be so it is plain there is no need of the Guide we are seeking for and then I doubt after all our searching we shall never be able to find him But there is one Argument above all that there is no such Guide viz. That Christ never Promised There should be one always in his Church And without a Promise from him we can never be certain that there is We know what is pretended in this matter and what Texts are produce for it but after the strictest and most deliberate Enquiry into the meaning of them we can find no evidence of any such Promise nor discern the least shadow or Footstep of a visible Infallible Guide We own indeed that God has Promised the Guidance of his Spirit to all that desire the Knowledg of his Ways but we the rather think that he has not promised any other Infallible Guide than this For what need is there of the Inward Direction of the Spirit in the Search of Truth when we have a Guide at hand that can lead us Infallibly into it and save us the labour of searching after it But did not our Saviour Promise to send his Spirit upon the Apostles and were not they Infallible Guides True but did he Promise to make their Successors in all Ages Infallible too If he did every Successor has an equal Claim And then how comes the Church of Rome to talk of but one Infallible Guidfe since the Death of the Apostles and to Appropriate that extraordinary favour to here self If he did not she must shew us a particular Charter or Promise that Infallibility should never depart from the See of Rome and when she does that we may allow her to be Infallible But supposing that Christ had promised an Infallible Guide it may be convenient to know 2. Whether or no he has given him Authourity to suspend the Judgment of all Christians in matters of Religion This we must say is a distinct Power from Infallibility unless we can imagin that our Saviour and his Apostles tho they were infallible did not know the extent of their Power For 't is plain they did not affect any such Authority or treat their Disciples in this manner but both required them to prove the Truths which they heard Act. 17.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and commended their Ingenuity in proving them by the Scriptures Besides a Guide whose Directions we must blindly follow without examinig the Grounds and Tendency of them seems to be a very improper means of bringing men to Heaven For surely God did design that in the exercise of our Religion we should act like men and not lay aside our Reasonand Judgment as things that are dangerous to our salvation 'T is true not to Judge at all is a certain way not to err but it is a very blind and unlikely way to bring men to the knowledge of the Truth without which their Obedience can never be a Reasonable Service And theresore if any Church or Person under colour of Infallibility shall assume an absolute Authority over the Consciences of men before I resign up my Judgment to them I must desire to be informed not only how they come to be infallible but what Commission they have to oblige me to believe as they please and to strangle my own Sense and Reason if they offer to oppose any Doctrine of theirs tho never so absurd or contradictory to them But suppose still there were Reasons to convince me that there is an infallible Judge and that there ought to be no Judge besides him yet because he cannot be useful to me till I know who he is there is another great Question to be resolved before I can prudently commit my self to him viz. How I may certainly know where to find him And here I meet with one vast Discouragement at the very entrance into this enquiry Namely that the same Church which alone pretends to this Infallible Guide is very uncer tain who he is Some chain Infallibility to St. Peter's Chair and place it in the Person of the Pope But this is the most Interessed Party as depending entirely upon the Pleasure of him whom they call Infallible Others send us to General Councils some of whcih have condemn'd the Pope for an Heretick and contradicted the Decrees of former Councils But then what think we of Oral Tradition Or the Doctrine of the Universal Churcvh conveighed by Father to Son from the Apostles Time down to the Present Age The General consent I confess of the Christian Church so far as it reaches is an excellent means to find out the sense of Scripture But we are not speaking now of Tradition or the Church as a Witness of Truth but of the Authority of any Church or Guide to prescribe a Rule of Faith and Practice by Vertue of an Insallible Assistance This is the thing we are enquiring after and where the Seat of this Authority is and all we can certainly learn hitherto is this That seeing there are so many controversies in the Church of Rome about it it will be a very hard thing to find it there And that in the Judgment of a considerable part of that Church a man may tire himself and be in quest of his Infallible guide all his Days and never come within sight of him at last For suppose he takes the Pope to be the infallible Oracle he is thought to be mistaken by all those that stand for a General council and if he go to a General council he is lost in the opinion of all that declare for single infallibility And the men for Oral tradition think they are all deceived that look for infallibility in any one Person or Party in the Church What must we do now that have so much choice of infallible guides and nothing to determine our choice Many we pick and choose at a venture But that cannot be safe because they have occasion sometimes to lead contrary to one another and therefore cannot be all infakubke and none of them speaks of more infallible guides than one Must we then weigh their Reasons and the Scriptures they produce for their several claims These we have often heard and considered and cannot but admire the confidence of men who pretend to sound the infallibility and other Prerogatives of the Bishop and Church of Rome upon Texts that speak not the least Syllable of them Whereas matters of this importance ought to be exprest in the easiest and plainnest Words that he that runs may read them If not only the Peace and Unity of the Church but every man's salvation depends as our Adversaries must say upon the Right understanding of there Texts we have that confidence in the Goodness of our Saviour that we certainly believe he would not expect we should find out a meaning in therm that by no good Rule of Interpretation can be collected from them And for this Reason we cannot think our selves obliged when any thing is said
to premise 1. That by the streight way to Heaven I understand as it is plain the Author of this Epistle does the way which God hath revealed in his Gospel the same which is there called the way that leadeth unto Life Mat. 7.14.22.16 Act. 16.17 2 Pet. 2.15 Heb. 10.20 the way of God in Truth the way of Salvation the right way the new and living way which Christ hath consecrated for us that is the Method which the Son of God by his Incarnation and Preaching the Gospel hath put us into for the attainment of Everlasting Life and Happiness 2. By the sure finding of this Way upon a due and careful enquiry I mean that Ordinary Christians by applying themselves to the study of the Scriptures the Sacred Records of our Religion with a clear and honest intention by imploring the Divine Asssistance and making that use they ought of their Spiritual Guides may certainly attain to the knowledge of all the Truths which are necessary to be believed and of the Duties required of them to be done in order to their Eternal Salvation And this is as much as any man that is sincerely inquisitive after the Way to Heaven can desire For who that is so can desire to be more than certain of his way thither Or to have a better Foundation for his Faith and Practice than the Authority of God himself who if there be any such thing as Infallibity in men must be the Author of it Now to prove that we may be certain of our way to Heaven without the help of an Infallible Guide I shall endeavour to make good these following Assertions 1. That the Blessed Author of our Religion hath left us a certain Rule to direct us to Eternal Life That there is such a Rule is as evident as that the Gospel is the Word of God or that the Doctrine of Christ is contained in the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles And in this all Christians are agreed Even the Romanists themselves allow the Scripture to be the Infallible Rule tho they are no great Friends to the Usefulness or Perfection of it But still we have a greater Authority than this I mean that of the Scriptures themselves which declare that they were written Joh. 10. ult that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God i. e. to be the Rule of our Christian Faith and that Believing we might have Life through his Name Tit. 2.11 12. That they teach us a Rule of Life and are able to make us wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 3.15 And hence the Primitive Fathers and the First General Councils appealed to the Scriptures as the True Standard of Christianity and condemned the Ancient Hereticks by the Authority of them In those days the manner was to set the Holy Oracles in the midst of the Councils to signifie that they ought to be consulted in all their Debates and that nothing ought to be imposed upon the Faith of Christians or decreed to be an Article of Religion but what may be found in the Gospel and is so determined by that Infallible Rule 2. Christ having left such a Rule to his Church it must be supposed to be Intelligible i. e. capable of being understood and applied by those that are to use it as a Rule Otherwise it can never serve the Great End it was given for to say which is the highest Reflexion that can be upon the Wisdom of him that gave it The Gospel pretends to shew us a streight way to Heaven but to what purpose if we can never find it by its directions If we must use it as a Rule we must learn from it what we are to believe and practise And if we must do so I think that is a plain and unanswerable Argument that we may do it For assuredly God would never make a shew of bringing us to Heaven by a Means which he certainly knows would fail us if we trust to it 3. The Institution of Pastors and Ministers in the Church for the instruction of private persons in the meaning of this Rule undeniably proves that our Saviours meaning was that all Christians should understand it themselves And then it is evident they may do it so far as they are concern'd and are qualified to judge in other matters For what use is there of Teachers but to assist and inform our Understandings and help us to make a Right Judgment of Things Or what benefit is there of being taught if we may not use our Judgment when it is rightly informed and be permitted to know when it is and when not This I am sure is the natural priviledge of Mankind and I do not know one natural right that our Saviour by any Institution of his deprives us of And certainly of all others he would never bar us of this because his Doctrine would be of little use to us without it For what sway is the Gospel like to bear upon our Minds or which way can it influence our lives till we know the true Sense and Uses of it which it is impossible we should unless we may exercise our own Judgments upon them Let my Guide be never so Knowing or Infallible 't is not his without my own knowledge that can make me sure of my way And therefore unless he has a way to conveigh his Great Knowledge into me and if he has it is surely through my understanding I am but just where I was without him and never like to make any Spiritual Improvement by him 'T is the Interest I confess of some Teachers that their Disciples should not see which way they lead them But those whom Christ hath ordained to this Office are sent to open their Eyes and to turn them from Darkness unto Light that they themselves may see the things which belong to their Eternal Peace 4. Christians without distinction are expresly required to search the Scriptures and to prove all things by them as the Rule and Standard of Truth and certainty in matters of Religion Search the Scriptures saith our Saviour for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life John 5.39 implying that as there is a Treasure in the Scriptures a clear discovery of the Way to Eternal Life so it may be certainly found by those that duly search for it And if it may be found in the Scriptures of the Old Testament to which our Saviour here directs his Disciples there can be no reason we should despair of finding it in the New being infallibly assured 2 Tim. 1.10 that Life and Immortality were brought to the Light of the Gospel i.e. were more Emphatically Discovered being set in a better Light to us Christians by the New and Brighter Revelations of the Gospel than they were of Old to the Jews by all the Writings of Moses and the Prophets And then if we seek for Life and Immortality and follow the directions of this
Greater Light we may be sure to make Streight Paths for our Feet till we come to the Perfect Fruition of them Nor are we commanded only to search the Scriptures but to prove all things by them to try the Spirits whether they be of God 1 Thes 5.21 1 Job 1.4 Luk. 12.57 and to judge of our selves what is Right That is we must use our own Reason and Judgment in comparing matters in Controversie with the Infallible Rule of Scripture For some Rule we must have to Prove and Try and Judge by And it is plain the Scripture takes no notice of any other Rule but it self and that of Modern and Unwritten Tradition as Opposite to it And this is security enough against any Dangerous Error considering that the Gospel is as much a standing Revelation to the Christian Church as the Law and the Prophets were to the Jews 5. We find the happy Effect of this Course so far that persons of ordinary capacity after a competent Trial of it do rightly believe and understand all that is necessary to their Eternal Salvation The necessary Articles of Religion are so visible in the Scriptures that it is the hardest thing that can be for an Ingenious Reader to overlook them That there is but One God that He only ought to be Worshipped that he sent his Only Begotten to Die for us that he Died and Rose again that as many as Repent of their Sins Believe and Obey the Gospel shall be Saved These and other Principles of Religion are so clearly and fully exprest in Scripture that there is no need of an Infallible Interpreter to certifie for them A common Understanding with the ordinary Means of Knowledge can reach the Discovery I mean without the help of a Roman Telescope or standing upon the Shoulders of St. Peters's pretended Successor This we know the Certainty of we feel it in our selves and we see the Demonstration of it in ten thousand Instances and do not think the worse of our Faith for being Protestant i. e. immediately Grounded upon the Evidence and Authority of Scripture We look upon it as our Inviolable Birth right to judge of Plain Truths when we see them And for this we have the general Sense of Mankind on our side and cannot think it reasonable to put it to any man to judge for us whether or no there is a God a Christ or a Heaven That all necessary Truths are plain is allowed by all Christians but those that make Articles of Faith necessary to Salvation which are so far from being plain that there is not the least mention of them in the whole Gospel And if all things that are Necessary are Plain then I hope a plain man may judge of them and without asking leave of any other man may believe them and so doing he certainly is in a state of Salvation And then the Church that declares he is not cannot be Infallible unless a Church can Err and be Infallible at the same instant 6. It is far easier for men who implore the Direction of God and use the Helps which he affords them to find their way to Heaven in the Scriptures than to find an Infallible Guide on Earth to lead them to it It must be granted that there are Obscure as well as Plain Passages in Scripture Some Places so very Dark and Intricate that they even Pose the most skilful and judicious Guides But thn our Happiness is that our Way does not lie Thorough them and that there is Light enough in innumerable other places to direct our Steps and to bring us in a Streight Line to Everlasting Bliss and Perfection I do not say that every thing tht concerns our Salvation is so clearly revealed that no man can be ignorant of it But that we may know as much as is needful for us if we apply our minds to it and laying aside all prejudice against the Truth beg of God to Preserve us from Error all which we have great encouragement to do since he has promised us the assistance of his Spirit in the search of Truth The Church of Rome indeed offers to put us into a shorter and easier Method of finding out Truth and to bring us to a Guide that will Infallibly shew us every step of our way So that we need not be at the Pains of any Tedious Inquiries nor any longer in danger of missing our Aim in them through the weakness of our own Fallible Judgments And who would not gladly embrace so Free and kind an Offer as this provided there be no Trick or Fallacy it it The Tryal of which will appear if the Proposes of this way of certainty be able to satisfy us in a few reasonable Cases without which as great as the Courtesy seems to be we cnnot prudently Accept of their Offer If a man should freely proffer me the Indies I must say it is a very Noble Gift if he can make it good and when he has convinced me that he can I will thankfully accept it from him but before he can give me Satisfaction about it I find ther must be a few words exchanged between us and therefore if he Pleases I desire him to tell me how he came to be the Owner of so vast a Treasure which is or lately was in the possession of so many Great and Potent Princes And which way he will put me into Possession of it c. If he cannot Answer these Queries as I believe he cannot I am sure he can never conveigh the Indies to me and therefor I will never trouble my Head more about them And thus I fear it will fall out in the case of an Infallible Guide to all Christians who were there such a Church or Person as they boast of at Rome that could infallibly solve all Doubts and put an end to all Controversies in Religion were richly worth both the Indies together But before I accept of the Conduct of this Guide I must desire to be satisfied in a few things in reference to him As 1. How I may be certain that there is such a Guide or Judg of Controversies For I find there is a great Controversy in the Church about it And if I can never be assured that there is such an one till he has ended all Controversies which is the great blessing the Church of Rome Promises from him 't is in vain in this Age of Controversies to enquire any farther after him But suppose it were not may I or any other Protestant determine this Controversy by the use of our own Fallible Judgments If we may then it seems a Fallible Judgment may do more sometimes than an Infallible Judg. However a Fallible Judgment is all the Judgment that we have and if by it we may be certain of an Infallible Guide which at Rome goes for a leading Article of Faith I see no Reason why we may not by the same means be certain of all the Rest and if we may
Establisht Religion of the Nation but because we have throughly tryed and examined the Grounds of it because we have proved it by a Rule which cannot fail us and do find it to be the very Religion which Christ and his Apostles have revealed in the Gospel Now if we have taken up our Religion upon due confidweration and Judgment it very highly concerns us for the sake of it to live according to its excellent Rules and Precepts and to be as steddy in our walk as we pretend to be sure of our way to Heaven If we go wide from the Paths we have made streight and do not Obey the Doctrine we profess to believe upon clear and convincing Evidence we condemn our selves and give just Occasion to the Adversary to triumph over us and to twist us with the great need we had of a Reformation to make us worse than we need to have been without it We put a sharper Weapon into their hands than any they were ever able to forge against it A Witty Men may make a hard shift to say something for Romish Errors but there is not a word to be spoken for an Antichristian Life With what face can we inveigh against Popish Indulgences while we allow our selves as great a liberty in sinning as they do If we are heedless and undevout in our Prayers we may blush to say we cannot dispence with Latin Service because it is an hinderance to Devotion And is it not much at one whether he that in the holy Sacrament eateth or drinketh Judgment to himself does it in both Kinds or but One Or what signisies a change or no change in the substance of the Elements to him that discerns not the Lords Body Or why may not an Implicit Faith serve to make an Empty Profession as well as any Protestant Faith in the World And indeed if that were all we design by being Protestants it were hardly worth the while to be so For as without Faith it is Impossible to Please God So without Holiness as the Apostle tells us in the verse immediately after the Text No man shall see the Lord. We that are Protestants profess a great Veneration of the Scriptures both as a Rule of Faith and Manners And therefore we can never excuse our selves if we do not Govern our Lives as well as our Judgments and Opinions by them And there are those that will not excuse our Religion but raise Objections against it out of those very Actions it expresly Condemns and Warns us of the Infinite Danger of It is I confess very unreasonable that Religion should Answer for the Faults which it Aimes to Rectify Yet it must be Own'd a Real and Mighty Prejudice to it to be Contradicted by its own Professors and Betrayed by those that pretend a Hearty Zeal and Concernment for it And we have the more Reason to be Cautious on this hand because our Religion is so Excellent in it self and so fully Justified by its Learned Advocates that it requires nothing more for its Defence and Vindication from t is than that we should Adorn it by our Holy Conversations and keep the Enemy out of those Breaches which our Divisions have made and our Lusts have Widen'd for them And this is our Proper Post In which we may do Excellent service tho we may not be so fit to engage in the Field of Controversies merely by Exercising our selves unto Godliness by keeping to the Plain Rules and standing to the Principles of our Holy Religion This I say is our Proper Task And by this means we shall utterly Defeat our Adversaries and put them to the same strait that Daniel did the Caldeans Dan. 6.5 by leaving them no Occasion against us Except it be Concerning the Law of our God And for that we give them leave to Try their utmost skill And if by fair Reasoning and Arguments such as are fit to be used in the great Concernment of mens Eternal Salvation they can Win the Victory let them wear it I wish the mean while we could clear our selves as well as we can our Religion I wish we could all shew out of a Pure Conversation that our Lives are measured by the Laws as our Faith is by the Revelations of the Gospel I do not speak this as if I thought our Adversaries had the advantage of us in this respect but because it may be Justly expected that we who have the best Religion should live at the best Rate That we who pretend to understand what we believe and to know whom we Worship and have Renounc't the Errours and Corruptions that spoil the Religion of other men should be extreamly careful that we do not Blemish our own That we do not stain the Purity of our Profession and Furnish Men with Objections against it by our vain and vicious Conversations Let us consider the Necessity of walking by the Rules and obeying the Laws of our Religion in order to our own safety and Happiness Tho a Man knew every Foot of his Way to Heaven and were Acquainted with all the Crooked and Deceitful Paths which others are lost and Bewildred in yet if he will not make use of his knowledge to Direct his Steps and keep on in the way he should go he can never arrive to that Blessed Place We must not think to Fly to Heaven with a Wish or to be saved by being Orthodox or excused from doing our Duty because we know it Tho we had all knowledge and all Faith without Obedience and Holiness of Life I know not of what importance they would be to us but only to Intitle us to the greater Damnation The Sanctions of the Gospel are the same to Men of all Persuasions The worst of which will hardly Deny that a good Life is as Necessary to make a good Christian as a sound and Orthodox Faith So that 't is not Believing as the Church Believes nor Believing the Truth as it is in Jesus nor Relying upon him for salvation that can bring us to Heaven while we bid Defiance to his Laws Heb. 5.9 For he is the Author of Eternal Salvation to them only that Obey him If we are ill Men it matters not what we are besides Any Religion will serve a wicked Man as well as the Best And become him a great deal better than the Pure and Undefiled Religion which the Son of God brought down from Heaven with him And which of all Religions in the World Denounceth the most Terrible Threatnings against its own Professors that Reject the Mild and Reasonable Conditions of it Rom. 2.7.8 To them that by patient Continuance in Well-doing Seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality It promises Eternal Life But unto them that Obey not the Truth how Zealous soever they may be in the Defence and Profession of it It denounceth Indignation and wrath Tribulation and Anguish without Respect of Persons upon every Soul of Man that doth Evil. So that if we live
Holiness through the use of those means which he hath appointed for the increase of Holiness in us That there are degrees of Grace in good men no man ever denied And that the higher and more Perfect degrees are attained by a more frequent sincere and diligent use of the means of Grace all Divines are agreed The part therefore which every good Man hath in his Spiritual growth is to improve all Advantages for his growing better i.e. more perfect in every Grace and more Holy in all manner of Conversation And because some Graces have a more Powerful and Diffusive influence upon the Sanctification of our Hearts and Lives and the due Performance of all Christian duties than others our improvement in Grace and Holiness chiefly consists in these two things 1. In a more constant and vigorous exercise of those Radical Graces by which the Life of Holiness is conveighed into all the Branches and Instances of it Of these our Faith in God is the main and Principal Root all other Graces being Fed and Cherisht by it and Inabled to bring forth their Proper Fruits The Reason why we Love God which is both the Noblest and the strongest Motive to Obedience is because we believe that he has all Excellent and Amiable Properties in him And so the Reason why we Fear him is because we believe he is Powerful and Just and will by no means clear the Guilty And we therefore Hope in his Mercy because we believe He is Faithful that hath Promised And as Faith is the Root and Principle of these Graces so have they a Radical virtue of their own a Power I mean of Diffusing Holiness into all parts and duties of the Christirn Life Hence we are exhorted to Perfect Holiness in the Fear of God and to be Rooted and Grounded in Love that we may be filled with all the Fulness of God And every man saith S. John that hath the Hope in him of seeing God as he is Purifieth himself even as he is Pure To grow therefore in these Graces is in effect to grow in all other kinds of Vertue and Goodness of God And then secondly our spiritual growth Consists 2. In being more frequently and carnestly employ'd in the several duties of Christian practice In worshiping God with more Life Zeal and Constancy In doing good with more vigour and chearfulness In bearing Afflictions with more evenness and patience In greater Industry Justice and Faithfulness in our Temporal callings In getting a more absolute sway over our Passions and reducing our affections to Farthly things to a more equal and moderate Temper In denying our selves the Liberties which have any apparent Temptation in them in Arming our selves against the insults of Inordinate anger and the sudden starts of any sinful inclinations In pruning off the undecencies of our External behaviour in abating the freedom of our Tongues and using better care to avoid all appearance of Evil. Herein lies our Proficiency in Grace and Virtue to which our endeavours in all these instances are strictly necessary if we aim as we ought at a Perfect Imitation of our great example and to grow up to the stature of the Fulness of Christ I am next to shew 2. What are the Proper and Effectual means of our Growth in Grace And here since the nature of Grace and Holiness consists in a Conformity to the Divine nature and will it is Reasonable to suppose that the same hand that drew the first Lineaments of it must give it the more Lively and Finishing strokes before it comes to perfection I mean that the work of grace should be carried on by the Operations of the Spirit through the use especially of the same means by which we were made Partakers of the Divine Nature at first And for this Reason the Ordinances of God are of Perpetual use to all Christians and the same duties required as well of the Regenerate as of those that remain in a Natural State 1. A better understanding of the will of God and Attention to the Truths revealed by his Son Jesus Christ The usefulness of this means S. Peter seems to Recommend in the Context Grow in Grace and in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Implying that a greater measure of knowledge is a special means of growing in other Graces as is plain by that Parallel exhortation in his former Epistle Desire the sincere Milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the pure Doctrine of the Gospel or the word delivered without any Deceit is the most Natural Food for the New Creature for promoting the Growth of it and making it every way strong and vigorous in the Grace which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 2.1 In the Scriptures we have a lively Draught and Representation of the Divine Perfections In them we behold all the Glorious Revelations of God's Sacred Will to Mankind and the thoughts of his Heart from Eternity Here we meet with the kindest Invitations to the Mercy and Favour of God and the Merits of a Saviour With the most admirable Rules for the Government of our Lives the most Excellent Patterns of the Noblest Virtues and the strongest Inducements to a perfect Imitation of them The Mystery of our Redemption is here unvail'd and Heaven as it were thrown open to our view that we as the Apostle speaks with Open Face beholding as in a Glass 2 Cor. 3.18 the Glory of the Lord might be changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory by the Spirit of the Lord. By frequent conversing with the Scriptures and observing the Tenour of them we shall not only attain to a competent Knowledge of our Duty but to a firm and Ruling Judgment and be thereby exempted from Error and Doubtfulness which are none of the least impediments to our thriving in Grace and Holiness By this means we shall be continually under the power of conviction The sense of our Duty will be always quick and urgent upon our Minds We shall feel the great Motives and Terrors of the Gospel the Eternal Weights of Glory and Misery pressing upon our Hopes and Fears and provoking us to every Good Work and we shall thence be furnisht with a present Answer to all Temptations to gratifie any sinful Lust or neglect the Opportunities of securing our Future Happiness So that by making the Scripture our daily Study and Meditation we shall neither wander for want of Light nor be at a stand through any mistrust of our way nor can we easily fail of making a good Progress in it being quickned upon all occasions with a present sense of our Duty and encouraged with a Prospect of our Reward 2. Regular and Constant Attendance on the Publick Ordinances of Divine Worship and Service It must be a great advantage to us to be admitted into the Special Presence of God in the Holy Assemblies of his People And having our thoughts sequestred from the World