of persons, yet, unless, together with the streams of their natural disposition, there run likewise a spiritual desire to please God, and obey his commands, their abstaining from these vices, is no more than the brute beasts themselves do, who always act according to the temper of their bodies, and are never guilty of any excesses that are prejudicial to them.

Hence servants are commanded to be "obedient to their masters, with good will doing service as to the Lord, and not to men;" which clearly shows, that though a servant doth obey his master, yet if he doth not do it in obedience to God, he will not find acceptance with him. So that, whensoever I set my hand to any action that is good, I must still fix my eye upon God's commanding of it, and do it only in respect to that; as knowing, that if I give but a farthing to the poor, in all my life, and do it in obedience to God's commands, it shall be accepted sooner than theirs, who feed hundreds at their table every day, and have not respect to the same command.

Do I see a poor wretch ready to fall down to the earth for want of a little support, and my bowels begin to yearn towards him? Let me search into my heart, and see what it is that raises this compassion in me. If it flows only from a natural tenderness to a brother in misery, without regard to the love of God, who has commanded and enjoined it, the poor man may be succoured and relieved, but God will not be pleased or delighted with it. Again, do my friends stir me up to pray or hear, or do any other spiritual or civil action, and I therefore only do it because of their importunity? I may

satisfy my friends' desire, but cannot properly be said to obey the commands of God in such a performance: so that the great and only foundation that I must resolve to build all the actions of my life upon, is an uniform obedience to that God, by whom alone I am enabled to perform them.

RESOLUTION II.

I am resolved, by the grace of God, to do every thing with prudence and discretion, as well as with zeal and affection.

So

WHILST I am penned up in this earthly tabernacle, I live almost as in a darksome dungeon, having no light to work by, but a little that springs in at the narrow crevices of my understanding. that I had need to make use of all that little light and knowledge I have, to regulate the heat and zeal that sometimes sit upon my spirit. For good passions may sometimes carry me into bad actions; my zeal, when hot in the pursuit of God's glory, may sometimes hurry me beyond his laws; especially when Christian prudence hath not first chalked out the way, and set the bounds for it: as, in discourse, my zeal may put me upon throwing pearls before swine, or using words, when silence may be more commendable; so in my actions too, unless wisdom and discretion govern and command my affections, I shall frequently run into such as would be altogether needless and impertinent, and therefore ought to be omitted; and daily neglect several duties which ought to be performed.

But, my understanding and discretion is chiefly requisite for the ordering of time and place, and other particular circumstances, the irregular management of which may easily spoil the best actions. For instance, that may be a good work at one time and place, which is not at another; and may be very innocent and becoming in one person, though quite contrary in another. It is therefore the proper office of my understanding to point out the fittest time and place, and person, for the performance of each action I engage in. As for example, in distributing to the poor, my hand of charity must be either guided by the eye of understanding, where, when, how much, and to whom to give; or else I may, at the same time, not only offend God, but wrong my neighbour and myself too. And so for all other actions whatsoever, which I ought therefore never to set myself about, though it be of the lowest rank, without consulting the rules of wisdom, modelled by the law of God.

RESOLUTION III.

I am resolved, by the grace of God, never to set my hand, my head, or my heart, about any thing but what I verily believe is good in itself, and will be esteemed so by God.

WITHOUT faith, the apostle tells me," it is impossible to please God." "For whatsoever is not of faith, is sin." Where, by faith, we are not to understand that saving faith, whereby I believe that my person is justified through Christ; but that,

whereby I believe that my works shall be accepted by God: for faith here is opposed to doubting; and that, not about Christ's dying for me, or my living in him, but about the particular actions of my life. "He that doubteth," saith the apostle, "is damned if he eats;" that is, he that eateth that which he doubteth whether it may be lawful to eat or not, is damned, because he sins in doing it, and therefore may be damned for it. But why so? Because "he eateth not of faith;" because he doth that which he knows not whether he may do or not, not believing it to be really good in itself, or acceptable unto God. And, though the apostle here instances only in that particular action of eating, yet what he says with relation to that, is properly applicable to all the other actions of life: for he afterwards subjoins, "Whatsoever is not of faith, is sin :" whatsoever it is, good or bad, if not done by faith, it is sin.

And truly, this particular will be of great use through my whole life for the avoiding of many sins, and for the doing of much good: for, many things which are good in themselves, may, for want of faith, become quite otherwise to me; my heart not believing what I do is good, my hand can never make it so. Or, if I think what I do is bad, though it be not so in itself, yet my very thinking it so, will make it so to me.

And this is what we call doing a thing with a good conscience, or keeping, as St. Paul did, "our conscience void of offence." And to go contrary to the dictates of my conscience in this particular, is to transgress the commands of God. For in this, conscience is as God's vicegerent in my soul: what

conscience commands, God commands; what conscience forbids, God forbids; that is, I am as really under the power of conscience, as the commands of God, in such a case. So that, if I do not obey the former, it is impossible for me to obey the latter. But how much then doth it behove me to see, that my conscience be rightly informed in every thing? For as if a judge be misinformed, it is impossible he should pass righteous judgment; so, if conscience be misinformed, it is impossible that I should do a righteous act. And, what a miserable case shall I then be in? If I do what is in itself sinful, though my conscience tell me it is good, yet I sin, because the act in itself is sinful; and if I do what in itself is good, and my conscience tell me it is bad, because my conscience tells me it is bad, I sin because my conscience tells me it is so: so that as my conscience is, so will my actions be.

For this reason, I resolve, in the presence of my great Creator, never to do any thing, till I have first informed my conscience from the word of God, whether it be lawful for me to do it, or not; or in case it be not determined there, to make a strict search and inquiry into each circumstance of it, considering with myself what good or evil may issue from it, and so what good or evil there is in it: and according as my conscience, upon the hearing of the argument on both sides, shall decide the matter, I shall do, or not do it; never undertaking any thing upon mere surmises, because it may be good, but upon a real and thorough persuasion that it is so.