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PART 2 - General Directions on How to Live a Holy and Christian Life.

I am now to give you some directions how to live that holy and Christian life, which in the former part of this book, I have endeavored to persuade you to. It shall be my care not to trouble you with many and less necessary things. And I beg you, that it may be yours to consider what I say impartially and to give it the regard which, upon consideration, you shall find it to deserve. Now, because I suppose you to be convinced that if you would be happy eternally it is necessary that you should live a holy life.  The first thing I shall advise you to is

Chapter 1  - To Resolve Upon a Holy Life

1.1       Containing the first advice, seriously to resolve upon a holy life - as well as  the necessity of such a resolution, and the great virtue and efficacy of it.

1.2       Containing some directions on how to form a lasting resolution. First, to resolve soberly and deliberately, not rashly and in haste, maturely to consider what it is we must resolve, and carefully to examine all the advantages and disadvantages on both sides. Secondly, to take the matter into consideration several distinct times, before we fix our resolution. Thirdly, to back this resolution with a solemn vow.

1.3.      A prosecution of the same argument, containing some further directions in making a lasting resolution, as fourthly, to write down our resolutions in the words wherein we make them, and to engage ourselves to God in a solemn bond and contract. And fifthly, to make known this resolution to the world, as often as a fit occasion offers, which very much tends to the glory of God, delivers us from many temptations, and makes us more steadfast to what we resolve. And sixthly, to seek out some good men and women who have taken up the same resolutions, and to contract an intimate friendship and acquaintance with them. Or, if we cannot find any such, to endeavor to persuade our old friends and companions to enter into such a religious friendship.

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1.1.      A Resolution Will Strengthen Your Cause  -  Make an absolute and peremptory resolution to live a holy life. “I see, it is necessary that I should do so (may you say). I cannot be happy for ever, if I do not live so; and therefore I am resolved I will live so, and nothing shall divert or hinder me.”

Without this peremptory resolution, you will never be able to do what you may desire. You may begin well, but you will fail to persevere to the end. You will be as the double-minded man, which St. James speaks of, in Chapter 1:8, “Unstable in your ways.” You will be of one mind while in the good way, and another while in the bad, according to the circumstances of your life, and the sway of your inclinations. But with this resolution begin and prosper. Resolution works wonders every day in other matters, and in this, be confident, it will do much more, - because God will bless it. It has a mighty efficacy in itself, and whoever is possessed of it, seldom fails to bring his design to pass.

It makes a person intent upon the thing he would do, inquisitive after the best means to effect it, watchful and ready to lay hold upon all fitting opportunities, jealous of the least impediments and hindrances, bold and constant in the midst of difficulties and dangers, and so excludes that forgetfulness and inadvertency, that negligence and sloth, that rashness and levity, that doubtfulness and faintheartedness, which overthrows the good purposes of many, and frustrates their best designs. But how much better will the efficacy of it be, do you think, when it is backed with the almighty grace of God, which in this matter will be ever assisting  it? The truth is, your work is half done when you are fully resolved, and if your resolution does not fail, I dare promise you as good success  as your heart can wish. But then care must be taken that your resolution continues firm, and strong. That it may do so, you must observe the following directions.

1.2   - Directions on How to Form a Resolution -  You must make it soberly and deliberately, not rashly and in haste. You must consider what you are about to resolve upon, what difficulties and discouragements you are likely to meet with, and what dangers and inconveniences may attend you in it. And when you have done this, you must consult your own reason and understanding, upon these and the like questions:

Is it reasonable that I should undertake, and resolve upon such a business as this is? Is it possible for me to effect it? Can I march through all the difficulties, and overcome all the temptations which may or can befall me in it? Is the design honorable and worthy? And can I hope for a sufficient recompense for all the troubles it will put me to?

For the avoiding of all error and mistake, it will not be amiss for you to put down in writing (if you can) all that you are considering, as also your judgment and determination upon every particular. However, fail not to get as clear and distinct an idea of every thing as possibly you can, and let nothing pass you without due consideration. Run through all the parts and duties of a holy life in your thoughts, and tell your heart, “This I must do; this I must fly from; this I must suffer. Almighty God requires it, and I cannot hope to be excused in any thing. Tell me, O my heart (you may say) will you be content if I shall do it, or not? Will you not prove false to me, if I resolve it?”

These things I must attend to, not for a few days only, or at some certain times and seasons, but constantly and perpetually, throughout the whole course of my life. It must be my business to obey and please God in all my ways, and all my worldly affairs and fleshly pleasures must give place to it. “Tell me, O my heart, how do you approve of this? Have I your free consent to undertake it? And will you be content that I now begin it?”

Then suppose within yourself the greatest temptations that can befall you, to discourage and draw you aside. Suppose that your mother who bare you in her womb, and nourished you with her breasts, and loves you as her life, should come with weeping eyes to you, and, with the most melting expressions that love and sorrow could put into her mouth, should entreat you to do some wicked act, or to prevent you from doing your duty in any matter. And suppose the wife (or husband) of your bosom, who is  as your very soul, should join with her in the same desire, and tell you, as Delilah did Sampson (Judges 16:15),” How can you say I love you, when your heart is not with me?” And it may be that your dearest friends and family members will plead with you also for the same thing.

And then you must ask yourself, “Shall I be able to withstand all these temptations, to resist the pleading of a kind and tender mother, to turn my back upon the wife of my bosom, and to ignore all my friends, rather than sin against God, and wound my own conscience?” And further, imagine for yourself the worst things that can befall a someone in this world. Suppose you must lose all you have in the world, yes, and your very life, if you will not sin against him. Suppose you must suffer the sharpest reproaches, and the most cruel death that ever was invented, if you will be faithful to him, and do your duty.

And then charge your heart to tell you, whether it will not sink at such a trial, and basely betray you to sin and shame. These are hard things indeed, and the bare thoughts of them are dreadful. How much more will the things themselves be, when you come to try them. But what good thing was ever obtained without some difficulty? And what wise man was ever discouraged with difficulties, that was sure of a recompense far exceeding the worst troubles he could possibly undergo? Is it not reasonable that I should do and suffer anything that my God shall impose upon me?

Should not that life and being which he has given me, be altogether at his service? May not my dear and loving Savior justly expect as much from me, since he has purchased me with his most precious blood? Did he not undergo much more for my sake than he requires me to do for his? And may not that joy which encouraged him be a just encouragement for me? Will not heaven make amends for all, and justify my choice and resolution to all the world? What if I am weak and frail? What if there are many subtle enemies to  my undertaking? Is not he that is with me greater than all that are against me? Cannot the spirit of my God make my weakness strong, and cause me to triumph over all my adversaries? Has he not done as much for millions of such weaklings as I am? Have not many before us taken up the very same resolution, and in spite of all the powers of darkness and their accursed instruments made it good to the last minute of their lives? I know, I know, my God and Savior will not fail me in so good an undertaking, and he will make my weakness to redound to the glory of his grace. Therefore I may, I must, I will, I do resolve upon a holy life

Thus I do advise you to consider things before you do resolve, that your resolution may be the work of your whole soul, that your understanding may fully approve of it under the most disadvantageous circumstances, and your will entirely embrace it, and that nothing may befall you in your after-life that may stagger you as not foreseen, or cause you to question the wisdom of your undertaking. And this advice (you must know) is not the mere issue of my own brains, but the counsel of our great and good Master in two plain parables, Luke 14:28-32: “Which of you  intending to build a tower, does not sit down and count the cost, whether he has sufficient to finish it? Lest happily after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build, and was not able to finish it. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sits not down first and considers whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him that comes against him with twenty thousand, or else while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an ambassador and desires conditions of peace.”

Parables plainly tell us that no wise man will begin to build, but who sees that he shall be able to finish. And no wise king will begin a war without first considering his ability to go through with it. Nor can anyone be thought wise, that will take upon himself to be a disciple of Christ, and to follow him in a holy life, before he has well considered what he undertakes, and what trouble and danger it may cost him. The fruits of such rash and unadvised undertakings can ordinarily be no other than shame and sorrow. If religion is once throughly wrought into the heart (which will not be done in an hour, or two, and can be done by no better way than by frequent meditations), it will in all probability keep possession of it for ever. And if a man is once resolved upon the practice of piety and virtue from a full conviction of the goodness and reasonableness of it, he will hardly be turned aside from it by any temptation. However, if it is admitted into the borders or the skirts of the soul only, to possess only the fancy or imagination, and by the help of these  alone does warn the affections, it will in a little time be cast off and all the good purposes which it may for the present produce, will, upon the least alteration of circumstances, be forgotten or laid aside.

Therefore in the second place, I shall commend to you that you do not fully determine, and fix your resolution upon just one consideration or deliberation (however seriously  you have done it) but that you take the matter twice or thrice into consideration, after some intermissions - for you will thereby discern whether your resolution is the effect of your judgment, and your entire choice, or whether it is merely of a good temper of body apt to receive religious impressions and a kindly heat, kindled by the working of your imagination.

If it is the good temper and warm imagination that disposes you to it, you will be of another mind after you have slept, or been dealing in other matters. But if it proceeds from the better principle but now mentioned, then what you approve of this day, you will approve of tomorrow, and for ever. The more you consider things, the better you will like your intended resolution, and the more ready you will be fully and finally to fix it. What you have considered one day, my counsel is that you take a review of it the next day. Consider afresh what you are to do, consider the pleasures which you must forsake, and the difficulties you must undergo. And if, after all, you find yourself sincerely bent to serve the Lord in a holy and Christian life, and no objection offers itself, which you perceive your heart to stumble at, then fix your resolution, resolve fully, peremptorily and irrevocably.

And that it may have as the strength which we can possibly add to it, let me advise you further,

1.3  - Take a Solemn Vow - Back it with a vow, with a solemn protestation to almighty God, to keep it firm and steadfast to the end of your life, for as long as any sense of God remains upon your soul. You will thus dread the not-doing of that which by a solemn promise to God you have bound yourself to do - it being in the opinion of all mankind a most abominable thing to falsify our vows and oaths to God, and deserving the severest vengeance that can fall upon the heads of wicked men.

1.4  - Write Down the Resolution.  And further, when you have done this, it will not be amiss to write down your resolution  in the very words you have made it, adding likewise the year, and month, and day, wherein you thus engaged yourself; and to keep it by you, as a thing of great concern to you, and once a month at least to look seriously upon it, saying to your heart, “See, O my heart, what you have done, observe the bond which you have laid upon yourself: it is your own act and deed. There is no disowning it, or excepting against it. As sure as I now see it with my eyes, it is recorded before God in heaven, and it shall one day be brought forth against me to my everlasting condemnation, if I do not discharge and satisfy it. Go on, O my heart, go on, as you have begun, to keep your resolution firm, and to pay your vows unto the most high. And be confident that the Lord will prosper your good desires and endeavors, and reward you according to his gracious covenant and promise, with everlasting glory and felicity.”

1.5  - Announce Your Resolution to the World.  All this being done, I think you may do well to make known your resolution to the world, as often as fitting occasions may be offered you, that is, as often as God may receive honor by it, or yourself be secured from temptation or sin. Such occasions, in this age, you will frequently meet with. Sometimes you will fall into the company of evil people who dishonor the holy religion which they profess by their wicked and ungodly lives,  and they will not spare to reproach you for not running with them into the same excesses and debaucheries. Then you may do well to tell them that you are fully resolved against such practices, and that you did long since take upon you a vow which allows them not, as they have also done; a profession of obedience to the doctrine, and of conformity to the example of the pure and holy Jesus; and that you cannot without gross hypocrisy and inexcusable folly act so contrary to it as they do.

Such a declaration as this will honor your Lord and Master and shame evil doers, if they are not past all shame and all hope of amendment. Sometimes again, you will meet with men and women that will play the devil’s part, and use all their cunning to persuade you to some sinful act. Such people you must let know without delay that you are in the full purpose of your heart as well as in outward profession a Christian, and that you are resolved to serve your Lord and Master to your death, and never do  anything which you shall know will in the least displease him. That how ever light a matter others may make it to disown him by their works whom with their mouths they own and flatter yet you esteem it so base and shameful a thing that by the help of God’s grace, you have determined never to be guilty of it. And that you cannot but believe it to be as bad, no, much worse, to be false to God, than to be false to men.  That they who do not think so do most unworthily prefer vile dust and ashes, before the high and holy God of heaven and earth.

This must needs stop the mouths of the most impudent tempters, and when you are known to the world to be thus well resolved, you will find a happy freedom from temptations by it. Your old companions in sin (if you have had any) will cease to importune you, and the devil, in despair of success, will seldom trouble you. You will also disarm him of one of the most dangerous weapons by which he destroys the soul of men. You will turn it against himself, and make that to be the instrument of your safety, which might have been the instrument of your ruin. By this I mean the fear of reproach from wicked men. (This fear  keeps thousands in bondage to sin all their days, going on in their wonted courses, not because they approve, or are truly pleased with them, but because they are ashamed to amend them).

This reproach, which you have  courageously condemned by publicly owning your resolution, will be of  little account to you  afterwards. For as a resolute soldier -  that has passed through the hardest service against the enemy without wound or scar -  feels no fear within himself of that which remains, so it will be with you. Having born the first reproaches of an ungodly world, which are ever the most bitter, you will readily condemn and set at nothing the rest.

The only fear of reproach which will then remain in you will be, only that which is just and good, namely the fear of deserved reproach for not making good that resolution which you have declared to the world.  The greater your fear of this is, the safer and the happier you will be.

Objection.  Against this part of my advice, I know but one thing that can be objected, namely, that in case you should fail to make good your resolution after this, returning to your former wickedness or carelessness as many, perhaps, have done after they have intended to do well, you will bring shame upon yourself, and dishonor to your holy religion.

Answer. And true it is, my friend, that these will be the effects of your failing, and it is as true that great care ought to be taken that nothing be done which will produce so great an evil as either of those. But it is not necessary that you should fail thus. It is not probable, if you use that sincerity, consideration, caution, and circumspection which I have commended to you -  because of the sufficient grace of God, which will never fail you. Thus  the force of the objection lies not against all resolving or owning your resolution, but against doing it rashly, and unadvisedly, proudly and vaingloriously.  It only admonishes us to proceed with great deliberation and prudence, and to forbear the public owning of it, till we have had some proof of our sincerity towards God, by the discharge of our several duties, and the resistance of some of the more dangerous temptations -  especially if we know ourselves to be of a hasty temper, and not very constant in other things.

But this being secured, I doubt not but you will find my advice good, and proposed it to you because of the abounding wickedness of the age. For, though many people call themselves Christian, and think themselves affronted if they are  not so esteemed, yet true Christian piety is owned by very few. It is become as disgraceful truly to practice it or to plead for it (more is our misery) as it is to disown it.  And therefore we take it to be as much our duty now thus to claim the cause of it against the vile practices of those who foolishly reproach and persecute it -  even while they call themselves Christians as it was of old the duty of Christians to own the name and profession against the persecutions of the heathen and unbelieving world. 

Certain it is that Christ is as well confessed by maintaining and defending that real holiness which he came to implant in the hearts and lives of men, as he is by the belief and acknowledgment of those things which he was pleased to do and suffer for our sake.

Therefore, the denying, of our obligation to his holiness, or of our resolution to embrace, and live in it, whenever we have a just cause to own it, is as truly a denying of Christ as is our protesting, when in danger, that we know him not. Be not afraid nor ashamed then to make yourself known to the world to be in the resolution of your heart a true Christian, that Christ may not be ashamed of you before the angels of God, in that day when all the secrets of our hearts shall be made manifest.

Those vile wretches that live to the dishonor of him whose name they are called by, and to the reproach of human nature, do not blush (as you may observe) to make known the baseness of their designs and the lewdness of their actions. They commit their wickedness in the sight of the sun, and are not ashamed to boast of it.

Should you be ashamed to live worthy of Christ, to be truly a Son of God, and to have a design upon glory and immortality? No, let them be ashamed that do shameful things. But for you, your design is honorable and worthy of a man, and your resolution is becoming a Christian, and it is necessary to you, being one. There is a shame, we are told, that ends in death. Surely this is that: when men and women are ashamed of that which is truly their glory -  and they dare not be what they know they ought to be -  because they may be reproached by evil people when they are known to be so.

1.6  - Seek Out Like-Minded People.  There is but one thing more to be added in this matter, namely, that you will do well to seek out some good people that have taken up the same resolution, and to acquaint yourself with them, and if possible  to make them familiar and bosom friends. Let them know your design and purpose of living a holy and Christian life. Tell them what  esteem you have for them, because you perceive that they intend to do no less. Beg their good opinion, and their love according as they shall behold the sincerity and reality in the vows you make. Desire their prayers, their instruction, their reproofs, their encouragements, according as they shall see you stand in need of them. And ask that they will look upon you as a poor and unworthy member of that holy body to which they belong and of which Christ is the head - that holy body that hopes by the mercy of God to be glorified with Christ one day. They will therefore have that regard and tenderness for you which the members of the same body have for one another. Desire them to accept  the like regard and love from you, and of all the good offices that true Christian charity can enable you to do for them.

I confess it will be no easy matter for you to find such persons. The number of them is but small, and they are generally no great pretenders, but modest and reserved, and perhaps more reserved, all things considered, than they ought to be.  The vile hypocrisy of pretenders to holiness in this last age, and the daily abuse of its good name by men and women that seek themselves in the ruin of the Church, may seem to encourage their closeness, and desire of being unknown. But the growth of  atheism and profaneness which those false pretenses have occasioned, and the danger we have fallen into -  of losing those great advantages of the practice of piety which our Church affords us does more strongly require the sincere  to lay open that piety which they practice in secret, and to let the world know by their actions that there are some that own the cause of real holiness, without hypocrisy and guile.

And let me tell you that if good men of this Church will thus show themselves, and unite together in the several parts of the country, disposing themselves into fraternities, or friendly societies, and engaging each other in their several and respective combinations, it will be helpful to one another in all good Christian ways. It would also be the most effectual means for restoring our decaying Christianity to its primitive life and vigour, and the supporting of tottering and sinking Church. But, not to lead you too far from the matter I was about, if you can find any of these good people, I have spoken of, I charge you to let your heart cleave unto them, and let there not be the least strangeness between you.

Be all as one person (thus it was with the primitive Christians, see Acts 2) and so march forward in the good ways of God against all opposition, observing and “considering one another, to provoke unto love and to good works” as the apostle’s expressions are (Hebrews 10:23-24), having an eye continually to the captain of our salvation, who has entered into heaven -  despite all the powers of darkness - and is there preparing a place for us. You will be no sooner engaged with these good people in love and friendship, but you will begin to feel the advantages of it. You will be afraid of no discouragements when you have gotten the assistance of so many true friends, and you will never fall back from that resolution which has been the occasion of engaging you in such good company. If you forget yourself at any time, you will not be without a reminder, and whenever you fail you will find a restorer. When you are seized with any coldness or dullness, they will be ready to warm and quicken you.

These are advantages so considerable that you can not prudently care about any pains it may cost you to procure them. And if you can not be so happy as to be acquainted with any of these good people, you must do as much as lies in you to make some of your old acquaintances good, by engaging them in the same resolution which you have taken up yourself.

To this purpose, you must make use of all the knowledge you have of them, and the interest you have in them. Tell then what you are resolved upon, with the grounds and reasons of your resolution and urge them to consider them seriously and impartially. If they approve of what you have done, press them to do the same. If they have ought to object against it, answer their objections, and remove their prejudices. If you cannot work upon them at one time, try what you can do at another, and watch for the fittest seasons for your purpose. If one way of discoursing will not take effect, try what another way will do, and remember to fit yourself to their tempers and dispositions, so far as innocently you may. If reason will not prevail, try pleading - but to all endeavors with them fail not to add prayers to God for them. In a word, press them with arguments and love and press Almighty God with prayers in their behalf, and be confident that sooner or later you shall move according to your heart’s desire.

One person thus gained will make you amends for all your pains, for besides the fact that he may prove to be a friend to you, as would  those that entered upon a holy life before you, yet he will be a far greater comfort to you than any of them -  because in all the good he does, you will have some kind of share. Every step he takes in those good ways you have brought him to, will be as a new pledge to assure you of your future glory. There being no greater promises made to any, than to those “who turn to righteousness from the error of their ways;” (Daniel 12:3). But enough has been said of framing and fixing your resolution, and the things which I can conceive to be requisite for making it firm and effectual. It is now time that I direct you how to put it in practice, and therefore,

Chapter 2  - Self-Denial

2.1.      Containing the second advice, To take up our cross and forsake all to follow Christ, wherein is explained the nature of this duty, and the necessity of it.

2.2.      Containing several arguments to reconcile us to this duty of self-denial for our spiritual life and health, from the example of our Savior, who was a great pattern of self-denial. And from the reasonableness of this duty considered in itself, and the great advantages of it.

2.3.      Containing some directions how to put this duty of self-denial in practice.

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2.1  - Take Up Your Cross and Forsake All. You must deny yourself, take up your cross, and forsake all. This is the first thing that is to be done by those that are resolved upon a holy and Christian life, and it is so necessary to be done in the first place, that if you fail in it, it will be a vain thing for me to offer you any further direction. Now it is so important that you  be persuaded of this truth, that you must allow  me leave to show you that I tell you no more in this case than what our blessed Lord and Master has done, in Luke 9:23, 24:”He said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me; for whoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose it for my sake, the same shall save it.” The meaning of which words is plainly this: all those that would be Christians indeed must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Christ, and not reserve so much as their very lives, but be willing and ready to resign up all for him.

But lest we should imagine this to concern some choice persons only, whom he designed to bring to greater perfection such as his apostles may be thought to be -  he was pleased to speak as much, at another time, to the multitudes that followed him, in Luke 14:25, 26, 27: “There were great multitudes with him, and he turned and said unto them, if any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, yes and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple; and whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”That is, he that will not deny, and forsake (as we are wont to do things we hate) whatsoever is dear to him in the world, be it father and mother, or wife and children, brothers and sisters, preferring Christ before them all, and is not fully resolved and prepared to suffer anything, however hard, for Christ’s sake, cannot be a disciple of Christ, or a true Christian.

The word “cannot” signifies such an impossibility as implies a contradiction. To deny ourselves, and all our dearest interests in this world, is essential to the sincere profession of Christianity, and therefore anyone, who will not do this cannot be a Christian. Those dear things which he cannot renounce, will not allow him to take this profession upon him. Or if he does take it upon him, they will in time cause him to repent his undertaking, and to fall away with shame from it.

And then in the words following, he advises them to consider seriously what they are about to do, before they took upon themselves to be his disciples. And that his advice might sink more deeply into their minds, he expresses himself in two parables (which I have before mentioned) namely (Luke 14:28-31) of a man intending to build a tower, and sitting down first to consider the cost, and of a king going to make war against another king, and considering first his abilities to go through with it: And then he concludes Luke 14: 33,” so likewise, whosoever he be of you, that forsakes not all that he has, he cannot be my disciple.”

This conclusion makes it plain: We cannot wisely nor safely engage ourselves to Christ, or enlist ourselves as soldiers under his banner, till we have denied, renounced, given up all interest in ourselves, and whatsoever is dear unto us. Not thus prepared, we do but exasperate and provoke an enemy, our old enemy the devil, whose forces we shall not be able to withstand and so we lay a foundation for our future shame and ruin. At first reading we may think those comparisons from Luke but ill applied -  for what agreement is there between having riches and armies, and forsaking all that we have?

Yet upon second thought, we may perceive a very wise design in it. For Christianity is a spiritual warfare, and some of the most powerful enemies we are to encounter are the riches and pleasures and honors of this world, and therefore the strength and courage of a Christian soldier, whereby he will obtain a glorious victory, consist in self-denial and a contempt of this world. And a Christian is God’s building, or spiritual house, the temple of God. The very foundation of this building is laid in humility and self-denial, from where proceed all those divine graces and virtues, which both complete and adorn the building. These make humility and poverty of spirit, renouncing the love of this world and the very possession of it too in some cases -  as necessary to our becoming Christians as a great deal of money is to erect and finish a stately and magnificent building. This appears to be a great truth, and no groundless fancy, as proven  by the parable of the wedding supper in the former part of the chapter, which you may do well to reflect upon:

The master sent his servants to call them that were bidden, when his supper was ready, but they all refused, and desired to be excused. One had bought a piece of ground, and he must go and see it Another had bought five yoke of oxen, and he must go and prove them. Another had married a wife and he could not come. But when he sent his servants to call the poor, the blind, and the lame, they came in immediately so that the poor and miserable people of the world, that have no worldly thing to trust to, or those who have these things but have conquered the love of them, are better disposed to receive the Gospel, and to become Christians, than the rich and the great. They have the world at will, as we say, and wallow in the pleasures thereof.

We have a very remarkable instance of the mischief that worldly riches do to those that both have and love them, in the 10th Chapter of St. Mark’s Gospel, and the 17, and 18 verses and following. There are several things in the chapter, relating to it, that deserve our regard. In the verses before we find our blessed Savior displeased with his disciples for forbidding little children to be brought unto him, and saying to them “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God.” That is, their innocency and simplicity, their willingness to be guided and sustained by others, makes them the fittest emblems of those that do truly belong to his Church and kingdom. And then he adds, “Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein,” That is, he that will not take the Christian profession upon him as a little child -  that is, with that very humility, disinterestedness, self-denial and resignation as is remarkable in little children -  will never submit to those laws which he gives to the world, and shall never be received by him as a Christian.

Now immediately upon this, as if divine providence had designed it for a confirmation of this truth, there came a young man to Christ, upon a very weighty and important business. This young man’s heart was in a good measure set upon eternal life, and he had entertained a great opinion of Christ, as appeared by the haste he made, by the humility of his carriage, and the words he used to him (Mark 10:17), “He came running, and kneeled to him, and asked him saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He had done much in order to it before. He had kept the Commandments from his youth up,” so he professed, and there is no doubt but he spoke what he thought, and what he had done in a good measure, for it is said verse 21 that “Jesus loved him”, that is, he approved of his good beginnings, and desired that they might be perfected. But when he told him that there was one thing still wanting, namely, that he “must go and sell all, and give to the poor, and take up his cross and follow me, the forward young man disliked his counsel, became sad and went away grieved. And why? Because he had great possessions. He had them, and he loved them likewise; and who can blame him for being sad, when he was told that either he must love eternal life, or part with them?

He had not got his riches by fraud and deceit, by violence and oppression, as many among us have done and resolve to keep them -  and yet hope for everlasting life (for if so he had not kept the commandments, which Christ spoke to him of). His love of the world had not prevailed so far upon him as to draw him to such wickedness, but his fault was that he had so great a love of his riches, that he could not find it in his heart to part with them, even for the obtaining of everlasting life.

Had he been as a little child, and had valued them no more than a child would have done, he would have  obtained his desire, and have entered into the Kingdom of God. But because it was not thus with him, his good meanings miscarried, and he fell short of that happiness which he sought after. Thus was this unhappy man a sad instance of the truth of our blessed Savior’s words. And so the disciples looked upon him, being astonished at the bewitching power of worldly possessions, but they were astonished to see a man that meant so well, and was come so near to the kingdom of God, overthrown by his great possessions. And since riches had so great a power over him, and could turn him back from the kingdom of God, they believed they would turn all the rich men in the world from it. For he, after having kept the commandments from his youth up, trusted in his riches. Thus, no rich man could be found, they thought, that they did not trust in them, and therefore said among themselves, in Mark 10:26, “Who then can be saved?”

And though Peter immediately expressed some hope of his salvation, and the salvation of his fellow disciples, because they had left all, and followed him, yet it appears from what follows in the chapter from verse 35 that he was deceived in his opinion of what they had done. For, though they had left their possessions to follow him, yet there was something of selfishness still remaining in them, and to be renounced by them. They had too great an opinion of the world’s grandeur, and they aimed at it more than they should. And this their Master was very well aware of, and therefore he tells them in another place, Matthew 18:3 (when they had proposed a question to him which showed the inclinations of their hearts, asking him, “Who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”). That except they were converted and became as little children, that is, as unconcerned for that greatness which they thought of as little children are, “They should not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

They were converted in a good measure then, and had given a good evidence of it, by quitting their possessions for their master’s sake. But it seems there was still something to be done. They were not so estranged from the world, nor so resigned as to all fleshly interest, but they needed to be put in mind that they must deny themselves more entirely, “and become as little children.” Then would they be fit for that service he designed to put them upon, and not till then. And thus, indeed, it was with them. For, while their heads were possessed with fancy, that their master was to be a mighty temporal prince, and their souls were hankering after the glories which they imagined they should partake of with him, they were often offended with his discourse. And, when they saw him in the hands of his enemies and began to suspect the ruin of their hopes and expectations, they shamefully deserted him.

Thus in St. Mark’s Gospel, when he began to tell them, That “he must suffer many things and be rejected of the chief priests and elders and scribes, and be put to death,” Peter” took him and rebuked him.” (Mark 8:32). And when those things were coming upon him which he spoke of, “They all forsook him and fled” (Mark 14:50).  Afterwards, when their mistakes were rectified, and their souls more perfectly purged from the love of earthly things -  by the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them -  every word that their master had spoken to them and which the Spirit brought to their remembrance, was dear to them, and they were not afraid nor ashamed to confess him before their greatest enemies.

Then, the cross of Christ was their greatest glory, and the great desire and joy of their hearts was to be made like to him in suffering and patience and resignation, to God.  Then they could call upon men to deny themselves, and forsake all, as earnestly as their master had done before them. For what else do those repeated exhortations signify, of not living to ourselves, of dying to our sins, of being crucified to the world, of being crucified, dead and buried with Christ, of offering ourselves sacrifices to God, and many more the like, which we read in their epistles? And, indeed, they did it very effectually while their doctrine and practice went hand in hand together. For in spite of the wickedness of the world, and the subtle malice of the devil, they prevailed in all places, and filled every corner of the world with the wonders of self-denial, and patience, and contempt of the world; with men that could take joyfully the spoiling of their goods, as we read Hebrews 10:34.

They counted not their lives dear for Christ’s sake and the gospels. And such self-denying men were Christians generally in the first ages of Christianity. Witness Athenagoras, who speaking of those of his time, tells us.

We are not moved with the loss of our estates which our enemies wrest from us, nor with the violence that is offered to our credit and reputation, or if there be anything of greater concernment than these. For, although these things are mightily prized and valued amongst men, yet can we despise and slight them? No, we cannot only when beaten refrain from striking again, and make no resistance against those that invade and spoil us, but to those that smite one cheek, we can turn the other, and to them that take away the coat, we can let go the cloak also.

Thus did the apostles and first Christians deny themselves and forsake all. And are not we bound to do so likewise, do you think? May we be his disciples upon easier terms than they were? Has he made the way to heaven broader than it was, and given us allowances which he did not give them of former ages? Certainly not.

It is true that we are not altogether in the same circumstances as they were in, for the Christian profession (though now honorable among us) was then so vile a thing in the eyes of the world, and so extremely hated, that none could take it up and own it publicly without hazarding the loss of all they had. Therefore, if  any were so rash as to take it up before they had denied themselves, they quickly discovered their rashness and want of self-denial by falling away from it.  It must be granted that self-denial is not now so necessary the taking up and retaining of the mere profession of Christianity as it was of old. But then as to the practice of it, it is certainly as necessary as ever it was - and though the profession be honored at present, yet the practice is as much despised, and doing what we profess, in a pure and holy life, will as certainly expose us to as many evils (God be thanked that I cannot say “to death”) as the profession of old was used to do. Therefore, he that will satisfy that Name which he has taken upon him, and observe the profession which he has made in baptism, must be brought to that frame and temper of mind, which those good men and women in the beginning of Christianity were brought to. That is, they must  take off from themselves all self interests and self-satisfactions. They must renounce all propriety in themselves and everything else, be dead to the world, and have no more affection to the worldly things than the dead have. All that so nothing may hinder them from living unto God.

There are but few indeed that seriously consider this, and therefore we see, that people generally account themselves Christians from their baptism. And as long as they do not renounce their baptism, they are confident that they are so. But he  has told us that many are called (that is, to be Christians), but few are chosen. Those who only profess themselves to be so, he makes another judgment of them. And they will know it one day to their shame and sorrow. They have fallen by God’s good providence upon that which is in fashion among us, and they see at present no reason why they should call it off -  I mean the outward profession of Christianity. But as for that which is not fashionable and in credit, that is the denying of ourselves and dying to the world - they never understood it. And because they do not deny themselves, and die to the world, they cannot live to God.

This might suffice, my friend, to convince you that you must deny yourself and forsake all, if you desire to live a holy and Christian life. Because I know of our unwilliingness to entertain this hard saying (as they are apt to term it), and because I know that it is so absolutely necessary that those who will live a Christian life do both believe and practice it, I shall show you yet further that not considering or not practicing this self-denial has been the main cause why so many have rejected the gospel in all ages. And it is why so many of these that have seemed to receive it have yielded so lame and so imperfect an obedience to it. Did you never read in your Bible how few of those that heard Christ preach while he was upon the earth, and saw the miracles that he wrought, especially of the greater sort, did truly believe in him? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? This was a choking question to any that would dare to speak for him (John 7: 48).  Those few disciples that he had were of the poorer sort of people that had not much to trust to, or much to lose for his sake.  If any of the richer or greater sort were convinced that he was the Christ, then they did not dare to own it. They would go by night and in secret to tell him of their faith, but publicly and openly they professed it not.  And what might be the reason for this, do you think?

Had not these great men those natural powers of judging, of  assenting and consenting to the truth, which the others had? Was not their natural courage as great, and would they not have showed it as much in other cases, as these poor people could have done? Yes, undoubtedly. In all other matters they were the wise, and the others the ignorant; they the bold and the hardy, the others the poor spirited and cowardly. But in this case the wise were fools, and the courageous mere cowards. And how was this? Those great rich and proud men could not - or would not -  learn this one lesson. It would have opened their blind eyes, and have raised their poor spirits, to that degree of boldness, which they beheld in the disciples of Christ, and wondered at. How can you believe (said Christ himself to them) as long as you receive honor from one another, and seek not the honor that comes from God only (John 5:44)? They loved themselves, and the praise of men too well, to approve of any thing that would lessen their reputation in the least, or bring them one step lower in the esteem of the world. And they were too covetous, as appears from other places of scripture, to leave all, to follow one that had not a house to put his head in. Did you never observe the monstrous unbelief of many among us, and the gross hypocrisy of others? Did you never observe what great opposition is made by some people against some of the clearest truths of Christianity, who yet seem very fond of other truths, that are not so clear, and lie not so open to human understanding?

And did you never take notice how strict some people are in some things who yet allow themselves to violate very plain and very weighty precepts? As for instance the doctrine of the Trinity we see unanimously acknowledged by many thousands among us, when the divine authority of Christ’s ministers, and the right of their wages meets with many opposers in all places. And some people can preach and pray from morning till night, and talk scripture to each other with much seeming seriousness, when like the Pharisees of old they will embrace any fair chance to devour the house of a poor widow or orphan or to exalt themselves somewhat higher in the world. And what do you think is the reason of these things? The same, without doubt, that hindered the Jews of old from receiving Christ. And if these truths which they profess to believe, and these Christian duties which they follow, did as much to oppose their worldly interests and fleshly lusts as the acknowledging of Jesus to be the Christ opposed the interests and lusts of the unbelieving Jews, then  they would quickly fall away from those truths and those duties, if not also from the whole religion.

Not that I believe that they have merely pretended when they first professed Christ,  or that they are and have been so zealous in some things merely for worldly ends.  I doubt not but many of them have meant well from the very beginning. But, those naughty and corrupt affections, which being renounced by Christ, did so fatally prejudice the Jews against him, do as strongly prejudice these professed Christians against the great part of his doctrine. Those corrupt affections, which they should have renounced at their first setting out, are like a thick cloud upon the eyes of their minds, not allowing them to discern those truths which to genuine Christians are as manifest as the sun at noonday. These corrupt affections are a strong bias upon their wills, drawing them aside from those good paths which they have a desire to walk in. These people intend well in the general, like the rich man when he came to Christ, and they do well in those things that do not oppose  their inordinate affections. But when they are to learn those duties to which their lusts will not be reconciled, either they are not able to understand them, or have not the power to practice them. They are like the wolf in the fable, that was sent to school to read, could make no word of all the letters, but a only see in them lamb - because of his appetite for the flesh of that harmless creature. They also can see nothing but what they lust after.

I will conclude therefore (and I think I have good reason for it) that if we desire and are resolved to be Christians, we must in the first place renounce ourselves, and entirely put off our carnal lusts and worldly affections. Our desires and resolutions will be vain and come to nought, if we fail to do it. We may intend well, and perhaps do many good things. And we may make a fair show for a while, and mount up to heaven in our own thoughts, and in the opinion of the world. But like as an unwise builder, that raises a very fair structure upwards, not having laid a good and firm foundation, and who will in a little time be convinced of this error by its ruin, so when a time of trial and temptation comes to us, our own fall will show us our error. When the winds blow and rains fall, and the floods come, our pretty frame of religion will come to ruin, and our high hopes will perish together with it.

Now after this, I suppose, I need to tell you that I have insisted so much upon this particular with great reason.

2.2  - Christ is Not a Hard Master.  It remains that I endeavor briefly to create in you a good opinion of the duty I have been speaking of, and to show you that it is not such an unreasonable thing as some people imagine it, to be obliged to it, and that Christ cannot reasonably be thought a hard master for laying it upon us. For surely,

2.2.1  - He Requires Nothing From Us But What is Necessary  He that has laid nothing upon us, but what our state and condition, and his own design of love and mercy towards us, did make necessary, cannot be judged hard or cruel to us. And has Christ required any thing more in this matter? No, undoubtedly he could not give us health and life (how ever much  he desires it) without removing our desires. He could not be the author of salvation to us, without taking away that which was our ruin and destruction. And what was our disease and ruin but an inordinate and immoderate love of ourselves and our fellow creatures -  whereby we fell away from God, to be as Gods ourselves, to please ourselves, to provide for ourselves to do our own wills, and to satisfy our own desires without restraint or control?

Now, what is it that we would have, when we quarrel with Christ, and call this commandment grievous? Would we have our health and our diseases too?  Would we live and die also? Would we serve God a little, and ourselves much more? Or, would we serve him so far only, as we shall please ourselves, and have that be taken for all the service that we owe him. If  you think this to be unreasonable, as you cannot but do, you must acknowledge it to be necessary that you should be taken from yourself, and all worldly things, that you might serve your God. But besides,

2.2.2  - He Was Our Greatest Example of Self-Denial. We cannot reasonably look upon him as a hard master, who submitted himself to that which he has imposed upon us, being himself the greatest example of self-denial, and forsaking all that ever was. What do you think of his appearing in our frail flesh, of his low estate in the world, of his pain and travail, of this thorny crown and cross? Was there not self-denial in all this, and such as angels and men may justly wonder and be astonished at for ever?

He, who being in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God, made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of a man, and being found in fashion as a man, humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians  2:6-8).

He, who might have commanded all the riches and glory of the world, as being Lord of all, became poor, that by his poverty we might be made rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). He, who made all mankind to serve and please him, pleased not himself, but became a servant for our good (Romans 15:3). He who could have had more than twelve Legions of angels for his guard (Matthew  26:53), yielded his cheeks to be smitten, his face to be spit upon, his back to be scourged, his hands and feet to be nailed to an infamous tree, and his side and heart to be pierced by the vilest sinners, whom with one word of his mouth he might have turned into hell.

Thus did our great and good Master deny himself, and forsake all. And can we poor worthless wretches think it much to deny our vile selves, and to forsake those little things which we call our own, for his sake, and in obedience to his command? Had he dealt with us, as those that once sat in Moses’ chair did with their disciples, laying heavy burdens upon them, and grievous to be born, which they themselves would not touch with one of their fingers (Matthew 23:4), we might have had some seeming cause of complaint. But since he himself has born the burden which he has laid upon us, yes, and  far more,  we are most unreasonable people if we open our mouths against him. He is too soft and delicate a servant  that would fare better than his Lord, and be exempted from that work which his Lord disdains not to put his hand unto.

2.2.3  - He has made Us For Himself.  I beseech you, friend, tell me what it is which you judge hard and unreasonable in this commandment. It is that we should believe ourselves to be what we really are, and that we should demean ourselves in the world accordingly? Is it that we who are as nothing ourselves, and have nothing  ourselves, and should be as nothing to ourselves, should be  in subordination to him of whom we are, and from whom we have received all? Is it that he who has made us for himself,  and who has freely given us all we do possess, will dispose of us and all according to his pleasure? Is it that we should prefer him before ourselves and his will before our own, and be ready and willing to part with all that he has given us, whenever he is pleased to call for it?

Is it is that we should be content to receive difficulty from him as well as good, when he shall see it fit for his own glory and our greater good? I dare say that there is nothing in all this, that you may fairly object to -  and this is all that is required of you. But yet further;

2.2.4  - What He Requires is Advantageous to Us.  Suppose it appear after all that what is here required is not only just and reasonable, but hugely profitable and advantageous for us. May we not justly look upon those who quarrel with it to be very unreasonable? And truly thus it is, and thus it will appear to be, upon very little consideration. It is no small advantage to be at liberty to obey God entirely and to be able to do it with ease, with delight and pleasure. It is no little benefit to be out of the reach of the devil’s malice and of all those dangerous weapons wherewith he assaults and destroys poor souls.

And this we shall infallibly obtain by the practice and performance of this one duty. For what is it that indisposes us to the service of God, that makes his righteous and holy laws to be grievous and uneasy to us, but our believing we are something by ourselves, and choosing to dispose of ourselves according to our own wills?

What is it that gives the devil so much advantage over us but our disorderly passions and affections? And whence have all his temptations their force and power, and all his artifices their success, but from our inordinate love of ourselves and these worldly things? And therefore when we have put off this love, and banished these things from our hearts as we are taught to do, we have disarmed our enemy, or taken off the edge of all his weapons. We have baffled his accursed policies, and secured ourselves from his devices. To those that are dead, people may talk of riches and honors and fleshly pleasures as long as they please; they may threaten them with reproaches and pains, and other evil things, till they have wearied themselves, and not find them moved in the least. And no less unmoveable shall we be, to all the temptations of the devil, if we are but perfectly dead to them.

These are great advantages but there is yet one more, no less considerable in the esteem of some, namely, that this will raise us up above all the troubles, perplexities and sorrows of this miserable world. Let what will come upon us here, it shall never be able to hurt us. For whence have all the evil things of the world (as we are wont to call them) their sting and edge, but from our unrenounced selves, our unkilled lusts and passions?  We will be something! We will do everything! And everything must be as we will have it! But in the event we find we are nothing, and that we can do nothing, and the stubborn things will not comply with us then we are troubled, we are in pain, we are overwhelmed with grief and sorrow. This is an evil that has no remedy but self-denial and resignation to God -  and this is a remedy that never fails. When we have put off ourselves as we ought, and disengaged our affections from all earthly things, and can give God leave to dispose of his own creatures, and to govern his own world, then we shall be in peace, then we shall be happy -  and not till then. Then nothing can go against us, because we shall be willing to comply with everything.

By this time I hope I have perfectly reconciled you to this duty, and that you are resolved to put it in practice. It remains now that I show you as briefly as may be how to do it. And,

2.3 - You Have Been Accustomed to Serve Yourself. Because you will certainly meet with many and great difficulties in your first endeavors, and the difficulties will be the more and the greater, the more you have loved yourself and the world, and have been accustomed to please yourself and to indulge your affections, it will be necessary,

2.3.1  - You Will Meet With Many and Great Difficulties. That you enter upon the practice of it with the strongest convictions possible, both of the necessity and reasonableness of it. And that you arm yourself with such considerations  as may beat down all opposition, and effectually encourage you against all the difficulties you can encounter. To this purpose you may make use of all that I have already said, and of many other things which my design will not permit me to give an account of. And after this manner may you discourse with your own heart concerning it. I am told that if I will be a true Christian I must deny myself and forsake the world, and take up my cross. I am told it by Christ himself, and if I do not believe him, why do I call him my Lord, and profess to trust in him as my Savior? I know that his words have been confirmed and are confirmed daily by a thousand instances. Indeed, I myself am an unhappy instance of the truth of them, having make but little progress in Christian knowledge, and less in Christian virtue, merely for want of a serious regard for them. But if I do believe them, why do I not practice them accordingly?

 Does not my everlasting happiness depend upon my being a Christian? Indeed, can I reasonably stick at anything that is needful for the securing myself of that? Is it fit that such a poor derivative thing as I am should take it upon myself to be absolute and independent? What have I done for myself heretofore, and what can I do for myself hereafter, that I should presume to please myself, or seek myself in anything? I cannot add one inch to my stature, I cannot make one hair white or black, I cannot do myself the least good, nor remove from myself the lightest evil. And shall I take upon me to do my own will without respect to Him, by whom alone I am, and without whose influence and blessing I can do nothing? And what is the world that I should set my heart upon it, and prefer it before my God and  Savior? Did my love of it ever do me any good? Or will it do me any without God’s blessing? Or when I am to leave it that I should cleave at present so close unto it? I know that it is God alone that gives me any portion in it, that gives me any comfort by it, and I know that he can deprive me of both when he pleases.

 And therefore I shall be not only a rebel but a fool if I don’t resign myself and the world to him, and say, “Whatever is laid upon me, it is the Lord, let him do whatsoever seems good unto him.”

Come therefore, O my heart, let us be no longer rebels against heaven, and enemies to our own happiness. We are not our own, we are not the world’s, but we are God’s, we are Christ’s, and therefore let God dispose of us as he will, and let him give those worldly things to whom he pleases, so that we may have his favor and enjoy it for ever.

O naughty self! How do I detest you for taking so much upon you, as you have done hitherto. O vain, O transitory world! I abhor you, I renounce you utterly. Court me no more with your foolish pleasures, with your glittering bravery, with your deceitful shows. I am now dying and I will be for ever dead unto you, that I may follow Christ, and live unto my God. Favor these good desires, favor them with your grace, O my God, and suffer not a soul that earnestly aspires towards you, to fall short of you.

With these and such like thoughts, you will do well to enter upon the practice of this duty. But then, I advise you,

2.3.2  - Begin Every Day With These Thoughts. To do as much as you can to keep these and the like thoughts continually in your mind. However, fail not to begin every day with them. When you first behold the light in the morning, after you have sent up your heart to God in some short acknowledgments of his mercy towards you, tell your heart that you have by God’s goodness another day added to your life, which you must employ for him and his service. He has bestowed it on you, and not for the pleasing of yourself and the satisfying of your lusts. Charge your heart, as it will answer for it at the great day, that it take care to do so consistently.  Like thoughts and resolutions will do well again about noon and indeed, at any time of the day, and the oftener they return into your mind, the more easily and speedily will you come to that perfect resignation which you are concerned to aim at. But yet further,

2.3.3.   Exercises of Mortification and Self-Denial It will behoove you to be frequent in exercises of mortification and self-denial. Refrain your wonted liberties, and deny yourself your accustomed satisfactions. Acquaint yourself sometimes with hardships, and turn not always away from sufferings, remembering that you are a soldier under the ensign of the Cross, and therefore must not be nice and tender, soft and delicate. Mortify your senses, and accustom them to those things that are least agreeable, knowing that there are some offices to be done sometimes by a Christian, such as visiting poor prisoners, and dressing of poor people’s sores.  Which people of a nice and squeamish sense will hardly be persuaded to perform.

Mortify your passions likewise, and keep them strictly within their bounds. For as he is a beast that is a slave to sense, so is he a fool that is governed by his passions. In one word, consider yourself well, mark your temper, your inclinations and affections, and keep yourself and them under constant discipline and correction. Have you a trifling wanton spirit? Are you much delighted with the ridicule, banter, jokes and jestings of wanton fancies and loose tongues? Fail not, I beseech you, to restrain your inclinations. Avoid the company of light and vain persons, and turn away your thoughts from trivial matters, to the concernment of a soul that must shortly appear before the bar of a just and holy God remembering that the Master whom you professes to serve was a serious, grave and useful person, and not a buffoon or stage player. It was the grief of a devout man many years ago (St. Bernard) to observe the lightness, laughter, and security of many Christians, and his continual fear that he should see them forsaken of the divine grace of which they showed themselves to be unmindful.

What grief, what fear, do you think would have possessed his heart, if he had lived in this age, and had been a witness of our vanity of this kind? We live in a merry world at present, and nothing is sacred or weighty enough to escape our jokes. But believe it, God will shortly spoil our vain mirth, and make us serious whether we will or not.

Are you soft and slothful, inclined to sensuality and voluptuousness? Rouse up yourself, and be always doing. Take up with plain food, fast often, lie on a hard bed, go frequently to the house of mourning, and keep him continually in your eye, who, after a life of continued travel in doing good, had no easier a bed than a cross to rest upon. Do the riches of the world please you? Refuse them when they are offered, or let the hand of liberality immediately distribute them to those that want them. And keep in mind those good individuals, whom your Bible tells you of, who, though they could have enriched themselves by miracles, yet continued poor, and had not so much as a house to put their heads in. Do worldly honors tickle you, and the applause of others delight you?

Retire from public offices, and hide yourself in the meanness and obscurity of a country life. Be exact and open in the practice of those virtues which are most unfashionable and which the generality of people have a mean opinion of. Forget not that there was a person once in the world who was able to have governed the whole world, and that led the greatest part of his life in the country villages and among poor people, and would not have his great and mighty works be publicly spoken of.

This is to practice self-denial, and by these and like practices, you will in a short time arrive at that perfect resignation to which I desire to lead you. But then in the last place,

2.3.4  - Be Employed Not For Yourself But For God. Be sure that in these practices and in whatever else you do, you take nothing to yourself; but refer yourself and all to almighty God. You may begin well, my friend,  in renouncing yourself.  Yet you may end ill in that very self which you did at first renounce. If  you do these things for the satisfaction of yourself, and seek your own glory in them. Forget not therefore this last advice: ‘It is not for yourself, but for God, that you must be  employed, if  you wish to be entirely resigned to God, and be forever united with God. You must be as nothing to yourself, and the world must be as nothing to you, that God may be all in all.

Chapter 3  - To Give Ourselves to God

3.1.      Containing a third advice to give up ourselves souls and bodies entirely to God, with several arguments to persuade us to it.

3.2.      Containing several directions how to put into practice this advice of giving ourselves to God.

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3.1  - Give Up Our Souls and Bodies Entirely to God   Give up yourself, your soul and body, all the faculties of the one, and all the members of the other, together with all you have in the w3e cd `xsw2orld, wholly and entirely to God through Christ Jesus, uniting yourself to him in the closest manner, and by the strongest bonds that possibly you can, resolve to be his, and only his forever. To make you capable of doing this was the design of my former advice, and if you can practice that well, you will readily follow this. For by breaking those bonds  which kept you from God, you will as naturally rise to him as fire  ascends upwards, when that which depresses it, or keeps it down is removed from it. And therefore, fewer words may serve to enforce this advice upon you. The heads of some few considerations I shall briefly offer you. Enlarge upon them as you see good. In the first place then,

3.1.1  - We Are God’s Creatures.   You must and do acknowledge yourself to be God’s creature. He is the only spring and root of your being and life. And is it not just then that you should be and live to him, and to him alone? Are you not a very unreasonable creature if you refuse to be his, by whom alone you are, and without whom you cannot be at all? Yes surely.

3.1.2  -  God is Our Only Supporter   You must acknowledge God to be the only supporter, preserver, and maintainer of your life and being. You live by him as surely as the tree by its root, and if he withdraw his quickening influence and power but one moment, you are dead without remedy. Those necessities for the preserving of life, which the world furnishes you with are all fallen from him. And all the virtue and efficacy they have for that purpose are no less from him. It is he that refreshes you by heat and light, that nourishes you by meat and drink, that cures you by medicine and cleansing, and without him you could have no nourishment, no health, no refreshment. And with what reason, then, can you withhold yourself from him? Surely with none at all.

3.1.3  - God is Our Savior   You believe God to be your Savior, i.e., that he has given you his only begotten Son to deliver you from sin and death, and to bring you to everlasting life. And that as he, as a man, offered up himself a sacrifice upon the cross for your sins, so he has undertaken to bring back your erring and lost soul to God. And therefore, you are a most unworthy and ungrateful wretch, if you will not comply with his gracious undertaking, but refuse to be Christ’s, that you may be God’s for ever.

3.1.4  - His Holy Spirit is Working in You .  You do believe and acknowledge that for this end he has taken possession of you by his Holy Spirit, who is continually working in you, to help you by putting off yourself, and all selfish inclinations and desires, and by abandoning all that is dear to you. This is to offer up yourself, as Abraham offered up his Isaac, a sacrifice unto God. And therefore you cannot, without the guilt of the most abominable sacrifice, take upon you to be anything - or to do anything - but for God, and to God. See 1 Corinthians. 6:19, 20.

3.1.5.   At Your Baptism You are Joined to God  You have made a show, an outward profession of giving up yourself to God, and of being God’s, long ago. This you did at your baptism, when renouncing the devil, the world, and the flesh, you did give up your self to God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. And this profession you have (probably) renewed often at the table of the Lord, where commemorating, and giving thanks to God for the greatest expression of the greatest love to man that ever was, you did “offer and present yourself, your soul and body to be a reasonable, holy and living sacrifice to the Lord.” And you have seemed to the world to this very day to accept all this. And therefore, if  you will not be God’s after all this, by the full consent of your heart, then you are the falsest and vilest hypocrite upon earth, and an accursed traitor to your great creator, to your gracious and loving Savior. To all this you may add,

3.1.6  - Faithful Service and Obedience Forever   This is that holiness which the scriptures so frequently recommend unto you, and without which you cannot hope to see the Lord. When things are separated from common uses, and are given up to God, so as never to be make use of but for him, or in his worship and service, they are called holy things. And so indeed they are, so far as things can be. Thus, when you have separated yourself, taken off your heart from all created things, and have given up yourself to God, to be his and only his -  in faithful service and obedience for ever - you are holy, and not till then. And if you think otherwise, you do dangerously deceive yourself. Add to this,

3.1.7  - Resign Yourself to God   This is your perfection, and the greatest perfection you are capable of. You can do nothing better than to resign yourself to God. And you cannot possibly be in any better state than in a state of pure resignation to him. And therefore in the last place,

3.1.8  - Holiness, Perfection and Happiness are the Same  You may safely believe that this is your happiness, and the greatest happiness you can attain unto. The truth is, these three words, holiness, perfection, and happiness, though they differ in sound, are all the very same in sense and signification. He that says that the saints in heaven are blessed, says no other thing than this, that they are made perfect. And he that says that they are made perfect, says no other thing than this that they are fully and completely holy. And he that speaks this says no more than that they are entirely God’s, that they are perfectly disengaged from everything that might withhold them in the least from him.  They are so united to him that nothing can separate or dissolve the union. All that I would now persuade you to, is but to make yourself as perfect and happy as you can be. And I think in this case it should be no hard matter to prevail with you, when you cannot but see your interest in that which is recommended to you as your duty. It is not impossible, if you are the person I now suppose you to be, but you must yield your full consent to it. And therefore I leave these things to your serious thoughts, and proceed to give you some directions on how to perform this good and happy work.

3.2  - Directions for the Holy Life  That you are concerned to take the greatest care  to do it well, I presume I need not tell you. And therefore, as I do earnestly recommend the following directions to you, so I hope you will not fail to practice them. And because it is a matter of great moment in everything to begin well, I advise you,

3.2.1  - Separate Yourself From the World.  Separate yourself for some time from the world. Retire into your closet, or into some secret place, where no eye may see you, and nothing divert or disturb you. And when you are there, consider that you are  there about a business of the greatest importance to you. You are to give yourself to God, to unite yourself most firmly to him. But of yourself, and without God’s special grace, you are not able to do it. If  he does not draw you, if he does not overcome your sorry heart by the sweet and powerful influences of his love, you will make but faint and feigned offers of yourself unto him. And therefore you must not fail in the first place,

3.2.1.1  - Talk With God Alone   To fall upon your senses, and with the greatest reverence and submission, to acquaint him with the desires of your soul, and to beg his favorable acceptance of them, and his blessing upon them. And if you don’t know  how to do it better, you may make use of this form of words:

My Lord, and my God, you know the very bottom of my heart, and my desires are not hidden from you. I am encouraged by my own happy experience of your goodness, as well as by your gracious declaration of your will, to present myself before you, even though I know myself to be unworthy of the least favor from you. I am ashamed when I think how I have demeaned myself  towards you, and that I have lived so long a stranger. I have even been an enemy to you, taking upon me to rule myself, and to run myself in the main course of my life without the least regard to you. I abhor myself for it, and acknowledge that I deserve for ever to be abandoned by you.

But you have not dealt with me according to my deserts - blessed be your goodness for it! And therefore I now desire without hesitation  to return unto you, and renounce all interest and propriety in myself. I detest all my former ungodly practices. I desire to give up myself wholly and entirely to you.

I would be yours, and only yours, in all Love and service, in perfect submission and obedience for ever. But I know I am nothing, and can do nothing of myself.  If ever I am yours, as I desire to be, I must be indebted wholly to your goodness for it.

 O my God, my Savior and my Sanctifier, turn not your face away from a poor soul that seeks you, and places all confidence and comfort in you. But as you have kindled these good desires in my heart, so favor them with your blessing, and confirm, increase, and sanctify them.

Reject not that poor gift, which I would make of myself unto you, and enable me to make it in such a manner that it may be pleasing and acceptable in your sight. Lord, hear me, help me, and show mercy to me, for Christ Jesus’s sake. Amen.

When you have thus offered your desires to God, rise from your knees, and either walking or sitting, as you think best,

3.2.1.2  - Stir Yourself to Perfect Surrender  Begin to excite, and stir up your soul, to a perfect surrender of itself, by the arguments before laid down, pressing them upon yourself with all your might. And that they may have as great an influence upon you as is possible, you may imagine that you hear Almighty God speaking to you from heaven in this manner: “Consider yourself, O creature, and take notice what you are, and what good things you do possess; look upon your body and all its useful members. Consider your soul, and all its faculties and powers, and observe their several motions and operations, and tell me whence you are, and to whom you are indebted for them. Look upon the world that furnishes you with all things necessary and fitting for you, and tell me who was the framer of it, and who made it useful and serviceable to you.”

“Can you deny that I have done all this? And wherefore, then, have you lifted up yourself against me, and presumed to act as if you had no dependence upon me, or obligation to me? If you sow your feed in your field, you expect to reap the crop. If you did nourish and provide for a poor beast, you think that you may use him at your pleasure. If you make an instrument to work, you have a right to use it. But I have maintained and preserved a creature (hear and be ashamed of yourself) and you will allow me no right and title to him and his service. Tell me, O you unjust and ungrateful wretch, did I ever give you liberty to rule yourself? Did I ever give you occasion to think, that I made no reckoning of you, or that I expected no acknowledgment from you? No, wretched creature, you knew that I made you for myself, and that I would not give away my interest in you.  I put a great value upon you, and  as I made you capable of serving me, so I expected and desired it from you. Therefore did I love you from the beginning, and bestowed innumerable gifts upon you. I gave you all things that were fitting for you, and assured you that I would withhold no good thing from you. Yes, I gave you myself in my only begotten Son, who descended out of my bosom to assure you of my love, as well as to convince you that you had deserved my hatred.”

You can rage against a poor employee that neglects your business, and seems to slight you. Your poor neighbor, who has no dependence upon you,  feels the effects of your displeasure if he chance to wrong you. They must seek your pardon and crouch before you, and think themselves beholden to you, if by so doing they can make their peace. And yet I have humbled myself to you, you vile worm, and have not spared my own Son that I might spare you, and bring you to a due sense of your duty to me. Heaven and earth can witness for me, that I have stooped low enough in desiring the friendship of rebellious dust and ashes. And others shall witness the justice of my severity to you, if so much love and condescension will not work upon you.”

Here you may pause a while and observe how your soul is affected with these things. And then you may imagine again, that you hear almighty God speaking further to you and more fully relating the wonderful history of his love in Christ Jesus.

And after he has given you an account of his mean birth, of his humble and painful life, of his bloody and cruel death, and his design and end in all this, proceeding to show you with how much love, and with what tender regard for you he left this world, and ascended to his Father. And how, that after he had done and suffered in his own person, as much as was necessary and fitting for him, he sent the holy ghost to complete the great and good work of your eternal salvation. And then imagine that he tells you, what that blessed and holy spirit has for his part done for you, what gifts he has bestowed, what wonders he has wrought, what arts and methods he has used, and with what goodness and patience, and long-suffering, to bring you to a right understanding and a real sense of all his love, and of all your duty to him.  All this to excite, encourage, and enable you to the performance of it.

And in the end he speaks to you in this manner: “ Wretch that you are, must all this love be lost upon you? And must I love you for ever, after all that I have done for you? Will nothing work upon your hard heart upon your proud and stubborn will? Will nothing conquer the perverseness of your spirit? Not the commands of your maker, not the death of your Savior, not the good motions and inspirations of your sanctifier?”

“Can you withstand my power, that you are thus obstinate against my goodness? And if you will allow me to save you, do you think that I am not able to destroy you? O foolish creature and unwise! Consider these thing seriously, and as you ought. Remember what you have done, and what unreasonable courses you have taken,  and proceed no further in your folly.  Return to that love that calls you, that entreats you, that would save you.”

Here you may pause a little. If anything more is necessary to shame and humble you, to soften and melt you. You may turn yourself to consider your own engagements, and to charge yourself with that monstrous foolishness which you have, and will continue to be guilty of, if you now withstand the calls of God. And that your foolishness may appear the more detestable, you may consider finally this: that  which you are now called to do it is not  anything unjust, dishonest or unreasonable. It is not to destroy yourself, or to make yourself miserable, but on the contrary, it is to do the most just, the most reasonable and the best thing that you are capable of doing. It is to return to the author of your being, and thereby serve the end of your creation. It is the only happiness, and rest of your soul. It is to unite yourself to the supreme good, to make yourself his, and to make him yours, forever. And is this a thing so repugnant to you, that you need so much invitation and persuasion to accept it? O my soul! my foolish soul, may you say, what can you say for yourself in this case? Is there any excuse for your folly? Any plea for your wickedness? No, far be it from you to seek for any. Let us rather amend what we have done amiss, and be more wise for the time to come.

We would have been happy if we had needed as much of an invitation to destroy ourselves. But since we could do that with very little or none at all, let us no longer withstand this which is so earnest, and begs us to save our selves. In turning yourself to God (in whose presence you have been all this while) you may speak (as I hope you will be able with truth to do) in this manner to him:

“I am overcome, I am overcome, O God. I can no longer withstand your mighty love. I must and I do yield myself a captive to it. I am yours. I do acknowledge this by all right, and I will be yours for ever, by the full consent of my heart.”

“I can do no less in return for that wonderful love you have shown me, and I can do no more. O, let this little that I can do, be accepted by you, and receive me for your own. Take possession of me by your Spirit, and let it preserve me for ever to yourself, according as I do now sincerely resign  myself, and all I have, to you.” 

3.2.1.3  - Give Yourself Body and Soul to God   Casting yourself upon the ground, say thus, and say it with all your heart and soul.

“To God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, my creator, redeemer and sanctifier, do I give myself soul and body, and all that belongs unto me, to be guided, governed, and disposed of according to his will, and to his honor and glory, and may he be a witness to this my act, which I promise never to revoke. And may I never obtain the least favor from him if I do it not with an upright heart, and a sure purpose to make it good to my life’s end. You are my witness, O my God, and so be also my helper with your continued grace, that I shall be faithful to you according to my heart’s desire. Amen, Amen.

3.2.1.4  - Make a Private Vow Between Yourself and Your Maker   But then as in matters of the world, that which is done in private between one person and another, must in some cases receive a further confirmation by such solemnities as are appointed by human laws. Thus that which you have done between God and your own soul must be further confirmed, and  completed, by those solemnities which the laws of God require. Therefore fail not to take the first opportunity that is offered you to go to the table of the Lord. And having prepared yourself at home by such meditations as I have before taught you, and by reading some good book of the holy sacrament (such as Dr. Patrick’s Christian Sacrifice, which I desire may find a place both in your closet and in your heart) renew there what you have done in private, and in public  avow it and confirm it. At that holy table God will not fail to meet you attended with an innumerable company of holy angels, and he strictly requires and expects it from you.

Therefore, when you are at that table, and behold what manner of love is there showed you, and which cannot but draw your very heart from you, remember what you are to do, and let your heart speak in this manner to Almighty God:

“There is all the reason in the world, O Heavenly Father, that I should give up myself entirely to you, since you have not withheld your Son, your only Son from me. There is all the reason in the world, O my blessed Savior, that I should surrender myself, and all I have, into your hands, since you did offer yourself a sacrifice upon the cross for me, and do now offer these holy pledges of the all-sufficient virtue of that sacrifice to me. There is all the reason in the world that I should resign myself to you, O holy and blessed Spirit, since you do offer yourself to be a principle of holiness and life in me.”

And therefore, I do now accept with all thankfulness those great and inestimable favors, and do declare my acceptance of them in the sight of these your servants, and all your holy angels here present, by receiving those tokens and pledges of them according to your command and institution. I give up myself and all I have to you, and declare it before the face of all these witnesses and I earnestly desire that even my unworthy self may be accepted through this my poor gift, the perfect sacrifice and oblation of my dearest Savior.  May it be sanctified by the Holy Ghost, and be owned by my God, to the everlasting praise of the holy, blessed, and undivided Trinity, whose I am, and whose I will be for ever, and ever. Amen, Amen.” 

3.2.1.5  - Surrender Yourself Alone and In Writing   When you are gone from this holy table, retire as soon as possibly you can, and while these good thoughts are warm in your breast, into your closet and there take the book of your spiritual accounts into your hand (for I would not have you to be without such a book, for recording these things wherein the welfare of your soul is greatly concerned, and with your pen write thus:

In such a year and such a month, and on such a day, I did through God’s grace, with all the devotion of my heart, and soul, make an entire surrender of my self, and all things belonging to me, to almighty God proclaiming and vowing that he should have the full guiding, governing, and disposing of me and mine for ever.

And then, that you may have a more distinct understanding of what you have done, and what you are obliged to do for the time to come, you may under-write these following particulars, namely,

I have given myself up entirely to God and therefore I must not serve myself, but Him all the days of my life.

I have given Him my understanding: and therefore my  chief care and study must be to know him, his nature, his perfections, his works, his will. These must be the subject of my meditations night and day; as for all other things, they must be as dross and dung to me; and the knowledge of them must be as loss for the excellency of the knowledge of God in Christ (Philippians 3:8).  I must believe all his revelations, and silencing all the carnal reasonings against whatsoever he teaches me, I must rest myself on his veracity, being fully persuaded that he can neither be deceived himself, nor deceive me.( See Romans 4:19, 20).

I have given him my will, and therefore I must have no will of my own. Whatever he wills, I must will also. I must will his glory in all things, as he does, and that must be my chief end in everything. I must prefer it before all desirable things, and subordinate my own desires, delights and satisfactions to it. I must say, as the Psalmist did, Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is none upon earth, that I desire besides you (Psalm 73:25). I must do whatsoever God commands me and forbear whatever he forbids, and I must do it for this reason:  because he does command or forbid me. Indeed, I must delight to do it  (Psalm 40:8). And it must be to me as my meat and drink (John 4:34). I must content to suffer whatever he will lay upon me, and though it may be his pleasure to lay hard things upon me, and grievous to be born, yet I must not complain or murmur. But with cheerfulness, alacrity and thankfulness, I will submit myself to it. Whatever threatens me, I must say, It is the Lord, let Him do what seems good to Him (1 Samuel 3:18), and whatever befalls me, I must give thanks, for that is his will concerning me in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

I have given him all the passions and affections of my soul and therefore he must direct them, govern, and set bounds for them. He must have my love, my fear, my delight, my joy - and nothing in the world must have any share in these, or any other of my affections. What he loves, I must love. What he hates, I must hate. What he is well pleased with, I must rejoice in. What he is grieved with, I must mourn for. The objects of his pity I must have compassion on, and those of his wrath and indignation I must be zealous against. And all in such measures only to the degree  he is pleased to allow me.

I have given him my body, and therefore must glorify him with it. I must not dare to abuse it by gluttony, drunkenness, adultery, fornication, or any other uncleanness. I must look upon it as his temple, and therefore must preserve it pure and holy, fit for my God to dwell in (see 1 Corinthians 6:19). I must not wrong it by pampering or indulging it, nor by neglecting it, nor by showing too much rigor towards it in overmuch fasting, watching, laboring, etcetera. But I must keep my body, as far as in me lies, healthy, vigorous, active and fit to do him all manner of service that he shall call for.

I have given him my senses, my eyes, my ears, and so forth. And therefore,  they must be always open to good, but to evil, and all the occasions of it, they must be shut.

I have given him all my members, and therefore they must be no longer instruments of unrighteousness unto sin (Romans 6:13) but instruments of righteousness unto God. My tongue must show forth his praise, my hands must do his works, and my foot must carry me with speed unto it.

I have given him not myself only, but also all that belongs to me, and therefore my children, my friends, my employees must all be his, if I can make them so.

I have given him all my worldly goods. And therefore I must prize them, and use them only for him. His house, his priests, his poor must have their portions from me with a willing mind. And though I have no more than necessaries for my life, yet I must be content to part with them, when my Lord shall need them, or command me to resign them.

I have given him my credit and reputation.  Therefore I must value it, and endeavor to maintain it only in respect to him, as it may do him service, and advance his honor in the world.

I have given him myself and all.  Therefore I must look upon myself to be nothing, and to have nothing outside of him. He must be the sole disposer, governor, and guider of myself and all. He must be my portion, and my all.

And then, in the close you may add this.

Thus have I given myself to God, and to all this have I bound myself in the most solemn manner.  With my own hand do I now testify my full consent to it, and I am resolved to make good the whole, and every part of it, God assisting me, to my life’s end. I doubt not but I shall meet with many temptations to the contrary. I shall be often told of my singularity and preciseness, and some may tell me in kindness that I do more than is necessary, and that I must accommodate or fit myself to this or that person, company, thing, custom, etcetera. But my answer shall be to all, I am not my own, I am not for myself, nor for my friends, nor for the world, nor for its customs. But for my God. I will give to Caesar what I owe to Caesar, and to God what I owe to God. The Lord be merciful to me, his unworthy servant.

All this I say you will do well to write in your book of spiritual accounts. But if you cannot write, fail not to fix it in your memory, and as often as you are called to the table of the Lord, take a view of it, or repeat it to yourself, and call yourself strictly to account how you have made it good, and how and wherein you have failed.  Give God thanks for what you have been able to do, and humble yourself before him for all that you have omitted, confessing it with sorrow, and earnestly begging pardon for it, renewing your resolutions and vows, and imploring a greater measure of his grace to enable you to do better for the time to come.

But did I say that you must do this as often as you are called to the table of the Lord? I must tell you that you should do it more often. You should do it once a week at least, Saturday in the evening, or early in the morning on the Lord’s day. For, so often at least were the primitive Christians wont to receive the holy sacrament, and that we do it not as often as they did, is not for our praise or commendation.  Indeed to put off this, till our usual times of communion, is to put it off to a time when we can hardly do it well. Because many things will be forgotten by us, or else we shall be overwhelmed with too great a multitude.

There is not one but will find work enough at the end of one week, to call to mind how his heart has been disposed, his tongue employed, and what good or evil deeds he has done, with the several circumstances belonging to them, during that time; and how imperfect an account of these things, then, can they give to themselves, and to Almighty God, who are to look back a full quarter of a year, and to call all their ways to remembrance?

Let this therefore be done, I pray you, at least as often as I have said, and if you cannot be so happy as to take communion weekly, then this will in some measure supply the want of it, and put you into a better disposition to give yourself to God when you do take holy communion, and it will  unite yourself more firmly to him. I must confess I am not able to promise you, but you will discern many failings when you come thus to examine yourself, though you have been ever so careful to keep close to God and to demean yourself as God’s.  Let not this discourage you in the least, because you have to do with a God that knows your frailty, and abounds in mercy and compassion towards you. And as long as you do not withdraw your heart from him, nor slack your endeavors to make good your resolutions and vows, you may rest yourself assured that you shall not want the choicest tokens of his love, a daily supply of grace and strength to obey and please him. You may feel yourself at first to be weak as a child, but be not dismayed at it for you will find that in a little time, the spirit which first breathed into you this new life, will preserve and cherish it, and make you to grow up to a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).

Thus have I shown you (my dear friend), how you may become a real Christian, i.e., in the language of the Scripture, a new creature in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). And let me tell you for your comfort, that when these things are done, you may safely account yourself to be one. And all those privileges which the holy scriptures assure you do belong to real Christians, you may justly claim as belonging to yourself. Are they one with Christ? So are you. Have they the spirit of Christ? So have you. Have they the fellowship with the Father and the Son? So have you. Are they the children of God, heirs of God, and co-heirs with Christ? So are you.

This is a happy and honorable estate. No ambitious soul can aim at anything higher, no heart can desire anything better. It is that to which all that call themselves Christians do pretend but they, and they only, that have thus resigned themselves to God, have attained to it.

But now I must tell you that by how much greater your happiness is in this estate, by that much more you must be concerned to take care that you fall not away from it.  Use all diligence to keep yourself in a firm possession of it, remembering that you are not yet in heaven where there is no falling away from God, but in a place of many temptations, where many do draw back, and after they have known the way of righteousness, do turn from it (1 Peter 2:21). For this purpose I must proceed to give you some further directions, but contracting my thoughts as much as may be, that I may not burden you with too big a book.

Chapter 4  - Grow in the Knowledge of God

4.1       Containing the fourth advice, To grow in the knowledge of God and of the things of God.

4.2       Containing several directions how to improve in all divine knowledge.

4.1  - Grow Daily in God.   You must endeavor daily to grow in the knowledge of God, and to get more clear, distinct, firm, well-settled apprehensions of the things of God. The reason for this advice is very plain, namely, that the more you know of God, and the more clear your apprehensions of divine things are, the better you will love God, and the more closely will your heart cleave unto him. There are some things indeed of such a nature that the less men know them, the more they esteem and love them while they look upon them at a distance, and know them but imperfectly. They seem great and good, worthy of their esteem and love, but when they come to handle them, and know them throughly, they are convinced that they are neither.

But now the things of God are of another sort. Such is the perfection of their nature, that the more they are unfolded to us, the more we admire them, and the more strongly do they draw our souls towards them. And if there be any people that do not value them, or are not in love with them, we may be confident that they do not know them. Is it I that speak this? Or does not the scripture also speak the same? Why then does it so often tell us of wicked men, That they know not God, that they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgments of their God (Jeremiah 5:4, 9:4). And what is it that St. John means when he tells us, That by this we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments: he that says he knows him, and keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him (1 John 2:3, 4).

Does not this imply plainly that they who know God truly will obey him, and that the reason why they do not love and obey him is their ignorance of him, or the imperfection of their knowledge? Either they know not God at all, or their knowledge is so weak, so slight, so imperfect, that it makes little or no impression upon their hearts. Their conceptions of God are like those concepts which we have of some things in our sleep, which either affect us not at all, or are forgotten by us as soon as we awake. We believe, and we believe rightly, that the saints in heaven shall never fall from God, but will love and serve him for ever, without the least failing or imperfection. And what is the reason of it? Surely it is because they know him as they are known of him (1 Corinthians 13:12).  Or as St. John speaks, they see him as he is (1 John 3:2), i.e., they have the clearest, firmest, the most full and comprehensive knowledge of him that creatures can have. By this they are transformed into his image, and made like unto him. He that does know God truly, does also know himself, and he that does know God and himself truly, cannot but keep himself in a state of resignation and subjection to God continually.

He will feel those impressions upon himself, which holy Job did, when God had made himself a little better known to him than he was before (Job 38:39) and will say from the very bottom of his heart, as holy Job did: Behold I am vile (chapter 40:4),  he will know, that it is not for a worm to contend with the creator of all things, not for him that was born like a wild asses colt (as one of Job’s friends speaks), to presume to find out the almighty perfectly. He will feel the truth of what the psalmist says in Psalm 9:10,  They that know thy name, will put their trust in you, and will heartily assent to that saying of a great man, that the more we reject ourselves, and commit ourselves to God, the better it is for us [Mich. De Montaign.]. He will say as a devout man once did: What are you O Lord, and what am I?

He will be continually admiring his sovereign greatness, and will be no less sensible of his own worthlessness and nothingness. He that knows God truly will also know the world. And he that knows God and the world aright, will never be drawn from God by any of the world’s allurements. He will know that the world is nothing in itself. And will he set his heart upon that which is not? He will know that without God, it can contribute no more to his happiness than it did to his being, which he knows himself indebted only to God for. And can that steal away his heart from the author of all good, which never did, nor can, bestow the least good upon you? How vile does this earth seem to us, when we lift up our eyes and look upon the heavens?

Surely much more vile will all things seem to him, whose soul is possessed with a true knowledge of the maker of them. A man once spoke this truth, when being in an ecstasy, and cried out: O my God! O my Lord! O the God of my heart! O that all men did know you! They would never offend you, they would ever love you. For surely (as the author of the Book of Wisdom tells us) To know God is perfect righteousness, and to know his power is the root of immortality (Wisdom 15:4). This may suffice to show you the reason of my advice. Let me now as briefly, direct you how to practice it.

4.2  - Directions to Improve in Divine Knowledge

4.2.1  - Learn Only What is Necessary  To this purpose let me tell you, that you are not concerned to know as much as may be known of God, or as learned men do know, but only so much as is necessary, or as may be helpful to keep you entirely resigned and obedient to his will. Therefore you must not trouble yourself with those nice and curious speculations in religion, which are of no use or tendency to this end. That knowledge, whatever the object of it is, which will not conduce to make you better, or prevent your becoming worse than you are, is impertinent, useless and unprofitable. The hunting after it has ruined thousands, but never saved one soul. Those that pursue after it, are thus described by St. Paul. in 1 Timothy. 6:3,4, They consent not to wholesome words, and to the doctrine which is according to goodness, they are proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words.

4.2.2  - Learn the Great and Useful Things as Well as Possible Though you are not concerned to know as much as may be known of God, yet you must endeavor to know these great and useful things I have spoken of as well as possibly you can; and therefore you must not content yourself with that sleight, superficial knowledge, which the generality of people have of them, who rather dream of divine things than know them. But you must labor for a clear, distinct apprehension of them, and for a firm and well-grounded persuasion of the truth and goodness of them. And to this purpose you must

4.2.3  -  Apply Yourself With All Diligence  Apply yourself to the use of all good means with great care and diligence, remembering that if it be folly to do meaner things slightly (as certainly it is, because many things many times depend upon our least actions) then to be careless and sleight in such a matter as this can be no less than madness. Now the means that you are to use are these that follow:

4.2.3.1  - Read the Holy Scriptures Daily  Reading the holy scriptures, and hearing them read, this you are to do daily; you must borrow some part of every day (to say nothing here of what you are to do upon holy days) from your worldly employments, to read or hear them read. Our blessed Savior bids us Search the scriptures, because in them we think we have eternal life (John 5:39). And St. Paul tells us, that they are able to make us wise unto salvation (2 Timothy 3:15). And if any one’s words are of greater weight with us than theirs, we ill deserve the name of Christians.

4.2.3.2   - Read Good Books  I call those books good which treat of the great things of God modestly, discreetly, plainly, convincingly, and affectionately: of which sort I know not many in the world, and therefore you are to take the best advice you can find in the choice of them.

4.2.3.3   - Listen to Sermons and Discourses  Listen to sermons and good discourses made by Christ’s ministers, whether in the pulpit upon particular texts of scripture, or in class, as expositions of some larger portions of it, or of some of the most chief points of religion contained in the catechism. These discourses Christ’s ministers are commanded to make for the edification of Christ’s Church (see 2 Timothy 4:1, 2), and therefore Christian people are bound to attend to them, and they are too wise or too good that have the conceit that they have no need of them. I mean that they are neither wise nor good.

4.2.3.4   - Confer With Other Christians  Frequent conferring with serious Christians about divine things is a means of improving knowledge that has several advantages above any other. In this, we  instruct others as well as ourselves, imparting our own knowledge to them, while we receive of theirs. That which we thus learn, we apprehend more clearly, and are more deeply affected with, than we are with that which we receive any other way. Therefore it is much to be lamented that this is no more used by those that call themselves Christians, than we see that it is. And we may infer from the neglect of it that people are not so knowing in the things of God as they believe themselves to be.  And I am sure we may conclude from it that they are not so good as they ought to be. They seldom fail to talk of that which they love, when there is occasion offered for it. So also they would never be silent about these things if they had that hearty affection for them which they ought to have.

And as for the common excuse among the more serious sort of people, that they would not be taken for hypocrites  (as too many in this last age, among whom this has been in fashion, have discovered themselves to be), it is so far from justifying their neglect that it shows the naughtiness of their hearts: They show themselves more concerned for their own reputation than for the honor of God, and for the great concerns of their souls. There would be little or no religion seen in the world if the abuse of it by hypocrites would warrant men to cast off  the profession of it.. There were too many hypocrites in holy David’s time, and yet his tongue did not cease to speak of God’s righteousness, and of his praise all the day long (Psalm 25:28).

And the apostles’ times were not so happy as to be without them, and yet they called upon Christians to exhort one another daily (Hebrews 4:13). And to teach and admonish each other, and that by psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, as well as other ways (Colossians 3:16). Those good men thought that the danger of being accounted hypocrites would discharge them from seasoning their discourses with salt, or from speaking such things in their conversation with each other, as might be profitable, and minister grace unto the hearers (Ephesians 4:29 and Colossians 6: 4). And why we should think that it becomes us to use that unprofitable and corrupt communication which daily proceeds from our mouths, without having any respect to the edifying of one another in that which is good? I cannot understand.

4.2.3.5  - Meditate Upon the Things We Hear and Read   Meditate frequently upon the good things we read and hear. This is another means for the improvement of our knowledge in the things of God, and it is so necessary that without it all the rest will avail us but very little for this the digesting of what we read and hear. It is that which implants those notices of things which we have got into our heads, in our hearts, and makes them to bring forth those good fruits which in their own nature they are fit to do. It was a good observation of a great man some years ago, that in all human sects, there were never any - however peculiar their belief - but would in some sort conform their behavior, and square their lives unto it. Whereas this divine and heavenly institution - which we pretend to prefer before all doctrines that ever were in the world - seldom makes Christians serious about our present business. Yet those being in love with their doctrines, how ever absurd  they were, either because they were of their own invention, or because they held their first inventors in great admiration, did so focus their thoughts upon those doctrines that their souls could not but receive such impressions from them, - with the consequent on their outward behavior. Whereas most of those that are called Christians, having no such love for this heavenly doctrine, or the author of it, do never focus their thoughts about it - or if they do, it is so seldom, and in so sleight and careless a manner, that it cannot work any good effect upon them.

Did they meditate daily upon it, as holy David did upon God’s law (Psalm 119:97)? Did they examine its truth, did they weigh its goodness, did they apply it to themselves, and make trial of its force and power upon their souls? If so, they would be fashioned to the image and likeness of it, and be known by their lives and conversations as different from all other men. You must be frequent then in the use of this meditation, and let no day pass you without spending some time in it. And if you are in such circumstances at any time, that you must either omit to read good books, or to meditate, I advise you to omit reading rather than this. For he that reads but little and meditates much will be a wiser and better man, than he that reads much and meditates none, or but very little.

4.2.3.6   -  Prayer  This is a means which must accompany all the rest, and ought never to be omitted, for certain it is that we can know no more of God than we are taught by him. If he does not manifest himself unto us, if he does not enlighten our minds, and assist our endeavors, we shall advance but little by all we can do. The Psalmist tells us that it is God that teaches men knowledge (Psalm 94:10) and St. Paul tells us, That wisdom and knowledge are the gifts of the spirit (1 Corinthians 12:8), and if we desire that Spirit, or those gifts, we must ask for them - for thus did the holy men of old do, as the scripture assures us (Psalm 25:4, Psalm 119:66). And this the apostle St. Paul taught us to do when he prayed for the Colossians, That they might be filled with the knowledge of God, in all wisdom, and spiritual understanding; That they might walk worthy of the Lord, unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. (Colossians 1:9,10). And then in the last place,

4.2.3.7  - Practice What We Know  There is another means of improving our knowledge of as great use, though little thought of, as any of the former, namely, the making a right use of that which we know, by applying it to practice and regulating our lives and conversations according to it. By thus using what we know, we shall come to know it better, for there is no knowledge comparable to that which we call experimental and he that tastes how good the Lord is, and how good the things of God are (Psalm 34:8), knows them as much better than others do, as they that taste the sweetness of honey, know it better than they that have only heard of it.

Besides, by this use of what we know, we are put into a better disposition to know those things which as yet we know not. For, as some of the old heathen wise men were wont to say, as no eye can behold the sun, if it has not the image of the sun in it, so no man is capable of understanding the things of God, but he whose soul is in some measure fashioned to the likeness of God. And this is confirmed by a more skillful man in divine things than the wisest of them, St. Paul, who tells us that the natural (or animal) man receives not the things of the spirit of God, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). This assertion is grounded upon this truth, that there must be some conformity between the knowing faculty, and the thing to be known, or else there can be no knowledge; and therefore, if we must improve that little knowledge which we have by the light of nature, according to those small remains of God’s image in us, for the mortifying of our naughty corrupt affections. And if we use not those external helps to that light which God gives, to the spiritualizing of our minds, we can never truly understand the things of the spirit. Whereas, doing this, we shall be able to judge (or to discern them) clearly.

 And this is that which our great master teaches us in John 7:17 where he shows us what we must do to attain a true and saving knowledge of his doctrine, if any man will do his will, he shall know of my doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. And in another place, to encourage us to the practical use of what we know, he tells us, He that keeps my commandments, he it is that loves me, and he that loves me, shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself unto him (John 14:21). Thus have I shown you how you must endeavor to improve yourself in the knowledge of God. I now proceed to give you some further advice.

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Chapter 5  - To Live As in God’s Sight

5.1.      Containing a fifth advice, To live always as in God’s sight with the great usefulness of this, to promote a holy life.

5.2.      Containing some directions for the practice of this duty of living always as in God’s sight.

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5.1  - Live Always as in God’s Sight.  You must live always as in God’s sight, or (as the words of the psalmist are in Psalm 16:8) You must set God always before you. This is a rule of so great use in a holy life that some spiritual guides have thought that it may serve instead of all other rules. And truly, if we suppose some people to have that sound knowledge of God, which I have just now advised you to seek after, I know no reason why this one rule may not suffice. However, the usefulness of it must be acknowledged to be great, and it lies so plain, that many words need not be used to show it to you. For clear and sound apprehensions of God’s majesty, of his sovereign power, unsearchable wisdom, goodness and truth will possess our hearts with love and fear, and bow our wills to his obedience, as I have shown you that they will. And surely that which will keep those apprehensions always present, and in force upon our minds (as the practice of this rule will do), will keep us always resigned and obedient to him. We know by experience that the eyes of those whom we honor, and in whose favor we desire to be, have a great influence upon us, and make us take heed to ourselves, and to all our behavior. Therefore, the masters of virtue among the heathens were wont to advise their scholars to imagine some excellent person, for whom they had a great veneration, to be always present with them, as an observer of their actions.

And can the remembrance of God’s all-seeing eye be less powerful with us, to make us circumspect in our ways, and careful to approve ourselves in all things to him? Can we have a greater regard to the eyes of mortal men, whose favor or good opinion can never stand us but in little stead, than we have to the eyes of the everlasting God, in whose favor is life, and in whose approbation consists our everlasting happiness? No; it is impossible. I have thought on your name, says the psalmist, and have kept your law.

And in another place, my ways are always before you, therefore have I kept your precepts and your testimonies (Psalm 119:168). It is not unknown that some of the worst of men are sometimes restrained from doing evil by the thoughts of God’s presence. And the great care that most of them take to avoid thinking upon God, is no inconsiderable argument that the bearing him always in their minds would prove an absolute cure to their wickedness. For, why do they put away the thoughts of him as much as they can, except because they realize that those thoughts would constrain them to become new men, and to relinquish those filthy practices which they cannot find in their hearts to forsake? It is a good story, and may fitly have a place here which we have from one of the fathers of the Church, if my memory fails me not,

“Of a young man who being tempted by a wanton strumpet, seemed to consent to her unlawful desires, but required some secret place to content her. She therefore led him into a private room, and when he excepted against it as not private enough, she led him into another, and that not pleasing him, she brought him into the most secret place in the house, and told him that it was not possible any eye should see him there, or that any should come to interrupt them. But then the young man putting on a more serious countenance, demanded of her, whether she thought that they could there be concealed from the eyes of almighty God? With which question, and some short discourse that was pertinent to it, he did not only cool her lust for the present, but converted her altogether from her filthy course of life.”

Now, if  the consideration of God’s presence does sometimes work these good effects upon some of the worst of men, who neither know him truly, nor love him heartily, and who have been so far from both, that they have preferred the poorest objects of their lusts before him, how happy will the effects of it be upon those who have so known and loved him as to renounce both themselves and the world for his sake - who love him as much for his goodness as they fear him for his power? And who would rather die than displease him, not so much because he can punish, as because they know him to be worthy of all the love, service, and obedience that they can possibly pay unto him? Surely, as those men cannot do anything but delight to think of him, and cannot help but account themselves happy that they are always under so good an eye. So the remembrance and consideration of it must needs keep them constantly resigned to him, and in all things obedient to his will. Thus much for the reason of my advice I proceed...

5.2  - Practice Living in God’s Sight  To direct you in the practice of it, it must be confessed that it will be a hard matter for some to practice it. Those that are slaves to their flesh and to the world, and are not at liberty to think seriously of anything else, and whose consciences are burdened with the guilt of many sins, will find it very difficult, if not impossible, though they be ever so well directed. Such men must first practice the duties of self-denial and resignation. But to those that are rescued from under the tyranny of those cruel masters, and are entirely resigned to God, and united to him by love, as I hope you are, nothing can be more easy, pleasant and delightful. Our souls willingly employ their thoughts upon that which they love, and gladly embrace all opportunities of being in its presence. And therefore very brief directions may suffice you concerning it, and ...

5.2.1  - God’s Omnipresence and Omniscience   Let me inform you that the practice of it must be grounded upon a firm persuasion of God’s omnipresence, and omniscience. He fills heaven and earth, as he himself tells us (Jeremiah 23:24). He encompasses them without, and he fills them within. As the author to the Hebrews assures us, all things are naked and open to his eyes (chapter 4:13). They pierce to the very marrow of our bones, and to the bottom of our entrails. They accompany all the extravagant wanderings of our imaginations, and discover the hidden images of our memories. They look through the closet-foldings of our hearts, and discern the most subtle devices of our spirits. Now, the firm belief of those things being laid for a foundation, you must accustom yourself ...

5.2.2  - Behold God in Everything   To behold God in everything. Though he is nowhere to be seen by the eye, yet your mind may perceive him in every place and in every thing, in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath, and in every part and corner of them. In the men you converse with, and in the beasts you rule over, in the fouls of the air, and the fish of the sea, in the grass of the field, and the trees of the forest. In yourself, and in everything round about you. In all these he may be clearly discerned exerting that power, wisdom and goodness, which first gave being to them, in sustaining, preserving and directing them. And does he thus lie open to you in everything, and has he made you capable of discerning him - and will you take no notice of him? Far be it from you. But then,

5.2.3  - Behold him in Everything Looking Upon You  You must not only behold God in everything, but you must behold him in everything looking upon you, observing what regard you have to him, what respect you bear him, and how you demean yourself before him. As your heart must tell you that wherever you are, and whatever you look upon, that God is there, so it must tell you likewise, that there God sees you. God is with you everywhere, and his eyes are always upon you. Be also at all times with God, by an actual remembrance of him, and the application of your mind unto him.

The people of Israel committed great wickedness because they said in their hearts, God has forsaken the earth, and the Lord sees not (Ezekiel 9:9).  Bring your heart to tell you the contrary in all your ways, and that will restrain you from everything. But then to make this practice both more profitable, and more pleasant to you, you will do well in the last place,

5.2.4  - Offer Acts of Love to Him.   To accustom yourself to frame some acts of love upon every apprehension of God’s presence, and in all humility of soul to offer them unto him. As God is worthy of the greatest love of our souls, so in everything we look upon, he appears to be so. And therefore it is very fit that we should express ourselves to be sensible of it, by some acts of love, as often as anything presents him to our minds. Now these acts may be made several ways. I will set you down some of the most chief of them, to the end that you may more readily lay hold upon all occasions that are offered you for so good an exercise. Thus,

5.2.4.1  - Offer Admiration and Transport  Thus, O God, how great is your majesty! How great is your goodness towards the sons of men! What manner of love is that wherewith you have loved us! O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!  said St. Paul (Romans 11:33).

5.2.4.2  - Give Your Esteem and Preference    Thus may you say, as a devout man was wont, My God and all things! And as another, None but Christ, None but Christ. And as the Psalmist, Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides you (Psalm. 73:25) and again, there are many that say, Who will show us any Good? But Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us (Psalm. 4:6).

5.2.4.3  - Offer Protestation and Resolution  Thus St. Peter thrice to his dear Lord and Master, Lord you know that I love you (John 21:15). Thus the Psalmist, I will love you O Lord my strength (Psalm 18:1). And in another Psalm, I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep your righteous judgments (Psalm 119:106).

5.2.4.4  - Offer Up Your Desire and Aspiration  Thus may you say with a holy Father, Let me find you, O love of my soul! Let me hold you fast for ever in the very midst of my heart, O blessed Life! O sovereign sweetness of my soul! (St. Augustine). Or with the Psalmist, As the deer pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after you, O God, my soul thirsts for God, for the living God, when shall I come and appear before God? (Psalm 42:1,2). When will the Lord call home his banished? When shall I return to my Father’s house?

5.2.4.5  - Resign Yourself to God  As thus, “Lord, I am yours, I am yours by a thousand titles, and I will be yours, and none but yours for ever; yours I am, yours is all I have, and therefore to you do I resign myself and all.”

5.2.4.6  - Give Yourself in Humility  Thus good Jacob, I am not worthy of the least of all your mercies. (Genesis 32:10). And thus holy Job, Behold I am vile (Job 40:4). And thus likewise the Psalmist, Lord what is man, that you take knowledge of him, or the Son of Man, that makes account of him? Man is like to vanity, his days are as a shadow that passes away (Psalm 144:3, 4).  What are you O Lord? And what am I? Surely you are the fulness of being, but I am nothing.

5.2.4.7  - Rely Upon God in all Confidence  Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, they may forget, but God will not forget his people. Though my father and mother forsake me, yet the Lord will take me up. Though I perish, yet will I trust in him. He clothes the lilies of the field and feeds the fouls of the air, and will he not feed and clothe me? He has given me his only begotten son, and will he not with him give me all things?

5.2.4.8  - Bless and Praise the Lord   Thus, great is the Lord, and worthy to be praised. Yes, his name is exalted above all blessing and praise. All your works shall praise you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you. While I live, I will praise the Lord. I will sing praises unto God while I have any being.

These are some of the ways wherein holy men have been wont to express and exercise their love to God, and in some or other of these I would have you to be continually exercising and expressing your love according as occasion is given you, or as the things that bring God to your mind direct and lead you. You will not be long accustomed to these practices, but you will be sensible of such advantage by them, as no words of man can express. You will perceive your heart to be more closely united to God every day, and will have such a sense of his love continually upon your soul, as will make all the changes of your life comfortable, and fill you oftentimes with joy that can be compared to none but those of the saints in heaven. The truth is, we are never more like to those blessed spirits, than when we are thus employed. For what do they do but contemplate the beauty of his majesty, and make acts of love to him? But here’s the difference: they see him clearly as he is. They behold his unveiled face, and consequently exercise their love with the greatest fervor, and partake of the highest joys. Whereas we, beholding him only in the glass of his creatures, are much more cold in our love, and therefore less happy in our joys.

I can foresee but one thing that you can object against these exercises, namely, that they will be a hindrance to your worldly business. For this, one word may serve to remove your concern. For these being works of the soul, which is an active and most nimble substance, and not requiring the help of any member of the body, may be intermixed with all the ordinary employments. And if there be any of such a nature as will not admit them without some little stop,  requiring a full application of your mind, yet that stop will be no hindrance, but rather a mighty furtherance to them. For while you do thus look up to God upon whom the success of everything depends, you will be able to proceed more cheerfully in your employments, and with greater vigor, through the confidence of his blessing upon all that you are  doing.

But there is one advice more, which shall conclude this part, and may supply all that is wanting in it.

Chapter 6  - Spiritual Guides   Containing the last general advice, To commit our souls to the care and conduct of spiritual guides with proper directions relating to it.

You must commit your soul to the care and conduct of a spiritual guide. For the enforcing of this advice much might be said, and, indeed, the little account that most men make of their spiritual guides in this age requires that much be said. But because I have set myself but short bounds, and because I hope that you are well disposed by the foregoing discourses to receive good counsel, I shall be as brief as I can with respect to your good. There are three or four things which are well known to Christians, and I hope they will be readily acknowledged by you for great truths, which being well considered by you, will let you know both how necessary and how beneficial this advice will be to you.

6.1  - Christ has Chosen an Order of Ministers  You will acknowledge that Christ has settled an order of ministers, as his substitutes upon earth, to take care of souls to the end of the world. This we find him doing immediately before his ascension into heaven. Thus we read in St. Matthew’s Gospel chapter 21:18, 19, 20. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth, go therefore and teach (or disciple) all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo I am with you always even to the end of the world. And thus we read in the 16 chapter of St. Mark verses 15, 16, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believes not shall be damned. And thus in the 20th chapter of St. John’s Gospel, verses 21, 22, 23, As my Father has sent me, so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said, receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. Our blessed savior said all this to his disciples, and no Christian can doubt and that by these words he did commit  power and authority to them, which he had received from his Father for the good of men’s souls. If any question be made whether this concerned the apostles only, and was confined by him only to their own persons, it may clearly be resolved by considering,

1. The importance of those words, I am with you always even to the end of the world; for how could he be with them to the end of the world, if we suppose those words to concern their persons only? They might be with him indeed, but he could not be with them to the end of the world, who were not to be, in the world to the end of it, nor could they exercise the authority given them to the end of it.

2. What an unhappy condition would they be in, who were to live in succeeding ages, if no provision were made for their instruction in the Christian faith, and so forth.

3. Consider that the apostles, after they had received the Holy Ghost in an eminent and remarkable manner, according to Christ’s promise, understood the commission otherwise.  Therefore we find that they did by prayer and imposition of hands (the ordinary way of concerning offices among the Jews), confer the like power upon others - as they saw good for the edification of the Church. And those persons upon whom they conferred this power are charged by them to take heed to the flock, and to feed the Church of Christ, and are said to be called and appointed thereunto by the Holy Ghost (Acts 20:28). And further, those persons that were thus ordained by the apostles are charged by them to ordain others in the same way, and directions are given them, what manner of persons they were to ordain to so great an office. Thus the apostle St. Paul, having put Timothy in mind of that sacred office to which he had been ordained by imposition of hands (Timothy 1:6) and of that form of sound words, which he had heard from him in faith and love (v. 13), charges him to commit the same to faithful men, who might be able to teach others also (2 Timothy 2:2).

And the same apostle tells Titus to whose care he had committed the whole Church of the Island of Crete, that he had left him there, and appointed him to ordain elders, i.e., bishops and presbyters in every city (Titus 1:5). To these St. Paul gives directions, how they should behave themselves in the Church of God (1 Timothy  3:15). Not only as to the ordaining of others, but likewise in many other things relating to the edification of the Church, namely,

1. As to preaching, that they should hold fast that form of doctrine which they had received, and teach that, and none other (1 Timothy 6:14, and 2 Timothy 3:14).

2. As to the public worship and service of God (1 Timothy 2:1-3). As to the holding of ecclesiastical courts, the receiving of accusations, the summoning of the accused publicly, the correcting of heretical and other disorderly persons, the stopping of their mouths, and the excommunicating of them or casting them out of the Church, charging them to prejudge no man’s cause, and to do nothing for favor or partiality (1 Timothy 5:19, 20, 21, and Titus 1:2, and 3:10).

And so likewise as to the reconciling of penitents, and restoring them into the communion of the Church, and the hopes of pardon (1 Timothy  5:22).  By all which it appears plainly that Christ did not commit the care of those souls, which he had redeemed with his most precious blood, to those only who were in a particular manner called his apostles, but that he did  settle an order of ministers, and give authority to that order in a perpetual succession, to watch over them, and to see that none of them perish, or fall short of that happiness, which he designed for them.

6.2  - Spiritual Guides are Authorized by Christ   You must acknowledge likewise that this order of ministers, thus settled by Christ to take care of souls, are authorized and empowered by him.

To preach the Gospel,

To make known the love of God, as manifested in Christ to the world.

To receive those that do believe the gospel into the covenant of grace, and society of Christians, by baptism.

To instruct those whom they have baptized in the will of God, both publicly and privately,

To encourage them in their obedience to it.

To excite and quicken them when they are dull and slothful.

To reprove and admonish them when they do amiss.

To restore them when they have fallen,

To comfort them in their sorrows,

To pardon their sins,

To feed them with the body and blood of Christ.

To pray for them, and bless them in Christ’s name,

To help them all the ways they can in the whole course of their lives,

            And to assist them in their last agonies, that so they may finish their course with joy.

This you will plainly see if you will consider, besides the places of scripture already mentioned, the following texts, Acts 20:20, 21, 26, 27, 31, 2 Timothy 4:1, 2, Galatians 6:1, Luke 22:19, 20, 1 Corinthians 11:23, 24, James 5:14, 15.

6.3  - Christ Will Assist the Order of Ministers  You must acknowledge that Christ has promised to be with those his officers, and ministers, and accordingly he has, is, and will be with them in the exercise of the several parts of their office to the end of the world, i.e., he will assist them with special illumination, direction, and power, sufficient for the dispensation of the gospel, and the edification of the Church, and according to the necessities and capacities of the times wherein they are to live. He will furnish them with all necessary and requisite gifts, will accompany their endeavors with his Holy Spirit, to make them effectual, will hear their prayers, confirm their censures, protect their persons, etcetera. 

This we are plainly taught in several places of scripture, besides those already pointed to. See John 14:16, and 26, where Christ promises his apostles a Comforter to be with them for ever, and to teach them all things. And see Ephesians  4:11,12, where the apostles speaking of the several offices that Christ has appointed in his Church, and of the gifts and graces which he does furnish them with, does intimate that these shall be continued in the church, in such a manner and measure as is necessary, till we all come (that is, both Jews and Gentiles) into the unity of the faith, and unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, i.e.,  to such perfection in knowledge, wisdom and goodness, as that there will be no further danger of being like children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:13, 14).

And further, you may observe that, as they are called the ambassadors of Christ, and are said to beseech men in Christ’s stead (2 Corinthians 5:20), so Christ is said to speak in them and by them (2 Corinthians 13:3, Ephesians 2:17). And to work mightily and effectually in them (Galatians 2:8). And further they are said to be workers together with Christ (2 Corinthians 6:1). And to be laborers together with God (1 Corinthians 3:9). God giving the increase, while Paul planted, and Apollos watered (1 Corinthians 3:6,7)  and God opening men’s hearts (Acts 16:14), which are said to be pricked by the apostle’s preaching (Acts 2:37). Lastly, see Revelations  1:13, 16, where to denote Christ’s perpetual presence, assistance, and protection to these his ministers or officers, the appointed guides and governors of the Church, after all the times of the apostles, John only excepted, Christ is represented though in glory, yet walking in the midst of the seven Churches of Asia, and holding the seven stars, i.e., the angels or bishops of  those churches (Revelations 1:20) in his right hand.

6.4  -  Spiritual Guides Answer to Christ  You must acknowledge likewise that as Christ has appointed an order of ministers thus to guide and govern his Church, and has charged them to attend unto it with all their might, upon pain of answering for those souls that shall perish through their neglect or default (see Ezekiel 34:8-10, and Acts 20: 26, 27), so he has charged all men to respect them as his officers, as the guides and governors of their souls on earth under him, and to submit themselves to their conduct and government, in all things relating to the salvation of their souls. And this upon pain of losing all the privileges, advantages, and benefits, which they can hope for upon the account of what he has done and suffered for us.

 Of this you will see no reason to doubt, if you will consider that this gracious provision which Christ has made for our souls in appointing these guides and governors, and promising them all necessary assistance for the discharge of their office, will mean very little if we may be saved while refusing to submit to them. But besides this (to give you all the satisfaction that may be in a matter which many are very unwilling to understand), you may consider some few places of scripture which do plainly inform us of the mind of Christ concerning it. [I omit what may be said out of the Old Testament, and from the priestly power and office under it (as I have done all along), because I design not a full discourse upon those things.] As God the Father was pleased to declare,

That he had constituted his son Christ Jesus to be the supreme guide and governor of souls, and to charge all men to hear and obey him, of which we have clear testimony in Matthew 3:17 and Matthew 17:5. So Christ has left to the world a clear testimony that he did commit the authority which he had received from his Father to his apostles and their successors. (John 20:21, As my Father sent me, so send I you). And that it is his will that all must hear and obey them who will have any interest in him in order to benefit by him. In Matthew 28:19, 20 and Mark. 16:16, giving commission to his apostles to preach the gospel to all nations, and to receive those that should believe into that covenant of grace, which he had sealed with his blood, by baptism, he tells them: He that believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believes not, shall be damned. That is, those that heartily believe that gospel, which you preach and profess  to do, and who engage themselves to be my disciples, and to obey my commands by receiving baptism at your hands, and who continue to learn from you what I have commanded, [compare these words with those in St. Matthew] and practice accordingly in the whole course of their lives, shall be saved. But those that refuse to do this shall be damned.

If we join those which he spoke some time before to his disciples, when he sent them to preach the gospel to the lost sheep of Israel (Luke 10:16), we shall understand his mind more clearly. He that hears you, says he, hears me, and he that despises you, despises me, and he that despises me, despises him that sent me. We see that where he has given that authority which he had received from his Father to these his ministers, so he does require all of us to own it, and submit unto it. And he will consider the disowning, the not obeying, the rejecting and despising of them in the exercise of it, as the disowning, rejecting and despising of himself and his authority. And his Father likewise will judge it to be a rejecting and despising him, and his sovereign power and authority. But this is not all that the holy scriptures speak concerning this matter. It was foreseen by God how little the generality of people would be convinced of these things.  Therefore the Holy Spirit stirred up the blessed apostles, frequently to put others in mind of the authority of Christ’s ministers, and the duty that we owe unto them.

Thus we find St. Paul telling the Corinthians that they are the ambassadors of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God, and charging them to esteem them as such (1 Corinthians 4:1), and we find him beseeching the Thessalonians to know them that did labor among them, and were over them in the Lord, and did admonish them to esteem them very highly in love for their work sake (1 Thessalonians 5:12, 13). And the author to the Hebrews charges them, to obey them that had the rule over them (or their guides or leaders, so the word signifies) and to submit themselves. And he backs his charge with this reason, that they did watch for their souls, as those that were to give account, I. e., they are appointed by Christ to watch for the people’s souls, and they must give account to him of the souls committed to their charge. And this they can never be able to do with any comfort, if they will not obey and submit themselves to them. And making their account sad and grievous by their non-submission, would be unprofitable for them. He means more than his words express, according to a way of speaking very usual in the scriptures, i.e., this will be so far from being profitable for them that it will bring the greatest damage and mischief to them, namely, the ruin and perdition of their souls.

I forbear to mention any more places of scripture, and I omit to urge the practice of the first and best Christians, as also the sinful characters that are given by some of the holy writers, of those that did slight the guides and governors of the Church, and refuse to submit themselves unto them, because I have promised not to be tedious.

Now having carefully observed and seriously weighed these things, give me leave to put some few questions briefly to you. Do you believe that there is no need of these spiritual guides in the world? If there is no need of them, why did Christ appoint them? Why did He not leave people to themselves in the concerns of their souls, as he has done in those things that concern their bodies, and their outward estates? Was there need of  guides for the first preaching of Christianity to the world, and is there no need of them for the propagation and maintenance of it in the world? I forbear to remind you of the natural blindness of people’s understandings, with the inconsiderateness, rashness, levity, inconstancy, which is inseparable to human nature.  

We may be confident that if Christ had not known that the world needed spiritual guides, he would never have appointed any such, nor have promised them those assistance, which you have now heard of, nor have taken any care to inform us of the duty we do owe unto them. And therefore are not those people too much pushed up in their fleshly minds, or too regardless of the everlasting interests, that account these guides to be of no use to them, or are wanting in that respect for them, and dependence upon them which they ought to have? I doubt not but you will admit it. But further, do you not understand by what has been said, that we may receive very great advantages from our spiritual guides if we accept them? Surely, those of old that received them as the Galatians did (chapter 4:14), as the angels of God, yes, even as Christ Jesus, did believe so. Besides, was not the making of this provision for the good of men’s souls a great demonstration of Christ’s love and care for them?

And therefore must not they be great despisers of the love of Christ and enemies of their own souls, that make little account of it, and seek no advantage by it? Or can they with the least shadow of reason call themselves Christians, or expect to be partakers of those benefits which he has promised to his faithful servants, who have no regard at all to his ordinances and institutions, or no other regard to them, than as they please their own dispositions and are agreeable to their stubborn wills? I doubt not but you will answer to these demands according to my heart’s desire, and therefore you can not but acknowledge that my advice is good and useful.

Commit your soul to the care and conduct of a spiritual guide. I proceed now to show you briefly, how you must practice this advice.

Chapter 7  -  The Practice of the former Advice

You must make a choice of a good guide. I call him a good guide, who having authority from Christ, is able to direct you aright in all the concerns of your soul and will be faithful to you. Christ has nowhere promised that none shall take upon them to be guides of souls, but those that have authority from him. Nor has he promised that all those that have authority from him shall discharge their office faithfully. Among his twelve apostles there was a Judas, and among the seven deacons ordained by the apostles, tradition tells us, there was one that failed. And in those writings that we have of some of the apostles, we find complaints of some that loved the world more than Christ, and their own fleshly lusts more than the good of souls. And St. Peter has told us that as there were of old false prophets among God’s people, so there shall be false teachers among Christians, who through covetousness shall with feigned words make merchandize of them (2 Peter 2:1, 2, 3).

And therefore it is no matter of wonder if there be some such among us now, but it ought to be matter of caution to you, to whom you do trust your soul. Your soul is a jewel of too great a value to be put into the hands of every pretender, yes, or of every one whose office it is to take care of souls. And those that are ready to follow the conduct and counsel of every one that will take upon him to be their guide or instructor, are not much less to be blamed than those that will commit their souls to none. And therefore, you are to take the greatest care, and to use the best skill you have in the choice of your guide. And because it is a matter of no little difficulty to make a right choice, it will not, I hope, be thought impertinent to give you some assistance.

7.1  -   Pray in Private for God’s Help   I advise you to go to your closet, and to beg of God to direct you in your choice. Even if you have ever so much skill in judging of men, yet it is possible that in this case you may be deceived. And the more you trust to your own skill, the greater danger you are in of being deceived, God usually suffering those that have a great opinion of themselves to miscarry in their best undertakings. Therefore in this, as well as in other things, your security lies in an humble confidence in God’s direction, which you are to beg of him by fervent prayer.  Though the blessing be great, yet you have no reason to doubt but that you shall obtain it, if you do ask it aright. For since he has done so much for your soul already, he will not deny you anything. You may be confident that he knows what is necessary for its welfare and happiness. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men liberally, and upbraids not, and it shall be given him (James 1:5). And what greater wisdom can you desire,  than that which may enable you to choose a good guide, except it be that which may enable you to follow him, when you have made choice of him? Which you are also to ask of God. But then,

7.2  -   Use the Skill God Gives You in Choosing a Guide   Though you must not confide in your own skill, but in the assistance and direction of almighty God, yet, since his assistance and direction can be expected only in a rational way, it will behoove you to make use of that skill which God gives you, and that, with as much care as if your success depended altogether upon it. This, in other matters, you think yourself bound to, and I can see no reason why you should not be of the same mind in this case. You must therefore look out into the world, and consider who among those guides of souls that are known to you, is most fit to be trusted. And if you do desire the opinion of some serious and discreet friends, as you are wont to do when you need a physician for your body, or a lawyer for settling your estate, I think you will do very well. Only let me caution you that you do not presume to make judgment of any one with whom you are not throughly acquainted, for otherwise -though it is possible you may hit right - yet is is two to one that you will be deceived, which will be a fault that will admit of no excuse.

And the same caution you are to take in receiving the judgments of others.  Consider that as some people have a better repute in the world than they do deserve, so others have a worse. And it is commonly observed that many excellent men have suffered very much, merely because others have given credit to the reports of those who were never intimately acquainted with them, and yet have presumed to pass their censures on them. But to help you as much as I can in this matter, which is really of very great importance to you, it will not be amiss to give you a short account of the qualifications and properties of a good guide, referring you for further instruction to the epistles of St. Paul to Timothy and Titus. And

7.2.1  -  A good guide is one that has received authority from Christ to take care of souls. If it be true that none can give that which they have not to give, and none can be presumed to have received that which was never given to them. You then have great reason to believe that some persons, who pretend to ministry, have no authority from Christ to take care of souls.

You may perhaps hear them speak many good things of themselves and their followers, and make great boast of the spirit of Christ, but when you have impartially considered the heresies, schisms, seditions, tumults, rebellions, murders, rapines, perjuries, which they have been the authors and promoters of, you will know how to judge of their great boasts, and godly pretensions.

By these their fruits you may know them. I say no more, nor indeed should I have said so much, but that the disorders of the age do make it necessary to give them some little caution.

7.2.2  -  A good guide is a person of knowledge  He is able to teach you as much as you are bound to believe and practice. His lips preserve knowledge, and his tongue can show you right things. He cannot be a good guide to others, who has need of a guide himself. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the ditch (Matthew 15:14).

7.2.3  -  He is a man of prudence and discretion which appears both by his conversation, and in the exercise of his ministry, fitting his instructions to the necessities and capacities of his people. He pours not new wine into old bottles. He feeds not children with strong meat, and strong men with milk. He provides for every one what is fitting for him, and that in due season. Indiscretion does oftentimes as much mischief as the grossest ignorance.

7.2.4  -  He is humble, meek, and peaceable  So was the great shepherd and bishop of our souls. He was no lordly, domineering person, no breaker of the peace of the world, or over-turner of governments, but was a servant unto all, even to the meanest of the people. He pleased not himself, but others for their good, and submitted himself patiently and quietly to the authority of the chief priests, and of the Roman Emperor.

7.2.5  - He has a Sense of Sacredness of his Office  He is very grave and serious not out of sourness or sullenness or humor, but from a real sense of the sacredness of his office, the worth of souls, and the account he must give of them. It is said of a devout man that when some desired him to give them a certain mark by which they might know a man to be truly spiritual, he answered them in this manner, “If ye see anyone that takes delight in the common sportings, and jestings, the railleries and drolleries of the world, that cannot patiently suffer contempt and reproach, take heed that you believe not that man to be spiritual, though you should see him work miracles.”

This good man was undoubtedly in the right, and I think he had not been mistaken if he had omitted the latter part concerning the not suffering contempt, and given the affectation of wit and drollery for a sufficient mark of a very imperfect Christian. However, it may serve for a mark to discover a bad guide. For if every Christian should be a serious person (because Christ was so), the ambassadors of Christ should be much more so. Their deportment should be such as may awe the men they do converse with, and in a silent way deter them from their sins. And their persons should speak what the statue of Senacherib is said to have done, He who looks to me, let him be religious. But though a good guide be thus grave and serious, yet he is not crabbed, morose, or cynical; but,

7.2.6  - He can Carry on Affable Conversation  An affable and courteous and  sweet and winning conversation. He disdains not to converse with the meanest people, and that freely and cheerfully too, nor to conform himself to all the innocent customs of the world, so far as consists with the sacredness of his office, and the decorum of his person. Having a due respect to those, he becomes all things to all people, and though his gravity shows him to be an enemy to their sins, yet his innocent and cheerful compliances show him to be a lover of their persons. There was never any person more remarkable for this than our blessed Savior, who though his gravity was such that he was never seen to laugh, as we know of, yet was he of so sweet and benign a temper, and so courteous and compliant in all his carriage and conversation, that none were ever offended at it.  To his example does every good guide of souls conform himself in this as well as in other things.

7.2.7  -  He is a man of courage  He fears not the faces of the greatest persons upon earth, nor is discouraged in the doing of his duty by the thoughts of their displeasure. He is another John the Baptist in this respect, who was not afraid to tell the tyrant Herod that it was not lawful for him to have  his brother’s wife (Mark 16:18). And like St. Paul, he can be contented if God will have it so, not only to be bound, but to die for the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 21:13).

7.2.8  -  He is wholly devoted to the work that Christ has appointed him to do   It is his only business and sole care and as Christ said of himself, that it was his meat and drink to do the will of his Father, so ‘tis his to do the will of Christ, in taking care for souls. He is no plodder for the world, no seeker of the fleece, no hunter after preferment. These worldly things are as dross and dung to him, and he will not sell poor souls for such gains.

7.2.9  -  He is a great lover of Souls.  And of much tenderness and compassion towards them, he will do anything, yes, suffer any thing for their good, and lay down his life (if need be) for their sakes. He is grieved for their miscarriages more than for all worldly things, as Christ was grieved for the hardness of men’s hearts, and is better pleased with their well doing, than by the greatest earthly prosperity. They are his joy and crown that do well by his ministry. He thinks no honor greater, and knows no greater joy.

Lastly, he is a man of a holy life. His example teaches us as much as his tongue, and he is a pattern for his people to walk by. His conversation is in heaven, and he can boldly call upon others to be followers of him, and to walk as they have him for an example. Though he is not without his failings and imperfections, as he is flesh and blood, yet no crimes or gross sins, nor any indulging or allowing of himself in the least, can the sharpest and most malicious eye behold in him.

Thus have I given you a short account of the qualifications of a good guide. Such a guide you may boldly commit your soul to, and if you will follow his directions, he will keep you through the grace of God, from all things hurtful, and lead you into all things profitable for your salvation.

7.2.9.1  - Accept a Qualified Pastor in Your Parish   But there is one thing that I am concerned in this place to mind you of, namely that, if the pastor of the parish wherein you live be thus qualified, you have a guide provided for you, and you must seek no further, for he has the charge of your soul committed to him by God, and he must give an account of it to God. Besides, you cannot reasonably expect the blessing of God under the conduct of another if, to please yourself, you do act clean contrary to the ordinance of God, and prefer your own wisdom before the wisdom of his Providence. You cannot hope to fall under the conduct of a good guide, if you do reject him who by the appointment of God ought to have the conduct of you. No honest and prudent guide will allow of this practice, or take the care of any upon him that belong to another parish except it be when that church is so under the conduct of one that is either grossly ignorant or notoriously vicious. What I have said therefore of looking out for a guide you must understand as meant only when the church to which you do belong is in this unhappy condition. In this case you are to follow the directions before given, but in no other. But to proceed,

7.2.9.2  - Ask him to Take You into his Care   Being resolved as to the person you design for your guide, I advise you to go to him and inform him of your desire to save your soul. Put yourself under his conduct in order to it beseech him to receive you into his care, and to give you such directions as he shall think necessary and fitting for you, assuring him that you will follow them to the utmost of your power. Endeavor to show yourself a good Christian in submitting yourself to him, as to Christ’s minister, and by depending altogether upon him. And that he may be the better judge of the honesty and sincerity of your heart in what you tell him, and know what directions you have most need of, do not be ashamed to make yourself fully known to him. Tell him what manner of education you have had, what manner of life you have led, what convictions you have had at any time of the evil of sin, what resolutions you have taken upon those convictions, how far you have made them good, and wherein you have failed. Acquaint him with your natural temper, and your acquired inclinations. Tell him what evil habits you have contracted, what vicious customs you have been or are engaged in, what temptations you have found yourself most inclined to, and overcome by, and so forth.

In a word, I advise you to open your very soul, unto him (he will help you to do it by seasonable and fitting questions, if he finds you willing) and conceal not the least thing from him. You would not scruple to discover the state of your body to your physician, when you need his help. Why then should you be shy of acquainting your spiritual physician with the state of your soul? Are you more ashamed of the diseases of your soul than you are of the infirmity of your body? The greater reason you have to desire their cure, and in order to it to make them known.

Will your physician keep the infirmities of your body secret? No less safe will the secrets of your soul be in the bosom of your spiritual guide. Away then with that imprudent and unreasonable modesty, which will not do you the least good, but may be the the occasion of your ruin. Hear what a heathen man - Plutarch, has said in criticism of those who do not disclose their ills, and blush at the folly of those that call themselves Christians. “You say unto a vicious man, hide yourself with your vices, endure your pestilent and dangerous disease, conceal your envy and superstition as certain paintings, and beware that you give not yourself to such as can instruct and heal you.” (This is the advice of the Devil, and his instruments upon earth.)

The ancients exposed their sick men to open view, that such as passed by, and had been sick of the same diseases, or had given ease and help thereunto, might signify so much unto the sick man. And they affirmed that the art itself, improved by such experience, to have been much bettered thereby.

In like manner it may seem expedient to lay open the sins of our life, and the evil affections of the mind, that it may be lawful for any considering and beholding the same to say,

Are you angry? Take heed of this.

Are you in love? I myself was so, but have repented.

Now, when some men hide their vices, deny, and conceal them, what do they do but fasten them more throughly and surely to themselves? Thus I do make the greater account of Plutarch’s words because of those of St. James, chapter 5:16, Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another: If we understand this as  making known our sins to our Christian brethren, that they may the better understand what petitions to put up to God in our behalf, then they agree exactly with the heathen’s advice - though it be grounded upon another motive. But the truth is, the words  confess your faults therefore to one another plainly refer to the words before, concerning the elders of the Church, and their prayers for the sick, and the effect of those prayers.

But to let this pass, it is enough for my present purpose that it be granted to be expedient for believers in order to advance their spiritual welfare, to confess their sins to their Christian brethren. If it be so, I think it is not to be denied that it is more expedient for them to confess to those whose office it is to pray for them, and to counsel them, and who have ministerial authority from Christ to pronounce the pardon and absolution of true penitents. But to proceed,

7.2.9.3  - Listen to him as You Would Listen to Christ   Having thus acquainted the spiritual guide with your desires, and having fully opened yourself unto him, set yourself to receive his instructions. Hear him as you would hear Christ himself, whose minister he is, speaking to you. Mark what he says with the greatest care. If anything fall from him, which you do not fully understand, desire him to explain his meaning. If you do distrust your memory, his instructions being many, desire him to repeat them and when he has made an end, give him, together with your thanks, your promise to follow his directions. And so begging his prayers, and his blessing in the name of Christ, take your leave of him.

7.2.9.4  - Recollect and Practice what he Advises   As soon as you are gone from him, begin to recollect the good advice you have received, and to practice accordingly and omit not the doing of anything he has advised you to. If anything he has advised you to  seems hard, or without reason, yet reject it not, but consider that though you do not perceive the reason why he has laid such things upon you, yet he may have seen good reason for it. You do not know but it was to try the sincerity of the profession you have made to him, and to know the better how to fit himself to your necessities hereafter. Or it may be he might (in prudence) design that you should not understand the reason of some particular advices, till you feel the good effect of them, and the great advantages they bring you, to dispose you the more readily and cheerfully to follow him for the future. For finding great benefit in that, in which you could foresee none, as well as in that which did promise you much,  you cannot but think yourself happy in meeting with such a guide, so you cannot but be mightily encouraged by it, and give him the entire disposal of you for the time to come.

Be careful then to observe his directions in everything, remembering that as a sick man can receive no benefit by the best physician in the world, no matter how well  he has made him  understand his disease, if he puts up his prescriptions in his pocket and makes no further use of them - so the instructions of your guide (no matter how good  they may be in themselves) will be of no advantage to you if you do not follow them. Indeed, let me add (which you are concerned to remember), that your case will be much worse than the case of such an imprudent person, for though he is not to be benefitted by the prescriptions of his physician, yet he can receive no hurt by his not using them. Whereas you will receive much damage by neglecting those that have been given you, for besides this, all insincere dealing in matters of religion, and trifling in holy things, does in itself tend to harden the heart, and to make you more regardless of the great concerns of your soul. It will certainly provoke God to withdraw his grace from you, and to leave you to fall into that ruin and destruction which you are but little afraid of, and take no care to avoid.

7.2.9.5  - Tell him what You Have Done with his Instructions   Return to your guide after some time, and give him an impartial account of the use you have made of his instructions, and the benefit you have received by them. If you have failed in anything, confess it freely, and declare your resolution to do better for the time to come. If you can say that you have failed in nothing, give God thanks, and say as the young man did to our blessed Savior, Matthew 19:20, What lack I yet? And then receive his directions as you did before, and take care to practice accordingly.

7.2.9.6  -  Keep a constant correspondence with him as long as you live. Acquaint him from time to time with the state and condition of your soul, with your progress in wisdom and virtue, with your temptations and discouragements, with your failings and imperfections, with your doubts and fears, with your joys and sorrows, and undertake not anything of moment or importance without his advice and approbation. You will quickly be sensible of such advantages by this course which will effectually encourage you to proceed in it. You will constantly enjoy peace and satisfaction in your own mind by it, having not only the approbation of your own conscience in everything you do, but also the approbation of one of Christ’s ministers, who is better able to judge of your actions - and may be presumed to judge more impartially than yourself would do.

It may suffice to mention some of those services he will be continually doing for you. He will instruct you in what you are ignorant of, and will either prevent or rectify your mistakes. He will resolve your doubts, and remove your fears, and ease you of your sorrows. He will restrain you when you are too zealous and forward, and quicken you when you are dull and slothful, and refresh and cheer you when you are a weary. He will restore you when you are fallen, and apply the promises of the gospel to you, and help you to take comfort in them. He will remove many difficulties out of your way, and arm you against temptations, and support you under trials, and be both a guide and a guardian to you in all the dangerous and troublesome passages of your life. In a word, he will make you to understand your duty fully, to know what is necessary, and what is lawful, and what is expedient, and what is seasonable. And help you to distinguish between truth and falsehood, reality and appearance, good and evil. He will excite and stir up your will to embrace the one and refuse the other. He will moderate your affections, and keep your passions in order, and preserve you in an even, steady course of well-doing, and at last deliver you up in peace and safety into the hands of the great shepherd and bishop of our souls, Christ Jesus.

Objection. But it may be you will meet with some that will ask you, what necessity is there for all this? Why may it not be enough for your salvation, which is enough for the salvation of most people, who live and die, and go to heaven without all this trouble, contenting themselves to have a minister in their parish, to hear him preach, and to receive the sacrament of communion from his hands? Without putting themselves or him to so much trouble concerning their souls. If they may be saved without all this ado, why may not you? It is not good to be private and set apart  and they that teach men to be so, are not their friends.

Answer. To those men, many things may be replied, but it may suffice to offer these few things to their consideration. We do not take upon us to judge of the everlasting state of any. We leave that to be manifested in that day which shall bring to light the most hidden things. We do not bind men to take this course upon pain of everlasting damnation. But surely, every man is concerned to endeavor to save his own soul, and whether the best way to do this be to do as the most do, or to do as I have advised you, do you judge. Look into your world and observe the daily miscarriages of those men whose practice you are urged to approve and imitate. How many of them after many years going to Church and hearing sermons, have no more understanding in the very principles of their religion, than they had when they were children? And of some  we may say, as St. Paul did that they are ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 3:7).

7.2.9.7  - Tell Your Advisor Your Weaknesses   How many are puffed up with a great opinion of their own knowledge, that know nothing as they ought to know, and will never know anything because those that should and would instruct them cannot know their ignorance till it is too late to give them instructions? How many of them become a prey to seducers, and drink in damnable doctrines, with as much eagerness as they should do the most saving truths, merely because they take upon them to judge of every thing, and will not take advice of those whom God has set over them to direct them?

How many go groaning under the burden of troubled consciences for many years, and  become desperate, and lay violent hands upon themselves, because they would not admit their grief to a spiritual physician, who might have poured wine and oil into their wounds, and have bound them up to their everlasting peace and comfort? How many go on in an evil course who might be persuaded to leave it, but for some prejudices which they have entertained either against a good life in general or some particular duties, or against some doctrine, which if received would work a reformation in them, and which prejudices Christ’s ministers cannot remove, because they know them not? How many that mean well and make many good promises and resolutions, are overcome by their lusts and the temptations of the devil and the world, merely for want of particular directions as to those lusts, and those temptations? These sad shipwrecks, and many more which you may daily behold, may convince you how dangerous it is to go in the common way, and how much safer it will be for you to follow the advice that I have given you. And if people will not be persuaded that it is their duty to do thus, I am sure they may see that it is so much in their interest that they cannot despise it without despising their own souls.

And as for the threat of being alone, which you may be warned about, it is but what the best of Christ’s disciples have undergone in all ages, and no good Christian will make any reckoning of it. Were we to please men, we should have reason to dread it, but since our business is to please God, and to save our souls, it is no matter what they either say or think of us. Suppose, my friend, that Christ had shown himself as much concerned for the health of our bodies, or the increase of our estates, as he has done for the salvation of our souls. That he had appointed an order of ministers to teach us how to get money, or to preserve ourselves in health and strength for many years, and had given them as strict a charge to take care of it, and be diligent in it, and had promised them as great assistance to make their cares and endeavors effectual to these ends, as he has done to the appointed guides of souls. And that he had commanded all the people as strictly to respect them as his officers appointed to these purposes, to follow their directions, and submit themselves in all things to them, as he has commanded them to submit to their spiritual guides.

Supposing this, I say, do you think that people would behave themselves in that manner towards these good friends of their bodies, as they do the great friends and guides of their souls? Would they content themselves to hear them read once or twice a week a public lecture of medicine, or good husbandry? No, no, we should see every man running to their houses, and desiring private conversation with them. We should hear one saying, sir, you take great pains among us, and read very well and learnedly, but I am a poor ignorant man, and understand but little, and remember less, and therefore I pray you to explain and repeat some of those good things to me, which you speak in public. And, another we should hear complaining that he could receive no benefit by all his pains, because his discourses were not proper for his care, and therefore, would beseech him to consider his particular needs, and to give him suitable directions, and so forth.

This we may well suppose people would do, from what we see them do now when they need the advice of physicians, and those of skill in worldly matters. And we may boldly say, that they would not spare (keeping still to the former supposition) to make loud outcries against the appointed physicians as being false to their trust if  they should refuse to hear them in private, and refer them only to their public lectures. Now let any one tell me, why people do not take this same course for their souls, which they would take for their bodies and estates? Will they say that their souls have not so much need of the help of Christ’s ministers as their bodies have of the help of physicians? And that they themselves know better how to secure their spiritual and eternal welfare than they do their temporal? This would betray more stupid ignorance, or devilish pride and self conceit, than they will be willing to admit.

Will they say that the ministers may understand the particular necessities of every person, and provide for them without their taking the course prescribed, and that they may suit their public instructions, exhortations and directions to everyone’s capacities, no matter how different they are?

This will be to make them more than prophets, to ascribe a kind of omniscience to them. Yes, and an omnipotence too to make their sermons, as God is said by some to have made the manna in the wilderness, agreeable to the taste of everyone - which I suppose no one in his wits will do. What then is the reason of it? For my part, I can give no other than this, that either they are grossly ignorant and little better than beasts in understanding, or mere infidels under the name of Christians. Or if they do in some sort believe the gospel, yet their hearts are so engaged to the world that they cannot have any serious and constant regard to their immortal souls.

But, to put an end to this matter, whether the cause of the common practice be good or bad, I am sure the effects of it are sad and lamentable.  The great decay of Christian piety among us, the great increase of all manner of wickedness, the multiplying of errors, schisms and divisions, has no one more visible cause than this. And till people are convinced that they owe a greater respect to their spiritual guides than their practice demonstrates, and will be persuaded to follow the advice I have now given them, I cannot hope to see any stop put to these evils.

I beseech you therefore, my friend, by all that is dear to you, not to despise my counsel. Defer not to make the choice of a guide, and when you have done so, be not slack to desire his advice, nor to fail to follow it.  You may be confident of the blessing of God in so doing. Your guide is particularly concerned to give you the best advice he can, and God is concerned to make it effectual for your good, since he has particularly ordained it for that end.

To these directions I might add many more, namely, that you will do well to endear yourself to your guide as much as you can, that he may take the greater care of you, and be more ardently desirous of your salvation. To which purpose you may do well to show your esteem of him by a respectful carriage before others. And further, you may do well to contribute cheerfully, according to your ability, towards his maintenance, if he be not plentifully provided for. The Primitive Christians do not fail to do this as you may perceive by their devoting all that they had to the service of Christ and his Church  (Acts 4:34, 35). The sacrilege of many that call themselves Christians in this age make it necessary for good Christians to do the same now.

And you must keep close to your guide as long as you live, and never change him for another if God’s Providence does not constrain you.

In all your intercourse with your guide, you must look beyond him, namely, to your God, whose minister he is, and who guides and blesses you by his ministry, and for whom you must daily address yourself by prayer for a blessing upon his endeavors - and it is to God to whose goodness and mercy you must daily ascribe all the benefit you do receive by them.

But I must forbear, having too far exceeded my bounds already. I conclude all with the words of our dear Lord and Savior, Now you know these things, happy are you if you do them. (John 13:17).

                                                                   THE END