b7 > 7
THE
PRACTICAL WORKS
REV. RICHARD BAXTER.
THE
PRACTICAL WORKS
THE REV. RICHARD BAXTER:
A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR,
AND
A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF HIS WRITINGS,
BY THE
REV. WILLIAM ORME,
AUTHOR OF "THE f.IFE OF JOHN OWEN, D.D. ; " " BIBLIO THECA BIBI.TCA," U1 f .
IN TWENTY-THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. VIII.
LONDON:
JAMES DUNCAN, 37, PATERNOSTER ROW.
MDCCCXXX.
s
LONDON :
PRINTED BY MILLS, JOWETT, AND MILLS,
BOLT-COUBT, FLEET-STBEET.
THE
PRACTICAL WORKS
REV. RICHARD BAXTER.
VOLUME VIII.
CONTAINING
DIRECTIONS AND PERSUASIONS TO A SOUND CONVERSION;
DIRECTIONS FOR WEAK, DISTEMPERED CHRISTIANS;
THE CHARACTER OF A SOUND, CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN;
GOD'S GOODNESS VINDICATED.
VOL. Vlll.
RICHARD EDWARDS, CRANE COURT, FLEET STREET, I Ol^DON.
CONTENTS
OF
THE EIGHTH VOLUME.
DIRECTIONS AND PERSUASIONS
TO A SOUND CONVERSION.
PAGE
Preface iii
Considerations to provoke men to take heed of sticking in a
half-conversion 7
Direct. 1. Labour for a right understanding of the true nature
of Christianity, and meaning of the Gospel that must con-
vert 21
Direct. 2. When you understand that which you are called to,
search the Scripture, and see whether it be so 25
Direct. 3. Be much in the serious consideration of the truths
which you understand and believe 30
Seven things to be considered 32
The manner of this consideration 42
Twelve motives to consideration 46
Direct. 4. See that the work of humiliation be thoroughly done,
and break not away from the spirit of contrition before he
have done with you : and yet see that you mistake not the
nature and ends of the work, and that you drive it not on
further than God requireth 61
Preparatory humiliation, what ibid.
Sound humiliation, how known 62
The ends and use of humiliation 66
Mistakes about humiliation to be avoided 77
Whether it be possible to be too much humbled 80
How to know when sorrow should be restrained 81
And when sorrow must be increased 83
Motives for submission to a thorough humiliation 90
Direct. 5. Close with the Lord Jesus understandingly, heartily,
and entirely, as he is revealed and offered in the Gospel . . 94
iv CONTENTS
PAGE
What must be understood of the person of Christ 95
The ends of redemption to be understood 96
The demonstrations of the glory of God in Christ, and to whom 108
What are the works of redemption that Christ hath done .... 1 13
The benefits by Christ procured :
The general benefits 117
The benefits proper to believers 120
The several terms on which the several benefits are conveyed 128
The certainty of all this 131
How Christ must be received heartily and with the will .... 132
Christ must be entirely received, and how 137
Direct. 6. See that the flesh be thoroughly mortified, and your
hearts taken off the pleasures, profits, and honours of the
world, and think not of reconciling God and the world, as
if you might secure your interest in both 144
Direct. 7- Be sure that you make an absolute resignation of
yourselves, and all that you have to God 147
Direct. 8. See that you mistake not a mere change of your
opinions, and profession, and behaviour for a saving change 155
The marks by which a sound conversion may be known from
a mere opinionative change 158
Directions to get beyond an opinionative change 166
tiirect. 9. Acquaint yourselves by faith with the glory of the
everlasting kingdom, and see that you take it for your por-
tion and your end, and from thence let the rest of your ac-
• tions be animated - 169
Wherein this blessedness doth consist 17 1
Direct. 10. Rest not, and count not yourselves converted, till
God and holiness have your very love, desire, and delight:
and take it not for a saving change, when you had rather
live a worldly and ungodly life, if it were not for the fears of
punishment - 173
Direct. 1 1 . If you would not have the work miscarry, turn
then this present day and hour without any more delays :
where fifty considerations are given to shame men out of
their delays 181
Direct. 12. Stop not in weak and wavering purposes, and
faint attempts ; but see that you be groundedly, unreser-
vedly, and firmly or habitually resolved 209
What resolution is, and by what deliberations it is caused.
The preparatory common acts, and the special acts : illu-
mination, and the will's determinations, how wrought • . ibid.
The unresolved are unconverted 213
What resolution it is that is necessary • • * " 215
Twenty Motives to resolution 219
Hindrances to resolution • 239
Two Directions for prosecuting resolution, that it may hold 243
The Conclusion 246
CONTENTS. v
DIRECTIONS FOR
WEAK, DISTEMPERED CHRISTIANS.
PAGE
Dedication • • • cclv
Preface eclvi
The text opened. What it is to receive Christ. The nature
of justifying faith in its three essential acts. How to know
that we have received Christ. What it is to walk in him.
What to be rooted, to be grounded, and built up, &c. • • • • 265
The Doctrine of the necessity of weak Christians seeking sta-
bility, confirmation, and increase of grace. What confir-
mation is, in the understanding, will, affections, and in the
life • 271
Twenty Motives to convince weak Christians of the great
need of growth and confirmation 275
A Lamentation for the weaknesses of Christians : in their
knowledge, in their practice, in public worship, in inward
grace, in outward obedience, about known duties, confes-
sion, reproof, &c. their uncharitableness, backbiting,
pride, &c. 300
Ten more considerations to convince them that it is not tri •
< fling, but great things which God requireth at their hands . 307
Twenty Directions for confirmation and increase of grace • • 321
THE CHARACTER OF A
SOUND, CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN.
Preface cecbtxiii
To the Reader i ccclxxv
The Characters of a strong, confirmed Christian.
1 . He liveth by such a faith of unseen things as governeth
his soul instead of sight 382
2. He hath cogent reasons for his religion 384
3 . He seeth the well-ordered frame of sacred verities, and the
integral parts in their harmony or concert ; and setteth not
up one truth against another 386
4. He adhereth to them, and practiseth them, from an inward
con-natural principle, called " the Divine nature," and
" the Spirit of Christ." 387
5. He serveth not God for fear only, but for love 388
6. He loveth God, 1. Much for his goodness to himself. 2.
And more for his goodness to the church. 3. And most of
all or his essential goodness and perfection 390
vi CONTENTS.
PAGE
7. He taketh this love and its expressions, for the heart and
height of all his religion 392
8. He hath absolutely put his soul, and all his hopes into the
hand of Christ, and liveth by faith upon him as his Saviour 393
9. He taketh Christ as the Teacher sent from God, and his
doctrine for the truest wisdom, and learneth of none but in
subordination to him 394
10. His repentance is universal and effectual, and hath gone
to the root of every sin 396
11. Heloveth the light, as it sheweth him his sin and duty;
and is willing to know the worst of sin, and the most of duty 397
12. He desireth the highest degree of holiness, and hath no
sin which he had not rather leave than keep, and had ra-
ther be the best, though in poverty, than the greatest in
prosperity 399
13. He liveth upon God and heaven as the end, reward, and
motive of his life 401
14. He counteth no cost or pains too great for the obtaining
it, and hath nothing so dear which he cannot part with for it 402
15. He is daily exercised in the practice of self-denial, as
(next to the love of God) the second half of his religion • • 405
] 0'. He hath mortified his fleshly desires, and so far mastereth
his senses and appetite, that they make not his obedience
very uneasy or uneven 408
17. He preferreth the means of his holiness and happiness,
incomparably before all provisions and pleasures of the flesh 410
18. He is crucified to the world, and the world to him by the
cross of Christ, and contemneth it through the belief of the
greater things of the life to come 411
19. He foreseeth the end in all his ways, and judgeth of all
things as they will appear at last 413
20. He liveth upon God alone, and is content with his favour
and approbation, without the approbation and favour of men 415
21. He hath absolutely devoted himself, and all that he hath
to God, to be used according to his will 417
22. He hath a readiness to obey, and a quick and pleasant
compliance of his will to the will of God 419
23. He delighteth himself more in God, and heaven, and
Christ, and holiness, than in all the world : religion is not
tedious and grievous to him 420
24. He is conscious of his own sincerity, and assured of his
justification, and title to everlasting joys 424
25. This assurance doth not make him more careless and re-
miss, but increaseth his love and holy diligence 425
26. Yet he abhorreth pride as the firstborn of the devil, and is
very low and vile in his own eyes, and can easily endure to
be low and vile in the eyes of others 426
27. Being acquainted with the deceitfulness of the heart,
and the methods of temptation, he liveth as among snares,
and enemies, and clangers, in a constant watch; and can
conquer many and subtle, and great temptations (through
grace) 428
CONTENTS. vii
PAGE
28. He hath counted what it may cost him to be saved, and
hath resolved not to stick at suffering, but to bear the cross
and be conformed to his crucified Lord, and hath already in
heart forsaken all for him 439
29. He is not a Christian only for company or carnal ends, or
upon trust of other men's opinions, and therefore would be
true to Christ, if his rulers, his teachers, his company, and
all that he knoweth should forsake him 432
30. He can digest the hardest truths of Scripture, and the
hardest passages of God's providence 434
31. He can exercise all his graces in harmony, without neg-
lecting one to use another, or setting one against another . 435
32. He is more in getting and using grace, than in inquiring
whether he have it, (though he do that also in its place). . ibid.
33. He studieth duty more than events, and is more careful
what he should be towards God, than how he shall here be
used by him 436
34. He is more regardful of his duty to others, than of theirs
to him, and had much rather suffer wrong than do it ... . 437
35. He keepeth up a constant government of his thoughts,
restraining them from evil, and using them upon God, and
for him 439
36. He keepeth a constant government over his passions, so
far as that they pervert not his judgment, his heart, his
tongue or actions ibid.
37. He governeth his tongue, employing it for God, and res-
training it from evil 441
38. Heart-work and heaven-work are the principal matters of
his religious discourse, and not barren controversies or :m-
pertinencies 442
39. He liveth upon the common great substantials of religion,
and yet will not deny the smallest truth, or commit the
smallest sin, for any price that man can offer him 443
40. He is a high esteemer, and careful redeemer of time, and
abhorreth idleness and diversions which would rob him of it 447
41. His heart is set upon doing all the good in the world that
he is able : it is his daily business and delight 448
42. He truly loveth his neighbour as himself 449
43. He hath a special love to all godly Christians as such, and
such as will not stick at cost in its due expressions ; nor be
turned into bitterness by tolerable differences 450
44. He forgiveth injuries, and loveth his enemies, and doth
them all the good he can : from the sense of the love of
Christ to him 452
45. He doth as he would be done by; and is as precise in the
justice of his dealings with men, as in acts of piety to God . . 453
46. He is faithful and laborious in his outward trade or call-
ing, not out of covetousness, but obedience to God 455
47. He is very conscionable in the duties of his several rela-
tions, in his family or other society, as a superior, inferior,
or equal 456
vin CONTENTS.
PAGE
48. He is the best subject, whether his rulers be good or bad,
though infidel and ungodly rulers may mistake, and use him
as the worst 457
49. His trust in God doth overcome the fear of man, and set-
tle him in a constant fortitude for God 462
50. Judgment and zeal conjunct are his constitution; his
judgment kindleth zeal, and his zeal is still judicious .... 464
51. He can bear the infirmities of the weak ; and their cen-
sures and abuses of himself j and requiteth them not with
uncharitable censure or reproach 466
52. He is a high esteemer of the unity of Christians, and ab-
horreth the principles, spirit, and practices of division .... 468
53. He seeketh the church's unity and concord not upon par-
tial, unrighteous, or impossible, but upon the possible,
righteous terms here mentioned 475
54. He is of a mellow, peaceable spirit ; not masterly, domi-
neering, hurtful, unquiet, or contentious 480
55. He most highly regardeth the interest of God, and men's
salvation in the world ; and regardeth no secular interest of
his own, or any man's, but in subserviency thereto 484
56. He is usually hated for his holiness by the wicked, and cen-
sured for his charity and peaceableness by the factious and
the weak ; and is moved by neither from the way of truth. . 488
57. Though he abhor ungodly, soul-destroying ministers, yet
he reverenceth the office as necessary to the church and
world; and highly valueth the holy, faithful labourers. . . . 489
58. He hath great experience of the providence, truth, and
justice of God, to fortify him against temptations to unbelief 49 1
59. Though he greatly desire th lively affections and gifts, yet
he much more valueth the three essential parts of holiness,
1. A high estimation in the understanding of God, Christ,
holiness, and heaven, above all that be set in any competi-
tion. ' . A resolved choice and adhesion of the will, to
these above and against all competitors. 3. The seeking
them first, in the endeavours of the life. And by these he
judgeth of the sincerity of his heart 492
60. He is all his life seriously preparing for his death, as if it
were at hand ; and is ready to receive the sentence with
joy ; but especially helongeth for the blessed day of Christ's
appearing, as the answer of all his desires and hopes .... 493
Six Uses of these characters » 498
GODS GOODNESS VINDICATED,
For the help of such (especially in melancholy) as are tempt-
ed to deny it, and think him to be cruel, because of the pre-
sent and future misery of mankind, with respect to the doc-
trine of reprobation and damnation 50f
DIRECTIONS
PERSUASIONS
SOUND CONVERSION.
PREVENTION OF THAT DECEIT AND DAMNATION OF SOULS, AND
OF THOSE SCANDALS, HERESIES, AND DESPERATE
APOSTACIES, THAT ARE THE CONSEQUENTS
OF A COUNTERFEIT OR SUPERFICIAL
CHANGE.
VOL. VIII.
PREFACE.
It is a weight so unconceivable that dependeth on the sound-
ness of conversion and sanctification, that our care and di-
ligence cannot be too great to make it sure. As the pro-
fessed atheist, heathens, and infidels without, so the self-
deceiving hypocrites within the church, do wilfully cast
away themselves for ever, by neglecting such a business of
everlasting consequence, when they have time, and warn-
ings, and assistance to dispatch it. Multitudes live like
brutes or atheists, forgetting that they are born in sin and
misery, and settled in it by wilful custom, and must be con-
verted or condemned. These know not (many of them)
what need they have of a conversion, nor what conversion or
sanctification ^is. And some that have been Preachers of
the Gospel, have been so lamentably ignorant in so great a
matter, that they have persuaded the poor deluded people
that it is only the gross and heinous sinners that need con-
version ; branding them with the name of Puritans, that will
not take a dead profession joined with civility, for true
sanctification ; and promise salvation to those, that Christ
hath with many asseverations professed shall not enter into
the kingdom of God. Others that confess that a thorough
sanctification is a necessary thing, do delude their souls
with something that is like it. Hence is the misery and dis-
honour of the church. Holiness itself is disgraced by the
sins of them that are unholy, because they pretend to that
which they have not. Hence it is, that we have thousands
that call themselves Christians, that live a worldly, fleshly
life, and some of them hating the way of godliness and yet
think they are converted, because they are sorry when they
have sinned, and wish when it is past that they had not done
it, and cry God mercy for it, and confess that they are sin-
ners ; and this they take for true repentance : when sin was
never mortified in their souls, nor their hearts ever brought
IV PREFACE.
to hate it, and forsake it ; but when they have had the pro-
fit and pleasure of sin, they are sorry for the danger, but
never regenerate and made new creatures by the Spirit of
Christ. Hence also it is, that we have such abundance of
mere opinionists, that take themselves for religious people.
Because they have changed their opinions, and their par-
ties, and can prate contentiously against those that are not
of their mind, and join themselves with those that seem to
be the strictest, they take themselves to be truly sanctified :
and this makes such gadding from one opinion to another,
and such censuring, reviling, and divisions, upon that ac-
count, because their religion is most in their opinions, and
hath not mortified their carnal, selfish inclinations and pas-
sions, nor brought them to a holy, heavenly mind. Hence
also it is, that we have so many sensual, scandalous profes-
sors, that seem to be religious, but bridle not their tongues,
their appetites, or their lusts, but are railers, or backbiters,
or tipplers, or gluttons, or filthy and lascivious, or some way
scandalous to their holy profession, because they are stran-
gers to a thorough conversion, but take up with the coun-
terfeit of a superficial change Hence also we have so many
worldlings, that think themselves religious men ; that make
Christ but a servant to their worldly interest, and seek
heaven but for a reserve, when earth forsakes them, and have
something in this world that is so dear to them that they
cannot forsake it for the hopes of glory ; but give up them-
selves to Christ, with secret exceptions and reserves, for
their prosperity in the world : and all because they never
knew a sound conversion, which should have rooted out of
their hearts this worldly interest, and delivered them up en-
tirely, and absolutely to Christ. Hence also it is that we
have so few professors that can lay by their pride, and bear
disesteem or injury, and love their enemies, and bless them
that curse them, yea, or love their godly friends that cross
them, or dishonour them. And so few that can deny them-
selves in their honour, or any considerable thing, for the
sake of Christ, and in obedience, and conformity to his will.
And all because they never had that saving change, that
takes down self, and sets up Christ as Sovereign in the soul.
And hence also it is that we have in this age so many dread-
ful instances of apostasy : so many reproaching the Scrip-
ture, that once they thought had converted them, and the
PREFACE. V
way of holiness, that once they did profess ; and denying
the Lord himself that bought them ; and all because they
formerly took up with a superficial, counterfeit conversion.
O how commonly, and how lamentably doth this misery ap-
pear among professors in their unsavoury discourse, their
strife and envy, on religious pretences, their dead formality,
their passionate divisions, or their selfish, proud, and earthly
minds ! A thorough conversion would have cured all this,
at least as to the dominion of it.
Having therefore in my " Call to the Unconverted" en-
deavoured to awaken careless souls, and persuade the ob-
stinate to turn and live, I have here spoken to them that
seem to be about the work, and given them some directions
and persuasions, to prevent their perishing in the birth, and
so to prevent that hypocrisy which else they are like to be
formed into, and the deceit of their hearts, the error of their
lives, and the misery at their death, which is like to follow.
That they live not as those that flatter God with their
mouths, and " lie unto him with their tongues, because their
heart is not right with him, neither are they steadfast ill his
covenant a ." Lest denying deep entertainment, and rooting
to the seed of life, or choaking it by the radicated, predomi-
nant love and cares of the world, they wither when the heat
of persecution shall break forth b : and lest building on the
sands, they fall when the winds and storms arise, and their
fall be great 6 : and so *' they go out from us, that they may be
made manifest that they were not of us : for if they had
been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us d ."
Look therefore to this great, important business, " and give
all diligence to make your calling and election sure e ." And
trust not your hearts too easily, or too confidently ; " but
turn to the Lord with all your hearts f ." Cleave to him re-
solvedly, or with purpose of heart 8 : and see that you sell all
and buy the pearl h : and stick not at the price, but abso-
lutely resign yourselves to Christ, and turn to him, as
Zaccheus and other primitive converts did, surrendering all
that you have unto his will'. Leave not any root of bitter-
ness behind ; make no exceptions, or reserves ; but deny
Psal. Ixxviii. 36, 37. b Matt. xiii. 20—22. e Matt. vii. : 36, 27.
J 1 John ii. 19. e 2 Pet. i. 10. f Joel ii. 12.
* Acts xi. 23. h Matt. xiii. 46. ' Luke xix. 8, 9.
Vi PREFACE.
yourselves : forsake all, and follow him that hath led you
this self-denying way ; and trust to his blood, and merits,
and promise, for a treasure in heaven, and then you are his
disciples, and true Christians indeed k . Reader, if thou
heartily make this covenant and keep it, thou shalt find that
Christ will not deceive thee, when the world deceiveth them
that chose it, in their greatest extremity ; but if thou draw
back, and think these terms too hard, remember that ever-
lasting life was offered thee, and remember why and for what
thou didst reject it. And if in this life-time thou wilt have
thy good things, expect to be tormented, when the believing,
self-denying souls are comforted.
RICHARD BAXTER.
May 29, 1658.
k Luke xiv. 18. 24, 25. S3. x Luke xvi. 25.
DIRECTIONS
PERSUASIONS
SOUND CONVERSION
Directions to Sinners that are purposed to Turn, and are under
the Work of Conversion : that it Miscarry not.
The first and greatest matter in the seeking after the salva-
tion of our souls, is, to be sure that we lay the foundation
well, and that the work of conversion be thoroughly wrought.
To this end I have already used many persuasions with the
unconverted to return, as thinking all further directions vain,
till we have persuaded men to a consent and willingness to
practise them. And in the end of that discourse I added a
few directions for the use of such as are willing to be con-
verted. But because I know that this is a matter of exceed-
ing consequence, I dare not thus leave it, before I have
added some further directions, to prevent the miscarrying
of this work where it is begun. And lest I should lose my
labour, through the unpreparedness of the reader ; I shall
first give you some preparing considerations, which may
awaken you to the practice of the directions which I shall
give you.
1. Consider first, that half-conversions are the undoing of
many thousand souls. If you are but like Agrippa, (Acts
xxvi. 28.) " almost persuaded to be Christians," you will be
but almost saved. Many a thousand that are now past
help, have had the word come near them, and cast them into
8 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
a fear, and made some stir and trouble in their souls, awaken-
ing their consciences, and forcing them to some good pur-
poses and promises, yea, and bringing them to the perfor-
mance of a half-reformation ; but this is not it that will serve
your turn. Many have been so much changed, as not to be
far from the kingdom of God, that yet came short of it ; Mark
xii. 34. There is no promise in Scripture that you shall be
pardoned if you almost repent and believe ; or be saved, if
you be almost sanctified and obedient ; but on the contrary,
the Lord hath plainly resolved, that you must turn or die,
though you almost turn ; and repent, or perish, though you
almost repent ; and that you shall not enter into the king-
dom of heaven, without conversion and a new birth, though
you came never so near it. God hath resolved upon the
terms of your salvation ; and it is in vain to hope for salva-
tion upon any other terms. God will not change nor come
down to your terms : it is you that must change and come
quite over to his terms, or you are lost for ever. If you come
never so near them, you are but lost men if you come not
up to them. The Lord well knew what he did, when he
made his covenant and law, and he imposed nothing on the
sons of men but what his infinite wisdom told him it was fit
for him to impose ; and he will not now compound with sin-
ners, and take less than he requireth ; that is, less than the
preeminency in their hearts ; nor will he ever come down to
any lower terms with you, than those which he propoundeth
to you in his Gospel. And therefore, poor sinners, as you
love your souls, do not stand dodging and halving with God ;
but give up yourselves entirely to him ; and do not stop at
the beginnings of a conversion, but go through with it, till
you are become new creatures indeed, or you are undone
when you have done all. A half, unsound convert will as
certainly perish as a drunkard or a whoremonger, though his
torment may not be so great.
2. Consider also, that if you do not go through with the
work when you are upon it, you may perhaps make it more
difficult than it was before ever you meddled with it, and
make it a very doubtful case whether ever it will be done.
As it is with a wound or other sore; if you tamper with it
with salves that are not agreeable to it, or are disorderly ap-
plied ; or if you skin it over before it be searched to the
bottom, it must be opened again, and will cost you double
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 9
pain before it be cured. Or as I have seen it with some
that have had a bone broken, or out of joint, and it hath been
set amiss at first : O what torments were the poor creatures
fain to undergo, in having it broken, or stretched and set
again ! which might have been spared, if it had been tho-
roughly done at first. So, if you will be shrinking and draw-
ing back, and favouring your flesh, and will not go to the
quick, you will make your conversion much more difficult ;
you must be brought to it again, and fetch your groans yet
deeper than before ; and weep over all your former tears ;
your doubts will be multiplied ; your fears and sorrows will
be increased ; and all will go sorer with you than at first.
O what a case will you be in, when your sores must be
lanced a second time, and your bones, as it were, broken
again ! Then you will wish you had gone through with it
at the first.
Yea, perhaps you may put God to it to fetch you in by
some sharp affliction, and send out so boisterous and churl-
ish a messenger to call you home as may make you wish you
had hearkened to a more gentle call: when the sheep will
straggle, the dog must be sent to affright them home. Many
a foolish sinner makes light of the gentle invitations of grace,
and they stand hovering between their sins and Christ ; and
sometimes they have a mind to turn, and the next tempta-
tion they are off again, and then they come on again coldly
and with half a heart ; and thus they stand trifling with the
God of heaven till he is fain to take another course with
them, and resolves to use some sharper means : and when
he layeth them under his rod, and they can neither fly from,
nor resist him, but see that their lives and souls are at his
mercy, then they begin to look about them, and see their
folly, and change their minds. You can tarry, and delay,
and dally with the dreadful God, in the time of your pros-
perity, and we may ask you over and over whether you will
turn before we can have a hearty answer; but what will you
do when God shall begin to frown, and when he takes you in
hand by his irresistible power, and lets loose upon you the
terrors of his wrath ? Will you then make as light of his
mercy as you do now ? Have you not read, Dan. v. 6. how
small an apparition of his anger did make a carousing king
look pale, and his joints to tremble in the midst of his jo-
viality ? A Manasseh will bethink himself and come in when
10 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
he is laid in irons, though he could set light by God before ;
2 Chron. xxxiii. 13. If Jonah will run away from God, he
can send a boisterous messenger to arrest him, and cast him
as it were into the belly of hell, and make him cry for mercy
to him that he disobeyed. So if you will stand trifling with
God, and will not by fair means be persuaded to yield and
come away, you may shortly look to hear from him in
another manner ; for he hath a voice that will make the
proudest face look pale, and the most stubborn heart to
tremble. If an idle, stubborn child will not learn nor be
ruled, the master or parent will teach him with the rod, and
give him a lash, and ask him, ' Will you yet learn ?' and
another lash, and ask him, * What say you now, will you
yet obey V So will God do by you, if he love you, and
mean to save you : when he hath taken away your wealth,
your friends, your children, will you then hearken to him or
will you not? When you lie groaning on your couch, and
all your parts are overwhelmed with pains, and death begins
to lay hands upon you, and bids you now come and answer
for your rebellions and delays before the living God, what
will you do then ? Will you turn or not ? O the lamentable
folly of sinners, that put themselves to so much sorrow, and
great calamity for themselves ! When sickness comes, and
death draws near, you beg, and cry, and groan, and promise :
when you feel the rod, what Christians will you then be ?
And why not without so much ado ? You then think God
deals somewhat hardly with you : and why will you not
turn then by gentler means ? You might spare yourselves
much of this misery if you would ; and you will not. Is it
a seemly thing for a man to be driven to heaven by scourges?
Is God so bad a master, and heaven so bad a place, that you
will not turn to them, and mind them, and seek them, till
there be no remedy, and you are, as it were, driven to it
against your will ? Is the world such an inheritance, and
sin so good a thing, and the flesh or devil so good a master,
that you will not leave them till you are whipped away? What
a shameful, unreasonable course is this ?
Well sirs, the case is plain before you. Turn you must
at one time or other, or be the firebrands of hell. And seeing
it is a thing that must be done, were it not best for you to
take the easiest and the surest way to do it ? Why, this is
the easiest and the surest way ; even to strike while the iron
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 11
is hot, before it cool again ; and to go through with it when
God doth move you and persuade you ; if you love your
flesh itself, do not put him to take up the rod, and fetch you
home by stripes and terrors.
But that is not the worst ; for it will sorely hazard the
work itself, and consequently your salvation, if you do not
go through with it at the first attempt. I know there is many
an one that hath been converted and saved, after many pur-
poses, and promises, and half-conversions. But yet I must
tell you, that this is a very dangerous course : for you do
not know when you grieve the Spirit of grace, and set so
light by mercy when it is offered you, whether that Spirit
may not utterly forsake you, and leave you to your own un-
godly wills, and let you take your lusts, and pleasures, and
say, ' Let this wretch be filthy still ; let him keep his drun-
kenness, his companions, his worldliness, and the curse of
God with them, till he have tried what it is that they will do
for him : let him follow his own conceits, and the pride and
obstinacy of his own heart, till he find whither they will
bring him : let him serve the flesh and the world, till he un-
derstand whether God or they be the better master. Seeing
he will not be wise on earth, let him learn in hell, and let
torments teach him, seeing mercy might not teach him.' O
poor soul ! what a case art thou in, if this should once be
the resolution of God !
Moreover, you may easily know that the longer you stay,
the more leisure you give the devil to assault you, and to try
one way when he cannot prevail by another, and to strengthen
his temptations : like a foolish soldier, that will stand still
to be shot at, rather than assault the enemy.
And the longer you delay, the more your sin gets strength
and rooting. If you cannot bend a twig, how will you be
able to bend it when it is a tree ? If you cannot pluck up a
tender plant, are you likely to pluck up a sturdy oak ? Cus-
tom gives strength and root to vices. A blackamoor may
as well change his skin, or a leopard his spots, as those that
are accustomed to do evil, can learn to do well. Jer. xiii. 23.
If you stick at conversion as a difficult matter to-day,
it will be more difficult to-morrow, or the next month, and
the next year, than it is now.
Yea, the very resistance of the Spirit doth harden the
heart, and the delays and triflings of the soul do bring it t'o
12 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
an inensibility and boldness in sin, and drive away the fear
of God from the heart. Now it may be you are somewhat
awakened, and begin to see that you must turn or die ; but
if you trifle and delay, this light may be gone, and leave you
in greater darkness than before ; and the voice that now
awakeneth you, may be silent and leave you to fall asleep
again.
Moreover, you know that you are uncertain of the con-
tinuance of the Gospel. You know not whether you shall
have such lively, serious preachers as you now have, nor you
know not whether you shall have such godly neighbours
and company to encourage you and help you in the work.
God will remove them one after another to himself, and then
you will have fewer prayers for you, and fewer warnings, and
good examples, and perhaps be left wholly to the company
of deceived, ungodly fools, that will do nothing but hinder
and discourage you from conversion. And you are not sure
that religion will continue in that reputation as now it is in.
The times may turn, before you turn; and godliness may
become a scorn again, and, it may be, a matter of suffering,
and may cost you your lives to live as the servants of Christ
must do. And therefore if you stop at it now as a difficult
thing, when you have all the helps and encouragements that
you can expect, and the way to heaven is made so fair ; and
when magistrates, and ministers, and neighbours are ready
to encourage and help you ; what will you do in times of
persecution and discouragement ? If you cannot turn when
you have all these helps and means, what will you do when
they are taken from you ? If you cannot row with the
stream, how will you row against it ? If you dare not set to
sea, when you have wind, and tide, and sunshine, what will
you do in storms and tempests, when all is against you ? O
what would some of your forefathers have given to have seen
the days that you see ! How glad would many a thousand
in other countries of the world be, to have but the helps to
heaven that you have ? Never look to have the way fairer
and easier while you live. If you think heaven is offered
you at too dear a rate now, you may even let it go, and try
whether hell be better ; for the next offer is like to be upon
harder terms rather than easier. If you cannot now find in
your hearts to turn and live a holy life, what would you have
done in the days of the apostles, or ancient Christians'*
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 13
And, what would you have done in Spain or Italy, where it
would cost you your lives ? He that will not be converted
now, but thinks the terms of grace too hard, is so impious
a despiser of Christ and heaven, that it is no wonder if God
resolve that he shall never taste of the salvation that was
offered him. Luke xi v. 24.
Moreover, you know upon what uncertainties you hold
your lives ; you have no assurance of them for an hour, but
you are sure that they are passing away whilst you delay.
And will you trifle then in a work that must be done ?
What a case are you in, if death find you unconverted ! The
heart of man is not able now to conceive the misery of your
case. How dare you venture to live another day in an un-
converted state, lest death should find you so ? Are you
not afraid when you lie down at night, and afraid when you
go out of your doors in the morning, lest death surprise you
before you are converted ? If you be not, it is long of your
deadness and presumption.
And 1 would fain hear what it is that should thus stop
you. What are you afraid of? Is God an enemy, that you
are loath to come to him ? Is the devil a friend, that you
are so loath to leave him ? Is sin a paradise ? Is holiness a
misery ? Is it a pleasanter life to love your money, or your
lands, or your meat and drink, and lusts, than to love the
most blessed God, the Creator of the world, the life of our
souls, and our eternal felicity ? Is it better to pamper a car-
case that must shortly stink as the dung, than to provide for
a living immortal soul? Whether do you think that earth
or heaven will be the more glorious and durable felicity ?
What is it, sirs, that you stick at, that you make so many
delays before you will turn ? Is there any difficulty in the
point ? Do you think it a hard question whether you should
turn or not ? Why, how can you be so blind ? Do you stand
pausing upon the business, as if it were a doubt, whether God
or the world were better, and whether sin or holiness, Christ
or death, heaven or hell, were to be preferred ? I pray you,
consider ; can you reasonably think that conversion will do
you any harm ? Can it bring you into a worse condition than
you are in ? Sure you cannot fear such a thing ; you are in
your blood ; you are dead in sin ; you are children of wrath,
while you are unconverted ; you are under the curse of the
law of God ; you are the slaves of the devil, you are the heirs
14 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
of hell, and under the guilt of all your sins ; your life is a
continued rebellion against God ; you are employed every
day in the destroying of yourselves, in kindling the flames
that must everlastingly torment you, and laying in fuel for
the perpetuating of your misery ; and fighting against your
friends, that would deliver you, and unthankfully abusing
Christ, and grace, and ministers, and friends, that would
save your souls. This is the condition that every one of you
is in, till you are converted. And can you fear lest conver-
sion would bring you into a worse condition than this ? Sirs,
these truths are sure and plain ; and if yet you stick at it,
your error is so palpably gross, that unless you are madmen,
I may be bold to say it is a wilful error. And if you love to
be deceived, and wilfully choose a lie, you must take that
you get by it.
3. Consider further, That half-conversions do often prove
an occasion of deluding men's souls, and making them quiet
in a miserable state, and so of keeping them from being con-
verted to the last. If you had never done any thing in it,
you would more easily be persuaded that your case is bad,
and that there is still a necessity of your change. But when
you have had some convictions, and troubles of mind, and
fears, and sorrows, and so have fallen into an outside, partial
reformation, and now are persuaded that you are truly con-
verted, when it is no such matter, what a dangerous impedi-
ment to your conversion may this prove ? And all because
you slubber over the work, and cut it off before it reacheth
to sincerity, and strive against the workings of the Spirit,
and break away from your physician before he hath done the
cure, and would not follow it on to the end. I know that a
half-conversion, if it be known to be no more, is much better
than none ; and doth often prepare men for a saving work.
But when this half -conversion is taken to be a true and sav-
ing change, as too commonly it is, it proves one of the great-
est impediments of salvation. Whenever Christ shall after-
ward knock at your door, yOu will not know him, as think-
ing he dwells with you already. If you read any books that
call on you to be converted, or hear any preachers that call
on you to turn, you have this at hand to cozen yourselves
with, and frustrate all. You will think, 'This is not spoken
to me ; for I am converted already.' O how quietly do such
poor, deluded sinners, daily read and hear their own doom
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION 1 . 15
and misery, and never once dream that they are the men
that are meant, and therefore are never dismayed at the mat-
ter ! This formeth you into a state of hypocrisy, and makes
the course of your duties and your lives to be hypocritical.
If another man that knows himself to be still unconverted,
do but read the threatenings of the word against such, or
hear of the terrors of the Lord from a minister, he may be
brought to confess that this is his own case, and so to per-
ceive the misery of his condition. But when such as you
do read and hear these things, they never trouble you, for
you think that they do not touch you : you are Scripture-
proof, and sermon-proof: and all by the delusion of your
half-conversion. O how zealously will such a man cry out
against the sins of others ! and tell them of their misery, and
persuade them to turn, and shew them the danger that is
near them if they do not : and in the meantime little thinks
that it is his own case, and that he speaks all this against
his own soul. How will such men applaud a sermon that
drives at the conversion of a sinner, and that tells them their
misery while they are unconverted ! ' O thinks he, this
touched such and such ; I am glad that such a man and such
a man heard it :' and he little thinks that it as nearly touch-
ed himself. How smoothly will he go on in any discourse
against wicked, unregenerate men, as David heard the para-
ble of Nathan, and it never once entereth into their thoughts,
that they speak all this against themselves ; till the Judge
shall tell them, when it is too late, " Thou art the man." It
will turn not only the stream of your thoughts into hypocrisy
and self-deceit, but also the stream of your speeches to others;
yea, and the current of your prayers, and all the rest of your
religious performances. When in confession you should
acknowledge and lament an unregenerate, carnal state, you
will only confess that you have the infirmities of the saints,
and that you have this or that sin, which yet you think is
mortified. When you should importunately beg for renew-
ing grace, you will beg only for strengthening grace, or as-
surance ; when you should be labouring to break your
hearts, you will be studying to heal them ; and will be heark-
ening after present comforts, when you have more need of
godly sorrow. It will fill your mouths in prayer with pha-
risaical thanksgivings for the mercies of regeneration, justi-
fication, adoption, sanctification, which you never received.
16 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
Little doth many a soul know what sanctitication, and the
several graces of the Spirit are, that use to give God thanks
for them : there is many and many an one that must for ever
be in hell, that were used in their prayers to give God thanks
for their hopes of glory : and the common cause of all this
deceit and misery, is, that men do run from under the hands
of their physician, before he ever went to the bottom of their
sore, and go away with a half-conversion, and so spend all
the rest of their lives, in a mere delusion, as verily thinking
they are converted, when they are not. How confidently will
such receive the Lord's supper, and thrust themselves into
the communion of the saints, as if they had as good right as
others to be there, till the Lord of the feast shall take them to
task, and say," Friend, how earnest thou in hither, not hav-
ing on a wedding garment?" and then they will be speech-
less ; Matt. xxii. 12. How many false, deceiving comforts,
and perhaps even seeming raptures and assurance, may these
have in themselves, as verily thinking their case is good,
when, alas, they never yet laid the foundation. Yea, and it
is to be observed, that satan is a friend to the comforts of
this kind of men, and therefore will do all that he can to pro-
mote them; for he would willingly keep his garrison in peace ;
Luke xi. 21. And therefore he may possibly be a comfort-
ing spirit to them himself, and imitate the Holy Ghost the
Comforter of the saints ; and, it maybe, give them such rap-
tures as seem higher than those which the Spirit of holiness
doth give. He envieth the saints their peace and comfort,
because he foresees how durable they will prove : but he can
be content that deluded hypocrites may have joy, because
their comforts do not weaken but strengthen his kingdom
within them, and he knows they are like to endure but for
awhile.
And thus you may perceive, how hard it is to convert one
of these half-converted men, that have strangled the new
creature as it were, in the birth, and that are fortified against
all the means of grace, by a false conceit that they are sanc-
tified already. See therefore that you make sure work, and
take not up in the middle, and with halves, but take your pre-
sent time, and give up your souls to a total change.
4. Consider, If you take up short of a thorough conver-
sion, you lose all your labour, and sufferings and hopes, as to
the matter of your salvation.
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 17
And what pity is it that so much should be lost ? Alas,
to see many of our hearers touched at a sermon, and come to
a minister and bewail their sin, and seem to be humbled,
and promise to be new men, and yet all this to be lost ; how
sad a case is this to think of? To see them leave their com-
pany and former course of life, and come among the profes-
sors of holiness, and all men take them for real converts ; and
yet all this to be lost, and their souls lost after all : how sad
a case is this ! If you grow up to the greatest parts for out-
ward duty, and be able to discourse, or pray, or preach, even
to the admiration of the hearers ; yet if you do not ground
this on a thorough conversion, all is but lost, as to your own
salvation. If you keep up the highest strain of profession,
and get the highest esteem in the church, so that others de-
pend on you as oracles ; yea, if the pope with all his infalli-
bility should canonize you for saints ; it were all but loss.
If you should keep up the most confident persuasion of your
salvation, and hope to go to heaven, to the last hour of your
lives ; it were all but lost if you build not all on a thorough
conversion. Yea, if you should be taken by persecutors for
one of the party to which you join, and should suffer for the
cause of religion among them ; all were but lost, without a
sound conversion ; 1 Cor. xiii. 1 — 3.
It is a pitiful case to see some poor unsanctified souls,
how they wander and change from one opinion to another,
and from party to party, to find out that which they want
within. They turn to this party first, and that party next,
and then to another, and then think they are sure in the way
to heaven, when they never thoroughly turned to God by
Jesus Christ ; and therefore are certainly out of the way,
whatever party it be that they join with. Some go to the
giddy sects that make the highest pretences to strictness :
and some go to Rome, because they think that there they
shall have more company, and hear the deluding sound of
unity, universality, antiquity, succession, miracles, and such
like : and then they think they have hit the way. Alas, poor
souls ! If God were but nearest and dearest to your hearts,
and Christ and his righteousness exalted within you, and
your souls unfeignedly turned from your sins, you would be
in the certain way to heaven, in what country, or company,
or church soever you were ; supposing that you believe and
do nothing there, which is inconsistent with this life of grace.
VOL. VIII. C
18 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
(Though yet every Christian should choose that particular
society, if he can, where he may not only be saved, but most
certainly saved, and find the greatest helps, and least hin-
drances, or else where he may do God the greatest service.)
But choose what company you will in the world, the strict-
est, the most reformed, the most splendid in outward pomp
and glory, or of whatever excellency else you may imagine,
you will never be saved in it yourselves, as long as your
hearts are unconverted. I know the Papists have found out
many devices, by sacraments, and ceremonies, and the me-
rits of the saints, to patch up the defect of a thorough con-
version ; but all are mere delusions that pretend to such a
thing.
O then think of this, poor sinner : hast thou gone so far,
and done so much, and shall all be lost because thou wilt
not follow it to the end ? Hast thou groaned, and wept, and
confessed, and bemoaned thine own condition ? Hast thou
prayed, and read, and heard, and fasted, and changed thy
company, and much of thy course of life? And shall all this
be lost, for want of going to the bottom, and making a tho-
rough work of it? What a loss will this be ?
5. Consider also, What an admirable help and advantage
it will be to you through the whole course of your lives, if
the work of conversion be once thoroughly wrought. I will
shew you this in some particulars.
(1.) It will be an excellent help to your understandings,
against the grosser errors of the world, and will establish
you in the truth much more than mere arguments can do ;
for you will be able to speak for the truth from feeling and
experience : he that hath the law written both in his Bible
and in his heart, is likely to hold it faster than he that hath
it in his Bible alone. But of this I have spoken already in
my " Treatise against Infidelity," Part ii.
(2.) If you be but thoroughly converted, you will have
that within you which will be a continual help against temp-
tations : you have not only experience of the mischief of sin-
ning, and the folly of those reasons that are brought for its
defence ; but you have also a new nature, which is against
the temptation, as life is against poison : and as it is a great
disadvantage to the law of Christ, that it speaks against the
nature of the ungodly ; so is it a disadvantage to the temp-
tations of the devil, that they would draw a Christian against
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 19
his new nature. You have that within you that will plead
more effectually against sensuality, uncharitableness, pride
or worldliness, or any the like sin, than learning or reason
alone can do. (As in the forecited book I have further ma-
nifested.)
(3.) If conversion be thoroughly wrought, you will have
within you a continual helper of your graces, and a remem-
brancer to put you in mind of duty, and a spur to put you
on to the performance, and a furtherer of your souls in the
performance itself : it is out of this spark and principle with-
in you, that the Holy Ghost doth raise the acts of grace.
This is it that the word, and prayer, and conference, and sa-
craments, and all the means of grace must work upon. If
we see you do amiss, we have hopes that you will hear us ;
if we plainly reprove you, we may look you should take it in
good part : for you have that within you that saith as we say,
and is at deadly enmity with the sin which we reprove. If
we provoke you to love and to good works, we dare almost
promise ourselves that you will obey ; for you have that
within you that disposeth you to the duty, and preacheth
our sermons to you over again. O what an advantage it is
to our teaching, when you are all taught of God within, as
well as by his messengers without ! But when we speak to
the unconverted, we have little to work upon: we give phy-
sic to the dead ; we speak all against the bent of their souls ;
and every reproof and exhortation to holiness goes against
their very natures ; and therefore what wonder if we have the
smaller hopes to prevail ?
(4.) If the work be thoroughly done at first, it will help
to resolve many doubts that may be afterwards cast into
your minds : you need not be still at a loss and looking be-
hind you, and questioning your foundation, but may go
cheerfully and boldly on. O what an excellent encourage-
ment is this ! to know that you have hitherto made good
your ground, and left all safe and sure behind you, and have
nothing to do but to look before you ; and press on towards
the mark till you lay hold upon the prize : whereas if you be
in any great doubt of your conversion, it will be stopping
you and discouraging you in all your work ; you will be still
looking behind you, and saying, * What if I should yet be
unconverted?' when you should cheerfully address your-
selves to prayer or sacraments, how sadly will you go, as be-
20 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
ing utterly uncertain whether you have a saving right to
them ; or whether God will accept a sacrifice at your hand ?
When you should grow and go forward, you will have little
heart to it, because you know not whether you are yet in the
way ; and this will damp your life and comfort in every du-
ty, when you must say, ' I know not whether yet I be tho-
roughly converted.' O therefore stop not the work at first.
(5.) And lastly, If the work be thoroughly done at first
you will persevere, when others fall away. You will have
rooting in yourselves, entertaining the seed as into depth of
earth ; and you will have the Holy Ghost within you, and
(more than so) engaged for your preservation, and the per-
fecting of your salvation ; when they that received the word
as seed upon a rock, and never give it deep entertainment,
will wither and fall away in the time of trial ; and from them
that have not saving grace, shall be taken away, even that
which they seemed to have; Matt. xiii. 12. xxv. 19.
6. And lastly, Consider, If you fall short of a true con-
version at the first, the devil will take occasion by it, to
tempt you at last to utter despair. When you have made
many essays and trials, and been about the work again and
again, he will persuade you that there is no possibility of ac-
complishing it. If we convince an open profane person that
is unconverted, he may easier see that yet there is hopes of
it, but if a man have been half-converted, and lived long in
a formal, self-deceiving profession of religion, and been taken
by himself and others for a godly man, as it is very hard to
convince this man that he is unconverted, so when he is con-
vinced of it, he will easily fall into desperation. For satan
will tell him, ' If thou be yet unconverted after so many con-
fessions and prayers, and after so long a course of religion,
what hope canst thou have that it should yet be done ? Thou
wilt never have better opportunities than thou hast had. If
such sermons as thou hast heard could not do it, what hope
is there of it? If such books, and such company, and such
mercies and such afflictions have not done it, what hope
canst thou have ? Canst thou hear any livelier teaching
than thou hast heard ; or speak any holier words than thou
hast spoken ? If yet the work be quite undone, it is not
forsaking another sin, nor going a step further that will do
it ; and therefore never think of it, for there is no hope : dost
thou not know how oft thou hast tried in vain? and what
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 21
canst thou do more?' And thus you give advantage to the
tempter by your first delays, and taking up in mere prepara-
tories. And therefore I beseech you as you love your souls,
take heed of resisting the Spirit of grace, and breaking off
the work before it is thoroughly done, but go to the bottom,
and follow it on, till it be accomplished in sincerity. And
now hoping that upon these considerations you are resolved
to do your best, I shall come to the thing which I principally
intended ; which is to give you certain Directions, which if
you will obey, you may be converts and saints indeed.
Direct, I. Lest the work of conversion should miscarry
where it seemeth to be begun, or in a hopeful way, I first
advise you, ' To labour after a right understanding of the
true nature of Christianity, and the meaning of the Gospel
which is sent for to convert you.' You are naturally slaves
to the prince of darkness ; and live in a state of darkness,
and do the works of darkness, and are hasting apace to utter
darkness. And it is the light of saving knowledge that
must recover you, or there is no recovery. God is the Fa-
ther of Light, and dwelleth in light ; Christ is the light of the
world ; his ministers also are the lights of the world, as un-
der him ; and are sent to turn men from darkness to light, by
the Gospel which is the light to our feet : and this is to
make us children of light, that we may no more do the works
of darkness, but may be partakers of the inheritance of the
saints in light ; 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. 1 Johni. 5. 9. James i. 17.
Matt. v. 14. Acts xxvi. 18. John viii. 12. 2 Pet. i. 19.
Eph. v. 8. 13. Col. i. 12. Believe it, darkness is not the
way to the celestial glory. Ignorance is your disease, and
knowledge must be your cure. I know the ignorant have
many excuses, and are apt to think that the case is not so
bad with them as we make it to be ; and that there is no such
need of knowledge, but a man may be saved without it.
But this is because they want that knowledge that should
shew them the misery of their ignorance and the worth of
knowledge. Hath not the Scripture plainly told you, that
"If the Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, whose
minds the God of this world hath blinded, lest the light of
the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God,
should shine unto them; 2 Cor. Hi. 4. I know that many
that have much knowledge are ungodly ; but what of that?
Can any man therefore be godly or be saved, without know-
22 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
ledge? You may have a bad servant that yet is skilful
enough in his work, but yet you will not mend the matter,
by taking one that hath no skill at all. You may send a man
on your errand that knows the way, and yet will not go it,
but loiter and deceive you : but what of that, will you there-
fore think to mend the matter by sending one that knoweth
not a step of the way, nor will learn it ? Though a man
of knowledge may be the servant of the devil, yet no man
without knowledge (that hath the use of his reason) can be
the servant of God. A man may go to hell with knowledge,
but he certainly shall go to hell without it. I do not say
that you must all be men of learning, and skilled in the arts
and sciences, and languages : but you must have the know-
ledge of a Christian, though not of a scholar. Can you love
or serve a God that you know not? Can you let go friends,
and goods, and life, for a glory which you have no know-
ledge of? Can you make it the principal business of your
lives to seek for a heaven whose excellencies you know not
of? Can you lament your sin and misery, when you are un-
acquainted with it? Or will you strive against sin as the
greatest evil, when you know not the evil of it? Will you
believe in a Christ, whom you do not know, and trust your
souls and all upon him ? Will you rest upon a promise, or
fear a threatening, or be ruled by a law, which you do not
understand? It is not possible to be Christians without
knowing the substance of Christianity : nor is it possible for
you to be saved without knowing the way of salvation.
Labour, therefore, to be well acquainted with the grounds
and reasons, and nature of your religion. The clearer your
light is, the warmer and livelier your hearts will be. Illumi-
nation is the first part of sanctification. The head is the
passage to the heart. O if you did but thoroughly know
what sin is, and what a life it is to serve the flesh, and what
the end of this will prove, with what detestation would you
cast it away ! If you did thoroughly know what a life of
holiness is, how speedily would you choose it. If you did
truly know what God is ; how infinitely powerful and wise,
and good ; how holy, and just, and true ; and what title he
hath to you, and authority over you ; and what an eternal
portion he would be to you, how is it possible that you could
prefer the dirt of the world before him, or delay any longer
to return unto him ? If you did but truly know what Christ
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 23
is, and what he hath done and suffered for you, and what
that pardon, and grace, and glory are which he hath pur-
chased for you, and offereth to you, and how sure his pro-
mise is by which it is offered, it is not possible that you
should refuse to entertain him, or delay to give up your souls
unto him. Do you think a man that truly knows what hea-
ven is, and what hell is, can still be in doubt whether he
should turn or not ? Alas ! sirs, if God would but open
your eyes, to see where you are, and what you are doing,
you would run as for your lives, and quickly change your
minds and ways. You would no more stay in your carnal
state, than you would stay in a house that were falling down
on your heads, or in a ship that you perceived sinking under
you, or on the sands when you see the tide coming towards
you. If you did but see your chamber full of devils this
night, you would not stand to ask whether you should be
gone. And sure then if you knew how the devils are about
you, how they deceive you, and rule you, and wait to drag
you away to hell, you would never stay a night longer wil-
lingly in such a state. While men understand not what the
Gospel means, nor what a minister saith to them, no wonder
if they regard them not, but continue in their sin. If you
see a bear or a mad dog making towards a man, and tell him
of it, and call to him to be gone, if he be a man of another
language, and do not understand you, he will make never the
more haste ; but if he understand and believe you, he will
away. If people think that ministers are in jest with them,
or that they are uncertain of what they say, no marvel if
they hear us in jest, or as men that believe not what they
hear. But if you knew that your lives lay on it, yea, your
everlasting life, would you not regard it, and look about
you ? Now you stand deliberating and questioning the bu-
siness whether you should turn, and let go sin, or no. But
if you knew that you must certainly have hell with it, if you
keep it, methinks your doubt should quickly be resolved,
and you should be loath to give another night's lodging to
so chargeable and dangerous a guest. Now when we per-
suade you to holiness of life, you will demur on it, as if there
were some doubtfulness in the matter. But if you knew the
nature and end of holiness, you would soon be out of doubt ;
and if you knew but how much happier you might be with
God, you would never stick at the parting with your most
24 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
delightful sins. As the Jews rejected Christ, and preferred
a murderer before him, and cried out ' Crucify him,' and all
because they did not know him (1 Cor. ii. 8. John viii. 9.
i. 10. Acts xiii. 27.), so you let Christ knock and call, and
offer you salvation, and you stand questioning whether you
should obey his call, and whether you should not prefer your
lusts before him ; and all because you know him not, nor
the grace and glory which he tendereth to you. When men
understand not the reasons of God, that should prevail with
them, no wonder if they part not with that which is as dear
to them as their lives. But when once they know the rea-
sons of Christianity, those moving, weighty, undeniable rea-
sons, that are fetched from God, and heaven, and hell, they
will then stand questioning the matter no longer ; but they
will resign up all, even life itself. All this I speak of a spi-
ritual, powerful, and a practical knowledge, and not of every
swimming opinion and conceit.
Study, therefore, what God is, and what he is to you,
and what he would be to you. Study what sin is, and what
the damnation is which it deserveth. Study what Christ is,
and hath done and suffered for you, and what he is willing
to do, if you neglect him not. Study what the world is,
and what is the utmost that sin will do for you. Study
what the everlasting glory is which you may have with God,
if you lose it not by your folly. And study what faith is,
and what repentance is, and what love and joy, and a holy
and heavenly life are, and how little reason you have to be
afraid of them. If this understanding have but deeply pos-
sessed you, it will bias your hearts, and make you resolved,
settled converts.
Whereas, if you seem to turn and scarce know why, and
seem to take up a Christian life before you are thoroughly
possessed with the nature, grounds, and reasons of it, no
marvel if you are quickly lost again in the dark, and if every
caviller that you meet with can nonplus you, and make you
stagger, and call in question all that you have done, and ra-
vel all your work ; or if you do but run from one party to
another, and follow every one that tells you a fair tale, and
never know what to fix upon, nor when you are in the way,
and when you are out.
The apprehensions of the mind do move the whole man.
Wisdom is the guide and stay of the soul. Sinning is doing
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 25
foolishly, 2 Sam. xxiv. 10. And sinners are fools ; Prov. i.
22. Psal. lxxv. 4. Their mirth is but the mirth of fools,
and their song the song of fools ; Eccl. vii. 4. 5. Yea, the
best of their services, while they refuse to hear and obey, is
but the sacrifice of fools ; Eccl. v. 1. And such are not fit
for the house of God ; " for God hath no pleasure in fools ;"
Eccl. v. 4. He hath need to have his wits about him, and
know what he doth that will be the servant of the God of
heaven, and escape the deceits of a subtle devil, and get to
heaven through so many difficulties as are before him.
Above all getting, therefore, get wisdom.
Direct. II. If you would not have the work of your con-
version miscarry, when you understand what is offered you,
then search the Scriptures daily, to see whether those things
be so or not.
So did the Bereans, Acts xvii. 11. ; and the text saith,
that, therefore, they believed. We come not to cheat and
deceive you ; and, therefore, we desire not that you should
take any thing from us, but what we can prove to you from
the word of God to be certainly true. We desire not to lead
you in the dark, but by the light to lead you out of darkness ;
and, therefore, we refuse not to submit all our doctrine to an
equal trial. Though we would not have you wrong your
souls by an unjust distrust of us, yet would we not desire
you to take these great and mighty things merely upon our
words ; for then your faith will be in man ; and then no mar-
vel if it be weak, and ineffectual, and quickly shaken. If
you trust a man to-day, you may distrust him to-morrow ;
and if one man be of greatest credit with you this year, per-
haps another of a contrary mind may be of more credit with
you the next year. And, therefore, we desire no further to
be believed by you, than is necessary to lead you up to God,
and to help you to understand that word which you must
believe. Our desire, therefore, is, that you search the Scrip-
ture, and try whether the things that we tell you be the truth.
The word will never work on you to purpose till you see and
hear God in it, and perceive that it is he, and not man only,
that speaks to you. When you hear none speaking to you
but the minister, no marvel if you dare despise him ; for he
is a frail and silly man like yourselves ; when you think that
the doctrine which we preach to you is merely of our own
26 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
devising, and the conjecture of our own brain, no marvel if
you set light by it, and will not let go all that you have, at
the persuasion of a preacher. But when you have searched
the Scripture, and find that it is the word of the God of hea-
ven, dare you despise it then ? When you there find that
we said no more than we are commanded, and God that hath
spoken this word will stand to it ; then sure it will go nearer
you, and you will consider of it, and make light of it no more.
If we offered you bad wares, we should desire a dark shop ;
and if our gold were light or bad, we would not call for the
balance and the touchstone. But when we are sure the
things that we speak are true, we desire nothing more than
trial. Beauty and comeliness hath no advantage of loath-
some deformity, when they are both together in the dark,
but the light will shew the difference. Error may be a loser
by the light; and, therefore, shuns it ; Johniii. 19 — 21. But
truth is a gainer by it, and therefore seeks it. Let Papists
hide the Scriptures from the people, and forbid the reading
of them in a tongue which they understand, and teach them
to speak to God they know not what ; we dare not do so,
nor do we desire it. Our doctrine will not go off well in the
dark ; and, therefore, we call you to the law and to the tes-
timony, and desire you to take our words into the light, and
see whether they be according to the word of the Lord. No-
thing troubleth us more than that we cannot persuade our
hearers to this trial. Some of them are so hardened in their
sin and misery, that they will not be at so much labour as
to open their Bibles, and try whether we say true or not.
Some of them will not trouble their minds with the thoughts
of it. " God is not in all their thoughts ;" Psal. x.4. And
some are already too wise to learn ; and they will not so long
abate their confidence of their former opinions ; though, poor
souls,their ignorance doth threaten their damnation. Andsome
are so engaged in a sinful party, that their companions will
not give them leave to make so much question of the way
that they are in ; and some will scarce take the Scripture
for the rule by which they must try and be tried, but look
more to custom, and the will of those in power over them.
And most are unwilling to try, because they are unwilling
to know the truth, and cannot endure to find themselves
miserable, nor see the sin which they would not leave, nor
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 27
see the duty which they love not to practise. And thus we
cannot get them to try whether the things that we teach
them be so.
For want of this it is that men deceive themselves, and
think their case to be safe when it is miserable, because
they will not try it by the word. This makes them rage,
and be confident in their folly (Prov.xiv. 16.), and laugh and
sing at the brink of hell, and swim as merrily down the stream
to the devouring gulf as if no evil were near them. This
makes them in the depth of misery to have no pity on them-
selves, and to do so little to escape it ; though they have
time, and means, and help at hand, yet there are not hearts
in them to make use of them ; yea, they run themselves dai-
ly further on the score ; and all because we cannot get them
to search the Scripture, and try whether sin be so small a
matter, and whether this will not be bitterness in the end.
Hence it is that they are so easily drawn by a temptation ;
and that they dislike a holy life, and have base thoughts of
them that are most diligent for salvation, and are most pre-
cious in the eyes of God ; and that they can even deride the
way that they should walk in (Prov. 1. 20. Psal. i. 2.), be-
cause they will not search the Scripture, to see whatitsaith
to these matters. The word is a light, and would do much
to open their eyes, and win them over to God, if they would
but come to it with a desire to know the truth. You think
that the ungodly that are rich and great, are in a better con-
dition than a godly man that is poor and despised. And
why is this, but because you will not go into the sanctuary,
and see in what a slippery place they stand, and what will
be the end of these men ? Psal. lxxiii. 16, 17. 22. In a word,
this is the undoing of millions of souls. They are all their
lifetime out of the way to heaven, and yet will not be per-
suaded to ask the way ; but they run on and wink, and put
it to the venture. Many a thousand are gone out of the
world, before they ever spent the quantity of one day in try-
ing by the Scripture whether their state were good, and their
way were right. Nay, let their teachers tell them that they
must be sanctified and take another course, they will differ
from their teachers though they be never so wise or learned;
and they will contradict them, and not believe or regard
them. And yet we cannot get them to come to us, and put
the case to a trial, and let the Scripture be the judge. Would
28 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
they but do this, they could never sure have such hard
thoughts of their teachers, and be offended at their plainest,
closest dealing. You would then say, ' I see now the mi-
nister says not this of himself, he speaks but that which
God commandeth him ; and if he would not deliver the mes-
sage of the Lord, he were unworthy and unfit to be his am-
bassador. He were cruel to me if he would not pull me out
of the fire, by the plainest, closest means ;' Jude 23. • He
hated me if he would not rebuke me, but suffer sin upon
me ;' Lev. xix. 17. ' If he would please men he should not
be the servant of Christ ;' Gal. i. 10. ' I know it is no plea-
sure to him to trouble me, or to provoke me ; but it would
be his own destruction if he tell me not of my danger,'
Ezek. iii. 18. ' And I have no reason to wish him to damn
his own soul, and suffer me to do the like by mine ; and all
for fear of displeasing me in my sin.' These would be your
thoughts if you would but try our words by the Scripture,
and see whether we speak not the mind of God.
And sure it would go somewhat deeper in your hearts,
and it would stick by you, and be more before your eyes,
when you once understood that it is the word of God.
This then is my request to you, sirs, that the work of
your conversion may not miscarry, that you would carry all
that you hear to the Scripture, and search there, and see
whether it be so or not, that so you may be put out of doubt,
and may be at a certainty, and not stand wavering ; and that
your faith may be resolved into the authority of God, and so
the work may be divine, and consequently powerful and pre-
vailing, when the ground and motive are divine. If you be
not satisfied in the doctrine which the minister delivereth to
you, first search the Scripture yourselves ; and if that will
not do, go to him, and desire him to shew you his grounds
for it in the word of God, and join with you in prayer for a
right understanding of it. Do you question whether there
be so severe a judgment, and a heaven, and a hell, as minis-
ters tell you ? Search the Scripture, in Matt. xxv. and 2
i. 8 — 10. John v. 29. Matt. xiii. Do you question whe-
ther a man may not be saved without conversion, regenera-
tion, and holiness ? Open your Bibles, and see what God
saith, John iii. 3. 6. Matt, xviii. 3. 2 Cor. v. 17. Rom.
viii. 9. Heb. xii. 14. Do you think a man may be saved
without knowledge? Let Scripture judge; 2 Cor. iv. 3,4.
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. "29
John xvii. 3. Hos. iv. 6. Do you think a man may be sa-
ved that doth as the most do, and goeth in the common way
of the world? Search the Scripture and see; Matt. vii. 13.
xx. 16. xxii. 14. Luke xii. 32. Do you think an unhum-
bled soul maybe saved, that never was contrite and broken-
hearted for sin? Try by Isa. lvii. 15. lxvi.2. Psal. li. 17.
Luke iv. 18. Matt. xi. 28. Do you think a man can be the
servant of God, that liveth a fleshly life, and will keep his
sin ? Try by Rom. viii. 13. John iii. 12. Ephes. v. 5, 6.
1 John iii. 9, 10. Do you doubt whether it be necessary to
make so much ado to be saved, and to be so strict, and make
religion our chiefest business? Try by Psal. i. 1 — 3. 1
Pet. iv. 18. Heb.xii. 14. Luke x. 42. Luke xiii. 24. Eph.
v. 15, 16. Do you think a man can be saved that is a world-
ling, whose heart is more on earth than heaven ? Try by 1
John ii. 15. Phil. iii. 19. Col. iii. 1. Luke xiv. 26. 33.
Do you doubt whether you should serve God with your fa-
milies, and instruct them, and pray with them ? Try by Jos.
xxiv. 15. Deut. vi. 6, 7. Dan. vi. 10, 11. Exod. xx. 10.
Thus if you will in all these weighty matters but go to
the Scriptures, and see whether it say as your teachers say,
you might soon be resolved, and that by the surest authority
in the world. If you think that your ministers may be de-
ceived, I hope you will confess that God cannot be deceived.
If you think that your ministers are passionate, or self-con-
ceited, or speak out of ill-will to you, I hope you dare not
say so by the Lord ; he owes you no ill-will, nor speaks a
word but what is most sure. If you think us partial, sure
God is impartial. What better judge can you have now,
than he that is infallible, and must judge you all at the last?
If any Papist put it into your head to ask, ' Who shall be
judge of the sense of Scripture?' I answer, Who shall be
judge of the Judge of all the world ? The law is made to
judge you, and not to be judged by you. None can be the
proper judges of the sense ofalawbut the maker of it;
though others must judge their cases by the law. Your
work is to discern it, and understand and obey it ; and our
work is to help you to understand it ; but it is neither our
work nor yours to be the proper, or absolute judges of it. At
least where it speaks plain it needs no judge.
Come then to the word in meekness and humility, with a
teachable frame of spirit, and a willingness to know the
,30 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
truth, and a resolution to stand to it, and yield to what shall
be revealed to you, and beg of God to shew you his will, and
lead you into the truth ; and you will find that he will be
found of them that seek him.
Direct. III. If you would not have the work of your con-
version miscarry, my next advice is this :
' See that you be much in the serious consideration of
the truths which you understand, betwixt God and you in
secret."
I have often spoken of this heretofore ; but because I ap-
prehend it to be a work of exceeding great concernment, I
shall be longer on it again than on the rest.
The greatest matters in the world will not work much
upon him that will not think of them. Consideration opens
the ear that was stopped, and the heart that was shut up ; it
sets the powers of the soul at work, and awakeneth it from
the sleep of incogitancy and security. The thoughts are the
first actings of the soul, that set at work the rest. Thinking
on the matters that must make us wise, and do the work of
God on the heart, is that which lieth on us to do in order to
our conversion. By Consideration a sinner makes use of
the truth, which before lay by, and therefore could do no-
thing. By Consideration he taketh in the medicine to his
soul, which before stood by, and could not work. By Con-
sideration a man makes use of his reason, which before was
laid asleep, and therefore could not do its work. When the
master is from home, the scholars will be at play. When
the coachman is asleep, the horses may miss the way, and
possibly break his neck and their own. If the ploughman
go his way, the oxen will stand still, or make but bad, un-
handsome work. So when reason is laid asleep, and out of
the way, what may not appetite do ? and what may not the
passions do? and what may not temptations do with the
soul? A wise man, when he is asleep, hath as little use of
his wisdom as a fool. A learned man when he is asleep can
hardly dispute with an unlearned man that is awake. A
strong man that is never so skilful at his weapons, is scarce
able in his sleep to deal with the weakest child that is awake.
Why all the powers of your soul are, as it were, asleep, till
Consideration awake them, and set them on work. And
what the better are you for being men, and having reason, if
you have not the use of your reason when you need it ? As
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. .31
men are inconsiderate because they are wicked, so are they
the more wicked because they are inconsiderate. The keen-
est sword, the greatest cannon, will do no execution against
an enemy, while they lie by and are not used. There is a
mighty power in the word of God, and the example of Christ,
to pull down strong holds, and conquer the strongest lusts
and corruptions. But they will not do this while they are
forgotten and neglected. Will heaven entice the man that
thinks not of it ? Will hell deter the man that thinks not of
it? Why is it that all the reasoning in the world will do no
more good on a man that is deaf, than if you said nothing?
but because the passage to his thoughts and understanding
is stopt up. And if you have eyes and see not, and ears and
hear not, and wilfully cast it out of your thoughts, what good
can any thing do to you that is spoken ? It is not holding
your mouth that will nourish you, if you will not let it down :
not taking it into your stomach, if you will not keep it, but
presently cast it up again ; butitmustbe kept till it be digest-
ed and distributed. So it is not the most excellent truths in the
world that will change your hearts, if you let them not down
to your hearts, and keep them not there by meditation, till
they are digested and turned into spiritual life. The plaster
must be laid upon the sore if you would be cured. The
wound and sickness is at your heart; and if you will not
take in the word to your heart, where the sickness is, I know
not how you should expect a cure. The soul will not be
charmed into holiness by the bare hearing or saying over a
few good words ; as wizards use to cure diseases, or seem to
cure them. It must be truth at the heart that must change
the heart. And if you will not think on it, and think on it
again, how can you expect it should come at your hearts ?
You say you would gladly have Christ and grace, and are
ready to lay the blame on God, because he doth not give it
you, and say, ' We cannot convert ourselves :' but would you
have the Spirit come in, while you hold the door against him?
He knocks, and desireth you to open and let him in, and you
wish him to come in ; but you bolt the door, and no entrea-
ty will procure you to open it. It is Consideration of the
saving doctrine of the Gospel that openeth the heart, and
giveth it entertainment. Set yourselves therefore on pur-
pose to this work, and open the doors of your heart which
.are now shut, and let the King of glory come in. Who will
32 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
believe that you love the light, when you shut the windows,
and draw the curtains ? If you will set yourselves to consi-
der of the truth, the windows of your soul will be set open,
and then the light will certainly come in. Now you read
over whole chapters, and hear sermon after sermon, and
either they never stir you, or at least it is but a little for a fit,
like a man that hath a little warmed him at the fire in the
winter, and when he goes from it, is colder than before : but
if you would but set yourselves to consider of what you hear
and read, one line of a chapter, or one sentence of a sermon
would lay you in tears, or make you groan, or at least do
more than now is done. Satan hath garrisoned the heart of
every carnal man : and Consideration is the principal means
to cast him out. If by considering of the terrible threaten-
ings of the word, you would discharge these cannons of God
against them, what a battery would it make in the corrup-
tions of your souls ! Our God is a consuming fire, and the
fire of hell is threatened in his law, as the wages of sin : by
serious Consideration you may as it were, fetch fire from God
and from his word, and set fire to the very gates of satan's
garrison, and fire him out of many of his holds.
But because this is so needful a point, I shall be so large
upon it, as, i. To tell you some of those things that you
should consider of. 11. To tell you in what manner you should
do it. And, in. To give you some motives to put you on.
i. The first thing that I would have you oft to think on,
is, The nature of that God with whom ye have to do. Con-
sider, that if he be the most wise, it is all the reason in the
world that he should rule you. If he be good, and infinite-
ly good, there is all the reason in the world that you should
love him ; and there is no shew of reason that you should
love the world or sin before him. If he be faithful and true,
his threatenings must be feared, and his promises must not
be distrusted ; and there is no reason that you should make
any question of his word. If he be holy, then holiness must
needs be most excellent, and those that are the holiest must
needs be the best, because they are like to God ; and then
he must be an enemy to sin, and to all thac are unholy, be-
cause they are contrary to his nature. Consider that he is
almighty, and there is no resisting him, or standing out
against him ; in the twink of an eye can he snatch thy guil-
ty soul from thy body, and cast it where sin is better known.
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 33
A word of his mouth can set all the world against thee, and
set thine own conscience against thee too; a frown of his
face can turn thee into hell ; and if he be thine enemy, it is
no matter who is thy friend ; for all the world cannot save
thee, if he do but condemn thee. They are blessed whom
he blesseth, and they are cursed indeed whom he curseth.
He was from eternity, and thou art but as it were of yester-
day : thy being is from him ; thy life is always in his hands,
thou canst not live an hour without him, thou canst not fetch
a breath without him, nor think a thought, nor speak a word,
nor stir a foot or hand without him; thou mayst better live
without bread, or drink, or fire, or air, or earth, or water,
than without him. All the world is before him, but as the
drop of a bucket, or a little sand or dust that should be laid
in balance with all the earth. Hadst thou but compassed
about this lower world, and seen all the nations of it, and its
wonderful furniture, and seen the great deeps of the mighty
ocean, and the abundance of creatures in them all : O what
thoughts then wouldst thou have of God ! But if thou hadst
been above the stars, and seen the sun in all its glory, and
seen the frame and course of those higher orbs, and seen the
blessed, glorious angels, and all the inhabitants of the
higher world, O then what thoughts of God wouldst thou en-
tertain ! O but if it were possible that thou hadst seen his
glory, or seen but his back parts as Moses did, or seen him
in Christ the now glorified Redeemer, what apprehensions
wouldst thou have of him then ! Then how wouldst thou
abhor the name of sin, and how weary wouldst thou be of the
pleasantest life that sensuality could afford thee ! Then
thou wouldst quickly know that no love can be great enough,
and no praises can be high enough, and no service can be
holy and good enough for such a God : then you would
soon know, that this is not a God to be neglected, or dallied
with ; nor a God to be resisted, nor provoked by the wilful
breaking of his laws. It is eternal life to know this God
(John xvii. 3.), and for want of knowing him it is, that sin
aboundeth in the world. This maketh holiness so scarce
and lean : men worship they care not how, because they wor-
ship they know not whom. O therefore dwell on the medi-
tations of the Almighty. So far as he doth possess thy
mind, there will be no place for sin and vanity. One would
think if I should set you no further task, and tell you of no
VOL. VIII. d
34 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
other matters for meditation, this one should be enough ;
for this one is in a manner all. What will not the due know-
ledge of God do upon the soul? That is the best Christian,
and the most happy man that knoweth most of him ; and
that is the most vile and miserable wretch that is furthest
from him, and strangest to him ; it is the character of the
fool of fools, to have an heart whose disposition and prac-
tice saith, " There is no God f Psalm xiv. 1. that is, to be
so affected and employed in their hearts, as if there were no
God, and when God is not in all his thoughts ; Psalm x. 4.
It was better with man when he had less knowledge for him-
self, and fewer thoughts for himself, and more of God. And
there is no way to restore us to sound understanding, and to
perfect our knowledge, but to turn our eye upon God ag ain ;
for in knowing him, we know all that is worth the knowing.
Take hold then of the blessed God in thy meditations, and
fill thy thoughts with him, and dwell upon those thoughts.
Remember he is always with thee, and wherever thou art, or
whatever thou art doing, most certainly he seeth thee. As
sure as thou art there, the Lord is there. He knows thy
thoughts, he hears thy words, he sees all thy ways. And is
such a God as this to be provoked or despised ? Were it
not better to provoke and despise all the world ? Is his fa-
vour to be slighted ? Were it not better to lose the favour
of all the world ? Consider of this !
2. Another thing that I would have you oft think of, is,
What end you were made for, and what business it is
that you came for into the world. You may well think
that God made you not in vain ; and that he made you
for no lower end, than for himself; and that he would
never have made you, nor so long preserved you, if he
had not cared what you do. He would never have en-
dued you with a reasonable and immortal soul, but for
some high, and noble, and immortal end. Surely it was
that you might be happy in knowing him, that he made you
capable of knowing him; for he made nothing in vain. It
is useful for a horse to know his pasture, and provender, and
work, and perhaps his master ; but he need not know whe-
ther there be a God ; and accordingly he is qualified. But
it is sure man's chief concernment to know that there is a
God, and what he is, and how to serve him, and what he is
and will be to us ; or else we should never have been capa-
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 35
ble of such things. And he would never have made you ca-
pable of loving him, but that you should be exercised and
made happy in that love. The frame, and faculties, and ca-
pacity of your souls, and the scope of Scripture, do all de-
clare, that you were sent into this world, to seek after God,
and to love him, and obey him, and rejoice in him in your
measure ; and to prepare for a life of nearer communion,
where you may enjoy him and praise him in the highest per-
fection. Consider with yourselves, whether a life of sin be
that which you were made for ; or whether God sent you
hither to break his laws, and follow your own lusts. And
whether the satisfying of your flesh, and the gathering a lit-
tle worldly wealth, and the feathering of a nest which you
must so quickly leave, be like to be the business that you
were sent about into the world.
3. The next thing that I would have you consider of, is,
How you have answered the ends of your creation, and how you
have done the business that you came into the world to do.
Look back upon the drift of your hearts and lives ; read over
the most ancient records of your consciences, and see what
you have been, and what you have been doing in the world
till now. Have you spent your days in seeking after God,
and your estates and strength in faithful serving him ? Have
you lived all this time in the admiration of his excellencies,
and the fervent love of him, and delightful remembrance of
him, and the zealous worship of him? If you have done
this, you had not need of a conversion. But consider, have
you not forgotten what business you had in the world, and
little minded the world that you should have prepared for,
and lived as if you knew not him that made you, or why he
made you ? Was sport and merriment the end that you were
created for? Was ease and idleness, or eating, or drinking,
or vain discourses, or recreation, the business that you came
into the world about ? Was living to the flesh, and scraping
up riches, or gaping after the esteem of men, the work that
God sent you hither to do ? Was this it that he preserved
you for, and daily gave you in provision for? What, was it
to forget him, and slight him, and turn him out of your
hearts, and rob him of his service and honour ; and to set
up your flesh in his stead, and give that to it, that was due
to him ? Bethink you what you have done, and whether you
have done the work that you were sent to do, or not.
36 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
4. The next thing you should use to consider of, is, How
grievously you have sinned, and what a case it is that your
sin hath brought you into. If you take but an impartial
view of your lives, you may see how far you have missed your
marks, and how far you have been from what you should
have been ; and how little you have done of that which was
your business. And O what abundance of aggravations
have your sins ! which I shall pass over now, because I must
mention them under another head. It is not only some ac-
tually out-breakings against the bent of your heart and life,
but your very heart was false and gone from God, and set
in you to do evil.
O the time that you have lost ; the means and helps that
you have neglected ; the motions that you have resisted ; the
swarms of evil thoughts that have filled your imaginations ;
the streams of vain and idle words that have flowed from
your mouth ; the works of darkness, in public and in secret,
that God hath seen you in ! And all this while, how empty
were you in inward holiness, and how barren of good works,
to God or man ? What have you done with all your talents,
and how little or nothing hath God had of all!
And now consider what a case you are in, while you re-
main unconverted. You have made yourselves the sinks of
sin, the slaves of satan, and the flesh ; and are skilful in no-
thing but doing evil ; if you be called to prayer or holy me-
ditation, your hearts are against it, and you are not used to
it, and therefore you know not how to do it to any purpose :
but to think the thoughts of lust, or covetousness, or hatred,
or malice, or revenge, this you can do without any toil. To
speak oiUlie world, or of your sports and pleasures, or against
those that you bear ill will to, this you can do without any
study. You are such as are spoken of, Jer. iv. 22. "My
people is foolish, they have not known me : they are sottish
children, and they have no understanding : they are wise to
do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge." You are
grown strangers to the God that made you, in whose love
and service you should live and find your chief delights.
Your hearts are hardened, and you are dead in your sins :
the guilt of the sins of your lives are still upon you: you
can neither look into your hearts and lives, no, not on one
day of your lives, or the best hour that you have spent, but
you must see the ugly face of sin, which deserveth condem-
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 37
nation. You have made God your enemy, that should have
been your only felicity : and yet you are always at his mer-
cy, and in his hands. Little do you know how long his pa-
tience will yet endure to you ; or what hour he will call
away your souls : and if death come, alas, what a case will
it find you in ! How lamentably unready are you to meet
him ! How unready to appear before the dreadful God whom
you have offended ! and what a terrible appearance do you
think that will be to you ! Most certainly if you die before
you are converted, you will not be from among the devils
and damned souls an hour. The law hath cursed you alrea-
dy, and the execution will be answerable, if you die in your
sins. And thus you may see the gain of sin, and what it is
that you have been doing all this while for your own souls ;
and what a case it is that you have brought yourselves into ;
and what need you have speedily to look about you.
5. The next step of your Consideration should be this ;
Bethink yourselves what a blessed condition you might be
in, if by conversion you were but recovered from this misery,
and brought home to God. This moved the heart of the
prodigal son to return ; Luke xv. 16, 17. " When he came
to himself he said, How many hired servants of my father's
have bread enough, and to spare, and I perish with hunger?"
He that hath not husks to feed on with the swine, consi-
dered the plenty that he had forsaken at home. The poor-
est member of the household of Christ, is in a better condi-
tion than the greatest king on earth, that is unconverted.
You might have lived another kind of life than you have
done, for safety, and benefit, and true content, if you would
have turned your minds and life to God. Were you but
converted, you would be the living members of Christ, and
his precious benefits would be yours ; his blood would
cleanse you from all your sins, and they would be all freely
forgiven you ; God would be reconciled to you, and become
your friend, yea, your Father and your God ; and will take
you for his household servants, and adopted children : the
Holy Ghost would dwell in you, and guide your understand-
ings, and shew you that which flesh and blood cannot re-
veal, and bring you into acquaintance with the mysteries of
God : he will be a Spirit of light and life within you, and
work your hearts yet more to God, and give you yet stron-
ger inclinations and affections to the things above. He will
38 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
help you when you are weak, and quicken you where you
are dull, and be your remembrancer when you are forgetful
of necessary things : he will help you in prayer, both for
matter and for manner, and help you in meditation and con-
ference, and other duties : he will warn you of your danger,
and strengthen you against temptations, and cause you to
overcome ; and if you fall, he will cause you to rise again :
he will be an indwelling comforter to you, and so effectually
speak peace to you in the midst of your disquietness, that
by speaking it, he will create it in you : and in the multi-
tude of your thoughts within you, his comforts will delight
your souls. O what a life might you live, if Christ by his
Spirit did once live in you ! You may easily conjecture
how tender Christ would be of his own members, how dearly
he would love them, how constantly he would watch over
them, how plentifully he would provide for them, and how
safely he would preserve them. And if you should come
into a rougher way, he would lead you out : afflictions should
never be laid on you but for your good ; and continue no
longer than your need continueth them, and be taken off
at last to your satisfaction and contentment. Indeed your
life would be a life of mercies ; and that which is but a com-
mon mercy to common men would be a special mercy to
you, as coming from your Father's love, and furthering your
salvation, and hinting out to you your everlasting mercies.
You could not open your eyes, but you would see that which
may encourage and comfort you ; all the works of God
which you behold, would shew you his majesty, his love,
and power, and lead you to himself. You could not open
your Bible, but you would find in it the blessed lines of love :
O what good it would do you, to read there the blessed at-
tributes of your God ! to look upon his name ! to peruse the
description of his most perfect nature ! What good would
it do you to read of the nature, and incarnation, and life, and
death, and resurrection, and ascension, and intercession, and
return of your blessed Redeemer ? What good would it do
you to find those holy rules which your new nature is agree-
able to, and to read over the law that is written in your
hearts, and read the curse from which you are delivered 1
What life and joy would your souls receive from the many,
and full, and free promises of grace ! Were you once but
truly sanctified and made new, your condition would be
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 39
often comfortable, but always safe ; and when you were in
the greatest fears and perplexities, you would still be fast in
the arms of Christ : and what a life would that be, to have
daily access to God in prayer ; to have leave in all your
wants and danger, to seek to him with a promise of hearing
and success ; that you may be sure of much more from him,
than a child can from the tenderest father, or a wife from the
most loving husband upon the earth. What a life would it
be, when you may always think on God as your felicity, and
fetch your highest delights from him, from whom the un-
godly have their greatest terrors ? And it is no contempti-
ble part of your benefits that you may live among his peo-
ple, and in their special love, and have a special communion
with them, and interest in their prayers, and may possess
among them the privileges of the saints and the ordinances
of God: that instead of idle talk, and the unprofitable fel-
lowship of the children and works of darkness, you may
join with the church of God in his praises, and feed with
them at his table, on the body and blood of Christ, and then
have conveyances of renewed grace and a renewed pardon
sealed to your souls ; but how long should I stay, if I should
tell you but one half of the blessing of a sanctified and spi-
ritual state ? In a word, God would be yours, Christ would
be yours, the Holy Ghost would be yours, all things would
be yours; the whole world would have some relation to
your welfare ; devils would be subdued to you, and cast out
of your souls ; sin would be both pardoned and overcome ;
angels would be ministering spirits unto you for your good ;
the promises of Scripture would be yours ; and everlasting
glory would at last be yours ; and while you staid on earth,
you might comfort yourselves as oft as you would, with the
believing foresight of that inconceivable, unspeakable,
endless felicity.
O sirs, what a treasure have I here expressed in a few
words ! What hearts would you have if you were but pos-
sessed, lively and sensible of all that is contained in this leaf
or two ! You would not envy the greatest prince on earth his
glory, nor change states with any man that was a stranger
to these things. Did you but use to consider of the state of
the saints ; how could you keep off, and stay with sin, and
make so many delays in turning unto God ! Sure this con-
sideration might turn the scales.
40 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
6. The next part of your meditation should be, Of the
gracious and wonderful work of our redemption, and the
means and remedies which are provided for your souls, and
the terms on which salvation may be obtained.
For all the sins that you have committed, you are not
given over to despair ; the Lord hath not left you without
a remedy : your conversion and salvation is not a thing im-
possible. Nay, so much is done by Christ already, that it
is brought upon reasonable terms even to your hands. A
new and living way is consecrated for us by Christ through
the veil of his flesh, and by his blood we may have boldness
to enter into the holiest ; Heb. x. 19, 20. He hath borne
your burden ; and offereth you instead of it his burden, which
is light ; Matt. xi. 28. He hath removed the impossibility
and nailed to his cross the hand writing that was against
you ; Col. ii. 14, 15. And instead of it offereth you his
easy yoke. He hath spoiled the principalities and powers
that had captivated you, and openly triumphed over them
on the cross. You are not left under the care of making satis -
faction to God for your own sins; but only of accepting the
Redeemer that hath satisfied. This much I dare confidently
say to you all, without extending his benefits too far. It
would be for want of faith in you, and not for want of satis-
faction by the Redeemer, if any of you perish. And how
free are his offers ! How full are his promises ! You are
conditionally all pardoned and justified already, as is legible
under the hand of God. And the condition which is im-
posed on you is not some meritorious or mercenary work,
but the accepting of the benefit freely given, according to
its nature, use, and ends. This is the faith by which you
must be justified. These are the terms on which you may
be saved. And which is more, the Lord hath provided means,
even excellent, and plentiful, and powerful means, for the
furthering of your souls in the performance of this condition,
and helping you to believe, and repent, that you may live :
and if the Spirit make not these means effectual, and adjoin
not his special grace, and after this you remain unconverted,
it will not be long of him, but of yourselves. So that you
may perceive how hopeful a case you are yet in, by the blood
of your Redeemer. If you destroy not your own hopes, and
make not your case desperate by wilful impenitency, and
refusal of free grace, how fair are you yet for heaven ! and
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 41
what happy advantages have you for salvation ! It is
brought even to your doors ; it is thrust as it were into your
hands ; the Redeemer hath done so much for you all, as to
bring your salvation to the choice of your own wills ; and if
you be his chosen ones, he will also make you willing. You
have precepts to believe, you are threatened if you will not
believe ; you have promise upon promise, and Christ him-
self offereth you pardon, and life, and salvation with him, if
you are but truly and heartily willing. You have God him-
self condescending to beseech you to accept them ; and am-
bassadors entreating you in his name and stead ; 2 Cor. v.
19, 20. You have ordinances fitted to your necessities ;
both reading, and preaching, and sacraments, and prayer.
You have store of plain and powerful books; you have the
godly about you, most desirous to assist you, that would be
glad to see or hear of your conversion ; you have the sight
of the wicked, that are wallowing in their own dung, and the
dirt of the world, to make you hate such beastly ways. You
have reason and conscience within you to consider of these
matters, and set them home, and apply them to yourselves ;
you have time and strength to do all this, if you will not
abuse it, and provoke God to take it from you for your neg-
ligence. You have mercies of many sorts, outward and in-
ward, to win upon you, and encourage you in the work.
And sometimes afflictions to remember you, and awaken
you, and spur you on ; the devil and all your enemies are so
far disabled, that they cannot destroy you against your wills,
nor keep you from Christ, but by your own consents. The
angels in heaven are ready to help you, and would even re-
joice at your conversion. This is your case, and these are
your helps, and encouragements, you are not shut up under
desperation. God never told you, ' It is in vain to think of
conversion ; it is too late :' if any have told you so, it was
the devil, and not God ; and one would think that such con-
siderations as these should drive the nail to the head, and
be effectual to move you to resolve and turn.
7. The last thing that I would set before you to be con-
sidered, is, What is like to be the end of it, if after all this
you should die unconverted.
O sirs, your hearts are not able now to conceive of it,
nor the tongue of any mortal man to utter it. But so much
of it we can certainly utter, as one would think should make
42 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
your hearts to tremble. You have seen, it may be, a dying
man, in what pangs and agonies he parteth with his soul :
and you have seen, it is like, the corps that was left there
behind, and seen it laid in the common earth. But you see
not what became of the soul, nor what an appearance it made
in another world, nor what company did attend it, nor what
a place or state it passed into. O sirs, when the hour is at
hand that this must be your own case, it will awaken you to
other kind of affections, than you have or can have at the
reading of these words. It is wonderful that a little distance
should make us so insensible of that change which we are
all certain will come to pass ; and yet through the folly and
deadness of our hearts it is so ; but they are other kind of
thoughts of these weighty matters, which we shall have the
next hour after death, than the most lively affections before-
hand can afford us.
The misery was great that the Redeemer did find you in,
and which you deserved by your sin against the law of the
Creator. But if you be found unconverted at last, your pu-
nishment will be much sorer, and your case far worse than
it was before. The Redeemer's law or Gospel hath its pe-
culiar threatening, which differeth from the law of the mere
Creator in several respects; even (1.) In the nature of the
punishment, which will be torments of conscience for the
neglect of a Redeemer, and recovering grace, which you
should never have felt if you had never been redeemed. (2.)
And in the degree of the punishment, which will be far
sorer; Heb. x. 29. And (3.) In the remedilessness of it,
the sentence being irreversible and peremptory. The first
law indeed provided no remedy, but did not exclude remedy,
nor make it impossible ; but the law of Christ doth posi-
tively and expressly exclude all remedy, and leave the soul
that goeth unconverted out of the body, to utter desperation,
and misery without help or hope of the end. But I shall
not stand now to describe to you the terrors of judgment or
of hell, because I have done it already in other books, which
I desire you to fetch the rest of this meditation from ; that
is, my " Treatise of Judgment," and the beginning of my
third part of my " Book of Rest."
ii. Having told you what should be the matter of your
Consideration, I shall next tell you (but briefly) in what
manner you should perform it. And here I shall not stand
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 43
to prescribe you any long or exact method for meditation,
both because it agreeth not with my present resolved bre-
vity, and because the persons that I now deal with, are not
capable of observing such rules ; and if any desire suchhelps,
they may transfer the directions which are given on another
subject in my " Book of Rest," to the subject now in hand.
1. Do not stay till such thoughts will come of themselves
into your minds, but set yourselves purposely to consider
of these matters. Take some time to call your souls to an
account concerning their present state, and their prepara-
tions for eternity. If a heathen Seneca could call himself
every night to an account for the evil committed, and the
good omitted in the day past, as he professeth that he ordi-
narily did ; why may not even an unconverted man that hath
the helps which are now among us, bethink himself of the
state of his soul ? But I know that a carnal heart is exceed-
ing backward to serious consideration, and is loath to be
troubled with such thoughts as these ; and the devil will do
what he can to hinder it, by himself and others ; but yet if
men would but do what they may do, it might be better with
them than it is. Will you but now and then purposely with-
draw yourselves from company into some secret place, and
there set the Lord before your eyes, and call your souls to a
strict account about the matters that I have mentioned even
now, and make it your business to exercise your reason upon
them ; and as you purposely go to church to hear, so pur-
posely set yourselves to this duty of Consideration as a ne-
cessary thing ?
2. When you are upon it, labour to awaken your souls,
and to be very serious in all yourthoughts ; and do not think
of the matters of salvation, as you would do of an ordinary
trivial business, which you do not much regard or care how
it goes. But remember that your life lieth on it, even your
everlasting life ; and therefore call up the most earnest of
your thoughts, and rouse up all the powers of your souls,
and suffer them not to draw back, but commancUheui to the
work ; and then set the seven points that I mentioned even
now before you ; and as you think of them, labour to be af-
fected with them, in some measure according to their ex-
ceeding weight. As Moses said to Israel ; Deut. xxxii.46.
" Set your hearts to all the words which I testify among you
this day ; which you shall command your children to do,"
44 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
&c. For it is not a vain thing for you ; because it is your
life. And as Christ said, Luke ix. 44. " Let these sayings
sink into your ears ;" so I say to you, let the matters which
you think of go to your hearts, and sink down to the quick
of your affections.
And if your hearts would slip away from the work, and
other thoughts would creep into your mind, and you are
weary of these considerations before they have done their
work, see that you give not way to this laziness, or unwil-
lingness, but remember it is a work that must be done, and
therefore hold your thoughts upon it, till your hearts are
stirred and warmed within you.
And if after all, you cannot awake them to seriousness
and sensibility, put two or three such awakening questions
as these to yourselves.
1. Quest. What if it were but the case of my body, or
state, or name, should I not earnestly consider of it ? If one
do but wrong me, how easily can I think of it, and how ten-
derly do I feel it, and can scarce forget it. If my good name
be blemished, and I be but disgraced, I can think of it night
and day. If I lose but a beast, or have any cross in the
world, or decay in my estate, I can think of it with sensi-
bility. If I lose a child or a friend, I can feel it as well as
think on it. If my health be decayed, and my life in dan-
ger, I am in good earnest in thinking of this. And should
I not be as serious in the matters of everlasting life ? Should
I not think of it, and soberly and earnestly think on it, when
body and soul do lie at the stake, and when it concerneth
my everlasting joy or torment?
2. Quest. What if I had but heard the Son of God him-
self calling on me to repent, and be converted, and second-
ing his commands with that earnest expression, " He that
hath an ear to hear, let him hear ;" would it not have brought
me to some serious thoughts of my state ? Why this he hath
done in his word, and doth it by his ambassadors, and why
then should I not consider it ?
3. Quest. If I did but know that death were at my back,
and ready to arrest me, and that I should be in another world
before this day sevennight, I should then begin to bethink
me in good sadness : and why do I not so now, when I have
no hold of my life an hour, and when I am sure that shortly
that time will come ?
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 45
4. Quest. If my eyes were but open to see that which I
pretend to believe, and which is certainly true ; even to see
a glimpse of the majesty of the Lord, to see the saints in joy
and glory, to see the damned souls in misery ; and if I heard
their lamentations ; would not this even force my heart to
Consideration? O then how earnestly should I think of
these things ? And why should I not do so now, when they
are as sure as if I saw them, and when I must see them ere
it be long?
Many more such awakening questions are at hand, but I
give you but these brief touches on the things that are most
common and obvious, that the most ignorant may be able to
make some use of them. With such thoughts as these, you
must bring on your backward hearts, and shake them out of
their insensibility, and awaken them to the work.
in. When you have brought your hearts to be serious,
be sure that you drive on your considerations to a resolu-
tion. Break not off in the middle, or before you bring the
matter to an issue ; but let all be done in order to practice.
When you have been thinking of the excellencies of God and
the world to come, and comparing them with all the delights
on earth ; put the question then to your hearts, and say,
'What sayst thou now, O my soul, which of these is the
better for thee, which is the more desirable, and which of
them shouldst thou prefer? Resolve then, and make thy
choice according to the light and conviction which thou hast
received.' When you are thinking of the reasons that
should move you to be converted, ask yourselves, Whether
these reasons be not clear, and what you have to say against
them ; and whether any thing that can be said to the con-
trary, can prove it better for you to be as you are, and to re-
main unconverted. Ask yourselves, ' Is my judgment re-
solved, or is it not? And if it be, (as sure it must be, if you
be not beside yourselves) then write it down under your
hands, or at least in your hearts, ' I do here confess before
the Lord, that his commands are just, his motions are rea-
sonable, his offers are exceeding merciful : I am satisfied
that it is best for me to turn to him speedily, and with all
my heart : I confess before him that I have no reason to the
contrary, that deserves to be owned and called reason : this
is my own judgment; of this I am convinced : if I turn not
after this, the light that is in me, and the judgment that now
46* DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
I possess, must needs be a witness against my soul.' If you
would but thus drive on the case to a resolution of your
judgments, you would have a great advantage for the resolv-
ing of your wills, which is the next thing that you must pro-
ceed to : and therefore next ask yourselves, ' Why should I
not now resolve, and fixedly resolve to turn without any
more delay ? Is not the case plain before me ? What rea-
son have I to stand questioning the matter any longer, and
to be unwilling to be happy? Shall I provoke God by dal-
lying with him, and hazard my soul by lingering out my time
in such a miserable state ? No, by the grace of God I will
return ; even this hour, without any more delay.' Thus
drive on all your considerations to resolution. (But of this
I have more to say anon.)
By this time you may see of what necessity this duty of
Consideration is, and how it must be performed, that it may
further your conversion : but because it is a matter of so
great necessity, I am loath to leave it thus, till I have done
what I can to persuade you to the practice of it. To which
end I entreat you to think of these following motives.
1. Consideration is a duty that you may perform if you
will. You cannot say that is wholly out of your power ; so
that you are left inexcusable, if you will not be persuaded to
it. You say you cannot convert yourselves ; but cannot you
set yourselves to consider of your ways, and bethink you of
those truths that must be the instruments of your conver-
sion ? Your thoughts are partly at the command of your
will : you can turn them up and down from one thing to
another. Even an unsanctified minister, that hath no saving
relish of spiritual things, can think of them, and spend most
of his time in thinking of them, that he may preach them to
others : and why cannot you then turn your thoughts to
them for yourselves ? You can think of house, and land, and
friends, and trading, and of any thing that aileth you, or any
thing that you want, or any thing that you love or think
would do you good : and why cannot you think of your sin,
and danger, of God, and of his word and works, of the state
of your souls, and of everlasting life ? Are you not able to
go sometimes by yourselves, and consider of these matters?
Are you not able when you are alone in your beds, or as you
travel in the way, or at your labour, to bethink how things
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 47
stand with your souls? Why are you not able, what is it
that could hinder you, if you were but willing?
2. Yea further, Consideration is so cheap a remedy, that
if you will not use this, you despise your souls : yea, and
you despise the Lord himself, and the everlasting things
which you are called to consider of. A man that is in dan-
ger of losing his estate, or health, or life, and will not so
much as bethink him of a remedy, doth sure set light by
them, and lose them by his contempt. A man that hath had
but his house on fire, and would not so much as think how
to quench it, doth deserve that it should be burnt. If your
parents, or children, or friends were in distress, if you would
not so much as think of them, it were a sign you did not set
much by them. Why, sirs, are not your souls worth the
thinking on? Is not God, is not your Redeemer, worth the
thinking on? And yet you will hypocritically pretend that you
love God above all, when you will not so much as seriously
think of him ; how can you shew greater contempt of any
thing, than to cast it out of your minds as unworthy to be
thought on? And how can you more plainly shew that you
despise God and heaven, than by such a course as this ? If
it be not worth the thinking on, it is worth nothing.
3. Consider that God doth not set so light by your sal-
vation. He thought it worth a great deal more : must Christ
think it worth his bloody sufferings, and with such a life of
labour and sorrow, and will not you judge it worth your se-
rious considerations ? If he had not thought on it, and
thought again, how miserable should we have remained !
Ministers also must think on it, and study how to save your
souls. And should you not study how to save your own ?
Must another man make it the business of his life to think
how to do you good, that you may be saved, and are you not
as much bound to do good to yourselves ? Yea, all that
fear God about you, are bound to study to do you good ; and
should you not bethink you then of the things that concern
your own good ?
4. Moreover, what have you your reason for, but to con-
sider ; and wherein do you differ from the beasts, so much
as in your reason ? If you have reason, and will not use it,
you brutify yourselves ; you live like madmen ; for what is
madness, but a loss of the use of reason ? And do you think
it a small thing to deface so noble a creature as man, and to
43 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
turn yourselves into beasts and madmen? Do you think
that God will not call you to account for your reason, how
you have used it? Doubtless he gave it you for a higher
employment, than to enable you to plough, and sow, and
follow your trades, and provide for your flesh. If this were
all that a man did exceed a beast in, what a silly, wretched
wight were man? Yea, so much more miserable than beasts,
as his knowledge begets more care, and sorrow, and fear,
than theirs. What matter is it for having reason at all, if it
be not that we may use it for the matters of God, and eter-
nal life ?
5. Moreover, your soul is an active principle, which will
be working one way or other ; your thoughts will be going
on one thing or other; and therefore the bare consideration
is no great labour to you. And if you must lay out your
thoughts on something, is it not better lay them out on these
things, than on any other? Have you any better matters
to think on than these ? Have you any greater matters, or
matters of greater necessity to think of? You cannot sure
imagine it ; at least you will not say so for shame. This
makes your inconsiderateness an inexcusable sin. If think-
ing were toil to you, it were another matter. But when you
must think of something, why not of God, and your eternal
state, and the way to heaven, as well as of other matters ?
Will you rather throw away your thoughts, than God shall
have them ? If a man command his servant that is lame, to
go on his business, the refuser hath a good excuse : ' I can-
not go, or not without a great pain and danger:' but if he
have a son or a servant that is so wanton that he cannot
stand on his legs, but spends his time in running up and
down, and dancing, and leaping, this person hath no excuse,
if he will refuse to go on his master's or his father's errand ;
but will gad about on his pleasure all day, and will not go a
few steps when he is bidden ; especially if it were for his own
life or welfare. So when you have thoughts that'will not be
kept idle, but will be gadding abroad through the world,
and yet you will not think of God, and the matters of your
peace, what wilfulness is this ? If you should ask one that
hath it not, for meat, or drink, or money, they might well
deny you. But if you ask these, of one that hath abundance,
and knows not what to do with them, but would throw them
down the channel, rather than you should have them, what
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 49
would you think of such an one? Especially if it were your
servant or your child that owed you much more? Thus do
you by God and your own souls. You have thoughts
enough and to spare, you know not what to do with them ;
and yet rather than you will spend one hour in a day or a
week in serious thoughts of the state of your souls and the
life to come, you will cast them away upon news, and tales,
and other folk's business that do not concern you ; yea, you
will cast them down the sink of covetousness, and malice,
and lust, and wantonness, and make them servants to the
devil and the flesh. If you have a brook running by your
land, you will endeavour to turn it over your ground, that
seeing it must run, it may as well run that way where it may
do good, as run in vain : so when your thoughts must run,
is it not better that you turn them to your own hearts, and
states, to prepare for the world that you are ready to step
into, than to let them run in vain ? If you see a man go in
to a wine-cellar (though it be his own) and pull out all the
spigots, and let all the wine run about the cellar, and suffer
nobody to catch it, or be the better for it, what would you
conceive of the wisdom or charity of that man? Your
thoughts are a thing more precious than wine, and such a
thing as should not be spilt ; and yet is not this your every
day's practice? You are before him that knows your
thoughts : deny it if you can. What hour of the day can a
man come to you and find your thoughts altogether idle?
What minute of an hour can a man come and ask you what
are you now thinking on, and you can truly say, Nothing ?
I know as long as you are awake, you are always thinking
of somewhat (and perhaps when you are asleep) and what is
it on ? This body shall have a thought, and that body a
thought ; every word you hear, and every wrong that is done
you, and almost every thing you look upon, shall have a
thought ; and God and your own salvation shall have none ;
that is, you will lose them, and let them run in waste ; but
you will do no good with them, nor take in any profit by
them to yourselves.
6. Have you any thing that better deserves your consi-
deration, than God and your salvation ? Certainly God hath
more right to your thoughts than any thing else that you
can place them on. Your flesh, your friends, your worldly
business are neither so honourable, so necessary, or so pro-
VOL. VIII. e
50 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
fitable subjects, as God and heaven are. As there is more
profit to be got by the tillage of fruitful land, than barren
heath ; or by digging in a mine of gold, than in a clay-pit ;
so is there more pleasure and profit to be gotten in one hour's
serious thoughts of your salvation, than in thinking all your
lifetime of the world.
7. At least, methinks you should consider, how dispro-
portionably and unequally you lay out your thoughts. Can-
not you spare God the tenth ; no, nor the hundredth part of
them ? Look back upon your lives, and trace your thoughts
from day to day, and tell me how many hours in a week, in
a month, in a year, you have spent in serious thoughts of the
state of your souls, and of the life to come? Is it one hour
of a hundred, of a thousand, of ten thousand, with some of
you that is thus spent ? Nay, I have very great cause to
fear that there are some, yea, that there are many, yea, that
there is far the greatest number, that never spent one hour
since they were born, in withdrawing themselves purposely
from all other business, and soberly and in good sadness
bethinking themselves what case they are in, what evidence
they have of their salvation, or how they must be justified
at the bar of God ; no, nor what business they have in the
world, and to what end they were made, and how they have
done the work that they were made for. Ah ! sirs, doth
conscience justify you in this? Or rather will it not tor-
ment you one day to remember it? What! did thy land,
and livings, worldly matters deserve all thy thoughts, and
did not the saving of thy soul deserve some of them? Did
thy lusts, and sports, and wantonness deserve all? and did
not God deserve some of them? Was it not worth now and
then an hour's time, no, nor one hour's study in all thy life,
to bethink thee in good sadness how to make sure of a life
of endless joy or glory, and how to escape the flames of hell ?
This is not an equal distribution of thy thoughts, as thou
wilt confess at last in the horror of thy soul.
8. It is the end of your present time and warnings, that
you may consider and prepare for your everlasting state.
What have you to do on earth but to consider how to get
well to heaven? O that you did but know what a mercy it
is, before you enter upon an endless life, to have but time to
bethink you of it, and to make your election sure ! If you
were to be called away suddenly, this night, and the angel of
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 51
the Lord should say to any of you, ' Prepare, for within this
hour thou must die, and appear before the living God :' then
would you not cry out, 'O, not so suddenly Lord ! Let me
have a little more time to consider of my condition : let me
have one month longer, to bethink me of the case of my soul,
and make sure that I am justified from the guilt of my sins.
Let me haye one day more at least to prepare for my ever-
lasting state ; for alas, I am yet unready.' Would not these
be your cries, if God should call you presently away ? And
yet now you have time, you will not consider of these mat-
ters and prepare.
9. Moreover, is it not time for you to consider your ways,
when God doth consider them? If he would forget them,
or did not regard them, you might regard them the less your-
selves : but be sure of it, he doth observe them, whether
you do or not ; and he remembereth them though you for-
get them. Dost thou not know that all the sins of thy life
are still on record before the Lord ? Saith Job, " Thou num-
berest my steps ; dost thou not watch over my sin ? My
transgresion is sealed up in a bag, and thou sowest up mine
iniquity ;" Job xiv. 16, 17. Do you think that God forgets
your sins, as you forget them ? Saith the Lord by the pro-
phet Hosea, " They consider not in their hearts, that I re-
member all their wickedness ; now their doings have beset
them about, they are before my face ;" Hosea vii. 2. But
you will say, What if God do consider our ways? why sure-
ly then it is not for nothing, but evil is near if not prevented.
As the Lord saith in Deut. xxxii. 34, 35. " Is not this laid up
in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures ? To
me belongeth vengeance, and recompence ; their foot shall
slide in due time. For the day of their calamity is at hand,
and the things that shall come upon them make haste." If
God be registering up thy sins, thou hast cause to tremble,
to think what that portends : " for in this hardness and im-
penitency of thy heart, thou art treasuring up wrath, against
the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment
of God ; Rom.ii. 5. As grace is the seed of glory, so sin is
the seed of shame, and trouble, and everlasting torment ; and
though it may seem long before the harvest, you will taste
the bitter fruit at last ; and whatsoever you have sowed, that
shall you reap.
10. Moreover, if any thing ailed you, you look that God
52 DIRECTIONS* TO PREVENT
should presently consider you : or if you want any thing,
you think he should consider your wants : and yet will you
not consider of him, and of your own wants ? When you are
in trouble, you cry to God, " Have mercy upon me, O Lord,
consider my trouble ;" Psal. ix. 33. " Consider and hear me,
O God ;" Psal. xiii. 3. When you lie in pain and sickness,
you will then cry to God, " Consider mine affliction, and de-
liver me;" Psal. cxix. 153. If you be oppressed or abused,
you will groan as the Israelites under their taskmasters, and
perhaps cry to God, as the captive people, Lam. i. 1 1 . " See
O Lord, consider ; for I am become vile : remember, O Lord,
what is come upon us ; consider, and behold our reproach ;
chap. v. 1. ii. 20. And must God consider of you, that
will not consider of him, or your own souls? Or may you
not rather expect that dreadful answer, which he gives to
such regardless sinners ; Prov. i. 24 — 30. And hear your
cries, as you hear his counsel ; and think of you, as you
thought of him.
Nay, more than so ; even while you forget him, the Lord
doth daily consider you, and supply your wants, and save
you from dangers ; and should you then cast him out of your
thoughts ? If he did not think of you, you would quickly
feel it to your cost and sorrow.
11. Moreover, the nature of the matter is such, as one
would think should force a reasonable creature to consider
of it, and often and earnestly to consider. When all these
things concur in the matter, he must be a block or a madman
that will not consider, (1.) When they are the most excel-
lent, or the greatest things in all the world. (2.) When
they are our own matters, or nearly concern us. (3.) When
they are the most necessary, and profitable, and delightful
things. And (4.) When there is much difficulty in getting
them, and danger of losing them. And all these go together
in the matter of your salvation.
(1.) If you will not think of God and your souls, of hea-
ven and hell, what then will you think of? All other things
in the world are but toys and jesting matters to these.
Crowns and kingdoms, lands and lordships are but chaff,
and baubles, dirt and dung, to these everlasting things.
The acts of renowned kings and conquerors, are but as pup-
pet-plays in comparison of 'the working out of your salva-
tion. And yet will you not be drawn to the consideration
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 53
of such astonishing things as these ? One would think that
the exceeding greatness of the matter should force you to
consider it whether you will or no. When smaller objects
affect not the senses, yet greater will even force their way.
He that hath so hard a skin that he cannot feel a feather,
methinks should feel the weight of a millstone : and if he
feel not the prick of a pin, methinks he should feel a dagger.
He that cannot hear one whisper, methinks should hear a
cannon, or a clap of thunder, if he have any such thing as
hearing left him. He hath bad eyes that cannot see the sun.
One would think so glorious an object as God, should so
entice the eyes of men that they should not look off him.
One would think that such matters as heaven and hell should
follow thy thoughts which way soever thou goest, so that
thou shouldst not be able to look besides them, or to think
almost of any thing else, unless with great neglect and dis-
esteem. O what a thing is a stony heart, that can forget
not only the God that heliveth by, but also the place where
he must live for ever? Yea, that will not be persuaded to
the sober consideration of it for an hour.
(2.) And as these are the greatest matters, so they are
your own matters, and therefore one would think you should
not need so much ado to bring you to consider them. If it
were only other men's matters, I should not wonder at it.
But self-love should make you regard your own. In out-
ward matters, all seek their own things ; Phil. ii. 21. And
have they not more reason to seek their own salvation ? It
is your own souls, your own danger, your own sin, your own
duty, that I persuade you to consider of. It is that God,
that Christ, that would be your own ; it is that heaven, that
blessedness, that may be your own, if you lose it not by neg-
lect ; it is that hell, that torment, that will certainly be your
own, if you prevent it not. And should not this be thought
on ? You will think of your own goods, or lands, or riches ;
of your own families, your own business, your own lives,
and why not also of your own salvation ?
(3.) Especially, when it is not only your own, but it is
the " one thing needful ;" Luke x. 42. It is that which your
life or death, your everlasting joy or torment lieth on; and
therefore must be considered of, or you are utterly undone
for ever. Necessity lieth upon you ; and woe be to you, if
you consider not of these things. It is not so necessary
54 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
that you eat, or drink, or sleep, or live, as it is necessary that
you make sure your everlasting life. And the profit also
doth answer the necessity. Buy but this one pearl, and you
will be infinite gainers, though you sell all that you have in
the world to buy it; Matt.xiii. 44—46. Get God, and get
all : make sure of heaven, and then fear no loss, nor want,
nor sorrow. If you count not all the world as dung for the
winning of Christ, that you may be found in him, possessed
of his righteousness, it is because you know neither the
world nor Christ ; Phil. iii. 7—9. Yea, the delight will also
answer the commodity ; for " in the presence of God is fulness
of joy, and at his right hand are pleasures for evermore ;
Psal. xvi. 1 1 . And the forethoughts of them may well make
" glad our hearts, and cause our glory to rejoice;" Psal.
xvi. 8, 9. " For goodness and mercy shall follow us all the
days of our lives, and we shall dwell in the house of the
Lord for ever ;" Psal. xxiii. 6. ' " He shall guide us with his
counsel, and afterward receive us into glory ;" Psal. lxxiii.
24. And lest yet you should suspect any lack of comfort,
he tells you, you shall " enter into the joy of your Lord ;"
Matt. xxv. 23. " And that you shall be with him where he
is, to behold his glory ;" John xvii. 24.
(4.) And yet if all this might be had with a wet finger ; if
heaven were the portion of worldlings, and sluggards, that
trouble not their thoughts much about it, then you might
have some excuse for your inconsiderateness. But it is not
so ; there are difficulties in your way, and they are many and
great. What a dark understanding have you to inform?
What a dull and backward nature to spur on ! What an un-
reasonable appetite ! What raging passions ! What violent,
rebellious senses to contend with, to master, and to rule !
Abundance of adversaries on every hand : a subtle devil,
and as malicious as subtle ; and as furious and able to do
you a mischief, if God restrain him not. A world of wicked
men about you ; each one more stiff in error than you in the
truth ; and more fast to the devil than you are to God, (if
his grace do not hold you faster than you will hold your-
selves ;) and therefore they are more able to deceive you,
than you are to undeceive them : many of them are crafty
and can puzzle such ignorant beginners as you , and put a
face of reverence and truth upon damnable errors, and per-
nicious ways ; and those that have not wit, have foolish
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 55
violence, and scorn, and passion, and can drive you towards
hell, if they cannot draw you. All these enemies you must
conquer, or you are lost. And is it not time for a man in so
much danger to consider of them, that he may know how to
escape ? And for one that is compassed about with such
difficulties, to consider how he may well get through them?
What abundance of things have you to consider of? of all
your life past; of the relations you have borne ; and how
you have performed the duties of those relations ? Of the
time you have had ; and how you have spent it ? Of the
means you have had, and what you have received by them ?
Of the present state of your souls, your sins, your miseries,
your hopes, and the duties that are incumbent on you, in
order to your recovery. Of the temptations to be encoun-
tered with ; and the graces that are daily to be exercised
and confirmed ! Would not a man bethink himself with all
possible care, and consider, a hundred times consider, that
hath all this to do, or be undone for ever ? You have much
to know that will not easily be known, and yet must be
known ; much to do, receive and suffer, that hath difficulty
adjoined with necessity : were it necessary and not hard, the
facility might draw you to make light of it. And were it
hard and not necessary the difficulty might more discourage
you than the matter would excite you : but when it must be
done, or you must be shut out of heaven, and lie in hell for
it world without end, and yet there are so many difficulties
in the way, I think it is time to look about you, and se-
riously consider.
12. To conclude, Consideration would prevent a world
of misery, which else would make you consider when it is
too late. It must be a principal means of your salvation if
ever you be saved. If God have so much mercy for you, he
will make you consider; and set your sins in order before
you ; (Psal. 1. 21.) and set hell-fire before your face, and
hold your thoughts on it that you cannot look off. He will
set before you a crucified Christ, and tell you, that this your
sins have done, and make you think of the reason of his suf-
ferings ; and what there is in sin that could require it ; and
what it is to rebel against the Lord, and run yourselves into
the consuming fire. Now your thoughts are gadding abroad
the world, and straggling after every trifle, and going away
from God ; but if ever God will save you, he will overtake
56 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
your hearts, and fetch them home, and shew them that they
have something else to think on. If commands will not
serve, he will send out his threatenings, and terrors shall
come upon you, and pursue your soul as the wind ; Job
xxxiii. 15. He will fetch you out of the alehouse, and the
gaming-house, and take you off the merry pin, and lay that
upon your heart that you shall not easily shake off. If you
are taken up with the cares of the world, he will shew you
that you have somewhat else to care for ; and drown those
cares in greater cares. If you have such giddy, unsettled,
vagrant minds, that you cannot call in your thoughts of
God, nor hold them with him ; he will lay those clogs and
bolts upon them at first, that shall restrain them from their
idle vagaries ; and then he will set upon them such a bias,
as shall better order them, and fix them for the time to come.
Men do not use to go to heaven, and never think of it : and
to escape hell-fire, and the plague of sin, and the curse of
the law, and the wrath of God, and the rage of satan, and
never think on it ; nor do they use to mind other matters,
and find themselves in heaven, before they ever dreamed of
it, or before their hearts were set upon it. No sirs, if ever
God will save you, he will make you consider, and again
consider, and perhaps with many a sigh and groan ; and
bring these things so near your hearts, that you shall not
only think on them, but feel them ; according to that com-
mand, Deut. vi. 6, 7. xi. 18—20. They shall be as written
before your eyes ; you shall think of them when you lie
down, and when you rise up, as if they were written upon
the tester of your beds ; you shall think of them when you
sit at home, when you go abroad, as carrying them still with
you, which way soever you go. As before, God was not in all
your thoughts, so now he will be the sum and end of them all.
And if by your resistance you escape these considera-
tions, believe it, God will bring you to consideration by a
severer and more dreadful way. If he do but give your con-
science a commission, it will follow you, and bring you to
such a consideration as Judas was brought to. If he lay you
under his judgments, and speak to you by his rod, and give
you a lash with every word, and ask you whether yet you
will consider of it? It may bring such things to your
thoughts, as you were but little troubled with before. If he
say but the word, how soon will your soul be required of
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 57
you ? And when you lie in hell and feel the smart, you will
then consider of it. Now we cannot beg of you to bestow
one hour in sober consideration : but then you shall do it
without entreaty ; then you will be as a man that hath the
stone, or gout, or toothach, that cannot forget it, if he
would never so fain. Forget your folly, your obstinacy, and
unthankfulness then, if you can. Forget God's wrath, and
the torment which you feel then if you can. Now you are
so busy that you could not have while to think of the mat-
ters of the world to come ; but then God will give you lei-
sure ; you shall have little else to do ; you shall have time
enough : when you have thought of these things ten thou-
sand years, you shall still have time enough before you to
think of them again. You will not consider now, but, when
God hath performed the intents of his heart, in the latter
days, you shall perfectly consider it ; Jer. xxiii. 20. xxx.
24. " O that you were wise, that you understood this ; that
you would consider your latter end ;" Deut. xxxii. 29.
What brings so many thousand souls to hell, but be-
cause they would not consider in time ? If you could speak
with any of those hopeless souls, and ask them, • How came
you to this place of torment ?' they would tell you, ' because
we did not consider of our case in time ; we little thought
of this day, though we were told of it j we had a load of sin
upon us, and did not consider how we might be relieved :
we had Christ and mercy set before us, but we did not con-
sider the worth of them nor how to be made partakers of
them : we had time, but we considered not how to make the
best of it : we had the work of our salvation lay upon our
hands, but we did not consider how we might accomplish it :
had we but considered what now we feel, we might have
escaped all this, and have lived with God !' These would
be the answers of those miserable souls, if you could but
ask them the cause of their misery. There is scarce a thief
or a murderer hanged at the gallows, but will cry out, ' O if
1 had but had the wit and grace to have considered this in
time, 1 need not have come to this !' There is scarce an un-
thrift that falls into beggary, no nor a man that comes to
any mischance, but will say, ' If I had considered it before-
hand, I might have prevented it.' Most of the calamities of
the world might have been prevented, by timely and sober
considerations. God himself doth place men's wickedness
58 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
much in their inconsiderateness, and lays the cause of their
destruction upon it. Whence is it that Israel was rebellious
to astonishment ; Isa. i. 3. " Why, Israel doth not know,
my people doth not consider." Job xxxiv. 25 — 27. " He
shall break in pieces mighty men without number, and set
others in their stead ; therefore he knoweth their works, he
overturneth them in the night, so that they are destroyed.
He striketh them as wicked men in the open sight of others,
because they turned back from him, and would not consider
any of his ways." Why do men live so wilfully in sin, but
because " they consider not that they do evil ;" Eccles. v. 1 .
How many such hath the world, that God pronounceth a
woe to ? Isa. v. 11, 12. That drink, and play, and give
themselves to their merriments, " but they regard not the
work of the Lord ; neither consider the operation of his
hands. They consider not in their hearts the folly of their
ways;" Isa. xliv. 18 — 20. When they see God's judg-
ments, they consider not the meaning of them, and therefore
lay them not to heart ; Isa. lvii. 1, 2.
And when God calleth men to conversion, or reformation,
he useth to call them to consideration as the way to it ;
Hag. i. 5. " Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Consider your
ways." The son that shall escape the misery of his father,
is he that considereth, and turneth away from his transgres-
sions, considereth, and doth not his forefather's work ;
Ezek. xviii. 14. 20. And when he sendeth the prophet to
them, (Ezek. xii. 3.) it is but with this encouragement;
" Though they are a rebellious house, it may be they will
consider." And David professeth, that Consideration was
the beginning of his conversion ; Psal. cxix.59. " I thought
on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. I
made haste and delayed not to keep thy statutes."
I know that it is the Lord, that must renew and revive a
sinful soul ; but yet, under God, Consideration must do much.
O could we but persuade our people to consider, it is not
sure possible that they could be as they are, or do as they
do. Would so many thousands live in ease and quietness
under the guilt of so many sins, and the wrath of God, if
they did but well consider of it. Durst they live so peace-
ably in a state of death and in the slavery of the devil, if they
did but well consider of it ? Would they do no more to pre-
pare for their speedy appearing before God, and for the es-
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 59
caping of hell-fire, if they did but consider of it? Would
they swallow down their cups so greedily, and give up them-
selves to the world so eagerly, if they did but well consider
what they do ? Methinks they should not. The cause of
sin and the devil is so naught, that I should hope to shame
it with the most of the ungodly, if I could but bring them to
a serious consideration of it. O how the kingdom of satan
would down, if we could but tell how to make them consi-
derate ! How fast the devil would lose his servants ! What
abundance Christ would gain ! And how many would be
saved, if we could but tell how to make men considerate !
And one would think that this should be easily done, seeing
man is a self-loving, and reasonable creature ; but yet to our
grief, and great admiration, we oannot bring them to it. I
should not doubt, but one sermon, or one sentence of a ser-
mon, might do more good than a hundred do now ; if I were
but able to persuade the hearers when they come home, to
follow it by serious consideration. But we cannot bring
them to it ; if our lives lay on it, we could not bring them
to it ; though we know that their own lives and salvation
lieth on it, yet can we not bring them to it. They think,
and talk of other matters almost as soon as the sermon is
done, and they turn loose their thoughts ; or if they do read,
or hear, or repeat a little, yet cannot we get them to one
half hour's secret and sober consideration of their case.
This is the reason why it is so rare a thing to see men tho-
roughly turn to God. This is much of the use of all God's
teachings and afflictions too, but to bring men to sober con-
sideration. God knows that sin hath unmanned us, and
lost us the use of our reason, where we have most use for it ;
and therefore the means, and works of God, are to recover
us to our reason, and to make us men again : the very graces
of his Spirit are to make us to be more reasonable.
And now, before I dismiss this direction, I have a ques-
tion, and a request to make to thee, whoever thou art that
readest these lines. My question is this, ' Hast thou ever
soberly considered of thy ways and laid these greatest mat-
ters to heart, or hast thou not?' Dost thou ever use to re-
tire into thyself, and spend any time in this needful work ?
If thou dost not, my request to thee is, that now at last thou
wouldst do it without delay. Shall I beg this of thee?
Shall the Lord that made thee, that bought thee, that pre-
GO DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
serveth thee request this of thee; that thou wouldst some-
times betake thyself into some secret place and set thyself
purposely to this work of Consideration, and follow it
earnestly and close with thy heart till thou hast made some-
thing of it, and brought it to a resolution ? Wilt thou then
spend a little time in reasoning the case with thyself, and
calling thy heart to a strict account, and ask thyself, ' What
is it that I was made for ; and what business was I sent into
the world about? And how have I dispatched it? How
have I spent my time, my thoughts, my words ; and how
shall I answer for them ? Am I ready to die, if it were this
hour ? Am I sure of my salvation ? Is my soul converted,
and truly sanctified by the Holy Ghost? If not, what rea-
son have I to delay ? Why do I not set about it, and spee-
dily resolve ? Shall I linger till death come and find me un-
converted ? O then what a sad appearance shall I make
before the Lord!' And thus follow on the discourse with
your hearts. What say you, sirs ? Will you here promise
me to bestow but some few hours, if it be but on the Lord's
day, or when you are private on the way, or in your beds, or
in your shops, in these considerations? I beseech you, as
ever you will do any thing at my request, deny me not this
request . It is nothing that is unreasonable. If I desired
one of you to spend an hour in talking with me, you would
grant it ; yea, or if it were to ride, or go for me. And will
you not be entreated to spend now and then a little time in
thinking of the matters of your own salvation? Deny not this
much to yourselves, deny it not to God, if you will deny it
me. Should you not bethink you a few hours, of the place
and state that you must live in for ever? Men will build
strong where they think to live long; but a tent or a hut will
serve a soldier for a few nights. O, sirs, Everlasting is a long
day. In the name of God, let not conscience have such a
charge as this against you hereafter : ' Thou art come to thy
long home, to thy endless state, before ever thou spentest
the space of an hour in deep, and sad, and serious consider-
ations of it, or in trying thy title to it/ O what a confound-
ing charge would this be. I am confident I have the wit-
ness of your consciences going along with me, and telling
you it is but reasonable, yea, and needful, which I say. If
yet you will not. do it, and 1 cannot beg one hour's sober
discourse in secret between you and your hearts about these
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 61
things, then what remedy, but even to leave you to your mi-
sery. But I shall tell you in the conclusion, that I have no
hope of that soul, that will not be persuaded to this duty of
Consideration. But if I could persuade you to this reason-
able, this cheap, this necessary work, and to follow it close,
I should have exceeding great hopes of the salvation of you
all. I have told you the truth, consider what I say, and the
Lord give you understanding ; 2 Tim. ii. 7. Or if you put
me to conclude in harsher terms, they shall be still the ora-
cles of God : " Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest
I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver you ;"
Psal. 1. 22.
And so much for the third direction about Consideration,
on which I have staid somewhat long, because I apprehend
it of exceeding necessity.
Direct. IV. The fourth direction which I shall give you,
that the work of your conversion may not miscarry, is this :
' See that the work of Humiliation be thoroughly done, and
break not away from the spirit of contrition before he have
done with you ; and yet see that you mistake not the nature,
and the ends of the work, and that you drive it not on fur-
ther than God requireth you/
Here I shall first shew you i.The true nature of Humili-
ation. And
ii. The use and ends of it. And
in. The mistakes about it, that you must avoid. And
lv. I shall press on the substance of the direction, and
shew you the necessity of it.
1. There is a preparatory humiliation that goes before a
saving change, which is not to be despised, because it is
a drawing nearer unto God, though it be not a faithful clo-
sure with him. This preparatory humiliation, which many
have that perish, doth chiefly consist in these things follow-
ing. (1.) It lieth most in the fear of being damned. As it
is most in the passions, so most in this of fear. (2.) It con-
sisteth also in some apprehensions of the greatness of our
sins, and the wrath of God, that hangs over our heads, and
the danger that we are in of being damned for ever. (3.) It
consisteth also in some apprehension of the folly that we are
guilty of in sinning, and of some repentings that ever we did
it, and some remorse of conscience for it. (4.) Hereto may
be joined some passions of sorrow, and this expressed by
62 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
groans and tears. (5.) And all this may be accompanied
with confessions of sin to God and man, and lamentations
for our misery, and in some it proceedeth to desperation it-
self. (6.) And lastly, it may proceed to an indignation
against ourselves, and to the taking of a severe revenge on
ourselves ; yea, more than God would have men take ; as
Judas did by self-destroying. This desperation, and self-
execution are no parts of the preparatory humiliation ; but
the excess and error of it, and the entrance upon hell.
2. But there is also a Humiliation that is proper to the
converted, and which accompanieth salvation, and this con-
taineth in it, all that is in the former, and much more. Even
as the rational soul containeth the sensitive and vegetative,
and much more. And this saving humiliation consisteth in
these following particulars.
1. Itbeginneth in the understanding. 2. It is rooted in
the will. 3. It worketh in the affection. And 4. When
there is opportunity it sheweth itself in outward expressions
and actions.
1. Humiliation in the understanding, consisteth in a low
esteem of ourselves, and in a self-abasing, self-condemning
judgment on ourselves ; and that in these particulars.
(1.) It consisteth in a deep and solid apprehension of the
odiousness of our own sins, habitual and actual, and of our-
selves for our sins ; and that because they are contrary to
the blessed nature and law of God, and so contrary to our
own perfection, and chief good. (2.) It consisteth also in
a solid and fixed apprehension of our own ill-deserving, be-
cause of these sins ; so that our judgments do subscribe to
the equity of the condemning sentence of the law ; and we
judge ourselves unworthy of the smallest mercy, and worthy
of hell-fire. (3.) It consisteth in an apprehension of our
undone and miserable condition in ourselves. Not only as
we are the heirs of torment, but as we are void of the image
and Spirit of God, and have lost his favour, and are under
his displeasure, and enmity by our sin, and have forfeited
our part in everlasting glory, and how unable we are to help
ourselves.
And [1 .] This is in such a measure, that we truly judge our
sin and ourselves for sin, to be more odious than any thing
else could have made us, and our misery by sin in the foresaid
particulars, to be greater than any outward calamity in the
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 63
flesh, and than any worldly loss could have procured us.
And this we apprehend by a practical judgment, and not
only by a bare ineffectual speculation. [2.] And the spring
of this is some knowledge of God himself, whose majesty is
so glorious, and whose wisdom is so infinite ; who is so good
in himself, and unto us, and whose holy nature is contrary
to sin ; and who hath an absolute propriety in us, and sove-
reignty over us. [3.] And also it proceedeth from a know-
ledge of the true state of man's felicity, which by sin he hath
cast away ; that it consisteth in the pleasing and glori-
fying, and enjoying of God, in loving and delighting in him,
and praising him for ever, and having a nature perfectly ho-
ly, and fitted hereunto. To see that sin is contrary to this
felicity, and hath deprived us of it, is one of the springs of
true Humiliation. And [4.] It proceedeth also from a be-
lieving knowledge of Christ crucified, whom our sins did
put to death, who hath declared in the most lively manner
to the world by his cross, and sufferings, what sin is, and
what it hath done, and what a case we had brought ourselves
into. Thus much of saving Humiliation consisting in the
understanding.
2. The principal seat of this Humiliation is in the will,
and there it consisteth in these following acts. (1.) As we
think basely of ourselves, so the will hath a fixed displacency
against ourselves for our sins, and a kind of loathing of our-
selves for all our abominations ; as you may read, Ezek.
xxxvi.31. xx. 43. vi. 9. A humble sinner is fallen out with
himself, and as he is evil, his heart is against himself.
(2.) There is also in the will a deep repenting that ever
we sinned, and wronged God, and abused grace, and have
brought ourselves to this as we have done ; so that the hum-
bled soul could wish that he had spent his days in prison, in
beggary, or in bodily misery, so that he had not spent them
in sin ; and if it were to do again, he would rather choose
such a life of shame and calamity in the world, than a life of
sin, and would be glad of the exchange.
(3.) A humbled soul is truly willing to grieve for the sins
which he hath committed, and to be as deeply sensible of
them, and afflicted for them, as God would have him. Even
when he cannot shed a tear, yet his will is to shed them.
When he cannot feel any deep afflicting of his soul for sin,
64 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
his hearty desire is, that he might feel it. He doth a hun-
dred times weep in desire, when he doth it not in act.
(4.) A humble soul is truly willing to humble the flesh
itself, by the use of those appointed means by which God
would have him bring it in subjection ; as by fasting, or ab-
stinence, or mean attire, hard labour, and denying it unne-
cessary delights. It is a doubt worth the considering, whe-
ther any such humbling act must be used, purposely in re-
venge on ourselves for sin. To which I answer, that we may
do nothing in such revenge that God doth not allow, or that
makes our body less fit for his service ; for that were to be
revenged of God, and our souls ; but those humbling means
which are needful to tame the body, may well be used with
this double intention ; first and chiefly, as a means for our
safety and duty for the time to come ; that the flesh may
not prevail, and then collaterally we should be the more con-
tent that the flesh is put to so much suffering, because it hath
been and still is so great an enemy to God, and us, and the
cause of all our sin, and misery ; and this is the revenge that
is warrantable in the penitent, and some think is meant, 2 Cor.
vii. 11.
(5.) As the humbled soul hath base thoughts of himself,
so he is willing that others should esteem and think of him
accordingly, even as a vile, unworthy sinner, so far as his
disgrace may be no wrong to the Gospel, or to others, or
dishonour to God. His pride is so far taken down, that he
can endure to be vilified with some consent ; not approv-
ing of the sin of any men that doth it maliciously, but con-
senting to the judgment and rebukes of those that do it
truly, and to the judgment of God, even by them that do it
maliciously. The humbled soul does not stand defending
and unjustly extenuating his sin, and excusing himself, and
swelling against the reprover ; whatever he may do in a
temptation, if this temper were predominant, his pride, and
not humility, must be predominant. But he judgeth him-
self as much as others can justly judge him, and humbly
consenteth to be base in men's eyes, till God shall think it
meet to raise him, and recover his esteem.
And the root of all this in the will, is, [1.] A love to God
whom we have offended. [2.] A hatred of sin that hath of-
fended him, and that hath made us vile. And [3.] A believ-
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 65
ing sense of the dove, and sufferings of Christ, that in his
flesh hath condemned sin ; Rom. viii. 2, 3. And thus you
see what humiliation is in the will, which is the very life and
soul of true humiliation.
3. Humiliation also consisteth in the affections ; in an
unfeigned sorrow for the sin which we have committed, and
the corruption which is in sin ; and a shame for these sins ;
and a holy fear of God whom we have offended, and of his
judgments which we have deserved; and the hatred of our
sins by which we have deserved them. But, as I must fur-
ther shew you anon, it is not the measure, but the sincerity
of these passions, by which you must make a judgment of
your state ; and that will be hardly discerned by the pas-
sions themselves, but only by so much of the will as is in
them, and therefore the will is the safest to judge by.
4. Humiliation also consisteth expressly in the outward
action, when opportunity is offered ; and it is not true in the
heart, if it refuse to appear without, when God requireth it
in your ordinary course. The outward acts of humiliation
are these : (1.) A voluntary confession of sin to God, and to
men, when God requireth it, and that is, when it is necessary
to his honour, to the healing of them that we have endanger-
ed, and satisfying the offended ; at least in the hearing of
men, in such cases as these to confess them openly to God.
An unhumbled soul will refuse this for the shame ; but the
humble will freely take shame to themselves, and warn their
brethren, and justify God, and give him the glory ; 1 John
i. 9. " If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to for-
give us." Read Mark iii. 6. Levit. v. 5. xvi.21. xxvi. 40
Numb. v. 6, 7. James v. 16. " Confess your faults one to
another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed."
Prov. xxviii. 13. " He that hideth his sins shall not prosper,
but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mer-
cy." Not that any man is to confess his secret sins to others,
except in case that he cannot otherwise find relief; nor that
a man is to publish those offences of his own, by which he
may further dishonour God, and hinder the Gospel. But
when the sin is open already, and especially when the offence
of others, the hardening of the wicked, the satisfaction of the
church concerning our repentance, do require our confession
and open lamentation, the humble soul both must and will
submit to it ; but the rotten-hearted, unhumbled hypocrite
VOL. VIII. F
(iO DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
will confess but in these cases : (1.) When the secresy of
the confession, or the smallness of the fault, or the custom-
ariness of such confession, doth make it to be a matter of no
great disgrace. (2.) Or when it is so open, that it is in vain
to attempt to hide it, and his confession will do nothing to
increase the disgrace. (3.) Or when conscience is awakened,
or they see they must die, or are forced by some terrible
judgment of God. In all these cases the wicked may confess.
And so Judas will confess " I have sinned in betraying the
innocent blood ;" and Pharaoh will confess, " I and my peo-
ple have sinned." And a thief on the gallows will confess ;
and the vilest wretches on their death-bed will confess. But
we have more death-bed confessions than voluntary confes-
sions before the church. Nay, so far hath pride and hypo-
crisy prevailed, and the ancient discipline of the church
been neglected, that I think in most countries in England,
there are many more that make confessions on the gallows
than personally in the congregations.
(2.) Humiliation must be also expressed by all those exter-
nal means and signs which God,by Scripture or nature, calleth
us to. As by tears and groans, so far as we can seasonably
procure them. And by fasting, and laying by our worldly
pomp and bravery, and using mean, though decent, attire,
and by condescending to men of the lower sort, and stoop-
ing to the meanest. By humble language, and carriage ;
and by forgiving others on this account, that we are sensi-
ble of the greatness of our debts to God. And thus I have
briefly shewed you the true nature of Humiliation, that you
may know what it is that I am persuading you to, and which
you must submit your hearts unto.
ii. When I have told you the use and ends of Humilia-
tion, you will see more of the reason of its necessity to your-
selves. And first, it is one use of humiliation, to help on
the mortification of the flesh, or carnal-self, and to annihi-
late it as it is the idol of the soul. The nature of man's sin-
ful and miserable estate, is, that he is fallen from God to
himself; and liveth now to himself, studying, and loving,
and pleasing himself, his natural self, above God. And a
sinner will let go many outward sins, and be driven from the
«Sut-works before he will let go carnal-self, and be driven
from the castle and strength of sin. There is no part of
mortification so necessary, and so hard as self-denial ; in-
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 67
deed this doth virtually comprehend all the rest, and if this
be done, all is done. If it were but his friends, his super-
fluities, his house, his lands, perhaps a carnal heart might
part with it. But to part with his life, his all, his self, this
is a hard saying to him, and enough to make him go away
sorrowful, as Luke xviii. 22 — 24. And, therefore, here ap-
peareth the necessity of humiliation. This layeth all the
load on self, and breaketh the heart of the old man, and
maketh a man loathe himself, that formerly doted on himself.
It layeth this tower of Babel in the dust, and maketh us ab-
hor ourselves in dust and ashes. It setteth the house on fire
about our ears, which we both trusted and delighted in.
And makes us not only see, but feel, that it is time for us to
be gone. Pride is the master-vice in the unsanctified, and
it is the part of humiliation to cast it down. Self-seeking
is the business of their lives, till humiliation help to turn the
stream. And then if you did but see their thoughts, you
should see them think most vilely of themselves. And if
you do but overhear their prayers, or complaints, you shall
hear them still cry out upon themselves, as their greatest
enemies.
2. The next use of Humiliation, (and implied in this) is,
to mortify those sins which carnal-self doth live upon, and
is maintained by ; and to stop all the avenues or passages of
its provision. Sin is sweet and dear to all that are unsanc-
tified ; but humiliation makes it bitter and base As the
Indians cured the Spanish Captain of thirst after gold, by
pouring melted gold down his throat ; or as children are
persuaded from playing with a beehive, when they are once
or twice stung by them ; or from playing with snappish dogs,
when they are bitten by them : so God will teach his chil-
dren to know what it is to play with sin when they are smart-
ed by it. They will know a nettle from a harmless herb,
when they feel the sting. We are so apt to live by sense,
that God seeth it needful, that our faith have something of
sense to help it. When the conscience doth accuse, and the
heart is smarting, and groaning in pain, and we feel that no
shifting or striving will deliver us, then we begin to be
wiser than before, and to know what sin is, and what it will
do for us. When that which was our delight, is become our
burden, and a burden too heavy for us to bear, it cureth our
delighting in it. When David was watering his couch with
tJB' DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
his tears, and made them his drink, his sin was not the
same thing to him, as it was in the committing. Humilia-
tion washeth away the painting of this harlot, and sheweth
her in her deformity. It unmasketh sin, which had got the
vizard of virtue, or of a small matter, or harmless thing. It
unmasketh satan, who was transformed into a friend, or an
angel of light, and sheweth him, as we say, with his cloven
feet and horns. How hard is it to cure a worldling of the
love of money ! But when God hath laid such a load of it
on his conscience, that makes him groan, and cry for help,
he hath then enough of it. When he feels those words in
James v. 1 — 4. and he begins to weep and howl for the mi-
series that are coming on him, and he sees the stink of his
corrupted riches, and the canker of his gold and silver doth
begin to eat his flesh as fire, and his idol is but a witness
against him, then he is better able to judge of it, than he
was before. The wanton thinks he hath a happy life, when
the harlot's lips do drop as the honey-comb. But when he
perceiveth her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a
two-edged sword, and that her feet go down to death, and
her steps take hold on hell, and he lieth in sorrow, com-
plaining of his folly ; (Prov. v. 2 — 5. 1 1 , 12.) he is then of a
more rectified judgment than he was. Manasseh humbled
in irons, is not the same as he was upon the throne. Though
grace did more to it than his fetters, yet were they some
way serviceable to that end. Humiliation openeth the door
of the heart, and telleth you what sin is to the quick ; and
letteth in the words of life, which passed no further than the
ear or brain. It is a tiring work to talk to dead men, that
have lost their feeling ; especially when it is an effective and
practical doctrine, which we must deliver to them, which is
lost if it be not felt and practised. Till humiliation comes,
we speak to dead men, or at least to men that are fast asleep.
How many sermons have I heard that, one would think,
should have turned men's hearts within them, and make them
cry out against their sins, with sorrow and shame in the face
of the congregation, and never meddle with them more !
When yet the hearers have scarce been moved by them, but
gone away as they came, as if they knew not what the
preachers said, because their hearts were all the while asleep
within them. But a humbled soul is an awakened soul. It will
regard what is said to it ; especially when they perceive that
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. t>9
it cometh from the Lord, and concerneth their salvation. It
is a great encouragement to us, to speak to a man that hath
ears, and life, and feeling ; that will meet the word with an
appetite, and take it with some relish, and let down the food
that is put into their mouth. The will is the chiefest fort
of sin. If we can there get in upon it, we may do some-
thing. But if it keep the heart, and we can get no nearer it
than the ear or the brain, there will no good be done. Now
humiliation openeth us a passage to the heart, that we may
assault sin in its strength. When 1 tell you of the abomina-
ble nature of sin, that causeth the death of Christ, and
causeth hell, and tell you that it is better to run into the fire,
than to commit the least sin wilfully, though it be such as
the world makes nothing of ; another man may hear all this,
and superficially believe it, and say it is true, but it is the
humbled soul that feeleth what I say. What a stir have we
with a drunkard, or worldling, or any other sensual sinner,
in persuading him to cast away his sins with detestation ;
and all to little purpose ! Sometimes he will, and sometimes
he must needs be tasting them again ; and thus he stands
dallying, because the word hath not mastered his heart.
But when God comes in upon the soul as with a tempest,
and throweth open the doors, and, as it were, thundereth,
and lighteneth in the conscience ; and layeth hold upon the
sinner, and shaketh him all in pieces by his terrors, and ask-
eth him, ' Is sinning good for thee ? Is a fleshly, careless
life so good 1 Thou wretched worm ! Thou foolish piece
of clay ! Darest thou thus abuse me to my face ? Dost
thou not know that I look on ? Is this the work that I made
thee for, and that I feed and preserve thee, and continue
thee alive for? Away with thy sin, without any more ado,
or I will have thy soul away, and deliver thee to the tor-
mentors'. This wakeneth him out of his dalliance and de-
lays ; and makes him see that God is in good earnest with
him, and therefore he must be so with God. If a physician
have a patient that is addicted to his appetite, who hath the
gout or stone, or other disease, and he forbid him wine, or
strong drink, or such meats as he desireth, as long as he
feels himself at ease he will be venturing on them, and will
not be curbed by the words of the physician : but when the
fit is on him, and he feels the torment, then he will be ruled.
Pain will teach him more effectually than words could do.
70 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
When he feeleth what is hurtful to him, and feeleth that it
always makes him sick, it will restrain him more than hear-
ing of it could do. So when humiliation doth break your
hearts, and make you feel that you are sick of sin, and filleth
your soul with smart and sorrow, then you will be the more
willing that God should destroy it in you. When it lieth
so heavy on you, that you are unable to look up, and makes
you go to God with groans and tears, and cry, ' O Lord be
merciful to me a sinner !' When you are fain to go to mi-
nisters for ease to your consciences, and fill their ears with
accusations of yourselves, and open even your odious,
shameful sins, then you will be content to let them go.
Now there is no talking to you of mortification, and the re-
solute rejecting of your sins ; the precepts of the Gospel are
too strict for you to submit to. But a broken heart would
change your minds. The healthful ploughman saith, ' Give
me that which I love. These physicians would bring U3all
to their rules, that they may get money by us. I never
mean to follow their directions.' But when sickness is upon
him, and he hath tried all his own skill in vain, and pain
giveth him no iest, then send for the physician, and then he
will do any thing, and take any thing whatever he will give
him, so that he may but be eased and recovered. So when
your hearts are whole and unhumbled, these preachers and
Scriptures are too strict for you ; you must have that which
you love. Self-conceited, precise ministers must have leave
to talk ; but you will never believe that God is of their mind,
or will damn men for taking that which they have a mind of.
O but when these sins are as swords in your hearts, and you
begin to feel what ministers told you of, then you will be of
another mind. Away then with this sin, there is nothing so
odious, so hurtful, so intolerable. O that you could be rid
of it, whatever it cost you ! Then he will be your best friend
that can tell you how to kill it, and be free from it ; and he
that would draw you out, would be as satan himself to you ;
Matt. xvi. 22, 23. Gal. xviii.9. Humiliation diggeth so
deep, that it undermineth sin, and the fortress of the devil ;
when the foundation is rooted up, itwillsoonbe overthrown.
When the murderers of Christ were pricked to the heart, they
then cry out for counsel to the apostles ; Acts ii. 37. When
a murderer of the saints is stricken blindfold to the earth,
and the Spirit withal doth humble his soul, he will then cry
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 71
out, ** Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do ?" Acts ix. 37.
When a cruel jailor that scourged the servants of Christ, is
by an earthquake brought to a heart-quake, he will then cry
out, " What shall I do to be saved V Acts xvi. 30.
And here comes in the usefulness of afflictions ; even be-
cause they are so great advantages to Humiliation. Men
will be brought to some reason by extremities. When they
lie a dying, a man may talk to them, and they will not so
proudly fly in his face, or make a scorn at the word of the
Lord, as in their prosperity they did. God will be more re-
garded when he pleadeth with them with the rod in his hand.
Stripes are the best logic and rhetoric for a fool. When
sin hath captivated their reason to their flesh, the arguments
to convince them may be such as the flesh is capable of per-
ceiving. We may long tell a beast of danger and discom-
modities, before we can persuade him from that which he
loves. Sensuality doth brutify men in too great a measure;
and so far as they are brutish, it is not the clearest reasons
that will prevail ; and if God did not maintain in corrupted
man some remnants of free reason, we might preach to beasts
as hopefully as to men. But afflictions tend to weaken the
enemy that doth captivate them ; as prosperity by accident
tends to strengthen him. The flesh understandeth the lan-
guage of the rod better than the language of reason, or of
the word of God.
And as the sensible part of our Humiliation promoteth
mortification ; so the rational and voluntary Humiliation,
which is proper to the sanctified, is a principal part of mor-
tification itself. And thus you may see that it is necessary
that we be thoroughly humbled, that sin may be thoroughly
killed in us.
3. Another use of Humiliation is to fit the soul for a meet
entertainment of further grace, and that both for the honour
of Christ and grace, and for our own welfare.
(1.) In respect of Christ, it is equal that he should dwell
in such souls only as are fit to entertain him. Neither his
person, nor his business are such as can suit with the un-
humbled heart. Till humiliation make a sinner feel his sin
and misery, it is not possible that Christ as Christ should
be heartily welcome to him, or received in that sort as his
honour doth expect. Who cares for the physician that feels
no sickness, and fears not death ? He may pass by the
72 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
doors of such a man, and he will not call him in ; but when
pain and fears of death are on him, he will send, and seek,
and bid him welcome. Will any man fly to Christ for suc-
cour that feeleth not his wants, and danger ? Will they hold
on him, as the only refuge of their souls, and cleave to him
as their only hope, that feel no great need of him? Will
they lie at his feet, and beg for mercy, that feel themselves
well enough without him? When men do but hear of sin
and misery, and superficially believe it, they may coldly
look after Christ and grace ; and feel the worth of the lat-
ter, in such a manner as they feel the weight of the former.
But never is Christ valued and sought after as Christ, till
sorrow hath taught us how to value him : nor is he enter-
tained in the necessary honour of a Redeemer, till humilia-
tion throw open all the doors : no man can seek him with
his whole heart, that seeks him not with a broken heart.
And it is certain that Christ will come on no lower terms
into the soul. Though he come to do us good, yet he will
have the honour of doing it: though he come to heal us,
and not for any need he hath of us, yet he will have the wel-
come that is due to a physician. He comes to save us, but
he will be honoured in our salvation. He inviteth all to the
marriage supper, and even compelleth them to come in ; but
he expecteth that they bring a wedding garment, and come
not in a garb that will dishonour his house. Though his
grace be free, yet he will not expose it to contempt, but will
have the fulness and freeness of it glorified. Though he
came not to redeem himself but us, yet he came to be glori-
fied in the work of redemption. He hath no grace so free, as
to save those that will not esteem it, and give him thanks for it.
And therefore, though faith is enough to accept the gift, yet
must it be a thankful faith, that will magnify the giver, and
an humble faith that will feel the worth of it, and an obe-
diential faith that will answer the ends of it. And therefore
that faith which is the condition of our justification, is fitted
as well to the honour of the giver, as the commodity of the
receiver. And as reason telleth us that it should be so, so
Christ consenteth that it be so. The soul that is truly unit-
ed to Christ, and partaketh of his nature, doth think its own
receiving greatest, where the honour of Christ is greatest ;
and it cannot take pleasure in the thoughts of such a kind
of grace as should dishonour the Lord of grace himself. As
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 73
Christ is solicitous for the saving of the soul, so he makes
the soul solicitous of the right entertainment of him that
saveth it. And therefore though his blood, and not his
teaching or his government, was the ransom of our souls ;
yet he is resolved to justify none by his blood, but on the
condition of that faith, which is a hearty consent to his
teaching and dominion. It is not in the application or bes-
towing of Christ's benefits, as it was in the purchasing of
them : when he came to ransom us, he consented to be a suf-
ferer, and gave his cheeks to the smiter, and submitted to
reproach ; he endured the cross, despising the shame, and
being reviled, he reviled not again, but prayed for his perse-
cutors : but when he comes by his saving grace into the
soul, he will not there be entertained with contempt ; for in
the flesh he came on purpose to be humbled, but in the Spi-
rit he comes to be exalted : in the flesh he came to condemn
the sin that reigned in our flesh, (Rom. viii. 3.) and so was
made sin for us, that is, a sacrifice for sin; 2 Cor. v. 21.
but in the Spirit he comes to conquer our flesh, and by the
law of his quickening Spirit, to free us from the law of sin
and death ; both that the righteousness of the law might be
fulfilled in us, and also that there might be no condemnation
to us, " who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit ;"
Rom. viii. 1, 2. 4. The kingdom of Christ was not worldly ;
for if it had been worldly, he would have sought to establish
it by strength of arms and fighting, which are worldly means ;
John xviii.36. But his kingdom is within us; it is a spiri-
tual kingdom ; and therefore though in the world he was
used with contempt, as a fool, and as a sinner, and a man of
sorrows ; yet within us he will be used with honour and re-
verence, as a King and absolute Lord. It was the hour of
the executioner and the power of darkness, when he was in
his suffering ; but it is the hour of his triumph and marriage,
and the prevailing power of the heavenly light, when he
cometh by saving grace into the soul. On the cross he was
as a sinner, and stood in our place, and bore what was our
due, and not his own; but in the soul he is the conqueror of
sin, and cometh to take possession of his own, and doth the
work that belongeth to him in his dignity ; and therefore he
will there be acknowledged and honoured. On the cross
he was pulling down the kingdom of satan, and setting up
his own, but in the preparatory purchase : but in the soul he
74 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
doth both by immediate execution. On the cross, sin and
satan had their full blow at him ; but when he entereth the
soul, he hath his blow at them, and ceaseth not till he have
destroyed them. In purchasing he expendeth his own ; but
in converting he takes possession of that which he pur-
chased. In a word, he came into the world in flesh for his
undertaken humiliation ; but he comes into the soul by his
Spirit, for his deserved exaltation ; and therefore though he
endured to be spit upon in the flesh, he will not endure to
be slighted in the soul. And as in the world he was scorn-
ed with the title of a king, and crowned with thorns, and
clothed in such kingly robes, as might make him the fitter
object for their reproach : so when his Spirit entereth into
the soul, he will be there enthroned in our most reverent,
subjective, and deepest esteem, and crowned with our high-
est love, and thankfulness, and bowed to with the tenders of
obedience, and our praise. The cross shall there be the por-
tion of his enemies, and the crown and sceptre shall be his ;
and as all were preferred before him, even Barabbas himself,
so all things shall be put under him in the sanctified soul,
and he shall be preferred before all.
This is the end of humiliation, to make ready the heart
for a fuller entertainment of the Lord that bought it ; and to
prepare the way before him, and fit the soul to be the tem-
ple of his Spirit. An humbled soul would never have put
him off with excuses from oxen, and farms, and wives ; as
Luke xiv. and Matt. xxii. but the unhumbled will make light
of him.
And (2.) As Christ himself will be honourably received,
or not at all, so must the mercies and graces which he offer-
eth. He will not apply his blood and righteousness to them
that care not for it. He will not pardon such a mass of ini-
quities, and remove such mountains as lie upon the soul, for
them that feel not the necessity of such a mercy. He will
not take men from the power of the devil, and the drudgery
of sin, and the suburbs of hell, and make them his members
and the sons of God, and the heirs of heaven, that have not
learned the value of these benefits, but set more by their
very sin and misery, and the trifles of the world. Christ
doth not despise his blood, his Spirit, his covenant, his par-
don, nor his heavenly inheritance, and therefore he will give
them to none that do despise them, till he teacheth them
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 75
better to know their worth. Do you think it would stand
with the wisdom of Christ, to give such unspeakable bless-
ings as these, to men that have not hearts to value them ?
Why, it is more to give a man justification and adoption,
than to give him all this visible world ; the sun, the moon,
the firmament, and the earth. And should these be given
to one that cares not for them 1 Why, by this means God
should miss of his ends : he should not have the love, the
honour, or the thanks that he intended by his gift. It is ne-
cessary therefore that the soul be thoroughly humbled, that
pardon may be received as pardon, and grace as grace, and
not set light by.
And (3.) As this is necessary for the honour both of
Christ and grace, so also it is necessary for our own benefit
and consolation. The mercy cannot indeed be ours, if hu-
miliation do not make us capable of it. These cordials must
be taken into an empty stomach, and not be drowned in
phlegm and filth. A man on the gallows will be glad of a
pardon ; but a stander by, that thinks he is innocent, would
not regard it, but take it for an accusation. There is no
great sweetness in the name of a Redeemer to an unhumbled
soul. It sets naught by the Spirit ; the Gospel is no Gos-
pel to it ; the tidings of salvation are not so glad to such an
one, as the tidings of riches or worldly delights would be.
As it is the preparation of the stomach that maketh our
meat sweet to us : and the coarsest fare is pleasanter to the
sound, than sweetmeats to the sick ; so if we were not emp-
tied of ourselves, and vile and lost in our own apprehensions,
and if contrition did not quicken our appetites, the Lord
himself, and all the miracles of saving grace, would be but
as things of naught in our eyes, and we should be weary to
hear or think of them. But O, what an inestimable treasure
is Christ to the humbled soul ! What life is in his promi-
ses ! What sweetness in every passage of his grace, and
what a feast in his immeasurable love!
(4.) Another use of Humiliation, implied in the former,
is, that it is necessary to bring men to yield to the terms of
the covenant of grace. Nature holds fast its fleshly plea-
sures, and lives by feeling and upon present things, and
knows not how to live upon invisibles by a life of faith.
And this is the life that all must live, that will live in Christ;
and therefore he calleth them to the forsaking of all ; the
76 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
crucifying the world and flesh, the denying of themselves, if
they will be his disciples. But O, how loath is nature to
part with all, and make a full resignation unto Christ ! but
fain it would make sure of present things, for fear lest the
promises of heaven should but deceive them, and then they
would have heaven at last in reserve. And on these terms
it is that hypocrites are religious, and thus it is that they de-
ceive their souls. But when the heart is truly broken, it
will then stand no longer on such terms with Christ, but
yield up all : it will then no longer condition with him, but
stand to his conditions, and thankfully accept them. Any
thing will then serve with Christ, and grace, and the hopes
of glory.
(5.) Another use of Humiliation is, to fit us for the retain-
ing and improving of grace, when we have received it. The
proverb is, " Lightly come, lightly go." If God should give
the pardon of sin to the unhumbled, how soon would it be
cast away ? And how easily would such be hearkening to
temptation, and returning to their vomit ! The burnt child,
we say, dreads the fire. When sin hath killed you once, and
broken your hearts, you will think the worse of it while you
live. And when a temptation comes, you will think of
your former smart. ' Is not this it that cost me so many
groans, and laid me in the dust, and had almost damned me ?
and shall I go to it again ? Was I so hardly recovered by a
miracle of mercy ? And shall I run again into the misery
that I was saved from? Had I not sorrow, and fear, and
care enough, but I must go back again for more, and renew
my trouble V Thus the remembrance of your sorrows, will
be a continual preservative to you. And a contrite spirit
that is emptied of itself, and is taught the worth of Christ
and mercy, will not only hold them fast, but will know how
to use them, in thankfulness to God and benefit to himself.
(6.) Another use of Humiliation, is, to fit the soul for its
approach to God himself, from whom it had revolted. As it
beseems not any creature to approach the God of heaven,
but in reverential humility, so it beseems not any sinner to
approach him, but in contrite humility : who can come out
of such wickedness and misery, and not bring along the sense
of it on his heart? Itbeseemeth not a prodigal to meet his
father as confidently and boldly, as if he had never departed
from him ; but to say, " Father, 1 have sinned against heaven
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 77
and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy
son ;" Luke xv. 18. It is not ingenuous for a guilty soul, or
one that is snatched as a brand out of the fire, to look to-
wards God with a brazen face, but with shame and sorrow to
hang down the head, and smite upon the breast, and say,
" O Lord be merciful to me a sinner." " For God resisteth
the proud, but giveth grace to the humble ;" 1 Pet. v. 5.
James iv. 6. " Though the Lord be high, yet he hath re-
gard unto the lowly : but the proud he knoweth afar off;"
Psal. cxxxviii. 6. " For thus saith the High and Holy One
that inhabiteth eternity ; whose name is Holy ; and I dwell
in the high and holy place ; with him also that is of a con -
trite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble,
and to revive the heart of the contrite ones ;" Isa. lvii. 15.
" To this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a
contrite spirit, and that trembles at my word ;" Isa. lxvi. 2.
" The Lord is nigh to them that are of a broken heart, and
saveth such as be of a contrite spirit ;" Psal. xxxiv. 18. " The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit ; a broken and contrite
heart, O God, thou wilt not despise ;" Psal. li. 17. There
is no turning to God, unless we " loathe ourselves for all our
abominations ;" Ezek. xvi. 63.
The nearer we approach him, the more we must " abhor
ourselves in dust and ashes ;" Jobxlii. 6. He will not em-
brace a sinner in his dung ; but will first wash and cleanse
him ; Isa. i. 16. Conversion must make us humble, and as
little children, that are teachable, and look not after great
matters in the world, or else there is no entering the king-
dom of God ; Matt, xviii. 3,4. And thus you see the uses
and necessity of Humiliation.
in. By what hath been already said, you may perceive
what mistakes are carefully to be avoided, about your Humi-
liation, and with what caution it must be sought.
1. One error that you must take heed of, is, that you take
not Humiliation for an indifferent thing, or for such an ap-
purtenance of faith as may be spared : think not an unhum-
bled soul, while such, can be sanctified. Some carnal hearts
conceive, that it is only more heinous sinners that must be
contrite and brokenhearted ; and that this is not necessary
to them that have been brought up civilly or religiously
from their youth. But it is as possible to be saved without
faith, as without repentance, and that special humiliation
78 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
which I described to you before, it is part of your sancti-
fication.
2. Another mistake to be carefully avoided, is, the plac-
ing of your Humiliation, either only, or principally, in the
passionate part, or in the outward expression of those pas-
sions. I mean, either in pinching grief, and sorrow of heart,
or else in tears. But you must remember that the life of it
is, as was said before, in the judgment and the will. It is
not the measure of passionate sorrow and anguish that will
best shew the measure of your sincere humiliation ; much
less is it your tears or outward expressions. But it is your
low esteem of yourselves, and contentedness to be vile in the
eyes of others ; and your displacency with yourselves, and
willingness to mourn and weep for sin as much as God would
have you, with the rest of the acts of the judgment and will
before described.
Two great dangers are here before you to be avoided.
First, some there be that have terrible pangs of sorrow, and
are ready to tear their own hair, yea, to make away them-
selves, as Judas, in the horror of their consciences ; and
these may seem to have true humiliation, and yet have none.
And some can weep abundantly at a sermon or in a prayer,
or in mentioning their sin to others ; and therefore think
that they are truly humbled ; and yet it may be nothing so.
For if at the same time their hearts are in love with sin, or
had rather keep it than let it go, or have not an habitual ha-
tred to it, and a predominant, superlative love to God, their
humiliation is no saving work. That which is in the pas-
sions and tears, may be even forced against your wills ; and
it signifieth scarce so much as a common grace, were you are
not willing of it. Many an one can weep through a pas-
sionate, womanish, tender nature, and yet not only remain
unhumbled, but be proud in a very high degree. How many
such do we ordinarily see ; especially women, that can weep
more at a duty or conference, than some that are truly bro-
ken-hearted could do in all their lives ; and yet be so far
from being vile in their own eyes, and willing to be so in the
eyes of others, that they will hate, and reproach, and rail at
those that charge them with the faults which they seemed
to lament ; or at least that charge them with disgraceful
gins ; and they will excuse and mince their sins, and make a
small matter of them, and love none so well as those that
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 7.0
have the highest thoughts of them. So that pride doth or-
dinarily reign in their hearts, and break out in their words
and lives, and make them hate the most faithful reprovers,
and live in contention with any that dishonour them, for all
the tears that come from their eyes. Judge not therefore by
passions, or tears alone, but by the judgment and the will,
as is aforesaid.
2. Another sort there are much better and happier than
the former, that yet to their great trouble are mistaken in
this point ; and that is, they that think they have no true
humiliation because they find not such pangs of sorrow, and
freedom of tears, as others have, when as their hearts are
contrite, even when they cannot weep a tear. Tell me but
this ; are you vile in your own eyes, because you are guilty
of sin, and that against the Lord whom you chiefly love?
Do you loathe your sins, because of your abominations, and
could you heartily wish, that you had been suffering when
you were sinning ? And if it were to do again, would you
choose to suffer rather than to sin ? Have you a desire to
grieve, and a desire to weep when you cannot weep ? Can
you quietly bear it, when you are vilified by others, because
you know yourselves to be so vile ? And are you thankful
to a plain reprover, though he tell you of the most disgrace-
ful sin ? Do you think meanly of your own sayings and
doings and think better of others, where there is any ground,
than of yourselves ? Do you justify God's afflictions, and
men's true rebukes, and think yourselves unworthy of the
communion of the saints, or to see their faces, and unwor-
thy to live on the face of the earth ? Yea, would you jus-
tify if he should condemn you ? This is the state of an hum-
bled soul. Find but this, and you need not doubt of God's
acceptance though you were unable to shed a tear. There
is more humiliation in a base esteem of ourselves, than in
a thousand tears ; and more in a will, or desire to weep for
sin, than in tears, that come through force of terror, or
moisture of the brain, or passionate tenderness of nature. If
the will be right you need not fear. It is he that most hateth
sin, and is most hardly drawn to it, that is most truly hum-
bled for it. He that will lament it to-day and commit it to-
morrow, is far less humbled and penitent than he that would
not be drawn to it with the hopes of all the pleasures of the
world, nor commit it, if it were to save his life.
80 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
3. To avoid this, some run into the contrary mistake, and
think that sorrow and tears are unnecessary, and that they
may repent as well without them as with them ; and they
lay all in some dull, ineffectual wishes, and so they think the
heart is changed. But certainly God made not the affec-
tions in vain. It cannot be that any man can have a sanc-
tified will, but his affections will hold some correspondence
with it, and be commanded by it. Though we cannot mourn
in that measure as we desire, yet some sorrow there will be
wherever the heart is truly changed : and apparently this
sorrow will be the greatest. No man can heartily believe
that sin is the greatest evil to his soul, and not be grieved
for it. And indeed our liveliest affections should be exer-
cised about these most weighty things. It is a shame to
see a man mourn for a friend, and whine under a cross that
toucheth but the flesh, and yet be so insensible of the plague
of sin, and the anger of the Lord, and to laugh and jest with
such mountains on his soul. Though grief and tears be not
the heart, or principal part of our humiliation, yet are they
to be looked after as our duty ; yea, sorrow in some measure
is of absolute necessity, and the want of tears is no good
sign in them that have tears for other things. Indeed the
sense of our folly and unkindness should be so great, that
it should even turn our hearts into sorrow, and melt them in
our breasts, and draw forth streams of tears from our eyes ;
and if we cannot bring ourselves to this, we must yet lament
the hardness of our hearts, and not excuse it.
4. In the next place you are hence informed, how to an-
swer that question, ' Whether it be possible for a man to be
humbled and repent too much V That part of humiliation
which consisteth in the acts of the understanding and the
will, cannot be too much as to the intention of the act ; and
if it be too much as to the objective extent, then, as it is mis-
guided, so it changeth its nature, and ceaseth to be the thing
that it was before. A man may think worse of himself than
he is, by thinking falsely of himself, as that he is guilty of
the sin which he is not guilty of; but this is not the same
thing with true humiliation. But to have too clear an ap-
prehension of the evil of his sin and his own vileness, this he
need not fear. And in the will it is more clear : no man can
be too willing to be rid of sin in God's time and way ; nor
be too much averse from it, as it is against the Lord. But
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 81
then the other part of Humiliation, which consisteth in the
depth of sorrow, or in tears, may possibly be too much ;
though I know very few that are guilty of it, or need to fear
it ; because the common case of the world is to be stupid,
and hard-hearted ; and most of the godly are lamentably in-
sensible. But yet some few there are, that have need of
this advice, that they strive not for too great a measure of
grief. Let your hearts be against sin as much as is possible ;
but yet let there be some limits in your grief and tears. And
this counsel is necessary to these sorts of people. 1. To
melancholy people, that are in danger of being distracted,
and made unreasonable and useless by overmuch sorrow.
Their thoughts will be fixing, and musing, and sad, and
dark, and full of fears, and either make things worse than
they are, or else be more deeply affected with them than
their heads can bear. 2. And this is the case of some weak-
spirited women that are not melancholy ; but yet by natural
weakness of their brains, and strength of their passions, are
unable to endure those serious, deep, affecting apprehensions
which others may desire ; but the depth of their sensibility,
and greatness of their passion, doth presently endanger the
crazing of their brains, and quickly cast them into melan-
choly, or worse.
And this is a very heavy affliction, where it comes, both
to the persons themselves, and those about them. To be
deprived of the use of reason, is one of the greatest corpo-
ral calamities in this life. And it is matter of offence and
dishonour to the Gospel in the eyes of the ungodly, that un-
derstand not the case. When they see any languish in un-
measurable sorrow, or fall into distraction, it is a grievous
temptation to them to fly from religion, and avoid godly
sorrow, and all serious thoughts of heavenly things, and it
occasioneth the foolish scorners to say, that religion makes
men mad ; and that this humiliation and conversion which
we call them to, is the way to bring them out of their wits.
So that by reason of the grief of the godly, and the harden-
ing of the ungodly, the case is so sad that it requireth our
greatest care to avoid it.
Quest. ' But if it be so dangerous to sorrow either too
little or too much, what shall a poor sinner do in such
a strait? And how shall he know when to restrain his
sorrows
v
VOL. VIII.
82 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
Answ. It is but very few in the world that have cause to
fear excess of this kind of sorrow. The common case of
men, is to be blockish, and worldly sorrow doth cast more
into melancholy and distraction than godly sorrow; but for
those few that are in danger of excess, I shall first tell you
how to discern it, and then how to remedy it.
1. When your sorrow is greater than your brains can
bear, without apparent danger of distraction, or a melancholy
disturbance and diminution of your understanding, then it
is certainly too much, and to be restrained. For if you over-
throw your reason, you will be a reproach to religion, and
you will be fit for nothing that is truly good, either to your
own edification, or the service of God.
2. If you be in any grievous disease, which sorrow would
increase to the hazard of your life, you have reason to res-
train it : though you may not forbear repenting, or careful-
ness of your salvation, yet the passion of grief you must mo-
derate and abate.
3. When sorrow is so great as to discompose your mind,
or enfeeble your body, so as to unfit you for the service of
God, and make you more unable to do good, or receive good,
you have reason then to moderate and restrain it.
4. When the greatness of your sorrow doth overmatch
the necessary measure of your love, or joy, or thanks, and
keep out these, and takes up more of your spirit than its
part, having no room for greater duties, then it is excessive
and to be restrained. There are some that will strive and
struggle with their hearts, to wring out a few tears, and in-
crease their sorrow, that yet make little conscience of other
affections, and will not strive half so much to increase their
faith, and love, and joy.
5. When your sorrow by the greatness of it, doth draw
you into temptation, either to despair, or think hardly of
God and his service, or to undervalue his grace and the sa-
tisfaction of Christ, as if it were too scant, and insufficient
for you, you have then cause to moderate and restrain it.
6. When your sorrow is unseasonable, and will needs
thrust in at those times when you are called to thankfulness,
and joy, you have then cause to moderate and restrain it at
that season. Not that we should wholly lay by sorrow in
any day of joy and thanksgiving, unless we could lay by all
our sin in the duties of that day ; nor should we wholly lay
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 83
by spiritual comfort and delight, in days of greatest humi-
liation. For as our state is here mixed of grace and sin, so
must all our duties be mixed of joy and sorrow. It is only
in heaven where we must have unmixed joys, and only in hell
that there are unmixed sorrows ; or at least, not in any state
of grace. But yet for all that there are seasons now, when
one of these must be more eminently exercised, and the
other in a lower measure. As in times of calamity, and
after a fall, we are called out so much to humiliation, that
comfort should but moderate our sorrows, and the exercise
of it be veiled for that time : so in times of special mercies
from the Lord, we may be called out to exercise our thanks,
and praise, and joy so eminently, that sorrow should but
keep us humble, and be, as it were, serviceable to our joys.
When grace and mercy are most eminent, then joy and praise
should be predominant (which is through the most of a
Christian's life, that walketh uprightly and carefully with
God ;) and when sin and judgments are most eminent, sorrow
must be then predominant, as being a necessary means to
solid joy. And therefore, ordinarily, a sinner that is but in
the work of conversion, and newly coming to God from a re-
bellious state, must entertain more sorrow, and let out him-
self more to groans and tears than afterwards when he is
brought to reconciliation with God, and walketh in integrity.
Quest. * But when is it that my sorrow is too shorthand I
should labour to increase it V
Answ. 1. When there is no apparent danger of the last-
mentioned evils, that is, of destroying your bodies, distract-
ing your brains, discomposing your minds, and drowning
other graces and duties, and the rest ; then you have little
cause to be afraid of an excess.
2. When you have not smart enough to cause you to
value the love of Christ, and highly prize his blood, and the
effects of it, and hunger and thirst after him and his righ-
teousness, and earnestly beg for the pardon of your sin ; you
have cause to desire then more sorrow. If you feel no great
need of Christ, but pass by him as lightly as the full stomach
by his food, as if you could do well enough without him ;
you may be sure then you have need to be broken more. If
you set not so much by the love of God that you would part
with any thing in the world to enjoy it, and would think no
terms too dear for heaven ; you have need to lie under the
84 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
sense of your sin and misery a little longer, and to beseech
the Lord to save you from that heart of stone. When you
can hear of the love and sufferings of your Redeemer, with-
out any warmth of love to him again, and can read or hear
the promise of grace, and offers of Christ, and eternal life,
without any considerable joy, or thankfulness, it is time for
you then to beg of God a tender heart.
3. When you make many pauses in the work of your
conversion, and are sometimes in a good mind and then
again at a stand, as if you were yet unresolved whether to
turn or no : when you stick at Christ's terms of denyingyour-
selves, and crucifying the flesh, and forsaking all for the
hopes of glory, and think these sayings somewhat hard, and
are considering of the matter whether you should yield to
them or not, or are secretly reserving somewhat to your-
selves ; this certainly shews that you are not yet sufficiently
humbled, or else you would never stand trifling thus with
God. He must yet set your sins in order before you, and
hold you awhile over the fire of hell, and ring your con-
sciences such a peal, as shall make you yield and resolve
your doubts, and teach you not to dally with your Maker.
If Pharaoh himself be off and on with God, and sometimes
he will let Israel go, and then again he will not ; God will
follow him with plague after plague, till he make him yield,
and glad to drive or hasten them away. And even where he
deals in ways of grace, he maketh so much use of sorrows,
as to make men yield the sooner to his terms, and glad to
have mercy on such terms, if they were harder.
4. When you are heartless and dull under the ordinances
of God, and Scripture hath little life or sweetness to you,
and you are almost indifferent whether you call upon God
in secret or no, and whether you go to the congregation, and
hear the word, and join in God's praises and the communion
of the saints, and you have no great relish in holy conference,
or any ordinance, but do them almost merely for custom, or
to please, your consciences, and not for any great need you
feel of them, or good you find by them ; this shews for cer-
tain you want some more of the rod and spur ; your hearts
be not awakened and broken sufficiently, but God must take
you in hand again.
5. When you can be mindless of God, and of the life to
come, and forget both your sins and Saviour's blood, and
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 85
set out your thoughts almost continually upon worldly va-
nities or common things, as if you were overgrown the need
of Christ ; this shews that the stone is yet in your hearts,
and that God must keep you to a harder diet to mend your
appetites, and make you feel your sin and misery, till it call
off your thoughts from things that less concern you, and
teach you to mind your everlasting state. If you begin to
forget yourselves and him, it is time for you to have a
remembrancer.
6. When you begin to taste more sweetness in the crea-
ture, and be more tickled with applause and honour, and
pleased more with a full estate, and more impatient with po-
verty, or wants, or wrongs from men, and crosses in the
world ; and when you are set upon a thriving course, and are
eager to grow rich, and fall in love with money ; when you
drown yourselves in worldly cares and business, and are
cumbered about many things, through your own choice ;
this shews indeed that you are dangerously unhumbled ; and
if God have mercy for you, he will bring you low, and make
your riches gall and wormwood to you, and abate your ap-
petite, and teach you to know that one thing is needful ; and
to be more eager after the food that perisheth not, and here-
after to choose the better part; Luke x. 41,42. John vi. 27.
7. When you can return to play with the occasions of
sin, or look upon it with a re£oncileable mind, as if you had
yet some mind on it, and could almost find in your heart to
be doing with it again ; when you begin to have a mind of
your old company and courses, or begin to draw as near it
as you dare, and are gazing upon the bait, and tasting of the
forbidden thing, and can scarce tell how to deny your fan-
cies, your appetites, your senses, your desires ; this shews
that you want some wakening work : God must yet read you
another lecture in the black book, and set you to spell those
lines of blood which it seems you have forgotten ; and kin-
dle a little of that fire in your consciences, which else you
would run into, till you feel and understand, whether it be
good playing with sin, and the wrath of God, and the ever-
lasting fire.
8. When you begin to be indifferent as to your commu-
nion with God, and think not much whether he accept you,
and manifest his love to you or not, but can huddle up your
prayers, and look no more after them, or what becomes of
86 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
them, and use ordinances, and seldom inquire of the success ;
when you can spare the spiritual consolations of the saints,
and fetch little of your comforts from Christ or heaven ; but
from your friends, and health and prosperity, and accommo-
dations ; and perhaps can be as merry in carnal company,
when you say and do as they, as if you were considering of
the love of Christ, this shews that the threatenings went not
deep enough. Sorrow hath yet another part to play : you
must be taught better to know your home, and to take more
pleasure in your Father, and your Husband, and your bre-
thren, and your inheritance, than in strangers, or enemies
to God and you.
9. When you begin to grow wanton with ordinances or
other mercies, and instead of thankful receiving them, and
feeding on them, you pick quarrels with them, and nothing
will please you ; either the minister is too weak, or he is too
curious, or too formal; you must have it this way or that
way ; either you must have more of a form, or no form ; in
this gesture, or that order, and something or other is still
amiss : this shews that you want humbling, and that you are
fitter for the rod, than for meat. If God do but open you a
door into your hearts, and shew you the monsters and emp-
tiness that are there, you will see, that the fault lay some-
where else than in the minister, or the ordinances : if it were
in them, it was more in you. The cause of your loathing,
and quarrelling with the world, was the fulness of your own
stomach ; and God must give you a vomit or purge, that
shall make your hearts ache before it hath done working,
and then your appetites will be mended, and your wanton-
ness will cease ; and that will be sweet to you which before
you slighted.
10. When you begin to be leavened with pride, and think
highly of yourselves, and have good conceits of your own
parts and performances, and would be noted, and taken for
somebody among the godly, and you cannot endure to be
overlooked or passed by : when you think meanly of other
men's parts and duties in comparison of yours, and think
yourselves as wise as your teachers, and begin to hear them
as judges with a magisterial spirit, and think you could do
as well as this yourselves ; when you are finding fault with
that which should nourish you, and in every sermon you are
most noting the defects, and think that this you could have
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 87
mended ; when you itch to be teachers yourselves, and think
yourselves fitter to preach than to learn, to rule than to be
ruled, to answer than to ask for resolution ; when you think
so well of yourselves, that the church is not pure or good
enough for your company, though Christ disowneth it not,
and they force you not to sin ; when you grow censorious,
and aggravate the faults of others, and extenuate their graces,
and can see a mote in another's eye, but will discern none
of their graces, if they be not as high as mountains ; and
none can pass for godly with you, but those of the most
eminent magnitude ; when you are itching after novelties in
religion, and setting your wisdom against the present or an-
cient church ; and affecting singularity, because you will be
of no common way ; when you cannot hear this minister,
nor that minister, though the ministers of Christ ; and you
are harping upon that, " Come out from among them, and be
ye separate ;" as if Christ had called you to come out of the
church, when he called you to come out of the company of
infidels : all this cries aloud for further humiliation ; you
have a tympany that must be pricked, to let out the wind
that puffs you up : if you be not for perdition, and to be
forsaken, and given over to yourselves, you must be fetched
over again, and humbled with a witness. When God hath
turned your inside outward, and shewed you that you are
poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked, and that you are
empty nothings, who thought so well of yourselves; he will
then make you stoop to those that you despised, and think
yourselves unworthy of the communion of those that before
you thought unworthy of yours. He will make you think
you are unworthy to hear those ministers that you turned
your back upon ; and he will take down your teaching, talk-
ing vein, and make you glad again to be learners : in a word,
he will by conversion make you as little children, or you
shall never enter into the kingdom of heaven.
And this spiritual pride is a most lamentable disease,
and the issue usually is exceeding sad. For with many, it
is the forerunner of damnable apostasy, and God gives them
over to their own conceits, and the wisdom which they so
esteem, till it have led them to perdition. And those that
are cured, are many of them cured by the saddest way of
any men in the world. For it is usual with God to let them
alone, till they have run themselves into some abominable
88 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
error, or fallen into some shameful, scandalous sin, till they
are made an hissing and bye-word among men ; that shame
and confusion may bring them to their wits, and they may
learn to know what it was that they were proud of, and see
that they were but silly worms.
And thus I have shewed you, when you must seek after
deeper humiliation, and may conclude that you are not hum-
bled enough. Yea, and when a greater measure is of some
necessity to your souls.
Quest. ' Well, but yet you have not told us what course
a poor sinner should take in such a strait, when he knows
not whether his humiliation, as to the affectionate part, be
too little or too much.'
Answ. 1. You may partly discern yourselves by what is
said, whether you have need of more or less humiliation, if
you can but try your hearts by these signs. 2. But yet I
would advise, and earnestly persuade you, in cases of diffi-
culty, to betake yourselves to some able, faithful minister
for resolution. If you feel sorrow seize so deep upon your
spirits, that it distempereth you, or threateneth your under-
standing, or your health, especially if you are either pas-
sionate women, or melancholy persons : stay not then any
longer, lest delay do that which easily cannot be undone,
but go and open your case and crave advice. This is a prin-
cipal use of pastors, that you should have them at hand, to
advise with in the diseases and dangers of your souls, as you
do with physicians, in the diseases and dangers of the body.
Lay by all sinful bashfulness, and trust not yourselves any
longer with your own skill, but go to them that God hath
set in office over you for such uses as these, and tell them
your case : this is God's way, and he will bless his own or-
dinance : melancholy and passionate distempered persons
are not fit judges of their own condition. In this case you
must distrust your own understanding, and be not self-con-
ceited, and stick not obstinately to every fancy that comes
into your heads, but in the sense of your weakness rely upon
the guidance of your faithful overseers, till your distempers
are overcome, and you are made more capable of discerning
for yourselves.
5. You are further to be informed, that it is not for itself
that sorrow and tears are so desirable, but as they are ex-
pressions of a gracious temper of the will, and as they help
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 89
on the ends that Humiliation is appointed to. And there-
fore you may hence learn in what sort you must seek after
it. (1.) You must not place the chief part of your religion
in it, as if it were a life of mere sorrow, that we are called to
by the Gospel. But you must make it a servant to your
faith, and love, and joy in the Holy Ghost, and other graces.
As the use of the needle is but to make way for the thread,
and then it is the thread and not the needle that makes the
seam ; so much of our sorrow is but to prepare for faith and
love, and these are they that close the soul with Christ. It
is therefore a sore mistake with some, that are very appre-
hensive of their want of sorrow, but little of their want of
faith or love ; and that pray and strive to break their hearts,
or weep for sin, but not much for those higher graces,
which it tendeth to. One must be done, and not the other
left undone.
(2.) As tears are the expression of the heart, so those are
the most kindly and sincere, which voluntarily flow from the
inward feeling of the evil that we lament ; if you could weep
never so much, merely because you think that tears are in
themselves necessary, and had not within, the hatred of sin,
and sense of its vile and killing nature ; this were not true
humiliation at all. And if the heart be humbled before the
Lord, it is not the want of tears that will cause him to des-
pise it. Some are so backward to weep by nature, that they
cannot weep for any outward thing, no, not for the loss of
the dearest friend, when yet they would have done ten times
more to redeem his life, than some that have tears at will.
Groans are as sure expressions of sorrow as tears, with such
as these. And the hearty rejection and detestation of sin,
is yet a better evidence than either. But where men have
naturally a weeping disposition, which they can manifest
about crosses in the world, and yet cannot shed a tear for
sin, there the case is the more suspicious.
(3.) The principal cause why you must strive for deeper
sorrow, is, that you may obtain the ends of that sorrow ;
that sin may be more odious to you, and more effectually
mortified ; that self may be taken down, and Christ may be
valued and desired, and exalted, and that you may be fitted
for a holy communion with God for the time to come, and
saved from pride, and kept in watchfulness.
6. From this that was last said, you have a rule by which
90 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
you may certainly discern, what measure of Humiliation it
is that must be had. It must go so deep as to undermine
our pride, and so far the heart must needs be broken, as is
necessary to break the heart of sin, and carnal self. If this
be not done, there is nothing done, though you weep out
your eyes. You must be brought so low, that the blood of
Christ, and the favour of God, may be more precious in your
eyes than all the world, and in your very hearts preferred
before it : and then you may be sure that your humiliation
is sincere, whether you have tears or none.
7. From hence also you may see, that you must take
heed of ascribing to your own humiliation any part of the
office and honour of Christ : think not that you can satisfy
the justice of the law, or merit any thing of God by the
worth of your sorrows, though you should weep even tears
of blood. It is not true humiliation if it consist not in the
sense and acknowledgment of your unworthiness, and
desert of condemnation, and if it do not lead you to look out
for pardon and life from Christ, as being lost and wholly in-
sufficient for yourselves. And therefore it would be a plain
contradiction, if true humiliation should be taken as satis-
faction or merit, or trusted on instead of Christ.
iv. Having thus far opened the nature and reasons of true
Humiliation, I conclude with that advice which I principal-
ly here intended ; refuse not to be thoroughly and deeply
humbled. Be not weary of the humbling workings of the
Spirit. Grief is an unwelcome guest to nature ; but grace
can see reason to bid it welcome. Grace is ingenuous, and
cannot look back on so great unkindness, with unwillingness
to mourn over it ; Zech. xii. 10. There is somewhat of God
in godly sorrow, and therefore the soul consenteth to it, and
seeketh for it, and calls it in : yea, and is grieved that it can
grieve no more. Not that sorrow as sorrow is desirable, but
as a necessary consequent of our grievous sinning, and a ne-
cessary antecedent of our further recovery : as we may sub-
mit to death itself with a cheerful willingness, because it is
sanctified to be the passage into glory, how dreadful soever
it be to nature in itself; so much more may we submit to
humiliation and brokenness of heart with a holy willing-
ness, because it is sanctified to be the entrance into the state
of grace. Consider for your satisfaction of these following
things.
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 91
1. The main brunt of your sorrows will be but in the be-
ginning : and when once you are settled in a holy course,
you will find more peace and comfort, than ever you could
have had in any other way. I know if you will be meddling
with sin again, it will in its measure breed sorrow again :
but a godly life is a life of uprightness, and conversion is a
departing from sin, and consequently a departing from the
cause of sorrow. And can you not bear such a sorrow for a
little while ?
2. Consider but whence you are coming : is it not out
of a state of wrath f And where have you been all this
while ? Was it not in the power of satan 1 And what have
you been doing all your lives ? Hath it not been the drudg-
ery of sin, and the offending of your Lord, and the destroy-
ing of yourselves ? And is it meet, is it reasonable, is it in-
genuous, for you to come out of such a case, without lamen-
tation that you staid in it so long ?
3. Consider also, that it is necessary to your own recove-
ry and salvation. Do you think to take so dangerous a surfeit,
and then to be cured without a vomit? You will endure for the
health of your bodies, the bitterest pills, and most loathsome
potions, the shortest diet, and the letting out of your blood,
for you know that your life lieth on it, and there is no remedy ;
and should you not endure for the saving of your souls,the bit-
terest sorrows, the keenest rebukes, the freest confessions,
and the most plentiful tears? Sin will not down at easier
rates : self will not be conquered else : the heart of it will
not be broken, till your hearts be broken. We know your
sorrows merit nothing, and make not God amends for your
sins, nor is it for want of sufficiency in the blood of Christ
that we require them ; but it is part of the fruit of his blood
upon your souls. If his blood do not melt and break your
hearts, you have no part in him. It becomes you to mourn
over him whom you have pierced ; Zech. xii. 10. And this
fruit Of his blood is a preparative to more. You may as well
think of being saved without faith, as without repentance
and humiliation.
4. Consider so much as is bitter in it, is of your own pre-
paration ; you may thank yourselves for it. Who was it
that brought you to this necessity of sorrow ? Have you
been all your lifetime surfeiting of the creature and causing
your own disease, and now will you grudge at the trouble of
92 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
a cure ? Whom have you to blame and find fault with but
yourselves ? Was it not you that sinned ? Was it not you
that laid in the fuel of sorrows, and sowed the seeds of this
bitter fruit, and cherished the cause of trouble in yourselves?
God did not do this; it was you yourselves. He doth but
undo that which you have been doing. Grudge not there-
fore at your physician, if you must be purged, and let blood,
and dieted strictly, but thank yourselves for it that have
made it so necessary.
5. Consider also that you have a wise and tender Phy-
sician, that hath known what sorrow and grief is himself, for
he was made for you a man of sorrows ; (Isaiah liii.3.) and
therefore can pity those that be in sorrow ; he delighteth
not in your trouble and grief, but in your cure and after-
consolations. And therefore you may be sure that he will
deal gently and moderately with you, and lay no more on you
than is necessary for your good ; nor give you any more bit-
ter a cup than your disease doth require. When he sheweth
his greatest liking for the contrite, it is that he may revive
their hearts ; andheprofesseth withal, that he will not contend
for ever, nor be always wrath, lest the spirit should fail before
him, and the souls which he hath made ; Isaiah lvii. 15, 16.
He calls to him the weary and heavy-laden, that he may
give them ease ; Matt. xi. 28. He was sent to heal the bro-
ken-hearted ; to preach deliverance to the captives, and re-
covering of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty them
that are bruised ; Luke iv. 18. When he hath broken your
hearts, he will as tenderly bind them up, and as safely heal
them as you can reasonably desire. Even his ministers, that
labour to break your hearts, and bring you low, even to the
dust, have no worse meaning in it than to bring you to
Christ, and life, and comfort ; and though they are glad to
see the weeping eyes of their hearers, and to hear their free
confessions and lamentations, yet this is not because they
take pleasure in your trouble, but because they foresee the
saving fruits of it, and know it to be necessary to your ever-
lasting peace. You may read what their thoughts are in the
words of Paul, 2 Cor. vii. 9 — 11. " Now I rejoice, not that
you were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance ;
for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might
receive no damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow
worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of; but
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 93
the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold, this
self-same thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what
carefulness it wrought in you ; yea, what clearing of your-
selves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what ve-
hement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge, &c." In-
deed, neither Christ nor his ministers^have that fond, foolish
love to you, and pity of you, as you have to yourselves :
they be not so tender of you, as to save you from the sorrow
which is needful to the saving of you from hell. But they
would not put you to any more than needs ; nor have you
taste a drop of the vinegar and gall, or shed one tear, but
what shall tend to your comfort and salvation.
6. Consider what sorrows they be that these sorrows do
prevent, and what those suffer in hell, that avoid this godly
sorrow on earth. O sirs, your repentant sorrows are joys to
those ; yours have hope, but theirs are quickened with des-
peration ; yours are small and but a drop to their ocean ;
yours are curing, but theirs are tormenting ; yours are a fa-
ther's rod, but theirs are the rack and gallows ; yours are
mixed with love, but theirs are unmixed, overwhelming them
with confusion ; yours are short, but theirs are endless.
And had you rather sorrow as they do, than as the godly do ?
Had you rather howl with devils and rebels, than weep with
saints and children ? Had you rather be broken in hell by
torments, than on earth by grace ? Is it not an unreason-
able thing of you, to make such a stir at the sorrow that
must save you, when you remember what it would save you
from, and what all must suffer that are not humbled here by
grace ! O, it is another kind of sorrow that others are now
enduring. Grudge not at the pricking of a vein, when so
many thousands are everlastingly bleeding at the heart.
7. Consider, the more you are rightly humbled, the
sweeter will Christ and all his mercies be to you ever after
while you live. One taste of the healing love of Christ, will
make you bless those sorrows that prepared for it. The
same Christ is not equally esteemed even by all that he will
save : and had you not rather be emptied yet more of your-
selves, that you may be fuller of Christ hereafter? When
you do but feel his arms embracing you, and perceive him
in that posture as the prodigal's father was ; (Luke xv. 20.)
you will thank that sorrow that fitted you for his arms.
8. If you be thoroughly humbled, you will walk the more
94 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
safely all your days, if other things correspond. It will
make you hate the sin you smarted by, and fly the occasions
of that which cost you so dear.
9. The sin of pride is one of the most mortal, damning
sins in the world ; and that which thousands of professors
do miscarry by. And humiliation is most directly contrary
to this ; and therefore must needs be an amiable and neces-
sary thing. It is worth all the sorrow that a hundred men
endure here, to be saved from this dangerous sin of pride.
10. A thorough humiliation is usually a sign of the
greater exaltation to come after. For " those that humble
themselves shall be exalted, and those that exalt themselves
shall be brought low ;" Lukexiv. 11. " Humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God, and he shall lift
you up ;" IPet. v.5. The higher you mean to build, the
deeper you will dig to lay the foundation. Your consola-
tions will be greater, as your sorrows have been greater.
You may be free from those doubts that follow others all
their days, lest they were never truly humbled. You need
not be still questioning, or pulling up your foundations, as
if you were to begin again. It is a sign that you are intend-
ed to greater employments, (if other things concur). Paul
must be laid exceeding low in his conversion, that he might
be the fitter as a chosen vessel to bear Christ's name among
the Gentiles.
Lay all this now together, sirs, and consider what cause
you have to cherish the humbling works of grace, and not to
quench them. When your hearts begin to be afflicted for
sin, go not among foolish or merry companions to drink or
laugh it away. Drive it not out of your minds, as unkindly
as if it came to do you hurt ; but get alone, and consider of
the matter, and on your knees in secret beseech the Lord to
follow it home, and break your hearts, and make you meet
for his healing consolations, and not to leave you in this
Red Sea, but to bring you through, and put the songs of
praise into your mouths.
Direct. V. Having thus directed you about your Humi-
liation, the next direction which I would offer you, that you
may not miscarry in the work of conversion, is this : ' See
that you close with the Lord Jesus Christ, understanding-
ly, heartily, and entirely as he is revealed, and offered to you
in the Gospel. In this your Christianity doth consist, upon
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 95
this your justification and salvation lie. This is the sum of
your conversion, and the very heart of the new creature.
The rest is all but the preparatives to this, or the fruits of this.
Christ is the end and the fulfilling of the law, the substance of
the Gospel, the way to the Father, the life, the help, and the
hope of the believer ; if you know not him, you know nothing ;
if you possess not him, you have nothing ; and if you are
out of him, you can do nothing that hath a promise of salva-
tion. And therefore I shall distinctly (though briefly) tell
you what it is to close with Christ, understandingly, hear-
tily, and entirely, as he is offered in the Gsspel.
And, 1. That you may close with Christ understandingly,
you must look to these things. 1. That you understand
who Christ is, as in his person and his offices. 2. That you
understand the reason of his undertaking. 3. That you un-
derstand what it is that he hath done and suffered for us.
4. That you understand the nature and worth of his benefits,
and what he will do for you. 5. That you understand the
terms on which he conveyeth these benefits to men ; and
what is the nature, extent, and condition of the promises.
And 6. That you understand the certain truth of all this.
For the first, you must understand that Jesus Christ hath
two natures in one person ; that he is both God and man : as
he is God, of the same substance with his Father,- and one in
essence with him, the second person in the blessed Trinity ;
the Word of God, the only begotten Son of the Father, eter-
nal, incomprehensible, and infinite. As man he hath a true
human soul and body, as men have ; so that his Godhead,
his human soul, and his body, are really distinct. This hu-
man nature was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the Virgin
Mary, without man, and born of her, and is so truly united
to the Divine nature, as that they are one person : not that
the Godhead is turned into the manhood, nor the manhood
into the Godhead; but the Godhead hath taken the man-
hood into personal unity with itself. This was not from
eternity, but when man had sinned, and lost himself, and
needed a Redeemer. By reason of his miraculous concep-
tion, he was free from all original sin, being holy, harmless and
undefiled. His person and natures were fit for his office ;
which was to be Mediator between God and man, to make
reconciliation, and recover us to God. Had he not been
God, but mere man, his dignity would not have been suffi-
96 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
cient for such an interposition, nor his obedience or suffer-
ings of any such value, as to be the price of our redemption.
Nor could he have borne our burden, or conquered death,
and risen again, and overcome the prince of death, the de-
vil ; nor have ruled his church, and preserved and sancti-
fied them, and prospered his cause, and subdued his ene-
mies, nor effectually interceded with the Father, nor judged
the world, or raised the dead, and done the work of a perfect
Saviour. Nor was the angelical nature sufficient for this
office. Had he not been man, he had not been near enough
to us, to have suffered in our stead, and taught us by his
doctrine, and given us his example, nor could he have suf-
fered or died for us ; for God cannot die or suffer. As he is
God he is one in nature with the Father ; and as he is man,
he is one in nature with us ; and therefore is fit to mediate
for us ; and in him we are brought thus nigh to God. To
this office of the Mediator there are many acts belonging,
from whence it hath several denominations, of which more
anon. So much for the person of Christ.
2. The next thing that you must understand, is, the rea-
sons and ends of his undertaking ; which though we are not
able fully to comprehend, (nor the reason of any of the works
of God ;) yet must we observe so much as is revealed. And
these following ends or reasons of this work, do shew them-
selves clearly in the Scripture, and in the event.
(1.) One is, The demonstration of God's justice, as he is
Governor of the world, according to the law of nature. He
made man a rational and voluntary agent, capable of good
and evil, with desires and hopes of the good, and fears of
the evil, and so to be ruled according to his nature. He
made for him a law that revealed good and evil, with
promises to move him by desire and hope, and with
threatenings to drive him by necessary fear. By these
engines God resolved to govern mankind. This law
was the rule of man's duty, and of his receivings, or of God's
judgment. According to this law, the world was to be go-
verned by God. His governing justice consisteth in giving
all their due according to his law : at least so far as that the
end of the law may be attained, that is, the honour of the
lawgiver preserved, transgression made odious by the terror
of penalty, and obedience made honourable by its fruits of
impunity and reward. Otherwise the law would not have
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 97
deterred effectually from evil, nor encouraged to good ; es-
pecially to so much as creatures must go through for the
crown of life : and so the law would have been no fit instru-
ment for the government of the world ; that is, the law would
have been no law. But this the wise and righteous God
would not be guilty of, of making a law that was no law,
and was unmeet for the ends to which he made it ; which
was essential to it as a law. There was no way to avoid
this intolerable consequent when man had sinned, but strict
execution of the law, or by sufficient satisfaction instead of
such an execution. The execution would have destroyed
the commonwealth, even the whole inferior world, at least
the reasonable creature who was the subject. The wisdom
and love, and mercy of God would not give way to this, that
the world should be destroyed so soon after it was made,
and man left remediless in everlasting misery. Satisfaction
therefore must be the remedy : this must be such as might
be fit to procure the ends of the law, as if the law itself had
been executed ; that is, as if the offenders did all die the
death that it did threaten. It must therefore be a public
demonstration of justice, and of the odiousness of sin, to the
terror and warning of sinners for the future. And this was
done with Jesus Christ, when none else in heaven or earth
could do it. For it did as fully demonstrate the justice of
God, and preserved his honour, and the usefulness of his law
and government, that a person so high and glorious, and so
dear to him, should suffer so much for sin, as if all the world
had suffered for themselves. And thus God " made him to
be sin for us, who knew no sin; 2 Cor. v. 21. And thus
" Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us ; Gal. iii. 31.
(2.) Hereby also God demonstrated the holiness of his
nature ; how much he hateth sin, and how irreconcileable
he is to it, as light to darkness. As the law and judgments
of God do proceed from his perfect nature and will, so do
they bear the image of that perfection and demonstrate it to
the world. This therefore is the nobler end and work of
Christ in our redemption, to declare the holiness and per-
fection of God in his nature and will; though the former
(the declaring of his governing justice,) be the nearer end.
If the death of Aaron's two sons were such a declaration,
that " he will be sanctified in all that draw near him ;" Lev.
VOL. VIII. h
98 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
x.2, 3. If his laws and present judgments do declare him
to be " a holy and jealous God, that will not forgive sin
without a valuable consideration or satisfaction ; Josh. xxiv.
19. How much more evidently is this declaration in the
death of Christ? If the Bethshemites cry out, " Who is able
to stand before this holy Lord God V* (1 Sam. vi.20.) upon
the death of 50,070 men ; how much more may the guilty
soul say so, when he thinks on the crucified Son of God 1
As it is the end of God's execution on transgressors, that
" the Lord may be exalted in judgment, and God that is
holy may be sanctified in righteousness ;" (Isa. v. 16.) so
was it his end in the sacrifice of his Son.
(3.) Another end of our redemption by Christ, is the de-
monstration of the infinite wisdom of God. His wisdom
in the preventing the ruin of the created world ; that it
might not be said that sin and satan had frustrated him of
the glory of his creation, and destroyed it almost as soon as
he had made it. Yea, in getting an advantage by the ma-
lice of his enemies for the more admirable attainment of the
ends of his law, and the glorifying of all his governing at-
tributes. He would not have made man a free agent, and
left him in the hand of his own will, and suffered him to sin,
if his wisdom had not known how to secure his own interest
and honour to the full. And so also in the economy and
admirable frame of his gracious sapiential government by
Christ, the manifold wisdom of God doth shine ; Ephes. iii.
9, 10. As the wonderful structure of heaven and earth, and
every part of this natural frame, doth gloriously reveal the
wisdom of the Creator ; so the wonderful contrivance of our
redemption by Christ, and the reparation of the world by
him, and the moral frame of this evangelical dispensation,
doth wonderfully demonstrate the wisdom of the Redeemer.
And as the observation of our natures may give us cause to
say with David, Psal.cxxxix. 14. " I will praise thee, for I
am fearfully and wonderfully made ;" so the observation of
our natures and conditions, may well cause us to say, ' I will
praise thee, for I am graciously and wonderfully redeemed ;
marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right
well.' As nature may teach us to admire the frame of na-
ture ; so grace will teach us to admire the frame of grace,
and to see the beauty of its several parts, and much more
of the whole, where all the parts are orderly composed.
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 99
(4.) Yea, the very power of God is demonstrated in
Christ. And therefore he is called, Cor. i. 24. " The power
of God and the wisdom of God :" not only formally, be-
cause Christ himself is the wise and powerful God ; nor only
efficiently, because God doth exercise his power and wis-
dom, by his Son in creation, redemption, and government;
but also effectually and objectively, as Christ is the great
and most admirable demonstration of the power and wisdom
of God in the world.
What work transcendeth the incomprehensible miracle
of the incarnation ? That God should assume the nature of
man into personal union ? The creation of the sun is no
greater a work of power, than the incarnation and sending of
the Son of God, the intellectual sun, the light of the world,
that living light, " that lighteneth every man that cometh
into the world : though yet the darkness comprehendeth not
his light ;" John i. 4. 6. 9. What was he but the living visi-
ble power of God, when he healed all diseases, cast out de-
vils, raised the dead, and rose from the dead himself, and as-
cended into glory, and sent down the Holy Spirit on his
church, enduing them with power from on high: Acts i. 8.
Luke xxiv. 49. When he was on earth he was anointed with
the Holy Ghost and with power, and went about doing good,
and healing all that were oppressed of the devil ;" Acts x.
38. Being dead, " he was declared to be the Son of God
with power, by the resurrection from the dead ;" Rom. i. 4.
" When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive ;"
Eph. iv. 8. Yea, he filled his servants with power ; Acts
vi. 8. Even such as was admired and desired by the ungod-
ly ; Acts viii. 19. He being " the brightness of God's glory,
and the express image of his person, and upholding all things
by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged
our sins, he. sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on
high, being made so much better than the angels, as he hath
by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they ;"
Heb. i. 3, 4. As Christ therefore in his glorified humanity
united to the Godhead, is far more excellent than the angels
of God, and more glorious than the sun, so is the power of
God more abundantly demonstrated in him, than in the sun,
or the angels, or any other creature. The illuminated do
know this, " and what is the exceeding greatness of his
power to us-ward who believe ; according to the working of
100 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he rais-
ed him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in
the celestials, far above all principality, and power, and
might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not
only in this world, but also in that which is to come ; and
hath put all things under his feet, and hath given him to be
Head over all things to the church, which is his body, the
fulness of him that filleth all in all ;" Ephes. i. 19—23.
Besides this, even in the works of Christ for his church,
his calling, and sanctifying, and ruling, and preserving them,
his subduing their enemies, and raising them from the dead,
and glorifying them with himself, how glorious is the very
power of God by his Son ; 2 Thess. i. 11. Phil. iii. 10. Eph.
iii. 7. 20. 2Pet.i. 3. 16. 1 Cor.iv. 20. Ephes. vi. 10.
1 Cor. xv. 43. 1 Pet. i. 5. And, therefore, his Gospel may
well be called, " The power of God to salvation ; Rom. i. 16.
Which hath been the instrument of his power in doing such
wonderful works in the world; 1 Cor. i. 18. ii.5. 2 Cor.
vi.7. 2Cor.xiii.3,4.
(5.) But the most sweet and conspicuous end of our re-
demption, was the demonstration of God's love and mercy
to mankind, and that he might make known the riches of
his glory on the vessels of mercy prepared unto glory ; Rom.
ix. 23. Of all God's attributes, there is none shineth more
illustriously in the work of our redemption than love and
mercy. " Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he
laid down his life for us;" 1 John iii. 16. By the creation
and sustentation of us we perceive the love of God, but more
abundantly by our redemption. In this was manifested the
love of God towards us, because that God sent his only be-
gotten son into the world, that we might live through him ;
1 John iv. 9. O wonderful love which condescendeth to such
rebels, and embraceth such unworthy and polluted sinners,
and pitieth them even in their blood ! Even after we had
sold ourselves to satan, and cast away the mercies of our
creation, and had all come short of the glory of God, and
were sentenced to death, and ready for the execution, then
did this wonderful love step in, and rescue and recover us.
Not staying till we repented and cried for mercy, and cast
ourselves at his feet; but seeking us in the wilderness, and
finding us before we felt that we were lost, and being found
of us before wesoughthim,and beginning to us in the depth of
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 101
our misery. " Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that
he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our
sins ;" 1 John iv. 10. Though God love us not in our sin and
misery before our conversion, so far as in that state to jus-
tify us, and adopt us, and take pleasure in us, or have com-
munion with us in the Spirit, yet doth he so far love us in
that state, as to redeem us by the blood of Christ, and ten-
der us his salvation, and to bring in his chosen effectually
to entertain his offer. And thus " the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost which is given to
us ; for when we were yet without strength, in due time
Christ died for the ungodly, and commended his love to-
wards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us ;" Rom. v. 6. 8. " Greater love hath no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends;" Johnxv. 13. What was
the Son of God,< but love incarnate ? Love born of a Virgin,
Love coming down from heaven to earth, and walking in flesh
among the miserable, seeking and saving that which was lost.
Was it not Love that spoke those words of life, those com-
fortable promises, those necessary precepts, those gracious
encouragements which the Gospel doth abound with 1 Was
it not Love itself that went preaching salvation to the sons
of death, and deliverance to the captives, and offered to bind
up broken hearts ? Luke iv. 18. Was it not Love that in-
vited the heavy-laden ; Matt. xi. 28. And that sent even to
the highways, and the hedges to compel men to come in,
that his house may be filled ; Matt. xxii. 9, 10. Luke xiv. 23.
Was is not Love itself, that went up and down healing and
doing good ; that suffered them for whom he suffered, to
scorn him, and spit upon him, and buffet him, and condemn
him ; that being reviled, reviled not again ; that gave his
life an offering for sin, and died and prayed for them that
murdered him ? No wonder if the Gospel be it that teach-
eth us to call God by the name of Love itself; 1 John iv. 8.
For it is the Gospel that hath most fully revealed him to be
so. No wonder if the Gospel do so frequently and impor-
tunately require us to love one another, and even to lay
down our lives for Christ, and for one another, when it hath
given us such a ground and motive, and president for our
love. He that seeth the true face of redemption, and under-
standeth, and savoureth the Gospel, and the grace of Christ,
must needs see most cogent reasons for such duties ; 1 John
102 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
iv. 7 — 12. " Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of
God : and every one that loveth is born of God, and know-
eth God ; he that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is
love. If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
If we love one another, God dwellethin us." So 1 John iii.
10,11.14.16 — 18. No wonder if, by this love, we know
that we are translated from death to life ; and if by it the
children of God be known from the children of the devil ;
1 John iii. 10, 11. 14. For love is the very nature and image
of our Father. No wonder if this be the new commandment,
which had newly such a powerful motive, and president:
and no wonder if it be the great distinguishing character, by
which all men shall know that we are the disciples of Christ ;
Johnxiii. 35. When he had set us such a copy, and taught
us this lesson by such effectual means, writing it out for us
in lines of blood, even of his own most precious blood, and
shedding it abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.
But if we should come down to the particular benefits of
Christ's death, and see what love is manifested in them, even
in our calling, our justification, our adoption or sanctifica-
tion, our preservation, and our everlasting glorification, we
should find ourselves in an ocean that hath neither banks
nor bottom ; and when we have fathomed as far as we can,
we must be contented to stand and admire it, and to say
with the beloved apostle, " Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God !" 1 John iii. 1.
And this is the blessed employment of the saints, which
they are called to by the Gospel, to live in the participation
and consideration, and admiration of this wondrous love,
that " Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith, and so being
rooted and grounded in love, they may be able to compre-
hend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and
depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which
passeth knowledge, and be filled with all the fulness of
God f Ephes. iii. 17—19. And withal, " to be followers of
God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ hath loved
us, and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to
God, for a sweet-smelling savour;" Eph. v. 1, 2. " And to
love without dissimulation ;" Rom. xii. 9, 10. " Even from
a pure heart fervently ;" 1 Pet. i. 22. " That we love as
brethren, being compassionate, pitiful, and courteous ; not
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 103
rendering evil for evil, but contrariwise blessing ; knowing
that we are thereunto called, that we should inherit a bless-
ing ;" 1 Pet. iii. 8, 9. " And that we keep ourselves in the
love of God," (Jude21.), "that nothing maybe able to
separate us from it;" Rom. viii.35 — 37. And if we thus
imitate our heavenly pattern, *' the God of love and peace
will be with us ;" 2 Cor. xiii. 11. And thus I have shewed
you the principal ends of the undertaking of Christ in the
work of our redemption, especially as they are attained di-
rectly by his cross and resurrection.
(6.) Another end also is apparent in the Scripture ; which
is the glorifying of God's rewarding justice, together with
his mercy in the salvation of his elect. This end he partly
attaineth here : (God hath his ends continually.) In this
life his servants have much of his mercy ; and the begin-
nings of their reward in the beginning of their salvation ;
but the fulness is hereafter in their glorification. All his
promises he performeth in their seasons. Even in the pre-
sent pardon of our sins he honoureth his faithfulness and
justice; 1 John i. 9. His faithfulness in making good his
promise, and his justice in rewarding the performers of the
condition, and giving what his promise had made their due ;
that so men may even here in part " discern between the righ-
teous and the wicked, between him that serveth God, and
him that serveth him not ; while they see God's esteem of
his people as his jewels, and spare them as a man spareth
his son that serveth him;" Mai. iii. 17, 18. "The King of
Zion is just, having salvation ;" Zech. ix. 8. " The righte-
ousness of God is manifested in our justification ;" Rom. iii.
21,22. " Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith
of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe ; for
there is no difference ; for all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God ; being justified freely by his grace,
through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God
hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood,
to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past, through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say,
at this time, his righteousness, that he might be j ust, and the
justifier of him that believeth in Jesus ;" Rom. iii. 25, 26.
But it is most eminently at judgment, and in the world to
come, that this remunerative justice with mercy will be glo-
rified. " When Christ shall come (purposely) to be glorified
104 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe,"
(not only in himself, but in them), and that because they
were believers ; 2Thess. i.10. When " we have fought the
good fight, and finished our course, and kept the faith, we
shall find that there is laid up for us a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give us, and all
that love his appearing at that day ;" 2 Tim. iv. 8. He will
justify and applaud them before all the world, yea, and judge
them to everlasting life, with a " Well done, good and faith-
ful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. I will make
thee ruler over many things ; even because they had been
faithful in a little ;" Luke xix. 17. Matt. xxv. 21. 23. Be-
cause they shewed their love to him in his members, he will
say to them, " Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world ;
Matt. xxv. 34 — 36. He that now commandeth us to say
to the righteous, " It shall be well with him," (Isa. iii. 10.),
will in righteousness cause it then to be well with him.
" Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the king-
dom of their Father ;" Matt, xiii.43. And the righteousness
and mercy of their Father shall as conspicuously and glori-
ously shine in them. For it is a day appointed for the " re-
velation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render
to every man according to his deeds :" Rom. ii. 5, 6. " The
present faith and patience of the saints in all the persecu-
tions and tribulations which they endure, is a manifest token
of the righteous judgment of God, that they may be account-
ed worthy of the kingdom of God, for which they suffer. It
being a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation
to them that trouble us, and to us that are troubled, rest
with the saints ;" 2 Thess. i. 5 — 7. " For the righteous Lord
loveth righteousness ;" Psal. xi. 7. " And in righteousness
will he judge the world ;" Actsxvii.31. Rev. xix. 11. And,
therefore, " in the keeping of his word there is a great re-
ward;" Psal. xix. 11. Yea, a cup of water given in love
to him, shall not be unrewarded ; Matt. x. 41, 42. " To him
that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward ;" Prov. xi.
18. If in this life men are forced to say, "Verily there is
a reward for the righteous ; verily, there is a God that judg-
eth in the earth;" Psal.lviii. 11. Much more when we re-
ceive the reward of the inheritance;" Col. iii. 24. This
causeth the saints to forsake the pleasures of sin, because
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. ]05
they have respect to the recompence of reward ; Heb. xi. 29.
This is that that maketh them rejoice and be exceeding glad
in their persecutions, because that great is their reward in
heaven. And, therefore, it is that they cast not away their
confidence, because it hath great recompence of reward ;
Heb. x. 25. If we let no man beguile us of our reward, (Col.
ii. 18.), and if we look to ourselves that we lose not those
things that we have wrought, we shall receive a full reward ;
2 John viii. For the Lord hath said, " Behold, I come quickly,
and my reward is with me, to give every man according as
his work shall be ; Rev. xxii. 12.
(7.) Another end of Christ's undertaking in this blessed
work, is, the complacency and glory of God in the love and
praise, and service of his redeemed ones ; in some measure
here, ,but in perfection when they are perfected. Sin had
made us unserviceable to God. And bringeth us back into
a fitness for his service. He disposeth us Godward by faith
and love. And he hath " redeemed us from our iniquity, and
purifieth to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works;"
Tit. ii. 14. "To which he createth us, that we should walk in
them ;" Ephes. ii. 10. And with such sacrifice God is well-
pleased ; Heb. xiii. 1C. Phil. iv. 18. " The blood of the cove-
nant" was, therefore, shed, "to make us perfect in every good
work to do his will, who vvorketh in us that which is well-
pleasing in his sight ;" Heb. xiii. 20, 21. " And this must be
our care, to walk worthy of the Lord in all well-pleasing,
being fruitful in in every good work ;" Col. i. 10. " And then
whatsoever we ask, we shall receive of him, because we keep
his commandment, and do those things that are pleasing in
his sight ;" 1 John iii. 22. See 1 Thess. i. Heb.xi. 6. Rom.
viii. 8. 2Tim.ii.4. 1 Cor. vii. 32. Heb. xi. 5.
But principally when we are glorified, and fitted by our
perfection for the perfect love and praises of God, then will
God perfectly take pleasure in us, and in our love and praise.
The glory of the new Jerusalem and the harmony of ever-
lasting praise and thanksgiving will be his delight. " He will
rejoice over us with joy, he will rest in his love ; he will joy
over us with singing ;" Zeph. iii. 17.
(8.) Another end of Christ's undertaking this blessed
work, is, the everlasting glory of God which shall shine
forth in the glorified manhood of the Redeemer, and the
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everlasting complacency that God will have in him, for his
own perfection, and the work that he hath wrought.
Though Christ had no need to suffer for any sin or want
of his own, yet was it his personal dignity, dominion, and
everlasting glory, as well as our salvation, that was intended
by him and by the Father in this work, and which he was to
receive as the reward of his performances ; Rom. xiv. 7.
Phil. ii. 8— 10. Matt, xxviii. 18, 19. Heb.i.3, 4.6. Eph.
i. 22. Nay, if we may make comparisons, this seemeth the
highest part of God's end in the sending of his Son. As
there is no part of all the works of God to be compared to
the person of the Redeemer, so consequently there is none
in which the glory of God will shine forth so admirably and
illustriously as in Christ. If on earth the heavenly voice
bear witness that it was in " him that the Father was well-
pleased," (Matt. iii. 17. xvii. 5. xii. 18.) which was uttered
both at his baptism, and his transfiguration, when his dis-
ciples saw a glimpse of his glory, and he was the " chosen
servant of God, in whom his soul delighted; Isa. xlii. 1.
much more is it apparent, that in his heavenly glory he will
be the Father's everlasting pleasure and delight : and in
him, and by him, and for the work that he hath wrought, the
redeemed in glory will honour him for ever ; Rev. v. 9. " He
is the head of the body, the church, the beginning, the first-
born from the dead, that in all things he might have the pre-
eminence. For it pleased the Father, that in him should
all fulness dwell ;" Col. i. 17 — 19. And, therefore, in him
the glory of God will shine in fulness, and he shall have the
preeminence in the Father's everlasting love. When Christ
prayed (John xii. 28.), "Father, glorify thy name," he was
answered by a voice from heaven, " 1 have glorified it, and
will glorify it again :" even in the Son that thus desired it.
He hath done it on earth, and he will do it again more per-
fectly in heaven. " He hath glorified the Son, that the Son
also may glorify him ;" John xvii. 1. As he " glorified his
Father on earth, and finished the work which he gave him
to do," so the Father hath now glorified him with himself, that
in his glory he may be yet more glorified; John xvii. 4, 5.
In his transfiguration his face did shine as the sun ; John
xvii. 2. And in his appearance to Paul, his shining light
did cast him blindfold and trembling; on the earth ; Acts ix.
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 107
4. 6. It was Stephen's encouragement to the suffering of
his martyrdom to see the glory of God, and Jesus standing
on God's right hand ; Acts vii. 55,56. When John saw him
on the Lord's day in the Spirit, he beheld his eyes as a flame
of fire, and his feet like burning brass in the furnace, and
his voice was as the sound of many waters, and in his right
hand were the stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-
edged sword, and his countenance was the sun that shineth
in his strength ; Rev. i. 14 — 16. His voice also did proclaim
his glory, " I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth
and was dead ; and behold I am alive for evermore. Amen.
And have the keys of hell and of death ; ver. 17, 18. It was
the Lord of glory that was crucified ; 1 Cor. ii. 8. God was
manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels,
preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received
up into glory, (1 Tim.iii. 16.), where he is glorified with the
Father in the praises of the saints; Rev. xii. 13. The glory
in the holy mount was great at the giving of the law ; but it
was no glory to that of the Gospel administration, (2 Cor.
iii. 7. 10.), much more to that of the glorified Redeemer, who
hath overcome, and is set down with the Father in his throne ;
Rev. iii. 21. Yea, the glory that will be given to God for
ever, will be through Jesus Christ ; Rom. xvi. 17.
And indeed it is a very great question whether we shall
immediately see the essence of God in heaven, or only see
him in the glorified Redeemer; and whether Christ will not
then be the Mediator of our fruition, as he was here the Me-
diator of acquisition. But certain we are, that God will be
everlastingly pleased and glorified in the person of the Re-
deemer, as well as in the church which is his body.
(9.) And reductively it may be said to be God's end in
this blessed work, that he may more fully demonstrate his
vindictive justice, according to the Gospel, or law of the
Redeemer, upon them that finally reject his grace, than it
would have been manifested on the terms of the law of the
creation on Adam and his offspring. Though Christ came
not into the world (primarily) to condemn the world, but
that the world through him might be saved ; yet was it his
purpose that unbelievers that love darkness rather than light
should fall under the special condemnation ; John iii. 18, 19.
And that they should not " see life, but the wrath of God
should abide upon them ;" ver. 36. God would not so much
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as permit them to reject his salvation, but that he knows
how he may be no loser by them : " He suffereth with much
patience the vessels of wrath, to make his wrath and power
known ;" Rom. ix. 22. The mouths of the condemned will
be utterly stopped, and they will be left speechless when
they are judged on terms of grace, much more than they
would have been if they had been judged only by the first
law : when they see Christ and heaven that was offered them,
and remember their wilful and obstinate contempt of them,
their own consciences and tongues shall justify God, and
confess that he is righteous in the most dreadful of his judg-
ments. " If the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and
every transgression and disobedience received a just recom-
pence of reward, how shall they escape that neglect so great
salvation, which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, and
then was confirmed by them that heard him, God also bear-
ing them witness with signs and wonders, and with divers
miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost;" Heb. ii. 3, 4. And
'.* if they escaped not, that refused him that spake on earth,
much more shall not they escape that turn away from him
that speaketh from heaven : for our God is a consuming
fire;" Heb. xii. 25. 29. So much of the ends of Christ's
undertaking in our redemption.
In which you may see that there are divers things which
demonstrate the glory of the forementioned attributes of
God, in this Gospel dispensation. (1.) It shineth forth in
the person of the Redeemer as he was on earth, in his nature
and wonderful conception, and his perfections. (2.) And it
also shineth forth in the actions of his life, overcoming the
world, and the devil, and perfectly fulfilling the law of God :
so that the image of his Father did shine forth in his conver-
sation. (3.) And also in his death and sufferings was the
Father glorified, as I shewed before. (4.) And also in the
most wise and holy frame of those laws by which the grace
of the Mediator is conveyed, and the church governed. (5.)
And by the image of God, by the impress of those laws on
the souls of his saints, and by the holiness of their lives, the
glory of God is also demonstrated. (6.) As also by the jus-
tifying sentence of the judge, and the glorious reward bes-
towed on the faithful. (7.) And by the condemning sen-
tence and execution on the ungodly, in whom vindictive
justice will be honoured. (8.) And in the perfection of the
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 109
individual saints, and their perfect love and praise. (9.)
And in the saints as embodied in the heavenly Jerusalem,
the glory of which will be the glory of God. (10.) And
principally in the blessed person and work of the Redeemer.
In all these will God's glory shine forth for ever.
Quest. But to whom is it that God doth thus demonstrate
his glory ?
Answ. 1. To the saints in this life, in that degree as is
suited to a state of grace, and the condition of a traveller
that lives by faith. We are apt to look upward, and long
after fuller revelations of the heavenly kingdom and mystery,
and marvel that God will not shew himself more fully to his
saints on earth. Fain we would know more of God and
Christ, and the life to come ; and it is oft matter of some
temptation to us, that God doth not satisfy these desires,
but leaveth them in so much darkness, that are willing
of his light. But this is because we do not consider how
much of glory consisteth in the light ; and that grace is more
in the desires of it than in the possession : and if we should
have as much of it as we desire, it were but to bring down
heaven to earth. Means must be suited to their ends : God
will discover to us so much of his glory as may quicken our
desires, and keep alive our hope, and patience, and endea-
vours ; but not so much as shall satisfy us, and answer our
expectations : for heaven is not here. We must not carry
our home about with us, but travel towards it, that we may
reach it at the last.
2. God doth even now demonstrate the glory of his fore-
mentioned attributes, in the work of redemption, not only
to his saints, but to the angels of heaven. The considera-
tion of this hath often satisfied me, when I have been tempt-
ed to wonder at the work of redemption, that God should
so far condescend as to be incarnate, and make such glorious
discoveries of himself, and yet that so few in the world should
take notice of it, and he should have from men so little of
the honour that he seemeth by his preparations to expect.
But the most part of the world did never once see the glory
that shineth to them in the Redeemer. But God hath an-
other world besides this, and other creatures besides man,
in all likelihood incomparably more numerous (perhaps
thousands for one) and certainly more excellent. And
though Christ did assume the nature of angels, and came
110 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
not to redeem them that needed no Redeemer, yet may the
lustre of this work of redemption appear to the angels more
clearly than to man ; and God may have a thousand-fold
more glory from them that are but the spectators and ad-
mirers, than from us in our present darkness, that are yet
possessors. As we that are here on earth do look upon and
admire the glory of the sun, which is as it were in another
world, and out of our reach ; so the angels much more may
gaze upon the glory of the Son of God, admire the Lord in
the work of our redemption though they were not the re-
deemed ones : so that unto them doth God shine forth by it
in his excellencies.
Perhaps you will say, ' That cannot be ; because this is
but seeing him in a glass ; when the angels see him face to
face, and immediately behold his blessed essence ; or else
how can the saints expect that beatifical vision V To which
I answer ; First, that I am uncertain whether seeing face to
face be an immediate intuition of the essence of God, or
only such a sight of his glory in those emanations, that are
as appropriated to the place or state of bliss. God's essence
is every where ; but that glory is not every where : and so I
know not whether our present knowledge be not called
enigmatical, and as in a glass, comparatively to that glory
prepared for the saints. But, secondly, I answer that cer-
tain I am that God is demonstrated to his angels in the Re-
deemer, yea, in the church itself, which is the subject of his
grace, and that they are both affected, and employed about
us accordingly. He that spoiled principalities, and powers,
and openly triumphed over them, and by death overcame
him that had the power of death ; Col. ii. 15. Heb. ii. 14.
and had so much to do against the evil angels as enemies,
no doubt is joyfully observed by the good angels. And he
that is set so " far above principalities, and powers, and
might, and dominion, and every name that is named in this
world, or that which is to come;" (Ephes. i. 21.) and is
"gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God, angels,
and authorities, and powers being made subject to him;"
(1 Pet. iii. 22.) no doubt is honoured and admired by angels.
And indeed it is expressly said, " Let all the angels of God
worship him ;" Heb. i. 6. And what are they all but " mi-
nistering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall
be heirs of salvation ?" Heb. i. 14. And therefore sent forth
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. Ill
by Jesus Christ, the Lord of saints. Which makes some
think that the title of angels was never given to any of these
spirits, till the Mediator's undertaking, and that it was only
as they were his deputed messengers, or servants, for the
ends of that undertaking. Sure we are, they attended his
birth with their acclamations, and his life and sufferings (as
far as was meet) with their service, and that they are deputed
to bear his servants in their hands, that they dash not their
foot against a stone ; that they are ascending, and descend-
ing, and are present with the churches in their holy worship,
and that they rejoice at the conversion of one sinner ; and
that the least of Christ's servants, have their angels behold-
ing the face of God ; and that the law was given by their
disposition or ordination, and they attend the departing
souls of believers ; and that they contend against evil spirits
for our good, and are encamped about us, and that they
shall attend the Lord at his coming to judgment, and be his
glorious retinue and instruments in the work ; and that they
are numbered with us, as members of the same heavenly Je-
rusalem, and that we shall be like or equal to them ; Luke
ii. 14, 15. Mark iv. 11. Luke xxii. 43. Acts x. 6, 7. 22.
Psal. xxxiv. 7. xci. 11. Matt. xiii. 39. 41. xvi.27. xxiv.
31. xxv. 31. xxvi. 53. Luke xvi. 22. Matt, xviii. 10.
2 Thess. i. 7. Luke xx. 36. Mark xii. 25. Acts vii. 65.
Gal. iii. 19. Heb. xii. 22. 2 Pet. ii. 11. Luke xv. 10,
John i. 51. Yea, men must be either confessed or denied,
owned or disowned before the angels ; Luke xii. 8, 9. See
Rev. xix. 18. iii. 5. But if all this seem not sufficient to
persuade you that the angels are so far interested in the af-
fairs of God about the redeemed, as to behold and admire
him in his blessed work, take notice of the express affirma-
tions of the Scriptures ; (1 Pet. i. 12.) " Which things the
angels desire to look into." And why, but to see and ad-
mire the wisdom, and power, and goodness, and mercy, and
justice of God, shining forth in the Redeemer ? If this be
not plain enough, mark well those words, Ephes. iii. 10,
" To the intent that now unto the principalities, and powers
in heavenly places, might be known by the church, the ma-
nifold wisdom of God." You see here that the church of
the redeemed is that admirable looking-glass, which God
hath set up to this very intent, that his angels may in it or
by it behold the manifold wisdom of God ; yea, and that
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upon the full revelation of Christ by the Gospel, they saw
that which did more fully inform, and illuminate them. No
doubt but the very work of the creation, yea, of this inferior
world, that are made for the habitation and use of man, are
far better known to angels than to man : for we know but
little of what we daily see and use ; and consequently it is
by angels more than men, that God is beheld, admired, and
glorified in them. And if it be so in these works of creation
we may well say it is so in the works of redemption.
3. But when we are perfected in glory, then we ourselves
shall clearly see the glory of this mystery, and of God there-
in. As it is not till we come to heaven that we shall have
the fullest benefits of redemption, so is it not till then, that
we shall have the fullest understanding of it, and God have
his fullest praises for it. As we are here but sowing the seed
of our own glory, which we must reap in the everlasting
fruition of God; so God is here but sowing those seeds of
his praise and glory, which he will eternally reap by his
blessed work. Do not therefore judge of the ends and
fruits of Christ's undertakings, by what you see him attain on
earth, but by what he shall attain in heaven, when he hath
fully seen the travail of his soul to his satisfaction, and hath
presented the whole church without spot unto God; and
when the glorious marriage of the Lamb, with the heavenly
Jerusalem is solemnized, and the kingdom delivered up to
the Father ; Isa. liii. 1 1 . Eph. v. 27. Rev. xix. 7. 1 Cor. xv.
24. It will be another manner of conceiving which we shall
have in heaven of this blessed work ; when we see the face
of our glorified Lord, and fully possess the fruits of his re-
demption, than this is that we have now by our weak believ-
ing. We shall then have another manner of sight of the wis-
dom, and power, and love, and justice that appear to man,
in the face of Christ, than now we have.
4. Yea, the tormenting discoveries of the glory of re-
demption to the condemned rejectors of it, shall also contri-
bute to the glory of God.
You see then that this work hath most glorious ends ;
which I have mentioned the more largely, both to remove
their temptations that are apt to think that it was an unne-
cessary thing, and the less regardable, and to teach men the
true value of it, by shewing them the true ends.
For the former, I say, there was no necessity that God
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 113
should make the world, and reveal his power, and wisdom,
and goodness, in this excellent frame, but what did
suppose the freewill of God the original cause. Will you
therefore say, that the creation is vain ; and undervalue
God's admirable works, in which he thus revealeth himself
to the intellectual creatures ? So here ; we confess that
there could be no necessity of redemption, but what was
originally derived from the will of God ; (though a necessi-
ty * ad finem' there was for the constitution of things, upon
supposition of what went before the undertaking.) But yet
shall we undervalues© glorious a work, in which the Divine
perfections do so fully reveal themselves to the world ?
And I say the more of this, because I do observe that it
is the not apprehending the high and excellent ends of re-
demption, that makes it so much slighted, and consequently
tempteth many to infidelity. For the ends and uses do set
the value on the means. That is of little worth, that is to
little purpose, and doth but little good. If men understood
more the ends of redemption, and how much God dothshine
forth in the world, in the person, and life, and laws, and
works of the Son of God, they would then live in the admi-
ration of it, and be always searching and prying into it, and
desire to know nothing but God in Christ crucified, and ac-
count all things else but as loss and dung for this excellent
knowledge. But, alas ! the most do scarce discern any
higher ends of Christ, or other use of him, than to save
themselves from hell ; and for want of faith, and through
humiliation, they have but little sense of that : and therefore
no wonder if the Redeemer be neglected, and God denied
the honour of the work.
So much of this second point, the reasons and ends of
Christ's undertaking. I shall purposely be shorter on the rest.
3. The third point to be understood concerning our Re-
deemer, is, What he hath done and suffered for mankind,
and wherein his redeeming work consisted, both as to the
general and special part. Should I stand on these at large,
I must needs be voluminous ; and therefore I shall but brief-
ly recite them for your remembrance.
(1.) The first thing that Christ did for the saving of the
world, was his interposing between offending man, and the
wrath of God ; and so preserving the world from that des-
VOL. VIII. I
1 14 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
truction, which the execution of the violated law would
have procured : undertaking then to become the seed of the
woman, and so to break the serpent's head ; and revealing
this grace by slow degrees, till the time of his coming.
(2.) And then when the fulness of time was come, he was
made man, being conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of
the Virgin Mary, and so the " Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among men, who beheld his glory, as the glory of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth ;" John
i. 14. Thus God was manifested to men in the flesh ; 1 Tim.
iii. 16.
(3.) And as he was perfectly holy in his nature without
any stain or guilt of original sin ; so was he perfectly holy in
his life, and never broke the least command of God in thought,
word, or deed. Never could any convince him of sin ; John
viii. 46. He fulfilled the law of nature, which all the world
was under, and the Mosaical law which the Jews were un-
der, and the special law that was given to himself as Media-
tor, and was common to no other creature in the world.
And thus he performed these excellent works. (1.) By
the fulfilling of all righteousness he pleased the Father, al-
ways accomplishing his will ; and so did much of the work
of a Saviour, in meriting for us ; Matt. iii. 15. v. 17. John
viii. 22 Matt.xii. 18. xvii.5. Rom. v. 19. " For such an
highpriest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, se-
parate from sinners ; Heb.vii.26.
2. He hath conquered the tempter, that conquered us.
And therefore did he purposely yield himself to such sore
temptations ; Matt. iv. that his victory might be glorious,
and the second Adam might overcome him that had over-
come the first. And thus he hath done much to the rescue
of the captivated.
3. Hereby also he hath overcome the world, which over-
came the first Adam and his posterity : he trampled upon
its seeming glory ; he neglected and despised its baits and
allurements ; he went through all its cruel persecutions and
oppositions, so that the world now as well as the devil, are
conquered things. By which he hath made way for the vic-
tory of his followers, and given them ground of great encou-
ragement ; John xvi. 33. " Be of good cheer, I have over-
come the world." Yea, I may say in a sort, he hath over-
come the flesh also. For though Christ had no corrupted
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 115
flesh as we have to contend with, yet had he a natural and
sensitive appetite, which the command of God did forbid
him to fulfil. And therefore when innocent nature desired
that the cup might pass from him, and abhor death by a sim-
ple averseness ; yet perfect holiness permitted not this to
proceed to a refusal by the comparing intellect, and choos-
ing or refusing will ; but saith, " Not my will, but thine be
done." And when Christ was weary and hungry, the desire
of food and rest by the sensitive appetite was no sin ; but
when the work of God forbade the fulfilling of such desires,
he still denied them.
(4.) Hereby also he hath set us a perfect copy and pattern
of obedience, and is become our example, whom we must
endeavour to imitate. For he knew that it is the most ef-
fectual teaching, to do it by words and deeds together. It
is a great help to us, when we do not only hear his voice,
but see also which way he hath gone before us. When he
saith, " Learn of me," he directs us not only to his words,
but to himself, who was " meek and lowly ;" M^tt.xi. 28.
(5.) Moreover Christ received of the Father fulness of the
Spirit, and power, for the benefit of the redeemed : that he
might be meet to be the Head and treasury of the church,
and to shower down the streams of grace upon his members
and when all power was given him in heaven and earth, he
might be fitted to the following application of his benefits,
and to rule, and support, and defend his people.
(6.) Moreover he was pleased himself to become a preacher
of the Gospel of salvation, not to all the world, but princi-
pally as a minister of the circumcision, that is, the Jews ;
Rom. xv. 8. He that purchaseth salvation, condescended
also to proclaim it. The preaching of the Gospel is a work
that Christ thought not himself too good for, sometimes to
many, sometimes to one or two, as he had opportunity ; of-
ten with tears, and always with earnestness and compassion,
did he go about doing good, and seeking the lost, and heal-
ing the diseased, and calling men to faith and repentance,
and offering them the grace and life which he purchased.
(7.) And he was pleased also to seal up his doctrine by
his works, casting out devils, healing all diseases, raising
the dead, and working divers other miracles, to assure them
that he came from God, and did his work, and revealed his
will, that so the world might have no excuse for their unbe-
116 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
lief; but that they that would not believe upon any other
account, might yet believe him for the sake of his works ;
Johniii.2. Acts ii. 22. Heb. ii. 4. John v. 36. x. 25. 38.
xiv. 11,12. xv. 24.
(8.) Besides all this, he gave up himself to a life of suffer-
ing, being despised by his creatures whomhe came to redeem,
and destitute voluntarily of fleshly pleasures, and of that
riches and worldly provision that might procure it. He was
a man of sorrows, afflicted from his youth, persecuted from
the cradle ; he gave his cheeks to the smiters, and his per-
son to be made the scorn of fools ; he was crowned with
thorns, spit upon and buffeted, and having sweat water and
blood, in his agony in the garden, he was hanged on across
where thieves were both his companions and revilers, where
they gave him gall and vinegar to drink, pierced his blessed
body with a spear, and put him to a shameful, cursed death.
But he endured the cross, despising the shame, and gave
up himself thus a sacrifice for sin, and bore our transgres-
sions, that we might be healed by his stripes ; and having
ransomed us by his blood, he was buried as an offender,
continuing for a time in the power of the grave; Isa. liii.
throughout, Matt. xxvi. xxvii. Heb. xii. 2. All this he
consented to undergo, (though he consented not to the sin
of them that did inflict it,) for he laid down his life, it was
not taken from him against his will ; Johnx. 17, 18.
(9.) Having thus paid the price of our reconciliation to
God, the third day he rose again from the dead, though sol-
diers watch his grave ; because he had foretold them that he
would rise on the third day, yet were they soon daunted by
the glory of an angel, that came and rolled away the stone.
And so Christ made known his Divine power and victory,
and the finishing of his work : and as by death he overoame
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, (Heb.
iii. 14.) so by his resurrection he triumphed over death it-
self. For how should the grave detain the innocent, and
death overcome the Lord of life ? This was the glorious day
of triumph; in remembrance of this he appointed the Lord's
day to be observed by the church. The resurrection of
Christ was the confusion of all the powers of darkness ; the
great argument to confirm the truth of his doctrine, and
prove his Godhead to the unbelieving world.
(10.) Being risen, he more fully revealed his Gospel, and
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 117
sent forth his apostles and disciples, to proclaim the offers
of life to the world, and settle the churches in a holy order,
when they had gathered them, and to ordain such ministers
to succeed them, as might carry on his work to the end of
the world ; Matt, xxviii. 19,20. And thus he is the faithful
Lawgiver to the church.
(1 1 .) When he had abode thus forty days on earth, he as-
cended up into heaven, while his disciples stood by, and
gazed after him ; (Acts i. 9, 10.) and there hath taken posses-
sion in our nature, advancing it to the Father's right hand
in glory, which was by sin depressed so low in misery. And
so he is gone to prepare a place for us, leaving us a certain
word of promise that he " will come again, and take us to
himself, that where he is, there we may be also ;" John xiv.
2, 3. And as " our life now is hid there with Christ in God,
so when he shall appear, we shall appear with him in glory ;"
Col.iii.3,4.
(12.) Being ascended, he manifested his power and his
truth in sending down the Holy Ghost upon his disciples,
enabling them to do such works as he had done, and such as
were necessary to convince the unbelieving world, and to
conquer the opposing wisdom and power of the flesh ; ena-
bling them to speak in variety of languages, which they had
never before learned ; as also to understand and powerfully
preach the mysteries of the Gospel, to confirm their doctrine
by miracles, healing the lame, the blind, the sick, casting
out devils, raising the dead, and conquering the resistance
of principalities and powers, in seeming weakness, and in a
contemptible garb. Not to speak now of the sanctifying
work of ihe same Spirit, on themand on the rest of the church.
(13.) Lastly, In this glory Christ intercedeth for us, and
is our High-priest in the heavens with God, living for ever,
procuring and conveying to us the mercies which we need
upon the account of his sacrifice ; ruling his church, and
preserving them ; succeeding his cause and servants ; res-
training and subduing his enemies and ours ; and will per-
fect his work at the day of his coming to judgment. So
much of the works of Christ
4. The fourth point to be understood concerning our
redemption, is, The nature and worth of the benefits that are
procured for us. Which though you may gather much from
what is said, and the full handling of them would be a lar-
118 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
ger work than is suitable to my present ends, yet such a
brief recital I shall here give you, as ray ends require.
In general, we have all from Jesus the Mediator that is
worth the having; even all the blessings of this present life,
and of the life to come. As we lost our right to all by sin,
so we have our restored right by Christ alone, who came to
destroy sin, and its effects. Had not he interposed, we
might have had materially life, and natural faculties, and
other things which now are mercies ; but not as mercies,
but as the requisites to our deserved punishment : even as
the devils have their being and natural perfections to sustain
them in their sufferings. Nature itself, so far as good, and
all natural blessings are now of grace : and that not only of
grace as they were to Adam, which was mercy without pro-
per merit ; but of Gospel grace procured by Christ, which is
mercy contrary to merit. It is no sounder doctrine to say,
that God doth without the merit of his Son bestow our com-
mon forfeited mercies, either on the elect or others, than
that he giveth us his saving grace without it. As all things
are delivered into the hands of Christ; (John xiii. 3.) so none
can receive any good but from his hands. To give mercies
to men that forfeit them, and deserve misery, is so far to par-
don their sin ; for to remit the sin, is to remit the punish-
ment. But the Scripture is not acquainted with any par-
don of sin, but what is on the account of the merits of Christ.
They that deny this mercy of God, in giving even to the un-
godly such a measure of forgiveness, do speak against the
daily and hourly experience of all the world ; and therefore
need no other confutation.
More particularly, (1.) Christ having taken the human
nature into union with the Divine, our nature is thereby in-
conceivably advanced, and brought nigh to God.
(2.) Having fulfilled the law and offered himself a sacri-
fice for sin, God's justice, and wisdom, and holiness, and
goodness, are admirably demonstrated : and this sacrifice is
both satisfactory and meritorious on our behalf; Heb.i. 3.
2 Cor. v. 19. Heb.ix.26. x. 12.
(3.) The world, and the devil, and death, and the grave,
are conquered by him, in preparation to our conquest.
(4.) The Lord Jesus himself being risen, and justified,
hath received all power in heaven and in earth ; Matt, xxviii.
19. And is enabled to do all things that are necessary for
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 119
his further ends. As the Redeemer he is become Lord of
ourselves, and of all we have ; and he is made the Sovereign
Ruler of all, having full power to relax the law that cursed,
and to deal with the world on terms of grace.
(5.) Accordingly he hath kept off the stroke of the ri-
gorous justice of God, and hindered the strict execution of
the law of works, and giveth still abundance of forfeited
mercies to the sinful world, keeping them from deserved
torments, while he is treating them on terms of life.
(6.) He hath made a universal deed of gift, of Christ
and life to all the world, on condition that they will but ac-
cept the offer ; 1 John v. 10—12. John i. 11,12. iii. 16— 19.
In this testament, or promise, or act of oblivion, the sins of
all the world are conditionally pardoned, and they are con-
ditionally justified and reconciled to God.
(7.) He hath given apostles, evangelists, pastors, and
teachers, to proclaim this act of grace to the world, com-
manding them to go into all the world, and preach this Gos-
pel to every creature, and promise salvation to all that by
faith will become his true disciples ; Mark xvi. 16. Matt.
xxviii.20.22. So that their promulgation is universal.
(8.) Though his servants have most lamentably neglect-
ed their duty, and have not gone abroad in the world, to di-
vulge the Gospel according to his will ; imagining that this
work had been proper to the apostles ; and though the na-
tions have sinfully neglected a due inquiry after this blessed
light, yet hath he not left himself among them without wit-
ness, but hath given them some dawning of the day, or some
moonlight in the reflections of evangelical truth, who have
not seen the sun itself. Much mercy they have had not-
withstanding their transgressions ; and while they served
devils, they have been provided for by God, " in whom they
live, and move, and have their being ;" " doing them good,
and giving them rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, fill-
ing their hearts with food and gladness ;" and this to teach
them, " that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might
feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every
one of them ;" Acts xiv. 17. xvii. 27, 28. " And that which
may be known of God, is manifest among them, for God
hath shewed it to 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 God-
120 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
head: so that they are without excuse;" Rom. i. 19,20.
By experience they may find, that God dealeth not now in
rigor of justice, but on terms of grace, and that sin is not
now unpardonable ; and they should know that the " good-
ness of Godleadeth men to repentance ;" Rom. ii. 4.
(9.) As the Gospel conditionally pardoneth all their sins,
and offereth them everlasting life, so it containeth the clear-
est reasons and most effectual motives, to persuade them to
accept the offer. It affordeth them most excellent precepts
and instructions, and exhortations, and other helps to bring
them to a willingness, that salvation may be theirs.
(10.) To which also is added abundance of outward, pro-
vidential helps, to further the working of the Gospel ; as
seasonable afflictions and mercies of divers sorts.
(11.) And with these is usually concurrent some inward
motions, and assistance of the Holy Ghost ; as knocking at
the door, where he is not yet let in, and entertained.
(12.) And by their presence in the visible church, even
the ungodly have many benefits in the ordinances, and in-
structions, and examples of the saints. All these (besides a
resurrection) are the common effects of general redemption,
and not appropriated to the elect.
Besides which there are others that the elect only do re-
ceive. As (1.) God is pleased by effectual grace to draw
them to his Son, and make the Gospel successful to their
conversion, insuperably teaching and changing them by his
Spirit, and causing them to repent, and believe in Christ,
and to perform the conditions of his forementioned promises.
That love that brought the Lord on earth, that clothed him
with flesh, that lifted him up upon the cross, doth stream
forth in his season into the hearts of his elect, and toucheth
them with a changing power, and winneth them to his Fa-
ther and himself, and droppeth into them those heavenly
principles, which will grow up in them to everlasting life.
(2.) Hereupon the soul believing in Christ is united to
him, as a member of his body, even of his true catholic
church ; and Christ is become the Head, the Husband, the
Lord, the Saviour of that soul in a special sort. Christ him-
self is first given to us in these relations ; and from him as
our Head, his following benefits are conveyed. " He that
hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath
not life ; for this life is in the Son ;" 1 John v. 11, 12. He
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 121
is the vine, and we are the branches, and out of him we can
do nothing; Johnxv. 1,2.5. As it was not we that pur-
chased our own salvation, so it is not we, but Christ, that
must have the keeping, and dispensing of the purchased be-
nefits. " For it pleased the Father, that in him should all
fullness dwell, and that he should be the Head over all
things to his church," that it might by communication be-
come his fullness; Col. i. 19. Ephes.i. 22,23. He is our
treasury, and from him we must have our continual supplies ;
for " with him the Father will give us all things ;" Rom. viii.
32. And thus Christ will "dwell in our hearts by faith;"
Ephes. iii. 17. and set up the kingdom of God within us.
(3.) Hereupon we have the pardon of all our sins ;
not only as to the temporal punishment, nor only as to
the bestowing of temporal mercies, or common helps of
creatures, and providences ; for this is but a " winking
at the days of our ignorance," (Acts xvii. 30.) in com-
parison of the pardon which afterward we receive. Nor is
it only a conditional, or offered pardon ; but it is an actual
remission of the eternal,f and of all the destructive, pu-
nishment. And thus we are justified from all that might
be charged on us from the law, and accepted, and used as
just by God. There is a kind of forgiveness that was
promised to the sacrificers ; Lev. iv. 20. 26. 31. 35. v.
10.13.16.18. vi. 7. Numb. xv. 28. But as that was upon
Christ's account, so it extended not to the pardon of the
eternal punishment to any but true believers. He that was
once crucified, " is exalted by God's right hand, a prince,
and a Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel, and forgive-
ness of sins;" Acts v. 31. " Through this man is preached
the forgiveness of sins ; and by him all that believe are jus-
tified from all things, from which they could not be justified
by the law of Moses;" Acts xiii. 38, 39. When our eyes
are open, and we " are turned from darkness to light, and
from the power of satan unto God," we then " receive re-
mission of our sins ;" Acts xxvi. 18. When we are " deli-
vered from the power of darkness, and translated into the
kingdom of Christ; in him we have then redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins ;" Col. i. 13, 14.
And "blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and
whose sins are covered, to whom the Lord imputeth not sin ;"
Rom. iv. 7. And now " who shall condemn us ? It is God
122 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
that justifieth us : for there is no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus, that walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit;" Rom.viii. 1. 33, 34.
(4.) With this benefit doth concur, our reconciliation to
God, and our adoption ; by which we are made his sons,
and God is pleased to own us as our Father. For being one
with Christ the Son of God, we are sons by him. For '* to
as many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name ',"
Johni. 12. This is the wonderful love that the Father hath
bestowed on those that were his enemies ; that they should
not only be reconciled to him by the death of his Son, but
also be called the sons of God ; Rom. v. 10. 1 John iii. 1.
For he hath " chosen us in him, before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy, and without blame before
him in love ; having predestinated us to the adoption of chil-
dren, by Jesus Christ, to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace
wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved ;" Ephes.
i. 4 — 6. O what an unspeakable mercy is it to have the
blessed God, whom we had so oft offended, to become our
reconciled Father in Christ ! For it is not an empty title
that he assumeth; but he hath more abundant love to us,
and tenderness of our welfare, than any title can make us
understand.
(5.) And hereupon it doth immediately follow, that we
have a right to the blessed inheritance of his sons, and are
certain heirs of his heavenly kingdom ; Col. i. 12. For if
" sons, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ ;"
Rom. viii. 17. " Being saved by the washing of regenera-
tion, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, and justified by grace
through Jesus Christ, we are made heirs, according to the
hope of eternal life ;" Tit. iii. 5 — 7. " Being begotten again
to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us ;" 1 Pet. i. 3,4.
(6.) Withal, the Holy Ghost is given to us, not only to
close us at first with Christ, but to take up his abode in us,
as his temples, and to be the agent and life of Christ within
us, and to do his work, and maintain his interest, and cleanse
us of all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and sanctify us through-
out, and to strive against, and conquer the flesh, and to keep
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 123
us by divine power through faith unto salvation ; 1 Cor. vi.
19. Gal. v. 17.22. 2Cor.vi. 1. lPet.i.5. For"because
we are sons, God sendeth forth the Spirit of his Son into
our hearts, whereby we cry, Abba, Father ;" Gal. iv. 6. This
Spirit of adoption which we receive doth " bear witness with
our spirits, that we are the sons of God ;" Rom. viii. 15, 16.
For " if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, the same is
none of his ;" Rom. viii. 9. By this Spirit is the spirit of the
world cast out of us ; the spirit of pride, and of blindness,
and of delusion, and hardheartedness, and of sensuality, and
malice, and hypocrisy are cast out. By this is God's image
imprinted on our souls ; we are conformed to his blessed
will ; " we are made partakers of the Divine nature, being
holy, as God is holy ; Col. iii. 10. 2 Pet. i. 4. 1 Pet. i. 16.
Hereby also we are fitted for the service of God, to which
before we were undisposed and unfit. O what an ease is it
to the soul, to be free from so much of the burden of sin.
What an honour is it to have the Spirit of God within us, and
to have a nature so truly heavenly and divine ? How can
it go ill with him that hath " God dwelling in him, and that
dwells in God?" 1 John iv. 15.
(7.) Another of our precious benefits by Christ, is, that
we shall be actually employed in the special and nearest
service of God, that on earth is to be performed. Let di-
seased souls desire idleness ; and swinish sinners take plea-
sure in the mire, and feed like ravenous beasts on carrion,
or as dogs on dung. But the saints will ever rejoice in God,
and take it for the most blessed life on earth, when they
can do him the greatest service. Let his enemies that hate
his service be weary of it, as if it were a toil or drudgery ;
but his children will desire no sweeter work. They never
think themselves so well as when they are most serviceable
to their blessed Lord, though at the greatest cost and labour
to the flesh. So sweet is God's service, that the more of it
we can do, the more is our pleasure, and honour, and con-
tent. Other work spendeth strength; but this increaseth
it. Other work must have recreation intermixed, but this
is itself the most delightful recreation. Other service is un-
dertaken for the love of the wages, but this is undertaken
for the love of the master, and the work, and is wages itself
to them that go through with it. For other service is but
a means, and that to some inferior end ; but this is a means,
f24 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
to the everlasting perfection, and blessedness of the soul ;
and such a means as containeth, or presently procureth,
somewhat of the end. All the saints are even here " a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar peo-
ple, that they shall shew forth the praises of him that hath
called them out of darkness, into his marvellous light : they
are a holy priesthood, to offer up a spiritual sacrifice, ac-
ceptable to God by Jesus Christ; 1 Pet.ii. 5. 9. Their very
bodies are " a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,
in their reasonable service." What a sweet work is it to
live in the daily love of God ; in his praises, in the hopes,
and sweet forethoughts of everlasting joys. The world af-
fordeth not such a Master, nor such a work.
(8.) Another of the precious benefits by Christ, is, The
liberty of access in all our wants to God by Prayer, with a
promise to be heard. The flaming sword did keep the way
to the tree of life, till Christ had taken it down, and conse-
crated for us a new and living way, through the vail, which
is his flesh. And now we have "boldness to enter into the
holiest, by the blood of Jesus ; and, therefore, may draw
near with a true heart in full assurance of faith ;" Heb. x.
19, 20.22. When worldlings may cry to their Baal in vain,
the " righteous cry, and the Lord heareth them, and deliver-
eth them out of all their (hurtful) troubles." O what a mer-
cy is it in our falls, in our distresses, in our dangers, in our
wants, to have a God, a faithful, merciful Father to go to,
and make our moan to for relief ! What a mercy is it, when
our flesh and our hearts do fail us, when friends and world-
ly things all fail us, to have God for the rock of our hearts,
of our portion; Psal.lxxiii. 26. When sickness begins to
break these bodies, and earthly delights do all forsake us,
and death calls us to come to our endless state, then to have
a reconciled Father to go to, and crave his aid, upon the en-
couragement of a promise, and recommend our souls into
his hand as to a faithful Creator, and our surest, dearest
friend ; this is a mercy that no man can well value, till they
come to use it. To know every day, that as oft as ever we
come to God, we are always welcome ; and that our persons,
and prayers are pleasing to him through his Son, what a
mercy is it. One would think we should live joyfully, if
we had but one such promise as this for faith to live upon :
" Call upon me in the days of trouble, and I will deliver thee,
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 125
and thou shalt glorify me ;" Psal. 1. 15. "Whatsoever ye
shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be
glorified in the Son ;" John xiv. 13, 14. No wonder if they
be rich, that have so free access to such a treasure ; and if
they be safe that have access to so sure a help. For God is
a very present help in trouble; Psal. xlvi. 1.
(9.) Another precious benefit, is, That we have peace of
conscience, or ground for it at the least, in our peace with
God ; and so may come to assurance of salvation, and may
partake of the joy of the Holy Ghost. For in this peace
and joy the kingdom of God doth much consist. When the
chief cause of all our fear and sorrow is done away, what
then is left to break our peace ? When we have no cause
to fear the flames of hell, nor the sting of death, or the ap-
pearance of our Judge, any further than to move us to make
ready, what then should greatly trouble the soul ? If God
and heaven be not matter of comfort, I know not what is.
If we saw a man, that had got many kingdoms, to be still
sad, and dumpish, because he had no more, we would say,
he were very ambitious, or covetous ; and yet he might have
reason for it. But if you have the love of God, and a title
by promise to heavenly inheritance, and yet you are discon-
tented, and God and glory is not enough for you, this is
most unreasonable.
(10.) Another of our precious benefits by Christ, is, Our
spiritual communion with his church, and holy members.
We do not only join with them in outward communion, but
we unite our desires, and there is a harmony of affections.
We are in the main of one mind and will, and way, and we
jointly constitute the body of our Lord. " We are come
unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of an-
gels, to the general assembly, and church of the first-born,
which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and
to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the
Mediator of the new covenant ;" Heb. xii. 22—24. We are
joined to that body, and have communion with it, which con-
sisteth both of militant, and triumphant saints, and of the
angels also. " We are no more strangers and foreigners,
but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of
God, and are built on the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone,
126 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth un-
to a holy temple in the Lord ; in whom we also are builded
together, for a habitation of God, through the Spirit ; Ephes.
ii. 19 — 22. And as in holy concord we serve the Lord, hav-
ing one God, one Christ, one Spirit, one faith, one baptism,
one rule, the word of God, one mind, one heart, one work
of holiness and righteousness in the main ; one hope, one
heaven, the place of our expectations. So have we the fruit
of the prayers of each other, and of all the church, and have
the honour, the safety, and other benefits of being members
of so blessed a society.
Yea, we have in this communion, the whole church
obliged, and disposed according to their capacity to endea-
vour the good of every member. So that ministers and ma-
gistrates, yea, though they were apostles, and prophets,
Paul, or Apollos, all are ours; 1 Cor. iii. 22. Kings have
their power for us, and for us they must use them. If we
suffer, every member must be as forward to assist us, and if
we want, to relieve us, according to their power, as if they
suffered with us ; 1 Cor. xii. 25, 26.
Yea, the angels are our brethren (Rev. xxix. 9.) and fel-
low servants, yea, " ministering spirits, sent forth to minis-
ter for them that shall be heirs of salvation ; Heb. i. 14." To
" encamp about them, and to bear them in their arms," re-
joicing to behold their graces, and prosperity, as was shew-
ed before.
(11.) Another of our precious benefits by Christ, is, That
"All things shall work together for good; Rom. viii.28.
When we are sanctified to God, all things are sanctified to
us, to serve us for God, and help us to him. Every creature
that we have to do with, is, as it were, another thing to the
saints, than to other men. They are all wheels in that uni-
versal engine of grace, to carry us to salvation. The same
things that are common mercies to others, are special to
us, as proceeding from a special love, and being designed to a
special use. As flesh-pleasing is the ultimate end of the
ungodly, and all things are thereby debased, to be but means
to that ignoble end ; so the pleasing and fruition of God, is
the end of all the saints, and thereby all things that they
have to do with, are advanced to the honour of being sanc-
tified means to this most high and noble end, and as they
are engaged to use them to this end, and consequently to
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 127
their own greatest advantage ; so God hath engaged himself
to bless them in that holy use, and to cause them all by his
gracious providence to co-operate to their good. Their
greatest afflictions, the cruellest persecutions from the most
violent enemies, our wants, our weaknesses, and death it-
self, all must concur to carry on this work. What then
should a Christian fear, but sin ? How honourable, and
how happy a life may he live, that hath all these assured for
his service. And what causeless fears are they that use to
afflict the servants of God, concerning their outward trou-
bles, and necessities. What do we fear, and groan under,
and complain of, but our Father's physic, and the means of
our salvation ? If this one truth were but believed, and re-
ceived, and used according to its worth, O what a life would
Christians live !
(12.) The last, and greatest of our benefits by Christ, is,
Resurrection, and our justification at the bar of God, and our ,
reception into glory. This is the end of all, and therefore
containeth all. For this Christ died ; for this we are Chris-
tians ; for this we believe, hope and labour ; for this we
suffer, and deny ourselves, and renounce this world. Our
bodies shall then be spiritual and glorious, no more trQubled
with infirmities, diseases or necessities. Our souls shall be
both naturally and graciously perfected ; both in their fa-
culties and qualities. We shall be brought nigh to God :
we shall be numbered with the inhabitants of the heavenly
Jerusalem, and be members of that blessed society, and com-
panions and equal with the angels of God : we shall for ever
behold our glorified Redeemer, and see our own nature uni-
ted to the Godhead ; and we shall have the greatest and
nearest intuition and fruition of God, the fullest love to him,
and the sweetest rest, content and delight in him, that our
created natures are capable of : we shall everlastingly be em-
ployed in this love, and delight, and in his praises with all
the heavenly host : and the glory of God will shine forth in
our glory, and the abundance of his goodness will be com-
municated to us : and he will be well-pleased with us, with
our praises, with all that blessed society, and with our head :
and this will endure to all eternity.
Christians, I have now named in a few words, those be-
nefits by Christ, which the heart of man is notable to value,
in any proportion to their inexpressible worth : I have named
128 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
that in an hour, which you will enjoy for ever. So much of
our benefits by Christ.
5. The fifth point to be understood in the right know-
ledge of Christ, is, The terms on which he conveyeth his be-
nefits to men, and how we must be made partakers of them.
And these mercies are of two sorts: 1. Common. 2.
Proper to them that are heirs of salvation. The common
are, 1. Those discoveries of grace, that are made even to
heathens in the creatures, and the merciful providences of
God. These are absolutely and freely bestowed in some
measure on all, but in a greater measure upon some, as
pleases the giver. 2. The supernatural, or instituted means
of revealing Christ, and life to the world, and drawing them
to a saving consent of faith. These are the Gospel written
and preached, with other concomitant helps. The commis-
sion Christ hath given to his ambassadors, is to teach this
Gospel to all the world, even to every (reasonable) creature,
without exception or restriction. And it is absolutely and
freely given, where it is given. But as to the providential
disposal of the event, God causeth it not to be sent to all,
but to whom he seeth meet.
The proper or special mercies are of two sorts: (1.)
Some are physical inherent qualities, or performed acts.
(2.) And some are adherent rights, or relations.
Of the former inherent sort, there are these three degrees :
(1.) There is the first special work of vocation, conversion
or regeneration, causing the sinner to repent and believe,
and giving him the principle of spiritual life. (2.) There is
the bestowing of the indwelling Spirit of God, and progres-
sive sanctification of heart and life, and perseverance with
victory. (3.) There is the perfecting of all this, in our glo-
rious perfection in the life to come.
(1.) For the first of these, God hath not promised it condi-
tionally or absolutely to any individual person that hath it
not. He hath bound all to repent and believe, but hath not
promised to make them do it : (only he hath revealed that
there are certain persons so given to Christ, as that they
shall be infallibly drawn to believe.) But he hath appoint-
ed certain means for the ungodly, which they are bound to
use in order to their conversion ; and if they will not use
them, they are without excuse. If they will, they have very
much encouragement from God, both [1.] In the nature of the
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 129
means, which are fitted to their ends, and^are mighty to
bring down all oppositions : and [2.] In the commands and
institution of God ; whose wisdom and goodness may easily
resolve us, that he will not appoint us means in vain, nor set
his creatures on fruitless labour : and [3.] Also from the issue ;
for no man can stand forth and say, Such an one did his
best in the use of means, and yet could not attain the end,
but fell short of the grace and glory of God.
The diseases of men's souls are wilfulness and blindness;
the means of cure are the persuasions, with the revelations
of the Gospel. Men have the natural powers of under-
standing and willing : but they want that right disposition
which we call the habit, or moral power, which is no more
than to say, They are habitually blind and wilful. It is so
far from being unreasonable to teach and persuade men that
are under such an impotency as this, that there is nothing
in the world that doth more bespeak our teaching and per-
suasions ; for this is the natural and instituted way to cure
them, and give them power. What means of overcoming
ignorance like teaching ? And what means of overcoming
habituated wilfulness, like persuasion, added to informing
truths ? We do not use to reason men out of a natural im-
potency, nor to persuade them to do that for which they
have no faculties or object ; but it is the very means of over-
coming a moral impotency, and making men willing of the
good which they rejected. And with this means doth God
set in, and infallibly cause it to be effectual with his chosen.
Thus no man cometh to the Son, except the Father draw
him ; and then for the two following degrees of holiness in
our sanctification, and glorious perfection, God hath pro-
mised them to those that have this first degree. For the
Spirit of holiness is promised to all that truly repent and be-
lieve, and salvation to all that are sanctified, and persevere.
So that the right to these inheritance mercies, being a rela-
tion, is conveyed as other rights and relations, of which we
are next to speak.
(2.) As the Spirit by the operation of the word upon the
heart conveyeth the foresaid inherent benefits or qualities
and acts, so the promise of grace, indited by Christ and the
Spirit, doth as a deed of gift, or testament, or act of oblivion,
bestow on us our rights and spiritual relations ; and from
VOL. VIII. K
1.'30 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
these they do result, as the immediate instrumental cause.
Thus doth he give " power or right to as many as receive him,
to become the sons of God;" John i. 12. Thus doth he give
us pardon, justification, adoption, and our right to further
grace and glory. And these promises are conditional ; and
our repenting and believing in Christ, is the condition. And
therefore till conversion do bring us to repent and believe,
we have no right to any of these benefits of the promise.
And therefore though our repentance and faith be none of
the proper cause of our justification, or right : yet the main
work, in order to the procurement of these benefits, that is
now to be done, is to persuade the sinner to repent and be-
lieve ; to turn that he may live ; for God's act of grace is
past already, and the conditional pardon is granted long ago,
and will effectually pardon us as soon as we perform the
condition, and not before. Till then, we hinder the efficacy
of the deed of gift ; for unbelief and impenitency are true
causes of men's condemnation, though faith and repentance
be no proper causes of their salvation.
These promises being conditional, we cannot be assured
of our part in the benefits, but by being assured that we per-
form the condition. By this you may see the nature of pre-
sumption ; when men say, they believe that which never was
promised ; or believe that they have right to the blessings
that are promised to others, and thus they believe that they
shall have the benefits promised, when they perform not the
conditions ; all this is presuming, and not true believing.
If men believe that God is reconciled to them, and will par-
don them, and justify them, and save them, when they are
unconverted, impenitent, unregenerate men ; this is not in-
deed a believing of God, that hath never made them any
such promise, nor ever told them any such matter, but the
contrary ; but it is a believing the false delusions of the de-
vil and their own hearts. He that will claim any title to
Christ, and pardon, and salvation, must have something to
shew for it ; yea, and something more than the most of the world
have to shew; for the most shall be shut out. Every man,
therefore that regardeth his salvation, must seriously ask his
soul this question,' What have I to shew for my title to sal-
vation, more than the most of the world can shew ? It is
not saying, I hope to be saved, that will serve the turn, ex-
cept I can give a reason of my hope. Thousands that lay
MISCARRtlNG IN CONVERSION. 131
claim to salvation shall miss of it, because they have no ti-
tle to it.' And that which you must have to shew, is this, A
promise, or deed of gift on God's part, and the fulfilling of
the condition on your part. God saith to all men, " Who-
soever repenteth, believeth, or is converted, shall be saved."
When you have found that you repent of all your sins, and
truly believe, and are converted to God, then, and not till
then, you may conclude that you shall be saved.
6. The sixth point to be understood and believed, con-
cerning these benefits of Christ, is the infallible certainty of
them. While men look on the promised glory to come, as
on an uncertain thing, they will hardly be drawn to venture,
and let go the profits and pleasures of the world to attain it ;
much less to part with life itself. The life of all our Chris-
tian motion, is the unfeigned belief of the truth of God's
word, and specially of the unseen things of the world to
come. Such as men's belief of heaven and hell is, such will
be the bent of their hearts, and the course of their lives, and
such and such they will be in yielding to sin, or in resisting
it, and in all the service they do for God. As all men would
take another course, if they did but see heaven and hell with
their eyes ; so all men would presently throw away their
worldly, fleshly pleasures, and turn to God and a holy life,
if they did but as thoroughly believe the joys and torments
to come, as if they saw them. Flesh and blood can hardly
judge of things, without the help of sense ; and fleshly men
take all things to be phantasms or nothings, that are not
within the judgment of their senses. They must see it, or
feel it, or taste it, or hear it ; and believing is a way that
hardly satisfies them ; though it be God himself that they
are to believe. Believing is trusting the credit of another;
and we are naturally loath to trust to any but our eyes or
other senses. We are so false ourselves, that we are ready
to measure God by ourselves ; and to think that he is a de-
ceiver, because that we are such. And hence it is that the
world is so ungodly that they venture on sin, and will not
be at the cost and labour of a heavenly life ; because they
take the matters of the life to come, to be but uncertainties,
and have not so true a belief of them, as might possess them
with a deep apprehension of their reality. How should the
word profit them, that mix it not with faith, (Heb. iv. 2.) un-
less by begetting faith itself? O what a change would a
132 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT''
sound belief of the Scriptures make in the world ! But hav-
ing spoken so oft of this in other writings, I shall say no
more of it now. So much of the knowledge of Christ.
ii. I have shewed you the first part of this Direction,
How Christ must be received understandingly, I now come
to the second, which is, That he must be received heartily.
As Cod must be beloved, so Christ must be believed in,
with all the heart, and soul, and strength. If not with all
in a perfect degree, (for that will not be till we come to hea-
ven) yet with all in a prevalent degree. There are many
convictions, and good meanings, and wishes, and purposes,
which may proceed from common grace, and be found in
those that never shall be saved : these may be called (ana-
logically) faith, and love, and desire, as those that are found
in the truly regenerate ; and yet the persons in whom they
are found, may not fitly be called believers or lovers of God ;
because a man is to be denominated from that in him which
is predominant, and hath the chief power on his heart. The
soul of man is not so simple as to move but one way : its
state in this life is to stand between two differing competi-
tors, God and the world, spirit and flesh ; and there is no
man that is totally given up to either of them. No man is
so good and spiritual, that hath not something in him that
is bad and carnal ; and no man is so fully addicted to God,
but the creature hath too much interest in his heart. Nor
is there any man so given up to the creature, in whom God
hath no manner of interest at all, in his estimation and af-
fections ; if he indeed believe that there is a God. At least
it is not so with all that are unconverted. Otherwise, 1.
What is it that common grace doth, if it no whit dispose
them towards God? Certainly it would not else be grace.
2. And if this were not so, then we must say, that no unre-
generate man hath any good in him, that is truly moral ; for
if there be no interest of God in his mind or will, there can
be no good in him. But this is contrary to Scripture and
experience. It was undoubtedly some moral good, which
Christ loved the man for, in Mark x. 21. who was not far
from the kingdom of God. 3. Otherwise all men must be
equally departed from God, which is contrary to experience.
4. Yea, all men must be as bad on earth (privately) as in
hell; which certainly is false. I may well say, that on
earth there is some good in the worst; much more in those
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 133
that are almost persuaded to be converted Christians. Many
a thought of the goodness of God, and the necessity of a
Saviour, and of the love of Christ, and of the joys of heaven,
may be stirring and working in the minds of the unsancti-
fied ; but if they take not up the heart for Christ, the person
is not a true believer. As the Gospel must be believed to
be true, so Christ that is offered us in the Gospel as good,
must be heartily and thankfully accepted accordingly : and
the glory, the justification, reconciliation with God, and
other benefits procured by him, and offered with him, must
be valued and desired above all earthly, fleshly things. If
you are convinced that sin is evil, as contrary to God, and
hurtful to you, and hereupon have some mind to let it go,
and some wishes that Christ would save you from it, and yet
still have a love to it that is greater than your dislike ; and
the bent of your hearts is more for it, than against it, and
your habitual desires are rather to keep than to leave it :
this is not sanctification, nor a saving consent to be saved by
Christ. If you have some convictions that holiness is good,
as being the image of God, and pleasing to him, and neces-
sary to your salvation, and so should have some mind of ho-
liness on these grounds ; yet if you have on the other side a
greater averseness to it, because it would deprive you of the
pleasures of your sin, and the habitual inclination of your
will is more against it than for it ; certainly this will not
stand with true sanctification, of faith in Christ, to save you
from the power of sin by his Spirit. Thousands deceive
themselves, by misunderstanding some common passages,
that are spoken to comfort afflicted consciences : viz. That
the least true desires after grace, do prove the soul to be
gracious. This is true, if you speak of the least desires,
which are predominant in the soul ; when our desire is more
habitually than our unwillingness, and we thus prefer Christ
before all the world, the least of this is an evidence of saving
grace. But such desires as are subdued by the contrary de-
sires; and such a will as is accompanied with a greater un-
willingness, habitually ; and such a faith, as is drowned in
greater unbelief ; these are not evidences of a saving change ;
nor can you justly gather any special comfort from them.
He that hath more unbelief than belief, is not to be called a
believer, but an unbeliever ; and he that hath more hatred or
dislike of. God and holiness than love to them, is not to be cal-
134 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
led godly, but ungodly, nor a lover of God, but a hater of him.
I am easily persuaded, that many of you that are ungodly
could be contented that God be glorified, if his glory do
not cross your carnal interest ; and so you desire God's glory
even for itself, as that which is absolutely good in itself :
but if your fleshly interest be so dear to you, that you will
sacrifice God's glory to it, and had rather God were disho-
noured than your fleshly interest contradicted, it is your
flesh then that is made your God, and your chief end. It is
not every wish, or minding of Christ, no, not to save you
from sin as sin, that will prove you true believers : nor is it
every minding of God, or love to him, no, not as one appre-
hended by you to be the chiefest good, and desirable for
himself, as your end, that will prove indeed that you savingly
love him ; as long as the contrary mind and will is habitually
predominant in you. Such as the very habit and bent of a
man's heart is, such indeed is the man. It is possible for a
man, even a good man, to have two contrary ends and inten-
tions, yea, ultimate ends ; as that which is desired for itself,
and referred to nothing else, is called ultimate ; but it is
not possible for him to have two principal, predominant
ends. So far as we are carnal still, we make the pleasing
of our flesh our ultimate end ; for doubtless we do not sin
only by pleasing the flesh, as a means to God's glory ; nor
only in the mischoosing of other means ; but yet this is none
of our principal end, so far as men are truly sanctified. And
because that is called a man's mind, or will, which is the
chiefest and highest in his mind and will ; therefore we use
to denominate men from that only which beareth rule in
them : and thus we may say with Paul, " It is not I, but
sin that dwelleth in me." For a disowned act that proceed-
eth from us, against the bent and habit of our wills, and the
course of our lives, from the remnants of a carnal, misguided
will, is not it that must denominate the person, nor is so
fully ours as the contrary act. And therefore though indeed
we sinfully participate of it ; yet when the question is, whe-
ther believing, or unbelief, sinning, or obeying be my work ;
it is not comparatively to be called mine, which I am much
more against than for. So on the other side, if the unsanc-
tified have some transient, superficial, uneffectual acts of de-
sire, or faith, or love to God, which are contrary to the bent
and habit of their hearts, this is not theirs, nor imputable to
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 135
them, so far as hence to give them their denomination. It
is not they that do it, but the common workings of the
Spirit upon them.
If ever then you would be assured that you are Chris-
tians, look to the habitual bent of your hearts, and see that
you do not only talk of Scripture, and slightly believe it,
and speak well of Christ, with some good wishes, and mean-
ings, and purposes ; but as you love your souls, see that
Christ be received as your dearest Saviour, with thankful-
ness and greatest love, and as your sovereign Lord and true
subjection ; and that he hath your superlative estimation
and affections, and all things in the world be put under him
in your souls. This must be so, if you will have the portion
of believers : no faith that is short of this will prove you
Christ's disciples indeed, or heirs of the promises made to
believers. The voice of Christ that calls to you in the Gos-
pel, is, " My son give me thy heart ;" Prov. xxiii. 26. Do
what thou wilt in ways of duty, and think as highly as thou
wilt of thyself, thou art no true believer in Christ's account
till thou hast given him thy heart. If he have thy tongue,
if he have thy good opinion, nay, if thy body were burnt in
his cause, if he had not thy love, thy heart, it were as no-
thing ; (1 Cor. xiii. 3.) for thy works and sufferings, are so
far acceptable (through Christ) as they are testimonies of
this, that Christ hath thy heart. If he have not thy heart,
he takes it as if he had nothing ; and if he have this, he
takes it as if he have all. For this is not only preferred by
him before all ; but also he knows that this commandeth all.
If Christ have thy heart, the devil will not have thy tongue
and life ; the alehouse, or a harlot will not have thy body ;
and the world will not have the principal part of thy life. If
Christ have thy heart, it will be heard much in thy confe-
rence ; it will be seen in thy labours : for that which hath
a man's heart will hardly be hid, unless he purposely hide it,
which a Christian neither can nor ought to do. It would
make a man wonder to hear some wretches, that will run
from God as fast as they can, and yet face you down that
God hath their hearts ; that have no mind, so much as to
meditate, or talk of Christ, or his precious blood, or mys-
terious redemption, or the glorious kingdom purchased by
him ; that will be at neither cost nor labour in his service,
and yet profess that Christ hath their hearts : that will re-
136 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
fuse a holy, heavenly life, and perhaps make a scorn of it,
and maliciously prate against the sanctified, and yet will
stand to it that the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier of the elect,
hath their hearts. No wonder if those hearts are ill managed,
and in a miserable, deceived state, that are so unacquainted
with themselves.
Faith entereth at the understanding ; but it hath not all
its essential parts, and is not the Gospel faith indeed, till it
hath possessed the will. The heart of faith is wanting, till
faith hath taken possession of the heart. For by faith Christ
dwelleth in the heart ; Ephes. iii. 17. And if he dwell not
in the heart, he dwells not in the man, in a saving sort. He
had some interest in Judas, Simon Magus, Ananias and
Sapphira, as to the head, and perhaps somewhat more in a su-
perficial sort. But satan entered into the heart of one, and
filled the heart of another of them with a lie, and the heart
of the third was not right in the sight of God, and therefore
he had no part or lot in Christ, but was still in the gall of
bitterness, and bond of iniquity ; and all because Christ was
not heartily entertained; Acts v. 3. viii. 22, 23. It is in
the heart that the word must have its rooting, or else it will
wither in time of trial. It is seeking with the whole heart
that is the evidence of the blessed ; Psal. cxix. 2. And it
is a feigned turning when men turn not to God with the
whole heart ; Jer. iii. 10. This is God's promise concerning
his elect, " I will give them a heart to know me that I am
the Lord, and they shall be my people, and I will be their
God : for they shall return unto me with their whole heart ;"
Jer. xxiv. 7. See then that the heart be unfeignedly deli-
vered up to Christ: for if Christ have it not, the flesh, the
world, and the devil will have it. Your hearts must be a
dwelling for one of these masters, choose you whether.
It is the damnation of the most professed Christians, that
they have nothing for Christ but a good opinion, or a few
good words, or outside services, or some slight religiousness
on the bye, when the flesh and the world go away with their
hearts, and yet they will not know it, or confess it. Christ
will not be an underling or servant to your flesh. Your
hearts he hath bought, and your hearts he will have, or you
are none of his. If he shall have nothing from you but a
name, you shall have nothing but the name of his purchased
salvation.
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 137
in. The last part of the Direction yet remains, viz. that
you must close with Christ entirely, as well as understand-
ing^ and heartily. It is whole Christ that must be re-
ceived with the whole heart.
For the understanding of this, it must be known, both
how and why Christ is offered to us.
As he came into the world to destroy the works of the
devil ; (1 Johniii. 8.) and to seek and save that which was
lost ; (Luke xix. 19.) and by his mediation to reconcile us
to God, and bring us up to glory ; so two things were to be
done, for the accomplishment of this : first he was himself
to merit our salvation, and pay the price of our redemption
on the cross, and in his own person to conquer the world,
the devil, and death, and the grave : and then he was by
his intercession in the heavens to make application of this,
and bestow the benefits thus purchased by him. And be-
cause it was he, and not we, that made the purchase, it there-
fore pleased the Father that the purchased treasure should
be put into his hands, and not immediately put into ours.
He is become our treasury, and authorised to be our Head :
all power is given him in heaven and earth. We have so
foully miscarried already, that he will no more trust his ho-
nour in our hands, as at first he did. We shall have nothing
of pardon, or grace, or glory, but what we have in and from
the Son. " God hath given us eternal life, and this life is
in his Son : he that hath the Son hath life ; and he that hath
not the Son hath not life;" 1 John v. 12. It is not only
the nature and person of Christ that is to be believed in;
but it is the person as impowered to certain ends, and clothed
with his office that we must now entertain. Now the office
of Christ being for our salvation, and the glory of God, is
suited to these happy ends.
And our necessities are principally in these three points.
1. We have the guilt of sin upon us to be pardoned, and the
wrath of God, and curse of the law, and the punishment of
sin to be removed. 2. We have the corruption of our na-
ture to be healed ; the power of sin to be destroyed ; the
image of God repaired on us, and our hearts and lives to be
acted and ordered according to the will of God ; and to
these ends, temptations to be conquered, and our souls di-
rected, strengthened, and preserved to the end. 3. We must
be raised from the grave at the last day ; we must be justi-
138 DIRECTIONS* TO PREVENT
fied in judgment, and possessed of that glory which is the
end of our faith. To this, justification, sanctification, and
glorification may the rest be reduced.
Now the office of Christ is suited to these necessities of
ours ; and as we cannot possibly be saved unless all these
necessities be supplied, and these works done for us : so we
cannot possibly have these things done but by accepting of
Christ, as authorised and impowered, by his office and per-
fections, to do them.
The glory that God will have by this work, I have before
expressed to you at large. He will have his justice, and wis-
dom, and power, and holiness, and mercy to be demonstrated
and honoured by Christ. And therefore Christ hath resolved
to give out none of his benefits, but in such manner and
ways as may best attain these highest ends.
These several points therefore I must entreat you here to
note distinctly. 1. That you must be brought into a special
relation to the person of Christ, as clothed with his office,
before you can lay claim to his saving benefits. He is the
Head, and you must become his spouse ; and so of the rest.
This is called our uniting to Christ, which must go before
our further communion with him. It is the will of God, that
you shall never receive his benefits before you receive his
Son ; (except only those benefits which go before your
union with Christ himself, in order to the accomplishing it ;
as the Gospel, the gift of faith to the elect, &c.) . You shall
never have actual pardon, justification, adoption, sanctifi-
cation, or glory, till you have first saving interest in Christ
himself. He is the vine, and we are the branches : we must
be planted into him, and live in him, or else we can have no-
thing further from God, nor do any thing acceptable to God.
And therefore the first and great work of faith is to receive
and close with the person of Christ, as clothed with his
office.
2. Understand and note, that as you shall not have his
great benefits before, or without his person ; so God hath
resolved, that you shall not have his special benefits, unless
you will take them all together : (I speak of men at age,
that are capable of all.) You shall not have pardon and jus-
tification, or glory, without sanctification ; nor the comforts
of Christ without the guidance and government of Christ.
You must have all or none.
• MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 139
3. From hence it follows, that therefore you must receive
and close with Christ entirely, in his whole office, as he is
to accomplish all these works, or else you cannot be united
to him. He will not be divided : you shall not have Christ
as a justifier of you, if you will not have him as a guide, and
ruler, and sanctifier of you. He will not be a partial Saviour :
if you will not consent that he shall save you from your sins,
he will not consent to save you from hell.
4. Understand, and note that Christ will look to his Fa-
ther's interest and honour, and his own, as well as to your
salvation ; yea, and before it. And therefore you must not
hope for any mercy from him, in any way that is dishonour-
able to him, or that is inconsistent with his own blessed ends
and interest. And therefore do not look for any such grace
from him as shall discharge you from your duty, or give
you liberty to dishonour or disobey him; nor do not think
that you shall have him related to you only for your own
ends, but on terms of highest honour to God and your Re-
deemer. And do not think that your grace is ever the less
free, because God's honour is thus preferred : for if you are
Christians indeed, you will take God's interest, as your own
highest interest, and will confess, that you could not have
your own ends and welfare any other way.
5. Understand and note also, that as all your mercies are
in the hand of Christ, so Christ hath appointed in his Gos-
pel a certain way and course of means, in which he will
bestow it : and you cannot expect it from him, in any other
way but his own. As God hath made Christ the way, and
no man cometh unto the Father but by him, so Christ hath
ordained a standing course of means, which are his way for
the making over of his benefits ; and here you must have
them or go without them.
6. Understand and note, that there are some of Christ's
ends and benefits, that the very natural man desires, and
some that corrupted nature is against. Now it is therefore
the established way of Christ to promise us those which we
can desire, on condition that we will also accept of, and sub-
mit to, those that we are against. Not but that his grace
doth dispose men to the performance of such conditions ;
but his grace worketh by means : and a conditional promise
is his established means to draw men's hearts to the perfor-
mance of the condition (which well considered, is a sufficient
140 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
answer to the arguments that are commonly urged against
the conditionality of the promise). As the Spirit doth
powerfully work within ; so he useth that word from with-
out, as his instrument, which worketh sapientially and
powerfully to the same work. If a physician have two me-
dicines to give his patient, as necessary for his cure, the one
very sweet, and the other bitter ; the one which he loves,
and the other which he loathes, he will promise him the
sweeter, if he will take the bitter one ; that by the love of
one, he may prevail against the loathing of the other, and
may entice it down. He will not promise the bitter one
which is loathed, and make the taking of the sweet one the
condition : he will not say, ' I will give thee this aloes, on
condition thou wilt take this sugar ;' but contrary, ' I will
give thee the sweeter, if thou wilt take the bitter.'
In Christ's ends, and works, 1. We naturally are more
willing of that which makes for ourselves directly, than of
that which makes directly for the honour of God and the
Redeemer. We prefer our own ends before God's glory.
And, therefore, Christ hath so ordered the condition of his
promises, that unless we will take him in his relations of
dignity as King and Lord, and will make the glory and pleas-
ing of God our principal end, we shall have none of him, or
his saving benefits. For he came not to fulfil our selfish
desires, but to fetch us off from ourselves, and recover us to
God, that he might have his own. And if we will not have
our all in God, we shall have nothing. 2. And naturally we
are willing, as to our own benefits, to be pardoned, and freed
from the curse of the law, and the flames of hell, and natu-
ral death, and punishment. And, therefore, we are thus far
naturally willing of free justification ; but we are unwilling
to let go the seeming profit, and credit, and pleasure of sin,
and to deny the flesh, and forsake the world ; and we are
averse to the spiritual felicity of the saints, and to the holi-
ness of heart, and life, that is the way to it. And, there-
fore, Christ hath most wisely so ordered it, in the tenor of
his promises, that our repentance and faith shall be the con-
dition of our justification and deliverance from death and
hell. And this faith is the believing in him, and accepting
him entirely in his whole office, to sanctify us, and rule us,
as well as to j ustify us. And thus we must take him wholly,
or we shall have none of him. And the accepting him as
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 141
our teacher, and sanctifier, and king, is as much (at least the
condition of our justification, and pardon, and deliverance
from hell) as the accepting him as a justifier of us is. He
that had the power in his own hands, and that made the free
promise, or deed of gift, hath put in such conditions, as his
own wisdom saw best ; and they are such as suit most con-
gruously to all his ends ; even the glory of God, in all his
attributes, and the Redeemer's glory, and our own, and most
full and free salvation. And on his conditions must we
have his benefits, or we shall never have them.
7. Lastly, understand and note, that the means which
Christ hath resolved on for teaching and ruling us, ordina-
rily, are his word, his ministers, and his Spirit ; all must be
submitted to together, where they may be had, and none of
them laid by, by separation. His word is the grammar, or
book, as it were, that we must learn. His ministers must
teach us this book ; and his Spirit (who, in the apostles and
prophets, indited and sealed it) must inwardly teach us, by
powerful illumination. The word is God's laws. The mi-
nisters are his ambassadors, or heralds to proclaim them, and
command obedience in his name ; and his Spirit must open
men's hearts to entertain them. The word is God's seed ;
the ministers are the husbandmen, or servants that sow it ;
and the Spirit must give the increase, without which, our
planting, and watering will do nothing. He, therefore, that
takes Christ for his master and king, must resolve to be
taught and ruled by his established means, even by his word
and ministers, and Spirit conjunct. For he that refuseth
and despiseth these, doth refuse and despise Christ ; and
consequently the Father that sent him ; Luke x. 16. 1 Thess.
iv. 8. For it was never the meaning of Christ, when he be-
came the Teacher and King of the church, to stay on earth,
and personally, and visibly to teach them himself; but these
three are his means, which all must submit to, that will be
his subjects and disciples. And he that despiseth the word,
shall be destroyed : Prov. xiii. 13. He that will not have
the word, ministry, and Spirit teach him, will not have Christ
teach him. And he that refuseth to be ruled by these three,
shall be destroyed as a rebel against Christ himself; Luke
xix. 27. Still it is supposed that ministers must teach and
rule, according to this word.
And the society in which Christ will teach and govern
142 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
us, is his church. As members, therefore, of the universal
church, and in communion with his particular church where
we live and have opportunity, we must wait on Christ for
his teaching and benefits. For this is his school, where his
disciples must diligently attend and learn.
Lay all this together, and this is the sum. The object of
justifying, saving faith, is one only undivided Christ, one in
person but of two natures, God and man ; in office the Me-
diator between God and man, who hath already done the
work of satisfaction, and merit, and is authorized further to
bestow the benefits. By the Gospel grant he hath given
himself as Head and Husband, Teacher, King, and Saviour,
to all that will entirely and heartily accept him ; and with
himself he giveth justification by the promise ; sanctification
by the word, ministry, and Spirit ; and final absolution, and
everlasting life. If ever then you will have Christ, and life,
you must accept him in all these essentials of his person, and
offices, and that to the ends which his redemption was in-
tended for. You must be willing to be sanctified by him,
as well as to be justified. You must at once unfeignedly
become his disciples, his subjects, his members, if you would
become his saved ones. You must consent, that as your
Teacher, and your Lord, he shall teach and rule your heart,
and life, by his word, ministers, and Spirit, in communion
with his church. No bar or exception must be put in, nor
reservation made against any one of these parts of his office.
If you yield not to these parts of his saving work, that tend
but to the completive growth, you sin, and deprive your-
selves of the benefit ; but if you yield not to those that must
make you truly sanctified, and justified men, you cannot be
saved. The essentials of Christ's person, and office, do con-
stitute him the Christ, and if he be not received in all those
essentials, he is not received as Christ.
And thus I have given you the sum of the Gospel, and
the description of faith, and true Christianity in this Direc-
tion for a right closing with the Lord Jesus Christ. And
experience of most that I discourse with, persuades me to
think this Direction of great necessity, and to entreat you
thoroughly to peruse and consider it. I find abundance of
ignorant people, that talk much of Christ, but know very
little of him ; that can scarce tell us whether he be God or
man, or which person in the Trinity he is, nor to what end
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 143
he was incarnated, and died, nor what relation he stands in
to us, or what use he is of, or what he now is, or what he is
engaged to do for us. But if we ask them about their hopes
of salvation, they almost overlook the redemption by Christ,
and tell us of nothing but God's mercies, and their own good
meanings and endeavours. And I am afraid too many pro-
fessors of piety, (do look) almost all, at the natural part of
religion, and the meaning of their own hearts, and lives,
(and I would this were better done) while they forget the
supernatural parts, and little are affected with the infinite
love of God in Christ. I desire such to consider these
things : 1. You overlook the sum of your religion, which
is Christ crucified, besides whom Paul desired to know no-
thing. 2. You overlook the fountain of your own life, and
the author of your supplies ; and yon strive in vain for sanc-
tification, or justification, if you seek them not from a cru-
cified Christ. 3. You leave undone the principal part of
your work, and live like moral heathens, while you have the
name of Christians. Your daily work is to study God in
the face of his Son ; and to labour with all saints to com-
prehend the height, and breadth, and length, and depth, and
to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge ; Eph.
iii. 18, 19. All your graces should be daily quickened, and
set a work by the light of faith, in the contemplation of the
Redeemer, and his blessed work. This is the weight that
must set all the wheels a going. You do God no service,
that he can accept, if you serve him not in this Gospel work,
of loving, trusting, and admiring, and praising him in the
Redeemer, and for his redemption. 4. And so you rob God
of the principal part of his glory, which you are to give
him ; which is for his most glorious work of our redemp-
tion. I pray you read over again the ends of this work,
which I laid down in the beginning of this Direction. 5.
Moreover, you rob yourselves of your principal comfort,
which must all come in by living upon Christ. 6. And you
harden the Antinomians and Libertines, and tempt men to
their extremes, that run from us as Legalists, and as men
that savour not the doctrine of free grace, and are not of a
Gospel spirit and conversation. 1 would our great neglect of
Christ had not been a snare to these mistaken souls, and a
stumbling-block in their way.
O sirs, if a thought of your hearts, if a word of your
144 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
mouths have not some relation to Christ, suspect it, yea,
reject it. Call it not a sermon or a prayer, nor a duty, that
hath nothing of Christ in it. Though the pure Godhead be
your principal end, yet there is no way to this end but by
Christ; and though love, which is exercised on that end,
must animate all your graces and duties, as they are means
to that end, yet faith hath love in it, or else it is not the
Christian faith; and Christ is the object of your faith and
love ; and your perfect, everlasting love will be animated by
Christ. For your love and praise will be to him that was
slain, and redeemed us to God by his blood, out of every
kindred, tongue, and nation, and made us kings and priests
to God. So much for the fifth Direction.
Direct. VI. The next direction which I would give you
for a thorough conversion, is this : ' See that the flesh be
thoroughly mortified, and your hearts be thoroughly taken
off the world, and all its pleasures, and profits, and honours,
and that the root of your fleshly interest prevail not at the
heart, and that you think not of reconciling God and the
world, as if you might secure your interest in both.'
This is a very common cause of the deceit and destruc-
tion of such as verily think they are converted. It is the
very nature and business of true conversion, to turn men's
hearts from the flesh, and from the world to God, and from
an earthly and seeming happiness, to a heavenly, real, ever-
lasting happiness. And when men are affrighted into some
kind of religiousness, and yet never learnt toldeny^themselves,
and never mortified their fleshly mind, but the love of this
world is still the chiefest principle at their hearts ; and so
go on in profession of godliness, with a secret reserve that
they will look as well as they can to their outward prospe-
rity, whatever become of their religion ; and they will have
no more to do with the matters of another world, than may
stand with their bodily safety in this world ; these are the
miserable, deluded hypocrites, whose hopes will prove as
the giving up of the ghost; whom Christ will disown in
their greatest extremities, after all their seeming religious-
ness. O sirs, look to this as ever you would be happy. It
is an easy, it is a common, it is a most dangerous thing, to
set upon a course of outward piety, and yet keep the world
next your hearts, and take it still as a great part of your fe-
licity, and secretly to love your former lusts, while you seem
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 145
to be converted. The heart is so deceitful, that you have great
cause to watch it narrowly in this point : it will closely cherish
the love of the world, and your fleshly pleasures, when it
seems to renounce them, and when your tongue can speak
contemptuously of them. It was not for nothing Christ
would have the firstfruits of his Gospel church, (who were
to be the example of their successors,) to sell all, and lay it
down at the feet of his apostles : and it is his standing rule,
that whoever he be that forsaketh not all that he hath, he
cannot be his disciple ; Lukexiv.33. In estimation, affec-
tion, and resolution, it must be forsaken by all that will be
saved ; and also in practice, whenever God calls us to it.
You can have but one happiness ; if you will needs have it
in this world, in the contenting of your flesh, there is no
hope of having it also in another world, in the fruition of
God. If you think not God and heaven enough for you,
and cannot let go the prosperity of the flesh for them, you
must let go all your hopes of them. God will not halve it
with the world in your hearts, nor part stakes with the flesh ;
much less will he be below them, and take their leavings.
Heaven will not be theirs, that set not by it more than earth.
God will not call that love to him sincere, which is not a
superlative love, and able to make you even to hate all those
things that would draw away your affections and obedience
from him ; Luke xiv. 26, 27. There is no talk of serving
God and mammon, and compounding you a happiness of
earth and heaven. Do therefore as Christ bids you, Luke
xiv. 28— 30.
Sit down and count what it must cost you, if you will
be saved, and on what rates it is that you must follow Christ.
Can you voluntarily, for the love of him, and the hope of
glory take up your cross, and follow him in poverty, in los-
ses, in reproaches, through scorns, and scourgings, and pri-
sons, and death ? Do you value his loving-kindness better
than life ? Psal. lxiii. 3. Can you deny your eyes and ap-
petites their desire ? Can you consent to be vile in the eyes
of men, and to tame your own flesh, and keep it in subjec-
tion, and live a flesh-displeasing life, that having suffered
with Christ, you may also be glorified with him? Rom. viii.
17. If you cannot consent to these terms, you cannot be
Christians, and you cannot be saved. If you must need*
vol.. VIII. L
146 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
be rich, or must be honourable, yea, if you must needs save
your estates, or liberties, or lives, it is past all question, you
must needs let go Christ and glory ; if you must needs have
the world, you must needs lose your souls. If you must
have your good things here, you must not have them here-
after too, but be tormented, when Christ's sufferers are com-
forted ; Luke xvi. 25. These hopes of purveying for the
flesh, as long as they can, and then of being saved, when
they can stay here no longer, are they that have deceived
many a thousand to their undoing. It is a strange thing to
see how the world doth blind very knowing men, and how
unacquainted these hypocrites are with their own hearts.
What a confident profession of downright godliness many
of them will make ; yea, of some extraordinary height in re-
ligion, when nothing is so dear to them as their present pros-
perity, and God hath not near so much interest in them as the
flesh ? What contrivances some of them make for riches, or
rising in the world 1 And how tender others are of their ho-
nour with men ; and how tenacious they are of their mam-
mon of unrighteousness ; and how much money and great
men can do with them. And most of them pamper their
flesh, and serve it in a cleanlier way of religiousness, even
as much, though not so disgracefully and grossly as drun-
kards and whoremongers do in a more discernible sensuality.
If the times do but change and countenance any error, how
small an argument will make their judgments bend with the
times. If truth and duty must cost them dear, O how they
will shift, and stretch, and wriggle, to prove truth to be no
truth, and duty to be no duty ; and no argument is strong
enough to satisfy them, when the flesh doth but say, ' It is
bitter, it is dangerous, it may be my undoing.'
It is none of my meaning, that any should needlessly run
into suffering.or cross their governors and themselves, through
a spirit of pride, singularity, and contradiction ; but that men
should think themselves truly religious, that keep such re-
serves for their fleshly interest, and shew by the very drift of
their lives, that they are worldlings, and never felt what it was
to be crucified to the world, and deny themselves, but are reli-
gious on this supposition only, that it may stand with worldly
ends, or at least not undo them in the world; this is a la-
mentable hypocritical self-deceit. When God hath so plain-
ly said, " Love not the world, nor the things that are in the
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 147
world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is
not in him;" 1 John ii. 15. Nay, that the neighbourhood,
and all the country that know them should ring of the world-
liness of some, that think themselves good Christians ; and
yet they will not see themselves. What a cheating, blind-
ing thing is the world !
Well, sirs, if you will be Christians, count what it must
cost you ; and if you will be heirs of heaven, away with the
world ; cast it out of your hearts : and if your hands must
yet trade in it, yet trade not for it ; use it for God, but en*
joy it not for itself. Take yourselves as strangers here; and
look on the world as a desolate wilderness*, through which,
in the communion of the militant saints, you may safely tra-
vel on to heaven ; but do not make it your home, nor take
it for the smallest part of your felicity. To be sanctified
without mortification, is a palpable contradiction. Be at a
point with all things below, if you will groundedly hope for
the heavenly inheritance. But I shall purposely forbear to
enlarge this any further, because I have preached and writ-
ten a treatise on this subject, which I desire you to peruse.
Direct. VII. My next Direction is this : 'If you would
be truly converted, be sure that you make an absolute resig-
nation of yourselves, and all that you have to God.'
This is the very form and life of sanctification. To be
sanctified, is to be separated in heart, life, and profession,
from all other masters and ends, to God. When the heart
that was set upon the world and flesh, is separated from
them, and inclined to God by the power of love, and devoted
to him, to serve and please him ; this is indeed a sanctified
heart. And when the life that before was spent in the ser-
vice of satan, the world, and the flesh, is now taken off them,
and spent, as to the drift and course of it, in the service of
God, for the pleasing and glorifying of him, from the im-
pulse of love, this is indeed a holy life. And herein con-
sisteth the very nature of our sanctity. And when a man
doth but profess to renounce the devil, the world, and the
flesh, and to give up his heart and life unto God, this is a
profession of holiness. God is both on the title of creation
preservation, and redemption, our absolute Lord or Owner,
and we are not our own, but his ; and therefore we must give
to God the things that are God's, and glorify him in ouv
souls and bodies, which are his ; 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. As we
148 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
are his own, so he will have his own, and be served by his
own. Do not imagine that you have any title to yourselves,
or propriety in yourselves ; but without any more ado, make
a full, unreserved, absolute resignation of yourselves, of
your understandings, and of your wills, of your bodies, and
of your names, and of every pennyworth of your estates, to
God, for whom and from whom you have them. Think not
that you have power to dispose of yourselves, or of any thing
that you have. Ask not flesh and blood, what life you shall
lead, or what mind or will, you shall be of? But ask God,
to whom you do belong. Ask not your carnal selves, what
you shall do with any of your estates, but ask God, and then
ask conscience, Which is the way that God would have me
use it in, that is, which way may I use it to be most service-
able to God ? and that resolve upon. No service that you
do to God will prove you sanctified, unless you have hear-
tily and absolutely given up and devoted yourselves to him ;
and he that gives up himself, must needs give up all that he
hath with himself. For he cannot keep it for himself (ulti-
mately), when even himself is given up to God. Though
you be not bound to give all that you have to the poor, nor
all to the church, nor to deny your own bodies or families
their due supplies, yet must it all be given up to God, even
that which you make use of for yourselves and families : for
as you are given up to God yourselves, so you must feed
yourselves as his, and clothe yourselves and your families as
his, to fit yourselves and them for his service, and not as
your own, for the satisfying of your flesh. Thus it is that
all comes to be pure to the pure, sanctified to them that are
themselves first sanctified ; because when you feed yourself,
you do but feed a servant of God, that is consecrated to him,
and separated from things common and unclean. And even
as the tithes and offerings, that were given for the food and
maintenance of the priests and Levites, were called the Lord's
portion, and holy to the Lord, because they were their por-
tion, that were separated to his altar ; even so that which is
necessary to fit you for God's service, while you use it to
that very end, is sanctified in your sanctification, and is
holy to God ; for all his saints are a holy nation, a royal
priesthood, to offer up acceptable sacrifice to him. And
thus, " whether you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, you
must do all to the glory of God;" ICor. x.31. " For of him,
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. I 4fJ
and through him, and to him are all things, and therefore
to him must be the glory for ever ;" Rom. xi.36. God who
is the end of your hearts and lives must be the end of every
action of them, unless you will step out of the way of order,
and safety, and holiness. For every action that is not from
God, and by God, and for God, is contrary to the nature of
true sanctification. If then you would be Christians indeed
be heartily willing that God should have his own. Under-
stand what an excellent honour, and privilege, and happiness
it is to you to be his. If his right to you will not move you
let your own necessity and benefit at least move you to give
up yourselves and all that you have to God. Bring your
hearts to the bar, and plead the cause of God with them,
and convince them of God's title to them, and how sinfully
they have robbed him of his own all this while. Have your
days and hours, your wealth and interest, been used pur-
posely for God as his own ? O what abundance be there,
that in word and confident profession, do give themselves
up, and all to God, and yet the use of themselves and all, do
plainly shew that it is no such matter ; but they dissembled
with God, and yet never knew so much by themselves. How
little do they use for God, when they have with seeming de-
votion resigned all to him ? If a lord, or knight, or gentle-
man of £4,000 or £3,000 a year, or £400, or £300, were to
shew the accounts of all his expenses, how much of all this
should you find expended for God, when they have acknow-
ledged that all is his ? One would think by their lives, that
they look to be saved by robbing God, and confessing the
robbery, by saying that all is God's, while they allow him
next to nothing.
The devoted, resigned, sanctified soul hath the true prin-
ciple of all obedience, and that which will do much to repel
all temptations, and carry him through the greatest straits
and trials. If I am not my own, I need not be over solici-
tous for myself, but may expect that he that owneth me
should care for me : nor do 1 need to use any sinful shifts
for my own preservation. If I have nothing of my own,
what need I to sin for the saving of any thing? What need
I to venture upon unwarrantable means, to preserve either
credit, or goods, or life ? It is self, and own, that are the
roots of all sin, the heart of the old man, and the seed of
hell : nothing else is pleaded against God and our salvation.
150 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
If the flesh would have you abuse God's creatures, you must
remember they are not your own. If the devil would entice
you to sin against God, either for the getting or keeping of
any creature, it would easily repel the temptation, were you
but rightly sensible that nothing is your own : for God hath
no need that you should sin to get riches or honours for
him. If you are called to let go your houses, or lands, or
friends, or lives, or to deliver up your bodies to the flames,
did you but rightly take them as none of your own, how
easy would it be ! You can be content that another man
give his goods, or life itself to God, whenever God requireth
it ; but your own, you cannot be content to part with, and
that because it is your own. But if you had rightly resign-
ed all to God, and took not yourselves or any thing for your
own, but looked upon yourselves and all as God's, the
greatest works of obedience or suffering, would be much
more easy to you ; and you would have little difficulty or
hindrance in your way. Self-denial is butsanctification it-
self, denominated from the wrong end and principle, which we
forsake. And where self is denied and dead, what is there left
to draw us from God, or stand up against him, in any part of
our lives? So much interest as self hath in you, so much
the world and the devil have in you. And nothing is more
proper to a miserable hypocrite, than deep reserves of life,
or worldly things to themselves, while they seem to give up
all to God.
O happy soul, that is wrought to this sincerity by the
Spirit of grace, to say unfeignedly, ' O Lord, I devote and
resign myself wholly unto thee ; I am not my own, nor desire
any further to be, than to be thine : I have nothing that is
my own, nor desire to have any thing that shall not be thine.'
Happy and truly wise is that man, that keeps as constant
and faithful a reckoning, how he lays out himself and all
that he hath for God, as a faithful steward doth of his re-
ceivings and layings out for his master's use. Every penny
that is reserved from God, is the fuel of sin, and a sacrifice
to the devil and the flesh ; and if it be pardoned to the truly
penitent, by the sacrifice of Christ, that is no thanks to us
that would else have made it the fuel of hell. God is not
so careless of us or his mercies, but that he keeps an exact
account of all that we have from him, and will require an
account of our improvement of all : not only requiring his
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 151
own again, but his own with advantage; Matt. xxv.27.
Why else did he give us such leisure and ability to approve
it ? I can never forget what a sinful thought was once in
my mind, which I will venture to confess, because it may
possibly be the case of others, that so they may beware.
Hearing of some that used to lay by the tenth part of their
yearly comings in, for charitable uses, I purposed to do so
too, and thought it a fair proportion : but since I have per-
ceived what a vile and wicked thought that was, to offer to
cut out a scantling for God, or give him a limited share of
his own, or say that so much he shall have, and no more.
Though we cannot say that God must have all in any one
kind of service only ; either only for the church, or only for
the poor, or only for public uses ; yet must we resolve, that
in one way or other he must have all ; and the particular
portions to the poor, or church, or other uses, must be as-
signed by truly sanctified prudence, considering which way
it may be most serviceable to God. I must relieve my own
family, or kindred, if they want, but not because they are
my own, but because God hath commanded me, and so hath
made it a part of my obedience. But if I see where I may do
more service to God by relieving a stranger, and that God
doth more require it, I must yet prefer them before all the
kindred that I have in the world. When the Christian
pattern was set up by the primitive church, Acts ii.
iv. they sold all, and laid down the whole price at the
apostles' feet, which was not distributed to their natu-
ral kindred only, but to all the poor Christians that had
no other relation to them, even as every one had need.
And as it is the loving of our spiritual brethren in Christ,
that is made the sign of our translation from death to life,
so is it the relieving of Christ in these his members, that is,
the relieving them, because they are his members, that is
made the very matter of our cause in the last judgment, and
the ground of the sentence of life or death ; Matt. xxv. I
must provide for my own body, and you must provide for
your children, but that is (as I said before) not as I am my
own, nor as your children are your own ; but as I am a ser-
vant of Christ, that must be supported in his service, or as
yourselves and yours are put under your care and duty by
God. So that I may give it to myself or others, when I can
truly say, I do but use it principally for God, and think that
152 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
the principal service I can do him by it ; but I may neither
take to myself, nor give to any that are nearest to me, any
more than God commandeth, or his service doth require.
When you and yours have your daily bread, (which also
must be used for him) you must not go to flesh and blood,
but to God, to ask which way you shall dispose of the re-
mainder. This is a strange doctrine to the unsanctified
world, but that is because they are unsanctified. And it is
a doctrine that a worldly hypocrite is loath to believe and
understand ; but that is because of carnality and hypocrisy,
that always deals with God like Ananias and Saphira, lying
to the Holy Ghost, and giving God but half (and few so
much as half) when they daily confess that all is from him,
and should be his, and pretend to be wholly devoted to him.
There are few men so bad, but will spare God something ra-
ther than go to hell : but indeed this is not to devote it to
God, but to use it for themselves, thinking by their sacri-
fices to stop the mouth of justice, and to please God by a
part, when they have displeased him in the rest. I much
fear (and not without apparent cause) that abundance among
us, that think themselves Christians, do worship and serve
God, but as some Indians are said to offer sacrifice to the
devil, not for any love they have to him or his service, but
for fear he should hurt them. And there are few hypocrites
but will pretend it is from very love.
O sirs, it is a greater matter to resign and give up your-
selves and all you have to God, and heartily to quit all claim
to yourselves, and all things, than many a thousand self-
deluded professors do imagine. Many look at this but as
some high, extraordinary strain of piety. And the Papists
almost appropriate it to a few that live in monastical orders,
when indeed the sincerity of the resignation and dedication,
is the very sincerity of sanctification itself.
And let me tell you, that the unfeigned convert that at-
tains to this hath not only plucked up the root of sin,
(though all of us have too many strings of it left,) not only
stopped up the spring of temptation, and got the surest
evidence of his uprightness, but also is got himself into the
safest and most comfortable state. For when he hath ab-
solutely resigned himself and all to God, how confidently
may he expect that God should accept him, and use him as
his own 1 and how comfortably may he commit himself and
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 153
his cause, and all good affairs to God, as knowing that God
cannot be negligent and careless of his own ? It is an ar-
gument that may make us confident of success, when we can
say as David, (Psal. cxix. 94.) " I am thine, save me." Isa.
lxiii. 19. Even Christ himself doth ingratiate his elect with
the Father on this account, (John xvii. 6. 9, 10.) " Thine
they were, and thou gavest them me : I pray for them : I
pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given
me : for they are thine : and all mine are thine, and thine
are mine, and I am glorified in them." And indeed by re-
signing all to God, it is the more our own ; that is, we have
unspeakably more of the benefit of it, and so there is no
way to make it our own, but by quitting it absolutely up to
God. This is the mystery that the world will not learn, but
God will teach it all that shall be saved by the Spirit, and
by faith; Matt.xvi.24 — 26. " Then Jesus said to his dis-
ciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross, and follow me : for whosoever will
save his life shall lose it : and whosoever will lose his life
for my sake shall find it." Methinks, a man that hath time,
and strength, and money, should long to be disbursing all
for God,that he might put it in the surest hands, and it may
be out of danger : yea, that it may be set to the most ho-
nest and profitable usury. For when God hath it from the
dedication of an upright heart, it is sure : but till God have
it, it' is in hazard, and all that he hath not is lost, and worse
than lost. When it is in our hands, thieves may steal it,
bad servants or unadvised children may consume it, and our
own thievish flesh may steal it, which is worst of all, and
consume it on our lusts : or if our children consume it not,
their children may : or if they save it, they may lose it most
of all by feeding their pride and fleshly minds by it ; but if
once it be in God's hands, it is safe. You can make no
comfortable account of one penny, nor of one hour's time,
unless you can tell God that he had it himself, that you
used it for him, or that you live to him in the main, and that
the rest is pardoned. O that those parents understood this
doctrine, that had rather strengthen the fetters and tempta-
tions of their children with it, and help them into that state
which few are saved in, than to devote and use their estates
for God ! Though Christ hath told them how hardly the
rich are saved, and how few such come to heaven, yet what
154 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
care is taken to leave their children rich, and how little to
further the work of God, or their own accounts, that they
may hear the " Well done, good and faithful servant, thou
hast been faithful over a few things ; I will make thee ruler
over many things ; enter thou into the joy of the Lord ;"
Matt. xxv. 21. 23.
O sirs, if you would be good husbands, and provident
indeed for your souls, see that your hearts prove not false to
you in this, and make no secret reserves for yourselves, but
that God have yourselves first, and all things with your-
selves ; as Christ first gives himself to you and all things
with himself; Rom. viii.32. Never think your hearts right,
but when they can readily say, "We are not our own;"
1 Cor. vi. 19. Think not that you come aright to God in
any duty, if you do not heartily devote yourselves to him,
and entreat him to accept you as wholly his, who neither
are nor desire to be your own ; and entreat him accordingly
to use you for himself. Say not that any thing is your own
that you possess, (Acts iv. 32.) in respect to God, and a
communion of charity ; though it be your own (as a talent
that God doth intrust you with) in respect of men, by a legal
propriety.
And then trust God boldly, for you are his own : serve
him cheerfully, and draw near him believingly, for you are
his own. In poverty, sickness, temptations, and the ap-
proach of death, rejoice in him confidently, for you are his
own. Into his hands commend your departing spirits, for
they are his own. What reason of distrustful fears can you
now have ? Do you fear lest God will yet hate you ? Why
remember that " no man ever yet hated his own flesh ;"
Ephes. v. 29. Nay, for shame, think not the blessed God to
be worse than the wicked world ; and Christ saith of the
world, (John xv. 19.) " If ye were of the world, the world
would love his own." And will not God then love his own
do you think ? And if you are willing to be his own, Christ
is certainly willing that you should be his own, and will own
all that own not themselves, but him. " He calleth his own
sheep by name, and leadeth them out : and when he putteth
forth his own sheep he goeth before them and the sheep
follow him ; for they know his voice ;" (John x. 3, 4.
xiii. 1.) "Having loved his own which are in the world,
to the endhe loved them."
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 155
If you are but truly willing to be his own people, he is
certainly willing to be your own Saviour and your own
God. Not that you can have such a propriety in him, as
he hath in you. But in these relations he will be your own ;
and glory, and help, and salvation shall be yours. And you
may well conclude that " God, even our own God shall bless
us ;" Psal. lxvii. 6. There is much comfort may be fetched
from that in Luke xv. 31. though parables must not be
stretched too far : " Son thou art ever with me, and all that
I have is thine."
And upon this ground it is that we have the greater en-
couragement, to believe that God accepteth of our very in-
fants themselves ; because it is his will that they should be
devoted, engaged, and dedicated to him : and that which he
would have us dedicate and offer to him, he will surely ac-
cept in that relation to which he would have it offered.
I beseech you therefore remember what it is to be truly
converted : it is to be called from things common and un-
clean, and separated to God ; it is to be brought nigh to
him, as the children of his household, that are themselves,
and all that they have, in his hands : it is to be taken off
yourselves and your own, and to lose yourselves and all you
have Ua God, by the most gainful loss ; lest indeed you lose
yourselves and all, while you persuade yourselves you save
or gain. It is a taking God in Christ for your all, and so
being content to have nothing but him and for him. It is a
changing of your old master self, for God, a better master :
and your old work, which was self-seeking and pleasing, to
self-denial, and to the seeking and pleasing of God. See
now that this be done, and that your treacherous hearts hide
nothing for themselves, as Rachael under pretence of ne-
cessity, hid her idols, but say, ' Here I am, to be thine, O
Lord, and to do thy will.'
More I would have said on this point, but that I have
written of it already, in a sermon on 1 Cor. vi. 19,20. of the
absolute dominion of Christ, and our self-resignation ; which
I desire you here to peruse, to set this further home.
Direct. VIII. My next advice that the work of conver-
sion may not miscarry, is this ; ' Take heed, lest you mistake
a mere change of your opinions, and outward profession, and
behaviour, for a true saving change.'
Wicked opinions must be changed, and so must evil pro-
156 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
fessions, and outward practices ; but if no more be changed,
you are wicked still. I have great cause to fear that this is
the most common damning deceit, that useth to befal pro-
fessors of godliness, and that it is the case of most hypo-
crites in the church. A man may be brought to hold any
truth in Scripture as an opinion ; and so far be sound and
orthodox, and yet never be indeed a sound believer, nor
have his heart possessed with the life and power of those
sacred truths. It is one thing to have a man's opinion
changed, and another thing to have his heart renewed, by
the change of his practical estimation, resolutions, and dis-
positions. It is one thing to turn from loose, profane
opinions, to strict opinions ; and think the godly are indeed
in the right, and that their case and way is safest and best ;
and it is another thing to be made one of them in newness,
spirituality of heart, and life. A lively faith differs much
from opinion, and that which is in unsanctified men, which
we call faith, and is a kind of faith indeed, it is but a mere
opinionative faith : I call it an opinionative faith, because
it differs from saving faith, much like as opinion doth from
knowledge. Merely speculative it is not ; for some inten-
tion of practice there is ; but the practical intention of such
persons differs from the predominant intentions of the sane -
tified ; even as their opinionative faith differs from the
saving faith.
And it is no wonder if there be abundance of these opi-
nionative believers in the world. For the truths of God
have very great evidence ; especially some of them ; and
men are yet men, and consequently reasonable creatures;
and, therefore, have some aptitude to discern the evidence of
truth. Some truths will compel assent even from the un-
willing. Many a thousand ungodly men believe that to be
true which they would not have to be true, if they could
help it ; because they do not heartily take it to be good in
respect to themselves. Truth as truth, is the natural object
of the understanding ; though the same truth, as seeming-
evil to them, may be hated by them that are forced to assent
to it. I know that sin hath much blinded men's understand-
ings, and that the natural man receiveth not the things of
the Spirit, because they are foolishness to him, and must be
spiritually discerned ; 1 Cor. ii. 14. But though he cannot
savingly receive them without the special illumination of the
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 157
Spirit, nor opinionatively receive them without a common
illumination of the Spirit, yet he may have this opinionative
conviction and an answerable reformation, by the common
grace of the Spirit, without the special grace. An unsanc-
tifiedman may have something more than nature in him ; and
every unregenerateman is not merely, or only natural. Many
are far convinced, that are far from being savingly convert-
ed. I can make you know that you shall die ; that you must
part with all your wealth, and fleshly pleasures, and divers
such truths, whether you will or not. And one of these
truths doth let in many more that depend upon them. So
that as dark as the minds of natural men are, they yet lie
open to many wholesome truths.
And as the understanding is thus far open to conviction,
so the will itself, which is the heart of the old man, will far
sooner yield to the changing of your opinions than to the
saving change of heart, and life. It is not the bare opinion
that your fleshly interest doth fight against, but the power
and practice of godliness is it ; and opinions, as they lead
to these. It is one thing to be of opinion, that conversion
is necessary, that sin must be forsaken, and God preferred
before all the world ; and it is another thing to be indeed
converted, and to forsake sin, and to prefer God before the
world. It is a far easier matter to convince a worldling that
he should not love the world, than to cure him of his world-
ly love : and to convince a drunkard that he should leave his
drunkenness, and the whoremonger that he should abhor
his lusts, than to bring them to do these things, which they
are convinced of. It will cost them dear (as the flesh ac-
counts it) to deny themselves, and cast away the sin ; but
it costeth not so dear to take up the opinion that these
things should be done. It will cost them dear to be down-
right for God, and practically religious ; but they can take
up an opinion that godliness is the best and necessary course
at a cheaper rate. Strict practices pinch the flesh, but strict
opinions may stand with its liberty. O what abundance of
our poor neighbours would go to heaven, that are now in
the way to hell, if an opinion that godliness is the wisest
course, would serve the turn. If instead of conversion God
would take up with an opinion that they ought to turn j and
if, instead of a holy, heavenly life, God would accept of an
opinion, that such are the happiest men that live such a life •
158 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
and if, instead of temperance, and meekness, and self-denial,
and forgiving wrongs, God would accept of an opinion, and
confession, that they should be temperate and meek, and
self-denying, and should forbear others, and forgive them ;
then O what abundance would be saved, that are now in lit-
tle hope of salvation ! If instead of a diligent life of holi-
ness, and good works, it would serve turn to lie still, and
be of a good opinion, that men should strive, and labour for
salvation, and lay out all they have for God, how happy then
were our towns, and countries, in comparison of what they
are !
I am afraid this deceit will be the undoing of many, that
they take a change of their opinions for a true conversion.
Have not some of you been formerly of the mind, that the
best way is to eat and drink, and be merry, and venture your
souls, and follow your worldly business, and never trouble
yourselves with any deep and searching thoughts about
your spiritual state, or your salvation ? Have you not
thought that this diligent godliness is but a needless strict-
ness, and preciseness ? and have you not since been con-
vinced of your error, and perceived, that this is the wisest
course, which you before thought to be needless, and there-
upon have betaken you to the company of the godly, and
set upon a course of outward duties ? and now you thiuk
that you are made new creatures, and that this is regenera-
tion, and the work is done. I fear lest this be all the con-
version that many forward professors are acquainted with !
but woe to them that have no more.
And because the face of our present times, doth plainly
shew the commonness and prevalency of this disease, and
because it is a matter of so great concernment to you, I shall
here give you (but as briefly as I well can) some signs by
which a true conversion may be known from this mere opi-
nionative change.
1. The true convert is brought to an unfeigned hatred of
the whole body of sin ; and especially of those secret or
beloved sins, that did most powerfully captivate him before ;
ICor.vi. 11. Tit. hi. 3. 5. Col. v. 3. 5. 7, 8. But the opi-
nionative convert is still carnal, and unmortified, and in-
wardly at the heart, the interest of the flesh is habitually
predominant. He is not brought to an unreconcilable ha-
tred to the great master sins that ruled him, and lay deep-
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. J 59
est ; but only hath eased the top of his stomach, and cropt
off some of the branches of the tree of death. The thorns
of worldly desires and cares are still rooted in his heart ;
and, therefore, no wonder if they choak the seed of whole-
some truth, and there be a greater harvest for the devil than
for God ; Gal. v. 24. vi. 4. 8. Rom. viii. 5. Mat.xiii. 22.
2. Another sign that follows upon this, is, that the sound
convert doth carry on the course of his obedience, in a way
of self-denial, as living in a continual conflict with his own
flesh, and expecting his comfort and salvation to come in up-
on the conquest. And, therefore, he can suffer for Christ, as
well as be found in cheaper obedience, and he dare not, or-
dinarily, refuse the most costly service. For the spoils of
his fleshly desires are his prey, and crown of glorying in the
Lord ; Luke xiv. 27. 33. Gal. v. 17. 24. 1 Cor, ix. 27. Luke
ix.23,24. 2Cor.xii.9. Gal. vi. 14.
But the opinionative convert still liveth to his carnal-self.
And, therefore, secretly at least, seeks himself, and layeth
hold on present things, as the true convert layeth hold on
eternal life. The truths of God being received but into his
opinion, do not go deep enough to conquer self, and to take
down his great idol, nor make him go through fire and wa-
ter, and to serve God with the best, and honour him with
his substance much less with his sufferings and death. He
hath something that he cannot spare for God ; Matt. xiii. 21.
Luke xviii. 22—24.
3. The sound convert hath taken God for his portion,
and heaven for that sure and full felicity, which he is resolv-
ed to venture upon. That is it that he hath set his heart
and hopes upon, and thither tends the drift of his life ; Col.
iii. 1— 4. Matt. vi. 20, 21.
But he that is changed only in his opinions,had never such
sure apprehensions of the life to come ; nor so full a confi-
dence in the promises of God, as to set his heart unfeigned-
ly upon God, and make him truly heavenly-minded He
may have a heavenly tongue, but he hath an earthly heart.
A bare opinion, be it never so true, will not raise men's
hearts so high, as to make their affections, and the very de-
sign and business of their lives to be heavenly ; Phil. iii.
18—20. Rom. xvi. 17, 18. viii. 5.
4. The sound convert hath seen the vileness of himself,
in the sinfulness of his heart and life, and the misery there-
160 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
by deserved ; and so is a sincerely humbled self-accusing
man.
But the opinionist is commonly unhumbled, and well-
conceited of himself, and a self-justifying Pharisee ; unless
it be that self-accusing will cost him no disgrace, and he
take it up as a custom, or that which may bring him into the
repute of being humbled and sincere. For his opinion will
not search, and pierce his heart, nor batter down his self-
exalting thoughts, nor root up the master-sin of pride.
These are two great works for an opinionist to perform.
And, therefore, you shall hear him more in the excusing of
his sin, the magnifying of himself, or the stiff maintaining
of his own conceits, than in unfeigned self-abasing ; Rom.
xii. 16. ICor.i. 19, 20. iii. 18. 2 Cor. x. 12. Lukexvi. 15.
5. The sound convert is so acquainted with the defects, and
sins, and necessities of his own soul, that he is much taken
up at home, in his studies, and cares, and censures, and his
daily work. The acting and strengthening of grace, the sub-
duing of corruption, and his daily walk with God, are much
of his employments. Above all keeping, he keeps his heart,
as knowing that thence are the issues of life. He cannot
have while to spy out the faults of others, and meddle with
their affairs, where duty binds him not, as others can do ;
because he hath so much to do at home; Gal. vi. 3,4. Prov.
iv.23.
But the opinionist is most employed abroad, and about
mere notions, and opinions ; but he is little employed in
such heart-searching, or heart-observing work. His light
doth not pierce so deep as to shew him his heart, and the
work that is there to be necessarily done. As the change
is little upon his heart, so his employment is little there.
He is little in bewailing his secret defects and corruptions,
and little in keeping his soul's accounts ; and little in se-
cret striving with his heart to work it into communion with
God, and into a spiritual, lively, fruitful frame. He is for-
ward to aggravate others, and oft-times severe enough in
censuring them. But he is a very gentle censurer of him-
self, and a patient man with his own corruptions, and puts
the best construction upon all that is his own. He hath
much labour, perhaps, in shaping his opinions, but little for
the humbling and sanctifying his heart, by the power of the
truth.
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 161
6. And as the difference lieth thus constantly in the
heart, so it is usually manifested by the tongue ; Matt. xii.
34. The sound convert is most desirous to discourse of
those great and saving truths, which his very heart hath ta-
ken in, and which he hath found to be the seed of God for
his regeneration, and the instruments of that holy and happy
change, that is made upon him. He feeleth most favour and
life in these great and most necessary points, which formed
the image of God upon him. And upon these he daily feeds
and lives. Read John xvii. 3. 1 Cor. xv. 1 — 6. ii. 2. Phil.
iii.8— 11. ITim.iii. 16. Acts xvi.22,23. In these Scrip-
tures, you may find what points they were that the greatest
saints did study and live upon.
But the opinionist is most forward to discourse of mere
opinions, and to feed upon the air of notions, and controver-
sies of lesser moment. For one hour's holy, heavenly,experi-
mental, heart-searching discourse, that you shall have from
him, you shall have many and many hours' discourse of his
opinions. I mean it indifferently of all his opinions. I mean
it, I say, of all his opinions whether true or false. For
though falsehoods cannot be fit food for the soul, yet truths
as themselves, also may be made of little service to them.
A man may be a mere opinionist that hath true opinions, as
well as he that hath false. Almost all the free and zealous
discourses of these men, on matters of religion, is about their
several sides, and parties, and opinions. If they be set upon
a point, especially wherein they seem to themselves to be
wiser than others, they have a fire of zeal for it in their
breasts, that makes them desirous to be propagating it to
others. About the orders and ceremonies of the church ;
about the forms of prayer, and the accidents of worship ;
about infant baptism, or other such controversies in religion,
is the freest of their discourse.
Yea, you may perceive much of the difference, even in
the very manner of their conference. A serious Christian,
even when he is necessitated to speak of lower controvert-
ed points, yet doth it in a spiritual manner, as one that more
savoureth higher truths, and makes a holy and heavenly life
his end, even in these lower matters ; and deals about such
controversies in a practical manner, and in order to the
growth of holiness.
VOL. VIII. M
\&2 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
But the opinionists, even when they speak of the most
weighty truths, do speak of them but as opinions ; and when
they discourse of God, of Christ, of grace, of heaven, it is
but as they discourse of a point in philosophy, or little bet-
ter. They go not through the shell to the kernel ; they
look after the truth, but they have little relish of the good-
ness.
The like may be said of their reading, and hearing of
sermons. The sound convert feeleth life and spirit in that
which is little savoury to the opinionist. It is one thing in
a sermon or text, that is pleasing to a true Christian, and
another thing usually that is most pleasant to the opinion-
ist. The true Christian delighteth in, and feedeth on, the
inward life of spiritual doctrine, and the good which they of-
fer him ; that is, indeed, it is upon God, and Christ himself,
that he is feasting his soul in reading, and hearing. For this
is the soul of all, without which, letters and words are but a
carcase. But the superficial opinionist is much more taken
up, either with the history, or the elegancy of speech, or
with the rational light of the discourse, still sticking in the
bark, and savouring not Christ, and the Father in all. As
a man that reads the deeds, or lease of his own lands, de-
lights in one thing ; and a clerk that reads the same, or the
like, in a book of precedents, for his learning, delights in an-
other thing. So is it in this case.
7. And hence it follows, that they are several sorts of
duties, and exercises, usually, that these several sorts of
persons are most addicted to. The sound convert is most
addicted to those spiritual means, that tend most to the
strengthening of his faith, and warming his heart with the
love of God, and promoting holiness, and destroying sin ;
but tend to furnish him with speculative knowledge, and
discourse, and to satisfy his fancy, or curious mind. The
sound convert is much addicted to prayer, even in secret,
and to heavenly meditations, and gracious discourse. But
the opinionist is much more addicted to reading histories,
or controversies, or dogmatical divinity, or civil and politi-
cal matters. The sound convert savoureth best those
preachers, and books, that speak the most weighty, spiritual
truths, in the most weighty, spiritual manner, in power, and
demonstration of the Spirit. But the opinionist relisheth
those preachers, and books most, that either speak curious-
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 163
ly to please the ear, or exactly, and learnedly to please the
natural intellect, or that speak for the opinions, or party
that he is addicted to. But others he hath less mind of.
8. Moreover, the sound Christian layeth out most of his
zeal, affections, and endeavours, about the great essentials of
religion, and that, as I said, in a practical manner. But the
opinionist layeth out his zeal upon opinions. Right or
wrong it is but as opinions. Of these he makes his religion j
for these he contendeth. He loveth those best that are of
his own opinion, though there be nothing of the special
image of God upon his soul; or if he love a true Christian,
it is not so much for his holiness and spirituality, as because
he is of his mind in those matters of opinion. Hence it is
that he is usually a bitter censure.r of those that are not of
his opinion, how upright soever they may be ; his very es-
teem of men, and love to them is partial, and factious, to
those that are of his mind and sect. A Papist will esteem
and love men of the Popish sect ; and an Anabaptist will
esteem and love men of that sect most ; yea, a Protestant, if
he be an opinionist, doth esteem of men, and love them as
a sect. Whereas, the true Christian, as he is truly Catho-
lic, and of the Catholic church, which is not confined to
Papists, no, nor Protestants, so he hath truly Catholic
affections, and loveth a Christian as a Christian, a god-
ly man as godly ; yea, if he saw more serious godliness
in one that is not of his opinion in lesser things, yet would
he love him more than one that is in such matters of his
opinion, that is ungodly, or of more doubtful piety. For as
it is God in Christ that he principally loveth, so it is Christ
that he admireth in his members ; and so much of Christ as
he sees in any, so much are his special affections towards
them.
9. Ordinarily, the mere opinionist will sacrifice the very
ends of the Gospel, and the honour and success of the great
fundamental truths of God, to the interest of those opinions
which he hath in a singular manner made his own. He will
rather hinder the propagation of the common truths, and the
conversion of the ignorant, than he will silence his opinions,
or suffer them to lose any advantages with the world.
Hence it is, that we cannot prevail with the Papist, to si-
lence awhile the differences between us and them, till we
164 DIRF.CTIONS TO PREVENT
have taught their ignorant (in Ireland, and other barbarous
parts) the knowledge of. those truths that all are agreed in.
Nor can we get many Anabaptists, or any such sect, that is
engaged in a division, to forbear their opinions, till we have
endeavoured to lay the necessary grounds, on which all
must build, that will be saved. But though it be apparent
to the world, that their disputes and contentions do exceed-
ingly harden the ignorant and ungodly against all religion,
and hinder their conversion and salvation ; yet will they go
on in the unseasonable, intemperate bruiting of their con-
ceits, and will not be persuaded to agree on those terms, for
the managing of differences, as most tend to secure the in-
terest of Christ and his Gospel in the main. If an opinion-
ist be for the truth, he is usually without much zeal for it,
because that nature doth not befriend the great spiritual
truths of the Gospel, so much as it doth errors, and private
conceits. But if he be of erroneous opinions, he is usually
very zealous for them. For corrupted nature, and self, and
satan, (and the world oft-times) do more befriend these,
and furnish him with a zeal for them, and blow the coal.
The counterfeit angel of light, is very ordinarily also a spi-
rit of heat, and great activity ; not a reviving fire, nor a re-
fining fire, but a consuming fire, devouring Christian love,
and meekness, and patience, and therewith the church, and
truth of God, so far as it can prevail. For lesser matters,
that minister questions, such men can lay by that which
tends to godly edifying in faith. Yea, that Charity, which
is the very end of the commandment, out of a " pure heart,
a good conscience, and faith unfeigned. From these they
swerve, and turn aside to vain jangling ; oft-times desiring
to be teachers of such things, in which they understand not
what they say, nor whereof they speak. Consenting not to
the wholesome words of Christ, and the doctrine which is
according to godliness, they teach otherwise, being proud,
knowing nothing, but doating about questions, and strife of
words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
perverse disputing of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of
the truth;" 1 Tim. i. 4 — 6. vi.3 — 5. Yea, they sometimes
take their opinions, or their worldly gain that they often aim
at, to be instead of godliness. And think, that to be god-
ly, is to be of their mind and way. They " use to strive
MISCARRYING IN CON VERSION. 16*5
about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hear-
ers, and their vain babblings increase to more ungodliness ;' '
2Tim.ii. 14. 16.
But the true convert looks principally to the main. He
loves every known truth of God ; but in their order, and ac-
cordingly to their worth and weight. He will not, for his
own opinions, wilfully do that which will hazard the main,
or hinder the Gospel, and the saving of men's souls. Though
he will not be false to any truth, yet he will avoid " foolish
and unlearned questions, knowing that they do gender strife ;
and the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle to
all men, and meekly instruct opposers : following righteous-
ness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord
out of a pure heart ;" 2 Tim. ii 22 — 25.
10. Lastly, True converts are steadfast, but opinionists
are usually mutable and inconstant. The sound convert re-
ceiveth the greatest truths, and receives the goodness as
well as the truth ; and takes it not only into the head, but
into the heart, and giveth it deep rooting : he closeth with
God as his only felicity, and with Christ as his only refuge,
and Redeemer, and with heaven as the sure, everlasting
glory, to which the world is but a mole-hill, or a dungeon.
No wonder then if this man be " steadfast, and immoveable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, that knows his
labour is not in vain in the Lord ;" 1 Cor. xv. 58.
But the opinionist, either fasteneth on smaller matters,
or else holdeth these great matters but as bare opinions,
and therefore they have no such interest in his heart, as to
establish him against shaking trials and temptations. For
two sorts there are of these opinionists, the one sort have
no zeal for their own opinions, because they are but
opinions ; and these are time-servers, and will change, as
the king 3 their landlords change, and fit their opinions to
their worldly end. The other sort have a burning zeal for
their opinions : and these use to wander from one opinion
to another, not able to resist the subtlety of seducers, but
are taken with fair and plausible reasonings, not able to see
into the heart of the cause. These are as " children tossed
to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine,
by the slight and cunning craftiness of men, whereby they
lie in wait to deceive ;" Ephes. iv. 14. When with great
confidence they have held one sort of opnions awhile, and
16<j DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
railed against those that were not of their mind ; ere long
they will themselves forsake them, and take up another way,
and be as confident in that, and take no warning by the ex-
perience of their former deceit. And thus they go oft from
one opinion to another, till at last, finding themselves de-
ceived so oft, some of them cast off all religion, and think
there is no certainty to be found in any, suspecting religion,
when they should have suspected their false hearts : and all
this comes to pass because they never received the truth in
the love of it, that they might be sanctified and saved by it;
2 Thess. ii. 10 — 12. Nor ever gave it deep entertainment,
or took it to heart that it might thoroughly convert them ;
but as a bare opinion into the brain to polish their tongues
and outsides, and deceive themselves as much as others.
And thus I have shewed you the difference between a
sound convert and an opinionist, or one that hath but an
overly, superficial change, that you may see which of these
is your own condition.
To return now to my advice, and exhortation, I entreat
every person that readeth or heareth these words, to see that
they stick not in an opinionative conversion. To which end
I further desire you, 1. To consider that it is a higher matter
that Christ came into the world for, than to change men's
bare opinions ; and it is a higher matter that the Gospel is
intended for, and that ministers are sent to you for. For it
is more than a corruption of men's opinions, that sin hath
brought upon you ; and therefore it must be a deeper dis-
ease that must be cured. The work of Christ by his Gos-
pel, is no less, than to fetch you off all that which flesh and
blood accounts your happiness, and to unite you to himself,
and make you holy, as God is holy, and to give you a new
nature, and make you as the dwellers or citizens of heaven,
while you walk on earth ; Phil. iii. 20, 21. And these are
greater matters than the changing of a party or opinion.
The Holy Ghost himself must dwell in you, and work in you,
and employ your soul and life for God, that you may study
him, and love him, and live to him here, and live with him
for ever. Do but think well of the ends and meaning of the
Gospel, and how much greater matters it drives at, and then
you will see that there is no taking up with an opinionative
religiousness.
2. Keep company, if it be possible, with the most sober,
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 167
spiritual, and heavenly professors, that will be drawing you
to the observation of your own heart and life, and opening
to you the riches of the love of Christ, and winning up your
affections to God and heaven : and be not the companions
of inexperienced wranglers, that have no other religion, but
a zeal for their opinions, and will endeavour rather to make
you like satan, than like God, by possessing your minds with
malice, and bitter thoughts of your brethren, and employing
your tongues in reproaches, and vain strivings, and make
you firebrands in the places where you live : neither be com-
panions of them that hold the truth no deeper than opinion ;
for though some such may be useful to you in their places,
yet if you have not more edifying familiars, your danger will
be very great, lest you should let go the life of religion, and
take up with mere notions and formalities as they.
3. When you have considered that every truth of God is
a message to your hearts, as well as to your heads, and hath
a work of God to do upon them, look after that work ; and
when you have heard or read a truth, go down into your
hearts, and see what it hath done there : and if you find not
in your will, and resolutions, and affections the image and
fruits of the truth you have heard, fetch it up again, and ru-
minate upon it, and do not think you have received it, or
done with it, till this be done : yea, take it but as lost, and
sinfully rejected, if it have not done you some good at the
very heart.
4. Also be sure that you practise all practical truths,
upon the first opportunity, as soon as you have heard them.
Imprison them not in unrighteousness. Cast them not out
in forgetfulness : use not a lecture of divinity as if it were
a lesson of music, or a mere philosophical or historical dis-
course. Read not the doctrine of salvation, and the pro-
mise of heaven, and the forewarnings of everlasting misery,
as you read a common story, or a groundless conjecture in
an almanack ; but as a message from God, which tells you
where you must dwell for ever, and as a direction sent from
heaven, to teach you the way thither. Fall to work then,
and practise what you know, if you would be Christians in-
deed. " Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, de-
ceiving your own selves." For the opinionative hearer seeth
but a slight appearance of the truth, as a man that looks on
his face in a glass, which he quickly forgets ; but he that is
168 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
a sound believer and practiser, and not only an opiniona-
tive, forgetful hearer, is the man that shall *' be blessed in
his deed ;" James i. 22 — 25. Opinion without practice, is
building on the sand ; but hearing, and sound believing, and
doing, is building upon the rock, where the building will
stand after all assaults ; Matt. vii. 26 — 28. An opinionist
doth but seem to be religious, while he keeps his reigning
sins, and therefore his religion is in vain ; but the practical
religion is the pure and undefined religion ; James i. 26, 27.
Hearty obedience will not only shew that your religion is
deeper than mere opinion, but it will also advance it to a
greater purity, and root it more deeply than it was before.
A man that hath studied the art of navigation in his closet,
may talk of it almost as well as he that hath been at sea ;
but when he comes to practise it, he will find that he is far
to seek ; but let this man go to sea, and join practice and
experience to his theory, and then he may have a knowledge
of the right kind. So, if a man that hath only read over
military books, would be a true soldier ; or a man that hath
only studied physic, would be a true physician, what better
way is there, than to fall to practice ? And so you must, if
you would have a religion that shall save your souls ; and
not only a religion that will furnish you with good opinions
and expressions.
5. Moreover, if you would get above opinion, be still
searching more and more after the evidences of the ancient
fundamental truths that you have received ; and lay open
your hearts to the power of them. Think it not enough that
you take the Christian religion for true, but labour after a
clearer sight of its truth : for you may possibly upon some
conjecture take it for a truth, by bare opinion, when as the
sight of fuller evidences, and a full sight of those evidences
might raise you from opinion to a working, saving faith.
6. Lastly, Take heed lest any thing be suffered to keep
possession of your hearts, and so to confine the truth to your
brain. When the world is kept up in life and power, and is
nearest the heart, there is no room for the word there, but it
must float upon the top, and swim in your opinion, because
it can go no deeper, your lusts and profits having possession
before it. The word can never go to the heart with unmor-
tified men, but by casting your idols out of your hearts :
nor will it take rooting in you, but by rooting out the world.
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 1G9
O sirs, if you knew the misery of a mere opinionist, you
would sure be persuaded now to practise these Directions,
that may raise you higher. An opinionist is a deceiver of
himself, and oft of others : a troubler of the church, if he
have any zeal for opinions, and hit (as usually he doth) on
the wrong ; and when his religion is right, he is wrong him-
self, being out of the way, even when he is in the right way,
because he is not right in that way ; for he doth but sit down
in it, when he should travel in it. A runner shall not win
the prize by being in the right way only, unless he make
haste. The knowledge of the opinionist doth but serve to
aggravate his sin, and cause him to be beaten with many
stripes ; but is not of force to sanctify his heart and life, and
to save him, James ii. fully shews. Stick not therefore in
an opinionative religiousness.
Direct. IX. My next Direction that your conversion may
prove sound, is this, ' Acquaint your souls by faith with the
glory of the everlasting kingdom, and see that you make it
your portion and your end, and from thence let the rest of
your endeavours be animated.'
No man can be a sound Christian, that knoweth not the
ends and portion of a Christian. There is a great deal of
difference between the desires of heaven in a sanctified man,
and an unsanctified. The believer prizeth it above earth,
and had rather be with God than here ; (though death that
stands in the way, may possibly have harder thoughts from
him.) But to the ungodly, there is nothing seemeth more
desirable than this world ; and therefore he only chooseth
heaven before hell, but not before earth ; and therefore shall
not have it upon such a choice. We hear of gold and silver
mines in the Indies : if you offer a golden mountain there, to
an Englishman that hath an estate and family here that are
dear unto him, perhaps he will say, ' I am uncertain whe-
ther their golden mountains be not mere fictions to deceive
men ; and if it be true, that there are such things, yet it is a
great way thither, and the seas are perilous ; and I am well
enough already where I am, and therefore let who will go
thither for me, I will stay at home as long as I can.' But
if this man must needs be banished out of England, and had
his choice whether he would go to the golden islands, or to
dig in a coalpit, or live in a wilderness, he would rather
choose the better than the worse. So it is with an ungodly
170 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
man's desires, in respect to this world, and that to come.
If he could stay here, in fleshly pleasure for ever, he would ;
because he looks at heaven as uncertain, and a great way off,
and the passage seemeth to him more troublesome and dan-
gerous than it is, and he is where he would be already : but
when he sees that there is no staying here for ever, but death
will have him away ; he had rather go to heaven, than
to hell, and therefore will be religious, as far as the flesh and
the world will give him leave, lest he should be cast into
hell, when he is taken from the earth.
But take an Englishman that is in poverty and reproach,
and hath neither house nor land, nor friend to comfort him,
and let him have the offer of a golden island, and a person
of unquestionable skilfulness and fidelity, that will promise
in short time to bring him safe thither ; if he believe this
person, and can put his trust in him, doubtless he will be
gone and follow him over sea and land ; and though the pas-
sage may somewhat daunt him, yet the promised possession
will carry him through all. So is it with the true Christian,
he is dead to this world, and sees nothing here in which he
can be happy ; he is burdened and wearied with sin and suf-
fering ; he is firmly persuaded of the truth of the Gospel ;
and seeth by faith the world that is to flesh invisible ; and
belie veth in Jesus Christ, who hath promised to convey him
safely thither, and therefore he would go away ; and though
he love not death, the stormy passage, yet he will submit to
it, having so sure a pilot, because he loves the life which
through death he must pass into, and had rather be there
than here.
Such as a man's principal end is, such is the man, and
such is the course of his life. He that takes this world for
his portion, and makes the felicity of it his end, is a carnal,
worldly, unsanctified man, whatever good and godly actions
may come in upon the bye. It is he, and only he, that is a
sanctified believer, who looks on heaven as his only portion,
and his sailing through the troublesome seas of this world,
of purpose to come to that desired harbour ; not loving
these seas better than the land of rest, which he is sailing
to ; but patiently and painfully passing through them, be-
cause there is no other way to glory. As it is the desire of
the land to which he is sailing, that moveth the mariner or
passenger to do all that he doth in his voyage; and the de-
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 17 1
sire of his home or journey's end, that moveth the traveller
all the way ; and the desire of seeing a perfect building that
moveth the builder in every stroke of his work ; so it must
be the love of God, and the desire of everlasting blessed-
ness, that must be the very engine to move the rest of the
affections and endeavours of the saints, and must make men
resolve on the necessary labour and patience of believers.
Take off this weight, and all the motions of Christianity will
cease. No man will be at labour and sufferings for nothing,
if he can avoid them. It is a life of labour, though sweet
to the spirit, yet tedious to the flesh, which Christianity
doth engage us in ; and there is much suffering to be under-
gone ; and this to the very last, and to the denial of our-
selves ; and if God require it, to the loss of all the comforts
of the world : for no less than forsaking all that we have,
will serve to make us Christ's disciples. And will any man
do this for he knows not what? Will any man forsake all
that he hath, unless it be for something better, which may
be as sure to him as that he had, and may make him more
happy? Look to it therefore, that you have right and be-
lieving thoughts of heaven, and that unfeignedly you take
it for your home and happiness, and look not for any other
portion. Till you see so much of the certainty and excel-
lency of everlasting glory, as shall prevail with you to lay
out your faithful labour for it, and to be at a point with all
this world, as having laid up your treasure and hopes in the
world to come, you have no ground to conclude that you
are true Christian converts.
Seeing therefore, that it is heaven that is the very rea-
son, the end, the life of all your religion, it follows, that you
must necessarily understand somewhat of its excellency,
and believe its certainty, and accordingly set your hearts
upon it, and make the attainment of it your daily work and
business in the world : this is to be a convert indeed.
Remember therefore first, what I told you before, where-
in the nature of this blessedness doth consist. I will only
name the essentials of it, that your apprehensions may be
right, and forbear to say much, as being done already.
1 . The first thing considerable in our everlasting blessed-
ness, will be our personal perfection of the whole man; this
is in order to the perfection of our everlasting operations
and enjoyments. Our bodies shall be no more flesh and
J72 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
blood, nor corruptible, or mortal, or subject to hunger, or
pain, or weariness, nor to passions that rebel against the
reasonable soul ; but they shall be spiritual bodies, and im-
mortal, and incorruptible, and undented. Our souls will be
perfected in their natural perfections, and in their moral.
They shall be of more advanced understanding, and com-
prehensive wisdom than now. Our wills shall attain to per-
fect rectitude in a perfect conformity to the will of God,
and every affection shall be brought to its perfect order and
elevation : all sin shall be done away, whether it were in the
understanding, will, affections, or the actions. The execu-
tive power will be answerable to the rest of the perfections,
and to the blessed work which it hath to do : and thus we
shall be like the angels of God.
2. The next thing considerable in our blessedness, is,
our approximation or approach to God : we shall be admit-
ted into the holiest, and brought as near him as our natures
are capable of, and we are fit for.
3. Moreover, we shall be members of the New Jerusalem,
and receive our glory in communion with that blessed so-
ciety, and so as members contribute to her glory.
4. And we shall behold the glorified person of our Re-
deemer, and he will be glorified on us as the fruits of his vic-
tory.
5. And we shall behold the face of the blessed God, and
see his wisdom, and power, and glory, and know as we are
known. Though we cannot now fully know the manner, yet
in that sense as our angels are said to behold the face of
God, (Matt, xviii. 10.) we also shall behold it.
6. We shall also enjoy him in the nearest relation, and
by the most raised, vigorous affections of our soul. We
shall be filled with his love as full as we can hold, and we
shall abound with perfect love to him again : and the joy
that is in his presence, which this intuition, and everlasting
love will afford us, is such as no heart is here able to con-
ceive.
7. Being thus furnished, we shall be employed in his
perfect praises, in singing and rejoicing to him with the
heavenly host, and magnifying his heart and holy name.
8. And in all this will the glory of God shine forth, and
he will be admired in his saints ; 2 Thess. i. 10, 11. In us
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 173
it shall appear how abundant he is in power, and wisdom,
and goodness, in holiness, faithfulness, and righteousness.
9. And God himself will be well pleased with us, and with
the new Jerusalem, and his glorified Son, and will take com-
placency in this manifestation and communication of his
glory and of himself unto his creatures. And this is his ul-
timate end, and should be the highest point of ours. The
revolution hath now brought all to that centre, which is
both the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
His will is the fountain or efficient source of all, and it is
the ultimate end and perfection of all.
There is no more to add, as to the matter, but that as to
the duration, first, v*e may take it as that which leaves no
room for any addition, that all this will be everlasting, leav-
ing not any doubts or fears of a cessation. Abundance of
glorious adjuncts of this felicity might be mentioned; but
I pass them all by, and do but name these few which are the
essential constitutive parts of our happiness, because I have
touched them before, and more fully spoken of them in the
" Saints' Rest." Thus much I thought meet to mention
here, that you may have somewhat of that in your eye, that
I am persuading you to intend and seek ; and the rather,
because I perceive that many of the godly have not such dis-
tinct apprehensions of the constitutive parts of this felicity,
as they should have ; but much wrong their souls, and God
himself, and the glory of their profession, by looking but at
some of the parts.
Believe God, sirs, that this is the life that you shall live,
if you will take it for your portion, and set your hearts upon
it, and follow the conduct of Christ for the obtaining it.
Can you be content with heaven alone ? Is it enough for
you, though you be despised and persecuted in the world ?
Do you account this for certainty and excellency to be
worth all ? Yea, that all is dross and dung to this ? Thus
must you do if you will be true converts. For all such are
heavenly in their minds and hearts, and in the drift of all
their lives and conversations.
Direct. X. My next advice that you may prove sound
converts, is this, * Rest not, and count not yourselves truly
converted, till God and his holy ways have your very love,
and desire, and delight ; and take not that for a saving
174 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
change, when you had rather live a worldly, ungodly life, if
it were not for the fear of punishment.'
I shall speak but little of this, because I touched upon it
before, when I told you that Christ must have your hearts,
and because it is but a consectary of the last, or contained
in it. But yet I think it best to present it here distinctly to
your consideration, because a slavish kind of religiousness,
doth deceive so many, and because the life of grace is here
expressed. I deny not but holy fear is exceeding useful to
us ; even a fear of the threatenings and judgments of God.
But yet I must tell you, that in fear there is much more that
is common to the unsanctified, than there is in love, desire,
and delight. Though ** the fear of the Lord be the begin-
ning of wisdom," it is love that is the perfection; and that
fear is not filial, and of the right strain, if love be not its com-
panion. Fear of punishment shews that you love your natu-
ral selves ; but it shews not that you love God, and are true-
hearted to him. The devils fear and tremble, but they do
not love. It is love, and not fear that is the bias, the incli-
nation, and (as I may say) the nature of the will of man. By
his love it is that you must know what the man is. The
philosopher saith, " Such as a man is, such is his end," which
is all one as to say, " Such as a man is, such is his love."
You may fear a thing at the same time when you hate it ;
and it is too common to have some hatred mixed with fear.
You may be as much against God and his holy ways, when
fear only drives you to some kind of religiousness, as others
are that scarce meddle with religion at all. The first thing
that God looks at, is what you would do ; and the next is,
what you do. If you do it, but had rather leave it undone,
you lose your reward, and God will take it as if you had not
done it : for it was not you that did it, if you did it not from
love ; but it was fear that dwelleth in you. God takes men's
hearty desires and will, instead of the deed, where they have
not power to fulfil them : but he never took the bare deed
instead of the will. A blockish kind of worship, consisting
in outward actions, without the heart, is fit to be given to a
wooden god, a senseless idol ; but the true and living God
abhors it. He is a Spirit, and will be worshipped in spirit
and in truth ; such worshippers he seeketh, and such he will
accept ; John iv. 23, 24. A beggar will be glad ofyour alms,
though you leave it with an ill will, because he needeth it:
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 175
but God hath no need of you, nor of your service, and there-
fore think not that he will accept you on such terms. That
people worship God in vain, that draw near him with their
mouth, and honour him with their lips, while their heart is
far from him; Matt. xv. 8, 9. A man's heart is where his
love is, rather than where his fear is. If you should lie still
upon your knees, or in the holy assembly ; if you should be
the strictest observer of the ordinances on the Lord's days,
and yethad such hearts in you, as had rather let all these alone,
if it were not for fear of punishment ; it will all be disre-
garded, and reckoned to you according to your wills, as if it
had never been done by you at all. It is love that must win
love, or make you fit for love to entertain. If you give your
goods to the poor, or your bodies to be burned in a cause
that in itself is good, and yet have not love, it availeth no-
thing ; 1 Cor. xiii. 1 — 3.5. You will not think your wife
hath conjugal affection that loveth another man better than
you, and had rather be gone from you, if she could live with-
out you. It is an unnatural son that loves not his father,
but had rather be from him, than with him. If God called
you to a bestial drudgery or slavery, he would then look but
for your work, and not care much whether you be willing or
unwilling. If your ox draw your plough, and your horse
carry his burden, you care not much whether it be willingly
or unwillingly. Or if it be an enemy that you have to deal
with, you will look for no more than a forced submission, or
that he be disabled from doing you hurt. But this is not
your case : it is a state of friendship that the Gospel calls
you to, you must be nigh to God, his children, and the mem-
bers of his Son, espoused to him by the dearest, strongest
bonds : and do you think that it is possible that this should
be done without your wills and affections ? If you can be
content with the portion of a slave and an enemy, then do
your task, and deny God your affections : but if you look
for the entertainment and portion of a friend, a child, a
spouse, you must bring the heart of a friend, and of a child,
and of a spouse. Fear may do good by driving you to the
use of means, and taking out of your hands the things by
which you would do yourselves a mischief: it may prepare
you for saving grace, and when you are sanctified, it will
prove a necessary servant of love, to keep you in awe, and
save you from temptations. But love is the ruling affection
17(J DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
in the sanctified, and fear is therefore necessary, because of
the present imperfection of love, and because of the variety
of temptations that here beset us. Think not therefore that
you are savingly renewed, till God have your very hearts.
When you do but believe and tremble, it is better than to be
unbelieving, and stupid, and secure ; but you are not true
Christians till you believe and love. We use to fly from that
we fear, and therefore do apprehend it to be evil to us. We
avoid the presence and company of those that we are afraid
of, but we draw nigh them that we love, and delight in their
company. We fear an enemy ; we love a friend. We fear
the devil naturally, but we do not love him. It is love that
is that affection of the soul that entertaineth God as God,
even as good ; though that love must be accompanied with a
filial fear, even a dread and reverence of his majesty and
greatness, and a fear of displeasing him. If you should toil
out yourselves in religious duties, with a heart that had ra-
ther forbear them, if you durst, you have not the heart of
God's children in your breasts. The magistrate can frighten
men to the congregation and outward worship. You may
lock a man in the church, that had rather be away : and will
any man think that this makes him acceptable to God? You
may keep a thief from stealing by prison and irons, but this
makes him not accepted with God as a true man. You may
cure a man of cursing, and swearing, and railing, and idle
and ribald talking, even in a minute of an hour, by cutting
off his tongue ; but will God accept him ever the more, as
long as he has a heart that would do it if he could ? There
are abundance of people at this day that are kept from abus-
ing the Lord's day, and from swearing, and stealing, yea, and
from laying violent hands on all about them that are godly,
and this by the law of men, and the fear of present punish-
ment. And do you think that these are therefore innocent
or acceptable with God? By this account you may make
the devil a saint, when he is chained up from doing mischief.
You may as well say that the lion is become a lamb, when
he is shut up in his den ; or that a mastiff dog is become
harmless and gentle, when he is muzzled. Believe it, sirs,
you are never Christians till you see that in God that wins
your hearts to him, so that you would not change your mas-
ter for any in the world ; and till you see that in the hopes
of everlasting glory, that you would not change it for any
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 177
thing else that can be imagined by the heart of man ; and till
you see that goodness in a heavenly life, that you had rather
live it than any life in the world. You are not converted to
God indeed, till you had rather live in holiness, than in sin,
if you had your freest choice ; and till you would gladly be
the strictest, holiest person that you know in the world ;
and long after more and more of it, and fain would reach
perfection itself : for though we cannot be perfect here, yet
no man is upright that desireth not to be perfect. For he
that loveth holiness, as holiness, must needs love the great-
est measure of holiness, with the greatest love. This is it
that maketh sound converts to be so constant and faithful
with God. A man is forward and ready to a work that he loves,
when he draws back from it, as if it were a mischief, that
hath no mind to do it. A man is hardly kept from the per-
sons, and places, and employments that he loves : but a lit-
tle will withdraw him from that which he loveth not. Why
is it that we have so much ado to take off a drunkard from
his companions and his lusts, but because he loves them
better than temperance and gracious company? And why
can we so hardly draw the lustful wretch from his filthy lusts,
or the glutton, or the idle, sensual person from his needless
or excessive recreations, but because they love them? And
why is it that you cannot draw the worldling from his co vetous-
ness, but he parteth with his money almost as hardly as with
his blood, but because he loveth it? And therefore what
wonder if temptations be resisted, and the fairest baits of
the world despised by him, that is truly in love with God ?
No wonder if nothing can turn back that man from the way
to heaven, that is in love both with heaven and with the way.
No wonder if that man stick close to Christ, and never for-
sake a holy life, that tasteth the sweetness of it, and feels it
to do him good, and had rather go that way than any in the
world. There is no true Christian but can say with David,
that " a day in God's courts is better than a thousand ; and
he had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God, than to
dwell in the tents (yea, or the palaces) of wickedness." Do
but mark those professors that prove apostates, and forsake
the way of godliness which they seemed to embrace, and see
whether they be not such as either took up some bare opi-
nions and outward duties upon a flash of superficial illumina-
VOL. VIII. N
178 DIRECTIONS) TO PREVENT
tion, or else such as were frightened into a course of religion,
and so went on from duty to duty, for fear of being damned,
when all the while their hearts were more another way, and
they had rather have been excused. These hypocrites are
they that are disputing so oft the obligations to their duty,
and asking, ' How do you prove that it is a duty to pray in
my family, or a duty to observe the Lord's day, or to come
constantly to the congregation, or to use the communion of
the godly in private meetings, or to repeat sermons, or sing
psalms, and the like V Intimating that they are as birds in
a cage, or hens in a pen, that are boring to get out, and had
rather be at liberty. If it were not for the fear of the law of
God that is upon them, they had rather let all these duties
alone, or take them up but now and then at an idle time,
when satan and the flesh will give them leave. If a feast be
prepared and spread before them, a good stomach will not
stand to ask, ' How can you prove it my duty to eat?* but
perhaps the sick that loath it may do so. If the cup be be-
fore the drunkard, he doth not stand on these terms, ' How
do you prove it my duty now to drink this cup and the other
cup.' No, if he might have but leave, he would drink on,
without any questioning whether it be a duty. If the game-
ster, or the whoremonger, might but be sure that he should
escape the punishment, he would never stick at the want of
a precept, and ask, ' Is it my duty V If there were but a gift
of twenty pounds a man to be given to all the poor of the
town, yea, and to all the people in general, I do not think I
should meet with many people in the town that would draw
back and say, ' What word of God commandeth me to take
it V Or, ' How can you prove that it is my duty V And,
why is all this, but because they have an inward love to the
thing ; and love will carry a man to that which seemeth good
for him, without any command or threatening. If these un-
godly wretches had one spark of spiritual life within them,
and any taste and feeling of the matters that concern their
own salvation, instead of asking, ' How can you prove that
I must pray with my family, or that I must keep the Lord's
day, or that I must converse with the godly, and live a holy
life ?' they would be readier to say, ' How can you prove
that I may not pray with my family, and that I may not sanc-
tify the Lord's day, and that I may not have communion
with the saints in holiness ? Seeing so great a mercy is of-
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 179
fered to the world, why may not I partake of it as well as
others V I can perceive in many that I converse with, the
great difference between a heart that loves God and holi-
ness, and a heart that seems religious and honest without
such a love. The true convert perceiveth so much sweet-
ness in holy duties, and so much spiritual advantage by
them to his soul, that he is loath to be kept back ; he cannot
spare these ordinances and mercies, no more than he can spare
the bread from his mouth, or the clothes from his back, yea,
or the skin from his flesh ; no, nor so much. He loveth
them, he cannot live without them. At the worst that ever
he is at, he had rather be holy than unholy, and live a godly
than a fleshly, worldly life. And therefore, if he had but
a bare leave from God, without a command to sanctify the
Lord's day, and to live in the holy communion of the saints,
he would joyfully take it with many thanks : for he need
not be driven to his rest when he is weary, nor to his spiri-
tual food when he is hungry, nor to Christ the refuge of his
soul, when the curse and accuser are pursuing him. But
the unsanctified hypocrite that never loved God or godliness
in his heart, he stands questioning and inquiring for some
proof of the necessity of these courses. And if he can but
bring himself to hope that God will save him without so
much ado, (which by the help of the devil he may easily be
brought to hope,) away then goes the duty. If you could
not shew him that there is a necessity of family prayer, and
a necessity of sanctifying the Lord's day, and a necessity of
forsaking his tippling and voluptuousness, and a necessity of
living a heavenly life, he would quickly resolve of another
course : for he had rather do otherwise if he durst. He ne-
ver was religious from a true predominant love to God and
a holy life, but for fear of hell, and for other inferior res-
pects.
Remember this when you have precious opportunities
before you, of doing or receiving good, and when you see
that you have leave to take these opportunities, and yet you
draw back, and are questioning, ' How we can prove it to be
your duty ? Or that you cannot be saved without it V Do
not these questions plainly shew that you love not the work
and delight not in a holy life ? and that you had rather let
it alone 1 Are you not blind if you see not this is in your-
selves ? Yea, it is plain that you have such an averseness or
180 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
hatred to God and a holy course of life, that if you did but
know what shift to make to escape damnation, you would
fly away from God and holiness, and have as little to do with
them as you can. Your questions and cavils do plainly de-
clare this wicked enmity and backwardness of your hearts ;
and consequently shew how far you are from true conversion.
Not that I am of their mind that think there is any good
which the law of Christ obligeth us not to accept, and which
we can refuse without sin and danger to ourselves : for God
doth both draw us, and drive us at once. But when the
threatening and punishment only can prevail with men, and
men love not God and godliness for themselves, but had
rather have liberty to live as the ungodly, I shall never take
one of these for a sanctified man, nor have any hope of the
saving of such a soul, how far soever his fears may carry
him from his outward sins, or to outward duties ; till God
shall give him a better conversion than this, I say, I have
not the smallest hope of this man's salvation. Then you
are God's children, when the honour, the work, the family,
the name of your Father are lovely and delightful to you:
and when you grieve that there are any remnants of sin in
your souls, and when your sins are to you as lameness to the
lame, that pains them every step they go, and as sickness to
the sick, that makes them groan, and groan again, and long
to be rid of it : and when you think those the happiest men
on earth that are the most holy, and wish from your hearts
that you were such as they, though you had not a house to
put your head in : when you look towards God with longing
thoughts, and are grieved that your understandings can
reach no nearer him, and know no more of him, and that your
hearts cannot embrace him with a more burning love : when
you admire the beauty of a meek, a patient, a mortified, spiri-
tual, heavenly mind, and long to have more of this yourself,
yea, to be perfect in all holiness and obedience : when your
hearts are thus brought over to God, that you had rather have
him than any other, and rather live in his family any where,
and rather walk in his ways than in any ; then are you in-
deed converted, and never till then, whatever other dispo-
sitions you may have.
And now if that were my business, what abundance of
reason might I shew you, to make you willing to come over
unto God, with love, and with delight. Whom else can
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 181
you love if he that is love itself seem not lovely to you '.'
All loveliness is in him and from him ; the creature hath
none of itself, nor for itself: to love a life of sin, is to love
the image and service of the devil, and to love that which
feeds the flames of hell ; what is it then to love this sin so
well, as for the love of it to fly from God and godliness?
Methinks men at the worst should love that which will do
them good, and not prefer that before it which will hurt them.
Do sinners indeed believe that God and holiness will do
them hurt, and that sin will do them greater good ? Is there
ever a man so mad, that he dare speak this and stand to it ?
If indeed you think it best to live in sin, and therefore had
rather keep it than leave it ; your understandings are be-
fooled, I had almost used Paul's phrase and said, bewitched ;
Gal. iii. 1. Will it do you any hurt to leave your beastly,
sensual lives, and to " live soberly, righteously, and godly,
in the world, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and
looking for the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of
the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ ?" This is the
doctrine of saving grace ; Tit. ii. 11 — 13. Would it do you
any harm to be assured of salvation, and ready to die, and
to know that angels shall conduct your departing souls to
Christ, and that you shall live in joy with him for ever ? Or
to be employed in those holy works that must prepare you
for this day, and help you to this assurance ? If God be
naught for you, if holiness, and righteousness, and tempe-
rance be naught for you, then you may as well say, heaven
is naught for you ; and therefore you must resolve for sin
and hell, and see whether that be good for you. I shall say
no more of this point, because I have written of it already,
in the conclusion of the " Saints' Rest," which I desire you
to peruse.
Direct. XI. The next part of my advice is, ' If you would
not have this saving work miscarry, turn then this present
day and hour, without any more delay.'
Somewhat I have spoken of this already, and therefore
shall say the less. But yet I shall back this Direction with
such reasons as will certainly convince you, if you be not
unreasonable, of the folly of delay, and shew you that it
concerneth you presently to return. And though my rea-
sons will be numerous, it is not the number, but the strength
of them, that I shall urge you principally to consider ; and
182 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
because of the number, I will go over them with the greater
brevity.
1. Consider to whom it is that you are commanded to
turn : and then tell me whether there can be any reason for
delay. It is not to an empty, deceitful creature, but to the
faithful, all-sufficient God : to him that is the cause of all
things ; the strength of the creation, the joy of angels, the
felicity of the saints, the sun and shield of all the righteous,
and refuge of the distressed, and the glory of the whole
world. Of such power, that his word can take down the
sun from the firmament, and turn the earth and all things
into nothing ; for he doth more in giving them their being
and continuance. Of such wisdom, that was never guilty of
mistake, and therefore will not mislead you, nor draw you
to any thing that is not for the best. Of such goodness,
as that evil cannot stand in his sight, and nothing but your
evil could make him displeased with you ; and it is from no-
thing but evil that he calleth you to turn. It is not to a
malicious enemy, that would do you a mischief, but it is to
a gracious God, that is love itself : not to an implacable jus-
tice, but to a reconciled Father : not to revenging indigna-
tion, but to the embracement of those arms, and the mercy
of that compassionate Lord, that is enough to melt the
hardest heart, when you find yourself as the poor returning
prodigal, (Luke xxv. 20.) in his bosom, when you deserved
to have been under his feet. And will the great and blessed
God invite thee to his favour, and wilt thou delay and de-
mur upon the return ? The greatest of the angels of heaven
are glad of his favour, and value no happiness but the light
of his countenance ; heaven and earth are supported by him,
and nothing can stand without him ; how glad would those
very devils be of his favour, that tempt thee to neglect his
favour ! And wilt thou delay to turn to such a God ? Why
man, thou art every minute at his mercy ; if thou turn not,
he can throw thee into hell when he will, more easily than
I can throw this book to the ground ; and yet dost thou
delay ? There are all things imaginable in him to draw thee :
there is nothing that is good for thee, but it is perfectly in
him ; where thou mayst have it certain and perpetuated.
There is nothing in him to give the least discouragement:
let all the devils in hell, and all the enemies of God on earth,
say the worst they can against his majesty, and they are not
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 18.J
able to find the smallest blemish in his absolute holiness, and
wisdom, and goodness : and yet wilt thou delay to turn ?
2. Consider also, as to whom, so to what it is that thou
must turn. Not to uncieanness, but unto holiness : not to
the sensual life of a beast, but to the noble, rational life of a
man, and the more noble, heavenly life of a believer : not to
an unprofitable, worldly toil, but to the most gainful em-
ployment that ever the sons of men were acquainted with :
not to the deceitful drudgery of sin, but to that " godliness
which is profitable to all things, having the promise of the
life that now is, and of that which is to come ;" 1 Tim. iv. 8.
Sirs, do you know what a life of holiness is ? You do not
know it, if you turn away from it : I am sure if you knew it,
you would never fly from it, no, nor endure to live without
it. Why, a life of holiness is nothing but a living unto God,
to be conversant with him, as the wicked are with the world,
and to be devoted to his service, as sensualists are to the
flesh. It is to live in the love of God and our Redeemer ;
and in the foretastes of his everlasting glory, and of his love;
and in the sweet forethoughts of that blessed life that shall
never end ; and in the honest, self-denying course that lead-
eth to that blessedness. A godly life is nothing else but a
sowing the seed of heaven on earth ; and a learning in the
school of Christ, the songs of praise which we must use be-
fore the throne of God ; and by suffering, a learning how to
triumph and reign with Christ. And is there any thing in
this life which you have cause to be afraid of? The sins
and weaknesses of the godly are contrary to godliness ; and
therefore godliness is no more dishonoured by them, than
health and life are dishonoured by your sicknesses. As health
is never the worse to be liked, but the better, because of
the painful grievousness of sickness, so godliness is to be
liked the better, because the very failings of the saints are
so grievous. If a true believer do but step out of the way
of God, he is wounded, he is out of joint, he is as undone
till he come in again ; though it was but in one particular.
And can you endure to continue strangers to it altogether
so long ? I know you may find faults in the godly, till they
are perfect; but let the most malicious enemy of Christ on
earth find any fault in godliness if he can.
Can you delay to come into your Father's family ; into
the vineyard of the Lord; into the kingdom of God on earth,
184 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
to be fellow-citizens of the saints, and of the household of
God ; to have the pardon of all your sins, and the sealed
promise of everlasting glory? Why, sirs, when you are cal-
led on to turn, you are called to the porch of heaven, into
the beginning of salvation. And will you delay to accept
everlasting life ?
3. Consider also, from what you are called to turn ; and
then judge whether there be any reason of delay. It is from
the devil, your enemy ; from the love of a deceitful world ;
from the seducement of corrupted, brutish flesh ; it is from
sin, the greatest evil. What is there in sin that you should
delay to part with it? Is there any good in it? Or what
hath it ever done for you that you should love it? Did it
ever do you good ? Or did it ever do any man good ? It is
the deadly enemy of Christ and you. That caused his death,
and will cause yours, and is working for your damnation, if
converting and pardoning grace prevent it not. And are
you loath to leave it ? It is the cause of all the miseries of
the world, of all the sorrow that ever did befal you, and the
cause of the damnation of them that perish. And do you
delay to part with it ?
4. Your delaying shews that you love not God, and that
you prefer your sin before him, and that you would never
part with it if you might have your will. For if you loved
God, you would long to be restored to his favour, and to be
near him, and employed in his service, and his family. Love
is quick and diligent, and will not draw back. And it is a
sign also that you are in love with sin ; for else, why would
you be so loath to leave it ? He that would not leave his
sin, and turn to God, till the next week, or next month, or
year, would never turn if he might have his desire. For that
which makes you desirous to stay a day or week longer,
doth indeed make you loath to turn at all. And, therefore,
it is but hypocrisy to take on you, that you are willing to
turn hereafter, if you be not willing to do it now without
delay.
5. Consider, but what a case you are in while you thus
delay. Do you think you stand on dry ground, or in a safe
condition ? If you knew where you are, you would sit as
upon thorns, as long as you are unconverted ; you would be
as a man that stood up to the knees in the sea, and saw the
tide coming towards him, who certainly would think that
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 185
there is no standing still in such a place. Head what I have
said of the state of the unconverted, and in my first " Trea-
tise of Conversion." In a word, you are the drudges of sin,
the slaves of the devil, the enemies of God, the abusers of
his grace and Spirit, the despisers of Christ, the heirs of hell.
And is this a state to stay in an hour ? You have all your sin
unpardoned; you are under the curse of the law. The wrath
of God is upon you ; and the fulness of it hangs over your
heads. Judgment is coming to pass upon you the dreadful
doom ; the Lord is at hand ; death is at the door, and waits
but for the word from the mouth of God, that it may arrest
you, and bring you to everlasting misery. And is this a
state for a man to stay in ?
6. Moreover, your delaying giveth great advantage to
the tempter. If you would presently turn and forsake your
sins, and enter into a faithful covenant with God, the devil
would be almost out of hope, and the very heart of his temp-
tations would be broken. He would see that now it is too
late. There is no getting you out of the arms of Christ.
But as long as you delay, you keep him still in heart and
hope. He hath time to strengthen his prison and fetters,
and to renew his snares. And if one temptation serve not,
he hath time to try another, and another. As if you would
stand as a mark for satan to shoot at, as long as he please.
What likelihood is there, that ever so foolish a sinner should
be recovered and saved from his sin ?
7. Moreover, your delaying is a vile abuse of Christ, and
the Holy Ghost, and may so far provoke him, as to leave
you to yourself, and then you are past help. If you delight
so to trample on your crucified Lord, and will so long put him
to it by refusing his grace, and grieving his Spirit, what can
you expect, but that he should turn away in wrath, and ut-
terly forsake you, and say, " Let him keep his sin, seeing he
had rather have it than my grace ; let him continue ungod-
ly, seeing he is so loath to be sanctified; let him take his
own course, and die in his sin, and repent in hell, seeing he
would not repent on earth?" You provoke Christ thus to
give you up.
8. Consider also, I beseech yon, if you ever mean to
turn, what it is that you stay for. Do you think to bring-
down Christ and heaven to lower rates, and to be saved
hereafter with less ado ? Sure you cannot be so foolish.
186 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
For God will be still the same, and Christ the same, and his
promise hath still the same condition, which he will never
change ; and godliness will be the same, and as much against
your carnal interest hereafter as it is now. When you have
looked about you never so long, you will never find a fairer
or nearer way ; but this same way you must go, or perish.
If you cannot leave sin now, how should you leave it then ?
It will be still as sweet to yourself as now. Or if one sin
grow stale by the decay of nature, another that is worse
will spring up in its stead, and though the acts abate, they
will all live still at the root; for sin was never mortified
by age. So that if ever you will turn, you may best turn
now.
9. Yea, more than that, the longer you stay, the harder
it will be. If it be hard to-day, it is like to be harder to-mor-
row. For as the Spirit of Christ is like to forsake you for
your wilful delays, so custom will strengthen sin ; and cus-
tom in sinning will harden your hearts, and make you as
past feeling, to work all uncleanness with greediness ; Eph.
iv. 19. Cannot you crush this serpent when it is but in the
spawn, and can you encounter it in its serpentine strength?
Cannot you pluck up a tender plant, and can you pluck up
an oak or cedar? O sinners ! what do you do, to make your
recovery so difficult by delay? You are never like to be
fairer for heaven, and to find conversion an easier work than
now you may do. Will you stay till the work be ten times
harder, and yet do you think it so hard already?
10. Consider also, That sin gets daily victorious by your
delay. We lay our batteries against it, and preach, and ex-
hort, and pray against it, and it gets a kind of victory over
all, as long as we prevail not with you to turn. It conqiier-
eth our persuasions and advice ; it conquereth all the stir-
rings of your consciences ; it conquereth all your heartless
purposes, and deceitful promises. And these frequent con-
quests do strengthen your sin, and weaken your resistance,
and leave the matter almost hopeless. Before a physician
hath used remedies, he hath more hope of a cure, than when
he hath tried all means, and finds that the best medicines do
no good, but the man is still as bad or worse. So when all
means have been tried with you, and yet you are unconvert-
ed, the case draws towards desperation itself. The very
means are disabled more than before ; that is, your hearts
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 187
are unapter to be wrought upon by them. When you have
long been under sermons, and reading, and among good ex-
amples, and yet you are unconverted, these ordinances lose
much of their force with you. Custom will make you slight
them, and be dead-hearted under them. And it is these
very same means and truths that you have frustrated, that
must do the work, or it will never be done. The same plais-
ter must heal you that you have thrown off so oft. And
what a sad case is this, that there is no hope left, but in the
very same medicine which you have taken so oft in vain ?
11. Moreover, age itself hath many inconveniences, and
youth hath many great advantages, and, therefore, it is folly
to delay. In age the understanding and memory grows
dull, and people grow incapable, and almost unchangeable.
We see, by our every day's experience, that men think they
should not change when they are old, that opinion or prac-
tice that they have been brought up in, they think that they
should not then forsake it. To learn when they are old, and
to turn when they are old, you see how much they are
against it. Besides, how unfit is age to be at that pains,
that you can undergo. How unfit to begin the holy warfare
against the flesh, the world,and the devil. God's way is, to list
his soldiers as soon as may be, even in their infancy, which
they must own as soon as ever they come to age. And the
devil would not have it done at all, and, therefore, he would
have it put off as long as may be. In infancy he will tell
the parents, with the Anabaptists, ' It is too soon to be de-
dicated to God, and entered into covenant.' When they
come to their childhood, and youthful state, he will then
persuade them, that it is yet too soon ; and when he can no
longer persuade them that it is yet too soon, he will then
persuade them that it is too late. O what a happy thing it
is to come unto God betimes, and with the first ! What ad-
vantage hath youth ! They have the vigour of wit, and of
body. They be not rooted and hardened in it, not filled
with prejudice and obstinacy against godliness, as others
be. Besides, the capacity of serving God, of which anon.
12. You have such times of advantage and encourage-
ment, as few ages of the world have ever seen, and few na-
tions on earth do enjoy at this day. What plain and plen-
tiful teaching have you ? What abundance of good exam-
ples, and the society of the godly ? Private and public helps
188 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
are common. Godliness is under as little suffering as ever
you can expect to see it ; yea, it is grown into reputation
among us, so that it is an honour to serve God, and a dis-
honour to neglect it, (as well it may). Our rulers counte-
nance the practices of godliness ; thev proclaim themselves
the forward professors and patrons of it, and take this as
their glory. And this is not ordinary in the world. Sel-
dom hath the church seen such days on earth. And yet is
not the way to heaven fair enough for you ? Yet are you not
ready to turn to God '! When should men make hay, but
when the sun shines ? Will you delay till this harvest-time
be over, and the winter of persecution come again? Can
you better turn to God, when a godly life is the common
scorn of the country, as it was awhile ago ; and when every
one will be deriding and railing at you ? Or when it may
possibly cost you your lives ? Have you sun, and wind, and
tide to serve you, and will you stay to set out in storms and
darkness ?
13. Moreover, Your delay doth cast your conversion and
salvation upon hazard, yea, upon many and grievous hazards.
And is your everlasting happiness a matter to be wilfully
hazarded, by causeless and unreasonable delays? (1.) If you
delay to-day, you are utterly uncertain of living till to-mor-
row. If you put by this one motion, you know not whether
ever you shall have another. Alas ! that ever the heart of
man should be so senseless, as to delay, when they know
not but it may prove their damnation, and when heaven or
hell must certainly follow ; that they dare put off a day or
hour, when they know not whether ever they shall see ano-
ther. (2.) And as your life is uncertain, so are the means un-
certain by which God useth to do the work. He may re-
move your teachers, and other helps ; and then you will be
further off than before. (3.) And if both should continue,
yet grace itself is uncertain. You know not whether ever
the Spirit of God will put another thought of turning into
your hearts ; or at least, whether he will give you hearts to
turn.
14. Moreover, The delay of conversion continueth your
sin, and so you will daily increase the number, and increase
your guilt, and make your souls more abundantly miserable.
Are you not deep enough in debt to God already, and have
you not sin enough to answer for upon your souls ? Would
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 189
you fain have one year's sin more, or one day's sin more to
be charged upon you ? O if you did but know what sin is,
it would amaze you to think what a mountain lieth already
upon your consciences. One sin unpardoned will sink the
stoutest sinner into hell. And you have many a thousand
upon your souls already, and would you yet have more ?
Methinks you should rather look about, you, and bethink
you how you may get a pardon for all that is past.
15. And as this sin increaseth daily by delay, so conse-
quently the wrath of God increaseth ; you will run further
into his displeasure ; and possibly you may cut down the
bough that you stand upon, and hasten even bodily destruc-
tion to yourselves. When you live daily upon God, and
are kept out of hell by a miracle of his mercy, methinks you
should not desire yet longer to provoke him, lest he with-
draw his mercy, and let you fall into misery.
16. And do but consider, what will become of you, if
you be found in these delays. You are then lost, body and
soul, for ever. Now if you had but hearts to know what is
good for you, the worst of you might be converted and sa-
ved ; for God doth freely offer you his grace. But if you
die in your delays, in the twink of an eye, you will find your-
selves utterly undone for ever. Now there is hope of a
change, but when delays have brought you to hell, there is
no more change, nor any more hope.
17. Consider, That your very time which you lose by
these delays, is an inconceivable loss. When time is gone,
what would you then give for one of those years, or days,
or hours, which you now foolishly trifle away ! O wretched
sinners ! are there so many thousand souls in hell, that
would give a world if they had it, for one of your days, and
yet can you afford to throw them away in worldliness, and
sensuality, and loitering delays ? I tell you, time is better
worth, than all the wealth and honours of the world. The
day is coming, when you will set by time ; when it is gone,
you will know what a blessing you made light of. But then
all the world cannot call back one day or hour of this pre-
cious time, which you can sacrifice now to the service of
your flesh, and cast away on unprofitable sinning.
18. Consider also, That God hath given you no time to
spare. He hath not lent you one day or hour, more than is
needful for the work that you have to do, and therefore you
190 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
have no reason to lose any by your delays. Do you ima-
gine that God would give a man an hour's time for nothing?
much less for to abuse him and serve his enemy? No, let
me tell you, that if you make your best of every hour, if you
should never lose a minute of your lives, you would find all
little enough for the work you have to do. I know not how
others think of time, but for my part, I am forced daily to
say, ' How swift, how short is time ; and how great is our
work ; and when we have done our best, how slowly goeth
it on !' O precious time ! What hearts have they, what
lives do those men lead, that think time long ; that have
time to spare, and pass it in idleness !
19. To convince you more, consider I beseech you, The
exceeding greatness of the work you have to do ; and tell
me then, whether it be time for you to delay. Especially
you that are yet unconverted, and strangers to the heavenly
nature of the saints, you have far more to do than other men.
You have a multitude of headstrong passions to subdue, and
abundance of deadly sins to kill, and rooted vices to root
up : you have many a false opinion of God and his ways, to
be plucked up, and the customs of many years' standing to
be broken : you have blind minds that must be enlightened
with heavenly knowledge ; and abundance of spiritual truths
that are above the reach of flesh and blood, that you must
needs learn and understand : you have much to know, that
is hard to be known : you have a dead soul to be made
alive, and a hard heart to be melted, and a seared conscience
to be softened and made tender, and the guilt of many thou-
sand sins to be pardoned : you have a new heart to get, and
a new end to aim at and seek after, and a new life to live ;
abundance of enemies you have to fight with and overcome ;
abundance of temptations to resist and conquer. Many
graces to get, and preserve, and exercise, and increase, and
abundance of holy works to do for the service of God, and
the good of yourselves and others. O what a deal of work
doth every one of these words contain ; and yet what abun-
dance more might I name ! And have you all this to do,
and yet will you delay? And they are not indifferent mat-
ters that are before you ; it is no less than the saving of
your souls, and the obtaining the blessed glory of the saints.
Necessity is upon you : these are things that must be done,
or else woe to you that ever you were born : and yet have
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 191
you another day to lose ? Why sirs, if you had a hundred
miles to go in a day or two, upon pain of death, would you
delay ? O think of the work that you have to do, and then
judge whether it be not time to stir !
20. And methinks it should exceedingly terrify you to
consider, what abundance by such delays do perish ; and
how few that wilfully delay are ever converted and saved.
Many a soul that once had purposes hereafter to repent, is
now in misery, where there is no repentance, that will do
them any good. For my part, though I have known some
very few converted when they are old ; yet I must needs say,
both that they were very few indeed, and that I had reason
to believe, that they were such that had sinned before in ig-
norance, and did not wilfully put off repentance, when they
were convinced that they must turn. Though I doubt not
but God may convert even these if he please, yet I cannot
say that I have ever known many, if any such, to be con-
verted. Sure I am that God's usual time is in childhood or
youth, before they have long abused grace, and wilfully de-
layed to turn when they were convinced. Some considera-
ble time I confess many have before their first convictions
and purposes be brought to any great ripeness of perform-
ance ; but O how dangerous is it to delay !
21. Consider also, Either conversion is good or bad for
you : either it is needful or unnecessary. If it be bad, and
a needless thing, then let it alone for altogether. But if you
are convinced that it is good and necessary, is it not better
now, than to stay any longer? Is it not the sooner the bet-
ter? Are you afraid of being safe, or happy too soon? If
you are sick, you care not how soon you are well : if you
have a bone out, you care not how soon it is set : if you fall
into water, you care not how soon you get out : if your
house be on fire, you care not how soon it be quenched : if
you are but in fears by any doubts, or ill-tidings, you care
not how soon your fears be over. And yet are you afraid of
being too soon out of the power of the devil, and the danger
of hell ; and of being too soon the sons of God, and the ho-
ly, justified heirs of heaven ?
22. Consider also, Either you can turn now or not. If
you can, and yet will not, you are utterly without excuse.
If you cannot to-day, how much less will you be able here-
after, when strength is less, and difficulties greater, and bur-
192 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
dens more? Is it not time therefore, to make out to Christ
for strength, and should not the very sense of your disability
dissuade you from delay?
23. Consider, How long you have staid already, and put
God's patience to it by your folly ; hath not the devil, the
world and the flesh, had many years time of your life already ?
Have you not been long enough swallowing the poison of
sin ? And long enough been abusing the Lord that made
you, and the blood of the Son of God, that was shed for you,
and the Spirit of grace, that hath moved and persuaded you?
Are you not yet gone far enough from God, and have you
not yet done enough to the damning of yourselves, and cast-
ing away everlasting life ? O wretched sinners, it is rather
time for you to fall down on your faces before the Lord, and
with tears and groans, to lament it day and night, that ever
you have gone so far in sin, and delayed so long to turn
to him as you have done. Sure, if after so many years'
rebellion, you are yet so far from lamenting il, that you had
rather have more of it, and had rather hold on a little longer
no wonder if God forsake you, and let you alone.
24. Have you any hopes of God's acceptance, and your
salvation, or not? If you have such hopes, that when you
turn, God will pardon all your sins, and give you everlast-
ing life, is it think you an ingenuous thing to desire to of-
fend him yet a little longer, from whom you expect such ex-
ceeding mercy and glory as you do ? Have you the faces to
speak what is in your hearts and practice, and to go to God
with such words as these? ' Lord I know I cannot have the
pardon of one sin, without the blood of Christ, and the riches
of thy mercy ; nor can I be saved from hell without it ; but
yet I hope for all this from thy grace ; I beseech thee let me
live a little longer in my sins, a little longer let me trample
on the blood of Christ, and despise thy commands, and abuse
thy mercies ; a little longer let me spit in the face of thy
goodness, and prefer the flesh and the world before thee,
and then pardon me all that ever I did, and take me into
glory. ? Could you for shame put up such a request to God
as this ? If you could, you are past shame ; if not, then do
not practise and desire that, which you cannot for shame
speak out and request.
25. Moreover, it is an exceeding advantage to you, to
come in to God betimes, and an exceeding loss that you will
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 103
suffer by delay, if you were sure to be converted at last. If
you speedily come in, you may have time to learn, and get
more understanding in the matters of God, than else can be
expected ; for knowledge will not be had but by time and
study. You may also have time to get strength of grace,
when young beginners can expect no more than an infant's
strength ; you may grow to be men of parts and abilities, to
be useful in the church, and profitable to those about you,
when others cannot go or stand, unless they lean on the
stronger for support. If you come in betime, you may do
God a great deal of service ; which in the evening of the
day, you will neither have strength nor time to do. You
may have time to get assurance of salvation, and to be ready
with comfort when death shall call ; when a weakling is like
to be perplexed with doubts and fears, and death is like to
be terrible, because of their unreadiness.
26. And did you ever consider, who and how many do
stay for you while you delay ? Do you know who it is that
you make to wait your leisure ? God himself stands over
you with the offers of his mercy, as if he thought it long till
you return, saying, " O that there were such a heart in them;
and when will it once be ? How long ye simple will ye
love simplicity, and scorners delight in scorning, and fools
hate knowledge ? Turn ye at my reproof;" Deut. v. 29.
Jer. xiii. 17. Prov. i. 22. And do you think it wise, or safe,
or mannerly, for you to make the God of heaven to wait on
you, while you are serving his enemy ? Can you offer God
a baser indignity, than to expect that he should support your
lives, and feed you, and preserve you, and patiently forbear
you, while you abuse him to his face, and drudge for the
flesh, the world, and the devil ? Should a worm thus use the
Lord that made him ? You will not yourselves hold a can-
dle in your hands, while it burns your own fingers ; nor will
you hold a nettle or a wasp in your hand to sting you ; nor
will you keep a dog in your house, that is good for nothing
but to snarl at you, and bite your children, and worry your
sheep ; and yet God hath long held up your lives, while in-
stead of light, you have yielded nothing but a stinking snuff;
and instead of grapes, you have brought forth nothing but
thorns and thistles ; and while you have snarled at his chil-
dren, and his flock, and done the worst you could against
VOL. viii. O
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194 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
him. And would you indeed put God to wait on you thus,
while you serve the devil yet one day more ? Must God as
it were, hold the drunkard the candle while he reels and
spews? Must he draw the curtain, while the filthy wretch
doth once more please his fleshly lusts ? Marvel not, if he
withdraw his supporting mercy, and let such wretches drop
into hell.
And it is not God only, but his servants, and creatures,
and ordinances, that all are waiting on you. The angels
stay for the joy that is due to them upon your conversion.
Ministers are studying, and preaching, and praying for you.
Godly neighbours are praying and longing for your change.
The springs and rivers are flowing for you ; the winds blow
for you ; the sun shines for you ; the clouds rain for you ;
the earth bears fruit for you ; the beasts must labour, and
suffer, and die for you ; all things are doing, and would you
stand still, or else do worse? What haste makes the sun
about the world, to return in its time to give you light !
What haste make other creatures in your service ! And yet
must you delay ? Must God stay, and Christ, and the Spi-
rit slay? Must angels stay, must ministers stay, must the
godly stay, and the ordinances stay, and all the creatures
stay your leisure, while you are abusing God and your souls,
and others, and while you delay, as if it were too soon to
turn ?
27. Consider, That when you were lost, the Son of God
did not delay the work of your redemption. He presently
undertook it, and turned by the stroke of damning justice.
In the fulness of time he came and performed what he un-
dertook ; he failed not one day of his appointed time. And
will you now delay to accept the benefit, and turn to him ?
Must he make such haste to save you at so dear a rate, and
now will you delay to be saved ?
28. Moreover, God doth not delay to do you good. You
have the day and night in their proper seasons ; the sun doth
not fail to rise upon you at the appointed time ; you have
the spring and harvest in their meetest seasons, the former
and latter rain in season. When you are in want you have
seasonable supplies ; and when you are in danger, you have
seasonable deliverance : and is it meet or equal that you
should refuse to bring forth seasonable fruit, but still be
putting off God with your delays ?
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 195
29. Moreover, When you are in trouble and necessity,
you are then in haste for deliverance and relief. Then you
think every day a week, till your danger or suffering be past.
If you be under the pain of a disease, or in danger of death,
or under poverty, oppression, or disgrace, you would have
God relieve you without delay ; and yet you will not turn
to him without delay. Then you are ready to cry out, ' How
long, Lord, how long till deliverance come !' But you will
not hear God when he crieth to you in your sins, ' How long
will it be ere you turn from your transgressions, when shall
it once be V When you are to receive any outward delive-
rance, you care not how soon, the sooner the better ; but
when you are to turn to God, and receive his grace and title
to glory, then you care not how late, as if you had no mind
of it. Can you for shame beg of God to hasten your delive-
rances, when you remember your delays, and still continue
to trifle with him, and draw back?
30. Your present prosperity, and worldly delights, are
posting away without delay ; and should you delay to make
sure of better in their stead? Time is going, and health is
going, youth is going, yea, life is going ; your riches are
taking wing, your fleshly pleasures do perish in the very
using ; your meat and drink is sweet to you little longer
than it is in your throat. Shortly you must part with house
and lands, with goods and friends, and all your mirth and
earthly business will be done. All this you know, and yet
will you delay to lay up a durable treasure which you may
trust upon, and to provide you a better tenement before you
be turned out of this ? What will you do for an habitation,
for pleasures and contents, when all that you have now is
spent and gone, and earth will afford you nothing but a
grave? If you could but keep that you have, I should not
much wonder, that knowing so little of God and another
world, you look not much after it ; but when you perceive
death knocking at your doors, and see that all your worldly
comforts are packing up, and hasting away, me thinks if you
have your wits and sense about you, you should presently
turn, and make sure of heaven, without any more delay.
31. Consider also, Whether it be equal, that you should
delay your conversion, when you can seasonably dispatch
your worldly business, and when your flesh would be pro-
vided for, you can hearken to it without delay. You have
196 DIRECTIONS tO PREVENT
wit enough to sow your seed in season, and will not delay it
till the time of harvest : you will reap your corn when it is
ripe, and gather your fruit when it is ripe, without delay.
You observe the seasons in the course of your labours, day
by day, and year by year : you will not lie in bed when you
should be at your work, nor delay all night to go to your
rest ; nor suffer your servants to delay your business ; you
will know your dinner-time and supper-time, day by day ;
if you be sick, you will seek help without delay, lest your
disease should grow to be incurable. And yet will you de-
lay your conversion, and the making sure of heaven ? Why
sirs, shall these trifles be done without delay, and shall your
salvation be put off? In the name of God, sirs,what do you
think of? Do you imagine that you can better suffer hell-
fire, than hunger or nakedness ? Or that you can better
bear the loss of everlasting joys, than the loss of your com-
modities and provisions in the world ? Sure, if you believe
the life to come, you cannot think so. And can you have
while for every thing, except that one thing, which all the
rest are merely to promote, and in comparison of which they
are all but dreams ? Can you have while to work, to plough,
and sow, and reap, and cannot you have while to prepare
for eternal life ? Why sirs, if you cannot find time yet to
search your hearts, and prepare for death ; turn to God, and
give over eating, and drinking, and sleeping, and say, ' I can-
not have time for these.' You may as wisely say so for
these smaller matters, as the greater.
32. Moreover, if men offer you courtesies, and commo-
dities for your bodies, you will not stand delaying, and need
so many persuasions to accept them. If your landlord
would for nothing renew your lease, if any man would give
you houses, or lands, would you delay so long before you
would accept them ? A beggar at your door will not only
thankfully take your alms, without your entreaty and impor-
tunity, but will beg for it, and be importunate with you to
give it. And yet will you delay to accept the blessed offers
of grace, which is a greater thing?
33. Yet consider, that it is God that is the giver, and you
that are the miserable beggars and receivers : and therefore
it is fitter that you should wait on God, and call on him for
his grace, when he seemeth to delay, and not that he should
wait on you. He can live without your receiving, but you
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 197
cannot live without his giving. The beggar must be glad of
an alms at anytime, and the condemned person of a pardon
at any time ; but the giver may well expect that his gift be
received without delay, or else he may let them go without it.
34. And methinks you should not deal worse with God,
when he comes to you as a physician to save your own souls,
than you would do with a neighbour or a friend, when it is
not for your own good, but for theirs. If your neighbour
lay a dying, you would go and visit him without delay : if he
fell down in a swoon, you would catch him up without de-
lay : if he fell into the fire or water you would pluck him
out without delay : yea, you would do this much by a very
beast. And yet will you delay when it is not another, but
yourselves, that are sinking and drowning, and within a step
of death and desperation? If a woman be but in travail,
her neighbours will come to her without delay ; and yet when
their souls are in bondage to sin and satan, and a state of
death, they will let them lie there, year after year, and when
we desire them to be converted, here is nothing but delays.
35. If yet you perceive not how unreasonable you deal
with God and your souls, I beseech you consider whether
you do not deal worse with him, than you do with the devil
himself. If satan or his servants persuade you to sin, you
delay not so long but you are presently at it. You are ready
to follow every tippling companion or gamester that puts up
the finger : you are ready to go as they invite you : the very
sight of the cup doth presently prevail with the drunkard,
and the sight of his filthy mate prevaileth with the fornica-
tor ; and sin can be presently entertained without delay.
But when God comes, when Christ calls, when the Spirit
moveth, when the minister persuadeth, when conscience is
convinced, we can have nothing after all but wishes and pur-
poses, and promises, with delays. O what a stomach hath
that man, or what a brain, that will snatch at poison, and
swallow dung and dirt with greediness, without any chewing :
and when you offer him meat, stands sighing and looking at
it, and hardly will be persuaded to put it in his mouth, and
if he do, he is chewing it so long, that at last he even spits
it out again, and cannot get it down. Thus deal ungodly
wretches, between their poisonous sins, and the saving means
and grace of Christ.
Nay, more than this, so eager are they on their sin, that
198 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
we are not able to entreat them to delay it. When the pas-
sionate man is but provoked, we cannot persuade him to de-
lay his railing language so long as to consider first of the
issue. We cannot entreat the drunkard to put off his
drunkenness but for one twelve-month, while he trieth
another course : all the ministers in the country, cannot per-
suade the worldling to forbear his worldliness, and the proud
persons their pride, and the ungodly person his ungodliness,
for the space of one month, or week, or day. And yet when
God hath a command, and a request to them, to turn to him,
and be saved, here they can delay without our entreaty.
36. Consider also, that it is not possible for you to turn too
soon ; nor will you ever have cause to repent of your speedi-
ness. Delay may undo you, but speedy turning can do you
no harm. I wonder what hurt you think it can do you, to
be quickly reconciled to God ! And why then should there
be any delay, where it is not possible to be too hasty 2 Do
you think that there is ever a saint in heaven, yea, or on
earth, that is sorry that he staid not longer unconverted ?
No, you shall never hear of such a repentance from the
mouth of any that is indeed converted.
37. But I must tell you on the contrary side, that if ever
you be so happy as to be converted, you will repent it, and
an hundred times repent it, that you delayed so long before
you yielded. O how it will grieve you when your hearts
are melted with the love of God, and are overcome with the
infinite kindness of his pardoning, saving grace ; that ever
you had the hearts to abuse such a God, and deal so unkindly
with him, and stand out so long against that compassion that
was seeking your salvation ! O how it will grieve your
hearts to consider, that you have spent so much of your lives
in sin, for the devil, and the flesh, and the deceitful world !
O you would think with yourselves, ' Was not God more
worthy of my youthful days ? Had I not been better to
have spent it in his service and the work of my salvation 2
Alas ! that I should waste such precious days, and now be
so far behindhand as I am ! Now 1 want that faith, that
hope, that love, that peace, that assurance, that joy in the
Holy Ghost which I might have had if I had spent those
years for God, which 1 spent in the service of the world and
the flesh. Then I might have had the comfort of a well-
spent life, and with joy have now looked back upon those
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 10$)
days, and seen the good I have done to others, and the ho-
nour I had brought to God ; whereas I must now look back
upon all those years with sorrow, and shame, and anguish
of mind.' You will think to yourselves then a hundred times,
' O that I had but that time again to spend for God, which
I spent for sin, and to use for my soul, which I wasted for
my brutish flesh !' Believe it, sirs, if ever you be converted,
you must look for these repenting sorrows for all your delays,
f and that is the best that can come of it). And who would
now wilfully make work for sorrow ?
38. And I pray you consider, whether it belongs of right
to God or you, to determine of the day and hour of your
coming in ? It is he that must give you the pardon of your
sins : and doth it not then belong to him to appoint the time
of your receiving it ? You cannot have Christ and life with-
out him. It is he that must give you the kingdom of heaven ;
and is he not worthy then to appoint the time of your con-
version, that you may be made partakers of it ? But if he
say, • To-day,' dare you say, * I will stay till to-morrow?'
39. Nay, consider whether God or you be likelier to
know the meetest time. Dare you say that you know bet-
ter when to turn than God doth ? I suppose you dare not.
And if you dare not say so, for shame let not your practice
say so. God saith, " To-day, while it is called to-day, hear
my voice, and harden not your hearts." And dare you say,
' It is better to stay one month longer, or one day longer V
God saith, " Behold, this is the accepted time ! Behold,
this is the day of salvation;" 2 Cor. vi.2. And will you
say, ' It is time enough to-morrow ? Do you know better
than God ? If your physician do but tell you in a pleurisy,
or a fever, you must let blood this day before to-morrow,
you will have so much reason as to submit to his under-
standing, and think that he knows better than you. And
cannot you allow as much to the God of wisdom ?
40. Consider also, that the speediness of your conver-
sion when God first calls you, doth make you the more wel-
come, and is a thing exceeding pleasing to God. Our pro-
verb is, A speedy gift is a double gift. If you ask any thing
of a friend, and he give it you presently, and cheerfully at
the first asking, you will think you have it with a good will :
but if he stand delaying first, and demurring upon it, you
will think you have it with an ill-will, and that you owe him
200 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
the smaller thanks. If a very beggar at your door must
stay long for an alms, he will think he is the less beholden
to you. How much more may God be displeased, when he
must stay so long for his own, and that for your benefit ?
God loveth a cheerful giver, and consequently a cheerful
obeyer of his call. And if it be hearty and cheerful, it is
the likelier to be speedy without such delays.
41. And I would desire you but to do with God as you
would be done by. Would you take it well of your children
if they should tea/ all their clothes, and cast their meat to
the dogs, and tread it in the dirt, and when you entreat them
to give over, they will not regard you? Would you stand
month after month, entreating and waiting on them, as God
doth on you, in a more foolish course ? Or rather, would you
not either soundly whip them, or take their meat from them,
till hunger teach them to use it better ? If your servant will
spend the whole day and year in drinking and playing when
he should do your work, will you wait on him all the year
with entreaties, and pay him at last, as if he had served you ?
And can you expect that God should deal so by you ?
42. And consider I pray you, that your delay is a denial,
and so may God interpret it. For the time of your turning-
is part of the command. He that saith, ' Turn,' saith, ' Now,'
even ' To-day,' without delay. He giveth you no longer day.
If time be lengthened, and the offer be made again and again,
that is more than he promised you, or you could have pro-
mised yourselves. His command is, ' Now, Return and Live.'
And if you refuse the time, the present time, you refuse the
offer, and forfeit the benefit. And if you knew but what it
is to give God a denial in such a case as this, and what a
case you were in if he should turn away in wrath, and never
come near you more, you would then be afraid of jesting,
with his hot displeasure, or dallying with the Lord.
43. Methinks you should remember, that God doth not
stay thus on all as he doth on you. Thousands are under
burning and despair, and past all remedy, while patience is
waiting yet upon you. Can you forget that others are in
hell at this very hour, for as small sins as those that you are
yet entangled, and linger in ? Good Lord, what a thing is a
senseless heart ! That at the same time when millions are
in misery for delaying or refusing to be converted, their suc-
cessors should fiercely venture in their steps. Surely if
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 201
faith had but opened your ears, to hear the cries of those
damned souls, you durst not imitate them by your delays.
44. And I must tell you, that God will not always thus
wait on you, and attend you by his patience, as hitherto
he hath done. Patience hath his apppointed time. And if
you outstay that time, you are miserable wretches. I can
assure you, sirs, the glass is turned upon you ; and when it
is run out, you shall never have an hour of patience more.
Then God will no more entreat you to be converted. He
will not always stand over you with salvation, and say, ' O
that this sinner would repent and live ! O that he would
take the mercies that I have provided for him !' Do not
expect that God should do thus always with you ; for it will
not be.
45. Your delays do weary the servants of Christ that are
employed for your recovery. Ministers will grow weary of
preaching to you, and persuading you. When we come to
men that were never warned before, we come in hopes that
they will hear and obey ; and this hope puts life and ear-
nestness into our persuasions. But when we have persuad-
ed men but a few times in vain, and leave them as we found
them, our spirits begin to droop and flag. Much more when
we have preached and persuaded you many years, and still
you are the same, and are but where you were. This dulls
a minister's spirit, and makes him preach heavily and cold-
ly, when he is almost out of heart and hope. I do not jus-
tify ministers in this, and say, they should do thus. I know
they should not ; and if they were perfect, I know they
would not. But they are but men, and imperfect them-
selves ; and what man is able to be lively and fervent in his
work when people stir not, and he sees no good done on the
miserable hearers, as if he had the encouragement of suc-
cess ? O when we do but see the hearts of hardened, stub-
born sinners relent, and break, and melt before the power
of the word ; and when we hear them cry out for Christ and
mercy, and cry out against themselves for their former folly,
and confess their sins, and ask us what they shall do to be
saved, and are but willing to be ruled by Christ, the Physi-
cian of their souls ; this would put life into a preacher that
was cold and dull ; this would even make a stone to speak.
But when we tell men of God's threatenings till they are
past believing them, and tell them of God's anger till they
202 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
seem to be past fearing it, and tell them of the plague of
sin, till they are past feeling ; when, instead of preaching
men to faith, and repentance, and fear, and tenderness of
heart,we preach them into greater unbelief and carelessness,
and dead stupidity ; this is enough to dull or break the heart
of almost any preacher in the world. What man is able to
follow so fruitless a work with liveliness ? And then it is
you that will have the loss and danger of it : when you have
dried the breasts the child may famish. If your preachers
could not awake, and change you with all their convincing
arguments and fervency, how quietly may you sleep on,
when you have flattened them by discouragements. If sa-
tan can either dismount, or make useless these cannons that
were wont to batter his garrison, he may then possess your
souls in peace. You talk against persecutors that silenced
ministers ; but O, sirs, it is you that are our greatest per-
secutors, that refuse and delay to yield to the calls of Christ
by our ministry, and make us labour so much in vain.
Though it be not vain as to our own souls, yet you make it
in vain as to yours. When we have studied till we almost
break our brains, and preached till we have quite broke our
strength, and we are consumed, and worn away with labour
and bodily pains that it procureth, then you come after, and
make us requital by breaking our hearts by your delays, and
refusing to turn and live. Truly, sirs, I must tell you for
my own part, that if it had not been for those that gave me
better encouragement by their obedience, 1 should never
have held out with you a quarter of this time. If all had
profited as little as some, and all had stuck as fast in an un-
converted state as some ; if the humble, penitent, obedient
ones among you had not been my comfort and encourage-
ment under Christ, I had been gone from you many a year
ago, I could never have held out till now. Either my cor-
ruption would have made me run away with Jonas, or my
judgment would have commanded me to shake off the dust
off my feet, as a witness against you, and depart. But to
what end do I speak all this to you ? to what end? Why,
to let you see how you abuse both God and man by your
delays and disobedience. You cannot possibly do us, that
are your teachers, a greater injury or mischief than by thus
delaying your own happiness. Are our studies and our la-
bours worth nothing, think you ? Are our watchings and
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. "203
waiting worth nothing? Are our prayers, and tears, and
groans to be despised ? God will not despise them if you
do. Believe it, he will set them all on your score, and you
will one day have a heavy reckoning of them, and pay full
dear for them. Is it equal dealing with us, that when we
are watching for your souls, as men that must know we must
give an account, you should rob us of our comfort, and make
us do it with sighs and sorrow ? Heb. xiii. 17. Yea, that you
should undo all that we are doing, and make us lose our la-
bour and hopes. And yet do you not think to pay for this ?
I tell you again, unconverted sinners, we are wearied with
your delays. Many years we have been persuading you but
to turn and live, and yet you are unturned ; you have been
convinced long, and thinking on it, and wishing long, and
talking of it, and promising long, and yet it is undone, and
here is nothing but delays. We see while you delay, death
takes away one this week, and another the next week, and
you are passing into another world apace ; and yet those that
are left behind will take no warning, but still delay. We
see that satan delays not while you delay. He is day and
night at work against you. If he seem to make a truce with
you, it is that he may be doing secretly while you suspect
him not. We see that sin delayeth not while you delay.
It is working like poison, or infection in your bodies, and
seizing upon your vital powers ; it is every day blinding you
more and more ; it is hardening your hearts more, and sear-
ing up your consciences to bring you past all feeling and
hope. And must we stand by and see this miserable work
with our people's souls, and all be frustrate, and rejected by
themselves, that we do for their deliverance ? How long-
must we stand by with the light in our hands, while you are
serving the flesh, and neglecting that which we are sent to
call you to ? It is not our business to hold you the candle
to play by, or to sleep by, or to sin by ; these are works that
better agree with the dark. But God sent us to you on an-
other message ; even to light you out of your sins to him,
that you might be saved. Truly, beloved hearers, I must
needs say, that the time seems long, and very long to me,
that I have been preaching so many years to you for con-
version, and for a holy, heavenly life, even since I first knew
you, and that yet so many of you are drowned in sin, and
ignorance, and are unconverted, when I think your very
204 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
consciences tell you that it is a thing that must be done. I
tell you all these years do seem to me a long time to wait
on you in vain. Blessed be the Lord, that it hath not been
in vain with some, or else I would scarce preach any more
than one other sermon to you, even to bid you farewell. I
pray you deal but fairly with us, and tell us whether ever
you will turn or not ; if you will not, but are resolved for sin
and hell, say so, that we may know the worst ; speak out
your minds,thatwe may know what to trust to ; for if we once
knew you would not turn, we would soon have done with
you, and leave you to the justice of God. But if still you
say, you will turn, when will you do it ? You will do it,
and you hope you shall ; but when ? How long would you
have us wait yet ? Have you not abused us enough ? Nay,
I must tell you, that you even weary God himself, it is his
own expression; Mai. ii. 17. Isa. xliii.24. "Thou hast
wearied me with thine iniquities ;" Isa. i. 14. And I must
say to you as the prophet, " Is it a small thing for you to
weary men, but you will weary my God also ;" Isa. vii. 13.
Consider what it is that you do.
46. Consider also, that you are at a constant unspeak-
able loss every day and hour that you delay your conversion.
O how little do you know what you deprive yourselves of
every day ! If a slave in the gallies, or prison, might live at
court as the favourite of the prince, in honour, and delight,
and ease, would he delay either years, or hours? Or would
he not rather think with himself, ' Is it not better to be at
ease, and in honour, than to be here? Asthe prodigal said,
" How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough,
and to spare, and I perish with hunger !" All this while I
might be in plenty, and delight.' All the while that you live
in sin, you might be in the favour of God, in the high and
heavenly employments of the saints ; you might have the
comforts of daily communion with Christ, and with the
saints ; you might be laying up for another world, and might
look death in the face with faith and confidence, as one that
cannot be conquered by it ; you might live as the heirs of
heaven on earth, All this, and more than this, you lose by
your delays. All the mercies of God are lost upon you.
Your food and raiment, your health and wealth, which you
set so much by, all is but lost, and worse than lost, for they
turn to your greater hurt. All our pains with you, and all
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 205
the ordinances of God, which you possess, and all your time,
is lost, and worse. And do you think it, indeed, a wise
man's part, to live any longer at such a loss as this, and that
wilfully, and for nothing ? If you knew your loss you would
not think so.
47. Nay more, you are all this while doing that which
must be undone again, or you will be undone for ever. You
are running from God, but you must come back again, or
perish when all is done. You are learning a hundred car-
nal lessons and false conceits, that must be all unlearned
again ; you are shutting up your eyes in wilful ignorance,
which must be opened again. You must learn the doctrine
of Christ, the great Teacher of the church, if you stay never
so long, or else you shall be cut off from his people : Acts
iii. 22. vii. 37. When you have been long accustoming
yourselves to sin, you must unlearn, and break all those cus-
toms again ; you are hardening your hearts daily, and they
must again be softened. And I must tell you, though a lit-
tle time and labour may serve to do mischief, yet it is not
quickly undone again. You may sooner set your house on
fire, than quench it when you have done : you may sooner
cut and wound your bodies, than heal them again ; and
sooner catch a cold, or a disease than cure it. You may
quickly do that which must be longer in undoing. Besides,
the cure is accompanied with pain : you must take many a
bitter draught, in groans or tears of godly sorrow for these
delays : the wounds that you are now giving your souls,
must smart and smart again, before they are searched and
healed to the bottom. And what man of wisdom would
make himself such work and sorrow? Who would travel
on an hour longer, that knows he is out of the way, and must
come back again ? Would you not think him a madman
that would say, I will go on a little further, and then I will
turn back 1
I know Mr. Bilney the martyr, was offended with this
comparison, because he thought it was against free-grace.
But comparisons extend not to every respect : there are two
things in your sins to be undone ; the one is the guilt, the
other is the habit and the power of sin ; the first indeed is
done away when you are converted, but at the cost of Christ,
which should not be made light of; and yet some scars may
be left behind, and such twigs of God's rod may fall upon
'200 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
you as shall make you wish you had come sooner in. And
for the habit of sin, though conversion break the heart of
it, yet will it live and trouble you while you live : and those
sins that now you are strengthening by your delays, will be
thorns in your sides, and rebels in your country, and give
you work as long as you live. And thus I may well say,
that you are doing that while you delay, that must be long
in undoing, and will not be undone so easily as it is done ;
and you are going on that way, that must be all trod back-
ward.
48. And methinks if it were but this, it should terrify
you from your delays, that it is likely to make your conver-
sion more grievous, if you should have so great mercy from
God, as after all to be converted. There are very few escape
that are so exceeding long in travail ; but if you come to the
birth, it is like to be with double pain. For God must send
either some grievous affliction to fire and frighten you out of
your sins, or else some terrible gripes of conscience that shall
make you groan and groan again, in the feeling of your folly.
The pangs and throes of conscience, in the work of con-
version, are far more grievous in some, than in others. Some
are even on the rack, and almost brought beside their wits,
and the next step to desperation, with horror of soul, and
the sense of the wrath of God ; so that they lie in doubts
and complaints many a year together, and think that they
are even forsaken of God. And to delay your conversion,
is the way to draw on either this or worse.
49. Consider also, That delays are contrary to the very
nature of the work, and the nature of your souls themselves.
If indeed, you ever mean to turn, it is a work of haste, and vio-
lence, and diligence, that you must needs set upon. " You
must strive to enter in, for the gate is strait, and the way is
narrow, that leads to life, and few there be that find it. Ma-
ny shall seek to enter, and shall not be able;" Lukexxxiii.
24, 25. " When once the master of the house is risen up,
and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without,
and knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us, he
shall answer, I know you not whence you are ; depart from
me, all ye workers of iniquity;" ver. 27. It is a race that
you are to run, and heaven is the prize. " And you know
that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the
prize ; and therefore you must so run, as that you may win
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 207
and obtain j" 1 Cor. ix. 24, 25. And what is more contrary
to this than delay ? You are soldiers in fight, and your sal-
vation lieth on the victory ; and will you trifle in such a
case, when death or life is even at hand ? You are travellers
to another world, and will you stay till the day is almost,
past before you will begin your journey? Christianity is a
work of that infinite consequence, and requireth such spee-
dy and vigorous dispatch, that delay is more unreasonable
in this than any thing in the world.
And besides, your souls are spirits of an excellent, ac-
tive nature, that will not be kept idle : and therefore delay
is unsuitable to their excellency. The best and noblest crea-
tures are most active : the basest are most dull, and unfit for
action. The earth will stand still: you may easily keep
clods and stones from moving ; but fire and winds that are
purer things, and the sun, and such nobler, sublimer crea-
tures, you are not able to keep idle for an hour. Who can
cause the sun to delay its course ? or who can stay the as-
cending flames ? And therefore to your more excellent, im-
mortal souls, and that in a work that must needs be done,
how exceeding unsuitable are delays !
50. If all this will not serve turn, let me tell you, That
while you are delaying, your judgment doth not delay; and
that when it comes, these delays will multiply your misery,
and the remembrance of them will be your everlasting tor-
ment. Whatever you are thinking of, or whatever you are
doing, your dreadful doom is drawing on apace, and misery
will overtake you before you are aware. When you are in
the alehouse, little thinking of damnation, even then is your
damnation coming in haste ; when you are drowned in the
pleasures, or cares of the world, your judgment is still has-
tening : you may delay, but it will not delay. It is the say-
ing of the Holy Ghost, (2 Pet. ii.3.) " Whose judgment now
of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumber-
eth not." You may slumber, and that so carelessly that we
cannot awake you, but your damnation slumbereth not, nor
hath done of a long time, while you thought it slumbered ;
and when it comes it will awaken you. As a man that is in
a coach on the road, or a boat on the water, whatever he is
speaking, or thinking, or doing, he is still going on, and
hastening to his journey's end, or going down the stream :'
so whatever you think, or speak, or do, whether you believe
208 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
it, or mock at it, whether you sleep or wake, whether you
remember it, or forget it, you are hastening to damnation,
and you are every day a day nearer to it than before ; and it
is but a little while till you shall feel it. " Behold, the
Judge standeth before the door !" James v. 9. The Holy
Ghost hath told you, "The Lord is at hand;" Phil.iv.5.
" The day is at hand : — the time is at hand : — the end of all
things is at hand;" Rom. xiii. 12. Rev. xxii.10. 1 Pet. iv. 7.
" Behold, saith the Lord, I come quickly, and my reward is
with me, to give to every man according as his work shall
be;" Rev. xxii. 12. And do you, as it were, see the Judge
approaching, and damnation hastening on, and yet will you
delay ?
And withal consider, that when it comes, it will be most
sore to such as you ; and then what thoughts do you think
you shall have of these delays ? You are unable to conceive
how it will torment your consciences, when you see that all
your hopes are gone, to think what you have brought your-
selves to, by your trifling ; to feel yourselves in remediless
misery, and remember how long the remedy was offered you,
and you delayed to use it, till it was too late. To see that
you are shut out of heaven, and remember that you might
have had it as well as others, but you lost it by delay. O
then it will come with horror in your mind, ' How oft was I
persuaded, and told of this ? how oft had I inward motions
to return ? how oft was I purposed to be holy, and to give
up my heart and life unto God 1 I was even ready to have
yielded ; but I still delayed, and now it is too late.' Then
you shall pay for all your warnings, and all the sermons and
motions which you lost.
And now having laid you down no less than fifty moving
considerations, if it be possible to save you from these de-
lays, I conclude with this request to you, whoever you be
that read these words : That you would but consider of all
these reasons, and then entertain them as they deserve.
There is not one of them that you are able to gainsay, much
less all of them. If after the reading of all these, you can
yet believe that you have reason to delay, your understand-
ings are forsaken of God ; but if you are forced to confess
that you should not delay, what will you do then ? Will you
obey God, and your own consciences, or will you not?
Will you turn this hour without delay ? Take heed of de-
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 209
nying it, lest you have never such a motion more. You
know not, but God that calls you to it, may be resolved,
that it shall be now or never. I do beseech you, yea, as his
messenger I charge you in his name, that you delay not an
hour longer, but presently be resolved, and make an un-
changeable covenant with God, and as ever you would have
favour in that day of your distress, delay not now to accept
his favour in the day of your visitation. O what a
blessed family were that, which, upon the reading of this,
would presently say, - We have done exceeding foolishly in
delaying so great a matter so long. Let us agree together
to give up ourselves to God, without anymore delay. This
shall be the day ; we will stay no longer. The flesh, and
the world, and the devil, have had too much already. It is
a wonder of patience that he hath borne with us so long.
We will abuse the patience of God no longer, but begin to
be absolutely his this day.' If this may be the effect of
these exhortations, you shall have the everlasting blessing :
but if still you delay, I hope lam free from the guilt of your
blood.
Direct. XII. The last Direction that I shall give you,
for preventing your miscarriage in the work of conversion,
is this, ' Stop not in weak and wavering purposes and faint
attempts; but see that you be groundedly, unreservedly,
and habitually (or firmly) resolved/
There are many good thoughts and meanings in the soul
before resolution ; but you are not truly converted till you
are resolved, and thus resolved as is here expressed. Here
I shall shew you, i. What this resolution is. u. Why it is
so necessary, m. I shall urge you to resolve. And iv. I
shall direct you in it.
1. Resolution is the firm or prevalent determination of
the will upon deliberation.
In opening this definition, I shall first shew you how we
are led up to resolution by deliberation ; and 2. What is
this deliberation of the will.
1. There are several steps, by which the will doth rise up
to resolution, which I shall set before you. And first it is
presupposed, that in the state of corrupted nature, the soul
is unresolved for God, if not (in many that are exceeding
wicked) resolved against him. At first the sinner doth ei-
VOL. VIII. p
210 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
ther resolve to be as he is, or else he hath no resolution to
return. But God breaks many a wicked resolution, or else
woe to the ungodly ; for there were no hope. Many wicked
wretches have not only neglected their souls, but also re-
solved that they would never lead a holy life, nor ever join
themselves to the communion of saints, nor ever leave their
drunken company, or be so precise, and make so great a mat-
ter of sin as the godly do. When we urge them with the
plainest words of God, and the most unquestionable reasons,
so that they have not a word of sense to speak against it ;
when we have told them of the command of God, and told
them of the certain danger of their souls, they will plainly
tell us that they are resolved never to be so precise. When
they have nothing else to say, but nonsense, they will put
us off with this, That they are resolved to venture their
souls without so much ado. But as resolute as they are,
God will break and change their resolution, and make them
as much resolved of the clean contrary, if ever he will save
them. For woe to them that ever they were born, if he
should take them at their word, and resolve as they resolve !
Now in this case there are many degrees that men go
through, before they come to be resolved for God.
1. The first thing that usually befalleth such a soul, is,
some further light, which shews him that which before he
understood not. 2. This light causeth him to begin to doubt
whether all be so well with him as he thought it had been ;
and whether he were so wise in his former resolutions as he
thought himself. 3. When light hath bred these doubtings in
his mind, these doubtings breed some fears with him, and he
begins to be a little awakened, lest evil be nearer him than
he was aware of, and lest the threatenings of God and
his ministers should prove true. 4. These fears do drive
him to consider of the matter, and to deliberate what he is
best to do : to consider whether these things be so or not,
and what course he must take if they should prove true. 5.
Though sometimes God may bless the very first considera-
tions to be the present means of true conversion, yet that is
no usual thing ; but ordinarily the first considerations do
help the mind to some slight convictions, so that the man
begins to see a great deal more than he did before ; and so
much as puts him now past doubt that he was before mis-
taken, and out of his way. 6. Finding himself in this case
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 211
his fears increase, and his grief comes on for his former folly
and he finds himself in a miserable case, and at a loss for a
remedy. 7. By thus much he is quickened to a purpose or
resolution, to hearken to those that can instruct him, and
inquire of them that he thinks are in the right, and to use
such means as he is acquainted with, to find out what he
must do to be saved. And accordingly he goes among
good company, and begins to hear more diligently and sen-
sibly, and to mark and regard what he hears and reads, and
also to cry to God in prayer for mercy and relief. But all
this is but from the natural fear of misery, awakened in him
by common preparing grace. 8. In the use of these means of
grace, he begins better to understand and relish the doctrine
of redemption by Jesus Christ, and the nature and necessity
of true sanctification by the Holy Ghost. And though
sometimes these evangelical illuminations may be special
saving works at the first, yet it is more usual, especially with
us that are bred up under the Gospel, to have a more super-
ficial, common illumination, before the saving light come in.
And by this common light, men have at first but a general
glimmering and confused knowledge of a Saviour, and of
redemption, and of mercy to be had by him. And sometimes
they have a distinct knowledge of some parts only of the
Christian faith, and sometimes a distinct knowledge and be-
lief of every article ; but only superficial, and not savingly
effectual. 9. By this general or superficial knowledge of
Christ and mercy, a kind of hope ariseth in the heart, that
yet there is a possibility of escape, and a kind of comfort
answerable to this hope. 10. These hopes are accompa-
nied with some desires to understand yet more of the mys-
tery of the Gospel ; and to be made partakers of the saving
mercy of which he hath a confused light. 11. And here-
upon there is further kindled in the will a purpose or resolu-
tion, to go further on in learning, and inquiring into the will
of God, and using his means. And 12. This purpose is per-
formed, and means are further used. And thus far the soul
is but in preparation, and under the common works of grace,
and possibly may fall off and perish. The first degree may
be so stifled, that it shall not reach unto the second ; or the
second so stifled, that it shall not reach unto the third : but
the most common stop is at the third degree ; when men are
a little frightened, they will not follow it on to considera-
212 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
tion : and they that follow consideration diligently, do
usually speed well, and get through all the rest.
But when the soul is brought thus far, if God will save it,
he next proceeds to this much more : (1 .) He giveth a clearer
light into the soul, which giveth a more distinct, or at least
a more piercing, convincing, deep and savoury apprehension
of the essentials of Christianity, than he ever had before.
Where note, of this special heavenly light, 1. That being
usually the consequent of a more common knowledge, there-
fore most ordinarily the sum of Christian doctrine is in some
manner known before. 2. That it doth not reveal only some
one point of faith alone, and then another, and so on ; as if
we savingly knew one essential point of faith, when we have
no saving knowledge of the rest ; for that is a contradiction.
But finding all these truths received in the mind before by
a common knowledge, the special light comes in upon them
all at once ; and shews us the anatomy of Christianity, or
the part of God's image in one frame, as to the essentials.
3. For the understanding of which you must further know,
that there is such an inseparable connection of these truths,
and such a dependance of one upon another, that it is not
possible to know one of them truly, and not know all. For
example, believing in Jesus Christ, is an act so inseparable
from the rest, that (if the essentials of Christianity be not
essential to it) certainly you cannot do this without them.
For to believe in Christ, is essentially to believe in him as
God and man, two natures in one person, by office, the Me-
diator, our Redeemer and Saviour, to save us from guilt and
sin, from punishment and pollution, and to give us by the
Holy Ghost, a holy nature and life, and to give us the for-
giveness of sin and everlasting life, and so to restore us to
the mutual love of God here, and fruition of him hereafter ;
and all this as merited and procured by his death, obedience,
resurrection, ascension, and intercession for his church.
Whether here be all that is essential to Christianity, and ab-
solutely necessary to salvation to be believed, I leave to
consideration; but sure I am, that all this is essential to
saving, justifying faith. And Christ is not taken as Christ,
if he be not thus taken ; for the ends thus enter the defini-
tion of his relation as the Redeemer, and Saviour, and Lord.
So that the love of God as our felicity and end, and the
belief in Christ as the way, are both together in the same mi-
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 213
nute of time, which soever of them be first in order of nature ;
(which is a question that I dare not here so unseasonably
handle).
(2.) Upon this special illumination of the soul, and the
special consideration with which it doth concur, the delibe-
rating soul is presently resolved. And in these two acts
which always go together, consisteth the special sanctifying
work: even in the illumination and estimation of the under-
standing, and in the true resolution of the will.
2. The determination of the will is its own free act, per-
formed by its natural self-determining power, procured by
the special grace of God, (I mean in this special case) it fol-
loweth deliberation. While we are unresolved, we delibe-
rate what to resolve upon ; that is, we are considering which
is best and most eligible, and which not ; and as we practi-
cally judge, we use to determine and to choose. And when
this choice after deliberation is peremptory and full, it is
called resolution.
So that my meaning is to let you understand, that when
the matter of our faith is set open to the soul, it is not a wa-
vering, fickle purpose, that is a saving closure with it, but
it must be a firm resolution. Much less will it ever bring a
man to heaven, to be thinking and deliberating what to do,
as long as he is unresolved. And now I shall prove the ne-
cessity of this.
ii. Till you are resolved, you are not converted, and
that appeareth by these evidences: 1. If you are not firmly
resolved, it is certain that you do not firmly believe ; for
such as your belief is, such will be the effects of it upon the
will. An unsound opinionative belief, will produce but tot-
tering, languishing purposes ; but a firm belief will cause a
firm resolution of the will. And if your belief be unsound,
you must confess you are unconverted.
2. Moreover, if you do not esteem God above all crea-
tures, and heaven above earth, and Christ and grace above
sin, you are certainly unconverted. But if you have such a
true estimation, you will certainly have a firm resolution ;
for you will resolve for that which you highly esteem.
3. If God have not your firm resolution, he hath not in-
deed your heart and will ; for to give God your hearts and
wills, is principally by firm resolving for him ; and if God
have not your hearts, you are surely unconverted.
214 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
4. Moreover, if you are not firmly resolvtil, your affec-
tions will not be sincere and steadfast ; for all the affections
are such as to their sincerity, as the will is, which doth ex-
cite or command them. And nothing is more mutable than
the affections in themselves considered ; they will be hot
to-day, and cold to-morrow, if they be not rooted in the
firm resolution of the will, which is the life of them.
5. Lastly, without a firm resolution, there can be no
faithful obedience and execution of the will of God. For if
men be not resolved, they will heavily go on, and lazily pro-
ceed, and easily come off; for their hands go to work with-
out their hearts. It is the greatest work in all the world,
that God calls you to ; and none but the resolved are able
to go through with it. Of which we shall give you a fuller
account anon.
in. In the next place, let me entreat you in the fear of
God, to look after this great and necessary part of your con-
version. There are many degrees of good motions in the
mind ; but all that falls short of resolution is unsound.
Many are brought to doubt whether all be well with them,
and to have some fears thereupon, that yet will not be
brought so far as to consider soberly of the matter, and de-
liberate what is best to be done, and to advise with their
ministers for the furthering of their salvation. Many that
are persuaded so far as to consider, and deliberate, and take
advice, yet go no further than some cold wishes or purposes,
which are all overcome by the loye of the world, and the
power of their sins. Many that do proceed to some kind of
practice, do only take a taste or an essay of religion, to try
how they can like it ; and begin some kind of outward re-
formation, without any firm resolution to go through with
it : or, if their purposes seem strong, it is but occasioned by
something without, and not from a settled habit within. All
these are short of a state of special saving grace, and must
be numbered with the unconverted.
It is a common and very dangerous mistake, that many
are undone by, to think that every good desire is a certain
sign of saving grace ; whereas you may have more than bare
desires, even purposes, and promises, and some perform-
ances, and yet perish for want of resolution and regenera-
tion. Do you think that Judas himself had not some good
desires, that followed Christ so long, and preached the Gos-
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 215
pel i Do you think that Herod had not some good desires,
that heard John so gladly, and did many things accordingly?
Agrippa had some good desires, when he was almost per-
suaded to be a Christian. They that for a time believe,
have sure some good desires, and more ; Matt. xiii. 20. And
so had the young man, that went away sorrowful from Christ,
when he could not be his disciple, unless he would part with
all that he had ; Luke xviii. 23. Matt. xix. 22. And doubt-
less those had more than good desires, " that had known
the way of righteousness, and had escaped the pollutions of
the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ ;" 2 Pet. ii.20, 21. And so had those, Heb.x.
26. 29. " that had received the knowledge of the truth, and
were sanctified by the blood of the covenant ;" and those,
Heb. vi.4 — 6. " that were once enlightened, and tasted of
the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy
Ghost, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of
the world to come." And sure Ananias and Sapphira had
more than some good desires, when they sold all, and brought
half the price to the apostles.
Believe it, sirs, there are none of your desires or endea-
vours that will serve turn, to prove you in a state of grace,
unless they be accompanied with firm resolution. Be it
known to you, that you are unconverted, if you are not ha-
bitually resolved. And therefore I must here entreat you
all, to put the question close to your hearts, ' Are you re-
solved, firmly resolved, to give up yourselves and all to
Christ, and to be wholly his, and follow his conduct, or are
you not V The question is not, ' What good meanings, or
wishes, or purposes you may have ;' but, ' Whether you are
resolved, and firmly resolved V Take heed, sirs, what you
venture your souls upon : God will not be dallied with, nor
be deceived. He will have no unresolved, false-hearted ser-
vants.
Before I proceed to urge you further, I shall here tell you
what kind of resolution it must be, that will prove a man
converted ; and then I shall give you such motives as should
persuade you to it.
It is not all kinds of resolution that will serve turn ; but
it is only that which hath these following properties, that
will evidence a state of grace.
1. As to the matter, it must be the whole essence of
216 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
Christianity, that must be resolved on. It must be no less
than a closing with God as your chiefest happiness, to be
loved above all, and as your chiefest Lord to be obeyed be-
fore all ; and a closing with Jesus Christ as your only Sa-
viour, your Teacher, and your Lord; to bring your hearts
again to God, and reconcile you to him ; and a closing with
the Holy Ghost as your Sanctifier, to make you a holy peo-
ple, and cleanse you from all your sin of heart and life, and
guide you by the ministry, word and ordinances, to ever-
lasting life. Thus must you resolve to deliver up yourselves
to God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, to be made a pe-
culiar people, zealous of good works. Should you be never
so resolute in some point of religion, and as Ananias to give
God half, and to become half religious, and half holy, and
half heavenly, this is to be but half Christians, and will not
bring you half way to heaven. It is entire Christianity that
must be resolved on.
2. You must also be resolved for present obedience, and
to turn without any more delay ; and not only resolve to
turn to-morrow, or sometime hereafter. No resolution is
sincere in this case, if it be but for the future ; if you had
rather stay but one day or hour longer in the state of sin,
and service of the flesh, you are no true disciples of Christ,
though you should be resolved to turn to-morrow.
3. And your resolution must be absolute and peremptory,
not only without any secret reserves, but positively against
any such reserves. Here it is that hypocrites commonly fall
short. They see they must mend, and they are convinced
that a holy life is necessary, and they resolve hereupon to
change their course, and turn religious, but either it is with
this secret reserve, ' Provided always that I look to my cre-
dit, or estate, or life, whatever I do ; and provided that I go
no further in religion than will stand with these ; provided
that godliness be not my undoing in the world.' Or else, if
he have not actually such thoughts, he hath them always
virtually and habitually : he is not resolved against such re-
serves ; he hath not considered that Christ will have no dis-
ciples that cannot and will not part with all ; and that if he
hope for heaven, he must not look for a treasure on earth,
but only pass through the world as a traveller, or labour in
it as the harvest of the Lord, in expectation of a reward and
rest hereafter ; and so resolved to take Christ on these self-
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 217
denying terms. But he that will be saved, must be thus re-
solved ; even to sell all, to buy the invaluable pearl ; Matt,
xiii. 46, 47. To make sure of heaven, though he lose all on
earth by it ; to lay up his hopes in the life to come, and ven-
ture and let go all rather than those hopes ; to take Christ
absolutely upon his own terms, for better and worse, as be-
ing certain that there is no other way to life, and that there
is no danger of losing by him. The hypocrite is like a man
that when he delivereth up possession of his house, will
make his bargain that he will keep this room or that room
to himself, for his own use. Or like a servant that will not
be hired, but on condition that his master shall not set him
to such and such work that he loves not ; but Christ will
have no such servants ; you must deliver up all to him, or
he will accept of none ; you must give him leave to make
his conditions for you, and tell yon on what terms you must
serve him, and wholly refer the matter to him, even for life
itself, and not offer to put conditions upon him, and think
to bring him to any terms of yours. It is not true resolu-
tion unless it be absolute and unreserved, and against all re-
serves; yea, and that also as to perseverance ; that you re-
solve to give up yourselves finally as well as totally, not on-
ly without any reserve of a revocation, but against any such
revocation : it must not be a coming to Christ upon essay,
or mere trial that if he like it he will stand to it, but he must
make an unchangeable, everlasting covenant ; it must be
part of your covenant, that you will never revoke it.
4. Moreover, your resolution must be well grounded ;
you must know what the essentials are of that religion which
you resolve on, and you must be moved to it by right and
weighty considerations ; and go upon reasons that will hold
up your resolution. For should you resolve on the most
necessary work (as this is) upon mistakes, or wrong, or in-
sufficient, as the will of man, the custom of the country, the
reputation of Christianity, or only such like ; there is no
likelihood that your resolution should endure, and it is not
sincere while it doth endure.
5. Your resolution must be accompanied with a sense of
your own insufficiency, to stand to it immutably, and exe-
cute it faithfully by your own strength ; as knowing the
corruption and deceitfulness of your own hearts. And it
must be strengthened and supported by a confidence or de-
*2 IB DIK ACTIONS TO PREVENT
pendence on the sufficiency of Christ, on whose grace and
Spirit you must rely, both for the continuing, and the per-
forming of your resolutions ; as knowing, that without him
you can do nothing, but that you can do all things (neces-
sary) through Christ strengthening you.
6. Lastly, your resolution is not savingly sincere, unless
it be habitually. It is a very hard question, how far some
moving exhortation, or the approach of death in sickness,
may prevail with the unsanctified for an actual resolution ;
undoubtedly very far. But that is a man's mind and will
which is habitually his mind and will. When the very in-
clination and bent of your will is right, then only is your
heart right. A bowl may, by a rub, or bank, be turned con-
trary to the bias ; but when it is over the rub, it will fol-
low the bias again. So the soul is, when hindered from
ascending a little while, but when it is got over the stop, it
will be mounting upward. A stone will move upwards
against its nature, while it is followed by the strength of the
hand that cast it ; but when the strength is spent, it will
quickly fall again. It is not an extraordinary act, that you
can try yourselves by, but such a free course and tenor of
your lives, as will prove that you have a new nature, or a
heart inclined and habituated to God. The main business,
therefore, is, to prove that you are habitually resolved. Set
all these together now, and you may see what resolution it
is that must prove you to be converted. 1. It must be a
resolution for all the essence of Christianity, and not only
some part. 2. It must be a resolution for present obedience,
and not only for some distant time to come. 3. It must be
an absolute, peremptory resolution, without and against
reserves for the flesh, both total and final, without and
against any revocation. 4. It must be soundly grounded,
and moved by right principles. 5. It must be joined with
a humble sense of your insufficiency, and a dependence on
Christ, for continuing and performing it. And 6. It must
be habitual, and such as sets right the bent and drift of
heart and life. All this is of necessity.
Well, sirs, you see now what you must do ; the next
question then is, What you will do. A great many of mo-
tions God hath made to you, to let go your worldliness and
wickedness, and become new creatures, and live to God ;
and never could you be got to resolve and obey them.
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 219
Many thoughts you have had of it, I suppose, and long you
have been purposing that, turn you would, but all have come
to little or nothing, because you were never fully resolved.
I am once more sent to you on this message from God, to
see whether yet you will resolve. Whether, after all your
trifling delays, and after all your wilful sinning, and abuse
of God's patience, against your own knowledge and consci-
ences, you will yet resolve. What say you? Shall God be
your Master indeed ? And shall Christ be your Saviour and
Lord? Shall heaven be your happiness, and have your
hearts indeed ? Shall holiness be your business indeed, and
shall sin be your hatred, and the flesh, and the world be
your enemies indeed ; and used accordingly, from this day
forward without any more ado ? I beseech you, sirs, resolve,
and fully resolve.
And because I know if we prevail not with you in this,
you are undone for ever ; and, therefore, I am loath to let
you go before we have brought you, if it may be, to resolve ;
I will give you here some considerations to turn the scales,
and if you will but read them, and soberly consider of them,
I shall have great hope to prevail with you yet, after all.
One would think, that the fifty considerations under the last
Direction, might suffice. But lest all should be too little,
I will add these following :
1. Consider, I beseech you, what leisure you have had to
think of the matter. You have lived many years in the
world already, and you have had nothing to do in it, but to
seek after true happiness. Even your worldly labours ought
to have been all but in order to this ; and yet are you unre-
solved? Alas, sirs, have you lived some twenty, some
thirty years and more in the world, and yet are you not re-
solved ? What came you hither for, or what have you to do
here ? Is it twenty, or thirty, or forty years, since you set
out, and should by this time have been far on your journey,
and are you yet unresolved whither to go, or which way to
go? as if you were newly entering the world, or as if you
had never heard of your business. I think so many years
are a fair time of consideration, and it is time to be resolved,
if you will resolve at all.
2. And I pray you consider, what helps you have had to
to have resolved you before this. If you did not know what
you had to look after,and which way to take, you should have
220 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
inquired ; you had the word of God to advise with ; and
many experienced Christians to advise with. You wanted
not for the wisest, faithfulest counsellors, if you had been but
willing and diligent, certainly you might have been resolved
long ago.
3. And consider, I beseech you, what a case it is that
you are unresolved in. Is it so hard a question, that all this
time, and all these helps cannot resolve you? What ! whe-
ther God, or the flesh should be first obeyed, and loved ?
Whether heaven or earth, eternal glory or the transitory
pleasures of sin should be preferred ? Whether you should
care and labour more to be saved from sin and hell, or from
poverty and worldly crosses and reproaches ? These and
such like, are the questions to be resolved ; and are these so
hard, that all the wit, and all the advice you can have from
Scripture and ministers, would not serve turn to help you
to a resolution, no, not in twenty or thirty years' time ?
O wonderful! that ever the devil should be able so to be-
fool men ! That reasonable creatures should be so phrene-
tic, that they cannot be resolved whether it be better to be
saved, or be damned ? Or whether sin, with hell after it,
be better than holiness with heaven after ! The Lord have
mercy upon the poor distracted world, and bring some more
of them to their wits ! We have wise men, if themselves
may be judges, very wise in their own conceit, that know
many great matters in the world, and yet do not practically
know whether God or the devil be the better master ; whe-
ther sin or holiness be the better work, and whether heaven
or hell be the better wages ! If they say they know these
things, judge by their lives whether they know them practi-
cally or not. Resolve they will not for God, and holiness,
and heaven, nor against the flesh, the world, and sin, what-
ever they may be brought to confess to their self-condem-
nation. Is it not a pitiful case, that such points as these
should seem so hard to reasonable men, as to be so long in
resolving of them ?
4. And I pray you consider, how horribly by this you
disgrace your understandings. You that cannot abide to be
derided as sots and fools in the world, do yet abuse your-
selves thus grossly, as if there were never greater sots upon
the earth. We have proud men that are so high in their
own eyes, that they can hardly endure contempt from others,
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 221
and love almost none that think but meanly and dishonour-
ably of them ; and yet what a horrible contempt and disho-
nour do they cast upon themselves. If one of these, our
wise neighbours, should study seven years to know whether
the sea be fire or water; whether a mountain be heavy; whe-
ther the fire be hot or cold ; and could not be resolved after
so many years consideration, what would you think and say
of these wise men? Why, sirs, it is far grosser folly, I tell
you again, it is far grosser folly to be unresolved whether
you should be holy or unholy ; which is, in plain English,
whether it be better to go to heaven or to hell. For faith and
holiness is the way to heaven ; and an unholy life is the way
to hell. And if you will needs forsake the way to heaven,
you may hope to come thither as long as you will ; but you
may as well hope to touch the moon with your finger, or
run up and down with a mountain on your backs. And if
you will hold on in the way to hell, that is, in an unsancti-
fied state, you may say you hope for all that to escape hell,
even as wisely as to leap into the sea, and say, * I hope to
escape drowning me, as well as you.' Sirs, I beseech you,
do not abuse God, and abuse Christ, and the Spirit, and
Scripture, and withal abuse your immortal souls for I know
not what ; for a stinking sin ; for a thing of naught. Your
souls are noble creatures, and your understandings are no-
ble faculties. Why will you expose them to be the scorn
of satan, and make them so base and sottish as you do ?
You can see the folly of a poor drunkard, that will make a
beast of himself, and go reeling and talking nonsense about
the street for the boys to hoot at him, and make himself the
laughing-stock of the town. And, I pray you, why do you
not understand, that till you are resolved for a holy, heaven-
ly life, you are all drunk, while you think yourselves to be
sober. You are as miserable as the other, and more in this,
that yours is in your natures, and theirs is but an accident;
yours is continued, and theirs (in that particular) but by fits.
In the name of God, sirs, bethink you, whether you can pos-
sibly more disgrace your wits, than to be unresolved of a
case as plain as the highway, and which your everlasting
salvation or damnation lieth on. If one of you could not,
in twenty years, be resolved whether the sun be light or dark ,
or the day or the night be fitter for rest ; or whether it be
better to plough and sow, or let all alone, and hope God will
222 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
give you a crop without labour ; would you take this for a
wise man ? Again I tell you, your folly is more gross, that
cannot all this while be resolved, whether you should cast
away your wilful sins, and give up yourselves to Christ, and
a holy life, to obtain the glory, and escape the misery that
is hard at hand. If you stood up to the neck in water, or
stood but in a storm of rain, you would not be so long in
deliberating, whether it were better for you to stay there
longer or come out. If your finger were but in the fire, you
need not so long a deliberation, whether you should take it
out. And yet these wise men are under many thousand un-
pardoned sins, and under the curse of the law of God, and
within a step of everlasting fire, and have no way possible
to escape, but by conversion, faith, and holiness ; and this
God hath told them, as plain as the tongue of man can
speak, and yet they are considering of it, whether it be best
to come out of it ; and yet they cannot be resolved. Did I
say they are considering ? Nay, the Lord be merciful to
them, they are so dead-hearted and besotted, that they do
not so much as seriously consider of it, but even run on
without consideration. Ah, poor wretches ! they are ready
to go to another world, and may look every day when the
bell tolls for them, and when death will bring them to their
endless life, and yet they have not wit enough to resolve
whether they should make ready ; no, nor wit enough in
their most careless, worldly state, to know that they are un-
ready. Death is coming, and judgment is coming, and the
burning wrath of God is coming, and are even at the door ;
and yet these wise men are unresolved of that only way
that is of absolute necessity to their safety ; they must have
more time yet to consider of the matter, whether it be best
for them to turn or no. They stand at the very brink of
hell ; and yet they must further consider of it, whether it be
better to turn back or go on. Nay, they will go on without
consideration ! And yet these men would take it heinously,
if one should lay hands on them, and carry them to Bedlam,
or but tell them of the hundredth part of the sottishness
that they are guilty of.
5. And it is further considerable, that these men that are
all this while unresolved about their conversion and sancti-
fication, have wit enough to resolve of more doubtful and
less necessary matters, without any such advising or delays :
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 223
and they are men of ordinary parts and capacities for the
matters of this world. They can eat when they are hungry,
and drink when they are thirsty, without a twelvemonth's
time to advise first on it. They can resolve to go to bed at
night, and to rise in the morning, without a year's or a day's
deliberation. If they have any thing to buy or sell, they
will not deliberate upon it till the market be past ; if they
have land to plough, or their corn to sow, or reap, or mow,
they will not take a twelvemonth's time to pause upon it.
They can quickly resolve upon every day's business, their
travels, their labours, and all their ordinary affairs. And
yet these same men cannot resolve in seven years' time, and
seven to that, whether heaven or earth should be more loved
and laboured for? Or whether a corruptible flesh, a wicked
fancy, a greedy throat, should be pleased before the God of
heaven, though the pleasing of them cost them the loss of
their salvation ?
Why, sirs, a man that is well in his wits, would think that
these matters should be more out of doubt than the former,
and more speedily resolved on. One would think it should
be an easier question, whether you should turn to God and
a holy life, for the saving of your immortal souls ? than whe-
ther you should eat or drink, or sleep, for the preservation
of your bodies ? For I can, in many cases, bring some rea-
son that should persuade you to forbear eating or drinking,
or sleeping for a considerable time. But no man breathing
can speak a word of reason (except men's folly should be
called reason) that should persuade you to forbear your con-
version for a minute. And if you mistake about these bo-
dily matters, the loss may be repaired, at least in the world
to come. But if you die before you are resolved, and firm-
ly resolved, to give up your soul and body to Christ, and
live a holy, heavenly life, you are undone, body and soul for
ever, and all the world can never save you.
O what a strange and horrible thing is it, that a man that
hath the wit to manage his affairs as plausibly as any of his
neighbours, that can overwit others in the matters of the
world ; that can govern towns and countries ; that is learned
in his profession, in law, in physic, in merchandise, in na-
vigation, or any the like : I say that a man of so deep a
reach, so plodding and active a wit as this, should yet be un-
resolved, yea, at thirty or forty years old be unresolved,
224 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
whether to be sanctified or unsanctified, whether to be holy
and be saved, or be unholy, though God hath expressly said,
that such shall not see the face of God ; Heb. xii. 14.
These are our wise men, these are too many (besides the ig-
norant countrymen,) of our gentlemen, our worshipful and
honourable men, our great scholars, and men of noble or re-
verend esteem ; that yet are unresolved, whether to be saved
or to be damned. Though God hath written a Bible to re-
solve them, and a thousand books are written to resolve them,
and preachers are studying and preaching to resolve them ;
and a thousand mercies are cast into the scales that one would
think should help to turn them ; and some sharp afflictions
are helping to resolve them, and twenty or forty years' cer-
tain experience of the vanity of this world, the deceitfulness of
riches, and honour, and pleasure, and the unprofitableness of
sin, one would think should resolve them ; yet after all this
they are unresolved whether they should presently let go
their sin, and whether God or the flesh should be pleased
or displeased ? If this be the wisdom of these men, the
Lord bless me and all his chosen from such wisdom!
6. Nay consider further of your unreasonable wicked-
ness : are not many of your judgments resolved, when yet
your hearts and wills are not reselved ? I am confident, nay,
I am certain it is so : you are at once both resolved and un-
resolved. What a confusion and war do you thus make in
your own souls? The judgment is for one thing, and the
will and affections are for another thing. What, are you not
led by reason? Will you let out your affections, and lead
your lives quite contrary to your knowledge ? Would not
most of you give it me as your judgments under your hands,
that it is a thousand times better to cast away your drun-
kenness, your filthiness, your worldliness, and your known
sins, than to keep them any longer ? What say you ? Are
you not convinced that it were your wisest course to part
with them this very day and hour ? Undoubtedly many of
you are. And yet for all this, will you not resolve to do it?
Are you not persuaded in your own consciences, that it is
better to die in a holy, and heavenly state, than in a loose,
and careless worldly state ? And that it were your safest
and wisest course to become new men, and lead a holy, hea-
venly life without delay ? Dare you deny this ? Is it not
your judgment? And yet will you not do it ? Are you re
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 225
solved that it should be done, and must be done, and yet
will you not resolve to do it? Why, what is this but to be
condemners of yourselves? To carry a judge about with
you in your own breasts, that is still passing sentence against
you ? " Happy is he," saith the Spirit of God, (Rom. xiv.
22.) " that condemneth not himself in that which he allow-
eth." If your judgments be resolved, let your wills re-
solve, or else you are wilful adversaries of the light, and
fight against reason, and unman yourselves, and sinning wil-
fully against your knowledge, shall be beaten with many
stripes.
7. Methinks also, it should somewhat quicken you to
resolve, when you consider what a case you had now been
in, if death had found you unresolved. For if you are un-
resolved, you are unsanctified ; and if not sanctified, you
are not pardoned, or justified; and, therefore, undoubtedly
you had been past all help, in endless misery, if you had
died all this while, before you were firmly resolved for God.
O what a dangerous, ticklish condition have you stood in
all this while? What wise man would live an hour in such
a case for all the world, for fear lest that hour should be his
last? And yet would you stay longer in it? and still are
you unresolved ?
8. Believe it, Christ will not own you as his servants,
nor trust you, whatever promises you may make him, as long
as you are unresolved.
Who will take a servant that is not resolved to do any
service ? Who will take an unresolved person if he knows
it, as a wife, or a friend, into his intimate love ? And in-
deed you are not truly Christians till you are resolved to
take Christ for better and worse. Whatever state is short
of this, is also short of true sanctification, and will fall short
of heaven. Christ is resolved to stick to his servants, and
he will have no servants that be not resolved to stick to him.
9. And indeed if you be unresolved, as you are false-
hearted at the first setting out, so it is certain that you will
never go well on, nor endure to the end in case of trial, nor
can you do the business of a Christian's life, without reso-
lution. If you will be Christ's disciples, you must reckon
upon persecutions ; you must take up your cross and follow
him ; you must be hated of all men for his sake and the
VOL. VIIT. Q
22ti DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
Gospel's ; and you must prepare for prison, and fire, and
sword : there is no hope of being saved, while you purpose
to save your pleasures, riches, liberties or lives ; Matt. xvi.
25. Mark viii. 35. Luke ix. 24. And will a man that is
unresolved forsake his friends, estate, and life for the sake
of Christ and the hopes of glory ? He cannot do it. I know
that a carnal, ungrounded resolution may deceive a man in
the day of trial, when the self-suspecting, fearful Christian
may hold out; but yet without a humble, self-denying re-
solution, joined with an adherence to Christ for strength,
there is no man will hold out. " If thou be a wavering-
minded man, thou wilt be unsteadfastinall thy ways ;" James
i. 8. If thou be not resolved, the words of a man's mouth
will turn thee out of the way ; the very mocks and scorns of
a drunkard, or a fool that hath no understanding in the
matters of salvation, will make thee shrink and hide thy
profession, and be ashamed of Christ, in whom alone thou
hast cause to glory. If thou be not a resolved man, what
better can be expected, but that thou turn as the weather-
cock with every wind, and tit thy religion to thy worldly
ends, and as another Judas, sell thy Lord for a little money.
If thou fall not away, it will be but for want of a trial to pro-
cure it ; and therefore in God's account thou art gone
already ; because thy resolution was never with it. •
When you turn to God, there will remain within you the
remnants of your corruption, a body of death, a rebelling
flesh ; and this will be still tempting you, and drawing you
from God. O how strong do these temptations seem to the
soul that is unresolved ! Yea, without a firm habitual reso-
lution, it is impossible to overcome them. Your whole way
to heaven is a continual warfare ; you have enemies that will
dispute every foot of the way with you. There is no going
a step forward, but as the ship doth in the sea, by cutting
its way through the waves and billows ; and as the plough
doth in the earth, by cutting through the resisting soil.
There is self, which is your principal enemy, and there is
satan, and the world, and almost all that you meet with in
it, will prove your hinderers ; and you must make your way
by valour and holy violence through all : and will an unre-
solved man do this ? You will scarce ever bow your knee
to God in secret prayer, nor set yourselves upon serious me-
ditations, but the flesh and the devil will be drawing you off;
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 227
you will never attempt a faithful reproof, a liberal work of
charity, a hazardous confession of Christ, or any dangerous
or costly duty, but the flesh and the devil will plead against
it, and put you to it. And in these and in many such cases
of your lives, you will never breakthrough, nor do any good
on it, without resolution. Do I need to tell you how hard
the way of salvation is, that fly from it on mistake, because
you think it harder than it is? Do I need to tell you how
false you will prove to Christ, if you have not resolution ;
that you know it by your ordinary, miserable experience,
that a poor temptation will make you sin against your know-
ledge ? How many good wishes and purposes have you had
already, in sickness, or at a lively sermon, that are all come
to nothing, for want of a firm habituate resolution ! What
abundance of timeservers, and of chaffy professors are late-
ly fallen off to the way of rising and riches in the world, or
to the pride and giddy levity of dividers, that oppose the
truth of God, and their teachers, and trouble the church, and
all because they were never well rooted by a sound resolu-
tion ! They that take Christ but upon liking, do usually
dislike him when he calls them to self-denial ; for they had
never that connatural principle that should effectually dis-
pose their souls to like him ; nor had they ever the inward
experiences of power and sweetness, which are proper to
the sincere, and should increase their liking of him. Either
resolve therefore, or stand by and perish.
10. I beseech you consider also, What abundance of
clear undeniable reasons doth God give in to thee, to turn
the scales, and cause thee to resolve. He fetcheth reasons
from his own dominion and sovereignty. Should not a crea-
ture obey the Lord that made him ? He reasoneth with you
from his daily preservations. Do you live upon him, and
should you not obey him ? He reasoneth with you from his
almightiness : you are all at his mercy, and wholly in his
hands ; and yet dare you disobey him ? He reasoneth with
you from his love and goodness ; never did evil come from
him ; nor did he ever do any wrong ; never was there man
or angel that was a loser by him ; it is not possible to have
so good a master, and yet will you not obey him? He fetch-
eth reasons from all his mercies ; every bit of bread is from
him, and should be an argument with thee to obey him :
every day's health, and strength, and comforts, and every
228 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
night's rest and ease ; thy mercies at home, thy mercies
abroad, in private, and in public ; all should be so many ar-
guments with thee to resolve. You cannot look upon a
plant or a flower under your feet, upon the sun or a star that
is over your heads, or upon any creature, but you may see
so many reasons that should move you to resolve. Kail
these will not serve, he fetcheth yet stronger reasons from
the incarnation, example, and blood of the Son of God :
canst thou look on God incarnate for sin, combating with
satan, and conquering for thee, and dying, and bleeding,
and buried for thy sin : and yet be unresolved to leave that
sin, and turn to him that hath bought thee by his blood ?
If all this will not serve, he reasoneth with thee from thy
own benefit. If thou care not for God, dost thou care for
thyself? Dost thou regard thy own soul ? If thou dost, it
is high time to resolve. He reasoneth with thee from ever-
lasting glory. Is a certain kingdom, and everlasting glo-
rious kingdom nothing to thee ? Art thou content to be
thrust out of that eternal inheritance ? Is the filthy
pleasure of the flesh for a few hours, better than the endless
joys of the saints ? He pleads also with thee from the dan-
ger that thou art near. Poor soul ! thou little seest what
others see, that are dead before thee. Thou little knowest
what they feel, that died before they were resolved for God.
He fetcheth his reasons from the certain and everlasting
flames of hell ; and is there not force enough in these for to
resolve thee ? Good Lord ! what a thing is a senseless sin-
ner ! Dost thou believe heaven and hell as thou takest on
thee to do ? If thou dost believe them, is it possible for
thee believingly to think of heaven and its eternal glory, and
yet to be unresolved whether to turn or not? Or canst
thou think of the endless miseries of the damned, and yet be
unresolved whether to turn or not ? Can any heart be so
senseless or deluded?
Moreover, he pleadeth with thee from the equity and
sweetness of his service. It is but to love him, and to seek
his kingdom, and forbear those things that hurt thy soul.
His commands are not unreasonable or grievous. Darest
thou speak out and say, that sin is better, and that satan
hath provided thee a better work than God hath done ? He
reasoneth with thee also from his wisdom and his justice.
He tells thee, that as satan hath nothing to do with thee, and
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 229
as he is none of thy friends, and meaneth thee not so well as
God doth, so he is not able to prescribe thee a more just
and perfect law than God hath done. Follow God, and thou
art sure thou shalt never be deceived or misled ; for he
wanteth not wisdom, or power, or goodness to be a meet
lawgiver and guide : but if thou follow the devil, the world
or the flesh, thou followest a blind and deceitful guide. And
yet after all these reasons, art thou not resolved?
He reasoneth with thee also from thy own experience :
What good hath sin done thee ? and what hurt would holi-
ness do thee ? Yea, he reasons with thee from the experience
of all the world. Who was ever the better for sinning ? and
who was ever the worse for holiness ? How long will thy
fleshly delights endure? What will this do for thee in thy
extremity ? Was ever man made happy by it ? Thou know-
est well enough thou must shortly leave it ; and that it will
forsake thee in thy greatest need ; but so would not God, if
thou hadst resolvedly given up thyself to him. All men that
refuse a heavenly life, do sooner or later wish that they had
chosen it.
Abundance of such reasonings God useth with thee in
his word, and by his ministers ; and dost thou think indeed
that there is not weight enough in these to give thee cause
immediately to resolve? How little or nothing canst thou
say against them ! Canst thou bring any reason, that is rea-
son indeed, against these or any of these reasons of the
Lord ? Darest thou say, that ever a one of them is false or
insufficient'' And what are the reasons which you have on
the contrary to hinder you from resolving? Forsooth, be
cause your sins are sweet, you would fain have the pleasure
of them a little longer yet. O wretched souls! that find •
more pleasure in the abusing of your Maker and Redeemer,
than in loving, honouring, and pleasing him : that delight
more in serving the flesh and the devil, than in serving God,
and seeking after his favour and your own salvation ! You
are a hundred times madder than a man that lieth tumbling
himself in his dung, and will not rise out of it to receive a
kingdom, because it is so soft and so sweet that he is loath
yet to leave it : you are more foolish than Nebuchadnezzar
had been, if he had been loath to return again to his king-
dom, because he would fain stay longer among the beasts of
the field, among whom, in his distraction, he had betaken
230 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
himself; Dan.iv.31 — 33. And what other reasons have
you against resolving ? Forsooth you shall be mocked or
jested at by others; by whom I pray you? Not a man, but
a miserable fool will do it. Yea, but you are told you must
forsake all, and be ready to die for Christ, if he call you to
it. Very true, and can you keep that which he calleth you
to forsake? How long will you keep it? Silly souls! do
you not know that you forsake it by not forsaking it, and
lose all by saving any thing, and that you have no way to
save it, but by losing and forsaking it ? Suppose you were
by enemies banished out of England, and upon pain of death
you must be gone within a twelvemonth ; and a king that
loveth you, inviteth you to his country, and tells you for the
poor livings that you have lost, he will make you lords and
princes, so you will bring with you the little goods that you
have, and leave nothing behind you ; hereupon one man
takes the next wind, and ships ovei all his riches, that he
may have it when he comes there ; another saith, ' I am loath
to leave my goods, I have a while longer to stay here, and
what shall I do without them ? I am loath to see the habi-
tation of my ancestors impoverished ;' and so when his time
is expired, he is fain to leave them all behind him, and hath
none that will receive him in the country where he is to
abide. Which of these think you is the wiser man ? Which
of them was it that lost his goods, and which did save them ?
I speak to you but such another parable as Christ used tc
you himself, Luke xvi. 2 — 4.9. where you are advised to
send your riches before you ; and to make you friends of the
" mammon of unrighteousness, that when you die, you may
be received into the everlasting habitations."
1 know that there are other vain delusions that hinder
you from resolving ; I will not call them reasons, for they
are unreasonable. I shall only say this to you, that if there
be ever a man of you that heareth his words, that dare be
such a blasphemer as to reproach the laws and image of his
Maker, and say, That he hath made you too strict a law, and
laid too heavy a task upon you, and a heavenly life is trou-
blesome and unnecessary : if there be a man of you, that is
so devilish, as that you dare plead the devil's cause, and jus-
tify his work before the Lord's, and say, that it is better to
please the flesh ; let that man prepare himself to make good
these words before the Lord, and his holy angels ; and be
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 231
sure that he shall be there put to it in another manner than
he is here by me. And if you have such reasons as you will
stand to before the bar of God, to prove the devil the better
master, and an unholy life to be better than a heavenly ; see
then that you look them up, and there make your best of
them ; and expect to live with the master that you served,
and to reap as you sowed, and eat the fruit of your fleshly
ways which you took to be the best. But if you have no
such reasons, but your consciences are convinced that God
should be served, and sin should be speedily forsaken, and
heaven should be provided for above all ; resolve then to do
it before you stir : or else say plainly, I have no reason to
be wicked, but because I will be wicked, I will forsake God,
and damn my own soul without any reason, because I will do
it. And if you are at this pass, you may take your course.
11. Another thing that I would entreat you to consider
of, is this, It is a most base and treacherous abuse of God,
to make any question of this which you are so long unre-
solved of. I confess, when a blind mind hath raised such a
question, it is lawful for a reasonable man to answer it. But
in him that makes a doubt of such a thing, as it is a shame
to himself, so it is a heinous indignity to God. If you had
a chaste and modest woman to your wife, I think she would
take it for an injury, if you would but'make a question of it,
Whether she or a common whore be the honester woman?
If your wife or children should bring before you a hobby-
horse or an ass; and make a great question of it, Whether
you or the ass be the comelier or the wiser? how would you
take this of them? If you should bring an idiot or a mad-
man before your prince, and make a question, Whether he
or they be the wiser man ? Or if you set a rebel before him,
and make a question, Which of them hath the better title
to the crown ? what entertainment might you expect? I tell
you it is ten thousand thousand times a baser affront and
wrong to God, to set the pleasure of sin before him, and
make a question, Which of them is the better ? And to set
your riches, and your sports, and your drunkenness, and
gluttony, and your whoredom, and your revenge, in compe-
tition with your Redeemer, and everlasting glory, and to
make a question, Which of them is to be preferred I To
make once a question, Whether God or the flesh should be
pleased? Whether Christ or the world should be lofedand
232 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
followed? Whether the Holy Ghost or the devil should
dwell in us, and guide us ? Whether the saints of God, or
the servants of the devil should be our chosen company ?
Whether the word and ministers of Christ, or the examples
and words of wicked men, should more prevail with us?
Whether heaven or earth should be more carefully sought
after? Whether a holy, or a careless, wicked life be more
to be desired ? Or whether it be better to turn to God or
not ? I say, to make such a question as this, or one of these
is little better than to put a scorn upon the God of heaven ;
and savoureth of such malice as is more like a devil, than a
reasonable man ; or else of such folly as is below the devil,
and as none of you would be guilty of in the matters of this
world. If one should but make a comparison between you
and some deformed monster, or between your house and a
swinestye, though he gave you the better, I think you would
take it as a scorn, that he should make such a comparison
or question ; much more may God so take it, when you make
a question betwixt sin and him. There is but one infinite,
unconceivable, perfect God, and shall he be abased by such
a question ? There is but one thing that is contrary to God
in all the world, that is worse than the devil himself, and
that is sin ; and shall this be put in question or comparison
with God? There is but one that hath loved us to the
death, but with a matchless, unconceivable, saving love, and
that is Jesus Christ; and there is but one thing that is a
deadly enemy to us and him, and that would damn us, when
he is endeavouring to save us, and that is sin ; and must
there be a question or comparison between these ? There
is one sanctifying Spirit, that would cleanse, and heal, and
save us ; and there is a malicious spirit that would deceive
us, defile us, and destroy us ; and must there be any ques-
tion or comparison made between these ? There is but one
eternal happiness, and one holy way to it ; and there is but
one everlasting misery, and fleshly, filthy, sinful way to it ;
and must there be made any question which of these should
be preferred ? Consider 1 beseech you, what you do : and
if it be so vile a thing to make any question of it, what is it
then to be still unresolved ? Yea, and to choose the worse
part, and stick to it in your heart and life ?
12. Consider also, that present resolution would put an
end to a great many fruitless, troublesome deliberations and
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 233
delays. If a man had but a weighty business of the world
upon his hand, that his estate or life lieth on, it is a perplex-
ity to him as long as he is unresolved what course he should
take. It will be troubling him when he should rest, and
break his sleep. It will fill him with musings, and disturb
and distract his mind, and even make him melancholy.
And how can it choose but be a troublesome, distracting
thing to your mind, to be unresolved what course to take
for your everlasting state ? I know some hearts are so des-
perately hardened and past feeling (Ephes. iv. 19.), and some
men's consciences so seared as with a hot iron (1 Tim. iv.
2.), that they can throw away all thoughts of resolution, and
never be much troubled. But I hope that many are not so
desperate. It is not thus with all that are unconverted.
How long have some of your minds been troubled whether
to turn or not? Resolve man, if thou love thy soul, and put
an end to such troubles.
13. Consider also, that resolving will put an end to a
great many of troublesome temptations that do assault you,
and will break the heart of satan's hopes. As long as you
are unresolved, he hath still possession of you, and is still
in hopes to keep possession. And as long as he hath any
hope, he will never give over, but will be repairing his gar-
rison, and making up all the breaches that the ordinances of
God had made. When one temptation takes not, he will be
offering you another, and will be following and disquieting
you day and night. But if once he see you firmly resolved,
his hopes will fail him, and you may be much freer from his
temptations than you were before. I do not say he will give
over. For even when you are broken away from him, he
will make after you again. But it is a greater advantage to
you to fight against him in the open field, under such a cap-
tain as Jesus Christ, that will assure you of the victory, than
to be in his own prison with his fetters on your heels. You
know the way to be troubled with an unwelcome suitor, is
to delay your answer, and take time to consider of it; and
the way to be eased of him, is to give him a peremptory re-
solute answer. And when he seeth you resolved, he will
cease.
14. Moreover, till you- are resolved of your conversion,
you cannot rationally resolve of any one word or action of
your lives. Nay, till then they are all misemployed to their
234 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
hurt. For no man can resolve of the means till he is re-
solved of the end. You must resolve whither to go, before
you can resolve which way to go. Before conversion men's
end is wrong. Their intention and business is to please the
flesh, and all their thoughts, and words, and actions, that
have such an end, are wicked and pernicious. Till you
are resolved by conversion to be for God, you have never a
right end (in a prevailing sense), and, therefore, you cannot
order one thought, nor word, nor deed aright. I tell you,
every thought you think, and every word you speak, and
every deed you do while you are unconverted, are so many
steps towards hell, except only those that tend towards con-
version, and some way further it. Resolve, therefore, of
this, or you can resolve of nothing.
15. Moreover, if you would presently and firmly resolve,
you would ease your friends and the ministers of Christ of
much of their sorrows, and fears, and cares for you ; and of
much of the most troublesome part of their work. As long
as you are unconverted, they can look on you but as the
heirs of hell, that will be quickly in those torments, if con-
version prevent it not ; and, therefore, their hearts are full
of sorrow for you, when you sorrow not for yourselves ; and
their care is, how they might prevent your damnation, which
they know, without conversion, can never be done. Many
a groan doth your misery cost them, and many a thought
have they of your danger, which you are not aware of. O
what a grief is it to believing ministers, to see so many of
their people in the power of satan, and the highway to hell,
after all their care and labour for their recovery. We can-
not say that the unconverted shall certainly perish, because
we have yet hopes that they may be converted, though they
be not. But we know that if they die in the case that they
are in, there is no hope of them at all, and we know they are
uncertain to live an hour. And, therefore, as long as they
are in this condition, how can we choose but be filled with
fear, and grief, and care for them '! All the troubles that
befal a faithful minister in his worldly affairs, by crosses and
persecutions, are nothing to the trouble that your sin and
misery bringeth to their minds. O what a comfortable life
were it for a minister to live with bread and water among a
people that would obey the Gospel, and give us hopes that
we should live with them in heaven ! O how cheerfully may
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 235
we study for them, and preach to them, when we see that it
is not lost upon them ! How willingly should we prepare
them the bread of life, when we see they feed and live upon
it ! How joyfully may we pray and praise God with them,
when we think how much they must join with us in the ce-
lestial praises. O, sirs, I beseech you, grudge not your
ministers this comfort. Do not destroy yourselves to grieve
and trouble them. O put them once out of their fears and
grief for you, by your resolving and speedy return to God.
That they that have many a time thought in their hearts, ' I
am afraid this poor sinner will never be recovered ; I am
afraid he will be a firebrand in hell/ may now rejoice with
you when they see you coming home, and may meet you as
the Father himself doth meet his prodigal children, and weep
over you for joy, as they were wont to do in sorrow. You
would ease our hearts of abundance of sad thoughts, if we
could but perceive you once resolved, and see you come
home. Now you think our preaching harsh to you, because
we tell you so much of sin and damnation ; and you think
our discipline more harsh, when we refuse to have commu-
nion with you. But if you would once resolve and turn,
how gladly should we open our doors and our hearts to you;
and how gladly should we turn the stream of our preaching,
and tell you of nothing but Christ, and heaven, and peace,
and comfort, further than your own necessities should re-
quire it. What say you, sirs, to this reasonable request ?
Will you resolve without any more ado, and ease us of our
grief and fears, and give us but leave to preach more com-
fortable doctrine to you ?
16. Moreover consider, that you have much work to do
when you are resolved and converted, and a great way to go
when you have begun your journey towards heaven. And
till you are resolved, none can be done. You can go no
farther, till conversion have set you in the right ,way. Till
then, the farther you go, the farther you are out of the way.
Will you be unresolved till the night come on ? Shall all
the rest of your work be undone? Will you begin your race
when you should be at the end ? Alas ! you should be able
to say as Paul : " I have fought a good fight, I have finish-
ed my course, henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righ-
teousness ;" 2 Tim. iv. 8. when as you cannot yet say, ' I have
begun my course ; I am set in the right way.'
236 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
17. Consider also, that resolution maketh work easy and
successful. The resolute army is seldom conquered. A
resolute traveller will go through with his journey, and it is
easier to himself: his spirits are excited ; and doing it with
vivacity, he findeth less trouble in it. A slow and lazy pace
doth sometimes soonest weary us. A slow motion is most
easily stopt, when a swift one bears down that which would
resist it. A man that resolvedly sets himself to the work of
God, and is past any further deliberating of the matter, and
is at a point with all the world, will make a pleasure of that
which will stop and stall an unresolved professor. Resolve
therefore, for your own success and ease.
I tell you, by resolving it is that you must conquer, and
by conquering, you must obtain the crown. The unresolv-
ed are wavering at every assault, like cowardly soldiers,
even ready to run before they fight. They will not be at the
cost or labour ; they are soon weary ; they cannot say nay
to an old companion, or a tempting bait. But the resolved
breaks through all, and treads that under his feet as dirt,
which another sells his soul for. If he meet with reproaches
and scorns from men, he remembereth that Christ foretold
him this, and suffered much more of the like before him.
If his friends turn enemies for the Gospel's sake, he saith,
' I was told of this before, even that I must be hated of all
men for Christ.' If he be enticed by lewd and wanton com-
pany, he saith as David, " Depart from me, ye evil doers, for
I will keep the commandments of my God ;" Psal. cxix. 115.
If he be tempted with rewards and honours in the world, he
will not stand wavering and longing after it, as Balaam ;
but he will say the same Balaam was forced to do : " If you
will give me a house full of gold and silver, I cannot go be-
yond the word of the Lord." And ' let their money perish
with them, that think all the gold in the world worth the
peace of a good conscience, and the favour of God.' If he
be threatened by men to move him to forsake his duty, he
saith, " Whether it be better to obey God or man, judge ye."
If he hear seducers, he is rooted in the Spirit, and the infal-
lible word, and is not shaken by every wind. If he see ne-
ver so many fall off by backsliding, he saith, ' It was not
only for their company that I chose the holy way : God is
still the same, and heaven and earth is the same ; and Scrip-
ture is the same ; and, therefore, I am resolved to be the
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 237
same.' If God afflict him by poverty, sickness, or other
trials, he saith, ' I did not become a Christian to escape af-
fliction, but to " escape damnation. If he kill me, yet will I
trust in him. Shall I receive good at the hands of God, and
not evil ? Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and
naked must I return to dust. The Lord giveth, the Lord
taketh away ; blessed be his name." If oppressing enemies
insult over him, he can say, as Mich. vii. 8, 9. " Rejoice not
against me, O mine enemy ; when I fall, I shall arise ; when
I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light to me. I will
bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned
against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment
for me. He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall be-
hold his righteousness." If the wicked cast in his teeth his
profession, and the name of his God, " He rejoiceth that he
is counted worthy to suffer for that name ;" and yet " he will
hope to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the liv-
ing." And if he must go to heaven through poverty and
a mean estate, " he hath learned to want, as well as to
abound ; and in what estate soever he be, therewith to be
contented." And so in the work of conversion itself, for
want of resolution, many stick long in the birth, and they
are hanging so long between heaven and hell, that it is a won-
der of mercy that God doth not cut them off, and let thern
perish. But the well-resolved soul doth deal more faith-
fully with the light that is revealed to him, and doth not
stand struggling so long against it, nor hold Christ and his
Spirit so long in hand ; but is glad to make sure work in so
great a business, and take so good a match while it is offer-
ed. And being engaged once, he is firm as Mount Sion,
that cannot be moved. Resolve, therefore, that your work
may be the more easy and successful, and conquer by re-
solving.
18. I suppose you dare not resolve against conversion,
and a heavenly life ; and why then will you not resolve for
it ? What purpose you to do for the time to come ? Is it
your resolution to live and die as you are? Have you not
purposes in your mind to repent hereafter? Dare you say,
' I am resolved never to be converted V Some may be so
desperate ; but I think it is but few, even of the ungodly.
Why, this shews that there is a secret conviction in your
consciences. O do not stifle it. Neutrality never saved a
238 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
soul. Seeing you dare not resolve against it, resolve
for it.
19. Consider, 1 beseech you, how much it cloth concern
yourselves, to have this question well and speedily resolved.
God asked you, Whether you will be converted and sancti-
fied or not ? Resolve this question, and you resolve your-
selves of a great many more that depend upon it.
The answer to this must be the answer to the rest. If
the question were, Whether you will be pardoned or no ?
Whether you will live in heaven or hell for ever ? Whether
you will dwell with God and angels, or with devils ? You
would not be long in answering this. You would resolve
without an hour's delay. Why, this is the question, sirs !
but the answer to it must be the answer to the first question.
For without sanctification, there is no salvation. If you will
not be converted, you shall be condemned, whether you will
or no ; for God hath resolved of this already, and there is
no resisting the resolution of God. The true state of the
question is, Whether you will turn or burn ? Choose you
whether, for it must be one. O, therefore, if you will but
resolve Christ and us this one question, that you will be
converted, Christ will resolve you the principal questions
that concern you in the world : even whether you shall be
pardoned or saved ; and where, and with whom you must
live for ever.
20. Lastly, consider, that if you stay till you receive the
sentence of death, it is two to one but that will force you to
resolve. But a forced resolution will not serve turn. And
then it will be very hard for you to discern whether it be
any better than merely from your fears. You put off all till
sickness come, and you see once that you must die, there is
no remedy ; and then you will cry, ' O if the Lord would
but recover me, and try me once again with life, I would de-
lay no longer, but I would become a new man, and live a
holy, heavenly life ; I am resolved of it by the grace of God.'
Yea, but who knows whether these last resolutions be sin-
cere. We hear abundance speak this in their sickness,
that never turn when they come to health, but forget all, and
live in a manner as they did before. Is it not most likely to
be only the fear of death that makes you take up these re-
solutions ? If it be so, they will never save you if you die,
nor hold you to your promise if you live. For it is not bare
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 239
fear that is true conversion ; but it is a changed heart, that
is fallen in love with God and holiness, and into a settled
hatred of former sins. No late repentance and resolutions
but these, will be any thing worth as to the saving of your
souls. And, therefore, if you will have true resolutions at
the last (which is too rare) you cannot choose but be much
in doubt of them, when you find so much of fear upon your
spirit, and consider that you would never resolve till then.
And, therefore, if you would have a comfortable change, re-
solve now in your prosperity, before the face of death
affright you to it, and those fears, and the lateness do make
you question the truth and soundness of it, and so deprive
you of the comfort which you have so much need of at a
dying hour.
And thus I have given you twenty Considerations to per-
suade you, if it may be, presently to resolve. I am sure there
is truth, and reason, and weight in them ; but what good
they will do you, I am not sure, because I know not how
you will receive them.
iv. And now I come to the last part of my task, which
is to direct you how to perform the work that I have per-
suaded you to. But because it is merely the determination
of the will, it is persuasion that must do more to the work
than direction ; and therefore I shall only desire you to look
back upon the qualifications of sound resolution, which I
before laid down to you, and then take heed of the hindran-
ces in your way, and to set yourselves to do your duty.
Remember that I before told you, That it is not a holy,
saving resolution, unless it be,
1. Entire for the matter of it, comprehending all that is
essential to Christianity.
2. And unless you resolve upon present obedience with-
out delay.
3. And also unless it be absolute and peremptory, taking
Christ for better and worse, without any reserve.
4. And unless it be well-grounded.
5. And unless it be built on the strength of Christ, and
not only a carnal confidence of your own.
6. And unless it be habitual and firm, and become your
ordinary frame and bias, and, as it were, the new nature and
inclination of your souls.
240 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
By this much you see already what manner of resolution
it is that you must have.
The next thing is, to advise you of the hindrances that
you may avoid them.
1. The principal hindrance of resolution is secret unbe-
lief; when everlasting life is taken but as an uncertainty, or
men have no more but a slight opinion of it. The cure of
this disease, I have often, and a little before delivered to you.
2. Another thing that hindereth resolution is inconsi-
derateness, of which also I have spoken purposely before.
3. Another hindrance is a sleepy insensibility, when the
heart is hardened, and men are past feeling. We cannot
tell how to awaken these men to be sensible of the things
that should move them to resolve. Of this also I have
spoken by itself.
4. Another great hindrance is the natural strangeness
and averseness of the mind of corrupted men, to these high
and spiritual things. So that we drive men by all our argu-
ments against the bias of their sinful habits : and those ha-
bits plead against us more forcibly without a word of reason,
than all the reason in the world could do. See, therefore,
that you keep under changing means till your hearts be
changed ; and the perusing cf such weighty arguments as
we offer you, may be of use to the changing of your hearts :
for God useth to work on the will by the understanding ;
and therefore light hath an aptitude to change the will itself.
5. Moreover, the rooted interest of this world doth much
hinder men from resolving to turn. It is always drawing
them another way, or putting objections and cavils into their
minds ; and if they will needs resolve, it is this that secretly
enticeth them to reserves, and to resign themselves to God
but with conditions and exceptions ; and so makes them hy-
pocrites, when they think themselves converts ; and cheats
them with a half-deceitful resolution, instead of one that is
absolute and firm. Against this impediment also I have
spoken before.
6. Another hindrance is, the nearness of fleshly, en-
ticing objects. When the covetous man seeth his houses
and lands, his goods and money, the very sight of them
breaks the heart of all his better resolutions. The drun-
kard seems to be resolved, till he sees the cup, and then his
resolution is broken. The whoremonger seemeth to be re-
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 241
solved, till the bait is brought near him, and then he goes as
" an ox to the slaughter, and as a fool to the correction of
the stocks." Certainly if these resolutions were sound,
they would either cause men to fly from the bait, and not
come near it, or else to refuse it when it is presented them.
In the course of their lives, their resolution would govern
them if they were sincere.
7. And satan himself will do all that he can to hinder
you when he sees you ready to resolve. He knows that he
must bestir him now or never. You never put him to it in-
deed till you are resolving to forsake him. One block or
other he will be sure then to cast in your way : either he
tells you, it is but folly and melancholy to trouble yourself
with these matters ; or that you may be saved without all
this ado ; or that God is more merciful than to cast away all
that be not sanctified ; or that godliness doth but trouble
and distract people, and that the professors of it are secretly
no better than others, and that it is but hypocrisy for them
to make such a stir with religion, and that we must be mo-
derate in our godliness, and take heed of being godly over-
much. A hundred such foolish suggestions as these, the
devil hath at hand to cast in your way, when he seeth you
ready to resolve.
If these will not serve, he will set some of his wicked
disciples on railing or deriding you ; and perhaps some cun-
ning fool a cavilling with you, to see if they can overwityou,
and draw you back.
If that will not do, perhaps he will open the falls of pro-
fessors to you, and labour to persuade you that all are such :
or he will shew you what divisions and differences are among
them ; or he will take advantage of some difficulties in re-
ligion, or some controversies in which he sees you already
engaged to a party ; or he will tell you of some false doc-
trine that some forward professors may be tainted with, to
make them,- and consequently godliness itself, more odious,
or at least suspected to you. If all this will not do, he will
endeavou* to set your very parents or natural kindred against
you, that those that should most promote your salvation,
and on whom your livelihood much dependeth, shall become
your enemies, and hate you for offering to give up your-
selves to Christ. If that will not do, he will endeavour to
vol. viu. ?
242 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
entice you with the baits of fleshly pleasure, or of prefer-
ments, or much business, or merry company, or some great
matters that you may hope for in the world. And usually
this snare is the strongest of all. Or else he will tell you
that if needs you will resolve, it is time enough hereafter :
you may yet take more of your pleasure or commodity be-
fore you leave it; yet you may suck the breasts of the
world a little drier, and then turn to God and cast it off. If
all this will not prevail with you, he will tell you it is now
too late, you have sinned so long, or such heinous sins, that
God will not have mercy on you ; he will make you believe
that God hath utterly forsaken you, and there is no remedy ;
and you may as well spare your thoughts of turning now, for
Christ will not receive or welcome you ; and therefore
it is even as good to go on, and take up the rest that the
world can afford you, for there is no hope of better. But
the most desperate temptation of all the rest, is, to put some
blasphemous, unbelieving thoughts into your mind ; espe-
cially if you fall into company with infidels, that will draw
you to question the word of God, and the immortality of the
soul, and the truth of Christianity, or the life to come, whe-
ther there be any such things or not. Where these once
take, and are received with approbation, the soul is in a mi-
serable case. Though I know many tempted, melancholy
Christians are haunted with such temptations, who yet ab-
hor them, and do well at last, for all this. Sometimes also,
when he cannot take you off from resolving, he will lead you
among some disputing opinionists, and they shall entice you
to take up with their opinionative religiousness instead of
true sanctification, of which I have spoken in the eighth Di-
rection. By these and many such wiles as these, doth the
old serpent do all that possibly he can, to hinder you from
sound resolution and conversion. And therefore you must
be armed against his temptations, and meet them with ab-
horrence ; and if you feel them too hard for you, go daily
to Christ by faith and prayer for renewed strength, and call
to your faithful friends and ministers for help. Open your
case to some one that is able, experienced, and faithful ; that
he may help you with arguments to resist those temptations
which you know not how yourselves to deal with. God
hath appointed pastors in his church to be spiritual fathers
in the Lord, and when they have sowed in you the seed of
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 243
eternal life, they watch over it till they see the blade and
fruit: they travail as in birth of you, till Christ be formed in
you. It is their office to help you, and God giveth td them
that are faithful, abilities and affections agreeable to their
office. And therefore lean upon the hand of your faithful
guides, and think not to break through temptations alone,
and get to heaven without the means that God hath appoint-
ed you.
Having told you the hindrances, and what to do against
them, I shall add but these two words more of direction.
1. When you are resolving, give up yourselves to God
with a holy covenant or vow. I mean not any rash vow, nor
any unnecessary vow, but the same that you made in bap-
tism, which your age itself doth call you to renew, but your
sins against it do call you more.
Perhaps you will say that you are not able to perform it
by your own strength, and you are uncertain of God's assist-
ance, and therefore how can you promise or vow ?
To this I answer, 1. You may be sure that this objec-
tion is frivolous, because it makes against the frequent and
express commands of God, the practice of his church in all
ages, and the nature of Christianity itself. God hath in all
ages been pleased to receive men into his service and church
in a covenant way, and baptism itself is our solemn cove-
nanting with him, and the Lord's supper is appointed for a
solemn renewing of it. And indeed it is implicitly and vir-
tually renewed by a true Christian everyday of his life. In
every duty he gives up himself to God : and if he should
cease this heart-covenant, he would cease to be a Christian,
for the very essence of his Christianity consisteth in it. It
is his faith itself.
2. And when you covenant for the time to come, you do
not take on you to foretel infallibly your own perseverance,
but you profess your present consent to be Christ's, and to
continue his, and you engage yourselves thereto. And
should you not choose the strictest engagements ?
(1.) Where there is the greatest need of them, because
of the looseness of the heart, and the strength of tempta-
tions, that would draw us away.
(2.) Where there is the most absolute necessity, because
if we miscarry we are undone.
244 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
(3.) And where you are already obliged by God's com-
mands, whether you vow or not.
(4.) And where God hath made your consent to the ob-
ligation of necessity to salvation. He that intends to keep
covenant, and knows that he must keep it, or be condemned,
hath little reason to be loath to make it.
(5.) And for God's assistance, you have much more cause
to expect it in the way of covenanting, which himself hath
appointed you, than in the neglect of his appointed means.
Object, ' But I am afraid of breaking my vows again,
and it is better to forbear them, than not to perform them.'
Answ. 1. This reason makes as much against the inward
vow and resolution of the heart, so that by this rule you
would never be Christians, for fear of falling away, and being
worse.
2. There is an absolute necessity of your resolving and
covenanting, and of keeping your resolution, and covenants.
And when it must be kept, or you are utterly undone, it is
but a madness to refuse to make the covenant for fear of
breaking it ; for this is but to make choice of an easier place
in hell, for fear of having a worse, if you should resolve for
heaven, when as heaven is set open before you, and you thus
wilfully cast away your hopes. Nay, your place in hell is
not like to be the easier, when you thus deliberately and
wilfully refuse the covenant.
3. Your resolutions and holy vows are means of God's
appointment to keep you from breaking his imposed cove-
nant. Is not a resolved, engaged, devoted Christian more
likely to be accepted, and to persevere, than a waverer that
saith, • I dare not vow, for fear lest I perform not V
In unnecessary matters, I had rather you were too back-
ward to vow. Some will vow poverty, and some a single
life, and some will vow that they will never drink wine or
strong drink more ; such vows as these may be good for
some in cases of special necessity, as the last remedies of a
dangerous disease ; but they are not for all, nor rashly to be
made. But the resolution and vow of cleaving unto God in
faith and holy obedience, and of renouncing the flesh, the
world, and the devil ; this is for all, and must be made and
kept by all, that will be saved.
2. Direct. And as I would have you second your reso-
lution by a covenant with God, so I would advise you ordi-
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 245
narily to go further, and openly profess the resolution and
covenant that you have made. "For as with the heart men
believe unto righteousness, so with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation ;" Rom. x. 10. Christ will confess those
that confess him, and disown, and-be ashamed of those that
are ashamed of him. When you have escaped the greatest
misery in the world, and obtained the greatest mercy in the
world, the greatness of it calleth you to acknowledge and
give glory to God. Go to your old companions in sin, and
tell them what God hath revealed to you, and done for you.
Tell them, ' O sirs, I see now that which I never saw before !
I wonder how I could venture so madly upon sin ! and how
I could make light of God, of Christ, of death, of judgment,
and everlasting life. I have been hitherto your companion
in sin, but I would not take the same course again for all
the world. I see now there is a better portion hereafter to
be obtained, which I was mindless of. I see now we were
all this while making merry at the brink of hell, and there
was but a step between us and death. Now I see that the
course that we have taken is wicked and deceitful, and will
not serve turn. If I serve the flesh, it will reward me but
with rottenness. I will, therefore, hereafter, serve that
God, that will certainly reward me with everlasting life. I
beseech you, sirs, come away with me, and see and try what
I have seen and tried. I have lived with you in sin, O now
let us join together in repentance, and a holy life ! I shall
be glad of your company to heaven ; but if you will not do
it, take your course. For my part I am resolved, by the
grace of God, I am fully resolved, to be from this day for-
ward a new man, and never to join with you more in a flesh-
ly and ungodly life. Never tempt me or persuade me to it,
for I am resolved.'
Thus if you will declare your resolutions to others, and
seek to win them, you may possibly do them good ; but
however, you will be the deeper engaged to God yourselves.
Yea, though I would have no ostentation of conversion,
nothing done rashly in public, nor without the advice of a
faithful minister beforehand ; yet with these cautions, I must
say, that it is a shame that we hear no more in public of the
conversion of sinners. As baptism is to be in public, that
the congregation may witness your engagement, and pray
for you, and rejoice at the receiving of a member; so the
'246 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
solemn renewing of the same covenant by repentance after
a wicked life, should ordinarily be in public, to give warn-
ing to others to avoid the sin, and to give God the honour,
and to have the prayers of the church, and to satisfy them of
our repentance, that they may have communion with us.
The Papists do more offend (of the two) in so much confi-
ning confession and penitence to the priest's ear in secret,
and not bringing it before the church, than they do in mak-
ing a sacrament of it. I wonder that people should every
day thrust into our hands their request to pray for them
when they are sick, and that it is so rare a matter to have
any to desire our prayers, for the pardon of all the sins of
their natural, unconverted state.
I would here seriously advise all those that it concern-
eth, that when God hath shewed them so great a mercy as
to convert them and make them new creatures, they would
go to their faithful minister, and by his advice put up such
a bill as this : ' Such a man, of this parish, having long lived
in blindness, and deadness, and ungodliness, (and name the
particular sins if they were publicly known) and beifig by
the great mercy of God convinced of his sin and misery ;
and sustained with some hopes of mercy by the blood and
merits of Jesus Christ, and being now resolved by the grace
of God, to forsake this fleshly, worldly life, and to give up
himself to Christ and holiness, doth earnestly entreat the
church to pray for him, that his many and heinous sins may
be all forgiven, and that God would again receive him into
mercy, and that he may hold on in faith and holiness to the
last, and never turn again to the course of his iniquity/
And if the minister think it meet, refuse not to make
yourselves an open confession of your former life of sin and
misery, and to profess openly your resolution to walk with
God for the time to come.
This course should be more ordinary with us ; and if con-
version itself were not so rare, or else so defective, that it
doth too little quicken men to a sense of duty, and sin, and
mercy ; or so doubtful, and by slow degrees, and that it is
scarce discerned by many that have it, were it not for some
v of these, more ordinary would it be, to the great rejoicing
and benefit of the church.
The Conclusion. And now I have given you Directions
in the most great and necessary businesses of the world :
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 247
they are such as I have received of God, and if faithfully
practised, will put your salvation past all hazard. But what
they have done, or what they will do, I cannot tell, but must
leave the issue to God and you. It is pity eternal glory
should be lost, for want of yielding to so holy, and sweet,
and reasonable a course. It is lamentable to observe, what
ignorant, base, unworthy thoughts the most have of the very
office of the Holy Ghost, who is the Sanctifier of all that
God will save. The very name of regeneration and sancti-
fication, is not understood by some, and is but matter of de-
rision to others ; and the most think that it is another kind
of matter than indeed it is. To be baptized and come to
church, and to say some cold and heartless prayers, and to
forbear some gross, disgraceful sins, is all the sanctification
that most are acquainted with ; (and all have not this ;) and
thus they debase the work of the Holy Ghost. If a prince
have built a sumptuous palace, and you will shew men a
swinestye, and say, ' This is the palace that the prince hath
been so long a building ;' were not this to abuse him by con-
tempt 1 If he built a navy, and you shew a man two or
three pig-troughs, and say, 'These are the king's ships;'
would he not take it for a scorn ? Take heed of such deal-
ing with the Holy Ghost. Remember what it is to believe
in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and re-
member that you were baptized into the name of the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost : and do you not yet know why, nor
know the meaning of your baptismal covenant? It is not
only to believe that there are three persons in the Trinity,
but to consent to the relations and duty to them, in respect
to their several relations and works. If the Father had not
created you, how could you have been men? The Lord of
nature must be acknowledged as the End and Governor of
nature, and accordingly obeyed : and this is to believe and
be baptized into the name of the Father. If the Son had
not redeemed you, you had been as the devils were, forsaken
and given over to despair. The Purchaser, Procurer, and
Author of grace, of pardon, and salvation, must be acknow-
ledged to be such, and himself and his salvation accordingly
accepted, and his terms submitted to : and this is to believe
in the name of the Son ; and in baptism we make profession
hereof. And certainly the work of the Holy Ghost is as
necessary to your salvation. Without the sanctifying work
248 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
of the Spirit, could you never be delivered from sin and sa-
tan, nor restored to God's image ; and consequently could
never be the members of Christ, nor have any saving benefit
by his sufferings. Would you not think him unworthy to live,
that would reproach the Father's work of nature, and say,
That the whole creation is but some poor contemptible work !
And would you not think him unworthy the name of a
Christian, that had contemptible thoughts of the Son's re-
demption, as if we could be saved as well without a Saviour :
or as if it were some poor and trivial commodity that Christ
had purchased for us ? I know you would confess the mi-
sery of that man, that believeth no better in the Father and
the Son : and how comes it to pass that you think not of
your own misery, that believe no better in the Holy Ghost?
Do not you debase the sanctifying office of the Holy Spirit,
when you shew us your knowledge and parts, and outward
duties and civility, and tell us that these are the works of
sanctification? What! is sanctification but such a thing as
this ? Why, holiness is a new life and spirit in us ; and
these that you talk of, are but a few flowers that are stuck
upon a corpse to keep it awhile from stinking among men,
till death convey it to a burial in hell. O sirs, sanctifica-
tion is another kind of matter than the forsaking of some of
our fouler vices, and speaking well of a godly life ; it is not
the patching up of the old man, but the creating of a new
man. I give you warning therefore from God, that you
think not basely of the Holy Ghost ; and that you think no
more to be saved without the sanctifying work of the Spirit,
than without the redeeming work of the Son, or creation,
government, or love of the Father. Sanctification must
turn the very bent and stream of heart and life to God, to
Christ, to heaven ; it must mortify carnal self, and the world
to you ; it must make you a people devoted, consecrated,
and resigned up to God, with all that you have : it must
make all sin odious to you, and make God the love and de-
sire of your souls ; so that it must give you a new heart, a
new end, a new master, a new law, and a new conversation.
This is that noble, heavenly work which the Holy Ghost
hath vouchsafed to make the business of his office ; to slight
and despise this, is to slight and despise the Holy Ghost :
to refuse this, is to refuse the Holy Ghost, and not to be-
lieve in him : to be without this work, is to be without the
MISCARRYING IN CONVERSION. 249
Holy Ghost : and " if any man have not the Spirit of Christ,
the same is none of his ;" Rom. viii. 9. The holy Catholic
church is composed of all through the world that have this
work upon them, and therefore it is called holy. The com-
munion of saints, is the blessed vital fellowship of these
sanctified ones ; for these only is the resurrection unto bles-
sedness, and the life everlasting with the Lord of life : for
all others is the resurrection of condemnation, and the ever-
lasting punishment.
But if the other two articles of our faith have been so
denied by the blind, it is less wonder if this be so. Some
heretics denied God to be the Creator of the world, and be-
cause they saw so much evil in the world, they said that it
was made by devils or evil angels (who indeed made the sin,
but not the world). So dealt the Jews by the Son, and the
second article of our faith. The sacrifice of bulls and goats,
and such beasts, was all the sacrifice for sin that they be-
lieved in. And thus deal the multitude of the ungodly by
the Spirit. Indeed they know not themselves sufficiently,
to know the need and worth of sanctification. They are too
whole to need the skill and care of Christ or the Holy Ghost.
The insensibility of spiritual death and misery, and thinking
too lightly of original corruption, and too well of our de-
praved nature, is both the cause of many of the heresies of
the learned, and of the common contempt of Christ and the
Spirit, and recovering grace, in all the unregenerate. For
it is not possible that men should have any deeper sense of
the need or worth of the remedy, than they have of the
greatness of their sin and misery.
O sirs, did we not come upon this great disadvantage to
you. that we speak to dead men, that have indeed a natural
life, which doth but take pleasure in their spiritual death ;
how confidently should we expect to prevail with all ! But
while you think lightly of your disease, we can expect no
better, but that you think as lightly of Christ and holiness,
and all the means that tend to your recovery ; and think of
the new man, as the poets fabled of the Promethean race,
that it grows out of the earth (of your poor, sorry purposes
and performances) like ordinary plants.
Truly sirs, I have led you even as far as I can ; and what
more to say to you, or what more to do for you to procure
your conversion, I do not know. If it had been in my power
250 DIRECTIONS TO PREVENT
to have shewed you heaven and hell itself, that you might
better have known the matters that we speak of, I think I
should have done it. But God will not have men live by
sense in this life, but by faith. If I could but help you all
to such a knowledge and apprehension of these invisible
things, as the worst of you shall have as soon as you are
dead, then I should make but little doubt of your conver-
sion and salvation. Sure if you had but such a sight, the
force of it would so work upon you, that before I went out
of the congregation, you would all cry out that you are re-
solved to be new creatures. But though this be beyond my
power, and though I cannot shew you the great and won-
derful things that every eye here must shortly see ; yet I
come not to you without a glass of God's own making, and
in that glass you may see them. There, if you have but an
eye of faith, you may see that God that you have so long of-
fended, and that now so earnestly inviteth you to return :
there you may see that crucified Christ that hath opened you
a way for repentance by his blood, and pleadeth that blood
with you for the melting of your impenitent, obstinate hearts.
There you may see the odious face of sin, and the amiable
face of holiness, which is the image of God. There you may
see both heaven and hell, for all that they are invisible ;
and may know what will be, and that to all eternity, as well
as what is.
And will not such a sight in the glass of God's word
serve turn to move thee presently to give up the trade of
sinning, and to resolve before thou stir, for God ? I am now
come to the end of this part of my work ; if the reading of
it have brought thee to the end of thy ungodly, careless
life, it will be happy for thee, and I shall so far attain the
end of my labour. I have purposely put this Direction of
the necessity of resolution in the last place, that I might
leave upon thy spirit the reasons for resolution, that here I
have laid down. And now I beseech thee reader, whoever
thou art, with all the earnestness that I am able to use with
thee, as ever thou wouldst escape the fruits of all thy sin, as
ever thou wouldst see the face of God with comfort, and
have him thy reconciled Father in Christ ; as ever thou
wouldst have a saving part in Christ, and have him stand
thy friend in thy extremities ; as ever thou wouldst have
hope in thy death, and stand on the right hand, and be jus-
MISCARRYING IN CONVfcRSION. 251
tified at judgment ; as ever thou wouldst escape the day of
vengeance prepared for the unconverted, and the endless
misery that will fall upon all unsanctified souls, as sure as
the heaven is over thy head ; see that thou resolve and turn
to God, and trifle with him no more. Away with thy old
transgressions, away with thy careless, worldly life, away
with thy ungodly company, and set thyself presently to seek
after thy salvation with all thy heart, and mind, and might.
I tell thee once more, that heaven and hell are not matters
to be jested with, nor to be carelessly thought of, or spoken
nf, or regarded. The God of heaven stands over thee now
while thou art reading all these words, and he seeth thy
heart, whether thou art resolved to turn or not. Shall he
see thee read such urgent reason, and yet wilt not resolve ?
Shall he see thee read these earnest requests, and yet not re-
solve ? What ! not to come home to thy God, to thy Fa-
ther, to thy Saviour, to thyself, after so long and wilful sin-
ning ? What ! not to accept of mercy, now it is even thrust
into thy hands, when thou hast neglected and abused mercy
so long? O let not the just and jealous God stand over
thee, and see thee guilty of such wickedness. If thou be a
Christian shew thyself a Christian, and use thy belief, and
come to God. If thou be a man, shew thyself a man, use
thy reason, and come away to God. I beseech thee read over
and over again the reasons that I have here offered thee, and
judge whether a reasonable man should resist them, and
delay an hour to come in to God. I that am now writing
these lines of exhortation to thee, must shortly meet thee at
the bar of Christ. I do now adjure thee, and charge thee in
the name of the living God, that thou do not thyself and me
that wrong, as to make me lose this labour with thee, and
that thou put me not to come in as a witness against thee,
to thy confusion and condemnation. Resolve therefore
presently in the strength of Christ, and strike an unchange-
able covenant with him ; get thee to thy knees, and bewail
with tears thy former life, and deliver up thyself wholly now
to Christ, and never break this covenant more.
If thou lay by the book, and go away the same, and no
persuasion will do any good upon thee, but unholy thou
wilt still be, and sensual, and worldly still thou wilt be ; I
call thy conscience to witness, that thou wast warned of the
evil that is near thee ; and conscience shall obey this call,
252 DIRECTION*) TO PREVENT &C.
and bear me witness whether thou wilt or not : and this
book which thou hast read, which I intended for thy con-
version and salvation, shall be a witness against thee : though
age or fire consume the leaves and lines of it, yet God and
conscience shall bring it to thy memory, and thou shalt then
be the more confounded to think what reasons and earnest
persuasions thou didst reject in so plain, so great and ne-
cessary a case.
But if the Holy Ghost will now become thy tutor, and
at once both put this book into thy hand, and his heavenly
light into thy understanding, and his life into thy heart, and
effectually persuade thee to resolve and turn, how happy
wilt thou be to all eternity ? Make no more words on it ;
but answer my request, as thou wouldst do if thou wert in a
burning fire, and I entreated thee to come out. Thou hast
long enough grieved Christ and his Spirit, and long enough
grieved thy friends and teachers : resolve this hour, and re-
joice them that thou hast grieved ; and now grieve the devil,
that thou hast hitherto rejoiced ; and hereafter grieve the
wicked, and thy own deceitful flesh, whose sinful desires
thou hast hitherto followed : and if thou also grieve thyself
a little while, by that moderate sorrow that sin hath made
necessary for thee, it will be but a preparative to thy endless
joys, and the day is promised, and coming apace, when satan
that thou turnest from, shall trouble thee no more, and God
that thou turnest to, shall wipe away all tears from thy eyes.
And if the reading of this book may be but a means of so
blessed an end, as God shall have the glory, so when " Christ
cometh to be glorified in his saints, and admired of all them
that do believe," (2Thess.i. 10.) both thou and I shall then
partake of the communication of his glory ; if so be that I
be sincere in writing, and thou and I sincere in obeying the
doctrine of this book. Amen.
July 5, 1657.
END OF DIRECTIONS AND PERSUASIONS TO CONVERSION.
DIRECTIONS
WEAK, DISTEMPERED CHRISTIANS,
GROW UP TO A CONFIRMED STATE OF GRACE.
MOTIVES
OPENING THE LAMENTABLE EFFECTS OF THEIR WEAKNESSES AND
DISTEMPERS.
PUBLISHED ALSO TO FURTHER THAT REPENTANCE, WHICH WARS,
AND PLAGUES, AND FLAMES, AND CHURCH-CONVULSIONS
HAVE SO LONG AND LOUDLY PREACHED
TO ENGLAND.
To my dearly beloved, the Church of Christ at Kidderminster
in Worcestershire.
I suppose you do not only remember, that ten years ago I
preached these sermons to you ; but also what schisms, what
revilings of the ministers of Christ, what heresies of Ran-
ters, Seekers, and others ; what cruelties against one ano-
ther, and what remorseless overturnings of government ; and
worst of all, what bold appeals to God himself, as if he were
the approver of all this, did give you and me extraordinary
occasions of such thoughts and lamentations as are here ex-
pressed ? But though the great mercy of God did preserve
yourselves from these transgressions, and made it your lot
to behold Ihem with daily complaints and sorrows, yet I
must not so flatter you as to say, that the ordinary weak-
nesses of Christians are not at all among you. The things
which I especially loved in you, I will freely praise, which
were, A special measure of humility ; a plain simplicity in
religion ; a freedom from the common errors; a readiness to
receive the truth ; a catholic temper, without addictedness
to any sect ; a freedom from schism, and separating ways,
and a unity and unanimity in religion ; a hatred and disown-
ing of the usurpations, and perturbations, and rebellions
against the civil government, and an open bearing of your
testimonies in all these cases ; together with seriousness in
religion, and sober, righteous, charitable, and godly conver-
sations. But yet, with all this, which is truly amiable, I
know you have your frailties and imperfections. The
weaker sort of Christians (either in knowledge or in holiness)
are the greater number in the best congregation that I ever
yet knew. (To say nothing of the unsound.) And what
may be your case these eight years since I have been sepa-
rated from your presence, I cannot tell, though, through the
mercy of God, 1 hear not of your declining. It is our sin
which hath parted us asunder, let us lay the blame upon
ourselves; I have now done expecting my ancient comforts
in labouring among you any more. For these six years'
CClvi DEDICATION.
time, in which I thought my great experience had made me
more capable of serving my Master better than before, his
wisdom and justice have caused me to spend in grievous si-
lence. And now my decays and disability of body are so
much increased, that if I had leave, I have not strength, nor
can ever reasonably expect it ; therefore, once more I am
glad to speak to you as I may, and shall be thankful if Au-
thority will permit these instructions to come to your view,
that the weak may have some more counsel and assistance.
And if any shall miscarry, and disgrace religion, there may
remain on record one more testimony, what doctrine it was
that you were taught. The Lord be your teacher, and your
strength, and save you from yourselves, and from this pre-
sent evil world, and preserve you to his heavenly kingdom,
through Jesus Christ. Amen.
Your servant,
RICHARD BAXTER.
October 31, 1668.
PREFACE.
Readers,
That you may neither misunderstand this book nor me, I
owe you this pre-advertisement, That it was preached in a
lecture at Kidderminster in Worcestershire, about seven or
eight years ago, 1658. That the sad experience of the dis-
tempers of weak, well-meaning people (though not in that
place) yet in those times, (especially of those who ran after
the most gross deceivers, distracted the churches, reviled,
afflicted, and busily attempted to pull down the pastors, and
actually pulled down the higher powers whom God forbade
them to resist,) was the chief occasion of the preaching of
these sermons ; and that the special reasons for my publish-
ing them now, are these that follow. 1 . Because I perceive
not that yet people are sufficiently humbled for those mis-
carriages, or have yet well found out their sins, which by
many and sore judgments, have found them out. 2. Because
I perceive that it is too ordinary to speak to weak Christians
only by way of comfort, and too rare to shew them the evil
of their distempers : and that the very terms are used as if
they imported nothing but what is to be loved, or tenderly
gainsayed. And most that hear themselves called weak
Christians, do take it for a word of honouring pity, and feel
in it no humbling matter of reproof. As if the comfort of
being a living man, did nullify the trouble and pain of infan-
cy, of a lethargy, a leprosy, a fever, gout or stone. The
scandals which have dishonoured religion in this age, do tell
us that it is not all a preacher's work to convince and con-
vert the infidels and profane ones, but that much of it lieth
in detecting hypocrisies, and humbling the weak, and heal-
ing their distempers, and saving and raising them from their
falls. The thoughts of the case of such Christians as these,
did tempt Augustine once to doubt whether there were not
VOL. vin. s
CClviii PREFACE.
a purgatory ; it seemed so hard to him to believe, either that
men who in the rest of their lives were godly and honest,
should go to hell ; or that men so guilty of particular crimes
and scandals (of which their ignorance and error kept them
from repenting) could go straight to heaven. And no doubt
but it was the heinous sins and great distempers of men
professing godliness, which caused human reason to invent
and entertain this doctrine of purging-pains But when
God hath cast men into many purgatories, and yet they re-
pent not, I fear it threateneth worse than purgatory. 3.
Moreover, I remembered the request of that learned, pious,
peaceable A. B. Usher, which I mentioned in the preface to
my " Call to the Unconverted ;" according to which I had
before published, 1. That " Call." 2. " Directions against
Miscarrying in the Work of Conversion." 3. And this I
intended for the third part, when I began it ; but was hin-
dered from bringing it to the purposed perfection, (the fourth
part being " Directions for Peace of Conscience," being ex-
tant long before). 4. But that which since urged me to this
publication was, that the last sermon which I preached pub-
licly, was at Blackfriars, on this text, Col. ii. 6, 7. and pre-
sently after, there came forth a book called " Farewell Ser-
mons," among which this of mine was one. Who did it, or
to what end I know not, nor doth it concern me to inquire.
But I took it as an injury, both as it was done without my
knowledge, and against my will, and to the offence of my
superiors ; and because it was taken by the notary so imper-
fectly, that much of it was nonsense ; especially when some
foreigners that lived in Poland, Hungary, and Helvetia, were
earnest to buy this with the rest of my writings, I perceived
how far the injury was like to go both against me, and many
others of my brethren. Therefore, finding since, among
the relics of my scattered papers, this imperfect piece which
I had before written on that text, I was desirous to publish
it, as for the benefit of weak Christians, so to right myself,
and to cashier that farewell sermon.
If the reader will but peruse these Directions impartially,
and read them as he doth the prescripts of his physicians,
which are not written merely to be read, but must be daily
practised whatever it cost him, as he loveth his life ; then I
make no doubt, notwithstanding the weakness of the com-
posure.but it may further the cure of his spiritual weaknesses
prepack. celix
and distempers, and of the consequent troubles'and losses of
others and himself. I hope I shall not meet with many,besides
malignant hypocrites, who will be so impenitent and peevish,
as to fly in the face of the reprover and director, and say that
I open the nakedness of many servants of Christ, to the re-
proach and dishonour of religion. I have told you from the
word of God, that it is God's way, and must be ours, to lay
the just dishonour upon. the sinner, that it may not fall upon
religion and on God. And that the defending or excusing
odious sins, in tenderness of the persons who committed
them, is the surest and worst way to bring dishonour (first
or last) both upon religion and on them. A Noah, a Lot,
a David, a Solomon, a Peter, &c. shall be dishonoured by
God in holy record to all ages, that God may not be
more dishonoured by them ! And the truly penitent are
willing that it should be so; and account their honour a
very cheap sacrifice, to offer up to the honour of religion
which they have wronged. And till you come to this, you
come short of true repentance. He that defendeth his open
sin (unless he could deny the fact), doth as bad as say, ' God
liketh it ; Christ bid me do it ; the Scripture is for it, or
not against it ; religion taught it me, or doth not forbid it
me ; the godly allow it, and will do the like.' And what
can be said more blasphemously against God, or more inju-
riously against religion, the Scriptures, and the saints ? But
he that confesseth his sin, doth as good as say, ' Lay all the
blame on me, who do deserve it ; and not on God, on Christ,
on Scripture, on religion, or on the servants of God ; for I
learned it not from any of them, nor was encouraged to it by
them ; none are greater enemies to it than they ; if I had
hearkened to them, I had done otherwise.' It is one of the
chief reasons why repentance is so necessary, because it
justifieth God and godliness.
And alas, it is too late to talk of concealing those weak-
nesses and crimes of Christians, which are so visible before
all the world ! , Which have had such public effects upon
churches, kingdoms, and states ; which have kept almost all
the Christian churches, in a torn, and bleeding, woful state,
for so many hundred years, to this present day, which have
separated the churches of the east and west, and defiled
both. And have drawn so much blood in Christian coun-
tries, and keep us yet like distracted persons, gazing strange-
CClx . PREFACE.
ly at our nearest friends, and running away by peevish se-
paration, from our brethren, with whom we must live in hea-
ven ; and mistakingly using those as enemies, with whom
(if we are Christians as we profess) we are united in the
same Head, and by the same Spirit, which is a Spirit of Love.
In a word, when our faults are so conspicuous as to harden
the infidels, heathens, and ungodly, and to hinder the con-
version of the world ; and when they sound so loud in the
mouths of our common reproaching enemies ; and when they
have contracted so much malignity as to refuse a cure by
such wars, divisions, church-desolations, plagues and flames,
as we have seen, it is then too late to say to the preachers
of repentance, ' Be silent, lest you open the nakedness of
Christians, and disgrace religion and the church.' We must
not be silent, lest we disgrace religion and the church to
save the credit of the sinners.
Whoever readeth the holy Scriptures, and ever understood
the Christian faith, must needs know that nothing in all the
world, is so much against every one of our errors and mis-
doings. It is only for want of more religion, that any pro-
fessors of religion do miscarry. Nothing but the doctrine
of Christianity and godliness did at first destroy the reign
of their sin ; and nothing else can subdue the rest, and fi-
nish the cure. It is no disgrace to life that so many men's
lives are burdensome with sickness, which the dead are not
troubled with. Nor is it any disgrace to learning, that
scholars, for want of more learning, have troubled the world
with their contentious disputes. Nor is it any disgrace to
reason, that men's different reasons, for want of more rea-
son, doth set the world together by the ears. We can ne-
ver magnify you enough as you are Christians and godly,
unless we should ascribe more to you than your bounteous
Lord hath given you, who hath made you little lower than
angels, and crowned you with glory and honour ; Psal. viii.
b, 6. But your sins are so much the more odious, as they
are brought so near the holy presence : and as they are ag-
gravated by greater mercies and professions. And God is
so far from being reconciled, or reconcilable to any one of
them, that though he see not such iniquity in Jacob, as is
in heathens and the ungodly, (because it is not in them to
be seen) yet he seeth more aggravated iniquity in such sins
as you do commit, in many respects, than in the heathens.
PREFACE. CClXl
And (that which is our common trouble, is) that you hurt not
yourselves alone by your iniquities ; families are hurt by
them ; neighbours are hurt by them ; churches are distract-
ed by them; kingdoms are afflicted by them; and thousands of
blind sinners are hardened and everlastingly undone by them.
The ignorant husband saith, ' I will never follow sermons nor
Scriptures, nor be so religious, while I see my wife, that
maketh so much ado with religion, to be as peevish and dis-
contented, and foul-tongued, and unkind, and contemptuous,
and disobedient as those that have no religion.' The mas-
ter that is profane saith, ' I like not your religion, when that
servant which most professeth religion in my house, is as
lazy, and negligent, and as surly and saucy, and as ready to
dishonour me, and answer again, and as proud of his little
knowledge, as those that have no religion at all.' The like
I might say of all other relations. All the dishonour that
this casteth upon grace is, that you have too little of it ; and
it is so weak in you, that its victory over your flesh and pas-
sions is lamentably imperfect. A servant hearing a high
commendation of a gentleman, (that he was of extraordinary
wisdom and godliness, and bounty, and patience, and affa-
bility, and what not) did think with himself, ' How happy a
man were I, if I could but dwell in this man's house ' which
at last he procured, but ere long went away. His friend
meeting him, asked him how he came so quickly to forsake
his happiness ? Did not his master prove as was reported ?
He answered, 'Yes, and better than report could make him,
or I could ever have believed. But though my master was
so good, my mistress was so unreasonable,and clamorous,
and cruel, that she would beat us, and pull us by the hair,
and throw scalding water upon us ; and there was no living
with her.' So faith I hope is the master in your hearts ;
and that is as good as can be well believed ; but the flesh
is mistress, which should be but a servant ; and that mak-
eth such troublesome work with some of you, that some
quiet-natured infidels are less vexatious companions than
you. Nay, and I wonder if you can be very confident of
your own sincerity, as long as such fleshly vices, and head-
strong passions do keep up the power of a mistress in you.
I wonder if you do not fear, lest (as a woman said, ' I will
call my husband Lord with Sarah, if 1 may have my will
fulfilled,' so) grace and faith should have no more than the
CClxii PREFACE.
regent titles, while your flesh hath so much of its will ful-
filled. I know too many cheat themselves into comfort,
with the false opinion, that because they have a party in
them that striveth against their sins, it is a certain sign that
they have the Spirit and are sanctified, though the flesh
even in the main doth get the victory. And I know that
many have sincerity indeed, who yet have many a foil by
boisterous passions, and fleshly inclinations : but I am sure,
till you know which party is predominant, and truly beareth
the governing sway, you can never know whether you are
sincere. As once a servant, when his master and mistress
were fighting, answered one at the door, who desired to speak
with the master of the house, 'You must stay till I see who
gets the better before I can tell you who is the master
of the house.' So truly I fear the conflict is so hard with
many Christians, between the Spirit and the flesh, and
holdeth so long in a doubtful state ; and sense, and passion,
and unbelief, and pride, and worldliness, and selfishness
prevail so much, that they may stay themselves a great
while before they can be well resolved which is master.
For (to prosecute my similitude) in innocent man, spiritual
reason was absolutely master, and fleshly sense was an obse-
quious servant, (though yet it had an appetite which needed
government and restraint). In wicked men, the fleshly
sense and appetite is master, and reason is a servant, though
reason and the motions of the Spirit may make some resist-
ance. In strong Christians spiritual reason is master, and
the fleshly sense and appetite is a servant, but a boisterous
and rebellious servant, tamed according to the degrees of
grace and spiritual victory ; like a horse that is broken and
well ridden, but oft needeth the spur, and oft the reins. So
that a Paul may cry out, " O wretched man," &c. In a weak
Christian the Spirit is master, but the flesh is mistress, and
is not kept in the servitude which it was made for, as it
ought. And, therefore, his life is blemished with scandals,
and his soul with many foul corruptions ; he is a trouble to
himself and others. The good which he doth, is done with
much reluctancy, and weakness ; and the evil which he
forbeareth, is oftentimes very hardly forborne. His flesh hath
so much power left, that he is usually uncertain of his own
sincerity ; and yet too patient both with his sin and his un-
certainty. And he is many times a greater troubler of the
PREFACE. Cclxiii
church, than many moderate unbelievers. The hypocrite,
or almost-christian, hath the flesh for his master, as other
wicked men, but reason and the commoner grace of the Spi-
rit, may be as mistress with him ; and may have so much
power and respect, above a state of utter servitude, as may
delude him into a confident conceit, that grace hath the
victory, and that he is truly spiritual ; when yet the supre-
macy is exercised by the flesh. " He that hath an ear to
hear let him hear. To him that overcometh will 1 give to
eat of the tree of life. — He shall not be hurt of the second
death. — He shall eat of the hidden manna. — He shall have
power over the nations. — I will give him the morning star.
I will confess him before my Father and the angels. — He
shall be a pillar in the temple of God, and go out no more.
I will grant to him to sit with me in my throne ;" Rev. ii.
7.11.17.26.28. iii.5.12.21.
RICHARD BAXTER.
1665.
DIRECTIONS
THE CONVERTED,
FOR THEIR
ESTABLISHMENT, GROWTH, AND PERSEVERANCE.
PART I.
COLOSSIANS ii. 6, 7.
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him,
rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have
been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
As ministers are called in God's word the fathers of those
that are converted by their ministry (1 Cor. iv. 14, 15.), so
are they likened thus far to the mothers, that they travail as
in birth of their people's souls, till Christ be formed in
them ; Gal. iv. 19. And as Christ saith, " A woman when
she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come ; but
as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no
more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world ;"
Johnxvi.21. So while we are seeking and hoping for your
conversion, and are as in travail of you till you are born
again ; not only our labour, but much more our fears of you,
and cares for you, and compassion of you in your danger and
misery, doth make the time seem very long to us ; and O
what happy men should we think ourselves, if all or the
most part of our people were converted ! And when we see
but now and then one come home, we remember no more
the anguish of our fears and sorrows, nor think all our la-
20*6' DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
bours ill bestowed, for joy that a Christian is new-born un-
to Christ. But yet for all the mother's joy, her work, her
care, her sorrow, is not at an end as soon as she is delivered.
Many a foul hand, and many a troublesome hour, and many
a waking night, she must have with the child, whose birth
she so rejoiced in ; and after that, many a year of care and
labour to bring it up, and provide for it in the world ; and
in her old age, when she expecteth from her children the
love, and honour, and thanks, and comfort that was due to
her as a mother, and for all her labour, and care, and pains,
perhaps one child will prove kind, and of another she must
take it well that he is not very unkind, and a third perhaps
may break her heart ; and yet she must still be a mother
to them all. And so it befals us ; when we have greatly
rejoiced at the real and seeming conversion of now and then
one of our hearers, our work with them is not at an end, nor
may we lay aside our care and labour for them. We have
for some years (usually) the nurse's work to do ; and many
a troublesome day and night, the weakness, the uncleanness,
the peevish, childish exceptions, the querulous and quarrel-
some disposition of our beloved converts, will put us to. And
after all that, when they begin to go on their own legs, and
think themselves sufficient for themselves without our help,
many a fall and hurt they may catch, and many fallings out
may they have with one another, to the great trouble of them-
selves and us. And when they are grown up to strength of
parts and gifts, some that seem sincere may turn prodigals
or apostates, and some fall a quarrelling about the inherit-
ance, and make most woful divisions, in Christ's family ;
and some perhaps despise us that have thus spent our days
and strength in studies, and prayers, and fears, and cares,
and labours, for their salvation ; yea, perhaps be ready to
spit in our faces, and reproach our persons, yea, and our
very office and calling itself, as the experience of these times
of ours, seconding the experience of all ages of the church
before us, doth, alas ! too evidently and openly testify.
And yet some will be faithful, and constant, and thankful to
Christ and us. And that all might be so, for Christ's sake
and their own, must still be our care, and desires, and en-
deavours. In these several cases, we find blessed Paul with
his children in his Epistles, sometimes rejoicing with them
in their steadfastness ; sometimes defending himself and his
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 267
ministry against their unkind and childish wranglings ; as
with the Corinthians you may find him ; sometimes he is
put (but seldom) to a severe correction of the obstinate, de-
livering them up to satan, for a warning to the rest ; some-
times he is fain to watch with them, as in their sickness,
when they are infected with some dangerous error, or other
disease ; and is brought even to make great question of their
lives, lest he hath laboured for them in vain, and themselves
have run in vain, and lest they be fallen from grace, and
Christ should profit them nothing ; receiving himself no
better requital of all his labours from them that once would
have pulled out his eyes for him, than to be taken "for their
enemy, because he tells them the truth ; and the more he
loveth them, the less to be loved of them ;" as you may read
in Gal.i.6,7. iii.1.3,4. iv. 11. 14— 16. 19,20. v. 2. 4. 7.
But with the most we find him, as one that is yet between
hope and fear of them, directing and exhorting them to spi-
ritual steadfastness, and growth, and perseverance to the
end ; and this is the work which we here find him upon with
the Colossians in this text ; which containeth, 1. A suppo-
sition of the work (the great work) already done ; viz. " They
have received Christ Jesus the Lord." 2. An inference of
further duty, and exhortation thereto, which in sum is their
confirmation and progress. The parts of this duty are ex-
pressed in several metaphors. The first is taken from a
tree or other plant, and is called our " rooting in Christ."
After the receiving of Christ, there is a further rootedness
in him to be sought. The second is taken from a build-
ing, and is called, " being built up in him," as a house is
upon the foundation. All the work is not done when the
chief cornerstone and foundation is laid. The third part
is taken from those pillars and stronger parts of the build-
ing, which are firm upon the foundation, and it is
called a being " stablished or confirmed in the faith. "
And having made mention of faith, lest they should
hearken to innovations and the conceits of men under pre-
tence of faith, he addeth, " as ye have been taught," to shew
them what faith or religion it is that they must be estab-
lished in ; even that which by the apostles they had been
taught. And lastly, he expresseth the measure that they
should aim at, and one special way in which their faith
should be exercised, " abounding therein with thanksgiv-
268 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
ing." The matter is not great, whether we take the relative
to refer to Christ, and read it with the vulgar Latin, " abound-
ing in him with thanksgiving ;" or as the Ethiopic, " abound
with thanksgiving to him ;" or whether we take it as relating
to thanksgiving itself, as the Arabic translator, and some
Greek copies have it, " abounding in thanksgiving ;" or as
the ordinary Greek copies, and the Syriac translator, refer *
ring it to faith, " abounding in it (that is, in that faith) with
thanksgiving." For in the upshot it comes to the same,
" to abound in Christ," and, " to abound in faith in Christ,"
and, " to abound in a believing thanksgiving to Christ."
And all this is comprehended in one foregoing generaljof
"walking in Christ;" the whole life of a Christian being di-
vided into these two parts, Receiving Christ, and, Walking
in him. Here are these sereral terms therefore briefly to be
opened. 1. What is meant by, "receiving Christ Jesus the
Lord." 2. What is meant by " walking in him." 3. What
by " being rooted in him." 4. What by " being built up in
him." 5. What by "being confirmed or stablished in the
faith." 6. What by this directive limitation, " as ye have
been taught." 7. What by "abounding therein with thanks-
giving."
And for the first, you must observe the act and the ob-
ject. The act is "receiving;" the object is "Christ Jesus
the Lord." To receive Christ, is not only (as some annota-
tors mistake it) to receive his doctrine, though it is certain
that his doctrine must be received, and the rest is implied in
this. But when the understanding receiveth the Gospel by
assent, the will also accepteth or receiveth Christ as he is of-
fered, by consent ; and both these together are the receiv-
ing of Christ; that is, the true justifying faith of God's
elect. It is not therefore a physical, passive reception, as
wood receiveth the fire, and as our souls receive the graces
of the Spirit ; but it is a moral reception, or imputative,
which is active and metaphorical. This will be better un-
derstood when the object is considered, which is, " Christ
Jesus the Lord." To receive Christ as Christ, or the anoint-
ed Messias, and as the Saviour and our Lord, is to believe
that he is such, and to consent that he be such to us, and to
trust in him, and resign ourselves to him as such. The re-
lation we do indeed receive by a proper passive reception ;
I mean our relation of being the redeemed members, sub-
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 269
jects, disciples of this Christ. But the person of Christ we
only receive by such an active, moral, reputative reception,
as a servant by consent receives a master, a patient by con-
sent receives a physician, a wife by consent receives a hus-
band, and as a scholar or pupil by consent receives a teacher
or tutor, or the subjects by consent receive a sovereign.
So that it is the same thing that is called, " receiving Jesus
the Lord," and, "believing inhim," as it is expounded, John
i. 12. There are three great observable acts of faith essen-
tial to it ; the first is, Assent to the truth of the Gospel.
The second is, Consent or acceptance of Christ and life, as
the offered good. The third is, Affiance in Christ for the
accomplishing of the ends of his office. Now the word 'faith'
doth most properly express the first act and the last, and
the word ' receiving' doth most properly express the mid-
dlemost; but whichever term is used, when it is justifying
faith that is spoken of, all three are intended or included.
By what hath been said, you may discern whether you have
received Christ or not; for your faith may be known by
these acts which are its parts. 1. If you sincerely believe
the Gospel to be true ; which must be with a belief so strong
at least, as that you are resolved to venture your happiness
upon this belief, and let go all for the hope that is set before
you. 2. If an offered Christ, in his relation as a full and
perfect Saviour, be heartily welcome to you. If you con-
sent to the Gospel offer, and are but truly willing to be his,
and that he be yours in that relation. Faith is not only
called a " receiving of Christ," but is oft expressed by this
term of " willing" him ; and therefore the promise is to "who-
soever will ;" Rev. xxii. 17. and the wicked are denied a
part in Christ, because " they will not have him reign over
them;" Lukexix. 27. or " will not come to him that they
may have life ;" John vi. 40. even because they " would
have none of him ;" Psalm lxxxi. 11, 12. which is, because
they are not true believers or disciples of Christ. 3. If you
thus by consent take Christ for your Saviour, Teacher, and
Lord, it must needs follow that you fid ucially rely upon him,
or trust him to accomplish the ends of his relations; that
you trust to him for deliverance from the guilt, and power,
and punishment of sin, and for quickening, strengthening,
and preserving grace, and for everlasting life, that you re-
sign yourselves up to him as his disciples, to learn of him,
270 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
with a confidence or trust, that he will infallibly teach you
the way to happiness. And that you also give up your-
selves to him as his subjects, with a trust that he will govern
you in truth and righteousness, in order to your salvation,
and will defend you from destroying enemies. This much
is of the very being of faith, or the " receiving Christ Jesus
the Lord ;" and these parts are inseparable ; he that hath
one in truth, hath all. Whenever we find in Scripture, the
promise of justification or salvation made to us, if we be-
lieve, it is this believing, and none but this, that is intended.
It is not only believing in Christ as a sacrifice or priest,
that is the faith which justifieth, and believing in him as a
Teacher or Lord, that sanctifieth : the effects are not thus
parcelled out to several essential parts of this same faith ;
but it is this one entire faith in all these essential parts, that
is the undivided condition of all these benefits ; and in that
way of a condition of the free promise it doth procure them.
So much for the meaning of the first words, " Receiving
Christ Jesus the Lord." I will be briefer about the next.
The second, is, " walking in him," which is no more but
the living as Christians, when once we are become Chris-
tians, and using that Christ to the ends which we received
him for, when once we have received him. Two things are
necessary to such as we, that have lost our way : the first
is, to get into the right way (and that is to get into Christ,
who is the way) : the other is to travel on when we are in
it: for it is not enough to bring us to our journey's end,
that we have found out the right way. The next word to be
explained, is, " rooted ;" which doth not intimate that any
are really planted into Christ, without any rooting in him at
all ; but by " rooted," is meant, " deeply rooted ;" for the
roots increase under ground, as well as the tree above ground.
Rooting hath two ends, and both are here implied : the
first is for the firmness of the tree, that blustering winds may
not overturn it. The second is for nutriment, that it may
receive that nourishment from the earth, which may cause
its preservation, growth, and fruitfulness . This is the root-
edness of Christians in Christ, that they may be confirmed
in him against all assaults, and may draw from him that nu-
triment that is necessary to their growth and fruit. The
next term is, " built up in him." No house consisteth of a
bare foundation. Five things are expressly contained in
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 271
our being " built up in him." The first is, that we are unit-
ed or conjoined to him, as the building is on tie founda-
tion. The second is, that we rest wholly on him as our sup-
port, as the building doth on the foundation. The third is,
that we are also conjoined one unto another, and are become
one spiritual building in the Lord. The fourth is, that the
fabric doth increase in bigness, as the house doth by being
built up ; so that it importeth our increase in grace, and the
increase of the church by us. The fifth is, the fitness of
the building to its intended ends and use ; till it be built up,
it is not fit for habitation ; and till Christians are built up,
God hath not that use of them to which he doth intend them.
The next term is, " stablished or confirmed in Ihe faith,"
which signifieth but that strengthening and fixing of us that
may prevent our falling or shaking ; and it compriseth
these two things : first, that we be soundly bo;tomed on
Christ, who is our foundation. And secondly, that we
be cemented and firmly joined to each other. And this
comprehendeth their stability in the doctrine of faith :
and therefore he addeth " as ye have been ttught," to
fortify them against heresies, which indeed areall but no-
velties ; that so they may know how to try th« doctrines
that afterwards should be offered them, and stick fast to
that which the apostles taught. He nextrequireth them to
"abound therein," to let them know that as it is no small
matters that they expect by Christ, so they shoild not rest
in small degrees of grace or duty ; but especialy the duty
of " thanksgiving," which is an evangelical aid celestial
duty, and so admirably beseems a people that hive partaken
of such admirable salvation, and is so suitable toour mercies,
and our condition, and God's just expectation. As it is
love and grace, whose eternal praise is desgned by the
Gospel, and are magnified in the church by the Redeemer's
great and blessed work : so it is returns of lo'e, and praise,
and joy, that should be the most abounding «r overflowing
part of all our Christian affections and performances. After
this explication, you may see that the sense (f the textlieth
plain in this proposition.
Doct. ' Those that have savingly received Christ Jesus
the Lord, must be so far from resting here as if all were
done, that they must spend the rest of theirdays in walking
in him, being rooted and built up in him, aid stablished in
272 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
the faith as the apostles taught it, and abounding in it, es
pecially with joyful praises to our Redeemer.'
And because that my design is only to direct young
Christians how they may come to be established and con-
firmed in Christ, I shall therefore pass over all other things
that the fill handling of this text requireth ; and shall only
give you, I. A short intimation here, what this confirmation
and stability is, (which shall be more fully opened to you in
the Directions). II. And shew you the need of seeking it.
And III How you may attain it.
I. This confirmation is the habitual strength of grace,
distinct f*om present actual confirmation by the influence of
grace fron God ; for though God may in an instant confirm
a weak person against some particular temptation, by his
free assistance, yet that is not it which we have here to speak
of, but htbitual confirmation in a state of grace. And or-
dinarily ve may expect, that God's co-operating assisting
grace should bear some proportion with our habitual grace.
Even as ii nature he concurreth with the strongest men, to
do greate* works than he causeth the weak to do ; and with
the wises; men to understand more than the foolish do : I
say but trat ordinarily it is thus.
A conirmed Christian as contrary to a weak one, 1. Is
not to be Ridged of by his freedom from all scruples, doubts,
or fears. 2. Nor by his eminency in men's esteem or ob-
servation. 3. Nor by his strength of memory. 4. Or free-
dom of utterance in praying, preaching, or discourse. 5.
Or by his seemly deportment and courtesy towards others.
6. Nor by lis sedate, calm, and lovely temper, and freedom
from some haste and heats which other tempers are more
prone to. 7. Nor by a man-pleasing or dissembling faculty to
bridle the toigue, when it would open the corruption of the
mind, and tc suppress all words which would make others
know how bid the heart is. There are many endowments
laudable anddesirable, which will not shew so much as sin-
cerity in grac5 ; and much less a state of confirmation and
stability.
But confirnation lieth in the great degree of all those
graces which constitute a Christian. And the great degree
appeareth in tie operations of them. As, 1. When holiness
is as a new nature in us, and giveth us a promptitude to
holy actions, aid maketh us free and ready to them, and
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 273
niaketh them easy and familiar to us ; whereas the weak go
heavily, and can scarce drive on and force their minds. 2.
When there is a constancy or frequency of holy actions ;
which sheweth the strength and stability of holy inclina-
tions. 3. When they are powerful to bear down oppositions
and temptations, and can get over the greatest impediments
in the way, and make an advantage of all resistance, and
despise the most splendid baits of sin. 4. When it is still
getting ground, and drawing the soul upward, and nearer to
God, its rest and end : and when the heart groweth more
heavenly and divine, and stranger to earth and earthly things.
5. And when holy and heavenly things are more sweet and
delectable to the soul, and are sought and used with more
love and pleasure. All these do shew, that the operations
of grace are vigorous and strong, and consequently that the
habits are so also.
And this confirmation should be found, 1. In the un-
derstanding. 2. In the will. 3. In the affections. 4. In
the life.
1. When the mind of man hath a larger comprehension
of the truths of God, and the order, and method, and use-
fulness of every truth : and a deeper apprehension of the
certainty of them, and of the goodness of the matter ex-
pressed in them : when knowledge and faith come nearest
unto sight or intention, and we have the fullest, the truest,
and the firmest and most certain apprehension of things re-
vealed and unseen ; when the nature, and the reasons, and
the ends and benefits of the Christian religion are all most
clearly, orderly, decently, constantly and powerfully printed
on the mind, then is that mind in a confirmed state.
2. When the will is guided by such a confirmed under-
standing, and is not brutishly resolved, he knoweth not for
what or why : when light hath fixed it in such resolutions
as are past all notable doubtings, deliberations, waverings,
or unwilling backwardness : and a man is in seeking God
and his salvation, and avoiding known sin, as a natural man
is about the questions, Whether he should preserve his life,
and make provision for it? And whether he should poison,
or famish, or torment himself? When the inclination of the
will to God, and heaven, and holiness, are most like to its
natural inclination to good as good, and to its own felicity :
and its action is so free as to have least indetermination, and
VOL. VIII. T
274 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
to be most like to natural, necessary acts, as those are of
blessed spirits in heaven : when the least intimation from
God prevaileth, and the will doth answer him with readiness
and delight. And when it taketh pleasure to trample upon
all opposition, and when all that can be offered to corrupt
the heart, and draw it to sin, and loosen it from God, pre-
vaileth but as so much filth and dung would do ; Phil. iii.
7 — 9. This is a confirmed state of will.
3. When the affections do proceed from such a will, and
are ready to assist, excite, and serve it, and to carry us on
in necessary duties : when the lower affections of fear and
sorrow do cleanse, and restrain, and prepare the way, and
the higher affections of love and delight adhere to God, and
desire and hope do make out after him, and set the soul on
just endeavours ; when fear and grief have less to do, and
are delivering up the heart still more and more to the pos-
session of holy delight and love : and when those affections
which are rather profound than very sensible immediately
towards God himself, are sensible towards his word, his
servants, his graces, and his ways, and against all sin ; then
are the affections, and so the man in a confirmed state.
4. When ourselves, our time, and all that we have, are
taken to be God's and not our own, and are entirely and un-
reservedly resigned to him, and used for him : when we
study our duty, and trust him for our reward : when we live
as those that have much more to do for heaven than for
earth, and with God than with man or any creature : when
our consciences are absolutely subjected to the authority
and laws of God, and bow not to competitors : when we are
habitually disposed as his servants to be constantly employ-
ed in his works, and make it our calling and business in the
world; as judging that we have nothing to do on earth, but
with God, or for God: when we keep not up any secret de-
sires and hopes of a worldly felicity, nor purvey for the
pleasure of the flesh under the cloak of faith and piety, but
subdue the flesh as our most dangerous enemy, and can
easily deny its appetite and concupiscence : when we guard
all our senses, and keep our passions, thoughts and tongues,
in obedience to the holy law : when we do not inordinately
set up ourselves in our esteem or desire, above or against
our neighbour and his welfare ; but love him as ourselves,
and seek his good, and resist his hurt as heartily as our own ;
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 275
and love the godly with a love of complacence, and the un-
godly with a love of benevolence, though they be our ene-
mies : when we are faithful in all our relations, and have
judgment to discern our duty, that we run not into extremes ;
and skill, and readiness, and pleasure in performing it, and
patience under all our sufferings ; this is the life of a con-
firmed Christian, (in various degrees, as their strength is
various).
II. And now I shall proceed to persuade such to value
and seek this confirmation, lest with dull, unprepared minds
my following Directions should be lost ; and then I shall give
you the Directions themselves, which are the part that is
principally intended. And first for the Motives.
1. Consider that your first entrance into Christianity is
an engagement to proceed ; your receiving Christ obligeth
you to walk and grow up in him. A fourfold obligation
your very Christianity layeth upon you, to grow stronger,
and to persevere. (1.) The first is from the very nature of
it ; even from the office of Christ, and the use and ends to
which we do receive him. You receive Christ as a Physi-
cian of your diseased souls ; and doth not this engage you
to go on to use his medicines till you are cured ? What do
men choose a physician for, but to heal them ? It were but
a foolish patient that would say, ' Though my disease be
deadly, yet now I have chosen the best physician, I have no
more to do ; I doubt not of recovery.' You took Christ for
a Saviour, which engageth you to use his saving means, and
submit to his saving works. You took him for your Teacher
and Master, and gave up yourselves to be his disciples, and
what sense was in all this, if you did not mean to proceed
in learning of him ? It is a silly conceit for any man to think
that he is a good scholar, merely because he hath chosen a
good master or tutor, without any further learning of him.
When Christ sent out his apostles, it was for these two
works ; first, to disciple nations, and baptize them ; and
then to go on in teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
he commandeth them; Matt, xxviii. 19,20. Christ is the
way to the Father ; but to what purpose did you come into
this way, if you meant not to travel on in it ?
(2.) Moreover, when you became Christians, you entered
a solemn covenant with Christ; and bound yourselves by a
vow, to be faithful to him to the death : and this vow is upon
270 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
you. " It is better not to vow, than to vow and not per-
form;" Eccles.v. 5. In taking him to be the Captain of
your salvation, and listing yourselves under him, and taking
this oath of fidelity to him, you did engage yourselves to
fight as faithful soldiers, under his conduct and command
to your lives' end. And as it is a foolish soldier that thinks
that he hath no more to do but list himself and take colours,
and need not fight ; so it is a foolish and ungodly covenan-
ter that thinks he hath nothing to do but to promise, and
may be excused from performance, because that promising
was enough, when the promise was purposely to bind him
to perform.
(3.) Moreover, when you became Christians, you put
yourselves under the laws of Christ ; and these laws require
you to go further till you are confirmed ; so that you must
go on, or renounce your obedience to Christ.
(4.) Lastly, when you became Christians, you received
such exceeding mercies, as do oblige you to go much higher
in your affections, and much further in your obedience to
God. A man that is newly snatched as from the jaws of
hell, and hath received the free forgiveness of his sins, and
is put into such a state of blessedness as we are, must needs
feel abundance of obligations upon him, to proceed to
stronger resolutions and affections, and not to stop in those
low beginnings. So that if you lay these four things toge-
ther, you will perceive that the very purpose of your receiv-
ing Christ was that you might walk in him, and be confirm-
ed and built up.
2. Consider also, that conversion is not sound if you are
not heartily desirous to increase. Grace is not true, if there
be not a desire after more ; yea, if you desire not perfection
itself. An infant is not born to continue an infant, for that
were to be a monster ; but to grow up unto manhood. As
the kingdom of Christ in the world is likened by him to a
little leaven, and to a grain of mustard-seed, in the beginning,
which afterward makes a wonderful increase ; so his king-
dom in the soul is of the same nature too. If you are con-
tented with that measure of holiness that you have, you have
none at all, but a shadow and conceit of it. Let those men
think of this that stint themselves in holiness, and plead for
a moderation in it, as if it were intemperance or fury to love
God or fear him, or seek him or obey him, any more than
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 277
they do ; or as if we were in danger of excess in these. If
ever these men had feelingly, and by experience known
what holiness is, they would never have been possessed with
such conceits as these.
3. Consider what abundance of labour hath been lost,
and what hopes have been frustrated, for want of proceeding
to a rooted confirmation. I say not that such were truly
sanctified ; but 1 say, they were in a very hopeful way, and
went far, and by going farther might have attained to salva-
tion. The heart of many a minister hath been glad to see
their hearers humbled, and bewailing sin, and changing their
minds and lives, and becoming forward professors of godli-
ness ; when a few years' time hath turned all this joy into
sorrow ; and one of our hopeful, seeming converts doth grow
cold, and lose his former forwardness ; another falls to des-
perate sensuality, and turns drunkard, or fornicator, or
gamester; another turns worldling, and drowneth all his
seeming zeal in the love of riches, and the cares of this life ;
and another, (if not many to one,) is deluded by some de-
ceiver, and infected with some deadly errors, and casts off
duty, and sets himself, like a hired instrument of hell, to di-
vide the church, oppose the Gospel, and reproach, and slan-
der, and rail at the ministers and professors of it, and to
weaken the hands of the builders, and strengthen the un-
godly, and serve the secret enemies of the truth. Those
that once comforted our hearts in the hopes of their conver-
sion, do break our hearts by their apostacy and subversion,
and become greater hindrances to the work of Christ, and
greater plagues to the church of God, than those that never
professed to be religious. Those that were wont to join with
us in holy worship, and went up with us to the house of
God as our companions, do afterwards despise both wor-
shippers and worship. Whereas if these men had been root-
ed and confirmed, you should never have seen them fall into
this misery. O how many prayers, and confessions, and du-
ties do these men lose ! How many years have some of them
seemed to be religious, and after all have proved apostate
miscreants ; and the world, and the flesh, and pride, and er-
ror swallow up all. See then what need you have to be
rooted, confirmed, and built up in Christ.
4. Consider also, how much of the work of your salva-
tion is yet to do, when you are converted. You have hap-
*278 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
pily begun, but you have not finished. You have hit of the
right way, but you have your journey yet to go. You have
chosen the best commander, and fellow-soldiers, but you
have many a battle yet to fight. If you are Christians in-
deed, you know yourselves that you have many a corruption
to resist and conquer, and many a temptation yet to over-
come, and many a necessary work to do. And there is a
necessity of these afterworks as well as of the first. For
these are the use and end of your conversion, that you may
" live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world,
denying ungodliness and worldly lusts;" Tit. ii. 11, 12.
" For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should
walk in them;" Eph. ii. 10. And how can infants go through
all these works ? Which of you would desire an infant or crip-
ple to be your servant? But though God be in this more
merciful than man, yet he may well expect that you should
not be still infants. What work are you like to make him,
in this decrepid and weak condition? O pitiful blindness !
that any man that knows that he hath a soul to save, should
think an infant's strength proportionable to those works and
difficulties that stand between him and everlasting life ! In
the matters of this life, you feel the need and worth of
strength ; you will not think an infant fit to plough or sow,
or reap or mow, or travel or play the soldier, and yet will you
rest satisfied with an infant-strength, to do those great and
matchless works, which your salvation lieth on ?
5. Moreover, the weak, unconfirmed souls are usually
full of trouble, and live without that assurance of God's
love, and that spiritual peace and comfort, which others do
possess. One would think no other argument should be
necessary to make men weary of their spiritual weaknesses
and diseases, than the pain and trouble that always attend-
eth them. It is more pain to a sick man to travel a mile,
than to a sound man to go ten. To the lame or feeble, every
step hath pain, and all that they do is grievous to them ;
when far more would be a recreation to one that is in health.
O therefore delight not in your own languishings ! Choose
not to live in pain and sorrow ! But strive after confirma-
tion and growth in grace, that overgrowing your infirmities
you may overcome your sad complaints and groans, and may
be acquainted with the comfortable life of the confirmed. O
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 279
how roundly and cheerfully would you go through your
work ! How easy, and sweet, and profitable would it prove
to you, if once you were strong, confirmed Christians !
Alas ! the souls of those that are not confirmed, lie open to
every temptation of the malicious enemy of their peace ;
and how small a matter will disquiet and unsettle them !
Every passage of Scripture which they understand not, and
which seems to make against them, will disturb them. A
minister cannot preach so plainly or so cautiously, but
somewhat which they understand not will be matter of their
disquiet. Providences will trouble them, because they un-
derstand them not. Afflictions will be bitter to the mind as
well as the body, and will immoderately perplex them, be-
cause they understand them not, or have not strength to bear
them and improve them. The sweeter mercies of prosperity
will much lose their sweetness, for want of holy wisdom and
strength to digest them. And what man would choose such
a weak and languishing state as this, before a confirmed,
healthful state ? Will you run up and down for physic when
you are sick? And will you no more regard the health and
stability, and spiritual peace and vigour of your souls?
6. Moreover, it is the strong confirmed Christian that
hath the true use and benefit of all God's ordinances. Meat
is digested by the healthful stomach, and it is seen upon
them ; and we use to say, it is not lost ; it is sweet to
them, and doth them good, and they are strengthened more
by it ; and so is the confirmed Christian by God's ordinan-
ces. But to the weak, unconfirmed soul, how much of the
means of grace is even as lost ! How little sweetness do
they find in means, and how little good can they say they
get by them ! I deny not but some good they get, and that
they must use them still ; for though the sick have little re-
lish of his meat, yet he cannot live long without it ; and
though it breed not strength or health, yet it maintaineth
that languishing life ; but this is all, or almost all. What
a sad thing is this to yourselves and unto us, when ministers
that are as the nurses of the church, or stewards of the house-
hold, to give them all their meat in due season, must see
that all that ever they can do for you, will do no more than
keep you alive ! Yea, how often are you quarrelling with
your food, and you do not like it : or you cannot get it
down, something still ails it for matter or manner ; or else if
280 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
the minister displease you, your feeble stomachs do loath
the food, because you like not the cook that dresseth it, or
because his hands are not so clean as you desire. " The
full soul loathed an honeycomb, but to the hungry every
bitter thing is sweet ;" Prov. xxvii. 7. Or if you get it down,
you can hardly keep it, but are ready to cast it up to our
faces. And thus a great deal of our labour is lost with you,
holy doctrine lost, and sacraments and other ordinances
lost, because you have not strength to digest them. Labour
therefore to be stablished and built up.
7. 1 beseech you, look upon the face of the world, and
see whether it have not need of the strongest help. Where-
as the weak and sick are burdensome to others, rather than
fit to help the distressed. It is a multitude among us, and
abroad in the world, that are ignorant and ungodly, and in
the depth of misery ; and if there be but a few to help them,
those few should not be babes. Abundance of this multi-
tude are obstinate in their sin, blind and wilful, captivated
by the devil, and have sold themselves to do evil : and shall
such miserable souls as these, have none but children or
sick folks to help them? I tell you, sirs, their diseases
prove too hard for the most skilful physicians ; it will put
the wisest man in England to it, to persuade one obstinate
enemy of godliness to the hearty love of a holy life ; or to
cure one old superstitious person of his self-conceitedness ;
or one covetous person of his love of the world; or one old
drunkard or glutton of his sensuality. How then will silly,
ignorant Christians be able to persuade them? I know it is
not the ability of the instrument, but the will of God that is
the principal cause; but yet God useth to work by instru-
ments according to their fitness for the work. What a case
is that hospital in where all are sick, and no healthful per-
sons among them to help them ! Poor weak Christians !
you are not able much to help one another ; how much less
to help the dead ungodly world ! Woe to the world if it
had no better helpers ! And woe to yourselves if you had
not the help of stronger than yourselves (seeing it is God's
way to work by means). Alas, a child or sick person is so
unfit to labour for the family, and to work for others, that
they are the burdens of the family, and must be provided for
by others ; they are so unmeet to help others in their weak-
ness, that they must be carried, or attended and waited on.
FOR TriEIK ESTABLISHMENT. 281
themselves. What a life is this to be the burdens of the
church, when you might be the pillars of the church ; to be
so blind and lame, when you might be eyes to the blind, and
feet to the lame.
I speak not this to extenuate God's mercies to you ; nor
to undervalue the great felicity of the saints, even the poor-
est and weakest of them. I know that Christ is tender of
the weakest that are sincere, and will not forsake them.
But though you are so far above the dead world, even in the
bed of your groaning and languishing, yet, O how far are
you below the confirmed, healthful Christian ? You are
happy in being alive, but you are unhappy in being so dis-
eased and weak. You are happy in being of the family,
and fellow-citizens with the saints ; but you are unhappy
in being so useless, and unprofitable, and burdensome ; for
indeed you live but as the poor of the parish, not only on the
alms of Christ, for so we do all, but on the alms of your
brethren's assistance and support ; and I know that in world-
ly matters that you will rather labour with your hands, that
you may have to give to them that need, than be trouble-
some to others, and live upon charity ; Eph. iv. 28. 1 know
that the time is not yet come, that there shall not be a beg-
gar in Israel ; I mean one that needs not our continual re-
lief: " the poor we shall have always with us;" even the
poor in grace to exercise our charity ; and I know that the
strong must bear with their infirmities, and exercise com-
passion on them. But yet you should remember the words
of Christ, " It is more honourable to give than to receive ;"
and therefore be persuaded to bestir yourselves for spiritual
health, and strength, and riches, that the multitudes of needy,
miserable souls may have some help from you; and that when
they come to your doors, you may not turn them away with so
cold an answer, ' Alas, we have nothing for ourselves.'
Were you but strong confirmed Christians, what blessings
might you be to all about you ; what a stay to the places
where you live! "Your lips would feed many as a tree of
life; The ear that heard you would bless you, and the eye
that saw you would bear you witness ;" Job xxix. 11. You
would be to poor souls, as bountiful rich men are to their
bodies, the support and relief of many that are needy. You
would " not eat your morsels alone, nor would you see any
perish for lack of clothing, but the loins of the poor would
282 DIRECTION I T O T H K C N V E R T E D
bless you ; M Job xxxi. 17 — 20. O pity the poor world, that
needeth more than children's help, and grow up into confir-
mation. O pity the poor church that abounds with weak-
lings, that is pestered with childish self-conceited quarrel-
ers, and needeth more than children's help ; and grow up to
a confirmation. O pity yourselves, and live not still in so
childish, sickly, and beggarly a condition, when the way of
riches and health is before you ; but up and be doing till you
have attained confirmation.
8. Yea, this is not all ; you do not only deny the church
your assistance, but most of the troubles and divisions of
of the church, are from such unsettled weaklings as you.
In all ages almost these have made the church more work
than the heathen persecutors did with fire and sword. These
novices, as Paul calleth them, that is, young beginners in
religion, are they that most commonly are " puffed up with
pride, and fall into the condemnation of the devil ;" 1 Tim.
iii. 6. These are they that are easiest deceived by seducers,
as being not able to make good the truth, nor to confute the
plausible reasonings of the adversaries ; and withal, they
have not that rooted love to the truth and ways of God, which
should hold them fast; and they quickly yield like coward-
ly soldiers, that are able to make but small resistance. And
as Paul speaks, they are " like children tossed to and fro,
and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight
of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to
deceive;" Eph. iv. 14. If you will still continue children,
what better can we expect of you, but thus to be tossed and
carried about. Thus you gratify satan and seducers, when
you Iitt 1 e think on it: and thus you harden the ungodly in
their way; and thus you grieve the hearts of the godly, and
especially of the faithful guides of the flocks. Alas ! that
so many of the children of the church should become the
scourges and troublers of the church ; and should set their
teeth so deep in the breasts that were drawn out for their
nourishment! If you were never drawn to do any thing to
the reproach of the church, yet what a grief must it be to
us, to see so many of yourselves miscarry ! ' Ah !' thinks a
poor minister, ' what hopes had I once of these professors ;
and are they come to this V O mark sirs, the apostle's warning,
Heb.xiii.9. " Be not carried about with divers and strange
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. *283
doctrines." And his way of prevention is, that the heart be
established with grace.
9. Consider also, that it is a dishonour to Christ, that so
many of his family should be such weaklings ; so mutable,
and unsettled, and unprofitable as you are ! I do not mean
that it is any real dishonour to him ; for if all the world
should forsake him, they would dishonour themselves, and
not him, with any competent judge : as it would dishonour
the beholders more than the sun, if all the world should say
that it is darkness. But you are guilty of dishonouring him in
the eyes of the misguided world. O what a reproach it is
to godliness, that so many professors should be so ignorant
and imprudent ; and so many so giddy and inconstant ; and
so many that manifest so little of the glory of their holy pro-
fession ! All the enemies of Christ without the church, are
not capable of dishonouring him so much as you, that bear
his name, and wear his livery ! While your graces are weak,
your corruptions will be strong ; and all those corruptions
will be the dishonour of your profession. Will it not break
your hearts to hear the ungodly pointing at you as you pass
by, to say, ' Yonder goes a covetous professor;' or, ' Yonder
goes a proud, or a tippling, or a contentious professor?' If
you have any love to God, and sense of his dishonour, me-
thinks such sayings should touch you at the heart ! While
you are weak and unconfirmed, you will, like children, stum-
ble at every stone, and catch many a fall ; and yield to
temptations, which the stronger easily resist : and then, be-
ing scandalous, all your faults by foolish men will be charg-
ed on your religion. If you do but speak an ill word of
another, or rail, or deceive, or overreach in bargaining, or
fall into any scandalous opinions or practice, your religion
must bear all the blame with the world. Ever since I can
remember, it hath been one of the principal hindrances of
men's conversion, and strengtheners of the wicked in their
way, that the godly were accounted a sort of peevish, un-
peaceable, covetous, proud, self-seeking persons; which was
a slander as to many, but too much occasioned by the scan-
dalousness of some. And methinks you should be afraid of
that woe from Christ, " Woe be to him by whom offence
cometh." If you be children, you may have the woe of
sharp castigations ; and if you be hypocrites, you shall have
the woe of everlasting sufferings. The world can judge no
284 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
further than they see. And when they see professors of ho-
liness to be so like to common men, and in some things
worse than many of them, what can you expect but that
they despise religion, and judge of it by the professors of it,
and say, ' If this be their religion, let them keep it to them-
selves, we are as well without it as they are with it.' And
thus will the holy ways of God be vilified through you. If
you will not excel others in the beauty of your conversa-
tions, that in this glass the world may see the beauty of
your religion, you must expect that they should take it but
for a common thing, which bringeth forth but common fruits,
to their discerning. You should be such that God may
boast of, and the church may boast of, to the face of the
accuser ; then would you be an honour to the church, when
God may say of you as he did of Job : " Hast thou consi-
dered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the
earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God,
and escheweth evil ;" Job i. 8. If we could say so of you to
the malignant enemies, ' See what men the godly are, there
is none such among you; men of holiness, wisdom, upright-
ness, sobriety, meekness, patience, peaceable, and harmless,
living wholly to God, as strangers on earth, and citizens of
heaven,' then you would be ornaments to your holy profes-
sion. Were you such Christians as the old Christians were
(Acts iv.), we might boast of you then to the reproaching ad-
versaries.
10. Moreover, till you are confirmed and built up, you
may too easily be made the instruments of satan, to further
his designs. The weakness of your understandings, and the
strength of your passions, and especially the interest that
carnal self hath remaining in you, may lay you open to
temptations, and engage you in many a cause of satan, to
take his part against the truth. And how sad a case is this, to
any that have felt the love of Christ ! Have you been warm-
ed with his wondrous love, and washed with his blood, and
saved by his matchless mercy ? And may it not even break
your hearts to think, that after all this, you should be drawn
by satan to wound your Lord, to abuse his honour, to resist
his cause, to hurt his church, and to confirm his enemies,
and gratify the devil ? I tell you with shame and grief
of heart, that abundance of weak, unsettled professors,
that we hope have upright meanings in the main, have been
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 285
more powerful instruments for satan to do his work by, for
the hindering of the Gospel, the vilifying of the ministry, the
dividing of the church, and the hindering of reformation, than
most of the notoriously profane have been ! What excellent
hopes had we once in England, of the flourishing of piety
and happy union among the churches and servants of Christ.
And who hath not only frustrated these hopes, but almost
broke them all to pieces ? Have any had more to do in it,
than weak, unstable professors of religiousness ? What sad
confusion are most parts of England in at this day, by rea-
son of the breaking of the churches into sects and shreds,
and the contentions and reproaches of Christians against
Christians, and the odious abuse of holy truth and ordi-
nances ! And who is it that doth this, so much as unstable
professors of piety ? What greater reproach almost could
have befallen us, than for the adversary to stand by, and see
men pulling at each others throats ; and hating, and per-
secuting, and reproaching one another ; and that our own
hands should pull down the house of God, and tear in pieces
the miserable churches, while men are striving who shall be
the master of the reformation. O what a sport is this to the
devil, when he can set his professed enemies by the ears, and
make them fall upon one another. When, if he have any
notable work to do against the church and cause of Christ,
he can call out unstable Christians to do it ! If he would
have godliness be scandalized, who hath he to do it but pro-
fessors of godliness? Some of them to give the scandal,
and others to aggravate and divulge it. Would he have a
church divided ? How quickly doth he find a bone of con-
tention. And who should do it but the unstable members
of it ? Would he have the truth opposed, and error and
darkness to be promoted? Who must do it but professors
of the truth ? Persuade some of them that truth is error,
and error is truth, and the work will be done. They will fu-
riously march out against their Master, and think they do
him service while they are fighting against him, and scorn-
ing, and shaming, if not killing his servants. Would he
have public divisions maintained among all the churches of
the world? It is but possessing the weaker, unstable pas-
tors and people, with a perverse zeal for mere words and no-
tions, as if the life of the church did therein consist ; and
they will be the devil's instruments at a beck, and carry it
286 DIRECTIONS) TO THE CONVERTED
perhaps by the major vote ; and all that will not word it as
they, shall be called heretics, and the church shall have new
articles added to their faith, under pretence of preserving
and expounding the old ones. And thus when satan hath
a work to do, if heathens and infidels cannot do it, it is no
more but call out Christians to do it. If drunkards and ma-
lignant enemies cannot do it, it is but calling out some un-
stable professors of godliness to do it, and possessing the
more injudicious part of the pastors with some carnal ends,
or blind consuming zeal.
O Christians ! in the name of God, as you would avoid
these devilish employments, labour for confirming, strength-
ening grace, and rest not in your childish weakness, and
instability. If you are delivered from satan, and have truly
renounced him, and tasted the great salvation of Christ, me-
thinks you should even tremble to consider what a thing it
would be, if after all this, you should prove, through your
weakness, so serviceable to the devil, and so injurious to
your dearest Lord? What ! must those abuse him whom he
hath redeemed from damnation ? Must those hands be em-
ployed to demolish his kingdom, that were washed by him,
and should have built it up ? As if you were like Judas,
that even now hath his hand with his Master in the dish,
and presently lifts it up against him !
11. Moreover, while you are weaklings and unconfirm-
ed, you will exceedingly encourage the ungodly in their
false hopes, by being so like them as you are. When they
see that you excel them so little, and in many things are as
bad or worse than they, it strongly persuadeth them that
their state is as good as yours, and that they may be saved
as well as others, seeing the difference seemeth to be so
small. They know that heaven and hell are much unlike,
and vastly distant ; and, therefore, they will hardly believe
that they must be thrust into hell, when men that seem so
little to differ from them must go to heaven. You would not
believe how it hardeneth them in their sin, when they see
professors do as bad ! And how it settleth them in presump-
tion and impenitence to perceive your faults ! When a mi-
nister hath laboured to make the sins of the ungodly odi-
ous to him, and to break his heart with the terrors of the
Lord, O how it quieteth him, and healeth all again, to see
the like sins, or others as bad, in the professors of religion !
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 287
' If these,' saith he, ' may be saved, for all such and such
sins, what cause have I to fear ?' O wretched, unprofitable,
scandalous professor ! When we have studied and preach-
ed for men's conversion many a year, you go and undo all
that we have done, by the scandal, or levity, or imprudence
of an hour ! When we have almost persuaded men to be
Christians, you unpersuade them, and turn them back again,
and do more harm by the weakness and scandal of your
lives, than many of us can do good by life and doctrine.
When we have brought sinners even to the door of life, you
prove their enemies, and take them out of our hands again,
and bring them back to their old captivity, doth itnot pierce
your very hearts to think on it, that ever one soul, much
more so many, should be shut out of glory, and burn in
everlasting misery, and you should have a hand in it? Con-
sider of this, and methinks you should desire confirming
grace.
12. And methinks it should be very grievous to you, to
be so like to the ungodly yourselves, and that satan should
still have so much interest in you. Holiness is God's image ;
and doth it not grieve you that you are so little like him !
By his grace he keeps possession of you ; and doth it
not grieve you that God hath no more possession of
you ; but that satan and sin should so defraud him of his
own ! Will he condescend to dwell in so low a worm, so
oft defiled with the dung of his iniquities ; and doth it not
wound you to think, that even there he should be so strait-
ened, and thrust into corners, by a hellish enemy, as if that
simple habitation were too much for him, and that dirty
dwelling were too good for him ! And as if you grudged
him so much of the leavings of satan, that had taken up the
beginning of your days in sin !
Your corruption is the very image of the devil, and doth
it not affright you to think that you should be so like him !
You are charged not to be conformed to this world, but to
be transformed or metamorphosed " by the renewing of your
mind, that ye may prove what is that good, that acceptable,
that perfect will of God ;" Rom. xii. 2. And yet will you
stop in a state so like to those that perish ? He that hath
the least measure of saving grace, is likest to the children
of the devil of any man in the world, that is not one of them.
Seek, therefore, to increase.
*
•288 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
13. And I beseech you consider, that your excellency,
and the glory and lustre of your graces, is one of God's ap-
pointed means for the honour of his Son, and Gospel, and
church, and for the conviction and conversion of the unbe-
lieving world. And, therefore, if you use not these means,
you rob God and the church of that which is their due, and
deprive sinners of one of the means of their salvation. You
are commanded to " let your light so shine before men, that
they may see your good works, and glorify your Father,
which is in heaven ;" Mat. v. 16. Christians, be awakened
in the name of God, to consider what you have to do with
your graces ! You have the living God to please and ho-
nour by them ! As the excellency of the work doth honour
the workman, so must your graces and lives honour God.
You have the souls of the weak to confirm by your lives,
and the souls of the ungodly to win by your lives. You
should all be preachers, and even preach as you go up and
down in the world, as a candle lighteth which way ever it
goeth. As we are sent to save sinners, as ambassadors of
Christ, by public proclamation of his will ; so are you sent
to save them as his servants and our helpers, and must
preach by your lives and familiar exhortations, as we must
do by authoritative instruction. A good life is a good ser-
mon ; yea, those may be won by your sermons, that will not
come to ours ; or will not obey the doctrine which they
hear. Even to women, that must keep silence in the church,
doth Peter command this way of preaching ; " That if any
of them have husbands that obey not the word, they may,
without the word, be won by the conversation of the wives;"
1 Pet.iii. 1,2. Thousands can understand the meaning of a
good life, that cannot understand the meaning of a good
sermon ! By this way you may preach to men of all lan-
guages, though your tongues had never learnt but one. For
a holy, harmless, humble life, doth speak in all the lan-
guages of the world, to men that have eyes to read it. This
is the universal character and language, in which all sorts
may perceive you speak the wondrous works of the Holy
Ghost. I charge you, therefore, Christians, deprive not God
of the honour you owe him, nor the church, or souls of
wicked men, of this excellent, powerful help which you owe
them, by continuing in your weakness, and unsettled minds,
and spotted lives ; but grow up to that measure that may be
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 289
fit for such a work. As you durst not silence the preachers
of the Gospel, so do not dare to silence yourselves from
preaching by your holy exemplary lives. And alas, do you
think that feeble, giddy, scandalous professors, are like to
do any great matters by their lives ? Would you wish the
poor world to write after such a crooked and blotted copy ?
Will it win men's hearts to a love of holiness, to talk with a
Christian that can scarce speak a word of sense for his reli-
gion? Or to see a professor as greedy for a little gain as
the veriest worldling that hath no other hope ? Or to hear
them rail, or lie, or slander ? Or to see them turn up and
down like a weathercock, according as the wind of tempta-
tion sits : and to follow every new opinion that is but put
off with a plausible fervency ? Do you think that men are
like to be won by such lives as these ?
14. Do you consider what great things you must make
account to suffer for Christ ? You must " forsake all that
you have ;" Lukexiv. 33. You must not save your lives if
he bid you lose them ; Matt. xvi. 25. You " must suffer
with him, if you will be glorified with him;" Rom. viii. 17.
You may be called to " confess Christ before the kings
or judges" of the earth ; and then, " if you deny him,
he will deny you," and if you be "ashamed of him he will
be ashamed of you," (unless you be brought to a better
state) ; Luke ix. 26. Mark viii. 38. You may be called to
" the fiery trial," and " to suffer also the spoiling of your
goods ;" and in a word, the loss of all. And do you think
that you shall not find use for the strongest graces then ?
Have you not need to be confirmed, rooted Christians, that
must expect such storms ? Are infants meet for such encoun-
ters? Have you not seen how many that seemed strong, have
been overthrown in a time of trial ? And yet will you stop in
a weak estate? Perhaps you will say, 'We cannot stand by
our own strength, and, therefore, Christ may uphold the
weakest, when the strongest may fall.' To which I answer,
it is true ; but it is God's common way to work by means,
and to imitate nature in his works of grace ; and, therefore,
he useth to root and strengthen those that he will have to
stand and conquer; yea, and to arm them as well as strength-
en them, and then to teach them to use their arms. " Fi-
nally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power
vol. vni. u
290 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye
may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil* For we
wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principali-
ties, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that
you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having
done all, to stand ;" Ephes. vi. 10 — 13. You must look
" when you are illuminated, to endure a great fight of afflic-
tions ; to be made a gazing- stock both by reproaches and
afflictions, and to be companions of them that are so used ;
and, therefore, you have need of patience, that after ye have
done the will of God, you may receive the promise ;" Heb.
x. 32, 33. 36. If you will endure, in the time of persecution,
the word must take deep root in your hearts ; Matt, xiii.5.
20,21. and you must be founded on a rock, if you look to
stand in time of storms ; Matt. vii. 24,25.
In the mean time, it is a fearful thing to see in what a
wavering condition you seem to stand, like a tree that shakes,
as if it were even falling, or like a cowardly army, that are
ready to run before they fight ; and like cowardly soldiers,
you are still looking behind you, and a small matter trou-
bleth, and perplexeth, and staggereth you, as if you were
ready to repent of your repentings. And must God have such
servants as these, that upon every rumour, or word, or trou-
ble, are wavering or looking back, and ready to forsake him ?
15. Consider also, that the same reasons that moved you
at first to be Christians, should now move you to be con-
firmed, thriving Christians. For they are of force as well
for this, as for that. You would not have missed your part
in Christ for all the world, if indeed you have the least de-
gree of grace. And if the beginning be good and necessary,
the increase is neither bad or needless. If a little grace be
desirable, sure more is more desirable. If it was then but a
reasonable thing that you should forsake all for Christ and
follow him, it is sure as reasonable that you should follow
him to the end, till you reach that blessedness which was
the end for which at first you followed him. What! Chris-
tian, hast thou found God a hard master, a barren wilder-
ness to thee? or his service an unprofitable thing? Say so,
and I dare say thou art a bastard (to use the apostle's phrase,
Heb. xii. 8.), and not a Christian. Some trial thou hast
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 291
made of him. What evil hast thou found in him? or what
wrong hath he ever done thee, that thou shouldst now begin
to make a stand, as if thou wert in doubt, whether it be best
to go further ? If ever Christ were needful, he is needful
still. And if ever heaven and holiness were good, they are
good still. And, therefore, go on till thou hast obtained
more,and forget not the reasons that first persuaded with thee.
16. Nay, more than so, you have the addition of much
experience, which should be an exceeding help to quicken
your affections. When you first repented and came in to
Christ, you had never had any experience in yourselves of
his saving, special grace before ; but you came in upon the
bare hearing and believing of it. But now you have tasted
that the Lord is gracious, and you have received at his hands
the pardon of sin, the Spirit of adoption, the hope of glory,
which before you had not ! You have had many a prayer
answered, and many a deliverance granted ; and will you
make a stand when all these experiences do call you for-
ward? Should not new motives and helps thus added to the
old, be the means of adding to your zeal and holiness?
Surely more wages and encouragement, doth bespeak more
work and diligence. And, therefore, see that you increase.
17. And most, or many of you have cause to consider
how long you have been in the family and school of Christ.
If you are but newly entered, I may well exhort you to in-
crease, but I cannot reprove you for not increasing. But,
alas ! what a multitude of dwarfs hath Christ, that are like
infants at twenty, or forty, or threescore years of age.
What ! be so many years in his school, and yet be in the
lowest form. " For when for the time ye ought to be teach-
ers, you have need that one teach you again which be the
first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such
as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every
one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteous-
ness ; for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them
that are of full age, that by reason of use have their senses
exercised to discern both good and evil ;" Heb. v. 12 — 14.
O poor weak, diseased Christian! hast thou been so many
years beholding the face of God by faith, and yet art thou
no more in love with him than at the first? Hast thou been
so long in making trial of his goodness ? And dost thou
see it, and savour it no more than in the beginning ? Hast
292 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
thou been so long under his cure, and art thou no more
healed than the first year or day ? Hast thou been hearing
and talking of heaven so long, and yet art thou no more
heavenly nor ready for heaven? Hast thou heard and talk-
ed so much against the world and the flesh, and yet is the
world as high in thee as at first, and the flesh as strong as
in the beginning of thy profession ? O what a sin and shame
is this ! And what a wrong to God and thee !
Yea, consider here also, what means thou hast had, as
well as what time ! O who hath gone beyond thee for pow-
er, and plenty, and purity of ordinances ! Or at least how
few ! Surely few parts of all the earth are like to England,
for the showers of heaven, and the riches of the precious
ordinances of God. You have sermons till you can scarce
desire more ! And that so plain, that men can scarce tell
how to speak plainer; and so earnest, as if the servants of
Christ would take no nay ; even almost as if they must pe-
rish if you perished. You have as frequent, as plain, as
powerful books. You have the warnings and examples of
the godly about you. And what yet would you have more ?
And should a people thus fed be dwarfs continually? Is
ignorance, and dullness, and earthliness, and selfishness ex-
cusable after all these means? Surely, sirs, it is but just
that God should expect you all to be giants ! Even heaven-
ly, grown, confirmed Christians. Whatever others do, it
should be so with you.
18. And methinks it should somewhat move you to con-
sider how others have thriven in less time, and by smaller
means by far than you have had ! And how some of your
neighbours can yet thrive by the same means that you so
little thrive by. Job, that was so magnified by God himself,
had not such means as you. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph,
had none of them all such means as you ! " Many prophets
and righteous men have desired to see those things that you
see, and have not seen them ; and to hear those things
which ye hear, and have not heard them ;" Matt. xiii. 17.
Though John the Baptist was greater than any of the pro-
phets, yet the least of you that are in the Gospel kingdom,
are greater than he in respect of means. As the times
of the Gospel have far clearer light, and give out greater
measures of grace, so the true genuine children of the Gos-
FOK THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 293
pel should (taking them one with another) be far more con-
firmed, strong, and heavenly, than those that were under the
darker and scantier administrations of the promise.
And do you not see and hear how far you are outstripped
by many of your poor neighbours, that are as low in natural
parts, and as low in the world, and the esteem of men as
you. How many (in this place I dare boldly speak it) do
shine before you in knowledge, and meekness, and patience,
and a blameless, upright life : in fervent prayers, and a hea-
venly conversation ! Men that have had as much need to
look after the world as you, and no longer time to get these
qualifications ; and no other means but what you have had,
or might have had, as well as they. And now they shine as
stars in the church on earth, while you are like sparks, if not
like clods. I know that God is the free disposer of his
graces ; but yet he so seldom faileth any (even in degrees)
that be not wanting to themselves, that I may well ask you,
why you might not have reached to some more eminency, as
well as these about you, if you had but been as careful and
industrious as they.
19. Consider also, that your holiness is your personal
perfection, and that of the same kind you must have in glo-
ry, though not of the same degree. And, therefore, if you
be not desirous of its increase, it seems you are out of love
with your souls, and with heaven itself. And when you
cease to grow in holiness, you cease to go on any further to
salvation. If you would, indeed, yourselves, be perfect and
blessed, you must be perfected in this holiness, which must
make you capable of the perfect fruition of the most holy
God, and capable of his perfect love and praise. There is
no heaven without a perfection in holiness. If, therefore,
you let fall your desires of this, it seems you let fall your
desires of salvation. Up then, and be doing, and grow as
men that are growing up to glory ; and if you believe that
you are in your progress to heaven, being nearer your salva-
tion than when you first believed, see then that you make a
progress in heavenlymindedness, and that you be riper for
salvation than when you first believed. How ill doth it be-
come men to make any stand in the way to heaven, especi-
ally when they have been in the way so long, that we might
have expected before this they should have been, as it were,
almost within sight of it.
294 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
20. Consider also, that little grace, little glory ; and
the greater measure of holiness, the greater measure will you
have of happiness. I know that the glory of the lowest
saint in heaven will be exceedingly great ; but doubtless the
greatest measure is unspeakably the most desirable. And
as it will not stand with the truth of grace for a man to be
satisfied with a low degree of grace, though he plead the
happiness of the lowest Christian, and his own unworthiness
of the least degree ; so, at least, it ill beseems an heir of
glory to desire but the lowest degree of glory, though he
plead the happiness of the lowest saint in heaven, and his
own unworthiness of the lowest place. For he that will be
so content with the smallest glory, as not to have hearty
desires of more, is accordingly content to have in himself
the smallest measure of the knowledge and love of God, and
to be loved in the smallest measure by him ; and to have the
least enjoyment of him ; and to bear the smallest part in his
praises, and in pleasing and glorifying him for ever. For
all these things are our happiness itself. And how well this
agreeth with a gracious frame of mind, I need not any fur-
ther tell you.
But because some make question of it, whether the de-
gree of glory will be answerable to the degree of holiness, I
shall prove it in a few words.
(1.) It is the very drift of the parable of the talents in
Matt. xxv. He that had gotten most by improvement, was
made ruler proportionably over most cities. Not he that
had been at the greatest bodily labour in religion, nor every
one that had passed the greatest sufferings ; but he that had
got most holiness to himself, and honour to God by the im-
provement of his talents, and so had doubled them.
(2.) The degrees of holiness hereafter will be divers, as
are the degrees of holiness here ; for as men sow, they will
reap ; and there is no promise in Scripture, that men that die
with the smallest holiness shall be made equal to them that
died with the greatest holiness. And that the greatest holi-
ness hereafter, must have the greatest happiness, is past de-
nial. For, [1.] Holiness in heaven is an essential part of
the felicity itself. It is the perfection of the soul. [2.] The
use of it is for perfect fruition, and perfect exercise of love
and praise; which are the other parts of glory. And God
will not give men powers, capacities, and dispositions inhea-
FOK THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 293
ven which shall be in vain; as he giveth hungering, and thirst-
ing, and love, so will he give proportionable satisfaction, and
not tantalize his servants in their blessedness, and leave a
part of hell in heaven. [3.] And holiness is pleasing to God
in its own nature ; and, therefore, the greatest holiness will
most greatly please him ; and he that most pleaseth God,
hath the greatest glory. These things are plain.
(3.) Moreover, we have great reason to conceive of the
state of the glorified, in some congruency with the rest of
the workmanship of God. But in all the rest there is a dif-
ference or imparity ; therefore we have reason to think it
is so here. On earth there are princes and subjects in the
commonwealth ; and pastors and people in the churches,
and several degrees among the people as to gifts and com-
forts. Among the devils there are degrees ; and among the
angels themselves there are principalities and powers, and
thrones and dominions. And why then should we imagine
that the heavenly Jerusalem shall not be so too ?
(4.) And Christ plainly intimateth that there is a place,
" on his right hand, and on his left, to give," in that king-
dom, though, as the Son of Man, he had not the principal
disposal of it. (And then the kingdom must be delivered
to the Father, and God be all in all ; and, therefore, the
Mediator as such have somewhat less to do, than now.)
And when Christ telleth us of Lazarus in Abraham's bo-
som, and of many from the east and west sitting down with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he intimateth to us, that every
place in heaven is not so high as Abraham's bosom, nor a
sitting with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So that I take it
as a plain revealed truth, that divers degrees of holiness will
have divers degrees of glory hereafter.
The chief argument to the contrary is fetched from the
parable of the labourers, that coming in at several hours, re-
ceived every one a penny. But this is misunderstood. For
here is not a word in it contrary to our assertion. The parable
only saith that, ' Glory shall not be proportioned to the time,
but they that come later shall have never the less for that/
which is nothing to our question about the degrees of holi-
ness. For many that are first in time may be least and last
in holiness ; and many that are last in time, may in that lit-
tle time come to be best and greatest in holiness, and con-
sequently in glory. The parable in Matt. xxv. shews that
296 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
God will give different degrees of glory, according to the
difference in improvement of our talents. And the other
parable shews that he will not give out his glory according
to men's time and standing in the church, seeing a weaker
Christian may be of longer standing, and a stronger of a
later coming in. And what shew of discord is there be-
tween these ? 2. And yet it is doubtful in the judgment of
good expositors, whether the parable of the penny do speak
of heaven at all or not ; and whether it speak not only of
the vocation of the Gentiles, and taking them into the Gos-
pel church in equality with the believing Jews : though the
Jews being God's ancient people, had been longer in the
vineyard, and the Gentiles were called but at the eleventh
hour, yet God will make the Gentiles equal in the grace of
vocation, because in this he hath not engaged himself, but
may do with his own as he list. Whichever of these two is
the thing intended in the text, or possibly both, it is certain
that this general is the sum of the parable, That the first may
be last, and the last first ; that is, that God will not give
men the greatest reward that were first called. But he ne-
ver said that he would not reward them most, that had done
him the truest service, and were highest in holiness.
Object. But the reason is, ' May I not do as I will with
my own.' True, but you must remember what it is a rea-
son of; even of the cause in question, and may not by you
be extended to other causes without a warrant. You never
read that he equally pardoneth the believer and the unbe-
liever, or saveth the regenerate and the unregenerate, and
then gives this reason of it, ' May I not do as I will with my
own.' For this can be no reason for any thing which he
hath revealed that he will do. Prove first that he will not do
it,and then bring your reasons why ; butnotbefore. So that
it extendeth not to the case of different glory upon different
degrees of holiness ; for this he hath revealed that he
will do.
So much (and perhaps too much) to satisfy the doubtful.
Now I desire to return to the dull and languishing Christian,
and beseech him to remember what a difference there will
be between one saint and another in glory ! And O who
would not aspire after the highest measure of holiness, in
hope of a high degree of glory? Christian, hadst thou not
infinitely rather love God with the greatest love than with a
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 297
less, and be beloved again with the greatest of his love? I
mean, by partaking of the greatest effects of it, and the full-
est sense of his everlasting favour. Remember this, and
sure it will persuade thee to gird up thy loins, and run as for
the incorruptible crown, and press on to the mark for the
price of the high calling, and not to sit down with weak be-
ginnings, especially when the way is so sweet as well as the
end ; and the greatest holiness hath here also the greatest
spiritual reward ; and is attended with the greatest peace
and joy (in the ordinary course of God's dispensations).
And when all the knocks, and falls, and cries of Christians
in this life, proceed from the childish weakness of their spi-
rits : and almost all the woes and calamities that attend us,
our shames, our pains, our contentions and divisions, and
the lamentable difficulty (that seems an impossibility) of
healing them, or preventing more, all is from the corruptions
that are the companions of our weakness. And could we
but grow up to a manhood of understanding, humility, meek-
ness, self-denial, and the love of God in Christ, and of one
another, we might then have some hope of the cure of all.
Alas ! that men that are so sensible of the difference between
a weak body and a strong, a sick and a sound, a child and
a man, an idiot and a man of wisdom, though all of them
have human nature, should yet be so little sensible of the
great difference between a weak Christian and a strong, a
sick and a sound (comparatively sound), a childish and a
manly, wise, confirmed Christian ! Did you well know the
difference, you would shew us that you make a greater mat-
ter of it.
And now, Christian leader, I entreat thee soberly to con-
sider of these twenty motives, whether they do not shew
thee reason enough to move thee to look after higher things,
and not to stay in an infancy of holiness. It is a blessed
mercy I confess, that God hath given thee a true conversion,
and the smallest measure of the heavenly life. I do not move
thee to undervalue it. Nay, I am blaming thee for under-
valuing it. For if thou didst not undervalue it, thou wouldst
earnestly desire more. Thou hast cause to bless God to all
eternity, and to all eternity thou shalt bless him, for making
thee a new creature, even a living member of his Son. And
I know that thy condition is unspeakably better than the
greatest prince's or emperor's upon the earth, that is void of
298 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
holiness. I know that thou hast still ground of exceeding
consolation. I am not taking thy comforts from thee. I
know God despiseth not the day of small things : and
that Christ will not " quench the smoking flax, nor break
the bruised reed," nor cast off the poorest infants of his fa-
mily, or lose any one of the lambs of his flock. But yet for
all this I must tell thee, that there is a great deal of differ-
ence in excellency, and strength, and comfort, and happi-
ness, between one sanctified person and another. And if
thou be so apt to be over-covetous of worldly riches, where
God forbiddeth it, and limiteth thy desires, and where there
is no such necessity or excellency to entice thee, why
shouldst thou not cherish that holy covetousness which God
expressly commandeth thee ? " Covet earnestly the best
gifts ;" and which he hath promised a blessing to. " Bless-
ed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness,
for they shall be filled ;" Matt. v. 6. This is not spoken of
them that have no righteousness, but of them that have it,
and fain would have more. For 1. There is no such pro-
mise made to any that are short of saving faith. It is not
any common grace that God makes this promise to, but a
special grace. And 2. It is evident that no man can thus
hunger and thirst after righteousness without righteousness;
for even this hungering and thirsting is a degree of true
sanctification. You would not take up with a cottage or
smoky cabin if you could have a palace ; nor with dry
bread if you could lawfully have plenty ; nor with a torn or
threadbare coat, if you could have better ; nor with a poor,
laborious, toilsome life, in disgrace, and the reproach of men,
if you could have honour, and ease, and abundance. And
yet will you take up with so poor a stock of holiness, and
so dark a mind, and small a measure of heavenly light, and
so cold a love to God and glory, and so barren and common
a kind of life? God hath commanded you, "That having
food and raiment, you should therewith be content;" but he
never commanded you that being once converted and made an
infant in grace, you should therewith be content. So con-
tent you must be as not to murmur ; but not so content as
not to desire more.
You can see the difference, I doubt not, in others, be-
tween a little grace and more : O that you would but see
this for yourselves ! If you have a froward wife, or husband,
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. '2V9
or child, that hath a harsh and passionate nature, and hath
so much grace only as to lament this when they are calmed,
and to strive against it, but not to forbear the often exercise
of it ; though such a nature may be pardoned to the peni-
tent, yet it may prove such a thorn in your own side, and
such a smoke or continual dropping in your house, as will
make you weary of it. I have oft known men that had
wives of so much folly, and passion, and unruliness of
tongue, that yet they hoped had some saving grace, that
made them weary of their lives, and wish that they had
met with a gentle nature. And methinks you should know
that corruption in yourselves is much more dangerous and
hurtful to you than any that can be in wife or husband ; and
should be much more offensive, and wearisome, and grievous
to you. It is a desperate sign of a bad heart, that can bear
with corruption in themselves, and cannot bear with it in
wife or husband, or those that do them wrong by their cor-
ruptions. If weakness of grace do leave your nearest friends
thus liable to wrong and abuse you, and this trouble you ;
consider that your own weakness leaves you liable to far
greater and ofter offences against God, and this should
trouble you much more.
Let me give you another instance : if you have a pastor
that is truly godly, and yet is so weak that he can scarce
speak with any understanding or life the message that he
should deliver, and withal is indiscreet, and as scandalous
as will stand with grace ; what good is this man like to do
for all his godliness ? At least you will soon see a lamen-
table difference between such an one and a judicious, con-
vincing, holy, heavenly, powerful, and unspotted man. O
what a blessing is one to the place, and the other may be a
grievous judgment, and you would be ready to run away
from his ministry. Why, sirs, if there be so great a diffe-
rence between pastor and pastor, where both have grace,
methinks you should see what a difference there is also be-
tween people and people, even where all have grace. For
truly poor ministers find this to their sorrow in their people,
as well as you can find it in them. Some ministers have a
staid, confirmed, judicious, humble, meek, self-denying,
teachable, peaceable, and experienced people : and these
walk comfortably, and guide them peaceably, and labour
with them cheerfully ; and O what beauty and glory is upon
300 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
such assemblies, and what order, and growth, and comfort
is among them ! But, alas ! how many ministers have a
flock (even of those that we hope are godly) that grieve
them by their levity, or weary them by their unteachable ig-
norance or self-conceitedness, or hinder their labours by
errors and quarrels, and perverse opposition to the truths
which they do not understand? So that there is a great
difference between people and people that are godly.
Brethren, it is far from the desire of my heart, to cast
any unjust dishonour upon saints, much less to dishonour
the graces of God in them. No, I take it rather for an ho-
nour to that immortal spark, that it can live among its
enemies and not be conquered, and in the waters of corrup-
tion, and not be quenched. But yet I must take up a just
complaint, that few of us answer the cost of our redemption
and the provisions of God ; or are near such a people as
our receivings or professions require we should be. It is
one of the most grievous thoughts that ever came to my
heart, to observe how the lives of the greatest part of pro-
fessors do tend to dishonour the power and worth of grace
in the eyes of the world, and that the ungodly should see
that grace doth make no greater a difference, and do no
more upon us than it doth. Yea, it is a sore temptation
oftentimes to believers, to see that grace doth no more in the
most; but that so many are still a shame to their profession.
I must confess that I once thought more highly of pro-
fessors as to the measure of their grace, than experience now
will suffer me to think. Little did I think that they had
been so unstable, so light, so ignorant, so giddy, as to follow
almost any that do but whistle them. What a dreadful
sight it is to see, how quickly the most odious heresies do
infect and destroy even multitudes of them, and that in a
moment, as soon as they appear ! The grossest mists of the
bottomlesspit are presently admired as the light of God.
If a church- divider do but arise, how quickly doth he
get disciples.
If a Papist have but opportunity, he will lightly catch
some as oft as he doth cast his net. If he cannot prevail
barefaced, it is but putting on the visor of some other sect.
Even the odious heresies of the Quakers themselves, and
their railings, which an honest pagan would abhor, do pre-
sently find entertainment with professors ; and let the matter
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 301
or manner be never so senseless, yet is it accepted if it be
but zealously put off. O who would have thought that our
people that seemed godly should be so greedy of the devil's
baits as to catch at any thing, yea, and to devour the bare
hooks ! O who would have thought that so many that
seemed lovers of God, would so readily believe every de-
ceiver that speaks against him, if he can but do it with a
pious pretence.
Yea, if Seekers themselves do but cast in their objections,
how many of our people are presently at a loss, and their
faith is muddied, and they are to seek for a ministry, and to
seek for a church, and to seek for ordinances, and to seek
for a Scripture, even for the Gospel itself; and therefore it
is like they are to seek for a Christ, or to seek for a religion,
if not to seek for God, and for a heaven.
O sad day ! that ever these things should come to pass,
and that we are forced to utter them, having no possibility
of concealing them from the world. Were these men con-
firmed and stablished in the faith ? Were these men rooted
and built up in Christ ? Alas, sirs, if any deceivers come
among us, how few of our people are able to withstand them,
and defend the truth of God against them ! But they are
caught up by the devil's falconer, as the poor chickens by
the kite, except those that fly under the wings of a judicious,
settled minister.
If an Anabaptist assault their baptism, how few of them
can defend it. And, silly souls, when they find themselves
nonplused, they suspect not their own unfurnished under-
standings, or inexperienced, unsettled hearts, but suspect
the truth of God, and suspect their teachers, be they never
so far beyond them in knowledge and holiness ; as if their
teachers had misled them, whenever these unprofitable in-
fants are thus stalled.
If a Papist be to plead his cause with them, how few have
we that can answer them !
If an infidel should oppose the Scripture, or Christ him-
self, how few among us are able to defend them, and so-
lidly give proof either of the truth of Scripture, or of the
faith that they do profess !
And this is not all (though it is a heart-breaking case)
but even in their practice, alas ! what remissness and what
corruptions do appear ! How few in secret do keep any
302 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
constant watch upon their hearts, and fear and abhor the
approach of an evil thought ! Nay, how few are they that
do not leave their fancy almost common, and ordinarily even
feed on covetous, proud, malicious, or lustful thoughts, and
make no great matter of it, but live in it from day to day !
How few do keep up life and constancy in secret prayer or
meditation ! How few are the families where the cause, and
worship, and government of Christ are kept up in life and
honour, and where all is not dissolved into a little weary,
disordered, heartless performance !
Look into our congregations, and judge but by their very
looks, and carriage, and gestures, how many even of those
that we think the best, do so much as seem to be earnest and
serious in prayer and praise, when the church is upon that
work ! Though it be the highest and noblest part of wor-
ship, and should be done with all the heart and might, and
with a participation of a kind of angelical reverence, devo-
tion and spirituality ; and if it were so, we should see it by
some of the signs of reverence and affection : yet, alas ! when
we think the best of them should be striving with God, or
rapt up in his praises, they do but hear us pray as they hear
us preach, and think they have done fair to give us the hearing.
They sit on their seats in prayer, or use some crooked, lean-
ing gesture, perhaps looking up and down about them, per-
haps half asleep ; but few of them with eyes, and hands, and
hearts lifted up to heaven, do behave themselves as if they be-
lieved that they had so nearly to do with God. I know re-
verent gestures may easily be counterfeited ; but that shews
that they are good, when hypocrites think them a fit cover
for hypocrisy, for they use not to borrow credit from evil,
but from some good to be a cover to the evil : and it leaveth
the neglects of the godly more inexcusable, when they will
not go so far herein as hypocrites themselves, nor by their
behaviour in a public ordinance, so much as seem to be se-
riously employed with God.
And if we try the graces or obedience of professors, alas,
how small shall we find them in the most ! How little are
most acquainted with the life of faith ! How little do they
admire the Redeemer and his blessed work ! How unac-
quainted are they with the daily use and high improvement
of a Saviour, for access to God, and support and corrobora-
tion of the soul, and for conveyance of daily supplies of
FOR THfclR ESTABLISHMENT. 303
grace, and help against our spiritual enemies ! How few are
they that can rejoice in tribulation, persecution, and bodily
distresses, because of the hopes laid up in heaven ; and that
can live upon a promise, and comfortably wait on God for
the accomplishment ! How few that live as men that are
content with God alone, and can cheerfully leave their flesh,
and credit, and worldly estate to his disposal, and be con-
tent to want or suffer when he sees it good for them ! What
repinings and troubles possess our minds if the flesh be not
provided for, and if God do but cross us in these worldly
things ; as if we had made our bargain with him for the
flesh, and for this world, and had not taken him alone for
our portion? How few can use prosperity in riches, and
health and reputation, with a mortified, weaned, heavenly
mind ! Nay, how few are there that do not live much to
the pleasure of the flesh, and pamper it as indulgently un-
der the appearance of temperance and religion, as others do
in grosser ways ! Do but try the godly themselves by plain
and faithful reproof of their corruptions, and see how many
of them you will find, that will not excuse them and take
part with the enemy, and be offended with you for your
close reproof. If any of them be overtaken with a scanda-
lous fault, and the pastors of the church shall call them to
open confession, and expression of repentance, though you
would little think a penitent man should once stick at this,
and refuse to do any thing that he can do, to repair the ho-
nour of God and his profession, and to save the souls of
others whom he hath endangered, yet how many will you
find, that will add a wilful obstinacy to their scandal, and
will deliberately refuse so great, and clear, and necessary a
duty : so great is the interest of self and flesh in them, and
consequently so little of Christ, that they will live in impe-
nitency in the eye of the church, and venture on the high
displeasure of God, come on it what will, and resist the ad-
vice of their best, and wisest, and most impartial friends,
rather than they will so far deny themselves as to make such
a free and faithful confession. They are many of them so
much for holy discipline, that they are ready to fall out with
church and ministers, and to be gone to a purer society, be-
cause it is not exercised : but on whom ? On others only,
and not upon them. When they need discipline themselves,
how impatient are they of it, and how do they abhor it, and
304 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
what a stir do they make before they will submit ; even
more sometimes than a drunkard or a swearer ; so small is
their repentance and detestation of their sin ; whereby they
shew that their zeal for discipline and reformation, is much
out of pride, that others may be brought to stoop, or be cast
out from them ; and not out of a sincere desire to have the
refining and humbling benefit of it themselves.
And if any among them be either faulty or reported so
to be, who is forwarder than many professors of godliness,
to backbite them, and speak of their faults when they can-
not hear, nor answer for themselves, nor receive any benefit
by it; and if another that hates backbiting, do but reprove
them, they will slander him also for a defender of men's sin !
But when they should go in Christ's way, and tell men of
their faults, and draw them to repentance, and if they hear
not, take two or three, and speak to them again, how hardly
can you draw them to the performance of this duty, what
shifts and frivolous excuses have they then ! Nay, they will
reproach the church or minister for not casting such out, or
not keeping them from communion, before they have done,
or will be persuaded to do these duties that must go before.
Alas, how little hearty love is there to Christ in his mem-
bers, even in them that are confident they love the brethren !
How few will do or suffer much for them, or relieve them in
their want, as suffering with them ! How small a matter, a
word, a seeming wrong or disrespect, will turn their love into
estrangedness or bitterness ; if they be tried by an ill word,
or a wrong, how touchy, and frovtard, and impatient do they
appear ; and it is well if they prove not downright malicious,
or return not reviling for reviling.
Alas, how much pride prevaileth with many that seem to
go far in the way of piety ! How wise are they in their own
conceits! How able to judge of controversies, and how
much wiser than their teachers, before they can give a good
account of the catechism or fundamental truths ! How well
do they think of themselves and their own parts and per-
formances ; how ill do they bear disesteem or undervaluing;
and they must needs be noted for somebody in the world !
How worldly, and closehanded, and eager of gain, are
many that say they despise the world, and take it for their
enemy ; if any duty be cross to their profit or credit with
men, how obstinate are they against it ; and such interest
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 305
hath the flesh in them, that they will hardly believe that it
is their duty.
How censorious are they of others, especially that differ
from them in lesser things ; and how unapt to judge them-
selves. O how few are the Christians that are eminent in
humility, meekness, and self-denial ; that are content to be
accounted nothing, so that Christ may be all, and his ho-
nour may be secured ; that live as men devoted to God, and
honour him with their substance, and freely expend, yea,
study for advantages, to improve all their riches and interest
to his service. How few are they that live as in heaven up-
on earth, with the world under their feet, and their hearts
above with God their happiness ; that feel themselves to live
in the workings and warmth of love to God, and make him
their delight, and are content with his approbation whoever
disapproveth them ; that are still groaning, or reaching and
seeking after him, andlong to be with him, to be rid ofsin, and
see his blessed face, and live in his perfect love and praises ;
that love and long for the appearance of Jesus Christ, and can
heartily say, " Come Lord Jesus, come quickly." How few
are they that stand in a day of trial ; if they are tried but with
a foul word ; if tried but with any thing that toucheth their
commodity ; if tried but with the emptiest reasonings of de-
ceivers; much more if they be tried with the honours and
greatness of the world, how few of them stand in trial, and
do not fail and forget themselves, as if they were not the
men that they seemed to be before ! What then would they
prove if they were tried by the flames ?
Mistake me not in all this sad complaint ; as I intend
not the dishonour of godliness by this, but of ungodliness,
(for it is not because men are godly that they have these
faults, but because they are not godly more.) So here is no
encouragement to the unsanctified to think themselves as
good as the more religious, because they are charged with
so many faults. Nor do I affirm all these things to be con-
sistent with true grace that I have here expressed ; but only
this, that professors that seem godly to others, are thus too
many of them guilty ; and those that have true grace may
have any of these faults in a mortified degree, though not in
a reigning, predominant measure.
But methinks sirs, you should by this time be convinced
VOL. VIIT. X
306 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
and sensible, how much we dishonour God by our infirmi-
ties ; and what a lamentable case it is that the church should
consist of so many infants ; and so many should be so little
serviceable to God or the common good, but rather be trou-
blers of all about them. Alas, that we should reach no
higher, that yet no greater things should be attained ! O
what an honour would you be to your profession, and what
a blessing to the church, if you did but answer the cost and
pains of God and man, and answer the high things that you
have been acquainted with and profess. O that we could
but boast of you as God did of Job, and could say to satan
or any of his instruments, ' Here be Christians rooted and
stablished in the faith ; try whether you can shake them or
make them stagger, and do your worst. Here is a man
eminent in meekness, and humility, and patience, and self-
denial; discompose and disturb his mind if you can ; draw
him to pride, or immoderate passion, or censoriousness, or
uncharitableness if you can. Here are a people that are in
unity, and knit together in faith and love ; of one heart, and
one soul, and one lip ; do your worst to divide them, or
break them into parties, or draw them into several minds
and ways, or exasperate them against each other. Here are
a people established in mortification, and that have crucified
the flesh with its affections and lusts ; do your worst to draw
them to intemperance in eating, or drinking, or recreations,
or any of the delights of the flesh ; or to puff them up by
greatness or prosperity, and make them forget themselves
or God. Try them with riches, or beauty, or vain-glory, or
other sensual delights, and see whether they will turn aside,
and be ever the less in communion with God, and enticed to
forget the joy that is set before them, or will not rather des-
pise your baits, and runaway from alluring objects as their
0-reatest dangers. Daunt them if you can by threatenings ;
try them by persecution, by fire and sword, and see whether
they are not past your shaking, even rooted, confirmed, and
built up in Christ.'
O what a glory would you be to your profession, if you
could attain to this degree ; could we but truly thus boast
of you, we might say our people are Christians of the right
strain. But when we must come about you like men in a
swoon, and can hardly perceive whether you are alive or
dead, and can scarce discern whether you have any grace or
MISCARRYING, IN CONVERSION. 307
none, what a grief is this to our hearts ; what a perplexity
to us in our administrations, not knowing whether comfort
or terror be your due : and what a languishing, uncomfor-
table life is this to yourselves, in comparison of what you
might attain to !
Rouse up yourselves, Christians, and look after higher
and greater things ; and think it not enough that you are
barely alive. It is an exceeding righteousness that you
must have if you will be saved, even exceeding all that the
unsanctified do attain ; for, " Except your righteousness
exceed even the righteousness of scribes and Pharisees, you
shall in no case enter int© the kingdom of heaven ;" Matt.
v. 20. But it is yet a more exceeding righteousness, that
you must have if you will be confirmed, built up and abound,
and would honour your profession, and cheerfully, success-
fully, and constantly go on in the journey, the race, the war-
fare that you have begun : you must then exceed yourselves,
and exceed all the feeble, unstable, wavering, infant Chris-
tians that are about you : and to persuade you yet further
to look after this, I shall here annex a few Motives more.
1. Consider Christian, that it is a God of exceeding, infi-
nite greatness and goodness that thou hast to do with, and
therefore it is not small and low matters that are suitable to
his service. O if thou hadst but a glimpse of his glory,
thou wouldst say that it is not common things that are meet
for such a dreadful majesty. Hadst thou but a fuller taste
of his goodness, thy heart would say, this pittance of love
and service is unworthy of him. You will not offer the ba-
sest things to a king, much less to the highest King of kings.
" If ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil ? and if ye
offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now to thy
governor ; will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person,
saith the Lord of hosts?" Mal.i. 8. " But ye have profaned it
(his great name) in that ye say, the table of the Lord is pol-
luted, and the fruit thereof, his meat is contemptible : ye
have said also, what a weariness is it, and ye have snuffed at
it, saith the Lord of hosts, and ye brought that which was
torn, and the lame and the sick ; thus ye brought an offer-
ing. Should I accept this at your hand saith the Lord ?
But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male,
and voweth and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing; for
I am a great king, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is
308 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
dreadful among the heathen;" verse 12 — 14. If you better
knew the majesty of God, you would know that the best is
too little for him, and trifling is not tolerable in his service.
When Nadab and Abihu ventured with false fire to his altar,
and he smote them dead, he silenced Aaron with this rea-
son of his judgment, " I will be sanctified in them that come
nigh me, and before all the people will I be glorified ;" Lev.
x. 1 — 3. That is, ' I will have nothing common offered to
me, but be served with my own holy, peculiar service/
When the Bethshemites were smitten dead, fifty thousand
threescore and ten men of them, they found that God would
not be dallied with, and cried out, " Who is able to stand
before this holy Lord God?" lSam.vi.20.
2. Consider also, it was an exceeding great price that
was paid for your redemption ; for " you were not redeemed
with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain
conversation, received by tradition from your fathers, but
by the precious blood of Jesus Christ ;" 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. It
was an exceeding great love that was manifested by God
the Father, and by Christ in his work of redemption ; such
as even poseth angels and men to study it and comprehend
it; IPet.i. 12. Eph. iii. 18, 19. And should all this be
answered but with trifling from you ? Should such a match-
less miracle of love be answered with no greater love ? Es-
pecially when you were purposely "redeemed from all ini-
quity, that you might be sanctified to Christ a peculiar peo-
ple, zealous of good works ;" Tit. ii. 14. It being therefore
so great a price that you are bought with, remember that
you are none of your own, but must glorify him that bought
you, in body and spirit; 1 Cor. vi. 20.
3. Consider also, that it is not a small, but an exceed-
ing glory, that is promised you in the Gospel, and which
you live in hope to possess for ever ; and therefore it should
be an exceeding love that you should have to it, and an ex-
ceeding care that you should have of it. Make light of
heaven, and make light of all. Truly it is an unsuitable, un-
reasonable thing, to have one low thought, or one careless
word, or one cold prayer or other performance, about such
a matter as eternal glory. Shall such a thing as heaven be
coldly or carelessly minded and sought after? Shall the
endless fruition of God in glory, be looked at with sleepy,
heartless wishes ? I tell you sirs, if you will bave such high
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 309
hopes, you must have high and strong endeavours. A slow
pace becomes not him that travelleth to such a home as this.
If you are resolved for heaven, behave yourselves accord-
ingly. A gracious, reverent, godly frame of spirit, pro-
ducing an acceptable service of God, is fit for them that
look to receive the kingdom that cannot be moved ; Heb.
xii. 28. The believing thoughts of the end of all our la-
bours, must needs convince us that we should be " stead-
fast and immoveable, always abounding in the work, of
the Lord j" 1 Cor. xv. 58. O hearken thou sleepy, sloth-
ful Christian ! Doth not God call, and conscience
call, ' Awake, and up and be doing, man, for it is for
heaven!' Hearken thou negligent, lazy Christians ; do not
God and conscience call out to thee, ' O man, make haste
and mend thy pace, it is for heaven !' Hearken thou cow-
ardly faint-hearted Christian ; do not God and conscience
call out to thee, ' Arm man, and see thou stand thy ground ;
do not give back, nor look behind thee, but fall on, and
fight in the strength of Christ ; for it is for the crown of
endless glory.' O what a heart hath that man, that will not
be heartened with such calls as these. Methinks the very
name of God and heaven should awaken you, and make you
stir, if there be any stirring power within you. Remissness
in worldly matters hath an excuse, for they are but trifles ;
but slackness in the matters of salvation, is made inexcusa-
ble by the greatness of those matters. O let the noble
greatness of your hopes appear in the resolvedness, exact-
ness, and diligence of your lives.
4. Consider also, that it is not only low and smaller mer-
cies that you receive from God, but mercies innumerable,
and inestimable, and exceeding great. And, therefore, it is
not cold affections, and dull endeavours, that you should re-
turn to God for all these mercies. Mercy brought you into
the world ; and mercy hath nourished you and bred you up ;
and mercy hath defended and maintained you, and plenti-
fully provided for you. Your bodies live upon it : your
souls were recovered by it : it gave you your being : it res-
cued you from misery : it saveth you from sin, and satan,
and yourselves. All that you have at the present, you hold
by it : all that you can hope for for the future must be from
it. It is most sweet in quality. What is sweeter to miser-
able souls than mercy ? It is exceeding great in quantity !
310 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
" The mercy of the Lord is in the heavens, and his faithful-
ness reacheth to the clouds. His righteousness is like the
great mountains ; his judgments are the great deep ;" Psal.
xxxvi. 5, 6. " O how great is his goodness which he hath
laid up for them that fear him ; which he hath for them that
trust in him before the sons of men ;" Psal. xxxi. 19. " His
mercy is great unto the heavens, and his truth unto the
clouds;" Psal. lvii. 10. And O what an insensible heart
hath he that doth not understand the voice of all this won-
drous mercy. Doubtless it speaketh the plainest language
in the world ; commanding great returns from us of love,
and praise, and obedience to the bountiful bestower of them.
With David we must say, " Blessed be the Lord, for he hath
shewed me marvellous kindness in a strong city : O love the
Lord all ye his saints, for the Lord preserveth all the faith-
ful;" Psal. xxxi. 21. 23. "Teach me thy way, O Lord; I
will walk in thy truth. Unite my heart to fear thy name.
I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart ; and
I will glorify thy name for evermore, for great is thy mercy
towards me ; and thou hast delivered my soul from the low-
est hell :" Psal. lxxxvi. 11 — 13. Unspeakable mercies must
needs be felt in deep impressions, and be so savoury with
the gracious soul, that methinks it should work us to the
highest resolutions. Unthankfulness is a crime that hea-
thens did detest : and it is exceedingly great unthankful-
ness, if we have not exceeding great love and obedience,
under such exceeding great and many mercies as we possess.
5. Consider, that they are exceeding great helps and
means that you possess, to further your holiness and obedi-
ence to God . and, therefore, your holiness and obedience
should also be exceeding great. You have all the book of
nature to instruct you. Every creature may teach you God,
and calls loud upon you to persuade your hearts yet nearer
to him. Every work of disposing Providence is an instruc-
tor and persuader of you. Every leaf and line of Scripture
is a guide and spur to you. You have ministers able and
willing to help you : you have the help of the communion of
saints : the help of the examples of the good : and the warn-
ings of the judgments of God upon the wicked. The helps
of sermons ; the helps of sacraments ; the helps of prayer,
and holy meditation and conference. Mercies to encourage
you ; afflictions to excite you. What more would you have?
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. Jill
And yet will you be infants, and do no more with all your
helps ? But this I touched upon before.
6. It is an exceeding great necessity that is upon you.
And, therefore, your resolutions should be exceeding high,
and your diligence exceeding great. For all you are con-
verted, your salvation lieth yet upon your stability and per-
severance. " Christ hath reconciled you in the body of his
flesh through death, to present you holy, and unblameable,
and unreproveable in his sight ; if you continue in the faith
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the Gospel which you have heard ;" Col. i. 22, 23. God
will not be an accepter of persons ! You must stick to his
terms if you will partake of his salvation. He will not make
two words with you. He hath told you what he expecteth
of you; and that he will have. Death will not be bribed,
nor put by. Judgment is coming on. There is no shifting
out of the hands of God. And under such pressing neces-
sities as these, what Christians should we be ! How stable,
and abundant in faith and righteousness!
7. It is a great account that you have to make, and,
therefore, a great preparation that should be made. When
you shall be brought before the living God, and all your
times, and thoughts, and ways, must be called over, and you
see what follows, and are waiting for the final doom, then
there will be no dull thoughts in your hearts, all will be then
lively, and quite above this careless frame. Then even the
wicked will have strong desires, ' O that we had taken ano-
ther course ! that we had but prevented this dreadful doom,
whatever it had cost us !' And should not believers now be
awakened to great and careful preparations, for such a day
as this ?
8. For trifles here are great endeavours used. To climb
up into honour and riches in the world ; to satisfy the flesh;
to lay up a treasure on earth, and labour for the meat that
perisheth. O what endeavours then should be used, for the
heavenly, everlasting treasure !
9. Consider also, how forward and diligent should those
men be, that are sure they can never go too high, nor be too
diligent, when they have done their best. Nay, that are
certain, that the best do come so abundantly short, that they
must after sit down and lament that they were no better. O
there is not the holiest saint on earth, but will confess with
312 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
lamentation, how little his love to God is in comparison
of what it should be ; how short all falls below our duty,
below the glorious majesty of God ; below the precious love
of Christ ; below the worth of precious souls ; below the
weight of endless glory ; below the mercies that should
warm our hearts ; below the great necessity that is on us ;
and consequently below their own desires. Look, there-
fore, after greater things, while you may attain them.
10. Lastly, consider what abundance of great engage-
ments are on you, that are sincere believers, more than upon
others.
(1.) You are more nearly related to Christ than any others
are. And, therefore, you should be more tender of offend-
ing him, and more eminent in love and service to him. You
are his household-servants ; and will you not labour for him
and stick to him ? You are his friends ; and should a friend
abuse him? should not a friend be faithful? You are his
dear, adopted children, and his spouse ; and should not
you be faithful to him to the death ? Should not all the love
and. service that you have be his ? Isa. i.2,3. Mai. i. 10.
Gal. v. 4.
(2.) You have bound yourselves to him by more serious
frequent vows and covenants than other men have done.
How many persons, and places, and necessities of yours, can
witness against you, if you be not firm and forward for the
Lord. As Joshua said to Israel, " Behold this stone, it shall
be a witness unto you, lest you deny your God ;" Josh. xxiv.
27. So I may say, the places where you have kneeled, and
prayed, and promised, will be witnesses against you, if you
be not firm to God. The churches that you have assembled
in, the places you have walked in, in your solitary medita-
tions ; the persons that have heard your promises and pro-
fessions ; the world about you that hath seen your forward-
ness, will all witness against you if you be not firm.
(3.) It is you that have the life and kernel of mercies ;
others have but the crumbs that fall from your tables.
Others have common mercies, but you have the great and
special mercies that accompany salvation. " All things are
yours," and should not you be Christ's? 1 Cor. iii. 21,22.
Of you it is that God is so exceeding tender, that he charg-
eth your enemies not to touch you, and tells them that
touch you, that they " touch the apple of his eye ;" Zech.
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 313
ii. 8. And should not you abound in love and holiness 1
and should you not be as tender of his favour, and his law,
and honour, as of the apple of your eye ? Should not he
that toucheth the name, and law, and honour of God, by
profaning them by sin, be as one that toucheth the apple of
your eye ?
(4.) You have a Spirit, and heavenly life within you,
which the rest of the world are unacquainted with. And
can you think it is not something extraordinary, that God
must needs expect from you ? Will you not " walk in the
Spirit," which is given you, and mortify the flesh by it ?
Gal.v. 16, 17.24. Is there not more expected from the liv-
ing than the dead ? Surely he that hath made you new crea-
tures, and made you partakers of the Divine Nature, doth
expect somewhat divine in your affections and devotions,
and that you be somewhat more than men.
(5.) Moreover, it is you above others, for whom the word
and messengers of God are sent ! We must speak to all :
but it is you that God's special eye is upon ; it is your sal-
vation that he intends to accomplish by us. There were
many widows in the days of Elias, and many lepers in the
days of Elisha ; Luke iv. 26, 27. But it was but to one of
them that the prophet was sent ! We make the ungodly
multitude even rage against us, and ministers are hated for
magnifying the grace of God to you, and declaring his spe-
cial love to you above others. When Christ himself had
spoken to you the forecited the words, it is said in the next
verses, 28, 29. that " all they in the synagogue, when they
heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and
thrust him out of the city, and led him to the brow of
the hill, whereon their city was built, that they might
cast him down headlong." This was the entertainment of
Christ himself, when he did but declare how few it is that
God will save, and for whose sakes he specially sends his
messengers. And must we incur all this for magnifying you,
and will you dishonour yourselves ? Is all our study and
labour for you, and our lives for you, and all things for you,
and will not you be wholly, and to the utmost of your
strength for God ? Are you called out of all the world for
salvation, and will you not answer this admirable, differenc-
ing grace, by an admirable difference from those that must
314 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
perish, and by an admirable excellency in meekness, humi-
lity, self-denial, and heavenliness, above other men?
(6.) Moreover, you know more, and have a greater ex-
perience to assist you than others have ; and, therefore, you
should excel them accordingly. Others have but heard of
the odiousness of sin, but you have seen and felt it. Others
have heard of God's displeasure, but you have tasted it to
the breaking or bruising of your hearts ! You have been
warned at the very quick, as if Christ had spoken to your
very flesh and bones, " Go thy way, sin no more, lest a
worse thing come unto thee." And as Ezra said (chap. ix.
13.), " After all that is come upon us, should we again break
thy commandments ; wouldst thou not be angry with us till
thou hast consumed us ?" So, if after all your spiritual ex-
periences, after so many tastes of the bitterness of sin, and
groans, and prayers, and cries against it, you shall yet live
as like to the wicked as you dare, and be familiar with that
which hath cost you so dear ! How do you think that God
must take this at your hands ? You have tasted of the
sweetness of the love of Christ, and wondered at the un-
speakable riches of his grace ! You have tasted the sweet-
ness of the hopes of glory, and of the powers of the world to
come ! You have perceived the necessity and excellency of
holiness, by inward experience ! And if, after all this, you
will draggle on the earth, and live below your own experi-
ences, contenting yourselves with an infancy of love, and
life, and fruitfulness, how much do you then transgress
against the rules of reason, and of equity !
(7.) Moreover, all the world expecteth much more from
you, than from any others. God expecteth more from you,
for he hath given you more, and meaneth to do more for you.
Must you be in the eternal joys of heaven, when all your
unsanctified neighbours are in torments, and yet will you
not more endeavour to excel them ? Is it not unreasonable
to expect to be set eternally at so vast a distance from the
ungodly world, even as far as heaven is from hell, and yet
to be content to differ here but a little from them in holi-
ness ? The Lord knows that poor, forsaken, impenitent sin-
ners will do no better, but rage, and be confident, till they
are past remedy ; he looks for no better from them than to
neglect him, and slight his Son, and word, and ways ; and
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 315
to go on in worldliness and fleshly living ; to be filthy still,
and careless, and presumptuous, and self-conceited still.
But it is higher matters that he expects from you ; and good
reason, he hath done more for you, and prepared you for
better things ! The ministers of Christ do look for little
better from many of their poor, ignorant, ungodly neigh-
bours, but even to rub out their days in security, and self-
deceit, and to be barren after all their labours, if not to hate
us for seeking to have saved them. But it is you that their
eyes are most upon, and you that their hearts are most upon.
Their comfort, and the fruit of their lives, lies much in your
hands : saith Paul, " Brethren, we were comforted over you
in all our afflictions and distress, by your faith. For now
we live, if you stand fast in the Lord ! For what thanks
can we render to God again for you, for all the joy where-
with we joy for yoursakes before our God. Night and day
praying exceedingly, that we might see your face, and might
perfect that which is lacking in your faith ;" 1 Thess. iii.
7 — 9. You see here, that your pastors' lives are in your
hands. If you stand fast, they live. For the end of life is
more than life ; and your salvation is the end of our lives.
If the impenitent world reproach us, and abuse and perse-
cute us, we suffer it joyfully, as long as our work goeth on
with you. But when you are at a stand, when you are bar-
ren, and scandalous, and passionate, and dishonour your
profession, and put us in fears, lest we have bestowed all our
labour on you in vain ; this breaks our hearts above any
worldly crosses whatsoever. O when the people that we
should rejoice and glory in should prove unruly, self-con-
ceited, peevish, proud, every one running his own way, fall-
ing into divisions, contentions, or scandals, this is the kill-
ing of the comforts of your ministers. When the ungodly
shall hit us in the teeth with your scandals and divisions,
and say, ' These are the godly people that you boasted of,
see now what is become of them/ this is the smoke to our
eyes, and the gall and vinegar that is given us by the adver-
sary. And though still we know that, our reward is with
the Lord, yet can we not choose but be wounded for your
sakes, and for the sake of the cause and the name of God.
Yea, the world itself expecteth more from you than
others. When men talk of great matters, and profess as
every Christian doth, to look for the greatest matters of
316 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
eternity, and to live for no lower things than everlasting fel-
lowship with God and angels, no wonder then if the world
do look for extraordinary matters from you. If you tell
them of reaching heaven, they will look to see you winged
like angels, and not to creep on earth like worms. If you say
that you are more than men, they look you should shew it,
by doing more than men can do ; even by denying your-
selves, and forgiving injuries, and loving your enemies, and
blessing those that curse you, and contemning this world,
and having your conversation in heaven. O sirs, believe it, it
is not small or common things that will satisfy the expecta-
tions of God or men, of ministers, or of the world themselves,
concerning you.
(8.) Yea, moreover God himself doth make his boast of
you, and call out the world to observe your excellency ; he
sets you up as the light of the world, to be beheld by others.
He calls you in his word, "his peculiar treasure above all peo-
ple ;" Exod. xix. 5. Deut. xiv. 3. Psal. cxxxv. 4. " A pecu-
liar people, purified, and zealous of good works ;" Tit. ii. 14.
He called you " a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should shew forth the
praises of him that hath called you out of darkness into his
marvellous light. Ye are as lively stones, built up a spiritual
house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifice, ac-
ceptable to God by Jesus Christ ;" 1 Pet. ii. 5. 9. You are
" born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible ;"
(1 Pet. i. 23.) and " are made meet to be partakers of the in-
heritance of the saints in light." God hath " delivered you
from the power of darkness, and translated you into the
kingdom of his dear Son, in whom you have redemption
through his blood, the remission of sins ;" Col. i. 12 — 14.
" The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we
are the children of God : and if children, then heirs ; heirs
of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;" Rom.viii. 16, 17.
" All things shall work together for your good. He that
spared not his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things ;" ver. 28.
32. Nothing but the illuminated soul can discern "the
riches of the glory of God's inheritance in the saints, and
what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who
believe, according to the working of his mighty power ;"
Ephes.i. 18, 19. " When we were dead in sins, he hath
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 317
quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us up
together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come he might shew the
exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us,
through Jesus Christ." He hath " brought us nigh that
were far off," so that " by one Spirit we have access to the
Father by Christ ; and are now no more strangers and fo-
reigners, but fellow-citizens of the saints, and of the house-
hold of God ;" Ephes. ii. 5—7. 13. 17—19. " We are mem-
bers of the body of Christ, we are come to Mount Zion, and
unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and
an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly
and church of the first born, which are written in heaven,
and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new cove-
nant;" Heb.xii.22— 24.
Brethren, shall the Lord speak all this, and more than
this in the Scripture, of your glory, and will you not prove
yourselves glorious, and study to make good this precious
word ? Doth he say, " The righteous is more excellent than
his neighbour ;" (Prov. xii. 26.), and will you not study to
shew yourselves more excellent indeed ? Shall all these high
things be spoken of you, and will you live so far below them
all? What a heinous wrong is this to God. He sticks not
in boasting of you, to call you his jewels (Mai. iii. 17.), and
tells the world he will make them one day discern the " dif-
ference between the righteous and the wicked, between him
that serveth God, and him that serveth him not ;" ver. 18.
He tells the world, that his coming in judgment will be " to
be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in them that be-
lieve ;" 2 Thess. i. 10. It is openly professed by the apos-
tle John, " We know that we are of God, and the whole
world lieth in wickedness;" 1 John v. 19. He challengeth
any "to condemn you, or lay anything to your charge, pro-
fessing that it is he that justifieth you ;" casting the saints
into admiration by his love. " What shall we say to these
things ? If God be for us, who can be against us ?" Rom.
viii. 31. He challengeth tribulation, distress, persecution,
famine, or nakedness, peril, or sword, to separate you, if
they can, from the love of God. He challengeth death and
life, angels, principalities, and powers, things present, and
things to come, height and depth, or any other creature, to
318 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
separate you, if they are able, from the love of God in Christ
Jesus our Lord ; Rom. viii. 35. 37 — 39. Shall the Lord of
heaven thus make his boast of you to all the world, and will
you not make good his boasting? Yea, I must tell you, he
will see that it be made good to a word ! And if you be not
careful of it yourselves, and it be not made good in you,
then you are not the people that God thus boasteth of. He
tells the greatest persecutors to their faces, that the meek,
the humble, little ones of his flock, " have their angels be-
holding the face of God in heaven ;" (Matt.xviii. 10.) and that
at the great and dreadful day of judgment, they shall be set
at his right hand as his sheep, with a " Come ye blessed,
inherit the kingdom," when others are set at his left hand as
goats, with a " Go ye cursed, into everlasting fire;" Matt.
xxv. He tells the world, that he that receiveth a converted
man, that is become as a little child, receiveth Christ him-
self; and that " whosoever shall offend one of these little
ones, that believe in him, it were better for him that a mill-
stone were hanged about his neck, and he were drowned in
the depth of the sea ;" Matt, xviii. 3— 6. Mark ix. 42. Luke
xvii.2.
O sirs, must God be thus wonderfully tender of you, and
will you not now be very tender of his interest and your
duty ? Shall he thus difference you from all the rest of the
world, and will you not study to declare the difference ?
The ungodly even gnash the teeth at ministers, and Scrip-
tures, and Christ himself, for making such a difference be-
tween them and you ; and will you not let them see that it
is not without cause? I entreat you, I require you, in the
name of God, see that you answer these high commenda-
tions, and shew us that God hath not boasted of you beyond
your worth ?
(9.) Consider this as the highest motive of all ; God doth
not only magnify you and boast of you, but also he hath
made you the living images of his blessed self, his Son Jesus
Christ, his Spirit and his holy word ; and so he hath ex-
posed himself, his Son, his Spirit, and his word, to be cen-
sured by the world, according to your lives.
The express image of the Father's person is the Son ;
Heb. i. 3. The Son is declared to the world by the Holy
Ghost : the Holy Ghost hath indited the Scriptures, which
therefore bear the image of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. §§£ff 319
This holy word, both law and promise, is written in your
hearts, and put into your inner parts by the same Spirit ;
2 Cor. iii. 3. Heb. viii. 10. x. 16. So that as God hath
imprinted his holy nature in the Scripture, so hath he made
this word the seal, to imprint again his image on your hearts.
And you know that common eyes can better discern the
image in the wax, than on the seal : though I know that the
hardness of the wax, or something lying between, or the im-
perfect application, may cause an imperfection in the image
on the wax, when yet the image on the seal is perfect : and
therefore the world hath no just cause to censure God, or
Christ, or the Spirit, or the word to be imperfect, because
that you are so ; but yet they will do it, and their tempta-
tion is great. O sirs ! how would your prince take it of you,
or how would your poorest friend take it of you, if you should
hang forth a deformed picture of them to the view of all
that shall pass by ; and should represent them as blind, or
leprous, or lame, wanting a leg, or an arm, or an eye ? Would
they not say that you unworthily exposed them to scorn ?
So if you will take on you to be the living images of God,
of Christ, of the Spirit, and the word ; and yet will be blind,
and worldly, and passionate, and proud, and unruly, and ob-
stinate, or lazy, and negligent, and little differing from those
that bear the image of the devil ; what do you but proclaim
that the image of God, and of satan, and the world do little
differ ; and that God is thus unrighteous and unholy as
you are !
(10.) Lastly consider, That the faithful servants of Christ
are few ; and therefore if those few dishonour him, and prove
not fast to him ; what do you, but provoke him to forsake
all the world, and make an end of all the sons of men? It
is but a little flock to whom he will give the kingdom ;
Luke xii. 32. It is but a few from whom God expecteth any
great matter ; and shall those few prove deceitful to him ?
It must be you or none that must honour the Gospel. You
or none that must be exemplary to the world ; and shall it
be none at all ? Shall all the workmanship of God abuse
him? Shall he have no honour from any inferior creature ?
How can you then expect that he should preserve the world?
For will he be at so much care to keep up a world to dis-
honour and abuse him ? If -the turning of men's hearts pre-
vent it not, he would come and smite the earth with a curse,
320 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
Mai. iv. 6. For the " land that beareth thorns and briars is
rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be
burned ;" Heb. vi. 7, 8. " If therefore Israel play the har-
lot, yet let not Judah sin ;" Hosea iv. 15. If the vessels of
wrath prepared to destruction will be blind, and sensual, and
filthy still, yet let pollution be far from the sanctified.
'* Such were some of you, but ye are washed, ye are sancti-
fied, ye are justified;" 1 Cor. vi. 11. O let the Lord be
magnified in his saints : blot not out his image : receive not
his impressions defectively and by the halves. Let the name
of the most Holy One be written in your very foreheads. O
that you would be so tender of the honour of the Lord, and
shine forth so brightly in holiness and righteousness, that
he that runs might read whose servants you are, and know
the image and superscription of God, upon the face of your
conversations ! That as clearly as light is seen in and from
the sun, and the power, and wisdom, and goodness of God
is seen in the frame of the creation, and of Scripture ; so
might the same shine forth in you, that you might be " holy
as God is holy ;" (1 Pet. i. 16.) and " perfect as your hea-
venly Father is perfect ;" (Matt. v. 48.) that they that would
know God may see him in his saints, where his image is, or
should be so lively and discernable. And they that cannot
read and understand the Scripture, or the works of creation,
or disposing providence, may read and understand the holy
and heavenly representations of your lives.
Men are apt to look after images of the Godhead, because
they are carnal and far from God. O you that are appointed
to bear his image, see that you so represent him to the eyes
of the world, as may be to his glory, and not to his disho-
nour, and take not the name of God in vain.
It is so desirable for God, and for the church, and for
your own peace and happiness, that Christians should grow
up to a ripeness in grace, and be rooted, built up, confirmed,
and abound according to my text, that it hath drawn out
from me all these words of exhortation thereunto ; though
one would think, that to men of such holy principles and
experience, it should be more than needs ; but if all will but
serve to awaken the weak to a diligent progress, I shall be
glad, and have my end. The great matter that I intended,
when I began this discourse, is yet behind ; and that is, the
giving you such Directions as may tend to your confirmation
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 321
and perseverance ; which I shall now proceed to : but I en-
treat every reader that hath any spark of grace in his soul,
that he will resolve to put these Directions in practice, and
turn them not off with a bare perusal or approbation. Let
me reap but thus much fruit of all my foregoing exhortations,
and I shall not think my labour lost.
Twenty Directions for Confirmation in a State of Grace.
Direct. I. ' Be sure that the foundation be well laid, both
in your heads and hearts ; or else you can never attain to
confirmation, nor be savingly built up.'
To this end you must know what the foundation is, and
how it must be soundly laid. The foundation hath two parts
or respects, according to the faculties of the soul where it
must be laid. The first is, the truth of the doctrine and
matter, and the second is, the goodness of it. As true, the
foundation is laid in our understandings ; as good, it is laid
in the will. Concerning both these, we must therefore first
consider of the matter of the foundation, and then of the
manner how that must be received or laid. And the foun-
dation is that matter or object of our faith, and hope, and
love, which is essential to a Christian ; that is, to the Chris-
tian saving faith, hope, and love. This hath been always
contained in our baptism, because baptizing us is making us
visible Christians, or the solemn entrance into the state of
Christianity. As therefore we are baptized into the name
of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, renouncing the flesh,
the world, and the devil ; so the doing of this unfeignedly,
without equivocation, according to the Scripture sense of
the words, is the essence of Christianity, or the right laying
of the foundation. So that the foundation-principle, or fun-
damental matter, is, God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
The secondary foundation, or fundamental doctrine, is, those
Scripture propositions that express our faith in God the Fa-
ther, Son, and Holy Ghost. When we name the three per-
sons as the object of the Christian faith, we express names
of relation, which contain both the persons, nature and offi-
ces or undertaken works ; without either of which, God
were not God, and Christ were not Christ, and the Holy
Ghost were not in the sense of our articles of faith the Holy
vol, vm. y
322 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
Ghost. As we must therefore believe that there is one only
God ; so we must believe that God the Father is the first in
the Holy Trinity of Persons ; that the whole Godhead is
perfect and infinite in being, and power, and wisdom, and
goodness, fin which all his attributes are comprehended ;
but yet a distinct understanding of them all is not of abso-
lute necessity to salvation). That this God is the Creator,
Preserver, and Disposer of all things, and the Owner and
Ruler of mankind, most just and merciful : that as he is the
beginning of all, so he is the ultimate end, and the chief good
of man, which before all things else must be loved and
sought. This is to be believed concerning the Godhead,
and the Father in person. Concerning the Son, we must
moreover believe, that he is the same God with the Father,
the second person in Trinity, incarnate and so become man,
by a personal union of the Godhead and manhood : that he
was without original or actual sin, having a sinless nature,
and a sinless life : that he fulfilled all righteousness, and was
put to death as a sacrifice for our sins, and gave himself a
ransom for us ; and being buried, he rose again from the
dead, and afterwards ascended into heaven, where he is
Lord of all, and intercedeth for believers ; that he will come
again and raise the dead, and judge the world, the righteous
to everlasting life, and the wicked to everlasting punishment :
that this is the only Redeemer, " the Way, the Truth, and the
Life ;" neither is there access to the Father but by him, nor
salvation in any other. Concerning the Holy Ghost, we must
believe that he is the same one God, the third person in
Trinity, sent by the Father and the Son to inspire the pro-
phets and apostles ; and that the doctrine inspired and mi-
raculously attested by him is true : that he is the Sanctifier
of those that shall be saved, renewing them after the image
of God, in holiness and righteousness, giving them true re-
pentance, faith, hope, love, and sincere obedience ; causing
them to overcome the flesh, the world, and the devil ; thus
gathering a holy church on earth to Christ, who have by his
blood the pardon of all their sins, and shall have everlasting
blessedness with God.
This is the essence of the Christian faith, as to .the matter
of it. As to the manner of receiving it by the understand-
ing, 1. It must be received as certain truth of God's reve-
lation, upon the credit of his word, by a lively, effectual be-
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 323
lief; piercing so deep as is necessary for its prevalency with
the will. 2. And it must be entirely received, and not only
a part of it : though all men have not so exactly formed dis-
tinct apprehensions of every member of this belief, as some
have, yet all true Christians have a true apprehension of
them. We feel by daily experience, that with the wisest
some matters are truly understood by us, which yet are not
so distinctly and clearly understood, as to be ready for an
expression. I have oft, in matters that I am but studying,
a light that gives me a general, imperfect, but true concep-
tion, which I cannot yet express ; but when another hath
helped me to form my conception, I can quickly and truly
say, that was it that I had an unformed apprehension of be-
fore, and it that I meant but could not utter ; not so much
for want of words, as for want of a full and distinct con-
ception.
2. The matter of our Christianity to be received by the
will, is as followeth : As we must consent to all the afore-
mentioned truths, by the belief of the understanding, so the
pure Godhead must be received as the fountain, and our
end. The Father as our Owner, Ruler and Benefactor, on
the title of creation and redemption, and as our everlasting
happiness. The Son as our only Saviour by redemption,
bringing us pardon, reconciliation, holiness and glory, and
delivering us from sin and satan, and the wrath and curse of
God, and from hell. The Holy Ghost as our Guide and
Sanctifier. All which containeth our renouncing the flesh,
the world, and the devil, and carnal self that is the point of
their unity and heart of the old man. This is the good that
must be embraced, or accepted by the will.
And secondly, as to the manner of receiving it, it must
be done unfeignedly, resolvedly, unreservedly, or absolutely,
and habitually, by an inward covenanting of the heart, as I
have formerly explained it. And this is the essence of
Christianity ; this is true believing in God the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost : this is the foundation, and this is the right
laying of it.
And now the thing that I am persuading you to is, to see
that this foundation be surely laid, in head and heart.
And, 1. That it may be surely laid in the head, you must
labour, (1.) To understand these articles. And, (2.) To see
the evidence of their verity, that you may firmly believe
324 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
them. And, (3.) To consider of the worth and necessity of
the matter revealed in them, that your judgments may most
highly esteem it. This is the sure laying the foundation in
the head.
To these ends you should first learn some catechism, and
be well acquainted with the principles of religion ; and also
be much in reading or hearing the holy Scripture, and in-
quiring of your teachers, and others that can help you ; and
see that you take your work before you, and step not higher
till this be done. And then all other following truths, and
duties, and promised benefits, must all be so learned as to
be built upon this foundation, and joined to it, as receiving
their life and strength from hence, and never looked upon as
separated from this ; nor as more excellent and necessary.
For want of learning well, and believing soundly these
principles, essentials, or fundamentals of Christianity, some
of our people can go no further, but stand all their days in
their ignorance, at a nonplus : some of them go on in a blind
profession, deceiving themselves by building upon the sand,
and hold true doctrine by a false, unsound belief of it : and
when the floods and storms do beat upon their building it
falls, and great is the fall thereof. With some of them it
falls upon the first assault of any seducer that hath interest
in them, or advantage on them ; and abundance swallow up
errors, because they never well understood, or firmly believed
fundamental truths. With others of them, the building falls
not until death, because they lived not under any shaking
temptations. But it being but a perseverance in an unsound
profession, will nevertheless be ineffectual to their salvation.
2. When you have thus laid the foundation in your un-
derstanding, be sure above all that it be firmly laid in your
heart or will. Take heed lest you should prove false and
unsteadfast in the holy covenant ; and lest you should take
in the word but into the surface of the soul, and not give it
depth of earth and rooting^ and lest you should come to
Christ but as a servant upon trial, and make not an absolute
resignation of yourselves to him: of which I warned you in
the former Directions.
O this is it that makes our people fall so fast in a day of
trial ; some shrink in adversity ; and some are enticed away
by prosperity. Greatness and honour deceiveth one, and
riches run away with another, and fleshly pleasure poisons a
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 325
third, and his conscience, religion, salvation, and all, he sa-
crificeth to his belly, and swalloweth it down his throat ;
and ail the love, and goodness of God, the blood of Christ,
the workings of the Spirit, the precepts and promises, and
threatenings of the word, and the joy and torments which
once they seemed to believe, all are forgotten, or have lost
their force. And all because the foundation was not laid
well at the first. But because this was the very business of
the former Directions, I will dismiss it now.
Direct. II. * Think not that all is done when once you are
converted ; but remember that the work of your Christia-
nity then comes in, and must be as long as the time of your
lives.'
Of this also I shall say but little, because it is the drift
of all the moving considerations before-going. I doubt it
is the undoing of many to imagine, that if once they are
sanctified, they are so sure in the hands of Christ that they
have no more care to take, nor no more danger to be afraid
of, and at last think that they have no more to do, as of
necessity to salvation ; and thus prove that indeed they were
never sanctified. I confess, when a man is truly converted,
the principal part of his danger is over ; he is safe in the love
and care of Christ, and none can take him out of his hands.
But this is but part of the truth ; the other part must be
taken with it, or we deceive ourselves. There is still a great
deal of work before us ; and holiness is still the way to hap-
piness ; and much care and diligence is required at our hands.
And it is no more certain that we shall be saved by Christ,
than it is that we shall be kept in faith, and love, and holy
obedience by him. It is as true that none can separate us
from the love of God, and from a care to please him, and
from a holy diligence in the work of our salvation, as that
none can take us out of his hands, and bring us into a state
of condemnation. He that is resolved to bring us to glory,
is as much resolved to bring us to it by perseverance in ho-
liness and diligent obedience ; for he never decreeth one
without the other ; and he will never save us by any other
way.
Indeed, when we are converted we have escaped many
and grievous dangers ; but yet there are many more before
us, which we must by care and diligence escape. We are
translated from death to life, but not from earth to heaven.
r>*26 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
We have the life of grace, but yet we are short of the life of
glory. And why have we the life of grace but to use it, and
to live by it ? Why came we into the vineyard but to work?
And why came we into the army of Christ but to fight?
Why came we into the race but to run for the prize ? Or
why turned we into the right way, but to travel in it ? We
never did God faithful service, till the day of our conversion,
and then it is that we begin. And shall we be so sottish as
to think we have done, when we have but begun ? Now
you begin to live that before were dead. Now you begin to
wake that before were asleep. And, therefore, now you
should begin to work that before did nothing, or rather a
thousandfold worse than nothing. Work is the effect of
life ; it is the dead that lie still in darkness, and do nothing.
If you had rather be alive than dead, you should rather de-
light in action than in idleness. It is now that you set to
sea, and begin your voyage for the blessed land ; many a
storm, and wave, and tempest must you yet expect. Many
a combat with temptations must you undergo ; many a
hearty prayer have you yet to pour forth. Many and many
a duty to perform to God and man. Think not to have done
your care and work, till you have done your lives. Whe-
ther you come in at the first hour or at the last, you must
work till night if you will receive your wages. And think
not this a grievous doctrine. It is your privilege, it is your
joy, your earthly happiness, that you may be so employed ;
that you that till now have lived like swine, or moles, or
earthly vermin, may now take wing and fly to God, and
walk in heaven, and talk with saints, and be guarded by an-
gels ; is this a life to be accounted grievous ? Now you
begin to come to yourselves ; to understand what you have
to do in the world ; to live like men, that you may live like
angels ! And, therefore, now you should begin accordingly
to bestir you. I would not have you retain the same mea-
sure of fears of God's displeasure, nor the same apprehen-
sions of your misery, nor the doubts and perplexities of
mind, which you were under at your first conversion ; for
these were occasioned by the passage in your change, and
the weakness of your grace in that beginning, and your for-
mer folly made them necessary for a time. But I would
have you retain your fear of sinning, and be much more in
the love of God, and in his service, than you were at first.
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. .'i27
Temptations will haunt you to the last hour of your lives.
If, therefore, you would not fall by these temptations, you
must watch and pray to the last. Give not over watching,
till satan give over tempting and watching advantages
against you. The promise is still but on condition that you
persevere and abide in Christ, and continue rooted and stead-
fast in the faith, and overcome and be faithful to the death,
as you may see in John xv. throughout. John viii. 31. Rev.
ii. iii. Col. i. 22, 23. '* Work out, therefore, your salvation
with fear and trembling ;" Phil. ii. 12. If you have begun
resolvedly, proceed resolvedly. It is the undoing of men's
souls to think that all the danger is over, and lose their ap-
prehensions of it, when they are yet but in the way ; when
their care and holy fears abate, their watch goes down ; the
soul is laid open as a common wilderness, and made a prey
to every lust. And, therefore, still know, your work isf not
done, till your life be done.
Direct. III. ' Be sure that you understand wherein your
establishment and growth consisteth, that you may not mis-
carry by seeking somewhat else instead of it ; nor think you
have it when you have it not, or that you want it, when you
have it, and so be needlessly disquieted about it/
For your assistance in this, I shall further shew you
wherein your confirmation and growth consisteth in its se-
veral parts, both as it is subjected or exercised in your un-
derstandings, your wills, and affections, and your conversa-
tions.
i. As holiness is in the understanding, it is commonly
in Scripture called, light and knowledge, as comprehending
the several parts. And confirmation and growth of this
must consist in these seven following parts.
1. It is ordinary with new converted Christians, to see
the great essential truths of the Christian profession, with a
great imperfection as to the evidences that discover them.
Either they see but some of the solid evidence, overlooking
much more than they see ; or, more usually, they receive the
truth itself upon some low insufficient evidence at first, and
then proceed to a kind of mixture, taking it upon some evi-
dences that are valid and sufficient, and joining some that
are invalid with them. But you must grow beyond this in-
fancy of understanding ; when you see greater and sounder
evidences for the truth than you did before ; and when you
328 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
see more of these solid evidences, and leave not out so many
as you did ; and when you lay smaller stress upon the smaller
evidences, and none upon those that are invalid, and indeed
no evidences, then are your understandings more confirmed
in the truth, and this is a principal part of their growth. So
we find the Samaritans of Sychar, " Many of them believed
on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He
told me all that ever I did." (This was the first faith upon
a weaker evidence.) " And many more believed, because of
his own words, and said unto the woman, Now we be-
lieve, not because of thy saying, for we have heard him our-
selves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour
of the world ;" John iv. 39 — 42. Here is a notable confir-
mation and growth, by believing and knowing the same
thing which they believed before ; it was before believed
on weaker evidence, and now upon stronger. Thus Natha-
niel, by Philip's persuasion, was drawn to Christ, but when
he perceived his omniscience, that he knew the heart and
things that were distant, and out of the reach of common
knowledge, he is confirmed, and saith, " Rabbi, thou art the
Son of God, thou art the King of Israel." And yet Christ
telleth him, that there were far greater evidences yet to be
revealed, which might beget a more confirmed, stronger
faith. " Because I said unto thee, 1 saw thee under the fig-
tree, believest thou ? Thou shalt see greater things than
these ; verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see
heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descend-
ing upon the Son of Man;" John i. 45. 49 — 51. There is
not one Christian of many thousands, that at first hath a full
sight of the solid evidences of the Christian doctrine ; but
must grow more and more in discerning those reasons for
the truth which he believeth, which in the beginning he did
not well discern. It is not the most confident belief that is
always the strongest confirmed belief; but there must be
sound grounds and evidence to support that confidence, or
else the confidence may soon be shaken ; and is not sound,
even while it seems unshaken. And here young beginners
must be forwarned of a most dangerous snare of the deceiver,
because at first the truth itself is commonly received upon
feeble and defective grounds or evidence. It is the cus-
tom of the devil and his deceiving instruments, to shew the
young Christian the weakness of those grounds, and thence
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 3*29
to conclude that his case is naught. For it is too easy to
persuade such that the cause hath no better grounds than
they have seen. For having not seen any better, they can
have no particular knowledge of them. And they are too
apt to think over-highly of their knowledge, as if there were
no more reasons for the truth than they themselves have
reached to, and other men did see no more than they. And
thus poor souls forsake the truth, which they should be built
up and confirmed in ; and take that for a reason against the
truth, which is but a proof of their own infirmity. I meet
with very few that turn to any heresy or sect, but this is the
cause. They were at first of the right mind, but not upon
sound and well-laid grounds ; but held the truth upon in-
sufficient reasons. And then comes some deceiver, and
beats them out of their former grounds, and so having no
better, they let go the truth, and conclude that they were
all this while mistaken. Just as if, in my infancy, I
should know my own father only by his clothes, and when
I grow a little bigger, one should tell me that I was deceiv-
ed, this is not my father, and to convince me should put his
clothes upon another, or tell me that another may have such
clothes, and hereupon I should be so foolish as to yield that
I was mistaken ; and that this man is not my father. As if
the thing were false, because my reasons were insufficient.
Or as if you should ask the right way in your travel, and
one should tell you, that by such and such marks you may
know your way ; and think you have found those marks a
mile or two short of the place where they are ; but when you
understand that those are not the marks that you were told
of, you turn back again before you come at them, and con-
clude that you have missed the way. So is it with these poor
deluded souls, that think all discoveries of their own imper-
fections, and every confutation of their own silly arguments,
to be a confutation of the truths of God, which they did
hold ; when, alas, a strong, well-grounded Christian would
make nothing of defending the cause which they give up
against more strong and subtle enemies ; or, at least, would
hold it fast themselves. Well, this is the first part of your
growth in knowledge, when you can see more or better evi-
dences, for the great truths of Christianity, than you saw be-
fore.
2. Moreover, you must grow to a clearer apprehension
330 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
of the very same reasons and evidences of the truth, which
you saw before. For when a weak Christian hath the best
arguments and grounds in the world, yet he hath so dim a
sight of them, that makes them find the slighter entertain-
ment in his affections. The best reason in the world can
work but little on him that hath but a little understanding
of it. There are various degrees of knowledge, not only of
one and the same truth, because of the diversity of evidence,
but of one and the same evidence and reason of that truth.
I can well remember myself, that I have many a year had a
common argument for some weighty truth, and I have made
use of it, and thought it good, but yet had but little appre-
hension of the force of it : and many years after, a sudden
light hath given me (in my studies) so clear an apprehension
of the force of that same argument, which I knew so long,
as that it hath exceedingly confirmed and satisfied me, more
than ever I was before. I beseech you, Christians, consider
of this weighty truth ; it is not the knowledge of the truth,
that will serve your turns, without a true and solid know-
ledge of that truth ; nor is it the hearing or understanding
of the best grounds and reasons, or proofs in the world, that
will serve the turn, unless you have a deep and solid appre-
hension of those proofs and reasons. A man that hath the
best arguments may forsake the truth, because he hath not
a good understanding of those arguments. As a man that
hath the best weapons in the world may be killed for want
of strength and skill to use them. I tell you, if you knew
every truth in the Bible, you may grow much in knowledge
of the very same truths which you know.
3. Moreover, a young, ungrounded Christian, when he
seeth all the fundamental truths, aud seeth good evidence
and reasons for them, perhaps may be yet ignorant of the
right order and place of every truth. It is a rare thing to
have young professors to understand the necessary truths
methodically. And this is a very great defect. For a great
part of the usefulness and excellency of particular truths
consisteth in the respect they have to one another. This,
therefore, will be a considerable part of your confirmation
and growth in your understandings, to see the body of
Christian doctrine, as it were, at one view, as the several
parts of it are united in one perfect frame; and to know
what aspect one point hath upon another, and which are their
FOR THfclR ESTABLISHMENT. 331
due places. There is a great difference between the sight
of the several parts of a clock or watch, as they are disjoint-
ed, and scattered about, and the seeing them conjoined, and
in use and motion. To see here a pin, and there a wheel,
and not know how to set them all together, nor ever see
them in their due places, will give but little satisfaction.
It is the frame and design of holy doctrine that must be
known, and every part should be discerned as it hath its par-
ticular use to that design, and as it is connected with the
other parts. By this means only can the true nature of the-
ology, together with the harmony and perfection of truth, be
clearly understood. And every single truth also, will be
much better perceived by him that seeth its place and order,
than by any other. For one truth exceedingly illustrates
and leads in another into our understanding. Nay, more
than so, your own hearts and lives will not be well ordered,
if the method or order of the truths received should be mis-
taken. For the truths of God are the very instruments of
your sanctification, which is nothing but their effects upon
your understandings and wills, as they are set home by the
Holy Ghost. Truths are the seal, and your souls are the
wax, and holiness is the impression made. If you receive
but some truths, you will have but some part of the due im-
pression. Nay, indeed, they are so coherent, and make up
the sense by their necessary conjunction, that you cannot re-
ceive any one of them sincerely, without receiving any one
that is of the essence of the Christian belief. And if you
receive them disorderly, the image of them on your souls
will be as disorderly ; as if your bodily members were mon-
strously displaced. Study, therefore, to grow in the more
methodical knowledge of the same truths which you have
received. And though you are not yet ripe enough to dis-
cern the whole body of theology in due method, yet see so
much as you have attained to know, in the right order and
placing of every part. As in anatomy, it is hard for the
wisest physician to discern the course of every branch of
veins and arteries, but yet they may easily discern the place
and order of the principal parts, and greater vessels. So it
is in divinity, where no man hath a perfect view of the whole,
till he come to the state of perfection with God ; but every
true Christian hath the knowledge of all the essentials, and
may know the order and places of them all.
Xi'2 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
4. Another part of your confirmation and growth in un-
derstanding, is, in discerning the same truths more practi-
cally than you did before, and perceiving the usefulness of
every truth, for the doing of its work in your hearts and
lives. It was never the will of God that bare speculation
should be the end of his revelations, or of our belief. Divi-
nity is an effective, practical science, therefore must truths
be known and believed, that the good may be received, and
a holy change may be made by them, on the heart and life.
Even the doctrine of the Trinity itself is practical, and the
fountain of that which is more easily discerned to be prac-
tical. There is not one article of our faith, but hath a spe-
cial work to do upon our hearts and lives ; and, therefore,
a special fitness for that work. Now the understandings of
young Christians do discern many truths, when they see but
little of the work to be done by them, and the special use-
fulness of those truths to those works. This, therefore,
must be your daily inquiry, and in this you must grow. As
if you come into a workman's shop, and see a hundred tools
about you, it is a small matter to discern the shape and
fashion of them, and what metal they are made of; but you
will further ask, what is this tool to do, and what is that to
do. If ever you will learn the trade, you must know the use
of every tool. So must you, if you will be skilful Christians,
be acquainted with the use of the truths which you have re-
ceived ; and know that this truth is to do this work, and
that truth is to do that work, upon the soul and life. A hus-
bandman may know as many herbs, and flowers, and fruits
as a physician, and be able to tell them all by name, and say,
this is such a herb, and that is such an one ; and to perceive
the shape and beauty of them. But he knows little or no-
thing that they are good for, unless to feed his cattle.
Whereas, the physician can tell you, that this herb is good
against this disease, and that herb against another disease,
and can make use of those same herbs to save men's lives,
which other men tread under foot as useless. A country-
man may see the names that are written on the apothecaries'
boxes, but it is the physician that knows the medicinal use
of the drugs. So, many men that are unsanctified, may
know the outside of holy doctrine, that little know what use
is to be made of it. And the weak Christian knows less of
this than the grown, confirmed Christian doth. Learn, there-
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 333
fore r every day, more and more, to know what every truth is
good for, that this is for the exercise and strengthening of
such a grace, and this is good against such or such disease
of the soul. Every leaf in the Bible hath a healing virtue in
it. They are the leaves of the tree of life. Every sentence
is good for something. " All Scripture is given by inspira-
tion of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of
God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good
works;" 2Tim.iii. 16, 17. Not a word is without its use-
fulness.
5. Moreover, you must grow, not only in knowing the
usefulness of truths, but also in knowing how to use them,
that you may have the benefit of that worth that is in them.
Many a man knows what use a workman's tools are for, that
yet knows not how himself to use them. And many a one
knows the use and virtue of herbs and drugs, that knows
not how to make a medicine of them, and compound and
apply them. There is much skill to be used in knowing the
seasons of application, and the measure, and what is fit for
one, and what for another, that we may make that necessary
variance, which diversity of conditions do require. As it is
a work of skill in the pastors of the church, to "divide the
word of God aright, and speak a word in season to the wea-
ry, and give the children their meat in due season ;" (2 Tim.
ii. 15. Isa. l.iv. Matt. xxiv. 45.) so is it also a work of
skill, to do this for yourselves, to know what Scripture it is
that doth concern you ; and when, and in what measure to
apply it, and in what order, and with what advantages or
correctives to use it, as may be most for your own good.
You may grow in this skill as long as you live ; even in un-
derstanding how to use the same truths which you have long
known. O what excellent Christians should we be, if we had
but this holy skill, and hearts to use it. We have the whole
armour of God to put on and use, but all the matter is how
to use it. The same sword of the Spirit in the hand of a
strong and skilful Christian, may do very much, which in
the hand of a young, unskilful Christian, will do very lit-
tle, and next to nothing. A young, raw physician may know
the same medicines as an able experienced physician doth ;
but the great difference lieth in the skill to use them. This
334 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
is it that must make you rich in grace, when you increase in
the skilful use of truths.
6. Moreover, your understandings may be much advanc-
ed, by knowing the same truths more experimentally than
you did before. I mean such truths as are capable of expe-
rimental knowledge. Experience giveth us a far more satis-
factory manner of knowledge, than others have that have no
such experience. To know by hearsay, is like the knowing
of a country in a map ; and to know by experience, is like
the knowing of the same country by sight. An experienced
navigator, or soldier, or physician, or governor, hath another
manner of knowledge than the most learned can have with-
out experience ; even a knowledge that confirmeth a man,
and makes him confident. Thus may you daily increase in
knowledge, about the same points that you knew long ago.
When you have " tasted and seen that the Lord is gracious,"
(Psal. xxxiv. 8. 1 Pet. ii. 3.) you will know him more ex-
perimentally than you did before : when you have tasted the
sweetness of the promise, and of pardon of sin, and peace
with God, and the hopes of glory, you will have a more ex-
perimental knowledge of the riches of grace than you had
before. And when you have lived awhile in communion
with Christ and the saints, and walked awhile with God in
a heavenly conversation, and maintained your integrity, and
kept yourselves unspotted of the world, you will then know
the nature and worth of holiness by a knowledge more ex-
perimental and satisfactory than before. And this is con-
firmation and growth in knowledge.
7. Moreover, you must labour to grow in higher estima-
tion of the same truths which you knew before. And this
will be a consequent of the forementioned acts. A child
that findeth a jewel may set by it, for the shining beauty ;
when yet he may value it many thousand pounds below its
worth. You see so much wisdom and goodness in God, the
first hour of your new life, as causeth you to prefer him be-
fore the world ; and you see so much of the necessity of a
Saviour, so much love and mercy in Jesus Christ, as draw-
eth up your hearts to him ; and you see so much certainty
and glorious excellency of the life to come, that makes you
value it even more than your lives. But yet there is in all
these such an unsearchable treasure, that you can never va-
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 335
lue them near their worth ; for all that thou hast seen of God,
and Christ, and glory, there is a thousand times more excel-
lency in them yet to be discerned. For all the beauty thou
hast seen in holiness, it is a thousandfold more beautiful
than ever thou didst apprehend it; for all the evil thou hast
seen in sin, it is a thousandfold worse than ever thou didst
perceive it to be. So that if you should live a thousand
years, you might still be growing in your estimation of those
things which you knew the first day of your true conversion.
For the deeper you dig into this precious mine, the greater
riches will still appear to you. There is an ocean of excel-
lency in one article of your belief, and you will never find
the banks or bottom, till you come to heaven, and then you
will find that it had neither banks nor bottom.
And thus I have shewed youwhat'confirmation and growth
is needful for your understandings, even about the very
same truths, which at first you knew. And now I shall add,
8. You must also labour to understand more truths for
number than at first you understood, and to reach to as
much of the revealed will of God as you can, and not to
stop in the mere essentials. For all divine revelations are
precious, and of great use ; and none must be neglected.
And the knowledge of many other truths, is of some neces-
sity to our clear understanding of the essentials ; and also to
our holding them fast, and practising them. " Secret things
belong to God, but things revealed, to us and to our chil-
dren ;" Deut. xxix. 29.
But here I must give you this further advice : 1. That
you proceed in due order, from the fundamental points, to
those that lie next them ; and do not overpass the points of
next necessity and weight, and go to higher and less needful
matters, before your are ready for them. 2. And also see
that you receive all following truths that are taught you, as
flowing from the foundation, and conjoined with it. Disor-
derly proceedings have unspeakably wronged the souls of
many thousands, when they are presently upon controver-
sies, and smaller matters, before they understand abundance
of more necessary things that must be first understood.
This course doth make them lose their labour, and worse,
it deceiveth the understanding instead of informing it ; and
thereupon it perverts the will itself, and turns men to a he-
retical, proud, or perverse frame of spirit ; and then it must
336 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
needs mislead their practices, and cause them, like deluded
men, to be zealous in doing mischief, while they think they
are doing good. In common matters you can see, that you
must learn and do things in their due order, or else you will
but make fools of yourselves. Will you go to the top of the
stairs or ladder, without beginning at the lower steps ? Will
you sow your ground before you manure or plough it? or
can you reap before you sow it? Will you ride your colt
before you break him? Will you rear a house before you
frame it? Or will you teach your children Hebrew, and
Greek, and Latin, before they learn English? or to read the
hardest books before they learn the easiest ? or can they
read before they learn to spell, or know their letters ? No
more can you learn the difficult controversies in divinity
(as about the exposition of obscure prophecies, or doctrinal
doubts), till you have taken up before you those many, great,
and necessary truths that lie between. It would make a
wise man pity them, and be ashamed to hear them, when
young, raw, self-conceited professors, will fall into confident
expositions of Daniel, the Revelations, or the Canticles, or
such like, or into disputes about free-will, or predestination,
or about the many controversies of the times, when, alas,
they are ignorant of a hundred truths (about the covenants,
justification, and the like) which must be known before
they can reach the rest !
By this much that I have said already, you may under-
stand, that, though we should reach as far as we can in
knowing all necessary, revealed truths, yet the principal
part of your growth in knowledge, when once you are con-
verted, consisteth not in knowing more than you knew be-
fore, as to the number of truths, but in knowing better the
very same fundamental truths, which you knew at first.
This is the principal thing that I would here teach you.
Abundance are deluded, by not understanding this; you
see here you have seven several things in which you must
daily grow in knowledge about the same truths which you
first received. 1. You must see better and sounder reasons
and evidences for the fundamental truths than you saw at
first : or more such evidences than you did then perceive.
2. You must grow to a clearer sight or apprehension of those
same evidences. 3. You must see truths more methodically,
all, as it were, at one view, and all in their due proportion
VOU THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. .337
and place, as the members of a well-composed body ; and
how they grow together, and what strength one truth affords
to another. 4. You must see every truth more practically
than before, and know what use it is of, for your hearts and
lives, and what you must do with it. 5. You must learn
more skill in the using of these truths, when you know what
they are good for ; and must be better able to manage them
on yourselves and others. 6. You must know more experi-
mentally than you did at first. ] 7. You must grow into a
higher esteem of truths. All this you have to do besides
your growing in the number of truths. And I must tell you,
that as it was these essentials of Christianity that were the
instrumental causes of your first conversion, and more need-
ful and useful to you then, than ten thousand others ; so it
is the very same points that you must always live upon, and
the confirmation and growth of your souls in these, will be
more useful to you than the adding of ten thousand more
truths, which yet you know not. And, therefore, take this
advice, as you love your peace and growth ; neglect not to
know more, but bestow many and many hours in labouring
to know better the great truths which you have received, for
one hour that you bestow in seeking to know more truths
which you know not; believe it, this is thesafe and thriving
way. You know already that God is all-sufficient, and infi-
nitely wise, and good, and powerful. And you know not,
perhaps, the nature of free-will, or of God's decrees of elec-
tion and reprobation, or a hundred the like points. True
knowledge of any of the revealed things of God, is very de-
sirable ; but yet, I must tell you, that you are forty times
more defective here in your knowledge of that of God which
you do know, than of the other which you know not ; that
is, the want of more degrees of this necessary knowledge,
is more dangerous to your souls than the total want of the
less necessary knowledge. And the addition of more de-
grees to the more needful parts of knowledge, will strength-
en and enrich you more than the knowing of less necessary
things, which you knew not before at all. You know Christ
crucified already, but perhaps you know not certain contro-
versies about church-government, or the definitions and dis-
tinctions of many matters in divinity. It will be a greater
growth now to your knowledge, to know a little more of
VOL. VIII. z
338 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
Christ crucified, whom you know already, than to know
these lesser matters, which you know not yet at all. Ifyou
had already a hundred pounds in gold, and not a penny of
silver, it will more enrich you to have another purse full of
gold, than a purse full of silver. Trading in the richest com-
modities, is likelier to raise men to greater estates, than
trading for matters of a smaller rate. They that go to the
Indies for gold and pearl, may be rich if they get but little
in quantity; when he may be poor that brings home ships
laden with the greatest store of poor commodity. That man
that hath a double measure of the knowledge of God in
Christ, and the clearest, and deepest, and most effectual ap-
prehensions of the riches of grace and the glory to come,
and yet never heard of the most of the questions in Scotus,
or O ckam, or Aquinas's sums is far richer in knowledge, and
a much wiser man, than he that hath those controversies at
his finger's ends, and yet hath but half his clearness and
solidity of the knowledge of God and Christ, of grace and
glory. There is enough in some one of the articles of your
faith, in one of God's attributes, in one of Christ's benefits,
in one of the Spirit's graces, to hold you study all your lives,
and afford you still an increase of knowledge. To know
God the Father, Son, and Spirit, and their relations to you,
and operations for you, and your duties to them, and the
way of communion with them, is that knowledge in which
you must still be growing, till it be perfected by the celes-
tial, beatifical vision. Those be not the wisest men that
can answer most questions ; but those that have the fullest
intellectual reception of the infinite wisdom. You will con-
fess that he is a wiser man, that hath wisdom to get and
rule a kingdom, than he that hath wit enough to talk of a
hundred trivial matters, which the other is ignorant of.
That is the wisest physician that can do most to save men's
lives ; and not he that can best read a lecture of anatomy,
or is readiest in the terras of his art. Knowledge is to be
esteemed according to the use of it, and the dignity of its
object, and not according to the number and subtlety of
notions. And, therefore, 1 beseech .you all, that are young
and weak in the faith, take much more pains to grow in the
fuller acquaintance with that same faith which you have re-
ceived, than to be acquainted with smaller controversial
truths which you never knew. Men use to call these higher
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 389
points, because they are more difficult ; but certainly the
articles of your faith are much higher in point of excellency
though they are lower in the due order of learning them, as
foundation is the lowest part of the building, and is first
laid, but is that which must bear up all the rest.
And here you must observe, how gracelessly and unlike
to Christians those men speak, that say, ' They care not
for reading such a book, or hearing such or such a minister,
because he tells them no more than they know already.'
And on that account some of them stay from church, be-
cause they hear nothing but what they know already. It is
a certain [sign that they do not know already the bless-
ed nature of God, and the riches of Christ, which they say
they know. For if they did, they could not hear or think
too much of them. They would long to know more, and,
therefore, to hear more of the same things. It is a sign the
minister takes the course that tends to your edification and
enriching in knowledge, when he is most upon the great and
most necessary truths. All saints do make it their study to
comprehend the height, and breadth, and length, and depth,
and know the love of God in Christ ; but when they have
done, they confess that it " passeth knowledge ;" Ephes.iii.
17 — 19. It is a graceless, wicked soul, in a state of damna-
tion, that conceits he knows so much of God and Jesus
Christ, and the essentials of Christianity, that he cares not
for hearing these things any more, but had rather have no-
velties, and let these alone ; and feeleth not need of knowing
much more, and more of the same truths ; and of using and
living upon these vital principles which he knows. You have
eaten bread, and drank beer a hundred times ; but perhaps
you never did eat of sturgeon or whale, of a bear or a leo-
pard, of chesnuts or pignuts, or many strange and danger-
ous fruits in all your life; and yet I hope you will never seek
after these, because they are novelties, and give over eating
bread because you have eaten of it already. Nor will you
churlishly refuse to go to a feast, because there is no meat
but what you have eaten of before. We have not a new God
to preach to you, nor a new Christ, nor a new Spirit, nor a
new Gospel, nor a new church, nor a new faith, nor a new
baptismal covenant, nor a new heaven, or hope, or happi-
ness to propound; Gal. i. 9, 10. Ephes.iv. 3 — 5. Your
growth in methods, and definitions, and distinctions, and in
340 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
additional points of knowledge, is principally to be valued
as it cleareth your understandings in the foresaid great es-
sential points, and brings you up to God himself. Some
wretches think they have quickly learned past the essential
articles of the faith, and ere long they are past the higher
points ; and shortly they are past the Scripture itself, and
throw it by, as a scholar that hath learnt one book, and
must be entered into another. They understand not, that
the ministry and Spirit are but to teach them the word of the
Gospel ; but they think they must outgrow the word and
ministry, and the Spirit must teach them some other doc-
trine, or Gospel, which the written word doth not contain.
I pray mark the apostle's warning : " Be not carried about
with divers and strange doctrines ; for it is a good thing that
the heart be established with grace ;" Heb. xiii. 9. And
" That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and
fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the
sleight of men, and cunning craftiness j" Ephes. iv. 14.
ii. Having shewed you wherein your growth consisteth
in the understanding, I shall be short in the rest, and next I
must tell you wherein it consisteth in the will.
And that is, 1. When upon good understanding and deep
consideration, you are more fixedly, habitually, absolutely,
and practically resolved for God and glory than before. So
that you are grown more beyond all shaking doubtfulness,
or wavering of mind, and beyond all unevenness, mutability,
and inconstancy. When a man is thus satisfied, that none
but God hath title to him, or can make him happy, and that
none but Christ can reconcile him to God, and that it were
a madness to make any other choice, and thereupon is set-
tled and firm as Mount Zion, and can say, " Whom have I in
heaven but thee, and there is none on earth that I desire be-
sides thee ;" Psal. lxxiii. 25. When you are firmly resolved
that, let God do with you what he will, and come of it what
will, you will never choose another Master, or Saviour, or
rule, or happiness, or way, or body, than you are in ; and
will never forsake the path of holiness ; this is the fixed
stability of the will, and the more of this, the more you
grow.
2. And when you have the lowest esteem of the creatures,
and greatest, and most resolved averseness to all that would
draw you from God, and can meet the greatest worldly or
-FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 341
fleshly allurements with a holy contempt ; this shews a set-
tled, confirmed will.
3. And also, when you are speedy in holy resolutions,
and see nothing in a temptation, how great soever, that can
make you demur upon it, or make a stop in a Christian
course ; but go on to duty, as if the tempter had said no-
thing to you, and the flesh and the world had no interest in
you ; and you do not so much as stand to think on it, whe-
ther you should yield to sin or not, as abhorring to call such
a matter into question ; this shews a confirmed, fixed will ;
and the more of this, the more of holiness.
in. The strength and growth of holy affections, consist-
eth principally in these particulars : 1 . When the affections
are lively, and not dull ; so that we make out after God and
heaven with vigour and alacrity. 2. When they are ready
at hand, and not to seek, and need not a great deal ado to
quicken them, or call them in. 3. When they are more pure
and unmixed, having least of the creature and most of God
in them. 4. But principally (and the surest point to try
them by) when they contain in them, or accompany the
foresaid confirmation and resolvedness of the will ; for it is
more the willingness that is in or with our affections, than
the heat of them, that we must judge them by. 5. And
lastly, when they follow the best guidance of the under-
standing, when they are hottest about the greatest matters,
and not about the smaller or more doubtful things ; when
they are obedient, and yielding to faith and holy reason,
and not too ready to hearken to sense, and be moved about
fleshly, sensible things. In these things lieth the growth of
your affections.
iv. And then lastly, for your conversations, your stabi-
lity, and growth consisteth, 1. In the readiness of your obe-
dience. 2. In the fulness and universal exactness of it.
3. In the resolved conquest of all temptations that would
pervert you. 4. In the diligent use of all those means, that
may further confirm and strengthen you. 5. In the even-
ness of it, that it be constant, and not mixed with scandals,
and stops in the way, or stepping out into by-paths. 6. In
your fruitfulness and profitableness to others, according to
the proportion of your talents ; that you study to do good,
and do it with all the care, and wisdom, and diligence you
can. 7. In the spirituality of it, that God be the principal,
342 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
and the end of all, and that all be animated from the believ-
ing consideration of his attributes, and the views of everlast-
ing blessedness. So that you have such lively, fixed inten-
tions of God, that you can perceive that you do all, even
common things, for the purpose of his pleasure, will, and
glory ; and that the love of God doth carry you about from
duty to duty, and constrain you to it. 8. And lastly, in the
measure of your present attainments of the end and fruits of
your obedience. For a taste of these ends are here to be
attained. When your inward graces are more confirmed
and increased, and your talents are doubled, and when you
bring God a great deal of honour in the world, so that by
his graces shining in your works, your Father is glorified ;
and when yourselves are readier to go to God, and meet your
Redeemer, and long more for his appearing ; in all these
consisteth the stability, growth, and excellency of your con-
versations.
And now, by all that I have said, you may see wherein
your stability, strength, and growth doth not consist. 1.
It doth not most, or much consist in speculations, or less
useful truths. 2. It doth not consist in the mere heat of
affections ; for zeal may be misguided, and do hurt, and may
prove sometimes but a mere natural or distempered, sinful
passion. 3. It consisteth not in mere fears, or purposes, that
you are frightened into against your will. 4. Nor does it
consist of the common gifts of grace or nature. 5. Nor yet in
turning into groundless singularities, and unusual strains.
But in a word, it consisteth in holy love, kindled by effec-
tual faith. When a firmly believing soul is fullest of love
to God, and Christ, and holiness, this is the most confirmed
state of the soul ; and in this your chiefest growth con-
sisteth.
My next advice to all young Christians, for their con-
firmation and growth in grace, is this :
Direct. IV. ' Grow downwards in humility ; be low and
small in your own eyes, and affect not to be high or great in
the eyes of others ; and still keep a deep apprehension of
the greatness and danger of the sin of pride ; but especially
of that called spiritual pride.'
It is the tree that hath the shallowest, weakest rooting
that most shaketh, and is soonest overthrown : the deeper
roots, the higher growth, for the most part. The building
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 343
that hath not a deep foundation, is soonest shaken and over-
thrown. Christ is our foundation ; and humiliation digs
deep and lets hirn into the heart. Pride is commonly thought
to be the devil's first or chiefest sin. Sure I am, it is the
proud that fall into his condemnation ; 1 Tim. iii. 6. The
pride of our first parents, affecting to be as gods in know-
ledge, was the inlet of all our sin and misery ; and the
tempter still followeth the way that he hath found to be so
successful. It is pride, that like a storm or tempest, doth
set all the world in the rage, and contention, and differences,
and confusion, that we see them in. It is pride that hath
filled the church with divisions ; and it is pride that causeth
the apostacy of most that fall away. And the more men
have of it, the less do they usually discern it in themselves ;
I am sure the less do they hate it and lament it. And though
one would think, that young beginners and weak Christians
that have little to be proud of should be out of the danger
of this temptation, yet experience tells us, that it is they
that fall by it, more than the wiser and stronger Christians
that have more to glory in : for the more men increase in
wisdom, the more do they know their own unworthiness,
their emptiness, and ignorance, and manifold sins : and the
more do they know of the holiness and jealousy of God ; and
the more do they know of the evil of sin, and see what abun-
dance of knowledge and grace they yet want ; so that the
more holy wisdom and experience, the less pride. But folly
is the parent and nurse of pride. Children will be proud of
toys and things of no value. There are two or three things
that make young Christians in greater danger of spiritual
pride than others. 1. Because they come so lately out of
darkness, and so great a change is made upon their souls,
that it makes them the more sensible of it ; and therefore
the readier to have high thoughts of themselves. Though
one would think that the remembrance of former folly, and
late dejectedness should keep them low, yet with too many
that is quickly gone, and they know not how to receive a
comforting message, but they make it an occasion of lifting
up. 2. The ignorance of these novices or young Christians
is such, that they little know what abundance of things they
are yet ignorant of. Little do they know what knowledge
they yet want ; they think there is little more to be reached
to than is in their sight, and therefore suppose themselves
344 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
somebody in the school of Christ, because they have learned
the first lesson. 3. And by reason of this ignorance, they
know not how to value the higher attainments and under-
standings of others, but look on the wisest as little wiser
than themselves, because they are unacquainted with the
matter of their wisdom, and therefore overlook it as if it were
none, and consequently think too highly of themselves. 4.
And withal, they have not that experience of their own hearts,
that should make them jealous of them, as ancient Chris-
tians have.
The humble soul is still in an empty, craving temper ;
he hungereth and thirsteth after righteousness, and therefore
shall be satisfied ; Matt. v. 6. No man setteth so high a
price on Christ and grace, and all the means of grace. Even
the crumbs are welcome to him, which the proud despise.
" The full soul loathes the honeycomb ; but to the hungry
every bitter thing is sweet ;" Prov. xxvii. 7. Therefore such
beggars are most welcome to God : he hath respect to the
humble, contrite soul; Isa. lvii. 15. Ixvi. 2. Psal. li. 17.
** The hungry he filleth with good, but the rich he sendeth
empty away ;" Luke i. 53. " He giveth more grace to the
humble, when the proud are abhorred by him ;" 1 Pet. v. 5.
The church of Laodicea, that said, " I am rich, and increased
with goods, and have need of nothing," was " miserable, and
poor, and blind, and naked ;" Rev. iii. 17. As many that
are proud of their honour and birth, run out of all, by living
above their estates, when meaner persons grow rich, because
they are still gathering, and make much of every little : so
proud professors of religion are in a consumption of the grace
they have, while the humble increase, by making much of
every little help, which is slighted and neglected by the
proud, and by shunning all those spending courses, which
the proud are plunged in. Be sure to keep mean thoughts
of yourselves, of your knowledge, and parts, and grace, and
duties, and be content to be mean in the esteem of others,
if you would not be worse than mean in the esteem of God.
Direct. V. ' Exercise yourselves daily in a life of faith
upon Jesus Christ, as your Saviour, your Teacher, your Me-
diator, and your King; as your example, your wisdom, your
righteousness, and your hope.'
All other studies and knowledge must be merely subser-
vient to the study and knowledge of Christ ; 1 Cor. ii. 2.
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 345
That vain kind of philosophy which St. Paul so much cau-
tioneth Christians against, is so far yet from being accounted
vain, that by many called Christians, it is preferred before
Christianity itself; and to shew that it is vain while they
overvalue it, they can show no solid worth or virtue which
they have got by it ; but only a tumified mind, and an idle
tongue, like a tinkling cymbal ; 1 Cor. xiii. 1. xii. 31. ii.
4. 14—16. i. 18—21. 23, 24. 27. Col. ii. 8, 9. We are
complete in Christ, in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily ; ver. 10. No study in the world will so
much lead you up to God, and acquaint you with him espe-
cially in his love and goodness, as the study of Christ, his
person, his office, his doctrine, his example, his kingdom,
and his benefits. As the deity is your ultimate end, to which
all things else are but helps and means ; so Christ is that
great and principal means, by whom all other means are
animated. Remember that you are in continual need of him,
for direction, intercession, pardon, sanctification, for support
and comfort, and for peace with God. Let no thoughts therer
fore be so sweet and frequent in your hearts, nor any dis-
course so ready in your mouths (next to the excellencies of
the eternal Godhead) as this of the design of man's redemp-
tion. Let Christ be to your souls, as the air, the earth, the
sun, and your food are to your bodies, without which your
life would presently fail. As you had never come home to
the Father but by him, so without him you cannot a moment
continue in the Father's love, nor be accepted in one duty,
nor be protected from one danger, nor be supplied in any
want : for it pleased the Father, that in him should all ful-
ness dwell ; Col.i. 18, 19. " And by him it is, that being
justified by faith, we have peace with God, and have access
by faith unto this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in
hope of the glory of God ;" Rom. v. 1, 2. " And it is in him
the head, that we must grow up in all things, from whom the
whole body doth receive its increase ;" Ephes. iv. 15, 16.
You grow no more in grace, than you grow in the true know-
ledge and daily use of Jesus Christ. But of this I will say
no more, because I have said so much in my " Directions for
a Sound Conversion."
Direct. VI. ' Let the knowledge and love of God, and
your obedience to him, be the works of your religion ; and
the everlasting fruition of him in heaven, be the continual
346 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
end and ruling motive of your hearts and lives, that your
very conversation may be with God in heaven.'
You are so far HOLY as you are DIVINE and HEA-
VENLY. A Christian indeed in casting up his accounts,
being certain that this world doth make no man happy, hath
been led by Christ to seek a happiness with God above. If
you live not for this everlasting happiness, if you trade not
for this, if this be not your treasure, your hope and home,
the chief matter of your desires, love and joy, and if all
things be not pressed to serve it, and despised when they
stand against it, you live not indeed a Christian life. GOD
and HEAVEN, or GOD in HEAVEN, is the life and soul,
the beginning and the end, the sum, the all of true religion.
And therefore it is that we are directed to lift up our heads
and hearts, and begin our prayers with, " Our Father which
art in heaven," and end them with ascribing to him, " the
kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever." It is not the
creatures, but God the Creator, that is the Father, the Guide,
and the Felicity of souls, and therefore the ultimate End
and object of all religious actions and affections. Dwell
still upon God, and dwell in heaven, if you would under-
stand the nature and design of Christianity. Take God for
all, that is, for God ; study after the knowledge of him in all
his works ; study him in his word ; study him in Christ ;
and never study him, barely to know him, but to know him
that you may love him. Take yourselves as dead, when you
live not in the love of God ; keep still upon your hearts, a
lively sense of the infinite difference between him and the
creature. Look on all the world as a shadow, and on God
as the substance ; take the very worst that man can do, to
be in comparison of the punishments of God, but as a flea-
biting to the sorest death ; and take all the dreaming plea-
sures of the world, to be less in comparison with the joys of
heaven, than one lick of honey is to a thousand years' pos-
session of all the felicities on earth. Think not all the plea-
sures, honours, or riches of the world, to be worthy to be
named in comparison of heaven; nor the greatest of men,
to be worthy to be once thought on, in comparison of God.
As one straw or feather won or lost, would neither much re-
joice or trouble you, if all the city or land were yours; so
live as men whose eyes are open, and who discern a greater
disproportion between the portion of a worldling and a saint.
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 347
Let God be your King, your Father, your Master, your
Friend, your Wealth, your Joy, your All. Let not a day go
over your heads, in which your hearts have no converse with
God in heaven. When any trouble overtaketh you on earth,
look up to heaven, and remember, that it is there that rest
and joy are prepared for believers. When you are under
any want, or cross, or sorrow, fetch not your comfort from
any hopes of deliverance here on earth, but from the place
of your final, full deliverance. If you feel any strangeness
and backwardness on your minds to heavenly contempla-
tions, do not make light of them, but presently by faith get
up to Christ, who must make your thoughts of heaven fami-
liar, and seek remedy before your estrangedness increase.
The soul is in a sad condition, when it cannot fetch comfort
and encouragement from heaven ; for then it must have
none, or worse than none. When the thoughts of heaven
will not sweeten all your crosses, and relieve your minds
against all the incumbrances of earth, your souls are not in
a healthful state ; it is time then to search out the cause,
and seek a cure, before it come to worse.
There are three great causes of this dark and dangerous
state of soul, which make the thoughts of heaven ineffectual
and uncomfortable to us, which therefore must be over-
come with the daily care and diligence of your whole lives.
1. Unbelief, which maketh you look towards the life to
come with doubting and uncertainty ; and this is the most
common, radical, powerful and pernicious impediment to a
heavenly life. 2. The second is, the love of present things,
which being the vanity of a poor, low, fleshly mind, the re-
viving of reason may do much to overcome it ; but it is the
sound belief of the life to come that must indeed prevail.
3. The third is, the inordinate fear of death, which hath so
great advantage in the constitution of our nature, that it is
commonly the last enemy which we overcome, (as death it-
self is the last enemy which Christ overcometh for us).
Bend all your strength, and spend your days in striving
against these three great impediments of a heavenly conver-
sation ; and remember, that so far as you suffer your hearts
to retire from heaven, so far they retire from a life of Chris-
tianity and peace.
Direct. VII. * Tn the work of mortification, let SELF-
348 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
DENIAL be the first and last of all your study, care and di-
ligence.'
Understand how much of the fallen, depraved state of
man consisteth in the sin of SELFISHNESS : how he is
sunk into himself, in his fall from the love of God, and of
his neighbour ; of the public or private good of others : and
how this inordinate self-love is now the grand enemy of all
true love to God or man ; and the root and heart of covetous-
ness, pride, voluptuousness and all iniquity. Let it be your
work, therefore, all your days, to mortify it, and watch
against it. When you feel yourselves partial in your own
cause, and apt to be drawing from others to yourselves, in
point of reputation, precedency or gain, and apt to make too
great a matter of every word that is spoken against you, or
every little wrong that is done you, observe then the perni-
cious root of selfishness, from whence all this mischief doth
proceed. Read more of this in my " Treatise of Self-denial."
Direct. VIII. ' Take your corrupted, fleshly desires, for
the greatest enemy of your souls, and let it be every day
your constant work to mortify the flesh, and to keep a watch
upon your lusts and appetite, and every sense.'
Remember that our senses were not made to govern
themselves, but to be governed by right reason ; and that
God made them at the first to be the ordinary passage of
his love and mercy to our hearts, by the means of the crea-
tures which represent or manifest him unto us : but now in
the depraved state of man, the senses have cast off the go-
vernment of reason, and are become the ruling power, and
so man is become like the beasts that perish. Remember
then, that to be sensual, is to be brutish ; and though grace
doth not destroy the appetite and sense, yet it subjecteth it
to God and reason. Therefore let your appetite be pleased
in nothing, but by the allowance of right reason ; and think
not that you have reason to take any meats, or drink, or
sport, merely because your flesh desireth it ; but consider,
whether it will do you good or hurt, and how it conduceth
to your ultimate end. It is a base and sinful state to be in
servitude to your appetite and sense; when by using to
please it, you have so increased its desires, that now you
know not how to deny it, and displease it ; when you have
taught it to be like a hungry dog or swine, that will never
be quiet till his hunger be satisfied ; whereas a well-govern-
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 349
ed appetite and sense is easily quieted with a rational de-
nial. Rom. viii. 1. 6—8. 13. 'xiii. 13, 14. 1 Pet. ii. 11.
1 John ii. 16.
Direct. IX. ' Take heed lest you fall in love with the
world, or any thing therein, and lest your thoughts of any
place or condition which you either possess or hope for, do
grow too sweet and pleasing to you.'
For there is no one perisheth, but for loving some crea-
ture more than God ; and complacency is the formal act of
love. '* Love not the world, nor the things that are in the
world, for if any man love the world, the love of the Father
is not in him;" 1 John ii. 15. Value all earthly things as
they conduce to your Master's service, or to your salvation ;
and not as they tend to the pleasing of the flesh. It is the
commonest and most dangerous folly in the world, to be
eager to have our houses, and lands, and provisions, and
every thing about us in the most pleasing and amiable state;
when as this is the acknowledged way to hell, and the only
poison of the soul. Are you not in more danger of over-
loving a pleasing and prosperous condition, than a bitter
and vexatious state? And of over-loving riches, honour,
and sensual fulness and delights, rather than poverty, re-
proach and mortification ? And do you not know that if
ever you be damned, it will be for loving the world too
much, and God too little ? Is it for nothing that Christ
describeth a saint to you as a Lazarus in poverty and sores,
and a damned wretch as one that was " clothed in purple
and silk, and fared sumptuously every day?" Luke xvi.
Did not Christ know what he did when he put the rich man
upon this trial, to part with all his worldly riches, and follow
Christ for a treasure in heaven ? Luke xviii. 22, 23. All
things must be esteemed as loss and dung for the knowledge
of Christ, and the hopes of heaven if ever you will be saved;
Phil. iii. 6 — 8. You must so live by faith, and not by sight,
as not to look at the temporal things which are seen, but at
the things eternal which are unseen ; 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. v. 7, 8.
And one that is running in a race for his life, would not so
much as turn his head to look back on any one that called
to him to stay, or to look aside to any one that would speak
with him in his way ; thus must we forget the things that
are behind, as counting them not worthy a thought, or re-
membrance, or a look ; Phil. iii. 13, 14. If you feel this poi-
350 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
son seize upon your hearts, and your condition in the world
(or at least your hopes) begin to grow too sweet and pleas-
ing to you, presently make haste to Christ your Physician,
and take his antidote, and cast up the poison as you love
your souls. You must know no other pleasure in your out-
ward mercies, but as God appeareth in and by them, and as
they tend to profit you, and further you in God's service, or
to promote your own or others' good, but not as they are
provision for the flesh ; Rom. xiii. 13, 14. See my book
", Of Crucifying the World."
Direct. X. ' Cast not yourselves wilfully upon tempta-
tions, but avoid them as far as lawfully you can ; and if you
are cast upon them unwillingly, resist them resolutely, as
knowing that they come to entice you into sin and hell,
from God and your everlasting happiness ; and therefore be
well acquainted with the particular temptations of every
company, calling, relation, business, time, place and con-
dition of life ; and go always furnished with particular anti-
dotes against them all.'
Strong grace will do no more against strong temptations,
than weak grace against weak ones. Temptation is the way
to sin, and sin is the way to hell. If you saw the danger-
ousness of your station, when you cast yourself upon temp-
tations, you would tremble and fly as for your lives. I take
that man as almost gone already, who chooseth temptations,
or avoideth them not when he may. Especially be acquaint-
ed with the diseases and greatest dangers of your soul ; and
there keep up a constant watch. Are you liable to a glut-
tonous pleasing of your appetite? avoid the temptation;
set not that before you which may be your snare ; let a lit-
tle, and that of the least tempting kind of food, be your or-
dinary provision. Sit not at the glutton's table (who fareth
deliciously every day) if you would escape the glutton's sin
and misery. Or if the provision be of other men's disposal,
at least rise quickly and begone. Are you inclined to please
your appetite in drinking? avoid such strong drink as may
tempt your appetite ; and avoid the place and company that
draweth you to it. Are you inclined to fleshly lust? avoid
the presence of such of the other sex as are a temptation to
you : look not on them, and talk not of them : but above
all, take heed of nearness, and familiarity, and privacy with
them, and of all opportunity of sin. When the devil hath
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 351
brought the bait to your hand, and telleth you, Now you
may sin without any molestation or discovery, you are then
in a very dangerous case. Some that think they would not
be guilty of the sin, will yet tempt themselves, and delight
to have it in their power, and to have the opportunity of
sinning, and to come as near it as they dare ; and these are
gone before they well perceive their danger. So if you are
inclined to pride and ambition, avoid the society of those
that tempt you to it : come not among superiors and gal-
lants, or such as kindle your ambition. A retired life, in
company of mean and humble persons, is fittest for one that
hath your disease. Mind not high things, but condescend
to men of low estate ; Rom. xii. 16.
But if you cannot avoid the temptation, be sure yet to
avoid the sin ; take it as if you saw and heard the devil him-
self persuading you to sin, and damn your souls. Abhor
the motion, and give not the devil a patient hearing, when
you know what he cometh about. Resolution escapeth ma-
ny a danger, which those are ruined by, who stand disputing
and dallying with the tempter. Especially look about you,
when the tempter employeth great men, or learned men, or
godly men, or nearest friends to be his instruments. And
if their subtlety puzzle you, go to the stronger and more
experienced Christians for advice and help. " Watch and
pray that you enter not into temptation ;" Matt. vi. 13.
xxvi. 41. It is a dreadful thing to think what persons
temptations have overthrown ! Luke xviii. 13. Heb. vi. 6. How
wise, and learned, and excellent men have been outwitted by
satan, and sinned like fools, when they have let go their watch.
If we be as resolved as Peter, temptations may quickly
change our resolutions, if God leave us to ourselves, and we
grow presumptuous or secure ; and then our very reason
will lose its power; and false representations will make
things appear to us quite contrary to what indeed they are ;
and those reasonings will seem probable to us, which at
another time we should easily see through as mere deceit.
Temptation as it prevaileth, doth damp and cast asleep our
graces, and charm and bewitch all the faculties of the soul ;
1 Tim. vi. 9.
Direct. XI. ' If it be possible, make choice of such a pas-
tor for the help and guidance t)f your souls, as is judicious,
experienced, humble, holy, heavenly, faithful, diligent, live-
352 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
ly, and peaceable, that liveth not in separation from the ge-
nerality of the sober, godly ministers and Christians where
he liveth.'
1. Think not of being sufficient for yourselves, without
the help of those whom Christ hath appointed to be watch-
men for your souls; Heb. xiii. 7. 17.24. As you cannot
live without the teaching and the grace of Christ ; so Christ
doth vouchsafe you his teaching and his grace, by the mi-
nistry of his own officers, whom he hath appointed to that
end and use. It is marvellous to observe, how Christ chose
rather to convert men by the preaching and miracles of his
apostles than by his own : and how he would not fully con-
vert Paul without the ministry of Ananias, though he spoke
to him from heaven himself, and reasoned the case with him
against his. persecution. And how he would not fully con-
vert Cornelius and his household, without the ministry of
Peter, though he sent an angel to direct him to a teacher.
Nor would he convert the Ethiopian eunuch without the
ministry of Philip ; nor the jailor without the ministry of
Paul and Silas, though he wrought a miracle to prepare for
his conversion ; Acts xvi. x. And •' Paul must plant, and
Apollos must water, before God will give the increase;"
1 Cor. iii.6. And though all true Christians are taught of
God, and must call no man on earth the master of their
faith but Christ, (1 Thess. iv. 9. John vi. 45. Matt, xxiii.
8, 9.) yet have they their teachers, fathers and instructors
under Christ, who are helpers of their joy, though they have
not dominion over their faith, and are overseers, though not
lords and owners of the flock, and are ministers of Christ
by whom he teacheth, and stewards of the mysteries of God,
and ambassadors by whom he beseecheth sinners to be re-
conciled to God, having committed to them the word of re-
conciliation ; Eph. iv. 1 1 — 14. 1 Cor. iv. 1 . 15. Acts xx. 28.
2 Cor. i. 24. 1 Pet. v. 1—4. 2 Cor. v. 18— 20. These are
labourers together with God upon his husbandry and build-
ing; some being master-builders, and others superstructors ;
1 Cor. iii.9, 10. Christ knew the necessity that the infants
of his family had of such nurses, and he knew what numbers
of such weak ones there would be in comparison of the
strong ; or else he had never appointed the strong to such
an office; and having appointed it, he will keep up the ho-
nour of his officers, and will send you his alms, your food,
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 353
your physic, your pardon, your privileges, by their hands.
If you be drawn by seducers to forsake or neglect the mi-
nistry of Christ's officers, you forsake or neglect your helps
and mercies, you refuse his grace, you are like infants that
scorn their nurses' help, and like subjects who reject all the
officers of the king, and like the chickens that forsake the
hen ; you forsake the school and church of Christ, and may
expect to be quickly catched up by the devil, as stragglers
that have no defence or guide.
2. Yet is there great difference between one minister or
pastor and another, as much as between physicians, lawyers,
or men of any other function. And there being no case in
the world that you are so much concerned to be careful in,
as the instructing, and conduct, and safety of your souls,
you have exceeding great reason to take heed whom you
choose to commit the care and conduct of your souls to.
It is not enough to say, that he is a true ordained minister,
and that his administrations are not nullities, any more than
to say of an ignorant physician or cowardly captain, that he
hath a valid licence or commission ; when for all that, if you
trust him, it may cost you your lives. Nor is it a wise man's
answer to say, ' That God giveth his grace by the worst, as
soon as by the best, and by the weakest, as soon as by the
strongest, and therefore I need not be so careful in my
choice.' For though God have not confined the working of
his Spirit to the most excellent means, yet ordinarily, he
worketh according to the means he useth ; and this both
Scripture, reason and daily experience fully prove. God
worketh rationally on man as man ; that is, as a rational free
agent, by moral operation, and not by a mere physical in-
jection of his grace. When we see the man that is made
wise unto salvation by mere infusion of wisdom, without a
teacher or the study of the word of God, or when we see
God work by his word as by a charm, that a few words shall
convert a man, though the speaker or hearer understood
them not, then we may hearken to this conceit ; and then
we may think that a heretic may as well teach you the truth
as the orthodox, or a schismatic teach you unity and peace
as well as a catholic peaceable pastor, or a man that is igno-
rant of the mysteries of regeneration and holy communion
with God, may best teach you that which he knoweth not
VOL. VIII. A A
354 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
himself, and an enemy to piety and charity, may teach you
to be pious and charitable, as well as any other. But I need
not say much more of this, for all parties would never so
strive to have such ministers as they like, and to put out
such as they dislike, if they thought not that the difference
between ministers and ministers was very great.
See therefore that the guide whom you choose for your
souls, be, 1. Judicious ; for an injudicious man may pervert
the Scripture, and lead you into error, and heresy, and sin,
before you are aware ; as an unskilful coachman may
soon overturn you, or an unskilful waterman may drown
you. Yea, though he be a zealous, fervent preacher, yet if
he be injudicious, he may ignorantly give you poison in your
food, as the experience of this age hath lamentably proved.
2. See if possible, that he be an experienced man, that
knoweth by experience on himself, not only what it is to be
regenerate, and sanctified, and made a new creature, but al-
so how all the combat between the Spirit and the flesh is to
be managed, and what are the methods and stratagems of
the tempter, and what are the chief helps and defences of
the soul, and how they are all to be used ; for it is not
harder to be a judicious physician, or lawyer, or soldier,
without experience, than a judicious pastor; and therefore
the Holy Ghost commandeth that he be not a novice, or raw,
inexperienced Christian ; 1 Tim. iii. 6.
3. See that he be humble ; for if he be puffed up with
pride, he falleth into the condemnation of the devil ; 1 Tim.
iii. 6. And then he will either scorn the labour of the mi-
nistry as a drudgery (to preach in season and out of season,
to beseech, and exhort, and stoop to the poorest of the
flock) ; or else he will " speak perverse things to draw away
disciples after him ;" (Acts xx. 30.) or he will, as Diotrephes,
reject the brethren, as loving himself to have the preemi-
nence ; (2 John ix. 10.) and will oversee the church by con-
straint, for filthy lucre, as being a lord over God's heritage ;
(1 Pet. v. 2, 3.) See Dr. Hammond on the text.
4. See that he be holy in his life ; for though this be not
essential to his office, yet the unholy are inexperienced, yea,
and have a secret enmity in their hearts against that holi-
ness which they should daily preach ; and will usually be
shewing it in their close, disgracing, discouraging speeches,
against that serious piety which they should promote : and
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 355
they will neglect most of the personal care of their flock ;
and will unpreach by their lives the good which they preach
by their tongues, and harden and embolden the people in
their sins, and make them believe that they believe not what
they preach themselves. Choose not an enemy of holiness
to lead you in the way of holiness (a way that he never went
himself), nor an enemy of Christ to conduct you in the
Christian warfare, when he is a servant of the devil, the
world, and flesh, against whom you fight.
5. See that he be of a heavenly mind, or else his doctrine
will be unsavoury and dry, and he will be preaching some
speculations or barren controversies, instead of heavenly,
edifying truth.
6. See that he be faithful and diligent in his ministry,
as one that knoweth the worth of souls, and will not sell
them or betray them to the devil for filthy lucre or his flesh-
ly ends ; nor make merchandize of them, as desiring rather
theirs than them, and preferring their fleece before the safety
of the flock ; but one that imitateth the pattern, Acts xx.
and in " meekness instructeth those that are opposers ;"
2 Tim. ii. 25, 26. 2Pet.ii.3. 1 Cor.iv.2. Rom.xvi. 17, 18.
1 Pet. v. 3, 4. 2Cor.xii. 14.
7. See that he be a lively, serious preacher ; for all will
be little enough to keep up a lively seriousness in such dull
and frozen hearts as ours : a cold preacher with cold hearts,
is like to make cold work. He that speaks senselessly and
sleepily about such matters as heaven and hell, doth by the
manner of his speech contradict the matter. When hard-
heartedness, and security, and deadness, and lethargic drow-
siness is the common and dangerous disease of souls, let
him that loveth his soul and would not perish by his dis-
ease, make use of a physician and remedy that is suited to
the cure, and not of one to rock him asleep, or give him an
opiate to increase his malady.
8. See also that he be one that is of a truly catholic spi-
rit, not addicted to a sect, nor to divisions in the church,
nor one that liveth in a separation or distance from the ge-
nerality of the godly, sober ministers ; for you take him not
for your guide, as separated from the catholic church, but
as united to it, and a member of it ; as valuing the judgment
of all the church above the judgment of any one pastor, and
knowing that you are yourselves to be kept in the unity of
,*>5f> DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
the church, and not seduced into a sect ; and that the pas-
tors are to be the bonds and ligaments of the body, that by
their help it may grow up in love and unity, and not the di-
viders of the body ; Eph. iv. 13 — 16. As captains and infe-
rior officers in an army, that are to conduct each soldier in
unity with the army, and not to separate, and make every
troop or regiment an army by itself, that they may be the
petty generals. In a word, read some good visitation ser-
mons, which tell you what a minister must be, and choose,
if possible, to live under such a minister ; I say, if possible ;
for I know to many it is not possible. Wives, and children,
and servants, (while they are bound) cannot leave their hus-
bands, parents or masters ; and strong Christians who are
called to do good to others, must prefer that before such
advantages to themselves ; and many other impediments
may deny men such a blessing. But yet I say, undervalue
not such a mercy, and neglect it not, where lawfully it may
be had, and prefer nothing before it (as a just impediment)
which is not really more worth. And remember that divines
do commonly resolve the case of the infidel nations of the
world, that they are inexcusable in their infidelity, because
when they hear that other nations profess to know the way
to heaven, they do not in so great a case go over sea and
land to inquire after the doctrine which we profess. And
if the Tartarians, Indians, and other nations are bound to
send to Christian nations for preachers of the Gospel, I only
leave you proportionably to measure your case by theirs
(allowing for the disproportion) ; and to consider how far
you should deny your worldly profit in removing your habi-
tations, for such helps as your own necessities require.
Direct. XII. ' Make choice of such Christians for your
familiar friends, and the companions of your lives, as are
holy, humble, heavenly, serious, mortified, charitable, peace-
able, judicious, experienced and fixed in the ways of God ;
and not of ungodly persons, or proud, self-conceited, cen-
sorious, dividing, injudicious, inexperienced, sensual, world-
ly, opinionative, superficial, lukewarm or unsettled profes-
sors.'
The reasons of this Direction you may perceive in what
I said under the last. Your company is a matter of exceed-
ing great concernment to you, as one of the greatest helps
or hindrances, comforts or discomforts of all your lives, es-
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 357
pecially those that you dwell with, and those that you choose
for your familiars and bosom friends ; and, therefore, (so far
as God's providence doth not forbid you, and make it im-
possible) choose such as are here described ; or at least,
one such for your bosom friend, if you can have acquaint-
ance with no more. It is of unspeakable importance to your
salvation, with whom you are associated for most familiar
converse. A good companion will teach you what you
know not, or remember you of that which you forget, or
stir you up when you are dull, or warm you when you are
cold, and watch over you and warn you of your danger, and
save you from the poison of ill companions. O what a help
and delight it is to have a holy, judicious, faithful friend to
open your heart to, and to walk with him in the ways of life !
And how exceeding hard it is to escape sin and hell, and
get well to heaven, in company and familiarity of the ser-
vants of the devil, who are posting unto hell ! Let not your
companions be worse than yourselves, lest they make you
worse ; but as much wiser and better as you can procure.
See Eccles. iv. 9. 12. Psalm xvi. 2. cxix. 63. Prov. xiii. 20.
Direct. XIII. ' Subdue your passions, and abhor all un-
charitable principles and practices, and live in love ; main-
taining peace in your families, and with your neighbours,
but especially in the church of God.'
Love as you would be loved ; yea, love if you would be
loved ; for there is no surer way to purchase love : and love
because you are so freely loved by that God whose wrath
you have so oft deserved : let the thankful feeling of his love
in Christ, even turn you wholly into love to God and man :
abhor every thought, and word, and deed, which is contrary
to love, and tendeth to the hurt of others ; and hate the
backbitings and bitter words of any, which tend to make
another odious, and to destroy your love to any one that
God commandeth you to love. Allow that moderate passion
which is the fruit of love, and tendeth only to do good ; but
resist that which inclineth you to hatred or to do evil The
more men wrong you, remember that you are the more
watchfully to maintain your love, knowing that these temp-
tations are sent by the devil on purpose to destroy and
quench it,and fill your heart with uncharitableness and wrath.
Give place to the wrath of others, and stand not resisting
it by words or deeds ; Rom. xii. 18 — 20. "Recompense to
358 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
no man evil for evil/' in word or action ; ver. 17. Espe-
cially be most tender of the union of true Christians, and of
the church's peace : when you hear the men of several sects
representing one another as odious, understand that it is the
language of the devil to draw you from love, into hatred and
divisions ; and when you must speak odiously of men's sin,
speak charitably of their persons, and be as ready to speak
of the good that is in them, as of the evil. Believe not that
dividing, ungrounded doctrine, which telleth you that you
cannot sufficiently disown the error of any party in doctrine,
and worship, and discipline, without a separation or with-
drawing from their communion ; and which telleth you that
you are guilty of the ministerial faults of every pastor that
you join with, or of the faults of all that worship which you
are present at (which would first separate you from every
worshipping society and person upon earth, and then lead
you to give over the worshipping of God yourselves). You
must love Christians as Christians, though they have errors
and faults repugnant to their Christianity. And you must
join in worship with Christians as Christians, though their
worship hath errors and faults repugnant to the right order
and manner of worship ; so be it you join not in that worship
which is substantially evil, and such as God doth utterly
disown ; or that you commit no actual sin yourselves, or
that you approve not of the errors and faults of the worship-
pers, and justify not their smallest sin; or that you prefer
not defective, faulty worship before that which is more pure
and agreeable to the will of God. For while all the wor-
shippers are faulty and imperfect, all their worship will be
so too : and if your actual sin when you pray or preach de-
fectively yourselves, doth not signify that you approve your
iaultiness, much less will your presence prove that you allow
of the faultiness of others. The business that you come
upon is to join with a Christian congregation in the use of
those ordinances which God hath appointed, supposing that
the ministers and worshippers will all be sinfully defective,
in method, order, words, or circumstances : and to bear with
that which God doth bear with, and not to refuse that which
is God's for the adherent faults of men, no more than you
will refuse every dish of meat which is unhandsomely
cooked, as long as there is no poison in it, and you prefer it
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 35U
not before better ; 1 Cor. i. 10. iii. 1—3. xi. 17, 18. 21.
Rom. xv. 1, 2.
Direct. XIV. ' Keep up a constant government over your
thoughts and tongues, especially against those particular
sins which you are most strongly tempted to, and which you
see other Christians most overtaken with.'
Keep your thoughts employed upon something that is
good and profitable ; either about some useful truths, or
about some duty to God or man, of your general or particu-
lar calling 5 yea, about all these in their several seasons :
learn how to watch your thoughts, and stop them at their
first excursions ; and how to quicken them and make them
serviceable to every grace, and every duty. You can never
improve your solitary hours, if you have not the government
of your thoughts.
And as the thoughts must be governed, because they are
the first and intimate actings of good or evil ; so the tongue
must be governed as the first expresser of the mind, and the
first instrument of good or hurt to others. Especially take
heed of these sins which the faultiness of most professors of
religion doth warn you to avoid. 1. An ordinary course of
vain jesting, and unprofitable talk. 2. Provoking, passionate,
inconsiderate words, that tend to kindle wrath in others. 3.
Backbiting, censuring, and speaking evil of others without
any just call, when it is either upon uncertain reports, or un-
charitable suspicion, or tendeth more to hurt than good. 4.
A forward venting of our own conceits, and a confident
pleading for our uncertain, unproved opinions in religion,
and a contentious wrangling for them, as if the kingdom of
God lay in them. And a forwardness in all company to be
the speakers rather than the hearers, and to talk in a magis-
terial, teaching way, as if we took ourselves to be the wisest,
and others to have need to learn of us. But especially take
heed of speaking evil of those that have wronged you, or of
those that differ from you in some tolerable opinions in re-
ligion: and hate that devilish, uncharitable vice, which
maketh many ready to believe any thing, or say any thing,
be it never so false, of those that are against their sect ; yea,
of whole parties of men that differ from them, when there is
not one of a thousand of all the party that ever they were
acquainted with, or ever could prove the thing by, of which
they are accused. By the means of these bold, uncharita-
300 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
ble reports, the devil hath unspeakably gained against
Christ; and the kingdom of malice hath won upon the king-
dom of love : and most Christians are easier known to be
factious, by hating and slandering one another, than they
can be known to be Christ's disciples, by loving one another.
And while every sect, without remorse, doth speak reproach-
fully and hatefully of the rest, they learn hereby to hate one
another, and harden the infidel and ungodly world, in hating
and speaking evil of them all ; so that a Turk or heathen
need no other witness of the odiousness of all Christians,
than the venomous words which they speak against each
other. And as foul words in quarrels prepare for blows, so
these malicious invectives, upon differences in religion, pre-
pare for the cruellest persecutions.
From my own observation, which with a grievous soul I
have made in this generation, I hereby give warning to this
and all succeeding ages, that if they have any regard to truth
or charity, they take heed how they believe any factious,
partial historian or diviue, in any evil that he saith of the
party which he is against : for (though there be good and
credible persons of most parties, yet) you shall find that
passion and partiality prevaileth against conscience, truth
and charity, in most that are sick of this disease. And that
the envious zeal which is desoribed, James iii. doth make
them think they do God service ; first, in believing false re-
ports, and then in venting them against those that their zeal
01 faction doth call the enemies of truth ; so that there is
little credit to be given to their reproaches, farther than
some better evidence is brought to prove the thing. Nay,
it would astonish a man to read the impudent lies which I
have often read, obtruded upon the world with such confi-
dence, that the reader will be tempted to think, ' Surely all
this cannot be false.' Yea, about public words or actions,
where you would think that the multitude of witnesses
would deter them from speaking it, if it were not true ; and
yet all as false as tongue can speak. Therefore believe not
pride, or faction, or malice in any evil that it saith, unless
you have better evidence of the truth.
Most Christian is that advice of Dr. H. More, ' That all
parties of Christians would mark all the good which is in
other parties, and be more forward to speak of that than of
the evil.' And this would promote the work of chanty in
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 361
the church, and the interest of Christianity in the world :
whereas the overlooking of all that is good, and aggravating
all the evil (and falsely feigning more than is true) is the
work of greatest service to the devil, and of greatest enmity
to Christianity and love, that I know commonly practised in
the world. Keep your tongues from all such hellish work
as this.
Direct. XV. ' Let every state of life and relation that
you are in, be sanctified unto God, and conscionably used.
And to that end understand the advantages and duties of
every condition and relation, and the sins, and hindrances,
and dangers which you are most liable to.'
The duties of our relations are a great part of the work
of a Christian's life. As magistrates and subjects, pastors
and flocks, parents and children, husband and wife, masters
and servants ; as superiors in gifts or places, or inferiors or
equals ; as neighbours or companions ; in our teaching and
learning, ruling and obeying, buying and selling. Be con-
scionable in all these which are your own relations, if you
will live as Christians, and be acceptable unto God. An
ungodly, or oppressing magistrate ; a murmuring, rebellious
subject; an ungodly, negligent, or factious pastor; an un-
teachable, refractory, ungodly flock ; a husband, parent, or
master, without religion, love, or justice ; a wife, a child, a
servant, without love, and dutiful obedience, and faithful
diligence ; a proud, contemptuous superior ; a malicious,
censorious inferior; an unjust, uncharitable neighbour ; a
deceitful buyer or seller, borrower or lender, and a self-seek-
ing friend, and seducing, unprofitable companion, are all as
far from pleasing God by the rest of their works or profes-
sion of religion, as they are from being obedient to his will.
They provoke him to abhor their prayers and profession, and
to tell them that he will rather have obedience than sacrifice.
If you are false to men, you are not true to God. It is he
that fearethGod, and worketh righteousness, that is accept-
ed of him. And the unrighteous shall not inherit the king-
dom of God.
Direct. XVI. ' Live as those that have all their powers,
receivings, and opportunities to do good with in the world ;
and must be answerable how they have improved all. And
as those that believe, that the more good they do, the more
362 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
they do receive, and the greater is the honour, the profit,
and the pleasure of their lives.'
To do no harm, is an honour which is common to a stone,
or a clod of clay, with the most innocent man. If this were
all the excellency that you aim at, it were better that you
had never been born \ for then you would certainly have
done no harm. Remember, that to do good is the highest
imitation of God, supposing that it proceeded from holy
love, and be done to the pleasing and glorifying of God, that
the principle and the end be suitable to the work. Remem-
ber who hath told you, that " it is more blessed to give than
to receive," (Acts xx. 35.), and hath promised, that " he that
receiveth a prophet, in the name of a prophet, shall receive a
prophet's reward ; and he that receiveth a righteous man,
in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous
man's reward. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one
of these little ones, a cup of cold water only, in the name of
a disciple, verily, I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his
reward" (supposing that he have no better to give) ; Matt,
x. 41, 42. " Give to every man that asketh of thee (accord-
ing to thy ability). Give, and it shall be given to you ;"
Luke vi. 30. 38. xii. 33. Take that day or hour as lost, in
which you do no good (directly or preparatorily). And
take that part of your estate as lost, with which (directly or
remotely) you do no good. Remember how the judgment
must pass on you at last, according to the improvement of
your several talents ; Matt. xxv. When your time is past,
and your estates are gone, or your understandings, or your
strength decayed, and your power and greatness is levelled
with the poorest, it will be an unspeakable comfort to you,
if you are able to say, * We laid them out sincerely to our
master's use ;' and an unspeakable terror for you to say,
' They were lost and cast away on the service of the flesh.'
If therefore, you are rulers, and are intrusted with power,
study how to do all the good with your power that possibly
you can. If you are ministers of Christ, lay out your time,
and strength, and parts, in doing good to the souls of all
about you ; study how you may be most serviceable to the
church and cause of Christ. If you are rich men, study how
to do all the good with your riches that possibly you can do
(not violating the order appointed you by God). In your
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 36:3
neighbourhoods, and in all your families and relations, stu-
dy to do the greatest good you can. Take it thankfully as
a great mercy to yourselves, when opportunity to do good
is offered you. And content not yourselves to do a little,
while you are able to do more. " Be not deceived, God is
not mocked ; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh
reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of
the Spirit, reap everlasting life. And let us not be weary
in well-doing, for indue season we shall reap if we faint not.
As we have, therefore, opportunity, let us do good to all
men, especially unto them who are of the household of
faith;" Gal. vi. 7 — 10. " He which soweth sparingly, shall
reap sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully, shall reap
bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his
heart, so let him give, not grudgingly, or of necessity, for
God loveth a cheerful giver;" 2 Cor. ix. 6, 7. " To do good,
and communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices, God is
well-pleased;" Heb.xiii. 16. "For we are his workman-
ship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God hath
ordained, that we should walk in them ;" Ephes. iii. 10.
Let doing good be the business and employment of your
lives ; preferring still the public good, before the private
good of any ; and the good of men's souls before that of the
body ; but yet neglecting none, but doing the lesser, in or-
der to the greater.
Object. ' But I am a poor obscure person, that have nei-
ther abilities of mind, or body, or estate ; and what good
can I do V
Answ. There is no rational person that is not intrusted
with one talent at the least (Matt, xxv.), and that is not in a
capacity of doing good in the world, if they have but hearts,
and be but willing. If you had neither money to give, nor
tongues to speak for God, and to provoke others to do good,
yet a holy, humble, heavenly, patient, blameless life, is a
powerful means of doing good, by shewing the excellency of
grace, and convincing the ungodly, and stopping the mouths
of the enemies of piety, and honouring the ways of God in
the world. Such a holy, harmless, exemplary life, is a con-
tinual, and a powerful sermon. And for giving, if there be
first a " willing mind, it is accepted according to that a
364 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
man hath, and not according to that he hath not ;" 2 Cor.
viii. 12. If you are unfeignedly willing to give, if you had it,
God taketh it as done What you would have given, is set
down on your account as given indeed. The widow's two
mites were praised by Christ as a bountiful gift, and a cup
of cold water is not unrewarded to the willing soul. No
one, therefore, is excusable that liveth unprofitably in the
world. But yet, men of power, and parts, and wealth, have
the greatest reckoning to make. Their ten talents must
have a proportionable improvement. It is a great deal of
good that they must do. " For to whomsoever much is
given, of him shall be much required ; and to whom men
have committed much, of him they will ask the more ;"
Luke xii. 48.
Direct. XVII. ' Redeem your time, and highly value
every minute ; and spare for no labour in the work of your
salvation. Dream not of an easy, idle, sluggish life, as suf-
ficient to your high and glorious ends ; and rest not in a
customary and outside way of duty, without regard to the
life, and the success.'
If any thing in all the world require all our power and
time, it is that for which all our powers and time are given
us ; and which we are sure will a thousandfold recompense us
for all. O what a sottish kind of stupidity is it, for a man
to trifle in the way to eternity, that hath an endless life of
joy or sorrow, depending on the preparations of so short a
life. How little doth he know the worth of his soul, the
joys of heaven, the terrors of hell, the malicious diligence
of satan, or the difficulty of salvation, that can idle, and play
away whole hours of time ; and pray as if he prayed not, and
seem to be religious when he is not in good earnest ! And
bestirreth not himself so much to escape hell-fire, and to
obtain everlasting joys with Christ, as he would do to escape
a temporal death or misery, or to obtain some dignity or
riches in the world ; 1 Cor. vii. 29, 30. O, therefore, as ever
you care what becometh of your souls, and as ever you will
have comfort in the review of your present life, make not a
jest of heaven and hell ; trifle not in your race and warfare ;
dally not with God and conscience ; play not, and dream
not away your time. Know the worth of an hour's time, for
the sake of your work, and of your souls, as it is commonly
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 365
known by dying men. But of this I have spoke already in
my " Now or Never," and " A Saint or a Brute," and in the
third part of the " Saint's Rest."
Direct. XVIII. ' Sit down and count what it may cost
you to be Christians indeed, and to be saved. Reckon not
on prosperity, or a cheap religion, but resolve to take up the
cross, and follow Christ in suffering, and to be crucified to
the world, and by many tribulations, to enter into the king-
dom of heaven.' Luke xiv. 26— 28. 30. 33. Gal.vi. 14.
Acts xiv. 22. 1 Thess. iii. 4. 2 Thess. i. 6—8. Mai. v.
10—12. 2 Tim. iii. 12.
All that will live godly in Christ, shall suffer persecution.
It is not all that are baptized and called Christians, but all
that will live godly in Christ Jesus. It is godliness, and
not the bare name of Christianity, which the serpent's seed
have so great an enmity to. I have elsewhere cited an ex-
cellent saying of Dr. Thomas Jackson's, to prove that this is
to be expected under Christian, as well as heathen, govern-
ments, and that it is not through the goodness of the great
ones of the world, but the cowardliness of our hearts, that
the ministers of Christ are not ordinarily martyrs. Though
God may possibly exempt you from any notable suffering
for his cause, yet it is not wise or safe to expect such an ex-
emption ; for that will hinder your preparation for suffer-
ing. And a mind prepared to suffer, is essential to true
Christianity. And no man that is not a martyr in resolu-
tion and disposition can be saved. If the fiery trial come
upon you, let it not seem a strange, unexpected thing;
1 Pet.iv. 12 — 14. 17. When persecution ariseth because of
the word, the unrooted, unsound, unsettled Christian, is
presently offended, and falls away; Matt. xiii. 21. Mark
iv. 17. Then they will fall to distinguishing and carnal rea-
soning, and prove any thing lawful which is necessary to
their peace. " As many as desire to make a fair shew in the
flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised, only lest they
should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ ;" Gal. vi.
12. Shrink not for sufferings. " Fear not them that can
but kill the body ;" Lukexii.4. Never doth the Spirit of
God and glory so much rest upon believers, as in their
greatest "sufferings for righteousness sake," (1 Pet.iv. 14.)
and never have they cause of more " exceeding joy ;" Matt,
v. 11, 12. Prosperity doth not so well agree with a life of
366 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
faith, as sufferings and adversity. " Our light affliction,
which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more ex-
ceeding and eternal weight of glory ; while we look not at
the (temporal) things which are seen, but at the things (eter-
nal) which are not seen ;" 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. Read Rom. viii.
33, to the end.
Direct. XIX. ' If you fall into any sin, rise speedily by a
thorough repentance ; and take heed both of delay, and of
a palliative cure ;' Luke xiii. 3, 5. xxii. 32.
Take heed of trusting to a general repentance, or a con-
verted state, instead of a particular repentance and conver-
sion from any known sin, especially which is more than the
ordinary unavoidable infirmities of a saint. For it is not
general repentance indeed, which reacheth not to every
known particular. If temptation have cast you down, take
heed of lying there, but presently get up again. What the
apostle saith of wrath (Eph. iv. 26.), the same I may say of
other falls, " Let not the sun go down upon them." But go
out with Peter, and weep with him, if you have sinned with
him. If your bones be out of joint, or broken, get them set
presently, before they settle in their dislocation ; and let
the cure be thorough, and spare not for a little pain at first.
Let as open confession as the case requireth, and as full
restitution, signify the sincerity of your repentance. For a
gentle handling of yourselves may undo you ; and palliation
is the hypocrite's cure. O take heed lest you presume to
sleep one night in your unrepented sins ; and take heed, lest
delay encourage your tempter to offer you the bait again
and again, and to say, ' Why not once more ? Why may
you not be as well pardoned for twice as for once ; and for
thrice as for twice V &c. It is dangerous playing or sleep-
ing at the brink of hell. Away from the temptation and
occasion of your sin ; stand not disputing, but resolve and
begone ; and " sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto
you ;" John v. 14. Stick not, man, at the shame, or loss, or
suffering, which confession, restitution, or reformation may
bring; but remember that you can never escape damnation
at too dear a rate. This is Christ's meaning, when he speak-
eth of cutting off a right hand, or plucking out a right eye,
if it offend ; that is, ensnare and tempt you unto sin; Matt,
v. 29, 30. Not that you should do so indeed, for you have
an easier way to avoid your sin ; but that this is far the
FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 307
lesser of the two evils, to lose a hand or eye, than to lose
the soul, and, therefore, to be chosen if there were no other
remedy. If the thief had no other way to forbear stealing,
than to cut off his hand ; or the fornicator to cure his lust,
than to put out his eyes, it were a cheap remedy. A cheap
and easy superficial repentance, may skin over the sore and
deceive a hypocrite ; but he that would be sure of pardon,
and free from fear, must go to the bottom.
Direct. XX. ' Live as with death continually in your
eye, and spend every day in serious preparation for it, that
when it cometh, you may find your work dispatched ; and
may not then cry out in vain to God to try you once again.'
Promise not yourselves long life : think not of death as
at many years' distance, but as hard at hand. Think what
will then be needful to your peace and comfort, and order all
your life accordingly, and prepare that now, which will be
needful then. Live now while you have time, as you will
resolve and promise God to live, when on your deathbed you
are praying for a little time of trial more. It is a great work
to die in joyful assurance and hope of everlasting life, and
with a longing desire to depart and be with Christ as best of
ail ; Phil. i. 21. 23. O then what a burden and terror it will
be, to have an unbelieving, or a worldly heart, or a guilty
conscience. Now therefore use all possible diligence to
strengthen faith, to increase love, to be acquitted from guilt,
to be above the world, to have the mind set free from the cap-
tivity of the flesh, to walk with God, and to obtain the deep-
est, most delectable apprehensions of his love in Christ,
and of the heavenly blessedness which you expect. Do you
feel any doubts of the state of immortality, or staggering at
the promise of God through unbelief? Presently do all you
can to conquer them, and get a clear resolution to your
souls, and leave it not all to do at the time of sickness. Are
the thoughts of God and heaven unpleasant or terrible to
you? Presently search out the cause of all, and labour in
the cure of it as for your lives. Is there any former or pre-
sent sin, which is a burden or terror to your consciences ?
Presently seek out to Christ for a cure by faith and true re-
pentance ; and do that to disburden your consciences now,
which you would do on a sick bed ; and leave not so great
and necessary a work, to so uncertain, and short, and unfit
a time. Is there any thing in this world that is sweeter to
3(J8 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED
your thoughts than God and heaven ; and which you can-
not willingly let go ? Mortify it without delay, considering
of its vanity ; compare it with heaven ; crucify it by the cross
of Christ ; cease not till you account it loss and dung, for
the excellent knowledge of Christ and life eternal; Phil. iii.
7 — 9. Let not death surprise you as a thing that you never
seriously expected. Can you do no more in preparation for
it, than you do? If not, why do you wish at death to be
tried once again? And why are you troubled that you lived
no better ? But if you can, when think you should it be
done ? Is the time of uncertain, painful sickness better than
this? O how doth sensuality besot the world ! and incon-
siderateness deprive them of the benefit of their reason ! O
sirs, if you know indeed that you must shortly die, live then
as dying men should live : choose your condition in the
world, and manage it as men should do that must shortly die.
Use your power, and command, and honour, and use all
your neighbours, and especially use the cause and servants
of Christ, as men should do that must shortly die. Build
and plant, and buy and sell, and use your riches, as those
that must die, remembering that the fashion of all these
things is passing away; 1 Cor. vii. 29, 30. Yea, pray and
read, and hear and meditate, as those that must die. Seeing
you are as sure of it as if it were this hour ; in the name of
God delay not your preparations. It is a terrible thing for
an immortal soul to pass out of the body in a carnal, unre-
generate, unprepared state, and to leave a world which they
loved and were familiar with, and go to a world which they
neither know nor love, and where they have neither heart
nor treasure ; Matt. vi. 19 — 21. The measure of faith which
may help you to bear an easy cross, is not sufficient to for-
tify and encourage your souls, to enter upon so great a
change. So also bear all your wants and crosses as men
that must shortly die : fear the cruelties of men, but as be-
seemeth those that are ready to die. He that can die well,
can do any thing, or suffer any thing : and he that is unrea-
dy to die, is unfit for a fruitful and comfortable life. What
can rationally rejoice that man, who is sure to die, and is
unready to die, and is yet unfurnished of dying comforts?
Let nothing be now sweet to you, which will be bitter to
your dying thoughts. Let nothing be much desired now,
which will be unprofitable and uncomfortable then. Let
FOR. THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. 369
nothing seem very heavy or grievous now, which will be
light and easy then. Let nothing now seem honourable,
which will then seem despicable and vile. Consider of eve-
ry thing as it will look at death, that when the day shall
come which endeth all the joys of the ungodly, you may
look up with joy, and say, * Welcome heaven; this is the
day which I so long expected, which all my days were spent
in preparation for, which shall end my fears, and begin my
felicity, and put me into possession of all that I desired, and
prayed, and laboured for, when my soul shall see its glori-
fied Lord. For he 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 Fa-
ther honour." Even so Lord Jesus, remember me now thou
art in thy kingdom, and let me be with thee in paradise ;
Luke xxiii. 42, 43. O thou that spakest those words so full
of inexpressible comfort, to a sinful woman in the first speech
after thy blessed resurrection; John xx. 17. "Go to my
brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and
your Father, and to my God and your God." Take up now
this soul that is thine own, that it may see the glory given
thee with the Father; (John xvii. 24.) and instead of this
life of temptation, trouble, darkness, distance, and sinful
imperfection, I may delightfully behold, and love, and praise
thy Father and my Father, and thy God and my God. Lord,
now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace. Lord Jesus
receive my spirit ;' Luke ii. 29. Acts vii. 59.
And now I have given you all these Directions, I shall
only request you in the close, that you will set your very
hearts to the daily, serious practice of them ; for there is no
other way for a ripe, confirmed state of grace : and as ever
you regard the glory of God, the honour of your religion,
the welfare of the church and those about you, and the living
and dying comforts of yourselves ; O do not sluggishly rest
in an infant state of grace ! Did you but know how a weak
and strong faith differ, and how a weak and a sound, con-
firmed Christian differ, as to the honour of God, and the
good of others, and especially to themselves, both in life
and death, it would quickly awaken you to a cheerful dili-
gence, for so high and excellent an end. Did you but well
VOL. VIII. B B
370 DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED, &C.
understand the wrong that Christ and the Gospel have sus-
tained in the world, yea, in England, by weak, diseased, dis-
tempered Christians, your hearts would bleed, and with
shame and grief, it would be your secret and open lamenta-
tion. Stir up then the grace that is given you, and use
Christ's means, and do your best, and you will find that
Christ is not an insufficient Physician, nor an uneffectual
Saviour, or an empty Fountain ; but that he is filled with all
the fulness of God, and hath spirit and life to communicate
to his members ; (Zech. xii. 8.) and that there is no want
which he cannot supply, and no corruption or temptation
which his grace is not sufficient to overcome ; John iv. 14.
2 Cor. xii. 9. Rom.vi.4. 6. Col. iii. 1.3,4.
END OF DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED FOR THEIR ESTABLISH-
MENT, GROWTH AND PERSEVERANCE.
THE CHARACTER
A SOUND, CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN ;
OF A WEAK CHRISTIAN,
OF A SEEMING CHRISTIAN
WRITTEN TO IMPRINT UPON MEN'S MINDS THE TRUE IDEA OH
CONCEPTION OF GODLINESS AND CHRISTIANITY.
PREFACE ;
DIRECTED TO MY WORTHY FRIEND, HENRY ASHURST, ESQ.
CITIZEN OF LONDON.
Dear and Faithful Friend,
When this book was printed and passing into the world,
without the ordinary ornament of a prefixed honoured
name, my thoughts reduced me into the common way,
though not upon the common reasons ; assuring me that
your name would be more than an accident or ceremony to
such a discourse as this ; even a part more substantial than
a map is in a treatise of geography, or the well-cut figures
in tractates of anatomy. Discourses of navigation, archi-
tecture, music, &c. may almost as hopefully instruct the
learners, without any visible operations or effects, as the
characters of well-tempered Christians can duly inform the
minds of ignorant, ungodly men, of so divine a thing as
Christianity and godliness, without acquaintance with some
such persons, in whom these characters are manifestly ex-
emplified. Wise and holy precepts, are to make wise and
holy persons : it is such persons as well as such precepts
which bear the image of God ; which indeed is most perfect
in exactness and integrity in the precepts ; (for in them is
no imperfection or error, as they are of God ;) but it is of
greater final excellency, in activity and usefulness as it is in
men. And therefore as God delighteth in his servants, and
is glorified in and by them in the world, so satan usually
chooseth such persons, to reproach and make odious to the
ignorant, rather than the holy precepts immediately, by
which they are directed ; both because their holiness is most
CCCixXlV PREFACE.
exasperating by activity ; and also most liable to calumny
and contempt, through imperfection, and mixture of that
which indeed is worthy of dislike. Till godliness and Chris-
tianity be visible in full perfection, and elevated above the
contradiction of folly, and the contempt of pride, the blind,
distracted minds of hardened, forsaken sinners, will not ac-
knowledge its divine, celestial nature and worth ; but then
it will be too late to become partakers of it : they must both
know and possess it in its infancy and minority, who will
ever enjoy it in its heavenly dignity and glory. If season-
able illumination and conversion confute not the deceits and
slanders which pride and ignorance have entertained, the
too late confutation of them by death and their following
experience, will make them wish, that they had been wise at
cheaper rates, when it will be in vain to cry, " Give us of
your oil, for our lamps are out ;" Matt. xxv. 8.
But while I offer your name to the malicious world, as
an instance of the temper which I here describe, I intend it
not as a singular though an eminent instance : for through
the great mercy of God, there are thousands of examples of
confirmed Christians among us in this land, even before
those eyes that will not see them. But it is not catalogues,
but single names, which writers have used in this way. And
why may I not take the advantage of custom, to leave to the
world the testimony of my estimation and great respects, to
so deserving a person of the primitive Christian, catholic
temper : and to let them know, what sort of men were my
m6st dear and faithful friends ? And also thus to express
my love, by telling you closely what you must be, as well as
by telling the world for their example what you are ? Upon
these accounts, without your knowledge or consent, I pre-
sume thus to prefix your name to this treatise, written long
ago, but now published by
Your faithful Friend,
RICHARD BAXTER.
From my Lodging in New Prison,
June 14, 1669.
TO THE READER.
Readers,
It is a matter of a greatei moment than I can express, what
idea or image of the nature of godliness and Christianity is
imprinted upon men's minds : the description which is ex-
pressed in the sacred Scriptures, is true and full : the thing
described is rational, pure, perfect, unblamable and amiable.
That which is expressed in the lives of the most, is nothing
so ; but is purblind, defiled, maimed, imperfect, culpable,
and mixed with so much of the contrary quality, that to them
that cannot distinguish the chaff from the wheat, the sick-
ness from the life, it seemeth an unreasonable, fanciful,
loathsome and vexatious thing, and so far from being worthy
to be preferred before all the riches, honours and pleasures
of the world, that it seemeth worthy to be kept under as a
troubler of kingdoms, societies and souls. And doubtless
this monstrous expression of it in men's lives, is because
the perfect expression of it in God's word hath not made a
true impression upon the mind, and consequently upon the
heart. For as it is sound doctrine which must make sound
Christians, so doctrine worketh on the will and affections,
not as it is in itself, and as delivered, but as it is understood,
believed, remembered, considered ; even as it is imprinted
on the mind, and used by it. And as interposed matter, or
defective application may cause the image on the wax to be
imperfect, though made by the most perfect seal ; so is it
in this case, when one man doth defectively understand the
Scripture description of a godly man or Christian, and
another by misunderstanding mixeth false conceptions of
his own; and another by a corrupt, depraved will doth hin-
der the understanding from believing, or remembering, or
considering andvusing what it partly apprehendeth ; what
CCclxXvi PREFACE.
wonder if the godliness and Christianity in their hearts be
unlike the godliness and Christianity in the Scriptures?
When the law of God, in nature and Scripture is pure and
uncorrupt, and the law of God written imperfectly on the
heart, is there mixed with the carnal law in their members,
no marvel if it be expressed accordingly in their lives.
I have therefore much endeavoured in all my writings,
and especially in this, to draw out the full portraiture of a
Christian or godly man indeed, and to describe God's image
on the soul of man, in such a manner as tendeth to the just
information of the reader's mind, and the filling up of the
wants, and rectifying the errors which may be found in his
former conceptions of it. And I do purposely inculcate
the same things oft, in several writings (as when I preached
I did in all my. sermons) that the reader may find that I bring
him not undigested, needless novelties, and that the frequent
repetition of them may help to make the deeper and fuller
impression : for my work is to subserve the Holy Ghost, in
putting God's law into men's hearts, and writing it out truly,
clearly, and fully upon their inward parts ; that they may
be made such themselves, by understanding throughly what
they must be, and what a solid Christian is : and that thus
they may be born again by the incorruptible, immortal seed,
the word of God, which will live and abide for ever ; and
may purify their souls in obeying the truth, through the
Spirit ; 1 Pet. i. 22, 23. 25. He is the best lawyer, physician,
soldier, &c. who hath his doctrine in his brain, and not only
in his books, and hath digested his reading into an intellec-
tual system and habit of knowledge. If ministers had a
hundred times over repeated the integral portraiture or cha-
racter of a sound Christian, till it had been as familiar to the
minds and memories of their hearers, as is the description of
a magistrate, a physician, a schoolmaster, a husbandman, a
shepherd, and such things as they are well acquainted with,
it would have been a powerful means to make sound Chris-
tians. But when men's minds conceive of a Christian, as a
man that differeth from heathens and infidels, in nothing but
holding the Christian opinions, and using different words
and ceremonies of worship, and such like, no wonder if such'
be but opinionative, lifeless Christians : and if their religion
make them no better than a Seneca or Plutarch, I shall never
believe that they are any surer to be saved than they. And
PREFACE. CCC'lxXVii
such a sort of men there are, that suppose Christianity to
consist but of these three parts. 1. The Christian doctrine
acknowledged (which they call faith). 2. The orders and
ordinances of the Christian church and worship, submitted
to, and decently used, (which they call godliness). And 3.
The heart and life of a Cato, Cicero, or Socrates adjoined ;
but all that goeth beyond this, (which is the life of Chris-
tianity and godliness, a lively faith, and hope, and love ; a
heavenly and holy mind and life, from the renewing, in-
dwelling Spirit of God, which is described in this treatise)
they are strangers to it, and take it to be but fancy and hy-
pocrisy. These no Christians do much to reduce the church
to infidelity ; that there may be indeed no Christians in the
world. For my part I must confess, if there were no better
Christians in the world than these, I think I should be no
Christian myself: and if Christ made men no better than the
religion of Socrates, Cato, or Seneca, and did no more to
the reparation and perfecting of men's hearts and lives, I
should think no better of the Christian religion than of
theirs ; for the means is to be estimated by the end and use :
and that is the best physician that hath the remedies which
are fittest to work the cure. If God had not acquainted me
with a sort of men that have really more holiness, mortifica-
tion, spirituality, love to God, and to one another, and even
to enemies, and more heavenly desires, expectations and de-
lights, than these men before described have, it would have
been a very great hindrance to my faith.
The same may I say of those that place godliness and
Christianity only in holding strict opinions, and in affected,
needless singularities, and in the fluent oratory and length
of prayer, and avoiding other men's forms and modes of wor-
ship, and in any thing short of a renewed, holy, heavenly
heart and life.
And undoubtedly, if a true, full character of godliness
had been imprinted in their minds, we should never have
seen the professors of it so blotted with sensuality, selfish-
ness, pride, ambition, worldliness, distrust of God, self-con-
ceitedness, heresy, schism, rebellions, unquietness, impa-
tiency, unmercifulness, and cruelty to men's souls and bo-
dies, as we have seen them in this age ; and all this justified
as consistent with religion.
And I fear, that because this treatise will speak to few
ccclxxviii PREFACE.
that are not some way guilty, every face which hath a spot
or blemish will be offended with the glass ; and lest the
faulty will £ay, that I particularly intended to disgrace them :
but I must here tell the reader, to prevent his misunderstand-
ing, that if he shall imagine that I have my eyes upon par-
ticular parties, and, as a discontented person, do intend to
blame those that differ from myself, or to grieve inferiors,
or dishonour and asperse superiors, they will mistake me,
and wrong themselves, and me, who professedly intend but
the true description of sound Christians, diseased Chris-
tians, and seeming Christians.
And for the manner of this writing, I am conscious it
hath but little to commend it. The matter is that for which
it is published. The Lord Verulam, in his essays, truly
saith, that " much reading makes one full, much discourse
doth make one ready, and much writing doth make a man
exact." Though I have had my part of all these means, yet
being parted five years from my books, and three years from
my preaching, the effects may decay ; and you must expect
neither quotations or oratory testimonies, or ornaments of
style : but having not yet wholly ceased from writing, I may
own so much of the exactness, as will allow me to entreat
the reader, not to use me as many have done, who by over-
looking some one word, have made the sense another thing,
and have made it a crime to be exact in writing, because
they cannot or will not be exact in reading, or charitable or
humane in interpreting.
RICHARD BAXTER.
THE CHARACTER
A SOUND, CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN,
OF A WEAK CHRISTIAN,
OF A SEEMING CHRISTIAN.
PART II.
OF THE DIRECTIONS FOR WEAK CHRISTIANS.
IN the explication of the text, which I made the ground of
the foregoing discourse, I have shewed you that there is a
degree of grace to be expected and sought after by all true
Christians, which putteth the soul into a sound, confirmed,
radicated state, in comparison of that weak, diseased, tot-
tering condition, which most Christians now continue in.
And I have shewed you how desirable a state that is, and
what calamities follow the languishing, unhealthful state,
even of such as may be saved. And indeed did we but right-
ly understand how deeply the errors and sins of many well-
meaning Christians have wounded the interest of religion in
this age ; and how heinously they have dishonoured God,
and caused the enemies of holiness to blaspheme, and har-
dened thousands in popery and ungodliness, in probability
to their perdition : had we well observed when God's judg-
ments have begun, and understood what sins have caused
our wars, and plagues, and flames, and worse than all these,
our great heart-divisions, and church-distractions and con-
vulsions ; we should ere this have given over the flattering
of ourselves and one another, in such a heaven-provoking
state j and the ostentation of that little goodness, which
380 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
hath been eclipsed by such lamentable evils. And instead
of these, we should have betaken ourselves to the exercise
of such a serious, deep repentance as the quality of our sins,
and the greatness of God's chastisements do require. It is
a doleful case, to see how light many make of all the rest of
their distempers, when once they think that they have so
much grace and mortification, as is absolutely necessary to
save their souls ; and expect that preachers should say little
to weak Christians, but words of comfort, setting forth their
happiness. And yet if one of them, when he hath the gout,
or stone, or cholic, or dropsy, doth send for a physician, he
would think himself derided or abused, if his physician, in-
stead of curing his disease, should only comfort him, by tell-
ing him, that he is not dead. What excellent disputations
have Cicero and Seneca, the Platonists and Stoics, to prove
that virtue is of itself sufficient to make man happy? And
yet many Christians live as if holiness were but the way
and means to their felicity, or at best but a small part of their
felicity itself; or as if felicity itself grew burdensome, or
were not desirable in this life ; or a small degree of it were
as good as a greater.
And too many mistake the will of God, and the nature of
sanctification, and place their religion in the hot prosecu-
tion of those mistakes. They make a composition of error
and passion, and an unyielding stiffness in them, and siding
with the church or party which maintaineth them, and an
uncharitable censuring those that are against them, and an
unpeaceable contending for them ; and this composition
they mistake for godliness, especially if there be but a few
drachms of godliness and truth in the composition, though
corrupted and overpowered by the rest.
For these miscarriages of many well-meaning, zealous
persons, the land mourneth, the churches groan ; kingdoms
are disturbed by them ; families are disquieted by them ;
godliness is hindered, and much dishonoured by them ; the
wicked are hardened by them, and encouraged to hate, and
blaspheme, and oppose religion ; the glory of the Christian
faith is obscured by them; and the infidel, Mahometan, and
heathen world, are kept from faith in Jesus Christ, and many
millions of souls destroyed by them. I mean by the miscar-
riages of the weaker sort of Christians, and by the wicked
lives of those carnal hypocrites, who for custom or worldly
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 381
interest, do profess that Christianity which was never re-
ceived by their hearts.
And all this is much promoted by their indiscretion, who
are so intent upon the consolatory opening of the safety and
happiness of believers, that they omit the due explication of
their description, their dangers, and their duties.
One part of this too much neglected work I have en-
deavoured to perform in the foregoing treatise : another I
shall attempt in this second part. There are five degrees or
ranks of true Christians observable. 1. The weakest Chris-
tians, who have only the essentials of Christianity, or very
little more : as infants that are alive, but of little strength
or use to others. 2. Those that are lapsed into some wound-
ing sin, though not into a state of damnation ; like men at
age, who have lost the use of some one member for the pre-
sent, though they are strong in other parts. 3. Those that
have the integral parts of Christianity in a considerable
measure, are in a sound and healthful state, though neither
perfect, nor of the highest form or rank of Christians in this
life, nor without such infirmities, as are the matter of their
daily watchfulness and humiliation. 4. Those that are so
strong as to attain extraordinary degrees of grace, who are
therefore comparatively called perfect, as Matt. v. 45. 5.
Those that have an absolute perfection without sin ; that is,
the heavenly inhabitants.
Among all these, it is the third sort or degree which I
have here characterised, and upon the bye, the first sort, and
the hypocrite. I meddle not now with the lapsed Christian
as such, nor with those giants in holiness of extraordinary
strength ; nor with the perfect, blessed souls in heaven.
But it is the Christian who hath attained that confirmation
in grace, and composed, quiet, fruitful state, which we might
ordinarily expect, if we were industrious, whose image and
character I shall now present you with. I call him ofttimes
a Christian indeed, in allusion to Christ's description of
Nathaniel (John i. 47.), and as we commonly use that word,
for one that answereth his own profession without any no-
table dishonour or defect ; as we say such a man is a scho-
lar indeed ; and not as signifying his mere sincerity. I
mean one whose heart and life are so conformed to the prin-
ciples, the rule, and the hopes of Christianity, that to the
honour of Christ, the true nature of our religion is discern-
382 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
ible in his conversation; Matt. v. 16. In whom an impar-
tial infidel might perceive the true nature of the Christian
faith and godliness. If the world were fuller of such living
images of Christ, who, like true regenerate children, repre-
sent their heavenly Father, Christianity would not have met
with so much prejudice, nor had so many enemies in the
world, nor would so many millions have been kept in the
darkness of heathenism and infidelity, by flying from Chris-
tians, as a sort of people that are common and unclean.
Among Christians, there are babes, that must be fed with
milk, and not with strong meat, that are " unskilful in the
word of righteousness j M (1 John ii. 2. 12 — 14. Heb. v.
12 — 14.) and novices, who are unsettled, and in danger of
an overthrow; 1 Tim. iii. 6. John xv. 3.5. &c. In these
the nature and excellency of Christianity, is little more ap-
parent than reason in a little child. And there are strong,
confirmed Christians, who, by " reason of use, have their
senses exercised to discern both good and evil," (Heb. v. 13,
14.) and who shew forth the glory of him that hath called
them out of darkness into his marvellous light ; of whom
God himself may say to satan and their malicious enemies,
as once of Job, " Hast thou not seen my servant Job," &c.
This Christian indeed I shall now describe to you, both to
confute the infidel's slanders of Christianity, and to unteach
men those false descriptions which have caused the pre-
sumption of the profane, and the irregularities of erroneous
sectaries ; and to tell you what manner of persons they be,
that God is honoured by ; and what you must be, if you
will understand your own religion. Be Christians indeed,
and you will have the comforts indeed of Christianity ; and
will find that its fruits and joys are not dreams, and shadows,
and imaginations, if you content not yourselves with an ima-
gination, dream, and shadow of Christianity, or with some
clouded spark, or buried seed.
The Characters.
1. A Christian indeed (by which I still mean, a sound, con-
firmed Christian), is one that contenteth not himself to have
a seed, or habit of faith, but he liveth by faith, as the sen-
sualist by sight or sense. Not putting out the eye of sense,
nor living as if he had no body, or lived not in a world of
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 383
sensible objects; but as he is a reasonable creature, which
exalteth him above the sensitive nature, so faith is the true
information of his reason, about those high and excellent
things, which must take him up above things sensible. He
hath so firm a belief of the life to come, as procured by
Christ, and promised in the Gospel, as that it serveth him
for the government of his soul, as his bodily sight doth for
the conduct of his body. I say not, that he is assaulted
with no temptations, nor that his faith is perfect in degree,
nor that believing moveth him as passionately as sight or
sense would do : but it doth effectually move him through
the course and tenour of his life, to do those things for the
life to come, which he would do if he saw the glory of hea-
ven ; and to shun those thing3 for the avoiding of damna-
tion, which he would shun if he saw the flames of hell.
Whether he do these things so fervently or not, his belief is
powerful, effectual, and victorious. Let sight and sense in-
vite him to their objects, and entice him to sin, and forsake
his God, the objects of faith shall prevail against them, in
the bent of an even, a constant, and resolved life. It is
things unseen which he taketh for his treasure, and which
have his heart and hope, and chiefest labours. All things
else which he hath to do, are but subservient to his faith
and heavenly interest, as his sensitive faculties are ruled by
his reason. His faith is not only his opinion, which teach-
eth him to choose what church or party he will be of; but
it is his intellectual light, by which he liveth, and in the
confidence and comfort of which he dieth. " For we walk
by faith, not by sight. We groan to be clothed upon with
our heavenly house. Wherefore we labour, that whether
present or absent, we may be accepted of him ;" 2 Cor. v.
7—9. " Now the just shall live by faith;" Heb.x.3.
" Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evi-
dence of things not seen ;" Heb. xi. 1. Most of the exam-
ples in Heb. xi. do shew you this truth, that true Christians
live and govern their actions, by the firm belief of the pro-
mise of God, and of another life when this is ended. *' By
faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet,
moved with fear, prepared an ark, to the saving of his house,
by which he condemned the world, and became heir of the
righteousness which is by faith ;" ver. 7. " Abraham look-
ed for a city which had foundations, whose builder and ma-
384 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
ker is God ;" ver. 10. " Moses feared not the wrath of the
king ; for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible ;" ver.
27. So the three witnesses (Dan.iii.), and Daniel himself,
(chap, vi.) and all believers have lived this life, as Abra-
ham the father of the faithful did ; who, as it is said of him,
" Staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God ;" Rom. iv. 20.
The faith of a Christian is truly divine ; and he knoweth
that God's truth is as certain as sight itself can be ; however
sight be apter to move the passions. Therefore, if you can
judge but what a rational man would be, if he saw heaven
and hell, and all that God had appointed us to believe, then
you may conjecture what a confirmed Christian is ; though
sense do cause more sensible apprehensions.
2. The weak Christian also, hath a faith that is divine,
as caused by God, and resting on his word and truth. And
he so far liveth by this faith, as that it commandeth and
guideth the scope and drift of his heart and life. But he
believeth with a great deal of staggering and unbelief ; and
therefore his hopes are interrupted by his troublesome doubts
and fears ; and the dimness and languor of his faith is seen
in the faintness of his desires, and the many blemishes of
his heart and life. And sight and sensual objects are so
much the more powerful with him, by how much the light
and life of faith is dark and weak.
3. The hypocrite, or best of the unregenerate, believeth
but either with a human faith, which resteth but on the
word of man, or else with a dead, opinionative faith, which
is overpowered by infidelity, or is like the dreaming thoughts
of man asleep, which stir him not to action. He liveth by
sight, and not by faith : for he hath not a faith that will
overpower sense and sensual objects j James ii. 14. Matt,
xiii. 22.
II. 1. A Christian indeed not only knoweth why he is a
Christian, but seeth those reasons for his religion, which
disgrace all that the most cunning atheist or infidel can say
against it ; and so far satisfy, confirm, and establish him,
that emergent difficulties, temptations, and objections, do
not at all stagger him, or raise any deliberate doubts in him
of the truth of the word of God. He seeth first the natural
evidence of those foundation-truths which nature itself mak-
eth known ; as that there is a God of infinite being, power,
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. .185
wisdom, and goodness, the Creator, the Owner, the Ruler,
and the Father, felicity and end of man ; that we owe him
all our love and service ; that none of our fidelity shall be in
vain, or unrewarded, and none shall be finally a loser by his
duty ; that man who is naturally governed by the hopes and
fears of another life, is made and liveth for that other life,
where his soul shall be sentenced by God his Judge, to hap-
piness or misery, &c. And then he discerneth the attesta-
tion of God to those supernatural, superadded revelations of
the Gospel, containing the doctrine of man's redemption.
And he seeth how wonderfully these are built upon the for-
mer, and how excellently the Creator's and Redeemer's doc-
trine and laws agree ; and how much countenance superna-
tural truths receive from the presupposed naturals ; so that
he doth not adhere to Christ and religion by the mere en-
gagement of education, friends, or worldly advantages ; nor
by a blind resolution, which wanteth nothing but a strong
temptation (from a deceiver or a worldly interest) to shake
or overthrow it. But he is built upon the rock, which will
stand in the assault of satan's storms, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it; Matt. xvi. 18. xiii. 23. vii.25.
John vi. 68, 69.
2. But a weak Christian hath but a dim and general
kind of knowledge of the reasons of his religion ; or, at least,
but a weak apprehension of them, though he have the best,
and most unanswerable reasons. And either he is confident
in the dark upon grounds which he cannot make good, and
which want but a strong assault to shake them ; or else he
is troubled and ready to stagger at every difficulty which oc-
curreth. Every hard saying in the Scripture doth offend
him ; and every seeming contradiction shaketh him. And
the depth of mysteries, which pass his understanding, do
make him say as Nicodemus of regeneration, *.' How can
these things be?" And if he meet with the objections of a
cunning infidel, he is unable so to defend the truth, and
clear his way through them, as to come off unwounded and
unshaken, and to be the more confirmed in the truth of his
belief, by discerning the vanity of all that is said against it;
Heb.v. 12, 13. Matt. xv. 16. lCor.xiv.20. John xii. 16.
3. The seeming Christian either hath no solid reasons at
all for his religion, or else if he have the best, he hath no
vol. viii. c c
386 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
sound apprehension of them ; but though he be never so
learned and orthodox, and can preach and defend the faith,
it is not so rooted in him as to endure the trial ; but if a
strong temptation from subtlety or carnal interest assault
him, you shall see that he was built upon the sand, and that
there was in him a secret root of bitterness, and an evil
heart of unbelief, which causeth him to depart from the liv-
ing God ; Heb. iii. 12. Matt.xiii.20— 22. vii.26,27. Heb.
xii. 15. John vi. 60. 64. 66. 1 Tim. vi. 10, 11.
III. 1. A Christian indeed, is not only confirmed in the
essentials of Christianity, but he hath a clear, delightful
sight of those useful truths, which are the integrals of Chris-
tianity, and are built upon the fundamentals, and are the
branches of the master-points of faith. Though he see not
all the lesser truths (which are branched out at last into in-
numerable particles), yet he seeth the main body of sacred
verities, delivered by Christ for man's sanctification ; and
seeth them methodically in their proper places ; and seeth
how one supports another, and in how beautiful an order
and contexture they are placed. And as he sticketh not in
the bare principles, so he receiveth all these additions of
knowledge, not notionally only, but practically, as the food
on which his soul must live; Heb. v. 13, 14. vi. 1,2. &c.
Matt.xiii.il. Eph. i. 18. iii. 18, 19. Johnxiii. 17.
2. A weak Christian (in knowledge) besides the princi-
ples or essentials of religion, doth know but a few disorder-
ed, scattered truths ; which are also but half known, because
while he hath some knowledge of those points, he is igno-
rant of many others, which are needful to the supporting,
and clearing, and improving of them ; and because he
knoweth them not in their places, and order, and relation,
and aspect upon other truths. And, therefore, if tempta-
tions be strong, and come with advantage, the weak Chris-
tian, in such points, is easily drawn into many errors ; and
thence into great confidence and conceitedness in those er-
rors ; and thence into sinful, dangerous courses in the pro-
secution and practice of those errors. Such are like " chil-
dren tossed up and down, and carried to and fro by every
wind of doctrine, through the cunning sleight and subtlety
of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;"' Eph. iv. 14.
2 Cor. xi.3. Col.ii.4. 2 Tim. iii. 7.
3. The seeming Christian having no saving, practical
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 387
knowledge of the essentials of Christianity themselves, doth
therefore, either neglect to know the rest, or knoweth them
but notionally, as common sciences, and subjecteth them all
to his worldly interest. And, therefore, is still of that side
or party in religion, which, upon the account of safety, ho-
nour, or preferment, his flesh commandeth him to follow.
Either he is still on the greater, rising side, and of the rulers
of religion, be it what it will ; or if he dissent, it is in pur-
suit of another game, which pride or fleshly ends have start-
ed ; 2 Pet. ii. 14. Gal. iii. 3. John ix. 22. xii. 42, 43. Matt.
xiii.21,22.
IV. 1. The Christian indeed, hath not only reason for
his religion, but also hath an inward, continual principle,
even the Spirit of Christ, which is as a new nature, inclining
and enlivening him to a holy life ; whereby he mindeth and
savoureth the things of the Spirit. Not that his nature doth
work blindly, as nature doth in the irrational creatures ; but
at least it much imitateth nature as it is found in rational
creatures, where the inclination is necessary, but the opera-
tions free, and subject to reason. It is a spiritual appetite
in the rational appetite, even the will, and a spiritual, visive
disposition in the understanding. Not a faculty in a facul-
ty ; but the right disposition of the faculties to their highest
objects, to which they are by corruption made unsuitable.
So that it is neither a proper power in the natural sense, nor
a mere act, but nearest to the nature of a seminal disposition
or habit. It is the health and rectitude of the faculties of
the soul. Even as nature hath made the understanding
disposed to truth in general, and the will disposed or in-
clined to good in general, and to self-preservation and feli-
city in particular ; so the Spirit of Christ doth dispose the
understanding to spiritual truth, to know God and the mat-
ters of salvation, and doth incline the will to God and holi-
ness, not blindly, as they are unknown, but to love and
serve a known God. So that whether this be properly or
only analogically called a nature, or rather should be called
a habit, I determine not ; but certainly it is a fixed disposi-
tion and inclination, which Scripture calleth the " Divine
nature" (2 Pet. i. 4.), and " the seed of God abiding in us ;"
1 John iii. 9. But most usually it is called the Spirit of
God, or of Christ in us. "If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, the^ame is none of his ;" Rom. viii. 9. " By one
388 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
Spirit we are all baptized into one body ;" 1 Cor. xii. 13.
Therefore, we are said " to be in the Spirit, and walk after
the Spirit, and by the Spirit to mortify the deeds of the bo-
dy ;" Rom. viii. 1.9. 13. And it is called, "the Spirit of the
Son, and the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Fa-
ther ;" or are inclined to God, as children to their father ;
and the '■ Spirit of grace and supplication ;" Rom. viii. 15. 23.
26. Gal.iv.6. v. 17, 18. Eph.ii. 18.22. iv. 3, 4. Phil.i.27. ii. 1.
Zech. xii. 10. From this Spirit, and the fruits of it, we are
called new creatures, and quickened, and made alive to God;
2 Cor. v. 17. Eph.ii. 15. Rom. vi. 11. 13. It is a great
controversy, whether this holy disposition and inclination
was natural to Adam or not, and consequently, whether it
be a restored nature in us, or not. It was so natural to him
as health is natural to the body, but not so natural as to be
a necessitating principle, nor so as to be inseparable and
unlosable.
2. This same Spirit and holy inclination is in the weak-
est Christian also, but in a small degree, and remissly ope-
rating, so as that the fleshly inclination oft seemeth to be
the stronger, when he judgeth by its passionate strugglings
within him. Though, indeed, the Spirit of life doth not on-
ly strive, but conquer in the main, even in the weakest
Christians; Rom. viii. 9. Gal. v. 17 — 21.
3. The seeming Christian hath only the ineffectual mo-
tions of the Spirit to a holy life, and effectual motions and
inward dispositions to some common duties of religion.
And from these, with the natural principles of self-love and
common honesty, with the outward persuasions of compa-
ny and advantages, his religion is maintained, without the
regeneration of the Spirit; Johniii.6.
V. From hence it followeth, 1. That a Christian indeed
doth not serve God for fear only, but for love ; even for love
both of himself, and of his holy work and service. Yea, the
strong Christian's love to God and holiness, is not only
greater than his love to creatures, but greater than his fear
of wrath and punishment. The love of God constraineth
him to duty ; 2 Cor. v. 14. "Love is the fulfilling of the
law'" (Rom. xiii. 10.), therefore, the Gospel cannot be obey-
ed without it. He saith not, * O that this were no duty, and
O that this forbidden thing were lawful ;' though his flesh
say so, the Spirit, which is the predominant part, doth not.
CONFIKMED CHRISTIAN. 389
But he saith, " O how I love thy law ! O that my ways
were so directed that I might keep thy statutes !" Psal. cxix.
5. For the Spirit is willing, even when the flesh is weak.
He serveth not God against his will ; but his will is to serve
him more, and better than he doth. He longeth to be per-
fect, and perfectly to do the will of God, and taketh the
remnant of his sinful infirmities to be a kind of bondage to
him, which he groaneth to be delivered from. To will even
perfection is present with him, though not perfectly ; and
though he do not all that he willeth. And this is the true
meaning of Paul's complaints ; Rom. vii. Because the flesh
warreth against the Spirit, he cannot do the good that he
would ; that is, he cannot be perfect, for so he would be ;
Gal. v. 17. His love and will excel his practice.
2. The weak Christian also hath more love to God and
holiness than to the world and fleshly pleasure. But yet
his fear of punishment is greater than his love to God and
holiness. To have no love to God, is inconsistent with a
state of grace, and so it is to have less love to God than to
the world, and less love to holiness than to sin. But to have
more fear than love is consistent with sincerity of grace.
Yea, the weak Christian's love to God and holiness is joined
with so much backwardness and averseness, and interrupted
with weariness, and with the carnal allurements and diver-
sions of the creature, that he cannot certainly perceive whe-
ther his love and willingness be sincere or not. He goeth on
in a course of duty, but so heavily, that he scarce knoweth
whether his love or loathing of it be the greater. He goeth
to it as a sick man to his meat, or labour. All that he doth
is with so much pain or indisposedness, that to his feeling,
his averseness seemeth greater than his willingness, were it
not that necessity maketh him willing. For the habitual
love and complacency which he hath towards God and duty,
is so oppressed by fear, and by averseness, that it is not so
much felt in act as they.
3. A seeming Christian hath no true love of God and ho-
liness at all, but some ineffectual liking and wishes which
are overborne by a greater backwardness, and by a greater
love to earthly things ; so that fear alone, without any true,
effectual love, is the spring and principle of his religion and
obedience. God hath not his heart, when he draweth near
him with his lips ; he doth more than he would do, if he
3.90 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
were not forced by necessity and fear ; and had rather be
excused, and lead another kind of life ; Matt. xv. 8. Isa.
xxix. 13. Though necessity and fear are very helpful to the
most sincere, yet fear alone, without love or willingness is
a graceless state.
VI. 1. A Christian indeed doth love God in these three
gradations : he loveth him much for his mercy to himself,
and for that goodness which consisteth in benignity to him-
self ; but he loveth him more for his mercy to the church,
and for that goodness which consisteth in his benignity to
the church. But he loveth him most of all for his infinite
perfections and essential excellencies ; his infinite power,
and wisdom, and goodness, simply in himself considered.
For he knoweth that love to himself obligeth him to returns
of love ; especially differencing, saving grace : and he know-
eth that the souls of millions are more worth incomparably
than his own, and that God may be much more honoured by
them, than by him alone ; and therefore he knoweth that the
mercy to many is greater mercy, and a greater demonstration
of the goodness of God, and therefore doth render him more
amiable to man ; Rom. ix. 3. And yet he knoweth that es-
sential perfection and goodness of God, as simply in himself
and for himself, is much more amiable than his benignity to
the creature ; and that he that is the first efficient, must
needs be the ultimate, final cause of all things ; and that
God is not finally for the creature, but the creature for God,
(for all that he needeth it not) " For of him, and through
him, and to him are all things ;" Rom. xi. 36. And as he is
infinitely better than ourselves, so he is to be better loved
than ourselves. As I love a wise and virtuous person,
though he be one I never expect to receive any thing from, and
therefore love him for his own sake, and not for his benig-
nity or usefulness to me : so must I love God most for his
essential perfections, though his benignity also doth repre-
sent him amiable. As he is blindly selfish that would not
rather himself be annihilated or perish, than whole king-
doms should all perish, or the sun be taken out of the world ;
(because that which is best must be loved as best, and there-
fore be best loved :) so is he more blind, who in his estima-
tive, complacential love, preferreth not infinite, eternal
goodness, before such an imperfect, silly creature as himself
(or all the world). We are commanded to love our neigh-
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 391
bour as ourselves, when God is to be loved with all the heart,
and soul, and might, which therefore signifieth more than to
love him as ourselves ; (or else he were to be loved no more
than our neighbour). So that the strong Christian loveth
God so much above himself, as that he accounteth himself
and all his interests, as nothing in comparison of God, yea,
and loveth himself more for God than for himself : though
his own salvation be loved and desired by him, and God
must be loved for his mercy and benignity ; yet that salva-
tion itself which he desireth, is nothing else but the love of
God : wherein his love is the final, felicitating act, and God
is the final, felicitating object, and the felicity of loving is
not first desired ; but the attractive object doth draw out
our love, and thereby make us consequentially happy in the
enjoying exercise thereof. Thus God is all and in all to the
soul ; Psal. lxxiii. 25. Rom. xi. 36. 1 Cor. x. 31. Deut.
vi. 5. Matt, xxiii. 37. xix. 17.
2. A weak Christian also loveth God as one that is in-
finitely better than himself and all things ; (or else he did
not love him at all as God). But in the exercise he is so
much in the minding of himself, and so seldom and weak in
the contemplation of God's perfections, that he feeleth more
of his love to himself, than unto God ; and feeleth more of
his love to God, as for the benefits which he receiveth in and
by himself, than as for his own perfections ; yea, and often
feeleth the love of himself to work more strongly than his
love to the church, and all else in the world. The care of
his own salvation is the highest principle which he ordina-
rily perceiveth in any great strength in him ; and he is very
little and weakly carried out to the love of the whole church,
and to the love of God above himself; Phil. ii. 20 — 22.
1 Cor. x. 24. Jer. xlv. 5.
3. A seeming Christian hath a common love of God as
he is good, both in himself, and unto the world, and unto
him. But this is not for his holiness ; and it is but a ge-
neral, ineffectual approbation and praise of God, which fol-
loweth a dead, ineffectual unbelief: but his chief, predomi-
nant love is always to his carnal self, and the love both of
his soul, and of God, is subjected to his fleshly self-love.
His chief love to God is for prospering him in the world,
and such as is subservient to his sensuality, pride, covetous-
392 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
ness, presumption and false hopes; Luke xviii. 21, 22.
IJohnii. 15. 2 Tim. iii. 2. 4. John xii. 43. v. 42.
VII. 1. A Christian indeed doth practically take this
love of God, and the holy expressions of it, to be the very
life and top of his religion, and the very life, and beauty, and
pleasure of his soul : he makes it his work in the world, and
loveth himself (complacentially) but so far as he findeth in
himself the love of God ; and so far as he findeth himself
without it, he loatheth himself as an unlovely carcase : and
so far as his prayers and obedience are without it, he looks
on them but as unacceptable, loathsome things ; and there-
fore he is taken up in the study of redemption, because he
can nowhere so clearly see the love and loveliness of God,
as in the face of a Redeemer, even in the wonders of love
revealed in Christ. And he studieth them, that love may
kindle love ; and therefore he delighteth in the contem-
plating of God's attributes and infinite perfections ; and in
the beholding of him in the frame of the creation, and read-
ing his name in the book of his works, that his soul may by
such steps, be raised in love and admiration of his Maker.
And as it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun
or light, so it is to the mind of the Christian indeed, to be
frequently and seriously contemplating the nature and glory
of God : and the exercise of love in such contemplations is
most of his daily walk with God. And therefore it is also,
that he is more taken up in the exercises of thanksgiving,
and the praises of the Almighty, than in the lower parts of
godliness ; so that though he neglect not confession of sin
and humiliation, yet doth he use them but in subserviency
to the love and praise of God : he doth but rid out the filth
that is indecent in a heart that is to entertain its God. He
placeth not the chief part of his religion in any outward du-
ties, nor in any lower, preparatory acts ; nor doth he stop
in any of these, however he neglect them not. But he useth
them all to advance his soul in the love of God ; and useth
them the more diligently, because the love of God, to which
they conduce, as to their proper end, is so high and excel-
lent a work. Therefore in David's psalms you find a heart
delighting itself in the praises of God, and in love with his
word and works, in order to his praises ; Psal. cxvi. l.&c.
cvi. ciii. cxlv. cxlvi. &c. Rom. viii. 37.
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 393
2. The weak Christian is taken up but very little with
the lively exercises of love and praise, nor with any studies
higher than his own distempered heart : the care of his poor
soul, and the complaining of his manifold infirmities and
corruptions, is the most of his religion : and if he set him-
self to the praising of God, or to thanksgiving, he is as dull
and short in it as if it were not his proper work ; Psal. lxxvii.
Mark ix. 24. xvi. 14.
3. The seeming Christian liveth to the flesh ; and carnal
self-love is the active principle of his life ; and he is neither
exercised in humiliation or in praise sincerely, being un-
acquainted both with holy joy and sorrow: but knowing
that he is in the hands of God, to prosper or destroy him,
he will humble himself to him to escape his judgments, and
praise him with some gladness for the sunshine of prospe-
rity ; and he will seem to be piously thanking God, when
he is but rejoicing in the accommodations of his flesh, or
strengthening his presumption and false hopes of heaven ;
Luke xviii. 11. xii. 19. Isa. lviii. 2.
VIII. 1. A Christian indeed is one that is so apprehen-
sive of his lost condition, unworthiness, and utter insuffi-
ciency for himself, and of the office, perfection, and suffi-
ciency of Christ, that he hath absolutely put his soul, and
all his hopes into the hands of Christ, and now liveth in him
and upon him ; as having no life but what he hath from
Christ, nor any other way of access to God, or acceptance
of his person, or his service, but by him. In him he behold-
eth and delightfully admireth the love and goodness of the
Father; in him he hath access with boldness unto God ;
through him the most terrible, avenging judge is become a
reconciled God, and he that we could not remember but with
trembling, is become the most desirable object of our
thoughts. He is delightfully employed in prying into the
unsearchable mystery : and Christ doth even dwell in his
heart by faith ; " and being rooted and grounded in love, he
apprehendeth with all saints, what is the breadth, and length,
and depth, and height, and knoweth the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge ;" Ephes. iii. 17 — 19. He per-
ceiveth that he is daily beholden to Christ that he is not in
hell, that sin doth not make him like to devils, and that he
is not utterly forsaken of God : he feeleth that he is be-
holden to Christ for every hour's time, and every mercy to
3.94 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
his soul or body, and for all his hope of mercy in this life,
or in the life to come. He perceiveth that he is dead in him-
self, and that his " life is hid with Christ in God." And
therefore he is as "buried and risen again with Christ ;"
even " dead to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ ;"
Rom. vi. 3, 4. 11. Col. iv. 4. He saith 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." Thus doth he live as truly
and constantly by the second Adam, who is a quickening
spirit, as he doth by the first Adam, who was a living soul ;
1 Cor. xv. 45. This is a confirmed Christian's life.
2. But the weak Christian, though he be also united
unto Christ, and live by faith, yet how languid are the opera-
tions of that faith ? How dark and dull are his thoughts of
Christ? How little is his sense of the wonders of God's
love revealed to the world, in the mystery of redemption ?
How little use doth he make of Christ ? And how little life
receives he from him ? And how little comfort findeth he
in believing, in comparison of that which the confirmed
find ? He is to Christ as a sick person to his food : he only
picketh here and there a little of the crumbs of the bread of
life, to keep him from dying ; but is wofully unacquainted
with the most powerful works of faith. He is such a be-
liever as is next to an unbeliever, and such a member of
Christ, as is next to a mere stranger.
3. And for the seeming Christian, he may understand
the letter of the Gospel, and number himself with Christ's
disciples, and be baptized with water, and have such a faith
as is a dead opinion ; but he hath not an effectual, living
faith, nor is baptized with the Holy Ghost ; nor is his soul
engaged absolutely and entirely in the covenant of Chris-
tianity to his Redeemer : he may have a handsome, well-
made image of Christianity, but it is the flesh and sense,
and not Christ and faith, by which his life is actuated and
ordered ; John iii. 6. Rom. ii. 28.
IX. 1 . A Christian indeed doth firmly believe that Christ
is a "Teacher sent from God," (John iii. 2.) and that he
came from heaven to reveal his Father's will, and to bring
" life and immortality" more fully " to light by his Gospel ;"
and that if an angel had been sent to tell us of the life to
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 395
come, and the way thereto, he had not been so credible and
venerable a messenger as the Son of God ; and therefore he
taketh him alone for his chief Teacher, and knoweth no
master on earth but him, and such as he appointeth under
him : his study in the world is to know a crucified and glo-
rified Christ, and God by him, and he regardeth no other
knowledge, nor useth any other studies but this, and such as
are subservient to this. Even when he studieth the works
of nature, it is as by the conduct of the Restorer of nature,
and as one help appointed him by Christ, to lead him up to
the knowledge of God. And therefore he perceiveth that
Christ is made of God unto us, wisdom as well as righteous*
ness : and that Christianity is the true philosophy ; and
that the wisdom of the world, which is only about worldly
things, from worldly principles, to a worldly end, is foolish-
ness with God : he taketh nothing for wisdom which tend-
eth not to acquaint him more with God, or lead him up to
everlasting happiness. Christ is his Teacher (either by na-
tural or supernatural revelation) and God is his ultimate end
in all his studies, and all that he desireth to know in the
world. He valueth knowledge according to its usefulness :
and he knoweth that its chief use is to lead us to the love of
God; Matt, xxiii. 8. 1 Cor. i. 30. ii. 2, &c. John. i. 18.
Col. ii. 3. Ephes. iv. 13.
2. Though the weak Christian hath the same Master, yet
alas, how little doth he learn ! And how oft is he hearken-
ing to the teaching of the flesh ! And how carnal, and com-
mon is much of his knowledge ! How little doth he depend on
Christ, in his inquiries after the things of nature ! And how
apt is he to think almost as highly of the teaching of Aris-
totle, Plato, Seneca, or at least of some excellent preacher,
as of Christ's ! And to forget that these are but his messen-
gers and instruments, to convey unto us several parcels of
that truth, which is his, and not theirs, and which (naturally
or supernaturally) they received from him ; and all these
candles were lighted by him, who is the sun ! And how
little doth this weak Christian refer his common knowledge
to God ; or use it for him ; or to the furtherance of his own
and others happiness ! 1 Tim. ii. 4.
3. And the seeming Christian, though materially he may
be eminent for knowledge, yet is so far from resigning him-
self to the teachings of Christ, that he maketh even his
396 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
knowledge of Christian verities to be to him but a common,
carnal thing, while he knoweth it but in a common manner,
and useth it to the service of the flesh, and never yet learned
so much as to be a new creature, nor to love God as God
above the world ; 1 Cor. xiii. 2.
X. 1 . A Christian indeed is one whose repentance hath
been deep, and serious, and universal, and unchangeable : it
hath gone to the very roots of sin, and to the bottom of the
sore, and hath not left behind it any reigning, unmortified
sin, nor any prevalent love to fleshly pleasures. His repen-
tance did not only disgrace his sin, and cast some reproach-
ful words against it, and use confessions to excuse him from
mortification, and to save its life, and hide it from the mor-
tal blow ; nor doth he only repent of his open sins, and
those that are most censured by the beholders of his life ;
but he specially perceives the dangerous poison of pride,
and unbelief, and worldliness, and the want of the love of
God ; and all his outward and smaller sins, do serve to shew
him the greater malignity of these, and these are the matter
of his greatest lamentations. He taketh not up a profession
of religion with strong corruptions, secretly covered in his
heart ; but his religion consisteth in the death of his cor-
ruptions, and the purifying of his heart ; he doth not secretly
cherish any sin as too sweet or too profitable to be utterly
forsaken, nor overlook it as a small, inconsiderable matter.
But he feeleth sin to be his enemy and his disease, and as he
desireth not one enemy, one sickness, one wound, one-broken
bone, one serpent in his bed, so he desireth not any one sin
to be spared in his soul ; but saith with David ; " Search
me, O God, and know my heart ; try me, and know my
thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me : and
lead me in the way everlasting ;" Psal. cxxxix. 23. He
liveth in no gross and scandalous sin : and his infirmities
are comparatively few and small ; so that if he were not a
sharper accuser of himself, than the most observant spec-
tators are (that are just) there would little be known by him
that is culpable and matter of reproof. He " walketh in all
the commandments and ordinances of God blameless ;" (as
to any notable miscarriage,) Luke i. 6. He is " blameless
and harmless, as the son of God, without rebuke in the
midst of a crooked and perverse generation ; among whom
he shineth as a light in the world ;" Phil. ii. 15. The fear,
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 397
and love, and obedience of God, is the work and tenor of
his life.
2. But the weak Christian, though he hath no sin but
what he is a hater of, and fain would be delivered from, yet,
alas ! how imperfect is his deliverance ! And how weak is
the hatred of his sin, and mixed with so much proneness to
it, that his life is much blemished with the spots of his of-
fences. Though his unbelief, and pride, and worldliness
are not predominant in him, yet are they (or some of them)
still so strong, and fight so much against his faith, humility,
and heavenliness, that he can scarcely tell which hath the
upper hand ; nor can others that see the failings of his life,
discern whether the good or the evil be most prevalent.
Though it be heaven which he most seeketh, yet earth is so
much regarded by him, that his heavenlymindedness is
greatly damped and suppressed by it. And though it be
the way of godliness and obedience which he walketh in,
yet is it with so many stumblings and falls, if not deviations
also, that maketh him oft a burden to himself, a shame to
his profession, and a snare or trouble to those about him.
His heart is like an ill-swept house, that hath many a slut-
tish corner in it. And his life is like a motheaten garment,
which hath many a hole, which you may see if you bring it
into the light ; 1 Cor. iii. 1—3. vi. 6—8. xi. 18. 21, 22, &c.
3. And for the seeming Christian, his repentance doth
but crop the branches, it goeth not to the root and heart'of
his sin : it leaveth his fleshly mind and interest in the
dominion : it polisheth his life, but maketh him not a
new creature : it casteth away those sins which the flesh
can spare, and which bring more shame, or loss, or trouble
with them, than worldly honour, gain or pleasure ; but still
he is a very worldling at the heart ; and the sins which his
fleshly pleasures and felicity consist in, he will hide by
confessions and seeming oppositions, but never mortify and
forsake. As Judas, that while he followed Christ was yet
a thief, and a covetous hypocrite ; John xii. 6. 1 Tim. vi. 10.
XI. 1. Hence it followeth that a Christian indeed doth
heartily love the searching light, that it may fully acquaint
him with his sins : he is truly desirous to know the worst of
himself; and therefore useth the word of God, as a candle,
to shew him what is in his heart ; and bringeth himself wil-
lingly into the light : he loveth the most searching books
398 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
and preachers ; not only because they disclose the faults of
other men, but his own : he is not one that so loveth his
pleasant and profitable sins, as to fly the light, lest he should
be forced to know them, and so to forsake them ; but be-
cause he hateth them, and is resolved to forsake them, there-
fore he would know them; John iii. 19 — 21. Therefore he
is not only patient under reproofs, but loveth them, and is
thankful to a charitable reprover, and maketh a good use
even of malicious and passionate reproofs; Psal. cxli.5.
2 Sam. xvi. 11. He saith, as in Job xxxiv. 32. " That which
I see not, teach thou me. If I have done iniquity, I will do
no more." His hatred of the sin, and desire to be reformed,
suffer not his heart by pride to rise up against the remedy,
and reject reproof. Though he will not falsely confess his
duty to be his sin, nor take the judgment of every selfish,
passionate, or ignorant reprover to be infallible, nor to be
his rule ; yet if a judicious, impartial person do but suspect
him of a fault, he is ready to suspect himself of it, unless he
be certain that he is clear. He loveth him better that would
save him from his sin, than him that would entice him to it ;
and taketh him for his best friend who dealeth freely with
him, and is the greatest enemy to his faults : and a flatterer
he taketh but for the most dangerous, insinuating kind of
foe.
2. But the weak Christian, though he hate his sin, and
love reformation, and loveth the most searching books and
preachers, and loveth a gentle kind of reproof, yet hath so
much pride and selfishness remaining, that any reproof that
seemeth disgraceful to him, goeth very hardly down with
him ; like a bitter medicine to a queasy stomach : if you re-
prove him before others, or if your reproof be not very care-
fully sugared and minced, so that it rather extenuate than
aggravate his fault, he will be ready to cast it up into your
face, and with retort to tell you of some faults of your
own, or some way shew you how little he loveth it, and how
little thanks he giveth you for it. If you will not let him
alone with his infirmities, he will distaste you, if not fall out
with you, and let you know, by his smart and impatience,
that you have touched him in the sore and galled place, He
must be a man of very great skill in managing a reproof, that
shall not somewhat provoke him to distaste.
3. And for the seeming Christian, this is " his condemna-
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 399
tion, that light is come into the world, and he loveth dark"
ness rather than light, because his deeds are evil." He com-
eth not to the light, lest his deeds should be discovered and
reproved ; John Hi. 19 — 21. He liketh a searching preach-
er for others, and loveth to hear their sins laid open, if it no
way reflecteth upon himself. But for himself he liketh best
a general or a smoothing preacher ; and he flieth from a
quick and searching ministry, lest he should be proved and
convinced to be in a state of sin and misery. Guilt maketh
him fear or hate a lively, searching preacher, even as the
guilty prisoner hateth the judge. He loveth no company so
well as that which thinketh highly of him, and applaudeth
and commendeth him, and neither by their reproofs or
stricter lives, will trouble his conscience with the remem-
brance of his sin, or the knowledge of his misery. He will
take you for his enemy for telling him the truth, if you go
about to convince him of his undone condition, aid tell him
of his beloved sin. Sin is taken to be as himself; it is he
that doth evil, and not only sin that dwelleth in him ; and
therefore all that you say against his sin, he taketh is spoken
against himself; and he will defend his sin as he vould de-
fend himself : he will hear you till you come to toich him-
self, as the Jews did by Stephen, Acts vii. 51. 54. when they
heard him call them, stiff-necked resisters of God, and per-
secutors, then they were cut to the heart, and did gr nd their
teeth at him. And as they did by Paul, Acts Kxii. 22.
" They gave audience to this word, and then lift up their
voices and said, Away with such a fellow from ths earth,
for it is not fit that he should live ;" Gal.iv. 16. Johnix.
40. Matt. xxi. 45. The priests and Pharisees would have
laid hands on Christ, when they perceived that he spake of
them. And Ahab hated Micaiah, because he did lot pro-
phesy good of him, but evil ; 1 Kings xxii. 8. Deservedly
do they perish in their sin and misery, that hate h\m that
would deliver them, and refuse the remedy. " Whos« loveth
instruction loveth knowledge, but he that hateth reproof is
brutish ;" Prov. xii. 1. "He that being often reproved, har-
deneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that with-
out remedy ;" Prov. xxix. 1.
XII. 1. A Christian indeed, is one that unfeigneily de-
sireth to attain to the highest degree of holiness, anl to be
perfectly freed from every thing that is sin. He (iesireth
400 CHARACTER OF A SOUND.
perfection, though not with a perfect desire. He sitteth not
down contentedly in any low degree of grace. He looketh
on the holiest Chow poor soever) with much more reverence
and esteem than on the most rich and honourable in the
world ; and he had far rather be one of the most holy, than
one of the most prosperous and great ; he had rather be a
Paul or Timothy, than a Caesar or an Alexander. He com-
plaineth of nothing with so much sorrow, as that he can
know and love his God no more ! How happy an exchange
would he ccunt it, if he had more of the knowledge and love
of God, though he lost all his wealth and honour in the
world ! His smallest sins are a greater burden to him, than
his greatest corporal wants and sufferings : as Paul, who be-
cause he could not perfectly fulfil God's law, and be as good
as he would, he crieth out as in bondage, " O wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?" Rom.vii.24.
2. Anl for the weak Christian, though he is habitually
and resolvedly of the same mind, yet, alas ! his desires after
perfection are much more languid in him ; and he hath too
much paience and reconciledness to some of his sins, and
sometimss taketh them to be sweet ; so that his enmity to
his pride, or covetousness, or passion, is much abated, and
sufferetr his sin to waste his grace, and wound his con-
science, and hinder much of his communion with God. He
seeth net the odiousness of sin, nor the beauty of holiness,
with so clear a sight as the confirmed Christian doth : he
hateth sin more for the ill effects of it, than for its malig-
nant, hateful nature : he seeth not clearly the intrinsic evil
that is in sin, which maketh it deserve the pains of hell :
nor doti he discern the difference between a holy and un-
holy soil, so clearly as the stronger Christian doth ; 1 Cor.
iii.2,3 Heb.xii. 1.
3. And as for the seeming Christian, though he may ap-
prove (f perfect holiness in another, and may wish for it
himself, when he thinketh of it but in the general, and not
as it is exclusive and destructive of his beloved sin; yet
when i; cometh to particulars, he cannot away with it; he
is so fcr from desiring it, that he will not endure it. The
name of holiness he liketh ; and that preservation from hell
which is the consequent of it ; but when he understandeth
what i. is, he hath no mind of it. That holiness which
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 401
should cure his ambition and pride, and make him contented
with a low condition, he doth not like : he loveth not that
holiness, which would deprive him of his covetousness, his
intemperance in pleasant meats and drinks, his fleshly lusts,
and inordinate pleasures. Nor doth he desire that holiness
should employ his soul in the love of God, and in daily
prayer, and meditating on his word, and raise him to a hea-
venly life on earth.
XIII. 1. A Christian indeed is one that maketh God and
heaven the end, reward and motive of his life ; and liveth
not in the world for any thing in the world, but for that
endless happiness which the next world only can afford.
The reasons which actuate his thoughts, and choice, and all
his life, are fetched from heaven. The interest of God and
his soul as to eternity, is the ruling interest in him. As a
traveller goeth all the way, and beareth all the difficulties
of it, for the sake of the end or place that he is going to,
(however he may talk of many other matters by the way;)
so is it with a Christian ; he knoweth nothing worthy of his
life and labours, but that which he hopeth for hereafter.
This world is too sinful, and too vile and short to be his fe-
licity. His very trade and work in the world is to lay up a
treasure in heaven, (Matt. vi. 20.) "and to lay up a good
foundation against the time to come, and to lay hold on
eternal life ;" (1 Tim. vi. 19.) and therefore his very heart is
there, (Matt, vi.21.) and he is employed in seeking and set-
ting his affections on the things above : (Col. iii. 1 — 3.) and
his conversation and traffic are in heaven; (Phil. iii. 20, 21.)
" he looketh not at the things which are seen, which are
temporal, but at the things which are not seen, which are
eternal:" (2 Cor. iv. 18.) he is a stranger upon earth, and
heaven is to him as his home.
2. The weak Christian also hath the same end, and hope,
and motive ; and preferreth his hopes of the life to come,
before -all the wealth and pleasures of this life : but yet his
thoughts of heaven are much more strange and dull ; he
hath so much doubting and fear yet mixed with his faith and
hope, that he looketh before him to his everlasting state,
with backwardness and trouble, and with small desire and
delight. He hath so much hope of heaven, as to abate his
fears of hell, and make him think of eternity with more
VOL. VIII. D D
402 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
quietness than he could do, if he found himself unregene-
rate ; but not so much as to make his thoughts of heaven
so free, and sweet, and frequent, nor his desires after it so
strong, as the confirmed Christian's are : and therefore his
duties, and his speech of heaven, and his endeavours to ob-
tain it, are all more languid and unconstant ; and he is much
more prone to fall in love with earth, and to entertain the
motions of reconciliation to the world, and to have his heart
too much set upon some place, or person, or thing below,
and to be either delighted too much in the possession of it,
or afflicted and troubled too much with the loss of it : earth-
ly things are too much the motives of his life, and the rea-
sons of his joys and griefs : though he hath the true belief
of a life to come, and it prevaileth in the main against the
world, yet it is but little that he useth to the commanding,
and raising, and comforting his soul, in Comparison of what
a strong believer doth; Matt.xvi. 22,23.
3. But the seeming Christian would serve God and mam
mon, and placeth his chief and most certain happiness prac-
tically on earth; though speculatively he know and say
that heaven is better, yet doth he not practically judge it to
be so to him; and therefore he loveth the world above it,
and he doth most carefully lay up a treasure on earth ;
(Matt. vi. 19.) and is resolved first to seek and secure his
portion here below ; and yet he taketh heaven for a reserve,
as knowing that the world will cast him off at last, and die
he must, there is no remedy ; and therefore he taketh hea-
ven as next unto the best, as his second hope, as better than
hell, and will go in religion as far as he can, without the loss
of his prosperity here ; so that earth and flesh do govern
and command the design and tenor of his life ; but heaven
and his soul shall have all that they can spare ; which may
be enough to make him pass with men for one eminently re-
ligious; Uohn ii. 15. Matt. xiii. 22. Luke xviii. 22, 23.
xiv. 24. 33. Psal. xvii. 14. Phil. iii. 18—20.
XIV. 1. A Christian indeed is one that having taken
heaven for his felicity, doth account no labour or cost too
great for the obtaining of it : he hath nothing so dear to him
in this world, which he cannot spare and part with for God
and the world to come : he doth not only notionally know
that nothing should seem too dear or hard for the securing
of our salvation ; but he knoweth this practically, and is re-
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 403
solved accordingly. Though difficulties may hinder him in
particular acts, and his executions come not up to the height
of his desires (Rom. vii. 16, 17, &c), yet he is resolved that
he will never break on terms with Christ. There is no duty
so hard which he is not willing and resolved to perform;
and no sin so sweet or gainful which he is not willing to
forsake : he knoweth how unprofitable a bargain he makes,
who winneth the world, and loseth his own soul ; and that
no gain can ransom his soul, or recompense him for the loss
of his salvation ; Mark viii. 36. He knoweth that it is im-
possible to be a loser by God, or to purchase heaven at too
dear a rate ; he knoweth that whatsoever it cost him, heaven
will fully pay for all ; and that it is the worldling's labour,
and not the saint's, that is repented of at last. He marvel-
leth more at distracted sinners, for making such a stir for
wealth, and honours, and command, than they marvel at him
for making so much ado for heaven. He knoweth that this
world may be too dearly bought, but so cannot his salvation ;
yea, he knoweth that even our duty itself, is not our smallest
privilege and mercy ; and that the more we do for God, the
more we receive, and the greater is our gain and honour ;
and that the sufferings of believers for righteousness sake,
do not only prognosticate their joys in heaven, but occasion
here the greatest joys that any short of heaven partake of;
Matt. v. 11, 12. Rom. v. 1 — 3. &c. He is not one that de-
sire th the end without the means, and would be saved, so it
may be on cheap and easy terms ; but he absolutely yield-
eth to the terms of Christ, and saith with Austin, ' Da quod
jubes, et jube quod vis;' 'Cause me to do what thou com-
mandest, and command what thou wilt.' Though Pelagius
contradicted the first sentence, and the flesh the second,
yet Augustine owned both, and so doth every true believer :
he greatly complaineth of his backwardness to obey, but
never complaineth of the strictness of the command. He
loveth the holiness, justness and goodness of the laws, when
he bewaileth the unholiness and badness of his heart : he
desireth not God to command him less, but desireth grace
and ability to do more. He is so far from the mind of the
ungodly world, who cry out. against too much holiness, and
making so much ado for heaven, that he desireth even to
reach to the degree of angels, and would fain have " God's
will to be done on earth, as it is done in heaven ;" and there-
404 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
fore the more desireth to be in heaven, that he may do it
better ; Psal. cxix. 5. Rom. vii. 24.
2. The weak Christian hath the same estimation and re-
solution; but when it comes to practice, as his will is less
confirmed, and more corrupted and divided, so little impe-
diments and difficulties are great temptations to him, and
stop him more in the way of his obedience. All his duty is
much more tedious to him, and all his sufferings are much
more burdensome to him, than to confirmed Christians ; and
therefore he is more easily tempted into omissions and im-
patience, and walketh not so evenly or comfortably with
God. When the spirit is willing, it yieldeth oft to the weak-
ness of the flesh, because it is willing in too remiss a de-
gree; Matt.xxvi.41. Gal. ii. 14.
3. But the seeming Christian (though notionally and ge-
nerally he may approve of strictness) yet secretly at the
heart hath always this reserve, that he will not serve God at
too dear a rate. His worldly felicity he cannot part with,
for all the hopes of the life to come ; and yet he will not,
he dare not renounce and give up those hopes ; and there-
fore he maketh himself a religion of the easiest and cheap-
est parts of Christianity, (among which, sometimes, the
strictest opinions may fall out to be one part, so be it they
be separated from the strictest practice :) and this easy,
cheap religion he will needs believe to be true Christianity
and godliness, and so will hope to be saved upon these
terms : and though he cannot but know that it is the cer-
tain character of a hypocrite, to have any thing nearer and
dearer to his heart than God, yet he hopeth that it is not so
with him, because his convinced judgment can say, that
God is best, and the world is vanity, while yet his heart and
affections so much contradict his opinion, as almost to say,
" There is no God ;" for his heart knoweth and loveth no
God as God, that is, above his worldly happiness. He is
resolved to do so much in religion as he findeth necessary
to delude his conscience, and make himself believe that he
is godly, and shall be saved ; but when he cometh to for-
sake all, and take up the cross, and practise the costliest
parts of duty, then you shall see that mammon was better
loved than God, and he will go away sorrowful, and hope to
be saved upon easier terms (Lukexviii.23.), for he was ne-
ver resigned absolutely to God.
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 405
XV. 1. A confirmed Christian is one that taketh self-
denial for the one half of his religion ; and therefore hath
bestowed one half of his endeavours to attain and exercise
it. He knoweth that the fall of man was a turning to him-
self from God ; and that selfishness and want of love to
God, are the sum of all corruption and ungodliness ; and
that the love of God and self-denial are the sum of all reli-
gion ; and that conversion is nothing but the turning of the
heart from carnal self to God by Christ : and therefore on
this hath his care and labour been so successfully laid out,
that he hath truly and practically found out something which
is much better than himself, and to be loved and preferred
before himself, and which is to be his chief and ultimate
end. He maketh not a God of himself any more, but useth
himself for God, to fulfil his will, as a creature of his own,
that hath no other end and use : he no more preferreth him-
self above all the world, but esteemeth himself a poor and
despicable part of the world, and more highly valueth the
honour of God, and the welfare of the church, and the good
of many, than any interest of his own. Though God in na-
ture hath taught him to regard his own felicity and to love
himself, and not to seek the glory of God, and the good of
many souls in opposition to his own, yet he hath taught him
to prefer them (though in conjunction) much before his
own : for reason telleth him that man is nothing in compa-
rison of God, and that we are made by him and for him,
and that the welfare of the church or public societies, is
better (in order to the highest ends) than the welfare of
some one. Selfishness in the unregenerate, is like an in-
flammation or imposthume, which draweth the humours
from other parts of the body to itself : the interest of God
and man are all swallowed up in the regard that men have
to self-interest : and the love of God and our neighbour is
turned into self-love. But self is as annihilated in the con-
firmed Christian, so that it ruleth not his judgment, his af-
fections, or his choice : and he that lived in and to himself,
as if God and all the world were but for him, doth now live
to God, as one that is good for nothing else, and findeth
himself in seeking him that is infinitely above himself; Luke
xiv.31— 33. Phil. ii. 4. 21.
2. And the weak Christian hath attained to so much
self-denial, that self is not predominant in him against the
406 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
love of God and his neighbour; but yet above all other sins,
too great a measure of selfishness still remaineth in hirn.
These words ' own, and mine, and self,' are too significant
with him ; every thing of his own is regarded inordinately,
with partiality, and too much selfishness. A word against
himself, or an injury to himself, is more to him than worse
against his brother : he is too little mindful of the glory of
God, and of the public good, and the souls of others ; and
even when he is mindful of his own soul, he is too regardless
of the souls of many, that by prayer, or exhortation, or other
means, he ought to help : as a small candle lighteth but a
little way, and a small fire heateth not far off, so is his love
so much confined, that it reacheth not far from him : he va-
lueth his friends too much upon their respect to please him-
self, and loveth men too much, as they are partial for him ;
and too little upon the pure account of grace, and their love
to Christ and serviceableness to the church. He easily
overvalueth his own abilities, and is too confident of his own
understanding, and apt to have too high conceits of any
opinions that are his own ; he is too apt to be tempted unto
uncharitableness against those that cross him in his interest
or way. He is apt to be too negligent in the work of God,
when any self-interest doth stand against it ; and too much
to seek himself, his own esteem, or his own commodity, when
he should devote himself to the good of souls, and give up
himself to the work of God : though he is not like the hy-
pocrite, that preferreth himself before the will of God and
the common good, yet selfishness greatly stoppeth, inter-
rupteth, and hindereth him in God's work ; and any great
danger, or loss, or shame, or other concernment of his own,
doth seem a greater matter to him, and oftener turn him out
of the way, than it will with a confirmed Christian. They
were not all hypocrites that Paul speaketh of in that sad com-
plaint, " For I have no man like-minded (to Timothy) who
will naturally care for your state ; for all seek their own, not
the things which are Jesus Christ's ;" (Phil. ii. 20, 21.) that
is, they too much seek their own, and not entirely enough
the things that are Christ's ; which Timothy did naturally,
as if he had been born to it ; and grace had made the love
of Christ, and the souls of men, and the good of others, as
natural to him, as the love of himself. Alas ! how loudly
do their own distempers, and soul-miscarriages, and the di-
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 407
visions and calamities of the church, proclaim, that the
weaker sort of Christians have yet too much selfishness, and
that self-denial is lamentably imperfect in them.
3. But in the seeming Christian, selfishness is still the
predominant principle ; he loveth God but for himself; and
he never had any higher end than self : all his religion, his
opinions, his practice is animated by self-love, and governed
by it, even by the love of carnal self. Self-esteem, self-con-
ceitedness, self-love, self-willedness, self-seeking and self-
saving are the constitution of his heart and life. He will be
of that opinion, and way and party in religion, which selfish-
ness directeth him to choose. He will go no further in re-
ligion than self-interest and safety will allow him to go. He
can change his friend, and turn his love into hatred, and his
praises into reproach, whenever self-interest shall require it.
He can make himself believe, and labour to make others be-
lieve, that the wisest and holiest servants of God are erro-
neous, humorous, hypocrites, and insufferable, if they do
but stand cross to his opinions and interest : for he judgeth
of them, and loveth or hateth them, principally as they con-
form to his will and interest, or as they are against it. As
the godly measure all persons and things, by the will and
interest of God, so do all ungodly men esteem them as they
stand in reference to themselves. When their factious in-
terest required it, the Jews, and especially the Pharisees,
could make themselves and others believe, that the Son of
God himself was a breaker of the law, and an enemy to
Caesar, and a blasphemer, and unworthy to live on the earth ;
and that Paul was a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition
among the people, and a ringleader of a sect, and a profaner
of the temple ; (Acts xxiv. 5, 6.) and which of the prophets
and apostles did they not persecute ? Because Christ's doc-
trine doth cross the interest of selfish men, therefore the
world doth so generally rise up against it with indignation,
even as a country will rise against an invading enemy : for
he cometh to take away that which is dearest to them ; as
it is said of Luther, that he meddled with the pope's crown,
and the friars' bellies ; and therefore no wonder if they
swarmed all about his ears. Selfishness is so general and
deeply rooted, that (except with a few self-denying saints)
self-love and self-interest rule the world. And if you
would know how to please a graceless man, serve but his
408 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
carnal interest, and you have done it : be of his opinion (or
take on you to be so,) applaud him, admire him, flatter him,
obey him, promote his preferment, honour and wealth, be
against his enemies ; in a word, make him your God, and
sell your soul to gain his favour, and so it is possible you
may gain it.
XVI. 1. A Christian indeed hath so far mortified the
flesh, and brought all his senses and appetites into subjec-
tion to sanctified reason, as that there is no great rebellion
or perturbation in his mind : but a little matter, a holy
thought, or a word from God, doth presently rebuke and
quiet his inordinate desires. The flesh is as a well-broken
and well-ridden horse, that goeth on his journey obediently
and quietly, and not with striving, and chaffing, and vexa-
tious resisting : though still flesh will be flesh, and will be
weak, and will fight against the Spirit, so that we cannot do
all the good we would ; (Isa. v. 17. Rom. vii. 16, 17, &c.)
yet in the confirmed Christian, it is so far tamed and sub-
dued, that its rebellion is much less, and its resistance
weaker, and more easily overcome : it causeth not any no-
table unevenness in his obedience, nor blemishes in his life ;
it is no other than consisteth with a readiness to obey the
will of God. Gal. v. 24, 25. 1 Cor. ix. 26, 27. " They that
are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections and
lusts thereof: they run not as uncertainly ; they fight not
as one that beateth the air; but they keep under their bodies,
and bring them into subjection, lest by any means they
should be castaways. They put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts
thereof;" Rom. xiii. 13, 14. As we see to a temperate man,
how sweet and easy temperance is, when to a glutton, or
drunkard, or riotous liver it is exceeding hard ; so it is in all
other points with a confirmed Christian. He hath so far
crucified the flesh, that it is as dead to its former lusts ; and
so far mastered it, that it doth easily and quickly yield. And
this maketh the life of such a Christian, not only pure, but
very easy to him, in comparison of other men's : nay, more
than this, he can use his sense (as he can use the world, the
objects of sense,) in subserviency to faith and his salvation.
His eye doth but open a window to his mind, to hold and
admire the Creator in his work. His taste of the sweetness
of the creatures is but a means, by which the sweeter love
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 409
of God doth pass directly to his heart. His sense of plea-
sure is but the passage of spiritual, holy pleasure to his
mind. His sense of bitterness and pain is but the messenger
to tell his heart of the bitterness and vexatiousness of sin.
As God in the creation of us, made our senses but as the
inlet and passage for himself into our minds, (even as he
made all the creatures to represent him to us by this passage ;)
so grace doth restore our very senses (with the creature) to
this their holy, original use ; that the goodness of God,
through the goodness of the creature, may pass to our hearts,
and be the effect and end of all.
2. But, for the weak Christian, though he have mortified
the deeds of the body by the Spirit, and live not after the
flesh, but be freed from its captivity or reign ; (Gal. v. 24.
Rom. viii. 1. 7 — 13.) yet hath he such remnants of concu-
piscence and sensuality, as make it a far harder matter to him
to live in temperance, and deny his appetite, and govern his
senses, and restrain them from rebellion and excess : he is
like a weak man upon an ill-ridden, headstrong horse, who
hath much ado to keep his saddle and keep his way. He is
more strongly inclined to fleshly lusts, or excess in meat, or
drink, or sleep, or sports, or some fleshly pleasure, than the
mortified, temperate person is, and therefore is oftener guilty
of some excess ; so that his life is a very tiresome conflict,
and very uneasy to himself, because the less the flesh is mor-
tified, the more able it is to raise perturbations, and to put
faith and reason to a continual flight. And most of the
scandals and blemishes of his life arise from hence, even the
successes of the flesh against the Spirit ; so that (though he
live not in any gross or wilful sins ;) yet in lesser measures
of excess he is too frequently overtaken : how few be there
that in meat and sleep do not usually exceed their measure ?
And they are easily tempted to libertine opinions, which in-
dulge the flesh, having a weaker preservative against them
than stronger Christians have ; Matt. xvi. 22, 23. Gal. v.. 13.
i. 16. ii. 12— 14. Col. ii. 11.
3. But the seeming Christian is really carnal. The flesh
is the predominant part with him ; and the interest of the
flesh is the ruling interest. He washeth away the outward
filth, and in hope of salvation, will be as religious as the
flesh will give him leave ; and will deny it in some smaller
matters, and will serve it in a religious way, and not in so
410 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
gross and impudent a manner as the atheists and openly
profane. But for all that he never conquered the flesh in-
deed ; but seeketh its prosperity more than the pleasing of
God and his salvation : and among prayers, and sermons,
and holy conference, and books, yea, and formal fastings too,
he is serving the flesh with so much the more dangerous im-
penitency, by how much the more his cloak of formality
hindereth him from the discerning of his sin; many an one
that is of unblemished reputation in religion, doth constantly
serve his appetite in meat and drink, (though without any
notable excess ) and his fleshly mind in the pleasure of his
dwelling, wealth, and accommodations, as much as some
profane ones do, if not much more. And whenever it cometh
to a parting trial, they will shew that the flesh was the ruling
part, and will venture their souls to secure its interest ; Luke
xviii. 23. xiv. 33. Rom. viii. 5—7. 9. 13. Matt. xiii. 21,
22. Jude 19.
XVII. 1. Hence itfolloweth that a Christian indeed pre-
ferreth the means of his spiritual benefit and salvation in-
comparably before all corporal commodities and pleasures.
He had rather dwell under the teaching and guidance of an
able, experienced pastor, though it be cross to his prosperity
and worldly gain, than to live under an ignorant or dead-
hearted preacher, when it furthereth his trading or more ac-
commodateth his flesh : (though yet he must not remove
when God layeth any restraint upon him, by his duty to his
family, or others :) he had rather if he be a servant, dwell in
a family where he may do or receive most spiritual good, than
in a carnal family, where he may have more ease, and better
fare, and greater wages. If he be to marry, he had rather
have one that hath wisdom and piety without wealth, than
one that hath riches without wisdom and piety. He is more
glad of an opportunity (in public or private) for the profit of
his soul, than of a feast, or a good bargain, or an opportunity
for some gain in worldly things ; Matt. vi. 20. 33.
2. And the weak Christian is of the same mind in the
main. He valueth mercies and helps for his soul, above
those for his body. But it is with less zeal, and more indif-
ference ; and, therefore, is more easily and ofter drawn to
the omitting of spiritual duties, and neglect of spiritual
helps and mercies ; and goeth to them with more averse-
ness, and as driven by necessity, and is much less sensible
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 411
of his loss, when he raisseth of any such spiritual helps ;
Luke x. 41,42. Heb. x. 25. Acts ii. 42. iv.32.
3. But the seeming Christian being a real worldling,
doth serve God and mammon ; and mammon with the first
and best. He had rather miss a sermon, than a good bar-
gain or commodity ; he had rather dwell where he may thrive
best, or have most ease and pleasure, than where he may
find the greatest helps for heaven ; he will be religious, but
it must be with an easy, and a pleasant, and a merry religion,
which may not be too niggardly with his flesh, nor use it too
strictly : unless when one day's austerity may procure him
an indulgence for his liberty all the week following. He
will make his bargain with Christ so, as to be sure that he
may not lose by him ; and he will not believe that God is
pleased with that which is much displeasing to his flesh ;
Rom. viii. 5—8. 13. Matt. xiii. 21, 22.
XVIII. 1. The Christian indeed is one that is crucified
to the world, and the world is as a crucified thing to him ;
Gal. vi. 14. He hath overcome the world by faith, and fol-
loweth Christ in the pursuit of it, to a perfect conquest ;
1 John v. 4, 5. 2 John xvi. 33. He has seen through all its
glossing vanity, and foreseen what it will prove at last. He
hath found that it cannot quiet conscience, nor reconcile
the guilty soul to God, nor save it from his consuming
wrath ; nor serve instead of God or heaven, of Christ or
grace ; but will cast off its servants in their last extremity,
naked and desolate, into remediless despair. And, there-
fore, he is resolvedly at a point with all things under the
sun. Let them take the world for their portion and felicity
that will ; for his part, he accounteth all things in it dung
and dross, in comparison of Christ and things eternal ; Phil,
iii. 7, 8. 19, 20. All the preferments, and honours, and com-
mand, and wealth, and greatness of the world, do not seem
to him a bait considerable, to make a wise man once ques-
tion whether he should persevere in faithfulness to God, or
to tempt him to commit one wilful sin. He would not
speak, or own a lie, or approve the sin of another, for all
that worldlings enjoy in their greatest prosperity while they
live. He accounteth his peace with God and conscience,
and his communion with Christ in the greatest poverty, to
be incomparably better than all the pleasures and commo-
dities of sin ; yea, the very reproach of Christ is better to
412 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
him than all the treasures of court or country ; Heb. xi. 25,
26. Grace hath mortified and annihilated the world to him.
And that which is dead and nothing, can do nothing with
him against God and his soul. He looketh on it as a car-
rion, which dogs may love and fight for, but is unfit to be
the food of man. He is going to the land of promise, and
therefore will not contend for an inheritance in this howling
wilderness. Whether he be high or low, rich or poor, are so
small a part of his concernments, that he is almost indiffer-
ent to them, farther than as the interest of God and souls
may accidentally be concerned in them. The world set
against God, and heaven, and holiness, doth weigh no more
in his estimation, than a feather that is put in the balance
against a mountain, or all the world. He feeleth no great
force in such temptations, as would draw him to win the
world, and lose his soul. His eye and heart are where his
God and treasure are, above ; and worldly wealth and great-
ness are below him, even under his feet. He thinketh not
things temporal worth the looking at, in comparison of
things eternal ; 2 Cor. iv. 18. He thinketh that their money
and riches do deservedly perish with them, who think all
the money in the world to be a thing comparable with grace ;
Acts viii. 20.
2. And the weak Christian is of the same judgment and
resolution in the main ; but yet the world retaineth a greater
interest in his heart ; it grieveth him more to lose it ; it is a
stronger temptation to him. To deny all the preferments,
and honours, and riches of it, seemeth a greater matter to
him ; and he doth it with more striving, and less ease ; and
sometimes the respect of worldly things prevaileth with him
in lesser matters, to wound his conscience, and maketh
work for repentance ; and such are so entangled in worldly
cares, and prosperity tasteth so sweet with them, that grace
even languisheth and falleth into a consumption, and almost
into a swoon. So much do some such let out their hearts to
the world, which they renounced, and scrape for it with so
much care and eagerness, and contend with others about
their commodities and rights, that they seem to the standers
by to be as worldly as worldlings themselves are ; and be-
come a shame to their profession, and make ungodly per-
sons say, * Your godly professors are as covetous as any :'
2 Tim. iv. 10.
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 413
3. But seeming Christians are the servants of the world ;
when they have learnt to speak most hardly of it, it hath their
hearts. Heaven, as I said before, is valued but as a reserve,
when they know they can keep the world no longer. They
have more sweet and pleasing thoughts and speeches of the
world, than they have of God and the world to come. It
hath most of their hearts when God is most preferred by
their tongues. There it is that they are daily laying up
their treasure, and there they must leave it at the parting
hour, when they go naked out as they came naked in. The
love of deceitful riches choaketh the word of God, and it
withereth in them, and becometh unfruitful; Matt. xiii.22.
They go away sorrowful because of their beloved riches,
when they should part with all for the hopes of heaven
(Luke xviii. 23.), yea, though they are beggars, that never
have a day's prosperity in the world, for all that, they love
it better than heaven, and desire that which they cannot
get, because they have not an eye of faith, to see that better
world which they neglect, and therefore take it for an un-
certain thing. Nor are their carnal natures suitable to it,
and therefore they mind it not ; Rom. viii. 7. When a hy-
pocrite is at the best, he is but a religious worldling ; the
world is nearer to his heart than God is, but " pure religion
keepeth a man unspotted of the world ;" James i. 27.
XIX. 1. A Christian indeed is one that still seeth the
end in all that he doth, and that is before him in his way ; and
looketh not at things as at the present they seem or relish to
the flesh, or to short-sighted men ; but as they will appear
and be judged of at last. The first letter maketh not the
word, nor the first word the sentence, without the last. Pre-
sent time is quickly past, and therefore he less regardeth
what things seem at present, than what they will prove to
all eternity. When temptations offer him a bait to sin, with
the present profit, or pleasure, or honour, he seeth at once
the final shame ; he seeth all worldly things as they are seen
by a dying man, and as after the general conflagration they
will be. He seeth the godly man in his adversity and pa-
tience, as entering into his Master's joys ; he seeth the de-
rided, vilified saint, as ready to stand justified by Christ at
his right hand ; and the liars of the malicious world as rea-
dy to cover themselves with shame. He seeth the wicked in
the height of their prosperity, as ready to be cut down and
414 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
withered, and their pampered flesh to turn to dirt ; and their
filthy and malicious souls to stand condemned by Christ at
his left hand ; and to hear, " Go ye cursed into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels ;" Matt. xxv.
1 Pet. i.24. James i. 10, 11. Psal.lxxiii. xxxvii. There-
fore it is that he valueth grace, because he knoweth what it
will be ; and therefore it is that he flieth from sin, because
he " knoweth the terrors of the Lord," and what it will prove
to the sinner in the end ; and how sinners themselves will
curse the day that ever they did commit it ; and wish when
it is too late, that they had chosen the holiness and patience
of the saints. And therefore it is that he pitieth rather than
envieth the prosperous enemies of the church, because he
foreseeth what the " end will be of them that obey not the
Gospel of Christ. And if the righteous be scarcely saved,
where shall the ungodly and sinners appear?" 1 Pet. iv. 17,
18. 2Thess. i.8 — 10. If the wicked unbelievers saw but
the ending of all things as he doth, they would be all then
of his mind and way. This putteth so much life into his
prayers, his obedience, and patience, because he seeth the
end in all ; Deut.xxxii. 29. Prov.xix.20. Isa. xlvii. 7.
2. And the weakest Christian doth the same in the main,
so far as to turn his heart from things temporal to things
eternal ; and to resolve him in his main choice, and to con-
duct the course of his life towards heaven. But yet in par-
ticular actions he is often stopped in present things, and for-
getfully loseth the sight of the end, and so is deluded and
enticed into sin, for want of seeing that which should have
preserved him. He is like one that travelleth over hills and
vallies, who when he is upon the hills doth see the place
that he is going to ; but when he cometh into the vallies it
is out of his sight. Too oft doth the weak Christian think
of things as they appear at the present, with little sense of
the change that is near. When he seeth the baits of sin,
whether riches, or beauty, or meat and drink, or any thing
that is pleasing to the senses, the remembrance of the end
doth not so quickly and powerfully work, to prevent his de-
ceived imaginations as it ought. And when poverty, or
shame, or sufferings, or sickness are presented to him, the
foresight of the end is not so speedy and powerful in clear-
ing his judgment, and settling his resolution, and prevent-
ing his misapprehension and troubles as it ought. And
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 415
hence comes his oft mistakes and falls ; and herein consist-
eth much of that foolishness, which he confesseth when re-
pentance bringeth him to himself; 2 Sam. xxiv. 10. 2 Chron.
xvi. 9.
3. But the seeming Christian hath so dim and doubtful
a foresight of the end, and it is so frequently out of his mind,
that things present do carry away his heart, and have the
greatest power and interest with him ; and are most regard-
ed and sought after in this life. For he is purblind, not
seeing afar off, as it it is said, 2 Pet. i. 9. He wanteth
that faith which is the " substance of things hoped for, and
the evidence of things unseen ;" Heb. xi. 1. Things promis-
ed in another world seem to him too uncertain, or too far off
to be preferred before all the happiness of this world ; he
is resolved to make his best of that which he hath in hand,
and to prefer possession before such hopes. Little doth his
heart perceive what a change is near, and how the face of all
things will be altered ! How sin will look, and how the
minds of sinners will be changed, and what all the riches,
and pleasures, and honours of the world will appear at the
latter end ! He foreseeth not the day when the slothful, and
the worldly, and the fleshly, and the proud, and the enemies
of godliness, shall all wish in vain, O that we had laid up
our treasure in heaven, and laboured for the food that pe-
risheth not, and had set less by all the vanities of the world,
and had imitated the holiest and most mortified believers !'
Though the hypocrite can himself foretel all this, and talk
of it to others, yet his belief of it is so dead, and his sensu-
ality so strong, that he liveth by sense, and not by that be-
lief : and present things are practically preferred by him,
and bear the sway, so that heneedeth those warnings of God
as well as the profane, " O that they were wise, that they
understood this, and that they would consider their latter
end ;" Deut. xxxii. 29. And he is one of the foolish ones
(Matt. xxv. 8. 11.), who are seeking oil for their lamps when
it is too late, and are crying out, " Lord, Lord, open to us,"
when the door is shut ; and will not know the time of their
visitation, nor know effectually in this their day, the things
which belong to their everlasting peace.
XX. 1. The Christian indeed is one that liveth upon
God alone ; his faith is divine ; his love, and obedience, and
confidence are divine ; his chiefest converse is divine ; his
416 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
hopes and comforts are divine. As it is God that he de-
pendeth on, and trusteth to, and studieth to please above
all the world, so it is God's approbation that he taketh up
with for his justification and reward. He took him for his
absolute Governor and Judge, and full felicity, in the day
when he took him for his God. He can live in peace with-
out man's approbation. If men are never acquainted with
his sincerity, or virtues, or good deeds, it doth not discou-
rage him nor hinder him from his holy course ; he is, there-
fore, the same in secret as in public, because no place is se-
cret from God. If men turn his greatest virtues or duties to
his reproach, and slander him, and make him odious to men,
and represent him as they did Paul, a pestilent fellow, a
mover of sedition, and the ringleader of a sect, and make
him as the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all
things, this changeth him not, for it changeth not his felici-
ty, nor doth he miss of his reward ; 1 Cor. iv. 9 — 14. Read
the words in the text. Though he hath so much suspicion
of his own understanding, and reverence for wiser men's,
that he will be glad to learn, and will hear reason from any
one ; yet praise and dispraise are matters of very small re-
gard with him; and as to himself, he counteth it but a very
small thing to be judged of men, whether they justify or
condemn him ; because they are fallible, and have not the
power of determining any thing to his great commodity or
detriment; nor is it their judgment to which he stands or
falls ; 1 Cor. iv. 3, 4. He hath a more dreadful, or comfort-
able judgment to prepare for. Man is of small account
with him in comparison of God ; Rom. viii. 33 — 36.
2. And though with the weakest true Christian it is so
also as to the predominancy of God's esteem and interest in
him, yet is his weakness daily visible in the culpable effects.
Though God have the chiefest place in his esteem, yet man
hath much more than his due. The thoughts and words of
men seem to such, of far greater importance than they
should. Praise and dispraise, favours and injuries, are
things which affect their hearts too much ; they bear not the
contempts and wrongs of men with so quiet and satisfied a
mind, as beseemeth those that live upon God. They have
so small an experience of the comforts of God in Christ,
that they are tasting the deeper of other delights, and spare
them not so easily as they ought to do. God, without
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 417
friends, or house, or land, or maintenance, or esteem in the
world, doth not fully quiet them ; but there is a deal of
peevish impatience left in their minds, though it doth not
drive them away from God.
3. But the seeming Christian can better take up with the
world alone than with God alone ; God is not so much mis-
sed by him as the world ; he always breaks with Christ, when
it cometh to forsaking all ; he is godly notionally and pro-
fessedly, and therefore may easily say that God is his por-
tion, and enough for those that put their trust in him ; but
his heart never consented truly to reduce these words to
practice. When it comes to the trial, the praise or dispraise
of man, and the prosperity or matters of the world, do signify
more with him than the favour or displeasure of God, and
can do more with him. Christ, and riches, and esteem, he
could be content with ; but he cannot away with a naked
Christ alone. Therefore he is indeed a practical atheist,
even when he seemeth most religious : for if he had ever ta-
ken God for his God indeed, he had certainly taken him as
his portion, felicity, and all ; and therefore as enough for
him without the creature ; Luke xviii. 23.
XXI. 1. For all this it followeth, that a Christian in-
deed hath with himself devoted all that he hath to God, and
so all that he hath is sanctified : he is only in doubt ofttimes
in particular cases, what God would have him do with him-
self and his estate ; but never in doubt whether they are
to be wholly employed for God, in obedience to his will, as
far as he can know it ; and therefore doth estimate every
creature and condition, purely as it relateth unto God and
life eternal. " HOLINESS TO THE LORD" is written
upon all that he hath and doth : he taketh it as sent from
God, and useth it as his Master's goods and talents ; not
chiefly for himself, but for his Master's ends and will. God
appeareth to him in the creature, and is the life, and sweet-
ness, and glory of the creature to him. His first question in
every business he undertaketh, or every place or condition
that he chooseth is, how it conduceth to the pleasing of God,
and to his spiritual ends ; " whether he eateth or drinketh,
or whatever he doth, he doth all to the glory of God ; 1 Cor.
x. 31 . The posy engraven on his heart is the name of GOD,
with " OF HIM, AND THROUGH HIM, AND TO HIM
VOL. VIII. E E
418 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
ARE ALL THINGS, TO HIM BE GLORY FOR EVER,
AMEN;" Rom. xi. 36. He liveth as a steward that useth
not his own, though yet he have a sufficient reward for his
fidelity; and he keepeth accounts both of his receivings and
layings out, and reckoneth all to be worse than lost, which
he findeth not expended on his Lord's account. For him-
self he asketh not that which is sweetest to the flesh, but that
which is fittest to his end and work ; and therefore desireth
not riches (for himself) but his daily bread, and food conve-
nient for him; and having food and raiment is therewith
content, having taken godliness for his gain. He asketh
not for superfluity, nor for any thing to consume it on his
lusts, nor to become provision for his flesh, to satisfy the
wills thereof. But as a runner in his race desireth not any
provisions which may hinder him ; and therefore " forget-
ting the things which are behind (the world which he hath
turned his back upon,) he reacheth forth to the things which
are before, (the crown of glory,) and presseth toward the
mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Je-
sus ;" not turning an eye to any thing that would stop him
in his course. Thus while he is employed about things be-
low, his mind and conversation are heavenly and divine,
while all things are estimated and used purely for God and
heaven; Luke xvi. 1, 2. I Pet. iv. 10. Tit. i. 15. Prov.
xxx. 8. ITim.vi. 6. 8. James iv. 3. Rom. xiii. 14. Phil,
iii. 13—15.
2. But the weak Christian, though he have all this in de-
sire, and be thus affected and resolved in the main, and liv-
eth to God in the scope and course of his life, yet is too of-
ten looking aside, and valuing the creature carnally for it-
self; and ofttimes useth it for the pleasing of the flesh, and
almost like a common man ; his house, and land, and friends,
and pleasures, are relished too carnally, as his own accom-
modations ; and though he walk not after the flesh, but af-
ter the Spirit, yet he hath too much of the fleshly taste, and
is greatly out in his accounts with God ; and turneth many
a thing from his Master's use, to the service of the flesh ;
and though he be not as the slothful, wicked servant, yet is
it but little improvement that he maketh of his talent ; Matt,
xxv. 17 26—28.
3. But the seeming Christian being carnal and selfish,
while his notions and professions are spiritual and Divine,
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 419
and his selfish and fleshly interest being predominant, it
must needs follow that he estimateth all things principally
as they respect his fleshly interest, and useth them principal-
ly for his carnal self, even when in the manner he seemeth to
use them most religiously, (as I have said before ;) and so
to the defiled nothing is pure ; Rom. viii. 5 — 8. 13. Tit. i. 15.
XXII. 1. A Christian indeed hath a promptitude to
obey, and a ready compliance of his will to the will of God.
He hath not any great averseness and withdrawing, and doth
not the good which he doth with much backwardness and
striving against it ; but as in a well-ordered watch or clock,
the spring or poise doth easily set all the wheels a going, and
the first wheel easily moveth the rest ; so is the will of a con-
firmed Christian presently moved, as soon as he knoweth the
will of God. He stayeth not for other moving reasons ;
God's will is his reason. This is the habit of subjection
and obedience, which makes him say, " Speak, Lord, for thy
servant heareth ;" and " Lord, what wouldst thou have me
do ?" And " Teach me to do thy will, O God ;" Psal. cxliii.
10. 1 Sam iii. 10. Acts ix.6. " I delight to do thy will,
O God ; yea thy law is within my heart ;" Psal. xl.8. The
" law written in our heart," is nothing else but the know-
ledge of God's laws, with this habit or promptitude to obey
them ; the special fruit of the Spirit of grace.
2. But a weak Christian, though he love God's will and
way, and be sincerely obedient to him, yet in many particu-
lars, where his corruption contradicteth, hath a great deal
of backwardness and striving of the flesh against the Spirit ;
and there needs many words, and many considerations and
vehement persuasions, yea, and sharp afflictions, sometimes,
to bring him to obey. And he is fain to drive on his back-
ward heart, and hath frequent use for the rod and spur, and
therefore is more slow and uneven in his obedience ; Gal.
v. 17.
3. The seeming Christian is forward in those easy, cheap-
er parts of duty, which serve to delude his carnal heart, and
quiet him in a worldly life ; but he is so backward to tho-
rough sincere obedience in the most flesh-displeasing parts
of duty, that he is never brought to it at all ; but either he
will fit his opinions in religion to his will, and will not be-
lieve them to be duties, or else he will do something like
them in a superficial, formal way ; but the thing itself he
420 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
will not do. For he is more obedient to his carnal mind
and lusts than he is to God ; Rom. viii. 6, 7. and forwarder
much to sacrifice than obedience ; Eccles. v. 1.
XXIII. 1. A Christian indeed doth daily delight him-
self in God, and findeth more solid content and pleasure in
his commands and promises, than in all this world; his du-
ties are sweet to him, and his hopes are sweeter. Religion
is not a tiresome task to him ; the yoke of Christ is easy to
him, and his burden light, and his commandments are not
grievous; Psal. xxxvii.4. i. 2. xl. 8. xciv. 19. cxix. 16.
35. 47.70. Matt. xi. 28, 29. John v. 3. That which others
take as physic, for mere necessity, against their wills, he
goeth to as a feast, with appetite and delight ; he prayeth
because he loveth to pray; and he thinks and speaks of
holy things, because he loveth to do it. And hence it is
that he is so much in holy duty, and so unwearied, because
he loveth it, and taketh pleasure in it. As voluptuous per-
sons are oft and long at their sports, or merry company, be-
cause they love them, and take pleasure in them : so are
such Christians oft and long in holy exercises, because their
hearts are set upon them as their recreation, and the way and
means of their felicity. If it be a delight to a studious man
to read those books which most clearly open the abstrusest
mysteries of the sciences, or to converse with the most wise
and learned men ; and if it be a delight to men to converse
with their dearest friends, or to hear from them and read
their letters ; no marvel if it be a delight to a Christian in-
deed, to read the Gospel mysteries of love, and to find there
the promises of everlasting happiness, and to see in the face
of Jesus Christ the clearest image of the Eternal Deity, and
foresee the joys which he shall have for ever. He sticketh
not in superficial formality, but breaking the shell doth feed
upon the kernel. It is not bare external duty which he is
taken up with, nor any mere creature that is his content ;
but it is God in creatures and ordinances that he seeketh
and liveth upon ; and therefore it is that religion is so plea-
sant to him. He would not change his heavenly delights
which he findeth in the exercise of faith, and hope, and love
to God, for all the carnal pleasures of this world ; he had
rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God, than to dwell in
the tents or palaces of wickedness. A day in God's court is
better to him than a thousand in the court of the greatest
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 421
prince on earth. He is not a stranger to " the joy in the
Holy Ghost," in which the kingdom of God doth in part
consist; Rom. xiv. 17. Psal. lxxxiv. 10. 2. lxv.4. "In
the multitude of his thoughts within him, the comforts of
God do delight his soul ;" Psal. xciv. 19. " His meditation
of God is sweet, and he is glad in the Lord ;" Psal. civ. 34.
The freest and sweetest of his thoughts and words run out
upon God and the matters of salvation. The word of God
is sweeter to him than honey, and better than thousands of
gold and silver; Psal. xix. 10. cxix. 72. 103. Prov. xvi.
24. And because " his delight is in the law of the Lord,
therefore doth he meditate in it day and night ;" Psal. i. 2.
He seeth great reason for all those commands, " Rejoice
evermore ;" (1 Thess. v. 16.) " Let the righteous be glad, let
them rejoice before God, yea, let them exceedingly rejoice ;"
(Psal. lxviii.3,4. lxiv. 10. xxxi. 1. xxxii. 11.) " Be glad
in the Lord and rejoice, ye righteous ; and shout for joy all
that are upright-in heart." He is sorry for the poor, un-
happy world, that have no better things than meat, and
drink, and clothes, and house, and land, and money, and
lust, and play, and domineering over others, to rejoice in :
and heartily he wisheth that they had but a taste of the
saint's delights, that it might make them spit out their lus-
cious, unclean, unwholesome pleasures. One look to Christ,
one promise of the Gospel, one serious thought of the life
which he must live with God for ever, doth afford his soul
more solid comfort than all the kingdoms of the earth can
afford. And though he live not continually in these high
delights, yet peace with God, and peace of conscience, and
some delight in God and godliness, is the ordinary tempera-
ture of his soul, and higher degrees are given him in season
for his cordials and his feasts.
2. But the weak Christian hath little of these spiritual
delights ; his ordinary temper is to apprehend that God and
his ways are indeed most delectable ; his very heart acknow-
ledged that they are worthiest and fittest to be the matter
of his delights : and if he could attain assurance of his es-
pecial interest in the love of God, and his part in Christ and
life eternal, he would then rejoice in them indeed, and would
be more glad than if he were Lord of all the world ; but in
the meantime, either his fears and doubts are damping his
delights ; or else (which is much worse) his appetite is dull
422 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
and God and holiness relish not with him half so sweetly, as
they do with the confirmed Christian ; and he is too busy in
tasting of fleshly and forbidden pleasures, which yet more
deprave his appetite, and dull his desires to the things of
God ; so that though in his estimation, choice, resolution
and endeavour, he much preferreth God before the world ;
yet as to any delightful sweetness in him, it is but little that
he tasteth. He loveth God with a desiring love, and with a
seeking love, but with very little of a delighting love. The
remnant of corrupt and alien affections do weaken his affec-
tions to the things above ; and his infant measure of spiri-
tual life, conjunct with many troublesome diseases, allow him
very little of the joy of the Holy Ghost. Nay, perhaps he
hath more grief, and fear, and doubts, and trouble, and per-
plexity of mind, than ever he had before he turned unto
God, and perhaps he hath yet less pleasure in God, than he
had before in sin and sensuality : because he had his sin in
a state of fruition, but he hath God only in a seeking, hoping
state ; he hath the best of sin, and all that ever it will afford
him ; but he hath yet none of the full felicity which he ex-
pecteth in God : the fruition of him is yet but in the pros-
pect of hope. His sensual, sinful life was in its maturity,
and the object present in its most alluring state ; but his
spiritual life of faith and love, is but yet in its weak begin-
nings, and the object absent from our sight: he is so busy
at first in blowing up his little spark, not knowing whether
the fire will kindle or go out, that he hath little of the use
or pleasure, either of its light or warmth. Infants come
crying into the world, and afterwards oftener cry than laugh ;
their senses and reason are not yet perfected, or exercised
to partake of the pleasures of life : and when they do come
to know what a laughter is, they will laugh and cry almost
in a breath. And those weak Christians that do come to
taste of joy and pleasure in their religious state, it is com-
monly but as a flash of lightning, which leaveth them as
dark as they were before. Sometimes in the beginning,
upon their first apprehensions of the love of God in Christ,
and of the pardon of their sins, and the privileges of their
new condition, and the hopes of everlasting joy, their hearts
are transported with unspeakable delight ; which is partly
from the newness of the thing, and partly because God will
let them have some encouraging taste, to draw them further,
. CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 423
and to convince them of the difference between the pleasures
of sin, and the comforts of believing ; but these first rejoic-
ings soon abate, and turn into a life of doubts, and fears, and
griefs, and care, till they are grown to greater understanding,
experience, and settledness in the things of God ; the root
must grow greater and deeper, before it will bear a greater
top. Those Christians that in the weakness of grace have
frequent joys, are usually persons whose weak and passionate
nature doth occasion it: (some women especially) that have
strong fancies and passions are always passionately affected
with whatsoever they apprehend. And these are like a ship
that is tossed in a tempest ; that is one while lifted up as to
the clouds, and presently cast down as into an infernal gulf:
there one day in great joy, and quickly after in as great per-
plexity and sorrow, because their comforts or sorrows do
follow their present feeling, or mutable apprehensions. But
when they come to be confirmed Christians, they will keep
a more constant judgment of themselves, and their own con-
dition, and constantly see their grounds of comfort ; and
when they cannot raise their souls to any high and passion-
ate joys, they yet walk in a settled peace of soul, and in
such competent comforts, as make their lives to be easy and
delightful ; being well pleased and contented with the happy
condition that Christ hath brought them to, and thankful
that he left them not in those foolish, vain, pernicious plea-
sures, which were the way to endless sorrows.
3. But the seeming Christian seeketh and taketh up his
chief contentment in some carnal thing : if he be so poor and
miserable as to have nothing in possession that can much
delight him, he will hope for better days hereafter, and that
hope shall be his chief delight ; or if he have no such hope
he will be without delight, and shew his love to the world
and flesh, by mourning for that which be cannot have, as
others do in rejoicing in what they do possess ; and he will,
in such a desperate case of misery, be such to the world as
the weak Christian is to God, who hath a mourning and de-
siring love, when he cannot reach to an enjoying and de-
lighting love. His carnal mind most savoureth the things
of the flesh, and therefore in them he findeth or seeketh his
delights. Though yet he may have also a delight in his su-
perficial kind of religion, his hearing, and reading, and pray-
ing, and in his ill-grounded hopes of life eternal : but all this
4*24 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
is but subordinate to his chief, earthly pleasure ; " Yet
they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a na-
tion that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinances
of their God ; they ask of me the ordinances of j ustice ; they
take delight in approaching unto God." Isa. lviii. 2. And
yet all this was subjected to a covetous, oppressing mind.
" He that received the seed into stony places, the same is he
that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it, yet
hath he not root in himself, but endureth for a while, for when
tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by
and by he is offended ;" Matt. xiii. 20. Whereby it appear-
eth that his love to the word, was subjected to his love to
the world.
Object. ' But there are two sorts of people that seem to
have no fleshly delights at all, and yet are not in the way to
salvation, viz. the Quakers and Behmenists that live in great
austerity, and some of the religious orders of the Papists,
who afflict their flesh.'
Answ. Some of them undergo their fastings and penance
for a day, that they may sin the more quietly all the week
after ; and some of them proudly comfort themselves with
the fancies and conceit of being and appearing more excel-
lent in austerity than others ; and all these take up with a
carnal sort of pleasure. As proud persons are pleased with
their own, or other's conceits of their beauty, or wit, or
worldly greatness ; so prouder persons are pleased with their
own and other's conceits of their holiness. And " verily
they have their reward;" Matt. vi. 2. But those of them
that place their chief happiness in the love of God, and the
eternal fruition of him in heaven, and seek this sincerely
according to their helps and power, though they are misled
into some superstitious errors, I hope I may number with
those that are sincere ; for all their errors and the ill effects
of them.
XXIV. 1. A confirmed Christian doth ordinarily discern
the sincerity of his own heart, and consequently hath some
well-grounded assurance of the pardon of his sins, and of
the favour of God, and of his everlasting happiness ; and
therefore no wonder if he live a peaceable and joyful life.
For his grace is not so small as to be undiscernible, nor is it
as a sleepy, buried seed or principle ; but it is almost of con-
tinual act; and they that have a great degree of grace,
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 425
also keep it in lively exercise, do seldom doubt of it. Be-
sides that they blot not their evidence by so many infirmi-
ties and falls. They are more in the light, and have more
acquaintance with themselves, and more sense of the abun-
dant love of God, and of his exceeding mercies, than weak
Christians have ; and therefore must needs have more assu-
rance. They have boldness of access to the throne of grace,
without unreverent contempt ; Ephes. iii. 12. ii. 18. They
have more of the spirit of adoption, and therefore more child-
like confidence in God, and can call him Father with greater
freedom and comfort than any others can ; Rom. viii. 15, 16.
Gal. iv. 6. Ephes. i. 6. 1 John v. 19,20. " And we know
that we are of God, and that the whole world lieth in
wickedness :" &c.
2. But the weak Christian hath so small a degree of
grace, and so much corruption, and his grace is so little in
act, and his sin so much, that he seldom if ever attaineth to
any "well-grounded assurance, till he attain to a greater mea-
sure of grace. He differeth so little from the seeming Chris-
tian, that neither himself nor others do certainly discern the
difference. When he searcheth after the truth of his faith,
and love, and heavenlymindedness, he findeth so much un-
belief and averseness from God, and earthlymindedness, that
he cannot be certain which of them is predominant; and
whether the interest of this world or that to come, do bear
the sway. So that he is often in perplexities and fears, and
more often in a dull uncertainty. And if he seem at any time
to have assurance, it is usually but an ill-grounded persua-
sion of the truth ; though it be true which he apprehendeth,
when he taketh himself to be the child of God, yet it is upon
unsound reasons that he judgeth so, or else upon sound rea-
sons weakly and uncertainly discerned ; so that there is com-
monly much of security, presumption, fancy, or mistake, in
his greatest comforts. He is not yet in a condition fit for
full assurance, till his love and obedience be more full.
3. But the seeming Christian cannot possibly in that
estate, have either certainty, or good probability that he is
a child of God, because it is not true : his seeming certainty
is merely self-deceit, and his greatest confidence is but pre-
sumption, because the spirit of Christ is not within him, and
therefore he is certainly none of his ; Rom. viii. 9.
XXV. 1. The assurance of a confirmed Christian doth
42(> CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
increase his alacrity and diligence in duty, and is always
seen in his more obedient, holy, fruitful life. The sense of
the love and mercy of God, is as the rain upon the tender
grass : he is never so fruitful, so thankful, so heavenly, as
when he hath the greatest certainty that he shall be saved.
The love of God is then shed abroad upon his heart by the
Holy Ghost, which maketh him abound in love to God ;
Rom. v. 1—4. He is the more stedfast, immoveable, and
always abounding in the work of the Lord, when he is most
certain that his labour shall not be in vain in the Lord ;
1 Cor. xv. 58.
2. But the weak Christian is unfit yet to manage assu-
rance well, and therefore it is that it is not given him ; graces
must grow proportionably together. If he be but confidently
persuaded that he is justified and shall be saved, he is very
apt to gather some consequence from it, that tendeth to se-
curity and to the remitting of his watchfulness and care. He
is ready to be the bolder with sin, and stretch his conscience,
and omit some duties, and take more fleshly liberty and
ease, and think, ' Now I am a child of God, I am out of dan-
ger, I am sure I cannot totally fall away.' And though his
judgment conclude not, * therefore I may venture further
upon worldly, fleshly pleasures, and need not be so strict
and diligent as I was,' yet his heart and practice thus con-
clude. And he is most obedient when he is most in fear of
hell, and he is worst in his heart and life, when he is most
confident that all his danger is past; Heb. iv. 1, 2. iii.
14—16.
3. But the seeming Christian, though he have no assu-
rance, is hardened in his carnal state by his presumption.
Had he but assurance to be saved without a holy life, he
would cast off that very image of godliness which he yet re-
taineth. The conceit of his own sincerity and salvation, is
that which deludeth and undoeth him. What sin would not
gain, or pleasure draw him to commit, if he were but sure
to be forgiven? It is fear of hell thatcauseth that seeming
religion which he hath ; and therefore if that fear be gone
all is gone; and all his piety, and diligence, and righteous-
ness, is come to nought ; Gal. vi. 3. John viii. 39. 42. 44.
XXVI. 1. For all his assurance, a confirmed Christian is
so well acquainted with his manifold imperfections, and dai-
ly failings, and great unwor^hiness, that he is very low and
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 427
vile in his own eyes ; and, therefore, can easily endure to be
low and vile in the eyes of others. He hath a constant sense
of the burden of his remaining sin ; especially he doth even
abhor himself, when he findeth the averseness of his own
heart to God, and how little he knoweth of him, and how
little he loveth him, in comparison of what he ought ; and
how little of heaven is upon his heart, and how strange and
backward his thoughts are to the life to come. These are
as fetters upon his soul. He daily groaneth under them as
a captive, that he should be yet so carnal, and unable to
shake off the remnant of his infirmities, as if he were sold
under sin ; that is, in bondage to it ; Rom. vii. 14. He hat-
eth himself more for the imperfections of his love and obe-
dience to God, than hypocrites do for their reigning sin.
And O how he longeth for the day of his deliverance ; Rom.
vii. 24. He thinketh it no great injury for another to judge
of him as he judgeth of himself, even to be less than the
least of all God's mercies. He is more troubled for being
overpraised and overvalued, than for being dispraised and
vilified ; as thinking those that praise him are more mistaken,
and lay the more dangerous snare for his soul. For he hath
a special antipathy to pride ; and wondereth that any ratio-
nal man can be so blind as not to see enough to humble
him. For his own part (in the midst of all God's graces) he
seeth in himself so much darkness, imperfection, corruption,
and want of further grace, that he is loathsome and burden-
some continually to himself. If you see him sad, or trou-
bled, and ask him the cause, it is ten to one but it is him-
self that he complaineth of. The frowardest wife, the most
undutiful child, the most disobedient servant, the most in-
jurious neighbour, the most malicious enemy, is not half so
great a trouble to him as he is to himself. He prayeth
abundantly more against his own corruption, than against
any of these. O could he but know and love God more,
and be more in heaven, and willinger to die, and freer from
his own distempers, how easily could he bear all crosses, or
injuries from others. He came to Christ's school as a little
child (Matt, xviii. 3.), and still he is little in his own esteem ;
and, therefore, disesteem and contempt from others, is no
great matter with him. He thinks it can be no great wrong
that is done against so poor a worm, and so unworthy a
sinner as himself, (except as God or the souls of men may
428 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
be interested in the cause). He heartily approveth of the
justice of God, in abhoring the proud ; and hath learned -
that, Rom. xii. 10., " in honour preferring one another," and
Gal. v. 26. " Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provok-
ing one another, envying one another."
2. But the remnant of pride is usually the most notable
sin of the weak Christian; though it reigneth not, it foully
blemisheth him : he would fain be taken for somebody in
the church ; he is ready to step up into a higher room, and
to think himself wiser and better than he is. If he can but
speak confidently of the principles of religion, and some
few controversies which he hath made himself sick with,
he is ready to think himself fit to be a preacher. He look-
eth through a magnifying-glass upon all his own perform-
ances and gifts ; heloveth to be valued and praised ; he can
hardly bear to be slighted and dispraised, but is ready to
think hardly of those that do it, if not to hate them in some
degree : he loveth not to be found fault with, though it be
necessary to his amendment ; and though all this vice of
pride be not so predominant in him, as to conquer his hu-
mility, yet doth it much obscure and interrupt it. And
though he hate this his pride, and strive against it, and la-
menteth it before God, yet still it is the sorest ulcer in his
soul. And should it prevail and overcome him, he would
be abhorred of God, and it would be his ruin ; 2 Chron. xvi.
10.12. Luke xxii. 24— 26.
3. But in the hypocrite pride is the reigning sin. The
praise of men is the air which he liveth in. He was never
well acquainted with himself; and never felt aright the bur-
den of his sins and wants ; and, therefore, cannot bear con-
tempt from others. Indeed, if his corrupt disposition turn
most to the way of covetousness, tyranny, or lust, he can
the easier bear contempt from others, as long as he hath his
will at home ; and he can spare their love, if he can be but
feared and domineer. But still his pride is predominant ;
and when it affecteth not much the reputation of goodness,
it affecteth the name of being rich or great. Sin may make
him sordid, but grace doth not make him humble. Pride is
the vital spirit of the corrupted state of man.
XXVII. 1. A confirmed Christian is acquainted with
the deceitfulness of man's heart, and the particular corrupt
inclinations that are in it ; and especially with his own ; and
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 429
he is acquainted with the wiles and methods of the tempter,
and what are the materials which he maketh his baits of,
and what is the manner in which he spreadeth his nets. He
seeth always some snares before him ; and what company
soever he is in, or what business soever he is about, he walk-
eth as among snares, which are visible to his sight ; and it
is part of his business continually to avoid them. He liveth
in a continual watch and warfare. He can resist much strong-
er and more subtle temptations than the weak can do. He
is always armed, and knoweth what are the special remedies
against each particular snare and sin ; Eph. vi. 2 Cor. ii. 11.
Prov. i. 17. And he carrieth always his antidotes about
him, as one that liveth in an infectious world, and in the
midst of a froward, and perverse generation, from which he
is charged to save himself; Phil. ii. 15. Acts ii. 40.
2. And the weak Christian is a soldier in the army of
Christ, and is engaged in striving against sin (Heb. xii. 4.) ;
and really taketh the flesh and world, as well as the devil, to
be his enemies, and doth not only strive, but conquer in the
main ; but yet, alas, how poorly is he armed : how unskilful
doth he manage his Christian armour : how often is he foiled
and wounded : how many a temptation is he much unacquaint-
ed with : and how many a snare doth lie before him which
he never did observe. And oft he is overcome in particular-
temptations, when he never perceiveth it, but thinks that he
hath conquered.
3. But the hypocrite is fast ensnared when he glorieth
most of his integrity, and is deceived by his own heart, and
thinketh he is something, when he is nothing; Gal.vi.3.
Luke xviii.20 — 23. When he is thanking God that he is
not as other men, he is rejoicing in his dreams, and sacrific-
ing for the victory which he never obtained ; ver. 11.
He is led by satan captive at his will, when he is boasting of
his uprightness, and hath a beam of covetousness, or pride,
or cruelty in his own eye, while he is reviling, or censuring
another for the mote of some difference about a ceremony,
or tolerable opinion. And usually such grow worse and
worse, deceiving and being deceived; Matt. vii. 3 — 5.
2 Tim. iii. 13.
XXVIII. 1. A Christian indeed, is one that hath deli-
berately counted what it may cost him to follow Christ, and
to save his soul ; and knowing that suffering with Christ is
430 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
the way to our reigning with him, he hath fully consented to
the terms of Christ. He hath read Luke xiv. 26, 27. 33. and
findeth that bearing the cross and forsaking all, is necessary
to those that will be Christ's disciples. And accordingly in
resolution he hath forsaken all; and looketh not for a smooth
and easy way to heaven. He considereth that " all that will
live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution," and
that " through many tribulations we must enter into heaven."
And, therefore, he taketh it not for a strange or unexpected
thing, if the fiery trial come upon him. He doth not won-
der at the unrighteousness of the world, as if he expected
reason or honesty, justice or truth, or mercy in the enemies
of Christ, and the instruments of satan : he will not bring
his action against the devil, for unjustly afflicting him: he
will rather turn the other cheek to him that smiteth him,
than he will hinder the good of any soul by seeking right ;
much less will he exercise unjust revenge. Though where
government is exercised for truth and righteousness, he will
not refuse to make use of the justice of it to punish iniqui-
ty, and discourage evil doers, yet this is for God and the com-
mon good, and for the suppression of sin, much more than
for himself. Suffering doth not surprise him as a thing un-
looked for : he hath been long preparing for it, and it findeth
him garrisoned in the love of Christ. Yea, though his flesh
will be as the flesh of others, sensible of the smart, and his
mind is not senseless of the sufferings of his body, yet it is
some pleasure and satisfaction to his soul, to find himself in
the common way to heaven, and to see the predictions of
Christ fulfilled, and to feel himself so far conform to Jesus
Christ his head, and to trace the footsteps of a humbled
Redeemer in the way before him. As "Christ hath suffered
for us in the flesh, so doth the Christian arm himself with
the same mind;" 1 Pet. iv. 1. "He rejoiceth that he is
made partaker of the sufferings of Christ, that when his glo-
ry shall be revealed, he may also be partaker of the exceed-
ing joy ;" ver. 12, 13. Yea, he taketh the reproach of
Christ for a treasure, yea, a greater treasure than riches, or
men's favours can afford ; Heb. xi. 25, 26. For he knoweth
if he be reproached for the name or sake of Christ he is hap-
py. For thereby he glorifieth that God, whom the enemy
doth blaspheme, and so the Spirit of God and of glory rest-
eth on him ; 1 Pet. iv. 14. He liveth and suffereth as one
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 431
that from his heart believeth, that " they are blessed that
are persecuted for righteousness sake, for great is their re-
ward in heaven. And they are blessed when men shall re
vile them and persecute them, and say all manner of evil
against them falsely for Christ's sake." In this they " re-
joice and are exceeding glad," as knowing that herein they
are " followers of them who through faith and patience in-
herit the promise ;" Matt. v. 10— 12. Heb. vi. 12. If he
be " offered upon the sacrifice and service of the faith of
God's elect, he can rejoice in it as having greater good than
evil ; Phil.ii. 17. He can suffer the loss of all things, and
account them dung, that he may " win Christ, and be found
in him, and know him, and the power of his resurrection,
and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conforma-
ble to his death ;" Phil. iii. 8 — 10. Not out of surliness and
pride doth he rejoice in sufferings, as some do, that they
may carry the reputation of holy and undaunted men ; and
seem to be far better, and more constant than others. When
pride maketh men suffer, they are partly the devil's martyrs
though the cause be never so good. Though it is much more
ordinary for pride to make men suffer rejoicingly in an ill
cause than in a good ; the devil having more power on his
own ground than on Christ's. Bu» it is the love of Christ,
and the belief of the reward, and the humble neglect of the
mortified flesh, and the contempt of the conquered world,
that maketh the Christian suffer with so much joy ; for he
seeth that the Judge is at the door, and what torments the
wicked are preparing for themselves ; and that as certainly
as there is a God that governeth the world, and that in righ-
teousness, so certainly are his eyes upon the righteous, and
his face is set against them that do evil (1 Pet. iii. 12), and
though " sinners do evil a hundred times," and escape un-
punished till their days be prolonged, yet vengeance will
overtake them in due time, and it shall be well with them
that fear the Lord ; and that he keepeth all the tears of his
servants till the reckoning day. And if "judgment begin at
the house of God, and the righteous be saved through so
much suffering and labour, what then shall be their end, that
obey not the Gospel ? and where shall the ungodly and sin-
ner appear?" 1 Pet. iv. 17, 18. Eccles. viii. 12. Prov. xi. 31.
xiii.6. Psal. lvi. 8. Deut. xxxii.35. James v. 9.
2. And the weak Christian is one that will forsake all for
432 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
the sake of Christ, and suffer with him that he may be glori-
fied with him ; and will take his treasure in heaven for all ;
Luke xiv. 26, 33. xviii. 22. But he doth it not with that ea-
siness, and alacrity, and joy, as the confirmed Christian doth.
He hearkens more to the flesh, which saith, ' favour thyself.'
Suffering is much more grievous to him ; and sometimes he
is wavering before he can bring himself fully to resolve, and
let go all ; Matt. xvi. 22.
3. But the seeming Christian looketh not for much suf-
fering : he reads of it in the Gospel, but he saw no probabi-
lity of it, and never believed that he should be called to it
in any notable degree : he thought it probable that he might
well escape it, and therefore, though he agreed verbally to
take Christ for better and worse, and to follow him through
sufferings, he thought he would never put him to it. And
indeed his heart is secretly resolved, that he will never be
undone in the world for Christ. Some reparable loss he may
undergo, but he will not let go life and all. He will still be
religious and hope for heaven ; but he will make himself be-
lieve (and others if he can) that the truth lieth on the safer
side, and not on the suffering side ; and that it is but for
their own conceits, and scrupulosity, that other men suffer
who go beyond him ; and that many good men are of his
opinion, and therefore he may be good also in the same opi-
nion (though he would never have been of that opinion, if
it had not been necessary to his escaping of sufferings) what
flourish soever he maketh for a time, " when persecution
ariseth he is offended and withereth;" Matt. xiii. 21. 26.
Unless he be so deeply engaged among the suffering party,
that he cannot come off without perpetual reproach ; and
then perhaps pride will make him suffer more than the be-
lief of heaven, or the love of Christ could do. And all this
is, because his very belief is unrooted, and unsound, and he
hath secretly at the heart a fear, that if he should suffer death
for Christ, he should be a loser by him, and he would not
reward him according to his promise, with everlasting life ;
Heb.iii.12.
XXIX. 1. A Christian indeed is one that followeth not
Christ for company, nor holdeth his belief in trust upon the
credit of any in the world, and therefore he would stick to
Christ, if all that he knoweth or converseth with should for-
sake him. If the rulers of the earth should change their
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN^. 433
religion, and turn against Christ, he would not forsake him*
If the multitude of the people turn against him ; nay, if the
professors of godliness should fall off, yet would he stand
his ground and be still the same. If the most learned men,
and the pastors of the church should turn from Christ, he
would not forsake him. Yea, if his nearest relations and
friends, or even that minister that was the means of his con-
version, should change their minds, and forsake the truth,
and turn from Christ, or a holy life, he would yet be con-
stant, and be still the same. And what Peter resolved on,
he would truly practise : " Though all men should be of-
fended because of thee, yet would not I be offended.
Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee ;"
Matt. xxvi. 33. 35. And if he thought himself, as Elias did,
left alone, yet would he not bow the knee to Baal ; Rom.
xi. 3. If he hear that this eminent minister falleth off one
day, and the other another day, till all be gone, yet still the
foundation of God standeth sure ; he falleth not because he
is built upon the rock ; Matt. vii. 22, 23. His heart saith,
' Alas, whither shall I go, if I go from Christ ? Is there
any other that hath the word and Spirit of eternal life ? Can
I be a gainer if I lose my soul V John vi. 67, 68. Matt. xvi.
26. He useth his teachers to bring him that light and evi-
dence of truth, which dwelleth in him when they are gone :
and, therefore, though they fall away, he falleth not with
them.
2. And the weakest Christian believeth with a divine
faith of his own, and dependeth more on God than man :
but yet if he should be put to so great a trial, as to see all
the pastors and Christians that he knoweth, change their
minds, I know not what he would do : for though God will
uphold all his own, whom he will save, yet he doth it by
means and outward helps, together with his internal grace ;
and keepeth them from temptations, when he will deliver
them from the evil ; and therefore it is a doubt, whether
there be not degrees of grace so weak, as would fail, in case
the strongest temptations were permitted to assault them.
A strong man can stand and go of himself, but an infant
must be carried ; and the lame and sick must have others to
support them. The weak Christian falleth, if his teacher or
most esteemed company fall : if they run into an error, sect
VOL VIII. F F
434 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
or schism, he keeps them company. He groweth cold, if he
have not warming company : he forge tteth himself, and let-
teth loose his sense and passion, if he have not some to
watch over him and warn him. No man should refuse the
help of others, that can have it ; and the best have need of
all God's means : but the weak Christian needeth them
much more than the strong, and is much less able to stand
without them; Lukexxii.32. Gal.ii. 11 — 14.
3. But the seeming Christian is built upon the sand, and
therefore cannot stand a storm ; he is a Christian more for
company, or the credit of man, or the interest that others
have in him, or the encouragement of the times, than from a
firm belief and love of Christ, and therefore falleth when his
props are gone ; Matt. vii. 24.
XXX. 1. A strong Christian can digest the hardest
truths, and the hardest works of Providence : he seeth more
of the reason and evidence of truths than others ; and he
hath usually a more comprehensive knowledge, and can re-
concile those truths which short-sighted persons suspect to
be inconsistent and contradictory, and when he cannot re-
concile them, he knoweth they are reconcilable : for he hath
laid his foundation well, and then he reduceth other truths
to that, and buildeth them on it : and so he doth by the
hardest providences : whoever is high or low, whoever pros-
pereth or is afflicted, however human affairs are carried, and
all things seem to go against the church and cause of Christ,
he knoweth yet that God is good to Israel, (Psal. lxxiii. 1, 2.)
and that he is the " righteous Judge of all the earth ;" and
that the " righteous shall have dominion in the morning,"
and "it shall go well with them that fear the Lord ;" for he
goeth into the sanctuary, and foreseeth the end ; Eccles. viii.
11—13. Psal. lxxiii. 17. cxv.11.13. xxxi. 19.
2. But the weak Christian is very hard put to it, when
he meeteth with difficult passages of Scripture, and when
he seeth it " go with the righteous according to the work of
the wicked, and with the wicked according to the work of
the righteous ;" Eccles. viii. 14. Though he is not over-
turned by such difficulties, yet his foot is ready to slip, and
he digesteth them with much perplexity and trouble.
3. But the seeming, unsettled Christian is often over-
come by them, and turneth away from Christ, and saith,
' These are hard sayings, or hard providences, who can bear
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 435
them;' John vi. 60. 66. And thus unbelief thenoe gathereth
matter for its increase.
XXXI. 1. A Christian indeed is one that can exercise
all God's graces in conjunction, and in their proper places
and proportion, without setting one against another, or neg-
lecting one while he is exercising another. He can be hum-
bled without hindering his thankfulness and joy ; and he
can be thankful and joyful without hindering his due humi-
lity : his knowledge doth not destroy, but quicken his zeal :
his wisdom hindereth not, but furthereth his innocency : his
faith is a help to his repentance, and his repentance to his
faith : his love to himself doth not hinder, but help his love
to others ; and his love to God is the end of both. He can
mourn for the sins of the times, and the calamities of the
church, yea, for his own sins and imperfections, and yet re-
joice for the mercies which he hath in possession or in hope.
He findeth that piety and charity are necessarily conjunct;
and every grace and duty is a help to all the rest. Yea, he
can exercise his graces methodically, which is the comeli-
ness and beauty of his heart and life ; 1 Thess. v. 12, 13.
16—21. lPet.ii.17.
2. But the weak Christian, though he have every grace,
and his obedience is universal, yet can he hardly set himself
to any duty, but it hindereth him from some other duty,
through the narrowness and weakness of his mind. When
he is humbling himself in confession of sin, he can scarce
be lively in thankfulness for mercy: when he rejoiceth, it
hindereth his humiliation; he can hardly do one duty with-
out omitting or hindering another: he is either all for joy
or all for sorrow ; all for love or all for fear ; and cannot well
do many things at once, but is apt to separate the truths
and duties which God hath inseparably conjoined.
3. And for the seeming Christian, he exerciseth no grace
in sincerity, nor is he universal in his obedience to God ;
though he may have the image of every grace and duty.
XXXII. 1. A Christian indeed is more in getting and
using his graces, than in inquiring whether he have them :
he is very desirous to be assured that he is sincere, but he
is more desirous to be so : and he knoweth that even assu-
rance is got more by the exercise and increase of grace, than
by bare inquiry whether we have it already : not that he is
a neglecter of self-examination, but he oftener asketh,
436 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
'What shall I do to be saved?' than, 'How shall I know
that I shall be saved ?'
2. But the weak Christian hath more of self, and less of
God in his solicitude : and though he be willing to obey the
whole law of Christ, yet he is much more solicitous to know
that he is out of danger, and shall be saved, than to be fully
pleasing unto God ; and therefore proportionably/he is more
in inquiring by what marks he may know that he shall be
saved, than by what means he may attain more holiness, and
what diligence is necessary to his salvation.
3. But the seeming Christian is most careful how to
prosper in the world, or please his flesh : and next, how he
may be sure to escape damnation when he hath done ; and
least of all, how he may conform to Christ in holiness.
XXXIII. 1. A Christian indeed doth study duty more
than events ; and is more careful what he shall be towards
God, than what he shall have from God in this life. He
looketh to his own part more than unto God's, as knowing
that it is he that is like to fail ; but God will never fail of
his part : he is much more suspicious of himself than of God ;
and when any thing goeth amiss, he blameth himself, and
not God's providence : he knoweth that the hairs of his
head are numbered, and that his Father knoweth what he
needeth ; and that God is infinitely wiser, and fitter to dis-
pose of him, than he is to choose for himself, and that God
loveth him better than he can love himself ; and therefore
he thankfully accepteth that easy, indulgent command,
" Cast all your care on him, for he careth for you. Take
no thought what you shall eat or drink, or wherewith you
shall be clothed ;" Heb. xii. 15. xiii. v. Job i. 11, 22. Matt.
x.30. vi. 25.31,32. 1 Pet. v. 7.
2. But alas ! how guilty is the weak Christian of med-
dling with God's part of the work ! How sinfully careful
what will become of him, and of his family, and affairs, and
of the church, as if he were afraid lest God would prove
forgetful, unfaithful, or insufficient for his work ! So im-
perfect is his trust in God.
3. And the seeming Christian really trusteth him not at
all, for any thing that he can trust himself or the creature
for ; he will have two strings to his bow if he can ; but it is
in man that he placeth his greatest trust for any thing that
man can do. Indeed to save his soul he knoweth none but
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 437
God is to be trusted, and therefore his life is still preferred
before his soul; and consequently man whom he trusteth
most with his life and prosperity, is really trusted before
God, however God may have the name ; Jer. xvii. 5. 7.
Psal. xxxiv. 8. xx. 7. xxxiv. 22. xxxvii.3.
XXXIV. 1. A Christian indeed is much more studious
of his own duty towards others, than of theirs to him ; he
is much more fearful of doing wrong, than of receiving
wrong : he is more troubled if he say ill of others, than if
others speak ill of him : he had far rather be slandered him-
self, than slander others ; or be censured himself, than cen-
sure others ; or be unjustly hurt himself, than unjustly hurt
another ; or to be put out of his own possessions or right,
than to put another out of his ; he is oftener and sharper in
judging and reproving himself than others ; he falleth out
with himself more frequently than with others ; and is more
troubled with himself than with all the world besides ; he
taketh himself for his greatest enemy, and knoweth that his
danger is most at home ; and that if he can escape but from
himself, no one in earth or hell can undo him ; he is more
careful of his duty to his prince, his parents, his pastor, or
his master, than of theirs to him ; he is much more unwil-
ling to be disobedient to them in any lawful thing, or to dis-
honour them, than to be oppressed, or unjustly afflicted, or
abused by them. And all this is, because he knoweth that
sin is worse than present suffering ; and that he is not to an-
swer for other men's sins, but for his own ; nor shall he be
condemned for the sins of any but himself; and that many
millions are condemned for wronging others, but no one for
being wronged by others ; 1 Pet. iv. 12 — 16. Matt. v. 10 — 12.
IPet.ii. 13. 15—17.
2. And the weak Christian is of the same mind in the
main; but with so much imperfection, that he is much more
frequent in censuring others, and complaining of their
wrongs, and rinding fault with them, and aggravating all
that is said or done against himself, when he is hardly made
so sensible of as great miscarriages in himself, as having
much more uncharitableness, partiality, and selfishness, than
a confirmed Christian hath. There are few things which
weakness of grace doth more ordinarily appear in, than this
partiality and selfishness, in judging of the faults or duties
of others, and of his own. How apt are (not only hypocrites,
438 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
but) weak Christians, to aggravate all that is done against
them ; and to extenuate or justify all that they do against
another. O what a noise they make of it, if they think that
any one hath wronged them, defamed them, disparaged
them, or encroached on their right. If God himself be blas-
phemed or abused, they can more patiently bear it, and
make not so great a matter of it. Who heareth of such an-
gry complaints on God's behalf, as on men's own? Of such
passionate invectives, such sharp prosecutions, against those
that wrong both God and men's souls, as against those that
wrong a selfish person. (And usually every man seeraeth
to wrong him, who keepeth from him any thing which he
would have, or saith any thing of him which is displeasing
to him.) Go to the assizes and courts of justice ; look into
the prisons, and inquire whether it be zeal for God, or for
men's selves, which is the plaintiff and prosecutor ? and
whether it be for wronging God or them, that all the stir is
made ? Men are ready to say, God is sufficient to right him-
self. As if he were not the Original and the End of laws
and government, and magistrates were not his officers, to
promote obedience to him in the world.
At this time how universal is men's complaint against
their governors ! how common are the cries of the poor and
sufferers, of the greatness of their burdens, miseries, and
wants. But how few lament the sins against government,
which this land hath been sadly guilty of! The pastors
complain of the people's contempt : the people complain of
the pastor's insufficiency and lives. The master complain-
eth how hard it is to get good servants, that will mind their
business and profit as if it were their own : servants com-
plaining of their masters for over labouring them or using
them too hardly. Landlords say that their tenants cheat
them : and tenants say that their landlords oppress and
grind them. But if you were Christians indeed, the most
common and sad complaints would be against yourselves.
* I am not so good a ruler, so peaceable a subject, so good a
landlord, so good a tenant, so good a master, so good a ser-
vant, as I ought to be.' Your ruler's sin, your subject's sin,
your landlord's sin, your tenant's sin, your master's sin, your
servant's sin, shall not be charged upon you in judgment,
nor condemn you, but your own sin. How much more, there-
fore, should you complain of your own, than of theirs ?
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 439
3. As for the seeming Christian, I have told you already,
that selfishness is his nature and predominant constitution ;
and according to self-interest, he judgeth of almost all
things ; of the faults and duties of others and himself. And
therefore no man seemeth honest or innocent to him who
displeaseth him, and is against his worldly interest. Cross
him about mine and thine, and he will beknave the honest-
est man alive, and call his ancient friend his enemy. But of
his dealings with them, he is not so scrupulous, nor so cen-
sorious of himself.
XXXV. 1. A Christian indeed is much taken up in the
government of his thoughts, and hath them so much ordina-
rily in obedience, that God and his service, and the matters
of his salvation have that precedency in them, and his eye
is fixed on his end and duty ; and his thoughts refuse not to
serve him for any work of God to which he calleth them.
He suffereth them not to be the inlets or agents for pride,
or lust, or envy, or voluptuousness, or to contrive iniquity :
but if any such sparks from hell are cast into his thoughts,
he presently laboureth to extinguish them. If they intrude,
he letteth them not lodge or dwell there. And though he
cannot keep out all disorder or vanity, or inordinate delights,
yet is it his endeavour, and he leaveth not his heart in any
thing to itself.
2. The weak Christian also maketh conscience of his
thoughts, and alloweth them not to be the inlets or servants
of any reigning sin. But alas, how imperfectly doth he go-
vern them ! what a deal of vanity and confusion is in them!
how carelessly doth he' watch them ! how remissly doth he
rebuke them, excite them, and command them ! how oft are
they defiled with impurity and uncharitableness ! and how
little doth he repent of this, or endeavour to reform it ! And
little serviceable are his thoughts, to any high and heaven-
ly work, in comparison of the confirmed Christian.
3. And the seeming Christian is very little employed
about his thoughts, but leaveth them to be the servants of
his pride, and worldliness, or sensuality, or some reigning
sin; Psal.x.4. Matt. xv. 19. 1 Cor. hi. 20. Isa. lv. 7. Jer.
iv. 14. vi. 19.
XXXVI. 1. A Christian indeed is much employed in the
government of his passions ; and hath so far mastered them,
as that they prevail not to prevent his judgment, nor to dis-
440 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
compose his heart so far as to interrupt much his commu-
nion with God, nor to ensnare his heart to any creature, nor
to breed any fixed uncharitableness or malice in him, nor to
cause his tongue to speak things injurious to God or man,
to curse, or swear, or rail, or lie ; nor yet to cause him to
hurt and injure any in his heart. But when passion would
be inordinate, either in delights or desires, or anger, or grief,
or fear, or hope, he flieth to his helps to suppress and govern
them. (Though fear is more out of man's rpower than the
rest, and therefore ordinarily hath less of sin.) He knoweth
that Christ hath blessed the meek (Matt. v. 6.), and bids us
learn of " him to be meek and lowely ; Matt. xi. 28, 29. And
that a " meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great
price ;" 1 Pet. iii. 4. It is, therefore, his care and course to
give place to wrath when others are angry ; Rom. xii. 18,
19. And " if it be possible, as much as in him lieth, to live
peaceably with all men," (Heb. xii. 14.) ; yea, to follow
peace when it flieth from him ; and not, when he is reviled,
to revile again, nor to threaten or revenge himself on them
that, injure him ; 1 Pet. ii. 21 — 24. Reason and charity hold
the reins, and passion is kept under ; yea, it is used holily
for God ; Ephes. iv. 26. Slow to anger he is in his own
cause, and watchful over his anger even in God's cause j
Prov.xv. 8. xvi.32 Ephes. iv. 31. Col. iii. 8.
2. But the weak Christian doth greatly shew his weak-
ness in his unruly passions, (if he have a temper of body
disposed to passion) : they are oft rising, and not easily
kept under ; yea, and too often prevail for such unseemly
words, as makethhim become a dishonour to his profession.
Oft he resolveth, and promiseth, and prayeth for help*
and yet the next provocation sheweth how little grace he
hath to hold the reins. And his passionate desires, and de-
lights, and love, and sorrows, are oft as unruly as his anger,
to the further weakening of his soul. They are like ague
fits, that leave the health impaired.
3. And the seeming Christian hath much less power
over those passions, which must subserve his carnal mind.
For anger it dependeth much upon the temperature of the
body ; and if that incline him not strongly to it, his credit,
or common discretion may suppress it : unless you touch
his chiefest carnal interest, and then he will not only be an-
gry, but cruel, malicious, and revengeful. But his carnai
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 441
love, and desire, and delight, which are placed upon that
pleasure, or profit, or honour, which is his idol, are indeed
the reigning passions in him. And his grief, and fear, and
anger, are but the servants unto these ; Acts xxiv. 26, 27.
XXXVII. 1. A Christian indeed is one that keepeth a
constant government of his tongue ; he knoweth how much
duty or sin it will be the instrument of. According to his
ability and opportunity he useth it to the service and honour
of his Creator. In speaking of his excellencies, his works,
and word ; inquiring after the knowledge of him and, his will ;
instructing others, and pleading for the truth and ways of
God, and rebuking the impiety and iniquities of the world,
as his place and calling doth allow him. He bridleth his
tongue from uttering vanity, filthiness, ribaldry, and foolish
and uncomely talk and jests ; from rash and irreverent talk
of God, and taking of his name in vain ; from the venting of
undigested and uncertain doctrines which may prove erro-
neous and perilous to men's souls ; from speaking impru-
dently, unhandsomely, or unseasonably about holy things,
so as to expose them to contempt and scorn ; from lying,
censuring others without a warrantable ground and call ;
from backbiting, slandering, false-accusing, railing and re-
viling ; malicious, envious, injurious speech > which tendeth
to extinguish the love of the hearers to those he speaketh
of; from proud and boasting speeches of himself, much more
from swearing, cursing, and blasphemous speech, and oppo-
sition to the truths and holy ways of God, or opprobrious
speeches, or derision of his servants. And in the govern-
ment of his tongue, he always beginneth with his heart, that
he may understand and love the good which he speaketh of,
and may hate the evil which his tongue forbeareth ; and not
hypocritically to force his tongue against or without his
heart. His tongue doth not run before his heart, but is rul-
ed by it; Ephes. iv. 15. 29. 31. v. 3, 4, 6. Psal. xxxvii.30.
xv. 2, 3. Prov. xvi. 13. x. 20. xxi. 23. xviii. 21. xv. 2. 4.
Psal. 34. 13. Prov. xxv. 15. 23. xxviii. 23. Matt. xii.
31, 32. 34.
2. But the weak Christian, though his tongue be sin-
cerely subject to the laws of God, yet frequently miscarrieth
and blemisheth his soul by the words of his lips, being much
ofter than the confirmed Christian overtaken with words of
vanity, meddling, folly, imprudence, uncharitableness, wrath,
442 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
boasting, venting uncertain or erroneous opinions, &c. so
that the unruliness of his tongue is the trouble of his heart,
if not also of the family, and all about him.
3. The seeming Christian usethhis tongue in the service
of his carnal ends, and therefore alloweth it so much unjus-
tice, uncharitableness, falsehood, and other sins, as his car-
nal interest and designs require ; but the rest perhaps he
may suppress, especially if natural sobriety, good education
and prudence do assist him ; and his tongue is always bet-
ter than his heart ; Prov. x.32. xix.5. 9. Psal.1.20. xii. 3.
cxliv.8. cxx.2,3. Prov. xxi. 6. 23.
XXXVIII. 1. The religious discourse of a confirmed
Christian is most about the greatest and most necessary
matters : heart-work and heaven-work are the usual employ-
ment of his tongue and thoughts ; unprofitable controversies,
and hurtful wranglings he abhorreth ; and profitable con-
troversies he manageth sparingly, seasonably, charitably,
peaceably, and with caution and sobriety, as knowing that
the servant of the Lord must not strive, and that strife of
words perverteth the hearers, and hindereth edifying ; 1 Tim.
vi.4— 6. iv. 7,8. 2 Tim. ii, 14— 17.24,25. His ordinary
discourse is about the glorious excellencies, attributes, rela-
tions, and works of God ; and the mystery of redemption,
the person, office, covenant, and grace of Christ ; the re-
newing, illuminating, sanctifying works of the Holy Ghost;
the mercies of this life, and that to come ; the duty of man
to God as his Creator, Redeemer, and Regenerator ; the cor-
ruption and deceitfulness of the heart ; the methods of the
tempter ; the danger of particular temptations ; and the
means of our escape, and of our growth in grace ; and how
to be profitable to others, and especially to the church.
And if he be called to open any truth which others under-
stand not, he doth it not proudly, to set up himself as mas-
ter of a sect, or to draw disciples after him, nor make divi-
sions about it in the church; but soberly, to the edification
of the weak. And though he be ready to defend the truth
against perverse gainsayers in due season, yet doth he not
turn his ordinary edifying discourse into disputes, or talk
of controversies ; nor hath such a proud, pugnacious soul,
as to assault every one that he thinks erroneous, as a man
that taketh himself for the great champion of the truth.
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 443
2. But the weak Christian hath a more unfruitful, wan-
dering tongue, and his religious discourse is most about his
opinions or party, or some external thing ; as which is the
best preacher, or person, or book. Or if he talk of any text
of Scripture, or doctrine of religion, it is much of the out-
side of it; and his discourse is less feeling, lively, and ex-
perimental. Yea, many a time he hindereth the more edi-
fying, savoury discourse of others, by such religious dis-
course as is imprudent, impertinent, or turneth them away
from the heart and life of the matter in hand. But especial-
ly his opinions, and distinct manner of worship, are the
chief of his discourse.
3. And for the seeming Christian, though he can affect-
edly force his tongue to talk of any subject in religion, espe-
cially that which he thinks will most honourhim in the esteem
of the hearers ; yet when he speaketh according to the in-
clination of his heart, his discourse is first about his fleshly
interest and concernments, and next to that of the mere ex-
ternals of religion, as controversies, parties, and the several
modes of worship.
XXXIX. 1. A Christian indeed is" one that so liveth up-
on the great substantial matters of religion, as yet not wil-
lingly to commit the smallest sin, nor to own the smallest
falsehood, nor to renounce or betray the smallest holy truth
or duty, for any price that man can offer him. The works
of repentance, faith, and love, are his daily business, which
take up his greatest care and diligence. Whatever opinions
or controversies are afoot, his work is still the same ; what-
ever changes come, his religion changeth not ; he placeth
not the kingdom of God in meats and drinks, and circum-
stances and ceremonies, either being for them or against
them, but in "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy
Ghost." And he that in these things serveth Christ, as he is
acceptable to God, so is he approved by such a Christian as»
this, however factious persons may revile him ; Rom. xiv.
17, 18. 1 — 5. 10. The strong Christian can " bear the infir-
mities of the weak," and not take the course that most
pleaseth himself, but that which '.* pleaseth his neighbour
for his good to edification ;" Rom. xv. 1 — 3. The essen-
tials of religion, faith, and love, and obedience, are as bread
and drink, the substance of his food. These he meditateth
444 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
on, and these he practiseth, and according to these he es-
teemeth of others.
But yet no price can seem sufficient to him, to buy his
innocency ; nor will he wilfully sin, and say, it is a little one,
nor " do evil that good may come by it;" nor offer to God
the sacrifice of disobedient fools, and then say, ' I knew not
that I did evil ;' for he knoweth that God will rather have
obedience than sacrifice, and that " disobedience is as the
sin of witchcraft ;" and " he that breaketh one of the least
commands, and teacheth men so, shall be called least in the
kingdom of God." And he that teacheth men to sin by the
example of his own practice, can little expect to turn them
from sin, by his better instructions and exhortations. He
that will deliberately sin in a small matter, doth set but a
small price on the favour of God and his salvation. Wilful
disobedience is odious to God, how small soever the matter
be about which it is committed. "Who can expect that he
should stick at any sin, when his temptation is great, who
will considerately commit the least ; especially if he will
approve and justify it ? Therefore the sound Christian will
rather forsake his riches, his liberty, his reputation, his
friends, and his country, than his conscience ; and rather
lay down liberty, and life itself, than choose to sin against
his God, as knowing that never man gained by his sin ;
Rom. iii. 8. Eccles. v. 2. 1 Sam. xv. 15. 21—23. Matt. v.
19. The sin that Saul was rejected for seemed but a little
thing ; nor the sin that Uzzah was slain for ; and the service
of God, even his sacrifice and his ark, were the pretence for
both. The sin of the Bethshemites, of Achan, of Gehazi,
of Ananias and Sapphira, which had grievous punishments,
would seem but little things to us. And it is a great aggra-
vation of our sin to be chosen, deliberate, justified, and fa-
thered upon God ; and to pretend that we do it for his ser-
vice, for the worshipping of him, or the doing good to others,
as if God would own and bless sinful means, or needed a
lie to his service or glory : when he hateth all the workers
of iniquity (Psal. v. 5.), and requireth only the sacrifices of
righteousness ; Psal. iv. 5. He abhorreth sacrifice from
polluted hands ; they are to him as the offering a dog ; and
he will ask who hath required this at your hand. See Psal.
1.8—14. Isa.i.9-12,&c. lviii. 1— 4,&c. Jer. vi. 19,20.
" The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination to the Lord ;"
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 445
Prov. xv. 8. xxi.27. It is not pleasing to him; " all that
cat thereof shall be polluted ;" Hosea ix. 4. See Isa lxvi.
1 — 6. The preaching, the praying, the sacraments of wilful
sinners, especially when they choose sin as necessary to his
service, are a scorn and mockery put upon the most Holy
One : as if your servant should set dung and carrion before
you on your table for your food ; such offer Christ vinegar
and gall to drink.
2. In all this the weakest Christian that is sincere, is of
the same mind, saving that in his ordinary course, he useth
to place too much of his religion in controversies, and par-
ties, and modes, and ceremonies, (whether being for them or
against them,) and allow too great a proportion in his
thoughts, and speech, and zeal, and practice ; and hindereth
the growth of his grace, by living upon less edifying things,
and turning too much from the more substantial nutriment.
3. And the seeming Christians are here of different ways.
One sort of them place almost all their religion in Pharisai-
cal observation of little, external, ceremonial matters ; as
their washings, and fastings, and tithings, and formalities,
and the tradition of the elders ; or in their several opinions,
and ways, and parties, which they call, ' being of the true
church ;' as if their sect were all the church. But living to
God in faith and love, and in a heavenly conversation, and
worshipping him in spirit and truth, they are utterly unac-
quainted with. The other sort are truly void of these essen-
tial parts of Christianity, in the life and power, as well as
the former. But yet being secretly resolved to take up no
more of Christianity than will consist with their worldly
prosperity and ends, when any sin seemeth necessary to their
preferment or safety in the world, their way is to pretend
their high esteem of greater matters, for the swallowing of
such a sin as an inconsiderable thing. And then they extol
those larger souls that live not upon circumstantials, but
upon the great and common truths and duties, and pity
those men of narrow principles and spirits, who by unneces-
sary scrupulosity make sin of that which is no sin, and ex-
pose themselves to needless trouble. And they would make
themselves and others believe that it is their excellency and
wisdom, to be above such trifling scruples. And all is be-
cause they never took God and heaven for their all, and
therefore are resolved never to lose all for the hopes of hea-
446 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
ven ; and therefore to do that, whatever it be, which their
worldly interest shall require, and not to be of any religion
that will undo them.
And three great pretences are effectual means in this
their deceit. One is, because indeed there are a sort of
persons that tithe mint and cummin, while they pass by the
greatest matters of the law, and that are causelessly scrupu-
lous, and make that to be sin which indeed is no sin : and
when such a scrupulous people are noted by their weakness,
and under dishonour among wiser men, the hypocrite hath
a very plausible pretence for his hypocrisy, in seeming only
to avoid this ignorant scrupulosity, and taking all for such
who judge not his sin to be a thing indifferent.
Another great shelter to the credit and conscience of this
hypocrite, is the charity of the best, sincerest Christians,
who always judge rigidly of themselves, and gently of others.
They would rather die than wilfully choose to commit the
smallest sin themselves ; but if they see another commit it,
they judge as favourably of it as the case will bear, and hope
that he did it not knowingly or wilfully ; for they are bound
to hope the best till the worst be evident. This being the
upright Christian's case, the hypocrite knoweth that he shall
still have a place in the esteem and love of those charitable
Christians ; (whose integrity and moderation, maketh their
judgments most valuable:) and then for the judgment of
God, he will venture on it ; and for the censures of weaker
persons, who themselves are censured by the best for their
censoriousness, he can easily bear them.
And another covert for the hypocrite in this case, is the
different judgments of learned and religious men, who make
a controversy of the matter. And what duty or sin is there
that is not become a controversy ? Yea, and among men
otherwise well esteemed of, (except in the essentials of re-
ligion). And if once it be a controversy, whether it be a sin
or not, the hypocrite can say, ' I am of the judgment of such
and such good and learned men ; they are very judicious,
excellent persons ; and we must not judge one another in
controverted cases ; though we differ in judgment, we must
not differ in affection.' And thus because he hath a shelter
for his reputation from the censures of men, by the counte-
nance of such as accompany him in his sin, he is as quiet as
if he were secured from the censures of the Almighty.
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 447
XL. 1. A Christian indeed is one that highly valueth
time ; he ahhorreth idleness, and all diversions which would
rob him of his time, and hinder him from his work. He
knoweth how much work he hath to do, and of what un-
speakable consequence to his soul, (if not also to others).
He knoweth that he hath a soul to save or lose ; a heaven to
win; a hell to escape; a death and judgment to prepare
for ; many a sin to mortify, and many graces to get, and ex-
ercise, and increase ; and many enemies and temptations to
overcome ; and that he shall never have more time of trial ;
but what is now undone, must be undone for ever. He
knoweth how short, and hasty time is, and also how uncer-
tain ; and how short many hundred years is to prepare for
an everlasting state, if all were spent in greatest diligence :
and therefore he wondereth at those miserable souls, that
have time to spare, and waste in those fooleries which they
call pastimes, even in stage-plays, cards, and dice, and long
and tedious feastings, delights, compliments, idleness, and
overlong or needless visits or recreations. He marvelleth at
the distraction or sottishness of those persons, that can play,
and prate, and loiter, and feast away precious hours, as if
their poor, unprepared souls had nothing to do, while they
stand at the very brink of a dreadful eternity ; and are so
fearfully unready as they are. He taketh that person who
would cheat him of his time, by any of these forenamed
baits, to be worse to him than a thief that would take his
purse from him by the highway. O precious time ! how
highly doth he value it, when he thinks of his everlasting
state, and thinks what haste his death is making, and what
reckoning he must make for every moment ; what abun-
dance of work hath he for every hour, which he is grieved
that he cannot do ! He hath a calling to follow, and he hath
a heart to search, and watch, and study ; and a God to seek
and faithfully serve ; and many to do good to ; and abun-
dance of particular duties to perform in order to every one
of these. But, alas ! time doth make such haste away, that
many things are left undone, and he is afraid lest death will
find him very much behindhand : and therefore he is up and
doing, as one that hath use for every minute ; and worketh
while it is day, because he knoweth that the night is com-
ing when none can work ; John ix. 4. Redeeming time is
much of his wisdom and his work ; Eph. v. 16. Col. iv. 5.
448 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
He had rather labour in the house of correction, than live
the swinish life of idle and voluptuous gentlemen, or beg-
gars, that live to no higher end, than to live, or to please
their flesh ; or to live as worldlings, that lose all their lives
in the service of a perishing world. He knoweth how pre-
cious time will be ere long, in the eyes of those that now
make light of it, and trifle it away as a contemned thing, as
if they had too much.
2. The weak Christian is of the same mind in the main :
But when it cometh to particular practice, he is like a weak
or weary traveller, that goeth but slowly, and maketh many
a stop. Though his face is still heavenwards, he goeth but
a little way in a day : he is too easily tempted to idle, or
talk, or feast, or play away an hour unlawfully, so it be not
his ordinary course, and he do it but seldom. He taketh
not the loss of an hour for so great a loss as the confirmed
Christian doth : he could sooner be persuaded to live (though
not an idle and unprofitable, yet) an easier, less profitable
life. The world and the flesh have far more of his hours,
than they ought to have ; though his weakness tell him that
he hath most need of diligence.
3. But the time of a seeming Christian is most at the
service of his fleshly interest ; and for that it is principally
employed. And for that he can redeem it, and grudge if it
be lost. But as he liveth not to God, so he cannot redeem
his time for God. He loseth it even when he seemeth to em-
ploy it best ; when he is praying, or otherwise worshipping
God, and doing that good which feedeth his false hopes, he
is not redeeming his time in all this. While he is sleeping
in security, and deluding his soul with a few formal words,
and an image of religion, and his time passeth on, and he is
hurried away to the dreadful day, and his damnation slum-
berethnot; 2 Pet. ii. 3. Prov.xx. 4. Matt, xxv.6— 8.
XLI. 1. A Christian indeed is one whose very heart is
set upon doing good : as one that is made to be profitable
to others, according to his ability and place ; even as the
sun is made to shine upon the world ; he could not be con-
tent to live idly, or to labour unprofitably, or to get never
so much to himself, unless he some way contributed to the
good of others. Not that he grudgeth at the smallness of
his talents, and lowness or obscurity of his place, for he
knoweth that God may dispose his creatures and talents as
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 44#
he please ; and that where much is given, much is required :
Matt. xxv. Luke xii. 48. xix. 23. But what his Lord hath
trusted him with, he is loath to hide, and willing to improve
to his Master's use. He is so far from thinking that God is
beholden to him for his good works, that he taketh it for one
of his greatest mercies in the world, that God will use him
in doing any good ; and he would take it for a very great
suffering to be deprived of such opportunities, or turned out
of service, or called to less of that kind of duty. If he were
a physician, and denied liberty to practise, or a minister,
and denied liberty to preach, it would far more trouble him
that he is hindered from doing good, than that he is depriv-
ed of any profits, or honours to himself. He doth not only
comfort himself with foresight of the reward, but in the very
doing of good he findeth so much pleasure, as maketh him
think it the most delightful life in the world : and he look-
eth for most of his receivings from God, in a way of duty ;
John v.29. Gal. vi. 10. Heb. xiii. 16. 1 Pet. hi. 11.
2. But the weak Christian, though he have the same dis-
position, is far less profitable to the world : he is more for
himself, and less able to do good to others : he wanteth ei-
ther parts, or prudence, or zeal, or strength. Yea, he is oft
like the infants, and sick persons of a family, that are not
helpful, but troublesome to the rest. They find work for the
stronger Christians to bear their infirmities, and watch
them, and support and help them: Indeed, as an infant is a
comfort to the mother, through the power of her own love,
even when she endureth the trouble of its crying and un-
cleanness ; so weak Christians are a comfort to charitable
ministers and people ; we are glad that they are alive ; but
sadded often by their distempers ; Rom. xiv. 1. xv. 12.
3. The seeming Christian liveth to himself, and all his
good works are done but for himself, to keep up his credit,
or quiet his guilty conscience, and deceive himself with the
false hopes of a reward, for that which his falsehoodness
maketh to be his sin. If he be a man of learning and
good parts, he may be very serviceable to the church ; but
the thanks of that is due to God, and little to him, who seek-
eth himself more than God, or the good of others, in all that
he doth ; Matt. xxv. 24-26.
XLII. 1. A Christian indeed, doth truly love his neigh-
bour as himself: he is not all for his own commodity : his
VOL. VIII. G G
450 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
neighbour's profit or good name, is as his own : he feeleth
himself hurt when his neighbour is hurt : and if his neigh-
bour prosper, he rejoiceth as if he prospered himself.
Though his neighbour be not united to him, in the nearest
bonds of Christianity or piety, yet he is not disregardful of
the common unity of humanity. Love is the very soul of
life 5 Lev. xix. 18. Matt. xix. 19. xxii. 39. Rom. xiii. 9
Gal. v. 14. James ii. 8. Mark x. 21. 1 John iv. 10.
2. But the love that is in weaker Christians, though it
be sincere, is weak as they are; and mixed with too much
selfishness, and with too much sourness and wrath. Little
matters cause differences and fallings out. When it cometh
to MINE and THINE, and their neighbours cross their in-
terest or commodity, or stand in their way when they are
seeking any preferment or profit to themselves ; you shall
see too easily by their sourness and contention, how weak
their love is; Matt. xxiv. 12. 1 Tim. vi. 10. Luke xxii. 24.
3. But in the seeming Christian, selfishness is so predo-
minant, that he loveth none but for himself, with any consi-
derable love. All his kindness is from self-love, because
men love him, or highly value him, or praise him, or have
done him some good turn, or may do him good hereafter, or
the like. If he hath any love to any for his own worth, yet
self-love can turn all that to hatred, if they seem against him,
or cross him in his way : for no man that is a lover of the
world and flesh, and carnal self, can ever be a true friend to
any other. For he loveth them but for his own ends ;
and any cross interests will shew the falsehood of his love ;
2 Tim. iii. 2—4. Matt. v. 46.
XLIII. 1. A Christian indeed hath a special love to all
the godly ; such as endeareth his heart unto them ; and such
as will enable him to visit them, and relieve them in their
wants, to his own loss and hazard, according to his ability
and opportunity. For the image of God is beautiful and
honourable in his eyes : he loveth not them so much as God
in them ; Christ in them ; the Holy Spirit in them. He
foreseeth the day when he shall meet them in heaven, and
there rejoice in God with them to eternity. He loveth their
company and converse ; and delighteth in their gracious
words and lives. And the converse of ungodly and empty
men is a weariness to him (unless in a way of duty, or when
he can do them good). " In his eyes a vile person is con-
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 451
temned, but he hououreth them that fear the Lord ;" Psal.
xv. 4. Other men grieve his soul with their iniquities, while
he is delighted with the appearances of God in his holy
ones, even the excellent ones on earth; Psal. xvi. 3. 2 Pet.
ii. 7, 8. Yea, the infirmities of believers destroy not his
love ; for he hath learned of God himself to difference be-
tween their abhorred frailties and their predominant grace ;
and to love the very infants in the family of Christ. Yea,
though they wrong him, or quarrel with him, or censure him
in their weakness, he can honour their sincerity, and love
them still. And if some of them prove scandalous, and
some seeming Christians fall away, or fall into the most odi-
ous crimes, he loveth religion nevertheless ; but continueth
as high an esteem of piety, and of all that are upright, as he
had before; 1 John iv. 7,8. 10. 2 John xiii. 34,35. 1 Thess.
iv 9. 1 John iii. 11. 14.23. Matt. xxv. 39, 40, &c
2. The weak Christian sincerely loveth all that bear his
father's image ; but it is with a love so weak (even when it
is most passionate) as will sooner be abated or interrupted
by any tempting differences. He is usually quarrelsome and
froward with his brethren, and apter to confine his love to
those that are of his own opinion or party. And because
God hath taught him to love all that are sincere, the devil
tempteth him to censure them as not sincere, that so he may
justify himself in the abatement of his love. And weak
Christians are usually the most censorious, because they
have the smallest degree of love, which covereth faults, and
thinketh no evil, and is not suspicious, but ever apt to judge
the best, till the worst be evident; 1 Cor. xiii. 4, 5. "It
beareth all things, believeth all things (that are credible),
hopeth all things, endurethall things ;" ver. 7. But it is no
wonder to see children fall out, even about their childish toys
and trifles ; and what the dissentions of the children of the
church have done against themselves in these kingdoms, I
need not, I delight not, to record. See 1 Cor. iii. 1 — 4. " And
I, brethren, could not speak unto you, as unto spiritual, but
as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you
with milk, and not with meat ; for hitherto ye were not able
to bear it, neither yet now are ye able : for ye are yet car-
nal : for whereas there is among you, envying, and strife,
and divisions, are you not carnal, and walk as men ?"
3. The seeming Christian may have some love to real
452 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
Christians, even for their goodness' sake ; but it is a love
subservient to his carnal self-love ; and, therefore, it shall
not cost him much. As he hath some love to Christ, so he
may have some love to Christians ; but he hath more to the
world and fleshly pleasures ; and, therefore, all his love to
Christ or Christians, will not make him leave his worldly
happiness for them. And, therefore, Christ, at the day of
judgment, will not inquire after empty, barren love, but af-
ter that love which visited and relieved suffering saints. A
hypocrite can allow both Christ and Christians such a cheap,
superficial kind of love, as will cost him little. He will bid
them lovingly, " Depart in peace, be you warmed and fill-
ed ;" James ii. 15 — 17. But still the world is most be-
loved.
XLIV. 1. A Christian indeed doth love his enemies, and
forgive those that injure him, and this out of a thankful
sense of that grace which forgave him a far greater debt.
Not that he thinketh it unlawful to make use of the justice
of the government which he is under, for his necessary pro-
tection, or for the restraint of men's abuse and violence.
Nor is he bound to love the malice or injury, though he
must love the man. Nor can he forgive a crime as it is
against God or the common good, or against another, though
he can forgive an injury or debt that is his own. Nor is he
bound to forgive every debt, though he is bound so far to
forgive every wrong as heartily to desire the good of him
that did it. Even God's enemies he so far loveth, as to de-
sire God to convert and pardon them, while he hateth their
sin, and hateth them as God's enemies, and desireth their re-
straint ; Psal. cxxxix. 21,22. ci. 3. cxix.4. lxviii.l. xxi. 8.
But those that hate, and curse, and persecute himself, he
can unfeignedly love, and bless, and pray for ; Matt. v.
43 — 48. For he knoweth that else he cannot be a child
of God ; ver.45. And that to love those that love him is
not much praiseworthy, being no more than heathens and
wicked men can do ; ver.46, 47. He is so deeply sensible
of that wondrous love which so dearly redeemed him, and
saved him from hell, and forgave him a thousandfold worse
than the worst that ever was done against himself, that
thankfulness and imitation, or conformity to Christ in his
great compassions, do overcome his desires of revenge, and
make him willing to do good to his most cruel enemies, and
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 453
pray for them as Christ and Stephen did at their deaths ;
Luke xxiii. 34. Acts vii. 60. And he knoweth that he is so
inconsiderable a worm, that a wrong done to him as such, is
the less considerable ; and he knoweth that he daily wrong-
eth God, more than any man can wrong him, and that he can
hope for pardon, but on condition that he himself forgive;
Matt. vi. 12, 14, 15. xviii.34, 35. And that he is far more
hurtful to himself, than any other can be to him.
2. And the weak Christian can truly love an enemy, and
forgive a wrong ; but he doth it not so easily and so fully as
the other. But it is with much striving, and some unwil-
lingness and averseness ; and there remaineth some grudge
or strangeness upon the mind. He doth not sufficiently for-
get the wrong which he doth forgive. Indeed, his forgiving
is very imperfect, like himself (Matt, xviii. 21. Luke ix. 54,
55.), not with that freeness and readiness required. " With
all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing
one another in love ;" Eph. iv. 2. " Put on therefore, as the
elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness,
humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing
one another, and forgiving one another ; even as Christ for-
gave you, so also do ye ;" Col. iii. 13. 18. '- Avenge not
yourselves," &c. Rom. xii. 14. 18.
3. As for the seeming Christian, he can seem to forgive
wrongs for the sake of Christ, but if he do it indeed it is for
his own sake. As because it is for his honour, or because
the person hath humbled himself to him, or his commodity
requireth it, or he can make use of his love and service for
his advantage, or some one hath interposed for reconcilia-
tion who must not be denied, or the like. But to love an
enemy indeed, and to love that man (be he never so good)
who standeth in the way of his preferment, honour or com-
modity in the world, he never doth it from his heart, what-
ever he may seem to do ; Matt. vi. 14, 15. xviii. 27. 30. 32.
The love of Christ doth not constrain him.
XLV. 1. A Christian indeed is as precise in the justice
of his dealings with men, as in acts of piety to God. For
he knoweth that God requireth this as strictly at his hands.
" That no man go beyond, or defraud his brother in any mat-
ter ; for the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have
forewarned and testified •" 1 Thess. iv. 6. He is one that
454 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
" walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speak -
eth the truth in his heart, that backbiteth not with his
tongue, nor doth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a re-
proach against his neighbour. If he swear to his own hurt,
he changeth not. He putteth not out his money to (unjust
or unmerciful) usury ; nor taketh reward against the inno-
cent;" Psal. xv. He obeyeth that, Lev. xix. 13. " Thou
shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages
of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night un-
til the morning." He can say as Samuel, " Whose ox or
ass have I taken ? or whom have I defrauded ? Whom have
I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe,
to blind mine eyes therewith, and I will restore it? And
they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us,
neither hast thou taken out of any man's hand ;" 1 Sam.
xii. And if heretofore he was ever guilty of defrauding any
he is willing to his power to make restitution ; and saith as
Zaccheus, " If I have taken any thing from any man by false
accusation, I restore him fourfold ;" Luke xix. 8. Though
flesh and blood persuade him to the contrary, and though it
leave him in want, he will pay his debts, and make restitu-
tion of that which is ill gotten, as being none of his own.
He will not sell for as much as he can get, but for as much
as it is truly worth : he will not take advantage of the weak-
ness, or ignorance, or necessity of his neighbour : heknow-
eth that " a false balance is abomination to the Lord, but a
just weight is his delight ;" Prov. xi. 1. He is afraid of be-
lieving ill reports, and rebuketh the backbiter ; chap. xxv.
23. He is apt to take part with any man behind his back,
who is not notoriously inexcusable ; not to justify any evil,
but to shew his charity, and his hatred of evil speaking, es-
pecially where it can do no good. He will not believe evil
of another till the evidence do compel him to believe it. If
he have wronged any by incautious words, he readily con-
fesseth his fault to him, and asketh him forgiveness, and is
ready to make any just satisfaction for any wrong that he
hath done him. He borroweth not when he seeth not a
great probability that he is likely to pay it. Nor will re-
main in debt by retaining that which is another man's
against his will, without an absolute necessity. " Owe no
man any thing, but to love one another ;" Rom. xiii. 8. For
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 455
to borrow when he cannot pay is but to steal. Begging is
better than borrowing for such. " The wicked borroweth,
and payeth not;" Psal. xxxvii. 21.
2. And the weak Christian maketh conscience of justice
as well as acts of piety, as knowing that God hath no need
of our sacrifices, but loveth to see us do that which is good
for human society, and which we have need of from each
other. But yet he hath more selfishness and partiality than
the confirmed Christian hath, and therefore is often over-
come by temptations to unrighteous things. As to stretch
his conscience for his commodity, in buying or selling, and
concealing the faults of what he selleth, and sometimes
overreaching others. Especially he is ordinarily too censo-
rious of others, and apt to be credulous of evil reports, and
to be over bold and forward of speaking ill of men behind
their backs, and without a call ; especially against persons
that differ from him in matters of religion, where he is usu-
ally most unjust and apt to go beyond his bounds ; James
iii. 15, 16. Tit. hi. 2. Eph. iv.31. 1 Pet. ii. 1.
3. The seeming Christian may have a seeming justice ;
but really he hath none but what must give place to his
fleshly interest ; and if his honour, and commodity and safe-
ty require it, he will not stick to be unjust. And that jus-
tice which wanteth but a strong temptation to overturn it,
is almost as bad as none. If he will not seize on Naboth's
vineyard, nor make himself odious by oppression or deceit,
yet if he can raise or enrich himself by secret cozenage, and
get so fair a pretence for his injustice, as shall cloak the
matter from the sight of men, he seldom sticketh at it. It
is an easy matter to make an Achan think that foe doth no
harm, or a Gehazi that he wrongeth no man, in taking that
which was offered and due. Covetousness will not confess
its name ; but will find some reasonings to make good all
the injustice which it doth ; 1 Tim. vi. 5. 2 Kings v.
19, 20.
XLVI. 1. A Christian indeed is faithful and laborious in
his particular calling, and that not out of a covetous mind ;
but in obedience to God, and that he may maintain his fa-
mily, and be able to do good to others. For God hath said,
" In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat thy bread ;" Gen.
iii. 19. "And six days shalt thou labour ;" Exod.xx. 10.
And with quietness men must work, and eat their own bread ;
450 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
and " if any will not work, neither should he eat ;" 2 Thess.
iii. 10 — 12. Abraham, and Noah, and Adam, laboured in a
constant course of employment. He knoweth that a sanc-
tified calling and labour is a help, and not a hindrance to
devotion ; and that the body must have work as well as the
soul, and religion must not be pretended for slothful idle-
ness, nor against obedience to our Master's will ; PrOv.xxxi.
2. The weak Christian is here more easily deceived, and
made believe that religion will excuse a man from bodily la-
bour ; and under the colour of devotion to live idly. " They
learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and
not only idle, but tatlers also, and busy bodies, speaking
things which they ought not;" 2 Thess. iii. 8. 1 Tim. v. 13.
Slothfulness is a sin much condemned in the Scriptures ;
Ezek.xvi.49. Prov. xxiv.30. xviii. 9. xxi. 25. Matt.xxv.
26. Rom. xii. 11.
3. The seeming Christian in his labour is ruled chiefly
by his flesh. If he be rich, and it incline him most to sloth,
he maketh small conscience of living in idleness, under the
pretence of his gentility or wealth. But if the flesh incline
him more to covetousness, he will be laborious enough : but
it shall not be to please God by obedience, but to increase
his estate, and enrich himself and his posterity, whatever
better reason he pretend.
XLVII. 1. A Christian indeed is exactly conscionable
in the duties of his relation to others in the family and place
of his abode. If he be a husband, he is loving and patient,
and faithful to his wife ; if he be a father, he is careful of
the holy education of his children ; if he be a master, he is
just and merciful to his servants, and careful for the saving
of their souls ; if he be a child or servant, he is obedient,
trusty, diligent, and, careful, as well behind his parent's or
his master's back, as before his face. He dare not lie, nor
steal, nor deceive, nor neglect his duty, nor speak disho-
nourably of his superiors, though he were sure he could
conceal it all. For he knoweth that the fifth commandment
is enforced with a special promise; Eph. vi. 2. 5. 9. And
that a bad child, or a bad servant, a bad husband or wife, a
bad parent or master, cannot be a good Christian ; Col. iii.
18, 19, &c. iv. 1. lPet.ii.18.
2. But weak Christians, though sincere, are ordinarily
weak in this part of their duty ; and apt to yield to tempta-
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 457
tions, and carry themselves proudly, stubbornly, idly, dis-
obediently, as eye-servants that are good in sight ; or to be
unmerciful to inferiors, and neglecters of their souls. And
to excuse all this from the faults of those that they have to
do with, and lay all upon others ; as if the fault of husband,
wife, parent, master, or servant, would justify them in theirs,
and passion and partiality would serve for innocency.
3. And the hypocrite ordinarily sheweth his hypocrisies
by being false in his relations to man, while he pretendeth
to be pious and obedient unto God. He is a bad master,
and a bad servant, when his filthy interest requireth it, and
yet thinketh himself a good Christian for all that. For all
men being faulty, it is easy to find a pretence from all men
that he doth abuse, to cover the injury of his abuse. Cain,
Ham, Eli, Absalom, Judas, &c. are sad examples of this.
XLVIII. 1. A Christian indeed is the best subject, whe-
ther his prince be good or bad. Though by infidel and un-
godly rulers he be oft mistaken for the worst. He obeyeth
not his rulers only for his own ends, but in obedience to
God ; and not only for fear of punishment, but for conscience
sake. He looketh on them in their relations as the officers
of God, and armed with his authority, and therefore obeyeth
God in them. He permitteth not dishonourable thoughts
of them in his heart ; much less dare he speak dishonoura-
bly of them ; Exod. xii. Prov.xxiv. 21. 1 Pet. ii. 13. 17.
Prov. viii. 15. Actsxxiii. 4, 5. Eccles.x.4. 20. He know-
eth that every soul must be subject to the higher powers, and
not resist ; and that there is no power but of God. " Who-
soever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance
of God ; and he that resisteth shall receive to himself dam-
nation ;" Rom. xiii. 1 — 6. Therefore in all things lawful he
obeyeth them. And though he must not, nor will not obey
them against God, yet will he suffer patiently when he is
wronged by them ; and not only forbear resistance by arms
or violence, but also all reproachful words, as knowing that
the righting of himself is not so necessary to the public or-
der and good, as the honour of his rulers is. Usurpers may
probably charge him to be a traitor, and seditious and re-
bellious, because he dare not approve of their usurpations ;
and when several are contending for the government, and
in a litigious title the lawyers mislead him, when the con-
troversy is only among them, and belongs to their profes-
458 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
sion, it is possible he may mistake as well as the lawyers,
and take him to have the better title that hath the worse.
But in divinity he knoweth there is no controversy whether
every soul must be subject to the highest power, so far as
he can know it. And that prayer and patience are the
subject's arms ; and religion is so far from being a warrant
to resist, that it plainly forbiddeth disobedience and resist-
ance ; and none are more obliged to submission and quiet-
ness than Christians are. The spirit of Christianity is not
of this world ; their kingdom and their hopes are not of
this world ; and, therefore, they contend not for dignities
and rule ; much less by resisting or rebelling against their
lawful governors. But they are resolved to obey God, and
secure their everlasting portion, and bear all the injuries
which they meet with in the way, especially from those
whom God hath set over them. There is no doctrine that
ever was received in the world, so far from befriending sedi-
tions and rebellion, as the doctrine of Christ ; nor any peo-
ple in the world so loyal as Christians, while Christianity
retained its genuine simplicity ; till proud, domineering,
worldly men, for carnal ends, pretended themselves to be
Christians, and perverted the doctrine of Christ, to make it
warp to their ambitious ends. Suffering seemeth not so
great a matter to a holy, mortified, heavenly mind, as to
tempt him to hazard his salvation to resist it. No man is so
likely to be true to kings, as he that believeth that his sal-
vation lieth on it, by the ordinance of God ; Rom. xiii.3.
And princes that are wise and just, do always discern that
the best Christians are their best subjects; though those
that are unbelieving and ungodly themselves, have ever
hated them as the greatest troubles of the earth. And it
hath ever been the practice of the enemies of Christ and
godliness, to do all they can to engage the rulers of the
earth against them ; and to persuade them that the most
godly Christians are persons of disloyal and unquiet minds;
and by vexing and persecuting them, they do their worst to
make them such as they falsely called them. Even Christ
himself was crucified as an enemy to Caesar, and Pilate dri-
ven to it by the noise of them that cried out, that if he let
them go he was not Caesar's friend; John xix. 12. They first
tempted him with the question, " Whether it were lawful to
pay tribute unto Caesar ;" Matt. xxii. 17. Luke xx. 22. And
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 4e59
though they could this way take no hold of him, yet this
was the first article of his accusation : " We have found this
fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute
to Caesar:" Luke xxiii.2. And how loyal would those re-
bellious Jews seem, when they thought it the only way to
engage the Roman power against Christ ? Then they cry
out, " We have no king but Caesar ;" John xix. 15. And
this was the common accusation against the Christians both
by Jews and Gentiles. The language of the Jews you may
hear from Tertullus : " We have found this man a pestilent
fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews through-
out the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Naza-
renes;" Acts xxiv. 5. And at Thessalonica, the charge
against them was, that they " turned the world upside down,
arid did all contrary to the decrees of Caesar ;" chap. xvii. 6, 7.
And thus the best Christians have by such been slandered
from age to age ; because the devil and his instruments
know not how sufficiently to molest them, except they en-
gage the rulers against them. But yet all this doth not con-
quer the patience and loyalty of confirmed Christians. They
are wiser than that wise man that Solomon saith, " Oppres-
sion maketh mad ;" Eccles. vii. 7. If usurpers or malicious
liars shall a thousand times call them rebellious and sediti-
ous, it shall not drive them from their due subjection. They
can patiently follow their Lord and the ancient Christians,
in the enduring of such slanders, and suffering as enemies
to Caesar, so they do but escape the sin, and be not such as
malice calleth them. They had rather die as reputed ene-
mies to government, than to be such indeed. They prefer
subjection before the reputation of it ; for they look not for
their reward from princes, but from God. If they can pre-
serve their innocence, they can bear the defamation of their
names, being satisfied in the hopes of the joyful day of the
judgment of Christ, which will fully justify them and setall
straight. Indeed they know that a state of subjection is
easier and safer than places of command ; and that it is ea-
sier to obey than govern. And so far are they from envy-
ing men's greatness, and from desiring dominions, that they
pity the tempted, and dangerous, and troublesome state of
those in power, and are thankful to God for their quieter
and safer station. They heartily, pray for kings and all that
are in authority ; not that by their favour they may rise to
460 CHARACTER OP A SOUND,
places of wealth and honour, but " that under them they
may live a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and ho-
nesty ;" 1 Tim. ii. 2. Yea, though infidel princes hate and
persecute them, they continue to pray for them, and to ho-
nour their authority, and will not thereby be driven from
their duty. If God cast their lot under infidel, ungodly, and
malicious governors, they do not run to arms to save them-
selves, or save the Gospel ; as if God had called them to
reform the world, or keep it from the oppression of the
higher powers. Nor do they think it a strange, intolerable
matter for the best men to be lowest, and to be the suffering
side, and so fall to fighting that Christ and the saints may
have the rule. For they know that Christ's kingdom is not
of this world, (John xviii. 36.) ; that is, not a visible monar-
chy, as his usurping vicar doth pretend ; and that Christ
doth most eminently rule unseen, and disposeth of all the
kingdoms of the world, even where he is hated and resisted ;
and that the reign of saints is in their state of glory ; and
that all God's graces do fit them more for a suffering life,
than for worldly power. Their humility, meekness, patience,
self-denial, contempt of the world, and heavenlymindedness,
are better exercised and promoted in a suffering, than a pros-
perous, reigning state. When they think of the holy blood
which hath been shed by heathen Rome, from Christ and
Stephen, till the days of Constantine ; and the far greater
streams which have been shed by the bloody papal Rome ;
wherever they had power, in Piedmont, Germany, Poland,
Hungary, in Belgia, England, and in other lands ; the thir-
ty or forty thousand murdered in a few days at the Bartholo-
mew massacre in France ; the two hundred thousand mur-
dered in a few weeks in Ireland, they are not so unlike their
suffering brethren, as to think that striving for honours and
command, is their way to heaven. When Christ hath fore-
told them that self-denial under the cross, tribulation, and
persecution, is the common way ; Luke xiv. 26, 27. 29. 33.
Actsxiv.22. Johnxvi.33. Rom. v. 3. viii.35. 2 Tim. hi.
12. Matt. v. 10—12. 2 Thess. ii. 6, 7. 10. Mark x. 30. So
far are they from fighting against the injuries and cru-
elties of their governors, that they account the reproach
of Christ to be greater riches than all their treasures,
(Heb. xi. 15,26.), and think they are blessed when they
are persecuted (Matt. v. 10.), and say with Paul, " God for-
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 40" 1
bid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I unto the
world;" Gal.vi. 14. And 2Cor.xii. 19. " Therefore I take
pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in per-
secutions, in distresses for Christ's sake : for when I am
weak, then I am strong." " Nay, in all these things, when
persecuted and killed all the day long, and counted as sheep
to the slaughter, they are more than conquerors through
Christ ;" Rom. viii. 35 — 37. They obtain a nobler conquest
than that which is obtained by the sword.
2. But the weak Christian having less patience, and
more selfishness and passion, is more easily tempted to break
his bounds, and with Peter run to his unauthorized sword,
when he should submit to suffering; Matt. xxvi. 51,52.
And his interest and sufferings cause his passion to have too
great a power on his judgment, so that he is more easily
tempted to believe that to be lawful which he thinks to be
necessary to his own preservation ; and to think that the
Gospel and the church are falling, when the power of men is
turned against them; and therefore he must with Uzzah put
forth his hand to save the ark of God from falling. He is
more troubled at men's injustice and cruelty, and maketh a
wonder of it, to find the enemies of Christ and godliness to
be unreasonably impudent and bloody ; as if he expected
reason and righteousness in the malicious world. His suf-
ferings fill him more with discontent, and desires of revenge
from God; Luke ix. 54. and his prosperity too much lifts
him up ; 2 Chron. xxxii. 25. And in the litigious titles of
pretenders to supremacy, he is oft too hasty to interest him-
self in their contentions, as if he understood not that who-
ever is the conqueror will count those rebels that were on
the other side ; and that the enemies of Christ will cast all
the odium upon Christianity and piety, when the contro-
versy is only among the statesmen and lawyers, and belongs
not to religion at all.
3. The seeming Christian will seem to excel all others in
loyalty and obedience, when it maketh for his carnal ends:
he will flatter rulers for honours and preferment, and always
be on the rising side, unless wher his pride engageth him in
murmurings and rebellions. He hath a great advantage
above true Christians and honest men, to seem the most obe-
dient subject ; because he hath a stretching conscience, that
462 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
can do any thing for his safety or his worldly ends. If he
be among Papists, he can be a Papist; if among Protestants,
he is a Protestant ; and if he were among Turks, it is like-
ly he would rather turn a Mahometan than be undone. No
prince or power can command him any thing which he can-
not yield to, if his worldly interest require it. If there be a
law for worshipping the golden image, it is the consciona-
ble servants of God, and not the time-servers, that refuse to
obey it ; Dan. iii. If there be a law against praying, (Dan.
vi.) it is Daniel, and not the ungodly multitude that disobey
it. If there be a command against preaching, (Acts iv. 17,
18.) it is the holy apostles and best Christians that plead
the command of God against it, and refuse obedience to it ;
(ver. 20, 29.) The self-seeking, temporizing hypocrite can
do any thing ; and yet he obeyeth not, while he seemeth to
obey : for it is not for the authority of the commander that
he doth it, but for his own ends. He never truly honoureth
his superiors ; for he doth not respect them as the officers of
God, nor obey them for his sake with a conseionable obe-
dience. He feareth the higher powers as bears or tigers,
that are able to hurt him ; or useth their favour as he useth
his horse, to do him service. Were it not for himself, he
would little regard them. The true Christian honoureth
the basest creature more than the hypocrite and worldling
honoureth his king : for he seeth God in all, and useth the
smallest things unto his glory ; whereas the worldling de-
baseth the highest,. by the baseness of his esteem, and use,
and end : for he knoweth not how to esteem or use the
greatest prince, but for himself or for some worldly ends ;
2 Tim. iii. 3, 4.
XLIX. 1. A Christian indeed is a man of courage and
fortitude in every cause of God ; for he trusteth God, and
firmly believeth that he will bear him out. He knoweth his
superiors, and hath a charitable respect to all men : but as
for any selfish or timorous respect, he hath the least regard
to man. For he knoweth that the greatest are but worms,
whose breath is in their nostrils, that pass away as shadows,
and return to dust ; and that the most potent are impotent
when they contend with God, and are unequal matches to
strive against their Maker ; and that it will prove hard for
them to kick against the pricks ; and that whoever seemeth
now to have the day, it is God that will be conqueror at last.
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 46*3
Job xxv. 6. xvii. 14. xxiv. 20. Psal. lxxix. 31. ciii. 1.6.
cxliv. 3 — 5. Acts ix. 4 — 6. " Put not your trust in princes,
nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help ; his breath
goeth forth ; he returneth to his earth ; in that very day his
thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob
for his help ; whose hope is in the Lord his God." " Woe
to him that striveth with his Maker ;" Isa. xlv. 9. Heknow-
eth that it is more irrational to fear man against God, than
to fear a flea or any against the greatest man. The infinite
disproportion between the creature that is against him, and
the Creator that is for him, doth resolve him to obey the
command of Christ ; " Be not afraid of them that kill the
body, and after that have no more that they can do : but I
will forewarn you whom you shall fear : fear him, which af-
ter he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell : yea, I say
unto you, fear him ;" Luke xii. 4. " Hearken unto me, ye
that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my
law : fear ye not the reproof of man, neither be afraid of
their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a gar-
ment, and the worm shall eat them like wool ; but my righ-
teousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from genera-
tion to generation ;" Isa. lvii. 7, 8. " I gave my back to the
smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.
I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord
God will help me ; therefore shall I not be confounded ;
therefore have I set my face like a flint.; and I know that I
shall not be ashamed. He is near that j ustifieth me ; who
will contend with me ? Let us stand together ; who is
mine adversary? let him come near to me. Behold, the
Lord God will help me : who is he that shall condemn me ?
Lo ! they all shall wax old as a garment ; the moth shall eat
them up;" Isa. 1. 6— 9, xxxv. 4. xli. 10. 13, 14. vii.4.
Jer. xlvi. 27, 28. Matt. x. 26. 31. " Cease ye from man,
whose breath is in his nostrils ; for wherein is he to be account-
ed of;" Isa. ii. 22. " Cursed be the man that trusteth in
man, &c. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, &c."
Jer. xvii. 5. 8,9. Alas, how terrible is the wrath of God, in
comparison of the wrath of man ! And how easy an enemy
is the cruellest afflicter, in comparison of a holy, sin-reveng-
ing God. Therefore the confirmed Christian seith as the
three witnesses ; Dan. iii. 16 — 18. " We are not careful to
answer thee in this matter : the God whom we serve is able
464 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
to deliver us. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king,
that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden
image which thou hast set up." When Daniel knew that
the decree was past, he prayed openly in his house, as here-
tofore ; Dan. vi. 10. Moses " feared not the wrath of the
king ; for he endured as seeing him who is invisible ;" Heb.
xi. 27. " The righteous is bold as a lion;" Prov. xxviii. 1.
" When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, they mar-
velled ;" Acts iv. 13. Paul's bonds made others bold ; 2
Cor. xi. 21. Ephes. vi. 19, 20. Actsiv.29. 31. "Perfect
love casteth out fear;" 1 Johniv. 18. " If ye suffer for righ-
teousness' sake, happy are ye ; and be not afraid of their
terror, neither be troubled ;" 1 Pet. iii. 14. " So that we
may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what
man shall do unto me ;" Heb. xiii. 6.
2. But the weak Christian, though he also trust in God,
is much more fearful, and easily daunted and discouraged ;
and ready with Peter to be afraid, if he perceive himself in
danger ; Matt. xxvi. 69. He is not " valiant for the truth ;"
Jer. ix. 3. Though he can forsake all (even life itself ) for
Christ, (Lukexiv. 20. 33.) yet is it with a deal of fear and
trouble. And man is a more significant thing to him than
to the stronger Christian.
3. But the seeming Christian doth fear man more than
God, and will venture upon the displeasure of God, to avoid
the displeasure of men that can do him hurt ; because he
doth not soundly believe the threatenings of the word of
God.
L. 1. A Christian indeed is made up of judgment and zeal
conjunct. His judgment is not a patron of lukewarmness,
nor his zeal an enemy to knowledge. His judgment doth
not destroy, but increase his zeal; and his zeal is not blind
nor self-conceited, nor doth run before, or without judg-
ment. If he be of the most excellent sort of Christians, he
hath so large a knowledge of the mysteries of godliness,
that he seeth the body of sacred truth with its parts, and
compages, or joints, as it were at once. It is all written
deeply and methodically in his understanding; he hath by
long use his senses exercised, to discern both good and evil;
Heb. v. 14. He presently discerneth where mistaken men
go out of the way, and lose the truth, by false suppositions,
or by false definitions, or by confounding things that differ.
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 465
And therefore he pitieth the contentious sects and disputers,
who raise a dust to blind themselves and others, and make
a stir to the trouble of the church, about things which they
never understood : and in the sight of that truth which
others obscure and contradict, he enjoyeth much content or
pleasure in his own mind, though incapable persons zea-
lously reject it. Therefore he is steadfast, as knowing on
what ground he setteth his foot. And though he be the
greatest lover of truth, and would with greatest joy receive
any addition to his knowledge, yet ordinarily by erroneous
zealots he is censured as too stiff, and self- conceited, and
tenacious of his own opinions, because he will not enter-
tain their errors, and obey them in their self-conceitedness.
For he that knoweth that it is truth which he holdeth, is
neither able nor willing to hold the contrary, (unless he im-
prison the truth in unrighteousness). But if he be one that
hath not attained to such a clear, comprehensive judgment,
yet with that measure of judgment which he hath, he doth
guide and regulate his zeal, and maketh it follow after, while
understanding goeth before. He treadeth on sure ground,
and knoweth it to be duty indeed which he is zealous for,
and sin indeed which he is zealous against ; and is not put
to excuse all his favour and forwardness after, with a ' non
putarem/ or, ' I had thought it had been otherwise ;' 1 Cor.
i.5. 2 Cor. viii. 7. Col. iii. 16. iv. 12.
2. But the weak Christian either hearkeneth too much
to carnal wisdom, which suppresseth his zeal, and maketh
him too heavy, and dull, and indifferent in many of his du-
ties, and the concernments of his soul, permitting the world
to take up too much of the vigour of his spirit ; or else he is
confident in his mistakes, and verily thinks that he under-
standeth better than many wiser men, those things which he
never understood at all. He chooseth his party by the zeal
that he findeth in them, without any judicious trial of the
truth of what they hold and teach. He is very earnest for
many a supposed truth and duty, which proveth at last to
be no truth or duty at all ; and he censureth many a wiser
Christian than himself, for many a supposed sin, which is
no sin, but perhaps a duty. For he is always injudicious,
and his heat is greater than his light, or else his light is too
Bashy without heat. Peremptorily he doth set down some
VOL. VIII. H H
460 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
among the number of the most wise and excellent men, for
keeping him company in his mistakes : and he boldly num-
bereth the best and wisest of his teachers with the trans-
gressors, for being of a sounder understanding than himself,
and doing those duties which he calleth sins. And hence
it is that he is a person apt to be misled by appearances of
zeal ; and the passions of his teachers prevail more with him
than the evidence of truth. He that prayeth and preacheth
most fervently is the man that carrieth him away, though
none of his arguments should be truly cogent. If he hear
any hard name against any opinion, or manner of worship,
hereceiveth that prejudice which turneth him more against
it than reason could have done. So the bugbear names of
Heresy, Lutheranism, and Calvinism, frighteneth many a
well-meaning Papist both from the truth, and almost from
his wits. And the names of Popery, Arminianism, Prelacy,
Presbyterianism, Independency, &c. do turn away the hearts
of many from things which they never tried or understood.
If a zealous preacher do but call any opinion or practice an-
tichristian or idolatrous, it is a more effectual terror than
the clearest proof. Big and terrible words do move the
passions, while the understanding is abused, or a stranger
to the cause. And passion is much of their religion. And
hence, alas ! is much of the calamity of the church ; Rom.
x i v . i_4, & c . l Cor. iii. 1—4. Acts xxi. 20. Gal. iv. 17, 18.
3. But the seeming Christian is only zealous finally for
himself, or zealous about the smaller matters of religion, as
the Pharisees were for their ceremonies and traditions, or
for his own inventions, or some opinions or ways, in which
his honour seemeth to be interested, and pride is the bellows
of his zeal. But as for a holy zeal about the substance and
practice of religion, and that for God as the final cause, he
is a stranger to it. He may have a zeal of God, and of and
for the law and worship of God as the material cause, but
not a true zeal for God, as the chief final cause ; Rom. x. 2.
2 Sam. xxi. 2. 2 Kings x. 16. Actsxxii. 3.
LI. 1. A Christian indeed can bear the infirmities of the
weak : though he love not their weakness, yet he pitieth it,
because he truly loveth their persons. Christ hath taught
him not to break the bruised reed, and to " gather the lambs
in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead
those that are with young;" Isa.xl. 11. xlii.3. If they
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 4H7
have diseases and distempers, he seeketh in tenderness to
cure them, and not in wrath to hurt or vex them. He turn-
eth not the infants or sick persons from the family, because
they cry, or are unquiet, unclean, infirm, and troublesome ;
but he exerciseth his love and pity upon their weaknesses.
If they mistake their way, or are ignorant, and peevish, and
froward in their mistakes, he seeketh not to undo them, but
gently to reduce them. If they censure him, and call him
erroneous, heretical, antichristian, idolatrous, because he
concurreth not with them in their mistakes, he beareth it
with love and patience, as he would do the peevish chidings
of a child, or the frowardness of the sick. He doth not lose
his charity, and set his wit against a child, and aggravate
the crimes, and being reviled revile again ; and say, ' You
are schismatics, hypocrites, obstinate, and fit to be severely
dealt with.' But he overcometh them with love and pa-
tience, which is the conquest of a saint, and the happiest
victory both for himself and them. It is a " small matter to
him to be judged of man;" ICor.iv. 3, 4. He is more
troubled for the weakness and disease of the censorious,
than for his own being wronged by their censures ; Phil. i.
16—18. Rom. xv. 1—3. xiv. 2, 3.
2. But the weak Christian is more ready to censure others,
than patiently to bear a censure himself. Either he storm-
eth against the censurers, as if they did him some unsuffer-
able wrong (through the over-great esteem of himself and
his reputation), or else, to escape the fangs of censure, and
keep up his repute with them, he complieth with the censo-
rious, and overruns his judgment and conscience to be well-
spokenof, and counted a sincere and steadfast man; Gal.ii.
12—14.
3. But the seeming Christian is so proud and selfish,
and wanteth charity and tenderness to the weak, that he is
impatient of their provocations ; and would cure the dis-
eases of the servants of Christ, by cutting their throats, or
ridding the country of them. If a child do but wrangle with
with him, he crieth, ' Away with him, he is a troubler of the
world.' He taketh more notice of one of their infirmities,
than of all their graces ; yea, he can see nothing but obsti-
nacy and hypocrisy in them, if they do but cross him in his
opinions, or reputation, or worldly ends. Selfishness can
turn his hypocrisy into malignity and cruelty, if once he
468 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
take them to be against his interest. Indeed his interest can
make him patient : he can bear with them that he looketh to
gain by, but not with them that seem to be against him.
The radical enmity against sincerity, that was not mortified,
but covered in his heart, will easily be again uncovered ;
Markvi. 18.20— 22. Phil. i. 15, 16. 3 John 9.
LII. 1. A Christian indeed is a great esteemer of the
unity of the church, and greatly averse to all divisions
among believers. As there is in the natural body an ab-
horring of dismembering or separating any part from the
whole ; so there is in the mystical body of Christ. The
members that have life, cannot but feel the smart of any dis-
tempering attempt ; for abscission is destruction : the mem-
bers die that are separated from the body. And if there be
but any obstruction or hindrance of communion, they will
be painful or unuseful. He feeleth in himself the reason of
all those strict commands, and earnest exhortations : *.* Now
I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be
no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined
together in the same mind, and in the same judgment ;"
1 Cor. i. 10. " If there be any consolation in Christ, if any
comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels
and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, hav-
ing the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let
nothing be done through strife or vain-glory ; but in lowli-
ness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also
on the things of others;" Phil. ii. 1 — 4. " I, therefore, the
prisoner of the Lord, beseech you, that ye walk worthy of
the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and
meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in
love ; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as
ye are called in one hope of your calling ; one Lord, one
faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above
all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of
us is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of
Christ :" Ephes. iv. 2—7. Read also chap. iv. 12—16. 1 Cor.
xii. throughout. He looketh at uncharitablenes, and divi-
sions, with more abhorrence than weak Christians do at
drunkenness or whoredom, or such other heinous sin. He
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 469
feareth such dreadful warnings, as Acts xx. 29, 30. " For I
know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves en-
ter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own-
selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw
away disciples after them." And he cannot slight such a
vehement exhortation, as Rom. xvi. 17, 18. " Now I beseech
you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences,
contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid
them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus
Christ, but their own belly, and by good words, and fair
speeches, deceive the hearts of the simple." Therefore he
is so far from being a divider himself, that when he seeth
any one making divisions among Christians, he looketh on
him as one that is slashing and mangling the body of his
clearest friend, or as one that is setting fire on his house,
and therefore doth all that he can to quench it ; as knowing
the confusion and calamity to which it tendeth. He is of a
Christian, and therefore of a truly catholic spirit ; that is, he
maketh not himself a member of a divided party, or a sect ;
he regardeth the interest and welfare of the body, the uni-
versal church, above the interest or prosperity of any party
whatsoever ; and he will do nothing for a party which is in-
jurious to the whole, or to the Christian cause. The very
names of sects and parties are displeasing to him ; and he
could wish that there were no name but that of Christians
among us, save only the necessary names of the criminal,
such as that of the Nicolaitans ; Rev. ii. 6. 15. By which
those that are to be avoided by Christians must be known.
Christianity is confined to so narrow a compass in the world,
that he is unwilling to contract it yet into a narrower. The
greatest party of divided Christians, whether it be the Greeks
or Papists, is too small a body for him to take for the ca-
tholic, or universal church. He admireth at the blindness
and cruelty of faction, that can make men damn all the rest
of the church for the interest of their proper sect ; and take
all those as no Christians that are better Christians than
themselves. Especially the Papists, who unchurch all the
church of Christ, except their sect, and make it as necessa-
ry to salvation to be a subject of tho pope, as to be a Chris-
tian. And when, by their great corruption and abuses of
Christianity, they have more need of charitable censures
themselves than almost any sort of Christians, yet are they
470 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
the boldest condemners of all others. The confirmed Chris-
tian can difference between the strong and weak, the sound
and unsound members of the church, without dismembering
any, and without unwarrantable separations from any. He
will worship God in the purest manner he can, and locally
join with those assemblies, where, all things considered, he
may most honour God, and receive most edification ; and
will not sin for communion with any. He will sufficiently
difference between a holy, orderly assembly, and a corrupt,
disordered one ; and between an able, faithful pastor, and
an ignorant or worldly hireling. And he desireth that the
pastors of the church may make that due separation by the
holy discipline of Christ, which may prevent the people's
disorderly separation. But for all this, he will not deny his
presence "upon just occasion, to any Christian congregation
that worshippeth God in truth, though with many modal im-
perfections, so be it, they impose no sin upon him as neces-
sary to his communion with them. Nor will he deny the
spiritual communion of faith and love to those that he hold-
eth not local communion with. He knows that all our wor-
ship of God is sinfully imperfect, and that it is a dividing
principle to hold, that we may join with none that worship
God in a faulty manner; for then we must join with none
on earth. He knoweth that his presence in the worship of
God, is no sign of his approbation of all the failings of pas-
tors or people, in their personal or modal imperfections, as
long as he joineth not in a worship so corrupt as to be itself
unacceptable to God. While men who are all imperfect and
corrupt, are the worshippers, the manner of their worship
will be such as they, in some degree, imperfect and corrupt.
The solid Christian hath his eye upon all the churches
in the world, in the determining of such questions ; he con-
sidered what worship is offered to God in the churches
of the several parties of Christians, the Greeks, Armenians,
Abassines, Lutherans, &c. as well as what is done in the
country where he liveth ; and he considereth whether God
disown and reject the worship of almost all the churches in
the world, or not ; for he dare no further reject them than
God rejecteth them. Nor will he voluntarily separate from
those assemblies where the presence of Christ, in his Spirit
and acceptance, yet remaineth. And his fuller acquaint-
ance with the gracious nature, office, and tenderness of
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 471
Christ, together with greater love to his brethren, doth cause
him in this to judge more gently than young censorious
Christians do. And his humble acquaintance with his own
infirmities, maketh him the more compassionate to others.
If he should think that God would reject all that order not,
and word not their prayers aright, he would be afraid of be-
ing rejected himself, who is still conscious of greater faulti-
ness in his own prayers, than a mere defect in words and or-
der ; even of a great defectiveness in that faith, and desire,
and love, and zeal, and reverence which should be manifest-
ed in prayer. Though he be more apprehensive than others,
of the excellency and necessity of the holiness and spiritu-
ality of the soul in worship ; yet withal he is more judicious
and charitable than the peevish and passionate infant Chris-
tians, who think that God doth judge as they do, and seeth
no grace where they see none ; and taketh all to be super-
stitious or fanatical, that differ from their opinions or manner
of worship ; or that he is as ready to call every error, in the
method or the words of prayer, idolatry or will-worship, as
those are that speak not what they know, but what they
have heard some teachers whom they reverence, say before
them. " He that dwelleth in love, doth dwell in God, and
God in him." And he that dwelleth in God, is liker to be
best acquainted with his mind, concerning his children and
his worship, than he that dwelleth in wrath, and pride, and
partiality.
2. But the weak Christian (though so far as he hath
grace, he is of the same mind, and abhorreth discord and
division among the flock of Christ, yet) being more dark,
and selfish, and distempered, he is much more prone to un-
warrantable separations and divisions than the stronger
Christian is. He is narrower sighted, and looketh little fur-
ther than his own acquaintance, and the country where he
liveth ; and mindeth not sufficiently the general state of the
churches through the world, nor understandeth well the in-
terest of Christ and Christianity in the earth. His know-
ledge and experience being small, his charity also is but
small ; and a little thing tempteth him to condemn another,
and aggravate his faults, and think him unworthy of the
communion of the saints. He is much more sensible of the
judgment, and affections, and concernments of those few
with whom he doth converse, and that are of his opinion,
472 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
than of the judgment, and practice, and concernments of the
universal church. He knoweth not how to prefer the judg-
ments and holiness of some that he thinketh more excellent
than the rest, without much undervaluing and censuring of
all others that are not of their opinion : he cannot choose
the actual local communion of the best society, without
some unjust contempt of others, or separation from them.
He hath not so much knowledge as may sufficiently acquaint
him with his ignorance ; and therefore he is apt to be unrea-
sonably confident of his present apprehensions, and to think
verily that all his own conceptions are the certain truth ; and
to think'them ignorant, or ungodly, or very weak at least, that
differ from him. For he hath not thoroughly and impartially
studied all that may be said on the other side. The autho-
rity of his chosen teacher and sect, is greater with him (if
he fall into that way) than the authority of all the most wise
and holy persons in the world besides. What the Scripture
speaketh of the unbelieving world, he is apt to apply to all
those of the church of Christ, that are not of his mind and
party. And when Christ commandeth us to come out of
the world, he is prone to understand it of coming out from
the church into some stricter and narrower society ; and is
apt with the papists, to appropriate the name and privileges
of the church, to his party alone, and to condemn all others.
Especially if the church-governors be carnal and self-seek-
ing, or otherwise very culpable ; and if discipline be neg-
lected, and if profaneness be not sufficiently discountenanc-
ed, and godliness promoted, he thinketh that such a church
is no church, but a profane society. God hath taught him
by repentance to see the mischief of ungodliness, but he yet
wanteth that experience which is needful to make him know
the mischief of church divisions. He had too much expe-
rience himself, of the evil of profaneness before his conver-
sion ; but he hath not tried the evil of schism ; and without
some sad experience of its fruits, in himself or others, he will
hardly know it as it should be known : because it is the cus-
tom of some malignant enemies of godliness, to call the god-
ly heretics, schismatics, factious sectaries, &c. therefore the
very names do come into credit with him ; and he thinks
there are no such persons in the world, or that there is no
danger of any such crimes, till he be taught by sad experi-
ence, that the professors of sincerity are in as much danger
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 473
on that side as on the other; and that the church, as well as
Christ, doth suffer between two thieves, the profane and the
dividers. Paul was unjustly called the ringleader of a sect,
Acts xxiv. 5.), and Christianity called a heresy and a sect,
every where spoken against ; Acts xxviii. 22. xxiv. 14. But
for all that, heresy is a fruit of the flesh, (Gal. v. 20.) and some
of them called damnable ; (2Pet.ii. 1.) and they are the tri-
al of the church, to difference the approved members from
the chaff; 1 Cor. xi. 19. And an obstinate heretic is to be
avoided by true believers ; Titus iii. 10. And the Pharisees
and Sadducees are well reputed to be several sects ; Acts v.
17. xv. 5. xxvi.5. And dividers and divisions are justly
branded as aforesaid. There must be no schism in the body
of Christ ; 1 Cor. xii. 25. The following of selected teach-
ers, in a way of division from the rest, or opposition to
them, doth shew, that men are carnal in too great a measure,
though it be not in predominancy, as in the profane. " And
I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but
as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with
milk, and not with meat; for hitherto ye were not able to
bear it, neither yet now are ye able, for ye are yet carnal.
For whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and di-
visions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men ? For while
one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are ye
not carnal?" 2 Cor. iii. 1 — 3. How much more when he
that is for Paul doth censure and rail at Cephas and Apollos ?
He that hath seen the course of men professing godliness in
England in this age, may easily and sadly know how prone
weak Christians are to unjust separations and divisions, and
what are the effects. He that had heard many zealous in
prayer, and other duties, and the next year see them turning
Quakers, and railing in the open congregations at the most
able, holy, self-denying ministers of Christ, and at their flocks,
with a • Come down thou deceiver, thou hireling, thou wolf,
ye are all greedy dogs,' &c. and shall see how yet poor souls
run into that reviling, and irrational sect (to say nothing of
all other sects among us,) will no longer doubt whether the
weak be inclined to schism, but will rather lament the dan-
gerousness of their station ; and know that all is not done
when a sinner is converted from an ungodly state. Study
the reason of those three texts ; Ephes. iv. 13 — 16. " For the
edifying the bodv of Christ, till we all come in the unity of
474 CHARACTER OP A SOUND,
the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a
perfect man ; and the measure of the stature of the fulness
of Christ, so that we henceforth be no more children, tossed
to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine,
by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they
lie in wait to deceive ; but speaking the truth in love, may
grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even
Christ ; from whom the whole body fitly joined together and
compacted, by that which every joint supplieth, according
to the effectual working in the measure of every part, mak-
eth increase of the body, to the edifying of itself in love."
Here you see the children are apt to be carried into divid-
ing parties. And that they are more apt to be proud, and
that way to miscarry, see 1 Tim. iii. 6. " Not a novice (or
raw young Christian) lest being lifted up with pride, he fall
into the condemnation of the devil/' and then followeth the
effect, Acts xx. 30. " Also of your ownselves shall men arise,
speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them."
I would not have you groundlessly accuse any Christian
with a charge of pride ; but I must tell you that the childish
pride of apparel is a petty business, in comparison of that
pride which many in sordid attire have manifested, who in
their ignorance do rage and foam out words of falsehood
and reproach against Christ's ministers and servants, as if
they were fools or impious in comparison of them, speaking
«vil of that which they never understood. The lifting up
the heart above the people of the Lord, in the pride of sup-
posed holiness, is incomparably worse than pride of learn-
ing, honour, greatness, wit, or wealth. Nay, it hath often
been to me a matter of wonder to observe how little all those
plain and urgent texts of Scripture, which cry down division,
do work upon many of the younger Christians, who yet are
as quickly touched as any, with a text that speaketh against
profaneness and lukewarmness. In a word, they are often
of the temper of James and John, when they would fain have
had Christ revenged himself on his opposers by fire from
heaven ; " They know not what manner of spirit they are
of;" Lukeix.55. They think verily that it is a holy zeal
for God, when it is the boiling of passion, pride, and selfish-
ness. They feel not the sense of such words as Christ's,
" I pray also for them who shall believe on me, through
their word, that they all may be one, as thou Father art in
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 475
me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the
world may believe that thou hast sent me ;" &c. John xvii.
20—24.
3. And as for the seeming Christian, in this they are of
several sorts. When their carnal interest lieth in compli-
ance with the major part and stronger side, then no men do
more cry up unity and obedience. What a noise do many
thousand Papist prelates, Jesuits, and friars make with these
two words throughout the world. Unity and obedience (un-
to them upon their terms) do signify principally their worldly
greatness, wealth, and power. But if the hypocrite be en-
gaged in point of honour, or other carnal interest on the suf-
fering side, or be out of hope of any advantage, in the com-
mon road, then no man is so much for separation and singu-
larity as he. For he must needs be noted for somebody in
the world, and this is the chief way that he findeth to ac-
complish it. And so being " lifted up with pride, he falleth
into the condemnation of the devil," and becomes a fire-
brand in the church.
LIII. 1. A Christian indeed, is not only zealous for the
unity and concord of believers, but he seeketh it on the right
terms, and in the way that is fittest to attain it. Unity,
peace, and concord, are like piety and honesty, things so
unquestionably good, that there are scarce any men of rea-
son and common sobriety, that ever were heard to oppose
them directly and for themselves : and therefore all that are
enemies to them are yet pretenders to them ; and oppose
them. 1. In their causes only. 2. Or covertly, and under
some other name. Every man would have unity, concord,
and peace in his own way, and upon his own terms. But if
the right terms had been understood and consented to as
sufficient, the Christian world had not lain so many hundred
years in the sin, and shame, and ruins as it hath done. And
the cause of all is, that Christians indeed, that have clear, con-
firmed judgments, and strength of grace, are very few ; and
for number and strength, unable to persuade or overrule the
weak, the passionate, and the false-hearted, worldly, hypo-
critical multitude ; who bear down all the counsels and en-
deavours of the wise.
The judicious, faithful Christian knoweth, that there
are three degrees or sorts of Christian communion, which
have their several terms. 1. The universal church commu-
476 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
nion, which all Christians as such must hold among them-
selves. 2. Particular church communion, which those that
are conjoined for personal communion in worship, do hold
under the same pastors and among themselves. 3. The ex-
traordinary intimate communion that some Christians hold
together, who are bosom friends, or are especially able and
fit to be helpful and comfortable to each other.
The last concerneth not our present business ; we must
hold church communion with many that are unfit to be our
bosom friends, and that have no eminency of parts or piety,
or any strong persuading evidence of sincerity. But the
terms of catholic communion he knoweth are such as these.
1. They must be such as were the terms of church commu-
nion in the days of the apostles. 2. They must be such as
are plainly and certainly expressed in the holy Scriptures.
3. And such as the universal church hath in some ages
since been actually agreed in. 4. And those points are most
likely to be such, which all the differing parties of Chris-
tians are agreed in, as necessary to communion to this day,
(so we call not those Christians that deny the essentials of
Christianity). 5. Every man in the former ages of the
church, was admitted to this catholic church communion,
who in the baptismal vow or covenant, gave up himself to
God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as his Creator, Re-
deemer, and Sanctifier ; his Owner, Governor, and Father,
renouncing the flesh, the world, and the devil. And more
particularly, as man hath an understanding, a will, and an
executive power, which must all be sanctified to God, so the
creed was the particular rule for the ' credenda' or things to
be believed, and the Lord's prayer for the 'petenda' or things
to be willed, loved, and desired, and the ten commandments
for the ' agenda,' or things to be done ; so that to consent to
these rules particularly, and to all the holy Scriptures im-
plicitly and generally, was the thing then required to catho-
lic communion. The belief of the doctrine being necessary
for the sanctifying of the heart and life, the belief of so
much is of necessity, without which the heart cannot be
sanctified, or devoted in covenant to God, our Creator, Re-
deemer, and Regenerator ; and without which we cannot love
God (as reconciled to us in Christ) above all, and our neigh-
bours as ourselves. So that, in a word, he that can tell what
the baptismal vow or covenant is, can tell what is necessary
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 477
to that catholic church communion, which belongeth to
Christians as Christians, at how great a distance soever they
dwell from one another.
And then for particular church communion, which is lo-
cal and personal, it is moreover necessary, 1. That each
member acknowledge and submit to the same pastors. 2.
That they be guided by them in the convenient circumstan-
ces and adjuncts of worship. For if some persons will not
consent or submit to the same pastors that the body
of the church consenteth and submitteth to, they can-
not have communion particularly and locally with that
church, nor are they members of it, no more than they can
be members of the same kingdom that have not the same
king. And there being no solemn worship performed but
by the ministry of those pastors, they cannot join in the
worship that join not with the minister. And if some mem-
bers will not consent and submit to the necessary determi-
nation of the adjuncts or external modes of worship, they
cannot join in local, particular church communion where
that worship is performed. As if the pastor and the body
of the church will meet in such a place, at such a day and
hour, and some members will not meet with them at that
place, and day, and hour, they cannot possibly then have
their local, personal communion. Or if the pastor will use
such a translation of the Scriptures, or such a version of the
Psalms, or such a method in preaching and prayer, or such
notes or books, and other like helps ; if any members will
not submit, nor hold communion with the rest, unless that
translation, or version, or method of preaching or praying,
or notes or books be laid aside, he cannot have communion
while he refuseth it. If the pastor, and all the rest will not
yield to him, he must join with some other church that he
can agree with. And as long as the catholic church com-
munion is maintained (which consisteth in unity, of the
Christian covenant, or of Christianity, or of faith, love, and
obedience), the difference of modes and circumstances be-
tween particular churches, must be allowed without any
breach of charity, or without disowning one another. And
he that cannot be a member of one particular church, may
quietly join himself to another, without condemning that
which he dissenteth from, so far as to hinder his catholic
communion with it, (even as among the papists, men may
478 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
be of which order or of religious persons they best like, as
long as they submit to their general government). And here
the strong, judicious Christian for his part, will never be
guilty of church divisions. For, 1. He will make nothing
necessary to church communion, which any sober, pious,
peaceable minds shall have any just reason to except against,
or which may not well be manifested to be for the edifica-
tion of the church. 2. And he will bear with the weak dis-
senters so far as will stand with the peace and welfare of the
church. 3. And he will particularly give leave to such weak
ones as cannot yet hold communion with him, being peace-
able, and not promoting heresy, ungodliness, or sedition, to
join to another church where they can hold communion with
peace to their own consciences ; as long as they continue
their foresaid catholic communion. For the strong know
that they must not only bear with, but bear the " infirmities
of the weak, and not to please themselves, but every one of
them to please his neighbour for good to edification. For
even Christ pleased not himself." And so they will " re-
ceive one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of
God, not despising the weak, nor rejecting them that God
receiveth;" Rom. xv. 1—3. 7. xiv. 1— 4. 17,18. And thus
you may see how easy a matter it were to unite and recon-
cile all the Christian world, if the principles of the judici-
ous, confirmed Christian might be received and prevail ; and
that it is not he that is the cause of the abundance of sin
and calamity which divisions have caused, and continued in
the church. But that which now seemeth an impossible
thing, may quickly and easily be accomplished if all were
such as he. And that the difficulty of reconciling and unit-
ing Christians, lieth not first in finding out the terms, but
in making men fit to receive and practise the terms from the
beginning received by the churches. This is Lirinensis's
' Quod semper, ubique ; et ab omnibus receptum est :' sup-
posing still that the magistrate be submitted to by every
soul, even as he is the keeper of both tables ; Rom. xiii.
1—3.
2. But the weak Christian is too easily tempted to be
the divider of the church, by expecting that it be united
upon his impossible or unrighteous terms. Sometimes he
will be orthodox overmuch, or rather wise in his own con-
ceit (Rom. xii. 16.), and then none are judged fit for his com-
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 479
munion that be not of his opinion, in controverted doctri-
nals, (e. g. predestination, the manner of the work of grace,
freewill, perseverance, and abundance such). Sometimes
he will be righteous overmuch, or (to speak more properly)
superstitious ; and then none are fit for his communion that
worship not God in that method and manner for circum-
stantials, which he esteemed best. And his charity is so
weak, that it freethhim not from thinking evil (1 Cor. xiii.),
and so narrow, that it covereth not either many or great in-
firmities. The more need he hath of the forbearance and
charity of others, the less can he bear or forbear others him-
self. The strong Christian must bear the infirmities of the
weak ; but the weak Christian can scarce bear with the
weak or strong. Nay, he is oft too impatient with some of
their virtues and duties, as well as with their infirmities.
He is of too private a spirit, and too insensible of the pub-
lic interest of the church of Christ. And therefore he must
have all the world come over to him, and be conformed to
his opinion and party, and unite upon his mistaken, narrow
terms, if they will have communion with him. I mean, it is
thus with him, when the temptation on that side prevaileth.
And sometimes he is overcome with the temptation of do-
mination, to make his judgment a rule to others ; and then
he quite overvalueth his own understanding, and will needs
be judge of all the controversies in the church ; and taketh
it as unsufferable, if wiser and better men do not take him
as infallible, and in every thing observe his will. And when
his brethren give him the reason of their dissent, as his judg-
ment is not clear enough to understand them, so his passion
and partiality are too strong to suffer his judgment to do
its part. And thus oftentimes he is a greater hindrance to
the church's unity, than the enemies of the church them-
selves. For he hath not judgment enough to guide him the
right way, and yet he hath so much zeal as will not suffer
him to keep his errors to him.
3. And all these distempers that are but in a lower de-
gree in the weak Christian, are predominant in the hypo-
crite. The church shall have no concord or peace if he can
hinder it, but what is consistent with his carnal interest, his
honour, or wealth, or dignity in the world. The pride and
covetousness which rule himself, he would have to make the
terms of concord, and to rule all others. It is hypocrites
480 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
in the church that are the greatest cause of discord and di-
visions, having selfish spirits, principles, and ends, and hav-
ing always a work of their own to do, which suits not well
with the work of Christ ; and yet Christ's work must be
subjected to it, and ordered, and overruled by it. And
while they pretend to go to the Scriptures, or to councils or
fathers for their reasons, indeed they go first for them to
their worldly interest; and then would fain hire or press
the Scripture, church, or fathers to serve their turn, and
come in as witnesses on their side. And thus the church,
as well as Christ, is betrayed by the covetous Judases of his
own family. And the servants of the world, the flesh, and
the devil, that take up the livery of Christ, and usurp the
name and honour of Christian, do more effectually hinder
the concord and prosperity of the church, than any open
enemies do. And those that are indeed no Christians, do
cause Christianity to be reproached ; even as spies and trai-
tors that are hired by the enemy to take up arms in the ar-
my which they fight against, that they may betray it by
their fraud, and do more harm to it by raising mutinies, and
by false conduct, than a multitude of professed enemies
could have done. It is proud, and worldly, carnal hypo-
crites, that hinder most the concord of believers.
LIV. 1. A confirmed Christian is of a peaceable spirit.
He is not masterly, domineering, turbulent, hurtful, cruel,
seditious, factious, or contentious. He is like ripened fruits
that are mellow and sweet, when the younger, greener fruits
are sour and harsh. He is not wise in his own conceit,
(Rom. xii. 16.), and therefore not over-urgent in obtruding
his conceits on others, not quarrelsome with all that cannot
entertain them, nor will he easily lay men's salvation or
damnation, no, nor the church's peace upon them. He is
" kindly affectioned to others with brotherly love, yea, lov-
eth his neighbour as himself;" ver. 10. xiii. 9, 10. And
therefore he doth to others as he would they should do to
him ; and uses them as he would be used by them. And
then how far they are like to suffer by him, you may easily
judge. For " Love worketh no ill to his neighbour ;" ver.
10. He is above the portion of the worldling, and a con-
temner of that vanity which carnal men account their felici-
ty ; and therefore he preferreth love and quietness before it,
and can lose his right when the interest of love and peace
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 481
requireth it. He is become as a little child in his conver-
sion (Matt, xviii.3.), and is low and little in his own eyes,
and therefore contendeth not for superiority or preemi-
nence, either in place or power, or reputation of his learning,
wisdom, or piety ; but " in honour preferreth others" before
himself;" Rom. xii. 10. " He mindeth not high things, but
condescendeth to men of low estate;" Rom. xii. 16. And
therefore will not contend for estimation and precedency,
nor scramble to be highest, though he rise by the ruins of
men's bodies and souls. " If it be possible as much as lieth
in him, he will live peaceably with all men ;" ver. 18. For
he is not one that by word or deed will avenge himself; but
when the wrath of others is up like a blustering storm, he
giveth place to it, he boweth before it, or goeth out of the
way. " If his enemy hunger, he feedeth him ; if he thirst,
he giveth him drink ;" ver. 19. when oppressors would de-
prive not only an enemy, but the righteous of their meat
and drink : and thus he melteth his hardened enemies by
heaping kindness upon them when they are wrathful, and
proud, and contentious, and do him wrong, or use provok-
ing words against him, he is not overcome of their evil to
imitate them, but he overcometh their evil with his good ;
ver. 20, 21. If God hath given him more knowledge and
abilities than others, he doth not presently set up himself to
be admired for it, nor speak disdainfully or contemptuously
of those that are not of his mind. But he sheweth the emi-
nency of his wisdom, " with meekness by the works of a good
conversation," and by doing better than the unwiser do ;
James iii. 1 — 13. He is endued with the "wisdom from
above, which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be
entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality"
(or wavering in persecution, as Dr. Hammond renders it),
and without hypocrisy. And thus the "fruit of righteous-
ness is sown in peace of them that make peace ;" James iii.
17,18. As he is "taught of God to love his brother;"
1 Thess. iv. 9. So that same teaching with experience of
the effects assureth him, that they that pretend to be wiser
and better than others, when " they have bitter, envious zeal
and strife in their hearts, they vainly glory and lie against the
truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is
earthly, sensual and devilish. For where envying and strife
VOL. VIII. i i
482 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
is, there is confusion and every evil work ;" James iii. 14,
15, 16. (Read but the story of the Jewish zealots in Jose-
phus, and the heretical zealots in all ages of the church, and
you will perceive the truth of this.) When such quarrelsome
spirits are filling the church with contentions, or vexations
about their meats and drinks, and days, &c. the Christian
indeed understandeth that ' the kingdom of God consisteth'
not of such things as these, ' but in right eousness and peace,
and joy in the Holy Ghost ;' and he that in these things
serveth Christ, is acceptable to God, and approveth of (wise
and sober) men. Therefore he followeth after things which
make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify ano-
ther : and will not for meats, &c. destroy the work of
God ;" Rom. xiv. 17 — 20. He stayeth not till peace be of-
fered him, or brought home to him, but ' he followeth peace
with all men, as well as holiness ;" Heb. xii. 14. If it fly
from him, he pursueth it ; if it be denied him he seeketh it,
and will not refuse to stoop to the poorest for it, and to beg
it of his inferiors, if it were upon his knees, rather than be
denied it, and live an unpeaceable, disquiet life ; Psalm
xxxiv. 14. For he believeth that " blessed are the peace-
makers, for they shall be called the children of God ;" Matt,
v. 9.
2. And the weak Christian hath the same spirit, and
therefore the love of peace is most predominant in him.
But, alas, he is too easily tempted into religious passions,
discontents, contentious disputations, quarrelsome and op-
probrious words; and his judgment lamentably darkened
and perverted, whenever contentious zeal prevaileth, and
passions do perturb the quiet and orderly operations of the
soul. He wanteth both the knowledge and the experience,
and the mellowness of spirit, which riper Christians have
attained ; he hath a less degree of charity, and is less ac-
quainted with the mischiefs of unpeaceableness ; and there-
fore it is the common course of young professors, to be ea-
sily tempted into unpeaceable ways ; and when they have
long tried them (if they prove not hypocrites) to come off at
last upon experience of the evils of them; and so the young
Christians, conjunct with some hypocrites, make up the
rigorous, fierce, contentious and vexatious party ; and the
aged, ripe Christians make up the holy, moderate, healing
party, that groan and pray for the church's peace, and
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 483
mourn in secret both for the ungodliness and violence which
they cannot heal. Yea, the difference is much apparent, in
the books and sermons which each of them is best pleased
with. The ripe, experienced Christian loveth those sermons
that kindle love, and tend to peace ; and love such healing
books as do narrow differences and tend to reconcile and
heal ; such as Bishop Hall's Peace-maker, and " Paxterris,"
and all his writings ; and Bishop Davenant's, Bishop Mor-
ton's, and Bishop Hall's "Pacificatory Epistles to Duraeus,"
and "Mr. Burroughs' Irenicon," Ludov.Crotius, Amyraldus,
Junius, Paraeus's and many other Irenicons written by fo-
reign divines, to say nothing that are upon single contro-
versies. But the younger, sour, uncharitable Christians are
better pleased with such books and sermons, as call them
aloud to be very zealous for this or that contested point of
doctrine, or for or against some circumstance of worship or
church discipline, or about some fashions, or customs, or^in-
different things, as if the kingdom of God were in them :
Rom. xiv. 1,2. 15, 16.
3. But the seeming Christian, is either a mere tempori-
zer, that will be of that religion, whatever it be, that is most
in fashion, or which the higher powers are of, or which will
cost him least : or else he will run into the other extreme,
and lift up himself by affected singularities, and by making
a bustle and stir in the world, about some small and contro-
verted point : and careth not to sacrifice the peace and safe-
ty of the church, to the honour of his own opinions. And
as small as the Christian church is, he must be of a smaller
society than it, that he may be sure to be amongst the best ;
while indeed he hath no sincerity at all, but placeth his hopes
in being of the right church, or party, or opinion : and for
his party or church, he burneth with a feverish kind of zeal,
and is ready to call for fire from heaven ; and to deceive
him, the devil sendeth him some from hell, to consume them
that are not of his mind : yet doth he bring it as an angel of
light, to defend the truth and church of Christ. And in-
deed, when the devil will be the defender of truth, or of the
church, or of peace, or order, or piety, he doth it with the
most burning zeal : you may know him by the means he
useth. He defendeth the church, by forbidding the people
to read the Scriptures in a known tongue, and by imprison-
ing and burning the soundest and holiest members of it, and
484 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
abusing the most learned faithful pastors ; and defendeth
the flock by casting out the shepherds, and such like means,
as the murders of the Waldenses, and the massacres of
France and Ireland, and the Spanish Inquisition, and queen
Mary's bonfires, and the powder-plot ; yea, and the Mini-
ster, and the English rage and phrenzies, may give you ful-
ler notice of. He that hath no holiness, nor charity to be
zealous for, will be zealous for his church, or sect, or cus-
toms, or opinions ; and then this zeal must be the evidence
of his piety. And so the inquisitors have thought they have
religiously served God, by murdering his servants; and it is
the badge of their honour to be the devil's hangmen, to ex-
ecute his malice on the members of Christ ; and all this is
done in zeal for religion by irreligious hypocrites. There is
no standing before the malicious zeal of a graceless Phari-
see, when it riseth up for his carnal interest, or the honour,
and traditions, and customs of his sect ; (Luke vi. 7.) " And
they were filled with madness, and communed with one ano-
ther what they might do to Jesus ;" Luke iv. 28. Acts v. 17.
xiii. 45. John xvi. 2. Rom. x. 2. Phil. iii. 6. Acts xxvi.
10, 11. The zeal of a true Christian consumeth himself with
grief to see the madness of the wicked ; but the zeal of the
hypocrite consumeth others, that by the light of the fire his
religiousness may be seen. You may see the Christian's
fervent love to God, by the fervent flames which he can suf-
fer for his sake : and you may see the fervent love of the
hypocrite, by the flames which he kindleth for others. By
these he crieth with Jehu, " Come and see my zeal for the
Lord ;" 2 Kings x. 16. 2 Sam. xxi. 2.
LV. 1. A Christian indeed, is one that most highly es-
teemeth and regardeth the interest of God and men's salva-
tion in the world, and taketh all things else to be inconside-
rable in comparison of these. The interest of great men,
and nobles, and commanders ; yea, and his own in corporal
respects, as riches, honour, health and life, he taketh to be
things unworthy to be named, in competition with the inte-
rest of Christ and souls. The thing that his heart isjxiost
set upon in the world is, that God be glorified, and that the
world acknowledge him their King, and that his laws be
obeyed, and that darkness, infidelity and ungodliness may
be cast out ; and that pride and worldliness, and fleshly
lusts, may not hurry the miserable world unto perdition. It
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 485
is one of the saddest and most amazing thoughts that ever
entereth into his heart, to consider how much of the world
is overwhelmed in ignorance and wickedness, and how great
the kingdom of the devil is, in comparison with the kingdom
of Christ; that God should forsake so much of his creation ;
that Christianity should not be owned in above the sixth
part of the world ; and popish pride and ignorance, with the
corruptions of many other sects, and the worldly, carnal
minds of hypocrites, should rob Christ of so much of this
little part, and leave him so small a flock of holy ones, that
must possess the kingdom. His soul consenteth to the
method of the Lord's prayer, as prescribing us the order of
our desires. And in his prayers he seeketh first, (in order
of estimation and intention,) the hallowing of God's name,
and the coming of his kingdom, and the doing of his will on
earth as it is done in heaven ; before his daily bread, or the
pardon of his sins, or the deliverance of his soul from temp-
tations and the evil one. Mark him in his prayers, and you
shall find that he is above other men, taken up in earnest
petitions for the conversion of the heathen and infidel
world, and the undeceiving of Mahometans, Jews, and he-
retics, and the clearing of the church from those papal
tyrannies, and fopperies and corruptions, which make Chris-
tianity hateful or contemptihle, in the eyes of the heathen
and Mahometan world, and hinder their conversion. No
man so much lamenteth the pride and covetousness, and
laziness and unfaithfulness of the pastors of the church :
because of the doleful consequents to the Gospel and the
souls of men, and yet with all possible honour to the sacred
office, which they thus profane. No man so heartily la-
menteth the contentions and divisions among Christians,
and the doleful destruction of charity thereby. It grieveth
him to see how much selfishness, pride, and malice, prevail
with them that should shine as lights in a benighted
world, and how obstinate and incurable they seem to be,
against the plainest means, and humblest motions, for the
church's edification and peace ; Psal. cxx. 6, 7. cxxii.
6. Phil. ii. 1—4. Psal. cxix. 136. Zeph. iii. 18. Ezek.
ix. 4. Psal. lxix. 9. John ii. 17. He envieth not
kings and great men their dominions, wealth or pleasure ;
nor is he at all ambitious in their tremendous exaltation.
But the thing that his heart is set upon is, " that the king-
486 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
doras of this world may all become the kingdoms of the
Lord ; Rev. xi. 15 ; and that the Gospel may every where
"have free course and be glorified," and the preachers of it
be encouraged, or at least " be delivered from unreasonable,
wicked men ;" 2 Thess. iii. 1, 2. Little careth he who is up-
permost or conquereth in the world, or who goeth away
with the preferments or riches of the earth (supposing that
he fail not of his duty to his rulers) so that it may go well
with the affairs of the Gospel, and souls be but helped in
the way to heaven. Let God be honoured, and souls con-
verted and edified, and he is satisfied. This is it that mak-
eth the times good in his account ; he thinketh not as the
proud and carnal church of Rome, that the times are best
when the clergy are richest and greatest in the world, and
overtop princes, and claim the secular power, and live in
worldly pomp and pleasures ; but when holiness most
aboundeth, and the members of Christ are likest to their
head, and when multitudes of sincere believers are daily
added to the church, and when the mercy and holiness of
God shine forth in the numbers and purity of the saints. It
is no riches or honour that can be heaped upon himself, or
any others, that make the times seem good to him, if know-
ledge and godliness are discountenanced and hindered, and
the way to heaven is made more difficult ; if atheism, infide-
lity, ungodliness, pride and malignity do prevail, and truth
and sincerity are driven into the dark ; and when " he that
departeth from evil maketh himself a prey." Psal. lix. 15.
When " the godly man ceaseth and the faithful fail from
among the children of men ; when every man speaketh va-
nity to his neighbour, and the poor are oppressed, and the
needy sigh, and the wicked walk on every side when the
vilest men are exalted." Psal. xii. 1, 2. 5. 8. The times are
good when the men are good ; and evil when the men are
evil, be they never so great or prosperous. As Nehemiah,
when he was cup-bearer to the king himself, yet wept and
mourned for the desolations of Jerusalem ; Nehem. i. 3, 4.
ii. 2, 3. Whoever prospereth, the times are ill when
there is a " famine of the word of the Lord, and when the
chief of the priests and people do transgress and mock
God's messengers, and despise his word, and misuse his
prophets; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 14. 16. Amosviii. 11, 12. When
the apostles are " charged to speak no more in the name of
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 487
Christ ; Acts iv. 18, v. 40. It is a text enough to make
one tremble, to think into what a desperate condition the
Jews were carried by a partial, selfish zeal ; " who both kil-
led the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have per-
secuted us, and they please not God, and are contrary to
all men ; forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they
might be saved, to fill up their sin alway, for the wrath is
come upon them to the uttermost." 1 Thess. ii.15. 16. When
the interest of themselves and their own nation and priest-
hood, did so far blind and pervert them, that they durst per-
secute the preachers of the Gospel, and " forbid them to
speak to the people that they may be saved ;" it was a sign
that " wrath was come upon them to the uttermost." A
Christian indeed had rather be without Jeroboam's kingdom,
than 'make Israel to sin,' and 'make the basest of the people
priests,' and ' stretch out his hand against the prophet of the
Lord :' 1 Kings, xii. 30, 31. xiii. 4. He had rather la-
bour with his hands, as Paul, and live in poverty and rags,
so that the Gospel may be powerfully and plentifully preach-
ed, and holiness abound, than to live in all the prosperity of
the world, with the hindrance of men's salvation. He had
rather be a door-keeper in the house of God, than be a lord
in the kingdom of satan. He cannot rise by the ruins of
the church, nor feed upon those morsels that are the price of
the blood of souls.
2. And the weakest Christian is in all this of the same
mind, saving that private and selfish interest is not so fully
overcome, nor so easily and resolutely denied ; Luke xiv.
26. 33.
3. But here the hypocrite sheweth the falseness of his
heart. His own interest is it that chooseth his religion ;
and that he may not torment himself, by being wicked in
the open light, he maketh himself believe, that whatsoever
is most for his own interest, is most pleasing unto God, and
most for the good of souls and the interest of the Gospel ;
so that the carnal Romish clergy can persuade their consci-
ences, that all the darkness and superstitions of their king-
dom, and all the opposition of the light of the Gospel of
Christ, do make for the honour of God and the good of
souls ; because they uphold their tyranny, wealth, and pomp,
and pleasure. Or if they cannot persuade their consciences
to believe so gross a lie, let church and souls speed how
488 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
they will, they will favour nothing that favoureth not their
interest and ends. And the interest of the flesh and Spirit,
and of the world and Christ, are so repugnant, that com-
monly such worldlings take the serious practice of godli-
ness for the most hateful thing, and the serious practisers
of it for the most insufferable persons ; Acts vii. 57. xxi.
36. xxii. 22. xxiv. 5, 6. John xix. 15. The enmity of
interests, with the enmity of nature, between the woman's
and the serpent's seed, will maintain that warfare to the
end of the world ; in which the prince of the powers of
darkness shall seem to prevail (as he did against our cruci-
fied Lord) : but he shall be overcome by his own successes,
and the just shall conquer by patience, when they seem
most conquered. The name, and form, and image of reli-
gion, the carnal hypocrite doth not only bear, but favour,
and himself accept ; but the life and serious practice he ab-
horreth, as inconsistent with his worldly interest and ends.
For these he can find in his heart, with Ahab, to hate and
imprison Micaiah, and prefer his four hundred flattering
prophets ; 1 Kings xxii. 6. 8. 24. 27. If Luther will touch
the pope's crown and the friars' bellies, they will not scru-
ple to oppose and ruin, both him and all such preachers in
the world, if they were able : John xi. 48, 50. Acts v. 28.
LVI. 1. A Christian indeed, is one whose holiness usu-
ally maketh him an eyesore to the ungodly world ; and his
charity and peaceableness, and moderation, nlaketh him to
be censured as not strict enough, by the superstitious and
dividing sects of Christians. For seeing the church hath
suffered between these two sorts of opposers, ever since the
suffering of Christ himself; it cannot be but the solid Chris-
tian offend them both, because he hath that which both dis-
like. All the ungodly hate him for his holiness, which is
cross to their interest and way ; and all the dividers will
censure him for that universal charity and moderation, which
is against their factious and destroying zeal (described,
James iii). Eren Christ himself was not strict enough (in su-
perstitious observances) for the ceremonious, zealous Phari-
sees. He transgressed, with his disciples, the tradition of
the elders, in neglecting their observances, who transgressed
the commandment of God by their tradition ; Matt. xv. 2,3.
He was not strict enough in their uncharitable observation
of the sabbath-day ; Matt. xii. 2. John, who was eminent
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 489
for fasting, they said, had a devil. " The Son of man came
eating and drinking, and they say, 'behold a man glut-
tonous, and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.'
But wisdom is justified of her children ;" Matt. xi. 18, 19
And the weak Christians ; Rom. xiv. 1 — 3. did censure
those that did eat those meats and do those things, which
they conceived to be unlawful. They that err themselves,
and make God a service which he never appointed, will cen-
sure all as lukewarm, or temporizers, or wide-conscienced
men, that err not with them, and place not their religion in
such superstitious observances, as " touch not, taste not,
handle not," &c. Col. ii. 18. 21 — 23. And the raw, cen-
sorious Christians are offended with the charitable Christi-
an, because he damneth not as many and as readily as they
and shutteth not enough out of the number of believers, and
judgeth not rigorously enough of their ways. In a word, he
is taken by one sort to be too strict, and by the other to be
too compliant or indifferent in religion ; because he placeth
not the kingdom of God in meats and days, and such like
circumstances, but in " righteousness, peace, and joy in the
Holy Ghost ; M Rom. xiv. 15 — 17. And as Paul withstood
Peter to the face, for drawing men to make scruple or con-
science of things lawful ; Gal. ii. 11 — 13; so is the sound
Christian withstood by the superstitious, for not making
scruple of lawful things.
2. And the weak Christian is in the same case, so long
as he followeth prudent, pious, charitable guides. But if
he be taken in the snares of superstitton, he pleaseth the su-
perstitious party, though he displease the world.
3. And whereas the solid Christian will not stir an inch
from truth and duty, to escape either the hatred of the wick-
ed, or the bitterest censures of the sectary, or the weak ; the
hypocrite must needs have one party on his side : for if both
condemn him, and neither applaud him, he loseth his pecu-
liar reward : Matt. vi. 2. 5. xxiii. 5 — 8.
LVII. 1. The confirmed Christian doth understand the
necessity of a faithful ministry, for the safety of the weak
(as well as the conversion of the wicked) and for the preser-
vation of the interest of religion upon earth ! And there-
fore no personal unworthiness of ministers, nor any calum-
nies of enemies can make him think or speak dishonourably
of that sacred office. But he reverenceth it as instituted
490 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
by Christ ; and though he loathe the sottishness and wick-
edness of those that run before they are sent, and are utterly
insufficient or ungodly, and take it up for a living or trade
only, as they would a common work ; and are " sons of Be-
lial, that know not the Lord, and cause the offering of the
Lord to be abhorred ;" 1 Sam. ii. 2. 17. Yet no such temp-
tation shall overthrow his reverence to the office, which is
the ordinance of Christ ; much less will he be unthankful to
those who are able and faithful in their office, and labour
instantly for the good of souls, as willing to spend and be
spent for their salvation. When the world abuseth and de-
rideth, and injureth them, he is one that honoureth them
both for their work and master's sake, and the experience
which he hath had of the blessing of God on their labours
to himself. For he knoweth that the smiting of the shep-
herds, is but the devil's ancient way for the scattering of the
flock ; though he knoweth that " if the salt hath lost its sa-
vour, it is good for nothing, neither fit for the land, nor yet
for the dunghill ; but men cast it out, and it is trodden under
foot ; (he that hath ears to hear, let him hear) ;" Luke xiv.
34, 35. Matt. v. 13, 14. Yet he also knoweth, that he
" that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shal}
receive a prophet's reward ;" Matt. x. 41, 42. And that,
" he that receiveth them, receiveth Christ, and he that des-
piseth them (that are sent by him) despiseth him ;" Luke x.
16. He therefore readily obeyeth those commands, Heb.
xiii. 17. '■* Obey them that have the rule over you. and sub-
mit yourselves ; for they watch for your souls as those that
must give an account ; 1 Thess. v. 12, 13. We beseech you
brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are
over you in the Lord, and admonish you ; and to esteem
them very highly in love for their works' sake, and be at peace
among yourselves ; 1 Tim. v. 17. Let the elders that rule
well, be counted worthy of double honour ; especially they
who labour in the word and doctrine."
2. But though the weak Christian be of the same mind
so far as he is sanctified, yet is he much more easily tempted
into a wrangling censoriousness against his teachers, though
they be never so able and holy men ; and by seducers may
be drawn to oppose them, or speak contemptuously of them,
as the Galatians did of Paul, and some of the Corinthains ;
accounting him as their enemy for telling them the truth
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 491
when lately they would have plucked out their eyes to do
him good; Gal. iv. 15, 16.
3. But the hypocrite is most easily engaged against
them, either when they grate upon the guilt of his former
sin, or open his hypocrisy, or plainly cross him in his carnal
interest, or else when his pride hath conquered his sobriety,
and engaged him in some sect or erroneous way, which his
teachers are against, and would reduce him from ; John vi.
66. Mark v. 27. 2 Chron. xxv. 16.
LVI1I. 1. A Christian indeed is one that hath stored up
such manifold experience of the fulfilling of God's pro-
mises, and the hearing of prayers, and the goodness of his
holy ways, as will greatly fortify him against all temptations
to infidelity, apostasy, or distrust. No one hath stronger
temptations usually than he, and no one is so well furnished
with weapons to resist them. The arguments of most others
are fetched out of their books only ; but he hath moreover
a life of experience to confirm his faith, and so hath the
witness in himself. He hath tried and found that in God,
in holiness, in faith, in prayer, which will never suffer him
to forsake them. Yea, it is like that he hath upon record
some such wonders in the answer of prayers, as might do
much to silence an infidel himself. I am sure many Chris-
tians have had such strange appearances of the extraordinary
hand of God, that hath done much to destroy the remnants
of their own unbelief; Psal. lxvi. 16.
2. But the experiences of the younger, weaker Christi-
ans are much shorter, and less serviceable to their faith ;
and they have not judgment enough to understand and make
use of the dealings of God ; but are ready to plead his pro-
vidences unto evil ends and consequences, and to take their
own passionate imaginations for the workings of the Spirit.
It is ordinary with them to say, ' this or that was set upon
my heart, or spoken to me,' as if it had been some divine
inspiration, when it was nothing but the troubled workings
of a weak distempered brain : and it is their own fancy and
heart that saith that to them, which they think the Spirit of
God within them said; Heb. v. 11 — 13. 2 Thess. ii. 21.
John iv. 1. 1 Tim. iv. 1. 1 Cor. xii. 10. Jer. xxiii. 28, 29.
32. xxix. 8.
3. And the hypocrite wanteth those establishing expe-
riments of the power of the Gospel, and the hearing of pray-
492
CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
ers, and fulfilling of promises, and communion with Christ
in the Spirit ; and therefore he is the more open to the power
of temptations, and a subtle disputer will easily corrupt him
and carry him away to flat apostasy ; for he wanteth the
root and witness in himself; Matt. xiii. 21, 22. 1 John v.
10. Heb. vi. 6, 7, 8. Luke viii. 13.
LIX. 1. A Christian indeed, is one that highly valueth
sanctified affections and passions, that all he doth may be
done as lively as possibly he can ; and also holy abilities for
expression. But he much more valueth, the three great es-
sential, constant parts of the new creature within him ; that
is, 1. A high estimation of God, and Christ, and heaven and
holiness in his understanding, above all that can be set in
any competition. 2. A resolved choice and adhesion of the
will, by which he preferreth God, and Christ, and heaven,
and holiness, ahove all that can be set against them, and is
fixedly resolved here to place his happiness and his hopes.
3. The main drift and endeavours of his life, in which he
" seeketh first the kingdom of God and his righteousness ;
Matt, vi.33. ix.20, 21. In these three (his highest estima-
tion, his resolved choice and complacencies, and his chief
endeavours) he taketh his standing constant evidences of his
sincerity to consist ; and by these he trieth himself as to
his state, and not by the passionate feelings or affections of
his heart ; nor by his memory, or gifts, or orderly thinking,
or expression. And it is these rational operations of his
soul, in which he knoweth that holiness doth principally
consist ; and therefore he most laboureth to be strong in
these. 1. To ground his judgment well. 2. And to resolve
and fix his will. 3. And to order his conversation aright ;
Psal. 1. 23. Yet highly valuing sensible affections and gifts
of utterance, but in subserviency to those which are the vi-
tal acts; 1 Cor. xiii. Rom. vii. 18, &c. vi. 16.22. Rom.
viii. 13. James ii. Col. i. 9. iii. 16.
2. But the weak Christian usually placeth most of his
religion in the more affectionate and expressive part : he
striveth more with his heart for passionate apprehensions,
than for complacency and fixed resolution. He is often in
doubt of his sincerity, when he wanteth the feeling affec-
tionate workings which he desireth, &c. thinketh he hath no
more grace than that he hath sensibility of expressive gifts ;
and so as he buildeth his comfort upon these inconstant
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 493
signs, his comforts are accordingly inconstant. Sometimes
he thinketh he hath grace, when his body or other advanta-
ges do help the excitation of his lively affections : and when
the dulness of his body, or other impediments hinder this,
he questioneth his grace again, because he undersandeth not
aright the nature and chiefest acts of grace.
3. The hypocrite hath neither the rational nor the pas-
sionate part in sincerity : but he may go much further in
the latter than the former. A quick and passionate nature
though unsanctified, may be brought to shed more tears,
and express more fervour than many a holy person can : es-
pecially upon the excitation of some quickening sermons,
or some sharp affliction, or great conviction, or at the ap-
proach of death. Few of the most holy persons can con-
stantly retain so lively, fervent, passionate repentings, and
desires and resolutions to amend, as some carnal persons
have in sickness. The power of fear alone doth make them
more earnest, than love maketh many a gracious soul ; but
when the fear is over, they are the same again. How oft
have I heard a sick man most vehemently profess his reso-
lutions for a holy life, which all have come to nothing af-
terward ? How oft have I heard a common drunkard, with
tears, cry out against himself for his sin, and yet go on in
it ? And how many gracious persons have I known whose
judgments and wills have been groundedly resolved for God
and holiness, and their lives have been holy, fruitful, and
obedient, who yet could not shed a tear for sin, nor feel any
very great sorrows or joys? If you judge of a man by his
earnestness in some good moods, and not by the constant
tenor of his life, you will think many a hypocrite to be
better than most saints. Who would have thought, that had
seen him only in that fit, but that Saul had been a penitent
man, when he lift up his voice and wept, and said to David,
" Thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast rewarded
me good ; whereas I have rewarded thee evil ; 1 Sam. xxiv.
16 — 21. A smaller matter will raise some sudden pas-
sions, than will renew the soul, and give the preeminence
to God, and holiness and heaven, in the judgment, will
and conversation ; Hosea vi. 4. xiii. 3. Isaiah lviii. 2.
Matt. xiii. 20.
LX. A Christian indeed, confirmed in grace, is one that
maketh it the business of his life to prepare for death ; and
494 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
delayeth not his serious thoughts of it, and preparations for
it till it surprise him; and therefore when it coraeth it find-
eth him prepared, and he gladly entertaineth it as the mes-
senger of his father, to call him to his everlasting home. It
is not a strange unexpected thing to him, to hear he must
die ; he died daily in his daily sufferings, and mortified con-
tempt of worldly things, and in his daily expectation of his
change. He wondereth to see men at a dying time, sur-
prised with astonishment and terror, who jovially or care-
lessly neglected it before, as if they had never known till
then that they must die. Or as if a few years time were rea-
son enough for so great a difference. For that which he
certainly knoweth will be, he looketh at as if it were even
at hand ; and his preparation for it is more serious in his
health, than other men's is on their deathbed. He useth
more carefully to bethink himself what graces he shall need
at a dying time, and in what case he shall then wish his soul
to be ; and accordingly he laboureth in his provisions now,
even as if it were to be to-morrow. He verily believeth that
it is incomparably " better for him to be with Christ," than
to abide on earth ; and therefore, though death of itself be
an enemy, and terrible to nature, yet being the only passage
into happiness, he gladly entertaineth it. Though he have
not himself any clear apprehensions, of the place and state
of the happiness of departed souls, yet it quieteth him to
know that they " shall be with Christ," and that Christ
knoweth all, and prepareth and secureth for him that pro-
mised rest; John xii. 26. 2 Cor. v. 1. 7, 8. Phil. i. 21. 23.
Luke xxiii. 43. Though he is not free from all the natural
fears of death, yet his belief and hope of endless happiness
doth abate those fears by the joyful expectation of the gain
which followeth. See my book, called " The Last Enemy,
and the Last Work of a Believer ;" and that of "Self-denial,"
against the fears of death.
But especially he loveth and longeth for the coming of
Christ to judgment, as knowing that the marriage-day of the
Lamb is come, and then the desires and hopes of all believ-
ers shall be satisfied ; " then shall the righteous shine as
stars in the kingdom of their Father :" and the hand of vio-
lence shall not reach them. Every enemy then is overcome,
and all the Redeemer's work is consummated, and the king-
dom delivered up unto the Father. Then shall the ungodly
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 495
and the unmerciful be confounded, and the righteous filled
with everlasting joy, when the Lord shall throughly plead
their cause, and justify them against the accusations of sa-
tan, and all the lies of his malicious instruments. O blessed,
glorious, joyful day, when Christ shall come with thousands
of his angels, " to execute vengeance on the ungodly world,
and to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them
that believe ;" 2 Thess. i. 8—10. When the patient fol-
lowers of the Lamb shall behold him in glory, whom they
have believed in, and shall see that they did not pray, or
hope, or wait in vain ! When Christ himself and his sacred
truth, shall be justified and glorified in the presence of the
world, and his enemies mouths for ever stopped. " When
he shall convince all that are ungodly, of all their ungodly
deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their
hard speeches, which ungodlv sinners have spoken against
him;" Jude 14, 15. Where then isthe mouth that pleadeth
the cause of infidelity and impiety ? and reproached the se-
rious holiness of believers? and made a jest of the judg-
ments of the Lord ? Then what terrors and confusion, and
shame, what fruitless repentings will seize upon that man,
that set himself against the holy ones of the Lord, and knew
not the day of his visitation, and embraced the image and
form of godliness, while he abhorred the power. The joys
which will then possess the hearts of the justified, will be
such as now no heart can comprehend. When love shall
come to be glorified in the highest expression, to those that
lately were so low ; when all their doubts, and fears, and
sorrows, shall be turned into full contenting sight, and all
tears shall be wiped away, and all reproaches turned into
glory, and every enemy overcome, and sin destroyed, and
holiness effected, and our " vile bodies changed, and made
like the glorious body of Christ ; Phil. iii. 20, 21. Col. iii.
3, 4. Then will the love and work of our redemption be
fully understood. And then a saint will be a saint indeed,
when with Christ they shall "judge the angels and the
world :" 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3 : and shall hear from Christ, " Come
ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world \" Matt. xxv. 34. " Enter
ye into the joy of your Lord ;" Matt. xxv. 21. Then "every
knee shall bow to Christ, and every tongue shall confess
that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father;" Phil. ii.
49fj CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
2. 10, 11. Then sin will fully appear in its malignity, and
holiness in its lustre unto all. The proud will then be abas-
ed, and the mouths of all the wicked stopped ; when they
shall see, to their confusion, the glory of that Christ whom
they despised, and of those holy ones whom they made their
scorn. In vain will they then " knock when the door is shut,
and cry, Lord, Lord, open unto us;" Matt. xxv. 10 — 12.
And in vain will they then wish, ' O that we had known the
day of our visitation, that we might have died the death of
the righteous, and our latter end might have been as his ;'
Numb. xxii. 10. Rom. iii. 19. Job v. 16. Psal. cvii. 42.
xxxi. 23. xiii. 6. 8.
The day of death is to true believers a day of happiness
and joy ; but it is much easier for them to think with joy on
the coming of Christ, and the day of judgment, because it
is a day of fuller joy, and soul and body shall be conjoined
in the blessedness ; and there is nothing in it to be so great
a stop to our desires as death is, which naturally is an ene-
my. God hath put a love of life, and fear of death, into the
nature of every sensible creature, as necessary for the pre-
servation of themselves and others, and the orderly govern-
ment of the world. But what is there in the blessed day of
judgment, which a justified child of God should be averse
to ? O, if he were but sure that this would be the day, or
week, or year of the coming of his Lord, how glad would the
confirmed Christian be ! And with what longings would
he be looking up, to see that most desired sight.
2. And the weak Christian is so far of the same mind,
that he had rather come to God by death and judgment,
than not at all; (except when temptations make him fear
that he shall be condemned.) He hath fixedly made choice
of that felicity, which till then he cannot attain. He would
not take all the pleasures of this world for his hopes of the
happiness of that day : but yet he thinketh not of it with so
strong a faith and great consolation, nor with such boldness
and desire, as the confirmed Christian doth ; but either with
much more dull security, or more perplexity and fear. His
thoughts of God and of the world to come, are much more
dark and doubtful, and his fears of that day are usually so
great, as to make his desires and joys scarcely felt : only he
thinketh not of it with that contempt or stupidity as the
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 497
infidel or hardened sinner, nor with the terrors of those that
have no God, no Christ, no hope ; (except when temptation
bringeth him near to the borders of despair.) His death
indeed is unspeakably safer than the death of the ungodly,
and the joys which he is entering into will quickly end the
terror ; but yet he hath no great comfort at the present, but
only so much trust in Christ, as keepeth his heart from sink-
ing into despair.
3. But to the hypocrite or seeming Christian, death and
judgment are the most unwelcome days, and the thoughts of
them are the most unwelcome thoughts. He would take any
tolerable life on earth, at any time, for all his hopes of hea-
ven ; and that not only through the doubts of his own sin-
cerity, (which may sometimes be the case of a tempted
Christian,) but through the unsoundness of his belief of the
life to come, or the utter unsuitableness of his soul to such
a blessedness ; which maketh him look at it as less desira-
ble to him, than a life of fleshly pleasures here. All that he
doth for heaven is upon mere necessity, because he knoweth
that die he must, and he had rather be in heaven than in
hell, though he had rather be in prosperity on earth than
either. And as he taketh heaven but as a reserve or second
good, so he seeketh it with reserves, and in the second place.
And having no better preparations for death and judgment,
no marvel if they be his greatest terror. He may possibly
by his self-deceit have some abatement of his fears, and he
may by pride and wit seem very valiant and comfortable at
his death, to hide his fear and pusillanimity from the world.
But the cure of all his misery is, that he sought not first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness, and laid not up a
treasure upon heaven, but upon earth, and loved this world
above God, and above the world to come ; and so his heart
is not set on heaven, nor his affections on things above ;
and therefore he hath not that love to God, to Christ, to
saints, to perfect holiness, which should make that world
most desirable in his eyes, and make him think unfeignedly
that it is best for him to depart and live with Christ for ever.
Having not the Divine nature, nor having lived the Divine
life in walking with God, his complacency and desires are
. carnal, according to the nature which he hath. And this is
the true cause, (and not only his doubts of his own sincerity,)
VOL. VIII. K K
49& CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
of his unwillingness to die, or to see the day of Christ's ap-
pearance ; Matt. vi. 33. 19—21. 1 John ii. 15. Col. iii.
1—4. Rom. viii. 5— 8. 1 Cor.ii. 13, 14. 2 Pet. i. 4.
And thus I have shewed you from the word of God, and
the nature of Christianity, the true characters of the Con-
firmed Christian, and of the Weak Christian, and of the
Seeming Christian.
The Uses for which I have drawn up these characters,
and which the reader is to make of them, are these :
1 . Here the weak Christian and the hypocrite may see
what manner of persons they ought to be. Not only how un-
safe it is to remain in a state of hypocrisy, but also how un-
comfortable, and unserviceable, and troublesome it is, to re-
main in a state of weakness and diseasedness ; what a folly
(and indeed a sign of hypocrisy) is it to think, ' If I had but
grace enough to save me, I would desire no more, or I
would be well content.' Are you content, if you have but
life here, to difference you from the dead ? If you were con-
tinually infants that must be fed, and carried, and made
clean by others ; or if you had a continual gout, or stone,
or leprosy, and lived in continual want and misery, you
would think that life alone is not enough ; and that ' non vi-
vere tantum sed valere vita est ;' that life is uncomfortable
when we have nothing but life, and all the delights of life
are gone. He that lieth in continual pain and want is weary
of his life, if he cannot separate it from those calamities.
He that knoweth how necessary strength is, as well as life,
to do any considerable service for God, and how many pains
attend the diseases and infirmities of the weak, and what
great dishonour cometh to Christ and religion, by the faults
and childishness of many that shall be pardoned and saved,
would certainly bestir him with all possible care to get out
of this sick or infant state.
2. By this you may see who are the strong Christians,
and who are the weak. It is not always the man of learning
and free expressions, that can speak longest and most wisely
of holy things, that is the strong, confirmed Christian ; but
he that most excelleth in the love of God and man, and in
a heavenly mind, and holy life. Nor is it he that is unlearn-
ed, or of a weak memory, or slow expression, that is the
weakest Christian ; but he that hath least love to God and
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 499
man, and the most love to his carnal self, and to the world,
and the strongest corruptions, and the weakest grace.
Many a poor day-labourer, or woman, that can scarce speak
sense, is a stronger Christian (as being strong in faith, and
love, and patience, and humility, and mortification, and
self-denial) than many great preachers and doctors of the
church.
3. You see here what kind of men they be that we call
the godly ; and what that godliness is which we plead for,
against the malicious serpentine generation. The liars
would make men believe that by godliness we mean a few
affected strains, or hypocritical shews, or heartless lip-ser-
vice, or singular opinions, in needless scrupulosity, or igno-
rant zeal ; yea, a schism, or faction, or sedition, or rebellion,
or what the devil please to say. If these sixty characters
describe any such thing, then I will not deny, that in the
way that such men call heresy, faction, schism, singularity,
so worship we the God of our fathers. But if not, the Lord
rebuke thee satan, and hasten the day when' the " lying lips
shall be put to silence ;" Psal. cxxxi. 18. cxx.2. cix. 2.
Prov.xii.19.22. x. 18.
4. By this also you may see how inexcusable the ene-
mies of Christianity and godliness are, and for what it is that
they hate and injure it. Is there any thing in all this cha-
racter of a Christian, that deserveth the suspicion or hatred
of the world ? What harm is there in it ? Or what will it
do against them ? I may say to them of his servants as
Christ did of himself: " Many good works have I shewed
you from my Father ; for which of these works do ye stone
me V! John x. 32. Many heavenly graces are in the sancti-
fied believer: for which of these do you hate and injure
him ? I know that goodness is so far in credit with human
nature, that you will answer as the Jews did : " For a good
work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy ;" ver. 33. We
hate them not for godliness, but for hypocrisy and sin. But
if it be so indeed, 1. Speak not against godliness itself, nor
against the strictest performance of our duty. 2. Yea, plead
for godliness, and countenance and promote it, while you
speak against hypocrisy and sin. 3. And choose out the
hypocrite whose character is here set before you ; and let
him be the object of your enmity and distaste. Let it fall
on those that are worldlings and time-servers, and will
500 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
stretch their consciences to their carnal interest, and can
do any thing to save their skin ; and being false to Christ,
can hardly be true to any of their superiors, but only in
subordination to themselves. As it is said of Constantius,
that he commanded that all his servants should be turned out
of their places that would not renounce Christianity. And
when he had thereby tried them, he turned out all the apos-
tates, and kept in the sincere, and told them, they could not
be true to him, that were not true to their God and Saviour.
4. And see that you be not hypocrites yourselves. You
profess yourselves Christians ; and what is it to be a Chris-
tian indeed, you may here perceive. If any that fall under
the character of hypocrites, or worse, shall vilify or hate the
sincere Christians as hypocrites, what a horrid aggravation
of their hypocrisy will it be?
Indeed it is the best and strongest Christians that have
most of the hatred both of the unbelieving and the hypocri-
tical world. And for my own part I must confess, that the
very observation of the universal implacable enmity, which
is undeniably seen throughout the world, between the wo-
man's and the serpent's seed (being such as is not found
among any other sorts of men on other occasions), doth not
a little confirm my belief of the holy Scriptures, and seem-
eth to be an argument not well to be answered by any ene-
my of the Christian cause. That it should begin between
the two first brothers that ever were born in the world, and
stop in' nothing lower than shedding the righteous blood of
Abel, for no other cause, but because the works of Cain
were evil, and his brother's righteous; 1 Johniii. 12, 13.
And that it should go down to the prophets, and Christ, and
the apostles, and primitive saints, and continue to this day
throughout the earth; and that the profession of the same
religion doth not alter it, but rather enrage the enmity of
hypocrites against all that are serious and sincere in the re-
ligion which they themselves profess. These are things
that no good account can be given of, save only from the
predictions and verities of the word of God.
5. Also you may hence perceive how exceedingly inju-
rious hypocrites and scandalous Christians, are to the name
of Christ, and cause of Christianity and godliness in the
world. The blind, malicious enemies of faith and godliness,
instead of judging them by the sacred rule, do look only to
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 501
the professors, and think of religion as they think of them.
If they see the professors of Christianity to be covetous,
proud, usurpers, time-servers, self-exalters, cruel, schisma-
tical, rebellious, they presently charge all this upon their
religion ; and godliness must bear the blame, when all comes
but for want of godliness and religion. And all the world
hath not done so much against these and all other sins, as
Christ hath done. What if Christ's disciples strive who
shall be the greatest, is it long of him who girdeth himself
to wash and wipe their feet ? and telleth them, that " ex-
cept they be converted, and become as little children, they
shall not enter into the kingdom of God ?" Matt, xviii. 3.
and telleth them, that though " the kings of the Gentiles do
exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authori-
ty upon them are called benefactors, yet ye shall not be so ?"
Luke xxii. 25, 26. Is it long of him that hath said to the el-
ders, " Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking
the oversight thereof, not by constraint but willingly ; not
for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind ; neither as being lords
over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock ?"
Who hath set the elders such a lesson as you find in Acts
xx. 2 Tim. iv. 1 — 3. 1 Tim. v. 17. If any called Christians
should be truly schismatical, factious, or turbulent, is it long
of him that hath prayed the Father that they may all be one ?
Johnxvii.21 — 23. and hath so vehemently entreated them
" that they speak the same thing, and that there be no divi-
sions among them, and that they be perfectly joined toge-
ther in the same mind, and in the same judgment;" 1 Cor.
vii. 10. and hath charged them to " mark them that cause
divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which they
had learned, and to avoid them?" Rom. xvi. 16, 17. If any
called Christians shall be seditious, or rebellious, or as the
Papists believe, that the clergy are from under the jurisdic-
tion of kings, and that the pope hath power to excommuni-
cate princes, and absolve their subjects from their allegiance,
and give their dominions to others, as it is decreed in the
general council at the Lateran under Innocent the Third,
Can. 3. Is all this long of Christ, who hath paid tribute to
Csesar, and hath commanded that every soul be subject to
the higher powers, and not resist, and this for conscience
sake? Rom. xiii. 1 — 3. and hath bid his disciples rather to
turn the other cheek, than to seek revenge ? Luke vi. 29.
502 CHARACTER OF A SOUND,
and hath told them that they that use the sword (of rebel-
lion, or revenge, or cruelty) shall perish by the sword ?
John xviii. 11. If any Christians will, under pretence of re-
ligion, set up a cruel inquisition, or kill men to convert them,
or become self-lovers, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphe-
mers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without
natural affection, truce-breakers, false-accusers, incontinent,
fierce, despisers of those that are good, &c. Is this long of
him that hath forbid all this ? 2 Tim. iii. 2—5. If for their
own domination, lust, or covetousness, men called Chris-
tians, will be worse than heathens and wolves to one ano-
ther, is this long of him that hath made it his sheep-mark,
by which we must be known to all men to be his disciples,
that " we love one another?" Johnxiii. 35. and hath told
them, that if they " bite and devour one another, they shall
be devoured one of another?" (Gal. v. 15.) and hath bless-
ed the merciful, as those that shall find mercy (Matt. v. 7.),
and hath told men that what they do to his little ones, shall
be taken as if it were done to himself (Matt, xxv.), and hath
commanded the " strong to bear with the infirmities of the
weak, and not to please themselves" (Rom. xv. 1 — 3.), and
" to receive one another as Christ received us" (ver. 7.), and
hath told those that offend but 'A one of his little ones," that
it " were good for that man that a millstone were hanged
about his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the
sea" (Matt, xviii. 6.), and hath told him that " smiteth
his fellow servants, that his Lord will come in a day when
he looketh not for him, and shall cut him asunder, and
appoint him his portion with the hypocrites, where shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth;" chap. xxi v. 48—51. I
wonder what men would have Christ do, to free himself and
the Christian religion from the imputation of the sins of the
hypocrites, and the weak distempered Christians. Would
they have him yet make stricter laws (when they hate these
for being so strict already), or would they have him con-
demn sinners to more grievous punishment, when they are
already offended at the seventy of his threatenings ? O what
an unrighteous generation are his enemies that blame the
law, because men break it, and blame religion, because ma-
ny are not religious enough. As if the sun must be hated,
because that shadows and dungeons do want light; or life
and health must be "hated, because many art sick and ^pain-
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 503
ed by their diseases ! But Christ will shortly stop all the
mouths of these unreasonable men ; and O how easily will
he justify himself, his laws, and all his holy ways, when all
iniquity shall be for ever silent. And though " it must
needs be that offences come, yet woe to the world because
of offences, and woe to the man by whom they come."
The wrong that Christ receiveth from hypocrites and
scandalous Christians (of all ranks and places) is not to be
estimated. These are the causes that Christianity and god-
liness are so contemptible in the eyes of the world ! that
Jews, and heathens, and Mahometans, are still unconverted
and deriders of the faith ; because they see such scandalous
tyranny and worship among the Papists, and such scandal-
ous lives among the greatest part of professed Christians in
the world ; whereas, if the papal tyranny were turned into
the Christian ministry (Luke xxii. 25 — 27. 1 Tim. v. 17.), and
their irrational fopperies, and historical, hypocritical wor-
ship were changed into a reverent, rational, and spiritual
worship; and the cruel, carnal, worldly lives of men called
Christians, were changed into self-denial, love, and holiness.
In a word, if Christians were Christians indeed, and such as
I have here described from their rule, what a powerful means
would it be of the conversion of all the unbelieving world ?
Christianity would then be in the eye of the world, as the
sun in its brightness, and the glory of it would dazzle the
eyes of the beholders, and draw in millions to inquire after
Christ, who are now driven from him by the sins of hypo-
crites and scandalous believers.
And this doth not contradict what I said before of the
enmity of the world to holiness, and that the best are most
abused by the ungodly. For even this enmity must be ra-
tionally cured, as by the error of reason it is fed. God
useth by the power of intellectual light, to bring all those
out of darkness whom he saveth, and so bringeth them from
the power of satan to himself; Acts xxvi. 18. Men hate
not holiness as good, but as misconceived to be evil. Evil,
I say, to them, because it is opposite to their sensual plea-
sures, which they take to be their chiefest good. And the
way of curing their enmity, is by shewing them their error ;
and that is, by shewing them the excellency and necessity of
that which they unreasonably distaste; Acts xxvi. 9 — 11.
14.19. Luke xv. 13— 16. Acts ii. 36, 37.
504 CHARACTER OF A *)OUND,
6. Lastly, in these characters you have some help in the
work of self-examination, for the trial both of the truth and
strength of grace. I suppose it will be objected, that in
ther treatises I have reduced all the infallible marks of
grace to a smaller number. To which I answer, I still say,
that the predominancy or prevalency of the interest of God
as our God, and Christ as our Saviour, and the Spirit as our
Sanctifier, in the estimation of the understanding, the re-
solved choice of the will, and the government of the life,
against all the worldly interest of the flesh, is the only infal-
lible sign of a justified, regenerate soul. But this whole
hath many parts, and it is abundance of particulars mate-
rially in which this sincerity is to be found. Even all the
sixty characters which I have here named, are animated by
that one, and contained in it. And I think to the most the
full description of a Christian in his essential and integral
parts (yet shewing which are indeed essential) is the best
way to acquaint them with the nature of Christianity, and to
help them in the trial of themselves. And as it were an abuse
of human nature, for a painter to draw the picture of a man
without arms, or legs, or nose, or eyes, because he may be
a man without them ; so would it have been in me to draw
only a maimed picture of a Christian, because a maimed
Christian is a Christian. Yet, because there are so many
maimed Christians in the world, I have also shewed you their
lamentable defects : not in a manner which tendeth to en-
courage them in their sins and wants under pretence of com-
forting them, but in that manner which may best excite
them to their duty, in order to their recovery, without de-
stroying their necessary supporting comforts.
O happy church, and state, and family, which are com-
posed of such confirmed Christians ! where the predominant
temperature is such as I have here described ! Yea, happy
is the place where magistrates and ministers are such ; who
are the vital parts of state and church, and the instruments
appointed to communicate these perfections to the rest.
But how much more happy is the New Jerusalem, the city
of the living God, where the perfected spirits of the just in
perfect light, and life, and love, are perfectly beholding, and
admiring, and praising, and pleasing the eternal God, their
Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier for ever ! Where the least
and meanest is greater and more perfect than the confirmed
CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. .505
Christian here described ; and where hypocrisy is utterly
excluded, and imperfection ceaseth, with scandal, censures,
uncharitableness, division, and all its other sad effects ; and
where the souls that thirsted after righteousness shall be
fully satisfied, and love God more than they can now desire,
and never grieve themselves or others with their wants or
weaknesses, or misdoings any more. And, O blessed day,
when our blessed Head shall be revealed from heaven with
his mighty angels, and shall come to be glorified in his
saints, and admired in all them that now believe ; whose
weakness here occasioned his dishonour, and their own con-
tempt ! When the seed of grace is grown up into glory, and
all the world, whether they will or not, shall discern between
the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God,
and - him that serveth him not ; between the clean and the
unclean, and between him that sweareth, and him that fear-
eth an oath. And though now " our life is hid with Christ in
God," and it yet " appeareth not (to the sight of ourselves or
others) what we shall be ; yet then when Christ who is our
life shall appear, we also shall appear with him in glory;"
Heb.xii.22,23. Rev. xxii.3— 5. 14, 15. xxi.3,4.8, 2Thess.
i.9,10. Matt. v. 4. 6. Mal.iii.18. Eccles.ix.2. 1 John
iii.2, 3. Col. iii.3, 4. Away then my soul from this dark,
deceitful, and vexatious world ! Love not thy diseases, thy
fetters and calamities. Groan daily to thy Lord, and ear-
nestly groan to be cloathed upon with thy house that is from
heaven (2 Cor. v. 2. 4.), that mortality may be swallowed up
of life ! Join in the harmonious desires of the creatures, who
groan to be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into
the glorious liberty of the sons of God ; Rom. viii. 20 — 22.
" Abide in him, and walk in righteousness, that when he
shall appear, thou mayest have confidence, and not be
ashamed before him at his coming ;" 1 Johniii.28, 29. Join
not with the evil servants, who say in their hearts, " Our Lord
delayethhis coming, and begin to smite their fellow servants,
and to eat and drink with the drunken; whose Lord shall
come in a day when they look not for him, and in an hour
that they are not aware of, and shall cut them asunder, and
appoint them their portion with the hypocrites, where shall
be weeping and gnashing of teeth ;" Matt. xxiv. 38— -51. O
watch and pray that thou enter not into temptation ! and
be patient, for the Judge is at the door ! Lift up thy head
506' CHARACTER OF A SOUND CHRISTIAN.
with earnest expectation, O my soul, for thy redemption
draweth near ! Rejoice in hope before thy Lord, for he com-
eth ; he cometh to judge the world in righteousness and
truth. Behold he cometh quickly, though faith be failing,
and iniquity abound, and love waxeth cold, and scorners
say, * Where is the promise of his coming !' Make haste O
thou whom my soul desireth, and come in glory as thou
first earnest in humility, and conform them to thyself in
glory, whom thou madest conformable to thy sufferings and
humility ! Let the holy city New Jerusalem be prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband ; and let God's tabernacle
be with men, that he may dwell with them and be their God,
and wipe away their tears, and death, and sorrow, and cry-
ing ; and pain may be no more, but former things may pass
away ! Keep up our faith, our hope, our love ! and daily
vouchsafe us some beams' of thy directing, consolatory
light in this our darkness ! and be not as a stranger to thy
scattered flock, in this desolate wilderness ! But let them
hear thy voice, and find thy presence, and have such conver-
sation with thee in heaven, in the exercise of faith and hope,
and love, which is agreeable to their low and distant state.
Testify to their souls that thou art their Saviour and Head,
and that they abide in thee by the Spirit which thou hast
given them, abiding, and overcoming in them, and as thy
agent preparing them for eternal life. O let not our dark-
ness, nor any strangeness feed our odious unbelief! O shew
thyself more clearly to thy redeemed ones ! And come and
dwell in our hearts by faith ! And by holy love, let us
dwell in God, and God in us, that we grope not after him, as
those that worship an unknown God. O save us from temp-
tation ! And if the messenger of satan be sent to buffet us,
let thy strength be manifest in our weakness, and thy grace
appear sufficient for us. And give us the patience which
thou tellest us we need, that having done thy will, we may
inherit the promise. And bring us to the sight and fruition
of our Creator, of whom, and through whom, and to whom
are all things; to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
END OF THE CHARACTER OF A SOUND, CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN.
GODS GOODNESS
VINDICATED;
HELP OF SUCH (ESPECIALLY IN MELANCHOLY) AS ARE TEMPTED
TO DENY IT, AND THINK HIM. TO BE CRUEL, BECAUSE OF
THE PRESENT AND FUTURE MISERY OF MANKIND ;
WITH RESPECT TO THE DOCTRINE OF RE-
PROBATION AND DAMNATION.
THE
PUBLISHER TO THE READER.
How much the glory of God and the salvation of men is
concerned in the right understanding of his goodness, in all
his ways and counsels towards them, is evidently seen by
all that have any true notion of the Divine Excellency and
man's felicity. God's goodness is his most solemnly pro-
claimed name and glory. It is his goodness duly known,
that leads sinners to repentance, and unites their hearts to
fear his name, and excites, and for ever terminates that love
which is our holiness and happiness to eternity. It is also
too well known, how much this amiable Divine Goodness is
denied or doubted of. What cavils are raised against it by
men of corrupt minds ! What secret prejudice lies against
it, and how deeply rooted in our depraved nature ! Yea,
with how fearful suggestions and apprehensions are some
godly Christians (especially those that lie in the darkness
of melancholy) sometimes perplexed about it ! And even
such as are grounded and settled in it, are liable to be as-
saulted, and may sometimes stagger and stumble at it.
And indeed, though the kindness of God towards men hath
appeared in the world, as visible as the sun in the firma-
ment ; yet man's darkened understanding, and his connate
sensuality and selfishness, taking occasion from the more
mysterious parts of providence, and those especially that
most contradict the wisdom and interest of the flesh, hath
510 THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER.
caused disputes, and raised doubts, against the truth of
that which is in itself as clear and sure as that there is a
God or a world, or any thing existent. Whereupon this
author was earnestly desired by a friend, to collect some
principles in a narrow compass, that might silence cavillers,
succour the tempted, and confirm the sound mind. And
for these ends they are, with his permission, by his friend
made public ; Hosea xiv. 9. " Who is wise, and he shall
understand these things ? prudent, and he shall know them ?
for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk
in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein."
April 27, 1671.
GOD'S GOODNESS
VINDICATED.
To help all such persons out of the snare of this dangerous
and troublesome temptation, as are described in the pro-
pounded case, we must have respect, I. To the special case
of the melancholy, who are more liable than others to such
disturbances. II. To the common cause of their trouble
and perplexity, as it consisteth in such opinions as you des-
cribe.
I. With the melancholy, the greatest difficulty lieth in
making them capable to receive plain truths : for it will
work, not as it is, but as it is received. And melancholy
doth breed and feed such kind of thoughts, as naturally as
a dead carcase feedeth vermin. Of forty or fifty melancholy
persons that I have to deal with, there are scarce four that
are not hurried with suggestions to blasphemous thoughts
against God and the sacred Scriptures ; and scarce two that
are not under dismal apprehensions that they are miserable,
undone creatures, (except only some that are all carried to
conceits of prophecies, revelations, and some rare, exalting
communications of light unto themselves.) This unhappy
disease of melancholy is first seated in the organs of imagi-
nation and passion both ; that is, in the spirits, and thereby
in the very imagining faculty itself: though the natural
parts being without pain or sickness, they will not be-
lieve that it is a disease at all. It inclineth them usually to
512 god's goodness vindicated.
solitariness, to musing, and to dismal thoughts, that they
are undone, graceless, hopeless, &c, which because they
passionately seem to feel, no words, which silence them,
will satisfy them ; or if you seem a little to satisfy them to-
day, it is all gone to-morrow : for a melancholy man is like
the eye that looketh on all things through a coloured glass,
or in an opthalmy, and seeth them according to the medium.
The disease, in some few, beginneth with over-stretching
thoughts and troubles about things spiritual ; but in most
that I have met with, (ten to one,) it beginneth with some
worldly cross, loss, or trouble, which grieveth them, and
casteth them into troublesome anxieties and cares ; and
then when by these the spirits are diseased, it presently
turneth upon conscience ; first, against themselves, aggra-
vating sin and misery, apprehending calamity from every
thing which they see, hear, or think of; and next, against
God and Scripture, perplexed in every thing that cometh
before them, and quarrelling with all, and offended in all ;
and usually they are importuned, as if it were by something
else within them, to say some blasphemous word against
God, or do some mischief against themselves. No doubt
through satan's special instigation, who can work on men
according to the advantage of their bodily and sensitive dis-
tempers, and can do that on a melancholy man, (though a
godly man,) which he cannot do on another ; as he can also
work on the choleric, phlegmatic, &c. according to their
temper.
1. The cure of this must be by these means; (1.) You
must not suffer them to be much alone. (2 ) You must di-
vert them from all musing, and turn it to discourse. (3.)
You must keep from them displeasing things and persons,
and help them to suitable pleasing company and converse.
(4.) You must change their air and company sometimes,
that strange objects may change their imagination. (5.)
Above all, if they have strength, you must not suffer them to
be idle, to lie in bed longer than they sleep in the day ; nor
to sit musing, but must get them upon the work of a lawful
calling, and drive them on to so much diligence, that body
and mind may be closely employed. This will be more than
all other ordinary means. (6.) In most, meet physic also
will do very much, which must be ordered by an experienced
physician that is with them, or well knoweth them. (7.)
god's goodness vindicated. 51.3
Lastly, Their false thoughts also must be confuted, and their
minds have due satisfaction. And if you cannot have all, or
most of these done, you can hardly expect a cure, unless
time wear it off, which is doubtful.
II. The falsehood and vexation of such men's thoughts,
whether the melancholy or others, are brought to pass, i.
By a false method of reasoning. 1 1 . By false opinions which
they have before received.
i. It is a grossly deluding and subverting way of reason-
ing, to begin at dark and doubtful consequents, thence to
argue against certain, clear, fundamental principles. As if
from some doubts about the position and motion of the stars,
or of the nature of light, heat, and motion, men should argue
that there is no sun, or moon, or stars at all ; or that they have
no power of light, heat, or motion : or as if from the many
difficulties in anatomy, about the circulation of the blood
the ' oleum nervosum,' the ' lympha,' and its vessels, the
passages and the ' succus' of the pancreas and gall, the
transcolation through the intestines into the ' venae lactam,'
the chyly glandules, and such like, one should arise to a
conclusion, that there is no blood, no chyle, no veins, no
glandules, no head, no body ; or from the controver-
sy, whether the heart be a mere muscle without any pro-
per ' parenchymal, ' one should grow to conclude that there
is no heart : so such persons, from points beyond man's
reach, about God's decrees and intentions, and the mys-
teries of providence, conclude or doubt against God's good-
ness ; that is, whether indeed there be a God. I have spo-
ken so fully to this case, in my " Reasons of the Christian
Religion," chapter iv. that I would desire you to peruse it.
I shall now only give you twenty questions which the
tempted person may challenge all the subtlety and malice
of hell to answer; for it is easy to justify the goodness of
God.
Quest. 1. ' Is it not certain that there is a world, in which
is abundance of created goodness V The earth is but a point
as to all the world. There is a sun, and moon, and multi-
tudes of glorious stars, which are many of them manifold
greater than the earth. There are angels, there are men,
there are variety of creatures in this lower part of the crea-
tion, which have all their excellency ; all the men on earth
VOL. VIII. L L
514 SOD'S GOODNESS VINDICATED.
cannot by any contribution of their counsels, discern the
ten thousandth part of the excellency of this little parcel of
God's works. And as to the whole, it is next to nothing
which we comprehend : every worm, every plant excelleth
the highest human apprehension. Is there no physical
goodness in all this unmeasurable, this harmonious, this
glorious frame? Look about you, look upwards, and deny
it if you can. And is there no moral goodness in holy men
and angels ? And is there no felicity and glorious goodness
in all the heavens? What mind can be so black, as to deny
all created goodness ?
Quest. 2. 1 1s not all the goodness of the whole creation com-
municated from God V Did it make itself? Or who else
made it ? Are not all effects from their causes ? And is he
not the first cause ? See what I have said to prove this fully
in the aforesaid Treatise.
Quest. 3. i Hath God made a world that is better than
himself?' Could he give more goodness than he had to
give? Must not he needs be better than all his works?
Quest. 4. ' Is he fit to be quarrelled with for want of
goodness, who hath infinitely more goodness than the whole
world besides ?' More than sun and stars, heaven and earth,
angels and men, all set together in all their single and their
united, harmonious worth ? If he be better than all, is he
not most beyond accusation or exception ?
Quest. 5. 'Must not God necessarily excel his works?
Must he needs make every worm a god ? Or must he
make any god, or equal to himself?' Is not that a contra-
diction? And is there not necessarily an imperfection in
all that is not God ? Nothing can be so great, so wise, so
good, so holy, so immutable, so self-sufficient, so blessed,
as God.
Quest. 6. ' Is not God's creation a harmonious universe,
of whch individuals are but the parts ?' Are not the parts
for the whole, and their worth to be valued for the whole, or
for the common ends ? Must every pin in a watch, or every
stitch in your garment, or every part of your house, or every
member of your body, and every humour or excrement in it,
have that excellency which may simply dignify itself in a
compared or separated sense ? Or rather, must it not have
that excellency which belongeth to it as a part of the whole
for the common end of all together ? Is not that best, that
god's goodness vindicated. o15
is best to the order, beauty, and usefulness of the universal
frame ?
Quest. 7. * Is it necessary to this end, or to prove God's
goodness, that all individuals, or species of creatures, must
be of the highest rank or excellency V Is God wanting in
goodness, if every man be not an angel, or every angel made
unchangeable, or every unlearned man a doctor, or every
star a sun, or every cloud or clod a star, or every beast a
man, or every worm an elephant, or every weed a rose, or
every member a heart or head, or every excrement blood
and spirits ? Will you think that a man doth reason like a
man who thus disputeth, ' He that doth not do that which
is best when he can do it, is not perfectly good, and there-
fore is not God. But he that maketh toads and serpents,
and maketh the guts the passage of filthy excrements, when
he could have made them equal with the heart, doth not do
that which is best, when he can do it. Therefore he is not
perfectly good ; therefore he is not God : therefore there is
no God ; therefore there is no Creator ; therefore the world
hath no cause, or made itself, and preserveth itself. There-
fore I made myself, and must rule and preserve myself.'
Conclude next, ' Therefore I will never suffer, nor die,' and
thus prove the wisdom of such reasoning, if you can.
Quest. 8. If God made man and all things, did he not
make them for himself, for the pleasure of his own will ?
Must he not needs in reason be the end of all, who is the
beginning and cause of all V And is not that means the best
which is aptest to the end ? And doth not the proper good-
ness of a means consist in its aptitude to promote the end ?
And then is not that the goodness of all creatures (partly to
be what the Creator efficiently maketh them, and partly) to
fulfil his will, and what creature hath not this goodness, as
to the absolute will of his decrees, which all fulfil ?
Quest. §. ' Are not now both these conclusions of infalli-
ble certainty, and therefore not at all contradictory V 1. That
God is most good, because he is the cause of all the good
in the whole creation ? 2. And yet that there are toads,
serpents, darkness, death, sickness, pains, &c. which there-
fore are no whit inconsistent with his goodness ? Neither
of them being capable of a denial, or of a sober doubt.
Quest. 10. ' Is not an angel and man, endued with reason
and freewill, and left to choose or refuse his own rectitude
516 GODS GOODNESS VINDICATED.
and felicity (or misery) capable of knowing, loving, serving,
and enjoying God, if he will? and instructed by a perfect
holy law (with rewards and punishments) to choose aright?
I say, is not such a creature as noble and as meet for God to
make as a stone, or a toad, or worm, or serpent?' If God
choose to please his own holy will, by making a world of
such intellectual, free agents, whom he will (ordinarily) rule
by the way of moral laws and motives ; is this any dispa-
ragement to his wisdom and goodness ? It is true, that such
a mutable freewill is below a confirmed, immutable will.
But it is as true, that a toad is below a man ; and that Infi-
nite wisdom thought not meet to make all his creatures of
one rank or size, not to make all faces alike, nor all the
stones in the street alike, but in wonderful variety. It is
not then unbeseeming God, to make a world of rational free-
agents, under such a moral government by laws.
Quest. 11. If all these free-agents have abused their li-
berty and undone themselves, if he so far shew mercy to
them all, as that they may be all happy if they will, and
none of them shall perish but for wilful and final refusing of
the saving means and mercy which is offered to them ; and
if they will, they may live with God himself, and Christ and
angels in endless glory ; and none shall lose this free-given
felicity, but for final refusal and contempt, preferring certain
vanity and dung before it. And if officers be commission-
ed, and means provided, to acquaint all, in several measures,
with the reasons why they should choose heaven and holi-
ness before the dirty pleasures of sin, and to importune them
daily to such a choice; and if a life of mercies be granted
to allure them, and afflictions to drive them, and examples
to invite them to choose aright. I say, after all this, ' have
any of these persons cause to complain, that God dealeth
not mercifully with them ?' Shall they, that will not accept
of life and mercy offered them, accuse him as cruel that im-
portuneth them to accept it ?
Quest. 12. ' Is the goodness of a king to be judged of by
the interest of murderers in the gaol ?' When he restrained
them by laws, when he warned them by legal penalties,
when he encourageth and protecteth all the good ; when the
lives of the innocent need this severity against the wicked ;
when the commonwealth would take him to be bad, that
would not restrain thieves and murderers by penalties. Yea,
god's goodness vindicated. :>17
though this king could, if he would, have set a constant
guard on these men to have kept these men from murdering,
but he thinketh meet only to govern them by laws ; will you
rather argue, that the gaol is a place of misery, therefore
the king is cruel, than, the rest of the kingdom flourish in
prosperity and peace, therefore the king is wise and graci-
ous. And is not this little dirty spot of earth, the next door
to hell, a place defiled by wilful sin, and unfit to be the in-
dex of God's benignity, from whence we should take an es-
timate of it ?
Quest. 13. ' Do not all men in the world confess God's
goodness first or last?' Do not all true believers, that are
themselves, acknowledge that he is infinitely good, and
good to them, and that his mercy is over all his works, and
endureth for ever? And do not the consciences of the
damned grind and tear them for the contempt of goodness,
and setting against mercy, even mercy to themselves ? This
is the fuel that feedeth hell, not by way of delusion, but ex-
perimental conviction. If the man that doubteth of God's
goodness and mercy to him, do despair, or fear damnation,
he foolishly contradicteth himself. For hell and damnation
is a state of misery and torment, in the loss, and in the con-
science and sense of refused and abused mercy. If there-
fore God be not merciful to you, then you need not fear be-
ing damned for sinning against and refusing mercy. For
that which is not, cannot be sinned against, or abused. If
God be merciful, you may be saved if you will accept this
mercy ; if he be not, you cannot in justice be damned for
rejecting that mercy which was none. And if God be not
merciful and just, he is not God. And if there be no God,
there is none to damn you. But all confess, in heaven and
hell, some with joy, and some with self-tormenting anguish,
that God was inconceivably good and merciful.
Quest. 14. ' What if it were but one or two in a whole
kingdom that were damned, and that only for obstinate un-
persuadable, final refusal of grace and salvation, and all the
rest of the world should be saved ; tell me, would you then
still suspect God of cruelty, or deny his goodness?' If not,
I further ask you:
Quest. 15. ' Have you so good acquaintance with the ex-
tent of the universe, the superior world, the number of an-
gels and blessed spirits, as that you are sure that it is pro-
518 god's goodness vindicated.
portionably more in the whole universe, that are miserable?'
Though some peevish men have wrangled at what I have
said of this in my forecited books, I am so far from flatter-
ing their self-conceited wisdom that I will say it over again,
That it is agreed on by philosophers, that the earth, as to
the universe, is no bigger than a point or inch is to the
whole earth ; we see over our heads, a wonderful sun, a mul-
titude of fixed and unfixed stars, of wonderful magnitude,
divers of them many times bigger than all the earth ; be-
sides the vast ethereal interspaces ; we see in a tube or tele-
scope, a marvellous likeness of the moon to this earth, with
shades, inequalities, &c. Multitudes of stars in the ga-
laxy and elsewhere, are discernible in the telescope, which
without it no eye can see ; little know we how far the world
extendeth itself, beyond all these stars and sun which we
can see ; or whether there be millions of the like beyond
our sight. The Scripture telleth us of innumerable angels,
holy and glorious spirits, that attend Christ in the service of
this lower world. No Scripture telleth us whether all the
glorious or blessed spirits be thus employed as angels for
mankind, or whether ten thousand thousandfold more be
otherwise employed. No Scripture or reason telleth, whe-
ther sun or moon, stars and intermediate aether, be inhabit-
ed or not? It is temerity to affirm that they are. And it
is a great temerity to say that they are not. It is lawful to
doubt, and it is lawful to conjecture, that it is most proba-
ble they are, considering, 1. That life is the excellency of
the creation, and the deadest parts are the basest. 2. That
the earth, and water, and air, are full of men, beasts, fishes,
birds, worms, flies, &c. 3. That it is incredible to him that
looketh upward, that sun, moon, stars, and aether, are baser
regions than this dirty earth ; and consequently that they
are baser as to their use and inhabitants. These thoughts
of an uncertain thing, are lawful, to him that will go no fur-
ther than he hath evidence, and not make an uncertain thing
seem certain ; and certain it is, that spirits are innumerable.
And though some of these have fallen to be devils, God hath
not told us how many ; nor can we know that it is one to a
million of happier creatures. And can that man then, who
is offended with God, not for damning a very few, but for
the proportion of the damned in comparison of others, tell
what he saith ? Can he say, if God had cast off all this
GODS GOODNESS VINDICATED. 5\9
earth, that it had been more than one of a million of millions
as to the whole creation ? It is true I cannot tell the num-
ber j but it is as true that when our foundation is sure, that
God is infinitely wise and good, it is madness to accuse
him as unwise, or evil, or cruel, for that which we must con-
fess we do not know ; and to talk against him in the dark.
Stay till you see who dwelleth in all the superior regions,
and then take yourselves for fitter discerners of your Maker's
ways.
Quest. 16. 'Are you well acquainted with the nature and
degrees of the future miseries which tempt you to think that
God is cruel V They are not all of one degree ; what if
much of them be still voluntary to the miserable souls?
The devils who are now tormented in hell, are yet inhabi-
tants of the air, and exercised in voluntary acts of malice.
I take it to be no small degree of hell which the ungodly
choose, and love, and possess among us here on earth, and
will not be dissuaded from ; they are without all holy com-
munion with God, and they would be so ; they are out of
heaven, and they would be so ; they are debased and con-
fined to sensual pleasures, and worldly vanities, and they
will be so ; they are the drudges of the devil, and the ser-
vants of the flesh, and the slaves of men, and they would be
so; they are defiled with sin, and imprisoned in their own
concupiscence, and they would be so ; they are corrupted,
and tantalized, and vexed, and tossed up and down by their
irregular desires ; in a word, they have the plague of sin,
and have neither holiness nor true happiness, and so they
will have it to be, and will not be cured ; now these tempt-
ed persons can see a misery in pain ; but can see no such
evil in sin, for which such pain should be inflicted ; when as
sin itself, and that which they are willing of, is so great a
part of their misery, as that in this life, the rest is as nothing
to it. And though, no doubt, much will be involuntary
hereafter, we know not what the proportion will be between
the voluntary and involuntary part.
And what makes these men that they do not pity a
drunkard, a fornicator, a worldling, a sensual lord or gentle-
man, that hath no better than the shadows which he choos-
eth ? Neither the tempted, nor they themselves, would call
God cruel if he would let them so live in health for ever;
even a healthful beggar would call God merciful if he might
520 GODS GOODNESS VINDICATED.
never die, nor be more miserable. But princes or lords
would call him cruel, if he should put them into the beggar's
or labourer's case. You accuse not God as cruel for mak-
ing toads and serpents, worms and vermin, because they
are not troubled with their own condition ; but if you could
imagine them to have the knowledge how much happier men
are, the case would alter. Or if God should change men in-
to toads and serpents, you would call him unmerciful ; when
yet he is no more bound antecedently to man than unto
them. Thus because these tempted persons have, as Adam
when his eyes were opened, a disquieting knowledge, to
know good and evil penally ; their own apprehension (as
Adam's of his nakedness) maketh that seem cruelty, which
seemed a fruit of goodness before.
The sum is, when you come into another world, and see
what manner of punishment it is that God exerciseth on the
damned (as well as on how many) you will then be perfectly
satisfied, that there is nothing but that amiable justice,
which is the fruit of holiness, goodness, and wisdom in it all ;
and you shall see nothing in the punishment of the miser-
able which you shall either blame or wish were otherwise, if
you come to heaven.
To which let me add, when you come to see the heaven-
ly glory, and how the God of infinite goodness hath advanc-
ed such innumerable hosts (if not worlds) of men and angels
into such wonderful felicity, and compare this with the suf-
ferings of the devil and of his damned followers, instead then
of quarrelling with the goodness of God, you will be wrapt
up in the admirations and praises of it with full delights, to
all eternity.
Quest. 17. 'And tell me, is he fit to entertain suspicions
and quarrels with God, who knoweth God to be God, and
knoweth himself to be but a man V I speak not only in re-
spect of our inferiority, as the potsherd should not quarrel
with the potter; but in respect of our great and certain ig-
norance. Are we not puzzled about the poorest worm and
pile of grass, whose manifold mysteries no mortal man can
yet discover? Are we not grossly ignorant about every
thing (even visible and palpable) which we see, and touch,
and have to do with ? Do we not know that we know but
little, even of ourselves, or of any thing about us in the
world? And shall the darkened soul, while it must operate
gob's goodness vindicated. 521
in such a puddle of brains and humours, be so madly proud,
as to presume of a knowledge, which findeth out errors and
badness in God, who is infinitely wise and good? Nothing
is more sure than that God is most wise and good; and no-
thing should be more easily known to us, than that we are
very blind and bad. And if such wretches then cannot re-
concile their thoughts about God's works, should they not
rather suspect themselves than him? Suspect, did I say;
should they not take it as the surest verity, that it is God,
that is not only justifiable, but infinitely amiable and lauda-
ble, and that it is worse than brutishness, for such moles to
be his accusers?
Quest. 18. Yea, ' is this accusing God a fit employment
for that person, who liveth in a land of mercies : who hath
been bred up in mercy, preserved by mercy, yea, differenced
by saving mercy from the ungodly, who hath been called
from blindness, carnality, and profaneness, and entertained
many a time in holy worship with God ; who hath been
washed in Christ's blood, and justified from so many and
grievous sins, and made of an enemy an adopted child, and
of a heir of hell a heir of heaven, and all this by the tender
mercies of a provoked God, a gracious Redeemer, and a
holy Sanctifier ?' Shall this person, I say, this, be one that
instead of praising God with the raptures of continual joy,
shall turn his accuser? O let the guilty that readeth this
stop here, and fall down on his knees to God, and melt into
tears in the sense of such unkindness.
Quest. 19. 'But can a child of God be possibly guilty of
so great a sin as this ?'
A?isw. I speak not now of the malignant atheist ; but of
the melancholy, tempted persons. Alas, it is the melancho-
ly disease, and the devil, more than he. God pitieth his
children's frowardness, especially when necessitated natu-
rally by diseases ; and he that pardoned peevish Jonas, that
said, " I do well to be angry to the death jV and complain-
ing Job ; and excused his sleepy disciples with "The spirit
is willing, but the flesh is weak," will not condemn an up-
right soul, for the effect of a feverish deliration, or a me-
lancholy that overcomes his natural power of resistance.
Quest. 20. 'Would you thus argue or quarrel against
God's greatness and wisdom, as you do against his good-
ness V You suspect him to be unmerciful, because he cur-
522 GOBS GOODNESS VINDICATED.
eth not men's sins, and preventeth not their damnation.
And have you not the like occasion to argue against his other
perfections ? Do you think he reasoneth soberly that saith,
' He that maketh asses when he might have made them men,
or maketh idiots, or maketh stones that know nothing ; he
that is the governor of such a foolish, distracted, confused
world as mankind is, is foolish himself, or unskilful in go-
vernment, or wanteth wisdom. But God doth thus.' Is he
not worse than a fool that will accuse his God of folly ?
Doth not the admirable harmony of all the world, and his
wonderful work in every creature, prove his incomprehen-
sible wisdom ? And what would you say to him that
should thus reason : * He that maketh impotent worms, that
suffereth the good to die, that suffereth the tyrants of the
earth to persecute his church and cause, is impotent, and
not almighty. But so doth God ?' Would you not say, f I
have the wonderful frame of heaven and earth, the sun and
stars, the sea and land, to prove to me that he is Almighty.
This therefore is a proved foundation truth, to which all
doubts must be reduced ?' And if you dare not be so impu-
dent as to deny his Omniscience or Omnipotence, when you
think there is error or impotency in his works, why will you
any more deny his goodness, when you dream that there is
badness in his works ? Do you not know, that power, wis-
dom, and goodness are God's three essential principles of
operation, virtues, or properties ? And that they are none
of them greater or less than other ? And that his goodness
(though not as to be measured by human interest) is equal
to his wisdom and his greatness ? And do you not know,
that to deny any one of the three, yea, to deny the perfec-
tion of any one of them, is to deny that there is any God ?
And is he sober that will argue, There are frogs and toads,
there are worms and asses, there are fools and miserable sin-
ners, therefore there is no God.' When as there could nei-
ther be any of these, nor any world or being, if there were
no God ?
Quest. 21. Lastly, now consider, ' whether evidently, the
root of all this sin be not (besides melancholy and satan) the
power of selfishness, and sensual or fleshly interest.' Alas !
poor men, that were made for their God, to rejoice wholly in
pleasing him, and to shew forth the lustre of his glory, are
fallen unto themselves and flesh ; and now they that should
god's goodness vindicated. 523
wholly devote and refer themselves to God, do strive to
make God a servant to themselves, and measure his good-
ness by the standard of their fleshly sense and interest ; and
God shall be with them no longer good, that is, no longer
God, than he will give them their wills, and serve their flesh,
and keep them from crosses, and losses, and pains, and go-
vern the world according to their fancies ; and when they
are committing this odious, self-exalting idolatry, and abas-
ing God, even then will they judge themselves both wiser,
and more merciful than he. Yea, when a melancholy man
despaireth in the sense of his own sin and badness, at that
very time he thinketh himself more merciful than the God of
infinite goodness, and accuseth his God for being more cruel
than he himself. O man, into what distraction and confu-
sion art thou fallen, when thou departest from thy God, and
sinkest into that blind and wretched self.
And tell me, what if but the wills of all the poor, the
pained, the dying, &c. were but reconciled to their suffering
state. Would that which pleaseth the will be matter of
any complaint ? You may see then that it is not God's pro-
vidence, &c. but the wills and ways of sinners, that are the
diseased causes of all their wranglings. And if our wills
were cured, and reduced to God's will, we should find no
fault with him ; if I can but be truly willing of imprison-
ment, poverty, or death, how can I feel any thing in it to
complain of? When even sinners, as aforesaid, do obsti-
nately here take their misery for their happiness, and are
contented with it so far as it is voluntary.
By that time these twenty questions are answered, the
accusations of God as wanting goodness, will all turn to the
accuser's shame.
n. I am next briefly to detect the false opinions which
do ordinarily cause these persons' errors.
1. It is false doctrine to affirm that God condemneth
the greatest part of his intectual creatures (as I have shew-
ed) though he condemn never so many of this ungodly
world.
2. It is not true that God decreeth to condemn any
man but for sin, (for sin, I say, as the cause of his damna-
tion;.
3. God decreeth to condemn none at age (which I add
but to exclude foolish cavils) for Adam's sin only ; nor for
524 GOD S GOODNESS VINDICATED.
any other sin only that is not conjoined with an obstinate,
final impenitency, and rejecting offered mercy, and neglect-
ing means appointed for their salvation.
4. God's decrees do cause no man's sin (nor his damna-
tion any further than as supposing sin), for Dr. Twisse him-
self still professeth, 1. That reprobation is an immanent
act, and 'nihil ponit in objecto,' putteth nothing at all into
the person. 2. And that reprobation inferreth no necessity
of sin or misery, but that which is called ' necessitas conse-
quentiae,' and not any ' necessitas consequentis ;' and Armi-
nius and all confess that God's bare foreknowledge causeth
or inferreth a ' necessity consequential,' which truly is but a
logical necessity in order of argumentation, when one thing-
is proved by another ; and not by physical necessity in or-
- der of causation, as one thing is caused by another.
And whereas they say, ' Then man might have frustrated
God's decree.' I ask them, whether man can frustrate God's
foreknowledge ; suppose God to foreknow sin without de-
creeing it (of which more anon), is not this a good argu-
ment, 'All that God foreknoweth will certainly come to
pass. But God foreknoweth, e. g. Judas's sin, therefore it
will certainly come to pass.' And what of all this? It
doth not come to pass, because God foreknoweth it, any
more than the sun will rise to-morrow, because you fore-
know it.
And if you say, that no power can frustrate God's fore-
knowledge, I answer, they are delusory words of one that
knoweth not what he saith. For it is one thing to have
power to make God ignorant, and another thing to have
power to do otherwise than that which he foreknoweth you
will do. No man hath power to make God ignorant ; but
all sinners may have power to do otherwise than that which
God foreknoweth they will do. For God doth not foreknow
that, e. g. Gehezi, shall not have power to forbear a lie; but
only that he will not forbear it. Yea, more, God's fore-
knowledge doth prove that sinners have power to do other-
wise ; for that which God foreknoweth will be. But God
foreknoweth that men will abuse their power to sin, or will
sin when they had power to do otherwise, therefore it will be
so in the event.
Now if you will call their power to do otherwise, a pow-
er to frustrate God's foreknowledge, you will but speak
god's goodness vindicated. 525
foolishly. For the power itself is foreknown ; and the ob-
ject of knowledge ' in esse cognito,' is not after the act of
knowledge. And if the person will not actually sin, God
could not foreknow that he will sin. So that foreknowledge
is here (when it is notcasual) but a medium'in a syllogism,
and inferreth only the necessity of the consequence in argu-
ing, and doth not cause the thing foreknown.
Now when Dr. Twisse saith, that all the schoolmen
agree, that no necessity, ' consequents,' or of causation, but
only ' consequently,' doth follow the decree of reprobation,
see how far he and Arminius are in this agreed, (though I
know some give another sense of ' necessitas consequential).'
But I come closer to the matter yet.
4. God decreeth no man's sin ; neither Adam's, nor any
other's. He may decree the effect, which sinners accom-
plish (as the death of Christ), and he may overrule men
in their sin, and bring good out of it, &c. But sin is not a
thing that he can will or cause, and so not decree, which sig-
nifieth a volition.
5. God cannot be proved to decree, or will the permis-
sion of man's sin. For to permit is nothing. It is but not to
hinder ; which is no act : and to decree and will is a positive act.
And if you fain God to have a positive volition or nolition, of
every thing, or negative, then he must have positive decrees
of every mere possible atom, sand, worm, name, word, thought
of man, &c. That such and such a nothing shall never be;
whereas, there needeth no more to keep any thing from being
(in this case) than God's not causing it, not willing it, not
decreeing it. The creature's active nature, disposition, ob-<
jects, and circumstances, are here pre-supposed ; and the
irapedition necessary, is by act, or substraction of these
aforesaid, and God's ' non-agere' needs no positive decree.
I must tell the learned reader, that this room will not serve
to answer his foreseen objections. But I hope I have done
it sufficiently elsewhere.
6. God hath not only decreed to give, but actually
given a great deal of mercy to them that perish, which had
a natural tendency to their salvation. Christ hath so far
died for all, as that none shall perish for want of a sufficiency
in the satisfaction made : he hath purchased and given for
all a grant or gift of himself, with pardon, justification,
adoption and right to glory, on condition of acceptance
526 god's goodness vindicated.
(where the Gospel cometh). In a word, so that none of
them shall perish, that do not finally refuse the grace and
salvation offered them.
7. Men are not impenitent and unbelievers for want of
that called natural faculty, or power to choose and refuse
aright ; but for want of a right disposition of their own
wills ; and by such a moral impotency, which is indeed their
viciousness, and the wickedness of their wills, and doth not
excuse, but aggravate the sin. (See Mr. Truman of " Natu-
ral and Moral Impotency.")
8. To rectify men's wicked wills and dispositions, God
giveth them a world of means ; the whole creation, and do-
cuments of providence ; all the precepts, promises, threats
of Scripture ; preaching, example, mercies, judgments, pa-
tience and inward motions of the Spirit ; all which might
do much to men's conversion and salvation, if they would
but do what they could on their own part.
9. Adam could have stood, when he fell, without any
more grace than that which he abused and neglected. God's
grace, which was not effectual to him, was as much as was
necessary to his standing, if he would have done his best :
and it was left to his freewill, to have made that help effec-
tual by improvement. He fell, not because he could not
stand, but because he would not.
10. For aught any can prove, multitudes that believe
not now, but perish, may have rejected a help as sufficient
to their believing, as Adam's was to his standing.
11. All men have power to do more good, and avoid
more evil than they do ; and he that will not do what he can
do, justly suffereth.
12. Heathens and infidels are not left unredeemed under
the remediless curse, and covenant of innocency, which we
broke in Adam ; but are all brought by the redemption
wrought by Christ, under a law or terms of grace. 1. God
made a covenant of grace with all mankind in Adam ; (Gen.
iii. 15.) who was by tradition to acquaint his posterity with
it, as he did to Cain and Abel, the ordinances of oblation
and sacrifice. 2. This covenant was renewed with all man-
kind in Noah. 3. This covenant is not repealed, otherwise
than by a more perfect edition to them that have the plenary
Gospel. 4. The full Gospel-covenant is made for all, as to
the tenor of it, and the command of preaching and offering
god's goodness vindicated. 527
it to. all, 5. They that have not this edition, may yet be
under the first edition. 6. The Jews, under the first edition,
were saved without believing in this determinate person of
Jesus, or that he should die for sin, and rise again, and send
down the Spirit : for the apostles believed it not beforehand ;
(Luke xviii. 34. John xii. 16. Luke ix. 45. Mark ix. 34.
Luke xxiv. 21. 25, 26. Acts i. 6 — 8.) yet were they then in
a state of saving grace, as appeareth by John xiv. xv. xvi.
xvii. throughout. 7. The rest of the world that had not the
same supernatural revelation, were not then bound to be-
lieve so much as the Jews were, about the Messiah. 8. God
himself told them all, that they were not under the unre-
medied curse of the covenant of innocency, by giving them
a life full of those mercies which they had forfeited, which
all did tend to lead them to repentance, and to seek after
God (Rom.ii;4. Acts xvii. 27.), and "find him; yea, he
left not himfelf without witness, for that which may be
known of him, and his invisible things are manifested and
clearly seen in his works ;" so that the wicked are without
excuse ; Rom. i. 19, 20. Acts xiv. 17. So that all heathens
are bound " to believe that God is, and that he is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek him ;" (Heb. xi. 6.) And are
all under the duty of using certain means, in order to their
own recovery and salvation, and to believe that they are not
commanded to do this in vain : so that God's own provi-
dence by a course of such mercies, which cannot stand with
the execution of the unremedied, violated law of innocency,
together with his obliging all men to repentance, and to the
use of a certain course of means, in order to their salvation,
is a promulgation of a law of grace, according to the first
edition, and distinguisheth man from unredeemed devils.
And they that say that all the infidel world have all this
mercy, duty, means and hope, without any redemption or
satisfaction of Christ as the procuring cause, are in the way
to say next, 'That the church's mercies too, might have
been given without Christ.' 9. " Of a truth, God is no res-
pecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth God
and worketh righteousness is accepted with him ;" Acts x.
34, 35. For " God will render to every man according to
his deeds : to them who by patient continuance in well
doing, seek for glory, and honour, and incorruptibility, eter-
nal life;" Rom. ii.6, 7. "Glory, honour, and peace, to
526 god's goodness vindicated.
every man that vvorketh good, to the Jew first, and also to
the Greek ;" ver. 10. " For there is no respect of persons
with God ;" ver. 11. " For when the Gentiles, which have
not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law,
these having not the law, are a law unto themselves, which
shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their con-
sciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean
while accusing or else excusing one another ;" ver. 14, 15.
And they shall be judged according to that law which they
were under, natural or mosaical, " even by Jesus Christ ;"
ver. 12. 16. And it is the work of the Spirit promised to
believers, to write the law of God in their hearts.
11. Though a special promise was made to Abraham, as
an eminent believer, and the Jewish nation were the peculiar
people of God, advanced to greater privileges than any
others in the world ; yet were they not the whole kingdom
of God the Redeemer, nor the only people that were in a
covenant of grace, or in a state of salvation. For Shem was
alive after Abraham's death, who was not like to be less
than a king, and to have a kingdom and a people governed
according to his fidelity. And Melchisedec was a king of
righteousness and peace, not like to be Shem by the situa-
tion of his country. And a righteous king would govern in
righteousness. Job and his friends are evidences of the
same truth. And we have no proof or probability that all
Abraham's seed by Ishmael, and Esau, and Keturah, were
apostates, for they continued circumcision. And what all
the rest of the world was we know not, save that in general
most grew idolatrous, and the Canaanites in special. But
that they all apostatized from the covenant of grace made
with Adam and Noah, there is no proof. We have not the
history of any of their countries fully, so as to determine of
such cases. In Nineveh God ruled by that law of grace which
called them to repent, and spared them upon their belief
and repentance ; " Because he was a gracious God, and mer-
ciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth of
the evil ;" Jonah iv. 2.
And that God dealeth not with mankind now as the
mere judge of the violated law of innocency ; he declareth
not only by the full testimony of his providence, or mercies
given to the sinful world ; but also by the very name, whicli
he proclaimeth unto Moses (which signifieth his nature,
god's goodness vindicated. 529
and his mind towards others, and not what he is to the Jews
alone) Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. " The Lord, the Lord God, mer-
ciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness
and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin." All which is inconsistent with
the relation of God, as a judge of a people, only under the
curse of. an unremedied violated law, and unredeemed,
though he add, " and that will by no means clear the guilty."
&c. that is, will neither judge them innocent that are guilty
of the crime, nor judge them to life that are guilty of death,
according to the tenor of the law which they are under ;
' Purificando non purificabit' as the literal version ; that is,
will not judge unjustly, by acquitting him that is to be con-
demned, or as the Chaldee paraphrase hath it, * not justify-
ing those that are not converted.'
It is enough for us therefore to know, that the visible
church hath manifold privileges above all others; Rom. iii.
1—3., &c. And that salvation is more easy, sure, and plen-
teous, where the Gospel cometh, than with any others ; and
that we have therefore great cause to rejoice with thankful-
ness for our lot, and that the poor world lieth in wickedness,
and must be pitied, prayed for, and helped to our power,
and that " God is the Saviour of all men, but especially of
them that believe; and that he is good to all, and his mer-
cies are over all his works ;" and that he will never damn one
soul that loveth him as God. But what is in the hearts of
all men in the world, and consequently how they shall be
used at last, he only that searcheth the heart can tell ; and
it is neither our duty nor our interest, nor possible to us, to
know it of all particulars, much less to conclude, that none
among them have such love, who believe him to be infinitely
good, and to be to them a merciful, pardoning God. And
we know withal, that all they that know not Jesus Christ,
as this determinate person that was born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, buried,
rose again, &c, do yet receive all the aforesaid mercies by
him, and not by any other name or mediation, nor yet with-
out his purchasing mediation.
13. And if besides all the mercy that God sheweth to
others, he do antecedently and positively elect certain per-
sons, by an absolute decree, to overcome all their resistances
VOL. VIII. M M
530 GODS GOODNESS VINDICATED.
of his Spirit, and to draw them to Christ, and by Christ to
himself, by such a power and way as shall infallibly convert
and save them, and not leave the success of his mercy, and
his Son's preparations, to the bare uncertainty of the mutable
will of depraved man, what is there in this that is injurious
to any others ? Or that represented God unmerciful to any
but such whose eye is evil, because he is good, and as a free
benefactor, may give more mercy to some than others of
equal demerits ? If they that hold no grace but what is
universal, and left, as to the success, to the will of man, as
the determining cause, do think that this is well consistent
with the mercifulness of God ; surely they that hold as much
universal grace as the former ; and that indeed all have so
much, as bringeth and leaveth the success to man's will, and
deny to no man any thing which the other give, do make
God no less merciful than they ; but more, if they moreover
assert a special decree and grace of God, which with a cho-
sen number, shall antecedently infallibly secure his ends in
their repentance, faith, perseverance, and salvation. Is this
any detraction from, or diminution of his universal grace ?
Or rather a higher demonstration of his goodness ? As it is
no wrong to man that God maketh angels more holy, immu-
table and happy.
14. And what if men cannot here tell how to resolve the
question « Whether any, or how many are ever converted
and saved, by that mere grace which we call sufficient, or
rather necessary, and common to those that are not convert-
ed ; and whether man will ever make a saving, determining
improvement of it ;' must plain truth be denied, because
difficulties cannot easily be solved ? And yet in due place I
doubt not but I have shewed, that this question itself is
formed upon false suppositions, and is capable of a satis-
factory solution.
15. I conclude in general, that nothing is more sure,
than that God is most powerful, wise, and good, and that
all his works, to those that truly know them, do manifest
all these in conjunction and perfect harmony ; and that as
to his decrees and providences, he is the cause of all good,
and of no sin in act or habit, and that our sin and destruc-
tion is of ourselves, and of him is our holiness and salvation ;
and that he attaineth all his ends as certainly, as if men's
will had no liberty, but were acted by physical necessita-
god's goodness vindicated. 531
tion : and yet that man's will hath as much natural liberty,
as if God had not gone before it with any decree of the
event, and as much moral liberty as we have moral virtue or
holiness.
: And these principles I have laid down in a little room,
that tempted persons may see, that it is our dark and puz-
zled brains, and our selfish, diseased hearts, that are the
cause of our quarrelling with God, his decrees and provi-
dences ; and as soon as we come to ourselves and are cured,
these odious apprehensions vanish, and God appeareth as
the unclouded sun, in the lustre of his amiable goodness :
and when we come to heaven, we shall see to our joy, and
his glory, that heaven, earth and hell, declare him to be all
perfectly good, without any mixture of evil in himself, or in
any of his word or works. And we shall find all our sinful
suspicions and murmurings turned into a joyful consent to
the angelical praises. Psal. cxxxvi. 1. 2. 26. &c. " O give
thanks unto the Lord for he is good, for his mercy is for
ever. O give thanks unto the God of heaven, for his mercy
is for ever; Rev. iv. 8. 11. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Al-
mighty, which was, and is, and is to come — Thou art wor-
thy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power ; for
thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are,
and were created. — Rev. vii. 12. Amen, blessing, and glory,
and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and
might, unto our God for ever and ever, Amen. The Lord
is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger,
and of great mercy ;" Psal. cxlv. 8, 9. " The word of the
Lord is right, and all his works are done in truth : he lov-
eth righteousness and judgment; the earth is full of the
goodness of the Lord ;" Psal. xxxiii. 4, 5. " O 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 ;" Psal. xxxi. 19. " O therefore that
men (instead of quarrelling with his unknown mysteries)
would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his won-
derful works to the children of men ;" Ps. cvii. 8. 15. 21. 31.
In the conclusion, I take it to be wholesome advice to
those that are under this temptation :
1. That they will oft read over the Psalms of praise, and
think when they read them, whether David and the ancient
532 GODS GOODNESS VINDICATED.
church, were not more likely to know what they said, than a
self-conceited, or a melancholy tempted sinner?
That they would consider, who it is that is the grand
enemy of the glory of God's goodness, and they shall soon
find that it is none other than the devil ; none but he that
is most evil, can most envy Infinite Goodness his honour.
And is the devil fit to be believed against God ? And that
after the. warning of our first parents' ruin, which befel them
for believing satan, when he slandered both God's wisdom,
truth, and goodness to them ?
3. That they would bethink them to what end it is, that
the tempter, and the enemy of God, do thus deny his good-
ness. Is it not a plain act of malice against God and us ?
Is it not that he may disgrace God as evil, and rob him of
his glory ; and also that he may hinder man from loving
him, and so destroy all piety, and virtue, and goodness in
the world ? Who can love him whom he believeth to be
bad, and so unlovely ? And what grace or happiness can
there be without the love of God ?
4. That they would think what horrid wickedness this
sin containeth (where melancholy and involuntariness do
not extenuate it). Is it any better than a denying that there
is any God? As is said before; to be God, is to be per-
fectly powerful, wise and good : and if there be none such,
there can be no God. And then who made the world, and
all that is good in it by derivated goodness ? Yea, is it not
to represent the most amiable blessed God, in satan's image
(who is most evil and a murderer from the beginning ;" John
viii. 44.) that so men may hate him, and fly from him as
they do from devils? And can you tell how great a crime
this is?
5. That they would consider, how this impious conceit
is calculated for the licensing of all manner of villany in the
world, and to root out all the relips of goodness from among
mankind. For who can expect that any man should be bet-
ter than his Maker, and that he should have any good, who
denieth God to be good?
6. That they would labour hard to be better themselves;
for he that hath a true created goodness, is thereby prepared
to relish and admire God's primitive uncreated goodness :
whereas a wicked, or a guilty sinner, cannot much value
that which he is so unsuitable to, and which he thinks will
god's goodness vindicated. 533
oe to him a consuming fire. " Truly God is good to Israel,
and to such as are of a clean heart;" Psal. Ixxiii. 1. But
he that liveth in the love of sin, will be doubting of the love
of God, and fearful of his wrath, and unfit to relish and de-
lightfully perceive his goodness. " Taste and see that the
Lord is good ; blessed is the man that trusteth in him ;"
Psal. xxxiv. 8.
7. Study God's love as manifested in Christ ; then you
shall see what man on earth may see. But think not false-
ly, narrowly, or basely of his office, his performance, or his
covenant.
8. Dwell in the believing foresight of the celestial glory ;
the reflections of which may wrap up a believing soul on
earth, into ecstasies of gratitude and delight.
9. Remember what goodness there is in the holiness of
God, which is demonstrated in his severest justice ; yea,
what mercy it is to forewarn men of the punishment of sin,
that they may want no necessary means to escape it.
10. Remember how unfit the selfish interest of obstinate
despisers of grace and salvation is, to be the measure or in-
dex of the goodness of God : and how much more credible
the concordant testimony of the heavenly host is, who live
in the love of Love itself, and are everlastingly delighted
in the praises of the infinite greatness, wisdom, and good-
ness of the most perfect, blessed, glorious God.
END OF THE EIGHTH VOLUME.
R. EDWARDS, CRANE COURT, FLEET STREET, LONDON.
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