faint away though we strive to raise them and recover them never so much with the Strong Waters and Aqua vitae of our own ungrounded presumptions The least inward lust willingly continued in will be like a worme fretting the Gourd of our jolly confidence and presumptuous perswasion of Gods love and alwayes gnawing at the root of it and though we strive to keep it alive and continually besprinkle it with some dews of our own yet it will alwayes be dying and withering in our bosomes But a good Conscience within will be alwayes better to a Christian then health to his navell and marrow to his bones it will be an everlasting cordiall to his heart it will be softer to him then a bed of doune and he may sleep securely upon it in the midst of raging and tempestuous seas when the winds bluster and the waves beat round about him A good conscience is the best looking-glasse of heaven in which the soul may see God's thoughts and purposes concerning it as so many shining starres reflected to it Hereby we know that we know Cbrist hereby we know that Christ loves us if we keep his Commandments Secondly If hereby onely we know that we know Christ by our keeping his Commandments Then the knowledge of Christ doth not consist merely in a few barren Notions in a form of certain dry and saplesse Opinions Christ came not into the world to fil our heads with mere Speculations to kindle a fire of wrangling and contentious dispute amongst us and to warm our spirits against one another with nothing but angry peevish debates whilst in the mean time our hearts remain all ice within towards God and have not the least spark of true heavenly fire to melt and thaw them Christ came not to possesse our brains onely with some cold opinions that send down nothing but a freezing and benumming influence upon our hearts Christ was Vitae Magister not Scholae and he is the best Christian whose heart beats with the truest pulse towards heaven not he whose head spinneth out the finest cobwebs He that endeavours really to mortifie his lusts and to comply with that truth in his life which his Conscience is convinced of is neerer a Christian though he never heard of Christ then he that believes all the vulgar Articles of the Christian faith and plainly denyeth Christ in his life Surely the way to heaven that Christ hath taught us is plain and easie if we have but honest hearts we need not many Criticismes many School-distinctions to come to a right understanding of it Surely Christ came not to ensnare us and intangle us with captious niceties or to pusle our heads with deep speculations and lead us through hard and craggie notions into the Kingdome of heaven I perswade my self chat no man shall ever be kept out of heaven for not comprehending mysteries that were beyond the reach of his shallow understanding if he had but an honest and good heart that was ready to comply with Christs Commandments Say not in thins heart Who shall ascend into heaven that is with high speculations to bring down Christ from thence or Who shall descend into the abysse beneath that is with deep searching thoughts to fetch up Christ from thence but loe the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart But I wish it were not the distemper of our times to scare and fright men onely with opinions and make them onely solicitous about the entertaining of this and that speculation which will not render them any thing the better in their lives or the liker unto God whilst in the mean time there is no such care taken about keeping of Christs Commandments and being renewed in our minds according to the image of God in righteousnesse and true holinesse We say Loe here is Christ and Loe there is Christ in these and these opinions whereas in truth Christ is neither here nor there nor anywhere but where the Spirit of Christ where the life of Christ is Do we not now adayes open and lock up heaven with the private key of this and that opinion on of our own according to our severall fancies as we please And if any one observe Christs Commandments never so sincerely and serve God with faith and a pure conscience that yet happely skils not of some contended for opinions some darling notions he hath not the right Shibboleth he hath not the true Watch-word he must not passe the Guards into heaven Do we not make this and that opinion this and that outward form to be the Wedding-garment and boldly sentence those to outer darknesse that are not invested therewith Whereas every true Christian finds the least dram of hearty affection towards God to be more cordiall and sovereign to his soul then all the speculative notions and opinions in the world and though he study also to inform his understanding aright and free his mind from all errour and misapprehensions yet it is nothing but the life of Christ deeply rooted in his heart which is the Chymicall Elixer that he feeds upon Had he all faith that he could remove mountains as S. Paul speaks had he all knowledge all tongues and languages yet he prizeth one dram of love beyond them all He accounteth him that feeds upon mere notions in Religion to be but an aiery and Chamelion-like Christian He findeth himself now otherwise rooted and centred in God then when he did before merely contemplate and gaze upon him he tasteth and relisheth God within himself he hath quendam saporem Dei a certain savour of him whereas before he did but rove and guesse at random at him He feeleth himself safely anchored in God and will not be disswaded from it though perhaps he skill not many of those subtleties which others make the Alpha and Omega of their Religion Neither is he scared with those childish affrightments with which some would force their private conceits upon him he is above the superstitious dreading of mere speculative opinions as well as the superstitious reverence of outward ceremonies he cares not so much for subtlety as for soundnesse and health of mind And indeed as it was well spoken by a noble Philosopher {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that without purity and virtue God is nothing but an empty name so it is as true here that without obedience to Christs Commandments without the life of Christ dwelling in us whatsoever opinions we entertain of him Christ is but onely named by us he is not known I speak not here against a free and ingenuous enquiry into all Truth according to our severall abilities and opportunities I plead not for the captivating and enthralling of our judgements to the Dictates of men I do not disparage the naturall improvement of our understanding faculties by true Knowledge which is so noble and gallant a perfection of the mind but the thing which I aime against is the dispiriting of the life
commendeth to his Disciples in a peculiar manner This is my commandment That ye love one another as I have loved you and again These things I command you that you love one another Let us follow peace with all men and holinesse without which no man shall see God Let us put on as the Elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercies kindnesse humblenesse of mind meeknesse longsuffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any man have a quarel against any even as Christ forgave us And above all these things let us put on Charity which is the bond of perfectnesse Let us in meeknesse instrust those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth that they may recover themselves out of the snares of the Devil that are taken captive by him at his will Beloved Let us love another for Love is of God and whosoever loveth is born of God and knoweth God O Divine Love the sweet Harmony of souls the Musick of Angels The Joy of Gods own Heart the very Darling of his Bosome the Sourse of true Happinesse the pure Quintessence of Heaven That which reconciles the jarring Principles of the World and makes them all chime together That which melts mens Hearts into one another see how S. Paul describes it and it cannot choose but enamour your affections towards it Love envieth not it is not puffed up it doth not behave it self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil rejoyceth not in iniquity beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things I may adde in a word it is the best natur'd thing the best complexioned thing in the World Let us expresse this sweet harmonious Affection in these jarring times that so if it be possible we may tune the World at last into better Musick Especially in matters of Religion let us strive with all meeknesse to instruct and convince one another Let us endeavour to promote the Gospel of Peace the Dove-like Gospel with a Dove-like Spirit This was the way by which the Gospel at first was propagated in the world Christ did not cry nor lift up his voice in the streets a bruised reed he did not break and the smoking flax he did not quench and yet he brought forth judgement into victory He whispered the Gospel to us from Mount Sion in a still voice and yet the sound thereof went out quickly throughout all the earth The Gospel at first came down upon the world gently and softly like the Dew upon Gideons fleece and yet it quickly soaked quite through it and doubtlesse this is still the most effectuall way to promote it further Sweetnesse and Ingenuity will more powerfully command mens minds then Passion Sowrenesse and Severity as the soft Pillow sooner breaks the Flint then the hardest Marble Let us {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} follow truth in love and of the two indeed be contented rather to misse of the conveying of a Speculative Truth then to part with Love When we would convince men of any errour by the strength of Truth let us withall poure the sweet Balme of Love upon their heads Truth and Love are two the most powerfull things in the world and when they both go together they cannot easily be withstood The Golden Beams of Truth and the Silken Cords of Love twisted together will draw men on with a sweet violence whether they will or no Let us take heed we do not sometimes call that Zeal for God and his Gospel which is nothing else but our own tempestuous and stormy Passion True Zeal is a sweet heavenly and gentle Flame which maketh us active for God but alwayes within the Sphear of Love It never calls for Fire from Heaven to consume those that differ a little from us in their Apprehensions It is like that kind of Lightning which the Philosophers speak of that melts the Sword within but singeth not the Scabbard it strives to save the Soul but hurteth not the Body True Zeal is a loving thing and makes us alwayes active to Edification and not to Destruction If we keep the Fire of Zeal within the Chimney in its own proper place it never doth any hurt it onely warmeth quickeneth and enliveneth us but if once we let it break out and catch hold of the Thatch of our Flesh and kindle our corrupt Nature and set the House of our Body on fire it is no longer Zeal it is no heavenly Fire it is a most destructive and devouring thing True Zeal is an Ignis lambens a soft and gentle Flame that will not scorch ones hand it is no predatory or voracious thing but Carnall and fleshly Zeal is like the Spirit of Gunpowder set on fire that tears and blows up all that stands before it True Zeal is like the Vitall heat in us that we live upon which we never feel to be angry or troublesome but though it gently feed upon the Radicall Oyl within us that sweet Balsame of our Naturall Moisture yet it lives lovingly with it and maintains that by which it is fed but that other furious distempered Zeal is nothing but a Feaver in the Soul To conclude we may learn what kind of Zeal it is that we should make use of in promoting the Gospel by an Emblem of Gods own given us in the Scripture those Fiery Tongues that upon the Day of Pentecost sate upon the Apostles which sure were harmlesse Flames for we cannot reade that they did any hurt or that they did so much as singe an haire of their heads I will therefore shut up this with that of the Apostle Let us keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Let this soft and silken Knot of Love tie our Hearts together though our Heads and Apprehensions cannot meet as indeed they never will but alwayes stand at some distance off from one another Our Zeal if it be heavenly if it be true Vestall Fire kindled from above it will not delight to tarry here below burning up Straw and Stubble and such combustible things and sending up nothing but grosse earthy fumes to heaven but it will rise up and return back pure as it came down and will be ever striving to carry up mens hearts to God along with it It will be onely occupied about the promoting of those things which are unquestionably good and when it moves in the irascible way it will quarrel with nothing but sinne Here let our zeal busie and exercise it self every one of us beginning first at our own hearts Let us be more Zealous then ever we have yet been in fighting against our lusts in pulling down those strong holds of Sinne and Satan in our hearts Here let us exercise all our Courage and Resolution our Manhood and Magnanimitie Let us trust in the Almighty Arme of our God and ' doubt not but he will as well deliver us from the
are as busily employed in the promoting of that which they love best that which is dearest to God whom they serve the Life and Nature of God There is joy in heaven at the conversion of one sinner Heaven takes notice of it there is a Quire of Angels that sweetly sings the Epithalamium of a Soul divorced from Sinne and Satan and espoused unto Christ What therefore the Wiseman speaks concerning Wisdome I shall apply to Holinesse Take fast hold of Holinesse let her not go keep her for she is thy Life Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life of Death too Let nothing be esteemed of greater consequence and concernment to thee then what thou doest and actest how thou livest Nothing without us can make us either happy or miserable nothing can either defile us or hurt us but what goeth out from us what Springeth and Bubbleth up out of our own hearts We have dreadfull apprehensions of the Flames of Hell without us we tremble and are afraid when we hear of Fire and Brimstone whil'st in the mean time we securely nourish within our own hearts a true and living Hell Et caeco carpimur igni the dark fire of our Lusts consumeth our bowels within and miserably scorcheth our souls and we are not troubled at it We do not perceive how Hell steales upon us whilest we live here And as for Heaven we onely gaze abroad expecting that it should come in to us from without but never look for the beginnings of it to arise within in our own hearts But lest there should yet happely remain any prejudice against that which I have all this while heartily commended to you True Holinesse and the Keeping of Christs commandment as if it were a Legall and Servile thing that would subject us to a State of Bondage I must here needs adde a Word or two either for the Prevention or Removall of it I do not therefore mean by Holinesse the mere performance of outward Duties of Religion coldly acted over as a task not our habituall Prayings Hearings Fastings multiplied one upon another though these be all good as subservient to an higher end but I mean an inward Soul and Principle of Divine Life that spiriteth all these that enliveneth and quickeneth the dead carkasse of all our outward Performances whatsoever I do not here urge the deâ—d Law of outward Works which indeed if it be alone subjects us to a State of Bondage but the inward Law of the Gospel the Law of the Spirit of Life then which nothing can be more free and ingenuous for it doth not act us by Principles without us but is an inward Sâ—lf-moving Principle living in our Hearts I do not urge the Law written upon Tables of stone without us though there is still a good use of that too but the Law of Holinesse written within upon the Fleshly Tables of our hearts The first though it work us into some outward Conformity to Gods Commandments and so hath a good effect upon the World yet we are all this while but like dead Instruments of Musick that found sweetly and harmoniously when they are onely struck and played upon from without by the Musicians Hand who hath the Theory and Law of Musick living within himself But the Second the living Law of the Gospel the Law of the Spirit of Life within us is as if the Soul of Musick should incorporate itself with the Instrument and live in the Strings and make them of their own accord without any touch or impulse from without daunce up and down and warble out their Harmonies They that are acted onely by an outward Law are but like Neurospasts or those little Puppets that skip nimbly up and down and seem to be full of quick and sprightly motion whereas they are all the while moved artificially by certain Wiers and Strings from without and not by any Principle of Motion from themselves within or else like Clocks and Watches that go pretty regularly for a while but are moved by Weights and Plummets or some other Artificiall Springs that must be ever now and then wound up or else they cease But they that are acted by the new Law of the Gospel by the Law of the Spirit they have an inward principle of life in them that from the Centre of it self puts forth it self freely and constantly into all obedience to the will of Christ This New Law of the Gospel it is a kind of Musicall Soul informing the dead Organ of our Hearts that makes them of their own accord delight to act harmoniously according to the Rule of Gods word The Law that I speak of it is a Law of Love which is the most powerfull Law in the World and yet it freeth us in a manner from all Law without us because it maketh us become a Law unto our selves The more it prevaileth in us the more it eateth up and devoureth all other Laws without us just as Aarons Living Rod did swallow up those Rods of the Magicians that were made onely to counterfeit a little Life Quis Legem det amantibus Major lex Amor est sibi Love is at once a Freedome from all Law a State of purest Liberty and yet a Law too of the most constraining and indispensable Necessity The worst Law in the World is the Law of Sinne which is in our members which keeps us in a condition of most absolute Slavery when we are wholly under the Tyrannicall commands of our lusts this is a cruell Pharaoh indeed that sets his hard task-masters over us and maketh us wretchedly drudge in Mire and Clay The Law of the Letter without us sets us in a condition of a little more Liberty by restraining of us from many outward Acts of Sinne but yet it doth not disenthrall us from the power of sinne in our hearts But the Law of the Spirit of life the Gospel-Law of Love it puts us into a condition of most pure and perfect Liberty and whosoever really entertaines this Law he hath thrust out Hagar quite he hath cast out the Bondwoman and her Children from henceforth Sarah the Free woman shall live forever with him and she shall be to him a Mother of many children her seed shall be as the sand of the seashoar for number and as the starres of heaven Here is Evangelicall liberty here is Gospel-freedome when the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath made us free from the Law of sinne and death when we have a liberty from sinne and not a liberty to sinne for our dear Lord and Master hath told us that Whosoever committeth sinne he is the servant of it He that lies under the power and vassallage of his base lusts and yet talks of Gospel-freedome he is but like a poore condemned Prisoner that in his sleep dreams of being set at liberty and of walking up and down wheresoever he pleaseth whilst his Legs are all the while lock't
fast in fetters and Irons To please our selves with a Notion of Gospel-liberty whilest we have not a Gospel-principle of Holinesse within us to free us from the power of sinne it is nothing else but to gild over our Bonds and Fetters and to phancy our selves to be in a Golden Cage There is a Straitnesse Slavery and Narrownesse in all Sinne Sinne crowds and crumples up our souls which if they were freely spread abroad would be as wide and as large as the whole Universe No man is truly free but he that hath his will enlarged to the extent of Gods own will by loving whatsoever God loves and nothing else Such a one doth not fondly hug this and that particular created good thing and envassal himself unto it but he loveth every thing that is lovely beginning at God and descending down to all his Creatures according to the severall degrees of perfection in them He injoyes a boundlesse Liberty and a boundlesse Sweetnesse according to his boundlesse Love He inclaspeth the whole World within his out-stretched arms his Soul is as wide as the whole Universe as big as yesterday to day and forever Whosoever is once acquainted with this Disposition of Spirit he never desires any thing else and he loves the Life of God in himself dearer then his own Life To conclude this therefore If we love Christ and keep his commandments his commandments will not be grievous to us His yoke will be easie and his burden light it will not put us into a State of Bondage but of perfect Liberty For it is most true of Evangelicall Obedience what the wise man speaketh of Wisdome Her wayes are wayes of pleasantnesse and all her paths are peace She is a tree of Life to those that lay hold upon her and happy are all they that retain her I will now shut up all with one or two Considerations to perswade you further to the keeping of Christs Commandments First from the desire which we all have of Knowledge If we would indeed know Divine Truths the onely way to come to this is by keeping of Christs Commandments The Grossenesse of our apprehensions in Spirituall things and our many mistakes that we have about them proceed from nothing but those dull and foggy Stemes which rise up from our foul hearts and becloud our Understandings If we did but heartily comply with Christs commandments and purge our hearts from all grosse and sensuall affections we should not then look about for Truth wholly without our selves and enslave our selves to the Dictates of this and that Teacher and hang upon the Lips of men but we should find the Great Eternall God inwardly teaching our souls and continually instructing us more and more in the mysteries of his will and out of our bellies should flow rivers of living waters Nothing puts a stop and hinderance to the passage of Truth in the World but the Carnality of our hearts the Corruption of our lives 'T is not wrangling Disputes and Syllogisticall Reasonings that are the mighty Pillars that underprop Truth in the World if we would but underset it with the Holinesse of our Hearts and Lives it should never fail Truth is a prevailing and conquering thing and would quickly overcome the World did not the Earthinesse of our Dispositions and the Darknesse of our false heares hinder it Our Saviour Christ bids the Blind man wash off the Clay that was upon his eyes in the Pool of Siloam and then he should see clearly intimating this to us that it is the Earthinesse of mens Affections that darkens the Eye of their understandings in Spirituall things Truth is alwayes ready and near at hand if our eyes were not closed up with Mud that we could but open them to look upon it Truth alwayes waits upon our souls and offers it self freely to us as the Sun offers its beams to every Eye that will but open and let them shine in upon it If we could but purge our Hearts from that filth and defilement which hangeth about them there would be no doubt at all of Truths prevailing in the World For Truth is great and stronger then all things all the Earth calleth upon Truth and the heaven blesseth it all works shake and tremble at it The Truth endureth and is alwayes strong it liveth and conquereth for evermore She is the Strength Kingdome Power and Majestie of all ages Blessed be the God of Truth Last of all if we desire a true Reformation as we seem to do Let us begin here in reforming our hearts and lives in keeping of Christs Commandments All outward Formes and Models of Reformation though they be never so good in their kind yet they are of little worth to us without this inward Reformation of the heart Tinne or Lead or any other baser Metal if it be cast into never so good a Mold and made up into never so elegant a Figure yet it is but Tin or Lead still it is the same Metal that it was before And if we be Molded into never so good a Form of outward Government unlesse we new mold our Hearts within too we are but a little better then we were before If adulterate Silver that hath much Allay or Drosse in it have never so current a Stamp put upon it yet it will not passe notwithstanding when the Touch-stone trieth it We must be reformed within with a Spirit of Fire and a Spirit of Burning to purge us from the Drosse and Corruption of our hearts and refine us as Gold and Silver and then we shall be reformed truly and not before When this once comes to passe then shall Christ be set upon his Throne indeed then the Glory of the Lord shall overflow the Land then we shall be a People acceptable unto him and as Mount Sion which he dearly loved Finis Die Mercurii ultimo Martii 1647. ORdered by the Commons assembled in Parliament That Sr Henry Mildmay do from this House give thanks unto Mr Cudworth for the great paines he took in the Sermon he preached on this day at Margarets Westminster before the House of Commons it being a day of Publick Humiliation and that he do desire him to print his Sermon Wherein be is to have the like Priviledge in printing thereof as others in like kind usually have had H. Elsynge Cler. Parl. D. Com.
were to incorporate it in them Some Philosophers have determined that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is not {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} vertue cannot be taught by any certain rules or precepts Men and books may propound some directions to us that may set us in such a way of life and practice as in which we shall at last find it within our selves and be experimentally acquainted with it but they cannot teach it us like a Mechanick Art or Trade No surely there is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth this understanding But we shall not meet with this spirit anywhere but in the way of Obedience the knowledge of Christ and the keeping of his Commandments must alwayes go together and be mutuall causes of one another Hereby we know that we know him if we keep his Commandments He that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him I Come now unto these words themselves which are so pregnant that I shall not need to force out any thing at all from them I shall therefore onely take notice of some few observations which drop from them of their own accord and then conclude with some Application of them to our selves First then If this be the right way and methode of discovering our knowledge of Christ by our keeping of his Commandments Then we may safely draw conclusions concerning our state and condition from the conformity of our lives to the will of Christ Would we know whether we know Christ aright let us consider whether the life of Christ be in us Qui non habet vitam Christi Christum non habet He that hath not the life of Christ in him he hath nothing but the name nothing but a phansie of Christ he hath not the substance of him He that builds his house upon this foundation not an airy notion of Christ swimming in his brain but Christ really dwelling and living in his heart as our Saviour himself witnesseth he buildeth his house upon a Rock and when the flouds come and the winds blow and the rain descends and beats upon it it shall stand impregnably But he that builds all his comfort upon an ungrounded perswasion that God from all eternity hath loved him and absolutely decreed him to life and happinesse and seeketh not for God really dwelling in his soul he builds his house upon a Quicksand and it shall suddenly sink and be swallowed up his hope shall be cut off his trust shall be a spiders web he shall lean upon his house but it shall not stand he shall hold it fast but it shall not endure We are no where commanded to pry into these secrets but the wholesome counsell and advise given us is this to make our calling and election sure We have no warrant in Scripture to peep into these hidden Rolls and Volumes of Eternity and to make it our first thing that we do when we come to Christ to spell out our names in the starres and to perswade our selves that we are certainly elected to everlasting happinesse before we see the image of God in righteousnesse and true holinesse shaped in our hearts Gods everlasting decree is too dazeling and bright an object for us at first to set our eye upon it is far easier and safer for us to look upon the raies of his goodnesse and holinesse as they are reflected in our own hearts and there to read the mild and gentle Characters of Gods love to us in our love to him and our hearty compliance with his heavenly will as it is safer for us if we would see the Sunne to look upon it here below in a pale of water then to cast up our daring eyes upon the body of the Sun it self which is too radiant and scorching for us The best assurance that any one can have of his interest in God is doubtlesse the conformity of his soul to him Those divine purposes whatsoever they be are altogether unsearchable and unknowable by us they lie wrapt up in everlasting darknesse and covered in a deep Abysse who is able to fathom the bottome of them Let us not therefore make this out first attempt towards God and Religion to perswade our selves strongly of these everlasting Decrees for if at our first flight we aime so high we shall happily but scorch our wings and be struck back with lightning as those Giants of old were that would needs attempt to invade and assault heaven And it is indeed a most Giganticall Essay to thruft our selves so boldly into the lap of heaven it is the pranck of a Nimrod of a mighty Hunter thus rudely to deal with God and to force heaven and happinesse before his face whether he will or no The way to obtain a good assurance indeed of our title to heaven is not to clamber up to it by a ladder of our own ungrounded perswasions but to dig as low as hell by humility and self-denyall in our own hearts and though this may seem to be the furthest way about yet it is indeed the neerest and safest way to it We must {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as the Greek Epigramme speaks ascend downward descend upward if we would indeed come to heaven or get any true perswasion of our title to it The most gallant and triumphant confidence of a Christian riseth safely and surely upon this low foundation that lies deep under ground and there stands firmely and stedfastly When our heart is once tuned in to a conformity with the word of God when we feel our will perfectly to concurre with his will we shal then presently perceive a Spirit of adoption within our selves teaching us to cry Abba Father We shall not then care for peeping into those hidden Records of Eternity to see whether our names be written there in golden characters no we shall find a copy of Gods thoughts concerning us written in our own breasts There we may read the characters of his favour to us there we may feel an inward sense of his love to us flowing out of our hearty and unfained love to him And we shall be more undoubtedly perswaded of it then if any of those winged Watchmen above that are privie to heavens secrets should come tel us that they saw our names enrolled in those volumes of eternity Whereas on the contrary though we strive to perswade our selves never so confidently that God from all eternity hath loved us and elected us to life and happinesse if we do yet in the mean time entertain any iniquity within our hearts and willingly close with any lust do what we can we shall find many a cold qualme ever now and then seizing upon us at approching dangers and when death it self shall grimly look us in the face we shall feel our hearts even to die within us and our spirits quite