had recourse to, on the like occasion, to wit, "That all shall work together for good, to them that love God, who are the called according to his purpose.' The devil could not touch the possessions of Job, till he had received a commission from God; nor could he come near his body till that commission was renewed; and so, neither can he, nor any creature whatsoever, throw any evil upon me, without the divine permission: and even that, though it seems to be evil, shall really, in the end, turn to my benefit and advantage. O! what a sovereign antidote is this against all despondency and despair, even under the deepest and severest trials? Permit me, O my God, to apply this sacred promise to myself, and say, I am assured of it by my own experience. For I can hardly remember any one thing that ever happened to me, in the whole course of my life, even to the crossing of my most earnest desires, and highest expectations, but what I must confess, to the praise of thy grace and goodness, has really, in the end, turned to my advantage another way. O! make me truly sensible of all thy promises to, and dealings with me, that whatever storms and surges may arise, in the tempestuous ocean of this transient world, I may still fix the anchor of my hope and happiness in thee, who art the source and spring of all blessings, and without whom no evil or calamity could ever befall me!

And as the promises of God, upon all these accounts, are to be the object of my hope; so are his threatenings to be of my fear and aversion: as the former are of excellent use to raise and revive the most drooping hearts, so the latter are of weight

enough to sink and depress the stoutest and most undaunted spirits, and make them lick up the dust of horror and despair. Not to mention any thing of the exquisite and eternal miseries denounced against the wicked in the next world, with which the scriptures every where abound, there is one punishment threatened to be inflicted here, which is, of itself, sufficient to do this; and that is, in Mal. ii. 2. “If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and curse your blessings." Most dreadful sentence ! which none, that consider aright, can be able to read without trembling and astonishment. Alas! if God should curse me, where should I seek for a blessing, since he is the only fountain from which it flows, and by which it is conveyed and communicated to Ine? And if he should curse my very blessings, what could I hope for but misery and despair? my health, my wealth, my preferments, my relations, nay, my very life itself, would all be accursed to me; and what is yet worse, even my spiritual exercises and performances, upon which I chiefly build my hopes of happiness, my preaching, praying, and communicating, would all become a snare and a curse to me: yea, and Christ himself, who came into the world to bless and redeem me, if I walk not in his fear, believe not his gospel, or give not glory to his name, will himself be a curse and condemnation So I may say of every thing I have, or expect, that all these God has made curses to me, because I have not blessed and glorified him in them. O! who would not tremble

to me.

enjoy,

or

and be wrought upon by these threatenings; who would not fear thee, O King of nations, who art thus terrible in thy judgments; who would not love and obey thee, who art so gracious in thy promises! Teach me, I beseech thee, so to place my fear upon the former, that I may still fix my hope upon the latter; that though I fear thy dreadful curses, yet I may never despair of thy tender mer

cies!

RESOLUTION VI.

I am resolved, by the grace of God, to arm myself with that spiritual courage and magnanimity, as to press through all duties and difficulties whatsoever, for the advancement of God's glory, and my own happiness.

CHRISTIANITY is well termed a warfare, for a warfare it is, wherein no danger can be prevented, no enemy conquered, no victory obtained, without much courage and resolution. I have not only many outward enemies to grapple with, but I have myself, my worst enemy to encounter and subdue. As for those enemies which are not near me, by the assistance of God's Spirit, I can make pretty good shift to keep them at the sword's point: but this enemy, that has got within me, has so often foiled and disarmed me, that I have reason to say, as David did of his enemies, "It is too strong for me;" and as he said of the chief of them, "I shall one day fall by the hands of Saul:" so I have too much occasion to say, I shall fall by myself, as being myself

concerns.

the greatest enemy to my own spiritual interest and How necessary is it, then, that I should raise and muster up all my force and courage, put on my spiritual armour, and make myself strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might? I know I must strive, before I can enter in at the strait gate; I must win the crown, before I can wear it, and be a member of the church militant, before I can be admitted into the church triumphant. In a word, I must go through a solitary wilderness, and conquer many enemies, before I come to the land of Canaan, or else I must never be possessed of it. What then? Shall I lose my glory, to balk my duty? Shall I let go my glorious and eternal possession, to save myself from a seeming hardship, which the devil would persuade me to be a trouble and affliction? Alas! if Christ had laid aside the great work of my redemption, to avoid the undergoing of God's anger and man's malice, what a miserable condition had I been in! And, therefore, whatever taunts and reproaches I meet with from the presumptuous and profane, the infidel and atheistical reprobates of the age; let them laugh at my profession, or mock at what they are pleased to call preciseness; let them defraud me of my just rights, or traduce and bereave me of my good name and reputation; let them vent the utmost of their poisonous malice and envy against me,-I have this comfortable reflection still to support me, that if I suffer all this for Christ's sake, it is in the cause of one who suffered a thousand times more for mine: hence, it ought to be matter of joy and triumph, rather than of grief and dejection to me; especially,

considering "that these my light afflictions, which are but for a moment, will work out for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Upon the prospect of which, I firmly resolve, notwithstanding the growing strength of sin, and the overbearing prevalency of my own corrupt affections, to undertake all duties, and undergo all miseries, that God in his infinite wisdom, thinks fit to lay upon me, or exercise my patience in.

RESOLUTION VII.

I am resolved, by the grace of God, so to be angry, as not to sin; and, therefore, to be angry at nothing but sin.

THE former part of the resolution is founded in the express command of St. Paul, "Be ye angry, and sin not." And the latter is an explication of, as well as an inference drawn from it. For, if anger be not only lawful, but a duty, as is here supposed, when it does not involve us in sin; the only difficulty is, to know how that passion ought to be qualified, to justify the exercise of it without being guilty of sin: and the circumstances or qualifications required for this, are first, That it be placed upon a due object; and, secondly, That it do not exceed its proper bounds.

Now, as nothing can deserve my anger, but what is disagreeable to my nature, and offensive to the author of it, so nothing but sin can properly be called its object. The chief thing that I am to aim at in my actions, is the honouring, serving and