power to make restitution and saith as Zacheus Luk. 19.8 If I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation I restore him four-fold Though flesh and blood perswade him to the contrary and though it leave him in want he will pay his debts and make restitution of that which is ill gotten as being none of his own He will not sell for as much as he can get but for as much as it is truly worth He will not take advantage of the weakness or ignorance or necessity of his neighbour He knoweth that a false ballance is abomination to the Lord but a just weight is his delight Prov. 11.1 He is afraid of believing ill reports and rebuketh the backbiter Prov. 25.23 He is apt to take part with any man behind his back who is not notoriously inexcusable not to justifie any evil but to shew his charity and his hatred of evil speaking especially where it can do no good He will not believe evil of another till the evidence do compell him to believe it If he have wronged any by incautelous words he readily confesseth his fault to him and asketh him forgiveness and is ready to make any just satisfaction for any wrong that he hath done He borroweth not when he seeth not a great probability that he is like to pay it Nor will remain in debt by retaining that which is another mans against his will without an absolute necessity Rom. 13.8 Owe no man any thing but to love one another For to borrow when he cannot pay is but to steal Begging is better than borrowing for such Psal. 37.21 The wicked borroweth and payeth not 2. And the weak Christian maketh conscience of Justice as well as acts of piety as knowing that God hath no need of our Sacrifices but loveth to see us do that which is good for humane society and which we have need of from each other But yet he hath more selfishness and partiality than the confirmed Christian hath and therefore is often overcome by temptations to unrighteous things As to stretch his Conscience for his commodity in buying or selling and concealing the faults of what he selleth and sometimes over-reaching others Especially he is ordinarily too censorious of others and apt to be credulous of evil reports and to be overbold and forward in speaking ill of men behind their backs and without a call especially against persons that differ from him in matters of Religion where he is usually most unjust and apt to go beyond his bounds Jam. 3.15 16. Tit. 3.2 Eph. 4.31 1 Pet. 2.1 3. The seeming Christian may have a seeming Justice But really he hath none but what must give place to his fleshly interest and if his honour and commodity and safety require it he will not stick to be unjust And that Justice which wanteth but a strong temptation to overturn it is almost as bad as none If he will not seize on Naboths Vineyard nor make himself odious by oppression or deceit yet if he can raise or enrich himself by secret consenage and get so fair a pretence for his injustice as shall cloak the matter from the fight of men he seldom sticketh at it It is an easie matter to make an Achan think that he doth no harm or a Gebazi think that he wrongeth no man in taking that which was offered and due Covetousness will not confess its name but will find some Reasonings to make good all the injustice which it doth 1 Tim. 6.5 2 King 5.19 20. XLVI 1. A Christian indeed is faithfull and laborious in his particular calling and that not out of a covetous minde but in obedience to God and that he may maintain his Family and be able to do good to others For God hath said In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat thy bread Gen. 3.19 And six dayes shalt thou labour Exod. 20.10 And with quietness men must work and eat their own bread and if any will not work neither should he eat 2 Thess. 3.10 11 12. Abraham and Noah and Adam laboured in a constant course of imployment He knoweth that a sanctified calling and labour is a help and not a hinderance to devotion and that the body must have work as well as the soul and that Religion must not be pretended for slothfull idleness nor against obedience to our Masters will Prov. 31. 2. The weak Christian is here more easily deceived and made believe that Religion will excuse a man from bodily labour and under the colour of devotion to live idly 2 Thess. 3.8 1 Tim. 5.13 They learn to be idle wandering about from house to house and not only idle but tatlers also and busie-bodies speaking things which they ought not Slothfulness is a sin much condemned in the Scriptures Ezek. 16.49 Prov. 24.30 18.9 21.25 Mat. 25.26 Rom. 12.11 3. The seeming Christian in his labour is ruled chiefly by his flesh If he be rich and it incline him most to sloth he maketh small conscience of living in idleness under the pretence of his Gentility or wealth But if the flesh incline him more to Covetousness he will be laborious enough but it shall not be to please God by obedience but to increase his Estate and enrich himself and his Posterity whatever better reason he pretend XLVII 1. A Christian indeed is exactly conscionable in the dutyes of his relation to others in the family and place of his abode If he be a husband he is loving and patient and faithfull to his wife If he be a father he is carefull of the holy education of his children If he be a Master he is just and mercifull to his servants and carefull for the saving of their souls If he be a childe or servant he is obedient trusty diligent and carefull as well behind his Parents or his Masters back as before his face He dare not lie nor steal nor deceive nor neglect his duty nor speak dishonourably of his Superiors though he were sure he could conceal it all For he knoweth that the fifth Commandement is enforced with a special Promise Eph. 6.2.5.9 And that a bad Childe or a bad Servant a bad Husband or Wife a bad Parent or Master cannot be a good Christian Col. 3.18 19 c. 4.1 1 Pet. 2.18 2. But weak Christians though sincere are ordinarily weak in this part of their duty and apt to yield to temptations and carry themselves proudly stubbornly idly disobediently as eye-servants that are good in sight or to be unmercifull to inferiours and neglecters of their souls And to excuse all this from the faults of those that they have to do with and lay all upon others as if the fault of husband wife parent master or servant would justifie them in theirs and passion and partiality would serve for innocency 3. And the Hypocrite ordinarily sheweth his hypocrisies by being false in his relations to man while he pretendeth to be pious and obedient unto God He is a bad master
confirmed Christian. page 1 1. He liveth by such a Faith of unseen things as governeth his soul instead of sight 6 2. He hath cogent Reasons for his Religion 9 3. He seeth the well-ordered frame of sacred verities and the integral parts in their harmony or consort and setteth not up one truth against another 11 4. He adhereth to them and practiseth them from an inward connatural principle called The Divine Nature and The Spirit of Christ. 12 5. He serveth not God for fear only but for Love 14 6. He loveth God 1. Much for his Goodness to himself 2. And more for his Goodness to the Church 3. And most of all for his essential Goodness and perfection 16 7. He taketh this Love and its Expressions for the heart and height of all his Religion 19 8. He hath absolutely put his soul and all his hopes into the hand of Christ and liveth by faith upon him as his Saviour 21 9. He taketh Christ as the Teacher sent from God and his Doctrine for the truest wisdom and learneth of none but in subordination to him 23 10. His Repentance is universal and effectual and hath gone to the Root of every sin 25 11. He loveth the Light as it sheweth him his sin and duty and is willing to know the worst of sin and the most of duty 27 12. He desireth the highest degree of Holiness and hath no sin which he had not rather leave than keep and had rather be the Best though in poverty than the Greatest in prosperity 30 13. He liveth upon GOD and HEAVEN as the End Reward and Motive of his Life 32 14. He counteth no cost or pains too great for the obtaining it and hath nothing so dear which he cannot part with for it 35 15. He is daily exercised in the practice of Self-denial as next to the Lovers of God the second half of his Religion 38 16. He hath mortified his fleshly desires and so far mastereth his senses and appetite that they make not his obedience very uneasie or uneven 42 17. He preferreth the means of his holiness and happiness incomparably before all provisions and pleasures of the flesh 45 18. He is crucified to the world and the world to him by the Cross of Christ and contemneth it through the belief of the greater things of the life to come 47 19. He foreseeth the End in all his waies and judgeth of all things as they will appear at last 50 20. He liveth upon God alone and is content with his favour and approbation without the approbation and favour of men 53 21. He hath absolutely devoted himself and all that he hath to God to be used according to his will 56 22. He hath a readiness to obey and a quick and pleasant compliance of his will to the will of God 58 23. He delighteth himself more in God and Heaven and Christ and Holiness than in all the world Religion is not tedious and grievous to him 59 24. He is conscious of his own sincerity and assured of his Justification and title to Everlasting Joyes 66 25. This Assurance doth not make him more careless and remiss but increaseth his love and holy diligence 68 26. Yet he abhorreth Pride as the first born of the Devil and is very low and vile in his own eyes and can easily endure to be low and vile in the eyes of others 69 27. Being acquainted with the deceitfulness of the heart and the methods of temptation he liveth as among snares and enemies and dangers in a constant watch and can conquer many and subtil and great temptations through grace 72 28. He hath counted what it may cost him to be saved and hath resolved not to stick at suffering but to bear the Cross and be conformed to his crucified Lord and hath already in heart forsaken all for him 74 29. He is not a Christian only for company or carnal ends or upon trust of other mens opinion and therefore would be true to Christ if his Rulers his Teachers his Company and all that he knoweth should forsake him 78 30. He can digest the hardest Truths of Scripture and the hardest passages of Gods Providence 80 31. He can exercise all his Graces in harmony without neglecting one to use another or setting one against another 81 32. He is more in getting and using Grace than in enquiring whether he have it though he do that also in its place 82 33. He studieth Duty more than Events and is more carefull what he should be towards God than how he shall here be used by him 83 34. He is more regardfull of his duty to others than of theirs to him and had much rather suffer wrong than do it 84 35. He keepeth up a constant Government of his Thoughts restraining them from evil and using them upon God and for him 87 36. He keepeth a constant Government over his passions so far as that they pervert not his judgement his heart his tongue or actions 88 37. He governeth his tongue imploying it for God and restraining it from evil 90 38. Heart-work and Heaven-work are the principal matters of his religious discourse not barren controversies or impertinencies 92 39. He liveth upon the common great substantials of Religion and yet will not deny the smallest Truth or commit the smallest sin for any price that man can offer him 93 40. He is a high esteemer and carefull Redeemer of Time and abhorreth Idleness and Diversions which would rob him of it 98 41. His heart is set upon doing all the good in the world that he is able It is his daily business and delight 101 42. He truly loveth his neighbour as himself 103 43. He hath a special love to all godly Christians as such and such as will not stick at cost in its due expressions nor be turned into bitterness by tollerable differences 104 44. He forgiveth injuries and loveth his enemies and doth them all the good he can from the sense of the love of Christ to him 106 45. He doth as he would be done by and is as precise in the Justice of his dealings with men as in acts of piety to God 108 46. He is faithful and laborious in his outward trade or calling not out of covetousness but obedience to God 111 47. He is very conscionable in the duties of his several Relations in his family or other society as a superiour inferiour or equal 112 48. He is the best subject whether his Rulers be good or bad though Infidel and ungodly Rulers may mistake use him as the worst 113 49. His trust in God doth overcome the fear of man and settle him in a constant fortitude for God 121 50. Judgement and Zeal conjunct are his constitution His Judgement kindleth Zeal and his Zeal is still judicious 123 51. He can bear the infirmities of the weak and their censures and abuses of himself and requiteth them not with uncharitable censure or reproach 126 52. He
irrational creatures but at least it much imitateth Nature as it is found in Rational creatures where the Inclination is necessary but the Operations free and subject to Reason It is a spiritual appetite in the Rational appetite even the will and a spiritual visive disposition in the understanding Not a faculty in a faculty but the right disposition of the faculties to their highest objects to which they are by corruption made unsuitable So that it is neither a proper power in the Natural sense nor a meer act but neerest to the nature of a seminal disposition or habit It is the health and rectitude of the faculties of the Soul Even as Nature hath made the understanding disposed to Truth in generall and the will disposed or inclined to Good in generall and to self-preservation and felicity in particular so the Spirit of Christ doth dispose the understanding to spiritual truth to know God and the matters of salvation and doth incline the will to God and Holiness not blindly as they are unknown but to love and serve a known God So that whether this be properly or only analogically called A Nature or rather should be called a Habit I determine not but certainly it is a fixed Disposition and Inclination which Scripture calleth the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 and the seed of God abiding in us 1 Joh. 3.9 But most usually it is called the Spirit of God or of Christ in us Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his 1 Cor. 12.13 By one Spirit we are all baptized into one body Therefore we are said to be in the Spirit and walk after the Spirit and by the Spirit to mortifie the deeds of the Body Rom. 8.1.9 13. And it is called the Spirit of the Son and the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father or are inclined to God as Children to their Father and the Spirit of grace and supplication Rom. 8.15.23.26 Gal. 4.6 5.17 18. Eph. 2.18 22. 4.3 4. Phil. 1.27 2.1 Zech. 12.10 From this Spirit and the fruits of it we are called New Creatures and quickened and made alive to God 2 Cor. 5.17 Eph. 2.15 Rom. 6.11 13. It is a great controversie whether this Holy disposition and inclination was Natural to Adam or not and consequently whether it be a restored nature in us or not It was so natural to him as Health is natural to the body but not so natural as to be a Necessitating Principle nor so as to be inseparable and unlosable 2. This same Spirit and holy inclination is in the weakest Christian also but in a small degree and remisly operating so as that the fleshly inclination oft seemeth to be the stronger when he judgeth by its passionate struglings within him Though indeed the Spirit of life doth not only strive but conquer in the main even in the weakest Christians Rom. 8 9. Gal. 5.17 18 19 20 21. 3. The seeming Christian hath only the uneffectual motions of the Spirit to a Holy Life and effectual motions and inward dispositions to some common duties of Religion And from these with the natural principles of self-love and common honesty with the outward perswasions of company and advantages his Religion is maintained without the Regeneration of the Spirit Joh. 3.6 V. From hence it followeth 1. That a Christian indeed doth not serve God for fear only but for love even for love both of himself and of his holy work and service Yea the strong Christians Love to God and Holiness is not only greater than his Love to Creatures but greater than his fear of wrath and punishment The Love of God constraineth him to duty 2 Cor. 5.14 Love is the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.10 therefore the Gospel cannot be obeyed without it He saith not O that this were no duty and O that this forbidden thing were lawfull Though his Flesh say so the Spirit which is the predominant part doth not But he saith O how I love thy Law O that my wayes were so directed that I might keep thy statutes Psal. 119.5 For the spirit is willing even when the flesh is weak He serveth not God against his will but his will is to serve him more and better than he doth He longeth to be perfect and perfectly to do the will of God and taketh the remnant of his sinfull infirmities to be a kind of bondage to him which he groaneth to be delivered from To will even perfection is present with him though not perfectly and though he do not all that he willeth And this is the true meaning of Pauls complaints Rom. 7. Because the flesh warreth against the Spirit he cannot do the good that he would that is he cannot be perfect for so he would be Gal. 5.17 His love and will excells his practice 2. The weak Christian also hath more love to God and holiness than to the world and fleshly pleasure But yet his fear of punishment is greater than his Love to God and Holiness To have no Love to God is inconsistent with a state of Grace and so it is to have less love to God than to the world and less love to holiness than to sin But to have more Fear than Love is consistent with sincerity of Grace Yea the weak Christians love to God and Holiness is joyned with so much backwardness and aversness and interrupted with weariness and with the carnall allurements and diversions of the Creature that he cannot certainly perceive whether his love and willingness be sincere or not He goeth on in a course of duty but so heavily that he scarce knoweth whether his love or loathing of it be the greater He goeth to it as a sick man to his meat or labour All that he doth is with so much pain or undisposedness that to his feeling his aversness seemeth greater than his willingness were it not that necessity maketh him willing For the habitual love and complacency which he hath towards God and Duty is so oppressed by fear and by aversness that it is not so much felt in act as they 3. A seeming Christian hath no true Love of God and Holiness at all but some uneffectual liking and wishes which are overborn by a greater backwardness and by a greater love to earthly things so that Fear alone without any true effectual Love is the spring and principle of his Religion and obedience God hath not his heart when he draweth near him with his lips He doth more than he would do if he were not forced by Necessity and Fear and had rather be excused and lead another kind of life Mat. 15.8 Isa. 29.13 Though Necessity and fear are very helpfull to the most sincere yet Fear alone without Love or Willingness is a graceless state VI. 1. A Christian indeed doth love God in these three gradations He loveth him much for his mercy to himself and for that Goodness which consisteth in benignity to himself But he
fetcht from Heaven The interest of God and his soul as to eternity is the ruling interest in him As a traveller goeth all the way and beareth all the difficulties of it for the sake of the End or Place that he is going to how ever he may talk of many other matters by the way so is it with a Christian he knoweth nothing worthy of his life and labours but that which he hopeth for hereafter This world is too sinful and too vile and short to be his felicity His very trade and work in the world is to lay up a treasure in heaven Mat. 6.20 and to lay up a good foundation against the time to come and to lay hold on eternal life 1 Tim. 6.19 And therefore his very heart is there Mat. 6.21 and he is emploied in seeking and setting his affections on the things above Col. 3.1.2 3. And his conversation and trafick is in Heaven Phil. 3.20 21. He looketh not at the things which are seen which are temporal but at the things which are not seen which are eternal 2 Cor. 4.18 He is a stranger upon earth and Heaven is to him as his home 2. The weak Christian also hath the same End and Hope and Motive and preferreth his hopes of the life to come before all the wealth and pleasures of this life But yet his thoughts of Heaven are much more strange and dull He hath so much doubting and fear yet mixed with his faith and hope that he looketh before him to his everlasting state with backwardness and trouble and with small desire and delight He hath so much hope of Heaven as to abate his fears of hell and make him think of eternity with more quietness than he could do if he found himself unregenerate But not so much as to make his thoughts of Heaven so free and sweet and frequent nor his desires after it so strong as the confirmed Christians are And therefore his duties and his speech of Heaven and his endeavours to obtain it are all more languid and unconstant And he is much proner to fall in love with earth and to entertain the motions of reconciliation to the world and to have his heart too much set upon some place or person or thing below and to be either delighted too much in the possession of it or afflicted and troubled too much with the loss of it Earthly things are too much the Motives of his life and the reasons of his joyes and griefs Though he hath the true belief of a life to come and it prevaileth in the main against the world yet it is but little that he useth it to the commanding and raising and comforting his soul in comparison of what a strong believer doth Mat. 16.22 23. 3. But the seeming Christian would serve God and Mammon and placeth his chief and certainest happiness practically upon earth Though speculatively he know and say that Heaven is better yet doth he not practically judge it to be so to him And therefore he loveth the world above it and he doth most carefully lay up a treasure on earth Mat. 6.19 and is resolved first to seek and secure his portion here below and yet he taketh Heaven for a reserve as knowing that he world will cast him off at last and dye he must there is no remedy and therefore he taketh heaven as next unto the best as his second hope as better than hell and will go in Religion as far as he can without the loss of his prosperity here so that earth and flesh do govern and command the design and tenor of his life But heaven and his soul shall have all that they can spare which may be enough to make him pass with men for eminently religious 1 Joh. 2.15 Mat. 13.22 Luke 18.22 23. Luk. 14 24 33. Ps. 17.14 Phil. 3.18 19 20. XIV 1. A Christian indeed is one that having taken heaven for his felicity doth account no labour or cost too great for the obtaining of it he hath nothing so dear to him in this world which he cannot spare and part with for God and the world to come He doth not only notionally know that nothing should seem too dear or hard for the securing of our salvation but he knoweth this practically and is resolved accordingly Though difficulties may hinder him in particular acts and his executions come not up to the height of his desires Rom. 7.16 17. c. yet he is resolved that he will never break on terms with Christ There is no duty so hard which he is not willing and resolved to perform and no sin so sweet or gainful which he is not willing to forsake He knoweth how unprofitable a bargain he makes who winneth the world and loseth his own soul and that no gain can ransome his soul or recompence him for the loss of his salvation Mar. 8.36 He knoweth that it is impossible to be a loser by God or to purchase heaven at too dear a rate he knoweth that whatsoever it cost him heaven will fully pay for all and that it is the worldlings labour and not the saints that is repented of at last He marvelleth more at distracted sinners for making such a stir for wealth and honours and command than they marvail at him for making so much a-doe for heaven He knoweth that this world may be too dear bought but so cannot his salvation yea he knoweth that even our duty it self is not our smallest priviledge and mercy And that the more we do for God the more we receive and the greater is our gain and honour and that the sufferings of believers for righteousness sake do not only prognosticate their joyes in heaven but occasion here the greatest joyes that any short of heaven partake of Mat. 5.11 12. Rom. 5.12 3 c. He is not one that desireth the end without the means and would be saved so it may be on cheap and easie terms But he absolutely yieldeth to the terms of Christ and saith with Austin Da quod jubes jube quod vis Cause me to do what thou commandest and command what thou wilt Though Pelagius contradicted the first sentence and the flesh the second yet Augustine owned both and so doth every true believer He greatly complaineth of his backwardness to obey but never complaineth of the strictness of the command He loveth the holiness justness and goodness of the Laws when he bewaileth the unholiness and badness of his heart He desireth not God to command him less but desireth grace and ability to do more He is so far from the mind of the ungodly world who cry out against too much holiness and making so much ado for heaven that he desireth even to reach to the degree of Angels and would fain have Gods will to be done on earth as it is done in heaven and therefore the more desireth to be in heaven that he may do it better Psal. 119.5 Rom. 7.24 2. The weak Christian hath the
73.1 2. and that he is the righteous Judge of all the earth and that the righteous shall have dominion in the morning and it shall go well with them that fear the Lord For he goeth into the Sanctuary and foreseeth the end Eccl. 8.11 12 13. Psal. 73.17 Psal. 115.11 13. and 31.19 2. But the weak Christian is very hard put to it when he meeteth with difficult passages of Scripture and when he seeth it go with the righteous according to the work of the wicked and with the wicked according to the work of the righteous Eccl. 8.14 Though he is not over-turned by such difficulties yet his foot is ready to slip and he digesteth them with much perplexity and trouble 3. But the seeming unsettled Christian is often overcome by them and turneth away from Christ and saith These are hard sayings or hard Providences who can bear them Joh. 6.60.66 And thus unbelief thence gathereth matter for its increase XXXI 1. A Christian indeed is one that can exercise all Gods graces in conjunction and in their proper places and proportion without setting one against another or neglecting one while he is exercising another He can be humbled without hindering his thankefulness and joy and he can be thankefull and joyfull without hindering his due humility His knowledge doth not destroy but quicken his zeal His wisdom hindereth not but furthereth his innocency His faith is a help to his repentance and his repentance to his faith His love to himself doth not hinder but help his love to others and his Love to God is the end of both He can mourn for the sins of the times and the calamities of the Church yea for his own sins and imperfections and yet rejoyce for the mercies which he hath in possession or in hope He findeth that piety and charity are necessarily conjunct and every grace and duty is a help to all the rest Yea he can exercise his Graces methodically which is the comeliness and beauty of his heart and life 1 Thess. 5.12 13 16 17 18 19 20 21. 1 Pet. 2.17 2. But the weak Christian though he have every Grace and his Obedience is universal yet can he hardly set himself to any duty but it hindereth him from some other duty through the narrowness and weakness of his mind When he is humbling himself in confession of sin he can scarce be lively in thankfulness for mercy When he rejoyceth it hindereth his humiliation He can hardly do one duty without omitting or hindering another He is either all for joy or all for sorrow all for love or all for fear and cannot well do many things at once but is apt to separate the Truths and Duties which God hath inseparably conjoyned â— And for the seeming Christian he exerciseth no grace in sincerity nor is he universal in his Obedience to God Though he may have the image of every Grace and Duty XXXII 1. A Christian indeed is more in getting and using his Graces than in enquiring whether he have them He is very desirous to be assured that he is sincere but he is more desirous to be so And he knoweth that even assurance is got more by the exercise and increase of Grace than by bare enquity whether we have it already Not that he is a neglecter of self-examination But he oftener asketh What shall I do to be saved than How shall I know that I shall be saved 2. But the weak Christian hath more of self and less of God in his solicitousness And though he be willing to obey the whole Law of Christ yet he is much more solicitous to know that he is out of danger and shall be saved than to be fully pleasing unto God And therefore proportionably he is more in enquiring by what marks he may know that he shall be saved than by what means he may attain more holyness and what diligence is necessary to his salvation 3. But the seeming Christian is most carefull how to prosper in the World or please his flesh and next how he may be sure to escape damnation when he hath done and least of all how he may be conform to Christ in holyness XXXIII 1. A Christian indeed doth study Duty more than Events and is more carefull what he shall be towards God than what he shall have from God in this life He looketh to his own part more than unto Gods as knowing that it is he that is like to sail but God will never fail of his part He is much more suspicious of himself than of God And when any thing goeth amiss he blameth himself and not Gods Providence he knoweth that the hairs of his head are numbred and that his Father knoweth what he needeth and that God is infinitely wiser and fitter to dispose of him than he is to choose for himself and that God loveth him better than he can love himself And therefore he thankfully accepteth that easie indulgent command Cast all your care on him for he careth for you Take no thought what you shall eat or drink or wherewith you shall be cloathed Heb. 12.15 13.5 Job 1.21 22. Mat. 10.30 6.25 31 32. 1 Pet. 5.7 2. But alas how guilty is the weak Christian of medling with Gods part of the work How sinfully carefull what will become of him and of his Family and Affairs and of the Church as if he were afraid lest God would prove forgetfull unfaithfull or insufficient for his work so imperfect is his Trust in God 3. And the seeming Christian really trusteth him not at all for any thing that he can trust himself or the Creature for He will have two strings to his bow if he can but it is in man that he placeth his greatest trust for any thing that man can do Indeed to save his Soul he knoweth none but God is to be trusted and therefore his life is still preferred before his Soul and consequently man whom he trusteth most with his life and prosperity is really trusted before God however God may have the Name Jer. 17 5 7. Psal. 34.8 20.7 34.22 37.3 XXXIV 1. A Christian indeed is much more studious of his own duty towards others than of theirs to him He is much more fearfull of doing wrong than of receiving wrong He is more troubled if he say ill of others than if others speak ill of him He had farre rather be slandered himself than slander others or be censured himself than censure others or be unjustly hurt himself than unjustly hurt another or to be put out of his own possessions or right than to put another out of his He is oftner and sharper in judging and reproving himself than others he falleth out with himself more frequently than with others and is more troubled with himself than with all the world besides he taketh himself for his greatest enemy and knoweth that his danger is most at home and that if he can escape but from himself no one in
Earth or Hell can undo him He is more carefull of his duty to his Prince his Parents his Pastor or his Master than of theirs to him he is much more unwilling to be disobedient to them in any lawfull thing or to dishonour them than to be oppressed or unjustly afflicted or abused by them And all this is because he knoweth that sin is worse than present suffering and that he is not to answer for other mens sins but for his own nor shall he be condemned for the sins of any but himself And that many millions are condemned for wronging others but no one for being wronged by others 1 Pet. 4 12 13 14 15 16. Matth. 5.10 11 12. 1 Pet. 2.13 15 16 17. 2. And the weak Christian is of the same mind in the main but with so much imperfection that he is much more frequent in censuring others and complaining of their wrongs and finding fault with them and aggravating all that is said or done against himself when he is hardly made so sensible of as great miscarriages in himself as having much more uncharitableness partiality and selfishness than a confirmed Christian hath There are few things which weakness of Grace doth more ordinarily appear in than this partiality and selfishness in judging of the faults or duties of others and of his own How apt are not only Hypocrites but weak Christians to aggravate all that is done against them and to extenuate or justifie all that they do against another O what a noyse they make of it if they think that any one hath wronged them defamed them disparaged them or incroached on their right If God himself be blasphemed or abused they can more patiently bear it and make not so great a matter of it Who heareth of such angry complaints on Gods behalf as on mens own Of such passionate invectives such sharp prosecutions against those that wrong both God and mens Souls as against those that wrong a selfish person And usually every man seemeth to wrong him who keepeth from him any thing which he would have or saith any thing of him which is displeasing to him Go to the Assizes and Courts of Justice look into the Prisons and enquire whether it be Zeal for God or for mens selves which is the Plaintiff and Prosecutor and whether it be for wronging God or them that all the stirre is made Men are ready to say God is sufficient to right himself As if he were not the Original and the End of Laws and Government and Magistrates were not his Officers to promote obedience to Him in the World At this time how universal is mens complaint against their Governors how common are the cryes of the poor and sufferers of the greatness of their burdens miseries and wants But how few lament the sins against Government which this Land hath been sadly guilty of The Pastors complain of the Peoples contempt The People complain of the Pastors insufficiency and lives The Master complaineth how hard it is to get good Servants that will mind their business and profit as if it were their own Servants complain of their Masters for over-labouring them or using them too hardly Landlords say that their Tenants cheat them And Tenants say that their Landlords oppress and grind them But if you were Christians indeed the commonest and saddest complaints would be against your selves I am not so good a Ruler so peaceable a Subject so good a Landlord so good a Tenant so good a Master so good a Servant as I ought to be Your Rulers sin your Subjects sin your Landlords sin your Tenants sin your Masters sin your Servants sin shall not be charged upon you in Judgement nor condemn you but your own sin How much more therefore should you fear and feel and complain of your own than of theirs 3. As for the seeming Christian I have told you already that selfishness is his nature and predominant constitution And according to self-interest he judgeth of almost all things of the faults and duties of others and himself And therefore no man seemeth honest or innocent to him who displeaseth him and is against his wordly interest Cross him about Mine and Thine and he will beknave the honestest man alive and call his ancient friend his enemy But of his dealings with them he is not so scrupulous nor so censorious of himself XXXV 1. A Christian indeed is much taken up in the Government of his Thoughts and hath them so much ordinarily in obedience that God and his service and the matters of his salvation have that precedency in them and his eye is fixed on his end and duty And his thoughts refuse not to serve him for any work of God to which he calleth them He suffereth them not to be the in-lets or agents for Pride or Lust or Envy or Voluptuousness or to contrive iniquity But if any such sparks from Hell are cast into his thoughts he presently laboureth to extinguish them If they intrude he letteth them not lodge or dwell there And though he cannot keep out all disorder or vanity or inordinate delights yet is it his endeavour and he leaveth not his heart in any thing to it self 2. The weak Christian also maketh conscience of his thoughts and alloweth them not to be the in-lets or servants of any reigning sin But alas how imperfectly doth he govern them what a deal of vanity and confusion is in them how carelesly doth he watch them how remisly doth he rebuke them excite them and command them how oft are they defiled with impurity and uncharitableness And how little doth he repent of this or endeavour to reform it And little serviceable are his thoughts to any high and heavenly work in comparison of the confirmed Christian 3. And the seeming Christian is very little employed about his Thoughts but leaveth them to be the servants of his pride and worldlyness or sensuality or some reigning sin Psal. 10.4 Matth. 15.19 1 Cor. 3.20 Isa. 55.7 Jer. 4.14 and 6.19 XXXVI 1. A Christian indeed is much employed in the Government of his passions and hath so far mastered them as that they prevail not to pervert his Judgement nor to discompose his heart so farre as to interrupt much his communion with God nor to ensnare his heart to any Creature nor to breed any fixed uncharitableness or malice in him nor to cause his tongue to speak things injurious to God or Man to curse or swear or rail or lie nor yet to cause him to hurt and injure any in his heart But when passion would be inordinate either in delights or desires or anger or grief or fear or hope he flyeth to his helps to suppress and govern them Though fear is more out of mans power than the rest and therefore ordinarily hath less of sin He knoweth that Christ hath blessed the meek Matth. 5.5 and bid us learn of him to be meek and lowly Matth. 11.28 29. And that a meek and quiet spirit is