Produced by Douglas L. Alley, III, Colin Bell, CCEL and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net
=Soli Deo Gloria Publications=
P.O. Box 451, Morgan, PA 15064
(412) 221-1901/FAX 221-1902
www.SDGbooks.com
_The Practical Works of Richard Baxter_ in 4 Volumes
was lithographed from the 1846 edition
published in London by George Virtue.
Volume 1 of _The Practical Works of Richard Baxter_
ISBN 1-877611-13-1
The 4 volume set _The Practical Works of Richard Baxter_
ISBN 1-877611-37-9
Second printing 2000
THE
PRACTICAL WORKS
OF
RICHARD
BAXTER
with a preface, giving some account of the author,
and of this edition of his practical works
AN
ESSAY ON HIS GENIUS, WORKS, AND TIMES;
AND A PORTRAIT
IN FOUR VOLUMES
VOLUME 1
Soli Deo Gloria Publications
... _for instruction in righteousness_ ...
A PREFACE,
GIVING
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE AUTHOR,
AND OF
THIS EDITION OF HIS PRACTICAL WORKS.
It is no vain boast, through a fondness of our own nation, but is
generally owned by our protestant brethren beyond the seas, that there
is no language in which there are more valuable treatises of practical
divinity to be met with, than in ours. And perhaps upon the strictest
search and comparison, as far as there is any occasion for a decisive
judgment, it might be found that there are no writings of that kind
among us that have more of a true christian spirit, a greater mixture of
judgment and affection, or a greater tendency to revive pure and
undefiled religion; that have been more esteemed abroad, or more blessed
at home, for the awakening the secure, instructing the ignorant,
confirming the wavering, comforting the dejected, recovering the
profane, or improving such as are truly serious; than the Practical
Works of this author. Many of them have been often reprinted, and are as
generally spread through the kingdom as any tracts whatever. Others of
them have been printed but once, and are not so commonly known as they
deserve. Others are small, and might in time be as good as lost, if not
preserved by being joined with the rest of his works. This collection of
them is designed for the benefit of the present age, and of posterity;
to be a standing monument in our libraries of the unwearied endeavours
of one to promote serious godliness in the land; who under a mean
education made mighty improvements; who in a crazy body had a most
active soul; and in a private sphere had a noble public spirit, that
would have filled the most eminent station with advantage. It is also
intended for the advantage of ministers and students in divinity, who
will here have, at an easy rate, such a treasure of practical divinity
as no other part of the christian church can furnish with. And for a
help to families, who will here find what may suit them, in all their
different relations, capacities, and circumstances, and under that vast
variety of providential dispensations in which they may need assistance.
That great man, Bishop Wilkins, was used to say of Mr. Baxter, That if
he had lived in the primitive times he had been one of the fathers of
the church. What then more fit than a collection of his works, that
posterity may be taught to do him justice? It was a great attempt in a
time of war; and the going through with it at such a time is a hopeful
prognostic, that the God of peace hath blessed ends to serve by it; a
subserviency to which cannot but be a matter of comfortable reflection.
It is usual to prefix to collections of this sort, some historical
account of the author. This were perhaps as little needful in the case
of Mr. Baxter, as of any other that could be mentioned, because of the
large account of himself that he left prepared for the press, which
has been published since his death in folio; an abridgement of which
was afterwards drawn up in octavo, that has been as generally read by
persons of all sentiments and persuasions as most narratives of that
kind. But that the want of it may not be charged as an unpardonable
omission, and that such as have not consulted either of those
narratives, may know what sort of person he was that was the author of
those works, which after having been long extant separately, are here
published together, the following brief account of him is thought fit
to be added.
He was a native of Shropshire, and came into the world, Nov. 12, 1615.
His family was of some standing in that county, and had made some
figure. John Baxter, Esq. in the time of Edward the Fourth, was thrice
bailiff of Shrewsbury; and owned a whole street in that town, which
with other estates went with a daughter to Mr. Barker, of Hammond,
grandfather to Colonel Mildmaye's lady. His nephew Roger married a
co-heiress of Richard Leighton, of Leighton, Esq. by whom descended to
him several hundreds per annum, of which he was deprived after long
law-suits with the heir male. His son William was reduced to the
quality of a freeholder, of £60 per annum, but was married to
Elizabeth the daughter of Roger Biest, of Atcham Grange, a gentleman
of £400 per annum. His son Richard married the daughter of Richard
Forrester, of Sutton, of the family of Sir William Forrester, of
Watling-street in Shropshire, who was secretary to Bishop Bonner. His
son Richard married one of the Adeneys, who were wealthy clothiers in
Worcestershire; and he was the father of our Richard, whose fame
spread itself throughout the kingdom.
The estate of the family was clogged with debts, which among other
inconveniences that attended it, proved a great hinderance in his
education. The schoolmasters of his youth, who were such as those
parts of the country then afforded, were neither eminent for their
learning, nor the strictness of their morals. His greatest help in
grammar learning was under Mr. John Owen, master of the free-school at
Wroxeter, with whom he continued till he had been some time the
captain of his school, and was advanced as far as his assistance would
forward him. His friends not being able to support the charge of an
academical life, his master Mr. Owen recommended him to Mr. Richard
Wickstead, who was chaplain to the council at Ludlow, with whom he
spent a year and half. The main advantage he had while he was with
him, lay in the free use of his library, which was valuable: and this
advantage he improved to his utmost. Afterwards, he went through a
course of philosophy, with the assistance of the learned Mr. Francis
Garbett, then minister of Wroxeter, who conducted his studies, and
much encouraged him: and he was making a hopeful progress, when on a
sudden he was diverted.
Being about eighteen years of age, he was persuaded to make trial of a
court life, as the most likely way to rise in the world. In order to
it, he was sent up to Whitehall, to Sir Henry Herbert, master of the
revels. He received him courteously, but could not prevail with him to
stay: his inclinations were set quite another way; and Providence had
other purposes to serve by him in the world. He returned down into the
country, and followed his studies with indefatigable earnestness; and
soon made such improvements as amazed those that knew how slender his
helps were, and how difficult it is for a man to beat out his way
himself. Though he never led an academical life, (which he much
desired,) yet by the divine blessing upon his rare dexterity and
diligence, his sacred knowledge (as Dr. Bates expressed it in his
funeral sermon) was in that degree of eminence, as few in the
University ever arrive to.
His early seriousness was remarkable. Dr. Bates tells us, that his
father said with tears of joy to a friend, My son Richard I hope was
sanctified from the womb; for when he was a little boy in coats, if he
heard other children in play speak profane words, he would reprove
them, to the wonder of them that heard him. As he grew up, he listened
to the instructions and example of his father, and abhorred those
profane sports which were common on the Lord's days, in the places
where he lived; and while the rest were dancing, he was employed in
religious exercises. He betimes loved his Bible, and was afraid of
sinning. He loathed the company of scoffers; and loved religion the
better for their reproaches. And yet corruption even in him had its
sallies in childhood and youth, which he afterwards lamented with
great concern and sorrow. But when he was fourteen years of age, upon
his reading "Parsons of Resolution," as corrected by Bunny,[1] such
impressions were made upon his spirit as never wore off to the day of
his death. His bodily weakness kept him afterwards very solicitous
about the state of his soul: he read all the practical treatises he
could meet with, in order to his direction and satisfaction; and yet
was long kept with the calls of approaching death as it were at one
ear, and the questionings of a doubtful conscience at the other. The
exercise of his spirit was very pressing for a great while; till at
length it pleased God to quiet him, by giving him a probability of the
safety of his state, though he had not an undoubted certainty. He
observes of himself, that though for the greatest part of his life
afterwards, he had no such degree of doubtfulness as was any great
trouble to him, or procured any sinking, disquieting fears, yet he
could not say that he had such a certainty of his own sincerity in
grace, as excluded all doubts and fears to the contrary.
From the age of twenty-one, till near twenty-three, his weakness was
so great, that he hardly thought it possible he should live above a
year; yet being willing to do some good to ignorant and careless
sinners before he died, he even then entered into the ministry, and
was examined and ordained by the bishop of Worcester, who also gave
him a licence to teach school at Dudley, where Mr. Richard Foley, of
Stourbridge, had a little before erected a free-school, which he
committed to his care.
He owns that when he received orders, he never had read over the Book
of Ordination, nor half the Book of Homilies, nor considered the Book
of Common Prayer with any exactness, nor weighed sufficiently some
controverted points in the Thirty-nine Articles: and yet having read
Downham, and Sprint, and Burgess, he concluded they had the better of
the nonconformists, with whom he then had no acquaintance; and being
told that they were men of little learning, he concluded they were in
the wrong; and having no scruples he freely subscribed as usually. But
when after his settlement at Dudley, he came to read Ames's "Fresh
Suit against Ceremonies," and other books on that side, he repented
his rashness in subscribing so hastily, and grew dissatisfied as to
some parts of conformity. He continued there preaching to a numerous
auditory with good success for about three quarters of a year, and
then removed to Bridgnorth, in Shropshire, where he became assistant
to Mr. William Madstard. This removal was the more agreeable to him,
because the place being privileged from all episcopal jurisdiction,
except the triennial visitation of the archbishop, he was the less in
danger of being put upon any part of conformity that he then scrupled.
He never baptized with the sign of the cross, nor wore the surplice,
(being not satisfied as to either,) and yet came into no trouble. At
his first coming hither he was an instrument of the conversion of
several to God and a holy life; but was not afterwards so successful
here as in other places.
Soon after his settlement here, the _et cætera_ oath put him upon a
more close inspection into the English frame of church government,
which he thought he had need to be well satisfied in, before he swore
he would never consent to an alteration. He read Bucer de Gubernatione
Ecclesiæ, Didoclavii Altare Damascenum, Parker de Politeia
Ecclesiastica, and Baynes's Diocesan's Trial; and though upon the
whole he saw no reason to believe all kind of episcopacy unlawful, he
yet was far from so approving the English episcopacy, as to think it
lawful to swear he would never consent to have it altered. And he
observed upon this occasion, that that oath which was designed
unalterably to subject the nation to diocesans, did but set many the
more against them; and that instead of ruining the nonconformists,
which was intended, it proved a great advantage to them, and inclined
many to fall in with them.
The broils in Scotland quickly followed, that were occasioned by the
imposing the Common Prayer Book, and English ceremonies. There were
great tumults there, and the design was to subdue that nation by
force: and at the same time there were great dissatisfactions in
England upon the account of ship money, and other impositions that
were reckoned illegal. The Scots entering into England, there was a
form of prayer to be used against them in all churches, printed by the
bishops, though there was no command of the king for it. Mr. Baxter
would not use it, at which some were disturbed.
The long parliament upon its being opened, fell directly upon a
reformation of church and state. Among other things that were
determined, a committee was soon appointed to hear petitions and
complaints against such as were scandalous among the clergy. Amongst
other complainers the town of Kidderminster, in Worcestershire, had
drawn up a petition against their vicar and his two curates as
insufficient. The vicar was rather for compounding the business, than
suffering the petition to be presented. The living was worth near £200
per annum, out of which he offered to allow £60 per annum to a
sufficient preacher, to be chosen by fourteen trustees. They hereupon
unexpectedly invited Mr. Baxter to give them a sermon; and upon
hearing him, unanimously chose him to be their minister. He accepted
their invitation, and settled among them, making this observation,
That among all his changes he never went to any place he had before
desired, designed, or thought of; but only to those places he never
thought of till the sudden invitation did surprise him.
He spent two years at Kidderminster before the civil war broke out,
and above fourteen years after, and yet never touched the vicarage
house, though authorized by an order of parliament; but the old vicar
lived there without molestation. He found the place like a piece of
dry and barren earth; ignorance and profaneness as natives of the soil
were rife among them: but by the blessing of Heaven upon his labour
and cultivating, the face of paradise appeared there in all the fruits
of righteousness. At first rage and malice created him much
opposition; but it was soon over, and a special divine blessing gave
his unwearied pains among that people an unexpected success.
On a day when they had in that town a yearly show, in which they
walked about the streets with the painted forms of giants, he was one
part of the game of the rabble. Having preached the doctrine of
original sin, many railed at him, and represented him as saying that
God hated and loathed infants. Thereupon he next Lord's day returned
to the same doctrine again; and told them that if their children had
no original sin, they had no need of Christ, or of baptism, or of
renewing by the Holy Ghost. And after that, they were ashamed and
silent. Another time one of the drunken beggars of the town reported,
that Mr. Baxter was under a tree with a woman of ill fame. He got some
that spread this report bound to their good behaviour; and then he
that raised it confessed in court, that he saw Mr. Baxter in a rainy
day stand on horseback under an oak in a thick hedge, and the woman
mentioned standing for shelter on the other side the hedge, under the
same tree, though he believed they saw not one another. They all asked
Mr. Baxter forgiveness; and were released. At another time, when the
parliament's order came down for demolishing all images of the Persons
of the Trinity, the Virgin Mary, &c. in churches, or crosses in
church-yards, the churchwarden of the town being about to take down a
crucifix upon the cross in the church-yard, the drunken crew took the
alarum, and ran with weapons to defend the crucifix. It being reported
Mr. Baxter was the actor, they sought for him, and might probably
enough have murdered him, had he come in their way. But as Providence
ordered it he had taken a walk out of town; and in his return when the
hurly-burly was over, he was surprised to hear some of them curse him
at their doors; and quickly understood how fairly he had escaped. The
next Lord's day he told them publicly, that seeing they so requited
him, as to seek his blood, he was willing to leave them, and save them
from that guilt. Whereupon they appeared amazed and ashamed, and took
on terribly, and after all were loth to part with him.
But notwithstanding such opposition, his unwearied labours in this town
had amazing success. He preached twice every Lord's day before the civil
war; afterwards once; and once every Thursday, besides occasional
sermons in the lectures at Worcester, Shrewsbury, Dudley, Sheffnall, &c.
On the Thursday evenings such as were so disposed met at his house, one
of them repeated the sermon, and afterwards they propounded to Mr.
Baxter any doubts they had about it, or any other case of conscience,
which he resolved. On Mondays and Tuesdays in the afternoon, in every
week, he and his assistant took fourteen families between them for
private catechising and conference, spending about an hour with a
family. Every first Wednesday in the month he had a meeting for parish
discipline. Every first Thursday in the month there was a meeting of the
neighbouring ministers for discipline, and amicable disputation about
matters theological: and every Thursday in the month besides, he had
several ministers at his house, after the lecture was over, with whom
the afternoon was spent in profitable conversation, till the neighbours
came in to repetition and conference.
He had an attentive, diligent auditory, that was very numerous. On the
Lord's day there was no disorder to be seen in the town, but you might
hear a hundred families singing psalms, and repeating sermons, as you
passed along the streets. When he first came, there might be a family
in a street that worshipped God, and called on his name; and when he
came away there was not above a family on the side of a street that
did not do it. Nay, in the most unlikely families, even inns and
alehouses, usually some in each house seemed to be religious. He had
six hundred communicants; and there were not above twelve of them, of
whose sincerity in religion he had not hopes. There were few families
in the whole town that refused to submit to his private catechising
and personal conference; and few went away without some tears, or
seemingly serious promises of a godly life.
The greatest enemies of serious religion in that town were carried off
by the war. When that was over he had the favour of the government
there. He had a great interest in the affections of the inhabitants, for
which his practising physic among them gratis, gave him a great
advantage; and he had much assistance in his work, from the zeal and
diligence of those among them that were pious. Many were won upon by
their exemplary conversation. Their unity and concord were remarkable.
All were of one mind, and mouth, and way. The private meetings that were
kept up amongst them, (which were under his oversight and guidance,)
were also very helpful to promote serious religion. His stated income
was not above £90 per annum, besides which he some years had 60 or £80 a
year of the booksellers for his books, which being given away amongst
the people, (except so much as was necessary for his comfortable
subsistence,) made them the readier to listen to him. He took several of
their children that had capacities from school, and sent them to the
University, where he maintained them by his own and others'
contributions, some of which afterwards proved useful ministers.
One of his main difficulties when he fixed in this town, was how to
set up any thing of a true ecclesiastical discipline, without being
satisfied with the shadow instead of the reality of it on one hand, or
unchurching the parish church on the other. Upon mature consideration,
he determined to take the parish for the church, if they were willing
to own their church membership, and acknowledge him for their pastor.
He desired all that were willing, to give in their names, or some
other way to signify their consent; and the rest he desired to be
silent. This kept many quiet that were not church members, because
they knew they might come in if they would. He baptized all their
children, (if desired,) upon their giving an account of their faith.
If the father were a scandalous sinner, he made him openly confess his
sin with seeming penitence, before he would baptize his child. If he
refused it, he forbore till the mother came to present it; rarely, if
ever, finding both father and mother so destitute of knowledge and
faith, as, in a church sense, to be utterly incapable. Sir Ralph
Clare, a noted cavalier, discovered the greatest dissatisfaction of
any in the parish, with his method of proceeding. He would not
communicate unless he would administer the sacrament to him kneeling,
and upon a distinct day, and not with those that received it sitting.
Mr. Baxter having openly told the parishioners, that if they scrupled
sitting at the Lord's table, they should have the liberty of their own
gesture, sent word to Sir Ralph, that if he could not upon reasoning
be otherwise satisfied, he would give it him kneeling; but that as for
doing it at a distinct stated time from the rest, it would make such a
breach or schism as he could have no hand in. However, the generality
acquiesced; and church discipline was kept up, though not without some
difficulty. A young fellow given to excessive drinking, offering
himself to communion, was told that he could not be admitted, without
a humble, penitent confession, and promise of amendment. He thereupon
confessed his sin, and promised to amend, but soon relapsed. He was
oft admonished, and as often renewed the profession of his concern,
and promises of amendment. But still persisting, Mr. Baxter warned him
publicly, and prayed earnestly for him several days successively in
the church, but he was not reclaimed. At last he declared him utterly
unfit for church communion, and required all to avoid unnecessary
conversation with him. Afterwards he grew extravagantly mad, would
freely curse Mr. Baxter to his face; and once as he was going into the
church laid violent hands on him, with a design to have murdered him.
He continued raging about a year, and then died of a fever, in great
horror of conscience. Three or four more also were cast out; one for
slandering, and the rest for drunkenness; and they were enraged and
much the worse after it, and so were loud warnings to others. In
short, so much of the presence of God did Mr. Baxter find accompanying
him in his work, and so affectionate was his regard to the loving
people of that place, that he would not willingly have changed his
relation to them for any preferment in the kingdom, nor could he
without force have been separated from them.
When the civil war broke out, he was dubious how to steer. He took the
protestation which the parliament required, to defend the king's
person, honour, and authority, the power and privileges of
parliaments, the liberties of the subject, and the protestant
religion, against the common enemy. And he joined with the magistrates
of Kidderminster, in offering the same protestation to the people. A
little after, the king's Declarations were read there in the
market-place, and the commission of array was set on foot; upon which
the rabble grew so riotous and furious, that he was advised to
withdraw awhile from home. He retired to Worcester, and so to
Gloucester, where he first met with the anabaptists; and after a
month's absence he returned home, lest his absence should be
interpreted either as the effect of fear on the account of some guilt,
or as signifying his being against the king. At his return he found
the drunken rabble very boisterous; and their common cry was this, We
shall take an order with the puritans ere long. He did not think
himself in safety if he stayed at home, and so he withdrew again. He
preached at Alcester, on that Lord's day that was the day of Edge-hill
fight; and was informed while he was preaching, by the noise of the
cannon, that the armies were engaged. And the next day he went into
the field of battle.
The soldiers on one side or the other still passing to and fro, and
being ready to make a prey of whatsoever came before them, he determined
to go to Coventry, and stay there till one side or other had got the
victory, and the war was ended, which it was then thought would be in a
very little time. The committee and governor of that city desired him to
stay with them and lodge in the governor's house, and preach to the
soldiers; which offer he readily accepted. He continued there a year,
preaching once a week to the soldiers, and once on the Lord's day to the
people, having nothing but his diet for his pains. Here he had the
society of about thirty worthy ministers, who fled to the same place for
safety, and among the rest, of Mr. Vines and Mr. Anthony Burgess. When
his year expired, he found the war so far from being ended, that it had
dispersed itself into almost all the land. He determined therefore to
continue there another year; and in that time preached over all the
controversies against the anabaptists, and against the separatists, and
so kept the garrison sound. After the fight at Naseby, (not far from
Coventry,) he went into the army to visit some of his old intimate
friends. He stayed there a night, and got such intelligence as to their
state as amazed him. He found plotting heads were designing to subvert
both church and state. The sectaries were like to carry all before them,
and were resolved to take down not only bishops, liturgies, and
ceremonies, but all that did withstand them. This made him lament that
the ministers had left the army, as they generally did, after Edge-hill
fight. It made him also repent his refusing of Cromwell's invitation to
be the pastor of his troop, when he first raised it; by which means he
would have had an opportunity of dealing freely with those that
afterwards headed much of the army, and were the forwardest in all the
public changes. But he was told that it was not even yet too late to do
service, if he would come into the army; and was invited by Colonel
Whalley to be chaplain to his regiment. He returned to Coventry, and
consulted the ministers that were there, and with their advice, (in
order to do what in him lay to prevent the mischief that was threatened
by the prevailing temper of the army,) he accepted the invitation.
When he came thither, Cromwell welcomed him but coldly. He set himself
from day to day to discourse the officers and soldiers out of their
mistakes, both religious and political. He found a few fiery,
self-conceited men among them made all the noise and bustle, and
carried about the rest as they pleased. Some of these became the
laughing-stock of the soldiers before he left them. He marched with
the army westward, and was at the taking of Bridgwater, and the siege
of Bristol, and Sherborne Castle, and Exeter. He was also with Colonel
Whalley before Banbury Castle, and at the siege of Worcester. He had
full employment in opposing the sectaries in all places: and
particularly he had at one place a dispute with them of a whole day's
continuance. And by what success he met with, he found reason to
apprehend, that if there had but been a competent number of ministers,
each doing their part, the whole plot of the furious party might have
been broken, and king, parliament, and religion preserved. But he was
separated from the army by great weakness, occasioned by the loss of a
gallon of blood at the nose; upon which, retiring to Sir Thomas
Rouse's, he was taken up with daily medicines to prevent a dropsy, and
was in continual expectation of death.
He did what he could to keep his people at Kidderminster free from a
concern in the public changes. He kept them from taking the Covenant,
as fearing it might be a snare to their consciences: nay, he prevented
its being much taken in all that county. When the Engagement came out,
he spake and preached against it, and dissuaded men from taking it. He
had a whole day's disputation with Mr. Tombs, in his church at
Bewdley, upon infant baptism; and thereby kept his people free from
the spreading notions of those times. When the army was going against
King Charles II. and the Scots, he wrote letters to several of the
soldiers to tell them of their sin, and desired them at last to begin
to know themselves. And instead of praying for their success in
public, he freely inveighed against the forcing men to run to God
upon such errands of blood and ruin; especially where brethren were
concerned. He often and various ways declared against Cromwell's
usurpation, when he had got the ascendant: he preached once before him
after he was Protector, by means of the Lord Broghill and the Earl of
Warwick: his text was 1 Cor. i. 10. The design of his sermon was to
show how mischievous it was for politicians to maintain divisions in
the church for their own ends. A little while after the Protector sent
for him, and made a speech to him of an hour's length, about the
providence of God in changing the government, and favouring that
change by such great things done at home and abroad. Mr. Baxter freely
told him, that the honest people of the land took their ancient
monarchy to be a blessing; and desired to know how they had forfeited
that blessing, and to whom the forfeiture was made. He with some
passion replied, that there was no forfeiture, but God had changed it
as it pleased him.
In the controversy about church government, which was then so hotly
agitated, Mr. Baxter was all along against extremes. He neither fell
in with the Erastian, nor episcopal, nor presbyterian, nor independent
party entirely; but thought all of them had so much truth in common
among them, as would have made these kingdoms happy, had it been
unanimously and soberly reduced to practice, by prudent and charitable
men. At the desire of the neighbouring ministers he drew up an
agreement for church order and concord, containing only so much church
order and discipline, as he apprehended the episcopal, presbyterian,
and independent were agreed in, as belonging to the pastors of each
particular church; which he afterwards published in a book called
"Christian Concord:" and the ministers of those parts associated upon
that bottom; not disputing with each other in order to an agreement in
their opinions, but agreeing in the practice of what was owned by all.
Upon Oliver's becoming Protector, the extent of the toleration was the
subject of many debates. The committee of parliament proposed that it
should be extended to all that held the fundamentals of religion:
hereupon it was queried which were the fundamentals of religion? and
it was agreed that the members of the committee, who were fourteen in
number, should each of them nominate a divine; and that they meeting
together, should draw up a list of the fundamentals, to be as a test
to the toleration. Mr. Baxter was upon this occasion nominated for
one, (in the room of Archbishop Usher, who refused,) by the Lord
Broghill, and took a journey accordingly to London. There he met Mr.
Marshal, Mr. Reyner, Dr. Cheynel, Dr. Goodwin, Dr. Owen, Mr. Nye, Mr.
Sydr. Sympson, Mr. Vines, Mr. Manton, and Mr. Jacomb, who were also
nominated. Mr. Baxter was for offering to the parliament the creed,
the Lord's prayer, and ten commandments, as the fundamentals of
christianity: but the rest were not for so large a bottom, but were
for having a greater number of fundamentals. If he did no other
service among them, he at least prevented the running many things so
high as might otherwise have been expected.
Truth and peace were the things he earnestly pursued all his days. He
by writing treated with Dr. Brownrigg, bishop of Exeter, about concord
with the diocesan party in this nation: and made also some proposals
to Dr. Hammond to this purpose, a little before the Restoration of
King Charles. By means of Mr. Lamb and Mr. Allen, two anabaptist
ministers, whom he prevailed with to quit the way of separation, he
dealt with the rest of the anabaptists, about communion with other
churches. He treated with Mr. Nye about an agreement with the
independents, in a moderate scheme; and he was often engaged in
disputes with the papists also. And indeed it is amazing how one of so
much weakness, who was constantly followed with divers bodily
infirmities, should be capable of so much service.
He came to London just before the deposition of Richard Cromwell. He
preached before the parliament the day before they voted for King
Charles's return. He preached also before the lord mayor and aldermen of
the city at St. Paul's, on the day of thanksgiving for Monk's success.
And when the king was actually restored, he became one of his chaplains
in ordinary, in conjunction with some others of his brethren of the same
sentiments with him. He preached once before him in that capacity; and
often waited on him with the rest of the ministers, in order to obtain
by his means some terms of peace and union with the bishops and their
adherents, who were many of them inclined to run things to extremity. He
assisted at the Savoy conference as one of the commissioners, and then
drew up a "Reformed Liturgy;" which some persons not very likely to be
prejudiced in his favour, have thought to be the best of the kind they
ever saw. He has under this head fallen under the censure of our late
English historian, who, vol. iii. p. 235, makes this reflection: "He
drew up an absolute form of his own, and styled it the 'Reformed
Liturgy;' as if he had the modesty to think that the old Liturgy,
compiled by a number of very learned confessors and martyrs, must now
give place to a new form composed by a single man, and he by education
much inferior to many of his brethren." But had this gentleman been so
just as to have read the reasons which Mr. Baxter gave,[2] for his doing
that which he represents as so assuming, he would have seen little
occasion for his reflection. For the design of this Liturgy was not to
jostle out the old one, where persons were satisfied with it, but to
relieve those that durst not use the old one as it was, by helping them
to forms taken out of the word of God. Or suppose we, that the old
Liturgy had in the esteem of many fallen short of this new one; others
are at a loss to discover why this should appear so preposterous, unless
it be unaccountable for persons to prefer a Liturgy entirely Scriptural,
to one that is made up of human phrases, and some of them justly enough
exceptionable. It must be owned that the old Liturgy was framed by
sundry confessors and martyrs, and upon that account it deserves
respect: and it was a great step in their day, for them to cast so many
corruptions out of the public service as they did, at that time, when
this Liturgy was drawn out of the several forms that were in use in this
kingdom before. But it was but a pursuit of their design, to render the
public service yet more Scriptural: and had they risen from the dead,
there is good reason to believe they would generally have approved of
it; and been so far from looking upon it as detracting from them, that
they would have applauded it as a good superstructure upon their
foundations. Suppose then he that drew up this "Reformed Liturgy," was
by education much inferior to many of his brethren; it neither follows
from thence that he must really be so much inferior to them in useful
knowledge and valuable abilities, as this author would seem to intimate;
nor can it justly be thence argued that his performance was
contemptible; nor that there was any want of modesty neither, when his
brethren put him upon the undertaking. And besides, they approving it
when they perused it, and joining in the presenting it, made it their
own; as sufficiently appears from the preface prefixed; and some of them
had academical education, and great applause in the world too, and yet
thought not Mr. Baxter at all their inferior.
He was also one of the three that managed the dispute at the end of
the conference at the Savoy, and freely charged some things in the
Liturgy as sinful, and contrary to the word of God. As, that ministers
are obliged in baptism to use the transient image of the cross; that
none be admitted to communion in the Lord's supper that dare not
receive it kneeling, &c. The forementioned author speaking of this in
his history, says, "That it seems very strange that he and his
brethren should undertake to mention eight unlawful things in the
Liturgy, when they could not affirm any one of those things to be in
itself unlawful; but argued altogether upon the unlawful imposition of
them, which they might as well have done by the same argument in eight
hundred of other indifferent and most innocent matters." But if this
gentleman had considered, that the unwarrantableness of keeping up
such impositions in the church was the thing which Mr. Baxter and his
brethren undertook to prove, in opposition to those who were zealous
for retaining them, and how little in that case depends upon the
simple unlawfulness of the things imposed, (abstracting from all
circumstances in a metaphysical sense,) the strangeness of their
proceeding would have disappeared. For though the same argument would
have done in eight hundred indifferent things, (had there been so many
so imposed,) yet it does not follow but that it would be good and
valid in those eight things mentioned, in which they thought they
should be bound up by the ecclesiastical constitution, (if they really
must have been so confined,) while they could not discover their
compliance to be lawful.
The same author also falls in with Bishop Morley, in representing Mr.
Baxter as very perverse and disingenuous, by persisting in his denial
of a certain proposition, after it had been turned and altered several
ways. But had he thought fit to have considered what is suggested upon
that head in the abridgement of his Life, which he had so often
consulted, and quoted upon other occasions, he would have seen the
aspersion wiped off, which he so freely repeats: and whether in so
doing he has meted with the measure he would have used towards
himself, upon occasion, is left to his second thoughts.
When the king's Declaration came out, Mr. Baxter was offered the
bishopric of Hereford, and some of his brethren some other preferments
in the church; but he refused acceptance, because of the uncertainty
of the continuance of the terms of that Declaration, and so did
several others: and Mr. Calamy and he were, by a majority of three
voices, chosen by the city clergy to be their clerks in the
convocation; but were by the bishop of London excused from sitting
there. A continuance at Kidderminster was what he had most desired of
any thing; and he did all that he was able in order to it; but
Providence forced him another way.
While he was away from the town of Kidderminster, in great weakness,
more likely to die than live, after his great loss of blood, the people
renewed their articles against Mr. Danse, the old vicar, and his curate;
and the committee sequestered the place, and left the profits in the
hands of divers inhabitants to pay a preacher till it was disposed of.
Mr. Baxter, though pressed, would not accept the vicarage, but continued
to officiate among them as their minister. He would have taken no more
out of the profits of the living than the £60 per annum which the vicar
had before bound himself to pay him, but they made it £90. At length the
people fearing some one should get a grant of the sequestration from the
committee, went privately and got an order to settle Mr. Baxter in it;
but never showed it him, till King Charles came out of Scotland towards
Worcester, when they desired him to take and keep it, and save them
harmless by it, if they were called to repay what they had received and
disbursed. After this, the tithes were gathered in his name by some of
his neighbours: but he gave them orders, that if any refused to pay that
were poor, it should be forgiven them; but if they were able, what was
due should be sought for with the help of the magistrates with damage;
and that both his part and his damages should be given to the poor. When
this was known, none that were able would do the poor so great a
kindness as to refuse payment.
Upon King Charles's restoration the old vicar was restored. He had
before lived unmolested in the vicarage house, and had £40 per annum
duly paid him. Mr. Baxter would now very willingly have been his
curate. Being often with my Lord Chancellor, he begged his favour
about a settlement there, which he signified to him he preferred to a
bishopric. Sir Ralph Clare was the great obstacle. He once told Mr.
Baxter, in Bishop Morley's chamber, that of eighteen hundred
communicants in the town, he had not above six hundred for him. To
clear which he sent to Kidderminster, and in a day's time his friends
there got the hands of sixteen hundred of those eighteen hundred for
him; which subscription being shown, made both the Bishop and Sir
Ralph the more against his return thither. My Lord Chancellor wrote to
Sir Ralph, but without effect. Mr. Baxter going down thither to make
terms with the vicar, he would not suffer him to preach above twice or
thrice. He could not be accepted, though he would have preached for
nothing. It would not be allowed him so much as to administer the
sacrament to the people, and preach a farewell sermon to them. Bishop
Morley denied him the liberty of preaching in his diocess. He told him
that he would take care the people should be no losers. And for awhile
he sent the most acceptable preachers among them; and once took the
pains to preach to them himself, but it was in a way of invective
against Mr. Baxter and the presbyterians. Dr. Warmestry did the same
once and again, but with little success. When Bishop Morley forbad him
preaching in his diocess, he asked him leave but to preach in some
small village among the ignorant, where there was no maintenance for a
minister: and he told him, that they were better to have none than
him. Mr. Baldwin the minister was present.
There being no further capacity of service in those parts, Mr. Baxter
for some time preached up and down occasionally in the city, and at
length was fixed a lecturer with Dr. Bates at St. Dunstan's in Fleet
Street; and obtained Bishop Sheldon's licence, upon his subscribing a
promise, not to preach against the doctrine of the church, or the
ceremonies, in his diocess, as long as he used his licence. Here he
had a crowded auditory; and the crowd unhappily drove him from his
place of preaching. One day in the midst of sermon a little lime dust
fell down in the belfry, which made people think the steeple and
church were falling. All were presently in a confused haste to get
away, and the noise of the feet in the galleries sounded like the fall
of the stones. Some cast themselves from the galleries, because they
could not get down-stairs; and the terror was universal: all made such
haste to get out that they hindered one another. Mr. Baxter, when the
hurry was a little over, with great presence of mind reassumed his
discourse, with this remarkable passage, to compose the spirits of the
people. "We are" (said he) "in the service of God, to prepare
ourselves, that we may be fearless at the great noise of the
dissolving world, when the heavens shall pass away, and the elements
melt in fervent heat; the earth also and the works therein shall be
burned up," &c. And when he had gone on a little while, a bench near
the communion table breaking under the weight of those that stood upon
it, renewed the fear and hurry, and made it rather worse than before.
He was forced to preach the rest of his quarter at St. Bride's church,
while St. Dunstan's was repairing. He preached also once every Lord's
day at Black-friars, gratis; and a week-day lecture in Milk Street.
During this short interval of public liberty, those ministers that
were not for episcopacy, Liturgy, and ceremonies, were represented as
seditious, and loaded with calumnies and reproaches. Many of them were
imprisoned, together with some sober gentlemen, in several counties,
under pretence of their plotting against the government. Particularly
a plot was hatched in Worcestershire. A packet was pretended to be
found under a hedge, left there by a Scotch pedlar. In it there were
letters from several ministers; and among the rest, one from Mr.
Baxter; intimating, that he had provided a considerable body of men
well armed, which should be ready against the time appointed. And
indeed where men were taken up and imprisoned in distant counties, it
was said to be for Baxter's plot. The noise of these plots in so many
counties, paved the way for the Act of Uniformity, which gave all the
ministers who could not conform no longer time than till Bartholomew
day, 1662, when they were all cast out. Mr. Baxter preached his last
sermon in public on the 25th of May before, at Black-friars. The
reason of his forbearing preaching so soon, was partly because the
lawyers did interpret a doubtful clause in the Act of Uniformity, as
putting an end to the liberty of lecturers at that time; and partly
because he would let all the ministers in the nation understand in
time what his intentions were, lest any might be influenced to a
compliance, upon a supposition that he intended to conform.
After this, if the ejected ministers did but meet to pray together it
was a seditious conventicle. Dr. Bates and Mr. Baxter were desired to
pray at a friend's house, for his wife that was sick of a fever, and
had they been there they had been apprehended by a warrant from two
justices. Finding therefore his public service at an end, he retired
to Acton, in Middlesex; where he went every Lord's day to the public
church, and spent the rest of the day with his family, and a few poor
neighbours that came in to him. In the time of the plague, in 1665, he
went to Mr. Hampden's, in Buckinghamshire; and returned back again to
Acton when it was over. He stayed there as long as the Act against
Conventicles was in force, and when it was expired, he had so many
came to hear him, that he wanted room. Hereupon he by a warrant of two
justices, was committed to New-Prison gaol for six months. But he got
a Habeas Corpus, and was released; and removed to Totteridge, near
Barnet. While he was there, Duke Lauderdale going into Scotland,
signified to him a purpose there was of taking off the oath of
canonical obedience, and all impositions of conformity, save only that
it should be necessary to sit in presbyteries and synods with the
bishops and moderators; and that he had the king's consent to offer
him what place in Scotland he would choose, either a church, or a
college, or a bishopric. But he excused himself from his weakness and
indisposition, and the circumstances of his family.
After the Indulgence, in 1672, he returned to his preaching in the city.
He was one of the Tuesday lecturers at Pinner's Hall; and had a Friday
lecture at Fetter Lane; but on Lord's days he only preached
occasionally. He afterwards preached in St. James's Market house, where
on July 5, 1674, they had a marvellous deliverance. For a main beam,
that had before been considerably weakened by the weight of the people,
gave such cracks, that three several times they ran out of the room,
concluding it was falling. The next day taking up the boards they found
that two rends in the beam were so great, that it was a wonder of
Providence that the floor had not fallen, and the roof with it, to the
destruction of multitudes. He was afterwards apprehended as he was
preaching his Thursday lecture at Mr. Turner's; but soon released,
because the warrant was not signed by a city justice, as it should have
been, when he was apprehended for preaching in the city. In 1676, by the
assistance of his friends, he built a new meeting-house in Oxenden
Street, and when he had preached there but once, a resolution was taken
to surprise him the next time, and to send him for six months to gaol
upon the Oxford Act. But he being out of town, Mr. Seddon, a Derbyshire
minister, preaching for him, was sent to the Gate-house in his room,
though the warrant did not suit him; and he was forced to continue there
three months, till he had a Habeas Corpus. He afterwards built another
meeting-house in St. Martin's parish, but was forcibly kept out of it by
constables and officers: and thereupon Mr. Wadsworth, in Southwark,
dying, he upon the invitation of his people preached to them many months
in peace. And when Dr. Lloyd succeeded Dr. Lamplugh, in St. Martin's
parish, he offered him his chapel, in Oxenden Street, for public
worship, and accepted it.[3]
Anno 1682. He was suddenly surprised in his house, by an informer with
constables and officers, who served upon him a warrant, to seize on his
person for coming within five miles of a corporation; and five more
warrants in distraint for £195 for five sermons. He was going with them
to a justice, though extremely bad as to his health, till meeting Dr.
Cox, he forced him back to his bed, and went and took his oath before
five justices that he could not go to prison without danger of death.
The king being consulted, consented that his imprisonment should for
that time be forborne. But they executed the warrants on the books and
goods in the house, though he made it appear they were none of his; and
they sold the bed he lay upon. Some friends paid down the money they
were appraised at, and he repayed them. Being afterwards in danger of
new seizures, he was forced to retire to private lodgings.
Anno 1684. He was again seized upon and carried to the sessions, when
he was scarce able to stand, and bound in a bond of £400, to his good
behaviour; and was told that this proceeding was only to secure the
government against suspected persons. He was some time after carried
again to the sessions-house in great pain, and forced to continue
bound. He refused to stand bound, not knowing what they might
interpret a breach of the peace. But his sureties would be bound, lest
he should die in a gaol. He was carried thither a third time, and
still bound; though for the most part he kept his bed.
Though he was thus treated all King Charles's reign, he yet prayed as
heartily for him as any man; and he was often consulted about terms and
measures for a union between the conformists and nonconformists, as to
which he was ever free to give his sentiments. He was not for
comprehension without indulgence; nor for a bare indulgence without the
enlargement of the Act of Uniformity to a greater comprehension; but for
the conjunction of both. He declared this when he was consulted by a
person of honour, anno 1663. In the year 1668, Dr. Bates and he waited
on the Lord Keeper Bridgman by desire, in order to a treaty about a
comprehension and toleration, and were afterwards met by Dr. Wilkins and
Mr. Burton, with whom they conferred. The thing they most differed about
was re-ordination. At length by conference with Sir Matthew Hale, that
point was thus adjusted, that there should be an admission into the
ministry of the church of England, of such as had been before ordained
according to this form of words: "Take thou legal authority to preach
the word of God, and administer the holy sacraments in any congregation
of England, where thou shalt be lawfully appointed thereunto." It was
agreed the ceremonies should be left indifferent, and the Liturgy
altered; and that there should be an indulgence of such as could not be
comprehended. And a bill was drawn up by Judge Hale, to be presented to
the parliament; but the high-church party made such an interest, that it
was carried by a vote that no man should bring in a bill of this nature.
He afterwards in the year 1673, upon the desire of the Earl of Orrery,
drew up terms of union between the conformists and the nonconformists,
in order to their joint vigorous opposing popery. And the next year
there was also an agreement upon like terms, between Dr. Stillingfleet
and Dr. Tillotson, and Dr. Manton, Dr. Bates, Mr. Pool, and Mr. Baxter,
and an act was proposed to be brought in the next session of parliament,
in pursuance of the treaty; but Dr. Tillotson wrote word to Mr. Baxter,
that as circumstances stood, such an act could not pass in either house,
without the concurrence of a considerable part of the bishops, and his
Majesty's countenance, which at that time he saw little reason to
expect.
In the reign of King James II. Mr. Baxter was committed to the King's
Bench prison by warrant from the Lord Chief Justice Jefferies, for his
"Paraphrase on the New Testament," which was called a scandalous and
seditious book against the government. On May 30, 1685, he was brought
to his trial. The passages mentioned in the information, were his
paraphrase on Matt. v. 19; Mark ix. 39; xi. 31; xii. 38-40; Luke x. 2;
John xi. 57; Acts xv. 2: and a certain noted clergyman put into the
hands of his enemies some accusations out of his paraphrase on Rom.
xiii. &c. as against the king, to touch his life; but no use was made
of them. Jefferies interrupted his council in pleading for him, and
treated Mr. Baxter most scornfully and rudely. He had given judgment
against him, June 29, when he was fined 500 marks, and to lie in
prison till he paid it; and bound to his good behaviour for seven
years. But the next year King James altering his measures, many of the
dissenters that were imprisoned were released; and their fines were
remitted: and among the rest, Mr. Baxter obtained his pardon by the
mediation of the Lord Powis. His fine was remitted; and Nov. 24, Sir
Samuel Astrey sent his warrant to the keeper of the King's Bench to
discharge him. But he gave sureties for his good behaviour: his
Majesty declaring for his satisfaction, that it should not in him be
interpreted a breach of the good behaviour for him to reside in
London, which was not allowable by the Oxford Act; and this was
entered upon his bail-piece. He continued some time in the Rules; and
in February following removed to a house in Charter-house Yard.
After his settlement there, he gave Mr. Sylvester (whom he peculiarly
valued, and had a special intimacy with) and his flock, his pains,
gratis, every Lord's day in the morning, and every other Thursday
morning at a weekly lecture. And thus he continued for about four
years and a half; rejoicing as much as any man at the happy revolution
under the conduct of King William, though he appeared not much in
public. And when he was quite disabled from public service by his
growing weakness, he still continued to do good in his own hired
house, where he opened his doors morning and evening every day, to all
that would come to join with him in family worship; reading and
expounding the Scriptures with great seriousness and freedom. At
length his distempers took him off from this also, and confined him
first to his chamber, and then to his bed. Under sharp pains, he was
very submissive to the will of God; and when he was inclined to pray
most earnestly for a release, he would check himself and say, "It is
not fit for me to prescribe: Lord, when thou wilt, what thou wilt, how
thou wilt." As his end drew near, being often asked by his friends,
how it was with his inward man, he replied, "I bless God I have a
well-grounded assurance of my eternal happiness, and great peace and
comfort within." He gave excellent counsel to young ministers that
visited him, earnestly prayed God to bless their labours, and
expressed great hopes that God would do a great deal of good by them,
and great joy that they were of moderate and peaceable spirits. Being
at last asked how he did, his answer was, "Almost well;" and at length
he expired, Dec. 8, 1691, and was a few days after interred in Christ
Church, in London, whither his corpse was attended by a numerous
company of persons of different ranks, and especially of ministers,
some of them conformists, who paid him the last office of respect.
There were two discourses made upon occasion of his funeral, one by
Dr. Bates, and the other by Mr. Sylvester, which are both in print:
the former may be met with in the Doctor's Works; and the latter at
the end of Mr. Baxter's Life in folio.
His last will and testament bore date July 7, 1689. The preamble was
something peculiar, and ran thus: "I Richard Baxter, of London, clerk,
an unworthy servant of Jesus Christ, drawing to the end of this
transitory life, having through God's great mercy the free use of my
understanding, do make this my last will and testament, revoking all
other wills formerly made by me. My spirit I commit, with trust and hope
of the heavenly felicity, into the hands of Jesus my glorified Redeemer
and Intercessor; and by his mediation into the hands of God my
reconciled Father, the infinite, eternal Spirit, Light, Life, and Love,
most great, and wise, and good, the God of nature, grace, and glory; of
whom, and through whom, and to whom are all things; my absolute Owner,
Ruler, and Benefactor, whose I am, and whom I (though imperfectly)
serve, seek, and trust; to whom be glory for ever. Amen. To him I render
most humble thanks, that he hath filled up my life with abundant mercy,
and pardoned my sin by the merits of Christ, and vouchsafed by his
Spirit to renew me, and seal me as his own; and to moderate and bless to
me my long sufferings in the flesh, and at last to sweeten them by his
own interest, and comforting approbation, who taketh the cause of love
and concord as his own," &c. He ordered his books to be distributed by
Mr. Matthew Sylvester and Mr. Roger Morrice among poor scholars, which
was done accordingly. All that remained of his temporal estate, after a
few legacies to his kindred, he disposed of for the benefit of the souls
and bodies of the poor. And he left Sir Henry Ashhurst, Baronet, Rowland
Hunt of Boraton, Esq., Mr. Thomas Hunt, merchant, Edward Harley, Esq.,
Mr. Thomas Cooke, merchant, Mr. Thomas Trench, merchant, and Mr. Robert
Bird, gentleman, his executors.
Few ever had more weakness to imbitter their lives than he; and yet
this heightened and cherished the peculiar seriousness of his spirit.
Few ever were more strongly tempted to infidelity; and yet, as
Providence overruled it, that contributed in the issue to his greater
establishment. He was tempted sorely to question the truth of the
Scriptures, the immortality of the soul, and the life to come. This
sort of temptations did not assault him in that way that is usual with
melancholy persons, but with a show of sober reason. Hereupon he was
forced to dig to the very foundations of religion, and seriously to
examine the reasons of christianity, and to give a hearing to all that
could be said against it; and his preaching and writings were upon
this account the more useful. And he at last found that nothing is so
firmly believed, as that which hath been some time doubted of.
He was a great observer of Providence, and in the course of his life
met with many surprising deliverances. When he was seventeen years of
age, riding on an unruly horse, who would often get the bit in his
teeth, and run away with his rider, he was run away with in a very
dangerous place. He was in a field of high ground, where there was a
quick-set hedge on the side of him, that was the only fence; on the
other side of which was a deep narrow lane, about a story's height
below him. When the horse was running away with him, he turned aside
on a sudden, and leaped over the hedge into the lane. He came to the
ground before the horse, and yet received no hurt, thought it seemed
marvellous how his feet could fall besides him. At another time, being
about the same age, and at Ludlow Castle, in company of several idle
gentlemen, he was learning to play at tables of the best gamester in
the house. When his opposite had once so much the better, that it was
a hundred to one, besides the difference of their skill, he still held
on, though both he and the standers-by laughed at him for not giving
up, and told him the game was lost: he was so confident of it as to
offer a hundred to one; and actually did lay down ten shillings to
sixpence. When the wager was laid, he told him there was no
possibility of the game, but by one cast often: and it so fell out,
that he had that same cast for several times successively, so that by
that time a man could go four or five times about the room, his game
was gone, which caused great admiration. He took the hint, feared that
the devil had the ruling of the dice, and did it to entice him to be a
gamester, and so gave him his ten shillings again, and resolved never
more to play at tables whilst he lived. At another time, travelling
from London into the country, about Christmas, in a very deep snow, he
met on the road a loaded waggon, where he could not pass by but on the
side of a bank: passing over which, all his horse's feet slipped from
under him, and all the girts broke, so that he was cast just before
the waggon wheel, which had gone over him, but that it pleased God the
horses suddenly stopped, without any discernible cause, till he got
out of the way. Often was he brought very low while he was at
Kidderminster, so as to receive the sentence of death in himself, when
his poor honest, praying neighbours there met together, and upon their
fasting and earnest prayers, he hath been recovered. Once when he had
been very low for three weeks together, and was unable to go abroad,
on the very day that they prayed for him, which was on the Friday, he
recovered so as to be able to preach to them, and administer the
sacrament, on the Lord's day following. Another time he had a tumour
rose on one of the tonsils of his throat, white and hard like a bone,
above the hardness of any scirrhous tumour. He feared a cancer, and
applied such remedies by the advice of the physician as were thought
fittest, but without alteration; for it remained hard as at first. At
the end of a quarter of a year, he was under some concern, that he had
never praised God particularly for any of the deliverances he had
formerly afforded him. And thereupon being speaking of God's
confirming our belief of his word, by his fulfilling his promises, and
hearing prayers, (as it is published in the second part of his
"Saints' Rest,") he annexed some thankful hints as to his own
experiences; and suddenly the tumour vanished, leaving no sign where
it had been remaining; though he neither swallowed it down, nor spit
it out, nor could ever tell what became of it. Another time having
read in Dr. Gerhard the admirable effects of the swallowing a gold
bullet upon his own father, in a case much like his, he got a gold
bullet, between twenty and thirty shillings weight; and having taken
it, he knew not how to be again delivered of it. He took clysters and
purges for about three weeks, but nothing stirred it. And a gentleman
having done the like, the bullet never came from him till he died, and
it was cut out. But at last his neighbours set apart a day to fast and
pray for him, and he was free from his danger in the beginning of that
day. And at another time, being in danger of an ægilopse, he had also
sudden relief by their prayers. At another time riding upon a great
hot, mettled horse, as he stood upon a sloping pavement in Worcester,
the horse reared up, and both his hinder feet slipped from under him;
so that the full weight of the body of the horse fell upon his leg,
which yet was only bruised, and not broken: when considering the
place, the stones, and the manner of the fall, it was a wonder his leg
was not broken in shivers. Another time as he sat in his study, the
weight of his greatest folio books broke down three or four of the
highest shelves, when he sat close under them; and they fell down on
every side of him, and not one of them hit him, except one upon the
arm. Whereas the place, the weight, and greatness of the books was
such, and his head just under them, that it was a wonder they had not
beaten out his brains, or done him an unspeakable mischief. One of the
shelves just over his head having Dr. Walton's Polyglot Bible, all
Austin's Works, the Bibliotheca Patrum, Marlorate, &c. At another
time, viz. March 26, 1665, as he was preaching in a private house, a
bullet came in at the window, and passed by him, but did no hurt. Such
things as these he carefully took notice of, and recorded. And indeed
his being carried through so much service and suffering too, under so
much weakness, was a constant wonder to himself, and all that knew
him; and what he used himself often to take notice of, with
expressions of great thankfulness.
There was scarce a man in England so consulted about cases of conscience
as he was. He was applied to in matters of more than common concern and
difficulty, by persons of all ranks and qualities. His "Directory" may
give the world satisfaction how fit he was for that province: and had he
kept an exact account of the various cases that had been proposed to
him, with his solutions, we should have had yet fuller evidence.
He loved a retired life, but could not so conceal himself as not to be
observed and much respected. My Lord Broghill, who was afterwards Earl
of Orrery and Lord President of Munster, gave him many marks of his
respect. Archbishop Usher used great freedom with him, and urged him
to some of his writings. In the worst of times he had some even in
King Charles's court that were very respectful to him. Duke Lauderdale
was one of these: and let him be ever so ill a man himself, this must
be said, that Mr. Baxter had sometimes an interest in him for the
procuring good, and the avoiding mischief. While he lived at Acton, he
had free conversation with his neighbour Sir Matthew Hale. And he
manifested his respect to Mr. Baxter, by giving a high encomium of him
both for piety and learning, before all the judges at the table at
Serjeants' Inn, at the time when he was in prison upon the Oxford Act.
My Lord Balcarres and his Lady had also a very great value for him. He
had many letters full of respects from eminent divines in foreign
parts. But there was no friend in the whole course of his life whom he
more valued and respected, and by whom he was more beloved, than that
noted citizen Henry Ashhurst, Esq. commonly called Alderman Ashhurst,
who was the most exemplary person for sobriety, self-denial, piety,
and humility, that London could glory of. In short, living and dying,
he was as much respected by some, and as much slighted by others, as
any man of the age.
Hardly any man was ever more calumniated and reproached than he. Dr.
Boreman, of Trinity College, charged him in print with killing a man
with his own hand in cold blood. Some years after, the same charge was
brought against him in a coffee-house; but he that brought it being
afterwards convinced, professed his sorrow, and asked his pardon. But
Sir Roger L'Estrange published a story a little like it in his
"Observator," and it was also inserted in the preface to the "Life of
Dr. Heylin," and was lately inserted in a book entitled, "Ordination by
mere Presbyters proved Void and Null, in a Conference between
Philalethes and Pseudocheus." The story was this, that Mr. Baxter
finding one Major Jennings in the war time among the bodies of the dead
and wounded, looked on while Lieutenant Hurdman, that was with him, ran
him through the body in cold blood. And that Mr. Baxter took off with
his own hand the king's picture from about his neck, telling him as he
was swimming in his gore, that he was a popish rogue, and that was his
crucifix: which picture was kept by Mr. Baxter till it was got from him,
but not without much difficulty, by one Mr. Somerfield who lived with
Sir Thomas Rouse, who restored it to the true owner, who was supposed to
be dead of his wounds: and this narrative was subscribed by Jennings
himself, that it might pass for the more authentic.--Mr. Baxter, on the
contrary, solemnly protested in print[4] upon occasion of the
publication, that he knew not that he ever saw Major Jennings; that he
never saw him or any other man wounded; that he never took such a
picture from him, or saw who did it; nor was in the field when it was
done; much less spoke any thing like the words reported: but that being
at Longford House, while it was a garrison for the parliament, a soldier
showed a small medal of gilt silver, bigger than a shilling; and said
that he wounded Jennings, took his coat from his back, and the medal
from his neck, which Mr. Baxter bought for eighteen pence, no one
offering more: and that hearing afterwards he was living, he freely
desired this Somerfield to give it him, supposing it was a mark of
honour which might be useful to him. And this story was all the thanks
that ever he had.
When he preached before King Charles, his Majesty sent the lord
chamberlain to him to require him to print his sermon, and he
accordingly printed it, and added in the title page, "by his Majesty's
special command." Dr. Pierce afterward asserted to several, that he
was none of the king's chaplain, and that he had no order from him for
the printing of his sermon. And he could scarce preach a sermon, but
he was represented as having some seditious design, covered over with
innocent words.
He was vehemently aspersed by those that were fond of extremes on all
hands. When the lecture was set up at Pinner's Hall, if he did but
preach for unity and against division, or unnecessary withdrawing from
each other, or against unwarrantable narrowing the church of Christ,
it was presently said he preached against such and such persons. If he
did but say that the will of man had a natural liberty, though a moral
thraldom to vice; and that men might have Christ and life if they were
but truly willing, though grace must make them willing; and that men
have power to do better than they do; he was said to preach up
Arminianism and free-will. And on the other hand, when he in public
told the people, that they must not make the world believe that they
were under greater sufferings than they really were, nor be unthankful
for their peace; and that they ought when any hurt them, to love and
forgive them, and see that they failed not of their duty to them; but
should not forsake the owning and just defending by Scripture
evidence, the truth opposed; some of the high-church party, in a
printed account, told the world, that he bid the people resist, and
not stand still and die like dogs: for the falsity of which he was
forced to appeal to the many hundreds that heard him.
Nay, he was aspersed even after his death. For it was reported that in
the latter part of his life even till he died, he was in great doubt and
trouble about a future state; that he inclined to think there was no
future state at all, and ended his days under such a persuasion, to his
no small trouble; he having written so many things to persuade persons
to believe there was. Which was abundantly answered by Mr. Sylvester, in
his preface prefixed to the "History of his Life and Times."
His love to the honest people of Kidderminster, who had the prime of
his strength and the flower of his labours, was very remarkable. He
told them, in the preface to the "Saints' Rest," that the offers of
greater worldly accommodations, with five times the means that he
received with them, was no temptation to him once to question whether
he should leave them. But he was afterwards forced to leave them, by
Bishop Morley, and Mr. Danse the old vicar. He did not part with them
without mutual grief and tears. And when he went from them, he left
Mr. Baldwin, to live privately among them, and oversee them in his
stead; and he advised them to frequent the public church assemblies,
in conjunction with their private helps, unless the public minister
was utterly insufficient, or preached heresy, or in his application
set himself against the ends of his office, by endeavouring to make a
holy life seem odious. After parting from them, he wrote a letter to
them but once a year, lest it should be the occasion of their
suffering; and for fear lest if they did any thing that was
displeasing, it should be represented as the effect of his
suggestions. But in process of time even this honest and quiet people
were exasperated. They were alienated from the prelates and their
adherents, for running down Mr. Baxter and those of his mind, as
deceivers. Repeating sermons in their houses they were laid in gaols
with common malefactors, their goods were seized, and they were fined
and punished again and again. At length they were hardly more angry
with the bishops, than they were with Mr. Baxter himself, whom they
censured upon his publishing the book called "The Cure of Church
Divisions," as strengthening the hands of persecutors by persuading
them of the lawfulness of communicating in their parish church, with a
conformable minister in the Liturgy. But he still continued his care
of them, and concern for them. And at length he became capable of
helping them to a valuable, useful man, that would make it his
business to promote serious religion among them. For Colonel John
Bridges had sold the patronage of the living to Mr. Thomas Foley, upon
condition that he should present Mr. Baxter next if he were capable of
it; and if not, that he should present one with his consent. When the
old vicar died, many thought that Mr. Baxter himself would have
conformed. Archbishop Stern, of York, particularly, bid a minister
take it on his word that he conformed, and was gone to his beloved
Kidderminster. But Mr. Baxter had no such thoughts, though he would
gladly have assisted them in getting a suitable person. But the people
there refused to have any hand in bringing in another minister into
the church, lest they should seem to consent to his conformity, or be
obliged to own him in his office. They were not to be prevailed with
to concur; and for that reason Mr. Baxter refused to meddle in the
choice. When Mr. Foley had put in a valuable man to be their minister,
Mr. Baxter wrote to them to join with him in prayers and sacrament, at
that time when they had no opportunity for separate meetings. But
their sufferings had so far alienated them from the church party, that
they would not yield that his letter should be so much as read among
them. However, Mr. Baxter kept up a peculiar respect to them, and
concern for them, as long as he lived.
His works were various. Dr. Bates, in his funeral sermon, says that
his books, for the number and variety of matter in them, make a
library. They contain a treasure of controversial, casuistical,
positive, and practical divinity; and the excellent Bishop Wilkins did
not stick to say that he had cultivated every subject he handled. I
will touch only upon those of his works that are here collected
together in four volumes.
The first volume contains his "Christian Directory." The first part of
it, which he calls "Christian Ethics," is perhaps the best body of
practical divinity that is extant in our own or any other tongue. And
though in the "Ecclesiastical Cases" there are some things that are
not to every man's gust, (and no other could well be expected where
there is so vast a variety,) yet he that will have the patience to
read through, will find his pains rewarded by ample instruction.
The second volume contains, I. "The Reasons of the Christian Religion;"
which book hath relieved many when under temptations to infidelity. II.
"The Unreasonableness of Infidelity;" where a clear account is given of
the nature of the witness of the Spirit to the truth of Christianity,
and of the unpardonable sin committed in opposition to it. And a
discourse is added about the arrogancy of reason in opposition to divine
revelation, that is very proper for those who being for a freedom of
thought would know how to keep it within due bounds, so as to prevent
extravagance. III. "More Reasons for the Christian Religion;" which
contains a vindication of the Holy Scriptures from the charge of
contradictions; and some animadversions on my Lord Herbert "De
Veritate." IV. His "Treatise of Conversion;" a set of plain sermons
preached at Kidderminster, explaining the nature and the necessity, the
benefits and hinderances, of a thorough change of heart and life. V. "A
Call to the Unconverted;" which has been blessed by God with marvellous
success in reclaiming persons from their impiety. Six brothers were once
converted by reading it. Twenty thousand of them were printed and
dispersed in little more than a year's time. It was translated into
French and Dutch, and other European languages. And Mr. Eliot translated
it into the Indian language; and Mr. Cotton Mather gives an account of a
certain Indian prince, who was so affected with this book, that he sat
reading it with tears in his eyes till he died, not suffering it to be
taken from him. VI. "Now or Never;" in which all are seriously urged to
improve the present time, in order to a hearty return to God through
Jesus Christ. VII. "Directions and Persuasions to a Sound Conversion;" a
book that has been useful to many souls, by preventing those mistakes in
practical religion, which are often fatal. VIII. "A Saint or a Brute;"
being some plain sermons preached to his people at Kidderminster,
concerning the necessity and excellency of holiness. IX. "The Mischiefs
of Self-Ignorance, and Benefits of Self-Acquaintance;" being some plain
sermons preached at St. Dunstan's, in Fleet Street, to prevent persons
from devouring others, while they did not know themselves. X. "A Right
Method for Settled Peace of Conscience;" written for the benefit of a
melancholy lady; a book by which many dejected christians have been
revived. XI. "God's Goodness Vindicated;" an essay to clear up that
darling attribute of the Deity about which melancholy persons often run
into such unhappy mistakes. XII. "Directions to a Weak Christian how to
Grow in Grace; with Characters of a Sound Christian;" well worth the
perusal of such as desire to have right and clear notions of
christianity.
The third volume contains, I. "The Saints' Everlasting Rest;" a book
written in a very languishing condition, when in the suspense of life
and death; and yet it has the signatures of a holy and vigorous mind.
Multitudes will have cause to bless God for ever for this book. Among
others, holy Mr. John Janeway was thereby converted.[5] II. "A
Treatise of Self-Denial"; in which the nature and grounds of that
capital part of our holy religion are opened and cleared. III. "Of
Crucifying the World by the Cross of Christ;" an affecting caveat
against worldliness. IV. "The Life of Faith;" which was an enlargement
of the sermon preached before King Charles II., soon after his
Restoration. Though there are many things to be met with here, that
occur in his other writings, (a thing not to be avoided in one that
wrote so much,) yet has the method in which they are here put together
been advantageous to many. V. "The Divine Life;" in which there are
three Treatises: viz. "Of the Knowledge of God," "Of Walking with
God," and "Of Conversing with God in Solitude;" in which there is more
solid and useful divinity than in some bulky volumes. VI. "The Divine
Appointment of the Lord's day;" written for the satisfaction of some
that were inclined to the seventh-day sabbath. VII. "Obedient
Patience." VIII. "His Dying Thoughts;" in which though there are some
peculiarities, and an account of some temptations, that it is amazing
that such a man as Mr. Baxter should be at all troubled with; there
yet are some as noble thoughts as to the happiness of the saints
departed, and as to our blessed Saviour's transfiguration, and the
improvableness of it, as can easily be met with.
The fourth and last volume contains, I. "Compassionate Counsel to
Young Men;" which many have had cause to bless God for. II. "The
Mother's Catechism;" designed for the instruction of children, and for
the assistance of mothers in discharging their duty in that respect.
III. "Catechising of Families;" a plain manual; familiarly opening the
great essentials of religion in a catechetical way. IV. "The Poor
Man's Family Book;" a book that hath been given away by many landlords
to their tenants with good success. V. "Confirmation and Restoration,"
&c.; being an essay to revive the true primitive discipline, by
bringing the baptized publicly to own their standing to the baptismal
vow when they come to age; and proposing that such as fall into
scandalous sins should be restored by a public profession of
repentance. VI. "Gildas Salvianus, or the Reformed Pastor;" which
perhaps contains the best model of a gospel minister that ever was
published. We may indeed there meet with a free confession of
ministerial faults; which confession some endeavoured to turn to his
reproach: but the confessing and amending real faults, is a much more
likely way to secure the honour of the sacred ministry, than either a
denying them, or a seeking to cloak, extenuate, or cover them. VII.
"The Vain Religion of the Formal Hypocrite;" where hypocrisy is freely
detected and unmasked. VIII. "Cain and Abel;" in which the malignity
of the enmity between the Seed of the woman and the seed of the
serpent, is proved to have discovered itself from the first. IX.
"Knowledge and Love;" wherein conceited knowledge is exposed, and the
excellency of divine love displayed. X. "Catholic Unity;" a sermon
preached in St. Martin's Church, in which it is shown how greatly
ungodliness tendeth to divisions, and godliness to the truest unity
and peace. XI. "The True and only Way of Concord." XII. Sermons
preached upon sundry particular occasions; with a few "Directions to
Justices of Peace," &c.
I shall only add, that if the recommendations of others would have any
influence upon the readers, or their characters of the author increase
their esteem, few writers would have more advantage than Mr. Baxter.
For besides that there are none of our practical divines whose works
have been translated into more foreign languages, nor are read with
more admiration abroad than his, there is no one who by the fittest
judges has been more applauded.
Mr. Pitcaren, in his "Harmony of the Evangelists," p. 269, professes a
great esteem for his learning, acuteness, and piety.
Mr. Wood, Professor of Divinity in the University of St. Andrews, in
his answer to Mr. Lockier, represents Mr. Baxter as a most judicious,
acute, and godly man.
The Honourable Robert Boyle, Esq. declared Mr. Baxter to be the
fittest man of the age for a casuist because he feared no man's
displeasure, nor hoped for any man's preferment.
He was often quoted by some of the most celebrated divines of the church
with respect; as by Bishop Patrick, Bishop Stillingfleet, Bishop Burnet,
and Dr. Sherlock; as also by Mr. Hotchkis, and Mr. Wade, and others.
Sir William Morrice, in his book of the "Lord's Supper," p. 32, speaks
of Mr. Baxter as one in the dust of whose feet (according to the Hebrew
proverb) he should gladly roll himself; and notwithstanding some little
difference in opinion, yet he could never have a quarrel with him. And
he declares that he could only say as Phavorinus did of Adrian, It is
not for me to contend with him who commands legions of notions and
arguments. For me (says he) to throw a dart at him from Bellona's
temple, (which was the denunciation of war,) were to show myself like
one of the priests of that goddess, which were all fanatic, and used to
tear their own flesh. I should be loth to transform the most favourable
patron I have found, into the most formidable enemy I can meet with. And
as he that thought it enough to eternize his memory, to inscribe upon
his monument, his friendship he had with Sir Philip Sidney; so (says he)
my tombstone could not have been ambitious of a more honourable epitaph,
than Mr. Baxter's approbation.
Mr. Glanvil, in his "Philosophia Pia," p. 110, thus expresses himself
concerning Mr. Baxter,--That worthy man I think is to be honoured much
for his stout, rational, and successful opposition of the mischievous
antinomian follies, when the current systematic divinity, then called
orthodox, was very overgrown with them; and for his frequent asserting
the reasonableness of religion, against the madness of spreading
enthusiasm; for his earnest endeavours for the promotion of peace and
universal charity, when it was held a great crime not to be fierce in
the way of a sect. That he was a person worthy of great respect; and
that he (viz. Mr. Glanvil) could scarce forbear affirming concerning
him, as a learned doctor of the church of England did; viz. that he
was the only man that spake sense in an age of nonsense.
Mr. Woodbridge, in his "Treatise of Justification," says, that Mr.
Baxter was a man made on purpose to encounter with opposition for the
sake of truth.
And Dr. Manton, upon occasion, declared in the hearing of several,
that he thought Mr. Baxter came nearer the apostolical inspired
writers, than any man in the age.
_It having been proposed to reprint the PRACTICAL WORKS of the
excellent Mr. BAXTER, in Four Volumes; a design fitted to promote
and propagate serious religion, not only in the present age, but
to posterity: we whose names are subscribed, do most heartily
recommend it to all ministers, gentlemen, and others, (to whom the
interest of our Lord Jesus Christ is dear,) that they would to
their utmost encourage so good a work._
Among all the great and useful projects of this kind that have been
set on foot this age, perhaps there have been none so likely to reach
all the desirable purposes this may be serviceable for. Here you have
not only a few particular heads of christian faith and practice, but
christianity itself, in its full extent and compass, most accurately
handled, and at the same time with greatest plainness suited to the
meanest capacities, and pressed home upon the consciences of readers
with inimitable life and fervour. And how great an advantage must it
be to have such a help at hand in families, to which you may have
recourse upon all occasions, to clear your judgments in the great
articles of religion, to ease your minds in the most perplexing cases
of conscience, to engage and direct you in the several most important
exercises of godliness! You need not fear any danger from hence of
being influenced for or against any party of christians, as such. For
in all his writings you will find the evidences of a large and truly
christian spirit, too great to be confined to the narrow limits of one
or other party; and that noble catholic temper is what he every where
labours to infuse into his readers: a temper not only most pleasant to
the persons themselves in whom it has place, but which at last must
heal all the unhappy differences in the christian world, if ever God
have so much mercy for us.
GEORGE HAMMOND,
ABRAHAM HUME,
SAMUEL STANCLIFF,
THOMAS DOOLITTLE,
RICHARD STRETTON,
JOHN QUICK,
MATTHEW SYLVESTER,
DANIEL WILLIAMS,
DANIEL BURGESS,
JOHN SPADEMAN,
SAMUEL POMFRET,
JOHN SHOWER,
TIMOTHY ROGERS,
THOMAS GOODWIN,
JOSHUA OLDFIELD,
BENJAMIN ROBINSON,
THOMAS COTTON,
WILLIAM TONG,
ROBERT FLEMING,
JOHN SHEFFIELD,
JOHN BILLINGSLEY,
DANIEL ALEXANDER,
ROBERT BILLIO,
THOMAS REYNOLDS,
EDMUND CALAMY,
SAMUEL BURY,
SAMUEL DOOLITTLE,
ZACH. MERRELL,
THOMAS FREKE,
WILLIAM HARRIS,
SAMUEL PALMER,
BENJAMIN GRAVENER,
MICHAEL POPE,
SAMUEL ROSEWEL.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Mr. Baxter tells us, he met with several eminent christians that
magnified the good they had received by that book. And particularly he
relates a remarkable passage, in his book against the "Revolt to a
Foreign Jurisdiction," p. 539, 540. He says, that when he was twenty-one
years of age, at a private meeting of some ministers and christians in
Shrewsbury, (where were present Mr. Cradock, Mr. Richard Symonds, and
Mr. Fawler, who was afterwards cast out at St. Bride's, in 1662,) Mr.
Symonds took occasion to speak of some pious women, who were in great
doubt as to the sincerity of their conversion, because they knew not the
time and means and manner of it; and thereupon desired any that were
willing to open the case as to themselves, to satisfy such persons.
Among these, there were two others, viz. Mr. Fawler, and Mr. Michael
Old, who gave the same account as Mr. Baxter did: viz. that after many
convictions and a love to piety, the first lively motion that awakened
their souls to a serious resolved care of their salvation, was the
reading of this book of Bunny's "Of Resolution."
[2] See his large Life, Part I. p. 306.
[3] The gentleman that compiled the third volume of the "Complete
History of England," quoting that part of the Abridgement of Mr.
Baxter's Life, where this is mentioned, declares, p. 312, that "that
part of the relation as to the offer of a chapel, is known to be
false." This appearing a direct contradiction to Mr. Baxter's relation
of a matter of fact, in which himself was immediately concerned,
troubled many; the rather because it seemed to strike at the credit of
his whole history. Mr. Baxter had not only asserted in the History of
his Life, p. 179, that he was encouraged by Dr. Tillotson to make the
offer of the chapel, and that it was accepted to his great
satisfaction; but he had mentioned it in several of his works that
were published in his life-time; and particularly in his Breviate of
the Life of his Wife, he, p. 57, says, that Dr. Lloyd and the
parishioners accepted of it for their public worship, and that he and
his wife asked them no more rent, than they were to pay for the
ground; and the room over for a vestry, at £5, asking no advantage for
all the money laid out on the building. Which was never known to be
contradicted, till this history was published. Application therefore
was made to the compiler of that third volume, in a respectful way,
and he was requested to signify upon what grounds this was charged as
a falsity. Hereupon he, like a gentleman, a christian, and a divine,
frankly offered to consult my Lord Bishop of Worcester upon the
matter, who was the person immediately concerned with Mr. Baxter; and
his Lordship when consulted was pleased to declare that Mr. Baxter,
being disturbed in his meeting-house in Oxenden Street, by the king's
drums, which Mr. Secretary Coventry caused to be beat under the
windows, made an offer of letting it to the parish of St. Martin's for
a tabernacle, at the rent of £40 a year; and that his Lordship hearing
it, said he liked it well; and that thereupon Mr. Baxter came to him
himself, and upon his proposing the same thing to him, he acquainted
the vestry, and they took it upon those terms. This account is here
published for the clearing of that matter, with due thanks to his
Lordship for his frankness, and to the gentleman that consulted him,
for his most obliging readiness to do justice to truth.
[4] See his "True History of Councils enlarged and defended," p. 5.
[5] See Mr. Janeway's Life, p. 6.
A
CHRISTIAN DIRECTORY:
OR, A SUM OF
PRACTICAL THEOLOGY,
AND
CASES OF CONSCIENCE.
DIRECTING CHRISTIANS, HOW TO USE THEIR KNOWLEDGE AND FAITH; HOW TO
IMPROVE ALL HELPS AND MEANS, AND TO PERFORM ALL DUTIES; HOW TO
OVERCOME TEMPTATIONS, AND TO ESCAPE OR MORTIFY EVERY SIN.
IN FOUR PARTS.
I. CHRISTIAN ETHICS, (OR PRIVATE DUTIES.)
II. CHRISTIAN ECONOMICS, (OR FAMILY DUTIES.)
III. CHRISTIAN ECCLESIASTICS, (OR CHURCH DUTIES.)
IV. CHRISTIAN POLITICS, (OR DUTIES TO OUR RULERS AND NEIGHBOURS.)
ADVERTISEMENT.
READERS,
The book is so big that I must make no longer preface, than to give
you this necessary, short account, I. Of the quality; II. And the
reasons of this work.
1. The matter you will see in the contents: As Amesius's "Cases of
Conscience" are to his "Medulla," the second and practical part of
theology, so is this to a "Methodus Theologiæ" which I have not yet
published. And, 1. As to the method of this, it is partly natural, but
principally moral; that is, partly suitable to the real order of the
matter, but chiefly of usefulness, _secundum ordinem intentionis_,
where our reasons of each location are fetched from the end. Therefore
unless I might be tedious in opening my reasons _à fine_ for the order
of every particular, I know not how to give you full satisfaction. But
in this practical part I am the less solicitous about the accurateness
of method, because it more belongeth to the former part, (the theory,)
where I do it as well as I am able.
2. This book was written in 1664 and 1665 (except the Ecclesiastic
Cases of Conscience, and a few sheets since added). And since the
writing of it, some invitations drew me to publish my "Reasons of the
Christian Religion," my "Life of Faith," and "Directions for Weak
Christians;" by which the work of the two first chapters here is more
fully done; and therefore I was inclined here to leave them out; but
for the use of such families as may have this without the other, I
forbore to dismember it.
3. But there is a great disproportion between the several parts of the
book. 1. The First Part is largest, because I thought that the heart
must be kept with greatest diligence, and that if the tree be good the
fruit will be good; and I remember Paul's counsel, "Take heed unto
thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this
thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee," 1 Tim. iv. 16.
Nothing is well done by him that beginneth not at home: as the man is,
so is his strength, and work. 2. The two first chapters are too coarse
and tedious for those of the higher form, who may pass them over. But
the rest must be spoken to; to whom that is unprofitable which is most
suitable and pleasant to more exercised and accurate wits. The grand
directions are but the explications of the essentials of christianity,
or of the baptismal covenant, even of our relation-duties to God the
Father, Son, (in several parts of his relation,) and of the Holy
Ghost. The doctrine of Temptations is handled with brevity, because
they are so numerous; lest a due amplification should have swelled the
book too much; when a small part of their number maketh up so much of
Mr. John Downame's great and excellent treatise, called, "The
Christian Warfare." The great radical sins are handled more largely
than seemeth proportionable to the rest, because all die when they are
dead. And I am large about Redeeming Time, because therein the sum of
a holy, obedient life is included.
4. If any say, Why call you that a Sum of Practical Theology which is
but the directing part, and leaveth out the explication, reasons,
various uses, marks, motives, &c.? I answer, 1. Had I intended
sermonwise to say all that might well be said on each subject, it
would have made many volumes as big as this. 2. Where I thought them
needful, the explication of each duty and sin is added, with marks,
contraries, counterfeits, motives, &c. And uses are easily added by an
ordinary reader, without my naming them.
5. I do especially desire you to observe, that the resolving of
practical cases of conscience, and the reducing of theoretical knowledge
into serious christian practice, and promoting a skilful facility in the
faithful exercise of universal obedience, and holiness of heart and
life, is the great work of this treatise; and that where I thought it
needful, the cases are reduced to express questions and answers. But had
I done so by all, many such volumes would have been too little; and
therefore I thought the directing way most brief and fit for christian
practice; for if you mark them, you will find few directions in the
book, which may not pass for the answer of an implied question or case
of conscience; and when I have given you the answer in a direction, an
ingenious reader can tell what question it is that is answered. And so,
many hundred cases are here resolved, especially in the two first parts,
which are not interrogatively named.
6. And I must do myself the right as to notify the reader, that this
treatise was written when I was (for not subscribing, declaring, &c.)
forbidden by the law to preach, and when I had been long separated far
from my library and from all books, saving an inconsiderable parcel
which wandered with me, where I went; by which means this book hath two
defects: 1. It hath no cases of conscience, but what my bare memory
brought to hand: and cases are so innumerable, that it is far harder,
methinks, to remember them, than to answer them; whereby it came to pass
that some of the ecclesiastical cases are put out of their proper place,
because I could not seasonably remember them. For I had no one casuist
but Amesius with me. But (after about twelve years' separation) having
received my library, I find that the very sight of Sayrus, Fragoso,
Roderiquez, Tolet, &c. might have helped my memory to a greater number.
But perhaps these will be enough for those that I intend them for. 2.
And by the same cause the margin is unfurnished of such citations as are
accounted an ornament, and in some cases are very useful. The scraps
inserted out of my few trivial books at hand being so mean, as that I am
well content (except about Monarchy, Part IV.) that the reader pass them
by as not worthy of his notice.
And it is like that the absence of books will appear to the reader's
loss in the materials of the treatise; but I shall have this advantage
by it, that he will not accuse me as a plagiary. And it may be some
little advantage to him, that he hath no transcript of any man's
books, which he had before; but the product of some experience, with a
naked, unbiassed perception of the matter or things themselves.
7. Note also, that the Third and Fourth Parts are very much defective
of what they should contain, about the power and government of God's
officers in church and state; of which no readers will expect a reason
but strangers, whose expectations I may not satisfy. But as I must
profess, that I hope nothing here hath proceeded from disloyalty, or
disrespect to authority, government, unity, concord, peace, or order;
or from any opposition to faith, piety, love, or justice; so if,
unknown to me, there be any thing found here that is contrary or
injurious to any one of these, I do hereby renounce it, and desire it
may be taken as _non scriptum_.
II. The ends and uses for which I wrote this book are these: 1. That
when I could not preach the gospel as I would, I might do it as I
could. 2. That three sorts might have the benefit, as followeth.
1. That the younger and more unfurnished and unexperienced sort of
ministers, might have a promptuary at hand, for practical resolutions
and directions on the subjects that they have need to deal in. And
though Sayrus and Fragoso have done well, I would not have us under a
necessity of going to the Romanists for our ordinary supplies. Long
have our divines been wishing for some fuller casuistical tractate:
Perkins began well; Bishop Sanderson hath done excellently _de
juramento_; Amesius hath exceeded all, though briefly. Mr. David
Dickson hath put more of our English cases about the state of
sanctification, into Latin, than ever was done before him. Bishop
Jeremy Taylor hath in two folios but begun the copious performance of
the work. And still men are calling for more, which I have attempted:
hoping that others will come after, and do better than we all.
If any call it my pride, to think that any ministers or students are
so raw as to need any thing that I can add to them, let him but pardon
me for saying that such demure pleadings for a feigned humility, shall
not draw me to a confederacy with blindness, hypocrisy, and sloth, and
I will pardon him for his charge of pride.
It is long ago since many foreign divines subscribed a request, that
the English would give them in Latin a Sum of our Practical Theology,
which Mr. Dury sent over, and twelve great divines of ours wrote to
Bishop Usher, (as Dr. Bernard tells you in his Life,) to draw them up
a form or method. But it was never done among them all. And it is
said, that Bishop Downame at last undertaking it, died in the attempt.
Had this been done, it is like my labour might have been spared. But
being undone, I have thus made this essay. But I have been
necessitated to leave out much, (about conversion, mortification,
self-denial, self-acquaintance, faith, justification, judgment, glory,
&c.) because I had written of them all before.
2. And I thought it not unuseful to the more judicious masters of
families, who may choose and read such parcels to their families, as
at any time the case requireth. And indeed I began it rudely, with an
intention of that plainness and brevity which families require; but
finding that it swelled to a bigger bulk than I intended, I was fain
to write my "Life of Faith," as a breviate and substitute, for the
families and persons that cannot have and use so large a volume:
presupposing, my "Directions for sound Conversion," for "Weak
Christians," and for "Peace of Conscience," printed long ago.
3. And to private christians I thought it not in vain, to have at hand
so universal a directory and resolution of doubts; not expecting that
they remember all, but may, on every occasion, turn to such
particulars as they most need.
But I must expect to be assaulted with these objections: and it is not
only profane deriders and malignant enemies, that are used by Satan to
vilify and oppose our service of God.
_Object._ I. You have written too many books already. Who do you think
hath so little to do as to read them all? Is it not pride and
self-conceitedness to think that your scribblings are worthy to be
read? and that the world hath need of so much of your instructions, as
if there were no wise men but you? You have given offence already by
your writings; you should _write less_, and _preach more_.
_Answ._ 1. I have seldom, if ever, in all my ministry, omitted one
sermon for all my writings. I was not able to live in London, nor ride
abroad; but through God's mercy I seldom omitted any opportunities at
home.
2. And if I preach the same doctrine that I write, why should not men
be as angry with me for preaching it, as for writing it? But if it be
good and true, why is it not as good preach by the press, to many
thousands, and for many years after I am dead, as to preach to a
parlour full for a few hours? Or why is not both as good as one?
3. I will not take the reverend objector to be ignorant, that writing,
and publishing the word of God by it, is preaching it, and the most
public preaching; and hath the example of the apostles and evangelists,
as well as speaking. And one is no more appropriate to them than the
other: though the extraordinaries of both be proper to them. And do you
not perceive what self-condemning contradiction it is, at the same time
to cry out against those that dissuade you from preaching, or hinder
you, and tell you it is needless, and you are proud to think that the
world needeth your preaching, and yet you yourselves to say the very
same against your brethren's preaching by the press? I know an ignorant,
illiterate sectary might say, Writing is no preaching; and you are
called to preach, and not to write. But I must reverence you more than
to suppose you so absurd. Other men forbid you but _less public_
preaching, and you reproach me for _more public_ preaching: that is the
difference. How hard is it to know what spirit we are of! Did you think
that you had been patrons of idleness, and silencers of ministers, while
you declaim so much against it? Your pretence that you would have me
preach more, is feigned. Are you sure that you preach ofter than I do?
When I persuaded ministers heretofore to catechise and instruct all
their parishes personally, family by family, you said it was more toil
than was our duty. And now you are against much writing too; and yet
would be thought laborious ministers.
And as to the number and length of my writings, it is my own labour
that maketh them so, and my own great trouble, that the world cannot
be sufficiently instructed and edified in fewer words. But, 1. Would
not all your sermons set together be as long? And why is not much and
long preaching blamable, if long writings be? 2. Are not the works of
Augustine, and Chrysostom, much longer? Who yet hath reproached
Aquinas or Suarez, Calvin or Zanchy, &c. for the number and greatness
of the volumes they have written? Why do you contradict yourselves by
affecting great libraries? 3. When did I ever persuade any one of you
to buy or read any book of mine? What harm will they do those that let
them alone? Or what harm can it do you for other men to read them? Let
them be to you as if they had never been written; and it will be
nothing to you how many they are. And if all others take not you for
their tutors, to choose for them the books that they must read, that
is not my doing, but their own. If they err in taking themselves to be
fitter judges than you what tendeth most to their own edification, why
do you not teach them better? 4. Either it is God's truth, or error,
which I write. If error, why doth no one of you show so much charity,
as by word or writing to instruct me better, nor evince it to my face,
but do all to others by backbiting? If truth, what harm will it do? If
men had not leisure to read our writings, the booksellers would
silence us, and save you the labour; for none would print them. 5. But
who can please all men? Whilst a few of you cry out of too much, what
if twenty or a hundred for one be yet for more? How shall I know
whether you or they be the wiser and the better men?
Readers, you see on what terms we must do the work of God. Our
slothful flesh is backward, and weary of so much labour: malignant
enemies of piety are against it all. Some slothful brethren think it
necessary to cloak their fleshly ease by vilifying the diligence of
others. Many sects whom we oppose, think it the interest of their
cause, (which they call God's cause,) to make all that is said against
them seem vain, contemptible, and odious; which because they cannot do
by confutation, they will do by backbiting and confident chat. And one
or two reverend brethren have, by the wisdom described exactly, James
iii. 15, 16, arrived at the liberty of backbiting and magisterial
sentencing the works of others, (which they confess they never read,)
that their reputation of being most learned, orthodox, worthy divines,
may keep the chair at easier rates, than the wasting of their flesh in
unwearied labours to know the truth, and communicate it to the world.
And some are angry, who are forward to write, that the booksellers and
readers silence not others as well as them.
_Object._ II. Your writings differing from the common judgment, have
already caused offence to the godly.
_Answ._ 1. To the godly that were of a contrary opinion only. Sores
that will not be healed, use to be exasperated by the medicine. 2. It
was none but healing, pacificatory writings, that have caused that
offence. 3. Have not those dissenters' writings more offended the
godly that were against them? They have but one trick, to honour their
denial, which more dishonoureth it, even by unsanctifying those that
are not of their minds. 4. If God bless me with opportunity and help,
I will offend such men much more, by endeavouring, further than ever I
have done, the quenching of that fire which they are still blowing up;
and detecting the folly and mischief of those logomachies by which
they militate against love and concord, and inflame and tear the
church of God. And let them know that I am about it. But some pastors,
as well as people, have the weakness to think that all our preachings
and writings must be brought under their dominion, and to their bar,
by the bare saying that we offend the godly, that is, those of their
opinion, which they falsely call by the name of scandal. 5. But I
think they will find little controversy to offend them in this book.
_Object._ III. You shall take more leisure, and take other men's
judgment of your writings before you thrust them out so hastily.
_Answ._ 1. I have but a little while to live, and therefore must work
while it is day. Time will not stay. 2. I do show them to those that I
take to be most judicious, and never refused any man's censure; but it
is not many that have leisure to do me so great a kindness. But that I
commit them not to the perusal of every objector, is a fault
uncurable, by one that never had an amanuensis, and hath but one copy,
usually. 3. And if I could do it, how should I be sure that they would
not differ as much among themselves, as they do from me? And my
writings would be like the picture which the great painter exposed to
the censure of every passenger, and made it ridiculous to all, when he
altered all that every one advised him to alter. And, to tell you the
truth, I was never yet blamed by one side as not sufficiently pleasing
them; but I was blamed also by the contrary side, for coming so near
them: and I had not wit enough to know which party of the accusers was
the wiser. And therefore am resolved to study to please God and
conscience, and to take man-pleasing, when inconsistent, for an
impossible and unprofitable work; and to cease from man whose breath
is in his nostrils, whose thoughts all perish as he passeth off the
judicature of his stage to the judicature of God.
_Object._ IV. Your Ecclesiastical Cases are dangerously reconciling,
tending to abate men's zeal against error.
_Answ._ The world hath long enough escaped the danger of peace and
reconciliation. It had been well if they had as long escaped the danger
of your conceited, orthodox strife, which hath brought in confusion and
all evil works. I take it to be a zeal effectively against love, and
against unity, and against Christ, which, with the preachers of
extremes, goeth under the name of a zeal against error, and for truth.
_Object._ V. Are all these numerous directions to be found in
Scripture? Show us them in Scripture, or you trouble the church with
your own inventions.
_Answ._ 1. Are all your sermons in the Scripture? and all the good
books of your library in the Scripture? 2. Will you have none but
readers in the church, and put down preachers? Sure it is the reader
that delivereth all and only the Scripture. 3. Are we not men before
we are christians? And is not the light and law of nature divine? And
was the Scripture written to be instead of reason, or of logic, or
other subservient sciences? Or must they not all be sanctified and
used for divinity? 4. But I think that as all good commentaries, and
sermons, and systems of theology, are in Scripture, so is the
Directory here given, and is proved by the evidence of the very thing
discoursed of, or by the plainest texts.
_Object._ VI. You confound your reader by curiosity of distinctions.
_Answ._ 1. If they are vain or false, shame them by detecting it, or
you shame yourselves by blaming them, when you cannot show the error.
Expose not yourselves to laughter by avoiding just distinction to
escape confusion: that is, avoiding knowledge to escape ignorance, or
light to escape darkness. 2. It is ambiguity and confusion that
breedeth and feedeth almost all our pernicious controversies; and even
those that bring in error by vain distinction, must be confuted by
better distinguishers, and not by ignorant confounders. I will
believe the Holy Ghost, 2 Tim. ii. 14-16, that logomachy is the plague
by which the hearers are subverted, and ungodliness increased; and
that orthotomy, or right dividing the word of truth, is the cure. And,
Heb. v. 15, discerning both good and evil, is the work of long and
well exercised senses.
_Object._ VII. Is this your reducing our faith to the primitive
simplicity, and to the creed? What a toilsome task do you make
religion by overdoing? Is any man able to remember all these
numberless directions?
_Answ._ 1. I pray mistake not all these for articles of faith. I am more
zealous than ever I was for the reduction of the christian faith to the
primitive simplicity; and more confident that the church will never have
peace and concord, till it be so done, as to the rest of men's faith and
communion. But he that will have no books but his creed and Bible, may
follow that sectary, who, when he had burnt all his other books as human
inventions, at last burnt the Bible, when he grew learned enough to
understand, that the translation of that was human too.
2. If men think not all the tools in their shops, and all the furniture
of their houses, or the number of their sheep, or cattle, or lands, nor
the number of truths received by a learning intellect, &c. to be a
trouble and toil, why should they think so of the number of helps to
facilitate the practice of their duty? If all the books in your
libraries make your studies or religion toilsome, why do you keep them?
and do not come to the vulgar religion, that would hear no more but,
Think well, speak well, and do well, or, Love God and your neighbour,
and do as you would be done by. He that doth this truly, shall be saved.
But there goeth more to the building of a house, than to say, Lay the
foundation, and raise the superstructure: universals exist not but in
individuals; and the whole consisteth of all the parts.
3. It is not expected that any man remember all these directions.
Therefore I wrote them, because men cannot remember them, that they
may, upon every necessary occasion, go to that which they have present
use for, and cannot otherwise remember.
In sum, to my quarrelsome brethren I have two requests: 1. That
instead of their unconscionable, and yet unreformed custom of
backbiting, they would tell me to my face of my offences by convincing
evidence, and not tempt the hearers to think them envious. And, 2.
That what I do amiss they would do better: and not be such as will
neither laboriously serve the church themselves, nor suffer others;
and that they will not be guilty of idleness themselves, nor tempt me
to be a slothful servant, who have so little time to spend; for I dare
not stand before God under that guilt. And that they will not join
with the enemies and resisters of the publication of the word of God.
And to the readers my request is, 1. That whatever for quantity or
quality in this book is an impediment to their regular, universal
obedience, and to a truly holy life, they would neglect and cast away.
2. But that which is truly instructing and helpful, they would
diligently digest and practise; and I encourage them by my testimony,
that by long experience I am assured, that this PRACTICAL RELIGION
will afford both to church, state, and conscience, more certain and
more solid peace, than contending disputers, with all their pretences
of orthodoxness and zeal against errors for the truth, will ever
bring, or did ever attain to.
I crave your pardon for this long apology: it is an age where the
objections are not feigned, and where our greatest and most costly
services of God are charged on us as our greatest sins; and where at
once I am accused of conscience for doing no more, and of men for
doing so much. Being really
A most unworthy servant of so good a Master,
RICHARD BAXTER.
A
CHRISTIAN DIRECTORY.
PART I.
CHRISTIAN ETHICS:
OR,
DIRECTIONS FOR THE ORDERING OF THE PRIVATE ACTIONS OF OUR HEARTS AND
LIVES.
IN THE WORK OF HOLY SELF-GOVERNMENT, UNTO AND UNDER GOD.
THE INTRODUCTION.[6]
The eternal God having made man an intellectual and free agent, able
to understand and choose the good, and refuse the evil; to know, and
love, and serve his Maker, and by adhering to him in this life of
trial, to attain to the blessed sight and enjoyment of his glory in
the life to come, hath not been wanting to furnish him with such
necessaries, without which these ends could not successfully be
sought. When we had lost our moral capacity of pleasing him, that we
might enjoy him, he restoreth us to it by the wonderful work of our
redemption. In Christ he hath reconciled the world unto himself; and
hath given them a general act of oblivion, contained in the covenant
of grace, which nothing but men's obstinate and final unwillingness
can deprive them of. To procure their consent to this gracious
covenant, he hath "committed" to his ministers the "word of
reconciliation;" commanding us "to beseech men, as in the stead of
Christ, and as though God himself did beseech them by us, to be
reconciled unto God," 2 Cor. v. 18-20; and to show them first their
sin and misery, and proclaim and offer the true remedy, and to let
them know, that all things are now ready, and by pleading their duty,
their necessity, and their commodity, to compel them to come in, Matt.
xxii. 4; Luke xi. 17, 23.
But so great is the blindness and obstinacy of men, that the greatest
part refuse consent; being deceived by the pleasures, and profits, and
honours of this present world; and make their pretended necessities or
business the matter of their excuses, and the unreasonable reasons of
their refusal, negligence, and delays, till death surprise them, and
the door is shut; and they knock, and cry for mercy and admittance,
when it is too late, Matt. xxv. 10-12.
Against this wilful negligence and presumption, which is the principal
cause of the damnation of the ungodly world, I have written many books
already.[7] But because there are many that profess themselves
unfeignedly willing, not only to be saved, but also to be Christ's
disciples; to learn of him, to imitate him, and be conformed to him,
and to do the will of God, if they could but know it; I have
determined, by God's assistance, to write this book for the use of
such, and to give them from God's word those plain directions, which
are suited to the several duties of their lives, and may guide them
safely in their walk with God, to life eternal. Expect not here
copious and earnest exhortations, for that work I have done already;
and have now to do with such, as say they are made willing, and desire
help against their ignorance, that skill and will may concur to their
salvation. I shall labour to speak as plainly as I can, because I
specially intend it for the ignorant; and yet to be competently exact
in the directions, lest such readers lose the benefit by mistakes. And
I must speak to many cases, because I speak to families, where all
are not in the same condition, and the same persons are not still the
same. And therefore if I should not be brief in the particulars, I
should be too long in the whole; and tediousness might deprive some
readers of the benefit.
In families some are (too ordinarily) ungodly, in a carnal, unrenewed
state; and some are godly, in a state of grace.[8] These are
considerable as christians simply, with respect to God, or in their
relations to others: these relations are either ecclesiastical, civil,
or domestical (family relations).
Accordingly, my intended method is, 1. To direct ungodly, carnal
minds, how to attain to a state of grace. 2. To direct those that have
saving grace, how to use it; both in the contemplative and active
parts of their lives; in their duties of religion, both private and
public; in their duties to men, both in their ecclesiastical, civil,
and family relations. And, by the way, to direct those that have
grace, how to discern it, and take the comfort of it; and to direct
them how to grow in grace, and persevere unto the end.
And if any reader should be discouraged at the number of duties and
directions set before him, I entreat him to consider, 1. That it is God,
and not I, that imposeth all these duties on you: and who will question
his wisdom, goodness, or power to make laws for us and all the world? 2.
That every duty and direction is a mercy to you; and therefore should
not be matter of grief to you, but of thanks. They are but like the
commands of parents to their children, when they bid them eat their
meat, and wear their clothes, and go to bed, and eat not poison, and
tumble not in the dirt; and cut not your fingers, and take heed of fire
and water, &c. To leave out any such law or duty, were but to deprive
you of an excellent mercy; you will not cut off or cast away any member
of your body, any vein, or sinew, or artery, upon pretence that the
number maketh them troublesome, when the diminishing of that number
would kill or maim you. A student is not offended that he hath many
books in his library; nor a tradesman that he hath store of tools; nor
the rich at the number of his farms or flocks. Believe it, reader, if
thou bring not a malignant quarrelsome mind, thou wilt find that God
hath not burdened, but blessed thee with his holy precepts, and that he
hath not appointed thee one unnecessary or unprofitable duty; but only
such as tend to thy content, and joy, and happiness.[9]
O let it be the daily, earnest prayer of me and thee, that our hearts
prove not false and unwilling to follow the directions which are given
us, lest we condemn ourselves in the things which we allow. Your
practice now will show, whether it be through want of will or skill,
if henceforth you unfaithfully neglect your duty. If you are willing,
obey now what is plainly taught you, and show by your diligence that
you are willing.
FOOTNOTES:
[6] Noverint universi quod præsens opusculum non aggredior, ut
fidelium auribus propbanas aliquas vocum ingeram novitates, sed ut
innocenter et sobrie de altissimo, &c. Ockam de Sacram. Alt. prolog.
In zelo domus Domini, nunc persolvo debitum, vile quidem, sed fidele
ut puto, et animum quibusque egregiis, Christi tyronibus: grave vero
et importabile apostatis insipientibus: quorum priores ni fallor, cum
lachrymis forte quæ ex Dei charitate profluunt, alii cum tristitia,
sed quæ ex indignatione et pusillanimitate deprehensæ conscientiæ
extorquetur, illud excipiunt. Gildas Prolog. Excid.
[7] Habet, inquies, Britannia rectores, habet speculatores: Quid tu
negando mutiri disponis? Habet, inquam habet, si non ultra, non citra
numerum: sed quia inclinati tanto pondere sunt pressi, idcirco spatium
respirandi non habent. Præoccupabant igitur se mutuo talibus
objectionibus, &c. Gildas ib.
[8] Duæ sunt viæ, duplicesque cursus animorum e corpore exeuntium. Nam
qui se vitiis humanis contaminarunt et libidinibus se tradiderunt, iis
devium quoddam iter est, seclusum à concilio deorum. Qui autem se
integros castosque servarunt, quibusque fuit minima cum corporibus
contagio, suntque in corporibus humanis vitam imitati deorum, iis ad
illos à quibus sunt profecti, facile patet reditus. Soc. in Cic. 1.
Tusc. Qui recte et honeste curriculum vivendi à natura datum
confecerit, ad astra facilè revertetur: Non qui aut immoderatè, aut
intemperanter vixerit. Cicero de Univers. Improbo bene esse non
potest. Id Par. Quod si inest in hominum genere, mens, fides, virtus,
concordia, unde hæc in terras nisi à superis diffluere potuerunt?
cumque sit in nobis consilium, ratio, prudentia, necesse est deos hæc
ipsa habere majora: Nec habere solum, sed etiam his uti in optimis et
maximis rebus. Cicero de Nat. Deor. l. 2. p. 76. Quod si pœna, si
metus supplicii, non ipsa turpitudo, deterret ab injuriosa
facinorosaque vita, nemo est injustus: at incauti potius habendi sunt
improbi. Callidi, non boni sunt, qui utilitate tantum, non ipso
honesto, ut boni viri sint, moventur. Cicero de Leg. l. 1. p. 289. Ut
nihil interest, utrum nemo valeat, an nemo possit valere; sic non
intelligo quid intersit, utrum nemo sit sapiens, an nemo esse possit.
Cic. de Nat. Deor. l. 3. p. 138. Cicero was afraid to speak what he
knew of the Unity of the Eternal God, the Maker of all: Illum quasi
parentem hujus universitatis invenire, difficile; et cum inveniris,
indicare in vulgus nefas. Lib. de Univers. p. 2. And the same he
saith, Lib. 2. de Nat. Deor.
[9] Vult Deus quodammodo pati vim; et hoc summæ est beneficentiæ, ut
ad benefaciendum se pulsari solicitarique velit. Jos. Acosta, l. 4. c.
12. p. 396.
CHAPTER I.
PART I.
_Directions to unconverted, graceless Sinners, for the attaining
of true saving Grace._[10]
If ungodly, miserable sinners were as few, as the devil and their
self-love would make themselves believe,[11] I might forbear this part
of my work as needless. For the whole need not the physician, but the
sick. If you go into twenty families, and ask them all, whether any of
them are in an unsanctified state, unrenewed and unpardoned, and under
the wrath and curse of God? you will meet with few that will not tell
you, they hope it is better with them than so; and though they are
sinners, as all are, yet that they are repenting, pardoned sinners.
Nay, there is scarce one of many of the most wicked and notoriously
ungodly, but hope they are in a penitent, pardoned state. Even the
haters of God will say they love him; and the scorners at godliness
will say that they are not ungodly; and that it is but hypocrisy and
singularity that they deride: and it were well for them, if saying so
would go for proof, and he that will be their Judge would take their
words. But God will not be deceived, though foolish men are wise
enough to deceive themselves. Wickedness will be wickedness when it
hath clothed itself with the fairest names: God will condemn it
when it hath found out the most plausible pretences and excuses.
Though the ungodly think to bear it out in pride and scorn, and think
to be saved by their hypocritical lip-service, as soon as the most
holy worshippers of the Lord, yet "shall they be like chaff which the
wind driveth away: they shall not be able to stand in judgment, nor
sinners in the congregation of the righteous," Psal. i. 4-6. And if
God know better than foolish men, then certainly the flock is little
to whom the "Father will give the kingdom," Luke xii. 32. And "wide is
the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many
there be that go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is
the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it,"
Matt. vii. 13, 14. When Christ was asked, "Lord, are there few that be
saved?" he answered, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many,
I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able," Luke
xiii. 23, 24. But, alas! we need no other information than common
experience, to tell us whether the greatest part of men be holy, and
heavenly, and self-denying; that seek first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness, and love God above all, and will forsake all they have
for the sake of Christ: and undoubtedly none but such are saved; as
you may see Heb. xxi. 14; Matt. vi. 20, 21, 33; Luke xiv. 33.
Seeing then the godly are so few, and the ungodly so many; and that
God will take nothing for holiness that is not such indeed; and seeing
it is so terrible a thing to any man that hath his wits about him, to
live one day in an unconverted state, because he that dieth so, is
lost for ever; methinks it should be our wisdom, to be suspicious of
ourselves, and careful lest we be deceived in so great a business, and
diligent in searching and examining our hearts, whether they are truly
sanctified or not; because it can be no harm to make sure work for our
salvation; whereas presumption, carelessness, and negligence, may
betray us to remediless misery and despair.
I do not here suppose the reader to have any such acquaintance with his
heart, or care of his salvation, or obedient willingness to be taught
and ruled by Jesus Christ, as is proper to those that are truly
sanctified; for it is ungodly persons that now I am speaking to. And
yet, if I should not suppose them to have some capacity and disposition
to make use of the directions which I give them, I might as well pass
them by, and spare my labour. I tell thee therefore, reader, what it is
that I presuppose in thee, and expect from thee, and I think thou wilt
not judge me unreasonable in my suppositions and expectations.
[Sidenote: Presupposed, That thou art a man.]
1. I suppose thee to be a man, and therefore that thou hast reason and
natural free will, (that is, the natural faculty of choosing and
refusing,) which should keep thy sensitive appetite in obedience; and
that thou art capable of loving and serving thy Creator, and enjoying
him in everlasting life.
[Sidenote: That thou knowest this: and what a man is.]
2. I suppose that thou knowest thyself to be a man; and therefore that
thy sensitive part, or flesh, should no more rule thee, or be
ungoverned by thee, than the horse should rule the rider, or be
unruled by him: and that thou understandest that thou art made on
purpose to love and serve thy Maker, and to be happy in his love and
glory for ever. If thou know not this much, thou knowest not that thou
art a man, or else knowest not what a man is.
[Sidenote: That thou hast self-love and a desire to be happy.]
3. I suppose thee to have a natural self-love, and a desire of thy own
preservation and happiness; and that thou hast no desire to be
miserable, or to be hated of God, or to be cast out of his favour and
presence into hell, and there to be tormented with devils
everlastingly: yea, I will suppose that thou art not indifferent
whether thou dwell in heaven or hell, in joy or torment; but would
fain be saved and be happy; whether thou be godly or ungodly, wise or
foolish, I will be bold to take all this for granted: and I hope in
all this I do not wrong thee.
[Sidenote: That thou madest not thyself: and that the first cause of
all the being, power, wisdom, and goodness of all the creatures, hath
(formally or eminently) more than all they. And therefore that there
is a God.]
4. I suppose thee to be one that knowest that thou didst not make
thyself;[12] nor give thyself that power or wisdom which thou hast; and
that he that made thee and all the world, must needs be before all the
world; and that he is eternal, having no beginning (for if ever there
had been a time when there was nothing, there never would have been any
thing; because nothing can make nothing); and I suppose thou dost
confess that all the power, and wisdom, and goodness of the whole
creation set together, is less than the power, and wisdom, and goodness
of the Creator; because nothing can give more than it hath to give. I
suppose, therefore, that thou dost confess that there is a God; for to
be the eternal, infinite Being, and the most powerful, wise, and good,
and the first cause of all created being, and power, and wisdom, and
goodness, this (with the subsequent relations to the creature) is to be
GOD. If thou wilt deny that there is a God, thou must deny that thou art
a man, and that there is any man, or any being.
[Sidenote: That the Creator of all is the Lord or Owner of all; the
Ruler of the rational creature; and the Benefactor and End of all.]
5. I suppose thou knowest that God, who gave a being unto all things,
is by this title of creation, the absolute Owner or Lord of all: and
that he that made the reasonable creatures, with natures to be
governed, in order to a further end, is by that title, their supreme
Governor; and therefore hath his laws commanding duty, and promising
reward, and threatening punishment; and therefore will judge men
according to these laws, and will be just in judgment, and in his
rewards and punishments. And that he that freely gave the creature its
being, and all the good it hath, and must give it all that ever it
shall have, is the Father or most bountiful Benefactor to his
creatures. Surely I screw thee not too high in supposing thee to know
all this; for all this is no more than that there is a God. For he is
not God, if he be not the Creator, and therefore our Owner, our Ruler,
and Benefactor, our absolute Lord, our most righteous Governor, and
our most loving Father, or Benefactor.
[Sidenote: That this God must be obeyed and loved.]
6. I suppose therefore that thou art convinced, that God must be
absolutely submitted to, and obeyed before all others in the world, and
loved above all friends, or pleasures, or creatures whatsoever. For to
say, He is my Owner, is to say, I must yield myself to him as his own;
to say, I take him for my supreme Governor, is to say, that I will
absolutely be ruled by him; and to say, I take him as my dearest Father
or chief Benefactor, is to say, that I am obliged to give him my dearest
love, and highest thanks: otherwise you do but jest, or say you know not
what, or contradict yourselves, while you say, He is your God.
[Sidenote: That nothing is to be preferred before him.]
7. I suppose that thou art easily convinced, that in all the world there
is no creature that can show so full a title to thee as God; or that
hath so great authority to govern thee, or that can be so good to thee,
or do so much for thee, as God can do, or hath done, and will do, if
thou do thy part; and therefore that there is nothing to be preferred
before him, or compared with him in our obedience or love: nor is there
any that can save us from his justice, if we stand out against him.
[Sidenote: That he that ruleth the world by hopes and fears of another
life, doth not rule them by deceit and lies, and that he hath rewards
and punishments hereafter.]
8. I suppose that as thou knowest God is just in his laws and
judgments,[13] so that he is so faithful that he will not, and so
all-sufficient that he need not, deceive mankind, and govern them by
mere deceit: this better beseems the devil, than God: and therefore
that as he governeth man on earth by the hopes and fears of another
life, he doth not delude them into such hopes or fears; and as he doth
not procure obedience by any rewards or punishments in this life, as
the principal means, (the wicked prospering, and the best being
persecuted and afflicted here,) therefore his rewards or punishments
must needs be principally hereafter in the life to come. For if he
have no rewards or punishments, he hath no judgment; and if he have no
judgment, he hath no laws (or else no justice); and if he have no
laws, (or no justice,) he is no governor of man (or not a righteous
governor); and if he be not our governor, (and just,) he is not our
God; and if he were not our God, we had never been his creatures, nor
had being, or been men.
[Sidenote: That man being bound to love and obey God above all, is bound
to do nothing in vain, and that we cannot be losers by his service.]
9. I suppose thou knowest that if God had not discovered what he would
do with us in the life to come, yet man is highliest bound to obey and
love his Maker, because he is our absolute Lord, our highest Ruler, and
our chief Benefactor; and all that we are to have is from him. And that
if man be bound to spend his life in the service of his God, it is
certain that he shall be no loser by him, no, not by the costliest
obedience that we can perform; for God cannot appoint us any thing that
is vain; nor can he be worse to us than an honest man, that will see
that we lose not by his service. Therefore that God for whom we must
spend and forsake this life, and all those pleasures which sensualists
enjoy, hath certainly some greater thing to give us, in another life.
[Sidenote: That no infidel can say, He is sure there is no life to
come.]
10. I may take it for granted at the worst, that neither thyself, nor
any infidel in the world, can say that you are sure that there is not
another life for man, in which his present obedience shall be
rewarded, and disobedience punished. The worst that ever infidel could
say was, that he thinketh there is no other life. None of you dare
deny the possibility of it, nor can with any reason deny the
probability. Well, then, let this be remembered while we proceed a
little further with you.
[Sidenote: That you are sure of the brevity and vanity of this life:
and that the probability or possibility of an endless joy or misery,
should command all the care and diligence of a rational creature,
against all that can be set against it.]
11. I suppose or expect that you have so much use of sense and reason,
as to know the brevity and vanity of all the glory and pleasures of
the flesh; and that they are all so quickly gone, that were they
greater than they are, they can be of no considerable value. Alas,
what is time! How quickly gone, and then it is nothing! and all things
then are nothing which are passed with it! So that the joys or sorrows
of so short a life, are no great matter of gain or loss.
I may therefore suppose that thou canst easily conclude, that the bare
probability or possibility of an endless happiness, should be
infinitely preferred before such transitory vanity, even the greatest
matters that can be expected here; and that the probability or
possibility of endless misery in hell, should engage us with far
greater care and diligence to avoid it, than is due for the avoiding
any thing that you can think to escape by sinning; or any of the
sufferings of this momentary life. If you see not this, you have lost
your reason; that the mere probability or possibility of a heaven and
hell, should much more command our care and diligence, than the fading
vanities of this dreaming, transitory life.
[Sidenote: Therefore that a holy life is every man's duty, were it but
on the account of such a possibility or probability; and therefore that
really there is such a joy and misery hereafter; because God doth not
make our faculties in vain, nor make us to follow deceits and lies.]
12. Well, then, we have got thus far in the clearest light. You see
that a religious, holy life, is every man's duty, not only as they owe
it to God as their Creator, their Owner, Governor, and Benefactor; but
also, because as lovers of ourselves, our reason commandeth us to have
ten thousandfold more regard of a probable or possible joy and torment
which are endless, than of any that is small and of short continuance.
And if this be so, that a holy life is every man's duty, with respect
to the life that is to come, then it is most evident, that there is
such a life to come indeed, and that it is more than probable or
possible, even certain. For if it be but man's duty to manage this
life, by the hopes and fears of another life, men it must follow, that
either there is such a life to come, or else that God hath made it
man's duty to hope, and fear, and care, and labour, and live in vain:
and that he himself doth tantalize and cheat his creatures, and rule
the world by motives of deceit, and make religion and obedience to our
Maker to be a life of folly, delusion, and our loss. And he that
believeth this of God, doth scarce believe him to be God. Though I
have mentioned this argument in another treatise, I think it not
unmeet here to repeat it for thy benefit.
[Sidenote: That all the matters of this transitory life are to be
estimated as they refer to the life to come.]
13. And seeing I suppose thee to be convinced of the life to come, and
that man's happiness and misery is there, I must needs suppose that
thou dost confess, that all things in this life, whether prosperity or
adversity, honour or dishonour, are to be esteemed and used as they
refer to the life to come. For nothing is more plain, than that the
means are to have all their esteem and use in order to their end. That
only is good in this life, which tendeth to the happiness of our
endless life; and that is evil indeed in this life, that tendeth to
our endless hurt, and to deprive us of the everlasting good. And
therefore no price or motive should hire us to sin against God, and to
forfeit or hinder our endless happiness.
[Sidenote: That no man can love God too much, nor make too sure of his
salvation.]
14. I may suppose, if thou have reason, that thou wilt confess that God
cannot be too much loved, nor obeyed too exactly, nor served too
diligently (especially by such backward sinners, that have scarce any
mind to love or worship him at all); and that no man can make too sure
of heaven, or pay too dear for it, or do too much for his salvation, if
it be but that which God hath appointed him to do. And that you have
nothing else that is so much worth your time, and love, and care, and
labour. And therefore though you have need to be stopped in your love,
and care, and labour for the world, because for it you may easily pay
too dear, and do too much; yet there is no need of stopping men in their
love, and care, and labour for God and their salvation; which is worth
more than ever we can do, and where the best are apt to do too little.
[Sidenote: That this life is given us for trial and preparation to the
life to come.]
15. I also suppose thee to be one that knowest, that this present life
is given us on trial,[14] to prepare for the life that shall come
after; and that as men live here, they shall speed for ever; and that
time cannot be recalled when it is gone, and therefore that we should
make the best of it while we have it.
[Sidenote: That man's thoughts should be serious and frequent about
his future state.]
16. I suppose thee also to be easily convinced, that seeing man hath
his reason and life for matters of everlasting consequence, his
thoughts of them should be frequent and very serious, and his reason
should be used about these things, by retired, sober deliberation.
[Sidenote: That you can tell, or may do, which way your hearts and
diligence are bent, whether most for this life, or for that to come.]
17. And I suppose thee to be a man, and therefore so far acquainted with
thyself, as that thou mayst know, if thou wilt, whether thy heart and
life do answer thy convictions, and whether they are more for heaven or
earth; and therefore that thou art capable of self-judging in this case.
Perhaps you will say, that while I am directing you to be holy, I
suppose you to be holy first; for all this seemeth to go far towards
it. But I must profess that I see not any thing in all these
suppositions, but what I may suppose to be in a heathen; and that I
think all this is but supposing thee to have the use of thy reason, in
the points in hand. Speak freely: Is there any one of all these points
that thou canst or darest deny? I think there is not. And therefore if
heathens and wicked men deny them in their practice, that doth but
show that sin doth brutify them, and that, as men asleep, or in a
crowd of business, they have not the use of the reason which they
possess, in the matters which their minds are turned from.
[Sidenote: That most among us profess to believe in Christ, and
confess the gospel to be true, &c.]
18. Yea, one thing more I think I may suppose in all or most that will
read this book; that you take on you also to believe in Jesus Christ,
and in the Holy Ghost the Sanctifier, and that the Scriptures are the
word of God. And if you do so indeed, I may then hope that my work is
in a manner done, before I begin it: but if you do it but
opinionatively and uneffectually, yet God and man may plead with you
the truths which you profess.
Having told you what I presuppose in you, I proceed now to the
directions. But I again entreat and charge thee, reader, as thou
lovest thy soul, and wouldst not be condemned for hypocrisy and sloth,
that thou dost not refuse to put in practice what is taught thee, and
show thereby, that whatever thou pretendest, thou art not willing to
do thy part for thy own salvation, no not in the most reasonable,
necessary things.[15]
_Direction_ I. If thou be truly willing to be sanctified and a child of
God, remain not in a state of ignorance; but do thy best to come into
the light, and understand the word of God, in the matters of salvation.
If knowledge be unnecessary, why have we understanding?[16] and wherein
doth a man excel a beast? If any knowledge at all be necessary,
certainly it must be the knowledge of the greatest and most necessary
things: and nothing is so great and necessary as to obey thy Maker, and
to save thy soul. Knowledge is to be valued according to its usefulness.
If it be a matter of as great concernment to know how to do your worldly
business, and to trade and gather worldly wealth, and to understand the
laws, and to maintain your honour, as it is to know how to be reconciled
unto God, to be pardoned and justified, to please your Creator, to
prepare in time for death and judgment, and an endless life, then let
worldly wisdom have the pre-eminence. But if all earthly things be
dreams and shadows, and valuable only as they serve us in the way to
heaven, then surely the heavenly wisdom is the best. Alas, how far is
that man from being wise, that is acquainted with all the punctilios of
the law, that is excellent in the knowledge of all the languages,
sciences, and arts, and yet knoweth not how to live to God, to mortify
the flesh, to conquer sin, to deny himself, nor to answer in judgment
for his fleshly life, nor to escape damnation! As far is such a learned
man from being wise, as he is from being happy.
Two sorts among us do quietly live in damning ignorance. First,
abundance of poor people, who think they may continue in it, because
they were bred in it; and that because they are not book-learned,
therefore they need not learn how to be saved; and because their parents
neglected to teach them when they were young, therefore they may neglect
themselves ever after, and need not learn the things they were made for.
Alas, sirs, what have you your lives, your time, and reason for? Do you
think it is only to know how to do your worldly business? Or is it to
prepare for a better world? It is better that you knew not how to eat,
or drink, or speak, or go, or dress yourselves, than that you know not
the will of God, and the way to your salvation. Hear what the Holy Ghost
saith, 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4, "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them
that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of
them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them." Darkness is unsafe and
full of fears; the light is safe and comfortable. A man in ignorance is
never like to hit his way: nor can he know whether he be in or out; nor
what enemy or danger he is near. It is the devil that is the prince of
darkness, and his kingdom is a kingdom of darkness, and his works are
works of darkness. See Eph. vi. 12.; Col. i. 13; 1 John ii. 11; Luke xi.
34, 35. Grace turneth men from darkness to light, Acts xxvi. 18, and
causeth them to cast off the works of darkness, Rom. xiii. 12; because
we are the children of light and of the day, and not of darkness or of
night, 1 Thess. v. 5. They that were sometimes darkness, are light in
the Lord, when they are converted, and must walk as the children of the
light, Eph. v. 8. In the dark the devil and wicked men may cheat you,
and do almost what they list with you. You will not buy your wares in
the dark, nor travel, nor do your work in the dark: and will you judge
of the state of your souls in the dark? and do the work of your
salvation in the dark? I tell you the devil could never entice so many
souls to hell, if he did not first put out the light, or put out their
eyes. They would never so follow him by crowds, to everlasting torments,
by daylight, and with open eyes. If men did but know well what they do
when they are sinning, and whither they go in a carnal life, they would
quickly stop, and go no further. All the devils in hell could never draw
so many thither, if men's ignorance were not the advantage of
temptations.
Another sort among us that are ignorant of the things of God, are
sensual gentlemen, and scholars, that have so much breeding as to
understand the words, and speak somewhat better than the ruder sort,
but indeed never knew the nature, truth, and goodness of the things
they speak of:[17] they are many of them as ignorant of the nature of
faith, and sanctification, and the working of the Holy Ghost in
planting the image of God upon the soul, and of the saints' communion
with God, and the nature of a holy life, as if they had never heard or
believed, that there is such a thing as any of these in being.
Nicodemus is a lively instance in this case: a ruler in Israel, and a
Pharisee, and yet knew not what it was to be born again. And the pride
of these gallants maketh their ignorance much harder to be cured, than
other men's; because it hindereth them from knowing and confessing it.
If any one would convince them of it, they say with scorn, as the
Pharisees to Christ, John ix. 40, "Are we blind also?" Yea, they are
ready to insult over the children of the light, that are wise to
salvation, because they differ from the loose or hypocritical opinions
of these gentlemen, in some matters of God's worship; of which their
worships are as competent judges, as the Pharisees of the doctrine of
Christ, or as Nicodemus of regeneration, or as Simon Magus, or Julian,
or Porphyry, of the gifts of the Holy Ghost. These honourable,
miserable men, will bear no contradiction or reproof: who dare be so
unmannerly, disobedient, or bold, as to tell them that they are out
of the way to heaven, and strangers to it (that I say not, enemies);
and to presume to stop them in the way to hell, or to hinder them from
damning themselves, and as many others as they can? They think this
talk of Christ, and grace, and life eternal, if it be but serious,
(and not like their own, in form, or levity, or scorn,) is but the
troublesome preciseness of hypocritical, humorous, crack-brained
fellows: and say of the godly, as the Pharisees, John vii. 47-49, "Are
ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed
on him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed."
Well, gentlemen or poor men, whoever you be that savour not the things
of the Spirit, Rom. viii. 5-7, 13, but live in ignorance of the
mysteries of salvation, be it known to you, that heavenly truth and
holiness are works of light, and never prosper in the dark; and that
your best understanding should be used for God and your salvation, if
for any thing at all. It is the devil and his deceits that fear the
light. Do but understand well what you do, and then be wicked if you
can; and then set light by Christ and holiness if you dare! O come but
out of darkness into the light, and you will see that which will make
you tremble to live ungodly and unconverted another day: and you will
see that which will make you with penitent remorse lament your so long
neglect of heaven, and wonder that you could live so far and so long
beside your wits, as to choose a course of vanity and bestiality in
the chains of Satan, before the joyful liberty of the saints: and,
though we must not be so uncivil as to tell you where you are, and
what you are doing, you will then more uncivilly call yourselves,
"exceedingly mad and foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers
lusts and pleasures," as one did that thought himself before as wise
and good as any of you, Acts xxvi. 11; Tit. iii. 3. Live not in a
sleepy state of ignorance, if ever you would have saving grace.
_Direct._ II. Especially labour first to understand the true nature of
a state of sin and a state of grace.
It is like you will say, that all are sinners; and that Christ died
for sinners; and that you were regenerate in your baptism; and that
for the sins that since then you have committed, you have repented of
them, and therefore you hope they are forgiven.[18]
But stay a little, man, and understand the matter well as you go; for
it is your salvation that lieth at the stake. It is very true that all
are sinners: but it is as true, that some are in a state of sin, and
some in a state of grace; some are converted sinners, and some
unconverted sinners; some live in sins inconsistent with holiness,
(which therefore may be called mortal,) others have none but
infirmities which consist with spiritual life (which in this sense may
be called venial); some hate their sin, and long to be perfectly
delivered from it, and others so love it, as they are loth to leave
it. And is there no difference, think you, between these?
It is as true also, that Christ died for sinners: (or else where were
our hope?) but it is true also, that he died to "save his people from
their sins,"[19] Matt. i. 21, and "to bring them from darkness unto
light, and from the power of Satan unto God," Acts xxvi. 18, and "to
redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a peculiar people
zealous of good works," Tit. ii. 14, and "that except a man be born
again, and converted, and become as a little child, (in humility and
beginning the world anew,) he cannot enter into the kingdom of
heaven," John iii. 3, 5; Matt. xviii. 3, and that even he that died
for sinners, will at last condemn the workers of iniquity, and say,
"Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire," Matt. xxv. 41, "I
never knew you," Matt. vii. 23.
It is very true, that you were sacramentally regenerate in baptism,
and that he that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved, and all
that are the children of promise, and have that promise sealed to them
by baptism, are regenerate. The ancients taught that baptism puts men
into a state of grace; that is, that all that sincerely renounce the
world, the devil, and the flesh, and are sincerely given up to God the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, according to the covenant of grace, and
profess and seal this by their baptism, shall be pardoned, and made
the heirs of life. But as it is true, that baptism thus saveth, so is
it as true,[20] that it is not the "outward washing only the filth of
the flesh" that will suffice, but the "answer of a good conscience
towards God," 1 Pet. ii. 21; and that "no man can enter into the
kingdom of God, that is not born of the Spirit, as well as of water,"
John iii. 5; and that Simon Magus and many another have had the water
of baptism, that never had the Spirit, but still remain in the "gall
of bitterness, and bond of iniquity, and had no part nor lot in that
business, their hearts being not right in the sight of God," Acts
viii. 13, 21, 23. And nothing is more sure, than that "if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ (for all his baptism) he is none of his,"
Rom. viii. 9; and that if you have his Spirit, you "walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit;" and are "not carnally but spiritually
minded," and are "alive to God," and as "dead to the world," Rom.
viii. 1, 5-8, 10, 13, 14. Whether all that were baptized are such as
these, when they come to age, judge you.
It is true also, that if you truly repent, you are forgiven: but it is
as true, that true repentance is the very conversion of the soul from
sin to God, and leaveth not any man in the power of sin. It is not for
a man when he hath had all the pleasure that sin will yield him, to
wish then that he had not committed it, (which he may do then at an
easy rate,) and yet to keep the rest that are still pleasant and
profitable to his flesh; like a man that casts away the bottle which
he hath drunk empty, but keeps that which is full; or as men sell off
their barren kine, and buy milch ones in their stead: this kind of
repentance is a mockery, and not a cure for the soul. If thou have
true repentance, it hath so far turned thy heart from sin, that thou
wouldst not commit it, if it were to do again, though thou hadst all
the same temptations; and it hath so far turned thy heart to God and
holiness, that thou wouldst live a holy life, if it were all to do
again, though thou hadst the same temptations as afore against it
(because thou hast not the same heart). This is the nature of true
repentance; such a repentance indeed is never too late to save; but I
am sure it never comes too soon.
Mark, now, I beseech you, what a state of sin, and what a state of
holiness is.
He that is in a state of sin, hath habitually and predominantly a
greater love to some pleasures, or profits, or honours of this world,
than he hath to God, and to the glory which he hath promised; he
preferreth, and seeketh, and holdeth (if he can) his fleshly
prosperity in this world, before the favour of God and the happiness
of the world to come. His heart is turned from God unto the creature,
and is principally set on things on earth. Thus his sin is the
blindness, and madness, and perfidiousness, and idolatry of his soul,
and his forsaking of God, and his salvation, for a thing of nought. It
is that to his soul, which poison, and death, and sickness, and
lameness, and blindness are to his body: it is such dealing with God,
as that man is guilty of to his dearest friend or father, who should
hate him and his company, and love the company of a dog or toad much
better than his; and obey his enemy against him: and it is like a
madman's dealing with his physician, who seeks to kill him as his
enemy, because he crosseth his appetite or will, to cure him. Think of
this well, and then tell me, whether this be a state to be continued
in. This state of sin is something worse than a mere inconsiderate act
of sin, in one that otherwise liveth an obedient, holy life.
On the other side, a state of holiness is nothing else but the habitual
and predominant devotion and dedication of soul, and body, and life, and
all that we have, to God;[21] and esteeming, and loving, and serving,
and seeking him, before all the pleasures and prosperity of the flesh;
making his favour, and everlasting happiness in heaven, our end, and
Jesus Christ our way, and referring all things in the world unto that
end, and making this the scope, design, and business of our lives. It is
a turning from a deceitful world to God; and preferring the Creator
before the creature, and heaven before earth, and eternity before an
inch of time, and our souls before our corruptible bodies, and the
authority and laws of God, the universal Governor of the world, before
the word or will of any man, how great soever; and a subjecting our
sensitive faculties to our reason, and advancing this reason by Divine
revelation; and living by faith, and not by sight: in a word, it is a
laying up our treasure in heaven, and setting our hearts there, and
living in a heavenly conversation, setting our affections on the things
above, and not on the things that are on earth; and a rejoicing in hope
of the glory to come, when sensualists have nothing but transitory,
brutish pleasures to rejoice in.
This is a state and life of holiness: when we persuade you to be holy,
we persuade you to no worse than this; when we commend a life of
godliness to your choice, this is the life that we mean, and that we
commend to you. And can you understand this well, and yet be unwilling
of it? It cannot be. Do but know well what godliness and ungodliness,
what grace and sin are, and the work is almost done.
_Direct._ III. To know what a life of holiness is, believe the word
of God, and those that have tried it; and believe not the slanders of
the devil and of ungodly men, that never tried or knew the things
which they reproach.
Reason cannot question the reasonableness of this advice. Who is wiser
than God? or who is to be believed before him? And what men are liker
to know what they talk of, than such as speak from their own
experience? Nothing more familiar with wicked men, than to slander and
reproach the holy ways and servants of the Lord. No wisdom, no measure
of holiness or righteousness, will exempt the godly from their malice;
otherwise, Christ himself at least would have been exempted, if not
his apostles and other saints, whom they have slandered and put to
death. Christ hath foretold us what to expect from them. John xv.
18-21, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it
hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but
because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said
unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have
persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my
saying, they will keep yours also."
The truth is, wicked men are the seed and children of the devil, and
have his image, and obey him, and think, and speak, and do as he would
have them; and the godly are the seed and members of Christ, and bear
his image, and obey him: and do you think that the devil will bid his
children speak well of the ways or followers of Christ? I must
confess, till I had found the truth of it by experience, I was not
sensible how impudent in belying, and cruel in abusing the servants of
Christ, his worldly, malicious enemies are.[22] I had read oft how
early an enmity was put between the woman's and the serpent's seed,
and I had read and wondered, that the first man that was born into the
world did murder his brother for worshipping God more acceptably than
himself; "because his own works were evil, and his brother's
righteous," 1 John iii. 12. I had read the inference, ver. 13, "Marvel
not, my brethren, if the world hate you;" but yet I did not so fully
understand, that wicked men and devils are so very like, and so near
of kin, till the words of Christ, John viii. 44, expounded by visible
demonstrations, had taught it me. Indeed the apostle saith, 1 John
iii. 12, that Cain was of that wicked one, that is, the devil: but
Christ saith more plainly, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the
lusts of your father ye will do: he was a murderer from the beginning,
and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him: when he
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the
father of it." Here note, that cruel murdering and lying are the
principal actions of a devil; and that as the father of these, he is
the father of the wicked, who are most notoriously addicted to these
two courses against the most innocent servants of the Lamb. How just
it is that they dwell together hereafter, that are here so like in
disposition and action: even as the righteous shall dwell with
Christ, who bore his image, and imitated his holy, suffering life.
I conclude, then, that if thou wilt never turn to God and a holy life,
till wicked men give over belying and reproaching them, thou mayst as
well say, that thou wilt never be reconciled to God, till the devil be
first reconciled to him; and never love Christ, till the devil love
him, or bid thee love him; or never be a saint, till the devil be a
saint, or will give thee leave; and that thou wilt not be saved, till
the devil be willing that thou be saved.
_Direct._ IV. That thy understanding may be enlightened, and thy heart
renewed, be much and serious in reading the word of God, and those
books that are fitted to men in an unconverted state, and especially
in hearing the plain and searching preaching of the word.
There is a heavenly light, and power, and majesty in the word of God,
which in the serious reading or hearing of it, may pierce the heart,
and prick it, and open it, that corruption may go out, and grace come
in. "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the
testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple: the statutes of
the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart," Psal. xix. 7, 8. Moreover,
"by them it is that we are warned: and in keeping of them there is
great reward," ver. 11. The eunuch was reading the Scripture, when
Philip was sent to expound it to him for his conversion, Acts viii.
The preaching of Peter did prick many thousands to the heart to their
conversion, Acts ii. 37. The heart of Lydia was opened to attend to
the preaching of Paul, Acts xvi. 14. "The word of God is quick and
powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the
dividing of soul and spirit," Heb. iv. 11. These "weapons are mighty
through God, to the pulling down of strong holds; casting down
imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the
obedience of Christ," 2 Cor. iv. 5. Hast thou often read and heard
already, and yet findest no change upon thy heart? Yet read and hear
again and again: ministers must not give over preaching, when they
have laboured without success; why then should you give over hearing
or reading? As the husbandman laboureth, and looketh to God for rain,
and for the blessing, so must we, and so must you. Look up to God:
remember it is his word, in which he calleth you to repentance, and
offereth you mercy, and treateth with you concerning your everlasting
happiness: lament your former negligence and disobedience, and beg his
blessing on his word, and you shall find it will not be in vain.
And the serious reading of books which expound and apply the
Scriptures, suitable to your case, may, by the blessing of God, be
effectual to your conversion. I have written so many to this use
myself, that I shall be the shorter on this subject now, and desire
you to read them, or some of them, if you have not fitter at hand;
viz. A Call to the Unconverted;--A Treatise of Conversion;--Now or
Never;--Directions for a sound Conversion;--A Saint or a Brute;--A
Treatise of Judgment;--A Sermon against making light of Christ;--A
Sermon of Christ's Dominion;--Another of his Sovereignty, &c.
_Direct._ V. If thou wouldst not be destitute of saving grace, let thy
reason be exercised about the matters of thy salvation, in some
proportion of frequent, sober, serious thoughts, as thou art convinced
the weight of the matter doth require.
[Sidenote: 1 Cor. xiii. 5; Psal. iv. 4-7; 1 Cor. xi. 28.]
To have reason is common to all men, even the sleepy and distracted:
to use reason is common to all that have their senses awake, and fit
to serve their minds: to use reason in the greatest matters, is proper
to wise men, that know for what end God made them reasonable.[23]
Inconsiderate men are all ungodly men; for reason not used is as bad
as no reason, and will prove much worse in the day of reckoning. The
truth is, though sinners are exceeding blind and erroneous about the
things of God, yet all God's precepts are so reasonable, and tend so
clearly to our joy and happiness, that if the devil did not win most
souls by silencing reason, and laying it asleep, or drowning its voice
with the noise and crowd of worldly business, hell would not have so
many sad inhabitants. I scarce believe that God will condemn any
sinner that ever lived in the world, that had the use of reason; no,
not the heathens that had but one talent, but he will be able to say
to them, as Luke xix. 22, "Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee,
thou wicked servant. Thou knewest," &c. To serve God and labour
diligently for salvation, and prefer it before all worldly things, is
so reasonable a thing, that every one that repenteth of the contrary
course, doth call it from his heart an impious madness. Reason must
needs be for God that made it. Reason must needs be for that which is
its proper end and use. Sin, as it is in the understanding, is nothing
but unreasonableness; a blindness and error; a loss and corruption of
reason in the matters of God and our salvation. And grace, as in the
understanding, doth but cure this folly and distraction, and make us
reasonable again; it is but the opening of our eyes, and making us
wise in the greatest matters. It is not a more unmanly thing to love
and plead for blindness, madness, and diseases, and to hate both
sight, and health, and wit, than it is to love and plead for sin, and
to hate and vilify a holy life.
Grant me but this one thing, that thou wilt but soberly exercise thy
reason about these great, important questions; Where must I abide for
ever? What must I do to be saved? What was I created and redeemed for?
and I shall hope that thy own understanding, as erroneous as it is, will
work out something that will promote thy good. Do but withdraw thyself
one hour in a day from company and other business, and consider but as
soberly and seriously of thy end and life, as thou knowest the nature
and weight of the matter doth require, and I am persuaded thy own reason
and conscience will call thee to repentance, and set thee, at least, in
a far better way than thou wast in before. When thou walkest alone, or
when thou wakest in the night, remember soberly that God is present,
that time is hasting to an end, that judgment is at hand, where thou
must give account of all thy hours, of thy lusts, and passions, and
desires; of all thy thoughts, and words, and deeds; and that thy endless
joy or misery dependeth wholly and certainly on this little time. Think
but soberly on such things as these, but one hour in a day or two, and
try whether it will not once recover thee to wit and godliness; and
folly and sin will vanish away before the force of considering reason,
as the darkness vanisheth before the light. I entreat thee now as in the
presence of God, and as thou wilt answer the denial of so reasonable a
request at the day of judgment, that thou wilt but resolve to try this
course of a sober, serious consideration, about thy sin, thy duty, thy
danger, thy hope, thy account, and thy everlasting state: try it
sometimes, especially on the Lord's days; and do but mark the result of
all; and whither it is that such sober consideration doth point or lead
thee? whether it be not towards a diligent, holy, heavenly life? If thou
deny me thus much, God and thy conscience shall bear witness, that thou
thoughtest thy salvation of little worth, and therefore mayst justly be
denied it.
Would it not be strange that a man should be penitent and godly, that
never once thought of the matter with any seriousness in his life? Can
so many and great diseases of soul be cured, before you have once
soberly considered that you have them, and how great and dangerous they
are, and by what remedies they must be cured? Can grace be obtained and
exercised, while you never so much as think of it? Can the main business
of our lives be done without any serious thoughts; when we think it fit
to bestow so many upon the trivial matters of this world? Doth the world
and the flesh deserve to be remembered all the day, and week, and year?
and doth not God and thy salvation deserve to be thought on one hour in
a day, or one day in a week? Judge of these things, but as a man of
reason. If thou look that God, who hath given thee reason to guide thy
will, and a will to command thy actions, should yet carry thee to heaven
like a stone, or save thee against or without thy will, before thou
didst ever once soberly think of it, thou mayst have leisure in hell to
lament the folly of such expectations.
_Direct._ VI. Suffer not the devil by company, pleasure, or worldly
business, to divert or hinder thee from these serious considerations.
The devil hath but two ways to procure thy damnation. The one is, by
keeping thee from any sober remembrance of spiritual and eternal
things; and the other is, if thou wilt needs think of them, to deceive
thee into false, erroneous thoughts. To bring to pass the first of
these, (which is the most common, powerful means,) his ordinary way is
by diversion;[24] finding thee still something else to do; putting
some other thoughts into thy mind, and some other work into thy hand;
so that thou canst never have leisure for any sober thoughts of God:
whenever the Spirit of God knocks at thy door, thou art so taken up
with other company, or other business, that thou canst not hear, or
wilt not open to him. Many a time he hath been ready to teach thee,
but thou wast not at leisure to hear and learn. Many a time he
secretly jogged thy conscience, and checked thee in thy sin, and
called thee aside to consider soberly about thy spiritual and
everlasting state, when the noise of foolish mirth and pleasures, or
the bustles of encumbering cares and business, have caused thee to
stop thy ears, and put him off, and refuse the motion. And if the
abused Spirit of God depart, and leave thee to thy beloved mirth and
business, and to thyself, it is but just; and then thou wilt never
have a serious, effectual thought of heaven, perhaps, till thou have
lost it; nor a sober thought of hell, till thou art in it; unless it
be some despairing, or some dull, ineffectual thought.
O therefore, as thou lovest thy soul, do not love thy pleasure or
business so well as to refuse to treat with the Spirit of God, who comes
to offer thee greater pleasures, and to engage thee in a more important
business. O lay by all, to hear awhile what God and conscience have to
say to thee. They have greater business with thee, than any others that
thou conversest with. They have better offers and motions to make to
thee, than thou shalt hear from any of thy old companions. If the devil
can but take thee up a while, with one pleasure one day, and another
business another day, and keep thee from the work that thou camest into
the world for, till time be gone, and thou art slipt unawares into
damnation, then he hath his desire, and hath the end he aimed at, and
hath won the day, and thou art lost for ever.
It is like thou settest some limits to thy folly, and purposest to do
thus but a little while: but when one pleasure withereth, the devil
will provide a fresh one for thee; and when one business is over,
which causeth thee to pretend necessity, another, and another, and
another will succeed, and thou wilt think thou hast such necessity
still, till time is gone, and thou see, too late, how grossly thou
wast deceived. Resolve, therefore, that whatever company, or pleasure,
or business would divert thee, that thou wilt not be befooled out of
thy salvation, nor taken off from minding the one thing necessary. If
company plead an interest in thee, know of them whether they are
better company than the Spirit of God and thy conscience;--if pleasure
would detain thee, inquire whether it be more pure and durable
pleasures, than thou mayst have in heaven, by hearkening unto
grace;--if business still pretend necessity, inquire whether it be a
greater business than to prepare thy soul and thy accounts for
judgment, and of greater necessity than thy salvation. If not, let it
not have the precedency: if thou be wise, do that first that must
needs be done; and let that stand by that may best be spared. What
will it profit thee to win all the world, and lose thy soul? At least,
if thou durst say that thy pleasure and business are better than
heaven, yet might they sometimes be forborne, while thou seriously
thinkest of thy salvation.
_Direct._ VII. If thou wouldst be converted and saved, be not a
malicious or peevish enemy to those that would convert and save thee:
be not angry with them that tell thee of thy sin or duty, as if they
did thee wrong or hurt.
God worketh by instruments: when he will convert a Cornelius, a Peter
must be sent for, and willingly heard. When he will recall and save a
sinner, he hath usually some public minister or private friend, that
shall be a messenger of that searching and convincing truth, which is
fit to awaken them, enlighten them, and recover them. If God furnish
these his instruments with compassion to your souls, and willingness to
instruct you, and you will take them for your enemies, and peevishly
quarrel with them, and contradict them, and perhaps reproach them, and
do them a mischief for their good will, what an inhuman, barbarous
course of ingratitude is this! Will you be angry with men for
endeavouring to save you from the fire of hell? Do they endeavour to
make any gain or advantage by you? or only to help your souls to heaven?
Indeed, if their endeavours did serve any ambitious design of their own,
to bring the world (as the pope and his clergy would do) under their own
jurisdiction, you had reason then to suspect their fraud. But the truth
is, Christ hath purposely appointed his greatest church-officers to be
but ministers, even the servants of all, to rule and save men as
volunteers, without any coercive power, by the management of his
powerful word upon their consciences; and to beseech and entreat the
poorest of the flock, as those that are not lords over God's heritage,
nor masters of their faith, but their servants in Christ, and helpers of
their joy; that so whenever we deliver our message to them, they may see
that we exercise not dominion over them, and aim at no worldly honours,
or gain, or advantage to ourselves, but at the mere conversion and
saving of their souls. Whereas, if he had allowed us to exercise
authority as the kings of the gentiles, and to be called gracious lords,
and to encumber ourselves with the affairs of this life, our doctrine
would have been rejected by the generality of the world, and we should
always have come to them on this great disadvantage, that they would
have thought we sought not them, but theirs; and that we preached not
for them, but for ourselves, to make a prize of them.[25] as the
Jesuits, when they attempt the conversion of the Indians, do still find
this their great impediment, the princes and people suppose them to
pretend the gospel, but as a means to subjugate them and their dominions
to the pope; because they tell them that they must be all subject to the
pope, if they will be saved. Now when Christ hath appointed a poor,
self-denying, entreating ministry, against whom you can have none of
these pretences, to stoop to your feet, with the most submissive
entreaties, that you would but turn to God and live, you have no excuse
for your own barbarous ingratitude, if you will fly in their faces, and
use them as your enemies, and be offended with them for endeavouring to
save you. You know they can hold their tithes and livings by smoothing,
and cold, and general preaching, as well as by more faithful dealing (if
not better): you know they can get no worldly advantage by dealing so
plainly with you: you know that they hazard by it their reputation with
such as you; and they cannot be ignorant that it is like to expose them
to your ill will and indignation.
And they are men as well as you, and therefore, undoubtedly, desire
the good will and the good word of others, and take no pleasure to be
scorned or hated: undoubtedly they break through much temptations and
reluctancy of the flesh, before they can so far deny themselves as to
endeavour your salvation on such terms: and seeing it is all for you,
methinks you should be their chief encouragers; if others should
oppose them, you should be for them, because they are for you. If I go
with a convoy to relieve a besieged garrison, I shall expect
opposition from the enemy that besiegeth them; but if the besieged
themselves shall shoot at us, and use us as enemies for venturing our
lives to relieve them, it is time to be gone, and let them take what
they get by it.
Perhaps you think that the preacher, or private admonisher, is too
plain with you;[26] but you should consider that self-love is like to
make you partial in your own cause, and therefore a more incapable
judge than they. And you should consider that God hath commanded them
to deal plainly, and told them that else the people's blood shall be
required at their hands, Isa. lviii. 1; Ezek. xviii. And that God best
knoweth what medicine and diet is fittest for your disease; and that
the case is of such grand importance (whether you shall live in heaven
or hell for ever?) that it is scarce possible for a minister to be too
plain and serious with you: and that your disease is so obstinate,
that gentler means have been too long frustrate, and therefore sharper
must be tried; else why were you not converted by gentler dealing
until now? If you fall down in a swoon, or be ready to be drowned, you
will give leave to the standers-by to handle you a little more roughly
than at another time, and will not bring your action against them for
laying hands on you, or ruffling your silks or bravery; if your house
be on fire, you will give men leave to speak in another manner, than
when they modulate their voices into a civil and complimenting tone.
It may be you think that they are censorious in judging you to be
unconverted, when you are not; and to be worse and in more danger than
you are, and speaking harder of you than you deserve. But it is you
that should be most suspicious of yourselves, and afraid in so great a
matter of being deceived. A stander-by may see more than a player: I
am sure he that is awake may know more of you, than you of yourselves
when you are asleep.
But suppose it were as you imagine; it is his love that mistakingly
attempteth your good: he intendeth you no harm: it is your salvation
that he desireth; it is your damnation that he would prevent. You have
cause to love him, and be thankful for his good-will, and not to be
angry with him, and reproach him for his mistakes. He is none of those
that brings you into the inquisition, and would fine, or imprison, or
banish, or burn, or hang, or torment you, in order to convert and save
you: the worst he doth, is but to speak those words, which, if true,
you are deeply concerned to regard; and if mistaken, can do you no
hurt, unless you are the cause yourself. If it be in public preaching,
he speaketh generally by descriptions, and not by nomination; no more
of you, than of others in your case; nor of you at all, if you are not
in that case. If he speak privately to you, there is no witness but
yourself; and therefore it is no matter of disgrace. Never, for shame,
pretend that thou art willing to be converted and saved, when thou
hatest those that would promote it; and art angry with every one that
tells thee of thy case, and couldst find in thy heart to stop their
mouths, or do them a mischief.
_Direct._ VIII. If thou art willing indeed to be converted, do thy
best to discover that yet thou art unconverted, and in a lost and
miserable state.
Who will endeavour to cure a disease which he thinks he hath not? or to
vomit up the poison which he thinks he never took, or taketh to be no
poison? or to come out of the ditch, that thinks he is not in it? or who
will turn back again, that will not believe but he is in the right way?
Who will labour to be converted, that thinks he is converted already? Or
who will come to Christ as the physician of his soul, that thinks he is
not sick, or is cured already? The common cause that men live and die
without the grace of repentance, sanctification, and justification,
which should save them, is because they will not believe but that they
have it, when they have it not; and that they are penitent, and
justified, and sanctified already. It is not my desire to make any of
you think worse of your condition than it is; but if you will not know
what it is, you will not be fit for recovering grace, nor use the means
for your own recovery: you think it is so sad a conclusion, to find
yourselves in a state of condemnation, that you are exceeding unwilling
to know it or confess it.
But I beseech you consider but these two things: first, either it is
true that you are in so miserable a state, or it is not true: if it be
not true, the closest trial will but comfort you, by discovering that
you are sanctified already; but if it be true, then do you think it
will save you to be ignorant of your danger? Will it cure your
disease, to believe that you have it not? Will thinking well of
yourselves falsely, prove that you are well indeed?[27] Is it the way
to grace, to think you have it, when you have it not? Will it bring
you to heaven, to think that you are going thither, when you are in
the way to hell? Nay, do you not know, that it is the principal
temptation of the devil, to keep men from a state of repentance and
salvation, to deceive them thus, and persuade them that they are in
such a state already? Judge soberly of the case. Do you think if all
the impenitent, unconverted sinners in the world were certain that
they are indeed in a graceless state, in which if they died, they were
past all hope, that they would not quickly look about them, and better
understand the offers of a Saviour, and live in continual solicitude
and fear, till they found themselves in a safer state? If you were
sure yourselves, that you must yet be made new creatures, or be
damned, would it not set you on work to seek more diligently after
grace than ever you have done? The devil knoweth this well enough;
that he could scarce keep you quiet this night in his snares, but you
would be ready to repent and beg for mercy, and resolve on a new life,
before to-morrow, if you were but sure that you are yet in a state of
condemnation. And therefore he doth all he can to hide your sin and
danger from your eyes, and to quiet you with the conceit, that though
you are sinners, yet you are penitent, pardoned, and safe.
Well, sirs, there can be no harm in knowing the truth. And therefore
will you but try yourselves, whether you are unsanctified or not? You
were baptized into the name of the Holy Ghost as your Sanctifier; and
if now you neglect or mock at sanctification, what do you but deride
your baptism, or neglect that which is its sense and end? It doth not
so much concern you to know that you live the life of nature, as to
know whether sanctification have made you spiritually alive to God.
And let me tell you this to your encouragement, that we do not call
you to know that you are unconverted, and unpardoned, and miserable,
as men that have no remedy, but must sit down in despair, and be
tormented with the fore-knowledge of your endless pains before the
time. No; it is but that you may speedily and thankfully accept of
Christ, the full remedy, and turn to God, and quickly get out of your
sin and terror, and enter into a life of safety and of peace. We
desire not your continuance in that life which tendeth to despair and
horror: we would have you out of it, if it were in our power, before
to-morrow; and therefore it is that we would have you understand what
danger you are in, that you may go no further, but speedily turn back,
and seek for help. And I hope there is no hurt, though there be some
present trouble, in such a discovery of your danger as this is.
Well, if you are but willing to know, I shall help you a little to
know what you are.
[Sidenote: Marks of an unconverted state.]
1. If you are persecutors, or haters, deriders of men, for being serious
and diligent in the service of God, and fearful of sinning, and because
they go not with the multitude to do evil, it is a certain sign that you
are in a state of death: yea, if you love not such men, and desire not
rather to be such yourselves, than to be the greatest of the ungodly.
See Gal. iv. 29; Acts xxvi. 11; 1 Tim. i. 13; 1 Pet. iv. 2-5; Psal. xv.
4; 1 John iii. 8-15; John xiii. 35; Psal. lxxxiv. 10.
2. If you love the world best, and set your affections most on things
below, and mind most earthly things; nay, if you seek not first God's
kingdom, and the righteousness thereof; and if your hearts be not in
heaven, and your affections set on the things that are above; and you
prefer not your hopes of life eternal before all the pleasures and
prosperity of this world, it is a certain sign that you are but
worldly and ungodly men. See this in Matt. vi. 19-21, 33; Phil. iii.
18-20; Col. iii. 1-4; Psal. lxxiii. 25; 1 John ii. 15-17; James i. 27;
Luke xii. 20, 21; xvi. 25.
3. If your estimation, belief, and hopes, of everlasting life through
Christ, be not such, as will prevail with you to deny yourselves, and
forsake father, and mother, and the nearest friends; and house, and
land, and life, and all that you have, for Christ, and for these hopes
of a happiness hereafter, you are no true christians, nor in a state
of saving grace. See Luke xiv. 26, 33; Matt. x. 37-39; xiii. 21, 22.
4. If you have not been converted, regenerated, and sanctified by the
Spirit of Jesus Christ, making you spiritual, and causing you to mind
the things of the Spirit above the things of the flesh. If this Spirit
be not in you, and you walk not after it, but after the flesh; making
provision for the flesh, to satisfy its desires, and preferring the
pleasing of the flesh before the pleasing of God, it is certain that
you are in a state of death. See Matt. xviii. 3; John iii. 3, 5, 6;
Heb. xii. 14; Rom. viii. 1, 5-13; xiii. 13, 14; Luke xvi. 19, 25; xii.
20, 21; Heb. xi. 25, 26; 2 Cor. iv. 16-18; v. 7; Rom. viii. 17, 18.
5. If you have any known sin which you do not hate, and had not rather
leave it than keep it, and do not pray, and strive, and watch against
it, as far as you know and observe it; but rather excuse it, plead for
it, desire it, and are loth to part with it, so that your will is
habitually more for it than against it, it is a sign of an impenitent,
unrenewed heart. 1 John iii. 3-10, 24; Gal. v. 16, 19-25; Rom. vii.
22, 24; viii. 13; Luke xiii. 3, 5; Matt. v. 19, 20; 2 Tim. ii. 19;
Psal. v. 5; Luke xiii. 27.
6. If you love not the word, as it is a light discovering your sin and
duty, but only as it is a general truth, or as it reproveth others: if
you love not the most searching preaching, and would not know how bad
you are, and come not to the light, that your deeds may be manifest,
it is a sign that you are not children of the light, but of the
darkness, John iii. 19-21.
7. If the laws of your Creator and Redeemer be not of greatest power
and authority with you, and the will and word of God cannot do more
with you, than the word or will of any man; and the threatenings and
promises of God be not more prevalent with you, than the threats or
promises of any men, it is a sign that you take not God for your God,
but in heart are atheists and ungodly men. Luke xix. 27; Matt. vii.
21-23, 26; Dan. iii. 16-18; vi. 5, 10; Jer. xvii. 5, 6; Luke xii. 4;
Acts v. 29; Psal. xiv. 1, &c.
8. If you have not, in a deliberate covenant or resolution, devoted
and given up yourselves to God as your Father and felicity, to Jesus
Christ as your only Saviour, and your Lord and King, and to the Holy
Ghost as your Sanctifier, to be made holy by him, desiring that your
heart and life should be perfectly conformed to the will of God, and
that you might know him, and love him, and enjoy him more; you are
void of godliness and true christianity; for this is the very covenant
which you make in baptism, which you call your christening. Matt.
xxviii. 19, 20; 2 Cor. viii. 5; 1 Cor. vi. 17; John i. 10-12; Gal. iv.
6; Rom. viii. 14, 15.
I have now plainly showed you, and fully proved, from the word of God,
by what infallible signs an ungodly man may know that he is ungodly,
if he will. May you not know whether it be thus with you, if you are
willing to know? May you not know, if you will, whether your desire
and design of life be more for this world or that to come? and whether
heaven or earth be preferred and sought first? and whether your
fleshly prosperity and pleasure, or your souls, be principally cared
for and regarded? May you not know, if you will, whether you love or
loathe the serious worshippers of God?[28] and whether you had rather
be delivered from your sins or keep them? and whether your wills be
more against them, or for them? and whether you love a holy life or
not? and whether you had rather be perfect in holiness and obedience
to God, or be excused from it, and please the flesh? and whether you
had rather be such a one as Paul, or as Cæsar? a persecuted saint in
poverty and contempt, or a persecuting conqueror or king? May you not
know, if you will, whether you love a searching ministry, that telleth
you of the worst, and would not deceive you? May you not know, whether
you are resolvedly devoted and given up to God, the Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost, as your Father and felicity, your Saviour and your
Sanctifier; and whether the scope, design, and business of your lives
is more for God, or for the flesh, for heaven, or earth; and which it
is that bears the sway, and which it is that comes behind, and hath
but the leavings of the other, or only so much as it can spare?
Certainly these are things so near you, and so remarkable in your
hearts, that you may come to the knowledge of them if you will. But if
you will not, who can help it?
What a sottish cavil is it then of those ignorant men, that ask us,
when we tell them of these things, Whether ever we were in heaven? or
ever saw the book of life? and how we can tell who shall be saved, and
who shall be damned? If it were about a May-game this jesting were
more seasonable; but to talk thus distractedly about the matters of
salvation and damnation, and to make such a jest of the damning of
souls, is a kind of foolery that hath no excuse. What though we never
were in heaven? and never saw the book of life? dost thou think I
never saw the Scriptures? Why, wretched sinner, dost thou not know,
that Christ came down from heaven, to tell us who they be that shall
come thither, and who they be that shall be shut out? And did he not
know what he said? Is God the Governor of the world, and hath he not a
law by which he governeth them? and can I not tell by the law, who
they be that the Judge will condemn or save? What else is the law made
for, but to be the rule of life, and the rule of judgment? Read Psal.
i. and xv.; Matt. v. vii. and xxv., and all the texts which I even now
cited, and see in them whether God hath not told you who they be that
shall be saved, and who they be that shall be condemned? nay, see
whether this be not the very business of the word of God? And do you
think that he hath written in vain? But some men have loved ignorance
and ungodliness so long, till the Spirit of grace hath cast them off,
and left them to the sottishness of their carnal minds, so that "they
have eyes and see not, and ears and hear not, and hearts and
understand not." But those that are willing and diligent to know their
sin and duty, in order to their recovery, God will not let them search
in vain, nor hide the remedy from their eyes.
_Direct._ IX. When you have found yourselves in a state of sin and
death, understand and consider what a state that is.
It may be you will think it a tolerable condition, and linger in it,
as if you were safe; or delay your repentance, as if it were a matter
of no great haste; unless you open your eyes, and look round about
you, and see in how slippery a place you stand. Let me name some
instances of the misery of an unregenerate, graceless state, and then
judge of it as the word of God directs you.
1. As long as you are unconverted, you must needs be loathsome and
abominable to God.[29] His holy nature is unreconcilable to sin, and
would be unreconcilable to sinners, if it were not that he can cleanse
and purify them. Did you know what sin is, and know God's holiness, you
would understand this much better. Your own averseness to God, and your
dislike of the holiness of his laws and servants, might tell you what
thoughts he hath of you. "He hateth all the workers of iniquity," Psal.
v. 5. Indeed he taketh you for his enemies, and as such he will handle
you, if you be not converted. I know many persons that are most deeply
guilty, especially men of honour and esteem in the world, would scorn to
have this title given to themselves; but verily God is not fearful of
offending them, nor so tender of their defiled honour, as they are of
their own, or as they expect the preacher should be. If those be the
king's enemies that refuse his government and set up another, then those
are the enemies of God, and of the Redeemer, and of the Holy Ghost, that
set up the base concupiscence of their flesh, and the honour and
prosperity of this world, and the will of man, and refuse the government
of God their Creator and Redeemer, and refuse the sanctifying teachings
and operations of the Holy Ghost. Read Luke xix. 27.
Some think it strange that any men should be called "haters of God;"
and I believe you will find it hard to meet with that man that will
confess it by himself, till converting grace or hell constrain him.
And indeed if God himself had not charged men with that sin, and
called them by that name, we should scarce have found belief or
patience when we had endeavoured to convince the world of it. Entreat
but the worst of men to repent of hating God, and try how they will
take it. Yet they may read that name in Scripture, Rom. i. 30; Psal.
lxxxi. 15; Luke xix. 14. Did not the Jews hate Christ, think you, when
they murdered him? and when they hated all his followers for his sake?
Matt. x. 22; Mark xiii. 13. And doth not Christ say, "that they shall
be hated for his sake, not only of the Jews, but also of all nations,
and all men," Matt. xxiv. 9; x. 22; even by the "world," John xvii.
14; xv. 17-19, &c. And this was a hating "both Christ and his Father,"
John xv. 23, 24. But you will say, it is not possible that any man can
hate God. I answer, how then came the devils to hate him? Yea, every
ungodly man hateth God: indeed no man hateth him as good, or as
merciful to them; but they hate him as holy and just, as one that will
not let them have the pleasure of sin, without damning them; as one
engaged in justice to cast them into hell, if they die without
conversion; and as one that hath made so pure and precise a law to
govern them, and convinceth them of sin, and calls them to that
repentance and holiness which they hate. Why did the world hate Christ
himself? He tells you, John vii. 7, "The world cannot hate you, but me
it hateth, because I testify against it, that the works thereof are
evil." John iii. 19, "This is the condemnation, that light is come
into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because
their deeds were evil." Nay, it is a wonder of blindness, that this
God-hating world and age should not perceive that they are God-haters,
while they hate his servants to the death, and implacably rage against
them, and hate his holy ways and kingdom, and bend all their power and
interest in most of the kingdoms of the world, against his interest
and his people upon earth: while the devil fighteth his battles
against Christ through the world, by their hands, they will yet
confess the devil's malice against God, but deny their own; as if he
used their hands without their hearts. Well! poor, wretched worms!
instead of denying your enmity to him, lament it, and know that he
also taketh you for his enemies, and will prove too hard for you when
you have done your worst. Read Psal. ii. and tremble, and submit. This
is especially the case of persecutors and open enemies; but in their
measure also of all that would not have him to reign over them. And
therefore Christ came to reconcile us unto God, and God to us; and it
is only the sanctified that are reconciled to him. See Col. i. 21;
Phil. iii. 18; 1 Cor. xv. 25; Rom. v. 10. "The carnal mind is enmity
against God; for it is not subject to the law of God; nor indeed can
be," Rom. viii. 7. Mark that text well.
2. As long as you are unsanctified, you are unjustified and
unpardoned: you are under the guilt of all the sins that ever you
committed: every sinful thought, word, and deed, of which the least
deserveth hell, is on your score, to be answered for by yourself: and
what this signifieth, the threatenings of the law will tell you. See
Acts xxvi. 18; Mark iv. 12; Col. i. 14. There is no sin forgiven to an
impenitent, unconverted sinner.
[Sidenote: Rom. viii. 9.]
3. And no wonder, when the unconverted have no special interest in
Christ. The pardon and life that is given by God, is given in and with
the Son: "God hath given to 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. 10-12. Till we are members of Christ, we
have no part in the pardon and salvation purchased by him: and ungodly
sinners are not his members. So that Jesus Christ, who is the hope and
life of all his own, doth leave thee as he found thee: and that is not
the worst; for,
4. It will be far worse with the impenitent rejecters of the grace of
Christ, than if they had never heard of a Redeemer. For it cannot be,
that God having provided so precious a remedy for sinful, miserable
souls, should suffer it to be despised and rejected, without increased
punishment. Was it not enough that you had disobeyed your great Creator,
but you must also set light by a most gracious Redeemer, that offered
you pardon, purchased by his blood, if you would but have come to God by
him? Yea, the Saviour that you despised shall be himself your Judge, and
the grace and mercy which you set so light by, shall be the heaviest
aggravation of your sin and misery. For "how shall you escape, if you
neglect so great salvation?" Heb. ii. 3. "And of how much sorer
punishment" (than the despisers of Moses' law) "shall they be thought
worthy, who have trodden under foot the Son of God," &c. Heb. x. 29.
5. The very prayers and sacrifice of the wicked are abominable to God
(except such as contain their returning from their wickedness). So
that terror ariseth to you from that which you expect should be your
help. See Prov. xv. 8; xxi. 27; Isa. i. 13.
6. Your common mercies do but increase your sin and misery (till you
return to God): your carnal hearts turn all to sin; Tit. i. 15, "Unto
the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled, and
unbelieving, is nothing pure: but even their mind and conscience is
defiled."
7. While you are unsanctified, you are impotent, and dead to any holy,
acceptable work: when you should redeem your time, and prepare for
eternity, and try your states, or pray, or meditate, or do good to
others, you have no heart to any such spiritual works: your minds are
biassed against them, Rom. viii. 7. And it is not the excusable
impotency of such, as would do good, but cannot: but it is the
malicious impotency of the wicked, (the same with that of devils,)
that cannot do good, because they will not; and will not, because they
have blind, malicious, and ungodly hearts, which makes their sin so
much the greater, Tit. i. 16.
8. While you have unsanctified hearts, you have at all times the seed
and disposition unto every sin; and if you commit not the worst, it is
because some providence restraining the tempter hindereth you. No
thanks to you that you do not daily commit idolatry, blasphemy, theft,
murder, adultery, &c. It is in your hearts to do it, when you have but
temptation and opportunity; and will be, till you are renewed by
sanctifying grace.
9. Till you are sanctified you are heirs of death and hell,[30] even
under the curse, and condemned already in point of law, though
judgment have not passed the final sentence. See John iii. 18, 19, 36.
And nothing is more certain, than that you had been damned and undone
for ever, if you had died before you had been renewed by the Holy
Ghost; and that yet this will be your miserable portion, if you should
die unsanctified. Think, then, what a life you have lived until now?
and think what it is to live any longer in such a case, in which if
you die, you are certain to be damned. Conversion may save you, but
unbelief and self-flattery will not save you from this endless misery,
Heb. xii. 14; ii. 3; Matt. xxv. 46.
10. As long as you are unsanctified, you are hasting to this misery:
sin is like to get more rooting; and your hearts to be more hardened,
and at enmity with grace; and God more provoked; and the Spirit more
grieved; and you are every day nearer to your final doom, when all
these things will be more sensibly considered, and better understood,
2 Tim. iii. 13; 2 Pet. ii. 3.
Thus I have given you a brief account of the case of unrenewed souls,
and but a brief one, because I have done it before more largely.
(Treatise of Conversion.)
_Direct._ X. When you have found out how sad a condition you are in,
consider what there is in sin to make you amends or repair your loss,
that should be any hinderance to your conversion.
Certainly you will not continue for nothing (if you know it to be
nothing) in so dangerous and doleful a case as this. And yet you do it
for that which is much worse than nothing, not considering what you
do. Sit down sometimes, and well bethink you, what recompence the
world or sin will make you, for your God, your souls, your hopes, and
all, when they are lost and past recovery? Think what it will then
avail or comfort you, that once you were honoured, and had a great
estate; that once you fared of the best, and had your delicious cups,
and merry hours, and sumptuous attire, and all such pleasures. Think
whether this will abate the horrors of death, or put by the wrath of
God, or the sentence of your condemnation; or whether it will ease a
tormented soul in hell? If not, think how small, and short, and silly
a commodity and pleasure it is, that you buy so dear; and what a wise
man can see in it, that should make it seem worth the joys of heaven,
and worth your enduring everlasting torments. What is it that is
supposed worth all this? Is it the snare of preferment? Is it vexing
riches? Is it befooling honours? Is it distracting cares? Is it
swinish luxury or lust? Is it beastly pleasures? Or what is it else
that you will buy at so wonderful dear a rate? O lamentable folly of
ungodly men! O foolish sinners! unworthy to see God! and worthy to be
miserable! O strangely corrupted heart of man, that can sell his
Maker, his Redeemer, and his salvation, at so base a price!
_Direct._ XI. And when you are casting up your account, as you put all
that sin and the world will do for you in the one end of the scales,
so put into the other the comforts both of this life, and of that to
come, which you must part with for your sins.
Search the Scriptures, and consider how happy the saints of God are
there described. Think what it is, to have a purified, cleansed soul;
to be free from the slavery of the flesh and its concupiscence; to
have the sensitive appetite in subjection unto reason, and reason
illuminated and rectified by faith; to be alive to God, and disposed
and enabled to love and serve him; to have access to him in prayer,
with boldness and assurance to be heard; to have a sealed pardon of
all our sins, and an interest in Christ, who will answer for them all
and justify us; to be the children of God, and the heirs of heaven; to
have peace of conscience, and the joyful hopes of endless joys; to
have communion with the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit, and to
have that Spirit dwelling in us, and working to our further holiness
and joy; to have communion with the saints; and the help and comfort
of all God's ordinances, and to be under his many precious promises,
and under his protection and provision in his family, and to cast all
our care upon him; to delight ourselves daily in the remembrance and
renewed experiences of his love, and in our too little knowledge of
him, and love to him, and in the knowledge of his Son, and of the
mysteries of the gospel; to have all things work together for our
good, and to be able with joy to welcome death, and to live as in
heaven in the foresight of our everlasting happiness. I would have
orderly here given you a particular account of the privileges of
renewed souls, but that I have done so much in that already in my
"Treatise of Conversion," and "Saints' Rest." This taste may help you
to see what you lose, while you abide in an unconverted state.
_Direct._ XII. When you have thus considered of the condition you are
in, consider also whether it be a condition to be rested in one day.
If you die unconverted, you are past all hope; for out of hell there
is no redemption:[31] and certain you are to die ere long; and
uncertain whether it will be this night, Luke xii. 20. You never lay
down with assurance that you should rise again; you never went out of
doors with assurance to return; you never heard a sermon with
assurance that you should hear another; you never drew one breath with
assurance that you should draw another: a thousand accidents and
diseases are ready to stop your breath, and end your time, when God
will have it so. And if you die this night in an unregenerate state,
there is no more time, or help, or hope. And is this a case then for a
wise man to continue in a day, that can do any thing towards his own
recovery? Should you delay another day or hour, before you fall down
at the feet of Christ, and cry for mercy, and return to God, and
resolve upon a better course? May I not well say to thee, as the
angels unto Lot, Gen. xix. 15, 17, 22, "Arise, lest thou be consumed:
escape for thy life; look not behind thee."
_Direct._ XIII. 'When thou art resolved, past thy waverings and
delays, give up thyself entirely and unreservedly to God the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, as thy happiness, thy Saviour, and thy
Sanctifier, in a hearty consent to the covenant of grace.'
This is thy christianity; thy espousals with Christ. It is sacramentally
done in baptism; but till it be personally owned, and heartily renewed
by men at age, they have no reason to be numbered with adult believers,
nor to dream of a part in the blessings of the covenant. It is pity it
is not made a more serious, solemn work, for men thus to renew their
covenant with God. (For which I have written in a "Treatise of
Confirmation," but hitherto in vain.) However, do it seriously thyself:
it is the greatest and weightiest action of thy life.
To this end, peruse well the covenant of grace which is offered thee
in the gospel: understand it well. In it God offereth, notwithstanding
thy sins, to be thy reconciled God and Father in Christ, and to accept
thee as a son, and an heir of heaven.
The Son offereth to be thy Saviour, to justify thee by his blood and
grace, and teach thee, and govern thee as thy Head, in order to thy
everlasting happiness. The Holy Spirit offereth to be thy Sanctifier,
Comforter, and Guide, to overcome all the enmity of the devil, the
world, and the flesh, in order to the full accomplishment of thy
salvation; nothing is expected of thee, in order to thy title to the
benefits of this covenant, but deliberately, unfeignedly, entirely to
consent to it, and to continue that consent, and perform what thou
consentest to perform, and that by the help of the grace which will be
given thee. See, therefore, that thou well deliberate of the matter,
but without delays; and count what thou shalt gain or lose by it. And
if thou find that thou art like to be a loser in the end, and knowest
of any better way, even take it, and boast of it, when thou hast tried
the end; but if thou art past doubt, that there is no way but this,
despatch it resolutely and seriously.
And take heed of one thing, lest thou say, Why, this is no more than
every body knoweth, and than I have done a hundred times, to give up
myself in covenant to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Dost thou
know it, and yet hast thou not done it? Or hast thou done it with thy
lips, and not unfeignedly with thy heart? Lament it as one of thy
greatest sins, that thou hast thus provokingly dallied with God; and
admire his mercy, that he will yet vouchsafe to enter into covenant
with one, that hath hypocritically profaned his covenant. If thou
hadst ever seriously thus covenanted and given up thyself to God, thou
wouldst not have neglected him by an ungodly life, nor lived after to
the devil, the world, and the flesh, which were renounced. I tell you,
the making of this christian vow and covenant with God in Christ, is
the act of greatest consequence of any in all thy life, and to be done
with the greatest judgment, and reverence, and sincerity, and
foresight, and firm resolution, of any thing that ever thou dost. And
if it were done sincerely, by all that do it ignorantly, for fashion,
only with the lips, then all professed christians would be saved;
whereas now, the abusers of that holy name and covenant will have the
deepest place in hell. Write it out on thy heart, and put thy heart
and hand to it resolvedly, and stand to thy consent, and all is thine
own: conversion is wrought when this is done.
_Direct._ XIV. In present performance of thy covenant with God, away
with thy former sinful life; and see that thou sin wilfully no more; but
as far as thou art able, avoid the temptations which have deceived thee.
God will never be reconciled to thy sins: if he be reconciled to thy
person, it is as thou art justified by Christ, and sanctified by the
Spirit: he entertaineth thee as one that turneth with repentance from
sin to him. If thou wilfully or negligently go on in thy former course
of sin, thou showest that thou wast not sincerely resolved in thy
covenant with God.
I know infirmities and imperfections will not be so easily cast off, but
will cleave to thee in thy best obedience, till the day of thy
perfection come. But I speak of gross and wilful sin; such as thou canst
forbear, if thou be but sincerely, though imperfectly, willing.[32]
Hast thou been a profane swearer or curser, or used to take God's name
in vain, or used to backbiting, slandering, lying, or to ribald,
filthy talk? It is in thy power to forbear these sins, if thou be but
willing. Say not, I fall into them through custom before I am aware;
for that is a sign that thou art not sincerely willing to forsake
them. If thou wert truly penitent, and thy will sincerely opposite to
these sins, thou wouldst be more tender and fearful to offend, and
resolved against them, and make a greater matter of them, and abhor
them, and not commit them, and say, I did it before I was aware; no
more than thou wouldst spit in the face of thy father, or curse thy
mother, or slander thy dearest friend, or speak treason against the
king, and say, I did it through custom before I was aware. Sin will
not be so played with by those that have been soundly humbled for it,
and resolved against it.
Hast thou been a drunkard, or tippler, spending thy precious hours in
an ale-house, prating over a pot, in the company of foolish, tempting
sinners? It is in thy power, if thou be truly willing, to do so no
more. If thou love and choose such company, and places, and actions,
and discourse, how canst thou say thou art willing to forsake them, or
that thy heart is changed? If thou do not love and choose them, how
canst thou commit them, when none compels thee? No one carrieth thee
to the place; no one forceth thee to sin; if thou do it, it is because
thou wilt do it, and lovest it. If thou be in good earnest with God,
and wilt be saved indeed, and art not content to part with heaven for
thy cups and company, away with them presently, without delay.
Hast thou lived in wantonness, fornication, uncleanness, gluttony,
gaming, pastimes, sensuality, to the pleasing of thy flesh, while thou
hast displeased God? O bless the patience and mercy of the Lord, that
thou wast not cut off all this while, and damned for thy sin before
thou didst repent! And, as thou lovest thy soul, delay no longer; but
make a stand, and go no further, not one step further in the way which
thou knowest leads to hell. If thou knowest that this is the way to
thy damnation, and yet wilt go on, what pity dost thou deserve from
God or man?
If thou have been a covetous worldling, or an ambitious seeker of
honour or preferment in the world, so that thy gain, or rising, or
reputation, hath been the game which thou hast followed, and hath
taken thee up instead of God and life eternal; away now with these
known deceits, and hunt not after vanity and vexation. Thou knowest
beforehand what it will prove when thou hast overtaken it, and hast
enjoyed all that it can yield thee; and how useless it will be as to
thy comfort or happiness at last.
Surely, if men were willing, they are able to forbear such sins, and
to make a stand, and look before them, to prevent their misery:
therefore God thus pleads with them, Isa. i. 16-18, "Wash you, make
you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes;
cease to do evil, learn to do well," &c. Isa. lv. 2, 3, "Wherefore do
ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that
which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that
which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline
your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live, and I will
make an everlasting covenant with you." Ver. 6, 7, "Seek ye the Lord
while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near. Let the
wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let
him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our
God, for he will abundantly pardon." Christ supposeth that the
foresight of judgment may restrain men from sin, when he saith, "Sin
no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee," John v. 14, and viii. 11.
Can the presence of men restrain a fornicator; and the presence of the
judge restrain a thief, yea, or the foresight of the assizes? And
shall not the presence of God, with the foresight of judgment and
damnation, restrain thee? Remember, that impenitent sin and damnation
are conjoined. If you will cause one, God will cause the other. Choose
one, and you shall not choose whether you shall have the other. If
you will have the serpent, you shall have the sting.
_Direct._ XV. If thou have sincerely given up thyself to God, and
consented to his covenant, show it, by turning the face of thy
endeavours and conversation quite another way, and by seeking heaven
more fervently and diligently than ever thou soughtest the world, or
fleshly pleasures.
Holiness consisteth not in a mere forbearance of a sensual life, but
principally in living unto God. The principle or heart of holiness is
within, and consisteth in the love of God, and of his word, and ways,
and servants, and honour, and interest in the world, and in the soul's
delight in God, and the word and ways of God, and in its inclination
towards him, and desire after him, and care to please him, and
lothness to offend him. The expression of it in our lives, consisteth
in the constant, diligent exercise of this internal life, according to
the directions of the word of God. If thou be a believer, and hast
subjected thyself to God, as thy absolute Sovereign, King, and Judge,
it will then be thy work to obey and please him, as a child his
father, or a servant his master, Mal. i. 6. Do you think that God will
have servants, and have nothing for them to do? Will one of you
commend or reward your servant for doing nothing, and take it at the
year's end for a satisfactory answer or account, if he say, I have
done no harm? God calleth you not only to do no harm, but to love and
serve him with all your heart, and soul, and might. If you have a
better master than you had before, you should do more work than you
did before. Will you not serve God more zealously than you served the
devil? Will you not labour harder to save your souls than you did to
damn them? Will you not be more zealous in good, than you were in
evil? "What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now
ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free
from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto
holiness, and the end everlasting life," Rom. vi. 21, 22. If you are
true believers, you have now laid up your hopes in heaven, and
therefore will set yourselves to seek it, as worldlings set themselves
to seek the world. And a sluggish wish, with heartless, lazy, dull
endeavours, is no fit seeking of eternal joys. A creeping pace
beseemeth not a man that is in the way to heaven; especially who went
faster in the way to hell. This is not running as for our lives. You
may well be diligent and make haste, where you have so great
encouragement and help, and where you may expect so good an end, and
where you are sure you shall never, in life or death, have cause to
repent of any of your just endeavours; and where every step of your
way is pure, and clean, and delectable, and paved with mercies, and
fortified and secured by divine protection; and where Christ is your
conductor, and so many have sped so well before you, and the wisest
and best in the world are your companions. Live then as men that have
changed their master, their end, their hopes, their way, and work.
Religion layeth not men to sleep, though it be the only way to rest.
It awakeneth the sleepy soul to higher thoughts, and hopes, and
labours, than ever it was well acquainted with before. "He that is in
Christ, is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new," 2 Cor. v. 17. You never sought that which
would pay for all your cost and diligence till now; you never were in
a way that you might make haste in, without repenting of your haste,
till now. How glad should you be that mercy hath brought you into the
right way, after the wanderings of such a sinful life![33] And your
gladness and thankfulness should now be showed, by your cheerful
diligence and zeal. As Christ did not raise up Lazarus from the dead,
to do nothing, or live to little purpose (though the Scripture giveth
us not the history of his life); so did he not raise you from the
death of sin, to live idly, or to be unprofitable in the world. He
that giveth you his Spirit, to be a principle of heavenly life within
you, expecteth that you stir up the gift that he hath given you, and
live according to that heavenly principle.
_Direct._ XVI. Engage thyself in the cheerful, constant use of the
means and helps appointed by God, for thy confirmation and salvation.
He can never expect to attain the end, that will not be persuaded to use
the means. Of yourselves you can do nothing. God giveth his help, by the
means which he hath appointed and fitted to your help. Of the use of
these, I shall treat more fully afterwards; I am now only to name them
to thee, that thou mayst know what it is that thou hast to do.[34]
1. That you must hear or read the word of God, and other good books
which expound it and apply it, I showed you before. The new-born
christian doth incline to this, as the new-born child doth to the
breast; 1 Pet. ii. 1, 2, "Laying aside all malice, and guile, and
hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as new-born babes,
desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby." Psal.
i. 2, 3, the blessed man's "delight is in the law of the Lord, and
therein doth he meditate day and night."
2. Another means is the public worshipping of God in communion with
his church and people. Besides the benefit of the word there preached,
the prayers of the church are effectual for the members; and it
raiseth the soul to holy joys, to join with well ordered assemblies of
the saints, in the praises of the Almighty. The assemblies of holy
worshippers of God, are the places of his delight, and must be the
places of our delight. They are most like to the celestial society,
that sound forth the praises of the glorious Jehovah, with purest
minds and cheerful voice. "In his temple doth every one speak of his
glory," Psal. xxix. 9. In such a choir, what soul will not be rapt up
with delight, and desire to join in the concert and harmony? In such a
flame of united desires and praises, what soul so cold and dull that
will not be inflamed, and with more than ordinary facility and
alacrity fly up to God?
3. Another means is private prayer unto God. When God would tell
Ananias that Paul was converted, he saith of him, "Behold, he
prayeth," Acts ix. 11. Prayer is the breath of the new creature. The
spirit of adoption given to every child of God is a spirit of prayer,
and teacheth them to cry, "Abba, Father," and helpeth their
infirmities; when they know not what to pray for as they ought, and
when words are wanting, it (as it were) intercedeth for them with
groans, which they cannot express in words, Gal. iv. 6; Rom. viii. 15,
26, 27. And God knoweth the meaning of the Spirit in those groans. The
first workings of grace are in desires after grace, provoking the soul
to fervent prayer, by which more grace is speedily obtained. "Ask,"
then, "and ye shall have; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall
be opened to you," Luke xi. 9.
4. Another means to be used is confession of sin; not only to God,
(for so every wicked man may do, because he knoweth that God is
already acquainted with it all, and this is no addition to his shame:
he so little regardeth the eye of God, that he is more ashamed when it
is known to men,) but in three cases confession must be made also to
man. 1. In case you have wronged man, and are thus bound to make him
satisfaction: as if you have robbed him, defrauded him, slandered him,
or borne false witness against him. 2. In case you are children or
servants, that are under the government of parents or masters, and are
called by them to give an account of your actions: you are bound then
to give a true account. 3. In case you have need of the counsel or
prayers of others, for the settling of your consciences in peace: in
this case, you must so far open your case to them, as is necessary to
their effectual help for your recovery; for if they know not the
disease, they will be unfit to apply the remedy. In these cases, it is
true, that "he that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but he that
confesseth and forsaketh them, shall have mercy," Prov. xxviii. 13.
5. Another means to be used, is the familiar company and holy converse
with humble, sincere, experienced christians. The Spirit that is in
them, and breatheth and acteth by them, will kindle the like holy
flames in you. Away with the company of idle, prating, sensual men,
that can talk of nothing but their worldly wealth, or business, or
their reputations, or their appetites and lusts; associate yourselves
with them that go the way to heaven, if you resolve yourselves to go
in it. O what a deal of difference will you find between these two
sorts of companions! The one sort, if you have any thoughts of
repentance, would stifle them, and laugh you out of the use of your
reason, into their own distracted mirth and dotage: and if you have
any serious thoughts of your salvation, or any inclinations to repent
and be wise, they will do much to divert them, and hold you in the
power and snares of Satan, till it be too late: if you have any zeal,
or heavenly-mindedness, they will do much to quench it, and fetch down
your minds to earth again. The other sort will speak of things of so
great weight and moment, and that with seriousness and reverence, as
will tend to raise and quicken your souls; and possess you with a
taste of the heavenly things which they discourse of; they will
encourage you by their own experiences, and direct you by that truth
which hath directed them, and zealously communicate what they have
received: they will pray for you, and teach you how to pray: they will
give the example of holy, humble, obedient lives, and lovingly
admonish you of your duties, and reprove your sins. In a word, as the
carnal mind doth savour the things of the flesh, and is enmity against
God, the company of such will be a powerful means to infect you with
their plague, and make you such, if you were escaped from them; much
more to keep you such, if you are not escaped: and as they that are
spiritual, do mind the things of the Spirit, so their converse tendeth
to make you spiritually-minded, as they are, Rom. viii. 7, 8. Though
there are some useful qualities and gifts in some that are ungodly,
and some lamentable faults in many that are spiritual; yet experience
will show you so great a difference between them in the main, in heart
and life, as will make you the more easily believe the difference that
will be between them in the life to come.
6. Another means is serious meditation on the life to come, and the
way thereto; which though all cannot manage so methodically as some,
yet all should in some measure and season be acquainted with it.
7. The last means is, to choose some prudent, faithful guide and
counsellor for your soul,[35] to open those cases to which are not fit
for all to know, and to resolve and advise you in cases that are too
hard for you: not to lead you blindfold after the interest of any
seduced or ambitious men, nor to engage you to his singular conceits,
against the Scripture or the church of God; but to be to your soul, as
a physician to your body, or a lawyer to your estates, to help you
where they are wiser than you, and where you need their helps.
Resolve now, that instead of your idle company and pastime, your
excessive cares and sinful pleasures, you will wait on God in the
seasonable use of these his own appointed means; and you will find,
that he hath appointed them not in vain, and that you shall not lose
your labour.
_Direct._ XVII. That in all this you may be sincere, and not deceived
by a hypocritical change, be sure that God be all your confidence, and
all your hopes be placed in heaven; and that there be no secret
reserve in your hearts, for the world and flesh; and that you divide
not your hearts between God and the things below, nor take up with the
religion of a hypocrite, which giveth God what the flesh can spare.
When the devil cannot keep you from a change and reformation, he will
seek to deceive you with a superficial change and half reformation,
which goeth not to the root, nor doth recover the heart to God, nor
deliver it entirely to him. If he can by a partial, deceitful change,
persuade you that you are truly renewed and sanctified, and fix you
there that you go no further, you are as surely his, as if you had
continued in your grosser sins. And, of all other, this is the most
common and dangerous cheat of souls, when they think to halve it
between God and the world, and to secure their fleshly interest of
pleasure and prosperity, and their salvation too; and so they will
needs serve God and mammon.
[Sidenote: The full description of a false conversion, and of a
hypocrite.]
This is the true character of a self-deceiving hypocrite.[36] He is
neither so fully persuaded of the certain truth of the Scripture and
the life to come, nor yet so mortified to the flesh and the world, as
to take the joys of heaven for his whole portion, and to subject all
his worldly prosperity and hopes thereunto, and to part with all
things in this world, when it is necessary to the securing of his
salvation: and therefore he will not lose his hold of present things,
nor forsake his worldly interest for Christ, as long as he can keep
it. Nor will he be any further religious, than may stand with his
bodily welfare; resolving never to be undone by his godliness; but in
the first place to save himself, and his prosperity in the world, as
long as he can: and therefore he is truly a carnal, worldly-minded
man; being denominated from what is predominant in him. And yet,
because he knoweth that he must die, and for aught he knows, he may
then find, against his will, that there is another life which he must
enter upon; lest the gospel should prove true, he must have some
religion: and therefore he will take up as much as will stand with his
temporal welfare, hoping that he may have both that and heaven
hereafter; and he will be as religious as the predominant interest of
the flesh will give him leave. He is resolved rather to venture his
soul, than to be here undone: and that is his first principle. But he
is resolved to be as godly as will stand with a worldly, fleshly life:
that is his second principle. And he will hope for heaven as the end
of such a way as this: that is his third. Therefore he will place most
of his religion in those things which are most consistent with
worldliness and carnality, and will not cost his flesh too dear; as in
being of this or that opinion, church, or party, (whether papist,
protestant, or some smaller party,) in adhering to that party and
being zealous for them, in acquiring and using such parts and gifts,
as may make him highly esteemed by others; and in doing such good
works as cost him not too dear; and in forbearing such sins as would
procure his disgrace and shame, and cost his flesh dearer to commit
them, than forbear them; and such other as his flesh can spare: this
is his fourth principle. And he is resolved, when trial calleth him to
part with God and his conscience, or with the world, that he will
rather let go God and conscience, and venture upon the pains
hereafter, which he thinks to be uncertain, than to run upon a certain
calamity or undoing here; at least, he hath no resolution to the
contrary, which will carry him out in a day of trial: this is his
fifth principle. And his sixth principle is, That yet he will not
torment himself, or blot his name, with confessing himself a
temporizing worldling, resolved to turn any way to save himself. And
therefore he will be sure to believe nothing to be truth and duty that
is dangerous; but will furnish himself with arguments to prove that it
is not the will of God; and that sin is no sin: yea, perhaps,
conscience and duty shall be pleaded for his sin: it shall be out of
tenderness, and piety, and charity to others, that he will sin; and
will charge them to be the sinners that comply not, and do not
wickedly as well as he. He will be one that shall first make a
controversy of every sin which his flesh calls necessary, and of
every duty which his flesh counts intolerably dear; and then, when it
is a controversy, and many reputed wise, and some reputed good, are on
his side, he thinks he is on equal terms with the most honest and
sincere: he hath got a burrow for his conscience and his credit: he
will not believe himself to be a hypocrite, and no one else must think
him one, lest they be uncharitable; for then the censure must fall on
the whole party; and then it is sufficient to defend his reputation of
piety to say, Though we differ in opinion, we must not differ in
affection, and must not condemn each other for such differences (a
very great truth where rightly applied.) But what is it, O hypocrite,
that makes thee differ in cases where thy flesh is interested, rather
than in any other? and why wast thou never of that mind till now that
thy worldly interest requireth it? and how cometh it to pass, that
thou art always on the self-saving opinion? and whence is it that thou
consultest with those only that are of the opinion which thou desirest
should be true, and either not at all, or partially and slightly, with
those that are against it? Wast thou ever conscious to thyself, that
thou hast accounted what it might cost thee to be saved, and reckoned
on the worst, and resolved in the strength of grace to go through all?
Didst thou ever meddle with much of the self-denying part of religion,
or any duties that would cost thee dear? May not thy conscience tell
thee, that thou never didst believe that thou shouldst suffer much for
thy religion; that is, thou hadst a secret purpose to avoid it?
O sirs! take warning from the mouth of Christ, who hath so oft and
plainly warned you of this sin and danger! and told you how necessary
self-denial, and a suffering disposition is, to all that are his
disciples; and that the worldly, fleshly principle, predominant in the
hypocrite, is manifest by his self-saving course: he must take up his
cross, and follow him in a conformity to his sufferings, that will
indeed be his disciple. We must suffer with him, if we will reign with
him, Rom. viii. 17, 18. Matt. xiii. 20-22, "He that received the seed in
stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy
receiveth it, yet hath he not the root in himself, but dureth for a
while; for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word,
by and by he is offended. He also that received seed among the thorns,
is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world, and the
deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful." If
thou have not taken heaven for thy part, and art not resolved to let go
all that would keep thee from it, I must say to thy conscience, as
Christ to one of thy predecessors, Luke xviii. 22, "Yet lackest thou one
thing," and such a one, as thou wilt find of flat necessity to thy
salvation. And it is likely some trying time, even in this life, will
detect thine hypocrisy, and make thee "go away sorrowful," for thy
riches' sake, as he, ver. 23. If godliness with contentment seem not
sufficient gain to thee, thou wilt make thy gain go instead of
godliness; that is, thy gain shall be next thy heart, and have the
precedency which godliness should have, and thy gain shall choose thee
thy religion, and overrule thy conscience, and sway thy life.
O sirs! take warning by the apostates, and temporizing hypocrites,
that have looked behind them, and, with Demas, for the world forsaken
their duty, and are set up by justice as pillars of salt, for your
warning and remembrance. And as ever you would make sure work in
turning to God, and escape the too late repentance of the hypocrite,
see that you go to the root, and resign the world to the will of
God,--and reckon what it may cost you to be followers of Christ,--and
look not after any portion, but the favour of God and life
eternal,--and see that there be no secret reserve in your hearts for
your worldly interest or prosperity,--and think not of halving it
between God and the world, nor making your religion compliant with the
desires and interest of the flesh. Take God as enough for you, yea, as
all, or else you take him not as your God.
_Direct._ XVIII. If you would prove true converts, come over to God,
as your Father and felicity, with desire and delight, and close with
Christ, as your only Saviour, with thankfulness and joy; and set upon
the way of godliness with pleasure and alacrity, as your exceeding
privilege, and the only way of profit, honour, and content: and do it
not as against your wills, as those that had rather do otherwise if
they durst, and account the service of God an unsuitable and
unpleasant thing.
You are never truly changed, till your hearts be changed; and the
heart is not changed, till the will or love be changed. Fear is not
the man; but usually is mixed with unwillingness and dislike, and so
is contrary to that which is indeed the man. Though fear may do much
for you, it will not do enough: it is oft more sensible than love,
even in the best, as being more passionate and violent; but yet there
is no more acceptableness in all, than there is will or love.[37] God
sent not soldiers, or inquisitors, or persecutors, to convert the
world by working upon their fear, and driving them upon that which
they take to be a mischief to them: but he sent poor preachers, that
had no matter of worldly fears or hopes to move their auditors with;
but had authority from Christ to offer them eternal life; and who were
to convert the world by proposing to them the best and most desirable
condition, and showing them where is the true felicity, and proving
the certainty and excellency of it to them, and working upon their
love, desire, and hope: God will not be your God against your wills,
while you esteem him as the devil, that is only terrible and hurtful
to you, and take his service for a slavery, and had rather be from
him, and serve the world and the flesh, if it were not for fear of
being damned. He will be feared as great, and holy, and just; but he
will also be loved as good, and holy, and merciful, and every way
suited to be the felicity and rest of souls. If you take not God to be
better than the creature, (and better to you,) and heaven to be better
for you than earth, and holiness than sin, you are not converted; but
if you do, then show it by your willingness, alacrity, and delight.
Serve him with gladness and cheerfulness of heart, as one that hath
found the way of life, and never had cause of gladness until now. If
you see your servant do all his work with groans, and tears, and
lamentations, you will not think he is well pleased with his master
and his work. Come to God willingly with your hearts, or you come not
to him indeed at all. You must either make him and his service your
delight, or at least your desire; as apprehending him most fit to be
your delight, so far as you enjoy him.
_Direct._ XIX. Remember still that conversion is the turning from your
carnal selves to God; and therefore that it engageth you in a
perpetual opposition to your own corrupt conceits and wills, to
mortify and annihilate them, and captivate them wholly to the holy
word and will of God.
Think not that your conversion despatcheth all that is to be done in
order to your salvation. No, it is but the beginning of your work,
that is, of your delight and happiness; you are but engaged by it to
that which must be performed throughout all your lives; it entereth
you into the right way, not to sit down there, but to go on till you
come to the desired end. It entereth you into Christ's army, that
afterwards you may there win the crown of life; and the great enemy
that you engage against, is yourselves. There will still be a law in
your members, rebelling against the law that the Holy Ghost hath put
into your minds: your own conceits and your own wills are the great
rebels against Christ, and enemies of your sanctification. Therefore
it must be your resolved daily work to mortify them, and bring them
clean over to the mind and will of God, which is their rule and end.
If you feel any conceits arising in you that are contrary to the
Scripture, and quarrel with the word of God, suppress them as
rebellious, and give them not liberty to cavil with your Maker, and
malapertly dispute with your Governor and Judge; but silence it, and
force it reverently to submit. If you feel any will in you contrary to
your Creator's will, and that there is something which you would have
or do, which God is against, and hath forbid you, remember now how
great a part of your work it is, to fly for help to the Spirit of
grace, and to destroy all such rebellious desires. Think it not
enough, that you can bear the denial of those desires; but presently
destroy the desires themselves. For if you let alone the desires, they
may at last lay hold upon their prey, before you are aware: or if you
should be guilty of nothing but the desires themselves, it is no small
iniquity; being the corruption of the heart, and the rebellion and
adultery of the principal faculty, which should be kept loyal and
chaste to God. The crossness of thy will to the will of God, is the
sum of all the impiety and evil of the soul; and the subjection and
conformity of thy will to his, is the heart of the new creature, and
of thy rectitude and sanctification. Favour not therefore any
self-conceitedness or self-willedness, nor any rebelliousness against
the mind and will of God, any more than you would bear with the
disjointing of your bones, which will be little for your ease or use,
till they are reduced to their proper place.
_Direct._ XX. Lastly, Be sure that you renounce all conceit of
self-sufficiency or merit in any thing you do, and wholly rely on the
Lord Jesus Christ, as your Head, and Life, and Saviour, and
Intercessor with the Father.
Remember that "without him ye can do nothing," John xv. 5. Nor can any
thing you do be acceptable to God, any other way than in him, the
beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased. As your persons had never
been accepted but in him, no more can any of your services. All your
repentings, if you had wept out your eyes for sin, would not have
satisfied the justice of God, nor procured you pardon and
justification, without the satisfaction and merit of Christ. If he had
not first taken away the sins of the world, and reconciled them so far
to God, as to procure and tender them the pardon and salvation
contained in his covenant, there had been no place for your
repentance, nor faith, nor prayers, nor endeavours, as to any hope of
your salvation. Your believing would not have saved you, nor indeed
had any justifying object, if he had not purchased you the promise and
gift of pardon and salvation to all believers.
_Objection._ But perhaps you will say, That if we had loved God, without
a Saviour, we should have been saved; for God cannot hate and damn those
that love him. To which I answer, You could not have loved God as God,
without a Saviour: to have loved him as the giver of your worldly
prosperity, with a love subordinate to the love of sin and your carnal
selves, and to love him as one that you imagine so unholy and unjust, as
to give you leave to sin against him, and prefer every vanity before
him, this is not to love God, but to love an image of your own fantasy;
nor will it at all procure your salvation. But to love him as your God
and happiness, with a superlative love, you could never have done
without a Saviour. For, 1. Objectively; God being not your reconciled
father, but your enemy, engaged in justice to damn you for ever, you
could not love him as thus related to you, because he could not seem
amiable to you; and therefore the damned hate him as their destroyer, as
the thief or murderer hates the judge. 2. And as to the efficiency; your
blinded minds and depraved wills could never have been restored so far
to their rectitude, as to have loved God as God, without the teaching of
Christ, and the renewing, sanctifying work of his Spirit. And without a
Saviour, you could never have expected this gift of the Holy Ghost. So
that your supposition itself is groundless.
Indeed conversion is your implanting into Christ, and your uniting to
him, and marriage with him, that he may be your life, and help, and
hope. "He is the way, the truth, and the life: and no man cometh to
the Father, but by him," John xiv. 6. "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. 11, 12. "He is the
Vine, and we are the branches: as the branch cannot bear fruit of
itself, except it abide in the vine, so neither can we, except we
abide in him: he that abideth not in Christ, is cast forth as a
branch, and withered, to be burned," John xv. 4-6. All your life and
help is in him, and from him: without Christ, you cannot believe in
the Father, as in one that will show you any saving mercy, but only as
the devils, that believe him just, and tremble at his justice. Without
Christ, you cannot love God, nor have any lively apprehensions of his
love. Without Christ, you can have no hope of heaven, and therefore no
endeavours for it. Without him, you cannot come near to God in prayer,
as having no confidence, because no admittance, acceptance, or hope.
Without him, how terrible are the thoughts of death! which in him we
may see as a conquered thing: and when we remember that he was dead,
and is now alive, and the Lord of life, and hath the keys of death and
hell, with what boldness may we lay down this flesh, and suffer death
to undress our souls! It is only in Christ that we can comfortably
think of the world to come; when we remember that he must be our
Judge, and that in our nature, glorified, he is now in the highest,
Lord of all; and that he is "preparing a place for us, and will come
again to take us to himself, that where he is, there we may be also,"
John xiv. 3. Alas! without Christ, we know not how to live an hour;
nor can have hope or peace in any thing we have or do; nor look with
comfort either upward or downward, to God, or the creature; nor think
without terrors of our sins, of God, or of the life to come. Resolve,
therefore, that as true converts, you are wholly to live upon Jesus
Christ, and to do all that you do by his Spirit and strength; and to
expect all your acceptance with God upon his account. When other men
are reputed philosophers, or wise, for some unsatisfactory knowledge
of these transitory things, do you desire to know nothing but a
crucified and glorified Christ: study him, and take him (objectively)
for your wisdom. When other men have confidence in the flesh, and in
their show of wisdom, in will-worship, and humility, after the
commandments and doctrines of men, (Col. ii. 20-23,) and would
establish their own righteousness, do you rejoice in Christ your
righteousness; and set continually before your eyes his doctrine and
example, as your rule: look still to Jesus, the author and finisher of
your faith, who contemned all the glory of the world, and trampled
upon its vanity, and subjected himself to a life of suffering, and
made himself of no reputation, but "for the joy that was set before
him, endured the cross, despising the shame," and underwent the
contradiction of sinners against himself. Live so, that you may truly
say, as Paul, Gal. ii. 20, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I
live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me,
and gave himself for me."
Having given you these directions, I most earnestly beseech you to
peruse and practise them, that my labour may not rise up as a witness
against you, which I intend for your conversion and salvation. Think
on it, whether this be an unreasonable course, or an unpleasant life,
or a thing unnecessary? and what is reasonable, necessary, and
pleasant, if this be not?
And if you meet with any of those distracted sinners, that would
deride you from Christ and your salvation, and say, this is the way to
make men mad,[38] or, this is more ado than needs; I will not stand
here to manifest their brutishness and wickedness, having largely done
it already, in my book called, "A Saint or a Brute," and "Now or
Never," and in the third part of the "Saints' Rest:" but only I desire
thee, as a full defensative against all the pratings of the enemies of
a holy, heavenly life, to take good notice but of these three things.
1. Mark well the language of the holy Scriptures, and see whether it
speak not contrary to these men; and bethink thee whether God or they
be wiser, and whether God or they must be thy judge?
2. Mark, whether these men do not change their minds,[39] and turn
their tongues when they come to die? Or think whether they will not
change their minds, when death hath sent them into that world where
there is none of these deceits? And think whether thou shouldst be
moved with that man's words, that will shortly change his mind
himself, and wish he had never spoke such words?
3. Observe well, whether their own profession do not condemn them; and
whether the very thing that they hate the godly for, be not that they
are serious in practising that which these malignants themselves
profess as their religion? And are they not then notorious
hypocrites,[40] to profess to believe in God, and yet scorn at those
that "diligently seek him?" Heb. xi. 6; to profess faith in Christ,
and hate those that obey him? to profess to believe in the Holy Ghost
as the sanctifier, and yet hate and scorn his sanctifying work? to
profess to believe the day of judgment, and everlasting torment of the
ungodly, and yet to deride those that endeavour to escape it? to
profess to believe that heaven is prepared for the godly, and yet to
scorn at those that make it the chief business of their lives to
attain it? to profess to take the holy Scripture for God's word and
law, and yet to scorn those that obey it? to pray after each of the
ten commandments, "Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to
keep this law," and yet to hate all those that desire and endeavour to
keep them? What impudent hypocrisy is joined with this malignity!
Mark, whether the greatest diligence of the most godly be not
justified by the formal profession of those very men that hate and
scorn them? The difference between them is, that the godly profess
christianity in good earnest, and when they say what they believe,
they believe as they say; but the ungodly customarily, and for
company, take on them to be christians when they are not, and by their
own mouths condemn themselves, and hate and oppose the serious
practice of that which they say they do themselves believe.
PART II.
_The Temptations whereby the devil hindereth Men's
Conversion; with the proper Remedies against them._
The most holy and righteous Governor of the world hath so restrained
Satan and all our enemies, and so far given us free-will, that no man
can be forced to sin against his will; it is not sin if it be not
(positively or privatively) voluntary. All our enemies in hell or
earth cannot make us miserable without ourselves; nor keep a sinner
from true conversion, and salvation, if he do it not himself; no, nor
compel him to one sinful thought, or word, or deed, or omission, but
by tempting and enticing him to be willing: all that are graceless,
are wilfully graceless. None go to hell, but those that choose the way
to hell, and would not be persuaded out of it: none miss of heaven,
but those that did set so light by it, as to prefer the world and sin
before it, and refused the holy way that leadeth to it. And surely
man, that naturally loveth himself, would never take so mad a course,
if his reason were not laid asleep, and his understanding were not
woefully deluded: and this is the business of the tempter, who doth
not drag men to sin by violence, but draw and entice them by
temptations. I shall therefore take it for the next part of my work,
to open these temptations, and tell you the remedies.
_Temptation_ I. The first endeavour of the tempter, is, in general, to
keep the sinner asleep in sin: so that he shall be as a dead man, that
hath no use of any of his faculties; that hath eyes and seeth not, and
ears but heareth not, and a heart that understandeth not, nor feeleth
any thing that concerneth his peace. The light that shineth upon a man
asleep, is of no use to him; his work lieth undone; his friends, and
wealth, and greatest concernments are all forgotten by him, as if
there were no such things or persons in the world: you may say what
you will against him, or do what you will against him, and he can do
nothing in his own defence. This is the case that the devil most
laboureth to keep the world in; even in so dead a sleep, that their
reason and their wills, their fear and hope, and all their powers,
shall be of no use to them: that when they hear a preacher, or read
the Scripture or good books, or see the holy examples of the godly,
yea, when they see the grave, and know where they must shortly lay,
and know that their souls must stay here but a little while; yet they
shall hear, and see, and know all this, as men asleep, that mind it
not, as if it concerned not them at all; never once soberly
considering and laying it to heart.[41]
_Direct._ I. For the remedy against this deadly sin, 1. Take heed of
sleeping opinions, or doctrines and conceits which tend to the
lethargy of security. 2. Sit not still, but be up and doing: stirring
tends to shake off drowsiness. 3. Come into the light: live under an
awakening minister and in wakening company, that will not sleep with
you, nor easily let you sleep: agree with them to deal faithfully with
you, and promise them to take it thankfully. 4. And meditate oft on
wakening considerations. Think whether a sleepy soul beseem one in thy
dangerous condition. Canst thou sleep with such a load of sin upon thy
soul? Canst thou sleep under the thundering threatenings of God, and
the curse of his law; with so many wounds in thy conscience, and
ulcers in thy soul? If thy body were sick, or in the case of Job, yea,
if thou hadst but an aching tooth, it would not let thee sleep; and is
not the guilt of sin a thing more grievous? If thorns, or toads and
adders, were in thy bed, they would keep thee waking; and how much
more odious and dangerous a thing is sin! If thy body want but meat,
or drink, or covering, it will break thy sleep; and is it nothing for
thy soul to be destitute of Christ and grace? A condemned man will be
easily kept awake; and if thou be unregenerate, thou art already
condemned, John iii. 18, 3, 5. Thou sleepest in irons, in the
captivity of the devil, among the walking judgments of God, in a life
that is still expecting an end, in a boat that is swiftly carried to
eternity, just at the entrance of another world; and that world will
be hell, if grace awake thee not: thou art going to see the face of
God, to see the world of angels or devils, and to be accompanied with
one of them for ever; and is this a place or case to sleep in? Is thy
bed so soft? thy dwelling so safe? God standeth over thee, man, and
dost thou sleep? Christ is coming, and death is coming, and judgment
coming, and dost thou sleep? Didst thou never read of the foolish
virgins, that slept out their time, and knocked and cried in vain when
it was too late, Matt. xxv. 5. Thou mightest wiselier sleep on the
pinnacle of a steeple in a storm, than have a soul asleep in so
dangerous a case as thou art in. The devil is awake, and is rocking
thy cradle! How busy is he to keep off ministers, or conscience, or
any that would awake thee! None of thine enemies are asleep; and yet
wilt thou sleep, in the thickest of thy foes? Is the battle a sleeping
time, or thy race a sleeping time, when heaven or hell must be the
end? While he can keep thee asleep, the devil can do almost what he
list with thee. He knows that thou hast now no use of thy eyes, or
understanding, or power to resist him: the learnedest doctor in his
sleep is as unlearned actually as an idiot, and will dispute no better
than an unlearned man: this makes many learned men to be ungodly; they
are asleep in sin. The devil could never have made such a drudge of
thee, to do his work against Christ and thy soul, if thou hadst been
awake. Thou wouldst never have followed his whistle to the ale-house,
the play-house, the gaming-house, and to other sins, if thou hadst
been in thy wits, and well awake. Read Prov. vii. 23, 24. I cannot
believe that thou longest to be damned, or so hatest thyself, as to
have done as thou hast done, to have lived a godless, a graceless, a
prayerless, and yet a merry, careless life, if thy eyes had been
opened, and thou hadst known, and feelingly known, that this was the
way to hell. Nature itself will hardly go to hell awake. But it is
easy to abuse a man that is asleep. Thou hast reason; but didst thou
ever awake it to one hours' serious consideration of thy endless state
and present case? Oh dreadful judgment, to be given over to the spirit
of slumber! Rom. xi. 8. Is it not high time now to awake out of sleep?
Rom. xiii. 11; when the light is arisen and shines about thee! when
others that care for their souls, are busy at work! when thou hast
slept out so much precious time already! Many a mercy, and perhaps
some ministers, have been as candles burnt out to light thee while
thou hast slept. How oft hast thou been called already! "How long wilt
thou sleep, O sluggard?" Prov. vi. 9, 10. Yet thou hast thundering
calls and alarms to awake thee. God calls, and ministers call; mercies
call, and judgments call; and yet wilt thou not awake? "The voice of
the Lord is powerful; full of majesty; breaketh the cedars; shaketh
the wilderness:" and yet cannot it awake thee? Thou wilt not sleep
about far smaller matters; at meat, or drink, or in common talk, or
market. But O! how much greater business hast thou to keep thee awake!
Thou hast yet an unholy soul to be renewed; and an ungodly life to be
reformed; an offending God to be reconciled to; and many thousand sins
to be forgiven! Thou hast death and judgment to prepare for; thou hast
heaven to win, and hell to scape! Thou hast many a needful truth to
learn, and many a holy duty to perform; and yet dost thou think it
time to sleep? Paul, that had less need than thou, did watch, and
pray, and labour, day and night, Acts xx. 31; 1 Thess. iii. 10. O that
thou knewest how much better it is to be awake. While thou sleepest,
thou losest the benefit of the light, and all the mercies that attend
thee: the sun is but as a clod to a man asleep; the world is as no
world to him; the beauty of heaven and earth are nothing to him;
princes, friends, and all things are forgotten by him! So doth thy
sleep in sin make nothing of health and patience, time and help,
ministers, books, and daily warnings. O what a day hast thou for
everlasting, if thou hadst but a heart to use it! What a price hast
thou in thine hand! Sleep not out thy day, thy harvest time, thy tide
time, Prov. x. 5. "They that sleep, sleep in the night," 1 Thess. v.
7. "Awake, and Christ will give thee light," Rom. xiii. 12; Eph. v.
14. "Awake to righteousness, and sin not," 1 Cor. xv. 34. O when thou
seest the light of Christ, what a wonder will it possess thee with, at
the things which thou now forgettest! What joy will it fill thee with!
and with what pity to the sleepy world! But if thou wilt needs sleep
on, be it known to thee, sinner, it shall not be long. If thou wilt
wake no sooner, death and vengeance will awake thee. Thou wilt wake
when thou seest the other world, and seest the things which thou
wouldst not believe, and contest before thy dreadful Judge! "Thy
damnation slumbereth not," 2 Pet. ii. 3. There are no sleepy souls in
heaven or hell, all are awake there: and the day that hath awakened so
many, shall waken thee. Watch, then, if thou love thy soul, lest thy
Lord come "suddenly and find thee sleeping. What I say to one, I say
to all, Watch," Mark xiii. 34-37.
_Tempt._ II. If Satan cannot keep the soul in a sleepy, careless,
inconsiderate forgetfulness, he would make the unregenerate soul
believe, that there is no such thing as regenerating grace; but that
it is a fancied thing, which no man hath experience of; and he saith,
as Nicodemus, "How can these things be?" John iii. 9. He thinks that
natural conscience is enough.
_Direct._ II. But this may easily be refuted by observing, that
holiness is but the very health and rectitude of the soul; and is no
otherwise supernatural, than as health to him that is born a leper. It
is the rectitude of nature, or its disposition to the use and end that
it was made for. Though grace be called supernatural, 1. Because it is
not born with us; and 2. Corrupted nature is against it; 3. And the
end of it is the God of nature, who is above nature; 4. And the
revelation and other means are supernatural (as Christ's incarnation,
resurrection, &c.): yet both nature, and Scripture, and experience
tell you, that man is made for another life, and for such works which
he is utterly unfit for, till grace have changed and renewed him, as
it doth by many before your eyes. See 2 Cor. v. 17; Gal. vi. 15; Gal.
iv. 19; John iii. 3, 5, 6; Matt. xviii. 3; 1 Pet. i. 23.
_Tempt._ III. But, saith the tempter, if supernatural grace be
necessary, yet it may be born in you. Infants have no sin; Christ
saith, "Of such is the kingdom of God: Abraham is your Father; yea,
God," John viii. 39, 41. You are born of christian parents.
_Direct._ III. See the full proof of original sin in all infants, in my
"Treatise of the Divine Life," part I. chap. xi. xii. Grace may indeed
be put betimes into nature, but comes not by nature.[42] "Except you be
born again, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God," John iii. 3, 5.
"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed
away: behold, all things are become new," 2 Cor. v. 17. But how vain is
it for him to boast that he was born holy, who finds himself at the
present unholy! Show that you have a holy, heavenly heart and life, and
then you are happy, whenever it was wrought.
_Tempt._ IV. But, saith the tempter, baptism is the laver of
regeneration: you are baptized, and therefore you are regenerated. The
ancients taught that all sins were washed away in baptism, and grace
conferred.
_Direct._ IV. _Answ._ The ancients by baptism meant the internal and
external acts conjunct, the soul's delivering up itself to God in the
covenant, and sealing it by baptism, Matt, xxviii. 19, 20: and so it
includeth conversion, and true repentance, and faith: and all that are
thus baptized are pardoned, justified and holy. But they that have
only sacramental regeneration, or the external ordinance, are not for
that in a state of life; for Christ expressly saith, that "except you
are born of the Spirit," as well as "water, you cannot enter into the
kingdom of heaven," John iii. 5, 6. And Peter told Simon Magus, after
he was baptized, that he was "yet in the gall of bitterness, and bond
of iniquity," Acts viii. 13. It is not the "putting away the filth of
the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience," 1 Pet. iii. 21.
Christ cleanseth his church "by the washing of water by the word,"
Eph. v. 26. But if you had been cleansed in baptism, if at present you
are unclean and unholy, can you be saved so?
_Tempt._ V. When this faileth, the tempter would persuade them, that
godliness is nothing but a matter of mere opinion or belief: to
believe all the articles of the faith, and to be no papist nor
heretic, but of true religion, and to be confident of God's mercy
through Christ; for "he that believeth shall be saved," Mark xvi. 16.
_Direct._ V. To this you must answer, that it will not save a man,
that his religion is true, unless he be true to it. Read James ii.
against such a dead faith. Saving faith is the hearty entertainment of
Christ as our Lord and Saviour, and the delivering up of the soul to
him to be sanctified and ruled, as well as pardoned. "Knowledge
puffeth up, but charity edifieth." "He that knoweth his master's will
and doth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes," Luke xii. 47. It
is sad that men should think to be saved by that which will condemn
them; by being of a right opinion, and a wrong conversation; by
believing their duty, instead of doing it; and then presuming that
Christ forgiveth them, and that their state is good. Opinion and
presumption are not faith.
_Tempt._ VI. But, saith the tempter, holiness is the excellency of
holy persons; but vulgar, unlearned people may be saved, without such
high matters, which are above them.
_Direct._ VI. But God telleth you, that "without holiness none shall
see him," Heb. xii. 14. The unlearned may be saved, but the ungodly
cannot, Psal. i. 6. Holiness is to the soul, as life to the body: he
that hath it not, is dead; though all have not the same degree of
health: sin is sin, and hated of God, in learned or unlearned. All men
have souls that need regenerating at first: and as all bodies that
live, must live on the earth, by the air, and food, &c.; so all souls
that live, do live upon the same God, and Christ, and heaven, by the
same word and Spirit; and all this may be had by the unlearned.
_Tempt._ VII. But, saith the tempter, God is not so unmerciful as to
damn all that are not holy: this is but talk to keep men in awe; and
not to be believed.
_Direct._ VII. But if God's threatenings be necessary to keep men in
awe, then are they necessary to be executed. For God needs not awe men
by a lie. He best knows to whom he will be merciful, and how far. Did
you never read, Isa. xxvii. 11, "It is a people of no understanding:
therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that
formed them will show them no favour." And Psal. lix. 5, "Be not
merciful to any wicked transgressors." Is he not just, as well as
merciful? Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. Do you not see that men are sick, and
pained, and die, for all that God is merciful? And do not merciful
judges condemn malefactors? Are not angels made devils by sin for all
that God is merciful? The devil knoweth this to his sorrow. "And if
God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell," 2
Pet. ii. 4, will he be unjust for you?
_Tempt._ VIII. But Christ died for all; and God will not punish him
and you both for the same fault.
_Direct._ VIII. Christ died so far for all that have the gospel, as to
procure and seal them a free and general pardon of all their sins, if
they will repent and take him for their Saviour, and so to bring
salvation to their choice. But will this save the ungodly obstinate
refusers? Christ died to sanctify, as well as to forgive, Eph. v. 27,
and to "purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works,"
Tit. ii. 14; and to "destroy the works of the devil," 1 John iii. 8;
and to bring all men under his dominion and government, Rom. xiv. 9;
Luke xix. 27. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, the same is
none of his," Rom. viii. 9.
_Tempt._ IX. No man can be certain of his salvation; but all must hope
well: and to raise doubts in men's hearts, whether they shall be saved
or no, will not help them, but puzzle them, and cast them into despair.
_Direct._ IX. But is there so little difference between a child of God
and of the devil, and between the way to heaven and the way to hell,
that they cannot be known asunder? Hath not Christ taught us plainly
how to know them? Psal. i. and xv.; 1 John iii; and bid us "give
diligence to make our calling and election sure?" 2 Pet. i. 10. If all
men must hope that they shall be saved, then most must hope for that
which they shall never have: but it is no hope of God's making, which
deceiveth men. Should so great a matter as our everlasting joy or
misery be cast out of our care, and ventured so regardlessly in the
dark? When is it that we have life, and time, and all for to make it
sure? And what hurt can it do you, to find out the truth of your own
condition? If you are indeed unregenerate and unholy, discover it now
in time, and you have time to be recovered. You must despair of being
saved without conversion; but that preventeth absolute, final despair.
Whereas if you find not out your case till time is past, then hope is
past, and the devil hath you in endless desperation, where he would.
_Tempt._ X. If this prevail not, the devil will seek to carry it by
noise instead of reason; and will seek to keep you in jovial, merry,
voluptuous company, that shall plead by pots, and plays, and
pleasures; and shall daily make a jest of godliness, and speak of the
godly with scorn, as a company of fanatic hypocrites.
_Direct._ X. But consider, that this is but the rage of fools, that
speak of what they never understood. Did they ever try the way they
speak against? Are they to be believed before God himself? Will they
not eat their words, at last, themselves? Will their merry lives last
always? Do they die as merrily as they live? and bring off themselves
as well as they promised to bring off you? See Prov. xiii. 20; xxviii.
7; Eph. v. 7, 11. He that will be cheated of his salvation, and
forsake his God, for the ranting scorns of a distracted sinner, is
worthy to be damned.
_Tempt._ XI. Next he telleth them, that a godly life is so hard and
tedious, that if they should begin, they should never endure to hold
on, and therefore it is in vain to try it.
_Direct._ XI. But this pretence is compounded of wickedness and
madness. What but a wicked heart can make it so hard a thing to live
in the love of God, and holiness, and in the hope and seeking of
eternal life? Why should not this be a sweeter and pleasanter life,
than drinking, and roaring, and gaming, and fooling away time in vain;
or than the enjoying of all the delights of the flesh? There is
nothing but a sick, distempered heart against it, that nauseateth that
which in itself is most delightful. When grace hath changed your
hearts, it will be easy. Do you not see that others can hold on in it,
and would not be as they were for all the world? And why may not you?
God will help you: it is the office of Christ and the Spirit to help
you: your encouragements are innumerable. The hardness is most at
first; it is the longer the easier. But what if it were hard? Is it
not necessary? Is hell easier, and to be preferred before it? And will
not heaven pay for all your cost and labour? Will you set down in
desperation, and resolve to let your salvation go, upon such silly
bug-bear words as these?
_Tempt._ XII. Next the devil's endeavour will be, to find them so much
employment with worldly cares, or hopes, or business, that they shall
find no leisure to be serious about the saving of their souls.
_Direct._ XII. But this is a snare, though frequently prevalent, yet so
irrational, and against so many warnings and witnesses, even of all men
in the world, either first or last, at conversion or at death, that he
who, after all this, will neglect his God and his salvation, because he
hath worldly things to mind, is worthy to be turned over to his choice,
and have no better help or portion in the hour of his necessity and
distress. Of this sin I have spoken afterward, chap. iv. part 6.
_Tempt._ XIII. Lest the soul should be converted, the devil will do
all that he can to keep you from the acquaintance and company of those
whose holiness and instructions might convince and strengthen you; and
especially from a lively, convincing minister; and to cast you under
some dead-hearted minister and society.
_Direct._ XIII. Therefore, if it be possible, though it be to your loss
or inconvenience in the world, live under a searching, heavenly teacher;
and in the company of them that are resolved for heaven. It is a dead
heart indeed that feeleth not the need of such assistance, and is not
the better for it when they have it. If ever you be fair for heaven, and
like to be converted, it will be among such helps as these.
_Tempt._ XIV. But one of the strongest temptations of Satan is, by
making their sin exceeding pleasant to them, for the gain, or honour, or
fleshly satisfaction; and so increasing the violence of their sensual
appetite and lust, and making them so much in love with their sin, that
they cannot leave it. Like the thirst of a man in a burning fever, which
makes him cry for cold drink, though it would kill him; the fury of the
appetite conquering reason. So we see many drunkards, fornicators,
worldlings, that are so deeply in love with their sin, that come on it
what will, they will have it, though they have hell with it.
_Direct._ XIV. Against this temptation I desire you to read what I have
said after, chap. iv. part 7, chap. iii. direct. 6, 8. Oh that poor
sinners knew what it is that they so much love! Is the pleasing of the
flesh so sweet a thing to you? and are you so indifferent to God, and
holy things? Are these less amiable? Do you foresee what both will be at
last? Will your sin seem better than Christ, and grace, and heaven, when
you are dying? O be not so in love with damning folly, and the pleasure
of a beast, as for it to despise the heavenly wisdom and delights!
_Tempt._ XV. Another great temptation is, the prosperity of the wicked
in this life; and the reproach and suffering which usually falls upon
the godly. If God did strike every notorious sinner dead in that
place, as soon as he had sinned, or struck him blind, or dumb, or
lame, or inflicted presently some such judgment, then many would fear
him, and forbear their sin; but when they see no men prosper so much
as the most ungodly, and that they are the persecutors of the holy
seed, and that sentence against an evil work is not speedily executed,
then are their hearts set in them to do evil, Eccles. viii. 11.
_Direct._ XV. But alas, how short is the prosperity of the wicked!
Read Psal. lxxiii. and xxxvii. Delay is no forgiveness: they stay but
till the assize: and will that tempt you to do as they? How
unthankfully do sinners deal with God! If he should kill you and
plague you, that would not please you: and yet if he forbear you, you
are imboldened by it in your sin. Thus his patience is turned against
him; but the stroke will be the heavier when it falls. Dost thou think
those men will always flourish? Will they always domineer and revel?
Will they always dwell in the houses where they now dwell, and possess
those lands, and be honoured and served as now they are? Oh how
quickly and how dreadfully will the case be changed with them! Oh
could you but foresee now what faces they will have, and what heavy
hearts, and with what bitter exclamations they will at last cry out
against themselves for all their folly, and wish that they had never
been deceived by prosperity, but rather had the portion of a Lazarus!
If you saw how they are but fatted for the slaughter, and in what a
dolorous misery their wealth, and sport, and honours will leave them,
you would lament their case, and think so great a destruction were
soon enough, and not desire to be partners in their lot.
_Tempt._ XVI. Another temptation is, their own prosperity: they think
God, when he prospereth them, is not so angry with them as preachers
tell them: and it is a very hard thing in health and prosperity, to
lay to heart either sin or threatenings, and to have such serious,
lively thoughts of the life to come, as men that are wakened by
adversity have; and specially men that are familiar with death.
Prosperity is the greatest temptation to security, and delaying
repentance, and putting off preparation for eternity. Overcome
prosperity, and you overcome your greatest snare.
_Direct._ XVI. Go into the sanctuary, yea, go into the church-yard,
and see the end; and judge by those skulls, and bones, and dust, if
you cannot judge by the fore-warnings of God, what prosperity is.[43]
Judge by the experience of all the world. Doth it not leave them all
in sorrow at last? Woe to the man that hath his portion in this life!
O miserable health, and wealth, and honour, which procureth the death,
and shame, and utter destruction of the soul! Was not he in as
prosperous a case as you, Luke xvi. that quickly cried out in vain for
a drop of water to cool his tongue? There is none of you so senseless
as not to know that you must die. And must you die? must you certainly
die? and shall that day be no better prepared for? Shall present
prosperity make you forget it, and live as if you must live here for
ever? Do you make so great difference between that which is, and that
which will be, as to make as great a matter of it as others when it
comes, and to make no more of it when it is but coming? O man, what is
an inch of hasty time? How quickly is it gone! Thou art going hence
apace, and almost gone! Doth God give thee the mercy of a few days or
years of health to make all thy preparations in for eternity, and doth
this mercy turn to thy deceit, and dost thou turn it so much contrary
to the ends for which it was given thee? Wilt thou surfeit on mercy,
and destroy thy soul with it? Sense feeleth and perceiveth what now
is, but thou hast reason to foresee what will be? Wilt thou play in
harvest, and forget the winter?
_Tempt._ XVII. Another great temptation to hinder conversion is, the
example and countenance of great ones that are ungodly. When landlords
and men in power are sensual, and enemies to a holy life, and speak
reproachfully of it, their inferiors, by the reverence which they bear
to worldly wealth and greatness, are easily drawn to say as they:
also, when men reputed learned and wise are of another mind: and
especially when subtle enemies speak that reproach against it, which
they cannot answer.
_Direct._ XVII. To this I spake in the end of the first part of this
chapter. No man is so great and wise as God. See whether he say as
they do in his word. The greatest that provoke him can no more save
themselves from his vengeance, than the poorest beggars. What work
made he with a Pharaoh! and got himself a name by his hard-heartedness
and impenitency! He can send worms to eat an arrogant Herod, when the
people cry him up as a god! Where are now the Cæsars and Alexanders of
the world? The rulers and Pharisees believed not in Christ, John vii.
48; wilt not thou therefore believe in him? The governor of the
country condemned him to die; and wilt thou condemn him? "The kings of
the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against
the Lord and his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder,
and cast away their cords from us," Psal. ii. 2, 3; wilt thou
therefore join in the conspiracy? When "he that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision--He will break them
with an iron rod, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel,
unless they be wise, and kiss the Son, and serve the Lord with fear,
before his wrath be kindled and they perish," Psal. ii. 4, 9-12. If
thy landlord, or great ones, shall be thy god, and be honoured and
obeyed before God and against him, trust to them, and call on them in
the hour of thy distress, and take such a salvation as they can give
thee. Teach not God what choice to make, and whom to reveal his
mysteries to: he chooseth not always the learned scribe, nor the
mighty man. Christ himself saith, Matt. xi. 25, "I thank thee, O
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things
from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes: even so,
Father; for so it seemeth good in thy sight!" If this reason satisfy
you not, follow them, and speed as they. If they are greater and wiser
than God, let them be your gods.[44] 1 Cor. i. 26-28, "You see your
calling, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty,
not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of
the world, to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things
of the world, to confound the things that are mighty; and base things
of the world, and the things that are despised, hath God chosen, and
things that are not, to bring to nought things that are." It is
another kind of greatness, honour, and wisdom which God bestoweth on
the poorest saints, than the world can give. Worldlings will shortly
be aweary of their portion. In your baptism you renounced the world
with its pomps and vanity; and now do you deify what you then defied?
_Tempt._ XVIII. Another temptation is to draw on the sinner into such
a custom in sin, and long neglect of the means of his recovery, till
his heart is utterly hardened.
_Direct._ XVIII. Against this, read after, chap. iv. part 2, against
hardness of heart.
_Tempt._ XIX. Another temptation is, to delay repentance, and purpose
to do it hereafter.
_Direct._ XIX. Of this I entreat you to read the many reasons which I
have given to shame and waken delayers, in my book of "Directions for
a Sound Conversion."
_Tempt._ XX. The worst of all is, to tempt them to flat unbelief of
Scripture and the life to come.
_Direct._ XX. Against this, read here chap. iii. direct. 1, chap. iv.
part 1, and my "Treatise against Infidelity."
_Tempt._ XXI. If they will needs look after grace, he will do all he
can to deceive them with counterfeits, and make them take a seeming
half conversion for a saving change.
_Direct._ XXI. Of this read my "Directions for Sound Conversion," and
the "Formal Hypocrite," and "Saints' Rest," part 3. c. 10.
_Tempt._ XXII. If he cannot make them flat infidels, he will tempt
them to question and contradict the sense of all those texts of
Scripture which are used to convince them, and all those doctrines
which grate most upon their galled consciences; as, of the necessity
of regeneration, the fewness of them that are saved, the difficulty of
salvation, the torments of hell, the necessity of mortification, and
the sinfulness of all particular sins. They will hearken what
cavillers can say for any sin, and against any part of godliness; and
with this they wilfully delude themselves.
_Direct._ XXII. But if men are resolved to join with the devil, and
shut their eyes, and cavil against all that God speaketh to them to
prevent their misery, and know not, because they will not know; what
remedy is left, or who can save men against their wills? "This is the
condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness
rather than light, because their deeds are evil. He that doth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should
be reproved," John iii. 19, 20. In Scripture, "some things are hard to
be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable, wrest to
their own destruction," 2 Pet. iii. 16. Of particulars read the end of
my "Treatise of Conversion."
_Tempt._ XXIII. Yea, Satan will do his worst to make them heretics,
and teach them some doctrine of licentiousness suitable to their
lusts. It is hard being wicked still against conscience in the open
light. This is kicking against the pricks; too smarting work to be
easily borne; therefore the devil will make them a religion which
shall please them and do their sins no harm. Either a religion made up
of loose opinions, like the familists, ranters, libertines, and
antinomians, and the Jesuits too much; or else made up of trifling
formalities, and a great deal of bodily exercise, and stage actions,
and compliments, as much of the popish devotion is: and a little will
draw a carnal heart to believe a carnal doctrine. It is easier to get
such a new religion, than a new heart. And then the devil tells them
that now they are in the right way, and therefore they shall be saved.
A great part of the world think their case is good, because they are
of such or such a sect or party, and of that which (they are told by
their leaders) is the true church and way.
_Direct._ XXIII. But remember, that whatever law you make to
yourselves, God will judge you by his own law. Falsifying the king's
coin is no good way to pay a debt, but an addition of treason to your
former misery. It is a new and a holy heart and life, and not a new
creed, or a new church or sect, that is necessary to your salvation.
It will never save you to be in the soundest church on earth, if you
be unsound in it yourselves, and are but the dust in the temple that
must be swept out: much less will it save you, to make yourselves a
rule, because God's rule doth seem too strict.
_Tempt._ XXIV. Another way of the tempter is, to draw men to take up
with mere convictions, instead of true conversion. When they have but
learnt that it is but necessary to salvation, to be regenerate, and
have the Spirit of Christ, they are as quiet, as if this were indeed
to be regenerate, and to have the Spirit. As some think they have
attained to perfection, when they have but received the opinion that
perfection may here be had; so abundance think they have had
sanctification and forgiveness, because now they see that they must be
had, and without sanctification there is no salvation: and thus the
knowledge of all grace and duty shall go with them for the grace and
duty itself; and their judgment of the thing, instead of the
possession of it: and instead of having grace, they force themselves
to believe that they have it.
_Direct._ XXIV. But remember God will not be mocked: he knoweth a
convinced head from a holy heart. To think you are rich, will not make
you rich: to believe that you are well, or to know the remedy, is not
enough to make you well. You may dream that you eat, and yet awake
hungry, Isa. xxix. 8. All the land or money which you see, is not
therefore your own. To know that you should be holy, maketh your
unholiness to have no excuse. Ahab did not escape by believing that he
should return in peace. Self-flattery in so great and weighty a case,
is the greatest folly. "If you know these things, happy are ye if ye
do them," John xiii. 17.
_Tempt._ XXV. Another great temptation is, by hiding from men the
intrinsic evil and odiousness of sin. What harm, saith the drunkard,
and adulterer, and voluptuous sensualist, is there in all this, that
preachers make so great ado against it? what hurt is this to God or
man, that they would make us believe that we must be damned for it,
and that Christ died for it, and that the Holy Ghost must mortify it?
"Wherefore," say the Jews, Jer. xvi. 10, "hath God pronounced all this
great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin
that we have committed?" He that knoweth not God, knoweth not what sin
against God is; especially when the love of it and delight in it
blindeth them.
[Sidenote: Psal. xl. 12. Psal. li.]
_Direct._ XXV. Against this I entreat you to ponder on those forty
intrinsical evils in sin, which I have after named, chap. iii. direct.
8, and the aggravations. If the devil can but once persuade you, that
sin is harmless, all faith, all religion, all honesty, and your souls
and all are gone. For then, all God's laws and government must be
fictions; then, there is no work for Christ as a Saviour, or the
Spirit as a Sanctifier, to do; then, all ordinances and means are
troublesome vanities, and godliness and obedience deserve to be
banished from the earth, as unnecessary troublers of mankind; then,
may this poison be safely taken and made your food. But oh how mad a
conceit is this! How quickly will God make the proudest know, what
harm it was to refuse the government of his Maker, and set up the
government of his beastly appetite and misguided will! and that sin is
bad, if hell be bad.
_Tempt._ XXVI. The devil also tempteth them to think, that though they
sin, yet their good works are a compensation for their bad, and
therefore they pray, and do some acts of pharisaical devotion, to make
God amends for what they do amiss.
[Sidenote: See Prov. xxviii. 9; Prov. xv. 26, 8; Prov. xxi. 27; Isa.
i. 13, 14.]
_Direct._ XXVI. Against this consider, that if you had never so many
good works, they are all but your duty, and make no satisfaction for
your sin. But what good works can you do, that shall save a wicked
soul? and that God will accept without your hearts? Your hearts must
be first cleansed, and yourselves devoted and sanctified to God: for
an evil tree will bring forth evil fruit: first make the tree good,
and the fruit will be good. It is the love of God, and the hatred of
sin, and a holy and heavenly life, which are the good works that God
chiefly calleth for; and faith, and repentance, and conversion in
order to these. And will God take your lip-labour, or the leavings of
your flesh by way of alms, while the world and fleshly pleasure have
your hearts? Indeed, you do no work that is truly good. The matter
may be good; but you poison it with bad principles and ends. "The
carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be; but
is enmity to God," Rom. viii. 6, 7.
_Tempt._ XXVII. Some are tempted to think, that God will not condemn
them because they are poor and afflicted in this life, and have their
sufferings here: and that he that condemneth the rich for not showing
mercy to the poor, will himself show them mercy.
_Direct._ XXVII. Hath he not showed you mercy? And is it not mercy
which you vilify and refuse? even Christ, and his Spirit, and holy
communion with God? or must God show you the mercy of glory, without
the mercy of grace? which is a contradiction. Strange! that the same
men that will not be entreated to accept of mercy, nor let it save
them, are yet saying, that God will be merciful and save them.
[Sidenote: See Heb. xi. 6, 7, 9, 10]
And for your poverty and suffering, is it not against your will? you
cannot deny it: and will God save any man for that which is against
his will? You would have riches, and honour, and pleasure, and your
good things in this life, as well as others, if you could tell how:
you love the world as well as others, if you could get more of it. And
to be carnal and worldly for so poor a pittance, and to love the world
when you suffer in it, doth make you more inexcusable than the rich.
The devils have suffered more than you, and so have many thousand
souls in hell; and yet they shall be saved never the more. If you are
poor in the world, but rich in faith and holiness, then you may well
expect salvation, James ii. 5. But if your sufferings make you no more
holy, they do but aggravate your sin.
_Tempt._ XXVIII. Also the devil blindeth sinners, by keeping them
ignorant of the nature and power of holiness of heart and life. They
know it not by any experience; and he will not let them see it and
judge of it in the Scripture, where it is to be seen without any mixed
contraries; but he points them only to professors of holiness, and
commonly to the weakest and the worst of them, and to that which is
worst in them, and showeth them the miscarriages of hypocrites, and
the falls of the weaker sort of christians, and then tells them, This
is their godliness and religion; they are all alike.
_Direct._ XXVIII. But it is easy to see, how these men deceive and
condemn themselves. This is as if you should plead that a beast is
wiser than a man, because some men are drunk, and some are passionate,
and some are mad. Drunkenness and passions, which are the disturbances
of reason, are no disgrace to reason, but to themselves: nor were they
a disgrace themselves, if reason which they hinder were not
honourable. So no man's sins are a disgrace to holiness, which
condemneth them: nor were they bad themselves, if holiness were not
good, which they oppose. It is no disgrace to the daylight or sun,
that there is night and darkness: nor were darkness bad, if light were
not good. Will you refuse health, because some men are sick? nay, will
you rather choose to be dead, because the living have infirmities? The
devil's reasoning is foolisher than this! Holiness is of absolute
necessity to salvation. If many that do more than you, are as bad as
you imagine, what a case then are you in, that have not near so much
as they! If they that make it their greatest care to please God, and
be saved, are as very hypocrites as the devil would persuade you, what
a hopeless case then are you in, that come far short of them! If so,
you must do more than they, and not less, if you will be saved; or
else out of your own mouths will you be condemned.
_Tempt._ XXIX. Another way of the tempter is, by drawing them
desperately to venture their souls; come on them what will, they will
put it to the venture, rather than live so strict a life.
_Direct._ XXIX. But, O man, consider what thou dost, and who will have
the loss of it! and how quickly it may be too late to recall thy
adventure! What should put thee on so mad a resolution? Is sin so
good? is hell so easy? is thy soul so contemptible? is heaven such a
trifle? is God so hard a master? is his work so grievous, and his way
so bad? doth he require any thing unreasonable of you? hath God set
you such a grievous task, that it is better venture on damnation than
perform it? You cannot believe this, if you believe him to be God.
Come near, and think more deliberately on it, and you will find you
might better run from your food, your friend, your life, than from
your God, and from a holy life, when you run but into sin and hell.
_Tempt._ XXX. Another great temptation is, in making them believe that
their sins are but such common infirmities as the best have: they
cannot deny but they have their faults; but are not all men sinners?
They hope that they are not reigning, unpardoned sins.
_Direct._ XXX. But, oh how great a difference is between a converted
and an unconverted sinner! between the failings of a child and the
contempt of a rebel! between a sinner that hath no gross or mortal
sin, and hateth, bewaileth, and striveth against his infirmities; and
a sinner that loveth his sin, and is loth to leave it, and maketh
light of it, and loveth not a holy life. God will one day show you a
difference between these two, when you see that there are sinners that
are justified and saved, and sinners that are condemned.
* * * * *
_Tempt._ I. But here are many subordinate temptations, by which Satan
persuades them that their sins are but infirmities: one is, because
their sin is but in the heart, and appeareth not in outward deeds: and
they take _restraint_ for sanctification.
_Direct._ I. Alas! man, the life and reign of sin is in the heart; that
is its garrison and throne: the life of sin lieth in the prevalence of
your lusts within, against the power of reason and will. All outward
sins are but acts of obedience to the reigning sin within; and a
gathering tribute for this, which is the king. For this it is that they
make provision, Rom. xiii. 14. On this all is consumed, James iv. 3.
Original sin may be reigning sin (as a king may be born a king). Sin
certainly reigneth, till the soul be converted and born again.
_Tempt._ II. The devil tells them it is but an infirmity, because it
is no open, gross, disgraceful sin: it is hard to believe that they
are in danger of hell, for sins which are accounted small.
_Direct._ II. But do you think it is no mortal, heinous sin, to be
void of the love of God and holiness? to love the flesh and the world
above him? to set more by earth than heaven, and do more for it?
However they show themselves, these are the great and mortal sins. Sin
is not less dangerous for lying secret in the heart. The root and
heart are usually unseen. Some kings (as in China, Persia, &c.) keep
out of sight for the honour of their majesty. Kings are the spring of
government; but actions of state are executed by officers. When you
see a man go, or work, you know that it is something within which is
the cause of all. If sin appeared without, as it is within, it would
lose much of its power and majesty. Then ministers, and friends, and
every good man would cast a stone at it; but its secrecy is its peace.
The devil himself prevaileth by keeping out of sight. If he were seen,
he would be less obeyed. So it is with the reigning sins of the heart.
Pride and covetousness may be reigning sins, though they appear not in
any notorious, disgraceful course of life. David's hiding his sin, or
Rachel her idol, made them not the better. It is a mercy to some men,
that God permitteth them to fall into some open, scandalous sin, which
may tend to humble them, who would not have been humbled nor convinced
by heart-sins alone. See Jer. iv. 14; Hosea vii. 6, 7. An oven is
hottest when it is stopped.
_Tempt._ III. Satan tells them, they are not unpardoned, reigning
sins, because they are common in the world. If all that are as bad as
I must be condemned, say they, God help a great number.
_Direct._ III. But know you not that reigning sin is much more common
than saving holiness? and that the gate is wide, and the way is broad,
that leadeth to destruction, and many go in at it? Salvation is as
rare as holiness; and damnation as common as reigning sin, where it is
not cured. This sign therefore makes against you.
_Tempt._ IV. But, saith the tempter, they are such sins as you see
good men commit: you play at the same games as they: you do but what
you see them do; and they are pardoned.
_Direct._ IV. You must judge the man by his works, and not the works
by the man. And there is more to be looked at, than the bare matter of
an act. A good man and a bad may play at the same game, but not with
the same end, nor with the same love to sport, nor so frequently and
long to the loss of time. Many drops may wear a stone: many stripes
with small twigs may draw blood. Many mean men in a senate have been
as great kings: you may have many of these little sins set all
together, which plainly make up a carnal life. The power of a sin is
more considerable than the outward show. A poor man, if he be in the
place of a magistrate, may be a ruler. And a sin materially small, and
such as better men commit, may be a sin in power and rule with you,
and concur with others which are greater.
_Tempt._ V. But, saith the tempter, they are but sins of omission, and
such are not reigning sins.
_Direct._ V. Sins of omission are always accompanied with some
positive, sensual affection to the creature, which diverteth the soul,
and causeth the omission. And so omission is no small part of the
reigning sin. The not using of reason and the will for God, and for
the mastering of sensuality, is much of the state of ungodliness in
man. Denying God the heart and life, is no small sin. God made you to
do good, and not only to do no harm: else a stone or corpse were as
good a christian as you; for they do less harm than you. If sin have a
negative voice in your religion, whether God shall be worshipped and
obeyed or not, it is your king: it may show its power as well by
commanding you not to pray, and not to consider, and not to read, as
in commanding you to be drunk or swear. The wicked are described by
omissions: such as "will not seek after God: God is not in all his
thoughts," Psal. x. 4. Such as "know not God, and call not on his
name," Jer. x. 25. That have "no truth, or mercy, or knowledge of
God," Hos. iv. 1. That "feed not, clothe not, visit not" Christ in his
members, Matt. xxv.; that hide their talents, Matt. xxv. Indeed, if
God have not your heart, the creature hath it; and so it is omission
and commission that go together in your reigning sin.
_Tempt._ VI. But, saith the tempter, they are but sins of ignorance,
and therefore they are not reigning sins: at least you are not certain
that they are sins.
_Direct._ VI. And indeed do you not know that it is a sin to love the
world better than God? and fleshly pleasure better than God's service?
and riches better than grace and holiness? and to do more for the body
than for the soul, and for earth than for heaven? Are you uncertain
whether these are sins? And do you not feel that they are your sins?
You cannot pretend ignorance for these. But what causeth your
ignorance? Is it because you would fain know, and cannot? Do you read,
and hear, and study, and inquire, and pray for knowledge, and yet
cannot know? Or is it not because you would not know, or think it not
worth the pains to get it; or because you love your sin? And will such
wilful ignorance as this excuse you? No; it doth make your sin the
greater. It showeth the greater dominion of sin, when it can use thee
as the Philistines did Samson, put out thy eyes, and make a drudge of
thee; and conquer thy reason, and make thee believe that evil is good
and good is evil. Now it hath mastered the principal fortress of thy
soul, when thy understanding is mastered by it. He is reconciled
indeed to his enemy, who taketh him to be a friend. Do you not know,
that God should have your heart, and heaven should have your chiefest
care and diligence; and that you should make the word of God your
rule, and your delight, and meditation day and night? If you know not
these things, it is because you would not know them: and it is a
miserable case to be given up to a blinded mind! Take heed, lest at
last you commit the horridest sins, and do not know them to be sins.
For such there are that mock at godliness, and persecute christians
and ministers of Christ, and know not that they do ill; but think they
do God service, John xvi. 2. If a man will make himself drunk, and
then kill, and steal, and abuse his neighbours, and say, I knew not
that I did ill, it shall not excuse him. This is your case. You are
drunken with the love of fleshly pleasure and worldly things, and
these carry you so away, that you have neither heart nor time to study
the Scriptures, and hear, and think what God saith to you, and then
say that you did not know.
_Tempt._ VII. But, saith the tempter, it cannot be a mortal reigning
sin, because it is not committed with the whole heart, nor without
some struggling and resistance: dost thou not feel the Spirit striving
against the flesh? and so it is with the regenerate, Gal. v. 17; Rom.
vii. 20-23. The good which thou dost not do, thou wouldst do; and the
evil which thou dost, thou wouldst not do; so then it is no more thou
that dost it, but sin that dwelleth in thee. In a sensual unregenerate
person, there is but one party, there is nothing but flesh; but thou
feelest the combat between the flesh and the Spirit within thee.
[Sidenote: What resistance of sin may be in the ungodly.]
_Direct._ VII. This is a snare so subtle and dangerous, that you have
need of eyes in your head to escape it. Understand therefore, that as to
the two texts of Scripture, much abused by the tempter, they speak not
at all of mortal reigning sin, but of the unwilling infirmities of such
as had subdued all such sin, and walked not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit; and whose wills were habitually bent to good; and fain would
have been perfect, and not have been guilty of an idle thought, or word,
or of any imperfection in their holiest service, but lived up to all
that the law requireth: but this they could not do, because the flesh
did cast many stops before the will in the performance. But this is
nothing to the case of one that liveth in gross sin, and an ungodly
life, and hath strivings and convictions, and uneffectual wishes to be
better and to turn, but never doth it. This is but sinning against
conscience, and resisting the Spirit that would convert you; and it
maketh you worthy of many stripes, as being rebellious against the
importunities of grace. Sin may be resisted where it is never conquered;
it may reign nevertheless for some contradiction. Every one that
resisteth the king, doth not depose him from his throne. It is a
dangerous deceit to think that every good desire that contradicteth sin,
doth conquer it, and is a sign of saving grace. It must be a desire
after a state of godliness, and an effectual desire too. There are
degrees of power: some may have a less and limited power, and yet be
rulers. As the evil spirits that possessed men's bodies, were a legion
in one, and but one in others, yet both were possessed; so is it here.
Grace is not without resistance in a holy soul; there are some remnants
of corruption in the will itself, resisting the good; and yet it
followeth not that grace doth not rule. So is it in the sin of the
unregenerate. No man in this life is so good as he will be in heaven, or
so bad as he will be in hell; therefore none is void of all moral good.
And the least good will resist evil, in its degree, as light doth
darkness. As in these cases:
1. There is in the unregenerate a remnant of natural knowledge and
conscience. Some discoveries of God and his will there are in his
works: God hath not left himself without witness. See Acts xiv. 17;
xvii. 27; Rom. i. 19, 20; ii. 7-9. This light and law of nature
governed the heathens; and this in its measure resisteth sin, and
assisteth conscience.
2. When supernatural extrinsic revelation in the Scripture, is added
to the light and law of nature, and the ungodly have all the same law
as the best; it may do more.
3. Moreover, an ungodly man may live under a most powerful preacher,
that will never let him alone in his sins, and may stir up much fear
in him, and many good purposes, and almost persuade him to be a true
christian; and not only to have some ineffectual wishings and
strivings against sin, but to do many things after the preacher, as
Herod did after John, and to escape the common pollutions of the
world, 2 Pet. ii. 20.
4. Some sharp affliction, added to the rest, may make him seem to
others a true penitent: when he is stopped in his course of sin, as
Balaam was by the angel, with a drawn sword, and seeth that he cannot
go on but in danger of his life; and that God is still meeting him
with some cross, and hedging up his way with thorns (for such mercy he
showeth to some of the ungodly); this may not only breed resistance of
sin, but some reformation. When the Babylonians were planted in
Samaria they feared not God, and he sent lions among them; and then
they feared him, and sent up some kind of service to him, performed by
a base sort of priests; "they feared the Lord, and served their own
gods," thinking it was safest to please all, 2 Kings xvii. 25, 32, 33.
Affliction maketh bad men likest to the good.
5. Good education and company may do very much: it may help them to
much knowledge, and make them professors of strict religion; and
constant companions with those that fear sin, and avoid it; and
therefore they must needs go far then, as Joash did all the days of
Jehoiada, 2 Chron. xxiv. 2. As plants and fruits change with the soil
by transplantation, and as the climate maketh some blackmoors and some
white; so education and converse have so great a power on the mind,
that they come next to grace, and are oft the means of it.
6. And God giveth to many, internally, some grace of the Spirit, which
is not proper to them that are saved, but common or preparatory only.
And this may make much resistance against sin, though it do not
mortify it. One that should live but under the convictions that Judas
had when he hanged himself, I warrant him, would have strivings and
combats against sin in him, though he were unsanctified.
7. Yea, the interest and power of one sin may resist another: as
covetousness may make much resistance against sensuality and pride of
life, and pride may resist all disgraceful sin.
_Tempt._ VIII. But, saith the tempter, it is not unpardoned sin,
because thou art sorry and dost repent for it when thou hast committed
it; and all sin is pardoned that is repented of.
_Direct._ VIII. All the foresaid causes which may make some resistance
of sin in the ungodly, may cause also some sorrow and repenting in
them. There is repenting and sorrow for sin in hell. All men repent
and are sorry at last; but few repent so, as to be pardoned and saved.
When a sinner hath had all the sweetness out of sin that it can yield
him, and seeth that it is all gone, and the sting is left behind, no
marvel if he repent. I think there is scarce any drunkard, or
whoremonger, or glutton, (that is not a flat infidel,) but he
repenteth of the sin that is past, because he hath had all out of it
that it can yield him, and there is nothing left of it that is lovely:
but yet he goeth on still, which showeth that his repentance was
unsound. True repentance is a thorough change of the heart and life; a
turning from sin to a holy life, and such a sorrow for what is past as
would not let you do it if it were to do again. If you truly repent,
you would not do so again, if you had all the same temptations.
_Tempt._ IX. But, saith the tempter, it is but one sin, and the rest
of thy life is good and blameless; and God judgeth by the greater part
of thy life, whether the evil or the good be most.
_Direct._ IX. If a man be a murderer, or a traitor, will you excuse him,
because the rest of his life is good, and it is but one sin that he is
charged with? One sort of poison may kill a man; and one stab at the
heart, though all his body else be whole: you may surfeit on one dish:
one leak may sink a ship. James ii. 10, "Whosoever shall keep the whole
law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all." See Ezek. xviii.
10, 11. Indeed God doth judge by the bent of thy heart, and the main
drift and endeavour of thy life. But canst thou say, that the bent of
thy heart, and the main endeavour of thy life, is for God, and heaven,
and holiness? No: if it were, thou wert regenerate; and this would not
let thee live in any one beloved, chosen, wilful sin. The bent of a
man's heart and life may be sinful, earthly, fleshly, though it run but
in the channel of one way of gross sinning: as a man may be covetous,
that hath but one trade; and a whoremonger, that hath but one whore; and
an idolater, that hath but one idol. If thou lovedst God better, thou
wouldst let go thy sin; and if thou love any one sin better than God,
the whole bent of thy heart and life is wicked: for it is not set upon
God and heaven, and therefore is ungodly.
_Tempt._ X. But, saith the tempter, it is not reigning, unpardoned
sin, because thou believest in Jesus Christ; and all that believe, are
pardoned, and justified from all their sin.
_Direct._ X. He that savingly believeth in Christ, doth take him
entirely for his Saviour and Governor; and giveth up himself to be
saved, sanctified, and ruled by him. As trusting your physician,
implieth that you take his medicines, and follow his advice, and so
trust him; and not that you trust to be cured while you disobey him,
by bare trusting: so is it as to your faith and trust in Christ; it is
a belief or trust, that he will save all those that are ruled by him
in order to salvation. "He is the author of eternal salvation to all
them that obey him," Heb. v. 9. If you believe in Christ, you believe
Christ: and if you believe Christ, you believe "that except a man be
converted, and born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
heaven," John iii. 3, 5; Matt. xviii. 3; and that he that is "in
Christ, is a new creature; old things are past away, and all is become
new," 2 Cor. v. 17; and that "without holiness none shall see God,"
Heb. xii. 14; and that "no fornicator, effeminate, thieves, covetous,
drunkards, revilers, extortioners, murderers, liars, shall enter into,
or have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ," 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10;
Eph. v. 4-6; Rev. xxi. 27; xxii. 14, 15. If you believe Christ, you
must believe that you cannot be saved unless you be converted. It is
the devil, and not Christ, that telleth you, you may be pardoned and
saved in an unholy, unregenerate state: and it is sad, that men should
believe the devil, and call this a believing in Christ, and think to
be saved for so believing; as if false faith and presumption pleased
God! Christ will not save men for believing a lie, and believing the
father of lies before him; nor will he save all that are confident
they shall be saved. If you think you have any part in Christ,
remember Rom. viii. 9, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, the
same is none of his."[45]
FOOTNOTES:
[10] Leg. Danielis Episcop. Epist. ad Bonif. Mogunt. inter Epist.
Bonif. 67. de Methodo convertendi Paganos.
[11] Hæsit tam desperati insulæ excidii, insperatique mentio auxilii,
memoriæ eorum qui utriusque miraculi testes extitere: et ob hoc reges,
publici, privati, sacerdotes, ecclesiastici, suum quique ordinem
servarunt. At illis decedentibus, cum successisset ætas tempestatis
illius nescia, et præsentis tantum serenitatis expers, ita cuncta
veritatis ac justitiæ moderamina concussa ac subversa sunt, ut earum
non dicam vestigium, sed ne monumentum quidem in supra dictis
propemodum ordinibus appareat; exceptis paucis, et valde paucis, qui
ob amissionem tantæ multitudinis, quæ quotidie prona ruit ad tartara,
tam brevis numeri habentur, ut eos quodammodo venerabilis mater
ecclesia in sinu suo recumbentes non videat, quos solos veros filios
habeat. Quorum nequis me egregiam vitam omnibus admirabilem, Deoque
amabilem carpere putet; si qua liberius de his, immo lugubrius, cumulo
malorum compulsus, qui serviunt non solum ventri, sed et diabolo
potius quam Christo. Gildas p. (mihi) 514. It was Pythagoras's saying,
(which Ambrose saith he hath from the Jews,) Communem atque usitatam
populo viam, non esse terendam.
[12] Cum despicere cœpimus et sentire, quid simus, et quid ab
animantibus cæteris differamus, tum ea insequi incipiemus ad quæ nati
sumus. Cicero 5. de finib. See the proof of the Godhead, and that God is
the Governor of the world, and that there is another life for man, in
the beginning of my "Holy Commonwealth," chap. 1, 2, 3. Commoda quibus
utimur, lucem qua fruimur, spiritum quem ducimus, à Deo nobis dari et
impartiri videmus. Cicero pro Ros. Quis est tam vecors, qui cum
suspexerit in cœlum, deos esse non sentiat? et ea quæ tanta mente fiunt,
ut vix quisquam arte ulla ordinem rerum atque vicissitudinem persequi
possit, casu fieri putet? Cicero de Resp. Arusp. Read Galen's Hymns to
the Creator, Li. de usu partium, præcipuè, 1. iii. cap. 10. Nulla gens
est tam immansueta, neque tam ferrea, quæ non etiamsi ignoret qualem
Deum habere deceat, tamen habendum sciat. Cic. 1. de Leg. Omnibus
innatum, et quasi insculptum est, esse deos. Id de Nat. Deor. Agnoscimus
Deum ex operibus ejus. Cic. 1. Tusc. Nullum est animal præter hominem
quod habet ullam notitiam Dei. Cic. 1. de Legib. Nulla gens tam fera,
cujus mentem non imbuerit deorum opinio. Cic. 1. Tusc. "I had rather
believe all the Legends, Talmud, Alcoran, than that this universal frame
is without a mind." Lord Bacon, Essay 16. "A little philosophy inclineth
man's mind to atheism: but depth in philosophy bringeth men's mind about
to religion." Lord Bacon, Essay 16. Stoici dicunt unum deum esse,
ipsumque et mentem et fatum et Jovem dicunt: principio illum cum esset
apud se, substantiam omnem per aerem in aquam convertisse--Quod autem
faciat, Verbum Deum esse quod in ipsa sit. Hunc enim quippe sempiternum
per ipsam (materiam) omnem singula creare. Mundum quoque regi et
administrari secundum mentem et providentiam mente per omnes illius
partes pertingente--Laert. in Zenone.
[13] Mundus numine regitur, estque quasi communis urbs et civitas
hominum. Cicero 2. de finib. Impiis apud inferos sunt pœnæ præparatæ.
Cicero 1. de Invent. Impii apud inferos pœnas luunt. Idem. Phil, et 1.
de Legib. Jovem dominatorem rerum, et omnia nutu regentem, et præsentem
et præpotentem, qui dubitat, haud sanè intelligo, cur non idem, sol sit,
an nullus sit dubitari possit. Cicer. de Nat. Deor. 2. p. 48.
[14] Non temerè, nec fortuito, sati et creati sumus; sed profecto fuit
quædam vis, quæ generi consuleret humano; nec id gigneret, aut aleret,
quod cum exantlavisset omnes labores, tum incideret in mortis malum
sempiternum. Cic. 1. Tuscul. Nec unquam bono quicquam mali evenire
potest, nec vivo nec mortuo. Nec res ejus à Diis negliguntur. Idem. 1.
Tusc.
[15] Abeunt omnia unde orta sunt. Cic. in. lat. Maj. Dii immortales
sparserunt animos in corpora humana, ut essent qui terras tuerentur,
quique cœlestem ordinem contemplantes, imitarentur eum vitæ modo atque
constantia. Cic. in Cato Majore. Ex terrâ sunt homines, non ut incolæ,
et habitatores, sed quasi spectatores superarum rerum atque cœlestium;
quarum spectaculum ad nullum aliud genus animantium pertinet. Cicero
2. de Nat. Deor. Sic habeto; te non esse mortalem, sed corpus hoc.
Idem. Somn. Scip. Cum natura cæteras animantes abjecisset ad pastum,
solum hominem erexit, et ad cœli quasi cognationis, domiciliique
pristini conspectum excitavit: tum speciem ita formavit oris, ut in ea
penitus reconditos mores effingeret. Cic. 1. de Legib. Nisi Deus istis
te corporis custodiis liberaverit, ad cœlum aditus patere non potest.
Cicero Somn. Scip. Animi omnium sunt immortales: sed bonorum divini.
Cic. 2. de Legib. Bonorum mentes mihi divinæ atque æternæ videntur, et
ex hominum vita ad deorum religionem et sanctimoniamque migrare. Idem.
Animus est ingeneratus à Deo, ex quo vere vel agnatio nobis cum
cœlestibus, vel genus vel stirps appellari potest. Idem. 1. de Leg.
[16] Qui seipsum cognoverit, cognoscet in se omnia: Deum, ad cujus
imaginem factus est: mundum, cujus simulachrum gerit; creaturas omnes
cum quibus symbolum habet. Paul. Scaliger Thes. p. 722.
[17] Cum quem pœnitet peccasse pene innocens est: maxima purgationum
pars est voluntaria pœnitentia delictorum. Scal. Thes. p. 742.
Facilius iis ignoscitur qui non perseverare sed ab errato se revocare,
moliuntur; est enim humanum peccare, sed belluinum in errore
perseverare. Cic. in Vat. Even Aristotle could say, that he that
believed as he ought of the gods, should think as well of himself, as
Alexander that commandeth so many men. Plutarch, de Tranquil. Anim. p.
155. Nullus suavior animo cibus est, quam cognitio veritatis. Lactant.
Instit. 1. 1. c. 1. It is a marvellous and doleful case to think how
ignorant some people live, even to old age, under constant and
excellent teaching. Some learn neither words nor sense, but hear as if
they heard not: some learn words, and know the sense no more than if
they had learned but a tongue unknown; and will repeat their creed and
catechism, when they know not what it is that they say. A worthy
minister of Helvetia told me, that their people are very constant at
their sermons, and yet most of them grossly ignorant of the things
which they most frequently hear. It is almost incredible what
ignorance some ministers report that they have found in some of the
eldest of their auditors. Nay, when I have examined some that have
professed strictness in religion, above the common sort of people, I
have found some ignorant of some of the fundamentals of the christian
faith. And I remember what an ancient bishop about twelve hundred
years ago saith, Maximus Taurinensis in his homilies, that when he had
long preached to his people, even on an evening after one of his
sermons, he heard a cry or noise among the people, and hearkening what
it was, they were by their outcry helping to deliver the moon, that
was in labour and wanted help. His words are, Quis non moleste ferat
sic vos esse vestræ salutes immemores, ut etiam cœlo teste peccetis?
Nam cum ante dies plerosque cum cupiditate pulsaverim, ipsa die
circiter vesperam tanta vociferatio populi extitit, ut irreligiositas
ejus penetraret ad cœlum. Quod cum requirerem quid sibi clamor his
velit? dixerunt mihi quod laboranti lunæ vestra vociferatio
subveniret; et defectum ejus suis clamoribus adjuvaret: Risi equidem
et miratus sum vanitatem, quod quasi devoti Christiani Deo ferebatis
auxilium. Clamabatis enim ne tacentibus vobis perderet elementum.
tanquam infirmus enim et imbecillis, nisi vestris adjuvaretur vocibus,
non posset luminaria defendere quæ creavit. It is cited also by
Papirius Massonus in vita Hilarii Papæ, fol. 67. Therefore popery is
suitable to the children of darkness, and unsuitable to the children
of light, because it greatly befriendeth ignorance, hindering the
people from the Holy Scriptures, and quieting them with the opiate of
an easy implicit faith, in believing as the Roman church believeth,
though they know not what it believeth, or mistake, and think it
believeth that which it doth not. Ockam. lib. de Sacram. Altar. cap.
1. citeth Innocent. Extra de Sum. Trin. to prove the great benefit and
efficacy of implicit faith, that it would prove an error to be no sin:
"In tantum, inquit, valet fides implicita, ut dicunt aliqui, ut si
aliquis eam habet, quod scilicet credit quicquid Ecclesia credit, si
false opiniatur, ratione naturali motus, quia pater est vel prior
filio, vel quod tres personæ sint tres res ab invicem distantes, non
est hæreticus, nec peccat; dummodo hunc errorem non defendat, et hoc
ipsum credit, quia credit ecclesiam sic credere, et suam opinionem
fidei ecclesiæ supponit. Quia licet sic male opinetur, non tamen est
illa fides sua, immo fides sua est fides Ecclesiæ." This implicit
faith, being nothing but to believe that the church erreth not, is not
an implicit faith in God, (to believe that all that God revealeth is
true,) which all men have that believe in God, as rational an excuse
for ignorance and error, as a belief in the church of Rome? This is
too short and easy a faith to be effectual to the true ends of faith.
Si igitur tantæ sit efficaciæ fides implicita, ut excuset ignoranter
errantem circa illa quæ in Scriptura canonica sunt expressa, multo
magis excusabit ignoranter opinantem aliquid quod nec in Scriptura
canonica reperitur expressum. Ockam. ibid.
[18] Pœnitenti optimus est portus, mutatio consilii. Cic. Phil. 12.
[19] Bonum gratiæ unius hominis majus est quam bonum naturæ totius
universi. Aquin. 12. q. 113. art. 9.
[20] Quicquid Deo gratum dignumque offertur, de bono thesauro cordis
defertur. Intra nos quippe est quod Deo offerimus, omne viz.
acceptabile munus: Ibi timor Dei----ibi confessio, ibi largitas, ibi
sobrietas, ibi paupertas spiritus, ibi compassio, &c. Potho Prumiens.
de Domo Dei, 1. 2. De regno Dei quod intra nos est meditamur vanitates
et insanias falsas, dum interioribus animæ virtutibus, in quibus
regnum Dei consistit, privati, ad exteriora quædam studia ducimur, et
circa corporales exercitationes quæ ad modicum utiles esse videntur,
occupamur, fructus spiritus, qui sunt charitas, pax, gaudium, &c.
intus minime possidemus, et exterius quarundum consuetudinum
observantias sectamur; in exercitiis tantum corporalibus quæ sunt
jejunia, vigiliæ, asperitas seu vilitas vestis, &c. regulam nobis
vivendi quasi perfectam statuentes. Idem ibid.
[21] Nulla religio vera est, nisi quæ virtute et justitia constat. Id.
ibid.
[22] Victor Utic. saith that the Arrian Goths tormented the devoted
virgins, to force them to confess that their pastors had committed
fornication with them, but no torment prevailed with them, though many
were killed with it, p. 407, 408. lib. 2. Terrent præceptis feralibus,
ut in medio Vandalorum nostri nullatenus respirarent: neque usque
quaque orandi aut immolandi concederetur gementibus locus. Nam et
diversæ calumniæ non deerant quotidie, etiam illis sacerdotibus, qui
in his regionibus versabantur, quæ palatio tributo pendebant. Et si
forsitan quisquam, ut moris est, dura Dei populum admoneret,
Pharaonem, Nabuchodonosor, Holofernem, aut aliquem similem nominasset,
objiciebantur illi, quod in personam regis ita dixisset, et statim
exilio tradebatur. Hoc enim tempore persecutionis genus agebatur, hic
apertè, alibi occultè, ut piorum nomen talibus insidiis interiret. N.
B. Victor. Uticens. p. (mihi) 382. Abundance of pastors were then
banished from their churches, and many tormented, and Augustine
himself died with fear, saith Victor, ib. p. 376, when he had written
(saith he) two hundred and thirty-two books, besides innumerable
Epistles, Homilies, Expositions on the Psalms, Evangelists, &c.
[23] The word itself exciteth reason, and preachers are by reason to
shame all sin as a thing unreasonable. And the want of such
excitation, by powerful preaching, and plain instructing, and the
persons considering, is a great cause of the world's undoing. For
those preachers that lay all the blame on the people's stupidity or
malignity, I desire them to read a satisfactory answer in Acosta the
Jesuit, li. iv. c. 2, 3, & 4. Few souls perish, comparatively, where
all the means are used which should be used by their superiors for
their salvation: if every parish had holy, skilful, laborious pastors,
that would publicly and privately do their part, great things might be
expected in the world. But, saith Acosta, Itaque præcipua causa ad
ministros parum idoneos redit. Quæ namque est prædicatio nostra? quæ
fiducia? signa certè non edimus: vitæ sanctitate non eminemus;
beneficentia non invitamus; verbi ac spiritus efficacia non
persuademus; lachrymis ac precibus à Deo non impetramus; imo ne
magnopere quidem curamus. Quæ ergo nostra querela est? quæ tanta
Indorum accusatio? lib. iv. p. 365. An ingenuous confession of the
Roman priesthood. And such priests can expect no better success. But
having seen another sort of ministers, through God's mercy, I have
seen an answerable fruit of their endeavours.
[24] Even learning and honest studies may be used as a diversion from
more necessary things. Saith Petrarch, in Vita Sua, Ingenio sui ad omne
bonum et salubre studium apto; sed ad moralem præcipue philosophiam, et
ad poeticam prono. Quam ipsam processu temporis neglexi, sacris literis
delectatus, in quibus sensi dulcedinem abditam, quam aliquando
contempseram; poeticis literis non nisi ad ornamentum reservatis.
[25] 1 Peter v. 2-4; 2 Cor. x. 4; 2 Cor. v. 19, 20; 2 Cor. i. 24; 1
Cor. iv. 1; 2 Cor. iii. 6, and xi. 23; Joel i. 9, 13; 2 Cor. iv. 5;
Mark x. 44; Matt. xx. 27; Luke xxii. 24-26.
[26] Seneca Ep. 87. scribit, Tam necessarium fuisse Romano populo
nasci Catonem, quam Scipionem: alter enim cum hostibus nostris, alter
cum moribus bellum gessit.
[27] Bernard, de Grad. Humil. grad. 8. describeth men's excusing their
sins thus, "If it may be, they will say, I did not do it; or else, It
was no sin, but lawful; or else, I did it not oft or much; or else, I
meant no harm; or else, I was persuaded by another, and drawn to it by
temptation".
[28] Atque haud scio an pietate adversus Deos sublatâ, fides etiam, et
societas humani generis, et una excellentissima virtus, justitia,
tollatur. Cicero de Nat. Deor. p. 4.
[29] Mira Ciceronis fictio in li. de Universit. p. 358. Atque ille qui
recte et honeste curriculum vivendi à natura datum confecerit, ad
illud astrum, quo cum aptus fuerit, revertetur. Qui autem immoderate
et intemperate vixerit, eum secundus ortus in figuram muliebrem
transferet, et si ne tum quidem finem vitiorum faciet, gravius etiam
jactabitur, et in suis moribus simillimas figuras pecudum, et ferarum
transferetur: neque malorum terminum prius aspiciet, quam illam sequi
cœperit conversionem, quam habebat in se, &c. cum ad primam et optimam
affectionem animi pervenerit.
[30] Unus gehennæ ignis et in inferno, sed non uno modo omnes excruciat
peccatores. Uniuscujusque enim quantum exigit culpa, tantum illic
sentitur et pœna: nam sicut hic unus sol non omnia corpora æqualiter
calefacit, ita illic unus ignis animas pro qualitate criminum
dissimiliter exurit. Hugo Etherianus de Anim. regres. cap. 12. "Idem
undique in infernum descensus est," saith Anaxagoras (in Laert.) to one
that only lamented that he must die in a strange country.
[31] Alienus est à fide qui ad agendam pœnitentiam tempus expectat
senectutis. Jo. Benedictus Paris. in Annot. in Luc. xii. Multos vitam
differentes mors incerta prævenit. Id. ib. ex Senec.
[32] Næ illi falsi sunt, qui diversissimas res pariter expectant,
ignaviæ voluptatem et præmia virtutis. Sallust. Tenebit te diabolus
sub specie libertatis addictum, ut sit tibi liberum peccare, non
vivere: Captivum te tenet author scelerum, compedes tibi libidinis
imposuit, et undique te sepsit armatâ custodiâ; Legem tibi dedit ut
licitum putes omne quod non licet; et vivum te in eternæ mortis foveam
demersit. Hugo Etherianus de Animar. regressu, cap. 9.
[33] Acosta saith, that the Indians are so addicted to their idolatry,
and unwearied in it, that he knoweth not what words can sufficiently
declare, how totally their minds are transformed into it, no
whoremonger having so mad a love to his whore, as they to their idols:
so that neither in their idleness or their business, neither in public
or in private, will they do any thing, till they have first used their
superstition to their idols: they will neither rejoice at weddings,
nor mourn at funerals, neither make a feast, or partake of it, nor so
much as move a foot out of doors, or a hand to any work, without this
heathenish sacrilege: and all this they do with the greatest secresy,
lest the christians should know it. Lib. 5. cap. 8. p. 467. See here
how nature teacheth all men that there is a Deity to be worshipped
with all possible love and industry! And shall the worshippers of the
true God then think it unnecessary preciseness, to be as diligent and
hearty in his service?
[34] How penitents of old did rise even from a particular sin, judge
by these words of Pacianus Parænes. ad Pœnit. Bibl. Pat. To. 3. p. 74.
"You must not only do that which may be seen of the priest, and
praised by the bishop--to weep before the church, to lament a lost or
sinful life in a sordid garment, to fast, pray, to roll on the earth;
if any invite you to the bath (or such pleasures) to refuse to go: if
any bid you to a feast, to say, These things are for the happy; I have
sinned against God, and am in danger to perish for ever! What should I
do at banquets, who have wronged the Lord? Besides these, you must
take the poor by the hand, you must beseech the widow, lie at the feet
of the presbyters, beg of the church to forgive you, and pray for you:
you must try all means rather than perish."
[35] Of how great concernment faithful pastors are for the conversion
of the ungodly, see a Jesuit, Acosta, lib. 4. c. l, 4. Infinitum esset
cætera persequi, quæ contra hos fatuos principes tanaos, contra
pastores stultos, vel potius idola pastorum, contra seipsos potius
pascentes, contra væsanos prophetas, contra sacerdotes contemptores,
atque arrogantes, contra stercus solennitatum, contra popularis
plausus captatores, contra inexplebiles pecuniæ gurgites, cæterasque
pestes, propheticus sermo declamat. Vix alias sancti patres
plenioribus velis feruntur in Pelagiis, quam cum de sacerdotali
contumelia oratio est. Acosta, ib. p. 353. Non est iste sacerdos, non
est sed infestus, atrox, dolosus, illusor sui, et lupus in dominicum
gregem ovina pella armatus. Ibid.
[36] Whereas there are two great and grievous sorts of trouble raised,
one in the churches at the trial of members, and an other in men's
consciences in trying their states, about this question, How to know
true conversion or sanctification? I must tell them in both these
troubles, plainly, that christianity is but one thing, the same in all
ages, which is their consent to the baptismal covenant: and there is no
such way to resolve this question, as to write or set before you the
covenant of baptism in its proper sense, and then ask your hearts,
whether you unfeignedly and resolvedly consent. He that consenteth
truly, is converted and justified; and he that professeth consent, is to
be received into the church by baptism (if his parents' consent did not
bring him in before, which he is to do nevertheless himself at age).
[37] Passibilis timor est irrationabilis, et ad irrationabilia
constitutus, sed eum præcipit qui cum disciplina et recta ratione
consistit, cujus proprium est reverentia. Qui enim propter Christum et
doctrinam ejus Deum timet, cum reverentia ei subjectus est; cum ille
qui per verbera aliaque tormenta timet Deum, passibilem timorem habete
viderur. Dydimus Alex. in Pet. 1.
[38] Every one is not a thief, that a dog barks at; nor an hypocrite,
that hypocrites call so.
[39] As the Athenians, that condemned Socrates to death, and then
lamented it, and erected a brazen statue for his memorial.
[40] Acosta saith, that he that will be a pastor to the Indians, must
not only resist the devil and the flesh, but must resist the custom of
men which is grown powerful by time and multitude: and must oppose his
breast to receive the darts of the envious and malevolent, who, if
they see any thing contrary to their profane fashion, they cry out, A
traitor! a hypocrite! an enemy! lib. 4. c. 15. p. 404. It seems among
papists and barbarians, the serpent's seed do hiss in the same manner
against the good among themselves, as they do against us.
[41] Eph. ii. 1; Col. ii. 13; 1 Cor. xv. 35; 1 Tim. v. 6; Joel i. 5
[42] Rom. viii. 9, 16; Rom. ix. 8; Eph. ii. 3.
[43] See my sermon on Prov. i. 32, in the end of "The vain Religion of
the Formal Hypocrite."
[44] Read Mr. Bolton's Assize Sermon on 1 Cor. i. 26.
[45] See more of Temptations, chap. iii. direct. 9.
CHAPTER II.
DIRECTIONS TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS OR BEGINNERS IN RELIGION, FOR THEIR
ESTABLISHMENT AND SAFE PROCEEDING.[46]
Before I come to the common directions for the exercise of grace, and
walking with God, containing the common duties of christianity, I
shall lay down some previous instructions, proper to those that are
but newly entered into religion (presupposing what is said in my book
of directions to those that are yet under the work of conversion, to
prevent their miscarrying by a false superficial change).
_Direct._ I. Take heed lest it be the novelty or reputation of truth
and godliness, that takes with you, more than the solid evidence of
their excellency and necessity; lest when the novelty and reputation
are gone, your religion wither and consume away.
It is said of John and the Jews by Christ, "He was a burning and a
shining light, and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his
light," John v. 35. All men are affected most with things that seem
new and strange to them. It is not only the infirmity of children,
that are pleased with new clothes, and new toys and games; but even to
graver, wiser persons, new things are most affecting, and commonness
and custom dulls delight. Our habitations, and possessions, and
honours, are most pleasing to us at the first; and every condition of
life doth most affect us at the first: if nature were not much for
novelty, the publishing of news-books would not have been so gainful
a trade so long, unless the matter had been truer and more desirable.
Hence it is that changes are so welcome to the world, though they
prove ordinarily to their cost. No wonder then, if religion be the
more acceptable, when it comes with this advantage. When men first
hear the doctrine of godliness, and the tidings of another world, by a
powerful preacher opened and set home, no wonder if things of so great
moment affect them for a time: it is said of them that received the
seed of God's word as into stony ground, that "forthwith it sprung
up," and they "anon with joy received it," Matt. xiii. 5, 20; but it
quickly withered for want of rooting. These kind of hearers can no
more delight still in one preacher, or one profession, or way, than a
glutton in one dish, or an adulterer in one harlot: for it is but a
kind of sensual or natural pleasure that they have in the highest
truths; and all such delight must be fed with novelty and variety of
objects. The Athenians were inquisitive after Paul's doctrine as
novelty, though after they rejected it, as seeming to them incredible:
Acts xvii. 19-21, "May we know what this new doctrine whereof thou
speakest is? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we
would know therefore what these things mean. For all the Athenians and
strangers which were there, spent their time in nothing else, but to
tell or hear some new thing."
To this kind of professors, the greatest truths grow out of fashion, and
they grow weary of them, as of dull and ordinary things: they must have
some new light, or new way of religion that lately came in fashion:
their souls are weary of that manna that at first was acceptable to
them, as angels' food. Old things seem low, and new things high to them;
and to entertain some novelty in religion, is to grow up to more
maturity: and too many such at last so far overthrive their old apparel,
that the old Christ and old gospel are left behind them.
The light of the gospel is speedilier communicated, than the heat; and
this first part being most acceptable to them, is soon received; and
religion seemeth best to them at first. At first they have the light
of knowledge alone; and then they have the warmth of a new and
prosperous profession: there must be some time for the operating of
the heat, before it burneth them; and then they have enough, and cast
it away in as much haste as they took it up. If preachers would only
lighten, and shoot no thunderbolts, even a Herod himself would hear
them gladly, and do many things after them; but when their Herodias is
meddled with, they cannot bear it. If preachers would speak only to
men's fancies or understandings, and not meddle too smartly with their
hearts, and lives, and carnal interests, the world would bear them,
and hear them as they do stage-players, or at least as lecturers in
philosophy or physic. A sermon that hath nothing but some general
toothless notions in a handsome dress of words, doth seldom procure
offence or persecution: it is rare that such men's preaching is
distasted by carnal hearers, or their persons hated for it. "It is a
pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun," Eccles. xi. 7; but not
to be scorched by its heat. Christ himself at a distance as promised,
was greatly desired by the Jews: but when he came, they could not bear
him; his doctrine and life were so contrary to their expectations.
Mal. iii. 1-3, "The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come into his
temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in:
behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the
day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is
like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap." Many when they come
first (by profession) to Christ, do little think that he would cast
them into the fire, and refine them, and purge away their dross, and
cast them anew into the mould of the gospel, Rom. vi. 17. Many will
play a while by the light, that will not endure to be melted by the
fire. When the preacher cometh once to this, he is harsh and
intolerable, and loseth all the praise which he had won before, and
the pleasing novelty of religion is over with them. The gospel is sent
to make such work in the soul and life, as these tender persons will
not endure: it must captivate every thought to Christ, and kill every
lust and pleasure which is against his will; and put a new and
heavenly life into the soul: it must possess men with deep and lively
apprehensions of the great things of eternity; it is not wavering dull
opinions, that will raise and carry on the soul to such vigorous,
constant, victorious action, as is necessary to salvation. When the
gospel cometh to the heart, to do this great prevailing work, then
these men are impatient of the search and smart, and presently have
done with it. They are like children, that love the book for the
gilding and fineness of the cover, and take it up as soon as any; but
it is to play with, and not to learn; they are weary of it when it
comes to that. At first many come to Christ with wonder, and will
needs be his servants for something in it that seemeth fine; till they
hear that the Son of man hath not the accommodation of the birds or
foxes; and that his doctrine and way hath an enmity to their worldly,
fleshly interest, and then they are gone. They first entertained
Christ in compliment, thinking that he would please them, or not much
contradict them; but when they find that they have received a guest
that will rule them, and not be ruled by them, that will not suffer
them to take their pleasure, nor enjoy their riches, but hold them to
a life which they cannot endure, and even undo them in the world, he
is then no longer a guest for them. Whereas if Christ had been
received as Christ, and truth and godliness deliberately entertained
for their well-discerned excellency and necessity, the deep rooting
would have prevented this apostasy, and cured such hypocrisy.
But, alas! poor ministers find by sad experience, that all prove not
saints that flock to hear them, and make up the crowd; nor "that for a
season rejoice in their light," and magnify them, and take their
parts. The blossom hath its beauty and sweetness; but all that
blossometh or appeareth in the bud, doth not come to perfect fruit:
some will be blasted, and some blown down; some nipped with frosts,
some eaten by worms; some quickly fall, and some hang on till the
strongest blasts do cast them down: some are deceived and poisoned by
false teachers; some by worldly cares, and the deceitfulness of
riches, become unfruitful and are turned aside; the lusts of some had
deeper rooting than the word; and the friends of some had greater
interest in them than Christ, and therefore they forsake him to
satisfy their importunity: some are corrupted by the hopes of
preferment, or the favour of man; some feared from Christ by their
threats and frowns, and choose to venture on damnation to scape
persecution: and some are so worldly wise, that they can see reason to
remit their zeal, and can save their souls and bodies too; and prove
that to be their duty, which other men call sin (if the end will but
answer their expectations): and some grow weary of truth and duty, as
a dull and common thing, being supplied with that variety which might
still continue the delights of novelty.
Yet mistake not what I have said, as if all the affection furthered by
novelty, and abated by commonness and use, were a sign that the person
is but a hypocrite. I know that there is something in the nature of man,
remaining in the best, which disposeth us to be much more passionately
affected with things when they seem new to us, and are first
apprehended, than when they are old, and we have known or used them
long. There is not, I believe, one man of a thousand, but is much more
delighted in the light of truth, when it first appeareth to him, than
when it is trite and familiarly known; and is much more affected with a
powerful minister at first, than when he hath long sat under him. The
same sermon that even transported them at the first hearing, would
affect them less, if they had heard it preached a hundred times. The
same books which greatly affected us at the first or second reading,
will affect us less when we have read them over twenty times. The same
words of prayer that take much with us when seldom used, do less move
our affections when they are daily used all the year. At our first
conversion, we have more passionate sorrow for our sin, and love to the
godly, than we can afterwards retain. And all this is the case of
learned and unlearned, the sound and unsound, though not of all alike.
Even heaven itself is spoken of by Christ, as if it did participate of
this, when he saith, that "joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that
repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, that need no
repentance," Luke xv. 7, 10. And I know it is the duty of ministers to
take notice of this disposition in their hearers, and not to dull them
with giving them still the same, but to profit them by a pleasant and
profitable variety: not by preaching to them another Christ, or a new
gospel: it is the same God, and Christ, and Spirit, and Scripture, and
the same heaven, the same church, the same faith, and hope, and
repentance, and obedience, that we must preach to them as long as we
live; though they say, we have heard this a hundred times, let them hear
it still, and bring them not a new creed. If they hear so oft of God,
and Christ, and heaven, till by faith, and love, and fruition, they
attain them as their end, they have heard well. But yet there is a
grateful variety of subordinate particulars, and of words, and methods,
and seasonable applications, necessary to the right performance of our
ministry, and to the profiting of the flocks: though the physician use
the same apothecary's shop, and dispensatory, and drugs, yet how great a
variety must he use of compositions, and times, and manner of
administration.
But for all this, though the best are affected most with things that
seem new, and are dulled with the long and frequent use of the same
expressions, yet they are never weary of the substance of their
religion, so as to desire a change. And though they are not so
passionately affected with the same sermons, and books, or with the
thoughts or mention of the same substantial matters of religion, as at
first they were; yet do their judgments more solidly and tenaciously
embrace them, and esteem them, and their wills as resolvedly adhere to
them, and use them, and in their lives they practise them, better than
before. Whereas, they that take up their religion but for novelty,
will lay it down when it ceaseth to be new to them, and must either
change for a newer, or have none at all.[47]
And as unsound are they that are religious, only because their
education, or their friends, or the laws, or judgment of their
rulers, or the custom of the country, hath made it necessary to their
reputation: these are hypocrites at the first setting out, and
therefore cannot be saved by continuance in such a carnal
religiousness as this. I know law, and custom, and education, and
friends, when they side with godliness, are a great advantage to it,
by affording helps, and removing those impediments that might stick
much with carnal minds. But truth is not your own, till it be received
in its proper evidence; nor your faith divine, till you believe what
you believe, because God is true who doth reveal it; nor are you the
children of God, till you love him for himself; nor are you truly
religious, till the truth and goodness of religion itself be the
principal thing that maketh you religious. It helpeth much to discover
a man's sincerity, when he is not only religious among the religious,
but among the profane, and the enemies, and scorners, and persecutors
of religion: and when a man doth not pray only in a praying family,
but among the prayerless, and the deriders of fervent constant prayer:
and when a man is heavenly among them that are earthly, and temperate
among the intemperate and riotous, and holdeth the truth among those
that reproach it and that hold the contrary: when a man is not carried
only by a stream of company, or outward advantages, to his religion,
nor avoideth sin for want of a temptation, but is religious though
against the stream, and innocent when cast (unwillingly) upon
temptations; and is godly where godliness is accounted singularity,
hypocrisy, faction, humour, disobedience, or heresy; and will rather
let go the reputation of his honesty, than his honesty itself.
_Direct._ II. Take heed of being religious only in opinion, without
zeal and holy practice; or only in zealous affection, without a sound,
well grounded judgment; but see that judgment, zeal, and practice be
conjunct.
Of the first part of this advice, (against a bare opinionative
religion,) I have spoken already, in my "Directions for a Sound
Conversion." To change your opinions is an easier matter than to
change the heart and life. A holding of the truth will save no man,
without a love and practice of the truth. This is the meaning of James
ii. where he speaketh so much of the unprofitableness of a dead,
unaffected belief, that worketh not by love, and commandeth not the
soul to practice and obedience. To believe that there is a God, while
you neglect him and disobey him, is unlike to please him. To believe
that there is a heaven, while you neglect it, and prefer the world
before it, will never bring you thither. To believe your duty, and not
to perform it, and to believe that sin is evil, and yet to live in it,
is to sin with aggravation, and have no excuse, and not the way to be
accepted or justified with God. To be of the same belief with holy
men, without the same hearts and conversations, will never bring you
to the same felicity. "He that knoweth his master's will and doth it
not," shall be so far from being accepted for it, that he "shall be
beaten with many stripes." To believe that holiness and obedience is
the best way, will never save the disobedient and unholy.
And yet if judgment be not your guide, the most zealous affections
will but precipitate you; and make you run, though quite out of the
way, like the horses when they have cast the coachman or the
riders.[48] To ride post when you are quite out of the way, is but
laboriously to lose your time, and to prepare for further labour. The
Jews that persecuted Christ and his apostles, had the testimony of
Paul himself, that they had a "zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge," Rom. x. 2. And Paul saith of the deceivers and troublers
of the Galatians, (whom he wished even cut off,) that they did
zealously affect them, but not well, Gal. iv. 17. And he saith of
himself, while he persecuted christians to prison and to death, "I was
zealous towards God as ye are all this day," Acts xxii. 3, 4. Was not
the papist, St. Dominick, that stirred up the persecution against the
christians in France and Savoy, to the murdering of many thousands of
them, a very zealous man? And are not the butchers of the Inquisition
zealous men? And were not the authors of the third Canon of the
General Council at the Lateran, under Pope Innocent the third, very
zealous men, who decreed that the pope should depose temporal lords,
and give away their dominions, and absolve their subjects, if they
would not exterminate the godly, called heretics? Were not the
papists' powder-plotters zealous men? Hath not zeal caused many of
latter times to rise up against their lawful governors? and many to
persecute the church of God, and to deprive the people of their
faithful pastors without compassion on the people's souls? Doth not
Christ say of such zealots, "The time cometh, when whosoever killeth
you, will think he doth God service," John xvi. 2; or offereth a
service (acceptable) to God. Therefore Paul saith, "It is good to be
zealously affected always in a good matter," Gal. iv. 18; showing you
that zeal indeed is good, if sound judgment be its guide. Your first
question must be, Whether you are in the right way? and your second,
Whether you go apace? It is sad to observe what odious actions are
committed in all ages of the world, by the instigation of misguided
zeal! And what a shame an imprudent zealot is to his profession! while
making himself ridiculous in the eyes of the adversaries, he brings
his profession itself into contempt, and maketh the ungodly think that
the religious are but a company of transported brain-sick zealots; and
thus they are hardened to their perdition. How many things doth
unadvised affection provoke well-meaning people to, that afterwards
will be their shame and sorrow.
Labour therefore for knowledge, and soundness of understanding; that
you may know truth from falsehood, good from evil; and may walk
confidently, while you walk safely; and that you become not a shame to
your profession, by a furious persecution of that which you must
afterwards confess to be an error; by drawing others to that which you
would after wish that you had never known yourselves. And yet see that
all your knowledge have its efficacy upon your heart and life; and
take every truth as an instrument of God, to reveal himself to you, or
to draw your heart to him, and conform you to his holy will.
_Direct._ III. Labour to understand the true method of divinity, and see
truths in their several degrees and order; that you take not the last
for the first, nor the lesser for the greater. Therefore see that you be
well grounded in the catechism; and refuse not to learn some catechism
that is sound and full, and keep it in memory while you live.[49]
Method, or right order, exceedingly helpeth understanding, memory,
and practice.[50] Truths have a dependence on each other; the lesser
branches spring out of the greater, and those out of the stock and
root. Some duties are but means to other duties, or subservient to
them, and to be measured accordingly; and if it be not understood
which is the chief, the other cannot be referred to it. When two
things materially good come together, and both cannot be done, the
greater must take place, and the lesser is no duty at that time, but a
sin, as preferred before the greater. Therefore it is one of the
commonest difficulties among cases of conscience, to know which duty
is the greater, and to be preferred. Upon this ground, Christ healed
on the sabbath day, and pleaded for his disciples rubbing the ears of
corn, and for David's eating the shew-bread, and telleth them, that
"the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath, and that
God will have mercy, and not sacrifice."
Divinity is a curious, well-composed frame. As it is not enough that
you have all the parts of your watch or clock, but you must see that
every part be in its proper place, or else it will not go, or answer
its end; so it is not enough that you know the several parts of
divinity or duty, unless you know them in their true order and place.
You may be confounded before you are aware, and led into many
dangerous errors, by mistaking the order of several truths; and you
may be misguided into heinous sins, by mistaking the degrees and order
of duties; as, when duties of piety and charity seem to be
competitors; and when you think that the commands of men contradict
the commands of God; and when the substance and the circumstances or
modes of duty are in question before you as inconsistent; or when the
means seemeth to cease to be a means, by crossing of the end: and in
abundance of such cases, you cannot easily conceive what a snare it
may prove to you, to be ignorant of the methods and ranks of duty.
_Object._ If that be so, what man can choose but be confounded in his
religion; when there be so few that observe any method at all, and few
that agree in method, and none that hath published a scheme or method
so exact and clear, as to be commonly approved by divines themselves?
What then can ignorant christians do?
_Answ._ Divinity is like a tree that hath one trunk,[51] and thence a
few greater arms or boughs, and thence a thousand smaller branches; or
like the veins, or nerves, or arteries in the body, that have first
one or few trunks divided into more, and those into a few more, and
those into more, till they multiply at last into more than can easily
be seen or numbered. Now it is easy for any man to begin at the chief
trunk, and to discern the first divisions, and the next, though not to
comprehend the number and order of all the extreme and smaller
branches. So is it in divinity: it is not very hard to begin at the
unity of the eternal God-head, and see there a Trinity of Persons, and
of primary attributes, and of relations; and to arise to the principal
attributes and works of God as in these relations, and to the
relations of man to God, and to the great duties of these relations,
to discern God's covenants and chiefest laws, and the duty of man in
obedience thereto, and the judgment of God in the execution of his
sanctions; though yet many particular truths be not understood. And he
that beginneth, and proceedeth as he ought, doth know methodically so
much as he knoweth; and he is in the right way to the knowledge of
more: and the great mercy of God hath laid so great a necessity on us
to know these few points that are easily known, and so much less need
of knowing the many small particulars, that a mean christian may live
uprightly, and holily, and comfortably, that well understandeth his
catechism, or the creed, Lord's prayer, and ten commandments; and may
find daily work and consolation in the use of these.
A sound and well composed catechism studied well and kept in memory,
would be a good measure of knowledge, to ordinary christians, and make
them solid and orderly in their understanding, and in their proceeding
to the smaller points, and would prevent a great deal of error and
miscarriage, that many by ill teaching are cast upon, to their own and
the churches' grief! Yea, it were to be wished, that some teachers of
late had learnt so much and orderly themselves.
_Direct._ IV. Begin not too early with controversies in religion: and
when you come to them, let them have but their due proportion of your
time and zeal: but live daily upon these certain great substantials,
which all christians are agreed in.
1. Plunge not yourselves too soon into controversies: For, (1.) It
will be exceedingly to your loss, by diverting your souls from greater
and more necessary things: you may get more increase of holiness, and
spend your time more pleasingly to God, by drinking in deeper the
substantials of religion, and improving them on your hearts and lives.
(2.) It will corrupt your minds, and instead of humility, charity,
holiness, and heavenly-mindedness, it will feed your pride, and kindle
faction and a dividing zeal, and quench your charity, and possess you
with a wrangling, contentious spirit, and you will make a religion of
these sins and lamentable distempers.
(3.) And it is the way to deceive and corrupt your judgments, and make
you erroneous or heretical, to your own perdition and the disturbance of
the church: for it is two to one, but either you presently err, or else
get such an itch after notions and opinions that will lead you to error
at the last. Because you are not yet ripe and able to judge of those
things, till your minds are prepared by those truths that are first in
order to be received. When you undertake a work that you cannot do, no
wonder if it be ill done, and must be all undone again, or worse.
Perhaps you will say, that you must not take your religion upon trust,
but must "prove all things, and hold fast that which is good."
_Answ._ Though your religion must not be taken upon trust, there are
many controverted smaller opinions that you must take upon trust, till
you are capable of discerning them in their proper evidence. Till you
can reach them yourselves, you must take them on trust, or not at all.
Though you must believe all things of common necessity to salvation
with a divine faith; yet many subservient truths must be received
first by a human faith, or not received at all, till you are more
capable of them. Nay, there is a human faith necessarily subservient
to the divine faith, about the substance of religion; and the officers
of Christ are to be trusted in their office, as helpers of your faith.
Nay, let me tell you, that while you are young and ignorant, you are
not fit for controversies about the fundamentals of religion
themselves. You may believe that there is a God, long before you are
fit to hear an atheist proving that there is no God. You may believe
the Scripture to be the word of God, and Christ to be the Saviour,
and the soul to be immortal, long before you will be fit to manage or
study controversies hereupon. For nothing is so false or bad, which a
wanton or wicked wit may not put a plausible gloss upon; and your raw
unfurnished understandings will scarce be able to see through the
pretence, or escape the cheat. When you cannot answer the arguments of
seducers, you will find them leave a doubting in your minds; for you
know not how plain the answer of them is, to wiser men. And though you
must prove all things, you must do it in due order, and as you are
able; and stay till your furnished minds are capable of the trial. If
you will needs read before you know your letters, or pretend to judge
of Greek and Hebrew authors, before you can read English, you will but
become ridiculous in your undertaking.
2. When you do come to smaller controverted points, let them have but
their due proportion of your time and zeal. And that will not be one
hour in many days, with the generality of private christians. By that
time you have well learned the more necessary truths, and practised
daily the more necessary duties, you will find that there will be but
little time to spare for lesser controversies. Opinionists that spend
most of their time in studying and talking of such points, do steal
that time from greater matters, and therefore from God, and from
themselves. Better work is undone the while. And they that here lay
out their chiefest zeal, divert their zeal from things more necessary,
and turn their natural heat into a fever.
3. The essential necessary truths of your religion, must imprint the
image of God upon your hearts, and must dwell there continually, and
you must live upon them as your bread, and drink, and daily necessary
food: all other points must be studied in subserviency to those: all
lesser duties must be used as the exercise of the love of God or man,
and of a humble heavenly mind. The articles of your creed, and points
of catechism, are fountains ever running, affording you matter for the
continual exercise of grace: it is both plentiful and solid
nourishment of the soul, which these great substantial points afford.
To know God the Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, the laws and
covenant of God, and his judgment, and rewards and punishments, with
the parts and method of the Lord's prayer, which must be the daily
exercise of our desires, and love, this is the wisdom of a christian;
and in these must he be continually exercised.
You will say perhaps that the apostle saith, Heb. vi. 1, "Leaving the
principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not
laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works," &c.
_Answer_ 1. By "leaving" he meaneth not passing over the practice of
them as men that have done with them, and are past them; but his
leaving at that time to discourse of them, or his supposing them
taught already: though he lay not the foundation again, yet he doth
not pluck it up. 2. By "principles" he meaneth the first points to be
taught, and learnt, and practised: and indeed regeneration and baptism
is not to be done again: but the essentials of religion which I am
speaking of, contain much more: especially to "live in the love of
God, which Paul calls the more excellent way," 1 Cor. xii. and xiii.
3. Going on to perfection, is not by ceasing to believe and love God,
but by a more distinct knowledge of the mysteries of salvation, to
perfect our faith, and love, and obedience.
The points that opinionists call higher, and think to be the principal
matter of their growth, and advancement in understanding, are usually
but some smaller, less necessary truths, if not some uncertain,
doubtful questions. Mark well 1 Tim. i. 4; vi. 4; 2 Tim. ii. 23; Tit.
iii. 9, compared with John xvii. 3; Rom. xiii. 8-10; 1 Cor. xiii.; 1
John iii.; 1 Cor. i. 23; xv. 1-3; ii. 2; Gal. vi. 14; James ii.; iii. 1.
_Direct._ V. Be very thankful for the great mercy of your conversion:
but yet overvalue not your first degrees of knowledge or holiness, but
remember that you are yet but in your infancy, and must expect your
growth and ripeness as the consequent of time and diligence.
You have great reason to be more glad and thankful for the least
measure of true grace, than if you had been made the rulers of the
earth; it being of a far more excellent nature, and entitling you to
more than all the kingdoms of the world. See my sermon called "Right
Rejoicing," on those words of Christ, "Rejoice not that the spirits
are subject to you; but rather rejoice because your names are written
in heaven," Luke x. 20. Christ will warrant you to rejoice, though
enemies envy you, and repine both at your victory and triumph. If
there be "joy in heaven in the presence of the angels" at your
conversion, there is great reason you should be glad yourselves. If
the prodigal's father will needs have the best robe and ring brought
forth, and the fat calf killed, and the music to attend the feast,
that they may eat and be merry, Luke xv. 23, there is great reason
that the prodigal son himself should not have the smallest share of
joy; though his brother repine.
[Sidenote: Fear is a cautelous preserving grace.]
But yet, take heed lest you think the measure of your first endowments
to be greater than it is.[52] Grace imitateth nature, in beginning,
usually, with small degrees, and growing up to maturity by leisurely
proceeding. We are not new-born in a state of manhood, as Adam was
created. Though those texts that liken the kingdom of God to a grain
of mustard seed, and to a little leaven, Matt. xiii. 31, 33, be
principally meant of the small beginnings and great increase of the
church or kingdom of Christ in the world; yet it is true also of his
grace or kingdom in the soul. Our first stature is but to be "new-born
babes desiring the sincere milk of the word, that we may grow by it,"
1 Pet. ii. 2. Note here, that the new birth bringeth forth but babes,
but growth is by degrees, by feeding on the word. The word is received
by the heart, as seed into the ground, Matt. xiii. And seed useth not
to bring forth the blade and fruit to ripeness in a day.
Yet I deny not, but that some men (as Paul) may have more grace at their
first conversion, than many others have at their full growth. For God is
free in the giving of his own, and may give more or less as pleaseth
himself. But yet in Paul himself, that greater measure is but his
smallest measure, and he himself is capable of increase to the last. And
so great a measure at first is as rare, as his greater measure, at last,
in its full growth, is rare, and scarce to be expected now.
And if God should give a great measure of holiness at first, to any
now, as possibly he may, yet their measure of gifts is never great at
first, unless they had acquired or received them before conversion. If
grace find a man of great parts and understanding, which by study and
other helps he had attained before, no wonder if that man, when his
parts are sanctified, be able in knowledge the first day; for he had
it before, though he had not a heart to use it. But if grace find a
man ignorant, unlearned, and of mean abilities, he must not expect to
be suddenly lifted up to great understanding and high degrees of
knowledge by grace. For this knowledge is not given, now, by sudden
infusion, as gifts were, extraordinarily, in the primitive church. You
need no other proof of this but experience, to stop the mouth of any
gainsayer. Look about you, and observe whether those that are men of
knowledge, did obtain it by infusion, in a moment? or whether they did
not obtain it by diligent study, by slow degrees? though I know God
blesseth some men's studies more than others. Name one man that ever
was brought to great understanding, but by means and labour, and slow
degrees; or that knoweth any truth, in nature, or divinity, but what
he read, or heard, or studied for, as the result of what he read or
heard. The person that is proudest of his knowledge, must confess that
he came to it in this way himself.
[Sidenote: How the Spirit doth illuminate.]
But you will ask, What then is the illumination of the Spirit, and
enlightening the mind, which the Scripture ascribeth to the Holy
Ghost? Hath not our understanding need of the Spirit for light, as
well as the heart or will for life?
_Answ._ Yes, no doubt; and it is a great and wonderful mercy: and I will
tell you what it is. 1. The Holy Spirit, by immediate inspiration,
revealed to the apostles the doctrine of Christ, and caused them
infallibly to indite the Scriptures. But this is not that way of
ordinary illumination now. 2. The Holy Spirit assisteth us in our
hearing, reading, and studying the Scripture, that we may come, by
diligence, to the true understanding of it; but doth not give us that
understanding, without hearing, reading, or study. "Faith cometh by
hearing," Rom. x. 17. It blesseth the use of means to us, but blesseth
us not in the neglect of means. 3. The Holy Spirit doth open the eyes
and heart of a sinner, who hath heard, and notionally understood the
substance of the gospel, that he may know that piercingly, and
effectually, and practically, which before he knew but notionally, and
ineffectually; so that the knowledge of the same truth is now become
powerful, and, as it were, of another kind. And this is the Spirit's
sanctifying of the mind, and principal work of saving illumination; not
by causing us to know any thing of God, or Christ, or heaven, without
means; but by opening the heart, that, through the means, it may take in
that knowledge deeply, which others have but notionally, and in a dead
opinion; and, by making our knowledge clear, and quick, and powerful, to
affect the heart, and rule the life. 4. The Holy Spirit sanctifieth all
that notional knowledge which men had before their renovation. All their
learning and parts are now made subservient to Christ, and to the right
end, and turned into their proper channel. 5. And the Holy Ghost doth,
by sanctifying the heart, possess it with such a love to God, and
heaven, and holiness, and truth, as is a wonderful advantage to us, in
our studies for the attaining of further knowledge. Experience telleth
us, how great a help it is to knowledge, to have a constant love,
delight, and desire to the thing which we would know. All these ways the
Spirit is the enlightener of believers.
The not observing this direction, will have direful effects; which I
will name, that you may see the necessity of avoiding them.
[Sidenote: The danger of overvaluing your young abilities or graces.]
1. If you imagine that you are presently men of great understanding,
and abilities, and holiness, while you are young beginners, and but
new-born babes, you are entering into "the snare and condemnation of
the devil," even into the odious sin of pride; yea, a pride of those
spiritual gifts which are most contrary to pride; yea, and a pride of
that which you have not, which is most foolish pride. Mark the words
of Paul, when he forbids to choose a young beginner in religion to the
ministry, 1 Tim. iii. 6: "Not a novice, (that is, a young, raw
christian,) lest being lifted up (or besotted) with pride, he fall
into the condemnation of the devil." Why are young beginners more in
danger of this than other christians? One would think their infancy
should be conscious of its own infirmity. But Paul knew what he said.
It is, (1.) Partly because the suddenness of their change; coming out
of darkness into a light which they never saw before, doth amaze them,
and transport them, and make them think they are almost in heaven, and
that there is not much more to be attained. Like the beggar that had a
hundred pounds given him, having never seen the hundredth part before,
imagined that he had as much money as the king. (2.) And it is partly
because they have not knowledge enough to know how many things there
are that yet they are ignorant of.[53] They never heard of the
Scripture difficulties, and the knots in school divinity, nor the hard
cases of conscience: whereas, one seven years' painful studies, will
tell them of many hundred difficulties which they never saw; and forty
or fifty years' study more, will clothe them with shame and humility,
in the sense of their lamentable darkness. (3.) And it is also because
the devil doth with greatest industry lay this net to entrap young
converts, it being the way in which he hath the greatest hope.
2. Your hasty conceits of your own goodness or ability, will make you
presumptuous of your own strength, and so to venture upon dangerous
temptations, which is the way to ruin. You will think you are not so
ignorant, but you may venture into the company of papists, or any
heretics or deceivers, or read their books, or be present at their
worship. And I confess you may escape; but it may be otherwise, and
God may leave you, to "show you all that was in your hearts," as it is
said of Hezekiah, 2 Chron. xxxii. 21, 25, 26.
3. And your overvaluing your first grace, will make you too secure,
when your souls have need of holy awfulness and care, to "work out
your salvation with fear and trembling," Phil. ii. 12; and to "serve
God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear, as knowing that he is a
consuming fire," Heb. xii. 28, 29. And security is the forerunner of a
fall.
4. It will make you neglect the due labour and patience in the use of
means, for further knowledge and increase of grace, while you think
you are so well already.[54] And so you will be worse than those that
are ever learning, and never come to any ripe knowledge; for you will
think that you are fit to be teachers, when you have need to be taught
that which you will not submit to learn. And then, "when for the time
ye ought to have been teachers, you will have need to be catechised,
or taught again which be the first principles of the oracles of God,
as having need of milk, and not of strong meat." Mark here, how the
Holy Ghost maketh time and exercise necessary to such growth as must
enable you to be teachers, Heb. v. 12-14. Therefore he addeth, "but
strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age; those who by
reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and
evil." Mark here, how wisdom and strength is to be expected.
5. This over-hasty conceit of your own ability, will tempt you to run
into controversies, and matters that you are not fit for; and so
divert you from necessary and seasonable studies.
6. It will make you over-confident of all your own opinions, and stiff
in all your own conceits; too like him, Prov. xiv. 16, "The fool
rageth and is confident." How many and many a time have I heard a man
that understood not what he talked of, and could scarce speak sense,
to plead for his opinion so confidently, as to scorn or pity the
wisest contradicter, when his ignorance, and phrenetic confidence and
rage, did make him a real object of pity, to men of ordinary
understandings. There is a kind of madness in this disease, that will
not leave you wit enough to know that you are mad.
7. It will make you also very censorious of others: this ignorant
pride will make you think other men's knowledge to be ignorance, if
they be not just of your fond opinions; and other men's graces to be
none, if they be not of your mind and way. None are so ready as such
to censure those that are better than themselves, or that they have no
acquaintance with, as being but civil, moral men, or being erroneous
or deluded. It is a very loathsome thing, to hear an ignorant,
self-conceited fellow to talk of those that are a hundred times wiser
and much better than himself, as magisterially, with a proud
compassion or contempt, as if he were indeed the wise man, that
knoweth not what he saith.
8. And it will make you rebellious against your governors and
teachers, and utterly unteachable, as despising those that should
instruct and rule you.[55] You will think yourselves wiser than your
teachers, while you are but in the lowest form. It is such that James
speaks to, Jam. iii. 1, "My brethren, be not many masters, (or
teachers,) knowing that ye shall receive the greater condemnation."
And that whole chapter, well worth your studying, is spoke to such.
9. And thus it will entangle you in heretical opinions, to which there
is no greater preparatory, than pride-possessing, half-witted young
beginners in religion.
10. And so it will make you troublers of the church, contending
unpeaceably for that which you understand not.
11. And it tendeth to hypocrisy, making you give thanks for that which
you never had; as puffed up with a knowledge that is not enough to
keep you humble, and wanting the charity which would edify yourselves
and others, 1 Cor. viii. 1.
12. And it tendeth to delude you in point of assurance of salvation;
taking your own over-valuing self-esteem for true assurance; which is
not ordinarily to be expected, till grace be come to strength.
13. Lastly, It tendeth to corrupt your apprehensions of the nature of
christianity itself; while you will judge of it in others according to
your own overvalued measure: when, if you knew it as it is in the
heart and practice of the sober, wise, humble, charitable, peaceable,
mortified, heavenly believer, you would see that it hath a higher
glory than any that is manifested by you.
I have named to you all these sad effects of over-valuing your
beginnings in religion, that as you love your souls, you may avoid
them. I take it to be a matter of exceeding great moment, for your
safety and perseverance, that while you are infants in grace, you know
yourself to be such; that you may keep your form, and learn first the
lessons that must first be learned, and "walk humbly with your God,
and obey those that are over you in the Lord," Heb. xiii. 7, 17; 1
Thess. i. 5, 12, and may wait on the Spirit, in the use of means, and
may not rejoice the tempter, by corrupting all that you have received,
and imitating him, in falling from your state of hope.
_Direct._ VI. Be not discouraged at the difficulties and oppositions
which will rise up before you, when you begin resolvedly to walk with
God.
[Sidenote: Against discouragements in trials.]
As discouragements keep off multitudes from religion, so they are
great temptations to many young beginners to turn back, and as the
Israelites in the wilderness, ready to wish themselves again in Egypt.
Three sorts of discouragements arise before them. 1. Some from the
nature of the work. 2. Some from God's trials. 3. And some from the
malice of the devil and his instruments: or all these.
1. It cannot be expected but that infants and weaklings should think a
little burden heavy, and an easy work or journey to be wearisome.
Young beginners are ordinarily puzzled, and at a loss, in every trade,
or art, or science. Young scholars have a far harder task, than when
they are once well entered: learning is wondrous hard and unpleasant
to them, at the first; but when they are once well entered, the
knowledge of one thing helps another, and they go on with ease. So a
young convert, that hath been bred up in ignorance, and never used to
prayer, or to heavenly discourse, nor to hear or join with any that
did, will think it strange and hard at first. And those that were used
to take their pleasure, and fulfil the desires of the flesh, and
perhaps to swear, and talk filthily, or idly, or to lie, will find, at
first, some difficulty to overcome their customs, and live a
mortified, holy life: yet grace will do it, and prevail. Especially in
point of knowledge, and ability of expression, be not too hasty in
your expectation, but wait with patience, in a faithful, diligent use
of means, and that will be easy and delightful to you afterwards,
which before discouraged you with its difficulties.
2. And God himself will have his servants, and his graces, tried and
exercised by difficulties. He never intended us the reward for sitting
still; nor the crown of victory, without a fight; nor a fight, without
an enemy and opposition. Innocent Adam was unfit for his state of
confirmation and reward, till he had been tried by temptation. Therefore
the martyrs have the most glorious crown, as having undergone the
greatest trial. And shall we presume to murmur at the method of God?
3. And Satan, having liberty to tempt and try us, will quickly raise up
storms and waves before us, as soon as we are set to sea; which make
young beginners often fear, that they shall never live to reach the
haven. He will show thee the greatness of thy former sins, to persuade
thee that they shall not be pardoned. He will show thee the strength of
thy passions and corruptions, to make thee think they will never be
overcome. He will show thee the greatness of the opposition and
suffering which thou art like to undergo, to make thee think thou shall
never persevere. He will do his worst to meet thee with poverty,
losses, crosses, injuries, vexations, persecutions, and cruelties, yea,
and unkindness from thy dearest friends, as he did by Job, to make thee
think ill of God, or of his service. If he can, he will make them thy
enemies that are of thine own household.[56] He will stir up thy own
father, or mother, or husband, or wife, or brother, or sister, or
children, against thee, to persuade or persecute thee from Christ:
therefore Christ tells us, that if we hate not all these, that is,
cannot forsake them, and use them as men do hated things, when they
would turn us from him, we cannot be his disciples, Luke xiv. 26; Matt.
x. Look for the worst that the devil can do against thee, if thou hast
once lifted thyself against him, in the army of Christ, and resolvest,
whatever it cost thee, to be saved. Read Heb. xi. But how little cause
you have to be discouraged, though earth and hell should do their worst,
you may perceive by these few considerations.
(1.) God is on your side, who hath all your enemies in his hand, and
can rebuke them, or destroy them in a moment. Oh what is the breath or
fury of dust or devils, against the Lord Almighty! "If God be for us,
who can be against us?" Rom. viii. 31. Read often that chapter, Rom.
viii. In the day when thou didst enter into covenant with God, and he
with thee, thou didst enter into the most impregnable rock and
fortress, and house thyself in that castle of defence, where thou
mayest (modestly) defy all adverse powers of earth or hell. If God
cannot save thee, he is not God. And if he will not save thee, he must
break his covenant. Indeed, he may resolve to save thee, not from
affliction and persecution, but in it, and by it. But in all these
sufferings you will "be more than conquerors, through Christ that
loveth you:" that is, it is far more desirable and excellent to
conquer by patience, in suffering for Christ, than to conquer our
persecutors in the field, by force of arms. O think on the saints'
triumphant boastings in their God. Psal. xlvi. 1-3, "God is our refuge
and strength, a very present help in trouble: therefore will not we
fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea." Psal. lvi. 1-5, when his "enemies were
many" and "wrested his words daily," and "fought against him, and all
their thoughts were against him," yet he saith, "What time I am
afraid, I will trust in thee. In God will I praise his word; in God
have I put my trust: I will not fear what flesh can do unto me."
Remember Christ's charge, Luke xii. 4, "Fear not them that can kill
the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will
forewarn you whom you shall fear: fear him, which after he hath
killed, hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, fear him."
If all the world were on thy side, thou might yet have cause to fear;
but to have God on thy side, is infinitely more.
(2.) Jesus Christ is the Captain of thy salvation, Heb. ii. 10, and
hath gone before thee this way himself, and hath conquered for thee;
and now is engaged to make thee conqueror: and darest thou not go on
where Christ doth lead the way? He was perfected through suffering
himself, and will see that thou be not destroyed by it. Canst thou
draw back, when thou seest his steps, and his blood?[57]
(3.) Thou art not to conquer in thy own strength, but by the Spirit
of God, and the power of that grace which is sufficient for thee, and
his strength which appeareth most in our weakness, 2 Cor. xii. 9. And
"you can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth you," Phil.
iv. 13. "Be of good cheer, he hath overcome the world," John xvi. 33.
(4.) All that are in heaven have gone this way, and overcome such
oppositions and difficulties as these:[58] they were tempted,
troubled, scorned, opposed, as well as you; and yet they now triumph
in glory. "These are they that come out of great tribulation, and have
washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb:
therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and
night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell
among them," Rev. vii. 14. And all that ever come to heaven (at age)
are like to come this way. And doth not the company encourage you? and
the success of those that have overcome before you? Will you have the
end, and yet refuse the way?
(5.) Consider how much greater difficulties ungodly men go through to
hell. They have stronger enemies than you have: the devil and wicked
men are your enemies; but God himself is theirs, and yet they will go
on. Men threaten but death to discourage you, and God threateneth
damnation to discourage them; and yet they go on, and are not
discouraged. And will you be more afraid of man, than sinners are of
God? and of death or scorns, than they are of hell?
(6.) Yea, and you yourselves must cast your souls on these greater
evils, if by discouragement you turn from the way of godliness. You
must run into hell for fear of burning; and upon everlasting death, to
escape a temporal death, or less: you will choose God for your enemy,
to escape the enmity of man; and how wise a course this is, judge you;
when if you do but see that your ways please God, he can "make your
enemies be at peace with you," if he see it for your good, Prov. xvi.
7. If you will fear, fear him that can damn the soul.
(7.) Lastly, Remember what abundance of mercies you have to sweeten
your present life, and to make your burden easy to you: you have all
that is good for you in this life, and the promise of everlasting joy;
for godliness thus "is profitable to all things," 1 Tim. iv. 8. What
abundance of mercy have you in your bodies, estates, friends, names,
or souls, which are the greatest! What promises and experiences to
refresh you! What liberty of access to God! A Christ to rejoice in, a
heaven to rejoice in! and yet shall a stony or a dirty way discourage
you more than these shall comfort you?
The sum of all is, your work will grow easier and sweeter to you, as
your skill and strength increase. Your enemies are as grasshoppers
before you; the power of the Almighty is engaged by love and promise
for your help; and do you pretend to trust in God, and yet will fear
the face of man? Isa. l. 6-10, "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 justifieth me; who will
contend with me? Let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him
come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help me: who is he that
shall condemn me? Lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth
shall eat them up." Isa. li. 7, 8, "Hearken to me, ye that know
righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the
reproach of men, neither be afraid of their revilings: for the moth
shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like
wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from
generation to generation." He is no soldier for Christ, that will turn
back for fear of scorns, or of any thing that man can do against him.
And consider whether heaven should be easilier come to? They are
things of unspeakable glory that you strive for; and they are
unworthily despised, if any thing be thought too good to part with for
them, or any labour, or difficulties, or sufferings too great to
undergo to procure them.
_Direct._ VII. If it be in your power, live under a judicious, faithful,
serious, searching, powerful minister;[59] and diligently attend his
public teaching, and use his private counsel for more particular
directions and application, for the settling and managing the affairs of
your souls; even as you take the advice of physicians for your health,
and of lawyers for your estates, and tutors for your studies.
I give this direction only to those that may enjoy so great a mercy if
they will. Some live where no such minister is. Some are children, or
servants, or wives, that are bound and cannot remove their
habitations, or enjoy such liberty, by reason of the unwillingness and
restraint of others. Some are so poor, that they cannot remove their
dwelling for such advantages. And some are so serviceable in their
places, that they may be bound to stay under a very weak minister,
that they may do good to others, where they have best opportunity. But
let him that can be free, and possess so great a mercy, accept it
thankfully, though to his cost. As Christ said in another case, "Every
man cannot receive the saying; but he that can receive it, let him."
There is abundance of difference between a weak, unskilful,
unexperienced, dead-hearted, formal teacher, and such a one as is
described in the direction. Some that are senseless or indifferent in
such matters as these themselves, would persuade you to be so too, and
look first in your settlement to your bodily conveniences, and be
content with such a teacher as accidentally you are cast upon. And
they will tell you, that the work of grace dependeth not on the
preachers' gifts, but on the gift and blessing of the Spirit of God:
the formalists and the enthusiasts concur in this, though from
different principles: but though God can frustrate the fittest means,
and can work without means, or by that which is least fitted to the
end, yet it is his ordinary way to work by means, and that for the
soul as well as for the body; and to work most by the aptest means.
And I am sure it is the duty of every teacher, to preach in the
fittest manner that he can for the people's edification; and not to do
God's work deceitfully, and ineptly, because God can bless the
unfittest means: and it is the people's duty to attend upon the best
they can enjoy, though God can equally work by the weakest or by none.
As that pretence will not excuse the contemners of God's ordinances,
that upon every little business stay at home, and attend upon no
ministry at all; no more will it excuse them, that refuse that help
which is most suited to their edification, and take up with a worse,
when they might have better. We are not to neglect duty upon a
presumptuous expectation of miraculous or extraordinary works: when we
can have no better, we may hope for the greater benefit from the
weakest; but not when it is the choice of our own presumptuous,
irreligious hearts. God can make Daniel and his companions to thrive
better by eating pulse, than others that fed at the table of the king:
and rather than sin against God, we must cast ourselves on him for
unusual supplies, or leave all to his will. But few would therefore be
persuaded causelessly to live on pulse, when they may have better. And
one would think this truth should have no contradiction, especially
from those men, that are apt to obscure and extenuate the Spirit's
operations on the soul, and to confess no grace, but what consisteth
in a congruous ordination of means and circumstances. When their
doctrine layeth all a man's hopes of salvation upon this congruity of
means and circumstances, should they afterwards teach men to
undervalue or neglect the fittest, and wilfully cast their souls upon
the most unfit and unlikely means? But ungodliness first resolveth
what to speak against, before it resolveth what to say; and will
contradict God's word, though it contradict its own; and will oppose
holiness, though by a self-opposing.
But the spiritual relish and experience of the godly, is a very great
preservative to them against such deluding reasonings as these. It is
harder for a sophister of greatest subtilty or authority, to persuade
him that hath tasted them, that sugar is bitter, or wormwood sweet,
than to persuade him to believe it, that never tasted them: and it is
hard to make a healthful man believe it is best for him to eat but
once a week, or best to live on grass or snow. I doubt not but those
that now I speak to, have such experience and perception of the
benefit of a judicious and lively ministry, in comparison of the
ignorant, cold, and lifeless, that no words will make them indifferent
herein. Have you not found the ministry of one sort enlighten, and
warm, and quicken, and comfort, and strengthen you, much more than of
the other? I am sure I have the common sense and experience of the
faithful on my side in this, which were enough of itself against more
than can be said against it. Even new-born babes in Christ have in
their new natures a desire (not to senseless or malicious pratings,
but) to the rational sincere milk, (το λογικον αδολον γαλα,) that they
may grow by it, and to perform to God a rational service, Rom. xii. 1.
And it must needs be a very proud and stupid heart that can be so
insensible of its own infirmity, sinfulness, and necessity, as to
think the weakest, dullest minister may serve their turns, and that
they are able to keep up their life, and vigour, and watchfulness, and
fruitfulness, with any little ordinary help. I cannot but fear such
men know not what the power and efficacy of the word upon the heart
and conscience meaneth; nor what it is to live a life of faith and
holiness, and to watch the heart, and walk with God. If they did, they
could not but find so much difficulty herein, and so much backwardness
and unskilfulness in themselves hereto, as would make them feel the
necessity of the greatest helps; and it could not be but they must
feel the difference between a clear and quickening sermon, and an
ignorant, heartless, dead discourse, that is spoken as if a man were
talking in his sleep, or of a matter that he never understood, or had
experience of.
Alas, how apt are the best to cool, if they be not kept warm by a
powerful ministry! How apt to lose the hatred of sin, the tenderness
of conscience, the fervency in prayer, the zeal and fulness in
edifying discourse, and the delights and power of heavenly
meditations, which before we had! How apt is faith to stagger if it be
not powerfully underpropt by the helpers of our faith! How hardly do
we keep up the heat of love, the confidence of hope, the resolution
and fulness of obedience, without the help of a powerful ministry!
Nay, how hardly do we do our part in these, in any tolerable sort,
even while we have the clearest, liveliest helps, that are ordinarily
to be had! And can any that are not blind and proud, imagine that they
are so holy and good, that they are above the necessity of such
assistance, and that the weakest breath is enough to kindle the fire
of holy love and zeal, and keep them in the fear and obedience of God?
Alas, we are under languishing weakness, and must be dieted with the
best, or we shall soon decay; we are cripples, and cannot go or stand
without our crutches. And there must be some savour of the Spirit in
him that will be fit to make us spiritual, and some savour of faith
and love in him that would kindle faith and love in us; and he must
speak clearly and convincingly that will be understood, and will
prevail with such as we; and he must speak feelingly, that would make
us feel, and speak seriously, that would be much regarded by us, and
would make us serious.
6. And ministers are not set up only for public preaching, but for
private counsel also, according to our particular needs.[60] As
physicians are not only to read you instructions for the dieting and
curing of yourselves, but to be present in your sickness to direct you
in the particular application of remedies; and as lawyers are to assist
you in your particular cases to free your estates from encumbrances, and
preserve or rescue them from contentious men; choose therefore some able
minister to be your ordinary counsellor in the matters of God. And let
him be one that is humble, faithful, experienced, and skilful, that hath
leisure, ability, and willingness to assist you.
As infants in a family are unable to help themselves, and need the
continual help of others, and therefore God hath put into the hearts
of parents a special love to them, to make them diligent and patient
in helping them; so is it in the family of Christ; most christians, by
far, are young or weak, in understanding and in grace; it is long
before you will be past the need of others' help, if ever in this
life. If you feel not this your infirmity and need, it is so much the
greater. God will have no men to be self-sufficient; we shall all have
need of one another, that we may be useful to one another; and God may
use us as his messengers and instruments of conveying his mercies to
each other; and that even self-love may help us to be sociable, and to
love one another: and our souls must receive their part of mercy, by
this way of communication, as well as our bodies: and therefore, as
the poor, above all men, should not be against charity and
communicating, that need it most; so young christians that are weak
and unexperienced, above all others, should be most desirous of help,
especially from an able, faithful guide.
But be sure you deal sincerely, and cheat not yourselves, by deceiving
your counsellor, and hiding your case. To do so by your lawyer, is the
way to lose your suit; and to do so by your physician, is the way to
lose your life; and to do so with your pastor and soul-counsellor, is
the way to lose your souls. And let the judgment of your pastor or
judicious friend about the state of your souls be much regarded by
you, though it be not infallible. How far such must be trusted, I am
afterward to open to you, with other of your duties belonging to you
in this relation. I now only proceed to general advice.
_Direct._ VIII. Keep right apprehensions of the excellency of charity
and unity among believers, and receive nothing hastily that is against
them; especially take heed lest under pretence of their authority,
their number, their soundness, or their holiness, you too much addict
yourselves to any sect or party, to the withdrawing of your special
love and just communion from other christians, and turning your zeal
to the interest of your party, with a neglect of the common interest
of the church; but love a christian as a christian, and promote the
unity and welfare of them all.[61]
Use often to read and well consider the meaning and reason of those
many urgent passages in Scripture, which exhort all christians to
unity and love.[62] Such as John xi. 52; xvii. 11, 21-23; 1 Cor. iii.
10, 17; xii. throughout; 2 Cor. xi. 13; 1 Thess. v. 12, 13; Phil. ii.
1-3; 1 Pet. iii. 8; Rom. xvi. 17; 1 Cor. i. 10; iii. 3; xi. 18. And
John xiii. 35; Rom. xii. 9, 10; xiii. 10; 2 Cor. xiii. 11; Gal. v. 6,
13, 22; Col. i. 4; 1 Thess. iv. 9; 1 John iii. 11, 14, 23; iv. 7, 11,
16, 19-21. Surely if the very life of godliness lay not much in unity
and love, we should never have had such words spoken of it, as here
you find. Love is to the soul, as our natural heat is to the body:
whatever destroyeth it, destroyeth life; and therefore cannot be for
our good. Be certain, that opinion, course, or motion, tends to death,
that tends to abate your love to your brethren, much more which under
pretence of zeal, provoketh you to hate and hurt them. To divide the
body is to kill it or to maim it; dividing the essential, necessary
parts, is killing it; cutting off any integral part, is maiming it.
The first can never be an act of friendship, which is the worst that
an enemy can do: the second is never an act of friendship, but when
the cutting off a member which may be spared is of absolute necessity
to the saving of the whole man, from the worse division between soul
and body. By this judge what friends dividers are to the church, and
how well they are accepted of God.
He that loveth any christian aright, must needs love all that appear
to him as christians. And when malice will not suffer men to see
christianity in its profession, and credible appearance in another,
this is as well contrary to christian love, as hating him when you
know him to be a true christian. Censoriousness (not constrained by
just evidence) is contrary to love, as well as hatred is.
There is a union and communion with christians as such: this
consisteth in having one God, one Head, one Spirit, one faith, one
baptismal covenant, one rule of holy living, and in loving and praying
for all, and doing good to as many as we can. This is a union and
communion of mind, which we must hold with the catholic church through
the world. And there is a bodily local union and communion, which
consisteth in our joining in body, as well as mind, with particular
congregations: and this, as we cannot hold it with all, nor with any
congregation, but one at once; so we are not bound to hold it with
any, that will drive us from it, unless we will commit some sin:[63]
statedly we must hold it with the church which regularly we are joined
to, and live with; and occasionally we must hold it with all others,
where we have a call and opportunity, who in the substance worship God
according to his word, and force us not to sin in conformity to them.
It is not schism to lament the sins of any church, or of all the
churches in the world: the catholic church on earth consists of
sinners. It is not schism to refuse to be partaker in any sin of the
purest church in the world: obedience to God is not schism. It is not
schism that you join not bodily with those congregations where you
dwell not, nor have any particular call to join with them; nor that
you choose the purest and most edifying society, rather than one that
is less pure and profitable to you; _cæteris paribus_, supposing you
are at liberty: nor that you hold not bodily communion with that
church, that will not suffer you to do it, without sinning against
God; nor that you join not with the purest churches, when you are
called to abide with one less pure.
But it is worse than schism to separate from the universal church: to
separate from its faith is apostasy to infidelity. To separate from it
in some one or few essential articles, while you pretend to hold to
Christ the Head, is heresy: to separate from it in Spirit, by refusing
holiness, and not loving such as are truly holy, is damning
ungodliness or wickedness: to differ from it by any error, of judgment
or life, against the law of God, is sin. To magnify any one church or
party, so as to deny due love and communion to the rest, is schism. To
limit all the church to your party, and deny all or any of the rest to
be christians, and parts of the universal church, is schism by a
dangerous breach of charity; and this is the principal schism that I
here admonish you to avoid. It is schism also to condemn unjustly any
particular church, as no church; and it is schism to withdraw your
bodily communion from a church that you were bound to hold that
communion with, upon a false supposition that it is no church, or is
not lawfully to be communicated with. And it is schism to make
divisions or parties in a church, though you divide not from that
church. Thus I have (briefly) told you what is schism.
1. One pretence for schism is (usurped) authority, which some one
church may claim to command others that owe them no subjection. Thus
pride, which is the spirit of hell, having crept into the church of
Christ, and animated to usurpations of lordship and dominion, and
contending for superiority, hath caused the most dangerous schisms in
the church, that it was ever infested with. The bishop of Rome
(advantaged by the seat and constitution of that empire) having
claimed the government of all the christian world, condemneth all the
churches that will not be his subjects; and so hath made himself the
head of a sect, and of the most pernicious schisms that ever did rend
the church of Christ: and the bishop of Constantinople, and too many
more, have followed the same method in a lower degree, exalting
themselves above their brethren, and giving them laws, and then
condemning and persecuting them that obey them not. And when they have
imposed upon other churches their own usurped authority and laws, they
have laid the plot to call all men schismatics and sectaries, that own
not their tyrannical usurpation, and that will not be schismatics and
sectaries with them: and the cheat lieth in this, that they confound
the churches' unity with their pretended authority, and schism with
the refusal of subjection to them. If you will not take them for your
lords, they cry out that you divide from the church: as if we could
hold communion with no churches, but those whose bishops we obey.
Communion with other churches is maintained by faith and charity, and
agreement in things necessary, without subjection to them. As we may
hold all just communion with the churches in Armenia, Arabia, Russia,
without subjection to their bishops; so may we with any other church
besides that of which we are members. Division or schism is contrary
to unity and concord, and not to a usurped government: though
disobedience to the pastors which God hath set over us is a sin, and
dividing from them is a schism. Both the pope and all the lower
usurpers should do well first to show their commission from God to be
our rulers, before they call it schism to refuse their government. If
they had not made better advantage of fire and sword, than of
Scripture and argument, the world would but have laughed them to
scorn, when they had heard them say, All are schismatics that will not
be our subjects: our dominion and will shall be necessary to the unity
of the church. The universal church indeed is one, united under one
head and governor: but it is only Jesus Christ who is that head, and
not any usurping vicar or vice-christ. The bishops of particular
churches are his officers; but he hath deputed no vicar to his own
office, as the universal head. Above all sects, take heed of this
pernicious sect, who pretend their usurped authority for their schism,
and have no way to promote their sect, but by calling all sectaries
that will not be sectaries and subjects unto them.
2. Another pretence for schism is the numbers of the party. This is
another of the papists' motives; as if it were lawful to divide the
church of Christ, if they can but get the greater party. They say, We
are the most, and therefore you should yield to us: and so do others,
where by the sword they force the most to submit to them. But we answer
them, As many as they are, they are too few to be the universal church.
The universal church, containing all true, professing christians, is
much more than they. The papists are not a third part, if a fourth, of
the whole church. Papists are a corrupted sect of christians: I will be
against dividing the body of Christ into any sects, rather than to be
one of that sect or dividing party, which is the greatest.
3. Another pretence for schism is the soundness or orthodoxness of a
party. Almost all sects pretend that they are wiser and of sounder
judgment than all the christian world besides: yea, those that most
palpably contradict the Scriptures, (as the papists in their
half-communion and unintelligible service,) and have no better reason
why they so believe or do, but because others have so believed and
done already.
But, (1.) the greatest pretenders to orthodoxness are not the most
orthodox: (2.) and if they were, I can value them for that in which
they excel, without abating my due respect to the rest of the church.
(3.) For the whole church is orthodox in all the essentials of
christianity, or else they were not christians: and I must love all
that are christians with that special love that is due to the members
of Christ, though I must superadd such esteem for those that are a
little wiser or better than others, as they deserve.
4. The fourth pretence for schism, is the holiness of the party that
men adhere to. But this must make but a gradual difference, in our
esteem and love to some christians above others: if really they are
most holy, I must love them most, and labour to be as holy as they;
but I must not therefore unjustly deny communion, or due respect, to
other christians that are less holy; nor cleave to them as a sect or
divided party, whom I esteem most holy. For the holiest are most
charitable, and most against the divisions among christians, and
tenderest of their unity and peace.
The sum of this direction is: 1. Highly value christian love and unity.
2. Love those most that are most holy, and be most familiar with them,
for your own edification: and if you have your choice, hold local
personal communion with the soundest, purest, and best qualified church.
3. But entertain not hastily any odd opinion of a divided party; or, if
you do hold it as an opinion, lay not greater weight on it than there is
cause. 4. Own the best as best, but none as a divided sect; and espouse
not their dividing interest. 5. Confine not your special love to a
party; especially for agreeing in some opinions with you; but extend it
to all the members of Christ. 6. Deny not local communion, when there is
occasion for it, to any church that hath the substance of true worship,
and forceth you not to sin. 7. Love them as true christians and
churches, even when they thus drive you from their communion.
It is a most dangerous thing to a young convert, to be insnared in a
sect: it will, before you are aware, possess you with a feverish,
sinful zeal for the opinions and interest of that sect; it will make
you bold in bitter invectives and censures, against those that differ
from them; it will corrupt your church communion, and fill your very
prayers with partiality and human passions; it will secretly bring
malice, under the name of zeal, into your minds and words: in a word,
it is a secret but deadly enemy to christian love and peace. Let them
that are wiser, and more orthodox and godly, than others, show it as
the Holy Ghost directeth them: James iii. 13-18, "Who is a wise man
and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good
conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter
envying (or zeal) and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not
against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is
earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is
confusion (or tumult) and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from
above, is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated,
full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality (or wrangling) and
without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of
them that make peace."
_Direct._ IX. Take heed lest any persecution or wrong from others,
provoke you to any unwarrantable passions and practices, and deprive
you of the charity, meekness, and innocency of a christian; or make
you go beyond your bounds, in censuring, reviling, or resisting your
rulers, who are the officers of God.
Persecution and wrongs are called temptations in Scripture, because
they try you, whether you will hold your integrity.[64] As many fall
in such trials, through the fear of men, and the love of the world,
and their prosperity; so when you seem most confirmed against any
sinful compliance, there is a snare laid for you on the other side, to
draw you into passions and practices that are unwarrantable.
Those that are tainted with pride, uncharitableness, and schism, will
itch to be persecuting those that comply not with them in their way;
and yet, while they do it, they will most cry out against pride,
uncharitableness, and schism themselves. This is, and hath been, and
will be too ordinary in the world. You may think that schism should be
far from them, that seem to do all for order and unity. But never look
to see this generally cured, when you have said and done the best you
can: you must, therefore, resolve, not only to fly from church
division yourselves, but also to undergo the persecutions or wrongs of
proud or zealous church dividers. It is great weakness in you, to
think such usage strange: do you not know that enmity is put, from the
beginning, between the woman's and the serpent's seed? And do you
think the name or dead profession of christianity doth extinguish the
enmity in the serpent's seed? Do you think to find more kindness from
proud, ungodly christians, than Abel might have expected from his
brother Cain?[65] Do you not know that the Pharisees (by their zeal
for their pre-eminence, and traditions, and ceremonies, and the
expectation of worldly dignity and rule from the Messiah) were more
zealous enemies of Christ than the heathens were? and that the carnal
members of the church are oft the greatest persecutors of the
spiritual members? "As then he that was born after the flesh, did
persecute him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now," (and
will be,) Gal. iv. 29. It is enough for you, that you shall have the
inheritance, when the sons of the bondwoman shall be cast out. It is
your taking the ordinary case of the godly for a strange thing, that
makes you so disturbed and passionate, when you suffer: and reason is
down, when passion is up. It is by overwhelming reason with passion
and discontent, that "oppression maketh" some "wise men mad," Eccles.
vii. 7; for passion is a short, imperfect madness. You will think in
your passion, that you do well, when you do ill; and you will not
perceive the force of reason, when it is never so plain and full
against you. Remember, therefore, that the great motive that causeth
the devil to persecute you is not to hurt your bodies, but to tempt
your souls to impatience and sin: and if it may be said of you as of
Job, chap. i. 22, "In all this Job sinned not," you have got the
victory, and are "more than conquerors," Rom. viii. 37-39.
Doth it seem strange to you, that "few rich men are saved," when
Christ telleth you it is "so hard," as to be "impossible with men?"
Luke xviii. 27; Mark x. 27. Or is it strange, that rich men should be
the ordinary rulers of the earth? Or is it strange, that the wicked
should hate the godly, and the world hate them that are "chosen out of
the world?" What of all this should seem strange? Expect it as the
common lot of the faithful, and you will be better prepared for it.
See therefore that you "resist not evil," (by any revengeful, irregular
violence,) Matt. v. 39. "Let every soul be subject to the higher powers,
and not resist, lest they receive damnation," Rom. xiii. 1-3. Imitate
your Lord, that "when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he
suffered, he threatened not, but committed all to him that judgeth
righteously; leaving us an ensample, that ye should follow his steps," 1
Pet. ii. 21, 23. An angry zeal against those that cross and hurt us is
so easily kindled and hardly suppressed, that it appeareth there is more
in it of corrupted nature than of God. We are very ready to think that
we may "call for fire from heaven" upon the enemies of the gospel; but
"you know not what manner of spirit ye are then of," Luke ix. 55. But
Christ saith unto you, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you,
and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is
in heaven," Matt. v. 44, 45. You find no such prohibition against
patient suffering wrong from any. Take heed of giving way to secret
wishes of hurt to your adversaries, or to reproachful words against
them: take heed of hurting yourself by passion or sin, because others
hurt you by slanders or persecutions. Keep you in the way of your duty,
and leave your names and lives to God. Be careful that you keep your
innocency, and in your patience possess your souls, and God will keep
you from any hurt from enemies, but what he will cause to work for your
good. Read Psal. xxxvii. "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in
him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy
righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noon-day. Rest in
the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him
who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked
devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself
in anywise to do evil," ver. 5-8.
_Direct._ X. When you are repenting of or avoiding any extreme, do it
not without sufficient fear and caution of the contrary extreme.
[Sidenote: Extremes in religion.]
In the esteem and love of God, your ultimate end, you need not fear
overdoing: nor any where, when impediments, and backwardness or
impotency, do tell you that you can never do too much. But sin lieth on
both sides the rule and way: and nothing is more common, than to turn
from one sin to another, under the name of duty or amendment. Especially
this is common in matter of opinion. Some will first believe, that God
is nothing else but mercy, and after, take notice of nothing but his
justice. First, they believe that almost all are saved, and afterwards,
that almost none: first, that every profession is credible, and next,
that none is credible without some greater testimony: first, that Christ
satisfied for none at all that will not be saved, and next, that he died
for all alike: first, that none are now partakers of the Holy Spirit;
and next, that all saints have the Spirit, not only to illuminate and
sanctify them, by transcribing the written word upon their hearts; but
also to inspire them with new revelations, instead of Scripture: first,
they think that all that papists hold and do, must be avoided; and
after, that there needed no reformation at all. Now, they are for legal
bondage, and anon for libertinism: to-day, for a liberty in religion to
none, that agree not with them in every circumstance; and to-morrow, for
a liberty for all: this year, all things are lawful to them; and the
next year, nothing is lawful, but they scruple all that they say or do.
One while, they are all for a worship of mere show and ceremony; and
another while, against the determination of mere circumstances of order
and decency, by man. One while, they cry up nothing but free grace; and
another while, nothing but free will. One while, they are for a
discipline stricter than the rule; and another while, for no discipline
at all. First, for timorous compliance with evil; and afterwards, for
boisterous contempt of government. Abundance of such instances we might
give you.
The remedy against this disease, is, to proceed deliberately, and
receive nothing and do nothing rashly and unadvisedly in religion.
For, when you have found out your first error, you will be affrighted
from that into the contrary error. See that you look round about you;
as well to the error that you may run into on the other side, as into
that which you have run into already. Consult also with wise,
experienced men; and mark their unhappiness, that have fallen on both
sides; and stay not to know evil by sad experience. True mediocrity is
the only way that is safe; though negligence and lukewarmness be
odious, even when cloaked with that name.
[Sidenote: For modesty in your first opinions.]
_Direct._ XI. Let not your first opinions, about the controverted
difficulties in religion, where Scripture is not very plain, be too
peremptory, confident, or fixed; but hold them modestly with a due
suspicion of your unripe understandings, and with room for further
information, supposing it possible, or probable, that upon better
instruction, evidence, and maturity, you may, in such things, change
your minds.
I know, the factions that take up their religion on the credit of
their party, are against this direction: thinking that you must first
hit on the right church, and then hold all that the church doth hold;
and therefore change your mind in nothing which you this way receive.
I know, also, that some libertines and half believers would corrupt
this direction, by extending it to the most plain and necessary
truths; persuading you to hold christianity itself but as an
uncertain, probable opinion.
But, as God's foundation standeth sure, so we must be surely built on
his foundation. He that believeth not the essentials of christianity,
as a certain, necessary revelation of God, is not a christian, but an
infidel. And he that believeth not all that which he understandeth in
the word of God, believeth nothing on the credit of that word. Indeed
faith hath its weakness, on those that are sincere; and they are fain
to lament the remnants of unbelief, and cry, "Lord, increase our
faith; help thou our unbelief." But he that approveth of his doubting,
and would have it so, and thinks the revelation is uncertain, and such
as will warrant no firmer a belief, I should scarcely say, this man is
a christian. Christianity must be received as of divine, infallible
revelation. But controversies about less necessary things, cannot be
determined peremptorily, by the ignorant or young beginners, without
hypocrisy, or a human faith going under the name of a divine. I am far
from abating your divine belief of all that you can understand in
Scripture, and implicitly of all the rest in general. And I am far
from diminishing the credit of any truth of God. But the reasons of
this direction are these:
1. When it is certain that you have but a dark, uncertain apprehension
of any point, to think it is clear and certain, is but to deceive
yourselves by pride. And, to cry out against all uncertainty, as
scepticism, which yet you cannot lay aside, is but to revile your own
infirmity, and the common infirmity of mankind, and foolishly to suppose
that every man can be as wise and certain, when he list, as he should
be. Now reason and experience will tell you, that a young, unfurnished
understanding, is not like to see the evidence of difficult points, as,
by nearer approach and better advantage, it may do.
2. If your conclusions be peremptory, upon mere self-conceitedness,
you may be in an error for aught you know; and so you are but
confident in an error. And then how far may you go in seducing others,
and censuring dissenters, and come back when you have done, and
confess that you were all this while mistaken yourselves!
3. For a man to be confident that he knoweth what he knoweth not, is
but the way to keep him ignorant, and shut the door against all means
of further information. When the opinion is fixed by prejudice and
conceit, there is no ready entrance for the light.
4. And, to be ungroundedly confident, so young, is not only to take up
with your teacher's word, instead of a faith and knowledge of your
own, but also to forestall all diligence to know more: and so you may
lay by all your studies, save only to know what those men hold, whose
judgments are your religion: too popish and easy a way to be safe.
5. If you must never change your first opinions or apprehensions, how
will you grow in understanding? Will you be no wiser at age, than you
were in childhood, and after long study and experience, than before?
Nature and grace do tend to increase.
Indeed, if you should be never so peremptory in your opinions, you
cannot resolve to hold them to the end: for light is powerful, and may
change you whether you will or no: you cannot tell what that light
will do, which you never saw. But prejudice will make you resist the
light, and make it harder for you to understand.
I speak this upon much experience and observation. Our first unripe
apprehensions of things will certainly be greatly changed, if we are
studious and of improved understandings. Study the controversies about
grace and free-will, or about other such points of difficulty, when
you are young, and it is two to one that ripeness will afterward make
them quite another thing to you. For my own part, my judgment is
altered from many of my youthful, confident apprehensions: and where
it holdeth the same conclusion, it rejecteth abundance of the
arguments, as vain, which once it rested in. And where I keep to the
same conclusions and arguments, my apprehension of them is not the
same, but I see more satisfying light in many things, which I took but
upon trust before. And if I had resolved to hold to all my first
opinions, I must have forborne most of my studies, and lost much
truth, which I have discovered, and not made that my own, which I did
hold; and I must have resolved to live and die a child.
The sum is, Hold fast the substance of religion, and every clear and
certain truth, which you see in its own evidence: and also reverence
your teachers; especially the universal church, or the generality of
wise and godly men; and be not hasty to take up any private opinion; and
especially to contradict the opinion of your governors and teachers, in
small and controverted things. But yet, in such matters, receive their
opinions but with a human faith, till indeed you have more, and
therefore, with a supposition, that time and study is very like to alter
your apprehensions; and with a reserve, impartially to study and
entertain the truth, and not to sit still just where you were born.
[Sidenote: What to do when controversies do divide the church.]
_Direct._ XII. If controversies occasion any divisions where you live,
be sure to look first to the interest of common truth and good, and to
the exercise of charity. And become not passionate contenders for any
party in the division, or censurers of the peaceable, or of your
teachers, that will not overrun their own understandings, to obtain
with you the esteem of being orthodox or zealous men; but suspect your
own unripe understandings, and silence your opinions till you are
clear and certain; and join rather with the moderate and the
peacemakers, than with the contenders and dividers.
You may easily be sure that division tendeth to the ruin of the
church, and the hinderance of the gospel, and the injury of the common
interest of religion.[66] You know it is greatly condemned in the
Scriptures. You may know that it is usually the exercise and the
increase of pride, uncharitableness, and passion; and that the devil
is best pleased with it, as being the greatest gainer by it. But, on
the other side, you are not easily certain which party is in the
right: and if you were, you are not sure that the matter will be worth
the cost of the contention: or if it be, it is to be considered,
whether the truth is not like to get more advantage by managing it in
a more peaceable way, that hath no contention, nor stirreth up other
men so much against it, as the way of controversy doth. And whatever
it prove, you may and should know, that young christians, that want
both parts, and helps, and time, and experience to be thoroughly seen
in controversies, are very unfit to make themselves parties; and that
they are yet more unfit to be the hottest leaders of these parties,
and to spur on their teachers, that know more than they. If the work
be fit for another to do, that knoweth on what ground he goeth, and
can foresee the end, yet certainly it is not fit for you. And
therefore forbear it till you are more fit.
I know those that would draw you into such a contentious zeal, will
tell you, that their cause is the cause of God, and that you desert
him and betray it, if you be not zealous in it: and that it is but the
counsel of flesh and blood which maketh you pretend moderation and
peace: and that it is a sign that you are hypocrites, that are so
lukewarm, and carnally comply with error: and that the cause of God is
to be followed with the greatest zeal and self-denial. And all this is
true, if you but be sure that it is indeed the cause of God; and that
the greater works of God be not neglected on such pretences; and that
your zeal be much greater for faith, and charity, and unity, than for
your opinions. But upon great experience, I must tell you, that of the
zealous contenders[67] in the world, that cry up "The cause of God,
and truth," there is not one of very many, that understandeth what he
talks of; but some of them cry up the cause of God, when it is a brat
of a proud and ignorant brain, and such as a judicious person would be
ashamed of. And some of them are rashly zealous, before they have
parts or time to come to any judicious trial. And some of them are
misguided by some person or party, that captivateth their minds. And
some of them are hurried away by passion and discontent. And many of
the ambitious and worldly are blinded by their carnal interests. And
many of them, in mere pride, think highly of an opinion, in which they
are somewhat singular, and which they can, with some glorying, call
their own, as either invented by them or that, in which they think
they know more than ordinary men do. And abundance, after long
experience, confess that to have been their own erroneous cause, which
they before entitled the cause of God. Now when this is the case, and
one crieth, Here is Christ, and another, There is Christ; one saith,
This is the cause of God, and another saith, That is it; no man that
hath any care of his conscience, or of the honour of God and his
profession, will leap before he looketh where he shall alight; or run
after every one that will whistle him with the name or pretence of
truth or a good cause. It is a sad thing to go on many years together
in censuring, opposing, and abusing those that are against you, and in
seducing others, and misemploying your zeal, and parts, and time, and
poisoning all your prayers and discourses, and in the end to see what
mischief you have done for want of knowledge, and with Paul to
confess, that you were mad in opposing the truth and servants of God,
though you did it in a zeal of God through ignorance. Were it not much
better to stay till you have tried the ground, and prevent so many
years' grievous sin, than to escape by a sad repentance, and leave
behind you stinking and venomous fruit of your mistake? and worse, if
you never repent yourselves. Your own and your brethren's souls are
not so lightly to be ventured upon dangerous, untried ways. It will
not make the truth and church amends, to say at last, I had thought I
had done well. Let those go to the wars of disputing, and contending,
and censuring, and siding with a sect, that are riper, and better
understand the cause: wars are not for children. Do you suspend your
judgment till you can solidly and certainly inform it, and serve God
in charity, quietness, and peace; and it is two to one, but you will
live to see the day, that the contenders that would have led you into
their wars, will come off with so much loss themselves, as will teach
them to approve your peaceable course, or teach you to bless God that
kept you in your place and duty.
In all this I deny not, but every truth of God is to be valued at a very
high rate; and that he that shall carry himself in a neutrality, when
faith or godliness is the matter in controversy, or shall do it merely
for his worldly ends, to save his stake by temporizing, is a
false-hearted hypocrite, and at the heart of no religion. But withal I
tell you, that all is not matter of faith or godliness that the
autonomian-papist, the antinomian-libertine, or other passionate parties
shall call so: and that as we must avoid contempt of the smallest truth,
so we must much more avoid the most heinous sins which we may commit for
the defending of an error: and that some truths must be silenced for a
time, though not denied, when the contending for them is unseasonable,
and tendeth to the injury of the church. If you were masters in the
church, you must not teach your scholars to their hurt, though it be
truth you teach them. And if you were physicians, you must not cram
them, or medicate them to their hurt. Your power and duty is not to
destruction, but to edification. The good of the patient is the end of
your physic. All truth is not to be spoken, nor all good to be done, by
all men, nor at all times. He that will do contrary, and take this for a
carnal principle, doth but call folly and sin by the name of zeal and
duty, and set the house on fire to roast his egg, and with the
Pharisees, prefer the outward rest of their sabbath, before his
brother's life or health. Take heed what you do when God's honour, and
men's souls, and the church's peace are concerned in it.
And let me tell you my own observation. As far as my judgment hath
been able to reach, the men that have stood for pacification and
moderation, have been the most judicious, and those that have best
understood themselves, in most controversies that ever I heard under
debate among good christians: and those that furiously censured them
as lukewarm or corrupted, have been men that had least judgment, and
most passion, pride, and foul mistakes in the points in question.
Nay, I will tell you more of my observation, of which these times have
given us too much proof. Profane and formal enemies on the one hand,
and ignorant, self-conceited wranglers on the other hand, who think
they are champions for the truth, when they are venting their passions
and fond opinions, are the two thieves, between whom the church hath
suffered, from the beginning to this day. The first are the
persecutors, and the other the dividers and disturbers of the church.
Mark what the Holy Ghost saith in this case, 2 Tim. ii. 23, 24, "But
foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender
strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle
unto all men." Phil. ii. 14, 15, "Do all things without murmurings and
disputings: that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God,
without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,
among whom ye shine, as lights in the world." 1 Tim. vi. 3-6, "If any
man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the
words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according
to godliness; he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about
questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings,
evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds," &c. So
1 Tim. i. 4, 5, "Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies,
which minister questions, rather than godly edifying, which is in
faith: now the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart,
and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned."
Yet I must here profess, that if any false-hearted, worldly hypocrite,
that resolveth to be on the saving side, and to hold all to be lawful
that seemeth necessary to his safety or preferments, shall take any
encouragement from what I have here said, to debauch his conscience,
and sell his soul, and then call all those furious zealots that will
not be as false to God as he, let that man know, that I have given him
no cloak for so odious a sin, nor will he find a cover for it at the
bar of God, though he may delude his conscience, and bear it out by
his carnal advantages before the world.
_Direct._ XIII. Know that true godliness is the best life upon earth,
and the only way to perfect happiness. Still apprehend it therefore,
and use it as the best; and with great diligence resist those
temptations which would make it seem to you a confounding, grievous,
or unpleasant thing.
[Sidenote: Godliness what.]
There are all things concurrent in a holy life, to make it the most
delectable life on earth, to a rational, purified mind, that is not
captivated to the flesh, and liveth not on air or dung. The object of
it is the eternal God himself, the infallible truth, the only
satisfactory good; and all these condescending and appearing to us, in
the mysterious, but suitable glass of a Mediator; redeeming,
reconciling, teaching, governing, sanctifying, justifying, and
glorifying all that are his own. The end of it is the pleasing and
glorifying of our Maker, Redeemer, and Sanctifier; and the everlasting
happiness of ourselves and others. The rule of it is the infallible
revelation of God, delivered to the church by his prophets, and his
Son, and his apostles, and comprised in the Holy Scriptures, and
sealed by the miracles and operations of the Holy Ghost that did
indite them. The work of godliness is a living unto God, and preparing
for everlasting life, by foreseeing, foretasting, seeking, and
rejoicing in that endless happiness which we shall have with God; and
by walking after the Spirit, and avoiding the filthiness, delusions,
and vexations of the world and the flesh. The nature of man is not
capable of a more noble, profitable, and delectable life, than this
which God hath called us to by his Son. And if we did but rightly know
it, we should follow it with continual alacrity and delight. Be sure,
therefore, to conceive of godliness as it is, and not as it is
misrepresented by the devil and the ungodly. Read what I have written
of this in my "A Saint or a Brute."
As long as a man conceiveth of religion as it is, even the most sweet
and delectable life, so long he will follow it willingly and with his
heart, and despise the temptations and avocations of fleshly gain and
pleasure. He will be sincere, as not being only drawn by other men, or
outward advantages, nor frightened into it by a passion or
fearfulness, but loving religion for itself, and for its excellent
ends: and then he will be cheerful in all the duties, and under all
the sufferings and difficulties of it; and he will be most likely to
persevere unto the end. We cannot expect that the heart or will should
be any more for God and godliness, than the understanding practically
apprehendeth them as good. Nay, we must always perceive in them a
transcendent goodness, above all that is to be found in a worldly
life; or else the appearing goodness of the creature, will divert us,
and carry away our minds. We may see in the very brutes, what a power
apprehension hath upon their actions. If your horse be but going to
his home or pasture, how freely will he go through thick and thin! but
if he go unwillingly, his travel is troublesome and slow, and you have
much ado to get him on. It will be so with you in your way to heaven.
It is therefore the principal design of the devil, to hide the
goodness and pleasantness of religion from you; and to make it appear
to you as a terrible or tedious life. By this means it is that he
keeps men from it; and by this means he is still endeavouring to draw
you back again, and frustrate your good beginnings and your hopes. If
he can thus misrepresent religion to your understandings, he will
suddenly alienate your wills, and corrupt your lives, and make you
turn to the world again, and seek for pleasure some where else, and
only take up with some heartless lip-service, to keep up some
deceitful hope of being saved. And the means which Satan useth to
these ends are such as these:
[Sidenote: How Satan would make religion seem to be a confounding,
unpleasant thing--By difficulties.]
1. He will do his work to overwhelm you with appearing doubts and
difficulties, and bring you to a loss, and to make religion seem to
you a confounding and not a satisfying thing. This is one of his most
dangerous assaults upon the weak and young beginners. Difficulties and
passions are the things which he makes use of to confound you, and put
you out of a regular, cheerful seeking of salvation. When you read the
Scriptures, he will mind you of abundance of difficulties in all you
read or hear. He will show you seeming contradictions; and tell you
that you will never be able to understand these things. He will cast
in thoughts of unbelief and blasphemy, and cause you, if he can, to
roll them in your mind: if you cast them not out with abhorrence, but
dispute with the devil, he hopes to prove too hard at least for such
children and unprovided soldiers as you: and if you do reject them,
and refuse to dispute it with him, he will sometimes tell you that
your cause is naught, or else you need not be afraid to think of all
that can be said against it; and this way he gets advantage of you to
draw you to unbelief: and if you scape better than so, at least he
will molest and terrify you with the hideousness of his temptations;
and make you to think you are forsaken of God, because such
blasphemous thoughts have been so often in your minds: and thus he
will one while tempt you to blasphemy, and another while affright and
torment you with the thoughts of such temptations.
So also in the study of other good books, he will tempt you to fix
upon all that seems difficult to you, and there to confound and
perplex yourselves: and in your meditations, he will seek to make all
to tend but to confound and overwhelm you; keeping still either hard
or fearful things before your eyes; or breaking and scattering your
thoughts in pieces, that you cannot reduce them to any order, nor set
them together, nor make any thing of them, nor drive them to any
desirable end. So in your prayers he would fain confound you, either
with fear, or with doubtful and distracting thoughts about God, or
your sins, or the matter or manner of your duty, or questioning
whether your prayers will be heard. And so in your self-examination,
he will still seek to puzzle you, and leave you more in darkness than
you began, and make you afraid of looking homeward, or conversing
with yourselves; like a man that is afraid to lie in his own house
when he thinks it haunted with some apparitions. And thus the devil
would make all your religion to be but like the unwinding of a bottom
of yarn, or a skein of silk that is ravelled; that you may cast it
away in weariness or despair.
Your remedy against this dangerous temptation is, to remember that you
are yet young in knowledge, and that ignorance is like darkness, that
will cause doubts, and difficulties, and fears; and that all these
will vanish as your light increaseth: and therefore you must wait in
patience, till your riper knowledge fit you for satisfaction. And in
the mean time, be sure that you take up your hearts most with the
great, fundamental, necessary, plain, and certain points, which your
salvation is laid upon, and which are more suited to your state and
strength. If you will be gnawing bones, when you should be sucking
milk, and have not patience to stay till you are past your childhood,
no marvel if you find them hard, and if they stick in your throats, or
break your teeth. See that you live upon God in Christ, and love and
practise what you know, and think of the excellency of so much as is
already revealed to you. You know already what is the end that you
must seek, and where your happiness consisteth; and what Christ hath
done to prepare it for you, and how you must be justified, and
sanctified, and walk with God. Have you God, and Christ, and heaven to
think on, and all the mercies of the gospel to delight in, and will
you lay by these as common matters, or overlook them, and perplex
yourselves about every difficulty in your way? Make clean work before
you as you go, and live in the joyful acknowledgment of the mercies
which you have received, and in the practice of the things you know,
and then your difficulties will vanish as you go on.
[Sidenote: By various sects.]
2. Another of Satan's wiles is, to confound you with the noise of
sectaries, and divers opinions in religion: while the popish sect tell
you, that if you will be saved, you must be of their church; and
others say, you must be of theirs: and when you find that the sects
are many, and their reasonings such as you cannot answer, you will be
in danger either to take up some of their deceits, or to be confounded
among them all, not knowing which church and religion to choose.[68]
But here consider, that there is but one universal church of
christians in the world, of which Christ is the only King and Head,
and every christian is a member. You were sacramentally admitted into
this catholic church by baptism, and spiritually by your being "born
of the Spirit." You have all the promises of the gospel, that if you
believe in Christ you shall be saved; and that all the living members
of this church are loved by Christ as members of his body, and shall
be presented unspotted to the Father, by him who is the Saviour of his
body, Eph. 23-27, 29; "and that by one Spirit we are all baptized or
entered into this one body," 1 Cor. xii. 12, 13. If then thou hast
faith, and love, and the Spirit, thou art certainly a christian, and a
member of Christ, and of this universal church of christians. And if
there were any other church, but what are the parts of this one, then
this were not universal, and Christ must have two bodies. Thou art not
saved for being a member of the church of Rome, or Corinth, or
Ephesus, or Philippi, or Thessalonica, or of any other such; but for
being a member of the universal church or body of Christ, that is, a
christian. And as thou art a subject of the King, and a member of this
kingdom, whatever corporation thou be a member of, (perhaps sometime
of one, and sometime of another,) so thou art a subject of Christ,
whatever particular church thou be of; for it is no church, if they be
not christians, or subjects of Christ. For one sect then to say, Ours
is the true church, and another to say, Nay, but ours is the true
church, is as mad as to dispute, whether your hall, or kitchen, or
parlour, or coal-house, is your house; and for one to say, This is the
house, and another, Nay, but that, when a child can tell them, that
the best is but a part, and the house containeth them all: and for the
papists, that take on them to be the whole, and deny all others to be
christians and saved, except the subjects of the pope of Rome, it is
so irrational, antichristian a fiction and usurpation, and odious,
cruel, and groundless a damnation, of the far greatest part of the
body of Christ, that it is fitter for detestation than dispute. And if
such a crack would frighten the world out of their wits, no doubt but
other bishops also would make use of it, and say, All are damned that
will not be subject to us. But if you would see the folly and mischief
of popery, both in this and other points, I refer you to my treatise
of the "Catholic Church," and my "Key for Catholics," and my "Safe
Religion," and my "Disputations against Johnson," and my
"Winding-sheet for Popery."
[Sidenote: By scrupulosity.]
3. Another temptation to confound you in your religion, is, by filling
your heads with practical scrupulosity; so that you cannot go on for
doubting every step whether you go right; and when you should
cheerfully serve your Master, you will do nothing but disquiet your
minds with scruples, whether this or that be right or wrong. Your
remedy here, is not by casting away all care of pleasing God, or fear
of sinning, or by debauching conscience; but by a cheerful and quiet
obedience to God, so far as you know his will, and an upright
willingness and endeavour to understand it better; and a thankful
receiving the gospel pardon for your failings and infirmities. Be
faithful in your obedience; but live still upon Christ, and think not
of reaching to any such obedience, as shall set you above the need of
his merits, and a daily pardon of your sins. Do the best you can to
know the will of God and do it: but when you know the essentials of
religion, and obey sincerely, let no remaining wants deprive you of
the comfort of that so great a mercy, as proves your right to life
eternal. In your seeking further for more knowledge and obedience, let
your care be such as tendeth to your profiting, and furthering you to
your end, and as doth not hinder your joy and thanks for what you have
received: but that which destroyeth your joy and thankfulness, and
doth but perplex you, and not further you in your way, is but hurtful
scrupulosity, and to be laid by. When you are right in the main, thank
God for that, and be further solicitous so far as to help you on, but
not to hinder you. If you send your servant on your message, you had
rather he went on his way as well as he can, than stand scrupling
every step whether he should set the right or left foot forward; and
whether he should step so far, or so far at a time, &c. Hindering
scruples please not God.
[Sidenote: By setting you on overdoing by your own inventions.]
4. Another way to confound you in your religion is, by setting you
upon overdoing by inventions of your own. When a poor soul is most
desirous to please God, the devil will be religious, and set him upon
some such task of voluntary humility, or will-worship, as the apostle
speaks of, Col. ii. 18, 20-23; or set him upon some insnaring
unnecessary vows or resolutions, or some popish works of conceited
supererogation, which is that which Solomon calleth, being "righteous
over-much," Eccles. vii. 16. Thus many have made duties to themselves,
which God never made for them; and taketh that for sin, which God
never forbad them. The popish religion is very much made up of such
commandments of their own, and traditions of men. As if Christ had not
made us work enough, men are forward to make much more for themselves.
And some that should teach them the laws of Christ, do think that
their office is in vain, unless they may also prescribe them laws of
their own, and give them new precepts of religion. Yea, some that are
the bitterest enemies to the strict observance of the laws of God, as
if it were a tedious, needless thing, must yet needs load us with
abundance of unnecessary precepts of their own. And thus religion is
made both wearisome and uncertain, and a door set open for men to
enlarge it, and increase the burden at their pleasure. Indeed popery
is fitted to delude and quiet sleepy consciences, and to torment with
uncertainties the consciences that are awaked.
And there is something in the corrupted nature of man, that inclineth
him to some additions and voluntary service of his own inventions, as
an offering most acceptable unto God. Hence it is that many poor
christians do rashly entangle their consciences with vows of
circumstances and things unnecessary, as to give so much, to observe
such days or hours in fasting and prayer, not to do such or such a
thing that in itself is lawful, with abundance of such things, which
perhaps some change of providence may make accidentally their duty
afterwards to do, or disable them to perform their vows; and then
these snares are fetters on their perplexed consciences, perhaps as
long as they live. Yea, some of the antinomians teach the people, that
things indifferent are the fittest matter of a vow; as to live single,
to possess nothing, to live in solitude, and the like: indeed all
things lawful when they are vowed, must be performed; but it is unfit
to be vowed if it be not first profitable and best, for ourselves or
others; and that which is best is not indifferent, it being every
man's duty to choose what is best. Vows are to bind us to the
performance of that which God had bound us to by his laws before; they
are our expression of consent and resolution by a self-obligation to
obey his will; and not to make new duties of religion to ourselves,
which else would never have been our duty.
To escape these snares, it is necessary that you take heed of
corrupting your religion by burdens and mixtures of your own devising.
You are called to obey God's laws, and not to make laws for
yourselves. You may be sure that his laws are just and good, but yours
may be bad and foolish. When you obey him, you may expect your reward
and encouragement from him: but when you will obey yourselves, you
must reward yourselves. You may find it enough for you to keep his
laws, without devising more work for yourselves; or feigning duties
which he commanded not, or sins which he forbad not. Be not rash in
making vows; let them reach but unto necessary duties; and let them
have their due exceptions when they are about alterable things: or if
you are entangled by them already, consult with the most judicious,
able, impartial men, that you may come clearly off without a wound.
There is a great deal of judgment and sincerity necessary in your
counsellors, and a great deal of submission and self-denial in
yourselves, to bring you safely out of such a snare. Avoid sin,
whatever you do; for sinning is not the way to your deliverance. And
for the time to come, be wiser, and lay no more snares for
yourselves; and clog not yourselves with your own inventions, but
cheerfully obey what God commandeth you, who hath wisdom and authority
sufficient to make you perfect laws. "Christ's yoke is easy, and his
burden light," Matt. xi. 30, and "his commandments are not grievous,"
1 John v. 3. But if your mixtures and self-devised snares are grievous
to you, blame not God, but yourselves that made them.
[Sidenote: By overwhelming fears and sorrows.]
5. Another of Satan's ways to make religion burdensome and grievous to
you, is by overwhelming you with fear and sorrow. Partly by persuading
that religion consisteth in excess of sorrow, and so causing you to
spend your time in striving to trouble and grieve yourselves
unprofitably, as if it were the course most acceptable to God; and
partly by taking the advantage of a timorous, passionate nature; and so
making every thought of God, or serious exercise of religion, to be a
torment to you, by raising some overwhelming fears; for "fear hath
torment," 1 John iv. 18. In some feminine, weak, and melancholy persons,
this temptation hath so much advantage in the body, that the holiest
soul can do but little in resisting it; so that though there be in such
a sincere love to God, his ways and servants, yet fear so playeth the
tyrant in them, that they perceive almost nothing else. And it is no
wonder if religion be grievous and unpleasant to such as these.
But, alas! it is you yourselves that are the causes of this, and bring
the matter of your grievance with you. God hath commanded you a sweeter
work. It is a life of love, and joy, and cheerful progress to eternal
joy, that he requireth of you; and no more fear or grief than is
necessary to separate you from sin, and teach you to value and use the
remedy. The gospel presenteth to you such abundant matter of joy and
peace, as would make these the very complexion and temperature of your
souls, if you received them as they are propounded. Religious fears,
when they are inordinate and hurtful, are sinful, and indeed against
religion; and must be resisted as other hurtful passions. Be better
acquainted with Christ and his promises, and you will find enough in him
to pacify the soul, and give you confidence and holy boldness in your
access to God, Heb. iv. 16; Eph. iii. 12; Heb. x. 19. The spirit which
he giveth, is not the spirit of bondage, but the spirit of adoption, of
love and confidence, Rom. viii. 15; Heb. ii. 15.
[Sidenote: By unmortified lusts.]
6. Another thing that maketh religion seem grievous, is retaining
unmortified sensual desires. If you keep up your lusts, they will
strive against the gospel, and all the works of the Spirit which
strive against them, Gal. v. 17. And every duty will be so far
unpleasant to you as you are carnal, because it is against your carnal
inclination and desire. Away, therefore, with your beloved sickness,
and then both your food and your physician will be less grievous to
you. "Mortify the flesh, and you will less disrelish the things of the
Spirit. For the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not
subject to his law, nor can be," Rom. viii. 7, 8.
[Sidenote: By actual sin.]
7. Another cause of confounding and wearying you, is the mixture of
your actual sins, dealing unfaithfully with God, and wounding your
consciences, by renewing guilt, especially of sins against knowledge
and consideration. If you thus keep the bone out of joint, and the
wound unhealed, no marvel if you are loth to work or travail. But it
is your sin and folly that should be grievous to you, and not that
which is contrary to it, and would remove the cause of all your
troubles. Resolvedly forsake your wilful sinning, and come home by
"repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ,"
Acts xx. 21, and then you will find, that when the thorn is out, your
pain will cease, and that the cause of your trouble was not in God or
religion, but in your sin.
[Sidenote: By ignorance of the tenor of the gospel.]
8. Lastly, To make religion unpleasant to you, the tempter would keep
the substance of the gospel unknown or unobserved to you: he would
hide the wonderful love of God revealed in our Redeemer, and all the
riches of saving grace, and the great deliverance and privileges of
believers, and the certain hopes of life eternal: and the kingdom of
God, which consisteth in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy
Ghost, shall be represented to you as consisting in errors only, or in
trifles; in shadows and shows, and bodily exercise which profiteth
little, 1 Tim. iv. 8. If ever you would know the pleasures of faith
and holiness, you must labour above all to know God as revealed in his
infinite love in the Mediator, and read the gospel as God's act of
oblivion, and the testament and covenant of Christ, in which he giveth
you life eternal: and in every duty draw near to God as a reconciled
Father, the object of your everlasting love and joy. Know and use
religion as it is, without mistaking or corrupting it, and it will not
appear to you as a grievous, tedious, or confounding thing.
_Direct._ XIV. Be very diligent in mortifying the desires and
pleasures of the flesh; and keep a continual watch upon your senses,
appetite, and lusts; and cast not yourselves upon temptations,
occasions or opportunities of sinning, remembering that your salvation
lieth on your success.
The lusts of the flesh, and the pleasures of the world, are the common
enemies of God and souls, and the damnation of those souls that perish.
And there is no sort more liable to temptations of this kind, than those
that are in the flower of their youth and strength. When all the senses
are in their vigour, and lust and appetite are in their strength and
fury, how great is the danger! and how great must your diligence be if
you will escape! The appetite and lust of the weak and sick, are weak
and sick as well as they; and therefore they are no great temptation or
danger to them. The desire and pleasure of the senses do abate, as
natural strength and vigour doth abate: to such there is much less need
of watchfulness; and where nature hath mortified the flesh, there is
somewhat the less for grace to do. There needs not much grace to keep
the aged and weak from fornication, uncleanness, excessive sports and
carnal mirth: and gluttony and drunkenness also are sins which youth is
much more liable to. Especially some bodies that are not only young and
strong, but have in their temperature and complexion a special
inclination to some of these, as lust, or sport, or foolish mirth, there
needeth a great deal of diligence, resolution, and watchfulness for
their preservation. Lust is not like a corrupt opinion, that surpriseth
us through a defect of reason, and vanisheth as soon as truth appeareth;
but it is a brutish inclination, which though reason must subdue and
govern, yet the perfectest reason will not extirpate, but there it will
still dwell. And as it is constantly with you, it will be stirring when
objects are presented by the sense or fantasy to allure. And it is like
a torrent, or a headstrong horse, that must be kept in at first, and is
hardly restrained if it once break loose and get the head. If you are
bred up in temperance and modesty, where there are no great temptations
to gluttony, drinking, sports, or wantonness, you may think a while that
your natures have little or none of this concupiscence, and so may walk
without a guard: but when you come where baits of lust abound, where
women, and plays, and feasts, and drunkards are the devil's snares, and
tinder, and bellows, to inflame your lusts, you may then find to your
sorrow, that you had need of watchfulness, and that all is not mortified
that is asleep or quiet in you. As a man that goeth with a candle among
gunpowder, or near thatch, should never be careless, because he goeth in
continual danger; so you that are young, and have naturally eager
appetites and lusts, should remember that you carry fire and gunpowder
still about you, and are never out of danger while you have such an
enemy to watch.
And if once you suffer the fire to kindle, alas! what work may it
make, ere you are aware! James i. 14, 15, "Every man is tempted when
he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath
conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished,
bringeth forth death." Little knoweth the fish, when he is catching or
nibbling at the bait, that he is swallowing the hook which will lay
him presently on the bank. When you are looking on the cup, or gazing
on alluring beauty, or wantonly dallying and pleasing your senses with
things unsafe, you little know how far beyond your intentions you may
be drawn, and how deep the wound may prove, how great the smart, or
how long and difficult the cure. As you love your souls, observe
Paul's counsel, 2 Tim. ii. 22, "Flee youthful lusts." Keep at a full
distance: come not near the bait. If you get a wound in your
consciences, by any wilful, heinous sin, O what a case will you be in!
How heartless unto secret duty! afraid of God, that should be your
joy; deprived of the comforts of his presence, and all the pleasure of
his ways! How miserably will you be tormented, between the tyranny of
your own concupiscence, the sting of sin, the gripes of conscience,
and the terrors of the Lord! How much of the life of faith, and love,
and heavenly zeal, will be quenched in a moment! I am to speak more
afterwards of this; and therefore shall only say, at present, to all
young converts that care for their salvation, "Mortify the flesh," and
"always watch, and avoid temptations."
_Direct._ XV. Be exceeding wary, not only what teachers you commit the
guidance of your souls unto, but also with what company you familiarly
converse;[69] that they be neither such as would corrupt your minds
with error, or your hearts with viciousness, profaneness,
lukewarmness, or with a feverish, factious zeal: but choose, if
possible, judicious, holy, heavenly, humble, unblamable, self-denying
persons, to be your ordinary companions, and familiars; but especially
for your near relations.
It is a matter of very great importance, what teachers you choose, in
order to your salvation.[70] In this the free grace of God much
differenceth some from others: for, as poor heathens and infidels have
none that know more, than what the book of nature teacheth (if so
much); so in the several nations of christians, it is hard for the
people to have any, but such as the sword of the magistrate forceth on
them, or the stream of their country's custom recommendeth to them.
And it is a wonder, if pure truth and holiness be countenanced by
either of these. But, when and where his mercy pleaseth, God sendeth
wise and holy teachers, with compassion and diligence to seek the
saving of men's souls; so that none but the malignant and obstinate
are deprived of their help.
Ambitious, proud, covetous, licentious, ungodly men, are not to be
chosen for your teachers, if you have your choice. In a nation where
true religion is in credit, and hath the magistrate's countenance, or
the major vote, some graceless men may join with better, in preaching
and defending the purity of doctrine and holiness of life: and they
may be very serviceable to the church herein; especially in expounding
and disputing for the truth. But even there, more experienced,
spiritual teachers are much more desirable: they will speak most
feelingly, who feel what they speak; and they are fittest to bring
others to faith and love, who believe, and love God and holiness
themselves. They that have life, will speak more lively than the dead.
And in most places of the world, the ungodliness of such teachers
makes them enemies to the truth which is according to godliness: their
natures are at enmity to the life and power of the doctrine which they
should preach: and they will do their worst to corrupt the
magistrates, and make them of their mind: and, if they can but get the
sword to favour them, they are, usually, the cruellest persecutors of
the sincere. As it is notorious among the papists, that the baits of
power, and honour, and wealth, have so vitiated the body of their
clergy, that they conspire to uphold a worldly government and
religion; and, in express contradiction to sense and reason, and to
antiquity, and the judgment of the church, and to the holy Scriptures,
they captivate the ignorant and sensual to their tyranny and false
worship, and use the seduced magistrates and multitude, to the
persecuting of those that will not follow them to sin and to
perdition. Take heed of proud and worldly guides.
And yet it is not every one that pretendeth piety and zeal, that is to
be heard, or taken for a teacher. But, 1. Such as preach, ordinarily,
the substantial truths which all christians are agreed in. 2. Such as
make it the drift of their preaching, to raise your souls to the love
of God, and to a holy, heavenly life, and are zealous against
confessed sins. 3. Such as contradict not the essential truths, by
errors of their own; nor the doctrine of godliness, by wicked,
malicious applications. 4. Such as drive not on any ambitious,
tyrannical designs of their own, but deny themselves, and aim at your
salvation. 5. Such as are not too hot in proselyting you to any
singular opinion of their own: it being the prediction of Paul to the
Ephesians, Acts xx. 30, "Of your ownselves shall men arise, speaking
perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." 6. Such as are
judicious with holy zeal, and zealous with judgment. 7. Such as are of
experience in the things of God, and not young beginners, or novices
in religion. 8. Such as bear reference to the judgments of the
generality of wise and godly men, and are tender of the unity of the
church; and not such as would draw you into a sect or party, to the
contempt of other christians; no, not to a party that hath the favour
of rulers and the people, to promote them. 9. Such as are gentle,
peaceable, and charitable; and not such as burn with hellish malice
against their brethren, nor with an ungodly, or cruel, consuming zeal.
10. Such as live not sensually and wickedly, contrary to the doctrine
which they preach; but show by their lives, that they believe what
they say, and feel the power of the truths which they preach.
And your familiar companions have great advantage to help or hinder your
salvation, as well as your teachers.[71] The matter is not so great,
whom you meet by the way, or travel with, or trade and buy and sell
with, as whom you make your intimate or familiar friends. For such have
both the advantage of their interest in your affections, and also the
advantage of their nearness and familiarity; and, if they have but also
the advantage of higher abilities than you, they may be powerful
instruments of your good or hurt. If you have a familiar friend, that
will defend you from error, and help you against temptations, and
lovingly reprove your sin, and feelingly speak of God, and the life to
come, inditing his discourse from the inward power of faith, and love,
and holy experience; the benefit of such a friend may be more to you,
than of the learnedest or greatest in the world. How sweetly will their
speeches relish of the Spirit, from which they come! How deeply may they
pierce a careless heart! How powerfully may they kindle in you a love
and zeal to God and his commandments! How seasonably may they discover a
temptation, prevent your fall, reprove an error, and recover your souls!
How faithfully will they watch over you! How profitably will they
provoke, and put you on; and pray with you fervently when you are cold;
and mind you of the truth, and duty, and mercy, which you forget! It is
a very great mercy to have a judicious, solid, faithful companion in the
way to heaven.
But if your ears are daily filled with froth and folly, with ribaldry
or idle stories, with oaths and curses, with furious words or scorns
and jeers against the godly, or with the sophistry of deceivers, is it
likely this should leave a pleasant or wholesome relish on your minds?
Is it likely that the effect should not be seen, in your lean or
leprous hearts and lives, as well as the effects of an infected or
unwholesome air or diet will be seen upon your diseased bodies? He is
ungodly, that liketh such company best: and he is proud and
presumptuous, that will unnecessarily cast himself upon it, in
confidence that he shall receive no hurt: and he is careless of
himself, that will not cautiously avoid it: and few that long converse
with such, come off without some notable loss; except when we live
with such, as Lot did in Sodom, grieving for their sin and misery, or
as Christ conversed with publicans and sinners, with a holy zeal and
diligence to convert and save them, or as those that have not liberty,
who bear that which they have not power to avoid.
Among the rest, your danger is not least from them that are eager to
proselyte you to some party or unsound opinion: that they think they
are in the right, and that they do it in love, and that they think it
necessary to your salvation, and that truth or godliness are the
things which they profess, all this makes the danger much the greater
to you, if it be not truth and godliness indeed, which they propose
and plead for. And none are in more danger than the ungrounded and
unexperienced, that yet are so wise in their own esteem, as to be
confident that they know truth from error when they hear it, and are
not afraid of any deceit, nor much suspicious of their own
understandings. But of this before.
The like danger there is of the familiar company of lukewarm ones, or
the profane.[72] At first you may be troubled at their sinful or
unsavoury discourse, and make some resistance against the infection;
but before you are aware, it may so cool and damp your graces, as will
make your decay discernible to others. First, you will hear them with
less offence; and then you will grow indifferent what company you are
in; and then you will laugh at their sin and folly; and then you will
begin to speak as they; and then you will grow cold and seldomer in
prayer and other holy duties; and if God prevent it not, at last your
judgments will grow blind, and you will think all this allowable.
But of all bad company, the nearest is the worst. If you choose such
into your families, or into your nearest conjugal relations, you cast
water upon the fire; you imprison yourselves in such fetters as will
gall and grieve you, if they do not stop you; you choose a life of
constant, close, and great temptations: whereas, your grace, and
comfort, and salvation, might be much promoted by the society of such
as are wise and gracious, and suitable to your state. To have a
constant companion to open your heart to, and join with in prayer, and
edifying conference, and faithfully help you against your sins, and
yet to be patient with you in your frailties, is a mercy which
worldlings neither deserve nor value.
_Direct._ XVI. Make careful choice of the books which you read. Let
the holy Scriptures ever have the pre-eminence; and next them, the
solid, lively, heavenly treatises, which best expound and apply the
Scriptures; and next those, the credible histories, especially of the
church, and tractates upon inferior sciences and arts: but take heed
of the poison of the writings of false teachers, which would corrupt
your understandings; and of vain romances, play-books, and false
stories, which may bewitch your fantasies, and corrupt your hearts.
As there is a more excellent appearance of the Spirit of God in the
holy Scriptures, than in any other book whatever, so it hath more
power and fitness to convey the Spirit, and make us spiritual, by
imprinting itself upon our hearts. As there is more of God in it, so
it will acquaint us more with God, and bring us nearer him, and make
the reader more reverent, serious, and divine. Let Scripture be first
and most in your hearts and hands, and other books be used as
subservient to it. The endeavours of the devil and papists to keep it
from you, doth show that it is most necessary and desirable to you.
And when they tell you, that all heretics plead the Scriptures, they
do but tell you, that it is the common rule or law of christians,
which therefore all are fain to pretend; as all lawyers and wranglers
plead the law of the land, be their cause never so bad, and yet the
laws must not be therefore concealed or cast aside: and they do but
tell you, that in their concealment or dishonouring the Scriptures,
they are worse than any of those heretics. When they tell you that
the Scriptures are misunderstood, and abused, and perverted to
maintain men's errors, they might also desire that the sun might be
obscured, because the purblind do mistake, and murderers and robbers
do wickedly by its light; and that the earth might be subverted,
because it bears all evil-doers; and highways stopped up, because men
travel in them to do evil; and food prohibited, because it nourisheth
men's diseases. And when they have told you truly of a law or rule
(whether made by pope or council) which bad men cannot misunderstand,
or break, or abuse and misapply, then hearken to them, and prefer that
law, as that which preventeth the need of any judgment.
The writings of divines are nothing else but a preaching the gospel to
the eye, as the voice preacheth it to the ear. Vocal preaching hath the
pre-eminence in moving the affections, and being diversified according
to the state of the congregations which attend it: this way the milk
cometh warmest from the breast. But books have the advantage in many
other respects: you may read an able preacher, when you have but a mean
one to hear. Every congregation cannot hear the most judicious or
powerful preachers; but every single person may read the books of the
most powerful and judicious. Preachers may be silenced or banished, when
books may be at hand: books may be kept at a smaller charge than
preachers: we may choose books which treat of that very subject which we
desire to hear of; but we cannot choose what subject the preacher shall
treat of. Books we may have at hand every day and hour; when we can have
sermons but seldom, and at set times. If sermons be forgotten, they are
gone. But a book we may read over and over till we remember it; and if
we forget it, may again peruse it at our pleasure, or at our leisure. So
that good books are a very great mercy to the world. The Holy Ghost
chose the way of writing, to preserve his doctrine and laws to the
church, as knowing how easy and sure a way it is of keeping it safe to
all generations, in comparison of mere verbal tradition, which might
have made as many controversies about the very terms, as there be
memories or persons to be the preservers and reporters.
Books are (if well chosen) domestic, present, constant, judicious,
pertinent, yea, and powerful sermons; and always of very great use to
your salvation; but especially when vocal preaching faileth, and
preachers are ignorant, ungodly, or dull, or when they are persecuted,
and forbid to preach.
You have need of a judicious teacher at hand, to direct you what books
to use or to refuse. For among good books there are some very good
that are sound and lively: and some are good, but mean, and weak, and
somewhat dull: and some are very good in part, but have mixtures of
error, or else of incautelous, injudicious expressions, fitter to
puzzle than edify the weak. I am loth to name any of these latter
sorts (of which abundance have come forth of late); but to the young
beginner in religion, I may be bold to recommend (next to a sound
catechism) Mr. Rutherford's Letters, Mr. Robert Bolton's Works, Mr.
Perkins's, Mr. Whateley's, Mr. Ball, of Faith, Dr. Preston's, Dr.
Sibbs's, Mr. Hildersham's, Mr. Pink's Sermons, Mr. Joseph Rogers's,
Mr. Rich. Rogers, Mr. Richard Allen's, Mr. Gurnall's, Mr. Swinnock's,
Mr. Joseph Simonds's. And to establish you against popery, Dr.
Challoner's Credo Eccles. Cathol., Dr. Field, of the Church, Dr.
White's Way to the Church, with the Defence, Bishop Usher's Answer to
the Jesuit, and Chillingworth, with Drelincourt's Summary. And for
right principles about redemption, &c. Mr. Truman's Great
Propitiation, and of Natural and Moral Impotency; and Mr. William
Fenner, of Wilful Impenitency, Mr. Hotchkis, of Forgiveness of Sin. To
pass by many other excellent ones, that I may not name too many.
To a very judicious, able reader, who is fit to censure all he reads,
there is no great danger in the reading the books of any seducers: it
doth but show him how little and thin a cloak is used, to cover a bad
cause. But, alas! young soldiers, not used to such wars, are startled
at a very sophism, or at a terrible threatening of damnation to
dissenters, (which every censorious sect can use,) or at every
confident, triumphant boast, or at every thing that hath a fair
pretence of truth or godliness. Injudicious persons can answer almost
no deceiver which they hear: and when they cannot answer them, they
think they must yield, as if the fault were not in them, but in the
case; and as if Christ had no wiser followers, or better defenders of
his truth, than they. Meddle not therefore with poison, till you
better know how to use it, and may do it with less danger, as long as
you have no need.
As for play-books, and romances, and idle tales, I have already showed
in my "Book of Self-Denial," how pernicious they are, especially to
youth, and to frothy, empty, idle wits, that know not what a man is,
nor what he hath to do in the world. They are powerful baits of the
devil, to keep more necessary things out of their minds, and better
books out of their hands, and to poison the mind so much the more
dangerously, as they are read with more delight and pleasure: and to
fill the minds of sensual people with such idle fumes, and
intoxicating fancies, as may divert them from the serious thoughts of
their salvation: and (which is no small loss) to rob them of abundance
of that precious time, which was given them for more important
business; and which they will wish and wish again at last, that they
had spent more wisely. I know the fantastics will say, that these
things are innocent, and may teach men much good (like him that must
go to a whore-house to learn to hate uncleanness, and him that would
go out with robbers to learn to hate thievery): but I shall now only
ask them as in the presence of God, 1. Whether they could spend that
time no better? 2. Whether better books and practices would not edify
them more? 3. Whether the greatest lovers of romances and plays, be
the greatest lovers of the book of God, and of a holy life? 4. Whether
they feel in themselves that the love of these vanities doth increase
their love to the word of God, and kill their sin, and prepare them
for the life to come? or clean contrary? And I would desire men not to
prate against their own experience and reason, nor to dispute
themselves into damnable impenitency, nor to befool their souls by a
few silly words, which any but a sensualist may perceive to be mere
deceit and falsehood. If this will not serve, they shall be shortly
convinced and answered in another manner.
_Direct._ XVII. Take heed that you receive not a doctrine of
libertinism as from the gospel; nor conceive of Christ as an
encourager of sin; nor pretend free grace for your carnal security or
sloth; for this is but to set up another gospel, and another Christ,
or rather the doctrine and works of the devil, against Christ and the
gospel, and to turn the grace of God into wantonness.
Because the devil knoweth that you will not receive his doctrine in his
own name, his usual method is to propound and preach it in the name of
Christ, which he knoweth you reverence and regard. For if Satan
concealed not his own name and hand in every temptation, it would spoil
his game; and the more excellent and splendid is his pretence, the more
powerful the temptation is.[73] They that gave heed to seducing spirits
and doctrines of devils, no doubt thought better of the spirits and the
doctrines, especially seeming strict, (for the devil hath his
strictnesses,) "as forbidding to marry, and abstinence from meats which
God hath created to be received with thanksgiving," 1 Tim. iv. 1, 3. But
the strictnesses of the devil are always intended to make men loose.
They shall be strict as the Pharisees in traditions and vain ceremonies,
and building the tombs of the prophets, and garnishing the sepulchres of
the righteous, that they may hate and murder the living saints that
worship God in spirit and in truth. Licentiousness is the proper
doctrine of the devil, which all his strictness tendeth to promote. To
receive such principles is pernicious; but to father them upon Christ
and the gospel, is blasphemous.
The libertines, antinomians, and autonomians of this age, have
gathered you too many instances. The libertine saith, "The heart is
the man; therefore you may deny the truth with your tongue, you may be
present at false worship, (as at the mass,) you need not suffer to
avoid the speaking of a word, or subscribing to an untruth or error,
or doing some little thing; but as long as you keep your hearts to
God, and mean well, or have an honest mental reservation, and are
forced to it by others, rather than suffer, you may say, or subscribe,
or swear any thing which you can yourselves put a lawful sense upon in
your own minds, or comply with any outward actions or customs to avoid
offence and save yourselves."
The antinomians tell you, that "The moral law is abrogated, and that the
gospel is no law; (and if there be no law, there is no governor nor
government, no duty, no sin, no judgment, no punishment, no reward);
that the elect are justified before they are born, or repent, or
believe; that their sin is pardoned before it is committed; that God
took them as suffering and fulfilling all the law in Christ, as if it
had been they that did it in him: that we are justified by faith only in
our consciences: that justifying faith is but the believing that we are
justified: that every man must believe that he is pardoned, that he may
be pardoned in his conscience; and this he is to do by a divine faith,
and that this is the sense of the article, 'I believe the forgiveness of
sins,' that is, that my sins are forgiven; and that all are forgiven
that believe it: that it is legal and sinful to work or do any thing for
salvation: that sin once pardoned need not be confessed and lamented, or
at least, we need not ask pardon of sin daily, or of one sin oft: that
castigations are no punishments; and yet no other punishment is
threatened to believers for their sins; and consequently that Christ
hath not procured them a pardon of any sin after believing, but
prevented all necessity of pardon; and therefore they must not ask
pardon of them, nor do any thing to obtain it: that fear of hell must
have no hand in our obedience, or restraint from sin. And some add, that
he that cannot repent or believe, must comfort himself that Christ
repented and believed for him (a contradiction)."[74] Many such
doctrines of licentiousness the abusers of grace have brought forth.
And the sect which imitateth the father of pride in affecting to be
from under the government of God, and to be the law-givers and rulers
of themselves and all others, (which I therefore call the
autonomians,) are licentious and much more. They equally contend
against Christ's government, and for their own: they fill the world
with wars and bloodshed, oppression and cruelty, and the ears of God
with the cries of the martyrs and oppressed ones; and all that the
spiritual and holy discipline of Christ may be suppressed, and
seriousness in religion made odious, or banished from the earth, and
that themselves may be taken for the centre, and pillars, and
lawgivers of the church, and the consciences of all men may be taught
to cast off all scruples or fears of offending God, in comparison of
offending them; and may absolutely submit to them; and never stick at
any feared disobedience to Christ: they are the scorners and
persecutors of strict obedience to the laws of God, and take those
that fear his judgments, to be men affrighted out of their wits; and
that to obey him exactly (which, alas! who can do, when he hath done
his best) is but to be hypocritical or too precise: but to question
their domination, or break their laws, (imposed on the world, even on
kings and states, without any authority,) this must be taken for
heresy, schism, or a rebellion, like that of Korah and his company.
This Luciferian spirit of the proud autonomians hath filled the
christian world with bloodshed, and been the greatest means of the
miseries of the earth, and especially of hindering and persecuting the
gospel, and setting up a pharisaical religion in the world: it hath
fought against the gospel, and filled with blood the countries of
France, Savoy, Rhætia, Bohemia, Belgia, Helvetia, Polonia, Hungary,
Germany, and many more; that it may appear how much of the Satanical
nature they have, and how punctually they fulfil his will.
And natural corruption containeth in it the seeds of all these
damnable heresies: nothing more natural to lapsed man, than to shake
off the government of God, and to become a lawgiver to himself, and as
many others as he can; and to turn the grace of God into wantonness.
Therefore the profane, that never heard it from any heretics but
themselves, do make themselves such a creed as this, that "God is
merciful, and therefore we need not fear his threatenings, for he will
be better than his word: it belongeth to him to save us, and not to
us, and therefore we may cast our souls upon his care, though we care
not for them ourselves. If he hath predestinated us to salvation, we
shall be saved; and if he have not, we shall not; whatever we do, or
how well soever we live. Christ died for sinners, and therefore though
we are sinners, he will save us. God is stronger than the devil, and
therefore the devil shall not have the most: That which pleaseth the
flesh, and doth God no harm, can never be so great a matter, or so
much offend him, as to procure our damnation. What need of so much ado
to be saved, or so much haste to turn to God, when any one that at
last doth but repent, and cry God mercy, and believe that Christ died
for him, shall be saved? Christ is the Saviour of the world, and his
grace is very great and free, and therefore God forbid that none
should be saved but those few that are of strict and holy lives, and
make so much ado for heaven. No man can know who shall be saved, and
who shall not; and therefore it is the wisest way, to do nobody any
harm, and to live merrily, and trust God with our souls, and put our
salvation upon the venture: nobody is saved for his own works or
deservings; and therefore our lives may serve the turn as well as if
they were more strict and holy." This is the creed of the ungodly; by
which you may see how natural it is to them to abuse the gospel, and
plead God's grace to quiet and strengthen them in their sin, and to
embolden themselves on Christ to disobey him.
But this is but to set Christ against himself; even his merits and mercy
against his government and Spirit; and to set his death against the ends
of his death; and to set our Saviour against our salvation; and to run
from God and rebel against him, because Christ died to recover us to
God, and to give us repentance unto life; and to sin, because he died to
save his people from their sins, "and to purify a peculiar people to
himself zealous of good works," Matt. i. 21; Tit. ii. 14. "He that
committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the
beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might
destroy the works of the devil," 1 John iii. 8; John viii. 44.
_Direct._ XVIII. Watch diligently both against the more discernible
decays of grace, and against the degenerating of it into some carnal
affections, or something counterfeit, and of another kind. And so also
of religious duties.
We are no sooner warmed with the celestial flames, but natural
corruption is inclining us to grow cold; like hot water, which loseth
its heat by degrees, unless the fire be continually kept under it. Who
feeleth not that as soon as in a sermon, or prayer, or holy
meditation, his heart hath got a little heat, as soon as it is gone,
it is prone to its former earthly temper, and by a little remissness
in our duty, or thoughts, or business about the world, we presently
grow cold and dull again. Be watchful, therefore, lest it decline too
far. Be frequent in the means that must preserve you from declining:
when faintness telleth you that your stomach is emptied of the former
meat, supply it with another, lest strength abate. You are rowing
against the stream of fleshly interest and inclinations; and therefore
intermit not too long, lest you go faster down by your ease, than you
get up by labour.
[Sidenote: How grace may degenerate.]
The degenerating of grace, is a way of backsliding, very common, and
too little observed. It is, when good affections do not directly cool,
but turn into some carnal affections somewhat like them, but of
another kind: as, if the body of a man, instead of dying, should
receive the life or soul of a beast, instead of the reasonable, human
soul. For instance: 1. Have you believed in God, and in Jesus Christ,
and loved him accordingly? You shall seem to do so still as much as
formerly, when your corrupted minds have received some false
representation of him; and so it is indeed another thing that you thus
corruptly believe and love. 2. Have you been fervent in prayer? You
shall be fervent still; if Satan can but corrupt your prayers, by
corrupting your judgment or affections, and get you to think that to
be the cause of God, which is against him; and that to be against him,
which he commandeth; and those to be the troublers of the church,
which are its best and faithfullest members: turn but your prayers
against the cause and people of God by your mistake, and you may pray
as fervently against them as you will. The same I may say of
preaching, and conference, and zeal: corrupt them once, and turn them
against God, and Satan will join with you for zealous and frequent
preaching, or conference, or disputes. 3. Have you a confidence in
Christ and his promise for your salvation? Take heed lest it turn into
carnal security, and a persuasion of your good estate upon ill
grounds, or you know not why. 4. Have you the hope of glory? Take heed
lest it turn into a careless venturousness of your soul, or the mere
laying aside of fear and cautelous suspicion of yourselves. 5. Have
you a love to them that fear the Lord? Watch your hearts, lest it
degenerate into a carnal or a partial love. Many unheedful young
persons of different sexes, at first love each other with an honest,
chaste, and pious love; but imprudently using too much familiarity,
before they were well aware it hath turned into a fleshly love, which
hath proved their snare, and drawn them further into sin or trouble.
Many have honoured them that fear the Lord, who insensibly have
declined to honour only those of them that were eminent in wealth and
worldly honour, or that were esteemed for their parts or place by
others, and little honoured the humble, poor, obscure christians, who
were at least as good as they: forgetting that the "things that are
highly esteemed among men, are abomination in the sight of God," Luke
xvi. 15; and that God valueth not men by their places and dignities in
the world, but by their graces and holiness of life. Abundance that at
first did seem to love all christians, as such, as far as any thing of
Christ appeared in them, have first fallen into some sect, and
over-admiring their party, and have set light by others as good as
them, and censured them as unsound, and then withdrawn their special
love, and confined it to their party, or to some few; and yet thought
that they loved the godly as much as ever, when it was degenerate into
a factious love. 6. Are you zealous for God, and truth, and holiness,
and against the errors and sins of others? Take heed lest you lose it,
while you think it doth increase in you. Nothing is more apt to
degenerate than zeal: in how many thousands hath it turned from an
innocent, charitable, peaceable, tractable, healing, profitable,
heavenly zeal, into a partial zeal for some party, or opinions of
their own; and into a fierce, censorious, uncharitable, scandalous,
turbulent, disobedient, unruly, hurting, and destroying zeal, ready to
wish for fire from heaven, and kindling contention, confusion, and
every evil work. Read well James iii. 7. So if you are meek or
patient, take heed lest it degenerate into stupidity or contempt of
those you suffer by. To be patient is not to be merely insensible of
the affliction; but by the power of faith to bear the sense of it, as
overruled by things of greater moment.
How apt men are to corrupt and debase all duties of religion, is too
visible in the face of the far greatest part of the christian world.
Throughout both the eastern and the western churches, the papists, the
Greeks, the Armenians, the Abassines, and too many others, (though the
essentials of religion through God's mercy are retained, yet,) how
much is the face of religion altered from what it was in the days of
the apostles! The ancient simplicity of doctrine is turned into
abundance of new or private opinions, introduced as necessary articles
of religion: and, alas, how many of them false! So that christians,
being too proud to accept of the ancient test of christianity, cannot
now agree among themselves what a christian is, and who is to be
esteemed a christian; and so they deny one another to be christians,
and destroy their charity to each other, and divide the church, and
make themselves a scorn by their divisions to the infidel world: and
thus the primitive unity, charity, and peace is partly destroyed, and
partly degenerate into the unity, charity, and peace of several sects
among themselves. The primitive simplicity in government and
discipline, is with most turned into a forcible secular government,
exercised to advance one man above others, and to satisfy his will and
lusts, and make him the rule of other men's lives, and to suppress the
power and spirituality of religion in the world. The primitive
simplicity of worship is turned into such a mask of ceremony, and such
a task of formalities and bodily exercise, that if one of the
apostolical christians should come among them, he would scarce think
that this is the same employment which formerly the church was
exercised in, or scarce know religion in this antic dress. So that the
amiable, glorious face of christianity, is so spotted and defiled,
that it is hidden from the unbelieving world, and they laugh at it as
irrational, or think it to be but like their own: and the principal
hinderance of the conversion of heathens, Mahometans, and other
unbelievers, is the corruption and deformity of the churches that are
near them, or should be the instruments of their conversion. And the
probablest way to the conversion of those nations, is the true
reformation of the churches, both in east and west: which, if they
were restored to the ancient spirituality, rationality, and simplicity
of doctrine, discipline, and worship; and lived in charity, humility,
and holiness, as those whose hearts and conversations are in heaven,
with all worldly glory and honour as under their feet; they would then
be so illustrious and amiable in the eyes even of heathens and other
infidels, that many would flock into the church of Christ, and desire
to be such as they: and their light would so shine before these men,
that they would see their good works, and glorify their heavenly
Father, and embrace their faith.
The commonest way of the degenerating of all religious duties, is into
this dead formality, or lifeless image of religion. If the devil can
but get you to cast off the spirituality and life of duty, he will
give you leave to seem very devout, and make much ado with outward
actions, words, and beads; and you shall have so much zeal for a dead
religion, or the corpse of worship, as will make you think that it is
indeed alive. By all means take heed of this turning the worship of
God into lip-service. The commonest cause of it is, a carnality of
mind (fleshly men will think best of the most fleshly religion); or
else a slothfulness in duty, which will make you sit down with the
easiest part. It is the work of a saint, and a diligent saint, to keep
the soul itself both regularly and vigorously employed with God. But
to say over certain words by rote, and to lift up the hands and eyes,
is easy: and hypocrites, that are conscious that they are void of the
life and spirituality of worship, do think to make all up with this
formality, and quiet their consciences, and delude their souls with a
handsome image. Of this I have spoken more largely in a book called,
"The Vain Religion of the Formal Hypocrite."
Yet run not here into the contrary extreme, as to think that the body
must not worship God as well as the soul, or that the decent and
edifying determination of the outward circumstances of religion, and the
right ordering of worship, is a needless thing, or sinful; or that a
form of prayer in itself, or when imposed, is unlawful: but let the soul
and body of religion go together, and the alterable adjuncts be used, as
things alterable, while the life of holiness is still kept up.
_Direct._ XIX. Promise not yourselves long life, or prosperity and
great matters in the world, lest it entangle your hearts with
transitory things, and engage you in ambitious or covetous designs,
and steal away your hearts from God, and destroy all your serious
apprehensions of eternity.
Our own experience, and the alterations which the approach of death
makes upon the most, doth sensibly prove, that the expectation of a
speedy change, and reckoning upon a short life, doth greatly help us
in all our preparation, and in all the work of holiness through our
lives. Come to a man that lieth on his death-bed, or a prisoner that
is to die to-morrow, and try him with discourse of riches, or honours,
or temptations to lust, or drunkenness, or excess; and he will think
you are mad, or very impertinent, to tell him of such things. If he be
but a man of common reason, you shall see that he will more easily
vilify such temptations, than any religious persons will do, in their
prosperity and health. Oh how serious are we in repenting and perusing
our former lives, and casting up our accounts, and asking, What we
shall do to be saved, when we see that death is indeed at hand, and
time is at an end, and we must away! Every sentence of Scripture hath
then some life and power in it; every word of exhortation is savoury
to us; every reproof of our negligence and sin is then well taken;
every thought of sin, or Christ, or grace, or eternity, goes then to
the quick. Then time seems precious; and if you ask a man whether it
be better spent in cards and dice, and plays and feastings, and
needless recreations and idleness, or in prayer, and holy conference,
and reading and meditating on the word of God and the life to come,
and the holy use of our lawful labours; how easily will he be
satisfied of the truth, and confute the cavils of voluptuous
time-wasters! Then his judgment will easilier be in the right, than
learning or arguments before could make it.[75] In a word, the
expectation of the speedy approach of the soul into the presence of
the eternal God, and of our entering into an unchangeable, endless
life of joy or torment, hath so much in it to awaken all the powers of
the soul, that if ever we will be serious, it will make us serious, in
every thought, and speech, and duty. And therefore, as it is a great
mercy of God, that this life, which is so short, should be as
uncertain, and that frequent dangers and sicknesses call to us to look
about us, and be ready for our change; so usually the sickly, that
look for death, are most considerate: and it is a great part of the
duty of those that are in youth and health, to consider their frailty,
and the shortness and uncertainty of their lives, and always live as
those that wait for the coming of their Lord. And we have great reason
for it, when we are certain it will be ere long; and when we have so
many perils and weaknesses to warn us, and when we are never sure to
see another hour; and when time is so swift, so quickly gone, so
unrecoverable, and nothing when it is past. Common reason requireth
such to live in a constant readiness to die.
But if youth or health do once make you reckon of living long,[76] and
make you put away the day of your departure, as if it were far off;
this will do much to deceive and dull the best, and take away the
power of every truth, and the life of every good thought and duty, and
all will be apt to dwindle into customariness and form. You will
hardly keep the faculties of the soul awake, if you do not still think
of death and judgment as near at hand. The greatest certainty of the
greatest change, and the greatest joy or misery for ever, will not
keep our stupid hearts awake, unless we look at all as near, as well
as certain. This is plain in the common difference that we find among
all men, between their thoughts of death in health, and when they see
indeed that they must presently die. They that in health could think
and talk of death with laughter, or lightly, without any awakening of
soul, when they come to die are oftentimes as much altered, as if they
had never heard before that they are mortal. By which it is plain,
that to live in the house of mirth is more dangerous than to live in
the house of mourning; and that the expectation of long life is a
grievous enemy to the operations of grace, and the safety of the soul.
And it is one of the greatest strengtheners of your temptations to
luxury, ambition, worldliness, and almost every sin. When men think
that they shall have many years' leisure to repent, they are apt the
more boldly to transgress: when they think that they have yet many
years to live, it tempteth them to pass away time in idleness, and to
loiter in their race, and trifle in all their work, and to overvalue
all the pleasures, and honours, and shadows of felicity that are here
below. He that hath his life in his house or land, or hath it for
inheritance, will set more by it, and bestow more upon it, than if he
thought he must go out of it the next year. To a man that thinks of
living many years, the favour of great ones, the raising of his
estate, and name, and family, and the accommodations and pleasing of
his flesh, will seem great matters to him, and will do much with him,
and will make self-denial a very hard work.
Therefore, though health be a wonderful great mercy, as enabling him
to duty that hath a heart to use it to that end; yet it is by accident
a very great danger and snare to the heart itself, to turn it from the
way of duty. The best life for the soul, is that which least
endangereth it by being over pleasing to the body, and in which the
flesh hath the smallest interest, to set up and plead against the
Spirit. Not but that the largest stock must be accepted and used for
God, when he trusteth us with it; for when he setteth us the hardest
work, we may expect his greatest help. But a dwelling as in tents, in
a constant unsettledness, in a movable condition, having little, and
needing little, never feeling any thing in the creature to tempt us to
say, "Soul, take thy rest;" this is to most the safest life, which
giveth us the freest advantages for heaven.
Take heed therefore, as you love your souls, of falling into the snare
of worldly hopes, and laying designs for rising, and riches, and
pleasing yourselves in the thoughts and prosecution of these things,
for then you are in the readiest way to perdition; even to idolatrous
worldliness, and apostasy of heart from God, and opening a door to
every sin that seems but necessary to your worldly ends, and to odious
hypocrisy for a cloak to all this, and to quiet your guilty minds with
something that is like religion. When once you are saying, with
worldly security, as he, Luke xii. 17-19, "I will pull down my barns,
and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and goods;
and I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many
years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry;" you are then
befooling yourselves, and near being called away as fools by death,
ver. 20, 21. And when, without a sense of the uncertainty of your
lives, you are saying, as those in James iv. 13, 14, "To-day or
to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and
buy, and sell, and get gain, whereas you know not what will be on the
morrow;" you forget what your lives are, that they are "a vapour
appearing a little while, and then vanishing away," ver. 14. "Boast
not thyself therefore of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day
may bring forth," Prov. xxvii. 1.
_Direct._ XX. See that your religion be purely divine, and animated
all by God, as the beginning, the way, and the end; and that first
upon thy soul, and then upon all that thou hast or dost, there be
written "HOLINESS TO THE LORD;" and that thou corrupt not all with an
inordinate hypocritical respect to man.
To be holy is to be divine, or devoted to God, and appropriated to
him, and his will, and use; and that our hearts and lives be not
common and unclean.[77] To be godly, is to live to God, as those that
from their hearts believe that he is God indeed, and that "he is the
rewarder of them that diligently seek him," that he is "our God
all-sufficient, our shield and exceeding great reward," Heb. xi. 6;
Gen. xv. 1; xvii. 1; and that "of him, and through him, and to him are
all things," that all may give the glory for ever unto him, Rom. xi.
36. As God is infinitely above all creatures, so living upon God, and
unto God, must needs advance us above the highest sensual life; and
therefore religion is transcendently above all sciences or arts. So
much of God as is in you and upon you, so much you are more excellent
than the highest worldly perfection can advance you to. God should be
the First, and Last, and All in the mind, and mouth, and life of a
believer. God must be the principal matter of your religion. The
understanding and will must be exercised upon him. When you awake you
should be still with him, Psal. cxxxix. 8. Your meditations of him
should be sweet, and you should be glad in the Lord, Psal. civ. 34.
Yet creatures, under him, may be the frequent, less principal matter
of your religion; but still as referred unto him. God must be the
author of your religion: God must institute it, if you expect he
should accept it and reward it. God must be the rule of your religion,
as revealing his will concerning it in his word. God must be the
ultimate end of your religion; it must be intended to please and
glorify him. God must be the continual motive and reason of your
religion, and of all you do: you must be able truly to fetch your
reason from heaven, and to say, I do it because it is his will; I do
it to please, and glorify, and enjoy him. God must be taken as the
Sovereign Judge of your religion, and of you, and of all you do; and
you must wholly look to his justification and approbation, and avoid
whatever he condemneth. Can you take God for your Owner, your
Sovereign, your Saviour, your sufficient Protector, your Portion, your
All? If not, you cannot be godly, nor be saved: if his authority have
not more power upon you, than the authority of the greatest upon
earth, you are atheistical hypocrites, and not truly religious,
whatever you pretend. If "holiness to the Lord" be written upon you,
and all that is yours, you are devoted to him as his own peculiar
ones. If your names be set upon your sheep, or plate, or clothes, you
will say, if another should take them, They are mine; do you not see
my mark upon them? Slavery to the flesh, the world, and the devil, is
the mark that is written upon the ungodly (upon the foreheads of the
profane, and upon the hearts of hypocrites and all); and Satan, the
world, and the flesh have their service. If you are consecrated to
God, and bear his name and mark upon you, tell every one that would
lay claim to you, that you are his, and resolved to live to him, to
love him, to trust him, and to stand or fall to him alone. Let God be
the very life, and sense, and end of all you do.
When once man hath too much of your regard and observation, that you
set too much by his favour and esteem, or eye him too much in your
profession and practice; when man's approbation too much comforteth
you, and man's displeasure or dispraise doth too much trouble you;
when your fear, and love, and care, and obedience are too much taken
up for man; you so far withdraw yourselves from God, and are becoming
the servants of men, and friends of the world, and turning back to
bondage, and forsaking our Rock and Portion, and your excellency; the
soul of religion is departing from you, and it is dying and returning
to the dust. And if once man get the pre-eminence of God, and be
preferred and set above him in your hearts or lives, and feared,
trusted, and obeyed before him, you are then dead to God, and alive to
the world; and as men are taken for your gods, you must take up with
such a salvation as they can give you. If your alms and prayer are
done to be seen of men, and to procure their good thoughts and words;
if you get them, make your best of them; "for verily," your Judge hath
said unto you, "you have your reward," Matt. vi. 1-3.
Not that man is absolutely to be contemned or disregarded.[78] No; under
God, your superiors must be obeyed; you must do wrong to none, and do
good to all, as far as in you lieth; you must avoid offence, and give
good example, and, under God, have so much regard to men, as to become
all things to all men for their salvation. But if once you set them
above their rank, and turn yourselves to an inordinate dependence on
them, and make too great a matter of their opinion or words concerning
you, you are losing your godliness or divine disposition, and turning it
into man-pleasing and hypocrisy. When man stands in competition with
God, for your first and chief regard, or in opposition to him, or as a
sharer in co-ordination with him, and not purely in subordination to
him, he is to be numbered with things to be forsaken. Even good men,
whom you must love and honour, and whose communion and help you must
highly value, yet may be made the object of your sin, and may become
your snare. Your honouring of them, or love to them, must not entice you
to desire inordinately to be honoured by them, nor cause you to set too
much by their approbation. If you do, you will find that while you are
too much eyeing man, you are losing God, and corrupting your religion at
the very heart. And you may fall among those, that, how holy soever, may
have great mistakes in matters of religion, tending to much sin, and may
be somewhat censorious against those that are not of their mind; and so
the retaining of their esteem, and the avoiding of their censures, may
become one of the greatest temptations of your lives. And you will find
that man-pleasing is a very difficult and yet unprofitable task. Love
Christ as he appeareth in any of his servants, and be followers of them
as they are followers of Christ, and regard their approbation as it
agreeth with Christ's: but O see that you are able to live upon the
favour of God alone, and to be quieted in his acceptance, though man
despise you; and to be pleased so far as God is pleased, though man be
displeased with you; and to rejoice in his justification, though men
condemn you with the odiousest slanders and the greatest infamy, and
cast out your names as evil-doers. See that God be taken as enough for
you, or else you take him not as your God; even as enough without man,
and enough against man; that you may be able to say, "If God be for us,
who can be against us? Who is he that condemneth? It is God that
justifieth," Rom. viii. 31, 33, 34. "Do I seek to please men? For if I
yet pleased men, I should not be a servant of Christ," Gal. i. 10. Jer.
xvii. 5-8, "Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man,
and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For
he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good
cometh.[79]--Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose
hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and
that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat
cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the
year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." Isa. ii. 22,
"Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he
to be accounted of?"
Having given you these directions, I must tell you in the conclusion,
that they are like food, that will not nourish you by standing on your
table, or like physic, that will not cure you by standing in the box:
they must be taken and digested, or you will find none of the benefit.
It is not the reading of them that will serve the turn to so great
use, as the safe proceeding and confirmation of beginners or novices
in religion: it will require humility to perceive the need of them;
and labour to learn, digest, and practise them. Those slothful souls,
that will refuse the labour, must bear the sad effects of their
negligence: there is not one of all these directions, as to the matter
of them, which can be spared. Study them, understand them, and
remember them, as things that must be done. If either a senselessness
of your necessity, or a conceit that the spirit must do it without so
much labour and diligence of your own, do prevail with you, to put off
all these with a mere approbation, the consequent may be sadder than
you can yet foresee. Though I suppose you to have some beginnings of
grace, I must tell you, that it will be comparatively a sad kind of
life, to be erroneous, and scandalous, and troublesome to the church,
or full of doubts, and fears, and passions, and to be burdensome to
others and yourselves! Yea, it is reason that you be very suspicious
of your sincerity, if you desire not to increase in grace, and be not
willing to use the means which are necessary to your increase. He is
not sincere, that desireth not to be perfect; and he desireth not
sincerely, who is not willing to be at the labour and cost, which is
necessary to the obtaining of the thing desired. I beseech you,
therefore, as you love the happiness of prudent, strong, and
comfortable christians, and would escape the misery of those grievous
diseases, which would turn your lives into languishing,
unserviceableness, and pain; that you seriously study these
directions, and get them into your minds, and memories, and hearts;
and let the faithful practice of them be your greatest care, and the
constant employment of your lives.
FOOTNOTES:
[46] I have since written a book on this subject, to which I refer the
reader for fuller direction.
[47] Fere idem exitus est odii et amoris insani. Senec. de Ben.
[48] Scientia quæ est remota à justitia, calliditas potium quam
sapientia appellanda est. P. Scalig. Of the necessity of prudence in
religious men, read Nic. Videlius de Prudent. Veterum. The imprudences
of well meaning men have done as much hurt to the church sometimes as
the persecution of enemies. _e. g._ When Constantine, the son of
Constans, was emperor, some busy men would prove from the orthodox
doctrine of the Trinity, that his two brethren, Tiberius and
Heraclius, should reign with him: saying, Si in Trinitate credimus,
tres etiam coronemus; which cost the chief of them a hanging. Abbas
Urspergens. Edit. Melancth. p. 162.
[49] Leg. Acost. 1. 4. c. 21 et 22. de fructu catechizandi. Et Li. 5.
[50] Opus est imprimis duplici catechismo: Uno compendario et brevi
quem memoriter addiscant; ubi summa sit eorum omnium quæ ad fidem et
mores Christiano sunt necessaria: altero uberiore, ubi eadem amplius,
dilucidiusque dicantur, et copiosius confirmentur: ut ille prior
discipulis potius, hic posterior ipsis præceptoribus usu sit. Acosta,
l. 5. c. 14. p. 490.
[51] Stoici dicunt virtutes sibi invicem ita esse connexas, ut qui
unam habuerit, omnes habeat. Laertius in Zenone.
[52] Laert. saith of Cleanthes, Cum aliquando probo illi daretur, quod
esset timidus, at ideo inquit, parum pecco.
[53] Qui discipulum rudem et elatum habet, contra ventum adverso
flumine navigat, serpentem nutrit, aconitum excolit, hostem docet.
Petrarch. Dial. 41. li. 2.
[54] Beatus est cui vel in senectute contigerit, qua sapientiam
erasque opiniones consequi posset. Cicero de fin.
[55] Even when a teacher is impatient with his people's
unprofitableness, they oft think highliest of their knowledge, and
they are proud while their dulness tireth out their guides: for, Quo
quisque est solertior et ingeniosior, hoc docet iracundius et
laboriosius. Quod enim ipse celeriter arripuit, id quum tarde percipi
videt, discruciatur. Cicero pro Ros.
[56] Nihil homini metuendum nisi ne fœlicitatem excludat. Solon in
Laert. p. 31.
[57] Securus ergo sum de Christo Deo, et Domino meo. Hæc Regi dicatis,
subigat ignibus, adigat bestiis, excruciet omnium tormentorum generibus,
si cessero, frustra sum in ecclesiæ catholica baptizatus; nam si hæc
præsens vita sola esset, et aliam quæ vera est, non speraremus æternam,
nec ita facerem ut modicum et temporaliter gloriarer, et ingratus
existerem qui suam fidem mihi contulit, Creatori. Victorianus ad
Hunnerychum in Vict. Utic. p. 461. Victor Uticensis saith, that before
the persecution of Hunnerychus these visions were seen: 1. All the
lights put out in the church, and a darkness and stink succeeded. 2. The
church filled with abundance of swine and goats. 3. Another saw a great
heap of corn unwinnowed, and a sudden whirlwind blew away all the chaff:
and after that, one came and cast out all the stricken dead and useless
corn, till a very little heap was left. 4. Another heard one cry on the
top of a mount, Migrate, migrate. 5. Another saw great stones cast from
heaven on the earth, which flamed and destroyed; but he hid himself in a
chamber, and none of them could touch him. Page 405. Sed hoc edificium
ubi construere visus est diabolus, statim illud destruere dignatus est
Christus. Id. ib.
[58] Id. ib. saith that an Arian bishop being put over a city, all
that could take ship fled away to Spain, and the rest not only refused
all the temptations of the bishop, but also publicly celebrated the
divine mysteries in one of their houses; and the king being hereat
enraged, caused them in the open market-place to have their tongues
and right hands cut off by the root; and that they yet spake after as
well as before. And them that will not believe it, he referreth to one
of them then living, and honoured for this in the emperor's court,
that still spake perfectly. Page 462, 463.
[59] Sulpitius Severus in Vit. Martini, noteth that none but bishops
were against him because he was unlearned and of no presence.
Look more in your teachers at matter than fine words. Augustin. de
Cathechizand. rud. cap. 9. His maxime utile est nosse ita esse
præponendas verbis sententias, ut præponitur animus corpori: ex quo
fit, ut ita malle debeant veriores quam disertiores audire sermones,
sicut malle debent prudentiores quam formosiores habere amicos.
Noverint etiam non esse vocem ad aures Dei nisi animi affectum: ita
enim non irridebunt si aliquos antistites et ministros forte
animadverterint vel cum barbarismis et solœcismis Deum invocare, vel
eadem verba quæ pronunciant, non intelligere, perturbateque
distinguere. Vid. Filesacum de Episc. autorit. p. 105. Pœnituit multos
vanæ sterilisque cathedræ. Juven. Italis Ciceronianis sum iniquior,
quia tantum loquuntur verba, non res, et rhetorica ipsorum plerumque
est κολακευτικη: Est glossa sine textu: nux sine nucleo: nubes sine
pulviâ. Plumæ sunt meliores quam avis ipsa. Buchozer. Take heed lest
prejudice or any corruption possess your minds, for then all that you
hear will be unsavoury or unprofitable to you: Magna debet esse
eloquentia, quæ invitis placeat, ait Senec. præf. lib. 10. Controv.
[60] Acosta noteth it as a great hinderance of the Indians'
conversion, that their teachers shift for better livings, and stay not
till they are well acquainted with the people, and that the bishops
are of the same temper: Hæc tanta clades est animarum, ut satis
deplorari non possit; nihil sacerdos Christi præclari proficiet in
salute Indorum, sine familiari et hominum et rerum notitia, l. 4. c.
10. p. 390. Sunt autem multi qui injuncto muneri copiose se
satisfacere existimant, orationem dominicam et symbolum et
salutationem angelicam, tum præcepta decalogi Hispani. idomate
identidem Indis recitantes, eorum infantes baptizantes, mortuos
sepelientes, matrimonio juvenes collocantes, et rem sacram festis
diebus facientis.--Neque conscientia, quam utinam cauterizatam non
habeant, mordentur quod dispersæ sint oves Domini, &c. c. 7. p. 373.
[61] Against uncharitableness and schism, see more in part. 2. ch. 23.
[62] Utrumque imperium, et Mahometicum et pontificium ortum est, ex
dissidiis de doctrina--Cum in oriente dilaceratæ essent ecclesiæ--et
hæc varietas in multorum animis dubitationes et odium religionis
christianæ accenderet, et disciplina laxata esset, &c. Melancth. Ep.
Dedic. Chron. Carionis.
[63] Ecclesia vera discreta est à cœtu Cain, qui secesserat a patre,
et habuit suos ritus, et suam sectam. Ita statim initio veræ doctrinæ
vocem et veram ecclesiam pars humani generis deseruit. Carion Chronic.
lib. 1. p. 16.
[64] When the Arian bishops had made Hunnerychus believe that the
orthodox turned the appointed disputation into popular clamour, and
were against the king, he forbad them to meet, or to baptize, or
ordain, and turned all the same laws against them which had been made
against the Arians. Victor. Utic. p. 447, 448.
[65] Quiescerem nisi tantos talesque montes malitiæ episcoporum, vel
cæterorum sacerdotum aut clericorum, in nostro quoque ordine erigi
adversus Deum vidissem. Gildas de Ex cid. Britan. Hæc monent quales
sint etiam potentissimi, nobilissimi et optimi quique qui sine fide
sunt, et sine agnitione filii Dei, atque hinc sine omni bono, sine
ulla affectione pia, &c. Et quod etiam qui ex illis optimus esse
videtur, tamen sine fide omni tempore possit esse et fieri, quod Cain
fratri suo, modo non desit occasio: Neander Chron. p. 325 Lege et quæ
habet de Regno Cainico, p. 38, 39.
[66] Stoici dicunt cum nemine stultorum esse litigandum: omnesque
stultos insanire. Laert. in Zenone.
[67] Consuming zeal doth use at last to burn up the owners of it.
Whatever they say or do against others in their intemperate violence,
they teach others at last to say and do against them, when they have
opportunity. How the orthodox taught the Arians to use severity
against them, may be seen in Victor. Utic. p. 447-449, in the edict of
Hunnerychus: Legem quam dudum Christiani Imperatores nostri contra eos
et alios hæreticos pro honorificentia ecclesiæ catholicæ dederunt,
adversus nos illi proponere non erubuerunt, v. g. Rex Hun. &c.
Triumphalis et majestatis regiæ probatur esse virtutis, mala in
autores consilia retorquere: quisquis enim pravitatis aliquid
invenerit, sibi imputet quod incurret.--Nullos conventus homousion
sacerdotes assumant, nec aliquid mysteriorum, quæ magis polluunt, sibi
vendicent. Nullam habeant ordinandi licentiam.--Quod ipsarum legum
continentia demonstratur quas induxisse imperatoribus, &c. viz. Ut
nulla exceptis superstitionis suæ antistibus ecclesia pateret; nullis
liceret aliis aut convictus agere, aut exercere conventus nec
ecclesias, aut in urbibus, aut in quibusdam minimis locis.
[68] Sed perturbat nos opinionem varietas hominumque dissensio: Et
quia non idem contingit in sensibus, hos natura certos putamus: ilia
quæ aliis sic, aliis secus, nec iisdem semper uno modo videntur, ficta
esse dicimus: quod est longe aliter.--Animis omnes tenduntur insidiæ,
&c. Cicero de Legib. li. 1. p. 291. Vid. cæt.
[69] Namsi falsi et solo nomine tumidi, non modo non consulendi, sed
vitandi sunt, quibus nihil est importunius, nihil insulsius, &c.
Petrarch. Dial. 117. lib. 2.
[70] Scientis est posse docere. Proverb. Sub indocto tamen doctus
evadere potes, afflatu aliquo divino, ut Cicero loquitur. Augustinus de
seipso testatur (cui non omnia credere nefas est) quod et Aristotelicas
Categorias, quæ inter difficillima numerantur, et artes liberales, quas
singulas à præceptoribus didicisse magnum dicitur) nullo tradente, omnes
intellexit. Bernardus item, vir doctrina et sanctitate clarissimus,
omnes suas literas (quarum inter cunctos sui temporis abundantissimus
fuit) in silvis et in agris didicit, non hominum magisterio, sed
meditando et orando, nec ullos unquam alios præceptores habuit, quam
quercus et fagos. Petrarch. lib. 2. Dialog. 40.
[71] Imperat (Rex) ut nostræ religionis illorum mensa nullum communem
haberent, neque cum Catholicis omnino vescerentur. Quæ res non ipsis
aliquod præstitit beneficium, sed nobis maximum contulit lucrum: nam
sisermo eorum sicut cancer consuevit serpere, quanto magis communis
mensa ciborum potuit inquinare, cum dicat Apostolus, cum nefariis nec
cibum habere communem. Victor. Utic. p. 418. Magnum virtutis præsidium
societas bonorum, socius exemplo excitat, sermone recreat, consilio
instruit, orationibus adjuvat, autoritate continet, quæ omnia solitudini
desunt. Jos. Acosta, 1. 4. c. 13. Dicunt Stoici amicitiam solos inter
bonos, quos sibi innicem studiorum similitudo conciliet, posse
consistere. Porro amicitiam ipsam societatem quandam esse dicunt omnium
quæ sunt ad vitam necessaria, cum amicis ut nobismet ipsis utamur: atque
ob id amicum eligendum, amicorumque multitudinem inter expetenda ponunt:
inter malos non posse constare amicitiam. Laert. in Zenone.
[72] Non tamen ut corporum, sic animorum morbi, transeunt ad nolentes:
Imo vero nobilis animus, vitiorum odio, ad amorem virtutis accenditur.
Petrarch. Dialog. de alior. morib.
[73] Siquis est hoc robore animi, atque hac indole virtutis ac
continentiæ, ut respuat omnes voluptates, omnemque vitæ suæ cursum
labore corporis, atque in animi contentione conficiat, quem non quies,
non remissio, non æqualium studia, non ludi, non convivia delectant;
nihil in vita expetendum putet nisi quod est cum laude et honore
conjunctum; hunc mea sententia divinis quibusdam bonis instructum
atque ornatum puto. Cic. pro Cæl.
[74] For sound principles in these points, read Mr. Gibbon's Sermon of
Justification, in the Morning Exercises at St. Giles'; and Mr.
Truman's two books before named, and Le Blank's Theses in Latin, with
the Thes. Salmuriens. &c.
[75] Nemini exploratum potest esse quomodo sese habiturum sit corpus,
non dico ad annum sed ad vesperum. Cicero, 2 de fin. Dii boni! quid
est in hominis vita diu? Mihi ne diuturnum quidem quicquam videtur, in
quo est aliquid extremum. Cum enim id advenit, tum illud præteriit,
effluxit: tantum remanet quod virtute et recte factis sit consecutus:
horæ quidem cedunt, et dies, et menses, et anni, nec præteritum tempus
unquam revertitur, nec quid sequatur sciri potest. Cic. in Cat. Maj.
Quem sæpe transit, casus aliquando invenit.
[76] Nihil tam firmum cui periculum non sit; etiam ab invalido.
[77] De bonis et malis ita disserebat Plato: Finem esse Deo similem
fieri: Virtutem sufficere quidem ad bene beateque vivendum; cæterum
instrumentis indigere, corporis bonis, robore, sanitate, integritate
sensuum, &c. Exterioribus etiam, opibus, generis claritate, gloria,
&c. Ea et si non affluerint, nihilominus tamen beatum fore
sapientem.--Arbitratur et Deos humana cernere atque curare: et demones
esse--Porro in dialogis justitiam divinam legem arbitratus est, ut ad
juste agendum potentius persuaderet, nè post mortem pœnas improbi
luerent. Laert. in Plat.
[78] Alte spectare si voles, atque hanc sedem, et æternam domum
contueri, neque sermonibus vulgi dederis te, nec in præviis humanis
spem posueris rerum tuarum: suis te illecebris oportet ipsa virtus
trahat ad verum decus. Cicero somn. Scip. Cœlestia semper spectato:
illa humana contemnito. Id. Ibid.
[79] Nihil tam firmum cui periculum non sit; etiam ab invalido.
CHAPTER III.
THE GENERAL GRAND DIRECTIONS FOR WALKING WITH GOD, IN A LIFE OF
FAITH AND HOLINESS: CONTAINING THE ESSENTIALS OF GODLINESS AND
CHRISTIANITY.
I am next to direct you in that exercise of grace, which is common to
all christians. Habits are for use: grace is given you, not only that
you may have it, but also that you may use it. And it is fit that we
direct you how to use it, before we direct you how to know that you
have it; because it is grace in exercise that you must discern; and
habits are not perceived in themselves, but by their acts; and the
more lively and powerful the exercise is, the more easily is grace
perceived: so that this is the nearest and surest way to a certainty
of our own sincerity:--he that useth grace most and best, hath most
grace; and he that hath most, and useth it most, may most easily be
assured that he hath it in sincerity and truth.
In these directions, I shall begin with those great internal duties,
in which the very life of all religion doth consist; and the general
practice of these principles and graces: and all these generals shall
be briefly set together, for the easiness of understanding and
remembering them. And then I shall give you such particular
directions, as are needful, in subordination to those generals.
[Sidenote: For a well-grounded faith.]
_Grand Direct._ I. Labour to understand well the nature, grounds,
reason, and order of faith and godliness; and to believe upon such
grounds, so well understood, as will not suffer you to stagger, or
entertain a contrary belief.
Ignorance and ungrounded or ill-grounded persuasions in matters of
religion, are the cause that abundance of people delude themselves,
with the empty name and dead profession of a faith and religion which
they never were indeed possessors of. I know there are low degrees of
knowledge, comparatively, in many that are true believers; and that
there may be much love and holiness, where knowledge is very small or
narrow, as to the objective extent of it; and that there is a
knowledge that puffeth up, while charity edifieth; and that in many
that have the narrower knowledge, there may be the fastest faith and
adherence to the truth, which will conquer in the time of trial. But
yet I must tell you, that the religion which you profess, is not,
indeed, your own religion, if you know not what it is, and know not in
some measure the true grounds and reasons why you should be of that
religion. If you have only learned to say your creed, or repeat the
words of christian doctrine, while you do not truly understand the
sense; or if you have no better reasons why you profess the christian
faith, than the custom of the country, or the command of princes or
governors, or the opinion of your teachers, or the example of your
parents, friends, or neighbours; you are not christians indeed. You
have a human belief or opinion, which objectively is true; but
subjectively in yourselves, you have no true, divine belief. I
confess, there may be some insufficient, yea, and erroneous reasons,
which a true believer may mistakingly make use of, for the proof of
certain fundamental truths; but then that same man hath some other
reason for his reception of that truth, which is more sound: and his
faith is sound, because of those sound, infallible principles, though
there be a mixture of some other reasons that are unsound. The true
believer buildeth on the rock, and giveth deep rooting to the holy
seed, Matt. vii. 24; xiii. 5-8. Though some deluded men may tell you,
that faith and reason are such enemies, that they exclude each other
as to the same object; and that the less reason you have to prove the
truth of the things believed, the stronger and more laudable is your
faith; yet, when it cometh to the trial, you will find, that faith is
no unreasonable thing; and that God requireth you to believe no more,
than you have sufficient reason for, to warrant you, and bear you out;
and that your faith can be no more, than is your perception of the
reasons why you should believe; and that God doth suppose reason, when
he infuseth faith, and useth reason in the use of faith. They that
believe, and know not why, or know no sufficient reason to warrant
their belief, do take a fancy, an opinion, or a dream, for faith. I
know that many honest-hearted christians are unable to dispute for
their religion, or to give to others a satisfactory account of the
reasons of their faith or hope; but yet they have the true
apprehension of some solid reasons in themselves; and they are not
christians they know not why: and though their knowledge be small as
to the number of propositions known, yet it doth always extend to all
that is essential to Christianity and godliness, and they do not
believe they know not what; and their knowledge is greater
intensively, and in its value and operation, than the knowledge of the
learnedst ungodly man in the world.
Though I may not here digress, or stay so long, as largely to open to
you the nature, grounds, reason, and method of faith and godliness
which I am persuading you to understand, yet I shall first lay before
you a few propositions, which will be useful to you when you are
inquiring into these things, and then a little open them unto you.
_Prop._ 1. A life of godliness is our living unto God as God, as being
absolutely addicted to him.
2. A life of faith is a living upon the unseen, everlasting happiness
as purchased for us by Christ, with all the necessaries thereto, and
freely given us by God.
3. The contrary life of sense and unbelief, is a living, in the
prevalency of sense or flesh, to this present world, for want of such
believing apprehensions of a better, as should elevate the soul
thereto, and conquer the fleshly inclination to things present.
4. Though man in innocency, needing no Redeemer, might live to God
without faith in a Redeemer; yet lapsed man is not only unable to
redeem himself, but also unable to live to God without the grace of
the Redeemer. It was not only necessary that he satisfy God's justice
for us, that he may pardon and save us without any wrong to his
holiness, wisdom, or government; but also that he be our teacher by
his doctrine and his life, and that he reveal from heaven the Father's
will, and that objectively in him we may see the wonderful
condescending love and goodness of a reconciled God and Father, and
that effectually he illuminate, sanctify, and quicken us by the
operations of his word and Spirit, and that he protect and govern,
justify and glorify us; and be the Head of restored man, as Adam was
the root of lapsed man, and as the lapsed spirits had their head: and
therefore we must wholly live upon him as the Mediator between God and
man, and the only Saviour by merit and by efficacy.
5. Faith is a knowledge by certain credible testimony or revelation
from God by means supernatural or extraordinary.
6. The knowledge of things naturally revealed (as the cause by the
effect, &c.) is in order before the knowledge or belief of things
revealed supernaturally.
7. It is matter of natural revelation that there is a God;[80] that he
is infinite in his immensity and eternity, in his power, wisdom, and
goodness; that he is the First Cause and ultimate End of all things;
that he is the Preserver and overruling Disposer of all things, and the
supreme Governor of the rational world, and the great Benefactor of all
mankind, and the special favourer and rewarder of such as truly love
him, seek him, and obey him: also that the soul of man is immortal; and
that there is a life of reward or punishment to come, and that this life
is but preparatory unto that: that man is bound to love God his Maker,
and serve him, with all his heart and might; and to believe that this
labour is not vain: that we must do our best to know God's will, that we
may do it. This, with much more, (of which some part was mentioned,
chap. 1,) is of natural revelation, which infidels may know.
8. There is so admirable a concord and correspondency of natural
divinity with supernatural, the natural leading towards the
supernatural, and the supernatural falling in so meet where the natural
endeth, or falls short, or is defective, that it greatly advantageth us
in the belief of supernatural divinity.[81] Nay, as the law of nature
was exactly fitted to man in his natural innocent state; so the law and
way of grace in Christ is so admirably and exactly fitted to the state
of lapsed man for his recovery and salvation, that the experience which
man hath of his sin and misery, may greatly prepare him to perceive and
believe this most suitable gospel or doctrine of recovery. And though it
may not be called natural, as if it were fitted to innocent nature, or
as if it were revealed by natural ordinary means, yet it may be so
called, as it is exactly suited to the restoration of lapsed miserable
nature; even as Lazarus his restored soul, though supernaturally
restored, was the most natural associate of his body; or as bread, or
milk, or wine, though it should fall from heaven, is in itself the most
natural food for man.
9. The same things in divinity which are revealed naturally to all,
are again revealed supernaturally in the gospel; and therefore may and
must be the matter both of natural knowledge and of faith.
10. When the malicious tempter casteth in doubts of a Deity, or other
points of natural certainty, it so much discrediteth his suggestions,
as may help us much to reject them when withal he tempteth us to doubt
of the truth of the gospel.
11. There are many needful appurtenances to the objects of a divine
faith, which are the matter of a human faith. (Of which more anon.)
12. Christ, as Mediator, is the way, or principal means to God, as
coming to restore man to his Maker. And so faith in Christ is but the
means to bring us to the love of God, though in time they are connexed.
13. Knowledge and faith are the eye of the new creature, and love is
the heart; there is no more spiritual wisdom, than there is faith; and
there is no more life, or acceptable qualification, or amiableness,
than there is love to God.
14. All truths in divinity are revealed in order to a holy life; both
faith and love are the principles and springs of practice.
15. Practice affordeth such experience to a believing soul, as may
confirm him greatly in the belief of those supernatural revelations,
which he before received without that help.
16. The everlasting fruition of God in glory being the end of all
religion, must be next the heart, and most in our eye, and must
objectively animate our whole religion, and actuate us in every duty.
17. The pleasing of God being also our end, and both of these (enjoying
him and pleasing him) being in some small foretastes attainable in this
life, the endeavour of our souls and lives must be by faith to exercise
love and obedience; for thus God is pleased and enjoyed.
18. All things in religion are fitted to the good of man, and nothing
to his hurt: God doth not command us to honour him by any thing which
would make us miserable; but by closing with and magnifying his love
and grace.[82]
19. But yet it is his own revelation by which we must judge what is
finally for our good or hurt; and we may not imagine that our shallow
or deceivable wit is sufficient to discern without his word, what is
best or worst for us; nor can we rationally argue from any present
temporal adversity or unpleasing bitterness in the means, that "This
is worst for us, and therefore it is not from the goodness of God:"
but we must argue in such cases, "This is from the goodness and love
of God, and therefore it is best."
20. The grand impediment to all religion and our salvation, which
hindereth both our believing, loving, and obeying, is the inordinate
sensual inclination to carnal self and present transitory things,
cunningly proposed by the tempter to insnare us, and divert and steal
away our hearts from God and the life to come. The understanding of
these propositions will much help you in discerning the nature and
reason of religion.
[Sidenote: To use Christ and live upon him as our Mediator.]
_Grand Direct._ II. Diligently labour in that part of the life of
faith, which consisteth in the constant use of Christ as the means of
the soul's access to God, acceptance with him, and comfort from him:
and think not of coming to the Father, but by him.
To talk and boast of Christ is easy, and to use him for the increase
of our carnal security, and boldness in sinning: but to live in the
daily use of Christ to those ends of his office, to which he is by us
to be made use of, is a matter of greater skill and diligence, than
many self-esteeming professors are aware of. What Christ himself hath
done, or will do, for our salvation, is not directly the thing that we
are now considering of; but what use he requireth us to make of him in
the life of faith. He hath told us, that his flesh is meat indeed, and
his blood is drink indeed; and that except we eat his flesh and drink
his blood, we have no life in us. Here is our use of Christ, expressed
by eating and drinking his flesh and blood, which is by faith.[83] The
general parts of the work of redemption, Christ hath himself performed
for us without asking our consent, or imposing upon us any condition
on our parts, without which he would not do that work: as the sun doth
illustrate and warm the earth whether it will or not, and as the rain
falleth on the grass without asking whether it consent, or will be
thankful; so Christ, without our consent or knowledge, did take our
nature, and fulfil the law, and satisfy the offended Lawgiver, and
merit grace, and conquer Satan, death, and hell, and became the
glorified Lord of all: but for the exercise of his graces in us, and
our advancement to communion with God, and our living in the strength
and joys of faith, he is himself the object of our duty, even of that
faith which we must daily and diligently exercise upon him: and thus
Christ will profit us no further than we make use of him by faith. It
is not a forgotten Christ that objectively comforteth or encourageth
the soul; but a Christ believed in, and skilfully and faithfully used
to that end. It is objectively (principally) that Christ is called our
wisdom, 1 Cor. i. 30. The knowledge of him, and the mysteries of grace
in him, is the christian or divine philosophy or wisdom, in opposition
to the vain philosophy which the learned heathens boasted of. And
therefore Paul determined to know nothing but Christ crucified, that
is, to make ostentation of no other knowledge, and to glory in nothing
but the cross of Christ, and so to preach Christ as if he knew nothing
else but Christ. See 1 Cor. i. 23; ii. 2; Gal. vi. 14. And it is
objectively that Christ is said to dwell in our hearts by faith, Eph.
iii, 17. Faith keepeth him still upon the heart by continual
cogitation, application, and improvement: as a friend is said to dwell
in our hearts, whom we continually love and think of.
Christ himself teacheth us to distinguish between faith in God, (as
God,) and faith in himself (as Mediator): John xiv. 1, "Let not your
heart be troubled: ye believe in God;" (or, believe ye in God?)
"believe also in me." These set together are the sufficient cure of a
troubled heart.[84] It is not faith in God as God, but faith in Christ
as Mediator, that I am now to speak of; and that not as it is
inherent in the understanding, but as it is operative on the heart
and in the life: and this is not the smallest part of the life of
faith, by which the just are said to live. Every true christian must
in his measure be able to say, with Paul, Gal. ii. 20, "I am crucified
with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:
and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the
Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." The pure Godhead
is the beginning and the end of all; but Christ is "the image of the
invisible God, the first-born of every creature; and by him all things
were created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities,
or powers, all things were created by him and for him: and he is
before all things, and by him all things do consist. And he is the
head of the body, the church; who is the beginning, the first-born
from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence,"
Col. i. 16-19. "In him it is that we who were sometime far off, are
made nigh, even by his blood: for he is our peace, who hath reconciled
both Jew and gentile unto God in one body by the cross, having slain
the enmity thereby: and came and preached peace to them that were far
off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have an
access by one Spirit unto the Father: so that now we are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of
the household of God," Eph. ii. 13, 14, 16-19. "In him" it is that "we
have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him," Eph.
iii. 12. "He is the way, the truth, and the life: and no man cometh to
the Father, but by him," John xiv. 6. It is "by the blood of Jesus
that we have boldness" (and liberty) "to enter into the holiest: by a
new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail,
that is to say, his flesh." Because "we have so great a Priest over
the house of God, we may draw near with a true heart, in full
assurance of faith," &c. Heb. x. 19-22. "By him it is that we have
access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and boast in hope of
the glory of God," Rom. v. 1, 2. So that we must have "all our
communion with God through him."
Supposing what I have said of this subject in my "Directions for a
Sound Conversion," Direct. 5, (which I hope the reader will peruse,) I
shall here briefly name the uses which we must make of Christ by
faith, in order to our holy converse with God:[85] but I must tell you
that it is a doctrine which requireth a prepared heart, that hath life
within to enable it to relish holy truth, and to dispose it to
diligence, delight, and constancy in practice. A senseless reader will
feel but little savour in it, and a sluggish reader that suffereth it
to die as soon as it hath touched his ears or fantasy, will fall short
of the practice and the pleasure of this life. He must have faith
that will live by faith: and he must have the heart and nature of a
child, that will take pleasure in loving, reverent, and obedient
converse with a father.
1. The darkness of ignorance and unbelief is the great impediment of
the soul that desireth to draw near to God. When it knoweth not God,
or knoweth not man's capacity of enjoying him, and how much he
regardeth the heart of man; or knoweth not by what way he must be
sought and found; or when he doubteth of the certainty of the word
which declareth the duty of the hopes of man: all this, or any of
this, will suppress the ascending desires of the soul, and clip its
wings, and break the heart of its holy aspirings after God, by killing
or weakening the hopes of its success.
Here then make use of Jesus Christ, the great Revealer of God and his
will to the blinded world, and the great Confirmer of the divine
authority of his word. Life and immortality are brought more fully to
light by the gospel, than ever they were by any other means. Moses and
the prophets did bring with their doctrine sufficient evidence of its
credibility. But Christ hath brought both a fuller revelation, and a
fuller evidence to help belief. An inspired prophet, which proveth his
inspiration to us, is a credible messenger: but when God himself shall
come down into flesh, and converse with man, and teach him the knowledge
of God, and the way to life, and tell him the mysteries of the world to
come, and seal his testimony with unquestionable proofs, who will not
learn of such a Teacher? and who will deny belief to such a Messenger,
except absurd, unreasonable men? Remember, then, when ignorance or
unbelief would hinder your access to God, that you have the ablest
Teacher and the surest Witness to acquaint you with God in all the
world. If God had sent an angel from heaven, to tell you what he is, and
what he requireth of you, and what he will do for you, would it not be
very acceptable to you? But he hath done much more; he hath sent his
Son:[86] the Deity itself hath appeared in flesh: he that hath seen God,
and he that is God, hath come among men to acquaint them with God. His
testimony is more sure and credible than any angel's. Heb. i. 1-3, "God,
who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past to the
fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his
Son." John i. 18, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten
Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." We have
"neither heard the voice of God, nor seen his shape," John v. 37. "No
man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God; he hath seen the
Father," John vi. 46. "No man knoweth the Father, save the Son, and he
to whomsoever the Son will reveal him," Matt. xi. 27. What more can we
desire, that is short of the sight of the glory of God, than to have him
revealed to us by a messenger from heaven, and such a messenger as
himself has seen him, and is God himself? Plato and Plotinus may
describe God to us according to their dark conjectures; something we may
discern of him by observing his works; but Christ hath declared what he
saw, and what he knew, beyond all possibility of mistake. And lest his
own testimony should seem questionable to us, he hath confirmed it by a
life of miracles, and by rising from the dead himself, and ascending
visibly to heaven; and by the Holy Ghost, and his miraculous gifts,
which he gave to the messengers of his gospel. Had it been no more than
his resurrection from the dead, it had been enough to prove the utter
unreasonableness of unbelief.
2. It is also a great impediment to the soul in its approach to God,
that infinite distance disableth us to conceive of him aright. We say,
as Elihu, Job xxxvi. 26, "Behold, God is great, and we know him not."
And, indeed, it is impossible that mortal man should have any adequate
apprehensions of his essence. But in his Son he hath come down to us,
and showed himself in the clearest glass that ever did reveal him.
Think of him therefore as he appeared in our flesh; as he showed
himself in his holiness and goodness to the world. You may have
positive thoughts of Jesus Christ; though you may not think that the
Godhead was flesh, yet may you think of it as it appeared in flesh. It
may quiet the understanding to conceive of God as incarnate, and to
know that we cannot yet know him as he is, or have any adequate
conceptions of him. These may delight us till we reach to more.
3. It hindereth the soul's approach to God, when the infinite distance
makes us think that God will not regard or take notice of such
contemptible worms as we: we are ready to think that he is too high
for our converse or delight. In this case the soul hath no such
remedy, as to look to Christ; and see how the Father hath regarded us,
and set his heart upon us, and sent his Son to seek and save us. Oh
wonderful, astonishing condescension of eternal love! Believe that God
assumed flesh to make himself familiar with man; and you can never
question whether he regard us, or will hold communion with us.
4. It hindereth our comfortable access to God, when we are deterred by
the glory of his infiniteness and majesty. As the eye is not able to
gaze upon the sun, unless it be overshadowed; so the soul is afraid of
the majesty of God, and overwhelmed by it, when it should be delighted
in it. Against this there is no such remedy, as to behold God
appearing to us in his Son, where his majesty is veiled, and where he
approacheth us familiarly in our nature, to invite us to him with holy
confidence and reverent boldness. Christ did not appear in a terrible
form: women durst discourse with him; beggars, and cripples, and
diseased people durst ask his help; sinners durst eat with him: the
proud contemned him, but the lowly were not frightened from him. He
"took upon him the form of a servant, and made himself of no
reputation," that he might converse familiarly with the meanest, and
those of no reputation. Though we may not debase the Godhead, to
imagine that it is humbled in glory, as it was on earth, in the flesh
of Christ; yet this condescension is unspeakable encouragement to the
soul to come with boldness unto God, that was frighted from him.
5. When the guilt of sin affrighteth us from God, and we are thinking
that God will not accept such great offenders as we have been, then
Christ is our remedy, who hath paid our debt, and borne our stripes,
and procured and sealed us a pardon by his blood.[87] Shall pardoned
sins drive us from him that pardoneth them? He hath justified us by
his righteousness. The curse and damnation are terrible indeed; but he
hath taken them away, and given us a free discharge.
6. The infirmities also of our souls in duty, are oftentimes a great
discouragement to us, in our approaches to the most holy, jealous God.
To find so little knowledge of God, so little love to him, such cold
desires, such wandering and distracted thoughts, such dull requests: it
is hard to have lively and thankful apprehensions of God's acceptance of
such defective, lame meditations or prayers; but we are apt to think
that he will abhor both them and us, and that he can take no pleasure in
them, yea, that it is as good not pray at all. Here faith hath full
relief in Christ: two things it can say from him to encourage the
fearful soul: (1.) That our acceptance with the Father is through the
merits of his Son; and he is worthy, though we are unworthy. If we have
but the worthiness of faith, and repentance, and sincere desire, Christ
hath the worthiness of perfect holiness and obedience for us. We go not
to the Father in our own names, but in his; and whatever we ask the
Father in the name of Christ according to his will, he will give it us,
John xvi. 23; xiv. 13; xv. 16. (2.) That all the infirmities of our
souls and services are forgiven us through Christ: he hath undertaken to
answer for them all, and to justify us from all such accusations. By
faith thou mayst, as it were, hear Christ thus speaking for thine
encouragement: Go boldly, poor sinner, into my Father's presence: fear
not the guilt of thy sins, nor the imperfection of thy prayers; as long
as thou truly repentest of them, and desirest to be delivered from them,
and trustest in me, I am thy worthiness; my righteousness is perfect
without spot; I have taken all thy faults and failings upon me; I have
undertaken to answer for all the imperfections of thy holy things:
sincerity is thy endowment; perfection is mine: trust me in the
performance of the trust which I have undertaken.
7. Sometimes, the soul that would draw near to God, is overwhelmed
with grief and terror, so that the sense of sin, and danger, and
misery do even distract men, and cast them into an agony; so that they
say with David, Psal. lxxvii. 2-4, "My soul refused to be comforted, I
remembered God and was troubled; I complained: and my spirit was
overwhelmed. Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I
cannot speak." Yea, they think they feel God thrust them from him, and
tell them that he hath utterly forsaken them. In this case, faith must
look to Christ, and remember that he was in an agony when he prayed,
and in greater agony than ever you were, so that he sweat even drops
of blood; and yet in that agony he prayed more earnestly, Luke xxii.
44. He himself once cried out upon the cross, "My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me?" and yet he was the beloved of the Father, and
is now at his right hand in glory: and all this he did that we might
not be forsaken. He hath removed the enmity: he hath reconciled us to
God. By grief he passed himself to joy, and he will wipe away his
servants' tears, and cause their griefs to end in joy.
8. Sometimes, the soul that would draw near to God, is molested with a
storm of hideous temptations, and even confounded with a swarm of
disordered, perplexed thoughts. Satan assaulteth it with temptations
to despair, temptations to horrid blasphemous thoughts, temptations to
entangle, intermit, corrupt, or pervert the duty which they are about;
so that the soul is discouraged, overwhelmed, and broken with the
inward assaults, and troubles, and distractions which it undergoeth.
In this case faith hath a Saviour suitable to our relief. It can look
to him that was tempted in all points like as we are, without sin, and
is now such a High Priest as can be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities; and therefore we may come boldly to the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need, Heb.
iv. 14-16. "In all things it behoved him to be made like unto his
brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest, in
things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the
people: for he himself having suffered being tempted, he is able to
succour them that are tempted," Heb. ii. 17, 18. He submitted not only
to be tempted by Satan, but tempted in a wilderness, where he had no
man to comfort him; and to be tempted to the most horrid blasphemy and
wickedness, even to fall down and worship the devil himself: and he
suffered the tempter violently to carry him to the pinnacle of the
temple, Matt. iv. What should we think of ourselves, if we had been
used thus? Should we not think that God had utterly forsaken us? He
suffered himself to be tempted also by men; by the abuses and
reproaches of his enemies; by the desertion of his followers; by the
carnal counsel of Peter, persuading him to put by the death which he
was to undergo. And he that made all temptations serve to the triumph
of his patience, and conquering power, will give the victory also to
his grace, in the weakest soul.
9. It would be the greatest attractive to us to draw near to God, and
make the thoughts of him pleasant to us, if we could but believe that he
dearly loveth us, that he is reconciled to us, and taketh us for his
children, and that he taketh pleasure in us, and that he resolveth for
ever to glorify us with his Son; and that the dearest friend that we
have in the world, doth not love us the thousandth part so much as he.
And all this in Christ, is clearly represented to the eye of faith. All
this is procured for believers by him; and all this is given to
believers in him: in him God is reconciled to us: he is our Father, and
dwelleth among us, and in us, and walketh in us, and is our God, 2 Cor.
vi. 16-18. Light and heat are not more abundant in the sun, than love is
in Jesus Christ. To look on Christ, and not perceive the love of God, is
as to look on the sun, and not to see and acknowledge its light.
Therefore whenever you find your hearts averse to God, and to have no
pleasure in him, look then to Jesus, and observe in him the unmeasurable
love of God: that "you may be able to comprehend with all the saints,
what is the breadth and length, and depth and height, and to know the
love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that you may be filled with all
the fulness of God," Eph. iii. 18, 19. Love and goodness are that to the
will, which delicious sweetness is to the sensitive appetite. Draw near
then and taste the feast of love which God hath prepared and proposed by
his Son. Dost thou not see or feel the love of God? Come near, and look
upon God incarnate; upon a crucified Christ; upon the covenant sealed in
his blood; upon all the benefits of his redemption; upon all the
privileges of the saints; and upon the glory purchased, possessed, and
promised by him: put thy hand into his wounded side, and be not
faithless, but believing; and then thou wilt cry out, "My Lord, and my
God."
10. So also, when the soul would fain perceive in itself the flames of
love to God, it is the beholding of Christ by faith, which is the
striking of fire, and the effectual means of kindling love. And this
is the true approach to God, and the true communion and converse with
him: so far as we love him, so far we draw near him, and so far we
have true communion with him. Oh what would the soul of a believer
give, that it could but burn in love to God, as oft as in prayer, or
meditation, or conference, his name and attributes are mentioned or
remembered! For this, there is no such powerful means, as believingly
to look on Christ, in whom such glorious love appeareth, as will draw
forth the love of all that by a lively faith discern it. Behold the
love that God hath manifested by his Son, and thou canst not but love
him who is the spring of this transcendent love. In the law God
showeth his frowning wrath; and therefore it breedeth the "spirit of
bondage unto fear:" but in Christ God appeareth to us not only as
loving us, but as love itself; and therefore as most lovely to us,
giving us the spirit of adoption, or of filial love, by which we fly
and cry to him as our Father.
11. The actual undisposedness and disability of the soul, to prayer,
meditation, and all holy converse with the blessed God, is the great
impediment of our walking with him; and against this our relief is all
in Christ. He is filled with the Spirit, to communicate to his
members: he can quicken us when we are dull: he can give us faith when
we are unbelieving: he can give us boldness when we are discouraged:
he can pour out upon us the Spirit of supplication, which shall help
our infirmities, when we know not what to pray for as we ought. Beg of
him, then, the spirit of prayer: and look to his example, who prayed
with strong cries and tears, and continued all the night in prayer,
and spake a parable to this end, that we should always pray, and not
wax faint, Luke xviii. 1. Call to him, and he that is with the Father
will reach the hand of his Spirit to you, and will quicken your
desires, and lift you up.
12. Sometimes, the soul is hearkening to temptations of unbelief, and
doubting whether God observe our prayers, or whether there is so much
to be got by prayer as we are told. In such a case faith must look to
Christ, who hath not only commanded it, and encouraged us by his
example; but also made us such plentiful promises of acceptance with
God, and the grant of our desires. Recourse to these promises will
animate us to draw nigh to God.
13. Sometimes, the present sense of our vileness, who are but dust and
despicable worms, doth discourage us, and weaken our expectations from
God. Against this, what a wonderful relief is it to the soul, to think
of our union with Christ, and of the dignity and glory of our Head!
Can God despise the members of his Son? Can he trample upon them that
are as his flesh and bone? Will he cut off, or forsake, or cast away
the weakest parts of his body?
14. Sometimes, the guilt of renewed infirmities or decays doth renew
distrust, and make us shrink; and we are like the child in the mother's
arms, that feareth when he loseth his hold, as if his safety were more
in his hold of her, than in her hold of him. Weak duties have weak
expectations of success. In this case, what an excellent remedy hath
faith, in looking to the perpetual intercession of Christ. Is he praying
for us in the heavens, and shall we not be bold to pray, and expect an
answer? O remember that he is not weak, when we are weak; and that it
concerneth us, that he prayeth for us: and that we have now an
unchangeable Priest, who is able to save them to the uttermost, or to
perpetuity, "that come (sincerely) to God by him, seeing he ever liveth
to make intercession for them," Heb. vii. 24, 25. If you heard Christ
pray for you, would it not encourage you to pray, and persuade you that
God would not reject you? Undoubtedly it would.
15. Sometimes, weak christians, that have not gifts of memory or
utterance, are apt to think that ministers indeed, and able men, are
accepted of God, but that he little valueth such as them. It is here a
great encouragement to the soul, to think that Jesus, our great High
Priest, doth make all his children priests to God. They are "a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that
they should show forth the praises of him that hath called them out of
darkness into his marvellous light: an holy priesthood to offer up
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ," 1 Pet. ii. 5,
9. Even their "broken hearts and contrite spirits, are a sacrifice
which God will not despise," Psal. li. 17. He knoweth the meaning of
the Spirit's groans, Rom. viii. 26, 27.
16. The strength of corruptions which molest the soul, and are too often
struggling with it, and too much prevail, doth greatly discourage us in
our approach to that God that hateth all the workers of iniquity. And
here faith may find relief in Christ, not only as he pardoneth us, but
as he hath conquered the devil and the world himself, and bid us be of
good cheer, because he hath conquered, and hath all power given him in
heaven and earth, and can give us victorious grace, in the season and
measure which he seeth meetest for us. We can do all things through
Christ that strengtheneth us. Go to him then by faith and prayer, and
you shall find that his grace is sufficient for you.
17. The thoughts of God are the less delightful to the soul, because
that death and the grave do interpose, and we must pass through them
before we can enjoy him: and it is unpleasing to nature, to think of a
separation of soul and body, and to think that our flesh must rot in
darkness. But against this, faith hath wonderful relief in Jesus
Christ. "Forasmuch as we were partakers of flesh and blood, he also
himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might
destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and
deliver them who through fear of death, were all their lifetime
subject to bondage," Heb. ii. 14, 15. Oh what an encouragement it is
to faith, to observe that Christ once died himself, and that he rose
from the dead, and reigneth with the Father: it being impossible that
death should hold him. And having conquered that which seemed to
conquer him, it no more hath dominion over him, but he hath the keys
of death and hell. We may now entertain death as a disarmed enemy, and
say, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"
Yea, it is sanctified by him to be our friend, even an entrance into
our Master's joy: it being best for us to depart and be with Christ,
Phil. i. 23. And, therefore, death is become our gain, ver. 21. Oh
what abundance of strength and sweetness may faith perceive from that
promise of Christ, John xii. 26, "If any man serve me, let him follow
me, and where I am, there shall also my servant be." As he was dead,
but now liveth for evermore, so hath he promised, that "because he
liveth, therefore shall we live also," John xiv. 19. But of this, I
have written two treatises of death already.
18. The terror of the day of judgment, and of our particular doom at
death, doth make the thoughts of God less pleasing and delectable to
us. And here, what a relief is it for faith to apprehend that Jesus
Christ must be our Judge! And will he condemn the members of his body?
Shall we be afraid to be judged by our dearest Friend?--by him that
hath justified us himself already, even at the price of his own blood?
19. The very strangeness of the soul to the world unseen, and to the
inhabitants and employments there, doth greatly stop the soul in its
desires, and in its delightful approaches unto God. Had we seen the
world where God must be enjoyed, the thoughts of it would be more
familiar and sweet. But faith can look to Christ, and say, My Head is
there: he seeth it for me; he knoweth what he possesseth, prepareth, and
promiseth to me; and I will quietly rest in his acquaintance with it.
20. Nay, the Godhead itself is so infinitely above us, that, in
itself, it is inaccessible; and it is ready to amaze and overwhelm us,
to think of coming to the incomprehensible Majesty: but it emboldeneth
the soul, to think of our glorified nature in Christ, and that, even
in heaven, God will everlastingly condescend to us in the Mediator.
For the mediation of redemption and acquisition shall be ended, (and
thus he shall deliver up the kingdom to the Father,) yet it seems that
a mediation of fruition shall continue: for Christ said to his Father,
"I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am,
that they may behold my glory," John xvii. 24. We shall "rejoice,"
when the "marriage of the Lamb is come," Rev. xix. 7. "They are
blessed that are called to his marriage supper," ver. 9. "The Lord God
Almighty and the Lamb are the temple and the light of the new
Jerusalem," Rev. xxi. 22, 23. Heaven would not be so familiar, or so
sweet to my thoughts, if it were not that our glorified Lord is there,
in whose love and glory we must live for ever.
O christian, as ever thou wouldst walk with God in comfortable communion
with him, study and exercise this life of faith, in the daily use and
improvement of Christ, who is our life, and hope, and all.
[Sidenote: To believe in the Holy Ghost, and live upon his grace.]
_Grand Direct._ III. Understand well what it is to believe in the Holy
Ghost; and see that he dwell and operate in thee, as the life of thy
soul, and that thou do not resist or quench the Spirit, but thankfully
obey him.
Each person in the Trinity is so believed in by christians, as that in
baptism they enter distinctly into covenant with them: which is, to
accept the mercies of, and perform the duties to, each person
distinctly.[88] As to take God for our God is more than to believe
that there is a God, and to take Christ for our Saviour is more than
barely to believe that he is the Messiah; so to believe in the Holy
Ghost, is to take him for Christ's agent or advocate with our souls,
and for our Guide, and Sanctifier, and Comforter, and not only to
believe that he is the third person in the Trinity. This therefore is
a most practical article of our belief.
If the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost be the unpardonable sin, then
all sin against the Holy Ghost must needs have a special aggravation
by being such. And if the sin against the Holy Ghost be the greatest
sin, then our duty towards the Holy Ghost is certainly none of our
smallest duties. Therefore the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and our
duty towards him, and sin against him, deserve not the least or last
place in teaching, learning, and most serious consideration.
Two sorts do most dangerously sin against or abuse the Holy Ghost. The
first is the profane, who through custom and education can say, "I
believe in the Holy Ghost," and say, that "he sanctifieth them and all
the elect people of God;" but hate or resist all sanctifying works and
motions of the Holy Ghost, and hate all those that are sanctified by
him, and make them the objects of their scorn, and deride the very
name of sanctification, or at least the thing.[89]
The second sort are the enthusiasts, or true fanatics, who advance,
extol, and plead for the Spirit, against the Spirit; covering their
greatest sins against the Holy Ghost, by crying up, and pretending to
the Holy Ghost.[90] They plead the Spirit in themselves against the
Spirit in their brethren, yea, and in almost all the church: they plead
the authority of the Spirit in them, against the authority of the Spirit
in the holy Scriptures; and against particular truths of Scripture; and
against several great and needful duties which the Spirit hath required
in the word; and against the Spirit in their most judicious, godly,
faithful teachers. But can it be the Spirit that speaks against the
Spirit? Is the Spirit of God against itself? Are we "not all baptized by
one Spirit (and not divers or contrary) into one body?" 1 Cor. xii. 12,
13. But it is "no marvel, for Satan to be transformed into an angel of
light, or his ministers into the ministers of Christ, and of
righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works," 2 Cor. xi.
13-15. The Spirit himself therefore hath commanded us, that we "believe
not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God; because
many false prophets are gone out into the world," 1 John iv. 1. "Yea,
the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall
depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of
devils," 1 Tim. iv. 1. Therefore take heed that you neither mistake nor
abuse the Holy Spirit.
1. The doctrine concerning the Holy Ghost, to be believed, is briefly
this: (1.) That the Holy Ghost, as given since the ascension of
Christ, is his agent on earth, or his advocate with men (called by him
the Paraclete): instead of his bodily presence, which for a little
space he vouchsafed to a few, being ascended, he sendeth the Holy
Spirit as better for them, to be his agent continually to the end, and
unto all, and in all that do believe, John xvi. 7, 8. (2.) This Holy
Spirit, so sent, infallibly inspired the holy apostles and
evangelists, first to preach, and then to write the doctrine of
Christ, contained (as indited by him) in the holy Scriptures;
perfectly imprinting therein the holy image of God, John xv. 26; xvi.
13; Gal. iii. 1-4; Heb. ii. 3, 4. (3.) The same Spirit in them, sealed
this holy doctrine, and the testimony of these holy men, by many
miracles and wonderful gifts, by which they did actually convince the
unbelieving world, and plant the churches. (4.) The same Spirit
(having first by the apostles given a law or canon to the universal
church, constituting its offices and the duty of the officers, and the
manner of their entrance) doth qualify and dispose men for the stated,
ordinary ministerial work, (which is to explain and apply the foresaid
Scriptures,) and directeth those that are to ordain and choose them
(they being not wanting on their part); and so he appointeth pastors
to the church, Eph. iii. 2-4, 8, 13. (5.) The same Spirit assisteth
the ministers (thus sent in their faithful use of the means) to teach
and apply the holy Scriptures according to the necessities of the
people, the weight of the matter, and the majesty of the word of God.
(6.) The same Spirit doth by this word (heard or read) renew and
sanctify the souls of the elect; illuminating their minds, opening and
quickening their hearts, prevailing with, changing, and resolving
their wills, thus writing God's word, and imprinting his image by his
word upon their hearts, making it powerful to conquer and cast out
their strongest, sweetest, dearest sins, and bringing them to the
saving knowledge, love, and obedience of God in Jesus Christ, Acts
xxvi. 18; John xiv. 16, 26. (7.) The same Holy Spirit assisteth the
sanctified in the exercise of this grace, to the increase of it, by
blessing and concurring with the means appointed by him to that end:
and helpeth them to use those means, perform those duties, conquer
temptations, oppositions, and difficulties, and so confirmeth and
preserveth them to the end. (8.) The same Spirit helpeth believers, in
the exercise of grace, to feel it, and discern the sincerity of it in
themselves, in that measure as they are meet for, and in those seasons
when it is fittest for them. (9.) The same Spirit helpeth them
hereupon to conclude that they are justified and reconciled to God,
and have right to all the benefits of his covenant. (10.) Also, he
assisteth them actually to rejoice in the discerning of this
conclusion. For though reason of itself may do something in these
acts, yet so averse is man to all that is holy, and so many are the
difficulties and hinderances in the way, that to the effectual
performance, the help of the Spirit of God is necessary.
By this enumeration of the Spirit's operations, you may see the errors
of many detected, and many common questions answered. 1. You may see
their blindness, that pretend the Spirit within them, against
Scripture, ministry, or the use of God's appointed means: when the
same Spirit first indited the Scripture, and maketh it the instrument
to illuminate and sanctify our souls. God's image is, (1.) Primarily,
in Jesus Christ his Son. (2.) Derivatively, by his Spirit, imprinted
perfectly in the Holy Scriptures. (3.) And by the Scripture, or the
holy doctrine of it, instrumentally impressed on the soul. So that the
image of God in Christ, is the cause of his image in his holy word or
doctrine, and his image in his word, is the cause of his image on the
heart. So a king may have his image, (1.) Naturally, on his son, who
is like his father. (2.) Expressively, in his laws, which express his
wisdom, clemency, and justice. (3.) And effectively, on his subjects
and servants, who are by his laws reduced to a conformity to his mind.
As a man may first cut his arms or image on his seal, and then by that
seal imprint it on the wax; and though it be perfectly cut on the
seal, it may be imperfectly printed on the wax; so God's image is
naturally perfect in his Son, and regularly or expressively perfect on
the seal of his holy doctrine and laws; but imperfectly on his
subjects, according to their reception of it in their several degrees.
Therefore it is easy to discern their error, that tell men the light or
Spirit within them, is their rule, and a perfect rule, yea, and that it
is thus in all men in the world; when God's word and experience flatly
contradict it, telling us that infidels and enemies of God, and all the
ungodly, are in darkness, and not in the light; and that all that speak
not according to this word, (the law and testimony,) have "no light in
them;" and therefore no "perfect light to be their rule," Isa. viii. 20.
The ministry is sent, to bring them from darkness to light: therefore,
they had not a sufficient light in them before, Acts xxvi. 17, 18. "Woe
to them that put darkness for light, and light for darkness!" Isa. v.
20: telling the children of darkness, and the haters of the light, that
they have a perfect light and rule within them, when God saith, "They
have no light in them." See 1 John i. 4-8. "He that saith he is in the
light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even till now," 1 John ii.
9-11. The light within a wicked man, is "darkness" and "blindness," and
therefore not his rule, Matt. vi. 23; Eph. v. 8. Even the light that is
in godly men, is the knowledge of the rule, and not the rule itself at
all, nor ever called so by God. Our rule is perfect; our knowledge is
imperfect: for Paul himself saith, "We know in part; but when that which
is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away: now
we see through a glass darkly," 1 Cor. xiii. 9, 10, 12. "The gospel is
hid to them that are lost," being "blinded by Satan," 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4.
There is an admirable, unsearchable concurrence of the Spirit, and his
appointed means, and the will of man, in the procreation of the new
creature, and in all the exercises of grace, as there is of male and
female in natural generation; and of the earth, the sun, the rain, the
industry of the gardener, and the seminal virtue of life and
specification, in the production of plants with their flowers and
fruits. And as wise as it would be to say, it is not the male but the
female, or not the female but the male that generateth; or to say, it
is not the earth but the sun, or not the sun but the rain, or not the
rain but the seminal virtue, that causeth plants with flowers and
fruits: so wise is it to say, it is not the Spirit but the word and
means, or it is not the word and means but the Spirit, or it is not
the reason, and will, and industry of man, but the Spirit: or, if we
have not wisdom enough to assign to each cause its proper interest in
the effect, that therefore we should separate what God hath conjoined,
or deny the truth of the causation, because we comprehend not the
manner and influence--this is but to choose to be befooled by pride,
rather than confess that God is wiser than we.
2. You may here discern also, how the Spirit assureth and comforteth
believers: and how palpably they err, that think the Spirit comforteth
or assureth us of our salvation without the use of its evidencing
grace. The ten things mentioned above, is all that the Spirit doth
herein. But to expect his comforts without any measure of discerning
his graces, which can only rationally prove our right to the blessings
of the promise, this is to expect that he should comfort a rational
creature not as rational, but darkly cause him to rejoice he knoweth
not why: and that he should make no use of faith to our comfort: for
faith resteth understandingly upon the promise, and expecteth the
performance of it to those that it is made to, and not to others.
Indeed there is a common encouragement and comfort, which all men,
even the worst, may take from the universal, conditional promise: and
there is much abatement of our fears and troubles that may be fetched
from probabilities and uncertain hopes of our own sincerity and
interest in the promise. But to expect any other assurance or comfort
from the Spirit, without evidence, is but to expect immediate
revelations or inspirations to do the work, which the word of promise
and faith should do. The soul's consent to the covenant of grace, and
fiducial acceptance of an offered Christ, is justifying, saving faith:
every man hath an object in the promise and offer of the gospel for
this act, and therefore may rationally perform it. (Though all have
not hearts to do it.) This may well be called, faith of adherence; and
is itself our evidence, from which we must conclude, that we are true
believers: the discerning of this evidence, called by some, the reflex
act of faith, is no act of faith at all, it being no believing of
another, but the act of conscience, knowing what is in ourselves. The
discerning and concluding that we are the children of God,
participateth of faith and conscientious knowledge, which gave us the
premises of such a conclusion.
3. You may hence perceive also how we are said to be "sealed" by the
Spirit, Eph. i. 13; Rom. viii. 9; Eph. iv. 30: even as a man's seal doth
signify the thing sealed to be his own; so the "Spirit of holiness in
us," is God's seal upon us, signifying that we are his, 2 Tim. ii. 19.
Every one that "hath the Spirit," is sealed by having it: and that is
his evidence, which, if he discern, he may know that he is thus sealed.
4. Hereby also you may see what the "earnest and first-fruits of the
Spirit" is, 2 Cor. i. 22: the Spirit is given to us by God, as the
earnest of the glory which he will give us. To whomsoever he giveth
the spirit of faith, and love, and holiness, he giveth the seed of
life eternal, and an inclination thereto, which is his earnest of it.
5. Hereby also you may see how the Spirit witnesseth that we are the
children of God. The word "witness" is put here principally for
evidence: if any one question our adoption, the witness or evidence
which we must produce to prove it, is the "Spirit of Jesus sanctifying
us," and dwelling in us: this is the chief part (at least) of the sense
of the text, Rom. viii. 16. Though it is true, that the same Spirit
witnesseth by (1.) Showing us the grace which he hath given us; (2.) And
by showing us the truth of the promise made to all believers; (3.) And
by helping us from those promises to conclude with boldness, that we are
the children of God; (4.) And by helping us to rejoice therein.
II. I have been the longer (though too short) in acquainting you with
the office of the Holy Ghost, (supposing your belief that he is the
third person in the Trinity,) because it is an article of grand
importance, neglected by many that profess it, and because there are
so many and dangerous errors in the world about it. Your great care
now must be, 1. To find this Spirit in you, as the principle of your
operations: and, 2. To obey it, and follow its motions, as it leadeth
you up to communion with God. Of the first I have spoken in the first
chapter. For the second, observe these few directions.
_Direct._ I. Be sure you mistake not the Spirit of God and its
motions, nor receive, instead of them, the motions of Satan, or of
your passions, pride, or fleshly wisdom.--It is easy to think you are
obeying the Spirit, when you are obeying Satan and your own
corruptions against the Spirit. By these fruits the Spirit of God is
known. 1. The Spirit of God is for heavenly wisdom, and neither for
foolishness nor treacherous craftiness, Psal. xix. 7; xciv. 8; Jer.
iv. 22; 1 Cor. ii. 4-7. 2. The Spirit of God is a Spirit of love,
delighting to do good; its doctrine and motions are for love, and tend
to good; abhorring both selfishness and hurtfulness to others, Gal. v.
21, 22. 3. He is a Spirit of concord, and is ever for the unity of all
believers; abhorring both divisions among the saints, and carnal
compliances and confederacies with the wicked, 1 Cor. xii.; Eph. iv.
3-6, 13; 1 Cor. i. 10; iii. 3; Rom. xvi. 17, 18. 4. He is a Spirit of
humility and self-denial, making us, and our knowledge, and gifts, and
worth, to be very little in our own eyes;[91] abhorring pride,
ambition, self-exalting, boasting, as also the actual debasing of
ourselves by earthliness or other sin, Matt. xviii. 3; Eph. iv. 2. 5.
He is a Spirit of meekness, and patience, and forbearance; abhorring
stupidity, and inordinate passion, boisterousness, tumult, envy,
contention, reviling, and revenge, Matt. xi. 28, 29; Eph. iv. 2; James
iii.; 1 Pet. ii. 20-23; Gal. v. 20; Rom. xii. 18-20; Eph. iv. 31; Col.
iii. 8. 6. He is a Spirit of zeal for God, resolving men against
known sin, and for known truth and duty; abhorring a furious,
destroying zeal, and also an indifferency in the cause of God; and a
yielding compliance with that which is against it, Gal. iv. 18; Numb.
xxv. 11, 13; Titus ii. 14; James iii. 15, 17; Luke ix. 55; Rev. iii.
16. 7. He is a Spirit of mortification, crucifying the flesh, and
still contending against it, and causing men to live above all the
glory, and riches, and pleasures of the world: abhorring both carnal
licentiousness and sensuality, and also the destroying and disabling
of the body, under pretence of true mortification, Rom. viii. 1, 13;
Gal. v. 17; Rom. xiii. 13, 14; 1 Cor. ix. 27; 2 Pet. ii. 19; Col. ii.
18, 21, 23. 8. The Spirit of Christ contradicteth not the doctrine of
Christ in the holy Scripture, but moveth us to an exact conformity
thereto, Isa. viii. 20. This is the sure rule to try pretences and
motions of every spirit by: for we are sure that the Spirit of Christ
is the author of that word; and we are sure he is not contrary to
himself. 9. The motions of the Spirit do all tend to our good, and are
neither ludicrous, impertinent, or hurtful finally: they are all for
the perfecting of sanctification, obedience, and for our salvation.
Therefore unprofitable trifles, or despair, and hurtful distractions
and disturbances of mind, which drive from God, unfit for duty, and
hinder salvation, are not the motions of the Spirit of God, 2 Tim. i.
7; Rom. viii. 15; Isa. xi. 2; Gal. v. 22; Zech. xii. 10; 1 Pet. iv.
14; 2 Cor. iii. 6. 10. Lastly, The Spirit of God subjecteth all to
God, and raiseth the heart to him, and maketh us spiritual and divine,
and is ever for God's glory, 1 John iv. 5, 6; 1 Cor. vi. 11, 17, 20;
Eph. ii. 18, 22; Phil. iii. 3, 19, 20; 1 Pet. i. 2; iv. 6. Examine the
texts here cited, and you will find that by all these fruits the
Spirit of God is known from all seducing spirits, and from the fancies
or passions of self-conceited men.
_Direct._ II. Quench not the Spirit, either by wilful sin or by your
neglecting of its offered help.--It is as the spring to all your
spiritual motions; as the wind to your sails: you can do nothing without
it. Therefore reverence and regard its help, and pray for it, and obey
it, and neglect it not. When you are sure it is the Spirit of God
indeed, that is knocking at the door, behave not yourselves as if you
heard not. 1. Obey him speedily: delay is a present, unthankful refusal,
and a kind of a denial. 2. Obey him thoroughly: a half-obedience is
disobedience. Put him not off with Ananias and Sapphira's gift; the half
of that which he requireth of you. 3. Obey him constantly: not sometimes
hearkening to him, and more frequently neglecting him; but attending him
in a learning, obediential course of life.
_Direct._ III. Neglect not those means which the Spirit hath appointed
you to use, for the receiving of its help, and which he useth in his
holy operations.--If you will meet with him, attend him in his own
way, and expect him not in by-ways where he useth not to go. Pray, and
meditate, and hear, and read, and do your best, and expect his
blessing. Though your ploughing and sowing will not give you a
plentiful harvest without the sun, and rain, and the blessing of God,
yet these will not do it neither, unless you plough and sow. God hath
not appointed a course of means in nature or morality in vain, nor
will he use to meet you in any other way.
_Direct._ IV. Do most when the Spirit helpeth you most.--Neglect not
the extraordinary measures of his assistance: if he extraordinarily
help you in prayer, or meditation, improve that help, and break not
off so soon as at other times (without necessity): not that you should
omit duty till you feel his help; for he useth to come in with help
in the performance, and not in the neglect of duty: but tire not out
yourself with affected length, when you want the life.
_Direct._ V. Be not unthankful for the assistance he hath given
you.--Deny not his grace: ascribe it not to nature: remember it to
encourage your future expectations: unthankfulness and neglect are the
way to be denied further help.
_Quest._ But how shall I know whether good effects be from the means,
or from my reason and endeavour, and when from the Spirit of God?
_Answ._ It is as if you should ask, How shall I know whether my
harvest be from the earth, or sun, or rain, or God, or from my labour?
I will tell you how. They are all con-causes: if the effect be there,
they all concur; if the effect be wanting, some of them were wanting.
It is foolish to ask, which is the cause, when the effect is not
produced but by the concurrence of them all. If you had asked, which
cause did fail, when the effect faileth? there were reason in that
question; but there is none in this. The more to blame those foolish
atheists, that think God or the Spirit is not the cause, if they can
but find that reason and means are in the effect. Your reason, and
conscience, and means would fall short of the effect, if the Spirit
put not life into all.
_Obj._ But I am exceedingly troubled and confounded with continual
doubts about every motion that is in my mind, whether it be from the
Spirit of God, or not.
_Answ._ The more is your ignorance, or the malice of Satan causing
your disquiet. In one word, you have sufficient direction to resolve
those doubts, and end those troubles. Is it good, or evil, or
indifferent, that you are moved to? This question must be resolved
from the word of God, which is the rule of duty. If it be good, in
matter, and manner, and circumstances, it is from the Spirit of God
(either its common or special operation): if it be evil or
indifferent, you cannot ascribe it to the Spirit. Remember that the
Spirit cometh not to you, to make you new duty which the Scripture
never made your duty, and so to bring an additional law; but to move
and help you in that which was your duty before. (Only it may give the
matter, while Scripture giveth the obligation by its general command.)
If you know not what is your duty, and what not, it is your ignorance
of Scripture that must be cured: interpret Scripture well, and you may
interpret the Spirit's motions easily. If any new duty be motioned to
you, which Scripture commandeth not, take such motions as not from God
(unless it were by extraordinary, confirmed revelation).
[Sidenote: For the true and orderly impression of God's attributes on
the heart.]
_Grand Direct._ IV. Let it be your chiefest study to attain to a true,
orderly, and practical knowledge of God, in his several attributes and
relations; and to find a due impression from each of them upon your
hearts, and a distinct, effectual improvement of them in your lives.
Because I have written of this point more fully in another treatise,
"Of the Knowledge of God, and Converse with Him," I shall but briefly
touch upon it here, as not willing to repeat that which there is
delivered: Only, let me briefly mind you of these few things: 1. That
the true knowledge of God is the sum of godliness, and the end of all
our other knowledge, and of all that we have or do as christians.[92]
As Christ is a teacher that came from God, so he came to call and lead
us unto God; or else he had not come as a Saviour. It is from God that
we fell by sin, and to God that we must be restored by grace. To save
us, is to restore us to our perfection, and our happiness; and that is
to restore us unto God.
2. That the true knowledge of God is powerful and effectual upon the
heart and life: and every attribute and relation of God, is so to be
known, as to make its proper impress on us: and the measure of this
saving knowledge, is not to be judged of, by extensiveness, or number
of truths concerning God which we know, so much as by the clearness,
and intensiveness, and the measure of its holy effects upon the heart.
3. This is it that denominateth both ourselves, and all our duties,
holy: when God's image is thus imprinted on us; and we are like him by
the new birth, as children to their father; and by his knowledge, both
our hearts and lives are made divine; being disposed unto God, devoted
to him and employed for him; he being our life, and light, and love.
4. This is the sum of the covenant of God with man, "I will be thy God,
and thou shalt be my people." And the other parts of the covenant, "that
Christ be our Saviour, and the Holy Ghost our Sanctifier," are both
subservient unto this; there being now no coming unto God, but as
reconciled in Christ our Mediator, and by the teaching and drawing of
the Holy Ghost. To be our God, is to be to us an absolute Owner, a most
righteous Governor, and a most bountiful Benefactor or Father; as having
created us, redeemed and regenerated us; and this according to his most
blessed nature, properties, and perfections.
5. It is not only a loose and inconstant effect of your particular
thoughts of God, that is the necessary impress of his attributes (as to
fear him, when you remember his greatness and justice): but it must be a
habit or holy nature in you, every attribute having made its stated
image upon you; and that habit or image being in you, a constant
principle of holy, spiritual operations. A habit of reverence, belief,
trust, love, &c. should be, as it were, your nature.
6. Not that the knowledge of God in his perfections, should provoke us
to desire his properties and perfections: for to have such an aspiring
desire to be gods, were the greatest pride and wickedness. But only we
must desire, (1.) To be as like God, in all his communicable
excellencies, as is agreeable to our created state and capacity. (2.)
And to have as near and full communion with him, as we can attain to
and enjoy.
7. The will of God, and his goodness, and holiness, are more nearly
propounded to us, to be the rule of our conformity, than his power,
and his knowledge. Therefore his law is most immediately the
expression of his will; and our duty and goodness lie in our
conformity to his law; being holy as he is holy.
Because I may not stand on the particulars, I shall give you a brief,
imperfect scheme of that of God, which you must thus know.
God is to be known by us
I. As in Himself.
{1. One; and
I. In his {indivisible: {[a]1. The
BEING: {in Three { FATHER, {[b]1. Necessary,}
_Quod {Persons.[a] {2. The SON, {2. Independent, }
sit._ {2. Immense: and {3. The HOLY {3. Immutable. }
{incomprehensible. { GHOST.
{3. Eternal.[b]
{1. Simple: uncompounded.
{A SPIRIT {2. Impassionate, incorruptible,
II. In his { { immortal.
NATURE: { {3. Invisible, intactible, &c.
_Quid {
sit._ { {1. POWER,
{and LIFE {2. UNDERSTANDING,
{itself. {3. WILL.
{ {1. MOST {[c]1. BEING}
{ { GREAT, { HIMSELF.}
III. In his {1. OMNIPOTENT, {2. MOST {2. KNOWING }
PERFECTIONS: {2. OMNISCIENT, { WISE, {HIMSELF. }
_Qualis {3. MOST GOOD. {3. MOST {3. LOVING }
sit._ { { HOLY {and }
{ { and {ENJOYING }
{ { HAPPY.[c] {HIMSELF. }
II. As related to His Creatures.
} {1. Our OWNER }(_d_) {(_e_)
}1. CREATOR {or LORD: most } {
I. The }and Conserver. {Absolute, }1. Our {1. Perfecting
EFFICIENT } {Free, and }_Life_, {our Natures
Cause of } {Irresistable. }and Strength, {in Heavenly
all } { }and Safety. {Life.
things: } { } {
Rom. x. } {2. Our RULER } {
36: "OF } {or King: } {
HIM." } {1. By } {
} {Legislation: }2. Our {2. Whom we
} {2. Judgment: }_Light_, {shall
} {3. Execution: }and Wisdom. {behold in
}2. REDEEMER {Absolute, } {glorious
} and Saviour. {perfect, } {Light.
II: The } {True, Holy, } {
DIRIGENT } {Just } {
Cause: } {Merciful, } {
"THROUGH } {Patient, } {
HIM." } {Terrible. } {
} { } {
} {3. Our } {3. Whom we
} {BENEFACTOR } {shall Please
} {or FATHER: } {and Love; and
} {1. Most }3. Our {be Pleased
} {Loving: }_Love_ {in him, and
}3. REGENERATOR {2. Most }and {Loved by him,
III. The }and Sanctifier. {Bountiful: }_Joy_: {Rejoice in
FINAL } {3. Most }and so our {him, Praise
Cause: } {Amiable: }_End_, {him, and so
"TO HIM, } {(Patient, }and Rest, {Enjoy him,
are all } {Merciful, }and {Perfectly and
things: } {Constant.) }Happiness {Perpetually.
to whom } { } {
be glory } { Causally and} {
for ever. } { Objectively } hereafter {
Amen." } { (_d_) } (_e_) {
See these practically opened and improved, in the First Part of my
"Divine Life." The more full explication of the attributes, fit for
the more capacious, is reserved for another tractate.
For the right improvement of the knowledge of all these attributes of
God, I must refer you to the fore-mentioned treatise. The acts which
you are to exercise upon God are these: 1. The clearest knowledge you
can attain to.[93] 2. The firmest belief. 3. The highest estimation.
4. The greatest admiration. 5. The heartiest and sweetest complacency
or love. 6. The strongest desire. 7. A filial awfulness, reverence,
and fear. 8. The boldest quieting trust and confidence in him. 9. The
most fixed waiting, dependence, hope, and expectation. 10. The most
absolute self-resignation to him. 11. The fullest and quietest
submission to his disposals. 12. The humblest and most absolute
subjection to his governing authority and will, and the exactest
obedience to his laws. 13. The boldest courage and fortitude in his
cause, and owning him before the world in the greatest sufferings. 14.
The greatest thankfulness for his mercies. 15. The most faithful
improvement of his talents, and use of his means, and performance of
our trust. 16. A reverent and holy use of his name and word: with a
reverence of his secrets; forbearing to intrude or meddle with them.
17. A wise and cautelous observance of his providences, public and
private; neither neglecting them, nor misinterpreting them; neither
running before them, nor striving discontentedly against them. 18. A
discerning, loving, and honouring his image in his children,
notwithstanding their infirmities and faults; without any friendship
to their faults, or over-magnifying or imitating them in any evil. 19.
A reverent, serious, spiritual adoration and worshipping him, in
public and private, with soul and body, in the use of all his holy
ordinances; but especially in the joyful celebration of his praise,
for all his perfections and his mercies. 20. The highest delight and
fullest content and comfort in God that we can attain: especially a
delight in knowing him, and obeying and pleasing him, worshipping and
praising him; loving him, and being beloved of him, through Jesus
Christ; and in the hopes of the perfecting of all these in our
everlasting fruition of him in heavenly glory.
All these are the acts of piety towards God; which I lay together for
your easier observation and memory: but some of them must be more
fully opened, and insisted on.
[Sidenote: Of self-resignation to God as our Owner.]
_Grand Direct._ V. Remember that God is your Lord or Owner: and see
that you make an absolute resignation of yourselves, and all that you
have, to him as his own; and use yourselves and all accordingly; trust
him with his own; and rest in his disposals.
Of this I have already spoken in my "Sermon of Christ's Dominion," and
in my "Directions for a sound Conversion;" and therefore must but touch
it here. It is easy, notionally, to know and say that God is our Owner,
and we are not our own; but if the habitual, practical knowledge of it
were as easy, or as common, the happy effects of it would be the
sanctification and reformation of the world. I shall first tell you what
this duty is, and how it is to be performed; and then, what fruits and
benefits it will produce, and what should move us to it.
I. The duty lieth in these acts: 1. That you consider the ground of
God's propriety in you; (1.) In making you of nothing, and preserving
you. (2.) In redeeming you by purchase. (3.) In regenerating you, and
renewing you for himself.[94] The first is the ground of his common
natural propriety in you and all things. The second is the ground of his
common gracious propriety in you and all men, as purchased by Christ,
Rom. xiv. 9; John xiii. 3. The third is the ground of his special
gracious propriety in you, and all his sanctified, peculiar people.
Understand and acknowledge what a plenary dominion God hath over you,
and how absolutely and wholly you are his. 2. Let it exceedingly please
you, to think that you are wholly his: it being much better for you, as
to your safety, honour, and happiness, than to be your own, or any's
else. 3. As God requireth it in his covenant of grace, that he have his
right, by your consent, and not by constraint; so you must thankfully
accept the motion, and with hearty and full consent of will, resign
yourselves to him, as his own, even as his creatures, his ransomed ones,
and his regenerate children, by a covenant never to be violated. 4. You
must carefully watch against the claim and reserves of carnal
selfishness; lest while you confess you are God's, and not your own, you
should secretly still keep possession of yourselves against him, or
re-assume the possession which you surrendered. 5. You must use
yourselves ever after as God's, and not your own.
II. In this using yourselves as wholly God's, consisteth both your
further duty, and your benefits. 1. When God's propriety is discerned
and consented to, it will make you sensible how you are obliged to
employ all your powers of soul and body to his service; and to
perceive that nothing should be alienated from him, no creature having
any co-ordinate title to a thought of your hearts, or a glance of your
affection, or a word of your mouths, or a minute of your time. The
sense of God's propriety must cause you to keep constant accounts
between God and you; and to call yourselves to a frequent reckoning,
whether God have his own, and you do not defraud him; whether it be
his work that you are doing, and for him that you think, and speak,
and live? And all that you have, will be used as his, as well as
yourselves; for no man can have any good thing that is more his own,
than he is his own himself.
2. Propriety discerned, doth endear us in affection to our owner. As we
love our own children, so they love their own fathers. Our very dogs
love their own master better than another. When we can say with Thomas,
"My Lord, and my God," it will certainly be the voice of love. God's
common propriety in us, as his created and ransomed ones, obligeth us to
love him with all our heart; but the knowledge of his peculiar
propriety, by regeneration, will more effectually command our love.
3. God's propriety perceived, will help to satisfy us of his love and
care of us: and will help us to trust him in every danger; and so take
off our inordinate fear, and anxieties, and caring for ourselves.[95]
The apostle proveth Christ's love to his church from his propriety,
Eph. v. 29, "No man ever yet hated his own flesh." God is not
regardless of his own. As we take care of our cattle, to preserve
them, and provide for them, more than they do for themselves, for they
are more ours than their own; so God is more concerned in the welfare
of his children, than they are themselves, they being more his than
their own. Why are we afraid of the wrath and cruelty of man? Will God
be mindless and negligent of his own? Why are we over-careful and
distrustful of his providence? Will he not take care of his own, and
make provision for them? "God, even our own God, shall bless us,"
Psal. lxvii. 6. God's interest in his church, and cause, and servants,
is an argument which we may plead with him in prayer, 1 Chron. xvii.
21, 22, and with which we may greatly encourage our confidence: Isa.
xlviii. 9, 11, "For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my
praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. For mine own
sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be
polluted? and I will not give my glory to another." Isa. xliii. 1, 2,
"But now, thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that
formed thee, O Israel; Fear not: for I have redeemed thee; I have
called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee," &c. If God should neglect our interest,
he will not neglect his own.
4. God's propriety in us discerned, doth so much aggravate our sin
against him, that it should greatly restrain us, and further our
humiliation and recovery when we are fallen: Lev. xx. 26, "Ye shall be
holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other
people, that ye should be mine." Ezek. xvi. 8, "I sware unto thee, and
entered into a covenant with thee, and thou becamest mine, saith the
Lord," when he is aggravating Jerusalem's sin. 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20, "Ye
are not your own: for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify
God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." Justice
requireth, that every one have his own.
5. It should silence all murmurings and repinings against the providence
of God, to consider that we are his own. Doth he afflict you? and are
you not his own? Doth he kill you? are you not his own? As a Ruler, he
will show you reason enough for it in your sins; but as your absolute
Lord and Owner, he need not give you any other reason than that he may
do with his own as he list. It is not possible that he can do any wrong
to that which is absolutely his own. If he deny you health, or wealth,
or friends, or take them from you; he denieth you, or taketh from you,
nothing but his own. Indeed, as a Governor and a Father, he hath secured
the faithful of eternal life: otherwise, as their Owner, he could not
have wronged them, if he had made the most innocent as miserable as he
is capable to be. Do you labour, and beat, and kill your cattle, because
they are your own (by an imperfect propriety)? and dare you grudge at
God for afflicting his own, when their consciences tell them, that they
have deserved it and much more?
[Sidenote: Sins against God's dominion.]
And that you may not think that you have resigned yourselves to God
entirely, when you do but hypocritically profess it, observe: 1. That
man is not thus resigned to God, that thinketh any service too much
for God, that he can do. 2. Nor he that thinketh any cost too great
for God that he is called to undergo. 3. Nor he that thinketh that all
is won (of his time, or wealth, or pleasure, or any thing) which he
can save or steal from God: for all is lost that God hath not. 4. Nor
he that must needs be the disposer of himself, and his condition and
affairs, and God must humour him, and accommodate his providence to
his carnal interest and will, or else he cannot bear it, or think well
of it. 5. Remember that all that is bestowed in sin upon God's
enemies, is used against him, and not as his own. 6. And that he that
hideth his talent, or useth it not at all, cannot be said to use it
for God. Both idleness and alienating the gifts of God, are a robbing
him of his own.
III. To help you in this work of self-resignation, often consider: 1.
That if you were your own, you were most miserable. You could not
support, preserve, or provide for yourselves: who should save you in
the hour of temptation and distress? Alas! if you are humbled
christians, you know so much of your own insufficiency, and feel
yourselves such a daily burden to yourselves, that you have sure
enough of yourselves ere now: and beg of God, above all your enemies,
to save you from yourselves; and of all judgments, to save you from
being forsaken of God, and given up to yourselves. 2. Remember that
none in the world hath sufficient power, wisdom, and goodness, to take
the full care and charge of you, but God; none else can save you, or
sanctify you, or keep you alive one hour: and therefore it is your
happiness and honour that you are his. 3. His right is absolute, and
none hath right to you but he; none else did create you, redeem you,
or regenerate you. 4. He will use you only in safe and honourable
services, and to no worse an end, than your endless happiness. 5. What
you deny him, or steal from him, you give to the devil, the world, and
the flesh; and do they better deserve it? 6. You are his own in title,
whether you will or not; and he will fulfil his will upon you. Your
consent and resignation is necessary to your good, to ease you of your
cares, and secure you from present and eternal misery.
[Sidenote: Of subjection to God as our supreme Governor.]
_Grand Direct._ VI. Remember that God is your sovereign King, to rule
and judge you; and that it is your rectitude and happiness to obey and
please him. Labour therefore to bring your souls and bodies into the
most absolute subjection to him, and to make it your delight and
business sincerely and exactly to obey his will.
Having resigned yourselves absolutely to God as your Owner, you are
next to subject yourselves absolutely to God as your Governor or King.
How much of our religion consisteth in this, you may see in the nature
of the thing, in the design of the law and word of God, in the
doctrine and example of Jesus Christ, in the description of the last
judgment, and in the common consent of all the world. Though love is
the highest work of man, yet it is so far from discharging us from
our subjection and obedience, that it constraineth us to it most
powerfully and most sweetly, and must itself be judged of by these
effects.[96] "If ye love me, keep my commandments. He that hath my
commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. If any man
love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we
will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me
not, keepeth not my sayings," John xiv. 15, 21, 23, 24. "If ye keep my
commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my
Father's commandments, and abide in his love. Ye are my friends, if ye
do whatsoever I command you," chap. xv. 10, 14. "If ye know these
things, happy are ye if ye do them," chap. xiii. 17. "For this is the
love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are
not grievous," 1 John v. 3. "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth
not his commandment, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso
keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby
know we that we are in him. He that saith he is in him, ought himself
also to walk, even as he walked. If ye know that he is righteous, ye
know that every one that doth righteousness is born of him," chap. ii.
4-6, 29. "Whosoever abideth in him, sinneth not: whosoever sinneth,
hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man
deceive you: he that doth righteousness is righteous, even as he is
righteous. He that committeth sin, is of the devil; for the devil
sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was
manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is
born of God doth not commit sin: for his seed remaineth in him: and he
cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are
manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doth not
righteousness, is not of God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of
him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are
pleasing in his sight," chap. iii. 6-10, 22. "Blessed are they that do
his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and
may enter in by the gates into the city," Rev. xxii. 14.
I set together these testimonies of the Scripture, that the stream of
divine authority may carry you to a lively sense of the necessity of
obedience.
I shall here first tell you what this full subjection is, and then I
shall direct you how to attain it.
[Sidenote: Subjection what.]
I. As in God there is first his relation of our King, and then his
actual government of us, by his laws and judgment; so in us, there is
first our relation of subjects to God, and then our actual obedience. We
are subjects by divine obligation, before we consent (as rebels are);
but our consent or self-obligation is necessary to our voluntary
obedience, and acceptation with God. Subjection is our stated obligation
to obedience. This subjection and habit of obedience, is then right and
full, 1. When the sense of God's authority over us is practical, and not
notional only. 2. And when it is deep rooted and fixed, and become as a
nature to us: as a man's intention of his end is, that hath a long
journey to go, which carrieth him on to the last step: or as a child's
subjection to his parents, or a servant's to his master, which is the
habit or principle of his daily course of life. 3. When it is lively,
and ready to put the soul upon obedience. 4. When it is constant,
keeping the soul in a continual attendance upon the will of God. 5. When
it hath universal respect to all his commandments. 6. When it is
resolute, powerful, and victorious against temptations to disobedience.
I. When it is superlative, respecting God as our supreme King, and
owning no authority against him, nor any but what is subordinate to him.
8. When it is voluntary, pleasant, cheerful, and delectable to us to
obey him to the utmost of our power.
[Sidenote: How to bring the soul into subjection to God.]
II. To bring the soul to this full subjection and obedience to God, is
so difficult, and yet so reasonable, so necessary, and so excellently
good, that we should not think any diligence too great, by which it is
to be attained. The directions that I shall give you, are, some of them
to habituate the mind to an obediential frame, and some of them, also,
practically to further the exercise of obedience in particular acts.
_Direct._ I. Remember the unquestionable, plenary title that God hath,
to the government of you, and of all the world.--The sense of this
will awe the soul, and help to subject it to him, and to silence all
rebellious motions. Should not God rule the creatures which he hath
made? Should not Christ rule the souls which he hath purchased? Should
not the Holy Ghost rule the souls which he hath regenerated and
quickened?
_Direct._ II. Remember that God is perfectly fit for the government of
you, and all the world.--You can desire nothing reasonably in a
governor, which is not in him. He hath perfect wisdom, to know what is
best: he hath perfect goodness, and therefore will be most regardful
of his subjects' good, and will put no evil into his laws. He is
almighty, to protect his subjects, and see to the execution of his
laws. He is most just, and therefore can do no wrong, but all his laws
and judgments are equal and impartial. He is infinitely perfect and
self-sufficient, and never needed a lie, or a deceit, or unrighteous
means to rule the world; nor to oppress his subjects to attain his
ends. He is our very end, and interest, and felicity; and therefore
hath no interest opposite to our good, which should cause him to
destroy the innocent. He is our dearest Friend and Father, and loveth
us better than we love ourselves; and therefore we have reason
confidently to trust him, and cheerfully and gladly to obey him, as
one that ruleth us in order to our own felicity.
_Direct._ III. Remember how unable and unfit you are to be governors of
yourselves.--So blind and ignorant; so biassed by a corrupted will; so
turbulent are your passions; so incessant and powerful is the temptation
of your sense and appetite; and so unable are you to protect or reward
yourselves, that methinks you should fear nothing in this world more,
than to be given up to "your own heart's lusts, to walk in your own
(seducing) counsels," Psal. lxxxi. 11, 12. The brutish appetite and
sense hath got such dominion over the reason of carnal, unrenewed men,
that for such to be governed by themselves, is for a man to be governed
by a swine, or the rider to be ruled by the horse.
_Direct._ IV. Remember how great a matter God maketh of his kingly
prerogatives, and of man's obedience.--The whole tenor of the
Scripture will tell you this. His precepts, his promises, his
threatenings, his vehement exhortations, his sharp reproofs, the
sending of his Son and Spirit, the example of Christ and all the
saints, the reward prepared for the obedient, and the punishment for
the disobedient--all tell you aloud, that God is far from being
indifferent whether you obey his laws or not. It will teach you to
regard that, which you find is so regarded of God.
_Direct._ V. Consider well of the excellency of full obedience, and the
present benefits which it bringeth to yourselves and others.--Our full
subjection and obedience to God, is to the world and the soul as health
is to the body. When all the humours keep their due temperament,
proportions, and place, and every part of the body is placed and used
according to the intent of nature, then all is at ease within us: our
food is pleasant; our sleep is sweet; our labour is easy; and our
vivacity maketh life a pleasure to us: we are useful in our places, and
helpful to others that are sick and weak. So is it with the soul that is
fully obedient: God giveth him a reward, before the full reward: he
findeth that obedience is a reward to itself; and that it is very
pleasant to do good. God owneth him, and conscience speaketh peace and
comfort to him; his mercies are sweet to him; his burdens and his work
are easy; he hath easier access to God than others. Yea, the world shall
find, that there is no way to its right order, unity, peace, and
happiness, but by a full subjection and obedience to God.
_Direct._ VI. Remember the sad effects of disobedience, even at
present, both in the soul and in the world.--When we rebel against
God, it is the confusion, ruin, and death of the soul, and of the
world. When we disobey him, it is the sickness or disordering of the
soul, and will make us groan; till our bones be set in joint again, we
shall have no ease: God will be displeased, and hide his face;
conscience will be unquiet; the soul will lose its peace and joy; its
former mercies will grow less sweet; its former rest will turn to
weariness; its duty will be unpleasant; its burden heavy. Who would
not fear such a state as this?
_Direct._ VII. Consider, that when God doth not govern you, you are
ruled by the flesh, the world, and the devil.--And what right or
fitness they have to govern you, and what is their work, and final
reward, methinks you should easily discern. "If ye live after the
flesh, ye shall die," Rom. viii. 13. "And if ye sow to the flesh, of
the flesh ye shall reap corruption," Gal. vi. 8. It will strike you
with horror, if, in the hour of temptation, you would but think: I am
now going to disobey my God, and to obey the flesh, the world, or the
devil, and to prefer their will before his will.
_Direct._ VIII. Turn your eye upon the rebellious nations of the
earth, and upon the state of the most malignant and ungodly men; and
consider, that such madness and misery as you discern in them, every
wilful disobedience to God doth tend to, and partaketh of in its
degree.--To see a swinish drunkard in his vomit; to hear a raging
bedlam curse and swear; or a malignant wretch blaspheme and scorn at a
holy life: to hear how foolishly they talk against God, and see how
maliciously they hate his servants, one would think should turn one's
stomach against all sin for ever. To think what beasts or incarnate
devils many of the ungodly are; to think what confusion and inhumanity
possess most of those nations that know not God, one would think
should make the least degree of sin seem odious to us, when the
dominion and ripeness of it are so odious.
_Direct._ IX. Mark what obedience is expected by men, and what influence
government hath upon the state and affairs of the world, and what the
world would be without it.--And sure this will make you think honourably
and delightfully of the government of God. What would a nation be
without government, but like a company of thieves and lawless murderers?
or like the pikes in a pond, that first eat up the other fish, and then
devour one another, the greater living upon the less. Bears and wolves
would live more quietly together, than ungoverned men (except those few
that are truly subject to the government of God). Government maintaineth
every man in his propriety; and keepeth lust and madness from breaking
out; and keepeth peace and order in the world. What would a family be
without government? Children and servants are kept by it in their proper
place and work. Think then how necessary and excellent is the universal
government of God.
_Direct._ X. Think well of the endless rewards and punishments, by
which God will procure obedience to his laws, or vindicate the honour
of his government, on the disobedient.--That the world may see that he
giveth sufficient motives for all that he requireth, he will reward
the obedient with everlasting blessedness, and punish the rebels with
endless misery. You shall not say that he bids you work for nothing.
Though you can give him nothing but his own, and therefore can merit
nothing of him, in point of commutative justice; yet, as he is a
Governor and a Father, he will put so wide a difference between the
obedient and the rebellious, that one shall be judged to everlasting
joy, with a "Well done, good and faithful servant," and the other, to
"everlasting punishment," Matt. xxv. Is there not enough in heaven, in
a life of endless joys with God, to make obedience lovely to you, and
to make sin loathsome? Is there not enough in hell, to deter you from
disobedience, and drive you unto God? God will rule, whether you will
or not. Consent to be obedient, or he will punish you without asking
your consent.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: More special directions for obedience.]
The directions for the nearer exciting of your obedience, and
confirming your full subjection, are these:
_Direct._ I. Keep still the face of your souls upon God, and in the
sense of his greatness, and of his continual presence, and of his
particular providence.--And this will keep you in an obediential
frame. You will easily then perceive, that so great a God cannot be
disobeyed, without great iniquity and guilt. And, that a God that is
continually with you, must be continually regarded. And, that a God
that exactly observeth and mindeth the thoughts and words of every
man, should by every man be exactly minded and observed. This will
help you to understand the meaning of the tempter, when you perceive
that every temptation is an urging of you to offend, for nothing, so
great a God, that is just then observing what you do.
_Direct._ II. Always remember whither you are going; that you are
preparing for everlasting rest and joy, and must pass through the
righteous judgment of the Lord; and that Christ is your Guide and
Governor, but to bring you safely home, as the Captain of your
salvation; and that sin is a rejecting of his help, and of your
happiness.--Think not that God doth rule you as a tyrant, to your hurt
or ruin, to make his own advantage of you; or by needless laws, that
have no respect to your good and safety; but think of him, as one that
is conducting you to eternal life, and would now guide you by his
counsel, and afterwards take you to his glory. Think that he is
leading you to the world of light, and life, and love, and joy, where
there are rivers of pleasure, and fulness of delight for evermore,
that you may see his face, and feel his love, among a world of blessed
spirits; and not be weeping and gnashing the teeth, with impious,
impenitent souls. And is not such a government as this desirable? It
is but like the government of a physician, to save his patient's life.
Or like your government of your children, which is necessary to their
good, that cannot feed or rule themselves. Or like a pilot's governing
the ship, which is conveying you to possess a kingdom: if the
mariners obey him, they may safely arrive at the desired port; but if
they disobey him, they are all cast away and perish. And should such a
government as this is seem grievous to you? or should it not be most
acceptable, and accurately obeyed?
_Direct._ III. Still think, what dangers, difficulties, and enemies
you must pass through to this rest, and that all your safety dependeth
upon the conduct and assistance of your Guide.--And this will bring
over self-love to command your strict obedience. You are to pass
through the army of your enemies; and will you here disobey the
Captain of your salvation? or would you have him leave you to
yourselves? Your disease is mortal, and none but Jesus Christ can cure
it; and if he cure it not, you are lost for ever. No pain of gout or
stone is comparable to your everlasting pain; and yet will you not be
obedient to your Physician? Think, when a temptation comes, If there
were a narrow bridge over the deepest gulf or river, and all my
friends and happiness lay on the further side, and I must needs go
over whether I will or not; if Christ would take me by the hand and
lead me over, would I be tempted to refuse his help, or to lose his
hand? or if he should offer to lose me, and leave me to myself, should
I not tremble, and cry out, as Peter, "Lord, save me," Matt. xiv. 30,
or as the disciples, "Save, Master, we perish?" And should I not then
hold him fast, and most accurately obey him, when he is leading me to
life eternal, that I may escape the gulf of endless misery?
_Direct._ IV. Remember still, how bad, and blind, and backward, and
deceitful, and weak you are yourselves, and therefore what need you
have of the greatest watchfulness, lest you should disobey your Pilot,
and lose your Guide, before you are aware.--O what a heart have we to
watch! A lazy heart, that will be loitering or sitting down, when we
should be following our Lord. A foolish heart, that will let him go,
while we play with every play-fellow in our way. A cowardly heart,
that will steal away, or draw back in danger, when it should follow
our General. A treacherous heart, that will give us the slip, and
deceive us, when we seemed surest of it. A purblind heart, that even
when it followeth Christ, our Guide, is hardly kept from missing the
bridge, and falling into the gulf of misery. Think well of these, and
you will obey your Governor.
_Direct._ V. Forget not the fruits of your former obedience and
disobedience, if you would be kept in an obedient frame.--Remember
that obedience hath been sweetest afterward; and that you never yet
found cause to repent or be ashamed of it. Remember that the fruit of
sin was bitter, and that when your eyes were opened, and you saw your
shame, you would fain have fled from the face of God; and that then it
appeared another thing to you, than it seemed in the committing.
Remember what groans and heart's grief it hath cost you; and into what
fears it brought you of the wrath of God; and how long it was before
your broken bones were healed; and what it cost both Christ and you.
And this will make the very name and first approach of sin, to cast
you into a preventing fear. A beast that hath once fallen into a gulf
or quick-sand, will hardly be driven into the same again: a fish that
was once stricken and escaped the nook, will fear and fly from it the
next time: a bird that hath once escaped the snare, or the talons of
the hawk, is afterwards afraid of the sight or noise of such a thing.
Remember where you fell, and what it cost you, and what you escaped
which it might have cost you, and you will obey more accurately
hereafter.
_Direct._ VI. Remember that this is your day of trial, and what depends
upon your accurate obedience. God will not crown untried servants. Satan
is purposely suffered to tempt you, to try whether you will be true to
God or not. All the hope that his malice hath of undoing you for ever,
consisteth in his hope to make you disobedient to God. Methinks these
considerations should awaken you to the most watchful and diligent
obedience. If you were told beforehand, that a thief or cut-purse had
undertaken to rob you, and would use all his cunning and industry to do
it, you would then watch more carefully than at another time. If you
were in a race to run for your lives, you would not go then in your
ordinary pace. Doth God tell you before, that he will try your obedience
by temptation, and as you stand or fall, you shall speed for ever; and
will not this keep you watchful and obedient?
_Direct._ VII. Avoid those tempting and deluding objects, which are
still enticing your hearts from your obedience; and avoid that
diverting crowd and noise of company or worldly business, which drowns
the voice of God's commands.--If God call you into a life of great
temptations, he can bring you safely through them all; but if you rush
into it wilfully, you may soon find your own disability to resist. It
is dangerous to be under strong and importunate temptations, lest the
stream should bear us down; but especially to be long under them, lest
we be weary of resisting. They that are long solicited, do too often
yield at last: it is hard to be always in a clear, and ready, and
resolute frame: few men have their wits, much less their graces,
always at hand, in a readiness to use. And if the thief come when you
are dropped asleep, you may be robbed before you can awake. The
constant drawings of temptation, do ofttimes abate the habit of
obedience, and diminish our hatred of sin and holy resolutions, by
slow, insensible degrees, before we yield to commit the act. And the
mind that will be kept in full subjection, must not be so diverted in
a crowd of distracting company or business, as to have no time to
think on the motives of his obedience. This withdrawing of the fuel
may put out the fire.
_Direct._ VIII. If you are unavoidably cast upon strong temptation,
take the alarm; and put on all the armour of God, and call up your
souls to watchfulness and resolution, remembering that you are now
among your enemies, and must resist as for your lives.--Take every
temptation in its naked, proper sense, as coming from the devil, and
tending to your damnation by enticing your hearts from your subjection
unto God: suppose you saw the devil himself in his instruments
offering you the bait of preferment, or honour, or riches, or fleshly
lust, or sports, or of delightful meats, or drinks, to tempt you to
excess; and suppose you heard him say to you plainly, Take this for
thy salvation; sell me for this thy God, and thy soul, and thy
everlasting hopes; commit this sin, that thou mayst fall under the
judgment of God, and be tormented in hell with me for ever. Do this to
please thy flesh, that thou mayst displease thy God, and grieve thy
Saviour: I cannot draw thee to hell, but by drawing thee to sin; and I
cannot make thee sin against thy will; nor undo thee, but by thy own
consent and doing: therefore I pray thee consent and do it thyself,
and let me have thy company in torments. This is the naked meaning of
every temptation: suppose therefore you saw and heard all this, with
what detestation then would you reject it! with what horror would you
fly from the most enticing bait! If a robber would entice you out of
your way and company, with flattering words, that you might fall into
the hands of his companions, if you knew all his meaning and design
beforehand, would you be enticed after him? Watch therefore, and
resolve when you know beforehand the design of the devil, and what he
intendeth in every temptation.
_Direct._ IX. Be most suspicious, fearful, and watchful about that,
which your flesh doth most desire, or finds the greatest pleasure
in.--Not that you should deny your bodies all delight in the mercies
of God: if the body have none, the mind will have the less: mercy must
be differenced from punishment; and must be valued and relished as
mercy: mere natural pleasing of the senses is in itself no moral good
or evil. A holy improvement of lawful pleasure, is a daily duty:
inordinate pleasure is a sin: all is inordinate which tendeth more to
corrupt the soul, by enticing it to sin, and turning it from God, than
to fit and dispose it for God and his service, and preserve it from
sinning. But still remember, it is not sorrow but delight that draweth
away the soul from God, and is the flesh's interest which it sets up
against him. Many have sinned in sorrows and discontents; but none
ever sinned for sorrows and discontents: their discontents and sorrows
are not taken up and loved for themselves; but are the effects of
their love to some pleasure and content, which is denied them, or
taken from them. Therefore, though all your bodily pleasures are not
sin, yet, seeing nothing but the pleasures of the flesh and carnal
mind is the end of sinners, and the devil's great and chiefest bait,
and this only causeth men's perdition, you have great reason to be
most afraid of that which is most pleasing to your flesh, and to the
mind as it is corrupt and carnal: escape the delusions of fleshly
pleasure, and you escape damnation. You have far more cause to be
afraid of prosperity, than of adversity; of riches, than of poverty;
of honour, than of obscurity and contempt; of men's praises and
applause, than of their dispraises, slanders, and reproach; of
preferment and greatness, than of a low and mean condition; of a
delicious, than of less tempting meats and drinks; of curious, costly,
than of mean, and cheap, and plain attire. Let those that have hired
out their reason to the service of their fleshly lusts, and have
delivered the crown and sceptre to their appetites, think otherwise.
No wonder if they that have sold the birthright of their intellects to
their senses, for a mess of pottage, for a whore, or a high place, or
a domineering power over others, or a belly-full of pleasant meats or
liquors, do deride all this, and think it but a melancholy conceit,
more suitable to an eremite or anchorite, than to men of society and
business in the world. As heaven is the portion of serious believers
and mortified saints alone, so it shall be proper to them alone to
understand the doctrine and example of their Saviour, and practically
to know what it is to deny themselves, and forsake all they have, and
take up their cross and follow Christ, and by the Spirit to mortify
the deeds of the body, Luke xiv. 26-29, 33; Rom. viii. 5-7, 13; Col.
iii. 1-4. Such know that millions part with God for pleasures, but
none for griefs: and that hell will be stored with those that
preferred wealth, and honour, and sports, and gluttony, drink and
filthy lusts, before the holiness and happiness of believers; but none
will be damned for preferring poverty, and disgrace, and abstinence,
hunger and thirst, and chastity before them. It must be something that
seemeth good, that must entice men from the chiefest good: apparent
evil is no fit bait for the devil's hook. Men will not displease God,
to be themselves displeased; nor choose present sorrows instead of
everlasting joys; but for the pleasures of sin for a season many will
despise the endless pleasures.
_Direct._ X. Meet every motion to disobedience with an army of holy
graces; with wisdom, and fear, and hatred, and resolution, with love
to God, with zeal and courage; and quench every spark that falls upon
your hearts before it breaks out into a flame.--When sin is little and
in its infancy, it is weak and easily resisted; it hath not then
turned away the mind from God, nor quenched grace, and disabled it to
do its office. But when it is grown strong, then grace grows weak, and
we want its help, and want the sense of the presence, and attributes,
and truths of God, to rebuke it. O stay not till your hearts are gone
out of hearing, and straggled from God beyond the observance of his
calls. The habit of obedience will be dangerously abated, if you
resist not quickly the acts of sin.
_Direct._ XI. Labour for the clearest understanding of the will of
God, that doubtfulness about your duty do not make you flag in your
obedience, and doubtfulness about sin do not weaken your detestation
and resistance, and draw you to venture on it.--When a man is sure
what is his duty, it is a great help against all temptations that
would take him off: and when he is sure that a thing is sinful, it
makes it the easier to resist. And, therefore, it is the devil's
method to delude the understanding, and make men believe that duty is
no duty, and sin is no sin; and then no wonder if duty be neglected,
and sin committed: and therefore he raiseth up one false prophet or
other to say to Ahab, "Go, and prosper;" or to say, There is no hurt
in this; to dispute for sin, and to dispute against duty. And it is
almost incredible how much the devil hath got, when he hath once made
it a matter of controversy. Then every hypocrite hath a cloak for his
sin, and a dose of opium for his conscience, when he can but say, It
is a controversy; some are of one mind, and some of another, you are
of that opinion, and I am of this: especially if there be wise and
learned on both sides; and yet more, if there be religious men on both
sides; and more yet, if he have an equal number on his side; and most
of all, if he have the major vote (as error and sin have commonly in
the world). If Ahab have but four hundred lying, flattering prophets
to one Micaiah, he will think he may hate him, reproach him, and
persecute him without any scruple of conscience. If it be made a
controversy whether bread be bread, and wine be wine, when we see and
taste it; some will think they may venture to subscribe or swear that
they hold the negative, if their credit, or livings, or lives lie upon
it; much more if they can say, It is the judgment of the church. If it
be once made a controversy, whether perjury be a sin, or whether a vow
materially lawful bind, or whether it be lawful to equivocate, or lie
with a mental reservation for the truth, or to do the greatest evil,
or speak the falsest thing with a true and good intent and meaning,
almost all the hypocrites in the country will be for the sinful part,
if their fleshly interest require it; and will think themselves
wronged, if they are accounted hypocrites, liars, or perjured, as long
as it is but a point of controversy among learned men. If it be once
made a controversy, whether an excommunicate king become a private
man, and it be lawful to kill him, and whether the pope may absolve
the subjects of temporal lords from their allegiance, (notwithstanding
all their oaths,) and if such learned men as Suarez, Bellarmine,
Perron, &c. are for it, (to say nothing of Santarellus, Mariana, &c.)
you shall have a Clement, a Ravilliac, a Faux, yea, too great choice
of instruments, that will be satisfied to strike the blow. If many
hold it may or must be done, some will be found too ready to do it:
especially if an approved general council (Lateran. sub Innoc. III.
Can. 3.) be for such papal absolution. We have seen at home how many
will be imboldened to pull down government, to sit in judgment on
their king, and condemn him, and to destroy their brethren, if they
can but say, that such and such men think it lawful. If it were but a
controversy once whether drunkenness, whoredom, swearing, stealing, or
any villany be a sin or not, it would be committed more commonly, and
with much less regret of conscience. Yea, good men will be ready to
think that modesty requireth them to be less censorious of those that
commit it, because in controverted cases they must suspect their own
understandings, and allow something to the judgment of dissenters. And
so all the rules of love, and peace, and moderation, which are
requisite in controversies that are about small and difficult points,
the devil will make use of, and apply them all to the patronage of the
most odious sins, if he can but get them once to have some learned,
wise, religious offenders. And from our tenderness of the persons we
easily slide to an indulgent tenderness in censuring the sin itself:
and good men themselves, by these means, are dangerously disabled to
resist it, and prepared to commit it.
_Direct._ XII. Take heed lest the devil do either cast you into the
sleep of carnal security, or into such doubts, and fears, and
perplexing scruples, as shall make holy obedience seem to you an
impossible or a tiresome thing. When you are asleep in carelessness,
he can use you as he list; and if obedience be made grievous and
ungrateful to you, your heart will go against it, and you will go but
like a tired horse, no longer than you feel the spur: you are half
conquered already, because you have lost the love and pleasure of
obedience; and you are still in danger lest difficulties should quite
tire you, and weariness make you yield at last. The means by which the
tempter effecteth this, must afterward be spoken of, and therefore I
shall omit it here.
By the faithful practice of these directions obedience may become, as
it were, your nature, a familiar, easy, and delightful thing; and may
be like a cheerful servant or child, that waiteth for your commands,
and is glad to be employed by you. Your full subjection of your wills
to God, will be as the health, and ease, and quietness of your wills:
you will feel that it is never well or easy with you, but when you are
obedient and pleasing to your Creator's will. Your "delight will be in
the law of the Lord," Psal. i. 2. It will be sweeter than honey to
you, and better than thousands of gold and silver; and this not for
any by-respect, but as it is the "law of God;" a "light unto your
feet," and an infallible guide in all your duty. You will say with
David, Psal. cxix. 16, 24, 35, 47, 70, 77, 174, "I will delight myself
in thy statutes; I will not forget thy word. Thy testimonies are my
delight and my counsellors. Make me to go in the path of thy
commandments, for therein do I delight." And as Psal. xl. 8, "I
delight to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart."
And, O "blessed is the man that feareth the Lord; that delighteth
greatly in his commandments," Psal. cxii. 2.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Learning as disciples of Christ our Teacher.]
_Grand Direct._ VII. Continue as the covenanted scholars of Christ,
the Prophet and Teacher of his church, to learn of him by his Spirit,
word, and ministers, the farther knowledge of God, and the things that
tend to your salvation; and this with an honest, willing mind, in
faith, humility, and diligence; in obedience, patience, and peace.
Though I spake before of our coming to God by Jesus Christ, as he is
the way to the Father; it is meet that we distinctly speak of our
relation and duty to him, as he is our Teacher, our Captain, and our
Master, as well as of our improving him as Mediator immediately unto
God. The necessity of believers, and the office and work of Christ
himself, doth tell us how much of our religion doth consist in
learning of him as his disciples. Acts vii. 37, "A prophet shall the
Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me, him
shall you hear." This was the voice that came out of the cloud in the
holy mount, Matt. xvii. 5, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased, hear ye him." Therefore is the title of disciples commonly
given to believers. And there is a twofold teaching which Christ hath
sent his ministers to perform; both mentioned in their commission,
Matt. xxviii. 19, 20. The one is, to "teach the nations;" as to make
disciples of them, by persuading them into the school of Christ, which
containeth the teaching of faith and repentance, and whatever is
necessary to their first admission, and to their subjecting themselves
to Christ himself as their stated and infallible Guide. The other is
the teaching them further to know more of God, "and to observe all
things whatsoever he commandeth them." And this last is it we are now
to speak of, and I shall add some sub-directions for your help.
_Directions for Learning of Christ, as our Teacher._
[Sidenote: How to learn of Christ.]
_Direct._ I. Remember who it is that is your Teacher: that he is the
Son of God, that knoweth his Father's will, and is the most faithful,
infallible Pastor of the church.--There is neither ignorance, nor
negligence, nor ambition, nor deceit in him, to cause him to conceal
the mind of God. There is nothing which we need to know, which he is
not both able and willing to acquaint us with.
_Direct._ II. Remember what it is that he teacheth you, and to what
end.--That it is not how to sin and be damned, as the devil, the
world, and the flesh would teach you; nor how to satisfy your lusts,
or to know, or do, or attain the trifles of the world: but it is how
to be renewed to the image of God, and how to do his will and please
him, and how to be justified at his bar, and how to escape everlasting
fire, and how to attain everlasting joys: consider this well, and you
will gladly learn of such a Teacher.
_Direct._ III. Let the book which he himself hath indited by his
Spirit, be the rule and principal matter of your learning.--The holy
Scriptures are of divine inspiration: it is them that we must be
judged by, and them that we must be ruled by, and therefore them that
we must principally learn. Men's books and teachings are but the means
for our learning this infallible word.
_Direct._ IV. Remember that as it is Christ's work to teach, it is yours
to hear, and read, and study, and pray, and practise what you hear.--Do
your part, then, if you expect the benefit. You come not to the school
of Christ to be idle. Knowledge droppeth not into the sleepy dreamer's
mouth. Dig for it as for silver, and search for it in the Scriptures as
for a hidden treasure: meditate in them day and night. Leave it to
miserable fools, to contemn the wisdom of the Most High.
_Direct._ V. Fix your eye upon himself as your pattern, and study with
earnest desire to follow his holy example, and to be made conformable
to him.--Not to imitate him in the works which were proper to him as
God, or as Mediator; but in his holiness, which he hath proposed to
his disciples for their imitation. He knew how effectual a perfect
example would be, where a perfect doctrine alone would be less
regarded. Example bringeth doctrine nearer to our eye and heart; it
maketh it more observable, and telleth us with more powerful
application, Such you must be, and thus you must do. The eye maketh an
easier and deeper impression on the imagination and mind, than the ear
doth; therefore Christ's example should be much preached and studied.
It will be a very great help to us, to have still upon our minds the
image of the holy life of Christ; that we be affected, as if we always
saw him doing the holy actions which once he did. Paul calls the
Galatians "foolish," and "bewitched," that "obeyed not the truth, when
Christ had been set forth as crucified among them evidently before
their eyes," Gal. iii. 1. Papists think that images serve well for
this turn: but the records of Scripture, and the living images of
Christ whom they persecute and kill, are far more useful. How much
example is more operative than doctrine alone, you may perceive by the
enemies of Christ, who can bear his holy doctrine, when they cannot
bear his holy servants, that practise that doctrine before their eyes.
And that which most stirs up their enmity, hath the advantage for
exciting the believer's piety.
Let the image of Christ, in all his holy examples, be always lively
written upon your minds. 1. Let the great ones of the world remember,
that their Lord was not born of such as bore rule, or were in worldly
pomp and dignity, but of persons that lived but meanly in the world
(however they were of the royal line); how he was not born in a
palace, but a stable, and laid in a manger, without the attendance or
accommodations of the rich.
2. Remember how he subjected himself unto his reputed father, and his
mother, to teach all children subjection and obedience, Luke ii. 51.
3. And how he condescended to labour at a trade, and mean employment
in the world; to teach us that our bodies, as well as our minds, must
express their obedience, and have their ordinary employment; and to
teach men to labour and live in a calling; and to comfort poor
labourers, with assurance that God accepteth them in the meanest work,
and that Christ himself lived so before them, and chose their kind of
life, and not the life of princes and nobles, that live in pomp, and
ease, and pleasure.
4. Remember how he refused not to submit to all the ordinances of God,
and to fulfil all righteousness, and to be initiated into the solemn
administration of his office by the baptism of John, Matt. iii. 15-17,
which God approved, by sending down upon him the Holy Ghost: to teach
us all to expect his Spirit in the use of his ordinances.
5. Remember how he voluntarily began his work, with an encounter with
the tempter in the wilderness, upon his fasting; and suffered the
tempter to proceed, till he moved him to the most odious sin, even to
worship the devil himself: to teach us that God loveth tried servants,
and expecteth that we be not turned from him by temptations; especially
those that enter upon a public ministry, must be tried men, that have
overcome the tempter: and to comfort tempted christians, who may
remember, that their Saviour himself was most blasphemously tempted to
as odious sins as ever they were; and that to be greatly tempted,
without consenting or yielding to the sin, is so far from being a sin in
itself, that it is the greatest honour of our obedience; and that the
devil, who molesteth and haunteth us with his temptations, is a
conquered enemy, whom our Lord in person hath overcome.
6. Remember how earnestly and constantly he preached; not stories, or
jingles, or subtle controversies, but repentance, and faith, and
self-denial, and obedience. So great was his love to souls, that, when
he had auditors, he preached, not only in the temple and synagogues, but
on mountains, and in a ship, and any other convenient place; and no fury
of the rulers or Pharisees could silence him, till his hour was come,
having his Father's commission. And even to particular persons, he
vouchsafed, by conference, to open the mysteries of salvation, John iii.
and iv.; to teach us to love and attend to the plain and powerful
preaching of the gospel, and not to forbear any necessary means for the
honour of God, and the saving of souls, because of the enmity or
opposition of malicious men, but to "work while it is day, seeing the
night is coming when none can work," John ix. 4.
7. Remember how compassionate he was to men's bodies, as well as to
their souls; going up and down with unwearied diligence, doing good;
healing the blind, and lame, and deaf, and sick, and possessed: and
how all his miracles were done in charity, to do good; and none of
them to do hurt; so that he was but living, walking LOVE and MERCY. To
teach us to know God, in his love and mercy; and to abound in love and
mercy to our brethren; and to hate the spirit of hurtfulness,
persecution, and uncharitableness; and to lay out ourselves in doing,
good; and to exercise our compassion to the bodies of men, as well as
to their souls, according to our power.
8. Remember how his zeal and love endured the reproach, and resisted
the opposition of his friends, who went to lay hold on him as if he
had been beside himself, Mark iii. 20, 21: and how he bid Peter "Get
behind me, Satan; thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not
the things of God, but those of men," when in carnal love and wisdom
he rebuked him for resolving to lay down his life, saying, "Be it far
from thee, this shall not be unto thee," Matt. xvi. 22, 23. To teach
us to expect that carnal love and wisdom in our nearest friends, will
rise up against us in the work of God, to discourage us both from duty
and from sufferings; and that all are to be shaken off, and counted as
the instruments of Satan, that would tempt us to be unfaithful to our
trust and duty, and to favour ourselves by a sinful avoiding of the
sufferings which God doth call us to undergo.
9. Remember how through all his life he despised the riches of the
world, and chose a life of poverty, and was a companion of the
meanest, neither possessing nor seeking sumptuous houses, or great
attendance, or spacious lands, or a large estate. He lived in a
visible contempt of all the wealth, and splendour, and greatness of
the world: to teach us how little these little things are to be
esteemed; and that they are none of the treasure and portion of a
saint; and what a folly it is to be fond of such snares, and
diversions, and temptations which make the way to heaven to be to us
as a needle's eye.
10. Observe, how little he regardeth the honour and applause of men;
Phil. ii. 7-9, how "he made himself of no reputation, but took upon
him the form of a servant," refusing to be "made a king," or to have a
"kingdom of this world," John vi. 15. Though he told malignant
blasphemers how greatly they sinned in dishonouring him, yet did he
not seek the honour of the world: to teach us how little the thoughts
or words of ignorant men do contribute to our happiness, or are to be
accounted of; and to turn our eyes from the impertinent censures of
flesh and blood, to the judgment of our Almighty Sovereign, to whom it
is that we stand or fall.
11. Remember also how little he made provision for the flesh, and
never once tasted of any immoderate, sinful pleasure. How far was he
from a life of voluptuousness and sensuality! Though his avoiding the
formal fastings of the Pharisees, made them slander him as a
"gluttonous person," and "a wine-bibber," Matt. xi. 19, as the sober
christians were called _carnivori_, by those that thought it unlawful
to eat flesh; yet so far was he from the guilt of any such sin, that
never a desire of it was in his heart. You shall never find in the
gospel that Christ spent half the morning in dressing him, choosing
rather to shorten his time for prayer, than not to appear sufficiently
neatified, as our empty, worthless, painted gallants do: nor shall you
ever read that he wasted his time in idle visitations, or cards, or
dice, or in reading romances, or hearing stage-plays: it was another
kind of example that our Lord did leave for his disciples.
12. Mark also, how far Christ was from being guilty of any idle, or
lascivious, or foolish kind of talk; and how holy and profitable all
his speeches were: to teach us also to speak as the oracles of God,
such words as tend to edification, and to administer grace unto the
hearers, and to keep our tongues from all profane, lascivious, empty,
idle speeches.
13. Remember, that pride, and passion, are condemned by your pattern.
Christ bids you "Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and
you shall find rest unto your souls," Matt. xi. 28, 29. Therefore he
resolveth that "except" men "be converted and become as little
children, they shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven," Matt,
xviii. 3. Behold therefore the Lamb of God, and be ashamed of your
fierce and ravenous natures.
14. Remember that Christ your Lord and pattern did humble himself to
the meanest office of love, even to wash the feet of his disciples:
not to teach you to wash a few poor men's feet, as a ceremony once a
year, and persecute and murder the servants of Christ the rest of the
year, as the Roman Vice-Christ doth; but to teach us, that if he their
Lord and Master washed his disciples' feet, we also should stoop as
low in any office of love, for one another, John xiii. 14.
15. Remember also that Christ your pattern spent whole nights in
prayer to God;[97] so much was he for this holy attendance upon God:
to teach us to "pray always and not wax faint," Luke xviii. 1. And not
to be like the impious God-haters, that love not any near or serious
addresses unto God, nor those that use them, but make them the object
of their cruelty or scorn.
16. Remember also that Christ was against the Pharisees' outside,
hypocritical, ceremonious worship, consisting in lip-labour, affected
repetitions, and much babbling; their "Touch not, taste not, handle
not," and worshipping God in vain, according to their traditions,
"teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." He taught us a
serious, spiritual worship: not "to draw nigh to God with our mouth,
and honour him with our lips, while our hearts are far from him;" but
to "worship God who is a Spirit, in spirit and truth," Matt. xv. 6-9;
John iv. 23, 24; Matt. xxiii.
17. Christ was a sharp reprover of hypocritical, blind, ceremonious,
malicious Pharisees; and warneth his disciples to take heed of their
leaven. When they are offended with him, he saith, "Every plant which
my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up: let them
alone, they be blind leaders of the blind," &c. Matt. xv. 12-14. To
teach us to take heed of autonomous, supercilious, domineering, formal
hypocrites, and false teachers, and to difference between the
shepherds and the wolves.
18. Though Christ seems cautelously to avoid the owning of the Romans'
usurpation over the Jews, yet rather than offend them he payeth
tribute himself, Matt. xvii. 25-27, and biddeth them "render to Cæsar
the things that are Cæsar's, and to God the things that are God's,"
Matt. xxii. 21. The Pharisees bring their controversy to him
hypocritically, "Whether it be lawful to give tribute to Cæsar, or
not?" (For that Cæsar was a usurper over them, they took to be past
controversy.) And Christ would give them no answer that should insnare
himself, or encourage usurpation, or countenance their sedition:
teaching us much more to pay tribute cheerfully to our lawful
governors, and to avoid all sedition and offence.
19. Yet is he accused, condemned, and executed among malefactors, as
aspiring to be "King of the Jews," and the judge called, "none of
Cæsar's friend," if he let him go: teaching us to expect that the most
innocent christians should be accused, as enemies to the rulers of the
world, and mistaken governors be provoked and engaged against them, by
the malicious calumnies of their adversaries; and that we should, in
this unrighteous world, be condemned of those crimes of which we are
most innocent, and which we most abhor, and have borne the fullest
testimonies against.
20. The furious rout of the enraged people deride him by their words
and deeds, with a purple robe, a sceptre of reed, a crown of thorns,
and the scornful name of "King of the Jews;" they spit in his face,
and buffet him, and then break jests upon him; and in all this "being
reviled he reviled not again, but committed all to him that judgeth
righteously," 1 Pet. ii. 21-23. Teaching us to expect the rage of the
ignorant rabble, as well as of deluded governors; and to be made the
scorn of the worst of men; and all this without impatience, reviling,
or threatening words; but quieting ourselves in the sure expectation
of the righteous judgment, which we and they must shortly find.
21. When Christ is urged at Pilate's bar to speak for himself, he
holds his peace: teaching us to expect to be questioned at the
judgment-seat of man; and not to be over-careful for the vindicating
of our names from their most odious calumnies, because the judgment
that will fully justify us is sure and near.
22. When Christ is in his agony, his disciples fail him; when he is
judged and crucified, they "forsook him and fled," Matt. xxvi. 56: to
teach us not to be too confident in the best of men, nor to expect
much from them in a time of trial, but to take up our comfort in God
alone, when all our nearest friends shall fail us.
23. Upon the cross he suffereth the torments and ignominy of death for
us, praying for his murderers: "leaving us an example that we should
follow his steps," 1 Pet. ii. 21; and that we think not life itself
too dear to part with, in obedience to God, and for the love of Christ
and one another, 1 John iii. 16; and that we forgive and pray for them
that persecute us.
24. In all this suffering from men, he feels also so much of the fruit
of our sin upon his soul, that he crieth out, "My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me?" to teach us, if we fall into such calamity of
soul, as to think that God himself forsaketh us, to remember for our
support, that the Son of God himself before us, cried out, "My God,
why hast thou forsaken me?" and that in this also we may expect a
trial, to seem of ourselves forsaken of God, when our Saviour
underwent the like before us.
I will instance in no more of his example, because I would not be
tedious. Hither now let believers cast their eyes: if you love your
Lord, you should love to imitate him, and be glad to find yourselves in
the way that he hath gone before you. If he lived a worldly or a sensual
life, do you do so: if he was an enemy to preaching, and praying, and
holy living, be you so: but if he lived in the greatest contempt of all
the wealth, and honours, and pleasures of the world, in a life of holy
obedience to his Father, wholly preferring the kingdom of heaven, and
seeking the salvation of the souls of others, and patiently bearing
persecution, derision, calumnies, and death, then take up your cross,
and follow him in joyfully to the expected crown.
_Direct._ VI. If you will learn of Christ, you must learn of his
ministers, whom he hath appointed under him to be the teachers of his
church.--He purposely enableth them, inclineth them, and sendeth them to
instruct you: not to have dominion over your faith, but to be your
spiritual fathers, and "the ministers by whom you believe, as God shall
give" (ability and success) "to every one" as he pleases; "to plant and
water," while "God giveth the increase; to open men's eyes, and turn
them from darkness to light;" and to be "labourers together with God,
whose husbandry and building you are;" and to be "helpers of your joy."
See 2 Cor. ii. 4; Acts xxvi. 17, 18; 1 Cor. iii. 5-9; iv. 15. Seeing
therefore Christ hath appointed them, under him, to be the ordinary
teachers of his church, he that "heareth them," (speaking his message,)
"heareth him," and he "that despiseth them, despiseth him," Luke x. 16.
And he that saith, I will hear Christ, but not you, doth say in effect
to Christ himself, I will not hear thee, nor learn of thee, unless thou
wilt dismiss thy ushers, and teach me immediately thyself.
_Direct._ VII. Hearken also to the secret teachings of his Spirit, and
your consciences, not as making you any new law or duty, or being to
you instead of Scriptures or ministers; but as bringing that truth
into your hearts and practices, which Scriptures and ministers have
first brought to your eyes and ears.--If you understand not this, how
the office of Scripture and ministers differ from the office of the
Spirit and your consciences, you will be confounded, as the sectaries
of these times have been, that separate what God hath joined together,
and plead against Scripture or ministers under pretence of extolling
the Spirit, or the light within them. As your meat must be taken into
the stomach, and pass the first concoction, before the second can be
performed, and chylification must be before sanguification; so the
Scripture and ministers must bring truth to your eyes and ears, before
the Spirit or conscience bring them to your hearts and practice. But
they lie dead and uneffectual in your brain or imagination, if you
hearken not to the secret teachings of the Spirit and conscience,
which would bring them further. As Christ is the principal Teacher
without, and ministers are but under him; so the Spirit is the
principal teacher within us, and conscience is but under the Spirit,
being excited and informed by it. Those that learn only of Scriptures
and ministers, (by hearing or reading,) may become men of learning and
great ability, though they hearken not to the sanctifying teachings of
the Spirit, or to their consciences. But it is only those that hearken
first to the Scriptures and ministers, and next to the Spirit of God,
and to their consciences, that have an inward, sanctifying, saving
knowledge, and are they that are said to be taught of God. Therefore,
hearken first with your ears, what Christ hath to say to you from
without; and then hearken daily and diligently with your hearts, what
the Spirit and conscience say within. For it is their office to
preach over all that again to your hearts, which you have received.
_Direct._ VIII. It being the office of the present ordinary ministry,
only to expound and apply the doctrine of Christ already recorded in
the Scriptures, believe not any man that contradicteth this recorded
doctrine, what reason, authority, or revelation soever he pretend.
Isa. viii. 20, "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not
according to these, it is because there is no light in them." No
reason can be reason indeed that is pretended against the reason of
the Creator and God of reason. Authority pretended against the highest
authority of God, is no authority: God never gave authority to any
against himself; nor to deceive men's souls; nor to dispense with the
law of Christ; nor to warrant men to sin against him; nor to make any
supplements to his law or doctrine. The apostles had their "power only
to edification, but not to destruction," 1 Cor. x. 8; 2 Cor. xiii. 10.
There is no revelation from God that is contrary to his own
revelation, already delivered as his perfect law and rule unto the
church; and therefore none supplemental to it. If an "apostle or an
angel from heaven (_per possibile vel impossibile_) shall evangelize
to us besides what is evangelized," and we "have received," he must be
held "accursed," Gal. i. 6-8.
_Direct._ IX. Come not to learn of Christ with self-conceitedness,
pride, or confidence in your prejudice and errors; but as little
children, with humble, teachable, tractable minds. Christ is no
teacher for those that in their own eyes are wise enough already:
unless it be first to teach them to "become fools" (in their own
esteem, because they are so indeed) "that they may be wise," 1 Cor.
iii. 18. They that are prepossessed with false opinions, and resolve
that they will never be persuaded of the contrary, are unmeet to be
scholars in the school of Christ. "He resisteth the proud, but giveth
more grace unto the humble," 1 Pet. v. 5. Men that have a high conceit
of their own understandings, and think they can easily know truth from
falsehood, as soon as they hear it, and come not to learn, but to
censure what they hear or read, as being able presently to judge of
all, these are fitter for the school of the prince of pride, and
father of lies and error, than for the school of Christ. Except
conversion make men as little children, that come not to carp and
cavil, but to learn, they are not "meet for the kingdom of Christ,"
Matt. xviii. 3; John iii. 3, 5. Know how blind and ignorant you are,
and how dull of learning, and humbly beg of the heavenly Teacher, that
he will accept you, and illuminate you: and give up your
understandings absolutely to be informed by him, and your hearts to be
the tables in which his Spirit shall write his law; believing his
doctrine upon the bare account of his infallible veracity, and
resolving to obey it; and this is to be the disciples of Christ
indeed, and such as shall be taught of God.
_Direct._ X. Come to the school of Christ with honest, willing hearts,
that love the truth, and fain would know it, that they may obey it;
and not with false and biassed hearts, which secretly hinder the
understanding from entertaining the truth, because they love it not,
as being contrary to their carnal inclinations and interest. The word
that was received into honest hearts, was it that was as the seed that
brought forth plentifully, Matt. xiii. 23. When the heart saith
unfeignedly, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth; teach me to know
and do thy will;" God will not leave such a learner in the dark. Most
of the damnable ignorance and error of the world, is from a wicked
heart, that perceiveth that the truth of God is against their fleshly
interest and lusts, and therefore is unwilling to obey it, and
unwilling to believe it, lest it torment them, because they disobey
it. A will that is secretly poisoned with the love of the world, or of
any sinful lusts and pleasures, is the most potent impediment to the
believing of the truth.
_Direct._ XI. Learn with quietness and peace in the school of Christ,
and make not divisions, and meddle not with others' lessons and
matters, but with your own. Silence, and quietness, and minding your
own business, is the way to profit. The turbulent wranglers that are
quarrelling with others, and are religious contentiously, in envy and
strife, are liker to be corrected or ejected, than to be edified. Read
James iii.
_Direct._ XII. Remember that the school of Christ hath a rod; and
therefore learn with fear and reverence, Heb. xii. 28, 29; Phil. ii.
12. Christ will sharply rebuke his own, if they grow negligent and
offend: and if he should cast thee out and forsake thee, thou art
undone for ever. "See," therefore, "that ye refuse not him that
speaketh: for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth,
much more shall not we, if we refuse him that is from heaven," Heb.
xii. 25. "For how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation;
which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us
by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with
signs, and wonders, and divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost,
according to his own will?" Heb. ii. 3, 4. "Serve the Lord therefore
with fear, and rejoice with trembling: kiss the Son, lest he be angry,
and you perish in the kindling of his wrath," Psal. ii. 11, 12.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: To obey Christ as Physician in his healing work, and his
spirit in its cleansing, mortifying work.]
_Grand Direct._ VIII. Remember that you are related to Christ as the
Physician of your souls, and to the Holy Ghost as your Sanctifier.
Make it therefore your serious study, to be cured by Christ, and
cleansed by his Spirit, of all the sinful diseases and defilements of
your hearts and lives.
Though I did before speak of our believing in the Holy Ghost, and
using his help for our access to God, and converse with him; yet I
deferred to speak fully of the cleansing and mortifying part of his
work of sanctification till now; and shall treat of it here, as it is
the same with the curing work of Christ, related to us as the
Physician of our souls: it being part of our subjection and obedience
to him, to be ruled by him, in order to our cure. And what I shall
here write against sin, in general, will be of a twofold use. The one
is, to help us against the inward corruptions of our hearts, and for
the outward obedience of our lives, and so to further the work of
sanctification, and prevent our sinning. The other is, to help us to
repentance and humiliation, habitual and actual, for the sins which
are in us, and which we have already at any time committed.
The general directions for this curing and cleansing of the soul from
sin, are contained, for the most part, in what is said already: and
many of the particular directions also may be fetched from the sixth
direction before-going. I shall now add but two general directions,
and many more particular ones.
_Direct._ I. The two general directions are these: 1. Know what
corruptions the soul of man is naturally defiled with: and this
containeth the knowledge of those faculties, that are the seat of
these corruptions, and the knowledge of the corruptions that have
tainted and perverted the several faculties.
_Direct._ II. 2. Know what sin is, in its nature or intrinsic evil, as
well as in the effects.
[Sidenote: How the several faculties of the soul are corrupted and
diseased.]
[Sidenote: In what cases sound understanding may be ignorant.]
1. The parts or faculties to be cleansed and cured, are both the
superior and inferior. (1.) The understanding, though not the first in
the sin, must be first in the cure: for all that is done upon the
lower faculties, must be by the governing power of the will: and all
that is done upon the will, according to the order of human nature,
must be done by the understanding. But the understanding hath its own
diseases, which must be known and cured. Its malady in general is
ignorance; which is not only a privation of actual knowledge, but an
undisposedness also of the understanding to know the truth. A man may
be deprived of some actual knowledge, that hath no disease in his mind
that causeth it: as in a case that either the object be absent, and
out of reach, or that there may be no sufficient revelation of it, or
that the mind be taken up wholly upon some other thing, or in case a
man shut out the thoughts of such an object, or refuse the evidence,
which is the act of the will, even as a man that is not blind, may yet
not see a particular object, 1. In case it be out of his natural
reach; 2. Or if it be night, and he want extrinsic light; 3. Or in
case he be wholly taken up with the observation of other things; 4. Or
in case he wilfully either shut or turn away his eyes.
[Sidenote: How the understanding can be the subject of sin?]
It is a very hard question to resolve, how far and wherein the
diseases of the understanding may be called sin? Because the
understanding is not a free, but a necessitated faculty; and there can
be no sin, where there is no liberty. But to clear this, it must be
considered, 1. That it is not this or that faculty that is the full
and proper subject of sin, but the man: the fulness of sin being made
up of the vice of both faculties, understanding and will, conjunct. It
is properer to say, The man sinned, than, The intellect or will
sinned, speaking exclusively as to the other. 2. _Liberium arbitrium_,
free choice, is belonging to the man, and not to his will only, though
principally to the will. 3. Though the will only be free in itself,
originally, yet the intellect is free by participation, so far as it
is commanded by the will, or dependeth on it for the exercise of its
acts. 4. Accordingly, though the understanding, primitively and of
itself, be not the subject of morality, of moral virtues or of moral
vices, which are immediately and primarily in the will; yet
participatively its virtues and vices are moralized, and become graces
or sins, laudable and rewardable, or vituperable and punishable, as
they are imperate by the will, or depend upon it.
Consider then, the acts, and habits, and disposition of the
understanding; and you will find, That some acts, and the privation of
them, are necessary, naturally, originally, and unalterably; and these
are not virtues or sinful at all, as having no morality. As, to know
unwillingly, as the devils do, and to believe when it cannot be
resisted, though they would; this is no moral virtue at all, but a
natural perfection only. So, 1. To be ignorant of that which is no
object of knowledge, or which is naturally beyond our knowledge, as of
the essence of God, is no sin at all. 2. Nor, to be ignorant of that
which was never revealed, when no fault of ours hindered the revelation,
is no sin. 3. Nor, to be without the present, actual knowledge or
consideration of one point, at that moment when our thoughts are
lawfully diverted, as in greater business, or suspended, as in sleep. 4.
But to be ignorant, wilfully, is a sin, participatively in the
intellect, and originally in the will. 5. And to be ignorant for want of
revelation, when ourselves are the hinderers of that revelation, or the
meritorious cause that we want it, is our sin: because, though that
ignorance be immediately necessary, and hypothetically, yet originally
and remotely it is free and voluntary.
So, as to the habits and disposition of the intellect; it is no sin to
want those, which man's understanding in its entire and primitive
nature was without. As, not to be able to know without an object, or
to know an unrevealed or too distant object, or actually to know all
things knowable, at once. But there are defects or ill dispositions,
that are sinfully contracted; and though these are now immediately
natural[98] and necessary, yet being originally and remotely voluntary
or free, they are participatively sinful. Such is the natural man's
disability or undisposedness to know the things of the Spirit, when
the word revealeth them. This lieth not in the want of a natural
faculty to know them, but, 1. Radically in the will. 2. And thence in
contrary, false apprehensions which the intellect is prepossessed
with, which resisting the truth, may be called, its blindness or
impotency to know them. And 3. In a strangeness of the mind to those
spiritual things which it is utterly unacquainted with.
Note here, 1. That the will may be guilty of the understanding's
ignorance, two ways: either, by positive averseness prohibiting or
diverting it from beholding the evidence of truth; or, by a privation
and forbearance of that command or excitation which is necessary to
the exercise of the acts of the understanding. This last is the
commonest way of the sin in the understanding; and that may be truly
called voluntary which is from the will's neglect of its office, or
suspension of its act, though there be no actual volition or nolition.
2. That the will may do more in causing a disease in the
understanding, than it can do in curing it. I can put out a man's
eyes, but I cannot restore them.
3. That yet for all that, God hath so ordered it in his gracious
dispensation of the grace of the Redeemer, that certain means are
appointed by him, for man to use, in order to the obtaining of his
grace, for his own recovery: and so, though grace cure not the
understanding of its primitive, natural weakness, yet it cureth it of
its contracted weakness, which was voluntary in its original, but
necessary, being contracted. And, as the will had a hand in the
causing of it, so must it have, in the voluntary use of the aforesaid
means, in the cure of it. So much to show you how the understanding is
guilty of sin.
[Sidenote: The operations and maladies of the intellect.]
Though no actual knowledge be so immediate as to be without the
mediation of the sense and fantasy, yet supposing these, knowledge is
distinguished into immediate and mediate. The immediate is when the
being, quality, &c. of a thing, or the truth of a proposition, is
known immediately in itself by its proper evidence. Mediate knowledge
is when the being of a thing, or the truth of a proposition, is known
by the means of some other intervenient thing or proposition, whose
evidence affordeth us a light to discern it.
The understanding is much more satisfied when it can see things and
truths immediately in their proper evidence. But when it cannot, it is
glad of any means to help it.
The further we go in the series of means, (knowing one thing by
another, and that by another, and so on,) the more unsatisfied the
understanding is, as apprehending a possibility of mistake, and a
difficulty in escaping mistake in the use of so many _media_.
When the evidence of one thing in its proper nature showeth us
another, this is to know by mere discourse or argument.
When the medium of our knowing one thing is the credibility of another
man's report that knoweth it, this is (though a discourse or argument
too, yet) in special, called, belief; which is strong or weak, certain
or uncertain, as the evidence of the reporter's credibility is certain
or uncertain, and our apprehension of it strong or weak.
In both cases, the understanding's fault is either an utter privation
of the act, or disposition to it; or else a privation of the rectitude
of the act. When it should know by the proper evidence of the thing,
the privation of its act is called ignorance or nescience, and the
privation of its rectitude is called error (which differ as not
seeing, and seeing falsely.) When it should know by testimony, the
privation of its act is simple unbelief, or not believing, and the
privation of its rectitude is either disbelief, when they think the
reporter erreth, or misbelief, when it believeth a testimony that is
not to be believed.
So that you see by what is said, that the diseases of the mind to be
cured, are, 1. Mere ignorance. 2. Error; thinking truth to be falsehood,
and falsehood truth. 3. Unbelief. 4. Disbelief. And 5. Misbelief.
[Sidenote: Rom. viii. 5-7.]
But as the goodness is of chief regard in the object, so the
discerning of the truth about good and evil, is the chiefest office of
the understanding. And therefore its disesteem of God, and glory, and
grace, and its misesteem of the fleshly pleasure, and worldly
prosperity, wealth, and honour, is the principal malady of the mind.
(2.) The diseases of the will, are in its inclination, and its acts.
1. An inordinate inclination to the pleasing of the fleshly appetite
and fantasy, and to all carnal baits and temporal things, that tend to
please it, and inordinate acts of desire accordingly. 2. An irrational
backwardness to God, and grace, and spiritual good, and a refusal or
nolition in act accordingly. These are in the will, 1. Because it is
become much subject to the sensitive appetite, and hath debased
itself, and contracted, by its sinful acts, a sensual inclination, the
flesh having the dominion in a corrupted soul. 2. Because the
intellect being also corrupted, ofttimes misleadeth it, by overvaluing
transient things. 3. Because the will is become destitute (in its
corrupted state) of the power of divine love, or an inclination to God
and holy things, which should countermand the seduction of carnal
objects. 4. And the understanding is much destitute of the light that
should lead them higher. 5. Because the rage of the corrupted appetite
is still seducing it. Mark therefore, for the right understanding of
this, our greatest malady:
1. That the will never desireth evil, as evil, but as a carnal or a
seeming good. 2. Nor doth it hate good as good, but as a seeming evil,
because God and grace do seem to be his enemies, and to hurt him, by
hindering him of the good of carnal pleasure which he now preferreth.
3. Nay, at the same time that he loveth evil as it pleaseth the flesh,
he hath naturally, as a man, some averseness to it, so far as he
apprehendeth it to be evil: and when he hateth God and holiness as
evil, for hindering him of his carnal pleasure, he naturally loveth
them, so far as he apprehendeth them to be good. So that there is some
love to God and good, and some hatred to evil, in the ungodly; for
while man is man, he will have naturally an inclination to good as
good, and against evil as evil. 4. But the apprehension of sensitive
good is the strongest in him, and the apprehension of spiritual good
is weakest; and therefore the will receiving a greater impress from
the carnal appetite and mind, than from the weak apprehensions of
spiritual good, is more inclined to that which indeed is worst; and so
things carnal have got the dominion, or chief commanding interest, in
the soul. 5. Note also, that sin receiveth its formality, or moral
evil, first in the will, and not in the intellect or sensitive
appetite: for it is not sin till it be positively or privately,
immediately or mediately, voluntary. But the first motions to sin are
not in the will, but in the sensitive appetite; though there, at
first, it be not formally sin. 6. Note, that neither intellect,
object, appetite, or sense, necessitate naturally the will to sin, but
it remaineth the first in the sin and guilt.
It is a matter of great difficulty to understand how sin first entered
into the innocent soul; and it is of great importance, because an error
here is of dangerous consequence. Two sorts seem to me to make God so
much the necessitating cause of Adam's first sin, (and so of all sin,)
as that it was as naturally impossible for Adam to have forborne it,
according to their doctrine, as to have conquered God: 1. Those that
assert the Dominican, immediate, physical, pre-determining pre-motion
(which no created power can resist). 2. And those that say the will acts
as necessitated by the intellect in all its acts (and so is necessitated
in all its omissions); and that the intellect is necessitated by objects
(as, no doubt it is, unless as its acts are _sub imperio voluntatis_);
and all those objects are caused and disposed of by God. But it is
certain that God is not the cause of sin; and therefore this certainty
overruleth the case against these tenets.
At present it seemeth to me, that sin entered in this method: 1. Sense
perceiveth the forbidden thing. 2. The appetite desireth it. 3. The
imagination thinketh on its desirableness yet further. 4. The
intellect conceiveth of it (truly) as good, by a simple apprehension.
5. The will accordingly willeth it by a simple complacency or
volition. Thus far there was no sin. But, 6. The will here adhered to
it too much, and took in it an excess of complacency, when it had
power to do otherwise: and here sin begun. 7. And so when the
cogitations should have been called off; 8. And the intellect should
have minded God, and his command, and proceeded from a simple
apprehension to the comparing act, and said, The favour of God is
better, and his will should rule, it omitted all these acts, because
the will omitted to command them; yea, and hindered them. 9. And so
the intellect was next guilty of a _non-renuo_,--I will not forbid or
hinder it (and the will accordingly). 10. And next of a positive
deception, and the will of consent unto the sin, and so it being
"finished, brought forth death."
If you say, the will's first sinful adhesion in the sixth instance,
could not be, unless the intellect first directed it so to do; I deny
that, because the will is the first principle in men's actions _quoad
exercitium_, though the intellect be the first as to specification. And
therefore the will could suspend its exercise and its excitation of the
mind. In all this I go upon common principles: but I leave it to further
inquiry; 1. How far the sensitive appetite may move the locomotive
faculty without the will's command, while the will doth not forbid? And
whether reason be not given man, as the rider to the horse, not to
enable him to move, but to rule his motion: so that as the horse can go
if the rider hinder not, so the sensitive appetite can cause the actions
of eating, drinking, thinking, speaking sensually, if reason do but drop
asleep, or not hinder. 2. And so whether in the first sin (and
ordinarily) the sensitive appetite, fantasy, and passion be not the
active mover, and the rational powers first guilty only by omitting
their restraining government, which they were able to have exercised? 3.
And so, whether sin be not (ordinarily) a brutish motion, or a voluntary
unmanning of ourselves, the rational powers in the beginning being
guilty only of omission or privation of restraint; but afterwards
brought over to subserve the sensitive appetite actively? 4. And so,
whether the will, which is the _principium actus quoad exercitium_, were
not the first in the omission? The intellect having before said, This
must be further considered, the will commanded not that further
consideration, when it could and should?
However, if it be too hard for us to trace our own souls in all their
motions, it is certain that the will of man is the first subject of
moral good and evil; and uncertainties must not make us deny that
which is certain.
The reader who understandeth the importance and consequence of these
points, I am sure, will pardon me for this interposition of these
difficult controverted points (which I purposely avoid where I judge
them not very needful in order to the defence or clearing of the
plainer common truths): and as for others, I must bear their censure.
The degree of sinfulness in the will lieth in a stiffness and
obstinacy, a tenaciousness of deceitful temporal good, and an
eagerness after it; and stubborn averseness to spiritual good, as it
is against that temporal fleshly good. This is the will's disease.[99]
(3.) The sinfulness of the memory is in its retentiveness of evil, or
things hurtful and prohibited; and its looseness and neglect of
better, spiritual, necessary things. If this were only as things
present have the natural advantage to make a deeper impress upon the
fantasy, and things unseen and absent have the disadvantage, it were
then but a natural, innocent infirmity; or if in sickness, age, or
weakness, all kind of memory equally decay. But it is plain, that if
the Bible be open before our eyes, and preaching be in our ears, and
things unseen have the advantage of their infinite greatness, and
excellency, and concernment to us, yet our memories are like walls of
stone to any thing that is spiritual, and like walls of wax, on which
you may write any thing, of that which is secular or evil. Note here,
also, that the faultiness of the memory is only so far sinful as it is
voluntary: it is the will where the sin is as in its throne, or
chiefest subject. Because men love carnal things, and love not
spiritual things, therefore it is that they mind, and understand, and
remember the one, and not the other. So that it is but as imperate,
and participatively, that the memory is capable of sin.
(4.) The sinfulness of the imagination consisteth in its readiness to
think of evil, and of common earthly things, and its unaptness to think
of any thing that is holy and good; and when we do force ourselves to
holy thoughts, they are disorderly, confused, unskilfully managed, with
great averseness.--Here also voluntariness is the life of the sin.
(5.) The sin of the affections, or passions, consisteth in this:--That
they are too easily and violently moved by the sensitive interest and
appetite; and are habitually prone to such carnal, inordinate motions,
running before the understanding and will, (some of them,) and
soliciting and urging them to evil; and resisting and disobeying the
commands of reason and the will: but dull and backward to things
spiritually good, and to execute the right dictates of the mind and
will.
(6.) The sin of the sensitive appetite consisteth in the inordinate rage
or immoderateness to its object, which causeth it to disobey the
commands of reason, and to become the great inciter of rebellion in the
soul; violently urging the mind and will to consent to its desires.
Materially this dependeth much on the temper of the body; but formally
this also is so far sinful as (positively or privately, mediately or
immediately) it is voluntary. To have an appetite simply to the object
of appetite is no sin; but to have a diseased, inordinate, unruly
appetite, is a sin, not primarily in itself considered, but as it is
voluntary, as it is the appetite of a rational free agent, that hath
thus disordered the frame of its own nature.
(7.) The sin of the exterior parts, tongue, hand, eyes, feet, &c. is
only in act, and not in habit, or at least, the habits are weak and
subject to the will. And it is in the execution of the sinful desires of
the flesh, and commands of the will, that the same consisteth. These
parts also are not the primary subject of the guilt, but the will, that
either positively puts them upon evil, or doth not restrain them when it
ought; and so they are guilty but participatively and secondarily, as
the other imperate faculties are: it is not good or evil merely as it is
the act of tongue or hand, but as it is the act of the tongue, or hand
of a rational free agent (agreeable or disagreeable to the law). If a
madman should speak blasphemy, or should kill, or steal, it were no
further sin, than as he had voluntarily contracted the ill disposition
which caused it while he had the use of reason. If a man's hand were
held and forced by another to do mischief utterly against his will, it
is the sin of the chief agent, and not of the involuntary instrument.
But no force totally excuseth us from guilt, which leaveth the act to
our rational choice. He that saith, Take this oath, or I will kill thee,
or torment thee, doth use force as a temptation which may be resisted,
but doth not constrain a man to swear: for he leaveth it to his choice
whether he will swear, or die, or be tormented; and he may and ought to
choose death rather than the smallest sin. The will may be tempted, but
not constrained.
_Direct._ II. 2. Labour clearly to understand the evil of sin, both
intrinsical in itself, and in its aggravations and effects.--When you
have found out where it is, and wherein it doth consist, find out the
malignity and odiousness of it. I have heard some christians complain,
that they read much to show them the evil of sin in its effects, but
meet with few that show them its evil in itself sufficiently. But, if
you see not the evil of sin in itself, as well as in the effects, it
will but tempt you to think God unjust in over-punishing it; and it
will keep you from the principal part of true repentance and
mortification; which lieth in hating sin, as sin. I shall therefore
show you, wherein the intrinsical malignity of sin consisteth.
1. Sin is (formally) the violation of the perfect, holy, righteous law
of God.
2. It is a denial or contempt of the authority, or governing power, of
God: as if we said, Thou shalt not be our Governor in this.
3. It is a usurping the sovereign power to ourselves of governing
ourselves, in that act: for when we refuse God's government, we set up
ourselves in his stead; and so make gods of ourselves as to ourselves,
as if we were self-sufficient, independent, and had right hereto.
4. It is a denying or contempt of the wisdom of God, as if he had
unwisely made us a law which is unmeet to rule us.
5. It is a setting up of our folly in the place of God's wisdom, and
preferring it before him; as if we were wiser to know how to govern
ourselves, and to know what is fittest and best for us now to do, than
God is.
6. It is a contempt of the goodness of God, as he is the maker of the
law: as if he had not done that which is best, but that which may be
corrected or contradicted, and there were some evil in it to be
avoided.[100]
7. It is a preferring our naughtiness before his goodness, as if we
would do it better, or choose better what to do.
8. It is a contempt or denial of the holiness and purity of God, which
sets him against sin, as light is against darkness.
9. It is a violation of God's propriety or dominion, robbing him of
the use and service of that which is absolutely and totally his own.
10. It is a claiming of propriety in ourselves, as if we were our own,
and might do with ourselves as we list.
11. It is a contempt of the gracious promises of God, by which he
allured and bound us to obedience.
12. It is a contempt of the dreadful threatenings of God, by which he
would have restrained us from evil.
13. It is a contempt or denial of the dreadful day of judgment, in
which an account must be given of that sin.
14. It is a denying of God's veracity, and giving him the lie: as if he
were not to be believed in all his predictions, promises, and threats.
15. It is a contempt of all the present mercies, (which are innumerable
and great,) by which God obligeth and encourageth us to obey.
16. It is a contempt of our own afflictions, and his chastisements of
us, by which he would drive us from our sins.
17. It is a contempt of all the examples of his mercies on the
obedient, and his terrible judgments on the disobedient, (men and
devils,) by which he warned us not to sin.
18. It is a contempt of the person, office, sufferings, and grace of
Jesus Christ, who came to save us from our sins, and to destroy the
works of the devil; being contrary to his bloodshed, authority, and
healing work.
19. It is a contradicting, fighting against, and in that act
prevailing against the sanctifying office and work of the Holy Ghost,
that moveth us against sin, and to obedience.
20. It is a contempt of holiness, and a defacing, in that measure, the
image of God upon the soul, or a rejecting it: a vilifying of all
those graces which are contrary to the sin.
21. It is a pleasing of the devil, the enemy of God and us, and an
obeying him before God.
22. It is the fault of a rational creature, that had reason given him
to do better.
23. It is all willingly done and chosen by a free agent, that could
not be constrained to it.[101]
24. It is a robbing God of the honour and pleasure which he should
have had in our obedience; and the glory which we should bring him
before the world.
25. It is a contempt of the omnipresence and omniscience of God, when
we will sin against him before his face, when he stands over us, and
seeth all that we do.
26. It is a contempt of the greatness and almightiness of God, that we
dare sin against him who is so great, and able to be avenged on us.
27. It is a wrong to the mercifulness of God, when we go out of the
way of mercy, and put him to use the way of justice and severity, who
delighteth not in the death of sinners, but rather that they obey,
repent, and live.
28. It is a contempt of the attractive love of God, who should be the
end, and felicity, and pleasure of the soul. As if all that love and
goodness of God were not enough to draw or keep the heart to him, and
to satisfy us and make us happy; or, he were not fit to be our
delight. And it showeth the want of love to God; for if we loved him
rightly we should willingly obey him.
29. It is a setting up the sordid creature before the Creator, and
dung before heaven, as if it were more worthy of our love and choice,
and fitter to be our delight; and the pleasure of sin were better for
us than the glory of heaven.
30. In all which it appeareth, that it is a practical atheism, in its
degree; a taking down God, or denying him to be God: and a practical
idolatry, setting up ourselves and other creatures in his stead.
31. It is a contempt of all the means of grace, which are all to bring
us to obedience, and keep us or call us from our sins: prayer,
sacraments, &c.
32. It is a contempt of the love and labours of the ministers of
Christ; a disobeying them, grieving them, and frustrating their hopes
and the labours of their lives.
33. It is a debasing of reason, the superior faculty of the soul, and
a setting up of the flesh or inferior faculties, like setting dogs to
govern men, or the horse to rule the rider.
34. It is a blinding of reason, and a misusing the noblest faculties
of the soul, and frustrating them of the use and ends which they were
made for: and so it is the disorder, monstrosity, sickness, or death
of the soul.[102]
35. It is, in its measure, the image of the devil upon the soul, who
is the father of sin: and therefore the most odious deformity of the
soul; and this where the Holy Ghost should dwell, and the image and
delight of God should be.
36. It is the moral destruction not only of the soul, but of the whole
creation, so far as the creatures are appointed as the means to bring
or keep us unto God: for the means, as a means, is destroyed when it
is not used to its end. A ship is useless if no one be carried in it.
A watch, as such, is useless, when not used to show the hour of the
day. All the world, as it is the book that should teach us the will of
God, is cast by, when that use is cast by. Nay, sin useth the creature
against God which should have been used for him.
37. It is a contradicting of our own confessions and professions; a
wronging of our consciences; a violation of our covenants and
self-obligations to God.
38. It is a preferring of time before eternity, and regarding things
of a transitory nature, and a moment's pleasure, before that which
never shall have end.
[Sidenote: The perverting and confusion of societies.]
39. It is a making a breach in the harmony and order of the world: as
the dislocation or deformity of a particular member, is the trouble
and deformity of all the body, because the comeliness and welfare of
the whole, containeth the comeliness, proportion, and welfare of all
the parts. And as the dislocation or breaking of one part in a watch
or clock, is against the use of all the engine; so every man being a
part of the kingdom of God, doth by sin make a breach in the order of
the whole; and also giveth an ill example to other parts, and makes
himself unserviceable to the body; and dishonoureth the whole body
with the blot of rebellion; and lets in judgment on the world; and
kindleth a consuming fire in the place where he liveth; and is cruel
and injurious to others.
40. Sin is not only a preferring the body before the soul, but it is
also an unmercifulness or cruelty against ourselves, both soul and
body, and so is contrary to the true use of the indelible principle of
self-love; for it is a wounding and abusing the soul and defiling the
body in this life, and casting both on the wrath of God, and into the
flames of hell hereafter, or a dangerous venturing them into the way
of endless damnation and despair, and a contempt of those insufferable
torments. All these parts of malignity and poison are intrinsical to
sin, and found in the very nature of it.
The common aggravations of sin being written of by many, and easily
gathered from what is said of the nature of it, I shall briefly name
only a few.
1. The infinite perfection of God in all those blessed attributes and
relations, which sin is against, is the greatest aggravation of sin.
2. The inconceivable glory of heaven, which is despised, is a great
aggravation of sin.
3. So is the greatness of the torments of hell, which sinners despise
and venture on.
4. So is the great opposition that God hath made against sin, having
said and done so much against it, and declared himself to hate nothing
else immediately in the world.
5. The clearness of evidence against it, the nothingness of all that
can be said for it, is also a great aggravation of it.
6. So is the fulness, and fitness, and power of all the means in
creatures, providences, and Scriptures, that is vouchsafed the world
against it.
7. So is the experience and warning of all ages, the repentings of the
converted, and the disowning it by almost all when they come to die.
Wonderful! that the experience of the world for above five thousand
years, will teach them no more effectually to avoid so mortal,
pernicious a thing.
8. The nearness to us also is an aggravation: it is not a distant
evil, but in our bowels, in our very hearts; we are bound so strictly
to love ourselves, that it is a great aggravation to do ourselves so
great a mischief.
9. The constant inhesion of sin is a great aggravation: that it is
ever with us, lying down and rising up, at home and abroad; we are
never free from it.
10. That it should poison all our common mercies, and corrupt all our
duties, is an aggravation. But we shall take up some of these anon.
The special aggravations of the sins of God's own children are
these:[103]
1. They sin against a nearer relation than others do; even against
that God that is their Father by the new birth, which is more heinous
than if a stranger did it.
2. They are Christ's own members: and it is most unnatural for his
members to rebel against him, or do him wrong.
3. They sin against more excellent operations of the Spirit than
others do, and against a principle of life within them.
4. They sin against the differencing grace, which appeared in their
conversion. God took them out of a world of sinners, whom he passed by
when he could as well have sanctified them: and should they so quickly
thus requite him?
5. They sin against the pardon and justification which they have
already received. Did God so lately forgive them all their former
debts, so many, so great and heinous sins, and that so freely to them,
when the procurement was so dear to Christ? and should they so soon
forget, or so ill requite, so great a mercy?
6. They sin against a more serious covenant, which at their conversion
they entered into with God, than other men do.
7. They sin against all the heart-breaking or humbling sorrows, which
they have tasted of at their conversion, and since. They have known more
of the evil of sin than others, in their sad experience of its sting.
8. They sin against more knowledge than other men: they have known
more what sin is, and what Christ is, and what the will of God is,
than others: and therefore deserve to be beaten with many stripes.
9. They have oftener confessed sin than others, and spoke odiously of
it, as the vilest thing, and aggravated it to God and man.
10. Their many prayers against it, and all their labour in hearing,
and reading, and sacraments, and other means, do aggravate it.
11. They make a greater profession of strict obedience, and therefore
sin against their own profession.
12. They have renewed their promises of obedience to God, in prayer,
at sacraments, and at other times, much more than others.
13. They have had more experience than others of the goodness of
obedience, and of the comforts and benefits that attend it, in the
favour of God, and communion with him therein.
14. Their sins are aggravated by all the reproofs and exhortations
which they have used to others, to tell them how unreasonable and bad
it is to provoke the Lord.
15. They sin under greater hopes of glory than others do; and provoke
that God with whom they hope to live for ever.
16. The high titles of love and praise which God doth give them in his
word, do aggravate their sin. That he should call them his treasure,
his peculiar people, his jewels, and the apple of his eye, his sons
and daughters, and a holy people, and priests to God, and boast of
them as a people more excellent than their neighbours; and after this
they should sin against him.
17. They have had audience with God, the answer of prayers, and many a
deliverance and mercy in this life, which others have not; which
aggravate their sins, as being thus contemned, and as obliging them
more to God than others.
18. They dishonour God more than any others by their sins. His honour
lieth not so much upon the actions of the ungodly, as on those that
are nearest to him.
19. They harden the wicked more than such sins in other men would do.
They cause them to blaspheme, and reproach the godly for their sakes,
and say, These are your religious men! You see now what their
strictness is. And they hinder the conversion and salvation of others:
they grieve the godly, and wrong the church and cause of God, much
more than the sins of others do.
20. Lastly, They please the devil more than the sins of other men. How
busy is he to have drawn a Job to sin! and how would he have boasted
against God, and his grace, and his servants, if he had prevailed,
when he boasted so much before, in the false presumption of his
success! as if he could make the godly forsake God, and be as bad as
others, if he have leave to tempt them.
I shall next give you some particular directions, besides those
foregoing, to help you to think of sin as it is, that you may hate it;
for your cleansing and cure consist in this: so far as you hate sin it
is mortified, and you are cured of it. And therefore, as I have
anatomized it, that you may see the hatefulness of it, I shall direct
you to improve this for your cure.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: How to hate sin.]
_Direct._ I. Labour to know God, and to be affected with his
attributes, and always to live as in his sight.--No man can know sin
perfectly, because no man can know God perfectly. You can no further
know what sin is than you know what God is, whom you sin against; for
the formal malignity of sin is relative, as it is against the will and
attributes of God. The godly have some knowledge of the malignity of
sin, because they have some knowledge of God that is wronged by it.
The wicked have no practical, prevalent knowledge of the malignity of
sin, because they have no such knowledge of God. They that fear God
will fear sinning; they that in their hearts are bold irreverently
with God, will, in heart and life, be bold with sin: the atheist, that
thinketh there is no God, thinks there is no sin against him. Nothing
in the world will tell us so plainly and powerfully of the evil of
sin, as the knowledge of the greatness, wisdom, goodness, holiness,
authority, justice, truth, &c. of God. The sense of his presence,
therefore, will revive our sense of sin's malignity.
_Direct._ II. Consider well of the office, the bloodshed, and the holy
life of Christ.--His office is to expiate sin, and to destroy it. His
blood was shed for it: his life condemned it. Love Christ, and thou
wilt hate that which caused his death. Love him, and thou wilt love to
be made like him, and hate that which is so contrary to Christ. These
two great lights will show the odiousness of darkness.
_Direct._ III. Think well both how holy the office and work of the
Holy Ghost is, and how great a mercy it is to us.--Shall God himself,
the heavenly light, come down into a sinful heart, to illuminate and
purify it? and yet shall I keep my darkness and defilement, in
opposition to such wonderful mercy? Though all sin against the Holy
Ghost be not the unpardonable blasphemy, yet all is aggravated hereby.
_Direct._ IV. Know and consider the wonderful love and mercy of God,
and think what he hath done for you; and you will hate sin, and be
ashamed of it.--It is an aggravation which makes sin odious even to
common reason and ingenuity, that we should offend a God of infinite
goodness, who hath filled up our lives with mercy. It will grieve you
if you have wronged an extraordinary friend: his love and kindness
will come into your thoughts, and make you angry with your own
unkindness. Here look over the catalogue of God's mercies to you, for
soul and body. And here observe that Satan, in hiding the love of God
from you, and tempting you under the pretence of humility to deny his
greatest, special mercy, doth seek to destroy your repentance and
humiliation also, by hiding the greatest aggravation of your sin.
_Direct._ V. Think what the soul of man is made for, and should be
used to, even to love, obey, and glorify our Maker; and then you will
see what sin is, which disableth and perverteth it.--How excellent,
and high, and holy a work are we created for and called to! And should
we defile the temple of God? and serve the devil in filthiness and
folly, where we should entertain, and serve, and magnify our Creator?
_Direct._ VI. Think well what pure and sweet delights a holy soul may
enjoy from God, in his holy service; and then you will see what sin
is, which robbeth him of these delights, and preferreth fleshly lusts
before them.--O how happily might we perform every duty, and how
fruitfully might we serve our Lord, and what delight should we find in
his love and acceptation, and the foresight of everlasting
blessedness, if it were not for sin; which bringeth down the soul from
the doors of heaven, to wallow with swine in a beloved dunghill!
_Direct._ VII. Bethink you what a life it is which you must live for
ever, if you live in heaven; and what a life the holy ones there now
live; and then think whether sin, which is so contrary to it, be not a
vile and hateful thing.--Either you would live in heaven, or not. If
not, you are not those I speak to. If you would, you know that there
is no sinning; no worldly mind, no pride, no passion, no fleshly lust
or pleasures there. Oh, did you but see and hear one hour, how those
blessed spirits are taken up in loving and magnifying the glorious God
in purity and holiness, and how far they are from sin, it would make
you loathe sin ever after, and look on sinners as on men in bedlam
wallowing naked in their dung. Especially, to think that you hope
yourselves to live for ever like those holy spirits; and therefore sin
doth ill beseem you.
_Direct._ VIII. Look but to the state and torment of the damned, and
think well of the difference betwixt angels and devils, and you may know
what sin is.--Angels are pure; devils are polluted: holiness and sin do
make the difference. Sin dwells in hell, and holiness in heaven.
Remember that every temptation is from the devil, to make you like
himself; as every holy motion is from Christ, to make you like himself.
Remember when you sin, that you are learning and imitating of the devil,
and are so far like him, John viii. 44. And the end of all is, that you
may feel his pains. If hell-fire be not good, then sin is not good.
_Direct._ IX. Look always on sin as one that is ready to die, and
consider how all men judge of it at the last.--What do men in heaven
say of it? and what do men in hell say of it? and what do men at death
say of it? and what do converted souls, or awakened consciences, say
of it? Is it then followed with delight and fearlessness as it is now?
is it then applauded? will any of them speak well of it? Nay, all the
world speaks evil of sin in the general now, even when they love and
commit the several acts. Will you sin when you are dying?
_Direct._ X. Look always on sin and judgment together.--Remember that
you must answer for it before God, and angels, and all the world; and
you will the better know it.
_Direct._ XI. Look now but upon sickness, poverty, shame, despair,
death, and rottenness in the grave, and it may a little help you to
know what sin is.--These are things within your sight or feeling; you
need not faith to tell you of them. And by such effects you might have
some little knowledge of the cause.
_Direct._ XII. Look but upon some eminent, holy persons upon earth,
and upon the mad, profane, malignant world; and the difference may
tell you in part what sin is.--Is there not an amiableness in a holy,
blameless person, that liveth in love to God and man, and in the
joyful hopes of life eternal? Is not a beastly drunkard or
whoremonger, and a raging swearer, and a malicious persecutor, a very
deformed, loathsome creature? Is not the mad, confused, ignorant,
ungodly state of the world a very pitiful sight? What then is the sin
that all this doth consist in?
Though the principal part of the cure is in turning the will to the
hatred of sin, and is done by this discovery of its malignity; yet I
shall add a few more directions for the executive part, supposing that
what is said already has had its effect.
_Direct._ I. When you have found out your disease and danger, give up
yourselves to Christ as the Saviour and Physician of souls, and to the
Holy Ghost as your Sanctifier, remembering that he is sufficient and
willing to do the work which he hath undertaken.--It is not you that
are to be saviours and sanctifiers of yourselves (unless as you work
under Christ). But he that hath undertaken it, doth take it for his
glory to perform it.
_Direct._ II. Yet must you be willing and obedient in applying the
remedies prescribed you by Christ, and observing his directions in order
to your cure.--And you must not be tender, and coy, and fine, and say,
This is too bitter, and that is too sharp; but trust his love, and
skill, and care, and take it as he prescribeth it, or giveth it you,
without any more ado. Say not, It is grievous, and I cannot take it: for
he commands you nothing but what is safe, and wholesome, and necessary,
and if you cannot take it, you must try whether you can bear your
sickness, and death, and the fire of hell! Are humiliation, confession,
restitution, mortification, and holy diligence, worse than hell?
_Direct._ III. See that you take not part with sin, and wrangle not,
or strive not against your Physician, or any that would do you
good.--Excusing sin, and pleading for and extenuating it, and striving
against the Spirit and conscience, and wrangling against ministers and
godly friends, and hating reproof, are not the means to be cured and
sanctified.
_Direct._ IV. See that malignity in every one of your particular sins,
which you can see and say is in sin in general.--It is a gross deceit
of yourselves, if you will speak a great deal of the evil of sin, and
see none of this malignity in your pride, and your worldliness, and
your passion and peevishness, and your malice and uncharitableness,
and your lying, backbiting, slandering, or sinning against conscience
for worldly commodity or safety. What self-contradiction is it for a
man in prayer to aggravate sin, and when he is reproved for it, to
justify or excuse it! for a popish priest to enter sinfully upon his
place, by subscribing or swearing the Trent Confession, and then to
preach zealously against sin in the general, as if he had never
committed so horrid a crime! This is like him that will speak against
treason, and the enemies of the king, but because the traitors are his
friends and kindred, will protect or hide them, and take their parts.
_Direct._ V. Keep as far as you can from those temptations which feed
and strengthen the sins which you would overcome.--Lay siege to your
sins, and starve them out, by keeping away the food and fuel which is
their maintenance and life.
_Direct._ VI. Live in the exercise of those graces and duties which
are contrary to the sins which you are most in danger of.--For grace
and duty are contrary to sin, and killeth it, and cureth us of it, as
the fire cureth us of cold, or health of sickness.
_Direct._ VII. Hearken not to weakening unbelief and distrust, and cast
not away the comforts of God, which are your cordials and strength.--It
is not a frightful, dejected, despairing frame of mind, that is fittest
to resist sin; but it is the encouraging sense of the love of God, and
thankful sense of grace received (with a cautelous fear).
_Direct._ VIII. Be always suspicious of carnal self-love, and watch
against it.--For that is the burrow or fortress of sin; and the common
patron of it; ready to draw you to it, and ready to justify it. We are
very prone to be partial in our own cause; as the case of Judah with
Tamar, and David when Nathan reproved him in a parable, show. Our own
passions, our own pride, our own censures, or backbitings, or
injurious dealings, our own neglects of duty, seem small, excusable,
if not justifiable things to us; whereas we could easily see the
faultiness of all these in another, especially in an enemy: when yet
we should be best acquainted with ourselves, and we should most love
ourselves, and therefore hate our own sins most.
_Direct._ IX. Bestow your first and chiefest labour to kill sin at the
root; to cleanse the heart, which is the fountain; for out of the
heart cometh the evils of the life.--Know which are the master-roots;
and bend your greatest care and industry to mortify those: and they
are especially these that follow; 1. Ignorance. 2. Unbelief. 3.
Inconsiderateness. 4. Selfishness and pride. 5. Fleshliness, in
pleasing a brutish appetite, lust, or fantasy. 6. Senseless
hardheartedness and sleepiness in sin.
_Direct._ X. Account the world and all its pleasures, wealth, and
honours, no better than indeed they are, and then Satan will find no
bait to catch you.--Esteem all as dung with Paul, Phil. iii. 8; and no
man will sin, and sell his soul, for that which he accounteth but as
dung.
_Direct._ XI. Keep up above in a heavenly conversation, and then your
souls will be always in the light, and as in the sight of God, and
taken up with those businesses and delights which put them out of
relish with the baits of sin.
_Direct._ XII. Let christian watchfulness be your daily work; and
cherish a preserving, though not a distracting and discouraging fear.
_Direct._ XIII. Take heed of the first approaches and beginnings of
sin. Oh how great a matter doth a little of this fire kindle! And if
you fall, rise quickly by sound repentance, whatever it may cost you.
_Direct._ XIV. Make God's word your only rule; and labour diligently
to understand it.
_Direct._ XV. And in doubtful cases, do not easily depart from the
unanimous judgment of the generality of the most wise and godly of all
ages.
_Direct._ XVI. In doubtful cases be not passionate or rash, but proceed
deliberately, and prove things well, before you fasten on them.
_Direct._ XVII. Be acquainted with your bodily temperature, and what sin
it most inclineth you to, and what sin also your calling or converse
doth lay you most open to, that there your watch may be the stricter.
(Of all which I shall speak more fully under the next Grand Direction.)
_Direct._ XVIII. Keep in a life of holy order, such as God hath
appointed you to walk in. For there is no preservation for stragglers
that keep not rank and file, but forsake the order which God
commandeth them.--And this order lieth principally in these points: 1.
That you keep in union with the universal church. Separate not from
Christ's body upon any pretence whatever. With the church as
regenerate, hold spiritual communion, in faith, love, and holiness:
with the church as congregate and visible, hold outward communion, in
profession and worship. 2. If you are not teachers, live under your
particular, faithful pastors, as obedient disciples of Christ. 3. Let
the most godly, if possible, be your familiars. 4. Be laborious in an
outward calling.
_Direct._ XIX. Turn all God's providences, whether of prosperity or
adversity, against your sins.--If he give you health and wealth,
remember he thereby obligeth you to obedience, and calls for special
service from you. If he afflict you, remember that it is sin that he
is offended at, and searcheth after; and therefore take it as his
physic, and see that you hinder not, but help on its work, that it may
purge away your sin.
_Direct._ XX. Wait patiently on Christ till he have finished the cure,
which will not be till this trying life be finished.--Persevere in
attendance on his Spirit and means; for he will come in season, and
will not tarry. "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord:
his going forth is prepared as the morning, and he shall come unto us
as the rain: as the latter and former rain upon the earth," Hos. vi.
3. Though you have oft said, "There is no healing," Jer. xiv. 19; "he
will heal your backslidings, and love you freely," Hos. xiv. 4. "Unto
you that fear his name, shall the Sun of righteousness arise, with
healing in his wings," Mal. iv. 2: "and blessed are all they that wait
for him," Isa. xxx. 18.
Thus I have given such directions as may help for humiliation under
sin, or hatred of it, and deliverance from it.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Our warfare under Christ against the tempter.]
_Grand Direct._ IX. Spend all your days in a skilful, vigilant,
resolute, and valiant war against the flesh, the world, and the devil,
as those that have covenanted to follow Christ the Captain of your
salvation.
The flesh is the end of temptation,[104] for all is to please it, Rom.
xiii. 14, and therefore is the greatest enemy; the world is the matter
of temptation; and the devil is the first mover, or efficient of it:
and this is the trinity of enemies to Christ and us, which we renounce
in baptism, and must constantly resist. Of the world and flesh I shall
speak chap. 4. Here I shall open the methods of the devil. And first I
shall prepare your understanding, by opening some presupposed truths.
1. It is presupposed, that there is a devil. He that believeth not
this, doth prove it to others, by showing how grossly the devil can
befool him. Apparitions, witchcrafts, and temptations are full proofs
of it to sense; besides what Scripture saith.
2. It is supposed that he is the deadly enemy of Christ and us.[105]
He was once an angel, and fell from his first estate by sin, and a
world of evil spirits with him; and it is probable his envy against
mankind might be the greater, as knowing that we were made to succeed
him and his followers, in their state of glory: for Christ saith, that
we shall "be equal with the angels," Luke xx. 36. He showed his enmity
to man in our innocency, and by his temptation caused our fall and
misery. But after the fall, God put an enmity into the nature of man
against devils, as a merciful preservative against temptation: so that
as the whole nature of man abhorreth the nature of serpents, so doth
the soul abhor and dread the diabolical nature. And, therefore, so far
as the devil is seen in a temptation now, so far it is frustrated;
till the enmity in nature be overcome by his deceits: and this help
nature hath against temptation, which it seems our nature had not
before the fall, as not knowing the malice of the devil against us.
There is a natural enmity to the devil himself put into all the
woman's natural seed: but the moral enmity against his sinful
temptations and works, is put only into the spiritual seed by the Holy
Ghost (except what remnants are in the light of nature). I will be
brief of all this and the next, having spoken of them more largely in
my "Treatise against Infidelity," Part iii.
The devil's names do tell us what he is.[106] In the Old Testament he
is called, 1. The "serpent," Gen. iii. 2. The Hebrew word, translated
"devils," in Lev. xvii. 7, and Isa. xiii. 21, signifieth hairy, as
satyrs are described; and sometimes he-goats; because in such shapes
he oft appeareth. 3. He is called "Satan," Zech. iii. 1. 4. "An evil
spirit," 1 Sam. xviii. 10. 5. "A lying spirit," 1 Kings xxii. 22; for
he "is a liar, and the father of it," John viii. 44. 6. His offspring
is called "a spirit of uncleanness," Zech. xiii. 2. 7. And he (or his
spawn) is called "a spirit of fornication," Hos. iv. 12; that is,
idolatry. 8. "A perverse spirit, causing staggering and giddiness as a
drunken man," Isa. xix. 14.
In the New Testament, 1. He is sometimes called simply "a spirit,"
Mark ix. 20, 26; Luke ix. 39; x. 20. 2. Sometimes, πνευματα ακαθαρτα,
"unclean spirits," Luke vi. 18; as contrary to the Holy Spirit; and
that from their nature and effects. 3. And after, δαιμομιον, "demons,"
a word taken in a good sense in heathen writers, but not in Scripture;
because they worshipped devils under that name, (unless perhaps Acts
xvii. 18; 1 Tim. iv. 1.) And, δαιμων with respect to their knowledge,
and, as some think, to the knowledge promised to Adam, in the
temptation. 4. Πειραζων, "the tempter," Matt. iv. 5. "Satan," Matt.
iv.; 1 Pet. v. 8. 6. Εχθρος, "an enemy," Matt. xiii. 28, 39. 7. "The
strong man armed," Matt. xii. 8. "Angels," 1 Cor. vi. 3; 2 Pet. ii. 4.
"Angels which kept not their first state," Jude 6. 9. "A spirit of
divination," Acts xvi. 16. 10. "A roaring lion," 1 Pet. v. 8. 11. "A
murderer," John viii. 44. 12. "Belial," 2 Cor. vi. 15. 13.
"Beelzebub," Matt. xii. the "god of flies." 14. "The prince of this
world," John xii. 21, from his power over wicked men. 15. "The god of
this world," 2 Cor. iv. 5, because the world obey him. 16. "The prince
of the power of the air," Eph. ii. 2. 17. "The ruler of the darkness
of this world," Eph. vi. 12. "Principalities and powers." 18. "The
father of the wicked," John viii. 44. 19. "The dragon, and the old
serpent," Rev. xii. 20. Διαβολος, "the calumniator," or "false
accuser," often. 21. Ὁ πονηρος "the evil one," Matt. xxiii. 19. 22.
"An evil spirit," Acts xix. 15. 23. Απολλυων, "the destroyer," and
"Abaddon," the "king of the locusts," and "angel of the bottomless
pit," Rev. ix. 11, (unless that speak of antichrist).
3. He is too strong an enemy for lapsed sinful man to deal with of
himself. If he conquered us in innocency, what may he do now? He is
dangerous, (1.) By the greatness of his subtlety. (2.) By the greatness
of his power. (3.) By the greatness of his malice. And hence, (4.) By
his constant diligence, watching when we sleep, Matt. xiii. 25; and
"seeking night and day to devour," 1 Pet. v. 8; Rev. xii. 4.
4. Therefore Christ hath engaged himself in our cause, and is become
the "Captain of our salvation," Heb. ii. 10.[107] And the world is
formed into two armies, that live in continual war: the devil is the
prince and general of one, and his angels and wicked men are his
armies: Christ is the King and General of the other, and his angels
(Heb. ii. 14) and saints are his army. Between these two armies are
the greatest conflict in the world.
5. It is supposed also, that this war is carried on, on both sides,
within us, and without us; by inward solicitations, and outward means,
which are fitted thereunto.
6. Both Christ and Satan work by officers, instruments, and means.
Christ hath his ministers to preach his gospel, and pull down the
kingdom of Satan. And Satan hath his ministers to preach
licentiousness and lies, and to resist the gospel and kingdom of
Christ, 1 Cor. iii. 5; iv. 1; 2 Cor. xi. 15; Acts xiii. 8-10. Christ
hath his church, and the devil hath his synagogue. Christ's soldiers
do every one, in their places, fight for him against the devil. And
the devil's soldiers do every one, in their places, fight against
Christ. The generals are both unseen to mortals; and the unseen power
is theirs; but their agents are visible. The soldiers fight not only
against the generals, but against one another; but it is all, or
chiefly, for the generals' sakes. It is Christ that the wicked
persecute in his servants, Acts ix. 4; and it is the devil whom the
godly hate and resist in the wicked.
But yet here are divers notable differences. 1. The devil's servants
do not what they do in love to him, but to their own flesh; but
Christ's servants do what they do in love to him, as well as to
themselves. 2. The devil's army are cheated into arms and war, not
knowing what they do; but Christ doth all in the open light, and will
have no servants but those that deliberately adhere to him, when they
know the worst. 3. The devil's servants do not know that he is their
general; but Christ's followers do all know their Lord. 4. The devil's
followers disown their master and their work; they will not own that
they fight against Christ and his kingdom, while they do it: but
Christ's followers own their Captain, and his cause, and work; for he
is not a master to be ashamed of.
7. Both Christ and Satan work persuasively, by moral means, and
neither of them by constraint and force. Christ forceth not men
against their wills to good, and Satan cannot force them to be bad;
but all the endeavour is to make men willing; and he is the conqueror
that getteth and keepeth our own consent.
8. Their ends are contrary, and therefore their ways are also
contrary. The devil's end is, to draw man to sin and damnation, and to
dishonour God; and Christ's end is, to draw man from sin to holiness
and salvation, and to honour God. But Christ maketh known his end, and
Satan concealeth his end from his followers.
9. There is somewhat within the good and bad for the contrary part to
work upon; and we are, as it were, divided in ourselves, and have
somewhat in us that is on both sides. The wicked have an honourable
acknowledgment of God, and of their greatest obligation to him; a
hatred to the devil; a love of themselves; a willingness to be happy,
and an unwillingness to be miserable; and a conscience which approveth
of more good than they do, and condemneth much of their transgression.
This is some advantage to the persuasions of the ministers of Christ
to work upon; and they have reason capable of knowing more.
The soldiers of Christ have a fleshly appetite, and the remnants of
ignorance and error in their minds, and of earthliness, and carnality,
and averseness to God in their wills, with a nearness to this world,
and much strangeness to the world to come. And here is too much
advantage for Satan to work on by his temptations.
10. But it is the predominant part within us, and the scope of our
lives, which showeth which of the armies we belong to. And thus we must
give up our names and hearts to Christ, and engage under his conduct
against the devil, and conquer to the death, if we will be saved. Not to
fight against the bare name of the devil; for so will his own soldiers,
and spit at his name, and hang a witch that makes a contract with him:
but it is to fight against his cause and work, which is by fighting
against the world and the flesh, and for the glory of God.
[Sidenote: The method.]
In opening to you this holy war, I shall, First, Shew you what we must
do on the offensive part. Secondly, What on the defensive part. And
here I shall show you, I. What it is that the tempter aimeth at as his
end. II. What matter or ground he worketh upon. III. What are his
succours and assistance. IV. What kind of officers and instruments he
useth. V. What are his methods and actual temptations, 1. To actual
sin, 2. Against our duty to God.
First, Our offensive arms are to be used, 1. Against the power of sin
within us; and all its advantages and helps: for while Satan ruleth
and possesseth us within, we shall never well oppose him without. 2.
Against sin in others, as far as we have opportunity. 3. Against the
credit and honour of sin in the world: as the devil's servants would
bring light and holiness into disgrace, so Christ's servants must cast
disgrace and shame upon sin and darkness. 4. Against all the
reasonings of sinners, and their subtle fallacies, whereby they would
deceive. 5. Against the passions and violent lusts which are the
causes of men's other sins. 6. Against the holds and helps of sin, as
false teachers, profane revilers, ignorance, and deceit. Only take
heed that on this pretence we step not out of our ranks and places, to
pull down the powers of the world by rebellions: "For the weapons of
our warfare are not carnal," 2 Cor. x. 4.
Secondly, As to our defence, I. The ends of the tempter which must be
perceived, are these: In general, his aim is at our utter ruin and
damnation, and to draw us here to dishonour God as much as he can.
But, especially, his aim is to strengthen the great heart sins, which
are most mortal, and are the root, and life, and spawners of the rest:
especially these: 1. Ignorance, which is the friend and cloak to all
the rest. 2. Error, which will justify them. 3. Unbelief, which keeps
off all that should oppose them. 4. Atheism, profaneness, unholiness,
which are the defiance of God and all his armies. 5. Presumption,
which emboldeneth them, and hides the danger. 6. Hardness of heart,
which fortifieth them against all the batteries of grace. 7.
Hypocrisy, which maketh them serve him as spies and intelligencers in
the army of Christ. 8. Disaffection to God and his ways and servants,
which is the devil's colours. 9. Unthankfulness, which tends to make
them unreconcilable and unrecoverable. 10. Pride, which commandeth
many regiments of lesser sins. 11. Worldliness, or love of money and
wealth, which keepeth his armies in pay. 12. Sensuality,
voluptuousness, or flesh-pleasing, which is the great commander of all
the rest.[108] For selfishness is the devil's lieutenant-general,
which consisteth chiefly in the three last named, but especially in
pride and sensuality. Some think that it is outward sins that bring
all the danger; but these twelve heart sins, which I have named to
you, are the twelve gates of the infernal city, which Satan loveth
above all the rest.
II. The matter and grounds of his temptations are these: 1. The devil
first worketh upon the outward sense, and so upon the sensitive
appetite: he showeth the cup to the drunkard's eye, and the bait of
filthy lust to the fornicator, and the riches and pomp of the world to
the covetous and proud. The glutton tasteth the sweetness of the dish
which he loveth. Stage-plays, and tempting sports, and proud attire,
and sumptuous buildings, and all such sensual things, are the baits by
which the devil angleth for souls. Thus Eve first saw the fruit, and
then tasted, and then did eat. Thus Noah, and Lot, and David sinned.
Thus Achan saith, Josh. vii. 21, "I saw (the garments, silver, and
gold) I coveted them, and I took them." The sense is the door of sin.
2. The tempter next worketh on the fantasy or imagination, and prints
upon it the loveliest image of his bait that possibly he can, and
engageth the sinner to think on it, and to roll it over and over in
his mind, even as God commandeth us to meditate on his precepts.
3. Next he worketh by these upon the passions or affections: which
fantasy having inflamed, they violently urge the will and reason; and
this according to the nature of the passion, whether fear or hope,
sorrow or joy, love or hatred, desire or aversion; but by none doth he
work so dangerously as by delight, and love, and desire of things
sensual.
4. Hence he proceedeth to infect the will, (upon the simple
apprehension of the understanding,) to make it inordinately cleave to
the temporal good, and to neglect its duty in commanding the
understanding to meditate on preserving objects, and to call off the
thoughts from the forbidden thing: it neglecteth to rule the thoughts
and passions according to its office and natural power.
5. And so he corrupteth the understanding itself, first to omit its
duty, and then to entertain deceit, and to approve of evil: and so the
servant is put into the government, and the commanding powers do but
serve it. Reason is blinded by sensuality and passion, and becomes
their servant, and pleads their cause.
By all this it appeareth, 1. That Satan's first bait is ordinarily
some sensible or imaginary good, set up against true spiritual good.
2. That his first assault of the reason and will is to tempt them into
a sluggish neglect and neutrality, to omit that restraint of sense,
thought, and passion, which was their duty. 3. And that, lastly, he
tempteth them into actual compliance and committing of the sin: and
herein, 1. The bait which he useth with the understanding is still
"some seeming truth." And, therefore, his art and work is to colour
falsehood, and make it seem truth; for this is the deceiving of the
mind: and therefore for a sinner to plead his mistake for his excuse,
and say, I thought it had been so or so; I thought it had been no sin,
or no duty; this is but to confess, and not to excuse: it is but as
much as to say, My understanding sinned with my will, and was deceived
by the tempter and overcome. 2. And the bait which he useth with the
will is always some appearing good: and self-love and love of good is
the principle which he abuseth, and maketh his ground to work upon; as
God also useth it in drawing us to good.
III. The succours and auxiliaries of the devil, and his principal
means, are these: 1. He doth what he can to get an ill tempered body
on his side; for as sin did let in bodily distempers, so do they much
befriend the sin that caused them. A choleric temper will much help
him to draw men to passion, malice, murder, cruelty, and revenge. A
sanguine and bilious temper mixed, will help him to draw men to lust,
and filthiness, and levity, and wantonness, and time-wasting
pleasures: a sanguine temper mixed with a pituitous, much helpeth him
to make men blockish, and regardless, and insensible of the great
concernments of the soul. A phlegmatic temper helpeth him to draw
people to drowsy sluggishness, and to an idle, slothful life, and so
to ill means to maintain it, and to a backwardness to every work that
is good. A healthful temper much helpeth him to draw people to
gluttony, drunkenness, lust, ambition, covetousness, and neglect of
life eternal: a sickly temper helpeth him to tempt us to peevishness
and impatience: and a melancholy temper helpeth him in all the
temptations mentioned but even now.
2. He useth his greatest skill to get the greatest fleshly interest on
his side: so that it may be a matter of great pleasure, great
advancement, and honour, and applause, or great commodity to a man, if
he will sin; or a matter of great suffering, and great disgrace, and
great loss to him that will not sin, or that will be holy and obedient
to God: for fleshly interest being the common matter of all his
temptations, his main business is to greaten this as much as may be.
3. He maketh very great advantage of the common customs of the country
that men live in: this carrieth away thousands and millions at once.
When the common vote and custom are for sin, and against Christ and
holiness, particular persons think themselves excused, that they are
no wiser or better than all the country about them. And they think
they are much the safer for sinning in so great a crowd, and doing but
as most men do; and he that contradicteth them cometh on great
disadvantage in their eye, when he is to oppose an army of
adversaries, and seemeth to think himself wiser than so many.
4. Also he is exceeding industrious to get education on his side; he
knoweth how apt men are to retain the form which they were moulded or
cast into at first: if he get the first possession, by actual as well
as original sin, he is not easily cast out. Especially when education
doth conspire with common custom, it delivereth most of the people and
kingdoms of the earth into his hands.
5. Also he is industrious to get the approved doctrine of the teachers
of the people on his side. If he can get it to pass once for a
revelation or command of God, he will quickly conquer conscience by
it, and take down all resistance: he never doth war more successfully
against God, than when he beareth the name of God in his colours, and
fighteth against him in his own name. Mahometans, Jews, papists, and
all heretics are the trophies and monuments of his victories by this
way. Mischief is never so much reverenced, nor proceedeth so
successfully, as when it is made a religion! When the devil can charge
men to do his business in the name of God, and upon pain of damnation,
he hath got the strongest weapons that ever he can make use of. His
ordinary bait is some fleshly pleasure; but he goeth high indeed when
he presumeth to offer the everlasting pleasures; he tempted Christ
with all the kingdoms and glory of the world; but he tempteth many
millions of souls with the offers of the kingdom of heaven itself. For
he will offer it to them that he is endeavouring to keep from it, and
make it the bait to draw men from it into the way to hell.
6. He is exceeding diligent to get the wealth and prosperity of the
world on his side; that he may not seem to flatter his servants with
empty promises, but to reward them with real felicity and wealth. And
then he would make the sinner believe that Christ is the deceiver, and
promiseth a kingdom which none of them ever saw, and which he will not
give them; but that he himself will not deceive them, but make good
his promises even in this life without delay: for they see with their
eyes the things which he promiseth, and they shall have them presently
in possession, to secure them from deceit.
7. He is exceeding industrious to get common fame and reputation on
his side; that he may be able to keep his cause in credit, and to keep
the cause of Christ and holiness in disgrace. For he knoweth how
exceeding prone men are to fall into the way of honour and esteem, and
which most men praise; and how loth they are to go in the way which is
hated and evil spoken of by the most of men.
8. He is very diligent to get the sword and government of kingdoms, and
states, and countries, and cities, and corporations into his hands, or
on his side; for he knoweth the multitude of the ignorant and vulgar
people are exceeding prone to be of the religion of those that are able
to help or hurt them, and to follow the stronger side; and that the will
and example of the ruler is as the first sheet or stamp, which all the
rest are printed after. Therefore he will do his worst, to give the
greatest power to the most ungodly: if the Turk be the emperor, the most
of the vulgar are like quickly to be Turks: if a papist be their king,
the most of them are likely to be papists. Look into the present state
of the heathen, infidel, Mahometan, papal, and profane parts of the
world, and into the history of all ages past, and you will see with
grief and admiration, how much the devil hath got by this.
9. Also he is very desirous to get our society and companions on his
side; who are near us, and have frequent opportunities to do us good
or hurt. For he knoweth by long and great experience how powerfully
they draw, and how frequently they speed.
10. And he is very industrious to get our friends that have power over
us, and greatest interest in us, on his side. For then he hath won our
out-works already.
11. Lastly, he is desirous sometimes to get the name and appearance of
virtue and piety on his side; that those that are to do his work, may
have a winning carriage, and so a venerable name, and the cloak of
virtue may serve his turn for the promoting of the destruction of
piety itself.
IV. By what hath been said, you may understand what kind of officers
and instruments the tempter useth. 1. He commonly useth men that are
themselves first deceived and corrupted, as fit instruments to deceive
and corrupt others. These will carry it on with confidence and
violence; the employment seemeth natural to them, they are so fit for
it: they will be willing to make other men of their mind, and to have
the company of others in their way. A drunkard is fit to make a
drunkard; and a filthy fornicator to entice another into the sin; and
a gamester to make a gamester; and a wanton time-waster to draw
another to waste his time in wantonness and foolish sports: an
ambitious or proud person is fit to kindle that fire in others; a
swearer is fittest to make a swearer; and so of many other sins.
2. The devil usually chooseth for his instruments men that have no
great tenderness of conscience, or fear of sinning or of hurting
souls. He would have no such cowards in his army, as men fearing God
are as to his ends: it must be men that will venture upon hell
themselves, and fear not much the loss of their own souls; and
therefore must not be too tender or fearful of destroying others.
Butchers and soldiers must not be chosen out of too tender or loving a
sort of people; such are not fit to go through his work.
3. He usually chooseth instruments that are most deeply engaged in his
cause; whose preferment, and honour, and gain, and carnal interest
shall be to them, as nature is to a dog, or wolf, or fox, or other
ravenous creature: who think it a loss, or danger, or suffering to
them, if others be not hindered in good, or made as bad as they. Thus
Demetrius and the other craftsmen that lived upon the trade, are the
fittest to plead Diana's cause, and stir up the people against the
apostles, Acts xix. 24, 38, 39. And the Jews were the fittest
instruments to persecute Christ, who thought that if they "let him
alone, all men would believe on him, and the Romans would come and
take away both their place and nation; and that it was expedient for
them that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation perish
not," John xi. 48, 49. And Pilate was the fittest instrument to
condemn him, who feared that he should else be taken to be none of
Cæsar's friend. And Pharaoh was the fittest instrument to persecute
the Israelites, who was like to lose by their departure.
4. When he can he chooseth such instruments as are much about us, and
nearest to us, who have opportunity to be often speaking to us, when
others have no opportunity to help us: the fire that is nearest to the
wood or thatch is liker to burn it than that which is far off:
nearness and opportunity are very great advantages.
5. If it be possible, he will choose such instruments as have the
greatest abilities to do him service: one man of great wit, and
learning, and elocution, that is nimble in disputing, and can make
almost any cause seem good which he defendeth, or bad which he opposeth,
is able to do more service for the devil than a hundred idiots.
6. If possible, he will choose the rulers of the world to be his
instruments; that shall command men, and threaten them with
imprisonment, banishment, confiscation, or death, if they will not sin:
as the king of Babylon did by the three witnesses and Daniel, Dan. iii.
and vi. and all persecutors have done in all ages, against the holy
seed. For he knoweth, that (though not with a Job, yet with a carnal
person) "skin for skin, and all that a man hath will he give for his
life." And therefore, they that have the power of life, and liberty, and
estate, have carnal men by the handle that will rule them.
7. He maketh the rich his instruments; that, having the wealth of the
world, are able to reward and hire evil-doers; and are able to oppress
those that will not please them. Landlords and rich men can do the
devil more service than many of the poor: they are the Judases that
bear the bag. As the ox will follow him that carrieth the hay, and the
horse will follow him that carrieth the provender, and the dog will
follow him that feedeth him, and the crow will be where the carrion
is; so carnal persons will follow and obey him that bears the purse.
8. The devil, if he can, will make those his instruments, whom he
seeth we most esteem and reverence; persons whom we think most wise
and fit to be our counsellors: we will take that from these, which we
would suspect from others.
9. He will get our relations, and those that have our hearts most, to be
his instruments. A husband, or a wife, or a Delilah, can do more than
others; and so can a bosom friend, whom we dearly love: when all their
interest in our affections is made over for the devil's service, it may
do much. Therefore we see that husbands and wives, if they love
entirely, do usually close in the same religion, opinion, or way, though
when they were first married they differed from each other.
10. As oft as he can, the devil maketh the multitude his instrument;
that the crowd and noise may carry us on, and make men valiant, and
put away their fear of punishment.
11. He is very desirous of making the ambassadors of Christ his
prisoners, and to hire them to speak against their Master's cause:
that in Christ's name they may deceive the silly flock, "speaking
perverse things, to draw away disciples after them," Acts xx. 30.
Sometimes by pretence of his authority and commission; making poor
people believe, that not to hear them, and obey them in their errors,
is to be disobedient rejecters of Christ: (and thus the Romish party
carry it.) Sometimes by their parts and plausible, persuasive
speeches: and sometimes by their fervency, frightening people into
error. And by these two ways most heretics prevail. None so
successfully serveth Satan, as a false or bribed minister of Christ.
12. He is exceeding desirous to make parents themselves his
instruments for their children's sin and ruin; and, alas, how commonly
doth he succeed! He knoweth that parents have them under their hands
in the most ductile, malleable age; and that they have a concurrence
of almost all advantages: they have the purse and portion of their
children in their power; they have the interest of love, and
reverence, and estimation; they are still with them, and can be often
in their solicitings; they have the rod, and can compel them. Many
thousands are in hell, through the means of their own parents: such
cruel monsters will they be to the souls of any others, that are first
so to their own. If the devil can get the parents to be cursers,
swearers, gamesters, drunkards, worldlings, proud, deriders or railers
at a holy life, what a snare is here for the poor children!
V. In the method of Satan, the next thing is to show you how he
labours to keep off all the forces of Christ, which should resist him
and destroy his work, and to frustrate their endeavours, and fortify
himself. And among many others, these means are notable:
1. He would do what he can to weaken even natural reason, that men may
be blockish and incapable of good. And it is lamentable to observe how
hard it is to make some people either understand or regard. And a
beastly kind of education doth much to this: and so doth custom in
sensual courses; even turn men into brutes.
2. He doth what he can to hinder parents and masters from doing their
part, in the instructing and admonishing of children and servants, and
dealing wisely and zealously with them for their salvation: either he
will keep parents and masters ignorant and unable, or he will make
them wicked and unwilling, and perhaps engage them to oppose their
children in all that is good; or he will make them like Eli, remiss
and negligent, indifferent, formal, cold, and dull; and so keep them
from saving their children's or servants' souls.
3. He doth all that possibly he can to keep the sinner in security,
presumption, and senselessness, even asleep in sin; and to that end to
keep him quiet and in the dark, without any light or noise which may
awake him; that he may live asleep, as without a God, a Christ, a
heaven, a soul, or any such thing to mind. His great care is to keep
him from considering: and therefore he keeps him still in company, or
sport, or business, and will not let him be oft alone, nor retire into
a sober conference with his conscience, or serious thoughts of the
life to come.
4. He doth his best to keep soul-searching, lively ministers out of
the country, or out of that place; and to silence them, if there be
any such; and to keep the sinner under some ignorant or dead-hearted
minister, that hath not himself that faith, or repentance, or life, or
love, or holiness, or zeal, which he should be a means to work in
others; and he will do his utmost to draw him to be a leader of men to
sin.
5. He doth his worst to make ministers weak, to disgrace the cause of
Christ, and hinder his work, by their bungling and unsuccessful
management, that there may be none to stand up against sin, but some
unlearned or half-witted men, that can scarce speak sense, or will
provoke contempt or laughter in the hearers.
6. He doth his worst to make ministers scandalous, that when they tell
men of their sin and duty, they may think such mean not as they speak,
and believe not themselves, or make no great matter of it; but speak
for custom, credit, or for their hire. And that the people, by the
wicked lives of the preachers, may be emboldened to disobey their
doctrine, and to imitate them, and live without repentance.
7. He will labour to load the ablest ministers with reproaches and
slanders, which thousands shall hear, who never hear the truth in their
defence: and so making them odious, the people will receive no more good
by their preaching, than from a Turk, or Jew, till the very truth itself
for itself prevail. And to this end especially he doth all that he can
to foment continual "divisions in the church;" that while every party is
engaged against the other, the interest of their several causes may make
them think it necessary to make the chief that are against them seem
odious or contemptible to the people, that so they may be able to do
their cause and them no harm: and so they disable them from serving
Christ and saving souls, that they may disable them to hurt themselves,
or their faction, or their impotent cause.
8. He doth what he can to keep the most holy ministers under
persecution; that they may be as the wounded deer, whom all the rest of
the herd will shun; or like a worried dog, whom the rest will fall upon;
or that the people may be afraid to hear them, lest they suffer with
them; or may come to them only as Nicodemus did to Christ, by night.
9. Or if any ministers or godly persons warn the sinner, the devil
will do what he can that they may be so small a number in comparison
of those of the contrary mind; that he may tell the sinner, Dost thou
think these few self-conceited fellows are wiser than such, and such,
and all the country? Shall none be saved but such a few precise ones?
"Do any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believe in him? But this
people that knoweth not the law are cursed," John vii. 48, 49; that
is, as Dr. Hammond noteth, "This illiterate multitude are apt to be
seduced, but the teachers are wiser."
10. The devil doth his worst to cause some falling out, or difference
of interest or opinion, between the preacher or monitor, and the
sinner; that so he may take him for his enemy. And how unapt men are
to receive any advice from an enemy, or adversary, experience will
easily convince you.
11. He endeavoureth that powerful preaching may be so rare, and the
contradiction of wicked cavillers so frequent, that the sermon may be
forgotten, or the impressions of it blotted out, before they can hear
another to confirm them, and strike the nail home to the head; and
that the fire may go out before the next opportunity come.
12. He laboureth to keep good books out of the sinner's hands, or keep
him from reading them, lest he speed as the eunuch, Acts viii. that
was reading the Scripture as he rode in his chariot on the way. And
instead of such books he putteth romances, and play-books, and
trifling, or scorning, contradicting writings into his hands.
13. He doth what he can to keep the sinner from intimate acquaintance
with any that are truly godly; that he may know them no otherwise than
by the image which ignorant or malicious slanderers or scorners do
give of such; and that he may know religion itself but by hearsay, and
never see it exemplified in any holy, diligent believers. A holy
christian is a living image of God, a powerful convincer and teacher
of the ungodly; and the nearer men come to them, the greater
excellency they will see, and the greater efficacy they will feel.
Whereas in the devil's army, the most must not be seen in the open
light, and the hypocrite himself must be seen, like a picture, but by
a side light, and not by a direct.
14. Those means which are used, the devil labours to frustrate, (1.)
By sluggish heedlessness and disregard. (2.) By prejudice, and false
opinions which prepossess the mind. (3.) By diversions of many sorts.
(4.) By pre-engagements to the contrary interest and way; so that
Christ comes too late for them. (5.) By worldly prosperity and
delights. (6.) By ill company. (7.) And by molesting and frighting the
sinner, when he doth but take up any purpose to be converted; giving
him all content and quietness in sin, and raising storms and terrors
in his soul when he is about to turn.
_The Methods of Christ against the Tempter._
Before I proceed to Satan's particular temptations, I will show you
the contrary methods of Christ in the conduct of his army, and
opposing Satan.
I. Christ's ends are, ultimately, the glory and pleasing of his Father
and himself, and the saving of his church, and the destroying the
kingdom of the devil; and next, the purifying his peculiar people, and
calling home all that are ordained to eternal life.
But more particularly, he looketh principally at the heart, to plant
there, 1. Holy knowledge. 2. Faith. 3. Godliness, or holy devotedness
to God, and love to him above all. 4. Thankfulness. 5. Obedience. 6.
Humility. 7. Heavenly-mindedness. 8. Love to others. 9. Self-denial,
and mortification, and contentment. 10. Patience. And in all these, 1.
Sincerity; 2. Tenderness of heart; 3. Zeal, and holy strength and
resolution. And withal to make us actually serviceable, and diligent
in our Master's work, for our own and others' salvation.
II. Christ's order in working is direct, and not backward, as the
devil's is. He first revealeth saving truth to the understanding, and
affecteth the will by showing the goodness of the things revealed; and
these employ the thoughts, and passions, and senses, and the whole
body, reducing the inferior faculties to obedience, and casting out by
degrees those images which had deceived and prepossessed them.
The matter which Christ presenteth to the soul, is, 1. Certain truth
from the Father of lights, set up against the prince and kingdom of
darkness, ignorance, error, and deceit. 2. Spiritual and everlasting
good, even God himself, to be seen, and loved, and enjoyed for ever,
against the tempter's temporal, corporal, and seeming good. Christ's
kingdom and work are advanced by light: he is for the promoting of
all useful knowledge; and therefore, for clear and convincing
preaching, for reading the Scriptures in a known tongue, and
meditating in them day and night, and for exhorting one another daily;
which Satan is against.
III. The means by which he worketh against Satan, are such as these:
1. Sometimes he maketh use of the very temper of the body as a
preparative; and (being Lord of all) he giveth such a temperature as
will be most serviceable to the soul; as a sober, deliberate, meek,
quiet, and patient disposition. But sometimes he honoureth his grace
by the conquest of such sins, as even bodily disposition doth
entertain and cherish.
2. Sometimes by his providence he withdraweth the matter of
temptations, that they shall not be too strong for feeble souls: but
sometimes his grace doth make advantage of them all, and leave them
for the magnifying of its frequent victories.
3. Sometimes he giveth his cause the major vote among the people, so
that it shall be a matter of dishonourable singularity not to be a
professed christian; and sometimes, but exceeding rarely, it is so
with the life of godliness and practice of christianity also. But
ordinarily, in the most places of the world, custom and the multitude
are against him, and his grace is honoured by prevailing against these
bands of Satan.
4. He maketh his ministers his principal instruments, qualifying,
disposing, and calling them to his work, and helping them in it, and
prospering it in their hands.
5. He maketh it the duty of every christian to do his part to carry on
the work; and furnisheth them with love, and compassion, and
knowledge, and zeal in their several measures.
6. He giveth a very strict charge to parents to devote their children,
with themselves, to God; encouraging them with the promise of his
accepting and blessing them; and commandeth them to teach them the
word of God with greatest diligence, and to bring them up in the
nurture and fear of God.
7. He giveth princes and magistrates their power, to promote his
kingdom, and protect his servants, and encourage the good, and
suppress iniquity, and further the obedience of his laws; though, in
most of the world, they turn his enemies, and he carrieth on his work
without them, and against their cruel persecuting opposition.
8. His light detecteth the nakedness of the devil's cause, and among
the sons of light, it is odious, and a common shame. And as "wisdom is
justified of her children," so the judgment of holy men condemning
sin, doth much to keep it under in the world.
9. His providence usually casteth the sinner that he will do good to,
into the bosom and communion of his holy church, and the familiar
company and acquaintance of the godly, who may help him by
instruction, affection, and example.
10. His providence fitteth all conditions to their good; but
especially helpeth them by seasonable, quickening afflictions. These
are the means which ordinarily he useth. But the powerful inward
operations of his Spirit, give efficacy to them all.
_Temptations to particular Sins, with Directions for Preservation and
Remedy._
In chap. i. part 2, I have opened the temptations which hinder sinners
from conversion to God: I shall now proceed to those which draw men to
particular sins. Here Satan's art is exercised, 1. In fitting his
baits to his particular use. 2. In applying them thereto.
_Tempt._ I. The devil fitteth his temptations to the sinner's age. The
same bait is not suitable to all. Children he tempteth to excess of
playfulness, lying, disobedience, unwillingness to learn the things
that belong to their salvation, and a senselessness of the great
concernment of their souls. He tempteth youth to wantonness, rudeness,
gulosity, unruliness, and foolish inconsiderateness. In the beginning
of manhood he tempteth to lust, voluptuousness, and luxury; or if
these take not, to designs of worldliness and ambition. The aged he
tempteth to covetousness, and unmovableness in their error, and
unteachableness and obstinacy in their ignorance and sin. Thus every
age hath its peculiar snare.
_Direct._ I. The remedy against this is, 1. To be distinctly
acquainted with the temptations of your own age; and watch against
them with a special heedfulness and fear. 2. To know the special
duties and advantages of your own age, and turn your thoughts wholly
unto those. Scripture hath various precepts for the various ages;
study your own part. The young have more time to learn their duty, and
less care and business to divert them; let them therefore be taken up
in obedient learning. The middle age hath most vigour of body and
mind; and therefore should do their Master's work with the greatest
vigour, activity, and zeal. The aged should have most judgment, and
experience, and acquaintedness with death and heaven; and therefore
should teach the younger, both by word and holy life.
_Tempt._ II. The tempter also fitteth his temptations to men's several
bodily tempers, (as I showed, p. 93.) The hot and strong he tempteth
to lust. The sad and fearful he tempteth to discouragement and
continual self-vexations; and to the fear of men and devils. Those
that have strong appetites, to gluttony and drunkenness. Children, and
women, and weak-headed people, to pride of apparel and trifling
compliment. And masculine, wicked unbelievers, to pride of honour,
parts, and grandeur, and to an ambitious seeking of rule and
greatness. The meek and gentle he tempteth to a yieldingness unto the
persuasions and will of erroneous and tempting persons. And those that
are more stiff, to a stubborn resistance of all that should do them
good. He found it most suitable to tempt a Saul to malice; David by a
surprise to lust; Absalom to ambition; Peter to fearfulness, and after
to compliance and dissimulation, to avoid the offence and displeasure
of the weak; Luther to rashness; Melancthon to fearfulness;
Carolostadius to unsettledness; Illiricus to inordinate zeal; Osiander
to self-esteem; (if historians have given them their due.) One shoe
fitteth not every foot.
_Direct._ II. Let your strictest watch be upon the sins of your
temperature. Far greater diligence and resolution is here necessary,
than against other sins. And withdraw the fuel, and strive against the
bodily distempers themselves. Fasting and labour will do much against
lust, which idleness and fulness continually feed. And so the rest
have their several cures. Know also what good your temper doth give
you special advantage for; and let it be turned unto that, and still
employed in it.
_Tempt._ III. The tempter suiteth his temptations to your estates, of
poverty or riches. The poor he tempteth to murmur and be impatient
under their wants, and distress themselves more with griefs and cares;
and to think that their sufferings may save them without holiness, and
that necessary labour for their bodies may excuse them from much
minding the concernments of their souls; and either to censure and
hate the rich through envy, or to flatter them for gain. The rich he
tempteth to an idle, time-wasting, voluptuous, fleshly, brutish life;
to excess in sleep, and meat, and drink, and sport, and apparel, and
costly ways of pride, and idle discourse, and visits, and compliments;
to love the wealth and honours of the world, and live in continual
pleasing of the flesh, to fare deliciously every day, and to waste
their time in unprofitableness, without a constant calling; and to be
unmerciful to the poor, and to tyrannize over their inferiors; Prov.
xxx. 8, 9; Luke xvi.
[Sidenote: 1 Tim. vi. 9.]
_Direct._ III. Here also observe regardfully where your danger lieth,
and there keep a continual watch. Let the poor remember, that if they
be not rich in grace, it is long of themselves; and if they be, they
have the chiefest riches, and have learnt in all estates to be
content: and have great cause to be thankful to God that thus helpeth
them against the love and pleasures of the world. Let the rich
remember, that they have not less to do than the poor, because they
have more committed to their trust; nor may they ever the more satisfy
the inordinate desires of the flesh. But they have more to do, and
more dangers to fear and watch against, as they have more of their
Master's talents to employ, and give account for at the last.
_Tempt._ IV. The devil suiteth his temptations to men's daily work and
business. If it be low, to be ashamed of it through pride; if it be
high, to be proud of it; if it be hard, to be weary and unfaithful in
it, or to make it take up all their minds and time; if it be about
worldly things, he tempteth them to be tainted by it with a worldly
mind; if they labour for themselves, he tempteth them to overdo; if
for others, he tempteth them to deceitful, unfaithful negligence and
sloth. If they are ministers, he tempteth them to be idle, and
unfaithful, and senseless of the weight of truth, the worth of souls,
the brevity of time, that so their sin may be the ruin or the loss of
many. If rulers, the devil useth his utmost skill to cause them to
espouse an interest contrary to the interest of truth and holiness;
and to cast some quarrel against Christ into their minds, and to
persuade them that his interest is against theirs, and that his
servants are their enemies.
_Direct._ IV. See that your work be lawful, and that God have called
you to it, and then take it as the service which he himself assigneth
to you, and do it as in his sight, and as passing to his judgment, in
obedience to his will: and mind not so much whether it be hard or
easy, low or high, as whether you are faithful in it. And if it be
sanctified to you, by your intending all to the pleasing of God,
remember that he loveth and rewardeth that servant that stoopeth to
the lowest work at his command, as much as him that is employed in the
highest. Do all for God, and walk in holiness with him, and keep out
selfishness, (the poison of your callings,) and observe the proper
danger of your places, and keep a constant watch against them.
_Tempt._ V. The devil suiteth his temptations to our several
relations. Parents he tempteth to be cold and regardless of the great
work of a wise and holy education of their children. Children he
tempteth to be disobedient, unthankful, void of natural affection,
unreverent dishonourers of their parents. Husbands he tempteth to be
unloving, unkind, impatient with the weaknesses of their wives; and
wives to be peevish, self-willed, proud, clamorous, passionate, and
disobedient. Masters he tempteth to use their servants only as their
beasts, for their own commodity, without any care of their salvation
and God's service; and servants he tempteth to be carnal, untrusty,
false, slothful, eye-servants, that take more care to hide a fault,
than not to commit it. Ministers and magistrates he tempteth to seek
themselves, and neglect their charge, and set up their own ends
instead of the common good; or to mistake the common good, or the
means that tendeth to it. Subjects and people he tempteth to dishonour
and murmur against their governors, and to censure them unjustly, and
to disobey them, and rebel; or else to honour, and fear, and serve
them more than God, and against God.
_Direct._ V. Here learn well the duties and dangers of your own
relations, and remember that it is much of your work to be faithful
and excellent in your relations. And mind not so much what other men
owe to you, as what you owe to God and them. Let masters, and
ministers, and magistrates first study and carefully practise their
own duties, and yet they must next see that their inferiors do their
duties, because that is their office: but they must be more desirous
that God be first served, and more careful to procure obedience to
him, than that they be honoured or obeyed themselves. Children,
servants, and subjects must be taken up in the well-doing of their
proper work; remembering that their good or hurt lieth far more upon
that, than upon their superiors' dealings with them, or usage of them.
As it is your own body, and not your superior's, which your soul doth
animate, nourish, and use, and which you have the continual sense and
charge of; so it is your own duty, and not your superiors', which you
have to do and to answer for, and therefore most to mind and talk of.
_Tempt._ VI. The tempter also suiteth his temptations to our
advantages, and hopes of rising or thriving in the world: he seeth
which is our rising or thriving way; and there he layeth his snares,
accommodated to our designs and ends, making some sinful omission or
commission seem necessary thereto. Either Balaam must prophesy against
the people of God, or else God must keep him from honour, by keeping
him from sin, Numb. xxiv. 11. If once Judas be set on, What will you
give me? the devil will teach him the way to gain: his way is
necessary to such sinful ends.
_Direct._ VI. Take heed therefore of overvaluing the world, and being
taken with its honour, pleasure, or prosperity; take heed, lest the
love of earthly things engage you in eager desires and designs to grow
great or rich. For if once your heart have such a design, you are gone
from God: the heart is gone, and then all will follow as occasion
calls for it. Understand these scriptures: Prov. xxiii. 4, "Labour not
to be rich." Prov. xxviii. 20, 22, "He that maketh haste to be rich
shall not be innocent.--He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye."
1 Tim. vi. 6, 9, "But they that will be rich fall into temptations and
a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in
destruction and perdition: for the love of money is the root of all
evil. But godliness with contentment is great gain." Jer. xlv. 5,
"Seek not great matters for yourselves." Be dead, to the world: fear
more the rising than the falling way. Love that condition best, which
fitteth thee for communion with God, or maketh thee the most
profitable servant to him; and hate that most, which is thy greatest
hinderance from these, and would most enslave thee to the world.
_Tempt._ VII. The tempter suiteth his temptations to our company: if
they have any error or sin, or are engaged in any carnal enterprise,
he will make them snares to us, and restless until they have insnared
us. If they love us not, he will make them continual provocations, and
set before us all their wrongs, and provoke us to uncharitableness and
revenge. If they love us, he will endeavour to make their love to us
to be the shoeing-horn or harbinger of their errors and evil ways, to
draw us to their imitation. He findeth something in all our company,
to make the matter of some temptation.
_Direct._ VII. Converse most with God: let faith make Christ and angels
your most regarded and observed company; that their mind and presence
may more affect you than the mind and presence of mortal men. Look not
at any man's mind, or will, or actions, without respect to God who
governeth, and to the rule by which they should all be suited, and to
the judgment which will open and reward them as they are. Never see man
without seeing God: see man only as a creature dependent on his Maker's
will. And then you will lament and not imitate him when he sinneth; and
you will oppose (and Christ saith "hate," Luke xiv. 26) and not be
seduced by him, when he would draw you with him to sin and hell: had
Adam more observed God than Eve he had not been seduced by his helper.
Then you will look on the proud, and worldly, and sensual, as Solomon on
the slothful man's vineyard, Prov. xxiv. 30-32, "I saw and considered it
well, I looked on it, and received instruction." You would not long for
the plague or leprosy, because it is your friend's disease.
_Tempt._ VIII. The tempter maketh advantage of other men's opinions or
speeches of you, or dealings by you; and by every one of them would
insnare you in some sin. If they have mean thoughts of you, or speak
despising or dishonouring words of you, he tempteth you by it to hate
them, or love them less, or to speak contemptuously of them. If they
applaud you, he tempteth you by it to be proud; if they wrong you, he
tempteth you to revenge; if they enrich you, or are your benefactors,
he would make their benefits a price to hire you to some sin, and make
you pay as dear for them as your salvation cometh to. If they scorn
you for religion, he would make you ashamed of Christ and his cause;
if they admire you, he would draw you by it to hypocrisy. If they
threaten you, he would draw you to sin by fear, as he did Peter; if
they deal rudely with you, he tempteth you to passion, and to requite
them with the like, and even to distaste religion itself, if men
professing religion be against you, or seem to do you any wrong. Thus
is every man a danger to his brother.
_Direct._ VIII. Discern in all men what there is of God to be your
help, and that make use of; and what there is of Satan, sin, and self,
and that take heed of. Look upon every man as a helper and a tempter;
and be prepared still, to draw forth his help, and resist his
temptation. And remember, that man is but the instrument; it is Satan
that tempteth you, and God that trieth you, by that man! Saith David
of Shimei, "The Lord hath bidden him;" that is, he is but God's rod to
scourge me for my sin, as my son himself is. As Satan was his
instrument in trying Job, not by God's effecting, but permitting the
sin: observe God and Satan in it, more than men.
_Tempt._ IX. His temptations also are suited to our fore-received
opinions and thoughts. If you have but let in one lustful thought, or
one malicious thought, he can make great advantage of that nest-egg to
gather in more; as a little leaven to leaven the whole lump: he can
roll it up and down, and do much to hatch it into a multitude. If you
are but tainted with any false opinion, or prejudice against your
teacher, your ruler, or your brother, he can improve it to such
increase, and raise such conclusions from it, and more from them, and
reduce them all to practice, as shall make observers with astonishment
say, Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
_Direct._ IX. Take heed what thoughts you first admit into your mind;
and especially cherish and approve none but upon very good trial and
examination. And if they prove corrupt, sweep clean your fantasy and
memory of them, that they prove not inhabitants, and take not up their
lodgings in you, or have not time to spawn and breed. And fill up the
room with contrary thoughts, and useful truth, and cherish them daily,
that they may increase and multiply; and then your hearts will be like a
well-peopled kingdom, able to keep their possession against all enemies.
_Tempt._ X. Also he fitteth his temptations to your natural and
acquired parts. That if you are weak, he may either discourage you; or
(which is more usual and dangerous) make you think better of them than
they are, and to think you know much, when it is next to nothing; and
to make you wise in your own eyes, and easily to receive an error, and
then to be confident in it: not to discern between things that differ;
but to be deceived into false zeal, and false ways, by the specious
pretences and shows of truth; and then to be zealous for the deceiving
of others. Also that you may be a dishonour to truth and godliness, by
your weakness and ill management of good causes; and may give them
away through your unskilfulness to the adversary. If you are of
stronger wits and parts, the tempter will draw you to despise the
weak; to take common gifts for special grace; or to undervalue
holiness and humility, and overvalue learning and acuteness: he will
tempt you (dangerously) to loathe the simplicity of christianity and
of the Scriptures, as to style and method; and to be offended at the
cross of Christ. So that such persons are usually in greater danger of
infidelity, heresy, pride, and insolent domineering over the flock of
Christ, than vulgar christians that have lower parts.
_Direct._ X. Labour to be well acquainted with yourselves. If you are
weak, know your weakness, that you may be humble, and fearful, and
seek for strength and help. If you are comparatively strong, remember
how weak the strongest are; and how little it is that the wisest know.
And study well the ends and use of knowledge; that all you know may be
concocted into love and holiness; and use it as remembering that you
have much to give account of.
_Tempt._ XI. Moreover the tempter will fetch advantage against you, from
your former life and actions. If you have gone out of the way to heaven,
he would harden you by custom, and make you think it such a disgrace or
trouble to return, as that it is as good go on, and put it to the
venture. If you have done any work materially good, while your heart and
course of life is carnal and worldly, he would quiet you in your sinful,
miserable state, by applauding the little good that you have done. If a
good man have erred or done ill, he will engage his honour in it, and
make him study to defend it, or excuse it, lest it prove his shame; and
tempt men, as he did David, to hide one sin with another. If he get hold
of one link, he will draw on all the chain of sin.
_Direct._ XI. Take heed therefore what you do; and foresee the end.
Let not the devil get in one foot: try your way, before you enter it.
But if you have erred, come off, and that thoroughly and betimes,
whatever it cost; for be sure it will cost more to go on. And if he
would make a snare of the good that you have done, remember that this
is to turn it into the greatest evil; and that there must be a
concurrence and integrity of good to make you acceptable, and to save
you: heart and life must be good to the end.
_Tempt._ XII. Lastly, he fitteth his temptations to the season. He
will take the season just when an evil thought is likest to take with
you; and when the winds and tide do serve him: that will take at one
time (when a man hath his wits and heart to seek) which would be
abhorred at another. In afflicting times he will draw you to deny
Christ, with Peter, or shift for yourselves by sinful means; in
prosperous times he will tempt you to security, worldliness, and
forgetfulness of the night and winter which approacheth: the timing
his temptations is his great advantage.
_Direct._ XII. Dwell as with God, and you dwell as in eternity, and
will see still that as time, so all the pleasure, and advantages, and
dangers, and sufferings of time, are things of themselves of little
moment. Keep your eye upon judgment and eternity, where all the errors
of time will be rectified, and all the inequalities of time will be
levelled, and the sorrows and joys that are transitory will be no
more; and then no reasons from the frowns or flatteries of the times
will seem of any force to you. And be still employed for God, and
still armed and on your watch, that Satan may never find you disposed
to take the bait.
_The Tempter's Method in applying his prepared Baits._
_Tempt._ I. The devil's first work is, to present the tempting bait in
all its alluring, deceiving properties; to make it seem as true as may
be to the understanding, and as good and amiable as may be to the will.
To say as much as can be said for an evil cause; he maketh his image of
truth and goodness as beautiful as he can: sin shall be sugared, and its
pleasure shall be its strength, Heb. xi. 25. Sin shall have its wages
paid down in hand, 2 Pet. ii. 15. He will set it out with full-mouthed
praises: O what a fine thing it is to be rich, and please the flesh
continually! to have command, and honour, and lusts, and sports, and
what you desire! Who would refuse such a condition that may have it? All
this will I give thee, was the temptation which he thought fit to
assault Christ himself with. And he will corrupt the history of time
past, and tell you that it went well with those that took his way, Jer.
xliv. 17. And for the future, he will promise them, that they shall be
gainers by it (as he did Eve) and shall have peace, though they please
their flesh in sinning: see Deut. xxix. 19.
_Direct._ I. In this case, first inquire what God saith of that which
Satan so commendeth. The commendations and motions of an enemy are to
be suspected. God is most to be believed. 2. Then consider not only
whether it be good, but how long it will be good; and what it will
prove at the end; and how we shall judge of it at the parting; and
withal consider what it tendeth to; whether it tend to good or evil;
and whether it be the greatest good that we are capable of. And then
you will see, that if there were no good, or appearance of good in it,
it could do a voluntary agent no hurt, and were not fit to be the
matter of a temptation: and you will see that it is temporal good set
up to deceive you of the eternal good, and to entice you into the
greatest evil and misery. Doth the devil show thee the world, and say,
"All this will I give thee?" Look to Christ, who showeth thee the
glory of the world to come, with all things good for thee in this
world, and saith more truly, "All this will I give thee." The world
and hell are in one end of the balance, and pardon, holiness, and
heaven are in the other. Which now wilt thou prefer? If the devil have
more to give thee and bid for thee than Christ, let him take thee.
_Tempt._ II. The tempter laboureth to keep God, and Christ, and heaven
out of sight, that they darken not the splendour of his bait; and to
hide those potent reasons from them, by which they might easily repel
the temptation; so that though they are well known and sure, and
Scripture be full of them, they shall none of them be ready at hand to
use, when the temptation cometh; so that to them they shall be all as
nothing: and this he doth by unbelief and inconsiderateness.
_Direct._ II. Live by faith. See that God the Father, the Redeemer,
and the Holy Spirit, dwell within you, and take up your hearts, and
your hopes be placed all on heaven, and that these be your very life
and business; and then you will always have that at hand which may
repel the tempter. A heart taken up with God and Christ, conversing in
heaven, is always fortified, and prepared to meet every temptation
with abhorrence. Let your souls be still possessed with as constant
apprehensions of the evil of sin, the danger of sinning, the presence,
authority, and holiness of God, the wrong that sin doth him, the hurt
it doth ourselves and others, and what it did to Jesus Christ, as you
have of the danger of fire, and water, and poison; and then the
tempter will not speed.
_Tempt._ III. It is the great care of the devil to keep out of sight,
that he be not seen himself in the temptation. As the angler keepeth
himself behind the bush, and the fowler hideth himself from the birds,
or else they would fear, and fly, and escape; so doth the devil use
all his art, to hide himself from the sinner's observation; that the
deluded soul shall little think that the devil is so near him, and
hath so great a hand in the business. If the ambitious or covetous
worldling saw the devil offer him the bait, and heard him say, "All
this will I give thee;" he would have the smaller list to take the
bait. If the devil appeared to the whoremonger, and brought him his
whore, and encouraged him to his filthiness, it would cool his lust:
or if he appeared to the drunkard, and presented him the cup, he would
have but little list to drink. If the proud and the malicious saw the
devil at their backs, rejoicing in their sin, and putting them on, it
might affright them half into their wits. Therefore the great
endeavour of the devil is, to persuade men that it is not he that
makes the motion to them: it is such a friend, or such a neighbour, or
gentleman, or minister, or wise man; it is not the devil! till the
fish is caught, and the bird is in the net, and then the author of all
appeareth, to kill them, and carry them away without any concealment.
_Direct._ III. Mark but the tendency and the manner of the
temptations, and you may perceive the author. Who else is it that is
so much against God, and against your everlasting happiness? Who else
is it that would so abuse your reason, to prefer things temporal
before things eternal, and the brutish pleasures of a corruptible
flesh before the interest of immortal souls? Who else so contradicteth
all the word of God? Read God's warnings, and he will tell you who it
is. Take every temptation then (whoever be the messenger) as if thou
sawest the devil standing by, and making the motion to thee, and
heardest himself exhort thee to the sin. Suppose you saw him
conducting you to the whore-house, the play-house, the ale-house, and
making you entertainment as the master of the game. How then would you
take it? and what would you do? Would you go, and be angry at the
precise preacher that would hinder you? and would you take the devil's
part? No, nature hath possessed you with a fear of him, and an enmity
to him: use it for your safety. It cannot be good for you that comes
from him. He hath a fouler face to appear to you in, than ever yet you
saw, when you have done his work, and are where he would have you. O
know with whom you have to do.
_Tempt._ IV. The tempter is most careful also to hide from men the
nature and tendency of the temptation itself; that they shall not know
that it is a temptation when they are tempted, but shall have nothing in
sight but the bait which they desire. The angler doth not only hide
himself from the fish, but also his rod, and line, and hook, as much as
he can. The fowler covereth his nets, so that either the fish and bird
shall not see the snare, or shall not know what it is, and what it is
there laid for: so when the bait of pleasure, and honour, and wealth is
presented by the devil, to the fornicator, gamester, proud, or covetous,
they shall not see what the devil is doing now, and what a game he is
playing for their souls! They shall not perceive the connexion that
there is between the pleasure and the sin, and the sin and the
threatening, and the threatening and the judgment, and the judgment and
the everlasting punishment. When Judas was bargaining with the
Pharisees, he knew not that the devil was in him driving on the match.
_Direct._ IV. Be wise and suspicious: blindness or fool-hardiness will
lead you into the snare. Be wise, that you may know the tendency of
every thing that is presented to your thoughts, and may be able to
perceive a danger. Be suspicious and cautelous, that you make a
sufficient trial, and go upon sure grounds, and avoid the very
appearance of evil: when it is hell that you fear, come not too near.
Play not as the fly about the candle: salvation is necessary; but
preferment, or wealth, or liberty, or credit, or life itself are not
necessary to you! Prove all things. Flatter not yourselves into the
snares by foolish hopes, and judging of things as the flesh would have
them to be, rather than as they are. If no danger appear, turn up all
coverings, and search and see that none be hidden. The devil hath his
gunpowder plots, and mines, which may blow you up before you are
aware. Not only lawfulness and indifferency, but great good is the
pretence for greatest evil.
_Tempt._ V. It is the tempter's care to bring the tempting object near
enough, or draw the sinner near enough to it. The net must come to the
fish, or the fish to the net. The distant fire will not burn the wood.
The devil's chief confidence is in the sensitive appetite, which
worketh strongliest at hand. If he get the drunkard into the
ale-house, and show him the cup, he hath half conquered him already;
but if he be scrupulous and modest, some one shall drink a health, or
importune him, and put the cup into his hand. The thief, with Achan,
shall see the bait, and the sight will work a covetous desire. The
glutton shall have the tempting dishes before him, and be at a table
which by variety of delicious food is fitted to become his snare;
whereas if he had nothing set before him, but the poor man's simple
food which hath nothing in it fit to tempt him, he might easily have
escaped. The fornicator shall have his beautiful dirt brought near
him, and presented to him in a tempting dress; for at a sufficient
distance there had been little danger. The ambitious person shall have
preferment offered him, or brought so fair to his hand, that with a
little seeking it may be attained. The fearful coward shall be
threatened with the loss of estate or life, and hear the report of the
cannons, guns, and drums of Satan. Peter is half conquered when he is
got among questioning company in the high priest's hall. Thus David,
thus Lot, thus ordinarily sinners are drawn into the snare.
_Direct._ V. As ever you would preserve your innocency and your souls,
fly as far from tempting objects as you can: I say, as you can,
without distrusting God in the neglect of a certain duty. A wife, or a
servant, that are bound, cannot fly; nor must we leave undone our
certain duty upon an uncertain danger, which may otherwise be avoided;
but keep off from the temptation at as great a distance as you can:
the safest course is the best when your souls lie at the stake: if it
be not necessary, plead not the lawfulness of what you do, when it is
a temptation to that which is unlawful. You say, it is lawful to wear
such curious ornaments, and set out yourselves in the neatest dress;
but is it lawful to be proud or lustful, or to consume your time
unprofitably? If not, tempt not yourselves or others to it. Keep away
from the place where the snare is laid. Look first to the end before
thou meddle with the beginning. Why should I eat that which I know I
cannot digest, but must cast it up again? And why should I taste that
which I must not eat? And why should I desire to have that set before
me, and to look upon that which I must not taste? Come not near if
thou wouldst not be taken. What dost thou at the ale-house with a cup
before thee, if thou wouldst not be drawn to excess of drink? If thou
be subject to excess in eating, make not thy own table thy temptation.
Fly from the temptation as thou wouldst do from hell, or from the
devil himself. See not the bait of lust, or come not near, if thou be
inclinable to lust: saith Solomon, "Remove thy way far from her, and
come not near the door of her house," Prov. v. 8. "For her end is
bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to
death, her steps take hold on hell," ver. 4, 5. "Her house inclineth
to death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go to her return
again, neither take they hold of the paths of life," chap. ii. 18, 19.
"Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death,"
chap. vii. 27. "Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for
him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Stolen waters are
sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that
the dead are there: and that her guests are in the depths of hell,"
chap. ix. 16-18. "Lust not after her beauty in thy heart, neither let
her take thee with her eye-lids.--Can a man take fire in his bosom and
his clothes not be burnt? Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not
be burnt?" chap. vi. 25, 27, 28. Remember that you pray daily, "Lead
us not into temptation:" and if you will run into it yourselves, are
not your prayers hypocritical and an abuse of God? If you would be
saved from sin, you must be saved in God's way; and that is, by flying
from temptations; and not drawing near, and gazing on forbidden
objects, and tempting yourselves: even as God's holy means must be
used by all that would come to holiness and heaven; so the devil's
must be avoided by him that would escape sin and hell. But if you
cannot remove far enough from the snare, then double your fear, and
watchfulness, and resolution: fly with Joseph, Gen. xxxix. 12, from
the sin, if you cannot go out of the house. How carefully should every
foot be placed, when we know that every step we tread is among snares!
Rule your senses if you cannot remove the bait: make Job's covenant
with your eyes, that you look not on that which would allure, Job
xxxi. 1. Let every sense have a constant watch.
_Tempt._ VI. The next great work of the tempter is, to give us the
fairest opportunities to sin, and to remove all impediments, and show
men encouraging hopes and invitations. He will show the thief which
way he may steal; and show the covetous man which way he may thrive,
and deceive, and overreach; and the ambitious man which way he may
rise; and the fornicator how he may obtain his desire, and sin
unknown; and then he tells them how easy it is; now no one seeth you;
you may do it without fear or shame. It is the devil's great care to
take all things out of the way that would affright, or hinder sinners;
that they may have full opportunity to invite them. Therefore he is
very desirous that public impediments should be all removed;
especially in a godly magistrate and minister, and that the common
disgrace of sinning may be taken off, and if it may be, turned against
religion, or fall on them that are the greatest adversaries to sin.
[Sidenote: Psal. ci. 3.]
_Direct._ VI. It is therefore a principal part of your wisdom and
watchfulness, to avoid the opportunities of sinning, and keep out as
many impediments as may be in your own way. It is a most foolish and
sinful thing in some men, who think it a brave thing to have power to
do hurt, though they pretend that they abhor the doing of it. He that
saith he hateth oppression, yet would have a power to oppress; to have
all men at his will and mercy he thinks is brave: so they that would
not be gluttonous would have a tempting table still before them,
presuming that their own will is a sufficient preservative against the
sin: so they that would not be insnared with lust, have yet a desire
to appear as comely, and lovely, and desirable as may be, and to be as
much beloved, that they may have other affections at command; and also
to have opportunity offered them, that they may sin if they will. And
is thy will so well established, mortified, and unchangeable, as to be
so far trusted? O foolish sinner! that no better knowest thyself; nor
observest thy danger; nor perceivest that this very desire to have the
power to do evil showeth a degree of the evil in thy heart, and that
thou art not yet so far from it as thou must be, if thou wouldst be
safe. Contrive thyself (if thou be wise and love thyself) into the
greatest difficulty of sinning that thou canst. Make it impossible, if
it may be done. The power is for the act. Desire not to be able to
sin, if thou wouldst not sin; not that natural power to do good should
be destroyed because it is also a power to do evil, but cast as many
blocks in the way of thy sinning as thou canst, till it amount to a
moral impossibility. Desire the strictest laws and governors, and to
be still in the eye of others, and contrive it that thou mayst have no
hope of secrecy. Contrive it so that it may be utter shame and loss to
thee if thou sin. If thou be tempted to fornication, never be private
with her or him that is thy snare. If thou be tempted to deceive and
rob those that trust thee, avoid the trust; or if ever thou have done
it, restore and confess, that shame may preserve thee.
_Tempt._ VII. Next the tempter importunately soliciteth our thoughts or
fantasies to feed upon the tempting thing: that the lustful person may
be thinking on the objects of his lusts; and the ambitious man thinking
on his desired honour; and the covetous man of his desired wealth, his
house, or lands, or gainful bargains; and the malicious man be thinking
of all the real or imaginary wrongs which kindle malice.
_Direct._ VII. Keep a continual watch upon your thoughts. Remember
that this is the common entrance of the greatest sins; and if they go
no further, the Searcher of hearts will judge thee for the adultery,
murder, and other sins of thy heart. But especially see that your
thoughts be so employed on better things, that sin may never find
them vacant.
_Tempt._ VIII. The tempter also is diligent to keep the end from the
sinner's eye, and to persuade him that there is no danger in it, and
that it will be as good at last as at first. He cannot endure a thought,
a word of death or judgment, unless he can first fortify the sinner by
some presumptuous hope, that his sins are pardoned, and his case is
good: either he will make them believe him, that there is no such danger
to the soul as should deter them; or else he keepeth them from thinking
of that danger. He is loth a sinner should so much as look into a grave,
or go to the house of mourning, and see the end of all the living, lest
he should lay it to heart, and thence perceive what worldly pleasure,
wealth, and greatness is, by seeing where it leaveth sinners. If one do
but talk of death or judgment, and the life to come, the devil will stir
up some scorn, or weariness, or opposition against such discourse. If a
sinner do but bethink himself in secret, what will become of him after
death, the devil will either allure him, or trouble him, and never let
him rest, till he have cast away all such thoughts as tend to his
salvation. He cannot endure when you see the pomp and pleasure of the
world, that you should think or ask, How long will this endure? and what
will it prove in the latter end?
[Sidenote: Psal. i.; xv.; Matt. xxv.]
_Direct._ VIII. Go to the holy Scriptures, and see what they foretell
concerning the end of godliness and sin: God knoweth better than the
devil, and is more to be believed. You may see in the word of God,
what will become of saints and sinners, godly and ungodly, at the
last, and what they will think and say when they review their present
life; and what Christ will say to them, and how he will judge them,
and what will be their reward for ever. This is the infallible
prognostication where you may foresee your endless state. In this
glass continually foresee the end. Never judge of any thing by the
present gust alone. Ask not only how it tasteth, but how it worketh,
and what will be the effects: remember that God's law hath inseparably
conjoined holiness and heaven, and sin unrepented of and hell; and
seeing these cannot be separated indeed, let them never be separated
from each other in your thoughts. Otherwise you will never understand
Christ or Satan. When Christ saith, "Wilt thou deny thyself, and take
up the cross and follow me?" his meaning is, shall I heal thy carnal,
worldly heart and life, and bring thee by grace to the sight of God in
endless glory? You will never understand what prayer, and obedience,
and holy living mean, if you see not the end, even heaven conjoined to
them. When the devil saith to the glutton, Eat also of this pleasant
dish; and to the drunkard, Take the other cup; and to the fornicator,
Take thy pleasure in the dark; and to the voluptuous, Go to the
play-house, or the gaming-house; come, play at cards or dice; his
meaning is, Come, venture upon sin, and fear not God's threatenings,
and refuse his word, and Spirit, and grace, that I may have thy
company among the damned, in the fire which never shall be quenched.
This is the true English of every temptation. Open thy ears then, and
whenever the devil or any sinner tempteth thee to sin, hear him as if
he said, I pray thee, leap into the flames of hell.
_Tempt._ IX. If the tempter cannot quickly draw men to the sin, he
will move them at least to abate their resolution against it, and to
deliberate about it, and hear what can be said, and enter into a
dispute with Satan or some of his instruments; telling them, that it
is a sign of falsehood which will not endure the trial, and that we
must prove all things. And while the sinner is deliberating and
disputing, the venom is working itself into his veins, and sense is
secretly undermining and betraying him, and deceiving his mind,
bribing his reason, and seducing his will: just as an enemy will treat
with those that keep a garrison, that, during the treaty, he may send
in spies, and find out their weakness, and corrupt the soldiers; so
doth the devil with the sinner.
[Sidenote: Gal. i. 16.]
_Direct._ IX. Remember that it is Christ, and not Satan, that you are
to hear. Truth is strong, and can bear the trial, before any competent
judge; but you are weak, and not so able to judge as you may imagine.
Ignorant, unskilful, and unsettled persons are easily deceived, be the
cause never so clear. If it be a cause untried by you, it is not
untried by all the godly, nor unknown to him that gave you the holy
Scriptures. If it be fit to be called in question and disputed, take
the help of able godly teachers or friends, and hear what they can
say: matters of endless life or death are not rashly to be ventured
on. But if it be a thing past dispute, in which you have been already
convinced and resolved, reject the tempter, and tell him, that you owe
him not so much service, as to dispute with him whether you should
care for your salvation? Else there will be no end, till you are
betrayed and undone: innocent Eve is deceived when once it comes to a
dispute. Be not like Balaam, that tempted God, and would not be
satisfied with his answer.
_Tempt._ X. Also the tempter overcometh very many, by making them
presumptuously confident of their own strength: saying, Thou art not
so weak as not to be able to bear a greater temptation than this.
Canst thou not gaze on beauty, or go among vain and tempting company,
and yet choose whether thou wilt sin? It is a child indeed that hath
no more government of themselves. Cannot thy table, thy cup, thy
house, thy lands, be pleasing and delectable, but thou must needs
over-love them, and turn them to sin?
_Direct._ X. O know thy own weakness, the treacherous enemy which thou
still carriest about thee, who is ready to open the back-door to the
devil! Remember that flesh is on the tempter's side, and how much it
can do with thee before thou art aware. Remember what an unsettled
wretch thou art, and how many a good purpose formerly hath come to
nothing, and how oft thou hast sinned by as small a temptation.
Remember that without the Spirit of Christ, thou canst do nothing, nor
stand against any assault of Satan; and that Christ giveth his Spirit
and help in his own way, and not to those that tempt him to forsake
them, by thrusting themselves into temptations. Shall ever mortal man
presume upon his own strength, after the falls of an Adam, a Noah, a
Lot, a David, a Solomon, a Hezekiah, a Josiah, a Peter? and after such
ruins of multitudes of professors, as our eyes have seen? "All these
things happened unto them for ensamples, and they are written for our
admonition, on whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him
that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall," 1 Cor. x. 11, 12.
_Tempt._ XI. It is a great project of the devil, and successful with
many, to draw them to venture on the sin, by showing them first the
effectual remedy, the abundant mercy of God, the sufficient
satisfaction made by Christ, the full, and free, and universal
promise; that these are sufficient to cleanse the soul of any sin,
therefore you need not fear.
[Sidenote: Rom. ix.]
[Sidenote: Heb. x. 26-29. 2 Thess. i. 10.]
_Direct._ XI. But God is just, as well as merciful; and there are
"vessels of wrath," as well as vessels of mercy. Judge how God will
use his mercy, and who shall have it, by his own word: for he knoweth
better than you, to whom, and how far to show mercy. Is the tempter
himself saved, for all God is merciful? And the gospel hath far sorer
punishment than the law, to the abusers of grace. Christ is the most
dreadful Judge to the wicked, as well as the tenderest Saviour to his
own. There is enough in his grace to save the penitent: but if you
will sin upon presumption that grace will save you, you have small
reason to think that you are penitent, or ever will be, without a very
merciful change. How many can you name that ever were converted and
forgiven, that lived wilfully in sin, because the remedy was
sufficient? I doubt not but many such have been recalled; but this is
not the way to hope: it is a terrible thing to sin deliberately and
wilfully, because of the greatness of mercy, or the sufficiency of the
death of Christ! No man but the penitent convert is saved by Christ;
and this is clean contrary to penitence and conversion. Christ doth
not as mountebanks, that wound a man, to show people how quickly their
balsams can cure him; or make a man drink a toad, to show the power of
their antidotes: but he cureth the diseases which he findeth, (in
believers,) but causeth none.
_Tempt._ XII. Also the tempter telleth the sinner, how certain, and
easy, and speedy a remedy he hath in his own power: it is but
repenting, and all sin is pardoned.
[Sidenote: James ii. 19.]
_Direct._ XII. 1. Is it in thy power? If so, the greater is thy sin,
that sinnest more when thou shouldst repent: if it be easy, what an
inexcusable wretch art thou that wilt not do it, but go on! 2. But
repentance is the gift of God, 2 Tim. ii. 25, 26; and is he like to give
it to them that wilfully abuse him in expectation of it? 3. As easy as
it is, it is but a few that truly repent and are forgiven, in comparison
of those that go on and perish. 4. The easiest repentance is so bitter,
that it is far easier to forbear the sin: it is better not wound
yourselves, than have the best salve, if you were sure of it. 5. The
repentance which is caused by mere fears of death and hell, without the
power of heavenly love to God and holiness, is but the repentance of the
damned, and never procureth pardon of sin: the devil hath such a
repentance, as well as such a faith, which will not save him.
_Tempt._ XIII. Satan also imboldeneth the sinner, by telling him how
many have repented and sped well, that sinned as bad or worse than
this. He tells him of Noah, and Lot, and David, and Peter, and the
thief on the cross, and Paul a persecutor, yea, and Manasseh, &c.
_Direct._ XIII. But consider whether any of those did thus sin,
because that others had escaped that sinned before them. And think of
the millions that never repented, and are condemned, as well as of the
few that have repented. Is repentance better than sin? Why then will
you sin? Is sin better than repentance? Why then do you purpose to
repent? Is it not base ingratitude to offend God wilfully, because he
hath pardoned many offenders, and is ready to forgive the penitent?
And should a man of reason wilfully make work for his own repentance,
and do that which he knoweth he shall wish with grief that he had
never done? If some have been saved that fell into the sea, or that
fell from the top of steeples, or that drunk poison, or were
dangerously wounded, will you therefore cast yourself into the same
case, in hope of being saved?
_Tempt._ XIV. The tempter persuadeth the sinner that it cannot be
that God should make so great a matter of sin, because the thoughts of
a man's heart, or his words or deeds, are matter of no great moment,
when man himself is so poor a worm; and whatever he doth, it is no
hurt to God: therefore you need not make such a matter of it.
_Direct._ XIV. If God so much regard us as to make us, and preserve us
continually, and to become our Governor, and make a law for us, and
judge us, and reward his servants with no less than heaven, then you may
easily see that he so much regardeth us, as to observe whether we obey
or break his laws. He that so far careth for a clock or watch, as to
make it and wind it up, doth care whether it go true or false. What do
these men make of God, who think he cares not what men do? Then he cares
not if men beat you, or rob you, or kill you, for none of this hurteth
God. And the king may say, if any murder your friends, or children, why
should I punish him? he hurt not me. But justice is to keep order in the
world, and not only to preserve the governor from hurt. God may be
wronged, though he be not hurt. And he will make you pay for it, if you
hurt others; and smart for it, if you hurt yourself.
_Tempt._ XV. The tempter laboureth to extenuate the sin, and make it
seem a little one; and if every little sin must be made such a matter
of, you will never be quiet.
_Direct._ XV. But still remember, 1. There is deadly poison in the
very nature of sin, as there is in a serpent, be he never so small.
The least sin is worse than the greatest pain that ever man felt; and
would you choose and say, it is little? The least sin is odious to
God, and had a hand in the death of Christ, and will damn you if it be
not pardoned; and should such a thing be made light of? And many sins
counted small may have great aggravations, such as the knowing,
deliberate, wilful committing of them is. To love a small sin, is a
great sin; especially to love it so well, that the remembrance of
God's will and love, of Christ, and heaven, and hell, will not suffice
to resolve you against it. Besides, a small sin is the common way to
greater: "When lust hath conceived, it brings forth sin, and sin, when
it is finished, brings forth death," James i. 14, 15. "Behold how
great a matter a little fire kindleth," chap. iii. 5. The horrid sins
of David and Peter had small beginnings. Mortal sicknesses seem little
matters at the first. Many a thousand have sinned themselves to hell,
that began with that which is accounted small.
_Tempt._ XVI. Also the devil draweth on the sinner, by promising him
that he shall sin but once, or but a very few times, and then do so no
more: he tells the thief, and the fornicator, that if they will do it
but this once, they shall be quiet.
_Direct._ XVI. But, O consider, 1. That one stab at the heart may prove
incurable. God may deny thee time or grace to repent. 2. That it is
easier to forbear the first time than the second; for one sin disposeth
the heart unto another. If you cannot deny the first temptation, how
will you deny the next? When you have lost your strength, and grieved
your helper, and strengthened your enemy and your snare, will you then
resist better wounded, than now when you are whole?
_Tempt._ XVII. But when the devil hath prevailed for once with the
sinner, he makes that an argument for a second: he saith to the thief,
and drunkard, and fornicator, it is but the same thing that thou hast
done once already; and if once may be pardoned, twice may be pardoned;
and if twice, why not thrice; and so on.
_Direct._ XVII. This is to let the devil get in a foot. A spark is
easier quenched than a flame; but yet remember that the longer the
worse: the oftener you sin, the greater is the abuse of the Spirit of
God, and the contempt of grace, and the wrong to Christ, and the
harder is repentance; and the sharper if you do repent, because the
deeper is your wound. Repent therefore speedily, and go no further,
unless you would have the devil tell you next, It is now too late.
_Tempt._ XVIII. The tempter maketh use of the greater sins of others,
to persuade men to venture upon less. Thou hearest other men curse,
and swear, and rail, and dost thou stick at idle talk? How many in the
world are enemies to Christ, and persecute his ministers and servants,
and dost thou make so great a matter of omitting a sermon, or a
prayer, or other holy duty?
_Direct._ XVIII. As there are degrees of sin, so there are degrees of
punishment: and wilt thou rather choose the easiest place in hell than
heaven? How small soever the matter of sin be, thy wilfulness, and
sinning against conscience, and mercies, and warnings, may make it
great to thee. Are great sinners so happy in thy eyes, that thou
wouldst be as like them as thou darest?
_Tempt._ XIX. Also he would imbolden the sinner, because of the
commonness of the sin, and the multitude that commit either that or
worse, as if it were not, therefore, so bad or dangerous.
_Direct._ XIX. But remember, that the more examples you have to take
warning by, the more inexcusable is your fall. It was not the number
of angels that fell, that could keep them from being devils and damned
for their sin: God will do justice on many as well as on one. The sin
is the greater, and therefore the punishment shall not be the less.
Make the case your own: will you think it a good reason for any one to
abuse you, beat you, rob you, because that many have done so before?
He should rather think, that you are abused too much already, and
therefore he should not add to your wrongs. If when many had spit in
Christ's face or buffeted him, some one should have given him another
spit or blow, as if he had not enough before, would you not have taken
him to be the worst and cruellest of them all? If you do as the most,
you will speed as the most.
_Tempt._ XX. It is a dangerous temptation when the devil proposeth
some very good end, and maketh sin seem the fittest, or the necessary
means to accomplish it: when he blindeth men so far as to think that
it is necessary to their salvation, or to other men's, or to the
welfare of the church, or progress of the gospel, or the pleasing of
God, then sin will be committed without regret, and continued in
without repentance; on this account it is that heresy, and
will-worship, and superstition are kept up: Col. ii. 18, 21-23,
"Having a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility, and neglecting
the body." It is for God that much of the wickedness of the world is
done against God: it is for the church and truth that papists have
murdered and persecuted so many.
_Direct._ XX. Remember that God needeth no sinful means to attain his
ends: he will not be beholden to the devil to do his work; he would
not have forbad it, if he would have had you done it. He is never at
such a loss, but he can find right means enough to perform his work
by: it is a great part of our wisdom which our salvation lieth on, to
choose and use right means, when we are resolved on a right end. It is
a horrible injury against God to entitle him to sin, and make it seem
necessary to his ends and honour. Good ends will not justify evil
actions. What sin so odious that hath not had good ends pretended for
it? Even Christ was murdered as a malefactor for good ends, at least
pretended, even to vindicate God's honour from blasphemy, and Cæsar
from injury, and the nation from calamity. And his disciples were
killed that God might be served by it, and pestilent troublers of the
world taken away, John xvi. 2; Acts xxiv. 5; xvii. 6.
_Tempt._ XXI. He would make us presume because we are God's children,
and special grace cannot be wholly lost, and we have found that once
we had grace, therefore we may venture as being safe.
_Direct._ XXI. But many thousands shall be damned, that once thought
they had the truth of grace. It is a hard controversy among learned
and godly men, whether some in a state of saving grace do not fall
from it and perish; but it is past controversy, that they shall perish
that live and die impenitently in wilful sin. To plead truth of grace
for encouragement in sin, is so much against the nature and use of
grace, as may make you question the truth of it. You can be no surer
that you have true grace, than you are sure that you hate all known
sin, and desire to be free from it. Christ teacheth you how to answer
such a horrid temptation, Matt. iv. 6, 7, "If thou be the Son of God,
cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge
over thee"--"Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Sonship, and
promises, and truth of grace, are incongruous arguments to draw you to
sin, and heinous aggravations of sin so committed.
_Tempt._ XXII. The devil oft most dangerously imitateth the Holy Ghost,
and comes in the shape of an angel of light: he will be for knowledge in
the gnostics; for unity and government in the papists; for mortification
in the friars; for free grace and tenderness of our brethren's
consciences in the libertines; for peace and mutual forbearance in the
Socinians; for zeal, self-denial, and fearlessness of men, and pretended
revelations and spirituality, in the quakers. He will be against heresy,
schism, error, disobedience, hypocrisy, pretendedly, in haters and
persecutors of holiness and reformation; and when he will seem
religious, he will be superstitious, and seem to outgo Christ himself.
_Direct._ XXII. Keep close to Christ, that you may know his voice from
the voice of strangers; and get holy wisdom to try the spirits, and to
discern between the things that differ: let the whole frame of truth
and godliness be in your head and heart, that you may perceive when
any would make a breach in any part of it. The devil setteth up no
good but in order to some evil. Therefore, examine whither it tendeth;
and not only what it is, but what use he would have you make of it.
And love no evil, because of any good that is pretended for it; and
dislike or reject no good, because of any evil use that is by others
made of it. And whatever doctrine is brought you, try it thus: 1.
Receive none that is against the certain nature, attributes, and
honour of God. 2. Nor any that is against the light or law of nature.
3. Nor any that is against the Scripture. 4. Nor any that is against
holiness of heart and life. 5. Nor any against charity and justice to
men. 6. Nor any (about matters to be ordered by men) that is against
order; nor any against government and the peace of church and state.
7. Nor any that is against the true unity, peace, and communion of
saints. 8. Nor any that is certainly inconsistent with great and
certain truths. Thus try the spirits, whether they be of God.
_Tempt._ XXIII. The tempter usually draweth men to one extreme, under
pretence of avoiding another; causing men to be so fearful of the
danger on one side, as to take no heed of that on the other side.
_Direct._ XXIII. Understand all your danger; and mark the latitude or
extent of God's commands; and watch on every side: and you must know
in what duties you are in danger of extremes and in what not. In those
acts of the soul that are purely rational, about your ultimate end,
you cannot do too much; as in knowing God, and loving him, and being
willing and resolved to please him. But passions may possibly go too
far, even about God, especially fear and grief; for they may be such
as nature cannot bear without distraction, death, or hinderance of
duty: but few are guilty of this. But towards the creature, passions
may easily exceed: and in external actions towards God or man there
may be excess. But especially in point of judgment, it is easy to
slide from extreme into extreme. And you must know in every duty you
do, and every sin which you avoid, and every truth you receive, what
is the contrary or extreme to that particular truth, or sin, or duty;
and keep it in your eye. If you do not thus watch, you will reel like
a drunken man from side to side, and never walk uprightly with God.
You will turn from prodigality to covetousness, from cruel persecution
to libertinism, or from libertinism to persecuting cruelty; from
hypocritical formality to hypocritical pretended spirituality, or from
enthusiasms and faction to dead formality. But of this I have spoken
at large, chap. v. part II. "Direction to Students."
_Tempt._ XXIV. On the contrary, the tempter usually pleadeth
moderation and prudence against a holy life, and accurate zealous
obedience to God; and would make you believe that to be so diligent in
duty and scrupulously afraid of sin, is to run into an extreme, and to
be righteous over-much, and to make religion a vexatious or
distracting thing, and that it is more ado than needs.
_Direct._ XXIV. This I have answered so oft, that I shall here say but
this: that God cannot be too much loved; nor heaven too much valued,
nor too diligently sought or obeyed; nor sin and hell be too much
avoided: nor doth any man need to fear doing too much, where he is
sure when he hath done his best to do too little. Hearken what men say
of this at death.
_Tempt._ XXV. The tempter would persuade us that one sin is necessary
to avoid another; and that of two evils you must choose the less, as
if there were no other way. Thus James and John did by sinful,
uncharitable zeal, desire to punish sin, Luke ix. 54. Peter would
sinfully fight against the sinful Jews, Matt. xxvi. 52. Thus he bids
men lie, to avoid some dishonour to God and religion; and persecute,
to preserve the unity of the church, and keep out sin; and commit a
lesser sin themselves to escape a greater.
_Direct._ XXV. This is to abuse God, as if he had made that necessary
which he forbids, and had not provided you lawful means enough to use
against every sin. This is wilfully to do that which you pretend you
are unwilling to do, even to sin. Of two evils avoid both, but be sure
you consent to neither.
_Tempt._ XXVI. He pleadeth christian liberty to entice to sin,
especially to sensuality. Hath not Christ purchased you liberty to use
the creatures? all things are yours. No men but the godly have just
title to them.
_Direct._ XXVI. He never purchased us liberty to abuse the creature,
as poison to hurt ourselves; to hinder mortification, and strengthen
our enemy, and our snare, and to steal away our hearts from God. It is
a liberty from sin, and not a liberty to sin, that Christ hath
purchased us.
_Tempt._ XXVII. He pleadeth the necessity of wife, children, estate,
life, &c. Necessity makes it lawful.
_Direct._ XXVII. There is no necessity of sinning. He cannot be
Christ's disciple, that thinks it more necessary to save his life, or
provide for wife and children, than to obey his Lord, Luke xiv. 26,
33. God must be trusted with these.
_Tempt._ XXVIII. But, saith the tempter, it is natural to lust, to
love honour, ease, pleasure, &c.; therefore it is no sin.
_Direct._ XXVIII. Nature is corrupted and sinful; and it is natural to
you to be rational, and to rule your sense and appetite by reason, and
not to do what lust or appetite desireth. Else man is but a beast.
_Tempt._ XXIX. But, saith the tempter, authority commandeth it; it is
your parent's or master's will, and you must obey.
_Direct._ XXIX. There is no power, but from God; therefore none against
him or above him. They must be obeyed in all things lawful, but not in
sin. They cannot save you nor themselves from the wrath of God.
_Tempt._ XXX. But, saith the tempter, you have promised or vowed that
you will do it, and are not at liberty.
_Direct._ XXX. The vow of a lawful thing must be kept; but if you vow
to sin, it is another sin to perform it, and to wrong God or man
because you have vowed to wrong him.
_Tempt._ XXXI. But, saith the tempter, it is a controversy, and many
learned and good men think it is no sin.
_Direct._ XXXI. You have the more reason to be fearful and cautelous,
when you see that the case is so obscure, and the snare so subtle, and
are sure that many learned and good men on one side or other are
deceived before you. Remember God is your King and Judge; who will not
take it for an excuse for sin, that learned or good men did it, or
defended it. Consult not with flesh and blood, but with God.
_Tempt._ XXXII. But, saith the tempter, will you be singular, and be
pointed or hooted at by all.
_Direct._ XXXII. In doctrine I will not be singular from the holy
catholic church of God; in worship I will not in singularity or schism
separate from the communion of saints: but in doctrine I will be
singular from infidels and heretics; and in a holy life I will be
singular from the ungodly, and profane, and sensual; lest if I do as
they, to avoid their scorns, I speed as they.
_Tempt._ XXXIII. But you are weak, and you cannot help it, till God
will give you grace to do it.
_Direct._ XXXIII. Therefore I must not be wilful, and negligent, and
rash, and do that evil which I may forbear, nor resist and refuse that
grace, and help, and mercy without which I can do nothing.
_Tempt._ XXXIV. But you repent, and ask God forgiveness through
Christ, every night, for the sins of the day.
_Direct._ XXXIV. Repenting is a sorrowful turning of the heart from
sin to God. You repent not if you turn not. To mock God with such
hypocritical praying and repenting is itself a heinous sin. Will you
take it for repenting, if a man that spits in your face and beateth
you, shall do it every day, and ask you forgiveness at night, and
purpose to do it still, because he asked forgiveness.
_Tempt._ XXXV. But every man sinneth daily: you do but as the best men
in the world do.
_Direct._ XXXV. No true christian that is justified hath any sin but
what he hateth more than loveth, and would fain be rid of, and
striveth against in the use of holy means. He hath no beloved sin
which he would not part with, but had rather keep than leave.
_Tempt._ XXXVI. But those that seem strict and godly are hypocrites,
and secretly as bad as you.
_Direct._ XXXVI. This is just like the devil, the accuser of those
that are sanctified and justified by Christ, the father of malice and
lies; to charge that on them, which he confesseth is secret and he
cannot prove. So he said of Job, that if he were touched in his estate
or body, he would forsake his godliness; but he was found a liar. But
be it how it will, I am sure I must be holy or I shall not see God,
and if "I live after the flesh I shall die," Heb. xii. 14; Rom. viii.
9, 13; and other men's misery will be no ease to me.
_Tempt._ XXXVII. But, saith the tempter, if you will not sin, come but
near it, and do that which is lawful.
_Direct._ XXXVII. Indeed we must not run into a contrary extreme,
under pretence of flying far enough from sin; but if you keep out of
other sin, you cannot go too far from any. To be near sin, is to be
near God's wrath, and near that which tendeth to hell fire. And to
come near it is the common way of coming to it. He that could wish he
might do it, is infected at the heart already. Keep a tender
conscience, and a constant sense of the danger of sinning.
_Tempt._ XXXVIII. It is a great snare, when sin is got into credit, 1.
By putting fair names upon it, calling luxury and gluttony keeping a
good house, and a good table; tippling is called drinking a cup with a
friend; lust and filthiness are called love; worldliness is called
thriftiness and good husbandry; idleness and loss of time are called
the leisure of a gentleman; slothfulness is called a not being too
worldly; time-wasting sports are called recreations; pride is called
decency and handsomeness; proud revenge is called honour and
gallantry; Romish cruelty, and persecution, and wasting the church,
are called keeping up order, obedience, and unity; disobedience to
superiors is called not fearing man; church divisions are called
strictness and zeal. 2. Especially if a sin be not in disgrace among
the stricter sort, it greatly prepareth men to commit it: as breaking
the Lord's day, beyond sea, in many reformed churches: and at home,
spiritual pride, censoriousness, backbiting, disobedience, and church
divisions are not in half that disgrace among many professors of
strictness, as they deserve, and as swearing, &c. are.
_Direct._ XXXVIII. Remember, that whatever be the name or cloak, God
judgeth righteously, according to the truth; names may deceive us, but
not our Judge. And sin is still in disgrace with God, however it be
with men. Remember, the comelier the paint and cover are, the greater
is the danger, and the more watchful and cautelous we should be. It is
not imperfect man, but the perfect law of God, which must be our rule.
The great success of this temptation should deter us from entertaining
it. What abundance of mischief hath it done in the world!
_Tempt._ XXXIX. Sometimes, the devil tempteth men to some heinous sin,
that, if he prevail not, at least he may draw them into a less. As
cheating charterers will ask twice the price of their commodity, that,
by abating much, they may make you willing to give too much. He that
would get a little, must ask a great deal. He will tempt you to
drunkenness, and if he draw you but to tippling or time-wasting, he
hath got something. If he tempt you to fornication, and he get you
but to some filthy thoughts, or immodest, lascivious talk or actions,
he hath done much of that which he intended. If he tempt you to some
horrid cruelty, and you yield but to some less degree, or to some
unjust or uncharitable censures, you think you have conquered, when it
is he that conquereth.
_Direct._ XXXIX. Remember, that the least degree of sin is sin, and
"death the wages of it," Rom. vi. 23. Think not that you have escaped
well, if your hearts have taken any of the infection, or if you have
been wounded any where, though it might have been worse. If the tempter
had tempted you no further but to a lustful, malicious, or proud thought
or word, you would perceive that if he prevail, he conquereth: so may
you when he getteth this much, by a shameless asking more.
_Tempt._ XL. He tempteth us sometimes, to be so fearful and careful
against one sin, or about some one danger, as to be mindless of some
other, and lie open to his temptation. Like a fencer, that will seem
to aim all at one place, that he may strike you in another while you
are guarding that. Or like an enemy, that giveth all the alarm at one
end of the city, that he may draw the people thither, while he
stormeth in another place. So Satan makes some so afraid of
worldliness, that they watch not against idleness; or so fearful of
hardheartedness, and deadness, and hypocrisy, that they watch not
against passion, neglect of their callings, or dejectedness; or so
fearful of sinning or being deceived about their salvation, that they
fear not the want of love, and joy, and thankfulness for all the mercy
they have received, nor the neglect of holy praise to God.
_Direct._ XL. Remember, that as obedience must be entire and universal,
so is Satan's temptation against all parts of our obedience; and our
care must extend to all if we will escape. It would cure your inordinate
fear in some one point, if you extended it to all the rest.
_Tempt._ XLI. Sometimes, by the suddenness of a temptation, he
surpriseth men before they are aware.
_Direct._ XLI. Be never unarmed nor from your watch; especially as to
thoughts, or sudden passions, or rash words, which are used to be
committed for want of deliberation.
_Tempt._ XLII. Sometimes, he useth a violent earnestness, especially
when he getteth passion on his side. So that reason is borne down; and
the sinner saith, I could not forbear.
_Direct._ XLII. But remember, that the very eager unruliness of your
passion is a sin itself: and that none can compel you to sin: and that
reason must deliberate and rule; or else any murder or wickedness may
have the excuse of urgent passions.
_Tempt._ XLIII. Sometimes he useth the violence of men: they threaten
men, to frighten them into sin.
_Direct._ XLIII. But are not God and his threatenings more to be
feared? Do men threaten imprisonment, or death, or ruin? And doth not
God threaten everlasting misery? And can he not defend you from all
that man shall threaten, if it be best for you? See the portion of the
fearful, Rev. xxi. 8.
_Tempt._ XLIV. Sometimes variety of temptations distracteth men, that
they do not look to all at once.
_Direct._ XLIV. Remember, that one part of the city unguarded, may
lose the whole in a general assault.
_Tempt._ XLV. Sometimes he ceaseth, to make us secure, and lay by our
arms, and then surpriseth us.
_Direct._ XLV. Take heed of security, and Satan's ambushments.
Distinguish between cessation and conquest. You conquer not every time
that you have rest and quietness from temptation. Till the sin be
hated, and the contrary grace or duty in practice, you have not at all
overcome: and when that is done, yet trust not the devil or the flesh;
nor think the war will be shorter than your lives, for one assault
will begin where the former ended. Make use of every cessation but to
prepare for the next encounter.
_Tempt._ XLVI. He will tempt you to take striving for overcoming; and
to think, because you pray and make some resistance, that sin is
conquered; and because your desires are good, all is well.
_Direct._ XLVI. But all that fight do not overcome. "If a man strive for
masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully," 1 Tim. ii.
5. "Many will seek to enter and shall not be able," Luke xiii. 24.
_Tempt._ XLVII. He followeth the sinner with frequency and
importunity, till he weary him, and make him yield.
_Direct._ XLVII. 1. Remember that Christ is as importunate with thee
to save thee, as the devil can be to damn thee; and which then should
prevail? 2. Be you as constant in resistance; be as oft in prayer and
other confirming means. Do as Paul, 2 Cor. xii. 7, 8, who prayed
thrice, (as Christ did in his agony,) when the prick in the flesh was
not removed. 3. Tempt not the tempter, by giving him encouragement. A
faint denial is an invitation to ask again. Give him quickly a flat
denial, and put him out of hope, if you would shorten the temptation.
_Tempt._ XLVIII. Lastly, the devil would sink the sinner in despair,
and persuade him now it is too late.
_Direct._ XLVIII. Observe his design, that it is but to take off that
hope which is the weight to set the wheels of the soul a going. In all
he is against God and you. In other sins he is against God's
authority: in this he is against his love and mercy. Read the gospel,
and you will find that Christ's death is sufficient; the promise is
universal, full, and free; and that the day of grace is so far
continued till the day of death, and no man shall be denied it that
truly desireth it. And that the same God that forbiddeth thy
presumption, forbiddeth also thy despair.
_Temptations to draw us off from Duty._
_Tempt._ I. The greatest temptation against duty is, by persuading men
that it is no duty. Thus in our days we have seen almost all duty cast
off by this erroneous fancy. One saith, That the holy observation of
the Lord's day is not commanded of God in Scripture. Another saith,
What Scripture have you for family prayer, or singing psalms, or
baptizing infants, or praying before and after sermon, or for your
office, ordination, tithes, churches, &c. Another saith, That church
government and discipline are not of divine institution. Another
saith, That baptism and the Lord's supper were but for that age. And
thus all duty is taken down, instead of doing it.
_Direct._ I. Read and fear, Matt. v. 19, "Whosoever shall break one of
these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called
the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach
them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."
Denying duty is too easy a way of evading obedience to serve turn.
Denying the laws that bind you to public payments will not save you
from them; but for all that, if you deny, you must be distrained on.
And God will make it dearer to you, if you put him to distrain on you
for duty. Must he go to law with you for it? He will quickly show you
law for it, and prove that it was your duty. Open your doubts to able
men, and you will hear more evidence than you know; but if pride and
false-heartedness blind you, you must bear your punishment.
_Tempt._ II. Saith the tempter, It is a duty to weak ones, but not for
you: you must not be still under ordinances, in the lower form: every
day must be a sabbath to you, and every bit a sacrament, and every
place as a church: you must live above ordinances in Christ.
_Direct._ II. We must live above Mosaical ordinances, Col. ii. 18, 21;
but not above Christ's ordinances: unless you will live above
obedience and above the government of Christ.[109] Hath not Christ
appointed the ministry, and church helps, "till we all come to a
perfect man?" Eph. iv. 13; and promised to "be with them to the end of
the world?" Matt. xxviii. 20. It is befooling pride that can make you
think you have no need of Christ's instituted means.
_Tempt._ III. But thou art unworthy to pray or receive the sacrament:
it is not for dogs.
_Direct._ III. The wilful, impenitent refusers of grace, are unworthy.
The willing soul, that fain would be what God would have him, hath an
accepted worthiness in Christ.
_Tempt._ IV. But while you doubt, you do it not in faith; and
therefore to you it is sin.
_Direct._ IV. But is it not a greater sin to leave it undone? Will
doubting of all duty excuse you from it? Then you have an easy way to be
free from all! Do but doubt whether you should believe in God, or
Christ, or love him, or live a godly life, and it seems you think it
will excuse you. But if you doubt whether you should feed your child,
you deserve to be hanged for murdering it, if you famish it. If you
doubt of duty, it is duty still, and you are first bound to lay by your
doubts. But things indifferent, left to your choice, must not be done
with a doubting conscience: it was of such things that Paul spake.
_Tempt._ V. The devil puts somewhat still in the way, that seemeth
necessary, to thrust out duty.
_Direct._ V. God hath not set you work which he alloweth you no time
for. Is all your time spent in better things? Is it not your carnal
mind that makes you think carnal things most needful? Christ saith,
"One thing is needful," Luke x. 42. "Seek first the kingdom of God and
his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you," Matt.
vi. 33. Had you that love and delight in holiness as you should, you
would find time for it. An unwelcome guest is put off with any excuse.
Others, as poor as you, can find time for duty, because they are
willing. Set your business in order, and let every thing keep its
proper place, and you may have time for every duty.
_Tempt._ VI. But you are so unable and unskilful to pray, to learn,
that it is as good never meddle with it.
_Direct._ VI. Set yourselves to learn, and mark those that have skill;
and do what you can. You must learn by practice. The unskilfullest
duty is better than none. Unworded groans come oft from the Spirit of
God, and God understandeth and accepteth them, Rom. viii. 26, 27.
_Tempt._ VII. It will be so hard and long to learn, that you will
never overcome it.
_Direct._ VII. Willingness and diligence have the promise of God's help.
Remember, it is a thing that must be done. When your own disuse and sin
hath made it hard, will you put God and your souls off with that as an
excuse? If you had neglected to teach your child to speak or go when it
is young, should he therefore never learn? Will you despair, and let go
all your hope on this pretence? or will you hope to be saved without
prayer and other holy duty? How foolish are both these! Sick men must
eat, though their stomachs be against it; they cannot live else.
_Tempt._ VIII. But thou findest thou art but the worse for duty, and
never the better for it.
_Direct._ VIII. Satan will do what he can to make it go worse with you
after than before. He will discourage you if he can, by hindering your
success, that he may make you think it is to no purpose: so, many
preachers, because they have fished long and catched nothing, grow
cold and heartless, and ready to sit down and say, as Jer. xx. 9, "I
will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name." So in
prayer, sacrament, reproof, &c. the devil makes great use of this,
What good hath it done thee? But patience and perseverance win the
crown. The beginning is seldom a time to perceive success: the
carpenter is long at work before he rear a house; nature brings not
forth the plant or birth the first day. Your life-time is your working
time. Do your part, and God will not fail on his part. It is his part
to give success; and dare you accuse him, or suspect him? There is
more of the success of prayer to be believed than to be felt. If God
have promised to hear he doth hear, and we must believe it whether we
feel it or not. Prayers are often heard long before the thing is sent
us that we prayed for: we pray for heaven, but shall not be there till
death. If Moses's message to Pharaoh ten times seem lost, it is not
lost for all that. What work would ever have been done, if on the
first conceit of unsuccessfulness it had been given off? Be glad that
thou hast time to plough and sow, to do thy part, and if God will give
thee fruit at last.
_Tempt._ IX. But, saith the tempter, it goeth worse with thee in the
world, since thou settest thyself to read, and pray, and live
obediently; thou hast been poorer, and sicker, and more despised
since, than ever before: Jer. xx. 8, Thou art "a derision daily, every
one mocketh thee." This thou gettest by it.
_Direct._ IX. He began not well, that counted not that it might cost
him more than this to be a holy christian. If God in heaven be not
enough to be thy portion, never serve him, but find something better
if thou canst. He that cannot lose the world cannot use it as he
ought. If thou hadst rather be at the devil's finding and usage than
at God's, thou art worthy to speed accordingly. Nay, if thou think thy
soul itself worse, remember that we are not worst when we are troubled
most: physic makes sick, when it works aright.
_Tempt._ X. Satan filleth many with abundance of scruples about every
duty, that they come to it as sick persons to their meat, with a
peevish, quarrelling disposition. This aileth, and that aileth it;
something is still amiss, that they cannot get it down; this fault the
minister hath in praying or preaching; or the other circumstance is
amiss, or the other fault is in the company that join with them: and
all is to turn them off from all.
_Direct._ X. But do you mend the matter by casting off all, or by
running into greater inconveniences? Is not their imperfect prayer and
communion better than your idle neglect of all, or unwarrantable
division? It is a sign of an upright heart to be most about
heart-observation, and quarrelsome with themselves; and the mark of
hypocrites to be most quarrelsome against the manner of other men's
performances, and to be easily driven by any pretences from the
worship of God and communion of saints.
_Tempt._ XI. The devil will set one duty against another: reading
against hearing; praying against preaching; private against public;
outward and inward worship against each other; mercy and justice, piety
and charity, against each other; and still labour to eject the greater.
_Direct._ XI. The work of God is an harmonious and well-composed
frame: if you leave out a part you spoil the whole, and disadvantage
yourselves in all the rest; place them aright, and each part helpeth
and not hindereth another; plead one for another, but cast by none.
_Tempt._ XII. The commonest and sorest temptation is by taking away
our appetite to holy duties, by abating our feeling of our own
necessity: when the soul is sleepy and feeleth no need of prayer, or
reading, or hearing, or meditating, but thinks itself tolerably well
without it; or else grows sick and is against it, and troubled to use
it; so that every duty is like eating to a sick stomach, then it is
easy to tempt it to neglect or omit many a duty: a little thing will
serve to put it by, when men feel no need of it.
_Direct._ XII. O keep up a lively sense of your necessities: remember
still that time is short, and death is near, and you are too unready.
Keep acquaintance with your hearts and lives, and every day will tell
you of your necessities, which are greatest when they are least
perceived.
_Tempt._ XIII. The tempter gets much by ascribing the success of holy
means to our own endeavour, or to chance, or something else, and
making us overlook that present benefit, which would greatly encourage
us: as when we are delivered from sickness or danger upon prayer, he
tells you so you might have been delivered if you had never prayed.
Was it not by the physician's care and skill, and by such an excellent
medicine? If you prosper in any business, Was it not by your own
contrivance and diligence?
_Direct._ XIII. This separating God and means, when God worketh by
means, is the folly of atheists. When God heareth thy prayer in
sickness or other danger, he showeth it by directing the physician or
thyself to the fittest means, and blessing that means; and he is as
really the cause, and prayer the first means, as if he wrought thy
deliverance by a miracle. Do not many use the same physician, and
medicine, and labour, and diligence, who yet miscarry? Just
observation of the answers of prayer might do much to cure this. All
our industry may say as Peter and John, Acts iii. 12, "Why look ye so
earnestly on us, as if by our own power or holiness we had done this?"
when God is glorifying his grace, and owning his appointed means.
_Tempt._ XIV. Lastly, the devil setteth up something else in
opposition to holy duty, to make it seem unnecessary. In some he sets
up their good desires, and saith, God knoweth thy heart without
expressing it; and thou mayst have as good a heart at home as at
church. In some he sets up superstitious fopperies of man's devising,
instead of God's institution. In some he pretendeth the Spirit against
external duty, and saith, The Spirit is all; the flesh profiteth
nothing. Yea, in some he sets up Christ himself against Christ's
ordinances, and saith, It is not these, but Christ, that profits you.
_Direct._ XIV. This is distracted contradiction: to set Christ against
Christ, and the Spirit against the ordinances of the Spirit. Is it not
Christ and the Spirit that appointed them? Doth he not best know in
what way he will give his grace? Can you not preserve the soul and
life, without killing the body? Cannot you have the water, and value
the cistern or spring, without cutting off the pipes that must convey
it? O wonderful! that Satan could make men so mad, as this reasoning
hath showed us that many are in our days. And to set up superstition
or pretend a good heart against God's worship, is to accuse him that
appointed it of doing he knew not what, and to think that we are wiser
than he! and to show a good heart by disobedience, pride, contempt of
God and of his mercies!
_Temptations to frustrate holy Duties, and make them
ineffectual._
The devil is exceeding diligent in this: 1. That he may make the soul
despair, and say, Now I have used all means in vain, there is no hope.
2. To double the sinner's misery by turning the very remedy into a
disease. 3. To show his malice against Christ, and say, I have turned
thy own means to thy dishonour.
Consider, therefore, how greatly we are concerned to do the work of
God effectually. Means well used are the way to more grace, to
communion with God, and to salvation; but ill used, they dishonour and
provoke him, and destroy ourselves, like children that cut their
fingers with the knife, when they should cut their meat with it.
_Tempt._ I. Duty is frustrated by false ends: as, 1. To procure God to
bear with them in their sin (whereas it is the use of duty to destroy
sin). 2. To make God satisfaction for sin (which is the work of
Christ). 3. To merit grace (when the imperfection merits wrath). 4. To
prosper in the world and escape affliction, Jam. iv. 3 (and so they
are but serving their flesh, and desiring God to serve it). 5. To
quiet conscience in a course of sin (by sinning more in offering the
sacrifice of fools, Eccles. v. 1, 2). 6. To be approved of men (and
verily they have their reward, Matt. vi. 5). 7. To be saved when they
can keep the world and sin no longer (that is, to obtain that the
gospel may all be false and God unjust).
_Direct._ I. First see that the heart be honest, and God, and heaven,
and holiness most desired, else all that you do will want right ends.
_Tempt._ II. When ignorance or error make men take God for what he is
not, thinking blasphemously of him, as if he were like them, and liked
their sins, or were no lover of holiness, they frustrate all their
worship of him.
_Direct._ II. Study God in his Son, in his word, in his saints, in his
works: know him as described before, chap. iii. direct. iv. And see
that your wicked corrupted hearts, or wilful forgetting him, blind not
your understandings.
_Tempt._ III. To come to God in ourselves and out of Christ, and use
his name but customarily, and not in faith and confidence.
_Direct._ III. Know well your sin, and vileness, and desert, and the
justice and holiness of God; and then you will see that if Christ
reconcile you not, and justify you not by his blood, and do not sanctify
and help you by his Spirit, and make you sons of God, and intercede not
for you, there is no access to God, nor standing in his sight.
_Tempt._ IV. The tempter would have you pray hypocritically, with the
tongue only, without the heart: to put off God in a few customary
words, with seeming to pray (as they do the poor, James ii. with a few
empty words) either in a form of words not understood, or not
considered, or not felt and much regarded; or in more gross hypocrisy,
praying for the holiness which they will not have, and against the sin
which they will not part with.
_Direct._ IV. O fear the holy, jealous, heart-searching God, that
hateth hypocrisy, and will be worshipped seriously in spirit and
truth, and will be sanctified of all that draw near him, Lev. x. 3;
and saith, they "worship him in vain, that draw nigh him with the
lips, when the heart is far from him," Matt. xv. 8, 9. See God by
faith, as present with thee, and know thyself, and it will awaken thee
to seriousness. See Heb. iv. 13; Hos. viii. 12, 13.
_Tempt._ V. He would destroy faith and hope, and make you doubt
whether you shall get any thing by duty.
_Direct._ V. But, 1. Why should God command it, and promise us his
blessing if he meant not to perform it? 2. Remember God's
infiniteness, and omnipresence, and all-sufficiency: he is as verily
with thee, as thou art there: he upholdeth thee: he showeth by his
mercies, that he regardeth thee; and by his regarding lower things:
and if he regard thee, he doth regard thy duties. It is all one with
him to hear thy prayers, as if he had never another creature to regard
and hear. Believe then, and hope and wait upon him.
_Tempt._ VI. Sometimes the tempter will promise you more by holy duty,
than God doth, and make you expect deliverance from every enemy, want,
and sickness, and speedier deliverance of soul, than ever God
promised; and all this is, to make you cast away all as vain, and
think God faileth you, when you miss your expectations.
_Direct._ VI. But God will do all that he promiseth, but not all that
the devil or yourselves promise. See what God promiseth in his word.
That is enough for you. Make that and no more the end of duties.
_Tempt._ VII. The tempter usually would draw you from the heart and
life of duty, by too much ascribing to the outside: laying too much on
the bare doing of the work, the giving of the alms, the hearing of the
sermons, the saying the words, the handsome expression, order, manner;
which in their places are all good, if animated with spirit, life, and
seriousness.
_Direct._ VII. Look most and first to the soul in duty, and the soul of
duty. The picture of meat feedeth not; the picture of fire warmeth not;
fire and shadows will not nourish us: God loveth not dead carcasses
instead of spiritual worship: we regard not words ourselves, further
than they express the heart. Let the outer part have but its due.
_Tempt._ VIII. He tempteth you to rest in a forced, affected,
counterfeit fervency, stirred up by a desire to take with others.
_Direct._ VIII. Look principally at God and holy motives, and less at
men, that all your fire be holy, fetched from heaven.
_Tempt._ IX. He would keep you in a lazy, sluggish coldness, to read,
and hear, and pray as asleep, as if you did it not.
_Direct._ IX. Awake yourselves with the presence of God, and the great
concernment of what you are about, and yield not to your sloth.
_Tempt._ X. He would make you bring a divided, distracted heart to
duty, that is half about your worldly business.
_Direct._ X. Remember God is jealous, your business with him is great,
much lieth on it; call off your hearts, and let them not stay behind:
all the powers of your souls are little enough in such a work, Ezek.
xxxiii. 31.
_Tempt._ XI. Ignorance, unskilfulness, and unacquaintedness with duty,
is a great impediment to most.
_Direct._ XI. Learn by study joined with practice. Be not weary, and
difficulties will be overcome.
_Tempt._ XII. Putting duty out of its place, and neglecting the season
that is fittest, makes it oft done slightly.
_Direct._ XII. Redeem time, and despatch other business, that idleness
deprive you not of leisure; and do all in order.
_Tempt._ XIII. Neglecting one duty is the tempter's snare to spoil
another. If he can keep you from reading, you will not understand well
what you hear. If he keep you from meditating, you will not digest what
you hear or read. If he keep you from hearing, you will want both matter
and life for prayer, and meditation, and conference. If he keep you from
godly company, you will be hindered in all, and in the practice: no one
is omitted, but you are disadvantaged by it in all the rest.
_Direct._ XIII. Observe how one duty helpeth another, and take all
together each one in its place.
_Tempt._ XIV. Sometimes the tempter doth call you off to other duty,
and puts in unseasonable motions to that which in its time is good; he
interrupts prayer by meditation, he sets seeming truth against love,
and peace, and concord.
_Direct._ XIV. Still know which duties are greatest, and which is the
due season for each, and do all in order.
_Tempt._ XV. He spoileth duty, by causing you to do it only as a duty,
and not as a means for the good of your own souls; or only as a means,
and not as a duty. If you do it only as duty, then you will not be
quickened to it by the ends and benefits, nor carried by hope, nor fit
all to the end, nor be so fervent or vigorous in it, as the sense of
your own good would make you be. And if you do it only as a means, and
not as a duty, then you will give over or faint, when you want or
question the success: whereas, the sense of both would make you
vigorous and constant.
_Direct._ XV. Keep under the sense of God's authority, that you may
feel yourselves bound to obey him, whatever be the success; and may
resolve to wait in an obedient way. And withal, admire his wisdom in
fitting all duties to your benefit, and commanding you nothing but
what is for your own or others' good, or to his honour: and mark the
reason and tendency of all, and your own necessity.
_Tempt._ XVI. The tempter hindereth you in duty, as well as from duty,
by setting you a quarrelling with the minister, the words, the company,
the manner, the circumstances; that these things may divert your
thoughts from the matter, or distract your mind with causeless scruples.
_Direct._ XVI. Pray and labour for a clear judgment, and an upright,
self-judging, humble heart, which dwelleth most at home, and looketh
most at the spiritual part, and affecteth not singularity.
_Tempt._ XVII. The tempter spoileth duty by your inconstancy; while
you read or pray so seldom, that you have lost the benefit of one
duty, before you come to another, and cool by intermissions.
_Direct._ XVII. Remember that it is not your divertisement, but your
calling, and is to your soul as eating to your bodies.
_Tempt._ XVIII. Sometimes Satan corrupteth duty by men's private
passions, interest, and opinions, making men, in preaching and
praying, to vent their own conceits and spleen, and inveigh against
those that differ from them, or offend them, and profane the name and
work of God; or proudly to seek the praise of men.
_Direct._ XVIII. Remember that God is most jealous in his worship, and
hateth hypocritical profaneness above all profaneness. Search your
hearts, and mortify your passions; and especially selfishness,
remembering that it is a poisonous and insinuating sin, and will
easily hide itself with a cloak of zeal.
_Tempt._ XIX. False-hearted reservedness is a most accursed corrupter
of holy duty; when the soul is not wholly given up to God, but sets
upon duty from some common motive; as, because it is in credit, or to
please some friend, purposing to try it awhile, and leave it if they
like it not.
_Direct._ XIX. Fear God, thou hypocrite, and halt not between two
opinions. If the Lord be God, obey and serve him with all thy heart;
but if the devil and the flesh be better masters, follow them, and let
him go.
_Tempt._ XX. Lastly, The tempter hindereth holy duty much, by
wandering thoughts, and melancholy perplexities, and a hurry of
temptations, which torment and distract some christians, so that they
cry out, I cannot pray, I cannot meditate; and are weary of duty, and
even of their lives.
_Direct._ XX. This showeth the malice of the tempter, and thy
weakness; but, if thou hadst rather be delivered from it, it hindereth
not thy acceptance with God. Read for this, what I have said chap. v.
part 2. at large; especially in my Directions to the Melancholy.
I have been forced to put off many things briefly here, which deserved
a larger handling; and I must now omit the discovery of those
temptations, by which Satan keepeth men in sin, when he hath drawn
them into it. 2. And those by which he causeth declining in grace, and
apostasy. 3. And those by which he discomforteth true believers;
because else this direction would swell to a treatise; and most will
think it too long and tedious already, though the brevity which I use,
to avoid prolixity, doth wrong the matter through the whole.
Acquaintance with temptations is needful to our overcoming them.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: For serving Christ our Master in good works.]
_Grand Direct._ X. Your lives must be laid out in doing God service,
and doing all the good you can, in works of piety, justice, and
charity, with prudence, fidelity, industry, zeal, and delight;
remembering that you are engaged to God, as servants to their lord and
master; and are intrusted with his talents, of the improvement whereof
you must give account.
The next relation between Christ and us, which we are to speak of,
(subordinate to that of King and subjects,) is this of Master and
servants. Though Christ saith to the apostles, John xv. 15,
"Henceforth I call you not servants, but friends;" the meaning is not
that he calleth them not servants at all, but not mere servants, they
being more than servants, having such acquaintance with his counsels
as his friends. For he presently, verse 20, bids them "Remember that
the servant is not greater than his lord." And John xiii. 13, "Ye call
me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am." And Matt. xxiii. 8,
"One is your Master, Christ; and all ye are brethren:" so ver. 10. And
the apostles called themselves the "servants of Jesus Christ," Rom. i.
1; and 1 Cor. iv. 1; Phil. i. 1: and "of God," Tit. i. 1, &c.
[Sidenote: What it is to be Christ's servants.]
He is called our Master, and we his servants, because he is our
Rector, _ex pleno dominio_, with absolute propriety; and doth not give
us laws to obey, while we do our own work, but giveth us his work to
do, and laws for the right doing of it: and it is a service under his
eye, and in dependence on him for our daily provisions, as servants on
their lord. God hath work for us to do in the world; and the
performance of it he will require. God biddeth his sons "Go work to
day in my vineyard," Matt. xxi. 28; and expecteth that they do it,
ver. 31. His "servants" are as "husbandmen," to whom "he intrusteth
his vineyard, that he may receive the fruit," ver. 33, 34, 41, 43.
"Faithful servants shall be made rulers over his household," Matt.
xxiv. 45, 46. Christ delivereth to his servants his talents to
improve, and will require an account of the improvement at his coming,
Matt. xxv. 14. Good works, in the proper, comprehensive sense, are all
actions internal and external, that are morally good; but in the
narrower acceptation, they are works, not only formally good, as acts
of obedience in general, but also materially good, such as a servant
doth for his master, that tend to his advantage, or the profit of some
other, whose welfare he regardeth. Because the doctrine of good works
is controverted in these times, I shall first open it briefly, and
then give you the directions.
1. Nothing is more certain, than that God doth not need the service of
any creature; and that he receiveth no addition to his perfection or
felicity from it; and, consequently, that on terms of commutative
justice, (which giveth one thing for another, as in selling and
buying,) no creature is capable of meriting at his hands.
2. It is certain, that on the terms of the law of works, (which
required perfect obedience as the condition of life,) no sinner can do
any work so good, as in point of distributive, governing justice,
shall merit at his hands.
3. It is certain, that Christ hath so fulfilled the law of works, as
to merit for us.
4. The redeemed are not masterless, but have still a Lord, who hath
now a double right to govern them. And this Governor giveth them a
law: and this law requireth us to do good works, as much as we are
able, (though not so terribly, yet) as obligingly as the law of works:
and by this (of Christ) we must be judged: and thus we must be judged
according to our works: and to be judged is nothing else but to be
justified or condemned. Such works therefore are rewardable according
to the distributive justice of the law of grace, by which we must be
judged. And the ancient fathers, who (without any opposition) spoke of
good works as meritorious with God, meant no more, but that they were
such as the righteous Judge of the world will reward according to the
law of grace, by which he judgeth us. And this doctrine being agreed
on as certain truth, there is no controversy with them, but whether
the word merit was properly or improperly used: and that both
Scripture and our common speech alloweth the fathers' use of the word,
I have showed at large in my "Confession."
5. Christ is so far from redeeming us from a necessity of good works,
that he died to restore us to a capacity and ability to perform them,
and hath new-made us for that end. Tit. ii. 14, "He gave himself for
us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a
peculiar people, zealous of good works." Eph. ii. 10, "For we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them."
6. Good works opposed to Christ, or his satisfaction, merit,
righteousness, mercy, or free grace in the matter of justification or
salvation, are not good works, but proud self-confidence and sin. But
good works, in their due subordination to God's mercy, and Christ's
merits and grace, are necessary and rewardable.
7. Though God need none of our works, yet that which is good
materially pleaseth him, as it tendeth to his glory, and to our own
and others' benefit, which he delighteth in.
8. It is the communicating of his goodness and excellencies to the
creature, by which God doth glorify himself in the world; and in
heaven, where is the fullest communication, he is most glorified.
Therefore the praise which is given to the creature, who receiveth all
from him, is his own praise. And it is no dishonour to God, that his
creature be honoured, by being good, and being esteemed good:
otherwise God would never have created any thing, lest it should
derogate from himself; or he would have made them bad, lest their
goodness were his dishonour; and he would be most pleased with the
wicked, and least pleased with the best, as most dishonouring him. But
madness itself abhorreth these conceits.
9. Therefore, as an act of mercy to us, and for his own glory, (as at
first he made all things very good, so) he will make the new creature
according to his image, which is holy, and just, and good, and will use
us in good works; and it is our honour, and gain, and happiness to be so
used by him. As he will not communicate light to the world without the
sun (whose glory derogateth not from his honour); so will he not do good
works in the world immediately by himself only, but by his servants,
whose calling and daily business it must be, as that which they are made
for, as the sun is made to give light and heat to inferior things, Eph.
ii. 10. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven," Matt, v. 16. Christ
was far from their opinion that think all good works that are attributed
to good men are dishonourable to God.[110]
10. He is most beholden to God, that is most exercised in good works.
The more we do, the more we receive from him: and our very doing
itself is our receiving; for it is he that "giveth us both to will and
to do," by his operation in us, Phil. ii. 13; even "he, without whom
we can do nothing," John xv. 5.
11. The obligation to good works, that is, to works of piety, justice,
and charity, is essential to us as servants of the Lord. We are
practical atheists, if we do not works of piety to God: we are rebels
against God, and enemies to ourselves, and unmeet for human society, if
we do not the works which are good for ourselves, and for others, if we
have ability and opportunity. This is our fruit which God expecteth; and
if we bear it not, he will hew us down, and cast us into the fire.
12. Though doing no hurt will not serve turn, without doing good, yet
it is not the same works that are required of all, nor in the same
degree, but according to every man's talent and opportunities, Matt.
xxv. 14, 15, &c.
13. God looketh not only nor principally at the external part of the
work, but much more to the heart of him that doth it; nor at the
length of time, but at the sincerity and diligence of his servants.
And therefore, though he is so just, as not to deny the reward which
was promised them, to those that have borne the burden and heat of the
day; yet he is so gracious and bountiful, that he will give as much to
those that he findeth as willing and diligent, and would have done
more if they had had opportunity, Matt. xx. 12-15. You see in all
this, what our doctrine is about good works, and how far those papists
are to be believed, who persuade their ignorant disciples, that we
account them vain and needless things.
_Directions for faithful serving Christ, and doing good._
_Direct._ I. Be sure that you have that holiness, justice, and charity
within, which are the necessary principles of good works.--For "a good
tree will bring forth good fruit, and an evil tree evil fruit. Make
the tree good, and the fruit good. A good man out of the good treasure
of his heart, bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the
evil treasure of his heart, bringeth forth evil things." As out of the
heart proceed evil works, Matt. xv. 19, 20, so out of the heart must
good works come, Matt. vii. 16-20. Can the dead do the works of the
living? or the unholy do the works of holiness? or the unrighteous do
the works of justice? or the uncharitable do the works of charity?
Will he do good to Christ in his members on earth, who hateth them? Or
will he not rather imprison them, than visit them in prison; and
rather strip them of all they have, than feed and clothe them? Or if a
man should do that which materially is good, from pride, or other
sinful principles, God doth not accept it, but taketh all sacrifice
but as carrion that is offered to him without the heart.
_Direct._ II. Content not yourselves to do some good extraordinarily on
the by, or when you are urged to it; but study to do good, and make it
the trade or business of your lives.--Having so many obligations, and so
great encouragements, do what you do with all your might. If you would
know whether you are servants to Christ, or to the flesh, the question
must be, which of these have the main care and diligence of our lives;
for as every carnal act will not prove you servants to the flesh, so
every good action will not prove you the servants of Christ.
_Direct._ III. Before you do any work, consider whether you can truly
say, it is a service of God, and will be accepted by him. See therefore
that it be done, 1. To his glory, or to please him. 2. And in obedience
to his command.--Mere natural actions, that have no moral good or evil
in them, and so belong not to morality, these belong not to our present
subject; as being not the matter of rational (or at least of
obediential) choice. Such as the winking of the eye, the setting of this
foot forward first, the taking of this or that meat, or drink, or
instrument, or company, or action, when they are equal, and it is no
matter of rational (or obediential) choice, &c. But every act that is to
be done deliberately and rationally, as matter of choice, must be
moralized, or made good, by doing it, 1. To a right end; and, 2.
According to the rule. "Whether we eat, or drink, or whatsoever we do,
(that is matter of rational choice,) must be done by us to the glory of
God," 1 Cor. x. 31. All works tend not alike to his glory; but some more
immediately and directly, and others remotely; but all must ultimately
have this end. Even servants that labour in their painful work, must "do
it as to the Lord, and not (only, or ultimately) to men; not with
eye-service as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ," from whom
they must have their greatest reward or punishment, Eph. vi. 5-8; Col.
iii. 22-25. All the comforts of food, or rest, or recreation, or
pleasure which we take, should be intended to fit us for our Master's
work, or strengthen, cheer, and help us in it. Do nothing, deliberately,
that belongs to the government of reason, but God's service in the
world; which you can say, he set you on.
_Direct._ IV. Set not duties of piety, justice, or charity against
each other, as if they had an enmity to each other; but take them as
inseparable, as God hath made them.--Think not to offer God a
sacrifice of injury, bribery, fraud, oppression, or any uncharitable
work. And pretend not the benefit of men, or the safety of societies
or kingdoms, for impiety against the Lord.[111]
_Direct._ V. Acquaint yourselves with all the talents which you
receive from God, and what is the use to which they should be
improved.--Keep thus a just account of your receivings, and what goods
of your Master's is put into your hands. And make it a principal part
of your study, to know what every thing in your hand is good for to
your Master's use; and how it is that he would have you use it.
_Direct._ VI. Keep an account of your expenses; at least, of all your
most considerable talents; and bring yourselves daily or frequently to a
reckoning, what good you have done, or endeavoured to do. Every day is
given you for some good work. Keep therefore accounts of every day (I
mean, in your conscience, not in papers). Every mercy must be used to
some good: call yourselves therefore, to account for every mercy, what
you have done with it for your Master's use. And think not hours and
minutes, and little mercies, may be past without coming into the
account. The servant that thinks he may do what he list with shillings
and pence, and that he is only to lay out greater sums for his master's
use, and lesser for his own, will prove unfaithful, and come short in
his accounts. Less sums than pounds must be in our reckonings.
_Direct._ VII. Take special heed that the common thief, your carnal
self, either personal or in your relations, do not rob God of his
expected due, and devour that which he requireth.--It is not for nothing
that God calleth for the first-fruits. "Honour the Lord with thy
substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy
barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst forth with new
wine," Prov. iii. 9, 10. So Exod. xxiii. 16, 19; xxxiv. 22, 26; Lev. ii.
12, 14; Nehem. x. 35; Ezek. xx. 40; xliv. 30; xlviii. 14. For if carnal
self might first be served, its devouring greediness would leave God
nothing. Though he that hath godliness with contentment hath enough, if
he have but food and raiment, yet there will be but enough for
themselves and children, where men have many hundreds or thousands a
year, if once it fall into this gulf. And indeed, as he that begins with
God hath the promise of his bountiful supplies, so he whose flesh must
first be served, doth catch such an hydropic thirst for more, that all
will but serve it: and the devil contriveth such necessities to these
men, and such uses for all they have, that they have no more to spare
than poorer men; and they can allow God no more but the leavings of the
flesh, and what it can spare, which commonly is next to nothing.) Indeed
though holy uses in particular were satisfied with first-fruits and
limited parts, yet God must have all, and the flesh (inordinately or
finally) have none. Every penny which is laid out upon yourselves, and
children, and friends, must be done as by God's own appointment, and to
serve and please him. Watch narrowly, or else this thievish carnal self
will leave God nothing.
_Direct._ VIII. Prefer greater duties (_cæteris paribus_) before lesser;
and labour to understand which is the greater, and to be preferred.--Not
that any real duty is to be neglected: but we call that by the name of
duty which is materially good, and a duty in its season; but formally,
indeed, it is no duty at all, when it cannot be done without the
omission of a greater. As for a minister to be praying with his family,
or comforting one afflicted soul, when he should be preaching publicly,
is to do that which is a duty in its season, but at that time is his
sin. It is an unfaithful servant that is doing some little char, when he
should be saving a beast from drowning, or the house from burning, or
doing the greater part of his work.
_Direct._ IX. Prudence is exceeding necessary in doing good, that you
may discern good from evil, discerning the season, and measure, and
manner, and among divers duties, which must be preferred.--Therefore
labour much for wisdom, and if you want it yourself, be sure to make
use of theirs that have it, and ask their counsel in every great and
difficult case. Zeal without judgment hath not only entangled souls in
many heinous sins, but hath ruined churches and kingdoms, and under
pretence of exceeding others in doing good, it makes men the greatest
instruments of evil. There is scarce a sin so great and odious, but
ignorant zeal will make men do it as a good work. Christ told his
apostles, that those that killed them, should think they did God
service. And Paul bare record to the murderous, persecuting Jews,
"that they had a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge," Rom. x.
2. The papists' murders of christians under the name of heretics, hath
recorded it to the world, in the blood of many hundred thousands, how
ignorant, carnal zeal will do good, and what sacrifice it will offer
up to God.[112]
_Direct._ X. In doing good, prefer the souls of men before the body,
_cæteris paribus_. To convert a sinner from the error of his way is to
save a soul from death, and to cover a multitude of sins, Jam. v.
20.--And this is greater than to give a man an alms. As cruelty to
souls is the most heinous cruelty, (as persecutors and soul-betraying
pastors will one day know to their remediless woe,) so mercy to souls
is the greatest mercy. Yet sometimes mercy to the body is in that
season to be preferred (for every thing is excellent in its season).
As if a man be drowning or famishing, you must not delay the relief of
his body, while you are preaching to him for his conversion; but first
relieve him, and then you may in season afterwards instruct him. The
greatest duty is not always to go first in time; sometimes some lesser
work is a necessary preparatory to a greater; and sometimes a corporal
benefit may tend more to the good of souls than some spiritual work
may. Therefore I say still, that prudence and an honest heart are
instead of many directions: they will not only look at the immediate
benefit of a work, but to its utmost tendency and remote effects.
_Direct._ XI. In doing good, prefer the good of many, especially of
the church or commonwealth, before the good of one or few.[113]--For
many are more worth than one; and many will honour God and serve him
more than one: and therefore both piety and charity require it. Yet
this also must be understood with a _cæteris paribus_; for it is
possible some cases of exception may be found. Paul's is a high
instance, that "could have wished himself accursed from Christ" for
the sake of the Jews, as judging God's honour more concerned in all
them than in him alone.
_Direct._ XII. Prefer a durable good that will extend to posterity,
before a short and transitory good.--As to build an alms-house is a
greater work than to give an alms, and to erect a school than to teach
a scholar; so to promote the settlement of the gospel and a faithful
ministry is the greatest of all, as tending to the good of many, even
to their everlasting good. This is the pre-eminence of good books
before a transient speech, that they may be a more durable help and
benefit. Look before you with a judicious foresight; and as you must
not do that present good to a particular person, which bringeth
greater hurt to many; so you must not do that present good to one or
many, which is like to produce a greater and more lasting hurt. Such
blind reformers have used the church, as ignorant physicians use their
patients, who give them a little present ease, and cast them into a
greater misery, and seem to cure them with a dose of opium or the
Jesuit's powder, when they are bringing them into a worse disease than
that which they pretend to cure. Oh when shall the poor church have
wiser and foreseeing helpers!
_Direct._ XIII. Let all that you do for the church's good be sure to
tend to holiness and peace; and do nothing under the name of a good
work, which hath an enmity to either of these.--For these are to the
church as life and health are to the body; and the increase of its
welfare is nothing else but the increase of these. Whatever they
pretend, believe none that say they seek the good and welfare of the
church, if they seek not the promoting of holiness and peace: if they
hinder the powerful preaching of the gospel, and the means that
tendeth to the saving of souls, and the serious, spiritual worshipping
of God, and the unity and peace of all the faithful; and if they
either divide the faithful into sects and parties, or worry all that
differ from them, and humour them not in their conceits;--take all
these for such benefactors to the church, as the wolf is to the flock,
and as the plague is to the city, or the fever to the body, or the
fire in the thatch is to the house. "The wisdom from above is first
pure, then peaceable, gentle," &c. "But if ye have bitter envying and
strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth: this
wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish;
for where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil
work," Jam. iii. 14-18.
_Direct._ XIV. If you will do the good which God accepteth, do that
which he requireth; and put not the name of good works upon your sins,
nor upon unnecessary things of your own invention; nor think that any
good must be accomplished by forbidden means.--None know what pleaseth
God so well as himself. Our ways may be right in our own eyes, and
carnal wisdom may think it hath devised the fittest means to honour God,
when he may abominate it, and say, Who required this at your hand? And
if we will do good by sinning, we must do it in despite of God, who is
engaged against our sins and us, Rom. iii. 8. God needeth not our lie to
his glory: if papists think to find at the last day their foppish
ceremonies, and superstition, and will-worship, their "touch not, taste
not, handle not," to be reckoned to them as good works; or if Jesuits or
enthusiasts think to find their perjury, treasons, rebellions, or
conspiracies numbered with good works; or the persecuting of the
preachers and faithful professors of godliness to be good works; how
lamentably will they find their expectations disappointed!
_Direct._ XV. Keep in the way of your place and calling, and take not
other men's works upon you without a call, under any pretence of
doing good.--Magistrates must do good in the place and work of
magistrates; and ministers in the place and work of ministers; and
private men in their private place and work; and not one man step into
another's place, and take his work out of his hand, and say, I can do
it better: for if you should do it better, the disorder will do more
harm than you did good by bettering his work. One judge must not step
into another's court and seat, and say I will pass more righteous
judgment. You must not go into another man's school, and say, I can
teach your scholars better; nor into another's charge or pulpit, and
say, I can preach better. The servant may not rule the master, because
he can do it best; no more than you may take another man's wife, or
house, or lands, or goods, because you can use them better than he. Do
the good that you are called to.
_Direct._ XVI. Where God hath prescribed you some particular good work
or way of service, you must prefer that before another which is
greater in itself.--This is explicatory or limiting of Direct. viii.
The reason is, because God knoweth best what is pleasing to him, and
"obedience is better than sacrifice." You must not neglect the
necessary maintenance of wife and children, under pretence of doing a
work of piety or greater good; because God hath prescribed you this
order of your duty, that you begin at home (though not to stop there).
Another minister may have a greater or more needy flock; but yet you
must first do good in your own, and not step without a call into his
charge. If God have called you to serve him in a low and mean
employment, he will better accept you in that work, than if you
undertook the work of another man's place, to do him greater service.
_Direct._ XVII. Lose not your resolutions or opportunities of doing
good by unnecessary delays.--Prov. iii. 27, 28, "Withhold not good
from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to
do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to-morrow I
will give; when thou hast it by thee."--Prov. xxvii. 1, "Boast not
thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring
forth." It is two to one, but delay will take away thine opportunity,
and raise such unexpected diversions or difficulties as will frustrate
thine intent, and destroy the work. Take thy time, if thou wilt do thy
service: it is beautiful in its season.
_Direct._ XVIII. Yet present necessity may make a lesser work to be
thy duty, when the greater may better bear delay.--As to save a man's
life in sickness or danger, when you may after have time to seek the
saving of his soul. Not only works of mercy may be thus preferred
before sacrifice, but the ordinary conveniences of our lives; as to
rise, and dress us, and do other business, may go before prayer, when
prayer may afterwards be done as well or better, and would be hindered
if these did not go before.
_Direct._ XIX. Though, _cæteris paribus_, the duties of the first
table are to be preferred before those of the second, yet the greater
duties of the second table must be preferred before the lesser duties
of the first.--The love of God is a greater duty than the love of man
(and they must never be separated); but yet we must prefer the saving
a man's life, or the quenching a fire in the town, before a prayer, or
sacrament, or observation of a sabbath. David ate the shew-bread, and
the disciples rubbed out the corn on the sabbath day, because the
preserving of life was a greater duty than the observing of a sabbath,
or a positive ceremonial law. And Christ bids the Pharisees, "Go,
learn what this meaneth,--I will have mercy, and not sacrifice:" the
blood of our brethren is an unacceptable means of pleasing God, and
maintaining piety, or promoting men's several opinions in religion.
_Direct._ XX. Choose that employment or calling (so far as you have
your choice) in which you may be most serviceable to God.--Choose not
that in which you may be most rich or honourable in the world; but
that in which you may do most good, and best escape sinning.
[Sidenote: Is doing good or avoiding sin to be most looked at in our
choice of callings.]
_Quest._ But what if in one calling I am most serviceable to the
church, but yet have most temptations to sin? And in another I have
least temptations to sin, but am least serviceable to the church,
(which is the ordinary difference between men in public places and men
in solitude,) which of these should I choose?
_Answ._ 1. Either you are already engaged in your calling, or not; if
you are, you must have greater reasons to desert it than such as might
require you at first not to choose it. 2. Either the temptations to sin
are such as good men ordinarily overcome, or they are extraordinarily
great. You may more warrantably avoid such great ones as you are not
like to overcome than small or ordinary ones. 3. Either you are well
furnished against these temptations, or not: if not, you must be more
cautelous in approaching them; but if you are, you may trust God the
boldlier to help you out. 4. Either they are temptations to ordinary
human frailties in the manner of duty, or temptations to more dangerous
sin: the first will not so much warrant you to avoid doing good for to
escape them as the latter will. 5. The service that you are called to
(being supposed great and necessary to be done by somebody) is either
such as others will do better, or as well, if you avoid it, or not. If
the church or common good receive no detriment by your refusal, you may
the more insist on your own preservation; but if the necessities of the
church or state, and the want of fitter instruments, or any apparent
call of God, do single you out for that service, you must obey God,
whatever the difficulties and temptations are: for no temptations can
necessitate you to sin; and God that calleth you, can easily preserve
you: but take heed what you thrust yourselves upon.
[Sidenote: A calling may be changed.]
_Quest._ But may I change my calling for the service of the church,
when the apostle bids every man abide in the calling in which he was
called? 1 Cor. vii. 20.
_Answ._ The apostle only requireth men to make no unlawful change
(such as is the forsaking of a wife or husband) nor no unnecessary
change, as if it were necessary (as in the case of uncircumcision):
but in the next words he saith, "Art thou called being a servant? care
not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather." He bids
every man abide with God in the place he is called to, but forbids
them not to change their state when they are called to change it, ver.
24. He speaks more of relations (of single persons and married,
servants and free, &c.) than of trades or offices: and yet no doubt
but a single person may be married, and the married must be separated;
and servants may be free. No man must take up or change any calling
without sufficient cause to call him to it; but when he hath such
cause, he sinneth if he change it not. The apostles changed their
callings, when they became apostles; and so did multitudes of the
pastors of the church in every age. God no where forbids men to change
their employment for the better, upon a sufficient cause or call.
[Sidenote: Who excused from a calling.]
_Direct._ XXI. Especially be sure that you live not out of a calling,
that is, such a stated course of employment, in which you may best be
serviceable to God.--Disability indeed is an unresistible impediment.
Otherwise no man must either live idly, or content himself with doing
some little chars, as a recreation, or on the by; but every one that
is able, must be statedly and ordinarily employed in such work, as is
serviceable to God, and the common good. _Quest._ But will not wealth
excuse us? _Answ._ It may excuse you from some sordid sort of work, by
making you more serviceable in other; but you are no more excused from
service and work of one kind or other, than the poorest man; unless
you think that God requireth least where he giveth most. _Quest._ Will
not age excuse us? _Answ._ Yes, so far as it disableth you; but no
further. _Object._ But I am turned out of my calling. _Answ._ You are
not turned out of the service of God: he calleth you to that, or to
another. _Quest._ But may not I cast off the world, that I may only
think of my salvation? _Answ._ You may cast off all such excess of
worldly cares or business as unnecessarily hinder you in spiritual
things; but you may not cast off all bodily employment and mental
labour in which you may serve the common good. Every one that is a
member of church or commonwealth, must employ their parts to the
utmost for the good of the church and commonwealth: public service is
God's greatest service. To neglect this, and say, I will pray and
meditate, is as if your servant should refuse your greatest work, and
tie himself to some lesser, easy part. And God hath commanded you some
way or other to labour for your daily bread, and not live as drones on
the sweat of others only. Innocent Adam was put into the garden of
Eden to dress it; and fallen man must "eat his bread in the sweat of
his brow," Gen. iii. 19; and he that "will not work must be forbidden
to eat," 2 Thess. iii. 6, 10, 12. And indeed it is necessary to
ourselves, for the health of our bodies, which will grow diseased with
idleness; and for the help of our souls, which will fail if the body
fail: and man in flesh must have work for his body as well as for his
soul. And he that will do nothing but pray and meditate, it is like
will (by sickness or melancholy) be disabled ere long either to pray
or meditate: unless he have a body extraordinarily strong.
_Direct._ XXII. Be very watchful redeemers of your time, and make
conscience of every hour and minute, that you lose it not, but spend it
in the best and most serviceable manner that you can.--Of this I intend
to speak more particularly anon; and therefore shall here add no more.
_Direct._ XXIII. Watchfully and resolutely avoid the entanglements and
diverting occasions by which the tempter will be still endeavouring to
waste your time and hinder you from your work.--Know what is the
principal service that you are called to, and avoid avocations:
especially magistrates and ministers, and those that have great and
public work, must here take heed. For if you be not very wise and
watchful, the tempter will draw you, before you are aware, into such a
multitude of diverting care or business, that shall seem to be your
duties, as shall make you almost unprofitable in the world: you shall
have this or that little thing that must be done, and this or that
friend that must be visited or spoken to, and this or that civility
that must be performed: so that trifles shall detain you from all
considerable works. I confess friends must not be neglected, nor
civilities be denied; but our greatest duties having the greatest
necessity, all things must give place to them in their proper season.
And therefore, that you may avoid the offence of friends, avoid the
place or occasions of such impediments; and where that cannot be
done, whatever they judge of you, neglect not your most necessary
work; else it will be at the will of men and Satan, whether you shall
be serviceable to God or not.
_Direct._ XXIV. Ask yourselves seriously, how you would wish at death
and judgment that you had used all your wits, and time, and wealth;
and resolve accordingly to use them now.--This is an excellent
direction and motive to you for doing good, and preventing the
condemnation which will pass upon unprofitable servants. Ask
yourselves, Will it comfort me more at death or judgment, to think, or
hear, that I spent this hour in plays or idleness, or in doing good to
myself or others? How shall I wish then I had laid out my estate, and
every part of it? Reason itself condemneth him that will not now
choose the course which then he shall wish that he had chosen, when we
foresee the consequence of that day.
_Direct._ XXV. Understand how much you are beholden to God, (and not he
to you,) in that he will employ you in doing any good; and how it is the
way of your own receiving; and know the excellency of your work and end,
that you may do it all with love and pleasure.--Unacquaintedness with
our Master, and with the nature and tendency of our work, is it that
maketh it seem tedious and unpleasant to us: and we shall never do it
well, when we do it with an ill will, as merely forced. God loveth a
cheerful servant, that loveth his Master and his work. It is the main
policy of the devil to make our duty seem grievous, unprofitable,
undesirable, and wearisome to us: for a little thing will stop him that
goeth unwillingly and in continual pain.
_Direct._ XXVI. Expect your reward from God alone, and look for
unthankfulness and abuse from men, or wonder not if it befall you.--If
you are not the servants of men, but of God, expect your recompence
from him you serve. You serve not God indeed, if his reward alone will
not content you, unless you have also man's reward. "Verily you have
your reward," if, with the hypocrite, you work for man's approbation,
Matt. vi. 2, 5. Expect, especially if you are ministers or others that
labour directly for the good of souls, that many prove your enemies
for your telling them the truth; and that if you were as good as Paul,
and as unwearied in seeking men's salvation, yet the more you love,
the less you will (by many) be loved: and those that he could have
wished himself accursed from Christ to save, did hate him, and
persecute him, as if he had been the most accursed wretch: a pestilent
fellow, and a mover of sedition among the people, and one that turned
the world upside down, were the names they gave him; and wherever he
came, "bonds and imprisonment did attend him;" and slandering, and
reviling, and whipping, and stocks, and vowing his death, are the
thanks and requital which he hath from those, for whose salvation he
spared no pains, but did spend and was spent. If you cannot do good
upon such terms as these, and for those that will thus requite you,
and be contented to expect a reward in heaven, you are not fit to
follow Christ, who was worse used than all this, by those to whom he
showed more love than any of his servants have to show. "Take up your
cross, and do good to the unthankful, and bless them that curse you,
and love them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use
you and persecute you, if you will be the children of God," Matt. v.
_Direct._ XXVII. Make not your own judgments or consciences your law,
or the maker of your duty; which is but the discerner of the law of
God, and of the duty which he maketh you, and of your own obedience or
disobedience to him.--There is a dangerous error grown too common in
the world, that a man is bound to do every thing which his conscience
telleth him is the will of God; and that every man must obey his
conscience, as if it were the lawgiver of the world; whereas, indeed,
it is not ourselves, but God, that is our lawgiver. And conscience is
not appointed or authorized to make us any duty, which God hath not
made us; but only to discern the law of God, and call upon us to
observe it: and an erring conscience is not to be obeyed, but to be
better informed, and brought to a righter performance of its office.
In prosecution of this direction, I shall here answer several cases
about doubting.
_Quest._ I. What if I doubt whether a thing be a duty and good work or
not? must I do it while I doubt? Nay, what if I am uncertain whether
it be duty or sin?
_Answ._ I. In all these cases about an erring or doubting conscience,
forget not to distinguish between the being of a duty and the knowledge
of a duty: and remember, that the first question is, Whether this be my
duty? and the next, How I may discern it to be my duty? And that God
giveth it the being by his law, and conscience is but to know and use
it: and that God changeth not his law, and our duty, as oft as our
opinions change about it. The obligation of the law is still the same,
though our consciences err in apprehending it otherwise. Therefore, if
God command you a duty, and your opinion be that he doth not command it,
or that he forbids it, and so that it is no duty, or that it is a sin,
it doth not follow that indeed God commands it not because you think so:
else it were no error in you; nor could it be possible to err, if the
thing become true, because you think it to be true. God commandeth you
to love him, and to worship him, and to nourish your children, and to
obey the higher powers, &c. And do you think you shall be discharged
from all these duties, and allowed to be profane, or sensual, or to
resist authority, or to famish your children, if you can but be blind
enough to think that God would have it so? 2. Your error is a sin
itself: and do you think that one sin must warrant another? or that sin
can discharge you from your duty, and disannul the law? 3. You are a
subject to God, and not a king to yourself; and therefore, you must obey
his laws, and not make new ones.
_Quest._ II. But is it not every man's duty to obey his conscience?
_Answ._ No: it is no man's duty to obey his conscience in an error,
when it contradicteth the command of God. Conscience is but a
discerner of God's command, and not at all to be obeyed strictly as a
commander; but it is to be obeyed in a larger sense, that is, to be
followed wherever it truly discerneth the command of God. It is our
duty to lay by our error, and seek the cure of it, till we attain it,
and not to obey it.
_Quest._ III. But is it not a sin for a man to go against his
conscience?
_Answ._ Yes: not because conscience hath any authority to make laws
for you; but because interpretatively you go against God. For you are
bound to obey God in all things; and when you think that God
commandeth you a thing, and yet you will not do it, you disobey
formally, though not materially. The matter of obedience is the thing
commanded: the form of obedience is our doing the thing, because it is
commanded; when the authority of the commander causeth us to do it.
Now you reject the authority of God, when you reject that which you
think he commandeth, though he did not.
_Quest._ IV. Seeing the form of obedience is the being of it, and
denominateth, which the matter doth not without the form, and there can
be no sin which is not against the authority of God, which is the formal
cause of obedience, is it not then my duty to follow my conscience?
_Answ._ 1. There must be an integrity of causes, or concurrence of all
necessaries to make up obedience, though the want of any one will make
a sin. If you will be called obedient, you must have the matter and
form, because the true form is found in no other matter; you must do
the thing commanded, because of his authority that commandeth it. If
it may be called really and formally obedience, when you err, yet it
is not that obedience which is acceptable; for it is not any kind of
obedience, but obedience in the thing commanded, that God requireth.
2. But indeed as long as you err sinfully, you are also wanting in the
form as well as the matter of your obedience, though you intend
obedience in the particular act. It is not only a wilful opposing, and
positive rejecting the authority of the commander, which is formal
disobedience; but it is any privation of due subjection to it; when
his authority is not so regarded as it ought to be; and doth not so
powerfully and effectually move us to our duty as it ought. Now this
formal disobedience is found in your erroneous conscience; for if
God's authority had moved you as it should have done, to diligent
inquiry and use of all appointed means, and to the avoiding of all the
causes of error, you had never erred about your duty. For if the error
had been perfectly involuntary and blameless, the thing could not have
been your particular duty, which you could not possibly come to know.
_Quest._ V. But if it be a sin to go against my conscience, must I not
avoid that sin by obeying it? Would you have me sin?
_Answ._ You must avoid the sin, by changing your judgment, and not by
obeying it; for that is but to avoid one sin by committing another. An
erring judgment is neither obeyed nor disobeyed without sin; it can
make you sin, though it cannot make you duty; it doth insnare, though
not oblige. If you follow it, you break the law of God in doing that
which he forbids you. If you forsake it and go against it, you reject
the authority of God, in doing that which you think he forbids you. So
that there is no attaining to innocence any other way, but by coming
first to know your duty, and then to do it. If you command your
servant to weed your corn, and he mistake you, and verily think, that
you bid him pull up the corn, and not the weeds; what now should he
do? Shall he follow his judgment, or go against it? Neither, but
change it, and then follow it; and to that end inquire further of your
mind, till he be better informed: and no way else will serve the turn.
_Quest._ VI. Seeing no man that erreth doth know or think that he
erreth, (for that is a contradiction,) how can I lay by that opinion,
or strive against it, which I take to be the truth?
_Answ._ It is your sin, that you take a falsehood to be a truth. God
hath appointed means for the cure of blindness and error, as well as
other sins; or else the world were in a miserable case. Come into the
light, with due self-suspicion, and impartiality, and diligently use
all God's means, and avoid the causes of deceit and error, and the
light of truth will at once show you the truth, and show you that
before you erred. In the mean time sin will be sin, though you take it
to be duty, or no sin.
_Quest._ VII. But seeing he that knoweth his master's will and doth it
not, shall be beaten with many stripes; and he that knoweth it not,
with few; is it not my duty chiefly to avoid the many stripes, by
avoiding sinning against my conscience or knowledge?
_Answ._ 1. Your duty is to avoid both; and if both were not sinful,
they would not both be punished with stripes. 2. Your conscience is
not your knowledge when you err, but your ignorance. Conscience, as it
signifieth the faculty of knowing, may be said to be conscience when
it erreth; as reason is reason, in the faculty, when we err. And
conscience, as to an erring act, may be called conscience, so far as
there is any true knowledge in the act: as a man is said to see, when
he misjudgeth of colours, or to reason, when he argueth amiss. But, so
far as it erreth, it is no conscience in act at all; for conscience is
science, and not nescience. You sin against your knowledge when you
sin against a well-informed conscience, but you sin in ignorance when
you sin against an erring conscience. 3. And if the question be not,
what is your duty, but, which is the smaller sin, then it is true,
that, _cæteris paribus_, it is a greater sin to go against your
judgment, than to follow it. But yet, other imparities in matter and
circumstances may be an exception against this rule.
_Quest._ VIII. But it is not possible for every man presently to know
all his duty, and to avoid all error about his duty. Knowledge must be
got in time. All men are ignorant in many things: should I not then in
the mean time follow my conscience?
_Answ._ 1. Your ignorance is culpable, or not culpable. If it be not
culpable, the thing which you are ignorant of is not your duty. If
culpable, (which is the case supposed,) as you brought yourself to
that difficulty of knowing, so it will remain your sin till it be
cured; and one sin will not warrant another. And all that time you are
under a double command; the one is, to know, and use the means of
knowledge; and the other is, to do the thing commanded. So that how
long soever you remain in error you remain in sin, and are not under
an obligation to follow your error, but first to know, and then to do
the contrary duty. 2. And as long as you keep yourselves in a
necessity, or way of sinning, you must call it sin as it is, and not
call it duty. It is not your duty to choose a lesser sin before a
greater; but to refuse and avoid both the lesser and the greater. And
if you say you cannot, yet, remember, that it is only your sin that is
your impotency, or your impotency is sinful. But it is true, that you
are most obliged to avoid the greatest sin: therefore, all that
remaineth in the resolving of all such cases, is but to know, of two
sins, which is the greatest.
_Quest._ IX. What if there be a great duty, which I cannot perform
without committing a little sin? or, a very great good, which I cannot
do but by an unlawful means; as, to save the lives of many by a lie?
_Answ._ 1. It is no duty to you, when you cannot do it without wilful
sin, be it never so little. Deliberately to choose a sin, that I may
perform some service to God, or do some good to others, is to run before
we are called, and to make work for ourselves which God never made for
us; and to offer sin for a sacrifice to God; and to do evil that good
may come of it; and abuse God, and reject his government, under pretence
of serving him. "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the
Lord: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?" Prov. xxi.
27; xv. 8. "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his
prayer shall be abomination," Prov. xxviii. 9. "Be more ready to hear,
than to offer the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do
evil," Eccles. v. 1. 2. If you will do good by sinning, you must do good
in opposition to God: and how easily can he disappoint you, and turn it
into evil! It is not good indeed, which must be accomplished by sin. The
final good is never promoted by it; and all other good is to be
estimated by its tendency to the end. You think that good which is not
so, because you judge by the present feeling of your flesh, and do not
foresee how it stands related to the everlasting good.
_Quest._ X. Seeing then that I am sure beforehand that I cannot
preach, or hear, or pray, or do any good action without sin, must I
not, by this rule, forbear them all?
_Answ._ No; because your infirmities in the performance of your duty,
which you would avoid and cannot, are not made the condition of your
action, but are the diseases of it. They are not chosen and approved
of. The duty is your duty notwithstanding your infirmities, and may be
accepted of; for you cannot serve God in perfection till you are
perfect; and to cast away his service is a far greater sin, than to do
it imperfectly. But you may serve him without such wilful, chosen sin,
if not in one way, yet in another. The imperfection of your service is
repented of while it is committed; but so is not your approved, chosen
sin. For a man to make a bargain against God, that he will commit a
sin against him, though the action be the same which he hath often
done before in pardonable weakness; this is to turn it to a
presumptuous, heinous sin. If he do it for worldly gain or safety, he
selleth his obedience to God for trifles. If he do it to serve God by,
he blasphemeth God; declaring him to be evil, and a lover of sin, or
so impotent as not to be able to do good, or attain his ends by lawful
means. It is most dangerous to give it under our hands to the devil,
that we will sin, on what pretence soever.
_Quest._ XI. What if I am certain that the duty is great, and
uncertain whether the thing annexed to it be a sin or not? Must I
forbear a certain duty for an uncertain sin? or forbear doing a great
and certain good, for fear of a small, uncertain evil?
_Answ._ 1. The question _de esse_ must go before the question _de
apparere_. Either that which you say you are uncertain of is indeed a
sin, or it is none. If it be no sin, then you are bound both to search
till you know that it is no sin, and not to forbear your duty for it.
But if really it be a sin, then your uncertainty of it is another sin;
and that which God bindeth you to, is to forsake them both. 2. Your
question containeth a contradiction: you cannot be certain that it is
a duty at all to you, any further than you are certain whether the
condition or means be lawful or a sin. What if an auditor in Spain or
Italy say, I am certain that it is a duty to obey my teachers; but I
am uncertain whether their doctrines of the mass, purgatory, and the
rest, have any untruth or sin in them; therefore, I must not forbear
certain obedience for uncertain sin. Or if a priest among them say, I
am certain that it is a duty to preach God's word, but I am not
certain that the Trent Articles, which I must swear or subscribe, are
sinful or false; therefore I must not leave a great and certain duty
for an uncertain sin. The answer to them both is easy. 1. It is your
sin that you are uncertain of the sinfulness of those things, which
God hath forbidden: and God biddeth you first to search the
Scriptures, and cure that error. He made his law before your doubts
arose, and will not change it because you doubt. 2. You contradict
yourselves by a mistake. You have no more certainty that you should
obey your teachers in these particulars, than you have that the things
which they teach or command you are not against that law of God. You
are certain that you must obey them in all things not forbidden by
God, and within the reach of their office to require. And you are as
certain that it is unlawful to obey them against the law of God, and
that God must be obeyed before man. But whether you must obey them in
this particular case, you cannot be certain, while you are uncertain
whether it be forbidden of God. And the priest must be as uncertain
whether it be any duty of his at all, to preach God's word, as he is
uncertain of the lawfulness of the Trent oath or subscription, unless
he can do it without. If a subject say, I am certain, that to govern
the kingdom well is a great, good work and duty, but I am uncertain
whether to depose the king if he govern not well, and set up myself,
be a sin; therefore, the certain good must overrule the uncertain
evil. I give him the same answer: 1. It is your sin to be uncertain
whether rebellion be a sin; and God bindeth you to lay by the sin of
your judgment, and not to make it a shoeing-horn to more. 2. You are
sure that governing well is a good work; but you should be as sure,
that it is no duty of yours, nor good work for you to do, as you are
sure that you are but a private man and a subject, and never called to
do the good of another's office. A private man may say, I am sure
preaching is a good work; but I am not sure that a private, unordained
man may not statedly separate himself to do it. But he can be no surer
that it is a duty to him, than he is that he is called to it.
_Quest._ XII. Well, suppose my ignorance be my sin, and suppose that I
am equally uncertain of the duty and of the sin annexed, yet if I have
done all that I am able, and remain still unresolved, and after my most
diligent inquiry am as much in doubt as ever, what should I then do?
_Answ._ 1. If you had by any former sin so forfeited God's assistance,
as that he will leave you to your blindness, this altereth not his law
and your obligations, which are still the same (to learn, understand,
and practise). 2. But if you are truly willing to understand, and
practise, and use his means, you have no cause to imagine that he will
thus forsake you; undoubtedly he appointeth you no means in vain. If you
attain not sufficient resolution to guide you in your duty, it is either
because your hearts are false in the inquiry, and biassed, or unwilling
to know the truth, or do it; or because you use not the true appointed
means for resolution, but in partiality or laziness neglect it.
_Quest._ XIII. Suppose still my ignorance be my sin; which is the
greater sin, to neglect the good work, or to venture on the feared
evil that is annexed? I am not conscious of any unfaithfulness, but
human frailty, that keepeth me from certainty. And no man is so
perfect as to have no culpable ignorance, and to be certain in every
point of duty. Therefore I must with greatest caution avoid the
greatest sin, when I am out of hope of avoiding all. On one side, it
is a common rule that I must do nothing against conscience, (no, not a
doubting conscience,) though I must not always do what it biddeth me.
"For he that doubteth is condemned if he eat: for whatsoever is not of
faith is sin," Rom. xiv. 23. On the other side, if all duty be omitted
which conscience doubteth of, I may be kept from almost every duty.
_Answ._ The heart is so deceitful that you have great cause to watch,
lest human frailty be pretended, for that error, which a corrupted,
biassed, partial mind, or wilful laziness, is the cause of. Diligent
study, and inquiry, and prayer, with a sincere desire to know the truth,
may succeed, at least, to so much satisfaction, as may keep your minds
in quietness and peace, and give you comfort in your way, and preserve
you from all such sin as is inconsistent with this your safety and
acceptance with God. But yet it is true that human frailty will
occasion in the best uncertainties in some particular cases; and though
God make it not our duty of two sins to choose the less, but to refuse
both, yet he maketh it our duty more diligently to avoid the greater
than the less. And ofttimes the case is so sudden that no inquiry can be
made: and therefore I confess a christian should know which sins are
greatest and to be most avoided. At present I shall lay down these
following rules, premising this, that where accidents and circumstances
which make sins great or small are to be compared, they are ofttimes so
numerous and various, that no rules can be laid down beforehand, that
will serve all turns, no more than in law and physic, any law books or
physic books will serve all cases without a present experienced
judicious counsellor: present prudence and sincerity must do most.
_Rule_ I. In things altogether indifferent, nothing must be done that
conscience doubteth of, because there is a possibility or fear of
sinning on the one side, but none on the other; and in that case it is
a certain sin to venture on a feared sin. But then it is supposed that
the thing be indifferent as clothed with all its circumstances, and
that there be no accident that taketh away its indifferency.
_Rule_ II. In case the thing be really unlawful, and I think it to be
lawful, but with some doubting, but am clear that the forbearing it is
no sin; there the sin is only in the doing it; because all is clear
and safe on the other side.
_Rule_ III. There are many sins which are always and to all persons in
all cases sins, and not doubted of by any without gross unfaithfulness
or negligence; and here there is no room for any doubting whether we
must do that good which cannot be done without that sin, it being
certain that no such good can be a duty. As, to commit idolatry, to
blaspheme God, to deny Christ, to deny the Scriptures, to hate, or
reproach, or oppose a holy life, to be perjured, to approve or justify
the sin of others, &c. It can be no duty which cannot be done without
the wilful yielding to or committing these or any known sin.
_Rule_ IV. There are some duties so great, and clear, and constant to
all, that none but a profligate or graceless conscience (or one that
is fearfully poisoned with sin) can make a doubt of it deliberately:
these therefore come not within the case before us.
_Rule_ V. If moral evil be compared only with natural good, or moral
good with natural evil, there is no doubt to be made of the case: the
least sin having more evil in it than the prosperity or lives of
millions of men have good (considered in themselves as natural good);
and the least duty to God having more good in it than the death of
millions of men (as such) hath evil. For the good of duty and the evil
of sin are greatened by their respect to God, and the other lessened
as being good or evil only unto men, and with respect to them.
_Rule_ VI. Where I am in an equal degree uncertain of the duty to be
omitted, and of the sin to be committed, it is a greater sin to
venture doubtfully upon the committing of a positive sin that is
great, (in case it prove a sin,) than upon the omitting a duty which
(in case it prove a duty) is less; and on the contrary, it is worse to
venture on the omitting of a great duty, than on the committing of a
small, positive sin. As, suppose my own or my neighbour's house be on
fire, and I am in doubt whether I may take another man's water to
quench it against his will; or if my own, or my child's, or
neighbour's life be in danger by famine, and I doubt whether I may
take another man's apples, or pears, or ears of corn, or his bread,
against his will, to save my own life or another's. Really, the thing
is already made lawful or unlawful (which I now determine not) by the
law of God; but in my unavoidable uncertainty, (if I be equally
doubtful on both sides,) it is a far greater sin (if it prove a sin)
to omit the saving of the house or life, than to take another man's
water, or fruit, or bread, that hath plenty (if this prove the sin).
So if king and nobles were in a ship, which would be taken and all
destroyed by pirates, unless I told a lie, and said, they are other
persons; if I were equally in doubt which course to take, to lie or
not, (though sin have more evil than all our lives have good,) yet a
sinful omitting to save all their lives is a greater sin than a sinful
telling of such a lie. Suppose I am in doubt, whether I may lawfully
save an ox, or ass, or a man's life, by labour on the sabbath day? or
David had doubted, whether he might eat the consecrated shew-bread in
his necessity? it is clear, that the sinful neglect of a man's life is
worse than the sinful violation of a sabbath, or the sinful use of the
consecrated bread. If I equally doubt, whether I may use a ceremony,
or disorderly, defective form of prayer, and whether I should preach
the gospel to save men's souls, where there are not others enough to
do it; it is clear, that sinfully to use a ceremony, or disorderly
form of prayer, is, _cæteris paribus_, a lesser sin than sinfully to
neglect to preach the gospel and to save men's souls. On the other
side, suppose I dwelt in Italy, and could not have leave to preach the
gospel there, unless I would subscribe to the Trent Confession, or the
canon 3d of Concil. Lateran sub Innocent III.; one of which requireth
men to swear for transubstantiation, and to interpret the Scriptures
only according to the unanimous consent of the fathers (who never
unanimously consented in any exposition of the greatest part of the
Scriptures at all); the other decreeth the pope's deposing temporal
lords, and disobliging their subjects from their allegiance. On the
one side, I doubt, whether by subscribing I become not guilty of
justifying idolatry, perjury, and rebellion, and making myself guilty
of the perjury of many thousand others: on the other side, I doubt,
whether I may disobey my superiors who command me this subscription,
and may forbear preaching the gospel, when yet I apprehend that there
are others to preach it, and that my worth is not so considerable as
that there should be any great loss in putting me out and putting in
another; and God needeth not me to do him service, but hath
instruments at command; and that I know not how soon he may restore my
liberty, or that I may serve him in another country, or else in
sufferings at home; in such a case the sinful justifying of perjury or
rebellion in whole countries is a far greater sin than the sinful
omission of my preaching: for he that justifieth perjury destroyeth
the bonds of all societies, and turneth loose the subjects against
their sovereigns. Or if I, being a minister, were forbidden to preach
the gospel where there is necessity, unless I will commit some sin; if
I doubt on one side whether I should disobey my superiors, and on the
other whether I should forbear my calling, and neglect the souls of
sinners; it is a lesser sin, _cæteris paribus_, to disobey a man
sinfully, than to disobey God, and to be cruel to the souls of men to
their perdition sinfully. Or if I have made a vow, and sworn that I
will cast away a penny or a shilling, and I am in doubt on one side
whether I be not bound to keep it as a vow, and on the other whether
it be not a sin to keep it, because to cast away any of my talents is
a sin; in this case, the sinful casting away of a penny or a shilling
is not so great a sin as sinful perjury. If Daniel and the three
witnesses had been in equal doubt, whether they should obey the king
or pray to God, (as Dan. vi.) and renounce the bowing to his idol,
(Dan. iii.) the sinful forbearance of prayer as then commanded, and
the sinful bowing to the idol had been a greater sin than a sinful
disobeying the king's command in such a case, if they had mistaken.
_Rule_ VII. If I cannot discern whether the duty to be omitted, or the
sin to be committed, be materially and in other respects the greater,
then that will be to me the greater of the sins which my doubting
conscience doth most strongly suspect to be sin, in its most impartial
deliberation. For if other things be equal, certainly the sinning
against more or less conviction or doubting must make an inequality.
As, if I could not discern whether my subscription to the Trent
Confession, or my forbearing to preach, or my preaching though
prohibited, were the greater sin, in case they were all sinful; but
yet I am most strongly suspicious of sinfulness in the subscription,
and less suspicious of sinfulness in my forbearing in such a case to
preach, and least of all suspicious of sinfulness in my preaching
though prohibited: in this case to subscribe sinfully is the greatest
sin, and to forbear sinfully to exercise my office is the next, and to
preach unwarrantably is the least.
_Rule_ VIII. If I could perceive no difference in the degrees of evil
in the omission and the commission, nor yet in the degrees of my
suspicion or doubting, then that is the greater sin which I had
greater helps and evidence to have known, and did not.
_Rule_ IX. If both greater material evil be on one side than on the
other, and greater suspicion or evidence of the sinfulness also, then
that must needs be the greater sin.
_Rule_ X. If the greatness of the material evil be on one side, and
the greatness of the suspicion and evidence be on the other, then the
former (if sin) will be materially and in itself considered the worst;
but the latter will be formally the greater disobedience to God. But
the comparison will be very difficult. As, suppose that I swear to God
that I will cast away a shilling, or that I will forbear to pray for a
week together; here I take perjury to be a greater sin than my casting
away a shilling, or forbearing to pray a week: but when I question
whether the oath should be kept or not, I have greater suspicion that
it should not than that it should, because no oath must be the bond of
the least iniquity. Here, if the not keeping it prove a sin, I shall
do that which is the greater sin in itself if I keep it not; but I
shall show more disobedience in keeping it, if it be not to be kept.
_Rule_ XI. If it be a double sin that I suspect on one side, and but a
single one on the other, it maketh an inequality in the case. As,
suppose that in my father's family there are heretics and drunkards,
and I swear that in my place and calling I will endeavour to cast them
out. My mother approveth my vow; my father is against it, and
dischargeth me of it because I did it not by his advice. On one side,
I doubt whether I am bound, or may act against my father's will: on
the other side, I as much doubt whether I am not perjured, and
disobedient to my mother, if I do it not, and whether I disobey not
God, that made it my duty to endeavour the thing in my place and
calling before I vowed it.
_Rule_ XII. There is a great deal of difference between omitting the
substance of a duty for ever, and the delaying it, or altering the
time, and place, and manner. For instance, that which will justify or
excuse me for shortening my prayer, or for praying but once a day, or
at noon rather than in the morning, or for defect in method, or
fervency, or expressions, may not justify or excuse me for denying,
renouncing, or long forbearing prayer. And that which may excuse an
apostle for not preaching in the temple or synagogues, or not having
the emperor's or the high priest's allowance or consent, or for not
continuing in one city or country; would not excuse them if they had
renounced their callings, or totally, as to all times, and places, and
manner of performance, have ceased their work for fear of men.
_Rule_ XIII. If the duty to be omitted and the sin to be committed
seem equal in greatness, and our doubt be equal as to both, it is
commonly held safer to avoid the commission more studiously than the
omission. For which there are many reasons given.
_Rule_ XIV. There is usually much more matter for fear and suspicion,
_cæteris paribus_, of sins to be committed, than of duties to be
omitted, when the commission is made necessary to the doing of the
duty. Both because it is there that the fear beginneth: for I am
certain that the good work is no duty to me, if the act be a sin which
is its necessary condition. Therefore, so far as I suspect the act to
be sinful, I must needs suspect the duty to be no duty to me at that
time: it is not possible I should be rationally more persuaded that
the duty is my duty, than that the condition is no sin. If it were the
saving of the lives of all men in the country, I could no further take
it to be my duty, than I take that to be no sin by which it must be
done, it being a thing past controversy, that we must not sin for the
accomplishment of any good whatsoever. And also because the sin is
supposed to be always sin, but few duties are at all times duties: and
the sin is a sin to every man, but the duty may be another man's duty,
and not mine. For instance: Charles V. imposeth the Interim upon
Germany: some pastors yielded to it; others refused it, and were cast
out. Those that yielded pleaded the good of the churches, and the
prevention of their utter desolation, but yet confessed that if the
thing imposed were sinful, it was not their duty to do it for any good
whatsoever, but to seek the good of the church as well as they could
without it. The other that were cast out argued, that so far as they
were confident the Interim was sinful, they must be confident that
nothing was their duty that could not be done without it, and that God
knew best what is good for his church, and there is no accomplishing
its good by sin and God's displeasure; and that they did not therefore
forsake their ministry, but only lose the ruler's licence; for they
resolved to preach in one place or other till they were imprisoned,
and God can serve himself by their imprisonment or death, as well as
by their preaching. And while others took their places that thought
the Interim lawful, the churches were not wholly destitute; and if God
saw it meet, he could restore their fuller liberties again: in the
mean time, to serve him, as all pastors did for three hundred years
after Christ, without the licence of the civil magistrate, was not to
cast away their office. Another instance: the zealous papists in the
reign of Henry III. in France, thought that there was a necessity of
entering the League, and warring against the king, because religion
was in danger, the preservation whereof is an unquestionable duty. The
learned and moderate lawyers that were against them said, that there
being no question but the king had the total sovereignty over them,
they were sure it was a sin to resist the higher powers, and therefore
no preservation of religion could be a duty or lawful to them which
must be done by such a certain sin: sin is not the means to save
religion or the commonwealth.
_Rule_ XV. When a thing is not prohibited and sinful simply in itself,
but because of some accidental or consequential evil that it tendeth
to, there a greater accidental or consequential good may preponderate
the evil, and make the thing become no sin, but a duty. It is a matter
of exceeding difficulty to discern ofttimes whether a thing be simply
and absolutely forbidden, or only by accident and alterably, and to
discern which accident doth preponderate. There are so many observations
that should here be taken in, and so much of a man's life and peace is
concerned in it, that it deserveth a treatise by itself. And therefore I
shall not meddle with it any further here, lest an insufficient tractate
be worse than none, in a case where error is so easy and perilous.
_Rule_ XVI. As to the danger of the sinner himself, there is a great
deal of difference between an error and sin of human frailty, when the
service of God, and true obedience, and the common good, is sincerely
intended, and an error and sin of false-heartedness and sloth, when
selfishness is the secret spring of the error, and carnal interest the
real end, though God and his service be pretended. And usually the
concomitants will show something of this to others. For instance; two
magistrates and two ministers submit to some questioned imposition,
all pretend that the glory of God, and his service, is it that
prevaileth with them to submit. The one of the magistrates faithfully
serves God afterward with his authority, and showeth thereby that he
meant sincerely: the other doth no good in his place, and showeth his
hypocrisy. One of the ministers preacheth zealously, and privately
laboureth as one that thirsteth for the saving of souls: the other
preacheth formally, and coldly, and heartlessly, and never converteth
a soul, and neglecteth the work which he pretended was his end.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: For loving God as our Father, our Benefactor, and our end.]
_Grand Direct._ XI. Let it be most deeply engraven on thy heart, that
God is infinitely good and amiable; thy grand Benefactor and Father in
Christ; the end of all that thou art and hast; and the everlasting rest
and happiness of thy soul: see therefore that thy inflamed heart be
entirely and absolutely offered up unto him by the mediation of his Son,
to love him, to trust him, to delight in him, to be thankful to him, to
glorify him, and through faith to long for the heavenly glory, where all
this will be perfectly done for ever. And first let us speak of LOVE.
I did in the first direction persuade you to lay a good foundation in
faith and knowledge. In the second I directed you how to live upon
Christ. In the third, how to believe practically in the Holy Ghost. In
the fourth I directed you to the orderly and practical knowledge of all
the attributes of God. In the fifth, how to know God practically in his
first grand relation, as he is your Owner. In the sixth, how to know him
practically in his second grand relation, as he is your King or
Governor; and in subordination to his governing relation. In the seventh
I directed you in your relation of disciples to Christ your Teacher. And
in the eighth I directed you in your relation of patients to Christ your
Physician, and the Holy Ghost as your Sanctifier. In the ninth I
directed you in your relation of soldiers to Christ the Captain of your
salvation. In the tenth I directed you in the relation of servants to
Christ your Master. And now being past those subordinate relations (to
the second), I proceed to direct you in your third grand relation to God
as your Benefactor, Father, and Felicity. And because there are divers
great duties in this general, I shall first begin with this of love; and
afterwards speak distinctly of the rest.
_Directions for loving God as our Father and Felicity._
Here I shall first give you these general preparatives (and then give
you directions for the exercise of holy love). 1. You must understand
the nature of love to God. 2. You must understand the differences of
this love. 3. You must understand the reasons of it. 4. And the
contraries of it. 5. And the counterfeits of it.
[Sidenote: God is not loved as a particular good, but as the universal
good.]
I. For the understanding its nature observe these things: 1. It is not
the love of a particular good, but of the infinite, Universal Good. The
creature is a particular good, and our love to it is a particular,
limited love, confined as to a point. God is the Universal Good, and our
love to him is not limited by the object, but by the narrowness and
imperfection of our faculties themselves. As suppose you had variety of
candles in your room, and you had diamonds and other refulgent things;
you love each of these with a particular love, for their splendour and
usefulness; and you more easily observe and feel the motion of this
confined love. But light itself, as light, you love with a more
universal love; which is greater, but not so sensibly observed. (Not as
we speak of notional universals in logic, which have no existence but in
particulars; but of the natural, transcendent, infinite good, eternally
existent, and arbitrarily appearing in some created particles.) As the
love of an infinite light would differ from the love of a candle, and
the love of an infinite heat from the love of a fire, and the love of
infinite wisdom itself from the love of a wise man, and the love of
infinite goodness itself from the love of a good man; so doth the love
of God from the love of a particular, created good.
[Sidenote: Whether God may be the object of passionate love.]
2. Our love to God is not ordinarily so passionate as our love to
creatures; because the nearness and sensibleness of the creature
promoteth such sensible operations. But God is not seen, or felt, or
heard, but believed in by faith, and known by reason. And the
narrowness of the creature making resistances, stops, and
difficulties, occasioneth a turbulent passionateness of love; when the
infiniteness of God hath no such occasion. Our love to creatures is
like the running of a stream in a channel that is too narrow for it,
where stops and banks do make it go on with a roaring violence; but
our love to God is like the brook that slideth into the ocean, where
it is insensibly devoured. Therefore our love to God must principally
be perceived, not in violent passions, but in, 1. A high estimation of
him. 2. In the will's adhering to him. 3. And in the effects (to be
mentioned anon). Yet when a passionate love is added to these, it may
be the most excellent significatively and effectively. Some
philosophers think that God cannot at all be loved with a passionate
love, because he is a pure, immaterial Being, and therefore cannot be
the object of a material act or motion, such as our passions are; and,
therefore, that it is some idol of the imagination that is so loved.
But, 1. If they mean that his pure essence, in itself, is not the
immediate object of a passion, they may say the same of the will
itself; for man (at least in flesh) can have no other volition of God,
but as he is apprehended by the intellect. And if by an idol they mean
the image of God in the mind, gathered from the appearances of God in
creatures, man in flesh hath no other knowledge of him; for here we
know him but darkly, enigmatically, and as in a glass, and have no
formal, proper conception of him in his essence. So that the rational
powers themselves do no otherwise know and will God's essence, but as
represented to us in a glass. 2. And thus we may also love him
passionately; it being God in his objective being as apprehended by
the intellect that we both will and passionately love. The motion of
the soul in flesh may raise passions, by the instrumentality of the
corporeal spirits, towards an immaterial object; which is called the
object of those passions, not merely as passions, but as the passions
of a rational agent; it being more nearly or primarily the object of
the intellect and will, and then of the passions, as first apprehended
by these superior powers. A man may delight in God; or else, how is he
our felicity? and yet, we know of no delight which is not passion. A
man may love his own soul with a passionate love; and yet it is
immaterial. When I passionately love my friend, it is his immaterial
soul, and his wisdom, and holiness, which I chiefly love.
[Sidenote: What of God is the object of our love.]
3. It is not only for his excellencies and perfections in himself, nor
only for his love and benefit to us, that grace doth cause a sinner to
love God; but it is for both conjunctly; as he is good, and doth good,
especially to us, in the greatest things.
[Sidenote: What is the motive of our first love to God.]
4. Our first special love to God, is orderly and rationally to be
raised, the belief of his goodness in himself, and his common love and
mercy to sinners, manifested in his giving of his Son for the world,
and giving men the conditional promise of pardon and salvation, and
offering them Christ and life eternal, and all this to us as well as
others: and not to be caused by the belief or persuasion of his
special, peculiar, electing, redeeming, or saving love to us above
others, that have the same invitations and offers. It is the knowledge
of common love and mercy, and not of special love and mercy, as
already possessed, that is appointed to be the motive of our first
special love to God. (Yet there is in it an apprehension that he is
our only possible felicity, and that he will give us a special
interest in his favour, if we return by faith in Christ unto him.)
For, 1. Every man is bound to love God with a special love: but every
man is not specially beloved by him: and no man is bound to love God
as one that specially loveth him but those that indeed are so beloved
by him; for else they were bound to believe a falsehood, and to love
that which is not; and grace should be an error and deceit. The object
is before the act. God's special love must in itself be before its
revelations; and as revealed it must go before our belief of it; and
as believed it must go before our loving it, or loving him as such, or
for it. 2. The first saving faith is inseparably conjunct with special
love; for Christ is believed in and willed, as the way or means to God
as the end (otherwise it is no true faith). And the volition of the
end (which is love) is in order of nature before the choice or use of
the means as such: and if we must love God as one that specially
loveth us, in our first love, then we must believe in him as such by
our first faith: and if so, it must be to us a revealed truth. But (as
it is false to most that are bound to believe, so) it is not revealed
to the elect themselves: for if it be, it is either by ordinary or
extraordinary revelation. If by ordinary, either by Scripture
directly, or by evidences in ourselves which Scripture maketh the
characters of his love. But neither of these; for Scripture promiseth
not salvation to named, but described persons; and evidence of special
love there is none, before faith, and repentance, and the first love
to God. And extraordinary revelation from heaven, by inspiration or
angel, is not the ordinary begetter of faith; for faith is the belief
of God, speaking to us (now) by his written word. So that where there
is no object of love, there can be no love; and where there is no
revelation of it to the understanding, there is no object for the
will; and till a man first believe and love God, he hath no revelation
that God doth specially love him. Search as long as you will, you will
find no other. 3. If the wicked were condemned for not loving a false
or feigned object, it would quiet their consciences in hell when they
had detected the deceit, and seen the natural impossibility and
contradiction. 4. The first love to God is more a love of desire, than
of possession; and therefore it may suffice to raise it, that we see a
possibility of being for ever happy in God, and enjoying him in
special love, though yet we know not that we possess any such love.
The nature of the thing proclaimeth it most rational and due, that we
love the infinite Good, that hath done so much by the death of his
Son, to remove the impediments of our salvation; and is so far
reconciled to the world in his death, as by a message of
reconciliation, to entreat them to accept of Christ, and pardon, and
salvation freely offered them, 2 Cor. v. 19, 20; and is himself the
offered happiness of the soul. He that dare say, that this much hath
not an objective sufficiency to engage the soul in special love, is a
blind undervaluer of wonderful mercy. 5. The first special grace
bringeth no new object for faith or love, but causeth a new act upon
the formerly revealed object.
5. But our love to God is greatly increased and advantaged afterwards
by the assurance or persuasion of his peculiar, special love to us.
And therefore all christians should greatly value such assurance, as
the appointed means of advancing them to greater love to God.
6. As we know God here in the glass of his Son, and word, and
creatures, so we most sensibly love him here, as his goodness
appeareth in his works, and graces, and his word, and Son.
7. The nearer we come to perfection, the more we shall love God for
himself and his infinite natural goodness and perfections, not casting
away the respects of his goodness and love as to ourselves, but
highliest regarding himself for himself, as carried to him above
ourselves.
II. Though love in its own nature be still the same, and is nothing but
the rational appetite of good; or the will's volition of good
apprehended by the understanding; the first motion of the will to good,
arising from that natural inclination to good, which is the nature of
the will, and the _pondus animæ_, the poise of the soul; or from healing
grace which repaireth the breach that is made in nature; yet love in
regard of the state of the lover, and the way of its imperate acting, is
thus differenced. 1. Either the lover is in the hopeful pursuit of the
thing beloved, and then it is desiring, seeking love. 2. Or he is, or
seemeth to be, denied, destitute, and deprived of his beloved (in whole
or in part); and then it is a mourning, lamenting love. 3. Or he
enjoyeth his beloved, and then it is enjoying, delighting love. 1. The
ordinary love which grace causeth on earth is a predominancy of seeking,
desiring love, encouraged by some little foretastes of enjoying,
delighting love, and, in a great measure, attended with mourning,
lamenting love. 2. The state of deserted, dark, declining, relapsing,
and melancholy, tempted christians, is a predominance of mourning,
lamenting love, assisted with some help of seeking, desiring love; but
destitute of enjoying, delighting love. 3. The state of the glorified is
perfection of enjoying, delighting love alone. And all the rest are to
bring us unto this.[114]
III. The reasons why love to God is so great, and high, and necessary a
thing, and so much esteemed above other graces, are: 1. It is the motion
of the soul that tendeth to the end; and the end is more excellent than
all the means as such. 2. The love, or will, or heart is the man; where
the heart or love is, there the man is: it is the fullest resignation of
the whole man to God, to love him as God, or offer him the heart. God
never hath his own fully till we love him. Love is the grand,
significant, vital motion of the soul; such as the heart, or will, or
love is, such you may boldly call the man. 3. The love of God is the
perfection and highest improvement of all the faculties of the soul, and
the end of all other graces, to which they tend, and to which they grow
up, and in which they terminate their operations. 4. The love of God is
that spirit or life of moral excellency in all other graces in which
(though not their form, yet) their acceptableness doth consist, without
which they are to God as a lifeless carrion is to us. And to prove any
action sincere and acceptable to God, is to prove that it comes from a
willing, loving mind, without which you can never prove it. 5. Love is
the commander of the soul, and therefore God knoweth that if he have our
hearts, he hath all, for all the rest are at its command; for it is, as
it were, the nature of the will, which is the commanding faculty; and
its object is the ultimate end which is the commanding object. Love
setteth the mind on thinking, the tongue on speaking, the hands on
working, the feet on going, and every faculty obeyeth its command. 6.
The obedience which love commandeth, participateth of its nature, and is
a ready, cheerful, sweet obedience, acceptable to God, and pleasant to
ourselves. 7. Love is a pure, chaste, and cleansing grace; and most
powerfully casteth out all creature pollution from the soul:[115] the
love of God doth quench all carnal, sinful love; and most effectually
carrieth up the soul to such high delights, as causeth it to contemn and
forget the toys which it before admired. 8. The love of God is the true
acknowledging and honouring him as good. That blessed attribute, his
goodness, is denied, or despised, by those that love him not. The light
of the sun would not be valued, honoured, or used by the world, if there
were no eyes in the world to see it. And the goodness of God is to them
that love him not, as the light to them that have no eyes. If God would
have had his goodness to be thus unknown or neglected, he would never
have made the intellectual creatures. Those only give him the glory of
his goodness that truly love him. 9. Love (in its attainment) is the
enjoying and delighting grace: it is the very content and felicity of
the soul: both as it maketh us capable to receive the most delightful
communications of God's love to us; and as it is the soul's delightful
closure with its most amiable felicitating object. 10. Love is the
everlasting grace, and the work which we must be doing in heaven for
ever. These are the reasons of love's pre-eminence.
IV. The love of creatures hath its contraries on both extremes, in the
excess and in the defect; but the love of God hath no contrary in
excess: for Infinite Goodness cannot possibly be loved too much (unless
as the passion may possibly be raised to a degree distracting or
disturbing the brain). The odious vices contrary to the love of God are,
1. Privative; not loving him. 2. Positive; hating him. 3. Opposite;
loving his creatures in his stead: all these concur in every
unsanctified soul. That they are all void of the true love of God, and
taken up with creature love, is past all doubt; but whether they are all
haters of God, may seem more questionable. But it is as certain as the
other; only the hatred of God in most doth not break out into that open
opposition, persecution, or blasphemy, as it doth with some that are
given up to desperate wickedness; nor do they think that they hate him.
But the aversation of the will is the hatred of God; and if men had not
a great aversation to him, they would not forsake him, and refuse to be
converted to him, notwithstanding all the arguments of love that can be
used to allure them. Displacency, nolition, and aversation are hatred.
If you think it impossible that men can hate God, whom they confess to
be infinitely good, consider for the true understanding of this
hatred, 1. That it is not as good that they hate him; 2. and it is not
God simply in himself considered; 3. and therefore it is not all in
God; 4. and it is not the name of God; 5. but it is, 1. God as he
seemeth unsuitable to them, and unfit for their delight and love:
which seeming is caused by their carnal inclination to things of
another nature, and the sinful perverting of their appetites, and the
blindness and error of their minds. 2. And it is God as he is an enemy
to their carnal concupiscence; whose holy nature is against their
unholiness, and hateth their sin, and his laws forbid them the things
which they most love and take delight in: and so they hate God, as a
madman hateth his keeper and physician, and takes them for his
enemies; and as a hungry dog doth hate him that keepeth him from the
meat which he loveth, or would take it out of his mouth. 3. And they
hate God, as one who by his holiness, justice, and truth is engaged to
condemn them for their sin, and so (consequently to their sin) is
their enemy that will destroy them (unless they forsake it): when
their wills are enslaved to their sins, and they cannot endure to be
forbidden them, and yet see that God will damn them in hell-fire if
they cast them not away: this filleth them with displacency against
God, as holy and just. 4. And then, consequently, they hate him in the
rest of his attributes: as his omniscience, that he always seeth them;
his omnipresence, that he is always with them; his omnipotency, that
he is irresistible and able to punish them: his very mercy as
expressed to others, when they must have no part in it; yea, his very
immutability, eternity, and being, as he is to continue an avenger of
their iniquity: so that the wicked in despair do wish that there were
no God; and in prosperity, they wish he were not their Governor and
Judge, or were unholy and unjust, allowing them to do what they list
without account or punishment. Thus God is hated by the wicked
according to the measure of their wickedness, and carnal interest, and
concupiscence which he is against. Where you may note, 1. that the
hatred of God beginneth at the sensual love of things temporal which
he forbiddeth; 2. that the wicked great ones of the world, and those
that have the strongest concupiscence, are usually the greatest haters
of God, as having the greatest adverse interest, and being most in
love with the things which he prohibiteth and will condemn.
V. The counterfeit of love to God is something that seemeth like it, and
yet is consistent with prevalent hatred, or privation of true love, and
maketh self-deceiving hypocrites. 1. One is when so much of God is loved
as men think hath no opposition to their lusts and carnal interest (as
his mercy and readiness to forgive); and then they think that they truly
love God, though they hate his holiness and other attributes. 2. Another
counterfeit is, to love God upon mistakes, imagining that he is of the
sinner's mind, and will bear with him and not condemn him, though he
continue sensual and ungodly: this is not indeed to love God, but
something contrary to God. If men's fantasies will take God to be like
the devil, a friend to sin, and no friend to holiness, and false in his
threatenings, &c. and thus will love him; this is so far from being
indeed the love of God, that it is an odious blaspheming of him. 3.
Another counterfeit is, to love God only for his temporal mercies, as
because he preserveth and maintaineth them, when yet he is resisted when
he would give them things spiritual. 4. Another is, when the
opinionative approbation of the mind, and honouring God with the lips
and knee, are mistaken for true love. In a word, whatever love of God
respecteth him not as God indeed, and is not superlative, but is
subservient to creature love, is but a counterfeit.
VI. The directions for the exercise of the love of God are these:
_Direct._ I. Consider well, that the love of our Creator, Redeemer,
and Regenerator, is the very end for which we are created, redeemed,
and regenerate; and how just it is that God should have the end of
such excellent works, and that by neglecting or opposing the love of
God, which is the end, we neglect or oppose the works of creation,
redemption, and regeneration themselves.--Let us plead these works of
God with our hearts, and say,--1. O sluggish soul! dost thou forget
the use for which thou wast created, and for which thou wast endowed
with rational faculties? Dost thou repent that thou art a man, and
refuse the employment of a man? What is the means or instrument good
for, but its proper end, and use, and action? God made the sun to
shine, and it shineth; he made the earth to support us and bear fruit,
and it doth accordingly: and he made thee to love him, and wilt thou
refuse and disobey? How noble and excellent is thy employment in
comparison of theirs! Is the fruit of the earth, or the labour of thy
beast, or the service of any inferior creature, so sweet and
honourable a work as thine, to know and love thy bountiful, glorious
Creator? How happy is thy lot! how blessed is thy portion in
comparison of theirs! And dost thou forsake thy place, and descend to
more ignoble objects, as if thou hadst rather been some silly, sordid
animal? If thou hadst not rather be a beast than a man, why choosest
thou the love and pleasures of a beast, and refusest the love and
pleasures of a man? Is creation, and the image of God in a rational,
free soul, a thing thus to be contemned for nothing? What is the sun
good for, if it should yield no light or heat? And what art thou good
for more than the beasts that perish, if thou know not and love not
thy Creator? If God should offer to unman thee, and turn thee into a
horse or dog, thou wouldst think he thrust thee into misery; and yet
thou canst voluntarily and wilfully unman thyself, and take it as thy
ease and pleasure. If death came this night to dissolve thy nature, it
would not please thee; and yet thou canst daily destroy thy nature, as
to its use and end, and not lament it! It were better I had never been
a man, nor never had a heart or love within me, if I use it not in
the holy love of my Creator. It is true, I have a body that is made to
eat, and drink, and sleep; but all this is but to serve my soul in the
love of him that giveth me all. Life is not for meat, or drink, or
play; but these are for life, and life for the higher ends of life.
2. Look unto thy Redeemer, drowsy soul! and consider for what end he
did redeem thee: Was it to wander a few years about the earth, and to
sleep, and sport awhile in flesh? Or was it to crucify thee to the
world, and raise thee up to the love of God? He came down to earth
from love itself, being full of love, to show the loveliness of God,
and reconcile thee to him, and take away the enmity, and by love to
teach thee the art of love. His love constrained him to offer himself
a sacrifice for sin, to make thee a priest thyself to God, to offer up
the sacrifice of an inflamed heart in love and praise; and wilt thou
disappoint thy Redeemer, and disappoint thyself of the benefits of his
love? The means is for the end; thou mayst as well say, I would not be
redeemed, as to say, I would not love the Lord.
3. And bethink thyself, O drowsy soul, for what thou wast regenerated
and sanctified by the Spirit? Was it not that thou mightst know and
love the Lord? What is the Spirit of adoption that is given to
believers, but a Spirit of predominant love to God? Gal. iv. 6. Thou
couldst have loved vanity, and doted on thy fleshly friends and
pleasures, without the Spirit of God: it was not for these, but to
destroy these, and kindle a more noble, heavenly fire in thy breast,
that the Spirit did renew thee. Examine, search, and try thyself,
whether the Spirit hath sanctified thee or not. Knowest thou not, that
if "any man have not the Spirit of Christ, the same is none of his?" 2
Cor. xiii. 5; Rom. viii. 9. And if Christ and his Spirit be in thee,
thy love is dead to earthly vanity, and quickened and raised to the
most holy God. Live then in the Spirit, if thou have the Spirit: to
walk in the Spirit is to walk in love. Hath the regenerating Spirit
given thee on purpose a new principle of love, and done so much to
excite it, and been blowing at the coals so oft, and shall thy
carnality or sluggishness yet extinguish it? As thou wouldst not
renounce or contemn thy creation, thy redemption, and regeneration,
contemn not and neglect not the love of thy Creator, Redeemer, and
Regenerator, which is the end of all.
_Direct._ II. Think of the perfect fitness of God to be the only
object of thy superlative love; and how easy and necessary it should
seem to us to do a work so agreeable to right reason and uncorrupted
nature; and abhor all temptations which would make God seem unsuitable
to thee.--O sluggish and unnatural soul! should not an object so
admirably fit allure thee? Should not such attractive goodness draw
thee? Should not perfect amiableness win thee wholly to itself? Do but
know thyself and God, and then forbear to love him if thou canst!
Where should the fish live, but in the water? And where should birds
fly, but in the air? God is thy very element: thou diest and sinkest
down to brutishness, if thou forsake him or be taken from him. What
should delight the smell, but odours? or the appetite, but its
delicious food? or the eye, but light, and what it showeth? and the
ear, but harmony? and what should delight the soul, but God? If thou
know thyself, thou knowest that the nature of thy mind inclineth to
knowledge; and by the knowledge of effects, to rise up to the cause;
and by the knowledge of lower and lesser matters, to ascend to the
highest and greatest. And if thou know God, thou knowest that he is
the cause of all things, the Maker, Preserver, and Orderer of all,
the Being of beings, the most great, and wise, and good, and happy; so
that to know him, is to know all; to know the most excellent,
independent, glorious Being, that will leave no darkness nor
unsatisfied desire in thy soul. And is he not then most suitable to
thy mind? If thou know thyself, then thou knowest that thy will, as
free as it is, hath a natural, necessary inclination to goodness. Thou
canst not love evil as evil; nor canst thou choose but love
apprehended goodness, especially the chiefest good, if rightly
apprehended. And if thou know God, thou knowest that he is infinitely
good in himself, and the cause of all the good that is in the world,
and the giver of all the good thou hast received, and the only fit and
suitable good to satisfy thy desires for the time to come. And yet,
shall it be so hard to thee to love, so agreeably to perfect nature,
so perfect, and full, and suitable a good? even Goodness and Love
itself, which hath begun to love thee? Is any of the creatures which
thou lovest so suitable to thee? Are they good, and only good, and
perfectly good, and unchangeably and eternally good? Are they the
spring of comfort, and the satisfying happiness of thy soul? Hast thou
found them so? or dost thou look to find them best at last? Foolish
soul! canst thou love the uneven, defective, troublesome creature, if
to some one small, inferior use it seemeth suitable to thee? and canst
thou not love Him, that is all that rational love can possibly desire
to enjoy? What though the creature be near thee, and God be infinitely
above thee? He is nearer to thee than they. And though in glory he be
distant, thou art passing to him in his glory, and wilt presently be
there. Though the sun be distant from thee, it communicateth to thee
its light, and heat, and is more suitable to thee than the candle that
is nearer thee. What though God be most holy, and thou too earthly and
unclean? is he not the fitter to purify thee, and make thee holy? Thou
hadst rather, if thou be poor, have the company and favour of the rich
that can relieve thee, than of beggars that will but complain with
thee. And if thou be unlearned or ignorant, thou wouldst have the
company of the wise and learned that can teach thee, and not of those
that are as ignorant as thyself. Who is so suitable to thy desires, as
he that hath all that thou canst wisely desire, and is willing and
ready to satisfy thee to the full? Who is more suitable to thy love,
than he that loveth thee most, and hath done most for thee, and must
do all that ever will be done for thee, and is himself most lovely in
his infinite perfections? O poor, diseased, lapsed soul! if sin had
not corrupted, and distempered, and perverted thee, thou wouldst have
thought God as suitable to thy love, as meat to thy hunger, and drink
to thy thirst, and rest to thy weariness, and as the earth and water,
the air and sun, are to the inhabitants of the world! O whither art
thou fallen? and how far, how long, hast thou wandered from thy God,
that thou now drawest back from him as a stranger to thee, and lookest
away from him as an unsuitable good?
_Direct._ III. Imagine not God to be far away from thee, but think of
him as always near thee and with thee, in whose present love and
goodness thou dost subsist.--Nearness of objects doth excite the
faculties: we hear no sound, nor smell any odour, nor taste any
sweetness, nor see any colours, that are too distant from us. And the
mind being limited in its activity, neglecteth, or reacheth not things
too distant, and requireth some nearness of its object, as well as the
sense; especially to the excitation of affections and bodily action. A
distant danger stirreth not up such fears, nor a distant misery such
grief, nor a distant benefit such pleasure, as that which is at hand.
Death doth more deeply affect us, when it seemeth very near, than when
we think we have yet many years to live. So, carnal minds are so
drowned in flesh, and captivated to sense, that they take little
notice of what they see not, and therefore think of God as absent,
because they see him not: they think of him as confined to heaven, as
we think of a friend that is in the East Indies, or at the antipodes,
who is, if not out of mind as well as out of sight, yet too distant
for us delightfully to converse with.--Remember always, O my soul,
that none is so near thee as thy God. A Seneca could say, of good men,
that God is with us, and in us. Nature taught heathens, that in him we
live, and move, and have our being. Thy friend may be absent, but God
is never absent from thee; he is with thee, when, as to men, thou art
alone. The sun is sufficient to illuminate but one part of the earth
at once; and therefore must leave the rest in darkness. But God is
with thee night and day; and there is no night to the soul, so far as
it enjoyeth him. Thy life, thy health, thy love, and joy, are not
nearer to thee than thy God: he is now before thee, about thee, within
thee, moving thee to good, restraining thee from evil, marking and
accepting all that is well, disliking and opposing all that is ill.
The light of the sun doth not more certainly fill the room, and
compass thee about, than God doth with his goodness. He is as much at
leisure to observe thee, to converse with thee, to hear and help thee,
as if thou wert his only creature: as the sun can as well illuminate
every bird and fly, as if it shined unto no other creature. Open the
eye of faith and reason, and behold thy God! Do not forget him, or
unbelievingly deny him, and then say, He is not here. Do not say, that
the sun doth not shine, because thou winkest. O do not quench thy love
to God, by feigning him to be out of reach, and taken up with other
converse! Turn not to inferior delights, by thinking that he hath
turned thee off to these: and love him not as an absent friend; but as
the friend that is always in thy sight, in thy bosom, and in thy
heart; the fuel that is nearest to the flames of love.
_Direct._ IV. All other graces must do their part in assisting love,
and all be exercised in subservience to it, and with an intention,
directly or remotely, to promote it.--Fear and watchfulness must keep
away the sin that would extinguish it, and preserve you from that
guilt which would frighten away the soul from God. Repentance and
mortification must keep away diverting and deceiving objects, which
would steal away our love from God. Faith must show us God as present,
in all his blessed attributes and perfections. Hope must depend on
him, for nearer access and the promised felicity. Prudence must choose
the fittest season, and means, and helps from our special approaches
to him, and teach us how to avoid impediments. And obedience must keep
us in a fit capacity for communion with him. The mind that is turned
loose to wander after vanity the rest of the day, is unfit in an hour
of prayer or meditation, to be taken up with the love of God. It must
be the work of the day, and of our lives, to walk in a fitness for it,
though we are not always in the immediate, lively exercise of it. To
sin wilfully one hour, and be taken up with the love of God the next,
is as unlikely, as one hour to abuse our parents, and provoke them to
correct us, and the next to find the pleasure of their love; or one
hour to fall and break one's bones, and the next to run and work as
pleasantly as we did before.
And we must see that all other graces be exercised in a just
subserviency to love; and none of them degenerate into noxious
extremes, to the hinderance of this, which is their proper end. When
you set yourselves to repent and mourn for sin, it must be from love,
and for love: that by ingenuous lamentation of the injuries you have
done to a gracious God, you may be cleansed from the filth that doth
displease him, and being reconciled to him in Christ, may be fit to
return to the exercises and delights of love. When you fear God, let
it be with a filial fear, that comes from love, and is but a
preservative or restorative for love. Avoid that slavish fear, as a
sin, which tendeth to hatred, and would make you fly away from God.
Love casteth out this tormenting fear, and freeth the soul from the
spirit of bondage. The devil tempteth melancholy persons to live
before God, as one that is still among bears or lions that are ready
to devour him; for he knoweth how much such a fear is an enemy to
love. Satan would never promote such fears, if they were of God, and
tended to our good. You never found him promoting your love or delight
in God! But he careth not how much he plungeth you into distracting
terrors. If he can, he will frighten you out of your love, and out of
your comforts, and out of your wits. A dull and sluggish sinner he
will keep from fear, lest it should awaken him from his sin; but a
poor, melancholy, penitent soul he would keep under perpetual terrors:
it is so easy to such to fear, that they may know it is a sinful,
inordinate fear; for gracious works are not so easy. And resist also
all humiliation and grief, that do not, immediately or remotely, tend
to help your love. A religion that tendeth but to grief, and
terminateth in grief, and goeth no further, hath too much in it of the
malice of the enemy, to be of God. No tears are desirable, but those
that tend to clear the eyes from the filth of sin, that they may see
the better the loveliness of God.
_Direct._ V. Esteem thy want of love to God (with the turning of it
unto the creature) to be the heart of the old man; thy most
comprehensive, odious sin: and observe this as the life of all thy
particular sins, and hate it above all the rest.--This is the very
death and greatest deformity of the soul; the absence of God's image,
and Spirit, and objectively of himself.--I never loathe my heart so
much, as when I observe how little it loveth the Lord. Methinks all
the sins that ever I committed, are not so loathsome to me, as this
want of love to God. And it is this that is the venom and malignity of
every particular sin. I never so much hate myself, as when I observe
how little of God is within me, and how far my heart is estranged from
him. I never do so fully approve of the justice of God, if it should
condemn me, and thrust me for ever from his presence, as when I
observe how far I have thrust him from my heart. If there were any
sin, which proceeded not from a want of love to God, I could easilier
pardon it to myself, as knowing that God would easilier pardon it. But
not to love the God of love, the fountain of love, the felicity of
souls, is a sin, unfit to be pardoned to any till it be repented of,
and partly cured; Christ will forgive it to none that keep it; and
when it is incurable, it is the special sin of hell, the badge of
devils and damned souls. If God will not give me a heart to love him,
I would I had never had a heart. If he will give me this, he giveth me
all. Happy are the poor, the despised, and the persecuted, that can
but live in the love of God! O miserable emperors, kings, and lords,
that are strangers to this heavenly love, and love their lusts above
their Maker! Might I but live in the fervent love of God, what matter
is it in what country, or what cottage, or what prison I live? If I
live not in the love of God, my country would be worse than
banishment, a palace would be a prison; a crown would be a miserable
comfort, to one that hath cast away his comfort, and is going to
everlasting shame and woe.--Were we but duly sensible of the worth of
love, and the odiousness and malignity that is in the want of it, it
would keep us from being quiet in the daily neglect of it, and would
quicken us to seek it, and to stir it up.
_Direct._ VI. Improve the principle of self-love, to the promoting of
the love of God, by considering what he hath done for thee, and what
he is, and would be to thee.--I mean not carnal, inordinate self-love,
which is the chiefest enemy of the love of God; but I mean that
rational love of happiness, and self-preservation, which God did put
into innocent Adam, and hath planted in man's nature as necessary to
his government. This natural, innocent self-love, is that remaining
principle in the heart of man, which God himself doth still presuppose
in all his laws and exhortations; and which he taketh advantage of in
his works and word, for the conversion of the wicked, and the
persuading of his servants themselves to their obedience. This is the
common principle in which we are agreed with all the wicked of the
world, that all men should desire and seek to be happy, and choose and
do that which is best for themselves; or else it were in vain for
ministers to preach to them, if we were agreed in nothing, and we had
not this ground in them to cast our seed into, and to work upon. And
if self-love be but informed and guided by understanding, it will
compel you to love God, and tell you that nothing should be so much
loved. Every one that is a man must love himself; we will not entreat
him, nor be beholden to him for this: and every one that loveth
himself, will love that which he judgeth best for himself: and every
wise man must know, that he never had nor can have any good at all,
but what he had from God. Why do men love lust, or wealth, or honour,
but because they think that these are good for them? And would they
not love God, if they practically knew that he is the best of all for
them, and instead of all?--Unnatural, unthankful heart! canst thou
love thyself, and not love him that gave thee thyself, and gives thee
all things? Nature teacheth all men to love their most entire and
necessary friends: do we deserve a reward by loving those that love
us, when publicans will do the like? Matt. v. 46. Art thou not bound
to love them that hate thee, and curse, and persecute thee? ver. 44,
45. What reward then is due to thy unnatural ingratitude, that canst
not love thy chiefest Friend? All the friends that ever were kind to
thee, and did thee good, were but his messengers to deliver what he
sent thee. And canst thou love the bearer, and not the Giver? He made
thee a man, and not a beast. He cast thy lot in his visible church,
and not among deluded infidels, or miserable heathens, that never
heard, unless in scorn, of the Redeemer's name. He brought thee forth
in a land of light, in a reformed church, where knowledge and holiness
have as great advantage as any where in all the world; and not among
deluded, ignorant papists, where ambition must have been thy governor,
and pride and tyranny have given thee laws, and a formal, ceremonious
image of piety must have been thy religion. He gave thee parents that
educated thee in his fear, and not such as were profane and ignorant,
and would have restrained and persecuted thee from a holy life. He
spoke to thy conscience early in thy childhood, and prevented the
gross abominations which else thou hadst committed. He bore with the
folly and frailties of thy youth. He seasonably gave thee those books,
and teachers, and company, and helps, which were fittest for thee; and
blest them to the further awakening and instructing of thee, when he
passed by others, and left them in their sins. He taught thee to pray,
and heard thy prayer. He turned all thy fears and groans to thy
spiritual good. He pardoned all thy grievous sins: and since that, how
much hath he endured and forgiven! He gave thee seasonable and
necessary stripes, and brought thee up in the school of affliction; so
moderating them, that they might not disable or discourage thee, but
only correct thee, and keep thee from security, wantonness, stupidity,
and contempt of holy things, and might spoil all temptations to
ambition, worldliness, voluptuousness, and fleshly lust. By the
threatenings of great calamities and death, he hath frequently
awakened thee to cry to Heaven; and by as frequent and wonderful
deliverances, he hath answered thy prayers, and encouraged thee still
to wait upon him. He hath given thee the hearty prayers of many
hundreds of his faithful servants, and heard them for thee in many a
distress. He hath strangely preserved thee in manifold dangers. He
hath not made thee of the basest of the people, whose poverty might
tempt them to discontent; nor set thee upon the pinnacle of worldly
honour, where giddiness might have been thy ruin, and where
temptations to pride, and lust, and luxury, and enmity to a holy life,
are so violent that few escape them. He hath not set thee out upon a
sea of cares and vexations, worldly businesses and encumbrances; but
fed thee with food convenient for thee, and given thee leisure to walk
with God. He hath not chained thee to an unprofitable profession, nor
used thee as those that live like their beasts, to eat, and drink, and
sleep, and play, or live to live; but he hath called thee to the
noblest and sweetest work; when that hath been thy business, which
others were glad to taste of as a recreation and repast. He hath
allowed thee to converse with books, and with the best and wisest men,
and to spend thy days in sucking in delightful knowledge: and this is
not only for thy pleasure, but thy use; and not only for thyself, but
many others. O how many sweet and precious truths hath he allowed thee
to feed on all the day, when others are diverted, and commonly look at
them sometimes afar off! O how many precious hours hath he granted me,
in his holy assemblies, and in his honourable and most pleasant work!
How oft hath his day, and his holy uncorrupted ordinances, and the
communion of his saints, and the mentioning of his name and kingdom,
and the pleading of his cause with sinners, and the celebrating of his
praise, been my delight! O how many hundreds that he hath sent, have
wanted the abundant encouragement which I have had! When he hath seen
the disease of my despondent mind, he hath not tried me by denying me
success, nor suffered me, with Jonah, according to my inclination to
overrun his work; but hath enticed me on by continued encouragements,
and strewed all the way with mercies: but his mercies to me in the
souls of others, have been so great, that I shall secretly acknowledge
them, rather than here record them, where I must have respect to those
usual mercies of believers, which lie in the common road to heaven.
And how endless would it be to mention all! All the good that friends
and enemies have done me! All the wise and gracious disposals of his
providence; in every condition, and change of life, and change of
times, and in every place wherever he brought me! His every day's
renewed mercies! His support under all my languishings and weakness;
his plentiful supplies; his gracious helps; his daily pardons; and the
glorious hopes of a blessed immortality which his Son hath purchased,
and his covenant and Spirit sealed to me! O the mercies that are in
one Christ, one Holy Spirit, one holy Scripture, and in the blessed
God himself! These I have mentioned, unthankful heart, to shame thee
for thy want of love to God. And these I will leave upon record, to be
a witness for God against thy ingratitude, and to confound thee with
shame, if thou deny thy love to such a God. Every one of all these
mercies, and multitudes more, will rise up against thee, and shame
thee, before God and all the world, as a monster of unkindness, if
thou love not him that hath used thee thus.
Here also consider what God is for your future good, as well as what
he hath been hitherto; how all-sufficient, how powerful, merciful, and
good. But of this more anon.
_Direct._ VII. Improve the vanity and vexation of the creature, and
all thy disappointments, and injuries, and afflictions, to the
promoting of thy love to God.--And this by a double advantage: First,
by observing that there is nothing meet to divert thy love, or rob God
of it; unless thou wilt love thy trouble and distress! Secondly, that
thy love to God is the comfort by which thou must be supported under
the injuries and troubles which thou meetest with in the world; and
therefore to neglect it, is but to give up thyself to misery.--Is it
for nothing, O my soul, that God hath turned loose the world against
thee? that devils rage against thee; and wicked men do reproach and
slander thee, and seek thy ruin; and friends prove insufficient, and
as broken reeds? It had been as easy to God, to have prospered thee in
the world, and suited all things to thy own desires, and have strewed
thy way with the flowers of worldly comforts and delights; but he knew
thy proneness to undo thyself by carnal loves, and how easily thy
heart is enticed from thy God; and therefore he hath wisely and
mercifully ordered it, that thy temptations shall not be too strong,
and no creature shall appear to thee in an over amiable, tempting
dress. Therefore he hath suffered them to become thy enemies: and wilt
thou love an enemy better than thy God? what! an envious and malicious
world; a world of cares, and griefs, and pains; a weary, restless,
empty world? How deep and piercing are its injuries! How superficial
and deceitful is its friendship! How serious are its sorrows! What
toyish shows and dreams are its delights! How constant are its cares
and labours! How seldom and short are its flattering smiles! Its
comforts are disgraced by the certain expectation of succeeding
sorrows: its sorrows are heightened by the expectations of more: in
the midst of its flatteries, I hear something within me saying, Thou
must die: this is but the way to rottenness and dust: I see a
winding-sheet and a grave still before me: I foresee how I must lie in
pains and groans, and then become a loathsome corpse. And is this a
world to be more delighted in than God? What have I left me for my
support and solace, in the midst of all this vanity and vexation, but
to look to him that is the all-sufficient, sure, never-failing good? I
must love him, or I have nothing to love but enmity or deceit. And is
this the worst of God's design, in permitting and causing my pains and
disappointments here? It is but to drive my foolish heart unto
himself, that I may have the solid delights and happiness of his love.
O then let his blessed will be done! Come home, my soul, my wandering,
tired, grieved soul! Love, where thy love shall not be lost: love Him
that will not reject thee, nor deceive thee; nor requite thee as the
world doth, with injuries and abuse: despair not of entertainment,
though the world deny it thee. The peaceable region is above. In the
world thou must have trouble, that in Christ thou mayst have peace.
Retire to the harbour, if thou wouldst be free from storms. God will
receive thee, when the world doth cast thee off, if thou heartily cast
off the world for him.--Oh what a solace is it to the soul, to be
driven clearly from the world to God, and there to be exercised in
that sacred love, which will accompany us to the world of love!
_Direct._ VIII. Labour for the truest and fullest conceptions of the
goodness and excellencies of God, which are his amiableness; and abhor
all misrepresentations of him as unlovely.--That which is apprehended
as unlovely cannot be loved; and that which is apprehended as evil, is
apprehended as unlovely. Therefore, it is the grand design of Satan to
hide God's goodness, and misrepresent him as evil: not to deny him to
be good in himself, for in that he hath no hope to be believed; but to
persuade men that he is not good to them, or to make them forget or
overlook his goodness. Not to persuade them that God is evil in
himself; but that he is evil to them, by restraining them from their
beloved sins, and hating them as sinners, and resolving to damn them
if they go on impenitently. This, which is part of the goodness of
God, he maketh them believe is evil, by engaging them in a way and
interest, which he knoweth that God is engaged against, and enticing
them under the strokes of his justice. And he tempteth believers
themselves to poor, diminutive, unworthy thoughts of the goodness and
mercifulness of God, and to continual apprehensions of his wrath and
terrors. And if he can make them believe that God is their enemy, and
think of him only as a consuming fire, how little are they like to
love him! If christians knew how much of the devil's malice against
God and them doth exercise itself in this, to make God appear to man
unlovely, they would more studiously watch against such
misrepresentations, and fly from them with greater hatred.[116] Not
that we must first, by the advice of arrogant reason, and self-love,
as some do, draw a false description of goodness and amiableness in
our minds, and make that the measure of our judgment of God, his
nature, attributes, and decrees; nor take his goodness to be only his
suitableness to our opinions, wills, and interest. But we must take
out from the word and works of God, that true description of his
goodness which he hath given of himself, and expunge out of our
conceits whatsoever is contrary to it. Think of God's goodness in
proportion with his other attributes.--O my soul, how unequally hast
thou thought of God! Thou easily believest that his power is
omnipotence, and that, his knowledge is omniscience; but of his
goodness, how narrow and poor are thy conceivings! as if it were
nothing to his power and knowledge. How oft hast thou been amazed in
the consideration of his greatness, and how seldom affected with the
apprehensions of his goodness! Thou gratifiest him that would have
thee believe and tremble as he doth himself, and not him that would
have thee believe and love. How oft hast thou suffered the malicious
enemy to accuse God to thee, and make thee believe that he is a hater
of man, and hateful to a man, or a hater of thee, that he might make
thee hate him! How oft hast thou suffered him to draw in thy thoughts
a false representation of thy dearest Lord, and show him to thee as in
that unlovely shape! How oft have thy conceptions dishonoured and
blasphemed his love and goodness, while thou hast seemed to magnify
his knowledge and his power! Think of him now as love itself, as
fuller of goodness than the sea of water, or the sun of light. Love
freely and boldly, without the stops of suspicions and fears, where
thou art sure thou canst never love enough; and if all the love of men
and angels were united in one flame, they could never love too much,
or come near the proportion of the glorious goodness which they love!
Cast thyself boldly into this ocean of delights. Though the narrowness
of thy own capacity confine thee, yet, as there are no bounds in the
object of thy love, let not false, unbelieving thoughts confine thee.
Oh that I were all eye, to see the glorious amiableness of my God! Oh
that I were all love, that I might be filled with his goodness! Oh
that all the passions of my soul were turned into this holy passion!
Oh that all my fears, and cares, and sorrows, were turned into love!
and that all the thoughts that confusedly crowd in upon me and molest
me, were turned into this one incessant thought, of the infinite
goodness of my God! Oh that all my tears and groanings, yea, and all
my other mirth and pleasures, were turned into the melodious songs of
love! and that the pulse, and voice, and operations of love, were all
the motion of my soul! Surely in heaven it will be so, though it is
not to be expected here.
_Direct._ IX. The great means of promoting love to God, is duly to
behold him in his appearances to man, in the ways of nature, grace,
and glory. First, therefore, learn to understand and improve his
appearances in nature, and to see the Creator in all his works, and by
the knowledge and love of them to be raised to the knowledge and love
of him.--Though sin hath so disabled us to the due improvement of
these appearances of God in nature, that grace must restore us, before
we can do it effectually and acceptably; yet objectively nature is
still the same in substance, and affordeth us much help to the
knowledge and love of God. He knoweth nothing of the world aright,
that knoweth not God in it, and by it. Some note that the greatest
students in nature are not usually the best proficients in grace; and
that philosophers and physicians are seldom great admirers of piety;
but this is to judge of the wise by the foolish, and to impute the
ignorance and impiety of some, to others that abhor it. Doubtless he
is no philosopher, but a fool, that seeth not and admireth not the
Creator in his works. Indeed if a man do wholly give himself to know
the shape and form of letters, and to write them curiously, or cut
them in brass or stone, or to print them, and not to understand their
significations or use, no wonder if he be ignorant of the arts and
sciences, which those letters well understood would teach him; such a
man may be called an engraver, a scrivener, a printer, but not a
scholar: and no better can the atheist be called a philosopher or
learned man, that denieth the most wise Almighty Author, while he
beholdeth his works, when the nature and name of God is so plainly
engraven upon them all. It is a great part of a christian's daily
business, to see and admire God in his works, and to use them as steps
to ascend by to himself. Psal. cxi. 2-4, "The works of the Lord are
great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is
honourable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever. He
hath made his wonderful works to be remembered." Psal. cxliii. 5, "I
meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands." Psal.
lxxvii. 12, "I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy
doings." Psal. xcii. 4, 6, "For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through
thy work; I will triumph in the works of thy hands. A brutish man
knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this." As the praising of
God's works, so the observing of God in his works, is much of the work
of a holy soul. Psal. cxlv. 3-7, 10, 17, "Great is the Lord, and
greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. One
generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy
mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and
of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of thy
terrible acts; and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly
utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy
righteousness. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints
shall bless thee. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in
all his works." Rom. i. 19, 20, "That which may be known of God is
manifest to them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible
things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and
Godhead; so that they are without excuse." If we converse in the world
as believers or rational creatures ought, we should as oft as David
repeat those words, Psal. cvii. "O that men would praise the Lord for
his goodness, and for his wondrous works to the children of men! And
let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his
works with rejoicing. They that go down to the sea in ships, that do
business in great waters; these see the works of the Lord, and his
wonders in the deep," ver. 21-24. But this is a subject fitter for a
volume (of physics theologically handled) than for so short a touch.
What an excellent book is the visible world for the daily study of a
holy soul! Light is not more visible to the eye in the sun, than the
goodness of God is in it and all the creatures to the mind. If I love
not God, when all the world revealeth his loveliness, and every
creature telleth me that he is good, what a blind and wicked heart
have I! O wonderful wisdom, and goodness, and power which appeareth in
every thing we see! in every tree, and plant, and flower; in every
bird, and beast, and fish; in every worm, and fly, and creeping thing;
in every part of the body of man or beast, much more in the admirable
composure of the whole; in the sun, and moon, and stars, and meteors;
in the lightning and thunder, the air and winds, the rain and waters,
the heat and cold, the fire and the earth, especially in the composed
frame of all, so far as we can see them set together; in the admirable
order and co-operation of all things; in their times and seasons, and
the wonderful usefulness of all for man. O how glorious is the power,
and wisdom, and goodness of God, in all the frame of nature! Every
creature silently speaks his praise, declaring him to man, whose
office is, as the world's high priest, to stand between them and the
great Creator, and expressly offer him the praise of all. Psal. viii.
3-6, 9, "When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the
moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou
art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For
thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned
him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the
works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet. O Lord,
our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!" "Oh that men
would praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare his wondrous works
to the children of men!" "The earth is full of the goodness of the
Lord," Psal. xxxiii. 5-9. Read Psal. lxv. Thus love God as appearing
in the works of nature.
_Direct._ X. Study to know God as he appeareth more clearly to sinners
in his goodness in the works of grace; especially in his Son, his
covenant, and his saints, and there to love him, in the admiration of
his love.--Here love hath made itself an advantage of our sin and
unworthiness, of our necessities and miseries, of the law and justice,
and the flames of hell. The abounding of sin and misery hath glorified
abounding grace; that grace which fetcheth sons for God from among the
voluntary vassals of the devil, which fetcheth children of light out
of darkness, and living souls from among the dead, and heirs for
heaven from the gates of hell; and brings us as from the gallows to
the throne. 1. A believing view of the nature, undertaking, love,
obedience, doctrine, example, sufferings, intercession, and kingdom of
Jesus Christ, must needs inflame the believer's heart with an
answerable degree of the love of God. To look on a Christ and not to
love God, is to have eyes and not to see, and to overlook him while we
seem to look on him. He is the liveliest image of Infinite Goodness,
and the messenger of the most unsearchable, astonishing love, and the
purchaser of the most invaluable benefits that ever were revealed to
the sons of men. Our greatest love must he kindled by the greatest
revelations and communications of the love of God. And "greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,"
John xv. 13. That is, men have no dearer and clearer a way to express
their love to their friends; but that love is aggravated indeed, which
will express itself as far for enemies. "But God commendeth his love
toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And
if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of
his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life,"
Rom. v. 8, 10. Steep, then, that stiff and hardened heart in the blood
of Christ, and it will melt: come near, with Thomas, and by the
passage of his wounds get near unto his heart, and it will change thy
unkind, unthankful heart into the very nature of love. Christ is the
best teacher of the lesson of love that ever the world had; who taught
it not only by his words, but by his blood, by his life, and by his
death: if thou canst not learn it of him thou canst never learn it.
Love is the greatest commander of love, and the most effectual
argument that can insuperably constrain us to it: and none ever loved
at the measure and rates that Christ hath loved. To stand by such a
fire is the way for a congealed heart to melt, and the coldest
affections to grow warm. A lively faith still holding Christ, the
glass of infinite love and goodness, before our faces, is the greatest
lesson in the art of love.
2. Behold God also in his covenant of grace, which he hath made in
Christ. In that you may see such sure, such great and wonderful
mercies, freely given out to a world of sinners, and to yourselves
among the rest, as may afford abundant matter for love and
thankfulness to feed on while you live. There you may see how loth God
is that sinners should perish; how he delighteth in mercy; and how
great and unspeakable that mercy is. There you may see an act of
pardon and oblivion granted upon the reasonable condition of
believing, penitent acceptance, to all mankind; the sins that men
have been committing many years together, their wilful, heinous,
aggravated sins, you may there see pardoned by more aggravated mercy;
and the enemies of God reconciled to him, and condemned rebels saved
from hell, and brought into his family, and made his sons. Oh what an
image of the goodness of God is apparent in the tenor of his word and
covenant! Holiness and mercy make up the whole--they are expressed in
every leaf and line! The precepts, which seem too strict to sinners,
are but the perfect rules of holiness and love, for the health and
happiness of man. What loveliness did David find in the law itself!
and so should we, if we read it with his eyes and heart: it was
sweeter to him than honey; he loved it above gold, Psal. cxix. 127;
and, ver. 97, he crieth out, "O how I love thy law! it is my
meditation all the day." And must not the Lawgiver then be much more
lovely, whose goodness here appeareth to us? "Good and upright is the
Lord; therefore will he teach sinners in the way," Psal. xxv. 8. "I
will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved: my hands
also will I lift up to thy commandments, which I have loved; and I
will meditate in thy statutes," Psal. cxix. 47, 48. How delightfully
then should I love and meditate on the blessed Author of this holy
law! But how can I read the history of love, the strange design of
grace in Christ, the mystery which the angels desirously pry into, the
promises of life to lost and miserable sinners, and not feel the power
of love transform me? "Behold, with what love the Father hath loved
us, that we should be called the sons of God," 1 John iii. 1. How doth
God shed abroad his love upon our hearts, but by opening to us the
superabundance of it in his word, and opening our hearts by his Spirit
to perceive it? Oh when a poor sinner that first had felt the load of
sin, and the wrath of God, shall feelingly read or hear what mercy is
tendered to him in the covenant of grace, and hear Christ's messengers
tell him, from God, that all things are now ready; and therefore
invite him to the heavenly feast, and even compel him to come in, what
melting love must this affect the sinner's heart with! When we see the
grant of life eternal sealed to us by the blood of Christ, and a
pardoning, justifying, saving covenant, so freely made and surely
confirmed to us, by that God whom we had so much offended, oh what an
incentive is here for love!
When I mention the covenant I imply the sacraments, which are but its
appendants or confirming seals, and the investing the believer
solemnly with its benefits. But in these God is pleased to condescend
to the most familiar communion with his church, that love and
thankfulness might want no helps. There it is that the love of God in
Christ applieth itself most closely to particular sinners; and the
meat or drink will be sweet in the mouth, which was not sweet to us on
the table at all. Oh how many a heart hath this affected! How many
have felt the stirrings of that love, which before they felt not, when
they have seen Christ crucified before their eyes, and have heard the
minister, in his name and at his command, bid them "take," and "eat,"
and "drink;" commanding them not to refuse their Saviour, but take him
and the benefits of his blood as their own; assuring them of his
good-will and readiness to forgive and save them.
3. Behold also the loveliness of God in his holy ones, who bear his
image, and are advanced by his love and mercy. If you are christians
indeed, you are taught of God to love his servants, and to see an
excellency in the saints on earth, and make them the people of your
delight, Psal. xvi. 1, 2; 1 Thess. iv. 9. And this must needs acquaint
you with the greater amiableness, in the most holy God, that made them
holy. Oh how oft have the feeling and heavenly prayers of lively
believers excited those affections in me which before I felt not! How
oft have I been warmed with their heavenly discourse! How amiable is
that holy, heavenly disposition and conversation which appeareth in
them! Their faith, their love, their trust in God, their cheerful
obedience, their hatred of sin, their desire of the good of all, their
meekness and patience; how much do these advance them above the
ignorant, sensual, proud, malignant, and ungodly world! How good then
is that God that makes men good! And how little is the goodness of the
best of men, compared to his unmeasurable goodness! Whenever your
converse with holy men stirs up your love to them, rise by it
presently to the God of saints, and let all be turned to him that
giveth all to them and to you.
And as the excellency of the saints, so their privilege and great
advancement, should show you the goodness of God, that doth advance
them. As oft as thou seest a saint, how poor and mean in the world
soever, thou seest a living monument of the abundant kindness of the
Lord. Thou seest a child of God, a member of Christ, an heir of
heaven. Thou seest one that hath all his sins forgiven him, and is
snatched as a brand out of the fire, and delivered from the power of
Satan, and translated into the kingdom of Christ. Thou seest one for
whom Christ hath conquered the powers of hell; and one that is freed
from the bondage of the flesh; and one that, of the devil's slave, is
made a priest, to offer up the sacrifices of praise to God. Thou seest
one that hath the Spirit of God within him; and one that hath daily
intercourse with heaven, and audience with God, and is dearly beloved
by him in Christ. Thou seest in flesh a companion of angels, and one
that hath the divine nature, and must shortly be above the stars in
glory, and must be with Christ, and must love and magnify God for
ever. And is not the amiableness of God apparent, in such mercy
bestowed upon sinful man? And should we not now begin to admire him in
his saints, and glorify him in believers, who will come with thousands
of his angels, to be glorified and admired in them at the last? 2
Thess. 1. 10. Oh the abundant deliverances, preservations, provisions,
encouragements, which all his servants receive from God! Who ever saw
the just forsaken, even while they think themselves forsaken? "For the
Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved
for ever. The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall
slide. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of
that man is peace," Psal. xxxvii. 25, 28, 31, 37. "Precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of his saints," Psal. cxvi. 15. "Ye
that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints;
he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for
the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart," Psal. xcvii.
10, 11. "O love the Lord all his saints! for the Lord preserveth the
faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer," Psal. xxxi. 23.
_Direct._ XI. Insist not so much on your desires after vision, as to
undervalue the lower apprehensions of faith; but love God by the way
of faith, as in order to the love of intuition.
We are exceeding apt to be over-desirous of sight; and to take nothing
as an object fit to affect us, which sense perceiveth not. When we
have the surest evidence of the truth of things unseen, it hardly
satisfieth us, unless we may see or feel. And hereupon, our love to
God is hindered; while we think of him as if he were not, or take the
apprehensions of faith as if they were uncertain, and little differed
from a dream. Yea, it proveth the ground of most dangerous temptations
to infidelity itself. While we take that knowledge which we have of
God, in the way of faith, the love and communion which is exercised
thereby, to be as nothing; we are next tempted to think, that there is
no true knowledge of God, and communion with him, to be attained. And
when we have been searching and striving long, and find that we can
reach no more, we are tempted to think, that the soul of man is made
but as the beasts, for present things, and is incapable of those
higher things which are revealed in the gospel; and that if it were
indeed a life to come, and man were made to enjoy his God, we should
get nearer to him than we are, and know him more, and love him
better.--But is it nothing, O presumptuous soul, to see God in a
glass, in order to a nearer sight? Is it nothing to have the heavenly
Jerusalem described and promised to thee, unless thou see it and
possess it? Wilt thou travel to no place, but what thou seest all the
way? Wouldst thou have no difference betwixt earth and heaven? What
canst thou have more in heaven, than immediate intuition? Wouldst thou
have no life of trial, in the obedience of faith, before the life of
fruition and reward? Or canst thou think that a life of sight and
sense is fit for trial and preparation, to show who is meet for the
rewarding life? Unthankful soul! Compare thy state with that of
brutes: is it nothing for thee to know thy Maker in the works of his
creation and providence, and in the revelations of grace, and the
belief of promised immortality, unless thou presently see him in his
glory; when these thy fellow-creatures know him not at all? Compare
thyself now, with thyself as heretofore, in the days of thy ignorance
and carnality. Hadst thou then any such knowledge of God, as thou now
undervaluest? or any such communion with him, as thou now accountest
next to none? When the light first shined in thine eyes, and thou
hadst first experience of the knowledge of God, thou thoughtest it
something, and rejoicedst in the light: if then thou couldst have
suddenly attained but to so much as thou hast now attained, wouldst
thou have called it nothing? Would it not have seemed a greater
treasure to thee, than to have known both the Indies as thine own? O
be not unthankful for the little which thou hast received, when God
might have shut thee out in that darkness which the greatest part of
the world lieth in, and have left thee to thyself, to have desired no
higher knowledge, than such as may feed thy fancy, and pride, and
lust. Art thou so far drowned in flesh and sense, as to take
intellectual apprehensions for dreams, unless thy sense may see and
feel? Wilt thou take thy soul, thyself for nothing, because thou art
not to be seen or felt? Shall no subjects honour and obey their king,
but they that have seen his court and him? Desire the fullest and the
nearest sight, the purest and the strongest love; and desire and spare
not the life where all this will be had: but take heed of being too
hasty with God, and unthankful for the mercies of the way. Know better
the difference betwixt thy travel and thy home; and know what is fit
for passengers to expect. Humbly submit to an obedient waiting in a
life of faith; and make much of the testament of Christ, till thou be
at age to possess the inheritance. Thou must live, and love, and run,
and fight, and conquer, and suffer by faith, if ever thou wilt come to
see and to possess the crown.
_Direct._ XII. It is a powerful means to kindle the love of God in a
believer, to foresee by faith the glory of heaven, and what God will
be there to his saints for ever.[117]--And thus to behold God in his
glory, is the use of grace. Though the manner of knowing him thus by
faith, be far short of what we there expect, yet it is the same God
and glory that now we believe, which then we must more openly behold.
And therefore, as that apprehension of love will inconceivably excel
the highest which can be here attained; so the forethoughts of that
doth excel all other arguments and means to affect us here; and will
raise us as high as means can raise us. The greatest things, and
greatest interest of our souls, being there, will greatly raise us to
the love of God, if any thing will do it: to foresee how near him we
shall be ere long; and what a glorious proof we shall have of his good
will; and how our souls will be ravished everlastingly with his love!
To think what hearts the blessed have that see his glory, and live
with Christ! how full of love they are! and what a delight it is to
them thus to love! must needs affect the heart of a believer.--Lift up
thy head, poor drowsy sinner! look up to heaven, and think where thou
must live for ever! Think what the holy ones of God are doing! Do they
love God, or do they not? Must it not then be thy life and work for
ever? And canst thou forbear to love him now, that is bringing thee to
such a world of love? Thou wouldst love him more, that would give thee
security to possess a kingdom which thou never sawest, than him that
giveth thee but some toy in the hand. And let it not seem too distant
to affect thee: the time is as nothing till thou wilt be there: thou
knowest not but thou mayst be there this night. There thou shalt see
the Maker of the worlds, and know the mysteries of his wondrous works.
There thou shalt see thy blessed Lord, and feel that love which thou
readest of in the gospel, and enjoy the fruits of it for ever. There
thou shalt see him that suffered for thee, and rose again, whom angels
see and worship in his glory. Thou shalt see there a more desirable
sight, than those that saw him heal the blind, and lame, and sick, and
raise the dead; or those that saw him in his transfiguration; or those
that saw him on the cross, or after his resurrection; or than Stephen
saw when he was stoned; or Paul when he was converted; yea, more than
it is like he saw when he was in his rapture, in the third heavens! O
who can think believingly on the life which we must there shortly
live, the glory which we must see, the love which we must receive, and
the love which we must exercise, and not feel the fire begin to flame,
and the glass in which we see the Lord become a burning-glass to our
affections!--Christ and heaven are the books which we must be often
reading; the glasses in which we must daily gaze, if ever we will be
good proficients and practitioners in the art of holy love.
_Direct._ XIII. Exercise your souls so frequently and diligently in
this way of love, that the method of it may be familiar to you, and
the means and motives still at hand, and you may presently be able to
fall into the way, as one that is well acquainted with it, and may not
be distracted and lost in generals, as not knowing where to fix your
thoughts.--I know no methods alone will serve to raise the dead, and
cause a carnal, senseless heart to love the Lord. But I know that many
honest hearts, that have the spirit of love within them, have great
need to be warned, that they quench not the Spirit; and great need to
be directed how to stir up the grace which is given them: and that
many live a more dull, or distracted, uncomfortable life, than they
would do, if they wanted not skill and diligence. The soul is most
backward to this highest work, and therefore hath the greater need of
helps: and the best have so much need as that it is well if all will
serve to keep up loving and grateful thoughts of God upon their minds.
And when every trade, and art, and science, requireth diligence,
exercise, and experience, and all are bunglers at it at the first, can
we reasonably think that we are like to attain any high degrees, with
slight, and short, and seldom thoughts?
_Direct._ XIV. Yet let not weak-headed or melancholy persons set
themselves on those methods or lengths of meditation, which their
heads cannot bear; lest the tempter get advantage of them, and abate
their love, by making religion seem a torment to them; but let such
take up with shorter, obvious meditations, and exercise their love in
an active, obediential way of living.--That is the best physic that is
fitted to the patient's strength and case: and that is the best shoe
that is meetest for the foot, and not that which is the biggest or the
finest. It is a great design of Satan, to make all duties grievous and
burdensome to us; and thereby to cast us into continual pain, and
fear, and trouble, and so destroy our delight in God, and
consequently, our love. Therefore pretend not to disability for carnal
unwillingness and laziness of mind; but yet mar not all by grasping at
more than you are able to bear. Take on you as you are able, and
increase your work, if God increase your strength. If a melancholy
person crack his brain with immoderate, unseasonable endeavours, he
will but disable himself for all.
_Direct._ XV. Keep clear, and hold fast the evidences of thy sincerity,
that thou mayst perceive thy interest in the love of God, and resist the
temptations which would hide his love to thee, and cause thee to doubt
of it, or deny it.--Satan hath not his end when he hath troubled thee,
and robbed thee of thy peace and comfort; it is worse that he is seeking
to effect by this: his malice is more against God, than against thee;
and more against God and thee, in this point of love, than in any other
grace or duty. He knoweth that God esteemeth this most; and he knoweth
if he could kill thy love, he kills thy soul. And he knoweth how natural
it is to man, to love those that love him, and hate those that hate him,
be they never so excellent in themselves. And therefore, if he can
persuade thee into despair, and to think that God hateth thee, and is
resolved to damn thee, he will not despair of drawing thee to hate God.
Or if he do but bring thee to fear that he loveth thee not, he will
think accordingly to abate thy love. I know that a truly gracious soul
keepeth up its love, when it loseth its assurance; and mourneth, and
longeth, and seeketh in love, when it cannot triumph and rejoice in
love: but yet there are some prints left on the heart, of its former
apprehensions of the love of God: and such souls exceedingly
disadvantage themselves as to the exercises of love, and make it a work
of wondrous difficulty. Oh! it will exceedingly kindle love, when we can
see God's surest love-tokens in our hearts, and look to the promises,
and say, They are all mine; and think of heaven, as that which shall
certainly be our own: and can say with Thomas, "My Lord, and my God:"
and with Paul, that "The life which I live in the flesh, I live by the
faith of the Son of God, that loved me, and gave himself for me." Denial
of our grace may seem to be humility, but it tendeth to extinguish love
and gratitude.
But, you will say, I must avoid soul-delusion and pharisaical
ostentation on the other side; and few reach assurance; how then
should we keep up the love of God?
[Sidenote: Signs of the love of God.]
_Answ._ 1. Though I am not come to the point of trying and discerning
grace, I shall give you this much help in the way, because it is so
useful to the exercises of love. (1.) If you have not enjoying,
delighting love, yet try whether you have not desiring, seeking love.
Love appeareth as truly in desiring and seeking good as in delighting
in it. Poor men show their love of the world, by desiring and seeking
it, as much as rich men do in delighting in it. What is it that you
most desire and seek? (2.) Or if this be so weak that you scarce
discern it, do you not find a mourning and lamenting love? You show
that you loved your money, by mourning when you lose it; and that you
loved your friend by grieving for his death, as well as by delighting
in him while he lived. If you heartily lament it as your greatest
unhappiness and loss, when you think that God doth cast you off, and
that you are void of grace, and cannot serve and honour him as you
would, this shows you are not void of love. (3.) If you feel not that
you love him, do you feel that you would fain love him, and that you
love to love him? If you do so, it is a sign that you do love him?
When you do not only desire to find such an evidence of salvation in
you, but when you desire love itself, and love to love God. Had you
not rather have a heart to love him perfectly, than to have all the
riches in the world? Had you not rather live in the love of God, if
you could reach it, than to live in any earthly pleasure? If so, be
sure he hath your hearts. The will is the love, and the heart; if God
have your will he hath your heart and love. (4.) What hath your hearts
if he have them not? Is there any thing that you prefer and seek
before him, and that you had rather have than him? Can you be content
without him, and let him go, in exchange for any earthly pleasure? If
not, it is a sign he hath your hearts. You love him savingly if you
set more by nothing else than by him. (5.) Do you love his holy image
in his word? Do you delight and meditate in his law? Psal. i. 2. Is it
in your hearts? Psal. xl. 8. Or do you pray, "Incline my heart unto
thy testimonies?" Psal. cxix. 36. If you love God's image in his word,
(the wisdom and holiness of it,) you love God. (6.) Do you love his
image on his children? If you love them for their heavenly wisdom and
holiness, you so far love God. He that loveth the candle for its
light, doth love the light itself and the sun: he that loveth the wise
and holy, for their wisdom and holiness, doth love wisdom and holiness
themselves. The word and the saints being more in the reach of our
sensible apprehensions, than God himself is, we ordinarily feel our
love to them, more sensibly than our love to God; when indeed it is
God, in his word and servants, that we love, 1 John iii. 14; Psal. xv.
4. (7.) Though for want of assurance you feel not the delights of
love, have you not a heart that would delight in it, more than in all
the riches of the world, if you could but get assurance of your
interest? Would it not comfort you more than any thing, if you could
be sure he loveth you, and could perfectly love him and obey him? If
so, it is not for want of love that you delight not in him, but for
want of assurance. So that if God have thy heart, either in a
delighting love, or a seeking and desiring, or a lamenting, mourning
love, he will not despise it or reject it. "He is nigh to them that
be of a broken heart," Psal. xxxiv. 18. "A broken and contrite heart
is his sacrifice, which he will not despise," Psal. li. 17. The "good
Lord will have mercy on every one that prepareth their hearts to seek
him, though they do it not according to the preparation of the
sanctuary," 2 Chron. xxx. 18, 19. By these evidences, you may discern
the sincerity of love in small degrees: and so you may make love the
occasion of more love, by discerning that goodness of God which is
manifested to you in the least.
2. But suppose you cannot yet attain assurance; neglect not to improve
that goodness and mercy of God which he revealeth to you in the state
that you are in. Love him, but as Infinite Goodness should be loved,
who "so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life," John iii. 16. Love him, as the most blessed and merciful God,
who made you and all things, and hath given to the world a universal
pardon, on condition of their penitent acceptance, and offereth them
everlasting life, and all this purchased by the blood of Christ. Love
him, as one that offereth you reconciliation, and entreateth you to be
saved: and as one that delighteth not in the death of the wicked, but
rather that they turn and live: and as one that would have all men to
be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth, though he will save
none but the penitent, that do acknowledge the truth. And when you
love him sincerely on these accounts, you will have the evidence of
his special love to you.
_Direct._ XVI. Improve thy sense of natural and friendly love, to raise
thee to the love of God.--When thou seest or feelest what love a parent
hath to children, and a husband to a wife, or a wife to a husband, or
faithful friends to one another; think then,--What love do I owe to God!
Oh how inconsiderable is the loveliness of a child, a wife, a friend,
the best of creatures, in comparison of the loveliness of God! Unworthy
soul! canst thou love a drop of goodness in thy friend; and canst thou
not love the ocean of goodness in thy God? Is a spark in the creature
more amiable than the fire that kindled it? Thou canst love thy friend
for all his blemishes, his ignorance, his passions, and manifold
imperfections: and canst thou not love thy God, who hath none of these,
nor any thing to discourage or damp thy love? Thou lovest, and
deservedly lovest thy friend, because he loveth thee, and deals friendly
with thee: but oh how much greater is the love of God! Did ever friend
love thee as he hath loved thee? Did ever friend do for thee as he hath
done? He gave thee thy being, thy daily safety, and all the mercies of
thy life! He gave thee his Son, his Spirit, and his grace! He pardoned
thy sins, and took thee into his favour, and adopted thee for his son,
and an heir of heaven! He will glorify thee with angels in the presence
of his glory! How should such a friend as this be loved! How far above
all mortal friends! Their love and friendship is but a token and message
of his love. Because he loveth thee, he sendeth thee kindness and mercy
by thy friend: and when their kindness ceaseth, or can do thee no good,
his kindness will continue, and comfort thee for ever. Love them
therefore as the messengers of his love; but love him in them, and love
them for him, and love him much more.
_Direct._ XVII. Think oft, how delightful a life it would be to thee, if
thou couldst but live in the love of God: and then the complacency will
provoke desire, and desire will turn thy face towards God, till thou
feel that thou lovest him.--The love of a friend hath its sweetness and
delight: and when we love them, we feel such pleasure in our love, that
we love to love them. How pleasant then would it be to love thy God!--O
blessed, joyful life, if I could but love him as much as I desire to
love him! How freely could I leave the ambitious, and the covetous, and
the sensual, and voluptuous, to their doting, delusory, swinish love!
How easily could I spare all earthly pleasures! How near should I come
to the angelical life! Could I love God as I would love him, it would
fill me with continual pleasure, and be the sweetest feast that a soul
can have. How easily would it quench all carnal love! How far would it
raise me above these transitory things! How much should I contemn them,
and pity the wretches that know no better, and have their portion in
this life! How readily should I obey, and how pleasant would obedience
be! How sweet would all my meditations be, when every thought is full of
love! How sweet would all my prayers be, when constraining love did
bring me unto God, and indite and animate every word! How sweet would
sacraments be, when my ascending, flaming love, should meet that
wonderful, descending love which cometh from heaven to call me thither,
and in living bread and spiritual wine is the nourishment and cordial of
my soul! How sweet would all my speeches be, when love commanded them,
and every word were full of love! How quiet would my conscience be, if
it had never any of this accusation against me, to cast in my face, to
my shame and confusion, that I am wanting in love to the blessed God! Oh
could I but love God with such a powerful love as his love and goodness
should command, I should no more question my sincerity, nor doubt any
more of his love to me. How freely then should I acknowledge his grace,
and how heartily should I give him thanks for my justification,
sanctification, and adoption, which now I mention with doubt and fear!
Oh how it would lift up my soul unto his praise, and make it my delight
to speak good of his name! What a purifying fire would love be in my
breast, to burn up my corruptions! It would endure nothing to enter or
abide within me, that is contrary to the will and interest of my Lord;
but hate every motion that tendeth to dishonour and displease him. It
would fill my soul with so much of heaven, as would make me long to be
in heaven, and make death welcome, which is now so terrible. Instead of
these withdrawing, shrinking fears, I should desire to depart and to be
with Christ, as being best of all. Oh how easily should I bear any
burden of reproach, or loss, or want, when I thus loved God and were
assured of his love! How light would the cross be! And how honourable
and joyful would it seem, to be imprisoned, reviled, spit upon, and
buffeted for the sake of Christ! How desirable would the flames of
martyrdom seem, for the testifying of my love to him that loved me at
dearer rates than I can love him! Lord, is there no more of this blessed
life of love to be attained here on earth? When all the world reveals
thy goodness; when thy Son hath come down to declare thy love, in so
full and wonderful a manner; when thy word hath opened us a window into
heaven, where afar off we may discern thy glory; yet, shall our hearts
be clods, and ice? O pity this unkind, unnatural soul! this dead,
insensible, disaffected soul! Teach me, by thy Spirit, the art of love!
Love me, not only so as to convince me that I have abundant cause to
love thee above all, but love me, so as to constrain me to it, by the
magnetical, attractive power of thy goodness, and the insuperable
operations of thy omnipotent love.
_Direct._ XVIII. In thy meditations upon all these incentives of love,
preach them over earnestly to thy heart, and expostulate and plead
with it by way of soliloquy, till thou feel the fire begin to
burn.--Do not only think on the arguments of love, but dispute it out
with thy conscience, and by expostulating, earnest reasonings with thy
heart, endeavour to affect it. There is much more moving force in this
earnest talking to ourselves, than in bare cogitation, that breaks not
out into mental words. Imitate the most powerful preacher that ever
thou wast acquainted with: and just as he pleadeth the case with his
hearers, and urgeth the truth and duty on them, by reason and
importunity, so do thou in secret with thyself. There is more in this
than most christians are aware of, or use to practise. It is a great
part of a christian's skill and duty, to be a good preacher to
himself. This is a lawful and a gainful way of preaching. Nobody here
can make question of thy call, nor deny thee a licence, nor silence
thee, if thou silence not thyself. Two or three sermons a week from
others, is a fair proportion; but two or three sermons a day from
thyself, is ordinarily too little. Therefore, I have added soliloquies
to many of these directions for love, to show you how, by such
pleadings with yourselves, to affect your hearts, and kindle love.
And oh that this might be the happy fruit of these directions with
thee that art now reading or hearing them! that thou wouldst but offer
up thy flaming heart to Jesus Christ our great High Priest, to be
presented an acceptable sacrifice to God! Or, if it flame not in love
as thou desirest, yet give it up to the Holy Spirit to increase the
flames. Thou little knowest how much God setteth by a heart. He
calleth to thee himself, "My son, give me thy heart," Prov. xxiii. 26.
Without it, he cares not for any thing that thou canst give him: he
cares not for thy fairest words without it: he cares not for thy
loudest prayers without it: he cares not for thy costliest alms or
sacrifices, if he have not thy heart. "If thou give all thy goods to
feed the poor, and give thy body to be burned, and have not love, it
will profit thee nothing. If thou speak with the tongue of men and
angels, and hast not love, thou art but as sounding brass, or a
tinkling cymbal. If thou canst prophesy and preach to admiration, and
understand all mysteries and knowledge, and hast faith to do miracles,
and have not love, thou art nothing," 1 Cor. xiii. 1-3. Thou hast but
a shadow, and wantest that which is the substance and life of all.
Come then, and make an agreement with God, and resolve now to offer to
him thy heart. He asketh thee for nothing which thou hast not: it is
not for riches or lands that he seeketh to thee; for then the poor
might say as Peter, "Silver and gold have I none:" give him but such
as thou hast, and it sufficeth. He knoweth that it is a polluted,
sinful heart; but give it him, and he will make it clean. He knoweth
that it is an unkind heart, that hath stood out too long; but give it
him yet, and he will pardon and accept it. He knoweth that it is an
unworthy heart; but give it him, and he will be its worth: only see
that you give it him entirely and unreservedly; for he will not
bargain with the devil, or the world, for the dividing of thy heart
between them. A half-heart and a hollow heart, that is but lent him
till fleshly interest or necessity shall call for it again, he will
not accept. Only resign it to him, and do but consent that thy heart
be his, and entirely and absolutely his, and he will take it and use
it as his own. It is his own by title: let it be also so by thy
consent. If God have it not, who shall have it? Shall the world, or
pride, or fleshly lust? Did they make it, or did they purchase it?
Will they be better to thee in the time of thy extremity? Do they bid
more for thy heart than God will give thee? He will give thee his
Son, and his Spirit, and image, and the forgiveness of all thy sins:
if the greatest gain, or honour, or pleasure will win it and purchase
it, he will have it: if heaven will buy it, he will not break with
thee for the price. Have the world and sin a greater price than this
to give thee? And what dost thou think that he will do with thy heart?
and how will he use it, that thou art loth to give it him? Will he
blind it, and deceive it, and corrupt it, and abuse it, and at last
torment it, as Satan will do? No; he will more illuminate it, and
cleanse it, and quicken it, Psal. li. 10; Eph. ii. 1; Jer. xxiv. 7. He
will make it new, and heal and save it, Ezek. xxxvi. 26; 2 Cor. v. 17;
Tit. iii. 3, 5, and ii. 14. He will advance and honour it, with the
highest relations, employments, and delight; for Christ hath said,
John xii. 26, "If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am,
there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my
Father honour." He will love it, and govern it, and comfort it, and
the heart that is delivered to him shall be kept near unto his own:
John xvi. 27, "For the Father himself loveth you," saith Christ,
"because ye have loved me." Whereas if thou deliver not thy heart to
him, it will feed on the poison of luscious vanity, which will gripe
and tear it when it is down; it will be like a house that nothing
dwelleth in but dogs, and flies, and worms, and snakes; it will be
like one that is lost in the wilderness, or in the night, that tireth
himself in seeking the way home, and the longer the worse; despair and
restlessness will be its companions for ever. Let me now once more in
the name of God bespeak thy heart. I will not use his commands or
threatenings to thee now, (though these as seconds must be used,)
because that love must have attractive arguments, and is not raised by
mere authority or fear: if there be not love and goodness enough in
God, to deserve the highest affections of every reasonable creature,
then let him go, and give thy heart to one that is better. Hear how
God pleadeth his own cause with an unkind, unthankful people, Mic. vi.
2, 3, "Hear, O ye mountains, the Lord's controversy. O my people, what
have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify
against me." What is there in him to turn away thy heart? Let malice
itself say the worst, without notorious impudence, against him: what
hath he ever done that deserveth thy disaffection and neglect? What
wouldst thou have to win a heart that is not in him? For which of his
mercies or excellencies is it, that thou thus contemnest and abusest
him? What dost thou want that he cannot, yea, or will not give thee?
Doth not thy tongue speak honourably of his goodness, while thy heart
contradicteth it, and denieth all? What hast thou found that will
prove better to thee? Is it sin or God that must be thy glory, rest,
and joy, if thou wilt not be a fire-brand of restlessness and misery
for ever? What sayest thou yet, sinner? Shall God, or the world and
fleshly pleasures, have thy heart? Art thou not yet convinced which
best deserveth it, and which will be best to it? Canst thou be a loser
by him? Will he make it worse, and sin make it better? Or wilt thou
ever have cause to repent of giving it up to God, as thou hast of
giving it to the world and sin? I tell thee, if God have not thy
heart, it were well for thee if thou hadst no heart.--I had a thousand
times rather have the heart of a dog, or the basest creature, than
that man's heart that followeth his fleshly lusts, and is not
unfeignedly delivered up to God, through Christ.
If I have not prevailed with your hearts for God, by all that I have
said, your consciences shall yet bear me witness, that I showed you
God's title, and love, and goodness, and said that which ought to have
prevailed; and you shall find ere long, who it is that will have the
worst of it: but if you resolve and give them presently to God, he
will entertain them, and sanctify, and save them; and this happy day
and work will be the angels' joy, Luke xv. 7, 10; and it will be my
joy, and especially your own everlasting joy.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: To trust in God.]
_Grand Direct._ XII. Trust God with that soul and body which thou hast
delivered up and dedicated to him; and quiet thy mind in his love and
faithfulness, whatever shall appear unto thee, or befall thee in the
world.
I shall here briefly show you, 1. What is the nature of this trust in
God.[118] 2. What are the contraries to it. 3. What are the
counterfeits of it. 4. The usefulness of it. And then, 5, I shall give
you some directions how to attain and exercise it.
1. To trust in God, is, upon the apprehension of the all-sufficiency,
goodness, and faithfulness of God, to quiet our hearts in the
expectation of the safety or benefits from him which we desire,
rejecting the cares, and fears, and griefs that would disquiet them, if
they had not the refuge of these hopes.[119] It containeth in it a
crediting the word or nature of God, or judging it to be a sufficient
ground of our security and expectation: and then security and
expectation built upon that ground, make up the rest of the nature of
trust. Looking for the benefit, and finding a complacency and quietness
of mind in the ground discovered, and ceasing all other cares and fears,
which would else disquiet us. Aquinas and other school-men often call
affiance, _spes roborata_, a confirmed hope. There is a twofold trust in
God: one is, for that which he hath not promised to do, but yet we think
that we find reason sufficient, from his nature itself, and relations,
to expect: this may be more or less certain and strong, as our
collection of the will of God, from his nature, is more or less sure and
clear. The other is, when we have not only God's nature, but his promise
also to trust upon: and this giveth us a certainty, if we certainly
understand his promise. To the last sort I may reduce that trust in God
for particular benefits, when we have only a promise in general, which
maketh not the particulars known and certain to us: as the promise, that
all shall work together for our good, doth give us but a probability of
health or outward protection and deliverances, because we are uncertain
how far they are for our good. All that is promised is sure; but whether
this or that be good for us, must be otherwise known. But those general
promises which contain particulars as surely known as the promise
itself, do make every one of the particular benefits as sure, by
promise, as the general: as, the promise of the pardon of all our sins,
ascertaineth us of the pardon of every sin in particular. Where there is
a promise, we trust God's faithfulness as well as his nature; but where
there is none, we trust his nature only. As a child doth quietly trust
his parents, without a promise, that they will not kill, or torment, or
forsake him. But because man is apt to make false collections of God's
will from his nature, he hath given us such clear expressions of it in
his word, as may bring us above uncertain probabilities, and are
sufficient for faith to ground upon (supposing God's properties) for our
government and peace. And it is certain that all collections of God's
will which are contrary to his word, are the errors of the collector.
In what I have said in this direction, I desire you chiefly to observe
these three things: 1. That God's nature and love are the sufficient,
general security to the soul. 2. That his promise is the sufficient,
particular security. 3. And that our unfeigned self-dedication to him,
is our sufficient evidence of our interest in his love and covenant,
which may warrant our special trust and expectations.
II. The contraries to trust in God, are: 1. Privative: not trusting
him: not seeing the ground of just security in his love and promise:
not crediting what is seen: not ceasing disquietness and distrustful
cares and fears. 2. Positive distrust: supposing the all-sufficiency,
goodness, and promises of God, are not sufficient grounds of our
expectation and security; and thereupon disquieting our minds with
sinful fears, and griefs, and cares, and shifting endeavours for
ourselves some other way. And this hath various degrees: in some it is
predominant; in others not. 3. Opposite or adverse: when we trust
ourselves, or friends, or wealth, or something else instead of God,
either against him, without him, or in co-ordination with him.
III. The counterfeits of this trust are these: 1. When indeed we trust
in our wit, or power, or shifts, or friends, or in some means or
creatures only, or in co-ordination with God; but pretend and think
that we do it but in subordination to him, and that our primary trust
is in him alone. The detection of this is by trying how we can trust
God alone, when he giveth us a promise and no probable means. 2.
Pretending to trust God alone in the neglect of those means which he
hath appointed us to use, and in the neglect of those duties which he
hath made the condition of his promises; and this trust is but a
self-deceiving cover for sin and sloth. 3. Pretending to trust God in
the use of self-devised, sinful means; when he hath promised a
blessing to no such means, but threatened them with a curse. 4.
Thinking we trust God, when it is some false revelation of the devil,
or some delusion of deceivers, or some dream, or fancy, or brain-sick,
proud conceit of our own, which indeed we believe, and ground our
trust upon: as those do that are deluded by false prophets and false
teachers, and fantastical fancies of their corrupted imaginations. 6.
When men in presumption and carnal security will rashly venture their
souls in the darkness of uncertainty, (as well as in the neglect of a
holy life,) and cast away all the sense of their miserable state; and
all the necessary fear and care that tended to their recovery; and
persuade themselves that they are in no great danger, or that their
care will do no good, and call all this a trusting God with their
salvation. 7. A pretending to trust God for that which is contrary to
his nature: as to love the wicked with complacency, or to take them
into heaven. 8. A pretending to trust God for that which is contrary
to his word: as to save the unregenerate and unholy; and so "not
believing him" itself, is taken for a believing in him, or trusting
him. 9. Pretending to believe and trust him for that which neither his
nature or his word did ever declare to be his will, in matters which
he hath kept secret, or never gave us any revelation of; such is that
which some call a particular faith: as to believe in prayer that some
particular never promised shall be granted, because we ask it, or
because we feel a strong persuasion that it will be so.
[Sidenote: Of particular faith.]
_Quest._ But is not such a particular faith and trust divine and
solid?--_Answ._ To expect any particular mercy which God's nature, or
word, or works do tell us that he will give, is sound and
warrantable: and to expect any particular thing which by inspiration,
prophecy, or true extraordinary revelation shall be made known to us;
for this is a word of God: but all other belief and expectation is but
self-promising and self-deceiving. And wise men will not easily take
themselves for prophets, nor take any thing for an inspiration, or
divine, extraordinary revelation, which bringeth not the testimony of
cogent evidence.
IV. There are three great uses and benefits of this trust in God, which
highly commend it to us, and make it necessary. 1. It is necessary to
our acknowledgment and honouring of God. It is a cordial, practical
confession of his power, and wisdom, and goodness, and truth: for where
any one of these is wanting, there is no ground of rational trust. And
the greater the danger or assault against us is, the more God is
acknowledged and honoured by our trust; for then we declare, that no
creature or impediment can disappoint his will: but that his power is
above all power, and his wisdom above all wisdom, and his goodness and
fidelity constant and invincible. Whereas distrust is a denying of God
in some of his attributes, or a suspecting of him. 2. It is necessary to
ourselves, for the quiet, and peace, and comfort of our minds, which
else will be left unavoidably to continual disquietness and pain, by
vexatious fears, and griefs, and cares, unless stupidity or deceit
should ease them. 3. It is necessary to prevent the errors and sinful
miscarriage of our lives. For if we trust not in God, we shall spend all
our thoughts and labours in the use of sinful means; we shall be
trusting idolatrously to the creature, and we shall be shifting for
ourselves by lies or any unlawful means, and lose ourselves by saving
ourselves, as from God, or without God.
Hence it is, that trust in God is so frequently and earnestly
commanded in the Scriptures, and such blessings promised to it, as if
it were the sum of godliness and religion. Jer. xvii. 5, 7, "Cursed be
the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose
heart departeth from the Lord.--Blessed is the man that trusteth in
the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is." Prov. xvi. 20, "Whoso trusteth
in the Lord, happy is he." Psal. ii. 12, "Blessed are all they that
put their trust in him." So Psal. lxxxiv. 12; xxxiv. 8, "O taste and
see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him."
See Psal. xxxii. 10; lvii. 1; lxxxvi. 2; xxii. 4, 5, 8. Safety,
stability, comfort, salvation, all mercies are promised to them that
trust in God, Psal. xxxiv. 22; xxxvii. 3, 5, 40; xci. 2, 4; cxxv. 1;
Isa. 1. 10. So faith in Christ is called trust, Matt. xii. 21; Eph. i.
12, 13. And idolaters and worldlings are described by trusting in
their idols and their wealth, Psal. cxv. 8; cxxxv. 18; Amos vi. 1;
Mark x. 24; Prov. xi. 28; xxviii. 26.
_Directions for a quieting and comforting Trust in God._
_Direct._ I. Let thy soul retain the deepest impression of the
almightiness, wisdom, goodness, and faithfulness of God, and how
certainly all persons, things, and events are in his power; and how
impotent all the world is to resist him, and that nothing can hurt thee
but by his consent.--The principal means for a confirmed confidence in
God is to know him, and to know that all things that we can fear are
nothing, and can do nothing, but by his command, and motion, or
permission. I am not afraid of a bird or a worm, because I know it is
too weak for me: and if I rightly apprehend how much all creatures are
too weak for God, and how sufficient God is to deliver me, his trust
would quiet me. Isa. xli. 10, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not
dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help
thee; yea, I will uphold thee." So ver. 13, 14; xliii. 1; xliv. 2, 8.
Psal. ix. 10, "They that know thy name will put their trust in thee."
Isa. li. 7, 8, "Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people
in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be
afraid of their revilings: for the moth shall eat them up like a
garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool."
_Direct._ II. Labour for a sound and clear understanding of the
promises of God, that thou mayst know how far he calleth thee to trust
in him.--For to think that he promiseth what he doth not, is not to
trust him, but to deceive thyself; and to think that he doth not
promise what indeed he doth, is to cast away the ground of trust.
_Direct._ III. Yield not to the tempter, who would either entice thee
into terrifying guilt, and blot thine evidences, or else hide them
from thee, and keep thee doubtful and suspicious of the love of
God.--For almost all that the distrustful soul hath to say for itself,
to justify its distrust, is, I am not sure that the promises are mine.
Remember still, that a heart dedicated to God, or consenting to his
covenant, is your fullest evidence; and suffer not this to be hid or
blotted. Wilful sin and guiltiness breeds fears, and will interrupt
your trust and quiet till it be forsaken.
_Direct._ IV. Remember the grounds of confidence and quietness which
God hath given you in his Son, his covenant, his Spirit, his
sacraments, and your own and others' manifold experiences. I name them
all together, because I would have you set them all together before
your eyes. Will he not give you "all things with him," that hath
"given you his Son?" Rom. viii. 32. Is not Christ a sufficient
undertaker and encourager? Are not his covenant, promise, and oath
sufficient security for you? "Wherein God, willing more abundantly to
show to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things in which it was
impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation," Heb.
vi. 17, 18. And are not the heavenly seal and earnest of his Spirit
sufficient to confirm us? 2 Cor. i. 22; and v. 5; Eph. i. 13, 14, and
iv. 30. And have you tried God so oft, and yet cannot you trust him?
Our frequent experiences, though the least of all these helps of
trust, are very powerful, because they are near us, and almost satisfy
sense itself; when all our bones say, "Lord, who is like unto thee,
who deliverest the poor?" &c. Psal. xxxv. 10.
_Direct._ V. Consider of the greatness of the sin of distrust; how it
denieth God in his attributes, and usually supposeth the creature to
be above him.--Either thou doubtest of, or deniest his power to help
thee, or his wisdom as deficient in making his promises, or finding
out the means of thy deliverance, or his goodness and love, as if he
would deceive thee, and so his truth and faithfulness in his promises.
And if thou fear a man, how great soever, when God calleth thee to
trust him for thy help, what dost thou but say, This man is more
powerful than God? or, God cannot deliver me out of his hands? If it
be want, or sickness, or death which thou fearest, what dost thou but
say in thy heart, that God either knoweth not what is best for thee so
well as thou knowest thyself, or else is not powerful or gracious
enough to give it? nor true enough to keep his promise? "He that
believeth not, makes God a liar," 1 John v. 10, 11.
_Direct._ VI. Remember that trusting God doth, as it were, oblige him,
and distrusting him doth greatly disoblige him, especially when any
thing else is trusted before him.--If any man trust you upon any
encouragement given him by you, you will take yourselves obliged to be
trusty to him, and not to fail any honest trust; but if he trust you
not, or trust another, you will turn him off to those that he hath
trusted. God may say to thee, Let them help thee whom thou hast
trusted: thou trustest not in me, and therefore I fail not thy trust
when I forsake thee.
_Direct._ VII. Remember that thou must trust in God, or in
nothing.--For nothing is more sure, nor more frequently experienced,
than that all things else are utterly insufficient to be our help.
Shall we choose a broken reed, that we know beforehand will both
deceive and pierce us? Woe to the man that hath no surer a foundation
for his trust than creatures! The greatest of them are unable; and the
best of them are untrusty and deceitful. How sad is thy case, if God
turn thee off to these for help in the hour of thy extremity! Then
wilt thou perceive, that "it is better to trust in the Lord, than to
put any confidence in princes," Psal. cxviii. 8, 9. "The righteous
also shall see, and fear, and laugh at him: Lo, this is the man that
made not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches,
and strengthened himself in his wickedness," Psal. lii. 6, 7. "But
they that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, that cannot be
removed, but abideth for ever," Psal. cxxv. 1. Creatures will
certainly deceive thy trust, but so will not God.
_Direct._ VIII. Believe and remember the particular providence of God,
which regardeth the falling of a sparrow on the ground, and numbereth
the very hairs of your heads, Matt. x. 30.--And can you distrust him,
that is so punctually regardful of your least concernments? that is
always present, and watcheth over you? You need not fear his absence,
disregard, forgetfulness, or insufficiency. Doth he number your hairs,
and doth he not number your groans, and prayers, and tears? How then
doth he wipe away your tears, and put them all as in his bottle! Psal.
lvi. 8; Rev. vii. 17.
_Direct._ IX. Compare God with thy dearest and most faithful friend,
and then think how boldly thou canst trust that friend if thy life or
welfare were wholly in his hand; and how much more boldly thou
shouldst trust in God, who is more wise, and kind, and merciful, and
trusty, than any mortal man can be.--When thou art in want, in prison,
in sickness, and in pain, expecting death, think now, if my life, or
health, or liberty were absolutely in the power of my surest friend,
how quietly could I wait, and how confidently could I cast away my
fears, though I had no promise what he would do with me; for I know he
would do nothing but what is for my good: and is not God to be trusted
in much more? Indeed a friend would ease my pain, or supply my wants,
or save my life, when God will not: but that is not because God is
less kind, but because he is more wise, and better knoweth what
tendeth to my hurt or good. My friend would pull off the plaster as
soon as I complain of smart; but God will stay till it have done the
cure. But, surely, God is more to be trusted for my real, final good,
though my friend be forwarder to give me ease. All friends may fail;
but God never faileth.
_Direct._ X. Make use of the natural love of quietness, and thy
natural weariness of tormenting cares, and fears, and sorrows, to move
thee to cast thyself on God, and quiet thy soul in trusting on
him.--For God hath purposely made thyself and all things else
insufficient, unsatisfactory, and vexatious to thee, that thou
mightest be driven to rest on him alone, when nothing else affords
thee rest. Cares, and fears, and unquietness of mind are such thorns
and briers as nature cannot love or be content with: and you may be
sure that you can no way be delivered from them, but by trusting upon
God. And will you choose care and torment, when so sure and cheap a
way of ease is set before you? Who can endure to have fears torment
him, and cares feed daily upon his heart, that may safely be delivered
from it? An ulcerated, festered, pained mind, is a greater calamity,
than any bodily distress alone. And if you be cast upon your own care,
or committed to the trust of any creature, you can never rationally
have peace. For your own ease and comfort then betake yourselves to
God, and cast all your care and burden on him, who careth for you, and
knoweth perfectly what you want, 1 Pet. v. 7; Matt. vi. 32. Read often
Matt. vi. from ver. 24. How sweet an ease and quietness is it to the
mind that can confidently trust in God! How quiet is he from the
storms of trouble, and the sickness of mind, which others are
distressed with! Isa. xxvi. 3, 4, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting
strength." Psal. cxii. 7, 8, "He shall not be afraid of evil tidings:
his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established; he
shall not be afraid." Psal. xxxi. 19, 20, 24, "Oh how great is thy
goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou
hast wrought for them that trust in thee, before the sons of men! Thou
shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man;
thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of
tongues. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all
ye that hope in the Lord." Psal. lvi. 3, 4, "What time I am afraid, I
will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word; in God have I put
my trust: I will not fear what flesh can do unto me." How easy and
sweet a life is this!
_Direct._ XI. Remember that distrust is a pregnant, multiplying sin,
and will carry thee to all iniquity and misery if thou suffer it to
prevail.--Distrusting God is but our entrance upon a life of error,
sin, and woe. It presently sets us on idolatrous confidence on flesh,
and sinful shifts, and stretching conscience; it deludeth our
judgments, and maketh every thing seem lawful which seems necessary to
our safety and welfare; and every thing seem necessary, without which
man cannot accomplish it. All sinful compliances, and temporizings,
and man-pleasing, and believing sinful means to be no sin, proceed
from this distrust of God.
_Direct._ XII. Suffer not distrustful thoughts and reasonings in thy
mind, but cast them out, and command them to be gone.--Cogitations are
the instruments of good and evil in the mind of man; they cannot be
acted but by thoughts, and the will hath more command of the thoughts
than it hath immediately of the passions themselves. If you cannot
trust God so quietly as you would, nor keep under every fearful
apprehension, yet keep out, or cast out, the thoughts which exercise
your sin, and turn your thoughts to something else. If thoughts do not
actuate it, your distrustful fears and cares will vanish. What are
your cares, but the turmoiling of your thoughts? continually feeding
upon difficulties and trouble, and tiring themselves with hunting
about for help? Cast away the thoughts, and the cares are gone. You
may do much in this if you will, though it be difficult. Matt. vi. 25,
"Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall
drink, nor yet for your bodies, what ye shall put on." Ver. 27, 28,
"Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit to his stature?
And why take ye thought for raiment?"
_Direct._ XIII. When commands will not prevail, rebuke and chide thy
unbelieving heart, and reason it out of its distrustful cares, and
fears, and sorrows.--Say to it, as David oft, Psal. xlii. and xliii.
"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou so disquieted
within me? Trust in God, for I shall yet give him thanks, who is the
health of my countenance, and my God." O foolish soul! hast thou yet
learned no better to know thy God? Doth he support the heavens and the
earth, and the whole creation? and yet canst not thou rely upon him?
Is he not wise enough to be trusted with the conduct and disposal of
thee? Is he not good and gracious enough to be trusted with thy life,
estate, and name, and welfare? Is he not great and powerful enough to
be trusted against the greatest danger, or difficulties, or opposition
that ever can befall thee? Is he not true and faithful enough to be
trusted, whatever improbabilities may arise before thee? Where dwelt
the man, and what was his name, that ever trusted him in vain, or was
ever failed or deceived by him? Are not his Son, and Spirit, and
covenant, and oath, sufficient pledges of his love for thy security?
How oft hath he performed his promises to thee, and heard thy cries,
and helped and saved thee in thy distress! How oft hath he confuted
thine unbelief, and shamed thy distrustful fears and cares! and then
thou couldst resolve to trust him better in the next distress. And
shall all his wonders of mercy be forgotten? and all thy confessions,
thanksgivings, and promises be now repented of, contradicted, or
recanted, by thy renewed distrust and unbelief? Is he not the same
God, that hath so frequently and abundantly had mercy on thee? Is he
not the same God, that hath saved all that trusted in him, and wrought
such wonders for his servants in the earth, and brought so many safe
to heaven? "Our fathers trusted in him; they trusted, and he delivered
them; they cried to him, and were delivered; they trusted in him, and
were not confounded," Psal. xxii. 4, 5. And is he not sufficient for
thee, that is sufficient for all the world? Who ever sped ill that
trusted in him? or who hath prospered by trusting in themselves or any
other, without him, or against him? Unworthy soul! wilt thou
atheistically deny the sufficiency, or truth, or goodness of thy God?
Shall thy distrust deny him, or blaspheme him? Wilt thou idolatrously
set up a worm above him? Is there more in man, or any thing else, to
hurt or ruin thee, than in God to save thee? Whom wilt thou trust, if
thou trust not God? Darest thou think that any other is fitter for thy
confidence? Thou wouldst be quiet and confident if thy dearest friend
had thy life or welfare in his hands; and art thou troubled now it is
in the hands of God? Is he enough to be our endless happiness in
heaven, and not to be thy confidence on earth? Canst thou trust him to
raise thy body from the dust, and not raise thy state, or name, or
troubled mind? Either take him for thy rock and hope, or never pretend
to take him for thy God. If thou trust not in him, thou must despair,
or trust against him; and whom wilt thou trust to save thee from him?
Hadst thou no more encouragement to trust him but this, that he hath
bid thee trust him, thou mightest be sure he never would deceive thee.
Lament, therefore, thy disquietment and self-tormenting fears; lament
thy injurious distrust of thy most dear Almighty Father. Choose not
vexation, when the harbour of his love is open to secure thee. If men
or devils are against thee, say as those believers, Dan. iii. 16, 17,
"We are not careful to answer thee in this matter; our God whom we
serve is able to deliver us." Go on, with Daniel, chap. vi. in praying
to thy God, and trust him with the lions' jaws. "Commit thy way unto
the Lord; trust in him, and he shall bring it to pass," Psal. xxxvii.
5. "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but I will remember
the name of the Lord our God," Psal. xx. 7. "Trust in him, for he is
thy help and shield," Psal. cxv. 9-11.
_Direct._ XIV. Take not the sayings of the tempter or thy own
distrustful heart for the sayings of God, or for any reason against thy
confidence in him.--Some take all the malicious suggestions of the
devil, for reasons of their disquietness and fears, as if it were the
Spirit of God that raised all the terrors and molestations in them,
which are raised by the enemy of God and them: and they fear when Satan
bids them, thinking it is the Spirit of God; and they dare not trust God
when he commandeth them, for fear lest it be the will of Satan. Some are
so strongly affected with their own conceits and fancies, that they
think God saith all that their hearts or fancies say, and make one fear
the reason of another. Thy heart is not so wise or good, as that thou
shouldst take all its words for the words of God. Thy "flesh and thy
heart" may "fail thee," when God, who is the "rock of thy heart and thy
portion," will never fail, Psal. lxxiii. 26. Thy heart may say, I have
no grace, no help, no hope, when God never said so, Psal. lxxvii. 7-10.
Thy heart may say, I am a reprobate, forsaken of God, he will not hear
me, the time of grace is past, when God never said so. Thy heart may
say, I am undone, I can find no comfort in any friend, no evidence of
grace within me, no comfort in God, in Christ, or in the promises, no
comfort in my life, which is but a burden to me; I cannot pray, I cannot
believe, I cannot answer the objections of Satan, I can strive no longer
against my fears, I cannot bear my wounded conscience. All this is the
failing of the heart; but proveth not any failing of God, whose grace is
sufficient for thee, and his strength is manifested perfect in thy
weakness. The heart hath a thousand sayings and conceits, which God is
utterly against.
_Direct._ XV. When you cannot exercise a trust of assurance, exercise
the trust of general faith, and hope, and the quiet submission of
thyself to the holy will of God.--The common pretence of distrust is,
I know not that I am a child of God; and, it beseems the ungodly to
fear his wrath. But, as the gospel is tidings of great joy to any
people where it cometh, so it is a word of hope and trust. At least
trust God so far as Infinite Goodness should be trusted, who will damn
none but the finally obstinate refusers of his saving grace.[120] And
with Aaron, Lev. x. 3, hold your peace, when he is glorifying himself
in his corrections. Remember, that the will of God is never misguided;
that it is the beginning and end of all things, Rev. iv. 11; Rom. xi.
36; that it never willeth any thing but good; that it is the centre
and end of all our wills. There is no rest or quietness for our wills,
but in the will of God: and his will is always for the good of them
that truly desire to be conformed to it, by obedience to his commands,
and submission to his disposal. Say, therefore, with your Saviour,
"Father, if it be thy will, let this cup pass from me; but not as I
will, but as thou wilt." There is nothing got by struggling against
the will of God; nor any thing lost by a quiet submission to it. And,
if thou love it, and desire to obey and please it, trust in it, for it
will surely save thee.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: For a delight in God.]
_Grand Direct._ XIII. Diligently labour that God and holiness may be
thy chief delight: and this holy delight may be the ordinary
temperament of thy religion.
_Directions for Delighting ourselves in God._
_Direct._ I. Rightly understand what delight in God it is that you
must seek and exercise.--It is not a mere sensitive delight, which is
exercised about the objects of sense or fantasy, and is common to
beasts with men: nor is it the delights of immediate intuition of God,
such as the blessed have in heaven: nor is it an enthusiastic delight,
consisting in irrational raptures and joys, of which we can give no
account of the reason.[121] Nor is it a delight inconsistent with
sorrow and fear, when they are duties; but it is the solid, rational
complacency of the soul in God and holiness, arising from the
apprehensions of that in him, which is justly delectable to us. And it
is such, as, in estimation of its object, and inward complacency and
gladness, though not in passionate joy or mirth, must excel our
delight in temporal pleasure; and must be the end of all our
humiliations, and other inferior duties.
_Direct._ II. Understand how much of this holy delight may be hoped
for on earth.[122]--Though too many christians feel much more fear and
sorrow in their religion than delight, yet every true christian doth
esteem God more delectable, or fit and worthy of his delights, if he
could enjoy him; whereas to the carnal, fleshly things do seem more
fit to be their delights. And though most christians reach not very
high in their delights in God, yet God hath prescribed us such means,
in which, if we faithfully used them, we might reach much higher. And
this much we might well expect: 1. So much as might make our lives
incomparably more quiet, contented, and pleasant to us, than are the
lives of the greatest or happiest worldlings. 2. So much as might make
our thoughts of God and the life to come, to be ready, welcome,
pleasant thoughts to us. 3. So much as might greatly prevail against
our inordinate griefs and fears, and our backwardness to duties, and
weariness in them, and might make religion an ordinary pleasure. 4. So
much as might take off our hankering desire after unnecessary
recreations and unlawful pleasures of the flesh. 5. So much as might
sweeten all our mercies to us, with a spiritual perfume or relish. 6.
So much as might make some sufferings joyful, and the rest more easy
to us. 7. And so much as might make the thoughts of death less
terrible to us, and make us desire to be with Christ.
[Sidenote: Psal. lxviii. 3-5; lxix. 30, &c.]
_Direct._ III. Understand what there is in God and holiness, which is
fit to be the soul's delight.--As, 1. Behold him in the infinite
perfections of his being; his omnipotence, omniscience, and his
goodness; his holiness, eternity, immutability, &c. And as your eye
delighteth in an excellent picture, or a comely building, or fields,
or gardens, not because they are yours, but because they are a
delectable object to the eye; so let your minds delight themselves in
God, considered in himself, as the only object of highest delight. 2.
Delight yourselves also in his relative attributes, in which are
expressed his goodness to his creatures: as his all-sufficiency, and
faithfulness or truth, his benignity, his mercy, and compassion, and
patience to sinners, and his justice unto all. 3. Delight yourselves
in him as his glory appeareth in his wondrous works, of creation and
daily providence. 4. Delight yourselves in him as he is related to
you, as your God and Father, and as all your interest, hope, and
happiness are in him alone. 5. Delight yourselves in him as his
excellencies shine forth in his blessed Son. 6. And as they appear in
the wisdom and goodness of his word, in all the precepts and promises
of the gospel, Psal. cxix. 162; Jer. xv. 16. 7. Delight thyself in his
image, though but imperfectly printed on thy soul; and also on his
holy servants, Gal. ii. 20; 1 Cor. xv. 10; 2 Cor. vii. 18. 8. Delight
yourselves in the consideration of the glory which he hath from all
his creatures, and the universal fulfilling of his will: as the
prosperity and happiness of your friend delighteth you, and the
success of any excellent enterprises, and the praise of excellent
things and persons, and as you have a special delight in the success
of truth, and the flourishing order, and unity, and peace, and
prosperity of kingdoms, especially of the church, much more than in
your personal prosperity (unless you have selfish, private, base,
unmanly dispositions); so much more should you delight in the glory
and happiness of God. 9. Delight yourselves in the safety which you
have in his favour and defence: and the treasury which you have in his
all-sufficiency and love, for your continual supplies in every want,
and deliverance in every danger; and the ground of quiet contentedness
and confidence which is offered to fearful souls in him. 10. Delight
yourselves in the particular discoveries of his common mercies to the
world, and his special mercies to his saints; and his personal mercies
to yourselves, from your birth to this moment; both upon your souls,
and bodies, and friends, and name, and estates, and affairs in all
relations. 11. Delight yourselves in the privilege you enjoy of
speaking to him, and of him, and hearing from him, and adoring and
worshipping him, and singing and publishing his praise, and in the
communion which your souls may have with him through Christ, on his
days, and at all times, in his sacraments, and in all your lives. And
say as Solomon, 1 Kings viii. 27, "And will God indeed dwell on earth?
Will he dwell and walk with sinful men? When the heaven of heavens
cannot contain him." Psal. xl. 16, "Let those that seek him rejoice
and be glad in him;" and cxxii. 1, let us be glad to go to the house
of the Lord, and join with his holy assemblies in his worship. Psal.
xlvi. 4, "The streams" of his grace "make glad the city of God, the
holy tabernacles of the Most High: God is in the midst of her; she
shall not be moved." 12. Delight yourselves above all in the
forethoughts and hope of the glory which you shall see and enjoy for
ever. I do but name all these for your memory, because they are before
spoken of in the directions for love.
[Sidenote: How much God is for his servants' delights.]
_Direct._ IV. Understand how much these holy delights are pleasing
unto God, and how much he is for his people's pleasure.--For it much
hindereth the joy of many christians, that they think it is against
the will of God, that such as they should so much rejoice; or at least
that they apprehend not how much he hath commanded it, and how great a
duty it is, and how much pleasing to their God. Consider, 1. It is not
for nothing that the nature of man is made capable of higher and
larger delights, than the brutish, sensual nature is:[123] and that in
this we are made little lower than angels. 2. Nor is it for nothing
that God hath made delight and complacency, the most powerful,
commanding affection, and the end of all the other passions, which
they professedly subserve and seek; and the most natural, inseparable
affection of the soul, there being none that desireth not delight. 3.
Nor is it in vain that God hath provided and offered such plenty of
most excellent objects for our delight, especially himself, in his
attributes, love, mercy, Son, Spirit, and kingdom: which brutes were
not made to know or to enjoy. 4. Nor hath he given us in vain, such
excellent, convenient, and various helps, and inferior preparations
which tend to our delight; even for body and mind, to further our
delight in God. 5. Nor is it in vain that he maketh us yet more nearly
capable by his Spirit; even by affecting humiliations, and mortifying,
cleansing, illuminating, and quickening works: and that the kingdom of
heaven consisteth in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost:
and that the Spirit hath undertaken to be the comforter of believers,
who is sent upon no low or needless work. 6. Nor did Christ purchase
his people's joys in vain, by the price of his grievous sufferings and
sorrows. Having borne our griefs, and being made a man of sorrows,
that we that see him not, might rejoice in believing, with joy
unspeakable and full of glory. 7. Nor is it in vain that he hath
filled his word with such matter of delight and comfort, in the
gladdest tidings that could come to man, and in such free, and full,
and faithful promises. 8. Nor hath he multiplied his commands for his
rejoicing and delight, in vain; again and again commanding us to
rejoice, and always to rejoice. 9. Nor is it insignificant that he
hath forbidden those worldly cares, and fears, and griefs which would
devour their joys: nor that he hath so clearly showed them the way to
joy, and blameth them if they walk not in it. 10. He filleth up their
lives with mercies, and matter of delight, by his direction, support,
provisions, and disposals: and all this in their way of trial, and in
the valley of tears. 11. How tender is he of their sufferings and
sorrows; not afflicting willingly, nor delighting to grieve the sons
of men. 12. He taketh not away their delight and comfort, till they
cast it away themselves, by sinning, or self-afflicting, or neglecting
his proposed pleasures. 13. He never faileth to meet them with his
delights, while they walk in the way prescribed to that end: unless
when it tendeth to their greater pleasure, to have some present
interruption of the pleasure.[124] 14. In their greatest needs, when
themselves and other helps must fail, he giveth them ofttimes the
greatest joys. 15. And he taketh their delights and sorrows as if they
were his own. In all their afflictions he is afflicted, and he
delighteth in their welfare, and rejoiceth over them to do them good.
Cannot you see the will of your Father in all this? 16. If you cannot,
yet lift up your heads, and foresee the eternal delights which he hath
prepared for you, when you shall enter into your Master's joy: and
then judge whether God be for your delight?
[Sidenote: Reasons for delight in God.]
_Direct._ V. Take special notice of the reasons why God commandeth you
to delight in him, and consequently how much of religion consisteth in
these delights.--1. Thou vilifiest and dishonourest him, if thou judge
him not the worthiest for thy delights. 2. If thou delight not in him,
thy thoughts of God will be seldom, or unwelcome and unpleasant
thoughts. 3. And thy speeches of him will be seldom, or heartless,
forced speeches. Who knoweth not how readily our thoughts and tongues
do follow our delight? Be it house, or land, or books, or friends, or
actions, which are our delight, we need no force to bring our thoughts
to them. The worldling thinks and tasteth of his wealth and business;
the proud man, of his dignities and honour; the voluptuous beast, of
his lusts, and sports, and meats, and drinks; because they most
delight in these. And so must the christian of his God, and hopes, and
holy business, as being his delight.[125] 4. It will keep you away
from holy duties, in which you should have communion with God, if you
have no delight in God and them. This makes so many neglect both
public and secret worship, because they have no delight in it; when
those that delight in it are ready in taking all opportunities. 5. It
will corrupt your judgments, and draw you to think that a little is
enough, and that serious diligence is unnecessary preciseness, and
that one quarter of your duty is an excess. A man that hath no delight
in God and godliness, is easily drawn to think, that little, and
seldom, and cold, and formal, and heartless, lifeless preaching and
praying may serve the turn, and any lip-service is acceptable to God,
and that more is more ado than needs. And hence, he will be further
drawn to reproach those that go beyond him, to quiet his own
conscience, and save his own reputation; and at last be a forlorn,
Satanical reviler, hater, and persecutor of the serious, holy
worshippers of God. Jer. vi. 10, "Behold, the word of the Lord is a
reproach to them: they have no delight in it: therefore I am full of
the fury of the Lord." 6. If you delight not in it, you will do that
which you do, without a heart, with backwardness and weariness: as
your ox draweth unwillingly in the yoke, and is glad when you unyoke
him: and as your horse that goeth against his will, and will go no
longer than he feels the spur, when delight would cause alacrity and
unweariedness. 7. It makes men apt to quarrel with the word, and every
weakness in the minister offendeth them, as sick stomachs that have
some fault or other still to find with their meat. 8. It greatly
inclineth men to carnal and forbidden pleasures, because they taste
not the higher and more excellent delights. Taverns, and ale-houses,
plays, and whores, cards, and dice, and excess of recreation, must be
sought out for them, as Saul sought a witch and a musician instead of
God. It would be the most effectual answer to all the silly reasonings
of the voluptuous, when they are pleading for the lawfulness of their
unnecessary, foolish, time-wasting sports, if we could but help them
to the heavenly nature and hearts that more delight in God.[126] This
better pleasure is an argument that would do more to confute and
banish their sinful pleasure, than a twelvemonth's disputing or
preaching will do with them, while they are strangers to the soul's
delight in God. Then they would rather say to their companions, O come
and taste those high delights, which we have found in God! 9. The want
of a delight in God and holiness, doth leave the soul as a prey to
sorrows: every affliction that assaulteth it may do its worst, and
hath its full blow at the naked, unfortified heart: for creature
delights will prove but a poor preservative to it. 10. This want of a
delight in God and holiness, is the way to apostasy itself. Few men
will hold on in a way that they have no delight in, when all other
delights must be forsaken for it. The caged hypocrite, while he is
cooped up to a stricter life than he himself desires, even while he
seemeth to serve him, is loathsome to God; for the body without the
will is but a carcass or carrion in his eyes. If you had rather not
serve God, you do not serve him while you seem to serve him. If you
had rather live in sin, you do live in sin, reputatively, while you
forbear the outward act: for in God's account, the heart, or will, is
the man: and what a man had rather be (habitually) that he is indeed.
And yet, this hypocrite will be still looking for a hole to get out of
his cage, and forsake his unbeloved outside of religion: like a beast
that is driven in a way that he is loth to go, and will be turning out
at every gap. All these mischiefs follow the want of delight in God.
On the contrary, the benefits which follow our delight in God,
(besides the sweetness of it,) are unspeakable. Those which are
contrary to the forementioned hurts, I leave to your own
consideration. 1. Delight in God will prove that thou knowest him, and
lovest him, and that thou art prepared for his kingdom; for all that
truly delight in him shall enjoy him. 2. Prosperity, which is but the
small addition of earthly things, will not easily corrupt thee or
transport thee. 3. Adversity, which is the withholding of earthly
delights, will not much grieve thee, or easily deject thee. 4. Thou
wilt receive more profit by a sermon, or good book, or conference,
which thou delightest in, than others, that delight not in them, will
do in many. 5. All thy service will be sweet to thyself, and
acceptable to God: if thou delight in him, he doth certainly delight
in thee, Psal. cxlix. 4; cxlvii. 11; 1 Chron. xxix. 17. 6. Thou hast a
continual feast with thee, which may sweeten all the crosses of thy
life, and afford thee greater joy than thy sorrow is, in thy saddest
case. 7. When you delight in God, your creature delight will be
sanctified to you, and warrantable in its proper place; which in
others is idolatrous, or corrupt. These, with many other, are the
benefits of delight in God.
_Direct._ VI. Consider how suitable God and holiness are to be the
matter of thy delight, and take heed of all temptations which would
represent him as unsuitable to you.--He is, 1. Most perfect and blessed
in himself. 2. And full of all that thou canst need. 3. He hath all the
world at his command for thy relief. 4. He is nearest to thee in
presence and relation in the world. 5. He hath fitted all things in
religion to thy delight, for matter, variety, and benefit. 6. He will be
a certain and constant delight to thee: and a durable delight, when all
others fail. Thy soul came from him, and therefore naturally should tend
to him: it is from him, and for him, and therefore must rest in him, or
have no rest. We delight in the house where we were born, and in our
native country, and in our parents; and every thing inclineth to its own
original: and so should the soul to its Creator.
_Direct._ VII. Corrupt not your minds and appetites with contrary
delights.--Addict not yourselves to fleshly pleasures: taste nothing
that is forbidden. Sorrow itself is not such an enemy to spiritual
delights, as sensual, sinful pleasures are. O leave your beastly and
your childish pleasures, and come and feast your souls on God, Isa.
lv. 1-3. Away with the delights of lust, and pride, and covetousness,
and vain sports, and gluttony, and drunkenness, if ever you would have
the solid and durable delights! Think not of joining both together.
Bethink yourselves: can it be any thing but the disease and wickedness
of thy heart, that can make a play, or a feast, or drunken, wanton
company, more pleasant to thee than God? What a heart is that which
thinketh it a toil to meditate on God and heaven; and thinks it a
pleasure to think of the baits of pride and covetousness! What a heart
is that which thinks that sensuality, wantonness, and vanity are the
pleasure of their families, which must not be turned out; and that
godliness, and heavenly discourse and exercises, would be the sadness
and trouble of their families, which must not be brought in, lest it
mar their mirth; that thinks it an intolerable toil and slavery to
love God, and holiness, and heaven, and to be employed for them; and
thinks it a delightful thing to love a whore, or excess of meat, or
drink, or sports! Can you say any thing of a man that is more
disgraceful, unless you say he is a devil? It were not so vile for a
child to delight more in a dog than in his parents, or a husband to
delight more in the ugliest harlot than in his wife, as it is for a
man to delight more in fleshly vanities than in God. Will you be
licking up this dung, when you should be solacing your souls in
angelical pleasures, and foretasting the delights of heaven? Oh how
justly will God thrust away such wretches from his everlasting
presence, who so abhor his ways and him! Can they blame him for
denying them the things which they hate, or set so light by, as to
prefer a lust before them? If they were not haters of God and
holiness, they would never be so averse even to the delights which
they should have with him.
_Direct._ VIII. Take heed of a melancholy habit of body; for
melancholy people can scarce delight in any thing at all, and
therefore not in God. Delight is as hard to them, as it is to a pained
member to find pleasure, or a sick stomach to delight in the food
which it loathes. They can think of God with trouble, and fear, and
horror, and despair; but not with delight.
_Direct._ IX. Take heed of an impatient, peevish, self-tormenting mind,
that can bear no cross; and of overvaluing earthly things, which causeth
impatience in the want of them. Make not too great a matter of fleshly
pain or pleasure.--Otherwise your minds will be called to a continual
attendance on the flesh, and taken up with continual desires, or cares,
or fears, or griefs, or pleasures; and will not be permitted to solace
themselves with God. The soul that would have pure and high delights,
must abstract itself from the concernments of the flesh; and look on
your body, as if it were the body of another, whose pain or pleasure you
can choose whether you will feel. When Paul was rapt up into the third
heaven, and saw the things unutterable, he was so far freed from the
prison of sense, that he knew not whether he was in the body or out of
it. As the separated souls, that see the face of God and the Redeemer,
do leave the body to be buried, and to rot in darkness, and feel not all
this to the interrupting of their joys; so faith can imitate such a
death to the world, and such a neglect of the flesh, and some kind of
elevating separation of the mind, to the things above. If in this near
conjunction you cannot leave the body to rejoice or suffer alone, yet,
as itself is but a servant to the soul, so let not its pain or pleasure
be predominant, and control the high operations of the soul. A manly,
valiant, believing soul, though it cannot abate the pain at all, nor
reconcile the flesh to its calamity, yet it can do more, notwithstanding
the pain, to its own delight, than strangers will believe.
Some women, and passionate, weak-spirited men, especially in sickness,
are so peevish, and of such impatient minds, that their daily work is
to disquiet and torment themselves. One can scarce tell how to speak
to them, or look at them, but it offendeth them. And the world is so
full of occasions of provocation, that such persons are like to have
little quietness. It is unlike that these should delight in God, who
keep their minds in a continual, ulcerated, galled state, incapable of
any delights at all, and cease not their self-tormenting.
_Direct._ X. It is only a life of faith, that will be a life of holy,
heavenly delight: exercise yourselves, therefore, in believing
contemplations of the things unseen.--It must not be now and then a
glance of the eye of the soul towards God, or a seldom salutation,
which you would give a stranger; but a walking with him, and frequent
addresses of the soul unto him, which must help you to the delights
which believers find in their communion with him.
_Direct._ XI. Especially let faith go frequently to heaven for renewed
matter of delight, and frequently think what God will be to you there
for ever, and with what full, everlasting delight he will satiate your
souls.--As heaven is the place of our full delight, so the foresight
and foretaste of it, is the highest delight which on earth is to be
attained. And a soul that is strange to the foresight of heaven, will
be as strange to the true delights of faith.
_Direct._ XII. It is a great advantage to holy delight, to be much in
the more delightful parts of worship; as in thanksgiving and praise,
and a due celebration of the sacrament of the body and blood of
Christ.--Of which I have spoken in the foregoing directions.
_Direct._ XIII. A skilful, experienced pastor, who is able to open the
treasury of the gospel, and publicly and privately to direct his flock
in the work of self-examination, and the heavenly exercises of faith,
is a great help to christians' spiritual delight.--The experiences of
believers teach them this: how oft do they go away refreshed and
revived, who came to the assembly, or to their pastors, in great
distress, and almost in despair! See Job xxxiii. 23; 2 Cor. i. 3, 4.
It is the office and delight of the ministers of Christ, to be
"helpers of his people's faith and joy," 2 Cor. i. 24; Phil. i. 4, 25;
1 Thess. ii. 20.
_Direct._ XIV. Make use of all that prosperity, and lawful pleasure,
which God giveth you in outward things, for the increase and advantage
of your delight in God.--Though corrupted nature is apter to abuse
prosperity and earthly delights, than any other state, to the
diverting of the heart from God; and almost all the devil's poison is
given in sugared or gilded allectives; yet the primitive, natural use
of prosperity, of health, and plenty, and honour, and peace, is to
lead up the mind to God, and give us a taste of his spiritual
delights! That the neighbourhood of the body might be the soul's
advantage; and that God, who in this life will be seen by us but in a
glass, and will give out his comforts by his appointed means, might
make advantage of sensitive delights, for his own reception, and the
communications of his love and pleasure unto man: that, as soon as the
eye, or ear, or taste, perceiveth the delightfulness of their several
objects, the holy soul might presently take the hint and motion, and
be carried up to delightful thoughts of him that giveth us all these
delights. And, doubtless, so far as we can make use of a delight in
friends, or food, or health, or habitations, or any accommodations of
our bodies, to further our delight in God, or to remove those
melancholy fears or sorrows, which would hinder this spiritual
delight, it is not only lawful, but our duty to use them, with that
moderation as tendeth to this end.
_Direct._ XV. Make use of affliction, as a great advantage for your
purest and unmixed delight in God.--The servants of Christ have usually
never so much of the joy in the Holy Ghost, as in their greatest
sufferings; especially if they be for his sake. The soul never retireth
so readily and delightfully to God, as when it hath no one else that
will receive it, or that it can take any comfort from. God comforteth us
most, when he hath made us see that none else can or will relieve us.
When all friends have forsaken us save only one, that one is sweeter to
us then than ever. When all our house is fired down except one room,
that room is pleasanter to us than it was before. He that hath lost one
eye, will love the other better than before. In prosperity our delights
in God are too often corrupted by a mixture of sensual delight; but all
that remaineth when the creature is gone, is purely divine.
_Direct._ XVI. Labour by self-examination, deliberately managed under
the direction of an able spiritual guide, to settle your souls in the
well-grounded persuasion of your special interest in God and heaven;
and then suffer not Satan, by his troublesome importunity, to renew
your doubts, or molest your peace.--An orderly, well-guided, diligent
self-examination, may quickly do much to show you your condition; and
if you are convinced that the truth of grace is in you, let not fears
and suspicion go for reason, and cause you to deny that which you
cannot, without the gainsaying of your consciences, deny. You see not
the design of the devil in all this: his business is, by making you
fear that you have no interest in God, to destroy your delight in him
and in his service: and next that, to make you through weariness
forsake him; and either despair, or turn to sensual delights. Foresee
and prevent these designs of Satan, and suffer him not at his pleasure
to raise new storms of fears and troubles, and draw you to deny your
Father's mercies, or to suspect his proved love.
_Direct._ XVII. Damp not your delights by wilful sin.--If you grieve
your Comforter he will grieve you, or leave you to grieve yourselves:
in that measure that any known sin is cherished, delight in God will
certainly decay.
_Direct._ XVIII. Improve your observation of wicked men's sensual
delights, to provoke your souls to delight in God.--Think with
yourselves: Shall hawks, and hounds, and pride, and filthiness, and
cards, and dice, and plays, and sports, and luxury, and idleness, and
foolish talk, or worldly honours, be so delightful to these deluded
sinners? and shall not my God and Saviour, his love and promises, and
the hopes of heaven, be more delightful to me? Is there any comparison
between the matter of my delights and theirs?
_Direct._ XIX. Labour to overcome those fears of death, which would
damp your joys in the foresight of everlasting joys.--As nothing more
feedeth holy delights than the forethoughts of heaven; so there is
scarce any thing that more hindereth our delight in those
forethoughts, than the fear of interposing death. See what I have
written against this fear, in my "Treatise of Self-denial," and
"Saints' Rest," and in my "Treatise of Death, as the last Enemy," and
in my "Last Work of a Believer."
_Direct._ XX. Pretend not any other religious duties against your
delights in God and holiness; but use them all in their proper
subservience to this.--Penitent sorrow is only a purge to cast out those
corruptions which hinder you from relishing your spiritual delights. Use
it therefore as physic, only when there is need; and not for itself, but
only to this end; and turn it not into your ordinary food. Delight in
God is the health of your souls: say not you cannot have while to be
healthful, because you must take physic, or that you take physic
against health, or instead of health, but for your health. So take up
no sorrow against your delight in God, or instead of it, but for it, and
so much as promoteth it. See the directions for love beforegoing.
By this time you may see, that holy delight adjoined to love, is the
principal part of our religion, and that they mistake it which place
it in any thing else. And therefore how inexcusable are all the
ungodly enemies or neglecters of a holy life. If it had been a life of
grief and toil, they had had some pretence; but to fly from pleasure,
and refuse delight, and such delight, is inexcusable. Be it known to
you, sinners, God calleth you not to forsake delight, but to accept
it; to change your delight in sin and vanity, for delight in him. You
dare not say but this is better: you cannot have your houses and lands
for ever, nor your lust and luxury for ever; but you may have God for
ever. And do you hope to live for ever with him, and have you no
delight in him? Men deal with Christ as the papists with the reformed
churches: because we reject their formalities and ceremonious toys,
they say we take down all religion. So because we would call men from
their brutish pleasures, they say we would let them have no pleasure;
for the epicure thinks, when his luxury, lust, and sport is gone, all
is gone. Call a sluggard from his bed, or a glutton from his feast, to
receive a kingdom, and he will grudge, if he observe only what you
would take from him, and not what you give him in its stead. When
earthly pleasures end in misery, then who would not wish they had
preferred the holy, durable delights?
* * * * *
[Sidenote: For a life of thankfulness.]
_Grand Direct._ XIV. Let thankfulness to God thy Creator, Redeemer,
and Regenerator, be the very temperament of thy soul, and faithfully
expressed by thy tongue and life.
Though our thankfulness is no benefit to God, yet he is pleased with
it, as that which is suitable to our condition, and showeth the
ingenuity and honesty of the heart. An unthankful person is but a
devourer of mercies, and a grave to bury them in, and one that hath
not the wit and honesty to know and acknowledge the hand that giveth
them; but the thankful looketh above himself, and returneth all, as he
is able, to him from whom they flow.
True thankfulness to God is discerned from counterfeit, by these
qualifications: 1. True thankfulness having a just estimate of mercies
comparatively, preferreth spiritual and everlasting mercies before
those that are merely corporal and transitory. But carnal thankfulness
chiefly valueth carnal mercies, though notionally it may confess that
the spiritual are the greater. 2. True thankfulness inclineth the soul
to a spiritual rejoicing in God, and to a desire after more of his
spiritual mercies: but carnal thankfulness is only a delight in the
prosperity of the flesh, or the delusion and carnal security of the
mind, inclining men to carnal, empty mirth, and to a desire of more
such fleshly pleasure, plenty, or content: as a beast that is full
fed, will skip, and play, and show that he is pleased with his state;
or if he have ease, he would not be molested. 3. True thankfulness
kindleth in the heart a love to the giver above the gift, or at least
a love to God above our carnal prosperity and pleasure, and bringeth
the heart still nearer unto God, by all his mercies. But carnal
thankfulness doth spring from carnal self-love, or love of fleshly
prosperity; and is moved by it, and is subservient to it, and loveth
God, and thanketh him, but so far as he gratifieth or satisfieth the
flesh. A childlike thankfulness maketh us love our Father more than
his gift, and desire to be with him in his arms; but a dog doth love
you and is thankful to you but for feeding him: he loveth you in
subordination to his appetite and his bones. 4. True thankfulness
inclineth us to obey and please him, that obligeth us by his benefits.
But carnal thankfulness puts God off with the hypocritical,
complimental thanks of the lips, and spends the mercy in the pleasing
of the flesh, and makes it but the fuel of lust and sin. 5. True
thankfulness to God is necessarily transcendent, as his mercies are
transcendent. The saving of our souls from hell, and promising us
eternal life, besides the giving us our very beings and all that we
have, do oblige us to be totally and absolutely his, that is so
transcendent a Benefactor to us, and causeth the thankful person to
devote and resign himself and all that he hath to God, to answer so
great an obligation. But carnal thankfulness falls short of this
absolute and total dedication, and still leaveth the sinner in the
power of self-love, devoting himself (really) to himself, and using
all that he is, or hath, to the pleasing of his fleshly mind, and
giving God only the tithes or leavings of the flesh, or so much as it
can spare, lest he should stop the streams of his benignity, and
bereave the flesh of its prosperity and contents.
_Directions for Thankfulness to God, our Benefactor._
[Sidenote: Gratitude is to the promise, much what obedience is to the
law.]
_Direct._ I. Understand well how great this duty is, in the nature of
the thing, but especially how the very design and tenor of the gospel,
and the way of our salvation by a Redeemer, bespeaketh it as the very
complexion of the soul, and of every duty.--A creature that is wholly
his Creator's, and is preserved every moment by him, and daily fed and
maintained by his bounty, and is put into a capacity of life eternal,
must needs be obliged to incessant gratitude. And unthankfulness among
men is justly taken for an unnatural, monstrous vice, which forfeiteth
the benefits of friendship and society: 2 Tim. iii. 2, the
"unthankful" are numbered with the "unholy," &c. as part of the
monsters which should come in the last times (and which we have lived
to see, exactly answering that large description of them). But the
design of God in the work of redemption, is purposely laid for the
raising of the highest thankfulness in man: and the covenant of grace
containeth such abundant, wondrous mercies, as might compel the souls
of men to gratitude, or leave them utterly without excuse. It is a
great truth, and much to be considered, that gratitude is that general
duty of the gospel, which containeth and animateth all the rest, as
being essential to all that is properly evangelical. A law, as a law,
requireth obedience as the general duty: and this obedience is to be
exercised and found in every particular duty which it requireth. And
the covenant with the Jews was called, The Law, because the regulating
part was most eminent: and so obedience was the thing that was
eminently required by the law, though their measure of mercy obliged
them also to thankfulness. But the gospel or new covenant is most
eminently a history of mercy, and a tender and promise of the most
unmatchable benefits that ever were heard of by the ears of man: so
that the gift of mercy is the predominant or eminent part in the
gospel or new covenant: and though still God be our Governor, and the
new covenant also hath its precepts, and is a law, yet that is, in a
sort, but the subservient part. And what obedience is to a law, that
thankfulness is to a benefit, even the formal answering of its
obligation: so that though we are called to as exact obedience as
ever, yet it is now only a thankful obedience that we are called to.
And just as law and promises or gifts are conjoined in the new
covenant, just so should obedience and thankfulness be conjoined in
our hearts and lives; one to God as our Ruler, and the other to him as
our Benefactor: and these two must animate every act of heart and
life. We must repent of sin; but it must be a thankful repenting, as
becometh those that have a free pardon of all their sins procured by
the blood of Christ, and offered them in the gospel: leave out this
gratitude, and it is no evangelical repentance. And what is our saving
faith in Christ, but the assent to the truth of the gospel, with a
thankful acceptance of the good which it offereth us, even Christ as
our Saviour, with the benefits of his redemption. The love to God that
is there required, is the thankful love of his redeemed ones: and the
love to our very enemies, and the forgiving of wrongs, and all the
love to one another, and all the works of charity there required, are
the exercises of gratitude, and are all to be done, on this account,
because Christ hath loved us, and forgiven us, and that we may show
our thankful love to him. Preaching, and praying, and sacraments, and
public praises, and communion of saints, and obedience, are all to be
animated with gratitude; and they are no further evangelically
performed, than thankfulness is the very life and complexion of them
all. The dark and defective opening of this by preachers, gave
occasion to the antinomians to run into the contrary extreme, and to
derogate too much from God's law and our obedience; but if we obscure
the doctrine of evangelical gratitude, we do as bad or worse than
they. Obedience to our Ruler, and thankfulness to our Benefactor,
conjoined and co-operating as the head and heart in the natural body,
do make a christian indeed. Understand this well, and it will much
incline your hearts to thankfulness.
_Direct._ II. Let the greatness of the manifold mercies of God, be
continually before your eyes.--Thankfulness is caused by the due
apprehension of the greatness of mercies. If you either know them not
to be mercies, or know not that they are mercies to you, or believe
not what is said and promised in the gospel, or forget them, or think
not of them, or make light of them through the corruption of your
minds, you cannot be thankful for them. I have before spoken of mercy
in order to the kindling of love, and therefore shall now only recite
these following, to be always in our memories. 1. The love of God in
giving you a Redeemer, and the love of Christ in giving his life for
us, and in all the parts of our redemption. 2. The covenant of grace,
the pardon of all our sins: the justification of our persons: our
adoption, and title to eternal life. 3. The aptness of means for
calling us to Christ: the gracious and wise disposals of Providence to
that end: the gifts and compassion of our instructors: the care of
parents: and the helps and examples of the servants of Christ. 4. The
efficacy of all these means: the giving us to will and to do, and
opening of our hearts, and giving us repentance unto life, and the
Spirit of Christ to mortify our sins, and purify our nature, and dwell
within us. 5. A standing in his church, under the care of faithful
pastors: the liberty, comfort, and frequent benefit of his word and
sacraments, and the public communion of his saints. 6. The company of
those that fear the Lord, and their faithful admonitions, reproofs,
and encouragements: the kindness they have showed us for body, or for
soul. 7. The mercies of our relations, or habitations, our estates,
and the notable alterations and passages of our lives. 8. The manifold
preservations and deliverances of our souls, from errors and
seducers; from terrors and distress; from dangerous temptations, and
many a soul-wounding sin; and that we are not left to the errors and
desires of our hearts, to seared consciences, as forsaken of God. 9.
The manifold deliverances of our bodies from enemies, hurts,
distresses, sicknesses, and death. 10. The mercies of adversity, in
wholesome, necessary chastisements, or honourable sufferings for his
sake, and support or comfort under all. 11. The communion which our
souls have had with God, in the course of our private and public
duties, in prayer, sacraments, and meditation. 12. The use which he
hath made of us for the good of others; that our time hath not been
wholly lost, and we have not lived as burdens of the world. 13. The
mercies of all our friends and his servants, which were to us as our
own; and our interest in the mercies and public welfare of his church,
which are more than our own. 14. His patience and forbearance with us
under our constant unprofitableness and provocations, and his renewed
mercies notwithstanding our abuse: our perseverance until now. 15. Our
hopes of everlasting rest and glory, when this sinful life is at an
end. Aggravate these mercies in your more enlarged meditations, and
they will sure constrain you to cry out, "Bless the Lord, O my soul:
and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my
soul, and forget not all his benefits; who forgiveth all thine
iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from
destruction; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender
mercies," Psal. ciii. 1-4. "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,
and into his courts with praise; be thankful to him, and bless his
name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth
endureth to all generations," Psal. c. 4, 5. "The Lord is merciful and
gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. For as the heaven is
high above the earth, so great is his mercy to them that fear him,"
Psal. ciii. 8, 11. "O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for
his mercy endureth for ever," Psal. cxxxvi. 1, &c. "O give thanks unto
the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the people.
Sing ye unto him, sing psalms unto him; talk ye of all his wondrous
works. Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that
seek him," Psal. cv. 1-3.
_Direct._ III. Be well acquainted with the greatness of your sins, and
sensible of them as they are the aggravation of God's mercies to
you.--This is the main end why God will humble those that he will save;
not to drive them to despair of mercy, nor that he taketh pleasure in
their sorrows for themselves; but to work the heart to a due esteem of
saving mercy, and to a serious desire after it, that they may thankfully
receive it, and carefully retain it, and faithfully use it. An unhumbled
soul sets light by Christ, and grace, and glory: it relisheth no
spiritual mercy: it cannot be thankful for that which it findeth no
great need of. But true humiliation recovereth our appetite, and
teacheth us to value mercy as it is. Think therefore what sin is, (as I
have opened to you, direct, viii.) and think of your manifold aggravated
sins: and then think how great those mercies are that are bestowed on so
great, unworthy sinners! Then mercy will melt your humbled hearts, when
you confess that you are "unworthy to be called sons," Luke xv.; and
that you are "not worthy to look up to heaven," Luke xviii. 13; and that
you are "not worthy of the least of all the mercies of God," Gen. xxxii.
10. The humble soul is the thankful soul, and therefore so greatly
valued by the Lord.
_Direct._ IV. Understand what misery you were delivered from, and
estimate the greatness of the mercy, by the greatness of the punishment
which you had deserved.--Misery as well as sin must tell us the
greatness of our mercies. This is before opened, chap. i. direct, ix.
_Direct._ V. Suppose you saw the damned souls, or suppose you had been
one day in hell yourselves, bethink you then how thankful you would
have been for Christ and mercy.--And you were condemned to it by the
law of God, and if death had brought you to execution you had been
there, and then mercy would have been more esteemed. If a preacher
were sent to those miserable souls to offer them a pardon and eternal
life on the terms as they are offered to us, do you think they would
make as light of it as we do?
_Direct._ VI. Neglect not to keep clear the evidences of thy title to
those especial mercies for which thou shouldst be most thankful: and
hearken not to Satan when he would tempt thee to think that they are
none of thine, that so he might make thee deny God the thanks for them
which he expecteth.--Of this I have spoken in the directions for love.
_Direct._ VII. Think much of those personal mercies which God hath
showed thee from thy youth up until now, by which he hath manifested
his care of thee, and particular kindness to thee.--Though the common
mercies of God's servants be the greatest, which all other christians
share in with each one; yet personal favours peculiar to ourselves,
are apt much to affect us, as being near our apprehension, and
expressing a peculiar care and love of us. Therefore christians should
mark God's dealings with them, and write down the great and notable
mercies of their lives (which are not unfit for others to know, if
they should see it).
_Direct._ VIII. Compare thy proportion of mercies with the rest of the
people's in the world. And thou wilt find that it is not one of many
thousands that hath thy proportion.--It is so small a part of the
world that are christians, and of those so few that are orthodox,
reformed christians, and of those so few that are seriously godly as
devoted to God, and of those so few that fall not into some
perplexities, errors, scandals, or great afflictions and distress,
that those few that are in none of these ranks have cause of wondrous
thankfulness to God; yea, the most afflicted christians in the world.
Suppose God had divided his mercies equally to all men in the world,
as health, and wealth, and honour, and grace, and the gospel, &c.; how
little of them would have come to thy share in comparison of what thou
now possessest! how many have less wealth or honour than thou! how
many thousands have less of gospel and of grace! In reason therefore
thy thankfulness should be proportionable and extraordinary.
_Direct._ IX. Compare the mercies which thou wantest, with those which
thou possessest, and observe how much thy receivings are greater than
thy sufferings.--Thou hast many meals' plenty, for one day of scarcity
or pinching hunger; thou hast many days' health, for one day's
sickness: and if one part be ill, there are more that are not; if one
cross befall thee, thou escapest many more that might befall thee, and
which thou deservest.
_Direct._ X. Bethink thee how thou wouldst value thy mercies, if thou
wert deprived of them.--The want of them usually teacheth us most
effectually to esteem them. Think how thou shouldst value Christ and
hope, if thou wert in despair! and how thou wouldst value the mercies
of earth, if thou wert in hell! and the mercies of England, if thou
wert among bloody inquisitors and persecutors, and wicked, cruel
heathens or Mahometans, or brutish, savage Americans! Think how good
sleep would seem to thee, if thou couldst not sleep for pains! or how
good thy meat, or drink, or clothes, or house, or maintenance, or
friends, would all seem to thee, if they were taken from thee! and how
great a mercy health would seem, if thou wert under some tormenting
sickness! and what a mercy time would seem, if death were at hand, and
time were ending! and what a mercy thy least sincere desires, or
measure of grace, is, in comparison of their case that are the haters,
despisers, and persecutors of holiness! These thoughts, if followed
home, may shame thee into thankfulness.
_Direct._ XI. Let heaven be ever in thine eye, and still think of the
endless joy which thou shalt have with Christ.--For that is the mercy of
all mercies; and he that hath not that in hope to be thankful for, will
never be thankful aright for any thing; and he that hath heaven in
promise to be thankful for, hath still reason for the highest, joyful
thanks, whatever worldly thing he want, or though he were sure never
more to have comfort in any creature upon earth. He is unthankful
indeed, that will not be thankful for heaven; but that is a mercy which
will constrain to thankfulness, so far as our title is discerned. The
more believing and heavenly the mind is, the more thankful.
_Direct._ XII. Look on earthly and present mercies in connexion with
heaven which is their end, and as sweetened by our interest in God that
giveth them.--You leave out all the life and sweetness, which must cause
your thankfulness, if you leave out God and overlook him. A dead carcass
hath not the loveliness or usefulness as a living man. You mortify your
mercies, when you separate them from God and heaven, and then their
beauty, and sweetness, and excellency are gone; and how can you be
thankful for the husks and shells, when you foolishly neglect the
kernel? Take every bit as from thy Father's hands: remember that he
feedeth, and clotheth, and protecteth thee, as his child: it is to "Our
Father which is in heaven," that we must go every day for our "daily
bread." Taste his love in it, and thou wilt say that it is sweet.
Remember whither all his mercies tend, and where they will leave thee,
even in the bosom of Eternal love. Think with thyself, how good is this
with the love of God! this and heaven are full enough for me. Coarse
fare, and coarse clothing, and coarse usage in the world, and hard
labour, and a poor habitation, with heaven after all, is mercy beyond
all human estimation or conceiving. Nothing can be little, which is a
token of the love of God, and leadeth to eternal glory. The relation to
heaven is the life and glory of every mercy.
_Direct._ XIII. Think oft how great a mercy it is, that thankfulness
for mercy is made so great a part of thy duty.--Is it not the sweetest
employment in the world to be always thinking on so sweet a thing as
the mercies of God, and to be mentioning them with glad and thankful
hearts? Is not this a sweeter kind of work than to be abusing mercy,
and casting it away upon fleshly lusts, and sinning it away, and
turning it against us? Yea, is it not a sweeter work than to be
groaning under sin and misery? If God had as much fixed your thoughts
upon saddening, heart-breaking objects, as he hath (by his commands)
upon reviving and delighting objects, you might have thought religion
a melancholy life. But when sorrow is required but as preparatory to
delight, and cheerful thanksgiving is made the life and sum of your
religion, who but a monster will think it grievous to live in
thankfulness to our great Benefactor? To think thus of the sweetness
of it will do much to incline us to it, and make it easy to us.
_Direct._ XIV. Make conscience ordinarily of allowing God's mercies as
great a room in thy thoughts and prayers, as thou allowest to thy
sins, and wants, and troubles.--In a day of humiliation, or after some
notable fall into sin, or in some special cases of distress, I confess
sin and danger may have the greater share. But, ordinarily, mercy
should take up more time in our remembrance and confession than our
sins. Let the reasons of it first convince you, that this is your
duty; and, when you are convinced, hold yourselves to the performance
of it. If you cannot be so thankful as you desire, yet spend as much
time in the confessing of God's mercy to you, as in confessing your
sins and mentioning your wants. Thanksgiving is an effectual
petitioning for more: it showeth that the soul is not drowned in
selfishness, but would carry the fruit of all his mercies back to God.
If you cannot think on mercy so thankfully as you would, yet see that
it have a due proportion of your thoughts. This course (of allowing
mercy its due time in our thoughts and prayers) would work the soul to
greater thankfulness by degrees. Whereas, on the contrary, when men
accustom themselves to have ten words or twenty of confession and
petition for one of thanksgiving, and ten thoughts of sins, and wants,
and troubles, for one of mercies, this starveth thankfulness and
turneth it out of doors. You can command your words and thoughts if
you will; resolve, therefore, on this duty.
_Direct._ XV. Take heed of a proud, a covetous, a fleshly, or a
discontented mind; for all these are enemies to thankfulness.--A proud
heart thinks itself the worthiest for more, and thinks diminutively of
all. A covetous heart is still gaping after more, and never returning
the fruit of what it hath received. A fleshly mind is an insatiable
gulf of corporal mercies; like a greedy dog that is gaping for another
bone when he hath devoured one, and sacrificeth all to his belly,
which is his god, Phil. iii. 18. A discontented mind is always
murmuring and never pleased, but findeth something still to quarrel
at; and taketh more notice of the denying of its unjust desires, than
of the giving of many undeserved mercies. Thankfulness prospereth not,
where these vices prosper.
_Direct._ XVI. Avoid as much as may be a melancholy and over-fearful
temper; for that will not suffer you to see or taste your greatest
mercies, nor to be glad or thankful for any thing you have, but is
still representing all things to you in a terrible or lamentable
shape.--The grace of thankfulness may he habitually in a timorous,
melancholy mind; and that appeareth in their valuation of the mercy.
How glad and thankful would they be, if they were assured that the
love of God is towards them! But it is next to impossible for them,
ordinarily, to exercise thankfulness, because they cannot believe any
thing of themselves that is good and comfortable. It is as natural for
them to be still fearing, and despairing, and complaining, and
troubling themselves, as for froward children to be crying, or sick
men to groan. Befriend not therefore this miserable disease, but
resist it by all due remedies.
_Direct._ XVII. Take heed of unthankful doctrines, which teach you to
deny or undervalue mercy.--Such is, 1. The doctrines of the Pelagians,
(whom Prosper calleth the Ungrateful,) that denied faith and special
grace to be any special gift of God; and that teach you, that Peter is
no more beholden to God than Judas, for his differencing grace. 2. The
doctrine which denieth general grace, (which is presupposed unto
special,) and tells the world, that Christ died only for the elect,
and that all the mercy of the gospel is confined to them alone; and
teacheth all men to deny God any thanks for Christ or any gospel
mercy, till they know that they are elect and justified; and would
teach the wicked, (on earth and in hell,) that they ought not to
accuse themselves for sinning against any gospel mercy, or for
rejecting a Christ that died for them. 3. All doctrine which makes God
the physical, efficient predeterminer of every act of the creature
considered in all its circumstances; and so tells you, that saving
grace is no more, nor any otherwise caused, of God, than sin and every
natural act is; and our thanks that we owe him for keeping us from sin
is but for not irresistible premoving us to it. Such doctrines cut the
veins of thankfulness; and being not doctrines according to godliness,
the life of grace and spiritual sense of believers are against them.
_Direct._ XVIII. Put not God off with verbal thanks, but give him
thyself and all thou hast.--Thankfulness causeth the soul to inquire,
"What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me?"
Psal. cxvi. 12. And it is no less than thyself and all thou hast that
thou must render; that is, thou must give God not only thy tithes, and
the sacrifice of Cain, but thyself to be entirely his servant, and all
that thou hast to be at his command, and used in the order that he
would have thee use it. A thankful soul devoteth itself to God; this
is the "living, acceptable sacrifice," Rom. xii. 1. It studieth how to
do him service, and how to do good with all his mercies. Thankfulness
is a powerful spring of obedience, and makes men long to be fruitful
and profitable, and glad of opportunities to be serviceable to God.
Thus law and gospel, obedience and gratitude, concur. A thankful
obedience and an obedient thankfulness are a christian's life. "Offer
unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows to the Most High: and call
upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt
glorify me. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me; and to him that
ordereth his conversation aright, I will show the salvation of God,"
Psal. 1. 14, 15, 23.
I beseech thee now that readest these lines, be so true to God, be so
ingenuous, be so much a friend to the comfort of thy soul, and so much
love a life of pleasure, as to set thyself for the time to come to a
more conscionable performance of this noble work; and steep thy thoughts
in the abundant mercies of thy God, and express them more in all thy
speech to God and man. Say as David, "O Lord, truly I am thy servant;
thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of
thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord," Psal. cxvi. 16,
17. "I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not
made my foes to rejoice over me. O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and
thou hast healed me. O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the
grave; thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the
remembrance of his holiness. Thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded
me with gladness; to the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and
not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to thee for ever,"
Psal. xxx. 1-4, 11, 12. "I will praise the name of God with a song, and
magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the Lord better
than an ox," Psal. lxix. 30, 31. "It is a good thing to give thanks unto
the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High; to show forth
thy loving-kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,"
Psal. xcii. 1, 2. "At midnight will I rise to give thanks unto thee,
because of thy righteous judgments," Psal. cxix. 62. "Surely the
righteous shall give thanks unto thy name; the upright shall dwell in
thy presence," Psal. cxl. 13. Remember that you are commanded "in every
thing to give thanks," 1 Thess. v. 18. When God is scant in mercy to
thee, then be thou scant in thankfulness to him; and not when the devil,
and a forgetful, or unbelieving, or discontented heart, would hide his
greatest mercies from thee. It is just with God to give up that person
to sadness of heart, and to uncomfortable, self-tormenting melancholy,
that will not be persuaded by the greatness and multitude of mercies, to
be frequent in the sweet returns of thanks.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: To glorify God.]
_Grand Direct._ XV. Let thy very heart be set to glorify God, thy
Creator Redeemer, and Sanctifier; both with the estimation of thy
mind, the praises of thy mouth, and the holiness of thy life.
The glorifying of God, being the end of man and the whole creation, must
be the highest duty of our lives; and therefore deserveth our distinct
consideration. "Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to
the glory of God," 1 Cor. x. 31. "That God in all things might be
glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever
and ever. Amen," 1 Pet. iv. 11. I shall therefore first show you what it
is to glorify God, and then give directions how to do it.
To glorify God is not to add to his essential perfections, or
felicity, or real glory.[127] The glory of God is a word that is taken
in these various senses: 1. Sometimes it signifieth the essential,
transcendent excellencies of God in himself considered; so Rom. vi. 4;
Psal. xix. 2. 2. Sometimes it signifieth that glory which the angels
and saints behold in heaven: what this is, a soul in flesh cannot
formally conceive or comprehend. It seemeth not to be the essence of
God, because that is every where, and so is not that glory; or if any
think that his essence is that glory, and is every where alike, and
that the creature's capacity is all the difference betwixt heaven and
earth, he seems confuted in that the glory of heaven will be seen by
the glorified body itself, which it is thought cannot see the essence
of God. Whether, then, that glory be the essence of God, or any
immediate emanation from his excellency, as the beams and light that
are sent forth by the sun, or a created glory for the felicity of his
servants, we shall know when with the blessed we enjoy it. 3.
Sometimes it is taken for the appearance of God's perfections in his
creatures, either natural or free agents, as discerned by man, and for
his honour in the esteem of man. John xi. 4, 40; 1 Cor. xi. 7; 2 Cor.
iv. 15; Phil. i. 11; ii. 11; Isa. xxxv. 2; xl. 5, &c. And so to
glorify God is, 1. Objectively, to represent his excellencies or
glory; 2. Mentally, to conceive of them; 3. and Verbally, to declare
them. I shall therefore distinctly direct you, 1. How to glorify God
in your minds. 2. By your tongues. 3. By your lives.
_Directions for glorifying God with the Heart._
_Direct._ I. Abhor all blasphemous representations and thoughts of
God, and think not of him lamely, unequally, or diminutively, nor as
under any corporeal shape; nor think not to comprehend him, but
reverently admire him.--Conceive of him as incomprehensible and
infinite: and if Satan would tempt thee to think meanly of any thing
in God, or to think highly of one of his perfections, and meanly of
another, abhor such temptations; and think of his power, knowledge,
and goodness, equally as the infinite perfections of God.[128]
_Direct._ II. Behold his glory in the glory of his works of nature and
of grace, and see him in all as the soul, the glory, the all of the
whole creation.--What a power is that which made and preserveth all
the world! What a wisdom is that which set in joint the universal
frame of heaven and earth, and keepeth all things in their order! How
good is he that made all good, and gave the creatures all their
goodness, both natural and spiritual, by creation and renewing grace!
Thus "the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth
his handy work," Psal. xix. 1. "His glory covereth the heavens, and
the earth is full of his praise," Hab. iii. 3. "The voice of the Lord
is upon the waters; the God of glory thundereth," Psal. xxix. 3; cxlv.
_Direct._ III. Behold him in the person, miracles, resurrection,
dominion, and glory of his blessed Son:--"who is the brightness of his
glory, and the express image of his person; upholding all things by
the word of his power, and having by himself purged our sins, sat down
at the right hand of the Majesty on high, being made better than the
angels," Heb. i. 3, 4. "By him" it is that "glory is given to God in
the church," Eph. iii. 21. "God hath highly exalted him, and given him
a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under
the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father," Phil. ii. 9-11. "Pray,"
therefore, that the "God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
acknowledgment of him: the eyes of your understanding being
enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and
what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and
what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe,
according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in
Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his 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 gave him to be Head over all things to his
church," Eph. i. 17, &c. "The Father hath glorified his name in his
Son," John xii. 28; xiii. 31, 32; xiv. 13; xvii. 1.
_Direct._ IV. Behold God as the end of the whole creation, and intend
him as the end of all the actions of thy life.--You honour him not as
God, if you practically esteem him not as your ultimate end; even the
pleasing of his will, and the honouring him in the world. If any thing
else be made your chiefest end, you honour it before him, and make a
god of it.
_Direct._ V. Answer all his blessed attributes with suitable
affections, (as I have directed in my "Treatise of the Knowledge of
God," and here briefly direct. iv.) and his relations to us with the
duty which they command, (subjection, love, &c.) as I have opened in
the foregoing directions. We glorify him in our hearts, when the image
of his attributes is there received.
_Direct._ VI. Behold him by faith as always present with you.--And
then every attribute will the more affect you, and you will not admit
dishonourable thoughts of him. Pray to him as if you saw him, and you
will speak to him with reverence. Speak of him as if you saw him, and
you dare not take his name in vain, nor talk of God with a common
frame of mind, nor in a common manner, as of common things. "By faith
Moses forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured
as seeing him that is invisible," Heb. xi. 27. God is contemned by
them that think they are behind his back.
_Direct._ VII. Think of him as in heaven where he is revealed in glory
to the blessed, and magnified by their high, everlasting
praise.--Nothing so much helpeth us to glorify God in our minds, as by
faith to behold him where he is most glorious. The very reading over
the description of the glory of the New Jerusalem, Rev. xxi. and xxii.
will much affect a believing mind with a sense of the gloriousness of
God. Suppose, with Stephen, we saw heaven opened, and the Ancient of
days, the great Jehovah, gloriously illustrating the city of God, and
Jesus in glory at his right hand, and the innumerable army of
glorified spirits before his throne, praising and magnifying him with
the highest admirations, and joyfullest acclamations, that creatures
are capable of; would it not raise us to some of the same admirations?
The soul that by faith is much above, doth most glorify God, as being
nearest to his glory.
_Direct._ VIII. Foresee by faith the coming of Christ, and the day of
the universal judgment, when Christ shall come in flaming fire with
thousands of his holy angels, to be glorified in his saints, and
admired in all them that do believe, 2 Thess. i. 10.
_Direct._ IX. Abhor all doctrines, which blaspheme or dishonour the name
of God, and would blemish and hide the glory of his majesty.--I give you
this rule for your own preservation, and not in imitation of
uncharitable firebrands and dividers of the church, to exercise your
pride and imperious humour, in condemning all men, to whose opinions you
can maliciously affix a blasphemous consequence, which either followeth
but in your own imagination, or is not acknowledged, but hated, by those
on whom you do affix it. Let it suffice you to detest false doctrines,
without detesting the persons that you imagine guilty of them, who
profess to believe the contrary truth as stedfastly as you yourselves.
_Direct._ X. Take heed of sinking into flesh and earth, and being
diverted by things sensible from the daily contemplation of the glory of
God.--If your belly become your god, and you mind earthly things, and
are set upon the honours, or profits, or pleasures of the world, when
your conversation should be in heaven, you will be glorying in your
shame, when you should be admiring the glory of your Maker, Phil. iii.
18-20; and you will have so much to do on earth, that you will find no
leisure (because you have no hearts) to look up seriously to God.
_Directions for glorifying God with our Tongues in his
Praises._
[Sidenote: How great a duty praising God is.]
_Direct._ I. Conceive of this duty of praising God according to its
superlative excellencies, as being the highest service that the tongue
of men or angels can perform. To bless, or praise, or magnify God, is
not to make him greater, or better, or happier than he is; but to
declare and extol his greatness, goodness, and felicity. And that your
hearts may be inflamed to this excellent work, I will here show you
how great and necessary, how high and acceptable a work it is.
1. It is the giving to God his chiefest due.[129] A speaking of him as
he is; and when we have spoken the highest, how far fall we short of
the due expression of his glorious perfections! Oh how great praise doth
that almightiness deserve, which created and conserveth all the world,
and overruleth all the sons of men, and is able to do whatsoever he
will! "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness
is unsearchable. One generation shall praise his works to another and
declare his mighty acts: I will speak of the glorious honour of thy
Majesty, and of thy wondrous works; and men shall speak of the might of
thy terrible acts, and I will declare thy greatness," Psal. cxlv. 3-5.
What praise doth that knowledge deserve which extendeth to all things
that are, or were, or ever shall be! and that wisdom which ordereth all
the world! He knoweth every thought of man, and all the secrets of the
heart, Psal. xliv. 21; xciv. 11. "Known unto God are all his works, from
the beginning of the world," Acts xv. 18. "His understanding is
infinite," Psal. cxlvii. 5. What praise doth that goodness and mercy
deserve, which is diffused throughout all the world, and is the life,
and hope, and happiness of men and angels! "His mercy is great unto the
heavens, and his truth unto the clouds," Psal. lvii. 10. "Oh how great
is his goodness to them that fear him!" Psal. xxxi. 19; and therefore
how great should be his praise! "Who can utter the mighty acts of the
Lord, and who can show forth all his praise?" Psal. cvi. 2. "For great
is the glory of the Lord," Psal. cxxxviii. 5.
2. It is the end of all God's wondrous works, and especially the end
which man was made for, that all things might praise him objectively,
and men (and angels) in estimation and expression. That his glorious
excellency might be visible in his works, and be admired and extolled
by the rational creature: for this all things were created and are
continued: for this we have our understanding and our speech: this is
the fruit that God expecteth from all his works. Deny him this, and
you are guilty of frustrating the whole creation, as much as in you
lieth. You would have the sun to shine in vain, and the heavens and
earth to stand in vain, and man and all things to live in vain, if you
would not have God have the praise and glory of his works. Therefore,
sun, and moon, and stars, and firmament, are called on to praise the
Lord, Psal. cxlviii. 2-4, as they are the matter for which he must by
us be praised. "O praise him therefore for his mighty acts: praise him
according to his excellent greatness," Psal. cl. 2. "Oh that men would
praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare his wondrous works for
the children of men," Psal. cvii. 8, &c. Yea, it is the end of Christ
in the redemption of the world, and in saving his elect, that God
might, in the church, in earth and heaven, have the "praise and glory
of his grace," Eph. i. 6, 12, 14. "By him therefore let us offer the
sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our
lips, giving thanks to his name," Heb. xiii. 15. "And let the redeemed
of the Lord say, that his mercy endureth for ever," Psal. cvii. 2. For
this, all his saints "are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, a peculiar people, that they should show forth the
praises of him that hath called them out of darkness into his
marvellous light," 1 Pet. ii. 5, 9.
3. The praise of God is the highest and noblest work in itself. (1.)
It hath the highest object, even the glorious excellencies of God.
Thanksgiving is somewhat lower, as having more respect to ourselves
and the benefits received; but praise is terminated directly on the
perfections of God himself. (2.) It is the work that is most
immediately nearest on God, as he is our end: and as the end, as such,
is better than all the means set together, as such, so are the final
duties about the end greater than all the immediate duties. (3.) It is
the work of the most excellent creatures of God, the holy angels: they
proclaimed the coming of Christ, by way of praise, Luke ii. 13, 14,
"Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will towards men:"
see Psal. ciii. 20; cxlviii. 2. And as we must be equal to the angels,
it must be in equal praising God, or else it will not be in equality
of glory. (4.) It is the work of heaven, the place and state of all
perfection; and that is best and highest which is nearest heaven;
where "they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God
Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.--Thou art worthy, 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. iv. 8,
10. Chap. xix. 5, "A voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our
God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great."
Ver. 6, 7, "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and
as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings,
saying, Alleluiah: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be
glad and rejoice, and give honour unto him: for the marriage of the
Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready."
4. It beseemeth us, and much concerneth us, to learn and exercise that
work, which in heaven we must do for ever; and that is, to love and
joyfully praise the Lord: for earth is but the place of our
apprenticeship for heaven. The preparing works of mortifying
repentance must in their place be done; but only as subservient to
these which we must ever do: when we shall sing the "new song" before
the Lamb, "Thou art worthy;--for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us
to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and
nation, and hast made us kings and priests unto our God," Rev. v. 9,
10. Therefore the primitive church of believers is described as most
like to heaven; Luke xxiv. 53, "With great joy they were continually
in the temple, praising and blessing God." "O praise the Lord
therefore in the congregation of the saints: let Israel rejoice in him
that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King,"
Psal. cxlix. 1, 2. "Let the saints be joyful in glory: let the high
praises of God be in their mouths," ver. 5, 6.
5. Though we are yet diseased sinners, and in our warfare, among
enemies, dangers, and perplexities, yet praise is seasonable and
suitable to our condition here, as the greatest part of our duty,
which all the rest must but promote. Pretend not that it is not fit
for you because you are sinners, and that humiliation only is suitable
to your state. For the design of your redemption, the tenor of the
gospel, and your own condition, engage you to it. Are they not engaged
to praise the Lord, that are brought so near him to that end? 1 Pet.
ii. 5, 9;--that are reconciled to him?--to whom he hath given and
forgiven so much? 1 Tim. i. 15; Tit. iii. 3, 5; Psal. ciii. 1-3;--that
have so many great and precious promises? 2 Pet. i. 4;--that are the
temples of the Holy Ghost, who dwelleth in them, and sanctifieth them
to God?--that have a Christ interceding for them in the highest? Rom.
viii. 33, 34;--that are always safe in the arms of Christ; that are
guarded by angels; and devils and enemies forbidden to touch them,
further than their Father seeth necessary for their good?--that have
the Lord for their God? Psal. xxxiii. 12; iv. 8;--that have his saints
for their companions and helpers?--that have so many ordinances to
help their souls; and so many creatures and comforts for their
bodies?--that live continually upon the plenty of his love?--that
have received so much, and are still receiving? Should we not bless
him every day with praise, that blesseth us every day with benefits?
Should we not praise the bridge that we go over?--the friend that we
have tried so oft? And resolve, as Psal. cxlv. "Every day will I bless
thee: I will praise thy name for ever and ever." Psal. lxiii. 3, 4,
"Because thy loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise
thee: thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in
thy name." Are they not bound to praise him on earth, that must reign
with Christ for ever in heaven? Rom. viii. 17, 33; Rev. i. 5, 6; Col.
i. 12; 1 Pet. i. 4.
6. The praises of God do exercise our highest graces: praise is the very
breath of love, and joy, and gratitude: it tendeth to raise us above
ourselves, and make our hearts to burn within us, while the glorious
name of God is magnified: it hath the most pure, and spiritual, and
elevating effect upon the soul; and therefore tendeth most effectually
to make us more holy, by the increase of these graces.
7. To be much employed in the praise of God, doth tend exceedingly to
the vanquishing all hurtful doubts, and fears, and sorrows. Joy and
praise promote each other. And this it doth, (1.) By keeping the soul
near to God, and within the warmth of his love and goodness, Psal.
cxl. 13. (2.) By the exercise of love and joy, which are the cordial,
reviving, strengthening graces, Psal. xciv. 19; cxvi. 1. (3.) By
dissipating distrustful, vexing thoughts, and diverting the mind to
sweeter things, Psal. civ. 34. (4.) By keeping off the tempter, who
usually is least able to follow us with his molestations, when we are
highest in the praises of our God. (5.) By bringing out the evidences
of our sincerity into the light, while the chiefest graces are in
exercise, 2 Cor. iii. 18. (6.) And by way of reward from God, that
loveth the praises of his meanest servants. And here I would commend
this experiment, to uncomfortable, troubled souls, that have not found
comfort by long searching after evidences in themselves. Exercise
yourselves much in the praises of God: this is a duty that you have no
pretence against. Against thanksgiving for his grace, you pretend that
you know not that you have received his grace; but to praise him in
the excellency of his perfections, his power, and wisdom, and
goodness, and mercy, and truth, is the duty of all men in the world.
While you are doing this, you will feel your graces stir, and feel
that comfort from the face of God, which you are not like to meet with
in any other way whatsoever. Evidences are exceeding useful to our
ordinary stated peace and comfort; but it is oft long before we
confidently discern them: and they are oft discerned when yet the soul
is not excited to much sense of comfort and delight: and we quickly
lose the sight of evidences, if we be not very wise and careful. But a
life of praise bringeth comfort to the soul, as standing in the
sunshine bringeth light and warmth: or as labouring doth warm the
body: or as the sight and converse of our dearest friend, or the
hearing of glad tidings, doth rejoice the heart, without any great
reasoning or arguing the case. This is the way to have comfort by
feeling, to be much in the hearty praises of the Lord. When we come to
heaven we shall have our joy, by immediate vision, and the delightful
exercise of love and praise. And if you would taste the heavenly joys
on earth, you must imitate them in heaven as near as possibly you can;
and this is your work of nearest imitation.
8. To live a life of praising God, will make religion sweet and easy
to us, and take off the wearisomeness of it, and make the word of God
a pleasure to us. Whereas they that set themselves only to the works
of humiliation, and leave out these soul-delighting exercises, do cast
themselves into exceeding danger, by making religion seem to them a
grievous and undesirable life. This makes men backward to every duty,
and do it heartlessly, and easily yield to temptations of omission and
neglect, if not at last fall off through weariness: whereas the soul
that is daily employed in the high and holy praises of his God, is
still drawn on by encouraging experience, and doth all with a willing,
ready mind.
9. No duty is more pleasing to God, than the cheerful praises of his
servants. He loveth your prayers, tears, and groans; but your praises
much more: and that which pleaseth God most, must be most pleasing to
his servants; for to please him is their end: this is the end of all
their labour, that "whether present or absent, they may be accepted of
him," 2 Cor. v. 9. So that it is a final enjoying, and therefore a
delighting duty.
10. To be much employed in the praises of God, will acquaint the world
with the nature of true religion, and remove their prejudice, and
confute their dishonourable thoughts and accusations of it, and
recover the honour of Christ, and his holy ways, and servants. Many
are averse to a holy life, because they think that it consisteth but
of melancholy fears or scrupulosity: but who dare open his mouth
against the joyful praises of his Maker? I have heard and read of
several enemies and murderers, that have broke in upon christians with
an intent to kill them, or carry them away, that finding them on their
knees in prayer, and reverencing the work so much as to stay and hear
them till they had done, have reverenced the persons also, and
departed, and durst not touch the heavenly worshippers of God. This
life of praise is a continual pleasure to the soul; clean contrary to
a melancholy life. It is recreating to the spirits, and healthful to
the body, which is consumed by cares, and fears, and sorrows. It is
the way that yieldeth that "mirth which doth good like a medicine, and
is a continual feast," Prov. xvii. 22; xv. 15. Therefore saith the
apostle, "Is any merry, let him sing psalms," James v. 13. He cannot
better exercise mirth, than in singing praises to his God. This keeps
the soul continually on the wing, desiring still to be nearer God,
that it may have more of these delights: and so it overcomes the sense
of persecutions and afflictions, and the fears of death, and is a most
excellent cordial and companion in the greatest sufferings. Was it not
an excellent hearing, to have been a witness of the joy of Paul and
Silas, when in the prison and stocks, with their backs sore with
scourges, they sang at midnight the praises of the Lord? Acts xvi. 25;
so that all the doors were opened, and all the prisoners' bonds were
loosed, that had been their auditors; so great was God's acceptance of
their work. Oh that we would do that honour and right to true
religion, as to show the world the nature and use of it, by living in
the cheerful praises of our God, and did not teach them to blaspheme
it, by our misdoings!
I have said the more of the excellency and benefits of this work,
because it is one of your best helps to perform it, to know the
reasons of it, and how much of your religion, and duty, and comfort
consisteth in it: and the forgetting of this, is the common cause that
it is so boldly and ordinarily neglected, or slubbered over as it is.
_Direct._ II. The keeping of the heart in the admiration and
glorifying of God, according to the foregoing directions, is the
principal help to the right praising of him with our lips.--For out of
the heart's abundance the mouth will speak: and if the heart do not
bear its part, no praise is melodious to God.
_Direct._ III. Read much those Scriptures which speak of the praises
of God; especially the Psalms: and furnish your memories with store of
those holy expressions of the excellencies of God, which he himself
hath taught you in his word.--None knoweth the things of God, but the
Spirit of God; who teacheth us in the Scripture to speak divinely of
things divine. No other dialect so well becometh the work of praise.
God, that best knoweth himself, doth best teach us how to know and
praise him. Every christian should have a treasury of these sacred
materials in his memory, that he may be able at all times, in
conference and in worship, to speak of God in the words of God.
_Direct._ IV. Be much in singing psalms of praise, and that with the
most heart-raising cheerfulness and melody; especially in the holy
assemblies.--The melody and the conjunction of many serious, holy
souls, doth tend much to elevate the heart. And where it is done
intelligibly, reverently, in conjunction with a rational, spiritual,
serious worship, the use of musical instruments are not to be scrupled
or refused; any more than the tunes or melody of the voice.
_Direct._ V. Remember to allow the praises of God their due proportion
in all your prayers.--Use not to shut it out, or forget it, or cut it
short with two or three words in the conclusion. The Lord's prayer
begins and ends with it: and the three first petitions are for the
glorifying the name of God, and the coming of his kingdom, and the
doing of his will, by which he is glorified: and all this before we
ask any thing directly for ourselves. Use will much help you in the
praise of God.
_Direct._ VI. Especially let the Lord's day be principally spent in
praises and thanksgivings for the work of our redemption, and the
benefits thereof.--This day is separated by God himself to this holy
work; and if you spend it (ordinarily) in other religious duties, that
subserve not this, you spend it not as God requireth you. The thankful
and praiseful commemoration of the work of man's redemption, is the
special work of the day: and the celebrating of the sacrament of the
body and blood of Christ, (which is therefore called the Eucharist,)
was part of these laudatory exercises, and used every Lord's day by
the primitive church. It is not only a holy day, separated to God's
worship in general; but to this eucharistical worship in special above
the rest, as a day of praises and thanksgiving unto God: and thus all
christians (ordinarily) should use it.
_Direct._ VII. Let your holy conference with others be much about the
glorious excellencies, works, and mercies of the Lord, in way of praise
and admiration.--This is indeed to speak to edification, and as the
"oracles of God," Eph. iv. 29; "that God in all things may be
glorified," 1 Pet. iv. 11. Psal. xxix. 9, "In his temple doth every one
speak of his glory." Psal. xxxv. 28, "My tongue shall speak of thy
righteousness, and of thy praises all the day long." Psal. cxlv. 6, 11,
21, "And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts.--They shall
speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power: to make known
to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his
kingdom.--My mouth shall speak of the praises of the Lord; and let all
flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever." Psal. cv. 2, 3, "Talk ye
of all his wondrous works: glory ye in his holy name."
_Direct._ VIII. Speak not of God in a light, unreverent, or common
sort, as if you talked of common things; but with all possible
seriousness, gravity, and reverence, as if you saw the majesty of the
Lord.--A common and a holy manner of speech are contrary. That only
is holy which is separated to God from common use. You speak
profanely, (in the manner, how holy soever the matter be,) when you
speak of God with that careless levity, as you use to speak of common
things. Such speaking of God is dishonourable to him, and hurts the
hearers more than silence, by breeding in them a contempt of God, and
teaching them to imitate you in slight conceits and speech of the
Almighty: whereas, one that speaketh reverently of God, as in his
presence, doth ofttimes more affect the hearers with a reverence of
his Majesty, with a few words, than unreverent preachers with the most
accurate sermons, delivered in a common or affected strain. Whenever
you speak of God, let the hearers perceive that your hearts are
possessed with his fear and love, and that you put more difference
between God and man, than between a king and the smallest worm: so
when you talk of death or judgment, of heaven or hell, of holiness or
sin, or any thing that nearly relates to God, do it with that gravity
and seriousness as the matter doth require.
_Direct._ IX. Speak not so unskilfully and foolishly of God, or holy
things, as may tempt the hearers to turn it into a matter of scorn or
laughter.--Especially understand how your parts are suited to the
company that you are in. Among those that are more ignorant, some weak
discourses may be tolerable and profitable; for they are most affected
with that which is delivered in their own dialect and mode: but among
judicious or captious hearers, unskilful persons must be very sparing
of their words, lest they do hurt while they desire to do good, and
make religion seem ridiculous. We may rejoice in the scorns which we
undergo for Christ, and which are bent against his holy laws, or the
substance of our duty: but if men are jeered for speaking ridiculously
and foolishly of holy things, they have little reason to take comfort
in any thing of that, but their honest meanings and intents; nay, they
must be humbled for being a dishonour to the name of godliness. But
the misery is, that few of the ignorant and weak have knowledge and
humility enough to perceive their ignorance and weakness, but they
think they speak as wisely as the best, and are offended if their
words be not reverenced accordingly. As a minister should study and
labour for a skill and ability to preach, because it is his work; so
every christian should study for skill to discourse with wisdom and
meet expressions about holy things, because this is his work. And as
unfit expressions and behaviour in a minister do cause contempt
instead of edifying, so do they in discourse.
_Direct._ X. Whenever God's holy name or word is blasphemed, or used
in levity or jest, or a holy life is made a scorn, or God is
notoriously abused or dishonoured, be ready to reprove it with gravity
where you can; and where you cannot, at least let your detestation of
it be conveniently manifested.--Among those to whom you may freely
speak, lay open the greatness of their sin. Or, if you are unable for
long or accurate discourse, at least tell them who hath said, "Thou
shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will
not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." And where your
speech is unmeet, (as to some superiors,) or is like to do more harm
than good, let your departing the room, or your looks, or rather your
tears, show your dislike.[130]
_Directions for the glorifying God in our Lives._
_Direct._ I. Our lives then glorify God, when they are such as his
excellencies most appear in: and that is, when they are most divine or
holy; when they are so managed, that the world may see, that it is God
that we have chiefly respect unto, and that HOLINESS TO THE LORD is
written upon all our faculties and affairs.--So much of GOD as appeareth
in our lives, so much they are truly venerable, and advanced above the
rank of fleshly, worldly lives.[131] God only is the real glory of every
person, and every thing, and every word or action of our lives. And the
natural conscience of the world, which, in despite of their atheism, is
forced to confess and reverence a Deity, will be forced (even when they
are hated and persecuted) to reverence the appearance of God in his holy
ones. Let it appear therefore, 1. That God's authority commandeth you,
above all the powers of the earth, and against all the power of fleshly
lusts. 2. That it is the glory and interest of God that you live for,
and look after principally in the world, and not your own carnal
interest and glory: and that it is his work that you are doing, and not
your own; and his cause, and not your own, that you are engaged in.[132]
3. That it is his word and law that is your rule. 4. And the example of
his Son that is your pattern. 5. And that your hearts and lives are
moved and acted in the world, by motives fetched from the rewards which
he hath promised, and the punishments which he hath threatened, in the
world to come. 6. And that it is a supernatural, powerful principle,
sent from God into your hearts, even the Holy Ghost, by which you are
inclined and actuated in the tenor of your lives. 7. And that your daily
converse is with God, and that men and other creatures are comparatively
nothing to you, but are made to stand by, while God is preferred, and
honoured, and served by you; and that all your business is with him, or
for him in the world.
_Direct._ II. The more of heaven appeareth in your lives, the more
your lives do glorify God.--Worldly and carnal men are conscious, that
their glory is a vanishing glory, and their pleasure but a transitory
dream, and that all their honour and wealth will shortly leave them in
the dust; and therefore, they are forced, in despite of their
sensuality, to bear some reverence to the life to come. And though
they have not hearts themselves to deny the pleasures and profits of
the world, and to spend their days in preparing for eternity, and in
laying up a treasure in heaven; yet they are convinced, that those
that do so, are the best and wisest men; and they could wish that they
might die the death of the righteous, and that their last end might be
like his. As heaven exceedeth earth, even in the reverent
acknowledgment of the world, though not in their practical esteem and
choice; so heavenly christians have a reverent acknowledgment from
them, (when malice doth not hide their heavenliness by slanders,)
though they will not be such themselves. Let it appear in your lives,
that really you seek a higher happiness than this world affordeth, and
that you verily look to live with Christ; and that as honour, and
wealth, and pleasure command the lives of the ungodly, so the hope of
heaven commandeth yours. Let it appear that this is your design and
business in the world, and that your hearts and conversations are
above, and that whatever you do or suffer, is for this, and not for
any lower end; and this is a life that God is glorified by.
_Direct._ III. It glorifieth God, by showing the excellency of faith,
when we contemn the riches and honour of the world, and live above the
worldling's life; accounting that a despicable thing, which he accounts
his happiness, and loseth his soul for.--As men despise the toys of
children, so a believer must take the transitory vanities of this world,
for matters so inconsiderable, as not to be worthy his regard, save only
as they are the matter of his duty to God, or as they relate to him, or
the life to come. Saith Paul, 2 Cor. iv. 18, "We look not at the things
which are seen," (they are not worth our observing or looking at,) "but
at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are
temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." The world is
under a believer's feet, while his eye is fixed on the celestial world.
He travelleth through it to his home, and he will be thankful if his way
be fair, and if he have his daily bread: but it is not his home, nor
doth he make any great matter, whether his usage in it be kind or
unkind, or whether his inn be well adorned or not. He is almost
indifferent whether, for so short a time, he be rich or poor, in a high
or in a low condition, further than as it tendeth to his Master's
service. Let men see that you have a higher birth than they, and higher
hopes, and higher hearts, by setting light by that, which their hearts
are set upon as their felicity. When seeming christians are as worldly
and ambitious as others, and make as great a matter of their gain, and
wealth, and honour, it showeth that they do but cover the base and
sordid spirit of worldlings, with the visor of the christian name, to
deceive themselves, and bring the faith of christians into scorn, and
dishonour the holy name which they usurp.
_Direct._ IV. It much honoureth God, when his servants can quietly and
fearlessly trust in him, in the face of all the dangers and
threatenings which devils or men can cast before them; and can
joyfully suffer pain or death, in obedience to his commands, and in
confidence on his promise of everlasting happiness.--This showeth that
we believe indeed that "there is a God," and that "he is the rewarder
of them that diligently seek him," Heb. xi. 6; and that he is true and
just; and that his promises are to be trusted on; and that he is able
to make them good, in despite of all the malice of his enemies; and
that the threats or frowns of sinful worms are contemptible to him
that feareth God. Psal. lviii. 11, "So that men shall say, Verily
there is a reward for the righteous: verily there is a God that
judgeth in the earth," and that at last will judge the world in
righteousness. Paul gloried in the Thessalonians, "for their faith and
patience, in all their persecutions and tribulations which they
endured; as a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that
they might be accounted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which they
suffered. Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense
tribulation to them that trouble us, and rest with his saints to those
that are troubled," 2 Thess. i. 4-7. "If ye be reproached for the name
of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth
upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is
glorified," 1 Pet. iv. 14. "If any man suffer as a christian, let him
not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf," ver. 16. When
confidence in God, and assurance of the great reward in heaven, Matt.
v. 11, 12, doth cause a believer undauntedly to say as the three
witnesses, Dan. iii. "We are not careful, O king, to answer thee in
this matter: the God whom we serve is able to deliver us:" when by
faith we can go through the trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, of
bonds and imprisonment, to be destitute and afflicted, yea, and
tortured, not accepting deliverance, (upon sinful terms,) thus God is
glorified by believers. "Lift up your voices," O ye afflicted saints,
"and sing, for the majesty of the Lord. Glorify ye the Lord in the
fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the
sea," Isa. xxiv. 14, 15. Sing to his praise with Paul and Silas,
though your feet be in the stocks. If God call for your lives,
remember that "you are not your own, you are bought with a price;
therefore glorify God in your bodies and spirits which are his," 1
Cor. vi. 20. Rejoice in it, if you "bear in your bodies the marks of
the Lord Jesus," Gal. vi. 17; and if you "always bear about in the
body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be
manifested in your bodies," 2 Cor. iv. 10. And "with all boldness,"
see that "Christ be magnified in your bodies, whether it be by life or
death," Phil. i. 20. He dishonoureth and reproacheth Christ and faith,
that thinks he is not to be trusted even unto the death.
_Direct._ V. It much honoureth God, when the hopes of everlasting joys
do cause believers to live much more joyfully than the most prosperous
worldlings.--Not with their kind of doting mirth, in vain sports and
pleasures, and foolish talking, and uncomely jests; but in that
constant cheerfulness and gladness, which beseemeth the heirs of
glory. Let it appear to the world, that indeed you hope to live with
Christ, and to be equal with the angels. Do a dejected countenance,
and a mournful, troubled, and complaining life, express such hopes? or
rather tell men that your hopes are small, and that God is a hard
master, and his service grievous? Do not thus dishonour him by your
inordinate dejectedness; do not affright and discourage sinners from
the pleasant service of the Lord.
_Direct._ VI. When christians live in a readiness to die, and can
rejoice in the approach of death, and love and long for the day of
judgment, when Christ shall justify them from the slanders of the
world, and shall judge them to eternal joys: this is to the glory of
God and our profession.--When death, which is the king of fears to
others, appeareth as disarmed and conquered to believers; when
judgment, which is the terror of others, is their desire; this showeth
a triumphant faith, and that godliness is not in vain. It must be
something above nature that can make a man "desire to depart and be
with Christ, as best of all," and "to be absent from the body and
present with the Lord," and to "comfort one another" with the mention
of the glorious coming of their Lord, and the day when he shall judge
the world in righteousness, Phil. i. 21; 2 Cor. v. 8; 1 Thess. iv. 18;
2 Thess. i. 10.
_Direct._ VII. The humility, and meekness, and patience of christians,
much honour God and their holy faith; as pride, and passion, and
impatience dishonour him.--Let men see that the Spirit of God doth cast
down the devilish sin of pride, and maketh you like your Master, that
humbled himself to assume our flesh, and to the "death of the cross,"
and to the contradiction and reproach of foolish sinners, and "made
himself of no reputation," but "endured the shame" of being derided,
spit upon, and crucified, Phil. ii. 7-9; Heb. xii. 2; and stooped to
wash the feet of his disciples. It is not stoutness, and lifting up the
head, and standing upon your terms, and upon your honour in the world,
that is the honouring of God. When you are as little children, and as
nothing in your own eyes, and seek not the honour that is of men, but
say, "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to thy name be the glory," Psal.
cxv. 1; and are content that your honour decrease and be trodden into
the dirt, that his may increase, and his name be magnified; this is the
glorifying of God. So when you show the world, that you are above the
impotent passions of men, not to be insensible, but to be "angry and sin
not," and to "give place to wrath," and not to resist and "avenge
yourselves," Rom. xii. 19; and to be "meek and lowly in heart," Matt.
xi. 29. It will appear that you have the wisdom which is "from above,"
if you be "first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated,
full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and hypocrisy," James
iii. 17. "But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts,
glory not, and lie not against the truth," as if this were the wisdom
from above which glorifieth God; for this "wisdom descendeth not from
above, but is earthly, sensual, and devilish," ver. 14, 15. "A meek and
quiet spirit is of great price in the sight of God," 1 Pet. iii. 4; an
ornament commended to women by the Scripture, which is amiable in the
eyes of all.
_Direct._ VIII. It honoureth God and our profession, when you abound in
love and good works; loving the godly with a special love, but all men
with so much love, as makes you earnestly desirous of their welfare, and
to love your enemies, and put up wrongs, and to study to do good to all,
and hurt to none.--To be abundant in love, is to be like to God, who is
love itself, 1 John iv. 7, 11; and showeth that God dwelleth in us, ver.
12. "All men may know that we are Christ's disciples, if we love one
another," John xiii. 35. This is the "new" and the "great commandment;
the fulfilling of the law," Rom. xiii. 10; John xv. 12, 17; xiii. 34.
You will be known to be the "children of your heavenly Father, if you
love your enemies, and bless them that curse you, and pray for them that
hate and persecute you, and despitefully use you," Matt. v. 44. Do all
the good that possibly you can, if you would be like him that doth good
to the evil, and whose mercies are over all his works. Show the world
that you "are his workmanship, created to good works in Christ Jesus,
which he hath ordained for you to walk in," Eph. ii. 10. "Herein is your
Father glorified, that ye bring forth much fruit," John xv. 8. "Let your
light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and
glorify your Father which is in heaven," Matt. v. 16. "Honour God with
thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thy increase," Prov.
iii. 9. "And those that honour him he will honour," 1 Sam. ii. 30; when
barren, worldly hypocrites, that honour God only with their lips, and
flattering words, shall be used as those that really dishonour him.
_Direct._ IX. The unity, concord, and peace of christians, do glorify
God and their profession; when their divisions, contentions, and
malicious persecutions of one another, do heinously dishonour
him.--Men reverence that faith and practice which they see us
unanimously accord in. And the same men will despise both it and us,
when they see us together by the ears about it, and hear us in a Babel
of confusion, one saying, This is the way, and another, That is it;
one saying, Lo here is the true church and worship, and another
saying, Lo it is there. Not that one man or a few must make a shoe
meet for his own foot, and then say, All that will not dishonour God
by discord, must wear this shoe: think as I think, and say as I say,
or else you are schismatics. But we must all agree in believing and
obeying God, and "walking by the same rule so far as we have
attained," Phil. iii. 15, 16. "The strong must bear the infirmities of
the weak, and not please themselves; but every one of us please his
neighbour for good to edification; and be like-minded one towards
another, according to Christ Jesus, that we may with one mind and one
mouth glorify God: receiving one another, as Christ also received us
to the glory of God," Rom. xv. 1, 2, 5-7.
_Direct._ X. Justice commutative and distributive, private and public,
in bargainings, and in government, and judgment, doth honour God and
our profession in the eyes of all: when we do no wrong, but do to all
men as we would they should do to us, Matt. vii. 12: that no man go
beyond or defraud his brother in any matter; for the Lord is the
avenger of all such, 1 Thess. iv. 6.--That a man's word be his master,
and that we lie not one to another, nor equivocate or deal subtilly
and deceitfully, but in plainness and singleness of heart, and in
simplicity and godly sincerity, have our conversation in the world.
Perjured persons and covenant-breakers, that dissolve the bonds of
human society, and take the name of God in vain, shall find by his
vengeance that he holdeth them not guiltless.
_Direct._ XI. It much glorifieth God to worship him rationally and
purely, in spirit and in truth, according to the glory of his wisdom
and goodness; and it dishonoureth him to be worshipped ignorantly and
carnally, with spells, and mimical, irrational actions, as if he were
less wise than serious, grave, understanding men.--The worshippers of
God have great cause to take heed how they behave themselves; lest
they meet with the reward of Nadab and Abihu, and God tell them by his
judgments, "that he will be sanctified in all them that come nigh him,
and before all the people he will be glorified," Lev. x. 1-3. The
second commandment is enforced by the jealousy of God about his
worship. Ignorant, rude, unseemly words, or unhandsome gestures, which
tend to raise contempt in the auditors; or levity of speech, which
makes men laugh, is abominable in a preacher of the gospel. And so is
it to pray irrationally, incoherently, confusedly, with vain
repetitions and tautologies, as if men thought to be heard for their
babbling over so many words, while there is not so much as an
appearance of a well composed, serious, rational, and reverent address
of a fervent soul to God. To worship God as the papists do, with
images, Agnus Dei's, crucifixes, crossings, spittle, oil, candles,
holy water, kissing the pax, dropping beads, praying to the Virgin
Mary, and to other saints, repeating over the name of Jesus nine times
in a breath, and saying such and such sentences so oft, praying to God
in an unknown tongue, and saying to him they know not what, adoring
the consecrated bread as no bread, but the very flesh of Christ
himself, choosing the titular saint whose name they will invocate,
fasting by feasting upon fish instead of flesh, saying so many masses
a day, and offering sacrifice for the quick and the dead, praying for
souls in purgatory, purchasing indulgences for their deliverance out
of purgatory from the pope, carrying the pretended bones or other
relics of their saints, the pope's canonizing now and then one for a
saint, pretending miracles to delude the people, going on pilgrimages
to images, shrines, or relics, offering before the images, with a
multitude more of such parcels of devotion, do most heinously
dishonour God, and, as the apostle truly saith, do make unbelievers
say, "They are mad," 1 Cor. xiv. 23, and that they are "children in
understanding," and not "men," ver. 20. Insomuch as it seemeth one of
the greatest impediments to the conversion of the heathen and
Mahometan world, and the chiefest means of confirming them in their
infidelity, and making them hate and scorn christianity, that the
Romish, and the eastern, and southern churches, within their view, do
worship God so dishonourably as they do: as if our God were like a
little child that must have pretty toys bought him in the fair, and
brought home to please him. Whereas, if the unreformed churches in the
east, west, and south were reformed, and had a learned, pious, able
ministry, that clearly preached and seriously applied the word of God,
and worshipped God with understanding, gravity, reverence, and serious
spirituality, and lived a holy, heavenly, mortified, self-denying
conversation, this would be the way to propagate christianity, and win
the infidel world to Christ.
_Direct._ XII. If you will glorify God in your lives, you must be
above a selfish, private, narrow mind, and must be chiefly intent upon
the public good, and the spreading of the gospel through the world.--A
selfish, private, narrow soul brings little honour to the cause of
God: it is always taken up about itself, or imprisoned in a corner, in
the dark, to the interest of some sect or party, and seeth not how
things go in the world: its desires, and prayers, and endeavours go no
further than they can see or travel. But a larger soul beholdeth all
the earth, and is desirous to know how it goeth with the cause and
servants of the Lord, and how the gospel gets ground upon the
unbelieving nations; and such are affected with the state of the
church a thousand miles off, almost as if it were at hand, as being
members of the whole body of Christ, and not only of a sect. They pray
for the "hallowing of God's name," and the "coming of his kingdom,"
and the "doing of his will throughout the earth, as it is in heaven,"
before they come to their own necessities, at least in order of esteem
and desire. The prosperity of themselves, or their party or country,
satisfieth them not, while the church abroad is in distress. They live
as those that know the honour of God is more concerned in the welfare
of the whole, than in the success of any party against the rest. They
pray that the gospel may have free course and be glorified abroad, as
it is with them, and the preachers of it be "delivered from
unreasonable and wicked men," 2 Thess. iii. 1, 2. The silencing the
ministers, and suppressing the interest of Christ and souls, are the
most grievous tidings to them: therefore they "pray for kings, and all
in authority," not for any carnal ends, but that "we may lead a quiet
and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty," 1 Tim. ii. 1-3. Thus
God must be glorified by our lives.
* * * * *
_Grand Direct._ XVI. Let your life on earth be a conversation in heaven,
by the constant work of faith and love; even such a faith as maketh
things future as now present, and the unseen world as if it were
continually open to your sight; and such a love as makes you long to see
the glorious face of God, and the glory of your dear Redeemer, and to be
taken up with blessed spirits in his perfect, endless love and praise.
My Treatise of "The Life of Faith," and the fourth part of "The
Saints' Rest," being written wholly or mostly to this use, I must
refer the reader to them, and say no more of it in this direction.
* * * * *
_Grand Direct._ XVII. As the soul must be carried up to God, and
devoted to him, according to all the foregoing directions, so must it
be delivered from carnal selfishness, or flesh-pleasing, which is the
grand enemy to God and godliness in the world; and from the three
great branches of this idolatry, viz. the love of sensual pleasures,
the love of worldly wealth, and the proud desire and love of worldly
honour and esteem: and the mortifying of these must be much of the
labour of your lives.
Of this also I have written so much in a "Treatise of Self-denial," and
in another called "The Crucifying of the World by the Cross of Christ,"
that I shall now pass by all, save what will be more seasonable anon
under the more particular directions, in the fourth part, when I come to
speak of selfishness, as opposed to the love of others.[133]
* * * * *
I have now given you the general grand directions, containing the very
being and life of godliness and christianity; with those particular
subdirections which are needful to the performance of them. And I must
tell you, that as your life, and strength, and comfort principally
depend on these, so doth your success in resisting all your particular
sins: and therefore, if you first obey not these general directions, the
more particular ones that follow will be almost useless to you, even as
branches cut off from the stock of the tree, which are deprived thereby
of their support and life. But upon supposition that first you will
maintain these vital parts of your religion, I shall proceed to direct
you first in some particulars most nearly subordinate to the
forementioned duties, and then to the remoter branches.
FOOTNOTES:
[80] Laert. saith of the magi, that they did Deorum vacare cultui:
signa statuasque reprehendere: et eorum imprimis, qui mares esse deos
et fœminas dicunt, errores improbare. Signa et statuas ex disciplinæ
instituto è medio tulisse: and that some thought that the Jews came
from them, p. 4, 6. And Laertius himself saith to those that make
Orpheus the first philosopher, Videant certe qui ita volunt, quo sit
censendus nomine, qui Diis cuncta hominum vitia, et quæ rarò à
turpibus quibusque et flagitiosis hominibus geruntur, ascribit, p. 4.
He saith also that the said magi held, and Theopompus with them, that
men should live again, and become immortal. The like he saith of many
other sects. It is a thing most irrational to doubt of the being of
the unseen worlds, and the more excellent inhabitants thereof; when we
consider that this low and little part of God's creation is so full of
inhabitants: if a microscope will show your very eyes a thousand
visible creatures which you could never see without it, nor know that
they had any being, will you not allow the pure intellectual sight to
go much further beyond your microscope?
[81] Thales' sayings in Laert. are, Animas esse immortales:
Antiquissimum omnium entium Deus; ingenitu senim: Pulcherrimum mundus, à
Deo enim factus: Maximum locus; capit enim omnia: Velocissimum mens; nam
per universa discurrit: Fortissimum necessitas; cuncta enim superat.
Sapientissimum tempus: invenit namque omnia. _Q._ Utrum prius factum nox
an dies? _R._ Nox, una prius die. _Q._ Latet ne Deos homo male agens?
_R._ Ne cogitans quidem. _Q._ Quid difficile? _R._ Seipsum noscere. _Q._
Quid facile? _R._ Ab alio moveri. _Q._ Quid suavissimum? _R._ Frui. _Q._
Quid Deus? _R._ Quod initio et sine caret. p. 14, 20, 21.
[82] Conjungi vult nos inter nos, atque connecti per mutua beneficia
charitatis: adeo ut tota justitia et præceptum hoc Dei, communis sit
utilitas hominum. O miram clementiam Domini! O ineffabilem Dei
benignitatem! Præmium nobis pollicetur, si nos invicem diligamus; id
est, si nos ea præstemus invicem, quorum vicissim indigemus: et nos
superbo et ingrato animo, ejus remittimur voluntati, cujus etiam
imperium beneficium est. Hieron. ad Celant. See my book of the
"Reasons of the Christian Religion."
[83] Vel propter unionem inter creaturam et Creatorem necessaria fuit
incarnatio. Sicut in Divinitate una est essentia et tres personæ; ita
in Christo una persona et tres essentiæ, Deitas, anima, et caro.
Christus secundum naturam divinitatis est genitus; secundum animam
creatus; et secundum carnem factus. Unio in Christo triplex est;
Deitatis ad animam; Deitatis ad carnem; et animæ ad carnem. Paul.
Scaliger Thes. p. 725. Christus solus, et quidem secundum utramque
naturam dicitur caput ecclesiæ. Id. p. 726.
[84] Ex apostolica et veteri traditione, nemo baptizatur in ecclesia
Christi, nisi prius rogatus, an credat in Deum Patrem, et in Jesum
Christum Dei Filium, et in Spiritum Sanctum, responderit, firmiter se
credere: quantum vis ergo heres sit, si judicii aliquid habet, et ita
rogatur, et ita respondet prorsusque ita expresse credere jubetur:
namque implicite et involute non isthæc solum, sed quæcunque Divinæ
literæ produnt, credit, de quibus tamen non omnibus interrogatur, quod
ea expresse scire omnia, illi minime opus sit. Acosta, 1. 5. c. 6. p.
461. Christian religion beginneth not at the highest, but the lowest:
with Christ incarnate, teaching, dying, &c. Dr. Boy's postil. p. 121.
out of Luther.
[85] Sane omnium virtutum radix et fundamentum fides est; quæ
certantes adjuvat, vincentes coronat, et cœlesti dono quosdam defectu
signorum remunerat: nihil enim quod sinceræ fidei denegetur, quia nec
aliud à nobis Deus, quam fidem exigit: hanc diligit, hanc requirit,
huic cuncta promittit et tribuit. S. Eulogius Mart. Arch. Tolet.
Memorial. Sanct. p. 4. Notandum, quod cum fides mortua sit præter
opera, jam neque fides est: nam neque homo mortuus, homo est.--Non
enim sicut spiritum corpore meliorem, ita opera fidei præponenda sunt,
quando gratia salvatur homo, non ex operibus sed ex fide: nisi fortè
et hoc in quæstione sit, quod salvet fides quæ cum operibus propriis
vivit; tanquam aliud genus operum sit, præter quæ salus ex fide
proveniat: nec autem sunt opera quæ sub umbra legis observantur.
Didymus Alexand, in Jac. cap. 2.
[86] Dilectio Dei misit nobis salvatorem: cujus gratia salvati sumus:
ut possideamus hanc gratiam, communicatio facit spiritus. Ambros. in 2
Cor. xiii. 13.
[87] O Domine Jesu doles non tua sed mea vulnera! Ambros. de Fide ad
Grat. l. 2. c. 3. Nos immortalitate male usi sumus ut moreremur:
Christus mortalitate bene usus est ut viveremus. August. de Doct.
Christ. l. i. c. 14.
[88] Scrutari temeritas est, credere pietas, nosse vita. Bernard. de
Consid. ad Eugen. 1. 5.
[89] Deus est principium effectivum in creatione refectivum in
redemptione, perfectivum in sanctificatione. Joh. Combis comp. Theol.
1. 4. c. 1.
[90] Rejectis propheticis et apostolicis scriplis, Manichæi novum
evangelium scripserunt: et ut antecellere communi hominum multitudini
et semi-dei viderentur, simularunt enthusiasmos seu afflatus, subito
in turba se in terram objicientes, et velut attoniti diu tacentes;
deinde tanquam redeuntes ex specu Trophonio et plorantes, multa
vaticinati sunt; prorsus ut Anabaptistæ recens fecerunt in seditione
monasteriensi. Etsi autem in quibusdam manifesta simulatio fuit, tamen
aliquibus reipsa à diabolis furores immissos esse certum est. Carion.
Chron. 1. 3. p. 54.
[91] Nemo magnus sine aliquo afflatu divino unquam fuit. Cicero 2. de
Nat. Deor.
[92] Laertius in Zenone, saith, Dicunt Stoici Deum esse animal
immortale, rationale, perfectum ac beatum, à malo omni remotissimum,
providentia sua mundum et quæ sunt in mundo administrans omnia: non
tamen inesse illi humanæ formæ lineamenta. Cæterum esse opificem
immensi hujus operis, sicat et patrem omnium.--Eumque multis appellari
nominibus juxta proprietates suas.--Quosdam item esse dæmones dicunt
quibus insit hominum miseratio, inspectores rerum humanarum; heroas
quoque solutas corporibus, sapientum animas.--Bonos aiunt esse
divinos, quod in seipsis quasi habeant Deum. Malum vero impium et sine
Deo esse, quod duplici ratione accipitur, sive quod Deo contrarius
dicatur, sive quod aspernetur Deum: id tamen malis omnibus non
convenire. Pios autem et religiosos esse sapientes, peritos divini
juris omnes. Pietatem esse scientiam divini cultus. Diis item eos
sacrificia facturos, castosque futuros. Quippe ea quæ in Deos
admittuntur peccata detestari, Diisque charos ac gratos fore quo
sancti justique in rebus divinis sint.
[93] De diis ita ut sunt loquere. Bias in Laert. Leg. Pauli Scaligeri
Theses de Archetypo Mundo Ep. Cath. 1. 14. God never wrought miracle to
convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it. Lord Bacon,
Essay 16. p. 87. Deus est mens soluta, libera et segregata ab omni
concretione mortali, omnia sentiens, movens, &c. Cicero 1. Tuscul.
[94] Persuasum hoc sit à principio hominibus, dominos esse omnium
rerum ac moderatores Deos: eaque quæ gerantur eorum geri ditione atque
numine--Et qualis quisque fit, quid agat, quid in se admittat, qua
mente, qua pietate colat religionem, intueri, piorumque et impiorum
habere rationem. Cicero 2. de Leg.
[95] Deorum providentia mundus administratur, iidemque consulunt rebus
humanis neque solum universis, verum etiam singulis. Cicero 1. de Divin.
[96] Aristippus rogatus aliquando quid haberent eximium philosophi? Si
omnes, inquit, leges intereant, æquabiliter vivemus. Laertius.
[97] If προσευχη in Luke vi. 12, do signify an oratory, it yet
importeth that he continued for prayer in it.
[98] Maxime pars hominum morbo jactatur eodem.
[99] Animi labes nee diuturnitate evanescit, nec manibus ullis elui
potest--Non incestum vel aspersione aquæ vel dierum numero tollitur.
Cicero 2. de Legib.
[100] See Plutarch's Tract, entitled, "That vice is sufficient to make
a man wretched." Si non ipso honesto movemur ut viri boni simus, sed
utilitate aliqua, atque fructu, callidi sumus, non boni; si
emolumentis, non suapte natura, virtus expetitur, vana erit virtus,
quæ malitia rectè dicitur. P. Scal. p. 744.
[101] Voluntarium est omne peccatum. Tolle excusationem: nemo peccat
invitus. Martin. Dunilens. de Morib. Nihil interest quo animo facias,
quod fecisse vitiosum est, quia acta cernuntur, animus non videtur.
Id. ibid.
[102] Sick bodies only suffer ill; but sick souls both suffer ill and
do ill. Plutarch's Mor. p. 314.
[103] See the Assembly's Larger Catechism about aggravations of sin.
[104] See my treatise of "Crucifying the World," and of "Self-denial."
[105] Of the Temptations to hinder Conversion, see before, chap. i.
[106] Vide Pool's Synopsis, Critic, in Levit. i. 77. In these latter
the word "spirit" signifieth the ill disposition, which Satan as a
tempter causeth, and so he is known by it as his offspring.
[107] See my "Treatise against Infidelity," as before cited.
[108] Animi molles et ætate fluxi dolis haud difficulter capiuntur.
[109] See my two sheets for the Ministry.
[110] Vir bonus est qui prodest quibus notest, nocet autem nemini. P.
Scalig. Ne pigeat evangelicum ministrum, ægrotum visitare, venio
aliquo recreare, familicum cibario saltem pane pascere, nudum operire,
pauperem, cui non est adjutor, à divitum calumniis et potentia
eripere, pro afflictis principem magistratumve convenire: rem
familiarem consilio augere, morientibus sedulo et benigne astare,
lites et dissidia componere, &c. Acosta, 1. 4. c. 18. p. 418.
[111] Some think they merit by curing the hurts which they have caused
themselves. Sed nequitia est, ut extrahas mergere, evertere ut
suscites, includere ut emittas. Non enim beneficium injuriæ finis; nec
unquam id detraxisse meritum est, quod ipse qui detraxit intulerat.
Senec. de Benef.
[112] "Sell all and give to the poor, and follow me." But sell not
all, except thou follow me: that is, except thou have a vocation, in
which thou mayest do as much good with little means, as with great.
Lord Bacon's Essay 13.
[113] Absurdum est unum laute vivere, cum multi esuriunt. Quanto enim
gloriosius est multis benefacere, quam magnifice habitare? Quanto
prudentius in homines quam in lapides, et in aurum impensas facere.
Clem. Alexand. 2. Pædag. 12.
[114] Nobilius et præstantius est charitatem exercere in Deo, quam
virtutes propter Deum. Charitas compendiosissima ad Deum via est per
quam celerrime in Deum pervenitur; nec sine charitate aliqua virtus
supernaturaliter homini sapit: charitas enim forma omnium virtutum
est. Per hoc charitatis exercitium, homo ad tantam sui abominationem
venit, ut non solum seipsum contemnat, verum etiam se ab aliis
contemni æquo animo ferat; imo etiam ab aliis contemptus
gaudeat.--Thaulerus, flor. c. 7. p. 114.
[115] Austin, (Tract. 9. in John,) having showed that among men, it
maketh no one beautiful to love one that is beautiful, saith, Anima
nostra fœda est per iniquitatem: amando Deum pulchra efficitur: qualis
amor qui reddat pulchrum amantem? Deus semper pater est: amavit nos
fœdos, ut ex fœdis faceret pulchros: pulchri erimus amando eum qui
pulcher est. Quantum in te crescit amor, tantum crescit pulchritudo;
quia ipsa charitas animæ pulchritudo est.
[116] O orator, in tua oratione plus dilige Deum quam teipsum et alia:
et si hoc facis, justus es et prudens, et de charitate et sanctitate
habituatus: Qui habitus est amicus tuus in oratione--O Orator! quando
orabis pro commissis, justitiam, Dei tecum teneas diligendo; non autem
odiendo: quia si sic, misericordia Dei non posset esse tua amica, eo
quia injustus esset; et tuus habitus esset crudelis et à spe et
charitate prolongatus et tuum amare in odire esset perversum, de quo
odire esset in æternum habituatus. Raim. Lullius, Arte Magna de
Applic. cap. 114. p. 557, 558.
[117] Read Julian Toletan. his Prognosticon. Si in cœlis fidelibus hæc
servatur hæreditas, frivola quædam et tepida proferunt aliqua, putantes
eam se percipere in terrena Jerusalem; mille annis existimant esse
deliciarum præmia proprietate recepturos: qui interrogandi sunt, quomodo
astruant delicias corporales, dum dicatur hanc hæreditatem nec corrumpi
posse nec marcescere. Didymus Alexand. in Petr. 1. cont. Millenar.
[118] Of the nature of affiance and faith, I have written more fully
in my Disputation with Dr. Barlow, of Saving Faith.
[119] SOLA fide Deo SOLI constanter adhaere. A SOLO cunctis eripiere
malis. Peucerus his Distich, in his ten years' imprisonment. Scult.
Curric. p. 22.
[120] Of hope and assurance I have spoken afterward.
[121] Of enthusiastic impressions I have said more in my Directions
for the Cure of Church Divisions, and in the defence of it, and in
other books.
[122] 1 Chron. xvi. 34; 2 Chron. v. 13; Psal. xxxi. 7; lxxxvi. 5;
cviii. 3, 4; xcii. 4, 5; cxxxvi. 4; cxlv. 5-7, 11, 12; cxix. 64; Job
xxxvi. 24, 26; Psal. cvii. 22; civ. 31; lxvii. 6; Rev. i. 5; John xv.
9; Gal. ii. 20; Eph. i. 17, 18; ii. 6, 7; iii. 18, 19; Psal. cxxx. 6,
7; xci. 2, 9; xciv. 22; lix. 16; lxii. 7, 8; lvii. 1; xlvi. 1, 7, 11;
lxxxix. 1; cxvi. 1-3; ciii. 1-3; lxvi. 13, 16, 17; xxxiv. 1-3.
[123] Phil. iii. 1; Isa. lviii. 19; Job xxii. 26; Isa. lv. 2, 3; Psal.
iv. 7; Acts xiv. 17; Deut. xxvii. 7; xii. 12, 18; 1 Pet. i. 3, 4, 6;
John xiv. 16, 26; xv. 26; Isa. liii. 3, 4; 1 Pet. i. 8, 9; Matt. xi.
28; Isa. lv. 1; Rev. xxii. 17; 1 Thess. v. 11, 14, 16; Phil. iv. 4;
Psal. xxxiii. 1; 1 Pet. v. 7; John v. 40.
[124] Isa. lxiii. 9; 2 Cor. ii. 7; Zeph. iii. 17; Deut. xxx. 9; x. 15;
Isa. lxii. 5; James ii. 13; John xiv. 13, 18.
[125] Lætari in Deo est res omnium summa in terris. Bucholtzer.
[126] Tres sunt virtutis conditiones, tentationis remotio, actuum
multiplicatio, et in bono delectatio. P. Scaliger.
[127] Heb. i. 3; Acts vii. 55; Rom. iii. 23; Rev. xxi. 11, 23; Jude
24; 1 Pet. iv. 13; 2 Cor. iii. 18.
[128] _Lege Gassendi Oration, inaugural, in Institut. Astronom._
[129] Christianus est homo dicens et faciens ingrata diabolo; et
ornans gloriam Dei, autoris vitæ et satis suæ. Bucholtzer.
[130] Of prayer I have spoken afterward. Tom. 2, &c.
[131] Turpissimum est philosopho secus docere quam vivit. Paul
Scaliger. p. 728.
[132] Nam ilia quæ de regno cœlorum commemoranter à nobis, deque
præsentium rerum contemptu, vel non capiunt, vel non facile sibi
persuadent cum sermo factis evertitur. Acosta, lib. iv. c. 18. p. 418.
[133] I pass not this by as a small matter, to be passed by also by
the reader. For I take the love of God kindled by faith in Christ,
with the full denial of our carnal selves, to be the sum of all
religion. But because I would not injure so great a duty by saying but
a little of it; and therefore desire the reader, who studieth for
practice, and needeth such helps, to peruse the mentioned books of
"Self-denial," and "Crucifying the world."
APPENDIX.
_The true doctrine of love to God, to holiness, to ourselves, and to
others, opened in certain propositions; especially for resolving the
questions, What self-love is lawful?--what sinful?--Whether God must be
loved above our own felicity, and how?--Whether to love our felicity
more than God, may stand with a state of saving grace?--Whether it be a
middle state between sensuality and the divine nature, to love God more
for ourselves than for himself?--Whether to love God for ourselves be
the state of a believer as he is under the promise of the new
covenant?--And whether the spirit and sanctification promised to
believers, be the love of God for himself, and so the divine nature,
promised to him that chooseth Christ and God by him out of self-love for
his own felicity?--How God supposeth and worketh on the principle of
self-love in man's conversion?--With many such like. To avoid the
tediousness of a distinct debating each question._
Though these things principally belong to the theory, and so to
another treatise in hand, called "Methodus Theologiæ;" yet because
they are also practical, and have a great influence upon the more
practical directions, and the right understanding of them may help the
reader himself to determine a multitude of cases of conscience, the
particular discussion and decision of which would too much increase
this volume, which is so big already, I shall here explain them in
such brief propositions as yet shall give light to one another, and I
hope contain much of the true nature of love, which is the mystery of
the christian religion.
_Prop._ 1. The formal act of love is complacency, expressed by a
_placet_; which Augustine so oft calleth delectation.
2. Benevolence, or desiring the good of those we love, is but a
secondary act of love, or an effect of the prime, formal act. For to
wish one well is not to love him formally; but we wish him well
because we love him, and therefore first in order love him.
3. Their definition of love is therefore inept, and but from an
effect, who say it is, _Alicui bene velle, ut ipst bene sit_.
4. Love is either merely sensitive and passionate, which is the
sensible act and passion of the sensitive and fantastical appetite; or
it is rational, which is the act of the rational appetite or will. The
first is called sensitive in a double respect; 1. Because it followeth
the apprehension of the senses, or fantasy, loving that which they
apprehend as good; 2. And because it is exercised passionately and
feelingly by the sensitive appetite. And the other is called rational,
1. Because it is the love of that which reason apprehendeth as good;
and, 2. Because it is the complacency of that will which is a higher
faculty than the sensitive appetite.
5. Sensitive love is oft without rational, (always in brutes,) but
rational love is never totally without sensitive, at least in this
life; whether it be because that the sensitive and rational are
faculties of the same soul, or because they are so nearly connexed as
that one cannot here move or act without the other?
6. But yet one is predominant in some persons, and the other in others.
7. Love is the complacency of the appetite in apprehended good. Good
is the formal object of love. Sensitive love is the complacency of the
sensitive appetite in sensible good (or in that which the sense and
imagination apprehendeth as good). Rational love is the complacency of
the rational appetite in that which reason apprehendeth good: the same
thing with primary volition.
8. Good is not only a man's own felicity and the means thereto, called
_mihi bonum_, good to me; either as profitable, pleasant, or honourable
(as some think that have unmanned themselves): but there is extrinsic
good, which is such in itself, in others, or for others, which yet is
the natural object of man's love (so far as nature is sound). As the
learning, and wisdom, and justice, and charity, and all other
perfections of a man at the antipodes, whom I never saw, nor hope to
see, or to receive any benefit by, is yet amiable to every man that hath
not unmanned himself. So also is the good of posterity, of countries, of
kingdoms, of the church, of the world, apprehended as future when we are
dead and gone; yea, if we should be annihilated, desirable, and
therefore amiable to us; when yet it could be no benefit to us.
9. Self-love is sensitive or rational. Sensitive, as such, is necessary
and not free; and it is purposely by the most wise and blessed Creator
planted in man and brutes, as a principle useful to preserve the world,
and to engage the creature in the use of the means of its own
preservation, and so to bring it to perfection, and to endue it with
those fears and hopes which make us subjects capable of moral
government.
10. The rational or higher appetite also hath a natural inclination to
self-preservation, perfection, and felicity; but as ordinable and
ordinate to higher ends.
11. The rational powers cannot nullify the sensitive, nor directly or
totally hinder the action of them; but they may and must indirectly
hinder the act, by avoiding the objects and temptations, by diverting
the thoughts to higher things, &c.; and may hinder the effects by
governing the locomotive power.
12. Sensitive self-love containeth in it, 1. A love of life, and that
is, of individual self-existence; 2. And a love of all sensitive
pleasures of life; and, 3. Consequently, a love of the means of life
and pleasure.
13. In sensitive self-love, therefore, self, that is, life, is both
the material and formal object: we love ourselves even because we are
ourselves; we love this individual person, and loathe annihilation or
dissolution.
14. Though the will (or higher faculties) are naturally inclined also
to love ourselves, and our own felicity, yet they exercise this
inclination with a certain liberty; and though the act of simple
complacency or volition towards our own being and felicity be so free
as yet to be necessary, yet the comparative act (by which comparing
several goods, we choose one and refuse another) may be so free as not
to be necessary; that is, a man may will his own annihilation rather
than some greater evil, (of which anon,) not as good in itself, and
therefore not willed for itself, but as a means to a greater good; and
so he may less nill it than a greater evil.
15. Also a tolerable pain may on the same account be willed, or less
nilled, and so consented to, for the avoiding a greater evil; but
intolerable pain cannot possibly be willed or consented to, or not
nilled, because it taketh away the exercise of reason and free-will:
but what is to be called intolerable I determine not, it being
variously measurable according to the patient's strength.
16. The soul as intellectual, by its rational appetite, hath also a
natural inclination to intellectual operations (to know and love) and
to intellectual objects as such, and to intellectual perfections in
itself. Yet so that, though it necessarily (though freely) loveth the
said acts and perfections while it hath a being; yet doth it not
necessarily love all the said objects, nor necessarily choose the
continuance of its own being, but in some cases, as aforesaid, can
yield or consent to an annihilation as a lesser evil.
17. The rational soul being not of itself, nor for itself alone, or
chiefly, is naturally inclined not only to love to itself, and that
which is for itself, but also to love extrinsic good, as was
aforesaid; and accordingly it should love that best which is best: for
_a quatenus et ad omne et ad gradum, valet argumentum_. If we must
love any thing or person because it is good, (as the formal reason,)
then we should love all that is good, and love that best which is
best, if so discerned.
18. Though I must love greater, simple, extrinsic good above myself,
with that love which is purely rational, yet it cannot ordinarily be
done with a more sensitive and passionate love.
19. I am not always bound to do most good to him that I love better
than others, and ought so to love, nor to him that I must wish most
good to. Because there are other particular laws to regulate my
actions, diverse from that which commandeth my affections: as those
that put children, relations, families, neighbours, under our special
charge and care; though often others must be more loved.
20. That good which is the object of love, is not a mere universal or
general notion, but is always some particular or single being _in esse
reali, vel in esse cognito_. As there is no such thing in _rerum
natura_, as good in a mere general, which is neither the good of
natural existence, or of moral perfection, or of pleasure, profit,
honour, &c.; yea, which is not in this or in that singular subject, or
so conceived; so there is no such thing as love, which hath not some
such singular object. (As Rada and other Scotists have made plain.)
21. All good is either God, or a creature, or a creature's act or work.
22. God is good infinitely, eternally, primitively, independently,
immutably, communicatively, of whom, and by whom, and to whom are all
things: the beginning, or first efficient, the dirigent and ultimately
ultimate cause of all created good; as making and directing all things
for himself.
23. Therefore it is the duty of the intellectual creature to love God
totally, without any exceptions or restrictions, with all the power,
mind, and will, not only in degree above ourselves and all the world,
but also as God, with a love in kind transcending the love of every
creature.
24. All the goodness of the creature doth formally consist in its
threefold relation to God, viz. 1. In the impresses of God as its
first Efficient or Creator; as it is his image, or the effect and
demonstration of his perfections, viz. his infinite power, wisdom, and
goodness. 2. In its conformity to his directions, or governing laws,
and so in its order and obedience. 3. And in its aptitude and tendency
to God as its final cause, even to the demonstration of his glory, and
the complacency of his will.
25. All creative good is therefore derivative, dependent, contingent,
finite, secondary, from God, by God, and to God, receiving its form
and measure from its respect to him.
26. Yet as it may be subordinately from man, as the principle of his
own actions, and by man as a subordinate ruler of himself or others,
and to man as a subordinate end; so there is accordingly a subordinate
sort of goodness, which is so denominated from these respects unto the
creature, that is himself good, subordinately.
27. But all this subordinate goodness (_bonum a nobis, bonum per nos,
bonum nobis_) is but analogically so; and dependently on the former
sort of goodness, and is something in due subordination to it, and
against it, nothing, that is, not properly good.
28. The best and excellentest creatures, in the foresaid goodness
related to God, are most to be loved; and all according to the degree
of their goodness, more than as good in relation to ourselves.
29. But seeing their goodness is formally their relation unto God, it
followeth that they are loved primarily only for his sake, and
consequently God's image or glory in them is first loved; and so the
true love of any creature is but a secondary sort of the love of God.
30. The best being next to God is the universe, or whole creation, and
therefore next him most to be loved by us.
31. The next in amiableness is the whole celestial society, Christ,
angels, and saints.
32. The next, when we come to distinguish them, is Christ's own
created, glorified nature in the person of the Mediator, because God's
glory or image is most upon him.
33. The next in amiableness is the whole angelical society, or the
orders of intellectual spirits above man.
34. The next is the spirits of the just made perfect, or the
triumphant church of saints in heaven.
35. The next is all this lower world.
36. The next is the church in the world, or militant on earth.
37. The next are the particular kingdoms and societies of the world,
(and so the churches,) according to their various degrees.
38. The next, under societies and multitudes, are those individual
persons who are best in the three forementioned respects, whether
ourselves or others. And thus, by the objects, should our love that is
rational be diversified in degree, and that be loved best that is best.
39. The amiable image of God in man is (as hath oft been said): 1. Our
natural image of God, or the image of his three essential properties as
such, that is, our vital, active power, our intellect, and our will. 2.
Our moral image, or the image of his said properties in their
perfections, viz. our holiness, that is, our holy life or spiritual
vivacity and active power, our holy light or wisdom, our holy wills or
love. 3. Our relative image of God, or the image of his supereminency,
dominion, or majesty; which is, 1. Common to man, in respect to the
inferior creatures, that we are their owners, governors, and end (and
benefactors); 2. Eminently in rulers of men, parents, and princes, who
are analogically sub-owners, sub-rulers, and sub-benefactors to their
inferiors, in various degrees. By which it is discernible what it is
that we are to love in man, and with what variety of kinds and degrees
of love, as the kinds and degrees of amiableness in the objects differ.
40. Even the sun, and moon, and frame of nature, the inanimates and
brutes, must be loved in that degree compared to man, and to one
another, as their goodness before described, that is, the impressions
of the divine perfections, do more or less gloriously appear in them,
and as they are adapted to him the ultimate end.
41. As God is in this life seen but darkly and as in a glass, so also
proportionably to be loved; for our love cannot exceed our knowledge.
42. Yet it followeth not that we must love him only as he appeareth in
his works, which demonstrate him as effects do their cause; for both
by the said works improved by reason, and by his word, we know that he
is before his works, and above them, and so distinct from them as to
transcend, and comprehend, and cause them all, by a continual
causality; and therefore he must accordingly be loved.
43. It greatly hindereth our love to God, when we overlook all the
intermediate excellencies between him and us, which are much better, and
therefore more amiable, than ourselves; such as are before recited.
44. The love of the universe, as bearing the liveliest image or
impress of its cause, is an eminent secondary love of God, and a great
help to our primary or immediate love of him. Could we comprehend the
glorious excellency of the universal creation, in its matter, form,
parts, order, and uses, we should see so glorious an image of God, as
would unspeakably promote the work of love.
45. Whether the glory of God in heaven, which will for ever beautify
the beholders and possessors, be the divine essence, (which is every
where,) or a created glory purposely there placed for the felicity of
holy spirits, and what that glory is, are questions fittest for the
beholders and possessors to resolve.
46. But if it be no more than the universal, existent frame of nature,
containing all the creatures of God beheld _uno intuitu_ in the
nature, order, and use of all the parts, it would be an unconceivable
felicity to the beholders, as being an unconceivable glorious
demonstration of the Deity.
47. It is lawful and a needful duty, to labour by the means of such
excellencies as we know, which heaven is resembled to in Scripture, to
imprint upon our imaginations themselves, such an image of the glory of
the heavenly society, Christ, angels, saints, and the heavenly place and
state, as shall help our intellectual apprehensions of the spiritual
excellencies which transcend imagination. And the neglect of loving God
as foreseen in the demonstration of the heavenly glory, doth greatly
hinder our love to him immediately as in himself considered.
48. The Lord Jesus Christ, in his glorified, created nature, is
crowned with the highest excellency of any particular creature, that
he might be the Mediator of our love to God; and in him (seen by
faith) we might see the glory of the Deity. And as in heaven we shall
have (spiritual, glorified) bodies as well as souls, so the glorified,
created nature of Christ will be an objective glory, fit for our
bodies (at least) to behold in order to their glory, as the divine
nature (as it pleaseth God in glory) revealed, will be to the soul.
49. The exercise of our love upon God as now appearing to the glorified,
in the glorious created nature of Christ, (beheld by us by faith,) is a
great part of our present exercise of divine love: and we extinguish our
love to God, by beholding so little by faith our glorified Mediator.
50. We owe greater love to angels than to men, because they are better,
nearer God, and liker to him, and more demonstrate his glory; and indeed
also love us better, and do more for us, than we can do for one another.
And the neglect of our due love and gratitude to angels, and forgetting
our relation to them, and receivings by them, and communion with them,
and living as if we had little to do with them, is a culpable
overlooking God, as he appeareth in his most noble creatures, and is a
neglect of our love to God in them, and a great hinderance to our higher
more immediate love. Therefore by faith and love we should exercise a
daily converse with angels, as part of our heavenly conversation, Phil.
iii. 20, 21; Heb. xii. 22; and use ourselves to love God in them: though
not to pray to them, or give them divine worship.
51. We must love the glorified saints more than the inhabitants of this
lower world, because they are far better, and liker to God, and nearer
to him, and more demonstrate his holiness and glory. And our neglect of
conversing with them by faith, and of loving them above ourselves, and
things on earth, is a neglect of our love to God in them, and a
hinderance of our more immediate love. And a loving conversation with
them by faith, would greatly help our higher love to God.
52. Our neglect of love to the church on earth, and to the kingdoms
and public societies of mankind, is a sinful neglect of our love to
God in them, and a hinderance of our higher love to him; and the true
use of such a public love, would greatly further our higher love.
53. If those heathens who laid down their lives for their countries
had neither done this for fame, nor merely as esteeming the temporal
good of their country above their own temporal good and lives, but for
the true excellency of many above one, and for God's greater interest
in them, they had done a most noble, holy work.
54. Our adherence to our carnal selves first, and then to our carnal
interests and friends, and neglecting the love of the highest
excellencies in the servants of God, and not loving men according to
the measure of the image of God on them, and their relation to him, is
a great neglect of our love of God in them, and a hinderance of our
higher immediate love. And to use ourselves to love men as God
appeareth in them, would much promote our higher love. And so we
should love the best of men above ourselves.
55. The loving of ourselves sensually, preferring our present life and
earthly pleasure before our higher spiritual felicity in heaven, and our
neglecting to love holiness, and seek it for ourselves, and then to love
God in ourselves, is a neglect and hinderance of the love of God.
56. Man hath not lost so much of the knowledge and love of God, as
appearing in his greatness, and wisdom, and natural goodness in the
frame of nature, as he is the Author of the creatures' natural
goodness, as he hath of the knowledge and love of his holiness, as he
is the holy Ruler, Sanctifier, and End of souls.
57. The sensitive faculty and sensitive interest are still predominant
in a carnal or sensual man; and his reason is voluntarily enslaved to
his sense: so that even the intellectual appetite, contrary to its
primitive and sound nature, loveth chiefly the sensitive life and
pleasure.
58. It is therefore exceeding hard in this depraved state of nature,
to love God or any thing better than ourselves; because we love more
by sense than by reason, and reason is weak and serveth the interest
of sense.
59. Yet the same man who is prevalently sensual, may know that he hath
a rational, immortal soul, and that knowledge and rectitude are the
felicity of his soul; and that it is the knowledge and love of and
delight in God, the highest good, that can make him perpetually happy:
and therefore as these are apprehended as a means of his own felicity,
he may have some kind of love or will unto them all.
60. The thing therefore that every carnal man would have, is an
everlasting, perfect, sensual pleasure; and he apprehendeth the state
of his soul's perfection mostly as consisting in this kind of
felicity: and even the knowledge and love of God, which he taketh for
part of his felicity, is principally apprehended but as a speculative
gratifying of the imagination, as carnal men now desire knowledge. Or
if there be a righter notion of God and holiness to be loved for
themselves, even ultimately above our sensual pleasure and ourselves;
yet this is but an uneffectual, dreaming knowledge, producing but an
answerable lazy wish: and it will not here prevail against the
stronger love of sensuality and fantastical pleasure, nor against
inordinate self-love. And it is a sensual heaven, under a spiritual
name, which the carnal hope for.
61. This carnal man may love God as a means to this felicity so dreamed
of; as knowing that without him it cannot be had, and tasting corporal
comforts from him here: and he may love holiness as it removeth his
contrary calamities, and as he thinks it is crowned with such a reward.
But he had rather have that reward of itself without holiness.
62. He may also love and desire Christ, as a means (conceived) to such
an end; and he may use much religious duty to that end; and he may
forbear such sins as that end can spare, lest they deprive him of his
hoped-for felicity. Yea, he may suffer much to prevent an endless
suffering.
63. As nature necessarily loveth self and self-felicity, God and the
devil do both make great use of this natural _pondus_, or necessitating
principle, for their several ends. The devil saith, thou lovest
pleasure, therefore take it and make provision for it. God saith, thou
lovest felicity, and fearest misery: I and my love are the true
felicity; and adhering to sensual pleasure depriveth thee of better, and
is the beginning of thy misery, and will bring thee unto worse.
64. God commandeth man nothing that is not for his own good, and
forbiddeth him nothing which is not (directly or indirectly) to his
hurt: and therefore engageth self-love on his side for every act of
our obedience.
65. Yet this good of our own is not the highest, nor all the good
which God intendeth, and we must intend; but it is subordinate unto
the greater good aforementioned.
66. As a carnal man may have opinionative, uneffectual convictions,
that God and his love are his spiritual felicity (better than
sensual); yea, and that God is his estimate end above his own felicity
itself; so the sanctifying of man consisteth in bringing up these
convictions to be truly effectual and practical, to renew and rule the
mind, and will, and life.
67. Whether this be done by first knowing God as the beginning and
end, above ourselves, and then knowing (effectually) that he is man's
felicity; or whether self-love be first excited to love him as our own
felicity, and next we be carried up to love him for himself, as our
highest end, it cometh all to one when the work is done; and we cannot
prove that God tieth himself constantly to either of these methods
alone. But experience telleth us, that the latter is the usual way;
and that as nature, so grace beginneth with the smallest seed, and
groweth upward towards perfection; and that self-love, and desire of
endless felicity, and fear of endless misery, are the first notable
effects or changes on a repenting soul.
68. And indeed the state of sin lieth both in man's fall from God to
self, and in the mistake of his own felicity, preferring even for
himself a sensible good before a spiritual, and the creature before
the Creator: and therefore he must be rectified in both.
69. And the hypocrite's uneffectual love to God and holiness is much
discovered in this, that, as he loveth dead saints, and their images
and holidays, because they trouble him not, so he best loveth
(opinionatively) and least hateth (practically) the saints in heaven,
and the holiness that is far from him, and God as he conceiveth of him
as one that is in heaven to glorify men; but he hateth (practically,
though not professedly) the God that would make him holy, and deprive
him of all his sinful pleasures, or condemn him for them: and he can
better like holiness in his pastor, neighbour, or child, than in
himself.
70. Therefore sincerity much consisteth in the love of self-holiness;
but not as for self alone, but as carrying self and all to God.
71. As the sun-beams do without any interception reach the eye, and by
them without interception our sight ascendeth and extendeth to the
sun; so God's communicated goodness and glorious revelation extend
through and by all inferior mediums, to our understandings, and our
wills, and our knowledge and love ascend and extend through all and by
all again to God. And as it were unnatural for the eye illuminated by
the sun, to see itself only, or to see the mediate creatures, and not
to see the light and sun by which it seeth (nay, it doth least see
itself); so it is unnatural for the soul to understand and love itself
alone, (which it little understandeth and should love with
self-denial,) and the creatures only, and not to love God, by whom we
know and love the creature.
72. It is possible to love God, and holiness, and heaven, as a conceited
state and means of our sensual felicity, and escape of pain and misery;
but to love God as the true felicity of the intellectual nature, and as
our spiritual rest, and yet to love him only or chiefly for ourselves,
and not rather for himself as our highest end, implieth a contradiction.
The same I say of holiness, as loved only for ourselves. The evidence
whereof is plain, in that it is essential to God to be not only better
than ourselves and every creature, but also to be the ultimate end of
all things, to which they should tend in all their perfections. And it
is essential to holiness to be the soul's devotion of itself to God as
God, and not only to God as our felicity: therefore to love God only or
chiefly for ourselves, is to make him only a means to our felicity, and
not our chief end; and it is to make ourselves better, and so more
amiable than God, that is, to be gods ourselves.
73. This is much of the sense of the controversy between the Epicureans
and the sober philosophers, as is to be seen in Cicero, &c. The sober
philosophers said, that virtue was to be loved for itself more than for
pleasure; because if pleasure as such be better than virtue as such,
then all sensual pleasure would be better than virtue as such. The
Epicureans said, that not all pleasure, but the pleasure of virtue was
the chief good, as Torquatus's words in Cicero show. And if it had been
first proved, that a man's self is his just, ultimate end, as the _finis
cui_ or the personal end, then it would be a hard question, whether the
Epicureans were not in the right as to the _finis cujus_ or the real end
(which indeed is but a medium to the personal, _cui_). But when it is
most certain, that no man's person is to be his own ultimate end, as
_cui_, but God, and then the universe, and societies of the world as
before said, it is then easy to prove that the sober philosophers were
in the right, and that no man's pleasure is his ultimate end, _finis
cujus_; because no man's pleasure is either such a demonstration of the
divine perfection as virtue is, as such; nor yet doth it so much conduce
to the common good of societies or mankind, and so to the pleasing and
glorifying of God. And this way Cicero might easily have made good his
cause against the Epicureans.
74. Though no man indeed love God as God, who loveth him not as better
than himself, and therefore loveth him not better, and as his
absolutely ultimate end; and though no man desire holiness indeed, who
desireth not to be devoted absolutely to God before and above himself:
yet is it very common to have a false, imperfect notion of God and
holiness, as being the felicity of man, and though not to deny, yet to
leave out the essential superlative notion of the Deity; and it is
more common to confess all this of God and holiness notionally, as was
aforesaid, and practically to take in no more of God and holiness, but
that they are better for us than temporary pleasures. And some go
further, and take them as better for them, than any (though perpetual)
mere sensual delights; and so make the perfection of man's highest
faculties (practically) to be their ultimate end; and desire or love
God and holiness (defectively and falsely apprehended) for themselves,
or their own felicity, and not themselves, and their felicity and
holiness, ultimately for God. Which showeth, that though these men
have somewhat overcome the sensual concupiscence or flesh, yet have
they not sufficiently overcome the selfish disposition, nor yet known
and loved God as God, nor good as good.
75. Yet is it not a sin to love God for ourselves, and our own
felicity, so be it we make him not a mere means to that felicity, as
our absolutely ultimate end. For as God indeed is, 1. The efficient of
all our good; 2. The dirigent cause, that leadeth us to it; 3. The end
in which our felicity truly consisteth; so is he to be loved on all
these accounts.
76. If God were not thus to be loved for ourselves, (subordinated to
him,) thankfulness would not be a christian duty.
77. Our love to God is a love of friendship, and a desire of a kind of
union, communion, or adherence. But not such as is between creatures
where there is some sort of equality: but as between them that are
totally unequal; the one infinitely below the other, and absolutely
subject and subordinate to him.
78. Therefore, though in love of friendship, a union of both parties,
and consequently a conjunct interest of both, and not one alone, do
make up the ultimate end of love; yet here it should be with an utter
disproportion, we being obliged to know God as infinitely better than
ourselves, and therefore to love him incomparably more, though yet it
will be but according to the proportion of the faculties of the lover.
79. The purest process of love, therefore, is, first thankfully to
perceive the divine efficiencies, and to love God as communicative of
what we and all things are, and have, and shall receive, and therein to
see his perfect goodness in himself, and to love him as God for that
goodness; wherein is nothing but the final act, which is our love, and
the final object, which is the infinite good. So that the act is man's,
(from God,) but nothing is to be joined with God as the absolutely final
object; for that were to join somewhat with God as God.
80. And though it be most true, that this act may be made the object
of another act, and (as Amesius saith, _Omnium gentium consensu
dicimus Volo velle_, so) we may and must say, _Amo amare_, I love to
love God, and the very exercise of my own love is my delight, and so
is my felicity in the very essential nature of it, being a
complacency, and being on the highest objective good: and also this
same love is my holiness, and so it and I are pleasing unto God; yet
these are all consequential to the true notion of the final act, and
circularly lead to the same again. We must love our felicity and
holiness, which consisteth in our love to God, but as that which
subordinately relateth to God, in which he is first glorified, and
then finally pleased; and so from his will which we delight to please,
we ascend to his total perfect being, to which we adhere by perfect
love. In a word, our ultimate end of acquisition (and God's own, so
far as he may be said to have an end) is the pleasing of the divine
will, in his glorification; and our ultimate end of complacency,
objectively, is the infinite goodness of the divine will and nature.
81. There is, therefore, place for the question whether I must love
God, or myself, more or better? as it is resolved. But there is no
place for the question, whether I must love God or myself? Because God
alloweth me not ever to separate them; though there is a degree of
just self-loathing or self-hatred, in deep repentance. Nor yet for the
question, whether I must seek God's glory and pleasure, or my own
felicity? for I must ever seek them both, though not with the same
esteem. Yea, I may be said to seek them both with the same diligence;
because by the same endeavour and act that I seek one, I seek the
other; and I cannot possibly do any thing for one, that doth not
equally promote the other, if I do them rightly, preferring God before
myself, in my inward estimation, love, and intention.
82. Though it be essential to divine love, and consequently to true
holiness, to love God for himself, and as better than ourselves, (or
else we love him not as God, as is before said,) yet this is hardly
and seldom perceived in the beginning in him that hath it; because the
love of ourself is more passionate, and raiseth in us more subordinate
passions, of fear of punishment, and desires of felicity, and sorrow
for hurt and misery, &c. Whereas, God being immaterial, and invisible,
is not at all an object of our sense, but only of our reason and our
wills, and therefore not directly of sensitive, passionate love:
though consequently while the soul is united to the body, its acting
even on immaterial objects, moveth the lower sensitive faculties, and
the corporeal spirits. Also God needeth nothing for us to desire for
him, nor suffereth nothing for us to grieve for, though we must grieve
for injuring him, and being displeasing to his will.
83. I cannot say nor believe (though, till it be searched, the opinion
hath an enticing aspect) that the gospel faith which hath the promise
of justification, and of the Spirit, is only a believing in Christ as
the means of our felicity, by redemption and salvation, out of the
principle of self-love alone, and for no higher end than our said
felicity; because he is not believed in as Christ, if he be not taken
as a reconciler to bring us home to God. And we take him not to bring
us to God as God, if it be not to bring us to God as the beginning and
end of all things, and as infinitely more lovely than ourselves. And
our repentance for not loving God accordingly above ourselves, must go
along with our first justifying faith. Therefore, though we are
learners before we are lovers, and our assent goeth before the will's
consent, yet our assent that God is God, and better than ourselves,
must go together with our assent that Christ is the Mediator to save
us, by bringing us to him; and so must our assent that this is
salvation, even to love God above ourselves, and as better than
ourselves; and accordingly our consent to these particulars must
concur in saving faith.
84. He, therefore, that out of self-love accepteth Christ as the means
of his own felicity, doth (if he know practically what felicity is)
accept him as a means to bring him to love God perfectly, as God above
himself, and to be perfectly pleasing to his will.
85. Yet it is apparent that almost all God's preparing grace
consisteth in exciting and improving the natural principle of
self-love in man; and manifesting to him, that if he will do as one
that loveth himself, he must be a christian, and must forsake sin, and
the inordinate love of his sensuality, and must be holy, and love God
for his own essential as well as communicated goodness. And if he do
otherwise, he will do as one that hateth himself, and seeketh in the
event his own damnation. And could we but get men rationally to
improve true self-love, they would be christians, and so be holy.
86. But because this is a great, though tender point, and it that I
have more generally touched in the case, Whether faith in Christ, or
love to God as our end, go first? and because, indeed, it is it for
which I principally premise the rest of these propositions; I shall
presume to venture a little further, and more distinctly to tell you,
how much of love to God is in our first justifying faith, and how much
not; and how far the state of such a believer is a middle state
between mere preparation, or common grace, and proper sanctification
or possession of the Holy Ghost. And so, how far vocation giving us
the first faith, and repentance, differeth from sanctification. And
the rather because my unriper thoughts and writings defended Mr.
Pemble, who made them one, in opposition to the stream of our
divines. And I conceive that all these following acts about the point
in question, are found in every true believer, at his first faith,
though not distinctly noted by himself.
(1.) The sinner hath an intellectual notice, that there is a God, (for
an atheist is not a believer,) and so that this God is the first and
last, the best of beings, the Maker, Owner, Ruler, and Benefactor of
the world, the just end of all created beings and actions, and to be
loved and pleased above ourselves: for all this is but to believe
there is a God.
(2.) He is convinced that his own chief felicity lieth, not in
temporary or carnal pleasure, but in the perfect knowing, loving, and
pleasing this God above himself: for if he know not what true
salvation and felicity is, he cannot desire or accept it.
(3.) He knoweth that hitherto he hath been without this love, and this
felicity.
(4.) He desireth to be happy, and to escape everlasting misery.
(5.) He repenteth, that is, is sorry, that he hath not all this while
loved God as God, and sought felicity therein.
(6.) He is willing and desirous for the time to come, to love God as
God above himself, and to please him before himself; that is, to have
a heart disposed to do it.
(7.) He findeth that he cannot do it of himself, nor with his old
carnal, indisposed heart.
(8.) He believeth that Christ, by his doctrine and Spirit, is the
appointed Saviour to bring him to it.
(9.) He gladly consenteth that Christ shall be such a Saviour to him,
and shall not only justify him from guilt, and save him from sensible
punishment, but also thus bring him to the perfect love of God.
(10.) He had rather Christ would bring him to this by sanctification,
than to enjoy all the pleasures of sin for a season, yea, or to have a
perpetual sensitive felicity, without this perfect love to God, and
pleasing of him.
(11.) God being declared to him in Jesus Christ, a God of love,
forgiving sin, and conditionally giving pardon and life to his very
enemies, as he is hence the easilier loved with thankfulness for
ourselves, so the goodness of his nature in himself is hereby
insinuated and notified with some secret complacency to the soul. He
is, sure, good, that is so merciful and ready to do good, and that so
wonderfully as in Christ is manifested.
(12.) So that as baptism (which is but explicit, justifying faith, or
the expression of it, in covenanting with God) is our dedication by
vow to all the Three Persons; to God the Father, as well as to the Son
and Holy Ghost; so faith itself is such a heart-dedication.
(13.) Herein I dedicate myself to God as God, to be glorified and
pleased in my justification, sanctification, and glorification, that
is, in my reception of the fruits of his love, and in my loving him
above all, as God: or to be pleased in me, and I in him, for ever.
(14.) In all this the understanding acknowledgeth God to be God, (by
assent,) and to be loved above myself, and the will desireth so to
love him: but the object of the will here directly, is its own future
disposition and act. It doth not say, I do already love God, as God,
above myself; but only I would so love him, and I would be so changed
as may dispose me so to love him; I acknowledge that I should so love
him, and that I do love him for his mercies to myself and others. Nor
can it be said, that _Volo velle_, or _Volo amare_, a desire to love
God as such, is direct love to God. Because it is not all one to have
God to be the object of my will, and to have my own act of willing or
loving to be the object of it. And because that a man may for other
ends (as for mere fear of hell) will to will or love that, which yet
he doth not will or love, at least for itself.
(15.) In this case, above all others, it is manifest, that every
conviction of the understanding doth not accordingly determine the will.
For in this new convert, the understanding saith plainly, God is to be
loved as God, above myself: but the will saith, I cannot do it though I
would: I am so captivated by self-love, and so void of the true love of
God, that I can say no more, but that _Propter me vellem amare Deum
propter se_; I love my own felicity so well, that I love God as my
felicity; and love him under the notion of God the perfect good, who is
infinitely better than myself; and desire a heart to love him more than
myself; but I cannot say, that I yet do it, or that I love him best or
most, whom I acknowledge to be best, and as such to be loved.
(16.) Yet in all this, there is not only _semen amoris_, a seed of
divine love to God as God, but the foundation of it laid, and some
obscure, secret conception of it beginning, or _in fieri_, in the
soul. For while the understanding confesseth God to be most amiable,
and the will desireth that felicity which doth consist in loving him
above myself, and experience telleth me, that he is good to me, and
therefore good in himself, it can hardly be conceived, but that in all
this there is some kind of secret love to God, as better than myself.
87. In all this, note, that it is one thing to love God, under the
notion of the infinite good, better than myself and all things, and
another thing for the will to love him more, as that notion obligeth.
88. And the reason why these are often separated, is, because besides
a slight intellectual apprehension, there is necessary to the will's
just determination, a clear and deep apprehension, with a right
disposition of the will, and a suscitation of the active power.
89. Yea, and every slight volition or velleity will not conquer
opposing concupiscence and volitions: nor is every will effectual to
command the life, and prevail against its contrary.
90. Therefore, I conceive, that in our first believing in Christ, even
to justification, though our reason tell us that he is more amiable
than ourselves, and we are desirous so to love him for the future, and
have an obscure, weak beginning of love to God as God, or as so
conceived: yet, 1. The strength of sensitive self-love maketh our love
to ourselves more passionately strong. 2. And that reason, at least in
its degree of apprehension, is too intense in apprehending our
self-interest, and too remiss in apprehending the amiableness of God
as God: and so far, even our rational love is yet greater to
ourselves, though, as to the notion, God hath the pre-eminence. 3. And
that in this whole affair of our baptismal covenanting, consent, or
christianity, our love to our own felicity, as such, is more powerful
and effectual, in moving the soul, and prevailing for our resolution
for a new life, than is our love to God, as for himself, and as God.
91. And therefore it is, that fear hath so great a hand in our first
change: for all that such fear doth, it doth as moved by self-love; I
mean the fear of suffering and damnation: and yet experience telleth us,
that conversion commonly beginneth in fear. And though where self-love
and fear are alone, without the love of God as good in and for himself,
there is no true grace; yet I conceive that there is true grace initial
in those weak christians, that have more fear and self-love in the
passionate and powerful part, than love to God, so be it they have not
more love to sin, and to any thing that stands in competition with God.
92. Therefore, he that hath a carnal self-love (or inordinate)
inclining him to the creature, which is stronger in him than the love
of God, is graceless; because it will turn his heart and life from
God. But he that hath only a necessary self-love, even a love to his
own spiritual, eternal felicity, operating by strong desire and fear,
conjunct with a weaker degree of love to God as good in himself, I
think hath grace, and may so be saved: because here is but an unequal
motion to the same end, and not a competition.
93. If any dislike any of this decision, I only desire him to remember,
that on both hands there are apparent rocks to be avoided. First, it is
a dangerous thing to say that a man is in a state of grace and
salvation, who loveth not God as God, that is, better than himself. And
on the other hand, the experience of most christians in the world saith,
that at their first believing, (if not long after,) they loved God more
for themselves than for himself, and loved themselves more than God,
though they knew that God was better and more amiable; and that the fear
of misery, and the desire of their own salvation, were more effectual
and prevalent with them, than that love of God for himself. And I doubt,
that not very many have this at all, in so high a degree as to be clear
and certain of it. And if we shall make that necessary to salvation,
which few of the best christians find in themselves, we either condemn
almost all professed christians, or at least leave them under
uncertainty and terrors. Therefore, God's interest speaking so loud on
one hand, and man's experience on the other, I think we have need to cut
by a thread, and walk by line, with greatest accurateness.
94. By this time we may see, that, as Christ is the way to the Father,
and the Saviour and recoverer of lapsed man from himself to God; so
faith in Christ, as such, is a mediate and medicinal grace and work: and
that faith is but the bellows of love: and that our first believing in
Christ, though it be the regenerating work, which generateth love, yet
is but a middle state, between an unregenerate and a regenerate: not as
a third state specifically distinct from both, but the _initium_ of the
latter; or as the embryo, or state of conception, in the womb, is as to
a man and no man. Faith containeth love _in fieri_.
95. As the love of ourselves doth most powerfully (though not only) move
us to close with Christ as our Saviour, so, while hereby we are united
unto him, we have a double assistance or influx from him for the
production of the purer love of God. The one is objective, in all the
divine demonstrations of God's love; in his incarnation, life, death,
resurrection, in his doctrine, example, intercession, and in all his
benefits given us; in our pardon, adoption, and the promises of future
glory. The other is in the secret operations of the Holy Spirit which he
giveth us to concur with these means, and make them all effectual.
96. The true state of sanctification, as different from mere vocation
and faith, consisteth in this pure love of God, and holiness; and that
more for himself and his infinite goodness, than for ourselves, and as
our felicity.
97. Therefore, when we are promised the Spirit, to be given to us if
we believe in Christ, and sanctification is promised us, with
justification, on this condition of faith, this is part of the meaning
of that promise;--that, if we truly take Christ for our Saviour, to
bring us to the love of God, though at present we are most moved with
the love of ourselves to accept him, he will, by his word, works, and
Spirit, bring us to it, initially here, and perfectly in heaven; even
to be perfectly pleased in God, for his own perfect goodness, and so
to be fully pleasant to him. And thus, (besides the extraordinary
gifts to a few,) the Spirit of holiness or love, which is the Spirit
of adoption, is promised by covenant to all believers.
98. Accordingly, this promise is so fulfilled, that in the first
instant of time we have a relative right to Christ, as our Head and
the sender of the Spirit, and to the Holy Spirit himself as our
Sanctifier by undertaking, according to the terms of the covenant. But
this doth not produce always a sensible or effectual love of God above
ourselves in us, at the very first, but by degrees, as we follow the
work of faith in our practice.
99. For it is specially to be noted, that the doctrinal or objective
means of love, which Christ doth use, and his internal, spiritual
influx, do concur. And his way is not to work on us by his Spirit alone,
without those objects, nor yet by the objects without the Spirit, nor by
both distinctly and dividedly, as producing several effects; but by both
conjunctly for the same effect; the Spirit's influx causing us
effectually to improve the objects and reasons of our love; as the hand
that useth the seal, and the seal itself, make one impression.
100. As Christ began to win our love to God by the excitation of our
self-love, multiplying and revealing God's mercies to ourselves, so
doth he much carry it on to increase the same way. For while every day
addeth fresh experience of the greatness of God's love to us, by this
we have a certain taste that God is love, and good in himself; and so
by degrees we learn to love him more for himself, and to improve our
notional esteem of his essential goodness into practical.
101. Though faith itself is not wrought in us, without the Holy Ghost,
nor is it (if sincere) a common gift, yet this operation of the Spirit
drawing us to Christ, by such arguments and means as are fitted to the
work of believing, is different from the consequent covenant right to
Christ and the Spirit, which is given to believers, and from the Spirit
of adoption, as recovering us, as aforesaid, to the love of God.
102. In this last sense it is that the Holy Ghost is said to dwell in
believers, and to be the new name, the pledge, the earnest, the
first-fruits of life eternal, the witness of our right to Christ and
life, and Christ's agent and witness in us, to maintain his cause and
interest.
103. Even as a man, that by sickness hath lost his appetite to meat,
is told that such a physician will cure him, if he will take a certain
medicinal food that he will give him; and at first he taketh it
without appetite to the food or medicine in itself, but merely for the
love of health; but after he is doubly brought to love it for itself,
first, because he hath tasted the sweetness of that which he did but
see before, and next, because his health and appetite are recovered:
so is it with the soul, as to the love of God procured by believing;
when we have tasted through the persuasion of self-love, our taste and
recovery cause us to love God for himself.
104. When the soul is risen to this habitual, predominant love of God
and holiness as such, for their own goodness, above its own felicity
as such, (though ever in conjunction with it, and as his felicity
itself,) then is the law written in the heart; and this love is the
virtual fulfilling of all the law. And for such it is that it is said,
that the law is not made; that is, in that measure that they love the
good for itself, they need not be moved to it with threats or promises
of extrinsic things, which work but by self-love and fear. Not but
that divine authority must concur with love to produce obedience,
especially while love is but imperfect: but that love is the highest
principle, making the commanded good connatural to us.
105. And I think it is this Spirit of adoption and love which is
called "The divine nature" in us, as it inclineth us to love God and
holiness for themselves, as nature is inclined to self-love, and to
food, and other necessaries. Not that the specific, essential nature,
that is, substance or form, of the soul is changed, and man deified,
and he become a god that was before a man; but his human soul or
nature is elevated or more perfected (as a sick man by health, or a
blind man by his sight) by the Spirit of God inclining him habitually
to God himself, as in and for himself. (And this is all which the
publisher of Sir H. Vane's notions of the two covenants and two
natures, can soundly mean, and seemeth to grope after.)
106. By all this you see, that as the love of God hath a double
self-love in us to deal with, so it dealeth variously with each: 1.
Sensual, inordinate self-love it destroyeth; both as it consisteth in
the inordinate love of sensual pleasure, and in the inordinate love of
self or life. 2. Lawful and just self-love it increaseth and improveth
to our further good, but subjecteth it to the highest, purest love of
God.
107. By this you may gather what a confirmed christian is, even one in
whom the pure love of God as God, and all things for God, is
predominant and more potent than (not only the vicious, but also) the
good, and lawful, and necessary love of himself.
108. Though christians therefore must study themselves, and keep up a
care of their own salvation, yet must they much more study God, his
greatness, wisdom, and goodness, as shining in his works, and word,
and in his Son, and as foreseen in the heavenly glory; and in this
knowledge of God and Christ is life eternal. And nothing more tendeth
to the holy advancement and perfection of the soul, than to keep
continually due apprehensions of the divine nature, properties, and
glorious appearances in his works upon the soul, so as it may become a
constant course of contemplation, and the habit and constitution of
the mind, and the constant guide of heart and life.
109. The attainment of this would be a taste of heaven on earth: our
wills would follow the will of God, and rest therein, and abhor
reluctancy: all our duty would be both quickened and sweetened with
love: self-interest would be disabled from either seducing us to sin,
or vexing us with griefs, cares, fears, or discontents. We should so
far trust soul and body in the will and love of God, as to be more
comforted that both are at his will, than if they were absolutely at
our own. And God being our all, the constant, fixing, satisfying
object of our love, our souls would be constantly fixed and satisfied,
and live in such experience of the sanctifying grace of Christ, as
would most powerfully conquer our unbelief; and in such foretastes of
heaven, as would make life sweet, death welcome, and heaven
unspeakably desirable to us. But it is not the mere love of personal
goodness, as our own perfection, that would do all this upon us.
110. The soul that is troubled with doubts whether he love God as God,
or only as a means of his own felicity in subordination to self-love,
must thus resolve his doubts. If you truly believe that God is God,
that is, the efficient, dirigent, and final cause, the just end of
every rational agent, the infinite good and chiefly to be loved, in
comparison of whom you are vile, contemptible, and as nothing; if you
feelingly take yourself as loathsome by sin; if you would not take up
with an everlasting sensual pleasure alone, without holiness, if you
could have it; no, nor with any perfection of your intellectual
nature, merely as such, and for yourselves, without the pleasing and
glorifying God in it; if you practically perceive that every thing is
therefore, and so far, good and amiable, as God shineth in it as its
cause, or as it conduceth to glorify him, and please his will; if,
accordingly, you love that person best, on whom you perceive most of
God, and that is most serviceable to him, though not at all beneficial
to yourself; if you love the welfare of the church, the kingdom, the
world, and of the heavenly society, saints, angels, and Christ, as the
divine nature, interest, image, or impress maketh all lovely in their
several degrees; and would rather be annihilated, were it put upon
your choice, than saints, angels, kingdoms, church should be
annihilated; if your hearts have devoted themselves, and all that you
have, to God, as his own, to be used to his utmost service; if your
chief desire and endeavour in the world be to please his blessed will;
and in that will, and the contemplation of his infinite perfections,
you seek your rest; if you desire your own everlasting happiness in no
other kind, but as consisting in the perfect sight of God's glory, and
in your perfect loving of him, and being pleasant or beloved to him,
and this as resting more in the infinite amiableness of God, than the
felicity which hence will follow to yourselves, though that also must
be desired; if now you deny your own glory for his glory; if your
chief desire and endeavour be to love him more and more, and you love
yourselves best when you love him most; in a word, if nothing more
take up your care than how to love God more, and nothing in the whole
world (yourselves or others) seem more amiable to your sober,
practical judgment, and your wills, than the infinite goodness of God
as such;--if all this be so, you have not only attained sincerity,
(which is not now the question,) but this divine nature, and high,
confirmed holiness; though, withal, you never so much desire your own
salvation, which is but to desire more of this love; and though your
nature have such a sensitive, selfish desire of life and pleasure, as
is brought into subjection to this divine love.
If any be offended that so many propositions must be used in opening
the case, and say that they rather confound men's wits than inform
them; I answer, 1. The matter is high, and I could not ascend by a
shorter ladder. Nor have I the faculty of climbing it _per saltum_,
stepping immediately from the lowest to the highest part. If any will
make the case plainer in fewer words, and with less ado, I shall
thankfully accept his labour as a very great benefit when I see it. 2.
Either all these particulars are really diverse, and really pertinent
to the matter in question, or not: if not, it is not blaming the
number that will evince it, but naming such particulars as are either
unjustly or unnecessarily distinguished or inserted. And if it be but
repeating the same things that is blamed, I shall be glad if all these
words, and more, would make such weighty cases clear; and do confess
that, after all, I need more light, and am almost stalled with the
difficulties myself. But if the particulars can be neither proved
false nor needless, but the reader be only overset with multitude, I
would entreat him to be patient with other men, that are more
laborious and more capable of knowledge: and let him know, that if his
difficulties do not rather engage him in a diligent search, than tempt
him to impatience and accusation, I number him, not only with the
slothful contemners, but therefore also, with the enemies of
knowledge; even as I reckon the neglecters, and contemners, and
accusers of piety among its enemies.
But ere I end, I must answer some objections.
_Object._ I. Some will say, Doth not every man love God above himself
and all, while he knoweth him to be better, and so more lovely? For
there is some act of the will, that answereth this of the understanding.
_Answ._ You must know that the carnal mind is first captivated to
carnal self and sensuality; and therefore the most practical and
powerful apprehensions of goodness or amiableness in every such
person, doth fasten upon life and pleasure, or sensual prosperity. And
the sense having here engaged the mind and will, the contrary
conclusions (that God is best) are but superficial and uneffectual
like dreams, and though they have answerable effects in the will, they
are but uneffectual velleities or wishes, which are borne down with
far stronger desires of the contrary. And though God be loved as one
that is notionally conceived to be best, and most to be loved, yet he
is not loved best or most. Yea, though ordinarily the understanding
say God is best, and best to me, and for me, and most to be loved;
when it cometh to volition or choice, there is a secret apprehension
which saith more powerfully, _et hic nunc_, this sensible pleasure is
better for me, and more eligible. Why else is it chosen? Unless you
will say that the motion is principally sensitive, and the force of
the sensitive appetite suspendeth all forcible opposition of the
intellect, and so ruleth the locomotive faculty itself. But whether
the intellect be active or but omissive in it, the sin cometh up to
the same height of evil. However it be, it is most evident that while
such men say God is most to be loved, they love him not most, when
they will not leave a lust or known sin for his love; nor show any
such love, but the contrary, in their lives.
_Object._ II. But do not all men practically love God best, when they
love wisdom, honesty, and goodness in all men, even in strangers that
will never profit them? And what is God but wisdom, goodness, and
greatness itself?
_Answ._ They first idolize themselves and their sensual delights; and
then they love such wisdom, goodness, and greatness, as is suitable to
their selfish, sensual lust and interest. And it is not the prime good
which is above them, and to be preferred before them, which they love as
such, but such goodness as is fitted to their fleshly concupiscence and
ends. And therefore holiness they love not. And though they love that
which is never like to benefit them, that is but as it is of the same
kind with that which, in others nearer them, may benefit them, and
therefore is suitable to their minds and interest. And yet we confess
that the mind of man hath some principles of virtue, and some footsteps
and witnesses of a Deity left upon it; but though these work up to an
approbation of good, and a dislike of evil, in the general notion of it,
and in particular so far as it crosseth not their lust, yet never to
prefer the best things practically before their lust; and God is not
loved best, nor as God, if he be not loved better than fleshly lust.
_Object._ III. But it seems that most or all men love God practically
best. For there are few, if any, but would rather be annihilated, than
there should be no God, or no world. Therefore they love God better
than themselves.
_Answ._ 1. They know that if there were no God or no world, they could
not be themselves, and so must also be annihilated. 2. But suppose
that they would rather be annihilated, than continue in prosperity
alone, were it possible, without a God, that is but for the world's
sake, because the world cannot be the world without a God; which
proveth but that they are so much men, as to love the whole world
better than themselves. But could the world possibly be what it is,
without a God, I scarce think they would choose annihilation, rather
than that there should be no God. 3. But suppose they would, yet I say
that some sensual men love their lusts or sensuality better than their
being; and had rather be annihilated for ever, so they might but spend
their lives in pleasure, than to live for ever without those
pleasures. And therefore they will say, that a short life with
pleasure, is better than a long one without it. And when they profess
to believe the life to come, and the danger of sinning; yet will they
not leave their sinful pleasures to save their souls. Therefore, that
man that would rather be annihilated than there should be no God, may
yet love his lusts better than God, though not his being. 4. And I
cannot say that every one shall be saved, that loveth God under a
false idea or image better than himself; no more than that it will
save a distracted, melancholy, venereous lover, if he loved his
paramour or mistress better than himself. For God is not loved as God,
if he be not loved as infinitely great, and wise, and good, which
containeth his holiness, and also as the Owner, and holy Governor and
end of man. If any therefore should love God upon conceit that God
loveth him, and will indulge him in his sins; or if he love him only
for his greatness, and as the fountain of all natural, sensible good;
and love him not as holy, nor as a holy and just Governor and end, it
is not God indeed that this man loveth; or he loveth him but _secundum
quid_, and not as God.
_Object._ IV. But suppose I should love God above all, as he is only
great, and wise, and good in the production of all sensible, natural
good, without the notion of holiness, and hatred of sin, would not
this love itself be holy and saving?
_Answ._ Your love would be no holier or better, than the object of it is
conceived to be. If you conceive not of God as holy and pure, you cannot
love him with a pure and holy love. If you conceive of him but as the
cause of sun and moon, light and heat, and life and health, and meat and
drink, you will love him but with such a love as you have to these:
which will not separate you from any sin as such, but will consist with
all sensuality of heart and life. And it is not all in God, that nature,
in its corrupted state, doth hate, or is fallen out with: but if you
love him not so well as your lusts and pleasure, nor love him as your
most holy Governor and end, you love him not as God, or but _secundum
quid_; but if you love him holily, you love him as holy.
_Object._ V. God himself loveth the substance or person more than the
holiness; for he continueth the persons of men and devils, when he
permitteth the holiness to perish, or giveth it not.
_Answ._ As the existence and event, and the moral goodness, must be
distinguished; so must God's mere volition of event, and his
complacency in good as good. God doth not will the existence of a
reasonable soul in a stone or straw; and yet it followeth not, that he
loveth a stone or straw for its substance, better than reason in a
man: for though God willeth to make his creatures various in degrees
of goodness, and taketh it to be good so to do, and that every
creature be not of the best; yet still this goodness of them is
various, as one hath more excellency in it than another. The goodness
of the whole may require that each part be not best in itself, and yet
best respectively in order to the beauty of the whole. As a peg is
not better than a standard, and yet is better to the building in its
place; and a finger is not better than a head, and yet is better to
the body in its place, than another head would be in that place. The
head therefore must be loved comparatively better than the finger, and
the finger may be cut off to save life, when the head must not: so God
can see meet to permit men and devils to fall into misery, and thieves
to be hanged, and use this to the beauty of the whole, and yet love a
true man better than a thief, and a good man better than a bad.
And either you speak of goodness or holiness existent or non-existent.
In a devil there is substance, which is good in its natural kind, and
therefore so far loved of God; but there is no holiness in him, and that
which is not, is not amiable: but if you meant existent holiness, in a
saint, then it is false that God loveth the person of a devil better
than the holiness of a saint. Nor is it a proof that he loveth them
equally, because he equally willeth their existence; for he willeth not
they shall be equal in goodness, though equally existent: and it is
complacency, and not mere volition of existence, which we mean by love.
Otherwise your arguing is as strong if it run thus: that which God
bringeth to pass, and not another thing, he willeth and loveth more
than that other; but God bringeth to pass men's sickness, pain, death,
and damnation, and not the holiness, ease, or salvation of those
persons: therefore he loveth their pain, death, and damnation better
than their holiness: therefore we should love them better, than the
devils or miserable men should love their misery better than holiness.
God showeth what he loveth oft by commanding it, when he doth not
effect it; he loveth holiness _in esse cognito_, and _in esse
existente_, respectively as his image.
_Object._ But at least it will follow, that in this or that person as
the devils, God loveth the substance better than holiness; for what he
willeth he loveth: but he willeth the substance without the holiness;
therefore he loveth the substance without the holiness.
_Answ._ It is answered already. Moreover, 1. God willed that holiness
should be the duty of all men and devils, though he willed not
insuperably and absolutely to effect it. 2. The word "without" meaneth
either an exclusion or a mere non-inclusion. God willeth not the
person excluding the holiness: for he excludeth it not by will or
work; but only he willeth the person, not including the holiness as to
any absolute will. And so God loveth the person without the holiness;
but not so much as he would love him if he were holy.
_Object._ But you intimate, that it is best as to the beauty of the
universe, that there be sin, and unholiness, and damnation; and God
loveth that which is good as to the universe, yea, that is a higher
good than personal good, as the subject is more noble, and therefore
more to be loved of us as it is of God.
_Answ._ 1. I know Augustin is oft alleged as saying, _Bonum est ut
malum fiat_. But sin and punishment must be distinguished: it is true
of punishment presupposing sin, that it is good and lovely, in respect
to public ends, though hurtful to the person suffering; and therefore
as God willeth it as good, so should we not only be patient, but be
pleased in it as it is the demonstration of the justice and holiness
of God, and as it is good, though not as it is our hurt. But sin (or
unholiness privative) is not good in itself, nor to the universe: nor
is it a true saying, that It is good that there be sin; nor is it
willed of God, (though not nilled with an absolute, effective
nolition,) as hath been elsewhere opened at large. Sin is not good to
the universe, nor any part of the beauty of the creature: God neither
willeth it, causeth it, nor loveth it.
_Object._ At least he hath no great love to holiness in those persons,
that he never giveth it to; otherwise he would work it in them.
_Answ._ He cannot love that existent which existeth not. Nor doth he
any further will to give it them than to command it, and give them all
necessary means and persuasions to it. But what if God make but one
sun, will you say that he hath no great love to a sun, that will make
no more? What if he make no more worlds? doth that prove that he hath
no great love to a world? He loveth the world, the sun, and so the
saints, which he hath made: and he doth not so far love suns, or
worlds, or saints, as to make as many suns, or worlds, or saints, as
foolish wits would prescribe unto him. Our question is, What being God
loveth, and we should most love, as being best and likest him, and not
what he should give a being to that is not.
_Object._ VI. Holiness is but an accident, and the person is the
substance, and better than the accident; and Dr. Twiss oppugneth, on
such accounts, the saying of Arminius, That God loveth justice better
than just men, because it is for justice that he loveth them.
_Answ._ Aristotle and Porphyry have not so clearly made known to us
the nature of those things or modes which they are pleased to call
accidents, as that we should lay any great stress upon their sayings
about them. Another will say that goodness itself is but an accident,
and most will call it a mode; and they will say that the substance is
better than the mode or accident, and therefore better than goodness
itself. And would this, think you, be good arguing? Distinguish then
between physical goodness of being, in the soul, both as a substance,
and as a formal virtue; and the perfective, or modal, qualitative or
gradual goodness; and then consider, that the latter always
presupposeth the former: where there is holiness, there is the
substance, with its physical goodness, and the perfective, modal, or
moral goodness too; but where there is no holiness, there is only a
substance deprived of its modal, moral goodness. And is not both
better than one, and a perfect being than an imperfect?
And as to Arminius's saying, He cannot mean that God loveth
righteousness with a subject or substance, better than a subject without
righteousness; for there is no such thing to love, as righteousness
without a subject (though there maybe an abstracted, distinct conception
of it). If therefore the question be only, Whether God love the same man
better, as he is a man, or as he is a saint, I answer, he hath a love to
each which is suitable to its kind. He hath such complacency in the
substance of a serpent, a man, a devil, as is agreeable to their being;
that is, as they bear the natural impressions of his creating
perfections, yet such as may stand with their pain, death, and misery.
But he hath such a complacency in the actual holiness, love, and
obedience of men and angels, as that he taketh the person that hath them
to be meet for his service, and glory, and everlasting felicity, and
delight in him, as being qualified for it. So that God's love must be
denominatively distinguished from the object; and so it is a love of
nature, and a love of the moral perfections of nature: the first love is
that by which he loveth a man because he is a man, and so all other
creatures; the second love is that by which he loveth a good man,
because he is good or holy. And if it will comfort you, that God loveth
your being without your perfections or virtue, let it comfort you in
pain, and death, and hell, that he continueth your being without your
well-being or felicity.
_Object._ VII. All goodness or holiness is some one's goodness or
holiness (as health is). And as it is the person's welfare and
perfection, so it is given for the person's sake: therefore the
person, as the _finis cui_, and utmost end, is better than the thing
given him, and so more amiable.
_Answ._ That all goodness is some one's goodness, proveth but that
some one is the subject or being that is good, but not that to be is
better than to be good, as such. And as he is in some respect the
_finis cui_, for whom it is, and so it is good to him; yet he and his
goodness are for a higher end, which is the pleasing of God in the
demonstration of his goodness: that therefore is best which most
demonstrateth God's goodness. And there is no subject or substance
without its accidents or modes; and that person that is not good and
holy, is bad and unholy. Therefore the question should be, Whether a
person bad and unholy, be more amiable than a person good and holy,
that hath both physical and moral goodness. And for all that the name
of an accident maketh action seem below the person: yet it must be
also said, that the person and his faculties are for action, as being
but the substance in a perfect mode, and that action is for higher
ends than the person's being or felicity.
_Object._ VIII. Love is nothing but benevolence, _velle bonum alicui
ut ei bene sit_. But who is it that would not wish good to God, that
is to be blessed as he is? But how can holiness then be loved, but
rather the person for his holiness; because we cannot wish it good,
but only to be what it is.
_Answ._ 1. The definition is false, as hath been showed, and as the
instance proveth; else a man could not be said to love learning, virtue,
or any quality, but only to love the person that wanteth it, or hath it.
But love is a complacency, and benevolence is but its effect or
antecedent. 2. The unholy wish not good to God, for they would all
depose him from his Godhead: they would not have him to be a hater of
their sin, nor to be their holy and righteous Governor and Judge.
_Object._ IX. It is better to be a man, though a sinner and miserable
in hell, than not to be at all. Else God would never ordain, cause, or
permit it.
_Answ._ It is better to the highest ends, God's glory, and the
universal order, to be a punished man, than to be nothing (when God
will have it so); because punishment, as to those highest ends, is
good; though it is not best for the poor miserable sinner: but the
same cannot be said of sin. It is indeed better also to those highest
ends, to be a man though a sinner (while God continueth humanity); but
not to be a man and a sinner: for the latter implieth some good to be
in the sin which hath no good, and therefore God neither causeth it,
nor willeth it, though he permit it. But though a sinful man is better
than no man to God's ends, it followeth not, that to be a man is
better than to be a good man.
_Object._ X. If that be best and most amiable which is most to the
glory of God, then it is more amiable to be a sinner in hell torment
glorifying his justice, than not to be at all, or to be a brute.
_Answ._ It is neither of these that is offered to your love and
choice, but to be holy. All good is not matter of election; but that
good which is in hell is not the sin, but the punishment. For the sin
doth reputatively, and as much as in it lieth, rob God of his glory,
and punishment repaireth it. Therefore love the punishment if you can,
and spare not, so you love holiness better; for that would honour God
more excellently, and please him more.
_Object._ XI. If I must love to be like God, I must love to be great,
and I must love the greatest as most like him.
_Answ._ You must love to be like him in those perfections which you
are capable of, and the ends and uses of your proper nature: therefore
you must be desirous to be like him in your measure, even in such
power and greatness as are suitable to the nature and ends of a
rational soul. Not in such strength as he giveth a horse, or such
magnitude as he giveth a mountain, which is not to be most like him;
but in the vital activity and power of an intellectual free agent: to
be powerful and great in love to God and all his service, and in all
good works, to be profitable to the world, to be lively and ready in
all obedience, strong to suffer, and to conquer sin and all
temptations; in a word, to be great and powerful in wisdom and true
goodness. Thus seek even in power to be like God in your capacities.
_Object._ XII. God himself doth not love men only for their goodness,
nor love that best which is best. For he loveth his elect while
enemies and ungodly; and he telleth Israel he loved them because he
would love them, and not because they were better than others; and in
the womb he loved Jacob best, when he was no better than Esau.
_Answ._ 1. Distinguish between God's complacence and benevolence. 2.
Between the good that is present, and foreseen good with a present
capacity for it.
1. God had a greater benevolence to Jacob than Esau, and to the
Israelites than to other nations that were perhaps not much worse. And
it is not for our goodness that God decreeth to make us good, or to
give us a double proportion of any of those mercies, which he giveth
not as Rector, but as Dominus and Benefactor, as an absolute Owner and
free Benefactor. And with this love of benevolence he loveth us when
we are his enemies, that is, he purposeth to make us good; but this
benevolence is but a secondary love and fruit of complacency, joined
with the free, unequal distribution of his own.
2. But for complacency, which is love in the first and strictest
sense, God so loveth the wicked though elect, no further than they are
good and lovely, that is, (1.) As they have the natural goodness of
rational creatures: (2.) And as they are capable of all the future
service they will do him, and glory they will bring him; (3.) And as
his infinite wisdom knoweth it fit to choose them to that service. Or,
if the benevolence of election do go before his first complacence in
them above others, as being before his foresight that they will serve
and love better, yet still this proper love, called complacence, goeth
not beyond the worth of the thing loved.
_Object._ Doth God love us complacentially in Christ, beyond the good
that is in us?
_Answ._ Not beyond our real and relative good, as we are in ourselves,
by his grace, and as we are in Christ related to him, and both ways
such as demonstrate the divine perfections, and shall love, and
glorify, and please him for ever.
So much for the opening of the true nature of love to God, ourselves,
and others, and of man's ultimate end, and of the nature of holiness
and goodness, and those mysteries of religion which are involved in
these points.
CHAPTER IV.
SUBORDINATE DIRECTIONS AGAINST THOSE GRAND HEART SINS, WHICH ARE
DIRECTLY CONTRARY TO THE LIFE OF GODLINESS AND CHRISTIANITY.
[Sidenote: The recital of such sins as the former positive directions
do detect, and afford help against.]
The positive directions to the essential duties of godliness and
christianity have already given you directions against the contrary
sins: as, in the first grand direction you have helps against direct
unbelief. In the second you have directions against unbelief, as it
signifieth the not using and applying of Christ according to our
various needs. In the third you have directions against[134] all
resisting or neglecting the Holy Ghost. (Which were first, because in
practice we must come by the Son and the Spirit to the saving
knowledge and love of the Father.) In the fourth you have
directions[135] against atheism, idolatry, and ungodliness. In the
fifth you have directions against self-idolizing, and self-dependence,
and unholiness in alienating yourselves from God. In the sixth you are
directed against rebellion and disobedience against God. In the
seventh you have directions against unteachableness, ignorance, and
error. In the eighth you have directions against impenitency,
unhumbleness, impurity, unreformedness, and all sin in general as sin.
In the ninth you are directed against[136] security, unwatchfulness,
and yielding to temptations, and in general against all danger to the
soul. In the tenth you are directed against barrenness,
unprofitableness, and sloth, and uncharitableness; and against
mistakes in matter of duty or good works. In the eleventh you are
directed against all averseness, disaffection, or cold indifferency of
heart to God. In the twelfth you are directed against distrust, and
sinful cares, and fears, and sorrows. In the thirteenth, you are
directed against an over sad or heartless serving of God, as merely
from fear, or forcedly, without delight. In the fourteenth, you are
directed against unthankfulness. In the fifteenth, you are directed
against all unholy or dishonourable thoughts of God, and against all
injurious speeches of him, or barrenness of the tongue, and against
all scandal or barrenness of life. In the books referred to in the
sixteenth and seventeenth, you are directed against selfishness,
self-esteem, self-love, self-conceit, self-will, self-seeking, and
against all worldliness, and fleshliness of mind or life. But yet,
lest any necessary helps should be wanting against such heinous sins,
I shall add some more particular directions against such of them as
were not fully spoken to before.
FOOTNOTES:
[134] Of the sin against the Holy Ghost, I have written a special
treatise in my "Unreasonableness of Infidelity."
[135] Since the writing of this, I have published the same more at
large in my "Reasons of the Christian Religion," and in my "Life of
Faith."
[136] Of presumption and false hope, enough is said in the "Saints'
Rest," and here about temptation, hope, and other heads afterward.
PART I.
_Directions against Unbelief._
[Sidenote: Whether not to believe that my sins are pardoned, be indeed
unbelief?]
I know that most poor troubled christians, when they complain of the
sin of unbelief, do mean by it, their not believing that they are
sincere believers, and personally justified, and shall be saved. And I
know that some divines have affirmed, that the sense of that article
of the creed, "I believe the remission of sins," is, I believe my sins
are actually forgiven. But the truth is, to believe that I am elect or
justified, or that my sins are forgiven, or that I am a sincere
believer, is not to believe any word of God at all: for no word of God
doth say any of these; nor any thing equivalent; nor any thing out of
which it can be gathered: for it is a rational conclusion; and one of
the premises which do infer it, must be found in myself by reflection,
or internal sense, and self-knowledge. The Scripture only saith, "He
that truly believeth is justified, and shall be saved." But it is
conscience, and not belief of Scripture, which must say, I do
sincerely believe: therefore the conclusion, that I am justified, and
shall be saved, is a rational collection from what I find in Scripture
and in myself, set together; and resulting from both, can be no firmer
or surer than is the weaker of the premises. Now certainty is
objective or subjective; in the thing, or in my apprehension. As to
objective certainty in the thing itself, all truths are equally true;
but all truths are not equally discernible, there being much more
cause of doubting concerning some, which are less evident, than
concerning others, which are more evident. And so the truth of God's
promise of justification to believers, is more certain; that is, hath
fuller, surer evidence to be discerned by, than the truth of my
sincere believing. And, that I sincerely believe, is the more debile
of the premises, and therefore the conclusion followeth this in its
debility; and so can be no article of faith. And as to the subjective
certainty, that varies according to men's various apprehensions. The
premises, as in their evidence or aptitude to ascertain us, are the
cause of the conclusion as evident, or knowable. And the premises, as
apprehended, are the cause of the conclusion as known.
[Sidenote: Whether a man can be more certain that be believeth, than
he is that thing believed is true?]
Now it is a great doubt with some, Whether a man can possibly be more
certain that he believeth, than he is that the thing believed is true;
because the act can extend no further than the object; and to be sure
I believe, is but to be sure that I take the thing believed to be
true. But I shall grant the contrary, that a man may possibly be surer
that he believeth, than he is that the thing believed is true; because
my believing is not always a full subjective certainty that the thing
is true, but a believing that it is true. And though you are fully
certain that all God's word is true; yet you may believe that this is
his word, with some mixture of unbelief or doubting. And so the
question is but this, Whether you may not certainly, without doubting,
know, that you believe the word of God to be true, though with some
doubting. And it seems you may. But then it is a further question,
Whether you can be surer of the saving sincerity of your faith, than
you are that this word of God is true. And that ordinarily men doubt
of the first, as much as they doubt of the latter, I think is an
experimented truth. But yet grant that with some it may be otherwise,
(because he believeth sincerely, that so far believeth the word of
God, as to trust his life and soul upon it, and forsake all in
obedience to it: and that I do so, I may know with less doubting, than
I yet have about the truth of the word so believed,) all that will
follow is but this, that of those men that doubt of their
justification and salvation, some of their doubts are caused more by
their doubting of God's word, than by the doubting whether they
sincerely though doubtingly believe it; and the doubts of others,
whether they are justified and shall be saved, is caused much more by
their doubting of their own sincere belief, than by their doubting of
the truth of Scriptures. And the far greatest number of christians
seem to themselves to be of this latter sort. For no doubt, but though
a man of clear understanding can scarcely believe, and yet not know
that he believeth; yet he may believe sincerely, and not know that he
believeth sincerely. But still the knowledge of our own justification
is but the effect or progeny of our belief of the word of God, and of
our knowledge that we do sincerely believe it, which conjunctly are
the parents and causes of it: and it can be no stronger than the
weaker of the parents (which _in esse cognoscibili_ is our faith, but
_in esse cognito_ is sometimes the one, and sometimes the other). And
the effect is not the cause; the effect of faith and knowledge
conjunct, is not faith itself. It is not a believing the word of God,
to believe that you believe, or that you are justified; but yet,
because that faith is one of the parents of it, some call it by the
name of faith, though they should call it but an effect of faith, as
one of the causes. And well may our doubtings of our own salvation be
said to be from unbelief, because unbelief is one of the causes of
them, and the sinfullest cause.
[Sidenote: The article of remission of sin to be believed applyingly.]
And that the article of remission of sin is to be believed with
application to ourselves, is certain: but not with the application of
assurance, persuasion, or belief that we are already pardoned; but
with an applying acceptance of an offered pardon, and consent to the
covenant which maketh it ours. We believe that Christ hath purchased
remission of sin, and made a conditional grant of it in his gospel, to
all, viz. if they will repent, and believe in him, or take him for
their Saviour, or become penitent christians. And we consent to do so,
and to accept it on these terms. And we believe that all are actually
pardoned that thus consent.
By all this you may perceive, that those troubled christians which
doubt not of the truth of the word of God, but only of their own
sincerity, and consequently of their justification and salvation, do
ignorantly complain that they have not faith, or that they cannot
believe: for it is no act of unbelief at all, for me to doubt whether
my own heart be sincere: this is my ignorance of myself, but it is not
any degree of unbelief; for God's word doth no where say that I am
sincere, and therefore I may doubt of this, without doubting of God's
word at all. And let all troubled christians know, that they have no
more belief in them, than they have doubting or unbelief of the truth
of the word of God. Even that despair itself, which hath none of this
in it, hath no unbelief in it (if there be any such). I thought it
needful thus far to tell you what unbelief is, before I come to give
you directions against it. And though the mere doubting of our own
sincerity be no unbelief at all, yet real unbelief of the very truth
of the holy Scriptures, is so common and dangerous a sin, and some
degree of it is latent in the best, that I think we can no way so much
further the work of grace, as by destroying this. The weakness of our
faith in the truth of Scriptures, and the remnant of our unbelief of
it, is the principal cause of all the languishings of our love and
obedience, and every grace; and to strengthen faith, is to strengthen
all. What I have fullier written in my "Saints' Rest," part 2, and my
"Treatise against Infidelity," I here suppose.
_Direct._ I. Consider well how much of religion nature itself
teacheth, and reason, (without supernatural revelation,) must needs
confess: (as, that there is another life which man was made for, and
that he is obliged to the fullest love and obedience to God, and the
rest before laid down in the Introduction.) And then observe how
congruously the doctrine of Christ comes in, to help where nature is
at a loss, and how exactly it suits with natural truths, and how
clearly it explaineth them, and fully containeth so much of them as is
necessary to salvation; and how suitable and proper a means it is to
attain their ends; and how great a testimony the doctrines of nature
and grace do give unto each other.[137]
_Direct._ II. Consider, that man's end being in the life to come, and
God being the righteous and merciful Governor of man in order to that
end, it must needs be that God will give him sufficient means to know
his will in order to that end; and that the clearest, fullest means
must needs demonstrate most of the government and mercy of God.
_Direct._ III. Consider, what full and sad experience the world hath
of its pravity and great corruption; and that the natural tendency of
reason is to those high and excellent things, which corruption and
brutishness do almost extinguish or cast out with the most; and that
the prevalency of the lower faculties against right reason, is so
lamentable and universal, to the confusion of the world, that it is
enough to tell us, that this is not the state that God first made us
in, and that certainly sin hath sullied and disordered his work. The
wickedness of the world is a great confirmation of the Scripture.
_Direct._ IV. Consider, how exactly the doctrine of the gospel, and
covenant of grace, are suited to the lapsed state of man; even as the
law of works was suited to his state of innocency: so that the gospel
may be called the law of lapsed nature, as suited to it, though not as
revealed by it; as the other was the law of entire nature.
_Direct._ V. Compare the many prophecies of Christ, with the
fulfilling of them in his person. As that of Moses recited by
Stephen, Acts vii. 37; and Isa. lviii; Dan. ix. 24-26, &c. And
consider that those Jews which are the christians' bitterest enemies,
acknowledge and preserve those prophecies, and all the Old Testament,
which giveth so full a testimony to the New.
_Direct._ VI. Consider, what an admirable suitableness there is in the
doctrine of Christ, to the relish of a serious, heavenly mind: and how
all that is spiritual and truly good in us, doth close with it and
embrace it from a certain congruity of natures, as the eye doth with
the light, and the stomach with its proper food. Every good man in
reading the holy Scripture, feeleth something (even all that is good)
within him bear witness to it. And only our worse part is quarrelling
with it, and rebels against it.
_Direct._ VII. Consider, how all the first churches were planted by
the success of all those miracles mentioned in the Scripture. And that
the apostles and thousands of others saw the miracles of Christ: and
the churches saw the miracles of the apostles, and heard them speak in
languages unlearned; and had the same extraordinary gifts communicated
to themselves. And these being openly and frequently manifested,
convinced unbelievers; and were openly urged by the apostles to stop
the mouths of opposers, and confirm believers; (Gal. iii. 1-3;) who
would all have scorned their arguments, and the faith which they
supported, if all these had been fictions, of which they themselves
were said to be eye-witnesses and agents. So that the very existence
of the churches was a testimony to the matter of fact. And what
testimony can be greater of God's interest and approbation, than
Christ's resurrection, and all these miracles.
_Direct._ VIII. Consider, how no one of all the heretics or apostates,
did ever contradict the matters of fact, or hath left the world any
kind of confutation of them, which they wanted not malice, or
encouragement, or opportunity to have done.
_Direct._ IX. Consider, how that no one of all those thousands that
asserted these miracles, are ever mentioned in any history as repenting
of it, either in their health, or at the hour of death: whereas it had
been so heinous a villany to have cheated the world in so great a cause,
that some consciences of dying men, especially of men that placed all
their hopes in the life to come, must needs have repented of.
_Direct._ X. Consider, that the witnesses of all these miracles, and
all the churches that believed them, were taught by their own doctrine
and experience, to forsake all that they had in the world, and to be
reproached, hated, and persecuted of all men, and to be as lambs among
wolves, in expectation of death; and all this for the hope of that
blessedness promised them by a crucified, risen Christ. So that no
worldly end could move them to deceive, or willingly to be deceived.
_Direct._ XI. Consider, how impossible it is in itself, that so many
men should agree together to deceive the world, and that for nothing,
and at the rate of their own undoing and death: and that they should
all agree in the same narratives and doctrines so unanimously: and
that none of these should ever confess the deceit, and disgrace the
rest. All things well considered, this will appear not only a moral,
but a natural impossibility; especially considering their quality and
distance, there being thousands in several countries that never saw
the faces of the rest, much less could enter a confederacy with them,
to deceive the world.
_Direct._ XII. Consider the certain way by which the doctrine and
writings of the apostles, and other evangelical messengers, have been
delivered down to us, without any possibility of material alteration.
Because the holy Scriptures were not left only to the care of private
men, or of the christians of one country, who might have agreed upon
corruptions and alterations; but it was made the office of the
ordinary ministers to read, and expound, and apply them. And every
congregation had one or more of these ministers: and the people
received the Scriptures as the law of God, and that by which they must
live and be judged, and as their charter for heaven. So that it was
not possible for one minister to corrupt the Scripture text, but the
rest, with the people, would have quickly reproved him; nor for those
of one kingdom to bring all other christians to it throughout the
world, without a great deal of consultation and opposition (if at
all); which never was recorded to us.
_Direct._ XIII. Be acquainted as fully as you can with the history of
the church, that you may know how the gospel hath been planted, and
propagated, and assaulted, and preserved until now: which will much
better satisfy you, than general, uncertain talk of others.
_Direct._ XIV. Judge whether God, being the wise and merciful Governor
of the world, would suffer the honestest and obedientest subjects that
he hath upon earth, to be deceived in a matter of such importance, by
pretence of doctrines and miracles proceeding from himself, and which
none but himself (or God by his special grant) is able to do, without
disowning them, or giving any sufficient means to the world to
discover the deceit.[138] For certainly, he needeth not deceit to
govern us. If you say that he permits Mahometanism, I answer, 1. The
main, positive doctrine of the Mahometans, for the worshipping of one
only God, against idolatry, is true: and the by-fancies of their
pretended prophet, are not commended to the world upon the pretence of
attesting miracles at all, but upon the affirmation of revelations,
without any credible seal or divine attestation, and obtruded on the
world by the power of the sword. 2. And God hath given the world
sufficient preservatives against them, in the nullity of the proof of
them, and the evident foppery of the writings and the things
themselves. So that honesty and diligence will easily escape them.
_Direct._ XV. Observe the supernatural effects of the gospel upon the
souls of believers: how it planteth on man the image of the holy God;
powerfully subduing both sense and the greatest interest of the flesh,
to the will of God; and making men wise and good; and putting an
admirable difference between them and all other men. And then judge
whether it be not God's seal, having his image first upon itself,
which he doth use and honour to be the instrument of imprinting his
image upon us.[139]
_Direct._ XVI. Mark well the certain vanity of all other religions
that prevail on the earth. Idolatry and Mahometanism, which openly
bear the mark of their own shame, have shared between them almost all
the rest of the earth; for mere deism is scarce any where in
possession; and Judaism hath no considerable inheritance; and both of
them as sensibly confuted by man's corruption, necessity, and desert.
_Direct._ XVII. Mark the great difference between the christian part
of the world, (those that receive christianity seriously and in
sincerity,) and all the rest.[140] Those that are furthest from
christianity, are furthest from piety, honesty, civility, or any
laudable parts or conversations: most of them are beastly and ungodly;
and the rest are but a little better: and ignorance and brutishness
cannot be the perfection of a man. Nay, among professed christians,
the multitudes that have but the name, and hate the nature and
practice of it, are like swine or wolves; and some of the worst, near
kin to devils. When all that receive christianity practically into
their hearts and lives, are heavenly and holy, and (in the same
measure that they receive it) their sins are all mortified, and they
are devoted to God, and possessed with justice, charity, and patience
to men, and are carried up above this world, and contemn that which
the rest do make their felicity and delight. So that if that be good
which doth good, then is the goodness of the christian faith apparent
to all, that have any acquaintance, reason, and impartiality to judge.
_Direct._ XVIII. Bethink you what you should have been yourselves, if
you had not been christians? Yea, what would yet be the consequent if
you should fall from the christian faith? Would you not look at the
life to come as doubtful? and resolve to take your pleasure in the
world, and to gratify the flesh, and to neglect your souls, and to
venture upon almost any vice, that seemeth necessary to your carnal
ends? Christianity hath cleansed and sanctified you, if you are
sanctified: and if (which God forbid!) you should forsake
christianity, it is most likely you would quickly show the difference,
by your dirty, fleshly, worldly lives.[141]
_Direct._ XIX. When you see the evidence of divine revelation and
authority, it is enough to silence your doubts and cavils about
particular words or circumstances. For you know that God is true and
infallible; and you know that you are silly, ignorant worms, that are
utterly at a loss, when you have not one at hand to open every
difficulty to you: and that all arts and sciences seem full of
difficulties and contradictions to ignorant, unexperienced novices.
_Direct._ XX. Allow all along in your learning, for the difficulties
which must needs arise, from the translation, ambiguity of all human
language, change and variety of words and customs, time, place, and
other circumstances, and especially from your own unacquaintedness
with all these: that so your own infirmities, and ignorance, and
mistakes in reasoning, may not be ascribed to the truth.
_Direct._ XXI. Understand the proper use of holy Scripture, and so how
far it is divine; that so you be not tempted to unbelief, by expecting
in it that which never was intended, and then finding your causeless
expectations frustrate. It is not so divine as to the terms, and
style, and order, and such modal and circumstantial matters, as if all
the exactness might be expected in it, that God could put into a book:
nor is it intended as a system of physics, or logic, or any
subservient sciences or arts: but it is an infallible revelation of
the will of God, for the government of the church, and the conducting
men to life eternal: and it is ordered and worded so as to partake of
such human infirmity, as yet shall no way impeach the truth or
efficacy of it; but rather make it more suitable to the generality of
men, whose infirmity requires such a style and manner of handling. So
that as a child of God hath a body from parents, which yet is of God,
but so of God, as to partake of the infirmities of the parents; or
rather, as Adam had a body from God, but yet from earth, and
accordingly frail; but a soul more immediately from God, which was
more pure and divine: so Scripture hath its style, and language, and
method so from God, as to have nothing in it unsuitable to its ends;
but not so from God, as if he himself had showed in it his own most
perfect wisdom to the utmost, and as if there were nothing in it of
human imperfection. But the truth and goodness which are the soul of
Scripture, are more immediately from God. The style and method of the
penmen may be various; but the same soul animateth all the parts. It
is no dishonour to the holy Scriptures, if Cicero be preferred for
purity of style, and phrase, and oratory, as for other common uses;
but certainly it is to be preferred as to its proper use: that being
the best style for an act of parliament, which is next to the worst in
an oration. The means are for the end.
_Direct._ XXII. Consider how great assistance apparitions, and
witchcrafts, and other sensible evidences of spirits conversing with
mankind, do give to faith. Of which I have written in the
forementioned treatises, and therefore now pass it over.
_Direct._ XXIII. Consider what advantage faith may have, by observing
the nature and tendency of the soul, and its hopes and fears of a life
to come, together with the superior, glorious worlds, which certainly
are possessed by nobler inhabitants.[142] He that seeth every corner
of the earth, and sea, and air inhabited, and thinks what earth is in
comparison of all the great and glorious orbs above it, will hardly
once dream that they are all void of inhabitants, or that there is not
room enough for souls.
_Direct._ XXIV. The ministry of angels, of which particular
providences give us a great probability, doth give some help to that
doctrine which telleth us, that we must live with angels, and that we
shall ascend to more familiarity with them, who condescend to so great
service now for us.
_Direct._ XXV. The universal, wonderful, implacable enmity of
corrupted man to the holy doctrine, and ways, and servants of Christ,
and the open war which in every kingdom, and the secret war which in
every heart, is kept up between Christ and Satan through the world;
with the tendency of every temptation, their violence, constancy, in
all ages, to all persons, all making against Christ, and heaven, and
holiness, do notoriously declare that the christian doctrine and life
do tend to our salvation; which the devil so maliciously and
incessantly opposeth: and thus his temptations give great advantage to
the tempted soul against the tempter. For it is not for nothing that
the enemy of our souls makes so much opposition. And that there is
such a devil, that thus opposeth Christ and tempteth us, not only
sensible apparitions and witchcrafts prove, but the too sensible
temptations, which, by their matter and manner, plainly tell us whence
they come. Especially when all the world is formed as into two hostile
armies, the one fighting under Christ, and the other under the devil;
and so have continued since Cain and Abel to this day.
_Direct._ XXVI. The prophecies of Christ himself of the destruction of
Jerusalem, and the gathering of his church, and the cruel usage of it
through the world, do give great assistance to our faith, when we see
them all so punctually fulfilled.
_Direct._ XXVII. Mark whether it be not a respect to things temporal
that assaulteth thy belief; and come not with a biassed, sensual mind
to search into so great a mystery. Worldliness, and pride, and
sensuality are deadly enemies to faith; and where they prevail they
will show their enmity, and blind the mind: if the soul be sunk into
mud and filth, it cannot see the things of God.
_Direct._ XXVIII. Come with humility and a sense of your ignorance,
and not with arrogance and self-conceit; as if all must needs be wrong
that your empty, foolish minds cannot presently perceive to be right.
The famousest apostates that ever I knew, were all men of notorious
pride and self-conceitedness.
_Direct._ XXIX. Provoke not God by wilful sinning against the light,
which thou hast already received, to forsake thee, and give thee over
to infidelity. 2 Thess. ii. 10-12, "Because men receive not the love
of the truth, that they might be saved; for this cause God sends them
strong delusions to believe a lie; that they all might be damned who
believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." Obey
Christ's doctrine so far as you know it, and you shall fullier know it
to be of God, John vii. 17; x. 4.
_Direct._ XXX. Tempt not yourselves to infidelity, by pretended
humility in abasing your natural faculties, when you should be humbled
for your moral pravity. Vilifying the soul, and its reason, and
natural free-will, doth tend to infidelity, by making us think that we
are but as other inferior animals, incapable of a life above with God:
whenas self-abasing, because of the corruption of reason and
free-will, doth tend to show us the need of a physician, and so assist
our faith in Christ.
_Direct._ XXXI. Judge not of so great a thing by sudden apprehensions,
or the surprise of a temptation, when you have not leisure to look up
all the evidences of faith, and lay them together, and take a full,
deliberate view of all the cause. It is a mystery so great as
requireth a clear and vacant mind, delivered from prejudice,
abstracted from diverting and deceiving things; which, upon the best
assistance and with the greatest diligence, must lay altogether to
discern the truth. And if, upon the best assistance and consideration,
you have been convinced of the truth, and then will let every sudden
thought, or temptation, or difficulty seem enough to question all
again, this is unfaithfulness to the truth, and the way to resist the
clearest evidences, and never to have done. It is like as if you
should answer your adversary in the court, when your witnesses are all
dismissed or out of the way, and all your evidences are absent, and
perhaps your counsellor and advocate too. It is like the casting up of
a long and intricate account, which a man hath finished by study and
time; and when he hath done all, one questioneth this particular, and
another that, when his accounts are absent: it is not fit for him to
answer all particulars, nor question his own accounts, till he have as
full opportunity and help to cast up all again.
_Direct._ XXXII. If the work seem too hard for you, go and consult
with the wisest, most experienced christians; who can easily answer
the difficulties which most perplex and tempt you. Modesty will tell
you, that the advantage of study and experience may make every one
wisest in his own profession; and set others above you, while you have
less of these.
_Direct._ XXXIII. Remember that christianity being the surest way to
secure your eternal hopes; and the matters of this life, which cause
men to forsake it, being such transitory trifles, you can be no losers
by it; and therefore if you doubted, yet you might be sure that is the
safest way.
_Direct._ XXXIV. Judge not of so great a cause in a time of
melancholy, when fears and confusions make you unfit. But in such a
case as that, as also whenever Satan would disturb your settled faith,
or tempt you at his pleasure to be still new questioning resolved
cases and discerned truths, abhor his suggestions, and give them no
entertainment in your thoughts, but cast them back into the tempter's
face. There is not one melancholy person of a multitude, but is
violently assaulted with temptations to blasphemy and unbelief, when
they have but half the use of reason and no composedness of mind to
debate such controversies with the devil. It is not fit for them in
this incapacity to hearken to any of those suggestions, which draw
them to dispute the foundations of their faith, but to cast them away
with resolute abhorrence; nor should any christian, that is soundly
settled on the true foundation, gratify the devil so much as to
dispute with him whenever he provoketh us to it, but only endeavour to
strengthen our faith, and destroy the remnants of unbelief.
_Direct._ XXXV. Remember that Christ doth propagate his religion
conjunctly by his Spirit and his word, and effecteth himself the faith
which he commandeth. For though there be sufficient evidence of
credibility in his word, yet the blinded mind, and corrupt, perverted
hearts of men, do need the cure of his medicinal grace, before they
will effectually and savingly believe a doctrine which is so holy,
high, and heavenly, and doth so much control their lusts. See
therefore that you distrust your corrupted hearts, and earnestly beg
the Spirit of Christ.
_Direct._ XXXVI. Labour earnestly for the love of every truth which
you believe, and to feel the renewing power of it upon your hearts,
and the reforming power on your lives; especially that you may be
advanced to the love of God and to a heavenly mind and life. And this
will be a most excellent help against all temptations to unbelief; for
the heart holdeth the gospel much faster than the head alone. The seed
that is cast into the earth, if it quicken and take root, is best
preserved; and the deeper rooted the surer it abideth; but if it die,
it perisheth and is gone. When the seed of the holy word hath produced
the new creature, it is sure and safe; but when it is retained only in
the brain as a dead opinion, every temptation can overturn it. It is
an excellent advantage that the serious practical christian hath,
above all hypocrites and unsanctified men: love will hold faster than
dead belief. Love is the grace that abideth for ever; and that is the
enduring faith which works by love. The experienced christian hath
felt so much of the power and goodness of the word, that if you puzzle
his head with subtle reasonings against it, yet his heart and
experience will not suffer him to let it go. He hath tasted it so
sweet that he will not believe it to be bitter, though he cannot
answer all that is said against it. If another would persuade you to
believe ill of your dearest friend or father, love and experience
would better preserve you from his deceit than reasoning would do. The
new creature or new nature in believers, and the experience of God's
love communicated by Jesus Christ unto their souls, are constant
witnesses to the word of God: he that believeth hath the witness in
himself; that is, the Holy Ghost which was given him, which is an
objective testimony or an evidence, and an effective. Of this see my
"Treatise of Infidelity." Unsanctified men may be easilier turned to
infidelity; for they never felt the renewed, quickening work of faith;
nor were ever brought by it to the love of God, and a holy and
heavenly mind and life. They that never were christians at the heart,
are soonest turned from being christians in opinion and name.
_Quest._ By what reason, evidence, or obligation, were the Jews bound
to believe the prophets? Seeing Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, &c. wrought
no miracles, and there were false prophets in their days; how then
could any man know that indeed they were sent of God, when they
nakedly affirmed it?
_Answ._ I mention this objection or case, because in my book of the
"Reasons of the Christian Religion" (to which for all the rest I refer
the reader) it is forgotten; and because it is one of the hardest
questions about our faith.
1. Those that think every book of Scripture doth now prove itself to
be divine _propria luce_, by its own matter, style, and other
properties, will accordingly say, that by hearing the prophets then,
as well as by reading them now, this intrinsic, satisfactory evidence
was discernible. All that I can say of this is, that there are such
characters in the prophecies as are a help to faith, as making it the
more easily credible that they are of God, but not such as I could
have been ascertained by (especially as delivered by parcels then) if
there had been no more.
2. Nor do I acquiesce in their answer who say that, Those that have
the same spirit, know the style of the spirit in the prophets. For, 1.
This would suppose none capable of believing them groundedly that had
not the same spirit; 2. And the spirit of sanctification is not enough
to our discerning prophetical inspirations, as reason and experience
fully prove. The gift of discerning spirits, 1 Cor. xii. 10, was not
common to all the sanctified.
3. It is much to be observed that God never sent any prophet to make a
law or covenant on which the salvation of the people did depend, without
the attestation of unquestionable miracles. Moses wrought numerous open
miracles, and such as controlled and confuted the contradicters' seeming
miracles in Egypt; and Christ and his apostles wrought more than Moses.
So that the laws and covenants by which God would rule and judge the
people were all confirmed beyond all such exception.
4. It must be noted that many other prophets also wrought miracles to
confirm their doctrine, and prove that they were sent of God, as did
Elias and Elisha.
5. It must be noted, that there were schools of prophets, or societies
of them, in those times, 1 Sam. x. 10; xix. 20; 1 Kings xx. 35, 41;
xxii. 13; 2 Kings ii. 3, 5, 7, 15; iv. 1, 38; v. 22; vi. 1; ix. 1; 1
Cor. xiv. 32; who were educated in such a way as fitted them to the
reception of prophetical inspirations, when it pleased God to give
them. Not that mere education made any one a prophet, nor that the
prophets had at all times the present, actual gift of prophecy; but
God was pleased so far to own men's commanded diligence, as to join
his blessing to a meet education, and at such times as he thought
meet, to illuminate such by visions and revelations above all others:
and therefore it is spoken of Amos as a thing extraordinary, that he
was made a prophet of a herdsman.
6. Therefore a prophet among the Jews was known to be such, usually,
before these recorded prophecies of theirs, which we have now in the
holy Scriptures: 1. The spirits of the prophets which are subject to
the prophets, were judged of by those prophets that had indeed the
Spirit, and so the people had the testimony of the other prophets
concerning them. 2. The Lord's own direction to know a true prophet
by, Deut. xviii. 22, is the coming to pass of that which he
foretelleth. Now it is like that before they were received into the
number of prophets, they had given satisfaction to the societies of
the prophets, by the events of things before foretold by them. 3. Or
they might have wrought miracles before to have satisfied the members
of the college of their calling, though these miracles are not all
mentioned in the Scripture. 4. Or the other prophets might have some
divine testimony concerning them, by visions, revelations, or
inspirations of their own. So that the people were not left to the
credulity of naked, unproved assertions, of any one that would say
that he was sent of God.
7. There were some signs given by some of the prophets to confirm
their word. As Isaiah's predictions of Hezekiah's danger, and remedy,
and recovery, and of the going back of the shadow on Ahaz's dial ten
degrees, &c.; and more such there might be, which we know not of.
8. All prophecies were not of equal obligation. The first prophecies
of any prophet who brought no attestation by miracles, nor had yet
spoken any prophecy that had been fulfilled, might be a merciful
revelation from God, which might oblige the hearers to a reverent
regard, and an inquiry into the authority of the prophet, and a
waiting in suspense till they saw whether it would come to pass; and
the fulfilling of it increaseth their obligation. Some prophecies that
foretold but temporal things (captivities or deliverances) might at
first (before the prophets produced a divine attestation) be rather a
bare prediction than a law; and if men believed them not, it might not
make them guilty of any damning sin at all, but only they refused that
warning of a temporal judgment, which might have been of use to them
had they received it.
9. But our obligation now to believe the same Scripture prophecies is
greater; because we live in the age when most of them are fulfilled,
and the rest are attested by Christ and his apostles, who proved their
attestations by manifold miracles.
10. When the prophets reproved the known sins of the people, and
called men to such duties as the law required, no man could speed ill
by obeying such a prophet, because the matter of his prophecies was
found in God's own law, which must of necessity be obeyed. And this is
the chief part of the recorded prophecies.
11. And any man that spake against any part of God's law (of natural
or supernatural revelation) was not to be believed, Deut. xiii.;
xviii.; because God cannot speak contrary to himself.
12. But the prophets themselves had another kind of obligation to
believe their own visions and inspirations, than any of their hearers
had; for God's great extraordinary revelation, was like the light, which
immediately revealed itself, and constrained the understanding to know
that it was of God: and such were the revelations that came by angelical
apparitions and visions. Therefore prophets themselves might be bound to
more than their bare word could have bound their hearers to; as, to
wound themselves, to go bare, to feed on dung, &c.: and this was
Abraham's case in offering Isaac. Yet God did never command a prophet,
or any by a prophet, a thing simply evil, but only such things as were
of a mutable nature, and which his will could alter, and make to be
good. And such was the case of Abraham himself, if well considered.
PART II.
_Directions against Hardness of Heart._
It is necessary that some christians be better informed what hardness
of heart is, who most complain of it.[143] The metaphor is taken from
the hardness of any matter which a workman would make an impression
on; and it signifieth the passive and active resistance of the heart
against the word and works of God, when it receiveth not the
impressions which the word should make, and obeyeth not God's
commands; but after great and powerful means remaineth as it was
before, unmoved, unaffected, and disobedient. So that hardness of
heart is not a distinct sin, but the habitual power of every sin, or
the deadness, unmovableness, and obstinacy of the heart in any sin. So
many duties and sins as there be, so many ways may the heart be
hardened against the word, which forbiddeth those sins, and commandeth
those duties. It is therefore an error, that hath had very ill
consequences on many persons, to think that hardness of heart is
nothing but a want of passionate feeling in the matters which concern
the soul; especially a want of sorrow and tears. This hath made them
over-careful for such tears, and grief, and passions, and dangerously
to make light of the many greater instances of the hardness of their
hearts. Many beginners in religion (who are taken up in penitential
duties) do think that all repentance is nothing but a change of
opinion, except they have those passionate griefs, and tears, which
indeed would well become the penitent; and hereupon they take more
pains with themselves to affect their hearts with sorrow for sin, and
to wring out tears, than they do for many greater duties. But when God
calleth them to love him, and to praise him, and to be thankful for
his mercies; or to love an enemy, or forgive a wrong: when he calleth
them to mortify their earthly-mindedness, their carnality, their
pride, their passion, or their disobedience, they yield but little to
his call, and show here much greater hardness of heart, and yet little
complain of this or take notice of it. I entreat you therefore to
observe, that the greater the duty is, the worse it is to harden the
heart against it; and the greater the sin is, the worse it is to
harden the heart by obstinacy in it. And that the great duties are,
the love of God and man, with a mortified and heavenly mind and life;
and to resist God's word commanding these, is the great and dangerous
hardening of the heart. The life of grace lieth, 1. In the preferring
of God, and heaven, and holiness, in the estimation of our minds
before all worldly things. 2. In the choosing them, and resolving for
them with our wills, before all others. 3. In the seeking of them in
the bent and drift of our endeavours. These three make up a state of
holiness. But for strength of parts, or memory, or expression, and so
for passionate affections of sorrow, or joy, or the tears that express
them; all these in their time, and place, and measure, are desirable,
but not of necessity to salvation, or to the life of grace. They
follow much the temperature of the body, and some have much of them
that have little or no grace, and some want them that have much grace.
The work of repentance consisteth most in loathing and falling out
with ourselves for our sins, and in forsaking them with abhorrence,
and turning unto God; and he that can do this without tears is truly
penitent, and he that hath never so many tears, without this, is
impenitent still.[144] And that is the hard-hearted sinner, that will
not be wrought to a love of holiness, nor let go his sin, when God
commandeth him; but after all exhortations, and mercies, and perhaps
afflictions, is still the same as if he had never been admonished, or
took no notice what God hath been saying or doing to reclaim him.
Having thus told you what hardness of heart is, you may see that I
have given you directions against it at large before, chap. iii.
direct. vi. and viii.; but shall add these few.
_Direct._ I. Remember the majesty and presence of that most holy God,
with whom we have to do, Heb. iv. 13. Nothing will more affect and awe
the heart, and overrule it in the matters of religion, than the true
knowledge of God. We will not talk sleepily or contemptuously to a king;
how much less should we be stupid or contemptuous before the God of
heaven! It is that God whom angels worship, that sustaineth the world,
that keepeth us in life, that is always present, observing all that we
think, or say, or do, whose commands are upon us, and with whom we have
to do in all things; and shall we be hardened against his fear? "Who
hath hardened himself against Him, and hath prospered?" Job ix. 4.
_Direct._ II. Think well of the unspeakable greatness and importance of
those truths and things which should affect you, and of those duties
which are required of you. Eternity of joy or torment is such an amazing
thing, that one would think every thought, and every mention either of
it or of any thing that concerneth it, should go to our very hearts, and
deeply affect us, and should command the obedience and service of our
souls. It is true, they are things unseen, and therefore less apt in
that respect to affect us than things visible; but the greatness of them
should recompense that disadvantage a thousandfold. If our lives lay
upon every word we speak, or upon every step we go, how carefully should
we speak and go! But oh how deeply should things affect us, in which our
everlasting life is concerned! One would think a thing of so great
moment, as dying, and passing into an endless life of pain or pleasure,
should so take up and transport the mind of man, that we should have
much ado to bring ourselves to mind, regard, or talk of the
inconsiderable interests of the flesh! How inexcusable a thing is a
senseless, careless, negligent heart, when God looketh on us, and heaven
or hell is a little before us! Yea, when we are so heavily laden with
our sins, and compassed about with so many enemies, and in the midst of
such great and manifold dangers, to be yet senseless under all, is (so
far) to be dead. Will not the wounds of sin, and the threatenings of the
law, and the accusations of conscience, make you feel? He that cannot
feel the prick of a pin will feel the stab of a dagger, if he be alive.
_Direct._ III. Remember how near the time is, when stupidity and
senseless neglect of God will be banished from all the world; and what
certain and powerful means are before you at death and judgment, to
awaken and pierce the hardest heart.[145] There are but few that are
quite insensible at death; there are none past feeling after death, in
heaven or hell. No man will stand before the Lord in the day of
judgment, with a sleepy or a senseless heart. God will recover your
feeling by misery, if you will lose it by sin, and not recover it by
grace. He can make you now a terror to yourselves, Jer. xx. 4; he can
make conscience say such things in secret to you, as you shall not be
able to forget or slight. But if conscience awake you not, the
approach of death it is likely will awaken you: when you see that God
is now in earnest with you, and that die you must, and there is no
remedy, will you not begin to think now, Whither must I go? and what
will become of me for ever? Will you then harden your heart against
God and his warnings? If you do, the first moment of your entrance
upon eternity will cure your stupidity for ever. It will grieve a
heart that is not stone, to think what a feeling stony-hearted sinners
will shortly have, when God will purposely make them feel, with his
wrathful streams of fire and brimstone! when Satan that now hindereth
your feeling, will do his worst to make you feel; and conscience, the
never-dying worm, will gnaw your hearts, and make them feel, without
ease or hope of remedy! Think what a wakening day is coming!
_Direct._ IV. Think often of the love of God in Christ, and of the
bloody sufferings of thy Redeemer, for it hath a mighty power to melt
the heart. If love, and the love of God, and so great and wonderful a
love, will not soften thy hardened heart, what will?
_Direct._ V. Labour for a full apprehension of the evil and danger of
a hardened heart. It is the death of the soul, so far as it
prevaileth: at the easiest, it is like the stupidity of a paralytic
member or a seared part. Observe the names which Scripture giveth it:
The "hardening of the heart," Prov. xxviii. 14. The "hardening of the
neck," Prov. xxix. 10, which signifieth inflexibility. The "hardening
of the face," which signifieth impudency, Prov. xxi. 29. The
"searedness of the conscience," 1 Tim. iv. 2. The "impenitency of the
heart," Rom. ii. 5. Sometimes it is called "sottishness," or
"stupidity," Jer. iv. 22. Sometimes it is called a "not caring," or
"not laying things to heart, and not regarding," Isa. xlii. 25; v. 12;
xxxii. 9-11. Sometimes it is denominated metaphorically from
inanimates: "A face harder than a rock," Jer. v. 3. "Stony hearts,"
Ezek. xi. 19; xxxvi. 26. "A neck with an iron sinew," Isa. xlviii. 4,
and "a brow of brass." It is called "sleep," and a "deep slumber," and
a "spirit of slumber," Rom. xiii. 11; xi. 8; Matt. xxv. 5; and "death"
itself, 1 Tim. v. 6; Eph. ii. 1, 5; Col. ii. 13; Jude 12.
Observe also how dreadful a case it is, if it be predominant, both
symptomatically and effectively. It is the forerunner of mischief,
Prov. xxviii. 14. It is a dreadful sign of one that is far more
unlikely than others to be converted; when they are "alienated from
the life of God by their ignorance," and are "past feeling," they are
"given up to work uncleanness with greediness," Eph. iv. 14. Usually
God calleth those that he will save, before they are past feeling;
though such are not hopeless, their hope lieth in the recovering of
the feeling which they want; and a hardened heart, and iron neck, and
brazen forehead, are a sadder sign of God's displeasure, than if he
had made the heavens as brass, and the earth as iron to you, or let
out the greatest distress upon your bodies. When men have eyes and see
not, and ears and hear not, and hearts but understand not, it is a sad
prognostic that they are very unlikely to be "converted and forgiven,"
Mark iv. 12; Acts xxviii. 27. A hardened heart (predominantly) is
garrisoned and fortified by Satan against all the means that we can
use to help them; and none but the Almighty can cast him out and
deliver them. Let husband, or wife, or parents, or the dearest friends
entreat a hardened sinner to be converted, and he will not hear them.
Let the learnedest, or wisest, or holiest man alive, both preach and
beseech him, and he will not turn. At a distance he may reverence and
honour a great divine, and a learned or a holy man, especially when
they are dead; but let the best man on earth be the minister of the
place where he liveth, and entreat him daily to repent, and he will
either hate and persecute him, or neglect and disobey him. What
minister was ever so learned, or holy, or powerful a preacher, that
had not sad experience of this? when the prophet, Isa. liii. 1, crieth
out, "Who hath believed our report?" and the apostles were fain to
shake off the dust of their feet against many that rejected them; and
were abused, and scorned, and persecuted by those whose souls they
would have saved? Nay, Jesus Christ himself was refused by the most
that heard him; and no minister dare compare himself with Christ. If
our Lord and Master was blasphemed, scorned, and murdered by sinners,
what better should his ablest ministers expect? St. Augustine found
drunkenness so common in Africa, that he motioned that a council might
be called for the suppression of it; but if a general council of all
the learned bishops and pastors in the world were called, they could
not convert one hardened sinner, by all their authority, wit, or
diligence, without the power of the Almighty God. For will they be
converted by man, that are hardened against God? What can we devise to
say to them that can reach their hearts, and get within them, and do
them good? Shall we tell them of the law and judgments of the Lord,
and of his wrath against them? why all these things they have heard so
often till they sleep under it, or laugh at them. Shall we tell them
of death, and judgment, and eternity? why we speak to the posts, or
men asleep; they hear us as if they heard us not. Shall we tell them
of endless joy and torments? they feel not, and therefore fear not,
nor regard not; they have heard of all these, till they are weary of
hearing them, and our words seem to them but as the noise of the wind
or water, which is of no signification. If miracles were wrought among
them by a preacher, that healed the sick, and raised the dead, they
would wonder at him, but would not be converted. For Christ did thus,
and yet prevailed but with few, John xi. 48, 53; and the apostles
wrought miracles, and yet were rejected by the most, Acts vii. 57;
xxii. 22. Nay, if one of their old companions should be sent from the
dead to give them warning, he might affright them, but not convert
them, for Christ hath told us so himself, Luke xvi. 31; or if an angel
from heaven should preach to them, they would be hardened still, as
Balaam and others have been. Christ rose from the dead, and yet was
after that rejected. We read not of the conversion of the soldiers
that watched his sepulchre, though they were affrighted with the sight
of the angels: but they were after that hired for a little money to
lie, and say that Christ's disciples stole him away. If magistrates
that have power on their bodies, should endeavour to bring them to
godliness, they would not obey them, nor be persuaded. King Hezekiah's
messengers were but mocked by the people. David and Solomon could not
convert their hardened subjects. Punish them, and hang them, and they
will be wicked to the death: witness the impenitent thief that died
with Christ, and died reproaching him. Though God afflict them with
rod after rod, yet still they sin and are the same, Psal. lxxviii.;
Hos. vii. 14; Amos iv. 9; Jer. v. 3; Isa. i. 5. Let death come near
and look them in the face, and let them see that they must presently
go to judgment, it will affright them, but not convert them. Let them
know and confess, that sin is bad, that holiness is best, that death
and eternity are at hand, yet are they the same, and all will not win
their hearts to God; till grace take away their stony hearts, and give
them tender, fleshy hearts, Ezek. xxxvi. 26.
_Direct._ VI. Take notice of the doleful effects of hard-heartedness
in the world. This fills the world with wickedness and confusion, with
wars and bloodshed; and leaveth it under that lamentable desertion and
delusion, which we behold in the far greatest part of the earth. How
many kingdoms are left in the blindness of heathenism and
Mahometanism, for hardening their hearts against the Lord! How many
christian nations are given up to the most gross deceits of popery,
and princes and people are enemies to reformation, because they
hardened their hearts against the light of truth! What vice so odious,
even beastly filthiness, and bitterest hatred, and persecution of the
ways of God, which men of all degrees and ranks do not securely wallow
in through the hardness of their hearts! This is the thing that
grieves the godly, that wearieth good magistrates, and breaks the
hearts of faithful ministers: when they have done their best, they are
fain, as Christ himself before them, to grieve for the hardness of
men's hearts. Alas! we live among the dead; our towns and countries
are in a sadder case than Egypt, when every house had a dead man. Even
in our churches, it were well if the dead were only under ground, and
most of our seats had not a dead man, that sitteth as if he heard, and
kneeleth as if he prayed, when nothing ever pierced to the quick. We
have studied the most quickening words, we have preached with tears in
the most earnest manner, and yet we cannot make them feel! as if we
cried like Baal's worshippers, O Baal, hear us! or, like the Irish to
their dead, Why wouldst thou die, and leave thy house, and lands, and
friends? So we talk to them about the death of their souls, and their
wilful misery, who never feel the weight of any thing we say: we are
left to ring them a peal of lamentation, and weep over them as the
dead that are not moved by our tears: we cast the seed into stony
ground, Matt. xiii. 5, 20; it stops in the surface, and it is not in
our power to open their hearts, and get within them. I confess that we
are much to blame ourselves, that ever we did speak to such miserable
souls, without more importunate earnestness and tears; (and it is
because the stone of the heart is much uncured in ourselves; for which
God now justly layeth so many of us by;) but yet, we must say, our
importunity is such, as leaveth them without excuse. We speak to them
of the greatest matters in all the world; we speak it to them in the
name of God; we show them his own word for it; and plead with them
the arguments which he hath put into our mouths; and yet we speak as
to posts and stones, to men past feeling. What a pitiful sight was it
to see Christ stand weeping over Jerusalem, for the hardness of their
hearts, and the nearness and greatness of their misery! while they
themselves were so far from weeping for it, that they raged against
the life of him that so much pitied them! We bless God that it is not
thus with all. He hath encouraged some of us with the heart-yielding,
obedient attention of many great congregations: but, among the best,
alas! how many of these hardened sinners are mixed! and, in many
places, how do they abound! Hence it is that such odious abominations
are committed; such filthiness, and lying, and perjury, and acts of
malicious enmity against the servants of the Lord; and that so many
are haters of God and godliness. If Satan had not first hardened their
hearts, he could never have brought them to such odious crimes, as now
with impudency are committed in the land. As Lot's daughters were fain
to make their father drunk, that he might commit the sin of incest; so
the devil doth first deprive men both of reason and feeling, that he
might bring them to such heinous wickedness as this, and make them
laugh at their own destruction, and abhor those most that fain would
save them. And they are not only past feeling, but so hate any
quickening ministry, or truth, or means which would recover their
feeling, that they seem to go to hell as some condemned malefactors to
the gallows, that make themselves drunk before they go, as if it were
all they had to care for to keep themselves hoodwinked, from knowing
or feeling whither they go, till they are there.
See what a picture of a hardened people God giveth to Ezekiel, chap.
iii. 7, "But the house of Israel will not hearken to thee; for they will
not hearken to me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and
hard-hearted." Observe but what a case it is that they are so insensible
of, and then you will see what a hard-hearted sinner, past feeling, is.
1. They are the servants of sin, Rom. vi. 16; in the power of it,
corrupted by it; and yet they feel it not.
2. They have the guilt of many thousand sins upon them, all is
unpardoned that ever they committed; and yet they feel it not.
3. They have the threatenings and curses of God in force against them
in his word; even words so terrible, as you would think might affright
them out of their sins or their wits; and they take on them to believe
this word of God; and yet they feel not.
4. They are in the power of the devil; ruled and deceived by him, and
taken captive by him at his will, Acts xxvi. 18; 2 Tim. ii. 26.
5. They may be certain that if they die in this condition they shall
be damned, and they are uncertain whether they shall live another day;
they are never sure to be one hour longer out of hell; and yet they
feel not.
6. They know that they must die, and that it is a great change, and of
the greatest endless consequence, that death will make with them; and
they know that this is sure and near, and are past doubt of it; and
yet they feel it not.[146]
7. They must shortly appear before the Lord, and be judged for all
that they have done in the body, and be doomed to their endless state;
and yet they feel not.
8. They know that life is short, and that they have but a little time
to prepare for all this terrible change, and that it must go with them
for ever, as they now prepare; and yet they feel not.
9. They hear and read of the case of hardened, wicked men, that have
gone before them, and have resisted grace, and lost their time, as
they now do; and they read or hear of the miserable end that such have
come to; and yet they feel not.
10. They have a world of examples continually before them; they see
the filthy lives of many for their warning, and the holy lives of
others for their imitation, and see how Christ and Satan strive for
souls; and yet they feel not.
11. They are always before the eye of God, and do all things before
his face; he warneth them, and calleth them to repentance; and yet
they feel not.
12. They have Christ as it were crucified before their eyes, Gal. iii.
1: they hear of his sufferings; they may see in him what sin is, and
what the love of God is; he pleadeth with them his blood and
sufferings against their obstinate unkindness; and yet they feel not.
13. They have everlasting joy and glory offered them, and heaven so
opened to them in God's promises, that they may see it as in a glass,
1 Cor. xiii. 12. They take on them to believe how much the blessed
spirits there abhor such wickedness as theirs; and yet they feel not.
14. They have the torments of hell opened to them in the word of God;
they read what impenitent souls must suffer to all eternity; they hear
some in despair in this life, roaring in the misery of their souls;
they hear the joyful thanksgivings of believers, that Christ
delivereth them from those torments; and yet they feel not.
15. All the promises of salvation in the gospel do put in an exception
against these men, "unless they be converted:" they are made to the
penitent, and not to the impenitent. There is justification and life;
but not for them. "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ
Jesus, that walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit," Rom.
viii. 1. "But he that believeth not, is condemned already," John iii.
18, 36. And they that "after their hardness and impenitent hearts, do
treasure up wrath against the day of wrath, shall have tribulation and
anguish," Rom. ii. 5-7. Here is comfort for repenting sinners, but
none (but on condition they repent) for them: when others are welcomed
to Christ's marriage feast, he saith to these, "How came you in
hither?" and yet they feel not.
16. They still carry about with them the doleful evidences of all this
misery. One would think the ambitious, and covetous, and voluptuous
might see these death-marks on themselves; and the ungodly might feel
that God hath not their hearts; especially they that hate the godly,
and show their wolfish cruelty against them, and are the progeny of
Cain; and yet they feel not any of this, but live as quietly, and talk
as pleasantly, as if all were well with them, and their souls were
safe, and their calling and election were made sure. Alas! if these
souls were not hardened in sin, we should see it in their tears, or
hear it in their complaints; they would after sermon sometimes come to
the minister, as they, Acts ii. 37; xvi. 30, "Sirs, what must we do to
be saved?" or we should see it in their lives, or hear of it by report
of others, who would observe the change that grace hath made; and
sermons would stick longer by them, and not at best be turned off
with a fruitless commendation; and saying, it was a good sermon, and
there is an end of it. Judge now by this true description which I have
given you, what a hardened sinner is. And then the godly may so see
cause to bewail the remnants of this mischief, as yet to be daily
thankful to God that they are not in the power of it.
_Direct._ VII. Live, if you can possibly, under a lively, quickening
ministry, and in the company of serious, lively christians. It is
true, that we should be deeply affected with the truths of God, how
coldly soever they be delivered. But the question is not, what is our
duty; but what are our disease, and our necessity, and the proper
remedy. All men should be so holy, as not to need any exhortations to
conversion at all: but shall the ministers therefore neglect such
exhortations, or they that need them turn away their ears? Hear, if
possible, that minister that first feels what he speaks, and so speaks
what he feels, as tendeth most to make you feel. "Cry aloud; spare
not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their
transgressions, and the house of Israel their sins," Isa. lviii. 1, 2.
Though such "as seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a
nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinances of their
God." God is the chief agent; but he useth to work according to the
fitness of the instrument. O woeful case! to hear a dead minister
speaking to a dead people, the living truths of the living God! As
Christ said, "If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the
ditch." And if the dead must raise the dead, and the ungodly enemies
of a holy life must bring men to godliness and to a holy life, it must
be by such a power as once made use of clay and spittle, to open the
eyes of the blind. It seems it was a proverb in Christ's days, "Let
the dead bury their dead:" but not, Let the dead raise the dead. God
may honour the bones of the dead prophet, (2 Kings xiii. 21,) with the
raising a corpse that is cast into its grave, and toucheth them. A
meeting of a dead minister and a dead people, is like a place of
graves: and though it be a lamentable thing to hear a man speak
without any life, of life eternal, yet God can concur to the
quickening of a soul. But sure we have no great reason to expect that
ordinarily he should convert men so miraculously, without the moral
aptitude of means. It is most incongruous for any man in his familiar
discourse, to speak without great seriousness and reverence of things
concerning life eternal. But for a preacher to talk of God, of Christ,
of heaven, and hell, as coldly and sleepily, as if he were persuading
men not to believe him, or regard him, that no more regards himself,
is less tolerable. It is a sad thing to hear a man draw out a
dreaming, dull discourse, about such astonishing weighty things; and
to speak as if it were the business of his art, to teach men to sleep
while the names of heaven and hell are in their ears; and not to be
moved while they hear the message of the living God, about their life
or death everlasting. If a man tell in the streets of a fire in the
town, or a soldier bring an alarm of the enemy at the gates, in a
reading or jesting tone, the hearers will neglect him, and think that
he believeth not himself. I know it is not mere noise that will
convert a soul: a bawling fervency, which the hearers may discern to
be but histrionical and affected, and not to come from a serious
heart, doth harden the auditors worst of all. A rude, unreverent noise
is unbeseeming an ambassador of Christ. But an ignorant saying of a
few confused words, or a sleepy recital of the most pertinent things,
do as little beseem them. Christ raised not Lazarus by the loudness of
his voice: but where the natural ears are the passage to the mind,
the voice and manner should be suitable to the matter. Noise without
seriousness and pertinent matter, is like gunpowder without bullet,
that causeth sound and no execution. And the weightiest matter without
clear explication and lively application, is like bullet without
powder. If you will throw cannon bullets at the enemy with your hands,
they will sooner fall on your feet than on them. And it is deadness
aggravated by hypocrisy, when a lifeless preacher will pretend
moderation, as if he were afraid of speaking too loud and earnestly,
lest he should awake the dead, whom lightning and thunder will not
awake: and when he will excuse himself by accusing those that are not
as drowsy or dead as he; and would make men believe that seriousness
is intemperate rage or madness. If you are cast upon a cold and sleepy
minister, consider the matter more than the manner; but choose not
such a one for the cure of hardness and insensibility of heart.
_Direct._ VIII. Take notice, how sensible tender-hearted christians
are of sins far less than those that you make a jest of; and how close
those matters come to their hearts, that touch not yours. And have not
you as much cause to be moved as they? and as much need to lay such
things to heart? Did you but know what a trouble it is to them, to be
haunted with temptations to the unbelief and atheism which prevaileth
with you, though they are far from choosing them, or delighting in
them; did you see how involuntary thoughts and frailties make some of
them weary of themselves; and how they even hate their hearts for
believing no more, and loving God no more, and for being so strange to
God and heaven, when yet there is nothing in the world so dear to
them, nor hath so much of their estimation or endeavour; you would
think, sure, that if such hearts had your sin and misery to feel, they
would feel it to their grief indeed, unless the sin itself did hinder
the feeling, as it doth with you. Let tender-hearted christians
instruct you, and not be witnesses against you.
_Direct._ IX. Take heed of hardening company, examples, and discourse.
To hear men rail and scoff at holiness, and curse, and swear, and
blaspheme the name and truth of God, will at first make you tremble;
but if you wilfully cast yourself ordinarily into such company, by
degrees your sense and tenderness will be gone, and you will find a
very great hardening power, in the company, and frequent discourse,
and practices, which yourselves condemn.
_Direct._ X. Take heed of wilful sinning against knowledge; much more
of lying in such sin, unrepented of. It greatly hardeneth, to sin
against knowledge; and much more to commit such sins over and over.
This grieveth and driveth away the Spirit, and dangerously provoketh
God to leave men to themselves.
_Direct._ XI. Take heed of being customary in the use of those means
that must be the means of curing hardened hearts. If once the lively
preaching, and holy living, and fervent praying, of the servants of
God, be taken by thee but as matters of course, and thou go with them
to church and to prayers, but as to eat or drink, or kneel with them
but for custom, thou wilt be as the smith's dog, that can sleep by the
anvil, while the hammers are beating, and the sparks are flying about
his ears. It is dangerous to grow customary and dull, under powerful,
lively helps.
_Direct._ XII. Be often with the sick, and in the house of mourning,
and read thy lesson in the churchyard, and let the grave, and bones,
and dust instruct thee. When thou seest the end of all the living,
perhaps thou will somewhat lay it to heart. Sight will sometimes do
more than the hearing of greater things. Fear may possibly touch the
heart, that hath not yet so much ingenuity as to be melted by the
force of love. And ordinarily, the humbling and softening of a hard,
impenitent heart begins in fear, and ends in love. The work of
preparation is in a manner the work of fear alone. The first work of
true conversion is begun in a great measure of fear, and somewhat of
love; but so little as is scarce perceived, because of the more
sensible operations of fear. And as a christian groweth, his love
increaseth, till perfect love in the state of perfection have cast out
all tormenting fear, though not our reverence or filial fear of God.
Look, therefore, into the grave, and remember, man, that thou must
die!--thou must die!--it is past all controversy that thou must die!
And dost thou know where thou must appear, when death hath once
performed its office? Dost thou not believe that after death comes
judgment? Dost thou not know that thou art now in a life of trial, in
order to endless joy or misery? and that this life is to be lived but
once? and if thou miscarry now, thou art undone for ever? and that all
the hope of preventing thy damnation, is now, while this life of trial
doth continue? "Now is the accepted time: this is the day of
salvation." If hell be prevented, it must be now prevented! If ever
thou wilt pray, if ever thou wilt be converted, if ever thou wilt be
made an heir of heaven, it must be now! O man! how quickly will
patience have done with thee, and time be gone! and then, O then, it
will be too late! Knowest thou not, that all the care, and labour, and
hope of the devil for thy damnation, is laid out this way, if it be
possible, to find thee other work, or take thee up with other
thoughts, or keep thee asleep with presumptuous hopes, and carnal
mirth, and pleasures, and company, or quiet thee by delays, till time
be gone, and it be too late? And wilt thou let him have his will, and
pleasure him with thy own perdition? Dost thou think these are not
things to be considered on? Do they not deserve thy speediest and most
serious thoughts? At least use thy reason and self-love to the
awakening, and moving, and softening thy hardened heart.
PART III.
_Directions against Hypocrisy._
Hypocrisy is the acting the part of a religious person, as upon a
stage, by one that is not religious indeed;[147] a seeming in religion
to be what you are not, or to do what you do not; or a dissembling or
counterfeiting that piety which you have not. To counterfeit a state
of godliness is the sin only of the unregenerate, who at the present
are in a state of misery: to counterfeit some particular act of
godliness, or some higher degree, is an odious sin, but such as a
regenerate person may be tempted into. This act of hypocrisy doth not
denominate the person a hypocrite; but the state of hypocrisy doth.
Every hypocrite therefore is an ungodly person, seeming godly; or one
that indeed is no true christian, professing himself a christian. Of
hypocrites there be two sorts: some desire to deceive others, but not
themselves, but know themselves to be but dissemblers; and these are
commonly called, gross hypocrites: and some deceive both themselves
and others, and think they are no hypocrites, but are as confident of
their honesty and sincerity, as if they were no dissemblers at all:
but yet they are as verily hypocrites as the former, because they seem
to be religious and sincere, when indeed they are not, though they
think they are; and profess themselves to be true christians, when
they are nothing less. These are called close hypocrites, because they
know not themselves to be hypocrites; though they might know it if
they would. This is the commonest sort of hypocrites.
There are also two degrees of hypocrites: some of them have only a
general profession of christianity and godliness, which is the professed
religion of the country where they live; and these are hypocrites
because they profess to be what they are not: and others make a greater
and extraordinary profession of special strictness in their religion,
when they are not sincere; and these are eminently called hypocrites:
such as the Pharisees were among the Jews, and many friars, and Jesuits,
and nuns among the papists, who by their separating vows, and orders,
and habits, profess extraordinarily an extraordinary measure of
devotion, while they want the life of godliness.
In all hypocrisy there is considerable, 1. The thing pretended; 2. The
pretence, or means of seeming, or the cloak of their deceit. 1. The
thing pretended by common hypocrites is to be true christians, and
servants of God, and heirs of heaven, though not to be so zealous in it
as some of a higher degree. The thing pretended by eminent hypocrites is
to be zealous, eminent christians, or at least to be sincere in a
special manner, while they discern the common hypocrite not to be
sincere. 2. The cloak of seeming or pretence by which they would be
thought to be what they are not, is any thing in general that hath an
appearance of godliness, and is apt to make others think them godly. And
thus there are divers sorts of hypocrites, according to the variety of
their cloaks or ways of dissimulation; though hypocrisy itself be in all
of them the same thing. As among the very Mahometans, and heathens,
there oft arise some notable hypocrites, that by pretended revelations
and austerity of life, profess themselves (as Mahomet did) to be holy
persons, that had some extraordinary familiarity with God or angels. So
among the papists there are, besides the common ones, as many sorts of
hypocrites as they have self-devised orders. And every where the cloak
of the common hypocrite is so thin and transparent, that it showeth his
nakedness to the more intelligent sort: and this puts the eminent
hypocrite upon some more laudable pretence, that is not so transparent.
As for instance, the hypocrisy of common papists, whose cloak is made up
of penances and ceremonies, of saying over Latin words, or numbering
words and beads for prayers, with all the rest of their trumpery before
named, (chap. iii. gr. direct. xv. direct. xi.) is so thin a cloak that
it will not satisfy some among themselves, but they withdraw into
distinct societies and orders, (the church and the profession of
christianity being not enough for them,) that they may be religious, as
if they saw that the rest are not religious. And then the common sort
of ungodly protestants have so much wit, as to see through the cloak of
all the popish hypocrisy; and therefore they take up a fitter for
themselves; and that is, the name of a protestant reformed religion and
church, joined to the common profession of christianity. The name and
profession of a christian and a protestant, with going to church, and a
heartless lip-service or saying their prayers, is the cloak of all
ungodly protestants. Others, discerning the thinness of this cloak, do
think to make themselves a better; and they take up the strictest
opinions in religion, and own those which they account the strictest
party, and own that which they esteem the purest and most spiritual
worship: the cloak of these men is their opinions, party, and way of
worship, while their carnal lives detect their hypocrisy. Some that see
through all these pretences, do take up the most excellent cloak of all,
and that is, an appearance of serious spirituality in religion, with a
due observation of all the outward parts and means, and a reformation of
life, in works of piety, justice, and charity; I say, an appearance of
all these, which if they had indeed, they were sincere, and should be
saved; in which the godly christian goeth beyond them all.
By this it is plain, that among us in England all men that are not
saints are hypocrites, because that all (except here or there a Jew or
infidel) profess themselves to be christians; and every true christian
is a saint. They know that none but saints or godly persons shall be
saved; and there is few of them that will renounce their hopes of
heaven; and therefore they must pretend to be all godly. And is it not
most cursed, horrid hypocrisy, for a man to pretend to religion as the
only way to his salvation, and confidently call himself a christian,
while he hateth and derideth the power and practice of that very
religion which he doth profess? Of this see my Treatise of "The vain
Religion of the Formal Hypocrite."
The hypocrite's ends in his pretences and dissemblings are not all the
same: one intendeth the pleasing of parents, or some friends on whom he
doth depend, that will else be displeased with him, and think ill of
him. Another intendeth the pleasing of the higher powers, when it falls
out that they are friends to godliness. Another intends the preserving
of his esteem with religious persons, that they may not judge him wicked
and profane. Another intendeth the hiding of some particular villany, or
the success of some ambitious enterprise. But the most common end is to
quiet and comfort their guilty souls, with an image of that holiness
which they are without, and to steal some peace to their consciences by
a lie: and so because they will not be religious indeed, they will take
up some show or image of religion, to make themselves as well as others
believe that they are religious.[148]
_Direct._ I. To escape hypocrisy, understand well wherein the life and
power of godliness doth consist, and wherein it differeth from the
lifeless image or corpse of godliness. The life of godliness is
expressed in the seventeen grand directions in chap. iii. It
principally consisteth in such a faith in Christ, as causeth us to
love God above all, and obey him before all, and prefer his favour and
the hopes of heaven before all the pleasures, or profits, or honours
of the world; and to worship him in spirit and truth, according to the
direction of his word. The images of religion I showed you before,
page 176. Take heed of such a lifeless image.
_Direct._ II. See that your chief study be about the heart, that there
God's image may be planted, and his interest advanced, and the interest
of the world and flesh subdued, and the love of every sin cast out, and
the love of holiness succeed; and that you content not yourselves with
seeming to do good in outward acts, when you are bad yourselves, and
strangers to the great internal duties. The first and great work of a
christian is about his heart. There it is that God dwelleth by his
Spirit, in his saints; and there it is that sin and Satan reign, in the
ungodly. The great duties and the great sins are those of the heart.
There is the root of good and evil: the tongue and life are but the
fruits and expressions of that which dwelleth within.[149] The inward
habit of sin is a second nature: and a sinful nature is worse than a
sinful act. "Keep your hearts with all diligence: for from thence are
the issues of life," Prov. iv. 23. Make the tree good, and the fruit
will be good: but the "viperous generation that are evil, cannot speak
good; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," Matt.
xii. 33, 34. Till the Spirit have regenerated the soul, all outward
religion will be but a dead and pitiful thing: though there is something
which God hath appointed an unregenerate man to do, in order to his own
conversion, yet no such antecedent act will prove that the person is
justified or reconciled to God, till he be converted. To make up a
religion of doing or saying something that is good, while the heart is
void of the Spirit of Christ, and sanctifying grace, is the hypocrite's
religion, Rom. viii. 9.
_Direct._ III. Make conscience of the sins of the thoughts, and the
desire and other affections or passions of the mind, as well as of the
sins of tongue or hand. A lustful thought, a malicious thought, a
proud, ambitious, or covetous thought, especially if it proceed to a
wish, or contrivance, or consent, is a sin the more dangerous by how
much the more inward and near the heart; as Christ hath showed you,
Matt. v. and vi. The hypocrite who most respecteth the eye of man,
doth live as if his thoughts were free.
_Direct._ IV. Make conscience of secret sins, which are committed out
of the sight of men, and may be concealed from them, as well as of
open and notorious sins. If he can do it in the dark and secure his
reputation, the hypocrite is bold: but a sincere believer doth bear a
reverence to his conscience, and much more to the all-seeing God.
_Direct._ V. Be faithful in secret duties, which have no witness but
God and conscience: as meditation, and self-examination, and secret
prayer; and be not only religious in the sight of men.
_Direct._ VI. In all public worship be more laborious with the heart,
than with the tongue or knee: and see that your tongue overrun not your
heart, and leave it not behind. Neglect not the due composure of your
words, and due behaviour of your bodies: but take much more pains for
the exercise of holy desires from a believing, loving, fervent soul.
_Direct._ VII. Place not more in the externals, or modes, or
circumstances, or ceremonies of worship, than is due; and lay not out
more zeal for indifferent or little things than cometh to their
share; but let the great substantials of religion have the precedency,
and be far preferred before them.[150] Let the love of God and man be
the sum of your obedience; and be sure you learn well what that
meaneth, "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice." And remember, that
the great thing which God requireth of you, is "to do justice, and
love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.--Destroy not him with your
meat for whom Christ died." Call not for fire from heaven upon
dissenters; and think not every man intolerable in the church, that is
not in every little matter of your mind. Remember that the hypocrisy
of the Pharisees is described by Christ, as consisting in a zeal for
their own traditions, and the inventions of men, and the smallest
matters of the ceremonial law, with a neglect of the greatest moral
duties, and a furious cruelty against the spiritual worshippers of
God. Matt. xv. 2, "Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of
the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread." Ver.
7-10, "Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This
people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with
their lips, but their heart is far from me: but in vain do they
worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Matt.
xxiii. 4-6, 13, 14, &c. "They bind heavy burdens, which they touch not
themselves. All their works they do to be seen of men: they make broad
their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments; and
love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the
synagogues, and greetings in public, and to be called Rabbi.--But they
shut up the kingdom of heaven against men," and were the greatest
enemies of the entertainment of the gospel by the people. They "tithed
mint, and anise, and cummin, and omitted the great matters of the law,
judgment, and mercy, and faith." They "strained at a gnat, and
swallowed a camel." They had a great veneration for the "dead prophets
and saints," and yet were persecutors and murderers of their
"successors" that were "living," ver. 23, &c. By this description you
may see which way hypocrisy doth most ordinarily work: even to a blind
and bloody zeal for opinions, and traditions, and ceremonies, and
other little things, to the treading down the interest of Christ and
his gospel, and a neglect of the life and power of godliness, and a
cruel persecuting those servants of Christ, whom they are bound to
love above their ceremonies. I marvel that many papists tremble not
when they read the character of the Pharisees! But that hypocrisy is a
hidden sin, and is an enemy to the light which would discover it.
_Direct._ VIII. Make conscience of the duties of obedience to
superiors, and of justice and mercy towards men, as well as of acts of
piety to God. Say not a long mass in order to devour a widow's house,
or a christian's life or reputation. Be equally exact in justice and
mercy as you are in prayers; and labour as much to exceed common men
in the one as in the other. Set yourselves to do all the good you can
to all, and do hurt to none; and do to all men as you would they
should do to you.
_Direct._ IX. Be much more busy about yourselves than about others;
and more censorious of yourselves than of other men; and more strict
in the reforming of yourselves than of any others. For this is the
character of the sincere: when the hypocrite is little at home and
much abroad; and is a sharp reprehender of others, and perniciously
tender and indulgent to himself. Mark his discourse in all companies,
and you shall hear how liberal he is in his censures and bitter
reproach of others: how such men, and such men (that differ from him,
or have opposed him, or that he hates) are thus and thus faulty, and
bad, and hateful. Yea, he is as great an accuser of his adversaries
for hypocrisy, as if he were not a hypocrite himself; because he can
accuse them of a heart sin without any visible control. If he call
them drunkards, or swearers, or persecutors, or oppressors, all that
know them could know that he belieth them; but when he speaks about
matters in the dark, he thinks the reputation of his lies have more
advantage. Many a word you may hear from him, how bad his adversaries
are; but if such hypocritical talk did not tell you, he would not tell
you how bad he is himself.[151]
_Direct._ X. Be impartial, and set yourselves before your consciences
in the case of others. Think with yourselves, How should I judge of
this, in such and such a man, that I use to blame? What should I say
of him, if my adversary did as I do? And is it not as bad in me as in
him? Is not the sin most dangerous to me that is nearest me? And
should I be more vigilant over any man's faults than my own? My
damnation will not be caused by his sin; but by my own it may. Instead
of seeing the gnat in his eye, I have more cause to cast out a gnat
from my own than a camel from his.
_Direct._ XI. Study first to be whatever (judiciously) you desire to
seem. Desire a thousand times more to be godly, than to seem so; and
to be liberal, than to be thought so; and to be blameless from every
secret or presumptuous sin, than to be esteemed such.[152] And when
you feel a desire to be accounted good, let it make you think how much
more necessary and desirable it is to be good indeed. To be godly, is
to be an heir of heaven: your salvation followeth it. But to be
esteemed godly is of little profit to you.
_Direct._ XII. Overvalue not man, and set no more by the approbation
or applause of his thoughts or speeches of you than they are worth.
Hypocrisy much consisteth in overvaluing man, and making too great a
matter of his thoughts and words. The hypocrite's religion is divine
in name, but human in deed: it is man that he serveth and observeth
most; and the shame of the world is the evil which he most studiously
avoideth; and the high esteem and commendation of the world is his
reward. O think, what a silly worm is man! And of how little moment
are his thoughts or speeches of you, in comparison of the love of God!
His thoughts of you make you not the better or the worse; and if they
either lift you up or trouble you, it is your proud and foolish
fantasy that doth it, when you might choose. If you have not lost the
key and government of your hearts, shut you the door, and keep all
thence, and let men's reproaches go no further than your ears; and
then what the worse will you be for all the lies and slanders of the
world? And besides the pleasing of an effeminate mind, what the better
are you for their applause?[153]
_Direct._ XIII. Look upon all men that you converse with, as ready to
die and turn to dust, and passing into that world where you will be
little concerned in their censure or esteem of you. If you do any
thing before an infant, you little care for his presence or
observation of you: much less if it be before the dead. If you knew
that a man were to die to-morrow, though he were a prince, you would
not be much solicitous to avoid his censure or procure his applause;
because his thoughts all perish with him; and it is a small matter
what he thinks of you for a day. Seeing therefore that all men are
hastening to their dust, and you are certain that all that applaud or
censure you will be quickly gone, how little should you regard their
judgment! Look that man in the face whose applause you desire, or
whose censure you fear, and remember that he is a breathing clod of
clay; and how many such are now in the grave, whose thoughts you once
as much esteemed! and this will make you more indifferent in the case.
_Direct._ XIV. At least remember that you are passing out of the world
yourselves, and look every moment when you are called away, and
certainly know that you shall be here but a little while. And is it
any great matter what strangers think of you as you are passing by?
You can be contented that your name, and worth, and virtues be
concealed in your inn, where you stay but a night, and that they be
unknown to travellers that meet you on the road. The foolish
expectation of more time on earth than God hath given you warrant to
expect, is the cause that we overvalue the judgment of man, as well as
other earthly things, and is a great maintainer of every sensual vice.
_Direct._ XV. Set yourselves to the mortifying of self-love and pride:
for hypocrisy is but the exercise of these. Hypocrisy is dead so far
as pride is dead; and so far as self-denial and humility prevail.
Hypocrisy is a proud desire to appear better than you are. Be
thoroughly humbled and vile in your own eyes, and hypocrisy is done.
_Direct._ XVI. Be most suspicious of your hearts in cases where
self-interest or passions are engaged; for they will easily deal
deceitfully and cheat yourselves, in the smoke and dust of such
distempers. Interest and passion so blind the mind, that you may
verily think you are defending the truth, and serving God in sincerity
and zeal, when all the while you are but defending some error of your
own, and serving yourselves, and fighting against God. The Pharisees
thought they took part with God's law and truth against Christ. The
pope, and his cardinals and prelates, think (as in charity I must
think) that it is for Christ, and unity, and truth, that they
endeavour to subject the world to their own power. And what is it but
interest that blindeth them into such hypocrisy? So, passionate
disputers do ordinarily deceive themselves, and think verily that they
are zealous for the faith, when they are but contending for their
honour or conceits. Passion covers much deceit from the passionate.
_Direct._ XVII. Suspect yourselves most among the great, the wise, the
learned, and the godly, or any whose favour, opinion, or applause you
most esteem. It is easy for an arrant hypocrite to despise the favour
or opinion of the vulgar, of the ignorant, of the profane, or any
whose judgment he contemneth. It is no great honour or dishonour to be
praised or dispraised by a child, or fool, or a person that for his
ignorance or profaneness is become contemptible. But hypocrisy and
pride do work most to procure the esteem of those, whose judgment or
parts you most admire. One most admireth worldly greatness; and such a
one will play the hypocrite most, to flatter or please the great ones
he admireth. Another that is wiser, more admireth the judgment of the
wise and learned; and he will play the hypocrite to procure the good
esteem of such, though he can slight a thousand of the ignorant; and
his pride itself will make him slight them. Another that is yet wiser,
is convinced of the excellency of godly men, above all the great and
learned of the world: and this man is more in danger of pride and
hypocrisy in seeking the good opinion of the godly; and therefore can
despise the greatest multitude of the ignorant and profane. Yea, pride
itself will make him take it as an addition to his glory, to be
vilified and opposed by such miscreants as these.
_Direct._ XVIII. Remember the perfections of that God whom you
worship, that he is a Spirit, and therefore to be worshipped in spirit
and in truth; and that he is most great and terrible, and therefore to
be worshipped with seriousness and reverence, and not to be dallied
with, or served with toys or lifeless lip-service; and that he is most
holy, pure, and jealous, and therefore to be purely worshipped; and
that he is still present with you, and all things are naked and open
to him with whom we have to do. The knowledge of God, and the
remembrance of his all-seeing presence, are the most powerful means
against hypocrisy. Christ himself argueth from the nature of God, who
is a Spirit, against the hypocritical ceremoniousness of the
Samaritans and Jews, John iv. 23, 24. Hypocrites offer that to God,
which they know a man of ordinary wisdom would scorn if they offered
it to him. If a man knew their hearts as God doth, would he be pleased
with words, and compliments, and gestures, which are not accompanied
with any suitable seriousness of the mind? Would he be pleased with
affected, histrionical actions? One that seeth a papist priest come
out in his formalities, and there lead the people, in a language which
they understand not, to worship God by a number of ceremonies, and
canting, repeated, customary words, would think he saw a stage-player
acting his part, and not a wise and holy people, seriously worshipping
the most holy God. And not only in worship, but in private duties, and
in converse with men, and in all your lives, the remembrance of God's
presence is a powerful rebuke for all hypocrisy. It is more foolish to
sin in the sight of God, because you can hide it from the world, than
to steal or commit adultery in the open market-place, before the
crowd, and be careful that dogs and crows discern it not. If all the
world see you, it is not so much as if God in secret see you. "Be not
deceived, God is not mocked," Gal. vi. 7.
_Direct._ XIX. Remember how hypocrisy is hated of God; and what
punishment is appointed for hypocrites. They are joined in torment
with unbelievers. And, as wicked men's punishment is aggravated by
their being condemned to the fire prepared for the devil and his
angels; so the punishment of ordinary ungodly persons, is aggravated
by this, that their portion shall be with hypocrites and unbelievers.
How oft find you the Lamb of God himself denouncing his thundering
woes against the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees! How oft doth he
inculcate to his disciples, "Be not as the hypocrites," Matt. vi. 2,
5, 16. And no wonder if hypocrites be hateful to God, when they and
their services are lifeless images, and have nothing but the name and
outside of christianity, and some antique dress to set them off, and
human ornaments of wit and parts; as a corpse is more drest with
flowers than the living, as needing those ceremonies for want of life
to keep them sweet: and a carrion is not amiable to God. And the
hypocrite puts a scorn on God; as if he thought that God were like the
heathen's idols, that have eyes and see not, and could not discern the
secret dissemblings of his heart; or as if he were like fools and
children that are pleased with fair words and little toys. God must
needs hate such abuse as this.
_Direct._ XX. Come into the light, that your hearts and lives may be
thoroughly known to you. Love the most searching, faithful ministry
and books; and be thankful to reprovers and plain-dealing friends.
Darkness is it that cherisheth deceit: it is the office of the light
to manifest. Justly do those wretches perish in their hypocrisy, who
will not endure the light which would undeceive them; but fly from a
plain and powerful ministry, and hate plain reproof, and set
themselves by excuses and cavils to defend their own deceit.[154]
_Direct._ XXI. Be very diligent in the examining of your hearts and all
your actions by the word of God, and call yourselves often to a strict
account. Deceit and guilt will not endure strict examination. The word
of God is quick and powerful, discovering the thoughts and imaginations
of the heart. There is no hypocrite but might be delivered from his own
deceits, if by the assistance of an able guide, he would faithfully go
on in the work of self-trying, without partiality or sloth.
_Direct._ XXII. Live continually as one that is going to be judged at
the bar of God, where all hypocrisy will be opened and shamed, and
hypocrites condemned by the all-knowing God. One thought of our
appearing before the Lord, and of the day of his impartial judgment,
one would think should make men walk as in the light, and teach them
to understand, that the sun is not eclipsed as often as they wink, nor
is it night because they draw the curtains. What a shame will it be to
have all your dissimulation laid open before all the world! Luke xii.
1-3, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy: for
there is nothing covered, which shall not be revealed; neither hid,
that shall not be known. Therefore whatever ye have spoken in darkness
shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear
in closets, shall be proclaimed on the house-tops."
_Direct._ XXIII. Think not that you avoid hypocrisy by changing the
expressions of it; but see that you run not into a more subtle kind,
while you avoid a grosser. There is no outward way of worshipping God,
nor any opinion in religion, so sound, but a hypocrite can make a
cloak of it. You see an ignorant, ridiculous hypocrite, such as Bishop
Hall describeth in his character, that can pray up to a pillar, when
his heart knoweth not what his tongue is doing; that babbleth over a
few words to God while he is dressing or washing him, and talking
between to the standers-by; who offereth to God the sacrifice of a
fool, and knoweth not that he doth evil, Eccles. v. 2; that serveth
God with toys and antic gestures, and saying over certain words which
were never acquainted with the feeling of his heart, nor scarce with
his understanding. And to avoid his hypocrisy, perhaps, you can
merrily deride him, and make a formal popish hypocrite the subject of
your jests; and you can yourselves, with good understanding, pour out
yourselves many hours together in orderly and meet expressions of
prayer: but remember that many a hypocrite maketh himself a cloak of
as good stuff as this; and that as pride hath more advantage to work
upon your greater knowledge and better parts, so hypocrisy is but the
offspring of pride. All this, without a heart entirely devoted unto
God, is but a carcass better dressed; as the rich have more curious
monuments than the poor. There is no outside thing, in which a
hypocrite may not seem excellent.
_Direct._ XXIV. Be true to conscience, and hearken diligently to all
it saith, and be often treating with it, and daily conversant and well
acquainted with it.[155] Hypocrites bear little reverence to their
consciences: they make so often and so grossly bold with them, that
conscience is deposed from its office at the present, and silenced by
them, lest it should gall them by preaching to them those hard sayings
which they cannot bear: and perhaps at last it is seared or bribed to
take part with sin. But usually a hypocrite hath a secret judge within
him which condemneth him. Take heed how you use your conscience, as
you love your peace and happiness. Next Christ, it must be your best
friend, or your greatest enemy: palliate it how you will at present,
if you wound it, it will smart at last. And it is easier to bear
poverty, or shame, or torment, than to bear its wounds, Prov. xviii.
14. 1. Mark the very principles and former judgment of your
consciences; and if they are changed, know what changed them. 2.
Hearken to all the secret counsel and reproofs of conscience,
especially when it speaketh oft and terribly; turn it not off without
a hearing; yea, know the reason of its very scruples and doubts. 3.
When it is sick and disquieted, know what the matter is, Psal. liii.
5, and vomit up the matter that justly disquiets it, whatever it cost
you; and be sure you go to the bottom, and do not leave the root
behind. 4. Open your consciences to some able, trusty guide when it is
necessary, though it cost you shame. An over-tender avoiding of such
shame is the hypocrite's sin and folly. Counsel is safe in matters of
such importance. 5. Prefer conscience before all men, how great
soever: none is above it but God. It is God's messenger, when it is
conscience indeed: remember what it saith to you, and from whom, and
for what end. Let friends, and neighbours, and company, and business,
and profit, and sports, and honour stand by, and all give place whilst
conscience speaketh; for it will be a better friend to you than any of
these, if you use it as a friend. It would have been better to Judas
than his thirty pieces were. 6. Yet see that it be well informed, and
see its commission, for it is not above God; nor is it masterless or
lawless. 7. Converse not with it only in a crowd, but in secret, Psal.
iv. 4. 8. Keep it awake; and keep it among awakening means and
company: it will much sooner fall asleep in an ale-house, or a
play-house, or among the foolish and profane, than at a lively sermon,
or prayers, or reverent discourse of God. If I could but get
conscience awakened to perform its office, and preach over all this
that I have said in secret, it would ferret the hypocrite out of his
self-deceit. Go, conscience, and search that deceitful heart, and
speak to it in the name of God: ask that hypocrite whether conversion
ever made him a new creature, and whether his soul and all that he
hath be entirely devoted unto God? and whether his hopes and treasures
be laid up in heaven, and his heart be there? and whether he subject
all his worldly interest to the will of God, and the interest of his
soul? and whether his greatest work be about his heart, and to approve
himself to God? and whether he make an impartial, diligent inquiry
after the truth, with a desire to receive it at the dearest rates?
Tell him that a proud self-flattery may now make him justify or
extenuate his sins, and take his formalities, and lip-service, and
abuse of God for true devotion, and hate every man that would detect
his hypocrisy, and convert him by bringing in the light; but a light
will shortly appear to his soul, which he shall not resist. And then
let him stand to his justification if he can; and let him then make it
good that he gave up himself in sincerity, simplicity, and
self-denial, to his God.
_Direct._ XXV. Remember that hypocrisy lieth much in doubling, and in
a dividing heart and life: see therefore that you serve God in
singleness of heart, or simplicity and integrity, as being his alone.
Think not of serving God and mammon: a deep reserve at the heart for
the world, while they seem to give up themselves in covenant to God,
is the grand character of a hypocrite. Live as those that have one
Lord and one Master, that all power stoopeth to; and one end or scope,
to which all other are but means; and one work of absolute necessity
to do; and one kingdom to seek first, and with greatest care and
diligence to make sure of; and that have your hearts and faces still
one way; and that agree with yourselves in what you think, and say,
and do.[156] A double heart and a double tongue is the fashion of the
hypocrite, Psal. xii. 2; 1 Tim. iii. 8. He hath a heart for the world,
and pride, and lust, which must seem sometimes to be lifted up to ask
forgiveness, that he may sin with quietness and hope of salvation: you
would not think when you see him drop his beads, or lift up his hands
and eyes, and seem devoutly to say his prayers, how lately he came
from a tavern, or a whore, or a lie, or from scorning at serious
godliness. As Bishop Hall saith, he seemeth to serve that God at
church on holy-days, whom he neglecteth at home; and boweth at the
name of Jesus, and sweareth profanely by the name of God. Remember
that there is but one God, one heaven for us, one happiness, and one
way;[157] and this one is of such moment, as calls for all the
intention and attention of our souls, and is enough to satisfy us, and
should be enough to call us off from all that would divert us. A
divided heart is a false and self-deceiving heart. Are there two Gods?
or is Christ divided?[158] While you grasp at both (God and the
world) you will certainly lose one, and it is like you will lose both.
To have two Gods, two rules, two heavens, is to have no God, no true
rule, no heaven or happiness at all. Halt not therefore between two
opinions: if God be God, obey him and love him; if heaven be heaven,
be sure it be first sought. But if thy belly be thy god, and the world
be thy heaven, then serve and seek them, and make thy best of them.
_Direct._ XXVI. Take heed of all that fleshly policy or craft, and
worldly wisdom, which are contrary to the wisdom of the word of God,
and would draw thee from the plain and open-heartedness which godly
sincerity requireth. Let that which was Paul's rejoicing be yours,
"that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, you
have had your conversation in the world," 2 Cor. i. 12. Christianity
renounceth not wisdom and honest self-preservation; but yet it maketh
men plain-hearted, and haters of crafty, fraudulent minds. What is the
famous hypocritical religion superadded to christianity and called
popery, but that which Paul feared in his godly jealousy for the
Corinthians, "lest as the serpent beguiled Eve by his subtilty, so
their minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ," 2 Cor. xi. 1-3. A forsaking the christian simplicity of
doctrine, discipline, worship, and conversation, is the hypocrisy of
religion, and of life. Equivocating and dishonest shifts and hiding,
beseem those that have an ill cause, or an ill conscience, or an ill
master whom they dare not trust; and not those that have so good a
cause and God as christians have.
_Direct._ XXVII. Remember how much of sincerity consisteth in
seriousness, and how much of hypocrisy consisteth in seeming, and
dreaming, and trifling in the things of God and our salvation: see
therefore that you keep your souls awake, in a sensible and serious
frame.[159] Read over the fifty considerations, which, in the third part
of my "Saints' Rest," I have given to convince you of the necessity of
being serious. See that there be as much in your faith as in your creed,
and as much in your hearts and lives as in your belief. Remember that
seeming and dreaming will not mortify deep-rooted sins, nor conquer
strong and subtle enemies, nor make you acceptable to God, nor save your
souls from his revenging justice. Remember what a mad kind of
profaneness it is to jest and trifle about heaven and hell, and to dally
with the great and dreadful God. "Seeing all these things shall be
dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy
conversation and godliness?" 2 Pet. iii. 11. You pray for an obedience
answering the pattern of the heavenly society, when you say, "Thy will
be done on earth as it is in heaven;" and will you be such hypocrites as
to pray, that you may imitate saints and angels in the purity and
obedience of your hearts and lives, and when you have done, take up with
shows, and seemings, and saying a few words, and a lifeless image of
that holiness which you never had; yea, and perhaps deride and persecute
in others the very thing which you daily pray for. O horrible abuse of
the all-seeing God! Do you no more believe or fear his justice? When the
apostle saith, Gal. vi. 7, "Be not deceived, God is not mocked;" he
intimateth, that hypocrites go about to put a scorn on God by a mock
religion, though it is not he, but themselves, that will prove mocked in
the end. They offer God a deaf nut, or an empty shell or cask, for a
sacrifice. An hypocrite differeth from a true christian, as a fencer
from a soldier; he playeth his part very formally upon a stage with much
applause; but you may perceive that he is not in good sadness, by his
trifling and formality, and never killing any of his sins. Would men
show no more of the great, everlasting matters of their own professed
belief, in any seriousness of affection or endeavour than most men do,
if they were not hypocrites? Would they hate and scorn men for doing but
that (and part of that) which they pray and profess to do themselves, if
they were not hypocrites? Woe to the world, because of hypocrisy! Woe to
the carnal members of the church! Woe to idol shepherds, and the
seeming, nominal, lifeless christians, of what sect soever! for God will
not be mocked. They are christians, but it is with a mock christianity,
while their souls are strange to the true esteem and use of Christ. They
are believers, but with a mock belief, described James ii. They believe
God should be loved above all, but they love him not. They believe that
holiness is better than all the pleasures of sin; yet they choose it
not, but hate it.[160] They are religious, with a seeming vain religion,
which will not so much as humble them, nor bridle their tongues, James
i. 26. They are wise, with a mock wisdom; they are wise enough to prove
their sins to be all lawful, or but venial sins: and wise enough to cast
away the medicine that would heal them; and to confute the physician,
and to answer the learnedst preacher of them all, and to scape
salvation, and to secure themselves a place in hell, and keep themselves
ignorant of it till they are there. They are converted, but with a mock
conversion; which leaveth them as carnal, and proud, and worldly as
before; being born of water but not of the Spirit, and being sensual
still, John iii. 5, 6; Jude 19. They repent, but with a mock repentance;
they repent, but they will not leave their sin, nor confess and bewail
it, but hate reproof, and excuse their sin. They are honest, but with a
mock honesty; though they swear, and curse, and rail, and slander, and
backbite, and scorn at piety itself, yet they mean well, and have honest
hearts: though they receive not the word with deep-rooting in their
hearts, but are abominable and disobedient, and to every good work
reprobate, they are honest for all that, Luke viii. 15; Tit. i. 16. They
love God above all, though they love not to think or speak of him
seriously, but hate his holiness and justice, his word and holy ways and
servants, and are such as the Scripture calleth "haters of God;" and
keep not his commandments, nor live to his glory.[161] They love the
servants of God, but they care not if the world were rid of them all;
and take them to be but a company of self-conceited, troublesome
fellows, and as very hypocrites as themselves; and the poor christians
that are cruelly used by them, think they are neither in good sadness
nor in jest, when they profess to love the worshippers of God. They love
not their money, nor lands, nor lusts, with such a kind of love, I am
sure. They have also always good desires; but they are such mock desires
as those in James ii. 15, that wished the poor were fed, and clothed,
and warmed, but gave them nothing towards it: and such good desires as
the sluggard hath, that lieth in bed and wisheth that all his work were
done, Prov. xxi. 25. "The desire of the sluggard killeth him, because
his hands refuse to labour." They pray, but with mock prayers; you would
little think that they are speaking to the most holy God, for no less
than the saving of their souls, when they are more serious in their very
games and sports. They pray for grace, but they cannot abide it; they
pray for holiness, but they are resolved they will have none of it; they
pray against their sin, but no entreaty can persuade them from it. They
would have a mock ministry, a mock discipline, a mock church, a mock
sacrament, as they make a mock profession, and give God but a mock
obedience; as I might show you through all the particulars, but for
being tedious. And all this, because they have but a mock faith: they
believe not that God is in good earnest with them in his commands, and
threatenings, and foretelling of his judgments; as Lot to his
sons-in-law, Gen. xix. 14, "He seemeth to them as one that mocked," and
therefore they serve him as those that would mock him. O wretched
hypocrites! is this agreeable to your holy profession? You call
yourselves christians, and profess to believe the doctrine of Christ: is
this agreeable to christianity, to your creed, to the ten commandments,
to the Lord's prayer, and to the rest of the word of God? Had you none
but the holy, jealous God to make a mock of? Had you nothing less than
religion, and matters of salvation and damnation, to play with? Do you
serve God as if he were a child, or an idol, or a man of straw; that
either knoweth not your hearts, or is pleased with toys, and
compliments, and shows, and saying over certain words, or acting a part
before him as on a stage?[162] Do you know what you offer, and to whom?
His power is omnipotency; his glory is ten thousand-fold above that of
the sun; his wisdom is infinite; millions of angels adore him
continually; he is thy King and Judge; he abhorreth hypocrites. If thou
didst but see one glimpse of his glory, or the meanest of his angels,
the sight would awake thee from thy dreaming and dallying, and frighten
thee from thy canting and trifling into a serious regard of God and thy
everlasting state. Mal. i. 8, "Offer this now to thy governor: will he
be pleased with thee, or accept thy person, saith the Lord of hosts?" If
your servants set before you upon your table the feathers instead of the
fowl, and the hair and wool instead of the flesh, and the scales instead
of the fish, would you not think they rather mocked than served you? How
dear have some paid even in this life for mocking God, let the case of
Aaron's sons, Lev. x. 1-3, and of Ananias and Sapphira, Acts v. inform
you: if with the fig-tree, Matt. xxi. 19, you offer God leaves only
instead of fruit, you are nigh unto cursing, and your end is to be
burned. Do you not read what he saith to the church of Laodicea, Rev.
iii. 15, 16, "I would thou wert cold or hot; because thou art lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth:" that is,
either be an open infidel, or a holy, downright, zealous christian: but
because thou callest thyself a christian, and hast not the life or zeal
of a christian, but coverest thy wickedness and carnality with that holy
name, I will cast thee away as an abominable vomit. It would make the
heart of a believer ache to think of the hypocrisy of most that usurp
the name of christians, and how cruelly they mock themselves. What a
glory is offered them, and they lose it by their dallying! What a price
is in their hands, what mercy is offered them, and they lose it by their
dallying! What danger is before them, and they will fall into it by
their dallying! Doth not the weight of your salvation forbid this
trifling? You might better set the town on fire, and make a jest of it,
than jest your souls into the fire of hell. Then you will find that hell
is no jesting matter. If you mock yourselves out of your salvation,
where are you then? If you play with time, and means, and mercy till
they are gone, you are undone for ever. O dally not till you are past
remedy. Alas, poor dreaming trifling hypocrites! Is time so sweet, and
life so short, and death so sure and near, and God so holy, just, and
terrible, and heaven so glorious, and hell so hot, and both everlasting,
and yet will you not be in earnest about your work? Up and be doing, as
you are men! and as ever you care what becomes of you for ever! Depart
from iniquity, if you will name the name of Christ, 2 Tim. ii. 19. Let
not a cheating world delude you for a moment, and have the kernel, the
heart, while God hath but the empty shell. A mock religion will but keep
up a mock hope, a mock peace, and a mock joy and comfort, till Satan
have done his work, and be ready to unhood you and open your eyes. Job
viii. 13, "So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's
hope shall perish." Job xxvii. 8, 9, "For what is the hope of the
hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? Will
God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?" Job xx. 4-7, "Knowest
thou not this of old, that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and
the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? Though his excellency mount
up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds, yet he shall
perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say,
Where is he?" Away then with hypocritical formality and dalliance, and
be serious and sincere for thy soul, and with thy God.
PART IV.
_Directions against inordinate Man-pleasing; or that overvaluing
the Favour and Censure of Man, which is the fruit of Pride, and a
great cause of Hypocrisy; or, Directions against Idolizing Man._
As in other cases, so in this, iniquity consisteth not simply in the
heart's neglect of God, but in the preferring of some competitor, and
prevalence of some object which standeth up for an opposite
interest.[163] And so the obeying man before God and against him, and
the valuing the favour and approbation of man before or against the
approbation of God, and the fearing of man's censure or displeasure more
than God's, is an idolizing man, or setting him up in the place of God.
It turneth our chiefest observance, and care, and labour, and pleasure,
and grief into this human fleshly channel, and maketh all that to be but
human in our hearts and lives, which (objectively) should be divine.
Which is so great and dangerous a sin, partaking of so much impiety,
hypocrisy, and pride, as that it deserveth a special place in my
directions, and in all watchfulness and consideration to escape it.
As all other creatures, so especially man, must be regarded and valued
only in a due subordination and subserviency to God. If they be valued
otherwise, they are made his enemies, and so are to be hated,[164] and
are made the principal engine of the ruin of such as overvalue them.
See what the Scripture saith of this sin: Isa. ii. 22, "Cease ye from
man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be
accounted of?" Matt. xxiii. 9, "And call no man your father upon the
earth; for one is your Father which is in heaven."[165] Ver. 8, "And
be not ye called Rabbi; for one is your Master, even Christ: but he
that is greatest among you shall be your servant." Jer. xx. 15,
"Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm."
Psal. cxviii. 6, 8, 9, "The Lord is on my side; I will not fear what
man can do unto me. It is better to trust in the Lord, than to put
confidence in man,--yea, in princes." Job xxxii. 21, 22, "Let me not
accept any man's person; neither let me give flattering titles unto
man: for I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my Maker
would soon take me away." Job xxi. 4, "As for me, is my complaint to
man?" Gal. i. 10, "Do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men,
I should not be a servant of Christ." 1 Cor. iv. 3, "But with me it is
a very small thing to be judged of you, or of man's judgment." Luke
xiv. 26, "If a man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother,
and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own
life also, he cannot be my disciple." "Blessed are ye when man shall
revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for
great is your reward in heaven," Matt. v. 11, 12. "Not with
eye-service, as men-pleasers," Eph. vi. 6; Col. iii. 22. 1 Thess. ii.
4, "So we speak, not as pleasing men but God, who trieth our hearts."
Jude 16, "Having men's persons in admiration because of
advantage."[166] This is enough to show you what Scripture saith of
this inordinate man-pleasing, or respect to man: and now I shall
proceed to direct you to escape it.
_Direct._ I. Understand well wherein the nature of this sin
consisteth, that you may not run into the contrary extreme, but may
know which way to bend your opposition. I shall therefore first show
you, how far we may and must please men, and how far not.
1. Our parents, rulers, and superiors must be honoured, obeyed, and
pleased in all things which they require of us, in the several places
of authority which God hath given them over us; and this must be not
merely as to man, but as to the officers of God, from whom, and for
whom, (and not against him,) they have all their power, Rom. xiii.;
Exod. xx. 12; Titus iii. 1; 1 Pet. ii. 13; 2 Pet. ii. 10.
2. We must in charity, and condescension, and meekness of behaviour,
seek to please all men in order to their salvation. We must so thirst
for the conversion of sinners, that we must become all things (lawful)
to all men, that we may win them.[167] We must not stand upon our
terms, and keep at a distance from them, but condescend to the lowest,
and bear the infirmities of the weak; and in things indifferent not
take the course that pleaseth ourselves, but that which, by pleasing
him, may edify our weak brother. We must forbear and forgive, and part
with our right, and deny ourselves the use of our christian liberty,
were it as long as we live, if it be necessary to the saving of our
brethren's souls, by removing the offence which hindereth them by
prejudice. We must not seek our own carnal ends, but the benefit of
others, and do them all the good we can.
3. As our neighbour is commanded to love us as himself, we are bound
by all lawful means to render ourselves amiable to him, that we may
help and facilitate this his love, as it is more necessary to him than
to us: for to help him in obeying so great a command must needs be a
great duty. And therefore if his very sin possess him with prejudice
against us, or cause him to distaste us for some indifferent thing, we
must, as far as we can lawfully, remove the cause of his prejudice and
dislike; though he that hateth us for obeying God, must not be cured
by our disobeying him. We are so far from being obliged to displease
men by surliness and morosity, that we are bound to pleasing
gentleness, and brotherly kindness, and to all that carriage which is
necessary to cure their sinful hatred or dislike.
4. We must not be self-conceited, and prefer a weak, unfurnished
judgment of our own, before the greater wisdom of another; but in
honour must prefer each other: and the ignorant must honour the
knowledge and parts of others that excel them, and not be stiff in
their own opinion, nor wise in their own eyes, nor undervalue another
man's reasons or judgment; but be glad to learn of any that can teach
them, in the humble acknowledgment of their own insufficiency.
5. Especially we must reverence the judgment of our able, faithful
teachers, and not by pride set up our weaker judgment against them,
and resist the truth which they deliver to us from God. Neither must
we set light by the censures or admonitions of the lawful pastors of
the church:[168] when they are agreeable to the word and judgment of
God, they are very dreadful. As Tertullian saith, If any so offend as
to be banished from communion of prayer, and assembly, and all holy
commerce, it is a judgment foregoing the great judgment to come. Yea,
if the officers of Christ should wrong you in their censures by
passion or mistake, while they act in their own charge about matters
belonging to their cognisance and judgment, you must respectfully and
patiently bear the wrong, so as not to dishonour and contemn the
authority and office so abused.
6. If sober, godly persons, that are well acquainted with us, do
strongly suspect us to be faulty where we discern it not ourselves, it
should make us the more suspicious and fearful: and if judicious persons
fear you to be hypocrites, and no sound christians, by observing your
temper and course of life, it should make you search with the greater
fear, and not to disregard their judgment. And if judicious persons,
especially ministers, shall tell a poor, fearful, doubting christian,
that they verily think their state is safe, it may be a great stay to
them, and must not be slighted as nothing, though it cannot give them a
certainty of their case. Thus far man's judgment must be valued.
7. A good name among men, which is the reputation of our integrity, is
not to be neglected as a thing of nought; for it is a mercy from God
for which we must be thankful, and it is a useful means to our
successful serving and honouring God. And the more eminent we are, and
the more the honour of God and religion is joined with ours, or the
good of men's souls dependeth on our reputation, the more careful we
should be of it; and it may be a duty sometimes to vindicate it by the
magistrate's justice, against a slander. Especially preachers (whose
success for the saving of their hearers depends much on their good
name) must not despise it.[169]
8. The censures of the most petulant, and the scorns of enemies, are
not to be made light of, as they are their sins, which we must lament;
nor as they may provoke us to a more diligent search, and careful
watchfulness over our ways. Thus far man's judgment is regardable.
But, 1. We must know how frail, and erroneous, and unconstant a thing
man is; and therefore not be too high in our expectations from man. We
must suppose that men will mistake us, and wrong us, and slander us,
through ignorance, passion, prejudice, or self-interest. And when this
befalls us, we must not account it strange and unexpected.
2. We must consider how far the enmity that is in lapsed man to
holiness, and the ignorance, prejudice, and passion of the ungodly,
will carry them to despise, and scorn, and slander all such as
seriously and zealously serve God, and cross them in their carnal
interest. And therefore, if for the sake of Christ and righteousness,
we are accounted as the scorn and offscouring of all things, and as
pestilent fellows, and movers of sedition among the people, and such
as are unworthy to live, and have all manner of evil spoken of us
falsely, it must not seem strange or unexpected to us, nor cast us
down, but we must bear it patiently, yea, and exceedingly rejoice in
hope of our reward in heaven.[170]
3. Considering what remnants of pride and self-conceitedness remain in
many that have true grace, and how many hypocrites are in the church,
whose religion consisteth in opinions and their several modes of
worship; we must expect to be reproached and abused by such, as in
opinions, and modes, and circumstances do differ from us, and take us
therefore as their adversaries. A great deal of injustice, sometimes
by slanders or reproach, and sometimes by greater violence, must be
expected, from contentious professors of the same religion with
ourselves: especially when the interest of their faction or cause
requireth it: and especially if we bring any truth among them, which
seemeth new to them, or crosseth the opinions which are there in
credit, or would be reformers of them in any thing that is amiss.
4. No men must be pleased by sin, nor their favour preferred before
the pleasing of God. Man's favour as against God, is to be despised,
and their displeasure made light of. If doing our duty will displease
them, let them be displeased; we can but pity them.
5. We must place none of our happiness in the favour or approbation of
men, but account it as to ourselves to be a matter of no great moment;
neither worth any great care or endeavour to obtain it, or grief for
losing it. We must not only contemn it as compared to the approbation
and favour of God, but we must value it but as other transitory
things, in itself considered; estimating it as a means to some higher
end, the service of God, and our own or other men's greater good: and
further than it conduceth to some of these, it must be almost
indifferent to us what men think or say of us: and the displeasure of
all men, if unjust, must be reckoned with our light afflictions.
6. One truth of God, and the smallest duty, must be preferred before the
pleasing and favour of all the men in the world. Though yet as a means
to the promoting of a greater truth or duty, the favour and pleasing of
men must be preferred before the uttering of a lesser truth, or doing a
lesser good at that time: because it is no duty then to do it.
7. Our hearts are so selfish and deceitful, naturally, that when we
are very solicitous about our reputation, we must carefully watch them
lest self be intended, while God is pretended. And we must take
special care, that we be sure it be the honour of God, and religion,
and the good of souls, or some greater benefit than honour itself,
that we value our honour and reputation for.
8. Man's nature is so prone to go too far in valuing our esteem with
men, that we should more fear lest we err on that hand, than on the
other, in undervaluing it. And it is far safer to do too little than
too much, in the vindicating of our own reputation, whether by the
magistrate's justice, or by disputing, or any contentious means.
9. We must not wholly rest on the judgment of any, about the state of
our souls, nor take their judgment of us for infallible; but use their
help that we may know ourselves.
10. If ministers, or councils called general, do err and contradict
the word of God, we must do our best to discern it; and discerning it,
must desert their error rather than the truth of God. As Calvin, and
after him Paræus on 1 Cor. iv. 3, say, "We must give an account of our
doctrine to all men that require it, especially to ministers and
councils: but when a faithful pastor perceiveth himself oppressed with
unrighteous and perverse designs and factions, and that there is no
place for equity and truth, he ought to be careless of man's esteem,
and appeal to God, and fly to his tribunal. And if we see ourselves
condemned, our cause being unpleaded, and judgment passed, our cause
being unheard, let us lift up our minds to this magnanimity, as
despising men's judgment, to expect with boldness the judgment of
God;" and say with Paul, "With me it is a small matter to be judged of
you, or of man's judgment; I have one that judgeth me, even the Lord."
11. God must be enough for a gracious soul, and we must know "that in
his favour is life," and his "loving-kindness is better than life
itself:" and this must be our care and labour, that "whether living or
dying we may be accepted of him:" and if we have his approbation it
must satisfy us, though all the world condemn us.[171] Therefore
having faithfully done our duty, we must leave the matter of our
reputation to God; who, if our ways please him, can make our enemies
to be at peace with us, or be harmless to us as if they were no
enemies. As we must quietly leave it to him what measure of wealth we
shall have, so also what measure of honour we shall have. It is our
duty to love and honour, but not to be beloved and honoured.
12. The prophecy of our Saviour must be still believed, that the
"world will hate us;" and his example must be still before our eyes,
who submitted to be spit upon, and scorned and buffeted, and slandered
as a traitor or usurper of the crown, and "made himself of no
reputation," and "endured the cross," and "despised the shame;"
leaving us an example that we "should follow his steps, who did no
sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; who, when he was reviled,
reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed
all to him that judgeth righteously."[172] This is the usage that must
be the christian's expectation, and not to be well spoken of by all,
nor to have the applause and honour of the world.
13. It is not only the approbation of the ignorant and ungodly that we
must thus set light by; but even of the most learned and godly
themselves, so as to bear their censures as an easy burden, when God
is pleased this way to try us; and to be satisfied in God alone, and
the expectation of his final judgment.[173]
_Direct._ II. Remember that the favour and pleasing of man is one of
your snares, that would prevail against your pleasing God: therefore
watch against the danger of it, as you must do against other earthly
things.
_Direct._ III. Remember how silly a creature man is; and that his
favour can be no better than himself. The thoughts or words of a
mortal worm are matters of no considerable value to us.
_Direct._ IV. Remember that it is the judgment of God alone, that your
life or death for ever doth depend upon; and how little you are
concerned in the judgment of man. 1. An humbled soul, that hath felt
what it is to have displeased God, and what it is to be under his curse,
and what it is to be reconciled to him by the death and intercession of
Jesus Christ, is so taken up in seeking the favour of God, and is so
troubled with every fear of his displeasure, and is so delighted with
the sense of his love, as that he can scarce have while to mind so small
a matter as the favour or displeasure of a man. God's favour is enough
for him, and so precious to him, that if he find that he hath this, so
small a matter as the favour of a man will scarce be missed by him.
2. God only is our supreme Judge, and our governors as officers limited
by him: but for others, if they will be usurpers, and set themselves in
the throne of God, and there let fly their censures upon things and
persons which concern them not, why should we seem much concerned in it?
If a beggar step up into a seat of judicature, and there condemn one,
and fine another, will you fear him, or laugh at him? Who art thou that
judgest another man's servant? To his own master doth he stand or fall.
Men may step up into the throne of God, and there presume to judge
others according to their interests and passions: but God will quickly
pull them down, and teach them better to know their places. How like is
the common censure of the world, to the game of boys, that will hold an
assize, and make a judge, and try and condemn one another in sport! And
have we not a greater Judge to fear?
3. It is God only that passeth the final sentence, from whom there is
no appeal to any other: but from human judgment there lieth an appeal
to God.[174] Their judgment must be judged of by him. Things shall not
stand as now men censure them. Many a bad cause is now judged good,
through the multitude or greatness of those that favour it: and many a
good cause is now condemned. Many a one is taken as a malefactor
because he obeyeth God and doth his duty. But all these things must be
judged over again, by him that hath denounced a "woe to them that call
evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light and light for
darkness," Isa. v. 20. "He that saith to the wicked, Thou art
righteous, people shall curse him, nations shall abhor him," Prov.
xxiv. 24. It were ill with the best of the servants of Christ, if the
judgment of the world must stand, who condemn them as fools, and
hypocrites, and what they list: then the devil's judgment would stand.
But he is the wise man that God will judge to be wise at last; and he
only is the happy man that God calls happy. The erring judgment of a
creature is but like an ignorant man's writing the names of several
things upon an apothecary's boxes; if he write the names of poisons
upon some, and of antidotes on others, when there are no such things
within them, they are not to be estimated according to those
names.[175] How different are the names that God and the world do put
upon things and persons now! And how few now approve of that which God
approveth of, and will justify at last! How many will God judge
heterodox and wicked, that men judged orthodox, and worthy of
applause! And how many will God judge orthodox and sincere, that were
called heretics and hypocrites by men! God will not verify every word
against his servants, which angry men, or contentious disputants, say
against them. The learning, or authority, or other advantages of the
contenders, may now bear down the reasons and reputations of more wise
and righteous men than they, which God will restore and vindicate at
last. The names of Luther, Zuinglius, Calvin, and many other excellent
servants of the Lord, are now made odious in the writings and reports
of papists, by their impudent lies; but God judgeth otherwise, with
more righteous judgment. Oh what abundance of persons and causes will
be justified at the dreadful day of God, which the world condemned!
And how many will be there condemned, that were justified by the
world! O blessed day! most desirable to the just, most terrible to the
wicked and every hypocrite. How many things will then be set straight,
that now are crooked! and how many innocents and saints will then have
a resurrection of their murdered names, that were buried by the world
in a heap of lies, and their enemies never thought of their reviving!
O look to that final judgment of the Lord, and you will take men's
censures but as the shaking of a leaf.
4. It is God only that hath power to execute his sentence, to our
happiness or misery. "There is one lawgiver that is able to save and
to destroy," James iv. 12. If he say to us, "Come ye blessed," we
shall be happy, though devils and men should curse us; for those that
he blesseth shall be blessed. If he condemn to hell, the applause of
the world will fetch no man out, nor give him case. A great name on
earth, or histories written in their applause, or a gilded monument
over their bones, are a poor relief to damned souls. And the barking
of the wicked, and their scorns on earth, are no diminution to the joy
or glory of the souls that shine and triumph with Christ. It is our
Lord that "hath the keys of death and hell," Rev. i. 18. Please him,
and you are sure to escape, though the pope, and all the wicked of the
world, should thunder out against you their most direful curses. Woe
to us if the wicked could execute all their malicious censures! then
how many saints would be in hell! But if it be God that justifies us,
how inconsiderable a matter is it, who they are that condemn us, or
what be their pretences! Rom. viii. 33.
_Direct._ V. Remember that the judgment of ungodly men, is corrupted and
directed by the devil; and to be overruled by their censures, or too
much to fear them, is to be overruled by the devil, and to be afraid of
his censures of us. And will you honour him so much? Alas! it is he that
puts those thoughts into the minds of the ungodly, and those reproachful
words into their mouths. To prefer the judgment of a man before God's,
is odious enough, though you did not prefer the devil's judgment.
_Direct._ VI. Consider what a slavery you choose, when you thus make
yourselves the servants of every man, whose censures you fear, and
whose approbation you are ambitious of. 1 Cor. vii. 23, "Ye are bought
with a price; be not ye the servants of men:" that is, do not
needlessly enthral yourselves. What a task have men-pleasers! they
have as many masters as beholders! No wonder if it take them off from
the service of God; for the "friendship of the world is enmity to
God;" and he that will thus be "a friend of the world, is an enemy to
God," James iv. 4. They cannot serve two masters, God and the world.
You know men will condemn you, if you be true to God: if, therefore,
you must needs have the favour of men, you must take it alone without
God's favour. A man-pleaser cannot be true to God, because he is a
servant to the enemies of his service; the wind of a man's mouth will
drive him about as the chaff, from any duty, and to any sin. How
servile a person is a man-pleaser! how many masters hath he, and how
mean ones! It perverteth the course of your hearts and lives, and
turneth all from God to this unprofitable way.[176]
_Direct._ VII. Remember what a pitiful reward you seek. "Verily," saith
our Lord, concerning hypocrites and man-pleasers, "they have their
reward," Matt. vi. 25. O miserable reward! The thought and breath of
mortal men, instead of God--instead of heaven; this is their reward!
Their happiness will be to lie in hell, and remember that they were well
spoken of on earth! and that once they were accounted religious,
learned, wise, or honourable! and to remember that they preferred this
reward before everlasting happiness with Christ! If this be not gain,
your labour is all lost, which you lay out in hunting for applause. If
this be enough to spend your time for, and to neglect your God for, and
to lose your souls for, rejoice then in the hypocrite's reward.
_Direct._ VIII. And remember that honour is such a thing as is found
sooner by an honest contempt of it, than by an inordinate affection of
it, and seeking it. It is a shadow which goeth from you if you follow
it, and follows you as fast as you go from it. Whose names are now
more honourable upon earth, than those prophets, and apostles, and
martyrs, and preachers, and holy, mortified christians, who in their
days set lightest by the approbation of the world, and were made the
scorn or foot-ball of the times in which they lived? Those that have
been satisfied with the approbation of their heavenly Father, who saw
them "in secret," have been "rewarded by him openly." It is, even in
the eyes of rational men, a far greater honour to live to God, above
worldly honour, than to seek it. And so much as a man is perceived to
affect and seek it, so much he loseth of it: for he is thought to need
it; and men perceive that he plays a low and pitiful game, that is so
desirous of their applause! As they would contemn a man that should
lick up the spittle of every man where he comes, so will they contemn
him that liveth on their thoughts and breath, and honour him more that
lives on God.
_Direct._ IX. If nothing else will cure this disease, at least let the
impossibility of pleasing men, and attaining your ends, suffice against
so fruitless an attempt. And here I shall show you how impossible it is,
or, at least, a thing which you cannot reasonably expect.
1. Remember what a multitude you have to please; and when you have
pleased some, how many more will be still unpleased, and how many
displeased when you have done your best.[177] Alas! we are insufficient
at once to observe all those that observe us and would be pleased by us.
You are like one that hath but twelve pence in his purse, and a thousand
beggars come about him for it, and every one will be displeased if he
have it not all. If you resolve to give all that you have to the poor,
if you do it to please God, you may attain your end; but if you do it to
please them, when you have pleased those few that you gave it to,
perhaps twice as many will revile or curse you, because they had
nothing. The beggar that speeds well will proclaim you liberal; and the
beggar that speeds ill will proclaim you niggardly and unmerciful; and
so you will have more to offend and dishonour you, than to comfort you
by their praise, if that must be your comfort.
2. Remember that all men are so selfish, that their expectations will
be higher than you are able to satisfy. They will not consider your
hinderances, or avocations, or what you do for others, but most of
them look to have as much to themselves, as if you had nobody else to
mind but them. Many and many a time, when I have had an hour or a day
to spend, a multitude have every one expected that I should have spent
it with them. When I visit one, there are ten offended that I am not
visiting them at the same hour: when I am discoursing with one, many
more are offended that I am not speaking to them all at once: if those
that I speak to account me courteous, and humble, and respectful,
those that I could not speak to, or but in a word, account me
discourteous and morose. How many have censured me, because I have not
allowed them the time, which God and conscience commanded me to spend
upon greater and more necessary work! If you have any office to give,
or benefit to bestow, which one only can have, every one thinketh
himself the fittest; and when you have pleased one that hath it, you
have displeased all that went without it, and missed of their desires.
3. You have abundance to please that are so ignorant, unreasonable, and
weak, that they take your greatest virtues for your faults, and know not
when you do well or ill; and yet none more bold in censuring than those
that least understand the things they censure.[178] Many and many a time
my own and others' sermons have been censured, and openly defamed, for
that which never was in them, upon the ignorance or heedlessness of a
censorious hearer; yea, for that which they directly spoke against;
because they were not understood: especially he that hath a close style,
free from tautology, where every word must be marked by him that will
not misunderstand, shall frequently be misreported.
4. You will have many factious zealots to please, who being strangers
to the love of holiness, christianity, and unity, are ruled by the
interest of an opinion or a sect; and these will never be pleased by
you, unless you will be one of their side or party, and conform
yourself to their opinions. If you be not against them, but set
yourselves to reconcile and end the differences in the church, they
will hate you as not promoting their opinions, but weakening them by
some abhorred syncretisms. As in civil, so in ecclesiastical wars, the
firebrands cannot endure the peaceable: if you will be neuters, you
shall be used as enemies. If you be never so much for Christ, and
holiness, and common truth, all is nothing, unless you be also for
them, and their conceits.
5. Most of the world are haters of holiness, and have a serpentine
enmity to the image of God, being not renewed by the Holy Ghost; and
will not be pleased with you, unless you will sin against your Lord,
and do as they do. 1 Pet. iv. 3-5, "Walking in lasciviousness, lusts,
excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries,
wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same
excess of riot, speaking evil of you; who shall give account to him
that is ready to judge the quick and the dead." You must be counted as
Lot among the Sodomites, a busy fellow that comes among them to make
himself their judge, and to control them, if you tell them of their
sin. You shall be called a precise, hypocritical coxcomb, (or somewhat
much worse,) if you will not be as bad as they, and if by your
abstinence (though you say nothing) you seem to reprehend their
sensuality and contempt of God. Among bedlams you must play the
bedlam, if you will escape the fangs of their revilings. And can you
hope to please such men as these?
6. You shall have satanical God-haters, and men of seared and desperate
consciences to please, that are malicious and cruel, and will be pleased
with nothing but some horrid iniquity, and the damning of your own
souls, and drawing others to damnation. Like that monster of Milan, that
when he had got down his enemy, made him blaspheme God in hope to save
his life, and then stabbed him, calling it a noble revenge, that killed
the body and damned the soul at once. There are such in the world, that
will so visibly act the devil's part, that they would debauch your
consciences with the most horrid perjuries, perfidiousness, and impiety,
that they may triumph over your miserable souls.[179] And if you think
it worth the wilful damning of your souls, it is possible they may be
pleased. If you tell them, we cannot please you, unless we will be
dishonest, and displease God, and sin against our knowledge and
consciences, and hazard our salvation, they will make but a jest of such
arguments as these, and expect you should venture your souls and all
upon their opinions, and care as little for God and your souls as they
do. Desperate sinners are loth to go to hell alone; it is a torment to
them to see others better than themselves. They that are cruel and
unmerciful to themselves, and have no pity on their own souls, but will
sell them for a whore, or for preferment, and honour, or sensual
delights, will scarce have mercy on the souls of others: Matt. xxvii.
25, "His blood be on us, and on our children."
7. You will have rigorous, captious, uncharitable, and unrighteous men
to please, who will "make a man offender for a word, and lay a snare
for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a
thing of nought, and watch for iniquity," Isa. xxix. 20, 21. That have
none of that charity which covereth faults, and interpreteth words and
actions favourably; nor none of that justice which causeth men to do
as they would be done by, and judge as they would be judged; but
judging without mercy, are like to have judgment without mercy. And
are glad when they can find any matter to reproach you: and if once
they meet with it (true or false) they will never forget it, but dwell
as the fly on the ulcerated place.[180]
8. You will have passionate persons to please, whose judgments are
blinded, and are not capable of being pleased. Like the sick and sore
that are hurt with every touch; and at last, saith Seneca, with the
very conceit that you touched them. How can you please them, when
displeasedness is their disease, that abideth within them, at the very
heart?
9. You will find that censoriousness is a common vice, and though few
are competent judges of your actions, as not being acquainted with all
the case, yet every one almost will be venturing to cast in his
censure. A proud, presumptuous understanding is a very common vice;
which thinks itself presently capable of judging, as soon as it
heareth but a piece of the case, and is not conscious of its own
fallibility, though it have daily experience of it. Few are at your
elbow, and none in your heart, and therefore know not the
circumstances and reasons of all that you do, nor hear what you have
to say for yourselves; and yet they will presume to censure you, who
would have absolved you, if they had but heard you speak. It is rare
to meet even with professors of greatest sincerity, that are very
tender and fearful of sinning, in this point of rash, ungrounded
judging, without capacity or call.
10. You live among unpeaceable tattlers and tale-carriers, that would
please others by accusing you. Who is it that hath ears that hath not
such vermin as these earwigs busy at them? except here and there an
upright man, whose angry countenance hath still driven away such
backbiting tongues. And all shall be said behind your backs, when you
are uncapable of answering for yourselves. And if it be a man that the
hearers think well of, that accuseth or backbiteth you, they think it
lawful then to believe them: and most that are their friends, and of
their party, and for their interest, shall be sure to be thought so
honest as to be credible. And it is not strange, for a learned,
ingenious, yea, a godly person to be too forward in uttering, from the
mouth of others, an evil report; and then the hearer thinks he is fully
justified for believing it, and reporting it again to others. David
himself by the temptation of a Ziba, is drawn to wrong Mephibosheth, the
son of his great deserving friend, 2 Sam. xvi. 3, 4. No wonder then if
Saul do hearken to a Doeg, to the wrong of David, and murder of the
priests. Prov. xviii. 8, "The words of a tale-bearer are as wounds."
Prov. xxvi. 20, "Where no wood is, the fire goeth out: so where there is
no tale-bearer the strife ceaseth." And when these are still near men,
and you far off, it is easy for them to continue the most odious
representation of the most laudable person's actions in the world.
11. The imperfection of all men's understandings and godliness is so
great, that the differences of judgment that are among the best, will
tend to the injury and undervaluing of their brethren. One is
confident that his way is right, and another is confident of the
contrary: and to how great contendings and injuries such differences
may proceed, he that knoweth not in this age, shall not know for
me.[181] We need not go to Paul and Barnabas for an instance (that was
a far lighter case); nor to Epiphanius, Hierom, and Chrysostom; nor to
those ages and tragedies of contending bishops, that in the eastern
and western churches have been before us: every one thinking his cause
so plain, as to justify himself, in all that he saith and doth against
those that presume to differ from him. And surely you may well expect
some displeasure, even from good and learned men, when the church have
felt such dreadful concussions, and bleedeth to this day, by so horrid
divisions, through the remnants of that pride and ignorance which her
reverend guides have still been guilty of.[182]
12. You have men of great mutability to please; that one hour may be
ready to worship you as gods, and the next to stone you, or account you
as devils, as they did by Paul, and Christ himself. What a weathercock
is the mind of man! especially of the vulgar and the temporizers! When
you have spent all your days in building your reputation on this sand,
one blast of wind or storm at last, doth tumble it down, and all your
cost and labour are lost. Serve men as submissively and carefully as you
can; and after all, some accident or failing of their unrighteous
expectations, may make all that ever you did forgotten, and turn you out
of the world with Wolsey's groans, "If I had served God as faithfully as
man, I had been better rewarded, and not forsaken in my distress." How
many have fallen by the hands or frowns of those whose favour they had
dearly purchased, perhaps at the price of their salvation! If ever you
put such confidence in a friend, as not to consider that it is possible
he may one day prove your enemy, you know not man; and may perhaps be
better taught to know him, to your cost.
13. Every man living shall unavoidably be engaged by God himself, in
some duties which are very liable to misconstruction, and will have an
outside and appearance of evil, to the offence of those that know not
all the inside and circumstances. And hence it comes to pass, that a
great part of history is little worthy of regard; because the actions
of public persons are discerned but by the halves by most that write
of them. They write most by hearsay; or know but the outside and
seemings of things, and not the spirit, and life, and reality of the
case. Men have not the choosing of their own duties, but God maketh
them by his law and providence: and it pleaseth him oft to try his
servants in this kind: many of the circumstances of their actions
shall remain unknown to men, that would justify them if they knew
them, and account them as notorious, scandalous persons, because they
know them not. How like to evil was the Israelites' taking the goods
of the Egyptians! and how likely to lay them open to their censure! So
was Abraham's attempt to sacrifice his son: and so was David's eating
the shew-bread, and dancing almost naked before the ark; Christ's
eating and drinking with publicans and sinners; Paul's circumcising
Timothy, and purifying in the temple; with abundance such like, which
fall out in the life of every christian. No wonder if Joseph thought
once of putting Mary away, till he knew the evidence of her miraculous
conception; and how liable was she to censure, by those that knew it
not! Oh, therefore, how vain is the judgment of man! And how contrary
is it frequently to the truth! And with what caution must history be
read! And oh how desirable is the great day of God, when all human
censure shall be justly censured!
14. The perverseness of many is so great, that they require
contradictions and impossibilities of you, to tell you that they are
resolved never to be pleased by you. If John use fasting, they say,
"he hath a devil:" if Christ come "eating and drinking," they say,
"Behold a gluttonous person, and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans
and sinners," Matt. xi. 18, 19. If your judgment and practice be
conformable to superiors, especially if they have admitted of a
change, you shall be judged mere knaves and temporizers: if they are
not, you shall be judged disobedient, refractory, and seditious. If
you speak fair and pleasingly, they will call you flatterers and
dissemblers: if you speak more freely, though in a necessary case,
they will say you rail. If I accept of preferment, they will say, I am
ambitious, proud, and worldly: if I refuse it, (how modestly soever,)
they will say, I am discontented, and have seditious designs. If I
preach not when I am forbidden, I shall be accused as forsaking the
calling I undertook, and obeying man against God: if I do preach, I
shall be accounted disobedient and seditious. If a friend or kinsman
desire me to help him to some place or preferment which he is not fit
for, or which would tend to another's wrong; if I should grant his
desire, I shall be taken for dishonest, that by partiality wrong
another; if I deny it him, I shall be called unnatural or unfriendly,
and worse than an infidel. If I give to the poor as long as I have it,
I shall be censured for ceasing when I have no more: they that know
not whether you have it to give or not, will be displeased if you do
not; and if many years you should maintain them freely, it is all as
nothing as soon as you cease, either because your stock is spent, or
because some other is made the necessary object of your charity. If
you be wronged in your estate, if you go to law, they will say, you
are contentious; if you let go your estate to avoid contention, they
will say, you are silly fools or idiots. If you do any good works of
charity to the knowledge of men, they will say, you are hypocrites,
and do it for applause; if you do it secretly, that no one know of it,
they will say, you are covetous, and have no good works, and though
you make a greater profession of religion, you do no good; and others
shall be censured so also for your sakes. If you be pleasant and
merry, they will censure you as light and vain: if you be more grave
and sad, they will say, you are melancholy or discontent. In a word,
whatever you do, be sure by some it will be condemned; and do or not
do, speak or be silent, you shall certainly displease, and never
escape the censures of the world.
15. There is among men so great a contrariety of judgments, and
dispositions, and interests, that they will never agree among
themselves; and if you please one, the rest will be thereby
displeased.[183] He that you please is an enemy to another; and
therefore you displease his enemy by pleasing him. Sometimes, state
differences divide kingdoms into parties, and one party will be
displeased with you if you be of the other, and both if you are
neuters, or dislike them both; and each party think their cause will
justify any accusations they can charge you with, or odious titles
they can give you, if not any sufferings they can bring upon you.
Church differences and sects have been found in all ages, and you
cannot be of the opinion of every party; when the world aboundeth with
such variety of conceits, you cannot be of all at once. And if you be
of one party, you must displease the rest; if you are of one side in
controverted opinions, the other side accounteth you erroneous: and
how far will the supposed interest of their cause and party carry
them! One half of the christian world, at this day, condemneth the
other half as schismatical at least, the other half doing the like for
them. And can you be papists, and protestants, and Greeks, and every
thing? If not, you must displease as many as you please. Yea, more; if
mutable men shall change never so oft, they will expect that you
change as fast as they, and whatever their contrary interests require,
you must follow them in; one year you must swear, and another you must
unswear all again: whatever cause or action they engage in, be it
never so devilish, you must approve of it and countenance it, and all
that they do you must say is well done. In a word, you must teach your
tongue to say or swear any thing, and you must sell your innocency,
and hire out your consciences wholly to their service, or you cannot
please them. Micaiah must say with the rest of the prophets, "Go, and
prosper," or else he will be hated, as not prophesying good of Ahab,
but evil, 1 Kings xxii. 8. And how can you serve all interests at
once? It seems the providence of God hath, as of purpose, wheeled
about the affairs of the world, to try and shame man-pleasers and
temporizers in the sight of the sun. It is evident then, that if you
will please all you must at once both speak and be silent, and verify
contradictions, and be in many places at once, and be of all men's
minds, and for all men's way. For my part, I mean to see the world a
little better agreed among themselves, before I will make it my
ambition to please them. If you can reconcile all their opinions, and
interests, and complexions, and dispositions, and make them all of one
mind and will, then hope to please them.
16. If you excel in any one virtue or duty, even that shall not excuse
you from the contrary defamation, so unreasonable are malicious men.
Nothing in the world can secure you from censorious, slanderous
tongues.[184] The perfect holiness of Jesus Christ could not secure him
from being called a gluttonous person and a wine-bibber, and a friend of
publicans and sinners. His wonderful contempt of worldly dignities and
honours, and his subjection to Cæsar, could not secure him from being
slandered and crucified as Cæsar's enemy. The great piety of the ancient
christians excused them not from the vulgar calumny, that they met
together for filthiness in the dark; nor from the cry of the rabble,
_Tollite impios_, Away with the ungodly, because they were against the
worshipping of idols. I have known those that have given all that ever
they had to the poor except their food and necessaries, and yet (though
it was to a considerable value) have been reproached as unmerciful, by
those that have not had what they expected. Many a one hath been defamed
with scandalous rumours of uncleanness, that have lived in untainted
chastity all their lives. The most eminent saints have been defamed as
guilty of the most horrid crimes, which never entered into their
thoughts. The principal thing that ever I bent my studies and care
about, hath been the reconciling, unity, and peace of christians, and
against unpeaceableness, uncharitableness, turbulency, and division; and
yet some have been found, whose interest and malice have commanded them
to charge me with that very sin, which I have spent my days, my zeal,
and study against. How oft have contrary factions charged me with
perfectly contrary accusations! I can scarce remember the thing that I
can do in all the world, that some will not be offended at; nor the duty
so great and clear, that some will not call my sin; nor the self-denial
so great, (to the hazard of my life,) which hath not been called
self-seeking, or something clean contrary to what it was indeed. Instead
therefore of serving and pleasing this malicious, unrighteous world, I
contemn their blind and unjust censures, and appeal to the most
righteous God.[185]
17. If you have a design for a name of honour when you are dead,
consider what power a prevailing faction may have to corrupt the
history of your life, and represent you to posterity perfectly
contrary to what you are; and how impossible it is for posterity to
know whose history is the product of malicious, shameless lies, and
whose is the narrative of impartial truth. What contrary histories are
there of particular persons and actions written by men of the same
religion: as of Pope Gregory VII. and the emperors that contended with
him; and about Pope Joan, and many the like cases, where you may read
scores of historians on one side and on the other.[186]
18. Remember that the holiest saints or apostles could never please
the world, nor escape their censures, slanders, and cruelties; no, nor
Jesus Christ himself. And can you think by honest means to please them
better than Christ and all his saints have done? You have not the
wisdom that Christ had to please men, and to avoid offence. You have
not the perfect innocency and unblamableness that Christ had; you
cannot heal their sicknesses and infirmities, and do that good to them
to please and win them, as Jesus Christ did; you cannot convince them,
and constrain them to reverence you by manifold miracles, as Jesus
Christ did. Can you imitate such an excellent pattern as is set you by
the holy, patient, charitable, unwearied apostle Paul? Acts xx.; 1
Cor. iv. ix.; 2 Cor. iv. v. vi. x. xi. xii. If you cannot, how can you
please them that would not be pleased by such unimitable works of love
and power? The more Paul "loved" some of his hearers, "the less he was
beloved," 2 Cor. xii. 15. They used him "as an enemy for telling them
the truth," Gal. iv. 16. Though he "became all things to all men," he
could "save but some," nor "please but some," 1 Cor. ix. 22. And what
are you that you should better please them?
19. Godliness, virtue, and honesty itself will not please the world,
and therefore you cannot hope to please them by that which is not
pleasing to them. Will men be pleased by that which they hate? and by
the actions which they think accuse them and condemn them? And if you
will be ungodly and vicious to please them, you sell your souls, your
conscience, and your God, to please them. God and they are not pleased
with the same ways. And which do you think should first be pleased? If
you displease him for their favour, you will buy it dear.[187]
20. They are not pleased with God himself; yea, no man doth displease
so many and so much as he. And can you do more than God to please
them? or can you deserve their favour more than he? They are daily
displeased with his works of providence: one would have rain, when
another would have none; one would have the winds to serve his voyage,
and another would have them in a contrary end; one party is
displeased, because another is pleased and exalted; every enemy would
have his cause succeed, and the victory to be his; every contender
would have all go on his side. God must be ruled by them, and fit
himself to the interest of the most unjust, and to the will of the
most vicious, and do as they would have him, and be a servant to their
lusts, or they will not be pleased with him. And his holy nature, and
his holy word, and holy ways, displease them more than his ordinary
providence. They are displeased that his word is so precise and
strict, and that he commandeth them so holy and so strict a life, and
that he threateneth all the ungodly with damnation: he must alter his
laws, and make them more loose, and fit them to their fleshly interest
and lusts, and speak as they would have him, without any difficulties,
before they will be pleased with them (unless he alter their minds and
hearts). And how do you think they will be pleased with him at last,
when he fulfils his threatenings? when he killeth them, and turneth
their bodies to dust, and their guilty souls to torment and despair?
21. How can you please men that cannot please themselves? Their own
desire and choice will please them but a little while. Like children,
they are soon weary of that which they cried for: they must needs have
it, and when they have it, it is naught, and cast away; they are
neither pleased with it, nor without it. They are like sick persons
that long for every meat or drink they think of, and when they have
it, they cannot get it down; for the sickness is still within them
that causeth their displeasure. How many do trouble and torment
themselves by their passions and folly from day to day! and can you
please such self-displeasers?
How can you please all others, when you cannot please yourselves? If you
are persons fearing God, and feel the burden of your sins, and have life
enough to be sensible of your diseases, I dare say there are none in the
world so displeasing to you, as you are to yourselves. You carry that
about you, and feel that within you, which displeaseth you more than all
the enemies you have in the world. Your passions and corruptions, your
want of love to God, and your strangeness to him and the life to come,
the daily faultiness of your duties and your lives, are your daily
burden, and displease you most. And if you be not able, and wise, and
good enough to please yourselves, can you be able, and wise, and good
enough to please the world? As your sins are nearest to yourselves, so
are your graces; and as you know more evil by yourselves than others
know, so you know more good by yourselves. That little fire will not
warm all the room, which will not warm the hearth it lieth on.
_Direct._ X. Remember what a life of unquietness and continual
vexation you choose, if you place your peace or happiness in the good
will or word of man.[188] For having showed you how impossible a task
you undertake, it must needs follow that the pursuit of it must be a
life of torment. To engage yourselves in so great cares, and be sure
to be disappointed; to make that your end, which you cannot attain; to
find that you labour in vain, and daily meet with displeasure instead
of the favour you expected; must needs be a very grievous life. You
are like one that dwelleth on the top of a mountain, and yet cannot
endure the wind to blow upon him; or like him that dwelleth in a wood,
and yet is afraid of the shaking of a leaf. You dwell among a world of
ulcerated, selfish, contradictory, mutable, unpleasable minds, and yet
you cannot endure their displeasure. Are you magistrates? The people
will murmur at you; and those that are most incompetent and uncapable
will be the forwardest to censure you, and think that they could
govern much better than you. Those that bear the necessary burdens of
the common safety and defence, will say that you oppress them; and the
malefactors that are punished, will say you deal unmercifully by them;
and those that have a cause never so unjust, will say you wrong them,
if it go not on their side.[189] Are you pastors and teachers? You
will seem too rough to one, and too smooth to another; yea, too rough
to the same man when by reproof or censure you correct his faults, who
censureth you as too smooth and a friend to sinners, when you are to
deal in the cause of others. No sermon that you preach is like to be
pleasing to all your hearers; nor any of your ministerial works.[190]
Are you lawyers? The clients that lost their cause, behind your backs
will call you unconscionable, and say you betrayed them; and those
that prevailed, will call you covetous, and tell how much money you
took of them, and how little you did for it: so that it is no wonder
that among the vulgar your profession is the matter of their reproach.
Are you physicians? You will be accused as guilty of the death of many
that die; and as covetous takers of their money whether the patient
die or live; for this is the common talk of the vulgar, except with
some few with whom your care has much succeeded. Are you tradesmen?
Most men that buy of you are so selfish, that except you will beggar
yourselves, they will say you deceive them, and deal unconscionably
and sell too dear: little do they mind the necessary maintenance of
your families, nor care whether you live or gain by your trading; but
if you will wrong yourselves to sell them a good penny-worth, they
will say you are very honest men: and yet when you are broken, they
will accuse you of imprudence, and defrauding your creditors. You must
buy dear and sell cheap, and live by the loss, or else displease.[191]
_Direct._ XI. Remember still that the pleasing of God is your business
in the world, and that in pleasing him your souls may have safety,
rest, and full content, though all the world should be displeased with
you.[192] God is enough for you; and his approbation and favour is
your portion and reward. How sweet and safe is the life of the sincere
and upright ones, that study more to be good than to seem good, and
think if God accept them that they have enough! O what a mercy is an
upright heart! which renounceth the world, and all therein that stands
in competition with his God; and taketh God for his God indeed, even
for his Lord, his Judge, his Portion, and his All: who in temptation
remembereth the eye of God, and in all his duty is provoked and ruled
by the will and pleasure of his Judge; and regardeth the eye and
thoughts of man, but as he would do the presence of a bird or beast,
unless as piety, justice, or charity, require him to have respect to
man, in due subordination to God: who when men applaud him as a person
of excellent holiness and goodness, is fearful and solicitous lest the
all-knowing God should think otherwise of him than his applauders: and
under all the censures, reproaches, and slanders of man, yea, (though
through temptation good men should thus use him,) can live in peace
upon the approbation of his God alone; and can rejoice in his
justification by his righteous Judge and gracious Redeemer, though the
inconsiderable censures of men condemn him.[193] Verily I cannot
apprehend, how any other man but this can live a life of true and
solid peace and joy. If God's approbation and favour quiet you not,
nothing can rationally quiet you. If the pleasing of him do not
satisfy you, though men, though good men, though all men should be
displeased with you, I know not how or when you will be satisfied.
Yea, if you be above the censures and displeasure of the profane, and
not also of the godly, (when God will permit them, as Job's wife and
friends, to be your trial,) it will not suffice to an even, contented,
quiet life. And here consider,
1. If you seek first to please God and are satisfied therein, you have
but one to please instead of multitudes; and a multitude of masters are
hardlier pleased than one.[194] 2. And it is one that putteth you upon
nothing that is unreasonable, for quantity or quality. 3. And one that
is perfectly wise and good, not liable to misunderstand your case and
actions. 4. And one that is most holy, and is not pleased in iniquity or
dishonesty. 5. And he is one that is impartial and most just, and is no
respecter of persons, Acts x. 34. 6. And he is one that is a competent
judge, that hath fitness and authority, and is acquainted with your
hearts, and every circumstance and reason of your actions. 7. And he is
one that perfectly agreeth with himself, and putteth you not upon
contradictions or impossibilities. 8. And he is one that is constant and
unchangeable; and is not pleased with one thing to-day, and another
contrary to-morrow; nor with one person this year, whom he will be weary
of the next. 9. And he is one that is merciful, and requireth you not to
hurt yourselves to please him: nay, he is pleased with nothing of thine
but that which tendeth to thy happiness, and displeased with nothing but
that which hurts thyself or others; as a father that is displeased with
his children when they defile or hurt themselves. 10. He is gentle,
though just, in his censures of thee; judging truly, but not with unjust
rigour, nor making your actions worse than they are. 11. He is one that
is not subject to the passions of men, which blind their minds, and
carry them to injustice. 12. He is one that will not be moved by
tale-bearers, whisperers, or false accusers, nor can be perverted by any
misinformation.
Consider also the benefits of taking up with the pleasing of God. 1. The
pleasing of him is your happiness itself; the matter of pure, and full,
and constant comfort, which you may have continually at hand, and no man
can take from you. Get this, and you have the end of man; nothing can be
added to it, but the perfection of the same, which is heaven itself.
2. What abundance of disappointments and vexations will you escape,
which tear the very hearts of man-pleasers, and fill their lives with
unprofitable sorrows!
3. It will guide and order your cares, and desires, and thoughts, and
labours to their right and proper end; and prevent the perverting of
them, and spending them in sin and vanity on the creature.
4. It will make your lives not only to be divine, but this divine life
to be sweet and easy, while you set light by human censures which
would create you prejudice and difficulties. When others glory in wit,
and wealth, and strength, you would glory in this, that you know the
Lord, Jer. ix. 23, 24.
5. As God is above man, thy heart and life is highly ennobled by
having so much respect to God, and rejecting inordinate respect to
man: this is indeed to walk with God.
6. The sum of all graces is contained in this sincere desire to please
thy God, and contentedness in this so far as thou findest it attained.
Here is faith, and humility, and love, and holy desire, and trust, and
the fear of God concentred. You "sanctify the Lord of hosts himself,
and make him your fear, and dread, and sanctuary," Isa. viii. 13, 14.
7. If human approbation be good for you and worth your having, this is
the best way to it; for God hath the disposal of it. "If a man's ways
please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him,"
Prov. xvi. 7. Appeasing their wrath, or restraining them from intended
evil, or doing us good by that which they intend for hurt.
[Sidenote: Signs.]
See therefore that you live upon God's approbation as that which you
chiefly seek, and will suffice you: which you may discover by these
signs. 1. You will be most careful to understand the Scripture, to
know what doth please and displease God. 2. You will be more careful
in the doing of every duty, to fit it to the pleasing of God than men.
3. You will look to your hearts, and not only to your actions; to your
ends, and thoughts, and the inward manner and degree. 4. You will look
to secret duties as well as public, and to that which men see not, as
well as unto that which they see. 5. You will reverence your
consciences, and have much to do with them, and will not slight them:
when they tell you of God's displeasure, it will disquiet you; when
they tell you of his approbation, it will comfort you. 6. Your
pleasing men will be charitable for their good, and pious in order to
the pleasing of God, and not proud and ambitious for your honour with
them, nor impious against the pleasing of God. 7. Whether men be
pleased or displeased, or how they judge of you, or what they call
you, will seem a small matter to you, as their own interest, in
comparison of God's judgment. You live not on them. You can bear their
displeasure, censures, and reproaches, if God be but pleased. These
will be your evidences.[195]
PART V.
_Directions against Pride, and for Humility._[196]
Pride, being reputed the great sin of the devil, by which he fell, is,
in the name and general notion of it, infamous and odious with almost
all; but the nature of it is so much unknown, and the sin so
undiscerned by the most, that it is commonly cherished while it is
commonly spoke against. Therefore the chief directions for the
conquering of it, are those that are for the full discovery of it; for
when it is seen it is shamed, and to shame it is to destroy it.
_Direct._ I. Understand aright the nature of pride, that you may
neither ignorantly retain it, nor oppose your duty as supposed to be
pride. Here I shall tell you, 1. What pride is, and what commandment
it is against; and what humility is, which is its contrary. 2. Some
seemings or appearances like pride, which may make men censured as
proud for that which is not pride. 3. The counterfeits of humility,
which may make a proud man seem to himself or others to be humble.
[Sidenote: Pride what.]
I. Pride is an inordinate self-exalting, or a lifting up ourselves
above the state or degree appointed us. It is called ὑπερηφανια,
because it is an appearing to ourselves, and a desire to appear to
others, above what we are, or above others of our quality. It is a
branch of selfishness, and containeth man-pleasing as before
described, and produceth hypocrisy, and is its original and life. It
containeth in it these following acts or parts: 1. A will to be higher
or greater than God would have us be. 2. An overvaluing of ourselves,
or esteeming ourselves to be greater, wiser, or better than indeed we
are. 3. A desire that others should think of us, and speak of us, and
use us, as greater, or wiser, or better than we are. 4. An endeavour
or seeking to rise above our appointed place, or to be overvalued by
others. 5. An ostentation of our inordinate self-esteem in outward
signs of speech or action. Every one of these is an act of pride. The
three first are the inward acts of it in the mind and will, and the
two last are its external acts.
[Sidenote: Against what commandment.]
As the love of God and man are the comprehensive duties of the
decalogue, expressed most in the first and last commandment, but yet
extending themselves to all the rest; so selfishness and pride (which
is a principal part of it) are the opposite sins, forbidden
principally in the first and last commandment, as contrary to the love
of God and man, but so as it is contrary to the rest. They are sins
against the very relation itself, that God and man do stand in to us,
and not only against a particular law: they are against the very
constitution of the kingdom of God, and not only against the
administration: it is treason or idolatry against God, and a setting
up ourselves in some part of his prerogative: and it is a monstrous
exuberancy in the body, and a rising of one member above and so
against the rest, either superiors (and so against the fifth command)
or equals (against the rest).
[Sidenote: Humility what.]
Humility is contrary to pride; and therefore consisteth, 1. In a
contentedness with that degree and state which God hath assigned us.
2. In mean thoughts of ourselves, esteeming ourselves no greater,
wiser, or better than we are. 3. In a willingness and desire that
others should not think of us, or speak of us, or use us, as greater,
or wiser, or better than we are; that they should give us no more
honour, praise, or love than is our due; the redundancy being but a
deceit or lie, and an abuse of us and them. 4. In the avoiding of all
inordinate aspiring endeavours, and a contented exercise of our
assigned offices, and doing the meanest works of our own places. 5. In
the avoiding of all ostentation or appearance of that greatness,
wisdom, or goodness which we have not; and fitting our speeches,
apparel, provisions, furniture, and all our deportment and behaviour
to the meanness of our parts, and place, and worth. This is the very
nature of humility. The more particular signs I shall open afterwards.
[Sidenote: The inward seemings of pride that are not it.]
II. Pride, lying in the heart, is oft misjudged of by others, that see
but the outward appearances, and sometimes by the person himself, that
understandeth not the nature of it. The inward appearances that are
mistaken for pride, and are not it, are such as these: 1. When a man
in power and government hath a spirit suitable to his place and work:
this is not pride, but virtue. 2. When natural strength and vigour of
spirits expelleth pusillanimity; especially when faith, beholding God,
expelleth all inordinate respect to men, and fear of all that they can
do, this is not pride, but christian magnanimity and fortitude; and
the contrary is not humility, but weakness, and pusillanimity, and
cowardice. 3. When a wise man knoweth in what measure he is wise, and
in what measure other men are ignorant, or erroneous; and when he is
conscious of his knowledge, and delighted and pleased in it through
the love of truth, and thankful to God for revealing it to him, and
blessing so far his studies and endeavours; all this is mercy and
duty, and not pride. For truth is amiable and delectable in itself.
And he that knoweth must needs know that he knoweth; as he that seeth
doth perceive by seeing that he seeth. And if it be a fault to know
that I know, it must be a fault to know at all. But some knowledge is
necessary and unresistible, and we cannot avoid it: and that which is
good must be valued, and we must be thankful for it. Humility doth no
more require that a wise man think his knowledge equal with a fool's,
or ignorant man's, than that a sound man take himself to be sick. 4.
When a wise man valueth the useful knowledge which God hath given him,
above all the glory and vanities of the world, which are indeed of
lower worth, this is not pride, but a due estimation of things.[197]
5. When a wise man desireth that others were of his mind, for their
own good, and the propagating of the truth, this is not pride, but
charity and love of truth: else preachers were the proudest men, and
Paul had done ill in labouring so much for men's conversion, and
saying to Agrippa, Acts xxvi. 29, "I would to God that not only thou,
but also all they that hear me this day, were both almost and
altogether such as I am, except these bonds." 6. When an innocent man
is conscious of his innocency, and a holy person is conscious of his
holiness, and assured of his state in grace, and rejoiceth in it, and
is thankful for it, this is not pride, but an excellent privilege and
duty. If angels rejoice at the conversion of a sinner, (Luke xv.) the
sinner hath reason to rejoice himself: and if it be a sin to be
unthankful for our daily bread, much more for grace and the hope of
glory. 7. When we value our good name, and the honour that is indeed
our due, as we do other outward common mercies, not for themselves,
but so far as they honour God, or tend to the good of others, or the
promoting of truth or piety among men, desiring no more than is indeed
our due, nor overvaluing it as that which we cannot spare, but
submitting it to the will of God, as that which we can be without;
this is not pride, but a right estimation of the thing.
[Sidenote: The outward appearances of pride that are not it.]
The outward seemings which are oft mistaken for the signs and fruits
of pride by others, are such as these: 1. When a magistrate or other
governor doth maintain the honour of his place, which is necessary to
his successful government, and liveth according to his degree. When
princes, and rulers, and masters, and parents, do keep that distance
from their subjects, and servants, and scholars, and children, which
is meet and needful to their good, it is usually misjudged to be their
pride.
2. When a sinner is convinced of the necessity of holiness in a time
and place where it is rare, and infidelity or profaneness and
ungodliness is the common road, the necessary singularity of such a
one in giving up himself to the will of God, is commonly charged on
him as his pride; as if he were proud that cannot be contented to be
damned in hell for company with the most; or to despise salvation if
most despise it, and to forsake his God when most forsake him, and to
serve the devil when most men serve him. If you will not swear, and be
drunk, and game, and spend your time, even the Lord's day, in vanity
and sensuality, as if you were afraid of being saved, and as if it
were your business to work out your damnation, the world will call you
proud and singular, and "think it strange that you run not with them
to excess of riot, speaking evil of you," 1 Pet. iv. 4.[198] You shall
quickly hear them say, What! will you be wiser than all the town? What
a saint, what a holy precisian is this! When Lot was grieved for the
filthiness of Sodom, they scorn him as a proud controller: Gen. xix.
9, "This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge."
And what thought they of Noah that walked with God in so great
singularity, when all the world was drowned in (and for) their
wickedness? When David "humbled his soul with fasting," they turned it
to his "reproach," Psal lxix. 10; xxxv. 13. Especially when any of the
servants of Christ do press towards the highest degree of holiness,
they shall be sure to be accounted proud and hypocrites. And yet they
accuse not that child or servant of pride who excelleth all the rest
in pleasing them, and doing their work; nor do they take a sick man
to be proud, if he be carefuller than others to recover his health.
But he that will do most for heaven, and most carefully avoideth sin
and hell, and is most serious in his religion, and most industrious to
please his God, this man shall be accounted proud.
3. He that will not forsake his God and betray the truth, and wound
his conscience by wilful sin, but will do as Daniel and the three
confessors did, Dan. vi. 3, and answer as they answered, will be
accounted proud. But it is no pride to prefer God before men, and to
fear damnation more than imprisonment or death. The army of martyrs
did not in pride prefer their own judgments before their superiors
that condemned them; but they did it in obedience to God and truth,
when that was revealed to babes, which was hid from the wise, and
prudent, and great, and noble of the world.
4. When those that are faithful to the honour of Christ's sovereignty,
dare not approve of papal usurpations, against his laws, and over his
church, and the consciences of his subjects, they shall by the popish
usurpers be called proud and despisers of government; as if a usurper of
the kingly power should call us proud, because we dare not consent to
his pride; or call us traitors, for not being traitors as he is himself.
5. When a man that hath the sense of the matters of God and men's
salvation upon his heart, is zealous and diligent to teach them to
others, and if he be a minister, be fervent and laborious in his
ministry, he is called proud, as one that must needs have all men of
his mind: though compassion to souls, and aptness to teach, and
preaching instantly in season and out of season, be his necessary duty
required of God. And what is the ministry for, but to change men's
minds, and bring them to the full obedience of the truth?
6. If a man understand the truth, in any point of divinity better than
most others, and holdeth any truth which is there in credit, or
commonly received, he shall be accounted proud, for presuming to be so
singular, and seeming wiser than those that think they are wiser than
he. But humility teacheth us not to err for company, nor to grow no
wiser when once we arrive at the common stature; nor to forsake the
truth which others understand not, nor to forbear to teach it because
it is not known already. If some of the pastors in Abassia, Syria,
Armenia, Russia, Greece, or Italy, or Spain, were as wise as the
ministers in England are, it were no evidence of their pride.
7. If a man that understandeth any thing contrary to the judgment of
another, cannot forsake it, and think or say as another would have
him; especially if you contradict him in disputation; he will take it
to be your pride, and overvaluing your own understanding, and being
too tenacious of your own conceits.[199] Erroneous men that in their
pride are over eager to have others of their mind, will call you proud
because you yield not to their pride. They think that the evidence is
so clear on their side, that if you were not proud you could not
choose but think as they do.
8. Some humble men are naturally of a warm and earnest manner of
discourse; and their natural heat and eagerness of speech is frequently
misjudged to come from pride, till fuller acquaintance with their
humble lives do rectify the mistake.[200] It is written of Bishop Hooper
the martyr, that "those that visited him once, condemned him of
over-austerity; they that repaired to him twice, only suspected him of
the same; those that conversed with him constantly, not only acquitted
him of all morosity, but commended him for sweetness of manners: so that
his ill nature consisted in other men's little acquaintance with him."
Tho. Fuller's Church Hist. lib. 7, p. 402, and Godwin in Glocest.
Bishops. The same is true of very many worthy men.[201]
9. If we zealously contend for the faith or the peace of the church
against heretical or dividing persons, and their dangerous ways, they
will call us proud, though God command it us; Jude 3, especially if we
"avoid them, and bid them not God speed," Tit. iii. 10; 2 John 10.
10. When a man of understanding openeth the ignorance of another, and
speaketh words of pity concerning him, though it be no more than truth
and charity command, they will be taken to be the words of
supercilious pride.
11. That plain dealing in reproof which God commandeth, especially to
his ministers, towards high and low, great and small, and which the
prophets and servants of God have used, will be misjudged as arrogancy
and pride, Amos vii. 12, 13; 2 Chron. xxv. 16; Acts xxiii. 4. As if it
were pride to be true to God, and to pity souls, and seek to save
them, and tell them in time of that which conscience will more closely
and terribly tell them of, when it is too late.
12. Self-idolizing papists accuse their inferiors for pride, if they
do but modestly exercise a judgment of discretion about the matters
that their salvation is concerned in, and do not implicitly believe as
they believe, and forbear to prove or try their sayings, and swallow
not all without any chewing, and offer to object the commands of God
against any unlawful commands of men.[202] As if God were contented to
suspend his laws, whenever man's commands do contradict them; or
humility required us to please and obey men at the price of the loss
of our salvation.[203] They think that we should not busy ourselves to
inquire into such matters, but trust them with our souls, and that the
Scriptures are not for the laity to read, but they must wholly rely
upon the clergy: and if a layman inquire into their doctrines or
commands, they say as David's brother to him, 1 Sam. xvii. 28, "With
whom hast thou left the sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and
the naughtiness of thy heart."
13. If a zealous, humble preacher of the gospel, that preacheth not
himself but Christ, be highly esteemed and honoured for his work's
sake, 1 Thess. v. 12, 13, and crowded after, and greatly followed by
those that are edified by him, it is ordinary for the envious, and the
enemies of godliness, to say that he is proud, and preacheth to draw
disciples after him, and to be admired by men; for they judge of the
hearts of others by their own: as if they knew not that Christ and his
most excellent servants have been crowded after without being thereby
lifted up, or chargeable with pride. As the sun is not accusable for
being beheld and admired by all the world; nor fire and water, earth
and air, food and rest, for being valued by all. Little do they know
how deep a sense of their own unworthiness is renewed in the hearts of
the most applauded preachers, by the occasion of men's estimation and
applause, and how much they desire that none may overvalue them, and
turn their eye from the doctrine upon the person: and how oft they cry
out with the laborious apostle, "Who is sufficient for these things?"
And how oft they are tempted to cast off all through fear and sense of
their unfitness, when the envious dullards fearlessly utter a dry
discourse, and think that they are wronged because they are not
commended and followed as much as others. They think the common sense
of all the faithful, and the love of truth, and care of their
salvation, must be called pride, because it carrieth men to prefer the
means which is fitted best to their edification and salvation.
14. If an humble christian have, after much temptation and a holy life,
attained to well-grounded persuasions of his salvation, and be thankful
to God for sanctifying him, and numbering him with his little flock,
when the world lieth in wickedness, he will be taken for proud by
ungodly men, that cannot endure to hear beforehand of the difference
which the judgment of God will declare between the righteous and the
wicked: as if it were pride to be happy or to be thankful.
15. If a man that is falsely accused or slandered, shall modestly deny
the charge, and use that lawful means which he oweth to his own
vindication, he will be accused of pride because he contradicteth
proud accusers, and consenteth not to belie himself; yea, though the
dishonour of religion, and the hinderance of men's salvation, be the
consequent of his dishonour.
16. Many of the poor do mistake their superiors to be proud, if their
apparel be not in fashion and value almost like their own, though it
be sober and agreeable to their rank.
17. Some are of a more rustic or careless disposition, unfit for
compliment; and some are taken up with serious studies and
employments, so contrary to compliment, that they have neither time
nor mind for the observance of the humours of complimental persons,
who, because they expect it, and think they are neglected, do usually
accuse such men of pride.[204]
18. Some are of a silent temper, and are accused for pride, because
they speak not to others as oft as they expect it.
19. Some are naturally unapt to be familiar till they have much
acquaintance, and are so far from impudent that they are not bold
enough to speak much to strangers and take acquaintance with them, no,
though it be with their inferiors; and therefore are ordinarily
misjudged to be proud.
20. Some have contracted some unhandsome customs in their speech or
gestures, which, to rash censurers, seem to come from pride, though it
be not so. By all these seemings the humble are judged by many to be
proud.[205]
III. There are also many counterfeits of humility, by which the proud
are taken to be humble: as, 1. An accusing of themselves and bewailing
their vileness, through mere terror of conscience, as Judas, or the
constraint of affliction, as Pharaoh, or of the face of death. 2. A
customary confessing of such sins in prayer, or in speech with others,
which the best are used to confess, and the confessing of them is
taken rather to be an honour than a disgrace. 3. A religious
observance of those commandments and doctrines of men, which the
apostle speaketh of, Col. ii. 18-23, which have a "show of wisdom in
will-worship and humility, and neglecting of the body, not in any
honour to the satisfying of the flesh." 4. A holding of those tenets,
which doctrinally are most to man's abasement; but yet never humbled
themselves at the heart. 5. A discreet restraint of boasting, and such
a discommending of themselves, as tendeth to procure them the
reputation of modesty and humility. 6. An affected condescension and
familiarity with others, even of the lower sort, which may seem
humility, when the poorest have their smiles and courtesy; and yet may
be but the humility of Absalom, 2 Sam. xv. 3-6, the fruit of pride,
designed to procure the commendations of the world. 7. A choosing to
converse with their inferiors, because they would bear sway, and be
always the greatest themselves in the company: like Dionysius the
tyrant, that when he was dethroned, turned schoolmaster, that he might
domineer among the boys. 8. A constrained meanness of apparel,
provisions, and deportment; when poverty forceth men to speak and live
as if they were humble; whereas if they had but wealth and honours,
they would live as high as the proudest of them all. How quiet is the
bear when he is chained up! and how little doth serve a dog or a fox
when he can get no more! 9. An affected meanness and plainness in
apparel, while pride runs out some other way. He that is odiously
proud of his supposed wisdom, or learning, or holiness, or birth, or
great reputation, may in his very pride be above the womanish and
childish way of pride, in apparel, and such other little toys. 10. A
loathing and speaking against the pride of others, while he overlooks
his own, perhaps because the pride of others cloudeth him; as the
covetous hate others that are covetous, because they are the greatest
hinderers of their gain; as dogs fight for the bone which both would
have. Many more counterfeits of humility may be gathered, from what is
said before of the seemings of pride, whereto it is contrary.
_Direct._ II. Observe the motions and discoveries of pride, towards
God and man, that it may not, like the devil, prevail by keeping out
of sight. Because this is the chief part of my work, I shall here
distinctly show you the signs and motions of it, in its several ways
against God and man.
_Signs of the worst part of Pride against God._
_Sign_ I. Self-idolizing pride doth cause men to glory in their
supposed greatness, when the greatness of God should show them their
contemptible vileness; and to magnify themselves, when they should
magnify their Maker. It makes the strong man glory in his strength,
and the rich man in his wealth, and the conqueror in his
victories;[206] and princes, and rulers, and lords of the earth, in
their dominions, and dignities, and power to do hurt or good to
others; and say as Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. iv. 30, "Is not this great
Babylon that I have built, for the house of the kingdom, by the might
of my power, for the honour of my majesty?" How hard is it to be great
and truly humble, and not to swell, and be lifted up in heart, as they
rise in power! This God abhorreth as unsuitable to worms, and dust,
and injurious to his honour, and will make them know that "power, and
riches, and strength are his, and that the Most High doth rule in the
kingdom of men, and giveth it to whom he will," Dan. iv. 32.
_Sign_ II. Pride causeth men to set up their supposed worth and
goodness above or against the Lord: so that they make themselves their
principal end, and practise that which some of late presume to teach,
that it is not God that can or ought to be man's end, but himself alone:
as if we were made only for ourselves, and not for our Creator. Pride
makes men so considerable in their own esteem, that they live wholly to
themselves, as if the world were to stand or fall with them: if they be
well, all is well with them; if they are to die, they take it as if the
world were at an end. They value God, but as they do their food, or
health, or pleasure, even as a means to their own felicity; not as
preferring him before themselves, nor making him the chiefest in their
end.[207] They love themselves much better than God: and so far is man
fallen from God to himself, that he feeleth himself disposed to this as
strongly, as that he taketh it to be his primitive nature, and therefore
warrantable, and that it is impossible to go higher.
[Sidenote: How God is man's end.]
God is to be man's end, though we can add nothing to him. The highest
love supposeth no want in him that we love, but an excellency of
glory, wisdom, and goodness, to which all our faculties offer up
themselves in admiration, love, and praise: not only for the delights
of these, nor only that our persons may herein be happy; but chiefly
that God may have his due, and his will may be pleased and fulfilled;
and because his excellencies deserve all this from men and angels.
When we love a man of wonderful learning, and wisdom, and meekness,
and charity, and holiness, and other goodness, it is not chiefly for
ourselves that we love him, that we may receive something from him;
for we feel his excellency command our love, though we were sure that
we should never receive any thing from him: nor is the delight of
loving him our chief end, but a consequent, or the lesser part of our
end; for we feel that we love him before we think of the delight.[208]
The admiration, love, and praise of God our ultimate end, hath no end
beside their proper object; for it is itself the final act, even man's
perfection. Amiableness magnetically attracteth love: if you ask an
angel why he loveth God, he will say, because he is infinitely
amiable: and though in such motions nature secretly aimeth at its own
perfection and felicity, and lawfully interesteth itself in this final
motion, yet the union being of such as are infinitely unequal, oh how
little do the glorified spirits respect themselves in comparison of
the blessed, glorious God! See what I said of this before, chap. iii.
direct. xi. and xv.
_Sign_ III. Pride maketh men more desirous to be over-loved
themselves, than that God be loved by themselves or others. They would
fain have the eyes and hearts of all men turned upon them, as if they
were as the sun, to be admired and loved by all that see them.
_Sign_ IV. Pride causeth men to depend upon themselves, and contrive
inordinately for themselves, and trust in themselves; as if they lived
by their own wit, and power, and industry, more than by the favour and
providence of God. Isa. ix. 9; Obad. 3.
_Sign_ V. Pride makes men return the thanks to themselves which is due
to God for the mercies which they have received. God is thanked by
them but in compliment; but they seriously ascribe it to their care,
or skill, or industry, or power, Dan. iv. 30; they sacrifice to their
net, Hab. i. 16, and say, Our hand, our contrivance, our power, our
good husbandry hath done all this.[209]
_Sign_ VI. Pride setteth up the wisdom of a foolish man against the
infinite wisdom of God; it makes men presume to judge their Judge, and
judge his laws, before they understand them; and to quarrel with all
that they find unsuitable to their own conceits; and say, How
improbable is this or that! and how can these things be? He that
cannot undo a pair of tarrying irons, or unriddle a riddle till it be
taught him, which afterwards appeareth plain, will question the truth
of the word of God about the most high, unsearchable mysteries. Proud
men think they could mend God's word, and they could better have
ordered matters in the world, and for the church, and for themselves,
and for their friends, than the providence of God hath done.[210]
_Sign_ VII. Pride maketh men set up their own love and mercy above the
love and mercy of God. Augustine mentioneth a sort of heretics called
Misericordes, merciful men; and Origen was led hereby into his errors.
When they think of hell fire, and the number of the miserable, and the
fewness of the saved, they consult with their ignorant compassion, and
think that this is below the love and mercy which is in themselves,
and that they would not thus use an enemy of their own; and therefore
they censure the holy Scriptures, and pride inclineth them strongly to
unbelief; while they forget the narrowness and darkness of their
souls, and how unfit they are to censure God, and how many truths may
be unseen of them, which would fully satisfy them if they knew them;
and how quickly God will show them that which shall justify his word
and all his works, and convince them of the folly and arrogancy of
their unbelief and censures.
_Sign_ VIII. Pride makes men pretend to be more just than God; and to
think that they could more justly govern the world; and to censure
God's threatenings, and the sufferings of the good, and the prosperity
of the wicked, as things so unjust, as that they thereby incline to
atheism. So James and John would be more just than Christ, and call
down fire on the rejecters of the gospel; and the prodigal's brother,
Luke xv. repined at his father's lenity.
_Sign_ IX. Pride maketh men slight the authority and commands of God,
and despise his messengers, and choose to be ruled by their own
conceits, and lusts, and interest, Jer. xiii. 15, 17; xliii. 2, 3;
when the humble tremble at his word, and readily obey it, Isa. lvii.
15; Neh. ix. 16, 29; Isa. ix. 9.
_Sign_ X. A proud man in power will expect that his will be obeyed
before the will of God; and that the subjects of God displease their
Master rather than him: he will think it a crime for a man to inquire
first what God would have him do; or to plead conscience and the
commands of the God of heaven, against the obeying of his unjust
commands. If he offer you preferment, as Balak did Balaam, he looketh
you should be more taken with it, than with God's offer of eternal
life: if he threaten you, as Nebuchadnezzar did the three witnesses,
he looks that you should be more afraid of him than of God, who
threateneth your damnation; and is angry if you be not.
_Sign_ XI. A proud man is more offended with one that would question
his authority, or speak diminutively of his power, or displease his
will, or cross his interest, than with one that sinneth against the
authority, and will, and interest of God. He is much more zealous for
himself and his own honour, than for God's; and grieved more for his
own dishonour, and hateth his own enemies more than God's; and can
tread down the interest of God and souls, if it seem but necessary to
his honour or revenge: he is much more pleased and delighted with his
own applause, and honour, and greatness, than with the glory of God,
or the fulfilling of his will.
_Sign_ XII. Proud men would fain steal from God himself the honour of
many of his most excellent works.[211] If they are rulers, they are
more desirous that the thanks for the order and peace of societies, be
given by the people to them, than unto God. If they are preachers,
they would fain have more than their due, of the honour of men's
conversion and edification: if they are pastors, they would encroach
upon Christ's part of the government of his church. If they be
bountiful to the poor, and do any good works, they would have more of
the praise than belongeth to a steward, or messenger that delivereth
the gifts of God. If they be physicians, they would have the real
honour of the cure, and have God to be but a barren compliment: like
the atheistical physician, that reviled and beat his patient for
thanking God that he was well, When, saith he, it was I that cured
you, and do you thank God for it?
_Sign_ XIII. A proud man will give more to his honour than to God: his
estate is more at the command of his pride, than of God. He giveth
more in the view or knowledge of others, than he could persuade
himself to do in secret. He is more bountiful in gifts that tend to
keep up the credit of his liberality, than he is to truly indigent
persons: it is not the good that is done, but the honour which he
expecteth by it, which is his principal motive. He had rather be scant
in works of greatest secret charity, than in apparel, and a comely
port, and the entertaining of friends, or any thing that is for
ostentation, and for himself.
_Sign_ XIV. A proud man would have as great a dependence of others upon
him as he can. He would have the estates, and lives, and welfare of all
others at his will and power; that he might be much feared, and loved,
and thanked, and that many may be beholden to him as the god or great
benefactor of the world. He is not contented that good is done, and
men's wants supplied, unless he have the doing of it, that so he may
have the praise. If he save his enemy, it is but to make him beholden to
him, and be said to have given him his life. Fain he would be taken to
be as the sun to the world, which mankind cannot be without.
_Sign_ XV. A proud man is very patient when men ascribe to him that
which he knoweth to be above his due, though it be to the injury of God.
He can easily forgive those that value and love him more than he
deserveth, though they sin in doing it. He is seldom offended with any
for over-praising him; nor for reverencing or honouring him too much;
nor for setting him too high, or for giving or ascribing too much power
to him; nor for obeying him before God himself. He careth not how much
love, and honour, and praises, and thanks he hath; when an humble soul
saith, as Psal. cxv. 1, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy
name give the glory:" and as the angel to John, that would have
worshipped him, "See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow-servant." They
know God will not give "his glory to another," Isa. xlii. 8. "In his
temple every one speaketh of his glory," Psal. xxix. 9. But of
themselves they say, "I am a worm and no man," Psal. xxii. 6. I am less
"than the least of all thy mercies," Gen. xxxii. 10; "less than the
least of all saints," Eph. iii. 8; the chiefest of sinners, 1 Tim. i.
15: how unfit am I for so much love, and praise, and honour!
_Sign_ XVI. A proud man would have his reason to be the rule of all
the world, or at least, of all that he hath to do with. If there were
laws or canons to be made, he would have the making of them: he would
have all men take his counsel, as an oracle: he would have all the
world of his opinion; and sets more by those that thus esteem him and
are of his opinion, and yield to all that he saith and doth, than by
those that most earnestly desire to conform their minds to the word of
God, and differ from him in the understanding of any part of it. He
loveth them better that inquire of him and take his word, than them
that inquire of the word of God. Though he cannot deny but it is God's
prerogative to be infallible, and the rule of the world.
_Sign_ XVII. A proud man affecteth the reputation of God's immutability
as well as his infallibility. He will stand to an error when once he
hath vented it, and resist the truth when once he hath appeared against
it, to avoid the dishonour of being accounted mutable, or one that
formerly was deceived. His pride keepeth him from repenting of any fault
or error that he can but find a cloak for. If he have done wrong to God
and mischief to the church, he will do as much more to make it good, and
justify it by any cruelty or violence. If he have once done you wrong,
he will do more for fear of seeming to have wronged you. If he have
slandered you, he will stab or hang you if he can, to justify his
slander, rather than seem so mutable as to retract it.
_Sign_ XVIII. A proud man affecteth a participation of God's
omniscience, and is eager to know more than God revealeth (if he be an
inquiring man whose pride runneth this way). Thus our first parents
sinned, by desiring to be as God in knowledge. This hath filled the
world with proud contentions, and the church with divisions; while
proud wits heretically make things unrevealed the matter of their
ostentation, imposition, censures, or furious disputes; while humble
souls are taken up in studying and practising things revealed, and
keep themselves within God's bounds, as knowing that God best knoweth
the measure fittest for them, and that knowledge is to be desired and
sought, but so far as it is useful to our serving or enjoying God, and
the good which truth revealeth to us; and that knowledge may else
become our sorrow, Eccl. i. 1, 8, and truth the instrument to torment
us, as it doth the miserable souls in hell.
_Sign_ XIX. A proud man is discontented with his degree, especially if
it be low. He would be higher in power, and honour, and wealth; yea,
he is never so high but he would fain be one step higher. If he had a
kingdom, he would have another: and if he had the dominions of the
Turkish or Tartarian emperor, he would desire to enlarge them, and to
have more; and would not be satisfied till he had all the world. Men
feel not this in their low condition; they think, If I had but so much
or so much, I would be content: but this is their ignorance of the
insatiable pride that dwelleth in them. Do you not see the greatest
emperors on earth still seeking to be greater. Every man naturally
would be a pope, the universal monarch of the world. And every such
pope would have both swords, and have princes and people wholly at
their will: and when they have no mind to hurt, they would have power
to hurt; that all the world might hold their estates, and liberties,
and lives, as by their clemency and gift, and they might be as God to
other men. And if they had attained this, pride would not stop, till
it had caused them to aspire to all the prerogatives of God, and to
depose him, and dethrone him of his Godhead and majesty, that they
might have his place.
_Sign_ XX. A proud man would fain have God's independency. Though need
make him stoop, yet he would willingly be beholden to none. Not only
because in prudence he would keep his liberty, and not be
unnecessarily the servant of men, nor under obligations to serve them
in any evil way (for so the humblest would fain be independent); but
because he would be so great, and high, as to scorn to lean on any
other. Thus you see how pride is that great idolatry that sets up man
as in the place of God.
_Signs of the next Degrees of Pride as against God._
_Sign_ I. A proud heart is very hardly brought to see the greatness of
its sins, or to know its emptiness of grace, or to be convinced of its
unpardoned, miserable state, or of the justice of God if he should damn
it to everlasting torments.[212] Concerning others it may confess all
this; but hardly of itself. Its own unbelief and averseness from God and
holiness, seemeth to it a small and tolerable fault; its own pride, and
lust, and worldliness, and sensuality, seem not to be so bad as to
deserve damnation; much less the smallest sin which it committeth.
Though customarily they may say that God were just, if he did condemn
them, yet they believe it not at the heart. The most convincing preacher
shall have much ado to bring a proud man heartily to confess that he is
an enemy to God, a child of wrath, and under the guilt of all his sins,
and sure to be condemned unless he be converted. He will confess that he
is a sinner, or any thing else which the most godly must confess, or
which doth not conclude him to be in a damnable, unrenewed state. But to
make an ungodly man know that he is ungodly, and an impenitent person
know that he is impenitent, and an unsanctified person know that he is
unsanctified, is wonderful hard, because that pride hath dominion in
them. "Are we blind also?" say the proud, incorrigible Pharisees to
Christ, John ix. 40.
_Sign_ II. A proud heart doth so much overvalue all that is in itself,
that every common grace or duty doth seem to it to be a state of
godliness. Their common knowledge seemeth to them to be saving
illumination: every little sorrow for their sin, or wish that they had
done better, when they have had all the sweetness of it, doth go with
them for true repentance; their heartless lip-labour goes for
acceptable prayer; their image of religion seemeth to them to be the
life of godliness; they take their own presumption for true faith, and
their false expectation for christian hope, and their carnal security
and blockish stupidity for spiritual peace of conscience, and their
desperate venturing their souls upon deceit they take for a trusting
them with God. If they forbear but such sins as their flesh can spare,
as unnecessary to its ease, provision, or content, yea, or such sins
as the flesh commandeth them to forbear, as tending to their
dishonour in the world, they take this for true obedience to God.
Because they had rather have heaven than hell, when they must leave
the earth, whether they will or no, they think that they are
heavenly-minded, and lay up their treasure there, and take it for
their portion: because conscience sometimes troubleth them for their
sin, they think they renew a sincere repentance, and think all is
pardoned, because they daily ask for pardon. Their forced submission
to the hand of God they take for patience; and a "Lord, have mercy on
us, and forgive us, and save us," they take for a true preparation for
death. Thus pride deceiveth sinners, by making them believe that they
have what they have not, and do what they do not, and are something
when they are nothing, Gal. vi. 3, and by multiplying and magnifying
the little common good that is in them.
_Sign_ III. A proud heart hath very little sense of the necessity of a
Saviour, to die for his sins, and satisfy God's justice, and reconcile
him to God: notionally he is sick of sin; and notionally he thinks he
needeth a physician; but practically, at the heart he feeleth little of
his disease, and therefore little sets by Christ. He feeleth not that
which should thoroughly acquaint him with the reasons of this blessed
work of our redemption; and therefore indeed is a stranger to the
mystery, and an unbeliever at the heart, and would turn apostate if the
trial were strong enough. He never felt himself a condemned man, under
the curse and wrath of God, and liable to hell; and therefore never lay
in tears with Mary at his Saviour's feet, nor melted over his bleeding
Lord; nor feelingly said with Paul, "He came to save sinners, of whom I
am chief;" nor "esteemed all things as loss and dung for the knowledge
of Christ, that he might be found in him," Phil. iii. 7, 8. He is a
christian but as a Turk is a Mahometan, because it is the religion of
the king, and the country in which he was bred.
_Sign_ IV. A proud heart perceiveth not his own necessity of so great
a change as a new birth, and of the Holy Ghost to give him a new
nature, and plant the image of God upon him. He findeth perhaps some
breaches in his soul; but he thinks there needs no breaking of the
heart for them, nor pulling all down and building up his hopes anew.
Amending his heart, he thinks may serve the turn, without making it
and all things new, 2 Cor. v. 17. The new creature he taketh to be but
baptism, or some patching up of the former state, and amending some
grosser things that were amiss. He will confess that without Christ
and grace we can do nothing, but he thinketh this grace is an ordinary
help. Whereas an humble soul is so emptied of itself, and perceiveth
its deadness and insufficiency to good, that it magnifieth grace, and
is wondrous thankful for it, as for a new and spiritual life.
_Sign_ V. A proud heart hath so little experimental sense of the great
accusations which Scripture bringeth against the corrupted heart of man,
that it is easily drawn into any heresy which denieth them: as about our
original sin, and misery, and need of a Saviour; about the desperate
wickedness of the heart, and man's insufficiency and impotency to good,
yea, averseness from it: whereas humble men are better acquainted with
the sin within them, that beareth witness to all these truths.[213]
_Sign_ VI. The proud are insensible of the need and reason of all that
diligence to mortify the flesh, and subdue corruptions, and watch the
heart, and walk with God in holiness of life, which God requireth. He
saith, what need all this ado? he feeleth not the need of it, and
therefore thinks it is more ado than needs. But the humble soul is
sensible of that within him that requireth it, and justifieth the
strictest ways of God. The rich think they have no need to labour, but
labour is a poor man's life and maintenance; if he miss it a day, he
feeleth the want of it the next.
_Sign_ VII. Proud men are much insensible of the want of frequent and
fervent prayer unto God. Begging is the poor man's trade: the humble
soul perceives the need of it: he finds as constant need of God, as of
air, or bread, or life itself. And he knoweth that the exercise of our
desires and faith, and the expression by prayer of our dependence upon
God, is the way appointed for our supply. But the proud are
full-stomached, and think this earnest, frequent praying is but
hypocritical, needless work, and they cannot make a trade of begging,
and therefore they are sent empty away.
_Sign_ VIII. A proud man is a great undervaluer of all mercies, and
unthankful for them; but especially for spiritual mercy. He receiveth it
customarily, as if it were his due; and customarily gives God thanks.
But though he may rejoice in the prosperity of his flesh, yet he is a
stranger to holy thankfulness to God; and thinks diminutively of mercy;
yea, he is discontent, and murmureth if God give him not as much as he
desireth. Whereas the humble confess themselves unworthy of the least,
Gen. xxx. 10; 2 Chron. xxxii. 24-26. Hezekiah's lifting up and
unthankfulness go together. A poor man will be very thankful for a penny
or a piece of bread, which the rich would reject as a great indignity.
_Sign_ IX. Proud men are always impatient in their afflictions. If
they have a stoutness or stupidity, yet they have not christian
patience: they take it as if God used them hardly, or did them wrong.
But the humble know that they deserve much worse, and that the mercy
that is left them is contrary to their desert; and therefore say with
the humbled church, Micah vii. 9, "I will bear the indignation of the
Lord, because I have sinned against him." Lam. iii. 22, "It is because
his compassions fail not, that we are not consumed."
_Sign_ X. Proud men are fearless of temptations, and confident of
their strength and the goodness of their hearts. They dare live among
snares, in pomp and pleasure, faring deliciously every day; among
plays, and gaming, and lascivious company and discourse, and fear no
hurt; their pride making them insensible of their danger, and what
tinder and gunpowder is in their natures, for every spark of
temptations to catch fire in. But the humble are always suspicious of
themselves, and know their danger, and avoid the snare. Prov. xiv. 16,
"A wise man feareth and departeth from evil; but the fool rageth and
is confident." Prov. xxii. 3, "A prudent man foreseeth the evil and
hideth himself: but the simple pass on and are punished."
_Sign_ XI. Pride maketh men murmur if the work of God be never so well
done, if they had not the doing of it; and sometimes by contending to
have the honour of doing it, they destroy the work. If they are
officers of Christ, they look more at the power than their obligation;
at the dignity than at the duty; and at what the people owe to them,
than what they owe to God and to the people. They are like dogs that
snarl at any other that would partake with them, or come into the
house. They say not as Moses, "Would all the Lord's people were
prophets." Yea, the peace and unity of church and state is often
sacrificed to this cursed pride.
_Sign_ XII. Pride makes men ashamed of the service of God, in a time and
place where it is disgraced by the world; and if it have dominion,
Christ and holiness shall be denied or forsaken by them, rather than
their honour with men shall be forsaken. If they come to Jesus, it is as
Nicodemus did, by night: they are ashamed to own a reproached truth, or
scorned cause, or servant of Christ. If men will but mock them with the
nick-names or calumnies hatched in hell, they will do as others, or
forbear their duty: a scorn will do more to make them forbear praying in
their families to God, than the lion's den would do with Daniel, or the
fiery furnace with the three confessors, Dan. iii. and vi. Especially if
they be persons of honour and greatness in the world, then God must be
merciful to them while they bow down in the house of Rimmon. As the rich
man, Luke xviii. 23, when he heard Christ's terms, "was very sorrowful,
for he was very rich;" so these, because their honours and dignities are
so great, do think them too good to let go for the sake of Christ. Had
they but the proportion of the obscure vulgar to lay down, they could
forsake it; but they cannot forsake so fair a portion, nor endure the
reproach of so honourable a name. But oh what contemptible things are
these to a humble soul! He marvelleth what dreaming worldlings find, in
the doting thoughts and breath of fools, which men call honour, that
they should prefer it before the honour of God, and their real honour;
when Christ hath told them, Mark viii. 31, that "whosoever shall be
ashamed of him and his words, in an adulterous and sinful generation, of
him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of
his Father with his holy angels." I now proceed to the signs of pride in
particular duties.
_The Signs of Pride in and about Religious Duties._
_Sign_ I. A proud person is most solicitous in and about that part of
duty which is visible to man, and tendeth to advance him in men's
esteem: and therefore he is more regardful of the outside, than of the
inside; of the words, than of the heart.[214] He taketh much pains, if
he be a preacher, to cast his sermon into such a form as tendeth to
set forth his parts, according to the quality of them that he would
please. If he live where wit is valued above grace, or pedantic
gingling above a solid, clear, judicious, masculine discourse, he
bends himself to the humour of his auditors, and acts his part as a
stage-player for applause. If he live where serious, earnest
exhortations are in more request, he studieth to put an affected
fervency into his style, which may make the hearers believe that he
believes himself, and to seem to be what indeed he is not, and to feel
what he feeleth not: but all this while about his heart he is little
solicitous; and takes small pains to affect it with the reverence of
God, and with a due estimation of his truth, and a due compassion of
men's souls, and indeed to believe and feel what he would seem to
believe and feel. So also in prayer and discourse, his chief study is
to speak so as may best procure applause; and it is seldom that he is
so cunning as to hide this his design from the observation of
judicious men that know him: they may usually perceive that he is the
image of a preacher or christian, by affectation forcing himself to
that which he is not truly serious in. He is sounding brass, a
tinkling cymbal, a bladder full of wind, a skin full of words; wise
and devout in public on the stage, but at home and with his companions
in his ordinary converse, he is but common, if not unclean. He is the
admiration of fools, and the compassion of the wise; an oracle at the
first congress to those that know him not, and the pity of those that
have seen him at home, and without his mask: he is like proud
gentlewomen that bestow a great part of the morning in mundifying and
adorning themselves when they are to be seen, and go abroad, but at
home are very homely. And usually the proud, being hypocrites, are
secret haters of the most serious, and judicious christians; because
these are more quick-sighted than others, to see through the cloak of
their hypocrisy; unless as their charity, constraining them to conceal
their fears and jealousies, may reconcile the hypocrite to them.
_Sign_ II. Proud men are apt to put on themselves to any public duty
which may tend to magnify them or set out their parts, and think
themselves fitter to be preferred before others, and employed, than
indeed they are.[215] They are forward to speak in preaching or
praying among others, or in ordinary talk; a little knowledge maketh
them think that they are fit to be preachers: whereas the humble say
with Moses, "Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh?" &c. Exod. iii.
11. "I am not eloquent, but slow of speech.--O my Lord, send I pray
thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send," Exod. iv. 13. Or, as
Isaiah, chap. xvi. 5, "Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man
of unclean lips!" &c.; or as Paul, 2 Cor. ii. 16, "Who is sufficient
for these things?" How many a sermon hath pride both studied and
preached! And how many a prayer hath it formed! And how well are they
like to be heard of God!
_Sign_ III. The proud are loth to be clouded by the greater abilities
of others: they are content that weaker men pray or preach with them,
that will not obscure but put off their parts, that they may have the
pre-eminence; as a dwarf, that makes another seem a proper man. They
are less troubled that God and the gospel is dishonoured by the
infirmities, insufficiency, and faults of others, than that their
glory is obscured by worthier men, though God be honoured and his work
promoted.[216] Whereas the humbled person wisheth from the bottom of
his heart, that all the Lord's people were prophets, that all men
could preach, and pray, and discourse, and live much better than he
doth himself, though he would also be as good as they. He is glad when
he heareth any speak more judiciously, powerfully, and convincingly
than he, rejoicing that God's work is done, whoever do it; for he
loveth wisdom and holiness, truth and duty, not only because it is his
own, but for itself, and for God, and for the souls of others. A proud
man envieth both the parts, and work, and honour of others; and is
like the devil, repining at the gifts of God; and the better and wiser
any one is the more he envieth him: he is an enemy to the fruits of
God's beneficence; as if he would have God less good and bountiful to
the world, or to any but himself, and such as will serve his party,
and interest, and honour with their gifts: his eye is evil because God
is good. If others be better spoken of than himself, as more learned,
able, wise, or holy, it kindleth in his breast a secret hatred of
them, unless they are such whose honour is his honour, or
contributeth thereto; whereas the holy, humble soul, is sorry that he
wants what others have, but glad that others have what he wants. He
loveth God's gifts wherever he seeth them; yea, though it were in one
that hateth him. He would not have the world to be shut up in a
perpetual night, because he may not be the sun; but would have them
receive that by another which he cannot give them, and is glad that
they have a sun though it be not he. Though some preached Christ of
envy and strife, of contention, and not sincerely, to add afflictions
to his bonds, yet Paul rejoiced, and would rejoice, that Christ was
preached, Phil. i. 15-18.
_Sign_ IV. When the proud man is praying or preaching, his eye is
principally upon the hearers, and from them it is that his work is
animated, and from them that he fetcheth principally the fire or
motives for his zeal. He is thinking principally of their case, and
all the while fishing for their love, and approbation, and applause;
and where he cannot have it, the fire of his zeal goeth out. Whereas,
though the humble subordinately look at men, and would do all to
edification, yet it is not to be loved by them, so much as to exercise
love upon them; nor to seek for honour and esteem from them, so much
as to convert and save them: and it is God that he chiefly eyeth and
regardeth; and from him that he fetches his most powerful motives; and
it is his approbation that he expecteth: his eye and heart is so upon
the auditors as to be more upon God; he would feed the sheep, but
would please the Lord and Owner of them.
_Sign_ V. A proud man after his duty is more inquisitive how he was
liked by men, and what they think or say of him, than whether God and
conscience give him their approbation. He hath his scouts to tell him
whether he be honoured or dishonoured: this is the return of prayer that
he looks after; this is the fruit of preaching which he seeks to reap.
But these are inconsiderable things to a serious, humble soul; he hath
God to please, his work to do, and sets not much by human judgment.
_Sign_ VI. A proud man is more troubled when he perceiveth that he is
undervalued and misseth of the honour which he sought, than that his
preaching succeeds not for the good of souls, or his prayers prevail
not for their spiritual good.[217] Every man is most troubled for
missing that which is his end. To do good and get good is the end of
the sincere, and this he looks after, and rejoiceth if he obtain it,
and is troubled if he miss it. To seem good, and wise, and able is the
proud man's end; and if the people honour him, it puffs him up with
gladness, as if he were a happy man; and if they slight him or despise
him, he is cast down, or cast into some turbulent passion, and falls a
hating or wrangling with them that deny him the honour he expects, as
if they did him a heinous wrong: as if a physician should want both
skill and care to cure his patients, but hateth and revileth them,
because they prefer another that is abler, and will not die to secure
his honour, or magnify his skill for killing their friends. The proud
man's honour is his life and idol.
_Sign_ VII. The heart of the proud is not inclined to humbling duties,
to penitent confessions, and lamentations for sin, and earnest prayer
for grace and pardon; but unto some formal observances and lip-labour,
or the Pharisee's self-applause, "I thank thee that I am not as other
men, nor as this publican." Not but that the humblest have great
cause to bless God for their spiritual mercies and his differencing
grace; but the proud thank God for that which they have not; for
sanctification, when they are unsanctified; and for justification,
when they are unjustified; and for the assured hope of glory, when
they are sure to be damned if they be not changed by renewing grace;
and for being made the heirs of heaven while they continue the heirs
of hell. And therefore the proud are least afraid of coming without
right or preparation to the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ:
they rush in with confident presumption; when the humble soul is
trembling without, as being oft more fearful to enter than it ought.
_Sign_ VIII. Proud persons are of all others the most impatient of
church discipline, and uncapable of living under the government of
Christ. If they sin, they can scarce endure the gentlest admonition;
but if they are reproved sharply (or cuttingly) that they may be sound
in the faith, you shall perceive that they smart by their impatience.
But if you proceed to more public reproof and admonition, and call
them to an open confession of their sin to those whom they have
wronged, or before the congregation, and to ask forgiveness, and
seriously crave the prayers of the church, you shall then see the
power of pride against the ordinance and commands of God. How
scornfully will they spurn at these reproofs and exhortations! How
obstinately will they refuse to submit to their unquestionable duty!
And how hardly are they brought to confess the most notorious sins! or
to confess that it is their duty to confess them; though they would
easily believe that it is the duty of another, and would exhort
another to do that which they themselves refuse! The physic seemeth so
loathsome to them which Christ hath prescribed them, that they hate
him that bringeth it, and will die and be damned before they will take
it; but perhaps will turn again and all to rent you (unless where they
are restrained by the secular arm.) But if you proceed to reject them,
for their obstinate impenitency in heinous sin, from the visible
communion of the church, you shall then see yet more how contrary
pride is to the church order and government ordained by Christ. How
bitterly will they hate those that put them to such (necessary)
disgrace! How will they storm, and rage, and turn their fury against
the church; as if Christ's remedy were the greatest injury to them in
the world! You may read their character in the second Psalm. Therefore
Christ calleth men to come as little children into his school; or else
they will be unteachable and incorrigible, Matt. xviii. 3.
_Sign_ IX. A proud man hath an heretical disposition, even when he
crieth out against heretics. He is apt to look most after matters of
dispute and contention in religion; obscure prophecies, God's decrees,
controversies which trouble the church more than edify, circumstances,
ceremonies, forms, outwards, orders, and words: and for his opinion in
these he must be somebody.
_Sign_ X. A proud man is unsatisfied with his standing in communion with
the church of Christ, and is either ambitiously aspiring to a dominion
over it, or is inclined to a separation from it. They are too good to
stand on even ground with their brethren: if they be teachers or rulers
they can approve the constitution of the church; but otherwise it is too
bad for them to have communion with; they must be of some more refined
or elevated society: they are not content to come out and be separate
from the infidel and idolatrous world, but they must also come out and
be separate from the churches of Christ, consisting of men that make a
credible profession of faith and godliness. They think it not enough to
forbear sin themselves, and to have no fellowship with the works of
darkness, but reprove them, nor to separate from men as they separate
from Christ; but they will also separate from them in their duty, and
odiously aggravate every imperfection, and fill the church with clamours
and contentions, and break it into fractions by their schisms, and this
not for any true reformation or edifying of the body, (for how can
division edify it?) but to tell the world that they account themselves
more holy than the church.[218] Thus Christ himself was quarrelled with
as unholy by the Pharisees for eating with publicans and sinners; and
his disciples for not washing before meat, and observing the traditions
of the elders;[219] and for rubbing out corn to eat on the sabbath-day.
And they that will not be strict in their conformity to Christ, will be
righteous overmuch, and stricter than Christ would have them be, where
pride commandeth it. They will be of the strictest party and opinions,
and make opinions and parties that are stricter than God's commands; and
run into errors and schisms that they may be singular, from the general
communion of the church; and will be of a lesser than Christ's little
flock.
_Signs of Pride in common Converse._
_Sign_ I. Pride causeth subjects to be too quick in censuring the
actions of their governors, and too impatient of what they suffer from
them, and apt to murmur at them, and rebel against them. It makes
inferiors think themselves competent judges of those commands and
actions of their superiors, the reasons of which they never heard, nor
can be fit to judge of, unless they were of their council. It makes
them forget all the benefits of government, and mind only the burdens
and suffering part, and say as Korah, Numb. xvi. 3, "Ye take too much
upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and
the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the
congregation of the Lord?" Ver. 13, 14, "Is it a small thing that thou
hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey, to
kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a
prince over us?--Wilt thou put out the eyes of these men?" Proud men
are impatient, and aggravate their disappointments, and think they
have reason and justice on their side.
_Sign_ II. A proud man is more disposed to command than to obey, and
cannot serve God contentedly in a mean and low condition. He is never
a good subject, or servant, or child, for subjection seems a slavery
to him. He thinks it a baseness to be governed by another. He hath a
reason of his own, which still contradicteth the reason of his rulers,
and a will of his own that must needs be fulfilled, and cannot submit
or yield to government. He is still ready to step out of his rank, and
prepare for suffering by disorder, that he may taste the sweetness of
present liberty; as if your horse or cattle should break out from you
to be free, and famish in the winter, when snow depriveth them of
grass. Whereas the humble know it is much easier to obey than govern,
and that the valleys are the most fruitful grounds, and that it is the
cedars and mountain trees that are blown down, and not the shrubs, and
that a low condition affordeth not only more safety, but more
quietness and leisure to converse with God, and that it is a mercy
that others may be employed in his preservation, and keeping the
walls, and watching the house, while he may follow his work in
quietness and peace; and therefore willingly payeth honour and tribute
to whom it is due.
_Sign_ III. If a proud man be a ruler, he is apt to be lifted up in
mind; and to despise his inferiors, as if they were not men, or he
were more. He is apt to disdain the counsels of the wise, and to scorn
admonition from the ministers of Christ, and to hate every Micaiah
that prophesieth not good of him, and to value none but flatterers,
and discountenance faithful dealers, and not endure to hear of his
faults. He is apt to fall out with the power of godliness, and the
gospel of Christ, as that which seemeth to cross his interest; and to
forget his own subjection to God, and the danger of his subjects. He
is more desirous to be obeyed by his inferiors, than himself to obey
his absolute Lord. He expecteth that his commands be obeyed, though
God command the contrary; and is more offended at the neglect of his
laws and honour, than at the contempt of the honour and laws of God.
_Sign_ IV. If there be any place of office, honour, or preferment
void, a proud man thinks that he is the fittest for it; and if he seek
it he taketh it for an injury if another be preferred before him as
more deserving: and though they that had a hand in putting him by, and
preferring another, did it never so judiciously, and impartially, and
for the common good, without any respect to any friend or interest of
their own, yet all this will not satisfy the proud, who knoweth no
reason or law but selfishness; but he will bear a grudge to men for
the most righteous, necessary action. What ignorant men and impious
have we known displeased, because they were not thought worthy to be
teachers in the church! or because a people that knew the worth of
their souls, had the wit and conscience to prefer a worthier man
before them! What worthless men (in corporations and elsewhere) have
we seen displeased, because they were not chosen to be governors! So
unreasonable a sin is pride.
_Sign_ V. A proud man thinks, when he looks at the works of his
superiors, that he could do them better himself, if he had the doing
of them. There is not one of them of a hundred but think that they
could rule better than the king doth, and judge better than the judge
doth, and perhaps preach better than the preacher doth, unless his
ignorance be so palpable as that he cannot question it. Absalom would
do the people justice better than his father David, if he were king.
If all the matters of church and commonwealth were at his disposal,
how confident is he that they should be well ordered, and all faults
mended; and oh! how happy a world should we have!
_Sign_ VI. A proud man is apt to overvalue his own knowledge, and to be
much unacquainted with his ignorance: he is much more sensible of what
he knoweth, than how much he is wanting of what he ought to know: he
thinks himself fit to contradict the ablest divine, when he hath scarce
so much knowledge as will save his soul.[220] If he have but some
smattering to enable him to talk confidently of what he understandeth
not, he thinks himself fittest for the chair; and is elevated to a
pugnacious courage, and thinks he is able to dispute with any man, and
constantly gives himself the victory. If it be a woman that hath
gathered up a few receipts, she thinketh herself fit to be a physician,
and venture the lives of dearest friends upon her ignorant skilfulness;
when seven years' study more is necessary to make such novices know how
little they know, and how much is utterly unknown to them, and seven
years more to give them an encouraging taste of knowledge: yet pride
makes them doctors in divinity and physic by its mandamus, without so
much ado; and as they commenced, so they practise, in the dark: and to
save the labour of so long studies, can spare, and gravely deride, that
knowledge, which they cannot get at cheaper rates. And no wonder, when
it is the nature of pride and ignorance to cause the birth and increase
of each other. It were a wonder for an ignorant person to be humble; and
when he knoweth not what abundance of excellent truths are still unknown
to him, nor what difficulties there are in every controversy which he
never saw. How many studious, learned, holy divines would go many
thousand miles (if that would serve) to be well resolved of many doubts
in the mysteries of providence, decrees, redemption, grace, free-will,
and many the like, and that after twenty or forty years' study: when I
can take them a boy or a woman in the streets, that can confidently
determine them all in a few words, and pity the ignorance or error of
such divines, and shake the head at their blindness, and say, God hath
revealed them to themselves that are babes! yea, and perhaps their
confidence taketh dissenters for such heretical, erroneous, intolerable
persons, that they look upon them as heathens and publicans, and either
with the papists reproach and persecute them, or with the lesser sects
divide from them, as from men that receive not the truth: and thus pride
makes as many churches as there are different opinions.
_Sign_ VII. Pride maketh men wonderful partial in judging of their own
virtues and vices in comparison of other mens. When the humble are
complaining of their weaknesses and sinfulness, and have much ado to
believe that they are any thing, or to discern the sincerity of their
grace; and think their prayers are as no prayers, and their duties so
bad that God will not regard them; the proud think well of all they
do, and are little troubled at their greater wants. They easily see
another man's failings; but the very same, or worse, they justify in
themselves. Their own passions, their own overreachings or injurious
dealings, their own ill words, are smoothed over as harmless things,
when other men's are aggravated as intolerable crimes. Another is
judged by them unfit for human societies, for less than that which
they cannot endure to be themselves reproved for, and will hardly be
convinced that it is any fault: so blind is pride about themselves.
_Sign_ VIII. Pride makes men hear their teachers as judges, when they
should hear them as learners and disciples of Christ: they come not to
be taught what they knew not, but to censure what they hear, and as
confidently pass their judgment on it, as if their teachers wanted
nothing but their instructions to teach them aright. I know that no
poison is to be taken into the soul upon pretence of any man's
authority, and that we must prove all things, and hold fast that which
is good: but yet I know that you must be taught even to do this; and
that the pastor's office is appointed by Christ as necessary to your
good; and that the scholars that are still quarrelling with their
teachers, and readier to teach their masters than to learn of them,
and boldly contradicting what they never understood, are too proud to
become wise; and that humility and reason teacheth men to learn with a
sense of their ignorance, and the necessity of a teacher.
_Sign_ IX. A proud man is always hard to be pleased, because he hath
too great expectations from others: he looks for so much observance
and respect, and to be humoured and honoured by all, that it is too
hard a task for any man to please him that hath much to do with him,
and hath any other trade to follow; he that will please him, must
either have little to do with him, and come but seldom in his way, or
else he must study the art of man-pleasing, compliment, and flattery,
till he be ready to commence doctor in it, and must make it his trade
and business, as nurses do to tend the sick, or quiet children. One
look, or word, or action, will every day fall cross, and some respect
or compliment will be wanting. And, as godly, humble men do justly
aggravate their sins from the greatness and excellency of God whom
they offend; so the proud man foolishly aggravates every little wrong
that is done him, and every word that is said against him, and every
supposed omission or neglect of him, by the high estimation he hath of
himself against whom it is done.
_Sign_ X. The proud are desirous of precedency among men: to be
saluted with the first, and taken by great ones into the greatest
favour; and to be set in the upper room, at table, and at church; and
to take the better hand. He grudgeth at those who are set above him
and preferred before him, unless they are much his superiors: or, if
he have the wit to avoid the disgrace of contending for such trifles,
and showing the childishness of his pride to others, yet he retaineth
a displeasure at the heart: when the humble give precedency to others,
and set themselves at the lower end, Luke xiv. 9, 10.
_Sign_ XI. A proud man expecteth that all the good that he doth be
remembered, and that others do keep a register of his good works, and
take notice of his learning, worth, and virtues: as their own memories
are stronger here than in any thing, so they think other men's should
be; as if (being conscious how unfit they are for the esteem of God)
they thought all were lost which is not observed and esteemed by men.
As their eye is upon themselves, so they think the eye of others
should be also; and that as their own, to admire the good, and not to
see infirmities and evil.[221]
_Sign_ XII. No man is taken for so great a friend to the proud as
their admirers; whatever else they be, they love those men best, that
highliest esteem them: the faults of such they can extenuate and
easily forgive. Let them be drunkards, or whoremongers, or swearers,
or otherwise ungodly, the proud man loveth them according to the
measure of their honouring him. If you would have his favour, let him
hear that you have magnified him behind his back, and that you honour
him above all other men. But if the holiest servant of God think
meanly of him, and speak of him but as he is; especially if he think
they are disesteemers of him, or are against his interest and honour,
all their wisdom and holiness will not reconcile him to them, if they
were as wise or good as Peter or Paul. It signifieth nothing to him
that they are honourers of God, if he think they be not honourers of
him. Nay, he will not believe or acknowledge their goodness, but take
all for hypocrisy, if they suit not with his interest or honour: and
all because he is an idol to himself.
_Sign_ XIII. A proud man is apt to domineer with insolency when he
gets any advantage, and perceiveth himself on the higher ground. He
saith as Pilate to those that are in his power, "Knowest thou not that
I have power to crucify thee, and power to release thee?" forgetting
that they "have no power at all against any, but what is given them
from above," John xix. 10, 11. Victories and successes lift up fools,
and make them look big and forget themselves, as if their shadows were
longer than before. Servants got on horseback will speak disdainfully
of princes that are on foot.[222] David saith, "The proud have had me
in derision," Psal. cxix. 51. If they get into places of power by
preferment they cannot bear it, but are puffed up and intoxicated as
if they were not the same men they were. They deal worse by their
inferiors if they humour them not, than Balaam by his ass; when they
have made them speak, their insolency cannot bear it: whereas the
humble remembereth how far he is equal with the lowest, and dealeth
gently with his servants themselves, "remembering that he also hath a
Master in heaven," Col. iv. 1, 2; Eph. vi. 9.
_Sign_ XIV. A proud man is impatient of being contradicted in his
speech; be it right or wrong you must say as he, or not gainsay him.
Hence it is that gallants think that a man's life is little enough to
expiate the wrong, if a man presume to say, they lie. I know that
children, and servants, and other inferiors must not be unreverent or
immodest, in an unnecessary contradicting the words of their superiors,
but must silently give place when they cannot assent to what is said;
but yet an impatience of sober and reasonable contradiction, even from
an inferior or servant, is not a sign of a humble mind.
_Sign_ XV. Wherever a proud man dwelleth, he is turbulent and
impatient if he have not his will. If he be a public person, he will
set a kingdom all on fire, if things may not go as he would have them.
Among the crimes of the last and perilous times, Paul numbereth these;
to be "lovers of their own selves, boasters, proud, traitors, heady,
high-minded," 2 Tim. iii. 2-4. If they have to do in church affairs,
they will have their will and way, or they will cast all into
confusion, and hinder the gospel, and turn the churches upside down.
In towns and corporations they are heady and turbulent to have their
wills. In families there shall be no peace, if every thing may not go
their way. They cannot yield to the judgment of another.
_Sign_ XVI. Proud men are passionate and contentious, and cannot put
up injuries or foul words; when a humble man "giveth place to wrath,"
and "avengeth not himself," nor "resisteth evil;" but is meek and
patient, "forbearing and forgiving," and so heaping coals of fire on
his enemies' heads.[223] "Only by pride cometh contention," Prov.
xiii. 10. "He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife," Prov.
xxviii. 25. What is their wrath, their scorns, their railing and
endeavouring to vilify those that have offended them, but the foam and
vomit of their pride? "Proud, haughty scorner is his name, that
dealeth in proud wrath," Prov. xxi. 24.
_Sign_ XVII. A proud man is either an open or a secret boaster. If he
be ashamed to show his pride by open boasting, then he learneth the
skill of setting out himself, and making known his excellencies in a
closer and more handsome way. His own commendations shall not seem the
design of his speech, but to come in upon the by, or before he was
aware, as if he thought of something else: or it shall seem necessary
to some other end, and a thing that he is unavoidably put upon, as
against his will: or he will take upon him to conceal it, but by a
transparent veil, as some proud women hide their beauties: or he will
conjoin the mention of some of his infirmities, but they shall be such
as he thinks no matter of disgrace, but like proud women's beauty
spots, to set out the better part which they are proud of.[224] But
one way or other, either by ostentation or insinuation, his work is to
make known all that tendeth to his honour, and to see that his
goodness, and wisdom, and greatness be not unknown or unobserved; and
all because he must have men's approbation, the hypocrite's reward: he
is as buried if he be unknown. "Proud" and "boasters" are joined
together, Rom. i. 30; 2 Tim. iii. 2. "Theudas" the deceiver "boasted
himself to be somebody," Acts v. 36. "Simon Magus gave out that
himself was some great one, and the people all gave heed to him from
the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of
God," Acts viii. 9, 10. "Such love the praise of men more than the
praise of God," John xii. 43. But the humble hath learned another kind
of language; not affectedly, but from the feeling of his heart, to cry
out, I am vile; I am unworthy to be called a child; my sins are more
than the hairs of my head. And he hateth their vanity that by
unseasonable or immoderate commendations, endeavour to stir him up to
pride, and so to bring him to be vile indeed, by proclaiming him to be
excellent. Much more doth he abhor to praise himself, having learned,
Prov. xxvii. 2, "Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth;
a stranger, and not thine own lips." He praiseth himself by works, and
not by words, Prov. xxxi. 31.
_Sign_ XVIII. A proud man loveth honourable names and titles; as the
Pharisees to be called Rabbi, Matt. xxiii. And yet they may have so
much wit as to pretend, that is but to promote their service for the
common good, and not that they are so weak to care for empty names; or
else that they were forced to it, by somebody's kindness, without
their seeking, and against their wills.
_Sign_ XIX. Pride doth tickle the heart of fools with content and
pleasure to hear themselves applauded, or see themselves admired by
the people, or to hear that they have got a great reputation in the
world, or to be flocked after, and cried up, and have many followers.
Herod loveth to hear in commendation of his oration, "It is the voice
of a god, and not of a man," Acts xi. 22. It is a feast to the proud,
to hear that men abroad do magnify him, or see that those about him do
reverence, and love, and honour, and idolize him. Hence hath the
church been filled with busy sect-masters, even of those that seemed
forwardest in religion; which was sadly prophesied of by Paul to the
Ephesians, Acts xx. 29, 30. Two sorts of troublers, under the name of
pastors, pride hath in all ages thrust upon the church; devouring
wolves, and dividing sect-masters. "For I know this, that after my
departure shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the
flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse
things, to draw away disciples after them." See also Rom. xvi. 16, 17.
_Sign_ XX. Pride maketh men censorious and uncharitable: they
extenuate other men's virtues and good works, and suspect ungroundedly
their sincerity. A little thing serves to make them think or call a
man a hypocrite. Very few are honest, or sincere, or godly, or
humble, or faithful, or able, or worthy in their eyes, even among them
that are so indeed, or that they have cause to think so: a slight
conjecture or report seemeth enough to allow them to condemn or defame
another. They quickly see the mote in a brother's eye. Their pride and
fancy can create a thousand heretics, or schismatics, or hypocrites,
or ungodly ones, that never were such but in the court of their
presumption. Especially if they take men for their adversaries, they
can cast them into the most odious shape, and make them any thing that
the devil will desire them. But the humble are charitable to others,
as conscious of much infirmity in themselves, which makes them need
the tenderness of others. They judge the best till they know the
worst, and censure not men until they have both evidence to prove it,
and a call to meddle with them, having learned, Matt. vii. 1-4, "Judge
not that ye be not judged."
_Sign_ XXI. Pride causeth men to hate reproof: the proud are forward in
finding faults in others, but love not a plain reprover of themselves.
Though it be a duty which God himself commandeth, Lev. xix. 17, as an
expression of love, and contrary to hatred, yet it will make a proud man
to be your enemy. Prov. xv. 12, "A scorner loveth not one that reproveth
him, neither will he go unto the wise." Prov. ix. 7, 8, "He that
reproveth a scorner, getteth himself shame; and he that rebuketh a
wicked man, getteth himself a blot. Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate
thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee." It galleth their
hearts, and they take themselves to be injured, and they will bear you a
grudge for it, as if you were their enemy. If they valued or honoured
you before, you have lost them or angered them if you have told them of
their faults. If they love to hear a preacher deal plainly with others,
they hate him when he dealeth so with them. Herod will give away John's
head, when he hath first imprisoned him for telling him of his sin,
though before he reverenced him and heard him gladly. They can easily
endure to be evil, and do evil, but not to hear of it. As if a man that
had the leprosy, loved the disease, and yet hated him that telleth him
that he hath it, or would cure him of it. This pride is the thing that
hath made men so unprofitable to each other, by driving faithful reproof
and admonition almost out of the world, because men are so proud that
they will not hear it. Hence it is that others hear oftener of men's
faults, than they do themselves; and that backbiting is grown the common
fashion, because proud sinners drive away reprovers, by their impatience
and displeasure. Husbands and wives, yea, servants with their masters,
are so far out of love with just reproof, that they can hardly bear it.
He must be exceedingly skilful in smoothing and oiling every word, and
making it more like to a commendation or flattery, than a reproof, that
will escape their indignation.
_Sign_ XXII. When a proud man is justly reproved, he studieth presently
to deny or extenuate his fault; to show you that he is more tender of
his honour than of his honesty. It is a hard thing to bring him to free
confession, and to thank you for your love and faithfulness, and to
resolve upon more watchfulness for the time to come: when the humble
soul is readier to believe that he is faulty than that he is innocent,
and to say more against himself than you shall say (if truly). This one
sign may tell you how commonly pride reigneth in the world. How few are
they among many that are heartily thankful for a just and necessary
reproof! Mark them, whether the first word they speak, in answer to you,
be not either a denial or an excuse, or an upbraiding you with
something that they think you faulty in, or else a passionate, proud
repulse, bidding you meddle with yourselves?
_Sign_ XXIII. Pride maketh men talkative; and more desirous to speak
than to hear, and to teach than to be taught: because such think
highly of their own understandings, and think others have more need of
their instructions, than they of other men's.[225] Not that humility
is any enemy to communicative charity, or to zealous endeavours for
the converting and edifying of souls; but a teaching, talking
disposition, where there is no need, and beyond the measure of your
calling and abilities, when you have more need to learn yourselves, is
the fruit of pride. When you take less heed what another saith to you,
than you expect he should take of what you say to him: when your talk
is not so much by way of question as becomes a learner, but in the
discourses and dictates of a teacher: when you are so full of any
thing that is your own, and so contemptuous of what is said by others,
that you have not the patience to hear them silently till they come to
the end; but unmannerly interrupt them, and set in yourselves; which
is as much as to say, Hold your tongue, and let me speak that am more
wise and worthy: when you strive to have the most words, and to be
speaking; as horses in a race, strive which shall go foremost: this is
because pride puffs you up, and moves your tongues, as a leaf is
shaken by the wind; it fills your sails; and makes you like bag-pipes,
that are loudest when they are full of wind, and pressed. Eccl. x. 14,
"A fool is full of words." Prov. x. 19, "In the multitude of words
there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise."
_Sign_ XXIV. Pride maketh men excessively loth to be beholden to
others; so that some will starve or perish before they will stoop so
far as to seek, or be obliged to thankfulness by any; especially if
they be such as they have any quarrel with. And this they take for
manlike gallantry, and a scorning to be base. I confess that, as Paul
saith to servants, if we can be free, we should rather choose it; and
that no man should unnecessarily make himself a debtor to another, by
being beholden to him: especially ministers, who should avoid all
temptations of dependence upon man: and therefore should neither hang
on great ones, lest they be tempted to unfaithful silence or flattery;
nor needlessly live on the people's charity, lest they be hindered
from the free exercise of their ministry. Therefore Paul laboured with
his hands where he thought it would hinder his work to be chargeable
to the churches, or give occasion to the envious to reproach him;[226]
and he would "rather die than any should make this his glorying void,"
1 Cor. ix. 15. Innocency and independency, as Mr. Bolton was wont to
say, do steel the face, and help a minister to be bold and faithful.
As Camerarius said, when he was invited to the court,
Alterius ne sit, qui suus esse potest.
But yet man is a sociable creature; and we are made to be helpful to
each other: we are like the wheels of a watch, that can none of them
do their work alone, without the concurrence of the rest. And
therefore a proud man that would live wholly on himself, and scorneth
to be beholden, would break himself off from the place that God hath
set him in, and separate himself from human society, and be either a
world of himself, or a god to others. But God hath caused all the
members purposely to stand in need of one another, that none might be
despised, and that all might still exercise love in communicating, and
humility in accepting of each other's help.
_Sign_ XXV. Pride maketh people desirous to equal their superiors, and
exceed their equals, in apparel, or handsome dwellings, and provisions,
and entertainments, and all appearances that tend to set them out, and
make them seem considerable in the world:[227] for it excessively
regards the eye of man. A fit respect to decency must be had (so we
place no greater a necessity in it than we ought): but pride would fain
go with the highest, and have more curiosity than needs; and maketh a
greater matter of decency than the thing requireth. I am not of their
humour, that censure every man whose hair is not of their cut, and whose
garments are not of their fashion, and who are bred in a way of more
gentility and ceremony than myself. But yet the affectation of imitating
fashion-mongers, and bearing a port above one's rank, and rather
desiring the converse and company of superiors than inferiors, and to
live like those that are a step above us, than those that are a step
below us, are signs as significant of pride, as the robes of a judge or
a doctor are of their dignities and degrees. I am sure humility hath
learnt this lesson, Rom. xii. 16, "Mind not high things; but condescend
to men of low estate: be not wise in your own eyes." As for the
ridiculous, effeminate fashions and deportment of some men, and the
spots, and paintings, and nakedness, and other antic fashions of some
women, and the many hours which they daily waste in dressings and
adornings, and preparing themselves for the sight of others, they are
the badges of so foolish, and worse than childish a sort of pride, that
I will not trouble myself and the reader in reprehending them. Manly
pride is ashamed of such toys. Let the patrons of them please their
patients, by proving them lawful, while they have no wiser work to do;
and when they have done, let them go on to prove that it is lawful for
sober persons to wear such irons as they do in Bedlam; and that such
chains as they in Newgate wear are no signs of a prisoner; and that it
is lawful for an honest woman to wear a harlot's habit. If the proud
have no more wit than to wear the badges of their childishness or
distraction, and show their shame to all they meet, and make themselves
as ridiculous as men that lay aside their breeches, and wear sidecoats
again like children, I will leave them to themselves, and will not now
trouble them with any longer contradiction.
_Sign_ XXVI. Proud persons are ashamed and troubled if any necessity
force them to go lower in apparel, or provisions, or deportment, than
others do of their degree; to show you that it is not as a duty that
decency is regarded by them, but as the ornaments of pride, else they
would be quiet when Providence maketh it cease to be their duty. They
are not so much ashamed of sin, and the neglect of God and their
salvation, as they are to be seen in sordid attire, or in a poor and
homely garb: beggars and servants show here that they are as proud as
lords. What abundance of them go but seldom to church, and give this
as a reason, I wanted clothes! as if they would neglect their souls,
their God, their greatest duty, rather than do it in such clothes as
they do their common work. Doth Christ appoint you to give him the
meeting, that by his ministers he may instruct you for salvation, and
that you may ask and receive the pardon of your sins; and will you
disappoint him, and refuse to come, for want of better clothes? Sure
you do not think that these are the wedding garment which he requireth
you to bring. You would beg if you were naked or in rags, and will you
not come to beg of God, because you have no better clothes? Do you set
more by the reputation of your clothes, than the means of your
salvation? How little do such wretches set by God, and by his mercy
now, that will shortly on their death-beds cry for mercy, without any
such regard of clothes! Naked they come into the world, and naked they
must go out, and yet they will turn their backs on the worship of God,
for want of clothes. They are not ashamed nor afraid to be ungodly,
and to forsake their duty, but they are ashamed of torn or poor
attire. What, say they, shall we make ourselves ridiculous! When their
pride and ungodliness is cause of a thousand-fold more shame. We read
of thousands, even of the poor, that crowded after Christ to hear him;
but of none that staid at home for want of clothes; when it is like
they had no better than yours.
_Sign_ XXVII. If a proud man be wronged, he looketh for great
submission before he will forgive: you must lie down at his feet, and
make a very full confession, and behave yourself with great
submission; especially if the law be in his hands. And he is prone to
revenge, and cruel in his revenge: but if he have wronged others, he
is hardly brought to confess that he wronged them; and more hardly to
humble himself for reconciliation, and ask them forgiveness: when a
humble person is ready to let go his right for peace, and easily
forgiveth, and easily stoopeth to ask forgiveness.
_Sign_ XXVIII. Lastly; Pride maketh men inordinately desire to have an
honourable memorial kept of their names when they are dead (if they
are persons that rise to the hopes of such a remembrance;) Many a
monument hath pride erected;[228] many a book hath it written to this
end; many a good work materially hath it done, and made it bad by such
a base intention! Many an hospital, and almshouse, and school-house it
hath built; and many a pound hath it given to charitable uses in
pretension, but to proud and selfish uses in intention. Not that any
should causelessly suspect another's ends, or blemish the deserved
honour of good works, which it is lawful ordinately to regard; but we
should suspect our own hearts, and take heed of so horrible a sin,
which would turn the excellentest parts and works into poison or
corruption. And remember how heinous a thing it is, for a man to be
laying proud designs, when he is turning to the dust, and going to
appear before his Judge! yea, to set up the monuments of his pride
over his rotten flesh and bones; and to show that he dieth in so great
a sin without repentance, by endeavouring that as much as may be of it
may survive, when he is dead and gone! If such wicked ends do
sometimes offer to intrude into necessary, excellent works, an honest
heart must abhor them, and cast them out, and beg forgiveness; and
not for that forbear his work, nor refuse the comfort of his more
sincere desires and intents: but such good works do sink the hypocrite
into hell, that are principally done as a service to pride, to leave a
name on earth behind him.
Thus I have been long in showing you the signs of pride, because the
discovery is a great part of the cure: not that every proud person
hath all these signs; for every one hath not the same temptations or
occasions to show them; but every one hath some, and many of these;
and he that hath any one of them, hath a sign of pride. And again I
say, that for all this, our reputation, as it subserveth the honour of
God and our religion, and our brethren's good, must be carefully by
all just means preserved, and by necessary defences vindicated from
calumniators; though we must quietly bear whatever infamy or slander
we are tried with.
_Direct._ III. Having understood the nature and the signs or effects
of pride, consider next of the dreadful consequents and tendency of
it, both as it leadeth to further sin, and unto misery. Which I shall
briefly open to you in some particulars.
1. At the present it is the heart of the old man, and the root and
life of all corruption, and of dreadful signification, if it be
predominant. If any man's "heart be lifted up, the Lord will have no
pleasure in him, or it is not upright in him," Hab. ii. 4. I had
rather have my soul in the case of an obscure humble christian, that
is taken notice of by few, or none but God, and is content to approve
himself to him, than in the case of the highest and most eminent and
honourable in church or state, that looks for the observation and
praise of men.[229] God judgeth not of men by their great parts, and
profession, and name; but justifieth the humbled soul that is ashamed
to lift up his face to heaven, and thinketh himself unworthy to speak
to God, or to have communion with his church, or to come among his
servants; but standing afar off, smiteth upon his breast, and saith,
(in true repentance,) O "God, be merciful to me, a sinner," Luke
xviii. 13. Pride is as a plague-mark on the soul.
2. There is scarce a sin to be thought on that is not a spawn in the
bowels of pride. To instance in some few (besides all that are
expressed in the signs): 1. It maketh men hypocrites, and seem what
they are not, for the praise of men. 2. It makes men liars: most of
the lies that are told in the world, are to avoid some disgrace and
shame, or to get men to think highly of them. When a sin is committed
against God or your superiors, instead of humble confession, pride
would cover it with a lie. 3. It causeth covetousness, that they may
not want provision for their pride. 4. It maketh men flatterers, and
time-servers, and man-pleasers, that they may win the good esteem of
others. 5. It makes men run into profaneness, and riotousness, to do
as others do to avoid the shame of their reproach and scorn, that else
would account them singular and precise. 6. It can take men off from
any duty to God that the company is against; they dare not pray, nor
speak a serious word of God, for fear of a jeer from a scorner's
mouth. 7. It is so contentious a sin, that it makes men firebrands in
the societies where they live; there is no quiet living with them
longer than they have their own saying, will, and way; they must bear
the sway, and not be crossed; and when all is done, there is no
pleasing them, for the missing of a word, or a look, or a compliment,
will catch on their hearts, as a spark on gunpowder. 8. It tears in
pieces church and state. Where was ever civil war raised, or kingdom
endangered or ruined, or church divided, oppressed, or persecuted, but
pride was the great and evident cause? 9. It devoureth the mercies and
good creatures of God, and sacrificeth them to the devil. It is a
chargeable sin: what a deal doth it consume in clothes, and buildings,
and attendance, and entertainments, and unnecessary things! 10. It is
an odious thief and prodigal of precious time. How many hours that
should be better employed, and must one day be accounted for, are cast
away upon the foresaid works of pride! especially in the needless
compliments and visits of gallants, and the dressings of some vain,
light-headed women, in which they spend almost half the day, and can
scarce find an hour in a morning for prayer, or meditation, or reading
the Scriptures, because they cannot be ready; forgetting how they
disgrace their wretched bodies, by telling men that they are so filthy
or deformed, that they cannot be kept sweet and cleanly and seemly,
without so long and much ado. 11. It is odiously unjust. A proud man
makes no bones of any falsehood, slander, deceit, or cruelty, if it
seem but necessary to his greatness, or honour, or preferment, or
ambitious ends. He careth not who he wrongeth or betrayeth, that he
may rise to his desired height, or keep his greatness. Never trust a
proud man further than his own interest bids you trust him. 12. Pride
is the pander of whoredom and uncleanness: it is an incentive to lust
in themselves, and draws the proud to adorn and set forth themselves
in the most enticing manner, as tends to provoke the lust of others.
Fain they would be thought comely, that others may admire them, and be
taken with their comeliness. If they thought that none would see them,
they would spare their ornaments. And if a common decency were all
that they affected, they would spare their curiosities and fashionable
superfluities. Even they that would not be unclean in gross
fornication with any, yet would be esteemed beautiful and desirable,
and do that which tendeth to corrupt the minds of fools that see them.
These, and indeed almost all sin, are the natural progeny of pride.
3. As to the misery which they bring on themselves and others, (1.)
The greatest is, that they forsake God, and are in danger to be
forsaken by him: for God abhorreth the proud, and beholdeth them as
afar off. So far as you are proud you are hated by him, and have no
acceptance or communion with him. Pride is the highway to utter
apostasy. It blindeth the mind; it maketh men confident in their own
conceits; and venturous upon any new opinion; and ready to quarrel
with the word of God before they understand it. When any thing seems
hard to them, they presently suspect the truth of the matter, when
they should suspect their dark, unfurnished minds. Mark those that are
proud in any town, or any company of professors of piety; and if any
infection of heresy or infidelity come into that place, these are the
men that will soonest catch it. Mark those that have turned from truth
or godliness, and see whether they be not such as were proud and
superficial in religion before. But God giveth grace, and more grace
to the humble: he dwelleth with them, and delighteth in them.[230]
(2.) A proud man is a tormentor of himself. Setting his mind on the
thoughts of men, and desiring more of their esteem than he can attain,
and that which is unsatisfying vanity when he hath obtained it, he is
still under fruitless, vexatious desires, and frequent disappointments;
every thing that he seeth, and every word almost that he heareth, or
every compliment omitted, can disturb his peace, and break his sleep,
and cast him into a fever of passion or revenge. This wind that swelleth
him, is running up and down, and disquieting him in every part. Who
would have such a fire in his breast, that will not suffer him to be
quiet?[231]
(3.) Pride bringeth sufferings, and then maketh them seem intolerable.
It makes the sinner more vex and gall his mind, with striving and
impatient aggravating his afflictions, than the suffering of itself
would ever do.
4. Pride is a deep-rooted and a self-preserving sin; and therefore
harder to be killed and rooted up than other sins. It hindereth the
discovery of itself. It driveth away the light. It hateth reproof. It
will not give the sinner leave to see his pride when it is reproved;
nor to confess it if he see it; nor to be humbled for it if he do
confess it; nor to loathe himself and forsake it, though conviction
and terror seem to humble him. Even while he heareth all the signs of
pride, he will not see it in himself. When he feeleth his hatred of
reproof, and knoweth that this is a sign of pride in others, yet he
will not know it in himself. If you would go about to cure him of this
or any other fault, you shall feel that you are handling a wasp or an
adder; yet when he is spitting the venom of pride against the
reprover, he perceiveth not that he is proud; this venom is his
nature, and therefore is not felt nor troublesome. If all the town or
congregation should note him as notoriously proud, yet he himself,
that should best know himself, will not observe it. It is a wonder to
see how this sin keepeth strength, in persons that have long taken
pains for their souls, and seem to be in all other respects the most
serious, mortified christians! Yet, let them but be touched in their
interest or reputation, or seem to be slighted, or see another
preferred before them, while they are neglected, and they boil with
envy, malice, or discontent, and show you that the heart of sin, even
selfishness and pride, is yet alive, unbroken, and too strong.
Especially if they are not persons of a natural gentleness and
mildness, but of a more passionate temper; then pride hath more oil
and fuel to kindle it into these discernible flames. He is a christian
indeed that hath conquered pride.
5. Pride is the defence not only of itself, but of every other sin in
the heart or life. For it hateth reproof and keepeth off the remedy;
it hideth, and extenuateth, and excuseth the sin, and thinketh well of
that which should be hated.
6. Pride hindereth every means and duty from doing you good; and
ofttimes corrupteth them, and turneth them into sin. Sometimes it
keepeth men from the duty, and sometimes it keepeth them from the
benefit of the duty. It makes men think that they are so whole and
well as to have little need of all this physic, yea, or of their daily
necessary food. They think all this is more ado than needs: what need
of all this preaching, and praying, and reading, and holy conference,
and meditation, and heavenly-mindedness? One is ashamed of it, and
another wants it not, and another is above it, and they ask you, Where
are we commanded to pray in our family, and to pray so oft, and to
hear so oft, and read any book but the holy Scriptures, &c.; for they
feel no obligation from general commands, (as to "pray continually,"
and "always," and "not wax faint," nor be "weary of well doing," to
"redeem the time," and "do all to edification," and be "fervent in
spirit, serving the Lord," &c. 1 Thess. v. 17; Luke xviii. 1; Gal. vi.
9; Eph. v. 16; 1 Cor. xiv. 26; Rom. xii. 11,) because they feel not
that need or sweetness which should help them to perceive, that
frequency is good or necessary for them. If the physician bid two men
"eat often," and one of them hath a strong appetite, and the other
hath none; he that is hungry will interpret the word "often," to
signify thrice a day, at least, and he that hath no appetite will
think that once a day is "often." Healthful men do not use to ask, How
prove you that I am bound to eat twice or thrice a day? Feeling the
need and benefit, they will be satisfied with an allowance without a
command. They will rather ask, How prove you that I may not do it? for
they feel reason in themselves to move them to it, if God restrain
them not. So it is with a humble soul, about the means of his
edification and salvation: it feeleth a need of preaching, and prayer,
and holy spending the Lord's day, and family duties, &c. Yea, it
feeleth the need and benefit of frequency in duties, and is glad of
leave to draw near to God, and feels the bond of love constrain.
Whereas, the proud are full and senseless, and could easily be content
with little in religion, if the laws of God or man constrained them
not, and will do no more than needs they must. Yea, some of late have
been advanced by pride above all ordinances, that is, above obedience
to God, in the use of his appointed means, but not above the need of
means, nor above the plagues prepared for the proud and disobedient.
Humility secureth men from many such pernicious opinions.
_Direct._ IV. To the conquering of pride, it is necessary that you
perceive that indeed it is in yourselves, and is the radical sin, and
the very poison of your hearts; and that you set yourselves watchfully
to mark its motions; and make it a principal part of your religion and
business of your lives to overcome it, and to walk in humility with
God and man. For if you see not that it is your sin, you will let it
alone, and little trouble yourselves about it. Pride liveth in men
that seem religious, because they perceive it not, or think they have
but some small degree, which is not dangerous. And they see it not in
themselves, because they mark not its operations and appearances: the
life in the root must be perceived in the branches, in the leaves, and
fruit. If you saw more evil in this, than in many more disgraceful
sins, and set yourselves as heartily and diligently to conquer it, as
you do to cast out the sins which would make you be judged by men to
be utterly ungodly, no doubt but the work would more happily go on,
and you would see more excellent fruits of your labour, in the work of
mortification, than most christians see.
_Direct._ V. Be much in humbling exercises; but so as to take heed of
mistaking the nature of them, or running into extremes. I have told
you the true nature of humility before. Abundance of christians are
tempted by Satan to think it consisteth, much more than it doth, in
passionate grief, and tears, and bodily exercises, of long and
frequent fastings, and confessions, and penance, or such like: and
thus Satan diverteth them from true endeavours for true humiliation,
by keeping them employed all their days, in striving for tears, or in
these external exercises! Whereas, you should most strive for such a
sight of your sinfulness and nothingness, as will teach you highly to
esteem of Christ, and to loathe yourselves, and take yourselves to be
as vile and sinful as you are, and will make you humbly beg for
mercy, and stoop to any means to obtain it; and will make you patient
under the rebukes and chastisements of God, and under the contempts
and injuries of men: this is the humility which you must labour for.
But in order to this, external exercises of humiliation must be used:
especially studying the holy law of God, and searching yourselves, and
confession of sin, and moderate, seasonable fastings, and taming of
the flesh. And indeed the exercises of humiliation do most become
those that are most prone to pride: and the doctrine of those men who
cry down true humiliation, doth come from pride, and is made to
cherish pride in others. A humble soul cannot receive it; but is
proner here to run into excess.
_Direct._ VI. There is no more powerful means to take down pride, than
to look seriously to God, and set yourselves before his eyes, and
consider how he loveth the humble, and abhorreth the proud. One sight
of God by a lively faith, would make you know with whom you have to
do, and teach you to abhor yourselves as vile. A glowworm is not
discerned in the sunshine, though it glister in the dark. A glimpse of
the majesty of God would make thee, with Isaiah, cry out, "Woe is me,
for I am undone, a man of unclean lips," &c.; and, chap. vi. 5, with
the Israelites, desire that Moses, and not God, might speak unto you,
lest you die. Men are proud because they know not God, and look not to
him, but to fellow-sinners, with whom they think they may be bold to
compare themselves.
[Sidenote: A summary of the signs of humility.]
[Sidenote: Signs of pride.]
Remember also that God is as it were engaged against the proud, both
in the holiness of his nature, and in honour; for a proud man sets up
himself against him, and is such an idol as God will either take down
by grace, or spurn into the fire of destruction. And if he do appear
before God among others in days and external exercises of humiliation,
you may judge how much an abhorred person will be accepted. It is not
to all that are clothed in sackcloth, but to the humble soul that God
hath respect; even to the self-abhorring person, who judgeth himself
unworthy to come among the people of God, or to be door-keepers in his
house, or to eat of the crumbs of the children's bread; that subject
themselves to one another, and think no office of love and service too
low for them to perform to the least believer; that in charitable
meekness instruct opposers, and bear contradiction and contempt from
men; that patiently suffer the injuries of enemies and friends, and
heartily forgive and love them; that bear the most sharp and plain
reproofs with gentleness and thanks; that think the lowest place in
men's esteem, affections, and respects, the fittest for them; that are
much more solicitous how they love others, than how others love them,
and how they discharge their duties to others, than how others do what
they ought for them; that will take up with smaller evidence to think
well of the hearts or actions of others, than of their own; that
reprove themselves ofter and sharplier than other men reprove them,
and are readier to censure themselves than others, or than most others
are to censure them; that have a low esteem of their own
understandings, and parts, and doings, and therefore are readier to
learn than teach, and to hear than speak; that highly value every bit
and drop of mercy, especially Christ, and grace, and glory. These are
the humble that God accepteth, and this is the fast that he requireth.
These are they that pray effectually, and that must save the land.
These only are sensible what sin is; when others feel it not, or are
proud in the midst of their largest confessions and tears. These only
do from their hearts acknowledge their desert of God's severest
judgments, and justify God when he afflicteth them. Others rather
marvel at the greatness and continuance of judgments, and expostulate
with God as dealing hardly and unkindly with them, and tell him how
good a people he afflicteth. These only understand the sinfulness of
their very humiliations and prayers, through the weakness of that good
which should be in them, and the mixture of much evil; when the proud
are marvelling if God hear them not at the first word. These only wait
in patience for God's answer, and accept of mercy in his time and
measure; when the proud are short-winded, and if God come not just
when they expected, they do, with Saul, 1 Sam. xiii. 9-12, make haste,
or murmur at his providence, and say it is in vain to serve the Lord,
and begin to think of forsaking him, and taking some better way. These
proud ones that have joined in outward humiliations, and have lift up
themselves in heart, while they cast down their bodies, are they that
have turned the heart of God so much against us, to break us in
pieces, because he hath found among us so many of the proud whom he
taketh for his enemies. We have had those humbling themselves in our
assemblies, that were wise in their own eyes, despising, and scorning,
and reviling their teachers; such as undervalued and censured others,
that were not for their opinions and interest; that over-loved the
respect and honour that is from men, and could not endure to be
disesteemed or little set by; that could not bear an injury or a foul
word, but were prone to anger, if not revenge; that could not seek
peace, nor stoop to others, nor bear plain-dealing in reproof, nor
forgive a wrong without much submission; that had high expectations
from others, and loved those best that most esteemed them; that
counted it baseness to stoop to the meanest places or services for
others' good; yea, that quarrelled with God, his word, and
providences, and valued no other mercies but those that exalted
themselves or pleased their flesh (which proved judgments). And yet
while they thus by pride excommunicated themselves from the face of
God, and made themselves abhorred by him, they separated from the
holiest assemblies and servants of God in the land, as unworthy of
communion with such as they, unless they would first become of their
opinion and sect. We little consider how great a hand this pride hath
had in our desolations. God hath been scattering the proud of all
sorts in the imaginations of their own hearts, Luke i. 51.
_Direct._ VII. Look to a humbled Christ to humble you. Can you be proud
while you believe that your Saviour was clothed with flesh, and lived in
meanness, and made himself of no reputation, and was despised, and
scorned, and spit upon by sinners, and shamefully used, and nailed as a
malefactor to a cross? The very incarnation of Christ is a condescension
and humiliation enough to pose both men and angels, transcending all
belief but such as God himself produceth by his supernatural testimony
and Spirit.[232] And can pride look a crucified Christ in the face, or
stand before him? Did God take upon him the form of a servant,[233] and
must thou domineer and have the highest place? Had not Christ a place to
lay his head on, and must thou needs have thy adorned, well-furnished
rooms? Must thou needs brave it out in the most fantastic fashion,
instead of thy Saviour's seamless coat? Doth he pray for his murderers,
and must thou be revenged for a word or petty wrong? Is he patiently
spit upon and buffeted, and art thou ready, through proud impatiency, to
spit upon or buffet others? Surely he that "condemned sin in the flesh,"
condemned no sin more than pride.
_Direct._ VIII. Look to the examples of the most eminent saints, and
you will see they were all most eminent in humility. The apostles,
before the coming down of the Holy Ghost on them, contended which of
them should be the greatest (which Christ permitted that he might most
sharply rebuke it, and leave his warning to all his ministers and
disciples to the end of the world, that they that would be greatest
must be the servants of all, and that they must by conversion become
as little children, or never enter into the kingdom of God). But
afterward in what humility did these apostles labour, and live, and
suffer in the world! Paul "made himself a servant unto all, that he
might gain the more, though he was free from all men," 1 Cor. ix. 10.
They submitted themselves to all the injuries and affronts of men; to
be accounted the plagues and troublers of the world, and as the scorn
and offscouring of all things, and a gazing-stock to angels and to
men.[234] And are you better than they? If you are, you are more
humble, and not more proud.
_Direct._ IX. Look to the holy angels, that condescend to minister for
man; and think on the blessed souls with God, how far they are from
being proud; and remember, if ever thou come to heaven, how far thou
wilt be from pride thyself. Such a sight as Isaiah's would take down
pride: Isa. vi. 1-3, "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and
lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the
seraphims: each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, and
with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly (signifying
humility, purity, and obedience). And one cried unto another, and
said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: his glory is the fulness
of the whole earth." So Rev. iv. 8, 10, "The elders fall down, and
cast their crowns before him that sitteth on the throne." Look up to
heaven, and you will abhor your pride.
_Direct._ X. Look upon the great imperfection of thy grace and duties.
Should that man be proud that hath so little of the Spirit and image of
Jesus Christ? that believeth no more, and feareth God no more, and
loveth him no more? and can no better trust in him, nor rest upon his
word and love? nor any more delight in him, nor in his holy laws and
service? One would think that the lamentable weakness of any one of all
these graces, should take down pride and abase you in your own eyes. Is
he a christian that doth not even abhor himself, when he perceiveth how
little he loveth his God, and how little all his meditations on the love
and blood of Christ, and of the infinite goodness of God, and of the
heavenly glory, do kindle the fire, and warm his heart? Can we observe
the darkness of our minds, and ignorance of God, and strangeness to the
life to come, and the woeful weakness of our faith, and not be abased to
a loathing of ourselves? Can we choose but even abhor those hearts that
can love a friend, and love the toys and vanities of this life, and yet
can love their God no more? that take no more pleasure in his name, and
praise, and word, and service, when they can find pleasure in the
accommodations of their flesh? Can we choose but loathe those hearts
that are so averse to God, so loth to think of him, so loth to pray to
him, so weary of prayer, or holy meditation, or any duty, and yet so
forward to the business and recreations of the flesh? Can we feel how
coldly and unbelievingly we pray, how ignorantly or carnally we
discourse, how confusedly and vainly we think, and how slothfully we
work, and how unprofitably we live, and yet be proud, and not be covered
with shame? Oh! for a serious christian to feel how little of God, of
Christ, of heaven is upon his heart, and how little appeareth in any
eminent holiness, and fruitfulness, and heavenliness of life, is so
humbling a consideration, that we have much ado to own ourselves, and
not lie down as utterly desolate. Should that soul admit a thought of
pride, that hath so little grace as to be uncertain whether he have any
at all in sincerity or not? that cannot with assurance call God, Father,
or plead his interest in Christ or in the promises? nor knoweth not if
he die this hour, whether he shall go to heaven or hell? Should he be
proud that is no readier to die? and no more assured of the pardon of
sin? nor willinger to appear before the Lord? If one pained member will
make you groan, and walk dejectedly, though all the rest do feel no
pain, a soul that hath this universal weakness, a weakness that is so
sinful and so dangerous, hath cause to be continually humbled to the
dust.
_Direct._ XI. Look upon thy great and manifold sins, which dwell in
thy heart, and have been committed in thy life, and there thou wilt
see cause for great humiliation. If thy body were full of toads and
serpents, and thou couldst see or feel them crawling in thee, wouldst
thou then be proud? Why, so many sins are ten thousand-fold worse, and
should make thee far viler in thy own esteem! If thou wert possessed
with devils, and knewest it, wouldst thou be proud? Why, devils
possessing thy body are not so bad or hurtful to thee, as sin in thy
soul! The sight of a sin should more take down thy pride, than the
sight of a devil. Should that man be proud that hath lived as thou
hast lived, and sinned as thou hast sinned, from thy childhood until
now? that hath lost so much time, and abused so much mercy, and
neglected so many means, and omitted so many duties to God and man,
and been guilty of so many sinful thoughts, and so many false or
foolish words, and hath broken all the laws of God? Should not he be
deeply humbled that hath yet so much ignorance,[235] error, unbelief,
hypocrisy, sensuality, worldliness, hardheartedness, security,
uncharitableness, lust, envy, malice, impatience, and selfishness, as
is in thee? Should not thy very pride itself be matter of thy great
humiliation, to think that so odious a sin should yet so much prevail?
Look thus on thy leprous, defiled soul, and turn thy very pride
against itself! Know thyself, and thou canst not be proud.
_Direct._ XII. Look also to the desert of all thy sins, even unto hell
itself, and try if that will bring thee low. Though pride came from
hell effectively, yet hell, objectively, may afford thee a remedy
against it. Think on the worm that never dieth, and the fire that
never shall be quenched, and consider whether pride become that soul,
that hath deserved these. Wilt thou be proud in the way to thy
damnation? Thou mightst better be proud of thy chains and rope, when
thou art going to the gallows! Think, whether the miserable souls in
hell are now minding neat and well set attire, or seeking for
dominion, honour, or preferment, or contending who shall be the
greatest, or striving for the highest rooms, or setting out themselves
to the admiration and applause of men, or quarrelling with others for
undervaluing or dishonouring them! Do you think there is any place or
matter there for such works of pride, when God abaseth them?
_Direct._ XIII. Look to the day of judgment, when all proud thoughts and
looks shall be taken down; and to the endless misery threatened to the
proud. Think of that world, in which your souls must ere long appear,
before the great and holy God, whose presence will abase the proudest
sinner. When the tyrants, and gallants, and wantons of the earth, must
with trembling and amazement give up their accounts to the most
righteous Judge of all the world, then where are their lofty looks and
language? then where are their glory, and gallantry, and proud,
imperious domineering, and their scornful despising the humble, lowly
ones of Christ? Would you then think that this is the same man, that
lately could scarce be seen or spoken with? that looked so big, and
swaggered it out in wealth and honour? Is this he that could not endure
a scorn, or to be slighted, or undervalued, or plainly reproved? that
must needs have the honour and precedency in wit, and greatness, and
command? Is this the man that thought he was perfect and had no sin; or
that his sins were so small, as not to need the humiliation, renovation,
and holy diligence of the saints? Is this the woman that spent half the
day in dressing up herself, and house, and furniture for the view of
others, and must needs be in the newest or the neatest fashion? that was
wont to walk in an artificial pace, with a wandering eye, in a wanton
garb, as if she were too good to tread on the earth? Oh! then how the
case will be altered with such as these! Can you believe, and consider
how you must be judged by God, and yet be proud?
_Direct._ XIV. Look to the devils themselves that tempt you to be
proud, and see what pride hath brought them to; and remember, that a
proud man is the image of the devil, and pride is the devil's special
sin. He that envieth your happiness, knoweth by sad experience the way
to misery; and therefore tempteth you to be proud, that you may come,
by the same way, to the same end that he himself is come to. "The
angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own
habitation, are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, to the
judgment of the great day," Jude 6.
_Direct._ XV. Look well upon thyself, both body and soul, and think
whether thou be a person fit for pride. God hath purposely clothed
thine immortal soul in the coarse attire of corruptible flesh, and
placed it in so poor and ruinous a cottage, that it might be kept from
pride: yea, he made this frail and corruptible body to be a
constitutive part of our very person, that in knowing it, we may know
ourselves. Some will have a dead man's skull stand by them, in their
studies or chambers, as an antidote against pride. But God hath
fastened us yet closer to mortality: death dwelleth in our bowels. We
are apt to marvel that so noble a soul should be lodged in so mean a
body, made of the earth to which it must return![236] A stone is
durable and clean; but my flesh is corruptible, and must turn to
loathsome filth and rottenness. A marble pillar will stand firm and
beautiful from age to age, but I must perish and consume in darkness.
The seats we sit upon, the pillars we lean to, the stones we tread
upon, will be here, when we are turned to dust. The house that I
build, may stand when I am rotten in the grave. A tree will live, when
he that planted it is dead. Our bodies are of no better materials than
the brutes; our substance is in a continual flux or waste, and loseth
something every day; and if it were not repaired and patched up by
daily air and nourishment, it would soon be spent, and our oil
consumed. If you were chained to a dead carcass, which you must still
carry about with you, it were not a matter so fit to humble you, as to
be united so nearly to so vile a body of your own. We carry a dunghill
continually within us. Alas! how silly a piece is the greatest, the
strongest, and the comeliest of you all! What is that flesh which you
so much pamper, but a skin full of corruption? a bag of filth, of
phlegm, or choler, or such like excrements? If the curiousest dames
had but a sight of the phlegm in their heads and bowels, the choler
about their liver and galls, the worms or filth in other parts, they
would go near to vomit at such a sight: the swine or beast hath as
clean an inside. And what if this filth be covered with a whiter skin
or clearer colour than your neighbours have, is there any cause of
pride in that? When sickness hath altered and consumed you, then where
is that which you call beauty? If but the leprosy or the small pox
deform it, or a fever, consumption, or dropsy waste it, or the stone,
or gout, or any such torment seize upon thee, thou wilt feel or see
that which may shame thy pride. Should such a worm be proud, that
cannot, though he be a Herod, keep the worms from eating him alive?
that in a flux cannot retain his excrements? that cannot bear easily
the aching of a tooth? If thou be fit for pride, forbid diseases to
touch thy flesh, or stain thy beauty; do not be sick, nor weak, nor
pained; let not the worm and corruption be thy guests. Or if thou be
so poor a thing, as cannot hinder any of these, then know thyself, and
be ashamed of pride.
And when thou art in sickness, thou wilt be burdensome to others. It
is likely thou must have their helps, even to feed thee, to dress
thee, to turn thee, and keep thee clean; and when all is done, thou
must die, and be laid in darkness in a grave! There must thou lie
rotting night and day, till thy flesh be turned into earth. The grass
doth wither when it is cut down, but yet it is sweet; the tree that is
cut down will rot in time, but not with such a loathsome stink as we.
He that had seen what the late doleful wars did often show us, when
the fields were strewed with the carcasses of men, and when they lay
by heaps among the rubbish of the ditches of towns and castles that
had been assaulted, would think such loathsome lumps of flesh should
never have been proud. When once death hath deprived thy body of its
soul, thy best friends will quickly be weary of the remainder, and
glad to rid thee out of sight and smell. Go to the churchyard, and
look on the dust and bones that are there cast up and scattered, and
bethink thee whether those that must come to this have reason to be
proud? See whether there be any differing mark of honour upon the dust
of the rich, or strong, or beautiful? and whether the bones there
strive for principality and dominion? Therefore the desire of adorned
monuments upon men's graves, is one of the most odious sorts of pride;
when the neighbourhood of rottenness and dust doth shame it. As our
serious poet Herbert saith,
When the hair grows sweet with pride and lust,
The powder doth forget the dust.
And though thy soul be far nobler than thy body, yet here how ignorant,
and weak, and distempered is it! How full of false ideas are men's
minds! How little know they of that which they might know, or are
confident they do know! How dark are we about all the works of God, and
about his word; much more about himself! The greatest doctors are
strongly tempted to be sceptics; and the ignorant that this year are
confident to a contempt and censoriousness of all that differ from them,
perhaps the next year do change their judgments, and recant themselves.
And are our hearts and lives any happier than our understandings;
while we are imprisoned in flesh, and its interest is ours, and its
appetites and passions have so much advantage, to corrupt, seduce, or
disturb the soul? Know thyself, and pride will die.
_Direct._ XVI. If thou have any thing to be proud of, remember what it
is, and that it is not thine own, but given or lent thee by that God who
chiefly hateth pride. 1. Art thou tempted to be proud of riches?
Remember that they are in themselves but dross, which will leave thee at
the grave as poor as any. And as to their usefulness, they are but thy
Master's talents; and the more thou hast, the greater will be thine
account. And very few rich men escape the snare, and come to heaven. Thy
charge and danger therefore should rather humble thee, and make thee
exceedingly to fear. Read James v. 1-4; and Luke xii. 19, 20.
2. Is it greatness, and dominion, or human applause, or honour, that
you are proud of? Remember that this also is in itself a dream, that
maketh thee really neither better nor safer than other men. Thou
standest upon higher ground, where thou hast more than others of the
storms and dangers, and shalt be levelled with the lowest in thy fall.
And as to the use of thy power and greatness, it is for God, and not
thyself. And so great will be thy reckoning, according to the trust
reposed in thee, as would affright a considerate believer to foresee.
3. Is it youthful strength that you are proud of? How little can it do
for thee, of that which thou most needest! And how soon will it be
turned to weakness! How many are cut off in youth, and their life is
among the unclean, as Elihu speaks, Job xxxvi. 14. Their bones are
full of the sins of their youth, which shall lie down with them in the
dust, Job xx. 11.
4. Is it beauty that you are proud of? I have told you what sickness
and death will do to that before. When God rebuketh man for sin, he
makes his beauty to consume as a moth: surely every man is vanity,
Psal. xxxix. 11. Read Psal. xlix. 12-14. And if your beauty would
continue, how little good will it do you! and who but fools do look at
the skin of a rational creature, when they would discern their worth?
A fool, and a slave of lust and Satan, may be beautiful. A sepulchre
may be gilded that hath rottenness within. Will you choose the finest
purse, or the fullest? Who but a child or fool will value his book by
the fineness of the cover, or gilding of the leaves, and not by the
worth of the matter within? Absalom was beautiful, and what the better
was he? 2 Sam. xiv. 25. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a
woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised, Prov. xxxi. 30.
5. If it be fine clothes and gaudy ornaments that you are proud of, it
is a sin so foolish, and worse than childish, that I shall give it no
other confutation, than to tell you, that it contradicteth itself, by
making the person a scorn and laughing-stock to others, when their
design was to be more admired; and that an ass or a post may have as
fine and costly attire as you; and that shortly you shall change it
for a winding-sheet.[237]
6. Is it your birth, and progenitors, and great friends that you are
proud of? Personal merits are incomparably more excellent than this
relation to the most meritorious parents; much more than a relation to
their empty titles. Cain was the son of Adam the father of mankind,
and Ham of Noah, and Esau of Isaac, and Absalom of David; when a godly
son of a wicked father is more honourable than they. Your ancestors
are but of the common stock of sinful Adam: and your great friends may
possibly become your enemies: and it is little that the greatest of
them can do for you, if God be not your friend.
7. Is it your learning, or wisdom, or ability for speech or action,
that you are proud of? Remember that the devils, and many that are now
in hell, have far exceeded you in these; and that the wiser you are
indeed, the humbler you will be; and by pride you confute your
ostentation of your wisdom. Ahithophel's wisdom, which saveth not the
owner from perdition, is little cause of glorying. Jer. viii. 8, 9,
there were men that boasted of their wisdom, even in the law of God,
who yet were ashamed and dismayed; for they rejected the word of the
Lord: and then what wisdom could there be in them? Therefore, "thus
saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor let the
mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his
riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth
and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness,
judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these do I delight,
saith the Lord," Jer. ix. 23, 24. Those were not unlearned, of whom
Paul speaketh; "Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the
disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this
world?" 1 Cor. i. 20.
8. Is it success in wars, or great undertakings, that you are proud
of? But by whose strength did you perform it? and how unhappy a
success is that which hindereth your success in the work of your
salvation! and how many have been brought down again to shame, that
have been lifted up in pride of their successes!
9. Is it the applause of men that proclaim your excellency that you are
proud of? Alas, how poor a portion is the breath of man! and how mutable
are your applauders! that perhaps the next day will turn their tunes,
and as much reproach you. Will you be proud of praise, when it is the
devil's whistle, purposely to entice you into this pernicious snare,
that he may destroy you? It is a danger to be feared; for it destroyeth
many: but not a benefit much to be rejoiced in, much less to be proud
of; for few are the better for it. Titles and applause increase not real
worth and virtue, but puff up many with a mortal tympany.
10. Is it your grace and goodness, or eminency in religion, that you
are proud of? This is most absurd; when predominant pride is a certain
sign that you have no saving grace at all, and so are proud of what
you have not: and if you have it, so far as you are proud of it you
abuse it, contradict it, and destroy it; for pride is to grace, what
the plague or consumption is to health. It is novices that have least
grace and knowledge, that are aptest to be puffed up with pride, and
thereby to fall into the condemnation of the devil, 1 Tim. iii. 6;
that is, into the like punishment for the like sin. When the pot
boileth over, that which was in it is lost in the fire. Rise not too
high in the esteem of your grace, lest you rise to the loss of it. "Be
not highminded, but fear," Rom. xi. 20. When you "think you stand,
take heed lest you fall," 1 Cor. x. 12.
_Direct._ XVII. Look to the nature and tendency of every grace and
ordinance and duty, and use them diligently; for they all tend to the
destruction of pride. Knowledge discerneth the folly and pernicious
tendency of pride, and abundant matter for humiliation. Faith is the
casting off our pride, and going with empty, hungry souls to Christ
for mercy and supply. It showeth us the most powerful sight in the
world for the humbling of a soul, even a crucified Christ, and a most
holy God, and a glorified society of humble souls, and a dreadful
judgment and damnation for the proud. I might show you the same of
every grace and duty, but for being tedious.
_Direct._ XVIII. Look to the humbling judgments of God on yourselves and
others, and turn them all against your pride. You will sure think it an
unsuitable and unseasonable thing for the calamitous to be proud. Are
you not oft complaining of one thing or other, upon your consciences,
your bodies, your estates, your names, your relations, or friends? and
yet will you be proud while you complain? If the judgments that have
already befallen you humble you not, if God love you, and will save you,
you may expect you should feel more, and the load should be increased,
till it make you stoop. O miserable, obstinate sinners! that can groan
with sickness, and yet be proud! and murmur under want, and yet be
proud! and daily crossed by one or other, and yet be proud! yea, and
tormented with fears of God's displeasure, and yet be proud! Have not
all the wars, and blood, and ruins that have befallen us in these
kingdoms, been yet enough to take down pride? Many humbling sights we
have seen, and many humbling stripes we have felt, and yet are we not
humbled! We have seen houses robbed, and towns fired, and the country
pillaged, and the blood of many thousands shed, and their carcasses
scattered about the fields, and yet are we not humbled! If we were proud
of our riches, they have been taken from us; if proud of our buildings,
they have been turned into ruinous heaps; if we have been proud of our
government, and the fame and glory of our country, we have seen how our
sins have pulled down our government, dishonoured our rulers, and
blemished our glory, and turned it into shame; and yet are we not
humbled! If you lived in a house infected with the plague, and had
buried father and mother, and brothers and sisters, and but a very few
were left alive, expecting when their turn came next; if these few were
not humbled, would you not think them blind and sottish persons? Do you
yet look high, and contend for pre-eminence, and look for honour, and
envy others, and desire to domineer, and have your will and way, and set
out yourselves in the neatest dress? Must you have sharper stripes,
before you will be humbled? Must greater injuries, and violences, and
losses, and fears, and reproaches be the means? Why will you choose so
painful a remedy, by frustrating the easier? If it must be so, the
judgment shall shortly come yet nearer to thee: it shall either strip
thee of the rest, or cover thee with shame, or lay thee in pain upon thy
couch, where thy head shall ache, and thy heart be sick, and thy body
weary, and thou shalt pant and gasp for breath; wilt thou then be proud,
and contest for honour, when thou expectest hourly when thy proud and
guilty soul shall be turned out of thy body, and appear before the holy
God? when the bell is ready to toll for thee, and thy winding-sheet to
be fetched out, and thy coffin prepared, and the bier to be fetched to
carry thee to thy grave, and leave thee in the dark with worms and
rottenness; wilt thou then be proud? Where then are your high looks, and
lofty minds, and splendid ornaments, and honours? Then will you be
climbing into higher rooms, and seeking to be revenged on those that
did eclipse your honour? Saith David, even of princes, and all the sons
of men, Psal. cxlvi. 3, 4, "His breath goeth forth: he returneth to his
earth: in that very day his thoughts perish."
_Direct._ XIX. Look on the lamentable effects of pride about you in the
world, and that will help you to see the odiousness and pernicious
nature of it. Do you not see how it setteth the whole world on fire? how
it raiseth wars, and ruineth kingdoms, and draweth out men's blood, and
filleth the world with malice and hatred, and cruelty and injustice, and
treasons and rebellions, and destroyeth mercy, truth, and honesty, and
all that is left of God upon the mind of man? Whence is all the
confusion and calamity, all the censoriousness, revilings, and
cruelties, which we have seen, or felt, or heard of, but from pride?
What is it that hath trampled upon the interest of Christ and his gospel
through the world, but pride? What else is it that hath burnt his
martyrs, and made havoc of his servants, and distracted and divided his
church with schisms, and set up so many sect-masters and sects, and
caused them almost all to set against others, but this cursed,
unmortified pride? He that hath seen but what pride hath been doing in
England in this age, and yet discerneth not its hatefulness and
perniciousness, is strangely blind. Every proud man is a plague or
burden to the place he liveth in: if he get high, he is a Nabal; a man
can scarce speak to him; he thinks all under him are made but to serve
his will and honour, as inferior creatures are made for man. If he be an
inferior, he scorneth at the honour and government of his superiors, and
thinks they take too much upon them, and that it is below him to obey.
If he be rich, he thinks the poor must bow all to him, as to the golden
calf, or Nebuchadnezzar's golden image: if he be poor, he envieth the
rich, and is impatient of the state that God hath set him in: if he be
learned, he thinks himself an oracle: if unlearned, he despiseth the
knowledge which he wanteth, and scorneth to be taught. What state soever
he is in, he is a very salamander, that liveth in the fire, he troubleth
house, and town, and country, if his power be answerable to his heart:
he is an unpolished stone, that will never lie even in any building; he
is a natural enemy to quietness and peace.
_Direct._ XX. Consider well how God hath designed the humbling of all
that he will save, in his whole contrivance of the work of our
redemption. He could have saved man by keeping him in his primitive
innocency, if he had pleased. Though he causeth not sin, he knoweth why
he permitteth it. He thought it not enough that man should have the
thought of creation to humble him, as being taken from the dust, and
made of nothing; but he will also have the sense of his moral
nothingness and sinfulness to humble him: he will have him beholden to
his Redeemer and Sanctifier for his new life and his salvation, as much
as to his Creator for his natural life. He is permitted first to undo
himself, and bring himself under condemnation, to be a child of death,
and near to hell, before he is ransomed and delivered; that he may take
to himself the shame of his misery, and ascribe all his hopes and
recovery to God. No flesh shall be justified by the works of the law, or
by a righteousness of his own performance; but by the satisfaction and
merits of his Redeemer; that so all boasting may be excluded, and that
no flesh might glory in his sight, and that man might be humbled, and
our Redeemer have the praise to all eternity.[238] And therefore God
prepareth men for faith and pardon, by humbling works, and forceth
sinners to condemn themselves before he will justify them.
_Direct._ XXI. Read over the character which Christ himself giveth of
his true disciples; and you will see what great self-denial and humility
he requireth in all. In your first conversion you must become as little
children, Matt. xviii. 3. Instead of contending for superiority and
greatness, you must be ambitious of being servants unto all, Matt.
xxiii. 11; xx. 27. You must learn of him to be meek and lowly of heart,
Matt. xi. 28, 29; and to stoop to wash your brethren's feet, John xiii.
5, 14. Instead of revenge or unpeaceable contending for your right, you
must rather obey those that injuriously command you, and turn the other
cheek to him that smiteth you, and let go the rest to him that hath
injuriously taken from you; and bless them that curse you, and pray for
them that hurt and persecute you, and despitefully use you, Matt. v. 39,
40, 41, 44.[239] These are the followers of Christ.
_Direct._ XXII. Remember how pride contradicteth itself by exposing
you to the hatred or contempt of all. All men abhor that pride in
others which they cherish in themselves. A humble man is well thought
of by all that know him; and a proud man is the mark of common
obloquy. The rich disdain him, the poor envy him, and all hate him,
and many deride him. This is his success.
_Direct._ XXIII. Look still unto that dismal end, which pride doth
tend unto. It threateneth apostasy. If God forsake any one among you,
and any of you forsake God, his truth, and your consciences, and be
made as Lot's wife, a monument of his vengeance for a warning to
others, it will be the proud and self-conceited person. It maketh all
the mercies of God, your duties and parts, and objectively your very
graces, to be its food and fuel. It is a sign you are near some
dreadful fall, or heavy judgment: for God hath given you this
prognostic, Luke xiv. 11; i. 51; Prov. xv. 25; xvi. 5; Isa. ii. 11,
12. An Ahab is safer when he humbleth himself; and a Hezekiah is
falling when he is lifted up. They are the most hardened sinners,
scorning reproof, and therefore ordinarily forsaken both by God and
man, and left to their self-delusion, till they perish.
_Direct._ XXIV. Converse with humbled and afflicted persons, and not
with proud, secure worldlings. Be much in the "house of mourning," where
you may see "the end of all the living, and be made better by laying it
to heart;" and let not your "hearts be in the house of mirth," Eccl.
vii. 2-4. Delight not to converse with "men that be in honour, and
understand not, but are like the beasts that perish; for though they
think of perpetuating their houses, and call their lands after their own
names," yet they "abide not in" their "honour:" and "this their way is
their folly," though "yet their posterity approve their sayings," Psal.
xlix. 20, 12-14. Converse with penitent, humbled souls, that have seen
the odiousness of sin, and the wickedness and deceitfulness of the
heart, and can tell you by their own feeling what cause of humiliation
is still before you. With these are you most safe.
I have been the larger against pride, as seeing its prevalency in the
world, and its mischievous effects on souls and families, church and
state; and because it is not discerned and resisted by many as it
ought. I would fain have God dwell in your hearts, and peace in your
societies; and fain have you stand fast in the hour of temptation,
from prosperity or adversity; and fain have affliction easy to you.
But none of this will be without humility. I am loth that under the
mighty hand of God we should be unhumbled, even when judgments bid us
lay our mouths in the dust.[240] The storms have been long up; the
cedars have fallen; it is the shrubs and bending willows that now are
likeliest to scape. I am loth to see the prognostics of wrath upon
your souls, or upon the land. I am loth that any of you should through
pride be unhumbled of sin, or ashamed to own despised godliness; or
that any that have seemed religious, should prove seditious,
unpeaceable, or apostates. And therefore I beseech you, in a special
manner, take heed of pride; be little in your own esteem; praise not
one another unseasonably; be not offended at plain reproofs: look to
your duties, and then leave your reputations to the will of God.
Rebuke pride in your children; use them to mean attire and
employments; cherish not that in them which is most natural (now) and
most pernicious. God dwelleth with the humble, and will take the
humble to dwell with him, Isa. lvii. 15; Job xxii. 29. "Put on
humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another,"
Col. iii. 12, 13. "Be clothed with humility: serve the Lord with all
humility of mind, and he will exalt you in due time," Acts xx. 19; 1
Pet. v. 6, 7.
PART VI.
_Directions against Covetousness, or Love of Riches,
and against Worldly Cares._[241]
I shall say but little on this subject now, because I have written a
Treatise of it already, called "The Crucifying of the World by the
Cross of Christ;" in which I have given many directions (in the
preface and treatise) against this sin.
_Direct._ I. Understand well the nature and malignity of this sin;
both what it is, and why it is so great and perilous. I shall here
show you, 1. What love of riches is lawful. 2. What it is that is
unlawful; and in what this sin of covetousness or worldliness doth
consist. 3. Wherein the malignity or greatness of it lieth. 4. The
signs of it. 5. What counterfeits of the contrary virtue do hide this
sin from the eyes of worldlings. 6. What false appearances of it do
cause many to be suspected of covetousness unjustly.
[Sidenote: Lawful love of creatures.]
I. All love of the creature, the world, or riches, is not sin: for, 1.
The works of God are all good, as such; and all goodness is amiable.
As they are related to God, and his power, and wisdom, and goodness
are imprinted on them, so we must love them, even for his sake. 2. All
the impressions of the attributes of God appearing on his works, do
make them as a glass, in which at this distance we must see the
Creator; and their sweetness is a drop from him, by which his goodness
and love are tasted. And so they were all made to lead us up to God,
and help our minds to converse with him, and kindle the love of God in
our breasts, as a love-token from our dearest friend; and thus, as the
means of our communion with God, the love of them is a duty, and not a
sin. 3. They are naturally the means of sustaining our bodies, and
preserving life, and health, and alacrity; and as such, our sensitive
part hath a love to them, as every beast hath to its food; and this
love in itself is not of a moral kind, and is neither a virtue nor a
vice, till it either be used in obedience to our reason, (and so it is
good,) or in disobedience to it (and so it is evil). 4. The creatures
are necessary means to support our bodies, while we are doing God the
service which we owe him in the world; and so they must be loved, as a
means to his service; though we cannot say properly that riches are
ordinarily thus necessary. 5. The creatures are necessary to sustain
our bodies in our journey to heaven, while we are preparing for
eternity; and thus they must be loved as remote helps to our
salvation. And in these two last respects we call it in our prayers
"our daily bread." 6. Riches may enable us to relieve our needy
brethren, and to promote good works for church or state. And thus also
they may be loved; so far as we must be thankful for them, so far we
may love them; for we must be thankful for nothing but what is good.
[Sidenote: Covetousness what.]
II. But worldliness, or sinful love of riches, is, 1. When riches are
loved and desired, and sought more for the flesh than for God or our
salvation; even as the matter or means of our worldly prosperity, that
the flesh may want nothing to please it, and satisfy its desires.[242]
Or that pride may have enough wherewith to support itself, by gratifying
and obliging others, and living at those rates, and in that splendour,
as may show our greatness, or further our domination over others. 2. And
when we therefore desire them in that proportion which we think most
agreeable to these carnal ends, and are not contented with our daily
bread, and that proportion which may sustain us as passengers to heaven,
and tend most to the securing of our souls, and to the service of God.
So that it is the end by which a sinful love of riches is principally to
be discerned; when they are loved for pride or flesh-pleasing, as they
are the matter of a worldly, corporal felicity, and not principally for
God and his service, and servants, and our salvation. And indeed, as
sensualists love them, they should be hated.
[Sidenote: Worldliness when predominant.]
Worldliness is either predominant, and so a certain sign of death; or
else mortified, and in a subdued degree, consistent with some saving
grace. Worldliness predominant, as in the ungodly, is, when men that
have not a lively belief of the everlasting happiness, nor have laid
up their treasure and hopes in heaven, do take the pleasure and
prosperity of this life for that felicity which is highest in their
esteem, and dearest to their hearts, and therefore love the riches of
the world, or full provisions, as the matter and means of this their
temporal felicity.[243] Worldliness in a mortified person, is, when he
that hath laid up his treasure in heaven, and practically esteemeth
his everlasting hopes above all the pleasure and prosperity of the
flesh, and seeketh first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and
useth his estate principally for God and his salvation, hath yet some
remnants of inordinate desire to the prosperity and pleasure of the
flesh, and some inordinate desire of riches for that end; which yet he
hateth, lamenteth, resisteth, and so far subdueth, that it is not
predominant, against the interest of God and his salvation.[244] Yet
this is a great sin, though it be forgiven.
[Sidenote: The malignity of it.]
III. The malignity or greatness of this sin consisteth in these points
(especially when it is predominant). 1. The love of the world, or of
riches, is a sin of deliberation, and not of mere temerity or sudden
passion: worldlings contrive the attaining of their ends. 2. It is a
sin of interest, love, and choice, set up against our chiefest
interest: it is the setting up of a false end, and seeking that; and
not only a sin of error in the means, or a seeking the right end in a
mistaken way. 3. It is idolatry,[245] or a denying God, and deposing
him in our hearts, and setting up his creatures in his stead, in that
measure as it prevaileth. The worldling giveth that love and that
trust unto the creature, which are due to God alone; he delighteth in
it instead of God, and seeketh and holdeth it as his felicity instead
of God: and therefore, so far as any man loveth the world, the love of
the Father is not in him, 1 John ii. 15. And the friendship of the
world is enmity to God. 4. It is a contempt of heaven; when it must be
neglected, and a miserable world preferred. 5. It showeth that
unbelief prevaileth at the heart so far as worldliness prevaileth: for
if men did practically believe the heavenly glory, and the promise
thereof, they would be carried above these present things. 6. It is a
debasing of the soul of man, and using it like the brutes, while it is
principally set upon the serving of the flesh, and on a temporal
felicity, and neglecteth its eternal happiness and concernments.
7. It is a perverting of the very drift of a man's life, as employed in
seeking a wrong end, and not only of some one faculty or act: it is an
habitual sin of the state and course of mind and life, and not only a
particular actual sin. 8. It is a perverting of God's creatures to an
end and use clean contrary to that which they were made and given for;
and an abusing God by his own gifts, by which he should be served and
honoured; and a destroying our souls with those mercies which were given
us for their help and benefit. This is the true character of this
heinous sin. In a word, it is the forsaking God, and turning the heart
from him, and alienating the life from his service, to this present
world, and the service of the flesh. Fornication, drunkenness, murder,
swearing, perjury, lying, stealing, &c. are very heinous sins. But a
single act of one of these, committed rashly in the violence of passion,
or temptation, speaketh not such a malignant turning away of the heart
habitually from God, as to say a man is covetous, or a worldling.
[Sidenote: _Signs of worldliness._]
IV. The signs of covetousness are these: 1. Not preferring God and our
everlasting happiness before the prosperity and pleasure of the flesh;
but valuing and loving fleshly prosperity above its worth.[246] 2.
Esteeming and loving the creatures of God as provision for the flesh,
and not to further us in the service of God. 3. Desiring more than is
needful or useful to further us in our duty. 4. An inordinate
eagerness in our desires after earthly things. 5. Distrustfulness, and
carking cares, and contrivances for time to come. 6. Discontent, and
trouble, and a repining at a poor condition, when we have no more than
our daily bread. 7. When the world taketh up our thoughts
inordinately: when our thoughts will easilier run out upon the world,
than upon better things: and when our thoughts of worldly plenty are
more pleasant and sweet to us, than our thoughts of Christ, and
grace, and heaven; and our thoughts of want and poverty are more
bitter and grievous to us, than our thoughts of sin and God's
displeasure. 8. When our speech is freer and sweeter about prosperity
in the world, than about the concernments of God and our souls. 9.
When the world beareth sway in our families and converse, and shutteth
out all serious endeavours in the service of God, and for our own and
others' souls: or at least doth cut short religious duties, and is
preferred before them, and thrusteth them into a corner, and maketh us
slightly huddle them over. 10. When we are dejected overmuch, and
impatient under losses, and crosses, and worldly injuries from men.
11. When worldly matters seem sufficient to engage us in contentions,
and to make us break peace: and we will by law-suits seek our right,
when greater hurt is liker to follow to our brother's soul, or greater
wrong to the cause of religion, or the honour of God, than our right
is worth. 12. When in our trouble and distress we fetch our comfort
more from the thoughts of our provisions in the world, or our hopes of
supply, than from our trust in God, and our hopes of heaven.[247] 13.
When we are more thankful to God or man for outward riches, or any
gift for the provision of the flesh, than for hopes or helps in order
to salvation; for a powerful ministry, good books, or seasonable
instructions for the soul. 14. When we are quiet and pleased if we do
but prosper, and have plenty in the world, though the soul be
miserable, unsanctified, and unpardoned. 15. When we are more careful
to provide a worldly than a heavenly portion, for children and
friends, and rejoice more in their bodily than their spiritual
prosperity, and are troubled more for their poverty than their
ungodliness or sin. 16. When we can see our brother have need, and
shut up the bowels of our compassion, or can part with no more than
mere superfluities for his relief: when we cannot spare that which
makes but for our better being, when it is necessary to preserve his
being itself; or when we give unwillingly or sparingly.[248] 17. When
we will venture upon sinful means for gain, as lying, overreaching,
deceiving, flattering, or going against our consciences, or the
commands of God. 18. When we are too much in expecting liberality from
others, and think that all we buy of should sell cheaper to us than
they can afford, and consider not their loss or want, so that we have
the gain: nor are contented if they be never so bountiful to others,
if they be not so to us.[249] 19. When we make too much ado in the
world for riches, taking too much upon us, or striving for preferment,
and flattering great ones, and envying any that are preferred before
us, or get that which we expected. 20. When we hold our money faster
than our innocency, and cannot part with it for the sake of Christ,
when he requireth it; but will stretch our consciences and sin against
him, or forsake his cause, to save our estates; or will not part with
it for the service of his church, or of our country, when we are
called to it. 21. When the riches which we have, are used but for the
pampering of our flesh, and superfluous provision for our posterity,
and nothing but some inconsiderable crumbs or driblets are employed
for God and his servants, nor used to further us in his service, and
towards the laying up of a treasure in heaven. These are the signs of
a worldly, covetous wretch.
V. The counterfeits of liberality or freedom from covetousness, which
deceive the worldling, are such as these: 1. He thinks he is not
covetous because he hath a necessity of doing what he doth for more.
Either he is in debt or he is poor, and scarcely hath whereon to live;
and the poor think that none are worldlings and covetous but the rich.
But he may love riches that wanteth them, as much as he that hath them.
If you have a necessity of labouring in your callings, you have no
necessity of loving the world, or of caring inordinately, or of being
discontented with your estate. Impatience under your wants shows a love
of the world and flesh, as much as other men's bravery that possess it.
2. Another thinks he is not a worldling, because if he could but have
necessaries, even food and raiment, and conveniences for himself and
family, he would be content; and it is not riches or great matters that
he desireth.[250] But if your hearts are more set upon the getting of
these necessaries or little things, than upon the preparing for death,
and making sure of the heavenly treasure, you are miserable worldlings
still. And the poor man that will set his heart more upon a poor and
miserable life, than upon heaven, is more unexcusable than he that
setteth his heart more upon lordships and honours than upon heaven;
though both of them are but the slaves of the world, and have as yet no
treasure in heaven, Matt. vi. 19-21. And, moreover, you that are now so
covetous for a little more, if you had that, would be as covetous for a
little more still; and when you had that, for a little more yet. You
would next wear better clothing, and have better fare; and next you
would have your house repaired, and then you would have your land
enlarged, and then you would have something more for your children, and
you would never be satisfied. You think otherwise now; but your hearts
deceive you; you do not know them. If you believe me not, judge by the
case of other men that have been as confident as you, that if they had
but so much or so much they would be content; but when they have it,
they would still have more. And this, which is your pretence, is the
common pretence of almost all the covetous: for lords and princes think
themselves still in as great necessity as you think yourselves: as they
have more, so they have more to do with it; and usually are still
wanting as much as the poor. The question is not how much you desire?
but to what use, and to what end, and in what order?
3. Another thinks he is not covetous, because he coveteth not any
thing that is his neighbour's: he thinks that covetousness is only a
desiring that which is not our own. But if you love the world and
worldly plenty inordinately, and covet more, you are covetous
worldlings, though you wish it not from another. It is the worldly
mind and love of wealth that is the sin at the root: the ways of
getting it are but the branches.
4. Another thinks he is no worldling, because he useth no unlawful
means, but the labour of his calling, to grow rich. The same answer
serves to this. The love of wealth for the satisfying of the flesh is
unlawful, whatever the means be. And is it not also an unlawful means
of getting, to neglect God and your souls, and the poor, and shut out
other duties for the world, as you often do?
5. Another thinks he is no worldling, because he is contented with
what he hath, and coveteth no more. When that which he hath is a full
provision for his fleshly desires. But if you over-love the world, and
delight more in it than God, you are worldlings, though you desire no
more. He is described by Christ as a miserable, worldly fool, Luke
xii. 19, 20, that saith, "Soul, take thy ease, eat, drink, and be
merry, thou hast much goods laid up for many years." To over-love what
you have, is worldliness, as well as to desire more.
6. Another thinks he is no worldling, because he gives God thanks for
what he hath, and asked it of God in prayer. But if thou be a lover of
the world, and make provision for the desires of the flesh, it is but
an aggravation of thy sin, to desire God to be a servant to thy
fleshly lusts, and to thank him for satisfying thy sinful desires. Thy
prayers and thanks are profane and carnal: they were no service to
God, but to thy flesh. As if a drunkard or a glutton should beg of God
provision for their greedy throats, and thank him for it when they
have it: or a fornicator should pray God to be a pander to his lusts,
and then thank him for it: or a wanton gallant should make fine
clothes and gallantry the matter of his prayer and thanksgiving.
7. Another thinks he is no worldling, because he hath some thoughts of
heaven, and is loth to be damned when he can keep the world no longer,
and prayeth often, and perhaps fasteth with the Pharisee twice a week,
and giveth alms often, and payeth tithes, and wrongeth no man.[251]
But the Pharisees were covetous for all these, Luke xvi. 14. The
question is not whether you think of heaven, and do something for it?
But whether it be heaven or earth which you seek first, and make the
end of all things else, which all are referred to? Every worldling
knoweth that he must die, and therefore he would have heaven at last
for a reserve, rather than hell. But where is it that you are laying
up your treasure, and that you place all your happiness and hopes? And
where are your hearts? on earth, or in heaven? Col. iii. 1-3; Matt.
vi. 20, 21. The question is not whether you give now and then an alms
to deceive your consciences, and part with so much as the flesh can
spare, as a swine will do when he can eat no more? but whether all
that you have be devoted to the will of God, and made to stoop to his
service and the saving of your souls, and can be forsaken rather than
Christ forsaken, Luke xiv. 33.
8. Another thinks that he is not covetous, because it is but for his
children that he provideth: and "he that provideth not for his own, is
worse than an infidel," 1 Tim. v. 8. But the text speaketh only of
providing necessaries for our families and kindred, rather than cast
them on the church to be maintained. If you so overvalue the world,
that you think it the happiness of your children to be rich, you are
worldlings and covetous, both for yourselves and them. It is for their
children that the richest and greatest make provision, that their
posterity may be great and wealthy after them: and this maketh them
the more worldlings, and not the less; because they are covetous for
after-ages, when they are dead, and not only for themselves.
9. Another thinks he is no worldling, because he can speak as hardly
of covetous men as any other. But many a one revileth others as
covetous that is covetous himself; yea, covetous men are aptest to
accuse others of covetousness, and of selling too dear, and buying too
cheap, and giving too little, because they would get the more
themselves. And many preachers, by their reading and knowledge, may
make a vehement sermon against worldliness, and yet go to hell at last
for being worldlings. Words are cheap.
10. Another thinks he is not covetous, because he purposeth to leave
much to charitable uses when he is dead. I confess that much is well:
I would more would do so. But the flesh itself can spare it, when it
seeth that it must lie down in the grave. If they could carry their
riches with them and enjoy them after death, they would do it no
doubt: to leave it when you cannot keep it any longer, is not
thankworthy. So the glutton, and drunkard, and whoremonger, and the
proud must all leave their pleasure at the grave. But do you serve God
or the flesh with your riches while you have them? And do you use them
to help or to hinder your salvation? Deceive not yourselves, for God
is not mocked, Gal. vi. 7.
VI. Yet many are falsely accused of covetousness upon such grounds as
these: 1. Because they possess much and are rich: for the poor take
the rich for worldlings. But God giveth not to all alike: he putteth
ten talents into the hands of one servant, and but one into another's:
and to whom men commit much, of them will they require the more.[252]
Therefore, to be intrusted with more than others is no sin, unless
they betray that trust.
2. Others are accused as covetous, because they satisfy not the
covetous desires of those they deal with, or that expect much from
them, and because they give not where it is not their duty, but their
sin to give. Thus the buyer saith the seller is covetous; and the
seller saith the buyer is covetous, because they answer not their
covetous desires. An idle beggar will accuse you of uncharitableness,
because you maintain him not in sinful idleness. The proud look you
should help to maintain their pride. The drunkard, and riotous, and
gamesters expect their parents should maintain their sin. No man that
hath any thing, shall scape the censure of being covetous, as long as
there is another in the world that coveteth that which he hath:
selfishness looketh to no rules but their own desires.
3. Others are judged covetous, because they give not that which they
have not to give. Those that know not another's estate, will pass
conjectures at it; and if their handsome apparel or deportment, or the
common fame, do make men think them richer than they are, then they
are accounted covetous, because their bounty answereth not men's
expectations.
4. Others are thought covetous, because they are laborious in their
callings, and thrifty, and saving, not willing that any thing be lost.
But all this is their duty: if they were lords or princes, idleness
and wastefulness would be their sin. God would have all men labour in
their several callings, that are able: and Christ himself said, when
he had fed many thousands by miracle, yet "Gather up the fragments
that remain, that nothing be lost." The question is, How they use that
which they labour so hard for, and save so sparingly. If they use it
for God, and charitable uses, there is no man taketh a righter course.
He is the best servant for God, that will be laborious and sparing,
that he may be able to do good.
5. Others are thought covetous, because, to avoid hypocrisy, they give
in secret, and keep their works of charity from the knowledge of men.
These shall have their reward from God: and his wrath shall be the
reward of their presumptuous censures.
6. Others are thought covetous, because they lawfully and peaceably seek
their right, and let not the unjust and covetous wrong them at their
pleasure. It is true, we must let go our right, whenever the recovering
of it will do more hurt to others than it will do us good. But yet the
laws are not made in vain: nor must we encourage men in covetousness,
thievery, and deceit, by letting them do what they list: nor must we be
careless of our Master's talents; if he intrust us with them, we must
not let every one take them from us to serve his lusts with.
_Direct._ II. Seriously consider of your everlasting state, and how much
greater things than riches you have to mind. Behold by faith the endless
joys which you may have with God, and the endless misery which
worldlings must undergo in hell. There is no true cure for an earthly
mind, but by showing it the far greater matters to be minded: by
acquainting it better with its own concernments; and with the greater
miseries than poverty or want, which we have to escape; and the greater
good than worldly plenty, which we have to seek. It is want of faith
that makes men worldlings: they see not what is in another world: they
say their creed, but do not heartily believe the day of judgment, the
resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. There is not a man
of them all, but, if he had one sight of heaven and hell, would set
lighter by the world than ever he did before; and would turn his
covetous care and toil to a speedy and diligent care of his salvation.
If he heard the joyful praises of the saints, and the woeful
lamentations of the damned, but one day or hour, he would think ever
after that he had greater matters to mind than the scraping together a
heap of wealth. Remember, man, that thou hast another world to live in;
and a far longer life to make provision for; and that thou must be in
heaven or hell for ever. This is true, whether thou believe it or not:
and thou hast no time but this to make all thy preparation in: and as
thou believest, and livest, and labourest now, it must go with thee to
all eternity. These are matters worthy of thy care. Canst thou have
while to make such a pudder here in the dust, and care and labour for a
thing of nought, while thou hast such things as these to care for, and a
work of such transcendent consequence to do?[253] Can a man that
understands what heaven and hell are, find room for any needless
matters, or time for so much unnecessary work? The providing for thy
salvation is a thing that God hath made thy own work, much more than the
providing for the flesh. When he speaks of thy body, he saith, "Take no
thought for your life, what you shall eat or drink, nor for your body,
what you shall put on:--for your Father knoweth that ye have need of all
these things," Matt. vi. 25, 32. "Be careful for nothing," Phil. iv. 6.
"Cast all your care upon him, for he careth for you," 1 Pet. v. 7. But
when he speaks of your salvation, he bids you "work it out with fear and
trembling," Phil. ii. 12;[254] and "give diligence to make your calling
and election sure," 2 Pet. i. 10; and "strive to enter in at the strait
gate," Matt. vii. 13; Luke xiii. 24. "Labour not for the meat that
perisheth, but for that which endureth to everlasting life," John vi.
27. That is, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and
all these things shall be added to you," Matt. vi. 33. Look up to
heaven, man, and remember that there is thy home, and there are thy
hopes, or else thou art a man undone for ever; and therefore it is for
that that thou must care and labour. Believe unfeignedly that thou must
dwell for ever in heaven or hell, as thou makest thy preparation here,
and consider of this as becometh a man, and then be a worldling and
covetous if thou canst: riches will seem dust and chaff to thee, if thou
believe and consider thy everlasting state. Write upon the doors of thy
shop and chamber, I must be in heaven or hell for ever; or, This is the
time on which my endless life dependeth; and methinks every time thou
readest it, thou shouldst feel thy covetousness stabbed at the heart. O
blinded mortals! that love, like worms, to dwell in earth! Would God but
give you an eye of faith, to foresee your end, and where you must dwell
to all eternity, what a change would it make upon your earthly minds!
Either faith or sense will be your guides. Nothing but reason sanctified
by faith can govern sense. Remember that thou art not a beast, that hath
no life to live but this: thou hast a reasonable, immortal soul, that
was made by God for higher things, even for God himself, to admire him,
love him, serve him, and enjoy him. If an angel were to dwell awhile in
flesh, should he turn an earthworm, and forget his higher life of glory?
Thou art like to an incarnate angel; and mayst be equal with the angels,
when thou art freed from this sinful flesh, Luke xx. 36. O beg of God a
heavenly light, and a heavenly mind, and look often into the word of
God, which tells thee where thou must be for ever; and worldliness will
vanish away in shame.
_Direct._ III. Remember how short a time thou must keep and enjoy the
wealth which thou hast gotten. How quickly thou must be stripped of all!
Canst thou keep it when thou hast it?[255] Canst thou make a covenant
with death, that it shall not call away thy soul? Thou knowest
beforehand that thou art of short continuance, and the world is but thy
inn or passage; and that a narrow grave for thy flesh to rot in, is all
that thou canst keep of thy largest possessions, save what thou layest
up in heaven, by laying it out in obedience to God. How short is life!
How quickly gone! Thou art almost dead and gone already! What are a few
days or a few years more? And wilt thou make so much ado for so short a
life? and so careful a provision for so short a stay? Yea, how uncertain
is thy time, as well as short! Thou canst not say what world thou shalt
be in to-morrow. Remember, man, that Thou must die! Thou must die! Thou
must quickly die! Thou knowest not how soon! Breathe yet a few breaths
more, and thou art gone! And yet canst thou be covetous, and drown thy
soul with earthly cares? Dost thou soberly read thy Saviour's warning,
Luke xii. 19-21? Is it not spoken as to thee? "Thou fool, this night thy
soul shall be required of thee; then whose shall those things be which
thou hast provided? So is every one that layeth up riches for himself,
and is not rich towards God."[256] If thou be rich to-day, and be in
another world to-morrow, had not poverty been as good? Distracted soul!
dost thou make so great a matter of it, whether thou have much or little
for so short a time? and takest no more care, either where thou shalt
be, or what thou shalt have to all eternity? Dost thou say, thou wilt
cast this care on God? I tell thee, he will make thee care thyself, and
care again before he will save thee. And why canst thou not cast the
care of smaller matters on him, when he commandeth thee? Is it any great
matter whether thou be rich or poor, that art going so fast unto another
world, where these are things of no signification? Tell me, if thou wert
sure that thou must die to-morrow, (yea, or the next month or year,)
wouldst thou not be more indifferent whether thou be rich or poor, and
look more after greater things? Then thou wouldst be of the apostle's
mind, 2 Cor. iv. 18, "We look not at the things which are seen, but at
the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are
temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." Our eye of
faith should be so fixed on invisible, eternal things, that we should
scarce have leisure or mind to look at or once regard the things that
are visible and temporal. A man that is going to execution scarce looks
at all the bustle or business that is done in streets and shops as he
passeth by; because these little concern him in his departing case. And
how little do the wealth and honours of the world concern a soul that is
going into another world, and knows not but it may be this night! Then
keep thy wealth, or take it with thee, if thou canst.
_Direct._ IV. Labour to feel thy greatest wants, which worldly wealth
will not supply. Thou hast sinned against God, and money will not buy
thy pardon.[257] Thou hast incurred his displeasure, and money will
not reconcile him to thee. Thou art condemned to everlasting misery by
the law, and money will not pay thy ransom. Thou art dead in sin, and
polluted, and captivated by the flesh, and money will sooner increase
thy bondage than deliver thee. Thy conscience is ready to tear thy
heart for thy wilful folly and contempt of grace, and money will not
bribe it to be quiet. Judas brought back his money, and hanged
himself, when conscience was but once awakened. Money will not
enlighten a blinded mind, nor soften a hard heart, nor humble a proud
heart, nor justify a guilty soul. It will not keep off a fever or
consumption, nor ease the gout, or stone, or tooth-ache. It will not
keep off ghastly death, but die thou must, if thou have all the world!
Look up to God, and remember that thou art wholly in his hands; and
think whether he will love or favour thee for thy wealth. Look unto
the day of judgment, and think whether money will there bring thee
off, or the rich speed better than the poor.
_Direct._ V. Be often with those that are sick and dying, and mark
what all their riches will do for them, and what esteem they have then
of the world; and mark how it useth all at last. Then you shall see
that it forsaketh all men in the hour of their greatest necessity and
distress;[258] when they would cry to friends, and wealth, and honour,
if they had any hopes, If ever you will help me, let it be now; if
ever you will do any thing for me, O save me from death, and the wrath
of God! But, alas! such cries would be all in vain! Then, oh then! one
drop of mercy, one spark of grace, the smallest well-grounded hope of
heaven, would be worth more than the empire of Cæsar or Alexander! Is
not this true, sinner? Dost thou not know it to be true? And yet wilt
thou cheat and betray thy soul? Is not that best now, which will be
best then? And is not that of little value now, which will be then so
little set by? Dost thou not think that men are wiser then than now?
Wilt thou do so much, and pay so dear for that, which will do thee no
more good, and which thou wilt set no more by when thou hast it? Doth
not all the world cry out at last of the deceitfulness of riches, and
the vanity of pleasure and prosperity on earth, and the perniciousness
of all worldly cares? And doth not thy conscience tell thee, that when
thou comest to die, thou art like to have the same thoughts thyself?
And yet wilt thou not be warned in time? Then all the content and
pleasure of thy plenty and prosperity will be past: and when it is
past it is nothing. And wilt thou venture on everlasting woe, and cast
away everlasting joy, for that which is to-day a dream and shadow, and
to-morrow, or very shortly, will be nothing?[259] The poorest then
will be equal with thee. And will honest poverty, or over-loved
wealth, be sweeter at the last? How glad then wouldst thou be, to have
been without thy wealth, so thou mightst have been without the sin and
guilt. How glad then wouldst thou be to die the death of the poorest
saint! Do you think that poverty, or riches, are liker to make a man
loth to die? or are usually more troublesome to the conscience of a
dying man? O look to the end, and live as you die, and set most by
that, and seek that now, which you know you shall set most by at last
when full experience hath made you wiser!
_Direct._ VI. Remember that riches do make it much harder for a man to
be saved; and the love of this world is the commonest cause of men's
damnation. This is certainly true, for all that poverty also hath its
temptations; and for all that the poor are far more numerous than the
rich. For even the poor may be undone by the love of that wealth and
plenty which they never get; and those may perish for over-loving the
world, that yet never prospered in the world.[260] And if thou believe
Christ, the point is out of controversy: for he saith, Luke xviii.
24-27, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom
of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye,
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they that
heard it said, Who then can be saved? And he said, The things which
are impossible with men, are possible with God." So Luke vi. 24, 25,
"But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your
consolation: woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger." Make
but sense of these and many such like texts, and you can gather no
less than this from them, that riches make the way to heaven much
harder, and the salvation of the rich to be more difficult and rare,
proportionably, than of other men. And Paul saith, 1 Cor. i. 26, "Not
many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are
called." And the lovers of riches, though they are poor, must remember
that it is said, "That the love of money is the root of all evil," 1
Tim. vi. 10. And, "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. Do you believe that here lieth the danger of your
souls? and yet can you so love, and choose, and seek it? Would you
have your salvation more difficult, and doubtful, and impossible with
men? You had rather choose to live where few die young, than where
most die young; and where sicknesses are rare, than where they are
common. If you were sick, you had rather have the physician, and
medicines, and diet which cure most, than those which few are cured
by. If the country were beset with thieves, you had rather go the way
that most escape in, than that few escape in. And yet, so it may but
please your flesh, you will choose that way to heaven, that fewest
escape in; and you will choose that state of life, which will make
your salvation to be most hard and doubtful. Doth your conscience say
that is wisely done? I know that if God put riches into your hand, by
your birth, or his blessing on your honest labours, you must not cast
away your Master's talents, because he is austere; but by a holy
improvement of them, you may further his service and your salvation.
But this is no reason why you should over-love them, or desire and
seek so great a danger. Believe Christ heartily, and it will quench
your love of riches.
_Direct._ VII. Remember that the more you have, the more you have to
give account for. And if the day of judgment be dreadful to you, you
should not make it more dreadful by greatening your own accounts. If
you desired riches but for the service of your Lord, and have used
them for him, and can truly give in this account, that you laid them
not out for the needless pleasure or pride of the flesh, but to
furnish yourselves, and families, and others, for his service, and as
near as you could, employ them according to his will, and for his use,
then you may expect the reward of good and faithful servants; but if
you desired and used them for the pride and pleasure of yourselves
while you lived, and your posterity or kindred when you are dead,
dropping some inconsiderable crumbs for God, you will then find that
Mammon was an unprofitable master, and godliness, with content, would
have been greater gain.[261]
_Direct._ VIII. Remember how dear it costeth men, thus to hinder their
salvation, and greaten their danger and accounts. What a deal of
precious time is lost upon the world, by the lovers of it, which might
have been improved to the getting of wisdom and grace, and making their
calling and election sure![262] If you had believed that the gain of
holy wisdom had been so much better than the gaining of gold, as Solomon
saith, Prov. iii. 14, you would have laid out much of that time in
labouring to understand the Scriptures, and preparing for your endless
life. How many unnecessary thoughts have you cast away upon the world,
which might better have been laid out on your greater concernments! How
many cares, and vexations, and passions doth it cost men, to overload
themselves with worldly provisions! Like a foolish traveller, who having
a day's journey to go, doth spend all the day in gathering together a
load of meat, and clothes, and money, more than he can carry, for fear
of wanting by the way: or like a foolish runner, that hath a race to run
for his life, and spends the time in which he should be running, in
gathering a burden of pretended necessaries.[263] You have all the while
God's work to do, and your souls to mind, and judgment to prepare for,
and you are tiring and vexing yourselves for unnecessary things, as if
it were the top of your ambition to be able to say, in hell, that you
died rich. 1 Tim. vi. 6-10, "Godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can
carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith
content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare,
and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction
and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which
while some coveted after, they have erred (or been seduced) from the
faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." Piercing
sorrows here, and damnation hereafter, are a very dear price to give for
money.[264] For saith Christ himself, "What shall it profit a man to
gain all the world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in
exchange for his soul?" Mark viii. 36, 37; that is, What money or price
will recover it, if for the love of gain he lose it? Prov. xv. 27, "He
that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts
shall live." Do you not know that a godly man contented with his daily
bread, hath a far sweeter and quieter life and death than a
self-troubling worldling? You may easily perceive it. Prov. xv. 16,
"Better is little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure and
trouble therewith."
_Direct._ IX. Look much on the life of Christ on earth, and see how
strangely he condemneth worldliness by his example. Did he choose to
be a prince or lord, or to have great possessions, lands, or money, or
sumptuous buildings, or gallant attendance, and plentiful provisions?
His housing you may read of, Matt. viii. 20; Luke ix. 58, "Foxes have
holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath
not where to lay his head." His clothing you may read of at his
crucifying, when they parted it. As for money, he was fain to send
Peter to a fish for some to pay their tribute. If Christ did scrape
and care for riches, then so do thou: if he thought it the happiest
life, do thou think so too. But if he contemned it, do thou contemn
it: if his whole life was directed to give thee the most perfect
example of the contempt of all the prosperity of this world, then
learn of his example, if thou take him for thy Saviour, and if thou
love thyself. "Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor,
that you through his poverty might be rich," 2 Cor. viii. 9.
_Direct._ X. Think on the example of the primitive christians, even
the best of Christ's servants, and see how it condemneth worldliness.
They that by miracle in the name of Christ could give limbs to the
lame, yet tell him, "Silver and gold have we none," Acts iii. 6. Those
that had possessions sold them, and laid the money at the apostles'
feet, and they had all things common, to show that faith overcometh
the world, by contemning it, and subjecting it to charity, and
devoting it entirely to God. Read whether the apostles did live in
sumptuous houses, with great attendance, and worldly plenty and
prosperity? And so of the rest.[265]
_Direct._ XI. Remember to what ends all worldly things were made and
given you, and what a happy advantage you may make of them by
renouncing them, as they would be provision for your lusts, and by
devoting yourselves and them to God.[266] The use of their sweetness
is, to draw your souls to taste by faith the heavenly sweetness. They
are the looking-glass of souls in flesh, that are not yet admitted to
see these things spiritual face to face. They are the provender of our
bodies; our travelling furniture and helps; our inns, and solacing
company in the way; they are some of God's love-tokens, some of the
lesser pieces of his coin, and bear his image and superscription. They
are drops from the rivers of the eternal pleasures; to tell the mind
by the way of the senses how good the Donor is, and how amiable; and
what higher delights there are for souls; and to point us to the
better things which these foretell. They are messengers from heaven,
to testify our Father's care and love, and to bespeak our
thankfulness, love, and duty; and to bear witness against sin, and
bind us faster to obedience. They are the first volume of the word of
God; the first book that man was set to read, to acquaint him fully
with his Maker. As the word which we read and hear is the chariot of
the Spirit, by which it maketh its accesses to the soul; so the
delights of sight, and taste, and smell, and touch, and hearing, were
appointed as an ordinary way for the speedy access of heavenly love
and sweetness to the heart, that upon the first perception of the
goodness and sweetness of the creature, there might presently be
transmitted by a due progression, a deep impression of the goodness of
God upon the soul; that the creatures, being the letters of God's
book, which are seen by our eye, the sense (even the love of our great
Creator) might presently be perceived by the mind: and no letter might
once be looked upon but for the sense; no creature ever seen, or
tasted, or heard, or felt in any delectable quality, without a sense
of the love of God; that as the touch of the hand upon the strings of
the lute do cause the melody, so God's touch by his mercies upon our
hearts, might presently tune them into love, and gratitude, and
praise. They are the tools by which we must do much of our Master's
work. They are means by which we may refresh our brethren, and express
our love to one another, and our love to our Lord and Master in his
servants. They are our Master's stock, which we must trade with, by
the improvement of which, no less than the reward of endless happiness
may be attained. These are the uses to which God gives us outward
mercies. Love them thus, and delight in them, and use them thus, and
spare not; yea, seek them thus, and be thankful for them. But when the
creatures are given for so excellent a use, will you debase them all
by making them only the fuel of your lusts, and the provisions for
your flesh? And will you love them, and dote upon them in these base
respects; while you utterly neglect their noblest use? You are just
like children that cry for books, and can never have enow; but it is
only to play with them because they are fine; but when they are set to
learn and read them, they cry as much because they love it not: or
like one that should spend his life and labour in getting the finest
clothes, to dress his dogs and horses with, but himself goes naked and
will not wear them.[267]
_Direct._ XII. Remember that God hath promised to provide for you, and
that you shall want nothing that is good for you, if you will live
above these worldly things, and seek first his kingdom, and the
righteousness thereof. And cannot you trust his promise? If you truly
believe that he is God, and that he is true, and that his particular
providence extendeth to the very numbering of your hairs,[268] you
will sure trust him, rather than trust to your own forecast and
industry. Do you think his provision is not better for you than your
own? All your own care cannot keep you alive an hour, nor can prosper
any of your labours, if you provoke him to blast them. And if you are
not content with his provisions, nor submit yourselves to the disposal
of his love and wisdom, you disoblige God, and provoke him to leave
you to the fruits of your own care and diligence: and then you will
find that it had been your wiser way to have trusted God.
[Sidenote: The mischiefs of a worldly mind.]
_Direct._ XIII. Think often on the dreadful importance and effects of
the love of riches, or a worldly mind.[269] 1. It is a most certain
sign of a state of death and misery, where it hath the upper hand. It
is the departing of the heart from God to creatures. See the malignity
of it before. Good men have been overtaken with heinous sins; but it
is hard to find where Scripture calleth any of them covetous. A heart
secretly cleaving most to this present world and its prosperity, is
the very killing sin of every hypocrite, yea, and of all ungodly men.
2. Worldliness makes the word unprofitable; and keepeth men from
believing and repenting, and coming home to God, and minding seriously
the everlasting world. What so much hindereth the conversion of
sinners, as the love and cares of earthly things? They cannot serve
God and mammon: their treasure and hearts cannot chiefly be both in
heaven and earth! They will not yield to the terms of Christ that love
this world: they will not forsake all for a treasure in heaven. In a
word, as you heard, the love of money is the root of all evil, and the
love of the Father is not in the lovers of the world.[270] 3. It
destroyeth holy meditation and conference, and turneth the thoughts to
worldly things: and it corrupteth prayer, and maketh it but a means to
serve the flesh, and therefore maketh it odious to God. 4. It is the
great hinderance of men's necessary preparation for death and
judgment, and stealeth away their hearts and time till it is too late.
5. It is the great cause of contentions even among the nearest
relations; and the cause of the wars and calamities of nations; and of
the woeful divisions and persecutions of the church; when a worldly
generation think that their worldly interest doth engage them, against
self-denying and spiritual principles, practices, and persons. 6. It
is the great cause of all the injustice, and oppression, and cruelty
that rageth in the world. They would do as they would be done by, were
it not for the love of money. It maketh men perfidious and false to
all their friends and engagements: no vows to God, nor obligations to
men, will hold a lover of the world.[271] The world is his god, and
his worldly interest is his rule and law. 7. It is the great destroyer
of charity and good works. No more is done for God and the poor,
because the love of the world forbids it. 8. It disordereth and
profaneth families; and betrayeth the souls of children and servants
to the devil. It turneth out prayer, and reading the Scripture, and
good books, and all serious speeches of the life to come, because
their hearts are taken up with the world, and they have no relish of
any thing but the provisions of their flesh. Even the Lord's own day
cannot be reserved for holy works, nor a duty performed, but the world
is interposing, or diverting the mind. 9. It tempteth men to sin
against their knowledge, and to forsake the truth, and fit themselves
to the rising side, and save their bodies and estates, whatever become
of their souls. It is the very price that the devil gives for souls!
With this he bought the soul of Judas, who went to the Pharisees, with
a "What will you give me, and I will deliver him to you." With this he
attempted Christ himself, Matt. iv. 9, "All these will I give thee, if
thou wilt fall down and worship me." It is the cause of apostasy and
unfaithfulness to God.[272] And it is the price that sinners sell
their God, their conscience, and their salvation for. 10. It depriveth
the soul of holy communion with God, and comfort from him, and of all
foretaste of the life to come, and finally of heaven itself.[273] For
as the love of the world keepeth out the love of God and heaven, it
must needs keep out the hopes and comforts which should arise from
holy love. It would do much to cure the love of money, and of the
world, if you knew how pernicious a sin it is.[274]
_Direct._ XIV. Remember how base a sin it is, and how dishonourable and
debasing to the mind of man. If earth be baser than heaven, and money
than God, then an earthly mind is baser than a heavenly mind. As the
serpent's feeding on the dust is a baser life than that of angels, that
are employed in admiring, and obeying, and praising the Most Holy God.
_Direct._ XV. Call yourselves to a daily reckoning, how you lay out all
that God committeth to your trust; and try whether it be so as you would
hear of it at judgment. If you did but use to sit in judgment daily upon
yourselves, as those that believe the judgment of God, it would make you
more careful to use well what you have, than to get more; and it would
quench your thirst after plenty and prosperity, when you perceived you
must give so strict an account of it. The flesh itself will less desire
it, when it finds it may not have the use of it.[275]
_Direct._ XVI. When you find your covetousness most eager and
dangerous, resolve most to cross it, and give more to pious or
charitable uses than at another time. For a man hath reason to fly
furthest from that sin, which he is most in danger of. And the acts
tend to the increase of the habit. Obeying your covetousness doth
increase it: and so the contrary acts, and the disobeying and
displeasing it, do destroy it. This course will bring your
covetousness into a despair of attaining its desire; and so will make
it sit down and give over the pursuit. It is an open protesting
against every covetous desire; and an effectual kind of repenting; and
a wise and honest disarming sin, and turning its motions against
itself, to its own destruction. Use it thus oft, and covetousness will
think it wisdom to be quiet.
_Direct._ XVII. Above all take heed that you think not of reconciling
God and mammon, and mixing heaven and earth to be your felicity, and
of dreaming that you may keep heaven for a reserve at last, when the
world hath been loved as your best, so long as you could keep it.
Nothing so much defendeth worldliness, as a cheating hope, that you
have it but in a subdued, pardoned degree; and that you are not
worldlings when you are. And nothing so much supports this hope, as
because you confess that heaven only must be your last refuge, and
full felicity, and therefore you do something for it on the bye. But
is not the world more loved, more sought, more delighted in, and
faster held? Hath it not more of your hearts, your delight, desire,
and industry? If you cannot let go all for heaven, and forsake all
this world for a treasure above, you cannot be Christ's true
disciples, Luke xiv. 26, 27, 30, 33.
_Direct._ XVIII. If ever you would overcome the love of the world,
your great care must be to mortify the flesh; for the world is desired
but as its provision. A mortified man hath no need of that which is a
sensualist's felicity. Quench your hydropical, feverish thirst, and
then you will not make such a stir for drink. Cure the disease which
enrageth your appetite; and that is the safest and cheapest way of
satisfying it. Then you will be thankful to God, when you look on
other men's wealth and gallantry, that you need not these things.[276]
And you will think what a trouble and burden, and interruption of your
better work and comfort it would be to you, to have so much land, and
so many servants, and goods, and business, and persons to mind, as
rich men have. And how much better you can enjoy God and yourself in a
more retired, quiet state of life. But of this more in the next part.
Did men but know how much of an ungodly, damnable state doth consist
in the love of the world; and how much it is the enemy of souls; and
how much of our religion consisteth in the contempt and conquest of
it; and what is the meaning of their renouncing the world in their
baptismal covenant; and how many millions the love of the world will
damn for ever; they would not make such a stir for nothing, and spend
all their days in providing for their perishing flesh; nor think them
happiest that are richest; nor "boast themselves of their heart's
desire, and bless the covetous whom the Lord abhorreth," Psal. x. 3.
They would not think that so small a sin which christians should not
so much as "name," but in detestation, Eph. v. 3; when God hath
resolved that the "covetous shall not inherit the kingdom of God," 1
Cor. vi. 10; Eph. v. 5; and a christian must not so much as eat with
them, 1 Cor. v. 11. Did Christ say in vain, "Take heed and beware of
covetousness," Luke xii. 15. "Woe to him that coveteth an evil
covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he
may be delivered from the power of evil," Hab. ii. 9. Oh what
deserving servants hath the world, that will serve it so diligently,
so constantly, and at so dear a rate, when they beforehand know, that
besides a little transitory, deluding pleasure, it will pay them with
nothing but everlasting shame! Oh wonderful deceiving power, of such
an empty shadow, or rather wonderful folly of mankind! that when so
many ages have been deceived before us, and almost every one at death
confesseth it did but deceive them, so many still should be deceived,
and take no warning by such a world of examples! I conclude with Heb.
xiii. 5, "Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be
content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never
leave thee nor forsake thee."
PART VII.
_Directions against the Master Sin; Sensuality, Flesh-pleasing,
or Voluptuousness._
I shall be the shorter on this also, because I have spoken so much
already in my "Treatise of Self-denial." Before we come to more
particular directions, it is needful that we discern the nature and
evil of the sin which we speak against. I shall therefore, 1. Tell you
what is meant by "flesh" here. And 2. What flesh-pleasing it is that
is unlawful, and what sensuality is. 3. Wherein the malignity of this
sin consisteth. 4. I shall answer some objections. 5. I shall show you
the signs of it. 6. The counterfeits of the contrary. 7. And the false
signs, which make some accused wrongfully, by themselves or others.
[Sidenote: What is meant by flesh.]
I. Because you may find in writings between the protestants and
papists, that it is become a controversy, whether by "flesh," in
Scripture, (where this sin is mentioned,) be meant the body itself, or
the soul so far as it is unregenerate, I shall briefly first resolve
this question. When we speak of the unregenerate part, we mean not
that the soul hath two parts, whereof one is regenerate, and the other
unregenerate: but as the purblind eye hath both light and darkness on
the same subject, so is it with the soul which is regenerate but in
part, that is, in an imperfect degree: and by the unregenerate part is
meant, the whole soul, so far as it is unregenerate. The word "flesh,"
in its primary signification, is taken for that part of the body, as
such, without respect to sin; and next for the whole body, as distinct
from the soul. But in respect to sin and duty, it is taken, 1.
Sometimes for the sensitive appetite, not as sinful in itself, but as
desiring that which God hath obliged reason to deny. 2. More
frequently, for this sensitive appetite, as inordinate, and so sinful
in its own desires. 3. Most frequently, for both the inordinate
sensitive appetite itself, and the rational powers, so far as they are
corrupted by it, and sinfully disposed to obey it, or to follow,
inordinately, sensual things. But then the name is primarily taken for
the sensual appetite itself, (as diseased,) and but by participation
for the rational powers. For the understanding of which, you must
consider, 1. That the appetite itself might innocently (even in
innocency) desire a forbidden object; when it was not the appetite
that was forbidden, but the desire of the will, or the actual taking
it. That a man in a fever doth thirst for more than he may lawfully
drink, is not of itself a sin; but to desire it by practical volition,
or to drink it, is a sin; for it is these that God forbids, and not
the thirst, which is not in our power to extinguish. That Adam had an
appetite to the forbidden fruit was not his sin; but that his will
obeyed his appetite, and his mouth did eat. For the appetite and
sensitive nature are of God, and are in nature antecedent to the law.
God made us men before he gave us laws; and the law commandeth us not
to alter ourselves from what he made us, or any thing else which is
naturally out of our power. But it is the sin of the will and
executive powers, to do that evil which consisteth in obeying an
innocent appetite. The appetite is necessary, and not free; and
therefore God doth not direct his commands or prohibitions to it
directly, but to the reason and free-will. 2. But since man's fall,
the appetite itself is corrupted and become inordinate, that is, more
impetuous, violent, and unruly than it was in the state of innocency,
by the unhappy distempers that have befallen the body itself. For we
find now by experience, that a man that useth himself to sweet and
wholesome temperance, hath no such impetuous strivings of his appetite
against his reason (if he be healthful) as those have that are either
diseased, or used to obey their appetites. And if use and health make
so great alteration, we have cause to think that the depravation of
nature by the fall did more. 3. This inordinate appetite is sin, by
participation; so far as the appetite may be said to be free by
participation, though not in itself; because it is the appetite of a
rational, free agent: for though sin be first in the will in its true
form, yet it is not the will only that is the subject of it, (though
primarily it be,) but the whole man, so far as his acts are voluntary:
for the will hath the command of the other faculties; and they are
voluntary acts which the will either commands, or doth not forbid when
it can and ought. To lie is a voluntary sin of the man, and the tongue
partaketh of the guilt. The will might have kept out that sin, which
caused a disorder in the appetite. If a drunkard or a glutton provoke
a venereous, inordinate appetite in himself, that lust is his sin,
because it is voluntarily provoked. 4. Yet such additions of
inordinacy, as men stir up in any appetite, by their own actual sins
and customs, are more aggravated and dangerous to the soul, than that
measure of distemper which is merely the fruit of original sin. 5.
This inordinateness of the sensitive appetite, with the mere privation
of rectitude in the mind and will, is enough to cause man's actual
sin. For if the horses be headstrong, the mere weakness, sleepiness,
negligence, or absence of the coachman is enough to concur to the
overthrow of the coach: so if the reason and will had no positive
inclinations to evil or sensual objects, yet if they have not so much
light and love to higher things as will restrain the sensual appetite,
it hath positive inclination enough in itself to forbidden things to
ruin the soul by actual sin. 6. Yet, though it be a great controversy
among divines, I conceive that in the rational powers themselves,
there are positive, habitual, inordinate inclinations to sensual,
forbidden things. For as actually it is certain the reason of the
proud and covetous do contrive, and oft approve the sin, and the will
embrace it; so these are done so constantly in a continued stream of
action by the whole man, that it seems apparent that the same
faculties which run out in such strong and constant action, are
themselves the subjects of much of the inclining, positive habits: and
if it be so in additional, acquired sin, it is like it was so in
original sin. 7. Though sin be formally subjected first in the will,
yet materially it is first in the sensitive appetite (at least this
sin of flesh-pleasing or sensuality is). The flesh or sensitive part
is the first desirer, though it be sin no further than it is
voluntary. 8. All this set together telleth you further, that the word
"flesh" signifieth the sensual inclinations of the whole man; but
first and principally, the corrupted sensual appetite; and the mind
and will's (whether privative or positive) concurrence, but
secondarily, and as falling in with sense. The appetite, 1. Preventeth
reason. 2. And resisteth reason. 3. And at last corrupteth and
enticeth reason and will, to be its servants and purveyors.
And that the name "flesh" doth primarily signify the sensitive appetite
itself, is evident in the very notation of the name. Why else should the
habits or vices of the rational powers be called "flesh" any more than
"spirit," or anything else? If it were only in respect of their object,
they should be called "the world" also, because that is their object. It
is a certain rule, that That faculty is most predominant in man, whose
object is made his chiefest end. Sensitive delights being made the
felicity and end of the unsanctified, it followeth that the sensitive
faculties are predominant; which being called "flesh," (by a nearer
trope,) the mind from it receives the denomination. The Scriptures also
show this plainly: I remember not any one place in the Old Testament
where there is any probability that the word "flesh" should signify only
the rational soul as unrenewed. Matt. xvi. 17, "Flesh and blood hath not
revealed this unto thee;" that is, mortal man hath not revealed it.
Matt. xxvi. 41, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak;" that is,
your bodies are weak, and resist the willingness of your souls: for
sinful habits are not here called weak. John iii. 6, "That which is born
of the flesh is flesh;" that is, man by natural generation can beget but
natural man, called "flesh" from the visible part; and not the spiritual
life, which nature is now destitute of. Rom. vii. 25, "With my flesh I
serve the law of sin;" that is, with my sensitive powers, and my mind so
far is captivated thereto. Rom. viii. 1, 5, flesh and spirit are oft
opposed: "They that are of the flesh, mind the things of the flesh,"
&c.; that is, they in whom the sensitive interest and appetite are
predominant: for it is called "the body" here, as well as "the flesh,"
ver. 10, 11, 13. The mind is here included; but it is as serving the
flesh and its interest. Gal. v. 16, 17, 19, flesh and spirit are in the
same manner opposed. And 2 Pet. ii. 18, the lusts of the flesh are in
this sense mentioned. And Eph. ii. 3; Rom. vii. 18; xiii. 14; 1 Cor. v.
5; 1 Pet. ii. 11; in which there is mention of "fleshly lusts, which
fight against the spirit," and "fleshly wisdom, making provision for the
flesh," &c. And Col. ii. 18, there is indeed the name of a fleshly mind,
which is but a mind deceived and subservient to the flesh; so that the
flesh itself, or sensitive interest and appetite, are first signified in
all or most places, and in some the mind, as subservient thereto.
It is of the greater consequence that this be rightly understood, lest
you be tempted to imitate the libertines, who think the flesh or
sensitive part is capable of no moral good or evil, and therefore, all
its actions being indifferent, we may be indifferent about them, and
look only to the superior powers: and others, that think that the
Scripture by "flesh" meaneth only the rational soul as unrenewed, do
thereupon cherish the flesh itself, and pamper it, and feed its unruly
lusts, and never do any thing to tame the body; but pray daily that
God would destroy the flesh within them, that is, their sinful habits
of reason and will, while they cherish the cause, or neglect a chief
part of the cure. And on the contrary, some papists that look only at
the body as their enemy, are much in fastings, and bodily exercises,
while they neglect the mortifying of their carnal minds.
[Sidenote: What flesh-pleasing is a sin.]
II. How far flesh-pleasing is a sin, I shall distinctly open to you in
these propositions: 1. The pleasing or displeasing of the sensitive
appetite in itself considered, is neither sin nor duty, good nor evil;
but as commanded or forbidden by some law of God; which is not
absolutely done.
2. To please the flesh by things forbidden is undoubtedly a sin, and
so it is to displease it too. Therefore this is not all that is here
meant, that the matter that pleaseth it must not be things forbidden.
3. To overvalue the pleasing of the flesh is a sin; and to prefer it
before the pleasing of God, and the holy preparations for heaven, is
the state of carnality and ungodliness, and the common cause of the
damnation of souls. The delight of the flesh or senses is a natural
good; and the natural desire of it in itself (as is said) is neither
vice nor virtue: but when this little natural good is preferred before
the greater spiritual, moral, or eternal good, this is the sin of
carnal minds, which is threatened with death, Rom. viii. 1, 5-8, 13.
4. To buy the pleasing of the flesh at too dear a rate, as the loss of
time, or with care and trouble, above its worth, and to be too much
set on making provisions to please it, doth show that it is
overvalued, and is the sin forbidden, Rom. xiii. 14.
5. When any desire of the flesh is inordinate, immoderate, or
irregular for matter, or manner, quantity, quality, or season, it is a
sin to please that inordinate desire.
6. When pleasing the flesh doth too much pamper it, and cherish filthy
lusts, or any other sin, and is not necessary on some other account,
as doing greater good, it is a sin. But if life require it, lust must
be subdued by other means.[277]
7. When pleasing the flesh doth hurt it, by impairing health, and so
making the body less fit for duty, it is a sin. And so almost all
intemperance tendeth to breed diseases; and God commandeth temperance
even for the body's good.
8. When unnecessary flesh-pleasing hindereth any duty of piety,
justice, charity, or self-preservation, in thought, affection, word,
or deed, it is sinful.
9. If any pleasing of the flesh can be imagined to have no tendency
directly or indirectly to any moral good or evil, it is not the object
of a moral choosing or refusing; but like the winking of the eye, which
falls not under deliberation, it is not within the compass of morality.
10. Every pleasing of the flesh, which is capable of being referred to a
higher end, and is not so referred and used, is a sin. And there is
scarce any thing, which is eligible, which a vacant, waking man should
deliberate on, but should be referred to a higher end; even to the glory
of God, and our salvation; by cheering us up to love and thankfulness,
and strengthening or fitting us some way for some duty.[278] This is
apparently a sin, (1.) Because else flesh-pleasing is made our ultimate
end, and the flesh an idol, if ever we desire it only for itself (when
it may be referred to a higher end). For though the sensitive appetite
of itself hath no intended end, yet whatsoever the will desireth is
either as an end, or as a means. That which is not desired as a means to
some higher end, is desired as our ultimate end itself (in that act).
But God only is man's lawful, ultimate end. (2.) Because it is against
an express command, 1 Cor. x. 31, "Whether ye eat, or drink, or whatever
ye do, do all to the glory of God." (3.) Because else we shall take
God's creatures in vain, and cast them away in waste. (4.) And we shall
lose our own benefit to which the creature or pleasure should be
improved. (5.) And we shall silence reason, when it should direct; and
we shall suspend the government of the will, and give the government (so
long) to the flesh or brutish appetite: for that faculty ruleth, whose
object is our end. These reasons clearly prove it a sin to terminate our
desires in any act of flesh-pleasing as our end, and look no higher,
when it is a matter of moral choice and deliberation.
11. But the sin here is not simply that the flesh is pleased, but that
the duty of referring it to a higher end is omitted: so that it is a sin
of omission (unless we proceed to refer better things as a means to it).
12. The intending of God's glory or our spiritual good, cannot be
distinctly and sensibly re-acted in every particular pleasure we take,
or bit we eat, or thing we use; but a sincere, habitual intention well
laid at first in the heart, will serve to the right use of many
particular means. As a man purposeth at his first setting out to what
place he meaneth to go, and afterward goeth on, though at every step
he think not sensibly of his end; so he that devoteth himself unto
God, and in general designeth all to his glory, and the furtherance of
his duty and salvation, will carry on small particulars to that end,
by a secret, unobserved action of the soul, performed at the same time
with other actions, which only are observed. He that intendeth but his
health in eating and drinking, is not remembering his health at every
bit and cup; and yet hath such a habit of care and caution, as will
unobservedly keep him in his way, and help him to fit the means unto
the end. As the accustomed hand of a musician can play a lesson on his
lute, while he thinks of something else; so can a resolved christian
faithfully do such accustomed things as eating, and drinking, and
clothing him, and labouring in his calling, to the good ends which he
(first actually, and still habitually) resolved on, without a distinct
remembrance and observable intention of that end.
13. The body must be kept in that condition (as far as we can) that is
fittest for the service of the soul: as you keep your horse, neither so
pampered as to be unruly, nor yet so low as to disable him for travel;
but all that health and strength which makes it not unruly, maketh it
the more serviceable. It is not the life of the body, but the health and
the cheerfulness, which maketh it fit for duty. And so much pleasing of
the flesh as tendeth but to its health and cheerfulness, is a duty,
where it can be done without greater hurt the other way. A heavy body is
but a dull and heavy servant to the mind; yea, a great impediment to the
soul in duty, and a great temptation to many sins; as sickly and
melancholy persons, and many dull and phlegmatic people, know by sad
experience. It is as great a duty to help the body to its due alacrity
and fitness for service, as it is to tame it, and bring it under by
fasting and sackcloth, when it is proud or lustful.[279] And they that
think fasting on certain days, in a formal manner, is acceptable to God,
when the state of the body is not helped, but rather hurt and hindered
by it, as if it were a thing required for itself, do mistakingly offer a
sacrifice to God, which he requireth not; and take him to be an enemy to
man, that desireth his pain and grief, when it tendeth not to his good.
A mower that hath a good scythe will do more in a day, than another that
hath a bad one can do in two: every workman knoweth the benefit of
having his tools in order; and every traveller knows the difference
between a cheerful and a tired horse; and they that have tried health
and sickness, know what a help it is in every work of God, to have a
healthful body, and cheerful spirits, and an alacrity and promptitude to
obey the mind. When the sights of prospects, and beauteous buildings,
and fields, and countries, or the use of walks, or gardens, do tend to
raise the soul to holy contemplation, to admire the Creator, and to
think of the glory of the life to come (as Bernard used his pleasant
walks); this delight is lawful, if not a duty, where it may be had. So
when music doth cheer the mind, and fit it for thanks and praise to God:
and when the rest of the body, and the use of your best apparel, and
moderate feasting, on the Lord's day, and other days of thanksgiving, do
promote the spiritual service of the day, they are good and profitable;
but to those that are more hindered by fulness, even abstinence on such
days is best. So that the use of the body must be judged of as it is a
means or an expression of the good or evil of the mind.
14. Sometimes the present time must be most regarded herein, and
sometimes the future. For when some great sin, or judgment, or other
reason calls us to a fast, when it becomes needful to the ends of that
present day, we must do it, though the body were so weak that it would
be somewhat the worse afterward; so be it that the good which we may
expect by it that day, be greater than the good which it is like to
deprive us of afterward: otherwise the after-loss, if greater, is more
to be avoided.
15. Many things do remotely fit us for our main end, which, nearly and
directly, seem to have no tendency to it; as those that are only to
furnish us with natural strength, and vigour, and alacrity, or to
prevent impediments. As a traveller's hood and cloak, and other
carriage, seem rather to be hinderances to his speed; but yet are
necessary for preventing the cold and wet, which else might hinder him
more. Yea, a possible, uncertain danger or impediment, if great, may
be prevented with a certain small impediment. So it is meet that our
bodies be kept in that health and alacrity, which is ordinarily
necessary to our duty; and in eating and drinking, and lawful
recreations, it is not only the next or present duty, which we prepare
for, but for the duty which may be very distant.
16. Ordinarily it is safest to be more fearful of excess of fleshly
pleasure, than of defect. For ordinarily we are all very prone to an
excess, and also the excess is usually more dangerous. When excess is
the damnation of all, or most that ever perish, and defect is but the
trouble and hinderance, but never, or rarely, the damnation of any, it
is easy then to see on which side we should be most fearful,
cautelous, and vigilant.
17. Yet excessive scrupulousness may be a greater sin, and a greater
hinderance in the work of God, than some small excesses of
flesh-pleasing, which are committed through ignorance or inadvertency.
When an honest heart which preferreth God before the flesh, and is
willing to please him though it displease the flesh, shall yet mistake
in some small particulars, or commit some daily errors of infirmity or
heedlessness, it is a far less hinderance to the main work of religion,
than if that man should daily perplex his mind with scruples about every
bit he eats, whether it be not too pleasing or too much; and about every
word he speaks, and every step he goes, as many poor, tempted,
melancholy persons do; thereby disabling themselves, not only to love,
and praise, and thankfulness, but even all considerable service.
In sum, All pleasing of the senses or flesh, which is lawful, must
have these qualifications: 1. God's glory must be the ultimate end. 2.
The matter must be lawful, and not forbidden. 3. Therefore it must not
be to the hinderance of duty. 4. Nor to the drawing of us to sin. 5.
Nor to the hurt of our health. 6. Nor too highly valued, nor too
dearly bought. 7. The measure must be moderate. Where any of these are
wanting, it is sin: and where flesh-pleasing is habitually in the bent
of heart and life preferred before the pleasing of God, it proves the
soul in captivity to the flesh, and in a damnable condition.
[Sidenote: The greatness of the sin.]
III. I am next to show you the evil or malignity of predominant
flesh-pleasing: for if the greatness of the sin were known, it would
contribute much to the cure. And, 1. Understand that it is the sin of
sins; the end of all sin, and therefore the very sum and life of all.
All the evil wicked men commit, is ultimately to please the flesh: the
love of flesh-pleasing is the cause of all. Pride, and covetousness, and
whoredom, and wantonness, and gluttony, and drunkenness, and all the
rest, are but either the immediate works of sensuality and
flesh-pleasing, or the distant service of it, by laying in provision for
it. And all the malicious enmity and opposition to God and godliness is
from hence, because they cross the interest and desires of the flesh:
the final cause is it for which men invent and use all the means that
tend to it. Therefore all other sin being nothing but the means for the
pleasing of our fleshly appetites and fancies, it is evident that
flesh-pleasing is the common cause of them all; and is to all other sin
as the spring is to the watch, or the poise to the clock; the weight
which giveth them all their motion. Cure this sin and you have taken off
the poise, and cured all the positive sins of the soul: though the
privative sins would be still uncured, if there were no more done;
because that which makes the clock stand still, is not enough to make it
go right. But, indeed, nothing but the love of pleasing God, can truly
cure the love of flesh-pleasing: and such a cure is the cure of every
sin, both positive and privative, active and defective.
2. Flesh-pleasing is the grand idolatry of the world; and the flesh
the greatest idol that ever was set up against God. Therefore Paul
saith of sensual worldlings, that "their belly is their god," and
thence it is that they "mind earthly things," and "glory in their
shame, and are enemies to the cross of Christ," that is, to sufferings
for Christ, and the doctrine and duties which would cause their
sufferings. That is a man's god which he taketh for his chief good,
and loveth best, and trusteth in most, and is most desirous to please:
and this is the flesh to every sensualist. He "loveth pleasure more
than God," 2 Tim. iii. 2, 4. He "savoureth" or "mindeth" the "things
of the flesh," and "liveth" to it, and "walketh after it," Rom. viii.
1, 5-8, 13. He "maketh provision for it to satisfy its appetite or
lusts," Rom. xiii. 14. He "soweth to the flesh," Gal. vi. 8; and
fulfilleth his lust, when it "lusteth against the Spirit," Gal. v. 16,
17. And thus, while concupiscence or sensuality hath dominion, sin is
said to have dominion over them, and they are servants to it, Rom. vi.
14, 20. For "to whom men yield themselves servants to obey, his
servants they are whom they serve or obey," Rom. vi. 16. It is not
bowing the knee and praying to another, that is the chief idolatry. As
loving, and pleasing, and obeying, and trusting, and seeking, and
delighting in him, are the chiefest parts of the service of God, which
he preferreth before a thousand sacrifices or compliments; so loving
the flesh, and pleasing it, and obeying it, and trusting in it, and
seeking and delighting in its pleasures, are the chief service of the
flesh; and more than if you offered sacrifice to it, and therefore is
the grand idolatry. And so the flesh is the chief enemy of God, which
hath the chiefest love and service which are due to him, and robs him
of the hearts of all mankind that are carnal and unsanctified. All the
Baals, and Jupiters, and Apollos, and other idols of the world set
together, have not so much of the love and service due to God, as the
flesh alone hath. If other things be idolized by the sensualist, it is
but as they subserve his flesh, and therefore they are made but
inferior idols. He may idolize his wealth, and idolize men in power
and worldly greatness; but it is but as they can help or hurt his
flesh: this hath his heart. By the interest of the flesh, he judgeth
of his condition; by this he judgeth of his friends; by this he
chooseth his actions or refuseth them; and by this he measureth the
words and actions of all others. He takes all for good which pleaseth
his flesh, and all for bad that is against his pleasure.
3. The flesh is not only the common idol, but the most devouring idol
in all the world. It hath not, as subservient, flattered idols have,
only a knee and compliment, or now and then a sacrifice or ceremony,
but it hath the heart, the tongue, the body to serve it; the whole
estate, the service of friends, the use of wit and utmost diligence;
in a word, it hath all. It is loved and served by the sensualist, as
God should be loved and served by his own, even "with all the heart,
and soul, and might:" they "honour it with their substance, and the
firstfruits of their increase." It is as faithfully served as Christ
requireth to be of his disciples: men will part with father, and
mother, and brother, and sister, and nearest friends, and all that is
against it, for the pleasing of their flesh. Nay, Christ required men
to part with no greater matter for him than transitory, earthly
things, which they must shortly part with whether they will or no; but
they do for the flesh ten thousand thousandfold more than ever they
were required to do for Christ. They forsake God for it. They forsake
Christ, and heaven, and their salvation for it. They forsake all the
solid comforts of this life, and all the joys of the life to come for
it. They sell all that they have, and lay down the price at its feet;
yea, more than all they have, even all their hopes of what they might
have to all eternity. They suffer a martyrdom in the flames of hell
for ever, for their flesh. All the pains they take is for it. All the
wrong they do to others, and all the stirs and ruins they make in the
world, is for it. And all the time they spend is for it: and had they
a thousand years more to live, they would spend it accordingly. If any
thing seem excepted for God, it is but the bones, or crumbs, or
leavings of the flesh; or rather, it is nothing: for God hath not
indeed the hours which he seems to have; he hath but a few fair words
and compliments, when the flesh hath their hearts in the midst of
their hypocritical worship, and on his holy day; and they serve him
but as the Indians serve the devil, that he may serve their turns, and
do them no hurt.
4. How base an idol is the flesh! If all the derision used by Elijah
and the prophets against the heathenish idolatry be due, is not as
much due against the idolatry of all the sensual? Is it so great a
madness to serve an idol of silver, or gold, or stone, or wood? what
better is it to serve an idol of flesh and blood; a paunch of guts;
that is full of filth and excrements within, and the skin itself, the
cleanest part, is ashamed to be uncovered? We may say to the carnal
worldling, as Elijah to the Baalists, and more; "Call upon your God in
the hour of your distress: cry aloud; perhaps he is asleep, or he is
blowing his nose, or vomiting, or purging: certainly he will be
shortly rotting in the grave, more loathsome than the dirt or dung
upon the earth." And is this a god to sacrifice all that we can get
to? and to give all our time, and care, and labour, and our souls and
all to? O judge of this idolatry, as God will make you judge at last!
5. And here next consider how impious and horrid an abasement it is of
the eternal God, to prefer so vile a thing before him! And whether every
ungodly, sensual man, be not a constant, practical blasphemer? What dost
thou but say continually by thy practice, This dunghill, nasty flesh, is
to be preferred before God; to be more loved, and obeyed, and served? It
deserveth more of my time than he: it is more worthy of my delight and
love. God will be judge, (and judge in righteousness ere long,) whether
this be not the daily language of thy life, though thy tongue be taught
some better manners. And whether this be blasphemy, judge thyself.
Whether thou judge God or the flesh more worthy to be pleased, and which
thou thinkest it better to please, ask thy own heart, when cards, and
dice, and eating, and drinking, and gallantry, and idleness, and
greatness, and abundance, do all seem so sweet unto thee, in comparison
of thy thoughts of God, and his holy word and service! and when morning
and night, and whenever thou art alone, those thoughts can run out with
unweariedness or pleasure, upon these provisions for thy flesh, which
thou canst hardly force to look up unto God, a quarter of an hour,
though with unwillingness.
6. Think also what a contempt of heaven it is, to prefer the pleasing of
the flesh before it. There are but two ends which all men aim at; the
pleasing of the flesh on earth, or the enjoying of God in heaven
(unless any be deluded to think that he shall have a sensual life
hereafter too, as well as here). And these two stand one against the
other. And he that sets up one, doth renounce (or as good as renounce)
the other. "If ye sow to the flesh, of the flesh ye shall reap
corruption; but if ye sow to the Spirit, of the Spirit ye shall reap
everlasting life," Gal. vi. 8. Your wealth, and honour, and sports, and
pleasures, and appetites are put in the scales against heaven, and all
the joys and hopes hereafter; (to say you hope to have them both, is the
cheat of infidelity, that believes not God; and is not heaven most
basely esteemed of by those that prefer so base a thing before it?
7. Remember that flesh-pleasing is a great contempt and treachery
against the soul. It is a great contempt of an immortal soul, to
prefer its corruptible flesh before it, and to make its servant to
become its master, and to ride on horseback, while it goes, as it
were, on foot. Is the flesh worthy of so much time, and cost, and
care, and so much ado as is made for it in the world, and is not a
never-dying soul worth more? Nay, it is a betraying of the soul: you
set up its enemy before it; and put its safety into an enemy's hands;
and you cast away all its joys and hopes for the gratifying of the
flesh. Might it not complain of your cruelty, and say, Must my endless
happiness be sold to purchase so short a pleasure for your flesh? Must
I be undone for ever, and lie in hell, that it may be satisfied for a
little time? But why talk I of the soul's complaint? Alas! it is
itself that it must complain of! for it is its own doing! It hath its
choice: the flesh can but tempt it, and not constrain it: God hath put
the chief power and government into its hands; if it will sell its own
eternal hopes, to pamper worm's meat, it must speed accordingly. You
would not think very honourably of that man's wit or honesty, who
would sell the patrimony of all his children, and all his friends that
trusted him therewith, and after sell their persons into slavery, and
all this to purchase him a delicious feast, with sports and gallantry
for a day! And is he wiser or better that selleth (in effect) the
inheritance of his soul, and betrayeth it to hell and devils for ever,
and all this to purchase the fleshly pleasure of so short a life?
8. Remember what a beastly life it is to be a sensualist. It is an
unmanning of yourselves. Sensual pleasures are brutish pleasures;
beasts have them as well as men. We have the higher faculty of reason,
to subdue and rule the beastly part. And reason is the man; and hath a
higher kind of felicity to delight in. Do you think that man is made
for no higher matters than a beast? and that you have not a more noble
object for your delight than your swine or dog hath, who have the
pleasure of meat, and lust, and play, and ease, and fancy, as well as
you? Certainly where sensual pleasures are preferred before the higher
pleasures of the soul, that man becomes a beast, or worse, subjecting
his reason to his brutish part.
9. Think what an inconsiderable, pitiful felicity it is that fleshly
persons choose; how small and short, as well as sordid. Oh how quickly
will the game be ended! and the delights of boiling lust be gone! How
quickly will the drink be past their throats, and their delicate
dishes be turned into filth! How short is the sport and laughter of
the fool! And how quickly will that face be the index of a pained
body, or a grieved, self-tormenting mind! It is but a few days till
all their stately greatness will be levelled; and the most adorned,
pampered flesh will have no more to show of all the pleasure which
was so dearly bought, than a Lazarus, or the most mortified saint. A
few days will turn their pleasure into anguish, and their jollity into
groans, and their ostentation into lamentation, and all their glory
into shame. As every moment puts an end to all the pleasures of their
lives that are past, and they are now to them as if they had never
been; so the last moment is at hand, which will end the little that
remains. And then the sinner will with groans confess, that he hath
made a miserable choice, and that he might have had a more durable
pleasure if he had been wise. When the skull is cast up with the
spade, to make room for a successor, you may see the hole where all
the meat and drink went in, and the hideous seat of that face, which
sometime was the discovery of wantonness, pride, and scorn; but you
will see no signs of mirth or pleasure.
10. Lastly, consider that there is scarce a sin in the world more
unexcusable than this. The flesh-pleaser seeth the end of all his
sensual delights, in the faces of the sick, and in the corpses that
are daily carried to the earth, and in the graves, and bones, and dust
of those that sometime had as merry a life as he. His reason can say,
All this is gone with them, and is as if it had never been; and so it
will shortly be with me. He knoweth that all the pleasure of his life
past is now of no value to himself. His warnings are constant, close,
and sensible; and therefore he hath the greater sin.
[Sidenote: The plea of flesh-pleasers.]
IV. _Object._ I. What hurt is it to God, or any one else, that I
please my flesh? I will not believe that a thing so harmless will
displease him. _Answ._ Merely as it is pleasure, it hath no hurt in
it: but as it is inordinate or immoderate pleasure; or as it is
over-loved, and preferred before God and your salvation; or as it is
greater than your delight in God; or as it wants its proper end, and
is loved merely for itself, and not used as a means to higher things;
and as it is made a hinderance to the soul, and to spiritual pleasure,
and the service of God; and as it is the brutish delight of an
ungoverned, rebellious appetite, that mastereth reason, and is not
under obedience to God. Though sin can do God no hurt, it can do you
hurt, and it can do him wrong. I think I have showed you what hurt and
poison is in it already. It is the very rebellion of corrupted nature;
the turning of all things upside down; the taking down God, and
heaven, and reason, and destroying the use of all the creatures, and
setting up flesh-pleasing instead of all, and making a brute your god
and governor. And do you ask what harm there is in this? So will your
child do, when he desireth any play, or pleasure; and the sick, when
they desire to please their appetite. But your father, and physician,
and reason, and not brutish appetite, must be judge.
_Object._ II. But I feel it is natural to me, and therefore can be no
sin. _Answ._ 1. The inordinate, violent, unruly appetite is no
otherwise natural to you, than as a leprosy is to a leprous
generation. And will you love your disease, because it is natural? It
is no otherwise natural, than it is to be malicious, and revengeful,
and to disobey your governors, and abuse your neighbours; and yet I
think they will not judge you innocent, for rebellion or abuse,
because it is natural to you. 2. Though the appetite be natural, is
not reason to rule it as natural to you? And is not the subjection of
the appetite to reason natural? If it be not, you have lost the nature
of man, and are metamorphosed into the nature of a beast. God gave you
a higher nature to govern your appetite and lower nature: and though
reason cannot take away your appetite, it can rule it, and keep you
from fulfilling it, in any thing or measure that is unmeet.
_Object._ III. But it appeareth by the case of Eve, that the appetite
was the same in innocency; therefore it is no sin. _Answ._ You must
not forget the difference between, 1. The appetite itself. 2. The
violence and unruly disposition of the appetite. 3. And the actual
obeying and pleasing of the appetite. The first (the appetite itself)
was in innocency, and is yet no sin. But the other two (the violence
of it, and the obeying it) were not in innocency, and are both sinful.
_Object._ IV. But why would God give innocent man an appetite that
must be crossed by reason? and that desired that which reason must
forbid? _Answ._ The sensitive nature is in order of generation before
the rational: and reason and God's laws do not make sense to be no
sense. You may as well ask, why God would make beasts, which must be
restrained and ruled by men; and therefore have a desire to that which
man must restrain them from? You do but ask, Why God made us men and
not angels? Why he placed our souls in flesh? He oweth you no account
of his creation. But you may see it is meet that obedience should have
some trial by difficulties and opposition, before it have its
commendation and reward. He gave you a body that was subject to the
soul, as the horse unto the rider; and you should admire his wisdom,
and thank him for the governing power of reason; and not murmur at
him, because the horse will not go as well without the guidance of the
rider, or because he maketh you not able to go as fast and as well on
foot. So much for the sensualist's objections.
[Sidenote: Signs of sensuality.]
V. The signs of a flesh-pleaser or sensualist are these (which may be
gathered from what is said already): 1. When a man in desire to please
his appetite, referreth it not (actually or habitually) to a higher
end, viz. the fitting himself to the service of God; but sticketh only
in the delight. 2. When he looks more desirously and industriously
after the prosperity of his body, than of his soul. 3. When he will
not part with or forbear his pleasures, when God forbiddeth them, or
when they hurt his soul, or when the necessities of his soul do call
him more loudly another way; but he must have his delight whatever it
cost him, and is so set upon it, that he cannot deny it to himself. 4.
When the pleasures of his flesh exceed his delights in God, and his
holy word and ways, and the forethoughts of endless pleasure; and this
not only in the passion, but in the estimation, choice, and
prosecution. When he had rather be at a play, or feast, or gaming, or
getting good bargains or profits in the world, than to live in the
life of faith, and love, a holy and heavenly conversation. 5. When men
set their minds to contrive and study to make provision for the
pleasures of the flesh; and this is first and sweetest in their
thoughts. 6. When they had rather talk, or hear, or read of fleshly
pleasures, than of spiritual and heavenly delights. 7. When they love
the company of merry sensualists, better than the communion of saints,
in which they may be exercised in the praises of their Maker. 8. When
they account that the best calling, and condition, and place for them
to live in, where they have the pleasure of the flesh, where they have
ease, and fare well, and want nothing for the body, rather than that
where they have far better help and provision for the soul, though the
flesh be pinched for it. 9. When he will be at more cost to please his
flesh, than to please God. 10. When he will believe or like no
doctrine but libertinism, and hateth mortification as too strict
preciseness. By these, and such other signs, sensuality may easily be
known; yea, by the main bent of the life.
[Sidenote: Counterfeits of mortification.]
VI. Many flesh-pleasers flatter themselves with better titles, being
deceived by such means as these: 1. Because they are against the
doctrine of libertinism, and hold as strict opinions as any. But
flesh-pleasing may stand with the doctrine of mortification, and the
strictest opinions, as long as they are not put in practice.
2. Because they live not in any gross, disgraced vice. They go not to
stage-plays, or unseasonably to alehouses or taverns; they are not
drunken, nor gamesters, nor spend their hours in unnecessary
recreations or pastimes; they are no fornicators, nor wallow in
wealth. But the flesh may be pleased and served in a way that hath no
disgrace accompanying it in the world. May not a man make his ease, or
his prosperity, or the pleasing of his appetite, without any infamous
excesses, to be as much his felicity and highest end, and that which
practically he taketh for his best, as well as if he did it in a
shameful way? Is not many a man a gluttonous flesh-pleaser, that
maketh his delight the highest end of all his eating and drinking; and
pleaseth his appetite without any restraint, but what his health and
reputation put upon him, though he eat not till he vomit or be sick?
Even the flesh itself may forbid a sensualist to be drunk, or to eat
till he be sick; for sickness and shame are displeasing to the flesh.
Many a man covereth a life of sensuality, not only with a seeming
temperance, unreproved of men, but also with a seeming strictness and
austerity. But conscience might tell them, where they have their good
things, Luke xvi. 25.
3. Some think they are no sensual flesh-pleasers, because they live in
constant misery, in poverty and want, labouring hard for their daily
bread; and therefore they hope that they are the Lazaruses that have
their sufferings here. But is not all this against thy will? Wouldst
thou not fare as well as the rich, and live as idly, and take thy
pleasure, if thou hadst as much as they? What thou wouldst do, that
thou dost in God's account. It is thy will that thou shalt be judged
by. A thief doth not become a true man when the prison or stocks do
hinder him from stealing, but when a changed heart doth hinder him.
4. Others think that they are no flesh-pleasers, because their wealth,
and places, and degrees of honour allow them to live high in diet and
delights. It is like the rich man, Luke xvi. who was "clothed with
purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day," did live upon
his own, and as he thought agreeably to his rank and place; and the
fool, Luke xii. 19, 20, that said, "Soul, take thine ease, eat, drink,
and be merry," did intend to please himself but with his own, which
God had given him as a blessing on his land and labour. But no man's
riches allow him to be voluptuous. The commands of taming and
mortifying the flesh, and not living after it, nor making provision
for it, to satisfy its lusts, belong as much to the rich as to the
poor. Though you are not to live in the same garb with the poor, you
are as much bound to mortification and self-denial as the poorest. If
you are richer than others, you have more to serve God with, but not
more than others to serve the flesh with. If poverty deny them any
thing which might better enable their bodies or minds to serve God,
you may so far go beyond them, and use with thankfulness the mercies
given you; but you must no more be flesh-pleasers than they.
5. And some deceive themselves by interposing sometimes a formal fast,
as the fleshly Pharisee, that "fasted twice a week," Luke xviii. 12,
and then they think that they are no sensualists. I speak not of the
popish fasting with fish and delicates (this is not so much as a show
of mortification). But what if you really fast as oft as the Pharisees
did, and quarrel with Christ's disciples for not fasting? Matt. ix.
14, 15. Will not a sensualist do as much as this, if his physician
require it for his health? If the scope of your lives be fleshly, it
is not the interruption of a formal fast that will acquit you; which
perhaps doth but quicken your appetite to the next meal.
[Sidenote: False appearances of sensuality.]
VII. Yet many are wrongfully taken by others (if not by themselves) to
be sensual, by such mistakes as these: 1. Because they live not as
meanly and scantily as the poor, who want things necessary or helpful
to their duty. But by that rule I must not be well, because other men
are sick; or I must not go apace, because the lame can go but slowly!
If poor men have bad horses, I may ride on the best I can get, to
despatch my business, and redeem my time, so I prefer not costly,
useless ostentation, before true serviceableness. 2. Others are
accused as sensual, because the weakness of their bodies requireth a
more tender usage, and diet, than healthful men's: some bodies are
unfitter for duty if they fast; and some are useless through sickness
and infirmities, if they be not used with very great care. And it is
as truly a duty to cherish a weak body to enable it for God's service,
as to tame an unruly, lustful body, and keep it from offending him. 3.
Some melancholy, conscientious persons are still accusing themselves,
through mere scrupulosity; questioning almost all they eat, or drink,
or wear, or do, whether it be not too much or too pleasing. But it is
a cheerful sobriety that God requireth, which neither pampereth the
body, nor yet disableth or hindereth it from its duty; and not an
unprofitable, wrangling scrupulosity.
_Direct._ I. The first and grand direction against flesh-pleasing is,
that you be sure, by a serious, living faith, to see the better things
with God, and to be heartily taken up in minding, loving, seeking, and
securing them. All the other directions are but subservient to this.
For certainly man's soul will not be idle, being a living, active
principle: and it is as certain, that it will not act but upon some
end, or for some end. And there are no other ends to take us up, but
either the things temporal or eternal. And therefore there is no true
cure for a sensual love of temporal things, but to turn the heart to
things eternal. Believingly think first of the certainty, greatness,
and eternity of the joys above; and then think that these may more
certainly be yours, than any worldly riches or delights, if you do not
contemptuously reject them. And then think that this is the time in
which you must make sure of them, and win them, if ever you will
possess them; and that you are sent into the world of purpose on this
business. And then think with yourselves, how fleshly pleasures are
the only competitors with the everlasting pleasures; and that, if ever
you lose them, it will be by over-loving these transitory things; and
that one half of your work for your salvation lieth in killing your
affections to all below, that they may be alive to God alone. And
lastly, think how much higher and sweeter pleasures, even in this
life, the godly do enjoy than you; and you are losing them while you
prefer these sordid pleasures. Do you think that a true believer hath
not a more excellent delight in his forethoughts of his immortal
blessedness with Christ, and in the assurance of the love of God, and
communion with him in his holy service, than you, or any sensualist,
hath in fleshly pleasures? Sober and serious meditation on these
things, will turn the mind to the true delights.
_Direct._ II. Be acquainted with the range of sensual desires, and
follow them, and watch them in all their extravagances. Otherwise,
while you are stopping one gap, they will be running out at many more.
I have given you many instances in my "Treatise of Self-denial." I
will here briefly set some before your eyes.
1. Watch your appetites as to meat and drink, both quantity and quality.
Gluttony is a common, unobserved sin: the flesh no way enslaves men more
than by the appetite; as we see in drunkards and gluttons, that can no
more forbear than one that thirsteth in a burning fever.
2. Take heed of the lust of uncleanness, and all degrees of it, and
approaches to it; especially immodest embraces and behaviour.
3. Take heed of ribald, filthy talk, and love songs, and of such
incensing snares.
4. Take heed of too much sleep and idleness.
5. Take heed of taking too much delight in your riches, and lands,
your buildings, and delectable conveniences.
6. Take heed lest honours, or worldly greatness, or men's applause,
become your too great pleasure.
7. And lest you grow to make it your delight, to think on such things
when you are alone, or talk idly of them in company with others.
8. And take heed lest the success and prosperity of your affairs do
too much please you, as him, Luke xii. 20.
9. Take not up any inordinate pleasure in your children, relations, or
nearest friends.
10. Take heed of a delight in vain, unprofitable, sinful company.
11. Or in fineness of apparel, to set you out to the eyes of others.
12. Take heed of a delight in romances, play-books, feigned stories,
useless news, which corrupt the mind, and waste your time.
13. Take heed of a delight in any recreations which are excessive,
needless, devouring time, discomposing the mind, enticing to further
sin, hindering any duty, especially our delight in God. They are
miserable souls that can delight themselves in no more safe or
profitable things, than cards, and dice, and stage-plays, and immodest
dancings.
_Direct._ III. Next to the universal remedy mentioned in the first
direction, see that you have the particular remedies still at hand,
which your own particular way of flesh-pleasing doth most require. And
let not the love of your vanity prejudice you against a just
information, but impartially consider of the disease and the remedy.
Of the particulars anon.
_Direct._ IV. Remember still that God would give you more pleasure,
and not less; and that he will give you as much of the delights of
sense as is truly good for you, so you will take them in their place,
in subordination to your heavenly delights. And is not this to
increase and multiply your pleasure? Are not health, and friends, and
food, and convenient habitation, much sweeter as the fruit of the love
of God, and the foretastes of everlasting mercies, and as our helps to
heaven, and as the means to spiritual comfort, than of themselves
alone? All your mercies are from God: he would take none from you, but
sanctify them, and give you more.
_Direct._ V. See that reason keep up its authority, as the governor of
sense and appetite. And so take an account, whatever the appetite
would have, of the ends and reasons of the thing, and to what it doth
conduce. Take nothing and do nothing merely because the sense or
appetite would have it; but because you have reason so to do, and to
gratify the appetite. Else you will deal as brutes, if reason be laid
by (in human acts).
_Direct._ VI. Go to the grave, and see there the end of fleshly
pleasure, and what is all that it will do for you at the last. One
would think it should cure the mad desire of plenty and pleasure, to
see where all our wealth, and mirth, and sport, and pleasure must be
buried at last.
_Direct._ VII. Lastly, be still sensible that flesh is the grand enemy
of your souls, and flesh-pleasing the greatest hinderance of your
salvation. The devil's enmity and the world's are both but subordinate
to this of the flesh: for its pleasure is the end, and the world's and
Satan's temptations are both but the means to attain it. Besides the
malignity opened before, consider,
[Sidenote: The enmity of the flesh.]
1. How contrary a voluptuous life is to the blessed example of our
Lord, and of his servant Paul, and all the apostles! Paul tamed his
body and brought it into subjection, lest, having preached to others,
himself should be a cast-away, 1 Cor. ix. 27. And all that are
Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts
thereof, Gal. v. 24. This was signified in the ancient manner of
baptizing, (and so is still by baptism itself,) when they went over
head in the water and then rose out of it, to signify that they were
dead and buried with Christ, Rom. vi. 3, 4, and rose with him to
newness of life. This is called our being "baptized into his death;"
and seems the plain sense of 1 Cor. xv. 29, of being "baptized for the
dead;" that is, "for dead" to show that we are dead to the world, and
must die in the world, but shall rise again to the kingdom of Christ,
both of grace and glory.
2. Sensuality showeth that there is no true belief of the life to
come, and proveth, so far as it prevaileth, the absence of all grace.
3. It is a homebred, continual traitor to the soul; a continual
tempter, and nurse of all sin; the great withdrawer of the heart from
God; and the common cause of apostasy itself: it still fighteth
against the Spirit, Gal. v. 17; and is seeking advantage from all our
liberties, Gal. v. 13; 2 Pet. ii. 10.
4. It turneth all our outward mercies into sin, and strengtheneth
itself against God by his own benefits.
5. It is the great cause of our afflictions; for God will not spare
that idol which is set up against him: flesh rebelleth, and flesh
shall suffer.
6. And when it hath brought affliction, it is most impatient under it,
and maketh it seem intolerable. A flesh-pleaser thinks he is undone,
when affliction depriveth him of his pleasure.
7. Lastly, it exceedingly unfitteth men for death; for then flesh must
be cast into the dust, and all its pleasure be at an end. Oh doleful day
to those that had their good things here, and their portion in this
life! when all is gone that ever they valued and sought; and all the
true felicity lost, which they brutishly contemned! If you would
joyfully then bear the dissolution and ruin of your flesh, oh master it,
and mortify it now. Seek not the ease and pleasure of a little walking,
breathing clay, when you should be seeking and foretasting the
everlasting pleasure. Here lieth your danger and your work. Strive more
against your own flesh, than against all your enemies in earth and hell:
if you be saved from this, you are saved from them all. Christ suffered
in the flesh, to tell you that it is not pampering, but suffering, that
your flesh must expect, if you will reign with him.
FOOTNOTES:
[137] I must profess that the nature and wonderful difference of the
godly and ungodly, and their conversation in the world, are perpetual,
visible evidences in my eyes, of the truth of the holy Scriptures.
1. That there should be so universal and implacable a hatred against
the godly in the common sort of unrenewed men, in all ages and nations
of the earth, when these men deserve so well of them, and do them no
wrong; is a visible proof of Adam's fall, and the need of a Saviour
and a Sanctifier.
2. That all those who are seriously christians, should be so far
renewed, and recovered from the common corruption, as their heavenly
minds and lives, and their wonderful difference from other men
showeth, this is a visible proof that christianity is of God.
3. That God doth so plainly show a particular special providence in the
converting and confirming souls, by differencing grace, and work on the
soul, as the sanctified feel, doth show that indeed the work is his.
4. That God doth so plainly grant many of his servants' prayers, by
special providences, doth prove his owning them and his promises.
5. That God suffereth his servants in all times and places ordinarily
to suffer so much for his love and service, from the world and flesh,
doth show that there is a judgment, and rewards and punishments
hereafter. Or else our highest duty would be our greatest loss; and
then how should his government of men be just?
6. That the renewed nature (which maketh men better, and therefore is
of God) doth wholly look at the life to come, and lead us to it, and
live upon it, this showeth that such a life there is; or else this
would be delusory and vain, and goodness itself would be a deceit.
7. When it is undeniable that _de facto esse_, the world is not
governed without the hopes and fears of another life; almost all
nations among the heathens believing it, (and showing, by their very
worshipping their dead heroes as gods, that they believed that their
souls did live,) and even the wicked generally being restrained by
those hopes and fears in themselves. And also that, _de posse_, it is
not possible the world should be governed agreeably to man's rational
nature, without the hopes and fears of another life; but men would be
worse than beasts, and all villanies would be the allowed practice of
the world. (As every man may feel in himself what he were like to be
and do, if he had no such restraint.) And there being no doctrine or
life comparable to christianity, in their tendency to the life to
come. All these are visible standing evidences, assisted so much by
common sense and reason, and still apparent to all, that they leave
infidelity without excuse; and are ever at hand to help our faith, and
resist temptations to unbelief.
8. And if the world had not a beginning according to the Scriptures,
1. We should have found monuments of antiquity above six thousand
years old. 2. Arts and sciences would have come to more perfection,
and printing, guns, &c. not have been of so late invention. 3. And so
much of America and other parts of the world would not have been yet
uninhabited, unplanted, or undiscovered.
Of atheism I have spoken before in the Introduction; and nature so
clearly revealeth a God, that I take it as almost needless to say much
of it to sober men.
[138] Neque enim potest Deus qui summa veritas et bonitas est, humanum
genus, prolem suam decipere. Marsil. Ficin. de. Rel. Chris. c. 1.
[139] Pietas fundamentum est omnium virtutum. Cic. pro Plan.
[140] Zenophon reporteth Cyrus as saying, If all my familiars were
endued with piety to God, they would do less evil to one another, and
to me. Lib. viii.
[141] Pietate adversus Deos sublatâ, fides etiam, et societas humani
generis, et una excellentissima virtus justitia, tollatur necesse est.
Cic. de Nat. Deo. 4.
[142] See my book called "A Saint or a Brute."
[143] Exod. vii. 13, 14; 2 Kings xvii. 14; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 13; Neh.
ix. 16, 17, 29; Isa. lxiii. 17; Dan. v. 20; Mark vi. 52; viii. 17;
iii. 5; John xii. 40; Acts xix. 9; Prov. xxviii. 14; xxix. 1; Matt.
xix. 8; Mark xvi. 14; Rom. ii. 5.
[144] Non tamen ideo beatus est, quia patienter miser est. August de
Civit. l. 14. c. 25.
[145] Lento gradu ad vindictam sui divina procedit ira: tarditatemque
supplicii gravitate compensat. Valerius Max. de Dionys. 1. 1. c. 2.
[146] Feriemini, moriemini, sentietis: an cæci autem an videntes, id
in vestra manu est. Optate igitur bene mori (quod ipsum nisi bene
vixeritis frustra est). Optate, inquam, nitimini, et quod in vobis est
facile: reliquum illi committite; qui vos in hanc vitam ultro non
vocatos intulit; egressuris, non nisi vocatus et rogatus manum dabit.
Non mori autem nolite optare. Petrarch. Dial. 107. 1. 2.
[147] Multi Christum osculantur; pauci amant: aliud est φιλειν, aliud
καταφιλειν. Abr. Bucholtzer in Scultet. cur. p. 15. Dicunt Stoici
sapientes esse sinceros, observateque et cavere sollicite nequid de se
melius quam sit commendare putemus fuco seu arte aliqua mala
occultante, et bona quæ insunt apparere faciente, ac circumcidere
vocis omnem ficionem. Laert. in Zenone. Philosophia res adeo
difficilis est, ut tam vel simulare magna sit pars philosophiæ. Paul
Scalig. It was one of the Roman laws of the 12 Tables, "Impius ne
audeto placere donis iram Deorum." "Let no ungodly person dare to go
about to appease the displeasure of the gods by gifts:" viz. He must
appease them first by reformation. Bona conscientia prodire vult et
conspici; ipsas nequitia tenebras timet. Senec.
[148] When Petrarch, in vita sua, speaketh of others extolling his
eloquence, he addeth his own neglect of it, Ego modo bene vixissem,
qualiter dixissem parvi facerem. Ventosa gloria est, de solo verborum
splendore famam quærere. Conscientiam potius quam famam attende. Falli
sæpe poterit fama: conscientia nunquam. Senec.
[149] Sic vivendum est, quasi in conspectu vivamus: Sic cogitandum,
tanquam aliquis pectus intimum prospicere possit. Senec. Rem dicam, ex
qua mores æstimes nostras: vix quempiam invenies, qui possit aperto
ostio vivere: janitores conscientia nostra--supposuit: sic vivimus ut
deprehendi sit subito aspici. Senec. Ep. 96.
[150] It is a pitiful cure of the Indians' idolatry, which the honest
Jesuit Acosta (as the rest) prescribeth, lib. 5. c. 11. p. 483. "But you
must especially take care, that saving rites be introduced instead of
hurtful ones, and ceremonies be obliterated by ceremonies. Let the
priests persuade the novices, that holy water, images, rosaries, grains,
and torches, and the rest which the church alloweth and useth, are very
fit for them; and let them extol them with many praises in their popular
sermons, that instead of the old superstition they may be used to new
and religious signs." This is to quench the fire with oil.
[151] It is one of Thales' sayings, in Laert. Q. Quomodo optime ac
justissime vivemus? Resp. Si quæ in aliis reprehendimus ipsi non
faciamus. To judge of ourselves as we judge of others, is the way of the
sincere.
[152] Cato, homo virtuti simillimus qui nunquam recte fecit, ut facere
videretur, sed quia aliter facere non poterat; cuique id solum visum
est rationem habere, quod haberet justitiam. Velleius Patercul. 1. 2.
[153] Jam in ecclesiis ista quæruntur, et omissa Apostolicorum
simplicitate et puritate verborum, quasi ad Athenæum et ad auditoria
convenitur ut plausus circumstantium suscitentur, ut oratio rhetoricæ
artis fucata mendacio quasi quædam meretricula procedat in publicum,
non tam eruditura populos, quam favorem populi quæsitura. Hieron. in
Præf. 1. 3. in Galat.
[154] Permanent tepidi, ignavi, negligentes, vani, leves, voluptuosi,
delicati; commoda corpores superflua sectantur, suum compendium in
omnibus quærunt, ubicunque honorem et existimationem nominis sui
integra servare possunt: intus propriæ voluntati pertinaciter addicti,
irresignati, minime abnegati, superbi, curiosi, et contumaces sunt in
omnibus, licet externe coram hominibus bene morati videantur. In
tentationibus impatientes, amari, procaces, iracundi, tristes, aliis
molesti, verbis tamen ingenioque scioli,--In prosperis nimium elati et
hilares: in adversis, nimium turbati sunt et pusillanimes: aliorum
temerarii sunt judices: aliorum vitia accuratissime perscrutari, de
aliorum defectibus frequenter garrire, ac gloriari egregium putant. Ex
istis et similibus operibus facillime cognosci poterunt: nam moribus
gestibusque suis seu sorex quispiam suopte semet indicio produnt.
Thauler. flor. p. 65, 56.
[155] Quid prodest recondere se et oculos hominum auresque vitare?
Bona conscientia turbam advocat; mala autem in solitudine anxia et
sollicita est. Si honesta sunt quæ facis, omnes sciant: si turpia,
quid refert neminem scire, cum tu scias: O te miserum si contemnis
hunc testem. Sen. Ep. 96. Matt. xxiii. 13-15, 23, 25, 27, 29.
[156] Matt. xxiii. 8; Eph. iv. 2-5; Luke x. 42; Matt. vi. 33; 2 Pet.
i. 10; John vi. 27.
[157] 1 Tim. ii. 5; James iv. 12; Hos. x. 2.
[158] 1 Cor. i. 13; Gal. iv. 8; 1 Cor. viii. 5; Phil. iii. 18.
[159] The causes of superstition (and so of hypocrisy) are, pleasing
and sensual rites and ceremonies, excess of outward and pharisaical
holiness, over-great reverence of traditions, which cannot but load
the church, the stratagems of prelates for their own ambition and
lucre, the savouring too much good intentions, which openeth a gate to
conceits and novelties. Lord Bacon's Essays. As P. Callimachus Exper.
describeth Attila, that he was a devourer of flesh and wine, &c. and
yet Religione persuasionibusque de diis à gente sua susceptis, usque
ad superstitionem addictus. Calli. p. (mihi) 339.
[160] Psal. lxxviii. 37; 2 Cor. vii. 11.
[161] 1 John i. 6; ii. 3-5, 15; iv. 6-8, 20; v. 3; Matt. x. 37.
[162] The similitude of superstition to religion maketh it the more
deformed: and as wholesome meat corrupteth into little worms, so good
forms and orders corrupt into a number of petty observances. Lord
Bacon's Essay of Superstition.
[163] Non quam multis placeas, sed qualibus stude. Martin. Dumiens. de
Morib.
[164] Luke xiv. 26, 27.
[165] Magna animi sublimitate carpentes se atque objurgantes Socrates
contemnebat. Laert. in Socrat.
[166] When Chrysippus was asked why he exercised not himself with the
most, he answered, If I should do as the most do, I should be no
philosopher. Laert. in Chrysip. Adulationi fœdum crimen servitutis
malignitati falsa species libertatis inest. Tacitus, lib. 17. Secure
conscience first, Qua semel amissa, postea nullus eris.
[167] Rom. xiv.; xv. 1-3.
[168] Gal. v. 10; 1 Cor. v.
[169] Quicquid de te probabiliter fingi potest, ne fingatur ante
devita. Hieron. ad Nepot. Non solum veritas in hac parte sed etiam
opinio studiose quærenda est, ut te hypocritam agere interdum minime
pœniteat, said one harshly enough to Acosta, ut lib. 4. c. 17. p. 413.
[170] 1 Pet. iv. 12, 13, &c.; 1 Cor. iv. 12, 13; Acts xxii. 22; xxiv.
5, 6; Matt. v. 10-12.
[171] Psal. xxx. 5; lxiii. 3; 2 Cor. v. 9; Rom. viii. 33, 34.
[172] Matt. x.; John xv.; Matt. xxvii.; Heb. xii. 1-3; 1 Pet. ii. 21-23.
[173] We must go further than Seneca, who said, Male de me loquuntur,
sed mali; moverer si de me Mar. Cato, si Lælius sapiens, si duo
Scipiones ista loquerentur: nunc malis displicere, laudari est.
[174] See Dr. Boys' Postil. p. 42, 43. Marlorat. in 1 Cor. iv. 3.
[175] The open daylight of truth doth not show the masks, and
mummeries, and triumphs of the world, half so stately and gallant as
candlelight doth. Lord Bacon's Essay of Truth. Why lies are loved.
[176] Offendet te superbus contemptu; dives contumelia, petulans
injuria, lividus malignitate: pugnax contentione, ventosus et mendax
vanitate: non feres a suspicioso timeri, a pertinace vinci, a delicato
fastidiri. Senec. de Ira, l. 3. c. 8.
[177] Unus mihi pro populo est, et populus pro uno. Sen. Ep. 7. ex
Democr. Satis sunt mihi pauci, satis est unus; satis est nullus.
Senec. Epist. 7. Socrates was condemned by the votes of more against
him of his judges than those that absolved him; and they would not
suffer Plato to speak for him. His sentence was, Jura violat Socrates,
quos ex majorum instituto suscepit civitas, deos esse negans, alia
vero nova dæmonia inducens. Laert. in Socrat.
[178] Quæ ego scio populus non probat: quæ probat populus ego nescio.
Sen. Epi. 29. Imperitia in omnibus majori ex parte dominatur, et
multitudo verborum. Cleobulus in Laert.
[179] Inter hæc quid agant quibus loquendi à Christo officium
mandatur? Deo displicent, si taceant; hominibus si loquantur. Salvian.
ad Eccles. Cath. 1. 4.
[180] Even for the greatness of your services, you may perish, by the
suspicion and envy of those great ones whom you served: as is proved
by the case of Saul and David, Belisarius, Narses, Bonifacius, the two
sons of Huniades imprisoned, and one slain, and multitudes such like.
[181] Persium non curo legere: Lælium Decimum volo: ut Lucilius.
[182] I may add that you have guilty consciences to please. And the
guilty are, as Seneca speaks, like one that hath an ulcer, that at
first is hurt with every touch, and at last even with the suspicion of
a touch. Tutum aliqua res in mala conscientia præstat, nulla securum.
Putat enim etiamsi non deprehenditur, se posse deprehendi; et inter
somnos movetur, et quoties alicujus scelus loquitur, de suo cogitat.
Sen. Epis. 106. Prima et maxima peccantium pœna est peccasse.--Hæc et
secundæ pœnæ premunt et sequuntur, timere semper et expavescere et
securitate diffidere. Epis. 97. Tyranno amici quoque sæpe suspecti
sunt. Tu ergo, si tyrannidem tuto tenere cupis, atque in ea
constabiliri, civitatis principes tolle, sive illi amici, sive inimici
videantur. Thrasybulus in Epist. Periand. in Laertio. Plerorumque
ingenium est, ut errata aliorum vel minima perscrutentur, benefacta
vero vel in propatulo posita prætereant; sicut vultures corpora viva
et sana non sentiunt, morticina vero et cadavera tametsi longe remota
odore persequuntur. Galiadus in Arcan. Jesuit, p. 55.
[183] When the divines of Heidelberg appointed Pitiscus to write his
Irenicon, his very writing for peace, and to persuade the reformed
from apologies and disputes, did give occasion of renewed stirs to the
Saxons and Swedish divines, to tell men that they could have no peace
with us. Scultet. Curric. p. 46.
[184] They that saw Stephen's face as it had been the face of an
angel, and heard him tell them that he saw heaven opened, yet stoned
him to death as a blasphemer. Acts vi. 15; vii. 55-60.
[185] Socrates primus de vitæ ratione disseruit, ac primus
philosophorum damnatus moritur. Laert. in Socrat. p. 92. Multa prius
de immortalitate animarum ac præclara dissertus. Ibid.
[186] Fama liberrima principum judex. Seneca in Consolat. ad Martiam.
[187] Aristides having got the surname of Just, was hated by the
Athenians, who decreed to banish him: and every one that voted against
him being to write down his name, a clown that could not write came to
Aristides to desire him to write down Aristides' name. He asked him
whether he knew Aristides; and the man answered, No; but he would vote
against him because his name was Just. Aristides concealed himself,
fulfilled the man's desire, and wrote his own name in the roll and gave
it him: so easily did he bear it to be condemned of the world for being
just. Plutarch in Aristide. It was not only Socrates that was thus used,
saith Laertius, Nam Homerum velut insanientem drachmis quinquaginta
mulctarunt, Tyrtæumque mentis impotem dixerunt, &c.--"Which of the
prophets have not your fathers persecuted?" Matt. xxiii.
[188] Vis esse in mundo? Contemni et temnere disce. Abr. Bucholtzer.
[189] Socrates dicenti cuidam, Nonne tibi ille maledicit? Non, inquit,
mihi enim ista non adsunt.
[190] Dicebat expedire, ut sese ex industria comicis exponeret: nam si
ea dixerint quæ in nobis corrigenda sint, emendabunt: sin alias, nihil
ad nos.
[191] Dicenti Alcibiadi, non esse tolerabilem Xantippen adeo morosam:
Atqui, ait, ego ita hisce jampridem assuetus sum, ac si sonum
trochearum audiam--et mihi post Xantippes usum, reliquorum mortalium
facilis toleratio est. Laert. in Socr.
[192] Hoc habeo fere refugii et præsidii in meis ærumnis: sermones cum
Deo, cum amicis veris, et cum mutis magistris. Bucholtzer.
[193] Nemo altorum sensu miser est sed suo: et ideo non, possunt
cujusquam falso judicio esse miseri, qui sunt vere suâ conscientiâ
beati. Salvian. de Gubern. 1. 1.
[194] Philosophi libertas molesta est omnibus. P. Scalig. multo magis
fidelis pastoris.
[195] Non est idoneus philosophiæ discipulus, qui stultum pudorum non
possit contemnere Id. ibid. p. 728.
[196] Of this subject read the preface to my book "Of Self-denial,"
and chap. 41. to chap. 51.
[197] Duplex est humilitas: una lucida solum et non fervida: quæ ex
ratione potius quam ex charitate exercetur.--Altera quæ lucida
fervidaque simul est, ex charitate magis quam ex ratione exercetur;
non tamen citra rationem.--Humilitas enim (ut et reliquæ virtutes)
opus est voluntatis. Nam sicut virtutes per rationem cognoscimus, ita
per dilectionem nobis sapiunt. Thauler. flor. c. 7, p. 103, 104.
[198] See Plutarch Tract. How a man may praise himself without
incurring blame? He that is blamed and suffereth reproach for
well-doing, is justifiable if he praise himself, &c. p. 304.
[199] Siquid agere instituis, lente progredere: in eo autem quod
elegeris, firmiter persiste. Bass in Laert.
[200] Pertinacior tamen erat (Chrysanthius) nec de sententia facili
discedebat: inquit Eunapius humilitatem ejus laudans.
[201] Bullingero ob eruditionem non contemnendam, morumque tam
sanctitatem quam suavitatem, percharus fuit. p. 591.
[202] Gen. xix. 8-10.
[203] Cum humilitatis causa mentiris, si non eras peccator antequam
mentiris, mentiendo efficies quod evitaras. Augustin. de Verb. A post.
[204] Attila incessu adeo gestuosus et compositus, ut vel exinde
superbissimi animi contraxerit infamiam. Callimach. Exper. de Attil.
p. 341.
[205] Quod à magnatum ac procerum congressu abstinuerit (Chrysanthius)
alieniorque fuerit, non arrogantiæ aut fastui tribuendum est, quin
potius rusticitas quædam aut simplicitas existimari debet in eo qui
quid esset potestas ignorabat; ita vulgariter, et minime dissimulanter
cum illis verba factitabat. Eunapius in Chrysost.
[206] Jer. ix. 23, 24; Psal. xlix. 6; 2 Chron. xxv. 19.
[207] Ut lumen lunæ in præsentia solis non apparet, pari ratione esse
secundum in præsentia primi; nec meritum nostrum præsente merito
Christi. Paul. Scaliger. Thess. 73, 74. de Mundo Archetyp. Epist. 1. 14.
[208] Idem sonant, summe amari, et esse finem ultimum: ac proculdubio
Deus summe amandus est. Unum vero finem Aristoteles declaravit esse,
usum virtutis in vita sancta et integra. Hesych. Illust. in Aristot.
[209] Laert. in Thal. speaketh of the oracle of Delphos adjudging the
Tripos to the wisest; so it was sent to Thales, and from him to
another, till it came to Solon, who sent it to the oracle; saying,
None is wiser than God. So should we all send back to God the praise
and glory of all that is ascribed to us.
[210] Laert. saith that Pythagoras first called himself a philosopher.
Nullum enim hominem, sed solum Deum esse sapientem asserit: antea
σοφια dicta, quæ nunc philosophia: et qui hanc profitebantur σοφοι
appellati. quicunque ad summum animis virtutem excreverunt, hos nunc
honestiore vocabulo, authore Pythagora, philosophos appellamus, p. 7.
[211] Quicquid boni egeris, in deos refer. Bias in Laert.
[212] Men sick in mind, as witless fools, and loose persons, and unjust,
and injurious, think not that they do amiss and sin, &c. Plutarch.
Tract. That Maladies of the Mind are worse than those of the Body.
[213] Rom. v. 12, 17-19; John iii. 3, 5, 8; Jer. xvii. 9.
[214] His ergo qui loquendi arta cæteris hominibus excellere videntur,
sedulo monendi sunt ut humilitate induti christiana discant non
contemnere quos cognoverint morum vitia quam verborum amplius
devitare, Aug. de Cat. rudib. c. 9.
[215] Non potest non indoctus esse, qui se doctum credit. Hermar.
Barbarus.
[216] Pliny saith, In commending another you do yourself right; for he
whom you commend is either superior or inferior to you; if he be
inferior, if he be to be commended, then you much more; if he be
superior, if he be not to be commended, then you much less. Lord
Bacon, Essay 54. p. 299.
[217] Clemens Alex. strom. l. 1. c. 4. Ait fideli christiano docenti
vel unicum sufficere auditorem.
[218] Isa. lxv. 5.
[219] Matt. xi. 19; ix. 11; xv. 2, 3.
[220] See 1 Tim. iii. 6; vi. 4. A cunning flatterer will follow the
arch-flatterer which is a man's self. And wherein a man thinketh best
of himself, therein the flatterer will uphold him most. But if he be
an impudent flatterer, he will entitle him by force to that which he
is conscious that he is most defective in. Lord Bacon, Essay 52.
[221] Hesich. Illust. saith of Arcesilaus, In communicandis
facultatibus ac deferendis beneficiis supra quam dici potest promptus
atque facilis fuit: alienissimus a captanda gloriola a beneficio, quod
latere maluerat: invisens Ctesibium ægrotantem, quum videret illum in
egestate esse, clam cervicali supposuit crumeunam nummariam, qua ille
inventa, Arcesilai inquit, hicce ludus est.
[222] Psal. x. 2, 4; lxxiii. 6; xxxvi. 11; Eccl. x. 7.
[223] Rom. xii. 19, 20; Matt. v. 39; Col. iii. 13; 1 Thess. v. 14; 2
Pet. ii. 20.
[224] Jam. iii. 5; Psal. xlix. 6; x. 3; 2 Cor. x. 15.
[225] Inter benedicti signa humilitatis (in regula) est, ut pauca
verba etiam rationalia loquatur, non clamosa voce: taciturnitas usque
ad interrogationem: sed hæc semper intelligenda sunt, salvo amore
veritatis, et animarum.
[226] 2 Cor. xi. 9; 1 Thess. ii. 9; 2 Thess. iii. 8.
[227] Humilitas est, 1. Necessaria: subdere se majori, et non præferre
se æquali. 2. Abundans: subdere se æquali, nec preferre se minori: 3.
Perfecta: subdere se minori.--Gloss. sup. Matt. iii. Humilitatis
septem gradus secundum Anselmum sunt. 1. Opinione: (1.) Se
contemptibilem cognoscere. (2.) Hoc non dolere. 2. Manifestatione:
(1.) Hoc confiteri: (2.) Hoc persuadere. (3.) Patienter sustinere hæc
dici. 3. Voluntate: (1.) Pati contemptibiliter se tractari. (2.) Hoc
idem amare. Anselm. lib. de similit.
[228] Anaxagoras (in Laert. p. 87.) Cum vidisset mausoli sepulchrum:
monumentum, inquit, pretiosum et lapidibus ornatum, divitiarum imago.
[229] Æneas Sylvius in Boem. c. 65, speaking of the boasting of the
monk Capistrinus, saith, Superaverat seculi pompas, calcaverat
avaritiam, libidinem subegerat, gloriam contemnere non potuit: nemo
est tam sanctus qui dulcedine gloriæ non capiatur. Facilius regna viri
excellentes, quam gloriam contemnunt. Inter omnia vitia tu semper es
prima, semper es ultima: nam omne peccatum te accedente committitur,
et te recedente dimittitur. Innocent. de Contemp. Mundi. l. 2. c. 31.
[230] Jam. iv. 6; 1 Pet. v. 5; Isa. lvii. 15; Prov. xvi. 19; xxix. 23.
[231] Vainglorious men are the scorn of wise men, the admiration of
fools, the idols of flatterers, and the slaves of their own pride.
Lord Bacon, Essay 54.
[232] Matt. ix. 24; v. 40.
[233] John xv. 20; Phil. ii. 7-10.
[234] 1 Cor. iv. 12-15; Acts xxiv. 5.
[235] See my "Treatise of Self-ignorance."
[236]
Fama est fictilibus cœnasse Agathoclea regem,
Atque abacum Samio sæpe onerasse luto.
Fercula gemmatis cum poneret aurea vasis,
Et misceret opes pauperiemque simul,
Querenti causam respondit: Rex ego qui sum
Sicaniæ, figulo sum genitore satus.
Fortunam reverentur habe, quicunque repente
Dives ab exili progredire loco.
Auson. li. Epigram.
[237] Isa. iii.
[238] Rom. iii. 19, 20, 23, 27; iv. 2; Cor. i. 29; Eph. ii. 9.
[239] Luke xxii. 26; Mark x. 44; ix. 35, 36; 2 Tim. ii. 24.
[240] 1 Pet. v. 6; Lam. iii. 29; ii. 19; Amos iii. 8; 1 Pet. v. 5;
Jam. iv. 6; Dan. v. 22; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 27.
[241] See an excellent Tract. de Divitiis, ascribed to Sixt. 3. in
Bibl. Pat. (though accused of Pelagianism.)
[242] Phil. iii. 7-9; Jam. i. 10; Phil. iv. 11; 1 Tim. vi. 8; Prov.
xxiii. 4, "Labour not to be rich."
[243] Luke xiv. 26, 33.
[244] Matt. vi. 19-21, 33; John vi. 27; Luke xii. 19, 20; xviii. 22, 23.
[245] Ephes. v. 5; Col. iii. 5; James iv. 4.
[246] Rom. xiii. 14; Matt. vi. 19; 1 Tim. iii. 8; Phil. iii. 19; Ezek.
xxxiii. 31; Jer. ix. 23.
[247] Job i. 21.
[248] 1 Tim. vi. 17, 18; Mal. iii. 8, 9; Judg. vii. 21.
[249] Duæ res maxime homines ad maleficium impellunt, luxuries et
avaritia. Cic. 1. ad Heren. Corrupti sunt depravatique mores
admiratione divitiarum. Idem. 2. Offic. Nihil est tam sanctum quod non
violari, nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit. Cicero
2. in Verrem. When Alexander sent Phocion a hundred talents, he asked,
Why he rather sent it to him than all the rest of the Athenians? He
answered, Because he took him to be the only honest man in Athens:
whereupon Phocion returned it to him again, entreating him to give him
leave to be honest still.
[250] It was one of Chilon's sayings, Lapideis cotibus aurum
examinari: auro autem bonorum malorumque hominum mentem cujusmodi sit
comprobari: i. e. As the touchstone trieth gold, so gold trieth men's
minds, whether they be good or bad. Laertius in Chil. p. 43.
[251] Luke xviii. 11-13; Matt. vi. 16, 18.
[252] Luke xii. 48; xvi. 9, 10; Matt. xxv.; 2 Cor. viii. 14, 15.
[253] Nullius rei eget qui virtutum dives est: quarum indigentia vere
miseros, ac proinde misericordiæ egentissimos facit. Petrarch. Dial.
44. li. 2.
[254] Diis maxime propinquus qui minimis egeat. Socrat. in Laert.
[255] 1 Cor. vii. 31.
[256] Remember Gehazi, Achan, Judas, Ananias and Sapphira, Demetrius,
Demas. Jer. vi. 13; viii. 10. Maxime vituperanda est avaritia senilis.
Quid enim absurdius quam quo minus vitæ restat, eo plus viatici
quærere? Cicero in Cat. Maj.
[257] Prov. xi. 4, "Riches profit not in the day of wrath."
[258] Jer. xvii. 11; Jam. v. 1-3.
[259] Chilon in Laert. p. 43. Damnum potius quam turpe lucrum
eligendum; nam id semel tantum dolori esse, hoc semper.
[260] Socrates dixit, Opes et nobilitates, non solum nihil in se habere
honestatis, verum et omne malum ex eis oboriri. Laert in Socrat.
[261] Prov. iii. 14; 1 Tim. vi. 5, 6.
[262] Lege Petrarchæ lepidam historiam de avaro filio et liberali
patre. Dial. 13. li. 2.
[263] Saith Plutarch, de tranquillit. anim. Alexander wept because he
was not lord of the world; when Crates, having but a wallet and a
threadbare cloak, spent his whole life in mirth and joy, as if it had
been a continual festival holiday.
[264] Psal. xxxvii. 16; Prov. xvi. 8.
[265] Chrysostom saith, his enemies charged him with many crimes, but
never with covetousness or wantonness. And so it was with Christ and
his enemies.
[266] Et sicut in patria Deus est speculum in quo relucent creaturæ;
sic è converso in via, creaturæ sunt speculum quo creator videtur.
Paul. Scaliger in Ep. Cath. 1. 14. Thess. 123. p. 689.
[267] Even Dionysius the tyrant was bountiful to philosophers. To
Plato he gave above fourscore talents, Laert. in Platone, and much to
Aristippus and many more, and he offered much to many philosophers
that refused it. And so did Crœsus.
[268] Matt. x. 30; Luke xii. 7.
[269] Look upon the face of the calamitous world, and inquire into the
causes of all the oppressions, rapines, cruelties, and inhumanity which
have made men so like to devils: look into the corrupted, lacerated
churches, and inquire into the cause of their contentions, divisions,
usurpations, malignity, and cruelty against each other: and you will
find that pride and worldliness are the causes of all. When men of a
proud and worldly mind have by fraud, and friendship, and simony usurped
the pastorship of the churches, according to their minds and ends, they
turn it into a malignant domination, and the carnal, worldly part of the
church, is the great enemy and persecutor of the spiritual part; and the
fleshly hypocrite, as Cain against Abel, is filled with envy against the
serious believer, even out of the bitter displeasure of his mind, that
his deceitful sacrifice is less respected. What covetousness hath done
to the advancement of the pretended holy catholic church of Rome, I will
give you now, but in the words of an abbot and chronicler of their own,
Abbas Urspergens. Chron. p. 321. Vix remansit aliquis episcopatus, sive
dignitas ecclesiastica, vel etiam parochialis ecclesia, quæ non fierit
litigiosa, et Romam deduceretur ipsa causa, sed non manu vacua. Gaude
mater nostra Roma, quoniam aperiuntur cataractæ thesaurorum in terra, ut
ad te confluant rivi et aggeres nummorum in magna copia. Lætare super
iniquitate filiorum hominum; quoniam in recompensationem tantorum
malorum, datur tibi pretium. Jocundare super adjutrice tua discordia;
quid erupit de puteo infernalis abyssi, ut accumulentur tibi multa
pecuniarum præmia. Habes quod semper sitisti; decanta Canticum, quia per
malitiam hominum non per tuam religionem, orbem vicisti. Ad te trahit
homines, non ipsorum devotio, aut pura conscientia, sed scelerum
multiplicium perpetratio, et litium decisio, pretio comparata.
Fortun. Galindas speaking of pope Paul the fifth, his love to the
Jesuits for helping him to money, saith, Adeo præstat acquirendarum
pecuniarum quam animarum studiosum et peritum esse, apud illos, qui
cum animarum Christi sanguine redemptarum, in se curam receperint, vel
quid anima sit nesciunt, vel non pluris animam hominis quam piscis
faciunt: quod credo suum officium Piscatum quendam esse aliquando per
strepitum inaudierint: quibus propterea gratior fuerit, qui animam
auri cum Paracelso, quam animam Saxoniæ Electoris invenisse nuntiet.
Arcan. Soci. Jesu, p. 46.
Lege ibid. instruct. secret. de Jesuitarum praxi.
Et Joh. Sarisbur. lib. vii. c. 21. de Monach. Potentiores et ditiores
favore vel mercede recepta facilius (absolutione) exonerant, et
peccatis alienis humeros supponentes, jubent abire in tunicas et
vestes pullas, quicquid illi se commisisse deplorant--Si eis
obloqueris, religionis inimicus, et veritatis diceris impugnator.
[270] Matt. vi. 24; xiii. 22; Luke xvi. 13, 14; xiv. 33; xviii. 22,
23; Matt. vi. 19-21; 1 Tim. vi. 6-8; 1 John ii. 15; Prov. xxviii. 9;
xviii. 8; James iv. 3; Prov. xxviii. 20, "He that maketh haste to be
rich shall not be innocent."
[271] Jam. v. 1-5; 1 John iii. 17.
[272] 2 Tim. iv. 10.
[273] 1 Tim. vi. 17-19.
[274] Christ's sheep-mark is plainest on the sheep that are shorn.
When the fleece groweth long the mark wears out.
[275] Pecunia apud eum nunquam mansisse probatur, nisi forte tali hora
offeratur, quando sol diei explicans cursum, nocturnis tenebris daret
locum. Victor. Ut. de Eugen. Episc. Cath. Plato compareth our life to
a game at tables. We may wish for a good throw, but whatever it be, we
must play it as well as we can. Plutarch. de Tranquil. Anim.
[276] Socrates, Sæpe cum eorum quæ publice vendebantur multitudinem
intueretur, secum ista volvebat, Quam multis ipse non egeo? Laert. in
Socr. Pecuniam perdidisti? Bene, si te illa non perdidit: quod jam
multis possessoribus suis fecit. Gaude tibi ablatum unde infici posses,
teque illæsum inter pericula transivisse. Petrarch. 1. ii. dial. 13.
[277] Si organum inhabitanti animo sufficiens fuerit, satis est
virium. Corpus namque propter animi servitium fecisse naturam, nemo
tam corporis servus est, qui nesciat. Id si proprio munere fungitur,
quid accusas, seu quid amplius requiras? Petrarch, li. ii. dial. 2.
Veres corporis sunt vires carceris, ut Petrarch, li. i. dial. 5. What
mean you to make your prison so strong? said Pluto to one that
over-pampered his flesh. Mars. Ficin. in Vita Plat.
[278] He is a good christian, that remotely and ultimately referreth all
the creatures unto God, and eateth, and drinketh, &c. more to fit him
for God's service, than to please the flesh. But it is much more than
this which the creature was appointed for; even for a present
communication of the sense of the goodness of God unto the heart. As the
musician that toucheth but the keys of his harpsichord or organ, causeth
that sweet, harmonious sound, which we hear from the strings that are
touched within; so God ordained the order, beauty, sweetness, &c. of the
creature, to touch the sense with such a pleasure, as should suddenly
touch the inward sense with an answerable delight in God, who is the
giver of the life of every creature. But, alas! where is the christian
that doth thus eat and drink, and thus take pleasure in all his mercies?
When contrarily our hearts are commonly so diverted from God by the
creature, that so much delight as we find in it, so much we lose of our
delight in God, yea, of our regard and remembrance of him.
[279] Yet it is true which Petrarch saith, li. 2. dial. 3. Valetudo
infirma, Comes injucunda est, sed fidelis, quæ te crebro vellicet,
iter signet, et conditionis admoneat: Optimum in periculis monitor
fidus. Et li. 1. dial. 3. Multis periculosa et pestilens sanitas est,
qui tutius ægrotassent. Nusquam pejus quam in sano corpore, æger
animus habitat. Et dial. 4. Quamvis mala, quamvis pessima ægritudo
videatur, optabile malum tamen, quod mali remedium sit majoris.
CHAPTER V.
FURTHER SUBORDINATE DIRECTIONS, FOR THE NEXT GREAT DUTIES OF
RELIGION; NECESSARY TO THE RIGHT PERFORMANCE OF THE FORMER.[280]
_Directions for redeeming or well improving Time._
Time being man's opportunity for all those works for which he liveth,
and which his Creator doth expect from him, and on which his endless
life dependeth, the redeeming or well improving of it must needs be of
most high importance to him; and therefore it is well made by holy
Paul the great mark to distinguish the wise from fools; Eph. v. 15,
16, "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
redeeming the time;" so Col. iv. 5. I shall therefore give you special
directions for it, when I have first opened the nature of the duty to
you, and told you what is meant by time, and what by redeeming it.
[Sidenote: What is meant by time.]
Time, in its most common acceptation, is taken generally for all that
space of this present life which is our opportunity for all the works
of life, and the measure of them. Time is often taken more strictly,
for some special opportunity which is fitted to a special work, which
we call the season or the fittest time: in both these senses time must
be redeemed.
[Sidenote: What are the special seasons of duty.]
As every work hath its season which must be taken, Eccles. iii. 1; so
have the greatest works assigned us for God and our souls, some
special seasons besides our common time. 1. Some times God hath fitted
by nature for his service. So the time of youth, and health, and
strength is specially fitted for holy works. 2. Some time is made
specially fit by God's institution; as the Lord's day above all other
days. 3. Some time is made fit by governors' appointment: as the hour
of public meeting for God's worship; and lecture days; and the hour
for family worship, which every master of a family may appoint to his
own household. 4. Some time is made fit by the temper of men's bodies:
the morning hours are the best to most, and to some rather the
evening; and to all, the time when the body is freest from pain and
disabling weaknesses. 5. Some time is made fit by the course of our
necessary, natural, or civil business; as the day is fitter than the
sleeping time of the night, and as that hour is the fittest wherein
our other employments will least disturb us. 6. Some time is made fit
by a special shower of mercy, public or private; as when we dwell in
godly families, among the most exemplary, helpful company, under the
most lively, excellent means, the faithfulest pastors, the
profitablest teachers, the best masters or parents, and with faithful
friends. 7. Some time is made fit by particular acts of Providence: as
a funeral sermon at the death of any near us; as the presence of some
able minister or private christian, whose company we cannot ordinarily
have; or a special leisure, as the eunuch had to read the Scripture in
his chariot, Acts viii. 8. And some time is made specially fit, by the
special workings of God's Spirit upon the heart; when he more than
ordinarily illuminateth, teacheth, quickeneth, softeneth, humbleth,
comforteth, exciteth, or confirmeth. As time in general, so specially
these seasons, must be particularly improved for their several works:
we must take the wind and tide while we may have it, and be sure to
strike while the iron is hot. 9. And some time is made fit by others'
necessities, and the call of God: as it is the time to relieve the
poor when they ask, or when they are most in want; or to help our
neighbour, when it will do him most good; to visit the sick, the
imprisoned, and afflicted, in the needful season, Matt. xxv. Thus are
the godly like trees planted by the river side, which bring forth
fruit in their season, Psal. i. 3. So to speak in season to the
ignorant and ungodly for their conversion, or to the sorrowful for
their consolation, Isa. l. 4. 10. Our own necessity also maketh our
seasons: so the time of age and sickness is made by necessity the
season of our special repentance and preparation for death and
judgment. 11. The present time is commonly made our season, through
the uncertainty of a fitter, or of any more. Prov. iii. 27, 28,
"Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the
power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come
again, and to-morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee." Eccles.
xi. 2, "Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest
not what evil shall be upon the earth." Prov. xxvii. 1, "Boast not
thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring
forth." Gal. vi. 10, "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good
to all men, especially to them who are of the household of faith."
These are our special seasons.
[Sidenote: What redeeming time supposeth.]
To redeem time supposeth, 1. That we know what we have to do with
time, and on what we ought to lay it out; and of how great worth the
things are for which we must redeem it. 2. That we highly value time
in order to this necessary work. 3. That we are sensible of the
greatness of our sin and loss, in our negligent or wilful losing so
much as we have done already. 4. That we know the particular season of
each duty. 5. And that we set less by all that which we must part with
in our redeeming time, than we do by time itself, and its due ends: or
else we will not make the bargain.
[Sidenote: What it containeth.]
And as these five things are presupposed, so these following are
contained in our redeeming time. 1. To redeem time is to see that we
cast none of it away in vain; but use every minute of it as a most
precious thing, and spend it wholly in the way of duty. 2. That we be
not only doing good, but doing the best and greatest good which we are
able and have a call to do. 3. That we do not only the best things,
but do them in the best manner and in the greatest measure, and do as
much good as possibly we can. 4. That we watch for special
opportunities. 5. That we presently take them when they fall, and
improve them when we take them. 6. That we part with all that is to be
parted with, to save our time. 7. And that we forecast the preventing
of impediments, and the removal of our clogs, and the obtaining of all
the helps to expedition and success in duty. This is the true
redeeming of our time.
[Sidenote: To what uses time must be redeemed.]
The ends and uses which time must be redeemed for are these: 1. In
general, and ultimately, it must be all for God. Though not all employed
directly upon God, in meditating of him, or praying to him; yet all must
be laid out for him, immediately or mediately: that is, either in
serving him, or in preparing for his service; in mowing, or in whetting;
in travelling, or in baiting to fit us for travel. And so our time of
sleep, and feeding, and needful recreation is laid out for God. 2. Time
must be redeemed, especially for works of public benefit; for the church
and state; for the souls of many; especially by magistrates and
ministers, who have special charge and opportunity; who "must spend and
be spent" for the people's sakes, though rewarded with ingratitude and
contempt, 2 Cor. xii. 14, 15. 3. For your own souls, and your
everlasting life: for speedy conversion without delay, if you be yet
unconverted; for the killing of every soul-endangering sin without
delay; for the exercise and increase of young and unconfirmed grace, and
the growth of knowledge; for the making sure our calling and election;
and for the storing up provisions of faith, and hope, and love, and
comfort against the hour of suffering and of death.
4. We must redeem time for the souls of every particular person, that we
have opportunity to do good to; especially for children, and servants,
and others whom God hath committed to our trust. 5. For the welfare of
our own bodies, that they may be serviceable to our souls. 6. And
lastly, for the bodily welfare of others. And this is the order in which
those works lie, for which and in which our time must be redeemed.
[Sidenote: From what and at what price it must be redeemed.]
The price that time must be redeemed with, is, 1. Above all, by our
utmost diligence: that we be still doing, and put forth all our
strength, and run as for our lives; and whatever our hand shall find
to do, that we do it with our might, remembering that there is no
work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither we
go, Eccl. ix. 10. Our sluggish ease is an easy price to be parted with
for precious time. To redeem it, is not to call back time past; nor to
stop time in its hasty passage; nor to procure a long life on earth:
but to save it, as it passeth, from being devoured and lost, by
sluggishness and sin. 2. Time must be redeemed from the hands, and by
the loss of sinful pleasures, sports, and revellings, and all that is
of itself or by accident unlawful; from wantonness, and
licentiousness, and vanity. Both these are set together, Rom. xiii.
11-14, "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake
out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off
the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us
walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in
chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil
the lusts thereof." 3. Time must be redeemed from things indifferent
and lawful at another time, when things necessary do require it. He
that should save men's lives, or quench a fire in his house, or
provide for his family, or do his master's work, will not be excused
if he neglect it, by saying, that he was about an indifferent or a
lawful business. Natural rest and sleep must be parted with for time,
when necessary things require it. Paul preached till midnight being to
depart on the morrow, Acts xx. 7. The lamenting church calling out for
prayer saith, "Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the
watches pour out thy heart like water before the face of the Lord,"
Lam. ii. 19. Cleanthes' lamp must be used by such, whose sun-light
must be otherwise employed. 4. Time must be redeemed from worldly
business and commodity, when matters of greater weight and commodity
do require it. Trades, and plough, and profit must stand by, when God
calls us (by necessity or otherwise) to greater things. Martha should
not so much as trouble herself in providing meat for Christ and his
followers to eat, when Christ is offering her food for her soul, and
she should with Mary have been hearing at his feet, Luke x. 42.
Worldlings are thus called by him, Isa. lv. 1-3, "Ho every one that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters. Wherefore do ye spend your money for
that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth
not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and
let your soul delight itself in fatness." 5. Time must be redeemed
from smaller duties, which in their season must be done, as being no
duties, when they hinder greater duty which should then take place. It
is a duty in its time and place to show respect to neighbours and
superiors, and to those about us, and to look to our family affairs;
but not when we should be at prayer, to God, or when a minister should
be preaching, or at his necessary studies. Private prayer and
meditation, and visiting the sick, are duties; but not when we should
be at church, or about any greater duty which they hinder.
_Tit._ 1. _The Directions contemplative for redeeming Time._
_Direct._ I. Still keep upon thy heart, by faith and consideration,
the lively sense of the greatness and absolute necessity of that work,
which must command thy time; remembering who setteth thee on work, and
on what a work he sets thee, and on what terms, and what will be the
end. It is God that calleth thee to labour; and wilt thou stand still
or be doing other things, when God expecteth duty from thee? Moses
must go to Pharaoh when God bids him go; Jonah must go to Nineveh when
God bids him go; yea, Abraham must go to sacrifice his son when God
bids him go. And may you go about your fleshly pleasures, when God
commandeth you to his service? He hath appointed you a work that is
worth your time and all your labour; to know him, and serve him, and
obey him, and to seek everlasting life! How diligently should so
excellent a work be done! and so blessed, and glorious a Master be
served! especially considering the unutterable importance of our
diligence! we are in the race appointed us by our Maker, and are to
run for an immortal crown. It is heaven that must be now won or lost:
and have we time to spare in such a race? We are fighting against the
enemies of our salvation; the question is now to be resolved, whether
the flesh, the world, and the devil, or we, shall win the day, and
have the victory. And heaven or hell must be the issue of our warfare:
and have we time to spare in the midst of such a fight? when our very
loss of time is no small part of the enemy's conquest? Our most wise,
omnipotent Creator hath been pleased to make this present life to be
the trying preparation for another, resolving that it shall go with us
all for ever, according to our preparations here: and can we play and
loiter away our time, that have such a work as this to do? O
miserable, senseless souls! do you believe indeed the life
everlasting, and that all your lives are given you now, to resolve the
question whether you must be in heaven or hell for ever? Do you
believe this? Again I ask you, do you believe this? I beseech you, ask
your consciences over and over, whether you do indeed believe it? Can
you believe it, and yet have time to spare? What! find time to play
away, and game away, and idle and prate away, and yet believe that
this very time is given you to prepare for life eternal? and that
salvation or damnation lieth on the race which now, even now, you have
to run? Is not such a man a monster of stupidity? If you were asleep,
or mad, it were the more excusable to be so senseless: but to do thus
awake, and in your wits! Oh where are the brains of those men, and of
what metal are their hardened hearts made, that can idle and play away
that time, that little time, that only time, which is given them for
the everlasting saving of their souls! Verily, sirs, if sin had not
turned the ungodly part of the world into a bedlam, where it is no
wonder to see a man out of his wits, people would run out with wonder
into the streets to see such a monster as this, as they do to see
mad-men in the country where they are rare; and they would call to one
another, Come and see a man, that can trifle and sport away his time,
as he is going to eternity, and is ready to enter into another world!
Come and see a man that hath but a few days to win or lose his soul
for ever in, and is playing it away at cards or dice, or wasting it in
doing nothing! Come and see a man that hath hours to spare, and cast
away upon trifles, with heaven and hell before his eyes. For thy
soul's sake, consider and tell thyself, if thy estate in the world did
lie upon the spending of this day or week, or if thy life lay on it,
so that thou must live or die, or be poor or rich, sick or well, as
thou spendest it, wouldst thou then waste it in dressings, or
compliment, or play? and wouldst thou find any to spare upon
impertinent triflings? Or rather wouldst thou not be up betimes, and
about thy business, and turn by thy games, and thy diverting company,
and disappoint thy idle visitors, and let them find that thou art not
to be spoken with, nor at leisure to do nothing, but wilt rather seem
uncivil and morose, than be undone! And wouldst thou do thus for a
transitory prosperity or life, and doth not life eternal require much
more? Will thy weighty business in the world resolve thee, to put by
thy friends, thy play-fellows and sports, and to shake off thy
idleness? and should not the business of thy salvation do it? I would
desire no more to confute the distracted time-wasters, when they are
disputing for their idle sports and vanities, and asking, what harm is
in cards, and dice, and stage-plays, or tedious feasts or
complimenting, adorning idleness, than if I could help them to one
sight of heaven and hell, and make them well know what greater
business they have to do, which is staying for them while they sleep
or play. If I were just now in disputing the case with an idle lady,
or a sensual belly-slave or gamester, and he were asking me
scornfully, what hurt is in all this? if one did but knock at his door
and tell him, the king is at the door and calls for you, it would make
him to cast away his game and his dispute: or if the house were on
fire, or a child fallen into the fire or water, or thieves breaking in
upon them, it would make the ladies cast by the other lace or riband?
Or if there were but a good bargain or a lordship to be got, they
could be up and going, though sports and game and gaudery were cast
off: and yet the foresight of heaven and hell, though one of them is
even at the door, will not do as much with them; because heaven is as
nothing to an unbeliever, or an inconsiderate, senseless wretch; and
as it is nothing to them when it should move them, it shall be nothing
to them when they would enjoy it. Say not, recreation must be used in
its season: I know that necessary whetting is no letting: but God and
thy own conscience shall tell thee shortly, whether thy recreations,
feastings, long dressings, and idleness, were a necessary whetting or
refreshment of thy body, to fit it for that work which thou wast born
and livest for; or whether they were the pastimes of a voluptuous,
fleshly brute, that lived in these pleasures for the love of pleasure.
Verily, if I looked but on this one unreasonable sin of time-wasting,
it would help me to understand the meaning of Luke xv. 17, Εις ἑαυτον
ελθων, that the prodigal is said to come to himself; and that
conversion is the bringing a man to his wits.
_Direct._ II. Be not a stranger to the condition of thy own soul, but
look home till thou art acquainted what state it is in, and what it is
in danger of, and what it wanteth, and how far thou art behindhand in
thy provisions for immortality: and then be an idle time-waster if
thou canst. Could I but go down with thee into that dungeon heart of
thine, and show thee by the light of truth what is there; could I but
let in one convincing beam from heaven, which might fully show thee
what a condition thou art in, and what thou hast to do with thy
remaining time; I should have no need to dispute thee out of thy
childish fooleries, nor to bid thee be up and doing for thy soul, any
more than to bid thee stir if a bear were at thy back, or the house in
a flame about thy ears. Alas, our ordinary time-wasters are such, as
are yet unconverted, carnal wretches, and are all the while in the
power of the devil, who is the chief master of the sport, and the
greatest gainer. They are such as are utter strangers to the
regenerating, sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost; and are yet
unjustified, and under the guilt of all their sins, and certain to be
with devils in hell for ever, if they die thus before they are
converted! (This is true, sinner, and thou wilt shortly find it so, by
grace or vengeance, though thy blind and hardened heart now rise
against the mention of it!) And is this a case for a man to sit at
cards and dice in, or to sport and swagger in? The Lord have mercy on
thee, and open thy eyes before it is too late, or else thy conscience
will tell thee for ever in another manner than I am telling thee now,
that thou hadst need to have better improved thy time, and hadst
greater things to have spent it in. What! for a man in thy case, in an
unrenewed, unsanctified, unpardoned state, to be thus casting away
that little time, which all his hopes lie on! and in which, if ever,
he must be recovered, and saved! O Lord, have mercy on such senseless
souls, and bring them to themselves before it be too late! I tell
thee, man, an enlightened person, that understandeth what it is, and
hath escaped it, would not for all the kingdoms of the world, be a
week or a day in thy condition, for fear lest death cut off his hopes
and shut him up in hell that very day. He durst not sleep quietly in
thy condition a night, lest death should snatch him away to hell; and
canst thou sport and play in it, and live securely in a sensual
course? Oh what a thing is it to be hoodwinked in misery, and to be
led asleep to hell! Who could persuade men to live thus awake, and go
dancing to hell with their eyes open! Oh! if we should imagine a Peter
or a Paul, or any of the blessed, to be again brought into such a case
as one of these unsanctified sinners, and yet to know what now they
know! What would they do? would they feast, and game, and play, and
trifle away their time in it? or would they not rather suddenly bewail
their former mispent time, and all their sins, and cry day and night
to God for mercy, and fly to Christ, and spend all their time in
holiness and obedience to God! Alas, poor sinner, do but look into thy
heart, and see there what thou hast yet to do (of greater weight than
trimming and playing): I almost tremble to think and write what a case
thou art in, and what thou hast to do, while thou livest as if thou
hadst time to spare! If thou know not, I will tell thee, and the Lord
make thee know it: thou hast a hardened heart to be yet softened; and
an unbelieving heart to be brought to a lively, powerful belief of the
word of God and the unseen world: thou hast an unholy heart and life
to be made holy, if ever thou wilt see the face of God, Heb. xii. 14;
Matt. xviii. 3; John iii. 3, 5, 6. Thou hast a heart full of sins to
be mortified and subdued: and an unreformed life to be reformed; (and
what abundance of particulars do these generals contain!) Thou hast a
pardon to procure through Jesus Christ, for all the sins that ever
thou didst commit, and all the duties which ever thou didst omit: thou
hast an offended God to be reconciled to, and for thy estranged soul
to know as thy Father in Jesus Christ! What abundance of Scripture
truths hast thou to learn which thou art ignorant of! How many holy
duties, as prayer, meditation, holy conference, &c. to learn which
thou art unskilful in! and to perform when thou hast learned them! How
many works of justice and charity to men's souls and bodies hast thou
to do! How many needy ones to relieve as thou art able! and the sick
to visit, and the naked to clothe, and the sad to comfort, and the
ignorant to instruct, and the ungodly to exhort! Heb. iii. 13; x. 25;
Eph. iv. 29. What abundance of duty hast thou to perform in thy
relations! to parents or children, to husband or wife, as a master or
a servant, and the rest! Thou little knowest what sufferings thou hast
to prepare for. Thou hast faith, and love, and repentance, and
patience, and all God's graces, to get and to exercise daily, and to
increase. Thou hast thy accounts to prepare, and assurance of
salvation to obtain, and death and judgment to prepare for. What
thinks thy heart of all this work? Put it off as lightly as thou wilt,
it is God himself that hath laid it on thee, and it must be done in
time, or thou must be undone for ever! And yet it must not be thy
toil, but thy delight: this is appointed thee for thy chiefest
recreation. Look into the Scripture and into thy heart, and thou wilt
find that all this is to be done. And dost thou think in thy
conscience, that this is not greater business than thy gaudy
dressings, thy idle visits, or thy needless sports? which is more
worthy of thy time?
_Direct._ III. Remember how gainful the redeeming of time is, and how
exceeding comfortable in the review! In merchandise, or any trading, in
husbandry, or any gaining course, we use to say of a man that hath grown
rich by it, that he hath made use of his time. But when heaven, and
communion with God in the way, and a life of holy strength and comfort,
and a death full of joy and hope is to be the gain, how cheerfully
should time be redeemed for these! If it be pleasant for a man to find
himself thrive and prosper in any rising or pleasing employment, how
pleasant must it be continually to us, to find that in redeeming time
the work of God and our souls do prosper! Look back now on the time that
is past, and tell me which part is sweetest to thy thoughts? However it
be now, I can tell thee, at death, it will be an unspeakable comfort, to
look back on a well-spent life; and to be able to say in humble
sincerity, My time was not cast away on worldliness, ambition, idleness,
or fleshly vanities or pleasures; but spent in the sincere and laborious
service of my God, and making my calling and election sure, and doing
all the good to men's souls and bodies that I could do in the world: it
was entirely devoted to God and his church, and the good of others and
my soul. What a joy is it when, going out of the world, we can in our
place and measure say with our blessed Lord and pattern, John xvii. 4,
5, "I have glorified thee on earth: I have finished the work which thou
gavest me to do: and now, O Father, glorify me with thyself." Or as
Paul, 2 Tim iv. 6-8, "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my
departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my
course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall
give." And, 2 Cor. i. 12, "For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of
our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly
wisdom, we have had our conversation in the world." It is a great
comfort in sickness to be able to say with Hezekiah, Isa. xxxviii. 3,
"Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee, in
truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy
sight." Oh! time well spent is a precious cordial to a soul that is
going to its final sentence, and is making up its last and general
accounts: yea, the reviews of it will be joyful in heaven: which is
given, though most freely by the covenant antecedently, yet as a reward
by our most righteous Judge, when he comes to sentence men according to
that covenant.
_Direct._ IV. Consider on the contrary how sad the review of ill-spent
time is, and how you will wish you had spent it when it is gone. Hast
thou now any comfort in looking back on thy despised hours? I will not
so far wrong thy understanding, as to question whether thou know that
thou must die. But thy sin alloweth me to ask thee, whether at thy
dying hour it will be any comfort to thee to remember thy pastimes?
And whether it will then better please thee, to find upon thy account,
so many hours spent in doing good to others, and so many in prayer,
and studying the Scriptures and thy heart, and in preparing for death
and the life to come; so many in thy calling obediently managed in
order to eternity? or to hear, so many hours spent in idleness, and so
many in needless sports and plays, hawking and hunting, courting and
wantonness; and so many in gathering and providing for the flesh, and
so many in satisfying its greedy lusts? Which reckoning doth thy
conscience think would be most comfortable to thee at the last? I put
it to thy own conscience, if thou wert to die to-morrow, how thou
wouldst spend this present day? Wouldst thou spend it in idleness and
vain pastimes? Or if thou wert to die this day, where wouldst thou be
found, and about what exercises? Hadst thou rather death found thee in
a play-house, a gaming-house, an alehouse, in thy fleshly jollity and
pleasure? or in a holy walking with thy God, and serious preparing for
the life to come? Perhaps you will say, that, if you had but a day to
live, you would lay by the labours of your calling, and yet that doth
not prove them sinful. But, I answer, there is a great difference
between an evil, and a small, unseasonable good. If death found thee
in thy honest calling, holily managed, conscience would not trouble
thee for it as a sin: and if thou rather choose to die in prayer, it
is but to choose a greater duty in its season: but sure thou wouldst
be loth on another account to be found in thy time-wasting pleasures!
And conscience, if thou have a conscience, would make thee dread it as
a sin. Thou wilt not wish at death that thou hadst never laboured in
thy lawful calling, though thou wouldst be found in a more seasonable
work; but thou wilt wish then, if thou understand thyself, that thou
hadst never lost one minute's time, and never known those sinful
vanities and temptations which did occasion it. O spend thy time as
thou wouldst review it!
_Direct._ V. Go hear and mark how other men at death do set by time,
and how they wish then that they had spent it. It is hardly possible
for men in health, especially in prosperity and security, to imagine
how precious time appeareth to an awakened, dying man! Ask them then
whether life be too long, and men have any time to spare? Ask them
then whether slugging or working, playing or praying, be the better
spending of our time? Both good and bad, saints and sensualists, do
use then to be high esteemers of time. Oh! then what would an ungodly,
unprepared sinner give for some of the time which he used before as
nothing worth! Then the most holy servants of Christ are sensible how
they sinned, in losing any of their time! Oh! then how earnestly do
they wish, that they had made much of every minute! and they that did
most for God and their souls, that they had done much more! Now if
they were to pray over their prayers again, how earnestly would they
beg! and how much more good would they do, if time and talents were
restored! I knew familiarly a most holy, grave, and reverend divine,
who was so affected with the words of a godly woman, who at her death
did often and vehemently cry out, O call time again! O call time
again! that the sense of it seemed to remain on his heart, and appear
in his praying, preaching, and conversation to his death. Now you have
time to cast away upon every nothing; but then you will say with
David, Psal. lxxxix. 47, "Remember how short my time is." And as
"Hagar sat down and wept when her water was spent," Gen. xxi. 15, 16;
so then you will lament when time is gone, or just at an end, that you
set no more by it while you had it! O sleepy sinner! thy heart cannot
now conceive how thou wilt set by time, when thou hearest the
physicians say, You are a dead man! and the divine say, You must
prepare now for another world! When thy heart saith, All my days are
gone: I must live on earth no more! All my preparing time is at an
end! Now what is undone must be undone for ever! Oh that thou hadst
now but the esteem of time, which thou wilt have then, or immediately
after! Then, O pray for me, that God will recover me and try me once
again! Oh then how I would spend my time! And is it not a most
incongruous thing to see the same persons now idle and toy away their
time, and perhaps think that they do no harm, who know that shortly
they must cry to God, Oh for a little more time, Lord, to do the great
work that is yet undone; a little more time to make sure of my
salvation! May not God then tell you, you had time till you knew not
what to do with it. You had so much time that you had many and many an
hour to spare for idleness and vanity, and that which you were not
ashamed to call pastime.
_Direct._ VI. Remember also that when judgment comes, God will call
you to account, both for every hour of your mispent time, and for all
the good which you should have done in all that time, and did it not.
If you must give account for every idle word, then sure for every idle
hour, Matt. xii. 36. And if we must be judged according to all the
talents we have received, and the improvement of them required of us,
then certainly for so precious a talent as our time, Matt. xxv. And
how should that man spend his time that believeth he must give such
account of all? Even to the most just and holy God, who will judge all
men according to their works; and cause them all to reap as they have
sowed. O spend your time as you would hear of it in judgment!
_Direct._ VII. Remember how much time you have lost already: and
therefore if you are not impenitent, and insensible of your loss, it
will provoke you to redeem with the greater diligence the remnant
which mercy shall vouchsafe you. How much lost you in childhood,
youth, and riper age! how much have you lost in ignorance! how much in
negligence! how much in fleshly pleasure and vanity! how much in
worldliness, and many other sins! Oh that you knew but what a loss it
was, if it had been but one year, or week, or day! Do you think you
have spent your time as you should have done; and as beseemed those
that had such work to do? If not, do you repent of it, or do you not?
If you do not, you have no hope to be forgiven. If you do repent, you
will not sure go on to do the same. Who will believe that he repents
of gaming, revelling, or other idle loss of time, who doth so still
while he professeth to repent? He that hath lost the beginning of the
day, must go the faster in the end, if he will perform so great a
journey. Can you remember the hours and years that you have mispent,
in the follies of childhood, and the vanities of inconsiderate youth,
and yet still trifle, and not be provoked by penitent shame and fear,
to diligence? Have you not yet cast away enough of such a precious
treasure, but you will also vilify the little which remains?
_Direct._ VIII. Remember the swift and constant motion of your
neglected time. What haste it makes! and never stays! That which was
here while you spake the last word, is gone before you can speak the
next! Whatever you are doing, or saying, or thinking of, it is passing
on without delay! It stayeth not while you sleep! Whether you
remember, and observe it, and make use of it, or not, it glides away!
It stayeth not your leisure! It hasteth as fast while you play, as
while you work; while you sin, as when you repent! No monarch so
potent as to command it a moment to attend his will! We have no more
Joshuas to stop the sun. It is above the jurisdiction of the princes
of the earth: it will not hear them if they command or request it to
delay its haste but the smallest moment! Crowns and kingdoms would be
no price, to hire it to loiter but while you draw another breath! Your
lives are not like the clothes of the Israelites in the wilderness,
that wax not old; but like the provisions of the Gibeonites, worn and
wasted while you are passing but a little way! And is time so swift,
and you so slow? Will you stand still and see it pass away, as if you
had no use for it; no work to do; nor any account to give?
_Direct._ IX. Consider also, how unrecoverable time is when it is
past. Take it now, or it is lost for ever. All the men on earth, with
all their power, and all their wit, are not able to recall one minute
that is gone! All the riches in this world cannot redeem it, by
reversing one of those hours or moments, which you so prodigally cast
away for nothing. If you would cry and call after it till you tear
your hearts, it will not return. Many a thousand have tried this by
sad experience, and have cried out too late, Oh that we had now that
time again which we made so light of! But none of them did ever attain
their wish! No more will you. Take it therefore while you have it. It
is now as liberal to the poorest beggar as to the greatest prince!
Time is as much yours as his. Though in your youth and folly you spend
as out of the full heap, as if time would never have an end, you shall
find it is not like the widow's oil, or the loaves and fishes,
multiplied by a miracle; but the hour is at hand, when you will wish
you had gathered the fragments and the smallest crumbs, that nothing
of so precious a commodity had been lost; even the little minutes,
which you thought you might neglect and be no losers. Try whether you
can stop the present moment, or recall that which is gone by already,
before you vilify or loiter away any more; lest you repent too late.
_Direct._ X. Think also how exceeding little time thou hast, and how
near thou alway standest to eternity.[281] Job vii. 1, "Is there not an
appointed time to man upon earth? Are not his days also like the days of
an hireling?" Job xiv. 1, 2, "Man that is born of a woman is of few days
and full of trouble: he cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he
fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not." Job ix. 25, 26, "Now my
days are swifter than a post: they flee away: they see no good: they
are passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that hasteth to the
prey." Oh, what is this inch of hasty time! How quickly will it all be
gone! Look back on all the time that is past: if thou have lived
threescore or fourscore years, what is it now? Doth it not seem as
yesterday since thou wast a child? Do not days and nights wheel on
apace? O man! how short is thy abode on earth! How small a time will
leave thee in eternity! What a small and hasty moment will bring thee to
the state in which thou must remain for ever! Every night is as the
death or end of one of the few that are here alloted thee. How little a
while is it till thy mortal sickness!--till thou must lie under
languishing decays and pain!--till thy vital powers shall give up their
office, and thy pulse shall cease, and thy soul shall take its silent,
undiscerned flight, and leave thy body to be hid in darkness, and
carried by thy friends to the common earth! How short a time is it
betwixt this and the digging of thy grave!--betwixt thy pleasures in the
flesh, and thy sad farewell, when thou must say of all thy pleasures,
They are gone!--betwixt thy cares and businesses for this world, and thy
entrance into another world, where all these vanities are of no esteem!
How short is the time between thy sin, and thy account in
judgment!--between the pleasure and the pain!--and between the patient
holiness of the godly, and their full reward of endless joys! And can
you spare any part of so short a life? Hath God allotted you so little
time, and can you spare the devil any of that little? Is it not all
little enough for so great a work, as is necessary to your safe and
comfortable death? O remember, when sloth or pleasure would have any,
how little you have in all!--and out of how small a stock you
spend!--how little you have for the one thing necessary!--the providing
for eternal life!--and how unseasonable it is to be playing away time,
so near the entrance into the endless world!
_Direct._ XI. Remember also how uncertain that little time is, which
you must have. As you know it will be short, so you know not how
short. You never yet saw the day or hour, in which you were sure to
see another. And is it a thing becoming the reason of a man, to slug
or cast away that day or hour, which for aught he knows may be his
last? You think that though you are not certain, yet you are likely to
have more: but nothing that is hazardous should be admitted in a
business of such moment. Yea, when the longest life is short; and when
so frail a body, liable to so many hundred maladies and casualties,
and so sinful a soul, do make it probable, as well as possible, that
the thread of thy life should be cut off ere long, even much before
thy natural period; when so many score at younger years do come to the
grave, for one that arriveth at the ripeness of old age; is not then
the uncertainty of thy time a great aggravation of the sinfulness of
thy not redeeming it? If you were sure you had but one year to live,
it would perhaps make you so wise, as to see that you had no time to
spare. And yet do you waste it, when you know not that you shall live
another day? Many a one is this week trifling away their time, who
will be dead the next week; who yet would have spent it better if they
had thought but to have died the next year. O man! what if death come
before thou hast made thy necessary preparation? Where art thou then?
When time is uncertain as well as short, hast thou not work enough of
weight to spend it on? If Christ had set thee to attend and follow him
in greatest holiness a thousand years, shouldst thou not have gladly
done it? And yet canst thou not hold out for so short a life? Canst
thou not watch with him one hour? He himself was provoked by the
nearness of his death, to a speedy despatch of the works of his life.
And should not we? Matt. xxvi. 18, He sendeth to prepare his last
communion-feast with his disciples, thus: "My time is at hand: I will
keep the passover at thy house with my disciples." And Luke xxii. 15,
"With desire have I desired to eat this passover with you before I
suffer." So should you rather say, My time is short; my death is at
hand; and therefore it concerneth me to live in the knowledge and
communion of God, before I go hence into his presence; especially
when, as Eccles. ix. 12, "Man knoweth not his time." Many thousands
would have done better in their preparations, if they had known the
period of their time. Matt. xxiv. 43, "But know this, that if the good
man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he
would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken
up: therefore be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not,
the Son of man cometh." Mark xiii. 33, "Take ye heed, watch and pray;
for ye know not when the time is."
_Direct._ XII. Never forget what attendance thou hast whilst thou art
idling or sinning away thy time; how the patience and mercy of God are
staying for thee; and how sun and moon and all the creatures are all
the while attending on thee. And must God stand by, while thou art yet
a little longer abusing and offending him? Must God stay till thy
cards, and dice, and pride, and worldly, unnecessary cares will
dismiss thee, and spare thee for his service? Must he wait on the
devil, the world, and the flesh, to take their leavings, and stay till
they have done with thee? Canst thou marvel if he make thee pay for
this? if he turn away, and leave thee to spend thy time in as much
vanity and idleness as thou desirest? Must God and all his creatures
wait on a careless sinner, while he is at his fleshly pleasures? Must
life and time be continued to him, while he is doing nothing that is
worthy of his life and time? "The long-suffering of God did wait on
the disobedient in the days of Noah," 1 Pet. iii. 20; but how dear did
they pay for the contempt of this forbearance!
_Direct._ XIII. Consider soberly of the ends for which thy life and
time are given thee by God. God made not such a creature as man for
nothing; he never gave thee an hour's time for nothing. The life and
time of brutes and plants are given them to be serviceable to thee;
but what is thine for? Dost thou think in thy conscience that any of
thy time is given thee in vain? When thou art slugging, or idling, or
playing it away, dost thou think in thy conscience that thou art
wisely and honestly answering the ends of thy creation, and
redemption, and hourly preservation? Dost thou think that God is so
unwise, or disregardful of thy time and thee, as to give thee more
than thou hast need of? Thou wilt blame thy tailor if he cut out more
cloth than will make thy garments meet for thee, and agreeable to thy
use: and thou wilt blame thy shoemaker, if he make thy shoes too big
for thee: and dost thou think that God is so lavish of time, or so
unskilful in his works of providence, as to cut thee out more time,
than the work which he hath cut thee out requireth? He that will call
thee to a reckoning for all, hath certainly given thee none in vain.
If thou canst find an hour that thou hast nothing to do with, and must
give no account for, let that be the hour of thy pastime. But if thou
knewest thy need, thy danger, thy hopes, and thy work, thou wouldst
never dream of having time to spare. For my own part, I must tell
thee, if thou have time to spare, thy case is very much different from
mine. It is the daily trouble and burden of my mind, to see how slowly
my work goes on, and how hastily my time; and how much I am like to
leave undone which I would fain despatch! How great and important
businesses are to be done, and how short that life is like to be, in
which they must be done, if ever! Methinks if every day were as long
as ten, it were not too long for the work which is every day before
me, though not incumbent on me as my present duty, (for God requireth
not impossibilities,) yet exceeding desirable to be done. It is the
work that makes the time a mercy; the time is for the work. If my work
were done, which the good of the church and my soul requireth, what
cause had I to be glad of the ending of my time, and to say with
Simeon, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace." Remember
then that God never gave thee one minute to spend in vain; but thy
very ease, and rest, and recreations must be but such and so much as
fit thee for thy work; and as help it on, and do not hinder it. He
redeemed and preserveth us, that we "might serve him in holiness and
righteousness before him all the days of our lives," Luke i. 74, 75.
_Direct._ XIV. Remember still, that the time of this short, uncertain
life is all that ever you shall have, for your preparation for your
endless life. When this is spent, whether well or ill, you shall have
no more. God will not try those with another life on earth, that have
cast away and mispent this.[282] There is no returning hither from the
dead, to mend that which here you did amiss. What good you will do,
must now be done; and what grace you would get, must now be got; and
what preparation for eternity you will ever make, must now be made! 2
Cor. vi. 2, "Behold, now is the accepted time! Behold, now is the day
of salvation." Heb. iii. 7, 13, "Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith,
To-day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. But exhort
one another daily, while it is called to-day, lest any of you be
hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." Have you but one life here to
live, and will you lose that one, or any part of it? Your time is
already measured out: the glass is turned upon you. Rev. x. 5, 6, "And
the angel--lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth
for ever and ever, that time should be no longer." Therefore "whatever
thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work,
nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou
goest," Eccles. ix. 10. What then remaineth, but that "the time being
short, and the fashion of these things passing away," you use the
world as if you used it not, and redeem this time for your eternal
happiness, 1 Cor. vii. 29.
_Direct._ XV. Remember still that sin and Satan will lose no time; and
therefore it concerneth you to lose none. "The devil your adversary
goeth about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour," 1 Pet.
v. 8. "Be sober" therefore and "vigilant to resist him," ver. 7, 9. If
he be busy, and you be idle, if he be at work in spreading his nets,
and laying his snares for you, and you be at play and do not mind him,
it is easy to foretell you what will be the issue. If your enemies be
fighting, while you sit still or sleep, it is easy to prognosticate
who will have the victory. The weeds of corruption are continually
growing; sin, like a constant spring, is still running; the world is
still enticing; and the flesh is still inclining to its prohibited
delights. None of these enemies will make a truce or a cessation with
you, to sit as long as you sit still. So far are they from forbearing
you, while you are idle, or gratifying the flesh, that even this is
the fruit and evidence of their industry and success. Lose no time
then, and admit of no interruptions of your work, till you can
persuade your enemies to do the like.
_Direct._ XVI. Consider what a senseless contradiction it is of you, to
over-love your lives, and yet to cast away your time. What is your time
but the duration of your lives? You are loth to die, and loth your time
should be at an end; and yet you can as prodigally cast it away, as if
you were weary of it, or longed to be rid of it. Is it only the last
hours that you are loth to lose? Are not the middle parts as precious,
and to be spared and improved? Or is it only to have time, and not to
use it, that you desire? No means are good for any thing, but to further
the attainment of the end: it is not good to you, if it do you no good.
To have food or raiment without any use of them, is as bad as not to
have them. If you saw a man tremble with fear lest his purse be taken
from him, and yet take out his money himself, and cast it away, or give
it all for a straw or feather, what would you think of that man's wit?
And do not you do the like and worse, when you are afraid lest death
should end your time, and yet you yourselves will idle it away, and play
it away, and give it for a little worldly pelf? But I know how it is
with you: it is for the present pleasure of the flesh, and for the
sweetness of life itself, that you value life, and are so loth to die,
and not for any higher ends: but this is to be brutish, and to unman
yourselves, and simply to vilify your lives, while you idolize them.
Such mad contradictions sin infers. You make your life your ultimate
end, and desire to live but for life itself, or the pleasures of life,
and so you make it instead of God and heaven, which should be intended
as your proper end: and yet while you refer it not to these higher ends,
and use it but for the present pleasure, you vilify yourselves and it,
as if man did differ from a dog or other brute, but in some poor degree
of present pleasure.
_Direct._ XVII. Consider that in your loss of time, you lose all the
mercies of that time. For time is pregnant with great, invaluable
mercies. It is the cabinet that containeth the jewels. If you throw away
the purse, you throw away the money that is in it. O what might you get
in those precious hours which you cast away! How much better a treasure
than money might you win! How much sweeter a pleasure than all your
games and sports might you enjoy! You might be soliciting God for life
eternal. You might be using and increasing grace. You might be viewing
by faith the blessed place and company in which you may abide for ever.
All this, and more, you are losing while you are losing time. You choose
as a pleasure that heavy curse, Lev. xxvi. 20, "Your strength shall be
spent in vain." Why do you not also take it for a pleasure, to cast away
your gold or health? I tell you, a very little time is worth a great
deal of gold and silver. You cast away a more precious commodity.
_Direct._ XVIII. Think seriously how Christ, and his apostles, and
holiest servants in all ages spent their time. They spent it in
praying, and preaching, and holy conference, and in doing good, and in
the works of their outward callings in subserviency to these: but not
in cards, or dice, or dancing, or stage-plays, or pampering the flesh,
nor in the pursuit of the profits and honours of the world. I read
where Christ was "all night in praying," Luke vi. 12, but not where he
spent an hour in playing. I know you will say, that you expect not to
reach their degree of holiness. But let me remember you, that he is
not sincere that desireth not to be perfect. And that he is graceless,
who wilfully keepeth any beloved sin, which he had not rather be
delivered from; and that wilfully refuseth any duty, and had not
rather perform it as he ought. And that you are the more needy, though
Christ, and his apostles, and servants, were the more holy. And that
the poor have more need to beg, and work, and be sparing of what they
have, than the rich. And therefore, if Christ and his holiest servants
were sparing of their time, and spent it in works of holiness and
obedience, have not you greater need to do so than they? Have not you
more need to pray, and learn God's word, and prepare for death, than
Christ and his apostles? Are you not more behindhand, as having lost
much time? Let your wants instruct you.
_Direct._ XIX. Forget not that a spending time may come, when you will
think all too little, that now you can provide, by the most diligent
redeeming of your time. If a garrison expect a siege, so sharp and
long as will spend up their provisions, they will prepare accordingly,
that they perish not by famine. Temptations may be stronger, and then
you will find that you should now have gathered strength to overcome
them, and have bestirred you in the getting day, that you might be
able to stand in the evil day, Eph. vi. 13. It is those that now
loiter and lose their time, and gather not knowledge and strength of
grace, who fall in trial: when sufferings for righteousness' sake,
shall be as a siege to you, and when poverty, wrongs, provocations,
sickness, and the face of death, shall be as a siege to you, then you
will find all your faith, and hope, and love, and comfort to be too
little; and then you will wish that you had now bestirred you, and
laid in better provision, and "laid up a good foundation or treasure
in store for the time to come," 1 Tim. vi. 19.
_Direct._ XX. Lastly, forget not how time is esteemed by the damned,
whose time and hope are gone for ever; and how thou wilt value it
thyself if thou sin thy soul into that woeful state. What thinkest
thou would those miserable creatures now give (if they had it) but for
one day's time, upon those terms of mercy which thou dost now enjoy
it?[283] Would they sleep it away, or be at their games and
merriments, while God is offering them Christ and grace? Dost thou
think they set not a higher price on time and mercy, than sinners upon
earth? Doth it not tear their very hearts for ever, to think how madly
they consumed their lives, and wasted the only time that was given
them to prepare for their salvation? Do those in hell now think them
wise, that are idling or playing away their time on earth? Oh no!
Their feeling and experience sufficiently confuteth all that
time-wasters now plead for their sottish prodigality. I do not believe
that thou canst at once believe the word of God, concerning the state
of damned souls, and yet believe that thy idle and vain expense of
time, would not vex thy conscience, and make thee even rage against
thyself, if ever sin should bring thee thither! O then thou wouldst
see, that thou hadst greater matters to have spent thy time in, and
that it deserved a higher estimation and improvement. O man! beseech
the Lord to prevent such a conviction, and give thee a heart to prize
thy time before it is gone; and to know the worth of it, before thou
know the want of it.
_Tit._ 2. _Directions contemplative for redeeming
Opportunity._
Opportunity or season is the flower of time. All time is precious; but
the season is most precious. The present time is the season to works
of present necessity: and for others, they have all their particular
seasons, which must not be let slip.[284]
_Direct._ I. Remember that it is the great difference between the happy
saint and the unhappy world, that one is wise in time, and the other is
wise too late. The godly know while knowledge will do good: the wicked
know when knowledge will but torment them. All those that you see now so
exceedingly contrary in their judgment to the godly, will be of the very
same opinion shortly, when it will do them no good. Bear with their
difference and contradiction, for it will be but a very little while.
There is not one man that now is the furious enemy of holiness, but will
confess ere long that holiness was best. Do they now despise it as
tedious, fantastical hypocrisy? They will shortly know that it was but
the cure of a distracted mind, and the necessary duty to God, which
religion and right reason do command. Do they now say of sin, What harm
is in it? They will shortly know that it is the poison of the soul, and
worse than any misery or death. They will think more highly of the worth
of Christ, of the necessity of all possible diligence for our souls, of
the preciousness of time, of the wisdom of the godly, of the
excellencies of heaven, and of the word of God and all holy means, than
any of those do that are now reproached by them, for being of this mind.
But what the better will they be for this? No more than Adam for knowing
good and evil. No more than it will profit a man when he is dead, to
know of what disease he died. No more than it will profit a man to know
what is poison, when he hath taken it, and is past remedy. The thief
will be wise at the gallows; and the spendthrift prodigal when all is
gone. But they that will be safe and happy, must be wise in time. The
godly know the worth of heaven, before it is lost; and the misery of
damnation, before they feel it; and the necessity of a Saviour, while he
is willing to be a Saviour to them; and the evil of sin, before it hath
undone them; and the preciousness of time, before it is gone; and the
worth of mercy, while mercy may be had; and the need of praying, while
praying may prevail. They sleep not till the door is shut, and then
knock and cry, Lord, open to us, as the foolish ones, Matt. xxv. They
are not like the miserable world, that will not believe, till they come
where devils believe and tremble; nor repent, till torment force them to
repent. As ever you would escape the dear-bought experience of fools, be
wise in time; and leave not conscience to answer all your cries, and
moans, and fruitless wishes, with this doleful peal, Too late! too late!
Do but know now by an effectual faith, what wicked men will know by
feeling and experience, when it is too late, and you shall not perish.
Do but live now as those enemies of holiness will wish that they had
lived when it is too late, and you will be happy. Now God may be found:
"Seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is
near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon
him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon," Isa. lv. 6, 7. Read
but the doleful lamentation of Christ over Jerusalem, Luke xix. 41, 42;
and then bethink you, what it is to neglect the season of mercy and
salvation: "He beheld the city and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst
known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto
thy peace! But now they are hidden from thine eyes!"
_Direct._ II. Remember that the neglecting of the season is the
frustrating and destroying of the work. When the season is past, the
work cannot be done. If you sow not in the time of sowing, it will be in
vain at another time. If you reap not, and gather not in harvest, it
will be too late in winter to hope for fruit. If you stay till the tide
is gone, or take not the wind that fits your turn, it may be in vain to
attempt your voyage. All works cannot be done at all times: Christ
himself saith, "I must work while it is day: the night cometh when no
man can work," John ix. 4. Say not then, The next day may serve the
turn: the next day is for another work; and you must do both.
_Direct._ III. Consider that if the work should not be impossible, yet
it will be difficult out of season; when in its season it might be
done with ease. How easily may you swim with the tide; and sail with
the wind; and form the iron if you hammer it while it is hot! How
easily may many a disease be cured, if it be taken in time, which
afterwards is uncurable! How easily may you bend a tender twig, and
pluck up a plant, which will neither be plucked up nor bended when it
is grown up to be a tree! When you complain of difficulties in
religion, bethink you whether your loss of the fittest season, and
acquainting yourselves no sooner with God, be not the cause?
_Direct._ IV. Consider that your work out of season is not so good or
acceptable, if you could do it.[285] "Every thing is beautiful in its
season," Eccles. iii. 11. To speak a "word in season to the weary," is
the skill of the faithful messengers of peace, Isa. 1. 4. When out of
season good may be turned into evil. Who will thank you for giving
physic, or food, or clothing to the dead? or pitying the poor when it
is too late? In time all this may be accepted.
_Direct._ V. Remember that if thou omit the season, thou art left to
uncertainties both for time, and means, and grace. Lose this time, and
for aught thou knowest thou losest all. Or if thou have time, it may be
curst with barrenness, and never more may fruit grow on it. Preachers
may be taken from thee; and gracious company may be taken from thee:
helps and means may be turned into hinderances, and opposition, and
strong temptations: and then you will find what it was to neglect the
season! Or if you have the continuance of all helps and means, how know
you that God will set in by his grace, and bless them to you, and move
your hearts? He may resolve that if you resist him now, his Spirit shall
strive with you no more. If while it is called to-day, you will harden
your hearts, he may resolve to leave you to the hardness of Pharaoh, and
to get himself a name upon you, and use you as vessels of wrath,
prepared by your neglect and obstinacy for destruction.
_Direct._ VI. Bethink you how all the creatures keep their proper
seasons, in the service which God hath appointed them for you.[286] The
sun riseth and setteth in its season, and keepeth its diary and annual
course, and misseth not a minute. So do the celestial motions. You have
day and night, and seed-time and harvest, summer and winter, spring and
fall, and all exactly in their seasons. "Yea, the stork in the heavens
knoweth her appointed time, and the turtle, and the crane, and the
swallow observe the time of their coming: but my people know not the
judgment of the Lord," Jer. viii. 7. Shall only man neglect his season?
_Direct._ VII. Consider how you know and observe the season for your
worldly labours, and should you not much more do so in greater things?
You will not plough when you should reap; nor do the work of the
summer in the winter. You will not lie in bed all day, and go about
your business in the night. You will be inquisitive, that you may be
skilful in the seasons, for your benefit or safety in the world; and
should you not much more be so for a better world? "O ye hypocrites!
ye can discern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the signs
of the times?" Matt. xvi. 3. As at harvest you look for the fruit of
your land, so doth God in season expect fruit from you, Mark xii. 2;
Luke xx. 10. The "godly" are "like a tree that is planted by the
river's side, which bringeth forth its fruit in season," Psal. i. 3.
Shall worldlings know their season, and shall not we?
_Direct._ VIII. Consider how vigilant the wicked are to know and take
their season to do evil. And how much more should we be so in doing
good! Seducers will take the opportunity to deceive. The thief and the
adulterer will take the season of secrecy and darkness. The ambitious
and covetous will take the season for profit and preferment. The
malicious watch their seasons of revenge. And have we not more need
and more encouragement than they? Is it time for them to be building
their own houses, and growing great by covetousness and oppression,
and is it not time for you to be honouring God, and providing for
endless life?[287] They "cannot sleep unless they do evil," Prov. iv.
16; and can you sleep securely while your time passeth away, and your
work is undone?
_Direct._ IX. Remember that the devil watcheth the season of
temptation to destroy you. He prevaileth much by taking the time; when
he seeth you disarmed, forgetting God, in secure prosperity, fittest
to hearken to his temptations. The same temptations out of season
might not prevail. And will you let your enemy outdo you?
_Direct._ X. Consider how earnest you are with God in your necessities
and distress, not only to relieve and help you, but to do it speedily
and in season.[288] You would rather have him prevent the season, than
to let it pass. You are impatient till deliverance come, and can
hardly stay the time till it be ripe. When you are in pain and
sickness, you would be delivered speedily: you are ready to cry, "How
long, Lord, how long?"[289] And as David, "The time, yea, the set time
is come," Psal. cii. 13. "Make no longer tarrying, O my God!" Psal.
xl. 17. It would not satisfy you if God should say, I will ease you of
your pain the next year. Why then should you neglect the time of duty,
and use so many delays with God? He giveth you all your mercies in
their season; why then do you not in season give up yourselves to his
love and service? when you have his promise, that you shall "reap in
due season if you do not faint," Gal. vi. 9.
_Tit._ 3. _Directions practical for redeeming Time._
_Direct._ I. The first point in the art of redeeming time, is, to
despatch first with greatest care and diligence the greatest works of
absolute necessity, which must be done, or else we are undone for
ever. First see that the great work of a sound conversion or
sanctification be certainly wrought within you. Make sure of your
saving interest in Christ: get proof of your adoption and peace with
God, and right to everlasting life. Be able to prove to your
consciences from the word of God, and from your regenerate, heavenly
hearts and lives, that your souls are justified and safe, and may
comfortably receive the news of death, whenever it shall be sent to
call you hence. And then, when you have done but so much of your work,
you will incur no such loss of time, as will prove the loss of your
souls or happiness. Though still there is much more work to do, for
yourselves and others, yet when this much is soundly done, you have
secured the main. If you lose the time in which you should be renewed
by the Spirit of Christ, and in which you should lay up your treasure
in heaven, you are lost for ever. Be sure therefore that you look
first to this: and then if you lose but the time in which you might
have grown rich or got preferment, your loss is tolerable; you know
the worst of it; you may see to the end of it. Yea, if you lose the
time in which you should increase in holiness, and edify others, the
loss is grievous; but yet it will not lose you heaven. Therefore, as
Solomon directeth the husbandman, "Prepare thy work without and make
it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house,"
Prov. xxiv. 27; so I advise you, to see first that the necessary work
be done; when that is done, and well done, you may go quietly and
cheerfully about the rest: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness;" oh what a deal is done when this is done!
_Direct._ II. Learn to understand well the degrees of duties, which is
the greater and which the less, that when two seem to require your
time at once, you may know which of them to prefer. Not only to know
which is simply and in itself the greatest, but which is the greatest
for you, and at that season, and as considered in all the
circumstances. A great part of the art of redeeming time, consisteth
in the wise discerning and performing of this; to give precedency to
the greatest duty. He loseth his time, who is getting a penny when he
might get a pound; who is visiting his neighbour, when he should be
attending his prince; who is weeding his garden, when he should be
quenching a fire in his house, though he be doing that which in itself
is good. So is he losing his time, who is preferring his body before
his soul; or man before God; or indifferent things before necessary;
or private duties before public; or less edifying before the more
edifying; or sacrifice before necessary mercy. The order of good works
I have showed you before, chap. iii. direct. x. which you may peruse.
_Direct._ III. Be acquainted with the season of every duty, and the
duty of each season; and take them in their time. And thus one duty
will help on another; whereas misplacing them and disordering them,
sets them one against another, and takes up your time with distracting
difficulties, and loseth you in confusion. As he that takes the
morning hour for prayer, or the fittest vacant hour, shall do it
quietly, without the disturbance of his other affairs; when if the
season be omitted, you shall scarce at all perform it, or almost as
ill as if you did it not at all: so is it in point of conscience,
reproof, reading, hearing, meditating, and every duty. A wise and
well-skilled christian should bring his matters into such order, that
every ordinary duty should know his place, and all should be as the
links of one chain which draw on one another; or as the parts of a
clock or other engine, which must be all conjunct, and each right
placed. A workman that hath all his tools on a heap or out of place,
spends much of the day in which he should be working in looking for
his tools; when he that knoweth the place of every one, can presently
take it, and lose no time. If my books be thrown together on a heap, I
may spend half the day in looking for them when I should use them; but
if they be set in order, and I know their places, it spares me that
time. So is it in the right timing of our duties.
_Direct._ IV. Live continually as under the government of God; and
keep conscience tender, and in the performance of its office; and
always be ready to render an account to God and conscience of what you
do. If you live as under the government of God, you will be still
doing his work; you will be remembering his judgment; you will be
trying your work whether it be such as he approveth: this will keep
you from all time-wasting vanities. If you keep conscience tender, it
will presently check and reprehend you for your sin; and when you lose
but a minute of time, it will tell you of the loss: whereas a "seared
conscience" is "past feeling," and will give you over to
"lasciviousness," Eph. iv. 19; 1 Tim. iv. 2; and will make but a jest
at the loss of time; or at least will not effectually tell you either
of the sin or loss. If you keep conscience to its office, it will ask
you frequently, what you are doing? and try your works; it will take
account of time when it is spent, and ask you, what have you been
doing? and how you have spent every day and hour? And (as Seneca could
say) "He will be the more careful what he doth, and how he spends the
day, who looks to be called to a reckoning for it every night." This
will make the foreseen day of judgment have such a continual awe upon
you, as if you were presently going to it; while conscience, with
respect to it, is continually forejudging you. Whereas they that have
silenced or discarded conscience, are like school-boys that bolt their
master out of doors, who do it with a design to spend the time in
play, which they should have spent in learning: but the
after-reckoning pays for all.
[Sidenote: Rules to know what time must be spent in.]
Here, for the further direction of your consciences, I shall lay you
down a few rules, for the right spending of your time. 1. Spend it in
nothing (as a deliberate moral act) which is not truly, directly, or
remotely an act of obedience to some law of God. (Of mere natural
acts, which are no objects of moral choice, I speak not.) 2. Spend it
in nothing which you know must be repented of. 3. Spend it in nothing
which you dare not, or may not warrantably pray for a blessing on from
God. 4. Spend it in nothing which you would not review at the hour of
death, by an awakened, well-informed mind. 5. Spend it in nothing
which you would not hear of in the day of judgment. 6. Spend it in
nothing which you cannot safely and comfortably be found doing, if
death should surprise you in the act. 7. Spend it in nothing which
flesh-pleasing persuadeth you to, against your consciences, or with a
secret grudge or doubting of your consciences. 8. Spend it in nothing
which hath not some tendency, directly or remotely, to your ultimate
end, the pleasing of God, and the enjoying him in love for ever. 9.
Spend it in nothing which tendeth to do more hurt than good; that
would do a great hurt to yourself or others, under pretence of doing
some little good, which perhaps may better be done another way. 10.
Lastly, Spend it in nothing which is but a smaller good, when a
greater should be done.
_Direct._ V. Do your best to settle yourselves where there are the
greatest helps and smallest hinderances to the redeeming of your time.
And labour more to accommodate your habitation, condition, and
employments to the great ends of your life and time, than to your
worldly honour, ease, or wealth. Live where is best trading for the
soul: you may get more by God's ordinary blessing in one year, in a
godly family, or in fruitful company, and under an able, godly
minister, than in many years in a barren soil, among the ignorant,
dead-hearted, or profane, where we must say, as David, "I held my
peace even from good, while the wicked was before me," Psal. xxxix. 1,
2. And when we must do all the good we do through much opposition; and
meet with great disadvantages and difficulties, which may quickly stop
such dull and backward hearts as ours. If you will prefer your profit
before your souls in the choice of your condition, and will plunge
yourselves into distracting business and company, your time will run
in a wrong, unprofitable channel.
_Direct._ VI. Contrive beforehand, with the best of your skill, for
the preventing of impediments, and for the most successful performance
of your work. If you leave all to the very time of doing, you will
have many hinderances rise before you, and make you lose your time,
which prudent forecast might have prevented. As for the improving of
the Lord's day, if you do not beforehand so order your business, that
all things may give place to holy duties, you will meet with so many
disturbances and temptations, as will lose you much of your time and
benefit: so for family duties, and secret duties, and meditation, and
studies, and the works of your callings; if you do not forecast what
hinderance is like to meet you, that you may prevent it before the
time, you must lose much time, and suffer much disappointment.
_Direct._ VII. Endure patiently some smaller inconvenience and loss,
for the avoiding of greater, and for the redeeming of time for greater
duties: and let little things be resolutely cast out of your way, when
they would draw out your time by insensible degrees. The devil would
cunningly steal that from you by drops, which he cannot get you to
cast away profusely at once; he that will not spend prodigally by the
pounds, may run out by not regarding pence. You shall have the
pretences of decency, and seemliness, and civility, and good manners,
and avoiding offence, and censure, and of some necessity too, to draw
out your precious time from you by little and little; and if you are
so easy as to yield, it will almost all be wasted by this temptation.
As if you be ministers of Christ, whose time must be spent in your
studies, and pulpits, and in conference with your people, and visiting
them, and watching over them; and it is your daily groans that time is
short and work is long, and that you are forced to omit so many
needful studies, and pass by so many needy souls, for want of time;
yet if you look not well about you, and will not bear some censure and
offence, you shall lose even the rest of the time, which now you do
improve. Your friends about you will be tempting and telling you, O
this friend must needs be visited, and the other friend must be
civilly treated; you must not shake them off so quickly; they look for
more of your time and company: you are much obliged to them; they will
say you are uncivil and morose. Such a scholar comes to be acquainted
with you; and he will take it ill, and misrepresent you to others, if
you allow him not time for some familiar discourse. It is one that
never was with you before, and never took up any of your time: and so
saith the next and the next as well as he. Such a one visited you, and
you must needs visit him again. There is this journey or that which
must needs be gone; and this business and that which must needs be
done. Yea, one's very family occasions will steal away all his time,
if he watch not narrowly: we shall have this servant to talk to, and
the other to hear, and our relations to respect, and abundance of
little things to mind, so little as not to be named by themselves,
about meat, and drink, and clothes, and dressing, and house, and
goods, and servants, and work, and tradesmen, and messengers, and
marketing, and payments, and cattle, and a hundred things not to be
reckoned up, that will every one take up a little of your time; and
those littles set together will be all. As the covetous usurer, that
to purchase a place of honour, agreed for a month to give a penny to
every one that asked him; which being quickly noised abroad in the
city, there came so many for their pence, as took all that he had, and
made him quit his place of honour, because he had nothing left to
maintain it. So perhaps you are an eminent, much valued minister; and
this draweth upon you such a multitude of acquaintance, every one
expecting a little of your time, that among them all, they leave you
almost none for your studies; whereby not only your conscience is
wounded, but your parts are quenched, and your work is starved and
poorly done, and so your admirers themselves begin to set as light by
you as by others, for that which is the effect of their own
importunity. And as in our yearly expenses of our money, there goeth
near as much in little matters, not to be named by themselves, and
incidental, unexpected charges, of which no account can be given
beforehand, as doth in food, and raiment, and the ordinary charges
which we foreknow and reckon upon; just so it will be with your
precious time, if you be not very thrifty and resolute, and look not
well to it: you will have such abundance of little matters, scarce fit
to be named, which will every one require a little, and one begin
where the other endeth, that you will find in the review, when time is
gone, that Satan was too cunning for you, and cheated you by drawing
you into seeming necessities. This is the grand reason why marriage
and housekeeping are so greatly inconvenient to a pastor of the
church, that can avoid them; because they bring upon him such
abundance of these little diversions, which cannot be foreseen. In
this case a conscionable man (in what calling soever) must be
resolute: and when he hath endeavoured with reason to satisfy
expectants, and put by diversions, if that will not serve he must
neglect them, and cast them off, and break away, though he lose by it
in his estate, or his repute, or his peace itself, and though he be
censured for it to be imprudent, uncivil, morose, or neglective of his
friends. God must be pleased, whoever be displeased: we must satisfy
our minds with his alone approbation, instead of all: time must be
spared, whatever be lost or wasted; and the great things must be done,
whatever become of the less: though where both may be done, and the
lesser hinder not the greater, and rob us not of time from necessary
things, there we must have a care of both.
_Direct._ VIII. Labour to go always furnished and well provided for
the performance of every duty which may occur. As he that will not
lose his time in preaching, must be well provided; so he that will not
lose his time in solitariness, must be always furnished with matter
for profitable meditation; and he that would redeem his time in
company, must be always furnished with matter for profitable
discourse: he that is full will be ready to pour out to others, and
not be silent and lose his time for want of matter, or skill, or zeal;
for in all these three your provision doth consist. An ignorant,
empty person wants matter for his thoughts and words; an imprudent
person wants skill to use it; a careless, cold, indifferent person,
wants life to set his faculties on motion, and oil and poise to set
the wheels of his soul and body a-going. Bethink you in the morning
what company you are like to meet, and what occasions of duty you are
like to have; and provide yourselves accordingly before you go, with
matter and resolution. Besides the general preparative of habitual
knowledge, charity, and zeal, which is the chief, you should also have
your particular preparations for the duties of each day.[290] A
workman that is strong and healthful, and hath all his tools in
readiness and order, will do more in a day, than a sick man, or one
that wanteth tools, or keeps them dull and unfit for use, will do in
many. Psal. xxxvii. 30, 31, "The mouth of the righteous speaketh
wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment;" and no wonder, when "The
law of his God is in his heart: none of his steps shall slide." "Out
of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh: a good man out of
the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good things," Matt.
xii. 34, 35. "Every scribe which is instructed to the kingdom of
heaven, is like a man that is an householder, that bringeth forth out
of his treasure things new and old," Matt. xiii. 52.
_Direct._ IX. Promise not long life to yourselves, but live as those
that are always uncertain of another day, and certain to be shortly
gone from hence. The groundless expectation of long life, is a very
great hinderance to the redeeming of our time. Men will spend
prodigally out of a full purse, who would be sparing if they knew they
had but a little, or were like to come to want themselves. Young
people, and healthful people, are under the greatest temptation to the
loss of time. They are apt to think that they have time enough before
them, and that though it is possible that they may die quickly, yet it
is more likely that they shall live long: and so, putting the day of
death far from them, they want all those awakenings, which the face of
death doth bring to them that still expect it; and therefore want the
wisdom, zeal, and diligence which are necessary to the redemption of
their time. Pray therefore as Psal. xc. 12, "So teach us to number our
days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Dream not of rest and
plenty for many years, when you have no promise to live till the next
morning, Luke xii. 19, 20. When they perceive death is at hand and
time is near an end, almost all men seem highly to esteem of time, and
promise to spend it better if God would but try them once again. Do
you therefore continually perceive that death is even at hand, and
time near an end, and then it will make you continually more wise than
death maketh the most; and to redeem your time as others purpose to
redeem it when it is too late.
_Direct._ X. Sanctify all to God that you have and do, and let
Holiness to the Lord be written upon all; whether you eat or drink,
let it be intended and ordered ultimately to his glory. Make all your
civil relations, possessions, and employments thus holy; designing
them to the service and pleasing of God, and to the everlasting good
of yourselves or others, and mixing holy meditation and prayer with
them all in season.[291] And thus we are bid to "pray continually,"
and "in all things give thanks," 1 Thess. v. 17, 18. And "in all
things to make known our requests to God, in prayer, supplication, and
giving of thanks," Phil, iv. 6. And "all things are sanctified by the
word and prayer." This sacred alchymy, that turneth all our
conversation, and possessions, and actions into holy, is an excellent
part of the art of redeeming time.
_Direct._ XI. Lastly, be acquainted with the great thieves that rob
men of their time, and with the devil's methods in enticing them to
lose it, and live in continual watchfulness against them. It is a more
necessary thriftiness to be sparing and saving of your time, than of
your money. It more concerneth you to keep a continual watch against
the things which would rob you of your time, than against those
thieves that would break your house, and rob you by the highway. Those
persons that would tempt you to the loss of time, are to be taken as
your enemies, and avoided. I shall here recite the names of these
thieves, and time-wasters, that you may detest them, and save your
time and souls from their deceits.
_Tit._ 4. _The Thieves or Time-wasters to be watchfully
avoided._
_Thief_ I. One of the greatest time-wasting sins is idleness, or
sloth. The slothful see their time pass away, and their work undone,
and can hear of the necessity of redeeming it, and yet they have not
hearts to stir. When they are convinced that duty must be done, they
are still delaying, and putting it off from day to day, and saying
still, I will do it to-morrow, or hereafter. To-morrow is still the
sluggard's working day; and to-day is his idle day. He spendeth his
time in fruitless wishes: he lieth in bed, or sitteth idly, and
wisheth, Would this were labouring: he feasteth his flesh, and wisheth
that this were fasting: he followeth his sports and pleasures, and
wisheth that this were prayer, and a mortified life: he lets his heart
run after lust, or pride, or covetousness, and wisheth that this were
heavenly-mindedness, and a laying up a treasure above. Thus the "soul
of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing: but the soul of the
diligent shall be made fat," Prov. xiii. 4. Prov. xxi. 25, "The desire
of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour." Every
little opposition or difficulty will put him by a duty. Prov. xx. 4,
"The sluggard will not plough by reason of the cold; therefore shall
he beg in harvest, and have nothing." Prov. xxii. 13, "The slothful
man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets."
Prov. xxvi. 14-16, "As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the
slothful upon his bed. The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it
grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth." And at last his sloth
depraves his reason, and bribeth it to plead the cause of his
negligence. "The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit, than seven men
that can render a reason." Time will slide on, and duty will be
undone, and your souls undone, if impious slothfulness be predominant.
Prov. xv. 19, "The way of the slothful man is as a hedge of thorns;
but the way of the righteous is made plain." You seem still to go
through so many difficulties, that you will never make a successful
journey of it. Yea, when he is in duty, the slothful is still losing
time. He prayeth as if he prayed not, and laboureth as if he laboured
not; as if the fruit of holiness passed away as hastily as worldly
pleasures. He is as slow as a snail; and rids so little ground, and
doth so little work, and so poorly resisteth opposition, that he makes
little of it, and all is but next to sitting still and doing nothing.
It is a sad thing that men should not only lose their time in sinful
pleasures; but they must lose it also in reading, and hearing, and
praying, by doing all in a heartless drowsiness! Thus "he also that is
slothful in his work, is brother to him that is a great waster," Prov.
xviii. 9. If he "begin in the Spirit," and for a spurt seem to be
earnest, he flags, and tireth, and "endeth in the flesh." Prov. xii.
27, "The slothful roasteth not that which he took in hunting; but the
substance of a diligent man is precious." If he see and confess a
vice, he hath not a heart to rise against it, and resolutely resist
it, and use the means by which it must be overcome. Prov. xxiv. 30-34,
"I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man
void of understanding; and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and
nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was
broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and
received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little
folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that
travelleth; and thy want as an armed man." Shake off then this unmanly
sluggishness: remember that you run for the immortal crown; and
therefore see that you lose no time, and look not at the things that
are behind;[292] that is, do not cast an eye, or lend an ear to any
person or thing that would call you back, or stop you: heaven is
before you. Judg. xviii. 9, "We have seen the land, and behold it is
very good; and are ye still? be not slothful to go and to enter, and
possess the land" (as the five Danite spies said to their brethren).
Abhor a sluggish habit of mind: go cheerfully about what you have to
do; and do it diligently, and with your might. Even about your lawful,
worldly business, it is a time-wasting sin to be slothful. If you are
servants or labourers, you rob your masters and those that hire you;
who hired you to work, and not to be idle. Whatever you are, you rob
God of your service, and yourselves of your precious time, and all
that you might get therein. It is they that are lazy in their
callings, that can find no time for holy duties. Ply your business the
rest of the day, and you may the better redeem some time for prayer
and reading Scripture. Work hard on the week days, and you may the
better spend the Lord's day entirely for your souls. Idle persons
(servants or others) do cast themselves behindhand in their work, and
then say, they have no time to pray or read the Scripture. Sloth
robbeth multitudes of a great part of their lives. Prov. xix. 15,
"Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep: and an idle soul shall suffer
hunger." You cannot say, "No man hath hired you," when you are asked,
"Why stand you idle?" Matt. xx. 3, 6. See how sharply Paul reproveth
idleness, 2 Thess. iii. determining that "they that will not work
should not eat;" and that they be avoided, as unfit for christian
society. And 1 Tim. v. 13, he sharply rebuketh some women that "learn
to be idle, wandering about from house to house." And Rom. xii. 11,
"Not slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." A
painful, diligent person is still redeeming time, while he doth that
which is good; and a slothful person is always losing it.
_Thief_ II. The second thief or time-waster is excess of sleep.
Necessity cureth most of the poor of this; but many of the rich are
guilty of it. If you ask me, What is excess? I answer, All that is
more than is needful to our health and business. So much as is
necessary to these, I reprehend not. And therefore the infirm may take
more than the healthful; and the old more than the young: and those
that find that an hour's sleep more will not hinder them, but further
them in their work, so that they shall do the more, and not the less,
as being unfit without it, may use it as a means to the
after-improvement of their time. But when sluggish persons spend hours
in bed, which neither their health nor labours need, merely out of a
swinish love of sleep; yea, when they will have no work to do, or
calling to employ them, but what shall give place to their sleepy
disease, and think they may sleep longer than is necessary, because
they are rich and can afford it, and have no necessary business to
call them up; these think they may consume their precious time, and
sin more, and wrong their souls more, because God hath given them more
than others. As if their servant should plead that; he may sleep more
than others, because he hath more wages than others. Oh did these
drowsy wretches know what work they have to do for God, and their poor
souls, and those about them, it would quickly awake them, and make
them stir. Did they but know how earnestly they will shortly wish,
that, they had all those hours to spend again, they would spend them
better now than in drowsiness. Did they but know what a woeful account
it will be, when they must be answerable for all their time, to say,
we spent so many hours every week or morning in excess of sleep, they
would be roused from their sty, and find some better use for their
time, which will be sweeter in the review, when time is ended, and
must be no more.
_Thief_ III. The next thief or time-waster is inordinate adorning of the
body. The poor may thank God that they are free also from the
temptations to this, and can quickly dress them and go about their
business; but many ladies and gallants are so guilty of this vice, that
I wonder conscience is so patient with them.[293] O poor neglected,
undressed souls! O filthy consciences, never cleansed from your
pollutions by the Spirit or blood of Christ! Have you not better use for
precious hours, than to be washing, and pinning, and dressing, and
curling, and spotting, and powdering, till ten or eleven o'clock in the
morning, when honest labourers have done one half of their day's work?
While you are in health, were not six o'clock in the morning a fitter
hour for you to be dressed, that you might draw near to the most holy
God in holy prayer, and read his word, and set your souls, and then your
families, in order for the duties of the following day? I do not say
that you may go no neater than poor labouring people, or that you may
bestow no more time than they in dressing you: but I say, that for your
souls, and in your callings, you are bound by God to be as diligent as
they; and have no more time given you to lose than they, and that you
should spend as little of it in neatifying you as you can, and be
sensible that else the loss is your own: and that abundance of precious
hours which your pride consumeth, will lie heavy one day upon your
consciences; and then you shall confess, I say, you shall confess it
with aching hearts, that the duties you owed to God and man, and the
care of your souls, and of your families, should have been preferred
before your appearing neat and spruce to men. If you have but a journey
to go, you can rise earlier and be sooner dressed; but for the good of
your souls, and the redeeming of your precious time, you cannot. Oh that
God would but show you what greater work you have to do with those
precious hours! and how it will cut your hearts to think of them at
last! If you lay but hopelessly sick of a consumption, you would be
cured it is like of this proud disease, and bestow less of your time in
adorning the flesh, which is hasting to the grave and rottenness! And
cannot you now see how time and life consume? and what cause you have,
with all your care and diligence, to use it better before it is gone? I
know they that are so much worse than childish, as prodigally to cast
away so many hours in making themselves fine for the sight of men, and
be not ashamed to come forth and show their sin to others, will scarce
want words to excuse their crime, and prove it lawful, be they sense or
nonsense. But conscience itself shall answer all, when time is gone, and
make you wish you had been wiser. You know not, ladies and gallants, how
precious a thing time is: you little feel what a price yourselves will
set upon it at the last: you little consider what you have to do with
it: you see not how it hasteth, and how near you stand to vast eternity!
You little know how despised time will look a wakened conscience in the
face! or what it is to be found unready to die! I know you lay not to
heart these things; for if you did, you could not, I say, you could not
so lightly cast away your time. If all were true that you say, that
indeed your place and honour requireth, that your precious morning hours
be thus spent, I profess to you, I should pity you more than
galley-slaves, and I would bless me from such a place and honour, and
make haste into the course and company of the poor, and think them happy
that may better spend their time. But indeed your excuses are frivolous
and untrue, and do but show that pride hath prevailed to captivate your
reason to its service. For we know lords and ladies, as great as the
rest of you, (though alas, too few,) that can be quickly up and dressed,
and spend their early hours in prayer and adorning their souls, and can
be content to come forth in a plain and incurious attire; and yet are so
far from being derided, or thought the worse by any whose judgment is
much to be regarded, that they are taken justly for the honour of their
order: and if it were not that some few such keep up the honour of your
rank, I will not tell you how little in point of morality it would be
honoured.
_Thief_ IV. Another time-wasting thief is unnecessary pomp and curiosity
in retinue, attendance, house furniture, provision and entertainments,
together with excess of compliment and ceremony, and servitude to the
humours and expectations of time-wasters.[294] I crowd them all
together, because they are all but wheels of the same engine, to avoid
prolixity. Here also I must prevent the cavils of the guilty, by telling
you that I reprove not all that in the rich, which I would reprove if it
were in the poor: I intend not to level them, and judge them by the same
measure. The rich are not so happy as to be so free as the poor, either
from the temptation, or the seeming necessity and obligation: let others
pity the poor; I will pity the rich, who seem to be pinched with harder
necessities than the poor; even this seeming necessity of wasting their
precious time in compliment, curiosity, and pomp, which the happy poor
may spend in the honest labours of their callings; wherein they may at
once be profitable to the commonwealth, and maintain themselves, and
meditate or confer of holy things. But yet I must say, that the rich
shall give an account of time, and shall pay dear for that which
unnecessary excesses do devour: and that instead of envying the state
and curiosity of others, and seeking to excel or equal them to avoid
their obloquy, they should contract and bring down all customs of
excess, and show their high esteem of time, and detestation of
time-wasting curiosity; and imitate the most sober, grave, and holy; and
be a pattern to others of employing time in needful, great, and manly
things; I say, manly, for so childish is this vice, that men of gravity
and business do abhor it: and usually men of vanity that are guilty of
it, lay it all on the women, as if they were ashamed of it, or it were
below them. What abundance of precious time is spent in unnecessary
state of attendance, and provisions! What abundance, under pretence of
cleanliness and neatness, is spent in needless curiosity about rooms,
and furniture, and accommodations, and matters of mere pride,
vain-glory, and ostentation, covered with the honest name of decency!
What abundance is wasted in entertainments, and unnecessary visits,
compliments, ceremony, and servitude to the humours of men of vanity! I
speak not for nastiness, uncleanness, and uncomeliness: I speak not for
a cynical morosity or unsociableness. When conscience is awakened, and
you come to yourselves, and approaching death shall better acquaint you
with the worth of time, you will see a mean between these two; and you
will wish you had most feared the time-wasting prodigal extreme.[295]
Methinks you should freely give me leave to say, that though Martha had
a better excuse than you, and was cumbered about many things for the
entertainment of such a guest as Christ himself, (with all his
followers,) who looked for no curiosity, yet Mary is more approved of by
Christ, who neglected all this, to redeem the time for the good of her
soul, by sitting at his feet to hear his word: she chose the better
part, which shall not be taken from her. Remember, I pray you, that one
thing is necessary: I hope I may have leave to tell you, that if by you
or your servants, God, and your souls, and prayer, and reading the
Scriptures, and the profitable labours of an honest calling, be all or
any of them neglected, while you or they are neatifying this room, or
washing out that little spot, or setting straight the other wrinkle, or
are taken up with feminine trifling, proud curiosities, this is
preferring of dust before gold, of the least before the greatest
things:[296] and to say, that decency is commendable, is no excuse for
neglecting God, your souls, or family, or leaving undone any one greater
work, which you or your servants might have been doing that while; I
say, any work that is greater all things considered. Oh that you and
your families would but live, as those that see how fast death cometh!
how fast time goeth! and what you have to do! and what your unready
souls yet want! This is all that I desire of you: and then I warrant
you, it would save you many a precious hour, and cut short your works of
curiosity, and deliver you from your slavery to pride and the esteem of
vain time-wasters.
_Thief_ V. Another time-wasting sin is needless and tedious feastings,
gluttony, and tippling: which being of the same litter, I set
together.[297] I speak not against moderate, seasonable, and
charitable feasts: but alas, in this luxurious, sensual age, how
commonly do men sit two hours at a feast, and spend two more in
attending it before and after, and not improving the time in any pious
or profitable discourse: yea, the rich spend an hour ordinarily in a
common meal, while every meal is a feast indeed; and they fare as
their predecessor, Luke xvi. deliciously or sumptuously every day.
Happy are the poor, that are free also from this temptation. You spend
not so much time in the daily addresses of your souls to God, and
reading his word, and taking an account of the affairs of conscience,
and preparing for death, as you do in stuffing your guts, perhaps at
one meal. And in taverns and alehouses among the pots, how much time
is wasted by rich and poor! O remember, while you are eating and
drinking, what a corruptible piece of flesh you are feeding and
serving; and how quickly those mouths will be filled with dust! and
that a soul that is posting so fast unto eternity, should find no time
to spare for vanity; and that you have important work enough to do,
which if performed, will afford you a sweeter and a longer feast.
_Thief_ VI. Another time-wasting sin is idle talk. What abundance of
precious time doth this consume! Hearken to most men's discourse when
they are sitting together, or working together, or travelling together,
and you shall hear how little of it is any better than silence: and if
not better it is worse. So full are those persons of vanity who are
empty, even to silence, of any thing that is good, that they can find
and feed a discourse of nothing, many hours and days together; and as
they think, with such fecundity and floridness of style, as deserveth
acceptance if not applause. I have marvelled oft at some wordy
preachers, with how little matter they can handsomely fill up an hour!
But one would wonder more to hear people fill up, not an hour, but a
great part of their day, and of their lives, and that without any study
at all, and without any holy and substantial subject, with words, which
if you should write them all down and peruse them, you would find that
the sum and conclusion of them is nothing! How self-applaudingly and
pleasingly they can extempore talk idly and of nothing a great part of
their lives! I have heard many of them marvel at a poor unlearned
christian, that can pray extempore many hours together in very good
order and well-composed words. But are they not more to be marvelled at,
that can very handsomely talk of nothing ten times as long, with greater
copiousness, and without repetitions, and that extempore, when they have
not that variety of great commanding subjects to be the matter of their
speech? I tell you, when time must be reviewed, the consumption of so
much in idle talk, will appear to have been no such venial sin, as
empty, careless sinners now imagine.
_Thief_ VII. Another thief which by the aforesaid means would steal your
time, is vain and sinful company. Among whom a spiritual physician that
goeth to cure them, or a holy person that is full and resolute to bear
down vain discourse, I confess may well employ his time, when he is cast
upon it, or called to it. But to dwell with such, or choose them as our
familiars, or causelessly or for complacency keep among them, will
unavoidably lose abundance of your time. If you would do good, they will
hinder you; if you will speak of good, they will divert you, or reproach
you, or wrangle and cavil with you, or some way or other stop your
mouths. They will by a stream of vain discourse, either bear down, and
carry you on with them, or fill your ears, and interrupt and hinder the
very thoughts of your minds by which you desire to profit yourselves,
when they will not let you be profitable to others.
_Thief_ VIII. Another notorious time-wasting thief, is needless,
inordinate sports and games, which are commonly stigmatized by the
offenders themselves, with the infamous name of pastimes, and masked
with the deceitful title of recreations; such as are cards and dice,
and stage-plays, and dancings, and revellings, and excesses in the
most lawful sports, especially in hunting, and hawking, and
bowling,[298] &c. Whether all these are lawful or unlawful of
themselves, is nothing to the present question; but I am sure that the
precious hours which they take up, might have been improved to the
saving of many a thousand souls, that by the loss of time are now
undone and past recovery. Except malicious enemies of godliness, I
scarce know a wretcheder sort of people on the earth, and more to be
lamented, than those fleshly persons, who, through the love of sensual
pleasure, do waste many hours day after day in plays and gaming and
voluptuous courses; while their miserable souls are dead in sin,
enslaved to their fleshly lusts, unreconciled to God, and find no
delight in him, or in his service, and cannot make a recreation of any
heavenly work. How will it torment these unhappy souls, to think how
they played away those hours, in which they might have been pleasing
God, and preventing misery, and laying up a treasure in heaven! And to
think that they sold that precious time for a little fleshly sport, in
which they should have been working out their salvation, and making
their calling and election sure. But I have more to say to these anon.
_Thief_ IX. Another time-wasting thief is excess of worldly cares and
business. These do not only, as some more disgraced sins, pollute the
soul with deep stains in a little time, and then recede; but they dwell
upon the mind, and keep possession, and keep out good: they take up the
greatest part of the lives of those that are guilty of them. The world
is first in the morning in their thoughts, and last at night, and almost
all the day: the world will not give them leave to entertain any sober,
fixed thoughts of the world to come; nor to do the work which all works
should give place to. The world devoureth all the time almost that God
and their souls should have: it will not give them leave to pray, or
read, or meditate, or discourse of holy things: even when they seem to
be praying, or hearing the word of God, the world is in their thoughts;
and as it is said, Ezek. xxxii. 31, "They come unto thee as the people
cometh; and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words,
but they will not do them: for with their mouth they show much love; but
their heart goeth after their covetousness." In most families there is
almost no talk nor doings but all for the world: these also will know,
that they had greater works for their precious time, which should have
always had the precedency of the world.
_Thief_ X. Another time-waster is vain ungoverned and sinful thoughts.
When men are wearied with vain works and sports, they continue
unwearied in vain thoughts; when they want company for vain discourse
and games, they can waste the time in idle, or lustful, or ambitious,
or covetous thoughts alone without any company. In the very night time
while they wake, and as they travel by the way, yea, while they seem
to be serving God, they will be wasting the time in useless thoughts:
so that this devoureth a greater proportion of precious time, than any
of the former. When time must be reckoned for, what abundance will be
found upon most men's accounts, as spent in idle, sinful thoughts! O
watch this thief; and remember, though you may think that a vain
thought is but a little sin, yet time is not a little or contemptible
commodity, nor to be cast away on so little a thing as idle thoughts;
and to vilify thus so choice a treasure is not a little sin; and that
it is not a little work that you have to do in the time which you thus
waste. And a daily course of idle thoughts doth waste so great a
measure of time, that this aggravation maketh it more heinous than
many sins of greater infamy. But of this more in the next part.
_Thief_ XI. Another dangerous time-wasting sin is the reading of vain
books, play-books, romances, and feigned histories; and also
unprofitable studies, undertaken but for vain-glory, or the pleasing
of a carnal or curious mind. Of this I have spoken in my book of
"Self-denial." I speak not here how pernicious this vice is by
corrupting the fancy and affections, and breeding a diseased appetite,
and putting you out of relish to necessary things. But bethink you
before you spend another hour in any such books, whether you can
comfortably give an account of it unto God; and how precious the time
is, which you are wasting on such childish toys. You think the reading
of such things is lawful; but is it lawful to lose your precious time?
You say that your petty studies are desirable and laudable; but the
neglect of far greater necessary things is not laudable. I discourage
no man from labouring to know all that God hath any way revealed to be
known; but I say as Seneca, We are ignorant of things necessary,
because we learn things superfluous and unnecessary. Art is long and
life is short: and he that hath not time for all, should make sure of
the greatest matters; and if he be ignorant of any thing, let it be of
that which the love of God, and our own and other men's salvation, and
the public good, do least require, and can best spare. It is a pitiful
thing to see a man waste his time in criticising, or growing wise in
the less necessary sciences and arts, while he is yet a slave of pride
or worldliness, and hath an unrenewed soul, and hath not learned the
mysteries necessary to his own salvation. But yet these studies are
laudable in their season. But the fanatic studies of those that would
pry into unrevealed things, and the lascivious employment of those
that read love-books, and play-books, and vain stories, will one day
appear to have been but an unwise expense of time, for those that had
so much better and more needful work to do with it. I think there are
few of those that plead for it, that would be found with such books in
their hands at death, or will then find any pleasure in the
remembrance of them.
_Thief_ XII. But the master-thief that robs men of their time is an
unsanctified, ungodly heart; for this loseth time whatever men are
doing: because they never truly intend the glory of God; and having
not a right principle or a right end, their whole course is
hell-wards; and whatever they do, they are not working out their
salvation: and therefore they are still losing their time, as to
themselves, however God may use the time and gifts of some of them, as
a mercy to others. Therefore a new and holy heart, with a heavenly
intention and design of life, is the great thing necessary to all that
will savingly redeem their time.
_Tit._ 5. _On whom this Duty of Redeeming Time is
principally incumbent._
Though the redeeming of time be a duty of grand importance and
necessity to all, yet all these sorts following have special
obligations to it.
_Sort_ I. Those that are in the youth and vigour of their time. Nature
is not yet so much corrupted in you, as in old accustomed sinners;
your hearts are not so much hardened; sin is not so deeply rooted and
confirmed; Satan hath not triumphed in so many victories; you are not
yet plunged so deep as others, into worldly encumbrances and cares;
your understanding, memory, and strength are in their vigour and do
not yet fail you: and who should go fastest, or work hardest, but he
that hath the greatest strength? You may now get more by diligence in
a day, than hereafter you can get in many. How few prove good
scholars, or wise men, that begin not to learn till they are old!
"Flee youthful lusts," therefore, 2 Tim. ii. 22. "Remember your
Creator in the days of your youth," Eccles. xii. 1. If you be now
trained up in the way you should go, you will not depart from it when
you are old, Prov. xxii. 6. Oh that you could but know what an
unspeakable advantage, and benefit, and comfort it is, to come to a
ripe age with the provisions and furniture of that wisdom, and
holiness, and acquaintance with God, which should be attained in your
youth! and what a misery it is to be then to learn that which you
should have been many years before in practising, and to be then to
begin to live when you must make an end! much more to be cast to hell,
if death should find you unready in your youth! or to be forsaken of
God to a hardened age! Happy they that, with Timothy and Obadiah, do
learn the Scripture and fear God in their childhood, and from their
youth, 1 Kings xviii. 12; 2 Tim. iii. 15.
_Sort_ II. Necessity maketh it incumbent on the weak, and sick, and
aged, in a special manner to redeem their time. If they will not make
much of it that are sure to have but a little; and if they will trifle
and loiter it away, that know they are near their journey's end, and
ready to give up their accounts, they are unexcusable above all
others. A thief or murderer will pray and speak good words when he is
going out of the world. Well may it be said to you, as Paul doth, Rom.
xiii. 11, 12, "Now is it high time to awake out of sleep," when your
salvation or damnation is so near! It is high time for that man to
look about him, and prepare his soul, and lose no time, that is so
speedily to appear before the most holy God, and be used for ever as
he has lived here.
_Sort_ III. It is specially incumbent on them to redeem the time, who
have loitered and mispent much time already. If conscience tell you
that you have lost your youth in ignorance and vanity, and much of
your age in negligence and worldliness, it is a double crime in you,
if you redeem not diligently the time that is left.[299] The just care
of your salvation requireth it, unless you are willing to be damned.
Ingenuity and duty to God requireth it; unless you will defy him, and
resolve to abuse and despise him to the utmost, and spend all the time
against him which he shall give you. The nature of true repentance
requireth it; unless you will know none but the repentance of the
damned; and begin to repent the misspending of your time, when it is
gone, and all is too late.
_Sort_ IV. It is specially their duty to redeem the time, who are
scanted of time through poverty, service, or restraint. If poor people
that must labour all the day, will not redeem the Lord's day, and
those few hours which they have, they will then have no time at all
for things spiritual: servants that be not masters of their time, and
are held close to their work, had need to be very diligent in
redeeming those few hours which are allowed them for higher things.
_Sort_ V. Those that enjoy any special helps either public or private
must be specially careful to improve them and redeem the time. Do you
live under a convincing, powerful ministry? O improve it and redeem the
time; for you know not how soon they may be taken from you, or you from
them. Do you live with godly relations, parents, husband, wife, masters
in a godly family, or with godly fellow-servants, friends, or
neighbours? Redeem the time: get somewhat by them every day: you know
not how short this season will be. Do you live where you have books and
leisure? Redeem the time: this also may not be long. Had not Joshua been
horribly unexcusable if he would have loitered when God made the sun
stand still, while he pursued his enemies? O loiter not you, while the
sun of mercy, patience, means, and helps do all attend you.
_Sort_ VI. Those must especially redeem the time who are ignorant, or
graceless, or weak in grace, and have strong corruptions, and little
or no assurance of salvation, and are unready to die, and have yet all
or most of their work to do:[300] if these loiter, they are doubly to
blame. Sure the time past of your lives may suffice to have loitered
and done evil, 1 Pet. iv. 3. Hath not the devil had too much already?
Will ye stand "all the day idle," Matt. xx. 6. Look home and see what
you have yet to do; how much you want to a safe and comfortable
death! "Sow to yourselves in righteousness: reap in mercy: break up
your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and
rain righteousness upon you," Hos. x. 12.
_Sort_ VII. It much concerneth them to redeem the time, who are in any
office, or have any opportunity of doing any special or public good;
especially magistrates and ministers of Christ. Your life will not be
long: your office will not be long: O bestir you against sin and
Satan, and for Christ and holiness, while you may: God will try you
but a time. Let Obadiah hide and feed the prophets when he is called
to it, and while he may, that God may hide him, and not think to shift
off duty, and save himself to a better time. Saith Mordecai to Esther,
"Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house
more than all the Jews: for if thou altogether holdest thy peace at
this time, then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise from
another place, but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and
who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as
this?" Esther ix. 13, 14. Are you ministers? O preach the gospel while
you may: redeem the time: all times are your season: so great a work,
and the worth of souls, commandeth you to do it "in season and out of
season," 2 Tim. iv. 2. A man that is to save many others from
drowning, or to quench a fire in the city, is unexcusable above all
men, if he redeem not time, by his greatest diligence and speed.
_Sort_ VIII. Lastly, it is especially incumbent on them to redeem the
time, who, being recovered from sickness, or saved from any danger,
are under the obligation both of special mercy and special promises of
their own; who have promised God in the time of sickness or distress,
that if he would but spare them and try them once again, they would
amend their lives, and live more holily, and spend their time more
carefully and diligently for their souls, and show all about them the
truth of their repentance, by the greatness of their change, and an
exemplary life. Oh it is a most dangerous, terrible thing to return to
security, sloth, and sin, and break such promises to God! Such are
often given over to woeful hard-heartedness or despair; for God will
not be mocked with delusory words.
Thus I have opened this great duty of redeeming time the more largely,
because it is of unspeakable importance; and my soul is frequently
amazed with admiration, that the sluggish world can so insensibly and
impenitently go on in wasting precious time, so near eternity, and in
so needy and dangerous a case. Though, I bless my God, that I have not
wholly lost my time, but have long lived in a sense of the odiousness
of that sin, yet I wonder at myself that such overpowering motives
compel me not to make continual haste, and to be still at work with
all my might, in a case of everlasting consequence.
FOOTNOTES:
[280] See the directions how to spend every day, part ii. chap. 17.
[281] Ex ipsâ vitâ discedimus, tanquam ex hospitio, non tanquam ex
domo: commorandi enim nobis natura diversorium non habitandi domum
dedit. Cic. in Cat. Maj.
[282] See my book called "Now or Never"
[283] Mors iis terribilis est, quorum cum vita omnia extinguuntur.
Cicero. Parad. 1.
[284] See the many aggravations of sinful delay in my "Directions for
Sound Conversion."
[285] Numb. ix. 2, 3, 7, 13; Exod. xiii. 10.
[286] Deut. xxviii. 12; Jer. v. 24; xxxiii. 20.
[287] Hag. i. 2, 4.
[288] 1 Sam. xiii. 8, 9.
[289] Psal. lxx. 5; Lev. xxvi. 4; Jer. v. 24.
[290] Acts vi. 5; Matt. vii. 17; Luke vi. 45; Matt. xii. 34.
[291] 1 Cor. x. 31; Zech. xiv. 20, 21; Rom. vi. 19, 22; Luke i. 75; 1
Tim. v. 5; iv. 5; 2 Tim. ii. 21.
[292] Phil. iii. 11-14.
[293] Nosti mores mulierum: Dum moliuntur, dum comuntur, annus est.
Terent.
[294] Nihil mihi magis quam pompa displicet: non solum quia mala, et
humilitati contraria, sed quia difficilis, et quieti adversa est.
Petrarch. in Vita Sua.
[295] Nimia omnia nimium exhibent negotium.
[296] Abundance of little things that have all their conveniences have
all their inconveniences also, and take up our time, and so would shut
out greater things, if they be not cast aside themselves, and would
become great sins by such a consumption of our time, Luke x. 42.
[297] Convivia, quæ dicuntur (cum sint commessationes modestiæ et
bonis moribus inimicæ) semper mihi displicuerunt; laboriosum, et
inutile ratus vocare et vocari, &c. Idem.
[298] Laertius saith of Solon, that Thespim tragœdias agere et docere
prohibuit, inutilem eas falsiloquentiam vocans.
[299] 1 Pet. iv. 3.
[300] Eph. ii. 2.
CHAPTER VI.
DIRECTIONS FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE THOUGHTS.
I have showed you, in my "Treatise of Walking with God," how much
man's thoughts are regarded by God, and should be regarded by himself;
and what agents and instruments they are of very much good or evil:
this therefore I shall suppose and not repeat; but only direct you in
the governing of them. The work having three parts, they must have
several directions. 1. For the avoiding of evil thoughts. 2. For the
exercise of good thoughts. 3. For the improvement of good thoughts,
that they may be effectual.
_Tit._ 1. _Directions against Evil and Idle Thoughts._
_Direct._ I. Know which are evil thoughts, and retain such an odious
character of them continually on your minds, as may provoke you still
to meet them with abhorrence. Evil thoughts are such as these: All
thoughts against the being, or attributes, or relations, or honour, or
works of God: atheistical and blasphemous, idolatrous and unbelieving
thoughts: all thoughts that tend to disobedience or opposition to the
will or word of God; and all that savour of unthankfulness, or want of
love to God; or of discontent and distrust, or want of the fear of
God, or that tend to any of these: also sinful, selfish, covetous,
proud studies; to make a mere trade of the ministry for gain; to be
able to overtalk others; searching into unrevealed, forbidden things;
inordinate curiosity, and hasty conceitedness of your own opinions
about God's decrees, or obscure prophecies, prodigies, providence,
mentioned before about pride of our understandings.
All thoughts against any particular word, or truth, or precept of God,
or against any particular duty; against any part of the worship and
ordinances of God; that tend to unreverent neglect of the name, or
holy day of God: all impious thoughts against public duty, or family
duty, or secret duty; and all that would hinder or mar any one duty:
all thoughts of dishonour, contempt, neglect, or disobedience to the
authority of higher powers set over us by God, either magistrates,
pastors, parents, masters, or any other superiors. All thoughts of
pride, self-exalting ambition, self-seeking covetousness: voluptuous,
sensual thoughts, proceeding from or tending to the corrupt,
inordinate pleasures of the flesh: thoughts which are unjust, and tend
to the hurt and wrong of others: envious, malicious, reproachful,
injurious, contemptuous, wrathful, revengeful thoughts: lustful,
wanton, filthy thoughts: drunken, gluttonous, fleshly thoughts:
inordinate, careful, fearful, anxious, vexatious, discomposing
thoughts: presumptuous, and secure, despairing, and dejecting
thoughts: slothful, delaying, negligent, and discouraging thoughts:
uncharitable, cruel, false, censorious, unmerciful thoughts; and idle,
unprofitable thoughts. Hate all these as the devil's spawn.
_Direct._ II. Be not insensible what a great deal of duty or sin are
in the thoughts, and of how dangerous a signification and consequence
a course of evil thoughts is to your souls. They show what a man is,
as much as his words or actions do: "For as he thinketh in his heart,
so is he," Prov. xxiii. 7. A good man or evil is denominated by the
good or evil treasure of the heart, though known to men but by the
fruits. Oh the vile and numerous sins that are committed in men's
thoughts, and proceed from men's thoughts! O the precious time that is
lost, in idle, and other sinful thoughts! Oh the good that is
hindered hereby both in heart and life! But of this having spoken in
the treatise afore-mentioned, I proceed.
_Direct._ III. Above all be sure that you cleanse the fountain, and
destroy those sinful inclinations of the heart, from which your evil
thoughts proceed. In vain else will you strive to stop the streams: or
if you should stop them, that very heart itself will be loathsome in the
eyes of God. Are your thoughts all upon the world, either coveting, or
caring, or grieving for what you want, or pleasing yourselves with what
you have or hope for? Get down your deceived estimation of the world;
cast it under your feet, and out of your heart; and count all, with
Paul, but as loss and dung, for the excellent knowledge of God in
Christ: for till the world be dead in you, your worldly thoughts will
not be dead; but all will stand still when once this poise is taken off:
crucify it, and this breath and pulse will cease. So if your thoughts do
run upon matter of preferment, or honour, disgrace, or contempt, or if
you are pleased with your own pre-eminence or applause; mortify your
pride, and beg of God a humble, self-denying, contrite heart. For till
pride be dead, you will never be quiet for it; but it will stir up
swarms of self-exalting and yet self-vexing thoughts, which make you
hateful in the eyes of God. So if your thoughts be running out upon your
back and belly, what you shall eat or drink, or how to please your
appetite or sense; mortify the flesh, and subdue its desires, and master
your appetite, and bring them into full obedience unto reason, and get a
habit of temperance; or else your thoughts will be still upon your guts
and throats: for they will obey the ruling power; and a violent passion
and desire doth so powerfully move them, that it is hard for the reason
and will to rule them. So if your thoughts are wanton and filthy, you
must cleanse that unclean and lustful heart, and get Christ to cast out
the unclean spirit, and become chaste within, before you will keep out
your unchaste cogitations. So if you have confusion and vanity in your
thoughts, you must get a well furnished and well composed mind and
heart, before you will well cure the malady of your thoughts.
_Direct._ IV. Keep at a sufficient distance from those tempting
objects, which are the fuel and incentives of your evil thoughts. Can
you expect that the drunkard should rule his thoughts, whilst he is in
the alehouse or tavern, and seeth the drink? or that the glutton
should rule his thoughts, while the pleasing dish is in his sight? or
that the lustful person should keep chaste his thoughts, in the
presence of his enamouring toy? or that the wrathful person rule his
thoughts, among contentious, passionate words? or that the proud
person rule his thoughts, in the midst of honour and applause? Away
with this fuel, fly from this infectious air, if you would be safe.
_Direct._ V. At least make a covenant with your senses, and keep them
in obedience, if you will have obedient thoughts. For all know by
experience how potently the senses move the thoughts. Job saith, "I
made a covenant with my eyes, why then should I think upon a maid."
Mark how the covenant with his eyes is made the means to rule his
thoughts. Pray with David, "Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity,"
Psal. cxix. 37. Keep a guard upon your eyes, and ears, and taste, and
touch, if you will keep a guard upon your thoughts. Let not that come
into these outer parts, which you desire should go no further. Open
not the door to them, if you would not let them in.
_Direct._ VI. Remember how near kin the thought is to the deed; and
what a tendency it hath to it. Let Christ himself tell you, Matt. v.
22, 28, "But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother
without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. I say unto you,
That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed
adultery with her already in his heart." A malicious thought and a
malicious deed are from the same spring, and have the same nature:
only the deed is the riper serpent, and can sting another; when the
thought is as the younger serpent, that hath only the venomous nature
in itself. A lustful thought is from the same defiled puddle, as
actual filthiness: and the thought is but the passage to the action:
it is but the same sin in its minority, tending to maturity.
_Direct._ VII. Keep out, or quickly cast out, all inordinate passions:
for passions do violently press the thoughts, and forcibly carry them
away. If anger, or grief, or fear, or any carnal love, or joy, or
pleasure be admitted, they will command your thoughts to run out upon
their several objects. And when you rebuke your thoughts, and call them
in, they will not hear you, till you get them out of the crowd and noise
of passion. As in the heat of civil wars no government is well exercised
in a kingdom; and as violent storms disable the mariners to govern the
ship, and save it and themselves; so passions are too stormy a region
for the thoughts to be well governed in. Till your souls be reduced to a
calm condition, your thoughts will be tumultuating, and hurried that way
that the tempests drive them. Till these wars be ended, your thoughts
will be licentious, and partakers in the rebellion.
_Direct._ VIII. Keep your souls in a constant and careful obedience unto
God. Observe his law; be continually sensible that you are under his
government, and awed by his authority. Man judgeth not your thoughts: if
you are subject to man only, your thoughts must be ungoverned: but the
heart is the first object of God's government, and that which he
principally regardeth. His laws extend to all your thoughts; and
therefore if you know what obedience to God is, you must know what the
obedience of your thoughts to him is; for he that obeyeth God as God,
will obey him in one thing as well as another, and will obey him as the
governor and judge of thoughts. The powerful, searching word of Christ
is a "discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart, and as a
two-edged sword is sharp and quick," and will "pierce" and "cut" as deep
as the very "soul and spirit," Heb. iv. 12, 13. "It casteth down every
imagination, and bringeth into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ," 2 Cor. x. 5. Therefore David saith to God, "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, 24. And you find God's laws and reproofs extending to the
thoughts: Isa. lix. 7, "Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity." The
fool's heart-atheism is rebuked, Psal. xiv. 1. He reproveth a rebellious
people, for "walking in a way that is not good, after their own
thoughts," Isa. lxv. 2. See how Christ openeth the heart, Matt. xv. 9.
He chargeth them, Deut. xv. 9, "to beware that there be not a thought in
their wicked hearts," against the mercy which they must show to the
poor. Psal. xlix. 11, he detecteth the "inward thought" of the
worldling, that "their houses shall continue for ever." Prov. xxiv. 9,
he saith, "The thought of foolishness is sin." The old world was
condemned because the "imaginations of their hearts were only evil
continually," Gen. vi. 5. And when God calleth a sinner to conversion,
he saith, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon
him," Isa. lv. 6, 7. You see then if you are subject to God, your
thoughts must be obedient.
_Direct._ IX. Remember God's continual presence; that all your
thoughts are in his sight. He seeth every filthy thought, and every
covetous, and proud, and ambitious thought, and every uncharitable,
malicious thought. If you be not atheists, the remembrance of this
will somewhat check and control your thoughts, that God beholdeth
them. "He understandeth" your "thoughts afar off," Psal. cxxxix. 2.
"Doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it," Prov. xxiv. 12.
"Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?" saith Christ, Matt. ix. 4.
_Direct._ X. Bethink you seriously what a government you would keep
upon your thoughts, if they were but written on your foreheads, or
seen by all that see you, yea, or but open to some person whom you
reverence. Oh how ashamed would you then be, that men should see your
filthy thoughts, your malicious thoughts, your covetous and deceiving
thoughts! And is not the eye of God ten thousand times more to be
reverenced and regarded? And is not man your god, if you are awed more
by man than by God, and if the eye of man can do more to restrain you?
_Direct._ XI. Keep tender your consciences, that they may not be
regardless or insensible of the smallest sin. A tender conscience
feareth evil and idle thoughts; and will smart in the penitent review
of thoughts; but a seared conscience feeleth nothing, except some
grievous, crying sins. A tender conscience obeyeth that precept, Prov.
xxx. 32, "If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if
thou hast thought evil, lay thy hand upon thy mouth."
_Direct._ XII. Cast out vain and sinful thoughts in the beginning,
before they settle themselves and make a dwelling of thy heart. They
are easiliest and safeliest resisted in the entrance. Thy heart will
give them rooting and grow familiar with them, if they make any stay.
Besides, it shows the greater sin, because there is the less
resistance, and the more consent. If the will were against them, it
would not let them alone so long. Yea, and their continuance tendeth
to your ruin; it is like the continuance of poison in your bowels, or
fire in your thatch, or a spy in an army: as long as they stay they
are working toward your greater mischief. If these flies stay long
they will blow and multiply; they will make their nests, and breed
their young, and you will quickly have a swarm of sins.
_Direct._ XIII. Take heed lest any practical error corrupt your
understandings; or lest you be engaged in any ill design: for these
will command your thoughts into a course of sinful attendance and
service to their ends. He that erreth and thinks his sin is his virtue
or his duty, will indulge the thoughts of it without control; yea, he
will drive on his mind to such cogitations; and steal from the
authority and word of God, the motives and incentives of his sin. As
false prophets speak against God in the name of God, and against his
word as by the pretended authority of his word; so an erring mind will
fetch its arguments from God and from the Scripture, for those sinful
thoughts which are against God and Scripture. And if evil thoughts
will so hardly be kept out when we plead the authority of God and his
word against them, and do the best we can to hinder them; how will
they prevail when you plead the authority of God and the sacred
Scriptures for them, and take it to be your duty to kindle and promote
them! For instance; all the sinful thoughts by which the Romish clergy
are contriving the support of their kingdom of darkness in the world,
and the continuance of their tyranny in the church, are but the
products of their error, which tells them that all this should be
done, as pleasing to God, and profitable to the church. All the bloody
thoughts of persecutors, against the church and holy ways of Christ,
have been cherished by this erroneous thought. John xvi. 23, "The time
cometh that whoever killeth you, will think that he doth God service;
and these things they will do unto you, because they have not known
the Father nor me." All Paul's bloody contrivances and practices
against the church did come from this. Acts xxvi. 9, "I verily thought
with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of
Jesus of Nazareth: which thing I also did." All the scornful and
reproachful thoughts and speeches of many of the ungodly against a
holy life, are hence: 1 Pet. iv. 4, "They think it strange that you
run not with them to excess of riot, speaking evil of you." The vain
babbling of hypocrites, who cheat their souls with idle lip-labour,
instead of the spiritual service from the heart, and the sacrifice of
fools, who offer God some outward thing, while they deny him their
hearts and holy obedience, do proceed from this, that "they think to
be heard for their much babbling," Matt. vi. 7, "and they consider not
that they do evil," Eccl. v. 1. All the self-flattery and presumption
of the ungodly, and consequently all their ungodly lives, are much
from their erroneous thoughts: "He that thinketh he is something when
he is nothing, deceiveth himself," Gal. vi. 3. O come into the light,
and forsake your darkness! for sinful thoughts are like hobgoblins and
hags, that fly from the light; and like worms and serpents, that creep
into holes, and crawl and gender in the dark.
_Direct._ XIV. Remember what an opening of thoughts there will be,
when you come into the light, either here by conviction, or at the
furthest at the day of judgment. Then you will be ashamed to see what
filth and vanity you entertained; and with what dross and rubbish you
stuffed your minds. When the light comes in, what abundance of things
will you see to your astonishment, in the dungeon of your hearts,
which now you take no notice of! Remember, that all your hidden
thoughts must one day be brought into the open light. Say not that
this is a thing impossible, because they are so numerous: for God who
seeth them all at once, and causeth his sun to illuminate so many
millions at once, can make you see them all at once, and yet
distinctly, and see the shame and filthiness of every one of them.
_Direct._ XV. When you find that some thoughts of sin and vanity are
following you still, for all that you can do, you must not therefore
plunge your souls into so much solicitousness, fear, and trouble, as may
discourage and distract your mind; but wait on God in the complacential
and obediential way of cure. It is the tempter's method to keep sinners
utterly careless of their thoughts, and senseless of any sin that is in
them, as long as he can; and when that hope faileth him, he will labour
to make a humble, obedient soul so sensible of the sin of his thoughts,
and so careful about them, as to confound him, and cast him into
melancholy, discouragement, and despair; and then he will have no
command of his thoughts at all; but they will be as much ungoverned
another way, and feed continually upon terror. The end of this
temptation is to distract you and confound you. The pretence of the
tempter will be contrary to his end: for while he driveth you with
terrors to think of nothing else but what you have been or are thinking
on, and to make your own thoughts the only or principal matter of your
thoughts, he will confound you, and make you undisposed to all good, and
unable to govern your thoughts at all. But if you principally study the
excellencies of God and godliness, and take the course which tends to
make religion pleasant to you, and withal keep up an awful obedience to
God, this complacential obedience will best prevail.
_Direct._ XVI. Therefore deliver up your hearts to Christ in love and
duty, and consecrate your thoughts entirely to his service, and keep
them still exercised on him, or in his work: and this will most
effectually cure them of vanity and sin.[301] If you have a friend that
you love entirely, you will not feed swine in the room that must
entertain him; you will not leave it nasty and unclean; you will not
leave it common to every dirty, unsuitable companion, to intrude at
pleasure and disturb your friend. So love and pleasure will be readily
and composedly careful, to keep clean the heart, and shut out vain and
filthy thoughts, and say, This room is for a better guest; nothing shall
come here which my Lord abhorreth: is he willing so wonderfully to
condescend, as to take up so mean a habitation, and shall I straiten
him, or offend him, by letting in his noisome enemies? Will he dwell in
my heart, and shall I suffer thoughts of pride, or lust, or malice, to
dwell with him, or to enter in? Are these fit companions for the Spirit
of grace? Do I delight to grieve him? I know as soon as ever they come
in, he will either resist them till he drive them out again, or he will
go out himself. And shall I drive away so dear a Friend, for the love of
a filthy, pernicious enemy? Or do I delight in war? Would I have a
continual combat in my heart? Shall I put the Spirit of Christ to fight
for his habitation, against such an ignominious foe? Indeed there is no
true cure for sinful, vain, unprofitable thoughts, but by the contrary;
by calling up the thoughts unto their proper work, and finding them more
profitable employment: and this is by consecrating the heart and them
entirely to the love and service of him, that hath by the wonders of his
love, and by the strange design of his purchase and merits, so well
deserved them. Let Christ come in, and deliver him the key, and pray him
to keep thy heart as his own, and he will cast out buyers and sellers
from his temple, and will not suffer his house of prayer to be a den of
thieves. But if you receive Christ with reserves, and keep up designs
for the world and flesh, marvel not if Christ will be no partners with
them, but leave all to those guests, which you would not leave for him.
_Tit._ 2. _Directions to furnish the Mind with Good
Thoughts._[302]
To have the mind well furnished with matter for holy and profitable
thoughts, is necessary to all that have the use of reason, though not
to all alike. But I shall here present you only with such materials as
are necessary to a holy life, and to be used in our daily walk with
God; and not meddle with such as are proper to pastors, magistrates,
or other special callings, though I may give some general directions
also for students in the end of this.
[Sidenote: Our own interest and end.]
_Direct._ I. Understand well your own interest and great concernments,
and be well resolved what you live for, and what is your true felicity
and end; and then this will command your thoughts to serve it. The
end is it that the means are all chosen for, and used for. A man's
estimation directeth his intention and designs; and his intention and
designs command his thoughts. These will certainly have the first and
chiefest, the most serious, and practical, and effectual thoughts;
though some by-thoughts may run out another way: as the miller will be
sure to keep so much water as is necessary to grind his grist, though
he may let that run by which he thinks he hath no need of; as you
gather in all your corn and fruit for yourselves at harvest, though
perhaps you will leave some scatterings which you do not value much,
for any that will to gather; so whatever a man taketh for his ultimate
end and true felicity, will have the store and stream of his
cogitations, though he may scatter some few upon other things, when he
thinks he may do it without any detriment to his main design. As a
traveller's face is ordinarily towards his journey's end, though so
far as he thinks it doth not stop him, he may look behind him, or on
each side; so our main end will in the main carry on our thoughts. And
therefore unholy souls, that know not practically any higher end than
the prosperity and pleasure of the flesh, and the plenty and honour of
the world, cannot possibly exercise any holy government over their
thoughts; but their minds and consciences are defiled, and their
thoughts made carnal as is their end. Nor is there any possibility of
curing their vicious, wicked thoughts, and of ordering them acceptably
to God, but by curing their worldly, carnal minds, and causing them to
change their designs and ends. And this must be by understanding what
is their interest. Know well but what it is that is most necessary for
you, and best for you, and it will change your hearts, and save your
souls. Know this, and your thoughts will never want matter to be
employed on; nor will they be suffered to wander much abroad.
Therefore it is that the expectation of death, and the thought of
coming presently to judgment, do use more effectually to supply the
mind with the wisest and most useful thoughts, than the learnedst book
or ordinary means can. That which tells a man best what he hath to do,
doth best tell him what he hath to think on. But the approach of
death, and the appearance of eternity, doth best tell a dull and
fleshly sinner what he hath to do; this tells, and tells him roundly,
that he must presently search his heart and life, and judge himself as
one that is going to the final judgment; and that it is high time for
him to look out for the remedy for his sin and misery, &c.; and
therefore it will command his thoughts this way. Ask any lawyer,
physician, or tradesman, what commands his thoughts; and you will find
that his interest, and his ends, and work command them. Know what it
is to have an immortal soul, that must live in joy or woe for ever,
and what it is to be always so near to the irreversible, determining
sentence, and what it is to have this short uncertain time, and no
more, to make our preparation in, and then it is easy to foretell
which way your thoughts will go. A man that knoweth his house is on
fire, will be thinking how to quench it; a man that knoweth he is
entering into a mortal sickness, will be thinking how to cure it.
There is no better way to have your thoughts both furnished and acted
aright, than to know your interest, and right end.
[Sidenote: God.]
_Direct._ II. Know God aright, and behold him by the eye of an
effectual faith, and you shall never want matter for holy thoughts.
His greatness and continual presence with you may command your
thoughts, and awe them, and keep them from masterless vagaries. His
wisdom will find them continual employment, upon the various,
excellent, and delectable subjects of his natural and supernatural
revelation; but no where so much as upon himself. In God thou mayst
find matter for thy cogitations and affections, most high and
excellent, delighting the mind with a continual suavity, affording
still fresh delights, though thou meditate on him a thousand years, or
to all eternity. Thou mayst better say, that the ocean hath not water
enough for thee to swim in, or that the earth hath not room enough for
thee to tread upon, than that there is not matter enough in God, for
thy longest meditations, and most delighting, satisfying thoughts. The
blessed angels and saints in heaven, will find enough in God alone to
employ their minds to all eternity. Oh horrid darkness and atheism
that yet remaineth on our hearts! that we should want matter for our
thoughts, to keep them from feeding upon air or filth! or want matter
for our delight, to keep our minds from begging it at the creature's
door, or hungering for the husks that feed the swine! when we have the
infinite God, omnipotent, omniscient, most good and bountiful, our
life, and hope, and happiness, to think on with delight.
[Sidenote: The world to come.]
_Direct._ III. If you have but an eye of faith, to see the things of
the unseen world, as revealed in the sacred word, you cannot want
matter to employ your thoughts. Scripture is the glass in which you
may see the other world. There you may see the Ancient of Days, the
Eternal Majesty shining in his glory, for the felicitating of holy,
glorified spirits. There you may see the human nature advanced above
angels, and enjoying the highest glory next to the uncreated Majesty;
and Christ reigning as the King of all the world, and all the angels
of God obeying, honouring, and worshipping him. You may see him
sending his angels on his gracious messages, to the lowest members of
his body, the little ones of his flock on earth; you may see him
interceding for all his saints, and procuring their peace and
entertainment with the Father; and preparing for their reception when
they pass into those mansions, and welcoming them one by one as they
pass hence. There you may see the glorious, celestial society
attending, admiring, extolling, worshipping, the Great Creator, the
Gracious Redeemer, and the Eternal Spirit, with uncessant, glorious,
and harmonious praise; you may see them burning in the delicious
flames of holy love, drawn out by the vision of the face of God, and
by the streams of love which he continually poureth out upon them; you
may see the magnetic attraction of the uncreated love, and the
felicitating closure of the attracted love of holy spirits, thus
united unto God by Christ, and feasting everlastingly upon him; you
may see the ravishments of joy, and the unspeakable pleasures, which
all these blessed spirits have in this transporting sight, and love,
and praise. You may see the ecstasies of joy which possess the souls
of those that are newly passed from the body, and escaped the sins and
miseries of this world, and find there such sudden ravishing
entertainment, unspeakable beyond their former expectations,
conceivings, or belief. You may see there with what wonder, what pity,
what loathing and detestation, those holy, glorified souls look down
upon earth, on the negligence, contempt, sensuality, and profaneness
of the dreaming and distracted world! You may see there what you shall
be for ever, if you be the holy ones of Christ, and where you must
dwell, and what you must do, and what you shall enjoy. All this you
may so know by sound believing, as to be carried to it as sincerely as
if your eyes had seen it, Heb. xi. 1; 2 Cor. v. 7. And yet can your
thoughts be idle, or carnal, or worldly and sinful, for want of work?
Are your meditations dry and barren for want of matter to employ them?
Doth the fire of love or other holy affections go out for want of fuel
to feed it? Are not heaven and eternity spacious enough for your minds
to expatiate in? Is not such a world as that sufficient for you to
study, with fresh and delectable variety of discoveries from day to
day? or that which is more delightful than variety? Would you have
more matter, or higher and more excellent matter, or sweeter and more
pleasant matter, or matter which doth nearlier concern yourselves? Get
that faith which all that shall be saved live by, which makes things
absent as operative (in some measure) as if they were present, and
that which will be as if it now were, and that which is unseen as if
it were now open to your eyes; and then your thoughts will want
neither matter to work upon, nor altogether an actuating excitation.
If this were not enough, I might tell you what faith can see also in
hell, which is not unworthy of your serious thoughts.[303] What work
is there? what direful complaints and lamentations? what
self-tormentings, and what sense of God's displeasure, and for what?
But I will wholly pass this by, that you may see there is delightful
work enough for your thoughts, and that I set you no unpleasant task.
[Sidenote: The work of love.]
_Direct._ IV. Get but the love of God well kindled in your heart, and
it will find employment, even the most high and sweet employment, for
your thoughts. Yourselves shall be the judges, whether your love doth
not for the most part rule your thoughts, assigning them their work,
and directing them when, and how long to think on it. See but how a
lustful lover is carried after a beloved, silly piece of flesh! Their
thoughts will so easily and so constantly run after it, that they need
no spur! Mark in what a stream it carrieth them! how it feedeth and
quickeneth their invention, and elevateth an ordinary fancy into a
poetical and passionate strain! What abundance of matter can a lover
find, in the narrow compass of a dirty corpse, for his thoughts to
work on night and day! And will not the love of God then much more
fill and feast your thoughts? How easily can the love of money find
matter for the thoughts of the worldling from one year to another? It
is easy to think of any thing which you love. Oh what a happy spring
of meditation, is a rooted, predominant love of God! Love him
strongly, and you cannot forget him. You will then see him in every
thing that meets you; and hear him in every one that speaketh to you:
if you miss him, or have offended him, you will think on him with
grief; if you taste of his love, you will think of him with delight;
if you have but hope, you will think of him with desire, and your
minds will be taken up in seeking him, and in understanding and using
the means by which you may come to enjoy him. Love is ingenious, and
full, and quick, and active, and resolute; it is valiant, and patient,
and exceeding industrious, and delighteth to encounter difficulties,
and to appear in labours, and to show itself in advantageous
sufferings; and therefore it maketh the mind in which it reigneth
exceeding busy, and findeth the thoughts a world of work. If God be
not in all the thoughts of the ungodly, Psal. x. 4, it is because he
is not in his heart. He may be "nigh their mouths," but he is "far
from their reins," Jer. xii. 2. Do those men believe themselves, or
would they be believed by any one that is wise, who say they love God
above all, and yet neither think of him, nor love to think of him; but
are unwearied in thinking of their wealth, and honours, and the
pleasures of their flesh? "Consider this, ye that forget God, lest he
tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver you," Psal. 1. 22.
[Sidenote: Jesus Christ and all the work of redemption.]
_Direct._ V. Soundly understand the wonderful mystery of man's
redemption, and know Jesus Christ, and you need not want employment
for your thoughts. For "in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge," Col. ii. 3. "He is the power of God, and the wisdom of
God," 1 Cor. i. 24. If the study of Aristotle, Plato, Plotinus, and
their numerous followers and commentators, can find work for the
thoughts of men that would know the works of God, or would be
accounted good philosophers, even for many years together, or a great
part of their lives, what work then may a christian find for his
thoughts in Jesus Christ, "who of God is made unto us wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption," 1 Cor. i. 30. "For
it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell," Col. i.
19. And therefore in him there is fulness of matter for our
meditations. As Paul "determined to know nothing" (or make ostentation
of no other knowledge) "but Christ crucified," 1 Cor. ii. 2; so if
your thoughts had nothing to work upon many years together, but Christ
crucified, they need not stand still a moment for want of most
suitable and delightful matter. The mystery of the incarnation alone,
may find you work to search and admire many ages! But if thence you
proceed to that world of wonderful matter which you may find in his
doctrine, miracles, example, sufferings, temptations, victories,
resurrection, ascension; and in his kingly, prophetical, and priestly
offices; and in all the benefits which he hath purchased for his
flock; oh, what full and pleasant work is here for the daily thoughts
of a believer! The soul may dwell here with continual delight, till it
say with Paul, Gal. ii. 20, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now
live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me
and gave himself for me." Therefore daily "bow your knees to the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches
of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner
man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being
rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all
saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth; and height, and to
know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be
filled with all the fulness of God," Eph. iii. 14-19.
[Sidenote: The holy Scriptures.]
_Direct._ VI. Search the holy Scriptures, and acquaint yourselves well
with the oracles of God, which are able to make you wise unto
salvation, and you will find abundant matter for your thoughts. If you
cannot find work enough for your minds, among all those heights and
depths, those excellencies and difficulties, it is because you never
understood them, or never set your hearts to search them. What
mysterious doctrines, how sublime and heavenly, are there for you to
meditate on as long as you live! What a perfect law, a system of
precepts most spiritual and pure! What terrible threatenings against
offenders are there to be matter of your meditations. What wonderful
histories of love and mercy! What holy examples! What a treasury of
precious promises, on which lieth our hope of life eternal! What full
and free expressions of grace! What a joyful act of pardon and
oblivion to penitent, believing sinners! In a word, the character of
our inheritance, and the law which we must be governed and judged by,
are there before us for our daily meditation! David, that had much
less of it than we, saith, "O how love I thy law! it is my meditation
all the day," Psal. cxix. 97. And God said to Joshua, "This book of
the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate
therein day and night, that thou mayst observe to do according to all
that is written therein," Josh. i. 8. And Moses commanded the
Israelites, that "these words should be in their hearts, and that they
teach them diligently to their children, and talk of them when they
sat in their houses, and when they walked by the way, and when they
lay down, and when they rose up, and to write them on the posts of
their houses, and on their gates," &c. that they might be sure to
remember them, Deut. vi. 7.
[Sidenote: Ourselves as we are God's work.]
_Direct._ VII. Know thyself well as thou art the work of God, and in
thyself thou wilt find abundant matter for thy meditations. There thou
hast the natural image of God to meditate on and admire; even the noble
faculties of thy understanding and free will, and executive power. And
thou hast his moral or spiritual image to meditate on, if thou be not
unregenerate: even thy holy wisdom, will, and power, or thy holy light,
and love, and power with promptitude for holy practice; and all in the
unity of holy life.[304] And there thou hast his relative image to
meditate on; even thy being, 1. The lord or owner. 2. The ruler. 3. The
benefactor to the inferior creatures, and their end. Oh the world of
mysteries which thou carriest continually about thee in that little
room. What abundance of wonders are in thy body, which is fearfully and
wonderfully made! And the greater wonders in thy soul. Thou art thyself
the clearest glass that God is to be seen in under heaven, as thou art a
man and a saint! And therefore the worthiest matter for thy own
meditations (except that holy word, which is thy rule, and the holy
church, which is but a coalition of many such). What a shame is it, that
almost all men do live and die such strangers to themselves, as to be
utterly unacquainted with the innumerable excellencies and mysteries,
which God hath laid up in them; and yet to let their thoughts run out
upon vanities and toys, and complain of their barrenness, and want of
matter, to feed their better meditations.
[Sidenote: Our sins and wants.]
_Direct._ VIII. Be not a stranger to the many sins, and wants, and
weaknesses of thy soul, and thou never needest to be empty of matter
for thy meditations. And though these thoughts be not the sweetest,
yet thy own folly hath made them necessary. If thou be dangerously
sick, or but painfully sore, thou canst scarce forget it: if poverty
afflict thee with pinching wants, thy thoughts are taken up with cares
and trouble day and night. If another wrong thee, thou canst easily
think on it. And hast thou so often wronged thy God and Saviour, and
so unkindly vilified his mercy, and so unthankfully set light by
saving grace, and so presumptuously and securely ventured on his
wrath, and yet dost thou find a scarcity of matter for thy
meditations? Hast thou all the sins of thy youth and ignorance to
think on, and all the sins of thy rashness and sensuality, and of thy
negligence and sloth, and of thy worldliness and selfishness, ambition
and pride, thy passions and thy omissions, and all thy sinful
thoughts and words, and yet art thou scanted of matter for thy
thoughts? Dost thou carry about thee such a body of death? so much
selfishness, pride, worldliness, and carnality; so much ignorance,
unbelief, averseness to God, and backwardness to all that is spiritual
and holy; so much passion, and readiness to sin; and yet dost thou not
find enough to think on? Look over the sins of all thy life: see them
in all their aggravations; as they have been committed against
knowledge, or means and helps, against mercies and judgments, and thy
own vows or promises; in prosperity and under affliction itself; in
secret and with others; in thy general and particular calling, and in
all thy relations; in every place, and time, and condition that thou
hast lived in; thy sins against God directly, and thy injuries or
neglects of man: sins against holy duties, and sins in holy duties; in
prayer, hearing, reading, sacraments, meditation, conference,
reproofs, and receiving of reproofs from others: thy negligent
preparations for death and judgment; the strangeness of thy soul to
God and heaven.[305]--Is not here work enough for thy meditations?
certainly if thou think so, it is because thy heart never felt the
bitterness of sin, nor was ever yet acquainted with true repentance;
but the time is yet to come, that light must show thee what sin is,
and what thou art, and what thou hast done, and how full thy heart is
of the serpent's brood, and that thy sin must find thee out! Dost thou
not know that thy sins are as the sands of the shore, or as the hairs
upon thy head for number? and that every sin hath deadly poison in it,
and malignant enmity to God and holiness; and yet are they not enough
to keep thy thoughts from being idle? Judge by their language whether
it be so with penitents: Psal. li. 2, 3, "Wash me throughly from my
wickedness, and cleanse me from my sin; for I acknowledge my
transgressions, and my sin is ever before me." Psal. xl. 12, "For
innumerable evils have compassed me about; mine iniquities have taken
hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up: they are more than the
hairs of my head: therefore my heart faileth me." Psal. cxix. 57, "I
thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies." True
repentance is thus described: Ezek. xxxvi. 31, "Then shall ye remember
your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall
loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your own iniquities, and for
your abominations." Yea, God's forgiving and forgetting your sins,
must not make you forget them. Ezek. xvi. 60-63, "I will establish to
thee an everlasting covenant; then shalt thou remember thy ways and be
ashamed. And I will establish my covenant with thee; that thou mayst
remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more,
because of thy shame, when I am pacified towards thee for all that
thou hast done, saith the Lord God of hosts."
[Sidenote: Satan's temptations.]
_Direct._ IX. Be not a stranger to the methods, and subtleties, and
diligence of Satan, in his temptations to undo thy soul, and thou wilt
find matter enough to keep thy thoughts from idleness. He is thinking
how to deceive thee and destroy thee; and doth it not concern thee to
think how to defeat him and escape and save thyself? If the hare run
not as fast as the dog, he is like to die for it. Oh that thy eyes
were but opened to see the snares that are laid for thee in thy
nature, in thy temperature and passions, in thy interests, thy
relations, thy friends and acquaintance, and ordinary company; in thy
businesses, and possessions, thy house, and goods, and lands, and
cattle, and tenants, and servants, and all that thou tradest with, or
hast to do with; in thine apparel and recreations; in thy meat and
drink, and sleep, and ease, in prosperity and adversity; in men's good
thoughts, or bad thoughts of thee; in their praise and dispraise; in
their benefits and their wrongs; their favour and their falling out;
in their pleasing or displeasing thee; in thy thinking and in thy
speaking, and in every thing that thou hast to do with! Didst thou but
see all these temptations, and also see to what they tend, and whither
they would bring thee, thou wouldst find matter to cure the idleness
or impertinences of thy thoughts.
[Sidenote: The whole world.]
_Direct._ X. The world and every creature in it, which thou daily
seest, and which revealeth to thee the great Creator, might be enough
to keep thy thoughts from idleness. If sun, and moon, and stars; if
heaven and earth, and all therein, be not enough to employ thy
thoughts, let thy idleness have some excuse. I know thou wilt say,
that it is upon some of these things that thou dost employ them: yea,
but dost thou not first destroy, and mortify, and make nonsense of
that on which thou meditatest? Dost thou not first separate it from
God, who is the life, and glory, and end, and meaning of every
creature? Thou killest it, and turnest out the soul, and thinkest only
on the corpse; or on the creature made another thing as food for thy
sensual desires! As the kite thinketh on the birds and chickens, to
devour them to satisfy her greedy appetite; thus you can think of all
God's works, so far as they accommodate your flesh. But the world is
God's book, which he set man at first to read; and every creature is a
letter, or syllable, or word, or sentence, more or less, declaring the
name and will of God. There you may behold his wonderful almightiness,
his unsearchable wisdom, his unmeasurable goodness, mercy, and
compassions; and his singular regard of the sons of men! Though the
ungodly, proud, and carnal wits do but play with, and study the shape,
and comeliness, and order of the letters, syllables, and words,
without understanding the sense and end; yet those that with holy and
illuminated minds come thither to behold the footsteps of the great,
and wise, and bountiful Creator, may find not only matter to employ,
but to profit and delight their thoughts; they may be rapt up by the
things that are seen, into the sacred admirations, reverence, love,
and praise of the glorious Maker of all, who is unseen: and thus to
the sanctified all things will be sanctified; and the study of common
things will be to them divine and holy.
[Sidenote: Providence about the world.]
_Direct._ XI. Be not a stranger to, or neglectful disregarder of, the
wonders of providence in God's administrations in the world, and thou
wilt find store of matter for thy thoughts. The dreadfulness of
judgments, the delightfulness of mercies, the mysteriousness of all,
will be matter of daily search and admiration to thee. Think of the
strange preservations of the church; of a people hated by all the
world! how such a flock of lambs is kept in safety, among so many
ravenous wolves. Think of God's sharp afflictions of his offending
people; of his severe consuming judgments exercised sometimes upon the
wicked, when he means to set up here and there a monument of his
justice, for the warning of presumptuous sinners. Go see how the
wicked are deceived by befooling pleasures, and how the prosperity of
fools destroyeth them, Prov. i. 32; how they flourish to-day as a
green bay-tree, Psal. xxxvii. 35, or as the flower of the field; and
then go into the sanctuary and see their end, how to-morrow they are
cut down and withered, and the place of their abode doth know them no
more. Go see how God delighteth to abase the proud, and to "scatter
them in the imagination of their hearts; to put down the mighty from
their seats, and to exalt them of low degree; to fill the hungry with
good things, and to send the rich empty away," Luke i. 51-53. "How
great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! His kingdom is an
everlasting kingdom," Dan. iv. 3. "He ruleth in the kingdom of men,
and giveth it to whomsoever he will," ver. 26, 32. "For wisdom and
might are his: and he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth
kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and
knowledge to them that know understanding. He revealeth the deep and
secret things; he knoweth what is in darkness, and the light dwelleth
with him," Dan. ii. 20-22. "The Lord is known by the judgment which he
executeth; the wicked is snared in the work of his own hand," Psal.
ix. 16. Mark how the upright are afflicted daily, and how the feet of
violence trample on them; and yet how they rejoice, and adhere to that
God who doth afflict them, and pity and pray for their miserable
persecutors and oppressors; and how "all things do work together for
their good," Rom. viii. 28. "Wonderful are all the works of God,
sought out of them that have pleasure therein," Psal. cxi. 2. The
histories of former ages, and the observation of the present, may show
thee a world of matter for thy thought.[306]
[Sidenote: God's image.]
_Direct._ XII. Understand all the lineaments and beauty of God's image
upon a holy soul, the excellency and use of every grace, and the
harmony of all; and thou wilt have store of profitable matter for thy
thoughts. Know the nature of every grace, and the place and order of
it, and the office, use, and exercise of it; and the means and
motives, the opposites, dangers, and preservatives of it: know it as
God's image, and see and love thy Maker, and Redeemer, and Regenerator
in it: know how God loveth it, and how useful it is to our serving and
honouring him in the world; and how deformed and vile a thing the soul
is, that is without it: know well what faith is; what wisdom and
prudence are; what repentance, and humility, and mortification are;
what hope, and fear, and desire, and obedience, and meekness, and
temperance, and sobriety, and chastity, and contentation, and justice,
and self-denial are; especially know the nature and force of love to
God, and to his servants, and to neighbours, and to enemies: know what
a holy resignation and devotedness to God are; and what are
watchfulness, diligence, zeal, fortitude, and perseverance, patience,
submission, and peace: know what the worth, and use, the helps, and
hinderances of all these are, and then your thoughts will not be idle.
[Sidenote: The daily motions of the Spirit.]
_Direct._ XIII. If thou be not a stranger to the Spirit of grace, or a
neglecter of his daily motions, and persuasions, and operations on thy
heart, the attendance and improvement of them will keep thy thoughts
from rusty idleness and a vagrant course. It is not a small matter to be
daily entertaining so noble a guest, and daily observing the offers and
motions of so great a Benefactor; and daily receiving the gifts of so
bountiful a Lord, and daily accepting his necessary helps; and daily
obeying the saving precepts of so great and beneficent a God. If you
know how insufficient you are without him, to will or to do, to
perform, or to think, or purpose any good, and that all your sufficiency
is of him.[307] If you knew that it is the great skill and diligence
requisite in all that will sail successively to the desired land of
rest, to know the winds of the Spirit's helps, and to set all your sails
to the right improvement of them, and to bestir you while such gales
continue, you would find greater work than wandering for your thoughts.
[Sidenote: All our duty to God and man.]
_Direct._ XIV. Be not ignorant or neglective of that frame and course
of holy duty to God and man, in which all your lives should be
employed; and you cannot want matter to employ your thoughts upon.
Your pulse, and breath, and natural motions, will hold on whether you
think of them or not; but so will not moral, holy motion, for that
must be rational and voluntary. You have all the powers of soul and
body, to exercise either upon God or for God. You must know him, fear
him, love him, obey him, trust him, worship him, pray to him, praise
him, give thanks to him, bewail your sins, and hear his word, and
reverently use his name and day. And is not the understanding and
learning how to do all this, and the seasonable, serious practice of
it all, sufficient to keep the thoughts from idleness? Oh what a deal
of work doth a serious christian find for his thoughts, about some one
of these! about praying aright, or hearing, or receiving the sacrament
of Christ's body and blood aright! But besides all these, what a deal
of duty have you to perform, to magistrates, pastors, parents,
masters, and other superiors; to subjects, people, children, servants,
and other inferiors; to every neighbour, for his soul, his body, his
estate, and name; and to do to all as you would be done by. And
besides all this, how much have you to do directly for yourselves; for
your souls, and bodies, and families, and estates! against your
ignorance, infidelity, pride, selfishness, sensuality, worldliness,
passion, sloth, intemperance, cowardice, lust, uncharitableness, &c.
Is not here matter for your thoughts?
[Sidenote: All our particular mercies.]
_Direct._ XV. Overlook not that life full of particular mercies, which
God hath bestowed on yourselves, and you will find pleasant and
profitable matter for your thoughts. To spare me the labour of repeating
them, look back to chap. iii. direct. xiv. Think of that mercy which
brought you into the world, and chose your parents, your place, and your
condition; which brought you up, and bore with you patiently in all your
sins, and closely warned you of every danger: which seasonably afflicted
you, and seasonably delivered you, and heard your prayers in many a
distress: which hath yet kept the worst of you from death and hell; and
hath regenerated, justified, adopted, and sanctified those that he hath
fitted for eternal life. How many sins he hath forgiven! How many he
hath in part subdued! How many and suitable helps he hath vouchsafed
you! From how many enemies he hath saved you! How oft he hath delighted
you by his word and grace! What comforts you have had in his servants
and ordinances, in your relations and callings! His mercies are
innumerable, and yet do your meditations want matter to supply them? If
I should but recite the words of David in many thankful psalms, you
would think mercy found his thoughts employment.
[Sidenote: The account at judgment.]
_Direct._ XVI. Foresee that exact and righteous judgment, which
shortly you have to undergo; and it will do much to find you
employment for your thoughts. A man that must give an account to God
of all that he hath done, both good and evil, and knoweth not how
soon, for aught he knows before to-morrow, methinks should find
himself something better than vanity to think on! Is it nothing to be
ready for so great a day? To have your justification ready? your
accounts made up? your consciences cleansed and quieted on good
grounds? To know what answer to make for yourselves against the
accuser? To be clear and sure that you are indeed regenerate, and have
a part in Christ, and are washed in his blood, and reconciled to God,
and shall not prove hypocrites and self-deceivers in that trying day!
when it is a sentence that must finally decide the question, whether
we shall be saved or damned; and must determine us to heaven or hell
for ever; and you have so short and uncertain a time for your
preparation: will not this administer matter to your thoughts? If you
were going to a judgment for your lives, or all your estates, you
would think it sufficient to provide you matter for your thoughts by
the way. How much more this final, dreadful judgment!
[Sidenote: Our afflictions.]
_Direct._ XVII. If all this will not serve the turn, it is strange if
God call not home your thoughts, by sharp afflictions: and methinks the
improvement of them, and the removal of them, should find some
employment for your thoughts. It is time then to "search and try your
ways, and turn again unto the Lord," Lam. iii. 4. To find out the Achan
that troubleth your peace, and know the voice of the rod, and what God
is angry at, and what it is that he calleth you to mind! To know what
root it is that beareth these bitter fruits; and how they may be
sanctified to make you conformable to Christ, and "partakers of his
holiness," Heb. xii. 10. Besides the exercise of holy patience and
submission, there is a great deal of work to be done in sufferings; to
exercise faith, to honour God, and the good cause of our suffering, and
to humble ourselves for the evil cause, and to get the benefit. And if
you will not meditate of the duty, you shall meditate of the pain,
whether you will or not; and say, as Lam. iii. 17-20, "I forgat
prosperity: and I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the
Lord: remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the
gall: my soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me." Put
not God to remember you by his spur, and help your meditations by so
sharp a means! "Therefore did he consume their days in vanity, and their
years in trouble: when he slew them, then they sought him, and they
returned and inquired early after God: and they remembered that God was
their rock, and the high God their Redeemer," Psal. lxxviii. 33-35.
[Sidenote: The business of your callings.]
_Direct._ XVIII. Be diligent in your callings, and spend no time in
idleness, and perform your labours with holy minds, to the glory of
God, and in obedience to his commands, and then your thoughts will
have the less leisure and liberty for vanity or idleness. Employments
of the body will employ the thoughts: they that have much to do have
much to think on; for they must do it prudently, and skilfully, and
carefully, that they may do it successfully; and therefore must think
how to do it. And the urgency and necessity of business will almost
necessitate the thoughts, and so carry them on and find them work
(though some employments more than others). And let none think that
these thoughts are bad or vain because they are about worldly things;
for if our labours themselves be not bad or vain, then neither are
those thoughts which are needful to the well-doing of our work. Nor
let any worldling please himself with this, and say, My thoughts are
taken up about my calling; for his calling itself is perverted by him,
and made a carnal work to carnal ends, when it should be sanctified.
That the thoughts about your labours may be good, 1. Your labours
themselves must be good, performed in obedience to God, and for the
good of others, and to his glory. 2. Your labours and thoughts must
keep their bounds, and the higher things must be still preferred, and
sought, and thought on in the first place. And your labours must so
far employ your thoughts as is needful to the well-doing of them; but
better things must be thought on, in such labours as leave a vacancy
to the thoughts. But diligence in your calling is a very great help to
keep out sinful thoughts, and to furnish us with thoughts which in
their place are good.
[Sidenote: All ordinances and means of grace.]
_Direct._ XIX. You have all God's spiritual helps and holy ordinances
to feed your meditations, and to quicken them, which should be used
when your minds grow dull or barren. When your minds are empty, and
you cannot pump up plentiful matter for holy thoughts, the reading of
a seasonable book, or conference with a full experienced christian,
will furnish you with matter: so will the hearing of a profitable
sermon: and sometimes prayer will do more than meditation. And
weak-headed persons, of small knowledge and shallow memories, must
fetch the matter of their meditations thus more frequently from
reading and conference than others need to do: as they can hold but
little at a time, so they must go the ofter; as he that goeth to the
water with a spoon or a dish, must go ofter than they that go with a
more capacious vessel. Others can carry a storehouse of meditation
still about them; but persons of very small knowledge and memory, must
have their meditations fed by others, as infants by the spoon.
Therefore a little and often is the best way, both for their reading
or hearing, and for their holy thoughts. How great a mercy is it, that
weak christians have such store of helps; that when their heads are
empty, they have books and friends that are not empty, from whence
they may fetch help as they want it; and that their hearts are not
empty of the love of God, which inclineth them to do more, than their
parts enable them to do.
[Sidenote: The miserable sinful world.]
_Direct._ XX. If all these do not sufficiently furnish your
meditations, look through the world, and see what a multitude of
miserable souls do call for your compassion and daily prayers for
their relief. Think on the many nations that lie in the darkness of
idolatry and infidelity! It is not past the sixth part of the world
that are christians of any sort. The other five parts are heathens,
and Mahometans, and some few Jews. And of this sixth part, it is but a
small part that are reformed from popery, and such corruptions as the
eastern and southern christians also are too much defiled with. And in
the reformed churches, how common are profaneness and worldliness, and
how few are acquainted with the power of godliness! What abundance of
ignorant and ungodly persons are there, who hate the power and
practice of that religion, which they profess themselves they hope to
be saved by (as if they hoped to be saved for hating, persecuting, and
disobeying it). And among those that seem more serious and obedient,
how many are hypocrites! And how many are possessed with pride and
self-conceitedness, which break forth into unruliness, contentions,
and uncharitableness, factions, and divisions in the church! How many
christians are ignorant, passionate, weak, unprofitable, and too many
scandalous! And how few are judicious, prudent, heavenly, charitable,
peaceable, humble, meek, laborious, and fruitful, who set themselves
wholly to be good and to do good! And of these few, how few are there
that are not exercised under heavy afflictions from God, or cruel
persecutions from ungodly men! What tyranny is exercised by the Turk
without, and the pope within, upon the sincerest followers of Christ!
Set all this together, and tell me whether thy compassionate thoughts
or thy prayers do need to go out for want of fuel or matter to feed
upon from day to day?
_Tit._ 3. _Directions how to make good Thoughts effectual:
or, General Directions for Meditation._
Here some directions are preparatory, and some about the work itself.
_Direct._ I. Be sure that reason maintain its authority in the command
and government of your thoughts; and that they be not left masterless
to fancy, and passion, and objects, to carry them which way they
please. Diseased, melancholy, and crazed persons have almost no power
over their own thoughts. They cannot command them to what they would
have them exercised about, nor call them off from any thing they run
out upon; but they are like an unruly horse, that hath a weak rider,
or hath cast the rider; or like a masterless dog, that will not go or
come at your command. Whereas our thoughts should be at the direction
of our reason, and the command of the will, to go and come off as soon
as they are bid. As you see a student can rule his thoughts all day;
he can appoint them what they shall meditate on, and in what order,
and how long; so can a lawyer, a physician, and all sorts of men about
the matters of their arts and callings. And so it should be with a
christian about the matters of his soul. All rules of direction are to
little purpose with them, whose reason hath lost its power in
governing their thoughts. If I tell a man that is deeply melancholy,
Thus and thus you must order your thoughts, he will tell me that he
cannot; his thoughts are not in his power. If you would give never so
much he is not able to forbear thinking of that which is his
disturbance, nor to command his thoughts to that which you direct him,
nor to think, but as he doth, even as his disease and trouble moveth
him. And what good will precepts do to such? Grace, and doctrine, and
exhortation work by reason and the commanding will. If a holy person
could manage his practical, heart-raising meditations, but as orderly,
and constantly, and easily as a carnal, covetous preacher can manage
his thoughts in studying the same things, for carnal ends, (to make a
gain of them or to win applause,) how happily would our work go on!
And is it not sad to think that carnal ends should do so much more
than spiritual, about the same things?
_Direct._ II. Carefully avoid the disease of melancholy; for that
dethroneth reason, and disableth it to rule the thoughts. Distraction
wholly disableth; but melancholy disableth only in part, according to
the measure of its prevalency; and therefore leaveth some room for
advice.
_Direct._ III. Take heed of sloth and negligence of the will, whereby
the directions of reason will be unexecuted, for want of resolution
and command; and so every temptation will carry away the thoughts. A
lazy coachman will let the horses go which way they list, because he
will not strive with them; and will break his neck to save his labour.
If, when you feel unclean or worldly thoughts invade your minds, you
will not give your wills the alarm, and rise up against them, and
resolutely command them out; you will be like a lazy person that lieth
in bed while he seeth thieves robbing his house, and will let all go
rather than he will rise and make resistance (a sign that he hath no
great riches to lose, or else he would stir for it). And if you see
your duty, on what your thoughts should be employed, and will not
resolutely call them up, and command them to their work, you will be
like a sluggard that will let all his servants lie in bed, as well as
he, because he will not speak to call them. You see by daily
experience, that a man's thoughts are much in the power of his will,
and made to obey it. If money and honour, or the delight of knowing,
can cause a wicked preacher to command his own thoughts on good
things, as aforesaid; you may command yours to the same things, if you
will but as resolutely exercise your authority over them.
_Direct._ IV. Use not your thoughts to take their liberty and be
ungoverned; for use will make them headstrong, and not regard the
voice of reason; and it will make reason careless and remiss. Use and
custom have great power on our minds; where we use to go, our path is
plain; but where there is no use, there is no way. Where the water
useth to run there is a channel. It is hard ruling those that are used
to be unruly. If use will do so much with the tongue, (as we find in
some that use to curse, and swear, and speak vainly, and in others
that use to speak soberly and religiously; in some that by use can
speak well in conference, preaching or praying many hours together,
when others that use it not can do almost nothing that way,) why may
it not much prevail with the thoughts?
_Direct._ V. Take heed lest the senses and appetite grow too strong,
and master reason; for if they do, they will at once dispossess it of
the government of the thoughts, and will brutishly usurp the power
themselves. As, when a rebellious army deposeth a king, they do not
only cast off the yoke of subjection themselves, but dissolve the
government as to all other subjects, and usually usurp it themselves,
and make themselves governors. If once you be servants to your fleshly
appetites and sense, your thoughts will have other work to do, and
another way to go, when you call them to holy and necessary things;
especially when the enticing objects are at hand. You may as well
expect a clod to ascend like fire, or a swine to delight in
temperance, as a glutton, or drunkard, or fornicator, to delight in
holy contemplation. Reason and flesh cannot both be the governors.
_Direct._ VI. Keep under passions, that they depose not reason from the
government of your thoughts. I told you before how they cause evil
thoughts; and as much will they hinder good. Four passions are especial
enemies to meditation: 1. Anger. 2. Perplexing grief. 3. Disturbing
fear. 4. But above all, excess of pleasure in any worldly, fleshly
thing. Who can think that the mind is fit for holy contemplation, when
it flames with wrath, or is distracted with grief and care, or trembleth
with fear, or is drunk with pleasure? Grief and fear are the most
harmless of the four; yet all hinder reason from governing the thoughts.
_Direct._ VII. Evil habits are another great hinderance of reason's
command over our thoughts; labour therefore diligently for the cure of
this disease. Though habits do not necessitate, they strongly incline;
and when every good thought must go against a strong and constant
inclination, it will weary reason to drive on the soul, and you can
expect but small success.
_Direct._ VIII. Urgent and oppressing business doth almost necessitate
the thoughts; therefore avoid as much as you can such urgencies, when
you would be free for meditation. Let your thoughts have as little
diverting matter as may be, at those times when you would have them
entire and free for God.
_Direct._ IX. Crowds and ill company are no friends to meditation;
choose therefore the quietness of solitude when you would do much in
this. As it is ill studying in a crowd, and unseasonable before a
multitude to be at secret prayer (except some short ejaculations); so
is it as unmeet a season for holy meditation. The mind that is fixedly
employed with God, or about things spiritual, had need of all possible
freedom and peace, to retire into itself, and abstract itself from
alien things, and seriously intend its greater work.
_Direct._ X. Above all, take heed of sinful interests and designs; for
these are the garrison of Satan, and must be battered down before any
holy cogitations can take place. He that is set upon a design of
rising, or of growing rich, hath something else to do than to
entertain those sober thoughts of things eternal, which are
destructive of his carnal design.
_Direct._ XI. The impediments of reason's authority being thus removed,
distinguish between your occasional and your stated, ordinary course of
thoughts. And as your hands have their ordinary, stated course of
labour, and every day hath its employment which you fore-expect, so let
your thoughts know where is their proper channel, and their every day's
work; and let holy prudence appoint out proportionable time and service
for them. What a life will that man live, that hath no known course of
labour, but only such as he is accidentally called to! His work must
needs be uncertain, various, unprofitable, and uncomfortable, and next
to none. And he that hath not a stated course of employment for his
thoughts, will have them to do him little service. Consider first how
much of the day is usually to be spent in common business; and then
consider, whether it be such as taketh up your thoughts as well as your
hands, or such as leaveth your thoughts at liberty: as a lawyer, a
physician, a merchant, and most tradesmen, must employ their thoughts to
the well-doing of their work; and these must be the more desirous of a
seasonable, vacant hour for meditation, because their thoughts must be
otherwise employed all the rest of the day. But a weaver, a tailor, and
some other tradesmen, and day-labourers, may do their work well, and yet
have their thoughts free for better things a great part of the day;
these must contrive an ordinary way of employment for their thoughts,
when their work doth not require them; and they need no other time for
meditation. The rest must entertain some short, occasional meditations,
intermixed with their business; but they cannot then have time for more
solemn meditation (which differeth from the other, as a set prayer from
a short ejaculation; or a sermon from an occasional short discourse).
They that have more time for their thoughts, must beforehand prudently
consider, how much time it is best to spend in meditation, for the
increase of knowledge, and how much for the exercise of holy affections,
and on what subject, and in what order; and so to know their ordinary
work.
_Direct._ XII. Lay yourselves under the urgency of necessity, and the
power of those motives which should most effectually engage your
thoughts. In the aforesaid instance, what is it that makes a wicked
preacher that he can study divine things orderly from year to year,
but that he is still under the power of his carnal motives, profit and
honour, and some delight? And if you will put yourselves habitually
and statedly also under the sense and power of your far greater
motives, as always perceiving how much it doth concern you, for
yourselves, and others, and the honour of God; this would be a
constant poise and spring, which being duly wound up, would keep the
wheels in equal motion.
_Direct._ XIII. Thus you must make the service of your Master, and the
saving of yourselves and others, your business in the world, which you
follow daily as your ordinary calling, and then it will carry on your
thoughts. Whereas he that serveth God but on the by, with some
occasional service, will think on him or his work but on the by, with
some occasional thoughts. A close and diligent course of holy living, is
the best help to keep a constant, profitable course of holy thinking.
_Direct._ XIV. The chief point of skill and holy wisdom, for this and
other religious duties, is, to take that course which tends to make
religion pleasant, and to draw your souls to delight in God, and to
take heed of that which would make all grievous to you. It will be
easy and sweet to think of that which you take pleasure in. But if
Satan can make all irksome and unpleasant to you, your thoughts will
avoid it as you do a carrion when you stop your nose and haste away.
Psal. civ. 34, saith the psalmist, "My meditation of him shall be
sweet; I will be glad in the Lord."
_Directions about the work itself._
_Direct._ I. As you must never be unfurnished of holy store, so you
must prudently make choice of your particular subject. As the choice
of a fit text is half a good sermon; so the choice of the fittest
matter for you is much of a good meditation. Which requireth some good
acquaintance both with the truth, and with yourselves.
[Sidenote: The order of subjects to be meditated on, as to their
excellency.]
_Direct._ II. To this end you must know in their several degrees, what
subjects are in themselves most excellent to be meditated on. As the
first and highest is the most blessed God himself, and the glorious
person of our Redeemer, and the New Jerusalem or heaven of glory,
where he is revealed to his saints. And then, the blessed society
which there enjoyeth him, and the holy vision, love, and joy, by which
he is enjoyed. And next is the wonderful work of man's redemption, and
the covenant of grace, and the sanctifying operations of the Holy
Ghost, and all the graces that make up God's image on the soul. And
then is the state and privileges of the church, which is the body of
Christ, for whom all this is done and prepared. And next is the work
of the gospel, by which this church is gathered, edified, and saved.
And then, the matter of our own salvation, and our state of grace, and
way to life. And then, the salvation of others. And then, the common,
public good, in temporal respects. And then, our personal, bodily
welfare. And next, the bodily welfare of our neighbours. And lastly,
those things that do but remotely tend to these. This is the order of
desirableness and worth, which will tell you what should have
estimative precedency in your thoughts and prayers.
_Direct._ III. You must also know what subject is then most seasonable
for your thoughts, and refuse even an unseasonable good. For good may
be used by unseasonableness to do hurt. It may be thrust in by the
tempter, on purpose to divert you from some greater good, or to mar
some other duty in hand; so he will oft put in some good meditation to
turn you from a better, or in the midst of sermon or prayer: or if he
see you out of temper to perform a duty of meditation, or that you
have no leisure, without neglecting your more proper work, he will
then drive you on, that by the issue he may discourage and hurt you,
and make the duty unprofitable and grievous to you, and make you more
averse to it afterwards. Untimely duty may be no duty, but a sin,
which is covered with the material good. As the Pharisees'
sabbath-rest was, when mercy called them to violate it.
_Direct._ IV. Examine well, and determine of the end and use of your
meditations, before you set upon them, and then labour to fit them to
that special end. The end is first in the intention, and from the love
of it the means are chosen and used. If it be knowledge that you are
to increase, it is evidence of truth, with the matter to be known, in
a convincing, scientifical way, that you must meditate on. If it be
divine belief that is to be increased or exercised, it is divine
revelations, both matter, and evidence of credibility, which you have
to meditate on. If you would excite the fear of God, you have his
greatness, and terribleness, his justice, and threatenings to meditate
on. If you would excite the love of God, you have his goodness, mercy,
Christ, and promises to meditate on. If you would prepare for death
and judgment, you have your hearts to try, your lives to repent of,
your graces to discover, and revive, and exercise, and your soul's
diseases to feel, and the remedies to apply: so whenever you mean to
make any thing of a set meditation, determine first of the end, and by
it of the means.
_Direct._ V. Clear up the truth of things to your minds as you can,
before you take much pains to work them on your affections, lest you
find after that you did but misinform yourselves, and bestow all your
labour in vain, to make deluding images on your minds, and bring your
affections to bow before them. As many have done by espousing errors,
who have laid out their zeal upon them many years together, and made
them the reason of hatred, and contention, and bitter censurings of
opposing brethren; and have made parties, and divisions, and
disturbances in the church for them, and after so many years' zealous
sinning, have found them to be but like Michal's image, a man of straw
instead of David; and that they made all this filthy pudder but in a
dream.
_Direct._ VI. Next labour to perceive the weight of every thing you
think on, be it good or evil: and to that end be sure, that God and
eternity be taken in, in every meditation, and all things judged of as
they stand related to God, and to your eternal state; which only can
give you the true estimate and sense of good and evil: there will
still the life, and soul, and power be wanting in your most excellent
meditations, further than God is in them, and they are divine. When
you meditate on any Scripture truth, think of it as a beam from the
Eternal Light, indited by the Holy Ghost, to lead men by obedience to
felicity. Behold it with reverence, as a letter or message sent from
heaven, and as a thing of grand importance to your souls. When you
meditate of any grace, think on it as a part of the image of God,
implanted and actuated by the Holy Ghost, to advance the soul into
communion with God, and prepare it for him. When you meditate on any
duty, remember who commandeth it, and whom you are chiefly to respect
in your obedience; and what will be the end of obeying or disobeying.
When you meditate on any sin, remember that it is the defacing or
privation of God's image, and the rebel that riseth up against him in
all his attributes, to depose him from the government of the soul and
of the world; and foresee the end to which it tendeth. Take in God, if
you would feel life and power in all that you meditate on.
_Direct._ VII. Let your ordinary meditations be on the great and
necessary things; and think less frequently on the less necessary
matters. Meditation is but a means to a further end: it is to work
some good upon the soul: use therefore those subjects which are most
powerful and fit to work it. Great truths will do great works upon the
heart. They are usually the surest and most past controversy and
doubt. There is more weight, and substance, and power in one article
of the creed, or one petition of the Lord's prayer, or one commandment
of the decalogue, to benefit the soul, than in abundance of the
controverted opinions which men have troubled themselves and others
with in all ages; as one purse of gold will buy more than a great
quantity of farthings. Meditating on great and weighty truths, makes
great and weighty christians. And meditating inordinately on light and
controverted opinions, makes light, opinionative, contentious
professors. Little things may have their time and place, but it must
be but little time and the last place; except when God maketh any
little thing to be the matter of our lawful calling and employment (as
all the common matters of the world are little); and then they may
have a larger proportion of our time, though still they must have the
lowest place in our estimation and in our hearts.
_Direct._ VIII. Whenever you are called to meditate on any smaller
truth or thing, see that you take it not as separated from the
greater, but still behold it as connexed to them, and planted and
growing in them, and receiving their life and beauty from them; so
that you may still preserve the life and interest of the greatest
matters in your hearts, and may not mortify the least, and turn it
into a deceit or idol. We are to climb upwards, and not to descend
downwards: and therefore we begin at the body of the tree, and so pass
up to the few and greatest boughs; and thence to the smaller numerous
branches, which as they are hard to be discerned, numbered, and
remembered, so are they not all strong enough to bear us; but are
fitted rather to be looked on, than trodden and rested on. But if you
take them not as growing from the greater boughs, but cut them off,
they lose their life, and beauty, and fruitfulness. If all the
controversies in the church had been managed with due honour and
preservation of holiness, charity, unity, peace, and greater truths;
and if all the circumstantials in religion had been ordered with a
salvo, and due regard, and just subserviency to the power and
spirituality of holy worship, the christian world would have had more
life, and strength, and fruitfulness, and less imagery, unholy,
ludicrous compliment, and hypocrisy.
_Direct._ IX. Let the end and order of your meditations be first for
the settling of your judgments, and next for the resolving and
settling of your wills, and thirdly, for the reforming and bettering
of your lives; and, but in the fourth place, after all these, for the
raising of your holy passions or lively feeling; which must have but
its proper room and place. But indeed where some of these are done
already, they may be supposed, and we may proceed to that which is yet
to do. As if you know what is sin and duty, but do it not, your
meditation must be, not to make you know what you knew not, but first
to consider well of what you know, and set the powerful truth before
you; and then labour hereby to bring your wills to a fixed resolution
of obedience. But if it be a truth whose principal use is on the will
and affections, (as to draw up the heart to the love of God, by the
meditating on his attractive excellencies,) then the most pains must
there be taken. Of which see chap. iii. direct. xi.
_Direct._ X. Turn your cogitations often into soliloquies; methodically
and earnestly preaching to your own hearts, as you would do on that
subject to others if it were to save their souls.[308] As this will keep
you in order, from rambling and running out, and will also find you
continual matter, (for method is a wonderful help both to invention,
memory, and delight,) so it will bring things soonest to your
affections: and earnest pleading of convincing reasons with our own
hearts, is a powerful way to make the fire burn, and to kindle desire,
fear, love, hatred, repentings, shame, sorrow, joy, resolution, or any
good effect. Convictions, upbraidings, expostulations, reprehensions,
and self-persuasions may be very powerful; when a dull way of bare
thinking is but like a dull way of preaching, without any lively
application, which little stirs the hearers. Learn purposely of the
liveliest books you read, and of the best and liveliest preachers you
hear, to preach to your hearts, and use it orderly, and you will find it
a most powerful way of meditating.
_Direct._ XI. Turn your meditations often into ejaculatory prayers and
addresses unto God; for that will keep you reverent, serious, and
awake, and make all the more powerful, because the more divine. When
you meditate on sin, turn sometimes to God, by penitent lamentation,
and say, Lord, what a wretch and rebel was I to entertain such an
enemy of thine in my heart! and for nothing to offend thee and violate
thy laws! O pardon, O cleanse me, O strengthen me! Conquer and cast
out this odious enemy of thee and me. So when you are seeking to
excite or exercise any grace, send up a fervent request to God to show
his love and power upon thy dead and sluggish heart, and to be the
principal agent in a work which is so much his own. Prayer is a most
holy duty, in which the sold hath so nearly to do with God, that if
there be any holy seriousness in the heart, it will be thus excited: a
dull and wandering mind will bear some reverence to God; and therefore
interest him in all.
_Direct._ XII. Let every meditation be undertaken in a humble sense of
thy own insufficiency, with a believing dependence on thy Head and
Saviour, to guide and quicken thee by his Holy Spirit, and to cover
the infirmities of thy holiest thoughts. Whatever good is written upon
our hearts, must be "written by the Spirit of the living God:" and
this "trust we must have through Christ to God-ward: not that we are
sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our
sufficiency is of God," 2 Cor. iii. 3-5. How heavily will all go on,
or rather how certainly shall we labour in vain, and cast off all, if
Christ cast us off, and leave us to ourselves! Think not that your
life and strength are radically in yourselves: go to him by renewed
acts of faith, by whom you must be quickened.
_Direct._ XIII. Let not your holy thoughts be so seldom as to keep you
strange to the matter of your meditations, nor so short as to be gone
before you have made any thing of it. Now and then a cursory thought
will not acquaint the soul with God, nor bring it to a habit and
temperament of holiness. Whereas that which you think on frequently and
seriously, as your business and delight, will become the nutriment and
nature of your souls; as the air which we daily breathe in, and the food
which we daily live upon, do to our bodies. And you will find that as
use will breed skill and strength, so it will cause such acquaintance
and familiarity, as will very much tend to the fruit and comfort of the
work. Whereas they that only cast now and then a look at God and
holiness, or are seldom and short in holy thoughts, do lose so quickly
the little which they get, that it makes no great alteration on them.
_Direct._ XIV. Yet do not overdo in point of violence or length; but
carry on the work sincerely according to the abilities of your minds and
bodies; lest going beyond your strength, you craze your brains, and
discompose your minds, and disable yourselves to do any thing at all.
Though we cannot estimatively love God too much, yet is it possible to
think of him with too much passion, or too long at once; because it may
be more than the spirits and brain can bear; and if once they be
overstrained, if they break not, like a lute-string screwed too high,
they will be like a leg that is out of joint, that can pain you, but not
bear you. While the soul rideth on so lame or dull a horse as the body
is, it must not go the pace which it desireth, but which the body can
bear; or else it may quickly be dismounted, or like one that rideth on a
tired horse. It is not the horse that goeth at first with chafing heat
and violence, which will travel best; but you must put on in the pace
that you are able to hold out. You little know how lamentable and
distressed a case you will be in, or how great an advantage the tempter
hath, if once he do but tire you by overdoing!
_Direct._ XV. Choose not unnecessarily or ordinarily the bitterest or
most unpleasant subjects for your meditation, lest you make it grow a
burden to you; but dwell most on the sweet, delightful thoughts of the
infinite love of God revealed by Christ, and the eternal glory purchased
by him, and the wonderful helps and mercies in the way. As it is the
gospel which Christ's ministers must preach to others, so it is the
gospel which in your meditations you must preach most to yourselves. It
is love and pleasure which you must principally endeavour to excite: and
you must do it by contemplating amiableness and felicity, the objects of
love and pleasure. For the thoughts of terror, and wrath, and misery,
are unfit to stir up these: though to the unconverted, dull, secure,
presumptuous, or sensual sinner, such thoughts are very necessary to
awake him, and prepare him for the thoughts of love and peace. It is the
principal part of this art, to keep off loathing and averseness, and to
keep up readiness and delight.
_Direct._ XVI. When you are in company, let out the fruit of your
secret meditations, in holy, edifying discourse. Gather not for
yourselves only, but that you may communicate to others. The "good
scribe instructed to the kingdom of God," must "bring forth out of his
treasure things new and old," Matt. xiii. 52. That is good which doth
good. God is communicative; and the best men are likest to him: nay, a
fluent discourse sometimes is a great instructor to ourselves, and
bringeth those things into our minds with clearness, which long
meditation would not have done. For one thing leadeth in another; and
in a warm discourse the spirits are excited, and the understanding and
memory are engaged to a close attention; so that just in the speaking,
we have oftentimes such a sudden appearance of some truth, which
before we took no notice of, that we find it is no small addition to
our knowledge, which comes in this way. As some find that vocal prayer
doth more excite them, and keep the mind from wandering, than mere
mental prayer doth; so free discourse is but a vocal meditation. And
what man's thoughts are not more guilty of disorder, vagaries, and
interruptions, than his discourse is?
_Direct._ XVII. Obey all that God revealeth to you in your
meditations, and turn them all into faithful practice; and make not
thinking the end of thinking. Else you will but do as the ungodly and
disobedient in their prayers, who offer to God the "sacrifice of
fools, and consider not that they do evil," Eccl. v. 1, 2. Away with
the sin, and do the duty, on which you think.
_Direct._ XVIII. Think not that the same measure of contemplation and
striving with their own affections, is necessary to all; but that an
obediential, active life may be as acceptable to God, when he calleth
men to it, as a more contemplative life. This leadeth me necessarily
to give you some directions about the difference of these ways.
_Tit._ 4. _The Difference between a contemplative Life,
and an obedient, active Life, with Directions concerning
them._
This task will be best performed by answering those questions which
here need a solution.
[Sidenote: What is a contemplative life.]
_Quest._ 1. What is a contemplative life? and what is an active,
obediential life?
_Answ._ Every active christian is bound to somewhat of contemplation;
and all contemplative persons are bound to obedience to God, and to so
much of action as may answer their abilities and opportunities. But
yet some are much more called to the one, and some to the other; and
we denominate from that which is most eminent and the chief. We call
that a contemplative life, when a man's state and calling alloweth and
requireth him to make the exercises of his mind on things sublime and
holy, and the affecting of his heart with them to be his principal
business, which taketh up the most of his time. And we call that an
active, obediential life, when a man's state and calling requireth him
to spend the chief part of his time in some external labour or
vocation, tending to the good of ourselves and others. As artificers,
tradesmen, husbandmen, labourers, physicians, lawyers, pastors and
preachers of the gospel, soldiers and magistrates, all live an active
life, which should be a life of obedience to God. Though among these,
some have much more time for contemplation than others. And some few
there are that are exempt from both these, and are called to live a
passive, obediential life; that is, such a life in which their
obedient bearing of the cross, and patient suffering, and submission
to the chastising or trying will of God, is the most eminent and
principal service they can do him, above contemplation or action.
_Quest._ II. Must every man do his best to cast off all worldly and
external labours, and to retire himself to a contemplative life as the
most excellent?
_Answ._ No: no man should do so without a special necessity or call;
for there are general precepts on all that are able, that we live to
the benefit of others, and prefer the common good, and as we have
opportunity do good to all men, and love our neighbours as ourselves,
and do as we would be done by, (which will put us upon much action),
and that we labour before we eat.[309] And for a man unnecessarily to
cast off all the service of his life, in which he may be profitable to
others, is a burying or hiding his master's talents, and a neglect of
charity, and a sinning greatly against the law of love. As we have
bodies, so they must have their work, as well as our souls.
[Sidenote: Who are called to a contemplative life.]
_Quest._ III. Is a life of contemplation then lawful to any man? and
to whom?
_Answ._ It is lawful, and a duty, and a great mercy to some, to live
almost wholly, yea altogether, in contemplation and prayer, and such
holy exercises. And that in these cases following: 1. In case that age
hath disabled a man to be serviceable to others by an active life: and
when a man hath already spent his days and strength in doing all the
good he can; and being now disabled, hath special reason to improve the
rest of his (decrepid) age, in more than ordinary preparations for his
death, and in holy communion with God. 2. So also when we are disabled
by sickness. 3. And when imprisonment restraineth us from an active
life, or profiting others. 4. And when persecution forceth christians to
retire into solitudes and deserts, to reserve themselves for better
times and places; or when prudence telleth them, that their prayers in
solitude may do more good, than at that time their martyrdom were like
to do. 5. When a student is preparing himself for the ministry, or other
active life, to which a contemplative life is the way. 6. When poverty,
or wars, or the rage of enemies disableth a man from all public
converse, and driveth him into solitude by unavoidable necessity. 7.
When the number of those that are fit for action is so sufficient, and
the parts of the person are so insufficient, and so the need and use of
them in an active life so small, that, all things considered, holy,
impartial prudence telleth him, that the good which he could do to
others, by an active life, is not like to countervail the losses which
he should himself receive, and the good which his very example of a holy
and heavenly life might do, and his occasional counsels, and precepts,
and resolutions, to those who come to him for advice, being drawn by the
estimation of his holy life: in this case, it is lawful to give up
oneself to a contemplative life; for that which maketh most to his own
good and to others, is past doubt lawful and a duty. "Anna departed not
from the temple, but served God with fasting and prayer night and day,"
Luke ii. 36, 37.[310] Whether the meaning be, that she strictly kept the
hours of prayer in the temple, and the fasting twice a week, or
frequently, or whether she took up her habitation in the houses of some
of the officers of the temple, devoting herself to the service of the
temple; it is plain that either way she did something besides praying
and fasting; even as the widows under the gospel who were also to
"continue in prayer and supplication night and day," 1 Tim. v. 5, and
yet were employed in the service of the church, in overseeing the
younger, and teaching them to be sober, &c. Tit. ii. 4, which is an
active life. But however Anna's practice be expounded, if this much that
I have granted would please the monastics, we would not differ with
them.
_Quest._ IV. How far are those in an active life to use contemplation?
[Sidenote: How far contemplation is necessary.]
_Answ._ With very great difference. 1. According to the difference of
their callings in the world, and the offices in which they are
ordinarily to serve God. 2. And according to the difference of their
abilities and fitness for contemplation or for action. 3. According to
the difference of their particular opportunities. 4. According to the
difference of the necessities of others which may require their help.
5. And of their own necessities of action or contemplation. Which I
shall more particularly determine in certain rules.
1. Every christian must use so much contemplation, as is necessary to
the loving of God above all, and to the worshipping of him in spirit
and in truth, and to a heavenly mind and conversation, and to his due
preparation for death and judgment, and to the referring all his
common works to the glory and pleasing of God, that "Holiness to the
Lord" may be written upon all, and all that he hath may be sanctified,
or devoted with himself to God.
2. The calling of a minister of the gospel, is so perfectly mixed of
contemplation and action, (though action denominate it, as being the
end and chief,) yet he must be excellent in both. If they be not
excellent in contemplation, they will not be meet to stand so much
nearer to God than the people do; and to sanctify him when they draw
near him, and glorify him before all the people: nor will they be fit
for the opening of the heavenly mysteries, and working that on the
people's hearts which never was on their own. And if they be not
excellent in an active life, they will betray the people's souls, and
never go through that painful diligence, and preaching in season, and
out of season, publicly, and from house to house, day and night with
tears, which Paul commandeth them, Acts xx.; and Epist. Tim.
3. The work of a magistrate, a lawyer, a physician, and such like, is
principally in doing good in their several callings, which must not be
neglected for contemplation. Yet so, that all these, and all others,
must allow God's service and holy thoughts their due place, in the
beginning, and middle, and end of all their actions. As magistrates
must read and meditate, day and night, in the word of God, John i. 8,
10. So the eunuch, Cornelius, &c. Acts viii. and x.
4. Some persons in the same calling, whose callings are not so urgent
on them, by any necessities of themselves or others, and who may have
more vacant time, must gladly take it for the good of their souls, in
the use of contemplation, and other holy duties. And others that are
under greater necessities, urgencies, obligations, or cannot be spared
from the service of others, (as physicians, lawyers, &c.) must be less
in contemplation, and prefer the greatest good.
5. Public necessities or service may with some be so great as to
dispense with all secret duty both of prayer and contemplation (except
short mental ejaculations) for some days together. So in wars it oft
falls out that necessity forbiddeth all set or solemn holy service for
many days together (even on the Lord's day). So a physician may
sometimes be tied to so close attendance on his patients, as will not
allow him time for a set prayer. So sometimes a preacher may be so
taken up in preaching, and exhorting, and resolving people's weighty
doubts, that they shall scarce have time for secret duties, for some
days together (though such happy impediments are rare). In these cases
to do the lesser is a sin, when the greater is neglected.
6. Servants, who are not masters of their time, must be faithful in
employing it to their masters' service, and take none for holy duty
from that part which they should work in; but rather from their rest
so far as they are able; intermixing meditations with their labours
when they can: but redeeming such time as is allowed them, the more
diligently, because their opportunities are so rare and short.
7. The Lord's day, (excepting works of necessity,) and such vacancies
as hinder not other work, (as when they travel on the way, or work, or
wake in the night, &c.) are every man's own time, which he is not to
alienate to another's service, but to reserve and use for the service
of God, and for his soul, in holy duties.
8. Some persons cannot bear much contemplation, especially melancholy
and weak-headed people; and such must serve God so much the more in
other duties which they are able for; and must not tire out and
distract themselves, with striving to do that which they are not able
to undergo. But others feel no inconvenience by it at all, as I can
speak by my own experience: my weakness and decay of spirits inclining
me most to a dulness of mind, I find that the most exciting serious
studies and contemplations, in the greatest solitude, are so far from
hurting me by any abatement of health, or hilarity, or serenity of
mind, that they seem rather a help to all. Those that can thus bear
long solitude and contemplation, ought to be the more exercised in it,
except when greater duties must take place. But to melancholy persons
it is to be avoided as a hurt.
9. To the same persons, sometimes their own necessities require
contemplation most, and sometimes action; and so that which is at one
time a duty, may at another time be none.
10. A mere sinful backwardness is not to be indulged. A diseased
disability (such as comes from melancholy, weak-headedness, or decay
of memory) must be endured, and not too much accused; when Christ
excused worse in his disciples, saying, "The spirit is willing, but
the flesh is weak." But a sinful backwardness in cases of absolute
necessity, is not at all to be endured, but striven against with all
your power, whatever it cost you: as to bring yourselves to so much
serious consideration, as is necessary to your repentance and
unfeigned faith, and godly conversation, this must be done whatever
follow; though the devil persuade you that it will make you melancholy
or mad; for without it, you are far worse than mad.
11. The most desirable life, to those that have their choice, is that
which joineth together contemplation and action; so as there shall be
convenient leisure for the most high and serious contemplation, and
this improved to fit us for the most great and profitable action. And
such is the life of a faithful minister of Christ: and therefore no
sort of men on earth are more obliged to thankfulness than they.
12. Servants, and poor men, and diseased men, and others, that are
called off from much contemplation, and employed in a life of obedient
action, yea, or suffering, by the providence of God, and not by their
own sinful choice, must understand, that their labour and patience is
the way of their acceptable attendance upon God, in the expense of
most part of their time. And though it is madness in those that hope
God will accept of their labours, instead of true faith and
repentance, and a godly life; (for these must go together, and hinder
not each other;) yet, instead of such further contemplations as are
not necessary to the being of a godly life, a true christian may
believe that his obedient labours and sufferings shall be accepted. If
you set one servant to cast up an account, and another to sweep your
chimney or channels, you will not accept the former, and reject the
latter, for the difference of their works; but you will rather think
that he hath most merited your acceptance, who yielded without
grudging to the basest service. And doubtless it is an aggravation of
acceptable obedience, when we readily and willingly serve God in the
lowest, meanest work. He is too fine to serve him, who saith, I will
serve thee in the magistracy or ministry, but not at plough or cart,
or any such drudgery.[311] And if thou be but in God's way, he can
make thy very obedience a state of greater holiness and safety, than
if thou hadst spent all that time in the study of holy things, as you
see many ungodly ministers do all their lifetime, and are never the
better for it. It is not the quality of the work, but God's blessing,
that makes it do you good. Nor is he most beloved of God, who hath
rolled over the greatest number of good thoughts in his mind, or of
good words in his mouth, no, nor he that hath stirred up the strongest
passions hereabouts; but he that loveth God and heaven best, and
hateth sin most, and whose will is most confirmed for holiness of
life. He that goeth about his labour in obedience to God, may have as
much comfort as another that is meditating or praying. But neither
labour nor prayer is matter of comfort to an ungodly, carnal heart.
Yea, if decay of memory or natural ability take you off both action
and contemplation, you may have as much acceptance, and solid comfort,
in a patient bearing of the cross, and an obedient, cheerful
submission to the holy will of God.
_Tit._ 5. _Directions to the Melancholy about their
Thoughts._
It is so easy and ordinary a thing for some weak-headed persons, to
cast themselves into melancholy, by over-straining either their
thoughts or their affections, and the case of such is so exceeding
lamentable, that I think it requisite to give such some particular
directions by themselves.[312] And the rather because I see some
persons that are unacquainted with the nature of this and other
diseases, exceedingly abuse the name of God, and bring the profession
of religion into scorn, by imputing all the effects and speeches of
such melancholy persons to some great and notable operations of the
Spirit of God, and thence draw observations of the methods and
workings of God upon the soul, and of the nature of the legal workings
of the spirit of bondage. (As some other such have divulged the
prophecies, the possessions and dispossessing of hysterical women, as
I have read, especially in the writings of the friars.) I do not call
those melancholy, who are rationally sorrowful for sin, and sensible
of their misery, and solicitous about their recovery and salvation,
though it be with as great seriousness as the faculties can bear; as
long as they have sound reason, and the imagination, fantasy, or
thinking faculty is not crazed or diseased: but by melancholy I mean
this diseased craziness, hurt, or error of the imagination, and
consequently of the understanding, which is known by these following
signs (which yet are not all in every melancholy persons).[313]
1. They are commonly exceeding fearful, causelessly or beyond what
there is cause for: every thing which they hear or see is ready to
increase their fears, especially if fear was the first cause, as
ordinarily it is. 2. Their fantasy most erreth in aggravating their
sin, or dangers, or unhappiness: every ordinary infirmity they are
ready to speak of with amazement, as a heinous sin; and every possible
danger they take for probable, and every probable one for certain; and
every little danger for a great one; and every calamity for an utter
undoing. 3. They are still addicted to excess of sadness: some weeping
they know not why, and some thinking it ought to be so: and if they
should smile or speak merrily, their hearts smite them for it, as if
they had done amiss. 4. They place most of their religion in sorrowing
and austerities to the flesh. 5. They are continual self-accusers,
turning all manner of accusation against themselves, which they hear,
or read, or see, or think of: quarrelling with themselves for every
thing they do, as a contentious person doth with others. 6. They are
still apprehending themselves forsaken of God, and are prone to
despair: they are just like a man in a wilderness, forsaken of all his
friends and comforts, forlorn and desolate: their continual thought
is, I am undone, undone, undone! 7. They are still thinking that the
day of grace is past, and that it is now too late to repent or to find
mercy. If you tell them of the tenor of the gospel, and offers of free
pardon to every penitent believer, they cry out still, Too late, too
late, my day is past; not considering that every soul that truly
repenteth in this life is certainly forgiven. 8. They are oft tempted
to gather despairing thoughts from the doctrine of predestination, and
to think that if God have reprobated them, or have not elected them,
all that they can do, or that all the world can do, cannot save them;
and next they strongly conceit that they are not elected, and so that
they are past help or hope: not knowing that God electeth not any man
separately or simply to be saved, but conjunctly to believe, repent,
and to be saved; and so to the end and means together; and that all
that will repent and choose Christ and a holy life, are elected to
salvation, because they are elected to the means and condition of
salvation, which, if they persevere, they shall enjoy. To repent is
the best way to prove that I am elected to repent. 9. They never read
or hear of any miserable instance, but they are thinking that this is
their case. If they hear of Cain, of Pharaoh given up to hardness of
heart, or do but read that some are vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction, or that they have eyes and see not, ears and hear not,
hearts and understand not, they think, This is all spoken of me; or,
This is just my case. If they hear of any terrible example of God's
judgments on any, they think it will be so with them. If any die
suddenly, or a house be burnt, or any be distracted, or die in
despair, they think it will be so with them. The reading of Spira's
case causeth or increaseth melancholy in many; the ignorant author
having described a plain melancholy, contracted by the trouble of
sinning against conscience, as if it were a damnable despair of a
sound understanding. 10. And yet they think that never any one was as
they are. I have had abundance in a few weeks with me, almost just in
the same case, and yet every one say that never any one was as they.
11. They are utterly unable to rejoice in any thing; they cannot
apprehend, believe, or think of any thing that is comfortable to them.
They read all the threatenings of the word with quick sense and
application, but the promises they read over and over, without taking
notice of them, as if they had not read them; or else say, They do not
belong to me: the greater the mercy of God is, and the riches of
grace, the more miserable am I that have no part in them. They are
like a man in continual pain or sickness, that cannot rejoice, because
the feeling of his pain forbiddeth him. They look on husband, wife,
friends, children, house, goods, and all without any comfort; as one
would do that is going to be executed for some crime. 12. Their
consciences are quick in telling them of sin, and putting them upon
any dejection as a duty; but they are dead to all duties that tend to
consolation; as to thanksgiving for mercies, praises of God,
meditating on his love, and grace, and Christ, and promises: put them
never so hard on these, and they feel not their duty, nor make any
conscience of it, but think it is a duty for others, but unsuitable to
them. 13. They always say that they cannot believe, and therefore
think they cannot be saved: because that commonly they mistake the
nature of faith, and take it to be a believing that they themselves
are forgiven and in favour with God, and shall be saved; and because
they cannot believe this, (which their disease will not suffer them
to believe,) therefore they think that they are no believers: whereas
saving faith is nothing but such a belief that the gospel is true, and
Christ is the Saviour to be trusted with our souls, as causeth our
wills to consent that he be ours and that we be his, and so to
subscribe the covenant of grace. Yet while they thus consent, and
would give a world to be sure that Christ was theirs, and to be
perfectly holy, yet they think they believe not, because they believe
not that he will forgive or save them. 14. They are still displeased
and discontented with themselves; just as a peevish, froward person is
apt to be with others: see one that is hard to be pleased, and is
finding fault with every thing that he sees or hears, and offended at
every one that comes in his way, and suspicious of every body that he
sees whispering; and just so is a melancholy person against himself;
suspecting, and displeased and finding fault with all. 15. They are
much addicted to solitariness, and weary of company for the most part.
16. They are given up to fixed musings, and long, poring thoughts to
little purpose: so that deep musings and thinkings are their chief
employments, and much of their disease. 17. They are much averse to
the labours of their callings, and given to idleness; either to lie in
bed, or sit thinking unprofitably by themselves. 18. Their thoughts
are most upon themselves, like the millstones that grind on
themselves, when they have no grist: so one thought begets another:
their thoughts are taken up about their thoughts: when they have been
thinking irregularly, they think again what they have been thinking
on: they meditate not much on God, (unless on his wrath,) nor heaven,
nor Christ, nor the state of the church, nor any thing without them
(ordinarily); but all their thoughts are contracted and turned inwards
on themselves: self-troubling is the sum of their thoughts and lives.
19. Their thoughts are all perplexed like ravelled yarn or silk; or
like a man in a maze, or wilderness, or that hath lost himself and his
way in the night: he is poring and groping about, and can make little
of any thing, but is bewildered, and moidered, and entangled the more;
full of doubts and difficulties, out of which he cannot find the way.
20. He is endless in his scruples: afraid lest he sin in every word he
speaketh, and in every thought, and every look, and every meal he
eateth, and all the clothes he weareth: and if he think to amend them,
he is still scrupling his supposed amendments: he dare neither travel,
nor stay at home, neither speak, nor be silent; but he is scrupling
all; as if he were wholly composed of self-perplexing scruples. 21.
Hence it comes to pass that he is greatly addicted to superstition; to
make many laws to himself that God never made him; and to insnare
himself with needless vows, and resolutions, and hurtful austerities;
"touch not, taste not, handle not;" and to place his religion much in
such outward, self-imposed tasks;[314] to spend so many hours in this
or that act of devotion; to wear such clothes, and forbear other that
are finer; to forbear all diet that pleaseth the appetite, with much
of the like. A great deal of the perfection of popish devotion
proceeded from melancholy, though their government come from pride and
covetousness. 22. They have lost the power of governing their thoughts
by reason; so that if you convince them that they should cast out
their self-perplexing, unprofitable thoughts, and turn their thoughts
to other subjects, or be vacant, they are not able to obey you: they
seem to be under a necessity or constraint; they cannot cast out their
troublesome thoughts; they cannot turn away their minds; they cannot
think of love and mercy; they can think of nothing but what they do
think of, any more than a man in the tooth-ache can forbear to think
of his pain. 23. They usually grow hence to a disability to any
private prayer or meditation; their thoughts are presently cast all
into a confusion, when they should pray or meditate; they scatter
abroad a hundred ways; and they cannot keep them upon any thing: for
this is the very point of their disease; a distempered, confused
fantasy, with a weak reason which cannot govern it. Sometimes terror
driveth them from prayer; they dare not hope, and therefore dare not
pray: and usually they dare not receive the Lord's supper; here they
are fearfulest of all; and if they do receive it, they are cast down
with terrors, fearing that they have taken their own damnation, by
receiving unworthily. 24. Hence they grow to a great averseness to all
holy duty: fear and despair make them go to prayer, hearing, reading,
as a bear to the stake; and then they think they are haters of God and
godliness, imputing the effects of their disease to their souls; when
yet at the same time, those of them that are godly, would rather be
freed from all their sins, and be perfectly holy, than have all the
riches or honour in the world. 25. They are usually so taken up with
busy and earnest thoughts, (which being all perplexed, do but strive
with themselves, and contradict one another,) that they feel it just
as if something were speaking within them, and all their own violent
thoughts were the pleadings and impulse of some other; and therefore
they are wont to impute all their fantasies, either to some
extraordinary actings of the devil, or to some extraordinary motions
of the Spirit of God: and they are used to express themselves in such
words as these, It was set upon my heart, or it was said to me, that I
must do thus and thus; and then it was said, I must not do this or
that; and I was told I must do so or so. And they think that their own
imagination is something talking in them, and saying to them all that
they are thinking. 26. When melancholy groweth strong, they are almost
always troubled with hideous, blasphemous temptations, against God, or
Christ, or the Scripture, and against the immortality of the soul;
which cometh partly from their own fears, which make them think most
(against their will) of that which they are most afraid of thinking:
as the spirits and blood will have recourse to the part that is hurt.
The very pain of their fears doth draw their thoughts to what they
fear. As he that is over-desirous to sleep, and afraid lest he shall
not sleep, is sure to wake, because his fears and desires keep him
waking: so do the fears and desires of the melancholy cross
themselves. And withal, the malice of the devil plainly here
interposeth, and taketh advantage by this disease, to tempt and
trouble them, and to show his hatred to God, and Christ, and
Scripture, and to them. For as he can much easier tempt a choleric
person to anger, than another, and a phlegmatic, fleshly person to
sloth, and a sanguine or hot-tempered person to lust, and wantonness;
so also a melancholy person to thoughts of blasphemy, infidelity, and
despair. And ofttimes they feel a vehement urgency, as if something
within them urged them to speak such or such a blasphemous or foolish,
word; and they can have no rest unless they yield in this, and other
such cases, to what they are urged to. And some are ready to yield in
a temptation to be quiet: and when they have done, they are tempted
utterly to despair because they have committed so great a sin: and
when the devil hath got this advantage of them, he is still setting it
before them. 27. Hereupon they are further tempted to think they have
committed the sin against the Holy Ghost; not understanding what that
sin is, but fearing it is theirs, because it is a fearful sin: at
least they think they shall not be forgiven; not considering that a
temptation is one thing, and a sin another; and that no man hath less
cause to fear being condemned for his sin, than he that is least
willing of it, and most hateth it. And no man can be less willing of
any sin, than these poor souls are of the hideous, blasphemous
thoughts which they complain of. 28. Hereupon some of them grow to
think that they are possessed of devils: and if it do but enter into
their fantasy how possessed persons used to act, the very strength of
imagination will make them do so too: so that I have known those that
would swear, and curse, and blaspheme, and imitate an inward alien
voice, thinking themselves that it was the devil in them that did all
this. But these that go so far are but few. 29. Some of them that are
near distraction, verily think that they hear voices, and see lights
and apparitions, that the curtains are opened on them, that something
meets them, and saith this or that to them, when all is but the error
of a crazed brain and sick imagination. 30. Many of them are weary of
their lives, through the constant, tiring perplexities of their minds;
and yet afraid of dying: some of them resolutely famish themselves:
some are strongly tempted to murder themselves, and they are haunted
with the temptation so restlessly, that they can go no whither but
they feel as if somewhat within them put them on, and said, Do it, do
it; so that many poor creatures yield, and make away with themselves.
31. Many of them are restlessly vexed with fears of want, and poverty,
and misery to their families; and of imprisonment or banishment; and
lest somebody will kill them; and every one that they see whisper,
they think is plotting to take away their lives. 32. Some of them lay
a law upon themselves that they will not speak, and so live long in
resolute silence. 33. All of them are intractable, and stiff in their
own conceits, and hardly persuaded out of them, be they never so
irrational. 34. Few of them are the better for any reason, conviction,
or counsel that is given them: if it seem to satisfy, and quiet, and
rejoice them at the present, to-morrow they are as bad again: it being
the nature of their disease, to think as they do think; and their
thoughts are not cured while the disease is uncured. 35. Yet in all
this distemper, few of them will believe that they are melancholy; but
abhor to hear men tell them so, and say it is but the rational sense
of their unhappiness, and the forsakings and heavy wrath of God. And
therefore they are hardly persuaded to take any physic or use any
means for the cure of their bodies, saying that they are well, and
being confident that it is only their souls that are distressed.
This is the miserable case of these poor people, greatly to be pitied,
and not to be despised by any. I have spoken nothing but what I have
often seen and known. And let none despise such, for men of all sorts
do fall into this misery; learned and unlearned, high and low, good
and bad, yea, some that have lived in greatest jollity and sensuality,
when God hath made them feel their folly.
The causes of it are, 1. Most commonly some worldly loss, or cross, or
grief, or care, which made too deep an impression on them. 2.
Sometimes excess of fear upon any common occasion of danger. 3.
Sometimes over-hard and unintermitted studies, or thoughts, which
screw up and rack the fantasy too much. 4. Sometimes too deep fears,
or too constant, and serious, and passionate thoughts and cares about
the danger of the soul. 5. The great preparatives to it, (which are
indeed the principal cause,) are a weak head, and reason, joined with
strong passion, which are oftest found in women, and those to whom it
is natural. 6. And in some it is brought in by some heinous sin, the
sight of which they cannot bear, when conscience is but once awakened.
When this disease is gone very far, directions to the persons
themselves are vain, because they have not reason and free-will to
practise them; but it is their friends about them that must have the
directions. But because with the most of them, and at first, there is
some power of reason left, I give directions for the use of such.
_Direct._ I. See that no error in religion be the cause of your
distress: especially understand well the covenant of grace, and the
riches of mercy manifested in Christ. Among others, it will be useful
to you to understand these following truths.
[Sidenote: Special truths to be known for preventing causeless
troubles.]
1. That our thoughts of the infinite goodness of God, should bear
proportion with our thoughts concerning his infinite power and wisdom.
2. That the mercy of God hath provided for all mankind so sufficient a
Saviour, that no sinner shall perish for want of a sufficient
satisfaction made for his sins by Christ, nor is it made the condition
of any man's salvation or pardon, that he satisfy for his own sins.
3. That Christ hath in his gospel covenant (which is an act of oblivion)
made over himself with pardon and salvation, to all that will penitently
and believingly accept the offer. And that none perish that hear the
gospel, but the final, obstinate refusers of Christ and life.
4. That he that so far believeth the truth of the gospel, as to
consent to the covenant of grace, even that God the Father be his Lord
and reconciled Father, and Christ his Saviour, and the Holy Ghost his
Sanctifier, hath true, saving faith, and right to the blessing of the
covenant.
5. That the day of grace is so far commensurate or equal to our
lifetime, that whosoever truly repenteth and consenteth to the
covenant of grace, before his death, is certainly pardoned, and in a
state of life: and that it is every man's duty so to do, that pardon
may be theirs.
6. That Satan's temptations are none of our sins, but only our
yielding to them.
7. That the effects of natural sickness or diseasedness, are not (in
themselves) sins.
8. That those are the smallest sins (formally) and least like to
condemn us, which we are most unwilling of, and are least in love or
liking of.
9. That no sin shall condemn us which we hate more than love, and
which we had rather leave and be delivered from than keep: for this is
true repentance.
10. That he is truly sanctified who had rather be perfect in holiness
of heart and life, in loving God, and living by faith, than to have
the greatest pleasures, riches, or honours of the world; taking in the
means also by which both are attained.
11. That he who hath this grace and desire may know that he is elect;
and the making of our calling sure by our consenting to the holy
covenant, is the making of our election sure.
12. That the same thing which is a great duty to others, may be no
duty to one, who by bodily distemper (as fevers, phrensies,
melancholy) is unable to perform it.
_Direct._ II. Take heed of worldly cares, and sorrows, and discontents.
Set not so much by earthly things, as to enable them to disquiet you;
but learn to cast your cares on God. You can have less peace in any
affliction which cometh by such a carnal, sinful means. It is much more
safe to be distracted with cares for heaven than for earth.
_Direct._ III. Meditation is no duty at all for a melancholy person,
except some few that are able to bear a diverting meditation, which
must be of something furthest from the matter which troubleth them; or
except it be short meditations like ejaculatory prayers. A set and
serious meditation will but confound you, and disturb you, and disable
you to other duties. If a man have a broken leg, he must not go on it
till it is knit, lest all the body fare the worse. It is your thinking
faculty, or your imagination, which is the broken, pained part; and
therefore you must not use it about the things that trouble you.
Perhaps you will say, That this is to be profane, and forget God and
your soul, and let the tempter have his will. But I answer, No; it is
but to forbear that which you cannot do at present, that by doing
other things which you can do, you may come again to do this which you
now cannot do: it is but to forbear attempting that, which will but
make you less able to do all other duties. And at the present, you may
conduct the affairs of your soul by holy reason. I persuade you not
from repenting or believing, but from set, and long, and deep
meditations, which will but hurt you.
_Direct._ IV. Be not too long in any secret duty which you find you
are not able to bear. Prayer itself, when you are unable, must be
performed but as you can; short confessions and requests to God must
serve instead of longer secret prayers, when you are unable to do
more. If sickness may excuse a man for being short, where nature will
not hold out, the case is the same here, in the sickness of the brain
and spirits. God hath appointed no means to do you hurt.
_Direct._ V. Where you find yourselves unable for a secret duty,
struggle not too hard with yourselves, but go that pace that you are
able to go quietly. For as every striving doth not enable you, but vex
you, and make duty wearisome to you, and disable you more, by increasing
your disease: like an ox that draweth unquietly, and a horse that
chafeth himself, that quickly tireth. Preserve your willingness to duty,
and avoid that which makes it grievous to you. As to a sick stomach, it
is not eating much, but digesting well, that tends to health; and little
must be eaten when much cannot be digested; so it is here in case of
your meditations and secret prayers.
_Direct._ VI. Be most in those duties which you are best able to bear;
which, with most, is prayer, with others hearing, and good discourse.
As a sick man whose stomach is against other meats, must eat of that
which he can eat of. And God hath provided variety of means, that one
may do the work, when the other are wanting. Do not misunderstand me;
in cases of absolute necessity, I say again, you must strive to do it
whatever come of it. If you are backward to believe, to repent, to
love God and your neighbour, to live soberly, righteously, and godly,
to pray at all; here you must strive, and not excuse it by any
backwardness; for it is that which must needs be done, or you are
lost. But a man that cannot read may be saved without his reading; and
a man in prison or sickness may be saved without hearing the word, and
without the church communion of saints: and so a man disabled by
melancholy, may be saved by shorter thoughts and ejaculations, without
set and long meditations and secret prayers; and other duties which he
is able for will supply the want of these. Even as nature hath
provided two eyes, and two ears, and two nostrils, and two reins, and
lungs, that when one is stopped or faulty, the other may supply its
wants for a time; so it is here.
_Direct._ VII. Avoid all unnecessary solitariness, and be as much as
possible in honest, cheerful company. You have need of others, and
are not sufficient for yourselves; and God will use and honour others,
as his hands, to deliver us his blessings. Solitariness is to those
that are fit for it, an excellent season for meditation and converse
with God and with our hearts; but to you, it is the season of
temptation and danger. If Satan tempted Christ himself, when he had
him fasting and solitary in a wilderness; much more will he take this
as his opportunity against you. Solitude is the season of musings and
thoughtfulness, which are the things which you must fly from, if you
will not be deprived of all.
_Direct._ VIII. When blasphemous or disturbing thoughts look in, or
fruitless musings, presently meet them, and use that authority of
reason which is left you, to cast them and command them out. If you
have not lost it, reason and the will have a command over the thoughts
as well as over the tongue, or hands, or feet. And as you would be
ashamed to run up and down, or fight with your hands, and say, I
cannot help it; or to let your tongue run all day, and say, I cannot
stop it; so should you be ashamed to let your thoughts run at random,
or on hurtful things, and say, I cannot help it. Do you do the best
you can to help it? Cannot you bid them be gone? Cannot you turn your
thoughts to something else? Or cannot you rouse up yourself, and shake
them off? Some by casting a little cold water in their own faces, or
bidding another do it, can rouse themselves from melancholy musings as
from sleep. Or cannot you get out of the room, and set yourself about
some business which will divert you? You might do more than you do, if
you were but willing, and know how much it is your duty.
_Direct._ IX. When you do think of any holy things, let it be of the
best things; of God, and grace, and Christ, and heaven; or of your
brethren, or the church: and carry all your meditations outward; but
be sure you pore not on yourselves, and spend not your thoughts upon
your thoughts. As we have need to call the thoughts of careless
sinners inwards, and turn them from the creature and sin, upon
themselves; so we have need to call the thoughts of self-perplexing,
melancholy persons outwards; for it is their disease to be still
grinding upon themselves. Remember that it is a far higher, nobler,
and sweeter work to think of God, and Christ, and heaven, than of such
worms as we ourselves are. When we go up to God, we go to love, and
light, and liberty; but when we look down into ourselves, we look into
a dungeon, a prison, a wilderness, a place of darkness, horror,
filthiness, misery, and confusion. Therefore, though such thoughts be
needful, so far as without them our repentance and due watchfulness
cannot be maintained, yet they are grievous, ignoble, yea, and barren,
in comparison of our thoughts of God. When you are poring on your
hearts, to search whether the love of God be there or no, it were
wiser to be thinking of the infinite amiableness of God; and that will
cause it, whether it were there before or not. So instead of poring on
your hearts, to know whether they are set on heaven, lift up your
thoughts to heaven, and think of its glory, and that will raise them
thither, and give you and show you that which you were searching for.
Bestow that time in planting holy desires in the garden of your
hearts, which you bestow in routing and puzzling yourselves in
searching whether it be there already. We are such dark, confused
things, that the sight of ourselves is enough to raise a loathing and
a horror in our minds, and make them melancholy; but in God and glory
there is nothing to discourage our thoughts, but all to delight them,
if Satan do not misrepresent him to us.
_Direct._ X. Overlook not the miracle of love which God hath showed us
in the wonderful incarnation, office, life, death, resurrection,
ascension, and reign of our Redeemer; but steep your thoughts most in
these wonders of mercy, proposed by God to be the chief matter of your
thoughts. You should in reason lay out many thoughts of Christ and
grace, for one that you lay out on your sin and misery. God requireth
you to see your sin and misery, but so much as tendeth to magnify the
remedy, and cause you to accept it. Never think of sin and hell alone;
but as the way to the thoughts of Christ and grace. This is the duty
even of the worst. Are your sins ever before you? Why is not pardoning
grace in Christ before you? Is hell open before you? Why is not the
Redeemer also before you? Do you say, Because that sin and hell are
yours, but Christ, and holiness, and heaven, are none of yours? I
answer you, It is then because you will have it so: if you would not
have it so, it is not so. God hath set life first before you, and not
only death. He hath put Christ, and holiness, and heaven in his end of
the balance; and the devil puts the pleasure of sin for a season in
the other end. That which you choose unfeignedly is yours; for God
hath given you your choice. Nothing is truer than that God hath so far
made over Christ and life to all that hear the gospel, that nothing
but their final obstinate refusal can condemn them:[315] Christ and
life are brought to the will and choice of all, though all have not
wills to accept and choose him. And if you would not have Christ, and
life, and holiness, what would you rather have? and why complain you?
_Direct._ XI. Think and speak as much of the mercy which you have
received, as of the sin you have committed; and of the mercy which is
offered you, as of what you want. You dare not say that the mercy you
have received, is no more worthy to be remembered and mentioned, than
all your sins. Shall God do so much for you, and shall it be
overlooked, extenuated, and made nothing of? as if his mercies had
been a bare bone, or barren wilderness, which would yield no
sustenance to your thoughts. Be not guilty of so great unthankfulness.
Thoughts of love and mercy would breed love and sweetness in the soul;
while thoughts of sin and wrath only breed averseness, terror,
bitterness, perplexity, and drive away the heart from God.
_Direct._ XII. Tie yourselves daily to spend as great a part of your
time in your prayers, in the confessing of mercy received, as in
confessing sin committed; and in the praises of God, as in the
lamenting of your own miseries. You dare not deny but this is your
duty, if you understand your duty; thanksgiving and praise are greater
duties than confessing sin and misery. Resolve then that they shall
have the largest share of time. If you will but do this much, (which
you can do if you will,) it will in time take off the bitterness of
your spirits; and the very frequent mention of sweeter things, will
sweeten your minds, and change their temperature and habit, as change
of diet changeth the temperature of the body. I beseech you, resolve,
and try this course. If you cannot mention mercy so thankfully as you
would, nor mention God's excellencies so holily and praisefully as you
would, yet do what you can, and mention them as you are able. You may
command your time, (what shall have the greatest share in prayer,)
though not your affections; you will find the benefit very great, if
you will but do this.
_Direct._ XIII. Overvalue not the passionate part of duty, but know
that judgment, will, and practice, a high esteem of God and holiness,
a resolved choice, and a sincere endeavour, are the life of grace and
duty, when feeling passions are but lower, uncertain things. You know
not what you do, when you lay so much on the passionate part; nor when
you strive so much for deep and transporting apprehensions; these are
not the great things, nor essentials of holiness. Too much of this
feeling may distract you. God knoweth how much you are able to bear.
Passionate feelings depend much upon nature. Some persons are more
sensible than others; a little thing goeth deep with some: the wisest
and weightiest persons are usually least passionate; and the weakest
hardly moderate their passions. God is not an object of sense, and
therefore more fit for the understanding and will, than the passions,
to work upon. That is the holiest soul which is most inclined to God,
and resolved for him, and conformed to his will; and not that which is
affected with the deepest griefs, and fears, and joys, and other such
transporting passions; though it were best, if even holy passions
could be raised at the will's command, in that measure which fitteth
us best for duty. But I have known many complain for want of deeper
feeling, who if their feeling (as they called their passion) had been
more, it might have distracted them. I had rather be that christian
that loathes himself for sin, resolveth against it, and forsaketh it,
though he cannot weep for it; than one of those that can weep to-day,
and sin again to-morrow, and whose sinful passions are quickly
stirred, as well as their better passions.
_Direct._ XIV. Make not too great a matter of your own thoughts; and
take not too much notice of them; but if Satan cast in molesting
thoughts, if you cannot cast them out, set light by them, and take
less notice of them. Making a great matter of every thought that is
cast into your mind, will keep those thoughts in your mind the longer.
For that which we are most sensible of, we most think on; and that
which we least regard, we least remember. If you would never be rid of
them, the way is to be still noting them, and making too great a
matter of them. These troublesome thoughts are like troublesome
scolds, that if you regard them, and answer them, will never have done
with you; but if you let them talk, and take no notice of them, nor
make any answer to them, they will be weary and give over. The devil's
design is to vex and disquiet you; and if he see you will not be vexed
and disquieted, he will give over attempting it. I know you will say,
Should I be so ungodly as to make light of such sinful thoughts? I
answer, Make not so light of them as to be indifferent what thoughts
are in your mind, nor so as to take the small sin to be none; but make
so light of them as not to take them for greater nor more dangerous
sins than they are; and so light of them as not to take distinct,
particular notice of them, nor to disquiet yourselves about them; for
if you do, you will have no room in your thoughts for Christ and
heaven, and that which should take up your thoughts; but the devil
will rejoice to see how he employeth you in thinking over your own
thoughts, or rather his temptations; and that he can employ you all
the day in hearkening to all that he will say to you, and in thinking
of his motions instead of thinking on the works of God. There are none
of God's servants without irregularities and sin of thoughts, which
they must daily ask forgiveness of, and rejoice to think that they
have a sufficient Saviour and remedy, and that sin shall but occasion
the magnifying of grace; but if they should excessively observe and be
troubled at every unwarrantable thought, it would be a snare to take
them off almost all their greater duties. Would you like it in your
servant, if he should stop in observing and troubling himself about
every ordinary imperfection in his work, instead of going on to do it?
_Direct._ XV. Remember that it is no sin to be tempted, but only to
yield to the temptation; and that Christ himself was carried about and
tempted blasphemously by the devil, even to fall down and worship him;
and yet he made these temptations but an advantage to the glory of his
victory. Take not the devil's sin to be yours. Are your temptations more
horrid and odious than Christ's were? What if the devil had carried you
to the pinnacle of the temple as he did Christ? Would you not have
thought that God had forsaken you, and given you up to the power of
Satan? But you will say, that you yield to the temptation, and so did
not Christ. I answer, It cannot be expected that sinful man should bear
a temptation as innocently as Christ did? Satan found nothing in Christ
to comply with him; but in us he findeth a sinful nature! Wax will
receive an impression when marble will not. But it is not every sinful
taint that is a consent to the sin to which we are tempted.
_Direct._ XVI. Consider how far you are from loving, delighting in, or
being loth to leave these sinful thoughts; and that no sin condemneth,
but that which is so loved and delighted in, as that you had rather
keep than leave it. Would you not fain be delivered from all these
horrid thoughts and sins? Could you not be willing to live in
disgrace, or want, or banishment, so you might but be free from sin?
If so, why doubt you of the pardon of it? Can you have any surer sign
of repentance, or that your sin is not a reigning, unpardoned sin,
than that it is not loved and desired by you? The less will, the less
sin, and the more will, the more sin. The covetous man loveth his
money, and the fornicator loveth his lust, and the proud man loveth
his honour, and the drunkard loveth his cups, and the glutton loveth
to satisfy his appetite; and so love these that they will not leave
them. But do you love your disturbing, confused, or blasphemous
thoughts? Are you not so weary of them, as to be even weary of your
lives because of them? would you not be glad and thankful never to be
troubled with them more? And yet do you doubt of pardon?
_Direct._ XVII. Charge not your souls any deeper than there is cause
with the effects of your disease. Indeed remotely a man that in
distraction thinks or speaks amiss, may be said to be faulty, so far
as his sin did cause his disease; but directly and of itself, the
involuntary effects of sickness are no sin. Melancholy is a mere
disease in the spirits and imagination, though you feel no sickness;
and it is as natural for a melancholy person to be hurried and
molested with doubts, and fears, and despairing thoughts, and
blasphemous temptations, as it is for a man to talk idly in a fever
when his understanding faileth; or to think of and desire drink, when
his fever kindleth vehement thirst. And how much would you have a man
in a fever accuse himself for such a thirst, or such thoughts, desire,
or talk? If you had those hideous thoughts in your dreams, which you
have when you are awake, would you think them unpardoned sins, or
rather unavoidable infirmities? why your distemper makes them to be to
you but almost as dreams.
_Direct._ XVIII. Be sure that you keep yourself constantly employed
(as far as your strength will bear) in the diligent labours of a
lawful calling; and spend none of your precious time in idleness.
Idleness is the tide-time of the tempter: when you are idle, you
invite the devil to come and vex you. Then you can have while to
hearken to him, and think on all that he will put into your minds, and
then to think over all those thoughts again! When you have nothing
else to do, the devil will find you such work. Then you must sit still
and muse; and your thoughts must be stirring in the mud of your own
distempers, as children lie paddling in the dirt. And idleness is a
sin, which God will not favour. He hath commanded you to "labour six
days, and in the sweat of your brows to eat you bread; and he that
will not labour is unworthy to eat," 2 Thess. iii. Remember that time
is precious, and doth haste away, and God hath given you none in vain.
Therefore, as you are troubled for other sins, make conscience of this
sin, and waste not one quarter of an hour's time in your idle,
unprofitable musings. It is just with God to make your sin itself to
be your punishment, and your own idle thoughts to chastise you daily,
when you will not get up and go about your lawful business. Nor will
pretences of prayer, or any devotion, excuse your idleness, for it is
against the law of God. Above all that I have said to you, let me
entreat you therefore to obey this one direction. I have known
despairing, melancholy persons cured by setting themselves resolutely
and diligently about their callings (and changing air and company, and
riding abroad.) If you will sit musing in a corner, and sin against
God by idleness and loss of time, and increase your own miseries
withal, rather than you will rouse up yourself, and ply your business,
your calamity is just. Say not, that you have little or nothing to do;
for God hath made it the duty of all, be they never so rich, to labour
in such employment as is suitable to their place and strength.
_Direct._ XIX. Do but mark well how much the devil gets by keeping you
in sad, despondent thoughts; and then you may easily see that it
cannot be your duty, nor best for you, which is so gainful and
pleasing to the devil. By keeping you in these self-perplexing doubts
and fears, he robs God of the thanks and praise which you owe him for
all his mercies. These highest duties you cast aside, as if they did
not belong to you. You give not God the honour of his most miraculous
mercy, in our redemption; nor do you study, or relish, or admire, or
magnify the riches of grace in Jesus Christ! You have poor, low
thoughts of the infinite love of God, and are unfit to judge of it or
perceive it, being like a choleric stomach, which puts a continual
bitterness in the mouth, which hinders it from tasting any sweetness
in their meat. It hereby unfitteth you for the love of God, and more
inclineth you to hate him, or fly from him as an enemy, while the
devil representeth him to you as one that hateth you; it loseth your
time; it depriveth you of all your willingness to duty, and delight in
duty, and maketh all God's service a burden and vexation to you. It is
very contrary to the spirit of adoption, and to the whole frame of
evangelical worship and obedience. And will you, under pretence of
being more humbled, and sorrowful, and sensible, thus gratify Satan,
and wrong God and yourselves.
_Direct._ XX. Trust not to your own judgment, in your melancholy state,
either as to the condition of your souls, or the choice and conduct of
your thoughts or ways; but commit yourselves to the judgment and
direction of some experienced, faithful guide. You are no fit judges of
your own condition, nor of the way of your duty, in this dark,
distempered condition that you are in. Either your mind and imagination
is well or ill: if it be well, why complain you of all those
disturbances, and confusions, and disability to meditate and pray? If it
be ill, why will you be so self-conceited as to think yourselves able
to judge of yourselves, with such a distempered fantasy of mind? It is
one of the worst things in melancholy persons, that commonly they are
most wise in their own eyes, and stiff in their own conceits, when their
brains are sickest, and their understanding weakest; and that they are
confident, and unruly, and unpersuadable, as if they were proud of those
pitiful understandings, and thought nobody knows so well as they. Oh!
say they, you know not my case! Am not I liker to know your case, who
have seen so many score in that case, than you are that never knew it in
any but yourself? A man that stands by may better know the case of a man
that is in a dream, than he can know his own. You say that others feel
not what you feel! no more doth the physician feel what a man in a
fever, or falling-sickness, or distraction feeleth; and yet by the
report of what you say you feel, and by what he seeth, he far better
knoweth your disease, the nature and the cure of it, than you that feel
it. Therefore as a wise man, when he is sick, will trust himself, under
God, to the direction of his physician and the help of his friends about
him, and not lie wrangling against their help and counsel, and wilfully
refuse it, because they advise him contrary to his feeling; so will you
do, if you are wise; trust yourself with some fit director; and despise
not his judgment either about your state, or about your duty. You think
you are lost, and there is no hope: hear what he saith that is now
fitter to judge. Set not your weak wit too wilfully against him. Do you
think he is so foolish as to mistake? should not humility make you
rather think so of yourself? Be advised by him about the matter of your
thoughts, the manner and length of your secret duties, and all your
scruples that you need advice in. Will you answer me this one question?
Do you know any body that is wiser than yourself? and fitter to judge of
your condition and advise you? If you say, no; how proud are you of such
a crazed wit! If you say, yea; then believe and trust that person, and
resolve to follow his direction. And I would ask you, were you not once
of another judgment concerning yourself? If so, then were you not as
sound and able to judge, and liker to be in the right than you are now.
_Direct._ XXI. My last advice is, to look out for the cure of your
disease, and commit yourself to the care of your physician, and obey
him; and do not as most melancholy persons do, that will not believe
that physic will do them good, but that it is only their soul that is
afflicted; for it is the spirits, imagination, and passions, that are
diseased, and so the soul is like an eye that looketh through a
coloured glass, and thinks all things are of the same colour as the
glass is. I have seen abundance cured by physic; and till the body be
cured, the mind will hardly ever be cured, but the clearest reasons
will be all in vain.
_Tit._ 6. _Directions for young Students, for the most profitable
ordering of their studying Thoughts._
_Direct._ I. Let it be your first and most serious study to make sure
that you are regenerate, and sanctified by the Holy Ghost, and
justified by faith in Christ, and love God above all, as your
reconciled Father, and so have right to the heavenly inheritance.
For, 1. You are nearest to yourselves, and your everlasting happiness
is your nearest and your highest interest: what will it profit you to
know all the world, and to lose your own souls? to know as much as
devils, and be for ever miserable with devils?
2. It is a most doleful employment to be all day at work in Satan's
chains! to sit studying God and the holy Scriptures, while you are in
the power of the devil, and have hearts that are at enmity to the
holiness of that God and that Scripture which you are studying! It is
a most preposterous and incongruous course of study, if you first
study not your own deliverance. And if you knew your case, and saw
your chains, your trembling would disturb your studies.
3. Till you are renewed you study in the dark, and without that internal
sight and sense, by which the life, and spirit, and kernel of all that
you study must be known. All that the Scripture saith of the darkness of
a state of sin, and of the illumination of the Spirit, and of the
marvellous light of regenerate souls, and of the natural man's not
receiving the things of the Spirit, and of the carnal mind that is
enmity against God, and is not subject to his law, nor can be;[316] all
these and such other passages are not insignificant, but most
considerable truths from the Spirit of truth. You have only that light
that will show you the shell, and the dead letter, but not the soul, and
quickening sense, of any practical holy truth. As the eye knoweth meat
which we never tasted, or as a mere grammarian, or logician, readeth a
law book, or physic book, (who gather nothing out of them that will save
a man's estate or life,) so will you prosecute all your studies.
4. You are like to have but ill success in your studies, when the devil
is your master, who hateth both you, and the holy things which you are
studying. He will blind you, and pervert you, and possess your minds
with false conceits, and put diverting, sensual thoughts into you, and
will keep your own souls from being ever the better for it all.
5. You will want the true end of all right studies, and set up wrong
ends; and therefore whatever be the matter of your studies, you are
still out of your way, and know nothing rightly, because you know it
not as a means to the true end. (But of this anon.)
_Direct._ II. When you have first laid this foundation, and have the
true principle and end of all right studies, be sure that you intend
this end in all, even the everlasting sight and love of God, and the
promoting his glory, and pleasing his holy will; and that you never
meddle with any studies separated from this end, but as means thereto,
and as animated thereby.
If every step in your journey is but loss of time and labour, which is
not directed to your journey's end; and if all that you have to mind
or do in the world, be only about your end or the means; and all
creatures and actions can have no other moral goodness, than to be the
means of God your ultimate end; then you may easily see, that whenever
you leave out God as the end of any of your studies, you are but
sinning, or doting; for in those studies there can be no moral good,
though they may tend to your knowledge of natural good and evil. And
when you think you grow wise and learned men, and can dispute and talk
of many things, which make to your renown, while your "wills consent
not to the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine
which is according to godliness; you are proud, knowing nothing, but
doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy,
strife, railing, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of
corrupt minds, supposing that gain is godliness: from such turn away,"
1 Tim. vi. 3-6. As there is no knowledge but from God, so it is not
knowledge but dotage if it lead not unto God.
_Direct._ III. See therefore that you choose all your studies according
to their tendency to God your end, and use them still under the notion
of means, and that you estimate your knowledge by this end, and judge
yourselves to know no more indeed, than you know of God and for God: and
so let practical divinity be the soul of all your studies.
Therefore, when life is too short for the studies of all things which
we desire to know, make sure of the chief things, and prefer those
studies which make most to your end; spend not your time on things
unprofitable to this end; spend not your first and chiefest time on
things unnecessary to it; for the near connexion to God the end, is it
that ennobleth the matter of your studies. All true knowledge leads to
God; but not all alike: the nearest to him is the best.[317]
_Direct._ IV. Remember that the chief part of your growth in
knowledge, is not in knowing many smaller things, of no necessity; but
in a growing downwards in a clearer insight into the foundation of the
christian faith, and in taking better rooting than you had at your
first believing; and in growing upward into a greater knowledge of
God, and into a greater love of him, and heavenly-mindedness, and then
in growing up to greater skill, and ability, and readiness to do him
service in the world.
Know as much as you can know of the works of God, and of the languages
and customs of the world; but still remember, that to know God in
Christ better, is the growth which you must daily study: and when you
know them most, you have still much more need to know better these
great things which you know already, than to know more things which
you never knew. The roots of faith may still increase, and the
branches and fruits of love may be still greater and sweeter! As long
as you live, you may still know better the reasons of your religion,
(though not better reasons,) and you may know better how to use your
knowledge. And whatever you know, let it be that you may be led up to
know God more, or love him more, or serve him better.
_Direct._ V. With fear and detestation watch and resolve against all
carnal, worldly ends; and see that your hearts be not captivated by
your fleshly interest; nor grow to a high esteem of the pleasures, or
profits, or honours of this world, nor to relish any fleshly
accommodations, as very pleasant and desirable: but that you take up
with God and the hopes of glory as your satisfying portion, and follow
Christ as cross-bearers, denying yourselves, and dead to the world,
and resolved and prepared to forsake all for his sake.
These are words that you can easily say yourselves; but these are
things that are so hardly learned, that many of the most learned and
reverend perish for want of being better acquainted with them (and I
shall never take that man to be wisely learned, that hath not learned
to escape damnation). Christ's cross is to be learned before your
alphabet. To impose the cross is quickly learned, but to learn to bear
it is the difficulty. To lay the cross on others is to be the
followers of Pilate; but to bear it when it is laid on us, is to be
the followers of Christ. If you grow corrupted with a love of honour,
and riches, and preferment, and come to the study of divinity with a
fleshly, worldly mind and end, you will but serve Satan while you seem
to be seeking after God, and damn your souls among the doctrines and
means of salvation, and go to God for materials to chain you faster
to the devil, and steal a nail from divinity to fasten your ears unto
his door. And you little know how Judas's gain will gripe and torment
the awakened conscience! and how the rust will witness against you,
and how it will eat your flesh as fire, James v. 3.
_Direct._ VI. Digest all that you know, and turn it into holy habits,
and expect that success first on yourselves, which if you were to
preach you would expect in others. Remembering that knowing is not the
end of knowing; but it is as eating to the body, where health, and
strength, and service are the end.[318]
Every truth of God is his candle which he sets up for you to work by;
it is as food that is for life and action. You lose all the knowledge
which ends in knowing. To fill your head and common-place book is not
all that you have to do. But to fortify, and quicken, and inflame your
hearts. Good habits are the best provision for a preacher. The habits
of mind are better than the best library. But if the habits of
heavenly love, and life in the heart, do not concur, the heart and
life of a preacher and a scholar are wanting still, for all your
knowledge. Study Paul's words, 1 Cor. viii. 1, "Knowledge puffeth up,
but charity edifieth." If he had said that knowledge edifieth others,
and charity saveth ourselves, he would have said nothing that is
strange. But even as to edification charity hath the precedency.
_Direct._ VII. Yea, see that you excel the unlearned as much in
holiness as you do in knowledge: unless you will persuade them that
your knowledge is a useless, worthless thing; and unless you would be
judged as unprofitable servants.
Every degree of knowledge is for a further degree of holiness: ten
talents must be improved to ten more. They that know and do not, are
beaten with many stripes. The devil's scholars look on the godly that
are unlearned with hatred and disdain, and preach to their
discouragement and disgrace, and strive to set and keep true godliness
in the stocks. But Christ's ministers love holiness wherever they see
it, and are ashamed to think that the unlearned should be more holy
and heavenly than they; and strive to go beyond them as much in the
use and ends of knowledge, as in knowledge itself; and with Austin
lament, that while the unlearned take heaven by violence, the learned
are thrust out into hell, as thinking it is their part to know and
teach, and other men's to practise.
_Direct._ VIII. Cast not away a moment of your precious time in
idleness, or impertinencies; but follow your work diligently, and with
all your might.
I mean not that you should overdo, and overthrow your brains and
bodies, nor forbear such sober exercise as is most necessary to your
health; for a sick body is an ill companion for a student, and much
more a crazed brain. But time-wasters are lovers of pleasure or
idleness, more than of knowledge and holiness: and wisdom falleth not
into idle, sluggish, dreaming souls. If you think it not worth your
painfullest and closest studies, you must take up with idle ignorance,
and go abroad with swelling titles and empty brains, as the deceivers
and the scourgers of the church.
_Direct._ IX. Keep up a delight in all your studies, and carry them on
not in an unwilling weariness: and, if it be not by notable error in
matter or method, gratify your delight with such things as you are
best pleased with, though they bring some smaller inconvenience;
because else your weariness may bring much more.
I know that a delight in sin and vanity is not to be gratified; and
force must be used with a backward mind in case of necessity and
weight. But if it be but in the variety of subjects, and the choice of
pleasing studies which are profitable, though simply some other might
be fitter, something is to be yielded to delight. But especially the
heart must be got to a delight in holy things: and then, time will be
improved; the memory will be helped; much will be done; and you will
persevere; and it will preserve the mind from temptations to needless
recreations, and from the deadly plague of youthful lusts, when your
daily labour is a greater pleasure to you.
_Direct._ X. Get some judicious man to draw you up the titles of a
threefold common-place book: one part for definitions, axioms, and
necessary doctrines; another part for what is useful for ornament and
oratory; and another for references as a common index to all the books
of that science which you read: for memory will not serve for all.
Ordinarily students have not judgment enough to form their own
common-place books till they are old in studies, and have read most of
the authors which they would remember; and therefore the young must
here have a judicious helper. And when they have done, injudiciousness
will be apt to fill it with less necessary things, and to make an
unmeet choice of matter, if they have not care and an instructor.
_Direct._ XI. Highly esteem a just method in divinity, and in all your
studies; and labour to get an accurate scheme or skeleton, where at
once you may see every part in its proper place. But remember that if
it be not sound, it will be a snare; and one error in your scheme or
method will be apt to introduce abundance more.[319]
It is a poor and pitiful kind of knowledge, to know many loose
parcels, and broken members of truth, without knowing the whole, or
the place and the relation which they have to the rest. To know
letters and not syllables, or syllables and not words, or words and
not sentences, or sentences and not the scope of the discourse, are
all but an unprofitable knowledge. He knoweth no science rightly that
hath not anatomized it, and carrieth not a true scheme or method of it
in his mind. But among the many that are extant, to commend any one to
you which I most esteem, or take to be without error, is more than I
dare do.
_Direct._ XII. Still keep the primitive, fundamental verities in your
mind, and see every other truth which you learn as springing out of
them, and receiving their life and nourishment from them: and still
keep in your minds a clear distinction between the truths of several
degrees, both of necessity, and certainty, always reducing the less
necessary to the more necessary, and the less certain to the more
certain, and not contrarily.[320]
If God had made all points of faith, or Scripture revelation, of equal
necessity, our baptism would not only have mentioned our belief in the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; nor should we ever have seen the
ancient creed, nor the ten commandments. And if all points were of equal
evidence, and plainness, and certainty to us, we should not have some so
much controverted above others: "Some things" in Scripture are "hard to
be understood," but not "all things," 2 Pet. iii. 16. To pretend that
any truth is more necessary than it is, doth tend to uncharitableness
and contention: and to say that any is less necessary than it is, doth
tend to the neglect of it, and to the danger of souls. To pretend any
point to be more plain and certain than it is, doth but show our pride
and ignorance. But to set up uncertain and unnecessary points, and make
a religion of them, and reduce things certain or necessary to them, this
is the method of turbulent heretics.
_Direct._ XIII. Take nothing as universally necessary in religion,
which was not so taken in the days of the apostles, and primitive
church; and take that for the safest way to heaven which the apostles
went who certainly are there: value the apostolical purity,
simplicity, charity, and unity; and follow not them that by being wise
and pious overmuch, corrupt our sacred pattern by their additions, and
fill the church with uncharitableness and strife.
If it were not a thing too evident that dominion and riches go for
religion with them, and gain for godliness, and honour and money instead
of argument, it would be a most stupendous wonder that so many learned
men should be found among christians in the world, to hinder the peace
and unity of the church, as do it vehemently and implacably in the
church of Rome; when so easy a thing, and so reasonable, would unite
almost all the christian world, as is the requiring no more as necessary
to our union, than what was made necessary in the days of the apostles,
and the obtruding nothing as necessary to salvation, which the apostles
and primitive church were saved without. This easy, reasonable thing,
which no man hath any thing of seeming sense and weight to speak
against, would end all the ruinating differences among christians.
_Direct._ XIV. Be desirous to know all that God would have you know,
and be willing to be ignorant of all that God would have you ignorant
of; and pry not into unrevealed things; and much less make them the
matter of any uncharitable strife.
Abundance of contentious volumes between the Dominicans, and Jesuits,
and many others, are stuffed with bold inquiries, wranglings, or
determinations of unsearchable mysteries, utterly unknown to those
that voluminously debate them, and never revealed in the word or works
of God. Keep off with reverence from concealed mysteries. Talk not as
boldly of the divine influx, and the priority, posteriority,
dependence or reason of God's decrees, as if you were talking of your
common affairs. Come with great reverence when you are called of God
to search into those high and holy truths, which he hath revealed. But
pretend not to know that which is not to be known. For you will but
discover your ignorance and arrogance, and know never the more, when
you have doted about questions never so long.
_Direct._ XV. Avoid both extremes, of them that study no more but to
know what others have written and held before them, and of them that
little regarded the discoveries of others. Learn all of your teachers
and authors that they can teach you; but make all your own, and see
things in their proper evidence; and improve their discoveries by the
utmost of your diligence; abhorring a proud desire of singularity, or
to seem wiser than you are.
Most students through slothfulness look no further for knowledge than
into their books; and their learning lieth but in knowing what others
have written, or said, or held before them; especially where the least
differing from the judgment of the party which is uppermost or in
reputation, doth tend to hazard a man's honour, or preferments, there
men think it dangerous to seem to know more than is commonly known;
and therefore think it needless to study to know it. Men are backward
to take much pains to know that which tendeth to their ruin to be
known, but doth them no harm while they can but keep themselves
ignorant of it: which makes the opposed truth have so few entertainers
or students among the papists, or any that persecute or reproach it.
And others discerning this extreme, do run into the contrary; and
under pretence of the loveliness of truth, and the need of liberty of
judging, do think the edifying way is first to pull down all that
others have built before them, and little regard the judgment of their
predecessors, but think they must take nothing on trust from others,
but begin all from the very ground themselves. And usually their pride
makes them so little regard the most approved authors, that they have
not patience to read them till they thoroughly understand them; but
reject that which is received, before they understand it, merely
because it was the received way: and while they say, that nothing must
be taken upon trust, they presently take upon trust themselves that
very opinion, and with it the other opinions of those novelists that
teach them this. And believing what such say in disgrace of others,
withal they believe what they hold in opposition to those that they
have disgraced. But it is easy to see how sad a case mankind were in,
if every man must be a fabricator of all his knowledge himself, and
posterity should be never the better for the discoveries of their
ancestors; and the greatest labours of the wisest men, and their
highest attainments, must be no profit to any but themselves. Why do
they use a teacher, if they must do all themselves? If they believe
not their tutors, and take nothing on trust, it seems they must know
every truth before they will learn it: and what difference is there
between believing a tutor and an author? And is not that more credible
which upon long experience is approved by many nations and ages, than
that which is recommended to you but by one or few? These students
should have made themselves an alphabet or grammar, and not have taken
the common ones on trust. It is easier to add to other men's
inventions, than to begin and carry on all ourselves. By their course
of study, the world would never grow wiser; but every age and person
be still beginning, and none proceed beyond their rudiments.
_Direct._ XVI. Be sure you make choice of meet teachers and companions
for your studies and your lives; that they be such as will assist you
in the holy practice of what you know, as well as in your knowledge:
and shun as a plague the familiarity, 1. Of sensual, idle, brutish
persons. 2. And of carnal, ambitious ones, who know no higher end than
preferment and applause. 3. And of proud, heretical, contentious wits,
whose wisdom and religion are nothing but censuring, reproaching, and
vilifying them that are wiser and better than themselves.
Bad company is the common ruin of both: their own sensuality is easily
stirred up by the temptations of the sensual; and their consciences
overborne by the examples of other men's voluptuous lives. It
imboldeneth them to sin, to see others sin before them; as cowards
themselves are drawn on in an army to run upon the face of death, by
seeing others do it, and to avoid the reproach of cowardice; and the
noise of mirth and ranting language, are the drums and trumpets of the
devils, by which their ears are kept from hearing the cries of
wounded, dying men, the lamentations of those that have found the
error of that way. And there is in corrupted nature so strong an
inclination to the prosperity and vain-glory of the world, that makes
them quickly take the bait, especially when the devil doth offer it
them by a fit instrument, which shall not deter them, as it would do
if he had offered it them himself. It is a pleasant thing to flesh and
blood to be rich and great, and generally applauded; and a grievous
thing to be poor, and despised, and afflicted.[321] The rawness also
and unsettledness of youth, who want well furnished understandings and
experience, is a great advantage to heretics and deceivers, who still
sweep many such away, wherever they come and have but opportunity.
Children are "easily tossed up and down, and carried to and fro with
every wind of doctrine, by the cunning sleight and subtlety of them
that lie in wait to deceive," Eph. iv. 14. Deceivers have their
methods; and methods are the common instruments of deceit, which are
not easily detected by the unexperienced. On the contrary, the benefit
of wise, and staid, and sober, and peaceable, meek, humble, holy,
heavenly companions, is exceeding great, especially to youth! Such
will lead them in safe paths, and be still preserving them, and
promoting the most necessary parts of knowledge, and quickening them
to holy practice, which is the end of all.
_Direct._ XVII. In all your studies be jealous of both extremes; and
distinctly discern which are the extremes, that you run not into one
while you avoid the other. And be especially careful, that you imagine
not co-ordinates or subordinates to be opposites; and throw not away
every truth, which you cannot presently place rightly in the frame, and
see it fall in agreeably with the rest; for a further insight into true
method (attained but by very few) may reconcile you to that which now
offendeth you. What God hath joined together, be sure that you never put
asunder; though yet you cannot find their proper places.[322]
There is scarce any error more common among students, than supposing
those truths to be inconsistent, which indeed have a necessary
dependence on each other; and a casting truth away as error, because
they cannot reconcile it to some other truth. And there is nothing so
much causeth this, as want of a true method. But that hath no method
considerable, or after much curious labour hath fallen upon a false
method, or a method that in any one considerable point is out of
joint, will deal thus by many certain truths: as an ignorant person
that is to set all the scattered parts of a clock or watch together,
if he misplace one, will be unable rightly to place all the rest; and
then, when he finds that they fit not the place which he thinks they
must be in, he casteth them away, and thinks they are not the right,
and is searching for or maketh something else to fit that place. False
method rejecteth many a truth.
And, unless it be in loving God, or other acts of the superior
faculties, about their ultimate end and highest object, there is
scarce any thing in mortality but hath its extremes. And where they
are not discerned, they are seldom well avoided. And usually
narrow-sighted persons are fearful only of one extreme, and see no
danger but on one side; and therefore are easily carried, by avoiding
that, into the contrary.
I think it not unprofitable to instance in several particular
cautions, that you imitate not them that put asunder what God hath
conjoined, and cast not away truth as oft as you are puzzled in the
right placing or methodizing it.
_Instance_ I. The first and second causes are conjoined in their
operations, and therefore must not be put asunder. If the way of
influx, concourse, or co-operation be dark and unsearchable to you, do
not deny that it is, because you see not how it is. The honour of the
first and second cause also are conjunct, according to their several
interests in the effects: do not therefore imagine, that all the
honour ascribed to the second cause is denied or taken away from the
first; for then you understand not their order: otherwise you would
see, that as the second causeth independence on the first, and
insubordination to it, and hath no power but what is communicated by
it, so it hath no honour but what is received from it; and that it is
no less honour for the first cause to operate mediately by the second,
than immediately by itself: and that there is no less of the power,
wisdom, or goodness of God, in an effect produced by means and second
causes, than in that which he produceth of himself only, without them:
and that it is his goodness to communicate a power of good to his
creatures, and the honour of working and causing under him: but he
never loseth any thing by communicating, nor hath the less himself by
giving to his creatures: for if all that honour that is given to the
creature were taken injuriously from God, then God would never have
made the world, nor made a saint; and then the worst creatures would
least dishonour God: then he would not shine by the sun, but by
himself immediately: and then he would never glorify either saint or
angel. But on the contrary, it is God's honour to work by adapted
means; and all their honour is truly his; as all the commendation of a
clock or watch is given to the workman. And though God do not all so
immediately, as to use no means or second causes; yet is he never the
further from the effect, but, _immediatione virtutis et suppositi_, is
himself as near as if he used none.
_Instance_ II. The special providence of God, and his being the first
universal cause, are conjunct with the culpability of sinners; and no
man must put these asunder. Those that cannot see just how they are
conjoined, may be sure that they are conjoined. It is no dishonour to
an engineer that he can make a watch which shall go longer than he is
moving it with his finger. Nor is it a dishonour to our Creator, that
he can make a creature which can morally determine itself to an action
as commanded or forbidden, without the predetermination of his Maker,
though not without his universal concourse necessary to action as
action. If Adam could not do this through the natural impossibility of
it, then the law was, that he should die the death if he did not
overcome God, or do that which was naturally impossible; and this was
the nature of his sin. Few dare say, that God cannot make a free,
self-determining agent; and if he can, we shall easily prove that he
hath; and the force of their opposition then is vanished.
_Instance_ III. The omniscience of God, and his dominion, government,
and decrees, are conjunct with the liberty and sin of man: yet these
by many are put asunder: as if God must either be ignorant or be the
author of sin! As if he made one poor, by decreeing to make another
rich! As if he cannot be a perfect governor, unless he procure all his
subjects perfectly to keep his laws! As if all the fault of those that
break the law, were to be laid upon the maker of the law! As if all
God's will _de debito_ were not effective of its proper work, unless
man fulfil it in the event! And as if it were possible for any
creature to comprehend the way of the Creator's knowledge.
_Instance_ IV. Many would separate nature and grace, which God the
author of both conjoineth. When grace supposeth nature, and in her
garden soweth all her seed, and exciteth and rectifieth all her powers;
yet these men talk as if nature had been annihilated, or grace came to
annihilate it, and not to cure it. As if the leprosy and disease of
nature were nature itself! And as if natural good had been lost as much
as moral good! As if man were not man till grace made him a man!
_Instance_ V. Many separate the natural power of a sinner from his
moral impotency, and his natural freedom of will from his moral
servitude, as if they were inconsistent, when they are conjunct. As if
the natural faculty might not consist with an evil disposition; or a
natural power with an habitual unwillingness to exercise it aright.
And as if a sinner were not still a man.
_Instance_ VI. Many separate general and special grace and redemption,
as inconsistent, when they are conjunct; when the general is the
proper way and means of accomplishing the ends of the special grace,
and is still supposed. As if God could not give more to some, if he
give any thing to all. Or as if he gave nothing to all, if he give
more to any. As if he could not deal equally and without difference
with all as a legislator, and righteously with all as a judge, unless
he deal equally and without difference with all as a benefactor, in
the free distribution of his gifts. As if he were obliged to make
every worm and beast a man, and every man a king, and every king an
angel, and every clod a star, and every star a sun!
_Instance_ VII. Many separate the glory of God and man's salvation,
God and man, in assigning the ultimate end of man! As if a moral
intention might not take in both! As if it were not _finis amantis_;
and the end of a lover were not union in mutual love! As if love to
God may not be for ever the final act, and God himself the final
object: and as if, in this magnetic closure, though both may be called
the end, yet there might not in the closing parties be an infinite
disproportion, and only one be _finis ultimate ultimus_.
_Instance_ VIII. Yea, many would separate God from God, while they
would separate God from heaven, and say that we must be content to be
shut out of heaven for the love of God; when our heaven is the perfect
love of God. And so they say in effect, that for the love of God we
must be content to be shut out from the love of God.
_Instance_ IX. Thus also the vulgar separate the mercy and the justice
of God! As if God knew not better than man to whom his mercy should
extend. And as if God be not merciful, if he will be a righteous
governor, and unless he will suffer all the world to spit in his face
and blaspheme him, and let his enemies go all unpunished.
_Instance_ X. Thus many separate threatenings and promises, fear and
love, a perfect law and a pardoning gospel. As if he that is a man,
and hath both fear and love in his nature, must not make use of both
for God and his salvation; and the lawgiver might not fit his laws to
work on both. As if hell may not be feared, and heaven loved at once.
_Instance_ XI. Thus hypocrites separate and conceit their seeming
holiness and devotion to God from duties of justice and charity to
men. As if they could serve God acceptably, and disobey him wilfully!
Or as if they could love him whom they never saw, and not love his
image in his works and children, whom they daily see. As if they could
hate and persecute Christ in his little ones, or at least neglect him,
and yet sincerely love him in himself.
_Instance_ XII. Thus, by many, Scripture and tradition, divine faith
and human faith, are commonly opposed. Because the papists have set
tradition in a wrong place, many cast it away because it fits not
that place: when man's tradition and ministerial revelation, is
necessary to make known and bring down God's revelation to us; and a
subservient tradition is no disparagement to Scripture, though a
supplemental tradition be; and man must be believed as man, though not
as God; and he that will not believe man as man, shall scarce know
what he hath to believe from God.
_Instance_ XIII. Thus many separate the sufficiency of the law and
rule from the usefulness of an officer, minister, and judge. As if the
law must be imperfect, or else need no execution, and no judge for
execution. Or as if the judge's execution were a supplement or
addition to the law. As if the question, Who shall be the judge? did
argue the law of insufficiency; and the promulgation and execution
were not supposed.
_Instance_ XIV. Thus also many separate the necessity of a public
judge, from the lawfulness and necessity of a private judgment, or
discerning in all the rational subjects. As if God and man did govern
only brutes; or we could obey a law, and not judge it to be a law, and
to be obeyed; and not understand the sense of it, and what it doth
command us. As if fools and madmen were the only subjects. As if our
learning of Christ as his disciples, and meditating day and night in
his law, and searching for wisdom in his word, were a disobeying him
as our King. As if it were a possible thing for subjects to obey,
without a private judgment of discretion. Or as if there were any
repugnancy between my judging what is the king's law, and his judging
whether I am punishable for disobeying it. Or as if judging ourselves,
contradicted our being judged of God.
_Instance_ XV. So, many separate between the operation of the word and
Spirit, the minister and Christ. As if the Spirit did not usually work
by the word; and Christ did not preach to us by his ministers and
ambassadors. And as if they might despise his messengers, and not be
taken for despisers of himself. Or might throw away the dish and keep
the milk.
_Instance_ XVI. Thus many separate the special love of saints from the
common love of man as man. As if they could not love a saint, unless
they may hate an enemy, and despise all others, and deny them the love
which is answerable to their natural goodness.
_Instance_ XVII. Thus many separate universal or catholic union and
communion from particular. And some understand no communion but the
universal, and some none but the particular. Some say we separate from
them as to catholic communion, if we hold not local, particular
communion with them; yea, if we join not with them in every mode. As
if I could be personally in ten thousand thousand congregations at
once, or else did separate from them all. Or, as if I separated from
all mankind, if I differed from all men in my visage or complexion.
Or, as if I cannot be absent from many thousand churches, and yet
honour them as true churches of Christ, and hold catholic communion
with them in faith, hope, and love; yea, though I durst not join with
them personally in worship, for fear of some sinful condition which
they impose. Or, as if I need not be a member of any ordered
worshipping congregation, because I have a catholic faith and love to
all the christians in the world.
_Instance_ XVIII. Thus are the outward and inward worship separated by
many, who think that all which the body performeth is against the due
spirituality; or that the spirituality is but fancy, and contrary to
the form or outward part. As if the heart and the knee may not fitly
bow together; nor decency of order concur with Spirit and truth.
_Instance_ XIX. Thus many separate faith and obedience; Paul's
justification by faith, without the works of the law, from James's
justification by works, and not by faith only, and Christ's
justification by our words, Matt. xii. 47. And thus they separate free
grace and justification from any necessary condition, and from the
rewardableness of obedience (which the ancients called merit): but of
this at large elsewhere.
_Instance_ XX. And many separate prudence and zeal, meekness and
resolution, the wisdom of the serpent and the innocency of the dove;
yielding to no sin, and yet yielding in things lawful; maintaining our
christian liberty, and yet becoming all things to all men, if by any
means we may save some. These instances are enough, I will add no more.
_Direct._ XVIII. Take heed of falling into factions and parties in
religion (be the party great or small, high or low, in honour or
dishonour); and take heed lest you be infected with a factious,
censorious, uncharitable, hurting zeal: for these are much contrary to
the interest, will, and Spirit of Christ. Therefore among all your
readings, deeply suck in the doctrine of charity and peace, and read
much, reconciling, moderating authors; such as Dury, Hall, Davenant,
Crocius, Bergius, Martinius, Amyraldus, Dallæus, Testardus, Calixtus,
Hottonus, Junius, Paræus and Burroughs their Irenicons.
The reading of such books extinguisheth the consuming flame of that
infernal, envious zeal described James iii.; and kindleth charity, and
meekness, and mellowness, and moderation in the heart; and cureth
those bloodshotten eyes, which are unable till cured to discern the
truth. It helpeth us to knowledge, and to that which is more edifying,
and keepeth knowledge from puffing us up. And experience will tell you
at long running, that among ancients and moderns, Greeks and Latins,
papists and protestants, Lutherans and Calvinists, remonstrants and
contra-remonstrants, prelatists, presbyterians, independents, &c.,
commonly the moderators are not only the best and most charitable, but
the wisest, most judicious men.
_Direct._ XIX. With all your readings still join the reading of the
Scriptures, and of the most holy and practical divines; not
fantastical, enthusiastic counterfeits, Paracelsian divines; but those
that lead you up by the solid doctrine of faith and love to true
devotion, and heavenly-mindedness and conversation.
This must be your bread and drink, your daily and substantial food:
without this you may soon be filled with air, that cannot nourish you,
and prove in the end as sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. These
will breed strength, and peace, and joy, and help you in your
communion with God, and hopes of heaven, and so promote the end of all
your studies. There is more life and sweetness in these, than in
things that are more remote from God and heaven.
_Direct._ XX. Lastly, Do all as dying men: promise not yourselves long
life, lest it tempt you to waste your time on things less necessary,
and to loiter it away; or lest you lose the quickening benefit, which
the sight of death and eternity would yield you in all your studies.
The nearer you apprehend yourselves to death and heaven, the greater
help you have to be mortified and heavenly. This will make you serious,
and keep up right intentions, and keep out wrong ones, and powerfully
help you against temptations, that when you have studied to save others,
you may not be cast-aways; nor be cheated by the devil with the shell,
and leaves, and flowers, while you go without the saving fruit.
I have spoken the more on this subject of governing the thoughts,
because it is so great and excellent a part of the work of man; and
God doth so much regard the heart; and the Spirit of Christ and Satan
so much strive for it; and grace is so much employed about it; and our
happiness or misery, joy or sorrow, is greatly promoted by our
thoughts. And more I would have said, but that in the third chapter,
and in my "Treatise of the Divine Life," there is much said already.
And for a method and directions for particular meditations, I have
given it at large in the fourth part of the "Saints' Rest," from
whence it may easily be taken, and applied to other subjects, as it is
there to heaven. It is easy to write and read directions; but I fear
lest slothfulness, through the difficulty of practice, will frustrate
my directions to the most. But if any profit by them, my labour is not
lost.
FOOTNOTES:
[301] Sicut ignis in aqua durare non potest, ita neque turpis
cogitatio in Dei amante: quoniam omnis qui Dei amator est, etiam
laboris amans est: cæterum labor voluntarius, naturaliter voluptati
inimicus existit. Marcus Erem.
[302] See the directions for prayer, hearing, reading, and the
sacrament. Part ii.
[303] See in my tract on Heb. xi. 1, called "The Life of Faith."
[304] See my book of the Mischiefs of Self-ignorance.
[305] Thus evil may be made the object and occasion of good: it is
good to meditate on evil to hate it, and avoid it. Keep acquaintance
with conscience, and read over its books, and it will furnish your
thoughts with humbling matter.
[306] Psal. cv. 22; See Psal. civ. cv. cvi. cvii. cxxii. cxxiv. cxxxv.
cxxxvi. cxlv. cxlvii. cxlviii. cxlix.
[307] Phil. ii. 13; 2 Cor. iii. 5; xii. 9.
[308] Of this see the fourth part of my "Saints' Rest" more fully.
[309] Gal. vi. 10; 2 Thess. iii.
[310] See Dr. Hammond on the place, and on 1 Tim. v. and on Tit. ii.
[311] Petrarch speaking of his intimacy and esteem with kings and
princes, addeth, Multos tamen eorum quos valde amabam effugi: tantus
mihi fuit insitus amor libertatis; ut cujus vel nomen ipsum libertati,
vel illi esse contrarium videretur, omni studio declinarem. In Vita Sua.
[312] Read more after, part iii. against despair.
[313] Stoici dicunt sapientem nunquam sanitate mentis excidere:
incidere tamen aliquando in imaginationes absurdas propter atræ bilis
redundantiam, sive ob delirationem non quidem deviatione rationis,
verum ex imbecillitate naturæ. Laert. in Zenone.
[314] Col. ii. 18-23.
[315] John iii. 16; 1 John v. 10-12; Rev. xxii. 17; John v. 40.
[316] Acts xxvi. 18; Eph. i. 18, 19; Col. i. 13; 1 Pet. ii. 9; Rom.
viii. 7; 1 Cor. ii. 14, 15.
[317] Nos autem nec subito cœpimus philosophari, nec mediocrem a primo
tempore ætatis in eo studio operam curamque consumpsimus, et cum minime
videbamur tum maxime philosophabamur. Cicero de Nat. Deor. page 5.
[318] Primum contemplativæ sapientiæ rudimentum est meditari,
condiscere, et loquitari dedicere. Paul. Scalig. Thes. p. 730.
[319] Since the writing of this, I have begun a Methodis Theologiæ.
[320] Read well Vincentius Lirinensis.
[321] Sana consultatio est ex eruditia; multarumque rerum peritia et
experientia. Plato in Laert.
[322] Cum opiniones tam variæ sint et inter se dissidentes, alterum
fieri potest, ut earum nulla, alterum certe non potest, ut plus una
vera fit. Cicero de Nat. Deor. page 5.
CHAPTER VII.
DIRECTIONS FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE
PASSIONS.
The passions are to be considered, 1. As in themselves, and the sin of
them as respecting God and ourselves only: and so I am to speak of
them here. 2. As they are a wrong to others, and a breach of the
commandments which require love and duty towards our neighbour: and so
I shall speak of them after.
Passions are not sinful in themselves, for God hath given them to us
for his service; and there is none of them but may be sanctified and
used for him. But they are sinful, 1. When they are misguided and
placed on wrong objects. 2. When they darken reason, and delude the
mind, and keep out truth, and seduce to error. 3. When they rebel
against the government of the will, and trouble it, and hinder it in
its choice or prosecution of good, or urge it violently to follow
their brutish inclination. 4. When they are unseasonable. 5. Or
immoderate and excessive in degree. 6. Or of too long continuance. 7.
And when they tend to evil effects, as to unseemly speeches or
actions, or to wrong another.
Passions are holy when they are devoted to God, and exercised upon him
or for him. They are good when, 1. They have right objects; 2. And are
guided by reason; 3. And are obedient to the well-guided will; 4. And
quicken and awake the reason and the will to do their duty; 5. And
tend to good effects, exciting all the other powers to their office;
6. And exceed not in degree, so as to disturb the brain or body.
_Tit._ 1. _Directions against all sinful passions in
general._
_Direct._ 1. Trust not to any present actual resistance, without any
due, habitual mortification of passions, and fortification of the soul
against them. Look most to the holy constitution of your mind and
life, and then sinful passions will fall off, like scabs from a
healthful body when the blood is purified.
No wonder if an unholy soul be a slave to passion, when the body is
inclined to it: for such a one is under the power of selfishness,
carnality, and worldliness; and from under the government of Christ
and his Spirit; and wanteth that life of grace by which he should cure
and subdue the corruptions of nature. The way for such a one to master
passion, is not to strive by natural, selfish principles and reasons,
which are partial, poor, and weak; but to look first to the main, and
to seek with speed and earnestness for a new and sanctified heart, and
get God's image, and his Spirit, and renewing, quickening grace: this
is the only effectual conqueror of nature. A dull and gentle
disposition may seem without this to conquer that which never much
assaulted it: (the trial of such persons being some other way); but
none conquereth Satan indeed but the Spirit of Christ. And if you
should be free from passion, and not be free from an unholy, carnal,
worldly heart, you must perish at last, if you seemed the calmest
persons upon earth. Begin therefore at the foundation, and see that
the body of sin be mortified, and that the whole tree be rooted up
which beareth these evil, bitter fruits; and that the holy, victorious
new nature be within you; and then you will resist sin with light and
life, which others still resist but as in their sleep.
_Direct._ II. More particularly, let your souls be still possessed
with the fear of God, and live as in his family, under his eye and
government, that his authority may be more powerful than temptations,
and your holy converse with him may make him still more regarded by
you than men or any creatures. And then this sun will put out the
lesser lights, and the thunder of his voice will drown the whisperers
that would provoke you, and the humming of those wasps which make you
so impatient. God would make the creature nothing, and then it would
do nothing to disturb you, or carry you into sin.
_Direct._ III. Dwell in the delightful love of God, and in the sweet
contemplation of his love in Christ, and roll over his tender mercies
in your thoughts, and let your conversation be with the holy ones in
heaven, and your work be thanksgivings and praise to God: and this
will habituate your souls to such a sweetness, and mellowness, and
stability, as will resist sinful passion even as heat resisteth cold.
_Direct._ IV. Keep your consciences continually tender, and then they
will check the first appearance of sinful passions, and will smart
more with the sin than your passionate natures do with the
provocation. A seared conscience, and a hardened, senseless heart, are
to every sin, as a man that is fast asleep is to thieves; they may
come in and do what they will, so they do not waken him. But a tender
conscience is always awake.
_Direct._ V. Labour after wisdom, strength of reason, and a solid
judgment; for passion is cherished by folly. Children are easily
overthrown, and leaves are easily shaken with every little wind; when
men keep their way, and rocks and mountains are not shaken. Women and
children, and old, and weak, and sick people are usually most
passionate. If a wise man should have a passionate nature, he hath
that which can do much to control it: when folly is a weather-cock at
the wind's command.
_Direct._ VI. See that the will be confirmed and resolute, and then it
will soon command down passion. Men can do much against passion if
they will. Nature hath set the will in the throne of the soul; it is
the sinful connivance and negligence of the will, which is the guilty
cause of all the rebellion; as the connivance of the commanders is the
common cause of mutinies in an army.[323] The will either consenteth,
or is remiss in its office, and in forbidding and repressing the rage
of passion. When I say, you can do it if you will, you think this is
not true, because you are willing, and yet passion yieldeth not to
your will's command; but I mean not that every kind of willingness
will serve; it is not a sluggish wish that will do it; but if the will
were resolute without any compliance, or connivance, or negligence in
its proper office, no sinful passion could remain; for it is no
further sin, than it is voluntary, either by the will's compliance, or
omission and neglect. Therefore let most of your labour be to waken
and confirm the will; and then it will command down passion.
_Direct._ VII. Labour after holy fortitude, courage, and magnanimity.
Great minds are above all troubles, desires, or commotions about
little things. A poor, base, low, and childish mind, is never quiet
longer than it is rocked asleep or flattered.
_Direct._ VIII. Especially see that you want not self-denial, and that
worldliness and fleshly-mindedness be thoroughly mortified; for sinful
passion is the very breath and pulse of a selfish, fleshly, worldly
mind. It is not more natural for dogs to fight about a bone, than for
such to snarl and quarrel, or be in some distempered passion, about
their selfish, carnal interest. Covetousness will not let the mind be
quiet. It is as natural for a selfish man to be under the power of
sinful passions, as for a man to shake that hath an ague, or to fear
that is melancholy. Fleshly men have a canine appetite and feverish
thirst continually upon them, after some flesh-pleasing toy or other.
_Direct._ IX. Keep a court of justice in your souls, and call
yourselves daily to account, and let no passion escape without such a
censure as is due. If reason and conscience thus exercise and maintain
their authority, and passion be every day soundly rebuked, it will
wither like a plant that is cropped as fast as it springeth.
_Direct._ X. Deliberate and foresee the end; examine whether passion
tend to that which will be approvable when it is past. Looking to the
end doth shame all sinful passions: they are blind, and moved only by
things present; they cannot endure the sight of the time to come, nor
to be examined whither they go, or where is their home.
_Direct._ XI. Keep a continual apprehension of the danger and
odiousness of sinful passions, by knowing how full they are of the
spawn of many other sins. See the evil of them in the effects. Mark
what passion doth in others and yourselves; what abundance of evil
thoughts, and words, and deeds do come from sinful passions!
_Direct._ XII. Observe the immediate troublesome effects, and the
disorders of your soul, and so turn the fruit of passions against
themselves. Mark how they discompose you, and disturb your reason, and
make your minds like muddied waters, and breed a diseased unquietness
in you, unfitting you for your works, and breaking your peace; so that
you can neither know, nor use, nor enjoy yourselves.
_Direct._ XIII. Let death look your passions frequently in the face.
It hath a mortifying virtue; and as it showeth us the vanity of the
creature, so it taketh down those passions, which creature interest
and deceit have caused. It exciteth reason, and restoreth it to its
dominion, and silenceth the rebellion of the senses. A man that is to
die to-morrow, and knoweth it, would easilier repel to-day a
temptation to lust, or covetousness, or drunkenness, or revenge, than
at another time he could have done. One look into eternity will
powerfully rebuke all carnal passions.
_Direct._ XIV. Remember still that God is present. Will you behave
yourselves passionately before him, when the presence of your prince
would calm you? Shall God and his holy angels see thee like a bedlam
lay by thy reason and misbehave thyself?
_Direct._ XV. Have still some pertinent scripture ready to rebuke thy
passions; that thou mayst say as Christ to Satan, "Thus it is
written." Speak to it in the name and word of God; though the bare
words will not charm these evil spirits, yet the authority will curb
them. For this "word is quick and powerful, a discerner of the
thoughts," Heb. iv. 12. "Mighty through God, to the pulling down of
strong holds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that
exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringeth into
captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ," 2 Cor. x. 4, 5.
_Direct._ XVI. Set Christ continually before you as your pattern, who
calleth you to learn of him to be meek and lowly, Matt. xi. 29: who
desired not the wealth or glory of the world; who loved his own that
were in the world, but loved not the things of the world; who never
was lifted up, or sinfully cast down; who never despised or envied
man, nor ever feared man; who never was over merry or over sad; who
being reviled, reviled not again; but was dumb as a lamb before the
shearers.[324]
_Direct._ XVII. Keep as far from all occasions of your passions as
other duties will allow you; and contrive your affairs and occasions
into as great an opposition as may be to the temptation. Run not into
temptation, if you would be delivered from evil. Much might be done by
a willing, prudent man, by the very ordering of his affairs. God and
Satan work by means; let the means then be regarded.
_Direct._ XVIII. Have a due care of your bodies, that no distemper be
cherished in them which causeth the distemper of the soul. Passions
have a very dependence on the temperament of the body; and much of the
cure of them lieth (when it is possible) in the body's emendation.
_Direct._ XIX. Turn all your passions into the right channel, and make
them all holy, using them for God upon the greatest thing. This is the
true cure; the bare restraint of them is but a palliate cure, like the
easing of pain by a dose of opium. Cure the fear of man by the fear of
God; and the love of the creature, by the love of God; and the cares
for the body, by caring for the soul; and earthly, fleshly desires and
delights, by spiritual desires and delights; and worldly sorrow, by
profitable, godly sorrow.
_Direct._ XX. Control the effects, and frustrate your passions of what
they would have; and that will ere long destroy the cause. Cross
yourselves of the things which carnal love and desire would have;
forbear the things which carnal mirth or anger would provoke you to,
and the fire will go out for want of fuel. (Of which more in the
particulars.)
_Tit._ 2. _Directions against sinful Love of Creatures._
Love is the master passion of the soul, because it hath the chiefest
object, even goodness which is the object of the will; and simple love
is nothing but complacency, which is nothing but the simple volition
of good; and it is a passionate volition or complacency which we call
the passion of love.[325] When this is good and when it is sinful I
showed before; but yet because the one half of the cure here lieth in
the conviction, and it is so hard a thing to make any lover perceive a
sinfulness in his love, I shall first help you in the trial of your
love, to show the sinfulness of it; when I have first named the
objects of it.
Any creature which seemeth good to us, may possibly be the object of
sinful love; as honour, greatness, authority, praises, money, houses,
lands, cattle, meat, drink, sleep, apparel, sports, friends, relations,
and life itself. As for lustful love, I shall speak of it anon.
_Helps for discovering of sinful Love._
_Direct._ I. Make God's interest and his word the standard to judge of
all affections by. That which is against the love of God, and would
abate or hinder it, yea, which doth not directly or indirectly tend to
further it, is certainly a sinful love; and so is all that is against
his word. For the love of God is our final act upon our ultimate end,
and therefore all that tends not to it, is a sin against our very end,
and so against our nature and the use of our faculties.
_Direct._ II. Therefore whatever creature is loved ultimately for
itself, and not for a higher end, even for God, his service, his honour,
his relation to it, or his excellency appearing in it, is sinfully
loved. For it is made our god when it is loved ultimately for itself.
_Direct._ III. Suspect all love to creatures which is very strong and
violent, and easily kindled, and hardly moderated or quieted. Though you
might think it is for some spiritual end or excellency, that you love
any person or any thing, yet suspect it if it be so easy and strong;
because that which is truly and purely spiritual is against corrupted
nature, and comes from grace which is but weak: we find no such easiness
to love God, and Scripture, and prayer, and holiness; nor are our
affections so violent to these. It is well if all the fuel and blowing
we can use will keep them alive. It is two to one that the flesh and the
devil have put in some of their fuel or gunpowder, if it be fierce.
_Direct._ IV. Suspect all that love which selfishness and fleshly
interest have a hand in. Is it some bodily pleasure and delight that
you love so much? Or is it a good book or other help for your soul? We
are so much apter to exceed and sin in carnal, fleshly-mindedness,
than in loving what is good for our souls, that there we should be
much more suspicious. If it be violent and for the body, it is ten to
one there is sin in it.
_Direct._ V. Suspect all that love to creatures which your reason can
give no good account of, nor show you a justifiable cause. If you love
one place or person much more than others, and know not why, but love
them because you cannot choose, this is much to be suspected: though
God may sometimes kindle a secret love between friends, from an
unexpressible unity or similitude of minds, beyond what reason will
undertake to justify, yet this is rare, and commonly fancy, or folly,
or carnality is the cause: however, it is more to be suspected and
tried, than rational love.
_Direct._ VI. Suspect all that fervent love to any creature which is
hasty before sufficient trial; for commonly both persons and things
have the best side outward, and seem better at the first appearance
than they prove. Not but that a moderate love may be taken up upon the
first appearance of any excellency, especially spiritual; but so as to
allow for a possibility of being deceived, and finding more faultiness
upon a fuller trial than we at first perceive. Have you dwelt in the
house with the persons whom you so much admire? and have you tried
them in their conversations? and seen them tried by crosses, losses,
injuries, adversity, prosperity, or the offers of preferment or plenty
in the world? you would little think what lurketh undiscovered in the
hearts of many, that have excellent parts, till trial manifest it!
_Direct._ VII. Try your affections in prayer before God, whether they be
such as you dare boldly pray God either to increase or continue and
bless; and whether they be such as conscience hath no quarrel against.
If they endure not this trial, be the more suspicious, and search more
narrowly: the name and presence of God in prayer, doth much dispel the
frauds of carnal reasonings. Yet persons who by melancholy are cast into
diseased fears and scrupulosities, are uncapable of this way of trial.
_Direct._ VIII. Consult with wise, impartial persons; and open your case
to them without deceit, before affections have gone so far as to blind
you, or leave you uncapable of help. In this case, if in any case, the
judgment of a stander-by that is faithful and impartial is usually to be
preferred before your own. For we are too near ourselves; and judgment
will be bribed and biassed even in the best and wisest persons.
_Direct._ IX. Yet cast not away all because you discover much excess
or carnality in your affections; for frequently there is mixture both
in the cause of love, and in the love itself of good and evil. And
when you have but taken out all that was selfish, and carnal, and
erroneous in the cause, the carnal, violent love will cease; but not
all love: for still there will and must remain the moderate, rational,
and holy love, which is proportioned to the creature's worth and
merit, and is terminated ultimately on God: the separation being made,
this part must be preserved.
_Direct._ X. Mere natural appetite in itself is neither morally good
nor evil; but as it is well placed and ordered it is good, and as
unruled or ill-ruled it is evil.
_Helps to mortify sinful Love._
_Direct._ I. The greatest of all means to cast out all sinful love, is
to keep the soul in the love of God, Jude 21, wholly taken up in
admiring him, serving him, praising him, and rejoicing in him: of
which see chap. iii. direct. xi. We see that they that are taken up in
the love and service of one person, are not apt to be taken much with
any other.[326] But it is not only by diversion, nor only by
prepossessing and employing all our love, that the love of God doth
cure sinful love; but besides these there is also a majesty in his
objective presence which aweth the soul, and commandeth all things
else to keep their distance; and there is an unspeakable splendour and
excellency in him, which obscureth and annihilateth all things else
(though they are more near, and clearly seen and known). And there is
a celestial kind of sweetness in his love, which puts the soul that
hath tasted it out of relish with transitory, inferior good. As he
that hath conversed with wise and learned men, will no more admire the
wit of fools. And as he that hath been employed in the government of a
kingdom or the sublimest studies, will be no more in love with
children's games, and paddling in the dirt.
_Direct._ II. The next help is to see that the creature deceived you
not; and therefore that you be not rash and hasty; but stay while you
come nearer it, and see it unclothed of borrowed or affected ornaments:
and see it not only in the dress in which it appeareth abroad, which
often covereth great deformities, but in its homely habit and night
attire. Bring it to the light; and, if it may be, also see it when it
hath endured the fire, which hath taken off the paint and removed the
dress.[327] Most of your inordinate love to creatures is by mistake and
rashness. The devil tricks them up and paints them, that you may fall in
love with them; or else he showeth you only the outside of some common
good, and hideth the emptiness or rottenness within. Come nearer
therefore, and stay longer, and prevent your shame and disappointments.
Is it not a shame to see you dote on that place, or office, or thing
this year, which you are weary of before the next? Or to see two persons
impatiently fond of each other till they are married, and then to live
in strife as weary of each other? How few persons or things have been
too violently loved, that were but sufficiently first tried!
_Direct._ III. The next great help is to destroy self-love (as carnal
and inordinate); for this is the parent, life, and root of all other
sinful love whatever. Why doth the worldling over-love his wealth, and
the proud man his greatness and repute, and the sensualist his
pleasures, but because they first over-love that flesh and self which
all these are but the provision for. Why doth a dividing sectary
overvalue and over-love all the party or sect that are of his own
opinion, but because he first over-valueth and over-loveth
himself?[328] Why do you love those above their worth who think highly
of you, and are on your side, and use to praise you behind your back,
or that do you a good turn, but because you first over-love
yourselves? Why doth lustful love inflame you, or the love of meat,
and drink, and sport, and bravery, carry you into such a gulf of sin,
but that first you over-love your fleshly pleasure? What insnareth you
in fondness to any person, but that you think they love you, or are
suitable to your carnal end. See therefore that you mortify the flesh.
_Direct._ IV. Still remember how jealous God is of your love, and how
much he is wronged when any creature encroacheth upon his right. 1.
You are his own by creation; and did he give you love to lay out on
others, and deny it to himself? 2. He daily and hourly maintaineth
you; he giveth you every breath, and bit, and mercy that you live
upon; and will you love the creature with his part of your love? 3.
How dearly hath he bought your love in your redemption! 4. He hath
adopted you, and brought you into the nearest relation to him, that
you may love him. 5. He hath pardoned all your sins, and saved you
from hell, (if you are his own,) that you may love him. 6. He hath
promised you eternal glory with himself that you may love him. 7. His
excellency best deserveth your love. 8. His creatures have nothing but
from him, and were purposely sent to bespeak your love for him rather
than for themselves. And yet after all this shall they encroach upon
his part? If you say, it is not God's part that you give them, but
their own; I tell you, all that love which you give the creature above
its due, you take from God. But if it be such a love to the creature
as exceedeth not its worth, and is intended ultimately for God, and
maketh you not love him the less but the more, it is not it that I am
speaking against, or persuading you to mortify.
_Direct._ V. Look on the worst of the creature with the best, and
foresee what it will be when it withereth, and what it will appear to
you at the last. I have applied this against worldliness before, chap.
iv. part vi. and I shall afterwards apply it to the lustful love.
Bring your beloved creature to the grave, and see it as it will appear
at last, and much of the folly of your love will vanish.
_Direct._ VI. Understand well the most that it will do for you, and
how short a time you must enjoy it, and flatter not yourselves with
the hopes of a longer possession than you have reason to expect. If
men considered for how short a time they must possess what they dote
upon, it would somewhat cool their fond affections.
_Direct._ VII. Remember that too much love hath the present trouble of
too much care, and the future trouble of too much grief, when you come
to part with what you love. Nothing more createth care and grief to
us, than inordinate love. You foreknow that you must part with it; and
will you now be so glued to it that then it may tear your flesh and
heart. Remember you caused all that yourselves.
_Direct._ VIII. Remember that you provoke God to deprive you of what you
over-love, or to suffer it to grow unlovely to you. Many a man's horse
that he over-loved hath broke his neck: and many a man's child that he
over-loved hath died quickly, or lived to be his scourge and sorrow: and
many a husband or wife that was over-loved, has been quickly snatched
away, or proved a thorn, or a continual grief and misery.
_Direct._ IX. If there be no other means left, prudently and moderately
imbitter to thyself the creature which thou art fond of: which may be
done many ways, according to the nature of it. By the seldomer or more
abstemious use of it: or by using it more to benefit than delight; or by
mixing some mortifying, humbling exercises; or mixing some self-denying
acts, and minding more the good of others, &c.
_Direct._ X. In the practice of all directions of this nature, there
must abundance of difference be made between a carnal, voluptuous
heart, that is hardly taken off from sensual love, and a mortified,
melancholy, or over-scrupulous person, who is running into the
contrary extreme, and is afraid of every bit they eat, or of all they
possess, or wear, or use, and sometimes of their very children and
relations, and ready to overrun their mercies, or neglect their
duties, suspecting that all is too much loved. And it is a very hard
thing for us so to write or preach to one party, but the other will
misapply it to themselves, and make an ill use of it. All that we can
write or say is too little to mortify the fleshly man's affections:
and yet speak as cautelously as we can, the troubled soul will turn it
into gall, to the increase of his trouble: and what we speak to his
peace and settlement, though it prove too little and uneffectual, yet
will be effectual to harden the misapplying sensualist in the sinful
affections and liberty which he useth. Therefore it is best in such
cases to have still a wise, experienced, faithful guide, to help you
in the application in cases of difficulty and weight.
_Tit._ 3. _Directions against sinful Desires and Discontent._
I shall say but little here of this subject, because I have already
treated so largely of it, in my book of "Self-denial," and in that of
"Crucifying the World;" and here before in chap. iv. part. vi. and
vii. against worldliness and flesh-pleasing, and here against sinful
love, which is the cause.[329]
How sinful desires may be known, you may gather from the discoveries
of sinful love: as, 1. When you desire that which is forbidden you. 2.
Or that which will do you no good, upon a misconceit that it is better
or more needful than it is. 3. Or when you desire it too eagerly, and
must needs have it, or else you will be impatient or discontented, and
cannot quietly be ruled and disposed of by God, but are murmuring at
his providence and your lot. 4. Or when you desire it too hastily, and
cannot stay God's time. 5. Or else too greedily as to the measure,
being not content with God's allowance, but must needs have more than
he thinks fit for you. 6. Or specially when your desires are perverse,
preferring lesser things before greater; desiring bodily and
transitory things more than the mercies for your souls which will be
everlasting. 7. When you desire any thing ultimately and merely for
the flesh, without referring it to God, it is a sin. Even your daily
bread, and all your comforts, must be desired but as provender for
your horse, that he may the better go his journey, even as provision
for your bodies, to fit them to the better and more cheerful service
of your souls and God. 8. Much more when your desires are for wicked
ends, (as to serve your lust, or pride, or covetousness, or revenge,)
they are wicked desires. 9. And when they are injurious to others.
_Direct._ I. Be well acquainted with your own condition, and consider
what it is that you have most need of; and then you will find that you
have so much grace and mercy to desire for your souls, without which
you are lost for ever, and that you have a Christ to desire, and an
endless life with God to desire, that it will quench all your thirst
after the things below.[330] This, if any thing, will make you wiser,
when you see you have greater things to mind. A man that is in present
danger of his life, will not be solicitous for pins or fool-gawds: and
the hopes of a lordship or a kingdom will cure the desire of little
things: a man that needeth a physician for the dropsy or consumption,
will scarce long for children's balls or tops. And methinks a man that
is going to heaven or hell, should have somewhat greater than worldly
things to long for. Oh what a vain and doting thing is a carnal mind;
that hath pardon, and grace, and Christ, and heaven, and God, to think
of, and that with speed before it be too late; and can forget them
all, or not regard them, and eagerly long for some little
inconsiderable trifle; as if they said, I must needs taste of such a
dish before I die; I must needs have such a house, or a child, or
friend, before I go to another world! O study what need thy distressed
soul hath of a Christ, and of peace with God, and preparation for
eternity, and what need thy darkened mind hath of more knowledge, and
thy dead and carnal heart of more life, and tenderness, and love to
God, and communion with him; feel these as thou hast cause, and the
eagerness of thy carnal desires will be gone.
_Direct._ II. Remember how much your carnal desires do aggravate the
weakness of your spiritual desires, and make the sin more odious and
unexcusable. Are you so eager for a husband, a wife, a child, for
wealth, for preferment, or such things, while you are so cold and
indifferent in your desires after God, and grace, and glory? Your
desires after these are not so earnest! They make you not so importunate
and restless; they take not up your thoughts both day and night; they
set you not so much on contrivances and endeavours: you can live as
quietly without more grace, or assurance of salvation, or communion with
God, as if you were indifferent in the business; but you must needs have
that which you desire in the world, or there is no quiet with you. Do
you consider what a horrible contempt of God, and grace, and heaven, is
manifested by this? Either you are regenerate or unregenerate. If you
are regenerate, all your instructions, and all your experience of the
worth of spiritual things, and the vanity of things temporal, do make it
a heinous sin in you to be now so eager for those things which you have
so often called vanity, while you are so cold towards God, whose
goodness you have had so great experience of. Do you know no better yet
the difference between the creature and the Creator? Do you yet no
better understand your necessities and interest, and what it is that you
live upon, and must trust to for your everlasting blessedness and
content? If you are unregenerate, (as all are that love any thing better
than God,) what a madness is it for one that is condemned in law to
endless torments, and shall be quickly there, if he be not regenerate
and justified by Christ, to be thirsting so eagerly for this or that
thing, or person, upon earth, when he should presently bestir him with
all his might to save his soul from endless misery! How incongruous are
these desires to the good and bad!
_Direct._ III. Let every sinful desire humble you, for the worldliness
and fleshliness which it discovereth to be yet unmortified in you; and
turn your desires to the mortifying of that flesh and concupiscence
which is the cause. If you did not yet love the world, and the things
that are in the world, you would not be so eager for them. If you were
not too carnal, and did not mind too much the things of the flesh, you
would not be so earnest for them as you are. It should be a grievous
thing to your hearts to consider what worldliness and fleshliness this
showeth to be yet there. That you should set so much by the creature,
as to be unable to bear the want of it; is this renouncing the world
and flesh? The thing you need is not that which you much desire; but a
better heart, to know the vanity of the creature, to be dead to the
world, and to be able to bear the want or loss of any thing in it; and
a fuller mortification of the flesh: mortifying and not satisfying it,
is your work.
_Direct._ IV. Ask your hearts seriously whether God in Christ be
enough for them, or not? If they say, no, they renounce him and all
their hope of heaven; for no man takes God for his God that takes him
not for his portion, and as enough for him: if they say, yea, then you
have enough to stop the mouth of your fleshly desires, while your
hearts confess that they have enough in God. Should that soul that
hath a filial interest in God, and an inheritance in eternal life, be
eager for any conveniences and contentments to the flesh? If God be
not enough for you, you will never have enough. Turn to him more, and
know him better, if you would have a satisfied mind.
_Direct._ V. Remember that every sinful desire is a rebelling of your
wills against the will of God; and that it is his will that must govern
and dispose of all, and your wills must be conformed to his; yea, that
you must take pleasure and rest in the will of God. Reason the case with
your hearts, and say, Who is it that is the governor of the world? and
who is to rule me and dispose of my affairs? Is it I or God? Whose will
is it that must lead, and whose must follow? Whose will is better
guided, God's or mine? Either it is his will that I shall have what I
desire, or not; if it be, I need not be so eager, for I shall have it in
his time and way; if it be not his will, is it fit for me to murmur and
strive against him? Remember that your discontents and carnal desires
are so many accusations brought in against God; as if you said, Thou
hast not dealt well or wisely, or mercifully by me; I must have it
better: I will not stand to thy will and government; I must have it as I
will, and have the disposal of myself.
_Direct._ VI. Observe how your eager desires are condemned by yourselves
in your daily prayers, or else they make your prayers themselves
condemnable. If you pray that the will of God may be done, why do your
wills rebel against it, and your desires contradict your prayers? And if
you ask no more than your daily bread, why thirst you after more? But if
you pray as you desire, Lord, let my will be done, and my selfish,
carnal desire be fulfilled, for I must needs have this or that; then
what an abominable prayer is this! Desire as you must pray.
_Direct._ VII. Remember what covenant you have made with God; that you
renounced the world and the flesh, and took him for your Lord, and
King, and Father, and yielded up yourselves as his own, as his
subject, and as his child, to be disposed of, ruled, and provided for
by him; and this covenant is essential not only to your christianity,
but to your taking him for your God. And do you repent of it? or will
you break it, and forfeit all the benefits of the covenant? If you
will needs have the disposal of yourselves, you discharge God of his
covenant and fatherly care for you; and then what will become of you,
if he so forsake you?
_Direct._ VIII. Bethink you how unmeet you are to be the choosers of
your own condition. You foresee not what that person, or thing, or place
will prove to you, which you so eagerly desire: for aught you know it
may be your undoing, or the greatest misery that ever befell you. Many a
one hath cried with Rachel, "Give me children or else I die," Gen. xxx.
1, that have died by the wickedness and unkindness of their children.
Many a one hath been violent in their desires of a husband or a wife,
that afterwards have broken their hearts, or proved a greater affliction
to them than any enemy they had in the world. Many a one hath been eager
for riches, and prosperity, and preferment, that hath been insnared by
them, to the damnation of his soul. Many a one hath been earnest for
some office, dignity, or place of trust, which hath made it a great
increaser of his sin and misery. And it is flesh and self that is the
eager desirer of things that are against the will of God, and nothing is
so blind and partial as self and flesh. You think not your child a
competent judge of what is best for him, and make not his desires, but
your own understanding, the guide and rule of your dealings with him, or
disposals of him. And are you fitter choosers for yourselves in
comparison of God, than your child is in comparison of you? Either you
take God for your Father, or you do not. If you do not, call him not
Father, and hope not for mercy and salvation from him: if you do, is he
not wise and good enough to dispose of you, and to determine what is
best for you, and to choose for you?
_Direct._ IX. Remember that it is one of the greatest plagues on this
side hell, to be given up to our own desires, and that by your
eagerness and discontents you provoke God thus to give you up. "So I
gave them up to their own heart's lust, and they walked in their own
counsels: Oh that my people had hearkened to me!" &c. Psal. lxxxi.
12. "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts
of their own hearts," &c. Rom. i. 24, 26. "For this cause God gave
them up to vile affections," ver. 28. "And even as they did not like
to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind, to do those things which are not convenient," 2 Thess. ii.
10-12. God may give you that which you so eagerly desire, as he gave
"Israel a king, even in his anger," Hos. xiii. 10, 11. Or as he gave
the Israelites "their own desire, even flesh which he rained upon them
as dust, and feathered fowls as the sand of the sea; they were not
estranged from their lust: but while their meat was yet in their
mouths, the wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of
them," Psal. lxxviii. 27, 29-31. "They lusted exceedingly in the
wilderness, and tempted God in the desert, and he gave them their
request, but sent leanness into their souls," Psal. cvi. 14, 15. God
may say, Follow your own lust, and if you are so eager, take that
which you desire; take that person, that thing, that dignity which you
are so earnest for; but take my curse and vengeance with it: never let
it do you good, but be a snare and torment to you. "Let a fire come
out of the bramble and devour you," Judg. ix. 15.
_Direct._ X. Take heed lest concupiscence and partiality entice you to
justify your sinful desires and take them to be lawful. For if you do
so, you will not repent of them, you will not confess them to God, nor
beg pardon of them, nor beg help against them, nor use the means to
extinguish them; but will cherish them, and be angry with all that are
against them, and love those tempters best that encourage them: and
how dangerous a case is this! And yet nothing is more ordinary among
sinners, than to be blinded by their own affections, and think that
they have sufficient reason to desire that which they do desire. And
affection maketh them very witty and resolute to deceive themselves.
It setteth them on studying all that can be said to defend their
enemy, and put a deceitful gloss upon their cause. Try your desires
well (as I before directed you). Q. 1. Is the thing that you desire a
thing that God hath bid you desire, or promised in his word to give
you, (as grace, Christ, and heaven)? If it be so, then desire it, and
spare not; but if not so, Q. 2. Why then are you so eager for it when
you should at most have but a submissive, conditional desire after it?
Q. 3. Nay, is it not something which you are forbidden to desire? If
so, dare you excuse it?
_Direct._ XI. Remember that concupiscence or sinful desire is the
beginning of all sin of commission, and leadeth directly to the act.
Theft, adultery, murder, fraud, contention, and all such mischiefs,
begin in inordinate desires. For "every one is tempted, when he is
drawn away of his own lust and enticed: then when lust hath conceived,
it bringeth forth sin; and sin when it is finished bringeth forth
death," James i. 14, 15. By "lust" is meant, any fleshly desire or
will; therefore when the apostle forbiddeth gluttony and drunkenness,
chambering and wantonness, strife and envying, he strikes at the root
of all in this one word, "make no provision for the flesh to satisfy
its lusts," (or wills,) Rom. xiii. 13, 14.
_Direct._ XII. Pull off the deceiving vizor, and see that which you so
eagerly desire, as it is. What will it be to you at the last? It is now
in its spring or summer; but see it in its fall and winter? It is now in
its youth; but see it withered to skin and bone in its decrepid age. It
is now in its clean and curious ornaments; but see it in its uncleanness
and in its homely dress: cure your deceit, and your desire is cured.
_Direct._ XIII. Promise not yourselves long life, but live as dying
men, with your grave and winding-sheet always in your eye; and it will
cure your thirst after the creature when you are sensible how short a
time you must enjoy it, and especially how near you are unto eternity.
This is the apostle's method, 1 Cor. vii. 29-31, "But this I say,
brethren, the time is short: it remaineth that both they that have
wives be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they
wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they
that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use the world,
as not abusing it (or as if they used it not): for the fashion of this
world passeth away." So you will desire as if you desired not, when
you perceive well how quickly the thing desired will pass away.
_Direct._ XIV. In all your desires, remember the account as well as
the thing desired. Think not only what it is now at hand, but what
account you must make to God of it; "for to whom men give or commit
much, of them they require the more," Luke xii. 48. Will you thirst
after more power, more honour, more wealth, when you remember that you
have the more to give account of? Matt. xxv. Have you not enough to
reckon for already, unless you had hearts to use it better?
_Direct._ XV. Keep yourselves to the holy use of all your mercies, and
let not the flesh devour them, nor any inordinate appetite fare ever
the better for them when you have them, and this will powerfully
extinguish the inordinate desire itself. We are in little danger of
being over eager after things spiritual and holy, for the honour of
God; resolve therefore that all you have shall be thus sanctified to
God, and used for him, and not at all to satisfy any inordinate desire
of the flesh, and then the flesh will cease its suit, when it finds it
fares never the better for it. You are able to do much in this way if
you will. If you cannot presently suppress the desire, you may
presently resolve to deny the flesh the thing desired, (as David would
not drink the water though he longed for it, 2 Sam. xxiii. 15, 17,)
and you may presently deny it the more of that you have. If you cannot
forbear your thirst, you can forbear to drink; if you cannot forbear
to be hungry, you can forbear to eat whatever is forbidden or unfit:
if Eve must needs have an appetite to the forbidden fruit, yet she
might have commanded her hands and teeth, and not have eaten it. If
you cannot otherwise cool your desire of curious apparel, wear that
which is somewhat homelier than else you would have worn, on purpose
to rebuke and control that desire: if you cannot otherwise quench your
covetous desires, give so much the more to the poor to cross that
desire. You cannot say that the outward act is out of your power, if
you be but willing.
_Direct._ XVI. When your desires are over eager, bethink you of the
mercies which you have received already and do possess. Hath God done so
much for you, and are you still calling for more, even of that which is
unnecessary, when you should be giving thanks for what you have? This
unthankful greediness is an odious sin. Think what you have already for
soul and body, estate and friends; and will not all this quiet you,
(even this with Christ and heaven,) unless you have the other lust or
fancy satisfied, and unless God humour you in your sick desires?
_Direct._ XVII. Understand how little it will satisfy you, if God
should give you all that you earnestly desire. When you have it, it
will not quiet you, nor answer your expectations. You think it will
make you happy, and be exceeding sweet to you; but it deceiveth you,
and you promise yourselves you know not what, and therefore desire you
know not what. It would be to you but like a dreaming feast, which
would leave you hungry in the morning, Isa. xxix. 8.
_Direct._ XVIII. Remember still that the greatest hurt that the creature
can do thee, is in being over-loved and desired, and it is never so
dangerous to thee as when it seemeth most desirable. If you remembered
this aright, you would be cast into the greatest fear and caution, when
any thing below is presented very pleasing and desirable to you.
_Direct._ XIX. Consider that your desires do but make those wants a
burden and misery to you which otherwise would be none. Thirst makes
the want of drink a torment, which to another is no pain or trouble at
all. The lustful wanton is ready to die for love of the desired mate
which nobody else cares for, nor is ever the worse for being without.
A proud ambitious Haman thinks himself undone if he be not honoured,
and is vexed if he be but cast down into the mean condition of a
farmer; when many thousand honest, contented men live merrily and
quietly in as low a condition. It is men's own desires, and not their
real wants, which do torment them.
_Direct._ XX. Remember that when you have done all, if God love you he
will be the chooser, and will not grant your sick desires, but will
correct you for them till they are cured. If your child cry for a
knife, or for unwholesome meat, or any thing that would hurt him, you
will quiet him with the rod if he give not over. And it is a sign some
rod of God is near you, when you are sick for this, or that, or the
other thing, and will not be quiet and content unless your fancy and
concupiscence be humoured.
_Tit._ 4. _Directions against Sinful Mirth and Pleasure._
Mirth is sinful, 1. When men rejoice in that which is evil; as in the
hurt of others, or in men's sin, or in the sufferings of God's
servants, or the afflictions of the church, or the success or
prosperity of the enemies of Christ, or of any evil cause: this is one
of the greatest sins in the world, and one of the greatest signs of
wickedness, when wickedness is it that they rejoice in.[331] 2. When
it is unseasonable, or in an unmeet subject: as to be merry in the
time and place of mourning; to feast when we should fast; or for an
unsanctified, miserable soul to be taken up with mirth, that is in the
power of sin and Satan and near to hell. 3. Mirth is sinful when it
tendeth to the committing of sin, or is managed by sin: as to make
merry with lies and fables, and tempting, unnecessary, time-wasting
dances, plays, or recreations; or with the slander or abuse of others;
or with drunkenness, gluttony, or excess. 4. Mirth is sinful when it
is a hinderance to our duty and unfitteth the soul for the exercise of
that grace which is most suitable to its estate: as when it hindereth
a sinner's conviction and humiliation, and resisteth the Spirit of
God, and bawleth down the calls of grace, and the voice of conscience,
that they cannot be heard: and when it banisheth all sober
consideration about the matters that we should most regard, and will
not give men leave to think with fixedness and sobriety, upon God and
upon themselves, their sin and danger, upon death and judgment and the
life to come: when it makes the soul more unfit to take reproof, to
profit by a sermon, to call upon God. This drunken mirth which shuts
out reason, and silenceth conscience, and laughs at God, and jesteth
at damnation, and doth but intoxicate the brain, and make men mad in
the matters where they should most show their wisdom, I say, this
mirth is the devil's sport, and the sinner's misery, and the wise
man's pity: of which Solomon speaketh, Eccl. ii. 2, "I said of
laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doth it?" Prov. xxvi. 18, 19,
"As a mad-man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man
that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport?" Prov. x.
23, "It is as sport to a fool to do mischief." 5. But mirth is most
horridly odious when it is blasphemous and profane: when incarnate
devils do make themselves merry with jesting and mocking at Scripture,
or at the judgments of God, or the duties of religion; or in horrid
oaths and cursed speeches against the servants of the Lord.
_Direct._ I. First see that thou be a person fit for mirth,[332] and
that thou be not a miserable slave of Satan, in an unregenerate, unholy,
unjustified state! Thou wouldst scarce think the innocent games or
sports were becoming a malefactor that must die to-morrow. An
unregenerate, unholy person, is sure whenever he dieth such to be
damned; if he believe not this, he must deny God or the gospel to be
true. And he is not sure to live an hour. And he is sure that he shall
die ere long. And now, if you have not fooled away your reason, tell me
whether your reason can justify the mirth of such a man? Dost thou ask,
what harm is it to be merry? None at all for one that hath cause to be
merry, and rejoiceth in the Lord. But for a man to be merry in the way
to hell, and that so near it; for a man to be merry before his soul be
sanctified, and his sin be pardoned, or before he seeketh it with all
his heart, this is harm; if folly and unbelief, and contempt of God and
his dreadful justice, be any harm. O hearken to the calls of God; abhor
thy sins, and set thy heart on heaven and holiness, and then God and
conscience will allow thee to be merry. Get a renewed heart and life,
and get the pardon of thy sins, and a title to heaven, and a readiness
to die, and then there is reason and wisdom in thy mirth.[333] Then thy
mirth will be honourable and warrantable; better than the lame man's
that was healed, Acts iii. 8, that went with Peter and John into the
temple, "walking, and leaping, and praising God." But it is a most
pitiful sight to see an ungodly, unregenerate sinner, to laugh, and
sport, and play, and live merrily, as if he knew not what evil is near
to him! It would draw tears from the eyes of a believer that knoweth
him, and thinketh where he is like to dwell for ever. I remember the
credible narrative of one that lived not far from me, that in his
profaneness was wont to wish that he might see the devil; who at last
appeared to him in his terror; and sometime he smiled on him; and the
man was wont to say, that he never seemed so ugly and terrible as when
he smiled (and the man was affrighted by it into a reformed life). So
though a servant of the devil be never comely, yet he never seemeth so
ghastly as when he is most merry in his misery.
_Direct._ II. Yet do not destroy nature by overmuch heaviness, under
pretence that thou hast no right to be merry. For, 1. The very
discovery of thy misery puts thee into the fairer hopes of mercy. 2.
And many of God's children live long without assurance of their
justification, and yet should not therefore cast away all joy. 3. And
so much ease and quiet of mind must be kept up by the unsanctified
themselves, as is necessary to preserve their natures, that they may
have time continued, and may wait on God till they obtain his grace.
Above all men, they have reason to value their lives, lest they die
and be lost, before they be recovered. And therefore, as they must not
famish themselves by forbearing meat or drink, so their sorrows must
not be such as may destroy their bodies (of which more anon).
[Sidenote: The true method of rejoicing.]
_Direct._ III. See that you first settle the peace of your souls upon
solid grounds, and get such evidences of your special interest in
Christ and heaven, as will rationally warrant you to rejoice; and then
make it the business of your lives to rejoice and delight yourselves
in God, and take this as the principal part of grace and godliness,
and not as a small or indifferent thing; and so let all lawful,
natural mirth be taken in, as animated and sanctified by this holy
delight and joy; and know that this natural, sanctified mirth is not
only lawful, but a duty exceeding congruous and comely for a thankful
believer in his way to everlasting joy.
This is the true method of rejoicing. Though, as I said, so much
quietness may be kept up by the unregenerate, as is needful to keep up
life and health, and the gospel where it cometh is tidings of great
joy to those that hear it; yet no man can live a truly comfortable,
merry life, but in this method; but all his mirth, beside that which
either supporteth nature, or meeteth mercy in his returning to God,
will be justly chargeable with madness; and maketh him a more pitiful
sight.[334]
The first thing therefore to be done, is to lay the groundwork of true
mirth. And this is done by unfeigned repenting, and turning to God by
faith in Christ, and becoming new creatures, a sanctified, peculiar
people, and being justified and adopted to be the children of God; and
then by discerning (upon sober trial) the evidences and witness of all
this in ourselves, that we may know that we have passed from death to
life.
And though there are several degrees both of grace and of the
discerning of it, some having but little holiness, and some but little
discerning of it in themselves, yet the least may afford much comfort
to the soul upon justifiable grounds, though not so much as the
greater degrees of grace, and clearer discerning of it, may do.
The foundation being thus laid, it must be our next endeavour to build
upon it a settled peace of conscience, and quietness of soul; for till
we can attain to joy, it is a great mercy to have peace, and to be
free from the accusations, fears, and griefs which belong to the
unjustified; and peace must be the temper more ordinary than much joy,
to be expected in this our frail condition.
Thirdly, Peace being thus settled, we must endeavour to rise up daily
into joy, as our great duty and our great felicity on earth; it being
frequently and earnestly commanded in the Scriptures, that we "rejoice
in the Lord always," and "shout for joy, all that are upright in
heart," Psal. xxxiii. 1; Phil. iii. 1; iv. 4; Deut. xii. 12, 18;
xxvii. 7. Thus he that "proveth his own work," may have "rejoicing in
himself," Gal. vi. 4, "even in the testimony of his conscience," of
his own "simplicity and godly sincerity," 2 Cor. i. 12. And this all
believers should maintain and actuate in themselves.
Fourthly, With this rejoicing in God, our lawful, natural mirth must
be taken in, as subordinate or sanctified; that is, we must further
our holy joy by natural mirth and cheerfulness, and by the comforts
of our bodies in God's lower mercies, promote the service and the
comforts of our souls. And this is the right place for this mirth to
come in, and this is the true method of rejoicing.
_Direct._ IV. Mark well the usefulness and tendency of all thy mirth:
and if it be useful to fit thee for thy duty, and intended by thee to
that end, (though you alway observe not that intention at the time,)
and if it tend to do thee good, or help thee to do good, without a
greater hurt or danger, then cherish and promote it; but if it tend to
carry thee away from God to any creature, and to unfit thy soul for
the duties of thy place, and to carry thee into sin, then avoid it as
thy hurt: still remembering that the necessary support of nature must
not be avoided by good or bad. A christian that hath any acquaintance
with himself, and with the work of holy watchfulness, may discern what
his mirth is by the tendency and effects, and know whether it doth him
good or harm.
_Direct._ V. Take heed that the flesh defile not your mirth, by dropping
in any obscene or ribald talk, or by stirring up fleshly lust and sin.
Which it will quickly do, if not well watched; and holy mirth and
cheerfulness is very apt to degenerate on a sudden into sinful mirth.
_Direct._ VI. Consider what your mirth is like to prove to others as
well as to yourselves. If it be like to stir up sin in others, or to
be offensive to them, you must the more avoid it in their presence, or
manage it with the greater caution: if it be needful to cheer up the
drooping minds of those you converse with, or to remove their
prejudice against a holy life, you must the more give place to it: for
it is good or bad as it tendeth unto good or bad.
_Direct._ VII. Never leave out reason or godliness from any of your
mirth. Abhor that mirth that maketh a man a fool, or playeth the fool:
and take heed of that ungodliness which maketh a man merriest when he
is furthest from God, like the horse or ox that leapeth and playeth
for gladness when he is unyoked or loosed from his labour. Something
of God and heaven should appear or be dropped into all our mirth, to
sweeten and to sanctify it.
_Direct._ VIII. Watch your tongues in all your mirth; for they are very
apt to take liberty then to sin. Mirth is to the tongue as holidays and
play-days to idle scholars; who are glad of them as a time in which they
think they have liberty to game, and fight, and do amiss.
_Direct._ IX. If a word break forth from yourselves or companions to the
wrong of others in your mirth, as of backbiting, evil-speaking, jeering,
scorning, defaming, (yea, though it be your enemy,) rebuke it, and cast
it out, as dirt or dung that falleth into your dish or cup.
_Direct._ X. If profaneness intrude, and any make merry with jesting
at Scripture, religion, or the slanders or scorns of godly persons,
with a tendency to make religion odious or contemptible; if they are
such as you may speak to, reprove them with reverend seriousness to
their terror: if they are not, then show your abhorrence of it by
turning your backs and quitting the place and company of such devilish
enemies of God. Be not silent or seemingly-consenting witnesses of
such odious mirth against your Maker.
_Direct._ XI. If the mirth of others in your company grow insipid,
frothy, foolish, wanton, impious, or otherwise corrupt, drop in some
holy salt to season it; and something that is serious and divine to
awe it and repress it. As to remember them of God's presence, or to
recite such a text as Eph. v. 3, 4, "But fornication and all
uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named amongst you as
becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor
jesting; which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks."
[Sidenote: Considerations to repress excessive mirth.]
_Direct._ XII. If mirth grow immoderate and exceed in measure, and carry
you away from God and duty by the very carnal pleasure of it, have
always at hand these following considerations to repress it. 1. Remember
that God is present; and levity is not comely in his sight. 2. Remember
that death and judgment are at hand, when all this levity will be turned
into seriousness. 3. Remember that your souls are yet under a great deal
of sin, and wants, and danger, and you have a great deal of serious work
to do. 4. Look on Jesus Christ, and remember what an example he gave you
upon earth; whether he laughed, and played, and jested, and taught you
immoderate or carnal mirth; and whether you live like the disciples of a
crucified Christ. 5. Think on the ordinary way to heaven, described in
Scripture; which is through many tribulations, afflictions, fastings,
temptations, humiliations, sufferings, and mortifications; and think
whether a wanton, jesting, playful life be like to this. 6. Think of the
course of the ancient and excellent christians, who went to heaven
through labour, and watchings, and fasting, and poverty, and cruel
persecutions, and not through carnal mirth and sport. 7. Think of the
many calamitous objects of sorrow that are now abroad in the world! of
the millions of heathens and Mahometans, and other strangers or enemies
to Christ! of the obstinate Jews; of the dark corrupted lamentable state
of the Greek, Armenian, Ethiopian and Roman churches, where religion is
so woefully obscured and dishonoured by ignorance, error, superstition,
and profaneness: of the papal tyranny and usurpation; and of the divided
state of all the churches, and the profaneness, and persecution, and
uncharitableness, and contentions, and mutual reproaches and revilings,
which make havoc for the devil among the members of Christ.
_Tit._ 5. _Directions against sinful Hopes._
Hope is nothing but a desirous expectation; therefore the directions
given before, against sinful love and desire, may suffice also against
sinful hopes, save only for the expecting part. Hope is sinful, 1.
When it is placed ultimately upon a forbidden object: as to hope for
some evil to yourselves which you mistakingly think is good. To hope
for felicity in the creature, or to hope for more from it than it can
afford you. To hope for the hurt of other men; for the ruin of your
enemies; for the hinderance of the gospel, and injury to the church of
Christ.[335] 2. When you hope for a good thing by evil means: as to
hope to please God, or to come to heaven by persecuting his servants,
or by ignorance, or superstition, or schism, or heresy, or any sin. 3.
To hope ungroundedly for that from God which he never promised. 4. To
hope deceitfully for that from God which he hath declared he will
never give. All these are sinful hopes. But it is not these last that
I shall here say much to, because I have said so much already of them
in many other writings.
_Direct._ I. Hope for nothing from God against faith or without faith;
that is, for nothing which he hath said he will not give, nor for any
thing which he hath not promised to give, or given you some reason to
expect. To hope for that which God hath told us he will not give, or
that which is against the holiness and justice of God to give, this is
but to hope that God will prove a liar, or unholy, or unjust, which
are wicked and blaspheming hopes. Such are the hopes which abundance
of ignorant and ungodly persons have; who hope to be saved without
regeneration, and without true holiness of heart or life; and hope to
be saved in their wilful impenitence and beloved sins: who hope that
God forgiveth them those sins, which they hate not, nor will be
persuaded to forsake: and hope that the saying over some words of
prayer, or doing something which they call a good work, shall save
them, though they have not the Spirit of Christ: or that hope to be
saved, though they are unsanctified, because they are not so bad as
some others, and live not in any notorious, disgraceful sin: all these
believe the devil who tells them that an unholy person may be saved,
and believe that the gospel is false which saith, "without holiness
none shall see the Lord," Heb. xii. 14; and they hope that God will
prove unholy, unjust, and false to save them, and yet this they call a
hoping in God. Hope for that which God hath promised, and spare not;
but not for that which he hath said he will not do, yea, protested
cannot be, John iii. 3, 5.
_Direct._ II. When thou hopest for any evil to others, or thyself,
remember what a monstrous thing it is to make evil the object of thy
hope, and how those hopes are but thy hastening unto chosen misery,
and contradict themselves. For thou hopest for it as good; and to be
greedy for evil on supposition that it is good, doth show thy folly
that wilt try no better the objects of thy hopes: like a sick man that
longs and hopeth for that which if he take it will be his death. Thus
sinners hope for the poisoned bait.
_Direct._ III. Understand how much of the root of worldliness
consisteth in your worldly hopes. Poor worldlings have little in
possession to delight in; but they keep up a hope of more within them.
Many a covetous or ambitious wretch, that never reacheth that which he
desireth, yet liveth upon the hopes of it: and hope is it that setteth
and keepeth men at work in the service of the world, the flesh, and
the devil; as divine hope doth set and keep men at work for heaven,
for their souls, and for Jesus Christ. And many a hypocrite that
loseth much upon the account of his religion, yet showeth his
rottenness by keeping up his worldly hopes, and going no further than
will stand with those.
_Direct._ IV. Hath not the world deceived all that have hoped in it unto
this day? Consider what is become of them and of their hopes; what hath
it done for them, and where hath it left them: and wilt thou place thy
hopes in that which hath deceived so many generations of men already?
_Direct._ V. Remember that thy worldly hopes are a sin so fully
condemned by natural demonstration, that thou art utterly left without
excuse. Thou art certain beforehand that thou must die; thou knowest
how vain the world will be then to thee, and how little it can do for
thee; and yet art thou hoping for more of the world!
_Direct._ VI. Consider that the world declareth its vanity in the very
hopes of worldlings. In that it is still drawing them by hopes, and
never giveth them satisfaction and content. Almost all the life of a
worldling's pleasure is in his hopes. The very thing which he hopeth
for, doth not prove so sweet to him in the possession, as it was in
his hopes. A hoping and still hoping for that which they never shall
attain, is the worldling's life.
_Direct._ VII. O turn your souls to those blessed hopes of life
eternal, which are sent you from heaven by Jesus Christ, and set
before you in the holy Scriptures, and proclaimed to you by the
messengers of grace. Doth God offer you sure, well-grounded hopes of
living for ever in his joy and glory? And do you neglect them, and lie
hoping for that felicity in the world which cannot be attained, and
which will give no content when you have attained it? This is more
foolish than to toil and impoverish yourselves in hope to find the
philosopher's stone, and refuse a kingdom freely offered.
_Tit._ 6. _Directions against sinful Hatred, Aversation,
or Backwardness towards God._[336]
The hatred to God and backwardness to his service, which is the chief
part of this sin, is to be cured according to the directions in the
first chapter, as a state of wickedness is: and more I shall say anon,
about the worship of God; and chap. iii. direct. xi. containeth the cure
also. Only here I shall add a few directions to a God-hating generation.
_Direct._ I. The first thing you have to do, is to discover this to be
your sin. For you are confident that you love God above all, while you
hate him above all, even above the devil. You will confess, that this
is horrid wickedness, where it is found, and well deserveth damnation:
take heed lest thy own confession judge thee. Remember then that it is
not the bare name that we now speak of: I know that God's name is most
honoured, and the devil's name is most hated. Nor is it every thing in
God that is hated: none hateth his mercifulness and goodness as such.
Nor is it every thing in the devil that is loved: none loveth his
hatred to man, nor his cruelty in tormenting men. But the holiness of
God, which is it that man must receive the image of, and be conformed
to, is hated by the unholy; and the devil's unholiness, and friendship
to men's sin and sensuality, is loved by the sensual and unholy. And
this hatred of God (and love of the devil) one would think you might
easily perceive:
1. In that you had rather God were not so just and holy; you had
rather he had never commanded you to be holy, but left you to live as
your flesh would have you: you had rather God were indifferent as to
your sins, and would give you leave to follow your lusts. Such a God
you would have: and a God that will damn you unless you be holy, and
hate your sins and forsake them, you like not, you cannot abide, but
indeed do hate him.
2. Therefore you will not believe that God is such a holy, sin-hating
God: because you would not have him so, you will not believe he is so;
and so hate his nature, while you believe that you love him; and love
but an idol of your unholy fantasies.[337] Psal. 1. 21, 22, "These
things hast thou done, and I kept silence: thou thoughtest that I was
altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set
them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget
God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver."
3. You love not the holiness of the word of God, which beareth his
image. You love not these strict and holy passages in it, John iii. 3,
5; Luke xiv. 26, 33; Matt. xviii. 3; Rom. viii. 13; Col. iii. 1-4; 2
Cor. v. 17, with abundance more. You had rather have had a Scripture
that would have left you your ambition, covetousness, lust, and
appetite to their liberties; and that had said nothing for the
absolute necessity of holiness, nor had condemned the ungodly.
4. You love not the holiest ministers or servants of Christ, that most
powerfully preach his holy word, or that most carefully, seriously,
and zealously obey it; your hearts rise against them, when they bring
in the light, which showeth that your deeds and you are evil, John
iii. 19, 20. They are an eyesore to you: your hearts rise not so much
against whoremongers, swearers, liars, drunkards, atheists, or
infidels, as against them. What sort of persons on the face of the
earth, are so hated by the ungodly in all nations, and of all degrees,
and used by them so cruelly, and pursued by them so implacably, as the
holiest servants of the Lord are?
5. You love not to call upon God in serious, fervent, spiritual
prayer, praises, and thanksgiving: you are quickly weary of it; you
had rather be at a play, or gaming, or a feast: your hearts rise
against holy worship as a tedious, irksome thing.
6. You love not holy, edifying discourse of God, and of heavenly
things: your hearts rise against it, and you hate and scorn it, as if
all serious talk of God were but hypocrisy, and God were to be
banished out of our discourse.
7. You cannot abide the serious, frequent thoughts of God in secret;
but had rather stuff your minds with thoughts of your horses, or
hawks, or bravery, or honour, or preferments, or sports, or
entertainments, or business and labours in the world; so that one hour
of a thousand or ten thousand was never spent in serious, delightful
thoughts of God, his holy truths, or works, or kingdom.
8. You love not the blessed day of judgment, when Christ will come
with his holy angels to judge the world, to justify his accused and
abused servants, to be "glorified in his saints, and admired in all
them that do believe," 2 Thess. i. 8-11. And can you be so blind after
all this, as not to see that you are haters of God?
_Direct._ II. Know God better, and thou canst not hate him; especially
know the beauty and glorious excellency of that holiness and justice
which thou hatest. Should the sun be darkened or disgraced, because
sore eyes cannot endure its light? Must kings and judges be all
corrupt, or change their laws, and turn all men loose to do what they
list, because malefactors and licentious men would have it so?
_Direct._ III. Know God and holiness as they are to thee thyself; and
then thou wilt know them not only to be best for thee, as the sun is
to the world, and as life and health are to thy body, but to be thy
only good and happiness; and then thou canst not choose but love them.
Thy prejudice and false conceits of God and holiness cause thy hatred.
_Direct._ IV. Cast away thy cursed unbelief. If thou believe not what
the Scripture saith of God and man, and of the soul's immortality, and
the life to come, thou wilt then hate all that is holy as a deceit,
and needless troubler of the world. But if once thou believe well the
word of God, and the life everlasting, thou wilt have another heart.
_Direct._ V. Away with thy beastly, blinding sensuality. While thou
art a slave to thy flesh, and lusts, and appetite, and its interest
reigneth in thee, thou canst not choose but hate that holiness which
is against it, and hate that God that forbiddeth it, and tells thee
that he will judge thee and damn thee for it if thou forsake it not:
this is the true cause of the hatred of God and godliness in the
world. God's laws condemn the very life and pleasure of the fleshly
man. Godliness is unreconcilable to concupiscence and the carnal
interest. Lay by thy fleshly mind and interest, or, as sure as thou
art a man, thou wilt be judged and damned as an enemy to God. Dost
thou not feel that this is the cause of thy enmity, that God putteth
thee on unpleasing (holy) courses, and will not let thee please thy
flesh, but affrighteth thee with the threatenings of hell?[338] Rom.
viii. 6-8, "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually
minded is life and peace: because the carnal mind is enmity against
God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be:
so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Ver. 13, "If ye
live after the flesh ye shall die." "It is hard for thee to kick
against the pricks," Acts ix. 5. "Woe to him that striveth with his
Maker," Isa. xlv. 9. Read Luke xix. 27.
_Direct._ VI. Draw near and accustom thy soul to serious thoughts of
God; for it is strangeness that maketh thee the more averse to him. We
have less pleasure in the company of strangers than of familiar
acquaintance. Reconciliation must be made by coming nearer, and not by
keeping at a distance still.
_Direct._ VII. Study well the wonderful love and mercy which he hath
manifested to thy soul in the redemption wrought by Jesus Christ, in
the covenant of grace, in all the patience he hath exercised towards
thee, and all his offers of mercy and salvation, entreating thee to
turn and live. Canst thou remember what God hath done for thee all thy
life, and how patiently and mercifully he hath dealt with thee, and
yet canst thou hate him, or thy heart be against him?
_Direct._ VIII. Judge not of God or holiness by the faults of any men
that have seemed holy. No more than you will censure the sun, because
thieves rob by the light of it; or because some men are purblind. God
hateth sin in them and you, wherever he findeth it. Judge of God and
holiness by his proper nature and true effects, and by the holy
Scripture, and not by the crimes of sinners which he condemneth, who,
if they had been more holy, had less offended.
_Direct._ IX. Come among the godly, and try a holy life awhile, and
judge not of it or them that use it by the reports of the devil and
wicked men. Malice will speak ill of God himself, and of his holiest
servants. Can worse be said, than was said of Christ himself, and his
apostles? The devil was not ashamed to belie Job to God's own face, and
tell God that he was such a one, as that a little trial to his flesh
would turn him from his godliness. But those that come near and try the
ways and servants of God, do find that the devil did belie them.
_Direct._ X. Remember thy near approaching end, and how dreadful it
will be to be found and judged among the malignant enemies of
holiness. "And if the righteous be scarcely saved, where then shall
the ungodly and the sinner appear?" 1 Pet. iv. 18. Then what wouldst
thou give to be one of those holy ones that now thou hatest? and to be
judged as those that lived in that holiness which thy malignant heart
could not abide? Then thou wilt wish that thou hadst lived and died as
the righteous, that thy latter end might have been like his.
_Tit._ 7. _Directions against sinful Wrath or Anger._
As anger is against the love of our neighbour, I shall speak of it
afterwards: as it is against the soul itself, I shall speak of it in
this place. Anger is the rising up of the heart in passionate
displacency against an apprehended evil, which would cross or hinder
us of some desired good. It is given us by God for good, to stir us up
to a vigorous resistance of those things, which, within us or without
us, do oppose his glory or our salvation, or our own or our
neighbour's real good.
Anger is good when it is thus used to its appointed end, in a right
manner and measure: but it is sinful, 1. When it riseth up against God
or any good, as if it were evil to us: as wicked men are angry at
those that would convert and save them, and that tell them of their
sins, and that hinder them from their desires.[339] 2. When it
disturbeth reason, and hindereth our judging of things aright. 3. When
it casteth us into any unseemly carriage, or causeth or disposeth to
any sinful words or actions: when it inclineth us to wrong another by
word or deed, and to do as we would not be done by. 4. When it is
mistaken, and without just cause. 5. When it is greater in measure
than the cause alloweth. 6. When it unfitteth us for our duty to God
or man. 7. When it tendeth to the abatement of love and brotherly
kindness, and the hindering of any good which we should do for others:
much more when it breedeth malice, and revenge, and contentions, and
unpeaceableness in societies, oppression of inferiors, or dishonouring
of superiors.[340] 8. When it stayeth too long, and ceaseth not when
its lawful work is done. 9. When it is selfish and carnal, stirred up
upon the account of some carnal interest, and used but as a means to a
selfish, carnal, sinful end: as to be angry with men only for crossing
your pride, or profit, or sports, or any other fleshly will. In all
these it is sinful.
_Directions Meditative against sinful Anger._
_Direct._ I. Remember that immoderate anger is an injury to humanity,
and a rebel against the government of reason. It is without reason and
against reason; whereas in man all passions should be obedient to
reason. It is the misery of madness, and the crime of drunkenness, to
be the suppressing and dethroning of our reason; and sinful anger is a
short madness or drunkenness. Remember that thou art a man, and scorn
to subject thyself to a bestial fury.
_Direct._ II. It is also against the government of God: for God
governeth the rational powers first, and the inferior by them. If you
destroy the king's officers and judges, you oppose the government of
the king. Is a man in passion fit to obey the commands of God, that
hath silenced his reason?
_Direct._ III. Sinful passion is a pain and malady of the mind. And
will you love or cherish your disease or pain? Do you not feel
yourselves in pain and diseased while it is upon you? I do not think
you would take all the world to live continually in that case
yourselves. If you should be still so, what were you good for, or what
could you enjoy, or what comfort would your lives be to you? Why, if a
long pain be so bad, a short one is not lovely. Keep not wilfully so
troublesome a malady in your mind.
_Direct._ IV. Observe also what an enemy it is to the body itself. It
inflameth the blood, and stirreth up diseases, and breedeth such a
bitter displeasedness in the mind, as tends to consume the strength of
nature, and hath cast many into acute, and many into chronical
sicknesses, which have proved their death. And how uncomfortable a
kind of death is this!
_Direct._ V. Observe how unlovely and unpleasing it rendereth you to
beholders; deforming the countenance, and taking away the amiable
sweetness of it, which appeareth in a calm and loving temper. If you
should be always so, would any body love you? Or would they not go out
of your way, (if not lay hands on you,) as they do by any thing that
is wild or mad? You would scarce desire to have your picture drawn in
your fury, till the frowning wrinkles and inflamed blood are returned
to their places, and have left your visage to its natural comeliness.
Love not that which maketh you so unlovely to all others.
_Direct._ VI. You should love it the worse because it is a hurting
passion, and an enemy to love and to another's good. You are never
angry but it inclineth you to hurt those that angered you, if not all
others that stand in your way: it putteth hurting thoughts into your
mind, and hurting words into your mouths, and inclineth you to strike
or do some mischief: and no men love a hurtful creature. Avoid
therefore so mischievous a passion.
_Direct._ VII. Nay, mark the tendency of it, and you will find that if
it should not be stopped it would tend to the very ruin of your
brother, and end in his blood and your own damnation. How many
thousands hath anger murdered or undone! It hath caused wars, and
filled the world with blood and cruelty! And should your hearts give
such a fury entertainment?
_Direct._ VIII. Consider how much other sin immoderate anger doth
incline men to.[341] It is the great crime of drunkenness, that a man
having not the government of himself, is made liable by it to any
wickedness: and so it is with immoderate anger. How many oaths and
curses doth it cause every day! How many rash and sinful actions! What
villany hath not anger done! It hath slandered, railed, reproached,
falsely accused, and injured many a thousand. It hath murdered and
ruined families, cities, and states. It hath made parents kill their
children, and children dishonour their parents. It hath made kings
oppress and murder their subjects, and subjects rebel and murder
kings. What a world of sin is committed by sinful anger throughout all
the world! How endless would it be to give you instances! David
himself was once drawn by it to purpose the murdering of all the
family of Nabal. Its effects should make it odious to us.
_Direct._ IX. And it is much the worse in that it suffereth not a man
to sin alone, but stirreth up others to do the like. Wrath kindleth
wrath, as fire kindleth fire. It is two to one but when you are angry
you will make others angry, or discontented, or troubled by your words
or deeds. And you have not the power of moderating them in it, when
you have done. You know not what sin it may draw them to. It is the
devil's bellows to kindle men's corruptions; and sets hearts, and
families, and kingdoms in a flame.
_Direct._ X. Observe how unfit it maketh you for any holy duty; for
prayer, or meditation, or any communion with God. And that should be
very unwelcome to a gracious soul, which maketh it unfit to speak to
God, or to be employed in his worship. If you should go to prayer or
other worship, in your bedlam passion, may not God say, as the king of
Gath did of David, "Have I need of mad-men?" Yea, it unfitteth all the
family, or church, or society where it cometh, for the worship of God.
Is the family fit for prayer, when wrath hath muddied and disturbed
their minds? Yea, it divideth christians and churches, and causeth
"confusion and every evil work," James iii. 15, 16.
_Direct._ XI. It is a great dishonour to the grace of God, that a
servant of his should show the world that grace is of no more force
and efficacy, that it cannot rule a raging passion, nor so much as
keep a christian sober: that it possesseth the soul with no more
patience, nor fear of God, nor government over itself. O wrong not God
thus by the dishonouring of his grace and Spirit.
_Direct._ XII. It is a sin against conscience, still repented of and
disowned by almost all when they come to themselves again, and a mere
preparation for after sorrow. That therefore which we foreknow we must
repent of afterwards, should be prevented and avoided by men that
choose not shame and sorrow.
_Object._ I. But (you will say) I am of a hasty, choleric nature, and
cannot help it.
_Answ._ That may strongly dispose you to anger, but cannot necessitate
you to any thing that is sinful: reason and will may yet command and
master passion, if they do their office. And when you know your
disease and danger, you must watch the more.
_Object._ II. But the provocation was so great, it would have angered
any one; who could choose?
_Answ._ It is your weakness that makes you think that any thing can be
great enough to discharge a man's reason, and allow him to break the
laws of God. That would have been small or nothing to a prepared mind,
which you call so great. You should rather say, God's majesty and
dreadfulness are so great, that I durst not offend him for any
provocation. Hath not God given you greater cause to obey, than man
can give you to sin?
_Object._ III. But it is so sudden that I have no time of deliberation
to prevent it.
_Answ._ Have you not reason still about you? And should it not be as
ready to rule, as passion to rebel? Stop passion at first, and take
time of deliberation.
_Object._ IV. But it is but short, and I am sorry for it when I have
done.
_Answ._ But if it be evil, the shortest is a sin, and to be avoided:
and when you know beforehand that you must be sorry after, why will
you breed your own sorrow?
_Object._ V. But there are none that will not be angry sometimes; no,
not the best of you all.
_Answ._ The sin is never the better because many commit it. And yet,
if you live not where grace is a stranger, you may see that there are
many that will not be angry easily, frequently, furiously, nor
misbehave themselves in their anger, by railing, or cursing, or
swearing, or ill language, or doing wrong to any.
_Object._ VI. Doth not the apostle say, "Be angry and sin not: let not
the sun go down upon your wrath," Eph. iv. 26. My wrath is down before
the sun; therefore I sin not.
_Answ._ The apostle never said that anger is never sinful, but when it
lasteth after sun-setting. But entertain no sinful anger at all; but
if you do, yet quickly quench it, and continue not in it. Be not angry
without or beyond cause: and when you are, yet sin not by
uncharitableness, or any evil words or deeds, in your anger; nor
continue under the justest displeasure, but hasten to be reconciled
and to forgive.
These reasons improved may rule your anger.
_Directions practical against sinful Anger._
_Direct._ I. The principal help against sinful anger is, in the right
habituating of the soul, that you live as under the government of God,
with the sense of his authority still upon your hearts, and in the sense
of that mercy that hath forgiven you, and forbeareth you, and under the
power of his healing and assisting grace, and in the life of charity to
God and man. Such a heart is continually fortified, and carrieth its
preservatives within itself, as a wrathful man carrieth his incentives
still within him: there is the main cause of wrath or meekness.
_Direct._ II. Be sure that you keep a humbled soul, that over-valueth
not itself; for humility is patient and aggravateth not injuries: but a
proud man takes all things as heinous or intolerable that are said or
done against him. He that thinks meanly of himself, thinks meanly of all
that is said or done against himself. But he that magnifieth himself,
doth magnify his provocations. Pride is a most impatient sin: there is
no pleasing a proud person, without a great deal of wit, and care, and
diligence. You must come about them as you do about straw or gunpowder
with a candle. Prov. xiii. 10, "Only by pride cometh contention." Prov.
xxviii. 25, "He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife." Prov. xxi.
24, "Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath."
Psal. xxxi. 18, "Let the lying lips be put to silence, which speak
grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous."
Humility, and meekness, and patience live and die together.
_Direct._ III. Take heed of a worldly, covetous mind; for that setteth
so much by earthly things, that every loss, or cross, or injury will
be able to disquiet him, and inflame his passion. Neither neighbour,
nor child, nor servant can please a covetous man; every little
trespass, or crossing his commodity, toucheth him to the quick, and
maketh him impatient.
_Direct._ IV. Stop your passion in the beginning, before it go too
far. It is easiest moderated at first. Watch against the first
stirrings of your wrath, and presently command it down: reason and
will can do much if you will but use them according to their power. A
spark is sooner quenched than a flame; and this serpent is easiliest
crushed in the spawn.
_Direct._ V. Command your tongue, and hand, and countenance, if you
cannot presently quiet or command your passion. And so you will avoid
the greatest of the sin, and the passion itself will quickly be
stifled for want of vent. You cannot say that it is not in your power
to hold your tongue or hands if you will. Do not only avoid that
swearing and cursing which are the marks of the profane, but avoid
many words till you are fitter to use them, and avoid expostulations,
and contending, and bitter, opprobrious, cutting speeches, which tend
to stir up the wrath of others. And use a mild and gentle speech,
which savoureth of love, and tendeth to assuage the heat that is
kindled. Prov. xv. 1, "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous
words stir up anger." And that which mollifieth and appeaseth another,
will much conduce to the appeasing of yourselves.
_Direct._ VI. At least command yourself into quietness till reason be
heard speak, and while you deliberate. Be not so hasty as not to think
what you say or do. A little delay will abate the fury, and give
reason time to do its office. Prov. xxv. 15, "By long forbearing is a
prince persuaded, and a soft answer breaketh the bone." Patience will
lenify another's wrath; and if you use it but so long, as a little to
stay yourselves, till reason be awake, it will lenify your own. And he
is a fury, and not a man, that cannot stop while he considereth.
_Direct._ VII. If you cannot easilier quiet or restrain yourselves, go
away from the place and company. And then you will not be heated by
contending words, nor exasperate others by your contending. When you
are alone the fire will assuage. Prov. xiv. 7, "Go away from the
presence of a foolish man when thou perceivest not in him the lips of
knowledge." You will not stand still and stir in a wasp's nest when
you have enraged them.
_Direct._ VIII. Yea, ordinarily avoid much talk, or disputes, or
business with angry men, as far as you can without avoiding your duty:
and avoid all other occasions and temptations to the sin. A man that
is in danger of a fever, must avoid that which kindleth it. Come not
among the infected, if you fear the plague; stand not in the sun, if
you are too hot already. Keep as far as you can from that which most
provoketh you.[342]
_Direct._ IX. Meditate not on injuries or provoking things when you are
alone; suffer not your thoughts to feed upon them. Else you will be
devils to yourselves, and tempt yourselves when you have none else to
tempt you; and will make your solitude as provoking as if you were in
company; and you will be angering yourselves by your own imaginations.
_Direct._ X. Keep upon your minds the lively thoughts of the exemplary
meekness and patience of Jesus Christ; who calleth you to learn of him
to be "meek and lowly," Matt. xi. 29. "Who being reviled, reviled not
again, when he suffered he threatened not; leaving us an example that
we should follow his steps," 1 Pet. ii. 21, 23. Who hath pronounced a
special "blessing" on the "meek," that "they shall inherit the earth,"
Matt. v. 5.
_Direct._ XI. Live as in God's presence; and when your passions grow
bold repress them with the reverend name of God, and bid them remember
that God and his holy angels see you.
_Direct._ XII. Look on others in their passion, and see how unlovely
they make themselves, with frowning countenances, and flaming eyes,
and threatening, devouring looks, and hurtful inclinations; and think
with yourselves, whether these are your most desirable patterns.
_Direct._ XIII. Without any delay confess the sin to those that stand
by (if easier means will not repress it); and presently take the shame
to yourselves, and shame the sin and honour God. This means is in your
power if you will; and it will be an excellent, effectual means. Say
to those that you are angry with, I find a sinful anger kindling in
me, and I begin to forget God's presence and my duty, and am tempted
to speak provoking words to you, which I know God hath forbidden me to
do. Such a present opening of your temptation will break the force of
it; and such a speedy confession will stop the fire that it go no
further; for it will be an engagement upon you in point of honour,
even the reputation of your wit and honesty, which will both suffer by
it, if you go on in the sin just when you have thus opened it by
confession. I know there is prudence to be used in this, that you do
it not so as may make you ridiculous, or harden others in their sinful
provocations. But with prudence and due caution it is an excellent
remedy, which you can use if you are not unwilling.
_Direct._ XIV. If you have let your passion break out to the offence
or wrong of any, by word or deed, freely and speedily confess it to
them, and ask them forgiveness, and warn them to take heed of the like
sin by your example. This will do much to clear your consciences, to
preserve your brother, to cure the hurt, and to engage you against the
sin hereafter: if you are so proud that you will not do this, say no
more you cannot help it, but that you will not. A good heart will not
think this too dear a remedy against any sin.
_Direct._ XV. Go presently (in the manner that the place alloweth you)
to prayer to God for pardon and grace against the sin. Sin will not
endure prayer and God's presence. Tell him how apt your peevish hearts
are to be kindled into sinful wrath, and entreat him to help you by
his sufficient grace, and engage Christ in the cause, who is your Head
and Advocate; and then your souls will grow obedient and calm. Even as
Paul, 2 Cor. xii. 7-9, when he had the prick in the flesh, prayed
thrice, (as Christ did in his agony,) so you must pray, and pray again
and again, till you find God's grace sufficient for you.
_Direct._ XVI. Covenant with some faithful friend that is with you to
watch over you and rebuke your passions as soon as they begin to
appear; and promise them to take it thankfully and in good part; and
perform that promise, that you discourage them not. Either you are so
far weary of your sin and willing to be rid of it, as to be willing to
do what you can against it, or you are not: if you are, you can do
this much if you please: if you are not, pretend not to repent, and to
be willing to be delivered from your sin upon any lawful terms, when
it is not so. Remember still, the mischievous effects of it do make it
to be no contemptible sin. Eccl. vii. 9, "Be not hasty in thy spirit
to be angry, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools." Prov. xvi. 32,
"He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that
ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city." Prov. xv. 18, "A
wrathful man stirreth up strife, but he that is slow to anger
appeaseth strife." Prov. xix. 11, "The discretion of a man deferreth
his anger, and it is his glory to pass over a transgression."
_Tit._ 8. _Directions against sinful Fear._
The chief of my advice concerning this sin, I have given you before,
chap. iii. direct. xii. Yet somewhat I shall here add. Fear is a
necessary passion in man, which is planted in nature for the
restraining of us from sin, and driving us on to duty, and preventing
misery. It is either God, or devils, or men, or inferior creatures, or
ourselves, that we fear. God must be feared as he is God; as he is
great, and holy, and just, and true; as our Lord, and King, and Judge,
and Father; and the fear of him is the beginning of wisdom. Devils
must be feared only as subordinate to God, as the executioners of his
wrath; and so must men, and beasts, and fire, and water, and other
creatures be feared, and no otherwise. We must so discern and fear a
danger as to avoid it. Ourselves we are less apt to fear, because we
know that we love ourselves. But there is no creature that we have so
much cause to fear, as our folly, weakness, and wilfulness in sin.
Fear is sinful, 1. When it proceedeth from unbelief, or a distrust of
God. 2. When it ascribeth more to the creature than is its due: as
when we fear devils or men, as great, or bad, or as our enemies,
without due respect to their dependence upon the will of God: when we
fear a chained creature, as if he were unchained. 3. When we fear God
upon mistake or error, or fear that in him which is not in him, or is
not to be feared. As when we fear lest he will break his promise; lest
he will condemn the keepers of his covenant; lest he will not forgive
the penitent that hate their sin; lest he will despise the contrite;
lest he will not hear the prayers of the humble, faithful soul; lest
he will fail them, and forsake them; lest he will not cause all things
to work together for their good; lest he will forsake his church; lest
Christ will not come again; lest our bodies shall not be raised; lest
there be no life of glory for the just, or no immortality of souls:
all such fears as these are sinful. 4. When our fear is so immoderate
in degree, as to distract us, or hinder us from faith and prayer, and
make us melancholy: or when it hindereth love, and praise, and thanks,
and necessary joy; and tendeth not to drive us to God, and to the use
of means to avoid the danger, but to drive us from God, and kill our
hope, and make us sit down in despair.
_Directions against sinful Fear of God._
_Direct._ I. Know God in his goodness, mercifulness, and truth, and it
will banish sinful fears of him: for they proceed from the ignorance
or unbelief of some of these; or not considering and applying them to
the cause that is before you. Psal. ix. 10, "They that know thy name,
will put their trust in thee."
_Direct._ II. Know God in Jesus Christ the Mediator, and come to him
by him. And then you may have "access with boldness and confidence,"
Eph. iii. 12. We have "boldness to enter into the holiest by his
blood, by the new and living way which he hath consecrated us, through
the veil, that is to say, for his flesh. And having an High Priest
over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith," Heb. x. 19-22. The sight of Christ by faith
should banish immoderate fear. Matt. xiv. 27, "Be of good cheer, it is
I, be not afraid."
_Direct._ III. Understand the tenor of the gospel, and the freeness of
the covenant of grace, and then you will there find abundant
encouragement against the matter of inordinate fears.
_Direct._ IV. Employ yourselves as much as possible in love and
praise: for love expelleth tormenting fear; there is no fear in love,
1 John iv. 18.
_Direct._ V. Remember God's particular mercies to yourselves: for
those will persuade you that he will use you kindly, when you find
that he hath done so already. As when Manoah said, "We shall surely
die because we have seen God;" his wife answered, "If the Lord were
pleased to kill us, he would not have received an offering at our
hands, neither would he have showed us all these things," Judg. xiii.
22, 23.
_Direct._ VI. Labour to clear up your title to the promises and
special interest in Christ. Otherwise the doubts of that will be still
feeding and justifying your fears.
_Direct._ VII. Consider what a horrible injury it is to God, to think
of him as you do of the devil, as an enemy to humble, willing souls,
and a destroyer of them, and an adversary to them that diligently seek
him; of whom he is a lover and rewarder, Heb. xi. 6. And so to think
of God as evil, and fear him upon such misapprehensions.
_Direct._ VIII. Observe the sinfulness of your fear in the effects;
how it driveth you from God, and hindereth faith, and love, and
thankfulness, and discourageth you from prayer, and sacraments, and
all duty. And therefore it must needs be pleasing to the devil, and
displeasing to God, and no way to be pleaded for or justified.
_Direct._ IX. Mark how you contradict the endeavours of God, in his
word, and by his ministers. Do you find God driving any from him, and
frighting away souls that would fain be his? Or doth he not prepare
the way himself, and reconcile the world to himself in Christ, and
then send his ambassadors in his name and stead to beseech them to be
reconciled unto God, and to tell them that all things are ready, and
compel them to come in.[343]
_Direct._ X. Consider how thou wrongest others, and keepest them from
coming home to God. When they see thee terrified in a way of piety,
they will fly from it as if some enemies or robbers were in the way.
If you tread fearfully, others will fear there is some quicksand. If
you tremble when you enter the ship with Christ, others will think he
is an unfaithful pilot, or that it is a leaking vessel. Your fear
discourageth them.
_Direct._ XI. Remember how remediless, as to comfort, you leave
yourselves, while you inordinately fear him, who alone must comfort
you against all your other fears. If you fear your remedy, what shall
cure the fear of your disease? If you fear your meat, what shall cure
your fear of hunger? If you fear him that is most good and faithful,
and the friend of every upright soul, what shall ease you of your fear
of the wicked and the enemies of holy souls? If you fear your Father,
who shall comfort you against your foes? You cast away all peace, when
you make God your terror.
_Direct._ XII. Yet take heed lest under this pretence you cast away
the necessary fear of God; even such as belongeth to men in your
condition, to drive them out of their sin and security unto Christ,
and such as the truth of his threatenings require. For a senseless
presumption and contempt of God, are a sin of a far greater danger.
_Directions against sinful Fear of the Devil._
_Direct._ I. Remember that the devil is chained up, and wholly at the
will and beck of God. He could not touch Job, nor an ox, nor an ass of
his, till he had permission from God, Job i. He cannot appear to thee
nor hurt thee unless God give him leave.
_Direct._ II. Labour therefore to make sure of the love of God, and
then thou art safe; then thou hast God, his love and promise, always
to set against the devil.
_Direct._ III. Remember that Christ hath conquered the devil in his
temptations, on the cross, by his resurrection and ascension. He
"destroyed through death him that had the power of death, even the
devil, that he might deliver them who through fear of death were all
their lifetime subject to bondage," Heb. ii. 14, 15. The prince of
this world is conquered and cast out by him, and wilt thou fear a
conquered foe?
_Direct._ IV. Remember that thou art already delivered from his power
and dominion, if thou be renewed by the Spirit of God. And therefore
let his own be afraid of him, that are under his power, and not the
free-men and redeemed ones of Christ. God hath delivered thee in the
day that he converted thee, from a thousandfold greater calamity than
the seeing of the devil would be; and having been saved from his
greatest malice, you should not over-fear the less.
_Direct._ V. Remember what an injury it is to God, and to Christ that
conquered him, to fear the devil, while God is your protector (any
otherwise than as the instrument of God's displeasure): it seemeth as
much as to say, I fear lest the devil be too hard for God; or lest God
cannot deliver me from him.
_Direct._ VI. Remember how you honour the devil by fearing him, and
pleasure him by thus honouring him. And will you not abhor to honour
and please such an enemy of God and you? This is it that he would
have; to be feared instead of God: he glorieth in it as part of his
dominion: as tyrants rejoice to see men fear them, as those that can
destroy them when they will, so the devil triumpheth in your fears as
his honour. When God reprehendeth the idolatry of the Israelites, it
is as they feared their idols of wood and stone. To fear them, showed
that they took them for their gods, 2 Kings xvii. 38, 39; Dan. vi. 26.
_Direct._ VII. Consider that it is a folly to be inordinately fearful
of that which never did befall thee, and never befalleth one of many
hundred thousand men: I mean any terrible appearance of the devil.
Thou never sawest him; nor hearest credibly of but very few in an age
that see him (besides witches). This fear therefore is irrational, the
danger being utterly improbable.
_Direct._ VIII. Consider that if the devil should appear to thee, yea,
and carry thee to the top of a mountain, or the pinnacle of the temple,
and talk to thee with blasphemous temptations, it would be no other than
what thy Lord himself submitted to; who was still the dearly beloved of
the Father, Matt. iv. One sin is more terrible than this.
_Direct._ IX. Remember that if God should permit him to appear to thee,
it might turn to thy very great advantage; by killing all thy unbelief,
or doubts, of angels, and spirits, and the unseen world. It would
sensibly prove to thee that there is indeed an unhappy race of spirits,
who envy man and seek his ruin; and so would more convince thee of the
evil of sin, the danger of souls, the need of godliness, and the truth
of christianity. And it is like this is one cause why the devil no more
appeareth in the world, not only because it is contrary to the ordinary
government of God, who will have us live by faith and not by sight; but
also because the devil knoweth how much it would do to destroy his
kingdom, by destroying infidelity, atheism, and security, and awakening
men to faith, and fear, and godliness. The fowler or the angler must not
come in sight, lest he spoil his game by frighting it away.
_Direct._ X. If it be the spiritual temptations and molestations only
of Satan which you fear, remember that you have more cause to fear
yourselves, for he can but tempt you; and if you do not more against
yourselves, than all the devils in hell can do, you will never perish.
And if you are willing to accept and yield to Christ, you need not
inordinately fear either Satan or yourselves. For it is in the name
and strength of Christ, and under his conduct and protection, that you
are to begin and finish your warfare. And the Spirit that is in us, is
greater and stronger than the spirit that is in the world, and that
molesteth us, 1 John iv. 4. And the "Father that giveth us to Christ
is greater than all, and none can pluck us out of his hands," John x.
29. And the "God of peace will tread down Satan under our feet," Rom.
xvi. 20. If it were in his power he would molest us daily, and we had
never escaped so far as we have done: our daily experience telleth us
that we have a Protector.
_Directions against the sinful Fear of Men, and sufferings
by them._
_Direct._ I. Bottom thy soul and hopes on Christ, and lay up thy
treasure in heaven; be not a worldling that liveth in hope of
happiness in the creature; and then thou art so far above the fear of
men, as knowing that thy treasure is above their reach, and thy
foundation and fortress safe from their assaults.[344] It is a base,
hypocritical, worldly heart that maketh you immoderately afraid of
men! Are you afraid lest they should storm and plunder heaven? or lest
they cast you into hell? or lest they turn God against you? or lest
they bribe or overawe your Judge? No, no! these are none of your
fears! No; you are not so much as afraid lest they hinder one of your
prayers from prevailing with God; nor lest their prison walls and
chains should keep out God and his Spirit from you, and force you from
your communion with him! You are not afraid lest they forcibly rob you
of one degree of grace, or heavenly-mindedness, or hopes of the life
to come! (If it be lest they hinder you from these by tempting or
affrighting you into sin, (which is all the hurt they can do your
souls,) then you are the more engaged to cast away the fears of their
hurting your bodies, because that is their very temptation to hurt
your souls.) No; it is their hurting of your flesh, the diminishing
your estates, the depriving you of your liberty or worldly
accommodations, or of your lives, which is the thing you fear. And
doth not this show how much your hearts are yet on earth? and how much
unmortified worldliness and fleshliness is still within you? and how
much yet your hearts are false to God and heaven? Oh how the discovery
should humble you! to find that you are yet no more dead to the things
of the world, and that the cross of Christ hath yet no more crucified
it to you! to find that yet the fleshly interest is so powerful in
you, and the interest of Christ and heaven is so low! that God seemeth
not enough for you, and that you cannot take heaven alone for your
portion, but are so much afraid of losing earth! O presently search
into the bottom of this corruption in your hearts, and lament your
worldliness and hypocrisy, and work it out, and set your hearts and
hopes above, and be content with God and heaven alone, and then this
inordinate fear of man will have nothing left to work upon.
_Direct._ II. Set God against man, and his wisdom against their policy,
and his love and mercy against their malice and cruelty, and his power
against their impotency, and his truth, and omniscience, and
righteousness against their slanders and lies, and his promises against
their threatenings; and then if yet thou art inordinately afraid of man,
thou must confess that in that measure thou believest not in God. If God
be not wise enough, and good enough, and just enough, and powerful
enough to save thee, so far as it is best for thee to be saved, then he
is not God: away with atheism, and then fear not man.
_Direct._ III. Remember what man is that thou art afraid of. He is a
bubble raised by Providence, to toss about the world, and for God to
honour himself by or upon. He is the mere product of his Maker's will:
his breath is in his nostrils! he is hastening to his dust, and in
that day his worldly hopes and thoughts do perish with him. He is a
worm that God can in one moment tread into the earth and hell. He is a
dream, a shadow, a dry leaf or a little chaff, that is blown awhile
about the world.[345] He is just ready, in the height of his pride and
fury, to drop into the grave; and that same man, or all those men,
whom now thou fearest, shall one of these days most certainly lie
rotting in the dust, and be hid in darkness, lest their ugly sight and
stink be an annoyance to the living. Where now are all the proud ones
that made such a bustle in the world but awhile ago? In one age they
look big, and boast of their power, and rebel, and usurp authority,
and are mad to be great and rulers in the world, or persecute the
ministers and people of the Lord; and in the next (or in the same)
they are viler than the dirt; their carcasses are buried, or their
bones scattered abroad, and made the horror and wonder of beholders.
And is this a creature to be feared above God, or against God? See
Isa. li. 7, "Hearken to me, ye that know righteousness, the people in
whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye
afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a
garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness
shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation."
Isa. ii. 22, "Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils, for
wherein is he to be accounted of?" Psal. cxlvi. 3, 4, "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." When Herod was magnified as a god, he could not save
himself from being devoured alive by worms. When Pharaoh was in his
pride and glory, he could not save his people from frogs, and flies,
and lice. Saith God to Sennacherib, "The virgin, the daughter of Zion,
hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn,--and hath shaken her
head at thee: whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed, and against
whom hast thou exalted thy voice and lifted thine eyes on high?" Oh
what a worm is man that you are so afraid of!
_Direct._ IV. Remember that men as well as devils are chained, and
dependent upon God, and have no power but what he giveth them, and can
do nothing but by his permission. And if God will have it done, thou
hast his promise that it shall work unto thy good, Rom. viii. 28. And
are you afraid lest God should do you good by them? If you see the
knife or lancet in an enemy's hand only, you might fear it; but if you
see it in the surgeon's or in a father's hand, though nature will a
little shrink, yet reason will forbid you to make any great matter of
it, or inordinately to fear. What if God will permit Joseph's brethren
to bind him, and sell him to the Amalekites; and his master's wife to
cause him to be imprisoned? Is he not to be trusted in all this, that
he will turn it to his good? What if he will permit Shimei to curse
David; or the king to cast Daniel into the lions' den; or the three
confessors into the furnace of fire? Do you believe that your Father's
will is the disposer of all? and yet are you afraid of man? Our Lord
told Pilate when he boasted of his power to take away his life or save
it, "Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were
given thee from above," John xix. 11.[346]
[Sidenote: _Obj._ We fear them only as God's instruments. _Answered._]
I know you will say that it is only as God's instruments that you fear
them, and that if you were certain of his favour, and were not first
afraid of his wrath, you should not fear the wrath of men. _Answ._ By
this you may see then what it is to be disobedient, and to cherish
your fears of God's displeasure, and to hinder your own assurance of
his love, when this must be the cause of, or the pretence for, so many
other sins. But if really you fear them but as the instruments of
God's displeasure; 1. Why then did you no more fear his displeasure
before, when the danger from men did not appear? you know God never
wanteth instruments to execute his wrath or will. 2. And why fear you
not the sin which doth displease him more than the instruments, when
they could do you no hurt were it not for sin? 3. And why do you not
more fear them as tempters than as afflicters? and consequently why
fear you not their flatteries, and enticements, and preferments, and
your prosperity, more than adversity, when prosperity more draweth you
away to sin? 4. And why fear you not hell more than any thing that man
can do against you, when God threateneth hell more than human
penalties? 5. And why do you not apply yourselves to God chiefly for
deliverance, but study how to pacify man? why do you with more fear,
and care, and diligence, and compliance, apply yourselves to those
that you are afraid of, if you fear God more than them? Repent and
make your peace with God through Christ, and then be quiet, if it be
God that you are afraid of: your business then is not first with the
creature, but with God. 6. And if you fear them only as God's
instruments, why doth not your fear make you the more cautiously to
fly from further guilt, but rather make you to think of stretching
your consciences as far as ever you dare, and venturing as far as you
dare upon God's displeasure, to escape man's? Are these signs that you
fear them only as the instruments of God's displeasure? or do you see
how deceitful a thing your heart is? Indeed man is to be feared in a
full subordination to God, 1. As his officers, commanding us to obey
him; 2. As his executioners, punishing us for disobeying him; 3. But
not as Satan's instruments, (by God's permission,) afflicting us for
obeying him, or without desert. Rom. xiii. 3, 4, "For rulers are not a
terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of
the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the
same; for he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do
that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain:
for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him
that doth evil." Would you have the fuller exposition of this? It is
in 1 Pet. iii. 10-15, "For he that will love life, and see good days,
let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no
guile; let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace and ensue
it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are
open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against them that
do evil. And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that
which is good? But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are
ye; and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; but
sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and be ready always to give an
answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in
you with meekness and fear. Having a good conscience, that whereas
they speak evil of you, as of evil-doers, they may be ashamed that
falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if
the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well-doing than for
evil-doing." See also 1 Peter iv. 13-15.[347]
_Direct._ V. Either you fear suffering from men as guilty or as
innocent; for evil-doing, or for well-doing, or for nothing. If as
guilty and for evil-doing, turn your fears the right way, and fear
God, and his wrath for sin, and his threatenings of more than men can
inflict; and acknowledge the goodness of justice both from God and
man: but if it be as innocent or for well-doing, remember that Christ
commandeth you exceedingly to rejoice; and remember that martyrs have
the most glorious crown: and will you be excessively afraid of your
highest honour, and gain, and joy? Believe well what Christ hath said,
and you cannot be much afraid of suffering for him. Matt. v. 10-12,
"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake; for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile
you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you
falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your
reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were
before you."[348] And will you fear the way of blessedness and
exceeding joy? Matt. x. 17-19, "Beware of men, for they will deliver
you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues,
and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a
testimony against them--But take no thought," &c. You are allowed to
beware of them, but not to be over-fearful or thoughtful of the
matter. Ver. 22, 23, "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's
sake; but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. But when they
persecute you in this city, fly to another."--Fly, but fear them not,
with any immoderate fear: ver. 39, "He that findeth his life shall
lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." Luke
xviii. 29, 30, "Verily I say unto you, there is no man hath left
house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom
of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present
time, and in the world to come, life everlasting." Can you believe all
this, and yet be so afraid of your own felicity? Oh what a deal of
secret unbelief is detected by our immoderate fears! 1 Pet. iv. 12-16,
19, "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which
is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you: but
rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that
when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding
joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the
spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil
spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you
suffer as an evil-doer--Yet if any man suffer as a christian, let him
glorify God on that behalf--Wherefore let them that suffer according
to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him in
well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator." There is scarce any point
that God hath been pleased to be more full in, in the holy Scriptures,
than the encouraging of his suffering servants against the fears of
men; acquainting them that their sufferings are the matter of their
profit and exceeding joy; and therefore not of too great fear.
_Direct._ VI. Experience telleth us that men have never so much joy on
earth as in suffering for the cause of Christ; nor so much honour as by
being dishonoured by men for him. How joyfully did the ancient
christians go to martyrdom! many of them lamented that they could not
attain it: and what comfort have Christ's confessors found, above what
they could ever attain before![349] and how honourable now are the names
and memorials of those martyrs, who died then under the slanders,
scorn, and cruelty of men! Even the papists that bloodily make more, do
yet honour the names of the ancient martyrs with keeping holidays for
them, and magnifying their shrines and relics; for God will have it so,
for the honour of his holy sufferers, that even that same generation
that persecute the living saints, shall honour the dead, and they that
murder those they find alive, shall honour those whom their forefathers
murdered: Matt. xxiii. 29-31, "Woe unto you, scribes and pharisees,
hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the
sepulchres of the righteous: and say, if we had been in the days of our
fathers, we would not have been partakers with them of the blood of the
prophets." Comfort and honour attend the pain and shame of the cross.
Acts v. 41, "They departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing
that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." Acts xvi.
25, "Paul and Silas sang praises to God at midnight in the prison and
stocks," when their backs were sore with stripes. It is written of some
of the christians that were imprisoned by Julian, that they would not
forbear in the emperor's hearing as he passed by, to sing, "Let God
arise, and his enemies shall be scattered."
_Direct._ VII. Love better the holy image of God upon your souls, and
then you will be glad of the great helps to holiness which sufferings
do afford. Who findeth not that adversity is more safe and profitable
to the soul than prosperity? especially that adversity which Christ is
engaged to bless to his servants, as being undergone for him? Rom. x.
3-5, "We glory in tribulation also; knowing that tribulation worketh
patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope
maketh not ashamed." God "chasteneth us for our profit that we may be
partakers of his holiness: now no chastisement for the present seemeth
to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the
peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised
thereby," Heb. xii. 10, 11. Moses "esteemed the very reproach of
Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: and therefore
rather chose to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season," Heb. xi. 25, 26. It is but
"now for a season, and if need be, that we are in heaviness through
manifold temptations, that the trial of our faith being much more
precious than of gold that perisheth, might be found unto praise, and
honour, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ," 1 Pet. i. 6, 7.
Who is it that knoweth himself, that feeleth not a need of some
afflictions? to awake us from our drowsiness, and quicken us from our
dullness, and refine us from our dross, and wean us from the world,
and help us to mortify the flesh, and save us from the deceits of sin?
_Direct._ VIII. Remember that sufferings are the ordinary way to heaven.
Love heaven better, and your sufferings will seem lighter, and your fear
of them will be less.[350] Christ hath resolved on it, that "if any one
come to him, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and
children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he
cannot be his disciple: and whoever doth not bear his cross and follow
him, cannot be his disciple: and whoever he be of you that forsaketh not
all that he hath, he cannot be his disciple," Luke xiv. 26, 27, 33. "In
the world we shall have tribulation, but peace in him," John xvi. 33.
"Through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God," Acts
xiv. 22. "If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also
glorified with him. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed
in us," Rom. viii. 17, 18. "Therefore we both labour and suffer
reproach, because we trust in the living God," 1 Tim. iv. 10. In
preaching the gospel, Paul saith, he "suffered as an evil-doer even unto
bonds, but the word of God is not bound," 2 Tim. ii. 9. "I suffer these
things," saith he, "nevertheless I am not ashamed; for I know whom I
have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I
have committed to him against that day," 2 Tim. i. 12. "Yea, and all
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution," 2 Tim.
iii. 12. Our patience in sufferings is the joy of our friends, and
therefore they are not too much to be feared. 2 Thess. i. 4, 5, "So that
we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God, for your patience and
faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: a
manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted
worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer."[351] Therefore
take the conclusion of all from God, Rev. ii. 10, "Fear none of those
things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you
into prison, that ye may be tried: and ye shall have tribulation ten
days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of
life." Phil. i. 28-30, "And in nothing terrified by your adversaries,
which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation,
and that of God: for to you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not
only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake." And shall we
fear so great a gift?
_Direct._ IX. Remember how small and short the suffering will be, and
how great and long the glorious reward. It is but a little while, and
the pain and shame will all be past; but the glory will be never past:
what the worse now is Stephen for his stones, or John Baptist for being
beheaded, or Paul for his bonds and afflictions, which did every where
abide him, or any holy martyr for the torment and death which they
underwent? Oh how the case is altered with them, now God hath wiped away
all tears from their eyes! Are we so tender that we cannot endure the
grief that is but for a night, when we know that joy will come in the
morning? Psal. xxx. 5. "For this cause we faint not; but though our
outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.[352] For
our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the
things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the
things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen
are eternal," 2 Cor. iv. 16-18. "Cast not away therefore your
confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of
patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the
promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and
will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw
back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him," Heb. x. 35-38.
_Direct._ X. When you are delivered from the power of the devil
himself, what cause have you to fear his instruments? Can they do
more than he? If Goliath the champion and the general be overcome, the
common soldiers are not like to overcome us.
_Direct._ XI. Are you better than your Lord? look to him, and be
confirmed. "The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant
above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his
master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of
the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his
household," Matt. x. 24. "Let us run with patience the race that is
set before us, looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God; for
consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against
himself, lest ye be wearied, and faint in your minds," Heb. xii. 1-3.
_Direct._ XII. Be of good cheer: our Lord hath overcome the world, John
xvi. 33. And shall we fear inordinately a conquered world? Yea, he
overcame it by suffering, to show us that by suffering we shall overcome
it. He triumphed over principalities and powers (greater than mortals)
"on the cross," Col. ii. 15. And therefore "all power in heaven and
earth is given to him," Matt. xxviii. 19, and he is "Lord both of the
dead and living," Rom. xiv. 9, and "is made Head over all things to the
church," Eph. i. 21, 22. And so, though "for his sake we be killed all
the day long, and counted as sheep to the slaughter, yet in all these
things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us;" that is,
we have a nobler victory than if we conquered them by the sword.
_Direct._ XIII. Think how little your suffering is in comparison of what
your sin deserved, and your Lord hath freely saved you from. Should a
man grudge at the opening of a vein for his health, who deserved to have
lost his life? Can you remember hell which was your due, and yet make a
great matter of any thing that man can do against you?
_Direct._ XIV. Remember that to sin through fear of suffering, is to
leap into hell to escape a little pain on earth. Are you afraid of
man? Be more afraid of God. Is not God more terrible? "It is a fearful
thing to fall into his hands: for he is a consuming fire."[353] O hear
your Lord. "And I say to you, my friends, be not afraid of them that
kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do: but I
will forewarn you whom you shall fear: fear him which after he hath
killed, hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, fear him,"
Luke xiii. 4, 5. If their fire be hot, remember that hell is hotter:
and that God is the best friend, and the dreadfullest enemy.
_Direct._ XV. Remember that you shall suffer (and it is like as much)
even here from God, if you escape by sin your suffering from men. If
you sin to escape death, you shall die when you have done; and oh! how
quickly! And how much more joyful it is to die in Christ, than a
little after unwillingly to part with that life, which you denied to
part with for your Lord! and what galls will you feel in your guilty
conscience both in life and at your death! So that even in this life,
your fear would drive you into greater misery.
_Direct._ XVI. Think of the dangerous effects of your immoderate fear.
It is the way with Peter to deny your Lord: yea, the way to apostasy,
or any wickedness which men shall drive you to by terrors. If you
were where the Turk is now tyrannizing among christians, if you
overcome not your fear, he might overcome your fidelity,[354] and make
you turn from Jesus Christ: and that is the sin which the apostle so
dreadfully describeth, Heb. x. 26, 27, 29, "If we sin wilfully, (that
is, wilfully renounce our Lord,) after the acknowledgment of the
truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a fearful
looking for of judgment, and fire which shall devour the adversary."
Oh how many have been drawn by the fear of men, to wound their
consciences, neglect their duties, comply with sin, forsake the truth,
dishonour God, and undo their souls. And often in this life they do as
poor Spira did, who, by sinning through the fear of man, did cast
himself into melancholy and self-murdering despair. Your fear is a
more dangerous enemy to you than those that you fear are. "The fear of
man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be
safe. Many seek the ruler's favour, but every man's judgment cometh of
the Lord," Prov. xxix. 25, 26. Fear is given to preserve you: use it
not to destroy you.
_Direct._ XVII. Believe and remember God's special providence,
extending to every hair of your head, and also the guard of angels
which he hath set over you. "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?
and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father: but
the very hairs of your head are numbered: fear ye not therefore, ye
are of more value than many sparrows," Matt. x. 29, 30. Oh that this
were well believed and considered! Psal. xxxiv. 7, "The angel of the
Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them."
_Direct._ XVIII. Think what a vile dishonour it is to God to have his
creature, even breathing dirt, to be feared more than him! As if he
were less powerful to do good or hurt to you than man, and were not
able or willing to secure you, so far as to see that no man shall ever
be a loser by him, or any thing which he suffereth for his cause![355]
Isa. lvii. 11, "And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou
hast lied, and hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart. Have
I not held my peace even of old, and thou fearest me not?" How did
Daniel and the three confessors honour God, but by fearing him more
than the king and the flaming furnace: saying, "We are not careful to
answer thee in this matter: if it be so, the God whom we serve is able
to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us
out of thy hand, O king: but if not, be it known unto thee, O king,
that we will not serve thy gods," &c. Dan. iii. 16-18. Daniel would
not cease praying thrice a day openly in his house, for fear of the
king, or of the lions. "Moses forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of
the king; for he endured as seeing him that is invisible," Heb. xi.
27. "So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not
fear what man shall do unto me," Heb. xiii. 6.[356]
_Direct._ XIX. Remember the dangers which you have been saved from
already; especially from sin and hell. And is an uncircumcised
Philistine more invincible than the lion and the bear?
_Direct._ XX. Remember the great approaching day of judgment, where
great and small will be equal before God; and where God will right all
that were wronged by men, and be the full and final avenger of his
children! He hath promised, though "he bear long, to avenge them
speedily," Luke xviii. 7, 8. Can you believe that day, and yet not
think that it is soon enough to justify you fully and finally, and to
make you reparations of all your wrongs? Cannot you stay till Christ
come to judge the quick and the dead? You will then be loth to be
found with those that, as Saul, made haste to sacrifice, because he
could not stay till Samuel came; whose souls "drew back, because they
could not live by faith." Matt. x. 26, "Fear them not therefore; for
there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid that
shall not be known." 2 Thess. ii. 6-10, "Seeing it is a righteous
thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and
to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking
vengeance, &c. When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and
admired in all them that believe."
_Direct._ XXI. Remember that the fearful and unbelieving shall be shut
out of heaven, Rev. xxi. 8; that is, those that fear men more than
God, and cannot trust him with their lives and all, but will rather
venture upon his wrath by sin, than on the wrath of man.
_Direct._ XXII. Turn your fear of the instruments of the devil into
pity and compassion to men in such lamentable misery; and pray for
them as Christ and Stephen did: foresee now the misery that is near
them. When you begin to be afraid of them, suppose that just now were
the day of judgment, and you saw how they will then tremble at the bar
of God (as conscience sometimes makes some of them do, at the hearing
or remembering of it; as Felix before Paul): see them as ready to be
sentenced to the fire prepared for the devil and his angels, as Matt.
xxv. Can you fear him that is near such endless misery, whom you
should condole and pity (as the ancient martyrs used to do)? 1 Pet.
iv. 17, "What shall the end" of the persecutors "be, and where shall
the ungodly sinners appear, if judgment begin at the house of God, and
the righteous be saved with so much ado?"
About the fear of death, I have written largely already in my
"Treatise of Self-denial," and in the "Saints' Rest," and in "The Last
Enemy Death," &c. and in "The Believer's Last Work." Therefore, I
shall here pass it by.[357]
_Tit._ 9. _Directions against sinful Grief and Trouble._
Sorrow is planted in nature to make man a subject capable of
government, by making him capable of punishment, that he might be kept
from sin by the fear or sense of that which nature hath made its
punishment: and that the beginnings of pain might help to prevent the
sin that would bring more; and might drive the wounded soul to its
remedy; or by sympathy might condole the misery of others.
Sorrow or grief, in itself considered, is neither morally good nor
evil; but it is a natural passion; and evil, that is, hurtful, to him
that hath it; but good, that is, an apt, conducible means to the
universal or higher ends of government to which the Creator and
Universal King hath planted it in man: the same may be said of all
capacity of pain and natural misery.
Mere sorrow, in itself considered, is a thing that God commandeth not,
nor taketh pleasure in. Sorrow for our natural or penal hurt, is in
itself no duty, but a necessary thing. God doth not command it, but
threatens it; therefore there is no moral good in it. God will not
command or entreat men to feel when they are hurt, or mourn under their
torment; but will make them do it whether they will or no: therefore
humble souls must take heed of thinking they merit or please God merely
by sorrowing for their sufferings. But yet sorrow for misery may
accidentally become a duty and a moral good. 1. _Ratione principii_, by
respect to the principle it proceedeth from. As when it is, (1.) The
belief of God's threatenings which causeth the sorrow. (2.) When it
cometh from a love to God. 2. _Ratione materiæ_, for the matter's sake,
when it is the absence of God, and his favour, and his Spirit, and
image, which is the misery that we lament (which therefore savoureth of
some love to God); and not mere fleshly, sensitive suffering. 3.
_Ratione finis_, in respect of the end; when we sorrow with intent to
drive our hearts to Christ our Saviour, and to value mercy and grace,
and to recover us to God. 4. _Ratione effecti_, in respect of the
effect, when these forementioned ends become the fruits of it.[358]
Sorrow for sin is a duty and moral good. 1. Formally in itself
considered: for to be sorrowful for offending God, and violating his
law, essentially containeth a will to please God and obey his law. 2.
It must be also made good, by a good principle; that is, by faith and
love. 3. By a right end; that it be to carry us from the sin to God.
4. And by a right guide and matter; that it be sin indeed, and not a
mistaken, seeming sin, that is it we sorrow for. But sorrow for sin
(materially) may be made sinful, 1. By an ill end and formal reason;
when we mourn not for sin as sin, but as one sin hindereth another, or
as it marred some ill design. 2. And by the effect; when it doth but
sink men in despair, or torment them, and not at all separate them
from the sin. 3. When it cometh not at all from any love to God, or
care to please him, but only an unwillingness to be damned, and so it
is lamented only as a means of damnation; which, though it be a
sorrow, positively neither good nor evil, yet it is evil privatively.
But it is the passion of grief as in its excess that I am now to speak
against. And it is in excess, 1. When we grieve for that which we
ought not at all to grieve for; that is, either for some good, or for
a thing indifferent that is neither good nor bad; both which come from
the error of the mind. 2. When we grieve too much for that which we
may grieve for lawfully in some measure; that is, for our own
afflictions or penal suffering. 3. When we grieve too much for that
which we are bound to grieve for in some measure: as (1.) For our sin.
(2.) For our loss of the favour of God, or of his grace and Spirit.
(3.) For other men's sin and suffering. (4.) For the sufferings of the
church, and calamities of the world. (5.) For God's dishonour.[359]
Though it is not easy to have too much sorrow for sin, considering it
estimatively; that is, we can hardly take sin for a worse evil than it
is, and accordingly grieve for it; yet it is oft too easy to have too
much sorrow for sin, or any other evil intensively as to the greatness
of the passion. And thus sorrow for sin is too great, 1. When it
distracteth the mind, and overturneth reason, and it is made unfit for
the ends of sorrow. 2. When it so cloudeth and clotheth the soul in
grief, that it maketh us unfit to see and consider of the promise, to
relish mercy, or believe it; to acknowledge benefits, or own grace
received, or be thankful for it; to feel the love of God, or love him
for it, to praise him, or to mind him, or to call upon him; when it
driveth the soul from God, and weakeneth it to duty, and teacheth it to
deny mercy, and sinketh it towards despair; all this is too much and
sinful sorrow: and so is all that doth the soul more hurt than good; for
sorrow is not good of itself, but as it doth good, or showeth good.
_Direct._ I. Keep your hearts as true and close to God as possible,
and make sure of his love, that you may know you have not an
unregenerate, miserable soul to mourn for, and then all other grief is
the more curable and more tolerable. Be once able to say that God is
on your side, that Christ, and the Spirit, and heaven are yours, and
then you have the greatest cordial against excessive grief that this
world affords. If you say, How should this be done? I answer, that it
is opened in its proper place. No marvel if sorrow overwhelm that
soul, that is in the chains of sin, under the curse of God, as soon as
awakened conscience comes to feel it. And it is most miserable when it
hath the smallest sorrow; there being some hope that sorrow may drive
it home to Christ. Therefore if thou have been a secure, unhumbled,
carnal wretch, and God be now beginning to humble thee, by showing
thee thy sin and misery, take heed, as thou lovest thy soul, that thou
drive not away necessary, healing sorrow and repentance, under
pretence of driving away melancholy or over-much sorrow; thy smart
tendeth to thy hopes of cure.
_Direct._ II. Renew not the wounds of conscience by renewed, wilful,
gross sin. For sin will bring sorrow, especially if thou have any life
of grace to feel it: even as falls, and breaking the bones, bring
pain. Obey carefully if thou wouldst have peace.
_Direct._ III. Be well acquainted with the general grounds of hope in
the mercy of God, the office and death of Christ, and the free,
universal offer of pardon, grace, and life in the new covenant.
Abundance of grief doth dwell in many humbled souls, through the
ignorance of these general grounds of comfort; which would vanish away
if these were known.
_Direct._ IV. Know well the true nature and use of godly sorrow; how
it is but a means to higher grace, and a thing which may exceed, and
not a thing that we should stop in, or think we can never have too
much of it. Desire it but in its place, and to its proper ends.
_Direct._ V. Know well the nature and excellency of those higher
graces which sorrow tendeth to; even love, and thankfulness, and
delight in God, and fruitful obedience. And then you will be carried
after these, and will learn to hate the sorrow that hindereth them,
and to cherish that sorrow which leadeth you up to them, and to value
it but as a means to them.
_Direct._ VI. Manage all your affairs, especially those of your souls,
with prudent foresight; and look not only on things as they appear at
hand.[360] Judge not by sense, but by reason; for sense cannot
foresee, but pleaseth itself at present with that which must be
bitterness in the end. Thus, carnal delight is the common way to
overwhelming sorrow. He that would not have the pain and sickness of a
surfeit to-morrow, must not please his appetite against reason to-day.
Poison will gripe and kill never the less for tasting sweet. You must
foreknow how that which you take will work, and what will be the
effects of it, and not only how it tasteth, if you would escape the
pain. The drunkard thinketh not of his vomiting, and poverty, or
shame, or sickness, and therefore causeth them. There is no sorrow so
intolerable as that of a guilty soul, that is passing in terror to the
bar of God, and thence to everlasting pain. Foresee this sorrow in
your most pleasant sin; and remember that when you are tempted to sin,
you are tempted to sorrow; and then you may prevent it. And in all
your particular actions use a foreseeing judgment, and ask what is
like to be the end, before you enter on the beginning. Most of our
sorrows come for want of this, and express themselves by, Had I known,
or had I thought of this, I had prevented it. Do nothing which you may
foresee must be repented of; for repentance is sorrowful; and the
weightier the case the deeper the sorrow. How easy and comfortable a
life and death might men attain, if they would not buy a little
forbidden, poisonous pleasure, with the price of future pain and
sorrows! And if they did not foolishly and over-tenderly refuse those
holy, necessary, medicinal sorrows, by which their greater,
overwhelming, and undoing sorrows should have been prevented!
_Direct._ VII. Look always on your remedy when you look on your
misery; and when you find any dangerous sin or sign in you, presently
consider what is your duty in order to your recovery and escape. It is
an ordinary thing with peevish, distempered natures, when they are
reproved for any sin, to resist the reproof by excuses as long as they
can; and when they can resist no longer, then they fall into
despairing lamentations, if they are so bad, what then shall they do!
and in the mean time never set themselves against the sin, and cast it
off and return to their obedience, that their comforts may return:
they will do any thing rather than amend. The reason why God
convinceth them of sin is that they may forsake it, and they are
sooner brought to any thing than to this: convince them of their
pride, or malice, or worldliness, or disobedience, or slothfulness, or
passion, and they will sooner sink in sorrow and despair than they
will set upon a resolved reformation. This is it indeed which the
devil desireth; he can allow you grief and desperation, but not to
amend. But is this best for you? Or is it pleasing to God? Deny not
your sin, but see withal that there is enough in Christ for your
pardon and deliverance. He hath appointed you means for your present
recovery, and he is ready to help you. Ask what is your duty for your
cure, and set upon it without delay.
_Direct._ VIII. Remember your causes of joy as well as your cause of
sorrow, that each may have their due, and your joy and sorrow may both
be suited to their causes: to which end you must labour for the
exactest acquaintance with your own condition, that possibly you can
attain to.[361] If you are yet ungodly, your sorrow must be greater
than your joy, or else it will be irrational joy, and pernicious to
your souls, and increase your after-sorrow. And you must not overlook
so much cause of comfort as is afforded you in God's patience, and the
offers of a Saviour, and of pardon, and grace, and life in him. If you
are truly godly, you must so mourn for sin, and weakness, and wants,
and crosses, and afflictions of yourselves and others, as never to
forget the invaluable mercies which you have already received, your
part in Christ and life eternal, your beginnings of grace, and your
reconciliation with God, which allow and command you greatly to
rejoice: and remember that no humiliations will excuse you from the
observation and acknowledgment of all these mercies.
_Direct._ IX. Read over all the commands of Scripture that make it your
duty to rejoice in the Lord, and exceedingly to rejoice; and make as
much conscience of them as of other commands of God. The same God
commandeth you to rejoice, who commandeth you to hear, and pray, and
repent. See Psal. xxxiii. 1; Phil. iii. 1; iv. 4; Rom. v. 2; Phil. iii.
3; 1 Thess. v. 16; 1 Pet. i. 6-8; iv. 13; Heb. iii. 6; 2 Cor. vi. 10;
Rom. xii. 12; Psal. xxxii. 11; cxxxii. 9, 16; Rom. xiv. 17; Psal. v. 11.
_Direct._ X. Befriend not your own excessive sorrows, by thinking them
to be your duty, nor suspect lawful mirth and joy as if it were a sin,
or a thing unbecoming you. For if you take your sin for your duty, and
plead for it, and your duty for your sin, and plead against it, you are
far from the way of amendment and recovery. And yet it is common with an
afflicted, weak, impatient soul, to fall into liking (though not in
love) with their inordinate sorrows, and to justify them, and think that
it is their duty still to mourn. If these sorrows were of God, we should
be more backward to them: and if our comfort were not more pleasing to
God, our natures would not be so backward to them as they are.
_Direct._ XI. Love no creature too much, and let it not grow too sweet
and pleasant to you: else you are preparing for sorrow from the
creature. Love it less, and you shall sorrow less. All your grief for
crosses and losses, in goods, estate, in children and friends, in
reputation, liberty, health, and life, doth come from your over-loving
them. Value them but as they deserve, and you may easily bear the loss
of them. He that maketh them his idol or felicity, will grieve for the
want of them, or the loss of them, as a man undone that cannot live
without them. But he that hath placed his happiness and hopes in God,
and valueth the world no further than it tendeth to his ultimate end,
will no further grieve for the want of it, than as he misseth it to
that end. 1 Tim. vi. 10, "The love of money and coveting after it,
doth pierce men through with many sorrows." Mark what you find your
heart too much set upon and pleased in, or hoping after, and take it
off quickly if you love your peace.
_Direct._ XII. Learn to be pleased and satisfied in the will of God.
Trust your heavenly Father who knoweth what you need. It is some
rebellion or crossness of our wills to the will of God, which causeth
our inordinate griefs and trouble. Because we cannot bring our wills
to his will, nor make our reason stoop unto his wisdom, nor think well
of his providence, unless he will suit it to our conceits, and
interests, and lusts, therefore so far as we are carnal we are
ordinarily displeased and grieved at his ways. If we might have had
our own wills about our estates, or names, or children, or friends, or
health, or life, we should not have been troubled (at the present).
But because it is not our way, but God's way, that is taken, nor our
will, but God's will, that is done, therefore we are grieved and
discontent, as if his way and will were worse than ours, and God had
wanted his foolish children to be his counsellors, or they could have
chosen better for themselves!
_Direct._ XIII. Afflict yourselves no further than God or man afflict
you; but remember, if you think that you have too much already against
your wills, how foolish and self-contradicting it is to lay a great
deal more wilfully upon yourselves.[362] Is it slanders or reproach
that men afflict you with? Let it be so; that toucheth not the heart.
Is it poverty, crosses, or losses, that God afflicteth you with? Let
it be so; that toucheth not the heart neither. Is it loss of children
and friends; or is it pain and sickness? I confess these are sore; but
yet they do not touch the heart. If they come thither it is your
doing; and (though thither they should come moderately) if they are
immoderate, it is your own sinful doing. It is you that grieve, and
make the heart ache; God and man did but make the flesh ache. If
others hurt your bodies, will you therefore vex your minds? Will you
pierce through your hearts, because they touch your name or goods? If
so, remember which part of your sorrow is of their making, and which
is of your own: and can you for shame go beg of God or man to ease the
grief which you yourselves are causing, and wilfully continue it while
you pray against it? And why lament you that which you cause and
choose? It is a shame to be wilfully your own tormentors.
_Direct._ XIV. Abhor all that tendeth to take down the power and
government of reason (that is, all feebleness and cowardice of mind, and
a melancholy, a peevish, passionate disposition): and labour to keep up
the authority of reason, and to keep all your passions subject to your
wills; which must be done by christian faith and fortitude. If you come
once to that childish or distracted pass, as to grieve and say, I cannot
help it; I know it is sinful and immoderate, but I cannot choose; if you
say true, you are out of the reach of counsel, advice, or comfort. You
are not to be preached to, nor talked to, nor to be written for: we do
not write directions to teach men how to touch the stars, or explain the
asperities or inequalities of the moon, or the opacous parts of Saturn,
or to govern the orbs, or rule the chariot of the sun. If it be become a
natural impossibility to you, doctrine can give you no remedy; but if
the impossibility be but moral, in the weakness of reason, and want of
consideration, it may by doctrine, consideration, and resolution be
overcome. You can do more if you will than you think you can.[363] How
came you to lose the command of your passions? Did not God make you a
rational creature, that hath an understanding and will to rule all
passions? How come you to have lost the ruling power of reason and will?
You would take it for a disparagement to be told that you have lost the
use of your reason; and is it not a principal use of it to rule the
passions, and all other inferior, subject powers? You say you cannot
choose but grieve! But if one could give you that creature which you
want or desire, then you could choose: you could rejoice, if one could
restore you that child, that friend, that estate which you have lost.
But God, and Christ, and heaven, it seems, are not enough to cure you:
if you must have but them you cannot choose but grieve! And what hearts
have you then that are thus affected? Should not those hearts be rather
grieved for? God will sometime make you see, that you had more power
than you used.
_Direct._ XV. Observe the mischiefs of excessive sorrow, that you may
feel what reason you have to avoid it. While you know not what hurt is
in it, you will be the more remiss in your resisting it: I shall
briefly name you some of its unhappy fruits.
[Sidenote: The ill effects of sinful grief.]
1. It is a continual pain and sickness of the mind. (This you know by
feeling.) 2. It is a destroyer of bodily health and life. For
"worldly sorrow worketh death," 2 Cor. vii. 10. Prov. xvii. 22, "A
merry heart doth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the
bones." 3. It putteth the soul out of relish with its mercies, and so
causeth us to undervalue them, and consequently to be unthankful for
them, and not to improve them. 4. It destroyeth the sense of the love
of God, and lamentably undisposeth the soul to love him: and therefore
should be abhorred by us were it but for that one effect. 5. It
destroyeth the joy in the Holy Ghost, and unfitteth us to obey that
command of God, Rejoice continually. 6. It contradicteth a heavenly
mind and conversation, and hindereth us from all foretastes of the
everlasting joys.[364] 7. It undisposeth us to the excellent work of
praise: who can ascend in the praises of God, while grief doth oppress
and captivate the soul? 8. It destroyeth the sweetness of all God's
ordinances, hearing, reading, prayer, sacraments; we may force
ourselves to use them, but shall have no delight in them. 9. It
hindereth the exercise of faith, and raiseth distrust, and sinful
doubts and fears, within us. 10. It causeth sinful discontents and
murmurings at God and man. 11. It maketh us impatient, peevish,
froward, angry, and hard to be pleased. 12. It weakeneth the soul to
all that is good, and destroyeth its fortitude and strength: for it is
the "joy of the Lord that is our strength," Neh. viii. 10, 13. It
hindereth us in the duties of our callings: who can do them as they
should be done, under the clog of a disquiet mind? 14. It maketh us a
grief and burden to our friends, and robs them of the comfort which
they should have in and by us. 15. It maketh us unprofitable to
others, and hindereth us from doing the good we might; when we should
be instructing, exhorting, and praying for poor sinners, or minding
the church of God, we are all taken up at home, about our own
afflictions. 16. It maketh us a stumblingblock and scandal to the
ungodly, and hindereth their conversion, while the devil setteth us
before the church doors, to keep away the ungodly from a holy life, as
men set scarecrows in their fields and gardens, to frighten away the
birds. 17. It dishonoureth religion, by making men believe that it is
a melancholy, vexatious, self-tormenting life. 18. It obscureth the
glory of the gospel, and crosseth the work of Christ, his Spirit, and
ministers, who all come upon a message of great joy to all nations;
and proclaim glad tidings to the worst of sinners; much more to the
sons of God, and heirs of life. 19. It misrepresenteth God himself, as
if we would persuade men, that he is a hard and cruel master, that
none can please, though they do all through a Mediator upon a covenant
of grace; and that it is worse with us since we served him than
before; and that he delighteth in our grief and misery, and is against
our peace and joy; and as if there were no joy nor pleasure in his
service. Such hideous doctrine do our lives preach of God, when those
that profess to fear and seek him, do live in such immoderate grief
and trouble. 20. And it too much pleaseth the devil, who is glad to
torment us here, if he may not do it in hell; and especially do make
ourselves the executioners upon ourselves, when he is restrained; when
he can boast and say, Though I may not vex thee, I will persuade thee
to vex thyself. These are the fruits of sinful sorrows.
_Direct._ XVI. Govern your thoughts, and suffer them not to muse and
feed on those objects which cause your grief. No wonder if your sore
be always smarting, when you are always rubbing on it in your
thoughts. Of this I spake more fully even now.
_Tit._ 10. _Directions against sinful Despair (and
Doubting)._
Despair is the contrary to hope.[365] There is a despair that is a
duty, and a despair that is a sin, and a despair that is indifferent,
as being but of natural and not of moral kind. Despair is a duty, when
it is contrary to the sinful hope before described; that is, 1. When
we despair of any thing which God hath told us shall never come to
pass: for we are bound to believe his word: as that all the world
should be saved or converted, or that our bodies should not die and
perish, and many such like. 2. It is a duty to despair of ever
attaining a good end by means, or upon terms, which God hath told us
it shall never be attained by: and so it is a great duty for an
unregenerate person to despair of ever being saved without
regeneration, conversion, and holiness; and to despair of ever being
pardoned or saved, if he live after the flesh and have not the Spirit
of Christ, and repent not unfeignedly of his sin, and be not a new
creature, and crucify not the flesh with its affections and
lusts.[366] Such a despair is one of the first things necessary to the
conversion of a sinner, because the false hopes of being pardoned and
saved without regeneration, is the present hinderance to be removed.
Despair is a sin, when it is contrary to any hope which God commandeth
us (so it be not only a negative despair, or bare not hoping, which in
sleep and other times may be innocent, but a positive despair, which
concludeth against hope). As, 1. Particular despair of the benefit of
some particular promise; as if Israel had despaired of deliverance from
Egypt, or Abraham of a son. 2. General despair of the fulfilling of some
general promise; as if we despaired of the resurrection, or the kingdom
of Christ in glory. 3. When by misapplication we despair of that pardon
and salvation to ourselves, which yet we believe shall be to others.
Yea, despair is sinful sometimes when it is not contrary to any
promise or commanded hope: for if God have not revealed his will one
way or other, it is no duty to expect the thing, and yet it is a sin
to conclude positively that it will not be: for then we shall say more
than we know, or than God hath revealed. If hope be taken for the
comfort that ariseth in us from the apprehension of a mere
possibility, then indeed it is a duty to hope for that good which is
possible only; but if hope be taken for a confident expectation, then
both such hope, and also the contrary despair, would be a sin. We may
(so) _non-sperare_ but not _desperare_. Possibles must be taken but
for possibles, yet still for such.
He that despaireth but of some common mercy which he should not
despair of, _ratione materiæ_ committeth a sin of the smaller sort: he
that despaireth of a great mercy to others, (though not promised,)
committeth a greater sin _ratione materiæ_; as if you despair of the
conversion of a bad child, or of the continuance of the gospel to the
kingdom, &c. But he that despaireth of his own pardon and salvation,
sinneth more perilously _ratione materiæ_.
The despairing of pardon and salvation upon a despair of the truth of
the gospel, or sufficiency of Christ, is damnable, and a certain mark
of a wretched infidel, if it be predominant.[367] But to believe all
the gospel to be true, and desire Christ and life as best, and yet to
despair upon too bad thoughts of one's self, or through some other
mistake, this is a sin of infirmity, consistent with grace (unless the
despair be so total and prevalent, as to make the sinner settledly
cast off a godly life, and give up himself to a life of wickedness).
The Scripture speaketh little of this humble sort of despair, and no
where threateneth it as it doth infidelity.
The commonest despair (like Spira's) which cometh immediately from
invincible predominant melancholy (though occasioned first by sin) is
no otherwise sinful or dangerous, than the despair or raving of a
mad-man, or one in a doting fever, is. It is the too humble despair,
through personal misapplication, and particular mistakes, that I shall
speak of in this place.
_Direct._ I. Take heed of being ignorant of, or misunderstanding, the
three great general grounds of faith and hope; that is, 1. The
infinite goodness of God, and his unmeasurable love and mercy. 2. The
relation of Christ's office to all, and the sufficiency of his ransom
and sacrifice for all. 3. The universality of the promise, or the act
of oblivion, or deed of gift of free pardon and salvation to all on
condition of penitent belief and acceptance, which is procured and
given by Christ, and contained in the gospel. If you mistake so about
any one of these as not to believe or understand them, or if you do
not well consider and improve them, no wonder if you be left under
continual doubtings and liable to despair.
_Direct._ II. Understand well the true nature of the condition of this
universal promise; how much it consisteth in the will or acceptance of
Christ and life as offered by the gospel; or in our hearty consent to
the baptismal covenant, that God be our God and Father, our Saviour
and Sanctifier: and that in God's account the will is the man, and he
is a true believer, and hath part in Christ, that is truly willing of
him to the ends of his office: and that he hath right to all the
benefits of the covenant of grace, who doth heartily consent to
it.[368] This is true faith; this is the condition of pardon; and on
these terms Christ and life are given. This is the infallible evidence
of a state of grace. If you know not this, but look after something
else as necessary which is separable from this, no wonder you are
perplexed, and inclined to despair.
_Direct._ III. Understand the extent of this pardoning covenant as to
the sins which it pardoneth: that it containeth the forgiveness of all
sin without exception, to them that perform the condition of it (that
is, to consenters). So that directly no sin is excepted but the
non-performance of the condition; but consequently, all sin is
excepted and none at all forgiven by it, to them that do not perform
the condition. Every conditional grant doth expressly except the
non-performance of the condition by the making of it to be the
condition. He that saith, All sin is forgiven to them that believe and
repent, and no other, doth plainly import, that not believing and not
repenting are not forgiven, while they continue; nor any other sin to
such. But to penitent believers or consenters, all sin is pardoned.
Which made the ancients say, that all sin is washed away in baptism,
supposing the person baptized to be a meet subject, and to have the
condition of the covenant which is by baptism sealed and delivered to
him.
_Direct._ IV. Misunderstand not the excepted sin against the Holy
Ghost; which is no other, than an aggravated non-performance and
refusal of the condition of the covenant; viz. when infidels are so
obstinate in their infidelity, that they will rather impute the
miracles of the Holy Ghost to the devil, than they will be convinced
by them that Christ is the true Messias or Saviour.[369] This is the
true nature of the sin against the Holy Ghost, of which I have written
the third part of my "Treatise of Infidelity." So that no one hath the
sin against the Holy Ghost that confesseth that Jesus is the Christ
and Saviour; or that confesseth that the miracles done by Christ, and
his apostles, were done by the Holy Ghost; or that confesseth the
gospel is true; or that doth not justify his sin and infidelity. He
must be a professed infidel against confessed miracles that commits
this sin. And yet many despair because they fear they have committed
this sin, that never understood what it is, nor have any reason but
bare fear, and some blasphemous temptations which they abhor, to make
them imagine that this sin is theirs. But the truth is, in their
fearing condition, if any other sin had been as terribly spoken of,
they would have thought it was theirs.
_Direct._ V. Understand the time to which the condition of the gospel
doth extend, namely, to the end of our life on earth: the day of his
grace hath no shorter end. For the gospel saith not, He that believeth
this year or the next shall be saved; but absolutely, without limitation
to any time short of death, He that believeth shall be saved. So that to
doubt whether true repentance and faith will be accepted at any time
before death, is but to be ignorant of the gospel, or to doubt whether
it be true. And therefore for a despairing soul to say, If I did repent,
it is too late, because the day of grace is past, is but to contradict
the gospel covenant itself, or to say he knows not what. God never
refused a soul that truly repented and believed before death.
_Object._ I. But (they will say) do not some divines say that some
men's day of grace is sooner past, and God hath forsaken them, and it
is too late, because they came not in time.
[Sidenote: When the day of grace is past.]
_Answ._ They that understand what they say, must say but this: that
this word, "the day of grace," hath divers senses. 1. Properly by the
day of grace is meant, the time in which, according to the tenor of
the gospel, God will pardon and accept those that repent; and in this
sense the time of life is the time of grace; whenever a sinner
repenteth and is converted, he is pardoned. 2. Sometimes by the day of
grace is meant, the time in which the means of grace is continued to a
nation or a person. And thus it is true, that the day of grace is
quicklier past with some countries than others: that is, God sometimes
taketh away the preachers of his gospel from a people that reject
them, and so by preaching offereth them his grace no more. But in this
sense a man may easily know whether his day of grace be past or no;
that is, whether Bibles, and books, and christians, and preachers be
all gone, or not. (And yet if they were, he that receiveth Christ
before they are gone is safe.) No man in his wits can think this day
of grace is past with him while Christ is offered him, or while there
is a Bible, or preacher, or christians about him. 3. Sometimes by the
day of grace is meant, the certain time which we are sure of as our
own. And so it is only the present minute that is the time of grace;
that is, we cannot beforehand be sure of another minute; but yet the
next minute when it is come is as much the time of grace as the former
was. 4. Sometimes by the day of grace is meant, the time in which God
actually worketh and giveth grace; and that is no more than the day of
our conversion. And in this sense, to have the day of grace past is a
happiness and comfort; that is, that the day is past in which we were
converted. 5. And sometimes by the day of grace is meant, that day in
which God moveth the hearts of the impenitent more strongly towards
conversion than formerly he did. And this is it that divines mean when
they talk of the day of grace being past with men before their death;
that is, though such have never a day of effectual grace, yet their
motions were stronger towards it, than hereafter they shall be, and
they were fairer for conversion, than after when they are gone further
from it. This is true, and this is all: and what is this to a soul
that is willing to come in, and ignorantly questioneth whether he
shall be accepted, because the day of grace is past?
_Object._ II. But Christ saith, "If thou hadst known in this thy
day--" Luke xix. 42.
_Answ._ That was the day of the offers of grace by preaching: we grant
that nations have but their day of enjoying the gospel, which they may
shorten by sinning it away.
_Object._ III. But it is said of Esau, that "afterward when he would
have inherited the blessing he was rejected, for he found no place of
repentance though he sought it carefully with tears," Heb. xii. 17. It
seems then that repentance in this life may be too late.
_Answ._ It is true that Esau's time for the blessing was past as soon
as Isaac had given it to Jacob.[370] When he had sold his birthright
it was too late to recall it, for the right was made over to his
brother; and it was not repentance, and cries, and tears, that could
recall the right he had sold, nor recall the words that Isaac had
spoken: but this doth not prove that our day of grace doth not
continue till death, or that any man repenting before his death shall
be rejected as Esau's repentance was: the apostle neither saith nor
meaneth any such thing. The sense of his words are only this much:
Take heed lest there be any so profane among you, as to set so light
by the blessings of the gospel, even Christ and life eternal, as to
part with them for a base lust or transitory thing, as Esau, that set
more by a morsel of meat than by his birthright: for let them be sure
that the time will come, (even the time mentioned by Christ, Matt.
xxv. 10, 11, when the door is shut and the Lord is come,) when they
will dearly repent it; and then, as it was with Esau when the blessing
was gone, so it will be with them when their blessing is gone,
repentance, and cries, and tears will be too late: for the gospel hath
its justice and terrors as well as the law. This is all in the text,
but there is no intimation that our day of grace is as short as Esau's
hope of the blessing was.
_Object._ IV. Saul had but his time, which when he lost he was
forsaken of God.
_Answ._ Saul's sin provoked God to reject him from being king of Israel,
and to appoint another in his stead; but if Saul had repented he had
been saved after that, though not restored to the crown: and it is true,
that as God withdrew from him the spirit of government, so many before
death, by the greatness of their sins, cause God to forsake them so far
as to withhold those motions, and convictions, and fears, and
disquietments, in sin, which sometimes they had, and to give them over
to a "reprobate mind," to commit "all uncleanness with greediness," and
glory in it as being "past feeling," Rom. i. 28; Eph. iv. 18, 19. If it
be thus with you, you would be no better, you would not be recovered,
you think sin is best for you, and hate all that would reform you.
_Object._ V. It is said, 2 Cor. vi. 2, "Behold, now is the accepted
time, behold, now is the day of salvation." And Heb. iii. 7, 12, 13,
"To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts----lest any
of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."
_Answ._ This saith no more than that the present time is the best,
yea, the only certain time; and we are not sure that the day of
salvation will continue any longer, because death may cut us off: but
if it do not, yet sin is a hardening thing, and the longer we sin the
more it hardeneth! yea, God may withhold the motions of his Spirit,
and leave us to ourselves, to the hardness of our hearts: and thus he
doth by thousands of wicked persons, who are left in impenitency and
hatred of the truth: but most certainly if those men repented they
might be saved, and the very reason why they have not Christ and life
is still because they will not consent.
_Direct._ VI. Understand by what help and strength it is that the
obedience to the gospel must be performed: not merely by your own
strength, but by the help of grace, and strength of Christ: if he have
but made you willing, he will help you to perform the rest. You are
not by this covenant to be a saviour and sanctifier to yourselves; but
to consent that Christ be your Saviour, and the Holy Spirit your
Sanctifier. You might else despair indeed if you were left to that
which you are utterly unable to do. Though you must "work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling, it is he that worketh in you to
will and to do of his good pleasure," Phil. ii. 13.
_Direct._ VII. Understand well the difference between mortal sins and
infirmities, that you may not think that every sin is a sign of death or
gracelessness; but may know the difference between those sins which
should make you think yourselves unjustified, and those sins which only
call for particular humiliation, being such as the justified themselves
commit. Though in the popish sense we take no sin to be venial, that is,
which in itself is properly no sin, nor deserveth death according to the
law of works; yet the distinction between mortal and venial sin, is of
very great necessity: that is, between sins which prove a man in a state
of death, or unjustified, and sins which consist with a state of grace
and justification; between sins which the gospel pardoneth not, and
those which it pardoneth, that is, all that stand with true
repentance.[371] There are some sins which every one that repenteth of
them, doth so forsake as to cease committing them; and there are some
lesser sins, which they that repent of them do hate indeed, but yet
frequently renew, as our defective degrees in the exercise of repentance
itself, faith, love, trust, fear, obedience; our vain thoughts and
words; some sinful passions, omissions of many duties of thought,
affection, word, or deed towards God or man; some minutes of time
overslip us; prayer and other duties have a sinful coldness or
remissness in them, and such like. Many such sins are fitly called
infirmities and venial, because they consist with life and are forgiven:
it is of great use to the peace of our consciences to discern the
difference between these two, for one sort require a conversion to
another state, and the other require but a particular repentance, and
where they are unknown, are forgiven without particular repentance,
because our general repentance is virtually, though not actually,
particular as to them. One sort are cause of judging ourselves ungodly;
and the other sort are only cause of filial humiliation. Any one may see
the great need of discerning the difference; but yet it is a matter of
very great judgment doctrinally to distinguish them, much more actually
to discern them in every instance in yourselves. The way is to know
first, what is the condition of the new covenant, and of absolute
necessity to salvation or justification; and then every sin that is
inconsistent with that condition is mortal, and the rest that are
consistent and do consist with it are venial, or but infirmities. As
venial signifieth only that sort of sin which is pardonable, and may
consist with true grace, so a venial sin may be in an unsanctified
person materially, where it is not pardoned; that is, _e. g._ his
wandering thought or passion, is a sin of that sort that in the godly is
consistent with true grace: but as venial signifieth a sin that is
pardoned, or pardonable, without a regeneration, or conversion into a
state of life from a state of death, so venial sin is in no
unregenerate, unjustified person, but is only the infirmities of the
saints; and thus I here speak of it. In a word, that sin which actually
consisteth with habitual repentance, and with the hatred of it, so far
that you had rather be free from it than commit or keep it, and which
consisteth with an unfeigned consent to the covenant, that God be your
Father, Saviour, and Sanctifier, and with the love of God above all, is
but an infirmity or venial sin. But to know from the nature of the sin,
which those are, requireth a volume by itself to direct you only.
_Direct._ VIII. Understand how necessary a faithful minister of Christ
is, in such cases of danger and difficulty, to be a guide to your
consciences; and open your case truly to them, and place so much
confidence in their judgment of your state as their office, and
abilities, and faithfulness do require, and set not up your timorous,
darkened, perplexed judgments above theirs, in cases where they are
fitter to judge. Such a guide is necessary, both as appointed by
Christ who is the author of his office, and in regard of the
greatness, and danger, and difficulty of your case. Do you not feel
that you are insufficient for yourselves, and that you have need of
help? sure a soul that is tempted to despair may easily feel it. You
are very proud, or blindly self-conceited, if you do not. And you may
easily know that Christ that appointed them their office, requireth
that they be both used and trusted in their office, as far as reason
will allow. And where there is no office, yet ability and faithfulness
deserve and require credit of themselves. Why else do you trust
physicians and lawyers, and all artificers, in their several
professions and arts, as far as they are reputed able and faithful? I
know no man is to be believed as infallible as God is: but man is to
be believed as man; and if you will use and trust your spiritual guide
but so far as you use and trust your physician or lawyer, you will
find the great benefit, if you choose aright.
_Direct._ IX. Remember when you have sinned, how sure, and sufficient,
and ready a remedy you have before you, in Jesus Christ and the
covenant of grace; and that it is God's design in the way of
redemption, not to save any man as innocent, that none may glory, but
to save men that were first in sin and misery, and fetch them as from
the gates of hell, that love and mercy may be magnified on every one
that is saved, and grace may abound more by the occasion of sin's
abounding, Rom. v. 15, 20. Not that any should "continue in sin
because grace hath abounded: God forbid," Rom. vi. 1. But that we may
magnify that grace and mercy which hath abounded above our sins; and
turn the remembrance of our greatest sins to the admiration of that
great and wonderful mercy. To magnify mercy when we see the greatness
of our sin, and to love much because much is forgiven,[372] this is to
please God, and answer the very design and end of our redemption: but
to magnify sin, and extenuate mercy, and to say, My sin is greater
than can be forgiven, this is to please the devil, and to cross God's
design in the work of our redemption. Is your disease so great that no
other can cure it? It is the fitter for Christ to honour his office
upon, and God to honour his love and mercy on. Do but "come to him
that you may have life,"[373] and you shall find that no greatness of
sin past, will cause him to refuse you; nor any infirmities which you
are willing to be rid of, shall cause him to disown you, or cast you
out. The prodigal is not so much as upbraided with his sins, but finds
himself, before he is aware, in his father's arms, clothed with the
best robes, the ring and shoes, and joyfully entertained with a
feast.[374] Remember that there is enough in Christ and the promise,
to pardon and heal all sins which thou art willing to forsake.
_Direct._ X. Take heed of being so blind or proud in thy humility, as to
think that thou canst be more willing to be a servant of Christ, than he
is to be thy Saviour, or more willing to have grace, than God is to give
it thee, or more willing to come home to Christ, than he is to receive
and welcome thee. Either thou art willing or unwilling to have Christ
and grace, to be sanctified and freed from sin; if thou be willing,
Christ and his grace shall certainly be thine: indeed if thou wouldst
have pardon without holiness, this cannot be, nor is there any promise
of it; but if thou wouldst have Christ to be thy Saviour and King, and
his Spirit to be thy Sanctifier, and hadst rather be perfect in love and
holiness than to have all the riches of the world, then art thou in
sincerity that which thou wouldst be in perfection: understand that God
accounteth thee to be what thou truly desirest to be. The great work of
grace lieth in the renewing of the will; if the will be sound, the man
is sound. I mean not the conquered, uneffectual velleity of the wicked,
that wish they could be free from pride, sensuality, gluttony,
drunkenness, lust, and covetousness, without losing any of their beloved
honour, wealth, or pleasure; that is, when they think on it as the way
to hell they like not their sin, but wish they were rid of it, but when
they think of it as pleasing their fleshly minds, they love it more, and
will not leave it, because this is the prevailing thought and will. So
Judas was unwilling to sell his Lord, as it was the betraying of the
innocent, and the way to hell, but he was more willing as it was the way
to get his hire. So Herod was unwilling to kill John Baptist, as it was
the murder of a prophet; but his willingness was the greater, as it was
the pleasing of his damsel, and the freeing himself from a troublesome
reprover. But if thy willingness to have Christ and perfect holiness be
more than thy unwillingness, and more than thy willingness to keep thy
sin, and enjoy the honour, wealth, and pleasures of the world, then thou
hast an undoubted sign of uprightness, and that love to grace, and
desire after it, which nothing but grace itself doth give. And if thou
art thus willing, it is great wrong to Christ to doubt of his
willingness. For, 1. He is a greater lover of holiness than thou art;
and therefore cannot come behind thee, in being willing of thy holiness.
2. He is more merciful to thee, than thou art to thyself: his love and
mercy are beyond thy measure. 3. He hath begun to thee, and fully showed
his willingness first. He died to prepare thee a full remedy; he hath
drawn up the covenant; he hath therein expressed his own consent, and
entreateth thine; he is the first in consenting, and is a suitor to
thee. Never sinner did yet begin to him in the world. Never any was
willing of the match before him: his general offer of mercy, and
covenant tendered to all, doth show his willingness before they can show
theirs by their acceptance. Never man overwent him in willingness, and
was more willing than he. Take this sinner, as God's infallible truth.
If the match break between Christ and thee, and thou be lost, it shall
not be through his refusal, but through thine: and it cannot break any
other way, no, not by the craft or force of all the devils in hell, but
either because Christ is unwilling, or because thou art unwilling; and
on Christ's part it shall never break. And therefore if thou be willing
the match is made; and there is no danger but lest thy heart draw back.
If thou art not willing, why complainest thou for want of that which
thou wouldst not love? If thou art willing, the covenant is then made,
for Christ is more willing, and was willing first.
_Direct._ XI. Write out those sentences that contain the sense and
substance of the gospel, and often read them. Write them on thy very
chamber walls, and set them still before thine eyes;[375] and try
whether they agree with the words of him that tempteth thee to
despair: such as these which I here transcribe for thee. John iii. 16,
"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life."--Ver. 19, "This is the condemnation, that light is come into
the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their
deeds were evil."--1 John v. 10-12, "He that believeth on the Son of
God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made
him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his
Son: and this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son: he that hath the Son hath life; and he
that hath not the Son of God hath not life."--John i. 11, 12, "He came
unto his own, but his own received him not: but to as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, to them that
believe on his name."--Rev. xxii. 17, "Let him that is athirst come;
and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."--John v.
40, "And ye will not come unto me, that ye may have life."--John vi.
37, "All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me; and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."--John vii. 37, "If any man
thirst, let him come to me and drink."--Luke xiv. 17, "Come, for all
things are now ready." And read oft Luke xv.
_Direct._ XII. Distinguish between sin seen and felt, and sin reigning
unto death; that you may not be so blinded as to think your sin greatest
or your condition worst, when your sight and feeling of it are greatest.
To see and feel your sin and misery is at least the ordinary preparation
for recovery. To be dead is to be past feeling.[376] They that are most
forsaken of God are most willing of their present condition, and most
love their sin, and hate holiness and all that would reform them, and if
they have power, will persecute them as enemies.
_Direct._ XIII. Think not that the troublesome strivings and
temptations which weary you are the worst condition, or a sign of the
victory of sin. It is rather a sign that you are not yet forsaken of
God, while he beareth witness in you against sin, and is yet following
you with his dissuasives. Paul saith, Gal. v. 17, "For the flesh
lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and
these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the
things that ye would." Read Rom. vii. from 14 to the end.
_Direct._ XIV. Understand the difference between weak grace and no
grace; that you may not think every want of grace is a sign of total
gracelessness. When you have opened in your complaints a long
catalogue of weaknesses, consider whether yet there be not a true
desire to be better, and some degree of life with all these?
_Direct._ XV. Think well of the excellency of the least degree of
special grace; that it is a seed of glory; the beginning of life
eternal; the divine nature, and the image of God, and of greater worth
than all the learning, wealth, and honour in the world. And be not
unthankful for so great a mercy, because you have not more.
_Direct._ XVI. Make conscience of observing the grace and mercy
received, as well as the wants remaining and the sins committed, and of
the thankful remembrance and mention of mercy, as much as the humble
mention of sin. Think as oft of mercy as of sin: talk of it as much to
others; and mention it to God as much in prayer: this is your plain
duty: if you will not do it, your wilful unthankfulness for what you
have received, may well leave you in distress without the comfort of it.
_Direct._ XVII. Let your thoughts of God's goodness bear some
proportion with your thoughts of his knowledge and his power. And then
you will not be so apt to entertain false suspicions of it, and think
of him as a man-hater, like the devil, nor to run away from him, that
is the infinite, most attractive good.
_Direct._ XVIII. Record the particular kindnesses to thyself, by which
God hath testified his particular love to thee; that they may stand as
near and constant witnesses of his mercy and readiness to do thee
good, against thy excessive fearfulness and despair.
_Direct._ XIX. Think how few there are in the world so likely for
mercy as thyself. Look not only on a few that are better than thyself;
but think how five parts of the world are open infidels and heathens;
and of the sixth part that are christians, how few are reformed from
popish and barbarous ignorance and superstition: and among protestants
how small is the number of them that are less in love with sin than
thyself! I know that many wicked men abuse this comparison to
presumption, but I know also that a christian may and must use it
against despair, and not think of God and the Redeemer as if he would
save so few as are next to none at all.
_Direct._ XX. Remember that God commandeth faith and hope, and
forbiddeth unbelief and despair,[377] and that it is your sin: and
will you sin more when you have sinned so much already? What if you
see no other reason why you should hope, and why you should not
despair, but God's command? Is not that enough? I charge you in the
name of God obey him and despair not. Sin not wilfully thus against
him, Psal. cxlvi. 5; xxxi. 24; Rom. viii. 24; xv. 4, 13; Col. i. 23; 1
Thess. v. 8; Heb. iii. 6; vi. 11, 18, 19; Tit. i. 2. Hope is your
duty; and dare you plead against duty? Despair is your sin, and will
you justify it? Yea, consider what a deal of comfort is in this; for
if there were no hope of your salvation, God would never have made it
your duty to hope, nor forbidden you to despair. He doth not bid the
devils nor the damned hope as he doth you; he forbiddeth not them to
despair as he doth you: there is cause for this; he would have done
it, if your condition were as hopeless as theirs is.
_Direct._ XXI. If God forbid you to despair, it is certainly the devil
that biddeth it. And will you knowingly obey the devil? What if the
devil persuade you to it openly with his own mouth? would you not know
that it is bad which such an enemy draweth you to? Methinks this
should be a very great comfort to you, to think that it is the devil
that persuadeth you to despair? For that proveth that you should not
despair; and that proveth that your case is not desperate but hopeful.
_Direct._ XXII. Think whither it tendeth: to despair is to give up all
hopes of your salvation; and when you have no hope you will use no
means; for to what purpose should a man seek for that which he hath no
hopes to find? And so when this weight is taken off, all the wheels
stand still. The meaning of the devil hath two parts: the first is, Do
not hear, nor read, nor pray, nor seek advice, nor talk any more about
it with good people, for there is no hope. And the next part is,
either make away thyself, or else sin boldly and take the pleasure of
sin while thou mayst; for there is no hope of any better. And dost
thou think that either of these is from God? Or is it for thy good?
What is the meaning of all, but cast away thy soul? While thou hopest,
thou wilt seek, and use some means; but to cast away hope is to cast
away all. And hast thou so far lost self-love as to be thyself the
doer of such a deed?
_Direct._ XXIII. Think what a wrong thou dost to the Father, the
Saviour, and the Sanctifier of souls, to think so poorly and
despairingly of his grace, as if it were not able to prevail against
thy sin; and to obscure thus the glory of his redemption; and to
believe the devil in his slandering, extenuating, and dishonouring
that in God, which he will have most glorified by sinners!
_Direct._ XXIV. Bethink thee what one person thou canst name in all
the world, that ever perished or was rejected, that was willing in
this life to be saved and sanctified by Christ, and had rather have
Christ and perfect holiness than the treasures or pleasures of the
world. Name me any one such person if thou canst: but I am sure thou
canst not: and dost thou fear that which never was done to any one; or
think that Christ will begin with thee?
_Direct._ XXV. Up, man, and be doing, and resolve in despite of the
devil that thou wilt wait on God in the use of means, and cast thyself
on Christ, and if thou perish thou wilt perish there. Do this, and
thou shalt never perish. Thou canst not do worse than despair and give
up all; nor canst thou please the devil more, nor displease God more,
nor wrong Christ and the Spirit more. Thou art certain that thou canst
lose nothing by trusting thy soul on Christ, and hoping in him, and
patiently using his means; do but this, and hope shall save thee, when
Satan by despair would damn thee.
_Direct._ XXVI. Understand in what time and order it is that Christ
giveth his grace and saveth his people from their sins; that he doth
it not all at once, but by degrees, and taketh all the time of this
present life to do it in. As able as your Physician is, he will not
finish the cure till your life be finished. The next life is the state
of absolute perfection; all things are imperfect here: despair not
therefore of all that you have not yet attained; your sin may be more
mortified yet, and your grace yet more strengthened. If it be done
before you come to judgment it is well for you: do your part in daily
diligence: do you plant and water, and he will give the increase. Read
more of this before, part ii. against Melancholy.
FOOTNOTES:
[323] See Plutarch of Tranquillity of Mind.
[324] 1 Pet. ii. 21-24; Isa. liii.
[325] Solus Amor facit hominem bonum vel malum. Paul Scaliger. Thes.
p. 721.
[326] Nuptial love maketh mankind; friendly love perfecteth it (much
more divine love); but wanton love corrupteth and embaseth it. Lord
Bacon, Essay 10.
[327] Bias, in Laertio: Ita amandum quasi odio simus habituri:
plurimos enim esse malos. Quam tamen sententiam Cicero in Lælio
sapiente dicit plane indignum. Amicos sequere quos non pudeat
elegisse. Idem ibid.
[328] See before, chap. iv. part vii.
[329] Read Mr. Burroughs's excellent treatise called "The Jewel of
Contentment;" and that excellent tract of a heathen, Plutarch de
"Tranquillitate Animi."
[330] Mentem nullis imaginibus depictam habeat: nam si corde mundus et
ab universis imaginibus liber esse cupit, nil penitus cum amore
possidere, nulli homini per voluntarium affectum singulari
familiaritate, nullius ipsi, adhærere debet. Omnis namque familiaritas
aut conversatio pure propter Dei amorem non inita, variis imaginibus
inficit et perturbat hominum mentes, cum non ex Deo, sed ex carne
originem ducat. Quisquis in virum spiritualem et divinum proficere
cupit, is, carnali vitâ penitus renunciata, Deo soli amore adhæreat
eundemque interiori homine suo peculiariter possideat, quo habito mox
omnis multiplicitas, omnes imagines, omnis inordinatus erga creaturas
amor fortiter ab eo profligabuntur; Deo quippe per amorem intus
possesso protinus ab universis homo imaginibus liberatur. Deus
spiritus est, cujus imaginem nemo proprie exprimere aut effigiare
potest. Thaulerus flor. p. 79, 80.
[331] Stoici dicunt severos esse sapientes, quod neque ipsi loquantur ad
voluptatem, neque ab aliis ad voluptatem dicta admittant. Esse autem et
alios severos, qui ad rationem acris vini severi dicantur; quo ad
medicamenta, potius quam ad propinationem, utuntur. Laert. in Zenone.
[332] Prov. xix. 10, "Delight is not seemly for a fool."
[333] Siquis est quem flentem mori deceat, riderededecuit viventem;
cum instare, semperque supra verticem videret, unde mors flendum
sciret. Risum illum haud dubie fletus hic non longo sejunctus spatio
sequebatur. Petrarch. dial. 119. li. 2.
[334] See my Sermon at Paul's called "Right Rejoicing." And here
before, chap. iii. dir. xiii.
[335] Doth any man doubt that if there were taken out of men's minds,
vain opinions, flattering hopes, false valuations, imaginations, &c.
but it would leave the minds of a number of men, poor shrunken things,
full of melancholy and indisposition, and uncomfortable to themselves?
Lord Bacon's Essay, of Lies.
[336] Of hatred to men I shall speak anon.
[337] Malunt nescire, quia jam oderunt. Tertul. Apologet. c. 1.
[338] Pene omnis sermo divinus habet æmulos suos: quot genera
præceptorum sunt, tot adversariorum: si largitatem esse in omnibus jubet
Dominus, avarus irascitur: si parsimoniam exigit, prodigus execratur:
sermones sacros, improbi, hostes suos dicunt. Salvian. li. 4. ad Eccles.
Cath. Non ego tibi inimicus, sed tu veritati. Hieron. in Gal. v.
[339] Duo maxime contraria sunt consilio. Ira et festinatio. Bias in
Laert.
[340] Read Seneca de Ira, and be ashamed to come short of a heathen.
[341] Proprium est magnitudinis veræ non sentire se esse permissum.
Qui non irascitur, inconcussus injuria persistit: qui irascitur motus
est. Senec. de Ira, lib. 3. c. 5.
[342] Unicuique pertinacius contendenti justam habere causam permitte,
tacendoque contumaci cede: sic uterque quieti et imperturbati
permanebitis. Thauler. flor. pag. 84.
[343] 2 Cor. v. 19, 20; Luke xiv. 17; Matt. xxii. 8.
[344] Omnia Christe tui superant tormenta ferendo. Tollere quæ
nequeunt, hæc tollerare queunt. His vita caruisse frui est: posuisse
potiri. Et superâsse pati est: et superesse mori. Ad tribunal æternum
judicis provocatio salvet est: solet is perperam judicata rescindere.
Petrarch. dial. 66. lib. 2.
[345] Job xiii. 25; Psal. i. 5, 6; lxviii. 2; lxxiii. 20; Job xx. 8.
Victor Uticens. saith of Augustine, that he died of fear. Nunc illud
eloquentiæ, quod ubertim per omnes campos ecclesiæ decurrebat, ipso
metu siccatum est flamen: when Gensericus besieged Hippo.
[346] Valentinianus jussus ab Imperatore Juliano immolare idolis, aut
militia excedere, sponte discessit. nec mora qui pro nomine Christi
amiserat tribunatum, in locum persecutoris sui accepit imperium. Paul.
Diaconus, l. 1. p. 1.
[347] When Socrates' wife, lamenting him, said, Injustè morieris: he
answered, An tu juste malles? Laert. in Socrat.
[348] The seven brethren that suffered in Africa under Hunnericus,
Incedebant cum fiducia ad supplicium quasi ad epulas, decantantes,
Gloria Deo in excelsis, &c. Votiva nobis hæc est dies, et omni
solennitate festivior. Ecce nunc tempus acceptabile, ecce nunc dies
est salutis, quando pro fide nunc domini dei nostri perferimus
præparatum supplicium, ne amittamus acquisitæ fidei intumentum. Sed et
populi publica voce clamabant: Ne timeatis populi Dei, neque
formidetis minas atque terrores præsentium tribulationum, sed moriamur
pro Christo, ut ipse mortuus est, redimens nos pretioso sanguine
salutari. Victor. Uticens. p. 368. In Paulo quinque gloriationes
observavi. Gloriatur in imbecillitate, in cruce Christi, in bona
conscientia; in afflictionibus, in spe vitæ æternæ. Bucholtzer.
[349] Idololatria tam altas in mundo egit radices, ut non possit
extirpari: ideo optimum est confiteri et pati. Bucholtzer. Victor.
Uticensis saith, that Gensericus commanded that when Masculinus came
to die, if he were fearful, they should execute him, that he might die
with shame, but if he were constant, they should forbear, lest he
should have the honour of a glorious martyrdom. And so his boldness
saved his life. Et si martyrem invidus hostis noluit facere
confessorem, tamen non potuit violare.
[350] Anacharsis (in Laertio) percontanti quædam esset securissima
navis: ea inquit, quæ in portum venerit: in heaven we shall be quiet
from all these tumults.
[351] Ingenii philosophici est ex inimicorum odio decerpere aliquid
quod vertat in suum bonum. Paul. Scalig. p. 728.
[352] Extinctus amabiter idem.
[353] Heb. x. 31, 26, 27, 29; xii. 29.
[354] Qui propter timorem reticet veritatem, veritatis proditor est.
Hincmar. Rhemens. Dialog. de Statu. Eccl.
[355] See Isa. vii. 4; xxxv. 4; xli. 10, 13; xlii. 2, 8; liv. 4; Jer.
v. 22.
[356] Plus dicam: tanto est melius juste etiam damnari quam in juste
absolvi, quanto est pejus impunitum crimen quam punitum: in hoc enim
celeri juncta justitia est: malo magno bonum ingens: in illo autem
scelus el impunitas, quæ nescio, an scelere ipso pejor fit. Plutarch.
dial. 66. li. 2.
[357] See after, part iii. c. 29. tit. 3. and c. 30.
[358] Even sorrow that profiteth not, may testify a just affection. It
is said by Laertius, that when Solon was reproved for mourning for his
son, with a Nihil proficis; he answered, At propter hoc ipsum
illachrymor, quia nihil proficio.
[359] That very old book of Hermes, called "Pastor," notably showeth
how much grief and heaviness is an enemy to christianity and the
Spirit of God.
[360] Pittaci sententia fuit, prudentiam virorum esse prius-quam
adversa contingant, providere ne veniant: fortium vero, cum illa
contigerint, æquo animo ferre. Laert. in Pittac.
[361] Acts viii. 8.
[362] Libenter feras quod necesse est: dolor patientia vincitur.
Martin. Dumiens. de Morib. Tristitiam sin potes, ne admiseris: sin
minus: ne ostenderis. Id. ib.
[363] See Mr. Fenner's book of Wilful Impenitency.
[364] Even Anaxagoras, a philosopher, could say to one that asked him,
Nullane tibi patriæ cura est? Mihi quidem patriæ cura est, et quidem
summa: digitum in cœlum intendens. Laert. p. 85.
[365] See more of the cure of doubting, ch. 25. part ii.
[366] John iii. 3, 5; Heb. xii. 14; Matt. xviii. 3; Luke xiii. 3; Rom.
viii. 7, 9, 13; 2 Cor. v. 17; Gal. v. 24.
[367] Judas perished not merely by despair; but he had no such
repentance as renewed his soul, nor any love to God and holiness.
[368] John i. 11, 12; iii. 16, 18; Rev. xxii. 17; 1 John v. 11, 12;
John v. 40; Luke xix. 27.
[369] Though the troubles of some call for a larger discourse of this
sin, yet having written a Treatise of it, I must not here be tedious
in reciting what is there said already.
[370] It seemeth to be Isaac's repentance which Esau found no place
for. But if it be spoken of the unacceptableness of his own
repentance, when it was too late, it signifieth not that any man's is
too late in this life as to salvation.
[371] De quâ vide Tract. Rob. Baronii of Mortal and Venial Sin.
[372] Luke vii. 47.
[373] John v. 40.
[374] Luke xv. 20, 22, 23.
[375] Deut. vi. 6-8; xi. 18-20.
[376] Eph. iv. 19.
[377] Psal. xxxiii. 18; xlii. 5; xliii. 5; cxlvii. 11; lxxi. 14.
CHAPTER VIII.
DIRECTIONS FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SENSES.
PART I.
_General Directions for the Government of the Senses
(by a Life of Faith)._
The most wise and gracious God, having been pleased to constitute us
of soul and body, that our nobler part, in its preparation and passage
to a nobler state, might have a companion and instrument suited to the
lower place and employment, through which it is to pass, hath
appointed our senses not only for the exercise and helps of life, and
the management of our inferior actions, and the communication of his
inferior mercies, but also to be the common passage to the fantasy,
and so to the mind, and to be serviceable to our rational powers, and
help in our service of our Maker, and communion with him in his higher
gifts. To these ends all our senses should be used; as being capable
of being sanctified and serviceable to God. But sin made its entrance
by them, and by sin they are now corrupted and vitiated with the body,
and are grown inordinate, violent, and unruly in their appetite; and
the rational powers having lost and forsaken God, their proper end and
chiefest object, have hired or captivated themselves to the sensitive
appetite, to serve its ends. And so the sensitive appetite is become
the ruling faculty in the unsanctified, and the senses the common
entrance of sin, and instruments of Satan: and though the work of
grace be primarily in the rational powers, yet secondarily the lower
powers themselves also are sanctified, and brought under the
government of a renewed mind and will, and so restored to their proper
use. And though I cannot say that grace immediately maketh any
alteration on the senses, yet mediately it doth, by altering the mind,
and so the will, and then the imagination, and so the sensitive
appetite, and so in exercise the sense itself. We see that temperance
and chastity do not only restrain, but take down the appetite from the
rage and violence which before it had: not the natural appetite, but
the sensitive, so far as it is sinful.
The sanctifying and government of the senses and their appetite, lieth
in two parts: first, In guarding them against the entrance of sin: and
secondly, In using them to be the entrance of good into the soul. But
this latter is so high a work that too few are skilled in it; and few
can well perform the other.
_Direct._ I. The principal part of the work is about the superior
faculties, to get a well-informed judgment, and a holy and confirmed
will; and not about the sense itself. Reason is dethroned by sin; and
the will is left unguided and unguarded to the rapes of sensual
violence. Reason must be restored, before sense will be well governed;
for what else must be their immediate governor? It is no sin in brutes
to live by sense, because they have not reason to rule it: and in man it
is ruled more or less, as reason is more or less restored. When reason
is only cleared about things temporal, (as in men of worldly wisdom,)
there sense will be mastered and ruled as to such temporal ends, as far
as they require it. But where reason is sanctified, there sense is ruled
to the ends of sanctification, according to the measure of grace.
_Direct._ II. It is only the high, eternal things of God and our
salvation, objectively settled in the mind and will, and become as it
were connatural to them, and made our ruling end and interest that can
suffice to a true and holy government of the senses. Lower things may
muzzle them, and make men seem temperate and sober as far as their
honour, and wealth, and health, and life require it: but this is but
stopping a gap, while most of the hedge lieth open, and engaging the
sense to serve the flesh, the world, and the devil, in a handsome, calm,
and less dishonoured way, and not so filthily and furiously as others.
_Direct._ III. The main part of this government in the exercise, is in
taking special care that no sensitive good be made the ultimate end of
our desire, nor sought for itself, nor rested in, nor delighted in too
much; but to see that the soul (having first habitually fixed on its
proper higher end and happiness) do direct all the actions of every
sense (so far as it falls under deliberation and choice) to serve it
remotely to those holy ends. For the sense is not sanctified, if it be
not used to a holy end; and its object is not sanctified to us, if it
be not made serviceable to more holy objects. A mere negative
restraint of sense for common ends, is but such as those ends are for
which it is done. When the eyes, and ears, and taste, and feeling are
all taught by reason to serve God to his glory and our salvation,
then, and never till then, they are well governed.
_Direct._ IV. To this end the constant use of a lively belief of the
word of God and the things unseen of the other world, must be the first
and principal means by which our reason must govern every sense, both as
to their restraint and their right employment. And therefore living by
sight and living by faith are opposed in Scripture, 2 Cor. v. 7. For "we
walk by faith, not by sight;" that is, sight and sense are not our
principal guiding faculty, but subservient to faith; nor the objects of
sight the things which we principally or ultimately seek or set by, but
the objects of faith; as it is before expounded, 2 Cor. iv. 18, "While
we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are
not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things
which are not seen are eternal." Therefore "faith" is described to be
the "substance of things hoped for," and "the evidence of things not
seen," Heb. xi. 1. Believing is to a christian instead of seeing;
because he knoweth by God's testimony, that the things believed are
true, though they are unseen. And you know that the objects of sense are
all but trifles, to the great astonishing objects of faith. Therefore if
faith be lively, it must needs prevail and overrule the senses, because
its objects utterly cloud and make nothing of the transitory objects of
sense. Therefore the apostle John saith, 1 John v. 4, "Whatsoever is
born of God overcometh the world; and this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith." And "Moses, by seeing him that is
invisible," overcame the desires of Egypt's treasures, and the "fear of
the wrath of the king, having respect to the recompence of reward," Heb.
xi. 26, 27. Stephen easily bore his cruel death, when "he saw heaven
opened, and Christ standing at the right hand of God," Acts vii. 56. I
dare appeal to that man that is most sensual, and saith, I am not able
to deny my appetite, or rule my senses, whether he would not be able if
he did but see at the same time what is done in the other world? If he
saw heaven, and hell, the glorified and the damned, and saw the majesty
of that God who commandeth him to forbear, would he not then be able to
let alone the cup, the dish, the harlot, the sport, which is now so
powerful with him? I would not thank the most beastly sensualist among
you, to live as temperately (as to the act) as the strictest saint
alive, if he did but see the worlds which departed souls now see. It is
not possible but it would overpower his sensual desires; yea, and call
off those senses to serve him in some inquiry what he should do to be
saved. Therefore if believing the unseen world, be instead of seeing it
with our eyes, it is most certain that the means to overcome sensuality
is faith, and lively belief must rule our senses.
_Direct._ V. The more this belief of God and glory doth kindle love to
them, the more effectual it will be in the government of the senses. Our
common proverb saith, Where the love is, there is the eye. How readily
doth it follow the heart! Love will not alter the sense itself, but it
commandeth the use of all the senses. It will not clear a dim, decayed
sight; but it will command it what to look upon. As the stronger love of
one dish, or one sport, or one company, will carry you from another
which you love more faintly; so the love of God, and heaven, and
holiness, will carry you from the captivity of all sensual things.
_Direct._ VI. It must be well considered how powerful and dangerous
things sensible are, and how high and hard a work it is in this our
depraved, earthly state, to live by faith upon things unseen, and to
rule the sense and be carried above it: that so the soul may be awakened
to a sufficient fear and watchfulness, and may fly to Christ for
assistance to his faith. It is no small thing for a man in flesh, to
live above flesh. The way of the soul's reception and operation, is so
much by the senses here, that it is apt to grow too familiar with things
sensible, and to be strange to things which it never saw. It is a great
work to make a man in flesh to deny the pleasures which he seeth, and
tasteth, and feeleth, for such pleasures as he only heareth of; and
heareth of as never to be enjoyed till after death, in a world which
sense hath no acquaintance with. Oh what a glory it is to faith, that it
can perform such a work as this! How hard is it to a weak believer! And
the strongest find it work enough. Consider this, that it may awake you
to set upon this work with that care that the greatness of it requireth,
and you may live by faith above a life of sight and sense; for it is
this that your happiness or misery lieth on.
_Direct._ VII. Sense must not only be kept out of the throne, but from
any participation in the government; and we must take heed of
receiving it into our counsels, or treating with it, or hearing it
plead its cause; and we must see that it get nothing by striving,
importunity, or violence, but that it be governed despotically and
absolutely, as the horse is governed by the rider. For if the
government once be halved between sense and reason, your lives will be
half bestial: and when reason ruleth not, faith and grace ruleth not;
for faith is to reason as sight to the eye. There are no such beasts
in human shape, who lay by all the use of reason, and are governed by
sense alone (unless it be idiots or mad-men). But sense should have no
part of the government at all. And where it is chief in power, the
devil is there the unseen governor. You cannot here excuse yourselves
by any plea of necessity or constraint: for though the sense be
violent as well as enticing, yet God hath made the reason and will the
absolute governors under him; and by all its rebellion and violence,
sense cannot depose them, nor force them to one sin, but doth all the
mischief by procuring their consent. Which is done sometimes by
affecting the fantasy and passions too deeply with the pleasure and
alluring sweetness of their objects, that so the higher faculties may
be drawn into consent; and sometimes by wearying out the resisting
mind and will, and causing them to remit their opposition, and relax
the reins, and by a sinful privation of restraint to permit the sense
to take its course. A headstrong horse is not so easily ruled, as one
of a tender mouth that hath been well ridden; and, therefore, though
it be in the power of the rider to rule him, yet sometimes for his own
ease he will loose the reins: and a horse that is used thus by a
slothful or unskilful rider, to have his will whenever he striveth,
will strive whenever he is crossed of his will, and so will be the
master. As ill-bred children that are used to have every thing given
them which they cry for, will be sure to cry before they will be
crossed of their desire. So it is with our sensitive appetite: if you
use to satisfy it when it is eager or importunate, you shall be
mastered by its eagerness and importunity; and if you use but to
regard it overmuch, and delay your commands till sense is heard and
taken into counsel, it is two to one but it will prevail, or at least
will be very troublesome to you, and prove a traitor in your bosom,
and its temptations keep you in continual danger. Therefore be sure
that you never loose the reins; but keep sense under a constant
government, if you love either your safety or your ease.
_Direct._ VIII. You may know whether sense, or faith and reason, be
the chief in government, by knowing which of their objects is made
your chiefest end, and accounted your best, and loved, and delighted
in, and sought accordingly. If the objects of sense be thus taken for
your best and end, then certainly sense is the chief in government;
but if the objects of faith and reason, even God and life eternal, be
taken for your best and end, then faith and reason are the ruling
power. Though you should use never so great understanding and policy
for sensual things, (as riches, and honour, and worldly greatness, or
fleshly delights,) this doth not prove that reason is the ruling
power; but proveth the more strongly that sense is the conqueror, and
that reason is depraved and captivated by it, and truckleth under it,
and serveth it as a voluntary slave. And the greater is your learning,
wit, and parts, and the nobler your education, the greater is the
victory and dominion of sense, that can subdue, and rule, and serve
itself by parts so noble.
[Sidenote: Deny not sense with the papists.]
_Direct._ IX. Though sense must be thus absolutely ruled, its proper
power must neither be disabled, prohibited, nor denied. You must keep
your horse strong and able for his work, though not headstrong and
unruly; and you must not keep him from the use of his strength, though
you grant him not the government. Nor will you deny but that he may be
stronger than the rider, though the rider have the ruling power: he hath
more of the power called δυναμις, natural power, though the εξουσια be
yours. So it is here: 1. No man must destroy his bodily sense; the
quickest sense is the best servant to the soul, if it be not headstrong
and too impetuous. The body must be stricken so far as to be "kept under
and brought into subjection," 1 Cor. ix. 27; but not be disabled from
its service to the soul. 2. Nor must we forbid or forbear the exercise
of the senses, in subordination to the exercise of the inferior senses,
Heb. iv. 14. It is indeed a smaller loss to part with a right hand or a
right eye, than with our salvation; but that proveth not that we are put
to such straits as to be necessitated to either (unless persecution put
us to it). 3. Nor must we deny the certainty of the sensitive
apprehension, when it keepeth its place; as the papists do, that affirm
it necessary to salvation to believe that the sight, and taste, and
smell, and feeling of all men in the world, that take the sacrament, are
certainly deceived, in taking that to be bread and wine which is not so.
For if all the senses of all men, though never so sound and rational,
be certainly deceived in this, we know not when they are not deceived,
and there can be no certainty of faith or knowledge: for if you say that
the church telleth us that sense is deceived in this, and only in this,
I answer, If it be not first granted that sense (as so stated) is
certain in its apprehension, there is no certainty then that there is a
church, or a man, or a world, or what the church ever said, or any
member of it. And if sense be so fallible, the church may be deceived,
who by the means of sense doth come to all her knowledge. To deny faith
is the property of an infidel; to deny reason is to deny humanity, and
is fittest for a mad-man, or a beast (if without reason, reason could be
denied); but to deny the certainty of sense itself, and of all the
senses of all sound men, and that about the proper objects of sense,
this showeth that ambition can make a religion, which shall bring man
quite below the beasts, and make him a mushroom, that Rome may have
subjects capable of her government; and all this under pretence of
honouring faith, and saving souls; making God the destroyer of nature in
order to its perfection, and the deceiver of nature in order to its
edification.
_Direct._ X. Sense must not be made the judge of matters that are
above it, as the proper objects of faith and reason; nor must we argue
negatively from our senses in such cases, which God in nature never
brought into their court. We cannot say that there is no God, no
heaven, no hell, no angels, no souls of men, because we see them not.
We cannot say, I see not the antipodes, nor other kingdoms of the
world, and therefore there is no such place: so we say, as well as the
papists, that sense is no judge whether the spiritual body of Christ
be present in the sacrament, no more than whether an angel be here
present. But sense with reason is the judge whether bread and wine be
there present, or else human understanding can judge of nothing.
Christ would have had Thomas to have believed without seeing and
feeling, and blesseth those that neither see him nor feel, and yet
believe; but he never blesseth men for believing contrary to the
sight, and feeling, and taste, and all that have sound senses and
understandings in the world. Their instance of the Virgin's conception
of Christ, is nothing contrary to this; for it belongeth not to sense
to judge whether a virgin may conceive. Nor will any wise man's reason
judge, that the Creator, who in making the world of nothing was the
only cause, cannot supply the place of a partial second cause in
generation: they might more plausibly argue with Aristotle against the
creation itself, that _ex nihilo nihil fit_; but as it is past doubt,
that the infallibility of sense is nothing at all concerned in this,
so it is sufficiently proved by christians, that God can create
without any pre-existent matter. Reason can see much further than
sense by the help of sense; and yet much further by the help of divine
revelation by faith. To argue negatively against the conclusions of
reason or divine revelation, from the mere negation of sensitive
apprehension, is to make a beast of man. We must not be so irrational
or impious, as to say, that there is nothing but what we have seen, or
felt, or tasted, &c. If we will believe others who have seen them,
that there are other parts of the world, we have full reason to
believe the sealed testimony of God himself, that there are such
superior worlds and powers as he hath told us. We have the use of
sense in hearing, or seeing God's revelation; and we have no more in
receiving man's report of those countries which we never saw.
If they will make it the question, whether the sense may not be
deceived; I answer, we doubt not by distance of the objects, or
distempers, or disproportions of itself or the media, it may: but if the
sense itself, and all the means and objects, have their natural
soundness, aptitude, and disposition, it is a contradiction to say it is
deceived; for that is to say, it is not the sense which we suppose it
is. If God deceive it thus, he maketh it another thing. It is no more
the same, nor will admit the same definition. But, however, it is most
evident, that the senses being the first entrance or inlet of knowledge,
the first certainty must be there, which is presupposed to the certain
judgment of the intellect; but if these err, all following certainty
which supposeth the certainty of the senses is destroyed; and this error
in the first reception (like an error in the first concoction) is not
rectified by the second. And if God should thus leave all men under a
fallibility of sense, he should leave no certainty in the world; and I
desire those that know the definition of a lie, to consider whether this
be not to feign God to lie in the very frame of nature, and by constant
lies to rule the world, when yet it is impossible for God to lie. And if
this blasphemy were granted them, yet it would be man's duty still to
judge by such senses as he hath about the objects of sense; for if God
have made them fallible, we cannot make them better; nor can we create a
reason in ourselves which shall not presuppose the judgment of sense, or
which shall supply its ordinary, natural defects. So that the Roman
faith of transubstantiation, denying the reality of bread and wine, doth
not only unman the world, but bring man lower than a beast, and make
sense to be no sense, and the world to be governed by natural deceit or
lies, and banish all certainty of faith and reason from the earth. And
after all, (with such wonderful enmity to charity as maketh man liker
the devil, than else could easily be believed,) they sentence all to
hell that believe not this; and decree to burn them first on earth, and
to depose temporal lords from their dominions, that favour them, or that
will not exterminate them from their lands, and so absolve their
subjects from their allegiance, and give their dominions to others. All
this you may read in the third canon of the Lateran general council
under Innocent III.
_Direct._ XI. Look not upon any object of sense with sense alone, nor
stop in it, but let reason begin where sense doth end, and always see by
faith or reason the part which is invisible, as well as the sensible
part by sense. By that which is seen, collect and rise up to that which
is unseen. If God had given us an eye, or ear, or taste, or feeling, and
not a mind, then we should have exercised no other faculty but what we
had. But sure he that hath given us the higher faculty, requireth that
we use it as well as the lower. And remember that they are not mere
co-ordinate faculties, but the sensitive faculty is subordinate to the
intellectual: and accordingly that which the sensible creature
objectively revealeth through the sense unto the intellect, is something
to which things sensible are subordinate. Therefore if you stop in
sensible things, and see not the principle which animateth them, the
power which ordereth and ruleth them, and the end which they are made
for, and must be used for, you play the beasts; you see nothing but a
dead carcass without the soul, and nothing but a useless, senseless
thing. You know nothing indeed to any purpose; no, not the creature
itself; while you know not the use and meaning of the creature, but
separate it from its life, and guide, and end.
_Direct._ XII. First therefore see that you ever look upon all things
sensible as the products of the will of the invisible God, depending on
him more than the sunshine doth upon the sun; and never see or taste a
creature separatedly from God. Will you know what a plant is, and not
know that it is the earth that beareth and nourisheth it? Will you know
what a fish is, and yet be ignorant that he liveth in the water? Will
you know what a branch or fruit is, and yet not know that it groweth on
the tree? The nature of things cannot be known without the knowledge of
their causes and respective parts. It is as no knowledge to know
incoherent scraps and parcels. To know a hand as no part of the body, or
an eye or nose without knowing a head, or a body without knowing its
life or soul, is not to know it, for you make it another thing. It is
the difference between a wise man and a fool, that _sapiens respicit ad
plura, insipiens ad pauciora_: a wise man looketh comprehensively to
things as they are conjunct, and takes all together, and leaveth out
nothing that is useful to his end; but a fool seeth one thing, and
overseeth another which is necessary to the true knowledge or use of
that which he seeth. See God as the cause and life of every thing you
see. As a carcass is but a ghastly sight without the soul, and quickly
corrupteth and stinketh when it is separated; so the creature without
God is an unlovely sight, and quickly corrupteth and becomes a snare or
annoyance to you. God is the beauty of all that is beautiful, and the
strength of all that is strong, and the glory of the sun and all that is
glorious, and the wisdom of all that is wise, and the goodness of all
that is good, as being the only original, total cause of all. You play
the brutes, when you see the creature, and overlook its Maker, from whom
it is, whatsoever it is. Will you see the dial, and overlook the sun?
Remember it is the use of every creature to show you God, and therefore
it is the use of every sense to promote the knowledge of him.
_Direct._ XIII. See God as the Conducter, Orderer, and Disposer of all
the creatures, according to their natures, as moved necessarily or
freely; and behold not any of the motions or events of the world,
without observing the interest, and overruling hand of God. Sense
reacheth but to the effects and events; but reason and faith can see
the First Cause and Disposer of all. Again, I tell you, that if you
look but on the particles of things by sense, and see not God that
setteth all together, and doth his work by those that never dream of
it, you see but the several wheels and parcels of a clock or watch,
and know not him that made and keepeth it, that setteth on the poise,
and winds it up, to fit his ends. Joseph could say, God sent me
hither, when his brethren sold him into Egypt; and David felt his
Father's rod in Shimei's curse.
_Direct._ XIV. See God the End of every creature; how all things are
ordered for his service; and be sure you stop not in any creature,
without referring it to a higher end: else, as I have oft told you,
you will be but like a child or illiterate person, who openeth a book,
and admireth the workmanship of the printer, and the order and
well-forming of the letters, but never mindeth or understandeth the
subject, sense, or end. Or like one that looketh on a comely picture,
and never mindeth either him that made it, or him that is represented
by it. Or like one that gazeth on the sign at an inn-door, and
praiseth the workmanship, but knoweth not that it is set there to
direct him to entertainment and necessaries within. And this folly and
sin is the greater, because it is the very end of God in all his works
of creation and providence, to reveal himself by them to the
intellectual world; and must God show his power, and wisdom, and
goodness so wonderfully in the frame of the creation, and in his daily
general and particular providence? and shall man, that daily seeth all
this, overlook the intended use and end? and so make all his glorious
work as nothing, or as lost to him? Sense knoweth no end but to its
own delight, and the natural felicity of the sensitive creature, such
as things sensible afford; but reason must take up the work where
sense doth end its stage, and carry all home to him that is the End of
all. "For OF him, and THROUGH him, and TO him, are all things, to whom
be glory for ever. Amen," Rom. xi. 36.
_Direct._ XV. Besides the general use and ultimate end of every
creature, labour for a clear acquaintance with the particular use and
nearer end of every thing which you have to do with, by which it is
serviceable to your ultimate end, and suppose still you saw that
special use as subserving your highest end, as the title written upon
each creature. As, suppose upon your Bible it were written, The word
of the living God, to acquaint me with himself and his will, that I
may please, and glorify, and enjoy him for ever. And upon your godly
friend suppose you saw this title written, A servant of God, that
beareth his image, and appointed to accompany and assist me in his
service unto life everlasting. Upon your meat suppose you saw this
title written, The provisions of my Father, sent me as from my
Saviour's hands, not to gratify my sensuality, and serve my inordinate
desires, but to refresh and strengthen my body for his service in my
passage to everlasting life. So upon your clothes, your servants, your
goods, your cattle, your houses, and every thing you have, inscribe
thus their proper use and end.
_Direct._ XVI. Know both the final and the mediate danger, of every
thing that you have to do with; and suppose you still see them written
upon every thing you see. The final danger is hell; the mediate danger
in general is sin; but you must find what sin it is that this creature
will be made a temptation to by the devil and the flesh. As, suppose
you saw written upon money and riches, The bait of covetousness and
all evil, to pierce me through with many sorrows, and then to damn me.
And suppose you saw written upon great buildings, and estates, and
honours, and attendance, The great price which the devil would give
for souls; and the baits to tempt men to the inordinate love of
fleshly pleasures, and to draw their hearts from God and heaven to
their damnation. Suppose you still saw written upon beauty, and
tempting actions and attire, The bait of lust, by which the devil
corrupteth the minds of men to their damnation. Suppose you saw
written on the play-house door, The stage of the mountebank of hell,
who here cheateth men of their precious time, and enticeth them to
vanity, luxury, and damnation, under pretence of instructing them by a
nearer and more pleasant way than preachers do. The like I say of
gaming, recreations, company: see the particular snare in all.
_Direct._ XVII. To this end be well acquainted with your own
particular inclinations and distempers, that you may know what
creature is like to prove most dangerous to you, that there you may
keep the strictest watch. If you be subject to pride, keep most from
the baits of pride, and watch most cautelously against them. If you be
subject to covetousness, watch most against the baits of covetousness.
If you are inclined to lust, away from the sight of alluring objects.
The knowledge of your temper and disease must direct you both in your
diet and your physic.
_Direct._ XVIII. Live as in a constant course of obedience; and
suppose you saw the law of God also written upon every thing you see.
As when you look on any tempting beauty, suppose you saw this written
on the forehead, Thou shalt not lust--Whoremongers and adulterers God
will judge--They shall not enter into the kingdom of God.[378] See
upon the forbidden dish or cup the prohibition of God, Thou shalt not
eat or drink this. See upon money and riches this written, Thou shalt
not covet. See upon the face of all the world, "Love not the world,
nor the things that are in the world: if any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him," 1 John ii. 15. Thus see the will of
God on all things.
_Direct._ XIX. Make not the objects of sense over-tempting and dangerous
to yourselves; but take special care, as much as in you lieth, to order
all so, that you may have as much of the benefit, and as little of the
snare of the creature as is possible. Would you not be gluttonous
pleasers of your appetite? choose not then too full a table, nor
over-pleasant, tempting drinks or dishes, and yet choose those that are
most useful to your health. Would you not over-love the world, nor your
present house, or lands, or station? Be not too instrumental yourselves
in gilding or dulcifying your bait! if you put in the sugar, the devil
and the flesh will put in the poison. Will you make all as pleasant and
lovely as you can, when you believe that the over-loving them is the
greatest danger to your salvation? Will you be the greatest tempters to
yourselves, and then desire God not to lead you into temptation?
_Direct._ XX. Let not the tempting object be too near your sense; for
nearness enrageth the sensitive appetite, and giveth you an
opportunity of sinning. Come not too near the fire if you would not be
burnt (and yet use prudence in keeping the usefulness of it for
warmth, though you avoid the burning). Distance from the snares of
pride, and lust, and passion, and other sins, is a most approved
remedy, and nearness is their strength.
_Direct._ XXI. Accustom your souls to frequent and familiar exercise
about their invisible objects, as well as your senses about theirs.
And as you are daily and hourly in seeing, and tasting, and hearing
the creature, so be not rarely in the humble adoration of him that
appeareth to you in them. Otherwise use will make the creature so
familiar to you, and disuse will make God so strange, that by degrees
you will wear yourselves out of his acquaintance, and become like
carnal, sensual men, and live all by sense, and forget the holy
exercise of the life of faith.
_Direct._ XXII. Lose not your humble sense of the badness of your
hearts, how ready they are as tinder to take the fire of every
temptation; and never grow fool-hardy and confident of yourselves. For
your holy fear is necessary to your watchfulness, and your
watchfulness is necessary to your escape and safety. Peter's
self-confidence betrayed him to deny his Lord. Had Noah, and Lot, and
David been more afraid of the sin, they had been like to have escaped
it. It is a part of the character of the beastly heretics that Jude
declaimeth against, that they were "spots in their feasts of charity,
when they feasted with the church, feeding themselves without fear,"
ver. 12. When the knowledge or sense of your weakness and sinful
inclination is gone, then fear is gone, and then safety is gone, and
your fall is near.