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THE 
 
 YOUNG CHRISTIAN'S GUIDE. 
 
 BY CHARLES BUCK. 
 
 WITH AN 
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 BY T. T.'WATERMAN; 
 
 PASTOR OF THE RICHMOND-ST. CHURCH, PROVIDENCE. 
 
 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd ; he shall gather the lambs with hit 
 arms, and carry them in his bosom.— Isaiah. 
 
 PROVIDENCE: 
 WEEDEN AND CORY. 
 
 1834. 
 
J 4S3\ 
 
 ( ssA 
 
 1* 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the t year One Thousand Eight Hu 
 dred and Thirty-Four, 
 BY WEEDEN AND CORY, 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Rhode-Island. 
 
 
r 
 
 <9 
 
 I 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Introductory Essay. 
 Preface. 
 
 chapter i.— directions as to doctrines. 
 Religion of importance. — Doctrines the foundation of 
 religion.— Decision as to doctrines necessary. — Doc- 
 trines stated. — To be studied in their connexion and 
 dependency. — Establishment in them. — Earnestly to 
 be defended. — The more mysterious to be examined 
 with caution. 
 
 CHAPTER II.— DIRECTIONS RELATIVE TO EXPERIENCE. 
 
 Religion not speculative. — Experience explained and 
 defended. — Particular experiences — How abused — 
 Not to be depended on — To be reviewed. — Admi- 
 ration of God's goodness. 
 
 CHAPTER III.— DIRECTIONS RELATIVE TO PRACTICE. 
 
 Holy practice the result of just principles. — Retirement. — 
 Meditation. — Self-examination. — Prayer, ejaculatory, 
 closet, family and social. — Rules for understanding 
 the scriptures. — Advice as to reading human authors. 
 
 CHAPTER IV.— DIRECTIONS RELATIVE TO PRACTICE. 
 
 Public Worship — The Sabbath. Ministers. — Direc- 
 tions for hearing profitably. — Punctuality in attending 
 ordinances. — Joining a church. — The Lord's Supper 
 — Objections to receiving it ans \ ered. — Advice to 
 church members. — Faith and patience. — Diligence 
 in temporal and spiritual concerns, — Rules for the 
 improvement of time. 
 
 A2 
 
IV 
 
 C O N 1 fc S T S. 
 
 CHAPTER V.— DIRECTIONS RELATIVE TO PRACTICE. 
 
 Zeal inculcated. — -Steadfastness. — Order. — Conscien- 
 tiousness. — Leadings of Providence. — Restitution. — 
 Uniform Obedience. — Usefulness. — Joy. — Gratitude. 
 
 CHAPTER VI— CAUTIONS. 
 
 Cautions as to pride. — Volatility. — Loquacity. For- 
 wardness. Forming connexions. Marriage. — Un- 
 happy partners, and conduct towards them. 
 
 chapter vii.— cautions. 
 Cautions as to novelty- — Vain curiosity. — Captiousness. 
 Disputation. — Anger. — Discontent. — Bigotry. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII.— CAUTIONS. 
 
 Cautions as to a worldly spirit. — Fashions. — Customs. 
 —Dress. — Recreations. — Imprudence. — Un watchful- 
 ness. — Spiritual declension. 
 
 CHAPTER IX.-.DISCOURAGF.MENTS CONSIDERED. 
 
 Discouragements to be expected — Sin a source of sor- 
 row — Excpssive grief improper. — Despondency, rea- 
 sons against. — Vain thoughts common to the best. — 
 Awful scriptures explained. — Unpardonable sin stated. 
 — Small degree of knowledge and meanness of tal- 
 ents, no ground for dejection. — Satan's insinuations, 
 consolations against. — Persecution an honor. — Vari- 
 ety of opinions and preachers not to be considered 
 strange. — Conduct of so me professors discouraging. — 
 Apostates, lessons to be learnt from. — Desertion. — 
 Fear of death. 
 
 CHAPTER X.— YOUNG CHRISTIAN'S ENCOURAGEMENT. 
 
 Encouragement from the promises. — Examples. — Evi- 
 dences of grace. — Prospects. — Eternal life. — Conclu- 
 ding address to the unconverted. 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, 
 
 RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 
 
 It is a melancholy truth, that very vague and erro- 
 neous views prevail on this amazingly interesting and 
 important subject. There can be no doubt, from what 
 is seen, heard and known, that many, very many who 
 profess to have "experienced religion," are deceived. 
 Thousands there are in Christendom, and numbers in 
 every city, town and village, who profess to belong to 
 God, and yet live as if God had no claim either to 
 their souls or their bodies— as if they were first to suit 
 their own convenience, and gratify their own taste; 
 and then, if they have time and inclination, and noth^ 
 ing occurs to prevent, to look after the interests of truth 
 and duty; — consecrated to self, is by practice written 
 in glaring capitals upon their time, talents, influence, 
 attainments, friendships, business, pleasures, posses- 
 sions, and all. Amid the brightest displays of truth, 
 and the most heart-thrilling appeals for help on the 
 walls of Zion; and even amid the breathings of the 
 Holy Spirit, and the tears of the convicted and broken-, 
 hearted, their hearts go after their idols. They have 
 little to say, and less to do, to gave souls and glorify 
 a3 
 
VI RELHHOUS EXPERIENCE. 
 
 God. The closet witnesses but seldom, if ever, to 
 their tears and prayers. The family altar has never 
 been erected; or if erected, has been thrown down. — 
 The Bible is cast aside, except for an occasional con- 
 science-quieting glance. The weekly prayer meeting 
 is forsaken, its place being occupied by worldly care, 
 by amusement, or by attendance upon the fashionable 
 party. The sanctuary is a place of display, of greeting, 
 of smiles, simpering looks, whispering, criticism, and 
 especially of sleep. The world is courted, applauded 
 and followed. Impenitent husbands, wives, parents, 
 children, friends, are unwarned, unwept over, unprayed 
 with; and all, all, though there be the external profes- 
 sion, though there be the form in full stature, and though 
 they come to the table of dying love, and talk of heav- 
 en, still all proclaims that they seek their own — that 
 they are enemies of God — that their religious experi- 
 ence is false. 
 
 What mighty obstacles in the way of Zion*s advance! 
 what dead weights upon the wheels of the car of salva- 
 tion! How they counteract, in word, and deed, the 
 blessings of a preached gospel, and the influence of the 
 church! What stumbling blocks in the sinner's path 
 to hell! True the world may smile and flatter— calling 
 them social, agreeable, intellectual, liberal and genteel 
 christians. But, alas, how certain and how fearful their 
 deception; — and come that deception from what source 
 it may, it will dishonor God — weaken the church — and 
 kill the soul. 
 
 And others, there are, who, appearing more devoted 
 and more spiritually minded, seem nevertheless to seek, 
 with as much zeal, though in a different form, their 
 
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. Vll 
 
 own semes. They are active, if they can be in their 
 own way, and according to their own forms, and for 
 their own favorite objects. They labor, and give, and 
 talk, but for their own sect, and because it is their sect. 
 They are anxious for converts, not so much that Christ 
 may be honored, truth loved, and duty done, as that 
 their numbers may be increased, and their rites, and 
 ceremonies honored, commended and sounded forth, as 
 the most engaging, and most fashionable. Their con- 
 versation is not concerning God and his perfection, love 
 and glory — but concerning this minister and that minis- 
 ter; this person or that person, who is to join them. — 
 They prefer flattery to reproof; and conscious how they 
 themselves are flattered and puffed up, and thus led 
 away, they use their enchantments upon the weak 
 around them. They feel not for any cause, no matter 
 how loud the demand for effort, if the cause be not pop- 
 ular. Their anxiety is not so much for holiness as for 
 comfort; not so much for duty, as for hope. All such, 
 if not fatally deceived, are greatly mistaken as to the 
 nature of true religious experience. They are in dark- 
 ness, and must be brought to the light; or if saved, will 
 be saved as by fire. " Not every one that saith Lord, 
 Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven; but he 
 that doeth the will of my father who is in Heaven." 
 
 We may mistake the nature of religious experience. 
 Conviction may be taken for conversiBn; animal feel- 
 ing for a clear perception of truth; agitation of the 
 nerves for brokenness of heart; a desire of happiness 
 for a desire of holiness; knowledge of duty for the 
 heartfelt approval of it; love of self for the love of God. 
 How important, then, is a test, a searching, discrimi- 
 e4 
 
Vlll RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 
 
 nating test, of true religious experience; a test which 
 will show the kind and degree, as well as the fact of 
 our conversion! Such a test is found, we believ*, in 
 the sentiment of the Apostle James: — " Submit your- 
 selves therefore to God." 
 
 This sentiment may be illustrated and enforced, by 
 considering what is implied in the submission required, 
 and the reasonableness of such submission. 
 
 I. Submission is an act by which a subject de- 
 livers himself to the authority and will of his sove- 
 reign. — It presupposes revolt, or a state of mind and 
 heart, in which the authority and government of the 
 sovereign have been disowned and set at defiance. By 
 this submission, the once rebellious, but now penitent 
 and broken-hearted subject, owns and loves the suprem- 
 acy of his God. It is a change in which the heart turns 
 from rebellion to obedience; from contemning God to 
 loving him supremely. In this submission, the change 
 is in the heart; the subject of it has new affections, new 
 purposes, and new conduct in regard to God, his gov- 
 ernment and glory. He takes part with God against 
 himself and his sins. He says, and rejoices to say, 
 God is right and I am wrong — God is holy and I am 
 vile — God is good and glorious, and I am unworthy 
 and guilty. 
 
 u Here, on my heart, the burden lies, 
 And past offences pain mine eyes ; 
 My lips with shame my sins confess, 
 Against thy law, against thy grace; 
 An*l if my soul were sent to hell, 
 Thy righteous law approves it well." 
 
 True submission is a heart-felt approval of God 
 in his true character. — The subject receivee God as 
 he is, with all his knowledge, wisdom, truth, justice, 
 
R F. t T G IOCS E X P K R I E N CE. IX 
 
 goodness and holiness; he loves God for what and in 
 all that he is and does. The true penitent does not 
 adapt God's character and perfections to his own selfish 
 and depraved inclinations; he does not make God what 
 in his rebellion he would have him, and then submit; — 
 but he brings his heart up to God's character, as it is 
 seen in all its revealed majesty and glory. He makes 
 God in his submission, what God has made himself in 
 his Word, infinitely holy, just and good. He loves God 
 as much because he is just, as because he is good; he- 
 cause he can punish, as because he can bless. In all 
 things the language of submission is, st The Lord 
 reign eth — let the earth rejoice." 
 
 True submission is also a heart-felt approval of 
 the law of God. — This law, viewed as the will of 
 God, is, to the true concert, right, good and holy. — 
 The precept, in all the reach of its application, appears 
 glorious; requiring neither too much nor too little. — 
 The command, thou shait love the Lord thy God with 
 all thine heart, and thy neighbor as thyself, is embraced 
 as surpassingly precious; it seems a privilege to obey 
 it; and all the soul desires, is to feel its full and unqual- 
 ified power He sees and feels it to be right that every 
 bein« should do what the law requires, and not do what 
 it prohibits. He sees that it is right and good that it 
 be sustained by the penalty of eternal death. This 
 penalty, as manifesting God's regard to his law, and to 
 the good of the universe, and to the honor of his throne, 
 appears lovely and glorious He would alter neither 
 precept nor penalty; he submits to both as right and 
 good; he wishes to hear of no mitigation of the law; 
 no repeal of its claims to perfect and constant obedi- 
 A > 
 
X RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 
 
 ence. To this law, as justly condemning him and all 
 its guilty violaters to eternal death, he submits; and 
 says, in view of himself and of others, let the law be 
 sustained, and the government honored. His language 
 is, " Thy law do I love — I shall not be ashamed when 
 I have respect unto all thy commandments.' ' 
 
 True submission is also a heart-felt approval 
 and acknowledgment of the plan of salvation by 
 atoning blood. — As guilty and deserving death at the 
 hands of the law, the true convert sees and feels that if 
 saved, he must be saved by grace; by free sovereign 
 grace. To such grace, as revealed by the cross of 
 Christ, he cheerfully and joyfully submits. He submits 
 to the truth that Jesus Christ, as God manifest in the 
 flesh, has, by his death, made an expression of God's 
 regard to his law, and to his government, equivalent to 
 the infliction of the penalty upon the transgressor. In 
 this sacrifice, he sees that God is just to himself and his 
 law; while, on condition of repentance and faith, he 
 remits the penalty, and saves the sinner. He submit! 
 to Jesus Christ, not merely as having died to save him 
 or others, but as he died to magnify the law; to sustain 
 .and vindicate God r s justice and glory. He submits to 
 Jesus Christ in the fulness of his godhead, as God with 
 us; as equal with the Father; he submits to be washed 
 in his precious blood, and to be kept and saved through 
 his intercession; he submits, in a word, to the whole 
 gospel scheme. To the great fact that the world is 
 lost, that all are by nature supremely selfish, or totally 
 depraved, and under sentence of death; that every in- 
 dividual must be born again; must have a new heart; 
 must repent or perish ; that the Holy Spirit, by a sore- 
 
RELIGIOUS EXPERIEN CE. XI 
 
 reign, gracious, and special influence, calls, and re- 
 news, and sanctifies, and keeps us. To this whole 
 scheme of wonder and love, as it opens more and more 
 to his understanding, his heart says, it is good, it is glo- 
 rious; his language is, "God forbid that I should glory, 
 save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 True submission , is, moreover, a heart-felt ap- 
 proval of the glory of God, as the chief end of be- 
 ing. — Submission to God, is making God and his glory 
 first and last; the all in all. The subject gives himself, 
 and all he is, and has, and hopes to be, to the great 
 work of obeying and glorifying God. His object is, 
 not merely to be saved, but to be holy; not merely to 
 be happy, but to be happy in doing right, Happiness 
 he regards as the consequence of holiness or obedience, 
 not the cause. He is grieved at rebellion, and hates 
 sin, because opposed to God; he desires to have all men 
 know, and love, and obey the living and true God. To 
 this great end, even the glory of God, and the good of 
 the universe, he submits to live; and for this he submits, 
 if need be, to die. Holiness to the Lord, is the seal 
 which he sets upon his time, talents, attainments, 
 friendships, business, pleasures, and his all. 'Conse- 
 crated to the interests of God's eternal government, ' 
 he writes upon soul and body, and casts them at the 
 feet of Jesus. His prayer, urged in secret and in pub- 
 lic, in thought, word and deed, is, u Thy kingdom 
 come." His language is, " Whether ye eat or drink, 
 or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 
 
 This submission, as it embraces these great and gen- 
 eral principles, has several distinct and important char- 
 acteristics. 
 
 a6 
 
Xll RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 
 
 True submission is intelligent. — It is the under- 
 standing perceiving the truth respecting God, his law, 
 self, the world, time and eternity. It is pre-eminently 
 a rational act. The claims of God are perceived acd 
 weighed, and in some measure duly estimated. With- 
 out such perception and such estimation of truth, there 
 can be no rational submission, The submission of the 
 true convert is and must be intelligent. Never is there 
 a moment in which the sinner thinks according to truth; 
 never a moment when he understands himself; never a 
 moment when he is rational; if it be not that moment 
 when he surrenders himself to God. Then he has come 
 to himself — then he acts according to reason, principle 
 and truth. It is a knowledge, as well as love of truth, 
 that sets the captive free. It is not terror; it is not im- 
 agination; it is not enthusiasm; it is not delusion; it is 
 not ignorance; it is not a dream; it is not seeing a light, 
 or hearing a whisper; or singing hosanna, or uttering a 
 groan. It is enlightened reason, summoning at the call 
 of the Spirit, the whole intellectual and moral man, to 
 act in view of truth — eternal truth. It is the soul act- 
 ing upon principle. True submission to God, and his 
 law, and his grace, and his government, has a reason, 
 and can render a reason. " Of his own will begat he 
 us, by the word of truth." 
 
 True submission is voluntary. — It is not only the 
 understanding perceiving, but it is the heart choosing 
 God. Choice; free, full, determinate, affectionate 
 choice; is the grand distinctive trait of submission. — 
 This act is the sinner choosing to yield himself to the 
 claims of his God. He has no holding back of will, or 
 affection. He sees his obligations, feels his ill desert, 
 
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. Am 
 
 and in the fulness of a breaking, yielding heart, says, as 
 for me, I will serve the Lord; as for me, I surrender 
 myself to God, my Creator, Redeemer, Judge. He 
 does it voluntarily, not by constraint; he does it cheer- 
 fully, not by compulsion. He would have and make 
 no other choice; he would have and serve no other 
 God. His language is, <c I am thine; my heart is 
 fixed, trusting in the Lord." 
 
 True submission is penitential. — Perceiving the 
 character of the God he has abused, the excellency of 
 the law he has broken, and the love and grace of the 
 Saviour he has disowned, the true convert feels the 
 aggravation of his guilt. He condemns, loathes and 
 grieves over himself, as a rebel against such a God, as a 
 violater of such a law, as a proud contemner of such a 
 Saviour. He renounces sin, as opposed to infinite 
 rectitude and benevolence, as at variance with all 
 the principles of right, and as at enmity with the gov- 
 ernment of the universe. He is distressed at heart, not 
 that he by his sins is exposed to misery; not that he has 
 forfeited heaven; but because he is and has been vile 
 and unholy. He abhors his character as a sinner, and 
 loves God for abhorring his sins; and he would abhor 
 himself, and repent in dust and ashes, if the law should 
 be enforced, and he should perish. His language is, 
 " Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this 
 evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when 
 thou speakest." " God be merciful to me a sinner." 
 
 True submission is entire. — Tt is a submission of 
 self; not a part, but the whole of self; of soul and body; 
 all he is and all he has. The true convert makes and 
 wishes to make no reserve. He feels that he has noth- 
 
XIV 
 
 RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 
 
 ing that is his own; his intellect, his talents, his influ- 
 ence, his property, his life, all belong to God; and to 
 God he freely dedicates the whole; to be ever sacred 
 to his service, and to the promotion of his glory. His 
 language in heart is, all from Christ — all through Christ 
 — and all for Christ. Such is true submission, and all 
 that comes short of it in principle or deed, is self and 
 sin. ** Ye are not your own." 
 
 True submission is unconditional. — It is a delive- 
 ry of self and the will of self, to God and the will of 
 God. The true convert has affectionate and implicit 
 confidence in God; he honors the will of God as perfect 
 and of course as best. He says in regard to all things, 
 as God is infinitely wise, holy and righteous, thy will 
 be done. He knows that God has a right to reign, and 
 always reigns right. Nothing but such a surrender can 
 satisfy the true penitent, and nothing else can constitute 
 true submission. Having a will at variance with the 
 will of God, and this in regard to any one thing, is re- 
 bellion. To make a condition of surrender, is to dic- 
 tate to God; and to make our will a rule for the divine 
 will, is the opposite of submission. Submission gives 
 God the sovereignty; it casts all into his hands, leaving 
 him to do as he pleases. The true convert does not 
 ask, before he submits, shall I be saved ? but he sub- 
 mits, knowing and feeling that he might justly perish, 
 and leaving it for God to say whether he shall or shall 
 not. He knows that he has no right to rebel against 
 God, and he chooses not thus to rebel, come life or 
 come death. "Thy will be done." 
 
 True submission is instantaneous. — There is no 
 moment when the sinner is not either a rebel or a 
 
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. XV 
 
 friend. Rebellion diminishes not by degrees; when 
 renounced, it is done at once. The first act of affec- 
 tionate and holy approval of God's perfect character 
 and law, and of holy self-condemnation, and the act of 
 submission is done. I say the act of submission, for 
 the work of it goes on through life; nay, through eter- 
 nity. It matters not how much the sinner may consid- 
 er his duty to submit; the longer he considers and 
 does not yield, the longer he rebels. It matters not 
 how much he allows that he ought to submit; he only 
 proves by this that he sins against conscience. It mat- 
 ters not how much he may hear about submission; the 
 more he hears and does not submit, the greater his 
 rebellion. It matters not how much he hopes that he 
 shall submit; or how much he resolves to submit; or 
 how much he desires others to pray that he may sub- 
 mit; or how much he may pray himself that he may 
 submit; if he does not submit himself to God, renounc- 
 ing his sin and hating his rebellion, he does all with a 
 rebellious heart, and of course is still a rebel. 
 
 Why mistake here? why doubt, or why deny? Can 
 a sinner become less sinful while all the time sinning? 
 can he become less rebellious while all the time rebel- 
 ling? and does he cease to rebel before he submits ? — 
 There can be no submission in rebellion, and no rebel- 
 lion in submission; and as he must either be in the ex- 
 ercise of the one or the other, there is an instant when 
 the one ceases and the other commences; that is instan- 
 taneous submission. Solemn and perverted as the truth 
 may be, it is and must be a truth, that there is a point 
 in the being of a true convert, too small for the analysis 
 or measurement of finite mind, which makes the whole 
 
XVl Hf.LI G I O U S EXPERIENCE. 
 
 man a new creature — a friend of God. This side of 
 that point, no matter what convictions, or prayers, or 
 tears, or strivings, or hopes, or professions, all is rebel- 
 lion, increasing rebellion; beyond that point, no matter 
 what doubts, or fears, or conflicts, or woes, or trials, 
 or despair even; all is acceptance with God, salvation 
 by grace; that point is the point of submission to God. 
 "JVbw," this instant, "is the accepted time.'" — 
 "Give mej now, thine heart" 
 
 True submission is open. — As it knows of no re- 
 serve, so it allows of no concealment. It is the sub- 
 ject choosing to acknowledge his God and king. He 
 wishes and will have no reprieve from an open stand, a 
 public espousal of the long injured rights of his sovereign. 
 The true convert is not ashamed to own the God in 
 whose character, and law, and government, he glories. 
 The praises of his God and Sovereign, he must and 
 will proclaim. The wonderful forbearance that stayed 
 the stroke of vengeance, he will magnify. The sove- 
 reign electing grace, that snatched him as a brand from 
 the fire of sin and the woes of rebellion, he will 
 exalt. Of the equity of the law he loves, and the glory 
 of the God he serves, he will speak and speak openly. 
 Submission is the soul instinct with love. It will come 
 forth. As well might the earthquake be bound in its 
 mighty heavings; as well might the sun refuse to shine; 
 as well might the everlasting rivers cease to flow; as 
 for a heart that swells with new born love to God and 
 Christ, to conceal that love. Submission is open, in 
 broad day light, in view of friend and of foe, of earth 
 and Heaven. Let your light so shine, that others 
 seeing your good works, may glorify God. 
 
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. XV11 
 
 True submission is in reliance upon sovereign 
 grace* — Conscious of its own demerit, it trusts in noth- 
 ing short of atoning blood. Aware of its weakness, it 
 looks alone to Almighty grace for strength. " The 
 Lord is my strength and my salvation, my light and 
 my hope," is the language of every true convert. — 
 Wretched and weak himself, he is happy and strong 
 alone in Christ. Under the broad shield of the divine 
 perfections and the atonement, the broken hearted sin- 
 ner in his anticipated conflict with self, and the world, 
 and hell, takes his stand. Looking to his own arm, or 
 an arm of flesh, he would shun the field. But arrayed 
 in the armor of God; sustained by the truth and prom- 
 ises of grace, with the shield of faith, the helmet of sal- 
 vation, and the sword of the spirit; he goes joyfully 
 forth to conquer, though he die. Submission to God 
 fixes its hopes of victory high as the eternal throne, and 
 deep as the eternal purpose, and by faith discerns the 
 triumph from afar. I can do all things through Christ 
 which strengtheneth me. This is his language; and 
 amid sorrow or joy, amid clouds or sunlight, amid calm 
 or tempest, onward and upward he moves. The Lord 
 is my strength. 
 
 True submission is for eternity. — This act when 
 performed, runs parallel, in prospect, with the existence 
 of obligation and right, with the duration of the being, 
 laws, and throne of God. The heart's desire and pur- 
 pose through grace, are, to live now, henceforth, and 
 forever, to God. The true convert submits to render 
 eternal obedience, and to pay eternal homage. He 
 wishes no interruption, no cessation, no end to the 
 privileges of loving and doing. He would be, and 
 
XVIU 
 
 RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 
 
 through grace resolves to be, not only to-day, and to- 
 morrow, and the next year — but forever and ever, the 
 Lord's. Onward he looks, and still onward, as exis- 
 tence shall roll by, and proclaims glory to God in the 
 highest. True, sanctified but in part he is; true, in- 
 constant he is; but still his act of submission, as the 
 habitual act, the prevailing act, goes on and on, forev- 
 er. His language is, "Thy dominion, O God, is for- 
 ever and ever. 5 ' 
 
 Such is true submission, and such is true conversion 
 to God. These views and these feelings, embodied in 
 the actings of the soul, and this by the wonderful and 
 efficacious agency of the Holy Ghost, are experiencing 
 religion. Such experience is the sinner surrendering 
 himself, intelligently, voluntarily, penitentially, entirely, 
 unconditionally, instantaneously, openly, and eternally, 
 to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. It is a 
 heart-felt approval of God's perfect character, of his 
 law, his grace, his glory. With such submission and 
 such approval, the heart of the rebel is changed; it is 
 on the side and under the approbation of God, and has 
 a reason for its hope ! 
 
 II. Such submission appears reasonable, from the 
 character and perfections of God. Was the Being who 
 claims this submission unwise, mutable, erring, unkind, 
 weak and unholy, we might justify rebellion. But the 
 God, who claims this submission, is not such a being. 
 There is no ignorance, no folly, no mutability, no 
 error, no unkindness, no iniquity with him. He is 
 God, the Creator, the Preserver, the Proprietor of 
 the Universe. He is infinitely powerful, wise, just, 
 holy and good. His character, his law, and his claims, 
 
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. aIX 
 
 are based on infinite perfection. It is such perfection, 
 perfection to which nothing can be added, and from 
 which nothing can be taken, that we are called to love, 
 honor, and obey, by our submission. And is not such 
 submission reasonable ? Is it not right ? Is rebellion 
 against infinite perfection just ? Nay! if it be rational 
 to yield to the exercise of infinite reason; wise to yield 
 to infinite wisdom; right to yield to infinite rectitude; 
 good to yield to infinite goodness; and just to yield to 
 infinite justice; then is it rational, wise, right, good and 
 just, to submit intelligently, voluntarily, penitentially, 
 entirely, unconditionally, immediately, openly and eter- 
 nally, to God. To withhold such submission an in- 
 stant, is to be all that is or can be unwise, and unjust, 
 and irrational. It is the dependant, guilty, miserable, 
 subject, setting the infinite God at defiance. It is the 
 poor rebel sinner, trampling infinite perfection, infinite 
 obligation, infinite mercy, under his feet. What a spec- 
 tacle to adoring angels, and even to rebel spirits, is such 
 a being, holding back allegiance from his God. How 
 unreasonable, how unwise, how unholy, such conduct. 
 Now, as he thus holds out, does his guilt accumulate; 
 how glorious the sentence, should it go forth, from the 
 God who is despised — " Cut him down." It is reason- 
 able, wise, just, holy and good, for the sinner to submit; 
 and such is the submision of the true convert to Christ. 
 Such submission has a reason, as firm and good, as is 
 the reason that God, the infinite God, should reign; a 
 reason that will remain firm and good, as long as the 
 throne of God shall stand, and his kingdom endure. 
 
 Submission to God is reasonable, inasmuch as the 
 good of the subject and of all created beings demand it. 
 
XX RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 
 
 That it is reasonable to be and to do good, and this in 
 the highest perfection of our capabilities, all admit. — 
 Obligation thus to be and thus to do, is as fixed, and 
 certain, and eternal, as the supremacy of right over 
 wrong, good over evil. Every moral being is account- 
 able for his influence; accountable not merely for what 
 he is and does as evil, but for all that he might be 
 and do as good. Capacity to do good, associated with 
 opportunity for the same, creates obligation. The 
 question of individual influence, is a question of tre- 
 mendous import in the scale of human responsibility; 
 it is the question which embraces all other questions; 
 such influence, as it is right or wrong, holy or unholy, 
 raises the soul to heaven, or sinks it to hell. Every 
 individual is a part of the world; and being a part 
 of the world, he is a part of the universe; and being a 
 part of the world and universe, he helps by what he is 
 and does, to form the character of the world, and of the 
 universe; he helps make the one. and of course the 
 other, more miserable, or more happy; and hence in all 
 that he is and does, he is responsible to the world and 
 to the universe. If a rebel against God; if a violater of 
 the law, on obedience to which rests the only security 
 the world and the universe have for holiness, peace, and 
 happiness, he stands forth an enemy to such holiness, 
 and such peace, and such happiness. By refusing to 
 submit to the law, and the government which sustain 
 the hopes of all moral beings, he wilfully violates his 
 obligations to all these beings, and stands convicted of 
 treason against earth and heaven. Let the principles 
 and purposes of the least rebel sinner on earth, be acted 
 upon and carried out in full practical effect, by all 
 
R E L I G I0U3 £X1»£ RIK N CE. XXI 
 
 moral beings, and that moment heaven would be filled 
 with rebellion; the whole universe hung in sackcloth, 
 would be filled with wailing, lamentation, and woe. — 
 Selfishness, supreme, with all its direful curses, would 
 pour its burning tide from world to world, and as it rolled 
 would light the quenchless fires of remorse, and guilt, 
 and enmity to God, in every heart that throbs in the 
 range of universal and created being. No thanks to 
 the rebel, or to rebellion, or to the heart that now re- 
 fuses to submit, that this is not the doom of creation. — 
 For aught that he has done, or is doing, this catastrophe, 
 so appalling, so unutterably dreadful, would happen. 
 As great, then, as are the interests of the universe, as 
 dependant upon the law of God, so great is the obliga- 
 tion of every sinner to keep the law, and thus help 
 protect these interests; so great and perfect is the rea- 
 sonableness of submission to God. Look over the map 
 of the world; pass from shore to shore, from sea to sea, 
 from island to island, from continent to continent, nay, 
 from man to man; and just as great as are the intellect- 
 ual, moral, social and civil interests of the vast whole, 
 as capable of being redeemed from sin's degrading in- 
 fluence, and made holy and blessed, by obedience to 
 the law of God, just so great is our obligation to submit 
 to God, that by our obedience we may do all that we 
 can to secure this relief, and this blessedness, for suffer- 
 ing millions. The law, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
 as thyself," embraces a world, and calls upon each one 
 on whom it lays its claims, to live for the world, the 
 whole world. It is his duty to meet the demands for 
 obedience to this law, not only as such obedience would 
 bless the world, but as it would increase the joy and 
 
XXH 
 
 11 ELIGIOUS E X F E R 1 £ N C E. 
 
 blessedness of heaven; and as it would lessen the 
 amount of sin, and hence the amount of miser)' in hell. 
 He who submits to and obeys God, he who repents, 
 does just so much to awaken new songs among the 
 enraptured hosts of the upper world; and does so much 
 to narrow the way that leads to death eternal, and turn 
 back souls that go in thereat. Hence it is that obliga- 
 tion, sealed by the claims of God, and followed out in 
 its reach to universal being, bears upon the heart of the 
 sinner, and urges his submission with the weight of 
 three worlds. Such submission is reasonable, as the 
 sinner owes it to earth; it is reasonable, as he owes it 
 to hell; it is reasonable, as he owes it to heaven. lie 
 has no right, by any thought, or word, or deed, to in- 
 crease the sins and miseries of the two former, nor to 
 lessen the joys that might be in the latter. What 
 reasonableness in his submission to God, and to the 
 law of universal love. Until this submission, the sin- 
 ner is a rebel. He is acting against the world and 
 heaven. He is on this side of that act, where all is 
 condemnation and death; on this side of that act, in 
 which, and beyond which, alone, are love, faith, obe- 
 dience, pardon, hope and heaven. He is on this side 
 of that act, without which the boundless benevolence 
 of a forbearing God and a bleeding Saviour, by being 
 despised, only aggravates his guilt. He is on this side 
 of that act, without which, if the avenger of blood over- 
 take him, he dies the second death; while his own 
 conscience, evil spirits, and all the glorified in heaven, 
 and meroy itself, will sound a loud amen. The true 
 convert alone is right; he alone is reasonable; as per- 
 ceiving the character and law of God, and the import- 
 
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 
 
 XXlll 
 
 ance of individual influence as related to the good of 
 all beings, he intelligently, voluntarily, penitentially, 
 entirely, openly, unconditionally, instantanteously, and 
 eternally, submits himself to God. On such submis- 
 sion, he, through grace, builds his hope for usefulness 
 here, and glory hereafter. On this act of submission, 
 he places the reason, the only reason, the abiding rea- 
 son, of his triumph over self, sin, death and hell! This 
 submission, and the reason of it, will abide; they will 
 conquer, and conquering, will give to God the Father, 
 Son, and Holy Ghost, all the glory. 
 
 Reader, is such submission thine? Hast thou intelli- 
 gently, voluntarily, penitentially, entirely, uncondition- 
 ally, instantaneously, openly, and eternally, given thy- 
 self to thy God? Dost thou love his whole character; 
 his justice as well as grace? Dost thou love his whole 
 law; the penalty as well as precept? Dost thou honor 
 Jesus as thou dost honor the Father, making him the 
 Almighty Saviour? Dost thou honor, and love, and 
 seek to know the word of God, especially the epistles, 
 the directories of Christian doctrine and duty? Are 
 the doctrines of total depravity, regeneration, election, 
 and perseverance, in accordance with thy experience? 
 Are you as anxious to be good, as to be happy? to glo- 
 rify God and honor Christ, as to be saved? Do you 
 hate sin, and loathe yourself on account of sin; and this 
 because sin is in itself an evil, and against God? Have 
 you given your time, your talents, your attainments, 
 your friendship, your business, your property, your all 
 to Christ? Are they his in the use of them? Do you 
 delight in seeking new supplies of grace, that you may 
 be more and more holy, and more and more heavenly 
 
XXIV 
 
 RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 
 
 minded? Are you personally active in doing good; in 
 seeking to instruct, and warn, and reprove, and save 
 souls around you, and away from you? Can you say, 
 and say it daily, for me to live is and shall be Christ? 
 This one thing I do; I live intentionally and habitu- 
 ally through Christ and to Christ. Here are tests which 
 will sweep away all delusion. Let them be honestly, 
 and prayerfully, and in the presence of the holy and 
 heart-trying God, laid on the conscience, and they will 
 speak. They are tests of principle; they make not 
 frames, and feelings, and transient emotions; but habit- 
 ual love of duty, and of truth, and of God, the ground 
 of joy. This test will prove a hope, which the floods 
 of this world's temptations will not sweep away, or 
 drown; a hope which will act not merely to-day and 
 to-morrow; not transiently, but perpetually; — a hope 
 which in its mighty workings, will move the energies of 
 the whole soul, and make you content with nothing less 
 than a heart, in its desires and benevolence, as large as 
 the world with all its perishing millions; — a hope which 
 will urge you onward and upward, away from earth's 
 sickly, fading scenes, to aspirations after more entire 
 conformity to Christ and to Heaven; — a hope that as 
 the rising sun, will shine brighter and brighter, until it 
 mingles with the purer light, and is consummated amid 
 the fruition of eternal day. With such a hope, a hope 
 builded on the broad foundation of unconditional sub- 
 mission to God in Christ, you may bid the earth quake, 
 the sea roar, the elements melt, and all will be well; 
 well for time — well for eternity. Without it you are 
 undone — undone forever. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 " Feed my lambs," was one of the last injunctions 
 given by our Lord, before he left this world. While 
 ever attentive to the welfare of mankind at large, the 
 young and weak of the flock were the objects of his 
 care in particular. Herein he answered the description 
 given of his character by the prophet: "A bruised reed 
 shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not 
 quench!" Nothing could exceed the strength of his 
 love, the tenderness of his reproofs, the exercise of his 
 forbearance, and the constancy of his attention towards 
 them. Is it not well, therefore, to set him before us as 
 our great exemplar? Did he look upon his disciples 
 with pity and concern; and, shall his ministers and peo- 
 ple be destitute of feeling for them? Did he embrace 
 every opportunity to advise and caution, direct and 
 warn; and shall we be silent, and forbear instruction? 
 Did he strengthen and console, guide and watch over 
 them; and shall we pass them by as not worthy of our 
 notice and regard? Shall the table be spread, and meat 
 provided for the strong, while the weak are put off 
 with a few crumbs that fall? Shall the fathers be reg- 
 ularly served, while the babes are only occasionally 
 fed ? Some, I know, think much of their talents, and 
 boast much of their ability in always administering 
 strong things to their hearers; and many hearers are 
 dissatisfied if such things are not invariably set before 
 them. But why is the poor lamb in the fold to be ne- 
 glected for the sake of those who are advanced to a 
 maturer age? Does any wise parent spend the whole 
 B 
 
XXVI PREFACE. 
 
 of his time in educating and adorning, protecting and 
 enriching, the elder of the family, to the neg'ect and 
 injury of the younger? Certainly not: neither should 
 we. Let the aged be respected; the experienced, fed; 
 but let not the young convert be forgotten or discarded. 
 Let us behold such with tenderness, strengthen their 
 weak hands, exhibit to them what the gospel has pro- 
 vided, and thus help them on in the good way. 
 
 It may be said, God will take care of them. Yes, 
 he will. But that does not supercede the use of means 
 for their encouragement and edification. He who has 
 knowledge and experience, talents and opportunity, 
 and disdains to stoop and feed the weak, is unfaithful 
 to his God, and cruel to his brethren. They stand in 
 need of every exertion that can possibly be made on 
 their behalf. Their little knowledge, the evils to which 
 they are exposed, and their small degree of experience, 
 call upon us loudly to assist them to the utmost of our 
 ability. 
 
 This little work I have written for this express pur- 
 pose. I have endeavored to state the various duties in 
 which they are to be engaged ; to suggest suitable cau- 
 tions against the dangers with which they are surround- 
 ed; and to encourage them in the midst of all those 
 difficulties which so frequently arise. The whole is in- 
 terspersed with a variety of incidents and anecdotes, 
 gathered from the experience of others; so that I trust 
 it will be found a suitable volume to put into the hands 
 of every serious enquirer, whether of a tender or a 
 more advanced age. That it may prove a source of in- 
 struction and consolation to every reader, is the earnest 
 prayer of the author. C. B. 
 
THE 
 
 YOUNG CHRISTIAN'S GUIDE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Religion of importance. — Doctrines the foundation of 
 religion. — Decision as to doctrines necessary. — 
 Doctrines stated. — To be studied in their connexion 
 and dependency. — Establishment in them. — Ear- 
 nestly to be defended. — The more mysterious to be 
 examined with caution. 
 
 It is an ancient, but just observation, that 
 "The fear of the Lord is wisdom, and to depart 
 from evil is understanding." Religion, how- 
 ever despised by the world at large, is un- 
 doubtedly the happiness and dignity of man. 
 Whatever we possess, if we be destitute of this, 
 we are neither wise, safe, nor happy. The 
 most splendid titles, illustrious talents, exten- 
 sive wealth, or shining honors, can form no 
 substitute. He who reverences not God, who 
 rebels against his authority without concern, 
 and violates his word without fear, may justly 
 be said to hold no honorable rank in the scale 
 of being ; but is a creature degraded and mis- 
 b2 
 
28 
 
 DIRECTIONS AS 
 
 erable ; irrational and wicked. Such, howev- 
 er, are the generality of mankind ; and it is an 
 awful reflection, that " Wide is the gate, and 
 broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, 
 and many there be which go in thereat." — 
 Daily observation teaches us that this is as 
 true as it is awful. Men are content to live 
 without hope, and without God in the world. 
 They never inquire hew they shall serve and 
 please him who is the kind author of their 
 existence, and to whom they are indebted for 
 all they enjoy. So far from it, that religion, 
 which consists in love and obedience to him, is 
 generally treated with ridicule and contempt. 
 
 While we lament, however, the sad and 
 universal revolt of man from his Creator, let 
 us not. despond ; as though he had abandoned 
 the whole human race to perpetual misery, 
 given them up to the hardness of their hearts, 
 and the curse of his most righteous law. Light 
 and Truth are permitted to visit this dark 
 abode. The Father of mercies condescends to 
 look down with pity from his throne. The 
 vilest of sinners are sometimes arrested in their 
 career. Conviction seizes their guilty minds. 
 Grace leads them in triumph to the cross ; 
 they confess their sins, thej behold a Saviour, 
 they weep, they rejoice, they renounce the 
 world, they sit down at the feet of Jesus, and 
 with earnest looks and sincere desires they 
 exclaim, Lord, what wilt thou have us to do 7 
 
 Dear reader, if this be your picture, attend 
 and follow me for a short season through a few 
 
TO DOCTRINES. 
 
 29 
 
 pages ; and irmy the God of mercy and peace 
 grant his benediction, and render it effectual 
 to your edification and comfort ! 
 
 As true religion is founded in sentiment, we 
 shall begin with calling your attention to this 
 great and essential point. Here then let it be 
 observed, that it is of the greatest importance 
 that you have right and just principles.- — 
 Nothing can be more dangerous than the opin- 
 ion which some hold, that it is of little 01 no 
 consequence what a man believes, if the life be 
 right. But it. would be very difficult to prove 
 how the life can be right, if there be no fixed 
 principle in the mind ; or if those principles 
 be erroneous; for whatsoever a man soweth, 
 that also shall he reap. Where a man is un- 
 influenced by principle, or acts without thought, 
 according to the motives which for the mo- 
 ment are presented to his mind^ his conduct 
 must be varied and undecided. As all sci- 
 ences have their axioms or first principles, from 
 which all their various branches and parts are 
 deduced, so it can hardly be supposed that 
 religion is such a vague, loose, uncertain thing, 
 as to be any thing or nothing, just as the pre- 
 judices and humors, customs and habits of men 
 would make it. One of the first things, how- 
 ever, which you will meet with, now you be- 
 gin to be concerned about religion, will be an 
 attack from those who pretend to superior dis- 
 cernment, extensive candor, and free inquiry. 
 But you will do well to remember that there is 
 a false liberality, as well as an unsanctified 
 »3 
 
UXJ DIRECTIONS AS 
 
 Orthodoxy. You have lately been brought to 
 experience a deep compunction of heart for 
 your past sins ; nothing can describe, perhaps, 
 the sorrow you feel for youv conduct : you 
 have been called to repentance, and directed to 
 look to a crucified Saviour for deliverance from 
 the guilt of sin, and to the Holy Spirit for his 
 sanctifying influence to deliyer you from its 
 power. But you must not think it strange if 
 you should be surrounded with those who 
 wish to quiet your fears. Some will tell you, 
 that if you have but a sincere heart, opinions 
 are nothing. Others will insinuate, that it is 
 unreasonable that you should make yourself 
 uneasy about your sins, since the Father of the 
 universe is alike merciful to all, and never 
 made man to damn him. Some ignorant peo- 
 ple will pretend to be sorry that you should 
 be much concerned about your soul ; while 
 they tell you, that others, who have had a bet- 
 ter education than you, and are wise and in- 
 telligent, do not distress themselves as you do. 
 Self-righteous Pharisees will be ready to sug- 
 gest to you a plan of religion which will be 
 sufficient to raise your reputation as a very 
 regular and strict man. Others, again, will be 
 eager, perhaps, to propose to you some partic- 
 ular doctrine for which they have a predilec- 
 tion, or in which they have been taught; while 
 others will be ready to neglect or deride you, 
 thereby thinking that in a little time they shall 
 easily bring you back to your former habits 
 and course of life. 
 
TO DOCTRINES. 
 
 31 
 
 Now, in the midst of all these various insin- 
 uations, how are you to act ? Are you to 
 suspend your judgment, and have no opinion 
 of your own ? Are you to sit still in indolence, 
 or give way to the fancies and opinions of oth- 
 ers % Are you to be bewildered and confused 
 by the -clashing sentiments or the various pro- 
 positions made to you by either the falsely 
 liberal, the pretended religionist, or the ignorant 
 and lukewarm ? No, my dear reader : deter- 
 mine in the strength and grace of God to be 
 decided. As you have been awakened to a 
 sense of your state, and a concern for your 
 best interests, determine to seek the truth and 
 embrace it. Discard the thought of being 
 sometimes one thing and sometimes another. 
 Various difficulties may arise in your mind, 
 and no doubt you should avoid taking up sen- 
 timents rashly, and without consideration. — 
 But, in this great and important work, the 
 salvation of j^our immortal soul calls upon you 
 to be earnest and resolute.* You see how 
 prompt and decided men are in the world ; 
 they want no exhortations to influence them to 
 
 * We are informed that the late Rev. John Ry- 
 land came to this extraordinary resolution : — 
 
 " June 25, Evening 10, 1774, JEt. 20 years, ) 
 8 months, and 2 days. J 
 
 " If there is ever a God in heaven or earth, I vow 
 and protest in his strength, or that, God permitting 
 me, I'll find him out: nnd I'll know whether he 
 loves or hates me; or I'll die and perish, soul and 
 body, in the pursuit and search. 
 
 " Witness, John Collet Ryland." 
 
 b4 
 
32 
 
 DIRECTIONS AS 
 
 acquire wealth, to seek fame, to obtain power. 
 They are not ashamed to own that they are 
 decided ; and they prove it by their earnest 
 solicitude, their unwearied labors, their won- 
 derful patience, their determined resolution to 
 conquer all difficulties. 
 
 But no man can well be decided without a 
 rule. Now it is your happiness that } r ou have 
 one every way adequate and satisfactory. — 
 And what is this % Not the religion of your 
 forefathers ; of the State ; of your friends ; of 
 a sect ; but the Bible. From thence you must 
 derive all your principles. This you must 
 study with the greatest attention ; for here you 
 will find a grand body of doctrine, in which it 
 is desirable you should be established. Here 
 learn the character and perfections of God ; 
 his wise, just, and universal providence over 
 all his creatures. Man's awful and wilful 
 apostacy from him ; the sentence pronounced 
 on him, and the state of misery and danger to 
 which he is reduced by sin. God's wise, eter- 
 nal, and gracious purpose towards him, in 
 determining the way of his deliverance. The 
 execution of this wonderful purpose by our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who came into this world 
 to magnify divine justice, honor the law which 
 man had broken, and by his own life and death 
 to make an atonement, by which, alone, man 
 can be justified and saved. The work of the 
 Divine Spirit in applying the blessings of re- 
 demption, by effectually changing our hearts, 
 bestowing on us a living faith, by which we 
 
TO DOCTRINE*. 
 
 33 
 
 are united to Christ, adopted into his family, 
 sanctified in all the powers and faculties of our 
 nature, comforted and supported under all the 
 troubles of life, and enabled to persevere in all 
 the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, 
 blameless, until we arrive at the mansions of 
 eternal glory. These are excellent and im- 
 portant doctrines, which are not to be consid- 
 ered or treated as mere matter of speculation, 
 but received and esteemed as principles essen- 
 tially connected with the interests and happi- 
 ness of our immortal souls. They are the 
 foundation of all hope, the source of all com- 
 fort, and the main spring of true and genuine 
 obedience. Observe, therefore, their essential 
 nature; their distinguishing features; their 
 exact harmony and happy effect* Study 
 
 * Nothing can be more dangerous than holding the 
 doctrines, without considering their practical tenden- 
 cy. Many, it is to be feared, awfully deceive them- 
 selves in this. Let us hear the confession of one, 
 who was graciously reclaimed from this awful state. 
 "Rushing impetuously (says he) into notions beyond 
 my experience, I hasted to make myself a Christian 
 by mere doctrine, adopting other men's opinions be- 
 fore I had tried them ; and set up for a great light in 
 religion, disregarding the internal work of grace begun 
 in the soul by the Holy Ghost. This liberty, assumed 
 by myself, and not given by Christ, soon grew into 
 libertinism, in which I took large progressive strides, 
 and advanced to a dreadful height, both in principle 
 and practice. In a word, I ran such dangerous 
 lengths, both of carnal and spiritual wickedness, that 
 I even outwent professed infidels, and shocked the 
 irreligious and profane with my horrid blasphemies 
 b5 
 
34 
 
 DIRECTIONS AS 
 
 them constantly, that you may be thoroughly 
 furnished, and be capable of rendering a rea- 
 son of the hope that is in you. A deficiency 
 here will be injurious, render you unstable, and 
 expose you to the attacks of infidels, wicked 
 men, and subtle disputers. Hold all these 
 doctrines fast, and mark their usual depend- 
 ence on each other. They maj? be compared 
 to a beautiful chain, which if one link be miss- 
 ing, it destroys the connexion of the whole. 
 It has been the great fault of some, on their 
 first setting out, to fix on some one doctrine, to 
 which they have paid all their attention, while 
 others have been neglected, or but lightly stud- 
 ied ; and hence have arisen the extremes to 
 which some have run, the lamentable igno- 
 rance of some important points, and the bitter 
 spirit which has been manifested towards those 
 who have not discovered quite so much zeal 
 for this one doctrine as they. Some talk much 
 of this or that favorite doctrine ; but, my dear 
 reader, all the truths and doctrines of godliness 
 ought to be valuable in our estimation. Truth 
 is uniform ; and it is not one part of it merely 
 that should be dear to us, but all of it. Truth 
 is like a handsome or well-proportioned person- 
 age : every lineament is just ; every feature 
 
 and monstrous impieties. Hardness of heart was 
 with me a sign of good confidence, carelessness went 
 for trust, empty notions for great faith, a seared con- 
 science for assurance of faith, and rash presumption 
 for Christian courage." — See Mr. HarVs Life. 
 
TO DOCTRINES. 
 
 35 
 
 admirable ; while a perfect symmetry runs 
 through and adorns the whole. 
 
 Labor to be well established, therefore, in all 
 the doctrines, and watch against every thing 
 that would divert your mind from the study of 
 them. Here too it will be necessary to guard 
 you against errors which will sometimes be 
 presented to you under a specious but deceit- 
 ful form ; for it is not open and decided oppo- 
 sition that you have only to fear; but attacks 
 will be made under the cover of truth, carrying 
 the names of orthodoxy, sound sentiment, 
 evangelical light, and great knowledge. You 
 may meet with some of these that may try you 
 by a soft, insinuating manner, and while pro- 
 fessing to give you superior information, are 
 only attempting to diffuse their deadly poison ; 
 but in general, perhaps, they act a contrary 
 way. They will try to overwhelm you ; and 
 by their clamor, boldness, and conceited 
 strength of argument, raise such a storm, as 
 for the present to confound you. These you 
 will find to be a kind of people that always 
 live in a tempest ; arrogating to themselves 
 the honor of being divinely taught ; glad to 
 lay hold of a young subject as a prey ; setting 
 up their own ignorant, unsanctified standards, 
 and ready to anathematize all who dissent 
 from their opinions. 
 
 There are some, too, who are fickle, and 
 
 constantly changing their opinions. They 
 
 are, as the Apostle says, " carried about with 
 
 divers and strange doctrines." These you will 
 
 b6 
 
36 
 
 DIRECTIONS AS 
 
 do well to avoid ; for, properly speaking, they 
 have no sentiments of their own. They are 
 like light ships, carried hither and thither by 
 the wind. They are first in this course, then 
 in that. Sometimes seemingly pursuing one 
 port; then, by a contrary wind, aiming at 
 another; and it is well if at last they are not 
 dashed to pieces, and totally ruined. Indeed, 
 as you advance, you will meet with the mel- 
 ancholy spectacle of many ship-wrecked pro- 
 fessors, who, fond of novelty,* and attempting 
 to sail round the world of opinion without a 
 compass, have fell a victim to their temerity, 
 and brought to a sad and fatal end ! 
 
 Hold fast, therefore, the faithful word, and 
 while you avoid novelty and indifference, be 
 not ashamed to own your principles. It is 
 unreasonable, ungrateful, sinful, and danger- 
 ous, to be afraid of professing, defending, and 
 propagating those truths on which we build 
 our everlastiug all. I mention this, because a 
 degree of timidity operates sometimes on the 
 minds of young converts. In proportion as 
 you examine and understand, you will be con- 
 vinced there is nothing of which you ought to 
 be ashamed. Let the infidel be ashamed of 
 his infidelity, the sceptic blush for his unbelief, 
 the wicked grieve and tremble for his folly ; 
 but never let it be said that you are ashamed 
 of the doctrines of the cross, 01 afraid of being 
 recognized as the follower of the Redeemer. — 
 
 *See chapter vii. 
 
TO DOCTRINES. 
 
 37 
 
 Who are ashamed of their beauty, their wis- 
 dom, their honorable connexions, their riches, 
 their influence ? Who but the ungrateful will 
 ever dare to disown their parents, their protec- 
 tors, their benefactors, their best friends ? Be- 
 hold in the gospel your highest ornament, your 
 greatest felicity, your truest wisdom, your best 
 riches, your most dignified connexion, your 
 kindest parent, your most faithful friend. — 
 Come, then, and sit down under the cross, and 
 sing— 
 
 "Ashamed of Jesus ? yes, I may, 
 When I 've no guilt to wash away ; 
 No tear to wipe, no good to crave ; 
 No fears to quell, no soul to save. 
 
 Ashamed of Jesus? that dear friend, 
 On whom my hopes of heaven depend : 
 No, when I blush — be this my shame, 
 That I no more revere his name." 
 
 Let me, however, suggest one thing. De- 
 cided, courageous, and zealous, as you may 
 be for the doctrines of truth, do not imagine 
 that you know every thing, or that every thing 
 is clearly to be known. There are some grand 
 truths revealed to us in the scriptures, which 
 we cannot fully comprehend, but must receive 
 them upon the authority of revelation. It is 
 often the case with the young convert, that he 
 wants every thing to appear clear to him at 
 first, and he puzzles himself with thoughts on 
 some of the more mysterious doctrines, instead 
 of beginning with first principles. I do not 
 
&& DIRECTIONS AS, &c, 
 
 say you should not study such doctrines as the 
 existence of God ; the Trinity; predestination 
 and election ; the union of the divine and hu- 
 man natures of Christ ; his eternal generation ; 
 the permission of sin ; liberty and necessity ; 
 and many others of the same kind. But this 
 I say, they should be attended to with caution, 
 and that it is neither for you to pronounce 
 upon them rashly, nor to make yourself uneasy 
 because you do not understand them. Every 
 thing in nature is full of wonder, and he who 
 sets about accounting for every thing, will find, 
 in the end, that he has accounted for nothing. 
 As in the natural, so in the moral and spiritual 
 world, there are difficulties, which do not ap- 
 pear merely to such minds as yours, but to 
 those who have obtained the most extensive 
 knowledge. Go on, however, in humble in- 
 quhy after divine truths. — Though some of 
 them are so bright and radiant, that, like the 
 sun, they cannot be beheld without dazzling 
 the sight, yet you may walk in their light, and 
 rejoice in their influence. Be thankful that 
 every thing essential to salvation and happiness 
 is clearly revealed. Admire that grace that 
 has directed you into the way of truth ; and 
 though you cannot know all, encourage your- 
 self with the thought, that " the path of the 
 just is as the shining light, which shineth more 
 and more unto the perfect day." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Religion not speculative. — Experience explained and 
 defended. — Particular experiences. — How abused. 
 — Not to be depended on. — To be reviewed. — Ad- 
 miration of God's goodness. 
 
 Real religion does not consist merely in 
 knowledge and the belief of doctrines. There 
 may be a speculative acquaintance with truth, 
 without any feeling of its influence. Some 
 are brought up in the habit of constantly hear- 
 ing the gospel ; others are led to study the 
 scriptures as critics, and seem to be conversant 
 in religious truths as their profession ; and all 
 this may be without any saving understanding 
 of divine things. Indeed, many ridicule the 
 idea of experience in religion, as fanatical. — 
 They will allow the propriety and necessity of 
 it in almost every thing beside, but here they 
 consider it as a mark of a weak and enthusi- 
 astic mind. But, it is evident such do not 
 know what we mean by experience. If by 
 experience, be meant something of which we 
 can give no rational account ; an impression 
 on the mind or an agitation of the passions 
 which leads us to extravagant actions ; a wild- 
 ness of imagination that excites us to go be- 
 yond the boundaries of reason and common 
 sense ; a hearing of some voice, having some 
 
40 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 vision, or feeling some impulse of the mind, 
 that we alone are the objects of divine favor; 
 then we deny the charge, and confess that we 
 have no experience of this nature. We grant 
 that some people of disordered imaginations 
 have been affected with religious truths; and 
 perhaps, from the weakness of their intellect, a 
 morbid temperament, or some other cause, 
 have said and professed strange things ; but 
 they probably would have been affected in the 
 same way, whatever subject had impressed 
 their minds. Yet we know that the truly re- 
 ligious, especially those who possess any de- 
 gree of zeal and animation, are branded a3 
 characters who are weak and enthusiastic. — 
 You must not be surprised, therefore, that if in 
 the very first outset you should be treated with 
 opprobrium, and marked as one that is deluded 
 and led away by false impressions. You must 
 therefore stand on your defence, and endeavor 
 to form clear and just notions of what is meant 
 by experience, that you may be able to repel 
 their attacks. And this you will easily be 
 enabled to do, by observing the operations of 
 your own mind in and since your conversion. 
 You must own that it was by a supernatural 
 power that you were first led to think on spir- 
 itual things, and to feel a delight in them ; but 
 you can safely declare that this was not done 
 by giving you any new natural faculties; or 
 by any miraculous gifts, or divine and imme- 
 diate inspirations, like those with which the 
 prophets and apostles were favored. You do 
 
TO EXPERIENCE. 
 
 41 
 
 not pretend to any such things as these ; nor 
 is this work carried on in any other way, than 
 by the ordinary means which God hath insti- 
 tuted. You do indeed profess to hold commu- 
 nion with him, and to be under the teachings 
 of his grace ; but not without the instruction 
 of his word, nor without devoting yourself to 
 his service in the solemn acts of public and 
 private worship. Nothing, therefore, can be 
 irrational or fanatical in this. But it may still 
 be asked, what you mean by experience. — 
 Here a better account cannot be given, than 
 in the words of the great Dr. Owen. "By 
 experience (says he) I intend a spiritual sense, 
 taste, or relish, of the goodness, sweetness, use- 
 ful excellency of gospel truths, endearing our 
 hearts to God, causing us to adhere to him 
 with delight and constancy. And this experi- 
 ence, which is of so great use and advantage, 
 consists of three things. 1. A thorough mix- 
 ture of the promises with faith. It is that lively 
 acting of faith, w T hich the scripture expresses 
 by tasting, eating, drinking, which gives a 
 real incorporation of the things we are made 
 the partakers of. When faith assiduously acts 
 upon the promises, so that the mind is filled 
 with their contents, then the foundation of this 
 experience is laid. 2. It consists in a spiritual 
 sense of the excellency of the things believed, 
 wherewilh the affections are touched and filled. 
 No tongue can express that satisfaction which 
 the soul receives in the gracious communica- 
 tions of a sense of divine goodness in Christ, 
 
42 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 whence it rejoiceth with joy unspeakable, and 
 full of glory. 3. It consists in experiments of 
 the power of the word on all occasions, espe- 
 cially as it is a word of righteousness. This 
 gives peace with God. This believing ill and 
 feeling of the authority of the word, satisfies 
 the heart, in its preferring spiritual, invisible, 
 and eternal things, before those that are pre- 
 sent." — [Dr. Owen on Heb. v. 14.] This is a 
 true account of what may be considered as an 
 experience of the power of gospel truth in gen- 
 eral, and may serve as an answer to all the 
 cavils, of objectors. 
 
 Some advice, however, it may be necessary 
 to give you relative to particular experiences. 
 And, first, you must not make the experience 
 of any individual a rule for yourself. Various 
 are the ways in which God calls his people to 
 the knowledge of the truth. Some have the 
 advantage of a religious and sanctified educa- 
 tion, and from early age have their minds im- 
 pressed with divine things. Others are suf- 
 fered to go great lengths in sin before they are 
 called. Some are drawn by love, and do not 
 find that deep distress as others ; while many 
 are reduced to the borders of despair, under a 
 view of their enormous guilt and transgression. 
 What a difference, for instance, do we find in 
 the experience of Watts and Doddridge, when 
 compared with Bunyan and Hart ! the former 
 were initiated into the principles of Christianity 
 almost as soon as they could exercise their 
 reasoning powers, and it does not appear that 
 
TO EXPERIENCE. 
 
 43 
 
 they felt any of those very dreadful terrors to 
 which some have been subject.* The latter 
 underwent trials and conflicts of a severe and 
 spiritual nature, that brought them almost to 
 despondency for a season. f Now nothing is 
 
 * Dr. Watts had not only a remarkable inclination 
 for learning and poetry, but likewise for theology, 
 also, at an early age. He was early taken notice of, 
 says Dr. Jennings, for his sprightliness and vivacity ; 
 talents which too often prove fatal snares to young 
 persons; but, through the power of divine grace, he 
 was not only preserved from criminal follies, but had 
 a deep sense of religion upon his heart betimes. 
 
 Of Dr. Doddridge, it is said, that, before he could 
 read, his mother taught him the history of the Old 
 and New Testament, by the assistance of some Dutch 
 tiles in the chimney of the room where they usually 
 sat, and accompanied her instructions with such wise 
 and pious reflections, as made strong and lasting im- 
 pressions upon his heart. 
 
 f John Bunyan had abandoned himself to all man- 
 ner of wickedness; but when his heart was touched 
 by divine grace, he had such a sense of his original 
 and inward pollution, that he was ready to conclude 
 that he was forsaken of God, and given up to the 
 devil and a reprobate mind. He lamented that God 
 had made him a man, and not a beast, or bird, or fish, 
 whose condition he coveted, because they were not, 
 like himself, obnoxious to the wrath of God, and to 
 be sent to hell when they died. In this state he re- 
 mained several years. 
 
 Mr. Hart gives us the following account of himself .* 
 " At length (says he) despair began to make dreadful 
 head against me; hopes grew fainter, and terrors 
 stronger. The convictions I labored under were hor- 
 rible beyond expression. I looked on myself as a 
 gospel sinner ; one that had trampled under foot the 
 
44 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 more common, than for young converts to be 
 looking at others, whom they suppose to be 
 truly converted ; and if they have not under- 
 gone the same feelings of distress, or experi- 
 enced the same degrees of comfort as they, that 
 therefore they ought to doubt of their state. — 
 It is true, that there are some general impres- 
 sions and convictions which are common to 
 all. For we are all taught by one spirit, and 
 baptized, as the apostle says, into one bodj^ : 
 but then we must remember that God is not to 
 be limited in the manner of his operations. He 
 always acts as a wise sovereign ; and if he 
 chooses to allure some by his love, and to 
 alarm others by his terrors, to accomplish his 
 own purpose, and to bring them to the same 
 end, who shall say unto him, " What doest 
 thou ?" Let not any doubt, therefore, of a 
 saving change having taken place, merely be- 
 cause they have not been cast into that bitter- 
 ness of distress, or have not enjoyed those con- 
 solations, or possessed those advantages as 
 others. Neither despondency nor exstacy are 
 
 blood of Jesus, and for whom there remained no 
 sacrifice for sin. So deep was my despair, that I 
 found in me a kind of wish, that I might only be 
 damned with the common damnation of the transgres- 
 sors of God's law. I thought the hottest place in hell 
 must be my portion. All the evangelical promises 
 were so far from comforting me, that they were my 
 greatest tormentors, because they would only increase 
 my condemnation." 
 
 These instances I have mentioned, as specimens of 
 the difference of the experience of young converts. 
 
TOE XPERIENCE. 
 
 45 
 
 essential to conversion. There are other 
 marks by which we are to judge, and these 
 are clearly laid down in the scriptures : he 
 who has a deep conviction of his depravity, 
 and is humbled under a sense of it, avoids the 
 practice of wilful transgression, feels an ardent 
 love to holiness, looks to Christ in all that he 
 does, mEikes use of the means given him for 
 his spiritual edification and advancement — al- 
 though he may never have had sublime joys, 
 nor remarkable depressions — has reason to con- 
 clude that he is a partaker of divine grace. 
 
 Another hint or two may be further sug- 
 gested on the subject of this chapter. You 
 believe, dear reader, that it is by divine power 
 and grace you have been made to differ. — 
 Your intercourse henceforth is to be with God, 
 the Father of Spirits, and with his Son Jesus 
 Christ. Beyond all doubt, therefore, you are 
 to expect divine assistance and support ; for 
 without this you cannot stand for a moment. 
 But here learn not to place any dependence on 
 sudden impressions, dreams, or remarkable 
 texts striking your mind, without any evident 
 tendency to good. This is too common with 
 many, who have not much knowledge and ex- 
 perience, to imagine every thing as coming 
 from God, not considering that much may 
 arise from a nervous Xrame, a melancholy habit, 
 or a busy imagination. The enemy of souls, 
 also, may easily suggest things, which are at 
 first apparently good, but which, if pursued, 
 will in the end have an evil tendency. Exam- 
 
46 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 ine every thing, therefore, by the sacred scrip- 
 tures, and whatever impression you have, ask 
 whether it is reasonable, scriptural, and likely 
 to be beneficial. For want of attention to this, 
 many have laid themselves open to the charge 
 of enthusiasm ; and the enemies of truth have 
 taken occasion, from the weakness and inex- 
 perience of one individual, to brand all the 
 whole body of believers in Christ, as a weak, 
 fanatical and ignorant people. 
 
 Again, my dear reader, never boast of nor 
 depend on your experience, as if superior to 
 others. If you have had those convictions, 
 and felt that pungent sorrow of which we have 
 been speaking, beware that you do not un- 
 christianize those who have not felt exactly 
 the same. Or, if you have been led in a 
 gentle, gradual way, do not think that the 
 paroxysms of distress which others have la- 
 bored under, are unnecessary or singular. — 
 Whatever your experience has been on first 
 coming to the knowledge and enjoyment of 
 the truth, be humble and modest in your rela- 
 tion of it. Neither place dependance on your 
 present feelings. Nothing is so subject to 
 change as human beings. Have you been 
 happy hitherto, and found every thing pleas- 
 ant and delightful ; be thankful, but look 
 also for and prepare against the enemies and 
 difficulties that may arise. Are you still 
 mourning and cast down under the recollection 
 of your former conduct; remember, weeping 
 may endure for a night, but joy shall come in 
 
TO EXPERIENCE 
 
 47 
 
 the morning. " He that goeth forth weeping, 
 bearing precious seed, doubtless shall come 
 again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves 
 with him." 
 
 Lastly, review your experience, and God's 
 gracious dealings with you. Admire his 
 goodness, that you were brought into such a 
 situation, connexion, or circumstance, where 
 your mind was impressed. That you have 
 the scriptures in your hands, and means for 
 understanding them. That you are now trav- 
 elling in a road, where, though there may be 
 some trials, yet where you are exempt from a 
 thousand snares. That you have been ena- 
 bled to give up the world, and all your former 
 wicked companions, to join those w r ho are the 
 excellent of the earth, and the favorites of 
 heaven. O think what an infinite mercy, that 
 such a sinner as you should be pardoned, 
 called, justified, adopted into the family of God, 
 and made an heir of God, and a joint heir with 
 Jesus Christ. Think of the kindness of his 
 providence towards you, from the beginning, 
 until this day. — How your wants have been 
 supplied, your person preserved, and that, per- 
 haps, often in the midst of the greatest dangers. 
 Reflect how mercies have followed you in 
 every place, the friends that have been raised 
 up for you, the blessings that have been unde- 
 servedly bestowed upon you ; and now, above 
 all, that you should be plucked as a brand from 
 the burning, and made meet to be a partaker 
 of the inheritance of the saints in light. Surely 
 
48 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE, «fcc. 
 
 you must say, " Bless the Lord, O my soul ; 
 and all that is within me, bless his holy name." 
 This chapter might have been greatly en- 
 larged ; but having written a distinct Treatise 
 on Religious Experience, I must beg leave to 
 refer the reader to that publication. 
 
CHAPTER lit. 
 
 Holy practice the result of just principles. — Retire* 
 merit. — Meditation. — Self-examination. — Prayer, 
 ejaculatory, closet, family and social. — Rules for 
 understanding the scriptures. — Advice as to read- 
 ing human authors. 
 
 Having laid down directions as to doctrines 
 and experience, let us come now to duties. — 
 For while Christianity presents to the mind 
 important sentiments which are to be believed, 
 and great truths which are to be felt, so it pro- 
 poses to us essential duties which are to be 
 performed. Indeed, the latter rise out of, and 
 are immediately connected with the former ; 
 so that to believe aright, and feel as we ought 
 to do, is but laying the foundation of holy prac- 
 tice. Some may hold the truth in unright- 
 eousness, and may make pretensions to high 
 experience, while, alas ! they are slaves to sin 
 and Satan : but there never were any who had 
 right and proper views of the doctrines, and felt 
 the real influence of grace on their minds, but 
 what delighted in holiness, and desired to adorn 
 the doctrines of God, their Saviour, in all 
 things. Young converts, however, cannot be 
 supposed to understand at once what are the 
 best means to be used for the attainment of 
 this great object Indeed, some, who have 
 c 
 
50 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 been right in the main, have been sadly bewil- 
 dered for a time, by falling in the way of blind 
 guides, who have erroneously exhorted them 
 to works of superstition and supererogation, 
 instead of those plain and simple duties which 
 the Bible suggests. A few directions, there- 
 fore, on this subject, I hope, will be found suit- 
 able and edifying. 
 
 And first, my dear reader, endeavor to gain 
 as much time as you possibly can for retire- 
 ment. Religious society, no doubt, will be 
 advantageous to } T ou in many respects ; and 
 God never designed that man should cut him- 
 self off from intercourse with his fellow crea- 
 tures ; but then it must be remembered, that 
 all our time must not be spent in this way. It 
 is well to step aside, not only from the world 
 and its cares, bat even from the company of 
 the saints, that there may be some time for 
 serious meditation and reflection. Perhaps it 
 is one great evil of the present da} 7 , that there 
 is too much hearing, and too little meditating. 
 But, as one observes, u it is not the bee's touch- 
 ing of the flowers that gathers honey, but her 
 abiding for a time upon them, and extracting 
 the sweet ;" and thus it is not he that con- 
 verses most, that hears most ; but he that 
 meditates and digests what he hears, that is 
 likely to be the wisest and strongest Christian. 
 Let no one say, that he wants matter to call 
 forth the exercise of his mind to this delightful 
 employ. He is placed in a world where the 
 various objects are so many preachers, remind- 
 
TO PRACTICE. 
 
 51 
 
 ing hira of the wisdom, power and goodness of 
 his Creator. He has constantly passing before 
 him various and wonderful displays of Divine 
 Providence. He has in his hand a volume, 
 which contains innumerable interesting sub- 
 jects. He has around him perpetual monitors 
 of the vanity of the world, the shortness of time, 
 and the certainty of death ; so that he has an 
 inexhaustible source of profitable meditation, 
 Often, then, retire and meditate : you will find 
 it the way to improve the faculties of your 
 mind, to elevate and warm your affections, to 
 obtain peace and felicity, to fit you for the dis- 
 charge of duty, both personal* and relative, 
 and to enjoy a foretaste of the heavenly world. 
 Here, too, while retired from the world, you 
 must not forget the important duty of self- 
 examination. Nothing can be more necessa- 
 ry than this, however it is discarded by some 
 as a le^al service. The apostle says, " Exam- 
 ine yourselves, prove your own selves," so that 
 to neglect this, is surely to violate a New 
 Testament precept. It is to be lamented, how- 
 ever, that this is little attended to by many 
 professors. The world without is explored 
 with accuracy and diligence; but the world 
 within, the mind % is too often neglected, as if it 
 were not our interest to regard that which was 
 nearest to us. The merchant examines the 
 
 *I have read, says Dr. South, of an holy person, 
 that he used to bestow a whole hour, at least, in 
 meditation, before he kneeled down to prayer. 
 
52 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 state of commerce ; the mariner looks well to 
 his vessel; the tradesman narrowly inspects 
 his accounts ; the scholar looks back to see 
 what progress he has made in science ; the 
 traveller counts the miles he has travelled, and 
 the distance he has yet to go ; and shall not 
 the Christian, who is engaged in a better 
 cause, and pursuing nobler objects, shall not 
 he often stand still, and ask, "What am 11 
 What have I done? What is my knowledge? 
 What proficiency have I made ? What has 
 occupied my thoughts 1 What has been the 
 subject of my conversation ? How have I act- 
 ed under afflictions or mercies ? What has 
 been the state of my temper, and my conduct 
 to my fellow creatures, but especially towards 
 God, my maker ?" These, or such like ques- 
 tions, cannot but be interesting and important. 
 Go, therefore, reader; enter into thy closei, and 
 there begin the work of self-inquiry: nothing 
 will have a greater tendency to self-abasement, 
 to enhance in your estimation the value of the 
 atoning sacrifice, and to excite you to live 
 more to the glory and praise of your great 
 Lord and Master. 
 
 To the duty of self-examination, you must 
 add prayer. This has always been considered 
 as incumbent upon Christians in every state: 
 the best, the most experienced, the oldest, have 
 always thought it of the greatest importance 
 to be much in the exercise of this duty ; how 
 much more you, who are but just beginning 
 the Christian race ! In this you solemnly ded- 
 
TO PRACTICE. 
 
 53 
 
 icate yourself to God,* acknowledge your own 
 un worthiness, implore the forgiveness of all 
 your sins, entreat his direction and blessing", 
 hold communion with him, enjoy solid peace 
 and felicity, and adore him for all his goodness 
 manifested to you. Here then endeavor to 
 obtain the spirit of prayer, for it is not a form, 
 a multitude of words, eminent gifts ot speaking, 
 that God regards: he looks at the heart, and 
 from thence it is that true prayer is to rise. — 
 Labor, therefore, after a devotional frame ; for 
 then you will find it a pleasure, as well as a 
 benefit, to be constantly lifting up your heart 
 to God. In this way you may be praying in- 
 stantly, taking occasion from every circum- 
 stance, whether prosperous or adverse, to draw 
 nigh to God. All places, times, events, ordi- 
 nances, providences, undertakings, will furnish 
 you matter for supplication. You will find it 
 advantageous, also, to appoint set times for 
 secret or closet devotion. " When thou pray- 
 est" says our Lord, "enter into thy closet; and 
 when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy 
 father which is in secret, and thy father which 
 seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly." — 
 Wise and eminent characters have always 
 found it beneficial to be much in the practice 
 of closet devotion. Our Lord spent whole 
 nights in prayer. Of Bishop Andrews it is 
 
 * Some have thought proper to write out and sub- 
 scribe their dedications to God, as a kind of memorial, 
 to which they refer for their future improvement. 
 c3 
 
d* DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 said, that his life was a life of prayer : a great 
 part, of five hours every day he spent in prayer 
 and devotion to God. The pious Bradford 
 used to do every thing, almost, upon his knees. 
 Martin Luther thought three hours every day 
 were little enough to spend in prayer. Mr. 
 Flavel informs us of one that never suffered 
 any company to hinder him from the perform- 
 ance of this duty, and was used to say, 
 " Friends, I must beg your excuse for a little 
 while : there is a friend waits to speak with 
 me."* Now it is not absolutely necessary that 
 you are to follow these examples in every par- 
 ticular, for perhaps you may be in situations 
 where you have not. the opportunities as they 
 had ; yet some time should be found. I have 
 ofien thought it a most idle excuse of the luke- 
 warm, wno tell us, that they are so taken up 
 in their business, that thej' cannot find seasons 
 for prayer ; as if Providence had brought a 
 man into a situation where he is commanded 
 to work so hard, as to have no opportunity of 
 devoting himself to God. Is it not better to 
 borrow a few minutes from sleep, or from our 
 meals, than to be found in the neglect of 
 such an excellent practice ? It is true, prayer 
 neither informs God, nor changes him ; but as 
 it is his own appointed mean, I believe it will 
 be found that very little, if any thing, of the 
 life of God, will be evident in those who omit 
 
 * See also the remarkable anecdote of the Friar 
 and the Night Whisper, in Buck's Anecdotes, vol. ii. 
 p. 101. 
 
TO PRACTICE. 
 
 55 
 
 it. Whatever you neglect, therefore, do not 
 neglect this. I speak without hesitation when 
 I say. that though you may frequently find 
 yourself dead and languid in the performance 
 of it, yet you will find it to be your most profit- 
 able employ, your happiest asylum, your 
 surest refuge, your grand catholicon under all 
 the difficulties and trials of human life. 
 
 We might here say something of family de- 
 votion, if so be you sustain the character of a 
 head of a family ; and even if you do not, if 
 you can promote it in any way in others, you 
 do well. When we consider how many fami- 
 ly sins there are to be deplored, family wants 
 to be supplied, family mercies to be thankful 
 for, who can doubt the reasonableness or pro- 
 priety of having an altar erected to God in our 
 houses'? What a blessing is it likely to prove 
 to our children, our servants, ourselves, to the 
 community at large ! How often will it 
 quench strife, sanctify domestic enjoyments, 
 alleviate grief, and promote order, decency, and 
 religion in general? The blessings are innu- 
 merable. As to want of time, of gifts, of cour- 
 age, which are often brought forward as objec- 
 tions, these are easily obviated. The season 
 need not be long : gifts improve by exercise ; 
 or if not, a form may be easily procured ;* and 
 
 * I must confess that I am no great advocate for 
 forms ; but it is better for those who have not as yet 
 the gift of prayer, to use a form, than to give up the 
 duty; there are many excellent ones, such as Bean's, 
 Jenks' and Palmer's. 
 
 c4 
 
56 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 as to want of courage, only begin, and the fear 
 of man will gradually subside. I believe many 
 are deterred from this practice, from an idea of 
 their want of ability ; but why should they 
 fear before they have made the experiment? 
 We know not what we can do until we have 
 made the trial ; especially in such a work as 
 this. We are told of one, that, when he em- 
 braced the gospel, he felt a strong desire to in- 
 troduce family prayer ; and though he had no 
 children nor servants to oppose his wishes, he 
 feared his partner in life might not conform to 
 it. One evening, as he was walking the room, 
 reflecting on the sinful omission of a duty con- 
 stantly urged by his own conscience, he at 
 length resolved to make the attempt, and be- 
 gan by saying, M How do I wish I could en- 
 gage in prayer, like those we hear at the ves- 
 try !" His wife replied, u Why do n't you trj* 
 to pray at home?" u Are you willing I 
 should?" said he. "Willing! certainly." — 
 The hindrance, which had only existed in im- 
 agination, vanished ; family prayer instantly 
 commenced, and, through divine goodness, has 
 been continued to this day.* 
 
 Praying with our Christian friends, or social 
 prayer, is also very useful ; our Lord has great- 
 ly encouraged his people in this, by the prom- 
 
 * See this subject considered more at large, in an 
 excellent sermon on family religion, by the Rev. W. 
 Scamp, which I beg leave to recommend to all heads 
 of families. 
 
TO PRACTICE. 
 
 57 
 
 ise of his presence .* It was the practice of the 
 saints of old,| and is the way to obtain signal 
 blessings for the church and ourselves. It is to 
 be lamented that many young professors do not 
 attend to this important branch of prayer as 
 they ought. They should recollect that in this 
 exercise they are a source of comfort to others, 
 while they are improving their own gifts ; that 
 these meetings are indicative of love and be- 
 nevolence, as here we pray more especially for 
 one another, and the welfare of the church j and 
 that it is an evidence of peace and harmony, 
 and forebodes the prosperity of Christ's king- 
 dom in the world. It was a law among the 
 Romans, that none should come near the Em- 
 peror's tent, in the night, upon pain of death ; 
 but one night a certain soldier was apprehend- 
 ed standing near the Emperor's tent with a 
 petition to deliver unto him ; he was, therefore, 
 according to the law, immediately to be exe- 
 cuted : but the Emperor, hearing the noise, 
 from within his pavilion, called out, saying, 
 " If it be for himself, let him die ; if for another, 
 spare his life." On being examined, it was 
 found that his petition was for two of his fellow 
 soldiers, that were taken asleep on the watch, 
 and accordingly he escaped the punishment. 
 And thus God is well pleased with the inter- 
 cession of his peop!e for others, as it shows 
 their affection, their disinterestedness, that they 
 do not seek their own, but another's good. 
 
 ♦Matt, xviii. 20. fMal. iii. 16. Acts xii. 12. 
 c5 
 
58 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 In the performance of this duty, however, it 
 may be necessary to suggest a few hints. — 
 There is no occasion to be tedious : scriptural 
 expressions should be attended to in preference 
 to any witty or singular terms, of our own in- 
 venting. It should always be entered upon 
 with deep solemnity, a repetition carefully 
 avoided, unpleasant gestures and tones watched 
 against, the voice sufficiently distinct, but not 
 too loud ; and above all, a heart deeply affect- 
 ed with the greatness and goodness of God, 
 and our own unworthiness. It is not to be 
 expected, until you are farther advanced, that 
 you can have gifts equal to others ; yet while 
 you preserve decency and modesty in all your 
 deportment, do not be too backward to engage 
 in this work. If you cannot as yet stand be- 
 fore the older and more experienced, be not 
 afraid to make trials with and among those of 
 your own standing. God will be with you ; 
 he loves to see his own united, and he has 
 promised to increase their talents in the exer- 
 cise of them,* 
 
 * Young converts ought to be encouraged to meet 
 together for prayer and praise: some give early indi- 
 cations of their future greatness, in these exercises. — 
 The celebrated Dr. J. Edwards, with some of his 
 companions, at a very early age, joined together, and 
 built a booth in a swanp, in a very secret and retired 
 place, for a place of prayer. 
 
 The great Mr. Matthew Henry, when but a child, 
 used to spend an hour every Saturday afternoon in 
 religious exercises with his sisters, by his father's di- 
 rection, and in his presence : if at any time he thought 
 
TO PRACTICE. 
 
 m 
 
 The next important duty we would direct 
 your attention to, is that of reading. This is 
 one great mean which Providence has afforded 
 us for our instruction, and ought not to be ne- 
 glected by those who have the ability and op- 
 portunity to read : it will be of peculiar advan- 
 tage to you, whose minds cannot be, as yet, 
 considerably informed. And here, above all 
 other books, let the Bible be your companion. 
 In reading this inestimable volume, observe the 
 following rules. 1 . Never think of understand- 
 ing the sacred scriptures, without divine as- 
 sistance ; look up to God, therefore, for blessing 
 and guidance. 2. In general, consult the con- 
 text, and beware of taking detached parts to 
 favor a preconcerted scheme. 3. Where it 
 has a double sense, endeavor to understand the 
 literal meaning, before you attempt to accom- 
 modate it to that of a spiritual. 4. Beware of 
 a fanciful interpretation, and do not affect to 
 find out strange things which were never no- 
 ticed before.* 5. Be not startled at apparent 
 
 his sisters too short in prayer, he would gravely and 
 gently tell them, it was impossible in so short a time 
 to include ail the cases and persons which they had 
 to recommend to God in prayer. 
 
 * It is affecting to observe how many pervert the 
 scriptures, under the pretence of finding its spiritual 
 meaning ; and those preachers, who from a plain 
 text, or simple historical relation, can discover some 
 extraordinary idea, however contrary to sound judg- 
 ment and common sense, are reckoned by many the 
 deepest divines! — Reader, beware of such a false 
 taste. 
 
 06 
 
60 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 contradictions of the different writers : they 
 lived in various ages and places, and used dif- 
 ferent images ; but by considering the objects 
 they had in view, and the situation, time, etc. 
 of the writer, you will find these apparent con- 
 tradictions vanish. 6. Look upon the scrip- 
 tures as a grand whole, displaying at once 
 man's rebellion, and God's wonderful plan of 
 saving and supplying him through his Son 
 Jesus Christ. 7. If there are difficulties which 
 you cannot get over, do not puzzle and make 
 yourself unhappy, because you do not imme- 
 diately understand : go on in patient research- 
 es, and ask instruction from the wise and ex- 
 perienced among the people of God. 8. Be 
 not ashamed to use those helps which God has 
 favored us with, if j 7 ou can possibly attain 
 them* 9. Never let your faith in them be 
 shaken, nor your diligence in studying them 
 be relaxed by the sneers and ridicule of infidels 
 and wicked men ; few, if any of them, have 
 ever read them through with care; they are, 
 therefore, no more judges of them than a blind 
 man is of colors. 10. Compare one scripture 
 with another, and observe how happily one 
 part explains another. 11. Always read them 
 with a design to get your mind more informed, 
 your affections warmed, and your conduct reg- 
 ulated. If, through the divine blessing, you 
 are enabled to observe these rules, you will 
 
 * Perhaps no commentaries, on the whole, are more 
 useful and edifying, than those of Henry and Scott. 
 
TO PRACTICE. 
 
 61 
 
 find the scriptures to be a pleasant field, where 
 are to be found the stores of spiritual wealth, 
 the medicine which will prove an antidote 
 against all the evils of life, and where will open 
 to you the sublimest, grandest, and most soul- 
 satisfying prospects, that can possibly be en- 
 joyed. Be not afraid that you shall ever ex- 
 haust this valuable treasure. " Daily experi- 
 ence, convinces me more and more, (said Dr. 
 Doddridge,) that as a thousand charms discov- 
 er themselves in the works of nature, when 
 attentively viewed with glasses, which had 
 escaped the naked eye, so our admiration of 
 the holy scriptures will rise in proportion to 
 the accuracy with which they are studied." — 
 Embrace every opportunity, therefore, of read- 
 ing and studying them : their divinity, antiqui- 
 ty, harmony, penmen, preservation, purity, 
 simplicity, variety and wonderful effect, demand 
 your perpetual admiration and regard. Never 
 let a day slip, if you can well help it, without 
 examining and retaining in your memory some 
 part of this precious treasure. Let it dwell in 
 you richly, in all wisdom ; and thus you shall 
 find it to be as a lamp unto your feet, and a 
 light to your path. 
 
 As to other books, let them be read in sub- 
 serviency to the Bible. Cultivate a taste for 
 reading: they who never read, are seldom 
 much informed, while they are strangers to a 
 thousand intellectual pleasures, which the ju- 
 dicious reader enjoys. There are some who 
 affect to be wise without any assistance of this 
 
V" DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 sort: they boast of supernatural instruction, 
 and pour contempt upon all human learning 
 and publications. The Bible alone, say the^, 
 is our study; all beside is insipid trash, and 
 worthless publications. But such are hardly 
 worth reasoning- with, for it has never been 
 discovered that they have have possessed supe- 
 rior wisdom or religion to others. Books 
 undoubtedly have their advantage. "The 
 writings of divines are nothing else but a 
 preaching of the gospel to the eye, as the voice 
 preacheth to the ear. Vocal preaching hath 
 the pre-eminence in moving the affections, and 
 being diversified according to the state of the 
 congregation which attend it ; but books have 
 the advantage in many other respects : you 
 may read an able preacher, when yow have 
 but a mean one to hear. Preachers may be 
 silenced or banished, when books may be at 
 hand : books may be kept at a smaller charge 
 than preachers : we may choose books which 
 treat of that very subject which we desire to 
 hear of, but we cannot choose what subject 
 the preacher shall treat of. If sermons be for- 
 gotten, they are gone ; but a book w 7 e may 
 read over and over, till we remember it ; and if 
 we forget it, we may again peruse it at our 
 pleasure or at our leisure. So that good books 
 are a very great mercy to the world." 
 
 In reading, however, a few books may be 
 better than many, and these should be such 
 authors as come well recommended by those 
 who are capable of judging; for some titles 
 
TO PRACTICE. 
 
 63 
 
 are good, but. their contents injurious. Others 
 are excellent in part, but still contain some er- 
 ror. Some are wholly good, but not fit for j^ou 
 till you have more knowledge and experience. 
 You may have a desire, perhaps, to read the 
 works of those who are not sound in the faith ; 
 but, as you would not wish to be seduced, it 
 would be better not to meddle with them at all, 
 or at least till you become so strong as to be 
 capable of withstanding the attacks and oppo- 
 sing the sophisms of erroneous teachers. 
 
 You would do well, perhaps, to avail your- 
 self of a compendium of divinity, that you may 
 study it in all its various parts and relations:* 
 and I know of nothing that, is more serviceable 
 in the study of divine subjects, than to obtain 
 just and precise definitions, which the memory 
 can easily retain : you will find this to be a 
 kind of basis, on which you may raise the su- 
 perstructure of theological knowledge. This 
 will enable you to settle disputes, which other- 
 wise, perhaps, may be protracted to great 
 lengths, and prove injurious to both parties. — 
 In all your reading, endeavor to impress the 
 contents of the book upon your mind, by often 
 recollecting or referring to what you have read. 
 Look up to God for his blessing, and observe 
 what points you more especially to him ; what, 
 if regarded, will wean you more from the 
 
 * Such as Scott's Essays; Brown's System of Nat- 
 ural and Revealed Religion; or the Assemblies' Cate- 
 chisms. 
 
64 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE, <tc. 
 
 world, increase your acquaintance with divine 
 truth, and enable you to live more for the ben- 
 efit of your fellow creatures and the glory of 
 God, that this your profiting may appear to all. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Public worship. — The Sabbath. — Ministers. — Direc- 
 tions for hearing profitably. — Punctuality in attend- 
 ing ordinances. — Joining a church. — The Lord's 
 Supper. — Objections to receiving it answered. — 
 Advice to church members. — Faith and patience. — 
 Diligence in temporal and spiritual concerns. — 
 Rules for the improvement of time. 
 
 To be secluded from the world, to worship 
 God in our closets and in our families, we have 
 already seen to be excellent and praiseworthy 
 services ; but it was never intended that these 
 should supercede the practice of public devo- 
 tion. Some, indeed, have objected to it, but 
 ■upon grounds that do not appear the least wor- 
 thy to be regarded. The example of Jesus in 
 attending it, the promises he gives to his peo- 
 ple respecting it, the conduct of the apostles, 
 and the general precepts in the scriptures rela- 
 tive to it, form sufficient arguments to induce 
 us to follow a practice, which, both under the 
 Old and New Testament dispensation, has 
 been eminently sanctioned by God. The Sab- 
 bath day is to be peculiarly appropriated to 
 this, and may be considered as one of the 
 greatest blessings God has given to man. — 
 The business of our callings, the things of time, 
 the cares of this world, occupy much of ouv 
 
66 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 attention on the week day, so that with many 
 it is exceedingly difficult to find a few hours 
 for meditation, prayer and praise. The Sab- 
 bath, therefore, is a welcome day to a good 
 man ; a day in which he wishes to forget all 
 the toils and cares of the week, that he may 
 hold communion with God, remember the mer- 
 cies he has received, look up for fresh commu- 
 nications of divine strength, and anticipate that 
 rest which remains for the people of God. 
 
 And here, my dear reader, just let me say, 
 avoid every thing that has a tendency to 
 weaken your regard for the Sabbath ; begin, 
 carry on, and end it with God. Make it a 
 long day; it is grievous to think how some 
 shorten the time for devotion by unnecessary 
 sleep, attention to dress, providing dinners, 
 seeing their friends, and pursuing many other 
 trifling objects. Consider it always as your 
 best day ; a day sacred to God ; a day in 
 which you solemnly dedicate yourself to his 
 service. Let no circumstance, except that 
 which may be occasioned by illness, charity, 
 or absolute necessity, prevent your attendance 
 on God's house, reading his word, and wor- 
 shipping him. Good men, in all ages, have 
 found it to be of the greatest utility ; and, 
 among the long catalogue of their mercies, 
 have not forgot to reckon that of the Sabbath 
 day as one of the greatest. 
 
 Public worship must be attended to with 
 reverence, sincerity, and gratitude. It is a 
 great privilege to be born in a Christian land, 
 
TO PRACTICE. " « 
 
 to have a house of God to which we can resort, 
 and to be favored with that gospel which 
 brings life and immortality to light. Here, 
 then, some remarks and advice may be neces- 
 sary as to the ministry j^ou attend, and the 
 manner in which you should hear. God has 
 raised up ministers of various talents and 
 powers. One excels in stating and defending 
 a doctrine ; another in tendering consolation, 
 and encouraging the weak ; while others are 
 eminent for their close, practical, lively manner 
 of preaching. Something of each of these 
 should be found in every preacher, but it is not 
 often the case that they are equally eminent in 
 all. Ministers, however, are not to be despised, 
 or spoken lightly of, because of their different 
 talents. They have only what God has im- 
 parted to them, and they are to be held in 
 honor for their work's sake. You are to 
 choose for yourself those whom you think you 
 receive the most benefit from, after a proper 
 hearing ; yet if you were to ask my advice, 
 not being as yet settled in your own mind, I 
 would say, choose to sit under one who speaks 
 to the heart as well as the head; who feels 
 himself, as well as make others feel ; who has 
 experience as well as knowledge ; who selects 
 su'ojects that are profitable rather than curious; 
 and who, while he neglects not the essential 
 doctrines, is always faithful-, searching, experi- 
 mental, and comes close to t'he conscience. — 
 Such ministers God greatly blesses, and such 
 you are likely to find useful to your own soul. 
 
68 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 When you have once been directed to a 
 suitable minister, under whom you profit, at- 
 tend him punctually. Some inconsiderate 
 people never think how they disgrace them- 
 selves and reflect on their minister, by being 
 inconstant.* Neither do they know what they 
 lose. Stated ministers, who know their flocks, 
 frequently endeavor to elucidate such subjects, 
 and preach on such texts, as shall be most edi- 
 fying or suitable to their state; or sometimes 
 they bring forward a chain of subjects of an 
 interesting nature : but the inconstant lose the 
 chain, know but little, and often forget the little 
 they do hear. Punctuality in business, in our 
 friendships, in the performance of our promises, 
 is highly esteemed, and why should it not be 
 more so in our devotions ? 
 
 Endeavor to be an attentive hearer: the 
 wandering eye, the careless mind, the whisper- 
 ing tongue, the sleepy habit, ill become the 
 house of God. See that your spirit and motive 
 be good in hearing. Some do indeed hear 
 with a kind of attention, but it is not of the 
 right sort. One listens to hear something new; 
 a second waits to hear something that his 
 captious mind may lay hold of; a third looks 
 with interest for some fine turned period — some 
 stroke of eloquence; a fourth listens if he can 
 find something that will go hard against his 
 neighbor rather than himself. But all this is 
 misplaced, and what you, my dear reader, 
 
 *See caution as to novelty, chapter vii. 
 
TO PRACTICE. 
 
 69 
 
 must watch against. Your attention is de- 
 manded to the importance of truth, the nature 
 of the subject, and how it will promote your 
 eternal interests. 
 
 Be sure never to hear without prayer : he 
 that hears a minister, says one, before he has 
 prayed for him, is like him that sets down to 
 his meat before he has craved a blessing. I 
 fear the cares of the world, the multiplicity of 
 business that closes the Saturday evening, the 
 hurry and preparations for the body on a Sab- 
 bctth day morning, sometimes render professors 
 very forgetful of this part of their duty. Lay 
 it down as a rule, if you wish to profit, never 
 to neglect this. Short and silent ejaculations 
 also may be easily addressed to the divine 
 throne, This will tend to keep the mind in a 
 right frame, and you may expect that your 
 supplications shall not be in vain. 
 
 Above all, hear with a design to reduce to 
 practice. It is the best eulogium you can pass 
 on a preacher, to Jet him see that his sermons 
 are published in your temper and life. It is 
 not having a great memory, or merely retain- 
 ing the several parts or divisions of ihe sermon, 
 but feeling its effect upon our hearts, that is of 
 the greatest consequence. But even our mem- 
 ories would not be so bad, had we but a greater 
 relish for the word : " an affectionate hearer 
 will not be a forgetful hearer; love helps the 
 memory," if not as to all the particulars, yet 
 as to the main thing. As a good woman an- 
 swered one, who asked her what she remem- 
 
'0 DIRECTIONS RELATIVji 
 
 bered of the sermon : she said she could not at 
 present recal much, but she heard that which 
 should make her reform some things as soon 
 as she came home. 
 
 Many things more might be observed upon 
 this subject, but I shall only just say, be sure 
 to be in the house of God by the time service 
 begins. If ministers were to be as irregular as 
 some hearers are, they would soon be consid- 
 ered as deficient in want of character ; if they 
 were to serve the people as the people every 
 Lord's day serve them, they would be deemed 
 unfit for their office. But why is it a crime in 
 one and not in the other % Why is the leader 
 of the worship to begin almost by himself, and 
 for half an hour afterwards to be disturbed in 
 his devotion by the noise occasioned by late 
 hearers % Let it always be said of you, that 
 you are in your place at the commencement of 
 d i v i n e wors h i p . Be w are of e very i m ped i m en t 
 that, lies in the way : people talk of difficulties 
 in this respect, but such difficulties may easily 
 be removed. 
 
 The next thing to which your attention may 
 be directed, is this : if you feel and enjoy the 
 influence of the divine word, ought } r ou not to 
 obey the injunction of your divine Saviour, in 
 commemorating his love at the ordinance of 
 the Lord's supper 1 Hence it will become 
 necessary that you join some Christian com- 
 munity. It is for j^ou to judge, after an impar- 
 tial examination of what is said by authors on 
 church government, to what denomination you 
 
71 
 
 TO PRACTICE. 
 
 should belong : but avoid the imputation of 
 being a religious wanderer. It is a false maxim 
 by which some are actuated, who boast with 
 an air of triumph that they belong to no party, 
 have not joined any church, and do not intend 
 to put themselves under the power or influence 
 of any body of people whatever. This is only 
 saying that they will live as they please, with- 
 out being amenable to any one for their con- 
 duct ; and thus, if they wander into error, who 
 shall reclaim them % if they fall into sin, who 
 shall reprove them 9 or if they sink into trouble, 
 who will sympathize with them'? 
 
 As to the Lord's supper, it is lamentable to 
 think how many neglect it ; but how this can 
 be done by any conscientious Christian, with- 
 out incurring guilt, I cannot conceive. Noth- 
 ing can be plainer than his command, "This 
 do in remembrance of me :" and where we 
 have been brought to know the grace of God 
 in truth, what is it that should prevent us from 
 fulfilling his command ? Is it not here that we 
 commemorate his sufferings, have a token of 
 his love, find our faith strengthened, our hu- 
 mility deepened, our love inflamed, our fellow- 
 ship with the saints renewed, our detestation 
 of sin increased, and our gratitude excited ? — 
 Then surely it is both our duty and our privi- 
 lege to comply. But perhaps you, my dear 
 reader, as well as many others, have many ob- 
 jections to bring forward : you are saying', " I 
 am unworthy : my heart is often so insensible, 
 my thoughts so wandering, my love so cold, I 
 
** DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 am afraid to approach." And who is not un- 
 worthy ? which of the saints but what have to 
 complain of the hardness of their hearts,* the 
 sad imperfection of their natures, and the indif- 
 ference of their love 1 Converse with them, 
 and they will tell you they feel the same as 
 you ; and had they stopped till they had been 
 above this, they never could have approached 
 at all. But perhaps you have stumbled at 
 that passage, " He that eateth and drinketh 
 unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to 
 himself." But this word does not mean the 
 everlasting damnation of the soul, but signifies 
 judgment, and evidently refers to temporal ca- 
 lamities, with which those stood in danger of 
 being afflicted who prostituted and abused this 
 ordinance, as some did in the Corinthian 
 church. But then you say, if I should sin 
 after 1 have received, how great, must be my 
 ingratitude, how complete my misery. But is 
 not attending God's ordinances one of the 
 surest ways to be kept from sin ? Will not 
 the same objection also apply to all other means 
 you use, and the enjoyments you have of the 
 divine blessing? Be assured these are all ob- 
 jections which are too weak to deserve atten- 
 tion, so as to keep you from celebrating this 
 ordinance. — Come, therefore, however unwor- 
 thy ; do not expect to find that in yourself 
 
 * An eminent minister used to say, "That, for his 
 own part, he had no other evidence in himself of being 
 in a state of grace, than that he was sensible of his 
 deadness." 
 
TO PRACTICE. 
 
 73 
 
 which can only be found in Christ. Do not 
 think you are to be excluded, because you 
 have not the experience, gifts, or grace as oth- 
 ers. God looks not at the measure, but at the 
 nature of that good which is in you. " The 
 child that, cries, is surely as much a child, as 
 the child that talks or sings." Come, venture, 
 then, though with trembling steps. The Sa- 
 viour waits for your coming. He sees all vour 
 heart, he knows all your fears. You perhaps 
 are trying yourself; you hold the balance in 
 your hand, putting one motive into this scale, 
 another into that, and you can scarcely tell 
 which will preponderate. Come, and Christ 
 will decide. He sees you do not want to be 
 deceived. He knows his own grace will turn 
 the scale. He will pronounce in your favor. 
 Yes, you shall hear him say, " All thy sins 
 are forgiven thee : thou art ever with me, and 
 all that I have is thine." 
 
 As it respects the community to which you 
 belong, I have only to say, always endeavor to 
 cultivate a spirit of love. Be no tale-bearer, 
 nor tale-hearer. Hate detraction. Bear with 
 the infirmities of others. Pray for all. Vene- 
 rate your teachers : do nothing that shall wound 
 their feelings, or weaken their exertions. Nev- 
 er be forward. Submit to elders. Fill up your 
 place. Weep with them that weep, and re- 
 joice with them that rejoice ; thus you will be 
 a blessing to society, an honor to your profes- 
 sion, and an example to all around. 
 
 D 
 
74 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 But you are to meet with difficulties as well 
 as to experience pleasures. We must come 
 now, therefore, to give you some advice relative 
 to the exercise of faith and patience. Indeed, 
 your life henceforward is to be a life of faith, 
 and your conduct to exhibit and exemplify the 
 grace of patience. All will not be clear, you 
 must therefore trust. All will not be easy, you 
 must therefore bear. Bat remember, whatever 
 darkness there may be in Providence, however 
 difficult things may appear, you must trust, 
 and not be afraid. Faith will irradiate the 
 house of affliction, and gild the path of sorrow; 
 it will teach you, that, however the providence 
 and the promise vary in the way, they will 
 meet in the end. This will wipe away the 
 tear of grief, and present to you the source of 
 comfort. The cloud may sometimes seem sta- 
 tionary, and you may imagine it is about to 
 burst with destruction upon your head ; but 
 faith shall enable you to penetrate the thick 
 darkness, and, instead of vengeance, you shall 
 see the God of providence smiling on his 
 throne. Pray, therefore, for this grace, seeing 
 it is so essential to your happiness by the way. 
 The promise, indeed, is the Christian's staff, 
 but faith is the hand that holds it. Grace is 
 the Christian's life; but faith is the shield that 
 defends it. Faith is in the soul, what the pulse 
 is in the body : it is by this that we must judge 
 of the real state of the health. 
 
 As to patience, this we may consider as the 
 daughter of faith : this is necessary to enable 
 
TO PRACTICE. * O 
 
 you to endure; there is no getting through the 
 world comfortably without it. He who is de- 
 termined to submit to nothing but what is 
 pleasant to him, will cut out for himself more 
 work than he will ever be able to do. The 
 afflictions, insults, disappointments, restraints, 
 wrongs, and delays, incident to the present 
 state, will call for the exercise of this grace. — 
 Your passions will sometimes endeavor to rise: 
 present good will be a temptation ; and you 
 will begin to ask, " Why should I suffer this 
 provocation, or bear that difficulty? Should 
 such a man as I suffer ?" Here you will find 
 the need of patience : it is this that will possess 
 the soul, and keep all in subjection. Nor think 
 it dishonorable: you will never appear more 
 as a Christian, than when in the midst of 
 afflictions and sorrows, you stand resigned to 
 the will of God. Afflictions, as one justly ob- 
 serves,* supported by patience and surmounted 
 by fortitude, give the last finishing to the hero- 
 ic and gracious character. Thus the vale of 
 tears is the theatre of glory ; that dark cloud 
 presents the scene for all the beauties of the 
 bow of virtue to appear. Moral grandeur, like 
 the sun, is brighter in the day of the storm ; 
 and never is so truly sublime, as when strug- 
 gling through the darkness of an eclipse. 
 
 Again, cultivate a spirit of diligence, both in 
 3 T our temporal and spiritual employ. Young 
 professors, who have recently left their old and 
 
 * Logan. 
 
 d2 
 
76 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 are brought into new connexions, should be 
 exceedingly cautious in this respect. Nothing 
 is more common, than for the world to charge 
 those with idleness, who have changed their 
 sentiments as to religion. No cause, therefore, 
 should be given for such an imputation. — 
 Strictly adhere to your business. Religion 
 commands this. There may be difficulties in 
 your calling, and so there are in every situa- 
 tion ; but let not this relax your exertions, that 
 you may give no occasion for the enemy to 
 speak evil of 3^011. Besides, assiduity in our 
 lawful concerns, is one of the best ways to be 
 preserved from temptation. Idleness has led 
 to a thousand evil consequences 5 while itself 
 is a most unhappy state of mind. It is good 
 to be employed. Action is really the life, hap- 
 piness, and rest of the mind. " Idleness (as 
 one saj's) offers up the soul as a blank to the 
 devil for him to write what he wiil upon it. — 
 Idleness is the emptiness, and business the ful- 
 ness of the soul ; and we all know that we 
 may infuse what we will into an empty vessel, 
 but a full one has no room for a farther infu- 
 sion."* But the soul is of infinite value, and 
 the time given us to attend to its concerns, is 
 short and rapid. It is humiliating to think 
 how many of our hours must necessarily be 
 appropriated to the demands of nature. The 
 body requires attention, refreshment and sleep. 
 Sickness and languor sometimes steal away 
 
 * South. 
 
TO PRACTICE. 
 
 77 
 
 great portions. Custom and habit are ready 
 to seize also a part, and plead the lawfulness 
 of their claim. Alas ! how little is left us, 
 after all, for the improvement of our powers, 
 and attention to our best interests. Let a 
 sense of this be impressed upon your mind, that 
 the small portion you may have may be well 
 applied. And here, then, I would offer a few 
 rules for the improvement, of your time, which 
 I hope, if attended to, will prove of essential 
 service. And first, always lay down your 
 plan of duties ; and the work to be done, both 
 of a temporal and spiritual kind. Without this, 
 much time will be lost ; many difficulties will 
 occur ; confusion and disorder will perpetually 
 attend you. <C A wise Christian should bring 
 eveiy thing into such order, that every ordina- 
 ry duty should know its place, and all should 
 be as the links of one chain, which draw one 
 another. A workman that has all his tools on 
 a heap, or out of place, spends much of the day 
 in which he should be working", in looking for 
 his tools ; when he that knows the place of 
 every one, can presently take it, and lose no 
 time. So it is in the right timing of our du- 
 ties" 2. Never delay the execution of your 
 plan, if you can possibly help it, for this will 
 bring two days work upon one ; besides, the 
 present time is the only time to us. To-morrow 
 is all uncertain. Procrastination has ruined 
 thousands. It is even better to be before time 
 than behind it. 3. Regard the small portions 
 of time. Life is made up of them. They are 
 d3 
 
78 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 all unspeakably precious and valuable, and 
 when we come to add them up together, at the 
 year's end, they will be found larger than we 
 think for. 4. Let not your best friends, much 
 less the world, take up too much of your time. 
 To be always in companjr is not profitable. — 
 Conversation too often degenerates into insipid- 
 ity, vanity, or, what is worse, slander. In the 
 multitude of words there wanteth not sin. 
 5. Guard against excessive sleep. Some con- 
 stitutions require more than others ; the less we 
 can do with, the better. 'T is a gieat time- 
 waster. '• I was never tempted so much (says 
 a great man) to grudge at Clod's natural order- 
 ing of man in any thing, as that we are obliged 
 to waste so much of our little time in sleep ; 
 nor was I ever tempted to grudge of my weak- 
 ness so much on any account, as this, that it 
 deprived me of so much precious time, which 
 otherwise might have been used in some profit- 
 able work." 6. Let not much time be spent 
 in little trifling things, or even in some things 
 that are lawful; such as dress, recreations, 
 eating and drinking, talking, etc. 7. Remem- 
 ber time is a talent which God has given you 
 to improve ; that it will soon be gone to return 
 no more ; " the sun indeed returns every day, 
 but time never returns." A man may lose his 
 property, lose his health, lose his friends, lose 
 his prospects, but they may be restored again ; 
 but who can restore time? How much of 
 your time is already gone ; and the rest will 
 only be as a vapor, that appeareth for a little 
 
79 
 
 TO PRACTICE. 
 
 while. Think, too, how many have bitterly 
 lamented the loss of it when it was too late.* 
 Now you have your health and strength : work 
 while it is day. Improve the advantages you 
 have of wise ministers, faithful friends, divine 
 ordinances, godly relatives, religious books 
 and all the various means you are favored with 
 for the advancement of divine knowledge.— 
 Lift up your heart to heaven, and say, L.ora, 
 make me to know mine end, and the measure 
 of my days, what it is, that I may know how 
 frail 1 am. So teach me to number my days, 
 that I may apply my heart unto wisdom.- 
 Amen." 
 
 • It is said that Glueen Elizabeth, when ^erdeath- 
 id exclaimed, "Time, time, a world of wealth for an 
 
 bed, exclaimed 
 inch of time." 
 
 d4 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 r Zeal inculcated. — Steadfastness. — Order. — Conscien- 
 tiousness.— Leadings of Providence.— Restitution. 
 — Uniform obedience.— Usefulness. — Joy. — Grati- 
 tude. 
 
 As you are enabled to improve your time 
 and gain knowledge, so endeavor to keep up 
 that liveliness and holy fervor, which the im- 
 portance of the cause in which you are en- 
 gaged demands. Zeal is a commendable 
 quality, and never more reasonable than when 
 displayed for the glory of God and the interests 
 of the soul. There is a zeal, indeed, of a coun- 
 terfeit kind, of which you must beware. Igno- 
 rance, joined with superstition, hypocrisy, self- 
 interest and bigotry, will make some exceed- 
 ingly zealous. There is a zeal, too, which is 
 pure in its nature, but too violent in its opera- 
 tion ; and this is often found in young converts. 
 Nothing is more common than for such to im- 
 agine they can easily confront the in lid el, 
 silence the scoffer, and convert the ungodly ; 
 and with hasty steps they set about the per- 
 formance of great things, before they have ever 
 sat down and counted the costs: hence they 
 often meet with a defeat, and return confounded 
 that they could not accomplish their object. — 
 But, my dear reader, you must ever remember, 
 d5 
 
S3 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 that whatever have been the mistakes and 
 imprudence of such, this will form no apology 
 for our indolence and carelessness. In propor- 
 tion to your knowledge, so your energy and 
 activity ought to advance. tJ It is good to be 
 zealously affected always in a good thing." 
 The service of Christ is the most interesting in 
 which you can be employed. Be zealous, 
 therefore, in the discharge of all the duties of 
 this service. Be zealous in the defence of it 
 from all the attacks of the ignorant and the 
 wicked. Be zealous in an open and constant 
 profession of it before men. Be zealous in 
 using all the means you possibly can for the 
 extension of it through the world * You have 
 a thousand arguments and motives pressing 
 upon you to be up and doing. Think of the 
 zeal of others. The man of business requires 
 no incentives to excite him to activity for his 
 worldly interest. The man of pleasure actu- 
 ally goes through many difficulties and hard- 
 ships to attain his end. The ambitious man 
 wearies himself with many circuitous steps to 
 ascend the summit of fame. The man of let- 
 ters toils, and labors, and wastes his constitu- 
 tion, to add a little more to his intellectual 
 riches. Shall these men exhibit such unwea- 
 ried exertions for that which is net? shall they 
 even expose themselves to the most imminent 
 dangers in order to obtain a shadow ? And 
 
 * It is a pleasing employ for young Christians to be 
 engaged in diffusing tracts, teaching ignorant children 
 to read and understand the principles of Christianity. 
 
tO PRACTICE. 
 
 ea 
 
 what ! shall we not be zealous for objects infi» 
 nitely momentous ; for principles divine and 
 pure ; for a cause heavenly and eternal ; for 
 happiness sublime, unspeakable ; Consider, 
 too, that here we are only walking in the foot- 
 steps of an illustrious company gone before. — 
 They travelled, they fasted, they prayed, they 
 wept, they suffered, they died in the glorious 
 cause ! Patriarchs, prophets, apostles, mar- 
 tyrs, primitive Christians, hastened with ardor 
 to bear testimony to the truth, and pluck 
 sinners as brands from the burning. Not to be 
 zealous, to be frigid, to stand still, to be indif- 
 ferent, is to insult the memory of these noble 
 men. Behold too, at the head of all, the 
 mighty Saviour, incessantly employed, patient- 
 ly enduring, affectionately engaging in our 
 behalf, despising the shame, and pressing 
 through innumerable difficulties to do good to 
 men. Not to be zealous, is to be unlike him 
 whom we profess to follow. Think, too, of 
 the vast multitudes who are still in ignorance, 
 and filled with rebellion against God. What 
 if by your zeal you should be the instrument 
 of converting but one of these; what honor to 
 you ; what a mercy to him ; what joy to the 
 church ; what a triumph to heaven. Labor, 
 therefore, after this spirit of zeal : look to God, 
 that he may constantly keep it in a flame. — 
 Watch against all those things which tend to 
 damp it ; so shall it be your monument to tell 
 to others that you are numbered amongst a 
 Moses, a Phinehas, a Caleb, a David, and a 
 d6 
 
84 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 Paul, the zealous promoters of religion and 
 truth, and whose activity and energies shall be 
 felt to the end of time. 
 
 Another great and important direction neces- 
 sary to be attended to, is that of steadfastness. 
 Many have gone on well for a season, have 
 been the joy of their friends, and bid fair to be- 
 come a blessing to the church ; but, alas ! in 
 time of temptation they have fallen away !— 
 Judging, perhaps, from your present feelings, 
 you may be ready to imagine this will never 
 be the case with you. " What," are you ready 
 to say, " shall I renounce or deny my religion ; 
 give up that which I now find of all things to 
 be dearest unto me? Can I ever think of de- 
 serting that which is my happiness, my glory, 
 my surest hope? Can these privileges, now 
 so profitable unto me, be ever slighted ? Can 
 these people, the excellent of the earth, my 
 choice companions, be ever abandoned bj T me? 
 Can this inestimable book, the Bible, the de- 
 light of my soul, be treated with neglect and 
 indifference ? Can this service, in which I 
 feel such superior pleasure, be ever relinquished 
 even for a season ? That be far from me. Let 
 the world look upon me with contempt ; let me 
 be driven from society into the wilderness, to 
 "be the companion of the beasts of the field ; let 
 me bear the most accumulated reproach ; let 
 me fall a victim to the most pungent distress, 
 rather than such a day as this should appear, 
 wherein it should be said, Ah ! — he has cast 
 off the fear of God ; he has returned to the 
 
TO PRACTICE. 85 
 
 world : he is no longer the amiable, promising 
 professor ; he has been unmindful of his God, 
 and forgotten the rock of his salvation." This, 
 my dear reader, may be now the language of 
 your heart ; but it is necessary to remind you, 
 that though it is certain God will never forsake 
 his own, yet that you live in a world of dan- 
 gers ; that the heart is deceitful above all 
 things, and desperately wicked ; that our feel- 
 ings are subject to change ; that we have had 
 too many instances of professors, who, trusting 
 to themselves, have gone back, like Ephraim, 
 in the day of battle. This, therefore, should 
 excite the best of us to watch ; but especially 
 those who have not been actually tried. The 
 young mariner, who has hardly ever been from 
 the coast, may dream of perpetual serenity, 
 and a pleasant voyage ; but the more experi- 
 enced puts into his vessel the requisites for a 
 storm. Thus, though it maybe pleasant with 
 you now, yet you must make preparation 
 against the tempests that will rise, and the dif- 
 ficulties that may come upon you. 
 
 We said you were surrounded with dangers. 
 The world, the flesh, and the devil, will be 
 constantly aiming to draw you from the path 
 of duty : in the strength of God, therefore, you 
 must stand steadfast. " Be sober, be vigilant, 1 ' 
 says the apostle, " because your adversary, the 
 devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking 
 whom he may devour. Whom resist steadfast 
 in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions 
 are accomplished in your brethren that are in 
 
86 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 the world." Remember, the great Captain of 
 your salvation demands your utmost exertions, 
 while at the same time he promises you all 
 that succor and relief of which you stand in 
 need. Consider how much his authority 
 should outweigh every argument proposed to 
 you by your enemies. It was Pompey's boast, 
 that at a word of his, he could make his sol- 
 diers creep up the steepest rock on their hands 
 and knees, though they were beaten down as 
 fast as they went up. Thus you should con- 
 sider Christ's words as enough, whatever diffi- 
 culties and temptations are in the way: besides, 
 you are not left like a poor defenceless soldier, 
 without any means of security. Every thing 
 is provided for your support and defence, so 
 that you may be strong in the Lord, and in the 
 power of his might. Your happiness consists 
 also in resisting. " All the armor (as one ob- 
 serves) provided, is to defend the Christian 
 fighting; none to secure him flying: stand, 
 and the day is ours; fly or yield, and all is lost. 
 Great captains, to make their soldiers more 
 resolute, sometimes cut off all hope of a safe 
 retreat to thern that run away. Thus the 
 Norman conqueror, as soon as his men were 
 set on the English shore, sent away his ships 
 in their sight, that they might resolve to fight 
 or die. There is not a piece to be found for 
 the back in all God's armory. Stand, and the 
 bullets light all on your armor ; fly, and they 
 
 * See Gurnall's Christian's Armor, an admirable 
 book on experimental and practical divinity. 
 
87 
 
 TO PRACTICE. 
 
 enter into your hearts." It is of importance, 
 too, that while you are steadfast in repelling 
 every attack, you should be found in the place 
 where you may best be able to do it. Here 
 you must not stand on another's ground, nor in 
 another's way. The child is safest in his fa- 
 ther's house ; the subject under his own gov- 
 ernment. Now to oppose your enemies with 
 success, take care of standing in your own 
 strength, or in a careless, disordeily posture. 
 " It hath cost some their lives for fighting out 
 of their place, though with great success. — 
 Manlius killed his own son for no other fault." 
 Stand, therefore, on God's ground ; use the ar- 
 mor he hath provided ; persevere in the midst 
 of all opposition : so shall you be more than a 
 conqueror, through him that hath loved you. 
 The service may seem hard at first, but 
 strength shall be given equal to your day. 
 11 As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so 
 our consolation aboundeth by Christ." If jou, 
 indeed, give way to an inconstant, fickle spirit, 
 ready to bend to every slight temptation, to 
 run after every new thing, it will be no wonder 
 if you get wounded ; but if you persevere, 
 though you do feel difficulties in this service, 
 yea, supposing that even in the struggle you 
 receive a wound, it will be more glorious to 
 say, This I received not in deserting, but in 
 defending my Master. " If a workman gets a 
 cut or a wound from his axe, while he is at 
 work in his calling, he may bear it more pa- 
 tiently and comfortably than one that is wan- 
 
88 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 tonly meddling with his tools, and hath noth- 
 ing to do with such work. Some, perhaps, 
 may be ready to object, and say, If I am thus 
 to be always steadfast and precise, I shall lose 
 my character, my friends, and many temporal 
 advantages. And what if you do ? Is it not 
 better to lose every thing, rather than to trifle 
 with truth, to make light of sin, and eventually 
 bring ourselves into misery and trouble ? for 
 trouble must be the end of it ; whereas, on the 
 contrary, suffering for Christ is sure to bring 
 support with it. When affliction or persecu- 
 tion overtakes the Christian travelling in the 
 good way, he may show the Bible, as that 
 holy man (suffering for Christ) did, and say, 
 " This hath made me poor, this hath brought 
 me to prison; that is, his faith in the truth, and 
 obedience to the commands of it, were the oc- 
 casion of his thus suffering : and if you can 
 say, Well, it is through this constancy in God's 
 ways and work, and not through my indolence, 
 my discontent, my pride, that I suffer this loss, 
 that I bear this trial, that I meet with this re- 
 proach ; happy are you : the spirit of God and 
 of glory rests upon you. Go on, therefore, in 
 this best of all causes, steadfast, immoveable, 
 always abounding in the work of the Lord ; so 
 shall ye know that your labor shall not be in 
 vain in the Lord. 
 
 In the midst of all, endeavor to keep up com- 
 munion with God, and maintain a conscientious 
 deportment in every situation where Providence 
 may direct you. Some things may appear to 
 
TO PRACTICE. 
 
 89 
 
 you so dark, that you will hardly be able to tell 
 how to act, so as to keep in the path of duty. 
 Here, always distrust the dictates of your own 
 heart; place the Bible before you, lay aside 
 every selfish motive, and after all, if it be diffi- 
 cult, be sure to keep to the side of integrity, 
 truth and holiness. As it respects the leadings 
 of Providence, some people much deceive them- 
 selves: they look for some immediate or super- 
 natural interposition, or take a detached part of 
 scripture ; or their minds have been suddenly 
 impressed with the line of conduct they ought 
 to pursue, that they make themselves sure 
 they must be right. But, though we may 
 naturally expect the divine assistance, and 
 ought to consult the sacred scriptures, yet we 
 should be cautious how we proceed on the 
 ground of impulses. Our inclinations, frames, 
 or even the bare form of scripture expressions 
 by which we maj' be led, form no argument 
 that we are right. In all cases of this kind, 
 therefore, be deliberate ; do nothing rashly. — 
 Examine the business on every side, as far as 
 you are capable ; consult those who have more 
 experience, for, in general, in the multitude of 
 counsellors there is safety ; earnestly beg of 
 God to make the way plain. He has prom- 
 ised to give wisdom. "The meek will he 
 guide in judgment, and teach his way." If 
 you have a tender conscience, keep up fellow- 
 ship with him ; make his word your rule ; you 
 will not, I believe, meet with many problems 
 
*M DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 of this kind ; which you will not be able shortly 
 to solve. 
 
 But some have been greatly grieved on their 
 first entrance into the divine life, at the recol- 
 lection of their former conduct towards others. 
 A parent perhaps has been insulted, a brother 
 or a sister has been misrepresented, a neighbor 
 has been injured. In these cases it is proper, 
 indeed, that we should feel and make all the 
 reparation in our power, since restitution* is 
 
 * The following is part of a copy of a letter sent by 
 a young man to his former master, with thirty pounds 
 enclosed : — 
 
 " Dear Sir — Prior to my connexion with you, I had 
 some knowledge of the principles of religion, and had 
 made a considerable profession in the ways of God ; 
 but being carried down the tide of pleasure, through 
 the giddiness of youth and the numerous temptations 
 of the metropolis, (flowing from the prolific source of a 
 depraved heart,) wonder not that I should, when given 
 up thus to drink in sin with greediness, make a still 
 further trespass upon every law, human and divine. 
 From the inclosure herewith sent, and the above de- 
 clarations, you will be ready to anticipate my design, 
 which is, to make a retributous acknowledgment for 
 my frequent infringements on your property while 
 under your roof: but being now quite unable to ascer- 
 tain the amount thereof, I have sent you a draft for 
 thirty pounds, which will, I am assured, put you in 
 possession of the whole of your property, together 
 with interest thereon. The Lord has blessed me with 
 a wife, and, with her, a sufficiency to live in easy cir- 
 cumstances: but I sometimes hope that he has done 
 materially more for me, in teaching me to know my- 
 self, and to prize the Saviour of sinners. True relig- 
 ion is of an operative nature, and instructs her votaries 
 to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this world ; 
 
TO PRACTICE. 
 
 91 
 
 both the law of reason and of revelation. We 
 should not, however, let the remembrance of 
 our past conduct in the days of our ignorance 
 so operate as to embitter our present comfort. 
 If in times past we have done evil to any, let us 
 now become their friends, and demonstrate the 
 reality of our conversion, by doing good to those 
 we once despised and wilfully wronged. Main- 
 tain in every place a uniform obedience. This 
 will be a greater evidence of your love to God, 
 than if you had the most astonishing powers 
 ever conferred upon a human being. This will 
 often put to silence the clamor and ignorance 
 of foolish men ; this will exhibit religion as it 
 really is, as a living principle, man's best orna- 
 ment, and his true security and happiness. In 
 every thing set before you the example of 
 Christ. Ask the question continually, "Can 
 
 I do this, and not sin ?" and while you feel your 
 own weakness, and that without grace you 
 can do nothing, place youx confidence in his 
 strength ; draw near to his throne, and say, 
 
 II Cleanse thou me from secret faults : keep 
 back thy servant also from presumptuous sins ; 
 let them not have dominion over me ; then 
 shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from 
 the great transgression. Let the words of my 
 mouth and the meditation of my heart be ac- 
 ceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and 
 my Redeemer." 
 
 as a proof whereof, this act may be considered as an 
 effect of the grace of God on the heart." 
 
92 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 It may be the case with some of my readers, 
 that Providence has favored them with more 
 talents, wealth and opportunity than others, 
 To such I would say, next to your own per- 
 sonal holiness and felicity, study to be useful. 
 Do not imagine that the work of doing good is 
 left entirely to ministers and eminent Christ- 
 ians. There is a field in which the private 
 Christian may move ; and by attention to his 
 duty in it, he shall find it constantly enlarging. 
 But you may ask, what good can I do ? In 
 what way can I be employed so as to be ser- 
 viceable to my fellow creatures ? I answer, 
 look around, and you will find a multitude of 
 imperious calls, saying, come and help us. Is 
 there no Sunday School ypu can institute 
 in your neighborhood, or, if instituted, you 
 may promote? Are there not many children 
 you behold in a deplorable state of ignorance, 
 that you may be the instrument of teaching ? 
 Cannot you purchase at a small expense, re- 
 ligious tracts, and disseminate them far and 
 wide ? Do you not know of many dark 
 towns, villages, and hamlets, where these, in 
 all probability, may be a blessing?* As you 
 yourself grow in knowledge, and find the ad- 
 vantage of an acquaintance with divine things, 
 are there no sick poor whom you can visit, 
 relieve, and instruct ? This you will find use- 
 
 * Within a few years this mode of doing good has 
 been greatly successful. The Reports of the Relig- 
 ious Tract Society are highly encouraging and inter- 
 estinsr. 
 
TO PRACTICE. 
 
 93 
 
 ful to your own soul, u for it is better to go to 
 the house of mourning, than the house of feast- 
 ing." Consider, too, how many necessitous 
 cases there are in your neighborhood, how 
 many wretched families, how many naked 
 children about the streets ; yes, reader, and 
 among the rest, ask, is there no poor minister 
 whom you can assist* Consider how many 
 of them, with their wives and families, are liv- 
 ing upon a miserable pittance. They have 
 left the world, to be useful in the church. — 
 They have relinquished all advantages from 
 the exercise of secular callings, in order to be 
 more devoted to the important service of doing 
 good. The wants of children must be sup- 
 plied. They must have food. Clothes must 
 be found to make them, at least, decent. A 
 habitation, however small, is required to screen 
 them, with their parents, from the cold and 
 
 * Some ministers with small salaries, find it difficult 
 to live so as to be free from incurring debts: and rath- 
 er than do this, they sometimes are obligated to fore- 
 go the comforts of life. — One, whom I well know, af- 
 ter every attempt to make both ends meet, told his 
 wife that they must still retrench, in order to pay ev- 
 ery one their own. She replied, that she could not 
 tell how it could possibly be done, as they always 
 used the utmost frugality. He said, however, "It 
 must be done:" accordingly they agreed to give up 
 tea and butter, now and then using a little dripping 
 instead of butter! Wealthy professors, instead of 
 making tours for pleasure, perhaps would do better if 
 they would now and then take a journey of benevo- 
 lence, in order to find out poor and worthy men whose 
 exertions are actually cramped by penury. 
 
94 
 
 DIRECTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 wet. Now consider how many shillings } r ou 
 have spent at a play ; how much you have 
 laid out in adorning your person ; what sums 
 have been devoted to purposes of the most use- 
 less nature. O, what a noble exchange, if now 
 your feet are directed to these abodes of neces- 
 sit} 7 ", and the hand of liberality is extended to 
 smooth the rugged road of adversity, and alle- 
 viate the wants of the poor and indigent. Per- 
 haps you have connexions in affluence : where 
 you have opportunity, stir them up also. Be 
 piously bold and prudently active in using your 
 interest with them ; you may find greater suc- 
 cess than you expect. The hearts of all are in 
 God's hand, and his people have been pleasing- 
 ly disappointed, sometimes, in finding sanction 
 from quarters they little thought of. But my 
 readers may be placed in different situations, 
 and possessed of various talents : let them re- 
 member, however, that they are all God's stew- 
 ards, to be employed in different parts of his 
 house. Some may have learning ; then such 
 are the more capable of instructing others : and 
 it is a considerable advantage when genius 
 and knowledge are sanctified for the purposes 
 of advancing truth in the world. Some never 
 know what it is to be visited with disease and 
 sickness: then such should devote their health 
 and strength, for these are talents, to God's 
 service. Others, again, have a wonderful fa- 
 cility of communication ; then how easily may 
 they learn to speak a word in season. In fine, 
 whatever our talents are, we must use them. 
 
TO PRACTICE. "° 
 
 God never bestowed them that we should hide 
 them in a napkin. Much prudence and cau- 
 tion, indeed,* will be necessary here in the 
 young Christian; but with a dependence on 
 God for direction, a close application to the 
 scriptures, judicious advice from experienced 
 characters, a humble sense of our own unwor- 
 thiness ; there is nothing like an attempt, at 
 least, to do good. But, my dear reader, take 
 this advice : Do not think of doing every thing 
 at once, nor expect to see your talents in- 
 creased in an hour. Ee not, however, disheart- 
 ened; begin in an humble way : sow one grain 
 to-day, two to-morrow, three the next day, and 
 thus advance gradually. It is the way in 
 which God himself works. Creation, provi- 
 dence, and grace, are all systems thus carried 
 on. And, O, what a pleasure will it be, by 
 and by, to look back and say, five, ten, twenty 
 years ago, I endeavored to cultivate that field, 
 to break up that barren ground, to sow that 
 seed ; and now behold what a crop. One 
 comes and says, " The word you spake upon 
 a certain occasion, became the word of life to 
 my soul." A second rises up. and says, " That 
 tract you put into the hand of that ignorant 
 man, has, under God, saved his soul." (t That 
 school you instituted, (says a third,) has been 
 a nursery for God, and many are praising God 
 in heaven, who there first learnt to praise him 
 on earth." But, behold a crowd surrounds 
 
 *See next chapter. 
 
96 
 
 DIRECTIONS R E L AT I V E 
 
 your door ; and who are these ? These are 
 the children of those indigent parents, who, 
 now grown up to maturity, are come to testify 
 their gratitude to their kind benefactor ; and 
 to say, " Let a thousand blessings rest upon 
 his head, for he visited us in the day of our ca- 
 lamity, and lent an ear to the tale of our dis- 
 tress. Fie pitied our sorrows, and raised us 
 from misery and ruin. The God of peace be 
 with him, and, when he comes to the grave, 
 may it be as the ripe shock of corn in its sea- 
 son. Amen." 
 
 Finally, cultivate a spirit of joy and grati- 
 tude, in the midst of all the comforts and bles- 
 sings God has bestowed upon you. Where is 
 it that the Christian is seen in his glory? — 
 Where is it that he shines and resembles most 
 the inhabitants of the celestial world ? It is 
 in the valley of humility, where joy inspires 
 his heart, and grateful strains are poured forth 
 from his lips. Sing the praises, therefore, of 
 your God and Saviour. You are travelling to 
 heaven ; you shall soon join the general as- 
 sembly above. The mercies received, the 
 blessings you now enjoy, the hope of still 
 greater favors, are matter of the strongest grat- 
 itude. Go on, therefore, in his way, and, as 
 you pass on, lift up your head with joy, and 
 sing :— 
 
 "O bless the Lord, my soul; 
 
 Let all within me join, 
 And aid my tongue to bless his name, 
 
 Whose favors are divine. 
 
TO PRACTICE. 
 
 He crowns my life with love, 
 When ransom'd from the grave : 
 
 He that redeem'd my soul from hell 
 Hath sov'reign power to save. 
 
 O bless the Lord my soul, 
 
 Nor let his mercies lie 
 Forgotten in unthankfulness, 
 
 And without praises die." 
 E 
 
 97 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Cautions as to pride. — Volatility.— Loquacity. — For* 
 wardness. — Forming connexions. — Marriage. — Un- 
 happy partners, and conduct towards them. 
 
 As in the preceding chapters we have given 
 some general directions relative to doctrines, 
 experience, and practice, let us now proceed to 
 suggest some suitable cautions. For as the 
 world is full of snares, and the heart ever ready- 
 to turn aside from the right object, we stand in 
 need of being warned as well as directed. 
 
 And first, my dear reader, beware of high 
 and conceited thoughts of yourself; for, not- 
 withstanding you have been humbled under a 
 view of your own depravity, you will still find 
 a sad propensity to this evil. Nothing is more 
 common than for young Christians to be vainly 
 puffed up after they have been some short time 
 in the good way ; and the reasons, perhaps, 
 (as one observes,) may be these : — " 1. Partly 
 because the suddenness of their change, com- 
 ing out of darkness into a light which they 
 never saw before, amazes and transports them, 
 and makes them think that they are almost in 
 heaven, and that there is not much more to be 
 attained. 2. It is partly because they have 
 not knowledge enough to know how many 
 things there are that they are yet ignorant of 
 e2 
 
100 
 
 CAUTIONS. 
 
 And, 3. It is because the devil doth with great 
 industry, lay this net to entrap young con- 
 verts." This is the first thing, therefore, you 
 must watch against. It will assault you in 
 various ways, in every place, by ever} 7 circum- 
 stance. Legal hope will be attempting every 
 now and then to lift up its head. Self-right- 
 eousness adheres so close to us all, that it re- 
 quires constant applications to divine grace, to 
 keep it under. You will find that you will not 
 be able to perform any duty, to engage in any 
 good work, to bear any difficulty for the sake 
 of Christ, but what this spirit will corrupt it 
 all ; especially when you feel yourself com- 
 fortable, your utterance in prayer enlarged, 
 your zeal for God inflamed, or you have done 
 any thing which has pleased others, will this 
 evil arise ! Yes ! strange as it may seem, 
 your best moments, your moments of humilia- 
 tion, of communion with God, of abstraction 
 from the world, will be taken advantage of by 
 the pride of the heart, and the suggestions of 
 Satan, to make you think more highly than 
 you ought to think, [t is a great work, in- 
 deed, and must be the business of our whole 
 lives, to learn bow to be abased, to maintain 
 right views of ourselves, to keep at the foot of 
 the cross, and fee] as we ought. It is easy to 
 use scripture phrases, to declaim against pride, 
 to confess that we are vile, tell others that we 
 are unworthy, the least of all, the chief of sin- 
 ners ; but to enter into these sentiments, actu- 
 ally and constantly to abhor ourselves, to feel 
 
CAUTIONS. 
 
 101 
 
 indignation at the vanity and pride of our 
 hearts, to mourn under a sense of our imperfec- 
 tions ; this is the spirit, the feeling congenial to 
 our proud natures. Yet something of this 
 must be maintained by every Christian ; for in 
 proportion as pride rises, God is insulted, Christ 
 dishonored, the Holy Spirit grieved. Perhaps 
 you have superior endowments, a fine under- 
 standing, a good memory, a vivid imagination, 
 a strong judgment : then you are in still great- 
 er danger. It is difficult to possess such pow- 
 ers, without being conceited; though at the 
 same time it may be truly said, that a humble 
 spirit outweighs them all. You may have 
 received applause from some unthinking per- 
 son, which has had a tendency to elate you. — ■ 
 But remember that such people, if they knew 
 every thing about you, would be ashamed of 
 such unqualified praise, which they have given 
 you. But it may be, that your conversion 
 was more singular than others : then you have 
 the more reason to be humbled, that C4od 
 should make use of extraordinary methods for 
 the calling of such an unworthy creature as 
 you. Or, since j^our change, you have been 
 enabled to do some great thing, that has aston- 
 ished those of longer standing. But, perhaps, 
 if every circumstance be considered minutely, 
 if we draw near and inspect the object with 
 care, we shall see, after all, that this is not in 
 reality the case. Alas ! my dear reader, it. is 
 a mortifying reflection, that many things 
 which appear Great and splendid, even in the 
 e3 
 
102 
 
 CAUTIONS. 
 
 religious world, when they come to be ana- 
 lyzed, are found to be not altogether what they 
 appear. Faith, perhaps, has been attended 
 with some degree of presumption. Insensibil- 
 ity has been substituted for patience ; natural 
 courage for Christian fortitude; and a warm 
 temperament for true zeal ; so that we have 
 all just cause for suspecting our own hearts. 
 Study, therefore, to maintain lowly views of 
 yourself: think of your former aggravated 
 transgressions, your sins since conversion, your 
 forgetfulness of God, and yet his wonderful 
 compassion, notwithstanding the infinite holi- 
 ness of his nature, and the inflexibility of his 
 justice. Think what a poor insignificant mor- 
 tal you are before him ; how you have insulted 
 him ; and what an everlasting wonder that he 
 did not suffer you to perish in your sin ! Re- 
 member that you have not the least excellency 
 in you but what is his, an emanation from him; 
 and that without his grace you would have 
 been in the most abandoned and forlorn condit- 
 ion. Consider, too, how little it is, as yet, that 
 you know; what vast depths there are in 
 scripture ; what mysteries m the divine dis- 
 pensations ; what glories in the grand scheme 
 of redemption that you have never yet under- 
 stood. Reflect, also, on the consequences of 
 the spirit of pride. There is not a greater 
 source of misery than this : it is a kind of in- 
 toxication, which renders a man liable to stum- 
 ble at every little thing before him ; blinds his 
 eyes, or causes him to see things different from 
 
CAUTIONS. 
 
 103 
 
 what they are ; to talk incoherently, and im- 
 agine at the same time all is well. 
 
 O look up to God, therefore, for grace to 
 keep you from this greatest of all evils, and 
 that you may be blessed with a humble spirit : 
 then, indeed, will you be safe and happy. As 
 there is hardly an evil which pride does not 
 draw after it, so, on the contrary, there is hard- 
 ly a blessing which humility does not either 
 produce or attend. If you are humble, you 
 will be dependant on God for every thing, and 
 say, with the apostle, " When I am weak, then 
 am I strong." You will be convinced of your 
 ignorance, and consequently be excited to the 
 attainment of greater knowledge. You will 
 be drawn out in love to God for his great con- 
 descension and abundant goodness towards 
 you. You will be patient under his hand 
 when he smites you, and acknowledge the 
 wisdom of his providence, however dark and 
 mysterious. You will be contented with what 
 he has given you, and refrain from murmuring 
 because you are not like others You will be 
 grateful to him for the little } r ou may have, 
 and sing his praises over the smallest portion, 
 confessing you are not worthy of any thing 
 from his hand. This will influence you to be 
 docile, to conceal your own excellencies, to ac- 
 knowledge mistakes, to exercise moderation in 
 all things, and never to aim at any thing above 
 your strength ; and as it respects your fellow 
 creatures, it will teach you to honor, love, bear, 
 forgive, and be active for their best interests. 
 e4 
 
104 
 
 CAUTIONS. 
 
 Again, beware of a volatile, loquacious, for- 
 ward disposition. I do not. mean that you 
 should not be cheerful. To put on a melan- 
 choly gloom, to indulge a sadness of spirit, as 
 if there were no comfort in religion, or as if we 
 were going to the regions of darkness rather 
 than light, is highly injudicious, both as it re- 
 spects ourselves, and the cause in which we 
 are engaged. God loves to see his servants 
 happy ; or, as an old writer* expresses it, " He 
 delights to have his mercy seen in the cheerful 
 countenance of his servants, while they are at 
 his work." But cheerfulness is different from 
 volatility. The former is reasonable, eviden- 
 tial of gratitude and satisfaction ; the latter, 
 unmeaning, empty, foolish, and injurious. — 
 Maintain, therefore, a proper gravity, that shall 
 not rise into a noisy mirth. " While cheerful- 
 ness is the sail, let seriousness be the ballast of 
 the vessel ; if we want ballast, we may move 
 too swiftly; and if we want sail, we shall 
 move too slowly. "f 
 
 There are seasons, indeed, when we may be 
 called to more than ordinary lamentation and 
 sorrow; such as national calamities, the loss 
 of our friends, and particularly when the church 
 of God is in a state of great opposition and suf- 
 fering. Among the Romans, when any man 
 was accused for his life, all his relations put 
 on mourning apparel, and followed him to his 
 trial in mourning; thereby to show their love 
 
 *Gurnall. f Bradbury. 
 
CAUTIONS. 
 
 105 
 
 to the party in danger. Thus, it does not be- 
 come us to rejoice when the church is under a 
 cloud, but to mourn and pray, and wait for her 
 deliverance. 
 
 Again, it will be well to avoid a talkative 
 disposition. Not that you are to be distant, 
 cold, and reserved, or imagine that everything 
 pleasantly spoken is sinful ; but it is better to 
 listen to others of more wisdom and experience, 
 than to speak much ourselves. It is seldom 
 that in much speaking there is much edification. 
 Even among professors of religion, it is to be 
 lamented that the noble faculty of speech is not 
 always used for the best of purposes ; and 
 many, instead of coming to the point, of enter- 
 ing into profitable conversation, dwell more 
 upon the surface. The place, the minister, the 
 talent, the externals, seem to be the subject 
 matter, more than the real thing. Some have 
 a natural volubility, and talking is more easy 
 to them than any thing beside ; and these are 
 tnore likely to do harm, (though perhaps with- 
 out any intention,) than those who are reserved. 
 Such should endeavor to restrain the tongue, 
 knowing that in the multitude of words there 
 wanteth not sin. Whenever we do speak, our 
 conversation should be serious and improving. 
 M Let your speech," says the apostle, " be al- 
 ways with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye 
 may know how ye ought to answer every 
 man." Ask yourself after you have left com* 
 pany, what have I said ? What has been the 
 conversation ? Has any thing been talked of 
 
106 
 
 C A U T I N S. 
 
 worth remembrance ? Have I said any thing 
 for the improvement of others, or heard any 
 thing for my own good ? As to matter for 
 conversation, you will always be well furnished, 
 if you are enabled to maintain a spirituality of 
 mind, and this you should endeavor to do un- 
 der all the varying situations and circum- 
 stances of life. 
 
 Again, beware of an appearance of forward- 
 ness and self-sufficiency. This is too frequent- 
 ly found among professors, and arises from 
 their ignorance and zeal. We see Peter him- 
 self was of this disposition, notwithstanding he 
 was the intimate disciple of our Lord. A 
 readiness to do erood, an aptitude for engaging 
 in religious exercises, may be commendable; 
 but that disposition which prompts you to in- 
 quire into every one's business, to push by the 
 experienced and tne wise, and to intrude into 
 the concerns of every friend or brother, is high- 
 ly reprehensible There is another thing, too, 
 which is not uncommon. When persons are 
 first brought to see their lost state, and the love 
 of God in delivering them from such great 
 misery, they are so filled with affection and 
 zeal, that they wish they could make the 
 whole world know the value and excellency 
 of religion ; hence, they want to commence 
 preachers before they themselves are furnished 
 with sufficient knowledge and ability. Now, 
 while I would not entirely discourage such,* 
 
 * It is said of Mr. Matthew Henry, that when very 
 young", he would meet frequently with some good 
 
CAUTIONS. 
 
 107 
 
 (for many illustrious ministers have dated their 
 first impressions as to the work of the ministry, 
 from those seasons,) yet I would say, wait, be 
 patient, consult your minister or friends, see 
 whether the idea remains : ask yourself sol- 
 emnly what are your motives, and whether 
 you are as ready to bear all the difficulties, as 
 to share all the honors of so great a work. 
 
 Farther, be cautious as to the company you 
 keep, and the connexions you form. It may 
 be your situation is such, that you are sur- 
 rounded with those who are enemies to God 
 and religion. This, no doubt, will be a source 
 of grief; yet this is different from making them 
 the people of our choice. It will be necessary 
 that you act with all prudence and circum- 
 spection before them : for what will be looked 
 upon as a mistake in others, will be considered 
 as a crime in you. But you will probably be 
 now looking around for new companions, suit- 
 able to your own principles and views. Here, 
 be not in haste. Do not imagine that every 
 one that can talk about religion is a (it person 
 
 r. 
 
 people that used to pray together, and confer abou. 
 spiritual concerns; and that he would not only pray 
 with them, and repeat sermons, but would sometimes 
 explain the chapters read, and enlarge upon them, 
 very much to the benefit and comfort, and even to the 
 wonder of those that were present; and whim one of 
 them expressed some fear to his father, lest his son 
 should be too forward, and fall into the snare of spir- 
 itual pride, his father replied, "Come, let him go on : 
 ho fears God, and designs well, and I hope God will 
 keep him and bless him." 
 
 1:6 
 
103 
 
 cautions;. 
 
 for an associate ; or that every one that makes 
 a profession is a real Christian. Inquire of 
 your more experienced Christian friends, for 
 those who are solid, judicious, lively, spiritual, 
 and much devoted to God. Such may be a 
 blessing to you, to reprove you when you wan- 
 der, advise you when in difficulties, succor you 
 in temptation, explain those things which ap- 
 pear mysterious, and pray for and animate you 
 by their example. If you obtain such ac- 
 quaintance as these, prize them, love them, 
 and walk with them in the good way ; so shall 
 you find the truth of the wise man's observa- 
 tion, that, two are better than one, and that 
 Christian friendship is a blessing indeed. 
 
 But I must now proceed to a subject of 
 great importance, in which, if ever caution is 
 necessary, it is here ; and that is, as to the 
 choice of connexions for life. I know not of 
 any thing that deserves more consideration, 
 and yet, alas! it is as little attended to as any 
 thing. From the various instances L have 
 witnessed, I am led to pity, from my heart, the 
 state of some professors in this respect. They 
 are introduced into company among females, 
 they attend with such in religious societies, 
 or they assemble with them in the house of 
 God. An object is selected that seems to 
 strike, either from personal beauty, some loqua- 
 cious powers, genteel appearance, or some kind 
 of external accomplishment. The mind is 
 captivated : the young convert thinks this will 
 complete his happiness. The business, per- 
 
CAU T IONS. 
 
 100 
 
 haps, is shortly settled, and the conjugal union 
 formed. But, alas ! in the blindness of attach- 
 ment, he has forgotten to ask the opinion of 
 his minister or friends. He has never inquired 
 what this person is at home; whether there is 
 any reason to believe that she is truly serious ; 
 what she really could do for him as a wife; 
 and. whether she will be a blessing or a curse 
 to his soul. He has heard her talk and sing, 
 and give her opinion upon preachers, and he 
 has taken it for granted that these qualifica- 
 tions included every other. Miserable man ! 
 he has soon found, as cares, and wants, and 
 a family came on, even the appearance of re- 
 ligion has declined ; and, instead of having a 
 help-meet, perhaps days, and months, and 
 years, pass, without one word about religion, 
 or the good of the soul. 
 
 Now, my dear reader, let. this relation be a 
 warning to you. In forming this connexion, 
 be deliberate : making it a matter of prayer. 
 Inquire in every direction, before your mind is 
 made known to the object. Be sure to get the 
 most unequivocal evidence as to piety, in the 
 first place. Never rest satisfied with any ap- 
 pearance in public, for there is much deception 
 in this. Consider what an important and per- 
 manent union this is: it is a kind of decisive 
 period, in which the lot is cast for happiness or 
 misery all our days. Think if you should 
 marry an ungodly person, what must be the 
 consequence. How will you pray, read the 
 scriptures, converse, catechise your children, 
 
110 
 
 CAUTIONS. 
 
 meditate, sing the praises of God, or perform 
 with comfort any act of devotion in your fami- 
 ly, when there is such hatred and opposition 
 to it 1 Besides, such are often great snares. 
 The wicked are seldom quiet, inactive and 
 careless. They love to gratify their evil pro- 
 pensities, and whatever stands in the way to 
 this, excites their hatred. Alas ! how often 
 have we seen the hands tied up, the lips sealed, 
 through an ungodly partner. They can more 
 easily make us lukewarm, than we can make 
 them serious. Many, indeed, have entered 
 into the connexion with their e} 7 es open ; but 
 it has been under the idea that the object was 
 ivell inclined, and that no doubt they should be 
 able, to bring them over. Now we will not say 
 but what God has sometimes blessed the 
 means ; but it is a dangerous experiment, and 
 multitudes have found themselves awfully dis- 
 appointed ! My dear reader, whatever others 
 say, whatever carnal prudence dictates, w hat- 
 ever natural inclination may suggest; take the 
 Bible, and pray that you may be decided by 
 its authority alone; for there it is that you will 
 find this solemn interdiction : " Be ye not une- 
 qually yoked together with unbelievers ; for 
 what fellowship hath righteousness with un- 
 righteousness, and what communion hath light 
 with darkness ?" " Wherefore come out from 
 among them, and be ye separate, saith the 
 Lord, and touch not the unclean thing ; and I 
 will receive you, and will be a father unto you, 
 and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith 
 
C A U T I o sr s. 
 
 Ill 
 
 the Lord Almighty." On other circumstances 
 connected with marriage, I have little to say ; 
 but I will just mention what an old divine 
 thought proper to suggest, many years ago. — 
 " Make sure (says he) of the following quali- 
 ties :— 1. That there be a loving and not a self- 
 ish nature, that has no regard to another, but 
 for their own end. 2. That there be a nature 
 quiet and patient, and not forward and un- 
 pleasant. 3. That there be a competency of 
 wit, (or wisdom,) for no one can live lovingly 
 and comfortably with a fool. 4. That there 
 be a competent humility, for there is no quiet- 
 ness to be expected with the proud. 5. That 
 there be a power to be silent as well as to 
 speak, for a babbling tongue is a continual 
 vexation.' 1 When you are brought into this 
 new connexion, study to please ; consider the 
 mercy of a beloved partner, a bosom friend, a 
 fellow helper; pray together, prepare for trials, 
 as well as be thankful for comforts. For this 
 settling in life, as it is often called, is only the 
 beginning of a new course of sorrows and joys, 
 of pains and pleasure. An altar in your house, 
 however, is the way to sweeten all your cares; 
 and you may sit down together and sing : 
 
 <( With ^ift.s of grace our hearts endow, 
 
 Of all rich dowries best ; 
 Our substance bless, and peace bestow 
 
 To sweeten all the rest. 
 
 U\ purest love our souls unite, 
 That they, with Christian care, 
 
 May make domestic burdens light, 
 By taking mutual share." 
 
112 
 
 CAUTIONS. 
 
 And when that solemn hour shall come, 
 
 And life's short space be o'er, 
 May we in triumph reach that home 
 
 Where we shall part no more! 
 
 But, perhaps, some of roy readers have en- 
 tered into this situation before their conversion, 
 and what can they do now? I answer, this 
 must not, dissolve the connexion ; " For what 
 knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save 
 thy husband % or how knowest thou, O man, 
 whether thou shalt save thy wife ?" Act with 
 great prudence. Exert yourself in the use of 
 every mean to produce a change. Bear af- 
 fronts and contempt on account of religion. — - 
 Observe the fittest opportunities for introducing 
 sacred subjects. Do not despair of the little 
 success of the first attempt; no, nor the use- 
 less attempts of months and years. There 
 have been instances in which prejudice, obsti- 
 nacy, ignorance and passion, have stood out 
 for a long season, and yet been brought down 
 at last. Go on praying, and let there be all 
 meekness, kindness, patience, sympathy, ten- 
 derness, and propriety of behavior, that shall 
 leave them without excuse, and put it out of 
 their power to bring any charge against you 
 or religion ; and who can tell, they maj^ at last 
 be won, and you become heirs together of the 
 grace of life, and declare together the wonder- 
 ful goodness of God. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Cautions as to novelty. — Vain cariosity. — Captious- 
 ness. — Disputation. — Anger. — Discontent. — Big- 
 otry. 
 
 Amidst the various objects which affect the 
 human mind, those which are novel may be 
 considered as the most powerful. Things new 
 always strike us with peculiar force ; and 
 whether we are children, or men, we cannot 
 help being moved with any thing of an extra- 
 ordinary nature, that we never saw nor heard 
 of before. There is, however, a kind of novelty 
 in the religious world, that ought to be guard- 
 ed against : and here I refer to that by which 
 many are induced to go from place to place, to 
 hear strange doctrines and new preachers. — 
 Like the Athenians, they spend their time in 
 nothing else but telling or hearing something 
 new. On the believer's first setting out, he is 
 soon surrounded with these ; and the young 
 Christian must not wonder if he is invited by 
 such to follow their example. They will tell 
 you what great things they have heard of such 
 characters ; what a pity it is you should deny 
 yourself the pleasure of hearing them ; and 
 what an advantage it would be were you to 
 attend, notwithstanding you might leave your 
 pew vacant at your own place. Now it is cer- 
 
114 
 
 CAUTIONS. 
 
 tain that there is no occasion you should be so 
 tied as to make the place where you worship a 
 prison ; and there may be occasions when 
 you may be called to hear others beside your 
 own teachers. It would be hard, indeed, were 
 your liberty thus to be restricted.* But let me 
 intreat you to beware of itching ears ; for when 
 once people are influenced by this spirit, they 
 are never satisfied with any thing long togeth- 
 er. For the novelty which was so soon exci- 
 ted, as soon also degenerates into familiarity; 
 and the very persons that but a short time ago 
 were all in a flame, are now as cold and indif- 
 ferent ! Hence they seek for another new ob- 
 ject, which in a short time w T ill meet the same 
 fate ; and thus these novelists a are full of labor, 
 so that none can utter it, whose eye is not sat- 
 isfied with seeing, nor their ear filled with 
 hearing." Beware, therefore, of such a spirit, 
 which, if indulged and suffered to grow, will 
 make } r ou restless and discontented. I do not 
 know any people who get less good for them- 
 selves, and do less good to others, than such. 
 They are so unstable, that there is no doing 
 any thing with them. They are sometimes, 
 indeed, so pleased with a minister, as to join 
 his church, and profess that they are quite 
 willing to sit under his ministry, and take up 
 their abode there. But the first advertisement 
 of some new and extraordinary preacher, that 
 
 * There may be occasions, also, of leaving one 
 church to join another ; but this is a different thing. 
 
CAUTIONS. 
 
 115 
 
 is to advance some strange thing, discuss some 
 particular doctrine, or preach upon a particular 
 subject, has such an effect upon them, that 
 they desert their new situation, and leave the 
 pastor and the people to find out, if they can, 
 what is become of them ! Now, my dear 
 reader, avoid such, and remember the words of 
 the apostle, "That henceforth be no more chil- 
 dren, tossed to and fro, and carried about with 
 every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men 
 and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in 
 wait to deceive." You see it is a mark of 
 weakness, emptiness, instability, thus to be in- 
 fluenced. But it may be said, the talents of 
 some are so great, that it is really worth while 
 to attend them ; though it must be confessed, 
 say they, that their spirit or conduct may not 
 be altogether as ihey ought. So then gifts 
 are to be the objects we are to look at. But 
 what are gifts? Have not wicked men gifts? 
 Does God sanctify them without grace? Is it 
 likely that you should obtain any real good 
 from mere gifts, where God's blessing cannot 
 reasonably be expected? Certainly not. And 
 here let me relate the following anecdote. A 
 lady, in company with Mr. Grimshaw, was ad- 
 miring a man of talents : " Madam," said he, 
 "I am glad you never saw the devil." "Why?" 
 said she. " Why, answered Mr. Grimshaw, 
 11 he has greater talents than all the ministers in 
 the world. I am fearful, if you were to see him, 
 you would fall in love with him, as you seem 
 to regard talents without sanctity." Do not, 
 
116 
 
 CAUTIONS. 
 
 therefore, be led away by the sound of talents. 
 Let the ministry under which Providence has 
 called you, be never wilfully deserted through 
 the influence of novelty. There dwell, and 
 pray fervently that it may prove to you increas- 
 ingly edifying, consolatory, and instructing. 
 
 Another caution necessary to be suggested, 
 is that relative to vain curiosity. Curiosity is, 
 of itself, a useful spring of knowledge; but it 
 may become unlawful, when we desire to know 
 what cannot be known, or what is not necessary 
 for us to know. How improper it is, we may 
 easily learn from our Lord's conduct towards 
 such as were curious. Thus, when he was 
 asked, " Are there few that be saved ?" instead 
 of gratifying them, he says, u Strive to enter in 
 at the strait gate." When Pilate, probably 
 from the same motive, asked, "What is truth?" 
 he gave him no answer. W T hen Peter said, 
 " Lord, what shall this man do V he said, 
 u What is that to thee 1 Follow thou me." — 
 Be cautious, therefore, of indulging a vain cu- 
 riosity, and that as to a variety of subjects. — 
 God himself is great and unsearchable : dis- 
 tract not yourself as to the essence of his na- 
 ture ; for touching the Almighty, we cannot 
 find him out. He is the high and lofty One, 
 that inhabiteth eternity, and no man hath seen 
 him at any time, nor can see him and live. — 
 His providences are mysterious : be not curi- 
 ous to know, till he himself shall make it clear. 
 Do not attempt to be beforehand with him. It 
 is like going from the sun to increase your 
 
CAUTIONS. 
 
 117 
 
 light. Wait his time. What thou knowest 
 not now, thou shalt know hereafter .* Be not 
 over curious and anxious to know all his word 
 at once, and especially those prophecies which 
 time alone can explain. This is a great fault 
 with some. " They are so eager to know 
 what is meant by the obscurer parts of scrip- 
 ture, that they never put in practice the plainer 
 precepts of it."| Beware, too, of a vain curi- 
 osity in reading other books. Do not affect 
 superior knowledge ; nor be desirous of enter- 
 ing into every curious question that fancy may 
 proposej Avoid, also, curiosity concerning 
 the affairs of others. The apostle says, " Study 
 to be quiet, and do your own business." We 
 ought certainly to help others as much as we 
 can : relationship, circumstances, our own in- 
 terest, duty, all require this. But to invade 
 another man's office, to pry into his affairs, to 
 pass our opinion without being called upon, to 
 attempt to influence, control, or teach them, to 
 talk continually about them, is highly repre- 
 hensible ; and we may say to such, as one in 
 ancient time said : " Why, (said he, to one 
 who, seeing him carrying a covered basket, 
 and asked him what was in it,) why dost thou 
 seek to know, when thou seest it is covered, 
 that thou mayest not know ?" Watch, then, 
 against this spirit, and remember the command 
 of the Saviour, " Follow me." Draw off your 
 attention from the creature, to imbibe his Spirit, 
 
 * John xiii. 7. f Seed. { See chap. iii. p. 45, 46. 
 
118 
 
 CAUTIONS. 
 
 attend to his doctrine, imitate his conduct.— 
 How much more edifying and satisfactory is 
 this, than to be losing so much time in looking 
 at the affairs of others ! Indeed, he who gives 
 himself up to this inquisitive, curious disposi- 
 tion, will find much to do. He will always be 
 abroad surveying others ; never at home, look- 
 ing at himself. What this man has, how 
 another man lives, which way this person will 
 take, what mode another adopts^ and a thou- 
 sand such questions, will so occupy and fill 
 the mind, as to leave no room for things of 
 greater importance. Alas ! what pride, envy, 
 forwardness, jealousy, are at the bottom of all 
 this ; and how often does it end in misrepre- 
 sentation, discord, and trouble ! Have we not 
 all enough to do at home ? And have we not 
 a thousand questions to ask ourselves rather 
 than others ? What ! are our concerns so lit- 
 tle, as to need no attention ? the affairs of our 
 immortal souls so trifling, as to demand no in- 
 quiry 1 Can we throw away time by whole- 
 sale in busying ourselves about others, and re- 
 serve none for our own interests ? Let us be 
 ashamed of such conduct. Let us be severe 
 upon ourselves ; mind our own work, and 
 leave our neighbors to mind theirs. 
 
 Again, beware of a captious, irritable, dispu- 
 tatious spirit. It is for you rather to learn than 
 to dispute. Controversy may sometimes be 
 useful ; but then it is for the strong, and not 
 for the weak. To engage too early in dispu- 
 tations, will take off your mind from the pursuit 
 
CAUTIONS. 
 
 119 
 
 of more important things, and 'spoil, perhaps, 
 the sweetness of that fellowship which you 
 should keep up with the saints. I do not 
 mean that you should not examine truth for 
 yourself, that you should never exercise your 
 own powers :* no ; on the contrary, it is your 
 duty to search accurately, to avail yourself of 
 every argument, to gain clear perceptions, and 
 furnish yourself with every possible mean of 
 understanding and defending the truth. But. 
 this cannot be done in a day : it is a work of 
 time, and requires much application and 
 thought. Many young professors, who, feeling 
 the influence of divine things upon their own 
 hearts, and from warm impressions, have im- 
 agined they could easily enter into the lists 
 with their antagonists. They have therefore 
 ventured boldly to attack them, but have soon 
 found such subtleties, objections, and apparent 
 strength of argument, as have proved too much 
 for them ; and they have been glad to make a 
 retreat, leaving the enemy to glory, and afford- 
 ed him fresh occasions to strengthen himself in 
 his ignorance, infidelity, or disobedience. All 
 this has been disgraceful, arising from the im- 
 prudence of this young soldier, who, had he 
 waited a little longer to have gained strength, 
 to have learnt his exercise, to have increased 
 his knowledge, would have been more able to 
 defend the truth and gain the conquest. 
 
 * See chap. i. p. 17. 
 
120 
 
 CAUTIONS. 
 
 Some are naturally of a reasoning, argumen- 
 tative turn. If this should he your peculiarity, 
 see to it, that you do not pride yourself in it. — 
 Let not the love of triumph, but of truth, be 
 the main object. Remember, that a disputa- 
 tious person is generally a disagreeable one. — 
 A love of contradiction, a cavil for a word, a 
 violent contest for a quibble, an assumption of 
 a dictatorial spirit, a contentious wrangling for 
 non-essentials, renders some so much the ob- 
 jects of aversion, that if it be known that such 
 are to make part of the company, others will 
 gladly stay awajr rather than be tormented for 
 an hour by such unhappy beings. 
 
 Whenever, therefore, you hold a controversy, 
 watch against such a spirit as this: and if you 
 must argue, let it be with modesty, good na- 
 ture, softness of voice ; and in the midst of all, 
 remember, how little you yet know ; that it 
 becomes you to be docile, and never to be of- 
 fended with faithful reproof. You will have 
 every day reason to lament over ignorance ; 
 and the higher you advance on the mount of 
 knowledge, the wider the prospects, the more 
 vast the objects will appear to your view. 
 
 Endeavor, under the divine blessing, to main- 
 tain a meek and patient spirit. This is of 
 great price in the sight of God. Anger is 
 troublesome, discordant, dishonorable, cruel, 
 dangerous, renders us more like furies than 
 rational beings. But for a Christian to indulge 
 in anger, is to contradict his principles and 
 profession, and to violate those sacred injunc- 
 
C A U T I O N & 
 
 121 
 
 tions, which he takes for the rules of his spirit 
 and conduct.* It is in vain for any to say, it 
 is constitutional, it cannot be helped, it is soon 
 over, nothing evil is intended. " These," says 
 an ingenious writer, " are arguments for par- 
 doning a bull or a mastiff, but shall never re- 
 concile me to an intellectual savage. He is 
 ready to do the very next moment something 
 he can never repair ; and has nothing to plead 
 in his own defence, but that he is apt to do 
 mischief as fast as he can." Grace, indeed, 
 does not eradicate our natural tempers ; but it 
 is saying little to its honor if it does not curb 
 them. A fiery, passionate, resentful, impatient, 
 hectoring Christian, is a strange contradiction. 
 It is said of the late Rev. Mr. Clarke, of Ches- 
 ham Bois, that when one observed to him that 
 there was a good deal in a person's natural 
 disposition, that he made this answer : " Nat- 
 ural disposition ! why I am naturally as irrita- 
 ble as an}' man ; but when I find anger, or 
 passion, or any other evil temper, arise in my 
 mind, immediately I go to my Redeemer, and 
 confessing my sins, I give myself up to be 
 managed by him. This is the \va.y I have 
 taken to get the mastery of my passions." — 
 Study meekness, therefore,! and let it be evi- 
 
 * Sec Rom. xii. 9 to 21. Eph. iv. 26, 31, 32. 
 
 ♦Three great, dictates of meekness, (as one ob- 
 serves,) we find put together in one scripture; (James 
 
 19;) "Be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to 
 wrath;" which some observe to be couched in three 
 proper names of Ishmaers son, (Gen. xxv. 14, 1 Chr. 
 F 
 
122 
 
 CAUTIONS, 
 
 dent by submission to God. by bearing provo- 
 cations, curbing the tongue, studying domes- 
 tic quietness, acknowledging offences, concili- 
 ating the affections of others, and rendering 
 them every service in your power. Its advan- 
 tages are every way great. The meek enjoy 
 themselves, enjoy their friends, enjoy their 
 God, and enjoy the promises; for large is their 
 portion of these. M The meek shall eat and be 
 satisfied;" " the meek will he guide in judg- 
 ment ;" u the meek shall inherit the earth." 
 " The Lord lifteth up the meek." " He will 
 beautify the meek with salvation." " The 
 meek shall increase their joy in the Lord." — 
 l! Blessed are the meek." This is encourage- 
 ment sufficient, one would think, to excite us 
 most earnestly to attain this spirit. For here 
 is contentment, direction, possession, exalta- 
 tion, ornament and felicity. And history cor- 
 roborates these declarations ; for in the ordina- 
 ry dispensations of Providence, some tell us 
 that they have found it remarkably true in 
 times of public trouble and calamity, that it 
 hath fared best with the meek and quiet.* — 
 But perhaps you will say, those with whom I 
 have to do are so very contrary, troublesome, 
 
 i. 30,) which Bishop Prideaux, in the beginning of the 
 wars, recommended to a gentleman who had been his 
 pupil, as the summary of his advice; JWishma, Dumuh, 
 Massa : the signification of which, is, Hear, keep si- 
 lence, bear. — Hear reason, keep passion silent, and then 
 3 r ou will not find it difficult to bear the provocation. 
 * Dr. Hammond's Pract. Cat. p. 117. 
 
C A DTIONS. 
 
 123 
 
 and churlish ; they try me all the day long; it 
 is necessary almost to have the disposition of 
 an angel, to bear with them : they cross me in 
 every purpose, and endeavor to thwart every 
 design. Now the best way to act with such 
 people, is, to leave them to themselves, if }'ou 
 can do nothing with them by kindness. They 
 will soon find that all the arrows they shoot 
 with fall upon their own heads, and that they 
 themselves are the greatest sufferers. Where 
 two persons dwell together of a warm spirit, 
 great contentions are likely to ensue, if some 
 plan be not laid down, or Christianity has no 
 influence. Perhaps your natural temper may 
 be irritable, and your lot may be cast with 
 those whose dispositions are the same. Never 
 ask the proud question, " who ought to give 
 way first V but rather, whose anger shall sub- 
 side first ? "I have heard," says Mr. Henry, 
 
 of a married couple, who, though they were 
 both naturally of a hot and hasty temper, yet 
 lived very comfortably, in that relation, by ob- 
 serving an agreement made between them- 
 selves, never to be both angry together; an ex- 
 cellent law of meekness, which, if faithfully 
 lived up to, would prevent many of those 
 breaches among relations, which occasion so 
 much guilt and grief, and are seldom healed 
 without a scar." 
 
 Study also the divine art of contentment. — 
 
 It is a divine injunction, tl Ee content with 
 
 such things as ye have ; for he hath said, I 
 
 will never leave thee nor forsake thee." And 
 
 f2 
 
124 
 
 CAUTIONS. 
 
 what is more reasonable than to acquiesce 
 with his will, to remember we are under his 
 care, and that is best for us which he sees 
 best? Even some of the heathens confessed 
 this. Epictetus, a pagan philosopher, thus 
 directs his speech to God : " Use me to what 
 thou pleasest. I consent unto thee, and am 
 indifferent. I refuse nothing which seemeth 
 good to thee ; lead me whither thou wilt ; put 
 on me what garment thou pleasest. Wilt thou 
 have me to be a governor or a private man ; to 
 stay at home or to be banished ; to be poor or 
 to be rich 7 I will, in respect to all these 
 things, apologize for thee with men." Lei us 
 remember, too, that it is a false estimate we 
 make when we imagine every body is better 
 off than ourselves. There is a greater equality 
 of blessings than we imagine. Socrates well 
 observed, u that if we should bring into one 
 common stock all our mishaps, so that each 
 should receive his portion of them, gladly the 
 most would take up their own, and go their 
 ways." If you consider things as you ought, 
 you will find a thousand incentives to this duty. 
 Reason dictates, religion demands it, gratitude 
 requires it ; our condition in this world, how- 
 ever low, calls for it. God's relations, provi- 
 dences, promises, goodness, are all arguments 
 for it * Our own interest, too, is concerned in 
 
 * When Mr. Joseph Alleine, who was deprived of 
 the use of his arms and legs before death, was asked 
 by a friend how he could be so well contented to lie 
 so long in that condition, he answered, "What! is 
 
CAUTIONS. 
 
 125 
 
 it ; for if we give way to a querulous, discon- 
 tented disposition, we shall be of all creatures 
 most miserable. Look upon yourself, then, my 
 dear reader, as one who has no cause for dis- 
 satisfaction ; as one who lives in God's house, 
 at his table, under his protection, waited upon 
 by his servants, served by heaven and earth, 
 protected by his authority; to whom no evil 
 can transpire without his permission, and who 
 shall finally be brought to the everlasting en- 
 joyment of his presence in a better world. 
 
 Once more, beware of a narrow, bigotted 
 spirit. Young disciples are liable to fall a vic- 
 tim to this. Not that you are to make no dis- 
 tinctions ; to imagine that the opinions of men 
 are of no consequence as long as they are 
 charitable and moral. There is a counterfeit 
 candor which admits error with the same un- 
 concern as if it were of no consequence; but 
 where is the excellency of that kind of charity 
 that insults the understanding, smiles at sin, 
 trifles with truth, covers every failing with a 
 gloss, and suffers our fellow-creatures to go on 
 in the most awful state of rebellion against 
 God ? Such a spurious candor you must re- 
 ject, whatever reproach and insult it may ex- 
 pose you to. There is, however, a narrowness 
 of mind which becomes exceedingly injurious, 
 
 God my Father, Jesus Christ my Saviour, and the 
 Holy Spirit, my sanctifier and comforter ; and shall I 
 not be content without limbs and health ? He is an 
 unreasonable wretch that cannot be content with a 
 God, though he had nothing else." 
 
 f3 
 
136 
 
 CAUTIONS. 
 
 of which you will do well to beware. Bigotry 
 is a severe judge, sitting upon the throne of ig- 
 norance, and passing the sentence of condem- 
 nation upon all who differ in the least from the 
 opinions of her subjects. Persecution and era- 
 elty are her servants, carrying her sanguinary 
 commands into execution. Now who would 
 wish to harbor such a detestable monster 1 a 
 monster that would put out ever/ one's ej-es 
 but her own ; that would proscribe every sen- 
 timent except that which she admires; that, 
 wishes every understanding to be swallowed 
 up in one ; that would destroy every mode of 
 worship but that which she adopts ; in fine, 
 that would depopulate the church, and reserve 
 heaven only for a few solitary individuals. — 
 My dear reader, avoid such a principle. Nev- 
 er judge harshly, partially, and uncharitably 
 of others. Do not imagine that others are not 
 going to heaven, because they see not as you 
 do. The minds of men differ ; they can never 
 be exactly alike : and as others give you leave 
 to judge and think for yourself, so in return 
 you must let them have the same liberty. 
 
 Love and revere all the servants of God, 
 wherever you find them, although in some 
 things they may not be agreed with you. Be 
 not like those who seem never happy, except 
 others are walking exactly in the same circle 
 with them ; who love to make parties, and 
 cause divisions, and all under the pretence of 
 superior sanctity or greater knowledge. Abom- 
 inate the thought, that nothing can be good 
 
CAUTIONS. 
 
 127 
 
 except it proceed from your own denomination. 
 Stand upon the grave of party prejudice, and 
 exclaim, " Grace be with all them that love 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen." This is the 
 noble disposition by which a Christian is to be 
 actuated ; it is this that is to distinguish him 
 from the votaries of superstition, the subjects 
 of fanatical fury, and the lovers of blood. Cul- 
 tivate, therefore, this spirit of charity. Let 
 the ministers of various talents, the adherents 
 of different denominations, so long as they hold 
 the head, and believe the truth as it is in Jesus, 
 be the objects of your regard. Yea, let not 
 even an enemy, let not him that is in error, be 
 the object of vengeance and persecution. Re- 
 member that such is the peaceable nature of 
 the religion of Jesus, that those who do not 
 become her willing subjects, are nevertheless 
 spared to enjoy the benefits of civil society, and 
 to taste the blessings of a benign Providence. 
 She puts into our hands no carnal weapons 
 by which we are to strike terror into their 
 minds ; nor establishes any laws by which 
 they are to be interdicted from enjoying the 
 blessings of life ; on the contrary, she teaches 
 us to pray for them, to pity them, to do all we 
 can for their present and final welfare. Cher- 
 ish, therefore, a liberal, expansive spirit, that 
 shall disdain the fetters of bigotry, rise superior 
 to party zeal, pity a foe, smile upon a dissent- 
 ing but conscientious brother, and wish well 
 to all mankind. 
 
 f4 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Cautions as to a worldly spirit. — Fashions. — Customs. 
 — Dress. — Recreations. — Imprudence. — Unwatch- 
 fulness. — Spiritual declension. 
 
 It is the character of a true Christian that 
 he is a stranger and pilgrim here on earth, de- 
 siring a better country. He is called out of 
 the world to take up his cross, deny himself, 
 and follow the Redeemer through evil, as well 
 as through good report. You will see, there- 
 fore, dear reader, how incompatible a worldly 
 spirit is with the Christian profession. We 
 cannot serve God and the world at the same 
 time, since these are contrary one to the other. 
 11 The friendship of the world," we are told, " is 
 enmity with God ; whosoever, therefore, will 
 be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God." 
 u Be not conformed," says the apostle, u to this 
 world, but be ye transformed by the renewing 
 of your mind, that ye may prove what is that 
 good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." 
 You are not, however, to understand by this 
 that you are to be secluded entirely from society. 
 It was superstition and ignorance that influ- 
 enced men in former times to shut themselves 
 up in monasteries and cloisters, and thus to bury 
 themselves before they were dead. Neither has 
 f5 
 
132 
 
 CAUTIONS, 
 
 ian to think of dwelling in ; how contrary to 
 his best interests ; how inimical to his happi- 
 ness. O how we forget ourselves when we 
 wish to take up our abode in a situation where 
 there are so many temptations, snares, foolish 
 and hurtful lusts, which have drowned so 
 many in destruction and perdition ! Shall we 
 never learn to look up and see the signs by the 
 way ? Here Samson the strong was over- 
 come ; here David the pious was wounded ; 
 here Jonah the prophet was bound captive ; 
 here Peter the courageous was seduced and 
 conquered. See, too, those professors who 
 plunge themselves into the world : O how dead 
 and cold ! How barren and unfruitful ! How 
 thoughtless and unprofitable ! The closet is 
 given up for the counting house ; family devo- 
 tion for family diversion ; and too often the 
 house of God for the house of merchandise. 
 
 Beware, therefore, of listening to the voice 
 of this charmer ; and as you now openly have 
 professed to deny the world, affect not any 
 likeness or resemblance to her in your spirit 
 and principles. The world has its religion, so 
 called, but it is counterfeit, vague, partial and 
 lax. Its reasonings are false, its laws are un- 
 scriptural, its sanctions are weak, and its influ- 
 ence injurious. You have a better school, a 
 wiser teacher, and superior principles. Dare 
 to adhere, to avow, to practise them without 
 fear or shame. Do not imitate them in their 
 customs and fashions. Not that you should 
 aim at singularity, for this shows weakness 
 
CAUTIONS. 
 
 133 
 
 and pride. Bat it is good to ask what will be 
 convenient, rather than ornamental. As to 
 apparel, pride appears in it, as one says, (C 1. 
 When the matter of it is too costly. 2. When 
 in the fashion you are desirous of imitating 
 those that are above your rank ; or when you 
 so fit your apparel as to make you seem high- 
 er or richer than what you are. 3. When you 
 are over curious in the matter, shape, or dress, 
 and make a greater matter of it than you 
 ought. 4. When your curiosity takes up 
 more time in dressing than is due to so small 
 a matter ; while far greater matters are ne- 
 glected. 5. When you make too great a dif- 
 ference between your private and your public 
 habit, going plain when no strangers see you, 
 and being excessively careful when you go 
 abroad, or when strangers visit you." 
 
 I would here say a word about recreations. 
 And here again the world must not be imita- 
 ted ; for their amusements are generally i 7 ain, 
 wasteful of time and expense, and often pro- 
 fane, brutal,* and ruinous. Religion, howev- 
 er, does not prohibit relaxation, where some 
 
 *Wlio could have thought, that, in this refined age, 
 a statesman, in a Christian country, before an assem- 
 bly of Protestants, could most earnestly defend the 
 practice of bull-baiting, by saying, "That he thought 
 there was less cruelty in bull-baiting, than in any oth- 
 er amusement ; for both the bull and the dog experi- 
 enced a pleasure in the contest?" Gluery, would 
 this gentleman have been satisfied, supposing he had 
 never any other pleasure than that which arises from 
 pugilism or fighting a duel ? 
 
134 
 
 CAUTIONS. 
 
 valuable end is proposed. Reason claims re- 
 lief from care : Religion answers, {< Take no 
 thought for to-morrow," Nature craves help ; 
 Religion says, " Take a little wine for thy 
 stomach's sake." The laborious mind asks 
 for repose : Religion says, "Why shouldst thou 
 destroy thyself?" Necessity calls to unbend 
 the reins of intense labor and activity : Relig- 
 ion declares, " There is nothing better than 
 that a man should make a soul enjoy good in 
 his labor." Our amusements, however, must 
 be rational, moderate, seasonable, cheap, health- 
 ful, and never of that nature that would abso- 
 lutely unfit us for duty. You will doubtless 
 find many temptations here ; and it will be con- 
 stantly reiterated in your ears by the surround- 
 ing votaries for pleasure, that there is no harm. 
 This they will apply to plays,* cards, midnight 
 assemblies, gaming, and masquerades. But 
 be sure to avoid them all, for they have the 
 spots, of death upon them. Alas! how many 
 have they reduced to poverty, chained to a 
 sick bed, ruined their character, loaded them 
 with guilt, and at last tossed them into the 
 grave ! Flee, therefore, such beggarly pleas- 
 
 * Plays. A poet, who made no great pretences to 
 virtue, and who well knew the qualities of the thea- 
 tre, writes thus : — 
 
 " It would be endless to trace all the vice 
 That from the pla\ house takes immediate rise; 
 It is the unexhausted magazine 
 That stocks the land With vanity and sin. 
 
 By flourishing so long, 
 
 Numbers have been undone, both old and young; 
 
 And many hundred souls are now unblest, 
 
 Which else had dif d in peace, and found eternal reil." 
 
CAUTIONS. 
 
 135 
 
 ures ; enjoy the blessings of life ; seek recrea- 
 tion in that which is more manly, rational, and 
 useful ; and know that godliness is profitable 
 unto all things, having the promise of this life, 
 and I hat which is to come * 
 
 Again, beware of imprudence. This has 
 been the bane of many young professors. A 
 right judgment, or that which enables us to 
 judge which is the best in the choice of ends 
 and means, is of great utility, and highly desi- 
 rable. Without this, we never shall be able 
 to avoid extremes. There is nothing so dis- 
 graceful as to have it said, " Such a young 
 Christian has many excellencies, he is very 
 zealous and active ; but there is always some- 
 thing so imprudent, so forward, so out of place, 
 that renders him offensive and disagreeable." 
 Study, therefore, to obtain prudence ; for what- 
 ever you have, if you are deficient in this, 
 every thing will appear wanting. Whatever 
 be a man's talents, situation, knowledge, con- 
 nexions, or prospects, yet, if he be imprudent, 
 he is exposed to the greatest evils. A man 
 may be well proportioned, beautiful, strong, 
 and healthy; and if he wants the faculty of 
 vision, he is in danger of falling. So prudence 
 may be considered as the eye of the mind, by 
 which we see the evils that are to be avoided, 
 the good that is to be obtained, and the best 
 means to be used in both Tt is this that pre- 
 vents things from being carried to an excess. 
 
 * Sec 1 Tim. iv. 8. 
 
136 
 
 CAUTIONS. 
 
 Thus, for instance, without this, piety degen- 
 erates into superstition, faith to presumption, 
 zeal into rashness, and justice into cruelty. It 
 was said of Charles XII. " that he had but one 
 vice ; and that was carrying his virtues to an 
 extreme." Prudence keeps every thing in or- 
 der. The beauty of action is often lost by its 
 being out of season. Thej 7 who do not ob- 
 serve time, place, character, and circumstan- 
 ces, generally produce the utmost confusion to 
 themselves, and to all around them. They 
 are always in trouble, complaining or com- 
 plained of; and have to do over again a num- 
 ber of times, what, if prudence had dictated, 
 need but have been once done. " A prudent 
 man," sa\<s Solomon, " looks well to his go- 
 ing." He observes the various duties which 
 devolve upon him, the manner in which they 
 are to be discharged, the season when, and the 
 probable consequences that must follow. Re- 
 member, then, my dear reader, to all your 
 knowledge you must join prudence. It is this 
 that will make you shine as a member of civil 
 society, render you capable of managing your 
 temporal affairs with propriety, raise your 
 credit and reputation in life, be a source of 
 pleasure to yourself, adorn your profession as a 
 Christian, and render you far more useful than 
 you otherwise possibly could be. On the 
 contrary, remember, none is so likely to be so 
 dangerous, as the imprudent man. Let us 
 draw his character, and then }'OU may sit 
 down and contemplate how you may best 
 
CAUTIONS. 
 
 137 
 
 avoid imitating such a deformed picture. He 
 is one who never thinks before he speaks : — 
 whatever first comes across his mind, it is pro- 
 claimed, without the least attention to time or 
 place. He never descriminat.es characters, 
 and seldom weighs opinions in the balance of 
 deliberation. True, he is called good natured 
 by many ; but it leads him to negligence of 
 himself, and exposes him to the rapacity of 
 others. He is fond of new connexions, and 
 thinks the last he has formed are always the 
 best. If a new plan strikes him of any kind, 
 he precipitately goes to work, and, without 
 considering the difficulties and costs, endeavors 
 to raise the superstructure ; but he has no 
 sooner done it, than he is told it answers but 
 little purpose ; when he leaves it for others to 
 write folly on the door. He is often silent 
 when he should speak, and talkative when he 
 should be silent. He is generally in the way 
 when his company is not desired, and not to 
 be found when his presence is requested. He 
 has a memory to recollect things that nobody 
 wants to know, and a readiness to make obser- 
 vations on subjects no one wishes to hear. He 
 never foresees the day of evil, nor ever prepares 
 against the gathering storm. To give a fin- 
 ishing stroke to his character, in the language 
 of scripture, " he layelh open his folly, and this 
 is his inheritance : he belicveth every word, 
 passeth on his way, and is at last punished." 
 Farther, beware of a careless, un watchful 
 spirit. It is well to stand prepared for attacks 
 
13S 
 
 CAUTIONS. 
 
 from various quarters. We live in a world 
 where we are exposed to continual vicissi- 
 tudes. We know not what a day may bring 
 forth. Man is born to trouble, and though we 
 are not to increase it by anticipating it, yet it 
 is the part of wisdom to prepare for it. It is 
 of no consequence what our situations are in 
 life, for it is all deception to imagine there is 
 any one place this side the grave where the 
 bitter streams do not sometimes flow. They 
 reach as high as the throne, and extend as 
 wide as the universe. The palace is inun- 
 dated as well as the cottage ; nor does piety it- 
 self exempt. " A good man is subject, like 
 other mortals, to all the influences of natural 
 evil ; his harvest is not spared by the tempest, 
 nor his cattle, by the murrain ; his house 
 flames like others, in a conflagration, nor have 
 his ships any peculiar power of resisting hurri- 
 canes."* Moreover, we are assured that 
 " Many are the afflictions of the righteous ;" 
 so that for you to escape, would only be to 
 leave you without evidence of being of that 
 number. Put on your armor, therefore, and 
 pray that, whenever difficulties rise, you may 
 receive them as from God ; bear them with 
 patience and resignation to his will, and find 
 them to yield the peaceful fruits of righteous- 
 ness. Indeed, my dear reader, you need not 
 be alarmed at trials when sanctified; they will 
 prove your best friends. Yon may sometimes 
 
 * Hawkeswon.li. 
 
C A t; T I O X s. 
 
 139 
 
 discern them advancing with unfriendly aspect, 
 and you may wish them to pass by, or go to 
 any door but your own : but if Providence 
 command them to take up their abode with 
 you for a season, you shall find them in the 
 end 10 be messengers of God, commissioned to 
 bring a treasure of grace to purify, instruct, 
 and comfort your soul. 
 
 But these natural evils will be no source of 
 trouble, equal to the constant opposition of 
 your spiritual foes. These you must perpetu- 
 ally watch, for they are always watching you. 
 In retirement, in public, in the world, in the 
 church, in adversity, in prosperity, you must 
 keep up your vigilance: your Thoughts, your 
 words, your actions, your duties, must all be 
 looked to. Especial]} 7 keep an eye to the 
 weak side, for there the enemy is most busy. 
 Is it your tongue that is apt to offend, set a 
 guard at the door ; is it your passion that is 
 easily affected, keep out of the way of that 
 which would inflame it ; is your pride easily 
 blown up, shun every thing that would excite 
 it : and so whatever is the most dangerous 
 part, there you have need to be most, vigilant. 
 Remember, then, this important duty, and con- 
 sider how much it comes recommended by the 
 authority of scripture : c< Watch and pray, that 
 ye enter not into temptation. Watch ye ; 
 stand fast, in the faith ; quit you like men ; be 
 strong. Watch and be sober. What I say 
 unto you, I say unto all, Watch." 
 
140 
 
 CAUTIONS. 
 
 Lastly, beware of lukewarmness and declen- 
 sions in the good way. Judging from your 
 present feelings, perhaps you are ready to im- 
 agine that you have no need of such a caution; 
 but it is a wise exhortation given by the apos- 
 tle, l{ Be not high minded, but fear." Let him 
 that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he 
 fall." Alas ! how many who set out all earn- 
 estness and zeal, out-running almost every 
 every one, and ready to reprove all around 
 them, have lost their first love, and sunk into 
 sad indifference. What strange forgetfnlness, 
 what neglect of prayer, what slothfulness, 
 what preference of worldly company, what 
 neglect of God's word, what shunning of his 
 people, what frivolous excuses, what back- 
 wardness to engage in spiritual exercises, 
 have marked their conduct ! Now consider 
 what a dangerous and inconsistent state this 
 is. What a reflection is it on the religion of 
 Jesus Christ, as if it were not worthy the pur- 
 suit of a rational creature, and yielded not suf- 
 ficient pleasure to encourage us to walk ac- 
 cording to its dictates. How unreasonable, 
 that a man should be all life and activity for 
 the world, all animation and concern for the 
 things of time, and should be indifferent and 
 careless as to the important affairs of religion 
 and his immortal soul. How replete with 
 misery is such a state ! In the world, con- 
 science embitters every enjoyment ; in the 
 church, languor becomes a barrier both to im- 
 provement and felicity. Neither heaven, nor 
 
CAUTIONS. 
 
 141 
 
 earth, God nor man, will afford such a charac- 
 ter real happiness, while in such a state. God 
 himself, who is merciful to the penitent, a fa- 
 ther to the poor, a refuge to the needy, a sup- 
 port to the afflicted, a friend to the persecuted, a 
 consolation to the tempted soul, has no asylum 
 for the lukewarm. How disgraceful, also, is 
 such a spirit, and what immense injury is it 
 likely to do in the world. It has a tendency 
 to encourage the infidel in his principles, the 
 sceptic in his doubts, and the wicked in their 
 practice. Indeed, every lukewarm Christian 
 is a consolatory preacher to the wicked ; and 
 what do such say in effect but this ? " There 
 is little or nothing in your system : go on in 
 your practices of licentiousness and careless- 
 ness about God and religion. It is of little im- 
 portance which side you are engaged ; it will 
 all be the same in the end." Yes, these are 
 the fatal sermons they preach ; and what ren- 
 ders them of greater effect is, that they are not 
 merely verbal, but actually exhibited and 
 preached in the conduct. O miserable char- 
 acters, thus to wound the Son of God afresh, 
 and put him to open shame ! Well might God 
 say to such, " Wretch ! I never should have 
 had this dishonor, if thou hadst never been 
 called a Christian. Thou art a Christian to 
 no purpose, or to a very bad one : it does thee 
 no good, and injures me."* 
 
 *Ho\ve. 
 
142 
 
 CAUTIONS. 
 
 There is nothing, then, my dear reader, that 
 I feel more necessary to caution you against, 
 than this, and that because there is nothing 
 more injurious. Afflictions may depress your 
 spirits, sickness may fill your body with pain, 
 persecution and reproach may cut off many of 
 your comforts, friends maj r change into ene- 
 mies, bereavements may affect your feelings, 
 poverty may visit yout dwelling ; but be as- 
 sured, these are all mercies, when compared to 
 lukewarmness. Yes, you may say, " Lord, 
 let me suffer anything rather than be under the 
 influence of such a spirit. Take away any 
 comfort ; inflict any cross ; disappoint my 
 schemes ; throw me into obscurity ; surround 
 me with ten thousand natural evils ; yea, per- 
 mit me to fall into the grave, rather than I 
 should constantly live in such a frame, to dis- 
 honor thee, impede thy work, and bring dis- 
 tress upon my own soul." 
 
 In order to be preserved from this evil, watch 
 against the first symptoms. If any business, 
 company, books, pleasures of a worldly nature, 
 have this tendency, avoid them all. If your 
 situation in life expose you to this, if you can- 
 not live in it without bringing guilt upon your 
 conscience, you are warranted to look out for 
 another, where at least you may meet with 
 less temptation. And though you must ever 
 remember that you carry the greatest cause of 
 lukewarmness about with you, and that you 
 must not be given to change merely from a 
 
CAUTIONS. 
 
 143 
 
 wandering disposition, yet you certainly do 
 well to inquire for those situations where you 
 can best serve God, and maintain communion 
 with him. In every place, you have to lament 
 over 3'our little fervor and secret declensions ; 
 but it is of the greatest importance to be kept 
 from that increasing, open, and awful state of 
 indifference, that leads to the omission of duty 
 and the practice of sin. Make use of all the 
 means of grace, and carefully observe the di- 
 rections and cautions here given you, that you 
 may never be unhappily one of them who dis- 
 honor their profession, and cause the enemies 
 of truth to blaspheme; but that, on the con- 
 trary, your light may shine, your zeal burn, 
 your activity increase, and you at last found 
 waiting to enter into that rest, which remains 
 for the people of God. 
 
 And now, dear reader, one thing I must beg 
 leave to impress upon your mind ; and that is, 
 in all the directions and cautions I have sug- 
 gested, look up to God for the assistance of his 
 grace, to enable you carefully to observe, re- 
 member, and put them into practice. Re- 
 nounce, entirely renounce, all dependence upon 
 your own strength. Without him, you can do 
 nothing. It is he that worketh in us both to 
 will and to do of his good pleasure. He has 
 promised to give his Holy Spirit to them who 
 ask him. Implore, therefore, his blessing ; re- 
 new your supplications constantly before him. 
 11 He gives power to the faint, and to them that 
 
144 
 
 CAUTIONS. 
 
 have might he increaseth strength. They that 
 wait upon the Lord snail renew their strength ; 
 they shall mount up with wings as eagles ; 
 they shall run, and not be weary ; and they 
 shall walk, and not faint." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Discouragements to be expected. — Sin a source of 
 sorrow. — Excessive grief improper. — Despondency, 
 reasons against. — Vain thoughts common to the 
 best. — Awful scriptures explained. — Unpardonable 
 sin stated, — Small degree of knowledge, and mean- 
 ness of talents, no ground for dejection. — Satan's 
 insinuations, consolations against. — Persecution an 
 honor. — Variety of opinions and preachers not to 
 be considered strange. — Conduct of some professors 
 discouraging. — Apostates, lessons to be learnt from. 
 — Desertion. — Fear of death. 
 
 Having in the preceding chapters offered 
 some directions and cautions, I shall now pro- 
 ceed to state, and endeavor to remove, the dis- 
 couragements which naturally arise ; for 
 though many, on their first entrance into the 
 divine life, experience a considerable degree of 
 sacred joy, yet others are much depressed; and 
 even those who at first were so happy, soon 
 find their frames change, and difficulties rise 
 up before them which they did not expect. — 
 Indeed, it is no wonder that they are the sub- 
 jects of sorrow and grief, when we consider the 
 change that has taken place. While men are 
 in an unconverted state, they have neither 
 spiritual perception nor feeling. They are 
 said not only to be dark, but dead. Now it is 
 the prooerty of grace to impart both light and 
 
 Gl 
 
146 
 
 DISCOURAGEMENTS 
 
 sensibility. When man awakes from this 
 awful state of death and ignorance, and takes 
 a survey of himself, and of the obligations he 
 is under to God, he is filled with the deepest 
 remorse to find that his nature is so corrupt, 
 that his affections have been so misplaced, that 
 his will has been inclined to evil, and that con- 
 tinually. You, my dear reader, may be now 
 laboring under much distress on this account. 
 Your heart bleeds at the thought of your for- 
 mer transgressions. It is grievous to you to 
 think how you have offended and insulted the 
 God who made you ; and you are almost ready 
 to doubt whether you, who have been such a 
 sinner, can be the object ot divine favor. Now 
 it is not improper that you should feel, that 
 you should be sorrowful for sin ; for this is 
 characteristic of the true penitent. They shall 
 come, it is said, with weeping and with suppli- 
 cations. They shall look upon him whom 
 they have pierced, and mourn. They go forth 
 weeping^ and sow in tears* But excess of 
 grief becomes injurious to the body, and hurt- 
 ful to the soul, and hence when indulged in is 
 both unreasonable and sinful. A broken and 
 a contrite heart, we are assured, God will not 
 despise, but is what he regards more than all 
 the pomp of outward ceremony, the glare of 
 shining talents, or the treasures of deep and 
 extensive knowledge. But he never designed, 
 and no where commands that we should so 
 
 * Jcr. xxxi. 9. Zecli. xii. 10. Psalms cxxvi. 5. 
 
C O K S I 1) E R E D. 
 
 147 
 
 grieve as to distract the mind, subvert reason, 
 unfit ourselves for the discharge of duty, render 
 us insensible to our mercies, blind us to the 
 promises, and make others miserable around 
 us. On the contrary, he has repeatedly com- 
 manded us to rejoice, and his authority is 
 equally as binding on us, in this duty, as enay 
 other. Turn to the Bible, and observe the in- 
 junctions. " Rejoice in the Lord, O ye right- 
 eous, for praise is comely for the upright. — 
 Rejoice in the Lord always ; and again I say> 
 rejoice. Glory ye in his holy name : let the 
 heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Let 
 nil those who put their trust in thee, rejoice; 
 let them ever shout for joy, because thou de = 
 fendest them ; let them also that love thy name 
 be joyful in thee." Read these passages, and 
 then ask how far it is your duty to refuse all 
 comfort, to dwell perpetually in the vale of 
 sorrow, to touch none but the string of grief 
 Rather is it not jour duty to arise, to take 
 your harp from the willow, to sing to the 
 praise of grace divine, and to go on your way 
 rejoicing, blessing, and praising God ? 
 
 But you may be ready to object, and say, 
 you have great reason to despond. Your case, 
 is singular. Your transgressions ore more 
 numerous, aggravated, and of longer continu- 
 ance than others. But granting even this to 
 be the case, you should be cautious of giving 
 way to despair. Consider the nature and evil 
 of this disposition. Is it not a reflection upon 
 his power, a disbelief of his mercy, a denial of 
 
 G C 2 
 
148 
 
 DISCOURAGEMENTS 
 
 his goodness, a rejection of all the kind prom- 
 ises he has given 1 What ! do all the various 
 declarations of God's compassion stand for 
 nothing ? Are all the affecting and interesting 
 descriptions of Christ's relations and offices 
 mere names, which have no meaning ? Are 
 the rich promises of pardon and mercy to be 
 doubted 1 Are all the instances of converting 
 grace recorded in scripture to be overlooked 
 and to have no effect % Can } T ou actually 
 oppose all your fears, despair, and doubts, to 
 these encouragements ? Can you stand up 
 before God, and dare say to him, that however 
 he has saved others, there is no probability of 
 his saving you % Consider that you act in 
 this directly against his plain commands. Has 
 he any where ordered you to despond? but 
 has he not, in multiplied passages, commanded 
 you to hope, to trust, to believe?* Vile as 
 you rnajr feel yourself to be, read}' as despair 
 is to seize you, can you solemnly say in the 
 sight of God, " Well, I feel no desire to love 
 him ; I can with the utmost composure reject 
 his word. I care not if ever I am again the 
 associate of his people. His ordinances are no 
 pleasure, his day is no delight to my soul: I 
 can most cheerfully renounce all, and go back 
 again into the world ?" O how you tremble 
 at the thought ! Unworthy as yo\i are, you 
 dare not, you cannot use such language. No ; 
 
 * Psalms xxvii. 14. Psalms xxxvii. 3,5. Prov. 
 iii. 5, 6. John iii. 1G. 
 
CONSIDERED. 
 
 149 
 
 your desire is to love him and the remem- 
 brance of his name ; and ask, did he ever give 
 such a desire to leave it ungratified? Shall it 
 ever be said, here is a poor soul longing, and 
 crying, and waiting, and praying to be saved, 
 and tli at God will not save him? In all the 
 history of the Bible, in all the history of the 
 church, in all the memoirs, and lives, and ex- 
 periences of the children of men, from the be- 
 ginning down to the present da}', is there one 
 such instance to be found ? No, not one. Men 
 have fallen into the hands of those whom they 
 have offended, and though promised pardon, 
 yet have been punished. They have looked 
 to a friend in the time of calamity, and been 
 disappointed. They have placed the greatest 
 confidence on the most intimate relations, and 
 have been betra}*ed ; but no poor, miserable, 
 lost, sinner, ever made God his trust, and was 
 confounded. Is it your complaint to him, 
 " Lord, I am sorely troubled with this wicked 
 heart. This corruption robs me of all my com- 
 fort. This temptation pursues me in every 
 place. I have no peace because of sin. O 
 that. I could but obtain deliverance; that the 
 inare might but be broken : that I might but 
 curjoy the liberty of thy people; then should 1 
 be more happy, than if 1 were in possession of 
 all the glittering wealth of this world." Well, 
 be not. discouraged. It is the petition of his 
 own framing, and he will surclj' answer it. — 
 But you are the subject, you say, of such 
 strange, vain, infidel, blasphemous thougl 
 g3 
 
150 
 
 DISCOURAGEMENTS 
 
 that you know not how to think there is any 
 good work in you. This may be ; and if you 
 consult others, you will find they have reason 
 to complain of the same thing. A celebrated 
 minister tells us, in the account of his experi- 
 ence, how he was troubled in this respect. u I 
 was infested," says he, " with thoughts so 
 monstrously obscene and blasphemous, that 
 they cannot be spoken, nor so much as hinted, 
 and I believe such as hardly ever entered into 
 the heart of any other man ; though I am sen- 
 sible that most of God's children are sometimes 
 attacked in like manner. But mine were foul 
 and black beyond example, and seemed to be 
 the master-pieces of hell." So that you see you 
 are not the only one who suffers in this way. 
 
 But you are distressed, perhaps, by the con- 
 sideration of some passages of scripture which 
 you think entirely condemn you. Thus, that 
 passage, " He that doubteth* is damned if he 
 
 * This passage was a source of trouble in another 
 way, to Miss Anthony. "My distress," says she, 
 " increased until the necessaries of life grew tasteless; 
 and here Satan set in to persuade me [ had sinfully 
 indulged my appetite. When I attempted to eat, it 
 would be suggested that I was then increasing my 
 condemnation ; and while I was under this tempta- 
 tion, I met with these words : "He that doubteth is 
 damned if he eat!" I did not consider it had no ref- 
 erence to our daily common food, but what was offered 
 to idols; but the tempter would persuade me it was 
 my case, just, for I was convinced it was a sin, and 
 yet went on. I was almost ready to give up and 
 wholly abstain, rather than endure that distress of 
 mind which every morsel I took occasioned." — See 
 her Life, p. 33 — 39. 
 
CONSIDERED. 
 
 151 
 
 oat," you have been led to think, has sentenced 
 you to final condemnation, because you have 
 sometimes done that, which afterwards you 
 doubted the propriety of. But it is necessary 
 to observe that this word, here rendered damned i 
 properly signifies condemned; that is, by a 
 man's own conscience, when he doth what that 
 tells him, or at least suspects is wrong. But 
 this has no reference to eternal damnation, any 
 farther than all actings against conscience ex- 
 poses one to it.* 
 
 Another passage has most probably affect ed 
 your mind, and that is what is said of Esau, 
 ' That afterward, when he would have inher- 
 ited the blessing, he was rejected ; for he 
 found no place of repentance, though he sought 
 it carefully with tears ;" and from this text you 
 are sometimes afraid that your repentance may 
 be too late. But in answer to this it has been 
 properly observed, that " it is true that Esau's 
 time for the blessing was past, as soon as Isaac 
 had given it to Jacob. When he had sold his 
 birthright, it was too late to recall it, for the 
 right was made over to his brother ; and it was 
 not repentance, and crie3, and tears, that could 
 recall the right he had sold, nor recall the 
 words that Isaac had spoken : but this does not 
 prove that our day of grace does not continue 
 till death, or that, any man repenting before his 
 death, shall be rejected as Esau's repentance 
 was. The apostle neither says nor means any 
 
 * Guysc in loc. 
 
 o4 
 
152 
 
 DISCOURAGEMENTS 
 
 such thing. The sense of his word is only 
 thus much : Take heed lest any set so light by 
 the blessings of the gospel, as to part with 
 them for a base lust or transitory thing, as 
 Esau set more by a morsel of meat than by his 
 birthright." 
 
 Bat what, perhaps, most of all affects you, 
 is, that you sometimes think you have sinned 
 against the Holy Ghost. You read that this 
 sin will never be forgiven ;•* and that if we sin 
 wilfully after we have received the knowledge 
 of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice 
 for sins. 
 
 But by this unpardonable sin you must un- 
 derstand is meant an absolute denial and total 
 rejection of Christ and his gospel, by those who 
 retain their obstinacy and malice to the end. 
 and never repent. Such have no fears, no 
 feeiings of compunction, no desires whatever to 
 believe in, or receive the truth ; and thus re- 
 jecting the only sacrifice for sins, of course, as 
 the apostle says, there remains no other. Now 
 how can this be your case? You, who see 
 more excellency in Jesus than in any other ob- 
 ject whatever ? You, whose desire it is every 
 day to glorify him, and unreservedly devote 
 
 *This is a very common thought of young Christ- 
 ians. I know a minister who said, that, when he was 
 a school boy, he remembered cursing the Bible. This 
 circumstance was brought so fresh to his remembrance 
 some years afterwards, when he was awakened, that 
 he was fearful he had committed this sin, until he 
 was relieved by conversation with a friend. 
 
CONSIDERED. 
 
 153 
 
 yourself to him ? You, who, if you were to be 
 asked what is your request, could say, " Lord, 
 that I may know, and fear, and love thee; that 
 thou mayestbe mine ; and that my body, soul, 
 and spirit, may be consecrated to thy praise ; 
 that while I live, I may live to thee, and when 
 I die, I may dwell forever with thee." No hyp- 
 ocrite, no one that is deceived, no one that is 
 under the influence of the power of darkness, 
 can ever possess such feelings, experience such 
 desires, or sincerely express such ardent wishes 
 to be with and to be like the Saviour. 
 
 Again, you are discouraged, also, because 
 of the small degree of knowledge you possess. 
 But this is every way unreasonable. It can- 
 not be expected that you should have the 
 knowledge and experience of those who have 
 been longer in the way. Nor are you in the 
 least to be disheartened on this account. The 
 first dawn of the morning evidences that there 
 is a sun, as much as if you already saw it with 
 your own eyes. The appearance of the blade 
 proves the existence of the vital seed, as well 
 as the ear and the full corn in the ear. Our 
 Lord compares the work of grace to a grain of 
 mustard seed, which is the least of all seed ; 
 but after it is grown, it is the greatest among 
 herbs. Do not overlook, therefore, the day of 
 small things, and imagine that your knowledge 
 is not genuine because it is not extensive. The 
 smallest portion of real grace is of more value 
 than all the works of God in creation beside ; 
 for these arc only the works of his hands, but 
 o5 
 
154 
 
 DISCOURAGEMENT* 
 
 this is part of the image of himself. ■■! It is a 
 greater mercy to give the first grace of con- 
 version, than to crown that grace with glory. 
 As it is more grace and condescension in a 
 prince to betroth one of his poorest subjects, 
 than afterwards to clothe her like a princess.' 7 
 Instead of lamenting, therefore, that you have 
 not all the wisdom, the experience, as others, 
 rejoice and be thankful that God has given you 
 any light ; that you are not what you once 
 were ; and that though you cannot boast, nor 
 say much, yet this you can say, " one thing I 
 know ; that whereas I was blind, now I see." 
 You may sometimes also be cast down be- 
 cause of the meanness of your talents. " Per- 
 haps/' as one says, " when you hear others, 
 with what liberty they pray, how able to dis- 
 course of the things of God ; you are ready to 
 go into a corner and mourn, to think how weak 
 your memory, how dull your apprehension, how 
 straitened your spirit, hardly able (though in 
 secret) to utter and express your mind to God 
 in prayer. O you are ready to think those the 
 happy men and women, and almost murmur at 
 your condition. But though you have not 
 words as they, yet if you have faith, if every 
 sermon you hear makes you hate sin and love 
 Christ more, have you not the better part ? — 
 You little think what a mercy may be wrapt 
 up, even in the meanest of your gifts ; or what 
 temptations their gifts expose them to, which, 
 perhaps, God in mercy has denied you. Jo- 
 seph's coat made him finer than all his breth- 
 
CONSIDERED. 
 
 155 
 
 ren ; but this caused all his trouble. Thus, 
 great gifts lift up a saint a little higher in the 
 eyes of men, but occasion many temptations 
 which they meet not with who are kept low. 
 None, perhaps, find so hard a work to go to 
 heaven as such ; they have much ado to bear 
 up against the winds and waves, while you 
 creep along the shore under the wind. It is 
 with such as with some great lord of little es- 
 tate : a meaner man oft hath money in his 
 purse when he hath none, and can lend his 
 lordship some when he needs. Great gifts and 
 parts are titles of honor among men ; but many 
 such may come and borrow grace and comfort 
 of a mean-gifted brother. Do not, therefore, 
 murmur, or envy them, but rather pity and pray 
 for them : they need it more than others ; their 
 gifts are for others, but thy grace is for thy- 
 self."* 
 
 Satan, that great enemy of souls, perhaps 
 sorely tries you. He insinuates that the ser- 
 vice, in which you are engaged, will be found 
 hard and unpleasant ; that you will soon be 
 glad to relinquish it ; that the word of God re- 
 quires some things too hard to be performed, 
 and proposes others too strange to be believed. 
 Or, it may be, he suggests that there is no sin- 
 cerity in your professions ; that the experience 
 you talk of is the effect of imagination ; that 
 the change taken place is nothing but fickle- 
 ness and novelty ; and that, after all, there i3 
 
 * Gurnall. 
 
 06 
 
156 
 
 DISCOURAGEMENTS 
 
 no real difference between your present and 
 former state. Or perhaps he endeavors to spoil 
 your devotions by vile and blasphemous sug- 
 gestions ; or to represent to you all your past 
 sins as too enormous to be pardoned. The 
 apostle tells us of h\s fiery darts ^ and these, prob- 
 ably* you feel : they wound deeply; they cre- 
 ate much pain ; they infuse a deadly poison. 
 He knows how to take an advantage of the 
 weakness of your faith, the smallness of your 
 knowledge, the contracted nature of your ex- 
 perience ; yea, he transforms himself into an 
 angel of light, will quote scriptures, and thus 
 "borrow God's bow to shoot his arrows at us." 
 But here remember you are not alone ; Adam 
 in paradise, Christ in the wilderness, are alike 
 the objects of his temptations. None can go 
 to heaven without being exposed to his wiles 
 and subtleties. Besides, the representations of 
 an enemy never render things to be what they 
 really are. He is an accuser of the brethren, 
 but it goes for nothing in the sight of God. — 
 li Rose-water is not the less sweet, because 
 wormwood is written upon the glass." The 
 Lord knoweth his own, and he will take care 
 to keep them safe. To him, therefore, you 
 must look ; " He shall shortly bruise Satan 
 under your feet." 
 
 Your relations and friends may be also ready 
 to oppose you ; and this is a great ground of 
 discouragement. They set you up, perhaps, 
 as a laughing stock ; they look upon you as 
 weak and fanatical ; they try all they can, 
 
Considered. 
 
 15? 
 
 either to frighten you out of your sentiments, or 
 on the other hand to allure you into worldly 
 pleasures. Ridicule and friendship, satire and 
 affection, reproach and flattery, will alternately 
 exert their influence to draw you aside. But 
 none of these things ought to discourage you ; 
 no, not even if you should be cast out from 
 among them for the sake of the truth : for thus 
 they treated the Lord of life and glory before 
 you. " He was despised and rejected of men ; 
 a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; 
 and we hid, as it were, our faces from him."— 
 Your's, then, is the glory and honor of being a 
 partaker of his sufferings ; your's the privilege 
 of enduring shame for his name's sake ; your's 
 the distinction of coming out from the world, 
 and bearing reproach for the cross ; and your's 
 the happiness to receive the benediction pro- 
 nounced by the Saviour himself on his suffer- 
 ing disciples, " Blessed are ye when men shall 
 revile you, and shall persecute you, and shall 
 say all manner of evil against you falsely, for 
 my name's sake. Rejoice and be exceeding 
 glad, for great is your reward in heaven." In 
 the midst, therefore, of all the frowns of men, 
 the unkindness of relatives, the opprobrium 
 of the world, you may stand unmoved, and 
 sing, 
 
 "I 'm not ashamed to own my Lord, 
 
 Or to defend his cause; 
 Maintain the honor of his word, 
 
 The glory of his cross. 
 
i^8 DISCOURAGEMENTS 
 
 Jesus, my God, I know his name, 
 
 His name is all my trust ; 
 Nor will he put my soul to shame, 
 
 Nor let my hope be lost." 
 
 But as you pass on, you ma}' sometimes be 
 confounded and discouraged by the variety of 
 religious sects, preachers, opinions, and dis- 
 putes, that abound in the world. But this 
 should be no hindrance ; for since the world 
 began, men have always differed in their senti- 
 ments. A vast variety of sects originate from 
 the pride, ignorance, and self-conceit, of those 
 who choose rather to set up their own opinions, 
 than abide by the sacred oracles, the only sure 
 guide. Other denominations, indeed, exist, 
 who pretend to take the Bible as their rule, but 
 only mutilate, select, and refuse, what they 
 think proper. There are other sects who, in 
 the main points of doctrine, differ but little, or 
 not at all, but }'et do not agree in their views 
 of some things of minor importance, and unes- 
 sential to salvation. With the Bible in your 
 hand, and a dependence on the divine blessing, 
 you need not be afraid. Your business is with 
 no sect, as such, but with truth ; and truth 
 will be found of those who assiduously seek 
 her. There are many difficulties, indeed, in 
 the way, and many, after all, are deceived ; 
 but then it is because they are either indolent 
 or prejudiced. " There are few," says the 
 great Stillingrleet, " that look after truth with 
 their own eyes ; most make use of glasses of 
 others' making, which make them so seldom 
 
CONSIDERED. 
 
 159 
 
 behold the proper lineaments in the face of 
 truth ; which the several tinctures from edu- 
 cation, authority, custom, and predisposition, 
 do exceedingly hinder men from discerning of." 
 Memorable are the words of our Lord, " If any 
 man will do his will, he shall know of the doc- 
 trine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak 
 of myself." Affection for the truth, and appli- 
 cation in seeking it, will be sure to obtain it.- — 
 In the midst of all the jarring opinions of men, 
 the modest inquirer, the devotional spirit, the 
 biblical disciple, will not fail to be right. " For 
 if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up 
 thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest 
 her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid 
 treasures ; then shalt thou understand the fear 
 of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God : 
 for the Lord giveth wisdom, and out of his 
 mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." 
 Again, you may be discouraged from the 
 strange conduct of some who make a profession 
 of Christianity. Some hypocrites may deceive 
 you, some talkative professors perplex, and 
 some forward characters prove a stumbling 
 block to you. This is what you did not ex- 
 pect. You thought every thing was love, sin- 
 cerity, peace, truth, among those who profess 
 Christianity : but, alas ! you have been mis- 
 taken, and it. has filled you with astonishment 
 that there should be any such deceptions in 
 matters of such great consequence. But if 
 you consider a little, nothing is more to be ex- 
 pected than this. The more valuable a thing 
 
ICO 
 
 DISCOURAGEMENTS 
 
 is, the more numerous are its counterfeits. — 
 Now religion is the best thing ; it is the off- 
 spring of Deity, the child of heaven, the orna- 
 ment of man, the perfection of reason, the bond 
 of society, and the soul of happiness. Is it 
 any wonder, therefore, that it should sometimes 
 be counterfeited, where interest is concerned ? 
 that men should make pretences to it, and en- 
 deavor to enrobe themselves with some of its 
 beautiful garments, to make them appear ac- 
 ceptable to others 1 Our Lord gives sufficient 
 caution agains-t this, when he says, " Beware 
 of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's 
 clothing, but inwardly they are ravening 
 wolves." Let not this, therefore, discourage 
 you. Religion stands on the same ground ; 
 she remains immutable; and her faithful ad- 
 herents are not to be accounted less worthy of 
 your regard and imitation, because of the art- 
 ful devices and inconsistent conduct of her 
 pretended friends. 
 
 As to apostates, it will be affecting to } r ou, 
 to consider their awful conduct, and their mis- 
 erable end ; but instead of discouraging, let it 
 animate you to go forward, and to be more de- 
 pendant on divine grace. God has set up some 
 of these by the way, as a warning to others. — 
 As you pass along, you may behold the gloom}' 
 monuments of an Achan, a Lot's wife, a Ge- 
 hazi, a Saul, an Annanias, and Saphira, and 
 a Judas ; on which you may read the awful 
 inscription, " If any man draw back, my soul 
 shall have no pleasure in him." And while 
 
CONSIDERED. 
 
 161 
 
 you read, let it excite you to examine yourself, 
 and to say, " O Lord, hold thou me up, and I 
 shall be safe. Order my steps in thy word, 
 and let not iniquity have dominion over me. — 
 Keep me as the apple of thine eye, and hide 
 me under the shadow of thy wings. O that 
 my ways may be directed to keep thy stat- 
 utes ; let me never wander from thy command- 
 ments ; but be preserved blameless unto the 
 coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Amen. 
 
 You may, my dear reader, be greatly de- 
 pressed under the hidings of God's face. The 
 best are not always in the same frame. Holy 
 Job knew what this was by experience, when 
 he said, " O that I knew where I might find 
 him, that I might come even to his seat; I 
 would order my cause before him, 1 would fill 
 my mouth with arguments." David com- 
 plains of this deseriion, and prays that " God 
 may lift up the light of his countenance upon 
 him." This is indeed a sore trial. To have 
 the joys of God's salvation suspended, to walk 
 in darkness and have no light, to find little or 
 no comfort in the exercises of duty, to feel a 
 kind of deadness and stupor of mind, to lose 
 those pleasant impressions we had at first, to 
 derive little or no benefit from public ordinan- 
 ces, and to find but little satifaction even from 
 the word and promises of God ; this, of all sit- 
 uations, is the most painful to a serious mind. 
 Then it is that we lose our evidence of the di- 
 vine favor, and begin to think we have neither 
 part nor lot in the matter. Then the enemy 
 
1(32 
 
 DISCOURAGEMENTS 
 
 takes the advantage, and we are ready to ask, 
 " if I am a Christian, how can it be that I am 
 thus so dark and lifeless 1 why such a barren 
 frame, such cold desires, such unbelief, such 
 strange thoughts, such lukewarm affections ? 
 Alas ! where is my former zeal and activity, 
 my delight in God's house and people, and 
 those pleasant and transportating exercises of 
 mind I so lately felt % O that it were as in 
 days past, when the candle of the Lord shone 
 upon my head, and when by his light I 
 walked through darkness !" These, perhaps, 
 may be your feelings, although } r ou may not 
 have been many months in the good way. — 
 The bright sunshine, with which you were 
 first favored, may be changed for clouds and 
 darkness, and you may feel a painful surprize, 
 that your joys have so suddenly departed from 
 you. Now while you carefully endeavor to 
 trace the cause, do not imagine that God is 
 changed in his purpose toward you. Some- 
 times these depressions arise from the state of 
 the body, from something unpleasant in tem- 
 poral circumstances, or from distracting cares, 
 which much affect the mind. But supposing, 
 as is probably the case, that guilt is contract- 
 ed ; or that your conscience, which is now 
 awakened, has charged you with something 
 that you did not before take cognizance of; 
 then even this, instead of driving you to despair, 
 should be rather considered as a token for good. 
 What an infinite mercy it is, that now you can- 
 not rest when God's Spirit is grieved ; that 
 
C OI?31DER£ D. 
 
 103 
 
 now a sense of one single defection from duty 
 actually gives you more uneasiness than the 
 whole of your rebellious conduct ever gave 
 you while in a natural state ! While you look 
 up to God, therefore, for his pardoning mercy, 
 and implore his gracious help, to enable you 
 to lay aside every weight, and the sin that 
 easily besets you, O be thankful that your con- 
 science is not seared ; that you are not given 
 up to judicial hardness of heart; that if God 
 hath hid his face from you, it is to humble you 
 in the dust; to wean you from self and the 
 world ; to place your confidence more in him ; 
 to make you less dependant on your own 
 frames and feelings ; to quicken you in the 
 paths of righteousness, and excite in you, 
 greater desires for the heavenly world. Sor- 
 row not, therefore, as if you had lost your God, 
 because you have lost your comfort. " He 
 will turn again, he will have compassion." It 
 is his voice that says, " Is Ephraim my dear 
 son ? is he a pleasant child ? Since I spake 
 against him, I do earnestly remember him still ; 
 therefore my bowels are troubled for him. I 
 will surely have mercy upon him, saiih the 
 Lord." 
 
 Lastly, the fear of death ma}' sometimes op- 
 erate greatly to your discouragement. But 
 how unreasonable is it to suppose that he who 
 has done such great things for you ; has 
 brought you to see yourself as a condemned 
 sinner, to taste his love, to find happiness in 
 him as the chief good, and most ardently to de- 
 
164 
 
 DISCOURAGEMENTS 
 
 sire to be his forever ; I say, how unreasona- 
 ble, and does it not reflect upon God's kind- 
 ness and mercy, to suppose that he will leave 
 you when you most stand in need of his help? 
 You, perhaps, with a busy imagination, attach 
 to death a thousand unpleasant circumstances : 
 the gloomy thoughts of leaving friends, ming- 
 ling with the dust, relinquishing your choicest 
 comforts here, and all the apparatus of a sol- 
 emn funeral, so occupy the mind, as to prevent 
 you from considering the glory that awaits } T ou 
 beyond the grave. But what have you to do 
 with such melancholy thoughts ? These are 
 things which, as j t ou will not be sensible of, 
 when they take place, so they should never af- 
 fect your mind now while you live. Epicurus 
 could say, " Death, which is accounted the 
 most dreadful of all evils, is nothing to us, be- 
 cause, while we are in being, death is not yet 
 present ; and when death is present, we are not 
 in being: so that it neither concerns us living 
 or dead. Shall heathens (as Mr Howe ob- 
 serves) comfort themselves upon so wretched a 
 ground, with a little sophistry and the hope of 
 extinguishing all desire of immortality; and 
 shall not we derive comfort by cherishing this 
 blessed hope of enjoying shortly an immortal 
 glory ?" 
 
 Think, too, my dear reader, how God in 
 general supports his people in that trying mo- 
 ment. What numberless instances might be 
 quoted, of faith triumphing in a dying hour ! 
 Let us here only select a few for the encourage- 
 
CONSIDERED. 
 
 1C5 
 
 merit of your hope, and as an antidote to your 
 fear. Mr Edward Deering, a little before his 
 death, said to his friends, £: as for my death, I 
 bless God I feel and find so much inward joy 
 and comfort in my soul, that if I were put to 
 my choice, whether I would live or die. I would 
 a thousand times rather choose death than life, 
 if it may stand with the holy will of God." — 
 The famous Mr Durham, being visited in his 
 last sickness, which was long and lingering, 
 who said to him, " Sir, I hope you have set all 
 in order, that you have nothing to do but to 
 die." " 1 bless God," said he, " I have not had 
 that to do neither, these many years." But 
 what say you to the dying experience of some 
 young Christians ? When one who departed 
 this life about eleven years of age,* was asked 
 by his father, " How can you bear to leave 
 your diversions, and all the pretty things you 
 have had in the world'?" he said, with his 
 hands and eyes lifted up, "Thousands, thou- 
 sands of worlds, are not like going to Jesus :" 
 and when told that probably he would die that 
 week, he added, u That's right ; I wish I may. 
 L want to go to Jesus and my dear brother." — 
 Another not so old,')" whose sufferings were 
 uncommonly severe for many months, was nev- 
 er heard to complain : among a number of ques- 
 tions proposed, to which he gave the most sat- 
 isfactory answers, he was asked, if he was 
 
 f J. Steven, of Camberwcll, who died at the age oi" 
 eight years and eight months. 
 * Jonathan Cope, of Ashted. 
 
106 
 
 DISCOURAGEMENTS, JLc. 
 
 afraid of dying ? he said, " No." " Why ?"— 
 " Because Jesus is with me." " Why do you 
 think Jesus will be with you when you die ?" 
 " Because he has said he will." And when 
 the trying moment came, he said, with consid- 
 erable emphasis, ' c He is with me." 
 
 Learn, then, to trust a faithful God; live to 
 him while he gives you health and strength ; 
 find when it is his will you should draw near 
 the gates of death, confide in his goodness : for 
 what he hath said, that will he perform. Read 
 his word ; treasure up in your memory the kind 
 declarations of his love ; and remember that 
 the Saviour himself died to take away the 
 sting. You may therefore look into the grave, 
 and exclaim, " O death, where is thy sting? 
 O grave, where is thy victory ? Thanks be to 
 God, who giveth us the victory through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Encouragement from the promises. — Examples. — Ev- 
 idences of Grace. — Prospects. — Eternal life. — Con- 
 cluding- address tc the unconverted. 
 
 As the sacred scriptures contain sublime 
 doctrines and suitable precepts for the estab- 
 lishment and conduct of true believers, so they 
 abound, also, with great encouragement and 
 consolation under all the various and trying 
 scenes of life ; and what deserves our attention, 
 is, that the promises are not made only to the 
 strong, but to the weak ; so that we are not 
 prohibited from appropriating them to our- 
 selves, because we have not the same degree 
 of faith, knowledge, or comfort as others. The 
 Bible is designed for the children and 3 T oung 
 men in God 7 s school, as well as the more expe- 
 rienced fathers in Christ. If you complain of 
 your darkness, here is light ; of your weak- 
 ness, here is strength ; of your crosses, here is 
 comfort ; of your poverty, here are riches ; of 
 your disappointments in this world, here is 
 certainty and security. In the midst of every 
 discouragement, therefore, look here. The 
 promises are suitable, copious, explicit, free, 
 and sure to be accomplished. Is it a sense of 
 your depravity that fills you with grief; that 
 breaks your heart and humbles you continual- 
 
168 
 
 YOUNG CHRISTIANS 
 
 ly ? behold the promise : " To this man will I 
 look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite 
 spirit, and trembleth at my word." Is it afflic- 
 tion that is permitted to come upon you, threat- 
 ening to swallow up all your comfort ? behold 
 a promise : "Call upon me in the day of trouble, 
 I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." 
 Is it reproach and opposition to which you are 
 exposed 2 behold a promise : " Thou shalt be 
 hid from the scourge of the tongue, and no 
 weapon formed against thee shall prosper." Is 
 it temptation that harrasses and torments you? 
 behold a promise : (C God is faithful, who will 
 not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are 
 able, but will with the temptation also make a 
 way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." 
 Is it poverty and indigence that you dread ? 
 behold a promise : " The young lions do lack 
 and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord 
 shall not want any good thing." Is it depres- 
 sion of spirits, or darkness of mind that has fal- 
 len upon you % behold a promise : " For a 
 small moment have I forsaken thee, but with 
 great mercies will I gather thee. In a little 
 wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, 
 but with everlasting kindness will I have mer- 
 cy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer." Do 
 you fear you shall not be able to persevere to 
 the end 1 behold a promise : " Who shall also 
 confirm you unto the end, that ye may be 
 blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 Is it the thought of death that strikes you with 
 terror? behold a promise: { I will ransom 
 
ENCOURAGEMENT. 
 
 169 
 
 them from the power of the grave ; I will re- 
 deem them from death. O death, I will be thy 
 plagues ; O grave, I will be thy destruction." 
 Come, then, and read these delightful declara- 
 tions, and ask, how can I despond with such 
 incentives to hope, such grounds of encourage- 
 ment, such antidotes to fear, such motives to 
 patience, and such calls for confidence in God % 
 Say not, they are for others, and not for you. 
 " We do not fear to break open a letter when 
 we find our name in the superscription, direct- 
 ing it to us. Thus we should read the prom- 
 ises as ours ; they are the kind epistles sent 
 from heaven to animate us to bear up under 
 every difficulty, and to go forward in the good 
 way. Pray for faith, therefore, that you may 
 be able to decipher them, and extract the sweet- 
 ness contained in them. It is the business of 
 faith to unfold and examine their contents, to 
 appreciate their excellency, to taste their sweet* 
 ness, and apply them to use. Let it be no ob- 
 jection that these promises are not fulfilled im- 
 mediately. They were not designed to be ac- 
 complished as soon as given, or as soon as faith 
 receives them. They are like bonds, which 
 would be of no utility if the money were paid ; 
 but the security given is as valid, and the bless- 
 ing promised, as certain to be bestowed in 
 God's time, as if you already were in possess- 
 ion of it. Jesus Christ himself now waits in 
 heaven for the final accomplishment of the 
 promise for the ingathering of his people. His 
 prayers, offered up eighteen hundred years 
 
 H 
 
170 YOUNG CHRISTIAN'S 
 
 ago for his church, are still unanswered. Learn, 
 then, to live upon the promises ; plead them in 
 prayer, wait patiently for their fulfillment, and 
 you shall find that u God is not a man, that he 
 should lie, nor the son of a man, that he should 
 repent ; that all the promises in Christ are yea, 
 and in him amen, unto the glory of God ; and 
 that his covenant he will not break, nor alter 
 the thing that is gone out of his lips." 
 
 Consider, farther, for your encouragement, 
 the many pleasing examples of the triumph of 
 grace, in those who were either subject to the 
 greatest depression, or surrounded with the 
 most powerful opposition 5 and then ask, "Who 
 ever perished being innocent, or where were 
 the righteous cut off?" The providence seems, 
 sometimes, however, to go before the promise, 
 especially when it leaves a man to poverty, 
 sickness, distress, unbelief and opposition ; but 
 if we only wait a little, we shall see the prom- 
 ise come up to his assistance, and while one 
 says, " We are troubled on every side," the 
 other answers, " Yet not distressed. Though 
 perplexed, yet not in despair ; persecuted, but 
 not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed." 
 Job said, indeed, that his eye should no more 
 see good ; yet the Lord turned his captivity, 
 and he died in peace. Jacob exclaimed that 
 all things were against him ; yet he lived to 
 see the goodness of God in th^e land of the liv- 
 ing. Joseph was tempted and tried, and tossed 
 up and down on the waves of trouble ; yet 
 God was with him, and he rose superior to all. 
 
ENCOURAGEMENT. 171 
 
 David said, he should one day fall by the hand 
 of Saul , yet he could bear a noble testimony 
 at last, and died affirming that God had made 
 an everlasting covenant with him, ordered in 
 all things, and sure. Hezekiah said, " I reck- 
 oned till morning, that as a lion so will he 
 break all my bones ; from day even to night 
 wilt thou make an end of me." Yet how was 
 his tone changed ! " Thou hast in love to my 
 soul delivered it from the pit of corruption ; for 
 thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back." 
 How much better was God to all these men 
 than their fears ! He turned their darkness into 
 light ; their sorrow into joy. You are in the 
 same hands, and may indulge the pleasing ex- 
 pectation, that however great the present dis- 
 couragements, he will hear your prayers, sup- 
 port you in trouble, and deliver you from all 
 those dangers which now threaten the destruc- 
 tion of your hope and comfort. 
 
 But you are still ready to object, and say you 
 want greater evidence of a ' gracious change 
 than what you can find in yourself. Perhaps 
 you are looking for some great degree of joy, 
 some transport of pleasure, some state of mind 
 in which you will not find the least wandering 
 thought or corruption stirring. And because 
 you cannot find these, you am ready to imag- 
 ine that you are not a Christian. But here 
 you are increasing your own distress without 
 cause. What Christian is there that can boast 
 of ecstatic joys ; that can assure us he is sub- 
 
172 
 
 YOUNG CHRISTIAN'S 
 
 ject to no changes ; that has no cold, indiffer- 
 ent, vain, and wandering thoughts ; that has 
 never to lament over the sad remains of deprav- 
 ity in his nature % Some Christians, it is true, 
 are far superior to others, as to the extent of 
 their knowledge, the fervor of their love, the 
 spirituality of their minds, and the greatness of 
 their joys ; but none of them arrive to such an 
 experience, advance to such a height, as to be 
 beyond the feelings of depravity. A Job, an 
 Isaiah, a David, a Paul, high as their attain- 
 ments were, still lamented the remains of cor- 
 ruption. A sense of your imperfection, there- 
 fore, must not so operate as to cause you to 
 conclude you are in a state of nature. Com- 
 pare your present with your former state, and 
 ask, whether there be not at least some evi- 
 dences of a new heart and a new spirit. I 
 know professors may go to great lengths in de- 
 ceiving themselves ; but is it not your most 
 ardent desire that you may not be deceived 1 
 Have 3 7 ou not a portion of light that you once 
 had not 1 Do you not feel such a sacred regard 
 to God and divine things as you once did not ? 
 Are not the people, whom you once despised, 
 the very characters whom, above all others, 
 you most delight in % Can you now willingly 
 keep away, and slight the ordinances as you 
 once did % Is not the Bible, which you neglect- 
 ed and disesteemed, now more to you than your 
 necessary food % Are not sin and self, which 
 were once your delight and confidence, now 
 the great sources of all your trouble, and the 
 
ENCOURAGEMENT, 
 
 173 
 
 objects of your greatest hatred ? Is not your 
 life, which was once devoted to the world and 
 its vanities, now given up to God ? and is it 
 not your constant prayer that you may ever 
 avoid what he has prohibited, follow that which 
 he has commanded, and make it your main 
 end to serve him, and promote his glory in the 
 happiness of your fellow-creatures ? Then sure- 
 ly you may conclude that, weak and unworthy 
 as you are, you are his. Could novelty, could 
 education, could interest, could self-will, could 
 the enemy of souls, could any human being, 
 produce such sentiments and such feelings as 
 these ? No. It is the finger of God. It is his 
 grace, that has thus produced desires which he 
 alone can satisfy. It is his power that has re- 
 moved prejudices which no inferior influence 
 could effect. 
 
 I would not, however, encourage you, with- 
 out at the same time exhorting you to seek for 
 a greater degree of faith. I would not have 
 you satisfied with just being able to make out 
 that you are a Christian. When in a comfort- 
 able frame, perhaps you may be able to ascer- 
 tain this ; but when darkness overwhelms you, 
 then you begin to doubt. Endeavor to live less 
 on your frames, and labor after an increase of 
 that holy assurance which shall produce peace 
 in the soul under every storm. " Weak faith, 
 (as one observes,) will as surely land the Chris- 
 tian in heaven, as strong faith ; for it is impos- 
 sible that the least degree of true grace should 
 perish, being all incorruptible seed. But the 
 
174 
 
 YOUNG CHRISTIAN'S 
 
 weak, doubting Christian is not like to have so 
 pleasant a voyage thither, as another with 
 strong faith. Though all in the ship come safe 
 to shore, yet he that is all the way sea-sick 
 hath not so comfortable a voyage as he that is 
 strong and healthful."* Labor, therefore, to 
 obtain an increase of this grace of faith ; for it 
 is this that is the source of comfort, that hon- 
 ors God, that softens the rugged path, that 
 conquers the world, and enables us to triumph 
 in Christ, and to see our interest clear in his 
 love. 
 
 Finally, for your encouragement, consider 
 the prospect that is before you. How unlike 
 every thing of a worldly nature, which ends in 
 vanity and vexation of spirit ! We take a vast 
 deal of trouble to ascend the mount of worldly 
 good ; but, alas ! when we arrive at the sum- 
 mit, it is all barren, and bleak, and cold ; but 
 here the higher we go, the more enchanting 
 the prospects, the more satisfying the objects 
 we discover, and the more interesting and im- 
 portant the situation. Nothing is more natu- 
 ral than for the mind to be looking forward ; 
 and whether the objects be real or illusive, it is 
 difficult to restrain the operations of hope, and 
 to curb the imagination from painting some 
 good which we expect in futurity to enjoy. — 
 But here the Christian has the advantage. He 
 may look forward with infinite satisfaction, and 
 anticipate the possession of every necessary 
 
 * Gurnall. 
 
ENCOURAGEMENT. 
 
 good. Reflect, therefore, my dear reader, on 
 this inestimable privilege. Adopted into the 
 family of heaven, you are an heir of God, and 
 a joint heir with Christ. What greater thing 
 can be said of a Christian than this ; for what 
 may you not expect ? The idea is grand be- 
 yond description. An heir of God ! Who can 
 conceive, who can describe the immense riches 
 of the divine nature % who can possibly dive 
 into the depths of his grace, or reach the heights 
 of his love ? Who can form the least idea of his 
 blessedness and glory ? A Being ever the same 
 in all the excellencies of his perfections ; in all 
 the fulness of his Godhead. No communica- 
 tions impoverish him; he is still the overflow- 
 ing Fountain of all good. Drop the earth, 
 therefore, for a moment, and endeavor to enter 
 into this pleasant thought : " Why should I be 
 discouraged at the little trifles of the present 
 scene ? I am an heir of this Great Being, the 
 Sovereign Lord of all worlds. He is my father 
 and my friend, my present heritage and my 
 everlasting portion. It is not felicity, it is not 
 the saints, it is not heaven merely, that I am to 
 possess ; but God himself. Amazing thought ! 
 transporting idea ! Whatever God is, whatev- 
 er God has, his divinity excepted ; whatever 
 he can do, whatever he has promised ; all are 
 mine, through Jesus the Mediator. let me 
 die, then, to the world, and lose myself in him. 
 Let no earthly scene, henceforth, allure me ; 
 let no worldly care or vexatious trial depress 
 my spirits ; for the Creator of heaven and 
 
176 YOUNG CHRISTIAN'S, &c 
 
 earth is mine, my God, my glory forever."- — 
 Thus you may meditate and rejoice, in the 
 bright hope of enjoyments which eye hath not 
 seen, ear heard, nor have entered into the heart 
 of man to conceive. 
 
 But what will add still to your joys, and af- 
 ford you encouragement under all the passing 
 scenes of the present life, is the certain and sure 
 hope of immortality. Here the fairest flower 
 fades ; the finest prospects are soon beclouded ; 
 the tenderest ties are dissolved ; the strongest 
 frame decays ; the most extensive inheritance 
 must be relinquished ; the finest intellects grow 
 dull ; and the greatest temporal happiness of 
 mortals terminate in sorrow and the grave. — 
 But behold eternity written upon the pleas- 
 ures, the exercises, the society, of the celestial 
 world. Come, Christian, elevate your mind. 
 Surely, the thought of this is enough to out- 
 weigh every suffering of the present state. — 
 Here, then, fix your thoughts, and sing as you 
 pass along, 
 
 " Now to the shining realms above 
 I stretch my hands and glance my eyes ; 
 O for the pinions of a dove, 
 To bear me to the upper skies! 
 
 There, from the bosom of my God, 
 Oceans of endless pleasure roll ; 
 There would I fix my last abode, 
 And drain the sorrows of my soul." 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 Thus I have endeavored to suggest a few 
 directions and cautions, and to propose some 
 suitable encouragement to the sincere inquirer 
 after divine truth. But should it fall into the 
 hands of any, who are yet careless and uncon- 
 cerned, let me entreat them seriously to consider 
 the importance and necessity of real religion. 
 It is easy to ridicule, and common to make 
 apologies for living without it. But remember 
 you must shortly die. You may die suddenly; 
 you may in a moment be bereft of the use of 
 your faculties. A tile falling from the house, 
 a stone in the street, a little cold air penetrating 
 through an opening pore, a fire in your dwel- 
 ling, a sudden fall, may be commissioned to 
 take away your life in a very short time. But 
 supposing you were to live an hundred year?, 
 how irrational, how ungrateful, how insensible, 
 to pass away your time as if you had no soul 
 to be saved ; as if there were no God to be 
 served, no hell to shun, no heaven to obtain. — 
 Have you never thought that there is a God 
 before whom you must shortly stand, and to 
 whom you must give an account ? Do you 
 
178 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 imagine that truth and error, righteousness and 
 unrighteousness, ignorance and knowledge, 
 reverence and blasphemy, are the same to him? 
 and that no distinctions are to be made between 
 right and wrong; between him that serveth 
 God and him that serveth him not ? Be not 
 deceived ; God is not to be mocked : for what- 
 soever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 
 The wicked shall not stand in his sight, for 
 with such he is angry every day. But you 
 may be ready to acknowledge your belief in a 
 God, and even in his Son Jesus Christ, as the 
 Saviour ; but think it unnecessary, till the day 
 of sickness or the time of old age arrive, to 
 commence a life of devotedness to him. But 
 do you not know that the older you grow in 
 sin, the more hardened you are likely to be in 
 it ? and is it not a most melancholy fact, that 
 among all the conversions recorded in scripture, 
 there is not one of a sinner who professedly 
 delayed his repentance? O consider, then, 
 what a fatal delusion this is, and how likely 
 you are, by thus procrastinating, to drop into 
 the grave with all the guilt and curse of sin 
 lying heavy upon you. You do not think 
 neither what inconsistency and ingratitude 
 mark your conduct. After you have spent 
 your youth, the best of your time, the flower of 
 your talents, the days of health, and the sea- 
 sons of activity and usefulness, in the service 
 of the world and of sin ; then, when you can 
 pursue them no longer, when necessity drags 
 you from them, when you cannot taste the joys 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 179 
 
 of folly as you have done ; then, when decrep- 
 itude and old age steal upon you, and the days 
 arrive in which you have no pleasure in them; 
 then God, your almighty protector and best 
 friend, may have your services. And what, 
 alas ! are these ? What are the services of a 
 poor wretched old sinner, whose body and 
 health have been worn out in the work and 
 drudgery of Satan ; whose faculties have been 
 decayed in the slavery of the world ; whose 
 vigor and life, whose strength and talents, have 
 all been spent in the toils of vanity and human 
 concerns ? O miserable man ! Is this thy 
 kindness to thy Friend ? Is this reason ? Is 
 this gratitude ? Is this obedience ? O pray 
 that the thought of thy heart may be forgiven 
 thee ; that thou mayest no longer stand at a 
 distance from Him, who alone can make thee 
 happy, in this world and that which is to come. 
 No longer trifle, therefore, with thine immor- 
 tal part. Hasten to that fountain which is 
 open for sin and uncleanness. Look up to the 
 God of grace to give thee that repentance 
 which neecleth not to be repented of. Behold 
 his word waits to instruct thee, his house to 
 receive thee, his people to give thee the right 
 hand of fellowship. Behold the God of grace 
 willing to pardon, the Saviour of sinners look- 
 ing with pit} 7 , the spirit of all truth ready to 
 guide thee in the way thou shouldst go. Be- 
 hold the innumerable monitors rising up, and 
 calling thee. The voice of truth, of conscience, 
 of example, of creation, of providence, of mercy, 
 
180 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 of affliction, and of the gospel, all saying, 
 Come, for all things are now ready. O God, 
 may their voice be heard, prejudice be removed, 
 sin pardoned, the heart changed, and grace 
 triumph in the conversion of sinners to thyself! 
 Amen. 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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