AN

 

EXTRACT

 

FROM THE

 

WHOLE DUTY OF MAN.

 

First printed in the Year 1657.

 

TO

 

THE READER.

 

 WHOEVER reads the following Treatise, should consider the time wherein it was wrote. Never was there more talk of faith in CHRIST, of justification by faith, and of the fruits of the Spirit. And scarce ever was there less practice of plain, moral duties, of justice, mercy, and truth. At such a time it was peculiarly needful to inculcate what was so generally neglected. And this is well done in the ensuing tract, (particularly with regard to the extracts of religion,) which far better deserves its title than that miserable thing which has lately usurped the name.

 

 I do not apprehend that any one page herein contradicts that fundamental principle, "By grace ye are saved through faith, being justified freely through the redemption which is in JESUS." Nor am I afraid that any who have read the preceding volumes should be induced by any part of this, to build again the things

 

which they had thrown down, to seek salvation by their own righteousness. But I trust many, who have already experienced the free grace of God in CHRIST JESUS, may hereby be more fully instructed to walk in him, and more thoroughly furnished for every good word and work.

 

J. WESLEY

 

A

 

PREFACE,

 

SHEWING

 

THE NECESSITY

 

OF

 

CARING FOR THE SOUL.

 

 1. THE only intent of this ensuing Treatise is to be a short and plain direction to the very meanest readers, to behave themselves so in this world, that they may be be happy for ever in the next. But because it is in vain to tell men their duty till they be persuaded of the necessity of performing it, I shall, before I proceed to the particulars required of every Christian, endeavor to win them to the practice of one general duty, preparatory to all the rest; and that is, the consideration and care of their own souls.

 

 2. Man, we know, is made up of two parts, a body and a soul: the body, only the husk or shell of the soul, subject to many diseases and pains while it lives, and at last to death itself; and then it is so far from being valued, that it is not to be endured above-ground, but laid to rot in the earth. Yet to this viler part of us we perform a great deal of care; but the more precious part, the soul, is little thought of, no care taken how it fares; but as if it were a thing that nothing concerned us, is left quite neglected.

 

 3. This carelessness of the soul is the root of all the sin we commit; and therefore, whosoever intends to set upon a Christian course, must in the first place amend that. To the doing whereof there needs no deep learning; the simplest man living has understanding enough for it, if he will but act in this by the same rules of common reason whereby he proceeds in his worldly business. I will therefore briefly set down some of those motives which use to stir up our care of any thing, and then apply them to the soul.

 

 4. There be four things especially which use to awake our care; the first is the worth of the thing; the second, the usefulness of it to us, when we cannot part with it without great damage: the third, the great danger of it; and the fourth, the likelihood that our care will not be in vain.

 

 5. For the first, we know our care of any worldly thing is answerable to the worth of it; what is of greatest price, we are most watchful to preserve, and most fearful to lose: no man locks up dung in his chest, but his money, or what he counts precious. Now, in this respect, the soul deserves more care than all the things in the world besides, for it is of infinitely more worth; first, in that it is made after the image of God. Now the more any thing is like him, the more it is to be valued. But it is sure, that no creature upon earth is at all like God but the soul of man; and therefore nothing ought to have so much of our care. Secondly, the soul never dies. We use to prize things according to their durableness; what is most lasting is most worth. Now the soul is a thing that will last for ever; when wealth, beauty, strength, nay, our very bodies themselves fade away, the soul still continues. Therefore, in that respect, also, the soul is of the greatest worth, and then what strange madness is it for us to neglect it as we do We can spend days, and weeks, and months, and years, nay, our whole lives, in hunting after a little wealth, which is of no continuance; and in the mean time, let this great durable treasure, our souls, be stolen from us by the devil.

 

 6. A second motive to our care of any thing is the use-fulness of it to us, or the great mischief we shall have by the loss of it. Common reason teaches us this in all things of this life. If our hairs fall, we do not much regard, because we can be well enough without them. But if we are in danger to lose our eyes or limbs, we think all the care we can take little enough to prevent it, because we know it will be a great misery. But certainly there is no misery to be compared to that misery that follows the loss of the soul. It is true, we cannot lose our souls so that they shall cease to be; but we may lose that happy estate to which they were created, and plunge them into the extremest misery. In a word, we may lose them in hell, whence there is no fetching them back, and so they are lost for ever. Nay, in this consideration, our very bodies are concerned, those darlings of ours, for which all our care is laid out; for they must certainly, after death, be raised again, and be joined again to the soul, and take part with it in whatever state. If then our care for the body take up all our time and thoughts, and leave us none to bestow on the poor soul, it is sure the soul will, for want of that care, be made for ever miser-able. But it is as sure, that that very body must be so too. And therefore, if you have any true kindness to your body, show it, by taking care for your souls. Think with yourselves, how you will be able to endure " ever lasting burnings." If a small spark of fire, lighting on the least part of the body, be so intolerable, what will it be to have the whole cast into the hottest flames, and that not for some few hours or days, but for ever So that when you have spent many thousands of years in that unspeakable torment, you shall be no nearer coming out of it than you were the first day you went in. Think of this, I say, and think this withal, that this will certainly be the end of neglecting the soul; and therefore afford it some care, if it be but in pity to the body, that must bear a part in its miseries.

 

 7. The third motive to the care of any thing is, its being in danger. Now a thing may be in danger two ways: first, by enemies from without. This is the case of the sheep, which is still in danger of being devoured by wolves; and we know that makes the shepherd so much the more watchful over it. Thus it is with the soul, which is in a great deal of danger, in respect of its enemies; those we know are the world, the flesh, and the devil, which are all such enemies to it, that the very first act we do, in behalf of our souls, is to vow a continual war against them. But that we may the better under-stand what danger the soul is in, let us a little consider the quality of those enemies.

 

 8. In a war, you know, there are divers things that make an enemy terrible: the first is subtilty and cunning, by which alone many victories have been won; and, in this respect, the devil is a dangerous adversary: he long since gave sufficient proof of his subtilty in beguiling our first parents, who yet were much wiser than we are; and therefore no wonder if he deceive us. Secondly, the watchfulness and diligence of an enemy makes him the more to be feared; and here the devil exceeds: it is his business to destroy us, and he is no loiterer at it; "he goes up and down, seeking whom he may devour," 1 Pet. 5: 8. He watches all opportunities of advantage against us with such diligence, that he will be sure never to let any slip him. Thirdly, an enemy near us is more to be feared than any one at a distance; for if he be far off, we may have time to prepare ourselves against him; but if he be near, he may steal on us unawares. And of this sort is the flesh: it is an enemy at our doors, shall I say Nay, in our bosoms; it is always near us, to take occasion of doing mischief. Fourthly, the baser and falser an enemy is, the more dangerous. He that hides his malice, under the shell, of friendship, will be able todo a great deal the more hurt: and this again is the flesh, which, like Joab to Abner, 2 Sam. 3: 27, pretends to speak peaceably to us, but wounds us to death. Fifthly, the number of enemies makes them more terrible; and the world is a vast army against us. There is no state or condition in it, nay, scarce a creature which does not, at some time or other, fight against the soul. The honors of the world seek to wound us by pride; the wealth by covetousness; the prosperity of it tempts us to forget GOD, the adversities to murmur at him; our very table becomes a snare to us; our meat draws us to gluttony, our drink to drunkenness; our company, nay, our nearest friends, often bear a part in this war against us, whilst either, by their example or persuasion, they entice us to sin.

 

 9. Consider all this, and then tell me, whether a soul thus beset has leisure to sleep; even Dalilah could tell Sampson it was time to awake, when the Philistines were upon him. And CHRIST tells us,"If the good man of the house had known in what hour the thief would have cone, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken up," Matt. 24: 43. But we live in the midst of thieves, and therefore must look for them every hour; and yet who is there among us, that has that care of his soul which he has for his house; or, indeed, the meanest thing that belongs to him I fear our souls may say to us, as CHRIST to his disciples, Matt. 26: 4O, "What! could ye not watch with me one hour" For I doubt it would pose many of us to tell when we bestowed one hour on them, though we know them to be continually beset with most dangerous enemies. And then, alas! what is like to be the case of these poor souls, when their adversaries bestow so much care and diligence to destroy them, and we will afford none to preserve them Surely the same as of a besieged town, where no watch is kept, which is certain to fall a prey to the enemy. Consider " this, ye that forget GOD," nay, ye that forget yourselves, "lest he pluck you away, and there be none to deliver you," Psal. 1. 22.

 

 1O. But I told you there was a second way, whereby a thing may be in danger, and that is from some disorder within itself. This is often the case of our bodies; they are not only liable to outward violence, but they are, within themselves, sick and diseased. And then we can be sensible enough that they are in danger, and need not to be taught to seek for means to recover them. But this is also the case of the soul; we reckon those parts of the body diseased, that do not rightly perform their office; we account it a sick palate that tastes not aright, a sick stomach that digests not. And thus it is with the soul, when its parts do not rightly perform their offices.

 

 11. The parts of the soul are especially these three: the understanding, the will, and the affections. And that these are disordered, there needs little proof; let any man look seriously into his own heart, and consider how little it is he knows of spiritual things, and then tell me whether his understanding be not dark How much apter is he to will evil than good And then tell me, whether his will be not crooked And how strong desires he has after the pleasures of sin, and what cold and faint ones towards God And then tell me, whether his affections be not disordered, and rebellious even against the voice of his own reason Now, as in bodily diseases, the first step to the cure is to know the cause of the sickness; so likewise here it is very necessary for us to know how the soul first fell into this diseased condition, and that I shall now briefly tell you.

 

 12. God created the first man, Adam, without sin, and endued his soul with the full knowledge of his duty; and with such a strength, that he might, if he would, perform all that was required of him. Having thus created him, he makes a covenant or agreement with him, that if he continued in obedience to GOD, without committing sin; then first, that strength of soul, whichhe then had, should still be continued to him; and secondly, that he should never die, but be taken up into heaven, there to be happy for ever. But, on the other side, if he committed sin, and disobeyed GOD, then both he, and all his children after him, should lose that know-ledge, and that perfect strength, which enabled him to do all that God required of him; and, secondly, should be subject to death; and not only so, but to eternal damnation in hell.

 

 13. This was the agreement made with Adam, and all mankind, in him (which we usually call the first covenant,) upon which God gave Adam a particular commandment, which was no more but this: that he should not eat of one only tree of that garden wherein he had placed him. But he, by the persuasion of the devil, eats of that tree, and so brings that curse upon himself, and all his posterity. And so, by that one sin, he lost both the full knowledge of his duty, and the power of per-forming it. And we being born after his image, did so likewise; and so are become both ignorant in discerning what we ought to do, and weak and unable to do it, having a backwardness to all good, and a readiness to all evil, like a sick stomach, which has all wholesome food, and longs after such trash as may nourish the disease.

 

 14. And now you see where we got this sickness of soul, and likewise that it is like to prove a deadly one; and therefore I presume I need say no more to assure you our souls are in danger. It is more likely you will, from this description, think them hopeless. But that you may not, from that conceit, excuse your neglect of them, I show you the contrary, by proceeding to the fourth motive of care.

 

 15. That fourth motive is the likelihood that our care will not be in vain, but that it will be a means to preserve the thing cared for; where this is wanting, it disheartens our care. A physician leaves his patient when he sees him past hope; but, on the contrary, when he sees hope of recovery, he plies him with medicines. Now in this very respect, we have a great deal of reason to take care of our souls; for they are not so far gone but they may be recovered; nay, it is certain they will, if we do our parts towards it.

 

 16. For though, by that sin of Adam, all mankind were under the sentence of eternal condemnation, yet it pleased God so far to pity our misery as to give us his Son, and in him to make a new covenant with us.

 

 17. This second covenant was made with Adam, and us in him, presently after his fall, and is briefly contained Gen. 3: 15, where God declares, that the Seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head. And this was made up as the first was, of some mercies to be afforded by GOD, and some duties to be performed by us.

 

 18. God therein promises to send his only Son, who is God equal with himself, to earth, to become " man, like unto us in all things, sin only excepted," and to do for us these several things:

 

 19. First, to make known to us the whole will of his Father; in the performance whereof we shall be sure to be accepted and rewarded by him. And this was one great part of his business, which he performed in those-sermons and precepts we find set down in the gospel. And herein he is *our Prophet, it being the work of a prophet of old not only to foretell, but to teach. Our duty, in this particular, is to hearken diligently to him, to be ready to learn that will of GOD, which he came from heaven to reveal to us.

 

 2O. The second thing he was to do for us, was to satisfy God for our sins; not only that one of Adam, but. all the sins of all mankind, that truly repent and believe; and by this means to obtain for us forgiveness of sins, the favor of GOD, and so to redeem us from hell and eternal damnation, which was the punishment due to our sin. All this he did for us by his death. He offered up him-self a sacrifice for the sins of all those who heartily bewail and forsake them. And in this he is our Priest, it being the priest's office to " offer sacrifice for the sins of the people." Our duty in this particular is, first, truly to repent of our sins, without which they will never be for-given us, though CHRIST has died. Secondly, steadfastly to believe, that if we do that, we shall have the benefits of that sacrifice of his; all our sins, how many and great soevcr, shall be forgiven us, and we saved from those eternal punishments which were due unto us for them. Another part of the priest's office was blessing and praying for the people; and this also CHRIST performs to us. It was his special commission from his Father to bless us, as St. Peter tells us, Acts 3: 26, "God sent his Son to bless you;" and the following words show wherein that blessing consists, in "turning away every one of you from his iniquity:" those means which he has used for the turning us from our sins, are to be reckoned, of all other, the greatest blessings; and for the other part, that of praying, that he not only performed on earth, but continues still to do it in heaven, "He sits on the right hand of GOD, and makes request for us," Rom. 8: 34. Our duty herein is, not to resist this unspeakable blessing of his, but to be willing to be thus blest in being " turned from our sins," and not to make void all his prayers and intercessions for us, which will never prevail for us whilst we continue in them.

 

 21. The third thing that CHRIST was to do for us was to enable us, or give us strength to do what God requires of us. This he does by sending his Holy Spirit into our hearts, to give us strength to overcome temptations to sin, and to do all that he now, under the gospel, requires of us. And in this he is our King, it being the office of a king to govern and rule, and to subdue enemies. Our duty in this particular, is to give up ourselves obedient subjects of his, to be governed by him, to obey all his laws, nor to take part with any rebel; that is, not to cherish any sin, but diligently to pray for his grace to enable us to subdue all, and then carefully to make use of it to that purpose.

 

 22. Lastly, he has purchased for all that faithfully obey him, an eternal glorious inheritance, the kingdom of, heaven, whither he is gone before to take possession for us. Our duty herein, is to be exceeding careful that we forfeit not our parts in it; which we shall certainly do, if we continue impenitent in any sin. Secondly, not to fasten our affections on this world, but to raise them according. to the apostle, Col. 3: 2, " Set your affections on things above, and not on things on the earth;" continually longing to come to the possession of that blessed inheritance, in comparison whereof all things here should seem vile and mean to us.

 

 23. This is the sum of that second covenant we are now under, wherein you see what CHRIST has done; how he executes those three great offices of King, Priest, and Prophet; as also, what is required of us; without our faithful performance of which, all that he has done shall never stand us in any stead; for he will never be a Priest to save any who take him not as well for their Prophet to teach, and their King to rule them: nay, if we neglect our part of this covenant, our condition will be yet worse than if it had never been made; for we shall then be to answer, not for the breach of law only, as in the first, but for the abuse of mercy, which is of all sins the most provoking. On the other side, if we faithfully perform it, it is then most certain that all the benefits of CHRIST belong to us.

 

 24. And now you see how little reason you have to cast off the care of your souls, upon a conceit they are past cure, for it is plain they are not; nay, certainly they are in that very condition which of all others makes them fittest for our care. If they had not been thus redeemed by CHRIST, that care would have been in vain. On the other side, if his redemption had been such that all men should have been saved by it, though they lived as they listed, we should have thought it needless to take care for them, because they were safe without it. But it has pleased God so to order it, that our care must be themeans by which they must receive the good even of all that CHRIST has done for them.

 

 25. And now, if after all that God has done to save these souls of ours, we will not bestow a little care on them ourselves, we deserve to perish. If a physician should undertake a patient that was in some desperate disease, and by his skill bring him so far out of it, that he were sure to recover, if he would but take care of himself, and observe those rules the physician set him; would you not think that man weary of his life, that would refuse to do that So certainly that man is weary of his soul, willfully casts it away, that will not consent to those easy conditions, by which he may save it.

 

 26. You see how great kindness God has to these souls of ours, the whole Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost have all done their parts for them. The Father gave his only Son; the Son gave himself; left his glory, and endured the bitter death of the cross, merely to keep our souls from perishing. The Holy Ghost is become, as it were, our attendant; waits upon us with continual offers of his grace, to enable us to do that which may preserve them; nay, he is so desirous we should accept those offers of his, that he is said to be grieved when we refuse them, Eph. 4: 3O. Now what greater affront can we put upon GOD, than to despise what he thus values That those souls of ours, which CHRIST thought worth every drop of his blood, we should not think worth any part of our care We use, in things of the world, to rate them ac-cording to the opinion of those tvho are best skilled in them; now certainly God who made our souls, hest knows the worth of them; and since he prizes them so highly, let us (if it be but in reverence to him) be ashamed to neglect them; especially now that they are in so hopeful a condition, that nothing but our own carelessness can destroy them.

 

 27. I have now briefly gone over those four motives of care 1 at first proposed,which are each of them such as never misses to stir up men's minds towards the things of this world; and I have also sheaved you how much more reason-able it is they should do the like for the soul. And now what can I say more, but conclude in the words of Isaiah, xlvi. 8, " Remember this, and show yourselves men:" that is, deal with your souls, as your reason teaches you to do with all other things that concern you. And sure this common justice binds you to; for the soul is that which furnishes you with that reason, which you exercise in all your worldly business; and shall the soul itself receive no benefit from that reason which it affords you This is, as if a master of a family, who provides food for his servants, should be kept from eating any himself, and so remain the only starved creature in his house.

 

 28. And as justice ties you to this, so mercy does like-wise; you know the poor soul will fall into endless and unspeakable miseries, if you continue to neglect it, and then it will be too late to consider it. The last refuge you can hope for is God's mercy; but that you have despised and abused. And with what face can you, in your greatest need, beg for his mercy to your souls, when you would not afford them your own

 

 29. Lay this to your hearts, and as ever you hope for God's pity, when you most want it, be sure, in time, to pity yourselves, by taking that due care of your precious souls which belongs to them.

 

 3O. If what hath been said have persuaded you to this so necessary a duty, my next work will be, to tell you how this care must be employed; and that, in a word, is in the doing of all those things which tend to the making the soul happy, which is the end of our care; and what those are, I come now to show you.

 

AN

 

EXTRACT

 

FROM THE

 

WHOLE DUTY' OF MAN.

 

CHAP, 1

 

 I. Of the duty of man by the light of nature. 2: By the light of Scripture. 3: The three great branches of man's duty, to GOD, to ourselves, our neighbors. 4: Our duty to God. 5: Of faith. 6: The promises. 7: Of hope. 8: Of love, 9: Of fear, 10: Of trust.

 

 THE benefits purchased for us by CHRIST, are such as will undoubtedly make the soul happy; for eternal happiness is one of them. But because these benefits belong not to us till we perform the condition required of us; whoever desires the happiness of his soul, must set him-self to the performing of that condition, What that is, I have already mentioned in general, the obeying the whole will of God. But then that will of God containing many particulars, it is necessary we should also know what those are; that is, what are the several things that God requires of us, our performance whereof will bring us to everlasting happiness, and the neglect to endless misery.

 

 1. Of the Light of Nature.

 

 2. Of these things there are some which God has so stamped upon our souls, that we should have known them to be our duty, though we had never been told so by the Scripture. That this is so, we may see by the heathens, who having never heard of either the Old or New Testament, yet acknowledge themselves bound to some general duties, as to worship GOD, to be just, to honor their parents, and the like; and as St. Paul says, Rom. 2: 15, " Their consciences do in those things accuse or excuse them;" that is, tell them whether they have done what they should do in those particulars or not.

 

 3. Now though CHRIST has brought greater light into the world, yet he never meant by it to put out that natural light which God has set up in our souls. Therefore let me here, by the way, advise you not to walk contrary even to this lesser light; I mean, not to venture on any of those acts which mere natural conscience will tell you are sins.

 

 4. It is just matter of sadness to any Christian, to see some who profess much religion, and yet live in such sins as a mere heathen would abhor; men that, pretending to higher degrees of light and holiness than their brethren, yet practice contrary to all the rules of common honesty, and make it part of their Christian liberty so to do: of whose seducement it concerns all that love their souls to beware; and for that purpose let this be laid as a foundation, That that religion or opinion cannot be of GOD, which allows men in any wickedness.

 

 5. But though we must not put out this light which God has put into our souls, yet this is not the only way whereby God has revealed his will;- and therefore we are not to rest here, but proceed to the knowledge of those other things which God has by other means revealer.

 

II. The Light of Scripture.

 

 6. The way for us to know them is by the Scriptures, wherein are set down those several commands of God which he has given to be the rule of our duty.

 

 7. Of those, some were given before CHRIST came into the world, such are those precepts we find scattered throughout the Old Testament, but especially contained in the ten commandments; others were given by CHRIST, and those you find in the New Testament: in the several precepts given by him and his apostles, but especially in that Divine sermon on the mount, set. down in the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of St. Matthew's gospel.

 

 8. All these would be severally spoken to, but because that would make the discourse very long, I choose to proceed in another manner, by summing up all these together, and so, as plainly as I can, to lay down what is the duty of every Christian.

 

III. The three great Branches of Man's Duty.

 

 9. This I find briefly contained in the words of the,apostle, Tit. 2: 12, " That we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world;" where the word soberly contains our duty to ourselves; righteously, our duty to our neighbor; and godly, our duty to God. These therefore shall be the heads of my discourse, our duty to GOD, ourselves, and our neighbor. I begin with that to GOD, that being the ground-work whereon to build both the others.

 

IV. Our Duty to God.

 

 1O. There are many parts of our duty to GOD, the two chief are these: First, to acknowledge him to be God Secondly, to have no other. Under these are contained all those particulars, which make up our whole duty to GOD, which shall be sheaved in their order.

 

 11. To acknowledge him to be GOD, is to believe him to be an infinite glorious Spirit, that was from everlasting, without beginning, and shall be to everlasting, without end. That he is our Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one GOD, blessed for ever. That he is unchangeable; that he is no bodily substance, such as our eyes may behold, but spiritual and invisible, whom " no man has seen; nor can see;" that he is infinitely great and excellent, beyond all that we can imagine; that he has received his being from none, and gives being to all things.

 

 12. All this we are to believe of him in regard of his being: but besides this, he is set forth to us in the Scripture by several excellencies, as that he is of infinite goodness and mercy, truth, justice, wisdom, power, all-sufficiency, majesty; that he disposes and governs all things by his providence; that he knows all things, and is present in all places; these are called the attributes of GOD, and all these we must firmly believe to be in GOD, and that in the greatest degree, and so that they can never cease to be in him, he can never be other than infinitely good, merciful, true, &c.

 

 13. But the acknowledging him for our God signifies yet more than this; it means that we should perform to him all those several parts of duty which belong from a creature to his God: what those are I am now to tell you.

 

V. Of Faith.

 

 14. The first is faith, the believing, most firmly, that all that he says is perfectly true. This necessarily rises from his truth, it being natural for us to believe whatsoever is said by one of whose truth we are confident. Now the Holy Scriptures being the word of GOD, we are therefore to conclude, that all that is contained in them is most true.

 

 15. The things contained in them are of these four sorts: First, affirmations, such are all the stories of the bible, when it is said, such and such things came so and so to pass: CHRIST was born of a virgin, was laid in a manger, &c. And such also are many points of doctrine, as that there are three Persons in the Godhead, that CHRIST is the Son of GOD, and the like. All things of this sort thus delivered in Scripture we are to believe most true. And not only so, but because they are all written for our instruction, we are to consider them for that purpose, that is, by them to lay the foundation of Christian know-ledge, on which we may build a Christian life.

 

 16. The second sort of things contained in the Scripture, are the commands, that is, the several things en-joined us by-God to perform; these we are to believe to come from him, and to be most just and fit for him to command. But then this belief must bring forth obedience., that what we believe thus fit to be done, be indeed done by us; otherwise our belief that they come, from him, serves but to make us more inexcusable.

 

 17. Thirdly, the Scripture contains threatenings; many texts there are which threaten to them that go on in their sins, the wrath of GOD, and under that are contained all the punishments and miseries of this life, and everlasting destruction. Now we are most steadfastly to believe, that these are God's threats, and that they will certainly be performed to every impenitent sinner. But then the use we are to make of this belief, is to keep from those sins to which this destruction is threatened; otherwise our belief adds to our guilt, that will willingly go on in spite of those threatenings.

 

 18. Fourthly, the Scripture contains promises, and those both to our bodies and our souls; for our bodies, there are many promises that God will provide for them what he sees necessary. To the soul, there are many and high promises; as, first, That of present ease, Matt. 11: 29, " Take my yoke upon you, and learn of mc, and ye shall find rest to your souls:" but here it is apparent, that before this rest belongs to us, we must have taken on us CHRIST's yoke, become his servants and disciples.

 

 Finally, there are promises to the soul even of all the benefits of CHRIST; but yet those only to such as perform the conditions required; that is, pardon of sins to those that repent and believe,. increase of grace to those that diligently make use of what they have already, and humbly pray for more; and eternal salvation to those that continue to their lives' end in hearty obedience to his commands.

 

 19. The belief of the promises must therefore stir us up to perform the condition; for us to look for the benefit of them on other terms, is the same mad presumption that it would be in a servant to challenge his master to give him a reward for having done nothing of his work, to which alone the reward was promised. Nay, further it is sure, God has given these promises to no other end but t., invite us to holiness; yea, he gave his Son, in w o,n all it promises are as it were summed up for this etid. We usually look so much at CHRIST's coming to satisfy for us, that we forget this other part of his errand. But there is nothing surer, than that the main purpose of his coming into the world was to plant goodness among men.

 

 2O. Now we know CHRIST is the foundation of all the promises; " In him all the promises of God are yea and amen," 2 Cor. 1: 2O. And therefore if God gave CHRIST to this end, certainly the promises are to the same also. And then how great an abuse of them is it to make them serve for purposes quite contrary to what they were in-tended, viz. to the encouraging us in sins, which they will certainly do, if we persuade ourselves they belong to us, how wickedly soever we live. The apostle teaches us another use of them, 2 Cor. 7: 1, " Having therefore these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." When we do thus, we may justly apply the promises to ourselves. But until then, though these promises be of certain truth, yet we can reap no benefit from them, because we are not the persons to whom they are made; that is, we perform not the condition required to give us right to them.

 

 21. This is the faith or belief required of us towards the things God has revealed to us in the Scripture, to wit, such as may answer the end for which they were revealed; that is, the bringing us to good lives; the bare believing the truth of them, without this, is no more than the devils do, as St. James tells us, chap. 2: 19. Only they are not so unreasonable as some of us are, for they will tremble, as knowing well this faith will never do them any good. But many of us go on confidently, and doubt not the sufficiency of our faith, though we have not the least fruit of obedience to approve it by; let such hear St. James's judgment, chap. 2: 26, " As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith, if it have not works, is dead also."

 

VI. Of Hope.

 

 22. A second duty to God is hope, that is,, a comfort-able expectation of these good things he has promised. But this, as I told you before of faith, must be such as agrees to the nature of the promises, which being such as requires a condition on our part, we can hope no further than we make that good, or if we do, we are so far from performing by it this duty of hope, that we commit the great sin of presumption, which is nothing else but hoping where God has given us no ground to hope. This every man cloth, that hopes for pardon of sins and eternal life, without that repentance and obedience to which alone they are promised; the true hope is that which purifies us, St. John says, 1 Epist. 3: 3, " Every man that has this hope in him, purifies himself, even as he is pure;" that is, it makes him leave his sins, and earnestly endeavor to be holy as CHRIST is, and that which does not so, how confident soever it be, may well be concluded to be but that hope of the hypocrite, which Job assures us shall perish.

 

 23. But there is another way of transgressing this duty,. besides that of presumption, and that is by despair, by which I mean not that which is ordinarily so called, viz. the despairing of mercy, so long as we continue in our sins, for that is but just for us to do. But I mean such a despair as makes us give over endeavor; that is, whets a man that sees he is not at the present such a one as the promises belong to, concludes he can never become such, and therefore neglects all duty, and goes on in his sins. This is indeed the sinful despair, and that which if it be continued in, must end in destruction.

 

 24. Now the work of hope is to prevent this', by setting before us the promises, that they belong to all that wilt but perform the condition. And therefore though a man have not hitherto performed it, and so has yet no right to them, yet hope will tell him, that that right may yet be gained, if he will now set heartily about it. It is therefore strange folly for any man, be he never so sinful,. to give up himself for lost, when if he will but change his course, he shall be as certain to partake of the promises of mercy, as if he had never gone on in those former sins.

 

VII. Of Love.

 

 25. A third duty to God is love; there are two common motives of love among men. The one the goodness and excellency of the person, the other his particular kindness and love to us; and both these are in the highest degree in God.

 

 26. First, he is of infinite goodness and excellency in himself; this you were before taught to believe of him, and no man can doubt it that considers but this one thing, that there is nothing good in the world, but what has received all its goodness from God. His goodness is as the sea, and the goodness of all creatures but as some small streams flowing from the sea. Now you would certainly think him a madman, that should say the seawas not greater than some little brook. And certainly it is no less folly to suppose that the goodness of God does not as much (nay, infinitely more,) exceed that of all creatures. Besides, the goodness of the creature is imperfect and mixed with much evil; but his is pure and entire without any such mixture. He is perfectly holy, and cannot be tainted with the least impurity, neither can be the author of any to us; for though he be the cause of all the goodness in us, he is the cause of none of our sins. This St. James expressly tells us, chap. 1: 23, " Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man."

 

 27. But, secondly, God is not only thus good in him-self, but he is also wonderfully good, kind, and merciful to us; we are made up of two parts, a soul and a body, and to each of these God has expressed infinite mercy and tenderness. Do but consider what was before told you of the second covenant, and the mercies therein offered, even CHRIST himself and all his benefits, and also that he offers them so sincerely and heartily, that no man oan miss of enjoying them but by his own default. For he does most really and affectionately desire we should embrace them and live; as appears by that solemn oath of his, Bzel.. xxxiii. 11, " As I live, says the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live:" whereto he adds this passionate expression, Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die" Consider this, and then surely you cannot but say, he has great kindness to our souls. Nay, let every man but remember with himself the many calls he has had to repentance; some-times outward by the word, sometimes inward by the secret whispers of God's Spirit in his heart, which were only to woo and entreat him to avoid eternal misery, and to accept of eternal happiness; let him, I say, re-member these, together with those many other means God has used toward him for the same end; and he will hay e reason to confess God's kindness, not only to men's souls ih general, but to his own in particular.

 

 28. Neither has he been wanting to our bodies. All the good things they enjoy, as health, strength, food, raiment, and whatever else concerns them, are merely his gifts; so that indeed it is impossible we should be ignorant of his mercies to them, all those outward comforts and refreshments we daily enjoy being continual witnesses of it; and though some enjoy more of these than others, yet there is no person but enjoys so much, in one kind or other, as abundantly spews God's mercy and kindness to him in respect of his body.

 

 29. And now surely you will think it but reasonable we should love him, who is in all respects thus lovely. Indeed this is a duty so generally acknowledged, that if you should ask any man the question, whether he loved God or not, he would think you did him great wrong to doubt of it; yet for all this, it is too plain that there are very few that do indeed love him; and this will soon be proved to you by examining a little what are the common effects of love which we bear to men like our-selves, and then trying whether we can show any such fruits of our love to God.

 

 3O. I will name but two. The first is a desire of picas-;rig, the second a desire of enjoying. These are constantly the fruits of love. For the first, it is known by all, that he that loves any person is very desirous to do whatsoever he thinks will be pleasing to him; and, according to the degree of love, so is this desire more or less; where we love earnestly, we are very earnest and careful to please. Now if we indeed love GOD, it will bring forth this fruit, we shall be careful to please him in all things. Therefore, as you judge of the tree by its fruits, so may you judge of your love of God by this fruit of it; nay, indeed, this is the way of trial, which CHRIST himself has given us, John 14: 15, " If ye love me, keep my commandments." And where this proof is wanting, it will be impossible to testify our love to God.

 

 31. It must be farther considered, that this love of God must not be in a low degree; for besides that the motives to it, his excellency and his kindness, are in the highest, the same commandment which bids as love GOD, bids us " love him with all our heart, and with all our strength." And therefore, to the fulfilling of this commandment, it is necessary that we love him in that degree; and if we do so, then certainly we shall have not only some faint endeavors of pleasing, but such as are most diligent and earnest, such as will put us upon the most painful and costly duties, make us willing to forsake our own ease, goods, friends, yea, life itself, when we cannot keep them without disobeying God.

 

 32. Now examine thyself by this: have you this fruit of love to show Dost you make it thy constant and greatest care to keep God's commandments To obey him in all things Earnestly laboring to please him to the utmost of thy power, even to the forsaking of what is dearest to thee in this world If you dost, you may then truly say you loves God. But, on the contrary, if you willfully continuest in the breach of any one command of his, never deceive thyself, for the love of God abides not in thee.

 

 33. A second fruit of love is desire of enjoying. This is constantly seen in our love to one another. If you have a friend whom you entirely love, you wish to be always in his company: and thus will it be also in our love to GOD, if that be as great and hearty as this.

 

 34. There is a two-fold enjoying of GOD, the one imperfect in this life, the other perfect in the life to come. That in this life we have with God in his ordinances, in praying, in meditating, in hearing his word, in receiving the sacrament, which are all intended to bring us into an intimacy and familiarity with GOD, by speaking to him, and hearing him speak to us.

 

 35. Now if we do indeed love GOD, we shall hugely value and desire these ways of conversing with him; it will make us,. with David, esteem " one day in God's courts better than a thousand." We shall be glad to have these opportunities of approaching to him as often as it is possible, and be careful to use them diligently, to that end of uniting us still more to him; yea, we shall come to these spiritual exercises with the same cheerfulness we should go to our dearest friend. And if indeed we do thus, it is a good proof of our love.

 

 36. But I fear there are not many have this to show for it, as appears by the common backwardness of men to come to these, and their negligence and heartlessness when they are at them. And can we think that God will ever own us for lovers of him, whilst we have such dislike to his company, that we will never come into it but when we are dragged by fear, or shame of men, or some worldly motive It is sure you would not think that man loved you, whom you perceived to shun your company, and to be loath to come into your sight. And therefore be not so unreasonable as to say, you love GOD, when yet,you desire to keep as far from him as you can.

 

 37. But, besides this, there is another enjoyment of GOD, which is perfect, and that is our perpetual enjoying of him in heaven, where we shall be for ever united to him, and enjoy him not now and then only, but continually without interruption. And certainly, if we love GOD,. this cannot but be most earnestly desired by us, so much, that we shall think no labor too great to compass it. The seven years that Jacob served for Rachel, Gen. xx 9: 2O, "seemed to him but a few days, for the love that he had to her." And surely, if we have love to GOD, we shall not think the service of our whole lives too dear a price for this full enjoyment of him, nor esteem all the enjoyments of the world worth the looking on in comparison thereof.

 

 38. If we do thus long for this enjoyment of GOD, we may believe we love him. But I fear there are but few that can thus approve their love.. For if we look into men's lives, we shall see they are not so fond of this enjoyment, as to be at any pains to purchase it. Nay, it is to be doubted there are many who, if it were put to their choice whether they would live here always, or go to heaven to enjoy GOD, would, like the children of Gad and Reuben, set up their rest on this side Jordan, and never desire that heavenly Canaan; so close do their affections cleave to things below: which slims clearly they have not made God their treasure; for then, according to our Savior's rule, Matt. 6: 21, their heart would be with him.

 

VIII. Of Fear.

 

 39. A fourth duty to God is fear. This arises from the consideration both of his justice and his power. His justice is such that he will not clear the wicked, and his power such, that he is able to inflict the sorest punishments upon them; and that this is a reasonable cause of fear, CHRIST himself tells us, Matt. 10: 28, " Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

 

 4O. Now this fear is nothing else, but such an awful regard of GOD, as may keep us from offending him. Thus the wise man tells us, "The fear of tl e Loi d is to depart from evil." So that none can be said truly to fear God that is not thereby withheld from sin.

 

IX. Of Trust.

 

 41. A fifth duty to God is that of trusting in him; first, in all dangers; secondly, in all wants. We are to rest on him in all our dangers, both spiritual and, temporal. Of the first sort are all those temptations, by which we are in danger to be drawn to sin: and in this respect he has promised, that if we " resist the devil he shall flee from us," James 4: 7. Therefore our duty is, first, to pray earnestly for God's grace to enable us to overcome the temptation; and, secondly, to set ourselves manfully to combat with it, not yielding or giving consent to it in the least degree; and whilst we do thus, we are confidently to rest upon GOD, that his grace will be sufficient for us, that he will either remove the temptation, or strengthen us to withstand it.

 

 42. Secondly, In all outward dangers we are to rest upon him, as knowing that he is able to deliver us; and that he will do so if he see it best for us, and if we be such to whom he has promised his protection, that is, such as truly fear him. To this purpose we have many promises in Scripture, Psalm xxxiv. 7, " The angel of the Lord tarrieth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them:" and Psalm xxxiv. 22, "The Lord delivereth the souls of his saints, and all that put their trust in him shall not be destitute." Also we have many examples, as that of the three children in the furnace, that of Daniel in the lion's den, and many others; all which serve to teach us, that if we go on in performing our duty, we need not be dismayed for any thing that can befall us, for the God whom we serve is able to deliver us.

 

 43. Therefore, in all dangers, we are first humbly to pray for his aid, and then to rest ourselves cheerfully on him, assuring ourselves that he will give such an issue as shall be most for our good. But, above all things, we must be sure to fix our dependence wholly on him, and not to rely on the creatures for help; much less must we seek to deliver ourselves by any unlawful means, that is, by the committing any sin; for that is like Saul, 1 Sam. 28: 7, to go to the witch, that is, to the devil for help; such courses commonly deceive our hopes at the present, and instead of delivering us out of our straits, plunge us in greater, and those much more uncomfortable ones, because then we want that which is the only support, God's favor and aid, which we certainly forfeit, when we this seek to rescue ourselves by any sinful means. But supposing we could by such a way free ourselves from the present danger; yet, alas! We are far from having gained safety by it; we have only removed the danger from that which was less considerable, and brought it upon the most precious part of us, our souls; like an unskillful physician, that, to remove a pain from the finger, strikes it to the heart. We are therefore grossly mistaken when we think we have played the good husband in saving our liberties or estates, or lives them-selves, by a sin; we have not saved them, but madly over-bought them, laid out our very souls on them: and CHRIST tells us how little we shall gain by such bargains; " What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul"

 

 Let us therefore resolve never to value any thing we possess in this world at so high a rate, as to keep it at the price of the least sin; but whenever things are driven to such an issue, that we must either part with some, perhaps all our worldly possessions, nay, life itself, or else commit sin, let us remember that this is the season for us to perform that excellent duty of taking up the cross, which we can never so properly do as in this case; for the bearing of that which we have no way of avoiding, can at most be said to be but the carrying the cross: then only can we be said to take it up, when, having a means of escaping it by sin, we rather choose to endure the cross than commit the sin; for then is it not laid on us by any unavoidable necessity, but we willingly choose it: and this is highly acceptable with GOD, yea, withal so strictly required by him, that if we fail of performing it, we are not to be accounted followers of CHRIST, for so himself has expressly told us, Matt. 16: 24, " If any man come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." It were therefore a good point of spiritual wisdom for us, by some lower degrees of self-denial, to fit ourselves for this greater, when we shall be called to it. We know, he that expects to run a race will be often breathing himself, that he may not be foiled when he comes to run for the prize; in like manner, it will be fit for, us to abridge ourselves of our lawful pleasure, or ease, or

 

profit, that we may get such a mastery over ourselves, as to be able to renounce all when God requires it.

 

 44. And as we are thus to trust on God for deliverance from danger, so are we likewise for the supply of our wants; and those again are either spiritual or temporal: our spiritual want is that of his grace, to enable us to serve him, without which we can do nothing; and for this we are to depend on him, provided we neglect not the means, which are prayer, and a careful using of what he has already be-stowed on us: for then we have his promise for it, " He will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask it," Luke 11: 13; and " unto him that has, shall be given," Matt. 25: 29, that is, to him that has made a good use of that grace he has already, God will give more. We are not, therefore, to affright ourselves with the difficulty of those things God requires of us, but remember he commands nothing which he will not enable us to perform, if we be not wanting to ourselves. And therefore let us sincerely do our parts, and confidently assure ourselves God will not fail of his.

 

 45. But we have, also, temporal and bodily wants; and for the supply of them, we are likewise to rely on him. And for this, also, we want no promises, supposing us to be of the number of them to whom they are made, that is, God's faithful servants: " They that fear the Lord, lack nothing," Psalm xxxiv. 9, 1O, " They that seek the Lord, shall want no manner of thing that is good:" again, Psalm xxxiii. 18, 19, " Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy, to deliver their souls from death, and to feed them in time of famine."

 

 46. We are therefore to look up to him for the pro-vision of all things necessary for us, according to that of the Psalmist, " The eyes of all wait upon thee, O Lord, and you givest them their meat in due season." And our Savior has taught us to pray for our daily bread; thereby teaching us, that we are to live in continual dependence upon God for it. Yet I mean not, by this, that we should so expect it from GOD, as to give up ourselves to idleness, and expect to be fed by miracle. No, our honest industry and labor is the means by which God ordinarily gives us the necessaries of this life; and there-fore, we must by no means neglect that. " He that will not labor, let him not eat," says the apostle, 2 Thess. 3: 1O. And we may believe God will pronounce the same sentence, and suffer the slothful person to want even necessary food. But when we have faithfully used our own endeavor, then we must look up to God for his blessing on it, without which it can never prosper. And having done thus, we may comfortably rest our-selves on his Providence for such a measure of these outward things as he sees fittest for us.

 

 47. But if our condition be such, that we are not able to labor, and have no other means of bringing in the necessaries of life to ourselves, yet even then we are cheerfully to rest upon GOD, believing that he who feeds the ravens, will, by some means or other, though we know not what, provide for us, so long as he pleases we shall continue in this world; and never, in any case, torment ourselves with carking and distrustful thoughts, but "cast all our care on him, who careth for us."

 

CHAP. 2

 

1. Of humility. 2: Of submission to God's will, in respect of obedience. 3: Of patience in all sorts of szerings. 

 

4: Of honor due to God in several ways; in his house, possessions, his day, word, sacraments.

 

I. Of Humility.

 

A scxTH duty to God is humility; that is, such a sense of our own meanness and his excellency as may work in us unfeigned submission to him. This submission is two-fold: first, to his will; secondly, to his wisdom,

 

II. Of Submission to God's Will in Respect of Obedience.

 

 2. The submission to his will is also of two sorts, the submission either of obedience or patience. That of obedience is our ready yielding ourselves up to do his will, when God has, by his command, made known to us what his pleasure is, cheerfully and readily to set about it. To. enable us to this, humility is exceeding necessary; for a proud person is, of all others., the unaptest to obey; and we see men never pay an obedience but where they acknowledge the person commanding, to be some way above them, and so it is here. If we be not thoroughly persuaded that God is infinitely above us, that we are vileness, and nothing in comparison of him, we shall never pay our due obedience.

 

 3. Therefore, if ever you mean to obey entirely (as you must, if ever you mean to be saved,) get your hearts possessed with the sense of that great unspeakable distance that is between God and you. Consider him, as he is a God of infinite majesty and glory, and we, poor worms of the earth; he infinite in power, able to do all things, and we able to do nothing, not so much as to make one hair white or black, as our Savior speaks, Matt. 5: 36. He of infinite purity and holiness, and we polluted and defiled, wallowing in all kind of sins and uncleanness; he unchangeable and constant, and we subject to change every minute of our lives. He eternal and immortal, and we frail mortals, that whenever " he taketh away our breath, we die, and are turned again to our dust," Psalm civ. 29. Consider this, I say, and you cannot but acknowledge a wide difference between God and man, and therefore may well cry out with Job, after he had approached so near to GOD, as to discern some-what of his excellency, Job xlii. 5, 6, "Now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

 

 4. And even when this humility has brought us to obedience, it is not then to be cast off, as if we had no further use of it; for there is still great use, nay, necessity of it, to keep us from any high conceits of our performances, which if we once entertain, it will blast the best of them, and make them utterly unacceptable to God. The best of our works are so full of pollution, that if we compare them with that purity which is in GOD, we may truly say with the prophet, " All our righteousnesses arc as filthy rags," Isaiah lxiv. 6. And therefore, to pride ourselves in them is the same madness that it would be in a beggar to brag of his apparel, when it is nothing but vile rags and tatters. Our Savior's precept, in this matter, must always be remembered, Luke 1O. " When you have done all those things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants." If when we have done all, we must give ourselves no bet-ter a title, what arc we then to esteem ourselves, that are so far from doing any considerable part of what we are commanded Surely that worse name of slothful and wicked servant, we have no reason to think too bad for us.

 

III. Of Submission in Respect of Patience.

 

 5. A second sort of submission to his will, is that of patience. This stands in suffering his will, as that of obedience did in acting it; and is nothing else but a willing and quiet yielding to whatever afflictions it pleases God to lay upon us. This the fore-mentioned humility will make easy to us; for when our hearts are thoroughly possessed with that reverence of GOD, it will be impossible for us to murmur at whatever he does. We see an instance of it in old Eli, 1 Sam 3: who after he had heard the threatenings of God against him, of the destruction of his family, the loss of the priesthood, the cutting off both his sons in one day, which were all of them afflictions of the heaviest kind; yet this one consideration, that it was the Lord enabled him, calmly and quietly, to yield to them, saying, " Let him do what seetneth him good," verse 18. The same effect it had on David, in his suffering, Psalm xxxix. 9, " I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because you didst it." God's doing it, silenced all murmurings in him. And so it must do in us, in all our afflictions, if we will, indeed, approve our humility to God.

 

 6. Our heavenly Father is not like our earthly ones, who sometimes correct their children only to satisfy their own angry humor, not to do them good. "He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men," Lam. 3: 33. They are our sins, which do not only give him just cause, but even force him to punish us. He carries to us the affections of the tenderest father. Now, when a father secs his child running on in a course that will undo him, what greater act of kindness can he do, than correct him, to see if, by that means, he may amend him Nay, indeed, he could not be said to have true kindness to him, if he did not. And thus it is with God when he sees us run on in sin, either he must leave off to love us, and so leave us to ourselves to take our own course, and that is the heaviest curse that can befall any man; or else, if he continue to love us, he must correct and punish us to bring us to amendment. Therefore, whenever he strikes, we arc, in all reason, not only patiently to he under his rod, but be thankful to him that he is pleased not to " give us over to our own heart's lusts," but still continue his care of us, and send afflictions as so many messengers to call us home to himself. You see then how gross a folly it is to murmur at those stripes which are meant so graciously; it is like that of a forward patient, who reviles the physician that comes to cure him; and if such a one be left to die of his disease, every one knows whom he is to thank for it.

 

 7. But it is not only quietness, no, nor thankfulness neither, under afflictions, that is the full of our duty in this matter; we must have fruitfulness also, or all the rest will stand us in no stead. By fruitfulness I mean the bringing forth that which the afflictions were sent to work in us, viz. amendment. To %virich purpose, in time of affliction, it is very necessary for us to examine our hearts and lives, and search diligently what sins he upon us, which provoked God thus to smite us: and whatsoever we find ourselves guilty of, humbly to confess to GOD, and immediately to forsake.

 

 8. All I shall add concerning this duty of patience is, that we are as much bound to it in one sort of sufferings as another, whether our suffering be immediately from God's hand, as sickness, or the like; or whether it be such wherein men are the instruments of afflicting us. For it is most sure, when any man does hurt us, he could not do it without God's permission; and God may as well make them the instruments of punishing us, as do it more directly by himself; and it is but a counterfeit patience that pretends to submit to GOD, and yet can bear nothing from men. We see holy Job, who is set forth to us as a pattern of patience, made no such difference in his afflictions: he took the loss of his cattle, which the Chaldeans and Sabeans robbed him of, with the very same meekness with which he did that which was consumed by fire from heaven. When therefore we suffer any thing from men, be it never so unjustly irr respect of them, we are yet to confess it is most just in respect of God; and therefore, instead of looking upon them with revenge, we are to look up to GOD, acknowledge his justice in the affliction, begging his pardon for those sins which have provoked him to send it, and patiently and thankfully bear it, till he shall see fit to remove it; still saying, with Job, " Blessed be the name of the Lord!"

 

 9. But I told you, humility contained in it a submission not only to his will, but also to his wisdom; that is, to acknowledge him infinitely wise, and therefore that whatever he does is best and fittest to be done. And this we are to confess, both in his commands and in his disposing of things. First, whatsoever he commands us either to believe or do, we are to submit to his wisdom in both; to believe whatsoever he bids us believe, how im.. possible soever it seems to our shallow understandings, and to do whatever he commands us to do, how contrary soever it be to our fleshly reason or humor; and in both to conclude, that his commands are most fit and reason-able, however they appear to us.

 

 1O. Secondly, we are to submit to his wisdom in respect of his disposal of things; to acknowledge he disposes all things wisely, and that not only in what concerns the world in general; but also in what concerns every one of us in particular: so that in what condition soever he puts us, we are to assure ourselves it is that which is best for us, since he chooses it who cannot err. And therefore never to have impatient desires of any thing, but to leave it to God to fit us with such a condition as he sees best for us, and there let us quietly and contentedly rest; yea, though it be such as, of all others, we should least have wished for ourselves. And this surely cannot but appear very reasonable to any that has humility. For that having taught him, that God is in-finitely wise, and he very foolish, he can never doubt that it is much more for his good that God should choose for him than he for himself. Thus many times we wish for wealth, and honor, and beauty,. when, if we had them, they would only prove snares to us. And this GOD, who knows all things, sees, though we do not, and therefore often denies us those things which he sees will tend to our mischief, and it is his abundant mercy that he does so. Let us therefore, whenever we are disappointed of any of our aims and wishes, not only patiently but joyfully submit to it, as knowing it is certainly best for us, being chosen by the unerring wisdom of our heavenly Father.

 

IV. Of Honor.

 

 11. A seventh duty to God is honor; that is, the paying him such reverence as belongs to so great a Majesty: and this is either inward or outward. The inward is the exalting him in our hearts, having the most excellent esteem of him. The outward is the showing forth that inward regard in the whole course of our lives, the living like men that do indeed carry that high esteem of God. Now you know, if we bear any special reverence to a man, we will be careful not to do any base thing in his presence. And so, if we do indeed honor GOD, we shall abhor to do any unworthy thing in his sight. But God sees all things, and therefore there is no way to shun the doing it in his sight, if we do it at all: therefore, if we do thus reverence him, we must never do any sinful thing.

 

 12. But, besides this general way of honoring GOD, there are many particular acts by which we may honor him; and these acts are divers, according to the several particulars about which they are exercised: for we are to pay this honor not only immediately to himself, but also to all those things that nearly relate to him. Those are especially six; first, his house; secondly, his revenue or income; (as I may say;) thirdly, his day; fourthly, his Word; fifthly, his sacraments; and sixthly, his name; and every one of these is to have some degree of our reverence and esteem.

 

 13. First, his house, that is, the church; which being the place set apart for his public worship, we are to look on it, though not as holy in respect of itself, yet in respect of its use, and therefore must not profane it, by applying it to uses of our own. This CHRIST has taught us by that act of his, Matt. 21: 13, in driving the buyers and sellers out of the temple, saying, " My house is called the house of prayer." And again, John 2: 16, " Make not my Father's house a house of merchandise." By which it is clear, churches are to be used only for the services of God; and we are to make that the only end of our coming thither, and not to come to church as to a market, to make bargains or despatch businesses with our neighbors, as is too common among i any. But whenever you enterest the church, remember that it is the house of GOD, a place where he is in an especial manner present; and therefore take the counsel of the wise man, Eccl. 5: 1, and " keep thy foot when you goest into the house of God:" that is, behave thyself with that godly awe and reverence which belongs to that Majesty you art before. Remember, thy business there is to converse with GOD, and therefore shut out all thoughts of the world, even of thy lawful business, which, though they be allowable at another time, are here sinful. How fearful a guilt is it then to entertain any such thoughts as are in themselves wicked It is like the treason of Judas, who pretended to kiss his Master, but brought with him a band of soldiers to apprehend him.

 

 14. The second thing to which respect belongs, is his revenue or income; that is, whatsoever is his -peculiar possession, set apart for the maintenance of those that attend his service; those were the priests in time of the law, and ministers of the gospel now. And whatever is thus set apart, we must look on with such respect as not to dare to turn it to any other use. Of this sort, some are the free-will offerings of men, who have sometimes of their own accord given some of their goods or land to this holy use; and whatsoever is given, can neither, by the person that gave, nor any other, be taken away without sacrilege.

 

 15. But besides these, there was among the Jews, and has always been in all Christian nations, something allotted for the support of those that attend the service of God. And it is but just it should be so, that those, who by undertaking that calling are taken off from the ways of gaining a livelihood in the world, should be provided for by them whose souls they watch over. And therefore it is most reasonable, which the apostle urges in this manner, 1 Cor. 9: 11, "If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things" That is, it is most unreasonable for men to grudge a few carnal things, the outward necessaries of this life, on them from whom they receive spiritual things,, even instruction and assistance towards the obtaining eternal life.

 

 16. A third thing wherein we are to express our reverence to GOD, is the hallowing of the times set apart for his service. He who has given all our time, requires some part of it to be paid back again, as a rent or tribute of the whole. Thus the Jews kept holy the seventh day, and we Christians the Sunday, or Lord's-day. The Jews were, in their sabbath, especially to remember the creation of the world; and we, in ours, the resurrection of' CHRIST, by which a way is made for us into that better world we expect hereafter. Now this day, thus set apart, is to be employed in the worship of GOD, and that first more publicly in the congregation, from which no man must absent himself without a just cause; and, secondly, privately at home, in praying with and instructing our families, or else in the yet more private duties of the closet.

 

 And that we may be at leisure for these, a rest from all worldly business is commanded; therefore, let no man think that a bare rest from labor is all that is required of him on the Lord's-day; but the time which he saves from the works of his calling he is to lay out on those spiritual duties. For the Lord's-day was never ordained to give us a pretence for idleness, but only to change our employment from world to heavenly; much less was- it meant, that by our rest from our callings, we should have more time free to bestow upon our sins, as too many do who are more constant on that day at the alehouse than the church. But this rest was commanded, first, to shadow out to us that rest from sin which we are bound to all the days of our lives. And, secondly, to take us off from our worldly business, and to give us time to attend the service of GOD, and the needs of our souls.

 

 17. And surely, if we rightly consider it, it is a very great benefit to us that there is such a set time thus weekly returning for that purpose. We are very intent upon the world, and if there were not some such time appointed, it is to be doubted we should hardly allot any ourselves; and then what a starved condition must these poor souls of ours be in P Whereas now there is a constant diet provided for them; every Sunday, if we will conscionably employ it, may be a festival-day to them; may bring them in such spiritual food as may nourish them to eternal life. We are not to look on this day with grudging, like those in Amos, 8: 5, who ask, " When will the Sabbath be gone, that we may set forth wheat;" as if that time were lost, which was taken from our worldly business. But we are to consider it as the gain-fullest, as the joyfullest day of the week; a day of harvest, wherein we are to lay up in store for the whole week, nay, for our whole lives.

 

 18. But besides this of the weekly Lord's day, there are other times which the church has set apart for the remembrance of some special mercies of GOD, such as the birth and resurrection of CHRIST, the descent of the Holy Ghost, and the like; and these days we are to keep in that manner which the church has ordered, to wit, in the solemn worship of GOD, and in particular thanks-giving for that special blessing we then remember. And surely whoever is truly thankful for those rich mercies, cannot think it too much to set apart some few days in a year for that purpose. _

 

But then we are to look that our feasts be truly spiritual, by employing the day thus holily, and not make it an occasion of intemperance, as too many, who consider nothing in CHRISTmas, and other solemn times, but the good cheer and jollity of them; for that is doing despite, instead of honor, to CHRIST, who came to bring all purity and soberness into the world, and therefore must not have that coming of his remembered in any other manner.

 

 19. Other days there are also set apart in memory of the apostles and other saints, wherein we are to give hearty thanks to God for his graces in them; particularly that they were made instruments of revealing to us CHRIST JESUS, and the way of salvation, as you know the apostles were, by their preaching throughout the world: And then farther, we are to meditate on those examples of holy life they have given us, and stir up ourselves to the imitation thereof. And whoever does uprightly set himself to make these uses of these several holy clays, will have cause, by the benefit he shall find from them, to thank, and not to blame the church for ordering them.

 

 2O. Another sort of days there are, which we are like-wise to observe, and those are days of fasting and humiliation; and whatever of this kind the church enjoins, whether constantly at set times of the year, or upon any special and more sudden occasion, we are to observe in such manner as she directs, that is, not only a bare abstaining from meat, but in afflicting our souls, humbling them deeply before GOD, in a hearty confessing and be-wailing our own and the nation's sins, and earnest prayer for forgiveness, and for the turning away of those judgments which those sins have called for; but, above all, in "turning ourselves from our sins, loosing the bands of wickedness," as Isaiah speaks, chap. lviii. 6, and exercising ourselves in works of mercy.

 

 21. Fourthly, we are to express our reverence to GOD, by honoring his word, and this we must certainly do, if we indeed honor him, there being no surer sign of our despising any person than the setting light by what he says to us; as, on the contrary, if we value one, every word he speaks will be of weight with us. Now this word of God is expressly contained in the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, where he speaks to us, to show us his will and our duty. And therefore this word of his we are to look upon as the rule by which we must frame all the actions of our life. And to that end to study it much, to read it as often as we can; if it may be, never to let a day pass without reading or hearing some part of it.

 

 22. But that is not all. We must not only read, but mark what we read, we must diligently observe what duties there are which God commands us to perform; what faults they are which God there charges us not to commit, together with the rewards promised to the one, and the punishment threatened to the other. When we have thus marked, we must lay them up in our memory; not so loosely and carelessly that they shall presently drop out again; but we must so fasten them there by often meditating on them, that we may have them ready for our use. Now that use is the directing our lives; and therefore whenever we are tempted to commit any evil, we are then to call to mind, this is the thing which is forbidden by GOD, and all his vengeances threatened against it; and so when any opportunity is offered us of doing good, to remember, this is the duty which I was exhorted to in such a scripture, and such glorious rewards promised to the doing of it; and by these considerations strengthen ourselves for resistance of the evil, and performance of the good.

 

 23. Besides this, it has pleased God to provide yet farther for our instruction by his ministers, whose office it is to teach us God's will, not by saying any thing contrary to the written word, (for whatsoever is so can never be God's will) but by explaining, and then applying it to our particular occasions, and exhorting and stirring us up to the practice of it; all which is the end at which first their catechizing and then their preaching aimed).

 

 24. Fifthly, we are to express our honoring of God by reverencing his sacraments: those are two, baptism, and the supper of the Lord. And this we are to do, first, by our high esteem of them: secondly, by our reverent usage of them. We are first to prize them at a high rate, looking on them as the instruments of bringing to us the greatest blessings we can receive. The first of them, baptism,. that enters us into covenant with GOD, makes us members of CHRIST, and so gives us right to all those precious benefits that flow from him, to wit, pardon of sins, sanctifying grace, anti heaven itself, on condition we perform our parts of the covenant. And as for the Lord's supper, that is not only a sign and remembrance of CHRIST and his death; but it is actually the giving CHRIST, and all the fruits of his death, to every worthy receiver; and therefore there is a most high estimation and value due to each of them.

 

The chapter concerning the Lord's Supper is omitted,

 

being abundantly supplied by Bishop Patrick's Christian Sacrifice.

 

CHAP. 3

 

I. Honor due to God's name. II. Sins against it; blasphemy; swearing; assertory, promissory, unlawful oaths. III. Of perjury, vain oaths, and the sin of them.

 

I. Honor due to God's Name.

 

 THE last thing wherein we are to express our reverence to him, is the honoring of his name. Now what this honoring of his name is, we shall best understand by considering what are the things by which it is dishonored, the avoiding of which will be our way of honoring it.

 

Sins against it.

 

 The first is, all blasphemies, or speaking any evil thing of GOD, the highest degree wherof is cursing him; or if we do not speak it with our mouths, yet if we do it in our hearts by thinking any unworthy thing of him, it is looked on by GOD, who sees the heart, as the vilest dishonor.

 

 A second way of dishonoring God's name is by swearing, and that is of two sorts, either by false oaths, or else by rash and light ones. A false oath may also be of two kinds, as, first, that by which I affirm somewhat;;: or secondly, that by which I promise. The first is, when I say such or such a thing was done so or so, and confirm this saying with an oath; if then I know there be not perfect truth in what I say, this is a flat perjury. Nay, if I swear to the truth of that whereof I amp only doubtful, though the thing should happen to be true, yet it brings upon me the guilt of perjury; for I swear at a venture, and the thing might, for aught I knew, be as well false as true; whereas I ought never to swear any thing, the truth of which I do not certainly know.

 

 2. But besides this sort of oaths, by which I affirm any thing, there is the other sort, that by which I promise somewhat. And that promise may be either to God or man. When it is to GOD, we call it a vow. I shall now only speak of that to man, and this may become a false oath, either at, or after the time of taking it. At the time of taking, it is false, if either I have then no real purpose of making it good, or else take it in a sense different from that which I know he to whom I make the promise understands it; for the use of oaths being to assure the person to whom they are made, they must be taken in their sense. But if I were never so sincere at the taking the oath, if afterwards I do not perform it, I am perjured.

 

 3. The nature of an oath being thus binding, it nearly concerns us to look that the matter of our oaths be lawful, for else we run ourselves into a woful snare. For example, suppose I swear to kill a man, if I perform my oath, I am guilty of murder; if I break it, of perjury, and I am under a necessity of sinning one way or other. It may perhaps be asked, What a person that has already brought himself into such a condition shall do I answer, he must first heartily repent of the great sin of taking the unlawful oath, and then stick only to the lawful thing.

 

 4. Having said this concerning the kinds of perjury, shall only add a few words to spew you how greatly God's name is dishonored by it. In all oaths, you know, God is solemnly called to witness the truth of that which is spoken; now if the thing be false, it is the basest affront and dishonor that can possibly be done to God. For it is in reason to signify one of these two things, either that we believe he knows not whether we say true or not; (and that is to make him no GOD, to suppose him to be as deceivable as one of our ignorant neighbors) or else that he is willing to countenance our lies; the former robs him of that great attribute of his, his knowing all things, and is surely a great dishonoring of him, it being, even amongst men, accounted one of the greatest disgraces, to account a man fit to have cheats put upon him; yet even so we deal with GOD, if we venture to forswear upon a hope that God discerns it not. But the other is yet worse; for the supposing him willing to countenance our lies, is the making him a party in them; and is not only the making him no GOD, (it being impossible that God should either he himself, or approve it in another,) but is the making him like the very devil. For he it is that is CQ a liar, and the father of it," John 8: 44. And surely I need not say more to prove that this is the highest degree of dishonoring God's name.

 

 5. But besides this of forswearing, I told you there was another sort of oaths by which God's name is dishonored: those are the vain and light oaths, such as are so usual in our common discourse, and are expressly for-bidden by CHRIST, Matt. 5: 34, 35, " But I say unto you, swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool." Where you see we are not allowed to swear even by mere creatures, be-cause of the relation they have to God: How great a wickedness is it then to profane his holy name by rash and vain oaths This is a sin that is (by I know not what charm of SATAN's,) grown into fashion among us; and now, its being so, draws daily more men into it. But it is to be remembered, that when we shall appear before God's judgment-seat to answer for those profanations of his name, it will be no excuse to say, it was the fashion to do so; it will rather be an increase of our guilt, that we have, by our own practice, helped to confirm that wicked custom, which we ought to have beat down and discountenanced.

 

 6. And sure this is a sin of a very high nature. For besides that it is a direct breach of the precept of CHRIST, it spews, first, a very low esteem of God. Every oath we swear is the appealing to God to judge the truth of what we speak, and therefore being of such greatness and majesty, requires that the matter concerning which we thus appeal to him should be of great moment. But when we swear in common discourse, it is far otherwise; and the lightest thing serves for the matter of an oath; nay, often men swear to such vain and foolish things, as a considering person would be ashamed barely to speak. And is it not a great despising of God to call him solemnly, to judge in such childish, such wretched matters

 

 7. Secondly, this common swearing is a sin which leads directly to the former of forswearing; for he that by the use of swearing has made oaths so familiar to him, will be likely to take the dreadfullest oath without much consideration. Nay, further, he that swears commonly, is not only prepared to forswear when a solemn oath is tendered him, but in all probability does actually forswear himself often in these sudden oaths; for, supposing them to come from a man ere he is aware, (which is the best that can be said of them) what assurance can any man have who swears ere he is aware, that he shall not he so too; and if he does both together, he must necessarily be forsworn.

 

 8. Thirdly, this is a sin to which there is no temptation, there is nothing either of pleasure or profit got by it: most other sins offer us somewhat either of the one or the others but this is utterly empty of both. So that in this sin the devil does not play the merchant for our souls, as in others he does; he does not so much as cheapen them, but we give them freely into his hands, without any thing in exchange.