RESOLUTION VI.

I am resolved, by the grace of God, to be as faithful and constant to my friend, as I would have my friend to be faithful and constant to me.

HAVING before resolved to be zealous in loving God, I here resolve to be as constant in loving my friend. But why do I resolve upon this? Is it possible to live and not to love? This to me seems as plain a contradiction, as to live and not to live. For love, in my opinion, is as much the life of the soul, as the soul is the life of the body. So that, for my own part, I shall expect to cease to live, at the very moment that I cease to love: nay, I do not look upon love only as my life, but as the joy and comfort of it too. And, for this reason, I shall never envy any man his riches, pleasures, or preferments, provided that I can but enjoy the persons my soul delights in; namely Christ in the first place, and friend and neighbour in the second.

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But then I must have a great care where and how I place this affection; for if I place it wrong, my very loving will be sinning. And therefore, I shall always endeavour to make such only my friends as are friends to God. Not that I look upon it necessary to love my friends always under that notion only as they are friends of God; for then, no love but that which is spiritual would be lawful: whereas there is doubtless, a natural love, that is no less a duty, and, by consequence, no less lawful, than the

other; as, the love of parents towards their children, and children towards their parents; and the mutual complacency that arises betwixt friends, as well as relations, from the harmony and agreement of humours and tempers. Thus our Saviour is said to have loved St. John more than any of his other disciples, which cannot be understood of a spiritual love; for this, undoubtedly, was equal to all; but being a man subject to the like passions (though not imperfections) as we are, he placed more natural affection upon, and might have more natural complacency in John than in his other disciples.

And, therefore, when I say, I am to make such my friends only, as are friends to God, my meaning is, that I will make none my friends, but such as I know to be good men and good Christians, such as deserve my love in a spiritual as well as a natural sense; and since I may lawfully love my friend in both these senses, the one is so far from being exclusive, that it is really perfective of the other. And for this reason, as the spiritual good of my friend is always to be preferred before that which is temporal, I am resolved to found the one upon the other. I will always be ready, as oft as he stands in need, either of my advice, encouragement, or assistance, to do him all the kind offices I can, in his worldly affairs, to promote his interest, vindicate his character from secret aspersions, and defend his person from open assaults; to be faithful and punctual in the performance of my promises to him, as well as in keeping the secrets he has intrusted me with. But all these things are to be done with a tender regard to the honour of God, and the duties

of religion: so that the services I do him in his temporal concerns, must be still consistent with, and subservient to, the spiritual interest and welfare of his immortal soul, in which I am principally obliged to manifest my friendship towards him. If I see him wander out of the right way, I must immediately take care to advertise him of it, and use the best means I can to bring him back to it. Or if I know him to be guilty of any reigning vices, I must endeavour to convince him of the danger and malignity of them, and importune and persuade him to amend and forsake them. And lastly, I must be as constant in keeping my friend, as cautious in choosing him, still continuing the heat of my affections towards him, in the day of his affliction, as well as in the height of his prosperity.

These are the rules whereby I resolve to express my friendship unto others, and whereby I would have others to express their friendship unto me.

CONCERNING MY TALENTS.

HAVING SO solemnly devoted myself to God, according to the covenant he hath made with me, and the duty I owe to him; not only what I am, and what I do, but likewise what I have, are still to be improved for him. And this I am bound to, not only upon a federal, but even a natural account; for whatsoever I have, I received from him, and therefore, all the reason in the world, whatsoever I have,

should be improved for him. For, I look upon myself as having no other property in what I enjoy, than a servant hath in what he is entrusted with to improve for his master's use. Thus, though I should have ten thousand pounds a year, I should have no more of my own, than if I had but two-pence in all the world. For it is only committed to my care for a season, to be employed and improved to the best advantage, and will be called for again at the grand audit, when I must answer for the use or abuse of it: so that whatsoever in a civil sense I can call my own, that, in a spiritual sense, I must esteem as God's. And therefore, it nearly concerns me to manage all the talents I am intrusted with, as things I must give a strict account for at the day of judgment. As God bestows his mercies upon me, through the greatness of his love and affection, so I am to restore his mercies back again to him, by the holiness of my life and conversation. In a word, whatever I receive from his bounty, I must, some way or other, lay out for his glory, accounting nothing my own, any further than as I improve it for God's sake and the spiritual comfort of my own soul.

In order to this, I shall make it my endeavour, by the blessing of God, to put in practice the following resolutions.

RESOLUTION I.

I am resolved, if possible, to redeem my past time by using a double diligence for the future, to employ and improve all the gifts and endowments, both of body and mind, to the glory and service of my great Creator.

TIME, health, and parts, are three precious talents, generally bestowed upon men, but seldom improved for God. To go no farther than myself, how much time and health have I enjoyed, by God's grace, and how little of it have I laid out for his honour? On the contrary, how oft have I offended, affronted, and provoked him, even when he has been courting me with his favours, and daily pouring forth his benefits upon me? This, alas! is a sad truth, which whensoever I seriously reflect upon, I cannot but acknowledge the continuance of my life as the greatest instance of God's mercy and goodness, as well as the greatest motive to my gratitude and obedience. In a due sense, therefore, of the vanities and follies of my younger years, I desire to take shame to myself for what is past, and do this morning humbly prostrate myself before the throne of grace, to implore God's pardon, and to make solemn promises and resolutions, for the future, to "cast off the works of darkness, and to put on the armour of light;" and not only so, but to redeem the precious minutes I have squandered away, by husbanding those that remain, to the best advantage.