presence of a man, then much more the presence of God, will keep a man from sin. Wicked men take liberty to sin, because they say, "Tush, thou God seest us not." But God looks upon you, not only when you are fasting, but feasting; not only when you are praying, but playing; not only in the fields, but in the house; not only in the parlour, but in the bed chamber, yea, in the closet. Were this consideration still with you, "God sees us," what temptation could prevail against us? It is said of a holy and reverend man, that he had this written before his eyes in his study:-" Sin not thou, though ever so secret: God sees thee, and the angels stand by thee; the devil is ready to accuse thee; thine own conscience to give evidence against thee, and hell fire to torment thee. Be thou in the fear of God all the day long," Prov. xxiii. 17.

(2.) Maintain in your hearts thoughts of the strict account which you shall one day make of every

sin.

66 Answer all temptations thus :-" Oh, I cannot answer for the sins I have committed already! And shall I now make work for the great day? Is not my account great enough already! Oh, how can I answer God for one of a thousand sins that I have already committed ?"

(3.) Let the word of God dwell plenteously in your hearts. To hide the word in your hearts, is the way to be kept from sin, Psa. cxix. 11. Christ vanquished the devil by Scripture; "Get thee hence, Satan for it is written," thou shalt not do thus or thus, Matt. iv. 10. Impress the commands of God, the threatenings of God, the curse of the law, upon your soul, whenever thou art tempted to sin.

(4.) Oppose eternity of torment to your sinful pleasures, and say, "What advantage is it to win

What!

the whole world, and lose my soul for ever? shall I venture to lie under the wrath of Almighty God for ever, for a few momentary pleasures ?" Profits and pleasures are the gilded baits of all temptations.

(5.) Lodge holy thoughts in your hearts, and obey all motions of God's Spirit. A mind fraught with holy thoughts, will not admit vain thoughts. When Satan finds the heart void and swept of good thoughts, then he enters with evil suggestions: so whilst thou art following the motions of God's Spirit, this will quench diabolical motions.

(6.) Pray fervently, and frequently, that God will be thy guard: complain often to God, that you are in the midst of enemies, who are always vexing and enticing you. You can go no where, but the devil is at thy right hand: beseech the Lord that he will rebuke Satan. If God be thy Shepherd, he will rescue thee out of the paw of the bear, and out of the paw of the roaring lion.

(7.) Finally, let me advise you, to take heed of throwing yourselves into the lion's mouth, and into the paws of the bear: it is a provoking and tempting of God to give us over. If children will be meddling with fire, it is wisdom in the parent to let them burn their fingers, to prevent greater mischief. No man

hath need to tempt the devil to tempt him to sin; he is watchful enough to devour. When a man rushes upon temptations, and will venture upon keeping company with the wicked, he tempts the devil to tempt him.

M

SECTION XXXIII.

OF MORTIFICATION, AND THE DAILY EXERCISING OURSELVES

THEREIN.

DAILY exercise yourselves in the work of mortification of sin. As the poets write of that many-headed monster Hydra, with which Hercules encountered; that still the more heads he cut off, the more did spring up in their rooms: so we shall find it true of that uncouth monster of sin, which is bred in our natures; the more corruptions and temptations we vanquish and subdue, the more will multiply upon us still, and re-inforce their assaults. It will be every day's work, and all our lives work, to mortify all our sins. We must take all our spiritual enemies that we can light on, and give quarter to none that we take in battle, putting them all to the sword; as God commanded Saul to destroy all the Amalekites. And so careful ought every Christian to be, to rid the field of all, that he must stand armed after he hath beaten and vanquished all that appeared, and prepare for such as are undiscovered; as David, who endeavoured not only to subdue all his known sins, and to be kept from presumptuous sins, but prayed also to be cleansed from his secret sins: not from those which he cherished knowingly, (for of this sort he had none,) but which he had not yet discovered in himself, or not understood to be errors. Labour, by the power of grace, to charge through and through the whole body of sin, that you may cast down not only the actings, but the very imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every

Leave no

thought to the obedience of Christ. member unmortified, no sin unsubdued, even when the relics and remains of sin are not wholly rooted up. Let every Christian endeavour every day to mortify all his corruptions. By endeavouring to do it, you shall obtain thus much, that though corruption grows in your nature, yet it shall not overflow in your nature. The current of a quick springing well, which hath water continually bubbling and rising up in it, yet being continually laded out, and emptied as fast as it fills, though it be not kept dry, yet it shall be kept shallow, and not suffered to swell above the banks. So it is with our nature; it is a well that hath a quick spring; there is filthy water that ever bubbles out of it, but let us ever be pumping it, and lading it out, that as fast as it fills, we may empty it; this will be a means to keep it shallow, and though we cannot keep it dry, it shall not swell above the banks. St. Paul's lesson is plain; "Let not sin reign in your mortal body," Rom. vi. 12. Though sin remain there, yet let it not reign there; at least not reign like a king, though it reign like a tyrant, that we should be obedient to the lusts of it. There if it will be, let it be like a Gibeonite to an Israelite, a drudge, a slave; not a Sarah, but an Hagar; a servant, not a mistress; let not sin lose ground in one place, and gain in another. Mortify your earthly members, or affections, Col. iii. 5. Draw mortifying virtue daily from the death of Christ, and that I will have its influence upon the whole old man within you, although perhaps you employ it more especially against some particular members of the body of sin as when Christ cursed the fig-tree, in more special reference to the branches that bear no fruit, the whole tree immediately withered. This

mortifying virtue will not only tame, and bring under all sin in you, that it shall not domineer and rage as formerly it did, but it will receive its mortal wound, languish and consume away more and more, past all recovery; and hasten not only to a dissolution, but also, as it were, to a total annihilation.

SECTION XXXIV.

OF GROWING IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST, AND IN

GRACE.

LABOUR every day to grow more and more in the knowledge of Christ. Now, there are two degrees of the knowledge of Christ. 1. Historical and doctrinal. 2. Experimental and effectual.

1. As to the former, it is the knowledge of the person, natures, birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, kingdom, and the priestly, kingly, and prophetical offices of Christ, as these things are laid down in the history and doctrine of the gospel. And these contain abundance of glorious mysteries and wonderful revelations, which all the wisest men under heaven could never have found out, no nor the holy angels of heaven, if the Lord himself had not revealed them by his Spirit. Christians must grow in the knowledge of these. But an historical know

ledge, or a bare understanding of these things, is not enough, though a man had all knowledge, 1 Cor. xiii. 2; that is, of this degree or kind.

2. Labour for an inward, experimental knowledge With St. Paul,

of Christ, and to increase therein.