cannot come off without perpetual reproach; and then perhaps pride will make hiin suffer more than the belief of heaven or the love of Christ could do. And all this is, because his very belief is unrooted and unsound, and he hath secretly at the heart a fear, that if he should suffer death for Christ, he should be a loser by him, and he would not reward him, according to his promise, with everlasting life; Heb. iii. 12.

XXIX. 1. A Christian indeed is one that followeth not Christ for company, nor holdeth his belief in trust upon the credit of any in the world; and therefore he would stick to Christ, if all that he knoweth or converseth with should forsake him. If the rulers of the earth should change their religion, and turn against Christ, he would not forsake him. If the multitude of the people turn against him; nay, if the professors of godliness should fall off, yet would he stand his ground, and be still the same. If the most learned men, and the pastors of the church, should turn from Christ, he would not forsake him. Yea, if his nearest relations and friends, or even that minister that was the means of his conversion, should change their minds, and forsake the truth, and turn from Christ, or a holy life, he would yet be constant, and be still the same. And what Peter resolved on, he would truly practice; "Though all men should be offended because of thee, yet would not I be offended. Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee;" Matt. xxvi. 33. 35. And if he thought himself, as Elias did, left alone, yet would he not bow the knee to Baal; Rom. xi. 3. If he hear that this eminent minister falleth off one day, and the other another day, till all be gone, yet still the foundation of God standeth sure; he falleth not, because he is built upon the rock; Matt. vii. 22, 23. His heart saith, Alas, whither shall I go, if I go from Christ? Is there any other that hath the word and Spirit of eternal life? Can I be a gainer if I lose my soul?' John vi. 67, 68. Matt. xvi. 26. He useth his teachers to bring him that light and evidence of truth, which dwelleth in him when they are gone; and therefore, though they fall away, he falleth not with them.

2. And the weakest Christian believeth with a divine faith of his own, and dependeth more on God than man; but yet if he should be put to so great a trial, as to see all the pastors and Christians that he knoweth, change their minds, I know not what he would do; for though God will uphold all his own, whom he will save, yet he doth it by means and outward helps, together with his internal grace; and keepeth them from temptations, when he will deliver them from the evil; and therefore it is a doubt, whether there be not degrees of grace so weak as would fail, in case the strongest temptations were permitted to assault them. A strong man can stand and go of himself, but an infant must be carried;

The

and the lame and sick must have others to support them. weak Christian falleth, if his teacher or most esteemed company fall if they run into an error, sect, or schism, he keeps them company. He groweth cold, if he have not warming company: he forgetteth himself, and letteth loose his sense and passion, if he have not some to watch over him and warn him. No man should refuse the help of others, that can have it; and the best have need of all God's means; but the weak Christian needeth them much more than the strong, and is much less able to stand without them; Luke xxii. 32. Gal. ii. 11-14.

3. But the seeming Christian is built upon the sand, and therefore cannot stand a storm; he is a Christian more for company, or the credit of man, or the interest that others have in him, or the encouragement of the times, than from a firm belief and love of Christ, and therefore falleth when his props are gone; Matt. vii. 24.

XXX. 1. A strong Christian can digest the hardest truths, and the hardest works of Providence: he seeth more of the reason and evidence of truths than others; and he hath usually a more comprehensive knowledge, and can reconcile those truths which shortsighted persons suspect to be inconsistent and contradictory, and when he cannot reconcile them, he knoweth they are reconcilable; for he hath laid his foundation well, and then he reduceth other truths to that, and buildeth them on it. And so he doth by the hardest providences: whoever is high or low, whoever prospereth or is afflicted, however human affairs are carried, and all things seem to go against the church and cause of Christ, he knoweth yet that God is good to Israel, (Psal. Ixxiii. 1, 2.) and that he is the "righteous Judge of all the earth;" and that the "righteous shall have dominion in the morning," and "it shall go well with them that fear the Lord;" for he goeth into the sanctuary, and foreseeth the end; Eccles. viii. 11-13. Psal. lxxiii. 17. cxv. 11. 13. xxxi. 19.

2. But the weak Christian is very hard put to it, when he meeteth with difficult passages of Scripture, and when he seeth it "go with the righteous according to the work of the wicked, and with the wicked according to the work of the righteous;" Eccles. viii. 14. Though he is not overturned by such difficulties, yet his foot is ready to slip, and he digesteth them with much perplexity and trouble.

3. But the seeming, unsettled Christian is often overcome by them, and turneth away from Christ, and saith, These are hard sayings, or hard providences; who can bear them?' John vi. 60. 66. And thus unbelief thence gathereth matter for its increase.

XXXI. 1. A Christian indeed is one that can exercise all God's graces in conjunction, and in their proper places and proportion,

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without setting one against another, or neglecting one while he is exercising another. He can be humbled without hindering his thankfulness and joy; and he can be thankful and joyful without hindering his due humility; his knowledge doth not destroy, but quicken his zeal; his wisdom hindereth not, but furthereth his innocency; his faith is a help to his repentance, and his repentance to his faith; his love to himself doth not hinder, but help his love to others; and his love to God is the end of both. He can mourn for the sins of the times, and the calamities of the church, yea, for his own sins and imperfections, and yet rejoice for the mercies which he hath in possession, or in hope. He findeth that piety and charity are necessarily conjunct, and every grace and duty is a help to all the rest. Yea, he can exercise his graces methodically, which is the comeliness and beauty of his heart and life; 1 Thes. v. 12, 13. 16-21. 1 Pet. ii. 17.

2. But the weak Christian, though he have every grace, and his obedience is universal, yet can he hardly set himself to any duty, but it hindereth him from some other duty, through the narrowness and weakness of his mind. When he is humbling himself in confession of sin, he can scarce be lively in thankfulness for mercy; when he rejoiceth, it hindereth his humiliation; he can hardly do one duty without omitting or hindering another; he is either all for joy or all for sorrow; all for love or all for fear; and cannot well do many things at once, but is apt to separate the truth and duties which God hath inseparably conjoined.

3. And for the seeming Christian, he exerciseth no grace in sincerity, nor is he universal in his obedience to God; though he may have the image of every grace and duty.

XXXII. 1. A Christian indeed is more in getting and using his graces, than in inquiring whether he have them: he is very desirous to be assured that he is sincere, but he is more desirous to be so: and he knoweth that even assurance is got more by the exercise and increase of grace, than by bare inquiry whether we have it already; not that he is a neglecter of self-examination, but he oftener asketh, What shall I do to be saved?' than,' How shall I know that I shall be saved?'

2. But the weak Christian hath more of self, and less of God in his solicitude; and though he be willing to obey the whole law of Christ, yet he is much more solicitous to know that he is out of danger, and shall be saved, than to be fully pleasing unto God; and therefore, proportionably, he is more in inquiring by what marks he may know that he shall be saved, than by what means he may attain more holiness, and what diligence is necessary to his salvation. 3. But the seeming Christian is most careful how to prosper in the world, or please his flesh; and next how he may be sure to

escape damnation when he hath done; and least of all, how he may conform to Christ in holiness.

XXXIII. 1. A Christian indeed doth study duty more than events; and is more careful what he shall be towards God, than what he shall have from God, in this life. He looketh to his own part more than unto God's, as knowing that it is he that is like to fail; but God will never fail of his part: he is much more suspicious of himself than of God; and when any thing goeth amiss, he blameth himself, and not God's providence: he knoweth that the hairs of his head are numbered, and that his Father knoweth what he needeth; and that God is infinitely wiser, and fitter to dispose of him, than he is to choose for himself, and that God loveth him better than he can love himself; and therefore he thankfully accepteth that easy, indulgent command, "Cast all your care on him, for he careth for you. Take no thought what ye shall eat or drink, or wherewith ye shall be clothed;" Heb. xii. 15. xiii. v. 21, 22. Matt. x. 30. vi. 25. 31, 32. 1 Pet. v. 7.

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2. But, alas! how guilty is the weak Christian of meddling with God's part of the work! How sinfully careful what will become of him, and of his family, and affairs, and of the church, as if he were afraid lest God would prove forgetful, unfaithful, or insufficient for his work! So imperfect is his trust in God.

3. And the seeming Christian really trusteth him not at all, for any thing that he can trust himself or the creature for; he will have two strings to his bow if he can; but it is in man that he placeth his greatest trust for any thing that man can do. Indeed, to save his soul, he knoweth none but God is to be trusted, and therefore his life is still preferred before his soul; and consequently man, whom, he trusted most with his life and prosperity, is really trusted before God, however God may have the name; Jer. xvii, 5. 7. Psal. xxxiv. 8. xx. 7. xxxiv. 22. xxxvii. 3.

XXXIV. 1. A Christian indeed is much more studious of his own duty towards others, than of theirs to him: he is much more fearful of doing wrong, than of receiving wrong: he is more troubled if he say ill of others, than if others speak ill of him; he had far rather be slandered himself, than slander others; or be censured himself, than censure others; or be unjustly hurt himself, than unjustly hurt another; or to be put out of his own possessions or right, than to put another out of his: he is oftener and sharper in judg ing and reproving himself than others: he falleth out with himself more frequently than with others; and is more troubled with himself than with all the world besides: he taketh himself for his greatest enemy, and knoweth that his danger is most at home; and that if he can escape but from himself, no one in earth or hell can undo him he is more careful of his duty to his prince, his parents, his

pastor, or his master, than of theirs to him: he is much more unwilling to be disobedient to them in any lawful thing, or to dishonor them, than to be oppressed, or unjustly afflicted, or abused by them. And all this is, because he knoweth that sin is worse than present suffering; and that he is not to answer for other men's sins, but for his own; nor shall he be condemned for the sins of any but himself; and that many millions are condemned for wronging others, but no one for being wronged by others; 1 Pet. iv. 12— 16. Matt. v. 10-12, 1 Pet. ii. 13. 15-17.

2. And the weak Christian is of the same mind in the main ; but with so much imperfection, that he is much more frequent in censuring others, and complaining of their wrongs, and finding fault with them, and aggravating all that is said or done against himself, when he is hardly made so sensible of as great miscarriages in himself, as having much more uncharitableness, partiality, and selfishness, than a confirmed Christian hath. There are few things which weakness of grace doth more ordinarily appear in, than this partiality and selfishness, in judging of the faults or duties of others, and of his own. How apt are (not only hypocrites, but) weak Christians to aggravate all that is done against them, and to extenuate or justify all that they do against another! O, what a noise they make of it, if they think that any one hath wronged them, defamed them, disparaged them, or encroached on their right! If God himself be blasphemed or abused, they can more patiently bear it, and make not so great a matter of it. Who heareth of such angry complaints on God's behalf, as on men's own? Of such passionate invectives, such sharp prosecutions, against those that wrong both God and men's souls, as against those that wrong a selfish person? (And usually every man seemeth to wrong him who keepeth from him any thing which he would have, or saith any thing of him which is displeasing to him.) Go to the assizes and courts of justice; look into the prisons, and inquire whether it be zeal for God, or for men's selves, which is the plaintiff and prosecutor; and whether it be for wronging God or them, that all the stir is made. Men are ready to say, God is sufficient to right himself. As if he were not the Original and the End of laws and government, and magistrates were not his officers, to promote obedience to him in the world.

At this time how universal is men's complaint against their governors! How common are the cries of the poor and sufferers, of the greatness of their burdens, miseries, and wants! But how few lament the sins against government, which this land hath been sadly guilty of! The pastors complain of the people's contempt: the people complain of the pastors' insufficiency and lives. The master complaineth how hard it is to get good servants, that will mind