through the deceiveable lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your minds and put on the New man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Eph. 4.22 23 24. and then Christ and all his benefits and promises will belong unto you but not before In the mean time you are in your blood Ezek. 16.6 and have to answer not onely for your Original guilt but for every thought word and action of yours from your infancy Matth. 9.12 13 Luk. 1.53 Gal. 5.1 to 7. enough to make you bethink your selves And so much of Civil and Moral men CHAP. IX SEcondly there are others and not a few that seem and profess themselves real Christians when if they were well examined and discovered as Jephta once discovered and distinguished who were Ephramites and who Gileadites by their pronouncing the word Shibboleth Judg. 12.6 It would be found that the most of these also are no more like Christians than Michaels Image of goats hair was like David Many have a form of godliness while they deny the power of it yea there are too many titular Christians who stand more upon the outward appearance of godliness than the inward essence Such as seem and are not say and do not profess and practise not Others there are who be not onely great talkers of Religion but great frequenters of holy exercises yet altogether neglect to practice the same Ezek. 33.31 That like sick stomacks much do swallow down but little do disgest that go to Church onely to be seen there and out of self-ends that it may the more inhaunse their gain increase their custom or to get credit and esteem thereby Nor do they always miss of their aim for for outward shew they come short of none Neither is there any duty done by a Christian but an Hypocrite may outstrip him in it Who may be resembled to that unwelcome guest the wind for as the wind will counterfeit any disease of the body whether it be the stone gowt and the like So these outside and formal Christians will counterfeit every grace of the soul as faith zeal and the like Yea to the eye of the world they resemble Moscovia-glass which though it be of little worth is as clear as Christal as transparant as air yea the Hypocrite may not onely pass for a true Christian as did Judas Annanias and Saphira Nicholas the Deacon c. but they will seem to outstrip them in goodness as snow does salt and sugar in whiteness And well they may when their principle care is onely to hide their defects as Julius Caesar wore a garland of Bays onely to hide his baldness Nor can you blame their discretion therein whatever you do their honesty For Each cunning sin being clad in virtues shape Flies much reproof and many storms doth scape These have form of godliness but are the worse for it For in that they draw neer to God with their mouths and honour him with their lips when their hearts are far from him they are stiled Hypocrites both by Isaiah chap. 29.13 and our Saviour Mat. 15.7 8. as well they deserve it But there are yet far worse than these yea too many who may be called white Devils even such as make Religion a stalking horse to villany or a cloak to cosen the world unseen Such as shrowd an Egyptian heart under the habit of an Israelite whose life and profession is a continual incongruity and whose works are antipodes to their words Their profession being honey while their practice is poyson Even such as speak like Angels live like Devils have Jacobs voyce Esaus hands That like Ethiopians are white in teeth onely every way else coal black being Christians in skin Atheists at core Judas you know was openly a Disciple but secretly a Devil The Scribes and Pharisees were fair Professors foul sinners for they devoured widows houses under a colour of long prayers Matth. 33.14 28. Which grosser sort of Hypocrites may be resembled to some wicked Ale-house that hath Fear God Be sober Watch and Pray painted upon the walls when there is nothing but swearing and drunkenness in the same To a filthy Strumpet with a painted face To the Serpent Requius that hath scales as glorious as the Sun but breath as infectious as the Aconite Or to the Devil in Samuels likeness But let these take heed for as dissembled piety is double iniquity so their plagues shall be double in that they most wofully shame Religion by professing it and make the way of truth evil spoken of 2 Pet. 2.2 Yea as of old the people abhorred the service of God and became despisers of his worship because those prophane sons of Eli were so wicked and scandalous 1 Sam. 2.17 so do these Yea thou Hypocrite thou white Devil thy ill life single puls down more than many good tongues can build up CHAP. X. I Grant there are of them so like Christians as to the external parts of Christianity that it is no easie matter to convince them that they are not really such for they have been baptized live unreprovably pay their dues pray in their families are charitable chaste temporate hear the best Ministers repeat Sermons instruct their children and servants with many the like therefore they must needs be good and real Christians To which I answer All this they may do and yet be but almost Christians For as a child of God by looking more upon his sins then his graces more upon his failings then his faith more upon in-dwelling lusts then renewing grace may think his condition very bad when it is very good So the sinner by looking more upon his duties then his sins may think his condition very good and yet be in a wicked estate And the reason is Many mistake common grace for saving grace through the resemblance that is between them As many take counterfeit mony for current coin And as Saul took the Devil for Samuel because he appeared in Samuels likeness So many take common gifts for saving graces because of the resemblance And this is the common Rock that so many souls split upon to their eternal hazard They take up a form of godliness but deny the power thereof And as many might have been wise had they not so thought themselves so many a formal Professor might have been a sincere Believer had he not mistook his Profession for Conversion his Duties for Graces and so rested in that for Sincerity which is indeed but Hypocrisie A man may be like or almost a Christian and yet not be a Christian A man may come neer to the Kingdom of Heaven and yet be ne're the neer Thou art not far from the Kingdom of Heaven said our Saviour to the young man Mark 12.34 There is an external and an internal worship of God There may be the likeness of grace without the life of grace There is no grace but an Hypocrite may have somewhat like it and there is no duty done by a
Christian but an Hypocrite may do somewhat like it A man may attain to many gifts and seeming graces and make a great progress in Religion yea he may do all as to external duties and worship that a true Christian can do and yet be but almost a Christian As observe what God saith Isai 58. of that people They seek me daily They delight to know my way as a Nation that did righteousness and forsook not the Ordinances of their God They ask of me the Ordinances of Justice They take delight in approaching to God vers 2. yea in the next verse They were a people much in fasting and afflicting their souls Wherefore have we fasted say they and thou seest it not And yet for all this they were no better then a generation of Hypocrites as you may finde if you read the Chapter Some neither hear nor do as prophane sinners some both hear and do as true Believers some hear but do not as hypocritical Professors A man may believe all the truths of the Gospel all the promises all the threatnings all the Articles of the Creed to be true and yet perish for want of saving faith A man may be converted from a course of prophaneness to a form of godliness from a filthy conversation to a fair profession and yet be but almost a Christian A man may be outwardly reformed and yet not savingly renewed c. CHAP. XI BUt would you know who are indeed Christians as Saint Paul was and who but almost Christians as Agrippa was Or rather wouldst thou rightly know the sincerity of thine own heart of thy profession of thy Religion which as one would think should be the earnest desire of every ingenious soul then ask thy conscience these questions Art thou sensible how evil and wicked thou art Dost thou seriously lay to heart first the corruption of thy nature by reason of Original sin secondly thy manifold breach of Gods righteous Law by actual sinne thirdly the guilt and punishment due to thee for them both And in case thou art truly sensible of thy wretchednesse it is a good sign that thou art in some forwardnesse to be recovered And indeed the very first step to grace is to feel the want of grace and the necessity of a Redeemer And the next way to receive mercy is to see your self miserable Dost thou find that the Word and Spirit hath wrought an apparent change in thy judgment affections and actions to what they were formerly is Christ thy greatest joy sin thy greatest sorrow and grace the prime object of thy desires Art thou as conscientious alone and in private where God onely sees thee as if thy greatest enemy or all the World did behold thee Dost thou make conscience of evil thoughts grieve for thy unprofitableness under the means of grace for the evil which cleaves to thy very best actions and for sins of Omission Whatever thou enjoyest on this side Hell dost thou think thy self unworthy of it Dost thou more fear the want of grace then confide in what thou hast Dost thou endeavour to leave every sin and make conscience of every duty Dost thou make Gods glory the chief end of all thy actions and aims Dost thou desire the conversion of others Then my soul for thine thou art more then almost a Christian Again the love of grace in another is a good proof of the life of grace in our selves a child of God cannot love a sinner as a sinner Psal 15.4 Prov. 29.27 So a sinner cannot love a child of God as a child of God Briefly when a mans heart is throwly renewed by grace his mind savingly enlightned his conscience throwly convinced the will truly humbled and subdued the affections spiritually raised and sanctified and when mind and will and conscience and affections all join issue to help on with performance of duties commanded then is a man altogether a Christian But contrarily he that takes up with a form of Godliness hating or denying the power thereof is an Hypocrite ipso facto And let men take heed of that sin with two faces and whose reward is the deepest place in Hell as appears by Matth. 23. And the rather for that wickedness does most rankle the heart when it is kept in and dissembled Besides the scab of Hypocrisie does not seldom break out into the plague sore of Apostacy Julian the Apostate was first Julian the Professor To conclude if thou findest not these notes of sincerity in thy self let it be the earnest desire of thy soul and thy principal endeavour to obtain the same Otherwise woe unto thee For outward profession where there is want of inward truth and real practice does but help to draw on and aggravate judgment The Scribes and Pharisees had not heard of so many woes but for their glorious pretences and had the Figtree in the Gospel been utterly bare and leafless it had in all probability escaped the curse Thus mistake through ignorance is one great cause of many mens falling short of their hopes and of their being but almost Christians while they think themselves Christians indeed CHAP. XII BUt Secondly Pride is another cause We are so proud by nature that we have an eye to see our beauty but not our deformity our parts but not our spots our seeming righteousness but not our real-naughtiness our spiritual wretchedness We have all for the most part a self righteousness Every man says Luther is born with a Pope in his belly But it must be the work of grace onely that will make us see our extream vileness and that will make us acceptable to God and it must be the work of grace that must shew a man his want of grace It is the Believers Motto The least of Saints the greatest of Sinners But the Carnal mans Motto is I thank God I am not as other men Eph. 3.8 1 Tim. 1.15 Luke 18.11 But the onely way to become good is first to believe that we are evil Thirdly Another cause is Laziness and the love of the World Almost thou perswadest me to become a Christian says Agrippa to Paul but he could not find in his heart to become one altogether for then he must live a more strict life and relinquish the worlds wicked customs So Balaam could be willing to die the death of the righteous but to part with his covetousness and live the life of the righteous he could not finde in his heart And therefore Christ profited him nothing Hell is to be had with ease but the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence Matth. 11.12 Many shall seek to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but shall not be able because they did not strive Luke 13.24 Yea many run well in the way of Christianity for a while but they do not hold out Gal. 5.7 But perseverance is the crown of all grace and Heaven the crown of perseverance It is said of the truly righteous he shall scarcely be saved 1 Pet. 4.18 And it
witness And how could this be were it not for the foregoing Reasons Neither could men else but hate sin and love holiness For besides that any rational man would rather go to Heaven and be saved than to Hell and be damned even Plato a meer Heathen could say that vertue if it be clearly discerned moves great love and affection And that in case a vertuous soul could but be seen with corporal eyes it would ravish all men and set their hearts on fire with love and admiration of the same CHAP. IV. BUt you will ask me who are such as may properly becalled Christians Answ Those that are rightly so styled do in some measure walk according to the rules and precepts of the Gospel as these and the like though with much infirmity Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart mind and strength and thy neighbour as thy self Matth. 22.37 39. Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10.31 Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you even the same do ye unto them Mat. 7.12 c. He walks not according to the rudiments of the World neither does he follow the example of the greatest number nor the greatest men nor the greatest Scholars any farther then they follow Christ But he serves God in spirit according to Christs Gospel for so far forth as he can he lives and believes and hears and invocates and hopes and fears and loves and worships God in such manner as his Word prescribes without addition or diminution And having so done and performed his utmost not to deserve by it but to express his thankfulness to Christ that hath done and suffered so much for him he confesseth himself an unprofitable servant and that in all he comes far short of performing his duty Luke 17.10 If you would have a full and compleat Character of such an one for your imitation and direction or for a pattern to know believe and live by read The whole Duty of a Christian lately Printed for Mr. Crips In the mean time know that we are not born but new born Christians by the immortal seed of the Word and the Spirits powerful working with it And when any one is new born it will appear by this Regeneration or new birth is a creation of new qualities in the soul as being by nature onely evil disposed In all that are born anew is a change both in the judgement from error to truth and in the will from evill to good and in the affections from loving evill and hating good to love good and hate evil in the whole man from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God Nor is there one of that small number whom Christ hath chosen out of the World but is able to say I bless God his Word and Spirit hath wrought in me such a change and strange alteration that it hath opened mine eyes that were blind before inclined my will to obedience which before was rebellious softned my heart sanctified and quite changed my affections So that I now love that good which before I hated and hate that evil which before I loved and am delighted with those holy exercises which heretofore did most displease me and am displeased with those vain pleasures and filthy sins which in time past did most delight me and accounts the same such a mercy that no tongue is able to express it CHAP. V. BUt to bring this home to our selves Are none Christians but such as imitate Christ and endeavour to make the Gospel a rule for them to walk by then in the first place they that are in their judgments affections and actions quite contrary to Christ and the Gospel are far from being Christians And of this number are all Drunkards Swearers and Cursers and the lascivious and voluptuous all Adulterers and Fornicators all covetous unjust and unmerciful men all Seducers false Teachers and such us err in Fundamentals or hold damnable Opinions all ignorant persons that know not God nor the very first principles of Christianity which every one must of necessity know or he cannot be saved Isa 27.11 Hos 4.6 2 Thes 1.7 8. Prov. 19 2. John 3.19 and the number of these are numberless all the rebellious and disobedient all lyars flatterers and time servers who like those Chaldeans Dan. 3.7 would worship a golden Image rather then for-go their immunities all open or secret enemies to the power of godliness as scoffers at holiness and haters of the good who are not a few all Idolaters railers the fearful and unbelieving Sorcerers c. who shall every one if they repent not have their part and portion in the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death as the Holy Ghost witnesseth Rev. 21.8 1 Cor. 6.9 10. All these I say shew by their works that they serve not the Lord Jesus but their Father the Devil and therefore ought not to be owned as Christians For what saith the Apostle his servants we are to whom we yield obedience Rom. 6.16 See more Gal. 5.24 2 Pet. 2.19 Matth. 6.24 Luke 1.74 75. So that it is an infallible argument if we observe and obey Christs precepts we are his Servants if Satans commands we are his subjects and slaves Men may pretend what they will but we are bound to believe the God of truth and what saith Saint John He that pretends interest in God or Christ and keepeth not his commandments is a lyar and the truth is not in him 1 John 2.4 5. and in the third Chapter and eight verse he affirms plainly that all wilful sinners are the Devils servants And indeed let men flatter themselves or pretend what they will it cannot be denied but the fruit tells best the name of the tree The conversation above all shews who carries the bridle of the will whether God or Satan And did not men purposely shut their eyes stop their ears and harden their own hearts lest they should see and hear and so be converted as our Saviour himself speaks Matth. 13.15 they could not but know that the whole Bible beats upon this It is St. Pauls everlasting Rule Rom. 6.16 Ye are his servants to whom ye obey And St. Peters infallible Doctrine 2 Pet. 2.19 Of whom a man is overcome unto him he is in bondage And St. John In this are the children of God known and the children of the Devil Whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God but of the Devil 1 John 3.8 10. And after this manner does our Saviour reason with the Jews John 8.33 to 48. See then whose commands ye do Gods or Satans if Satans then saith St. John Let no man deceive you through vain words for he onely that doth righteousness is righteous and he that doth unrighteousness is of the Devil 1 John 3.7 8. Now what can be spoken more express or more full to the point in hand Nevertheless as the