wrestlings she hath wrestled for them, "earnestly contending for the faith once delivered to them." 5. To conclude, rather than you will part with your estates, you will choose to suffer many wants and hardships all your lives; you will fare hard, and go bare, to preserve what you have for your posterity; but the people of God have put themselves upon far greater hardships than these to preserve truth; they have chosen to suffer reproaches, poverty, prisons, death, and the most cruel torments, rather than the loss of God's truth; all the martyrologies will inform you what their sufferings have been to keep the word of God's patience; they have boldly told their enemies, that they might pluck their hearts out of their bodies, but should never pluck the truth out of their hearts. REFLECTIONS. 1. Base unbelieving heart! How have I flinched and shrunk from truth, when it hath A reflection for cow- been in danger? I have rather choardly and faint-heart- sen to leave it than my life, liberty ed professors. or estate as a prey to the enemy. I have left truth, and just it is that the God of truth should leave me. Cowardly soul! that durst not make a stand for the truth; yea, rather bold and daring soul! that would rather venture to look a wrathful God than an angry man in the face. I would not own and preserve the truth, and the God of truth will not own me. "If we deny him, he will deny us.” 2. Lord! unto me hast thou committed the precious treasures and trust of truth; and as I received it, do I desire to deliver it to the generations to come, that the people which are yet unbern A reflection for such as suffer for truth. may praise the Lord. God forbid I should ever part with such a fair inheritance, and thereby beggar my own and thousands of souls! Thou hast given me thy truth, and the world hates me; I well know that it is the ground of the quarrel. Would I but throw truth over the walls, how soon would a retreat be sounded to all persecutors ? But, Lord, thy truth is invaluably precious. What a vile thing is my blood compared with the least of all thy truths? Thou hast charged me not to sell it, and, in my strength, I resolve never to pass a fine, and cut off that golden line, whereby thy truths are entailed upon thy people from generation to generation: My friends may go, my liberty go, my blood may go; but as for thee, precious truth, thou shalt never go. 3. How dear hath this inheritance of truth cost some Christians? How little hath it cost A reflection for such us? We are entered into their laas are in quiet posses- bors, we reap in peace what they sion of truth. sowed in tears; yea, in blood. O the grievous sufferings that they chose to endure ! Rather than to deprive us of such an inheritance, those noble souls, heated with the love of Christ, and care for our souls, made many bold and brave adventures for it; and yet at what a low rate do we value what cost them so dear? Like young heirs, that never knew the getting of an estate, we spend it freely. Lord, help us thankfully and diligently to improve thy truths, while we are in quiet possession of them. Such intervals of peace and rest are usually of no long continuance with thy people. CHAPTER VI. UPON THE HUSBANDMAN'S CARE TO PROVE AND PRESERVE HIS DEEDS. Deeds for your lands you prove, and keep with care: : OBSERVATION. WE generally find men are not more careful in trying gold, or in keeping it, than they are in examining their deeds, and preserving them; these are virtually their whole estate, and therefore it concerns them to be careful of them if they suspect a flaw in their lease or deed, they repair to the ablest counsel, submit it to his judg ment, make the worst of their cause, and query about all the supposable danger with him. If he tell them their case is suspicious and hazardous, how much are they perplexed and troubled? They can neither eat, drink, nor sleep in peace, till they have a good settlement; and willing they are to be at much cost and pains to obtain it. APPLICATION. These cares and fears with which you are perplexed in such cases, may give you a little glimpse of those troubles of soul, with which the people of God are perplexed about their eternal condition; which, perhaps, you have been hitherto unacquainted with, and therefore slighted them, as fancies and whims. I say, your own fears and troubles, if ever you were engaged by a cunning and powerful adversary in a lawsuit for your estate, may give you a little glimpse of spiritual troubles; and indeed it is no more than a glimpse of it; for, as the loss of an earthly, though fair inheritance, is but a trifle to the loss of God and the soul to eternity; so you cannot but imagine, that the cares, fears and solicitudes of souls about these things, are much, very much beyond yours. Let us compare the cases, and see how they answer to each other. 1. You have evidences for your estates, and by them you hold what you have in the world: They also have evidences for their estate in Christ, and glory to come; they hold all in capite, by virtue of their intermarriage with Jesus Christ; they come to be instated in that glorious inheritance contained in the covenant of grace. You have their tenure in that scripture, "All is yours; for ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." Faith unites them to him, and after they believe, they are sealed by the Spirit of promise. Eph. 1. 13. They can lay claim to no promise upon any other ground; this is their title to all that they own as theirs. 2. It often falls out, that after the sealing and executing of your deeds, or leases, an adversary finds some dubious clause in them, and thereupon commences a suit of law with you. Thus it frequently falls out with the people of God, who, after their believing and sealing time, have doubts and scruples raised in them about their title. Nothing is more common, than for the devil, and their own unbelief, to start controversies, and raise strong objections against their interest in Christ, and the covenant of promises. These are cunning and potent adversaries, and do maintain long debates with the gracious soul, and reason so cunningly and sophistically with it, that it can by no means extricate and satisfy itself; always alleging that their title is worth nothing, which they, poor souls, are but too apt to suspect. 3. All the while that a suit of law is depending about your title, you have but little comfort or benefit, from your estate; you cannot look upon it as your own, nor lay out monies in building or dressing, for fear you should lose all at last. Just so stands the case with doubting Christians; they have little comfort from the most comfortable promises, little benefit from the sweetest duties and ordinances: They put off their own comforts, and say, if we were sure that all this were ours, we would then rejoice in them: But alas! our title is dubious: Christ is a precious Christ: the promises are comfortable things; but what, if they be none of ours? Ah! how little doth the doubting Christian make of his large and rich inheritance ! 4. You dare not trust your own judgments in such cases, but state your case to such as are learned in the laws, and are willing to get the ablest counsel you can to advise you. So are poor doubting Christians; they carry their cases from Christian to Christian, and from minister to minister, with such requests as these: Pray tell me, what do you think of my condition? Deal plainly and faithfully with me; these be my grounds of doubting, and these my grounds of hope. O hide nothing from me! And if they all agree that their case is good, yet they cannot be satisfied till God say so too, and confirm the word of his servants; and therefore they carry the case often before him in such words as these,"Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me." 5. You have little quiet in your spirits, till the case be resolved; your meat and drink do you little good; you cannot sleep in the night, because these troubled thoughts are ever returning upon you, what if I should be turned out of all at last? So it is with gracious souls; their eyes are held waking in the night, by reason of the troubles of |