believe that God the Father is the First in the holy Trinity of persons that the whole Godhead is perfect and infinite in Being and Power and Wisdom and Goodness in which all his Attributes are comprehended but yet a distinct understanding of them all is not of absolute necessity to Salvation That this God is the Creator Preserver and Disposer of all things and the Owner and Ruler of Mankind most just and merciful that as he is the Beginning of all so he is the Ultimate end and the Chief Good of man which before all things else must be loved and sought This is to be believed concerning the Godhead and the Father in person Concerning the Son we must moreover believe that he is the same God with the Father the second person in Trinity in carnate and so become man by a personal union of the Godhead and Manhood That he was without Original or actual sin having a sinless nature and a sinless life that he fulfilled all Righteousness and was put to death as a Sacrifice for our sins and gave himself a Ransome for us and being buried he rose again from the dead and afterward ascended into Heaven where he is Lord of all and intercedeth for Believers that he will come again and raise the dead and judg the World the Righteous to everlasting Life and the Wicked to everlasting punishment that this is the only Redeemer the Way the Truth and the Life neither is their access to the Father but by him nor Salvation in any other Concerning the Holy Ghost we must believe that he is the same One God the third person in Trinity sent by the Father and the Son to inspire the Prophets and Apostles and that the Doctrine inspired and miraculously attested by him is true that he is the sanctifier of those that shall be saved renewing them after the Image of God in Holiness and Righteousness giving them true Repentance Faith Hope Love and sincere Obedience causing them to overcome the Flesh the World and the Devil thus gathering a Holy Church on earth to Christ who have by his Bloud the pardon of all their sins and shall have everlasting blessedness with God This is the Essence of the Christian Faith as to the Matter of it As to the Manner of Receiving it by the understanding 1. It must be received as Certain truth of Gods Revelation upon the credit of his Word by a lively effectual belief pierceing so deep as is necessary for its prevalency with the Will 2. And it must be Entirely received and not only a part of it Though all men have not so exactly formed distinct apprehensions of every member of this belief as some have yet all true Christians have a true apprehension of them We feel by daily experience that with the wisest some matters are truly understood by us which yet are not so distinctly and clearly understood as to be ready for an expression I have oft in matters that I am but studying a light that gives me a general imperfect but true conception which I cannot yet express but when another hath helped me to form my conception I can quickly and truly say that was it that I had an unformed apprehension of before and it that I meant but could not utter not so much for want of words as for want of a full and distinct conception 2. The Matter of our Christianity to be Received by the Will is as followeth As we must consent to all the forementioned truths by the Belief of the understanding so the pure Godhead must be Received as the Fountain and our End the Father as our Owner Ruler and Benefactor on the title of Creation and Redemption and as our everlasting happiness The Son as our only Saviour by Redemption bringing us pardon reconciliation holiness and glory and delivering us from sin and Satan and the wrath and Curse of God and from Hell The Holy Ghost as our Guide and Sanctifier All which containeth our Renouncing the Flesh the World and the Devil and carnal Self that is the point of their Unity and heart of the old Man This is the Good that must be embraced or accepted by the will And secondly as to the Manner of Receiving it it must be done Vnfeignedly Resolvedly unreservedly or absolutely and habitually by an inward Covenanting of the heart as I have formerly explained it And this is the Essence of Christianity This is true Believing in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost This is the Foundation and this is the right laying of it And now the thing that I am perswading you to is to see that this Foundation be surely laid in Head and Heart And 1. That it may be surely laid in the Head you must labour 1. To understand these Articles And 2. to see the Evidence of their verity that you may firmly believe them And 3. To Consider of the worth and necessity of the matter revealed in them that your Judgments may most highly esteem it This is the sure laying the Foundation in the Head To these ends you should first learn some Catechism and be well acquainted with the Principles of Religion and also be much in reading or hearing the holy Scripture and enquiring of your Teachers and others that can help you and see that you take your work before you and step not higher till this be done And then all other following truths and Duties and promised benefits must all be so learnt as to be built upon this foundation and joyned to it as receiving their life and strength from hence and never lookt upon as separated from this nor as more excellent and necessary For want of learning well and believing soundly these Principles Essentials or Fundamentals of Christianity some of our people can go no further but stand all their dayes in their ignorance at a non-plus Some of them go on in a blind Profession deceiving themselves by building upon the Sand and hold true Doctrine by a false unsound belief of it And when the Flouds and storms do beat upon their building it falls and great is the fall thereof With some of them it falls upon the first assault of any Seducer that hath interest in them or advantage on them and abundance swallow up Errors because they never well understood or Firmly believ'd Fundamental Truths With others of them the building falls not until death because they lived not under any shaking temptations But it being but a perseverance in an unfound Profession will nevertheless be ineffectual to their Salvation 2. When you have thus laid the Foundation in your understanding be sure above all that it be firmly laid in your Heart or Will Take heed lest you should prove false and unstedfast in the holy Covenant and lest you should take in the Word but into the furnace of the Soul and not give it depth of earth and rooting and lest you should come to Christ but as a servant upon tryall and make an absolute
affability and what not did think with himself How happy a man were I if I could but dwell in this mans house which at last he procured but ere long went away His friend meeting him asked him how he came so quickly to forsake his happiness Did not his Master prove as was reported He answered Yes and better than report could make him or I could ever have believed But though my Master was so good my Mistris was so unreasonable and clamorous and cruel that she would beat us and pull us by the hair and throw scalding water upon us and there was no living with her So Faith I hope is the Master in your hearts And that is as good as can be well believed But the Flesh is Mistris which should be but a servant And that maketh such troublesome work with some of you that some quiet natured Infidels are less vexatious companions than you Nay and I wonder if you can be very confident of your own sincerity as long as such fleshly vices and headstrong passions do keep up the power of a Mistris in you I wonder if you do not fear lest as a woman said I will call my Husband Lord with Sarah if I may have my will fulfilled so Grace and Faith should have no more than the Regent Titles while your flesh hath so much of its will fulfilled I know too many cheat themselves into comfort with the false opinion that because they have a party in them that striveth against their sins it is a certain sign that they have the Spirit and are sanctified though the flesh even in the main doth get the Victory And I know that many have sincerity indeed who yet have many a foil by boisterous passions and fleshly inclinations But I am sure till you know which party is predominant and truly beareth the governing sway you can never know whether you are sincere As once a servant when his Master and Mistris were fighting answered one at the door who desired to speak with the Master of the house You must stay till I see who gets the better before I can tell you who is Master of the house So truly I fear the conflict is so hard with many Christians between the Spirit and the Flesh and holdeth so long in a doubtful state and sense and passion and unbelief and pride and worldliness and selfishness prevail so much that they may stay themselves a great while before they can be well resolved which is Master For to prosecute my similitude in Innocent man spiritual Reason was absolutely Master and Fleshly sense was an obsequious Servant though yet it had an appetite which needed Government and restraint In Wicked men the Fleshly sense and appetite is Master and Reason is a Servant Though Reason and the motions of the Spirit may make some resistance In Strong Christians Spiritual Reason is Master and the Fleshly sense and appetite is a Servant but a boisterous and rebellious Servant tamed according to the degrees of Grace and spiritual Victory Like a Horse that is broken and well ridden but oft needeth the spur and oft the Reins So that a Paul may cry out O wretched man c. In a weak Christian the Spirit is Master but the Flesh is Mistris and is not kept in the servitude which it was made for as it ought And therefore his life is blemished with scandals and his Soul with many foul corruptions He is a trouble to himself and others The good which he doth is done with much reluctancy and weakness and the evil which he forbeareth is oftentimes very hardly forborn His Flesh hath so much power left that he is usually uncertain of his own sincerity and yet too patient both with his sin and his uncertainty And he is many times a greater troubler of the Church than many moderate unbelievers The Hypocrite or all-most-Christian hath the Flesh for his Master as other wicked men but Reason and the commoner Grace of the Spirit may be as Mistris with him And may have so much power and respect above a state of utter servitude as may delude him into a confident conceit that Grace hath the Victory and that he is truly spiritual When yet the Supremacy is exercised by the Flesh. He that hath an ear to hear let him hear To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life He shall not be hurt of the second death He shall eat of the hidden Manna He shall have power over the Nations I will give him the Morning-Star I will confess him before my Father and the Angels He shà ll be à Pillar in the Temple of God and go out no more I will grant to him to sit with me in my Throne Rev. 2.7 11 17 26 28. and 3.5 12 21. 1665. THE CONTENTS THe Text opened What it is to Receive Christ. The nature of Justifying Faith in its three essential acts How to know that we have received Christ. What it is to walk in him What to be Rooted to be grounded and built up c. The Doctrine of the necessity of weak Christians seeking stability Confirmation and increase of Grace What Confirmation is in the Understanding Will Affections and in the Life Twenty Motives to convince weak Christians of the great need of growth and Confirmation A Lamentation for the Weaknesses of Christians in their Knowledg in their Practice in publick Worship in inward Grace in outward obedience about known Duties Confession Reproof c. their uncharitableness backbiting pride c. Ten more Considerations to convince them that it is not trifling but Great things which God requireth at their hands Twenty Directions for Confirmation and increase of Grace DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED For their establishment growth and perseverance Col. 2.6 7. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him rooted and built up in him and stablished in the Faith as ye have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving AS Ministers are called in Gods Word the Fathers of those that are converted by their Ministry 1 Cor. 4.14 15. so are they likened thus far to the Mothers that they travail as in birth of their peoples Souls till Christ be formed in them Gal. 4.19 And as Christ saith John 16.21 A Woman when she is in travail hath sorrow because her hour is come but as soon as she is delivered of the Child she remembreth no more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the World So while we are seeking and hoping for your Conversion and are as in travail of you till you are born again not only our labour but much more our fears of you and cares for you and compassion of you in your danger and misery doth make the time seem very long to us and O what happy men should we think our selves if all or the most of our people were converted And when we see but now and then one come home we remember no more the
sorrow fetch not your comfort from any hopes of deliverance here on Earth but from the place of your final full deliverance If you feel any strangeness and backwardness on your minds to Heavenly contemplations do not make light of them but presently by Faith get up to Christ who must make your thoughts of Heaven familiar and seek remedy before your estrangedness increase The soul is in a sad condition when it cannot fetch comfort and encouragement from Heaven for then it must have none or worse than none When the thoughts of Heaven will not sweeten all your crosses and relieve your minds against all the encombrances of earth your souls are not in a healthful state It 's time then to search out the cause and seek a cure before it come to worse There are three great causes of this dark and dangerous state of soul which make the thoughts of Heaven uneffectual and uncomfortable to us which therefore must be overcome with the daily care and diligence of your whole lives 1. Unbelief which maketh you look towards the life to come with doubting and uncertainty And this is the most common radical powerful and pernicious impediment to a heavenly life The second is the Love of present things which being the vanity of a poor low fleshly mind the reviving of Reason may do much to overcome it but it 's the sound Belief of the life to come that must indeed prevail The third is the inordinate Fear of Death which hath so great advantage in the constitution of our nature that it is commonly the last enemy which we overcome as Death it self is the last enemy which Christ overcometh for us Bend all your strength and spend your daies in striving against these three great impediments of a heavenly conversation And remember that so far as you suffer your heart to retire from Heaven so far they retire from a life of Christianity and peace DIRECT VII In the work of Mortification let SELF-DENYAL be the First and Last of all your study care and diligence UNderstand how much of the fallen depraved state of man consisteth in the sin of SELFISHNESS How he is sunk into Himself in his fall from the Love of God and of his Neighbour of the publick or private good of others And how this inordinate Self-love is now the grand enemy of all true Love to God or Man and the root and heart of Covetousness Pride Voluptuousness and all iniquity Let it be your work therefore all your dayes to mortifie it and watch against it When you feel your selves partial in your own cause and apt to be drawing from others to your selves in point of reputation precedency or gain and apt to make too great a matter of every word that is spoken against you or every little wrong that is done you observe then the pernicious root of Selfishness from whence all this mischief doth proceed Read more of this in my Treatise of Self-denyal DIRECT VIII Take your corrupted fleshly Desires for the greatest enemy of your Souls and let it be every day your constant work to mortify the Flesh and to keep a watch upon your lusts and appetite and every sense REmember that our senses were not made to govern themselves but to be governed by right Reason And that God made them at the first to be the ordinary passage of his Love and mercy to our hearts by the means of the Creatures which represent or manifest him unto us But now in the depraved state of man the Senses have cast off the Government of Reason and are become the Ruling power and so man is become like the Beasts that perish Remember then that to be sensual is to be bruitish And though Grace doth not destroy the appetite and sense yet it subjecteth it to God and Reason Therefore let your appetite be pleased in nothing but by the allowance of right Reason And think not that you have reason to take any meats or drink or sport meerly because your flesh desireth it but consider whether it will do you good or hurt and how it conduceth to your ultimate end It is a base and sinful state to be in servitude to your appetite and sense When by using to please it you have so increased its desires that now you know not how to deny it and displease it When you have taught it to be like a hungry dog or swine that will never be quiet till his hunger be satisfied Whereas a well-governed appetite and sense is easily quieted with a rational denyal Rom. 8.1 6 7 8 13. and 13.13 14. 1 Pet. 2.11 1 Johnâ— 16 DIRECT IX Take heed lest you fall in love with the World or any thing therein and lest your thoughts of any place or condition which you either possess or hope for do grow too sweet and pleasing to you FOr there is no one perisheth but for loving some Creature more than God And complacency is the formal act of Love Love not the World nor the things that are in the World for if any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him 1 John 2.15 Value all earthly things as they conduce to your Masters Service or to your Salvation and not as they tend to the pleasing of your Flesh It is the commonest and most dangerous folly in the World to be eager to have our houses and lands and provisions and every thing about us in the most pleasing and amiable state when as this is the acknowledged way to Hell and the only poyson of the Soul Are you not in more danger of overloving a pleasing and prosperous condition than a bitter and vexatious state and of overloving Riches honour and sensual fulness and delights rather than Poverty reproach and mortification And do you not know that if ever you be damned it will be for loving the World too much and God too little Is it for nothing that Christ describeth a Saint to you as a Lazarus in poverty and sores and a damned wretch as one that was clothed in Purple and Silk and fared sumptuously every day Luke 16. Did not Christ know what he did when he put the rich man upon this tryal to part with all his worldly riches and follow Christ for a treasure in heaven Luke 18.22 13. All things must be esteemed as loss and dung for the knowledg of Christ and the hopes of heaven if ever you will be saved Phil. 3.6 7 8. You must so live by Faith and not by sight as not to look at the temporal things that are seen but at the things eternal which are unseen 2 Cor. 4.17 18. and 5.7 8. And one that is running in a race for his life would not so much as turn his head to look back on any one that called to him to stay or to look aside to any one that would speak with him in his way Thus must we forget the things that are behind as counting them not worthy a thought
his hand or the Fornicator to cure his lust than to put out his eyes it were a cheap remedy A cheap and easy superficial Repentance may skin over the sore and deceive an Hypocrite but he that would be sure of pardon and free from fear must go to the bottom DIRECT XX. Live as with Death continually in your eye and spend every day in serious preparation for it that when it cometh you may find your work dispatcht and may not then cry out in vain to God to try you once again PRomise not your selves long life Think not of death as at many years distance but as hard at hand Think what will then be needful to your peace and comfort and order all your life accordingly and prepare that now which will be needful then Live now while you have time as you will resolve and promise God to live when on your death-bed you are praying for a little time of tryal more It is a great work to die in a joyful assurance and hope of everlasting life and with a longing desire to depart and be with Christ as best of all Phil. 1.21 23. O then what a burden and terror it will be to have an unbelieving or a worldly heart or a guilty Conscience Now therefore use all possible diligence to strengthen Faith to increase love to be acquit from guilt to be above the World to have the mind set free from the Captivity of the flesh to walk with God and to obtain the deepest most delectable apprehensions of his love in Christ and of the heavenly blessedness which you expect Do you feel any doubts of the state of immortality or staggering at the Promise of God through unbelief Presently do all you can to conquer them and get a clear resolution to your souls and leave it not all to do at the time of sickness Are the thoughts or God and Heaven unpleasant or terrible to you Presently search out the cause of all and labour in the cure of it as for your lives Is there any former or present sin which is a burden or terror to your Consciences Presently seek out to Christ for a Cure by Faith and true Repentance and do that to disburden your Consciences now which you would do on a sick-bed and leave not so great and necessary a 〈◊〉 to so uncertain and short and unfit a time Is there any thing in this World that is swâ—â—tâ—r tâ— your thoughts than God and Heaven 〈◊〉 which you cannot willingly let go Mâ—rtiâ—iâ— it without delay consider of its vanity compare it with Heaven Crucifie it by the Cross of Christ cease not till you account it loss and â—â—ung for the excellent knowledg of Christ and life eternal Phil. 3.7 8 9. Let not death surprize you as a thing that you never seriously expected Can you do no more in preparation for it than you do If no why do you wish a death to be tryed once again and why are you troubled that you lived no better But if you can when think you should it be done Is the time of uncertain painful sickness better than this O how doth sensuality besot the World and inconsiderateness deprive them of the benefit of their reason O Sirs if you know indeed that you must shortly die live then as dying men should live Choose your condition in the World and manage it as men that must shortly dye Use your Power and Command and Honour and use all your Neighbours and especially use the Cause and Servants of Christ as men should do that must shortly die Build and plant and buy and sell and use your Riches as those that must die remembring that the fashion of all these things is passing away 1 Cor. 7.29 30. Yea pray and read and hear and meditate as those that must die Seeing you are as sure of it as if it were this hour in the name of God delay not your preparations It is a terrible thing for an immortal Soul to pass out of the body in a carnal unregenerate unprepared state and to leave a World which they loved and were familiar with and go to a World which they neither know nor love and where they have neither heart nor treasure Matth. 6.19 20 31. The measure of Faith which may help you to bear an easie cross is not sufficient to fortifie and encourage your souls to enter upon so great a change So also bear all your wants and crosses as men that must shortly die Fear the cruelties of men but as beseemeth those that are ready to die He that can die well can do any thing or suffer any thing And he that is unready to die is unfit for a fruitful and comfortable life What can rationally rejoyce that man who is sure to die and unready to dye and is yet unfurnished of dying comforts Let nothing be now sweet to you which will be bitter to your dying thoughts Let nothing be much desired now which will be unprofitable and uncomfortable then Let nothing seem very heavy or grievous now which will be light and easy then Let nothing now seem honourable which will then seem despicable and vile Consider of every thing as it will look at death that when the day shall come which endeth all the joyes of the ungodly you may look up with joy and say Welcome Heaven This is tho day which I so long expected which all my dayes were spent in preparation for which shall end my fears and begin my felicity and put me into possession of all that I desired and prayed and laboured for when my Soul shall see its glorified Lord For he hath said John 12.26 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 Even so Lord Jesus remember me now thou art in thy Kingdom and let me be with thee in Paradise Luke 23.42 43. O thou that spakest those words so full of unexpressible comfort to a sinful woman in the first speech after thy blessed Resurrection Joh. 20.17 GO TO MY BRETHREN AND SAY VNTO THEM I ASCEND UNTO MY FATHER AND YOUR FATHER AND TO MY GOD AND YOVR GOD. Take up now this Soul that is thine own that it may see the Glory given thee with the Father Joh. 17.24 and instead of this life of temptation trouble darkness distance and sinful imperfection I may delightfully Behold and Love and Praise thy Father and my Father and thy God and my God Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Luke 2.29 Acts 7.59 And now I have given you all these Directions I shall only request you in the close that you will set your very hearts to the daily serious practise of them For there is no other way for a ripe confirmed state of Grace And as ever you regard the glory of God the honour of your Religion the welfare of the Church and those
about you and the living and dying comforts of your selves O do not sluggishly rest in an Infant state of Grace Did you but know how a weak and strong Faith differ and how a weak and a found Confirmed Christian differ as to the honour of God and the good of others and especially to themselves both in life and death it would quickly awaken you to a cheerful diligence for so high and excellent an end Did you but well understand the wrong that Christ and the Gospel have sustained in the World yea in England by weak diseased distempered Christians your hearts would bleed and with shame and grief it would be your secret and open lamentation Stir up then the Grace that is given you and use Christs means and do your best and you will find that Christ is not an insufficient Physician nor an uneffectual Saviour or an empty Fountain but that he is filled with all the fulness of God and hath Spirit and life to communicate to his Members Zech. 12.8 and that there is no want which he cannot supply and no corruption or temptation which his Grace is not sufficient to overcome John 4.14 2 Cor. 12.9 Rom. 6.4 6. Col. 3.1 3 4. FINIS THE CHARACTER Of a Sound Confumed CHRISTIAN As also 2. Of a Weak Christian And 3. Of a Seeming Christian. Written to imprint upon mens minds the true Idea or conception OF Godliness and Christianity By Richard Baxter The Second Part of the Directions for Weak Christians LONDON Printed by R. White for Nevill Simmons at the Three Crowns near Holborn Conduit 1669. THE PREFACE TO THE SECOND PART Directed to my worthy Friend Henry Ashurst Esquire Citizen of London Dear and faithful Friend WHen this Book was Printed and passing into the World without the ordinary ornament of a prefixed honoured Name my thoughts reduced me into the common way though not upon the common reasons assuring me that your name would be more than an accident or ceremony to such a discourse as this even a part more substantial than a Map is in a Treatise of Geography or the well-cut Figures in Tractates of Anatomy Discourses of Navigation Architecture Musick c. may almost as hopefully instruct the Learners without any visible operations or effects as the Characters of well-tempered Christians can duly inform the minds of ignorant ungodly men of so Divine a thing as Christianity and Godliness without acquaintance with some such Persons in whom these Characters are manifestly exemplified Wise and holy precepts are to make wise and holy persons It is such Persons as well as such Precepts which bear the image of God which indeed is most perfect in exactness and integrity in the precepts for in them is no imperfection or errour as they are of God But it is of greater final Excellency in activity and usefulness as it is in men And therefore as God delighteth in his servants and is Glorified in and by them in the world so Satan usually chooseth such Persons to reproach and make odious to the ignorant rather than the holy Precepts immediately by which they are directed both because their Holiness is most exasperating by activity and also most lyable to calumny and contempt through imperfection and mixture of that which indeed is worthy of dislike Till Godliness and Christianity be visible in full perfection and elevated above the contradiction of folly and the contempt of pride the blind distracted minds of hardened forsaken sinners will not acknowledge its divine celestial nature and worth But then it will be too late to become partakers of it They must both know and possess it in its infancy and minority who will ever enjoy it in its heavenly dignity and glory If seasonable illumination and conversion confute not the deceits and standers which pride and ignorance have entertained the too-late confutation of them by death and their following experience will make them wish that they had been wise at cheaper rates when it will be in vain to cry Give us of your Oyle for our Lamps are out Mat. 25.8 But while I offer your name to the malicious world as an instance of the temper which I here describe I intend it not as a singular though an eminent instance For through the great mercy of God there are thousands of examples of confirmed Christians among us in this Land even before those eyes which will not see them But it is not Catalogues but single names which Writers have used in this way And why may I not take the advantage of Custome to leave to the World the testimony of my estimation and great respects to so deserving a person of the primitive Christian Catholick temper And to let them know what sort of men were my most dear and faithful friends And also thus to express my love by telling you closely what you must be as well as by telling the World for their example what you are Upon these accounts without your knowledge or consent I presume thus to prefix your name to this Treatise written long ago but now published by Your faithful Friend Rich. Baxter From my Lodging in New-Prison June 14. 1669. ERRATA Reader When I had gathered the Errata I was separated by a Prison from those Collections and having but two of the Sheets now at hand I shall give you the Errata of them only IN the Contents n. 15. for Lovers of God read Love of God Pag. 163. l. 5. for to six 1. and six pag 163. l. 18. blot out that p. 164. l. 5. for that 1. than p. 169. l. 10. for of 1. for p. 170. l. 1. for câ—re 1. cure All the rest I have forgotten save that some where I remember filthy for slâ—shly TO THE READER Readers IT is a matter of greater moment than I can express what Idea or Image of the nature of GODLINESS and CHRISTIANITY is imprinted upon mens minds The description which is expressed in the sacred Scriptures is true and full The thing described is rational pure perfect unblameable and amiable That which is expressed in the Lives of the most is nothing so but is purblind defiled maimed imperfect culpable and mixt with so much of the contrary quality that to them that cannot distinguish the Chaff from the Wheat the Sickness from the Life it seemeth an unreasonable fancifull loathsome and vexatious thing and so far from being worthy to be preferred before all the Riches Honours and Pleasures of the world that it seemeth worthy to be kept under as a troubler of Kingdoms Societies and Souls And doubtless this monstrous Expression of it in mens Lives is because the perfect expression of it in Gods Word hath not made 〈…〉 impression upon the Mind and consequently upon the Heart For as it is sound doctrine which must make sound Christians so Doctrine worketh on the will and affections not as it is in it self and as delivered but as it is understood believed remembered considered even as it is imprinted on the
is a high esteemer of the Unity of Christians and abhorreth the principles spirit and practises of Division 128 53. He seeketh the Churches unity and concord not upon partial unrighteous or impossible but upon the possible righteous terms here mentioned 139 54. He is of a mellow peaceable spirit not masterly domineering hurtfull unquiet or contentious 146 55. He highliest regardeth the interest of God and mens salvation in the world and regardeth no secular interest of his own or any mans but in subserviency thereto 152 56. He is usually hated for his Holiness by the wicked and censured for his Charity and Peaceableness by the factious and the weak and is moved by neither from the way of Truth 157 57. Though he abhor ungodly soul-destroying Ministers yet he reverenceth the Office as necessary to the Church and world and highly valueth the holy faithfull Labourers 159 58. He hath great Experience of the Providence Truth and Justice of God to fortifie him against temptations to Unbelief 161 59. Though he greatly desireth lively Affections and gifts yet he much more valueth the three Essential parts of holiness 1. A high estimation in the Understanding of God Christ Holiness and Heaven above all that be set in any competition 2. A resolved choice and adhesion of the Will to these above and against all competitors 3. The seeking them first in the endeavours of the life And by these be judgeth of the sincerity of his heart 162 60. He is all his life seriously preparing for his death as if it were at hand and is ready to receive the sentence with joy but especially he longeth for the blessed day of Christs appearing as the answer of all his desires and hopes 164 Six Uses of these Characters 170 THE CHARACTER OF 1 A Sound Confirmed Christian 2 And of the Weak Christian 3 And of the Seeming Christian. IN the Explication of the Text which I made the ground of the foregoing discourse I have shewed you that there is a Degree of Grace to be expected and sought after by all true Christians which putteth the Soul into a sound confirmed radicated state in comparison of that weak diseased tottering condition which most Christians now continue in And I have shewed you how desireable a state that is and what calamities follow the languishing unhealthfull state even of such as may be saved And indeed did we but rightly understand how deeply the errors and sins of many well-meaning Christians have wounded the interest of Religion in this age and how heynously they have dishonoured God and caused the enemies of holyness to blaspheme and hardened thousands in Popery and Ungodliness in probability to their perdition Had we well observed when Gods Judgements have begun and understood what sins have caused our Warres and Plagues and Flames and worse than all these our great heart-divisions and Church-distractions and convulsions we should ere this have given over the flattering of our selves and one another in such a Heaven-provoking state and the ostentation of that little goodness which hath been eclipsed by such lamentable evils And instead of these we should have betaken our selves to the exercise of such a serious deep Repentance as the quality of our sins and the greatness of Gods Chastisements do require It is a dolefull case to see how light many make of all the rest of their distempers when once they think that they have so much Grace and Mortification as is absolutely necessary to save their souls And expect that Preachers should say little to weak Christians but words of comfort setting forth their happiness And yet if one of them when he hath the Gout or Stone or Collick or Dropsie doth send for a Physitian he would think himself derided or abused if his Physitian instead of curing his disease should only comfort him by telling him that he is not dead What excellent disputations have Cicero and Seneca the Platonists and Stoicks to prove that Virtue is of it self sufficient to make Man happy And yet many Christians live as if Holiness were but the way and means to their felicity or at best but a small part of their felicity it self or as if felicity it self grew burdensome or were not desireable in this life or a small degree of it were as good as a greater And too many mistake the will of God and the nature of Sanctification and place their Religion in the hot prosecution of those mistakes They make a composition of error and passion and an unyielding stiffness in them and siding with the Church or party which maintaineth them and an uncharitable censuring those that are against them and an unpeaceable contending for them And this composition they mistake for Godliness especially if there be but a few drams of Godliness and Truth in the composition though corrupted and over-powered by the rest For these miscarriages of many well-meaning zealous persons the Land mourneth the Churches groan Kingdoms are disturbed by them Families are disquieted by them Godliness is hindered and much dishonoured by them the Wicked are hardened by them and encouraged to hate and blaspheme and oppose Religion the glory of the Christian Faith is obscured by them and the Infidel Mahometan and Heathen World are kept from Faith in Jesus Christ and many millions of Souls destroyed by them I mean by the miscarriages of the weaker sort of Christians and by the wicked lives of those carnal Hypocrites who for custome or worldly interest do profess that Christianity which was never received by their hearts And all this is much promoted by their indiscretion who are so intent upon the consolatory opening of the safety and happiness of Believers that they omit the due explication of their Description their Dangers and their Duties One part of this too much neglected work I have endeavoured to perform in the foregoing Treatise Another I shall attempt in this second Part There are five Degrees or ranks of true Christians observable 1. The Weakest Christians who have only the Essentials of Christianity or very little more As Infants that are alive but of little strength or use to others 2. Those that are lapsed into some wounding sin though not into a state of damnation Like men at age who have lost the use of some one member for the present though they are strong in other parts 3. Those that having the Integral parts of Christianity in a considerable measure are in a sound and healthfull state though neither perfect nor of the highest form or rank of Christians in this life nor without such infirmities as are the matter of their daily Watchfulness and Humiliation 4. Those that are so strong as to attain extraordinary degrees of grace who are therefore comparatively called Perfect as Mat. 5.45.5 Those that have an absolute Perfection without sin that is The Heavenly Inhabitants Among all these it is the third sort or degree which I have here characterized and upon the by the first sort and the Hypocrite
to forget that these are but his messengers and instruments to convey unto us several parcells of that Truth which is his and not theirs and which naturally or supernaturally they received from him and all these Candles were lighted by him who is the Sun And how little doth this weak Christian refer his common knowledge to God or use it for him or to the furtherance of his own and others happiness 1 Tim. 2.4 3. And the seeming Christian though materially he may be eminent for knowledge yet is so far from resigning himself to the teachings of Christ that he maketh even his knowledge of Christian Verities to be to him but a common carnal thing while he knoweth it but in a common manner and useth it to the service of the flesh and never yet learned so much as to be a new creature nor to love God as God above the world 1 Cor. 13.2 X. 1. A Christian indeed is one whose Repentance hath been deep and serious and universal and unchangeable It hath gone to the very roots of sin and to the bottom of the sore and hath not left behind it any reigning unmortified sin nor any prevalent love to fleshly pleasures His Repentance did not only disgrace his sin and cast some reproachful words against it and use confessions to excuse him from mortification and to save its life and hide it from the mortal blow Nor doth he only repent of his open sins and those that are most censured by the beholders of his life But he specially perceives the dangerous poyson of Pride and unbelief and worldliness and the want of the Love of God and all his outward and smaller sins do serve to shew him the greater malignity of these and these are the matter of his greatest lamentations He taketh not up a profession of Religion with strong corruptions secretly covered in his heart But his Religion consisteth in the death of his corruptions and the purifying of his heart He doth not secretly cherish any sin as too sweet or too profitable to be utterly forsaken nor overlook it as a small inconsiderable matter But he feeleth sin to be his enemy and his disease and as he desireth not one enemy one sickness one wound one broken bone one serpent in his bed so he desireth not any one sin to be spared in his soul But faith with David Psal. 139.23 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 He liveth in no gross or scandalous sin And his infirmities are comparatively few and small so that if he were not a sharper accuser of himself than the most observant spectators are that are just there would little be known by him that is culpâ—ble and matter of reproof He walketh in all the commandments and ordinances of God blameless as to any notable miscarriage Luk. 1.6 He is blameless and harmless as the son of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom he shineth as a light in the world Phil 2 15. The fear and love and obedience of God is the work and tenour of his life 2. But the weak Christian though he hath no sin but what he is a hater of and fain would be delivered from yet alas how imperfect is his deliverance and how weak is the hatred of his sin and mixed with so much proneness to it thaâ— his life is much blemished with the spots of his offences Though his unbelief and pride and worldleness are not predominant in him yet are they or some of them still so strong and fight so much against his faith humility and heavenliness that he can scarcely tell which hath the upper hand nor can others that see the failings of his life discern whether the good or the evil be most prevalent Though it be Heaven which he most seeketh yet Earth is so much regarded by him that his Heavenly mindedness is greatly damped and suppressed by it And though it be the way of Godliness and obedience which he walketh in yet is it with so many stumblings and falls if not deviations also that maketh him oft a burthen to himself a shame to his profession and a snare or trouble to those about him His heart is like an ill swept house that hath many a sluttish corner in it And his life is like a moth-eaten garment which hath many a hole which you may see if you bring it into the light 1 Cor. 3.1 2 3. 6.6 7 8. 11.18 21 22 c. 3. And for the seeming Christian his Repentance doth but cropp the branches it goeth not to the root and heart of his sin It leaveth his fleshly mind and interest in the dominion It pollisheth his life but maketh him not a new creature It casteth away those sins which the flesh can spare and which bring more shame or loss or trouble with them than worldly honour gain or pleasure But still he is a very worldling at the heart and the sins which his fleshly pleasures and felicity consisteth in he will hide by confessions and seeming oppositions but never mortifie and forsake As Judas that while he followed Christ was yet a thief and a coveteous hypocrite Joh. 12.6 1 Tim. 6.10 11. XI 1. Hence it followeth that a Christian indeed doth heartily love the searching light that it may fully acquaint him with his sins He is truly desirous to know the worst of himself And therefore useth the word of God as a candle to shew him what is in his heart and bringeth himself willingly into the light He loveth the most searching Books and Preachers not only because they disclose the faults of other men but his own he is not one that so loveth his pleasant and profitable sins as to fly the light lest he should be forced to know them and so to forsake them But because he hateth them and is resolved to forsake them therefore he would know them Joh. 3.19 20 21. Therefore he is not only patient under Reproofs but loveth them and is thankful to a charitable reprover and maketh a good use even of malicious and passionate reproofs Psal. 141.5 2 Sam. 16.11 He saith as in Job 34.32 That which I see not teach thou me If I have done iniquity I will do no more His hatred of the sin and desire to be reformed suffer not his heart by pride to rise up against the remedy and reject reproof Though he will not falsely confess his duty to be his sin nor take the judgement of every selfish passionate or ignorant reprover to be infallible nor to be his rule yet if a judicious impartial person do but suspect him of a fault he is ready to suspect himself of it unless he be certain that he is clear He loveth him better that would save him from his sin than him that would entice him to it and taketh him for his best
friend who dealeth freely with him and is the greatest enemy to his faults And a flatterer he taketh but for the most dangerous insinuating kind of foe 2. But the weak Christian though he hate his sin and love reformation and loveth the most searching Books and Preachers and loveth a gentle kind of reproof yet hath so much pride and selfishness remaining that any reproof that seemeth disgracefull to him goeth very hardly down with him like a bitter medicine to a queasie stomack If you reprove him before others or if your reproof be not very carefully sugured and minced so that it rather extenuate than aggravate his fault he will be ready to cast it up into your face and with retortions to tell you of some faults of your own or some way shew you how little he loveth it and how little thanks he giveth you for it If you will not let him alone with his infirmities he will distaste you if not fall out with you and let you know by his smart and impatience that you have touched him in the sore and galled place He must be a man of very great skill in managing a Reproof that shall not somewhat provoke him to distaste 3. And for the seeming Christian this is his condemnation that Light is come into the world and he loveth darkness rather than light because his deeds are evil He cometh not to the light lest his deeds should be discovered and reproved Joh. 3.19 20 21. He liketh a searching Preacher for others and loveth to hear their sins laid open if it no way reflect upon himself But for himself he liketh best a General or a smoothing Preacher and he flyeth from a quick and searching ministry lest he should be proved and convinced to be in a state of sin and misery Guilt maketh him fear or hate a lively searching Preacher even as the guilty prisoner hateth the Judge He loveth no company so well as that which thinketh highly of him and applaudeth and commendeth him and neither by their reproofes nor stricter lives will trouble his conscience with the remembrance of his sin or the knowledge of his misery He will take you for his enemy for telling him the truth if you go about to convince him of his undone condition and tell him of his beloved sin Sin is taken to be as himself It is He that doth evil and not only sin that dwelleth in him And therefore all that you say against his sin he taketh it as spoken against himself and he will defend his sin as he would defend himself He will hear you till you come to touch himself as the Jews did by Stephen Act. 7.51 54. when they heard him call them stiffnecked resisters of God and persecutors then they were cut to the heart and grind their teeth at him And as they did by Paul Act. 22.22 They gave audience to this word and then lift up their voices and said away with such a fellow from the earth for it is not fit that he should live Gal. 4.16 Joh 9.40 Mat. 21.45 The priests and pharisees would have laid hands on Christ when they perceived that he spake of them And Ahab hated Michaiah because he did not prophesie good of him but evil 1 King 22.8 Deservedly do they perish in their sin and misery that hate him that would deliver them and refuse the remedy Prov. 12.1 Whose loveth instruction loveth knowledge but he that hateth reproof is bruitish Prov. 29.1 He that being often reproved hardneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy XII 1. A Christian indeed is one that unfeignedly desireth to attain to the highest degree of holiness and to be perfectly freed from every thing that is sin He desireth perfection though not with a perfect desire He sitteth not down contentedly in any low degree of grace He looketh on the holiest how poor soever with much more reverence and esteem than on the most rich and honourable in the world And he had far rather be one of the most holy than one of the most prosperous and great He had rather be a Paul or Timothy than a Caesar or an Alexander He complaineth of nothing with so much sorrow as that he can Know and Love his God no more How happy an exchange would he count it if he had more of the Knowledge and Love of God though he lost all his wealth and honour in the world His smallest sins are a greater burden to him than his greatest corporal wants and sufferings As Paul who because he could not perfectly fulfill Gods Law and be as good as he would be crieth out as in bondage O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Rom. 7.27 2. And for the weak Christian though he is habitually and resolvedly of the same mind yet alas his desires after perfection are much more languid in him And he hath too much patience and reconciledness to some of his sins and sometimes taketh them to be sweet So that his enmity to his Pride or Coveteousness or passion is much abated and suffereth his sin to wast his grace and wound his conscience and hinder much of his communion with God He seeth not the odiousness of sin nor the beauty of Holiness with so clear a fight as the confirmed Christian doth He hateth sin more for the ill effects of it than for its malignant hateful nature He seeth not clearly the intrinsick evil that is in sin which maketh it deserve the pains of hell Nor doth he discern the difference between a holy and an unholy soul so clearly as the stronger Christian doth 1 Cor. 3.2 3. Heb. 12.1 3. And as for the seeming Christian though he may approve of perfect holiness in another and may wish for it himself when he thinketh of it but in the general and not as it is exclusive and destructive of his beloved sin yet when it cometh to particulars he cannot away with it He is so far from desiring it that he will not endure it The name of holiness he liketh and that preservation from Hell which is the consequent of it But when he understandeth what it is he hath no mind of it That holiness which should cure his ambition and pride and make him contented with a low condition he doth not like He loveth not that holiness which would deprive him of his coveteousness his intemperance in pleasant meats and drinks his fleshly lusts and inordinate pleasures Nor doth he desire that holiness should employ his soul in the Love of God and in daily prayer and meditating on his word and raise him to a heavenly life on earth XIII 1. A Christian indeed is one that maketh God and Heaven the End Reward and Motive of his Life And liveth not in the world for any thing in the world but for that endless happiness which the next world only can afford The Reasons which actuate his thoughts and choice and all his life are
because indeed there are a sort of persons that tythe mint and cummin while they pass by the greatest matters of the Law and that are causelesly scrupulous and make that to be sin which indeed is no sin And when such a scrupulous people are noted by their weakness and under dishonour among wiser men the Hypocrite hath a very plausible pretence for his hypocrisie in seeming only to avoid this ignorant scrupulosity and taking all for such who judge not his sin to be a thing indifferent Another great shelter to the credit and conscience of this Hypocrite is the Charity of the best sincerest Christians who alwayes judge rigedly of themselves and gently of others They would rather die than willfully choose to commit the smallest sin themselves but if they see another commit it they judge as favourably of it as the case will bear and hope that he did it not knowingly or willfully For they are bound to hope the best till the worst be evident This being the upright Christians case the hypocrite knoweth that he shall still have a place in the esteem and love of those charitable Christians whose integrity and moderation maketh their judgements most valuable And then for the judgement of God he will venture on it and for the censures of weaker persons who themselves are censured by the best for their censoriousness he can easily bear them And another covert for the hypocrite in this case is the different judgements of learned and religious men who make a controversie of the matter And what duty or sin is there that is not become a controversie Yea and among men otherwise well esteemed of except in the essentials of religion And if once it be a controversie whether it be a sin or not the hypocrite can say I am of the judgement of such and such good learned men they are very judicious excellent persons and we must not judge one another in controverted cases though we differ in judgement we must not differ in affection And thus because he hath a shelter for his reputation from the censures of men by the countenance of such as accompany him in his sin he is as quiet as if he were secured from the censures of the Almighty XL. 1. A Christian indeed is one that highly valueth time He abhorreth Idleness and all diversions which would rob him of his Time and hinder him from his work He knoweth how much work he hath to do and of what unspeakable consequence to his soul if not also to others He knoweth that he hath a soul to save or lose a heaven to win a hell to scape a death and judgement to prepare for many a sin to mortifie and many graces to get and exercise and increase and many enemies and temptations to overcome and that he shall never have more time of trial but what is now undone must be undone for ever He knoweth how short and hasty time is and also how uncertain and how short many hundred years is to prepare for an everlasting state if all were spent in greatest diligence And therefore he wondereth at those miserable souls that have time to spare and wast in those fooleries which they call pastimes even in stage-plaies cards and dice and long and tedious feastings delights complements idleness and overlong or needless visits or recreations He marvelleth at the distraction or sottishness of those persons that can play and prate and loyter and feast away precious hours as if their poor unprepared souls had nothing to do while they stand at the very brink of a dreadful eternity and are so fearfully unready as they are He taketh that person who would cheat him of his time by any of these forenamed baites to be worse to him than a thief that would take his purse from him by the high way O precious time how highly doth he value it when he thinks of his everlasting state and thinks what hast his death is makeing and what reckoning he must make for every moment what abundance of work hath he for every hour which he is grieved that he cannot do He hath a calling to follow and he hath a heart to search and watch and study and a God to seek and faithfully serve and many to do good to and abundance of particular duties to perform in order to every one of these But alas time doth make such hast away that many things are left undone and he is afraid left death will find him very much behind hand And therefore he is up and doing as one that hath use for every minute and worketh while it is day because he knoweth that the night is coming when none can work Joh. 9.4 Redeeming Time is much of his wisdom and his work Eph. 5.16 Col. 4.5 He had rather labour in the house of correction than live the swinish life of idle and voluptuous Gentleman or Beggers that live to no higher end than to live or to please their flesh or to live as worldlings that lose all their lives in the service of a perishing world He knoweth how precious time will be ere long in the eyes of those that now make light of it and trifle it away as a contemned thing as if they had too much 2. The weak Christian is of the same mind in the main But when it cometh to particular practice he is like a weak or weary traveller that goeth but slowly and maketh many a stop Though his face is still Heaven-wards he goeth but a little way in a day He is too easily tempted to idle or talk or feast or play away an hour unlawfully so it be not his ordinary course and he do it but seldome He taketh not the loss of an hour for so great a loss as the confirmed Christian doth He could sooner be perswaded to live though not an idle and unprofitable yet an easier less-profitable life The world and the flesh have farr more of his hours than they ought to have Though his weakness tell him that he hath most need of diligence 3. But the Time of a seeming Christian is most at the service of his fleshly interest and for that it is principally employed And for that he can Redeem it and grudge if it be lost But as he liveth not to God so he cannot redeem his time for God He loseth it even when he seemeth to employ it best when he is praying or otherwise worshipping God and doing that good which feedeth his false hopes he is not redeeming his time in all this While he is sleeping in security and deluding his soul with a few formal words and an image of Religion and his time passeth on and he is hurried away to the dreadful day and his damnation slumbreth not 2 Pet. 2.3 Pro. 20.4 Mat. 25.6 7 8. XLI 1. A Christian indeed is one whose very heart is set upon doing good As one that is made to be profitable to others according to his ability and place even as the Sun
Pride hath conquered his Sobriety and engaged him in some Sect or erroneous way which his Teachers are against and would reduce him from Joh. 6.66 Mark 5.27 2 Chron. 25.16 LVIII 1. A Christian indeed is one that hath stored up such manifold experience of the fulfilling of Gods promises and the bearing of prayers and of the goodness of his holy waies as will greatly fortifie him against all temptations to Infidelity Apostasie or Distrust No one hath stronger temptations usually than he and no one is so well furnished with weapons to resist them The arguments of most others are fetcht out of their Books only but he hath moreover a life of experiences to confirm his faith and so hath the witness in himself He hath tryed and found that in God in holiness in faith in prayer which will never suffer him to forsake them Yea it is like that he hath upon record some such wonders in the answer of prayers as might do much to silence an Infidel himself I am sure many Christians have had such strange appearances of the extraordinary hand of God that hath done much to destroy the remnants of their own unbelief Psal. 66.16 2. But the Experiences of the younger weaker Christians are much shorter and less serviceable to their faith And they have not judgement enough to understand and make use of the dealings of God but are ready to plead his providences unto evil ends and consequences and to take their own passionate imaginations for the workings of the Spirit It is ordinary with them to say This or that was set upon my heart or spoken to me as if it had been some divine inspiration when it was nothing but the troubled workings of a weak distempered brain and it is their own fantasie and heart that saith that to them which they think the Spirit of God within them said Heb. 5.11 12 13. 2 Thes. 2.21 John 4.1 1 Tim. 4.1 1 Cor. 12.10 Jer. 23.28.27.32 29.8 3. And the Hypocrite wanteth those establishing Experiments of the power of the Gospel and the hearing of prayers and fulfilling of promises and communion with Christ in the spirit And therefore he is the more open to the power of temptations and a subtil disputer will easilier corrupt him and carry him away to flat Apostasie For he wanteth the Root and Witness in himself Mat. 13.21 22 1 John 5.10 Heb. 6.6 7 8. Luk. 8.13 LIX 1. A Christian indeed is one that highly valueth sanctified affections and passions that all he doth may be done as lively as possibly he can And also holy abilities for expression But he much more valueth the three great essential constant parts of the new creature within him that is 1. A high estimation of God and Christ and Heaven and Holiness in his understanding above all that can be set in any competition 2. A resolved choice and adhesion of the Will by which he preferreth God and Christ and Heaven and Holiness above all that can be set against them and is fixedly resolved here to place his happiness and his hopes 3. The main drift and endeavours of his Life in which he seeketh first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness Mat. 6.33.9.20.21 In these three his Highest estimation his Resolved choice and complacencies and his Chief endeavours he taketh his standing constant evidences of his sincerity to consist And by these he tryeth himself as to his state and not by the passionate feelings or affections of his heart nor by his memory or gifts or orderly thinking of expression And it is these Rational operations of his Soul in which he knoweth that Holiness doth principally consist and therefore he most laboureth to be strong in these 1. To ground his Judgement well 2. And to resolve to fix his Will 3. And to order his Conversation aright Psal. 50.23 Yet highly valuing sensible Affections and gifts of utterance but in subserviency to those which are the vital acts 1 Cor. 13. Rom. 7.18 19 c. 6.16 22. Rom. 8.13 Jam. 2. Col. 1.9 3.16 2. But the weak Christian usually placeth most of his religion in the more affectionate and expressive part He striveth more with his heart for passionate apprehensions than for complacency and fixed resolution He is often in doubt of his sincerity when he wanteth the feeling affectionate workings which he desireth c. thinketh he hath no more grace than that he hath sensibility of expressive gifts And so as he buildeth his comfort upon these unconstant signs his comforts are accordingly unconstant sometime he thinketh he hath grace when his body or other advantages do help the excitation of his lively affections And when the dulness of his body or other impediments hinder this he questioneth his grace again because he understandeth not aright the nature and chiefest acts of grace 3. The Hypocrite hath neither the Rational nor the Passionate part in Sincerity But he may go much further in the latter than in the former A quick and passionate nature though unsanctified may be brought to shed more tears and express more fervour than many a holy person can Especially upon the excitation of some quickning Sermon or some sharp affliction or great conviction or at the approach of death Few of the most holy persons can constantly retain so lively fervent passionate repentings and desires and resolutions to amend as some carnal persons have in sickness The power of fear alone doth make them more earnest that Love maketh many a gracious soul. But when the fear is over they are the same again How oft have I heard a sick man most vehemently profess his resolutions for a holy life which all have come to nothing afterwards How oft have I heard a common drunkard with tears cry out against himself for his sin and yet go on in it And how many gracious persons have I known whose judgements and wills have been groundedly resolved for God and holiness and their lives have been holy fruitfull and obedient who yet could not shed a tear for sin nor feel any very great sorrows or joys If you judge of a man by his earnestness in some good moods and not by the constant tenor of his life you will think many an Hypocrite to be better than most Saints Who would have thought that had seen him only in that fit but that Saul had been a penitent man when he lift up his voice and wept and said to David Thou art more righteous than I for thou hast rewarded me good whereas I have rewarded thee evil 1 Sam. 24.16 17 18 19 20 21. A smaller matter will raise some sudden passions than will renew the soul and give the preheminence to God and Holiness and Heaven in the Judgement Will and Conversation Hos. 6.4 13.3 Isa. 58.2 Mat. 13.20 LX. 1. A Christian indeed confirmed in Grace is one that maketh it the business of his life to prepare for death and delayeth not his serious thoughts of it and preparations
for it till it surprize him and therefore when it cometh it findeth him prepared and he gladly entertaineth it as the messenger of his Father to call him to his everlasting home It is not a strange unexpected thing to him to hear he must die He died daily in his daily sufferings and mortified contempt of worldly things and in his daily expectation of his change He wondereth to see men at a dying time surprized with astonishment and terrour who jovially or carelesly neglected it before as if they had never known till then that they must die Or as if a few years time were reason enough for so great a difference For that which he certainly knoweth will be he looketh at as if it were even at hand and his preparation for it is more serious in his health than other mens is on their death-bed He useth more carefully to bethink himself what graces he shall need at a dying time and in what case he shall then wish his soul to be and accordingly he laboureth in his provisions now even as if it were to be tomorrow He verily believeth that it is incomparably better for him to be with Christ than to abide on earth and therefore though Death of it self be an enemy and terrible to nature yet being the only passage into happiness he gladly entertaineth it Though he have not himself any clear and satisfactory apprehensions of the place and state of the happiness of departed souls yet it quieteth him to know that they shall be with Christ and that Christ knoweth all and prepareth and secureth for him that promised Rest Joh. 12.26 2 Cor. 5.1 7 8. Phil. 1.21 23. Luke 23.43 Though he is not free from all the natural fears of death yet his belief and hope of endless happiness doth abate those fears by the joyfull expectation of the gain which followeth See my Book called The last enemy and the last work of a Believer and that of self-denial against the fears of death But especially he loveth and longeth for the coming of Christ to judgement as knowing that then the Marriage-day of the Lamb is come and then the desires and hopes of all Believers shall be satisfied Then shall the Righteous shine as Stars in the Kingdom of their Father and the hand of violence shall not reach them Every enemy then is overcome and all the Redeemers work is consummated and the Kingdom delivered up unto the Father Then shall the ungodly and the unmercifull be confounded and the righteous filled with overlasting joy when their Lord shall throughly plead their cause and justifie them against the accusations of Satan and all the lies of his malicious instruments O blessed glorious joyfull day when Christ shall come with thousands of his Angels to execute vengeance on the ungodly world and to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that now believe 2 Thes. 1.8 9 10 When the patient followers of the Lamb shall behold him in glory whom they have believed in and shall see that they did not pray or hope or wait in vain When Christ himself and his sacred truth shall be justified and glorified in the presence of the world and his enemies mouths for ever stopped When he shall convince all that are ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Jude 14 15. Where then is the mouth that pleadeth the cause of infidelity and impiety and reproached the serious holiness of Believers and made a jest of the Judgements of the Lord Then what terrours and confusion and shame what fruitless repentings will seize upon that man that set himself against the holy ones of the Lord and knew not the day of his visitation and imbraced the image and form of godliness while he abhorred the power The Joys which will then possess the hearts of the Justified will be such as now no heart can comprehend When Love shall come to be glorified in the highest expression to those that lately were so low when all their doubts and fears and sorrows shall be turned into full contenting sight and all tears shall be wiped away and all reproaches turned into glory and every enemy overcome and sin destroyed and holiness perfected and our vile bodies changed and made like the glorious body of Christ Phil. 3.20 21. Col. 3.3 4. Then will the Love and work of our Redemption be fully understood And then a Saint will be a Saint indeed when with Christ they shall judge the Angels and the world 1 Cor. 6.2 3. and shall hear from Christ Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Mat. 25.34 Enter ye into the joy of your Lord Mat. 25.21 Then every knee shall bow to Christ and every tongue shall confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father Phil. 2.9 10 11. Then sin will fully appear in its malignity and holiness in its luster unto all The proud will then be abased and the mouths of all the wicked stopped when they shall see to their confusion the Glory of that Christ whom they despised and of those holy ones whom they made their scorn In vain will they then knock when the door is shut and cry Lord Lord open unto us Mat. 25.10 11 12. And in vain will they then wish O that we had known the day of our visitation that we might have died the death of the righteous and our latter end might have been as his Numb 23.10 Rom. 3.19 Job 5.16 Psal. 107.42 31.23 13.6 8. The day of Death is to true Believers a day of Happiness and Joy But it is much easier for them to think with joy on the coming of Christ and the day of Judgement because it is a day of fuller joy and soul and body shall be conjoyned in the blessedness and there is nothing in it to be so great a stop to our desires as Death is which naturally is an enemy God hath put a love of life and fear of death into the nature of every sensible creature as necessary for the preservation of themselves and others and the orderly Government of the world But what is there in the blessed day of Judgement which a Justified child of God should be averse to O if he were but sure that this would be the day or week or year of the coming of his Lord how glad would the confirmed Christian be and with what longings would he be looking up to see that most desired sight 2. And the weak Christian is so far of the same mind that he had rather come to God by Death and Judgement than not at all except when temptations make him fear that he shall be condemned He hath fixedly made choice of that Felicity which till then he cannot attain He would not take all the pleasures of this world for his hopes of the happiness of