A Christian Directory Volume I Part 4

1. I suppose thee to be a man, and therefore that thou hast reason and natural free will, (that is, the natural faculty of choosing and refusing,) which should keep thy sensitive appet.i.te in obedience; and that thou art capable of loving and serving thy Creator, and enjoying him in everlasting life.

[Sidenote: That thou knowest this: and what a man is.]

2. I suppose that thou knowest thyself to be a man; and therefore that thy sensitive part, or flesh, should no more rule thee, or be ungoverned by thee, than the horse should rule the rider, or be unruled by him: and that thou understandest that thou art made on purpose to love and serve thy Maker, and to be happy in his love and glory for ever. If thou know not this much, thou knowest not that thou art a man, or else knowest not what a man is.

[Sidenote: That thou hast self-love and a desire to be happy.]

3. I suppose thee to have a natural self-love, and a desire of thy own preservation and happiness; and that thou hast no desire to be miserable, or to be hated of G.o.d, or to be cast out of his favour and presence into h.e.l.l, and there to be tormented with devils everlastingly: yea, I will suppose that thou art not indifferent whether thou dwell in heaven or h.e.l.l, in joy or torment; but would fain be saved and be happy; whether thou be G.o.dly or unG.o.dly, wise or foolish, I will be bold to take all this for granted: and I hope in all this I do not wrong thee.

[Sidenote: That thou madest not thyself: and that the first cause of all the being, power, wisdom, and goodness of all the creatures, hath (formally or eminently) more than all they. And therefore that there is a G.o.d.]

4. I suppose thee to be one that knowest that thou didst not make thyself;[12] nor give thyself that power or wisdom which thou hast; and that he that made thee and all the world, must needs be before all the world; and that he is eternal, having no beginning (for if ever there had been a time when there was nothing, there never would have been any thing; because nothing can make nothing); and I suppose thou dost confess that all the power, and wisdom, and goodness of the whole creation set together, is less than the power, and wisdom, and goodness of the Creator; because nothing can give more than it hath to give. I suppose, therefore, that thou dost confess that there is a G.o.d; for to be the eternal, infinite Being, and the most powerful, wise, and good, and the first cause of all created being, and power, and wisdom, and goodness, this (with the subsequent relations to the creature) is to be G.o.d. If thou wilt deny that there is a G.o.d, thou must deny that thou art a man, and that there is any man, or any being.

[Sidenote: That the Creator of all is the Lord or Owner of all; the Ruler of the rational creature; and the Benefactor and End of all.]

5. I suppose thou knowest that G.o.d, who gave a being unto all things, is by this t.i.tle of creation, the absolute Owner or Lord of all: and that he that made the reasonable creatures, with natures to be governed, in order to a further end, is by that t.i.tle, their supreme Governor; and therefore hath his laws commanding duty, and promising reward, and threatening punishment; and therefore will judge men according to these laws, and will be just in judgment, and in his rewards and punishments. And that he that freely gave the creature its being, and all the good it hath, and must give it all that ever it shall have, is the Father or most bountiful Benefactor to his creatures. Surely I screw thee not too high in supposing thee to know all this; for all this is no more than that there is a G.o.d. For he is not G.o.d, if he be not the Creator, and therefore our Owner, our Ruler, and Benefactor, our absolute Lord, our most righteous Governor, and our most loving Father, or Benefactor.

[Sidenote: That this G.o.d must be obeyed and loved.]

6. I suppose therefore that thou art convinced, that G.o.d must be absolutely submitted to, and obeyed before all others in the world, and loved above all friends, or pleasures, or creatures whatsoever. For to say, He is my Owner, is to say, I must yield myself to him as his own; to say, I take him for my supreme Governor, is to say, that I will absolutely be ruled by him; and to say, I take him as my dearest Father or chief Benefactor, is to say, that I am obliged to give him my dearest love, and highest thanks: otherwise you do but jest, or say you know not what, or contradict yourselves, while you say, He is your G.o.d.

[Sidenote: That nothing is to be preferred before him.]

7. I suppose that thou art easily convinced, that in all the world there is no creature that can show so full a t.i.tle to thee as G.o.d; or that hath so great authority to govern thee, or that can be so good to thee, or do so much for thee, as G.o.d can do, or hath done, and will do, if thou do thy part; and therefore that there is nothing to be preferred before him, or compared with him in our obedience or love: nor is there any that can save us from his justice, if we stand out against him.

[Sidenote: That he that ruleth the world by hopes and fears of another life, doth not rule them by deceit and lies, and that he hath rewards and punishments hereafter.]

8. I suppose that as thou knowest G.o.d is just in his laws and judgments,[13] so that he is so faithful that he will not, and so all-sufficient that he need not, deceive mankind, and govern them by mere deceit: this better beseems the devil, than G.o.d: and therefore that as he governeth man on earth by the hopes and fears of another life, he doth not delude them into such hopes or fears; and as he doth not procure obedience by any rewards or punishments in this life, as the princ.i.p.al means, (the wicked prospering, and the best being persecuted and afflicted here,) therefore his rewards or punishments must needs be princ.i.p.ally hereafter in the life to come. For if he have no rewards or punishments, he hath no judgment; and if he have no judgment, he hath no laws (or else no justice); and if he have no laws, (or no justice,) he is no governor of man (or not a righteous governor); and if he be not our governor, (and just,) he is not our G.o.d; and if he were not our G.o.d, we had never been his creatures, nor had being, or been men.

[Sidenote: That man being bound to love and obey G.o.d above all, is bound to do nothing in vain, and that we cannot be losers by his service.]

9. I suppose thou knowest that if G.o.d had not discovered what he would do with us in the life to come, yet man is highliest bound to obey and love his Maker, because he is our absolute Lord, our highest Ruler, and our chief Benefactor; and all that we are to have is from him. And that if man be bound to spend his life in the service of his G.o.d, it is certain that he shall be no loser by him, no, not by the costliest obedience that we can perform; for G.o.d cannot appoint us any thing that is vain; nor can he be worse to us than an honest man, that will see that we lose not by his service. Therefore that G.o.d for whom we must spend and forsake this life, and all those pleasures which sensualists enjoy, hath certainly some greater thing to give us, in another life.

[Sidenote: That no infidel can say, He is sure there is no life to come.]

10. I may take it for granted at the worst, that neither thyself, nor any infidel in the world, can say that you are sure that there is not another life for man, in which his present obedience shall be rewarded, and disobedience punished. The worst that ever infidel could say was, that he thinketh there is no other life. None of you dare deny the possibility of it, nor can with any reason deny the probability. Well, then, let this be remembered while we proceed a little further with you.

[Sidenote: That you are sure of the brevity and vanity of this life: and that the probability or possibility of an endless joy or misery, should command all the care and diligence of a rational creature, against all that can be set against it.]

11. I suppose or expect that you have so much use of sense and reason, as to know the brevity and vanity of all the glory and pleasures of the flesh; and that they are all so quickly gone, that were they greater than they are, they can be of no considerable value. Alas, what is time! How quickly gone, and then it is nothing! and all things then are nothing which are pa.s.sed with it! So that the joys or sorrows of so short a life, are no great matter of gain or loss.

I may therefore suppose that thou canst easily conclude, that the bare probability or possibility of an endless happiness, should be infinitely preferred before such transitory vanity, even the greatest matters that can be expected here; and that the probability or possibility of endless misery in h.e.l.l, should engage us with far greater care and diligence to avoid it, than is due for the avoiding any thing that you can think to escape by sinning; or any of the sufferings of this momentary life. If you see not this, you have lost your reason; that the mere probability or possibility of a heaven and h.e.l.l, should much more command our care and diligence, than the fading vanities of this dreaming, transitory life.

[Sidenote: Therefore that a holy life is every man's duty, were it but on the account of such a possibility or probability; and therefore that really there is such a joy and misery hereafter; because G.o.d doth not make our faculties in vain, nor make us to follow deceits and lies.]

12. Well, then, we have got thus far in the clearest light. You see that a religious, holy life, is every man's duty, not only as they owe it to G.o.d as their Creator, their Owner, Governor, and Benefactor; but also, because as lovers of ourselves, our reason commandeth us to have ten thousandfold more regard of a probable or possible joy and torment which are endless, than of any that is small and of short continuance.

And if this be so, that a holy life is every man's duty, with respect to the life that is to come, then it is most evident, that there is such a life to come indeed, and that it is more than probable or possible, even certain. For if it be but man's duty to manage this life, by the hopes and fears of another life, men it must follow, that either there is such a life to come, or else that G.o.d hath made it man's duty to hope, and fear, and care, and labour, and live in vain: and that he himself doth tantalize and cheat his creatures, and rule the world by motives of deceit, and make religion and obedience to our Maker to be a life of folly, delusion, and our loss. And he that believeth this of G.o.d, doth scarce believe him to be G.o.d. Though I have mentioned this argument in another treatise, I think it not unmeet here to repeat it for thy benefit.

[Sidenote: That all the matters of this transitory life are to be estimated as they refer to the life to come.]

13. And seeing I suppose thee to be convinced of the life to come, and that man's happiness and misery is there, I must needs suppose that thou dost confess, that all things in this life, whether prosperity or adversity, honour or dishonour, are to be esteemed and used as they refer to the life to come. For nothing is more plain, than that the means are to have all their esteem and use in order to their end. That only is good in this life, which tendeth to the happiness of our endless life; and that is evil indeed in this life, that tendeth to our endless hurt, and to deprive us of the everlasting good. And therefore no price or motive should hire us to sin against G.o.d, and to forfeit or hinder our endless happiness.

[Sidenote: That no man can love G.o.d too much, nor make too sure of his salvation.]

14. I may suppose, if thou have reason, that thou wilt confess that G.o.d cannot be too much loved, nor obeyed too exactly, nor served too diligently (especially by such backward sinners, that have scarce any mind to love or wors.h.i.+p him at all); and that no man can make too sure of heaven, or pay too dear for it, or do too much for his salvation, if it be but that which G.o.d hath appointed him to do. And that you have nothing else that is so much worth your time, and love, and care, and labour. And therefore though you have need to be stopped in your love, and care, and labour for the world, because for it you may easily pay too dear, and do too much; yet there is no need of stopping men in their love, and care, and labour for G.o.d and their salvation; which is worth more than ever we can do, and where the best are apt to do too little.

[Sidenote: That this life is given us for trial and preparation to the life to come.]

15. I also suppose thee to be one that knowest, that this present life is given us on trial,[14] to prepare for the life that shall come after; and that as men live here, they shall speed for ever; and that time cannot be recalled when it is gone, and therefore that we should make the best of it while we have it.

[Sidenote: That man's thoughts should be serious and frequent about his future state.]

16. I suppose thee also to be easily convinced, that seeing man hath his reason and life for matters of everlasting consequence, his thoughts of them should be frequent and very serious, and his reason should be used about these things, by retired, sober deliberation.

[Sidenote: That you can tell, or may do, which way your hearts and diligence are bent, whether most for this life, or for that to come.]

17. And I suppose thee to be a man, and therefore so far acquainted with thyself, as that thou mayst know, if thou wilt, whether thy heart and life do answer thy convictions, and whether they are more for heaven or earth; and therefore that thou art capable of self-judging in this case.

Perhaps you will say, that while I am directing you to be holy, I suppose you to be holy first; for all this seemeth to go far towards it. But I must profess that I see not any thing in all these suppositions, but what I may suppose to be in a heathen; and that I think all this is but supposing thee to have the use of thy reason, in the points in hand. Speak freely: Is there any one of all these points that thou canst or darest deny? I think there is not. And therefore if heathens and wicked men deny them in their practice, that doth but show that sin doth brutify them, and that, as men asleep, or in a crowd of business, they have not the use of the reason which they possess, in the matters which their minds are turned from.

[Sidenote: That most among us profess to believe in Christ, and confess the gospel to be true, &c.]

18. Yea, one thing more I think I may suppose in all or most that will read this book; that you take on you also to believe in Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost the Sanctifier, and that the Scriptures are the word of G.o.d. And if you do so indeed, I may then hope that my work is in a manner done, before I begin it: but if you do it but opinionatively and uneffectually, yet G.o.d and man may plead with you the truths which you profess.

Having told you what I presuppose in you, I proceed now to the directions. But I again entreat and charge thee, reader, as thou lovest thy soul, and wouldst not be condemned for hypocrisy and sloth, that thou dost not refuse to put in practice what is taught thee, and show thereby, that whatever thou pretendest, thou art not willing to do thy part for thy own salvation, no not in the most reasonable, necessary things.[15]

_Direction_ I. If thou be truly willing to be sanctified and a child of G.o.d, remain not in a state of ignorance; but do thy best to come into the light, and understand the word of G.o.d, in the matters of salvation.

If knowledge be unnecessary, why have we understanding?[16] and wherein doth a man excel a beast? If any knowledge at all be necessary, certainly it must be the knowledge of the greatest and most necessary things: and nothing is so great and necessary as to obey thy Maker, and to save thy soul. Knowledge is to be valued according to its usefulness.

If it be a matter of as great concernment to know how to do your worldly business, and to trade and gather worldly wealth, and to understand the laws, and to maintain your honour, as it is to know how to be reconciled unto G.o.d, to be pardoned and justified, to please your Creator, to prepare in time for death and judgment, and an endless life, then let worldly wisdom have the pre-eminence. But if all earthly things be dreams and shadows, and valuable only as they serve us in the way to heaven, then surely the heavenly wisdom is the best. Alas, how far is that man from being wise, that is acquainted with all the punctilios of the law, that is excellent in the knowledge of all the languages, sciences, and arts, and yet knoweth not how to live to G.o.d, to mortify the flesh, to conquer sin, to deny himself, nor to answer in judgment for his fleshly life, nor to escape d.a.m.nation! As far is such a learned man from being wise, as he is from being happy.

Two sorts among us do quietly live in d.a.m.ning ignorance. First, abundance of poor people, who think they may continue in it, because they were bred in it; and that because they are not book-learned, therefore they need not learn how to be saved; and because their parents neglected to teach them when they were young, therefore they may neglect themselves ever after, and need not learn the things they were made for.

Alas, sirs, what have you your lives, your time, and reason for? Do you think it is only to know how to do your worldly business? Or is it to prepare for a better world? It is better that you knew not how to eat, or drink, or speak, or go, or dress yourselves, than that you know not the will of G.o.d, and the way to your salvation. Hear what the Holy Ghost saith, 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4, "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the G.o.d of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of G.o.d, should s.h.i.+ne unto them." Darkness is unsafe and full of fears; the light is safe and comfortable. A man in ignorance is never like to hit his way: nor can he know whether he be in or out; nor what enemy or danger he is near. It is the devil that is the prince of darkness, and his kingdom is a kingdom of darkness, and his works are works of darkness. See Eph. vi. 12.; Col. i. 13; 1 John ii. 11; Luke xi.

34, 35. Grace turneth men from darkness to light, Acts xxvi. 18, and causeth them to cast off the works of darkness, Rom. xiii. 12; because we are the children of light and of the day, and not of darkness or of night, 1 Thess. v. 5. They that were sometimes darkness, are light in the Lord, when they are converted, and must walk as the children of the light, Eph. v. 8. In the dark the devil and wicked men may cheat you, and do almost what they list with you. You will not buy your wares in the dark, nor travel, nor do your work in the dark: and will you judge of the state of your souls in the dark? and do the work of your salvation in the dark? I tell you the devil could never entice so many souls to h.e.l.l, if he did not first put out the light, or put out their eyes. They would never so follow him by crowds, to everlasting torments, by daylight, and with open eyes. If men did but know well what they do when they are sinning, and whither they go in a carnal life, they would quickly stop, and go no further. All the devils in h.e.l.l could never draw so many thither, if men's ignorance were not the advantage of temptations.

Another sort among us that are ignorant of the things of G.o.d, are sensual gentlemen, and scholars, that have so much breeding as to understand the words, and speak somewhat better than the ruder sort, but indeed never knew the nature, truth, and goodness of the things they speak of:[17] they are many of them as ignorant of the nature of faith, and sanctification, and the working of the Holy Ghost in planting the image of G.o.d upon the soul, and of the saints' communion with G.o.d, and the nature of a holy life, as if they had never heard or believed, that there is such a thing as any of these in being.

Nicodemus is a lively instance in this case: a ruler in Israel, and a Pharisee, and yet knew not what it was to be born again. And the pride of these gallants maketh their ignorance much harder to be cured, than other men's; because it hindereth them from knowing and confessing it.

If any one would convince them of it, they say with scorn, as the Pharisees to Christ, John ix. 40, "Are we blind also?" Yea, they are ready to insult over the children of the light, that are wise to salvation, because they differ from the loose or hypocritical opinions of these gentlemen, in some matters of G.o.d's wors.h.i.+p; of which their wors.h.i.+ps are as competent judges, as the Pharisees of the doctrine of Christ, or as Nicodemus of regeneration, or as Simon Magus, or Julian, or Porphyry, of the gifts of the Holy Ghost. These honourable, miserable men, will bear no contradiction or reproof: who dare be so unmannerly, disobedient, or bold, as to tell them that they are out of the way to heaven, and strangers to it (that I say not, enemies); and to presume to stop them in the way to h.e.l.l, or to hinder them from d.a.m.ning themselves, and as many others as they can? They think this talk of Christ, and grace, and life eternal, if it be but serious, (and not like their own, in form, or levity, or scorn,) is but the troublesome preciseness of hypocritical, humorous, crack-brained fellows: and say of the G.o.dly, as the Pharisees, John vii. 47-49, "Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed."

Well, gentlemen or poor men, whoever you be that savour not the things of the Spirit, Rom. viii. 5-7, 13, but live in ignorance of the mysteries of salvation, be it known to you, that heavenly truth and holiness are works of light, and never prosper in the dark; and that your best understanding should be used for G.o.d and your salvation, if for any thing at all. It is the devil and his deceits that fear the light. Do but understand well what you do, and then be wicked if you can; and then set light by Christ and holiness if you dare! O come but out of darkness into the light, and you will see that which will make you tremble to live unG.o.dly and unconverted another day: and you will see that which will make you with penitent remorse lament your so long neglect of heaven, and wonder that you could live so far and so long beside your wits, as to choose a course of vanity and b.e.s.t.i.a.lity in the chains of Satan, before the joyful liberty of the saints: and, though we must not be so uncivil as to tell you where you are, and what you are doing, you will then more uncivilly call yourselves, "exceedingly mad and foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers l.u.s.ts and pleasures," as one did that thought himself before as wise and good as any of you, Acts xxvi. 11; t.i.t. iii. 3. Live not in a sleepy state of ignorance, if ever you would have saving grace.

_Direct._ II. Especially labour first to understand the true nature of a state of sin and a state of grace.

It is like you will say, that all are sinners; and that Christ died for sinners; and that you were regenerate in your baptism; and that for the sins that since then you have committed, you have repented of them, and therefore you hope they are forgiven.[18]

But stay a little, man, and understand the matter well as you go; for it is your salvation that lieth at the stake. It is very true that all are sinners: but it is as true, that some are in a state of sin, and some in a state of grace; some are converted sinners, and some unconverted sinners; some live in sins inconsistent with holiness, (which therefore may be called mortal,) others have none but infirmities which consist with spiritual life (which in this sense may be called venial); some hate their sin, and long to be perfectly delivered from it, and others so love it, as they are loth to leave it. And is there no difference, think you, between these?

It is as true also, that Christ died for sinners: (or else where were our hope?) but it is true also, that he died to "save his people from their sins,"[19] Matt. i. 21, and "to bring them from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto G.o.d," Acts xxvi. 18, and "to redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works," t.i.t. ii. 14, and "that except a man be born again, and converted, and become as a little child, (in humility and beginning the world anew,) he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven," John iii. 3, 5; Matt. xviii. 3, and that even he that died for sinners, will at last condemn the workers of iniquity, and say, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire," Matt. xxv. 41, "I never knew you," Matt. vii. 23.