderful condescending love and goodness of a reconciled God and Father, and that effectually he illuminate, sanctify, and quicken us by the operations of his word and Spirit, and that he protect and govern, justify and glorify us; and be the Head of restored man, as Adam was the root of lapsed man, and as the lapsed spirits had their head: and therefore we must wholly live upon him as the Mediator between God and man, and the only Saviour by merit and by efficacy.

5. Faith is a knowledge by certain credible testimony or revelation from God by means supernatural or extraordinary.

6. The knowledge of things naturally revealed (as the cause by the effect, &c.) is in order before the knowledge or belief of things revealed supernaturally.

7. It is matter of natural revelation that there is a God;[80] that he is infinite in his immensity and eternity, in his power, wisdom, and goodness; that he is the First Cause and ultimate End of all things; that he is the Preserver and overruling Disposer of all things, and the supreme Governor of the rational world, and the great Benefactor of all mankind, and the special favourer and rewarder of such as truly love him, seek him, and obey him: also that the soul of man is immortal; and that there is a life of reward or punishment to come, and that this life is but preparatory unto that: that man is bound to love God his Maker, and serve him, with all his heart and might; and to believe that this labour is not vain: that we must do our best to know God's will, that we may do it. This, with much more, (of which some part was mentioned, chap. 1,) is of natural revelation, which infidels may know.

8. There is so admirable a concord and correspondency of natural divinity with supernatural, the natural leading towards the supernatural, and the supernatural falling in so meet where the natural endeth, or falls short, or is defective, that it greatly advantageth us in the belief of supernatural divinity.[81] Nay, as the law of nature was exactly fitted to man in his natural innocent state; so the law and way of grace in Christ is so admirably and exactly fitted to the state of lapsed man for his recovery and salvation, that the experience which man hath of his sin and misery, may greatly prepare him to perceive and believe this most suitable gospel or doctrine of recovery. And though it may not be called natural, as if it were fitted to innocent nature, or as if it were revealed by natural ordinary means, yet it may be so called, as it is exactly suited to the restoration of lapsed miserable nature; even as Lazarus his restored soul, though supernaturally restored, was the most natural associate of his body; or as bread, or milk, or wine, though it should fall from heaven, is in itself the most natural food for man.

9. The same things in divinity which are revealed naturally to all, are again revealed supernaturally in the gospel; and therefore may and must be the matter both of natural knowledge and of faith.

10. When the malicious tempter casteth in doubts of a Deity, or other points of natural certainty, it so much discrediteth his suggestions, as may help us much to reject them when withal he tempteth us to doubt of the truth of the gospel.

11. There are many needful appurtenances to the objects of a divine faith, which are the matter of a human faith. (Of which more anon.)

12. Christ, as Mediator, is the way, or principal means to God, as coming to restore man to his Maker. And so faith in Christ is but the means to bring us to the love of God, though in time they are connexed.

13. Knowledge and faith are the eye of the new creature, and love is the heart; there is no more spiritual wisdom, than there is faith; and there is no more life, or acceptable qualification, or amiableness, than there is love to God.

14. All truths in divinity are revealed in order to a holy life; both faith and love are the principles and springs of practice.

15. Practice affordeth such experience to a believing soul, as may confirm him greatly in the belief of those supernatural revelations, which he before received without that help.

16. The everlasting fruition of God in glory being the end of all religion, must be next the heart, and most in our eye, and must objectively animate our whole religion, and actuate us in every duty.

17. The pleasing of God being also our end, and both of these (enjoying him and pleasing him) being in some small foretastes attainable in this life, the endeavour of our souls and lives must be by faith to exercise love and obedience; for thus God is pleased and enjoyed.

18. All things in religion are fitted to the good of man, and nothing to his hurt: God doth not command us to honour him by any thing which would make us miserable; but by closing with and magnifying his love and grace.[82]

19. But yet it is his own revelation by which we must judge what is finally for our good or hurt; and we may not imagine that our shallow or deceivable wit is sufficient to discern without his word, what is best or worst for us; nor can we rationally argue from any present temporal adversity or unpleasing bitterness in the means, that "This is worst for us, and therefore it is not from the goodness of God:" but we must argue in such cases, "This is from the goodness and love of God, and therefore it is best."

20. The grand impediment to all religion and our salvation, which hindereth both our believing, loving, and obeying, is the inordinate sensual inclination to carnal self and present transitory things, cunningly proposed by the tempter to insnare us, and divert and steal away our hearts from God and the life to come. The understanding of these propositions will much help you in discerning the nature and reason of religion.

[Sidenote: To use Christ and live upon him as our Mediator.]

Grand Direct. II. Diligently labour in that part of the life of faith, which consisteth in the constant use of Christ as the means of the soul's access to God, acceptance with him, and comfort from him: and think not of coming to the Father, but by him.

To talk and boast of Christ is easy, and to use him for the increase of our carnal security, and boldness in sinning: but to live in the daily use of Christ to those ends of his office, to which he is by us to be made use of, is a matter of greater skill and diligence, than many self-esteeming professors are aware of. What Christ himself hath done, or will do, for our salvation, is not directly the thing that we are now considering of; but what use he requireth us to make of him in the life of faith. He hath told us, that his flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed; and that except we eat his flesh and drink his blood, we have no life in us. Here is our use of Christ, expressed by eating and drinking his flesh and blood, which is by faith.[83] The general parts of the work of redemption, Christ hath himself performed for us without asking our consent, or imposing upon us any condition on our parts, without which he would not do that work: as the sun doth illustrate and warm the earth whether it will or not, and as the rain falleth on the grass without asking whether it consent, or will be thankful; so Christ, without our consent or knowledge, did take our nature, and fulfil the law, and satisfy the offended Lawgiver, and merit grace, and conquer Satan, death, and hell, and became the glorified Lord of all: but for the exercise of his graces in us, and our advancement to communion with God, and our living in the strength and joys of faith, he is himself the object of our duty, even of that faith which we must daily and diligently exercise upon him: and thus Christ will profit us no further than we make use of him by faith. It is not a forgotten Christ that objectively comforteth or encourageth the soul; but a Christ believed in, and skilfully and faithfully used to that end. It is objectively (principally) that Christ is called our wisdom, 1 Cor. i. 30. The knowledge of him, and the mysteries of grace in him, is the christian or divine philosophy or wisdom, in opposition to the vain philosophy which the learned heathens boasted of. And therefore Paul determined to know nothing but Christ crucified, that is, to make ostentation of no other knowledge, and to glory in nothing but the cross of Christ, and so to preach Christ as if he knew nothing else but Christ. See 1 Cor. i. 23; ii. 2; Gal. vi. 14. And it is objectively that Christ is said to dwell in our hearts by faith, Eph. iii, 17. Faith keepeth him still upon the heart by continual cogitation, application, and improvement: as a friend is said to dwell in our hearts, whom we continually love and think of.

Christ himself teacheth us to distinguish between faith in God, (as God,) and faith in himself (as Mediator): John xiv. 1, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God;" (or, believe ye in God?) "believe also in me." These set together are the sufficient cure of a troubled heart.[84] It is not faith in God as God, but faith in Christ as Mediator, that I am now to speak of; and that not as it is inherent in the understanding, but as it is operative on the heart and in the life: and this is not the smallest part of the life of faith, by which the just are said to live. Every true christian must in his measure be able to say, with 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." The pure Godhead is the beginning and the end of all; but Christ is "the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature; and by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by him and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things do consist. And he is the head of the body, the church; who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence," Col. i. 16-19. "In him it is that we who were sometime far off, are made nigh, even by his blood: for he is our peace, who hath reconciled both Jew and gentile unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: and came and preached peace to them that were far off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have an access by one Spirit unto the Father: so that now we are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God," Eph. ii. 13, 14, 16-19. "In him" it is that "we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him," Eph. iii. 12. "He is the way, the truth, and the life: and no man cometh to the Father, but by him," John xiv. 6. It is "by the blood of Jesus that we have boldness" (and liberty) "to enter into the holiest: by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail, that is to say, his flesh." Because "we have so great a Priest over the house of God, we may draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith," &c. Heb. x. 19-22. "By him it is that we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and boast in hope of the glory of God," Rom. v. 1, 2. So that we must have "all our communion with God through him."

Supposing what I have said of this subject in my "Directions for a Sound Conversion," Direct. 5, (which I hope the reader will peruse,) I shall here briefly name the uses which we must make of Christ by faith, in order to our holy converse with God:[85] but I must tell you that it is a doctrine which requireth a prepared heart, that hath life within to enable it to relish holy truth, and to dispose it to diligence, delight, and constancy in practice. A senseless reader will feel but little savour in it, and a sluggish reader that suffereth it to die as soon as it hath touched his ears or fantasy, will fall short of the practice and the pleasure of this life. He must have faith that will live by faith: and he must have the heart and nature of a child, that will take pleasure in loving, reverent, and obedient converse with a father.

1. The darkness of ignorance and unbelief is the great impediment of the soul that desireth to draw near to God. When it knoweth not God, or knoweth not man's capacity of enjoying him, and how much he regardeth the heart of man; or knoweth not by what way he must be sought and found; or when he doubteth of the certainty of the word which declareth the duty of the hopes of man: all this, or any of this, will suppress the ascending desires of the soul, and clip its wings, and break the heart of its holy aspirings after God, by killing or weakening the hopes of its success.

Here then make use of Jesus Christ, the great Revealer of God and his will to the blinded world, and the great Confirmer of the divine authority of his word. Life and immortality are brought more fully to light by the gospel, than ever they were by any other means. Moses and the prophets did bring with their doctrine sufficient evidence of its credibility. But Christ hath brought both a fuller revelation, and a fuller evidence to help belief. An inspired prophet, which proveth his inspiration to us, is a credible messenger: but when God himself shall come down into flesh, and converse with man, and teach him the knowledge of God, and the way to life, and tell him the mysteries of the world to come, and seal his testimony with unquestionable proofs, who will not learn of such a Teacher? and who will deny belief to such a Messenger, except absurd, unreasonable men? Remember, then, when ignorance or unbelief would hinder your access to God, that you have the ablest Teacher and the surest Witness to acquaint you with God in all the world. If God had sent an angel from heaven, to tell you what he is, and what he requireth of you, and what he will do for you, would it not be very acceptable to you? But he hath done much more; he hath sent his Son:[86] the Deity itself hath appeared in flesh: he that hath seen God, and he that is God, hath come among men to acquaint them with God. His testimony is more sure and credible than any angel's. Heb. i. 1-3, "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past to the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son." John i. 18, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." We have "neither heard the voice of God, nor seen his shape," John v. 37. "No man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God; he hath seen the Father," John vi. 46. "No man knoweth the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him," Matt. xi. 27. What more can we desire, that is short of the sight of the glory of God, than to have him revealed to us by a messenger from heaven, and such a messenger as himself has seen him, and is God himself? Plato and Plotinus may describe God to us according to their dark conjectures; something we may discern of him by observing his works; but Christ hath declared what he saw, and what he knew, beyond all possibility of mistake. And lest his own testimony should seem questionable to us, he hath confirmed it by a life of miracles, and by rising from the dead himself, and ascending visibly to heaven; and by the Holy Ghost, and his miraculous gifts, which he gave to the messengers of his gospel. Had it been no more than his resurrection from the dead, it had been enough to prove the utter unreasonableness of unbelief.

2. It is also a great impediment to the soul in its approach to God, that infinite distance disableth us to conceive of him aright. We say, as Elihu, Job xxxvi. 26, "Behold, God is great, and we know him not." And, indeed, it is impossible that mortal man should have any adequate apprehensions of his essence. But in his Son he hath come down to us, and showed himself in the clearest glass that ever did reveal him. Think of him therefore as he appeared in our flesh; as he showed himself in his holiness and goodness to the world. You may have positive thoughts of Jesus Christ; though you may not think that the Godhead was flesh, yet may you think of it as it appeared in flesh. It may quiet the understanding to conceive of God as incarnate, and to know that we cannot yet know him as he is, or have any adequate conceptions of him. These may delight us till we reach to more.

3. 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 his 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 communion with us.

4. It hindereth our comfortable access 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 behold 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 him 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 reputation. Though we may not debase the Godhead, to imagine that it 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.

5. When the guilt of sin affrighteth us from God, and we are thinking that God will not accept such great offenders as we have been, then Christ is our remedy, who hath paid our debt, and borne our stripes, and procured and sealed us a pardon by his blood.[87] Shall pardoned sins drive us from him that pardoneth them? He hath justified us by his righteousness. The curse and damnation are terrible indeed; but he hath taken them away, and given us a free discharge.

6. The infirmities also of our souls in duty, are oftentimes a great discouragement to us, in our approaches to the most holy, jealous God. To find so little knowledge of God, so little love to him, such cold desires, such wandering and distracted thoughts, such dull requests: it is hard to have lively and thankful apprehensions of God's acceptance of such defective, lame meditations or prayers; but we are apt to think that he will abhor both them and us, and that he can take no pleasure in them, yea, that it is as good not pray at all. Here faith hath full relief in Christ: two things it can say from him to encourage the fearful soul: (1.) That our acceptance with the Father is through the merits of his Son; and he is worthy, though we are unworthy. If we have but the worthiness of faith, and repentance, and sincere desire, Christ hath the worthiness of perfect holiness and obedience for us. We go not to the Father in our own names, but in his; and whatever we ask the Father in the name of Christ according to his will, he will give it us, John xvi. 23; xiv. 13; xv. 16. (2.) That all the infirmities of our souls and services are forgiven us through Christ: he hath undertaken to answer for them all, and to justify us from all such accusations. By faith thou mayst, as it were, hear Christ thus speaking for thine encouragement: Go boldly, poor sinner, into my Father's presence: fear not the guilt of thy sins, nor the imperfection of thy prayers; as long as thou truly repentest of them, and desirest to be delivered from them, and trustest in me, I am thy worthiness; my righteousness is perfect without spot; I have taken all thy faults and failings upon me; I have undertaken to answer for all the imperfections of thy holy things: sincerity is thy endowment; perfection is mine: trust me in the performance of the trust which I have undertaken.

7. Sometimes, the soul that would draw near to God, is overwhelmed with grief and terror, so that the sense of sin, and danger, and misery do even distract men, and cast them into an agony; so that they say with David, Psal. lxxvii. 2-4, "My soul refused to be comforted, I remembered God and was troubled; I complained: and my spirit was overwhelmed. Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak." Yea, they think they feel God thrust them from him, and tell them that he hath utterly forsaken them. In this case, faith must look to Christ, and remember that he was in an agony when he prayed, and in greater agony than ever you were, so that he sweat even drops of blood; and yet in that agony he prayed more earnestly, Luke xxii. 44. He himself once cried out upon the cross, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" and yet he was the beloved of the Father, and is now at his right hand in glory: and all this he did that we might not be forsaken. He hath removed the enmity: he hath reconciled us to God. By grief he passed himself to joy, and he will wipe away his servants' tears, and cause their griefs to end in joy.

8. Sometimes, the soul that would draw near to God, is molested with a storm of hideous temptations, and even confounded with a swarm of disordered, perplexed thoughts. Satan assaulteth it with temptations to despair, temptations to horrid blasphemous thoughts, temptations to entangle, intermit, corrupt, or pervert the duty which they are about; so that the soul is discouraged, overwhelmed, and broken with the inward assaults, and troubles, and distractions which it undergoeth. In this case faith hath a Saviour suitable to our relief. It can look to him that was tempted in all points like as we are, without sin, and is now such a High Priest as can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; and therefore we may come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need, Heb. iv. 14-16. "In all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest, in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people: for he himself having suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted," Heb. ii. 17, 18. He submitted not only to be tempted by Satan, but tempted in a wilderness, where he had no man to comfort him; and to be tempted to the most horrid blasphemy and wickedness, even to fall down and worship the devil himself: and he suffered the tempter violently to carry him to the pinnacle of the temple, Matt. iv. What should we think of ourselves, if we had been used thus? Should we not think that God had utterly forsaken us? He suffered himself to be tempted also by men; by the abuses and reproaches of his enemies; by the desertion of his followers; by the carnal counsel of Peter, persuading him to put by the death which he was to undergo. And he that made all temptations serve to the triumph of his patience, and conquering power, will give the victory also to his grace, in the weakest soul.

9. It would be the greatest attractive to us to draw near to God, and make the thoughts of him pleasant to us, if we could but believe that he dearly loveth us, that he is reconciled to us, and taketh us for his children, and that he taketh pleasure in us, and that he resolveth for ever to glorify us with his Son; and that the dearest friend that we have in the world, doth not love us the thousandth part so much as he. And all this in Christ, is clearly represented to the eye of faith. All this is procured for believers by him; and all this is given to believers in him: in him God is reconciled to us: he is our Father, and dwelleth among us, and in us, and walketh in us, and is our God, 2 Cor. vi. 16-18. Light and heat are not more abundant in the sun, than love is in Jesus Christ. To look on Christ, and not perceive the love of God, is as to look on the sun, and not to see and acknowledge its light. Therefore whenever you find your hearts averse to God, and to have no pleasure in him, look then to Jesus, and observe in him the unmeasurable love of God: that "you may be able to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth and length, and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fulness of God," Eph. iii. 18, 19. Love and goodness are that to the will, which delicious sweetness is to the sensitive appetite. Draw near then and taste the feast of love which God hath prepared and proposed by his Son. Dost thou not see or feel the love of God? Come near, and look upon God incarnate; upon a crucified Christ; upon the covenant sealed in his blood; upon all the benefits of his redemption; upon all the privileges of the saints; and upon the glory purchased, possessed, and promised by him: put thy hand into his wounded side, and be not faithless, but believing; and then thou wilt cry out, "My Lord, and my God."

10. So also, when the soul would fain perceive in itself the flames of love to God, it is the beholding of Christ by faith, which is the striking of fire, and the effectual means of kindling love. And this is the true approach to God, and the true communion and converse with him: so far as we love him, so far we draw near him, and so far we have true communion with him. Oh what would the soul of a believer give, that it could but burn in love to God, as oft as in prayer, or meditation, or conference, his name and attributes are mentioned or remembered! For this, there is no such powerful means, as believingly to look on Christ, in whom such glorious love appeareth, as will draw forth the love of all that by a lively faith discern it. Behold the love that God hath manifested by his Son, and thou canst not but love him who is the spring of this transcendent love. In the law God showeth his frowning wrath; and therefore it breedeth the "spirit of bondage unto fear:" but in Christ God appeareth to us not only as loving us, but as love itself; and therefore as most lovely to us, giving us the spirit of adoption, or of filial love, by which we fly and cry to him as our Father.

11. The actual undisposedness and disability of the soul, to prayer, meditation, and all holy converse with the blessed God, is the great impediment of our walking with him; and against this our relief is all in Christ. He is filled with the Spirit, to communicate to his members: he can quicken us when we are dull: he can give us faith when we are unbelieving: he can give us boldness when we are discouraged: he can pour out upon us the Spirit of supplication, which shall help our infirmities, when we know not what to pray for as we ought. Beg of him, then, the spirit of prayer: and look to his example, who prayed with strong cries and tears, and continued all the night in prayer, and spake a parable to this end, that we should always pray, and not wax faint, Luke xviii. 1. Call to him, and he that is with the Father will reach the hand of his Spirit to you, and will quicken your desires, and lift you up.

12. Sometimes, the soul is hearkening to temptations of unbelief, and doubting whether God observe our prayers, or whether there is so much to be got by prayer as we are told. In such a case faith must look to Christ, who hath not only commanded it, and encouraged us by his example; but also made us such plentiful promises of acceptance with God, and the grant of our desires. Recourse to these promises will animate us to draw nigh to God.

13. Sometimes, the present sense of our vileness, who are but dust and despicable worms, doth discourage us, and weaken our expectations from God. Against this, what a wonderful relief is it to the soul, to think of our union with Christ, and of the dignity and glory of our Head! Can God despise the members of his Son? Can he trample upon them that are as his flesh and bone? Will he cut off, or forsake, or cast away the weakest parts of his body?

14. Sometimes, the guilt of renewed infirmities or decays doth renew distrust, and make us shrink; and we are like the child in the mother's arms, that feareth when 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 success. 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? O 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 uttermost, or to perpetuity, "that come (sincerely) to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them," Heb. vii. 24, 25. If you heard Christ pray for you, would it not encourage you to pray, and persuade you that God would not reject you? Undoubtedly it would.

15. Sometimes, weak christians, that have not gifts of memory or utterance, are apt to think that ministers indeed, and able men, are accepted of God, but that he little valueth such as them. It is here a great encouragement to the soul, to think that Jesus, our great High Priest, doth make all his children priests to God. They are "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that they should show forth the praises of him that hath called them out of darkness into his marvellous light: an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ," 1 Pet. ii. 5, 9. Even their "broken hearts and contrite spirits, are a sacrifice which God will not despise," Psal. li. 17. He knoweth the meaning of the Spirit's groans, Rom. viii. 26, 27.

16. The strength of corruptions which molest the soul, and are too often struggling with it, and too much prevail, doth greatly discourage us in our approach to that God that hateth all the workers of iniquity. And here faith may find relief in Christ, not only as he pardoneth us, but as he hath conquered the devil and the world himself, and bid us be of good cheer, because he hath conquered, and hath all power given him in heaven and earth, and can give us victorious grace, in the season and measure which he seeth meetest for us. We can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth us. Go to him then by faith and prayer, and you shall find that his grace is sufficient for you.

17. The thoughts of God are the less delightful to the soul, because that death and the grave do interpose, and we must pass through them before we can enjoy him: and it is unpleasing to nature, to think of a separation of soul and body, and to think that our flesh must rot in darkness. But against this, faith hath wonderful relief in Jesus Christ. "Forasmuch as we were partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage," Heb. ii. 14, 15. Oh what an encouragement it is to faith, to observe that Christ once died himself, and that he rose from the dead, and reigneth with the Father: it being impossible that death should hold him. And having conquered that which seemed to conquer him, it no more hath dominion over him, but he hath the keys of death and hell. We may now entertain death as a disarmed enemy, and say, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" Yea, it is sanctified by him to be our friend, even an entrance into our Master's joy: it being best for us to depart and be with Christ, Phil. i. 23. And, therefore, death is become our gain, ver. 21. Oh what abundance of strength and sweetness may faith perceive from that promise of Christ, John xii. 26, "If any man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am, there shall also my servant be." As he was dead, but now liveth for evermore, so hath he promised, that "because he liveth, therefore shall we live also," John xiv. 19. But of this, I have written two treatises of death already.

18. The terror of the day of judgment, and of our particular doom at death, doth make the thoughts of God less pleasing and delectable to us. And here, what a relief is it for faith to apprehend that Jesus Christ must be our Judge! And will he condemn the members of his body? Shall we be afraid to be judged by our dearest Friend?--by him that hath justified us himself already, even at the price of his own blood?

19. The very strangeness of the soul to the world unseen, and to the inhabitants and employments there, doth greatly stop the soul in its desires, and in its delightful approaches unto God. Had we seen the world where God must be enjoyed, the thoughts of it would be more familiar and sweet. But faith can look to Christ, and say, My Head is there: he seeth it for me; he knoweth what he possesseth, prepareth, and promiseth to me; and I will quietly rest in his acquaintance with it.

20. Nay, the Godhead itself is so infinitely above us, that, in itself, it is inaccessible; and it is ready to amaze and overwhelm us, to think of coming to the incomprehensible Majesty: but it emboldeneth the soul, to think of our glorified nature in Christ, and that, even in heaven, God will everlastingly condescend to us in the Mediator. For the mediation of redemption and acquisition shall be ended, (and thus he shall deliver up the kingdom to the Father,) yet it seems that a mediation of fruition shall continue: for Christ said to his Father, "I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory," John xvii. 24. We shall "rejoice," when the "marriage of the Lamb is come," Rev. xix. 7. "They are blessed that are called to his marriage supper," ver. 9. "The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple and the light of the new Jerusalem," Rev. xxi. 22, 23. Heaven would not be so familiar, or so sweet to my thoughts, if it were not that our glorified Lord is there, in whose love and glory we must live for ever.

O christian, as ever thou wouldst walk with God in comfortable communion with him, study and exercise this life of faith, in the daily use and improvement of Christ, who is our life, and hope, and all.

[Sidenote: To believe in the Holy Ghost, and live upon his grace.]

Grand Direct. III. Understand well what it is to believe in the Holy Ghost; and see that he dwell and operate in thee, as the life of thy soul, and that thou do not resist or quench the Spirit, but thankfully obey him.

Each person in the Trinity is so believed in by christians, as that in baptism they enter distinctly into covenant with them: which is, to accept the mercies of, and perform the duties to, each person distinctly.[88] As to take God for our God is more than to believe that there is a God, and to take Christ for our Saviour is more than barely to believe that he is the Messiah; so to believe in the Holy Ghost, is to take him for Christ's agent or advocate with our souls, and for our Guide, and Sanctifier, and Comforter, and not only to believe that he is the third person in the Trinity. This therefore is a most practical article of our belief.

If the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost be the unpardonable sin, then all sin against the Holy Ghost must needs have a special aggravation by being such. And if the sin against the Holy Ghost be the greatest sin, then our duty towards the Holy Ghost is certainly none of our smallest duties. Therefore the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and our duty towards him, and sin against him, deserve not the least or last place in teaching, learning, and most serious consideration.

Two sorts do most dangerously sin against or abuse the Holy Ghost. The first is the profane, who through custom and education can say, "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 works and motions of the Holy Ghost, and hate all those that are sanctified by him, and make them the objects of their scorn, and deride the very name of sanctification, or at least the thing.[89]

The second sort are the enthusiasts, or true fanatics, who advance, extol, and plead for the Spirit, against the Spirit; covering their greatest sins against the Holy Ghost, by crying up, and pretending to the Holy Ghost.[90] They plead the Spirit in themselves against the Spirit in their brethren, yea, and in almost all the church: they plead the authority of the Spirit in them, against the authority of the Spirit in the holy Scriptures; and against particular truths of Scripture; and against several great and needful duties which the Spirit hath required in the word; and against the Spirit in their most judicious, godly, faithful teachers. But can it be the Spirit that speaks against the Spirit? Is the Spirit of God against itself? Are we "not all baptized by one Spirit (and not divers or contrary) into one body?" 1 Cor. xii. 12, 13. But it is "no marvel, for Satan to be transformed into an angel of light, or his ministers into the ministers of Christ, and of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works," 2 Cor. xi. 13-15. The Spirit himself therefore hath commanded us, that we "believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world," 1 John iv. 1. "Yea, the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils," 1 Tim. iv. 1. Therefore take heed that you neither mistake nor abuse the Holy Spirit.

1. The doctrine concerning the Holy Ghost, to be believed, is briefly this: (1.) That the Holy Ghost, as given since the ascension of Christ, is his agent on earth, or his advocate with men (called by him the Paraclete): instead of his bodily presence, which for a little space he vouchsafed to a few, being ascended, he sendeth the Holy Spirit as better for them, to be his agent continually to the end, and unto all, and in all that do believe, John xvi. 7, 8. (2.) This Holy Spirit, so sent, infallibly inspired the holy apostles and evangelists, first to preach, and then to write the doctrine of Christ, contained (as indited by him) in the holy Scriptures; perfectly imprinting therein the holy image of God, John xv. 26; xvi. 13; Gal. iii. 1-4; Heb. ii. 3, 4. (3.) The same Spirit in them, sealed this holy doctrine, and the testimony of these holy men, by many miracles and wonderful gifts, by which they did actually convince the unbelieving world, and plant the churches. (4.) The same Spirit (having first by the apostles given a law or canon to the universal church, constituting its offices and the duty of the officers, and the manner of their entrance) doth qualify and dispose men for the stated, ordinary ministerial work, (which is to explain and apply the foresaid Scriptures,) and directeth those that are to ordain and choose them (they being not wanting on their part); and so he appointeth pastors to the church, Eph. iii. 2-4, 8, 13. (5.) The same Spirit assisteth the ministers (thus sent in their faithful use of the means) to teach and apply the holy Scriptures according to the necessities of the people, the weight of the matter, and the majesty of the word of God. (6.) The same Spirit doth by this word (heard or read) renew and sanctify the souls of the elect; illuminating their minds, opening and quickening their hearts, prevailing with, changing, and resolving their wills, thus writing God's word, and imprinting his image by his word upon their hearts, making it powerful to conquer and cast out their strongest, sweetest, dearest sins, and bringing them to the saving knowledge, love, and obedience of God in Jesus Christ, Acts xxvi. 18; John xiv. 16, 26. (7.) The same Holy Spirit assisteth the sanctified in the exercise of this grace, to the increase of it, by blessing and concurring with the means appointed by him to that end: and helpeth them to use those means, perform those duties, conquer temptations, oppositions, and difficulties, and so confirmeth and preserveth them to the end. (8.) The same Spirit helpeth believers, in the exercise of grace, to feel it, and discern the sincerity of it in themselves, in that measure as they are meet for, and in those seasons when it is fittest for them. (9.) The same Spirit helpeth them hereupon to conclude that they are justified and reconciled to God, and have right to all the benefits of his covenant. (10.) Also, he assisteth them actually to rejoice in the discerning of this conclusion. For though reason of itself may do something in these acts, yet so averse is man to all that is holy, and so many are the difficulties and hinderances in the way, that to the effectual performance, the help of the Spirit of God is necessary.

By this enumeration of the Spirit's operations, you may see the errors of many detected, and many common questions answered. 1. You may see their blindness, that pretend the Spirit within them, against Scripture, ministry, or the use of God's appointed means: when the same Spirit first indited the Scripture, and maketh it the instrument to illuminate and sanctify our souls. God's image is, (1.) Primarily, in Jesus Christ his Son. (2.) Derivatively, by his Spirit, imprinted perfectly in the Holy Scriptures. (3.) And by the Scripture, or the holy doctrine of it, instrumentally impressed on the soul. So that the image of God in Christ, is the cause of his image in his holy word or doctrine, and his image in his word, is the cause of his image on the heart. So a king may have his image, (1.) Naturally, on his son, who is like his father. (2.) Expressively, in his laws, which express his wisdom, clemency, and justice. (3.) And effectively, on his subjects and servants, who are by his laws reduced to a conformity to his mind. As a man may first cut his arms or image on his seal, and then by that seal imprint it on the wax; and though it be perfectly cut on the seal, it may be imperfectly printed on the wax; so God's image is naturally perfect in his Son, and regularly or expressively perfect on the seal of his holy doctrine and laws; but imperfectly on his subjects, according to their reception of it in their several degrees.

Therefore it is easy to discern their error, that tell men the light or Spirit within them, is their rule, and a perfect rule, yea, and that it is thus in all men in the world; when God's word and experience flatly contradict it, telling us that infidels and enemies of God, and all the ungodly, are in darkness, and not in the light; and that all that speak not according to this word, (the law and testimony,) have "no light in them;" and therefore no "perfect light to be their rule," Isa. viii. 20. The ministry is sent, to bring them from darkness to light: therefore, they had not a sufficient light in them before, Acts xxvi. 17, 18. "Woe to them that put darkness for light, and light for darkness!" Isa. v. 20: telling the children of darkness, and the haters of the light, that they have a perfect light and rule within them, when God saith, "They have no light in them." See 1 John i. 4-8. "He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even till now," 1 John ii. 9-11. The light within a wicked man, is "darkness" and "blindness," and therefore not his rule, Matt. vi. 23; Eph. v. 8. Even the light that is in godly men, is the knowledge of the rule, and not the rule itself at all, nor ever called so by God. Our rule is perfect; our knowledge is imperfect: for Paul himself saith, "We know in part; but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away: now we see through a glass darkly," 1 Cor. xiii. 9, 10, 12. "The gospel is hid to them that are lost," being "blinded by Satan," 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4.

There is an admirable, unsearchable concurrence of the Spirit, and his appointed means, and the will of man, in the procreation of the new creature, and in all the exercises of grace, as there is of male and female in natural generation; and of the earth, the sun, the rain, the industry of the gardener, and the seminal virtue of life and specification, in the production of plants with their flowers and fruits. And as wise as it would be to say, it is not the male but the female, or not the female but the male that generateth; or to say, it is not the earth but the sun, or not the sun but the rain, or not the rain but the seminal virtue, that causeth plants with flowers and fruits: so wise is it to say, it is not the Spirit but the word and means, or it is not the word and means but the Spirit, or it is not the reason, and will, and industry of man, but the Spirit: or, if we have not wisdom enough to assign to each cause its proper interest in the effect, that therefore we should separate what God hath conjoined, or deny the truth of the causation, because we comprehend not the manner and influence--this is but to choose to be befooled by pride, rather than confess that God is wiser than we.

2. You may here discern also, how the Spirit assureth and comforteth believers: and how palpably they err, that think the Spirit comforteth or assureth us of our salvation without the use of its evidencing grace. The ten things mentioned above, is all that the Spirit doth herein. But to expect his comforts without any measure of discerning his graces, which can only rationally prove our right to the blessings of the promise, this is to expect that he should comfort a rational creature not as rational, but darkly cause him to rejoice he knoweth not why: and that he should make no use of faith to our comfort: for faith resteth understandingly upon the promise, and expecteth the performance of it to those that it is made to, and not to others. Indeed there is a common encouragement and comfort, which all men, even the worst, may take from the universal, conditional promise: and there is much abatement of our fears and troubles that may be fetched from probabilities and uncertain hopes of our own sincerity and interest in the promise. But to expect any other assurance or comfort from the Spirit, without evidence, is but to expect immediate revelations or inspirations to do the work, which the word of promise and faith should do. The soul's consent to the covenant of grace, and fiducial acceptance of an offered Christ, is justifying, saving faith: every man hath an object in the promise and offer of the gospel for this act, and therefore may rationally perform it. (Though all have not hearts to do it.) This may well be called, faith of adherence; and is itself our evidence, from which we must conclude, that we are true believers: the discerning of this evidence, called by some, the reflex act of faith, is no act of faith at all, it being no believing of another, but the act of conscience, knowing what is in ourselves. The discerning and concluding that we are the children of God, participateth of faith and conscientious knowledge, which gave us the premises of such a conclusion.

3. You may hence perceive also how we are said to be "sealed" by the Spirit, Eph. i. 13; Rom. viii. 9; Eph. iv. 30: even as a man's seal doth signify the thing sealed to be his own; so the "Spirit of holiness in us," is God's seal upon us, signifying that we are his, 2 Tim. ii. 19. Every one that "hath the Spirit," is sealed by having it: and that is his evidence, which, if he discern, he may know that he is thus sealed.

4. Hereby also you may see what the "earnest and first-fruits of the Spirit" is, 2 Cor. i. 22: the Spirit is given to us by God, as the earnest of the glory which he will give us. To whomsoever he giveth the spirit of faith, and love, and holiness, he giveth the seed of life eternal, and an inclination thereto, which is his earnest of it.

5. Hereby also you may see how the Spirit witnesseth that we are the children of God. The word "witness" is put here principally for evidence: if any one question our adoption, the witness or evidence which we must produce to prove it, is the "Spirit of Jesus sanctifying us," and dwelling in us: this is the chief part (at least) of the sense of the text, Rom. viii. 16. Though it is true, that the same Spirit witnesseth by (1.) Showing us the grace which he hath given us; (2.) And by showing us the truth of the promise made to all believers; (3.) And by helping us from those promises to conclude with boldness, that we are the children of God; (4.) And by helping us to rejoice therein.

II. I have been the longer (though too short) in acquainting you with the office of the Holy Ghost, (supposing your belief that he is the third person in the Trinity,) because it is an article of grand importance, neglected by many that profess it, and because there are so many and dangerous errors in the world about it. Your great care now must be, 1. To find this Spirit in you, as the principle of your operations: and, 2. To obey it, and follow its motions, as it leadeth you up to communion with God. Of the first I have spoken in the first chapter. For the second, observe these few directions.

Direct. I. Be sure you mistake not the Spirit of God and its motions, nor receive, instead of them, the motions of Satan, or of your passions, pride, or fleshly wisdom.--It is easy to think you are obeying the Spirit, when you are obeying Satan and your own corruptions against the Spirit. By these fruits the Spirit of God is known. 1. The Spirit of God is for heavenly wisdom, and neither for foolishness nor treacherous craftiness, Psal. xix. 7; xciv. 8; Jer. iv. 22; 1 Cor. ii. 4-7. 2. The Spirit of God is a Spirit of love, delighting to do good; its doctrine and motions are for love, and tend to good; abhorring both selfishness and hurtfulness to others, Gal. v. 21, 22. 3. He is a Spirit of concord, and is ever for the unity of all believers; abhorring both divisions among the saints, and carnal compliances and confederacies with the wicked, 1 Cor. xii.; Eph. iv. 3-6, 13; 1 Cor. i. 10; iii. 3; Rom. xvi. 17, 18. 4. He is a Spirit of humility and self-denial, making us, and our knowledge, and gifts, and worth, to be very little in our own eyes;[91] abhorring pride, ambition, self-exalting, boasting, as also the actual debasing of ourselves by earthliness or other sin, Matt. xviii. 3; Eph. iv. 2. 5. He is a Spirit of meekness, and patience, and forbearance; abhorring stupidity, and inordinate passion, boisterousness, tumult, envy, contention, reviling, and revenge, Matt. xi. 28, 29; Eph. iv. 2; James iii.; 1 Pet. ii. 20-23; Gal. v. 20; Rom. xii. 18-20; Eph. iv. 31; Col. iii. 8. 6. He is a Spirit of zeal for God, resolving men against known sin, and for known truth and duty; abhorring a furious, destroying zeal, and also an indifferency in the cause of God; and a yielding compliance with that which is against it, Gal. iv. 18; Numb. xxv. 11, 13; Titus ii. 14; James iii. 15, 17; Luke ix. 55; Rev. iii. 16. 7. He is a Spirit of mortification, crucifying the flesh, and still contending against it, and causing men to live above all the glory, and riches, and pleasures of the world: abhorring both carnal licentiousness and sensuality, and also the destroying and disabling of the body, under pretence of true mortification, Rom. viii. 1, 13; Gal. v. 17; Rom. xiii. 13, 14; 1 Cor. ix. 27; 2 Pet. ii. 19; Col. ii. 18, 21, 23. 8. The Spirit of Christ contradicteth not the doctrine of Christ in the holy Scripture, but moveth us to an exact conformity thereto, Isa. viii. 20. This is the sure rule to try pretences and motions of every spirit by: for we are sure that the Spirit of Christ is the author of that word; and we are sure he is not contrary to himself. 9. The motions of the Spirit do all tend to our good, and are neither ludicrous, impertinent, or hurtful finally: they are all for the perfecting of sanctification, obedience, and for our salvation. Therefore unprofitable trifles, or despair, and hurtful distractions and disturbances of mind, which drive from God, unfit for duty, and hinder salvation, are not the motions of the Spirit of God, 2 Tim. i. 7; Rom. viii. 15; Isa. xi. 2; Gal. v. 22; Zech. xii. 10; 1 Pet. iv. 14; 2 Cor. iii. 6. 10. Lastly, The Spirit of God subjecteth all to God, and raiseth the heart to him, and maketh us spiritual and divine, and is ever for God's glory, 1 John iv. 5, 6; 1 Cor. vi. 11, 17, 20; Eph. ii. 18, 22; Phil. iii. 3, 19, 20; 1 Pet. i. 2; iv. 6. Examine the texts here cited, and you will find that by all these fruits the Spirit of God is known from all seducing spirits, and from the fancies or passions of self-conceited men.

Direct. II. Quench not the Spirit, either by wilful sin or by your neglecting of its offered help.--It is as the spring to all your spiritual motions; as the wind to your sails: you can do nothing without it. Therefore reverence and regard its help, and pray for it, and obey it, and neglect it not. When you are sure it is the Spirit of God indeed, that is knocking at the door, behave not yourselves as if you heard not. 1. Obey him speedily: delay is a present, unthankful refusal, and a kind of a denial. 2. Obey him thoroughly: a half-obedience is disobedience. Put him not off with Ananias and Sapphira's gift; the half of that which he requireth of you. 3. Obey him constantly: not sometimes hearkening to him, and more frequently neglecting him; but attending him in a learning, obediential course of life.

Direct. III. Neglect not those means which the Spirit hath appointed you to use, for the receiving of its help, and which he useth in his holy operations.--If you will meet with him, attend him in his own way, and expect him not in by-ways where he useth not to go. Pray, and meditate, and hear, and read, and do your best, and expect his blessing. Though your ploughing and sowing will not give you a plentiful harvest without the sun, and rain, and the blessing of God, yet these will not do it neither, unless you plough and sow. God hath not appointed a course of means in nature or morality in vain, nor will he use to meet you in any other way.

Direct. IV. Do most when the Spirit helpeth you most.--Neglect not the extraordinary measures of his assistance: if he extraordinarily help you in prayer, or meditation, improve that help, and break not off so soon as at other times (without necessity): not that you should omit duty till you feel his help; for he useth to come in with help in the performance, and not in the neglect of duty: but tire not out yourself with affected length, when you want the life.

Direct. V. Be not unthankful for the assistance he hath given you.--Deny not his grace: ascribe it not to nature: remember it to encourage your future expectations: unthankfulness and neglect are the way to be denied further help.

Quest. But how shall I know whether good effects be from the means, or from my reason and endeavour, and when from the Spirit of God?

Answ. It is as if you should ask, How shall I know whether my harvest be from the earth, or sun, or rain, or God, or from my labour? I will tell you how. They are all con-causes: if the effect be there, they all concur; if the effect be wanting, some of them were wanting. It is foolish to ask, which is the cause, when the effect is not produced but by the concurrence of them all. If you had asked, which cause did fail, when the effect faileth? there were reason in that question; but there is none in this. The more to blame those foolish atheists, that think God or the Spirit is not the cause, if they can but find that reason and means are in the effect. Your reason, and conscience, and means would fall short of the effect, if the Spirit put not life into all.

Obj. But I am exceedingly troubled and confounded with continual doubts about every motion that is in my mind, whether it be from the Spirit of God, or not.

Answ. The more is your ignorance, or the malice of Satan causing your disquiet. In one word, you have sufficient direction to resolve those doubts, and end those troubles. Is it good, or evil, or indifferent, that you are moved to? This question must be resolved from the word of God, which is the rule of duty. If it be good, in matter, and manner, and circumstances, it is from the Spirit of God (either its common or special operation): if it be evil or indifferent, you cannot ascribe it to the Spirit. Remember that the Spirit cometh not to you, to make you new duty which the Scripture never made your duty, and so to bring an additional law; but to move and help you in that which was your duty before. (Only it may give the matter, while Scripture giveth the obligation by its general command.) If you know not what is your duty, and what not, it is your ignorance of Scripture that must be cured: interpret Scripture well, and you may interpret the Spirit's motions easily. If any new duty be motioned to you, which Scripture commandeth not, take such motions as not from God (unless it were by extraordinary, confirmed revelation).

[Sidenote: For the true and orderly impression of God's attributes on the heart.]

Grand Direct. IV. Let it be your chiefest study to attain to a true, orderly, and practical knowledge of God, in his several attributes and relations; and to find a due impression from each of them upon your hearts, and a distinct, effectual improvement of them in your lives.

Because I have written of this point more fully in another treatise, "Of the Knowledge of God, and Converse with Him," I shall but briefly touch upon it here, as not willing to repeat that which there is delivered: Only, let me briefly mind you of these few things: 1. That the true knowledge of God is the sum of godliness, and the end of all our other knowledge, and of all that we have or do as christians.[92] As Christ is a teacher that came from God, so he came to call and lead us unto God; or else he had not come as a Saviour. It is from God that we fell by sin, and to God that we must be restored by grace. To save us, is to restore us to our perfection, and our happiness; and that is to restore us unto God.

2. That the true knowledge of God is powerful and effectual upon the heart and life: and every attribute and relation of God, is so to be known, as to make its proper impress on us: and the measure of this saving knowledge, is not to be judged of, by extensiveness, or number of truths concerning God which we know, so much as by the clearness, and intensiveness, and the measure of its holy effects upon the heart.

3. This is it that denominateth both ourselves, and all our duties, holy: when God's image is thus imprinted on us; and we are like him by the new birth, as children to their father; and by his knowledge, both our hearts and lives are made divine; being disposed unto God, devoted to him and employed for him; he being our life, and light, and love.

4. This is the sum of the covenant of God with man, "I will be thy God, and thou shalt be my people." And the other parts of the covenant, "that Christ be our Saviour, and the Holy Ghost our Sanctifier," are both subservient unto this; there being now no coming unto God, but as reconciled in Christ our Mediator, and by the teaching and drawing of the Holy Ghost. To be our God, is to be to us an absolute Owner, a most righteous Governor, and a most bountiful Benefactor or Father; as having created us, redeemed and regenerated us; and this according to his most blessed nature, properties, and perfections.

5. It is not only a loose and inconstant effect of your particular thoughts of God, that is the necessary impress of his attributes (as to fear him, when you remember his greatness and justice): but it must be a habit or holy nature in you, every attribute having made its stated image upon you; and that habit or image being in you, a constant principle of holy, spiritual operations. A habit of reverence, belief, trust, love, &c. should be, as it were, your nature.

6. Not that the knowledge of God in his perfections, should provoke us to desire his properties and perfections: for to have such an aspiring desire to be gods, were the greatest pride and wickedness. But only we must desire, (1.) To be as like God, in all his communicable excellencies, as is agreeable to our created state and capacity. (2.) And to have as near and full communion with him, as we can attain to and enjoy.

7. The will of God, and his goodness, and holiness, are more nearly propounded to us, to be the rule of our conformity, than his power, and his knowledge. Therefore his law is most immediately the expression of his will; and our duty and goodness lie in our conformity to his law; being holy as he is holy.

Because I may not stand on the particulars, I shall give you a brief, imperfect scheme of that of God, which you must thus know.

God is to be known by us

I. As in Himself.

{1. One; and I. In his {indivisible: {[a]1. The BEING: {in Three { FATHER, {[b]1. Necessary,} _Quod {Persons.[a] {2. The SON, {2. Independent, } sit._ {2. Immense: and {3. The HOLY {3. Immutable. } {incomprehensible. { GHOST. {3. Eternal.[b]

{1. Simple: uncompounded. {A SPIRIT {2. Impassionate, incorruptible, II. In his { { immortal. NATURE: { {3. Invisible, intactible, &c. _Quid { sit._ { {1. POWER, {and LIFE {2. UNDERSTANDING, {itself. {3. WILL.

{ {1. MOST {[c]1. BEING} { { GREAT, { HIMSELF.} III. In his {1. OMNIPOTENT, {2. MOST {2. KNOWING } PERFECTIONS: {2. OMNISCIENT, { WISE, {HIMSELF. } _Qualis {3. MOST GOOD. {3. MOST {3. LOVING } sit._ { { HOLY {and } { { and {ENJOYING } { { HAPPY.[c] {HIMSELF. }

II. As related to His Creatures.

} {1. Our OWNER }(d) {(e) }1. CREATOR {or LORD: most } { I. The }and Conserver. {Absolute, }1. Our {1. Perfecting EFFICIENT } {Free, and }Life, {our Natures Cause of } {Irresistable. }and Strength, {in Heavenly all } { }and Safety. {Life. things: } { } { Rom. x. } {2. Our RULER } { 36: "OF } {or King: } { HIM." } {1. By } { } {Legislation: }2. Our {2. Whom we } {2. Judgment: }Light, {shall } {3. Execution: }and Wisdom. {behold in }2. REDEEMER {Absolute, } {glorious } and Saviour. {perfect, } {Light. II: The } {True, Holy, } { DIRIGENT } {Just } { Cause: } {Merciful, } { "THROUGH } {Patient, } { HIM." } {Terrible. } { } { } { } {3. Our } {3. Whom we } {BENEFACTOR } {shall Please } {or FATHER: } {and Love; and } {1. Most }3. Our {be Pleased } {Loving: }Love {in him, and }3. REGENERATOR {2. Most }and {Loved by him, III. The }and Sanctifier. {Bountiful: }Joy: {Rejoice in FINAL } {3. Most }and so our {him, Praise Cause: } {Amiable: }End, {him, and so "TO HIM, } {(Patient, }and Rest, {Enjoy him, are all } {Merciful, }and {Perfectly and things: } {Constant.) }Happiness {Perpetually. to whom } { } { be glory } { Causally and} { for ever. } { Objectively } hereafter { Amen." } { (d) } (e) {

See these practically opened and improved, in the First Part of my "Divine Life." The more full explication of the attributes, fit for the more capacious, is reserved for another tractate.

For the right improvement of the knowledge of all these attributes of God, I must refer you to the fore-mentioned treatise. The acts which you are to exercise upon God are these: 1. The clearest knowledge you can attain to.[93] 2. The firmest belief. 3. The highest estimation. 4. The greatest admiration. 5. The heartiest and sweetest complacency or love. 6. The strongest desire. 7. A filial awfulness, reverence, and fear. 8. The boldest quieting trust and confidence in him. 9. The most fixed waiting, dependence, hope, and expectation. 10. The most absolute self-resignation to him. 11. The fullest and quietest submission to his disposals. 12. The humblest and most absolute subjection to his governing authority and will, and the exactest obedience to his laws. 13. The boldest courage and fortitude in his cause, and owning him before the world in the greatest sufferings. 14. The greatest thankfulness for his mercies. 15. The most faithful improvement of his talents, and use of his means, and performance of our trust. 16. A reverent and holy use of his name and word: with a reverence of his secrets; forbearing to intrude or meddle with them. 17. A wise and cautelous observance of his providences, public and private; neither neglecting them, nor misinterpreting them; neither running before them, nor striving discontentedly against them. 18. A discerning, loving, and honouring his image in his children, notwithstanding their infirmities and faults; without any friendship to their faults, or over-magnifying or imitating them in any evil. 19. A reverent, serious, spiritual adoration and worshipping him, in public and private, with soul and body, in the use of all his holy ordinances; but especially in the joyful celebration of his praise, for all his perfections and his mercies. 20. The highest delight and fullest content and comfort in God that we can attain: especially a delight in knowing him, and obeying and pleasing him, worshipping and praising him; loving him, and being beloved of him, through Jesus Christ; and in the hopes of the perfecting of all these in our everlasting fruition of him in heavenly glory.

All these are the acts of piety towards God; which I lay together for your easier observation and memory: but some of them must be more fully opened, and insisted on.

[Sidenote: Of self-resignation to God as our Owner.]

Grand Direct. V. Remember that God is your Lord or Owner: and see that you make an absolute resignation of yourselves, and all that you have, to him as his own; and use yourselves and all accordingly; trust him with his own; and rest in his disposals.

Of this I have already spoken in my "Sermon of Christ's Dominion," and in my "Directions for a sound Conversion;" and therefore must but touch it here. It is easy, notionally, to know and say that God is our Owner, and we are not our own; but if the habitual, practical knowledge of it were as easy, or as common, the happy effects of it would be the sanctification and reformation of the world. I shall first tell you what this duty is, and how it is to be performed; and then, what fruits and benefits it will produce, and what should move us to it.

I. The duty lieth in these acts: 1. That you consider the ground of God's propriety in you; (1.) In making you of nothing, and preserving you. (2.) In redeeming you by purchase. (3.) In regenerating you, and renewing you for himself.[94] The first is the ground of his common natural propriety in you and all things. The second is the ground of his common gracious propriety in you and all men, as purchased by Christ, Rom. xiv. 9; John xiii. 3. The third is the ground of his special gracious propriety in you, and all his sanctified, peculiar people. Understand and acknowledge what a plenary dominion God hath over you, and how absolutely and wholly you are his. 2. Let it exceedingly please you, to think that you are wholly his: it being much better for you, as to your safety, honour, and happiness, than to be your own, or any's else. 3. As God requireth it in his covenant of grace, that he have his right, by your consent, and not by constraint; so you must thankfully accept the motion, and with hearty and full consent of will, resign yourselves to him, as his own, even as his creatures, his ransomed ones, and his regenerate children, by a covenant never to be violated. 4. You must carefully watch against the claim and reserves of carnal selfishness; lest while you confess you are God's, and not your own, you should secretly still keep possession of yourselves against him, or re-assume the possession which you surrendered. 5. You must use yourselves ever after as God's, and not your own.

II. In this using yourselves as wholly God's, consisteth both your further duty, and your benefits. 1. When God's propriety is discerned and consented to, it will make you sensible how you are obliged to employ all your powers of soul and body to his service; and to perceive that nothing should be alienated from him, no creature having any co-ordinate title to a thought of your hearts, or a glance of your affection, or a word of your mouths, or a minute of your time. The sense of God's propriety must cause you to keep constant accounts between God and you; and to call yourselves to a frequent reckoning, whether God have his own, and you do not defraud him; whether it be his work that you are doing, and for him that you think, and speak, and live? And all that you have, will be used as his, as well as yourselves; for no man can have any good thing that is more his own, than he is his own himself.

2. Propriety discerned, doth endear us in affection to our owner. As we love our own children, so they love their own fathers. Our very dogs love their own master better than another. When we can say with Thomas, "My Lord, and my God," it will certainly be the voice of love. God's common propriety in us, as his created and ransomed ones, obligeth us to love him with all our heart; but the knowledge of his peculiar propriety, by regeneration, will more effectually command our love.

3. God's propriety perceived, will help to satisfy us of his love and care of us: and will help us to trust him in every danger; and so take off our inordinate fear, and anxieties, and caring for ourselves.[95] The apostle proveth Christ's love to his church from his propriety, Eph. v. 29, "No man ever yet hated his own flesh." God is not regardless of his own. As we take care of our cattle, to preserve them, and provide for them, more than they do for themselves, for they are more ours than their own; so God is more concerned in the welfare of his children, than they are themselves, they being more his than their own. Why are we afraid of the wrath and cruelty of man? Will God be mindless and negligent of his own? Why are we over-careful and distrustful of his providence? Will he not take care of his own, and make provision for them? "God, even our own God, shall bless us," Psal. lxvii. 6. God's interest in his church, and cause, and servants, is an argument which we may plead with him in prayer, 1 Chron. xvii. 21, 22, and with which we may greatly encourage our confidence: Isa. xlviii. 9, 11, "For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory to another." Isa. xliii. 1, 2, "But now, thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel; Fear not: for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee," &c. If God should neglect our interest, he will not neglect his own.

4. God's propriety in us discerned, doth so much aggravate our sin against him, that it should greatly restrain us, and further our humiliation and recovery when we are fallen: Lev. xx. 26, "Ye shall be holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine." Ezek. xvi. 8, "I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, and thou becamest mine, saith the Lord," when he is aggravating Jerusalem's sin. 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20, "Ye are not your own: for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." Justice requireth, that every one have his own.

5. It should silence all murmurings and repinings against the providence of God, to consider that we are his own. Doth he afflict you? and are you not his own? Doth he kill you? are you not his own? As a Ruler, he will show you reason enough for it in your sins; but as your absolute Lord and Owner, he need not give you any other reason than that he may do with his own as he list. It is not possible that he can do any wrong to that which is absolutely his own. If he deny you health, or wealth, or friends, or take them from you; he denieth you, or taketh from you, nothing but his own. Indeed, as a Governor and a Father, he hath secured the faithful of eternal life: otherwise, as their Owner, he could not have wronged them, if he had made the most innocent as miserable as he is capable to be. Do you labour, and beat, and kill your cattle, because they are your own (by an imperfect propriety)? and dare you grudge at God for afflicting his own, when their consciences tell them, that they have deserved it and much more?

[Sidenote: Sins against God's dominion.]

And that you may not think that you have resigned yourselves to God entirely, when you do but hypocritically profess it, observe: 1. That man is not thus resigned to God, that thinketh any service too much for God, that he can do. 2. Nor he that thinketh any cost too great for God that he is called to undergo. 3. Nor he that thinketh that all is won (of his time, or wealth, or pleasure, or any thing) which he can save or steal from God: for all is lost that God hath not. 4. Nor he that must needs be the disposer of himself, and his condition and affairs, and God must humour him, and accommodate his providence to his carnal interest and will, or else he cannot bear it, or think well of it. 5. Remember that all that is bestowed in sin upon God's enemies, is used against him, and not as his own. 6. And that he that hideth his talent, or useth it not at all, cannot be said to use it for God. Both idleness and alienating the gifts of God, are a robbing him of his own.

III. To help you in this work of self-resignation, often consider: 1. That if you were your own, you were most miserable. You could not support, preserve, or provide for yourselves: who should save you in the hour of temptation and distress? Alas! if you are humbled christians, you know so much of your own insufficiency, and feel yourselves such a daily burden to yourselves, that you have sure enough of yourselves ere now: and beg of God, above all your enemies, to save you from yourselves; and of all judgments, to save you from being forsaken of God, and given up to yourselves. 2. Remember that none in the world hath sufficient power, wisdom, and goodness, to take the full care and charge of you, but God; none else can save you, or sanctify you, or keep you alive one hour: and therefore it is your happiness and honour that you are his. 3. His right is absolute, and none hath right to you but he; none else did create you, redeem you, or regenerate you. 4. He will use you only in safe and honourable services, and to no worse an end, than your endless happiness. 5. What you deny him, or steal from him, you give to the devil, the world, and the flesh; and do they better deserve it? 6. You are his own in title, whether you will or not; and he will fulfil his will upon you. Your consent and resignation is necessary to your good, to ease you of your cares, and secure you from present and eternal misery.

[Sidenote: Of subjection to God as our supreme Governor.]

Grand Direct. VI. Remember that God is your sovereign King, to rule and judge you; and that it is your rectitude and happiness to obey and please him. Labour therefore to bring your souls and bodies into the most absolute subjection to him, and to make it your delight and business sincerely and exactly to obey his will.

Having resigned yourselves absolutely to God as your Owner, you are next to subject yourselves absolutely to God as your Governor or King. How much of our religion consisteth in this, you may see in the nature of the thing, in the design of the law and word of God, in the doctrine and example of Jesus Christ, in the description of the last judgment, and in the common consent of all the world. Though love is the highest work of man, yet it is so far from discharging us from our subjection and obedience, that it constraineth us to it most powerfully and most sweetly, and must itself be judged of by these effects.[96] "If ye love me, keep my commandments. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. If any man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings," John xiv. 15, 21, 23, 24. "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you," chap. xv. 10, 14. "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them," chap. xiii. 17. "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous," 1 John v. 3. "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandment, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he is in him, ought himself also to walk, even as he walked. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doth righteousness is born of him," chap. ii. 4-6, 29. "Whosoever abideth in him, sinneth not: whosoever sinneth, hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin, is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin: for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doth not righteousness, is not of God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight," chap. iii. 6-10, 22. "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city," Rev. xxii. 14.

I set together these testimonies of the Scripture, that the stream of divine authority may carry you to a lively sense of the necessity of obedience.

I shall here first tell you what this full subjection is, and then I shall direct you how to attain it.

[Sidenote: Subjection what.]

I. As in God there is first his relation of our King, and then his actual government of us, by his laws and judgment; so in us, there is first our relation of subjects to God, and then our actual obedience. We are subjects by divine obligation, before we consent (as rebels are); but our consent or self-obligation is necessary to our voluntary obedience, and acceptation with God. Subjection is our stated obligation to obedience. This subjection and habit of obedience, is then right and full, 1. When the sense of God's authority over us is practical, and not notional only. 2. And when it is deep rooted and fixed, and become as a nature to us: as a man's intention of his end is, that hath a long journey to go, which carrieth him on to the last step: or as a child's subjection to his parents, or a servant's to his master, which is the habit or principle of his daily course of life. 3. When it is lively, and ready to put the soul upon obedience. 4. When it is constant, keeping the soul in a continual attendance upon the will of God. 5. When it hath universal respect to all his commandments. 6. When it is resolute, powerful, and victorious against temptations to disobedience. I. When it is superlative, respecting God as our supreme King, and owning no authority against him, nor any but what is subordinate to him. 8. When it is voluntary, pleasant, cheerful, and delectable to us to obey him to the utmost of our power.

[Sidenote: How to bring the soul into subjection to God.]

II. To bring the soul to this full subjection and obedience to God, is so difficult, and yet so reasonable, so necessary, and so excellently good, that we should not think any diligence too great, by which it is to be attained. The directions that I shall give you, are, some of them to habituate the mind to an obediential frame, and some of them, also, practically to further the exercise of obedience in particular acts.

Direct. I. Remember the unquestionable, plenary title that God hath, to the government of you, and of all the world.--The sense of this will awe the soul, and help to subject it to him, and to silence all rebellious motions. Should not God rule the creatures which he hath made? Should not Christ rule the souls which he hath purchased? Should not the Holy Ghost rule the souls which he hath regenerated and quickened?

Direct. II. Remember that God is perfectly fit for the government of you, and all the world.--You can desire nothing reasonably in a governor, which is not in him. He hath perfect wisdom, to know what is best: he hath perfect goodness, and therefore will be most regardful of his subjects' good, and will put no evil into his laws. He is almighty, to protect his subjects, and see to the execution of his laws. He is most just, and therefore can do no wrong, but all his laws and judgments are equal and impartial. He is infinitely perfect and self-sufficient, and never needed a lie, or a deceit, or unrighteous means to rule the world; nor to oppress his subjects to attain his ends. He is our very end, and interest, and felicity; and therefore hath no interest opposite to our good, which should cause him to destroy the innocent. He is our dearest Friend and Father, and loveth us better than we love ourselves; and therefore we have reason confidently to trust him, and cheerfully and gladly to obey him, as one that ruleth us in order to our own felicity.

Direct. III. Remember how unable and unfit you are to be governors of yourselves.--So blind and ignorant; so biassed by a corrupted will; so turbulent are your passions; so incessant and powerful is the temptation of your sense and appetite; and so unable are you to protect or reward yourselves, that methinks you should fear nothing in this world more, than to be given up to "your own heart's lusts, to walk in your own (seducing) counsels," Psal. lxxxi. 11, 12. The brutish appetite and sense hath got such dominion over the reason of carnal, unrenewed men, that for such to be governed by themselves, is for a man to be governed by a swine, or the rider to be ruled by the horse.

Direct. IV. Remember how great a matter God maketh of his kingly prerogatives, and of man's obedience.--The whole tenor of the Scripture will tell you this. His precepts, his promises, his threatenings, his vehement exhortations, his sharp reproofs, the sending of his Son and Spirit, the example of Christ and all the saints, the reward prepared for the obedient, and the punishment for the disobedient--all tell you aloud, that God is far from being indifferent whether you obey his laws or not. It will teach you to regard that, which you find is so regarded of God.

Direct. V. Consider well of the excellency of full obedience, and the present benefits which it bringeth to yourselves and others.--Our full subjection and obedience to God, is to the world and the soul as health is to the body. When all the humours keep their due temperament, proportions, and place, and every part of the body is placed and used according to the intent of nature, then all is at ease within us: our food is pleasant; our sleep is sweet; our labour is easy; and our vivacity maketh life a pleasure to us: we are useful in our places, and helpful to others that are sick and weak. So is it with the soul that is fully obedient: God giveth him a reward, before the full reward: he findeth that obedience is a reward to itself; and that it is very pleasant to do good. God owneth him, and conscience speaketh peace and comfort to him; his mercies are sweet to him; his burdens and his work are easy; he hath easier access to God than others. Yea, the world shall find, that there is no way to its right order, unity, peace, and happiness, but by a full subjection and obedience to God.

Direct. VI. Remember the sad effects of disobedience, even at present, both in the soul and in the world.--When we rebel against God, it is the confusion, ruin, and death of the soul, and of the world. When we disobey him, it is the sickness or disordering of the soul, and will make us groan; till our bones be set in joint again, we shall have no ease: God will be displeased, and hide his face; conscience will be unquiet; the soul will lose its peace and joy; its former mercies will grow less sweet; its former rest will turn to weariness; its duty will be unpleasant; its burden heavy. Who would not fear such a state as this?

Direct. VII. Consider, that when God doth not govern you, you are ruled by the flesh, the world, and the devil.--And what right or fitness they have to govern you, and what is their work, and final reward, methinks you should easily discern. "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die," Rom. viii. 13. "And if ye sow to the flesh, of the flesh ye shall reap corruption," Gal. vi. 8. It will strike you with horror, if, in the hour of temptation, you would but think: I am now going to disobey my God, and to obey the flesh, the world, or the devil, and to prefer their will before his will.

Direct. VIII. Turn your eye upon the rebellious nations of the earth, and upon the state of the most malignant and ungodly men; and consider, that such madness and misery as you discern in them, every wilful disobedience to God doth tend to, and partaketh of in its degree.--To see a swinish drunkard in his vomit; to hear a raging bedlam curse and swear; or a malignant wretch blaspheme and scorn at a holy life: to hear how foolishly they talk against God, and see how maliciously they hate his servants, one would think should turn one's stomach against all sin for ever. To think what beasts or incarnate devils many of the ungodly are; to think what confusion and inhumanity possess most of those nations that know not God, one would think should make the least degree of sin seem odious to us, when the dominion and ripeness of it are so odious.

Direct. IX. Mark what obedience is expected by men, and what influence government hath upon the state and affairs of the world, and what the world would be without it.--And sure this will make you think honourably and delightfully of the government of God. What would a nation be without government, but like a company of thieves and lawless murderers? or like the pikes in a pond, that first eat up the other fish, and then devour one another, the greater living upon the less. Bears and wolves would live more quietly together, than ungoverned men (except those few that are truly subject to the government of God). Government maintaineth every man in his propriety; and keepeth lust and madness from breaking out; and keepeth peace and order in the world. What would a family be without government? Children and servants are kept by it in their proper place and work. Think then how necessary and excellent is the universal government of God.

Direct. X. Think well of the endless rewards and punishments, by which God will procure obedience to his laws, or vindicate the honour of his government, on the disobedient.--That the world may see that he giveth sufficient motives for all that he requireth, he will reward the obedient with everlasting blessedness, and punish the rebels with endless misery. You shall not say that he bids you work for nothing. Though you can give him nothing but his own, and therefore can merit nothing of him, in point of commutative justice; yet, as he is a Governor and a Father, he will put so wide a difference between the obedient and the rebellious, that one shall be judged to everlasting joy, with a "Well done, good and faithful servant," and the other, to "everlasting punishment," Matt. xxv. Is there not enough in heaven, in a life of endless joys with God, to make obedience lovely to you, and to make sin loathsome? Is there not enough in hell, to deter you from disobedience, and drive you unto God? God will rule, whether you will or not. Consent to be obedient, or he will punish you without asking your consent.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: More special directions for obedience.]

The directions for the nearer exciting of your obedience, and confirming your full subjection, are these:

Direct. I. Keep still the face of your souls upon God, and in the sense of his greatness, and of his continual presence, and of his particular providence.--And this will keep you in an obediential frame. You will easily then perceive, that so great a God cannot be disobeyed, without great iniquity and guilt. And, that a God that is continually with you, must be continually regarded. And, that a God that exactly observeth and mindeth the thoughts and words of every man, should by every man be exactly minded and observed. This will help you to understand the meaning of the tempter, when you perceive that every temptation is an urging of you to offend, for nothing, so great a God, that is just then observing what you do.

Direct. II. Always remember whither you are going; that you are preparing for everlasting rest and joy, and must pass through the righteous judgment of the Lord; and that Christ is your Guide and Governor, but to bring you safely home, as the Captain of your salvation; and that sin is a rejecting of his help, and of your happiness.--Think not that God doth rule you as a tyrant, to your hurt or ruin, to make his own advantage of you; or by needless laws, that have no respect to your good and safety; but think of him, as one that is conducting you to eternal life, and would now guide you by his counsel, and afterwards take you to his glory. Think that he is leading you to the world of light, and life, and love, and joy, where there are rivers of pleasure, and fulness of delight for evermore, that you may see his face, and feel his love, among a world of blessed spirits; and not be weeping and gnashing the teeth, with impious, impenitent souls. And is not such a government as this desirable? It is but like the government of a physician, to save his patient's life. Or like your government of your children, which is necessary to their good, that cannot feed or rule themselves. Or like a pilot's governing the ship, which is conveying you to possess a kingdom: if the mariners obey him, they may safely arrive at the desired port; but if they disobey him, they are all cast away and perish. And should such a government as this is seem grievous to you? or should it not be most acceptable, and accurately obeyed?

Direct. III. Still think, what dangers, difficulties, and enemies you must pass through to this rest, and that all your safety dependeth upon the conduct and assistance of your Guide.--And this will bring over self-love to command your strict obedience. You are to pass through the army of your enemies; and will you here disobey the Captain of your salvation? or would you have him leave you to yourselves? Your disease is mortal, and none but Jesus Christ can cure it; and if he cure it not, you are lost for ever. No pain of gout or stone is comparable to your everlasting pain; and yet will you not be obedient to your Physician? Think, when a temptation comes, If there were a narrow bridge over the deepest gulf or river, and all my friends and happiness lay on the further side, and I must needs go over whether I will or not; if Christ would take me by the hand and lead me over, would I be tempted to refuse his help, or to lose his hand? or if he should offer to lose me, and leave me to myself, should I not tremble, and cry out, as Peter, "Lord, save me," Matt. xiv. 30, or as the disciples, "Save, Master, we perish?" And should I not then hold him fast, and most accurately obey him, when he is leading me to life eternal, that I may escape the gulf of endless misery?

Direct. IV. Remember still, how bad, and blind, and backward, and deceitful, and weak you are yourselves, and therefore what need you have of the greatest watchfulness, lest you should disobey your Pilot, and lose your Guide, before you are aware.--O what a heart have we to watch! A lazy heart, that will be loitering or sitting down, when we should be following our Lord. A foolish heart, that will let him go, while we play with every play-fellow in our way. A cowardly heart, that will steal away, or draw back in danger, when it should follow our General. A treacherous heart, that will give us the slip, and deceive us, when we seemed surest of it. A purblind heart, that even when it followeth Christ, our Guide, is hardly kept from missing the bridge, and falling into the gulf of misery. Think well of these, and you will obey your Governor.

Direct. V. Forget not the fruits of your former obedience and disobedience, if you would be kept in an obedient frame.--Remember that obedience hath been sweetest afterward; and that you never yet found cause to repent or be ashamed of it. Remember that the fruit of sin was bitter, and that when your eyes were opened, and you saw your shame, you would fain have fled from the face of God; and that then it appeared another thing to you, than it seemed in the committing. Remember what groans and heart's grief it hath cost you; and into what fears it brought you of the wrath of God; and how long it was before your broken bones were healed; and what it cost both Christ and you. And this will make the very name and first approach of sin, to cast you into a preventing fear. A beast that hath once fallen into a gulf or quick-sand, will hardly be driven into the same again: a fish that was once stricken and escaped the nook, will fear and fly from it the next time: a bird that hath once escaped the snare, or the talons of the hawk, is afterwards afraid of the sight or noise of such a thing. Remember where you fell, and what it cost you, and what you escaped which it might have cost you, and you will obey more accurately hereafter.

Direct. VI. Remember that this is your day of trial, and what depends upon your accurate obedience. God will not crown untried servants. Satan is purposely suffered to tempt you, to try whether you will be true to God or not. All the hope that his malice hath of undoing you for ever, consisteth in his hope to make you disobedient to God. Methinks these considerations should awaken you to the most watchful and diligent obedience. If you were told beforehand, that a thief or cut-purse had undertaken to rob you, and would use all his cunning and industry to do it, you would then watch more carefully than at another time. If you were in a race to run for your lives, you would not go then in your ordinary pace. Doth God tell you before, that he will try your obedience by temptation, and as you stand or fall, you shall speed for ever; and will not this keep you watchful and obedient?

Direct. VII. Avoid those tempting and deluding objects, which are still enticing your hearts from your obedience; and avoid that diverting crowd and noise of company or worldly business, which drowns the voice of God's commands.--If God call you into a life of great temptations, he can bring you safely through them all; but if you rush into it wilfully, you may soon find your own disability to resist. It is dangerous to be under strong and importunate temptations, lest the stream should bear us down; but especially to be long under them, lest we be weary of resisting. They that are long solicited, do too often yield at last: it is hard to be always in a clear, and ready, and resolute frame: few men have their wits, much less their graces, always at hand, in a readiness to use. And if the thief come when you are dropped asleep, you may be robbed before you can awake. The constant drawings of temptation, do ofttimes abate the habit of obedience, and diminish our hatred of sin and holy resolutions, by slow, insensible degrees, before we yield to commit the act. And the mind that will be kept in full subjection, must not be so diverted in a crowd of distracting company or business, as to have no time to think on the motives of his obedience. This withdrawing of the fuel may put out the fire.

Direct. VIII. If you are unavoidably cast upon strong temptation, take the alarm; and put on all the armour of God, and call up your souls to watchfulness and resolution, remembering that you are now among your enemies, and must resist as for your lives.--Take every temptation in its naked, proper sense, as coming from the devil, and tending to your damnation 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 Saviour: 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 thyself, and let me have thy company in torments. This is the naked meaning of every temptation: suppose therefore you saw and heard all this, with what detestation then would you reject it! with what horror would you fly from the most enticing bait! If a robber would entice you out of your way and company, with flattering words, that you might fall into the hands of his companions, if you knew all his meaning and design beforehand, would you be enticed after him? Watch therefore, and resolve when you know beforehand the design of the devil, and what he intendeth in every temptation.

Direct. IX. Be most suspicious, fearful, and watchful about that, which your flesh doth most desire, or finds the greatest pleasure in.--Not that you should deny your bodies all delight in the mercies of God: if the body have none, the mind will have the less: mercy must be differenced from punishment; and must be valued and relished as mercy: mere natural pleasing of the senses is in itself no moral good or evil. A holy improvement of lawful pleasure, is a daily duty: inordinate pleasure is a sin: all is inordinate which tendeth more to corrupt the soul, by enticing it to sin, and turning it from God, than to fit and dispose it for God and his service, and preserve it from sinning. But still remember, it is not sorrow but delight that draweth away the soul from God, and is the flesh's interest which it sets up against him. Many have sinned in sorrows and discontents; but none ever sinned for sorrows and discontents: their discontents and sorrows are not taken up and loved for themselves; but are the effects of their love to some pleasure and content, which is denied them, or taken from them. Therefore, though all your bodily pleasures are not sin, yet, seeing nothing but the pleasures of the flesh and carnal mind is the end of sinners, and the devil's great and chiefest bait, and this only causeth men's perdition, you have great reason to be most afraid of that which is most pleasing to your flesh, and to the mind as it is corrupt and carnal: escape the delusions of fleshly pleasure, and you escape damnation. You have far more cause to be afraid of prosperity, than of adversity; of riches, than of poverty; of honour, than of obscurity and contempt; of men's praises and applause, than of their dispraises, slanders, and reproach; of preferment and greatness, than of a low and mean condition; of a delicious, than of less tempting meats and drinks; of curious, costly, than of mean, and cheap, and plain attire. Let those that have hired out their reason to the service of their fleshly lusts, and have delivered the crown and sceptre to their appetites, think otherwise. No wonder if they that have sold the birthright of their intellects to their senses, for a mess of pottage, for a whore, or a high place, or a domineering power over others, or a belly-full of pleasant meats or liquors, do deride all this, and think it but a melancholy conceit, more suitable to an eremite or anchorite, than to men of society and business in the world. As heaven is the portion of serious believers and mortified saints alone, so it shall be proper to them alone to understand the doctrine and example of their Saviour, and practically to know what it is to deny themselves, and forsake all they have, and take up their cross and follow Christ, and by the Spirit to mortify the deeds of the body, Luke xiv. 26-29, 33; Rom. viii. 5-7, 13; Col. iii. 1-4. Such know that millions part with God for pleasures, but none for griefs: and that hell will be stored with those that preferred wealth, and honour, and sports, and gluttony, drink and filthy lusts, before the holiness and happiness of believers; but none will be damned for preferring poverty, and disgrace, and abstinence, hunger and thirst, and chastity before them. It must be something that seemeth good, that must entice men from the chiefest good: apparent evil is no fit bait for the devil's hook. Men will not displease God, to be themselves displeased; nor choose present sorrows instead of everlasting joys; but for the pleasures of sin for a season many will despise the endless pleasures.

Direct. X. Meet every motion to disobedience with an army of holy graces; with wisdom, and fear, and hatred, and resolution, with love to God, with zeal and courage; and quench every spark that falls upon your hearts before it breaks out into a flame.--When sin is little and in its infancy, it is weak and easily resisted; it hath not then turned away the mind from God, nor quenched grace, and disabled it to do its office. But when it is grown strong, then grace grows weak, and we want its help, and want the sense of the presence, and attributes, and truths of God, to rebuke it. O stay not till your hearts are gone out of hearing, and straggled from God beyond the observance of his calls. The habit of obedience will be dangerously abated, if you resist not quickly the acts of sin.

Direct. XI. Labour for the clearest understanding of the will of God, that doubtfulness about your duty do not make you flag in your obedience, and doubtfulness about sin do not weaken your detestation and resistance, and draw you to venture on it.--When a man is sure what is his duty, it is a great help against all temptations that would take him off: and when he is sure that a thing is sinful, it makes it the easier to resist. And, therefore, it is the devil's method to delude the understanding, and make men believe that duty is no duty, and sin is no sin; and then no wonder if duty be neglected, and sin committed: and therefore he raiseth up one false prophet or other to say to Ahab, "Go, and prosper;" or to say, There is no hurt in this; to dispute for sin, and to dispute against duty. And it is almost incredible how much the devil hath got, when he hath once made it a matter of controversy. Then every hypocrite hath a cloak for his sin, and a dose of opium for his conscience, when he can but say, It is a controversy; some are of one mind, and some of another, you are of that opinion, and I am of this: especially if there be wise and learned on both sides; and yet more, if there be religious men on both sides; and more yet, if he have an equal number on his side; and most of all, if he have the major vote (as error and sin have commonly in the world). If Ahab have but four hundred lying, flattering prophets to one Micaiah, he will think he may hate him, reproach him, and persecute him without any scruple of conscience. If it be made a controversy whether bread be bread, and wine be wine, when we see and taste it; some will think they may venture to subscribe or swear that they hold the negative, if their credit, or livings, or lives lie upon it; much more if they can say, It is the judgment of the church. If it be once made a controversy, whether perjury be a sin, or whether a vow materially lawful bind, or whether it be lawful to equivocate, or lie with a mental reservation for the truth, or to do the greatest evil, or speak the falsest thing with a true and good intent and meaning, almost all the hypocrites in the country will be for the sinful part, if their fleshly interest require it; and will think themselves wronged, if they are accounted hypocrites, liars, or perjured, as long as it is but a point of controversy among learned men. If it be once made a controversy, whether an excommunicate king become a private man, and it be lawful to kill him, and whether the pope may absolve the subjects of temporal lords from their allegiance, (notwithstanding all their oaths,) and if such learned men as Suarez, Bellarmine, Perron, &c. are for it, (to say nothing of Santarellus, Mariana, &c.) you shall have a Clement, a Ravilliac, a Faux, yea, too great choice of instruments, that will be satisfied to strike the blow. If many hold it may or must be done, some will be found too ready to do it: especially if an approved general council (Lateran. sub Innoc. III. Can. 3.) be for such papal absolution. We have seen at home how many will be imboldened to pull down government, to sit in judgment on their king, and condemn him, and to destroy their brethren, if they can but say, that such and such men think it lawful. If it were but a controversy once whether drunkenness, whoredom, swearing, stealing, or any villany be a sin or not, it would be committed more commonly, and with much less regret of conscience. Yea, good men will be ready to think that modesty requireth them to be less censorious of those that commit it, because in controverted cases they must suspect their own understandings, and allow something to the judgment of dissenters. And so all the rules of love, and peace, and moderation, which are requisite in controversies that are about small and difficult points, the devil will make use of, and apply them all to the patronage of the most odious sins, if he can but get them once to have some learned, wise, religious offenders. And from our tenderness of the persons we easily slide to an indulgent tenderness in censuring the sin itself: and good men themselves, by these means, are dangerously disabled to resist it, and prepared to commit it.

Direct. XII. Take heed lest the devil do either cast you into the sleep of carnal security, or into such doubts, and fears, and perplexing scruples, as shall make holy obedience seem to you an impossible or a tiresome thing. When you are asleep in carelessness, he can use you as he list; and if obedience be made grievous and ungrateful to you, your heart will go against it, and you will go but like a tired horse, no longer than you feel the spur: you are half conquered already, because you have lost the love and pleasure of obedience; and you are still in danger lest difficulties should quite tire you, and weariness make you yield at last. The means by which the tempter effecteth this, must afterward be spoken of, and therefore I shall omit it here.

By the faithful practice of these directions obedience may become, as it were, your nature, a familiar, easy, and delightful thing; and may be like a cheerful servant or child, that waiteth for your commands, and is glad to be employed by you. Your full subjection of your wills to God, will be as the health, and ease, and quietness of your wills: you will feel that it is never well or easy with you, but when you are obedient and pleasing to your Creator's will. Your "delight will be in the law of the Lord," Psal. i. 2. It will be sweeter than honey to you, and better than thousands of gold and silver; and this not for any by-respect, but as it is the "law of God;" a "light unto your feet," and an infallible guide in all your duty. You will say with David, Psal. cxix. 16, 24, 35, 47, 70, 77, 174, "I will delight myself in thy statutes; I will not forget thy word. Thy testimonies are my delight and my counsellors. Make me to go in the path of thy commandments, for therein do I delight." And as Psal. xl. 8, "I delight to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart." And, O "blessed is the man that feareth the Lord; that delighteth greatly in his commandments," Psal. cxii. 2.

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[Sidenote: Learning as disciples of Christ our Teacher.]

Grand Direct. VII. Continue as the covenanted scholars of Christ, the Prophet and Teacher of his church, to learn of him by his Spirit, word, and ministers, the farther knowledge of God, and the things that tend to your salvation; and this with an honest, willing mind, in faith, humility, and diligence; in obedience, patience, and peace.

Though I spake before of our coming to God by Jesus Christ, as he is the way to the Father; it is meet that we distinctly speak of our relation and duty to him, as he is our Teacher, our Captain, and our Master, as well as of our improving him as Mediator immediately unto God. The necessity of believers, and the office and work of Christ himself, doth tell us how much of our religion doth consist in learning of him as his disciples. Acts vii. 37, "A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me, him shall you hear." This was the voice that came out of the cloud in the holy mount, Matt. xvii. 5, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him." Therefore is the title of disciples commonly given to believers. And there is a twofold teaching which Christ hath sent his ministers to perform; both mentioned in their commission, Matt. xxviii. 19, 20. The one is, to "teach the nations;" as to make disciples of them, by persuading them into the school of Christ, which containeth the teaching of faith and repentance, and whatever is necessary to their first admission, and to their subjecting themselves to Christ himself as their stated and infallible Guide. The other is the teaching them further to know more of God, "and to observe all things whatsoever he commandeth them." And this last is it we are now to speak of, and I shall add some sub-directions for your help.

Directions for Learning of Christ, as our Teacher.

[Sidenote: How to learn of Christ.]

Direct. I. Remember who it is that is your Teacher: that he is the Son of God, that knoweth his Father's will, and is the most faithful, infallible Pastor of the church.--There is neither ignorance, nor negligence, nor ambition, nor deceit in him, to cause him to conceal the mind of God. There is nothing which we need to know, which he is not both able and willing to acquaint us with.

Direct. II. Remember what it is that he teacheth you, and to what end.--That it is not how to sin and be damned, as the devil, the world, and the flesh would teach you; nor how to satisfy your lusts, or to know, or do, or attain the trifles of the world: but it is how to be renewed to the image of God, and how to do his will and please him, and how to be justified at his bar, and how to escape everlasting fire, and how to attain everlasting joys: consider this well, and you will gladly learn of such a Teacher.

Direct. III. Let the book which he himself hath indited by his Spirit, be the rule and principal matter of your learning.--The holy Scriptures are of divine inspiration: it is them that we must be judged by, and them that we must be ruled by, and therefore them that we must principally learn. Men's books and teachings are but the means for our learning this infallible word.

Direct. IV. Remember that as it is Christ's work to teach, it is yours to hear, and read, and study, and pray, and practise what you hear.--Do your part, then, if you expect the benefit. You come not to the school of Christ to be idle. Knowledge droppeth not into the sleepy dreamer's mouth. Dig for it as for silver, and search for it in the Scriptures as for a hidden treasure: meditate in them day and night. Leave it to miserable fools, to contemn the wisdom of the Most High.

Direct. V. Fix your eye upon himself as your pattern, and study with earnest desire to follow his holy example, and to be made conformable to him.--Not to imitate him in the works which were proper to him as God, or as Mediator; but in his holiness, which he hath proposed to his disciples for their imitation. He knew how effectual a perfect example would be, where a perfect doctrine alone would be less regarded. Example bringeth doctrine nearer to our eye and heart; it maketh it more observable, and telleth us with more powerful application, Such you must be, and thus you must do. The eye maketh an easier and deeper impression on the imagination and mind, than the ear doth; therefore Christ's example should be much preached and studied. It will be a very great help to us, to have still upon our minds the image of the holy life of Christ; that we be affected, as if we always saw him doing the holy actions which once he did. Paul calls the Galatians "foolish," and "bewitched," that "obeyed not the truth, when Christ had been set forth as crucified among them evidently before their eyes," Gal. iii. 1. Papists think that images serve well for this turn: but the records of Scripture, and the living images of Christ whom they persecute and kill, are far more useful. How much example is more operative than doctrine alone, you may perceive by the enemies of Christ, who can bear his holy doctrine, when they cannot bear his holy servants, that practise that doctrine before their eyes. And that which most stirs up their enmity, hath the advantage for exciting the believer's piety.

Let the image of Christ, in all his holy examples, be always lively written upon your minds. 1. Let the great ones of the world remember, that their Lord was not born of such as bore rule, or were in worldly pomp and dignity, but of persons that lived but meanly in the world (however they were of the royal line); how he was not born in a palace, but a stable, and laid in a manger, without the attendance or accommodations of the rich.

2. Remember how he subjected himself unto his reputed father, and his mother, to teach all children subjection and obedience, Luke ii. 51.

3. And how he condescended to labour at a trade, and mean employment in the world; to teach us that our bodies, as well as our minds, must express their obedience, and have their ordinary employment; and to teach men to labour and live in a calling; and to comfort poor labourers, with assurance that God accepteth them in the meanest work, and that Christ himself lived so before them, and chose their kind of life, and not the life of princes and nobles, that live in pomp, and ease, and pleasure.

4. Remember how he refused not to submit to all the ordinances of God, and to fulfil all righteousness, and to be initiated into the solemn administration of his office by the baptism of John, Matt. iii. 15-17, which God approved, by sending down upon him the Holy Ghost: to teach us all to expect his Spirit in the use of his ordinances.

5. Remember how he voluntarily began his work, with an encounter with the tempter in the wilderness, upon his fasting; and suffered the tempter to proceed, till he moved him to the most odious sin, even to worship the devil himself: to teach us that God loveth tried servants, and expecteth that we be not turned from him by temptations; especially those that enter upon a public ministry, must be tried men, that have overcome the tempter: and to comfort tempted christians, who may remember, that their Saviour himself was most blasphemously tempted to as odious sins as ever they were; and that to be greatly tempted, without consenting or yielding to the sin, is so far from being a sin in itself, that it is the greatest honour of our obedience; and that the devil, who molesteth and haunteth us with his temptations, is a conquered enemy, whom our Lord in person hath overcome.

6. Remember how earnestly and constantly he preached; not stories, or jingles, or subtle controversies, but repentance, and faith, and self-denial, and obedience. So great was his love to souls, that, when he had auditors, he preached, not only in the temple and synagogues, but on mountains, and in a ship, and any other convenient place; and no fury of the rulers or Pharisees could silence him, till his hour was come, having his Father's commission. And even to particular persons, he vouchsafed, by conference, to open the mysteries of salvation, John iii. and iv.; to teach us to love and attend to the plain and powerful preaching of the gospel, and not to forbear any necessary means for the honour of God, and the saving of souls, because of the enmity or opposition of malicious men, but to "work while it is day, seeing the night is coming when none can work," John ix. 4.

7. Remember how compassionate he was to men's bodies, as well as to their souls; going up and down with unwearied diligence, doing good; healing the blind, and lame, and deaf, and sick, and possessed: and how all his miracles were done in charity, to do good; and none of them to do hurt; so that he was but living, walking LOVE and MERCY. To teach us to know God, in his love and mercy; and to abound in love and mercy to our brethren; and to hate the spirit of hurtfulness, persecution, and uncharitableness; and to lay out ourselves in doing, good; and to exercise our compassion to the bodies of men, as well as to their souls, according to our power.

8. Remember how his zeal and love endured the reproach, and resisted the opposition of his friends, who went to lay hold on him as if he had been beside himself, Mark iii. 20, 21: and how he bid Peter "Get behind me, Satan; thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things of God, but those of men," when in carnal love and wisdom he rebuked him for resolving to lay down his life, saying, "Be it far from thee, this shall not be unto thee," Matt. xvi. 22, 23. To teach us to expect that carnal love and wisdom in our nearest friends, will rise up against us in the work of God, to discourage us both from duty and from sufferings; and that all are to be shaken off, and counted as the instruments of Satan, that would tempt us to be unfaithful to our trust and duty, and to favour ourselves by a sinful avoiding of the sufferings which God doth call us to undergo.

9. Remember how through all his life he despised the riches of the world, and chose a life of poverty, and was a companion of the meanest, neither possessing nor seeking sumptuous houses, or great attendance, or spacious lands, or a large estate. He lived in a visible contempt of all the wealth, and splendour, and greatness of the world: to teach us how little these little things are to be esteemed; and that they are none of the treasure and portion of a saint; and what a folly it is to be fond of such snares, and diversions, and temptations which make the way to heaven to be to us as a needle's eye.

10. Observe, how little he regardeth the honour and applause of men; Phil. ii. 7-9, how "he made himself of no reputation, but took upon him the form of a servant," refusing to be "made a king," or to have a "kingdom of this world," John vi. 15. Though he told malignant blasphemers how greatly they sinned in dishonouring him, yet did he not seek the honour of the world: to teach us how little the thoughts or words of ignorant men do contribute to our happiness, or are to be accounted of; and to turn our eyes from the impertinent censures of flesh and blood, to the judgment of our Almighty Sovereign, to whom it is that we stand or fall.

11. Remember also how little he made provision for the flesh, and never once tasted of any immoderate, sinful pleasure. How far was he from a life of voluptuousness and sensuality! Though his avoiding the formal fastings of the Pharisees, made them slander him as a "gluttonous person," and "a wine-bibber," Matt. xi. 19, as the sober christians were called carnivori, by those that thought it unlawful to eat flesh; yet so far was he from the guilt of any such sin, that never a desire of it was in his heart. You shall never find in the gospel that Christ spent half the morning in dressing him, choosing rather to shorten his time for prayer, than not to appear sufficiently neatified, as our empty, worthless, painted gallants do: nor shall you ever read that he wasted his time in idle visitations, or cards, or dice, or in reading romances, or hearing stage-plays: it was another kind of example that our Lord did leave for his disciples.

12. Mark also, how far Christ was from being guilty of any idle, or lascivious, or foolish kind of talk; and how holy and profitable all his speeches were: to teach us also to speak as the oracles of God, such words as tend to edification, and to administer grace unto the hearers, and to keep our tongues from all profane, lascivious, empty, idle speeches.

13. Remember, that pride, and passion, are condemned by your pattern. Christ bids you "Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls," Matt. xi. 28, 29. Therefore he resolveth that "except" men "be converted and become as little children, they shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven," Matt, xviii. 3. Behold therefore the Lamb of God, and be ashamed of your fierce and ravenous natures.

14. Remember that Christ your Lord and pattern did humble himself to the meanest office of love, even to wash the feet of his disciples: not to teach you to wash a few poor men's feet, as a ceremony once a year, and persecute and murder the servants of Christ the rest of the year, as the Roman Vice-Christ doth; but to teach us, that if he their Lord and Master washed his disciples' feet, we also should stoop as low in any office of love, for one another, John xiii. 14.

15. Remember also that Christ your pattern spent whole nights in prayer to God;[97] so much was he for this holy attendance upon God: to teach us to "pray always and not wax faint," Luke xviii. 1. And not to be like the impious God-haters, that love not any near or serious addresses unto God, nor those that use them, but make them the object of their cruelty or scorn.

16. Remember also that Christ was against the Pharisees' outside, hypocritical, ceremonious worship, consisting in lip-labour, affected repetitions, and much babbling; their "Touch not, taste not, handle not," and worshipping God in vain, according to their traditions, "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." He taught us a serious, spiritual worship: not "to draw nigh to God with our mouth, and honour him with our lips, while our hearts are far from him;" but to "worship God who is a Spirit, in spirit and truth," Matt. xv. 6-9; John iv. 23, 24; Matt. xxiii.

17. Christ was a sharp reprover of hypocritical, blind, ceremonious, malicious Pharisees; and warneth his disciples to take heed of their leaven. When they are offended with him, he saith, "Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up: let them alone, they be blind leaders of the blind," &c. Matt. xv. 12-14. To teach us to take heed of autonomous, supercilious, domineering, formal hypocrites, and false teachers, and to difference between the shepherds and the wolves.

18. Though Christ seems cautelously to avoid the owning of the Romans' usurpation over the Jews, yet rather than offend them he payeth tribute himself, Matt. xvii. 25-27, and biddeth them "render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and to God the things that are God's," Matt. xxii. 21. The Pharisees bring their controversy to him hypocritically, "Whether it be lawful to give tribute to Cæsar, or not?" (For that Cæsar was a usurper over them, they took to be past controversy.) And Christ would give them no answer that should insnare himself, or encourage usurpation, or countenance their sedition: teaching us much more to pay tribute cheerfully to our lawful governors, and to avoid all sedition and offence.

19. Yet is he accused, condemned, and executed among malefactors, as aspiring to be "King of the Jews," and the judge called, "none of Cæsar's friend," if he let him go: teaching us to expect that the most innocent christians should be accused, as enemies to the rulers of the world, and mistaken governors be provoked and engaged against them, by the malicious calumnies of their adversaries; and that we should, in this unrighteous world, be condemned of those crimes of which we are most innocent, and which we most abhor, and have borne the fullest testimonies against.

20. The furious rout of the enraged people deride him by their words and deeds, with a purple robe, a sceptre of reed, a crown of thorns, and the scornful name of "King of the Jews;" they spit in his face, and buffet him, and then break jests upon him; and in all this "being reviled he reviled not again, but committed all to him that judgeth righteously," 1 Pet. ii. 21-23. Teaching us to expect the rage of the ignorant rabble, as well as of deluded governors; and to be made the scorn of the worst of men; and all this without impatience, reviling, or threatening words; but quieting ourselves in the sure expectation of the righteous judgment, which we and they must shortly find.

21. When Christ is urged at Pilate's bar to speak for himself, he holds his peace: teaching us to expect to be questioned at the judgment-seat of man; and not to be over-careful for the vindicating of our names from their most odious calumnies, because the judgment that will fully justify us is sure and near.

22. When Christ is in his agony, his disciples fail him; when he is judged and crucified, they "forsook him and fled," Matt. xxvi. 56: to teach us not to be too confident in the best of men, nor to expect much from them in a time of trial, but to take up our comfort in God alone, when all our nearest friends shall fail us.

23. Upon the cross he suffereth the torments and ignominy of death for us, praying for his murderers: "leaving us an example that we should follow his steps," 1 Pet. ii. 21; and that we think not life itself too dear to part with, in obedience to God, and for the love of Christ and one another, 1 John iii. 16; and that we forgive and pray for them that persecute us.

24. In all this suffering from men, he feels also so much of the fruit of our sin upon his soul, that he crieth out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" to teach us, if we fall into such calamity of soul, as to think that God himself forsaketh us, to remember for our support, that the Son of God himself before us, cried out, "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" and that in this also we may expect a trial, to seem of ourselves forsaken of God, when our Saviour underwent the like before us.

I will instance in no more of his example, because I would not be tedious. Hither now let believers cast their eyes: if you love your Lord, you should love to imitate him, and be glad to find yourselves in the way that he hath gone before you. If he lived a worldly or a sensual life, do you do so: if he was an enemy to preaching, and praying, and holy living, be you so: but if he lived in the greatest contempt of all the wealth, and honours, and pleasures of the world, in a life of holy obedience to his Father, wholly preferring the kingdom of heaven, and seeking the salvation of the souls of others, and patiently bearing persecution, derision, calumnies, and death, then take up your cross, and follow him in joyfully to the expected crown.

Direct. VI. If you will learn of Christ, you must learn of his ministers, whom he hath appointed under him to be the teachers of his church.--He purposely enableth them, inclineth them, and sendeth them to instruct you: not to have dominion over your faith, but to be your spiritual fathers, and "the ministers by whom you believe, as God shall give" (ability and success) "to every one" as he pleases; "to plant and water," while "God giveth the increase; to open men's eyes, and turn them from darkness to light;" and to be "labourers together with God, whose husbandry and building you are;" and to be "helpers of your joy." See 2 Cor. ii. 4; Acts xxvi. 17, 18; 1 Cor. iii. 5-9; iv. 15. Seeing therefore Christ hath appointed them, under him, to be the ordinary teachers of his church, he that "heareth them," (speaking his message,) "heareth him," and he "that despiseth them, despiseth him," Luke x. 16. And he that saith, I will hear Christ, but not you, doth say in effect to Christ himself, I will not hear thee, nor learn of thee, unless thou wilt dismiss thy ushers, and teach me immediately thyself.

Direct. VII. Hearken also to the secret teachings of his Spirit, and your consciences, not as making you any new law or duty, or being to you instead of Scriptures or ministers; but as bringing that truth into your hearts and practices, which Scriptures and ministers have first brought to your eyes and ears.--If you understand not this, how the office of Scripture and ministers differ from the office of the Spirit and your consciences, you will be confounded, as the sectaries of these times have been, that separate what God hath joined together, and plead against Scripture or ministers under pretence of extolling the Spirit, or the light within them. As your meat must be taken into the stomach, and pass the first concoction, before the second can be performed, and chylification must be before sanguification; so the Scripture and ministers must bring truth to your eyes and ears, before the Spirit or conscience bring them to your hearts and practice. But they lie dead and uneffectual in your brain or imagination, if you hearken not to the secret teachings of the Spirit and conscience, which would bring them further. As Christ is the principal Teacher without, and ministers are but under him; so the Spirit is the principal teacher within us, and conscience is but under the Spirit, being excited and informed by it. Those that learn only of Scriptures and ministers, (by hearing or reading,) may become men of learning and great ability, though they hearken not to the sanctifying teachings of the Spirit, or to their consciences. But it is only those that hearken first to the Scriptures and ministers, and next to the Spirit of God, and to their consciences, that have an inward, sanctifying, saving knowledge, and are they that are said to be taught of God. Therefore, hearken first with your ears, what Christ hath to say to you from without; and then hearken daily and diligently with your hearts, what the Spirit and conscience say within. For it is their office to preach over all that again to your hearts, which you have received.

Direct. VIII. It being the office of the present ordinary ministry, only to expound and apply the doctrine of Christ already recorded in the Scriptures, believe not any man that contradicteth this recorded doctrine, what reason, authority, or revelation soever he pretend. Isa. viii. 20, "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to these, it is because there is no light in them." No reason can be reason indeed that is pretended against the reason of the Creator and God of reason. Authority pretended against the highest authority of God, is no authority: God never gave authority to any against himself; nor to deceive men's souls; nor to dispense with the law of Christ; nor to warrant men to sin against him; nor to make any supplements to his law or doctrine. The apostles had their "power only to edification, but not to destruction," 1 Cor. x. 8; 2 Cor. xiii. 10. There is no revelation from God that is contrary to his own revelation, already delivered as his perfect law and rule unto the church; and therefore none supplemental to it. If an "apostle or an angel from heaven (per possibile vel impossibile) shall evangelize to us besides what is evangelized," and we "have received," he must be held "accursed," Gal. i. 6-8.

Direct. IX. Come not to learn of Christ with self-conceitedness, pride, or confidence in your prejudice and errors; but as little children, with humble, teachable, tractable minds. Christ is no teacher for those that in their own eyes are wise enough already: unless it be first to teach them to "become fools" (in their own esteem, because they are so indeed) "that they may be wise," 1 Cor. iii. 18. They that are prepossessed with false opinions, and resolve that they will never be persuaded of the contrary, are unmeet to be scholars in the school of Christ. "He resisteth the proud, but giveth more grace unto the humble," 1 Pet. v. 5. Men that have a high conceit of their own understandings, and think they can easily know truth from falsehood, as soon as they hear it, and come not to learn, but to censure what they hear or read, as being able presently to judge of all, these are fitter for the school of the prince of pride, and father of lies and error, than for the school of Christ. Except conversion make men as little children, that come not to carp and cavil, but to learn, they are not "meet for the kingdom of Christ," Matt. xviii. 3; John iii. 3, 5. Know how blind and ignorant you are, and how dull of learning, and humbly beg of the heavenly Teacher, that he will accept you, and illuminate you: and give up your understandings absolutely to be informed by him, and your hearts to be the tables in which his Spirit shall write his law; believing his doctrine upon the bare account of his infallible veracity, and resolving to obey it; and this is to be the disciples of Christ indeed, and such as shall be taught of God.

Direct. X. Come to the school of Christ with honest, willing hearts, that love the truth, and fain would know it, that they may obey it; and not with false and biassed hearts, which secretly hinder the understanding from entertaining the truth, because they love it not, as being contrary to their carnal inclinations and interest. The word that was received into honest hearts, was it that was as the seed that brought forth plentifully, Matt. xiii. 23. When the heart saith unfeignedly, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth; teach me to know and do thy will;" God will not leave such a learner in the dark. Most of the damnable ignorance and error of the world, is from a wicked heart, that perceiveth that the truth of God is against their fleshly interest and lusts, and therefore is unwilling to obey it, and unwilling to believe it, lest it torment them, because they disobey it. A will that is secretly poisoned with the love of the world, or of any sinful lusts and pleasures, is the most potent impediment to the believing of the truth.

Direct. XI. Learn with quietness and peace in the school of Christ, and make not divisions, and meddle not with others' lessons and matters, but with your own. Silence, and quietness, and minding your own business, is the way to profit. The turbulent wranglers that are quarrelling with others, and are religious contentiously, in envy and strife, are liker to be corrected or ejected, than to be edified. Read James iii.

Direct. XII. Remember that the school of Christ hath a rod; and therefore learn with fear and reverence, Heb. xii. 28, 29; Phil. ii. 12. Christ will sharply rebuke his own, if they grow negligent and offend: and if he should cast thee out and forsake thee, thou art undone for ever. "See," therefore, "that ye refuse not him that speaketh: for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we, if we refuse him that is from heaven," Heb. xii. 25. "For how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation; which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs, and wonders, and divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?" Heb. ii. 3, 4. "Serve the Lord therefore with fear, and rejoice with trembling: kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the kindling of his wrath," Psal. ii. 11, 12.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: To obey Christ as Physician in his healing work, and his spirit in its cleansing, mortifying work.]

Grand Direct. VIII. Remember that you are related to Christ as the Physician of your souls, and to the Holy Ghost as your Sanctifier. Make it therefore your serious study, to be cured by Christ, and cleansed by his Spirit, of all the sinful diseases and defilements of your hearts and lives.

Though I did before speak of our believing in the Holy Ghost, and using his help for our access to God, and converse with him; yet I deferred to speak fully of the cleansing and mortifying part of his work of sanctification till now; and shall treat of it here, as it is the same with the curing work of Christ, related to us as the Physician of our souls: it being part of our subjection and obedience to him, to be ruled by him, in order to our cure. And what I shall here write against sin, in general, will be of a twofold use. The one is, to help us against the inward corruptions of our hearts, and for the outward obedience of our lives, and so to further the work of sanctification, and prevent our sinning. The other is, to help us to repentance and humiliation, habitual and actual, for the sins which are in us, and which we have already at any time committed.

The general directions for this curing and cleansing of the soul from sin, are contained, for the most part, in what is said already: and many of the particular directions also may be fetched from the sixth direction before-going. I shall now add but two general directions, and many more particular ones.

Direct. I. The two general directions are these: 1. Know what corruptions the soul of man is naturally defiled with: and this containeth the knowledge of those faculties, that are the seat of these corruptions, and the knowledge of the corruptions that have tainted and perverted the several faculties.

Direct. II. 2. Know what sin is, in its nature or intrinsic evil, as well as in the effects.

[Sidenote: How the several faculties of the soul are corrupted and diseased.]

[Sidenote: In what cases sound understanding may be ignorant.]

1. The parts or faculties to be cleansed and cured, are both the superior and inferior. (1.) The understanding, though not the first in the sin, must be first in the cure: for all that is done upon the lower faculties, must be by the governing power of the will: and all that is done upon the will, according to the order of human nature, must be done by the understanding. But the understanding hath its own diseases, which must be known and cured. Its malady in general is ignorance; which is not only a privation of actual knowledge, but an undisposedness also of the understanding to know the truth. A man may be deprived of some actual knowledge, that hath no disease in his mind that causeth it: as in a case that either the object be absent, and out of reach, or that there may be no sufficient revelation of it, or that the mind be taken up wholly upon some other thing, or in case a man shut out the thoughts of such an object, or refuse the evidence, which is the act of the will, even as a man that is not blind, may yet not see a particular object, 1. In case it be out of his natural reach; 2. Or if it be night, and he want extrinsic light; 3. Or in case he be wholly taken up with the observation of other things; 4. Or in case he wilfully either shut or turn away his eyes.

[Sidenote: How the understanding can be the subject of sin?]

It is a very hard question to resolve, how far and wherein the diseases of the understanding may be called sin? Because the understanding is not a free, but a necessitated faculty; and there can be no sin, where there is no liberty. But to clear this, it must be considered, 1. That it is not this or that faculty that is the full and proper subject of sin, but the man: the fulness of sin being made up of the vice of both faculties, understanding and will, conjunct. It is properer to say, The man sinned, than, The intellect or will sinned, speaking exclusively as to the other. 2. Liberium arbitrium, free choice, is belonging to the man, and not to his will only, though principally to the will. 3. Though the will only be free in itself, originally, yet the intellect is free by participation, so far as it is commanded by the will, or dependeth on it for the exercise of its acts. 4. Accordingly, though the understanding, primitively and of itself, be not the subject of morality, of moral virtues or of moral vices, which are immediately and primarily in the will; yet participatively its virtues and vices are moralized, and become graces or sins, laudable and rewardable, or vituperable and punishable, as they are imperate by the will, or depend upon it.

Consider then, the acts, and habits, and disposition of the understanding; and you will find, That some acts, and the privation of them, are necessary, naturally, originally, and unalterably; and these are not virtues or sinful at all, as having no morality. As, to know unwillingly, as the devils do, and to believe when it cannot be resisted, though they would; this is no moral virtue at all, but a natural perfection only. So, 1. To be ignorant of that which is no object of knowledge, or which is naturally beyond our knowledge, as of the essence of God, is no sin at all. 2. Nor, to be ignorant of that which was never revealed, when no fault of ours hindered the revelation, is no sin. 3. Nor, to be without the present, actual knowledge or consideration of one point, at that moment when our thoughts are lawfully diverted, as in greater business, or suspended, as in sleep. 4. But to be ignorant, wilfully, is a sin, participatively in the intellect, and originally in the will. 5. And to be ignorant for want of revelation, when ourselves are the hinderers of that revelation, or the meritorious cause that we want it, is our sin: because, though that ignorance be immediately necessary, and hypothetically, yet originally and remotely it is free and voluntary.

So, as to the habits and disposition of the intellect; it is no sin to want those, which man's understanding in its entire and primitive nature was without. As, not to be able to know without an object, or to know an unrevealed or too distant object, or actually to know all things knowable, at once. But there are defects or ill dispositions, that are sinfully contracted; and though these are now immediately natural[98] and necessary, yet being originally and remotely voluntary or free, they are participatively sinful. Such is the natural man's disability or undisposedness to know the things of the Spirit, when the word revealeth them. This lieth not in the want of a natural faculty to know them, but, 1. Radically in the will. 2. And thence in contrary, false apprehensions which the intellect is prepossessed with, which resisting the truth, may be called, its blindness or impotency to know them. And 3. In a strangeness of the mind to those spiritual things which it is utterly unacquainted with.

Note here, 1. That the will may be guilty of the understanding's ignorance, two ways: either, by positive averseness prohibiting or diverting it from beholding the evidence of truth; or, by a privation and forbearance of that command or excitation which is necessary to the exercise of the acts of the understanding. This last is the commonest way of the sin in the understanding; and that may be truly called voluntary which is from the will's neglect of its office, or suspension of its act, though there be no actual volition or nolition.

2. That the will may do more in causing a disease in the understanding, than it can do in curing it. I can put out a man's eyes, but I cannot restore them.

3. That yet for all that, God hath so ordered it in his gracious dispensation of the grace of the Redeemer, that certain means are appointed by him, for man to use, in order to the obtaining of his grace, for his own recovery: and so, though grace cure not the understanding of its primitive, natural weakness, yet it cureth it of its contracted weakness, which was voluntary in its original, but necessary, being contracted. And, as the will had a hand in the causing of it, so must it have, in the voluntary use of the aforesaid means, in the cure of it. So much to show you how the understanding is guilty of sin.

[Sidenote: The operations and maladies of the intellect.]

Though no actual knowledge be so immediate as to be without the mediation of the sense and fantasy, yet supposing these, knowledge is distinguished into immediate and mediate. The immediate is when the being, quality, &c. of a thing, or the truth of a proposition, is known immediately in itself by its proper evidence. Mediate knowledge is when the being of a thing, or the truth of a proposition, is known by the means of some other intervenient thing or proposition, whose evidence affordeth us a light to discern it.

The understanding is much more satisfied when it can see things and truths immediately in their proper evidence. But when it cannot, it is glad of any means to help it.

The further we go in the series of means, (knowing one thing by another, and that by another, and so on,) the more unsatisfied the understanding is, as apprehending a possibility of mistake, and a difficulty in escaping mistake in the use of so many media.

When the evidence of one thing in its proper nature showeth us another, this is to know by mere discourse or argument.

When the medium of our knowing one thing is the credibility of another man's report that knoweth it, this is (though a discourse or argument too, yet) in special, called, belief; which is strong or weak, certain or uncertain, as the evidence of the reporter's credibility is certain or uncertain, and our apprehension of it strong or weak.

In both cases, the understanding's fault is either an utter privation of the act, or disposition to it; or else a privation of the rectitude of the act. When it should know by the proper evidence of the thing, the privation of its act is called ignorance or nescience, and the privation of its rectitude is called error (which differ as not seeing, and seeing falsely.) When it should know by testimony, the privation of its act is simple unbelief, or not believing, and the privation of its rectitude is either disbelief, when they think the reporter erreth, or misbelief, when it believeth a testimony that is not to be believed.

So that you see by what is said, that the diseases of the mind to be cured, are, 1. Mere ignorance. 2. Error; thinking truth to be falsehood, and falsehood truth. 3. Unbelief. 4. Disbelief. And 5. Misbelief.

[Sidenote: Rom. viii. 5-7.]

But as the goodness is of chief regard in the object, so the discerning of the truth about good and evil, is the chiefest office of the understanding. And therefore its disesteem of God, and glory, and grace, and its misesteem of the fleshly pleasure, and worldly prosperity, wealth, and honour, is the principal malady of the mind.

(2.) The diseases of the will, are in its inclination, and its acts. 1. An inordinate inclination to the pleasing of the fleshly appetite and fantasy, and to all carnal baits and temporal things, that tend to please it, and inordinate acts of desire accordingly. 2. An irrational backwardness to God, and grace, and spiritual good, and a refusal or nolition in act accordingly. These are in the will, 1. Because it is become much subject to the sensitive appetite, and hath debased itself, and contracted, by its sinful acts, a sensual inclination, the flesh having the dominion in a corrupted soul. 2. Because the intellect being also corrupted, ofttimes misleadeth it, by overvaluing transient things. 3. Because the will is become destitute (in its corrupted state) of the power of divine love, or an inclination to God and holy things, which should countermand the seduction of carnal objects. 4. And the understanding is much destitute of the light that should lead them higher. 5. Because the rage of the corrupted appetite is still seducing it. Mark therefore, for the right understanding of this, our greatest malady:

1. That the will never desireth evil, as evil, but as a carnal or a seeming good. 2. Nor doth it hate good as good, but as a seeming evil, because God and grace do seem to be his enemies, and to hurt him, by hindering him of the good of carnal pleasure which he now preferreth. 3. Nay, at the same time that he loveth evil as it pleaseth the flesh, he hath naturally, as a man, some averseness to it, so far as he apprehendeth it to be evil: and when he hateth God and holiness as evil, for hindering him of his carnal pleasure, he naturally loveth them, so far as he apprehendeth them to be good. So that there is some love to God and good, and some hatred to evil, in the ungodly; for while man is man, he will have naturally an inclination to good as good, and against evil as evil. 4. But the apprehension of sensitive good is the strongest in him, and the apprehension of spiritual good is weakest; and therefore the will receiving a greater impress from the carnal appetite and mind, than from the weak apprehensions of spiritual good, is more inclined to that which indeed is worst; and so things carnal have got the dominion, or chief commanding interest, in the soul. 5. Note also, that sin receiveth its formality, or moral evil, first in the will, and not in the intellect or sensitive appetite: for it is not sin till it be positively or privately, immediately or mediately, voluntary. But the first motions to sin are not in the will, but in the sensitive appetite; though there, at first, it be not formally sin. 6. Note, that neither intellect, object, appetite, or sense, necessitate naturally the will to sin, but it remaineth the first in the sin and guilt.

It is a matter of great difficulty to understand how sin first entered into the innocent soul; and it is of great importance, because an error here is of dangerous consequence. Two sorts seem to me to make God so much the necessitating cause of Adam's first sin, (and so of all sin,) as that it was as naturally impossible for Adam to have forborne it, according to their doctrine, as to have conquered God: 1. Those that assert the Dominican, immediate, physical, pre-determining pre-motion (which no created power can resist). 2. And those that say the will acts as necessitated by the intellect in all its acts (and so is necessitated in all its omissions); and that the intellect is necessitated by objects (as, no doubt it is, unless as its acts are sub imperio voluntatis); and all those objects are caused and disposed of by God. But it is certain that God is not the cause of sin; and therefore this certainty overruleth the case against these tenets.

At present it seemeth to me, that sin entered in this method: 1. Sense perceiveth the forbidden thing. 2. The appetite desireth it. 3. The imagination thinketh on its desirableness yet further. 4. The intellect conceiveth of it (truly) as good, by a simple apprehension. 5. The will accordingly willeth it by a simple complacency or volition. Thus far there was no sin. But, 6. The will here adhered to it too much, and took in it an excess of complacency, when it had power to do otherwise: and here sin begun. 7. And so when the cogitations should have been called off; 8. And the intellect should have minded God, and his command, and proceeded from a simple apprehension to the comparing act, and said, The favour of God is better, and his will should rule, it omitted all these acts, because the will omitted to command them; yea, and hindered them. 9. And so the intellect was next guilty of a non-renuo,--I will not forbid or hinder it (and the will accordingly). 10. And next of a positive deception, and the will of consent unto the sin, and so it being "finished, brought forth death."

If you say, the will's first sinful adhesion in the sixth instance, could not be, unless the intellect first directed it so to do; I deny that, because the will is the first principle in men's actions quoad exercitium, though the intellect be the first as to specification. And therefore the will could suspend its exercise and its excitation of the mind. In all this I go upon common principles: but I leave it to further inquiry; 1. How far the sensitive appetite may move the locomotive faculty without the will's command, while the will doth not forbid? And whether reason be not given man, as the rider to the horse, not to enable him to move, but to rule his motion: so that as the horse can go if the rider hinder not, so the sensitive appetite can cause the actions of eating, drinking, thinking, speaking sensually, if reason do but drop asleep, or not hinder. 2. And so whether in the first sin (and ordinarily) the sensitive appetite, fantasy, and passion be not the active mover, and the rational powers first guilty only by omitting their restraining government, which they were able to have exercised? 3. And so, whether sin be not (ordinarily) a brutish motion, or a voluntary unmanning of ourselves, the rational powers in the beginning being guilty only of omission or privation of restraint; but afterwards brought over to subserve the sensitive appetite actively? 4. And so, whether the will, which is the principium actus quoad exercitium, were not the first in the omission? The intellect having before said, This must be further considered, the will commanded not that further consideration, when it could and should?

However, if it be too hard for us to trace our own souls in all their motions, it is certain that the will of man is the first subject of moral good and evil; and uncertainties must not make us deny that which is certain.

The reader who understandeth the importance and consequence of these points, I am sure, will pardon me for this interposition of these difficult controverted points (which I purposely avoid where I judge them not very needful in order to the defence or clearing of the plainer common truths): and as for others, I must bear their censure.

The degree of sinfulness in the will lieth in a stiffness and obstinacy, a tenaciousness of deceitful temporal good, and an eagerness after it; and stubborn averseness to spiritual good, as it is against that temporal fleshly good. This is the will's disease.[99]

(3.) The sinfulness of the memory is in its retentiveness of evil, or things hurtful and prohibited; and its looseness and neglect of better, spiritual, necessary things. If this were only as things present have the natural advantage to make a deeper impress upon the fantasy, and things unseen and absent have the disadvantage, it were then but a natural, innocent infirmity; or if in sickness, age, or weakness, all kind of memory equally decay. But it is plain, that if the Bible be open before our eyes, and preaching be in our ears, and things unseen have the advantage of their infinite greatness, and excellency, and concernment to us, yet our memories are like walls of stone to any thing that is spiritual, and like walls of wax, on which you may write any thing, of that which is secular or evil. Note here, also, that the faultiness of the memory is only so far sinful as it is voluntary: it is the will where the sin is as in its throne, or chiefest subject. Because men love carnal things, and love not spiritual things, therefore it is that they mind, and understand, and remember the one, and not the other. So that it is but as imperate, and participatively, that the memory is capable of sin.

(4.) The sinfulness of the imagination consisteth in its readiness to think of evil, and of common earthly things, and its unaptness to think of any thing that is holy and good; and when we do force ourselves to holy thoughts, they are disorderly, confused, unskilfully managed, with great averseness.--Here also voluntariness is the life of the sin.

(5.) The sin of the affections, or passions, consisteth in this:--That they are too easily and violently moved by the sensitive interest and appetite; and are habitually prone to such carnal, inordinate motions, running before the understanding and will, (some of them,) and soliciting and urging them to evil; and resisting and disobeying the commands of reason and the will: but dull and backward to things spiritually good, and to execute the right dictates of the mind and will.

(6.) The sin of the sensitive appetite consisteth in the inordinate rage or immoderateness to its object, which causeth it to disobey the commands of reason, and to become the great inciter of rebellion in the soul; violently urging the mind and will to consent to its desires. Materially this dependeth much on the temper of the body; but formally this also is so far sinful as (positively or privately, mediately or immediately) it is voluntary. To have an appetite simply to the object of appetite is no sin; but to have a diseased, inordinate, unruly appetite, is a sin, not primarily in itself considered, but as it is voluntary, as it is the appetite of a rational free agent, that hath thus disordered the frame of its own nature.

(7.) The sin of the exterior parts, tongue, hand, eyes, feet, &c. is only in act, and not in habit, or at least, the habits are weak and subject to the will. And it is in the execution of the sinful desires of the flesh, and commands of the will, that the same consisteth. These parts also are not the primary subject of the guilt, but the will, that either positively puts them upon evil, or doth not restrain them when it ought; and so they are guilty but participatively and secondarily, as the other imperate faculties are: it is not good or evil merely as it is the act of tongue or hand, but as it is the act of the tongue, or hand of a rational free agent (agreeable or disagreeable to the law). If a madman should speak blasphemy, or should kill, or steal, it were no further sin, than as he had voluntarily contracted the ill disposition which caused it while he had the use of reason. If a man's hand were held and forced by another to do mischief utterly against his will, it is the sin of the chief agent, and not of the involuntary instrument. But no force totally excuseth us from guilt, which leaveth the act to our rational choice. He that saith, Take this oath, or I will kill thee, or torment thee, doth use force as a temptation which may be resisted, but doth not constrain a man to swear: for he leaveth it to his choice whether he will swear, or die, or be tormented; and he may and ought to choose death rather than the smallest sin. The will may be tempted, but not constrained.

Direct. II. 2. Labour clearly to understand the evil of sin, both intrinsical in itself, and in its aggravations and effects.--When you have found out where it is, and wherein it doth consist, find out the malignity and odiousness of it. I have heard some christians complain, that they read much to show them the evil of sin in its effects, but meet with few that show them its evil in itself sufficiently. But, if you see not the evil of sin in itself, as well as in the effects, it will but tempt you to think God unjust in over-punishing it; and it will keep you from the principal part of true repentance and mortification; which lieth in hating sin, as sin. I shall therefore show you, wherein the intrinsical malignity of sin consisteth.

1. Sin is (formally) the violation of the perfect, holy, righteous law of God.

2. 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.

3. It is a 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 ourselves, as if we were self-sufficient, independent, and had right hereto.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.[100]

7. It is a preferring our naughtiness before his goodness, as if we would do it better, or choose better what to do.

8. It is a contempt or denial of the holiness and purity of God, which sets him against sin, as light is against darkness.

9. It is a violation of God's propriety or dominion, robbing him of the use and service of that which is absolutely and totally his own.

10. It is a claiming of propriety in ourselves, as if we were our own, and might do with ourselves as we list.

11. It is a contempt of the gracious promises of God, by which he allured and bound us to obedience.

12. It is a contempt of the dreadful threatenings of God, by which he would have restrained us from evil.

13. It is a contempt or denial of the dreadful day of judgment, in which an account must be given of that sin.

14. It is a denying of God's veracity, and giving him the lie: as if he were not to be believed in all his predictions, promises, and threats.

15. It is a contempt of all the present mercies, (which are innumerable and great,) by which God obligeth and encourageth us to obey.

16. It is a contempt of our own afflictions, and his chastisements of us, by which he would drive us from our sins.

17. It is a contempt of all the examples of his mercies on the obedient, and his terrible judgments on the disobedient, (men and devils,) by which he warned us not to sin.

18. It is a contempt of the person, office, sufferings, and grace of Jesus Christ, who came to save us from our sins, and to destroy the works of the devil; being contrary to his bloodshed, authority, and healing work.

19. It is a contradicting, fighting against, and in that act prevailing against the sanctifying office and work of the Holy Ghost, that moveth us against sin, and to obedience.

20. It is a contempt of holiness, and a defacing, in that measure, the image of God upon the soul, or a rejecting it: a vilifying of all those graces which are contrary to the sin.

21. It is a pleasing of the devil, the enemy of God and us, and an obeying him before God.

22. It is the fault of a rational creature, that had reason given him to do better.

23. It is all willingly done and chosen by a free agent, that could not be constrained to it.[101]

24. It is a robbing God of the honour and pleasure which he should have had in our obedience; and the glory which we should bring him before the world.

25. It is a contempt of the omnipresence and omniscience of God, when we will sin against him before his face, when he stands over us, and seeth all that we do.

26. It is a contempt of the greatness and almightiness of God, that we dare sin against him who is so great, and able to be avenged on us.

27. It is a wrong to the mercifulness of God, when we go out of the way of mercy, and put him to use the way of justice and severity, who delighteth not in the death of sinners, but rather that they obey, repent, and live.

28. It is a contempt of the attractive love of God, who should be the end, and felicity, and pleasure of the soul. As if all that love and goodness of God were not enough to draw or keep the heart to him, and to satisfy us and make us happy; or, he were not fit to be our delight. And it showeth the want of love to God; for if we loved him rightly we should willingly obey him.

29. It is a setting up the sordid creature before the Creator, and dung before heaven, as if it were more worthy of our love and choice, and fitter to be our delight; and the pleasure of sin were better for us than the glory of heaven.

30. In all which it appeareth, that it is a practical atheism, in its degree; a taking down God, or denying him to be God: and a practical idolatry, setting up ourselves and other creatures in his stead.

31. It is a contempt of all the means of grace, which are all to bring us to obedience, and keep us or call us from our sins: prayer, sacraments, &c.

32. It is a contempt of the love and labours of the ministers of Christ; a disobeying them, grieving them, and frustrating their hopes and the labours of their lives.

33. It is a debasing of reason, the superior faculty of the soul, and a setting up of the flesh or inferior faculties, like setting dogs to govern men, or the horse to rule the rider.

34. It is a blinding of reason, and a misusing the noblest faculties of the soul, and frustrating them of the use and ends which they were made for: and so it is the disorder, monstrosity, sickness, or death of the soul.[102]

35. It is, in its measure, the image of the devil upon the soul, who is the father of sin: and therefore the most odious deformity of the soul; and this where the Holy Ghost should dwell, and the image and delight of God should be.

36. It is the moral destruction not only of the soul, but of the whole creation, so far as the creatures are appointed as the means to bring or keep us unto God: for the means, as a means, is destroyed when it is not used to its end. A ship is useless if no one be carried in it. A watch, as such, is useless, when not used to show the hour of the day. All the world, as it is the book that should teach us the will of God, is cast by, when that use is cast by. Nay, sin useth the creature against God which should have been used for him.

37. It is a contradicting of our own confessions and professions; a wronging of our consciences; a violation of our covenants and self-obligations to God.

38. It is a preferring of time before eternity, and regarding things of a transitory nature, and a moment's pleasure, before that which never shall have end.

[Sidenote: The perverting and confusion of societies.]

39. It is a making a breach in the harmony and order of the world: as the dislocation or deformity of a particular member, is the trouble and deformity of all the body, because the comeliness and welfare of the whole, containeth the comeliness, proportion, and welfare of all the parts. And as the dislocation or breaking of one part in a watch or clock, is against the use of all the engine; so every man being a part of the kingdom of God, doth by sin make a breach in the order of the whole; and also giveth an ill example to other parts, and makes himself unserviceable to the body; and dishonoureth the whole body with the blot of rebellion; and lets in judgment on the world; and kindleth a consuming fire in the place where he liveth; and is cruel and injurious to others.

40. Sin is not only a preferring the body before the soul, but it is also an unmercifulness or cruelty against ourselves, both soul and body, and so is contrary to the true use of the indelible principle of self-love; for it is a wounding and abusing the soul and defiling the body in this life, and casting both on the wrath of God, and into the flames of hell hereafter, or a dangerous venturing them into the way of endless damnation and despair, and a contempt of those insufferable torments. All these parts of malignity and poison are intrinsical to sin, and found in the very nature of it.

The common aggravations of sin being written of by many, and easily gathered from what is said of the nature of it, I shall briefly name only a few.

1. The infinite perfection of God in all those blessed attributes and relations, which sin is against, is the greatest aggravation of sin.

2. The inconceivable glory of heaven, which is despised, is a great aggravation of sin.

3. So is the greatness of the torments of hell, which sinners despise and venture on.

4. So is the great opposition that God hath made against sin, having said and done so much against it, and declared himself to hate nothing else immediately in the world.

5. The clearness of evidence against it, the nothingness of all that can be said for it, is also a great aggravation of it.

6. So is the fulness, and fitness, and power of all the means in creatures, providences, and Scriptures, that is vouchsafed the world against it.

7. So is the experience and warning of all ages, the repentings of the converted, and the disowning it by almost all when they come to die. Wonderful! that the experience of the world for above five thousand years, will teach them no more effectually to avoid so mortal, pernicious a thing.

8. The nearness to us also is an aggravation: it is not a distant evil, but in our bowels, in our very hearts; we are bound so strictly to love ourselves, that it is a great aggravation to do ourselves so great a mischief.

9. The constant inhesion of sin is a great aggravation: that it is ever with us, lying down and rising up, at home and abroad; we are never free from it.

10. That it should poison all our common mercies, and corrupt all our duties, is an aggravation. But we shall take up some of these anon.

The special aggravations of the sins of God's own children are these:[103]

1. They sin against a nearer relation than others do; even against that God that is their Father by the new birth, which is more heinous than if a stranger did it.

2. They are Christ's own members: and it is most unnatural for his members to rebel against him, or do him wrong.

3. They sin against more excellent operations of the Spirit than others do, and against a principle of life within them.

4. They sin against the differencing grace, which appeared in their conversion. God took them out of a world of sinners, whom he passed by when he could as well have sanctified them: and should they so quickly thus requite him?

5. They sin against the pardon and justification which they have already received. Did God so lately forgive them all their former debts, so many, so great and heinous sins, and that so freely to them, when the procurement was so dear to Christ? and should they so soon forget, or so ill requite, so great a mercy?

6. They sin against a more serious covenant, which at their conversion they entered into with God, than other men do.

7. They sin against all the heart-breaking or humbling sorrows, which they have tasted of at their conversion, and since. They have known more of the evil of sin than others, in their sad experience of its sting.

8. They sin against more knowledge than other men: they have known more what sin is, and what Christ is, and what the will of God is, than others: and therefore deserve to be beaten with many stripes.

9. They have oftener confessed sin than others, and spoke odiously of it, as the vilest thing, and aggravated it to God and man.

10. Their many prayers against it, and all their labour in hearing, and reading, and sacraments, and other means, do aggravate it.

11. They make a greater profession of strict obedience, and therefore sin against their own profession.

12. They have renewed their promises of obedience to God, in prayer, at sacraments, and at other times, much more than others.

13. They have had more experience than others of the goodness of obedience, and of the comforts and benefits that attend it, in the favour of God, and communion with him therein.

14. 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 provoke the Lord.

15. They sin under greater hopes of glory than others do; and provoke that God with whom they hope to live for ever.

16. The high titles of love and praise which God doth give them in his word, do aggravate their sin. That he should call them his treasure, his peculiar people, his jewels, and the apple of his eye, his sons and daughters, and a holy people, and priests to God, and boast of them as a people more excellent than their neighbours; and after this they should sin against him.

17. They have had audience with God, the answer of prayers, and many a deliverance and mercy in this life, which others have not; which aggravate their sins, as being thus contemned, and as obliging them more to God than others.

18. They dishonour God more than any others by their sins. His honour lieth not so much upon the actions of the ungodly, as on those that are nearest to him.

19. They harden the wicked more than such sins in other men would do. They cause them to blaspheme, and reproach the godly for their sakes, and say, These are your religious men! You see now what their strictness is. And they hinder the conversion and salvation of others: they grieve the godly, and wrong the church and cause of God, much more than the sins of others do.

20. Lastly, They please the devil more than the sins of other men. How busy is he to have drawn a Job to sin! and how would he have boasted against God, and his grace, and his servants, if he had prevailed, when he boasted so much before, in the false presumption of his success! as if he could make the godly forsake God, and be as bad as others, if he have leave to tempt them.

I shall next give you some particular directions, besides those foregoing, to help you to think of sin as it is, that you may hate it; for your cleansing and cure consist in this: so far as you hate sin it is mortified, and you are cured of it. And therefore, as I have anatomized it, that you may see the hatefulness of it, I shall direct you to improve this for your cure.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: How to hate sin.]

Direct. I. Labour to know God, and to be affected with his attributes, and always to live as in his sight.--No man can know sin perfectly, because no man can know God perfectly. You can no further know what sin is than you know what God is, whom you sin against; for the formal malignity of sin is relative, as it is against the will and attributes of God. The godly have some knowledge of the malignity of sin, because they have some knowledge of God that is wronged by it. The wicked have no practical, prevalent knowledge of the malignity of sin, because they have no such knowledge of God. They that fear God will fear sinning; they that in their hearts are bold irreverently with God, will, in heart and life, be bold with sin: the atheist, that thinketh there is no God, thinks there is no sin against him. Nothing in the world will tell us so plainly and powerfully of the evil of sin, as the knowledge of the greatness, wisdom, goodness, holiness, authority, justice, truth, &c. of God. The sense of his presence, therefore, will revive our sense of sin's malignity.

Direct. II. Consider well of the office, the bloodshed, and the holy life of Christ.--His office is to expiate sin, and to destroy it. His blood was shed for it: his life condemned it. Love Christ, and thou wilt hate that which caused his death. Love him, and thou wilt love to be made like him, and hate that which is so contrary to Christ. These two great lights will show the odiousness of darkness.

Direct. III. Think well both how holy the office and work of the Holy Ghost is, and how great a mercy it is to us.--Shall God himself, the heavenly light, come down into a sinful heart, to illuminate and purify it? and yet shall I keep my darkness and defilement, in opposition to such wonderful mercy? Though all sin against the Holy Ghost be not the unpardonable blasphemy, yet all is aggravated hereby.

Direct. IV. Know and consider the wonderful love and mercy of God, and think what he hath done for you; and you will hate sin, and be ashamed of it.--It is an aggravation which makes sin odious even to common reason and ingenuity, that we should offend a God of infinite goodness, who hath filled up our lives with mercy. It will grieve you if you have wronged an extraordinary friend: his love and kindness will come into your thoughts, and make you angry with your own unkindness. Here look over the catalogue of God's mercies to you, for soul and body. And here observe that Satan, in hiding the love of God from you, and tempting you under the pretence of humility to deny his greatest, special mercy, doth seek to destroy your repentance and humiliation also, by hiding the greatest aggravation of your sin.

Direct. V. Think what the soul of man is made for, and should be used to, even to love, obey, and glorify our Maker; and then you will see what sin is, which disableth and perverteth it.--How excellent, and high, and holy a work are we created for and called to! And should we defile the temple of God? and serve the devil in filthiness and folly, where we should entertain, and serve, and magnify our Creator?

Direct. VI. Think well what pure and sweet delights a holy soul may enjoy from God, in his holy service; and then you will see what sin is, which robbeth him of these delights, and preferreth fleshly lusts before them.--O how happily might we perform every duty, and how fruitfully might we serve our Lord, and what delight should we find in his love and acceptation, and the foresight of everlasting blessedness, if it were not for sin; which bringeth down the soul from the doors of heaven, to wallow with swine in a beloved dunghill!

Direct. VII. Bethink you what a life it is which you must live for ever, if you live in heaven; and what a life the holy ones there now live; and then think whether sin, which is so contrary to it, be not a vile and hateful thing.--Either you would live in heaven, or not. If not, you are not those I speak to. If you would, you know that there is no sinning; no worldly mind, no pride, no passion, no fleshly lust or pleasures there. Oh, did you but see and hear one hour, how those blessed spirits are taken up in loving and magnifying the glorious God in purity and holiness, and how far they are from sin, it would make you loathe sin ever after, and look on sinners as on men in bedlam wallowing naked in their dung. Especially, to think that you hope yourselves to live for ever like those holy spirits; and therefore sin doth ill beseem you.

Direct. VIII. Look but to the state and torment of the damned, and think well of the difference betwixt angels and devils, and you may know what sin is.--Angels are pure; devils are polluted: holiness and sin do make the difference. Sin dwells in hell, and holiness in heaven. Remember that every temptation is from the devil, to make you like himself; as every holy motion is from Christ, to make you like himself. Remember when you sin, that you are learning and imitating of the devil, and are so far like him, John viii. 44. And the end of all is, that you may feel his pains. If hell-fire be not good, then sin is not good.

Direct. IX. 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 awakened 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 world speaks evil of sin in the general now, even when they love and commit the several acts. Will you sin when you are dying?

Direct. X. Look always on sin and judgment together.--Remember that you must answer for it before God, and angels, and all the world; and you will the better know it.

Direct. XI. Look now but upon sickness, poverty, shame, despair, death, and rottenness in the grave, and it may a little help you to know what sin is.--These are things within your sight or feeling; you need not faith to tell you of them. And by such effects you might have some little knowledge of the cause.

Direct. XII. Look but upon some eminent, holy persons upon earth, and upon the mad, profane, malignant world; and the difference may tell you in part what sin is.--Is there not an amiableness in a holy, blameless person, that liveth in love to God and man, and in the joyful hopes of life eternal? Is not a beastly drunkard or whoremonger, and a raging swearer, and a malicious persecutor, a very deformed, loathsome creature? Is not the mad, confused, ignorant, ungodly state of the world a very pitiful sight? What then is the sin that all this doth consist in?

Though the principal part of the cure is in turning the will to the hatred of sin, and is done by this discovery of its malignity; yet I shall add a few more directions for the executive part, supposing that what is said already has had its effect.

Direct. I. When you have found out your disease and danger, give up yourselves to Christ as the Saviour and Physician of souls, and to the Holy Ghost as your Sanctifier, remembering that he is sufficient and willing to do the work which he hath undertaken.--It is not you that are to be saviours and sanctifiers of yourselves (unless as you work under Christ). But he that hath undertaken it, doth take it for his glory to perform it.

Direct. II. Yet must you be willing and obedient in applying the remedies prescribed you by Christ, and observing his directions in order to your cure.--And you must not be tender, and coy, and fine, and say, This is too bitter, and that is too sharp; but trust his love, and skill, and care, and take it as he prescribeth it, or giveth it you, without any more ado. Say not, It is grievous, and I cannot take it: for he commands you nothing but what is safe, and wholesome, and necessary, and if you cannot take it, you must try whether you can bear your sickness, and death, and the fire of hell! Are humiliation, confession, restitution, mortification, and holy diligence, worse than hell?

Direct. III. See that you take not part with sin, and wrangle not, or strive not against your Physician, or any that would do you good.--Excusing sin, and pleading for and extenuating it, and striving against the Spirit and conscience, and wrangling against ministers and godly friends, and hating reproof, are not the means to be cured and sanctified.

Direct. IV. See that malignity in every one of your particular sins, which you can see and say is in sin in general.--It is a gross deceit of yourselves, if you will speak a great deal of the evil of sin, and see none of this malignity in your pride, and your worldliness, and your passion and peevishness, and your malice and uncharitableness, and your lying, backbiting, slandering, or sinning against conscience for worldly commodity or safety. What self-contradiction is it for a man in prayer to aggravate sin, and when he is reproved for it, to justify or excuse it! for a popish priest to enter sinfully upon his place, by subscribing or swearing the Trent Confession, and then to preach zealously against sin in the general, as if he had never committed so horrid a crime! This is like him that will speak against treason, and the enemies of the king, but because the traitors are his friends and kindred, will protect or hide them, and take their parts.

Direct. V. Keep as far as you can from those temptations which feed and strengthen the sins which you would overcome.--Lay siege to your sins, and starve them out, by keeping away the food and fuel which is their maintenance and life.

Direct. VI. 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.

Direct. VII. Hearken not to weakening unbelief and distrust, and cast not away the comforts of God, which are your cordials and strength.--It is not a frightful, dejected, despairing frame of mind, that is fittest to resist sin; but it is the encouraging sense of the love of God, and thankful sense of grace received (with a cautelous fear).

Direct. VIII. Be always suspicious of carnal self-love, and watch against it.--For that is the burrow or fortress of sin; and the common patron of it; ready to draw you to it, and ready to justify it. We are very prone to be partial in our own cause; as the case of Judah with Tamar, and David when Nathan reproved him in a parable, show. Our own passions, our own pride, our own censures, or backbitings, or injurious dealings, our own neglects of duty, seem small, excusable, if not justifiable things to us; whereas we could easily see the faultiness of all these in another, especially in an enemy: when yet we should be best acquainted with ourselves, and we should most love ourselves, and therefore hate our own sins most.

Direct. IX. Bestow your first and chiefest labour to kill sin at the root; to cleanse the heart, which is the fountain; for out of the heart cometh the evils of the life.--Know which are the master-roots; and bend your greatest care and industry to mortify those: and they are especially these that follow; 1. Ignorance. 2. Unbelief. 3. Inconsiderateness. 4. Selfishness and pride. 5. Fleshliness, in pleasing a brutish appetite, lust, or fantasy. 6. Senseless hardheartedness and sleepiness in sin.

Direct. X. Account the world and all its pleasures, wealth, and honours, no better than indeed they are, and then Satan will find no bait to catch you.--Esteem all as dung with Paul, Phil. iii. 8; and no man will sin, and sell his soul, for that which he accounteth but as dung.

Direct. XI. Keep up above in a heavenly conversation, and then your souls will be always in the light, and as in the sight of God, and taken up with those businesses and delights which put them out of relish with the baits of sin.

Direct. XII. Let christian watchfulness be your daily work; and cherish a preserving, though not a distracting and discouraging fear.

Direct. XIII. Take heed of the first approaches and beginnings of sin. Oh how great a matter doth a little of this fire kindle! And if you fall, rise quickly by sound repentance, whatever it may cost you.

Direct. XIV. Make God's word your only rule; and labour diligently to understand it.

Direct. XV. And in doubtful cases, do not easily depart from the unanimous judgment of the generality of the most wise and godly of all ages.

Direct. XVI. In doubtful cases be not passionate or rash, but proceed deliberately, and prove things well, before you fasten on them.

Direct. XVII. Be acquainted with your bodily temperature, and what sin it most inclineth you to, and what sin also your calling or converse doth lay you most open to, that there your watch may be the stricter. (Of all which I shall speak more fully under the next Grand Direction.)

Direct. XVIII. Keep in a life of holy order, such as God hath appointed you to walk in. For there is no preservation for stragglers that keep not rank and file, but forsake the order which God commandeth them.--And this order lieth principally in these points: 1. That you keep in union with the universal church. Separate not from Christ's body upon any pretence whatever. With the church as regenerate, hold spiritual communion, in faith, love, and holiness: with the church as congregate and visible, hold outward communion, in profession and worship. 2. If you are not teachers, live under your particular, faithful pastors, as obedient disciples of Christ. 3. Let the most godly, if possible, be your familiars. 4. Be laborious in an outward calling.

Direct. XIX. Turn all God's providences, whether of prosperity or adversity, against your sins.--If he give you health and wealth, remember he thereby obligeth you to obedience, and calls for special service from you. If he afflict you, remember that it is sin that he is offended at, and searcheth after; and therefore take it as his physic, and see that you hinder not, but help on its work, that it may purge away your sin.

Direct. XX. Wait patiently on Christ till he have finished the cure, which will not be till this trying life be finished.--Persevere in attendance on his Spirit and means; for he will come in season, and will not tarry. "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning, and he shall come unto us as the rain: as the latter and former rain upon the earth," Hos. vi. 3. Though you have oft said, "There is no healing," Jer. xiv. 19; "he will heal your backslidings, and love you freely," Hos. xiv. 4. "Unto you that fear his name, shall the Sun of righteousness arise, with healing in his wings," Mal. iv. 2: "and blessed are all they that wait for him," Isa. xxx. 18.

Thus I have given such directions as may help for humiliation under sin, or hatred of it, and deliverance from it.

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[Sidenote: Our warfare under Christ against the tempter.]

Grand Direct. IX. Spend all your days in a skilful, vigilant, resolute, and valiant war against the flesh, the world, and the devil, as those that have covenanted to follow Christ the Captain of your salvation.

The flesh is the end of temptation,[104] for all is to please it, Rom. xiii. 14, and therefore is the greatest enemy; the world is the matter of temptation; and the devil is the first mover, or efficient of it: and this is the trinity of enemies to Christ and us, which we renounce in baptism, and must constantly resist. Of the world and flesh I shall speak chap. 4. Here I shall open the methods of the devil. And first I shall prepare your understanding, by opening some presupposed truths.

1. It is presupposed, that there is a devil. He that believeth not this, doth prove it to others, by showing how grossly the devil can befool him. Apparitions, witchcrafts, and temptations are full proofs of it to sense; besides what Scripture saith.

2. It is supposed that he is the deadly enemy of Christ and us.[105] He was once an angel, and fell from his first estate by sin, and a world of evil spirits with him; and it is probable his envy against mankind might be the greater, as knowing that we were made to succeed him and his followers, in their state of glory: for Christ saith, that we shall "be equal with the angels," Luke xx. 36. He showed his enmity to man in our innocency, and by his temptation caused our fall and misery. But after the fall, God put an enmity into the nature of man against devils, as a merciful preservative against temptation: so that as the whole nature of man abhorreth the nature of serpents, so doth the soul abhor and dread the diabolical nature. And, therefore, so far as the devil is seen in a temptation now, so far it is frustrated; till the enmity in nature be overcome by his deceits: and this help nature hath against temptation, which it seems our nature had not before the fall, as not knowing the malice of the devil against us.

There is a natural enmity to the devil himself put into all the woman's natural seed: but the moral enmity against his sinful temptations and works, is put only into the spiritual seed by the Holy Ghost (except what remnants are in the light of nature). I will be brief of all this and the next, having spoken of them more largely in my "Treatise against Infidelity," Part iii.

The devil's names do tell us what he is.[106] In the Old Testament he is called, 1. The "serpent," Gen. iii. 2. The Hebrew word, translated "devils," in Lev. xvii. 7, and Isa. xiii. 21, signifieth hairy, as satyrs are described; and sometimes he-goats; because in such shapes he oft appeareth. 3. He is called "Satan," Zech. iii. 1. 4. "An evil spirit," 1 Sam. xviii. 10. 5. "A lying spirit," 1 Kings xxii. 22; for he "is a liar, and the father of it," John viii. 44. 6. His offspring is called "a spirit of uncleanness," Zech. xiii. 2. 7. And he (or his spawn) is called "a spirit of fornication," Hos. iv. 12; that is, idolatry. 8. "A perverse spirit, causing staggering and giddiness as a drunken man," Isa. xix. 14.

In the New Testament, 1. He is sometimes called simply "a spirit," Mark ix. 20, 26; Luke ix. 39; x. 20. 2. Sometimes, πνευματα ακαθαρτα, "unclean spirits," Luke vi. 18; as contrary to the Holy Spirit; and that from their nature and effects. 3. And after, δαιμομιον, "demons," a word taken in a good sense in heathen writers, but not in Scripture; because they worshipped devils under that name, (unless perhaps Acts xvii. 18; 1 Tim. iv. 1.) And, δαιμων with respect to their knowledge, and, as some think, to the knowledge promised to Adam, in the temptation. 4. Πειραζων, "the tempter," Matt. iv. 5. "Satan," Matt. iv.; 1 Pet. v. 8. 6. Εχθρος, "an enemy," Matt. xiii. 28, 39. 7. "The strong man armed," Matt. xii. 8. "Angels," 1 Cor. vi. 3; 2 Pet. ii. 4. "Angels which kept not their first state," Jude 6. 9. "A spirit of divination," Acts xvi. 16. 10. "A roaring lion," 1 Pet. v. 8. 11. "A murderer," John viii. 44. 12. "Belial," 2 Cor. vi. 15. 13. "Beelzebub," Matt. xii. the "god of flies." 14. "The prince of this world," John xii. 21, from his power over wicked men. 15. "The god of this world," 2 Cor. iv. 5, because the world obey him. 16. "The prince of the power of the air," Eph. ii. 2. 17. "The ruler of the darkness of this world," Eph. vi. 12. "Principalities and powers." 18. "The father of the wicked," John viii. 44. 19. "The dragon, and the old serpent," Rev. xii. 20. Διαβολος, "the calumniator," or "false accuser," often. 21. Ὁ πονηρος "the evil one," Matt. xxiii. 19. 22. "An evil spirit," Acts xix. 15. 23. Απολλυων, "the destroyer," and "Abaddon," the "king of the locusts," and "angel of the bottomless pit," Rev. ix. 11, (unless that speak of antichrist).

3. He is too strong an enemy for lapsed sinful man to deal with of himself. If he conquered us in innocency, what may he do now? He is dangerous, (1.) By the greatness of his subtlety. (2.) By the greatness of his power. (3.) By the greatness of his malice. And hence, (4.) By his constant diligence, watching when we sleep, Matt. xiii. 25; and "seeking night and day to devour," 1 Pet. v. 8; Rev. xii. 4.

4. Therefore Christ hath engaged himself in our cause, and is become the "Captain of our salvation," Heb. ii. 10.[107] And the world is formed into two armies, that live in continual war: the devil is the prince and general of one, and his angels and wicked men are his armies: Christ is the King and General of the other, and his angels (Heb. ii. 14) and saints are his army. Between these two armies are the greatest conflict in the world.

5. It is supposed also, that this war is carried on, on both sides, within us, and without us; by inward solicitations, and outward means, which are fitted thereunto.

6. Both Christ and Satan work by officers, instruments, and means. Christ hath his ministers to preach his gospel, and pull down the kingdom of Satan. And Satan hath his ministers to preach licentiousness and lies, and to resist the gospel and kingdom of Christ, 1 Cor. iii. 5; iv. 1; 2 Cor. xi. 15; Acts xiii. 8-10. Christ hath his church, and the devil hath his synagogue. Christ's soldiers do every one, in their places, fight for him against the devil. And the devil's soldiers do every one, in their places, fight against Christ. The generals are both unseen to mortals; and the unseen power is theirs; but their agents are visible. The soldiers fight not only against the generals, but against one another; but it is all, or chiefly, for the generals' sakes. It is Christ that the wicked persecute in his servants, Acts ix. 4; and it is the devil whom the godly hate and resist in the wicked.

But yet here are divers notable differences. 1. The devil's servants do not what they do in love to him, but to their own flesh; but Christ's servants do what they do in love to him, as well as to themselves. 2. The devil's army are cheated into arms and war, not knowing what they do; but Christ doth all in the open light, and will have no servants but those that deliberately adhere to him, when they know the worst. 3. The devil's servants do not know that he is their general; but Christ's followers do all know their Lord. 4. The devil's followers disown their master and their work; they will not own that they fight against Christ and his kingdom, while they do it: but Christ's followers own their Captain, and his cause, and work; for he is not a master to be ashamed of.

7. Both Christ and Satan work persuasively, by moral means, and neither of them by constraint and force. Christ forceth not men against their wills to good, and Satan cannot force them to be bad; but all the endeavour is to make men willing; and he is the conqueror that getteth and keepeth our own consent.

8. Their ends are contrary, and therefore their ways are also contrary. The devil's end is, to draw man to sin and damnation, and to dishonour God; and Christ's end is, to draw man from sin to holiness and salvation, and to honour God. But Christ maketh known his end, and Satan concealeth his end from his followers.

9. There is somewhat within the good and bad for the contrary part to work upon; and we are, as it were, divided in ourselves, and have somewhat in us that is on both sides. The wicked have an honourable acknowledgment of God, and of their greatest obligation to him; a hatred to the devil; a love of themselves; a willingness to be happy, and an unwillingness to be miserable; and a conscience which approveth of more good than they do, and condemneth much of their transgression. This is some advantage to the persuasions of the ministers of Christ to work upon; and they have reason capable of knowing more.

The soldiers of Christ have a fleshly appetite, and the remnants of ignorance and error in their minds, and of earthliness, and carnality, and averseness to God in their wills, with a nearness to this world, and much strangeness to the world to come. And here is too much advantage for Satan to work on by his temptations.

10. But it is the predominant part within us, and the scope of our lives, which showeth which of the armies we belong to. And thus we must give up our names and hearts to Christ, and engage under his conduct against the devil, and conquer to the death, if we will be saved. Not to fight against the bare name of the devil; for so will his own soldiers, and spit at his name, and hang a witch that makes a contract with him: but it is to fight against his cause and work, which is by fighting against the world and the flesh, and for the glory of God.

[Sidenote: The method.]

In opening to you this holy war, I shall, First, Shew you what we must do on the offensive part. Secondly, What on the defensive part. And here I shall show you, I. What it is that the tempter aimeth at as his end. II. What matter or ground he worketh upon. III. What are his succours and assistance. IV. What kind of officers and instruments he useth. V. What are his methods and actual temptations, 1. To actual sin, 2. Against our duty to God.

First, Our offensive arms are to be used, 1. Against the power of sin within us; and all its advantages and helps: for while Satan ruleth and possesseth us within, we shall never well oppose him without. 2. Against sin in others, as far as we have opportunity. 3. Against the credit and honour of sin in the world: as the devil's servants would bring light and holiness into disgrace, so Christ's servants must cast disgrace and shame upon sin and darkness. 4. Against all the reasonings of sinners, and their subtle fallacies, whereby they would deceive. 5. Against the passions and violent lusts which are the causes of men's other sins. 6. Against the holds and helps of sin, as false teachers, profane revilers, ignorance, and deceit. Only take heed that on this pretence we step not out of our ranks and places, to pull down the powers of the world by rebellions: "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal," 2 Cor. x. 4.

Secondly, As to our defence, I. The ends of the tempter which must be perceived, are these: In general, his aim is at our utter ruin and damnation, and to draw us here to dishonour God as much as he can. But, especially, his aim is to strengthen the great heart sins, which are most mortal, and are the root, and life, and spawners of the rest: especially these: 1. Ignorance, which is the friend and cloak to all the rest. 2. Error, which will justify them. 3. Unbelief, which keeps off all that should oppose them. 4. Atheism, profaneness, unholiness, which are the defiance of God and all his armies. 5. Presumption, which emboldeneth them, and hides the danger. 6. Hardness of heart, which fortifieth them against all the batteries of grace. 7. Hypocrisy, which maketh them serve him as spies and intelligencers in the army of Christ. 8. Disaffection to God and his ways and servants, which is the devil's colours. 9. Unthankfulness, which tends to make them unreconcilable and unrecoverable. 10. Pride, which commandeth many regiments of lesser sins. 11. Worldliness, or love of money and wealth, which keepeth his armies in pay. 12. Sensuality, voluptuousness, or flesh-pleasing, which is the great commander of all the rest.[108] For selfishness is the devil's lieutenant-general, which consisteth chiefly in the three last named, but especially in pride and sensuality. Some think that it is outward sins that bring all the danger; but these twelve heart sins, which I have named to you, are the twelve gates of the infernal city, which Satan loveth above all the rest.

II. The matter and grounds of his temptations are these: 1. The devil first worketh upon the outward sense, and so upon the sensitive appetite: he showeth the cup to the drunkard's eye, and the bait of filthy lust to the fornicator, and the riches and pomp of the world to the covetous and proud. The glutton tasteth the sweetness of the dish which he loveth. Stage-plays, and tempting sports, and proud attire, and sumptuous buildings, and all such sensual things, are the baits by which the devil angleth for souls. Thus Eve first saw the fruit, and then tasted, and then did eat. Thus Noah, and Lot, and David sinned. Thus Achan saith, Josh. vii. 21, "I saw (the garments, silver, and gold) I coveted them, and I took them." The sense is the door of sin.

2. The tempter next worketh on the fantasy or imagination, and prints upon it the loveliest image of his bait that possibly he can, and engageth the sinner to think on it, and to roll it over and over in his mind, even as God commandeth us to meditate on his precepts.

3. Next he worketh by these upon the passions or affections: which fantasy having inflamed, they violently urge the will and reason; and this according to the nature of the passion, whether fear or hope, sorrow or joy, love or hatred, desire or aversion; but by none doth he work so dangerously as by delight, and love, and desire of things sensual.

4. Hence he proceedeth to infect the will, (upon the simple apprehension of the understanding,) to make it inordinately cleave to the temporal good, and to neglect its duty in commanding the understanding to meditate on preserving objects, and to call off the thoughts from the forbidden thing: it neglecteth to rule the thoughts and passions according to its office and natural power.

5. And so he corrupteth the understanding itself, first to omit its duty, and then to entertain deceit, and to approve of evil: and so the servant is put into the government, and the commanding powers do but serve it. Reason is blinded by sensuality and passion, and becomes their servant, and pleads their cause.

By all this it appeareth, 1. That Satan's first bait is ordinarily some sensible or imaginary good, set up against true spiritual good. 2. That his first assault of the reason and will is to tempt them into a sluggish neglect and neutrality, to omit that restraint of sense, thought, and passion, which was their duty. 3. And that, lastly, he tempteth them into actual compliance and committing of the sin: and herein, 1. The bait which he useth with the understanding is still "some seeming truth." And, therefore, his art and work is to colour falsehood, and make it seem truth; for this is the deceiving of the mind: and therefore for a sinner to plead his mistake for his excuse, and say, I thought it had been so or so; I thought it had been no sin, or no duty; this is but to confess, and not to excuse: it is but as much as to say, My understanding sinned with my will, and was deceived by the tempter and overcome. 2. And the bait which he useth with the will is always some appearing good: and self-love and love of good is the principle which he abuseth, and maketh his ground to work upon; as God also useth it in drawing us to good.

III. The succours and auxiliaries of the devil, and his principal means, are these: 1. He doth what he can to get an ill tempered body on his side; for as sin did let in bodily distempers, so do they much befriend the sin that caused them. A choleric temper will much help him to draw men to passion, malice, murder, cruelty, and revenge. A sanguine and bilious temper mixed, will help him to draw men to lust, and filthiness, and levity, and wantonness, and time-wasting pleasures: a sanguine temper mixed with a pituitous, much helpeth him to make men blockish, and regardless, and insensible of the great concernments of the soul. A phlegmatic temper helpeth him to draw people to drowsy sluggishness, and to an idle, slothful life, and so to ill means to maintain it, and to a backwardness to every work that is good. A healthful temper much helpeth him to draw people to gluttony, drunkenness, lust, ambition, covetousness, and neglect of life eternal: a sickly temper helpeth him to tempt us to peevishness and impatience: and a melancholy temper helpeth him in all the temptations mentioned but even now.

2. He useth his greatest skill to get the greatest fleshly interest on his side: so that it may be a matter of great pleasure, great advancement, and honour, and applause, or great commodity to a man, if he will sin; or a matter of great suffering, and great disgrace, and great loss to him that will not sin, or that will be holy and obedient to God: for fleshly interest being the common matter of all his temptations, his main business is to greaten this as much as may be.

3. He maketh very great advantage of the common customs of the country that men live in: this carrieth away thousands and millions at once. When the common vote and custom are for sin, and against Christ and holiness, particular persons think themselves excused, that they are no wiser or better than all the country about them. And they think they are much the safer for sinning in so great a crowd, and doing but as most men do; and he that contradicteth them cometh on great disadvantage in their eye, when he is to oppose an army of adversaries, and seemeth to think himself wiser than so many.

4. Also he is exceeding industrious to get education on his side; he knoweth how apt men are to retain the form which they were moulded or cast into at first: if he get the first possession, by actual as well as original sin, he is not easily cast out. Especially when education doth conspire with common custom, it delivereth most of the people and kingdoms of the earth into his hands.

5. Also he is industrious to get the approved doctrine of the teachers of the people on his side. If he can get it to pass once for a revelation or command of God, he will quickly conquer conscience by it, and take down all resistance: he never doth war more successfully against God, than when he beareth the name of God in his colours, and fighteth against him in his own name. Mahometans, Jews, papists, and all heretics are the trophies and monuments of his victories by this way. Mischief is never so much reverenced, nor proceedeth so successfully, as when it is made a religion! When the devil can charge men to do his business in the name of God, and upon pain of damnation, he hath got the strongest weapons that ever he can make use of. His ordinary bait is some fleshly pleasure; but he goeth high indeed when he presumeth to offer the everlasting pleasures; he tempted Christ with all the kingdoms and glory of the world; but he tempteth many millions of souls with the offers of the kingdom of heaven itself. For he will offer it to them that he is endeavouring to keep from it, and make it the bait to draw men from it into the way to hell.

6. He is exceeding diligent to get the wealth and prosperity of the world on his side; that he may not seem to flatter his servants with empty promises, but to reward them with real felicity and wealth. And then he would make the sinner believe that Christ is the deceiver, and promiseth a kingdom which none of them ever saw, and which he will not give them; but that he himself will not deceive them, but make good his promises even in this life without delay: for they see with their eyes the things which he promiseth, and they shall have them presently in possession, to secure them from deceit.

7. He is exceeding industrious to get common fame and reputation on his side; that he may be able to keep his cause in credit, and to keep the cause of Christ and holiness in disgrace. For he knoweth how exceeding prone men are to fall into the way of honour and esteem, and which most men praise; and how loth they are to go in the way which is hated and evil spoken of by the most of men.

8. He is very diligent to get the sword and government of kingdoms, and states, and countries, and cities, and corporations into his hands, or on his side; for he knoweth the multitude of the ignorant and vulgar people are exceeding prone to be of the religion of those that are able to help or hurt them, and to follow the stronger side; and that the will and example of the ruler is as the first sheet or stamp, which all the rest are printed after. Therefore he will do his worst, to give the greatest power to the most ungodly: if the Turk be the emperor, the most of the vulgar are like quickly to be Turks: if a papist be their king, the most of them are likely to be papists. Look into the present state of the heathen, infidel, Mahometan, papal, and profane parts of the world, and into the history of all ages past, and you will see with grief and admiration, how much the devil hath got by this.

9. Also he is very desirous to get our society and companions on his side; who are near us, and have frequent opportunities to do us good or hurt. For he knoweth by long and great experience how powerfully they draw, and how frequently they speed.

10. And he is very industrious to get our friends that have power over us, and greatest interest in us, on his side. For then he hath won our out-works already.

11. Lastly, he is desirous sometimes to get the name and appearance of virtue and piety on his side; that those that are to do his work, may have a winning carriage, and so a venerable name, and the cloak of virtue may serve his turn for the promoting of the destruction of piety itself.

IV. By what hath been said, you may understand what kind of officers and instruments the tempter useth. 1. He commonly useth men that are themselves first deceived and corrupted, as fit instruments to deceive and corrupt others. These will carry it on with confidence and violence; the employment seemeth natural to them, they are so fit for it: they will be willing to make other men of their mind, and to have the company of others in their way. A drunkard is fit to make a drunkard; and a filthy fornicator to entice another into the sin; and a gamester to make a gamester; and a wanton time-waster to draw another to waste his time in wantonness and foolish sports: an ambitious or proud person is fit to kindle that fire in others; a swearer is fittest to make a swearer; and so of many other sins.

2. The devil usually chooseth for his instruments men that have no great tenderness of conscience, or fear of sinning or of hurting souls. He would have no such cowards in his army, as men fearing God are as to his ends: it must be men that will venture upon hell themselves, and fear not much the loss of their own souls; and therefore must not be too tender or fearful of destroying others. Butchers and soldiers must not be chosen out of too tender or loving a sort of people; such are not fit to go through his work.

3. He usually chooseth instruments that are most deeply engaged in his cause; whose preferment, and honour, and gain, and carnal interest shall be to them, as nature is to a dog, or wolf, or fox, or other ravenous creature: who think it a loss, or danger, or suffering to them, if others be not hindered in good, or made as bad as they. Thus Demetrius and the other craftsmen that lived upon the trade, are the fittest to plead Diana's cause, and stir up the people against the apostles, Acts xix. 24, 38, 39. And the Jews were the fittest instruments to persecute Christ, who thought that if they "let him alone, all men would believe on him, and the Romans would come and take away both their place and nation; and that it was expedient for them that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not," John xi. 48, 49. And Pilate was the fittest instrument to condemn him, who feared that he should else be taken to be none of Cæsar's friend. And Pharaoh was the fittest instrument to persecute the Israelites, who was like to lose by their departure.

4. When he can he chooseth such instruments as are much about us, and nearest to us, who have opportunity to be often speaking to us, when others have no opportunity to help us: the fire that is nearest to the wood or thatch is liker to burn it than that which is far off: nearness and opportunity are very great advantages.

5. If it be possible, he will choose such instruments as have the greatest abilities to do him service: one man of great wit, and learning, and elocution, that is nimble in disputing, and can make almost any cause seem good which he defendeth, or bad which he opposeth, is able to do more service for the devil than a hundred idiots.

6. If possible, he will choose the rulers of the world to be his instruments; that shall command men, and threaten them with imprisonment, banishment, confiscation, or death, if they will not sin: as the king of Babylon did by the three witnesses and Daniel, Dan. iii. and vi. and all persecutors have done in all ages, against the holy seed. For he knoweth, that (though not with a Job, yet with a carnal person) "skin for skin, and all that a man hath will he give for his life." And therefore, they that have the power of life, and liberty, and estate, have carnal men by the handle that will rule them.

7. He maketh the rich his instruments; that, having the wealth of the world, are able to reward and hire evil-doers; and are able to oppress those that will not please them. Landlords and rich men can do the devil more service than many of the poor: they are the Judases that bear the bag. As the ox will follow him that carrieth the hay, and the horse will follow him that carrieth the provender, and the dog will follow him that feedeth him, and the crow will be where the carrion is; so carnal persons will follow and obey him that bears the purse.

8. The devil, if he can, will make those his instruments, whom he seeth we most esteem and reverence; persons whom we think most wise and fit to be our counsellors: we will take that from these, which we would suspect from others.

9. He will get our relations, and those that have our hearts most, to be his instruments. A husband, or a wife, or a Delilah, can do more than others; and so can a bosom friend, whom we dearly love: when all their interest in our affections is made over for the devil's service, it may do much. Therefore we see that husbands and wives, if they love entirely, do usually close in the same religion, opinion, or way, though when they were first married they differed from each other.

10. As oft as he can, the devil maketh the multitude his instrument; that the crowd and noise may carry us on, and make men valiant, and put away their fear of punishment.

11. He is very desirous of making the ambassadors of Christ his prisoners, and to hire them to speak against their Master's cause: that in Christ's name they may deceive the silly flock, "speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them," Acts xx. 30. Sometimes by pretence of his authority and commission; making poor people believe, that not to hear them, and obey them in their errors, is to be disobedient rejecters of Christ: (and thus the Romish party carry it.) Sometimes by their parts and plausible, persuasive speeches: and sometimes by their fervency, frightening people into error. And by these two ways most heretics prevail. None so successfully serveth Satan, as a false or bribed minister of Christ.

12. He is exceeding desirous to make parents themselves his instruments for their children's sin and ruin; and, alas, how commonly doth he succeed! He knoweth that parents have them under their hands in the most ductile, malleable age; and that they have a concurrence of almost all advantages: they have the purse and portion of their children in their power; they have the interest of love, and reverence, and estimation; they are still with them, and can be often in their solicitings; they have the rod, and can compel them. Many thousands are in hell, through the means of their own parents: such cruel monsters will they be to the souls of any others, that are first so to their own. If the devil can get the parents to be cursers, swearers, gamesters, drunkards, worldlings, proud, deriders or railers at a holy life, what a snare is here for the poor children!

V. In the method of Satan, the next thing is to show you how he labours to keep off all the forces of Christ, which should resist him and destroy his work, and to frustrate their endeavours, and fortify himself. And among many others, these means are notable:

1. He would do what he can to weaken even natural reason, that men may be blockish and incapable of good. And it is lamentable to observe how hard it is to make some people either understand or regard. And a beastly kind of education doth much to this: and so doth custom in sensual courses; even turn men into brutes.

2. He doth what he can to hinder parents and masters from doing their part, in the instructing and admonishing of children and servants, and dealing wisely and zealously with them for their salvation: either he will keep parents and masters ignorant and unable, or he will make them wicked and unwilling, and perhaps engage them to oppose their children in all that is good; or he will make them like Eli, remiss and negligent, indifferent, formal, cold, and dull; and so keep them from saving their children's or servants' souls.

3. He doth all that possibly he can to keep the sinner in security, presumption, and senselessness, even asleep in sin; and to that end to keep him quiet and in the dark, without any light or noise which may awake him; that he may live asleep, as without a God, a Christ, a heaven, a soul, or any such thing to mind. His great care is to keep him from considering: and therefore he keeps him still in company, or sport, or business, and will not let him be oft alone, nor retire into a sober conference with his conscience, or serious thoughts of the life to come.

4. He doth his best to keep soul-searching, lively ministers out of the country, or out of that place; and to silence them, if there be any such; and to keep the sinner under some ignorant or dead-hearted minister, that hath not himself that faith, or repentance, or life, or love, or holiness, or zeal, which he should be a means to work in others; and he will do his utmost to draw him to be a leader of men to sin.

5. He doth his worst to make ministers weak, to disgrace the cause of Christ, and hinder his work, by their bungling and unsuccessful management, that there may be none to stand up against sin, but some unlearned or half-witted men, that can scarce speak sense, or will provoke contempt or laughter in the hearers.

6. He doth his worst to make ministers scandalous, that when they tell men of their sin and duty, they may think such mean not as they speak, and believe not themselves, or make no great matter of it; but speak for custom, credit, or for their hire. And that the people, by the wicked lives of the preachers, may be emboldened to disobey their doctrine, and to imitate them, and live without repentance.

7. He will labour to load the ablest ministers with reproaches and slanders, which thousands shall hear, who never hear the truth in their defence: and so making them odious, the people will receive no more good by their preaching, than from a Turk, or Jew, till the very truth itself for itself prevail. And to this end especially he doth all that he can to foment continual "divisions in the church;" that while every party is engaged against the other, the interest of their several causes may make them think it necessary to make the chief that are against them seem odious or contemptible to the people, that so they may be able to do their cause and them no harm: and so they disable them from serving Christ and saving souls, that they may disable them to hurt themselves, or their faction, or their impotent cause.

8. He doth what he can to keep the most holy ministers under persecution; that they may be as the wounded deer, whom all the rest of the herd will shun; or like a worried dog, whom the rest will fall upon; or that the people may be afraid to hear them, lest they suffer with them; or may come to them only as Nicodemus did to Christ, by night.

9. Or if any ministers or godly persons warn the sinner, the devil will do what he can that they may be so small a number in comparison of those of the contrary mind; that he may tell the sinner, Dost thou think these few self-conceited fellows are wiser than such, and such, and all the country? Shall none be saved but such a few precise ones? "Do any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believe in him? But this people that knoweth not the law are cursed," John vii. 48, 49; that is, as Dr. Hammond noteth, "This illiterate multitude are apt to be seduced, but the teachers are wiser."

10. The devil doth his worst to cause some falling out, or difference of interest or opinion, between the preacher or monitor, and the sinner; that so he may take him for his enemy. And how unapt men are to receive any advice from an enemy, or adversary, experience will easily convince you.

11. He endeavoureth that powerful preaching may be so rare, and the contradiction of wicked cavillers so frequent, that the sermon may be forgotten, or the impressions of it blotted out, before they can hear another to confirm them, and strike the nail home to the head; and that the fire may go out before the next opportunity come.

12. He laboureth to keep good books out of the sinner's hands, or keep him from reading them, lest he speed as the eunuch, Acts viii. that was reading the Scripture as he rode in his chariot on the way. And instead of such books he putteth romances, and play-books, and trifling, or scorning, contradicting writings into his hands.

13. He doth what he can to keep the sinner from intimate acquaintance with any that are truly godly; that he may know them no otherwise than by the image which ignorant or malicious slanderers or scorners do give of such; and that he may know religion itself but by hearsay, and never see it exemplified in any holy, diligent believers. A holy christian is a living image of God, a powerful convincer and teacher of the ungodly; and the nearer men come to them, the greater excellency they will see, and the greater efficacy they will feel. Whereas in the devil's army, the most must not be seen in the open light, and the hypocrite himself must be seen, like a picture, but by a side light, and not by a direct.

14. Those means which are used, the devil labours to frustrate, (1.) By sluggish heedlessness and disregard. (2.) By prejudice, and false opinions which prepossess the mind. (3.) By diversions of many sorts. (4.) By pre-engagements to the contrary interest and way; so that Christ comes too late for them. (5.) By worldly prosperity and delights. (6.) By ill company. (7.) And by molesting and frighting the sinner, when he doth but take up any purpose to be converted; giving him all content and quietness in sin, and raising storms and terrors in his soul when he is about to turn.

The Methods of Christ against the Tempter.

Before I proceed to Satan's particular temptations, I will show you the contrary methods of Christ in the conduct of his army, and opposing Satan.

I. Christ's ends are, ultimately, the glory and pleasing of his Father and himself, and the saving of his church, and the destroying the kingdom of the devil; and next, the purifying his peculiar people, and calling home all that are ordained to eternal life.

But more particularly, he looketh principally at the heart, to plant there, 1. Holy knowledge. 2. Faith. 3. Godliness, or holy devotedness to God, and love to him above all. 4. Thankfulness. 5. Obedience. 6. Humility. 7. Heavenly-mindedness. 8. Love to others. 9. Self-denial, and mortification, and contentment. 10. Patience. And in all these, 1. Sincerity; 2. Tenderness of heart; 3. Zeal, and holy strength and resolution. And withal to make us actually serviceable, and diligent in our Master's work, for our own and others' salvation.

II. Christ's order in working is direct, and not backward, as the devil's is. He first revealeth saving truth to the understanding, and affecteth the will by showing the goodness of the things revealed; and these employ the thoughts, and passions, and senses, and the whole body, reducing the inferior faculties to obedience, and casting out by degrees those images which had deceived and prepossessed them.

The matter which Christ presenteth to the soul, is, 1. Certain truth from the Father of lights, set up against the prince and kingdom of darkness, ignorance, error, and deceit. 2. Spiritual and everlasting good, even God himself, to be seen, and loved, and enjoyed for ever, against the tempter's temporal, corporal, and seeming good. Christ's kingdom and work are advanced by light: he is for the promoting of all useful knowledge; and therefore, for clear and convincing preaching, for reading the Scriptures in a known tongue, and meditating in them day and night, and for exhorting one another daily; which Satan is against.

III. The means by which he worketh against Satan, are such as these: 1. Sometimes he maketh use of the very temper of the body as a preparative; and (being Lord of all) he giveth such a temperature as will be most serviceable to the soul; as a sober, deliberate, meek, quiet, and patient disposition. But sometimes he honoureth his grace by the conquest of such sins, as even bodily disposition doth entertain and cherish.

2. Sometimes by his providence he withdraweth the matter of temptations, that they shall not be too strong for feeble souls: but sometimes his grace doth make advantage of them all, and leave them for the magnifying of its frequent victories.

3. Sometimes he giveth his cause the major vote among the people, so that it shall be a matter of dishonourable singularity not to be a professed christian; and sometimes, but exceeding rarely, it is so with the life of godliness and practice of christianity also. But ordinarily, in the most places of the world, custom and the multitude are against him, and his grace is honoured by prevailing against these bands of Satan.

4. He maketh his ministers his principal instruments, qualifying, disposing, and calling them to his work, and helping them in it, and prospering it in their hands.

5. He maketh it the duty of every christian to do his part to carry on the work; and furnisheth them with love, and compassion, and knowledge, and zeal in their several measures.

6. He giveth a very strict charge to parents to devote their children, with themselves, to God; encouraging them with the promise of his accepting and blessing them; and commandeth them to teach them the word of God with greatest diligence, and to bring them up in the nurture and fear of God.

7. He giveth princes and magistrates their power, to promote his kingdom, and protect his servants, and encourage the good, and suppress iniquity, and further the obedience of his laws; though, in most of the world, they turn his enemies, and he carrieth on his work without them, and against their cruel persecuting opposition.

8. His light detecteth the nakedness of the devil's cause, and among the sons of light, it is odious, and a common shame. And as "wisdom is justified of her children," so the judgment of holy men condemning sin, doth much to keep it under in the world.

9. His providence usually casteth the sinner that he will do good to, into the bosom and communion of his holy church, and the familiar company and acquaintance of the godly, who may help him by instruction, affection, and example.

10. His providence fitteth all conditions to their good; but especially helpeth them by seasonable, quickening afflictions. These are the means which ordinarily he useth. But the powerful inward operations of his Spirit, give efficacy to them all.

Temptations to particular Sins, with Directions for Preservation and Remedy.

In chap. i. part 2, I have opened the temptations which hinder sinners from conversion to God: I shall now proceed to those which draw men to particular sins. Here Satan's art is exercised, 1. In fitting his baits to his particular use. 2. In applying them thereto.

Tempt. I. The devil fitteth his temptations to the sinner's age. The same bait is not suitable to all. Children he tempteth to excess of playfulness, lying, disobedience, unwillingness to learn the things that belong to their salvation, and a senselessness of the great concernment of their souls. He tempteth youth to wantonness, rudeness, gulosity, unruliness, and foolish inconsiderateness. In the beginning of manhood he tempteth to lust, voluptuousness, and luxury; or if these take not, to designs of worldliness and ambition. The aged he tempteth to covetousness, and unmovableness in their error, and unteachableness and obstinacy in their ignorance and sin. Thus every age hath its peculiar snare.

Direct. I. The remedy against this is, 1. To be distinctly acquainted with the temptations of your own age; and watch against them with a special heedfulness and fear. 2. To know the special duties and advantages of your own age, and turn your thoughts wholly unto those. Scripture hath various precepts for the various ages; study your own part. The young have more time to learn their duty, and less care and business to divert them; let them therefore be taken up in obedient learning. The middle age hath most vigour of body and mind; and therefore should do their Master's work with the greatest vigour, activity, and zeal. The aged should have most judgment, and experience, and acquaintedness with death and heaven; and therefore should teach the younger, both by word and holy life.

Tempt. II. The tempter also fitteth his temptations to men's several bodily tempers, (as I showed, p. 93.) The hot and strong he tempteth to lust. The sad and fearful he tempteth to discouragement and continual self-vexations; and to the fear of men and devils. Those that have strong appetites, to gluttony and drunkenness. Children, and women, and weak-headed people, to pride of apparel and trifling compliment. And masculine, wicked unbelievers, to pride of honour, parts, and grandeur, and to an ambitious seeking of rule and greatness. The meek and gentle he tempteth to a yieldingness unto the persuasions and will of erroneous and tempting persons. And those that are more stiff, to a stubborn resistance of all that should do them good. He found it most suitable to tempt a Saul to malice; David by a surprise to lust; Absalom to ambition; Peter to fearfulness, and after to compliance and dissimulation, to avoid the offence and displeasure of the weak; Luther to rashness; Melancthon to fearfulness; Carolostadius to unsettledness; Illiricus to inordinate zeal; Osiander to self-esteem; (if historians have given them their due.) One shoe fitteth not every foot.

Direct. II. Let your strictest watch be upon the sins of your temperature. Far greater diligence and resolution is here necessary, than against other sins. And withdraw the fuel, and strive against the bodily distempers themselves. Fasting and labour will do much against lust, which idleness and fulness continually feed. And so the rest have their several cures. Know also what good your temper doth give you special advantage for; and let it be turned unto that, and still employed in it.

Tempt. III. The tempter suiteth his temptations to your estates, of poverty or riches. The poor he tempteth to murmur and be impatient under their wants, and distress themselves more with griefs and cares; and to think that their sufferings may save them without holiness, and that necessary labour for their bodies may excuse them from much minding the concernments of their souls; and either to censure and hate the rich through envy, or to flatter them for gain. The rich he tempteth to an idle, time-wasting, voluptuous, fleshly, brutish life; to excess in sleep, and meat, and drink, and sport, and apparel, and costly ways of pride, and idle discourse, and visits, and compliments; to love the wealth and honours of the world, and live in continual pleasing of the flesh, to fare deliciously every day, and to waste their time in unprofitableness, without a constant calling; and to be unmerciful to the poor, and to tyrannize over their inferiors; Prov. xxx. 8, 9; Luke xvi.

[Sidenote: 1 Tim. vi. 9.]

Direct. III. Here also observe regardfully where your danger lieth, and there keep a continual watch. Let the poor remember, that if they be not rich in grace, it is long of themselves; and if they be, they have the chiefest riches, and have learnt in all estates to be content: and have great cause to be thankful to God that thus helpeth them against the love and pleasures of the world. Let the rich remember, that they have not less to do than the poor, because they have more committed to their trust; nor may they ever the more satisfy the inordinate desires of the flesh. But they have more to do, and more dangers to fear and watch against, as they have more of their Master's talents to employ, and give account for at the last.

Tempt. IV. The devil suiteth his temptations to men's daily work and business. If it be low, to be ashamed of it through pride; if it be high, to be proud of it; if it be hard, to be weary and unfaithful in it, or to make it take up all their minds and time; if it be about worldly things, he tempteth them to be tainted by it with a worldly mind; if they labour for themselves, he tempteth them to overdo; if for others, he tempteth them to deceitful, unfaithful negligence and sloth. If they are ministers, he tempteth them to be idle, and unfaithful, and senseless of the weight of truth, the worth of souls, the brevity of time, that so their sin may be the ruin or the loss of many. If rulers, the devil useth his utmost skill to cause them to espouse an interest contrary to the interest of truth and holiness; and to cast some quarrel against Christ into their minds, and to persuade them that his interest is against theirs, and that his servants are their enemies.

Direct. IV. See that your work be lawful, and that God have called you to it, and then take it as the service which he himself assigneth to you, and do it as in his sight, and as passing to his judgment, in obedience to his will: and mind not so much whether it be hard or easy, low or high, as whether you are faithful in it. And if it be sanctified to you, by your intending all to the pleasing of God, remember that he loveth and rewardeth that servant that stoopeth to the lowest work at his command, as much as him that is employed in the highest. Do all for God, and walk in holiness with him, and keep out selfishness, (the poison of your callings,) and observe the proper danger of your places, and keep a constant watch against them.

Tempt. V. The devil suiteth his temptations to our several relations. Parents he tempteth to be cold and regardless of the great work of a wise and holy education of their children. Children he tempteth to be disobedient, unthankful, void of natural affection, unreverent dishonourers of their parents. Husbands he tempteth to be unloving, unkind, impatient with the weaknesses of their wives; and wives to be peevish, self-willed, proud, clamorous, passionate, and disobedient. Masters he tempteth to use their servants only as their beasts, for their own commodity, without any care of their salvation and God's service; and servants he tempteth to be carnal, untrusty, false, slothful, eye-servants, that take more care to hide a fault, than not to commit it. Ministers and magistrates he tempteth to seek themselves, and neglect their charge, and set up their own ends instead of the common good; or to mistake the common good, or the means that tendeth to it. Subjects and people he tempteth to dishonour and murmur against their governors, and to censure them unjustly, and to disobey them, and rebel; or else to honour, and fear, and serve them more than God, and against God.

Direct. V. Here learn well the duties and dangers of your own relations, and remember that it is much of your work to be faithful and excellent in your relations. And mind not so much what other men owe to you, as what you owe to God and them. Let masters, and ministers, and magistrates first study and carefully practise their own duties, and yet they must next see that their inferiors do their duties, because that is their office: but they must be more desirous that God be first served, and more careful to procure obedience to him, than that they be honoured or obeyed themselves. Children, servants, and subjects must be taken up in the well-doing of their proper work; remembering that their good or hurt lieth far more upon that, than upon their superiors' dealings with them, or usage of them. As it is your own body, and not your superior's, which your soul doth animate, nourish, and use, and which you have the continual sense and charge of; so it is your own duty, and not your superiors', which you have to do and to answer for, and therefore most to mind and talk of.

Tempt. VI. The tempter also suiteth his temptations to our advantages, and hopes of rising or thriving in the world: he seeth which is our rising or thriving way; and there he layeth his snares, accommodated to our designs and ends, making some sinful omission or commission seem necessary thereto. Either Balaam must prophesy against the people of God, or else God must keep him from honour, by keeping him from sin, Numb. xxiv. 11. If once Judas be set on, What will you give me? the devil will teach him the way to gain: his way is necessary to such sinful ends.

Direct. VI. Take heed therefore of overvaluing the world, and being taken with its honour, pleasure, or prosperity; take heed, lest the love of earthly things engage you in eager desires and designs to grow great or rich. For if once your heart have such a design, you are gone from God: the heart is gone, and then all will follow as occasion calls for it. Understand these scriptures: Prov. xxiii. 4, "Labour not to be rich." Prov. xxviii. 20, 22, "He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.--He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye." 1 Tim. vi. 6, 9, "But they that will be rich fall into temptations and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition: for the love of money is the root of all evil. But godliness with contentment is great gain." Jer. xlv. 5, "Seek not great matters for yourselves." Be dead, to the world: fear more the rising than the falling way. Love that condition best, which fitteth thee for communion with God, or maketh thee the most profitable servant to him; and hate that most, which is thy greatest hinderance from these, and would most enslave thee to the world.

Tempt. VII. The tempter suiteth his temptations to our company: if they have any error or sin, or are engaged in any carnal enterprise, he will make them snares to us, and restless until they have insnared us. If they love us not, he will make them continual provocations, and set before us all their wrongs, and provoke us to uncharitableness and revenge. If they love us, he will endeavour to make their love to us to be the shoeing-horn or harbinger of their errors and evil ways, to draw us to their imitation. He findeth something in all our company, to make the matter of some temptation.

Direct. VII. Converse most with God: let faith make Christ and angels your most regarded and observed company; that their mind and presence may more affect you than the mind and presence of mortal men. Look not at any man's mind, or will, or actions, without respect to God who governeth, and to the rule by which they should all be suited, and to the judgment which will open and reward them as they are. Never see man without seeing God: see man only as a creature dependent on his Maker's will. And then you will lament and not imitate him when he sinneth; and you will oppose (and Christ saith "hate," Luke xiv. 26) and not be seduced by him, when he would draw you with him to sin and hell: had Adam more observed God than Eve he had not been seduced by his helper. Then you will look on the proud, and worldly, and sensual, as Solomon on the slothful man's vineyard, Prov. xxiv. 30-32, "I saw and considered it well, I looked on it, and received instruction." You would not long for the plague or leprosy, because it is your friend's disease.

Tempt. VIII. The tempter maketh advantage of other men's opinions or speeches of you, or dealings by you; and by every one of them would insnare you in some sin. If they have mean thoughts of you, or speak despising or dishonouring words of you, he tempteth you by it to hate them, or love them less, or to speak contemptuously of them. If they applaud you, he tempteth you by it to be proud; if they wrong you, he tempteth you to revenge; if they enrich you, or are your benefactors, he would make their benefits a price to hire you to some sin, and make you pay as dear for them as your salvation cometh to. If they scorn you for religion, he would make you ashamed of Christ and his cause; if they admire you, he would draw you by it to hypocrisy. If they threaten you, he would draw you to sin by fear, as he did Peter; if they deal rudely with you, he tempteth you to passion, and to requite them with the like, and even to distaste religion itself, if men professing religion be against you, or seem to do you any wrong. Thus is every man a danger to his brother.

Direct. VIII. Discern in all men what there is of God to be your help, and that make use of; and what there is of Satan, sin, and self, and that take heed of. Look upon every man as a helper and a tempter; and be prepared still, to draw forth his help, and resist his temptation. And remember, that man is but the instrument; it is Satan that tempteth you, and God that trieth you, by that man! Saith David of Shimei, "The Lord hath bidden him;" that is, he is but God's rod to scourge me for my sin, as my son himself is. As Satan was his instrument in trying Job, not by God's effecting, but permitting the sin: observe God and Satan in it, more than men.

Tempt. IX. His temptations also are suited to our fore-received opinions and thoughts. If you have but let in one lustful thought, or one malicious thought, he can make great advantage of that nest-egg to gather in more; as a little leaven to leaven the whole lump: he can roll it up and down, and do much to hatch it into a multitude. If you are but tainted with any false opinion, or prejudice against your teacher, your ruler, or your brother, he can improve it to such increase, and raise such conclusions from it, and more from them, and reduce them all to practice, as shall make observers with astonishment say, Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!

Direct. IX. Take heed what thoughts you first admit into your mind; and especially cherish and approve none but upon very good trial and examination. And if they prove corrupt, sweep clean your fantasy and memory of them, that they prove not inhabitants, and take not up their lodgings in you, or have not time to spawn and breed. And fill up the room with contrary thoughts, and useful truth, and cherish them daily, that they may increase and multiply; and then your hearts will be like a well-peopled kingdom, able to keep their possession against all enemies.

Tempt. X. Also he fitteth his temptations to your natural and acquired parts. That if you are weak, he may either discourage you; or (which is more usual and dangerous) make you think better of them than they are, and to think you know much, when it is next to nothing; and to make you wise in your own eyes, and easily to receive an error, and then to be confident in it: not to discern between things that differ; but to be deceived into false zeal, and false ways, by the specious pretences and shows of truth; and then to be zealous for the deceiving of others. Also that you may be a dishonour to truth and godliness, by your weakness and ill management of good causes; and may give them away through your unskilfulness to the adversary. If you are of stronger wits and parts, the tempter will draw you to despise the weak; to take common gifts for special grace; or to undervalue holiness and humility, and overvalue learning and acuteness: he will tempt you (dangerously) to loathe the simplicity of christianity and of the Scriptures, as to style and method; and to be offended at the cross of Christ. So that such persons are usually in greater danger of infidelity, heresy, pride, and insolent domineering over the flock of Christ, than vulgar christians that have lower parts.

Direct. X. Labour to be well acquainted with yourselves. If you are weak, know your weakness, that you may be humble, and fearful, and seek for strength and help. If you are comparatively strong, remember how weak the strongest are; and how little it is that the wisest know. And study well the ends and use of knowledge; that all you know may be concocted into love and holiness; and use it as remembering that you have much to give account of.

Tempt. XI. Moreover the tempter will fetch advantage against you, from your former life and actions. If you have gone out of the way to heaven, he would harden you by custom, and make you think it such a disgrace or trouble to return, as that it is as good go on, and put it to the venture. If you have done any work materially good, while your heart and course of life is carnal and worldly, he would quiet you in your sinful, miserable state, by applauding the little good that you have done. If a good man have erred or done ill, he will engage his honour in it, and make him study to defend it, or excuse it, lest it prove his shame; and tempt men, as he did David, to hide one sin with another. If he get hold of one link, he will draw on all the chain of sin.

Direct. XI. Take heed therefore what you do; and foresee the end. Let not the devil get in one foot: try your way, before you enter it. But if you have erred, come off, and that thoroughly and betimes, whatever it cost; for be sure it will cost more to go on. And if he would make a snare of the good that you have done, remember that this is to turn it into the greatest evil; and that there must be a concurrence and integrity of good to make you acceptable, and to save you: heart and life must be good to the end.

Tempt. XII. Lastly, he fitteth his temptations to the season. He will take the season just when an evil thought is likest to take with you; and when the winds and tide do serve him: that will take at one time (when a man hath his wits and heart to seek) which would be abhorred at another. In afflicting times he will draw you to deny Christ, with Peter, or shift for yourselves by sinful means; in prosperous times he will tempt you to security, worldliness, and forgetfulness of the night and winter which approacheth: the timing his temptations is his great advantage.

Direct. XII. Dwell as with God, and you dwell as in eternity, and will see still that as time, so all the pleasure, and advantages, and dangers, and sufferings of time, are things of themselves of little moment. Keep your eye upon judgment and eternity, where all the errors of time will be rectified, and all the inequalities of time will be levelled, and the sorrows and joys that are transitory will be no more; and then no reasons from the frowns or flatteries of the times will seem of any force to you. And be still employed for God, and still armed and on your watch, that Satan may never find you disposed to take the bait.

The Tempter's Method in applying his prepared Baits.

Tempt. I. The devil's first work is, to present the tempting bait in all its alluring, deceiving properties; to make it seem as true as may be to the understanding, and as good and amiable as may be to the will. To say as much as can be said for an evil cause; he maketh his image of truth and goodness as beautiful as he can: sin shall be sugared, and its pleasure shall be its strength, Heb. xi. 25. Sin shall have its wages paid down in hand, 2 Pet. ii. 15. He will set it out with full-mouthed praises: O what a fine thing it is to be rich, and please the flesh continually! to have command, and honour, and lusts, and sports, and what you desire! Who would refuse such a condition that may have it? All this will I give thee, was the temptation which he thought fit to assault Christ himself with. And he will corrupt the history of time past, and tell you that it went well with those that took his way, Jer. xliv. 17. And for the future, he will promise them, that they shall be gainers by it (as he did Eve) and shall have peace, though they please their flesh in sinning: see Deut. xxix. 19.

Direct. I. In this case, first inquire what God saith of that which Satan so commendeth. The commendations and motions of an enemy are to be suspected. God is most to be believed. 2. Then consider not only whether it be good, but how long it will be good; and what it will prove at the end; and how we shall judge of it at the parting; and withal consider what it tendeth to; whether it tend to good or evil; and whether it be the greatest good that we are capable of. And then you will see, that if there were no good, or appearance of good in it, it could do a voluntary agent no hurt, and were not fit to be the matter of a temptation: and you will see that it is temporal good set up to deceive you of the eternal good, and to entice you into the greatest evil and misery. Doth the devil show thee the world, and say, "All this will I give thee?" Look to Christ, who showeth thee the glory of the world to come, with all things good for thee in this world, and saith more truly, "All this will I give thee." The world and hell are in one end of the balance, and pardon, holiness, and heaven are in the other. Which now wilt thou prefer? If the devil have more to give thee and bid for thee than Christ, let him take thee.

Tempt. II. The tempter laboureth to keep God, and Christ, and heaven out of sight, that they darken not the splendour of his bait; and to hide those potent reasons from them, by which they might easily repel the temptation; so that though they are well known and sure, and Scripture be full of them, they shall none of them be ready at hand to use, when the temptation cometh; so that to them they shall be all as nothing: and this he doth by unbelief and inconsiderateness.

Direct. II. Live by faith. See that God the Father, the Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit, dwell within you, and take up your hearts, and your hopes be placed all on heaven, and that these be your very life and business; and then you will always have that at hand which may repel the tempter. A heart taken up with God and Christ, conversing in heaven, is always fortified, and prepared to meet every temptation with abhorrence. Let your souls be still possessed with as constant apprehensions of the evil of sin, the danger of sinning, the presence, authority, and holiness of God, the wrong that sin doth him, the hurt it doth ourselves and others, and what it did to Jesus Christ, as you have of the danger of fire, and water, and poison; and then the tempter will not speed.

Tempt. III. It is the great care of the devil to keep out of sight, that he be not seen himself in the temptation. As the angler keepeth himself behind the bush, and the fowler hideth himself from the birds, or else they would fear, and fly, and escape; so doth the devil use all his art, to hide himself from the sinner's observation; that the deluded soul shall little think that the devil is so near him, and hath so great a hand in the business. If the ambitious or covetous worldling saw the devil offer him the bait, and heard him say, "All this will I give thee;" he would have the smaller list to take the bait. If the devil appeared to the whoremonger, and brought him his whore, and encouraged him to his filthiness, it would cool his lust: or if he appeared to the drunkard, and presented him the cup, he would have but little list to drink. If the proud and the malicious saw the devil at their backs, rejoicing in their sin, and putting them on, it might affright them half into their wits. Therefore the great endeavour of the devil is, to persuade men that it is not he that makes the motion to them: it is such a friend, or such a neighbour, or gentleman, or minister, or wise man; it is not the devil! till the fish is caught, and the bird is in the net, and then the author of all appeareth, to kill them, and carry them away without any concealment.

Direct. III. Mark but the tendency and the manner of the temptations, and you may perceive the author. Who else is it that is so much against God, and against your everlasting happiness? Who else is it that would so abuse your reason, to prefer things temporal before things eternal, and the brutish pleasures of a corruptible flesh before the interest of immortal souls? Who else so contradicteth all the word of God? Read God's warnings, and he will tell you who it is. Take every temptation then (whoever be the messenger) as if thou sawest the devil standing by, and making the motion to thee, and heardest himself exhort thee to the sin. Suppose you saw him conducting you to the whore-house, the play-house, the ale-house, and making you entertainment as the master of the game. How then would you take it? and what would you do? Would you go, and be angry at the precise preacher that would hinder you? and would you take the devil's part? No, nature hath possessed you with a fear of him, and an enmity to him: use it for your safety. It cannot be good for you that comes from him. He hath a fouler face to appear to you in, than ever yet you saw, when you have done his work, and are where he would have you. O know with whom you have to do.

Tempt. IV. The tempter is most careful also to hide from men the nature and tendency of the temptation itself; that they shall not know that it is a temptation when they are tempted, but shall have nothing in sight but the bait which they desire. The angler doth not only hide himself from the fish, but also his rod, and line, and hook, as much as he can. The fowler covereth his nets, so that either the fish and bird shall not see the snare, or shall not know what it is, and what it is there laid for: so when the bait of pleasure, and honour, and wealth is presented by the devil, to the fornicator, gamester, proud, or covetous, they shall not see what the devil is doing now, and what a game he is playing for their souls! They shall not perceive the connexion that there is between the pleasure and the sin, and the sin and the threatening, and the threatening and the judgment, and the judgment and the everlasting punishment. When Judas was bargaining with the Pharisees, he knew not that the devil was in him driving on the match.

Direct. IV. Be wise and suspicious: blindness or fool-hardiness will lead you into the snare. Be wise, that you may know the tendency of every thing that is presented to your thoughts, and may be able to perceive a danger. Be suspicious and cautelous, that you make a sufficient trial, and go upon sure grounds, and avoid the very appearance of evil: when it is hell that you fear, come not too near. Play not as the fly about the candle: salvation is necessary; but preferment, or wealth, or liberty, or credit, or life itself are not necessary to you! Prove all things. Flatter not yourselves into the snares by foolish hopes, and judging of things as the flesh would have them to be, rather than as they are. If no danger appear, turn up all coverings, and search and see that none be hidden. The devil hath his gunpowder plots, and mines, which may blow you up before you are aware. Not only lawfulness and indifferency, but great good is the pretence for greatest evil.

Tempt. V. It is the tempter's care to bring the tempting object near enough, or draw the sinner near enough to it. The net must come to the fish, or the fish to the net. The distant fire will not burn the wood. The devil's chief confidence is in the sensitive appetite, which worketh strongliest at hand. If he get the drunkard into the ale-house, and show him the cup, he hath half conquered him already; but if he be scrupulous and modest, some one shall drink a health, or importune him, and put the cup into his hand. The thief, with Achan, shall see the bait, and the sight will work a covetous desire. The glutton shall have the tempting dishes before him, and be at a table which by variety of delicious food is fitted to become his snare; whereas if he had nothing set before him, but the poor man's simple food which hath nothing in it fit to tempt him, he might easily have escaped. The fornicator shall have his beautiful dirt brought near him, and presented to him in a tempting dress; for at a sufficient distance there had been little danger. The ambitious person shall have preferment offered him, or brought so fair to his hand, that with a little seeking it may be attained. The fearful coward shall be threatened with the loss of estate or life, and hear the report of the cannons, guns, and drums of Satan. Peter is half conquered when he is got among questioning company in the high priest's hall. Thus David, thus Lot, thus ordinarily sinners are drawn into the snare.

Direct. V. As ever you would preserve your innocency and your souls, fly as far from tempting objects as you can: I say, as you can, without distrusting God in the neglect of a certain duty. A wife, or a servant, that are bound, cannot fly; nor must we leave undone our certain duty upon an uncertain danger, which may otherwise be avoided; but keep off from the temptation at as great a distance as you can: the safest course is the best when your souls lie at the stake: if it be not necessary, plead not the lawfulness of what you do, when it is a temptation to that which is unlawful. You say, it is lawful to wear such curious ornaments, and set out yourselves in the neatest dress; but is it lawful to be proud or lustful, or to consume your time unprofitably? If not, tempt not yourselves or others to it. Keep away from the place where the snare is laid. Look first to the end before thou meddle with the beginning. Why should I eat that which I know I cannot digest, but must cast it up again? And why should I taste that which I must not eat? And why should I desire to have that set before me, and to look upon that which I must not taste? Come not near if thou wouldst not be taken. What dost thou at the ale-house with a cup before thee, if thou wouldst not be drawn to excess of drink? If thou be subject to excess in eating, make not thy own table thy temptation. Fly from the temptation as thou wouldst do from hell, or from the devil himself. See not the bait of lust, or come not near, if thou be inclinable to lust: saith Solomon, "Remove thy way far from her, and come not near the door of her house," Prov. v. 8. "For her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her steps take hold on hell," ver. 4, 5. "Her house inclineth to death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go to her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life," chap. ii. 18, 19. "Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death," chap. vii. 27. "Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there: and that her guests are in the depths of hell," chap. ix. 16-18. "Lust not after her beauty in thy heart, neither let her take thee with her eye-lids.--Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burnt? Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burnt?" chap. vi. 25, 27, 28. Remember that you pray daily, "Lead us not into temptation:" and if you will run into it yourselves, are not your prayers hypocritical and an abuse of God? If you would be saved from sin, you must be saved in God's way; and that is, by flying from temptations; and not drawing near, and gazing on forbidden objects, and tempting yourselves: even as God's holy means must be used by all that would come to holiness and heaven; so the devil's must be avoided by him that would escape sin and hell. But if you cannot remove far enough from the snare, then double your fear, and watchfulness, and resolution: fly with Joseph, Gen. xxxix. 12, from the sin, if you cannot go out of the house. How carefully should every foot be placed, when we know that every step we tread is among snares! Rule your senses if you cannot remove the bait: make Job's covenant with your eyes, that you look not on that which would allure, Job xxxi. 1. Let every sense have a constant watch.

Tempt. VI. The next great work of the tempter is, to give us the fairest opportunities to sin, and to remove all impediments, and show men encouraging hopes and invitations. He will show the thief which way he may steal; and show the covetous man which way he may thrive, and deceive, and overreach; and the ambitious man which way he may rise; and the fornicator how he may obtain his desire, and sin unknown; and then he tells them how easy it is; now no one seeth you; you may do it without fear or shame. It is the devil's great care to take all things out of the way that would affright, or hinder sinners; that they may have full opportunity to invite them. Therefore he is very desirous that public impediments should be all removed; especially in a godly magistrate and minister, and that the common disgrace of sinning may be taken off, and if it may be, turned against religion, or fall on them that are the greatest adversaries to sin.

[Sidenote: Psal. ci. 3.]

Direct. VI. It is therefore a principal part of your wisdom and watchfulness, to avoid the opportunities of sinning, and keep out as many impediments as may be in your own way. It is a most foolish and sinful thing in some men, who think it a brave thing to have power to do hurt, though they pretend that they abhor the doing of it. He that saith he hateth oppression, yet would have a power to oppress; to have all men at his will and mercy he thinks is brave: so they that would not be gluttonous would have a tempting table still before them, presuming that their own will is a sufficient preservative against the sin: so they that would not be insnared with lust, have yet a desire to appear as comely, and lovely, and desirable as may be, and to be as much beloved, that they may have other affections at command; and also to have opportunity offered them, that they may sin if they will. And is thy will so well established, mortified, and unchangeable, as to be so far trusted? O foolish sinner! that no better knowest thyself; nor observest thy danger; nor perceivest that this very desire to have the power to do evil showeth a degree of the evil in thy heart, and that thou art not yet so far from it as thou must be, if thou wouldst be safe. Contrive thyself (if thou be wise and love thyself) into the greatest difficulty of sinning that thou canst. Make it impossible, if it may be done. The power is for the act. Desire not to be able to sin, if thou wouldst not sin; not that natural power to do good should be destroyed because it is also a power to do evil, but cast as many blocks in the way of thy sinning as thou canst, till it amount to a moral impossibility. Desire the strictest laws and governors, and to be still in the eye of others, and contrive it that thou mayst have no hope of secrecy. Contrive it so that it may be utter shame and loss to thee if thou sin. If thou be tempted to fornication, never be private with her or him that is thy snare. If thou be tempted to deceive and rob those that trust thee, avoid the trust; or if ever thou have done it, restore and confess, that shame may preserve thee.

Tempt. VII. Next the tempter importunately soliciteth our thoughts or fantasies to feed upon the tempting thing: that the lustful person may be thinking on the objects of his lusts; and the ambitious man thinking on his desired honour; and the covetous man of his desired wealth, his house, or lands, or gainful bargains; and the malicious man be thinking of all the real or imaginary wrongs which kindle malice.

Direct. VII. Keep a continual watch upon your thoughts. Remember that this is the common entrance of the greatest sins; and if they go no further, the Searcher of hearts will judge thee for the adultery, murder, and other sins of thy heart. But especially see that your thoughts be so employed on better things, that sin may never find them vacant.

Tempt. VIII. The tempter also is diligent to keep the end from the sinner's eye, and to persuade him that there is no danger in it, and that it will be as good at last as at first. He cannot endure a thought, a word of death or judgment, unless he can first fortify the sinner by some presumptuous hope, that his sins are pardoned, and his case is good: either he will make them believe him, that there is no such danger to the soul as should deter them; or else he keepeth them from thinking of that danger. He is loth a sinner should so much as look into a grave, or go to the house of mourning, and see the end of all the living, lest he should lay it to heart, and thence perceive what worldly pleasure, wealth, and greatness is, by seeing where it leaveth sinners. If one do but talk of death or judgment, and the life to come, the devil will stir up some scorn, or weariness, or opposition against such discourse. If a sinner do but bethink himself in secret, what will become of him after death, the devil will either allure him, or trouble him, and never let him rest, till he have cast away all such thoughts as tend to his salvation. He cannot endure when you see the pomp and pleasure of the world, that you should think or ask, How long will this endure? and what will it prove in the latter end?

[Sidenote: Psal. i.; xv.; Matt. xxv.]

Direct. VIII. Go to the holy Scriptures, and see what they foretell concerning the end of godliness and sin: God knoweth better than the devil, and is more to be believed. You may see in the word of God, what will become of saints and sinners, godly and ungodly, at the last, and what they will think and say when they review their present life; and what Christ will say to them, and how he will judge them, and what will be their reward for ever. This is the infallible prognostication where you may foresee your endless state. In this glass continually foresee the end. Never judge of any thing by the present gust alone. Ask not only how it tasteth, but how it worketh, and what will be the effects: remember that God's law hath inseparably conjoined holiness and heaven, and sin unrepented of and hell; and seeing these cannot be separated indeed, let them never be separated from each other in your thoughts. Otherwise you will never understand Christ or Satan. When Christ saith, "Wilt thou deny thyself, and take up the cross and follow me?" his meaning is, shall I heal thy carnal, worldly heart and life, and bring thee by grace to the sight of God in endless glory? You will never understand what prayer, and obedience, and holy living mean, if you see not the end, even heaven conjoined to them. When the devil saith to the glutton, Eat also of this pleasant dish; and to the drunkard, Take the other cup; and to the fornicator, Take thy pleasure in the dark; and to the voluptuous, Go to the play-house, or the gaming-house; come, play at cards or dice; his meaning is, Come, venture upon sin, and fear not God's threatenings, and refuse his word, and Spirit, and grace, that I may have thy company among the damned, in the fire which never shall be quenched. This is the true English of every temptation. Open thy ears then, and whenever the devil or any sinner tempteth thee to sin, hear him as if he said, I pray thee, leap into the flames of hell.

Tempt. IX. If the tempter cannot quickly draw men to the sin, he will move them at least to abate their resolution against it, and to deliberate about it, and hear what can be said, and enter into a dispute with Satan or some of his instruments; telling them, that it is a sign of falsehood which will not endure the trial, and that we must prove all things. And while the sinner is deliberating and disputing, the venom is working itself into his veins, and sense is secretly undermining and betraying him, and deceiving his mind, bribing his reason, and seducing his will: just as an enemy will treat with those that keep a garrison, that, during the treaty, he may send in spies, and find out their weakness, and corrupt the soldiers; so doth the devil with the sinner.

[Sidenote: Gal. i. 16.]

Direct. IX. Remember that it is Christ, and not Satan, that you are to hear. Truth is strong, and can bear the trial, before any competent judge; but you are weak, and not so able to judge as you may imagine. Ignorant, unskilful, and unsettled persons are easily deceived, be the cause never so clear. If it be a cause untried by you, it is not untried by all the godly, nor unknown to him that gave you the holy Scriptures. If it be fit to be called in question and disputed, take the help of able godly teachers or friends, and hear what they can say: matters of endless life or death are not rashly to be ventured on. But if it be a thing past dispute, in which you have been already convinced and resolved, reject the tempter, and tell him, that you owe him not so much service, as to dispute with him whether you should care for your salvation? Else there will be no end, till you are betrayed and undone: innocent Eve is deceived when once it comes to a dispute. Be not like Balaam, that tempted God, and would not be satisfied with his answer.

Tempt. X. Also the tempter overcometh very many, by making them presumptuously confident of their own strength: saying, Thou art not so weak as not to be able to bear a greater temptation than this. Canst thou not gaze on beauty, or go among vain and tempting company, and yet choose whether thou wilt sin? It is a child indeed that hath no more government of themselves. Cannot thy table, thy cup, thy house, thy lands, be pleasing and delectable, but thou must needs over-love them, and turn them to sin?

Direct. X. O know thy own weakness, the treacherous enemy which thou still carriest about thee, who is ready to open the back-door to the devil! Remember that flesh is on the tempter's side, and how much it can do with thee before thou art aware. Remember what an unsettled wretch thou art, and how many a good purpose formerly hath come to nothing, and how oft thou hast sinned by as small a temptation. Remember that without the Spirit of Christ, thou canst do nothing, nor stand against any assault of Satan; and that Christ giveth his Spirit and help in his own way, and not to those that tempt him to forsake them, by thrusting themselves into temptations. Shall ever mortal man presume upon his own strength, after the falls of an Adam, a Noah, a Lot, a David, a Solomon, a Hezekiah, a Josiah, a Peter? and after such ruins of multitudes of professors, as our eyes have seen? "All these things happened unto them for ensamples, and they are written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall," 1 Cor. x. 11, 12.

Tempt. XI. It is a great project of the devil, and successful with many, to draw them to venture on the sin, by showing them first the effectual remedy, the abundant mercy of God, the sufficient satisfaction made by Christ, the full, and free, and universal promise; that these are sufficient to cleanse the soul of any sin, therefore you need not fear.

[Sidenote: Rom. ix.]

[Sidenote: Heb. x. 26-29. 2 Thess. i. 10.]

Direct. XI. But God is just, as well as merciful; and there are "vessels of wrath," as well as vessels of mercy. Judge how God will use his mercy, and who shall have it, by his own word: for he knoweth better than you, to whom, and how far to show mercy. Is the tempter himself saved, for all God is merciful? And the gospel hath far sorer punishment than the law, to the abusers of grace. Christ is the most dreadful Judge to the wicked, as well as the tenderest Saviour to his own. There is enough in his grace to save the penitent: but if you will sin upon presumption that grace will save you, you have small reason to think that you are penitent, or ever will be, without a very merciful change. How many can you name that ever were converted and forgiven, that lived wilfully in sin, because the remedy was sufficient? I doubt not but many such have been recalled; but this is not the way to hope: it is a terrible thing to sin deliberately and wilfully, because of the greatness of mercy, or the sufficiency of the death of Christ! No man but the penitent convert is saved by Christ; and this is clean contrary to penitence and conversion. Christ doth not as mountebanks, that wound a man, to show people how quickly their balsams can cure him; or make a man drink a toad, to show the power of their antidotes: but he cureth the diseases which he findeth, (in believers,) but causeth none.

Tempt. XII. Also the tempter telleth the sinner, how certain, and easy, and speedy a remedy he hath in his own power: it is but repenting, and all sin is pardoned.

[Sidenote: James ii. 19.]

Direct. XII. 1. Is it in thy power? If so, the greater is thy sin, that sinnest more when thou shouldst repent: if it be easy, what an inexcusable wretch art thou that wilt not do it, but go on! 2. But repentance is the gift of God, 2 Tim. ii. 25, 26; and is he like to give it to them that wilfully abuse him in expectation of it? 3. As easy as it is, it is but a few that truly repent and are forgiven, in comparison of those that go on and perish. 4. The easiest repentance is so bitter, that it is far easier to forbear the sin: it is better not wound yourselves, than have the best salve, if you were sure of it. 5. The repentance which is caused by mere fears of death and hell, without the power of heavenly love to God and holiness, is but the repentance of the damned, and never procureth pardon of sin: the devil hath such a repentance, as well as such a faith, which will not save him.

Tempt. XIII. Satan also imboldeneth the sinner, by telling him how many have repented and sped well, that sinned as bad or worse than this. He tells him of Noah, and Lot, and David, and Peter, and the thief on the cross, and Paul a persecutor, yea, and Manasseh, &c.

Direct. XIII. But consider whether any of those did thus sin, because that others had escaped that sinned before them. And think of the millions that never repented, and are condemned, as well as of the few that have repented. Is repentance better than sin? Why then will you sin? Is sin better than repentance? Why then do you purpose to repent? Is it not base ingratitude to offend God wilfully, because he hath pardoned many offenders, and is ready to forgive the penitent? And should a man of reason wilfully make work for his own repentance, and do that which he knoweth he shall wish with grief that he had never done? If some have been saved that fell into the sea, or that fell from the top of steeples, or that drunk poison, or were dangerously wounded, will you therefore cast yourself into the same case, in hope of being saved?

Tempt. XIV. The tempter persuadeth the sinner that it cannot be that God should make so great a matter of sin, because the thoughts of a man's heart, or his words or deeds, are matter of no great moment, when man himself is so poor a worm; and whatever he doth, it is no hurt to God: therefore you need not make such a matter of it.

Direct. XIV. If God so much regard us as to make us, and preserve us continually, and to become our Governor, and make a law for us, and judge us, and reward his servants with no less than heaven, then you may easily see that he so much regardeth us, as to observe whether we obey or break his laws. He that so far careth for a clock or watch, as to make it and wind it up, doth care whether it go true or false. What do these men make of God, who think he cares not what men do? Then he cares not if men beat you, or rob you, or kill you, for none of this hurteth God. And the king may say, if any murder your friends, or children, why should I punish him? he hurt not me. But justice is to keep order in the world, and not only to preserve the governor from hurt. God may be wronged, though he be not hurt. And he will make you pay for it, if you hurt others; and smart for it, if you hurt yourself.

Tempt. XV. The tempter laboureth to extenuate the sin, and make it seem a little one; and if every little sin must be made such a matter of, you will never be quiet.

Direct. XV. But still remember, 1. There is deadly poison in the very nature of sin, as there is in a serpent, be he never so small. The least sin is worse than the greatest pain that ever man felt; and would you choose and say, it is little? The least sin is odious to God, and had a hand in the death of Christ, and will damn you if it be not pardoned; and should such a thing be made light of? And many sins counted small may have great aggravations, such as the knowing, deliberate, wilful committing of them is. To love a small sin, is a great sin; especially to love it so well, that the remembrance of God's will and love, of Christ, and heaven, and hell, will not suffice to resolve you against it. Besides, a small sin is the common way to greater: "When lust hath conceived, it brings forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death," James i. 14, 15. "Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth," chap. iii. 5. The horrid sins of David and Peter had small beginnings. Mortal sicknesses seem little matters at the first. Many a thousand have sinned themselves to hell, that began with that which is accounted small.

Tempt. XVI. Also the devil draweth on the sinner, by promising him that he shall sin but once, or but a very few times, and then do so no more: he tells the thief, and the fornicator, that if they will do it but this once, they shall be quiet.

Direct. XVI. But, O consider, 1. That one stab at the heart may prove incurable. God may deny thee time or grace to repent. 2. That it is easier to forbear the first time than the second; for one sin disposeth the heart unto another. If you cannot deny the first temptation, how will you deny the next? When you have lost your strength, and grieved your helper, and strengthened your enemy and your snare, will you then resist better wounded, than now when you are whole?

Tempt. XVII. But when the devil hath prevailed for once with the sinner, he makes that an argument for a second: he saith to the thief, and drunkard, and fornicator, it is but the same thing that thou hast done once already; and if once may be pardoned, twice may be pardoned; and if twice, why not thrice; and so on.

Direct. XVII. This is to let the devil get in a foot. A spark is easier quenched than a flame; but yet remember that the longer the worse: the oftener you sin, the greater is the abuse of the Spirit of God, and the contempt of grace, and the wrong to Christ, and the harder is repentance; and the sharper if you do repent, because the deeper is your wound. Repent therefore speedily, and go no further, unless you would have the devil tell you next, It is now too late.

Tempt. XVIII. The tempter maketh use of the greater sins of others, to persuade men to venture upon less. Thou hearest other men curse, and swear, and rail, and dost thou stick at idle talk? How many in the world are enemies to Christ, and persecute his ministers and servants, and dost thou make so great a matter of omitting a sermon, or a prayer, or other holy duty?

Direct. XVIII. As there are degrees of sin, so there are degrees of punishment: and wilt thou rather choose the easiest place in hell than heaven? How small soever the matter of sin be, thy wilfulness, and sinning against conscience, and mercies, and warnings, may make it great to thee. Are great sinners so happy in thy eyes, that thou wouldst be as like them as thou darest?

Tempt. XIX. Also he would imbolden the sinner, because of the commonness of the sin, and the multitude that commit either that or worse, as if it were not, therefore, so bad or dangerous.

Direct. XIX. But remember, that the more examples you have to take warning by, the more inexcusable is your fall. It was not the number of angels that fell, that could keep them from being devils and damned for their sin: God will do justice on many as well as on one. The sin is the greater, and therefore the punishment shall not be the less. Make the case your own: will you think it a good reason for any one to abuse you, beat you, rob you, because that many have done so before? He should rather think, that you are abused too much already, and therefore he should not add to your wrongs. If when many had spit in Christ's face or buffeted him, some one should have given him another spit or blow, as if he had not enough before, would you not have taken him to be the worst and cruellest of them all? If you do as the most, you will speed as the most.

Tempt. XX. It is a dangerous temptation when the devil proposeth some very good end, and maketh sin seem the fittest, or the necessary means to accomplish it: when he blindeth men so far as to think that it is necessary to their salvation, or to other men's, or to the welfare of the church, or progress of the gospel, or the pleasing of God, then sin will be committed without regret, and continued in without repentance; on this account it is that heresy, and will-worship, and superstition are kept up: Col. ii. 18, 21-23, "Having a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility, and neglecting the body." It is for God that much of the wickedness of the world is done against God: it is for the church and truth that papists have murdered and persecuted so many.

Direct. XX. Remember that God needeth no sinful means to attain his ends: he will not be beholden to the devil to do his work; he would not have forbad it, if he would have had you done it. He is never at such a loss, but he can find right means enough to perform his work by: it is a great part of our wisdom which our salvation lieth on, to choose and use right means, when we are resolved on a right end. It is a horrible injury against God to entitle him to sin, and make it seem necessary to his ends and honour. Good ends will not justify evil actions. What sin so odious that hath not had good ends pretended for it? Even Christ was murdered as a malefactor for good ends, at least pretended, even to vindicate God's honour from blasphemy, and Cæsar from injury, and the nation from calamity. And his disciples were killed that God might be served by it, and pestilent troublers of the world taken away, John xvi. 2; Acts xxiv. 5; xvii. 6.

Tempt. XXI. He would make us presume because we are God's children, and special grace cannot be wholly lost, and we have found that once we had grace, therefore we may venture as being safe.

Direct. XXI. But many thousands shall be damned, that once thought they had the truth of grace. It is a hard controversy among learned and godly men, whether some in a state of saving grace do not fall from it and perish; but it is past controversy, that they shall perish that live and die impenitently in wilful sin. To plead truth of grace for encouragement in sin, is so much against the nature and use of grace, as may make you question the truth of it. You can be no surer that you have true grace, than you are sure that you hate all known sin, and desire to be free from it. Christ teacheth you how to answer such a horrid temptation, Matt. iv. 6, 7, "If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee"--"Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Sonship, and promises, and truth of grace, are incongruous arguments to draw you to sin, and heinous aggravations of sin so committed.

Tempt. XXII. The devil oft most dangerously imitateth the Holy Ghost, and comes in the shape of an angel of light: he will be for knowledge in the gnostics; for unity and government in the papists; for mortification in the friars; for free grace and tenderness of our brethren's consciences in the libertines; for peace and mutual forbearance in the Socinians; for zeal, self-denial, and fearlessness of men, and pretended revelations and spirituality, in the quakers. He will be against heresy, schism, error, disobedience, hypocrisy, pretendedly, in haters and persecutors of holiness and reformation; and when he will seem religious, he will be superstitious, and seem to outgo Christ himself.

Direct. XXII. Keep close to Christ, that you may know his voice from the voice of strangers; and get holy wisdom to try the spirits, and to discern between the things that differ: let the whole frame of truth and godliness be in your head and heart, that you may perceive when any would make a breach in any part of it. The devil setteth up no good but in order to some evil. Therefore, examine whither it tendeth; and not only what it is, but what use he would have you make of it. And love no evil, because of any good that is pretended for it; and dislike or reject no good, because of any evil use that is by others made of it. And whatever doctrine is brought you, try it thus: 1. Receive none that is against the certain nature, attributes, and honour of God. 2. Nor any that is against the light or law of nature. 3. Nor any that is against the Scripture. 4. Nor any that is against holiness of heart and life. 5. Nor any against charity and justice to men. 6. Nor any (about matters to be ordered by men) that is against order; nor any against government and the peace of church and state. 7. Nor any that is against the true unity, peace, and communion of saints. 8. Nor any that is certainly inconsistent with great and certain truths. Thus try the spirits, whether they be of God.

Tempt. XXIII. The tempter usually draweth men to one extreme, under pretence of avoiding another; causing men to be so fearful of the danger on one side, as to take no heed of that on the other side.

Direct. XXIII. Understand all your danger; and mark the latitude or extent of God's commands; and watch on every side: and you must know in what duties you are in danger of extremes and in what not. In those acts of the soul that are purely rational, about your ultimate end, you cannot do too much; as in knowing God, and loving him, and being willing and resolved to please him. But passions may possibly go too far, even about God, especially fear and grief; for they may be such as nature cannot bear without distraction, death, or hinderance of duty: but few are guilty of this. But towards the creature, passions may easily exceed: and in external actions towards God or man there may be excess. But especially in point of judgment, it is easy to slide from extreme into extreme. And you must know in every duty you do, and every sin which you avoid, and every truth you receive, what is the contrary or extreme to that particular truth, or sin, or duty; and keep it in your eye. If you do not thus watch, you will reel like a drunken man from side to side, and never walk uprightly with God. You will turn from prodigality to covetousness, from cruel persecution to libertinism, or from libertinism to persecuting cruelty; from hypocritical formality to hypocritical pretended spirituality, or from enthusiasms and faction to dead formality. But of this I have spoken at large, chap. v. part II. "Direction to Students."

Tempt. XXIV. On the contrary, the tempter usually pleadeth moderation and prudence against a holy life, and accurate zealous obedience to God; and would make you believe that to be so diligent in duty and scrupulously afraid of sin, is to run into an extreme, and to be righteous over-much, and to make religion a vexatious or distracting thing, and that it is more ado than needs.

Direct. XXIV. This I have answered so oft, that I shall here say but this: that God cannot be too much loved; nor heaven too much valued, nor too diligently sought or obeyed; nor sin and hell be too much avoided: nor doth any man need to fear doing too much, where he is sure when he hath done his best to do too little. Hearken what men say of this at death.

Tempt. XXV. The tempter would persuade us that one sin is necessary to avoid another; and that of two evils you must choose the less, as if there were no other way. Thus James and John did by sinful, uncharitable zeal, desire to punish sin, Luke ix. 54. Peter would sinfully fight against the sinful Jews, Matt. xxvi. 52. Thus he bids men lie, to avoid some dishonour to God and religion; and persecute, to preserve the unity of the church, and keep out sin; and commit a lesser sin themselves to escape a greater.

Direct. XXV. This is to abuse God, as if he had made that necessary which he forbids, and had not provided you lawful means enough to use against every sin. This is wilfully to do that which you pretend you are unwilling to do, even to sin. Of two evils avoid both, but be sure you consent to neither.

Tempt. XXVI. He pleadeth christian liberty to entice to sin, especially to sensuality. Hath not Christ purchased you liberty to use the creatures? all things are yours. No men but the godly have just title to them.

Direct. XXVI. He never purchased us liberty to abuse the creature, as poison to hurt ourselves; to hinder mortification, and strengthen our enemy, and our snare, and to steal away our hearts from God. It is a liberty from sin, and not a liberty to sin, that Christ hath purchased us.

Tempt. XXVII. He pleadeth the necessity of wife, children, estate, life, &c. Necessity makes it lawful.

Direct. XXVII. There is no necessity of sinning. He cannot be Christ's disciple, that thinks it more necessary to save his life, or provide for wife and children, than to obey his Lord, Luke xiv. 26, 33. God must be trusted with these.

Tempt. XXVIII. But, saith the tempter, it is natural to lust, to love honour, ease, pleasure, &c.; therefore it is no sin.

Direct. XXVIII. Nature is corrupted and sinful; and it is natural to you to be rational, and to rule your sense and appetite by reason, and not to do what lust or appetite desireth. Else man is but a beast.

Tempt. XXIX. But, saith the tempter, authority commandeth it; it is your parent's or master's will, and you must obey.

Direct. XXIX. There is no power, but from God; therefore none against him or above him. They must be obeyed in all things lawful, but not in sin. They cannot save you nor themselves from the wrath of God.

Tempt. XXX. But, saith the tempter, you have promised or vowed that you will do it, and are not at liberty.

Direct. XXX. The vow of a lawful thing must be kept; but if you vow to sin, it is another sin to perform it, and to wrong God or man because you have vowed to wrong him.

Tempt. XXXI. But, saith the tempter, it is a controversy, and many learned and good men think it is no sin.

Direct. XXXI. You have the more reason to be fearful and cautelous, when you see that the case is so obscure, and the snare so subtle, and are sure that many learned and good men on one side or other are deceived before you. Remember God is your King and Judge; who will not take it for an excuse for sin, that learned or good men did it, or defended it. Consult not with flesh and blood, but with God.

Tempt. XXXII. But, saith the tempter, will you be singular, and be pointed or hooted at by all.

Direct. XXXII. In doctrine I will not be singular from the holy catholic church of God; in worship I will not in singularity or schism separate from the communion of saints: but in doctrine I will be singular from infidels and heretics; and in a holy life I will be singular from the ungodly, and profane, and sensual; lest if I do as they, to avoid their scorns, I speed as they.

Tempt. XXXIII. But you are weak, and you cannot help it, till God will give you grace to do it.

Direct. XXXIII. Therefore I must not be wilful, and negligent, and rash, and do that evil which I may forbear, nor resist and refuse that grace, and help, and mercy without which I can do nothing.

Tempt. XXXIV. But you repent, and ask God forgiveness through Christ, every night, for the sins of the day.

Direct. XXXIV. Repenting is a sorrowful turning of the heart from sin to God. You repent not if you turn not. To mock God with such hypocritical praying and repenting is itself a heinous sin. Will you take it for repenting, if a man that spits in your face and beateth you, shall do it every day, and ask you forgiveness at night, and purpose to do it still, because he asked forgiveness.

Tempt. XXXV. But every man sinneth daily: you do but as the best men in the world do.

Direct. XXXV. No true christian that is justified hath any sin but what he hateth more than loveth, and would fain be rid of, and striveth against in the use of holy means. He hath no beloved sin which he would not part with, but had rather keep than leave.

Tempt. XXXVI. But those that seem strict and godly are hypocrites, and secretly as bad as you.

Direct. XXXVI. This is just like the devil, the accuser of those that are sanctified and justified by Christ, the father of malice and lies; to charge that on them, which he confesseth is secret and he cannot prove. So he said of Job, that if he were touched in his estate or body, he would forsake his godliness; but he was found a liar. But be it how it will, I am sure I must be holy or I shall not see God, and if "I live after the flesh I shall die," Heb. xii. 14; Rom. viii. 9, 13; and other men's misery will be no ease to me.

Tempt. XXXVII. But, saith the tempter, if you will not sin, come but near it, and do that which is lawful.

Direct. XXXVII. Indeed we must not run into a contrary extreme, under pretence of flying far enough from sin; but if you keep out of other sin, you cannot go too far from any. To be near sin, is to be near God's wrath, and near that which tendeth to hell fire. And to come near it is the common way of coming to it. He that could wish he might do it, is infected at the heart already. Keep a tender conscience, and a constant sense of the danger of sinning.

Tempt. XXXVIII. It is a great snare, when sin is got into credit, 1. By putting fair names upon it, calling luxury and gluttony keeping a good house, and a good table; tippling is called drinking a cup with a friend; lust and filthiness are called love; worldliness is called thriftiness and good husbandry; idleness and loss of time are called the leisure of a gentleman; slothfulness is called a not being too worldly; time-wasting sports are called recreations; pride is called decency and handsomeness; proud revenge is called honour and gallantry; Romish cruelty, and persecution, and wasting the church, are called keeping up order, obedience, and unity; disobedience to superiors is called not fearing man; church divisions are called strictness and zeal. 2. Especially if a sin be not in disgrace among the stricter sort, it greatly prepareth men to commit it: as breaking the Lord's day, beyond sea, in many reformed churches: and at home, spiritual pride, censoriousness, backbiting, disobedience, and church divisions are not in half that disgrace among many professors of strictness, as they deserve, and as swearing, &c. are.

Direct. XXXVIII. Remember, that whatever be the name or cloak, God judgeth righteously, according to the truth; names may deceive us, but not our Judge. And sin is still in disgrace with God, however it be with men. Remember, the comelier the paint and cover are, the greater is the danger, and the more watchful and cautelous we should be. It is not imperfect man, but the perfect law of God, which must be our rule. The great success of this temptation should deter us from entertaining it. What abundance of mischief hath it done in the world!

Tempt. XXXIX. Sometimes, the devil tempteth men to some heinous sin, that, if he prevail not, at least he may draw them into a less. As cheating charterers will ask twice the price of their commodity, that, by abating much, they may make you willing to give too much. He that would get a little, must ask a great deal. He will tempt you to drunkenness, and if he draw you but to tippling or time-wasting, he hath got something. If he tempt you to fornication, and he get you but to some filthy thoughts, or immodest, lascivious talk or actions, he hath done much of that which he intended. If he tempt you to some horrid cruelty, and you yield but to some less degree, or to some unjust or uncharitable censures, you think you have conquered, when it is he that conquereth.

Direct. XXXIX. Remember, that the least degree of sin is sin, and "death the wages of it," Rom. vi. 23. Think not that you have escaped well, if your hearts have taken any of the infection, or if you have been wounded any where, though it might have been worse. If the tempter had tempted you no further but to a lustful, malicious, or proud thought or word, you would perceive that if he prevail, he conquereth: so may you when he getteth this much, by a shameless asking more.

Tempt. XL. He tempteth us sometimes, to be so fearful and careful against one sin, or about some one danger, as to be mindless of some other, and lie open to his temptation. Like a fencer, that will seem to aim all at one place, that he may strike you in another while you are guarding that. Or like an enemy, that giveth all the alarm at one end of the city, that he may draw the people thither, while he stormeth in another place. So Satan makes some so afraid of worldliness, that they watch not against idleness; or so fearful of hardheartedness, and deadness, and hypocrisy, that they watch not against passion, neglect of their callings, or dejectedness; or so fearful of sinning or being deceived about their salvation, that they fear not the want of love, and joy, and thankfulness for all the mercy they have received, nor the neglect of holy praise to God.

Direct. XL. Remember, that as obedience must be entire and universal, so is Satan's temptation against all parts of our obedience; and our care must extend to all if we will escape. It would cure your inordinate fear in some one point, if you extended it to all the rest.

Tempt. XLI. Sometimes, by the suddenness of a temptation, he surpriseth men before they are aware.

Direct. XLI. Be never unarmed nor from your watch; especially as to thoughts, or sudden passions, or rash words, which are used to be committed for want of deliberation.

Tempt. XLII. Sometimes, he useth a violent earnestness, especially when he getteth passion on his side. So that reason is borne down; and the sinner saith, I could not forbear.

Direct. XLII. But remember, that the very eager unruliness of your passion is a sin itself: and that none can compel you to sin: and that reason must deliberate and rule; or else any murder or wickedness may have the excuse of urgent passions.

Tempt. XLIII. Sometimes he useth the violence of men: they threaten men, to frighten them into sin.

Direct. XLIII. But are not God and his threatenings more to be feared? Do men threaten imprisonment, or death, or ruin? And doth not God threaten everlasting misery? And can he not defend you from all that man shall threaten, if it be best for you? See the portion of the fearful, Rev. xxi. 8.

Tempt. XLIV. Sometimes variety of temptations distracteth men, that they do not look to all at once.

Direct. XLIV. Remember, that one part of the city unguarded, may lose the whole in a general assault.

Tempt. XLV. Sometimes he ceaseth, to make us secure, and lay by our arms, and then surpriseth us.

Direct. XLV. Take heed of security, and Satan's ambushments. Distinguish between cessation and conquest. You conquer not every time that you have rest and quietness from temptation. Till the sin be hated, and the contrary grace or duty in practice, you have not at all overcome: and when that is done, yet trust not the devil or the flesh; nor think the war will be shorter than your lives, for one assault will begin where the former ended. Make use of every cessation but to prepare for the next encounter.

Tempt. XLVI. He will tempt you to take striving for overcoming; and to think, because you pray and make some resistance, that sin is conquered; and because your desires are good, all is well.

Direct. XLVI. But all that fight do not overcome. "If a man strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully," 1 Tim. ii. 5. "Many will seek to enter and shall not be able," Luke xiii. 24.

Tempt. XLVII. He followeth the sinner with frequency and importunity, till he weary him, and make him yield.

Direct. XLVII. 1. Remember that Christ is as importunate with thee to save thee, as the devil can be to damn thee; and which then should prevail? 2. Be you as constant in resistance; be as oft in prayer and other confirming means. Do as Paul, 2 Cor. xii. 7, 8, who prayed thrice, (as Christ did in his agony,) when the prick in the flesh was not removed. 3. Tempt not the tempter, by giving him encouragement. A faint denial is an invitation to ask again. Give him quickly a flat denial, and put him out of hope, if you would shorten the temptation.

Tempt. XLVIII. Lastly, the devil would sink the sinner in despair, and persuade him now it is too late.

Direct. XLVIII. Observe his design, that it is but to take off that hope which is the weight to set the wheels of the soul a going. In all he is against God and you. In other sins he is against God's authority: in this he is against his love and mercy. Read the gospel, and you will find that Christ's death is sufficient; the promise is universal, full, and free; and that the day of grace is so far continued till the day of death, and no man shall be denied it that truly desireth it. And that the same God that forbiddeth thy presumption, forbiddeth also thy despair.

Temptations to draw us off from Duty.

Tempt. I. The greatest temptation against duty is, by persuading men that it is no duty. Thus in our days we have seen almost all duty cast off by this erroneous fancy. One saith, That the holy observation of the Lord's day is not commanded of God in Scripture. Another saith, What Scripture have you for family prayer, or singing psalms, or baptizing infants, or praying before and after sermon, or for your office, ordination, tithes, churches, &c. Another saith, That church government and discipline are not of divine institution. Another saith, That baptism and the Lord's supper were but for that age. And thus all duty is taken down, instead of doing it.

Direct. I. Read and fear, Matt. v. 19, "Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Denying duty is too easy a way of evading obedience to serve turn. Denying the laws that bind you to public payments will not save you from them; but for all that, if you deny, you must be distrained on. And God will make it dearer to you, if you put him to distrain on you for duty. Must he go to law with you for it? He will quickly show you law for it, and prove that it was your duty. Open your doubts to able men, and you will hear more evidence than you know; but if pride and false-heartedness blind you, you must bear your punishment.

Tempt. II. Saith the tempter, It is a duty to weak ones, but not for you: you must not be still under ordinances, in the lower form: every day must be a sabbath to you, and every bit a sacrament, and every place as a church: you must live above ordinances in Christ.

Direct. II. We must live above Mosaical ordinances, Col. ii. 18, 21; but not above Christ's ordinances: unless you will live above obedience and above the government of Christ.[109] Hath not Christ appointed the ministry, and church helps, "till we all come to a perfect man?" Eph. iv. 13; and promised to "be with them to the end of the world?" Matt. xxviii. 20. It is befooling pride that can make you think you have no need of Christ's instituted means.

Tempt. III. But thou art unworthy to pray or receive the sacrament: it is not for dogs.

Direct. III. The wilful, impenitent refusers of grace, are unworthy. The willing soul, that fain would be what God would have him, hath an accepted worthiness in Christ.

Tempt. IV. But while you doubt, you do it not in faith; and therefore to you it is sin.

Direct. IV. But is it not a greater sin to leave it undone? Will doubting of all duty excuse you from it? Then you have an easy way to be free from all! Do but doubt whether you should believe in God, or Christ, or love him, or live a godly life, and it seems you think it will excuse you. But if you doubt whether you should feed your child, you deserve to be hanged for murdering it, if you famish it. If you doubt of duty, it is duty still, and you are first bound to lay by your doubts. But things indifferent, left to your choice, must not be done with a doubting conscience: it was of such things that Paul spake.

Tempt. V. The devil puts somewhat still in the way, that seemeth necessary, to thrust out duty.

Direct. V. God hath not set you work which he alloweth you no time for. Is all your time spent in better things? Is it not your carnal mind that makes you think carnal things most needful? Christ saith, "One thing is needful," Luke x. 42. "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you," Matt. vi. 33. Had you that love and delight in holiness as you should, you would find time for it. An unwelcome guest is put off with any excuse. Others, as poor as you, can find time for duty, because they are willing. Set your business in order, and let every thing keep its proper place, and you may have time for every duty.

Tempt. VI. But you are so unable and unskilful to pray, to learn, that it is as good never meddle with it.

Direct. VI. Set yourselves to learn, and mark those that have skill; and do what you can. You must learn by practice. The unskilfullest duty is better than none. Unworded groans come oft from the Spirit of God, and God understandeth and accepteth them, Rom. viii. 26, 27.

Tempt. VII. It will be so hard and long to learn, that you will never overcome it.

Direct. VII. Willingness and diligence have the promise of God's help. Remember, it is a thing that must be done. When your own disuse and sin hath made it hard, will you put God and your souls off with that as an excuse? If you had neglected to teach your child to speak or go when it is young, should he therefore never learn? Will you despair, and let go all your hope on this pretence? or will you hope to be saved without prayer and other holy duty? How foolish are both these! Sick men must eat, though their stomachs be against it; they cannot live else.

Tempt. VIII. But thou findest thou art but the worse for duty, and never the better for it.

Direct. VIII. Satan will do what he can to make it go worse with you after than before. He will discourage you if he can, by hindering your success, that he may make you think it is to no purpose: so, many preachers, because they have fished long and catched nothing, grow cold and heartless, and ready to sit down and say, as Jer. xx. 9, "I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name." So in prayer, sacrament, reproof, &c. the devil makes great use of this, What good hath it done thee? But patience and perseverance win the crown. The beginning is seldom a time to perceive success: the carpenter is long at work before he rear a house; nature brings not forth the plant or birth the first day. Your life-time is your working time. Do your part, and God will not fail on his part. It is his part to give success; and dare you accuse him, or suspect him? There is more of the success of prayer to be believed than to be felt. If God have promised to hear he doth hear, and we must believe it whether we feel it or not. Prayers are often heard long before the thing is sent us that we prayed for: we pray for heaven, but shall not be there till death. If Moses's message to Pharaoh ten times seem lost, it is not lost for all that. What work would ever have been done, if on the first conceit of unsuccessfulness it had been given off? Be glad that thou hast time to plough and sow, to do thy part, and if God will give thee fruit at last.

Tempt. IX. But, saith the tempter, it goeth worse with thee in the world, since thou settest thyself to read, and pray, and live obediently; thou hast been poorer, and sicker, and more despised since, than ever before: Jer. xx. 8, Thou art "a derision daily, every one mocketh thee." This thou gettest by it.

Direct. IX. He began not well, that counted not that it might cost him more than this to be a holy christian. If God in heaven be not enough to be thy portion, never serve him, but find something better if thou canst. He that cannot lose the world cannot use it as he ought. If thou hadst rather be at the devil's finding and usage than at God's, thou art worthy to speed accordingly. Nay, if thou think thy soul itself worse, remember that we are not worst when we are troubled most: physic makes sick, when it works aright.

Tempt. X. Satan filleth many with abundance of scruples about every duty, that they come to it as sick persons to their meat, with a peevish, quarrelling disposition. This aileth, and that aileth it; something is still amiss, that they cannot get it down; this fault the minister hath in praying or preaching; or the other circumstance is amiss, or the other fault is in the company that join with them: and all is to turn them off from all.

Direct. X. But do you mend the matter by casting off all, or by running into greater inconveniences? Is not their imperfect prayer and communion better than your idle neglect of all, or unwarrantable division? It is a sign of an upright heart to be most about heart-observation, and quarrelsome with themselves; and the mark of hypocrites to be most quarrelsome against the manner of other men's performances, and to be easily driven by any pretences from the worship of God and communion of saints.

Tempt. XI. The devil will set one duty against another: reading against hearing; praying against preaching; private against public; outward and inward worship against each other; mercy and justice, piety and charity, against each other; and still labour to eject the greater.

Direct. XI. The work of God is an harmonious and well-composed frame: if you leave out a part you spoil the whole, and disadvantage yourselves in all the rest; place them aright, and each part helpeth and not hindereth another; plead one for another, but cast by none.

Tempt. XII. The commonest and sorest temptation is by taking away our appetite to holy duties, by abating our feeling of our own necessity: when the soul is sleepy and feeleth no need of prayer, or reading, or hearing, or meditating, but thinks itself tolerably well without it; or else grows sick and is against it, and troubled to use it; so that every duty is like eating to a sick stomach, then it is easy to tempt it to neglect or omit many a duty: a little thing will serve to put it by, when men feel no need of it.

Direct. XII. O keep up a lively sense of your necessities: remember still that time is short, and death is near, and you are too unready. Keep acquaintance with your hearts and lives, and every day will tell you of your necessities, which are greatest when they are least perceived.

Tempt. XIII. The tempter gets much by ascribing the success of holy means to our own endeavour, or to chance, or something else, and making us overlook that present benefit, which would greatly encourage us: as when we are delivered from sickness or danger upon prayer, he tells you so you might have been delivered if you had never prayed. Was it not by the physician's care and skill, and by such an excellent medicine? If you prosper in any business, Was it not by your own contrivance and diligence?

Direct. XIII. This separating God and means, when God worketh by means, is the folly of atheists. When God heareth thy prayer in sickness or other danger, he showeth it by directing the physician or thyself to the fittest means, and blessing that means; and he is as really the cause, and prayer the first means, as if he wrought thy deliverance by a miracle. Do not many use the same physician, and medicine, and labour, and diligence, who yet miscarry? Just observation of the answers of prayer might do much to cure this. All our industry may say as Peter and John, Acts iii. 12, "Why look ye so earnestly on us, as if by our own power or holiness we had done this?" when God is glorifying his grace, and owning his appointed means.

Tempt. XIV. Lastly, the devil setteth up something else in opposition to holy duty, to make it seem unnecessary. In some he sets up their good desires, and saith, God knoweth thy heart without expressing it; and thou mayst have as good a heart at home as at church. In some he sets up superstitious fopperies of man's devising, instead of God's institution. In some he pretendeth the Spirit against external duty, and saith, The Spirit is all; the flesh profiteth nothing. Yea, in some he sets up Christ himself against Christ's ordinances, and saith, It is not these, but Christ, that profits you.

Direct. XIV. This is distracted contradiction: to set Christ against Christ, and the Spirit against the ordinances of the Spirit. Is it not Christ and the Spirit that appointed them? Doth he not best know in what way he will give his grace? Can you not preserve the soul and life, without killing the body? Cannot you have the water, and value the cistern or spring, without cutting off the pipes that must convey it? O wonderful! that Satan could make men so mad, as this reasoning hath showed us that many are in our days. And to set up superstition or pretend a good heart against God's worship, is to accuse him that appointed it of doing he knew not what, and to think that we are wiser than he! and to show a good heart by disobedience, pride, contempt of God and of his mercies!

Temptations to frustrate holy Duties, and make them ineffectual.

The devil is exceeding diligent in this: 1. That he may make the soul despair, and say, Now I have used all means in vain, there is no hope. 2. To double the sinner's misery by turning the very remedy into a disease. 3. To show his malice against Christ, and say, I have turned thy own means to thy dishonour.

Consider, therefore, how greatly we are concerned to do the work of God effectually. Means well used are the way to more grace, to communion with God, and to salvation; but ill used, they dishonour and provoke him, and destroy ourselves, like children that cut their fingers with the knife, when they should cut their meat with it.

Tempt. I. Duty is frustrated by false ends: as, 1. To procure God to bear with them in their sin (whereas it is the use of duty to destroy sin). 2. To make God satisfaction for sin (which is the work of Christ). 3. To merit grace (when the imperfection merits wrath). 4. To prosper in the world and escape affliction, Jam. iv. 3 (and so they are but serving their flesh, and desiring God to serve it). 5. To quiet conscience in a course of sin (by sinning more in offering the sacrifice of fools, Eccles. v. 1, 2). 6. To be approved of men (and verily they have their reward, Matt. vi. 5). 7. To be saved when they can keep the world and sin no longer (that is, to obtain that the gospel may all be false and God unjust).

Direct. I. First see that the heart be honest, and God, and heaven, and holiness most desired, else all that you do will want right ends.

Tempt. II. When ignorance or error make men take God for what he is not, thinking blasphemously of him, as if he were like them, and liked their sins, or were no lover of holiness, they frustrate all their worship of him.

Direct. II. Study God in his Son, in his word, in his saints, in his works: know him as described before, chap. iii. direct. iv. And see that your wicked corrupted hearts, or wilful forgetting him, blind not your understandings.

Tempt. III. To come to God in ourselves and out of Christ, and use his name but customarily, and not in faith and confidence.

Direct. III. Know well your sin, and vileness, and desert, and the justice and holiness of God; and then you will see that if Christ reconcile you not, and justify you not by his blood, and do not sanctify and help you by his Spirit, and make you sons of God, and intercede not for you, there is no access to God, nor standing in his sight.

Tempt. IV. The tempter would have you pray hypocritically, with the tongue only, without the heart: to put off God in a few customary words, with seeming to pray (as they do the poor, James ii. with a few empty words) either in a form of words not understood, or not considered, or not felt and much regarded; or in more gross hypocrisy, praying for the holiness which they will not have, and against the sin which they will not part with.

Direct. IV. O fear the holy, jealous, heart-searching God, that hateth hypocrisy, and will be worshipped seriously in spirit and truth, and will be sanctified of all that draw near him, Lev. x. 3; and saith, they "worship him in vain, that draw nigh him with the lips, when the heart is far from him," Matt. xv. 8, 9. See God by faith, as present with thee, and know thyself, and it will awaken thee to seriousness. See Heb. iv. 13; Hos. viii. 12, 13.

Tempt. V. He would destroy faith and hope, and make you doubt whether you shall get any thing by duty.

Direct. V. But, 1. Why should God command it, and promise us his blessing if he meant not to perform it? 2. Remember God's infiniteness, and omnipresence, and all-sufficiency: he is as verily with thee, as thou art there: he upholdeth thee: he showeth by his mercies, that he regardeth thee; and by his regarding lower things: and if he regard thee, he doth regard thy duties. It is all one with him to hear thy prayers, as if he had never another creature to regard and hear. Believe then, and hope and wait upon him.

Tempt. VI. Sometimes the tempter will promise you more by holy duty, than God doth, and make you expect deliverance from every enemy, want, and sickness, and speedier deliverance of soul, than ever God promised; and all this is, to make you cast away all as vain, and think God faileth you, when you miss your expectations.

Direct. VI. But God will do all that he promiseth, but not all that the devil or yourselves promise. See what God promiseth in his word. That is enough for you. Make that and no more the end of duties.

Tempt. VII. The tempter usually would draw you from the heart and life of duty, by too much ascribing to the outside: laying too much on the bare doing of the work, the giving of the alms, the hearing of the sermons, the saying the words, the handsome expression, order, manner; which in their places are all good, if animated with spirit, life, and seriousness.

Direct. VII. Look most and first to the soul in duty, and the soul of duty. The picture of meat feedeth not; the picture of fire warmeth not; fire and shadows will not nourish us: God loveth not dead carcasses instead of spiritual worship: we regard not words ourselves, further than they express the heart. Let the outer part have but its due.

Tempt. VIII. He tempteth you to rest in a forced, affected, counterfeit fervency, stirred up by a desire to take with others.

Direct. VIII. Look principally at God and holy motives, and less at men, that all your fire be holy, fetched from heaven.

Tempt. IX. He would keep you in a lazy, sluggish coldness, to read, and hear, and pray as asleep, as if you did it not.

Direct. IX. Awake yourselves with the presence of God, and the great concernment of what you are about, and yield not to your sloth.

Tempt. X. He would make you bring a divided, distracted heart to duty, that is half about your worldly business.

Direct. X. Remember God is jealous, your business with him is great, much lieth on it; call off your hearts, and let them not stay behind: all the powers of your souls are little enough in such a work, Ezek. xxxiii. 31.

Tempt. XI. Ignorance, unskilfulness, and unacquaintedness with duty, is a great impediment to most.

Direct. XI. Learn by study joined with practice. Be not weary, and difficulties will be overcome.

Tempt. XII. Putting duty out of its place, and neglecting the season that is fittest, makes it oft done slightly.

Direct. XII. Redeem time, and despatch other business, that idleness deprive you not of leisure; and do all in order.

Tempt. XIII. Neglecting one duty is the tempter's snare to spoil another. If he can keep you from reading, you will not understand well what you hear. If he keep you from meditating, you will not digest what you hear or read. If he keep you from hearing, you will want both matter and life for prayer, and meditation, and conference. If he keep you from godly company, you will be hindered in all, and in the practice: no one is omitted, but you are disadvantaged by it in all the rest.

Direct. XIII. Observe how one duty helpeth another, and take all together each one in its place.

Tempt. XIV. Sometimes the tempter doth call you off to other duty, and puts in unseasonable motions to that which in its time is good; he interrupts prayer by meditation, he sets seeming truth against love, and peace, and concord.

Direct. XIV. Still know which duties are greatest, and which is the due season for each, and do all in order.

Tempt. XV. He spoileth duty, by causing you to do it only as a duty, and not as a means for the good of your own souls; or only as a means, and not as a duty. If you do it only as duty, then you will not be quickened to it by the ends and benefits, nor carried by hope, nor fit all to the end, nor be so fervent or vigorous in it, as the sense of your own good would make you be. And if you do it only as a means, and not as a duty, then you will give over or faint, when you want or question the success: whereas, the sense of both would make you vigorous and constant.

Direct. XV. Keep under the sense of God's authority, that you may feel yourselves bound to obey him, whatever be the success; and may resolve to wait in an obedient way. And withal, admire his wisdom in fitting all duties to your benefit, and commanding you nothing but what is for your own or others' good, or to his honour: and mark the reason and tendency of all, and your own necessity.

Tempt. XVI. The tempter hindereth you in duty, as well as from duty, by setting you a quarrelling with the minister, the words, the company, the manner, the circumstances; that these things may divert your thoughts from the matter, or distract your mind with causeless scruples.

Direct. XVI. Pray and labour for a clear judgment, and an upright, self-judging, humble heart, which dwelleth most at home, and looketh most at the spiritual part, and affecteth not singularity.

Tempt. XVII. The tempter spoileth duty by your inconstancy; while you read or pray so seldom, that you have lost the benefit of one duty, before you come to another, and cool by intermissions.

Direct. XVII. Remember that it is not your divertisement, but your calling, and is to your soul as eating to your bodies.

Tempt. XVIII. Sometimes Satan corrupteth duty by men's private passions, interest, and opinions, making men, in preaching and praying, to vent their own conceits and spleen, and inveigh against those that differ from them, or offend them, and profane the name and work of God; or proudly to seek the praise of men.

Direct. XVIII. Remember that God is most jealous in his worship, and hateth hypocritical profaneness above all profaneness. Search your hearts, and mortify your passions; and especially selfishness, remembering that it is a poisonous and insinuating sin, and will easily hide itself with a cloak of zeal.

Tempt. XIX. False-hearted reservedness is a most accursed corrupter of holy duty; when the soul is not wholly given up to God, but sets upon duty from some common motive; as, because it is in credit, or to please some friend, purposing to try it awhile, and leave it if they like it not.

Direct. XIX. Fear God, thou hypocrite, and halt not between two opinions. If the Lord be God, obey and serve him with all thy heart; but if the devil and the flesh be better masters, follow them, and let him go.

Tempt. XX. Lastly, The tempter hindereth holy duty much, by wandering thoughts, and melancholy perplexities, and a hurry of temptations, which torment and distract some christians, so that they cry out, I cannot pray, I cannot meditate; and are weary of duty, and even of their lives.

Direct. XX. This showeth the malice of the tempter, and thy weakness; but, if thou hadst rather be delivered from it, it hindereth not thy acceptance with God. Read for this, what I have said chap. v. part 2. at large; especially in my Directions to the Melancholy.

I have been forced to put off many things briefly here, which deserved a larger handling; and I must now omit the discovery of those temptations, by which Satan keepeth men in sin, when he hath drawn them into it. 2. And those by which he causeth declining in grace, and apostasy. 3. And those by which he discomforteth true believers; because else this direction would swell to a treatise; and most will think it too long and tedious already, though the brevity which I use, to avoid prolixity, doth wrong the matter through the whole. Acquaintance with temptations is needful to our overcoming them.

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[Sidenote: For serving Christ our Master in good works.]

Grand Direct. X. Your lives must be laid out in doing God service, and doing all the good you can, in works of piety, justice, and charity, with prudence, fidelity, industry, zeal, and delight; remembering that you are engaged to God, as servants to their lord and master; and are intrusted with his talents, of the improvement whereof you must give account.

The next relation between Christ and us, which we are to speak of, (subordinate to that of King and subjects,) is this of Master and servants. Though Christ saith to the apostles, John xv. 15, "Henceforth I call you not servants, but friends;" the meaning is not that he calleth them not servants at all, but not mere servants, they being more than servants, having such acquaintance with his counsels as his friends. For he presently, verse 20, bids them "Remember that the servant is not greater than his lord." And John xiii. 13, "Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am." And Matt. xxiii. 8, "One is your Master, Christ; and all ye are brethren:" so ver. 10. And the apostles called themselves the "servants of Jesus Christ," Rom. i. 1; and 1 Cor. iv. 1; Phil. i. 1: and "of God," Tit. i. 1, &c.

[Sidenote: What it is to be Christ's servants.]

He is called our Master, and we his servants, because he is our Rector, ex pleno dominio, with absolute propriety; and doth not give us laws to obey, while we do our own work, but giveth us his work to do, and laws for the right doing of it: and it is a service under his eye, and in dependence on him for our daily provisions, as servants on their lord. God hath work for us to do in the world; and the performance of it he will require. God biddeth his sons "Go work to day in my vineyard," Matt. xxi. 28; and expecteth that they do it, ver. 31. His "servants" are as "husbandmen," to whom "he intrusteth his vineyard, that he may receive the fruit," ver. 33, 34, 41, 43. "Faithful servants shall be made rulers over his household," Matt. xxiv. 45, 46. Christ delivereth to his servants his talents to improve, and will require an account of the improvement at his coming, Matt. xxv. 14. Good works, in the proper, comprehensive sense, are all actions internal and external, that are morally good; but in the narrower acceptation, they are works, not only formally good, as acts of obedience in general, but also materially good, such as a servant doth for his master, that tend to his advantage, or the profit of some other, whose welfare he regardeth. Because the doctrine of good works is controverted in these times, I shall first open it briefly, and then give you the directions.

1. Nothing is more certain, than that God doth not need the service of any creature; and that he receiveth no addition to his perfection or felicity from it; and, consequently, that on terms of commutative justice, (which giveth one thing for another, as in selling and buying,) no creature is capable of meriting at his hands.

2. It is certain, that on the terms of the law of works, (which required perfect obedience as the condition of life,) no sinner can do any work so good, as in point of distributive, governing justice, shall merit at his hands.

3. It is certain, that Christ hath so fulfilled the law of works, as to merit for us.

4. The redeemed are not masterless, but have still a Lord, who hath now a double right to govern them. And this Governor giveth them a law: and this law requireth us to do good works, as much as we are able, (though not so terribly, yet) as obligingly as the law of works: and by this (of Christ) we must be judged: and thus we must be judged according to our works: and to be judged is nothing else but to be justified or condemned. Such works therefore are rewardable according to the distributive justice of the law of grace, by which we must be judged. And the ancient fathers, who (without any opposition) spoke of good works as meritorious with God, meant no more, but that they were such as the righteous Judge of the world will reward according to the law of grace, by which he judgeth us. And this doctrine being agreed on as certain truth, there is no controversy with them, but whether the word merit was properly or improperly used: and that both Scripture and our common speech alloweth the fathers' use of the word, I have showed at large in my "Confession."

5. Christ is so far from redeeming us from a necessity of good works, that he died to restore us to a capacity and ability to perform them, and hath new-made us for that end. Tit. ii. 14, "He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Eph. ii. 10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

6. Good works opposed to Christ, or his satisfaction, merit, righteousness, mercy, or free grace in the matter of justification or salvation, are not good works, but proud self-confidence and sin. But good works, in their due subordination to God's mercy, and Christ's merits and grace, are necessary and rewardable.

7. Though God need none of our works, yet that which is good materially pleaseth him, as it tendeth to his glory, and to our own and others' benefit, which he delighteth in.

8. It is the communicating of his goodness and excellencies to the creature, by which God doth glorify himself in the world; and in heaven, where is the fullest communication, he is most glorified. Therefore the praise which is given to the creature, who receiveth all from him, is his own praise. And it is no dishonour to God, that his creature be honoured, by being good, and being esteemed good: otherwise God would never have created any thing, lest it should derogate from himself; or he would have made them bad, lest their goodness were his dishonour; and he would be most pleased with the wicked, and least pleased with the best, as most dishonouring him. But madness itself abhorreth these conceits.

9. Therefore, as an act of mercy to us, and for his own glory, (as at first he made all things very good, so) he will make the new creature according to his image, which is holy, and just, and good, and will use us in good works; and it is our honour, and gain, and happiness to be so used by him. As he will not communicate light to the world without the sun (whose glory derogateth not from his honour); so will he not do good works in the world immediately by himself only, but by his servants, whose calling and daily business it must be, as that which they are made for, as the sun is made to give light and heat to inferior things, Eph. ii. 10. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven," Matt, v. 16. Christ was far from their opinion that think all good works that are attributed to good men are dishonourable to God.[110]

10. He is most beholden to God, that is most exercised in good works. The more we do, the more we receive from him: and our very doing itself is our receiving; for it is he that "giveth us both to will and to do," by his operation in us, Phil. ii. 13; even "he, without whom we can do nothing," John xv. 5.

11. The obligation to good works, that is, to works of piety, justice, and charity, is essential to us as servants of the Lord. We are practical atheists, if we do not works of piety to God: we are rebels against God, and enemies to ourselves, and unmeet for human society, if we do not the works which are good for ourselves, and for others, if we have ability and opportunity. This is our fruit which God expecteth; and if we bear it not, he will hew us down, and cast us into the fire.

12. Though doing no hurt will not serve turn, without doing good, yet it is not the same works that are required of all, nor in the same degree, but according to every man's talent and opportunities, Matt. xxv. 14, 15, &c.

13. God looketh not only nor principally at the external part of the work, but much more to the heart of him that doth it; nor at the length of time, but at the sincerity and diligence of his servants. And therefore, though he is so just, as not to deny the reward which was promised them, to those that have borne the burden and heat of the day; yet he is so gracious and bountiful, that he will give as much to those that he findeth as willing and diligent, and would have done more if they had had opportunity, Matt. xx. 12-15. You see in all this, what our doctrine is about good works, and how far those papists are to be believed, who persuade their ignorant disciples, that we account them vain and needless things.

Directions for faithful serving Christ, and doing good.

Direct. I. Be sure that you have that holiness, justice, and charity within, which are the necessary principles of good works.--For "a good tree will bring forth good fruit, and an evil tree evil fruit. Make the tree good, and the fruit good. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringeth forth evil things." As out of the heart proceed evil works, Matt. xv. 19, 20, so out of the heart must good works come, Matt. vii. 16-20. Can the dead do the works of the living? or the unholy do the works of holiness? or the unrighteous do the works of justice? or the uncharitable do the works of charity? Will he do good to Christ in his members on earth, who hateth them? Or will he not rather imprison them, than visit them in prison; and rather strip them of all they have, than feed and clothe them? Or if a man should do that which materially is good, from pride, or other sinful principles, God doth not accept it, but taketh all sacrifice but as carrion that is offered to him without the heart.

Direct. II. Content not yourselves to do some good extraordinarily on the by, or when you are urged to it; but study to do good, and make it the trade or business of your lives.--Having so many obligations, and so great encouragements, do what you do with all your might. If you would know whether you are servants to Christ, or to the flesh, the question must be, which of these have the main care and diligence of our lives; for as every carnal act will not prove you servants to the flesh, so every good action will not prove you the servants of Christ.

Direct. III. Before you do any work, consider whether you can truly say, it is a service of God, and will be accepted by him. See therefore that it be done, 1. To his glory, or to please him. 2. And in obedience to his command.--Mere natural actions, that have no moral good or evil in them, and so belong not to morality, these belong not to our present subject; as being not the matter of rational (or at least of obediential) choice. Such as the winking of the eye, the setting of this foot forward first, the taking of this or that meat, or drink, or instrument, or company, or action, when they are equal, and it is no matter of rational (or obediential) choice, &c. But every act that is to be done deliberately and rationally, as matter of choice, must be moralized, or made good, by doing it, 1. To a right end; and, 2. According to the rule. "Whether we eat, or drink, or whatsoever we do, (that is matter of rational choice,) must be done by us to the glory of God," 1 Cor. x. 31. All works tend not alike to his glory; but some more immediately and directly, and others remotely; but all must ultimately have this end. Even servants that labour in their painful work, must "do it as to the Lord, and not (only, or ultimately) to men; not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ," from whom they must have their greatest reward or punishment, Eph. vi. 5-8; Col. iii. 22-25. All the comforts of food, or rest, or recreation, or pleasure which we take, should be intended to fit us for our Master's work, or strengthen, cheer, and help us in it. Do nothing, deliberately, that belongs to the government of reason, but God's service in the world; which you can say, he set you on.

Direct. IV. Set not duties of piety, justice, or charity against each other, as if they had an enmity to each other; but take them as inseparable, as God hath made them.--Think not to offer God a sacrifice of injury, bribery, fraud, oppression, or any uncharitable work. And pretend not the benefit of men, or the safety of societies or kingdoms, for impiety against the Lord.[111]

Direct. V. Acquaint yourselves with all the talents which you receive from God, and what is the use to which they should be improved.--Keep thus a just account of your receivings, and what goods of your Master's is put into your hands. And make it a principal part of your study, to know what every thing in your hand is good for to your Master's use; and how it is that he would have you use it.

Direct. VI. Keep an account of your expenses; at least, of all your most considerable talents; and bring yourselves daily or frequently to a reckoning, what good you have done, or endeavoured to do. Every day is given you for some good work. Keep therefore accounts of every day (I mean, in your conscience, not in papers). Every mercy must be used to some good: call yourselves therefore, to account for every mercy, what you have done with it for your Master's use. And think not hours and minutes, and little mercies, may be past without coming into the account. The servant that thinks he may do what he list with shillings and pence, and that he is only to lay out greater sums for his master's use, and lesser for his own, will prove unfaithful, and come short in his accounts. Less sums than pounds must be in our reckonings.

Direct. VII. Take special heed that the common thief, your carnal self, either personal or in your relations, do not rob God of his expected due, and devour that which he requireth.--It is not for nothing that God calleth for the first-fruits. "Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst forth with new wine," Prov. iii. 9, 10. So Exod. xxiii. 16, 19; xxxiv. 22, 26; Lev. ii. 12, 14; Nehem. x. 35; Ezek. xx. 40; xliv. 30; xlviii. 14. For if carnal self might first be served, its devouring greediness would leave God nothing. Though he that hath godliness with contentment hath enough, if he have but food and raiment, yet there will be but enough for themselves and children, where men have many hundreds or thousands a year, if once it fall into this gulf. And indeed, as he that begins with God hath the promise of his bountiful supplies, so he whose flesh must first be served, doth catch such an hydropic thirst for more, that all will but serve it: and the devil contriveth such necessities to these men, and such uses for all they have, that they have no more to spare than poorer men; and they can allow God no more but the leavings of the flesh, and what it can spare, which commonly is next to nothing.) Indeed though holy uses in particular were satisfied with first-fruits and limited parts, yet God must have all, and the flesh (inordinately or finally) have none. Every penny which is laid out upon yourselves, and children, and friends, must be done as by God's own appointment, and to serve and please him. Watch narrowly, or else this thievish carnal self will leave God nothing.

Direct. VIII. Prefer greater duties (cæteris paribus) before lesser; and labour to understand which is the greater, and to be preferred.--Not that any real duty is to be neglected: but we call that by the name of duty which is materially good, and a duty in its season; but formally, indeed, it is no duty at all, when it cannot be done without the omission of a greater. As for a minister to be praying with his family, or comforting one afflicted soul, when he should be preaching publicly, is to do that which is a duty in its season, but at that time is his sin. It is an unfaithful servant that is doing some little char, when he should be saving a beast from drowning, or the house from burning, or doing the greater part of his work.

Direct. IX. Prudence is exceeding necessary in doing good, that you may discern good from evil, discerning the season, and measure, and manner, and among divers duties, which must be preferred.--Therefore labour much for wisdom, and if you want it yourself, be sure to make use of theirs that have it, and ask their counsel in every great and difficult case. Zeal without judgment hath not only entangled souls in many heinous sins, but hath ruined churches and kingdoms, and under pretence of exceeding others in doing good, it makes men the greatest instruments of evil. There is scarce a sin so great and odious, but ignorant zeal will make men do it as a good work. Christ told his apostles, that those that killed them, should think they did God service. And Paul bare record to the murderous, persecuting Jews, "that they had a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge," Rom. x. 2. The papists' murders of christians under the name of heretics, hath recorded it to the world, in the blood of many hundred thousands, how ignorant, carnal zeal will do good, and what sacrifice it will offer up to God.[112]

Direct. X. In doing good, prefer the souls of men before the body, cæteris paribus. To convert a sinner from the error of his way is to save a soul from death, and to cover a multitude of sins, Jam. v. 20.--And this is greater than to give a man an alms. As cruelty to souls is the most heinous cruelty, (as persecutors and soul-betraying pastors will one day know to their remediless woe,) so mercy to souls is the greatest mercy. Yet sometimes mercy to the body is in that season to be preferred (for every thing is excellent in its season). As if a man be drowning or famishing, you must not delay the relief of his body, while you are preaching to him for his conversion; but first relieve him, and then you may in season afterwards instruct him. The greatest duty is not always to go first in time; sometimes some lesser work is a necessary preparatory to a greater; and sometimes a corporal benefit may tend more to the good of souls than some spiritual work may. Therefore I say still, that prudence and an honest heart are instead of many directions: they will not only look at the immediate benefit of a work, but to its utmost tendency and remote effects.

Direct. XI. In doing good, prefer the good of many, especially of the church or commonwealth, before the good of one or few.[113]--For many are more worth than one; and many will honour God and serve him more than one: and therefore both piety and charity require it. Yet this also must be understood with a cæteris paribus; for it is possible some cases of exception may be found. Paul's is a high instance, that "could have wished himself accursed from Christ" for the sake of the Jews, as judging God's honour more concerned in all them than in him alone.

Direct. XII. Prefer a durable good that will extend to posterity, before a short and transitory good.--As to build an alms-house is a greater work than to give an alms, and to erect a school than to teach a scholar; so to promote the settlement of the gospel and a faithful ministry is the greatest of all, as tending to the good of many, even to their everlasting good. This is the pre-eminence of good books before a transient speech, that they may be a more durable help and benefit. Look before you with a judicious foresight; and as you must not do that present good to a particular person, which bringeth greater hurt to many; so you must not do that present good to one or many, which is like to produce a greater and more lasting hurt. Such blind reformers have used the church, as ignorant physicians use their patients, who give them a little present ease, and cast them into a greater misery, and seem to cure them with a dose of opium or the Jesuit's powder, when they are bringing them into a worse disease than that which they pretend to cure. Oh when shall the poor church have wiser and foreseeing helpers!

Direct. XIII. Let all that you do for the church's good be sure to tend to holiness and peace; and do nothing under the name of a good work, which hath an enmity to either of these.--For these are to the church as life and health are to the body; and the increase of its welfare is nothing else but the increase of these. Whatever they pretend, believe none that say they seek the good and welfare of the church, if they seek not the promoting of holiness and peace: if they hinder the powerful preaching of the gospel, and the means that tendeth to the saving of souls, and the serious, spiritual worshipping of God, and the unity and peace of all the faithful; and if they either divide the faithful into sects and parties, or worry all that differ from them, and humour them not in their conceits;--take all these for such benefactors to the church, as the wolf is to the flock, and as the plague is to the city, or the fever to the body, or the fire in the thatch is to the house. "The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle," &c. "But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth: this wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish; for where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work," Jam. iii. 14-18.

Direct. XIV. If you will do the good which God accepteth, do that which he requireth; and put not the name of good works upon your sins, nor upon unnecessary things of your own invention; nor think that any good must be accomplished by forbidden means.--None know what pleaseth God so well as himself. Our ways may be right in our own eyes, and carnal wisdom may think it hath devised the fittest means to honour God, when he may abominate it, and say, Who required this at your hand? And if we will do good by sinning, we must do it in despite of God, who is engaged against our sins and us, Rom. iii. 8. God needeth not our lie to his glory: if papists think to find at the last day their foppish ceremonies, and superstition, and will-worship, their "touch not, taste not, handle not," to be reckoned to them as good works; or if Jesuits or enthusiasts think to find their perjury, treasons, rebellions, or conspiracies numbered with good works; or the persecuting of the preachers and faithful professors of godliness to be good works; how lamentably will they find their expectations disappointed!

Direct. XV. Keep in the way of your place and calling, and take not other men's works upon you without a call, under any pretence of doing good.--Magistrates must do good in the place and work of magistrates; and ministers in the place and work of ministers; and private men in their private place and work; and not one man step into another's place, and take his work out of his hand, and say, I can do it better: for if you should do it better, the disorder will do more harm than you did good by bettering his work. One judge must not step into another's court and seat, and say I will pass more righteous judgment. You must not go into another man's school, and say, I can teach your scholars better; nor into another's charge or pulpit, and say, I can preach better. The servant may not rule the master, because he can do it best; no more than you may take another man's wife, or house, or lands, or goods, because you can use them better than he. Do the good that you are called to.

Direct. XVI. Where God hath prescribed you some particular good work or way of service, you must prefer that before another which is greater in itself.--This is explicatory or limiting of Direct. viii. The reason is, because God knoweth best what is pleasing to him, and "obedience is better than sacrifice." You must not neglect the necessary maintenance of wife and children, under pretence of doing a work of piety or greater good; because God hath prescribed you this order of your duty, that you begin at home (though not to stop there). Another minister may have a greater or more needy flock; but yet you must first do good in your own, and not step without a call into his charge. If God have called you to serve him in a low and mean employment, he will better accept you in that work, than if you undertook the work of another man's place, to do him greater service.

Direct. XVII. Lose not your resolutions or opportunities of doing good by unnecessary delays.--Prov. iii. 27, 28, "Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to-morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee."--Prov. xxvii. 1, "Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." It is two to one, but delay will take away thine opportunity, and raise such unexpected diversions or difficulties as will frustrate thine intent, and destroy the work. Take thy time, if thou wilt do thy service: it is beautiful in its season.

Direct. XVIII. Yet present necessity may make a lesser work to be thy duty, when the greater may better bear delay.--As to save a man's life in sickness or danger, when you may after have time to seek the saving of his soul. Not only works of mercy may be thus preferred before sacrifice, but the ordinary conveniences of our lives; as to rise, and dress us, and do other business, may go before prayer, when prayer may afterwards be done as well or better, and would be hindered if these did not go before.

Direct. XIX. Though, cæteris paribus, the duties of the first table are to be preferred before those of the second, yet the greater duties of the second table must be preferred before the lesser duties of the first.--The love of God is a greater duty than the love of man (and they must never be separated); but yet we must prefer the saving a man's life, or the quenching a fire in the town, before a prayer, or sacrament, or observation of a sabbath. David ate the shew-bread, and the disciples rubbed out the corn on the sabbath day, because the preserving of life was a greater duty than the observing of a sabbath, or a positive ceremonial law. And Christ bids the Pharisees, "Go, learn what this meaneth,--I will have mercy, and not sacrifice:" the blood of our brethren is an unacceptable means of pleasing God, and maintaining piety, or promoting men's several opinions in religion.

Direct. XX. Choose that employment or calling (so far as you have your choice) in which you may be most serviceable to God.--Choose not that in which you may be most rich or honourable in the world; but that in which you may do most good, and best escape sinning.

[Sidenote: Is doing good or avoiding sin to be most looked at in our choice of callings.]

Quest. But what if in one calling I am most serviceable to the church, but yet have most temptations to sin? And in another I have least temptations to sin, but am least serviceable to the church, (which is the ordinary difference between men in public places and men in solitude,) which of these should I choose?

Answ. 1. Either you are already engaged in your calling, or not; if you are, you must have greater reasons to desert it than such as might require you at first not to choose it. 2. Either the temptations to sin are such as good men ordinarily overcome, or they are extraordinarily great. You may more warrantably avoid such great ones as you are not like to overcome than small or ordinary ones. 3. Either you are well furnished against these temptations, or not: if not, you must be more cautelous in approaching them; but if you are, you may trust God the boldlier to help you out. 4. Either they are temptations to ordinary human frailties in the manner of duty, or temptations to more dangerous sin: the first will not so much warrant you to avoid doing good for to escape them as the latter will. 5. The service that you are called to (being supposed great and necessary to be done by somebody) is either such as others will do better, or as well, if you avoid it, or not. If the church or common good receive no detriment by your refusal, you may the more insist on your own preservation; but if the necessities of the church or state, and the want of fitter instruments, or any apparent call of God, do single you out for that service, you must obey God, whatever the difficulties and temptations are: for no temptations can necessitate you to sin; and God that calleth you, can easily preserve you: but take heed what you thrust yourselves upon.

[Sidenote: A calling may be changed.]

Quest. But may I change my calling for the service of the church, when the apostle bids every man abide in the calling in which he was called? 1 Cor. vii. 20.

Answ. The apostle only requireth men to make no unlawful change (such as is the forsaking of a wife or husband) nor no unnecessary change, as if it were necessary (as in the case of uncircumcision): but in the next words he saith, "Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather." He bids every man abide with God in the place he is called to, but forbids them not to change their state when they are called to change it, ver. 24. He speaks more of relations (of single persons and married, servants and free, &c.) than of trades or offices: and yet no doubt but a single person may be married, and the married must be separated; and servants may be free. No man must take up or change any calling without sufficient cause to call him to it; but when he hath such cause, he sinneth if he change it not. The apostles changed their callings, when they became apostles; and so did multitudes of the pastors of the church in every age. God no where forbids men to change their employment for the better, upon a sufficient cause or call.

[Sidenote: Who excused from a calling.]

Direct. XXI. Especially be sure that you live not out of a calling, that is, such a stated course of employment, in which you may best be serviceable to God.--Disability indeed is an unresistible impediment. Otherwise no man must either live idly, or content himself with doing some little chars, as a recreation, or on the by; but every one that is able, must be statedly and ordinarily employed in such work, as is serviceable to God, and the common good. Quest. But will not wealth excuse us? Answ. It may excuse you from some sordid sort of work, by making you more serviceable in other; but you are no more excused from service and work of one kind or other, than the poorest man; unless you think that God requireth least where he giveth most. Quest. Will not age excuse us? Answ. Yes, so far as it disableth you; but no further. Object. But I am turned out of my calling. Answ. You are not turned out of the service of God: he calleth you to that, or to another. Quest. But may not I cast off the world, that I may only think of my salvation? Answ. You may cast off all such excess of worldly cares or business as unnecessarily hinder you in spiritual things; but you may not cast off all bodily employment and mental labour in which you may serve the common good. Every one that is a member of church or commonwealth, must employ their parts to the utmost for the good of the church and commonwealth: public service is God's greatest service. To neglect this, and say, I will pray and meditate, is as if your servant should refuse your greatest work, and tie himself to some lesser, easy part. And God hath commanded you some way or other to labour for your daily bread, and not live as drones on the sweat of others only. Innocent Adam was put into the garden of Eden to dress it; and fallen man must "eat his bread in the sweat of his brow," Gen. iii. 19; and he that "will not work must be forbidden to eat," 2 Thess. iii. 6, 10, 12. And indeed it is necessary to ourselves, for the health of our bodies, which will grow diseased with idleness; and for the help of our souls, which will fail if the body fail: and man in flesh must have work for his body as well as for his soul. And he that will do nothing but pray and meditate, it is like will (by sickness or melancholy) be disabled ere long either to pray or meditate: unless he have a body extraordinarily strong.

Direct. XXII. Be very watchful redeemers of your time, and make conscience of every hour and minute, that you lose it not, but spend it in the best and most serviceable manner that you can.--Of this I intend to speak more particularly anon; and therefore shall here add no more.

Direct. XXIII. Watchfully and resolutely avoid the entanglements and diverting occasions by which the tempter will be still endeavouring to waste your time and hinder you from your work.--Know what is the principal service that you are called to, and avoid avocations: especially magistrates and ministers, and those that have great and public work, must here take heed. For if you be not very wise and watchful, the tempter will draw you, before you are aware, into such a multitude of diverting care or business, that shall seem to be your duties, as shall make you almost unprofitable in the world: you shall have this or that little thing that must be done, and this or that friend that must be visited or spoken to, and this or that civility that must be performed: so that trifles shall detain you from all considerable works. I confess friends must not be neglected, nor civilities be denied; but our greatest duties having the greatest necessity, all things must give place to them in their proper season. And therefore, that you may avoid the offence of friends, avoid the place or occasions of such impediments; and where that cannot be done, whatever they judge of you, neglect not your most necessary work; else it will be at the will of men and Satan, whether you shall be serviceable to God or not.

Direct. XXIV. Ask yourselves seriously, how you would wish at death and judgment that you had used all your wits, and time, and wealth; and resolve accordingly to use them now.--This is an excellent direction and motive to you for doing good, and preventing the condemnation which will pass upon unprofitable servants. Ask yourselves, Will it comfort me more at death or judgment, to think, or hear, that I spent this hour in plays or idleness, or in doing good to myself or others? How shall I wish then I had laid out my estate, and every part of it? Reason itself condemneth him that will not now choose the course which then he shall wish that he had chosen, when we foresee the consequence of that day.

Direct. XXV. Understand how much you are beholden to God, (and not he to you,) in that he will employ you in doing any good; and how it is the way of your own receiving; and know the excellency of your work and end, that you may do it all with love and pleasure.--Unacquaintedness with our Master, and with the nature and tendency of our work, is it that maketh it seem tedious and unpleasant to us: and we shall never do it well, when we do it with an ill will, as merely forced. God loveth a cheerful servant, that loveth his Master and his work. It is the main policy of the devil to make our duty seem grievous, unprofitable, undesirable, and wearisome to us: for a little thing will stop him that goeth unwillingly and in continual pain.

Direct. XXVI. Expect your reward from God alone, and look for unthankfulness and abuse from men, or wonder not if it befall you.--If you are not the servants of men, but of God, expect your recompence from him you serve. You serve not God indeed, if his reward alone will not content you, unless you have also man's reward. "Verily you have your reward," if, with the hypocrite, you work for man's approbation, Matt. vi. 2, 5. Expect, especially if you are ministers or others that labour directly for the good of souls, that many prove your enemies for your telling them the truth; and that if you were as good as Paul, and as unwearied in seeking men's salvation, yet the more you love, the less you will (by many) be loved: and those that he could have wished himself accursed from Christ to save, did hate him, and persecute him, as if he had been the most accursed wretch: a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among the people, and one that turned the world upside down, were the names they gave him; and wherever he came, "bonds and imprisonment did attend him;" and slandering, and reviling, and whipping, and stocks, and vowing his death, are the thanks and requital which he hath from those, for whose salvation he spared no pains, but did spend and was spent. If you cannot do good upon such terms as these, and for those that will thus requite you, and be contented to expect a reward in heaven, you are not fit to follow Christ, who was worse used than all this, by those to whom he showed more love than any of his servants have to show. "Take up your cross, and do good to the unthankful, and bless them that curse you, and love them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you, if you will be the children of God," Matt. v.

Direct. XXVII. Make not your own judgments or consciences your law, or the maker of your duty; which is but the discerner of the law of God, and of the duty which he maketh you, and of your own obedience or disobedience to him.--There is a dangerous error grown too common in the world, that a man is bound to do every thing which his conscience telleth him is the will of God; and that every man must obey his conscience, as if it were the lawgiver of the world; whereas, indeed, it is not ourselves, but God, that is our lawgiver. And conscience is not appointed or authorized to make us any duty, which God hath not made us; but only to discern the law of God, and call upon us to observe it: and an erring conscience is not to be obeyed, but to be better informed, and brought to a righter performance of its office.

In prosecution of this direction, I shall here answer several cases about doubting.

Quest. I. What if I doubt whether a thing be a duty and good work or not? must I do it while I doubt? Nay, what if I am uncertain whether it be duty or sin?

Answ. I. In all these cases about an erring or doubting conscience, forget not to distinguish between the being of a duty and the knowledge of a duty: and remember, that the first question is, Whether this be my duty? and the next, How I may discern it to be my duty? And that God giveth it the being by his law, and conscience is but to know and use it: and that God changeth not his law, and our duty, as oft as our opinions change about it. The obligation of the law is still the same, though our consciences err in apprehending it otherwise. Therefore, if God command you a duty, and your opinion be that he doth not command it, or that he forbids it, and so that it is no duty, or that it is a sin, it doth not follow that indeed God commands it not because you think so: else it were no error in you; nor could it be possible to err, if the thing become true, because you think it to be true. God commandeth you to love him, and to worship him, and to nourish your children, and to obey the higher powers, &c. And do you think you shall be discharged from all these duties, and allowed to be profane, or sensual, or to resist authority, or to famish your children, if you can but be blind enough to think that God would have it so? 2. Your error is a sin itself: and do you think that one sin must warrant another? or that sin can discharge you from your duty, and disannul the law? 3. You are a subject to God, and not a king to yourself; and therefore, you must obey his laws, and not make new ones.

Quest. II. But is it not every man's duty to obey his conscience?

Answ. No: it is no man's duty to obey his conscience in an error, when it contradicteth the command of God. Conscience is but a discerner of God's command, and not at all to be obeyed strictly as a commander; but it is to be obeyed in a larger sense, that is, to be followed wherever it truly discerneth the command of God. It is our duty to lay by our error, and seek the cure of it, till we attain it, and not to obey it.

Quest. III. But is it not a sin for a man to go against his conscience?

Answ. Yes: not because conscience hath any authority to make laws for you; but because interpretatively you go against God. For you are bound to obey God in all things; and when you think that God commandeth you a thing, and yet you will not do it, you disobey formally, though not materially. The matter of obedience is the thing commanded: the form of obedience is our doing the thing, because it is commanded; when the authority of the commander causeth us to do it. Now you reject the authority of God, when you reject that which you think he commandeth, though he did not.

Quest. IV. Seeing the form of obedience is the being of it, and denominateth, which the matter doth not without the form, and there can be no sin which is not against the authority of God, which is the formal cause of obedience, is it not then my duty to follow my conscience?

Answ. 1. There must be an integrity of causes, or concurrence of all necessaries to make up obedience, though the want of any one will make a sin. If you will be called obedient, you must have the matter and form, because the true form is found in no other matter; you must do the thing commanded, because of his authority that commandeth it. If it may be called really and formally obedience, when you err, yet it is not that obedience which is acceptable; for it is not any kind of obedience, but obedience in the thing commanded, that God requireth. 2. But indeed as long as you err sinfully, you are also wanting in the form as well as the matter of your obedience, though you intend obedience in the particular act. It is not only a wilful opposing, and positive rejecting the authority of the commander, which is formal disobedience; but it is any privation of due subjection to it; when his authority is not so regarded as it ought to be; and doth not so powerfully and effectually move us to our duty as it ought. Now this formal disobedience is found in your erroneous conscience; for if God's authority had moved you as it should have done, to diligent inquiry and use of all appointed means, and to the avoiding of all the causes of error, you had never erred about your duty. For if the error had been perfectly involuntary and blameless, the thing could not have been your particular duty, which you could not possibly come to know.

Quest. V. But if it be a sin to go against my conscience, must I not avoid that sin by obeying it? Would you have me sin?

Answ. You must avoid the sin, by changing your judgment, and not by obeying it; for that is but to avoid one sin by committing another. An erring judgment is neither obeyed nor disobeyed without sin; it can make you sin, though it cannot make you duty; it doth insnare, though not oblige. If you follow it, you break the law of God in doing that which he forbids you. If you forsake it and go against it, you reject the authority of God, in doing that which you think he forbids you. So that there is no attaining to innocence any other way, but by coming first to know your duty, and then to do it. If you command your servant to weed your corn, and he mistake you, and verily think, that you bid him pull up the corn, and not the weeds; what now should he do? Shall he follow his judgment, or go against it? Neither, but change it, and then follow it; and to that end inquire further of your mind, till he be better informed: and no way else will serve the turn.

Quest. VI. Seeing no man that erreth doth know or think that he erreth, (for that is a contradiction,) how can I lay by that opinion, or strive against it, which I take to be the truth?

Answ. It is your sin, that you take a falsehood to be a truth. God hath appointed means for the cure of blindness and error, as well as other sins; or else the world were in a miserable case. Come into the light, with due self-suspicion, and impartiality, and diligently use all God's means, and avoid the causes of deceit and error, and the light of truth will at once show you the truth, and show you that before you erred. In the mean time sin will be sin, though you take it to be duty, or no sin.

Quest. VII. But seeing he that knoweth his master's will and doth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes; and he that knoweth it not, with few; is it not my duty chiefly to avoid the many stripes, by avoiding sinning against my conscience or knowledge?

Answ. 1. Your duty is to avoid both; and if both were not sinful, they would not both be punished with stripes. 2. Your conscience is not your knowledge when you err, but your ignorance. Conscience, as it signifieth the faculty of knowing, may be said to be conscience when it erreth; as reason is reason, in the faculty, when we err. And conscience, as to an erring act, may be called conscience, so far as there is any true knowledge in the act: as a man is said to see, when he misjudgeth of colours, or to reason, when he argueth amiss. But, so far as it erreth, it is no conscience in act at all; for conscience is science, and not nescience. You sin against your knowledge when you sin against a well-informed conscience, but you sin in ignorance when you sin against an erring conscience. 3. And if the question be not, what is your duty, but, which is the smaller sin, then it is true, that, cæteris paribus, it is a greater sin to go against your judgment, than to follow it. But yet, other imparities in matter and circumstances may be an exception against this rule.

Quest. VIII. But it is not possible for every man presently to know all his duty, and to avoid all error about his duty. Knowledge must be got in time. All men are ignorant in many things: should I not then in the mean time follow my conscience?

Answ. 1. Your ignorance is culpable, or not culpable. If it be not culpable, the thing which you are ignorant of is not your duty. If culpable, (which is the case supposed,) as you brought yourself to that difficulty of knowing, so it will remain your sin till it be cured; and one sin will not warrant another. And all that time you are under a double command; the one is, to know, and use the means of knowledge; and the other is, to do the thing commanded. So that how long soever you remain in error you remain in sin, and are not under an obligation to follow your error, but first to know, and then to do the contrary duty. 2. And as long as you keep yourselves in a necessity, or way of sinning, you must call it sin as it is, and not call it duty. It is not your duty to choose a lesser sin before a greater; but to refuse and avoid both the lesser and the greater. And if you say you cannot, yet, remember, that it is only your sin that is your impotency, or your impotency is sinful. But it is true, that you are most obliged to avoid the greatest sin: therefore, all that remaineth in the resolving of all such cases, is but to know, of two sins, which is the greatest.

Quest. IX. What if there be a great duty, which I cannot perform without committing a little sin? or, a very great good, which I cannot do but by an unlawful means; as, to save the lives of many by a lie?

Answ. 1. It is no duty to you, when you cannot do it without wilful sin, be it never so little. Deliberately to choose a sin, that I may perform some service to God, or do some good to others, is to run before we are called, and to make work for ourselves which God never made for us; and to offer sin for a sacrifice to God; and to do evil that good may come of it; and abuse God, and reject his government, under pretence of serving him. "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?" Prov. xxi. 27; xv. 8. "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination," Prov. xxviii. 9. "Be more ready to hear, than to offer the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil," Eccles. v. 1. 2. If you will do good by sinning, you must do good in opposition to God: and how easily can he disappoint you, and turn it into evil! It is not good indeed, which must be accomplished by sin. The final good is never promoted by it; and all other good is to be estimated by its tendency to the end. You think that good which is not so, because you judge by the present feeling of your flesh, and do not foresee how it stands related to the everlasting good.

Quest. X. Seeing then that I am sure beforehand that I cannot preach, or hear, or pray, or do any good action without sin, must I not, by this rule, forbear them all?

Answ. No; because your infirmities in the performance of your duty, which you would avoid and cannot, are not made the condition of your action, but are the diseases of it. They are not chosen and approved of. The duty is your duty notwithstanding your infirmities, and may be accepted of; for you cannot serve God in perfection till you are perfect; and to cast away his service is a far greater sin, than to do it imperfectly. But you may serve him without such wilful, chosen sin, if not in one way, yet in another. The imperfection of your service is repented of while it is committed; but so is not your approved, chosen sin. For a man to make a bargain against God, that he will commit a sin against him, though the action be the same which he hath often done before in pardonable weakness; this is to turn it to a presumptuous, heinous sin. If he do it for worldly gain or safety, he selleth his obedience to God for trifles. If he do it to serve God by, he blasphemeth God; declaring him to be evil, and a lover of sin, or so impotent as not to be able to do good, or attain his ends by lawful means. It is most dangerous to give it under our hands to the devil, that we will sin, on what pretence soever.

Quest. XI. What if I am certain that the duty is great, and uncertain whether the thing annexed to it be a sin or not? Must I forbear a certain duty for an uncertain sin? or forbear doing a great and certain good, for fear of a small, uncertain evil?

Answ. 1. The question de esse must go before the question de apparere. Either that which you say you are uncertain of is indeed a sin, or it is none. If it be no sin, then you are bound both to search till you know that it is no sin, and not to forbear your duty for it. But if really it be a sin, then your uncertainty of it is another sin; and that which God bindeth you to, is to forsake them both. 2. Your question containeth a contradiction: you cannot be certain that it is a duty at all to you, any further than you are certain whether the condition or means be lawful or a sin. What if an auditor in Spain or Italy say, I am certain that it is a duty to obey my teachers; but I am uncertain whether their doctrines of the mass, purgatory, and the rest, have any untruth or sin in them; therefore, I must not forbear certain obedience for uncertain sin. Or if a priest among them say, I am certain that it is a duty to preach God's word, but I am not certain that the Trent Articles, which I must swear or subscribe, are sinful or false; therefore I must not leave a great and certain duty for an uncertain sin. The answer to them both is easy. 1. It is your sin that you are uncertain of the sinfulness of those things, which God hath forbidden: and God biddeth you first to search the Scriptures, and cure that error. He made his law before your doubts arose, and will not change it because you doubt. 2. You contradict yourselves by a mistake. You have no more certainty that you should obey your teachers in these particulars, than you have that the things which they teach or command you are not against that law of God. You are certain that you must obey them in all things not forbidden by God, and within the reach of their office to require. And you are as certain that it is unlawful to obey them against the law of God, and that God must be obeyed before man. But whether you must obey them in this particular case, you cannot be certain, while you are uncertain whether it be forbidden of God. And the priest must be as uncertain whether it be any duty of his at all, to preach God's word, as he is uncertain of the lawfulness of the Trent oath or subscription, unless he can do it without. If a subject say, I am certain, that to govern the kingdom well is a great, good work and duty, but I am uncertain whether to depose the king if he govern not well, and set up myself, be a sin; therefore, the certain good must overrule the uncertain evil. I give him the same answer: 1. It is your sin to be uncertain whether rebellion be a sin; and God bindeth you to lay by the sin of your judgment, and not to make it a shoeing-horn to more. 2. You are sure that governing well is a good work; but you should be as sure, that it is no duty of yours, nor good work for you to do, as you are sure that you are but a private man and a subject, and never called to do the good of another's office. A private man may say, I am sure preaching is a good work; but I am not sure that a private, unordained man may not statedly separate himself to do it. But he can be no surer that it is a duty to him, than he is that he is called to it.

Quest. XII. Well, suppose my ignorance be my sin, and suppose that I am equally uncertain of the duty and of the sin annexed, yet if I have done all that I am able, and remain still unresolved, and after my most diligent inquiry am as much in doubt as ever, what should I then do?

Answ. 1. If you had by any former sin so forfeited God's assistance, as that he will leave you to your blindness, this altereth not his law and your obligations, which are still the same (to learn, understand, and practise). 2. But if you are truly willing to understand, and practise, and use his means, you have no cause to imagine that he will thus forsake you; undoubtedly he appointeth you no means in vain. If you attain not sufficient resolution to guide you in your duty, it is either because your hearts are false in the inquiry, and biassed, or unwilling to know the truth, or do it; or because you use not the true appointed means for resolution, but in partiality or laziness neglect it.

Quest. XIII. Suppose still my ignorance be my sin; which is the greater sin, to neglect the good work, or to venture on the feared evil that is annexed? I am not conscious of any unfaithfulness, but human frailty, that keepeth me from certainty. And no man is so perfect as to have no culpable ignorance, and to be certain in every point of duty. Therefore I must with greatest caution avoid the greatest sin, when I am out of hope of avoiding all. On one side, it is a common rule that I must do nothing against conscience, (no, not a doubting conscience,) though I must not always do what it biddeth me. "For he that doubteth is condemned if he eat: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin," Rom. xiv. 23. On the other side, if all duty be omitted which conscience doubteth of, I may be kept from almost every duty.

Answ. The heart is so deceitful that you have great cause to watch, lest human frailty be pretended, for that error, which a corrupted, biassed, partial mind, or wilful laziness, is the cause of. Diligent study, and inquiry, and prayer, with a sincere desire to know the truth, may succeed, at least, to so much satisfaction, as may keep your minds in quietness and peace, and give you comfort in your way, and preserve you from all such sin as is inconsistent with this your safety and acceptance with God. But yet it is true that human frailty will occasion in the best uncertainties in some particular cases; and though God make it not our duty of two sins to choose the less, but to refuse both, yet he maketh it our duty more diligently to avoid the greater than the less. And ofttimes the case is so sudden that no inquiry can be made: and therefore I confess a christian should know which sins are greatest and to be most avoided. At present I shall lay down these following rules, premising this, that where accidents and circumstances which make sins great or small are to be compared, they are ofttimes so numerous and various, that no rules can be laid down beforehand, that will serve all turns, no more than in law and physic, any law books or physic books will serve all cases without a present experienced judicious counsellor: present prudence and sincerity must do most.

Rule I. In things altogether indifferent, nothing must be done that conscience doubteth of, because there is a possibility or fear of sinning on the one side, but none on the other; and in that case it is a certain sin to venture on a feared sin. But then it is supposed that the thing be indifferent as clothed with all its circumstances, and that there be no accident that taketh away its indifferency.

Rule II. In case the thing be really unlawful, and I think it to be lawful, but with some doubting, but am clear that the forbearing it is no sin; there the sin is only in the doing it; because all is clear and safe on the other side.

Rule III. There are many sins which are always and to all persons in all cases sins, and not doubted of by any without gross unfaithfulness or negligence; and here there is no room for any doubting whether we must do that good which cannot be done without that sin, it being certain that no such good can be a duty. As, to commit idolatry, to blaspheme God, to deny Christ, to deny the Scriptures, to hate, or reproach, or oppose a holy life, to be perjured, to approve or justify the sin of others, &c. It can be no duty which cannot be done without the wilful yielding to or committing these or any known sin.

Rule IV. There are some duties so great, and clear, and constant to all, that none but a profligate or graceless conscience (or one that is fearfully poisoned with sin) can make a doubt of it deliberately: these therefore come not within the case before us.

Rule V. If moral evil be compared only with natural good, or moral good with natural evil, there is no doubt to be made of the case: the least sin having more evil in it than the prosperity or lives of millions of men have good (considered in themselves as natural good); and the least duty to God having more good in it than the death of millions of men (as such) hath evil. For the good of duty and the evil of sin are greatened by their respect to God, and the other lessened as being good or evil only unto men, and with respect to them.

Rule VI. Where I am in an equal degree uncertain of the duty to be omitted, and of the sin to be committed, it is a greater sin to venture doubtfully upon the committing of a positive sin that is great, (in case it prove a sin,) than upon the omitting a duty which (in case it prove a duty) is less; and on the contrary, it is worse to venture on the omitting of a great duty, than on the committing of a small, positive sin. As, suppose my own or my neighbour's house be on fire, and I am in doubt whether I may take another man's water to quench it against his will; or if my own, or my child's, or neighbour's life be in danger by famine, and I doubt whether I may take another man's apples, or pears, or ears of corn, or his bread, against his will, to save my own life or another's. Really, the thing is already made lawful or unlawful (which I now determine not) by the law of God; but in my unavoidable uncertainty, (if I be equally doubtful on both sides,) it is a far greater sin (if it prove a sin) to omit the saving of the house or life, than to take another man's water, or fruit, or bread, that hath plenty (if this prove the sin). So if king and nobles were in a ship, which would be taken and all destroyed by pirates, unless I told a lie, and said, they are other persons; if I were equally in doubt which course to take, to lie or not, (though sin have more evil than all our lives have good,) yet a sinful omitting to save all their lives is a greater sin than a sinful telling of such a lie. Suppose I am in doubt, whether I may lawfully save an ox, or ass, or a man's life, by labour on the sabbath day? or David had doubted, whether he might eat the consecrated shew-bread in his necessity? it is clear, that the sinful neglect of a man's life is worse than the sinful violation of a sabbath, or the sinful use of the consecrated bread. If I equally doubt, whether I may use a ceremony, or disorderly, defective form of prayer, and whether I should preach the gospel to save men's souls, where there are not others enough to do it; it is clear, that sinfully to use a ceremony, or disorderly form of prayer, is, cæteris paribus, a lesser sin than sinfully to neglect to preach the gospel and to save men's souls. On the other side, suppose I dwelt in Italy, and could not have leave to preach the gospel there, unless I would subscribe to the Trent Confession, or the canon 3d of Concil. Lateran sub Innocent III.; one of which requireth men to swear for transubstantiation, and to interpret the Scriptures only according to the unanimous consent of the fathers (who never unanimously consented in any exposition of the greatest part of the Scriptures at all); the other decreeth the pope's deposing temporal lords, and disobliging their subjects from their allegiance. On the one side, I doubt, whether by subscribing I become not guilty of justifying idolatry, perjury, and rebellion, and making myself guilty of the perjury of many thousand others: on the other side, I doubt, whether I may disobey my superiors who command me this subscription, and may forbear preaching the gospel, when yet I apprehend that there are others to preach it, and that my worth is not so considerable as that there should be any great loss in putting me out and putting in another; and God needeth not me to do him service, but hath instruments at command; and that I know not how soon he may restore my liberty, or that I may serve him in another country, or else in sufferings at home; in such a case the sinful justifying of perjury or rebellion in whole countries is a far greater sin than the sinful omission of my preaching: for he that justifieth perjury destroyeth the bonds of all societies, and turneth loose the subjects against their sovereigns. Or if I, being a minister, were forbidden to preach the gospel where there is necessity, unless I will commit some sin; if I doubt on one side whether I should disobey my superiors, and on the other whether I should forbear my calling, and neglect the souls of sinners; it is a lesser sin, cæteris paribus, to disobey a man sinfully, than to disobey God, and to be cruel to the souls of men to their perdition sinfully. Or if I have made a vow, and sworn that I will cast away a penny or a shilling, and I am in doubt on one side whether I be not bound to keep it as a vow, and on the other whether it be not a sin to keep it, because to cast away any of my talents is a sin; in this case, the sinful casting away of a penny or a shilling is not so great a sin as sinful perjury. If Daniel and the three witnesses had been in equal doubt, whether they should obey the king or pray to God, (as Dan. vi.) and renounce the bowing to his idol, (Dan. iii.) the sinful forbearance of prayer as then commanded, and the sinful bowing to the idol had been a greater sin than a sinful disobeying the king's command in such a case, if they had mistaken.

Rule VII. If I cannot discern whether the duty to be omitted, or the sin to be committed, be materially and in other respects the greater, then that will be to me the greater of the sins which my doubting conscience doth most strongly suspect to be sin, in its most impartial deliberation. For if other things be equal, certainly the sinning against more or less conviction or doubting must make an inequality. As, if I could not discern whether my subscription to the Trent Confession, or my forbearing to preach, or my preaching though prohibited, were the greater sin, in case they were all sinful; but yet I am most strongly suspicious of sinfulness in the subscription, and less suspicious of sinfulness in my forbearing in such a case to preach, and least of all suspicious of sinfulness in my preaching though prohibited: in this case to subscribe sinfully is the greatest sin, and to forbear sinfully to exercise my office is the next, and to preach unwarrantably is the least.

Rule VIII. If I could perceive no difference in the degrees of evil in the omission and the commission, nor yet in the degrees of my suspicion or doubting, then that is the greater sin which I had greater helps and evidence to have known, and did not.

Rule IX. If both greater material evil be on one side than on the other, and greater suspicion or evidence of the sinfulness also, then that must needs be the greater sin.

Rule X. If the greatness of the material evil be on one side, and the greatness of the suspicion and evidence be on the other, then the former (if sin) will be materially and in itself considered the worst; but the latter will be formally the greater disobedience to God. But the comparison will be very difficult. As, suppose that I swear to God that I will cast away a shilling, or that I will forbear to pray for a week together; here I take perjury to be a greater sin than my casting away a shilling, or forbearing to pray a week: but when I question whether the oath should be kept or not, I have greater suspicion that it should not than that it should, because no oath must be the bond of the least iniquity. Here, if the not keeping it prove a sin, I shall do that which is the greater sin in itself if I keep it not; but I shall show more disobedience in keeping it, if it be not to be kept.

Rule XI. If it be a double sin that I suspect on one side, and but a single one on the other, it maketh an inequality in the case. As, suppose that in my father's family there are heretics and drunkards, and I swear that in my place and calling I will endeavour to cast them out. My mother approveth my vow; my father is against it, and dischargeth me of it because I did it not by his advice. On one side, I doubt whether I am bound, or may act against my father's will: on the other side, I as much doubt whether I am not perjured, and disobedient to my mother, if I do it not, and whether I disobey not God, that made it my duty to endeavour the thing in my place and calling before I vowed it.

Rule XII. There is a great deal of difference between omitting the substance of a duty for ever, and the delaying it, or altering the time, and place, and manner. For instance, that which will justify or excuse me for shortening my prayer, or for praying but once a day, or at noon rather than in the morning, or for defect in method, or fervency, or expressions, may not justify or excuse me for denying, renouncing, or long forbearing prayer. And that which may excuse an apostle for not preaching in the temple or synagogues, or not having the emperor's or the high priest's allowance or consent, or for not continuing in one city or country; would not excuse them if they had renounced their callings, or totally, as to all times, and places, and manner of performance, have ceased their work for fear of men.

Rule XIII. If the duty to be omitted and the sin to be committed seem equal in greatness, and our doubt be equal as to both, it is commonly held safer to avoid the commission more studiously than the omission. For which there are many reasons given.

Rule XIV. There is usually much more matter for fear and suspicion, cæteris paribus, of sins to be committed, than of duties to be omitted, when the commission is made necessary to the doing of the duty. Both because it is there that the fear beginneth: for I am certain that the good work is no duty to me, if the act be a sin which is its necessary condition. Therefore, so far as I suspect the act to be sinful, I must needs suspect the duty to be no duty to me at that time: it is not possible I should be rationally more persuaded that the duty is my duty, than that the condition is no sin. If it were the saving of the lives of all men in the country, I could no further take it to be my duty, than I take that to be no sin by which it must be done, it being a thing past controversy, that we must not sin for the accomplishment of any good whatsoever. And also because the sin is supposed to be always sin, but few duties are at all times duties: and the sin is a sin to every man, but the duty may be another man's duty, and not mine. For instance: Charles V. imposeth the Interim upon Germany: some pastors yielded to it; others refused it, and were cast out. Those that yielded pleaded the good of the churches, and the prevention of their utter desolation, but yet confessed that if the thing imposed were sinful, it was not their duty to do it for any good whatsoever, but to seek the good of the church as well as they could without it. The other that were cast out argued, that so far as they were confident the Interim was sinful, they must be confident that nothing was their duty that could not be done without it, and that God knew best what is good for his church, and there is no accomplishing its good by sin and God's displeasure; and that they did not therefore forsake their ministry, but only lose the ruler's licence; for they resolved to preach in one place or other till they were imprisoned, and God can serve himself by their imprisonment or death, as well as by their preaching. And while others took their places that thought the Interim lawful, the churches were not wholly destitute; and if God saw it meet, he could restore their fuller liberties again: in the mean time, to serve him, as all pastors did for three hundred years after Christ, without the licence of the civil magistrate, was not to cast away their office. Another instance: the zealous papists in the reign of Henry III. in France, thought that there was a necessity of entering the League, and warring against the king, because religion was in danger, the preservation whereof is an unquestionable duty. The learned and moderate lawyers that were against them said, that there being no question but the king had the total sovereignty over them, they were sure it was a sin to resist the higher powers, and therefore no preservation of religion could be a duty or lawful to them which must be done by such a certain sin: sin is not the means to save religion or the commonwealth.

Rule XV. When a thing is not prohibited and sinful simply in itself, but because of some accidental or consequential evil that it tendeth to, there a greater accidental or consequential good may preponderate the evil, and make the thing become no sin, but a duty. It is a matter of exceeding difficulty to discern ofttimes whether a thing be simply and absolutely forbidden, or only by accident and alterably, and to discern which accident doth preponderate. There are so many observations that should here be taken in, and so much of a man's life and peace is concerned in it, that it deserveth a treatise by itself. And therefore I shall not meddle with it any further here, lest an insufficient tractate be worse than none, in a case where error is so easy and perilous.

Rule XVI. As to the danger of the sinner himself, there is a great deal of difference between an error and sin of human frailty, when the service of God, and true obedience, and the common good, is sincerely intended, and an error and sin of false-heartedness and sloth, when selfishness is the secret spring of the error, and carnal interest the real end, though God and his service be pretended. And usually the concomitants will show something of this to others. For instance; two magistrates and two ministers submit to some questioned imposition, all pretend that the glory of God, and his service, is it that prevaileth with them to submit. The one of the magistrates faithfully serves God afterward with his authority, and showeth thereby that he meant sincerely: the other doth no good in his place, and showeth his hypocrisy. One of the ministers preacheth zealously, and privately laboureth as one that thirsteth for the saving of souls: the other preacheth formally, and coldly, and heartlessly, and never converteth a soul, and neglecteth the work which he pretended was his end.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: For loving God as our Father, our Benefactor, and our end.]

Grand Direct. XI. Let it be most deeply engraven on thy heart, that God is infinitely good and amiable; thy grand Benefactor and Father in Christ; the end of all that thou art and hast; and the everlasting rest and happiness of thy soul: see therefore that thy inflamed heart be entirely and absolutely offered up unto him by the mediation of his Son, to love him, to trust him, to delight in him, to be thankful to him, to glorify him, and through faith to long for the heavenly glory, where all this will be perfectly done for ever. And first let us speak of LOVE.

I did in the first direction persuade you to lay a good foundation in faith and knowledge. In the second I directed you how to live upon Christ. In the third, how to believe practically in the Holy Ghost. In the fourth I directed you to the orderly and practical knowledge of all the attributes of God. In the fifth, how to know God practically in his first grand relation, as he is your Owner. In the sixth, how to know him practically in his second grand relation, as he is your King or Governor; and in subordination to his governing relation. In the seventh I directed you in your relation of disciples to Christ your Teacher. And in the eighth I directed you in your relation of patients to Christ your Physician, and the Holy Ghost as your Sanctifier. In the ninth I directed you in your relation of soldiers to Christ the Captain of your salvation. In the tenth I directed you in the relation of servants to Christ your Master. And now being past those subordinate relations (to the second), I proceed to direct you in your third grand relation to God as your Benefactor, Father, and Felicity. And because there are divers great duties in this general, I shall first begin with this of love; and afterwards speak distinctly of the rest.

Directions for loving God as our Father and Felicity.

Here I shall first give you these general preparatives (and then give you directions for the exercise of holy love). 1. You must understand the nature of love to God. 2. You must understand the differences of this love. 3. You must understand the reasons of it. 4. And the contraries of it. 5. And the counterfeits of it.

[Sidenote: God is not loved as a particular good, but as the universal good.]

I. For the understanding its nature observe these things: 1. It is not the love of a particular good, but of the infinite, Universal Good. The creature is a particular good, and our love to it is a particular, limited love, confined as to a point. God is the Universal Good, and our love to him is not limited by the object, but by the narrowness and imperfection of our faculties themselves. As suppose you had variety of candles in your room, and you had diamonds and other refulgent things; you love each of these with a particular love, for their splendour and usefulness; and you more easily observe and feel the motion of this confined love. But light itself, as light, you love with a more universal love; which is greater, but not so sensibly observed. (Not as we speak of notional universals in logic, which have no existence but in particulars; but of the natural, transcendent, infinite good, eternally existent, and arbitrarily appearing in some created particles.) As the love of an infinite light would differ from the love of a candle, and the love of an infinite heat from the love of a fire, and the love of infinite wisdom itself from the love of a wise man, and the love of infinite goodness itself from the love of a good man; so doth the love of God from the love of a particular, created good.

[Sidenote: Whether God may be the object of passionate love.]

2. Our love to God is not ordinarily so passionate as our love to creatures; because the nearness and sensibleness of the creature promoteth such sensible operations. But God is not seen, or felt, or heard, but believed in by faith, and known by reason. And the narrowness of the creature making resistances, stops, and difficulties, occasioneth a turbulent passionateness of love; when the infiniteness of God hath no such occasion. Our love to creatures is like the running of a stream in a channel that is too narrow for it, where stops and banks do make it go on with a roaring violence; but our love to God is like the brook that slideth into the ocean, where it is insensibly devoured. Therefore our love to God must principally be perceived, not in violent passions, but in, 1. A high estimation of him. 2. In the will's adhering to him. 3. And in the effects (to be mentioned anon). Yet when a passionate love is added to these, it may be the most excellent significatively and effectively. Some philosophers think that God cannot at all be loved with a passionate love, because he is a pure, immaterial Being, and therefore cannot be the object of a material act or motion, such as our passions are; and, therefore, that it is some idol of the imagination that is so loved. But, 1. If they mean that his pure essence, in itself, is not the immediate object of a passion, they may say the same of the will itself; for man (at least in flesh) can have no other volition of God, but as he is apprehended by the intellect. And if by an idol they mean the image of God in the mind, gathered from the appearances of God in creatures, man in flesh hath no other knowledge of him; for here we know him but darkly, enigmatically, and as in a glass, and have no formal, proper conception of him in his essence. So that the rational powers themselves do no otherwise know and will God's essence, but as represented to us in a glass. 2. And thus we may also love him passionately; it being God in his objective being as apprehended by the intellect that we both will and passionately love. The motion of the soul in flesh may raise passions, by the instrumentality of the corporeal spirits, towards an immaterial object; which is called the object of those passions, not merely as passions, but as the passions of a rational agent; it being more nearly or primarily the object of the intellect and will, and then of the passions, as first apprehended by these superior powers. A man may delight in God; or else, how is he our felicity? and yet, we know of no delight which is not passion. A man may love his own soul with a passionate love; and yet it is immaterial. When I passionately love my friend, it is his immaterial soul, and his wisdom, and holiness, which I chiefly love.

[Sidenote: What of God is the object of our love.]

3. It is not only for his excellencies and perfections in himself, nor only for his love and benefit to us, that grace doth cause a sinner to love God; but it is for both conjunctly; as he is good, and doth good, especially to us, in the greatest things.

[Sidenote: What is the motive of our first love to God.]

4. Our first special love to God, is orderly and rationally to be raised, the belief of his goodness in himself, and his common love and mercy to sinners, manifested in his giving of his Son for the world, and giving men the conditional promise of pardon and salvation, and offering them Christ and life eternal, and all this to us as well as others: and not to be caused by the belief or persuasion of his special, peculiar, electing, redeeming, or saving love to us above others, that have the same invitations and offers. It is the knowledge of common love and mercy, and not of special love and mercy, as already possessed, that is appointed to be the motive of our first special love to God. (Yet there is in it an apprehension that he is our only possible felicity, and that he will give us a special interest in his favour, if we return by faith in Christ unto him.) For, 1. Every man is bound to love God with a special love: but every man is not specially beloved by him: and no man is bound to love God as one that specially loveth him but those that indeed are so beloved by him; for else they were bound to believe a falsehood, and to love that which is not; and grace should be an error and deceit. The object is before the act. God's special love must in itself be before its revelations; and as revealed it must go before our belief of it; and as believed it must go before our loving it, or loving him as such, or for it. 2. The first saving faith is inseparably conjunct with special love; for Christ is believed in and willed, as the way or means to God as the end (otherwise it is no true faith). And the volition of the end (which is love) is in order of nature before the choice or use of the means as such: and if we must love God as one that specially loveth us, in our first love, then we must believe in him as such by our first faith: and if so, it must be to us a revealed truth. But (as it is false to most that are bound to believe, so) it is not revealed to the elect themselves: for if it be, it is either by ordinary or extraordinary revelation. If by ordinary, either by Scripture directly, or by evidences in ourselves which Scripture maketh the characters of his love. But neither of these; for Scripture promiseth not salvation to named, but described persons; and evidence of special love there is none, before faith, and repentance, and the first love to God. And extraordinary revelation from heaven, by inspiration or angel, is not the ordinary begetter of faith; for faith is the belief of God, speaking to us (now) by his written word. So that where there is no object of love, there can be no love; and where there is no revelation of it to the understanding, there is no object for the will; and till a man first believe and love God, he hath no revelation that God doth specially love him. Search as long as you will, you will find no other. 3. If the wicked were condemned for not loving a false or feigned object, it would quiet their consciences in hell when they had detected the deceit, and seen the natural impossibility and contradiction. 4. The first love to God is more a love of desire, than of possession; and therefore it may suffice to raise it, that we see a possibility of being for ever happy in God, and enjoying him in special love, though yet we know not that we possess any such love. The nature of the thing proclaimeth it most rational and due, that we love the infinite Good, that hath done so much by the death of his Son, to remove the impediments of our salvation; and is so far reconciled to the world in his death, as by a message of reconciliation, to entreat them to accept of Christ, and pardon, and salvation freely offered them, 2 Cor. v. 19, 20; and is himself the offered happiness of the soul. He that dare say, that this much hath not an objective sufficiency to engage the soul in special love, is a blind undervaluer of wonderful mercy. 5. The first special grace bringeth no new object for faith or love, but causeth a new act upon the formerly revealed object.

5. But our love to God is greatly increased and advantaged afterwards by the assurance or persuasion of his peculiar, special love to us. And therefore all christians should greatly value such assurance, as the appointed means of advancing them to greater love to God.

6. As we know God here in the glass of his Son, and word, and creatures, so we most sensibly love him here, as his goodness appeareth in his works, and graces, and his word, and Son.

7. The nearer we come to perfection, the more we shall love God for himself and his infinite natural goodness and perfections, not casting away the respects of his goodness and love as to ourselves, but highliest regarding himself for himself, as carried to him above ourselves.

II. Though love in its own nature be still the same, and is nothing but the rational appetite of good; or the will's volition of good apprehended by the understanding; the first motion of the will to good, arising from that natural inclination to good, which is the nature of the will, and the pondus animæ, the poise of the soul; or from healing grace which repaireth the breach that is made in nature; yet love in regard of the state of the lover, and the way of its imperate acting, is thus differenced. 1. Either the lover is in the hopeful pursuit of the thing beloved, and then it is desiring, seeking love. 2. Or he is, or seemeth to be, denied, destitute, and deprived of his beloved (in whole or in part); and then it is a mourning, lamenting love. 3. Or he enjoyeth his beloved, and then it is enjoying, delighting love. 1. The ordinary love which grace causeth on earth is a predominancy of seeking, desiring love, encouraged by some little foretastes of enjoying, delighting love, and, in a great measure, attended with mourning, lamenting love. 2. The state of deserted, dark, declining, relapsing, and melancholy, tempted christians, is a predominance of mourning, lamenting love, assisted with some help of seeking, desiring love; but destitute of enjoying, delighting love. 3. The state of the glorified is perfection of enjoying, delighting love alone. And all the rest are to bring us unto this.[114]

III. The reasons why love to God is so great, and high, and necessary a thing, and so much esteemed above other graces, are: 1. It is the motion of the soul that tendeth to the end; and the end is more excellent than all the means as such. 2. The love, or will, or heart is the man; where the heart or love is, there the man is: it is the fullest resignation of the whole man to God, to love him as God, or offer him the heart. God never hath his own fully till we love him. Love is the grand, significant, vital motion of the soul; such as the heart, or will, or love is, such you may boldly call the man. 3. The love of God is the perfection and highest improvement of all the faculties of the soul, and the end of all other graces, to which they tend, and to which they grow up, and in which they terminate their operations. 4. The love of God is that spirit or life of moral excellency in all other graces in which (though not their form, yet) their acceptableness doth consist, without which they are to God as a lifeless carrion is to us. And to prove any action sincere and acceptable to God, is to prove that it comes from a willing, loving mind, without which you can never prove it. 5. Love is the commander of the soul, and therefore God knoweth that if he have our hearts, he hath all, for all the rest are at its command; for it is, as it were, the nature of the will, which is the commanding faculty; and its object is the ultimate end which is the commanding object. Love setteth the mind on thinking, the tongue on speaking, the hands on working, the feet on going, and every faculty obeyeth its command. 6. The obedience which love commandeth, participateth of its nature, and is a ready, cheerful, sweet obedience, acceptable to God, and pleasant to ourselves. 7. Love is a pure, chaste, and cleansing grace; and most powerfully casteth out all creature pollution from the soul:[115] the love of God doth quench all carnal, sinful love; and most effectually carrieth up the soul to such high delights, as causeth it to contemn and forget the toys which it before admired. 8. The love of God is the true acknowledging and honouring him as good. That blessed attribute, his goodness, is denied, or despised, by those that love him not. The light of the sun would not be valued, honoured, or used by the world, if there were no eyes in the world to see it. And the goodness of God is to them that love him not, as the light to them that have no eyes. If God would have had his goodness to be thus unknown or neglected, he would never have made the intellectual creatures. Those only give him the glory of his goodness that truly love him. 9. Love (in its attainment) is the enjoying and delighting grace: it is the very content and felicity of the soul: both as it maketh us capable to receive the most delightful communications of God's love to us; and as it is the soul's delightful closure with its most amiable felicitating object. 10. Love is the everlasting grace, and the work which we must be doing in heaven for ever. These are the reasons of love's pre-eminence.

IV. The love of creatures hath its contraries on both extremes, in the excess and in the defect; but the love of God hath no contrary in excess: for Infinite Goodness cannot possibly be loved too much (unless as the passion may possibly be raised to a degree distracting or disturbing the brain). The odious vices contrary to the love of God are, 1. Privative; not loving him. 2. Positive; hating him. 3. Opposite; loving his creatures in his stead: all these concur in every unsanctified soul. That they are all void of the true love of God, and taken up with creature love, is past all doubt; but whether they are all haters of God, may seem more questionable. But it is as certain as the other; only the hatred of God in most doth not break out into that open opposition, persecution, or blasphemy, as it doth with some that are given up to desperate wickedness; nor do they think that they hate him. But the aversation of the will is the hatred of God; and if men had not a great aversation to him, they would not forsake him, and refuse to be converted to him, notwithstanding all the arguments of love that can be used to allure them. Displacency, nolition, and aversation are hatred.

If you think it impossible that men can hate God, whom they confess to be infinitely good, consider for the true understanding of this hatred, 1. That it is not as good that they hate him; 2. and it is not God simply in himself considered; 3. and therefore it is not all in God; 4. and it is not the name of God; 5. but it is, 1. God as he seemeth unsuitable to them, and unfit for their delight and love: which seeming is caused by their carnal inclination to things of another nature, and the sinful perverting of their appetites, and the blindness and error of their minds. 2. And it is God as he is an enemy to their carnal concupiscence; whose holy nature is against their unholiness, and hateth their sin, and his laws forbid them the things which they most love and take delight in: and so they hate God, as a madman hateth his keeper and physician, and takes them for his enemies; and as a hungry dog doth hate him that keepeth him from the meat which he loveth, or would take it out of his mouth. 3. And they hate God, as one who by his holiness, justice, and truth is engaged to condemn them for their sin, and so (consequently to their sin) is their enemy that will destroy them (unless they forsake it): when their wills are enslaved to their sins, and they cannot endure to be forbidden them, and yet see that God will damn them in hell-fire if they cast them not away: this filleth them with displacency against God, as holy and just. 4. And then, consequently, they hate him in the rest of his attributes: as his omniscience, that he always seeth them; his omnipresence, that he is always with them; his omnipotency, that he is irresistible and able to punish them: his very mercy as expressed to others, when they must have no part in it; yea, his very immutability, eternity, and being, as he is to continue an avenger of their iniquity: so that the wicked in despair do wish that there were no God; and in prosperity, they wish he were not their Governor and Judge, or were unholy and unjust, allowing them to do what they list without account or punishment. Thus God is hated by the wicked according to the measure of their wickedness, and carnal interest, and concupiscence which he is against. Where you may note, 1. that the hatred of God beginneth at the sensual love of things temporal which he forbiddeth; 2. that the wicked great ones of the world, and those that have the strongest concupiscence, are usually the greatest haters of God, as having the greatest adverse interest, and being most in love with the things which he prohibiteth and will condemn.

V. The counterfeit of love to God is something that seemeth like it, and yet is consistent with prevalent hatred, or privation of true love, and maketh self-deceiving hypocrites. 1. One is when so much of God is loved as men think hath no opposition to their lusts and carnal interest (as his mercy and readiness to forgive); and then they think that they truly love God, though they hate his holiness and other attributes. 2. Another counterfeit is, to love God upon mistakes, imagining that he is of the sinner's mind, and will bear with him and not condemn him, though he continue sensual and ungodly: this is not indeed to love God, but something contrary to God. If men's fantasies will take God to be like the devil, a friend to sin, and no friend to holiness, and false in his threatenings, &c. and thus will love him; this is so far from being indeed the love of God, that it is an odious blaspheming of him. 3. Another counterfeit is, to love God only for his temporal mercies, as because he preserveth and maintaineth them, when yet he is resisted when he would give them things spiritual. 4. Another is, when the opinionative approbation of the mind, and honouring God with the lips and knee, are mistaken for true love. In a word, whatever love of God respecteth him not as God indeed, and is not superlative, but is subservient to creature love, is but a counterfeit.

VI. The directions for the exercise of the love of God are these:

Direct. I. Consider well, that the love of our Creator, Redeemer, and Regenerator, is the very end for which we are created, redeemed, and regenerate; and how just it is that God should have the end of such excellent works, and that by neglecting or opposing the love of God, which is the end, we neglect or oppose the works of creation, redemption, and regeneration themselves.--Let us plead these works of God with our hearts, and say,--1. O sluggish soul! dost thou forget the use for which thou wast created, and for which thou wast endowed with rational faculties? Dost thou repent that thou art a man, and refuse the employment of a man? What is the means or instrument good for, but its proper end, and use, and action? God made the sun to shine, and it shineth; he made the earth to support us and bear fruit, and it doth accordingly: and he made thee to love him, and wilt thou refuse and disobey? How noble and excellent is thy employment in comparison of theirs! Is the fruit of the earth, or the labour of thy beast, or the service of any inferior creature, so sweet and honourable a work as thine, to know and love thy bountiful, glorious Creator? How happy is thy lot! how blessed is thy portion in comparison of theirs! And dost thou forsake thy place, and descend to more ignoble objects, as if thou hadst rather been some silly, sordid animal? If thou hadst not rather be a beast than a man, why choosest thou the love and pleasures of a beast, and refusest the love and pleasures of a man? Is creation, and the image of God in a rational, free soul, a thing thus to be contemned for nothing? What is the sun good for, if it should yield no light or heat? And what art thou good for more than the beasts that perish, if thou know not and love not thy Creator? If God should offer to unman thee, and turn thee into a horse or dog, thou wouldst think he thrust thee into misery; and yet thou canst voluntarily and wilfully unman thyself, and take it as thy ease and pleasure. If death came this night to dissolve thy nature, it would not please thee; and yet thou canst daily destroy thy nature, as to its use and end, and not lament it! It were better I had never been a man, nor never had a heart or love within me, if I use it not in the holy love of my Creator. It is true, I have a body that is made to eat, and drink, and sleep; but all this is but to serve my soul in the love of him that giveth me all. Life is not for meat, or drink, or play; but these are for life, and life for the higher ends of life.

2. Look unto thy Redeemer, drowsy soul! and consider for what end he did redeem thee: Was it to wander a few years about the earth, and to sleep, and sport awhile in flesh? Or was it to crucify thee to the world, and raise thee up to the love of God? He came down to earth from love itself, being full of love, to show the loveliness of God, and reconcile thee to him, and take away the enmity, and by love to teach thee the art of love. His love constrained him to offer himself a sacrifice for sin, to make thee a priest thyself to God, to offer up the sacrifice of an inflamed heart in love and praise; and wilt thou disappoint thy Redeemer, and disappoint thyself of the benefits of his love? The means is for the end; thou mayst as well say, I would not be redeemed, as to say, I would not love the Lord.

3. And bethink thyself, O drowsy soul, for what thou wast regenerated and sanctified by the Spirit? Was it not that thou mightst know and love the Lord? What is the Spirit of adoption that is given to believers, but a Spirit of predominant love to God? Gal. iv. 6. Thou couldst have loved vanity, and doted on thy fleshly friends and pleasures, without the Spirit of God: it was not for these, but to destroy these, and kindle a more noble, heavenly fire in thy breast, that the Spirit did renew thee. Examine, search, and try thyself, whether the Spirit hath sanctified thee or not. Knowest thou not, that if "any man have not the Spirit of Christ, the same is none of his?" 2 Cor. xiii. 5; Rom. viii. 9. And if Christ and his Spirit be in thee, thy love is dead to earthly vanity, and quickened and raised to the most holy God. Live then in the Spirit, if thou have the Spirit: to walk in the Spirit is to walk in love. Hath the regenerating Spirit given thee on purpose a new principle of love, and done so much to excite it, and been blowing at the coals so oft, and shall thy carnality or sluggishness yet extinguish it? As thou wouldst not renounce or contemn thy creation, thy redemption, and regeneration, contemn not and neglect not the love of thy Creator, Redeemer, and Regenerator, which is the end of all.

Direct. II. Think of the perfect fitness of God to be the only object of thy superlative love; and how easy and necessary it should seem to us to do a work so agreeable to right reason and uncorrupted nature; and abhor all temptations which would make God seem unsuitable to thee.--O sluggish and unnatural soul! should not an object so admirably fit allure thee? Should not such attractive goodness draw thee? Should not perfect amiableness win thee wholly to itself? Do but know thyself and God, and then forbear to love him if thou canst! Where should the fish live, but in the water? And where should birds fly, but in the air? God is thy very element: thou diest and sinkest down to brutishness, if thou forsake him or be taken from him. What should delight the smell, but odours? or the appetite, but its delicious food? or the eye, but light, and what it showeth? and the ear, but harmony? and what should delight the soul, but God? If thou know thyself, thou knowest that the nature of thy mind inclineth to knowledge; and by the knowledge of effects, to rise up to the cause; and by the knowledge of lower and lesser matters, to ascend to the highest and greatest. And if thou know God, thou knowest that he is the cause of all things, the Maker, Preserver, and Orderer of all, the Being of beings, the most great, and wise, and good, and happy; so that to know him, is to know all; to know the most excellent, independent, glorious Being, that will leave no darkness nor unsatisfied desire in thy soul. And is he not then most suitable to thy mind? If thou know thyself, then thou knowest that thy will, as free as it is, hath a natural, necessary inclination to goodness. Thou canst not love evil as evil; nor canst thou choose but love apprehended goodness, especially the chiefest good, if rightly apprehended. And if thou know God, thou knowest that he is infinitely good in himself, and the cause of all the good that is in the world, and the giver of all the good thou hast received, and the only fit and suitable good to satisfy thy desires for the time to come. And yet, shall it be so hard to thee to love, so agreeably to perfect nature, so perfect, and full, and suitable a good? even Goodness and Love itself, which hath begun to love thee? Is any of the creatures which thou lovest so suitable to thee? Are they good, and only good, and perfectly good, and unchangeably and eternally good? Are they the spring of comfort, and the satisfying happiness of thy soul? Hast thou found them so? or dost thou look to find them best at last? Foolish soul! canst thou love the uneven, defective, troublesome creature, if to some one small, inferior use it seemeth suitable to thee? and canst thou not love Him, that is all that rational love can possibly desire to enjoy? What though the creature be near thee, and God be infinitely above thee? He is nearer to thee than they. And though in glory he be distant, thou art passing to him in his glory, and wilt presently be there. Though the sun be distant from thee, it communicateth to thee its light, and heat, and is more suitable to thee than the candle that is nearer thee. What though God be most holy, and thou too earthly and unclean? is he not the fitter to purify thee, and make thee holy? Thou hadst rather, if thou be poor, have the company and favour of the rich that can relieve thee, than of beggars that will but complain with thee. And if thou be unlearned or ignorant, thou wouldst have the company of the wise and learned that can teach thee, and not of those that are as ignorant as thyself. Who is so suitable to thy desires, as he that hath all that thou canst wisely desire, and is willing and ready to satisfy thee to the full? Who is more suitable to thy love, than he that loveth thee most, and hath done most for thee, and must do all that ever will be done for thee, and is himself most lovely in his infinite perfections? O poor, diseased, lapsed soul! if sin had not corrupted, and distempered, and perverted thee, thou wouldst have thought God as suitable to thy love, as meat to thy hunger, and drink to thy thirst, and rest to thy weariness, and as the earth and water, the air and sun, are to the inhabitants of the world! O whither art thou fallen? and how far, how long, hast thou wandered from thy God, that thou now drawest back from him as a stranger to thee, and lookest away from him as an unsuitable good?

Direct. III. Imagine not God to be far away from thee, but think of him as always near thee and with thee, in whose present love and goodness thou dost subsist.--Nearness of objects doth excite the faculties: we hear no sound, nor smell any odour, nor taste any sweetness, nor see any colours, that are too distant from us. And the mind being limited in its activity, neglecteth, or reacheth not things too distant, and requireth some nearness of its object, as well as the sense; especially to the excitation of affections and bodily action. A distant danger stirreth not up such fears, nor a distant misery such grief, nor a distant benefit such pleasure, as that which is at hand. Death doth more deeply affect us, when it seemeth very near, than when we think we have yet many years to live. So, carnal minds are so drowned in flesh, and captivated to sense, that they take little notice of what they see not, and therefore think of God as absent, because they see him not: they think of him as confined to heaven, as we think of a friend that is in the East Indies, or at the antipodes, who is, if not out of mind as well as out of sight, yet too distant for us delightfully to converse with.--Remember always, O my soul, that none is so near thee as thy God. A Seneca could say, of good men, that God is with us, and in us. Nature taught heathens, that in him we live, and move, and have our being. Thy friend may be absent, but God is never absent from thee; he is with thee, when, as to men, thou art alone. The sun is sufficient to illuminate but one part of the earth at once; and therefore must leave the rest in darkness. But God is with thee night and day; and there is no night to the soul, so far as it enjoyeth him. Thy life, thy health, thy love, and joy, are not nearer to thee than thy God: he is now before thee, about thee, within thee, moving thee to good, restraining thee from evil, marking and accepting all that is well, disliking and opposing all that is ill. The light of the sun doth not more certainly fill the room, and compass thee about, than God doth with his goodness. He is as much at leisure to observe thee, to converse with thee, to hear and help thee, as if thou wert his only creature: as the sun can as well illuminate every bird and fly, as if it shined unto no other creature. Open the eye of faith and reason, and behold thy God! Do not forget him, or unbelievingly deny him, and then say, He is not here. Do not say, that the sun doth not shine, because thou winkest. O do not quench thy love to God, by feigning him to be out of reach, and taken up with other converse! Turn not to inferior delights, by thinking that he hath turned thee off to these: and love him not as an absent friend; but as the friend that is always in thy sight, in thy bosom, and in thy heart; the fuel that is nearest to the flames of love.

Direct. IV. All other graces must do their part in assisting love, and all be exercised in subservience to it, and with an intention, directly or remotely, to promote it.--Fear and watchfulness must keep away the sin that would extinguish it, and preserve you from that guilt which would frighten away the soul from God. Repentance and mortification must keep away diverting and deceiving objects, which would steal away our love from God. Faith must show us God as present, in all his blessed attributes and perfections. Hope must depend on him, for nearer access and the promised felicity. Prudence must choose the fittest season, and means, and helps from our special approaches to him, and teach us how to avoid impediments. And obedience must keep us in a fit capacity for communion with him. The mind that is turned loose to wander after vanity the rest of the day, is unfit in an hour of prayer or meditation, to be taken up with the love of God. It must be the work of the day, and of our lives, to walk in a fitness for it, though we are not always in the immediate, lively exercise of it. To sin wilfully one hour, and be taken up with the love of God the next, is as unlikely, as one hour to abuse our parents, and provoke them to correct us, and the next to find the pleasure of their love; or one hour to fall and break one's bones, and the next to run and work as pleasantly as we did before.

And we must see that all other graces be exercised in a just subserviency to love; and none of them degenerate into noxious extremes, to the hinderance of this, which is their proper end. When you set yourselves to repent and mourn for sin, it must be from love, and for love: that by ingenuous lamentation of the injuries you have done to a gracious God, you may be cleansed from the filth that doth displease him, and being reconciled to him in Christ, may be fit to return to the exercises and delights of love. When you fear God, let it be with a filial fear, that comes from love, and is but a preservative or restorative for love. Avoid that slavish fear, as a sin, which tendeth to hatred, and would make you fly away from God. Love casteth out this tormenting fear, and freeth the soul from the spirit of bondage. The devil tempteth melancholy persons to live before God, as one that is still among bears or lions that are ready to devour him; for he knoweth how much such a fear is an enemy to love. Satan would never promote such fears, if they were of God, and tended to our good. You never found him promoting your love or delight in God! But he careth not how much he plungeth you into distracting terrors. If he can, he will frighten you out of your love, and out of your comforts, and out of your wits. A dull and sluggish sinner he will keep from fear, lest it should awaken him from his sin; but a poor, melancholy, penitent soul he would keep under perpetual terrors: it is so easy to such to fear, that they may know it is a sinful, inordinate fear; for gracious works are not so easy. And resist also all humiliation and grief, that do not, immediately or remotely, tend to help your love. A religion that tendeth but to grief, and terminateth in grief, and goeth no further, hath too much in it of the malice of the enemy, to be of God. No tears are desirable, but those that tend to clear the eyes from the filth of sin, that they may see the better the loveliness of God.

Direct. V. 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 observe 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 God's image, and Spirit, and objectively of himself.--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 loathsome to me, as this want of love to God. And it is this that is the venom and malignity of every particular sin. I never so much hate myself, as when I observe how little of God is within me, and how far my heart is estranged from him. I never do so fully approve of the justice of God, if it should condemn me, and thrust me for ever from his presence, as when I observe how far I have thrust him from my heart. If there were any sin, which proceeded not from a want of love to God, I could easilier pardon it to myself, as knowing that God would easilier pardon it. 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! O miserable emperors, kings, and lords, that are strangers to this heavenly love, and love their lusts above their Maker! Might I 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 banishment, a palace would be a prison; a crown would be a miserable comfort, to one that hath 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 in the want of it, it would keep us from being quiet in the daily neglect of it, and would quicken us to seek it, and to stir it up.

Direct. VI. Improve the principle of self-love, to the promoting of the love of God, by considering what he hath done for thee, and what he is, and would be to thee.--I mean not carnal, inordinate self-love, which is the chiefest enemy of the love of God; but I mean that rational love of happiness, and self-preservation, which God did put into innocent Adam, and hath planted in man's nature as necessary to his government. This natural, innocent self-love, is that remaining principle in the heart of man, which God himself doth still presuppose in all his laws and exhortations; and which he taketh advantage of in his works and word, for the conversion of the wicked, and the persuading of his servants themselves to their obedience. This is the common principle in which we are agreed with all the wicked of the world, that all men should desire and seek to be happy, and choose and do that which is best for themselves; or else it were in vain for ministers to preach to them, if we were agreed in nothing, and we had not this ground in them to cast our seed into, and to work upon. And if self-love be but informed and guided by understanding, it will compel you to love God, and tell you that nothing should be so much loved. Every one that is a man must love himself; we will not entreat him, nor be beholden to him for this: and every one that loveth himself, will love that which he judgeth best for himself: and every wise man must know, that he never had nor can have any good at all, but what he had from God. Why do men love lust, or wealth, or honour, but because they think that these are good for them? And would they not love God, if they practically knew that he is the best of all for them, and instead of all?--Unnatural, unthankful heart! canst thou love thyself, and not love him that gave thee thyself, and gives thee all things? Nature teacheth all men to love their most entire and necessary friends: do we deserve a reward by loving those that love us, when publicans will do the like? Matt. v. 46. Art thou not bound to love them that hate thee, and curse, and persecute thee? ver. 44, 45. What reward then is due to thy unnatural ingratitude, that canst not love thy chiefest Friend? All the friends that ever were kind to thee, and did thee good, were but his messengers to deliver what he sent thee. And canst thou love the bearer, and not the Giver? He made thee a man, and not a beast. He cast thy lot in his visible church, and not among deluded infidels, or miserable heathens, that never heard, unless in scorn, of the Redeemer's name. He brought thee forth in a land of light, in a reformed church, where knowledge and holiness have as great advantage as any where in all the world; and not among deluded, ignorant papists, where ambition must have been thy governor, and pride and tyranny have given thee laws, and a formal, ceremonious image of piety must have been thy religion. He gave thee parents that educated thee in his fear, and not such as were profane and ignorant, and would have restrained and persecuted thee from a holy life. He spoke to thy conscience early in thy childhood, and prevented the gross abominations which else thou hadst committed. He bore with the folly and frailties of thy youth. He seasonably gave thee those books, and teachers, and company, and helps, which were fittest for thee; and blest them to the further awakening and instructing of thee, when he passed by others, and left them in their sins. He taught thee to pray, and heard thy prayer. He turned all thy fears and groans to thy spiritual good. He pardoned all thy grievous sins: and since that, how much hath he endured and forgiven! He gave thee seasonable and necessary stripes, and brought thee up in the school of affliction; so moderating them, that they might not disable or discourage thee, but only correct thee, and keep thee from security, wantonness, stupidity, and contempt of holy things, and might spoil all temptations to ambition, worldliness, voluptuousness, and fleshly lust. By the threatenings of great calamities and death, he hath frequently awakened thee to cry to Heaven; and by as frequent and wonderful deliverances, he hath answered thy prayers, and encouraged thee still to wait upon him. He hath given thee the hearty prayers of many hundreds of his faithful servants, and heard them for thee in many a distress. He hath strangely preserved thee in manifold dangers. He hath not made thee of the basest of the people, whose poverty might tempt them to discontent; nor set thee upon the pinnacle of worldly honour, where giddiness might have been thy ruin, and where temptations to pride, and lust, and luxury, and enmity to a holy life, are so violent that few escape them. He hath not set thee out upon a sea of cares and vexations, worldly businesses and encumbrances; but fed thee with food convenient for thee, and given thee leisure to walk with God. He hath not chained thee to an unprofitable profession, nor used thee as those that live like their beasts, to eat, and drink, and sleep, and play, or live to live; but he hath called thee to the noblest and sweetest work; when that hath been thy business, which others were glad to taste of as a recreation and repast. He hath allowed thee to converse with books, and with the best and wisest men, and to spend thy days in sucking in delightful knowledge: and this is not only for thy pleasure, but thy use; and not only for thyself, but many others. O how many sweet and precious truths hath he allowed thee to feed on all the day, when others are diverted, and commonly look at them sometimes afar off! O how many precious hours hath he granted me, in his holy assemblies, and in his honourable and most pleasant work! How oft hath his day, and his holy uncorrupted ordinances, and the communion of his saints, and the mentioning of his name and kingdom, and the pleading of his cause with sinners, and the celebrating of his praise, been my delight! O how many hundreds that he hath sent, have wanted the abundant encouragement which I have had! When he hath seen the disease of my despondent mind, he hath not tried me by denying me success, nor suffered me, with Jonah, according to my inclination to overrun his work; but hath enticed me on by continued encouragements, and strewed all the way with mercies: but his mercies to me in the souls of others, have been so great, that I shall secretly acknowledge them, rather than here record them, where I must have respect to those usual mercies of believers, which lie in the common road to heaven. And how endless would it be to mention all! All the good that friends and enemies have done me! All the wise and gracious disposals of his providence; in every condition, and change of life, and change of times, and in every place wherever he brought me! His every day's renewed mercies! His support under all my languishings and weakness; his plentiful supplies; his gracious helps; his daily pardons; and the glorious hopes of a blessed immortality which his Son hath purchased, and his covenant and Spirit sealed to me! O the mercies that are in one Christ, one Holy Spirit, one holy Scripture, and in the blessed God himself! These I have mentioned, unthankful heart, to shame thee for thy want of love to God. And these I will leave upon record, to be a witness for God against thy ingratitude, and to confound thee with shame, if thou deny thy love to such a God. Every one of all these mercies, and multitudes more, will rise up against thee, and shame thee, before God and all the world, as a monster of unkindness, if thou love not him that hath used thee thus.

Here also consider what God is for your future good, as well as what he hath been hitherto; how all-sufficient, how powerful, merciful, and good. But of this more anon.

Direct. VII. Improve the vanity and vexation of the creature, and all thy disappointments, and injuries, and afflictions, to the promoting of thy love to God.--And this by a double advantage: First, by observing that there is nothing meet to divert thy love, or rob God of it; unless thou wilt love thy trouble and distress! Secondly, that thy love to God is the comfort by which thou must be supported under the injuries and troubles which thou meetest with in the world; and therefore to neglect it, is but to give up thyself to misery.--Is it for nothing, O my soul, that God hath turned loose the world against thee? that devils rage against thee; and wicked men do reproach and slander thee, and seek thy ruin; and friends prove insufficient, and as broken reeds? It had been as easy to God, to have prospered thee in the world, and suited all things to thy own desires, and have strewed thy way with the flowers of worldly comforts and delights; but he knew thy proneness to undo thyself by carnal loves, and how easily thy heart is enticed from thy God; and therefore he hath wisely and mercifully ordered it, that thy temptations shall not be too strong, and no creature shall appear to thee in an over amiable, tempting dress. Therefore he hath suffered them to become thy enemies: and wilt thou love an enemy better than thy God? what! an envious and malicious world; a world of cares, and griefs, and pains; a weary, restless, empty world? How deep and piercing are its injuries! How superficial and deceitful is its friendship! How serious are its sorrows! What toyish shows and dreams are its delights! How constant are its cares and labours! How seldom and short are its flattering smiles! Its comforts are disgraced by the certain expectation of succeeding sorrows: its sorrows are heightened by the expectations of more: in the midst of its flatteries, I hear something within me saying, Thou must die: this is but the way to rottenness and dust: I see a winding-sheet and a grave still before me: I foresee how I must lie in pains and groans, and then become a loathsome corpse. And is this a world to be more delighted in than God? What have I left me for my support and solace, in the midst of all this vanity and vexation, but to look to him that is the all-sufficient, sure, never-failing good? I must love him, or I have nothing to love but enmity or deceit. And is this the worst of God's design, in permitting and causing my pains and disappointments here? It is but to drive my foolish heart unto himself, that I may have the solid delights and happiness of his love. O then let his blessed will be done! Come home, my soul, my wandering, tired, grieved soul! Love, where thy love shall not be lost: love Him that will not reject thee, nor deceive thee; nor requite thee as the world doth, with injuries and abuse: despair not of entertainment, though the world deny it thee. The peaceable region is above. In the world thou must have trouble, that in Christ thou mayst have peace. Retire to the harbour, if thou wouldst be free from storms. God will receive thee, when the world doth cast thee off, if thou heartily cast off the world for him.--Oh what a solace is it to the soul, to be driven clearly from the world to God, and there to be exercised in that sacred love, which will accompany us to the world of love!

Direct. VIII. Labour for the truest and fullest conceptions of the goodness and excellencies of God, which are his amiableness; and abhor all misrepresentations of him as unlovely.--That which is apprehended as unlovely cannot be loved; and that which is apprehended as evil, is apprehended as unlovely. Therefore, it is the grand design of Satan to hide God's goodness, and misrepresent him as evil: not to deny him to be good in himself, for in that he hath no hope to be believed; but to persuade men that he is not good to them, or to make them forget or overlook his goodness. Not to persuade them that God is evil in himself; but that he is evil to them, by restraining them from their beloved sins, and hating them as sinners, and resolving to damn them if they go on impenitently. This, which is part of the goodness of God, he maketh them believe is evil, by engaging them in a way and interest, which he knoweth that God is engaged against, and enticing them under the strokes of his justice. And he tempteth believers themselves to poor, diminutive, unworthy thoughts of the goodness and mercifulness of God, and to continual apprehensions of his wrath and terrors. And if he can make them believe that God is their enemy, and think of him only as a consuming fire, how little are they like to love him! If christians knew how much of the devil's malice against God and them doth exercise itself in this, to make God appear to man unlovely, they would more studiously watch against such misrepresentations, and fly from them with greater hatred.[116] Not that we must first, by the advice of arrogant reason, and self-love, as some do, draw a false description of goodness and amiableness in our minds, and make that the measure of our judgment of God, his nature, attributes, and decrees; nor take his goodness to be only his suitableness to our opinions, wills, and interest. But we must take out from the word and works of God, that true description of his goodness which he hath given of himself, and expunge out of our conceits whatsoever is contrary to it. Think of God's goodness in proportion with his other attributes.--O my soul, how unequally hast thou thought of God! Thou easily believest that his power is omnipotence, and that, his knowledge is omniscience; but of his goodness, how narrow and poor are thy conceivings! as if it were nothing to his power and knowledge. How oft hast thou been amazed in the consideration of his greatness, and how seldom affected with the apprehensions of his goodness! Thou gratifiest him that would have thee believe and tremble as he doth himself, and not him that would have thee believe and love. How oft hast thou suffered the malicious enemy to accuse God to thee, and make thee believe that he is a hater of man, and hateful to a man, or a hater of thee, that he might make thee hate him! How oft hast thou suffered him to draw in thy thoughts a false representation of thy dearest Lord, and show him to thee as in that unlovely shape! How oft have thy conceptions dishonoured and blasphemed his love and goodness, while thou hast seemed to magnify his knowledge and his power! Think of him now as love itself, as fuller of goodness than the sea of water, or the sun of light. Love freely and boldly, without the stops of suspicions and fears, where thou art sure thou canst never love enough; and if all the love of men and angels were united in one flame, they could never love too much, or come near the proportion of the glorious goodness which they love! Cast thyself boldly into this ocean of delights. Though the narrowness of thy own capacity confine thee, yet, as there are no bounds in the object of thy love, let not false, unbelieving thoughts confine thee. Oh that I were all eye, to see the glorious amiableness of my God! Oh that I were all love, that I might be filled with his goodness! Oh that all the passions of my soul were turned into this holy passion! Oh that all my fears, and cares, and sorrows, were turned into love! and that all the thoughts that confusedly crowd in upon me and molest me, were turned into this one incessant thought, of the infinite goodness of my God! Oh that all my tears and groanings, yea, and all my other mirth and pleasures, were turned into the melodious songs of love! and that the pulse, and voice, and operations of love, were all the motion of my soul! Surely in heaven it will be so, though it is not to be expected here.

Direct. IX. The great means of promoting love to God, is duly to behold him in his appearances to man, in the ways of nature, grace, and glory. First, therefore, learn to understand and improve his appearances in nature, and to see the Creator in all his works, and by the knowledge and love of them to be raised to the knowledge and love of him.--Though sin hath so disabled us to the due improvement of these appearances of God in nature, that grace must restore us, before we can do it effectually and acceptably; yet objectively nature is still the same in substance, and affordeth us much help to the knowledge and love of God. He knoweth nothing of the world aright, that knoweth not God in it, and by it. Some note that the greatest students in nature are not usually the best proficients in grace; and that philosophers and physicians are seldom great admirers of piety; but this is to judge of the wise by the foolish, and to impute the ignorance and impiety of some, to others that abhor it. Doubtless he is no philosopher, but a fool, that seeth not and admireth not the Creator in his works. Indeed if a man do wholly give himself to know the shape and form of letters, and to write them curiously, or cut them in brass or stone, or to print them, and not to understand their significations or use, no wonder if he be ignorant of the arts and sciences, which those letters well understood would teach him; such a man may be called an engraver, a scrivener, a printer, but not a scholar: and no better can the atheist be called a philosopher or learned man, that denieth the most wise Almighty Author, while he beholdeth his works, when the nature and name of God is so plainly engraven upon them all. It is a great part of a christian's daily business, to see and admire God in his works, and to use them as steps to ascend by to himself. Psal. cxi. 2-4, "The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honourable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever. He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered." Psal. cxliii. 5, "I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands." Psal. lxxvii. 12, "I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings." Psal. xcii. 4, 6, "For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work; I will triumph in the works of thy hands. A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this." As the praising of God's works, so the observing of God in his works, is much of the work of a holy soul. Psal. cxlv. 3-7, 10, 17, "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts; and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." Rom. i. 19, 20, "That which may be known of God is manifest to them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse." If we converse in the world as believers or rational creatures ought, we should as oft as David repeat those words, Psal. cvii. "O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wondrous works to the children of men! And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing. They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep," ver. 21-24. But this is a subject fitter for a volume (of physics theologically handled) than for so short a touch. What an excellent book is the visible world for the daily study of a holy soul! Light is not more visible to the eye in the sun, than the goodness of God is in it and all the creatures to the mind. If I love not God, when all the world revealeth his loveliness, and every creature telleth me that he is good, what a blind and wicked heart have I! O wonderful wisdom, and goodness, and power which appeareth in every thing we see! in every tree, and plant, and flower; in every bird, and beast, and fish; in every worm, and fly, and creeping thing; in every part of the body of man or beast, much more in the admirable composure of the whole; in the sun, and moon, and stars, and meteors; in the lightning and thunder, the air and winds, the rain and waters, the heat and cold, the fire and the earth, especially in the composed frame of all, so far as we can see them set together; in the admirable order and co-operation of all things; in their times and seasons, and the wonderful usefulness of all for man. O how glorious is the power, and wisdom, and goodness of God, in all the frame of nature! Every creature silently speaks his praise, declaring him to man, whose office is, as the world's high priest, to stand between them and the great Creator, and expressly offer him the praise of all. Psal. viii. 3-6, 9, "When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!" "Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare his wondrous works to the children of men!" "The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord," Psal. xxxiii. 5-9. Read Psal. lxv. Thus love God as appearing in the works of nature.

Direct. X. Study to know God as he appeareth more clearly to sinners in his goodness in the works of grace; especially in his Son, his covenant, and his saints, and there to love him, in the admiration of his love.--Here love hath made itself an advantage of our sin and unworthiness, of our necessities and miseries, of the law and justice, and the flames of hell. The abounding of sin and misery hath glorified abounding grace; that grace which fetcheth sons for God from among the voluntary vassals of the devil, which fetcheth children of light out of darkness, and living souls from among the dead, and heirs for heaven from the gates of hell; and brings us as from the gallows to the throne. 1. A believing view of the nature, undertaking, love, obedience, doctrine, example, sufferings, intercession, and kingdom of Jesus Christ, must needs inflame the believer's heart with an answerable degree of the love of God. To look on a Christ and not to love God, is to have eyes and not to see, and to overlook him while we seem to look on him. He is the liveliest image of Infinite Goodness, and the messenger of the most unsearchable, astonishing love, and the purchaser of the most invaluable benefits that ever were revealed to the sons of men. Our greatest love must he kindled by the greatest revelations and communications of the love of God. And "greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends," John xv. 13. That is, men have no dearer and clearer a way to express their love to their friends; but that love is aggravated indeed, which will express itself as far for enemies. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life," Rom. v. 8, 10. Steep, then, that stiff and hardened heart in the blood of Christ, and it will melt: come near, with Thomas, and by the passage of his wounds get near unto his heart, and it will change thy unkind, unthankful heart into the very nature of love. Christ is the best teacher of the lesson of love that ever the world had; who taught it not only by his words, but by his blood, by his life, and by his death: if thou canst not learn it of him thou canst never learn it. Love is the greatest commander of love, and the most effectual argument that can insuperably constrain us to it: and none ever loved at the measure and rates that Christ hath loved. To stand by such a fire is the way for a congealed heart to melt, and the coldest affections to grow warm. A lively faith still holding Christ, the glass of infinite love and goodness, before our faces, is the greatest lesson in the art of love.

2. Behold God also in his covenant of grace, which he hath made in Christ. In that you may see such sure, such great and wonderful mercies, freely given out to a world of sinners, and to yourselves among the rest, as may afford abundant matter for love and thankfulness to feed on while you live. There you may see how loth God is that sinners should perish; how he delighteth in mercy; and how great and unspeakable that mercy is. There you may see an act of pardon and oblivion granted upon the reasonable condition of believing, penitent acceptance, to all mankind; the sins that men have been committing many years together, their wilful, heinous, aggravated sins, you may there see pardoned by more aggravated mercy; and the enemies of God reconciled to him, and condemned rebels saved from hell, and brought into his family, and made his sons. Oh what an image of the goodness of God is apparent in the tenor of his word and covenant! Holiness and mercy make up the whole--they are expressed in every leaf and line! The precepts, which seem too strict to sinners, are but the perfect rules of holiness and love, for the health and happiness of man. What loveliness did David find in the law itself! and so should we, if we read it with his eyes and heart: it was sweeter to him than honey; he loved it above gold, Psal. cxix. 127; and, ver. 97, he crieth out, "O how I love thy law! it is my meditation all the day." And must not the Lawgiver then be much more lovely, whose goodness here appeareth to us? "Good and upright is the Lord; therefore will he teach sinners in the way," Psal. xxv. 8. "I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved: my hands also will I lift up to thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes," Psal. cxix. 47, 48. How delightfully then should I love and meditate on the blessed Author of this holy law! But how can I read the history of love, the strange design of grace in Christ, the mystery which the angels desirously pry into, the promises of life to lost and miserable sinners, and not feel the power of love transform me? "Behold, with what love the Father hath loved us, that we should be called the sons of God," 1 John iii. 1. How doth God shed abroad his love upon our hearts, but by opening to us the superabundance of it in his word, and opening our hearts by his Spirit to perceive it? Oh when a poor sinner that first had felt the load of sin, and the wrath of God, shall feelingly read or hear what mercy is tendered to him in the covenant of grace, and hear Christ's messengers tell him, from God, that all things are now ready; and therefore invite him to the heavenly feast, and even compel him to come in, what melting love must this affect the sinner's heart with! When we see the grant of life eternal sealed to us by the blood of Christ, and a pardoning, justifying, saving covenant, so freely made and surely confirmed to us, by that God whom we had so much offended, oh what an incentive is here for love!

When I mention the covenant I imply the sacraments, which are but its appendants or confirming seals, and the investing the believer solemnly with its benefits. But in these God is pleased to condescend to the most familiar communion with his church, that love and thankfulness might want no helps. There it is that the love of God in Christ applieth itself most closely to particular sinners; and the meat or drink will be sweet in the mouth, which was not sweet to us on the table at all. Oh how many a heart hath this affected! How many have felt the stirrings of that love, which before they felt not, when they have seen Christ crucified before their eyes, and have heard the minister, in his name and at his command, bid them "take," and "eat," and "drink;" commanding them not to refuse their Saviour, but take him and the benefits of his blood as their own; assuring them of his good-will and readiness to forgive and save them.

3. Behold also the loveliness of God in his holy ones, who bear his image, and are advanced by his love and mercy. If you are christians indeed, you are taught of God to love his servants, and to see an excellency in the saints on earth, and make them the people of your delight, Psal. xvi. 1, 2; 1 Thess. iv. 9. And this must needs acquaint you with the greater amiableness, in the most holy God, that made them holy. Oh how oft have the feeling and heavenly prayers of lively believers excited those affections in me which before I felt not! How oft have I been warmed with their heavenly discourse! How amiable is that holy, heavenly disposition and conversation which appeareth in them! Their faith, their love, their trust in God, their cheerful obedience, their hatred of sin, their desire of the good of all, their meekness and patience; how much do these advance them above the ignorant, sensual, proud, malignant, and ungodly world! How good then is that God that makes men good! And how little is the goodness of the best of men, compared to his unmeasurable goodness! Whenever your converse with holy men stirs up your love to them, rise by it presently to the God of saints, and let all be turned to him that giveth all to them and to you.

And as the excellency of the saints, so their privilege and great advancement, should show you the goodness of God, that doth advance them. As oft as thou seest a saint, how poor and mean in the world soever, thou seest a living monument of the abundant kindness of the Lord. Thou seest a child of God, a member of Christ, an heir of heaven. Thou seest one that hath all his sins forgiven him, and is snatched as a brand out of the fire, and delivered from the power of Satan, and translated into the kingdom of Christ. Thou seest one for whom Christ hath conquered the powers of hell; and one that is freed from the bondage of the flesh; and one that, of the devil's slave, is made a priest, to offer up the sacrifices of praise to God. Thou seest one that hath the Spirit of God within him; and one that hath daily intercourse with heaven, and audience with God, and is dearly beloved by him in Christ. Thou seest in flesh a companion of angels, and one that hath the divine nature, and must shortly be above the stars in glory, and must be with Christ, and must love and magnify God for ever. And is not the amiableness of God apparent, in such mercy bestowed upon sinful man? And should we not now begin to admire him in his saints, and glorify him in believers, who will come with thousands of his angels, to be glorified and admired in them at the last? 2 Thess. 1. 10. Oh the abundant deliverances, preservations, provisions, encouragements, which all his servants receive from God! Who ever saw the just forsaken, even while they think themselves forsaken? "For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever. The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace," Psal. xxxvii. 25, 28, 31, 37. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints," Psal. cxvi. 15. "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart," Psal. xcvii. 10, 11. "O love the Lord all his saints! for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer," Psal. xxxi. 23.

Direct. XI. Insist not so much on your desires after vision, as to undervalue the lower apprehensions of faith; but love God by the way of faith, as in order to the love of intuition.

We are exceeding apt to be over-desirous of sight; and to take nothing as an object fit to affect us, which sense perceiveth not. When we have the surest evidence of the truth of things unseen, it hardly satisfieth us, unless we may see or feel. And hereupon, our love to God is hindered; while we think of him as if he were not, or take the apprehensions of faith as if they were uncertain, and little differed from a dream. Yea, it proveth the ground of most dangerous temptations to infidelity itself. While we take that knowledge which we have of God, in the way of faith, the love and communion which is exercised thereby, to be as nothing; we are next tempted to think, that there is no true knowledge of God, and communion with him, to be attained. And when we have been searching and striving long, and find that we can reach no more, we are tempted to think, that the soul of man is made but as the beasts, for present things, and is incapable of those higher things which are revealed in the gospel; and that if it were indeed a life to come, and man were made to enjoy his God, we should get nearer to him than we are, and know him more, and love him better.--But is it nothing, O presumptuous soul, to see God in a glass, in order to a nearer sight? Is it nothing to have the heavenly Jerusalem described and promised to thee, unless thou see it and possess it? Wilt thou travel to no place, but what thou seest all the way? Wouldst thou have no difference betwixt earth and heaven? What canst thou have more in heaven, than immediate intuition? Wouldst thou have no life of trial, in the obedience of faith, before the life of fruition and reward? Or canst thou think that a life of sight and sense is fit for trial and preparation, to show who is meet for the rewarding life? Unthankful soul! Compare thy state with that of brutes: is it nothing for thee to know thy Maker in the works of his creation and providence, and in the revelations of grace, and the belief of promised immortality, unless thou presently see him in his glory; when these thy fellow-creatures know him not at all? Compare thyself now, with thyself as heretofore, in the days of thy ignorance and carnality. Hadst thou then any such knowledge of God, as thou now undervaluest? or any such communion with him, as thou now accountest next to none? When the light first shined in thine eyes, and thou hadst first experience of the knowledge of God, thou thoughtest it something, and rejoicedst in the light: if then thou couldst have suddenly attained but to so much as thou hast now attained, wouldst thou have called it nothing? Would it not have seemed a greater treasure to thee, than to have known both the Indies as thine own? O be not unthankful for the little which thou hast received, when God might have shut thee out in that darkness which the greatest part of the world lieth in, and have left thee to thyself, to have desired no higher knowledge, than such as may feed thy fancy, and pride, and lust. Art thou so far drowned in flesh and sense, as to take intellectual apprehensions for dreams, unless thy sense may see and feel? Wilt thou take thy soul, thyself for nothing, because thou art not to be seen or felt? Shall no subjects honour and obey their king, but they that have seen his court and him? Desire the fullest and the nearest sight, the purest and the strongest love; and desire and spare not the life where all this will be had: but take heed of being too hasty with God, and unthankful for the mercies of the way. Know better the difference betwixt thy travel and thy home; and know what is fit for passengers to expect. Humbly submit to an obedient waiting in a life of faith; and make much of the testament of Christ, till thou be at age to possess the inheritance. Thou must live, and love, and run, and fight, and conquer, and suffer by faith, if ever thou wilt come to see and to possess the crown.

Direct. XII. It is a powerful means to kindle the love of God in a believer, to foresee by faith the glory of heaven, and what God will be there to his saints for ever.[117]--And thus to behold God in his glory, is the use of grace. Though the manner of knowing him thus by faith, be far short of what we there expect, yet it is the same God and glory that now we believe, which then we must more openly behold. And therefore, as that apprehension of love will inconceivably excel the highest which can be here attained; so the forethoughts of that doth excel all other arguments and means to affect us here; and will raise us as high as means can raise us. The greatest things, and greatest interest of our souls, being there, will greatly raise us to the love of God, if any thing will do it: to foresee how near him we shall be ere long; and what a glorious proof we shall have of his good will; and how our souls will be ravished everlastingly with his love! To think what hearts the blessed have that see his glory, and live with Christ! how full of love they are! and what a delight it is to them thus to love! must needs affect the heart of a believer.--Lift up thy head, poor drowsy sinner! look up to heaven, and think where thou must live for ever! Think what the holy ones of God are doing! Do they love God, or do they not? Must it not then be thy life and work for ever? And canst thou forbear to love him now, that is bringing thee to such a world of love? Thou wouldst love him more, that would give thee security to possess a kingdom which thou never sawest, than him that giveth thee but some toy in the hand. And let it not seem too distant to affect thee: the time is as nothing till thou wilt be there: thou knowest not but thou mayst be there this night. There thou shalt see the Maker of the worlds, and know the mysteries of his wondrous works. There thou shalt see thy blessed Lord, and feel that love which thou readest of in the gospel, and enjoy the fruits of it for ever. There thou shalt see him that suffered for thee, and rose again, whom angels see and worship in his glory. Thou shalt see there a more desirable sight, than those that saw him heal the blind, and lame, and sick, and raise the dead; or those that saw him in his transfiguration; or those that saw him on the cross, or after his resurrection; or than Stephen saw when he was stoned; or Paul when he was converted; yea, more than it is like he saw when he was in his rapture, in the third heavens! O who can think believingly on the life which we must there shortly live, the glory which we must see, the love which we must receive, and the love which we must exercise, and not feel the fire begin to flame, and the glass in which we see the Lord become a burning-glass to our affections!--Christ and heaven are the books which we must be often reading; the glasses in which we must daily gaze, if ever we will be good proficients and practitioners in the art of holy love.

Direct. XIII. Exercise your souls so frequently and diligently in this way of love, that the method of it may be familiar to you, and the means and motives still at hand, and you may presently be able to fall into the way, as one that is well acquainted with it, and may not be distracted and lost in generals, as not knowing where to fix your thoughts.--I know no methods alone will serve to raise the dead, and cause a carnal, senseless heart to love the Lord. But I know that many honest hearts, that have the spirit of love within them, have great need to be warned, that they quench not the Spirit; and great need to be directed how to stir up the grace which is given them: and that many live a more dull, or distracted, uncomfortable life, than they would do, if they wanted not skill and diligence. The soul is most backward to this highest work, and therefore hath the greater need of helps: and the best have so much need as that it is well if all will serve to keep up loving and grateful thoughts of God upon their minds. And when every trade, and art, and science, requireth diligence, exercise, and experience, and all are bunglers at it at the first, can we reasonably think that we are like to attain any high degrees, with slight, and short, and seldom thoughts?

Direct. XIV. Yet let not weak-headed or melancholy persons set themselves on those methods or lengths of meditation, which their heads cannot bear; lest the tempter get advantage of them, and abate their love, by making religion seem a torment to them; but let such take up with shorter, obvious meditations, and exercise their love in an active, obediential way of living.--That is the best physic that is fitted to the patient's strength and case: and that is the best shoe that is meetest for the foot, and not that which is the biggest or the finest. It is a great design of Satan, to make all duties grievous and burdensome to us; and thereby to cast us into continual pain, and fear, and trouble, and so destroy our delight in God, and consequently, our love. Therefore pretend not to disability for carnal unwillingness and laziness of mind; but yet mar not all by grasping at more than you are able to bear. Take on you as you are able, and increase your work, if God increase your strength. If a melancholy person crack his brain with immoderate, unseasonable endeavours, he will but disable himself for all.

Direct. XV. Keep clear, and hold fast the evidences of thy sincerity, that thou mayst perceive thy interest in the love of God, and resist the temptations which would hide his love to thee, and cause thee to doubt of it, or deny it.--Satan hath not his end when he hath troubled thee, and robbed thee of thy peace and comfort; it is worse that he is seeking to effect by this: his malice is more against God, than against thee; and more against God and thee, in this point of love, than in any other grace or duty. He knoweth that God esteemeth this most; and he knoweth if he could kill thy love, he kills thy soul. And he knoweth how natural it is to man, to love those that love him, and hate those that hate him, be they never so excellent in themselves. And therefore, if he can persuade thee into despair, and to think that God hateth thee, and is resolved to damn thee, he will not despair of drawing thee to hate God. Or if he do but bring thee to fear that he loveth thee not, he will think accordingly to abate thy love. I know that a truly gracious soul keepeth up its love, when it loseth its assurance; and mourneth, and longeth, and seeketh in love, when it cannot triumph and rejoice in love: but yet there are some prints left on the heart, of its former apprehensions of the love of God: and such souls exceedingly disadvantage themselves as to the exercises of love, and make it a work of wondrous difficulty. Oh! it will exceedingly kindle love, when we can see God's surest love-tokens in our hearts, and look to the promises, and say, They are all mine; and think of heaven, as that which shall certainly be our own: and can say with Thomas, "My Lord, and my God:" and with Paul, that "The life which I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, that loved me, and gave himself for me." Denial of our grace may seem to be humility, but it tendeth to extinguish love and gratitude.

But, you will say, I must avoid soul-delusion and pharisaical ostentation on the other side; and few reach assurance; how then should we keep up the love of God?

[Sidenote: Signs of the love of God.]

Answ. 1. Though I am not come to the point of trying and discerning grace, I shall give you this much help in the way, because it is so useful to the exercises of love. (1.) If you have not enjoying, delighting love, yet try whether you have not desiring, seeking love. Love appeareth as truly in desiring and seeking good as in delighting in it. Poor men show their love of the world, by desiring and seeking it, as much as rich men do in delighting in it. What is it that you most desire and seek? (2.) Or if this be so weak that you scarce discern it, do you not find a mourning and lamenting love? You show that you loved your money, by mourning when you lose it; and that you loved your friend by grieving for his death, as well as by delighting in him while he lived. If you heartily lament it as your greatest unhappiness and loss, when you think that God doth cast you off, and that you are void of grace, and cannot serve and honour him as you would, this shows you are not void of love. (3.) If you feel not that you love him, do you feel that you would fain love him, and that you love to love him? If you do so, it is a sign that you do love him? When you do not only desire to find such an evidence of salvation in you, but when you desire love itself, and love to love God. Had you not rather have a heart to love him perfectly, than to have all the riches in the world? Had you not rather live in the love of God, if you could reach it, than to live in any earthly pleasure? If so, be sure he hath your hearts. The will is the love, and the heart; if God have your will he hath your heart and love. (4.) What hath your hearts if he have them not? Is there any thing that you prefer and seek before him, and that you had rather have than him? Can you be content without him, and let him go, in exchange for any earthly pleasure? If not, it is a sign he hath your hearts. You love him savingly if you set more by nothing else than by him. (5.) Do you love his holy image in his word? Do you delight and meditate in his law? Psal. i. 2. Is it in your hearts? Psal. xl. 8. Or do you pray, "Incline my heart unto thy testimonies?" Psal. cxix. 36. If you love God's image in his word, (the wisdom and holiness of it,) you love God. (6.) Do you love his image on his children? If you love them for their heavenly wisdom and holiness, you so far love God. He that loveth the candle for its light, doth love the light itself and the sun: he that loveth the wise and holy, for their wisdom and holiness, doth love wisdom and holiness themselves. The word and the saints being more in the reach of our sensible apprehensions, than God himself is, we ordinarily feel our love to them, more sensibly than our love to God; when indeed it is God, in his word and servants, that we love, 1 John iii. 14; Psal. xv. 4. (7.) Though for want of assurance you feel not the delights of love, have you not a heart that would delight in it, more than in all the riches of the world, if you could but get assurance of your interest? Would it not comfort you more than any thing, if you could be sure he loveth you, and could perfectly love him and obey him? If so, it is not for want of love that you delight not in him, but for want of assurance. So that if God have thy heart, either in a delighting love, or a seeking and desiring, or a lamenting, mourning love, he will not despise it or reject it. "He is nigh to them that be of a broken heart," Psal. xxxiv. 18. "A broken and contrite heart is his sacrifice, which he will not despise," Psal. li. 17. The "good Lord will have mercy on every one that prepareth their hearts to seek him, though they do it not according to the preparation of the sanctuary," 2 Chron. xxx. 18, 19. By these evidences, you may discern the sincerity of love in small degrees: and so you may make love the occasion of more love, by discerning that goodness of God which is manifested to you in the least.

2. But suppose you cannot yet attain assurance; neglect not to improve that goodness and mercy of God which he revealeth to you in the state that you are in. Love him, but as Infinite Goodness should be loved, who "so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life," John iii. 16. Love him, as the most blessed and merciful God, who made you and all things, and hath given to the world a universal pardon, on condition of their penitent acceptance, and offereth them everlasting life, and all this purchased by the blood of Christ. Love him, as one that offereth you reconciliation, and entreateth you to be saved: and as one that delighteth not in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn and live: and as one that would have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth, though he will save none but the penitent, that do acknowledge the truth. And when you love him sincerely on these accounts, you will have the evidence of his special love to you.

Direct. XVI. Improve thy sense of natural and friendly love, to raise thee to the love of God.--When thou seest or feelest what love a parent hath to children, and a husband to a wife, or a wife to a husband, or faithful friends to one another; think then,--What love do I owe to God! Oh how inconsiderable is the loveliness of a child, a wife, a friend, the best of creatures, in comparison of the loveliness of God! Unworthy soul! canst thou love a drop of goodness in thy friend; and canst thou not love the ocean of goodness in thy God? Is a spark in the creature more amiable than the fire that kindled it? Thou canst love thy friend for all his blemishes, his ignorance, his passions, and manifold imperfections: and canst thou not love thy God, who hath none of these, nor any thing to discourage or damp thy love? Thou lovest, and deservedly lovest thy friend, because he loveth thee, and deals friendly with thee: but oh how much greater is the love of God! Did ever friend love thee as he hath loved thee? Did ever friend do for thee as he hath done? He gave thee thy being, thy daily safety, and all the mercies of thy life! He gave thee his Son, his Spirit, and his grace! He pardoned thy sins, and took thee into his favour, and adopted thee for his son, and an heir of heaven! He will glorify thee with angels in the presence of his glory! How should such a friend as this be loved! How far above all mortal friends! Their love and friendship is but a token and message of his love. Because he loveth thee, he sendeth thee kindness and mercy by thy friend: and when their kindness ceaseth, or can do thee no good, his kindness will continue, and comfort thee for ever. Love them therefore as the messengers of his love; but love him in them, and love them for him, and love him much more.

Direct. XVII. Think oft, how delightful a life it would be to thee, if thou couldst but live in the love of God: and then the complacency will provoke desire, and desire will turn thy face towards God, till thou feel that thou lovest him.--The love of a friend hath its sweetness and delight: and when we love them, we feel such pleasure in our love, that we love to love them. How pleasant then would it be to love thy God!--O blessed, joyful life, if I could but love him as much as I desire to love him! How freely could I leave the ambitious, and the covetous, and the sensual, and voluptuous, to their doting, delusory, swinish love! How easily could I spare all earthly pleasures! How near should I come to the angelical life! Could I love God as I would love him, it would fill me with continual pleasure, and be the sweetest feast that a soul can have. How easily would it quench all carnal love! How far would it raise me above these transitory things! How much should I contemn them, and pity the wretches that know no better, and have their portion in this life! How readily should I obey, and how pleasant would obedience be! How sweet would all my meditations be, when every thought is full of love! How sweet would all my prayers be, when constraining love did bring me unto God, and indite and animate every word! How sweet would sacraments be, when my ascending, flaming love, should meet that wonderful, descending love which cometh from heaven to call me thither, and in living bread and spiritual wine is the nourishment and cordial of my soul! How sweet would all my speeches be, when love commanded them, and every word were full of love! How quiet would my conscience be, if it had never any of this accusation against me, to cast in my face, to my shame and confusion, that I am wanting in love to the blessed God! Oh could I but love God with such a powerful love as his love and goodness should command, I should no more question my sincerity, nor doubt any more of his love to me. How freely then should I acknowledge his grace, and how heartily should I give him thanks for my justification, sanctification, and adoption, which now I mention with doubt and fear! Oh how it would lift up my soul unto his praise, and make it my delight to speak good of his name! What a purifying fire would love be in my breast, to burn up my corruptions! It would endure nothing to enter or abide within me, that is contrary to the will and interest of my Lord; but hate every motion that tendeth to dishonour and displease him. It would fill my soul with so much of heaven, as would make me long to be in heaven, and make death welcome, which is now so terrible. Instead of these withdrawing, shrinking fears, I should desire to depart and to be with Christ, as being best of all. Oh how easily should I bear any burden of reproach, or loss, or want, when I thus loved God and were assured of his love! How light would the cross be! And how honourable and joyful would it seem, to be imprisoned, reviled, spit upon, and buffeted for the sake of Christ! How desirable would the flames of martyrdom seem, for the testifying of my love to him that loved me at dearer rates than I can love him! Lord, is there no more of this blessed life of love to be attained here on earth? When all the world reveals thy goodness; when thy Son hath come down to declare thy love, in so full and wonderful a manner; when thy word hath opened us a window into heaven, where afar off we may discern thy glory; yet, shall our hearts be clods, and ice? O pity this unkind, unnatural soul! this dead, insensible, disaffected soul! Teach me, by thy Spirit, the art of love! Love me, not only so as to convince me that I have abundant cause to love thee above all, but love me, so as to constrain me to it, by the magnetical, attractive power of thy goodness, and the insuperable operations of thy omnipotent love.

Direct. XVIII. In thy meditations upon all these incentives of love, preach them over earnestly to thy heart, and expostulate and plead with it by way of soliloquy, till thou feel the fire begin to burn.--Do not only think on the arguments of love, but dispute it out with thy conscience, and by expostulating, earnest reasonings with thy heart, endeavour to affect it. There is much more moving force in this earnest talking to ourselves, than in bare cogitation, that breaks not out into mental words. Imitate the most powerful preacher that ever thou wast acquainted with: and just as he pleadeth the case with his hearers, and urgeth the truth and duty on them, by reason and importunity, so do thou in secret with thyself. There is more in this than most christians are aware of, or use to practise. It is a great part of a christian's skill and duty, to be a good preacher to himself. This is a lawful and a gainful way of preaching. Nobody here can make question of thy call, nor deny thee a licence, nor silence thee, if thou silence not thyself. Two or three sermons a week from others, is a fair proportion; but two or three sermons a day from thyself, is ordinarily too little. Therefore, I have added soliloquies to many of these directions for love, to show you how, by such pleadings with yourselves, to affect your hearts, and kindle love.

And oh that this might be the happy fruit of these directions with thee that art now reading or hearing them! that thou wouldst but offer up thy flaming heart to Jesus Christ our great High Priest, to be presented an acceptable sacrifice to God! Or, if it flame not in love as thou desirest, yet give it up to the Holy Spirit to increase the flames. Thou little knowest how much God setteth by a heart. He calleth to thee himself, "My son, give me thy heart," Prov. xxiii. 26. Without it, he cares not for any thing that thou canst give him: he cares not for thy fairest words without it: he cares not for thy loudest prayers without it: he cares not for thy costliest alms or sacrifices, if he have not thy heart. "If thou give all thy goods to feed the poor, and give thy body to be burned, and have not love, it will profit thee nothing. If thou speak with the tongue of men and angels, and hast not love, thou art but as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. If thou canst prophesy and preach to admiration, and understand all mysteries and knowledge, and hast faith to do miracles, and have not love, thou art nothing," 1 Cor. xiii. 1-3. Thou hast but a shadow, and wantest that which is the substance and life of all. Come then, and make an agreement with God, and resolve now to offer to him thy heart. He asketh thee for nothing which thou hast not: it is not for riches or lands that he seeketh to thee; for then the poor might say as Peter, "Silver and gold have I none:" give him but such as thou hast, and it sufficeth. He knoweth that it is a polluted, sinful heart; but give it him, and he will make it clean. He knoweth that it is an unkind heart, that hath stood out too long; but give it him yet, and he will pardon and accept it. He knoweth that it is an unworthy heart; but give it him, and he will be its worth: only see that you give it him entirely and unreservedly; for he will not bargain with the devil, or the world, for the dividing of thy heart between them. A half-heart and a hollow heart, that is but lent him till fleshly interest or necessity shall call for it again, he will not accept. Only resign it to him, and do but consent that thy heart be his, and entirely and absolutely his, and he will take it and use it as his own. It is his own by title: let it be also so by thy consent. If God have it not, who shall have it? Shall the world, or pride, or fleshly lust? Did they make it, or did they purchase it? Will they be better to thee in the time of thy extremity? Do they bid more for thy heart than God will give thee? He will give thee his Son, and his Spirit, and image, and the forgiveness of all thy sins: if the greatest gain, or honour, or pleasure will win it and purchase it, he will have it: if heaven will buy it, he will not break with thee for the price. Have the world and sin a greater price than this to give thee? And what dost thou think that he will do with thy heart? and how will he use it, that thou art loth to give it him? Will he blind it, and deceive it, and corrupt it, and abuse it, and at last torment it, as Satan will do? No; he will more illuminate it, and cleanse it, and quicken it, Psal. li. 10; Eph. ii. 1; Jer. xxiv. 7. He will make it new, and heal and save it, Ezek. xxxvi. 26; 2 Cor. v. 17; Tit. iii. 3, 5, and ii. 14. He will advance and honour it, with the highest relations, employments, and delight; for Christ hath said, John xii. 26, "If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour." He will love it, and govern it, and comfort it, and the heart that is delivered to him shall be kept near unto his own: John xvi. 27, "For the Father himself loveth you," saith Christ, "because ye have loved me." Whereas if thou deliver not thy heart to him, it will feed on the poison of luscious vanity, which will gripe and tear it when it is down; it will be like a house that nothing dwelleth in but dogs, and flies, and worms, and snakes; it will be like one that is lost in the wilderness, or in the night, that tireth himself in seeking the way home, and the longer the worse; despair and restlessness will be its companions for ever. Let me now once more in the name of God bespeak thy heart. I will not use his commands or threatenings to thee now, (though these as seconds must be used,) because that love must have attractive arguments, and is not raised by mere authority or fear: if there be not love and goodness enough in God, to deserve the highest affections of every reasonable creature, then let him go, and give thy heart to one that is better. Hear how God pleadeth his own cause with an unkind, unthankful people, Mic. vi. 2, 3, "Hear, O ye mountains, the Lord's controversy. O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me." What is there in him to turn away thy heart? Let malice itself say the worst, without notorious impudence, against him: what hath he ever done that deserveth thy disaffection and neglect? What wouldst thou have to win a heart that is not in him? For which of his mercies or excellencies is it, that thou thus contemnest and abusest him? What dost thou want that he cannot, yea, or will not give thee? Doth not thy tongue speak honourably of his goodness, while thy heart contradicteth it, and denieth all? What hast thou found that will prove better to thee? Is it sin or God that must be thy glory, rest, and joy, if thou wilt not be a fire-brand of restlessness and misery for ever? What sayest thou yet, sinner? Shall God, or the world and fleshly pleasures, have thy heart? Art thou not yet convinced which best deserveth it, and which will be best to it? Canst thou be a loser by him? Will he make it worse, and sin make it better? Or wilt thou ever have cause to repent of giving it up to God, as thou hast of giving it to the world and sin? I tell thee, if God have not thy heart, it were well for thee if thou hadst no heart.--I had a thousand times rather have the heart of a dog, or the basest creature, than that man's heart that followeth his fleshly lusts, and is not unfeignedly delivered up to God, through Christ.

If I have not prevailed with your hearts for God, by all that I have said, your consciences shall yet bear me witness, that I showed you God's title, and love, and goodness, and said that which ought to have prevailed; and you shall find ere long, who it is that will have the worst of it: but if you resolve and give them presently to God, he will entertain them, and sanctify, and save them; and this happy day and work will be the angels' joy, Luke xv. 7, 10; and it will be my joy, and especially your own everlasting joy.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: To trust in God.]

Grand Direct. XII. Trust God with that soul and body which thou hast delivered up and dedicated to him; and quiet thy mind in his love and faithfulness, whatever shall appear unto thee, or befall thee in the world.

I shall here briefly show you, 1. What is the nature of this trust in God.[118] 2. What are the contraries to it. 3. What are the counterfeits of it. 4. The usefulness of it. And then, 5, I shall give you some directions how to attain and exercise it.

1. To trust in God, is, upon the apprehension of the all-sufficiency, goodness, and faithfulness of God, to quiet our hearts in the expectation of the safety or benefits from him which we desire, rejecting the cares, and fears, and griefs that would disquiet them, if they had not the refuge of these hopes.[119] It containeth in it a crediting the word or nature of God, or judging it to be a sufficient ground of our security and expectation: and then security and expectation built upon that ground, make up the rest of the nature of trust. Looking for the benefit, and finding a complacency and quietness of mind in the ground discovered, and ceasing all other cares and fears, which would else disquiet us. Aquinas and other school-men often call affiance, spes roborata, a confirmed hope. There is a twofold trust in God: one is, for that which he hath not promised to do, but yet we think that we find reason sufficient, from his nature itself, and relations, to expect: this may be more or less certain and strong, as our collection of the will of God, from his nature, is more or less sure and clear. The other is, when we have not only God's nature, but his promise also to trust upon: and this giveth us a certainty, if we certainly understand his promise. To the last sort I may reduce that trust in God for particular benefits, when we have only a promise in general, which maketh not the particulars known and certain to us: as the promise, that all shall work together for our good, doth give us but a probability of health or outward protection and deliverances, because we are uncertain how far they are for our good. All that is promised is sure; but whether this or that be good for us, must be otherwise known. But those general promises which contain particulars as surely known as the promise itself, do make every one of the particular benefits as sure, by promise, as the general: as, the promise of the pardon of all our sins, ascertaineth us of the pardon of every sin in particular. Where there is a promise, we trust God's faithfulness as well as his nature; but where there is none, we trust his nature only. As a child doth quietly trust his parents, without a promise, that they will not kill, or torment, or forsake him. But because man is apt to make false collections of God's will from his nature, he hath given us such clear expressions of it in his word, as may bring us above uncertain probabilities, and are sufficient for faith to ground upon (supposing God's properties) for our government and peace. And it is certain that all collections of God's will which are contrary to his word, are the errors of the collector.

In what I have said in this direction, I desire you chiefly to observe these three things: 1. That God's nature and love are the sufficient, general security to the soul. 2. That his promise is the sufficient, particular security. 3. And that our unfeigned self-dedication to him, is our sufficient evidence of our interest in his love and covenant, which may warrant our special trust and expectations.

II. The contraries to trust in God, are: 1. Privative: not trusting him: not seeing the ground of just security in his love and promise: not crediting what is seen: not ceasing disquietness and distrustful cares and fears. 2. Positive distrust: supposing the all-sufficiency, goodness, and promises of God, are not sufficient grounds of our expectation and security; and thereupon disquieting our minds with sinful fears, and griefs, and cares, and shifting endeavours for ourselves some other way. And this hath various degrees: in some it is predominant; in others not. 3. Opposite or adverse: when we trust ourselves, or friends, or wealth, or something else instead of God, either against him, without him, or in co-ordination with him.

III. The counterfeits of this trust are these: 1. When indeed we trust in our wit, or power, or shifts, or friends, or in some means or creatures only, or in co-ordination with God; but pretend and think that we do it but in subordination to him, and that our primary trust is in him alone. The detection of this is by trying how we can trust God alone, when he giveth us a promise and no probable means. 2. Pretending to trust God alone in the neglect of those means which he hath appointed us to use, and in the neglect of those duties which he hath made the condition of his promises; and this trust is but a self-deceiving cover for sin and sloth. 3. Pretending to trust God in the use of self-devised, sinful means; when he hath promised a blessing to no such means, but threatened them with a curse. 4. Thinking we trust God, when it is some false revelation of the devil, or some delusion of deceivers, or some dream, or fancy, or brain-sick, proud conceit of our own, which indeed we believe, and ground our trust upon: as those do that are deluded by false prophets and false teachers, and fantastical fancies of their corrupted imaginations. 6. When men in presumption and carnal security will rashly venture their souls in the darkness of uncertainty, (as well as in the neglect of a holy life,) and cast away all the sense of their miserable state; and all the necessary fear and care that tended to their recovery; and persuade themselves that they are in no great danger, or that their care will do no good, and call all this a trusting God with their salvation. 7. A pretending to trust God for that which is contrary to his nature: as to love the wicked with complacency, or to take them into heaven. 8. A pretending to trust God for that which is contrary to his word: as to save the unregenerate and unholy; and so "not believing him" itself, is taken for a believing in him, or trusting him. 9. Pretending to believe and trust him for that which neither his nature or his word did ever declare to be his will, in matters which he hath kept secret, or never gave us any revelation of; such is that which some call a particular faith: as to believe in prayer that some particular never promised shall be granted, because we ask it, or because we feel a strong persuasion that it will be so.

[Sidenote: Of particular faith.]

Quest. But is not such a particular faith and trust divine and solid?--Answ. To expect any particular mercy which God's nature, or word, or works do tell us that he will give, is sound and warrantable: and to expect any particular thing which by inspiration, prophecy, or true extraordinary revelation shall be made known to us; for this is a word of God: but all other belief and expectation is but self-promising and self-deceiving. And wise men will not easily take themselves for prophets, nor take any thing for an inspiration, or divine, extraordinary revelation, which bringeth not the testimony of cogent evidence.

IV. There are three great uses and benefits of this trust in God, which highly commend it to us, and make it necessary. 1. It is necessary to our acknowledgment and honouring of God. It is a cordial, practical confession of his power, and wisdom, and goodness, and truth: for where any one of these is wanting, there is no ground of rational trust. And the greater the danger or assault against us is, the more God is acknowledged and honoured by our trust; for then we declare, that no creature or impediment can disappoint his will: but that his power is above all power, and his wisdom above all wisdom, and his goodness and fidelity constant and invincible. Whereas distrust is a denying of God in some of his attributes, or a suspecting of him. 2. It is necessary to ourselves, for the quiet, and peace, and comfort of our minds, which else will be left unavoidably to continual disquietness and pain, by vexatious fears, and griefs, and cares, unless stupidity or deceit should ease them. 3. It is necessary to prevent the errors and sinful miscarriage of our lives. For if we trust not in God, we shall spend all our thoughts and labours in the use of sinful means; we shall be trusting idolatrously to the creature, and we shall be shifting for ourselves by lies or any unlawful means, and lose ourselves by saving ourselves, as from God, or without God.

Hence it is, that trust in God is so frequently and earnestly commanded in the Scriptures, and such blessings promised to it, as if it were the sum of godliness and religion. Jer. xvii. 5, 7, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.--Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is." Prov. xvi. 20, "Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he." Psal. ii. 12, "Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." So Psal. lxxxiv. 12; xxxiv. 8, "O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him." See Psal. xxxii. 10; lvii. 1; lxxxvi. 2; xxii. 4, 5, 8. Safety, stability, comfort, salvation, all mercies are promised to them that trust in God, Psal. xxxiv. 22; xxxvii. 3, 5, 40; xci. 2, 4; cxxv. 1; Isa. 1. 10. So faith in Christ is called trust, Matt. xii. 21; Eph. i. 12, 13. And idolaters and worldlings are described by trusting in their idols and their wealth, Psal. cxv. 8; cxxxv. 18; Amos vi. 1; Mark x. 24; Prov. xi. 28; xxviii. 26.

Directions for a quieting and comforting Trust in God.

Direct. I. Let thy soul retain the deepest impression of the almightiness, wisdom, goodness, and faithfulness of God, and how certainly all persons, things, and events are in his power; and how impotent all the world is to resist him, and that nothing can hurt thee but by his consent.--The principal means for a confirmed confidence in God is to know him, and to know that all things that we can fear are nothing, and can do nothing, but by his command, and motion, or permission. I am not afraid of a bird or a worm, because I know it is too weak for me: and if I rightly apprehend how much all creatures are too weak for God, and how sufficient God is to deliver me, his trust would quiet me. Isa. xli. 10, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee." So ver. 13, 14; xliii. 1; xliv. 2, 8. Psal. ix. 10, "They that know thy name will put their trust in thee." Isa. li. 7, 8, "Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be afraid of their revilings: for the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool."

Direct. II. Labour for a sound and clear understanding of the promises of God, that thou mayst know how far he calleth thee to trust in him.--For to think that he promiseth what he doth not, is not to trust him, but to deceive thyself; and to think that he doth not promise what indeed he doth, is to cast away the ground of trust.

Direct. III. Yield not to the tempter, who would either entice thee into terrifying guilt, and blot thine evidences, or else hide them from thee, and keep thee doubtful and suspicious of the love of God.--For almost all that the distrustful soul hath to say for itself, to justify its distrust, is, I am not sure that the promises are mine. Remember still, that a heart dedicated to God, or consenting to his covenant, is your fullest evidence; and suffer not this to be hid or blotted. Wilful sin and guiltiness breeds fears, and will interrupt your trust and quiet till it be forsaken.

Direct. IV. Remember the grounds of confidence and quietness which God hath given you in his Son, his covenant, his Spirit, his sacraments, and your own and others' manifold experiences. I name them all together, because I would have you set them all together before your eyes. Will he not give you "all things with him," that hath "given you his Son?" Rom. viii. 32. Is not Christ a sufficient undertaker and encourager? Are not his covenant, promise, and oath sufficient security for you? "Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation," Heb. vi. 17, 18. And are not the heavenly seal and earnest of his Spirit sufficient to confirm us? 2 Cor. i. 22; and v. 5; Eph. i. 13, 14, and iv. 30. And have you tried God so oft, and yet cannot you trust him? Our frequent experiences, though the least of all these helps of trust, are very powerful, because they are near us, and almost satisfy sense itself; when all our bones say, "Lord, who is like unto thee, who deliverest the poor?" &c. Psal. xxxv. 10.

Direct. V. Consider of the greatness of the sin of distrust; how it denieth God in his attributes, and usually supposeth the creature to be above him.--Either thou doubtest of, or deniest his power to help thee, or his wisdom as deficient in making his promises, or finding out the means of thy deliverance, or his goodness and love, as if he would deceive thee, and so his truth and faithfulness in his promises. And if thou fear a man, how great soever, when God calleth thee to trust him for thy help, what dost thou but say, This man is more powerful than God? or, God cannot deliver me out of his hands? If it be want, or sickness, or death which thou fearest, what dost thou but say in thy heart, that God either knoweth not what is best for thee so well as thou knowest thyself, or else is not powerful or gracious enough to give it? nor true enough to keep his promise? "He that believeth not, makes God a liar," 1 John v. 10, 11.

Direct. VI. Remember that trusting God doth, as it were, oblige him, and distrusting him doth greatly disoblige him, especially when any thing else is trusted before him.--If any man trust you upon any encouragement given him by you, you will take yourselves obliged to be trusty to him, and not to fail any honest trust; but if he trust you not, or trust another, you will turn him off to those that he hath trusted. God may say to thee, Let them help thee whom thou hast trusted: thou trustest not in me, and therefore I fail not thy trust when I forsake thee.

Direct. VII. Remember that thou must trust in God, or in nothing.--For nothing is more sure, nor more frequently experienced, than that all things else are utterly insufficient to be our help. Shall we choose a broken reed, that we know beforehand will both deceive and pierce us? Woe to the man that hath no surer a foundation for his trust than creatures! The greatest of them are unable; and the best of them are untrusty and deceitful. How sad is thy case, if God turn thee off to these for help in the hour of thy extremity! Then wilt thou perceive, that "it is better to trust in the Lord, than to put any confidence in princes," Psal. cxviii. 8, 9. "The righteous also shall see, and fear, and laugh at him: Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness," Psal. lii. 6, 7. "But they that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, that cannot be removed, but abideth for ever," Psal. cxxv. 1. Creatures will certainly deceive thy trust, but so will not God.

Direct. VIII. Believe and remember the particular providence of God, which regardeth the falling of a sparrow on the ground, and numbereth the very hairs of your heads, Matt. x. 30.--And can you distrust him, that is so punctually regardful of your least concernments? that is always present, and watcheth over you? You need not fear his absence, disregard, forgetfulness, or insufficiency. Doth he number your hairs, and doth he not number your groans, and prayers, and tears? How then doth he wipe away your tears, and put them all as in his bottle! Psal. lvi. 8; Rev. vii. 17.

Direct. IX. Compare God with thy dearest and most faithful friend, and then think how boldly thou canst trust that friend if thy life or welfare were wholly in his hand; and how much more boldly thou shouldst trust in God, who is more wise, and kind, and merciful, and trusty, than any mortal man can be.--When thou art in want, in prison, in sickness, and in pain, expecting death, think now, if my life, or health, or liberty were absolutely in the power of my surest friend, how quietly could I wait, and how confidently could I cast away my fears, though I had no promise what he would do with me; for I know he would do nothing but what is for my good: and is not God to be trusted in much more? Indeed a friend would ease my pain, or supply my wants, or save my life, when God will not: but that is not because God is less kind, but because he is more wise, and better knoweth what tendeth to my hurt or good. My friend would pull off the plaster as soon as I complain of smart; but God will stay till it have done the cure. But, surely, God is more to be trusted for my real, final good, though my friend be forwarder to give me ease. All friends may fail; but God never faileth.

Direct. X. Make use of the natural love of quietness, and thy natural weariness of tormenting cares, and fears, and sorrows, to move thee to cast thyself on God, and quiet thy soul in trusting on him.--For God hath purposely made thyself and all things else insufficient, unsatisfactory, and vexatious to thee, that thou mightest be driven to rest on him alone, when nothing else affords thee rest. Cares, and fears, and unquietness of mind are such thorns and briers as nature cannot love or be content with: and you may be sure that you can no way be delivered from them, but by trusting upon God. And will you choose care and torment, when so sure and cheap a way of ease is set before you? Who can endure to have fears torment him, and cares feed daily upon his heart, that may safely be delivered from it? An ulcerated, festered, pained mind, is a greater calamity, than any bodily distress alone. And if you be cast upon your own care, or committed to the trust of any creature, you can never rationally have peace. For your own ease and comfort then betake yourselves to God, and cast all your care and burden on him, who careth for you, and knoweth perfectly what you want, 1 Pet. v. 7; Matt. vi. 32. Read often Matt. vi. from ver. 24. How sweet an ease and quietness is it to the mind that can confidently trust in God! How quiet is he from the storms of trouble, and the sickness of mind, which others are distressed with! Isa. xxvi. 3, 4, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." Psal. cxii. 7, 8, "He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established; he shall not be afraid." Psal. xxxi. 19, 20, 24, "Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee, before the sons of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man; thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord." Psal. lvi. 3, 4, "What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word; in God have I put my trust: I will not fear what flesh can do unto me." How easy and sweet a life is this!

Direct. XI. Remember that distrust is a pregnant, multiplying sin, and will carry thee to all iniquity and misery if thou suffer it to prevail.--Distrusting God is but our entrance upon a life of error, sin, and woe. It presently sets us on idolatrous confidence on flesh, and sinful shifts, and stretching conscience; it deludeth our judgments, and maketh every thing seem lawful which seems necessary to our safety and welfare; and every thing seem necessary, without which man cannot accomplish it. All sinful compliances, and temporizings, and man-pleasing, and believing sinful means to be no sin, proceed from this distrust of God.

Direct. XII. Suffer not distrustful thoughts and reasonings in thy mind, but cast them out, and command them to be gone.--Cogitations are the instruments of good and evil in the mind of man; they cannot be acted but by thoughts, and the will hath more command of the thoughts than it hath immediately of the passions themselves. If you cannot trust God so quietly as you would, nor keep under every fearful apprehension, yet keep out, or cast out, the thoughts which exercise your sin, and turn your thoughts to something else. If thoughts do not actuate it, your distrustful fears and cares will vanish. What are your cares, but the turmoiling of your thoughts? continually feeding upon difficulties and trouble, and tiring themselves with hunting about for help? Cast away the thoughts, and the cares are gone. You may do much in this if you will, though it be difficult. Matt. vi. 25, "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your bodies, what ye shall put on." Ver. 27, 28, "Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit to his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment?"

Direct. XIII. When commands will not prevail, rebuke and chide thy unbelieving heart, and reason it out of its distrustful cares, and fears, and sorrows.--Say to it, as David oft, Psal. xlii. and xliii. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou so disquieted within me? Trust in God, for I shall yet give him thanks, who is the health of my countenance, and my God." O foolish soul! hast thou yet learned no better to know thy God? Doth he support the heavens and the earth, and the whole creation? and yet canst not thou rely upon him? Is he not wise enough to be trusted with the conduct and disposal of thee? Is he not good and gracious enough to be trusted with thy life, estate, and name, and welfare? Is he not great and powerful enough to be trusted against the greatest danger, or difficulties, or opposition that ever can befall thee? Is he not true and faithful enough to be trusted, whatever improbabilities may arise before thee? Where dwelt the man, and what was his name, that ever trusted him in vain, or was ever failed or deceived by him? Are not his Son, and Spirit, and covenant, and oath, sufficient pledges of his love for thy security? How oft hath he performed his promises to thee, and heard thy cries, and helped and saved thee in thy distress! How oft hath he confuted thine unbelief, and shamed thy distrustful fears and cares! and then thou couldst resolve to trust him better in the next distress. And shall all his wonders of mercy be forgotten? and all thy confessions, thanksgivings, and promises be now repented of, contradicted, or recanted, by thy renewed distrust and unbelief? Is he not the same God, that hath so frequently and abundantly had mercy on thee? Is he not the same God, that hath saved all that trusted in him, and wrought such wonders for his servants in the earth, and brought so many safe to heaven? "Our fathers trusted in him; they trusted, and he delivered them; they cried to him, and were delivered; they trusted in him, and were not confounded," Psal. xxii. 4, 5. And is he not sufficient for thee, that is sufficient for all the world? Who ever sped ill that trusted in him? or who hath prospered by trusting in themselves or any other, without him, or against him? Unworthy soul! wilt thou atheistically deny the sufficiency, or truth, or goodness of thy God? Shall thy distrust deny him, or blaspheme him? Wilt thou idolatrously set up a worm above him? Is there more in man, or any thing else, to hurt or ruin thee, than in God to save thee? Whom wilt thou trust, if thou trust not God? Darest thou think that any other is fitter for thy confidence? Thou wouldst be quiet and confident if thy dearest friend had thy life or welfare in his hands; and art thou troubled now it is in the hands of God? Is he enough to be our endless happiness in heaven, and not to be thy confidence on earth? Canst thou trust him to raise thy body from the dust, and not raise thy state, or name, or troubled mind? Either take him for thy rock and hope, or never pretend to take him for thy God. If thou trust not in him, thou must despair, or trust against him; and whom wilt thou trust to save thee from him? Hadst thou no more encouragement to trust him but this, that he hath bid thee trust him, thou mightest be sure he never would deceive thee. Lament, therefore, thy disquietment and self-tormenting fears; lament thy injurious distrust of thy most dear Almighty Father. Choose not vexation, when the harbour of his love is open to secure thee. If men or devils are against thee, say as those believers, Dan. iii. 16, 17, "We are not careful to answer thee in this matter; our God whom we serve is able to deliver us." Go on, with Daniel, chap. vi. in praying to thy God, and trust him with the lions' jaws. "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust in him, and he shall bring it to pass," Psal. xxxvii. 5. "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but I will remember the name of the Lord our God," Psal. xx. 7. "Trust in him, for he is thy help and shield," Psal. cxv. 9-11.

Direct. XIV. Take not the sayings of the tempter or thy own distrustful heart for the sayings of God, or for any reason against thy confidence in him.--Some take all the malicious suggestions of the devil, for reasons of their disquietness and fears, as if it were the Spirit of God that raised all the terrors and molestations in them, which are raised by the enemy of God and them: and they fear when Satan bids them, thinking it is the Spirit of God; and they dare not trust God when he commandeth them, for fear lest it be the will of Satan. Some are so strongly affected with their own conceits and fancies, that they think God saith all that their hearts or fancies say, and make one fear the reason of another. Thy heart is not so wise or good, as that thou shouldst take all its words for the words of God. Thy "flesh and thy heart" may "fail thee," when God, who is the "rock of thy heart and thy portion," will never fail, Psal. lxxiii. 26. Thy heart may say, I have no grace, no help, no hope, when God never said so, Psal. lxxvii. 7-10. Thy heart may say, I am a reprobate, forsaken of God, he will not hear me, the time of grace is past, when God never said so. Thy heart may say, I am undone, I can find no comfort in any friend, no evidence of grace within me, no comfort in God, in Christ, or in the promises, no comfort in my life, which is but a burden to me; I cannot pray, I cannot believe, I cannot answer the objections of Satan, I can strive no longer against my fears, I cannot bear my wounded conscience. All this is the failing of the heart; but proveth not any failing of God, whose grace is sufficient for thee, and his strength is manifested perfect in thy weakness. The heart hath a thousand sayings and conceits, which God is utterly against.

Direct. XV. When you cannot exercise a trust of assurance, exercise the trust of general faith, and hope, and the quiet submission of thyself to the holy will of God.--The common pretence of distrust is, I know not that I am a child of God; and, it beseems the ungodly to fear his wrath. But, as the gospel is tidings of great joy to any people where it cometh, so it is a word of hope and trust. At least trust God so far as Infinite Goodness should be trusted, who will damn none but the finally obstinate refusers of his saving grace.[120] And with Aaron, Lev. x. 3, hold your peace, when he is glorifying himself in his corrections. Remember, that the will of God is never misguided; that it is the beginning and end of all things, Rev. iv. 11; Rom. xi. 36; that it never willeth any thing but good; that it is the centre and end of all our wills. There is no rest or quietness for our wills, but in the will of God: and his will is always for the good of them that truly desire to be conformed to it, by obedience to his commands, and submission to his disposal. Say, therefore, with your Saviour, "Father, if it be thy will, let this cup pass from me; but not as I will, but as thou wilt." There is nothing got by struggling against the will of God; nor any thing lost by a quiet submission to it. And, if thou love it, and desire to obey and please it, trust in it, for it will surely save thee.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: For a delight in God.]

Grand Direct. XIII. Diligently labour that God and holiness may be thy chief delight: and this holy delight may be the ordinary temperament of thy religion.

Directions for Delighting ourselves in God.

Direct. I. Rightly understand what delight in God it is that you must seek and exercise.--It is not a mere sensitive delight, which is exercised about the objects of sense or fantasy, and is common to beasts with men: nor is it the delights of immediate intuition of God, such as the blessed have in heaven: nor is it an enthusiastic delight, consisting in irrational raptures and joys, of which we can give no account of the reason.[121] Nor is it a delight inconsistent with sorrow and fear, when they are duties; but it is the solid, rational complacency of the soul in God and holiness, arising from the apprehensions of that in him, which is justly delectable to us. And it is such, as, in estimation of its object, and inward complacency and gladness, though not in passionate joy or mirth, must excel our delight in temporal pleasure; and must be the end of all our humiliations, and other inferior duties.

Direct. II. Understand how much of this holy delight may be hoped for on earth.[122]--Though too many christians feel much more fear and sorrow in their religion than delight, yet every true christian doth esteem God more delectable, or fit and worthy of his delights, if he could enjoy him; whereas to the carnal, fleshly things do seem more fit to be their delights. And though most christians reach not very high in their delights in God, yet God hath prescribed us such means, in which, if we faithfully used them, we might reach much higher. And this much we might well expect: 1. So much as might make our lives incomparably more quiet, contented, and pleasant to us, than are the lives of the greatest or happiest worldlings. 2. So much as might make our thoughts of God and the life to come, to be ready, welcome, pleasant thoughts to us. 3. So much as might greatly prevail against our inordinate griefs and fears, and our backwardness to duties, and weariness in them, and might make religion an ordinary pleasure. 4. So much as might take off our hankering desire after unnecessary recreations and unlawful pleasures of the flesh. 5. So much as might sweeten all our mercies to us, with a spiritual perfume or relish. 6. So much as might make some sufferings joyful, and the rest more easy to us. 7. And so much as might make the thoughts of death less terrible to us, and make us desire to be with Christ.

[Sidenote: Psal. lxviii. 3-5; lxix. 30, &c.]

Direct. III. Understand what there is in God and holiness, which is fit to be the soul's delight.--As, 1. 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 building, or fields, or gardens, not because they are yours, but because they are a delectable object to the eye; so let your minds delight themselves in God, considered in himself, as the only object of highest delight. 2. Delight yourselves also in his relative attributes, in which are expressed his goodness to his creatures: as his all-sufficiency, and faithfulness or truth, his benignity, his mercy, and compassion, and patience to sinners, and his justice unto all. 3. Delight yourselves in him as his glory appeareth in his wondrous works, of creation and daily providence. 4. Delight yourselves in him as he is related to you, as your God and Father, and as all your interest, hope, and happiness are in him alone. 5. Delight yourselves in him as his excellencies shine forth in his blessed Son. 6. 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. 7. Delight thyself in his image, though but imperfectly printed on thy soul; and also on his holy servants, Gal. ii. 20; 1 Cor. xv. 10; 2 Cor. vii. 18. 8. Delight yourselves in the consideration of the glory which he hath from all his creatures, and the universal fulfilling of his will: as the prosperity and happiness of your friend delighteth you, and the success of any excellent enterprises, and the praise of excellent things and persons, and as you have a special delight in the success of truth, and the flourishing order, and unity, and peace, and prosperity of kingdoms, especially of the 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. 9. Delight yourselves in the safety which you have in his favour and defence: and the treasury which you have in his all-sufficiency and love, for your continual supplies in every want, and deliverance in every danger; and the ground of quiet contentedness and confidence which is offered to fearful souls in him. 10. Delight yourselves in the particular 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 all relations. 11. Delight yourselves in the privilege you enjoy of speaking to him, and of him, and hearing from him, and adoring and worshipping 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 earth? Will he dwell and walk with sinful men? When the heaven of heavens cannot contain him." Psal. xl. 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. xlvi. 4, "The streams" of his grace "make glad the city of God, the holy tabernacles of the Most High: God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved." 12. Delight yourselves above all in the forethoughts and hope of the glory which you shall see and enjoy for ever. I do but name all these for your memory, because they are before spoken of in the directions for love.

[Sidenote: How much God is for his servants' delights.]

Direct. IV. Understand how much these holy delights are pleasing unto God, and how much he is for his people's pleasure.--For it much hindereth the joy of many christians, that they think it is against the will of God, that such as they should so much rejoice; or at least that they apprehend not how much he hath commanded it, and how great a duty it is, and how much pleasing to their God. Consider, 1. It is not for nothing that the nature of man is made capable of higher and larger delights, than the brutish, sensual nature is:[123] and that in this we are made little lower than angels. 2. Nor is it for nothing that God hath made delight and complacency, the most powerful, commanding affection, and the end of all the other passions, which they professedly subserve and seek; and the most natural, inseparable affection of the soul, there being none that desireth not delight. 3. Nor is it in vain that God hath provided and offered such plenty of most excellent objects for our delight, especially himself, in his attributes, love, mercy, Son, Spirit, and kingdom: which brutes were not made to know or to enjoy. 4. Nor hath he given us in vain, such excellent, convenient, and various helps, and inferior preparations which tend to our delight; even for body and mind, to further our delight in God. 5. Nor is it in vain that he maketh us yet more nearly capable by his Spirit; even by affecting humiliations, and mortifying, cleansing, illuminating, and quickening works: and that the kingdom of heaven consisteth in righteousness, 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. 6. 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. 7. 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. 8. Nor hath he multiplied his commands for his rejoicing and delight, in vain; again and again commanding us to rejoice, and always to rejoice. 9. Nor is it insignificant that he hath forbidden those worldly cares, and fears, and griefs which would devour their joys: nor that he hath so clearly showed them the way to joy, and blameth them if they walk not in it. 10. He filleth up their lives with mercies, and matter of delight, by his direction, support, provisions, and disposals: and all this in their way of trial, and in the valley of tears. 11. How tender is he of their sufferings and sorrows; not afflicting willingly, nor delighting to grieve the sons of men. 12. He taketh not away their delight and comfort, till they cast it away themselves, by sinning, or self-afflicting, or neglecting his proposed pleasures. 13. He never faileth to meet them with his delights, while they walk in the way prescribed to that end: unless when it tendeth to their greater pleasure, to have some present interruption of the pleasure.[124] 14. In their greatest needs, when themselves and other helps must fail, he giveth them ofttimes the greatest joys. 15. And he taketh their delights and sorrows as if they were his own. In all their afflictions he is afflicted, and he delighteth in their welfare, and rejoiceth over them to do them good. Cannot you see the will of your Father in all this? 16. If you cannot, yet lift up your heads, and foresee the eternal delights which he hath prepared for you, when you shall enter into your Master's joy: and then judge whether God be for your delight?

[Sidenote: Reasons for delight in God.]

Direct. V. Take special notice of the reasons why God commandeth you to delight in him, and consequently how much of religion consisteth in these delights.--1. Thou vilifiest and dishonourest him, if thou judge him not the worthiest for thy delights. 2. If thou delight not in him, thy thoughts of God will be seldom, or unwelcome and unpleasant thoughts. 3. And thy speeches of him will be seldom, or heartless, forced speeches. Who knoweth not how readily our thoughts and tongues do follow our delight? Be it house, or land, or books, or friends, or actions, which are our delight, we need no force to bring our thoughts to them. The worldling thinks and tasteth of his wealth and business; the proud man, of his dignities and honour; the voluptuous beast, of his lusts, and sports, and meats, and drinks; because they most delight in these. And so must the christian of his God, and hopes, and holy business, as being his delight.[125] 4. It will keep you away from holy duties, in which you should have communion with God, if you have no delight in God and them. This makes so many neglect both public and secret worship, because they have no delight in it; when those that delight in it are ready in taking all opportunities. 5. It will corrupt your judgments, and draw you to think that a little is enough, and that serious diligence is unnecessary preciseness, and that one quarter of your duty is an excess. A man that hath no delight in God and godliness, is easily drawn to think, that little, and seldom, and cold, and formal, and heartless, lifeless preaching and praying may serve the turn, and any lip-service is acceptable to God, and that more is more ado than needs. And hence, he will be further drawn to reproach those that go beyond him, to quiet his own conscience, and save his own reputation; and at last be a forlorn, Satanical reviler, hater, and persecutor of the serious, holy worshippers of God. Jer. vi. 10, "Behold, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them: they have no delight in it: therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord." 6. If you delight not in it, you will do that which you do, without a heart, with backwardness and weariness: as your ox draweth unwillingly in the yoke, and is glad when you unyoke him: and as your horse that goeth against his will, and will go no longer than he feels the spur, when delight would cause alacrity and unweariedness. 7. It makes men apt to quarrel with the word, and every weakness in the minister offendeth them, as sick stomachs that have some fault or other still to find with their meat. 8. It greatly inclineth men to carnal and forbidden pleasures, because they taste not the higher and more excellent delights. Taverns, and ale-houses, plays, and whores, cards, and dice, and excess of recreation, must be sought out for them, as Saul sought a witch and a musician instead of God. It would be the most effectual answer to all the silly reasonings of the voluptuous, when they are pleading for the lawfulness of their unnecessary, foolish, time-wasting sports, if we could but help them to the heavenly nature and hearts that more delight in God.[126] This better pleasure is an argument that would do more to confute and banish their sinful pleasure, than a twelvemonth's disputing or preaching will do with them, while they are strangers to the soul's delight in God. Then they would rather say to their companions, O come and taste those high delights, which we have found in God! 9. The want of a delight in God and holiness, doth leave the soul as a prey to sorrows: every affliction that assaulteth it may do its worst, and hath its full blow at the naked, unfortified heart: for creature delights will prove but a poor preservative to it. 10. This want of a delight in God and holiness, is the way to apostasy itself. Few men will hold on in a way that they have no delight in, when all other delights must be forsaken for it. The caged hypocrite, while he is cooped up to a stricter life than he himself desires, even while he seemeth to serve him, is loathsome to God; for the body without the will is but a carcass or carrion in his eyes. If you had rather not serve God, you do not serve him while you seem to serve him. If you had rather live in sin, you do live in sin, reputatively, while you forbear the outward act: for in God's account, the heart, or will, is the man: and what a man had rather be (habitually) that he is indeed. And yet, this hypocrite will be still looking for a hole to get out of his cage, and forsake his unbeloved outside of religion: like a beast that is driven in a way that he is loth to go, and will be turning out at every gap. All these mischiefs follow the want of delight in God.

On the contrary, the benefits which follow our delight in God, (besides the sweetness of it,) are unspeakable. Those which are contrary to the forementioned hurts, I leave to your own consideration. 1. Delight in God will prove that thou knowest him, and lovest him, and that thou art prepared for his kingdom; for all that truly delight in him shall enjoy him. 2. Prosperity, which is but the small addition of earthly things, will not easily corrupt thee or transport thee. 3. Adversity, which is the withholding of earthly delights, will not much grieve thee, or easily deject thee. 4. Thou wilt receive more profit by a sermon, or good book, or conference, which thou delightest in, than others, that delight not in them, will do in many. 5. All thy service will be sweet to thyself, and acceptable to God: if thou delight in him, he doth certainly delight in thee, Psal. cxlix. 4; cxlvii. 11; 1 Chron. xxix. 17. 6. Thou hast a continual feast with thee, which may sweeten all the crosses of thy life, and afford thee greater joy than thy sorrow is, in thy saddest case. 7. When you delight in God, your creature delight will be sanctified to you, and warrantable in its proper place; which in others is idolatrous, or corrupt. These, with many other, are the benefits of delight in God.

Direct. VI. Consider how suitable God and holiness are to be the matter of thy delight, and take heed of all temptations which would represent him as unsuitable to you.--He is, 1. Most perfect and blessed in himself. 2. And full of all that thou canst need. 3. He hath all the world at his command for thy relief. 4. He is nearest to thee in presence and relation in the world. 5. He hath fitted all things in religion to thy delight, for matter, variety, and benefit. 6. He will be a certain and constant delight to thee: and a durable delight, when all others fail. Thy soul came from him, and therefore naturally should tend to him: it is from him, and for him, and therefore must rest in him, or have no rest. We delight in the house where we were born, and in our native country, and in our parents; and every thing inclineth to its own original: and so should the soul to its Creator.

Direct. VII. Corrupt not your minds and appetites with contrary delights.--Addict not yourselves to fleshly pleasures: taste nothing that is forbidden. Sorrow itself is not such an enemy to spiritual delights, as sensual, sinful pleasures are. O leave your beastly and your childish pleasures, and come and feast your souls on God, Isa. lv. 1-3. Away with the delights of lust, and pride, and covetousness, and vain sports, and gluttony, and drunkenness, if ever you would have the solid and durable delights! Think not of joining both together. Bethink yourselves: can it be any thing but the disease and wickedness of thy heart, that can make a play, or a feast, or drunken, wanton company, more pleasant to thee than God? What a heart is that which thinketh it a toil to meditate on God and heaven; and thinks it a pleasure to think of the baits of pride and covetousness! What a heart is that which thinks that sensuality, wantonness, and vanity are the pleasure of their families, which must not be turned out; and that godliness, and heavenly discourse and exercises, would be the sadness and trouble of their families, which must not be brought in, lest it mar their mirth; that thinks it an intolerable toil and slavery to love God, and holiness, and heaven, and to be employed for them; and thinks it a delightful thing to love a whore, or excess of meat, or drink, or sports! Can you say any thing of a man that is more disgraceful, unless you say he is a devil? It were not so vile for a child to delight more in a dog than in his parents, or a husband to delight more in the ugliest harlot than in his wife, as it is for a man to delight more in fleshly vanities than in God. Will you be licking up this dung, when you should be solacing your souls in angelical pleasures, and foretasting the delights of heaven? Oh how justly will God thrust away such wretches from his everlasting presence, who so abhor his ways and him! Can they blame him for denying them the things which they hate, or set so light by, as to prefer a lust before them? If they were not haters of God and holiness, they would never be so averse even to the delights which they should have with him.

Direct. VIII. Take heed of a melancholy habit of body; for melancholy people can scarce delight in any thing at all, and therefore not in God. Delight is as hard to them, as it is to a pained member to find pleasure, or a sick stomach to delight in the food which it loathes. They can think of God with trouble, and fear, and horror, and despair; but not with delight.

Direct. IX. Take heed of an impatient, peevish, self-tormenting mind, that can bear no cross; and of overvaluing earthly things, which causeth impatience in the want of them. Make not too great a matter of fleshly pain or pleasure.--Otherwise your minds will be called to a continual attendance on the flesh, and taken up with continual desires, or cares, or fears, or griefs, or pleasures; and will not be permitted to solace themselves with God. The soul that would have pure and high delights, must abstract itself from the concernments of the flesh; and look on your body, as if it were the body of another, whose pain or pleasure you can choose whether you will feel. When Paul was rapt up into the third heaven, and saw the things unutterable, he was so far freed from the prison of sense, that he knew not whether he was in the body or out of it. As the separated souls, that see the face of God and the Redeemer, do leave the body to be buried, and to rot in darkness, and feel not all this to the interrupting of their joys; so faith can imitate such a death to the world, and such a neglect of the flesh, and some kind of elevating separation of the mind, to the things above. If in this near conjunction you cannot leave the body to rejoice or suffer alone, yet, as itself is but a servant to the soul, so let not its pain or pleasure be predominant, and control the high operations of the soul. A manly, valiant, believing soul, though it cannot abate the pain at all, nor reconcile the flesh to its calamity, yet it can do more, notwithstanding the pain, to its own delight, than strangers will believe.

Some women, and passionate, weak-spirited men, especially in sickness, are so peevish, and of such impatient minds, that their daily work is to disquiet and torment themselves. One can scarce tell how to speak to them, or look at them, but it offendeth them. And the world is so full of occasions of provocation, that such persons are like to have little quietness. It is unlike that these should delight in God, who keep their minds in a continual, ulcerated, galled state, incapable of any delights at all, and cease not their self-tormenting.

Direct. X. It is only a life of faith, that will be a life of holy, heavenly delight: exercise yourselves, therefore, in believing contemplations of the things unseen.--It must not be now and then a glance of the eye of the soul towards God, or a seldom salutation, which you would give a stranger; but a walking with him, and frequent addresses of the soul unto him, which must help you to the delights which believers find in their communion with him.

Direct. XI. Especially let faith go frequently to heaven for renewed matter of delight, and frequently think what God will be to you there for ever, and with what full, everlasting delight he will satiate your souls.--As heaven is the place of our full delight, so the foresight and foretaste of it, is the highest delight which on earth is to be attained. And a soul that is strange to the foresight of heaven, will be as strange to the true delights of faith.

Direct. XII. It is a great advantage to holy delight, to be much in the more delightful parts of worship; as in thanksgiving and praise, and a due celebration of the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ.--Of which I have spoken in the foregoing directions.

Direct. XIII. A skilful, experienced pastor, who is able to open the treasury of the gospel, and publicly and privately to direct his flock in the work of self-examination, and the heavenly exercises of faith, is a great help to christians' spiritual delight.--The experiences of believers teach them this: how oft do they go away refreshed and revived, who came to the assembly, or to their pastors, in great distress, and almost in despair! See Job xxxiii. 23; 2 Cor. i. 3, 4. It is the office and delight of the ministers of Christ, to be "helpers of his people's faith and joy," 2 Cor. i. 24; Phil. i. 4, 25; 1 Thess. ii. 20.

Direct. XIV. Make use of all that prosperity, and lawful pleasure, which God giveth you in outward things, for the increase and advantage of your delight in God.--Though corrupted nature is apter to abuse prosperity and earthly delights, than any other state, to the diverting of the heart from God; and almost all the devil's poison is given in sugared or gilded allectives; yet the primitive, natural use of prosperity, of health, and plenty, and honour, and peace, is to lead up the mind to God, and give us a taste of his spiritual delights! That the neighbourhood of the body might be the soul's advantage; and that God, who in this life will be seen by us but in a glass, and will give out his comforts by his appointed means, might make advantage of sensitive delights, for his own reception, and the communications of his love and pleasure unto man: that, as soon as the eye, or ear, or taste, perceiveth the delightfulness of their several objects, the holy soul might presently take the hint and motion, and be carried up to delightful thoughts of him that giveth us all these delights. And, doubtless, so far as we can make use of a delight in friends, or food, or health, or habitations, or any accommodations of our bodies, to further our delight in God, or to remove those melancholy fears or sorrows, which would hinder this spiritual delight, it is not only lawful, but our duty to use them, with that moderation as tendeth to this end.

Direct. XV. Make use of affliction, as a great advantage for your purest and unmixed delight in God.--The servants of Christ have usually never so much of the joy in the Holy Ghost, as in their greatest sufferings; especially if they be for his sake. The soul never retireth so readily and delightfully to God, as when it hath no one else that will receive it, or that it can take any comfort from. God comforteth us most, when he hath made us see that none else can or will relieve us. When all friends have forsaken us save only one, that one is sweeter to us then than ever. When all our house is fired down except one room, that room is pleasanter to us than it was before. He that hath lost one eye, will love the other better than before. In prosperity our delights in God are too often corrupted by a mixture of sensual delight; but all that remaineth when the creature is gone, is purely divine.

Direct. XVI. Labour by self-examination, deliberately managed under the direction of an able spiritual guide, to settle your souls in the well-grounded persuasion of your special interest in God and heaven; and then suffer not Satan, by his troublesome importunity, to renew your doubts, or molest your peace.--An orderly, well-guided, diligent self-examination, may quickly do much to show you your condition; and if you are convinced that the truth of grace is in you, let not fears and suspicion go for reason, and cause you to deny that which you cannot, without the gainsaying of your consciences, deny. You see not the design of the devil in all this: his business is, by making you fear that you have no interest in God, to destroy your delight in him and in his service: and next that, to make you through weariness forsake him; and either despair, or turn to sensual delights. Foresee and prevent these designs of Satan, and suffer him not at his pleasure to raise new storms of fears and troubles, and draw you to deny your Father's mercies, or to suspect his proved love.

Direct. XVII. Damp not your delights by wilful sin.--If you grieve your Comforter he will grieve you, or leave you to grieve yourselves: in that measure that any known sin is cherished, delight in God will certainly decay.

Direct. XVIII. Improve your observation of wicked men's sensual delights, to provoke your souls to delight in God.--Think with yourselves: Shall hawks, and hounds, and pride, and filthiness, and cards, and dice, and plays, and sports, and luxury, and idleness, and foolish talk, or worldly honours, be so delightful to these deluded sinners? and shall not my God and Saviour, his love and promises, and the hopes of heaven, be more delightful to me? Is there any comparison between the matter of my delights and theirs?

Direct. XIX. Labour to overcome those fears of death, which would damp your joys in the foresight of everlasting joys.--As nothing more feedeth holy delights than the forethoughts of heaven; so there is scarce any thing that more hindereth our delight in those forethoughts, than the fear of interposing death. See what I have written against this fear, in my "Treatise of Self-denial," and "Saints' Rest," and in my "Treatise of Death, as the last Enemy," and in my "Last Work of a Believer."

Direct. XX. Pretend not any other religious duties against your delights in God and holiness; but use them all in their proper subservience to this.--Penitent sorrow is only a purge to cast out those corruptions which hinder you from relishing your spiritual delights. Use it therefore as physic, only when there is need; and not for itself, but only to this end; and turn it not into your ordinary food. Delight in God is the health of your souls: say not you cannot have while to be healthful, because you must take physic, or that you take physic against health, or instead of health, but for your health. So take up no sorrow against your delight in God, or instead of it, but for it, and so much as promoteth it. See the directions for love beforegoing.

By this time you may see, that holy delight adjoined to love, is the principal part of our religion, and that they mistake it which place it in any thing else. And therefore how inexcusable are all the ungodly enemies or neglecters of a holy life. If it had been a life of grief and toil, they had had some pretence; but to fly from pleasure, and refuse delight, and such delight, is inexcusable. Be it known to you, sinners, God calleth you not to forsake delight, but to accept it; to change your delight in sin and vanity, for delight in him. You dare not say but this is better: you cannot have your houses and lands for ever, nor your lust and luxury for ever; but you may have God for ever. And do you hope to live for ever with him, and have you no delight in him? Men deal with Christ as the papists with the reformed churches: because we reject their formalities and ceremonious toys, they say we take down all religion. So because we would call men from their brutish pleasures, they say we would let them have no pleasure; for the epicure thinks, when his luxury, lust, and sport is gone, all is gone. Call a sluggard from his bed, or a glutton from his feast, to receive a kingdom, and he will grudge, if he observe only what you would take from him, and not what you give him in its stead. When earthly pleasures end in misery, then who would not wish they had preferred the holy, durable delights?

* * * * *

[Sidenote: For a life of thankfulness.]

Grand Direct. XIV. Let thankfulness to God thy Creator, Redeemer, and Regenerator, be the very temperament of thy soul, and faithfully expressed by thy tongue and life.

Though our thankfulness is no benefit to God, yet he is pleased with it, as that which is suitable to our condition, and showeth the ingenuity and honesty of the heart. An unthankful person is but a devourer of mercies, and a grave to bury them in, and one that hath not the wit and honesty to know and acknowledge the hand that giveth them; but the thankful looketh above himself, and returneth all, as he is able, to him from whom they flow.

True thankfulness to God is discerned from counterfeit, by these qualifications: 1. True thankfulness having a just estimate of mercies comparatively, preferreth spiritual and everlasting mercies before those that are merely corporal and transitory. But carnal thankfulness chiefly valueth carnal mercies, though notionally it may confess that the spiritual are the greater. 2. True thankfulness inclineth the soul to a spiritual rejoicing in God, and to a desire after more of his spiritual mercies: but carnal thankfulness is only a delight in the prosperity of the flesh, or the delusion and carnal security of the mind, inclining men to carnal, empty mirth, and to a desire of more such fleshly pleasure, plenty, or content: as a beast that is full fed, will skip, and play, and show that he is pleased with his state; or if he have ease, he would not be molested. 3. True thankfulness kindleth in the heart a love to the giver above the gift, or at least a love to God above our carnal prosperity and pleasure, and bringeth the heart still nearer unto God, by all his mercies. But carnal thankfulness doth spring from carnal self-love, or love of fleshly prosperity; and is moved by it, and is subservient to it, and loveth God, and thanketh him, but so far as he gratifieth or satisfieth the flesh. A childlike thankfulness maketh us love our Father more than his gift, and desire to be with him in his arms; but a dog doth love you and is thankful to you but for feeding him: he loveth you in subordination to his appetite and his bones. 4. True thankfulness inclineth us to obey and please him, that obligeth us by his benefits. But carnal thankfulness puts God off with the hypocritical, complimental thanks of the lips, and spends the mercy in the pleasing of the flesh, and makes it but the fuel of lust and sin. 5. True thankfulness to God is necessarily transcendent, as his mercies are transcendent. The saving of our souls from hell, and promising us eternal life, besides the giving us our very beings and all that we have, do oblige us to be totally and absolutely his, that is so transcendent a Benefactor to us, and causeth the thankful person to devote and resign himself and all that he hath to God, to answer so great an obligation. But carnal thankfulness falls short of this absolute and total dedication, and still leaveth the sinner in the power of self-love, devoting himself (really) to himself, and using all that he is, or hath, to the pleasing of his fleshly mind, and giving God only the tithes or leavings of the flesh, or so much as it can spare, lest he should stop the streams of his benignity, and bereave the flesh of its prosperity and contents.

Directions for Thankfulness to God, our Benefactor.

[Sidenote: Gratitude is to the promise, much what obedience is to the law.]

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