you are beholden to folly, security and stupidity for that ease which hindereth your everlasting ease.

So that all things considered, I must seriously profess, that (however the ungodly have some pleasant dreams, and may live awhile in carelessness and stupidity, or fleer in the face, while the beginning of hell is in their consciences, yet) I must judge, that a life of faith and holiness are unspeakably sweet, if it were but for this, that they save the conscience from the gripes, and fears, and terrible thoughts, that either sometime feed on the ungodly, or are ready to devour their mirth and them. So sad and frightful a thing it is to be unsanctified, and in a state of sin, that it is a high commendation of the delights of holiness, that they so much deliver us from those grievous terrors, and are so powerful an antidote to preserve the heart from the wicked's pangs and desperation. Believe it, when conscience, death, and judgment are the messengers to declare your endless sorrows, you will then wish, and ten thousand times wish, that you had some of the faith and holiness of the saints, to be a cordial to your sinking hearts; and then you would take it as a matter of unspeakable joy, to be found in such a state as you now count sad and melancholy. Ask but a dying man, whether fleshly pleasure or godliness be the sweeter thing? Now when the delusions of prosperity are gone, which do men most relish, and which is it that they would own? By the consent of all the wise men in the world, I may well conclude that a holy life is incomparably the most pleasant.

But I know there are many things that seem to cross all this that I have spoken, which will be the matter of the objections of ungodly men, and therefore must have an answer, before we pass any further. And the principal objection is from the too common case of those that fear God, who walk so sadly, and doubt, and complain, and mourn so frequently, and shew so little cheerfulness and joy, when many of the ungodly live in mirth, that you will think I speak against experience, when I say that a life of holiness, is so pleasant, and therefore that it is not to be believed. You will say, 'Do we not see the contrary in the sadness of their faces, and hear it in their sad lamenting words?'

To this I must give many particulars in answer, which

when you have laid together, you may see that all this makes nothing against the pleasantness of the ways of God.

And, 1. You must difference between the entrance into holiness, and the progress; and between a new beginner, that is but lately turned from his ungodliness, and one that hath had time to try and understand the ways of God. Those that are entering, or but newly come in, must needs have sorrow. But what is the cause of it? Not their godliness but their ungodliness. I mean, it is their ungodliness which they lament, though it be godliness that causeth them to lament it. Can you expect that an ingenuous man should see his sin, and look back on so many years' transgressions, and not be grieved? To see that he hath so long abused God, and lost his time, and neglected his salvation, and that he hath lain so long in so miserable a state, must needs cause remorse in the conscience that hath any feeling. And will you say that godliness is unpleasant, because it makes a man sorrow for his ungodliness? If a man that hath killed his dearest friend, or his own father, be grieved for the fact when he cometh to repentance, will you blame his repentance or his murder for his grief? Will you say, What a hurtful thing is this repentance! or rather, What an odious crime was it that must be so repented of! Would you wish a man that hath lived so long in sin and misery, to have no sorrow for it in his return? Especially when it is but a healing sorrow, preparing for remission, and not a sorrow joined with despair, as theirs will be that die impenitently? Observe the complaints of penitent souls, whether it be their present godliness, or their former ungodliness, which they lament? Will you hear a man lament his former sinful, careless life, and yet will you lay the blame on the contrary course of duty, which now he hath undertaken? You may as wisely accuse a man for landing in a safe harbour, because he there lamenteth his loss by shipwreck while he was at sea. Or as wisely may you blame a man for rising that complaineth how he hurt himself by his fall. And as honestly may you accuse the chastity of your wife, because she lamenteth her former adultery; or the fidelity of your friend or servant, because he lamenteth his former unfaithfulness.

But though the pangs of the new birth be somewhat grievous, and we come not into the world of grace without some lamentation, yet this is not the state of the holy life, into

which we enter; nor are those pangs to continue all our days.

2. You must distinguish between the weaker and the stronger sort of Christians, and consider that children are apt to cry; but it is not therefore better to be unborn. Sickness is querulous, and the weak are froward; but it is not therefore better to be dead. The godly are not perfectly godly. They are sinners while they are saints. They have holiness, but they have corruption with it. Their sin is conquered, but yet not totally rooted out. The relics do remain though it do not reign. And it is the remnant of their unholiness that they lament, and not their holiness. They grieve not that they are godly, but that they are no more godly. It troubleth them not that they are come home to Christ, but that they have brought so much of their corruption with them. Hearken whether they complain of their humility or their pride; of their faith, or unbelief; their confidence, or their distrust; their repentance, or their hardness of heart. It is not their heavenlymindedness that troubleth them, but their earthlymindedness. Nor is it their spirituality, but their carnality. Nor is it the duties, but the weakness and faultiness of their souls in duty. Not that they do it, but that they do it no better. It is more holiness that they beg for, and lament the want of. And will you say that holiness is unpleasant, because men would so fain have more of it? You would reason with more wisdom in another case. If a man that hath tasted meat or drink, complain because he hath no more, you would not blame his food for that: nor gather from thence that it is unpleasant, or that famine is more delightful.

3. You must distinguish between those Christians that have fallen since their conversion, into any great and wounding sin, or nourish some vexatious distempers; and those that walk more uprightly with God, and maintain their integrity and peace. No wonder if David, after his sin, complain of the breaking of his bones and heart; and if Peter go out and weep bitterly. The servants of Christ do know so much of the evil of sin, that they cannot make so light of it, as the blind and obdurate world that are past feeling. That sin which hath cost them formerly so dear, and hath cost Christ so much dearer on their behalf, must needs cost some smart in the penitent soul. Sickness is felt because it supposeth the subject to be alive; but the dead feel not that they are

dead and rotten. And it doth not follow that therefore death is more desirable than sickness. It is because they are so like to the ungodly, that the servants of Christ do grieve and complain. But so far as they feel the healthfulness of their souls, and conscious of their sincerity and upright conversations, they have greater comfort than the world can afford them.

4. You must distinguish between those Christians that by misapprehensions are unacquainted with their own felicity, and those that better understand their state. If a man be never so holy, and know it not, but by temptations is brought to doubt, whether he be not yet in his unsanctified state, no wonder if this man be grieved at these fears. But his grief is not because he is sanctified, but because he is afraid lest he be unsanctified. And this shews that holiness is most lovely in his eyes; or else why should he be much troubled, when he doth but doubt whether he be holy or not? If a rich man by a false report should believe that he is robbed of his goods and treasure, or that his houses are burnt when it is not so, he will mourn or be troubled till he know the truth. And will any be so foolish as to conclude from thence, that riches are more uncomfortable than beggary? Had you not rather be rich, though for a time you know it not, than to live in certain, continual want? If a man that is in health be persuaded by mistake that he is in a consumption, he will be troubled by his mistake. But will you thence conclude that sickness is more comfortable than health? Is it not better to have health with those mistaken fears, than to live in sickness? Methinks you should rather argue on the contrary side, How sweet is health when the fear of losing it is so troublesome! How bitter is sickness and death, when the very fear of them is so grievous! And so you should say, How sweet is holiness, when it is so troublesome to those that have it, so much as to fear lest they have it not! and, How miserable a life is it to be ungodly, when it is so grievous to the servants of Christ even once to fear lest they are ungodly!

But go to those Christians that know themselves, and are truly acquainted with their sincerity and their privileges, and see whether they walk so uncomfortably as those mistaken, doubting souls. You will find them in another case, and

hear other kind of language from their mouths; even the joyful praises of their Redeemer, and the thankful acknowledgments of his abundant love. How sweet unto their souls is the remembrance of kindness! and how delightful a work is it from day to day to magnify his name!

5. You must also distinguish between those weak, mistaken Christians, that understand not the extent of the covenant of grace, and those that do understand it. If a believer by mistake should think that the grace of the Gospel extendethnot to such as he, because he is unworthy, and his sins are great, no wonder if he be troubled. As you would be if you should conceive that your lease were not made to you, but to another; or as a malefactor would be if he thought his pardon belonged not to him, but to another man. But hence you should rather observe the riches and excellencies of the Gospel, and the happiness of the heirs of promise, than dream that it is better be strangers to the holy covenant still. They are better that have a promise of life and understand it not, than they that have none. But those that know the freeness and fulness of the promise, and study with all saints to comprehend what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge (Eph. iii. 18, 19.), do use to walk more comfortably according to the riches of that grace which they do possess.

6. Consider also, that most of these complaining Christians are glad that they are in any measure got out of their former state, and therefore apprehend their cause to be better than it was before. Or else they would turn back to the state that they were in; which they would not do for all the world. And therefore they take a godly life to be far more pleasant to them that do attain it.

7. Moreover, the sorrow of believers is such as may consist with joy. At the same time while they are grieved that they are no better, they are gladder of that measure of grace which they have received, than they would be to be made the rulers of the world. While they are mourning for the remnant of their sins, they are glad that it is but a remnant that they have to mourn for. Yea, while they are troubled because they doubt of their sincerity and salvation, they are more sustained and comforted with that little discerning which they have of their evidences, and with their hopes of the everlasting love of God, than they could by all your sin