THE / «• Q 
 
 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAI; 
 
 OK, ^-— ~- 
 
 A SYSTEM 
 
 / ** J I 'I 
 
 0F 1 ^ " 1 >* - ■ 
 
 DOCTRINAL AND PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY, 
 
 DESIGNED 
 
 FOR THE USE OF FAMILIES. 
 
 BY REV. HENRY VENN, A.M., 
 
 RIOTOR OF YELLING IN HUNTINGDONSHIRE IN A. D. 1763. 
 
 A NEW EDITION, 
 
 CAREFULLY REVISED AND CORRECTED 
 
 BY REV. H. VENN, B.D., 
 
 OT 8T. JOHN'S HOLLOWAY; LATI nilOW OF QUEEN'S COLLEOE, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 To whom coming a3 unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, tout chosen ol 
 •od, and precious. Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy 
 viasthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.— 
 Piter, 2 : 4, 5. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE 
 
 AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 
 
 150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORE. 
 

 
J 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 (FROM THE LONDON EDITION.) 
 
 It may be well to inform the reader that the early editions 
 of this work, which were published by the author in his life 
 time, underwent many alterations both in respect of style and 
 arrangement. In the two first editions the number of chap- 
 ters was fourteen. In the third edition the work was divided 
 into fifty-two chapters, to correspond with the number of Sun- 
 days in the year: but by this arrangement the subjects were 
 inconveniently broken; the style also of this edition was so 
 altered, at the request of friends who thought it too prolix, as 
 to appear more like an abridgment than an original work. At 
 the close of the author's life, a fifth edition was prepared by 
 his son, the Rev. John Venn, Rector of Clapham, Surrey; in 
 which the style was brought back to that of the earlier edi- 
 tions, and a middle plan was adopted in the division of chap- 
 ters, by which the number was reduced to forty. This edi- 
 tion was printed and published by Mr. Hazard, of Bath, in 
 1798. Many subsequent editions have, however, been printed, 
 both in various parts of the United Kingdom and in America, 
 in some of which considerable alterations in point of style and 
 expression have been introduced: and in some cases the ob- 
 jectionable division of chapters has been adopted. 
 
4> ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The publisher of this edition being anxious to render it as 
 correct as possible, consulted a descendant of the author, the 
 Rev. Henry Venn, Incumbent of St. John's, Holloway, who late- 
 ly published a volume containing the author's life and cor- 
 respondence. By his advice the fifth edition has been follow- 
 ed, as the standard one; and as he also kindly revised the 
 proofs of the work, the present edition is presented to the 
 public, with some confidence, as being a genuine and correct 
 edition of a book which has long been regarded as one of the 
 most popular and useful manuals of practical divinity. 
 
 Holloway, August, 1S38. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 OF THE SOUL. 
 
 Chap. Page 
 
 1. Its Excellency, 11 
 
 2. Advantages of a just Conviction of its Excellency, . 18 
 
 OF GOD. 
 
 3. His character as described in Scripture, . . . • 27 
 
 4. His character Exemplified, 42 
 
 OF MAN. 
 
 5. His natural Condition, . .... 54 
 
 6. His Enmity against God, 65 
 
 OF THE LAW. 
 
 7. Its Perfection and Use, 75 
 
 8. Its Use as preparatory to the Gospel, ... 86 
 
 9. Evils arising from the Ignorance of it, . . . . 95 
 
 OF FAITH IN CHRIST. 
 
 10. Its Nature and Extent, 106 
 
 11. The Advantages of a just Idea of Faith, . . . 117 
 
 12. Ground of Faith in Christ for Pardon, ... 131 
 
 13. for Instruction, . . . 138 
 
 14. for Victory over Sin, . 148 
 
 OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 15. His Divinity, 156 
 
 16. His Office, 164 
 
 17. The Properties of his Influence 178 
 
 OF REPENTANCE. 
 
 18. Its Nature, 184 
 
 19. The same subject continued, 192 
 
 20. Its universal Obligation, 199 
 
 CHRISTIAN GRACES AND DISPOSITIONS. 
 
 21. Dispositions of a Christian towards God, . * , 206 
 
 Godly Fear, . , , 207 
 
 Ready Obedience — Gratitude 208 
 
 Trust in God, 211 
 
 Glorifying God, 214 
 
 Purity of Heart, • 215 
 
 22. Imitation of God, ........ 217 
 
 Love of God, ........ 220 
 
 Devotion, • . . ; 224 
 
 Self-abasement, ........ 227 
 
P CONTENTS. 
 
 Chap. Page. 
 
 23. Dispositions of a Christian towards Men, . . . 231 
 
 Sincerity, 232 
 
 Justice, 235 
 
 24. Mercy, 245 
 
 Meekness, 250 
 
 25. Candor < . 250 
 
 Forgiveness, 259 
 
 Humility, 263 
 
 RELATIVE DUTIES. 
 
 26. Of Persons in a married State 268 
 
 27. Of Parents, 280 
 
 28. Method of Instructing Children, 290 
 
 29. Of Children, 303 
 
 Of Servants, 306 
 
 Of Masters, ; 308 
 
 SELF-DENIAL. 
 
 30. With respect to Intemperance, 311 
 
 31. Impurity, 319 
 
 32. Covetousness, 329 
 
 Inordinate Affection, 336 
 
 Love of Praise, 338 
 
 33. False Shame, 343 
 
 Fear of suffering for Religion, 345 
 
 Pride of Reason, 347 
 
 Self-righteousness, 351 
 
 ON PRAYER. 
 
 34. Its Object, 356 
 
 Nature, 359 
 
 Subject, 363 
 
 35. Necessity, 366 
 
 36. Requisites of true Prayer, 373 
 
 Its Success, . . . . . . 380 
 
 ON SCRIPTURE. 
 
 37. Method of Studying it, ...... 386 
 
 CHRISTIAN JOY. 
 
 38. Its' Sources, 396 
 
 39. The Reasonableness of expecting it, . . . . 409 
 
 40. Its Certainty and Benefits, 419 
 
PREFATORY NOTICE. 
 
 The author of the following popular and highly 
 useful manual of practical divinity, was the Rev. 
 Henry Venn, an evangelical, laborious and suc- 
 cessful clergyman of the Church of England. It 
 has passed through frequent editions since its first 
 publication in the year 1763, and there is abundant 
 evidence of its having been attended with a bless- 
 ing to many of its readers. 
 
 The ministry of Mr. Venn commenced in t the 
 year 1747, and he went to his gracious reward in 
 the year 1797, having labored in his Master's cause 
 nearly half a century, and been an instrument in 
 his hands of spiritual good to multitudes of souls 
 He was one of those excellent men who contn 
 buted largely to the spread of evangelical preach 
 
8 PREFATORY NOTICE. 
 
 ing in the established church ; many of the younger 
 clergy by his instructions and example having been 
 led into a more prominent exhibition of the doc- 
 trines of grace, and into a corresponding exemplifi- 
 cation of their practical value in the purity of their 
 lives and conduct. 
 
 The tenor of the work now presented anew to 
 the christian public is in beautiful consistence with 
 that of Mr. Venn's published sermons. It places 
 things in their proper order, preparing the way to 
 christian practice by christian faith, and to christian 
 faith by heartfelt conviction of sin. It considers all 
 attempts to promote holiness of living as defective, 
 in which the cross of Christ is not laid as the 
 foundation, and constantly kept in view; every 
 duty being enforced as having relation to the Re- 
 deemer, his instructions and example, and above 
 all, his atoning sacrifice. 
 
 v< True holiness," says its pious author in his 
 original preface, " which consists in profound self- 
 abasement, and subjection to the God and Father 
 of our spirits, in love of his nature and will, in 
 
PREFATORY .NOTICE. 9 
 
 heavenly-mindedness, in ardent longings after purity 
 of heart, is the genuine product of a living faith, 
 and is no where to be found till the ever-blessed 
 name of Jesus, his grace and truth, his compassion, 
 his dying love, and all-perfect obedience, are the 
 meditation, delight and confidence of the soul." 
 
 May every reader of this excellent work unite 
 with the author in his cordial prayer to the Foun- 
 tain of all good, " that it would please him to make 
 it instrumental in giving to those who peruse it such 
 a manifestation of the glory of God the Father, Son, 
 and Holy Ghost, as shall make sin and the world, 
 with their bewitching charms, appear vain, despicable 
 and odious — such a conviction of human ignorance, 
 guilt and depravity, as may infinitely endear the name 
 of a Redeemer and Sanctifier, and create tender com- 
 passion and humbleness of mind one towards an- 
 other — such a knowledge of the pardon and peace, 
 the strength and power, the purity and holiness 
 which ennoble and bless those who have scriptural 
 faith in Christ, as may manifest the emptiness of 
 
 deistical and formal religion, and excite an earnest 
 
 1* 
 
10 PREFATORY NOTICE. 
 
 desire to .behold the meridian glory of Christianity 
 in the eternal world; where every creature breaks 
 forth in fervent acknowledgment of infinite obliga- 
 tion, saying, ' Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to 
 receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, 
 and honor, and glory, and blessing.' P 
 
 J. M. 
 
THE 
 
 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE sour,. 
 
 ITS EXCELLENCE. 
 
 It is evident that man is endued with an active prin- 
 ciple, entirely distinct from his body. For whilst his 
 body is chained down, an unconscious mass of matter- 
 to a spot of earth, his soul can soar and expatiate in 
 contemplation ; can reflect, and with variety almost in- 
 finite, can compare the numberless objects which pre- 
 sent themlelves before it. When his body has attained 
 maturity, his soul arrives not to a state of perfection, 
 but goes on increasing in wisdom and knowledge ; and 
 when the body is feeble or sinks into decay, the soul is 
 often full of vigor, or feels grief and anguish all its own. 
 
 To demonstrate the excellency of the soul, in its pro- 
 perties so singular and admirable, is of great import- 
 ance : because all that is comprehended under the word 
 religion, respects the soul. And many precepts in the 
 book of God must be resisted as unreasonable, or 
 slighted as unnecessary, if the salvation of the soul be 
 not considered as the greatest good man can attain j 
 the ruin of it, the greatest evil he can suffer. 
 
 To prove the worth of the soul, I shall make my ap- 
 peal to your own observation, and to the evidences of 
 
12 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 Holy Scripture, entirely waiving all philosophical in- 
 quiries into its nature, and all abstract reasoning con- 
 cerning it. 
 
 Observation, then, upon what passes before your eyes 
 powerfully proves the worth and excellency of the 
 soul. For what is the case of thousands around you, 
 if it has not already been your ownl Are they not 
 mourning over some tender parent, some affectionate 
 friend, or near relative % One week, the dear deceased, 
 how much was he valued ! What a sprightly enter- 
 taining companion, in the prime of life, perhaps of per- 
 sonal comeliness! The next, ah! sudden, bitter, prodi- 
 gious transformation! the desirable object is become 
 loathsome, fit only for the grave. Do you ask how it 
 comes to pass, that what was lovely to admiration, only 
 a week or day before, should so soon be even hideous 
 to look on 1 The answer loudly proclaims the dignity 
 and excellency of the soul. For could the dead parent, 
 friend or relative, hold discourse with you on the sub 
 ject, his answer would be to this effect: "Are you 
 seized with afflicting surprise 1 Do you with tears of 
 tenderness bewail the frightful change you see in a 
 form long so familiar and so pleasing to you 1 The cause 
 is this : The immortal inhabitant, which for a few years 
 lodged under this roof of flesh, hath removed its abode. 
 My soul by its presence gave to my body all its motion 
 life and beauty. The instant the one took its destined 
 flight, the other began to moulder into dust, and dust 
 must remain till His voice, who is the resurrection and 
 the life, unites it for ever to its former inmate." 
 
 From this most striking difference, therefore, between 
 a dear parent, friend, or relation, active, useful, lovely, 
 and the cold, pale piece of outcast earth which he in- 
 stantly becomes upon the departure of his soul j under- 
 stand what dignity and worth must necessarily belong 
 to the soul. 
 
EXCELLENCY OF THE SOUL. 13 
 
 And if from this fact, daily passing before our eyes, 
 you turn to the page written by inspiration of God, it 
 :s impossible to remain ignorant of the excellency of 
 the soul. 
 
 What can be imagined more grand than the account 
 of its creation 1 Look up to the heavens ; immensely 
 high, immeasurably wide as they are, God only spake, 
 and instantly, with all their host, they had their being. 
 The earth, the sea, the air, with all their millions of 
 beasts, birds, and fishes, were formed instantaneously 
 by the breath of his mouth. But, behold ! before the 
 human soul is formed, a counsel of the Eternal Trinity 
 is held : " God said, Let us make man in our own image, 
 after our own likeness. So God created man in his own 
 image, in the image of God created he him." He formed 
 his soul in its moral faculties and powers, a sinless, im- 
 mortal transcript of himself. 
 
 To deface this image, and ruin a creature which the 
 love of God had so highly exalted, was an attempt equal 
 to the execrable malice Satan bore against God and 
 against the favorite work of his hand. But no sooner 
 did the devil, by his accursed subtilty, bring on the soul 
 an injury, tending to its utter destruction, than the most 
 high God, by the method used to recover it, declared 
 a second time still more loudly the exceeding greatness 
 of its worth. For take a just survey of the majesty of 
 Him, who only, of all in heaven, was able or sufficient to 
 restore the soul to the favor and fruition of God. Before 
 him the depth of the unfathomable seas, the height of 
 the loftiest mountains, the vast dimensions of the earth, 
 and the immense circuit of the skies, are as the small 
 dust of the balance. Before him the vast multitudes 
 which people the whole earth, with all their pomp, are 
 less than nothing and vanity. This is he, behold him ! 
 This is he who takes upon himself a work impossible 
 for angels to effect, the redemption of the soul. He un 
 
I4t COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 dertakes to replace it in the favor of God — not by the 
 word of his mouth, as in the day that he made the hea- 
 vens and the earth ; but by a contrivance infinitely cost- 
 ly and painful ; by a process of many steps, each of them 
 mysterious to angels as well as to men. To redeem the 
 soul, he lays aside his glory. He is born poor and mean 
 He lives afflicted, insulted, oppressed. In his death he 
 is made a sin-offering and a curse, presenting to the 
 Father a divine obedience, and a death fully satisfactory 
 to his broken law. Pause then awhile, and duly con- 
 sider who the Redeemer is, and what he hath done. 
 Then will you necessarily conclude, that whatever the 
 world admires as excellent, and extols as most valuable, 
 is unspeakably mean when put in the balance against 
 the worth of the soul. 
 
 It is indeed a matter of the utmost difficulty to be- 
 lieve that One, in every perfection equal with the Eter- 
 nal Father, should abase himself to the cross, and shed 
 his blood on it to ransom the soul. Here reason with 
 all its efforts is lost in the unfathomable depth of mys- 
 tery ; and, if left to itself, would lead into perpetual ca- 
 vil, if not to a flat denial of the reality of the fact. The 
 method used to prevent such a denial, which would be 
 blasphemy against God and perdition to ourselves, still 
 more forcibly adds evidence to the worth of the soul. 
 For the same Eternal Spirit which in the beginning 
 brought light out of darkness, and order and beauty out 
 of chaos, comes down from heaven to bear witness of 
 redemption. " He shall glorify me," saith the Re- 
 deemer, " for he shall receive of mine, and shall show 
 it unto you." In other words, it is his office so to dis- 
 play the glory of the person, righteousness and salva- 
 tion of the Lord Jesus Christ, that those truths, which 
 are foolishness to the reason of the natural man, may 
 be discerned in all their excellency. This Eternal Spirit 
 (called the Spirit of Truth, because the only effectual 
 
EXCELLENCY OF THE SOUL. 15 
 
 Teacher of Divine truth) is continually present with 
 the Church of Christ, by his illumination to make known 
 the things which are freely given us of God. 
 
 Judge, then, what must be the excellency of that im- 
 mortal principle within you, which in its original birth 
 is the offspring of the God of glory, and impressed with 
 his own image ; then the purchase of the blood of his 
 Son j and now the pupil of the Holy Ghost. When no- 
 bility stoops to the office of teaching, no one of less 
 dignity than the heir of a kingdom must be the scholar. 
 How great then must be the excellency of the soul, 
 .vhich has the Spirit of God for its appointed instructor 
 and continual guide ! 
 
 It will still further prove the worth of the soul, to 
 consider that amazing elevation of glory to which it 
 will be advanced, or that dire extremity of wo in which 
 it will be plunged hereafter. Soon as the few years 
 allotted for its education and trial here on earth expire, 
 if grace and the offers of salvation have been duly ac- 
 cepted and improved, it will gain admission into the 
 city of the living God; where shines an everlasting 
 day ; where every thing is removed for ever that might 
 but tend to excite fear, or for a moment to impair the 
 completeness of felicity. And whilst the soul possesses 
 a magnificent habitation, eternal in the heavens, the 
 company with which it will be associated, in excellency 
 far surpass all the glories of its place of abode. Man, 
 by revolting from God, was banished from any com- 
 merce with the glorious spirits that people the invisible 
 world. But when the designs of grace are accomplish- 
 ed in the soul, it becomes a partaker of all the invalu- 
 able privileges and dignities of the angels. It is clothed 
 with a brightness of glory refulgent as the sun, it is 
 raised to such degrees of excellency as exceed our 
 highest reach of thought ; every defect and blemish in- 
 herent in its present condition is done away, and its 
 
16 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 moral perfections surpass in splendor the outward 
 beauty with which it is arrayed. Now, if we estimate 
 the grandeur of a person from the exalted station he is 
 born to bear, and the possessions he shall one day call 
 his own, how great must the worth of the soul be 
 judged, which, unless ruined by its own incorrigible 
 sinfulness, is to inherit the riches of eternity ; to stand 
 before the throne of Jehovah on a rank with angels ; to 
 drink of rivers of pleasure which are at his right hand 
 for evermore ! 
 
 It is, on the other hand, evidence equally strong of 
 the value of the soul, though, alas ! of a very melan- 
 choly and distressing kind, with which the Scripture 
 account of the extreme misery it must suffer if it pe- 
 rishes furnishes us. If it is not counted worthy to be 
 admitted, through the Savior's mediation, into glory j 
 sad alternative! its doom, like the sentence pro- 
 nounced on some offender of great dignity, whose dis- 
 tinction serves only to inflame his guilt, is full of hor- 
 ror. It is cut off from all communion with God; re- 
 moved to an inconceivable distance ; separated by an 
 impassable gulf. It must have him for the avenger of 
 its crimes, in comparison of whose strength all created 
 might is weaker than a new-born babe. That arm is to 
 be stretched forth against it, which shoots the planets 
 in their rounds, and taketh up the isles as a very little 
 thing. The soul that perishes is to suffer the punish- 
 ment prepared for the devil and his angels ; to suffer 
 punishment, the very same in kind with that of the 
 great adversary of the blessed God ; whose business, 
 whose only joy ever since his fall from heaven, has 
 been to defeat, if it were possible, all God's designs of 
 grace ; to undermine his kingdom and tread his honor 
 in the dust j who has already seduced souls without 
 number, and who will go on in his course of treason 
 and enmity against God, till the day of executing full 
 
EXCELLENCY OF THE SOUL. 17 
 
 vengeance on him is come. Though not in equal tor- 
 ment, yet in the same hell with this execrable being, is 
 the soul that perishes to endure the wrath of God. 
 
 Whether you regard therefore the felicity or the ruin 
 which the soul of man in a few fleeting years must ex- 
 perience, you will find it hard to determine which of 
 the two most forcibly bespeaks its grandeur. 
 
 These evidences, obvious to every eye which reads 
 the Scripture page, prove, in a manner not to be ques- 
 tioned, that the poorest beggar carries greater wealth 
 in his own bosom, and possesses a higher dignity in his 
 own person, than all the world can give him. The soul 
 that enables him to think and choose, surpasses in worth 
 all that the eye ever saw or the fancy ever imagined. 
 Before one such immortal being all the magnificence of 
 the natural world appears diminutive, because transi- 
 tory. All these things wax old as doth a garment, and 
 all the works of nature shall be burnt up ; but the years 
 of the soul, its happiness or its wo, like the unchange- 
 able God its creator, endure for ever. 
 
 From these evidences you will perceive, that the 
 schemes which engage the attention of eminent states- 
 men and mighty kings, nay even the delivery of a na- 
 tion from ruin or slavery, are trifles when set in com- 
 petition with the salvation of a single soul. You will 
 see the propriety of that astonishing assertion, that in 
 heaven, the seat of glory, and among angels, whose 
 thoughts can never stoop to any thing little, " There 
 is joy over one sinner that repenteth." You will see 
 why the Lord God Almighty is at so much pains (if the 
 expression may be used) to awaken the children of men 
 into a just concern for the salvation of their souls : why 
 the warnings he gives them are so solemn, his calls so 
 repeated and pressing, and his entreaties so affectionate. 
 All these things follow as the just and natural conclu- 
 sions from the matchless excellency of the soul. 
 
18 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE SOUE— continued. 
 
 ADVANTAGES OF A JUST CONVICTION OF ITS EXCELLED CI. 
 
 The incomparable excellency of the soul has been 
 shown by various proofs. A clear, strong, and abiding 
 conviction of this excellency is the foundation of all 
 real religion, "and on many accounts is indispensably 
 necessary. 
 
 For want of a just perception of the worth of the soul, 
 the amusements of folly and the pleasures of sin are 
 looked upon by the young as the chief sources of de- 
 light. They are shy of religion, notwithstanding its pro- 
 mises of peace, of joy, of eternal life, and they regard 
 it as a malevolent enemy to their happiness. But no 
 sooner do they once truly apprehend the excellency of 
 the soul, than acquaintance with spiritual objects is 
 sought after and highly valued. Thus informed, the lan- 
 guage even of youthful hearts is this : " The bloom of 
 my days and the vigor of my life shall be devoted to 
 my best, my everlasting interest. A sight of the worth 
 of my soul has delivered me from the fascinating power 
 of polluting lusts, and has broken all the magic force 
 of their cruel enchantments." 
 
 The same knowledge of the worth of the soul is ab- 
 solutely necessary to preserve men inviolably honest 
 amidst the temptations which abound in trade, and in 
 every profession. For on the exchange, in the univer- 
 sity, the coffee-house, in almost every circle of private 
 company, infectious discourse in praise of riches and 
 
WORTH OF THE SOUL 19 
 
 honor is poured forth, and contaminates the principles 
 of those who hear it. From the worldly lusts natural 
 to man thus inflamed spring all the diseases of trade. 
 Hence the extortion, the falsehood, the imposition, the 
 spirit of extravagant speculation by which the character 
 and the peace of thousands are ruined. They are en- 
 gendered by a rage for money, and a boundless desire 
 of filthy lucre. Nothing can control this wide-spreading 
 evil, but a perception of the soul's inestimable worth. 
 Let this take place, and immediately the deformity of 
 the former false, defiling ideas of worldly advancement 
 and gain, is discovered. Trade will then be carried on 
 with temperance of affection. An enlightened con- 
 science, like a vigilant sentinel, will sound an alarm in 
 every hour of danger ; it will keep the man of trade and 
 merchandise punctually true to his best, his greatest in- 
 terest, and enable him with ease to conquer those temp- 
 tations which before led him away captive : fi What," 
 he will say, " what is a man profited, if he shall gain 
 the whole world, and lose his own soul 1 or what shall 
 a man give in exchange for his soul 1" 
 
 The necessity of a strong and abiding perception of 
 the worth of the soul, appears also from the considera- 
 tion, that it is the ground of real prayer, and the cause 
 of its success. In addresses from man to man hypo- 
 crisy is detestable ; how much more in addresses from 
 man to God! But how is it possible prayer can be any 
 thing more than hypocrisy, when the supplicant is not 
 impressed with a due sense of the worth of the soul 1 
 Who can deprecate the wrath revealed against sin, im- 
 plore deliverance from its defilement, or earnestly en- 
 treat a supply of his spiritual wants, who does not per- 
 ceive the worth of the soul 1 In the nature of things 
 we can have no deep concern, where we apprehend no 
 great misery if we fail of success, or advantage if we 
 are crowned with it. We may indeed personate, in our 
 
20 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 closets or at church, a man in earnest pursuit of spirit- 
 ual blessings ; and be constant in the use of those very- 
 prayers which such an one, with the noblest sensibility, 
 would pour out before his God. But unless we feel the 
 same spirit, through the same knowledge of the excel- 
 lency of the soul, we only act a part in the closet or in 
 the church, as a player does on the stage : we appear 
 in a character which is no more our own than that of 
 the king or hero on the stage is his. Hence multitudes 
 constantly engaged in acts of devotion, remain grossly 
 ignorant, and utterly unaffected by every thing which 
 they profess to believe and day by day seem to im- 
 plore. Their confessions are deceitful, their prayers 
 void of fervor, and their thanksgiving without grati 
 tude. But such devotion must be as unsuccessful as it is 
 insincere. God is a God of truth. He must receive ser- 
 vices just as they are ; and where nothing but outward 
 homage and fine words are offered to him, nothing is 
 obtained. Sin is not pardoned, nor evil tempers sub- 
 dued. All the fruit of such feigned intercourse with 
 the God of heaven, is to flatter self-love, and to harden 
 men in presumption, till their hypocrisy is at once fully 
 discovered and punished. 
 
 On the contrary, are you conscious of the worth of 
 your soul ! This will dispose you for every devout ex- 
 ercise. Godly sorrow for sin will accompany the con- 
 fession of it, when lamented as an enemy to your best, 
 your immortal interest. Ardent and urgent will be the 
 pleadings for grace and pardon, when their importance, 
 as connected with a soul of inestimable worth, is seen 
 and felt. Most hearty and affectionate will be the 
 thanksgiving for mercies already vouchsafed, when 
 every instance of favor from above is considered as a 
 pledge of the eternal felicity of the soul. 
 
 It follows, therefore, that in the same degree in which 
 it is necessary to resist temptations to evil, or profitably 
 
WORTH OF THE SOUL. 21 
 
 to engage in the solemn acts of religion, it is necessary 
 also to be impressed with the worth of the soul. 
 
 The natural result of such an impression will be a di- 
 ligent care for the salvation of the soul. 
 
 Now the supreme wisdom of such carefulness is 
 most evident from comparing beauty, honor, knowledge, 
 riches, or whatever else is usually valued amongst men, 
 with the soul. 
 
 The elegant lovely form which captivates the eye of 
 every beholder, and fills the mind that possesses it with 
 perpetual vanity, ill rewards the anxious carefulness 
 used to preserve it. No cautious attention, no human 
 power or skill is able to protect it from the waste of 
 time, the blast of sickness, or the untimely stroke 
 of death. 
 
 The place of honor and the name of applause, for 
 which thousands are glad to sacrifice their ease and sell 
 their liberty, is of little value, since it is subject to all 
 the caprice of fickle-minded man. How many, once the 
 favorites of a court, the idols of a kingdom, have lived 
 to see all their blooming honors wither, and their names 
 sink into oblivion, if not contempt. 
 
 Are you ambitious to climb the envied summit of li- 
 terary fame, and shine without a rival in the acquisition 
 of knowledge ? In one fatal hour, a paralytic stroke, a 
 violent fever, may disorder the structure of your brain, 
 rifle all the cells of knowledge, and wipe away from 
 your memory the very traces of all that has been com- 
 mitted to its keeping. Thus you may be left the sad 
 survivor of yourself ; a mortifying spectacle to human 
 pride ; a melancholy, but irresistible proof, how much 
 men may rate the attainment of human knowledge 
 higher than its precarious tenure justifies. 
 
 If your great aim is to become rich, of chief eminence 
 in your trade, able to command all outward things 
 which can minister to your vanity or pleasure, still how 
 
22 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 unworthy of your supreme desire and care is such a 
 condition, because absolutely insecure ! Life itself, the 
 foundation of all temporary enjoyments, is but as a 
 beauteous vapor that appeareth for a little time, and 
 then vanishes away. Each day, we know, is translating 
 some of the opulent sons of industry into a world where 
 not a mite of all their gain can follow them. 
 
 Nay, if you are engrossed by the care of providing 
 for those tender pledges of God's love to you, the off- 
 spring of your own body, whom you were a monster 
 of cruelty to neglect j yet here you may be suddenly, 
 be wholly disappointed. Your darling child, the living 
 image of yourself, how unable are you to preserve its 
 invaluable life from perils arid from fierce disease ! 
 When parted from you on a visit or some business, you 
 may, like Sisera's fond mother, be chiding its delay, 
 and, with all the impatience of love, asking, " Where- 
 fore is my son or daughter so long in coming 1" whilst 
 some appointment of God has taken away the desire of 
 your eyes with a stroke. 
 
 Thus, if you take a full survey of every thing which 
 the children of men seek with greatest anxiety to en- 
 joy; compared with a supreme concern for the salva- 
 tion of the soul, and steady regard to its interests, how 
 vain is it ! Nay, whatever it be, except the soul, about 
 which you are careful, it has this most degrading cir- 
 cumstance attending it, it has the condition only of an 
 annuity for life : each successive year makes a consi- 
 derable decrease in its value, and at death the whole is 
 at an end for ever. — 
 
 But if your principal care and solicitude is for the 
 salvation of the soul, all the unexpected disasters, dis- 
 appointments and losses, which harass the sinful chil- 
 dren of men, will become affecting proofs of the su- 
 preme wisdom of your choice, and the unrivalled ex- 
 cellency of your pursuit. Even the tears that stream 
 
WORTH OF THE SOUL. 23 
 
 down the cheeks of the miserable, and the complaints 
 of those who are disappointed in worldly schemes will 
 pronounce you blessed, who are athirst for your immor- 
 tal soul's salvation. Are you conscious of its worth 1 
 Are you striving in daily intercourse with God, its 
 Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, to secure its eter- 
 nal welfare 1 Then you may set all the evils that ter- 
 rify the human race at defiance. Your inferior dying 
 part they may wound, but they cannot strike deep 
 enough, or reach high enough to hurt your soul. In 
 the midst of what, otherwise, would prove ruin insup- 
 portable, your wise choice will cover you like armor, 
 and render you invulnerable. 
 
 Are you poor, and treated with scorn by the sons of 
 pride 1 you will have examples and prospects more 
 than sufficient to support you. You will see your own 
 case in the instructive history of the saints of God, who 
 were destitute and afflicted ; and in that wonderful con- 
 trast of meanness and grandeur, extreme poverty and 
 immense wealth, the dying Lazarus. With patience, 
 with gladness of heart you will see. that the deepest 
 distress, and the surest title to glory, may be for a small 
 moment united. In every case where proper care for 
 the soul hath prevailed, you will see that poverty, how- 
 ever extreme, sufferings, however long and grievous, 
 add both to the weight and brightness of future glory. 
 
 In sickness also, the supreme wisdom of having been 
 careful above all things for your soul, will display itself 
 with peculiar lustre. For though health is absolutely 
 essential to a sensitive happiness ; though the least 
 ache or bodily disorder deprives the proud and world- 
 ly-minded of their enjoyments, yet the soul, if with due 
 care it has been exercised in the ways appointed by 
 God, finds sources from whence to derive consolation 
 under the most violent pressures; consolation sufficient 
 to banish both outward impatience and inward dejection 
 
24 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 from their accustomed throne, the chamber of sickness 
 and pain. With a lovely and edifying meekness, you 
 will regard such discipline, though trying to sense and 
 oppressive to the flesh, as prepared by the all-wise and 
 merciful Refiner, to purge away every base mixture 
 that still cleaves to and defiles your soul. The welfare 
 of your soul, dearer to you than all external comforts, 
 will induce you to welcome the visitations which are 
 of such sovereign use to promote its health. In short, 
 in sickness the whole man is a miserable sufferer, 
 where the soul has been forgotten: where earnestly 
 cared for and instructed in divine truth, the inferior 
 part alone feels the pressure. 
 
 To advance still further : death, the detector of all 
 cheats — death, the touchstone of all true worth, and 
 therefore the king of terrors to those whose care every 
 thing has shared but their souls, even death itself will 
 confirm the supreme wisdom of your conduct. The 
 death-bed, on which the gay, the prosperous, and the 
 noble lay down their heads appalled and confounded, is 
 the theatre for displaying the fortitude of those who 
 have sought, as the one thing needful, the salvation of 
 the soul. The former are confounded, because unpre- 
 pared. The loss of all they valued is coming upon 
 them : their approaching change can promise them no- 
 thing : it is much if it forebode not dreadful consequen- 
 ces. But to the latter, every thing wears another aspect. 
 Must the world be left by them 1 it has been already 
 renounced and vanquished. Must all temporal good be 
 forsaken for ever 1 how placid, how calm the surrender, 
 when the riches of eternity are theirs : no striving, no 
 querulous repining against the irresistible summons to 
 depart, when that very departure has been habitually 
 expected, as a translation of the soul to its proper ever- 
 lasting happiness. 
 
 In fact, dying christians, that is, all that have duly 
 
WORTH OF THE SOUL. 20 
 
 sought in a right method the salvation of the soul, have 
 given proofs of the supreme wisdom of their conduct 
 in the hour of nature's sorrow and distress : so that 
 those fine lines of Dr. Young are most justly descrip 
 live of the happy few, whose souls have been more pre- 
 cious to them than every temporal concern or comfort ; 
 
 " The chamber where the good man meets his fate 
 
 " Is privileged, beyond the common walk 
 
 " Of virtuous life, quite on the verge of heav'n : 
 
 " Heaven waits on the last moment ; owns her friends 
 
 " On this side death, and points them out to men : 
 
 11 A lecture silent, but of sov'reign pow'r." 
 
 All these advantages, arising from supreme careful- 
 ness for the salvation of the soul, are still more worthy 
 of regard, because not at all uncertain. You may be 
 braving the thickest dangers of the field of war to get 
 the name of valor and the place of command: yet fall 
 an early victim in the bloody battle, or after it your 
 services may be neglected. You may burn with inex- 
 tinguishable ardor, to stand high in the rank of scholars, 
 and ruin your health by intense study, yet die mortified 
 at the littleness of your reputation. Your labor to suc- 
 ceed in business may be incessant, yet through a thou- 
 sand circumstances which you have no power to pre- 
 vent, you may repeatedly suffer disappointment, and 
 poverty still remain your portion. The favor of pa- 
 trons, friends, relations, may be assiduously courted, 
 and appear promising to your earnest wishes ; and yet 
 others may supplant you, and, receiving the benefits 
 you were grasping in idea, make the very name of 
 patron, friend, relation, odious to you. The world is 
 every day exhibiting instances of bitter disappointment 
 in each of the cases above described. 
 
 But if with all the strength of desire you have sought 
 the salvation of your soul, through Jesus Christ, you 
 
 Duty of Mnn. 2 
 
26 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 need not fear the changes ever incident to the things 
 of earth. You have to do with the blessed God, in whom 
 is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. You 
 may be therefore rich, or you may be poor ; raised or 
 depressed ; beloved or slighted by those on whom you 
 are dependent ; you may enjoy health, or be oppressed 
 with mortal disease, whilst in each state were you to 
 ask yourself, what course could I have best taken for 
 present peace and felicity, reason, conscience, Scripture 
 would all reply, the very course you have taken, that 
 of caring, in the first place, for the salvation of your 
 soul. 
 
 To say no more ; the quick succession of years 
 which exceedingly impoverish, as they pass by, every 
 man whose soul is not his chief care, will, on the con- 
 trary, be accumulating for you the true riches. Like a 
 prudent factor, who, instead of lavishing his gain in 
 present luxury, yearly remits it home, that he may re- 
 turn to enjoy life in his native country, after all his 
 toils, with ease and honor ; so will you be growing rich 
 towards God 5 sure to return, by death, to that happy 
 country, where, amidst congratulating saints and an- 
 gels, you shall enter upon the possession of an inherit- 
 ance prepared for your soul, incorruptible and undefiled, 
 and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. 
 
SCRIPTURE CHARACTER OF GOD. 27 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OF Gon. 
 
 THE SCRIPTURE CHARACTER OF GOD. 
 
 The first duty of a christian is to conceive of God 
 only according to the revelation which he has given of 
 himself: to meditate on this revelation with humility, 
 diligence and prayer, not daring to indulge fallacious 
 reasonings, lest he should form an imaginary god, and 
 then worship the creature of his own brain. 
 
 Nor will such an absolute submission of the under 
 standing to revelation, in this matter, be thought in the 
 least grievous or dishonorable, when it is considered, 
 that of ourselves, and in our present state of darkness 
 and corruption, we are utterly unable to form any just 
 conceptions of the divine nature and perfections. 
 When once we forsake the guidance of Scripture, we 
 are left to uncertain conjecture ; we put ourselves in 
 the condition of the unenlightened heathen ; and their 
 errors, on this most important subject, as universal as 
 they were lamentable, are a sufficient evidence of the 
 short-sightedness and vanity of unassisted reason, and 
 of the ignorance of man in the things of God. 
 
 I shall therefore present you with a transcript of 
 what the sacred oracles have delivered to us, on this 
 important point of belief. In absolute submission to 
 them, I shall endeavor to delineate the character of 
 the blessed God, as drawn by himself, and explain his 
 nature and will, his acts and providences, his decrees 
 and purposes, as exhibited in the Bible. Thus, knowing 
 
28 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 the God with whom we have to do, may we be faithful 
 to the light he hath given us, and regulate our conduct 
 towards him by the infallible standard of his own plain 
 and positive declarations. And may he himself render 
 'them effectual to enlighten the understanding ; so that 
 every reader, in the devout fervor of his soul, may cry 
 out before him, " Great and marvellous are thy works, 
 Lord God Almighty ; just and true are thy ways, thou 
 King of saints ; who shall not fear thee, Lord, and 
 glorify thy name 1" 
 
 In the first place, the Scripture represents God as 
 possessed of the incommunicable perfection of eternal 
 existence. All other beings once were not : there was 
 a period when the most excellent of them began to ex- 
 ist ; and the same power which gave them life, could 
 again reduce them to their original nothing. 
 
 On the contrary, God has ever existed j the same in 
 essence, felicity and perfection : from all eternity he 
 has been what he now is, and what he will eternally re- 
 main. The existence of things which are seen, com- 
 pels us to acknowledge this incomprehensible truth ; 
 and agreeable to it, is his own account of his eternal 
 power and Godhead: " I am," saith he, " that I am" — 
 " The high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity," is 
 his title. M Before the mountains were brought forth, 
 or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, 
 even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God." 
 
 Nearly allied to this perfection of eternal existence, 
 is the unchangeableness of God. His love and hatred 
 remain immutably the same towards their respective 
 objects. " I am the Lord, I change not," is one of 
 those sovereign titles by which he manifests himself to 
 us : with him , is no variableness, neither shadow of 
 turning." In proof of this excellency, God is called a 
 rock. This metaphor intimates that as a rock continues 
 steadfast and immoveable, whilst the surrounding ocean 
 
SCRIPTURE CHARACTER OF GOD 29 
 
 is in a perpetual fluctuation; so, though all the crea- 
 tures of God, from the lowest to the very highest, are 
 subject to change — capable of additions or alterations 
 with respect to their knowledge, their power, or their 
 blessedness — God alone is absolutely the same yester- 
 day, to-day, and for ever. 
 
 God is a spirit. The distinguishing properties of 
 spirit are understanding and will, consciousness and 
 activity. By virtue of these properties, every spiritual 
 substance differs totally from dead matter or body, and 
 is infinitely superior to it in its nature and essence. 
 But though this difference between spiritual substances 
 and those of matter is sufficient to help our weak con- 
 ceptions, yet we are taught in Scripture, that the ever- 
 living God surpasses in excellence all created spirits, 
 infinitely more than they do, in their nature and pro- 
 perties, merely animal substances. For God not only 
 declares of himself that he is a spirit, but that he is 
 " the Father of spirits, and the God of the spirits of all 
 flesh." It follows, therefore, that it is not sufficient 
 merely to conceive that God is a spirit, meaning, by 
 that name, a living, intelligent, and active being, essen- 
 tially distinguished from the material frame our eyes 
 behold ; for though this is most truly affirmed of him, 
 yet must you add to him perfections which no other 
 spirits possess, as well as separate from him every 
 kind of imperfection which adheres to them. They 
 exist within certain limits, they are ignorant of many 
 things, they are defective in power ; but the Father of 
 spirits himself is omnipresent, and infinite alike in 
 power and in knowledge. 
 
 God is omniprese?it. The universe, which owes its 
 formation and existence entirely to his creative power, 
 is not only governed, but is continually sustained by 
 him. The whole immeasurable frame of nature must 
 therefore be pervaded by his all-enlivening influence 
 
30 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 Accordingly, this most grand and majestic interroga- 
 tion is put by himself to the children of men j " Do not 
 I fill heaven and earth 1 saith the Lord." Jer. 23 : 24 
 And in the 139th Psalm, this perfection of God is de- 
 scribed with equal sublimity and force. The enlight- 
 ened <md inspired prophet begins with making the in- 
 quiry, whether it was possible for him to hide himself 
 from the Author of his being and the Creator of all 
 things: "Whither" (says he) " shall I go from thy 
 Spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence 1 If I 
 ascend up into heaven," into tha regions above the firma- 
 ment, "thou art there j" I shall not only find myself 
 still within the limits of thy sovereign dominion, but 
 under thy immediate inspection. " If I make my bed in 
 hell," that is, plunge myself into the unknown mansions 
 of the dead, and the worlds invisible, where even ima- 
 gination loses itself in darkness, "behold, thou art 
 there ! If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell 
 in the uttermost parts of the sea ;" if, with the swift- 
 ness of the rays of the rising sun, I could in an instant 
 convey myself to the uttermost part of the western 
 world, the wings of the morning are not swift enough 
 to carry me from thy pursuing hand ; " even there shall 
 thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me ;" 
 I shall exist in thee, God! thy presence will be dif- 
 fused around me, thy enlivening power will support my 
 frame. " If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me ; 
 even the night shall be light about me, yea, the dark- 
 ness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the 
 day; the darkness and light are both alike to thee." I 
 myself, my actions and circumstances, are equally con- 
 spicuous in the thickest shades of night, and in the 
 brightest splendors of the noon-day sun. The universe 
 is the temple of the Lord, and every part of it is filled 
 with his presence. And as the Scripture thus forcibly 
 describes the presence of God with all things actually 
 
SCRIPTURE CHARACTER OF GOD. 31 
 
 existing, so it expressly teaches us, that, vast as the 
 dimensions of the creation are, they do not bound or 
 circumscribe his being. With holy admiration we are 
 commanded to say unto God, " Behold, the heaven and 
 •heaven of heavens cannot contain thee !" 1 Kings, 8 : 27. 
 
 To this amazing perfection of God, his omnipresence, 
 is joined almighty power. A human artist, or created 
 agent, can only fashion his work from materials already 
 prepared for him, and which he cannot make : but the 
 glorious God commands things into being. He was not 
 beholden to pre-existent matter in the formation of the 
 world; for " the things which are seen were not made 
 of things which do appear." On the contrary, all things, 
 whether of a material or spiritual nature, stood up be- 
 fore the mighty God at his call, and Avere created at his 
 pleasure. The heavens, and all the hosts of them ; the 
 earth, and all things which are therein, are not only the 
 work of his hands, but " by the word of the Lord were 
 the heavens made, and all the host of them by the 
 breath of his mouth." M I, " saith the Lord, " have 
 made the earth, and created man upon it ; I, even my 
 hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their 
 host have I commanded." Isaiah, 45 : 12. 
 
 The same almighty power of God, to which the whole 
 creation owes its birth, is manifested also in the dispo- 
 sition and preservation of the world in order and har- 
 mony. Thus the exertions of the almighty power of 
 God are continually placed before us : " He watereth 
 the earth, and blesseth the increase of it ; he covereth 
 the heaven with clouds, and prepareth rain for the eartli ; 
 he giveth snow like wool, and scattereth the hoar-frost 
 like ashes : he divideth the sea with his power, and lay- 
 eth up the depths in store-houses : fire and hail, storm 
 and tempest fulfil his word." 
 
 The steady course of nature, which thoughtless and 
 profane men are wont to consider as the effect of neces- 
 
32 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 sity, rather than of all-wise direction, is wholly owing 
 we are taught, to the almighty power of God. It is he 
 alone, saith the Scripture, who makes the day-spring 
 know its place, and stretcheth out the shadows of the 
 evening — that commands the sun to shine by day, and 
 the moon by night : that prepares a place for the rain, 
 and a way for the lightning and thunder — that maketh 
 the herbs to grow upon the earth. The hand of the 
 Lord doeth all these things. 
 
 It must further be observed, that the Scripture gives 
 us the most awful idea of the boundless power whieh 
 belongeth to God, by declaring that he can in a mo- 
 ment dissolve the whole frame of nature. Human force 
 is at much pains to demolish what it before toiled to 
 erect ; but the might of the most high God can, with 
 greater ease than we can admit the thought, change 
 the face of the creation, and destroy what seems to be 
 built on the most stable foundation. !' He removeth 
 the mountains, and they know it not ; he overturn eth 
 them in his anger. — He commandeth the sun, and it ris- 
 eth not j and sealeth up the stars. — He shaketh the 
 earth out of its place, and the pillars thereof tremble. — 
 The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his 
 reproof. — The mountains quake at him, and the hills 
 melt, and the earth is burned at his presence." 
 
 But in the attribute of mere power, however bound- 
 less and irresistible, there is no loveliness. We may 
 indeed be astonished, and tremble before it ; but to 
 contemplate it with pleasure, and to conceive of it as 
 the object of delight and of trust, we must behold it in 
 union with other perfections. In union with such per- 
 fections it subsists in the blessed God ; for he is as infi- 
 nite in knowledge as he is in power. More clearly does 
 he discern his own eternity, than we our temporary du- 
 ration : more perfectly his own immensity, than we our 
 limited condition of being : more certainly his own 
 
SCRIPTURE CHARACTER OF GOD. 33 
 
 extent of wisdom and power, than we the thoughts 
 of our own minds. 
 
 But if God knows himself, he must know aVso the 
 work of his own hands: for even the meanest artificer, 
 though imperfectly acquainted with the nature of the 
 materials on which he works, knows the effects of his 
 own operations. Since, therefore, from the greatest to 
 the least, from the utmost circuit of heaven to the cen 
 tre of the earth, there is nothing which the hand of 
 God has not formed, and which his providence does 
 not direct, every thing must be thoroughly known to 
 him. Wherever his power works, there his understand- 
 ing must discern. The vast fabric, therefore, of the 
 universe, with all its laws and furniture, with all events 
 from first to last, are known unto him. The innumer- 
 able host of sinless angels, and the world of fallen 
 apostate ones 5 the long progeny of mankind, with all 
 the thoughts, desires and designs that have been in 
 the mind of each individual, and all the words which 
 have ever escaped their lips, fall under his continual 
 notice. He, with the most exact and infallible compre- 
 hension, knows all the active principles of the spirits 
 he has formed ; how they will be moved upon the pre- 
 sence of every object which can come before them; in 
 what manner they will act upon every temptation 
 which can try them, and in every circumstance in 
 which they can possibly be placed. These ideas of the 
 blessed God his own oracles teach us to conceive. 
 " The ways of man are before the Lord, and he ponder- 
 eth all his goings. The eyes of the Lord are in every 
 place : he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seetn 
 under the whole heaven. The Lord searcheth all 
 hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the 
 thoughts: he knoweth the things that come into our 
 mind, every one of them. There is not any creature 
 that is not manifest in his sight ; biit all things are 
 
 2* 
 
34 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we 
 have to do." 
 
 And as God is perfect in knowledge, so is he in the 
 attribute of wisdom, which is the best exercise and im- 
 provement of knowledge. By virtue of this quality he 
 superintends, and so adjusts all the parts of the uni- 
 verse, that, whatever changes any of them may under- 
 go, their usefulness and connection with each other 
 may be uniformly maintained. By the exercise of the 
 same attribute he often accomplishes his designs, 
 through means, to human apprehension, the most un- 
 likely. He founds the manifestation of his glory upon 
 what a depraved world despises and derides ; and, in 
 the glaring weakness of his agents, perfects, that is, 
 displays his own praise. He entangles the rulers of 
 darkness in their own nets, and ruins their designs by 
 their own stratagems ; the greatest cruelty of Satan 
 and his instruments he makes subservient to the de- 
 signs of his mercy, and over-rules even the apostacy of 
 Adam, to display his own manifold wisdom to angels and 
 to men. " He has established the world by his wisdom, 
 and stretched out the heavens by his discretion. — He is 
 wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working. — The 
 foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness 
 of God is stronger than men. — He disappointeth the 
 devices of the crafty, so that they cannot perform their 
 enterprises. — His counsels stand for ever, and the 
 thoughts of his heart from generation to generation." 
 
 These perfections, called, by way of distinction, the 
 natural perfections of God, the more they are con- 
 sidered the higher must they raise our wonder and 
 astonishment. Who can meditate on eternity, omni- 
 presence, omniscience and almighty power, and not 
 feel that they are subjects too stupendous for any cre- 
 ated understanding to grasp! But the moral perfec- 
 
SCRIPTURE CHARACTER OF GOD. 35 
 
 tions of God we can comprehend with greater clear- 
 ness. And it is in respect of these, that God claims 
 from us the highest reverence, fear, love, trust and 
 obedience. 
 
 The first of these perfections is his goodness. By 
 this we mean that principle of good will, by virtue of 
 which his almighty power and infinite wisdom are ex- 
 ercised in the liberal communication of happiness to his 
 creatures. His bountiful hand supplies their wants, and 
 pours out his benefits upon them all. He makes no 
 other distinction than what necessarily arises from the 
 different qualities or capacities of the respective ob- 
 jects ; no other difference than what his own most per- 
 fect character requires should be made. " The Lord," 
 saith the Scripture, H is good unto all, and his tender 
 mercies are over all his works. — He openeth his hand, 
 and satisfieth every living thing. — He is the Father of 
 mercies, and the God of all comfort. — The earth is 
 full of the goodness of the Lord." So strong is his 
 goodness in its propensity, and so wide in its extent, 
 as to bless not simply his creatures, but even rebels 
 against his government, and enemies to his truth. " He 
 causeth his sun to shine, and his rain to fall, on the 
 evil and on the good, on the unjust as well as on the 
 just. — He endures, with much long-suffering, the ves- 
 sels of wrath fitted for destruction." He allures them, 
 and encourages their return to him. ■ ■ Let the wicked 
 forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, 
 and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have 
 mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundant- 
 ly pardon. — Come now," says he, " and let us reason 
 together ; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be 
 as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, 
 they shall be as wool." And lest these asseverations 
 should not be sufficient to remove suspicions of his 
 willingness to forgive the most enormous offenders, 
 
36 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 when they turn to him ; he swears by himself, " As I 
 live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of 
 him that dieth." And that all the generations of men, 
 who should ever receive his word, might form the 
 highest conceptions of his glorious goodness, he pass- 
 ed before Moses, and proclaimed this to be his proper 
 title, " The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, 
 long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth; 
 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, trans- 
 gression and sin." 
 
 But lest this goodness should be so misconstrued as 
 to diminish our apprehensions of the evil of sin ; lest it 
 should lead us to imagine, that, where so much favor 
 is shown to the workers of iniquity, there can be no 
 abhorrence of it ; the Scripture is strong, full and fre- 
 quent in its representations of the holiness of God. 
 
 By his holiness is meant that disposition essential to 
 his perfect nature, which regards the honor of his own 
 divine perfections; and which therefore opposes the 
 violation of his pure will, or the resistance of his just 
 government. As the power of God is opposed to all 
 natural weakness, and his wisdom to the least defect 
 of understanding ; so is his holiness opposed to all mo- 
 ral imperfection or sin. It is not to be considered as a 
 single perfection, but rather as the harmony of all the 
 attributes of God ; it is therefore called the " beauty 
 of the Lord." Psalm 27. Separate from holiness, all 
 other excellencies of the divine nature would be inglo- 
 rious. His wisdom might be styled subtilty : his power 
 be only considered as dreadful. On this account those 
 exalted spirits who are best acquainted with the glories 
 of the divine nature, dwell on this perfection. The 
 courts of heaven resound with high adoration while 
 they cry, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts." 
 And such a particular regard do we find paid to this at- 
 tribute by the blessed God himself, that he swears by 
 
SCRIPTURE CHARACTER OF GOD. 37 
 
 it in confirmation of the promises of grace : " Once 
 have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto 
 David." Psalm, 89 : 35. 
 
 Connected with this divine perfection of holiness in 
 God, is the continual notice he takes of the conduct of 
 each individual towards himself and his law. On this 
 part of his character the necessity of our absolute sub- 
 jection depends. For were God either ignorant of 
 what is done by men on earth, or did he judge it insig- 
 nificant, we should have no more cause to retain any 
 awe of him upon our minds, or to impose any restraint 
 upon ourselves, than if there were no God. It is not 
 the existence of a God, but his moral government of 
 the world, that calls for our fear, and should excite us 
 to obedience. To take away, therefore, all ground of 
 suspecting any inattention in our Creator to our be- 
 havior, arising from his own infinite greatness, and our 
 being less than nothing, compared to him — to root out 
 this pernicious opinion, which the desire of sinning 
 with impunity might lead us to cherish ; the glorious 
 God teaches us to conceive of him as taking the most 
 exact cognizance of all our inward tempers, no less 
 than our outward deportment, and that with an un- 
 changeable purpose to deal with us accordingly. In 
 the nervous language of his own inspired penmen, 
 "His eyes behold, and his eye-lids try the children of 
 men. — The Lord is a God of knowledge, by him actions 
 are weighed. — I, the Lord, search the heart, I try the 
 reins, even to give to every man according to his ways, 
 and according to the fruit of his doings." 
 
 And lest, from the present outward prosperity of the 
 wicked, any should be unreasonable and base enough 
 to conclude that God is not such an exact observer of 
 our behavior respecting himself and his law, the Scrip- 
 tures are full of this alarming truth, which entirely re- 
 moves the objection : that " God will bring every- work 
 
38 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be 
 good or bad — that he hath appointed a day in which he 
 will judge the world in righteousness — that every man 
 shall receive the things done in his body, whether they 
 be good or bad." 
 
 But it is not only at the conclusion of this world's du- 
 ration, and in the day of universal judgment, that God 
 makes a difference between those that serve him, and 
 those that refuse subjection to his laws. God repre- 
 sents himself as continually exe?'cising peculiar and dis- 
 tinguishing love to his faithful and obedient people, 
 whilst he is insupportably terrible to his obstinate op 
 posers. He is not content with giving to the former 
 assurances of his good will towards them, and of their 
 future glory in the eternal world : he declares that he 
 will maintain with them, even here, an intercourse of 
 the most delightful kind. He will give them such views 
 of the glory of his nature, the excellency of his truth, 
 and the tenderness of his love, as the ungodly and care- 
 less neither know nor can conceive. In every season 
 of extraordinary temptation, he is secretly enduing 
 their souls with strength, and giving them power to 
 come from every combat triumphing in conquest, and 
 from every trial enriched with more grace. A conside- 
 rable part of Scripture is taken up with representing 
 the peculiar favor and loving-kindness of God to his 
 faithful servants. A few passages will give us just con- 
 ceptions of this part of the character of the most high 
 God : V The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, 
 and his ear is open to their cry. — The steps of a good 
 man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his 
 wa y — though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down ; 
 for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand, — for the 
 Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints, 
 they are preserved for ever. — The Lord is a light and 
 defence, he 'will give grace and glory, and no good 
 
SCRIPTURE CHARACTER OF GOD. 39 
 
 thing will he withhold from them that lead a godly life. — 
 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and 
 he will show them his covenant. — The Lord sitteth 
 above the water-floods, the Lord remaineth a king for 
 ever. — The Lord will give strength unto his people ; 
 the Lord will give his people the blessing of peace. — 
 Mo weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper : 
 and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judg- 
 ment thou shalt condemn. — This is the heritage of the 
 servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, 
 saith the Lord." 
 
 The substance of these inestimable mercies is most 
 emphatically expressed in the New Testament, and con- 
 firmed afresh, as the portion of all true believers. " If a 
 man love me," saith our Lord, " he will keep my words ; 
 and my Father will love him, and we will come unto 
 him, and make our abode with him." The enjoyment 
 of such a peculiar manifestation of God's love is used 
 by the inspired St. Paul as a most cogent argument to 
 engage men, even at a time of extreme peril and ap- 
 proaching persecution, to forsake the idolatrous religion 
 of their parents : " Wherefore," saith he, " come out 
 from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not 
 the unclean thing ; and I will receive you, and be a Fa- 
 ther unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, 
 saith the Lord Almighty." 
 
 Weigh well the import of these declarations of favor 
 to the children of God, and you will see, in the clearest 
 light, how much the God of heaven and earth regards 
 the conduct of every individual of mankind who faith- 
 fully receives his truth. He is not ashamed to call him- 
 self, in every instance, the friend of such, their portion, 
 their father, their exceeding great reward. He is not 
 ashamed to engage his own word and oath that he will 
 never leave them nor forsake them ; but, on the con- 
 trary, that he will crown all his goodness towards them 
 
40 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 here, by calling them up hereafter into his immediate 
 presence and glory. 
 
 On the other hand, it is as striking a demonstration 
 of the notice which God takes of men's practice and 
 deportment, that he will punish in the most awful man- 
 ner those who are enemies to his government and des- 
 pise his authority. Hear in what terms he proclaims 
 his hatred of iniquity and his unchangeable purpose 
 to execute vengeance upon sinners ; and doubt, if you 
 can, whether God is concerned to maintain his own 
 honor : M The Lord your God, is God of gods, and Lord 
 of lords, a great God, a mighty and a terrible, which re- 
 gardeth not persons, nor taketh rewards. — If I whet my 
 glittering sword, and my hand lay hold on judgment, I 
 will render vengeance to my enemies, and will reward 
 them that hate me. — I will make my arrows drunk with 
 blood. — The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to 
 pieces, out of heaven shall he thunder upon them. — God 
 is angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, he 
 will whet his sword : he hath bent his bow, and made it 
 ready. — Upon the ungodly he shall rain snares, fire and 
 brimstone, and an horrible tempest ; this shall be their 
 portion to drink": — for the righteous Lord loveth righ- 
 teousness, his countenance will behold the thing that is 
 just. — The Lord will come with fire, and with his cha 
 riots, like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, 
 and his rebuke with flames of fire ; for by fire and by 
 his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh, and the 
 slain of the Lord shall be many. — And they shall go 
 forth, and look upon the men that have transgressed 
 against me ; for their worm shall not die, neither shall 
 their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring 
 unto all flesh." 
 
 To comment on these nervous expressions would be 
 to enfeeble them. To suppose them figurative expres- 
 sions, in such a sense as not most emphatically to affirm 
 
SCRIPTURE CHARACTER OF GOD. 41 
 
 God's utter abhorrence of sin, and his determined pur- 
 pose to cast into hell those who die in their sins, is, in 
 fact, to contradict them. Instead of cavilling at them, 
 or vainly endeavoring to explain them away, let us re- 
 ceive them with awe and fear. This is the end which 
 they are intended to produce. " Hear ye, and give ear, 
 for the Lord hath spoken : behold, I will execute judg- 
 ment ; vengeance is mine, I will repay." 
 
 If any additional proof were wanting to confute the 
 false and dangerous opinion of those who vainly sup- 
 pose the Deity to be all mercy ; and who pretend to be 
 shocked at the notion of a God who will not let the 
 wicked pass unpunished ; it may be derived from the 
 attestations of our Savior. Yes, the only-begotten of the 
 Father, who cannot deceive, who has shown the per- 
 fection of benevolence towards sinners, since he laid 
 down his life for them on the cross, has confirmed, by 
 his own declarations, all the denunciations of wrath 
 above-mentioned. He declares that in the last day all 
 nations shall be gathered before him, and at that most 
 solemn time, in the hearing of the whole rational crea- 
 tion, he will say to all them on the left hand, that is, to 
 the vast multitudes of obstinate and incorrigible sin- 
 ners, " Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared 
 for the devil and his angels." 
 
42 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 OF GOD— continued. 
 
 THE CHARACTER OF GOD EXEMPLIFIED. 
 
 In our last chapter we have the character of God 
 given by his own inspired penmen. We have seen 
 tjtiat they represent him as a Being merciful and yet 
 just ; merciful, even abounding in grace towards his 
 obedient children ; but just to those who despise him, 
 in bringing upon them all the curses written in his 
 book. By this disposition towards both, he appears in- 
 finitely holy anci reverend, and his character gives the 
 greatest encouragement to the exercise of faith in his 
 name, and to the practice of righteousness for his sake. 
 
 But if the character of God were only marked out to 
 us by his own declarations, we should be apt (such is 
 our nature) to be only faintly impressed by it. To give 
 it weight to regulate our practice, it is made still more 
 conspicuous by actions. His providence abounds with 
 facts, established upon such authority that we can no 
 more question their truth, than if with our own eyes 
 we had seen them performed; facts expressive of the 
 very same perfections in God which his word declares 
 he possesses. The method of his procedure, both with 
 angels and men, is an additional and the strongest con- 
 firmation possible that he is good, merciful and holy ; 
 that he abounds in love towards his faithfu> people, but 
 is the dreadful avenger of iniquity. 
 
 With respect to the goodness of God, it shines forth 
 in all the excellencies which angels possess, and all the 
 bliss they inherit, who have never fallen from God, nor 
 
CHARACTER OF GOD EXEMPLIFIED. 43 
 
 left that glorious habitation he of his bounty provided 
 for them. 
 
 On man, as he came immediately out of the hands of 
 his Creator, and whilst he stood in his first estate, the 
 signatures of the divine goodness were so strongly im- 
 pressed as to excite envy in one who had himself expe- 
 rienced the happiness of angels. Adam was created 
 full of light and knowledge, of purity and peace, of de- 
 light and blessedness. He was formed in the image of 
 God : he was invested with dominion over the animal 
 creation. He was not only conscious of the favor of 
 his infinitely powerful and beneficent Creator, but he 
 was admitted to hold personal communion with him. 
 Thus was he made only a little lower than the angels 
 themselves, who shouted for joy at the display of the 
 goodness of God, manifested in the happiness of man. 
 In this state of perfection Adam stood : he was put in 
 possession of it for himself and all his progeny ; inca- 
 pable of forfeiting or diminishing it but by his own 
 wilful apo stacy. 
 
 Now who can consider this account of man's original 
 happiness, and not admire the benevolence of Him who 
 was the author of it 1 Who can survey the riches of 
 the inheritance provided for Adam, compared to which 
 the glory of Solomon was but the wretchedness of a 
 captive exile, and not adore the infinite goodness of 
 the Creator 1 
 
 Again ; when Adam, through the envy and malice of 
 the devil, operating in a manner too mysterious for us 
 to comprehend, revolted from his Maker, and requited 
 his bounty with the execrable insult of believing Satan 
 to be a better friend to his welfare than God ; though 
 the hideous deed could not but draw innumerable mi- 
 series after it ; yet, even then, behold, the goodness of 
 God shined brighter than it did even at the first crea- 
 tion, and " where sin abounded, grace did much more 
 
44 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 abound." God instantly revives our most criminal and 
 desponding- parents with a promise of salvation. He 
 promises, astonishing love ! to send an invincible 
 Deliverer into the world, even his own Son ! To send 
 him into the world: not to receive the worship due 
 unto his name ; not to be adored by every heart, as the 
 only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth: 
 but to be defamed as a confederate with Satan, cruci- 
 fied as a blasphemer, and to die, being made a curse 
 for us. " Herein is love ! not that we loved God, but 
 that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation 
 for our sins." Could God say of his most corrupt and 
 idolatrous people, " How shall I give thee up, Ephraim ! 
 How shall I deliver thee, Israel 1 My heart is turned 
 within me, my repentings are kindled together 1" What 
 then must be the workings of his love towards his own 
 Son, the perfect image of himself, when he " delivered 
 him up for our offences 1" when he seemed, as it were, 
 to divest himself of the qualities of a father towards his 
 son, and for our sakes to assume the severe character 
 of a judge. Herein God commendeth his love ; he 
 places it in the most advantageous point of light in 
 which it can possibly be seen by angels or by men, ?.' in 
 that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." 
 The conclusion resulting from this amazing demonstra- 
 tion of goodness and mercy — the sending of his Son, 
 w to suffer, the just for the unjust, and to bear our sins 
 in his own body on the tree" — is irresistible: "He 
 that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up 
 for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us 
 all things'!" 
 
 And as the great God has thus by his actions proved 
 himself to be good and merciful, so has he in the same 
 way demonstrated that he is a holy God. For once, his 
 word informs us, there was war in heaven, Satan and 
 his angels rising up in enmity against their Maker 
 
CHARACTER OF GOD EXEMPLIFIED. 45 
 
 The criminals, from the brightness of glory which they 
 possessed, were called " stars of heaven ;" Rev. 12 : 4. 
 yet. no sooner did they sin than they were stripped of 
 all their honors, and clothed with shame and everlast- 
 ing contempt : from the height of happiness they were 
 plunged into an abyss of misery : between them and 
 God an impassable gulf was fixed, so that no means 
 of reconciliation will be ever found, no terms of peace 
 ever offered to them. " God," saith St. Peter, V spared 
 not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, 
 and*delivered them into chains of darkness, to be re- 
 served unto judgment." This single fact is a sufficient 
 demonstration that the Lord our God is holy. For 
 should a king, famed for wisdom and for mercy, com- 
 mand persons of the first distinction around his throne 
 to be cast into dungeons, and loaded with fetters, re- 
 fusing ever to look on them again with favor, or hear a 
 word in mitigation of their punishment, must not all 
 his subjects conclude their offence was most detest- 
 able 1 And can we draw any other conclusion, when 
 we read that the God who delighteth in mercy has, in 
 the greatness of his displeasure, cast down from their 
 thrones, where his own hand had placed them, so many 
 shining angels, and made them examples, suffering the 
 vengeance of eternal fire 1 
 
 Another display of the holiness of God, in which all 
 the children of men have been deeply interested, is the 
 execution of the punishment threatened to Adam — our 
 first father. The threat was, that upon disobedience he 
 should immediately suffer death. This death consisted 
 in the loss of the image of God, in which he was crea- 
 ted : his body, after some years spent in toil and sor- 
 row^ returning to the. dust from whence it was taken ; 
 and his soul, unless renewed after the image of God, 
 enduring the pains of eternal death. The latter part of 
 the penalty, we trust, he escaped through the Mediator 
 
46 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 so graciously revealed to him ; but of the accomplish- 
 ment of the former part we, alas, are witnesses at this 
 very hour. For what have we, in the place of Adam's 
 original power, but weakness and helplessness 1 What, 
 for his divine light and knowledge, but brutish igno- 
 rance \ What, instead of his peace and communion 
 with God, but natural dislike to him, and guilty fears 
 about his intentions concerning us 1 What, instead of 
 his perfect purity, but a heart so deceitful, and so des- 
 perately wicked that God alone can know it 1 And, in 
 the place of an Eden, contrived by infinite wisdom for 
 delight and spiritual happiness, what but a world of 
 confusion and sin, a field of battle, a vale of misery ! 
 
 If you ask whence comes this total reverse of cir- 
 cumstances between the first man in innocence and his 
 posterity 1 God, who in justice ordained it, gives you 
 this awful account of it : " By the offence of one, judg- 
 ment came upon all men to condemnation. By one 
 man's disobedience, many were made sinners." Ponder 
 this in your heart, and you will not be able to refrain 
 from crying out, w Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of 
 hosts." 
 
 Further, the dreadful execution of God's wrath upon 
 all the world puts the holiness of his nature beyond 
 dispute. Before the death, even of all the children of 
 those who saw Adam, for his sin, an outcast from Para- 
 dise, the fountains of the great deep are broken up # 
 the windows of heaven are open to destroy the whole 
 human race then upon earth, except eight persons. 
 And lest this destruction should not be judged the act 
 and deed of God himself, as the holy Governor of the 
 world, and as a punishment for its sin, hear the God of 
 all mercy, the giver of every good and perfect gift, 4;he 
 Father of the spirits of all flesh, hear him declaring his 
 awful purpose and assigning its cause : " And God saw 
 that the wickedness of man was great in the ^arth 
 
CHARACTER OF GOD EXEMPLIFIED. 47 
 
 And it repented the Lord that he had made man, and it 
 grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will de- 
 stroy man whom I have created from the face of the 
 earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and 
 the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have 
 made them." 
 
 There is yet one fact more, so demonstrative of the 
 holiness of God, as to eclipse the destruction of the 
 antediluvian world, the fall of man, the ruin of the apos- 
 tate angels. In all these cases the sufferers were first 
 actual transgressors and rebels against God. But if you 
 look to the cross of Christ, there you will see the Be- 
 loved of the Father, one infinitely more holy than the 
 holiest of the angels in heaven, " set forth by God to be 
 a propitiation for sin, through faith in his blood, to de- 
 clare his righteousness, for the remission of sins that 
 are past, that he might be just," might appear to the 
 eyes of men and angels glorious in holiness or justice, 
 M and yet the justifier of them that believe in Jesus." 
 
 We have appealed, and must doubtless again and 
 again appeal to the death of Jesus upon the cross, since 
 this marvellous fact, considered in different views, af- 
 fords the strongest proof of various perfections in God 
 At present it is urged in demonstration of God's infinite 
 hatred of sin. And in this light it may be well illus- 
 trated by a passage of sacred history. In the book of 
 Kings we read that the Moabites fled before the kings 
 of Israel and Judah, and after a great slaughter were 
 forced with their king to retire into their city. Here 
 the king, finding himself besieged and reduced to the 
 last extremity, had recourse to an astonishing act to 
 show his distress and his indignation against Israel. He 
 took his eldest son, the heir of his kingdom, and in the 
 sight of his enemies offered him up for a burnt-offering 
 upon the wall. The action succeeded to his wish ; the 
 kings of Israel and Judah were amazed and confounded 
 
48 COMFLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 at the fury which urged him to such a deed, and re- 
 turned immediately with haste to their own country, as 
 if pursued by a conqueror. 
 
 Now this example, taken in one point of view, may 
 be applied to illustrate the subject before us. For the 
 eternal Father, having used promises and threatenings, 
 judgments and mercies, and still seeing our sins reach 
 up to heaven, besieging, as it were, his almighty throne, 
 expresses infinite indignation against sin. He takes his 
 only-begotten Son, the heir of all things, the express 
 image of his person, and in the hearing of heaven and 
 earth he cries out, "Awake, sword! and smite my 
 shepherd, the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of 
 hosts." Should not we, then, always remembering the 
 death of his only-begotten Son for our transgressions, 
 smite upon our breasts and go and sin no more 1 
 Should not we serve God acceptably with reverence 
 and godly fear ; feeling, from this fact, that to impeni- 
 tent sinners our God will be a consuming fire 1 
 
 In the last chapter we produced from Scripture many 
 declarations of the peculiar love exercised by God to- 
 wards each individual that walks before him faithfully. 
 For instances to illustrate these we may appeal to the 
 history of his providence from the earliest ages. Enoch, 
 the seventh in the line of direct descent from Adam, 
 because he was unconquerably attached to the truth 
 and authority of God, in the midst of his rebellious 
 kindred, is taken from them in a way which at once 
 immortalizes his name, and proclaims the love which 
 God bears to his saints. Before this fact could grow 
 faint or obscure Noah is lifted up to our observation, 
 like the ark in which he was preserved, for an everlast- 
 ing memorial, that in the most desolating judgments 
 the care of each individual saint is with the most High. 
 In the case of righteous Lot the same distinguishing 
 love of God is again manifested. And two assertions 
 

 CHARACTER OF GOD EXEMPLIFIED. 49 
 
 are made by God upon this occasion, which are most 
 expressive of his character towards his faithful people : 
 the one is, that Sodom itself should have been spared 
 for the sake of only ten righteous, if but so small y 
 number had been found within its walls. The other is, 
 that Lot is hurried away from thence with this decla- 
 ration, " Haste thee, escape ; for I cannot do any thing 
 till thou be come thither." 
 
 And in what other light than as confirmations of the 
 character of God — that he approveth the way of the 
 righteous, and hath in all ages the most tender and af- 
 fectionate regard for their welfare,— are we to consider 
 the surprising history of the faithful Joseph 1 The fa- 
 vor showed to Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the 
 son of Jephunneh, and to them only of all Israel who 
 came out of Egypt % Or the remarkable and numerous 
 deliverances of David from the snares and persecutions 
 of Saul! In what other way are we to improve Elijah's 
 miraculous ascension into heaven, before the eyes of 
 his successor in office, the prophet Elisha! What other 
 conclusion are we to draw from the preservation of 
 Daniel in the den of lions ; and of Shadrach, Meshach 
 and Abednego in the fiery furnace 1 What are these 
 but witnesses chosen of God, and held up to notice by 
 miracles wrought in their favor, that every obedient 
 servant of Gt)d, who copies the pattern they set before 
 him, might know he is, as certainly as they were, the 
 object of God's singular care and special love 1 And 
 though we see not now the course of nature over-ruled 
 for the deliverance of the faithful, still the compre- 
 hensive promise of the unchangeable God abideth sure • 
 "He knoweth them that are his," and will "make ail 
 things work together for good to them that love him " 
 
 Nor are the facts which attest God's utter hatred of 
 the sin of each individual few in number or of doubt- 
 ful import. On the contrary, the record of his actions 
 
 Duty of Man. 3 
 
50 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 furnishes us with many awful instances of the imme- 
 diate execution of justice on daring offenders. There 
 is scarcely a sin which has not been singled out as the 
 object of his wrathful displeasure. Thus Ham, that 
 could mock his father, surprised by accident into intoxi- 
 cation, is accursed: Lot's wife, full of worldly cares, 
 and looking back upon the loss of her property with 
 regret and repining, is turned into a pillar of salt. Envy 
 and aspiring pride bring down immediate destruction 
 upon Korah, Dathan and Abiram. In Achan's fate and 
 in Gehazi's leprosy, we see how God abhorreth the co- 
 vetous. Behold, thou infamous advocate for fornica- 
 tion, the javelin of Phineas avenging God's quarrel upon 
 Zimri and Cosbi his paramour : renounce thy fond con- 
 ceit that this sin will not be judged by God ; for see, 
 three-and-twenty thousand persons are cut off by him 
 for it in one day. Be astonished at the patience of God 
 towards thee, thou false and lying tongue, when thou 
 readest that Ananias and Sapphira perished with the 
 breath of falsehood in their lips ! Take notice, thou de- 
 spiser of Jesus, of the doom of thy fellow-criminal Ely- 
 mas the sorcerer, and of the judicial blindness with 
 which he was smitten while he perverted the way of 
 truth. Understand, ye vain and haughty, from the igno 
 minious death of Herod, that a proud heart is an abomi- 
 nation to the Lord, and that self-exaltation on account 
 of gifts or pre-eminence of any kind is what he cannot 
 endure : for behold, the royal deified orator, after the 
 shout of blasphemous applause from the .multitude, is 
 immediately smitten by the angel of the Lord, " be- 
 cause he gave not God the glory : and he was eaten of 
 worms, and gave up the ghost." 
 
 All these instances, and many more recited in Scrip- 
 ture, prove with irresistible force, that wherever envy 
 or malice, covetousness or pride, profaneness, impurity, 
 or any temper opposite to the law of God prevails, there 
 
WZ 
 
 CHARACTER OF GOJ> EXEMPLIFIED. 51 
 
 the wrath of God abideth ; and there, unless they are 
 vanquished before death, must it abide for ever* 
 
 Such in his natural and moral perfections, such, in 
 his government and providence towards the whole ra- 
 tional creation, is the true God. And that there is only 
 one God, who is in all, and through all, and over all, 
 the Scripture is most express. " I, even I am he, and 
 there is no God with me. Before me there was no God 
 formed, neither shall there be after me. I am the first, 
 and I am the last, and besides me there is no God." 
 But then the same Scripture teaches us, that this unity 
 of God is not an unity of person, but of essence, in 
 which the Son and the Spirit are comprehended, in 
 glory equal, in majesty co-eternal with the Father. 
 Without controversy great is this mystery of godliness. 
 It must, however, be received : because the Scripture 
 ascribes those very perfections, in which the nature of 
 God surpasses that of created beings, to the Son and 
 the Spirit. Eternity, omnipresence, infinite knowledge 
 and uncontrollable power, are represented to belong to 
 them : they therefore, with the Father, are to be wor- 
 shipped and glorified. This God, the Father, the Son 
 and the Spirit, is the God of the christian. Whilst 
 Jews abhor this mystery, whilst Mohammedans perse- 
 cute it as an abomination, whilst the self-conceited re- 
 ject it with disdain, the christian church, acquiescing in 
 the plain word of God, and satisfied with his declara- 
 tions, dedicates herself to the sacred Three in One. 
 She continually concludes her public worship with pro- 
 fessing her desire to partake of the distinct and differ- 
 ent blessings which are imparted to the church from 
 each of these sacred Three, entreating that the " love 
 of God the Father, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and the communion of the Holy Ghost, may be with 
 us all." 
 
52 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 Having thus concluded our inquiries into the nature 
 and perfections of the Most High God, as they are de- 
 lineated in Scripture, it remains that we should examine 
 and prove ourselves, whether our idea of God be a faith- 
 ful copy of the Scripture pattern % Let us try whether 
 we do not remain in gross and fatal ignorance of his 
 real character, notwithstanding the complete manner in 
 which he has revealed* himself in his own most holy 
 word. Take it by no means for granted that you really 
 possess the knowledge of God ; for thousands who are 
 utterly destitute of it, who entertain notions of his cha- 
 racter which are abominable in his sight, thus natter 
 themselves to their own ruin. Search, therefore, and 
 see whether you heartily acknowledge God to be what 
 he has declared that he is, in those particulars in which 
 pride, the love of sin or unbelief, are most apt to mis- 
 represent his real character. 
 
 For instance j do you look upon God as bearing that 
 perfect abhorrence of iniquity which the Bible affirms 
 he does! Is it a truth steadfastly fixed in your mind, 
 that God is not cruel to the work of his own hands, 
 though he doom every soul of man dying in sin to feel 
 for ever the weight of his indignation 1 Do you confess 
 from the heart, that the sanctions of his government are 
 full of righteousness and glory, though they assure you 
 that, to every hypocrite and unbeliever, " our God is a 
 consuming firel" 
 
 Again : try yourself whether you are firmly per- 
 suaded that the God whom you worship is a support 
 and defence to every one that believeth on the name of 
 his Son with an obedient heart 1 Are you sure that the 
 high and lofty One who inhabiteth eternity, humbleth 
 himself to watch every moment over each individual of 
 the faithful for good, and careth for every one of that 
 character at all times, as a wise father doth for the son 
 that serveth himl Do you believe it as a most certain 
 
CHARACTER OF GOD EXEMPLIFIED. 53 
 
 truth, that God doth indeed dwell with men; and that 
 he giveth to all that are living, according to his will, 
 such peace and consolation as the world knoweth not. 
 Finally, try yourself, whether you have affecting views 
 of the love of God, as it manifests itself in the person 
 and offices of the Kedeemer, in the influences of the 
 Spirit, and in that communion which God thus holds 
 with all his faithful people. 
 
 By such inquiries as these, honestly made, your real 
 knowledge or your ignorance of the God of whom the 
 Bible speaks, will be discovered to yourself. It is in 
 these important points that God has made that revela- 
 tion of himself and of his conduct towards us, which 
 the world by wisdom could never have discovered. 
 And in the same proportion as God's own representa- 
 tion of himself and of his designs is believed, you will 
 really be enriched by the knowledge of him. Such a 
 knowledge is inestimable : it possesses virtue to heal 
 the corrupted mind of man, and energy to support it 
 amidst numerous trials, and to keep it firm in the 
 exercise of duty ; it is this knowledge, in a word, 
 which is emphatically pronounced by our Savior to 
 be eternal life. 
 
f)4 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 OF MAW. 
 
 HIS NATURAL CONDITION WITH RESPECT TO GOD. 
 
 No science can be thoroughly known till its first prin 
 ciples are well understood. This observation is never 
 more true than when applied to religion, the science 
 in which every man is most deeply interested. One 
 of the first and most necessary principles of religion is 
 a knowledge of our own condition and character, espe- 
 cially as we stand related to the Author of our being. 
 
 Now experience and Scripture, those incontestible 
 witnesses, jointly declare the deplorable blindness of 
 man in spiritual things, while in a state of nature ; and 
 his forgetfulness, contempt, nay, even hatred of his 
 Creator. 
 
 His blindness is manifested by his practical denial 
 of Ms absolute dependance upon God for all good. He 
 looks upon the endowments of person, mind or station, 
 as if they were, in the proper sense of the word, his 
 own ; he trusts in his own wisdom and strength to pro- 
 cure them; and when procured, he glories ir them as 
 his own acquirement. In words indeed he acknow- 
 ledges one supreme universal Creator ; but he considers 
 not the consequence necessarily flowing from this truth 
 to the glory of God, that " of him, and through him, 
 and to him are all things." Hence beauty is intoxicated 
 with the admiration of its own pleasing form ; hence the 
 rich, proud of their wealth, look with contempt on the 
 poor *, and those who have acquired knowledge by in- 
 tense application, or who shine distinguished by their 
 superior genius, spurn the ignorant vulgar j nay, even 
 
NATURAL CONDITION OF MAN. 55 
 
 the spiritual man is much too ready to exalt himself in 
 the nattering survey of his own gifts and graces. The 
 universal prevalence of this spirit of self-sufficiency 
 loudly proclaims the blindness of the human mind to 
 that fundamental truth, that " no man can receive any 
 thing except it be given him from above." With re- 
 spect then to every advantage on which we place a 
 value, it is God only that maketh men to differ. But so 
 gross is this blindness, and so truly is it a property of 
 our nature, that it is difficult, even with all the aids of 
 supernatural light and divine grace, to obtain deliver- 
 ance from it. Some symptoms of it may be found (where 
 you least suspect them) even in the most enlightened 
 of the earth. 
 
 The natural blindness of man with respect to God, 
 may be proved also by the preference he gives to a life 
 of self-indulgence, over a life of obedience. Compare 
 these together, and you would not even believe it pos- 
 sible to make a wrong choice. For what is a life of obe- 
 dience to God ? It is paying our allegiance to the wisest, 
 the best of kings, and duly discharging our filial duty 
 to the most affectionate of fathers. It is freedom to the 
 fettered soul, and deliverance from passions as base as 
 they are hurtful. It ensures a peaceful enjoyment of 
 mind, which affords no ground for sharp self-upbraid- 
 ings. It makes a man a blessing to all in close connec- 
 tion with him, effectually restraining him even from the 
 intention to do evil*. In prosperity it keeps the mind 
 humble ; in adversity, calm and patient : nor can the 
 prospect of death disturb its tranquillity, for its hope is 
 full of immortality. Survey now its contrast, — a life 
 of self-indulgence. How depraved, how monstrous, is 
 every feature ! The whole appears no other than a hi- 
 deous compound of ignorance, obstinately contradicting 
 infinite wisdom : — of contempt, shown by a sinful worm 
 to eternal majesty ; — of ingratitude, to bounty the most 
 
56 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 undeserved j — of rebellion, aiming its blow against sove- 
 reign mercy. A life of self-indulgence makes a man 
 afraid to look into himself, or forward to approaching 
 eternity : it is infectious and full of mischief to others ; 
 it is wholly without excuse, and in every view alto- 
 gether odious. 
 
 What light then can there be left in the human mind, 
 if a life of obedience is not always, without hesitation, 
 preferred, infinitely preferred, to a life of self-indul- 
 gence 1 For beauty, in its loveliest bloom, doth not so 
 evidently excel pale loathsome disease, as a life of faith- 
 ful obedience surpasses one of self-gratification. 
 
 Yet, alas ! to the shame of man, experience daily 
 proves his choice to be fixed on what merits absolute 
 contempt, and his preference to be given, where detes- 
 tation alone is due. Innumerable are the slanders with 
 which man asperses a life of strict obedience, and loud 
 are the complaints he urges against it : he industrious- 
 ly employs all his powers of wit and reason to make an 
 uniform subjection to the will of God appear irksome, — 
 and opposition to it guiltless. 
 
 In vain do all the children of obedience lift up their 
 voice together, and cry, ?' Great peace have they who 
 love thy law, and nothing shall offend them." In vain 
 does the all-sufficient Jehovah promise his indwelling 
 presence and Spirit ; in vain does he promise pardon, 
 power, peace and salvation to the faithful and obedi- 
 ent ; all is too weak to open the eyes of men in general, 
 and to enable them to perceive such pleasure and such 
 charms in the way of duty, as they fondly fancy they 
 discover in the paths of self-will and transgression. And 
 to this gross mistake it is owing that the number of 
 real christians is so small, the multitude of open sin- 
 ners so great. 
 
 This observation leads us to a further discovery of 
 the blindness natural to the human mind, with respect 
 
NATURAL CONDITION OF MAN. 5? 
 
 to what it esteems the true foundation of happiness. 
 Were it a fact that great possessions, titles, or appear- 
 ances could satisfy the soul, it might then be no proof 
 of human blindness to seek for happiness in what the 
 world can give, to the neglect or disparagement of 
 God - y or were we, like the heathen, left in gross dark- 
 ness about the perfections of God, and in ignorance of 
 the notice he takes of his creatures : on either of these 
 suppositions it would be no evidence of blindness in 
 man to reject, as imaginary, the prospect of finding hap 
 piness in the knowledge of God, and in a lively con 
 sciousness of his favor 5 for then man might plead that 
 it was the height of arrogance and presumption to ima- 
 gine there could be an intimacy and friendship between 
 God and himself. 
 
 But when, on the contrary, the infallible Scriptures 
 fully display to us the glorious perfections of our God, 
 and when they assure us also of the high place man 
 holds in his thoughts ; when they declare that his heart 
 is open to embrace him as soon as he earnestly desires 
 deliverance from sin, and to treat him with all the en- 
 dearments a son can receive from the most loving fa- 
 ther ; in such a case, must not the mind be deplorably 
 blind if it does not listen with delight to these declara- 
 tions, place confidence in them, and instantly accept 
 the rich offer made by them as a treasure of peace, of 
 happiness and glory ? Yet, alas ! far from acting in 
 this most reasonable manner, we are with great difficul- 
 ty brought to believe that God does indeed dwell with 
 man ; and with still greater to desire any share in com- 
 munion with him. After a thousand disappointments 
 from the world, still with boundless credulity we depend 
 upon every delusion for happiness. The meanest trifle, 
 the most sordid pursuit, every thing, except the know- 
 ledge and love of God, we are blind enough to fancy 
 worth our esteem and our labor to obtain. 
 
 3* 
 
58 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 Thus does gross ignorance cover the mind of fallen 
 man. Every inferior creature, even the crawling worm 
 or buzzing insect, perceives what is most beneficial for 
 itself, steadily pursues and contantly adheres to it. But 
 man is naturally blind to the Fountain of all good, and 
 to the enjoyment he can possess through the know 
 ledge and love of him. Even men of the finest abili- 
 ties, whose penetration, in other respects, is piercing as 
 the eagle's sight, are in this point miserably blind. 
 Gross darkness* covers the rich and the poor, the young 
 and the old, the priest and the people, till God com 
 mands the light to shine out of darkness, and be 
 stows from on high a sound understanding and right 
 judgment. 
 
 This blindness of the human mind is most strongly 
 asserted in the following Scriptures, to which more of 
 the same kind, were it necessary, might be added : Job, 
 11 : 12. *• Man is born like the wild ass's colt," that is, 
 not only destitute of heavenly light and wisdom, but 
 stupid to apprehend it, and averse to receive it. Ob- 
 serve how keenly this is pointed : like the ass — an ani- 
 mal remarkable for its stupidity even to a proverb ; like 
 the ass's colt, which of course must be more egregious- 
 ly stupid than the dam ; like the wild ass's colt, which 
 is not only dull, but stubborn and refractory, neither by 
 nature possessing valuable qualities, nor capable of re- 
 ceiving them through any discipline. The same blind- 
 ness, natural to the human mind, is necessarily implied 
 in those assertions of the Lord Jesus Christ, which as- 
 cribe all discernment of spiritual things to the influence 
 of the Holy Ghost j which style him the Spirit of Truth, 
 whose office it is to lead us into all truth. Nay, suffi- 
 ciently decisive on this point, if there were no other 
 testimony, is that remarkable one of St. Paul : " The 
 natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of 
 God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he 
 
NATDRAL CONDITION OF MAN. 59 
 
 know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 
 1 Cor. 2 : U. 
 
 But it is not blindness only that is chargeable on fal- 
 len man ; his entire forgetfulness of God, even though 
 the whole creation loudly attest his excellency and his 
 presence, argues extreme depravity. Man can be a wit- 
 ness to the whole host of heaven moving in continual 
 order around him ; he can enjoy the grateful vicissitude 
 of the seasons, and feast upon the various bounties of 
 the earth ; he can stand encircled with conveniences and 
 comforts, and yet not advert to the infinitely wise and 
 gracious hand that made and sustains all things. He ex- 
 cludes God from the government of his own world, be- 
 cause not subject to the observation of his senses ; and 
 ascribes the honor due to Him, to tlios^ passive instru- 
 ments which only subserve his will. When God, there- 
 fore, would impress a nation with any heartfelt awe or 
 his ag mcy and rule over the affairs of men, he must 
 send forth his judgments on the earth, which, like a 
 glaring comet troubling the sky by its irregular motion 
 and portentous appearance, may arrest the attention, 
 alarm the fears, and lead the thoughts of man to his 
 Maker. When he would recover an individual from the 
 deep forgetfulness of him in which he lies by nature, he 
 must change his prosperity into trouble, and his joy 
 into heaviness : a chamber of sickness or a bed of lan- 
 guishing must make him know himself to be but man : 
 he must scourge him with pain, or by fearful apprehen- 
 sions of impending punishment must awaken the sleep- 
 er into sensibility. Still, however, even after these se- 
 vere monitors have faithfully performed their office, and 
 forcibly set before man his adorable Creator, the re- 
 membrance of him, alas ! is apt to pass away like that 
 of a guest who tarries but a day. * 
 
 It passes away, though all nature unites to exhibit 
 him to the senses. " Whilst the sun, clothed in tran- 
 
60 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 scendent brightness, comes forth from his chamber 
 every morning to publish his Maker's glory ; whilst the 
 moon and stars, which govern the night, add their 
 united evidence to magnify their Creator to a gazing 
 but unaffected world ; whilst the air whispers his cle- 
 mency in the balmy refreshing breeze, or his majesty 
 sounds aloud in roaring winds and rending storms : 
 yet both expedients fail ; man is like the deaf ad-ler 
 that stoppeth her ears; he refuseth to hear the voice of 
 the charmers, charm they ever so sweetly, ever so for 
 cibly. Each flower, arrayed in beauty and breathing 
 perfume, courts our affections for its infinitely amiable 
 Author; not a bird that warbles, or a brook that mur- 
 murs, but invites our praise or chides our ingratitude. 
 All the variety of fruits deposit their attestation on our 
 palates, yet seldom reach our hearts; they give us a 
 proof of the divine benignity, as undeniable as it is 
 pleasing, and too often as ineffectual also. In short, 
 the whole creation is a kind of magnificent embassy 
 from its almighty Lord, deputed to proclaim his excel- 
 lencies and demand our homage." Yet man, such is 
 the depravity of his mind, disregards the former, and 
 of consequence withholds the latter. 
 
 It may be said these instances of the power, wisdom 
 and goodness of God, in the creation, are silent and in- 
 articulate witnesses, and therefore fail to engage the 
 attention of man. But alas ! his forgetfulness of his 
 Maker is stubborn enough to withstand even louder 
 calls. Behold ! the messenger of the Lord, with heaven- 
 enkindled zeal in his heart and fire in his eyes, ad- 
 dresses him ; he pleads before him the cause of God 
 and truth ; he makes his earnest appeal to reason, to 
 man's own experience, whether God ought to be for- 
 gotten. He sets the Father of the spirits of all flesh 
 before him, in the supreme glory of his character and 
 the overflowing riches of his grace. Yet the force of 
 
NATURAL CONDITION OF MAN. 61 
 
 the impression abides no longer than till the next earth- 
 ly trifle occurs, or the favorite object of pursuit presents 
 itself to the mind. Either one or the other can scatter 
 every idea of God from his faithless memory, as the 
 wind disperses the chaff. 
 
 Nay, when that holy word which breathes the ma- 
 jesty of Him who inspired it, is read by his minister, 
 man, till renewed by grace, betrays in his whole deport- 
 ment a flagrant insensibility and a reproachful irreve- 
 rence toward God. The sons of business are still in 
 idea buying, selling and getting gain, as at the ex- 
 change or market ; the eye of lewdness ceases not, 
 even in the holy assembly, to gratify evil concupis- 
 cence: youthful curiosity roves with careless indiffer- 
 ence from object to object. Amidst a multitude of pro- 
 fessed worshippers of God, only the few, who have 
 been happily recovered from their natural insensibility, 
 worship him in spirit and in truth. Weigh this fact, 
 too frequently occurring not to fall under your notice, 
 and it will extort a confession from you that the God 
 in whose hands is all our life and happiness for time 
 and for eternity, is more overlooked than the smallest 
 object that concerns our temporal welfare, and more 
 forgotten than the meanest person on whom we have 
 any dependence. 
 
 We have seen, then, that it is the way of man to live 
 m forgetfulness of God. But let not this forgetf illness 
 be considered as the effect of mere inattention, — a ve- 
 nial failing which, though it ought to be corrected, ar- 
 gues no corrupt nature. — No, it is highly culpable. It 
 arises entirely from a depravity of disposition. Are we 
 wont to be obstinately inattentive to our friends, whilst 
 any degree of veneration remains for them 1 When the 
 Lord of a great household is absent, and therefore invi- 
 sible to his servants, do they lose the remembrance of 
 their duty unless they are wholly base and profligate 1 
 
62 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 When children are separated from their affectionate 
 parents, though even at the distance of whole king- 
 doms, can they lose a lively remembrance of their rela- 
 tion, or a sense of their obligations, unless they are 
 sunk into total degeneracy! If we trace, therefore, 
 man's forgetfulness of God up to its real source, it will 
 afford us still more afflicting evidence of his natural 
 depravity, and prove that he is a despiser of the Lord 
 God omnipotent. 
 
 Neither let" ignorance of the nature of God, and of the 
 homage he requires from men, be pleaded as an excuse 
 for our forgetfulness. For has not reason remonstrated 
 against our sin 1 Has not the word of God distinctly 
 pointed out its malignity 1 Have not undeniable facts 
 proved that God, notwithstanding his infinite greatness, 
 is pleased to inspect our conduct with the most minute 
 attention 1 No earthly potentate can show himself so 
 observant of the manners of his subjects, so jealous of 
 the honor of his laws, as the King eternal, immortal and 
 invisible. For ask and inquire under heaven, from the 
 beginning of the world unto this day, Who is he among 
 the princes of this world that has so fully prohibited all 
 that is evil, or so strictly enjoined the practice of all 
 good, as the Lord of the whole earth 1 Who has added 
 penalties to deter from presumptuous offences against 
 his laws, worthy to be compared to everlasting burn- 
 ings 1 In what state are such rich preferments, such 
 desirable honors, insured to loyalty and obedience, as 
 in the kingdom of our God 1 Or, to say no more, who 
 among the kings of the earth, in all the fierceness of his 
 wrath, has been found so terrible to avenge iniquity as 
 the righteous God, in his judgments that have been 
 executed upon sinners 1 
 
 Our forgetfulness, therefore, of so great a God, who 
 has so plainly and fully manifested his authority, is sin- 
 ful, and is an instance of high depravity. It is no less 
 
NATURAL CONDITION OF MAN. 63 
 
 than contempt of God, and, as such, is a crime infinitely- 
 heinous. To show contempt to a person who is in any 
 degree our superior, is a greater offence, all will allow, 
 than if he were our equal. To offer an affront to a 
 crowned head, a much greater offence than to a private 
 man. As every act of honor derives its value from the 
 dignity of him who pays it, so an offence is dishonor- 
 able and base in proportion to the character of him 
 against whom it is committed. The consequence then 
 is plain, that to show contempt to God, is an offence 
 truly infinite ; for almighty power, made lovely by an 
 essential union with perfect wisdom, justice and mercy, 
 constitute the name of God, and demand the heartfelt 
 adoration of his creatures. To question whether such 
 an adoration be due to him, argues a profligate stupidity 
 of mind : but to act as if he were unworthy of fear and 
 love, is still more flagitious wickedness. 
 
 Yet that it is the custom of man thus to act, you may 
 see in the clearest light wherever you turn your eyes. 
 Consider the multitudes who are living in the open 
 breach of one or other of the laws of God. Are they 
 doing so because they are ignorant that their sin is for- 
 bidden 1 No. Profane swearers know what the third 
 commandment means, and by what Lawgiver it is en- 
 acted. The intemperate are acquainted with the Scrip- 
 ture which denounces woes on those "whose God is 
 their belly, and who are mighty to drink wine." The 
 lewd are no strangers to that awful declaration, "whore- 
 mongers and adulterers God will judge :" nor fraudu- 
 lent tradesmen to that solemn appeal, w Know ye not 
 that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom 
 of God." 
 
 But notwithstanding these plain peremptory declara- 
 tions, fraud, intemperance and profaneness have ever 
 covered almost the whole face of the earth. And sin- 
 ners of each of the above-mentioned classes — though 
 
64 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 entreated, though importuned, though adjured in the 
 name of God who made, who preserves, and who will 
 judge them, — not only refuse to hearken, but rage in 
 confidence of their own safety. By this conduct man 
 foams out his own shame, and proves that, where he can 
 neither plead ignorance nor forgetfulness, he will dare 
 to treat the commands of God as if he thought them 
 the wild injunctions of passion, the impositions of ty- 
 ranny, or the dictates of folly. He will dare to treat 
 the law of his Maker as if, in some instances at least 
 respecting himself, it were absurd in its intention, un- 
 reasonable in its restraints, unnecessary to be observed, 
 and to. be broken with impunity. 
 
 It is in vain for man to reply, whilst he remains a 
 wilful transgressor of the law, that it is far from his in- 
 tention to be guilty of contempt towards God, he only 
 means to please himself in his sin. For where the law 
 of God is openly declared, as it is in every christian 
 country, it is impossible to do the one without being 
 guilty of the other also. A rebellious spirit cannot pos- 
 sibly discover a more flagrant contempt of God's go- 
 vernment, than by first concluding that it will be his 
 interest to walk contrary to his commandment ; and 
 then, whilst doing so, making light of the wrath revealed 
 in the most solemn manner against all the unrighteous 
 ness and ungodliness of men. 
 
 But in whatever point of view man may himself re- 
 gard his practice of sin, it is beyond dispute that the 
 eternal God looks upon it in a most serious light, and will 
 punish it as a contempt of his authority. He represents 
 himself as so touched by the unprovoked and inexcusa- 
 ble rebellion of sinners, that he becomes inexorable to 
 their cries, and regardless of the dreadful miseries into 
 the abyss of which they are ready to fall : " Because I 
 have called," — by my Spirit, my law, and my ministers, 
 " and ye refused j" because, like one vehemently de- 
 
ENMITY AGAINST GOD. 65 
 
 sirous to be obeyed,"I have stretched out my hand, and 
 no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my 
 counsel, and would none of my reproof: I will also 
 laugh at your calamity, and I will mock when your fear 
 cometh. When your fear cometh as desolation, and 
 your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress 
 and anguish cometh upon you." Prov. 1 : 24-27. In 
 this passage you observe the Almighty expressing, in 
 the most alarming manner, the contempt and indigna- 
 tion he will show towards obstinate sinners, as only the 
 just retaliation upon them of the very same usage and 
 treatment he has received so long at their hands. 
 
 What has been said proves but too fully the natural 
 depravity of man. There is no way of refuting it, but 
 by affirming that it implies no baseness to treat the 
 fountain of all good with forgetfulness, and Excellency 
 itself with contempt. But wherever there should be im- 
 piety enough to maintain such a shocking assertion, 
 there would also be a living demonstration of the truth 
 that was contradicted. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 OF Jtl&JY.—contimtea. 
 
 HIS NATURAL ENMITY AGAINST GOD. 
 
 The deplorable blindness of man in his natural con- 
 dition, his neglect and contempt of God have been al- 
 ready stated : but there is still, alas ! something worse 
 chargeable upon us all, till created again in Christ Jesus. 
 
66 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 This I should carefully conceal, if it were my aim 
 merely to please my reader instead of bringing him 
 thoroughly acquainted with himself. I know that what 
 I am going to prove upon fallen man, is extremely of- 
 fensive to natural pride. I remember well the time, 
 when my own self-complacency would have been pro- 
 voked at such a charge as I now bring against the hu- 
 man race. Let me then entreat the candor of the reader 
 to believe that I would most conscientiously avoid im- 
 puting to fallen man more sinfulness than Scripture 
 and experience fully warrant : let me also humbly re- 
 quest to be esteemed no less benevolent than if I main- 
 tained that man was born with perfect rectitude of soul. 
 I should with the greatest pleasure embrace that opi- 
 nion, if fact and the express testimony of God did not 
 compel me to renounce it as a dangerous delusion. 
 
 Having thus endeavored to procure an unprejudiced 
 hearing of my arguments, I am bold to open to the bot- 
 tom the deplorable corruption of human nature, and to 
 maintain that there dwells in the heart of every man, 
 till changed by grace, an aversion to the very Author 
 of his being. This is an accusation of so detestable a 
 kind, that even those who are most visibly under the 
 power of a dreadful depravity of mind will not allow 
 its truth. But the proofs I shall bring are such as every 
 one would allow sufficiently to demonstrate aversion 
 in any other case. And after these proofs are laid be- 
 fore you, we will add the infallible decisions of the 
 word of God. 
 
 You will allow, then, that wherever the company of 
 persons confessedly wise, excellent and amiable, is dis- 
 tasteful and irksome, there is ground to conclude that it 
 arises from some personal dislike. Now secret prayer, 
 and reading the Scriptures With humility and attention, 
 are the nearest approach to God, the most like being in 
 his company of any thing of which we are at present 
 
ENMITY AGAINST GOD. 
 
 67 
 
 capable. By these, therefore, we are said in Scripture 
 to " seek his face, and come into his presence." If, 
 therefore, an aversion to holding such intercourse as 
 this with God can be proved natural to fallen man, it 
 evidently proves his aversion to him ; for none can dis- 
 pute the wisdom of God, or his glorious excellence. 
 
 By this test try the human race in every stage of 
 life, and say, where are the young people, where are the 
 old, who, before they are divinely renewed, have any 
 delight in prayer and reading the Scriptures 1 I do not 
 say they totally neglect them 5 but do not they repeat, 
 their prayers in haste, without serious attention to their 
 meaning 1 Is not the Bible, that authentic account of 
 God and his wonderful works, a dull, tasteless book to 
 them, and therefore neglected] If it is read, are not 
 a few minutes thought time enough for such a task, 
 whilst hours are every day consumed with delight in 
 idle sauntering, in frivolous visits, or in frothy enter- 
 tainments 1 If this conduct does not, what can demon- 
 strate the aversion of man to God ] especially since 
 God, oh amazing condescension! offers to hold com- 
 munion with us, invites our acquaintance, and would 
 have us regard him as our exceeding joy ! Why is this 
 offer slighted 1 Surely because we naturally like not to 
 retain him in our knowledge, nor to glorify him as God. 
 
 Again ; it cannot be doubted that a great degree of 
 hatred against a person prevails, when it extends even 
 to those that are connected with him, and when attach- 
 ment to him becomes a cause for breaking the closest 
 bonds of friendship. 
 
 Tried by this rule, the natural aversion of man's 
 heart to his glorious Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, 
 appears as flagrant in its effects as it is detestable in 
 principle. A zealous spirit of obedience to the Lord 
 Jesus Christ may be considered as the expression of a 
 sincere attachment to him ; but this spirit is, in all 
 
68 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 ages of life, offensive to the generality of mankind 
 Does this uncommon but most excellent disposition dis- 
 cover itself in a child at school — his playmates, as from 
 an instinctive enmity against it, will assault and perse- 
 cute him with derision. In universities which give the 
 last polish to the education of the* world, you may be 
 lewd and intemperate, profane in speech and principle, 
 without offence to your fellow-students ; but if, with a 
 becoming fortitude, you refrain from all fashionable 
 sins, and urge the authority of God's law against them, 
 the most cutting ridicule and abusive insult will be 
 heaped upon you. 
 
 Now as this is the case before the corrupt affections 
 of the human heart are strengthened by age or inflamed 
 by indulgence, it must necessarily be much more so 
 afterwards. It is accordingly a fact, that the real fear 
 and love of God in Jesus Christ become the cause of 
 variance and separation where the greatest intimacy 
 and the closest friendship subsisted before. Those very 
 persons who, whilst living in fashionable forgetfulness 
 of God, were beloved as most amiable, and even pro- 
 posed as patterns for imitation — no sooner are divinely 
 changed to delight in the knowledge of God and his 
 Gospel, than they perceive that their careless friends 
 treat them at first with a civil reserve, then proceed to 
 censures of their extravagant piety, and at length dis- 
 card them entirely from their friendship. But could 
 this be the case if there were no aversion in the heart 
 to God 1 By no means ; for though you may not like 
 your friend's contracting an intimacy with a third per- 
 son, yet you would not quarrel with him for it unless 
 you had a secret dislike of that person in your heart. 
 
 It is a sure proof of aversion against a person when 
 the respectful mention of his name, and the just praise 
 ascribed to him, is not borne without impatience and 
 displeasure. The party-bigot, every man will allow, 
 
ENMITY AGAINST GOD. 69 
 
 overflows with the gall of bitterness ; and therefore, 
 when the good qualities of those who are in opposition 
 to his sect become the subject of discourse, he either 
 sits in silent chagrin, or is evidently impatient till an- 
 other topic of discourse is introduced. And is it not, 
 then, a proof of aversion to God, when, amidst all the 
 variety of subjects of discourse, objection is made only 
 against such as are designed to magnify the only true 
 God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent 1 What but 
 aversion to God would immediately brand such conver- 
 sations with the odious names of cant and hypocrisy, 
 and obstinately ascribe it to some hateful motive of os- 
 tentation or sinister design 1 
 
 Men are pleased with incessant prating about every 
 the meanest trifle, or most sordid vanity ; but as soon 
 as any attempt is made to turn the conversation on the 
 great Lord of the world, his transactions, government, 
 perfections and love, the very mention of the subject is 
 received in most companies with visible dislike, a dis- 
 approving silence ensues, and the subject drops as soon 
 as introduced. Ah! what can demonstrate that the un- 
 renewed heart of man is at enmity with God, if this fact 
 does not, which proclaims so loudly that he is the only 
 person of whom no one chooses to speak, and whose 
 praises no one desires to hear] Could a circle of avow- 
 ed atheists desire to have it otherwise 1 
 
 Again : Who can doubt whether enmity reigns in the 
 heart against an earthly king, when the tongue is busy 
 in abusing his professed friends, and in casting reproach 
 upon his government, and the hand is active in opposing 
 it % Can it be doubted, then, what is the real temper of 
 man's heart towards God, the King of the whole earth, 
 before a divine change is experienced, when it is com- 
 mon to hear ridicule poured upon the pious and devout, 
 as creatures absurdly demure, pitiably weak in their 
 judgment, or enthusiastic in their temper! What a 
 
70 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN 
 
 malicious insinuation is this against the glory of God 1 
 Does it not imply that all who have any concern for his 
 honor are actually under the power of delusion, and 
 truly despicable in their choice and pursuits 1 
 
 Add to this that the disobedience of men to the law 
 of God amounts to the strongest proof of aversion to 
 him. Every wilful transgression is an act of contro- 
 versy with him who forbids it, and of direct opposition 
 to his will j it is expressly styled in Scripture, rebellion 
 against God. For though we have no power to over- 
 come our Maker, or to shake the everlasting pillars of 
 his throne ; though we cannot bring forth the weapons 
 of our indignation against the invisible God as rebel- 
 lious subjects can do against their mortal sovereign, 
 yet the bidding defiance to his law demonstrates our 
 will to do this execrable deed. It is an evident decla- 
 ration that our spirit is in a state of hostility against 
 heaven. Every open presumptuous offender against God 
 calls aloud, by his practice, upon all who behold it, Come 
 on, rise up with me against the Lord j who is he, that 
 he should reign over us 1 
 
 Now from these instances, notorious in every, place, 
 make an estimate of the natural disposition of man's 
 heart towards God, and then say if it is not evidently 
 that of aversion. If you would allow these instances a 
 sufficient demonstration of enmity in every other case, 
 be ingenuous and honest enough to grant it to be such 
 in the present. 
 
 To prevail with you to do this, attend further to the 
 manner in which our natural state and condition is re 
 presented by the God of truth. He constantly speaks of 
 the children of men, in their unregenerate state, as 
 V haters " of him, as his " adversaries " and " enemies." 
 Christ, we are assured, died for the " ungodly j" that is, 
 for those who were enemies to God. 
 
 The same truth is positively affirmed, Rom. 8 : 7 
 
ENMITY AGAINST GOD. 
 
 71 
 
 The carnal mind (which the context explains to be 
 the mind of man in its natural state) is not only dis- 
 inclined to God, but l l enmity against him j" which en- 
 mity expresses itself in refusing to be subject to the 
 law of God. 
 
 Indeed the Gospel itself, even in one of its most love- 
 ly titles, emphatically implies the melancholy truth we 
 are proving. For it is called " the ministry of recon- 
 ciliation" that is, a method contrived by consummate 
 wisdom, and executed by almighty love, to reconcile us 
 unto God, who " were enemies in our minds " to him 
 " by wicked works." Col. 1:21. And let the man who 
 would deny the necessity of reconciliation in his own 
 case, descend into his breast, and take a full survey of 
 his duty by the light of Scripture, and then say what 
 hope he can have, but from an act of grace in God re- 
 ceiving him to favor, and putting him in a way of com- 
 plete redemption, by a new birth of the Spirit, in the 
 renovation of his heart. 
 
 From this proof of the total depravity of man in his 
 temper towards God, his natural guilt and sinfulness ap- 
 pear in a glaring light. For what can be more criminal 
 than such disaffection to God the Father everlasting X 
 [t is no less than a total denial of the relation that sub- 
 sists between the Creator and the creature. It is re- 
 moving the best and noblest part of the divine work- 
 manship, visible on earth, from its proper basis and cen- 
 tre. If you were to break in pieces the frame of nature, 
 and resolve the world into a mere chaos, the confusion 
 and evil would not be so great as that of breaking the 
 bonds which unite the Creator to his noblest work, a 
 rational immortal s^ul. All the relations of creatures 
 towards each other are mean and insignificant in com- 
 parison of those which subsist between creatures and 
 the Author of their being. Besides, what monstrous 
 wickedness is it to be disaffected to our most bountiful 
 
72 COMPLETE DUTY OP MAN. 
 
 Benefactor ! What do we think and say of those who 
 have an aversion to their parents I What, when they 
 dislike and shun those who have been ever kind and 
 full of paternal love ; are we not wont to brand such 
 ungrateful children with every name of reproach, and 
 to judge them guilty in the highest degree ! But in how 
 small a measure do parents contribute to the being and 
 welfare of their children, in comparison of what the 
 great God doth to ours ! and how little superiority in 
 point of power and excellency have parents over their 
 children! Whereas the excellency of our Maker sur- 
 passes even our highest conceptions. 
 
 And what cause can man pretend for his disaffection 
 towards God! Many good works has he done for us ; 
 for which of these is he hated ! What injuries have we 
 received from him to offend us ! rather may I say, by 
 how many powerful allurements hath he sought to gain 
 our affections ! by benefits visible to every eye, repeat- 
 ed day by day in all the comforts and conveniences of 
 life : by. inviting us to the highest degrees of honor and 
 happiness, by giving his only Son to be a sacrifice for 
 our sins. 
 
 Disaffection to our Maker comprehends all other 
 wickedness ; for as the law of love is the sum and sub- 
 stance of all the precepts, so disaffection to God is com- 
 prehensive of all iniquity, since every branch of it may 
 be resolved into this depravity of mind. 
 
 If you ask what is the use of so strongly representing 
 the natural vileness of man, and of giving his portrait 
 in colors so opposite to those in which he is drawn by 
 the flattering pencils of many moral painters! the 
 answer is, that it is only upon the doctrine of the entire 
 corruption of human nature that the propriety of the 
 capital and peculiar doctrines of the Bible rests. By 
 the capital and peculiar doctrines of Scripture, I under- 
 stand — redemption from the insupportable punishment 
 
ENMITY AGAINST GOL 73 
 
 of sin j acceptance with God only through faith in our 
 Lord and Savior Jesus Christ j the illumination of the 
 mind, and a change of disposition by the inward opera- 
 tion of the eternal Spirit 
 
 Against these doctrines you must be strongly preju- 
 diced, or will receive them only as speculative points, 
 till you are sensible that your natural state is exceed- 
 ingly corrupt. For though your conscience will not 
 suffer you to say you have done no evil^ yet, if possess- 
 ing some civil and moral virtues which gain you esteem 
 amongst men, you believe yourself to be comparatively 
 innocent, you cannot be reconciled to those declara- 
 tions of Scripture which affirm eternal death to be the 
 just* portion of fallen man. 
 
 Equally averse must you be to embrace the Gospel 
 method of purification unto eternal life. The flattering 
 idea of your own merit, and the plausible expectation 
 of greater reformation, will render you too partial to 
 your own righteousness to permit you to approve of 
 the doctrine of salvation by grace ; for this is a doctrine 
 infinitely mortifying to human pride : it disannuls every 
 plea for mercy but the sufferings and victory of the high 
 and holy Redeemer, who, in absolute pity, undertook to 
 recover fallen man from ruin, by bearing his sin and 
 subduing his enemies. A way of reconciliation this, 
 which is never cordially accepted, nor effectually used 
 till all the tempers and dispositions natural to the hu- 
 man mind are confessed to be evil, that is, full of disaf- 
 fection and enmity against the law of God. Whereas 
 the full conviction of this truth disposes the mind to per- 
 ceive that it became Him, by whom are all things, and 
 for whom are all things, in this, and no other way of 
 justifying sinners, to bring many sons to glory. 
 
 Moreover : whilst it is supposed that men are not by 
 nature deplorably blind to the truths of God and to his 
 excellency, and in their earliest dispositions set against 
 
 Duty of Man. * 
 
74 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 him, the doctrine of regeneration and of divine grace 
 as the principle of a new life, must appear unnecessary 
 and absurd. For if man's understanding is not darkened, 
 if by thought and reflection he can attain a due know- 
 ledge of the truth, he does not then stand in need of 
 foreign help. In this case it is reasonable to urge him 
 to exert his own powers ; but to press him to make re- 
 quest for a spirit of wisdom and revelation, is vain and 
 foolish. In thewsame manner divine grace can never be 
 conceived necessary to form and fashion the soul anew, 
 unless it is naturally prone to express forgetfulness, 
 contempt and hatred towards its glorious Creator. To 
 reform the outward actions, or to lead a life merely 
 sober and honest, requires no such supernatural aid and 
 powerful operation. We daily see many who despise 
 prayer and the word of God, and are altogether sensual 
 and earthly, yet living in integrity and in quietness with 
 their neighbors j so that it is not with respect to social 
 dispositions that men universally discover their depra- 
 vity and their want of a new heart and a new spirit. 
 But it is that secret impiety which opposes our giving 
 to God the honor, obedience and supreme love which 
 are due unto his holy name, which renders the agency 
 of the Holy Ghost absolutely necessary. It is the re- 
 moval and cure of a dreadful disorder which rages in 
 the heart of all the human race, and which demands the 
 skill and energy of Him whose power first formed the 
 soul, to restore it again to the image of God. 
 
 The conclusion, therefore, is plain, that as ignorance 
 of our natural condition and character with respect to 
 God prevails, the whole scheme of christian principles 
 must be rejected or hypocritically received, whilst in 
 the same degree that we rightly know ourselves, it will 
 be reverenced, embraced, and practically improved. 
 
THE USE OF THE LAW. iD 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 OF THE Zs^W. 
 
 ITS PERFECTION AND USE. 
 
 We have now endeavored to delineate the character 
 of God and the natural state of man, as they are reveal- 
 ed in Scripture ; the next subject, with which all men 
 ought to be fully acquainted, is the nature of the Law. 
 The Law, with its terms of perfect righteousness and 
 life on the one hand, and of disobedience and death on 
 the other, is the first thing which the word of God pre- 
 sents to our notice ; and till this is known, the Gospel 
 cannot be understood, nor the grace of God be .duly re- 
 ceived ; for the Gospel is the revelation of God's way 
 of delivering a sinner from the curse of the law. The 
 intimate connection which subsists between the Law 
 and the Gospel is frequently taught in Scripture, yet 
 from a natural reluctance to confess ourselves the guilty 
 impotent creatures we are, and from a false construc- 
 tion of what is spoken of the law, as if it related only 
 or chiefly to the Jewish state, this connection is fa- 
 tally overlooked by multitudes who profess themselves 
 christians. 
 
 To remove such hurtful ignorance, I shall lay before 
 you the perfection and extent of the Moral Law ; the 
 excellent ends it perpetually answers wherever it is 
 duly received, and the pernicious errors which must 
 possess and govern the minds of men whilst they re- 
 main ignorant of it. 
 
 The perfection of the law of God will evidently ap- 
 pear by comparing it with other laws, and observing its 
 greater extent. With regard to human laws, even the 
 
76 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 best of them must ever prove defective in this, that 
 they cannot reach the propensities to evil, nor take 
 cognizance of the intents of the heart : their whole 
 force can extend no further than to forbid acts which 
 would disturb the public peace. The law of God, on 
 the contrary, condemns, under pain of insupportable pe- 
 nalties, the latent compliances of the heart with tempta- 
 tion, and commands us to resist the first workings of 
 evil within. 
 
 If it be said the law of conscience is not defective in 
 this respect as the laws of the state must be ; that this 
 goes deeper, serving as a supplement to them, and re- 
 straining where the power of a penal statute cannot ; it 
 may be replied, that the law of conscience is principally 
 formed by the manners and sentiments of those with 
 whom we are educated, and with whom we converse. 
 Of course it is depraved by customs and prejudices of 
 various kinds ; it must prove, therefore, an uncertain, 
 and sometimes perhaps a dangerous, instead of a suffi- 
 cient rule of action. But the law of Scripture leaves us 
 in no such difficulties ; whilst we are directed by it, we 
 are following no other guide than that of perfect truth 
 and righteousness. 
 
 The law which is established for the peace and good 
 government of nations, is often severe and distressing 
 to individuals, nor can it be otherwise ; the best, there- 
 fore, is that which is accompanied with the fewest evils. 
 But the law of God is equally at all times, and in all 
 places, of universal benefit : wherever it is most con- 
 scientiously regarded, there the greatest measure of 
 happiness will certainly be enjoyed. For no one with 
 truth can say he is in the least degree aggrieved by it j 
 nor can any, either of the rich or the poor, whilst they 
 regard their true comfort or interest, have cause to 
 wish the least alteration in it. 
 
 Again, the doctrine or law which the moral philoso- 
 
THE USE OF THE LAW. 77 
 
 phers of old taught, and which many still profess great- 
 ly to admire, is little more than an imposture covered over 
 with swelling words of vanity. It undertakes to annihi- 
 late the passions, yet neither promises nor intimates that 
 any supernatural aid shall be afforded to accomplish 
 such an arduous work. Nay, it encourages instead of 
 condemning some of the worst tempers natural to man. 
 It cures intemperance and the thirst for revenge by 
 pride ; the sins of the body by giving indulgence to 
 those of the mind : that is, in other words, it makes a 
 man less like a beast by making him more like a devil. 
 Far different is the law of Scripture : this allows no 
 place for sinful tempers of any kind ; it strikes at the 
 root of every disposition contrary to the perfection of 
 the soul. 
 
 There is, however, one law which calls for a more 
 respectful consideration ; for it claims the God of 
 heaven and earth for its author: I mean the Jewish 
 Ceremonial law. But even this, when compared with 
 the Moral, will appear far less excellent. For though 
 of divine appointment, it was appropriated only to one 
 people and nation : whereas the Moral Law extends to 
 all, for it immediately results from the relation of man- 
 kind to God, as their Creator and Benefactor. 
 
 In the Ceremonial Law there was only a relative use 
 and worth : it was /to serve for a figure for the time 
 then present ; it was designed with no other view than 
 to shadow forth Christ the substance, and then to cease 
 for ever when he appeared. But the Moral Law pos- 
 sesses an excellence which endures for ever : and whilst 
 the ordinances of the one, in a figurative symbolical 
 manner, only respected inward purity, the precepts of 
 the other are directly ordained to require righteousness 
 in the tempers and imaginations of the heart. 
 
 The excellence and perfection of the Moral Law will 
 appear still more manifest from a brief survey of what 
 
78 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 may be considered as an epitome of it, The law of the 
 Ten Commandments. From their extent and spirituality 
 it will appear indisputable, that its precepts are design 
 ed to secure to God all the honor due unto his name, to 
 sanctify all the powers of man, to regulate his deport 
 ment in every condition in which he can possibly be 
 placed, and to point out the most exalted degree of 
 holiness. For though we are apt injuriously to limit 
 their sense, and to conclude, with an air of confidence, 
 that they mean to forbid only the gross outward crimes 
 which the first sound of the word suggests ; yet from 
 the more extensive interpretation given to some of 
 them in Scripture, (see Matt. 5 : 27;. 1 John, 3 : 15 j 
 Matt. 22 : 36,) we may justly conclude that each of them 
 is spiritual in its injunctions, and reaches to the inmost 
 affections of the soul. 
 
 Thus the First Commandment requires that the bless- 
 ed God should reign unrivalled in our hearts: that 
 bodily pleasure, honor, riches, and every comfort of a 
 worldly kind, should, in comparison of God, be vile and 
 contemptible in our eyes. The Second obliges us to be 
 religiously careful that we conceive of God as he has 
 revealed himself to us, neither adding to nor diminish- 
 ing from his character as drawn in his word j that in 
 our public and secret worship we come before hirn only 
 in the way which he has appointed ; offering to him 
 spiritual praise, thanksgiving and prayer ; and abhor- 
 ring the very appearance of idolatry. The Third Com- 
 mandment requires us to be mindful at all times of the 
 majesty of God, so as conscientiously to avoid in our 
 thoughts and speech whatever savors of contempt, irre- 
 verence or forgetfulness of him. The Fourth enjoins 
 us, upon constant solemn seasons, returning in quick 
 succession, to lay aside every worldly occupation, to be 
 as it were insensible to the things of sense and time, in 
 order that the worth of the soul and subjects of a spi- 
 
THE USE OF THE LAW. 79 
 
 ritual nature may occupy our thoughts and more strong 
 ly affect our minds. The Fifth obliges us, as soon as 
 we- are capable of knowing our duty, to pay a sincere 
 and cheerful obedience to our parents ; such as may 
 testify the sense we have of the benefits that, under 
 God, we owe to them. It enjoins, also, a respectful and 
 proper behavior to superiors of every kind, to the king, 
 to magistrates, to ministers, and masters. The Sixth 
 not only restrains our hands from murderous violence, 
 but condemns every degree of hatred or malice in the 
 heart The Seventh Commandment requires more than 
 a renunciation of open lewdness, even purity of desire ; 
 it arraigns and condemns as a trespass the very looking 
 upon the face of beauty with lusting : it condemns even 
 such spiritual defilement as only the eye of God can 
 detect. The Eighth is a barrier against every injurious 
 encroachment which our self-love and worldly spirit 
 would lead us to make upon our neighbor's rights : it 
 forbids every species of injustice or fraud, however 
 prevalent, however palliated by plausible pretences. 
 The Ninth exacts from us an inviolable regard to truth 
 in every declaration by which the character of our fel- 
 low-creatures may be affected ; and enjoins us to subdue 
 that world of iniquity, the tongue, which is so impa- 
 tient of yielding to the law of brotherly kindness and 
 charity. The Last Commandment condemns every 
 covetous desire, and every degree of discontent at our 
 appointed situation. 
 
 From this brief account of the sense of the Ten Com- 
 mandments, it is evident that there is not a moral pre- 
 cept enjoined in any part of the Bible, which was not 
 virtually contained in the law of the Two Tables de- 
 livered on Mount Sinai. Our Lord justifies this conclu- 
 sion oy explaining in this manner the comprehensive 
 import of the Commandments. Those of the first table 
 he considers as requiring us to love the Lord our God 
 
80 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all 
 our mind, and with all our strength. Mark, 12 : 30 
 " With all our heart, and with all our soul," that is, 
 with a love so fervent and affectionate as to desire no- 
 thing in comparison of his favor and the promotion. of 
 his glory ; to regard him as the joy of our prosperity, 
 the light of our life, and our portion for ever. " With 
 all our strength," that is, so as to promote the fear and 
 love of his name by all our services and labors. " With 
 all our mind," that is, by all the means which our rea- 
 son and understanding can furnish or discover. Thus* 
 are all our powers and faculties to be engaged in dis 
 charging our duty towards God according to the de- 
 mands of this spiritual law. 
 
 The laws of the second table also our Lord interprets 
 to imply an obligation " to love our neighbor as we love 
 ourselves :" that is, to pity his mistakes, to compassion- 
 ate his infirmities, to conceal his faults, to exercise 
 every office of kindness towards him in the same man- 
 ner as we should rejoice to have it exercised towards 
 ourselves. 
 
 From this view of the extent of the law, it appears 
 to be altogether worthy of its holy Author, the God of 
 heaven and earth; who is at once jealous of the honor 
 of his name amongst men, and full of tender regard to 
 their welfare. 
 
 The excellent ends which this law answers, wherever 
 it is received and duly regarded, is the next point to be 
 considered. 
 
 Now one most obvious use is, that of a complete stand- 
 ard of good and evil. Whilst man possessed the ori- 
 ginal excellence he received from the hands of his 
 Creator, a law written and engraved on tables of stone 
 was needless. Before his fall the graces of his soui 
 were a living representation of the spirit of the law ; 
 and as face answereth to face in the glass, so did the 
 
THE USE OF THE LAW. 81 
 
 unsullied mind of Adam to the will of God, of which 
 the law is the perfect transcript. But man " shapen 
 in iniquity and conceived in sin," is darkened in his 
 understanding, and nothing of that law of righteousness 
 remains with him which Adam in innocence possessed 
 Instead of innate knowledge of the truth, man must 
 now, if left to himself, labor by slow and multiplied de- 
 ductions to know his duty. So defective is his own un- 
 assisted reason in determining what is right and wrong, 
 that things utterly detestable in our judgment, who 
 have the pure light of the law, have been practised and 
 approved in polite and civilized nations. A palpable 
 proof this that a man has no light in himself sufficient 
 to exhibit a clear rule of right. 
 
 To supply his want in this most important matter is 
 one obvious design of the law which God enacted from 
 mount Sinai. This delivers man from his own fallacious 
 reasonings about duty. This gives him to understand 
 what are the peremptory commands of God, without 
 leaving him in the perplexing labyrinth of his own ima- 
 gination. This demands his attention* to a short but 
 most comprehensive rule of action ; a rule which claims 
 the God of heaven and earth for its adorable author, and 
 of course equally excludes all doubt and all debate. 
 
 Another standing and perpetual use of the law is, by 
 its penalty, to deter from rebelling against God those 
 whom more generous motives will not restrain. The 
 law represents the thunder-bolt of divine indignation as 
 ready to fall every moment upon the offender against 
 God : it brings upon him a dread of God as the judge 
 " who will not hold him guiltless :" but on the contrary, 
 who will "visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the 
 children unto the third and fourth generation of them 
 that hate him," whilst he shows " mercy unto thousands 
 of them that love him and keep his commandments." 
 The inclinations of the heart, it is true, when only con- 
 
 4* 
 
82 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 fined by external restraint, remain evil as before ; yet 
 the mischief that would follow, if they were indulged, 
 is thus prevented- As men who do not abhor what is 
 criminal, yet, through fear of punishment, dare not dis- 
 turb the peace of society by acts of violence, so there 
 are thousands kept from excess in wickedness by a 
 dread of the threatening annexed to the transgression 
 of the law of God.. 
 
 To serve as a standard of right and wrong, and to 
 deter from offences, are uses which the law of God has 
 m common with human laws. But besides these there 
 are others which are peculiar to it : the Bible assures 
 us the law was given "that every mouth might be 
 stopped, and all the world become guilty before God." 
 Rom. 3:19. It was given also, says the apostle, to 
 serve as a " schoolmaster to bring us to Christ : — who 
 is the end of the law for righteousness to every one 
 who believeth." Gal. 3 : 24. Rom. 10 : 4. 
 
 Now that it is a principal design of the Law to con- 
 found all who trust in themselves as righteous, and to 
 bring on them. a conviction of guilt, is plain from the 
 titles given to it in Scripture, and the reasonings of the 
 apostle concerning it. The law of the Ten command- 
 ments is distinguished by the apostle from the ceremo- 
 nial one, by styling it the law written and engraven in 
 tables of stone. After this distinction is made, which 
 clearly identifies the law of which the apostle was 
 treating, he gives it the title of " the ministration of 
 condemnation." 2 Cor. 3 : 9. This title implies a law 
 which, though it may perfectly lay before man the ex- 
 tent of his duty, yet it also inexorably condemns him. 
 It allows no plea which he can offer to obtain an ac- 
 quittal. The necessary result of its operation when the 
 natural state of man is considered, must be that of uni- 
 versal condemnation rather than acquittal, unless a Me- 
 diator be found to interpose and save. 
 
THE USE OF THE LAW. 83 
 
 But lest a single declaration of this most awful truth 
 should be evaded or forgotten, or lest we should think 
 slightly of that condemnation to which the law subjects 
 every transgressor, it is therefore again called by that 
 distressing name, "the ministration of death." This 
 teaches us, that having arraigned and convicted man, 
 it pronounces him condemned ; exposed, without any 
 power in himself to overcome or evade his sentence, to 
 death. And lest it should be doubted whether by death 
 is meant spiritual destruction, or merely the dissolution 
 of the body, it is further styled, " the strength of sin." 
 1 Cor. 15 : 56. This intimates that the formidable power 
 which binds over every unpardoned offender to answer 
 for his sins, and transmits him after judgment to suffer 
 the pains of hell, is the Law. In confirmation of this 
 its grand design to prove our ruined condition, without 
 a Savior, believers are exhorted to abound in thankful- 
 ness to God for giving them a " victory, through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ," over this law, which, through the 
 corruption of human nature, is become their dreadful 
 accuser. Christ is therefore celebrated as an inesti- 
 mable benefactor to his church, not merely because he 
 gave us an example that we should follow his steps, not 
 merely because he came to save those who trust in him 
 from the temptations of a seducing world, or from the 
 power of Satan ; but because he hath " redeemed us 
 from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." 
 Gal. 3: 13. 
 
 Still farther, God has been pleased to use an admira- 
 ble method for explaining important doctrines of his 
 word, by exhibiting them in the history and experience 
 of his servants. In this way of example he has taught 
 us that the law of the ten commandments was given to 
 convince man of his guilt and sinfulness. St. Paul is 
 chosen, and by inspiration directed to relate his phari- 
 saical ignorance of the grand design of the law, and 
 
84 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 then to describe the change produced in his mind by a 
 just and clear knowledge of it. " I was alive," says he, 
 " without the law once :" secure and self-satisfied, I re- 
 garded the moral law as the rule by which man was to 
 be justified before God ; and I thought that I had paid 
 such an obedience to it as, considering human infirmity, 
 must render me acceptable to God. " But when the 
 commandment came," that is, when the design of it was 
 duly understood by me, " sin revived," it became strong 
 and irresistible in its accusations against me, " and I 
 died j" my self-confidence vanished, and I saw and con- 
 fessed myself to be a ruined sinner before the holy law 
 of God. " And the commandment which was ordained 
 to life," which was originally designed to be to the first 
 man a covenant of life, " I found to be unto death :" so 
 far from justifying or acquitting me, it condemned and 
 bound me over to the misery of hell. Should it be said 
 that the apostle, in this passage, speaks not in his own 
 but in an assumed character, we may observe that he 
 expresses himself to the very same purpose in his Epis- 
 tle to the Galatians : when evidently speaking in his 
 own proper person, " I," says he, " through the law, 
 am dead to the law :" through the just knowledge I now 
 have of the extent of its precepts, and of God's grand 
 design by it, not to justify but to condemn every living 
 soul, I have entirely renounced all dependence upon the 
 law, as able to acquit me from guilt on account of any 
 obedience I can pay to it : "I am dead to the law, that 
 I might live unto God," by faith in his Son. 
 
 And lest all this proof should not be sufficient to con 
 vince men, whose pride and self-conceit would dispose 
 them to reject this humbling doctrine, and lead them to 
 confine these declarations to the Jewish and ceremonial 
 law; the apostle takes particular care to assert such 
 things of the law of which he was treating, as in no 
 sense are, nor ever were, true of the ceremonial. Thus 
 
THE USE OF THE LAW. 85 
 
 the law of which St. Paul speaks, is one " by which 
 every mouth shall be stopped, and all the world become 
 guilty before God." But the ceremonial law never was, 
 nor can be urged to condemn us gentiles, or to show 
 our guilt in any degree. The law of which the apostle 
 speaks, is a law established by faith, but faith absolutely 
 abolished the Jewish law. It is a law to which the be- 
 lieving Romans were married ; but many of them never 
 submitted to the ceremonial one. It is a law, according 
 to which the man that doeth these things shall live by 
 them. A law which, if the uncircumcision keep, his un- 
 circumcision shall be counted for circumcision. It is a 
 law which is spiritual, whereas the ceremonial consisted 
 of carnal ordinances. These properties, which cannot 
 be applied to the ceremonial law, evidently prove the 
 law in the apostle's view to have been the moral one 
 of which the ten commandments is a summary. 
 
 Now, after such various testimonies, what more can 
 reasonably be demanded, to prove that one principal 
 end for which the law is ordained, is to convince 
 every man living of his guilt and sinfulness in the 
 sight of God 
 
86 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 OF THE Zi&W.—tontinued. 
 
 ITS USE AS PREPARATORY TO THE GOSPEL. 
 
 We have already considered the perfection and ex- 
 tent of the law : we have taken a view of it as a rule 
 which determines our duty in all cases. We have also 
 produced several sacred testimonies to prove that it 
 was designed to humble the pride of man, and to serve 
 to him as a ministration of condemnation. But, connect- 
 ed with this, the law answers another important pur- 
 pose — " It was given," saith the apostle, " to serve as 
 a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ." This use of the 
 law is what I now propose to explain. But it will be 
 useful previously to remove the objections which pride 
 and prejudice are ready to bring against the law on ac- 
 count of what they term inexorable rigor. 
 
 You think it hard, then, that we should be under a 
 law whose demands are so strict and rigid ] But what 
 less than perfect love and sinless obedience can be due 
 from a reasonable intelligent creature to his adorable 
 Maker 1 To suppose a law given of God, which would 
 admit of imperfect love and obedience, would leave it 
 impossible to determine what is sin, and what is not > 
 for sin is the transgression of the law. But if the law 
 itself would be satisfied with sincerity of intention only, 
 or merely with the best kind of obedience which a cor- 
 rupted creature could pay to it, how could any trans- 
 gression of it be defined 1 Upon this supposition, it 
 would be essential to the law to admit of imperfection 
 and sin. Besides, were we to suppose that God could 
 
THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL. 87 
 
 overlook one transgression of his law, we should natu- 
 raL/, and I think might justly, conclude that he would 
 overlook more ; and where, then, shall we stop X Who 
 shall say how far we may, or may not go with impunity 1 
 And what must this prove, in the end, but giving man 
 liberty to fix the bounds according to his own will] 
 What but putting man in possession of a right to dis- 
 pense with the law of God at pleasure, and thus in 
 effect to abrogate it 1 It is therefore a contrivance 
 every way worthy of infinite wisdom, to publish a law 
 which is a perfect representation of God's glorious ho- 
 liness ; and to annex to every the least transgression of 
 it, condemnation and the curse. 
 
 If you say that such a representation of the law shuts 
 up all men, without exception, in hopeless condemnation, 
 I answer, it does indeed show them that they have de- 
 stroyed themselves, and it proves that they can find sal 
 vation only in the way the Gospel reveals : for there is 
 no other way by which men can be saved. God must 
 alike require obedience at all times, and it is one great 
 design of all Scripture, and especially of the renewal of 
 the law by Moses, to ground us in this truth, that every 
 act of disobedience is a forfeiture of all claim to the 
 favor of God, and subjects us to punishment. Where, 
 then, else will you in this extremity look for safety ! 
 Will you say to God, " have patience with me, and I 
 will pay thee all !" Will you venture your soul upon 
 the perfection of your own works 1 This you dare not. 
 This you see is at once to give yourself up to destruc- 
 tion. Perhaps you will flee to your sincerity, taking it 
 for granted that God, notwithstanding the confessed 
 imperfections of your obedience, will accept it for its 
 sincerity. But what Scripture warrant have you to say, 
 that though God required a perfect obedience to his 
 law at one time, and in one age of the world, he has 
 now discharged men from that obligation, and will ac- 
 
88 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 cept at their hands such an obedience as they are now- 
 able to offer him, be it ever so unworthy his acceptance, 
 or short of the demands of his law] It is presumption 
 to think thus, without especial ground from the word 
 of God ; and there you will certainly find none for this 
 novel and mischievous opinion. Besides, what w T ould 
 you gain by this opinion, unless you could answer for 
 your sincerity to that God "whose eyes are as a flame 
 of fire, searching the heart 1" For if you make sin- 
 cerity the ground of your acceptance with God, you 
 must stand or fall by it ; and are obliged to make it 
 good, without any failure or blemish, on pain of eternal 
 condemnation. So that still you are upon no founda- 
 tion for life, for solid peace and comfort. 
 
 It was, therefore, merciful in God to constitute his 
 law a ministration of condemnation: it acts like an en- 
 gine of irresistible force, to sweep away from us every 
 refuge of lies in which man would vainly seek a deceit- 
 ful security; it compels us to renounce those false pleas 
 for obtaining mercy, which, so soon as the light of truth 
 shines into our hearts, we shall be* ashamed we could 
 even so much as think of using. 
 
 Having thus endeavored to remove the objections 
 which might be urged against the law as harsh and se- 
 vere, I proceed to explain its principal design — a design 
 replete with benevolence, and productive of the great- 
 est good to man. The law is intended to act as a 
 schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. No sooner can we 
 perceive ourselves actually cut off from every hope of 
 mercy which we were w T ont to entertain on account of 
 our own performances and worth, than we shall find 
 ourselves prepared, and as it were compelled, to put 
 our whole trust in the grace of God, manifested in 
 Christ, in that scheme of marvellous love to man, w T hich 
 is called u the righteousness of God without the law, — 
 which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all 
 
THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL. 89 
 
 them that believe." Rom. 3 : 21, 22. A true knowledge 
 of the nature and end of the law sounds an alarm to the 
 conscience, which was before asleep, dreaming of peace 
 when there was no peace. Thus alarmed, the ear is 
 opened to listen to the word of reconciliation declared 
 by Christ, and the heart is disposed earnestly to apply 
 to the Redeemer, as to one who alone is able to save 
 from such insupportable misery as the curse of the law. 
 
 It is the law also, which, continually showing us, by 
 the exhibition of its own purity, our deficiency and cor- 
 ruption, and approving itself to our consciences as just 
 and good, stimulates us to earnest endeavors to resist and 
 subdue the body of sin. Hence that internal conflict of 
 which the apostle speaks so feelingly, Rom. 7 : 18 : "I 
 know," says he, " that in me, that is in my flesh, dwell- 
 eth no good thing; for to will is present with me, but 
 how to perform," as the law requires, " that which is 
 good I find not. For I delight in the law of God after 
 the inward man, but I see another law in my members 
 warring against the law of my mind." In other words, I 
 perceive two contrary principles within me, the one de- 
 rived frem God, the other the produce of my corrupt 
 nature ; that leading me forward to heaven, and ap- 
 proving the spiritual demands of the law ; this opposing 
 my progress and struggling against me. My mind is a 
 field of battle, where all my passions exert their several 
 efforts to gain a conquest over me. In this case what 
 must be done ] St. Paul instructs us by his own exam- 
 ple. After asking the question with much emphasis, 
 " wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from 
 the body of this death 1" he relieves himself from every 
 despondent thought by saying, w I thank God," that is, 
 for his grace, M through Jesus Christ our Lord." This, 
 this alone it is which can and will deliver me. 
 
 Into this pungent sensibility of our own sinfulness it 
 is the intention of God by his law to bring us : that so 
 
90 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 we may be able, which otherwise we never should, to 
 behold the necessity and glory of the redemption there 
 is in Jesus. He has mercifully ordained the law, and 
 annexed the curse to the least breach of it, that he might 
 shut up every door of hope, except that by which the 
 fullest pardon and the richest mercy are dispensed to 
 sinners. The thunders and lightnings on Mount Sinai 
 are designed to make us account ourselves unspeakably 
 happy in being allowed access to Mount Zion, the joy 
 of the whole earth, the city of the living God, where 
 the divine goodness shines forth in the perfection of 
 beauty. 
 
 That this is no human scheme of doctrine, but the 
 truth of God's holy word, is manifest. " The Scripture," 
 says the apostle, ?t has concluded all und«r sin, that the 
 promise which is by faith of Jesus Christ might be 
 given to them that believe." Gal. 3 : 22. The apostle 
 is here proving that the law, in the possession of which 
 the Jews greatly boasted, was so far from lessening the 
 necessity of salvation by Christ, or from interfering 
 with this adorable scheme of grace, that, when rightly 
 understood, it acted strongly in subserviency to it. For 
 such is our natural pride and self-sufficiency, so slight 
 our thoughts of the evil of sin, so extravagant our con- 
 ceit of the extent of God's mercy, that if we did not 
 perceive ourselves condemned by the mouth of the 
 Lord, and doomed as criminals to suffer the execution 
 of eternal justice, there is not one of us who would 
 come to the Son of God for life ; God has therefore, by 
 his law, actually shut us up as rebels against his govern- 
 ment, under a total inability of making reparation for 
 our treason. This he has done, that our haughty spirit 
 being humbled through a sense of our miserable condi- 
 tion, we might embrace with all possible thankfulness 
 the grace offered to us in Christ. 
 
 Thus the law, or rule of perfect obedience, came by 
 
THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL. 31 
 
 Moses, but grace and truth by Jesus Christ. " For what 
 the law could not do, in that it was weak through the 
 flesh," that is, through the corruption of human nature, 
 " God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful 
 flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh ; that the 
 righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who 
 walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit," — a pas- 
 sage this, so pertinent to the subject, and so full of in- 
 struction, that it demands our serious attention. Con- 
 sider therefore the aim, and trace the progress of the 
 apostle's reasoning. He is clearing up and confirming 
 that great privilege of the Gospel, that " there is now 
 no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, and 
 who," in consequence of their faith in him, " walk not 
 after the flesh, but after the Spirit." To this St. Paul 
 knew some would be ready to object and say, How can 
 this be, since every believer falls short of perfect obe- 
 dience, he offends against the law, and therefore must 
 be liable to its curse 1 The answer is, Believers are de- 
 livered from condemnation, because of " the Spirit of 
 life in Christ Jesus." That new dispensation, introduced 
 in the room of the old law, promises pardon and the 
 gift of the Spirit, in which things the true life and real 
 happiness of mankind consist. By this new and gracious 
 dispensation, M God hath made me," saith the apostle, 
 " free from the law of sin and death;" from that law 
 which convinced me of sin, condemned me for it, and 
 bound me over to suffer death. 
 
 These are glad tidings doubtless : but are they not 
 attended with two inconveniences'! Does not this pro- 
 cedure deprive the law of its due honors, and does it 
 not screen the offender from his deserved punishment % 
 By no means ; for that which was an absolute impossi- 
 bility to men, on account of the strictness of the law 
 and the weakness of human nature, God, to whom no- 
 thing is impossible, has most wonderfully accomplished; 
 
92 COMPLETE DUT* OF MAN. 
 
 by " sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh," 
 to live among sinners, to perform the perfect obedience 
 due from them, and also to be a sacrifice " for sin," 
 having it charged upon him, and suffering its punish- 
 ment. By this grand expedient God has provided for 
 the honor and perfect accomplishment of the law. He 
 has also "condemned" and punished "sin" "in the 
 flesh," in that very nature which was guilty, disabled 
 and ruined. Should it be further asked, wherefore is all 
 this 1 It is to lay the surest foundation, and to make the 
 most complete provision for our justification. It is 
 " that the righteousness of the law," both its righteous 
 sentence and its righteous precept, whatever either of 
 suffering or obedience it required, being fulfilled in 
 Christ, " might be fulfilled in us." As it was all done 
 in our name ; and as he and we are one, since he is our 
 representative and our surety, so his righteous acts, in 
 their beneficial efficacy, are ours, and his atoning death 
 is ours: ours, " who walk not after the flesh," who have 
 our conversation towards God and man, not according 
 to the principles of corrupt nature, though to our grief 
 they still have place within us, M but after the Spirit," 
 according to higher and divine principles, which are im- 
 planted in our hearts, and continually supported by the 
 Spirit of God. Rom. 8 : 1-4. 
 
 You have now placed before you in one view the 
 scriptural account of the nature and design of the law. 
 And unless pride, and the doctrines of men calculated 
 to sooth that worst disease of our minds, mislead us, 
 we shall be persuaded that this representation of strict- 
 ness equally secures the honor of God and our own 
 comfort in serving him. It is the purity of the law which 
 enhances and endears above all expression the perfect 
 obedience of Christ, both active and passive, and the 
 imputation of his merits, that special crowning mercy 
 of the new covenant. Against this view of the nature 
 
THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL. 93 
 
 of the law there is however a common and plausible ob- 
 jection made, which it may be necessary, before I pro- 
 ceed further, to obviate. 
 
 It is urged then, that by showing the impossibility of 
 answering the demands of the law, you in fact weaken 
 our obligations to the law ; and by extolling the obe- 
 dience of Christ, as the only ground of hope to man, 
 you diminish the value of our obedience ; and that hence 
 a door is opened for lice?itiousness. Without doubt the 
 doctrines of divine grace may be thus abused, and it is 
 to be feared that many weak and corrupt men have so 
 abused them ; but it may be replied, what doctrine may 
 not be perverted \ Is not the display of the patience and 
 mercy of God equally liable to licentious abuse as this 
 doctrine ] But will you, on account of the general abuse 
 of these perfections of God, be jealous of them as pre- 
 judicial to the cause of practical religion 1 or will you 
 deny their existence because the avowal of them may 
 have a bad tendency 1 The thought is dreadful, and the 
 consequence would be universal destruction. It is the 
 same with the doctrine of the law, when you infer from 
 the impossibility of your being justified by your obe- 
 dience to it } the necessity of being saved by faith in the 
 Redeemer. Act then with respect to both in the same 
 manner; maintain the doctrines, detest and expose the 
 abuse of them. 
 
 But if you were to give up this scriptural idea of 
 the law, still it remains to be considered whether you 
 would gain any thing in favor of the interests of prac- 
 tical religion 1 No : you would only grant men the 
 liberty of explaining the law according to their own in- 
 clinations in a manner subversive of the fear and love 
 of God, and of regard to his authority. It must be re- 
 membered also, that when the apostles assert the im- 
 possibility of justification by the law, they do not, there- 
 fore, make void the law : when they extol the grace and 
 
9£ COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 mercy of Christ, they by no means allow of continu 
 ance in sin. " Shall we continue in sin that grace may 
 abound 1 Do we, then, make void the law by faith 1 yea, 
 we establish the law." This is their constant reply to 
 all who arraign the doctrine of grace as licentious. In- 
 deed it is the chosen, and by experience it is found to 
 be the only successful means of turning the heart to 
 God in love. Its genuine operation is to bind us to him 
 in everlasting bonds of gratitude and willing obedience. 
 Know your guilt and weakness, your desert and dan- 
 ger j think what you are bound to by the law, and what 
 you have to trust to if left under its power ; view, then, 
 the loving-kindness of God in giving his Son to fulfil all 
 righteousness, and then say, is it possible to sin against 
 so much goodness 1 Granting there may be found such 
 depravity in the heart of man, still you must allow that 
 such a representation, both of the justice and the mercy 
 of God, if any thing can, will awaken a thought in you 
 of returning to God, will bend your stubborn will, and 
 make you hate iniquity. 
 
 It is highly unreasonable, therefore, to charge that 
 doctrine with encouraging sin, which not only does not 
 allow it, but which affords the strongest motives to 
 cause us to abstain from it, and gives the highest ideas 
 of its evil, and of the purity of the law which forbids it. 
 
IGNORANCE OF THE LAW. ^5 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 OF TJBLE JjJLW.—contimi£d. 
 
 THE EVILS ARISING FROM IGNORANCE OF IT. 
 
 In the two former chapters we have explained the 
 perfection and design of the law : its perfection, as re- 
 quiring unsullied obedience under the penalty of con- 
 demnation to eternal punishment ; its design, ^is leading 
 men to flee for safety to Christ, and to repose their hope 
 upon his merits. Wherever this perfection and design 
 are misunderstood, wherever a lower opinion of its 
 purity is indulged, or a different view of its design is 
 entertained, there errors of the most dangerous kind 
 prevail, which it will now be my business to explain. 
 
 1. Ignorance of the law of God must leave you in a 
 fatal mistake respecting your real character before him. 
 You will imagine that you stand upon honorable terms 
 with your Maker, and have continued from your birth 
 a fit object for his favor, provided you have fallen into 
 no infamous transgressions. You will not confess your- 
 self a criminal justly exposed to the wrath of God, 
 merely because you come short in duty or offend in 
 many points of lesser moment. The knowledge that 
 judgment is come upon all men to condemnation, is only 
 derived from a just view of the law ; and till you per- 
 ceive that it requires sinless perfection, and on failure 
 of this, justly pronounces its curse upon you, you will 
 not acknowledge yourself to be a guilty, ruined sinner 
 m the sight of God. 
 
 More especially if you have had some early sense of 
 your duty towards God, and have for conscience, sake 
 
96 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 refrained from the sins common to your age and con 
 dition of life ; in this case ignorance of the law will 
 leave you under a strong conceit of your own safe and 
 happy state. Calls to repentance you will think belong 
 to those only who have been enslaved by open vices, 
 from which you have been always free — to those who 
 have never led that innocent life from their youth up, 
 which you have done. Self-flattery will stir up in your 
 heart resentment against all attempts to make you know 
 yourself, and to bring you before God with true humili- 
 ation and faith in his Son. Every thing of this kind will 
 kindle your indignation as a cruel design to wound your 
 peace, and to make you appear far more wicked in your 
 own eyes than in truth you are. 
 
 So capital an error will tend also to frustrate the ad- 
 vantages of a good education, and to pervert even the 
 blessing of God's restraining grace. It will lead you 
 to lay a stress upon them they will not bear, and pre- 
 vent your feeling the humility they were designed to 
 convey. It will even make that virtuous character 
 which has gained you so .much esteem amongst men, 
 prove a greater obstacle in the way of your salvation 
 than gross wickedness proves to others. Great sins 
 carry with them their own condemnation : they have a 
 tendency to excite, on the first lucid interval of con- 
 sideration, strong confessions of guilt and fervent cries 
 for mercy ; whereas a conduct externally regulated by 
 the law of God, imperfectly understood, does but mi- 
 nister fuel to self-sufficiency and self-applause. Hence 
 it is that we read of the Scribes and Pharisees justify- 
 ing themselves : they were regular, they were decent, 
 they were religious, but ignorant of the spirituality of 
 che law. They could see no need either of their repent- 
 ance or of the grace of a Savior. In the same false 
 conceit of your own character you will continue, whilst 
 ignorant of the law ; and either audaciously contradict 
 
IGNORANCE OF THE LAW. 97 
 
 what God has declared of the guilt of the human race, 
 or equivocate about it till you have reduced it to an 
 empty name. 
 
 On the contrary, when, to use the apostle's empha- 
 tical term, " the commandment has slain you ;" when 
 you have considered and allowed the demands of the 
 law, and its penalty upon the least defect, then, without 
 disgust or hesitation, you will confess your guilt and 
 sinfulness ; you will own that you are condemned by a 
 law which claims Him for its author who only is able 
 to save or to destroy. Whatever sins, therefore, you 
 may have escaped, either by the influence of education 
 or the restraints of grace, and whatever degree of just 
 reputation you have gained amongst men, though you 
 will be humbly thankful for them, yet still you will 
 remember that these advantages alter not your state 
 respecting God, though they have happily prevented the 
 multiplication of your crimes. Though innocent of those 
 flagrant iniquities which abound in the world, you will 
 confess yourself a transgressor, justly liable to eternal 
 punishment, if dealt with according to your desert. 
 
 Happy conviction of guilt ! which performs the bene- 
 ficent office the Baptist discharged of old, preparing the 
 way of the Lord, and rendering his salvation inesti- 
 mably precious to the soul. 
 
 2. Ignorance of the law produces corrupt principles 
 of obedience. The blessed God has, by right of creation, 
 an indefeasible claim to our submission. This claim he 
 has enforced by his own express command. He has ad- 
 ded also the highest commendations of an obedient spi- 
 rit, and promised to* it an everlasting reward. But n 
 perverse construction is too generally put upon the en- 
 couragement he has thus given to holiness, where the 
 law is not understood ; and in consequence the very 
 obedience paid to his commandments is paid upon false 
 principles, such as render it odious in God's sight. 
 
 Duty of Man. 5 
 
98 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 Thus some regard the precepts which enjoin liberality 
 to the needy, and are very large in their donations, 
 hoping by this to atone for their licentiousness and sen 
 suality ; for they say, " Blessed is he that considereth 
 the poor and needy." Others are conscientiously true 
 to their word, and faithful to all their engagements, 
 nattering themselves that such integrity will counter- 
 balance their pride and profaneness, and saying, V The 
 righteous Lord loveth righteousness, and a just weight 
 is his delight." Whilst a third, and if possible a worse 
 sort, multiply exercises of devotion as a commutation 
 for their injustice and insincerity, their malicious or co- 
 vetous temper, confiding in the promises made to prayer 
 and diligent attendance on the means of grace. 
 
 From such hateful motives does that morality and de- 
 votion, of which many are so conceited, often take its 
 rise ; — motives springing from an opinion which reduces 
 the sinfulness of sin to a venial infirmity, which soothes 
 our pride by exalting to an extravagant rate the value 
 of our polluted services, and which even encourages 
 disobedience by supposing an offender against the law 
 of God able to make compensation for his sin. Yet 
 most offensive to God as this opinion is, nothing but 
 the true knowledge of the law can effectually subvert it. 
 The law, by pronouncing a curse on every thing short 
 of sinless perfection, leaves no ground for any compo- 
 sition with sin. By rejecting with dreadful menaces 
 all human attempts as far too poor to make satisfaction 
 to its authority whenever violated, it leaves no possi- 
 bility of supposing that obedience in some instances can 
 be of force to atone for the want of it in others. It 
 compels the less atrocious sinner, as well as the great 
 one, to confess himself insolvent ; and to own that no- 
 thing can administer relief in his case which is not 
 equal to the full demands of the law. 
 
 3. Though you may possibly be free, from the gross 
 
IGNORANCE OF THE LAW. 99 
 
 but common error of fancying that some sins may be 
 overlooked, lost as it were in the blaze of superior good- 
 ness, still, if you are ignorant of the nature of the law, 
 you will be apt to entertain an impious conceit of 
 the merit of your good works. Instead of maintaining 
 the absolute necessity of practising and of abounding 
 in them, as the only visible vouchers that you believe in 
 Jesus, as the infallible evidence of the truth of your re- 
 pentance and conversion, in which light it is impossible 
 too highly to extol their use or enforce their practice : 
 through ignorance of the law you will suppose your 
 own personal righteousness and that of the Redeemer 
 to have the same sort of weight with God, to act in the 
 same capacity, and have at least a joint influence in pro- 
 curing your pardon and salvation. Many, in fact, who 
 have a sense of religion, do thus dangerously deceive 
 themselves. They endeavor to do their duty, mortify- 
 ing their lusts and leading a devout life. On this ac 
 count, though they are confessedly guilty in many 
 points, yet their own goodness, they are confident, will 
 considerably contribute to recommend them to God, and 
 the merits of Christ, they trust, will make up what is 
 wanting. Of consequence, so long as they fall into no 
 gross sin, but continue regular, honest, and attentive to 
 religious duties, they are satisfied that they have done 
 their part, and that there is such a worth in their sin- 
 cere though imperfect obedience as will procure them 
 acceptance with God and eternal life. 
 
 This refined error necessarily results from ignorance 
 of the law ; and, unsuspected of evil, keeps firm posses- 
 sion of the mind till the law is understood. Yet no error 
 can abound more with self-contradiction or with affront 
 to God. With palpable self-contradiction ; since this is 
 supposing that at the very time you confess yourself 
 under the guilt of sin for omissions and defects, at the 
 very time you need a pardon as offending in many 
 
100 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 things, there can still he sufficient excellency ahout you 
 to obtain favor with God. It is to suppose that even 
 whilst conscience accuses you, and the law condemns 
 you as a sinner for disobedience, you still possess such 
 a fund of righteousness as will have a considerable in- 
 fluence in making reconciliation for you. Strange contra- 
 diction ! To confess yourself guilty and implore pardon, 
 and yet at the same time to cherish a hope of being 
 favorably regarded on your own account ! Surely to 
 implore pardon implies that you lie at the feet of mercy 
 without any plea but the compassion of God. Whereas 
 to trust, as a coadjutor with Christ, in your own obedi- 
 ence, supposes a high degree of worth in yourself. 
 
 Besides, by holding this error your affront to God 
 is as notorious as the contradiction in which it involves 
 you. You make the glorious Redeemer undertake our 
 ransom merely to render our deficient duties meritori- 
 ous and our sins inoffensive. You make his sinless 
 life, his precious death, and mediatorial undertakings 
 serve no other purpose than that of erecting a pedestal 
 on which human worth may stand exalted and be dis- 
 played in false colors. According to this scheme, the 
 pardon of rebels against the Most High, and the recep- 
 tion of leprous sinners into the bosom of heaven, (effects 
 than which nothing can be greater, benefits than which 
 nothing can be richer,) are owing to the work of our 
 own hands, and the virtues of our own character, in con- 
 junction with Christ. 
 
 Now what greater affront can be offered to that di- 
 vine goodness which interposed to save us when we 
 were lost, than thus to divide the honor of our accept- 
 ance between Christ and ourselves 1 What more daring 
 opposition to God the Father, who has given Christ for 
 his salvation to the ends of the earth, than to trust in 
 our own obedience, as having, partly at least, merit to 
 procure it for ourselves 1 What more plain denial of 
 
IGNORANCE OF THE LAW. 101 
 
 the Scripture, which so expressly ascribes and so entire- 
 ly appropriates the salvation of sinners, from first to 
 last, to the praise of the glory of God's grace in Christ 
 Jesus 1 Compare, for instance, this self-exalting doc- 
 trine with Isaiah's most sublime account of the combat 
 and the conquest of the Redeemer ; and then conclude 
 how injurious it must be to his honor to regard your 
 own works as coadjutors with him. The prophet, in 
 surprise at the appearance of a most majestic person- 
 age, asks, " Who is this that cometh from Edom, with 
 dyed garments from Bozrah V that is, from the country 
 and from the capital of the implacable enemies of the 
 people of God. To which the Redeemer replies, " I 
 that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." Upon 
 this the- prophet renews his inquiry, "Wherefore" (if 
 thou art come not to destroy, but to save) " art thou red 
 in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that tread- 
 eth in the wine-fat V To this the Redeemer answers, 
 "I have trodden the wine-press ;" my foes I have 
 crushed, I have trampled them under my feet ; but they 
 were thy enemies, sin, death and Satan. " I have trod- 
 den the wine-press " by myself " alone ;" too great in 
 my power to want an associate, and too jealous of my 
 honor to accept of any assistant ; " of the people there 
 was none with me:" the salvation of sinners in all its 
 parts is my act, even mine only: yours be all the bene- 
 fit, mine all the glory. Isaiah, 63 : 1-3. 
 
 The same doctrine is uniformly taught by all the in- 
 spired penmen. Yet so pleasing to the human heart is 
 the thought of assuming something to ourselves in the 
 great work of our salvation, that nothing but the right 
 knowledge of the law can make the attempt appear in 
 its proper degree of guilt. This indeed will, because it 
 fixes with the greatest precision the value of good works 
 and the place of human obedience. The law will not 
 suffer you to consider the most conscientious mode of 
 
102 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 obedience in another light than as a testimony that you 
 believe with godly sincerity the delightful truth, that 
 Jesus purged away your sins by the sacrifice of him- 
 self; for which unspeakable benefit you love him, you 
 keep his commandments, and you abhor those iniquities 
 which made him suffer and die. 
 
 To think and live thus is christian obedience : of quite 
 another color and complexion from that which springs 
 from every other motive. This is to use the law law- 
 fully : not as interfering with the Eedeemer, or shading 
 his glory by encouraging the expectations of life from 
 obedience to its commands, but as a clear revelation of 
 the infinite demerit of sin, and of the absolute need of 
 Christ's interposition, " who is the end of the law for 
 righteousness to every one that believeth." 
 
 4. Self -preference and a conceit of personal perfection 
 in the saints, together with all their train of mischievous 
 consequences, are owing to ignorance of God's law. 
 
 The slightest observer of mankind may easily per- 
 ceive that pride is naturally the ruling passion in every 
 heart, and that we covet in all things to have the pre- 
 eminence. Hence not only beauty of person, possession 
 of wealth, reputation of learning, or the distinction of 
 noble birth, but even our spiritual attainments become 
 strong temptations to the indulgence of pride. Thus of 
 old we find a numerous party amongst the Jews render- 
 ed conspicuous by their religious zeal, who, elated by 
 their fancied superior grace, cried out, " Stand by thy- 
 self, come not near to me, for I am holier than thou." 
 Isaiah, 65 : 5. The same persons who thought so high- 
 ly of themselves, judged it impossible for notorious sin- 
 ners to be pardoned, and treated them with insufferable 
 disdain. The like self-preferring spirit governs many at 
 this day, who stand distinguished for their strictness 
 and punctuality in religious offices. Now to purge out 
 this Pharisaical leaven is the peculiar work and office 
 
IGNORANCE OF THE LAW. 103 
 
 of the law of God. It is not enough to tell those who 
 highly esteem themselves for their religious excellen- 
 cies, that they owe them all to the free gift of God : 
 this, with the Pharisee, they will allow, and yet value 
 themselves on account of the gift. Neither is it suffi- 
 cient to remind them of the blemishes which cleave to 
 them, sully their best performances, and take away all 
 pretence to self-esteem. For these they will place to 
 the score of human infirmity and the imperfection of 
 human obedience, still proudly dwelling, in their own 
 thoughts, on the manifest difference between themselves 
 and others. But you lay the axe to the root of the tree, 
 when you make such self-conceited professors of reli- 
 gion understand, that after all they have done or re- 
 ceived, and notwithstanding the high thoughts they 
 have of themselves, the curse of the law is upon all 
 them that continue not in all things written therein to 
 do them: that they are, therefore, not only imperfect, 
 but lost, if dealt with as they deserve : that notwith- 
 standing all their aspiring pretensions and glittering at- 
 tainments, they can no more than the wicked answer 
 the demands made upon them by the law, but stand as 
 liable as they to its condemnation, and equally destitute 
 of any plea for their justification, but the mercy and 
 righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus no room 
 is left for self-admiration ^ for whatever difference there 
 may be between one sinner and another respecting out- 
 ward obedience or degrees of sanctification, the law 
 will suffer no man living to imagine he stands accepted 
 with his Creator on account of his own obedience. But 
 if every man who is in a state of salvation is thus com- 
 pelled by the law to acknowledge the blessing to be 
 wholly of grace, then boasting and self-exaltation are 
 utterly excluded. 
 
 The conceit of personal perfection in the saints, is 
 likewise maintained only by ignorance of the law of 
 
104 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 God. For it is impossible that such polluted creatures 
 as we are should ever dream that, after our highest at- 
 tainments, there remains upon us no charge of sin, if 
 we knew the full extent of the law j which condemns 
 the least failure, and allows not the very least imperfec- 
 tion. In every instance, on every occasion, it charges us 
 
 " With act intense, and unremitted nerve, 
 " To hold a course unfaltering." 
 
 It commands us not only to serve the Lord, but to serve 
 him with all our strength : not only to love our neigh- 
 bor, but to love him as ourselves j and to demonstrate 
 that we do this by every temper, by every word, by every 
 desire, and by every thought. When you have your eye 
 fixed upon the law, so spiritual in its demands and en- 
 joining such perfection of obedience, you will most 
 readily acquiesce in that humbling confession of the in- 
 spired Solomon, " There is not a just man upon earth 
 that liveth and sinneth not." You will use, from a deep 
 conviction of your own sinfulness, that confession so 
 expressive of true humility and of the perfection of the 
 law of God ; " If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, 
 who shall stand] but there is forgiveness with thee, 
 that thou mayst be feared." 
 
 To conclude, you may learn from what has been now 
 laid before you, that if you desire to be a believer in the 
 Lord* Jesus Christ upon principle and sound conviction, 
 you must thoroughly acquaint yourself with the nature 
 and design of the law of God. Like a faithful mirror, it 
 will discover your poverty and sinfulness ; it will make 
 the mercy of God in Christ Jesus appear as great and 
 glorious in your eyes, as it is declared to be in the 
 Bible. Then you will live by faith in the Son of God, 
 pleading his costly sacrifice and perfect righteousness 
 with all humility at the throne of grace, as the only 
 foundation of your hope towards God. 
 
IGNORANCE OF THE LAW. 105 
 
 And as a prodigal son, who, through foily and sin, has 
 brought himself into a state of disease and ruin, will, 
 when duly affected by a sense of his condition, most 
 thankfully acknowledge the kindness of a tender parent, 
 who, notwithstanding all his vileness, receives him with 
 forgiveness, and embraces him with love, so will you, 
 deeply impressed by the sight of your sinfulness mani- 
 fested by the law, intensely desire to serve that God 
 who took pity upon you when utterly ruined, loved you 
 when you possessed not one single feature of comeli- 
 ness, and who loves you still in the midst of much pre- 
 vailing unworthiness. Thus those two universal and 
 mighty principles of disobedience, self-confidence and 
 self-conceit, will be expelled ; and a rational humility, 
 productive of universal holiness, will be established. 
 Daily convinced that if God were to enter into judg- 
 ment with you, you must be found guilty and worthy 
 of death ; you will adore, love and obey him who hath 
 redeemed you from the curse of the law, purchased for 
 you a crown of life, and called you to a throne of glory. 
 
 5* 
 
106 COMPLETE DUTY Or MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 fjiith: ijy cjwrist. 
 
 ITS NATURE AND EXTENT. 
 
 In almost every page of Scripture excellent things 
 are spoken of the power of faith : and whatever some 
 may boast of their good works and meritorious virtues, 
 the good effects of which in society may justly be ex- 
 tolled ) still so long as the authority of the Bible re- 
 mains, it is a decided point, that to be without faith in 
 Christ is to be actually exposed to the wrath of God. 
 
 Every one therefore ought most carefully to search 
 the Scriptures, in order to inform himself of the essen- 
 tial properties of this fundamental grace. Thus he will 
 be secured on the one hand from an enthusiastic idea 
 of its nature, and on the other from a degradation of it 
 into a barren and worthless notion. 
 
 The shortest and plainest method to determine its na- 
 ture will be, I apprehend, to ascertain what peculiar ex- 
 cellency was in those who were highly commended by 
 the Lord Jesus for the greatness of their faith in him, 
 and what was their fault whom he rebuked for unbelief. 
 When these two points are once determined, it is hoped 
 the nature of faith will be so clearly laid open as to pre- 
 vent erroneous opinions concerning it, and to deliver 
 all serious readers from that perplexity which, amidst 
 the various disputes about it, they find it difficult to 
 avoid. 
 
 The first instructive example which I select in order 
 to explain and determine the precise nature of faith in 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, is that of the centurion, men- 
 
NATURE AND EXTENT OF FAITH. 107 
 
 tioned Matt. 8. Warmed with an active benevolence, 
 and sympathizing with an afflicted member of his fami- 
 ly, he earnestly applied to the Redeemer, begging that 
 he would have pity upon his servant, whom he had left 
 grievously tormented with the palsy. The faith which 
 inspired the centurion's heart, and prevailed with him 
 to make this request, was perfectly known to Jesus, 
 though not to the surrounding multitude. They could 
 not tell whether he might not come glad, as one in a 
 desperate case, to catch at any thing which had but 
 the least appearance of a remedy. Our Lord therefore 
 replies to him in such a manner as he knew would bring 
 forth the most undeniable proof of his faith: he saith, 
 " I will come and heal him." But the amiable modesty 
 of this great believer would not suffer him to think of 
 the honor of receiving such a guest under his roof. He 
 answers, therefore, that it was wholly unnecessary for 
 Jesus to trouble himself to come : M Speak the word 
 only," said he, " and my servant shall be healed j" add- 
 ing, that he was no less assured of the power of Christ 
 over all bodily diseases, both to remove and inflict them 
 at his pleasure, than he was of his own authority to 
 command his soldiers. 
 
 '* When Jesus heard it, he marvelled :" he was struck 
 with admiration at the infinitely grand and just idea 
 which this Roman officer had conceived of his power, 
 though he was in outward appearance the meanest 
 of men. 
 
 To make therefore his faith eternally conspicuous 
 and at the same time most clearly to ascertain the es 
 sential nature of that grace which was to be the instru 
 ment of salvation to every member of his church, " Jesus 
 said unto them that followed, Verily I say unto you, 1 
 have not found so great faith, no not in Israel. And I 
 say unto you, Many shall come from the east and the 
 west," — that is, possessed and governed by the same 
 
108 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 precious faith you now see exercised towards me, — 
 " and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Ja- 
 cob, in the*kingdom of heaven." 
 
 Examine now what was the faith of this centurion. It 
 was evidently a firm persuasion of the almighty power 
 and goodness of Christ, producing a dependence upon 
 him, and an application to him for help and deliverance 
 in favor of his afflicted servant. By consequence, true 
 faith in Jesus springs from that knowledge of his cha- 
 racter and office which inclines the heart to depend 
 upon him for continual help in our spiritual need. 
 
 This is confirmed by another very remarkable in- 
 stance, that of the Canaanitish woman. Hearing of the 
 arrival of Jesus in the country near which she dwelt, 
 she came unto him, saying, N Have mercy on me, O 
 Lord, thou Son of David : my daughter is grievously 
 vexed with a devil : but he answered her not a word." 
 Nay, he seems absolutely to refuse her request, giving 
 for a reason, that his ministry must be confined to the 
 Jews. And when entreated yet again, he adds a still 
 more mortifying and discouraging reply, that it was 
 not meet for him to display his mercy among the hea- 
 then, who, through their idolatry and other pollutions, 
 were become like dogs, impure before God 5 that this 
 was to be confined by him to the church of God, his 
 children by covenant and profession. 
 
 The woman acknowledges the justness of what our 
 Lord urged : and she said, M Truth, Lord ; yet the dogs 
 eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table :" 
 let me only have such kindness as the dogs which be 
 long to a family enjoy : amidst that plenty of miraculous 
 cures which thou art bestowing on the Jews, bestow the 
 fragment of this one upon me, who am a poor distress- 
 ed heathen : for by it they will suffer no greater loss 
 than the children of a family do by the crumbs which 
 are cast t«) tin dogs. Then Jesus answered, " O woman, 
 
NATURE AND EXTENT OF FAITH. 109 
 
 great is thy faith ; be it unto thee even as thou wilt " 
 Matt. 15 : 21. 
 
 Here also every eye must perceive what was so illus- 
 trious in this woman : it was her persevering adherence 
 to the Lord Jesus' Christ for help and deliverance. In 
 the midst of the greatest discouragements she remained 
 patient, yet importunate, and resolutely depended for 
 relief upon the grace which she was persuaded dwelt 
 so richly in him. 
 
 From this instance then, no less clearly than from the 
 former, faith in Jesus is determined precisely to mean 
 the reliance of the heart on him for help and deliverance. 
 
 The same truth is as strongly proved from the fault 
 plainly charged on those whom Jesus rebuked for their 
 unbelief. 
 
 In the eighth chapter of St. Luke we are informed 
 that our Lord, fatigued with his abundant labors of love, 
 fell asleep a» he was sailing with his disciples. In the 
 meantime the weather suddenly changed, and a storm 
 came on. The disciples exerted their utmost skill in 
 the management of the vessel, but in vain. The waves 
 breaking in, filled her so that she began to sink ; and 
 they, giving themselves up for lost, ran to Jesus, shriek- 
 ing out, " Master, Master, we perish." 
 
 Their cries awoke him : he instantly rebuked the 
 winds and the sea, and there was a calm. Upon which 
 he immediately turns with this reproof upon his dis- 
 ciples, " Why are ye so fearful 1 how is it that ye have 
 no faith 1" Mark, 4 : 37-40. 
 
 In this instance also you see that it was want of as- 
 surance in the power of their divine Master, even when 
 destruction in all appearance was overwhelming them \ 
 it was doubting his ability to gather the stormy winds 
 in his hand, and to prevent the raging floods from over- 
 flowing them ; it was yielding to the fear of death when 
 it seemed opening its jaws tt devour them, which our 
 
110 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 Lord rebukes as a demonstration of their unbelief. And 
 justly too, since, after the many miracles they had seen 
 him perform, they had abundant cause to rely on his 
 power and goodness, even in a greater danger than this; 
 for though their vessel had sunk, he who gave sight to 
 the blind could have saved them all by making them 
 walk firmly on the water, as he afterwards enabled one 
 of their number to do. 
 
 To avoid being tedious, only one instance more shall 
 be produced. 
 
 In the ninth of St. Mark we have a remarkable rela- 
 tion of a father greatly distressed on account of the dis- 
 order of his son, bringing him to the disciples. Find- 
 ing them unable to heal him, and dispirited at the sight 
 of his son's misery, together with the remembrance of 
 its long continuance, he was afraid this possession might 
 surpass even the power of Jesus himself. Expressing 
 therefore his doubts and fears, he saith lihto him, "If 
 thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and 
 help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all 
 things are possible to him that believeth ;" that is, to 
 him who is immoveably persuaded of my all-sufficient 
 power. " And straightway the father of the child cried 
 out and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine 
 unbelief:" in other words, I do now sincerely trust in 
 thee as able to help me : I am touched with grief and 
 shame to think there should be so much unbelief in my 
 heart. O forgive and remove it, that I and my son may 
 be thoroughly cured ; .1 of my spiritual, and he of his 
 corporeal disease. 
 
 Instances without number might be brought ; but these 
 alleged are fully sufficient to determine what is the 
 precise meaning of that divine grace — Faith in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ : they prove that it means the reliance of 
 the soul on Jesus Christ for help and deliverance. 
 
 If it should be said that the centurion and the Canaanit- 
 
NATURE AND EXTENT OF FAITH. Ill 
 
 ish woman showed their faith, the disciples and the dis- 
 tressed father their unbelief, with respect only to tem- 
 poral evils; and that, therefore, these are not proper 
 examples to determine the nature of that faith to which 
 the salvation of the soul is promised ; the answer is ob- 
 vious — that the difference in the nature of the benefits 
 which are the objects of desire, by no means infers a 
 difference in the principle of faith. It was by one and 
 the same kind of faith, we are assured, that Noah built 
 the ark, that Abraham offered his son, that Moses es- 
 teemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than all 
 the treasures of Egypt. These acts, though different 
 from each other in their respective ends, proceeded 
 from one and the self-same principle. In like manner, 
 whether trust in the power and all-sufficiency of Jesus 
 be exercised in seeking deliverance from temporal or 
 spiritual evils, from wants, more in number or less ; it 
 is still the same divine grace relying upon the same glo- 
 rious power. 
 
 Indeed, the extent of the faith in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ does and must reach as far as our necessities ; 
 therefore a particular knowledge of our wants, and of 
 the exercise of faith with respect to the supply of 
 them, will afford the most ample view of the extent of 
 this grace. 
 
 First, then, as soon as we compare our lives with the 
 rule of our duty, the law of God, accusations of guilt 
 cannot but pour on us from every side. Each of the 
 commandments, spiritually understood, according to 
 the explanation given in the sermon on the mount, has 
 sins of commission or omission to lay to our charge. 
 God and our own consciences tell us that our offences 
 have been not merely errors of ignorance, but sins 
 against light and knowledge j the effects of a proud, re- 
 bellious spirit against the most high God. 
 
 Now, to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is, under 
 
112 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 the heartfelt conviction of such guilt, and in abhorrence 
 of it, to depend on his blood as the propitiation which 
 God himself hath set forth for our sin. It is to make use 
 of this plea alone, that the hand of provoked Justice 
 may not seize, nor the arm of Omnipotence destroy our 
 soul, "Jesus was wounded for those very transgressions 
 whereof my conscience is afraid, and bruised for those 
 very iniquities I am now bewailing with a godly sor- 
 row." In despair of ever receiving pardon, through the 
 merit of any thing we can do to help ourselves, or 
 through the uncovenanted mercy of God, it is to place 
 our whole confidence in Jesus, " as made a sin offering 
 for us, though he knew no sin, that we might be made 
 the righteousness of God in him." It is under a con- 
 sciousness of daily sin, and of the infinite holiness of 
 God, to esteem Christ as our passover j to be persuad- 
 ed that the merit and virtue of his blood is our whole 
 safeguard from deserved wrath : just as the Israelites 
 of old looked on the blood sprinkled on their doors as 
 their whole safeguard from the destroying angel. 
 
 Further — Another great evil to which all men feel 
 themselves subject so soon as they come to any know- 
 ledge of their condition with respect to God, is that of 
 a depraved understanding. They perceive that their ap- 
 prehensions of the ever-blessed God and his law, of sin 
 and their own demerit, are deplorably wrong : they 
 confess themselves children of darkness, in need of di- 
 vine illumination to conquer their stubborn ignorance, 
 and to remove their numberless prejudices against the 
 truth of God ; to take from them those mists which 
 arise from inordinate affection, and that blindness to 
 spiritual objects which prevents their effectual impres- 
 sion upon the mind. 
 
 Now to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is, in the 
 midst of these circumstances, to make application to 
 him as one able to enlighten the understanding, and to 
 
NATURE AND EXTENT OF FAITH. 113 
 
 secure it from all the delusions of false reasonings and 
 imaginary schemes of serving God. It is to make re- 
 quest to him for instruction, who, through the tender 
 mercy of God, came to visit a world " sitting in dark- 
 ness and the shadow of death," to the intent " that all 
 who believe in him should not walk in darkness, but 
 have the light of life abiding in them " It is, with the 
 meekness of a child, simply to believe what we are told 
 by him, without murmuring or disputing. It is as abso- 
 lutely to depend day by day on the teaching of Christ, 
 through his word and Spirit, for the knowledge of all 
 things needful to salvation, as a submissive pupil de- 
 pends upon the instructions of a master whose abilities 
 and learning are universally celebrated. 
 
 Again — When you desire and earnestly endeavor to 
 live in obedience to the spiritual commandments of 
 God, without which a course of sobriety and external 
 religion is vain ; you will immediately feel your own 
 weakness, just as Sampson did the loss of his strength 
 when he was rising, after his locks were shorn, to com- 
 bat the Philistines ; you will find your nature violently 
 inclined to evil, and the desires of your heart to be fixed 
 upon vanity and sin ; you will see yourself surrounded 
 with a* thousand temptations to draw you from God. and 
 to discourage you from living in conscientious obedi- 
 ence to him. 
 
 In these circumstances you will soon feel the neces- 
 sity of divine aid to bring back those affections to God 
 which have been always alienated from him ; or to re- 
 duce a will that has long been lawless, into subjection to 
 the control of God in all things. You will have little 
 disposition, after having walked in the path of se A f-wil) 
 as the only path of happiness, to forsake it, and to 
 tread the rough and thorny one of christian self-denial 
 Yet such an inward change true holiness requires j 
 every thing short of it is superficial, leaving the soul 
 
114> COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 unprepared for the temper and happiness of heaven 
 
 In these circumstances, to believe in Jesus Christ is 
 to depend upon him, as given by God to purify men for 
 himself, and to purge them, as a refiner's fire does the 
 silver from its dross. It is to be looking to him with 
 confidence for the gradual performance of a work in 
 your soul, no less necessary for your salvation than that 
 already completed for you on the cross. It is, daily to 
 make application to him, as one on whom God hath laid 
 all your help, and whom he hath given to save his peo- 
 ple from their sins. It is to bring before him those 
 vile affections which are natural to your heart ; assured, 
 that though your own resolutions and efforts have been 
 frustrated from time to time, and have wrought in you 
 no cure ; yet the power of the Lord will work mightily 
 with you, and at length give you strength and victory. 
 
 Thus far the extent of true faith in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ has been considered, as reaching to a dependence 
 on his grace and power for present deliverance from 
 that darkness, guilt and reigning sin, in which the 
 whole posterity of Adam is involved. 
 
 But as our continuance on earth is exceedingly short ; 
 as this life must soon be lost in one which knows no 
 end, where either the dismal effects of unpardoned sin 
 must be eternally endured, or the exquisite joy of 
 God's love delight the heart j so the extent of faith in 
 the Lord Jesus Christ must be enlarged in respect to 
 that eternity which is so near and important. To be- 
 lieve in Christ, therefore, comprehends a firm depend- 
 ence that you shall abundantly experience both his 
 power and love, when every human help and comfort 
 fail, and present objects are no more. 
 
 Faith rests assured on his word, that the soul shall 
 not wander desolate and forsaken in the unknown world, 
 nor the dead body remain a prisoner for ever in the 
 loathsome grave ; but that the one shall be raised by 
 
NATURE AND EXTENT OF FAITH. 115 
 
 him, and fashioned according to his own glorious body ; 
 and the other be admitted into that blessed kingdom 
 where he employs his infinite wisdom and almighty 
 power for the happiness of his people. In habitual ex- 
 pectation of mortality, it commends the spirit into his 
 hands, knowing he is able to keep what is committed to 
 him unto that day ; persuaded that he is the life and the 
 forerunner of his people, gone before to prepare a place 
 for them, from whence he will come and receive them 
 unto himself, that where he is, there they may be also. 
 This definition of faith in Christ, that it is an abiding 
 heartfelt trust upon him for help and deliverance ; a 
 trust that he will save you from ignorance by revealing 
 his light, and from guilt by imparting the merit of his 
 blood and righteousness ; that out of weakness he w r ill 
 make you strong by his power, and enrich you through 
 all eternity with his love : this definition, I say, has the 
 advantage, that it is plain and intelligible to every capa- 
 city. Men of learning frequently condemn the laying 
 great stress on the doctrine of salvation by faith alone, 
 as perplexing, and liable to be misunderstood by com- 
 mon understandings. After all that we can say about 
 it, they tell us the common people will be still at a loss 
 to conceive what faith in Christ means. Could this ob- 
 jection be made good, it would overturn the whole cre- 
 dit of the Gospel, for that perpetually inculcates faith 
 as the root of all the fruits of righteousness. And in- 
 deed it is certain, that whatever is of great moment to 
 salvation must be plain and easy to the comprehension 
 of all who will be at the pains of seeking for the know 
 ledge of it. But, in fact, there is no place for this ob- 
 jection, when faith is represented to be a dependence 
 on the Lord Jesus Christ for " wisdom, righteousness, 
 sanctification and redemption." Are not the poorest 
 among the people to the full as well acquainted as the 
 xich and learned, with the nature of promises and the 
 
116 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 confidence due to them, when made by persons of 
 power and integrity 1 Is any one, of a common capaci- 
 ty, at a loss to conceive that the ignorant who would 
 learn must depend upon their teacher 1 Or that those 
 whose debts are increased above what they are able to 
 pay, must be cast into prison, or stand beholden to some 
 surety, or some act of grace, or both 1 What difficulty 
 can there be in understanding that those whose ene- 
 mies are mighty and tyrannical, and not to be resisted 
 by their own strength, must look for defence and re- 
 fuge to one mightier than theyl Now only transfer 
 these most plain and familiar ideas to the divine Re- 
 deemer, and you have at once a full and distinct notion 
 of what it is to believe in his name : it is what the low- 
 est are not only capable of understanding, but what 
 they can all feel. For when we explain the nature of 
 faith, we make our appeal to those very feelings which 
 are the most forcible of any implanted in the human 
 breast — to the fear of danger, to the hope of deliver- 
 ance, to confidence of help, to gratitude for benefits 
 unspeakably great. 
 
JUST IDEA OF FAITH. 117 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 FAITH IJl m CIIItlST.-continued. 
 
 THE ADVANTAGES OF A JUST CONCEPTION OF ITS NATURE 
 
 In the preceding chapter we endeavored to give a dis- 
 tinct and clear idea of the nature of faith as it is deter- 
 mined by examples from Scripture, in which the want 
 of it was censured, or its excellence commended. We 
 stated it to he a steadfast and active trust in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification 
 and redemption. — Now as many and great advantages 
 flow from a just conception of the nature of so import- 
 ant a grace as faith, while on the other hand the most 
 serious evils may arise from an imperfect or false idea 
 of it 5 I propose in this chapter to point out the advan- 
 tages which evidently result from receiving the defini- 
 tion of it already given. 
 
 1. It evidently excludes those abuses which a false idea 
 of the nature of faith has in many cases produced. 
 
 That many and grievous abuses of faith should 
 abound, is not strange ; since the incomparable bless- 
 ings promised to it work like so many bribes upon our 
 natural self-love, to make us deal dishonestly, and in 
 the absence of the reality to embrace a counterfeit. 
 
 Thus, for instance, it is most common for speculative 
 faith to pass for genuine faith. When a learned rea- 
 soner has compared the glorious, prophecies concerning 
 Jesus with their events, and seen the amazingly exact 
 accomplishment ; when he has canvassed his doctrine 
 and miracles till his understanding is furnished with ar- 
 guments enough to silence all who doubt or disbelieve 
 the truth of the Gospel ; he is apt to become confident 
 
118 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN 
 
 that he is a true believer, and that his faith as a chris- 
 tian is perfect and entire, lacking nothing ; he is confi- 
 dent of this very thing, whilst his ruling dispositions 
 utterly disgrace his faith, and give the witnesses of 
 his example abundant cause to think most contemp- 
 tuously of it. 
 
 To convince a man of this character, that he most 
 shamefully imposes upon himself, in calling his know- 
 ledge by the name of faith, will, I grant, be very diffi- 
 cult. But if any means .can do it, it must be the proof 
 that his acquaintance with the doctrines of Jesus, his 
 ready assent to their truth, his alacrity in their defence, 
 still leave him only upon a level with those who openly 
 reject the Gospel; that is, they leave him equally a 
 stranger to any active dependence on Jesus Christ for 
 help and deliverance : so that he, no more than an ab- 
 solute infidel, looks up day by day as a poor, ignorant, 
 sinful, helpless creature, for the relief of his necessities 
 to the all-sufficient Savior. Consequently this specula- 
 tive self-satisfied believer may perceive that such a 
 faith in the Son of God as the Scripture requires, and 
 which alone will be of benefit to his soul, is a principle 
 entirely of another kind from that assent he has given 
 to the truths of the Gospel. 
 
 In the very same way of trial, another detestable 
 abuse of the doctrine of faith, to which the love of sin 
 inclines us, will be fully discovered. No sooner was 
 the Gospel way of salvation preached to the gentile 
 world, and the name of Jesus glorified, than Satan, jea- 
 lous of his own empire, prevailed over a large body of 
 professing christians to boast that they had faith in 
 Christ, and were complete in him, whilst they were living 
 in sin, in hatred of all renovation of mind, in contempt 
 of personal obedience and in neglect of the means of 
 grace. They confidently said that they knew him ; they 
 gloried in the imagination that Christ's righteousness 
 
JUST IDEA OF FAITH. 219 
 
 was their holiness ; whilst they refused to follow his 
 example, and trampled upon his commandments. In 
 every revival of the power of the Gospel the same 
 error has revived also ; and what is said of envy with 
 respect to merit, 
 
 "Envy, the shadow, proves the substance true," 
 
 holds good in this case. Wherever the true Gospel is 
 enforced, this dreadful abuse of it will more or less 
 make its appearance.* 
 
 But this delusion, — which has justly obtained the 
 name of Antinomian faith, from its enmity to the con- 
 trol of God's most holy law, — can find no reception 
 where faith is understood to be a constant lively de- 
 pendence on the Redeemer for present help and deliver- 
 ance ; because nothing can be more opposite to this de- 
 pendence than the blasphemous opinion that you are 
 not to receive from him the graces of the Holy Spirit. 
 Nothing can be more contrary to the exercise of faith 
 in him, than the corrupt imagination that you need not 
 rely upon his power to conquer your corruptions, and 
 to bless you by turning you from your iniquities. No- 
 thing can more effectually destroy all communication 
 betwixt the Redeemer and our souls, than so to inter- 
 pret the efficacy of his divine obedience and most pre- 
 
 * The apostles Paul, Peter, James and John saw with their own 
 eyes this abominable perversion of the truth, and take much pains 
 in all their epistles to guard against its poison. In Germany and in 
 England, as soon as ever the glorious reformation took place, this 
 strong delusion of Antinomian faith began to prevail. It is there- 
 fore so far from being any just objection against the preaching of 
 faith, to urge that it is abused to licentiousness, that it proves, on the 
 contrary, that the doctrines of salvation are apostolically set forth : 
 and therefore Satan has recourse to his ancient device of support- 
 ing his own kingdom by endeavoring to bring this doctrine into 
 reproach. 
 
120 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 cious blood, as if no purification of the soul were want- 
 ed. This licentious notion, in its very nature, absolute- 
 ly excludes any present application to the Redeemer, 
 and consequently any present dependence upon him for 
 wisdom, righteousness and sanctification. Therefore, 
 however vehemently it may be maintained by many to 
 be the purest faith, it certainly has not one single pro- 
 perty of scriptural faith in Christ. 
 
 Again — By adhering to this definition of faith, de- 
 duced from Scripture examples, that it is the lively and 
 active trust of the soul on Jesus Christ to receive from 
 him wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemp- 
 tion, you will be secure from confounding with true 
 Faith opinions imbibed only from education. Most men, 
 engrossed by earthly pursuits, and feeling nothing of 
 the importance of the objects of faith, take for granted 
 the truth of the prevailing religion, be it what it may, 
 and regularly conform to its institutions. After having 
 done so for a course of years, they still more rashly 
 also take it for granted that nothing less than true 
 faith could have kept them so long constant and regu- 
 lar in public worship without ever doubting the truth ; 
 whilst in fact gross carelessness, love of money, or im- 
 moderate application to business, have prevented their 
 thinking upon religion as a subject worth their attention. 
 
 Now, if you interrogate such deluded but confident 
 formalists, whether they were ever painfully convinced 
 )f their own natural ignorance and blindness, or of the 
 depravity of their hearts 1 whether they ever with grief 
 of soul confessed the provocation of their sins and the 
 power of inbred lusts, and in the affecting view of both 
 have made application to Jesus for relief, and remain in 
 dependence on him for the same 1 these searching ques- 
 tions will at once discover the refuge of lies ; and prove 
 that what they imagine to be faith in Jesus, is nothing 
 better than vain and contemptible credulity. 
 
JUST IDEA OF FAITH. 121 
 
 Nay, farther, if you ask these formalists, who assume 
 me name of believers in Christ, upon what do you ground 
 your hope of salvation 1 Their answer is, that they have 
 used their best endeavors to lead a good life : that God 
 is merciful, and knows their frailty. A foundation of 
 hope this, very different from what the prophets and 
 apostles have laid ; — for they, instead of teaching men 
 to expect forgiveness merely because God is merciful, 
 and because we endeavor to lead a good life, proclaim 
 the death and sacrifice of the only Son of God to 
 be the sole means of reconciliation. So far from flat 
 tering us that our unassisted endeavors will succeed 
 in the great work of living a christian life, they com- 
 mand us to be continually seeking the Lord and his 
 strength for this very purpose. Judge, therefore, how 
 entirely the faith of the formalist differs from true 
 faith, since it leaves a man in gross darkness concern- 
 ing the way in which sin is to be pardoned and power 
 over it obtained. 
 
 There is still another mistake concerning the nature 
 of faith, which this plain and easy definition effectually 
 discovers. Many men of the best intentions, and ani- 
 mated with earnest desires for the glory of God and 
 the good of souls, have represented faith in Christ to be 
 a particular revelation, separately and supernaturally 
 imparted to every individual believer the moment he 
 truly believes ; whereby his soul is enlightened and the 
 forgiveness of his sins made self-evident by the force 
 of inward feeling alone. 
 
 Now that the blessed God can impress on the mind 
 so strong a sense of pardon as to leave a repenting sin- 
 ner, beyond all doubt, satisfied of its coming from him, 
 none can question. And that in many instances God is 
 most graciously pleased in this manner to manifest him- 
 self and his love, none can dispute who have been hap- 
 pily acquainted either with the lives or deaths of the 
 
 Duty of Man. 8 
 
122 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 excellent of the earth. By this manifestation have mar 
 tyrs been enabled to sing in the midst of the flames j 
 and not only to endure all that is most dismaying to 
 nature, but to triumph over it. By this manifestation 
 of divine love, thousands are emboldened to continue 
 faithful to God and their duty, amidst the scoffs and in- 
 sults of the careless and profane. 
 
 Nevertheless, it is one thing to feel joy and exulta- 
 tion, another to be conscious that you are depending 
 upon Jesus Christ the Lord for the supply of all your 
 wants : one thing to build your evidence of pardon on a 
 transporting sensation, quite another to infer it from 
 your dependence on him who is exalted to be a Prince 
 and a Savior, to give repentance and remission of sins 
 to all that believe in his name. And to suppose the 
 reality of faith in him can be evidenced no other way 
 than by feeling an inward testimony of the pardoning 
 love of God, is just as gross a mistake as it would be to 
 suppose that credit is to be given to the written promise 
 of an affectionate friend no longer than he himself en- 
 forces it by repeated declarations of his particular love. 
 To act thus in every other case would argue violent 
 suspicion of the veracity of him who gives the promise ; 
 how then can it with reason be made the only test of 
 faith in Christ, that you should have irresistible evi- 
 dence of his love in your own heart superadded to the 
 declarations of his Gospel. 
 
 It is needful, in treating on the subject of faith in Jesus 
 Christ, to guard against this mistake of its nature ; be- 
 cause, wherever the power of religion prevails, many 
 are apt to place their dependence on the knowledge of 
 the forgiveness of their sins by an inward feeling. 
 They make it their whole business to seek for the evi- 
 dence of their pardon from doubtful sensations rather 
 than from the written word. They speak as if nothing 
 were worth acknowledging as a blessing from God, 
 
JUST IDEA OF FAITH. 123 
 
 whilst tliey possess not such an evidence of pardon in 
 their own hearts. Others also, with grief it must be 
 acknowledged, have so imposed upon themselves as to 
 mistake a transient emotion of joy for real faith, while 
 they are strangers to any true humiliation for sin, or 
 abhorrence of it in the heart. In the meantime, a third 
 class, through the same mistake, have been overwhelmed 
 with terrors, and led to pass sentence on themselves as 
 destitute of faith, and without Christ in the world, at 
 the very time when they were seeking his help and 
 grace as all their salvation ; and consequently were true 
 and sincere believers. 
 
 Another great advantage arising from the definition 
 of saving faith, here given, as implying a lively depend 
 ence on Christ for wisdom, righteousness, sanctifica 
 tion and redemption, is, that it establishes the true be 
 liever in solid peace and comfort ; and this is a strong 
 evidence that it is scripturally defined. For the Gos- 
 pel, like a remedy adapted with astonishing exactness 
 to our frame and condition, is intended to counterba- 
 lance all the allurements of temptation. It bestows, 
 even in this world, more than an equivalent for what 
 any man can suffer or lore through obedience to God, 
 as well as eternal life in the world to come. It assures 
 every faithful disciple that reconciliation is made for 
 his iniquity ; that he is an object of God's daily care, 
 and an heir of his infinitely glorious kingdom. But the 
 assurance which any particular person possesses that 
 these blessings must appertain to him, must depend 
 upon his certainty that he has true faith. If this point 
 be brought into doubt, his peace departs, his comfort 
 dies away: for all the promises of God's acceptance 
 and special love belong to them, and to them only who 
 are united to Christ Jesus by a living faith. It is not 
 doubted by any one, whether a true believer is accepted 
 of God ; but the doubt so cruelly perplexing to serious 
 
124 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 minds, and so chilling to their hopes, is whether they 
 are believers or no. 
 
 In order, therefore, to secure to every believer that 
 peace and comfort which he has a title from the word 
 of God to enjoy, the evidence which proves the reality 
 ,and truth of his faith must be both clear and perma- 
 nent. Of this perfect kind is the evidence which ac- 
 companies a lively dependence on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ to supply all our spiritual wants and necessities. 
 This dependence is so easy to be known, that no one 
 can possess it without being conscious of it. For it 
 necessarily implies an intimate and most interesting 
 connection between Christ and the soul, a knowledge 
 of him affecting the heart, and an application to him 
 daily and persevering. A man, therefore, who is living 
 in such dependence upon the Son of God, might as rea- 
 sonably call in question the reality of transactions pass- 
 ing between himself and his friends on earth, as of his 
 faith in Jesus. This evidence is also permanent. The 
 sensible comforts of a christian, it is true, are in their 
 nature fluctuating, but his dependence does not vary as 
 his consolations do. He does not return to the love and 
 practice of sin, after fleeing in deep humility to Jesus 
 as a Redeemer from its curse and power ; nor revolt to 
 a self-righteous trust on his duties and merits, after hav- 
 ing made a cordial submission to Christ as the Lord his 
 righteousness. Hence, he that is oppressed with gloom 
 and tormented with fear, lest he should have no part m 
 Christ, merely because he feels no transporting hope in 
 his heart, may be able, when his judgment is better in- 
 structed in the nature of faith, to prove himself a believ- 
 er, by proving his whole dependence to be upon Christ. 
 A»'id in consequence of this proof, the joy, whose ab- 
 sence he was mourning, will spring up and flourish, 
 and, like a fragrant flower in its proper soil, yield a re- 
 viving influence to his heart. He will be able thus to 
 
JUST IDEA OF FAITH. 125 
 
 express the highest and the purest satisfaction, saying, 
 "In the Lord's word will I rejoice, in the Lord'-s word 
 will I comfort me." 
 
 Besides, dependence upon Jesus for present help and 
 deliverance will prove, from its success, an abiding 
 source of comfort and assurance to the mind. Every 
 sinner exercises trust in the Redeemer from a sense of 
 misery and necessity. He would not cast himself a poor 
 supplicant at his feet, could he be safe without his pro- 
 tection, or satisfied without his peace. But, upon appli- 
 cation, the promise of God engages that the things 
 asked for shall be received. Accordingly, iio you depend 
 upon Jesus as your prophet 1 Behold wisdom from 
 above will begin to enlighten your mind, and an under- 
 standing in the way of life will soon be in some measure 
 conferred upon you. Soon the world, sin, and your own 
 heart are discovered to you in a light in which you 
 never saw them before. Already God. in his perfections, 
 his works and Gospel, is apprehended by you in a dif- 
 ferent manner from what he was wont to be. The gross 
 .ignorance that was in you, is now no more j hence you 
 have the witness in yourself that your dependence on 
 Christ is no fruitless misplaced dependence. In like 
 manner when you were first awakened to a sense 
 of your sin, your conscience was full of fe"*ars and 
 alarms, and you had no comfortable communion with 
 God ; but, through a dependence upon the efficacy and 
 merit of his blood, you are now set free from con 
 clemnation, and have access to God with boldness. 
 In the same way the strength and power you receive 
 to deny yourself for Jesus' sake, and the change of 
 a headstrong lawless will, into meek subjection, which 
 is another effect of dependence on Jesus Christ proves 
 with the force of demonstration, that your faith is 
 neither formal nor delusive ; and, by consequence, that 
 you have an interest in all that belongs to the faithful 
 
126 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN 
 
 Lastly, it must be added, that an active trust and de- 
 pendence on the Lord Jesus Christ for help and deliver- 
 ance, such as our definition of faith supposes, ascribes 
 to him such importance and glory in our salvation, as 
 the Scriptures expressly declare shall be ascribed to him. 
 This will appear evident from the consideration of a 
 few remarkable passages, both in the Old and New Tes- 
 tament, concerning Christ. 
 
 In the seventy-second Psalm it is foretold of the Re- 
 deemer, that "prayer shall be made for him continually, 
 and daily shall he be praised." This glorious prediction 
 receives a full and complete accomplishment by the 
 continual dependence of all the faithful on Jesus Christ 
 for supplies of wisdom, righteousness and strength, 
 and by their continued thankfulness to him for the gift 
 of such inestimable benefits. 
 
 The evangelical prophet Isaiah abounds with empha- 
 tical declarations of the perpetual reliance of believers 
 on Christ Jesus. The conversion of the gentile world 
 to him is expressed in this manner, "The isles shall 
 wait upon me, and upon mine arm shall they trust." By 
 the same inspired penman the Redeemer, with a gran- 
 deur and richness of mercy becoming his infinite ma- 
 jesty, thus addresses a sinful world : 
 
 " Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the 
 earth : for I am God ; and there is none else. I have 
 sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in 
 righteousness, and shall not return ; that unto me every 
 knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall 
 one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength , 
 even to him shall men come ; and all that are incensed 
 against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all 
 the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." Isaiah, 
 45 : 22-25. 
 
 " Here the Son of God represents himself in all the 
 glory of his divine person, and all the efficacy of his 
 
JUST IDEA OF FAITH. 127 
 
 grace, as the object of faith and the author of salvation, 
 'Look unto me,' says he, wretched ruined transgress- 
 ors, as the wounded Israelites looked unto the brazen 
 serpent ; look unto me, dying on the cross as your vie 
 tim, and obeying the law as your surety. Not by your 
 own strength or virtue, but by dependence on me be ye 
 saved, cleansed from guilt, rescued from the power of 
 sin, and reconciled to God. 
 
 M Do you ask, Who are invited to partake of this in- 
 estimable benefit 1 ' All the ends of the earth.' People 
 of every nation under heaven, of every station in life, 
 of every condition and of every character, not except- 
 ing the chief of sinners. 
 
 " Do you say, Is it possible that in this way, so short, 
 so simple, merely by dependence on Jesus Christ, innu- 
 merable millions should be saved 1 It is not only pos- 
 sible, but certain ; ' For I am God ;' infinite in dignity 
 and power, therefore all-sufficient, yea, omnipotent to 
 save, to save all that come unto me, be their multitude 
 ever so great, or their case ever so desperate. 'And 
 besides me there is none other;' no person can take 
 any share in this great transaction. Such is my com- 
 passionate invitation. And this my inviolable decree : 
 I have not only spoken, but ' I have sworn by myself,' 
 and all my incomprehensible excellencies : ' the word is 
 gone out of my mouth in righteousness ;' that word 
 which relates to the grandest of all subjects, and the 
 most important of all interests, is planned, adjusted and 
 unalterably determined ; ' it shall not return,' neither 
 be repealed by me, nor frustrated by any other. ' To 
 me every knee shall bow ;' every soul of man that de- 
 sires to inherit eternal life, shall submit to and depend 
 upon me ; as an unworthy creature, as an obnoxious 
 criminal; he shall obtain the blessing wholly through 
 my atonement. To me ' every tongue shall swear ;' re- 
 nouncing every other trust, they shall repose the confi- 
 
128 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 dence of their souls on me alone, and make public con- 
 fession of this their faith before the whole world : and 
 this shall be the form of their oath, and the tenor of 
 their heartfelt confession ; each member of my church 
 shall say, ' Surely,' it is most wonderful, yet a most 
 faithful saying, extremely comfortable and equally cer 
 tain 5 Surely ' in the Lord,' the incarnate Jehovah alone, 
 * have I righteousness,' to expiate all my iniquities, and 
 satisfy the law 5 'and strength,' for an increasing im 
 provement of heart and sanctification of soul. 
 
 w To this sovereign decree the prophet, as it were, set 
 to his seal 5 or else in a transport of joy he foretells the 
 accomplishment of it : Yes, ' to him,' even to this great 
 and gracious Redeemer, r shall men come.' I see thorn 
 flying as clouds for multitude, and as doves for speed- 
 They believe the report of his Gospel, and receive of 
 his fulness. Whilst * all they that are incensed at him,' 
 who cannot away with such absolute dependence upon 
 him, nor bear his pure and holy government, f shall be 
 ashamed.' The fig-leaves of their own virtues and their 
 own endowments shall neither adorn them for glory, 
 nor screen them from wrath j but shall abandon them to 
 vengeance, and cover them with double confusion. 
 Whilst on the other hand ' all the seed of Israel,' every 
 true believer l shall be justified ' in the Lord. Against 
 these persons no accusation shall be valid, no condem- 
 nation take place. Far from it ; for so magnificent is 
 the majesty, so surprisingly efficacious are the merits 
 of the Savior, that in him they shall not only confide, 
 but ' glory ;' not only be safe, but triumphant j able to 
 challenge every adversary, and to defy every danger. "* 
 
 Whether this text be considered with or without this 
 
 * For this explanation of the sacred text the reader is indebted to 
 a manuscript of the late pious and exemplary Mr. Hervey. Since 
 the first edition of this work it has been inserted by Mr. Hervey ia 
 one of his printed letters to the Rev. Mr. Wesley. 
 
JUST IDEA OF FAITH. 129 
 
 comment, it plainly proves that Jesus Christ is to he 
 acknowledged as the only author of our salvation. It 
 clearly marks the nature of true faith to be a lively de- 
 pendence on Christ, to receive out of his fulness grace 
 for grace. It shows that to conceive any thing to be 
 faith short of such absolute and constant dependence 
 on Jesus, is to degrade the importance of the Son of 
 God to his church, and to obscure, if not abolish, his 
 glory. To suppose that you have faith, merely because 
 you allow Jesus to have been no impostor in what he 
 taught, or even because you grant his death to have 
 been an atonement for sin, is to glorify him very little in 
 comparison of maintaining an uninterrupted dependence 
 upon him. In the one case he appears as a common 
 benefactor to whose past generous deeds we have been 
 •much indebted; in the other, as our continual support, 
 of whom we may triumphantly say, " The Lord is my 
 iight and my Salvation, whom shall I fear 1 The Lord is 
 the strength of my life, of whom, then, shall I be afraid 1" 
 In placing him in this glorious point of view before 
 the eyes of our mind, the New Testament perfectly 
 concurs with the Old. Thus St. Paul and St. Peter re- 
 present the faith of the christian church to be such a 
 personal dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ as 
 subsists between the foundation of a lofty temple and 
 its several parts, which continually bears their whole 
 weight upon it. Eph. 2:21; 1 Pet. 2 : 4, 5. They again 
 explain this dependence by the union of the members 
 of the body with the head, Eph. 4 : 15, 16 ; whilst Jesus 
 himself compares it to the union of the branches with 
 the vine. But none of these scriptural representations 
 can be supposed to be used even with the justness and 
 accuracy common to human writers, unless by faith in 
 the only-begotten Son of God, be meant an abiding 
 heartfelt dependence on him for salvation and all spirit- 
 ual influences and blessings. 
 
130 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 It would be superfluous to add more Scripture evi- 
 dence on this head j but it is of the highest importance 
 that you examine yourself where the stress of your de- 
 pendence for the good of your soul is placed. To what 
 source are you looking for pardon and strength, com* 
 fort and sanctification 1 To your own good purposes 
 and endeavors, to your own prayers, meditations and 
 good qualities ; or, through them all, to that inexhausti 
 ble treasury which God has provided for poor, helpless, 
 guilty men in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ! 
 Blessed is your condition if you have this testimony in 
 your conscience ; that, acknowledging your own natu- 
 ral ignorance and blindness, you call upon the name of 
 the Lord Jesus to enlighten your mind, to make his way 
 plain before you, and to give you a strong and distinct 
 perception of the great things concerning your eternal 
 peace. Blessed is your condition, if feeling your utter 
 incapacity to procure the favor of God by the best of 
 your duties, reformations or performances, and con- 
 founded in your own sight for your great defects, you 
 build all your hope of acceptance with God upon what 
 Christ has done and suffered for you. Blessed is your 
 condition, if afflicted by the exceeding vileness of your 
 corrupt affections, and longing for victory over them, for 
 a more spiritual mind, and for a farther progress in love 
 both to God and man, you depend upon the renewing, 
 sanctifying grace of Christ to work this divine change 
 within you. This is to believe in the only-begotten Son 
 of God without partiality and without hypocrisy. This 
 the word of God pronounces to be that dependence on 
 Christ which shall never be confounded. May the 
 Giver of every good and perfect gift create in your 
 soul this unfeigned faith, if you have it not already ; 
 and if you have, may he confirm and increase it still 
 more abundantly. 
 
FAITH IN CHRIST. 131 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 FAITH IJT CHRIST.— continued. 
 
 THE FOUNDATION OF DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST FOR PARDON. 
 
 The same gracious and holy God who planned the 
 method of recovering lost sinners through the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, has not only required, by his express com- 
 mand, faith in him \ but, from the first entrance of sin 
 into the world, he has been manifesting to the world, in 
 various ways and in the fullest manner, the character 
 and glory of the Redeemer, and the safety of all who de- 
 pend upon him in sincerity and truth. 
 
 This testimony, which God has given of his only be- 
 gotten Son, is the solid, rational and immovable foun- 
 dation of christian faith ; and so amply does it display . 
 the completeness of his salvation, that, as I purpose to 
 prove, there is no part of our dreadful disease and mi- 
 sery as sinners, for which there is not a sufficient re- 
 medy in the perfections he possesses, and in the offices 
 he sustains for the salvation of his church. 
 
 To illustrate this, every man, it has been shown above, 
 is chargeable with the guilt of sin against his Creator, 
 and of course stands exposed to the curse of God's vio- 
 lated law, and to the pains of eternal punishment. Let 
 us see, then, what properties there are in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, sufficient to render him, in this case, the object 
 of our trust ; what a sufficient warrant to justify our firm 
 dependence on him, as the propitiation for our sins, in 
 the sight of a holy sin-avenging God. 
 
 The answer which the divine record returns to this 
 momentous inquiry is sufficient to dispel every doubt, 
 
J. 32 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 and to impart strong consolation to the most guilty soul 
 that earnestly seeks for acceptance with its Maker. For 
 it expressly declares, that this Jesus, on whom you are 
 to depend, is one in nature and essence with God ; that 
 M his goings forth" (that is, his existence) "have been 
 from of old, from everlasting." Micah, 5 : 2. That to 
 his almighty power the earth owes all its prolific virtue, 
 and that variety of fruits which it produces for the ser- 
 vice of men j that from the worm which crawls unno- 
 ticed by us on the surface of the ground, up to the 
 brightest angel before the throne of glory, the Redeemer 
 formed them what they are, and still preserves them in 
 their being : for, " In the beginning — the "Word was with 
 God, and the Word was God. — All things were made by 
 him ; and without him was not any thing made that was 
 made." John, 1 : 1-3. " For by him all things were 
 created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visi- 
 ble and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, 
 or principalities, or powers ; all things were created by 
 him, and for him : and he is before all things, and by 
 him all things consist." Col. 1 : 16, 17. On account of 
 this original and eternal glory, when the Redeemer is 
 brought into the world to be a sacrifice for sin, though 
 he was no more in appearance than a weeping babe ; 
 though born, like the child of some vagabond, in a sta- 
 ble, and laid in a manger ; even at this moment the Fa- 
 ther saith, w Let all the angels of God worship him." Heb. 
 1 : 6. For though abased in this mysterious manner, 
 still he is the Creator and God of angels : he is ?* God 
 manifested in the flesh." 1 Tim. 3 : 16. Immanuel, that 
 is, God with us, is his name whereby he shall be called. 
 Here, then, in this character, drawn not by the erring 
 pencil of men, but by the Spirit of truth in the oracles 
 of God : here behold the proper object of every repent- 
 ing sinner's dependence.. See with what just reason 
 you may confide in Him who possesses all the attributes 
 
FAITH IN CHRIST. 133 
 
 and perfections of the Godhead ; — in him who at the 
 very time his appearance in our flesh was foretold, had 
 his dignity proclaimed by the prophetic herald in this 
 magnificent manner : " Unto us a child is born, unto us 
 a son is given : and the government shall be upon his 
 shoulder : and his name shall be called Wonderful, 
 Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, 
 The Prince of Peace." Isa. 9 : 6. 
 
 Had it been only declared by the mouth of the Lord 
 of hosts, that one of such infinite dignity would be 
 favorable to all humbled and repenting sinners, and 
 would plead in their behalf before his Father, even this 
 simple declaration ought to engage the confidence of 
 the guilty : it would be a sufficient warrant to justify 
 their dependence on him. For if the Redeemer be 
 really possessed of infinite perfections, he must be a fit 
 object of confidence to the soul, supposing he were 
 pleased to declare his merciful disposition toward it. 
 But he has done far more than simply declare his good 
 will to perishing sinners; the depth of his humiliation 
 and the sacrifice of his life present to us indisputable 
 and most affecting proofs that the Redeemer is worthy 
 of our highest confidence. For the same infallible re- 
 cord which assures us that he was in the form of God, 
 worshipped and acknowledged as such in heaven, think 
 ing it no robbery, no usurpation of glory, to be equal 
 with God, assures us likewise that in pity to a ruined 
 world he was content to live and die a substitute and 
 surety for sinful man. 
 
 In the fulness of time, according to that counsel of 
 peace between the Father and the«Son recorded in the 
 fortieth Psalm, the Savior, who is Christ the Lord, was 
 born into the world with a body prepared for him by 
 the power of the Holy Ghost. He took not on him the 
 nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abra- 
 ham, and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. In- 
 
134 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 stead of appearing in that royal character which the car 
 nal Jews expected, as a visible conqueror of their poli 
 tical foes v he was made lower than men, and counted as 
 no man ! And though men of the lowest stations have 
 generally the fewest troubles, his case was the reverse, 
 the reverse both of the grandeur of princes and of the 
 tranquillity of the vulgar. Pre-eminence in the multi- 
 tude and weight of sorrows was his only distinction. 
 Yet a man of low condition, though overwhelmed with 
 troubles, may possess a high reputation, at least one 
 untainted j but Jesus descended below this, and sub- 
 mitted even to bear the imputation of being an impostor 
 and a blasphemer. Nay, he stooped still lower, and not 
 only stood as a criminal at the bar of Pilate, but appeared 
 such, by imputation, before the Judge of the universe. 
 " And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all :" 
 whilst other condemned malefactors are charged only 
 with the crimes committed by themselves, and with but 
 a few of those, the Scripture represents this unparalleled 
 sufferer as oppressed with the crimes of multitudes, in 
 number like the sands on the sea-shore 5 a weight more 
 heavy and terrible to sustain than we are able to con- 
 ceive ! But this we know, that the curse of the law was 
 a weight sufficient to crush a world. We know that 
 they who first experienced it found it to be intolerable j 
 for when legions of angels, which excel in strength, 
 abused that strength against the law, it sunk them from 
 the highest heaven to the lowest misery of hell. 
 
 This weight Jesus undertook to bear for us ; he was 
 made sin (a sin-offering) and a curse for us. He inter- 
 posed his sacred body between the load of wrath from 
 above, and us the heirs of wrath below. Instead of that 
 high ineffable communion of love in which he dwelt 
 with his Father, he refused not to feel the exquisite 
 sorrow of being forsaken of him. Till that distress, ne- 
 ver had Jesus made a request for pity : he sought none 
 
FAITH IN CHRIST. 135 
 
 from Pilate ; when the sympathizing daughters of Jeru- 
 salem wept over him, he meekly advised them to re- 
 serve their compassion for themselves and their chil- 
 dren. But now at this hour, when it pleased the Lord 
 to bruise him, he, who was like a sheep dumb before 
 the shearers, is dumb no longer ; the Lamb of God, 
 when brought to this dreadful slaughter, must open his 
 mouth, and pity itself must cry for pity. It was the 
 blasphemous language of his murderers, " where is now 
 thy God 1" And behold, so exquisite are the pangs of 
 his distressed soul, that something like the same lan- 
 guage comes from his own mouth: he cries out, "My 
 God ! my God ! why hast thou forsaken me V 
 
 So particular is the Scripture testimony in describing 
 the humiliation and death of the Redeemer : and not 
 less explicit in ascertaining both the end for which he 
 humbled himself to the death of the cross, and the ever- 
 lasting benefits he thus secured to all his faithful fol- 
 lowers. Notwithstanding all the opposition he met, 
 both from the enemy of sinners and sinners themselves, 
 he obtained a perfect conquest, and died with this trans- 
 porting shout of victory in his mouth: " It is finished," 
 the work of man's redemption is completed ; the powers 
 of hell are vanquished, and God is well pleased. 
 
 Ponder then upon this marvellous transaction ; upon 
 this horrible torment and death, sustained, not by any 
 angelic or created being, but by Him in whom dwelt all 
 the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Consider the depth 
 of his abasement, and the extremity of his anguish ; all 
 submitted to with no other view than to make an atone- 
 ment for sin, and to purchase redemption, even the for- 
 giveness of sin, for all who should ever trust in his 
 name. Consider this fact, and then say, can even inven- 
 tion itself devise, or the most afflicted conscience desire 
 a more sure foundation to trust on for pardon and ac- 
 ceptance with God 1 What can the law demand of you, 
 
136 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 either as an exemption from suffering its penalty, or as 
 a title to eternal life, which this vicarious obedience 
 and sacrifice of God manifest in the flesh has not abun- 
 dantly provided in behalf of all true believers % 
 
 1 will suppose your sins in their malignancy and num- 
 ber to be enormous, and to cry with the loudest cry or 
 vengeance : still, if in anguish of spirit for them you 
 humbly trust to Jesus for remission, can they have such 
 weight, do you think, to condemn you, as the blood of 
 an incarnate God to take them away] Have your of- 
 fences dishonored God's law more than the obedience 
 and death of the Redeemer have magnified it 1 Or have 
 not those transgressions been fully expiated, for which 
 the Lawgiver himself was put to death 1 Though you 
 dare not risk your pardon on the vague notion of mere 
 mercy, now that youT understanding is enlightened and 
 your conscience faithful in its rebukes ; though you dare 
 not embrace the fashionable religion, which leaves such 
 awful things as the justice of the Most High and the 
 law of the Most Holy destitute of their due honor ; 
 though you can never trust to obedience and future 
 amendment as any atonement for past transgressions j 
 yet steadfastly fix your eyes on the matchless ransom 
 paid down by Jesus on the cross. See ! there the glory 
 of the holy God reconciled with the good of the hum- 
 bled criminal. See there the justice of God more aw- 
 ful than if mercy had been excluded, and mercy more 
 amiable than if justice had been dispensed with. See how 
 vengeance and forbearance there meet together ; ven- 
 geance on the person of the crucified Redeemer, and 
 forbearance for his sake to every believing penitent. 
 See there wrath and love kiss each other ; wrath to- 
 wards the divine substitute, love to the insolvent and 
 ruined sinner. By this contrivance every honor done 
 to the criminal is an honor done to the law, because he 
 receives it only through the obedience and satisfaction 
 
FAITH IN CHRIST. 137 
 
 paid to it by his surety j and the respect put upon the law 
 puts respect also upon the pardoned offender, because 
 of the divinity of Him who undertook to bear his curse. 
 
 Is not this ransom then a solid ground for peace to 
 the broken in heart 1 a transaction in which God holds 
 forth his only begotten Son, nailed' to a cross, " to be a 
 propitiation for sin through faith in his blood, that he 
 might be just, and yet the justifier of all them that be- 
 lieve in Jesus 1" Is it possible for the powers of dark- 
 ness to form a cloud through the gloom of which this 
 most glorious truth will not be able to dart light and 
 comfort 1 May our souls open to receive it ; it is a 
 beam from the face of the Redeemer to them that sit in 
 darkness and the shadow of death. 
 
 Still stronger will the ground for confidence in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ appear, when you take into view the 
 free and gracious manner in which you are invited to 
 become a partaker of the blessings of redemption. The 
 great generally sell even what they call their favors : 
 long services or powerful recommendations are their 
 inducements to confer dignity or bestow wealth. But 
 far otherwise, as our most impotent condition requires, 
 is the case with respect to forgiveness purchased by 
 the blood of Christ. No impossible or hard condition 
 is previously required on the sinner's part : no works 
 of righteousness are required to be first performed in 
 your own strength, and then pleaded as your recom- 
 mendation : no set of holy tempers, or stock of moral 
 virtue, to he first acquired. All this righteous practice 
 is to follow upon believing, and to be produced from 
 strength and grace received through constant applica- 
 tion to the Redeemer. The invitation runs in these most 
 encouraging terms: " Ho ! every one that thirsteth, come 
 ye to the waters, and he that hath no money ;" (no one 
 single qualification) — ?f yea, come, buy wine and milk 
 without money, and without price." Isaiah, 55 : 1. " The 
 
138 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 Son of man came to seek and to save that which was 
 lost," to purchase pardon for rebels and enemies to 
 God ; of consequence, the only requisite to partake of 
 his grace, is that you behold yourself that perishing 
 sinner that God saw you would be, when he delivered 
 up his Son for our offences ; and that you are glad to 
 lay hold on this hope set before you. And surely the 
 most fearful doubting mind cannot desire more encou- 
 ragement to believe : the most dejected conscience 
 cannot conceive a place of refuge more adapted to its 
 distressed condition : nor can even the worst of sin- 
 ners desire more gracious advances towards peace and 
 reconciliation. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 JF&ITH IJV CHRIST.— continued. 
 
 THE FOUNDATION OF DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST FOR PARDON 
 AND INSTRUCTION. 
 
 So important is it that man should place a full de- 
 pendence upon Christ for the pardon of his sins, that 
 God has been pleased to confirm the declaration of his 
 ability to save by an unusual degree of evidence. He 
 has displayed, as we have already seen, the divinity of 
 his person, the merit of his death as an atonement, and 
 the unbounded freeness of his invitation, in order to en- 
 courage man to put his trust in him. But besides these 
 there are still further evidences of his power and wil- 
 lingness to save. Let me refer you to the intercession 
 
FAITH m CHRIST. 139 
 
 of Jesus, who is become our great High-Priest : and to 
 the declarations of Scripture, that every one who de- 
 pends on him shall abundantly receive the blessings 
 which he needs. What a sure foundation for confidence 
 to the humble repenting sinner does the office of Jesus 
 as high-priest afford! "Every high-priest," says the 
 Scripture, " taken from among men, is ordained for 
 men ;' ; for their spiritual interest and advantage j all 
 his influence and power are to be employed in their be- 
 half. With a view to the benefit of man was the office 
 originally and entirely ordained of God. And the things 
 appointed for him to do prove this. He was to " offer 
 both gifts and sacrifices for sin :" sacrifices, to make an 
 atonement j and gifts, on account of which God might 
 vouchsafe to continue his forfeited favor. With the 
 same view the grand qualification, indispensably neces- 
 sary for the execution of this office, was a heart that 
 knew how to have compassion on the ignorant and on 
 them that are out of the way of duty and safety. 
 
 Now this office of high-priest, and all the functions 
 belonging to it, we are taught were only designed to 
 serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things : 
 in other words, to be an outward and visible way of in- 
 structing us in the nature of the office which the Lord 
 Jesus Christ sustains in the highest heaven for sinners, 
 and of the benefits they may expect from him. He is 
 made a high-priest of good things to come : he is en- 
 tered, not with the blood of goats and calves into the 
 holy place, which was the figure of the true, but into 
 heaven itself, there to appear in the presence of God 
 for us He is therefore under the strongest engage- 
 ments of office to mediate for all that shall come to 
 God by him. And lest we should imagine ourselves too 
 mean to engage his pity, particular mention is made, 
 that he is touched with a feeling of our infirmities: 
 having been in all points tempted like as we are, yet 
 
i40 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 without sin. Therefore, from an experimental know 
 ledge of the same difficulties and distresses we are 
 now enduring, he has that exquisite tenderness of sym- 
 pathy with us which would not otherwise have been 
 possible. What then can warrant an unshaken confi- 
 dence in the Lord Jesus Christ for pardon, if the know- 
 ledge of him as our great High-Priest fails to do it 1 Is 
 your heart broken for sin, your spirit wounded within 
 you 1 Parley not with your fears, listen not to the ac- 
 cuser j look unto Jesus, your propitiation, your inter- 
 cessor 5 as the wounded, tormented, dying Israelites 
 looked unto the brazen serpent. Look unto him for 
 healing and for life : look unto him who appears as 
 your advocate, ever living to make intercession for sin- 
 ners in your distressed condition. He must fail in the 
 engagements of his office, and do violence to that mercy 
 which constitutes his fitness for that office, before the 
 humble dependence of a penitent sinner on his blood 
 and intercession shall be disappointed. 
 
 If any thing more can be added to engage your con- 
 fidence in the Kedeemer for the remission of your sins, 
 when you are sorrowing for them, and to convince you 
 on what a strong foundation it is built, it must be the 
 solemn repeated declarations in the word of God, that 
 the sacrifice of his only-begotten Son is accepted in his 
 sight as a complete atonement for the sins of those who 
 believe on his name ; and that it shall be imputed to 
 them, in its incomparable efficacy, to save them from 
 deserved wrath. Declarations of this purport are (blessed 
 be God for his abounding grace !) many in number. It 
 will be sufficient to select a few of the most striking: ones, 
 relating to the vicarious death and sacrifice of Jesus. 
 
 Isaiah, in his most affecting detail of the Messiah's 
 sufferings, after having expressly affirmed that Jesus 
 suffered as a surety and substitute for us, " wounded for 
 our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquity ;" tha* 
 
FAITH IN CHRIST. 141 
 
 " it pleased the Lord to bruise him and put him to 
 grief," in order that by bearing the tremendous curse 
 in his own body, it might pass over the heads of be- 
 lievers : thus magnificently declares the efficacy of his 
 sacrifice : " He shall see of the travail of his soul, and 
 shall be satisfied : by his knowledge shall my righteous 
 servant justify many ; for he shall bear their iniquities :" 
 (Isaiah, 53;) that is, bear them as the scape-goat did, 
 carrying them away into the pathless inaccessible wil- 
 derness, so that they shall not be found when sought 
 for by the malicious tempter. 
 
 In another place we are informed by the angel Ga- 
 briel, commissioned to revive the heart of the greatly- 
 beloved Daniel ; that when Messiah the prince was " cut 
 off," in that oblation of himself on the cross, he accom- 
 plished a work suitable to his own infinite glory. He 
 "finished the transgression" by an expiation of it, and 
 by redeeming all who should believe in him from its 
 curse. " He made an end of sin," by delivering from 
 its detestable dominion all who should flee to him for 
 succor. M He made reconciliation for iniquity," by 
 bringing the faithful to possess peace with God, and by 
 replacing them in his forfeited favor. M He brought in 
 everlasting righteousness," a righteousness whose vir- 
 tue will continue to justify all that believe throughout 
 all ages ; and with which eternal life stands connected 
 by the promise of God. Daniel, 9 : 24-. 
 
 These glorious effects of the Redeemer's sacrifice 
 were perfectly known to the innumerable millions of 
 the heavenly host; therefore, so soon as Jesus appear • 
 ed in our flesh, they filled the air with their presence, 
 breaking forth into this congratulatory song of praise, 
 the same in import with Gabriel's message to the be- 
 loved Daniel, saying, " Glory to God in the highest, on 
 earth peace, good will towards men." 
 
 To the testimony of prophets and angels the imrae- 
 
142 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 diate voice of God from heaven must be joined : " This 
 is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." It is 
 he, who by his life and death magnifies my law, restores 
 my ruined creatures to life and happiness, and accom- 
 plishes a work of all others most pleasing in my sight. 
 
 The same strong attestations does the Redeemer him- 
 self give to the efficacy of his atoning death. " God so 
 loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son," 
 (gave him up to suffer on the cross,) *• that whosoever 
 believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting 
 life." In another discourse he declares, " He gave his 
 flesh for the life of the world :" and just before his de- 
 parture, that "He shed his blood for the remission of 
 the sins of many." 
 
 Consider and weigh well the force of all these testi- 
 monies, and you will be constrained to say that nothing 
 more could have been done to engage those who feel 
 the guilt and misery of their sins, to place their whole 
 dependence on Jesus Christ for pardon. It is not now 
 possible for a penitent sinner to make a single objec 
 tion which is not evidently answered. With equal pro- 
 priety and mercy, therefore, is this call addressed to 
 sinners of every denomination, who feel their misery 
 and are athirst for pardon. " Come unto me, all ye that 
 labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. It 
 was my body which bore your sins on the tree when I 
 suffered, the just for the unjust. It was my blood which 
 was shed by the sword of Justice when I stood in your 
 stead. It was I, who being the brightness of my Father's 
 glory, and the express image of his person, and up- 
 holding all things by the word of my power, purged 
 away your sins by the sacrifice of myself, and then sat 
 down as your Mediator on the right hand of the Majes- 
 ty on high. Believe, therefore, on me, and you shall re- 
 ceive remission of sins." 
 
 Remission of sins, however, though a blessing most 
 
FAITH IN CHRIST. 143 
 
 necessary to man, reaches but a part of his wants. As 
 Adam's first disobedience sprung from his impious de- 
 sire to be like God in knowledge, so the just punish- 
 ment of his sin was the extinction of all divine light in 
 his soul. Hence we, his fallen offspring, are born blind 
 to God and the things of God ; though the knowledge 
 of them is far preferable to life. Hence we are liable to 
 perpetual delusion and prejudice against the truth. 
 
 For our relief, therefore, in this case, we are com- 
 manded by God to depend on the Lord Jesus for in- 
 struction and spiritual knowledge. If you ask on what 
 ground you may build such dependence, and what there 
 is in Christ Jesus to assure you of success 1 the an- 
 swer which the divine record returns is fully satisfac- 
 tory. God proclaims in the Old Testament that he has 
 given his Son " for a light of the Gentiles ; — to open the 
 blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison." 
 Isa. 42 : 6, 7. By his prohet Malachi he gives him a 
 name most emphatically significant of his power to 
 communicate knowledge. He calls him K the Sun of 
 righteousness;" to assure us that as the sun in the fir- 
 mament dispenses its invigorating influence through all 
 parts of the earth, unveils the face of every object in 
 the visible creation, and discovers it in its true aspect ; 
 so the Redeemer, by his word and Spirit, disperses the 
 gross darkness of the human mind, makes divine truth 
 visible and intelligible, and strengthens our dim facul- 
 ties to behold the glory of the Lord and the excellency 
 of our God. The same representation of the office of 
 Jesus as a teacher is again repeated by Zacharias, when, 
 full of the Holy Ghost, he celebrates Christ's coming 
 into the world in the gracious character of an instructor 
 of those who were lying in gross darkness. He exalts 
 our opinions of Jesus as the Day-spring from on high, 
 who, through the tender mercy of our God, came M to 
 ive li<rht to them that sit in darkness and in the sha- 
 
144 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 dow of death ; and to guide our feet in the way of 
 peace." Luke, 1 : 79. 
 
 Attestations of the same truth are frequent in the 
 Scriptures. The beloved disciple who lay in Jesus' 
 bosom, expresses his ability to inform and teach us, by 
 calling him n The Word ;" by pointing him out as " The 
 true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the 
 world ;" in other words, as that matchless person from 
 whose word and Spirit proceeds all the divine know- 
 ledge which ever was or shall be found amongst the 
 children of men. To add confirmation to these testi- 
 monies, the Redeemer bears record of himself in ex- 
 pressions of the same kind, and of the strongest im- 
 port : " I, Jesus," says he, w am the bright and morning 
 star j" chasing the darkness of sin and error from the 
 mind as that star ushers in the brightness of the day, 
 Rev. 22 : 16. In a discourse with the Jews, who were 
 endeavoring to ensnare him by subtilty, Jesus said, 
 *! I am the light of the world : he that followeth me 
 shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of 
 life." John, 8 : 12. Is not this sufficient to assure us, 
 in the fullest manner, that Jesus came to direct sinners 
 in the way of salvation by his word and Spirit ; and that 
 in consequence of this his office, whoever depends for 
 teaching and guidance upon him, shall not continue in 
 ignorance and error ; but shall have the saving light of 
 truth surrounding his path, and making the way plain 
 before him, from earth to heaven, from peace to glory 1 
 
 To these testimonies I shall only add what St. Paul was 
 inspired to teach us upon the same subject. He declares 
 that Christ Jesus is made of God unto us, not only 
 " righteousness and sanctification," but M wisdom ;" be- 
 cause through him, as a teacher sent from God, we may 
 know all things necessary for our pardon, comfort and 
 salvation. 1 Cor. 1 : 30. In another place that divine il- 
 lumination which the church receives from Christ Jesus 
 

 FAITH IN CHRIST. 145 
 
 the Lord, and the clear discoveries of God's glorious 
 being and perfection, are thus emphatically expressed : 
 " God, who commanded the light to shine out of dark- 
 ness, hath shined into our hearts, to give the light of 
 the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus 
 Christ." 2 Cor. 4:6. " In Christ," he saith again, as 
 proposed and manifested to us in the Gospel, " are hid 
 all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge ;" in him 
 they are covered under the veil of his humanity and 
 deep humiliation. Observe the fulness of the expres- 
 sion ; the apostle does not say treasure, in the singular 
 number, though this must have implied both the excel- 
 lency and abundance of that knowledge, but " treasures." 
 He doth not say many treasures, though this would 
 have greatly enlarged our conceptions : but he saith, 
 " in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and 
 knowledge :" nothing pertaining to spiritual life and 
 godliness can be imagined, nothing in the least degree 
 profitable for a poor, weak, helpless, sinful creature to 
 know, which is not to be found in Christ Jesus as an 
 inexhaustible magazine which the bounty of the God 
 of glory has provided for the supply of our necessities. 
 Col. 2:3. 
 
 Nor can it be thought that any or all of these Scrip- 
 tures ascribe too much to the teaching of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, when it is considered that the very end of 
 his appearance was to manifest the name of God, and 
 to give a complete revelation of his will and designs 
 concerning us. Jesus not only spake the words of puro 
 truth and righteousness, as the prophets before him, but 
 with an infinite superiority to them all, exhibited a per- 
 fect model in his own example, both of faith and prac 
 tice. And whilst other deceased prophets retain no in- 
 fluence to impress their words, this prophet of the world 
 declares, " I will send unto you another Comforter, 
 even the Spirit of truth ; — he phall lead you into all 
 
 Duty of Man. • 
 
14)6 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 truth. It is written, all his children shall be taught of 
 God." 
 
 Do you, therefore, painfully feel your ignorance in 
 the things of God 1 Do you bewail the dulness of your 
 mte lectual faculties to apprehend spiritual objects % 
 Are you grieved to find so much weariness in fixing 
 youi attention upon the Bible, when you behold that in- 
 valuable book] Behold your relief and remedy! See 
 with joy what a foundation there is for your depend- 
 ence on Jesus Christ to be taught all you need to under- 
 stand. When you hear this representation of his cha- 
 racter, that he left the bosom of his Father to declare 
 him unto us ; when you hear that for this purpose he 
 has not only given to his church his written word to 
 point out the way of life ; but has also promised to 
 give it efficacy by the power of the Holy Ghost, can 
 you wish for more] Are you grieved that you know 
 God no better, are you athirst for instruction in righ- 
 teousness ] What can induce you to make application 
 to the Lord Jesus Christ, if this encouragement from 
 St. John fails ] " We know," says he, " that the Son 
 of God is come, and hath given us an understanding 
 that we may know him that is true." 1 John, 5 : 20. He 
 has given us not only that intellectual faculty which dis 
 tinguishes us from the animal world, for this was evei 
 common to all men ; he has given us not only the ex- 
 ternal revelation which false pretenders to the faith 
 have as well as ourselves; but he has given us the 
 Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of 
 God : a gift confined to those alone who depend upon 
 Jesus as the truth and the life. Are you then crying 
 out in that humble manner which your necessitous con- 
 dition requires : r ! that God would show me the se- 
 crets of wisdom: what I know not, teach thou me.' 
 Yon see on whom your help is laid : you see in this 
 case your application to Christ must be daily and per- 
 
FAITH IN CHRIST. 147 
 
 severing. It is he only who can say, w Counsel is mine, 
 and sound wisdom ; I am understanding, I have strength." 
 When blind Bartimeus cried, Jesus, thou Son of David, 
 have mercy on me, that I may receive my sight ;" they 
 that stood by said, "Be of good comfort, rise; he call- 
 eth thee." Mark, 10 : 49. The same compassionate call is 
 addressed to you from Jesus enthroned in glory. "I 
 counsel thee," says he to every one in whose mind 
 darkness and ignorance prevail, "to anoint thine eyes 
 with eye-salve," that is, to apply to my word and Spirit, 
 " that thou mayest see j" that thy understanding may 
 be enlightened, that thou mayst be filled with the know- 
 ledge of God, and have a right judgment in all things 
 Further : As you stand in need of wisdom and teach- 
 ing, that you may know the truth of God, so you in the 
 same degree want light to discover and baffle the de- 
 vices of the devil. To whom then should you go to 
 obtain such light but unto Jesus, before whom we are 
 assured all things are open and naked, even the deepest 
 counsels of the destroyer, and all his snares of cruelty 1 
 Jesus knows how, with equal ease and certainty, to con- 
 found his numberless contrivances, and infatuate even 
 the spirit of all subtilty and malice. For this reason the 
 very first name given to the Redeemer was this ; The 
 Bruiser of the serpent's head. He is the glorious De- 
 liverer, who came to ruin his schemes, and disappoint 
 his contrivances to hurt and destroy the faithful. Hence 
 it must follow that Jesus knows how to deliver the 
 godly out of every temptation, and to preserve them 
 unto his own kingdom. Who then, if not this all-suffi- 
 cient Person, is worthy to be relied on with unshaken 
 confidence by the children of ignorance and blindness. 
 
*4«8 COMPLETE Dim dF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 FJLITH JJT CliniST.-coHtinucd. 
 
 lliE POUND ATION OF DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST FOR VICTORY 
 OVER SIN. 
 
 We have considered the fulness of help which is laid 
 up in Christ for man, as subject to the curse of the law 
 and blindness of understanding ; but a further exertion 
 of divine power is absolutely necessary to make him 
 partaker of complete salvation. Man is naturally a slave 
 to earthly, sensual and devilish tempers. Covetousness 
 or lewdness, envy or pride, command in his heart as on 
 their throne. When indeed their dominion is manifest- 
 ed by shame, loss, or inward vexation of mind, their 
 natural and necessary effects, he wishes himself free : 
 he determines, confident of his own strength, no more 
 to be overcome. But behold ! the very next temptation 
 adapted to stir up the evil which is in him, as easily 
 prevails as did the former ; so that soon disheartened 
 by such repeated foils, and ashamed to confess his own 
 vileness, he gives up the all-important contest, and be- 
 gins to palliate that ignominious slavery, from which 
 he knows not how to be delivered. 
 
 Now observation concurs with Scripture to prove 
 that superiority of wit, or an extraordinary share of 
 natural abilities, though even improved by the advan- 
 tages of polite education, do not enable men to stand 
 before the power of their corrupted nature any more 
 than savage ignorance : they can only gild those 
 shackles which they cannot burst asunder, and slightly 
 
FAITH IN CHRIST. 149 
 
 conceal from the strangers superficial eye what still 
 defiles and galls the inner man. 
 
 This spiritual bondage must always become exceed- 
 ingly grievous to endure, wherever there is a right 
 judgment of God and the nature of sin. Then will there 
 be an earnest desire to obtain deliverance at the hands 
 of one " Mighty to save " from such tyrannical oppres- 
 sion. For this deliverance God commands us to depend 
 on the Lord Jesus Christ. And to engage our utmost 
 confidence, such a full display of his power is laid be- 
 fore, us, as makes the suspicion of miscarriage to the 
 last degree unreasonable. The ancient prophets, de 
 daring the extent and irresistible force of his govern 
 ment, call him, " The Lord of hosts, the Lord mighty 
 in battle ; whose throne is heaven, and whose footstool 
 is earth j who has the light for his garment, the clouds 
 for his chariot, the thunder for his voice, and all the 
 legions of angels for his servants." 
 
 And lest the humiliation of the Redeemer should di- 
 minish our conceptions of his power to save, the glory 
 he manifested in the days of his flesh is most particularly 
 related. Innumerable multitudes of the wretched and 
 diseased crowded round his divine person, and instant- 
 ly by him they were made whole. The dumb, the deaf, 
 the lame, the blind, the dead, were all restored by his 
 divine power to the blessing of life, or to the enjoyment 
 of all their faculties. His authority over the whole crea- 
 tion is marked in the strongest colors. For though the 
 winds and storms are mighty, yet Jesus, in his low es- 
 tate, only rebuked them, and they were hushed in silence. 
 The waves of the sea raged horribly, yet at his word they 
 sank into a perfect calm. Death and the grave, though 
 inexorable to, and invincible by mortals, were not able 
 for a moment to detain their prey when Jesus only 
 spake, M Lazarus, come forth." The powers of dark- 
 ness, and the strength of hell, — though mightier far 
 
150 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 than diseases, storms or death, — crouch before him, 
 and entreat his favor, as their irresistible, though of- 
 fended, Lord and Sovereign. 
 
 For the greater encouragement of our faith and hope 
 in Jesus, as a complete deliverer, through his Spirit, 
 from the tyranny of our sinful tempers, think of the 
 illustrations of his saving power that Jesus exhibited 
 when on earth. Publicans, accounted the worst of men, 
 and harlots, the worst of women ; these he delivered 
 from the captivity of their lusts : and by these instances 
 proclaimed that none can be so enslaved by sin, but he 
 can make them free indeed. And to demonstrate this 
 most transporting truth, which he preached with his 
 own mouth, and confirmed by numerous instances dur- 
 ing his ministry ; at the very hour of his death he still 
 more gloriously displayed the same almighty power, to 
 destroy the dominion of sin in one of the most hopeless 
 instances of its strength. Behold Jesus hanging on the 
 cross ; his visage lacerated and mangled, his body co- 
 vered with marks of scorn, swelled with strokes of vio- 
 lence, bedewed from head to foot with bloody gore ; be- 
 hold him even in this condition exert the most astonish- 
 ing act of power we or angels can conceive ; hear him 
 say to the thief, — who made his prayer to him, and 
 placed his whole dependence upon him, — hear him say, 
 " This day shalt thou be with me in paradise ;" " I will 
 carry thee up with me into heaven, as a trophy of my 
 victory over Satan, and will show thee there as part of 
 the spoils that shall adorn my triumphs over hell." He 
 snatches this abandoned sinner from the brink of de- 
 struction, as an earnest of the full recovery of all who 
 should ever trust in him ; saves one that seemed not 
 only void of grace, but beyond its power ; and sanctifies 
 that heart in an instant, which had probably been for a 
 long course wallowing in sin. 
 
 In all these victories we may conceive the Redeemer 
 
FAITH IjN t CHRIST. 151 
 
 to have acted with this double view ; that he might fully 
 establish his title to the character of the Messiah, as 
 described in the Old Testament ; and that he might lay 
 at the same time a sure foundation for his church to 
 trust on the might of his holy arm, to the end of the 
 world. 
 
 If it is said the Redeemer's death and buria. in the 
 grave indicate his weakness ; it is answered, that Jesus 
 entered the grave not merely as a subject, but as an in- 
 vader and conqueror. He stripped the king of terrors 
 of his dominion, and rising on the third day, triumphed 
 openly as n The resurrection and the life ; — in whom 
 whosoever believeth shall never die." The language of 
 his resurrection was full of power j it confirmed the 
 words of the prophet, M Thy dead men shall live, to- 
 gether with my dead body shall they arise. — Awake, 
 and sing, ye that dwell in dust : for thy dew is as the 
 dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." 
 Isaiah, 26 : 19. 
 
 But if these acts demonstrate the power t>f Jesus, and 
 present him before our eyes as an object every way 
 able to answer the dependence which we place on him 
 for deliverance from the power of sin ; how much more 
 is the ground of this dependence strengthened by the 
 declarations, both in the Old and New Testament, of his 
 sufficiency for this work ! Hear how every doubt is ob- 
 viated, and all despondency graciously reproved : " Say 
 to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not : 
 behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God 
 with a recompense ; he will come, and save you." Isaiah, 
 35 : 4. " Behold, the Lord God will come with a strong 
 hand, and his arm shall rule for him : behold, his re- 
 ward is with him, ind his work before him. He shall 
 feed his flock like a shepherd : he shall gather the lambs 
 with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall 
 gently lead those that are with young." Isaiah, 40 : 10, 
 
152 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 11. M He shall bring forth judgment unto truth," that 
 is, shall make all his dependents finally to triumph ovei 
 sin and Satan. " I have given him," saith God the Fa- 
 ther, " for a leader and commander to the people j" " to 
 preach deliverance to the captives." By the prophet 
 Malachi we are assured, " He shall sit as a refiner and 
 purifier of silver j — and purge them," that is, his faithful 
 people, " as gold and silver, that they may offer unto 
 the Lord an offering in righteousness." Mai. 3 : 3. St. 
 Peter confirms these glorious declarations by proclaim- 
 ing to all the Jews, enslaved and abandoned to the prac- 
 tice of wickedness as they were, that God having raised 
 up his Son Jesus, had sent him to bless them, by turn- 
 ing every one of them from their iniquities. 
 
 St. Paul teaches us, that the Lord Jesus Christ, in hi& 
 character and capacity of Mediator, is invested with ab- 
 solute dominion ; that he reigns as a rightful conqueror 
 over all his enemies : that he is a horn of salvation to 
 those that trust in his name : that he sits on a throne of 
 glory till all opposition to his people and himself cease, 
 and is utterly destroyed. For in this most encouraging 
 light the exceeding greatness of his power to save is re- 
 presented, when it is said, God hath "raised him from 
 the dead, and set him at his own right hand in heavenly 
 places, far above all principality, and power, and might, 
 and dominion, and every name that is named, not only 
 in this world, but in that which is to come ; and hath 
 put all things under his feet, and given him to be the 
 head over all things to the church, which is his body, 
 the fulness of him that filleth all in all." Eph. 1 : 20-23. 
 
 Magnify then as you please, the number and strength 
 of temptations, the weakness of human nature, the pow- 
 er of confirmed ill habits, and the efforts of Satan ; still 
 what are all these, even though united, before Him 
 " who gave himself to redeem us from all iniquity, and 
 to purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good 
 
FAITH IN CHRIST. 153 
 
 works]" What, before him whose kingly office it is to 
 turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Sa- 
 tan unto God, and whose infinite bounty enriches the 
 fallen soul with that holiness which makes it meet for 
 heaven] Who, or what, are these spiritual tyrants, 
 avarice or uncleanness, envy or malice, deceit or un 
 belief — by whom strengthened, and by whom abetted — 
 that they should defy Him, who hath all power in heaven 
 and earth to save from sin ] — Him, out of whose over- 
 flowing fulness all the angels in heaven, and all the 
 saints whilst on earth, receive their sanctification, and 
 the spotless purity they will share with him through all 
 eternity ! If one person, relying with humility and per- 
 severance on the power of Jesus, should perish, unsuc- 
 cored, and in his sins ; how would the promises of 
 God concerning the kingly offices of his Son be true ] 
 How could Jesus answer the character given of him in 
 the record of God ] One of these alternatives must 
 therefore be maintained : either that the character and 
 office of Jesus are misrepresented in the Scriptures ; or 
 else, that whoever puts his trust in his power to save, 
 shall have the victory over sirt. The stubbornness of his 
 will shall be brought to yield, his evil tempers shall be 
 subdued, and he shall be preserved blameless in spirit, 
 soul and body. 
 
 What has been said is sufficient to prove, that we 
 have all possible encouragement to trust in Jesus the 
 Kedeemer for wisdom, righteousness and strength. The 
 only knowledge concerning his character which is far- 
 ther necessary, is of his mercy towards sinners : now, 
 as is his majesty, so is his mercy ; and he is as ready 
 as he is able to save to the uttermost all that come to 
 God by him. On this head what stronger testimonies 
 can the most jealous suspicion desire, than he has given 
 to us 1 
 
 What means his deep humiliation] his pleadings 
 7* 
 
154« COMFLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 with careless and obstinate sinners by day, and his 
 midnight importunities with his heavenly Father for 
 them ? What mean his kind invitations : " Ho ! every 
 one that thirsteth, let him come unto me and drink : — 
 whoever cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out!" 
 What can be the design of these tender expressions, 
 but to assure us of his willingness to receive with mer- 
 cy those sinners, whatever they might have been in 
 time past, who commit their souls unto him 1 What was 
 it, tell me, if it was not fervent love, that made him so 
 long endure a condition in all respects so amazingly 
 opposite to his original glory 1 — Instead of hallelujahs 
 from the sweet tongues of angels, to hear the blasphe- 
 mous revilings of men cast on himself and all his ac- 
 tions : instead of the perfection of joy, to endure such 
 sufferings that his heart in the midst of his body was 
 even " like melting wax," — through the intenseness of 
 the anguish that was upon him: instead of adoration 
 from myriads of ministering spirits, to bear mockery 
 and buffetings, the bloody scourge on his back, and on 
 his face the nauseous spittle : instead of sitting on the 
 throne high and lifted urf, with the whole host of hea- 
 ven worshipping him, saying, ft Holy, holy, holy is the 
 Lord of hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory j" 
 to hang upon a cross between two thieves, in the midst 
 of insulting shouts and the frowns of eternal justice ! 
 
 O ! come hither, behold and see if there was ever 
 love like this ! Come and hear the voice which he ut- 
 tered in the height of all his sufferings for his mur- 
 derers ; H Father, forgive them, for they know not what 
 they do." Hear, and if you can, doubt ; if it be possible, 
 question his willingness to save those who depend upon 
 him ; his willingness, who prayed even for his bitterest 
 enemies. 
 
 In the last place, we may as firmly confide in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ for eternal salvation, as for present 
 
 
FAITH IN CHRIST. 155 
 
 pardon, wisdom, righteousness and strength. His do- 
 minion equally extends over the world in which we 
 dwell, and over that into which we shall enter after 
 death : " Fear not," he says, " I am the first and the 
 last, I am he that liveth and was dead ; and behold, I am 
 alive for evermore, Amen ; and have the keys of hell and 
 of death," or the grave. It is he who hath overcome 
 him who had the power of death, that is the devil ; and 
 has made his triumphant entry before all, and for all 
 who depend upon him ; it is he who bids us trust in 
 him, and not be afraid. Hear with what affection and 
 endearment he comforts his apostles and all who should 
 ever possess like precious faith with them in his name j 
 w I go to prepare a place for you j and if I go and pre- 
 pare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you 
 unto myself 5 that where I am, there ye may be also." 
 And in his prayer for the salvation of all who should 
 believe in him, he saith, t1 Father, I will that they also, 
 whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am ; that 
 they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me." 
 With what well-grounded comfort then, and with 
 what abounding hope are you warranted to trust in the 
 Redeemer, both in life and in death ! And after havino- 
 exercised continual faith in him, as a Savior from the 
 guilt, defilement and strength of sin, from ignorance, 
 and from all the enemies of your soul; how reasonably 
 at the end of life may you copy the pattern of the 
 first martyr to the christian truth, and beholding by 
 faith the object that was manifested to him, without 
 a veil, say with your expiring breath, "Lord Jesus, 
 receive my spirit." 
 
156 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 THE HOJLJT SJRIUIT. 
 
 HIS- DIVINITY. 
 
 The work of man's salvation is represented in Scrip- 
 ture as engaging the joint agency of the Father, the 
 Son, and the Spirit. God the Father in infinite wisdom 
 planned this amazing scheme, and provided himself a 
 lamb for a burnt-offering, a sacrifice to purge away sin. 
 God the Son executed in his own person this plan, by 
 submitting to be delivered for our offences, by rising 
 again for our justification, and by interceding for us in 
 heaven. God the Holy Ghost procures an effectual: re- 
 ception of this scheme of salvation, and sanctifies the 
 soul for the everlasting happiness in which that salva- 
 tion finally issues. 
 
 Each of these persons who thus co-operate in man's 
 salvation, must of necessity be really God, because no 
 inferior being could execute any part of this grand 
 scheme pertaining to the soul. Who, for instance, be- 
 sides the supreme Lawgiver himself, could admit an in- 
 nocent substitute to become surety for a criminal, and 
 bear his curse ] or who, beneath the dignity of God, 
 could have merit sufficient, by suffering, to atone for 
 offences against the Majesty of heaven and earth 1 or 
 to whom, besides God, doth the power, greater than 
 that of creation, belong, of triumphing over our rebel- 
 lious wills, and bringing them into captivity to the obe 
 dience of Christ 1 
 
 Now if the holy Scripture be full and clear in certify 
 ing the influence and interposition of each person in 
 
DIVINITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 157 
 
 the blessed Trinity in the work of man's salvation, it 
 must of necessity be the duty of a christian to pay due 
 attention to it, and to endeavor by devout meditation to 
 impress upon his mind what God has revealed on this 
 subject : revealed, not at all to teach us how the Father, 
 Son and Spirit are three persons in one eternal God- 
 head, (for this it never attempts,) but to inform us of 
 our obligations to the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Ghost j and to teach us to live in such an entire confi- 
 dence in the mercy of God, and such devotedness to 
 his service, as the knowledge of this most sublime and 
 mysterious truth is designed to produce. 
 
 The Scripture character of God the Father has been 
 already considered at large \ and also that of God the 
 Son, as he is proposed to us in his mediatorial office : 
 it shall be our business, therefore, now to lay before 
 you in one view what the Scripture teaches of the na- 
 ture, -person and office of the Holy Ghost. And may he 
 himself, who is the Spirit of truth, give us to understand 
 the things which belong to his glory ! 
 
 First, with respect to the nature of the Holy Spirit, 
 that he is God, the same in essence with the Father and 
 the Son, is proved from Scripture in this plain and con- 
 vincing manner. All the perfections of the Godhead are 
 ascribed to him. Now by what is the distinct essence 
 of any being determined but by its properties % Thus 
 he who possesses the properties peculiar to a man, is 
 on that very account esteemed one : by consequence, 
 he who possesses the perfections peculiar to God, must 
 on that account be worshipped as God. 
 
 The Scripture, then, declares the Holy Ghost to be a 
 holy, eternal, infinite, almighty being. Holy, for in re- 
 ference to his peculiar office of imparting holiness, and 
 in exclusion of all creatures, he is called " the Holy 
 Spirit." Eph. 4 : 30. Eternal, that is, existing before all 
 ages, no less than in them all ; thus the blood of Jesus, 
 
158 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 we are told, was offered under his influence, by the name 
 of " the Eternal Spirit." A title this, which is never 
 ascribed to any but God himself: for though angels 
 have existed so many ages before our world, and will 
 never cease to be, yet we no where read of an eternal 
 angel. Infinite, for " he searcheth all things, yea, the 
 deep things of God." 1 Cor. 2 : 10. Almighty, because 
 at the creation of the world the Spirit, we are assured, 
 moved upon the waters ; by his operation and influence 
 on the chaos he formed it into order and beauty ; and 
 from his energy the world is, as it were, created anew 
 day by day: "Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are 
 created : and thou renewest the face of the earth " 
 Psalm 104 : 30. 
 
 In the dispensation of grace also the almighty power 
 of the Holy Ghost is no less conspicuous than in the 
 natural world. The humanity of the Lord Jesus was 
 formed by his overshadowing with his influence the 
 blessed Virgin. By him Jesus was sent to preach the 
 Gospel and discharge his ministry : by him carried into 
 the wilderness ; and anointed with the oil of gladness 
 above all kings and priests that had been, or ever should 
 be. In a word, in all that Jesus did on earth as our 
 Mediator, he was both appointed and supported, we are 
 expressly taught, by the Holy Ghost. And can you re- 
 quire a more complete proof than this of the Godhead 
 of the Holy Ghost 1 Jesus, as Mediator, had a name 
 given him which is above every name j to such a high 
 degree above every other name, that all in earth and 
 heaven must bow their knee before him ; and yet, con~ 
 sidered as Mediator, he is still inferior to the Holy Spi- 
 rit, because he was consecrated and enabled by him to 
 discharge that very office. But since nothing in earth 
 or in heaven is in dignity above the Mediator, but God 
 alone, it plainly follows that the Holy Spirit must be 
 God, of one and the same essence with the Father, as 
 
DIVINITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 159 
 
 tne Scripture teaches, and as the christian church has 
 ever believed. 
 
 The Holy Ghost performs works proper to God : of 
 this nature is the renovation and sanctification of the 
 soul. Even the conversion of those most abandoned 
 sinners at Corinth, in the time of St. Paul, is ascribed 
 to this divine agent : " Such were some of you : but ye 
 are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in 
 the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our 
 God." 1 Cor. 6:11. 
 
 It was the Holy Ghost who endued the apostles with 
 their miraculous powers, laid the foundation of the 
 Christian church, and published its laws. He separated 
 Paul and Barnabas, and appointed their mission to this 
 rather than to that place, which is the prerogative of 
 the supreme Director. A dispensation of such infinite 
 moment belongs properly to God ; and, of all others, is 
 apparently the least communicable to a creature. And 
 in the consummation of all things the Spirit will work 
 a work altogether divine, the master-piece of all he has 
 done. It will be a full demonstration of such power as 
 can belong to none but God. He will bring back the 
 bodies of the faithful from the dust, and clothe them 
 with glory and immortality: for, " if the Spirit of him 
 that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that 
 raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your 
 mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." 
 Rom. 8: 11. 
 
 Secondly. The Holy Spirit must be the same in essence 
 with the Father and the Son, because the honor and 
 worship due only to the true God, are given to him. 
 This worship and glory, of which God declares himself 
 to be jealous, and which he will not give to another, 
 consists in swearing by him ; and in making appeals to 
 him touching the sincerity of what we affirm ; accord- 
 ing to that command which God has himself given in 
 
160 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 this matter, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, 
 and swear by his name." It consists also in making 
 him the only object of our faith, hope, and obedience : 
 for, '- Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that 
 trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm." Jer. 17 : 5. 
 God only is to be regarded as the fountain of benedic- 
 tion and grace j he alone is to be implored for the con- 
 tinuance of both j he is to be supremely obeyed as the 
 only one whom we must fear to offend. The principal 
 end of divine worship is thus to ascribe unto God the 
 honor due unto his name. But we meet with instances 
 in holy Scripture where all these particular acts of su- 
 preme adoration are paid to the Holy Ghost. Thus St. 
 Paul swears by him, and appeals to him as a witness 
 of the sincerity of his goocl will towards his brethren 
 the Jews ; " I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my con- 
 science also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost." 
 Thus the Spirit is proposed as the object of our faith, 
 hope, and obedience, equally with the Father and the 
 Son. When we are baptized into each of their names, 
 we entirely surrender ourselves in faith and obedience 
 to this sacred Trinity. He is implored also, together 
 with the Father and the Son, as the fountain and author 
 of all the blessings and graces of the Gospel. The 
 church of Christ, from the beginning, has ever conclud- 
 ed her public and solemn worship of God with this 
 prayer : " The grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of 
 God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with you 
 all" We are commanded to dread offending him; we 
 are assured that whoever blasphemes his honor is ac- 
 counted guilty of a crime of the deepest dye : " All 
 manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto 
 men : but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall 
 not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a 
 word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him j 
 but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall 
 
DIVINITY OF THE HOLY SPIEIT. 161 
 
 not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in 
 the world to come." Matt. 12 ; 31, 32. 
 
 Thirdly. The same infinite glory which is ascribed to 
 God, and the same self-abasement of men and angels 
 which is exercised under a sense of his immediate pre- 
 sence, are ascribed also to the Holy Ghost, and exer- 
 cised before his adorable presence ; and therefore he 
 must be God. Can you find any description of the 
 glory of God more grand and striking than the vision 
 of Isaiah, related in the sixth chapter 1 The prophet 
 V saw the Lord," we are told, " sitting upon a throne, 
 high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 
 Above it stood the seraphim : each one had six wings j 
 and with twain he covered his face, with twain he 
 covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one 
 cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the 
 Lord of hosts ; the whole earth is full of his glory. 
 Then said I, Wo is me ! for I am undone ; because I 
 am a man of unclean lips." To prove that the angels 
 were paying adoration to the Trinity in unity, I shall 
 not insist upon the repetition of the epithet "Holy" 
 three times ; because it sufficiently appears from com- 
 paring this Scripture with the inspired declarations 
 of the apostles. As to God the Father, none dispute 
 that the worship might be justly addressed to him. 
 With respect to the Son, our Lord directly avows 
 that Isaiah spoke these things when he saw his glory. 
 John, 12 : 41. That the Spirit was comprehended in 
 this object of the adoration of heaven, is evident 
 from hence, that the Lord of Hosts, who at this very 
 time spoke to the prophet, is expressly declared by St. 
 Paul, Acts, 28 : 25, to have been the Holy Spirit him- 
 self : V Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet 
 unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people and say, 
 Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand," &c. 
 
 Fourthly. The Spirit is exalted above the rank of orea- 
 
162 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 tures; he must therefore be God, since there is no mid- 
 dle state betwixt the Creator and the creature. That he 
 is exalted above the rank of creatures is evident, be- 
 cause he is never spoken of, or represented, as a wor- 
 shipper of God. The relation of all creatures to God, 
 and their dependence upon him, are necessary obliga- 
 tions, binding them to do him homage. And the more 
 excellent their endowments are, and the higher their 
 obligations rise, the more prompt and active will they 
 be in ascribing to God the honor due unto him. Ac- 
 cordingly the Scripture frequently represents the whole 
 creation by a figure, — and angels and men, in a proper 
 sense, — as employed in ceaseless praises and adoration 
 of God. But whence comes it, if the Spirit also is a 
 creature, that no mention is made of him by the sacred 
 writers as a worshipper of God] Is it not strange, in- 
 deed, that these inspired men should have forgotten 
 that Spirit, which, if he is a creature, should have led 
 this concert of praise, and been the principal person in 
 it % Was it not highly needful to make mention of Him, 
 in order to prevent error and idolatrous worship 1 The 
 total silence therefore of the oracles of God in this im- 
 portant matter, is a strong evidence that the prophets, 
 the apostles, and Jesus Christ, considered not the Holy 
 Ghost as a creature, but as God, with the Father and 
 the Son. 
 
 Fifthly. Lest it should be said that the Spirit is no 
 more than a quality in God, which cannot subsist, or be 
 distinguished as a person in the Godhead, he has a name 
 given to him, significant at once both of his essence 
 and energy. The term Holy Spirit implies both that his 
 essence is spiritual, and also that in the dispensation of 
 grace it is his energy which produces holiness in the 
 soul. Now as the spirit within a man, by which he ob- 
 serves his own thoughts, is not a quality, but something 
 teaHy distinct from his body and from his thoughts : so 
 
DIVINITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 163 
 
 this Spirit, which knows the thoughts of God, which 
 even *? searches the deep things of God," must be a 
 person distinct from the Father, who is thus known 
 by him. 
 
 He has also personal actions ascribed to him ; " He 
 bhall not speak of himself, but what he has heard that 
 shall he speak;" He rejoices and is grieved; he ap- 
 proves and condemns ; He convinces the world of sin, 
 righteousness and judgment. And when Peter was still 
 doubtful of ihe import of the heavenly vision which he 
 had seen, " The Spirit said unto him, Behold, three 
 men seek thee." Acts, 10 : 19. But all these must pass 
 for expressions without any signification, unless they 
 are allowed to mark out the distinct personality of the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 Thus it appears from this summary view of the Scrip- 
 ture evidence, that the Holy Ghost is possessed of the 
 essential attributes of God ; that he performs the works 
 proper to God; that he receives the honor due unto 
 God alone ; that he stands exalted above the rank of 
 creatures. Shall it then be said, after all this proof, 
 that he is not by nature God with the Father and the 
 Sonl By no means. These Scripture evidences, con- 
 sidered each apart, forcibly display the glory and God- 
 head of the Holy Ghost ; and, united together, admit of 
 no reply but such cavils as pride and infidelity are never 
 at a loss to make against the plainest truths.' They are 
 fully sufficient to confirm our faith in the article of the 
 glory and Godhead of the Holy Ghost. And as to those 
 who will contradict and blaspheme on account of the 
 difficulties which occur in explaining this subject, it 
 must be observed, that all the peculiar doctrines of re- 
 velation, as well as this, become to such, matter of dis- 
 pute first, and then are rejected because incomprehen- 
 sible ; till at length God's blessed system of truth, which 
 none of the wise men of this world knew, is reduced to 
 
164 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 nothing more than those maxims of morality which the 
 philosophers of old delivered without the help of reve- 
 lation $ and which the deists now oppose to it, as a suf- 
 ficient guide to duty and happiness. But whether this 
 be rationally to interpret Scripture, or covertly to re- 
 nounce all subjection to the book of God, judge ye. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 THE MOLY SJRIJRIT.— continued. 
 
 HIS OFFICE. 
 
 It is not enough that our judgment should be fully 
 informed concerning the personal glory and divinity of 
 the Holy Ghost : a christian must also know to what 
 great purposes that infinite, almighty, eternal Spirit, 
 exercises his office in the church of Christ, and in what 
 way his influences are exerted. For unless we have a 
 clear and distinct knowledge of this, we can never as- 
 cribe to the Holy Ghost the glory of his own work in 
 our souls *on the one hand ; nor, on the other, be se- 
 cured from dangerous delusion, and from mistaking 
 some creature of a brain-sick imagination for the work 
 of the Spirit of God. Both these evils will be happily 
 prevented by keeping close to our infallible guide, the 
 Scripture ; which is not more full in declaring the di- 
 vinity of the Holy Ghost, than in determining precisely 
 the nature and the effects of his inestimable influence 
 
 To him, we are taught, is intrusted the arduous work 
 of managing the cause of God and Christ against a sin 
 
OFFICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 165 
 
 ful world, and of making it triumphant over all opposi- 
 tion, in that measure which seems best to unerring wis- 
 dom. By the secret, yet mighty energy of the Holy 
 Ghost, the foundation of the christian religion is laid 
 in the soul of the believer j by him maintained, and at 
 length completed. The foundation of the christian reli- 
 gion, as the term imports, is a knowledge of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and a sincere love to his person. Till this 
 knowledge and this love possess your soul, though you 
 may do many things which are commanded by God, and 
 seem by profession a christian, you still want the root 
 of all acceptable obedience in your heart ; according to 
 that express declaration from Christ, " If any man serve 
 me, him will my Father honor," John, 12 : 26, which 
 intimates that he will honor no one beside. But if you 
 consider the account given in Scripture of the condition 
 the world was in when the name of Jesus was first 
 preached in it, or of the natural blindness of man in all 
 ages to the truths of God, you will acknowledge that 
 wherever the glory of Jesus is worthily apprehended and 
 effectually imprinted, it must be owing to the interpo- 
 si ion of the Holy Ghost, and his influence on the mind. 
 That true and worthy conceptions of the Redeemer, 
 that lively and lasting impressions of his excellency 
 were owing to the Holy Ghost, when men were first call- 
 ed christians, no one can doubt. At that time to enter- 
 tain becoming thoughts, and to feel suitable impressions 
 of the Redeemer's glory, was directly contrary to the 
 uirited force of inveterate prejudice, corrupt education, 
 and every view of worldly interest. For the illustration 
 of this point, suppose yourself an inhabitant either of 
 Jerusalem or of Rome at the time when Christ was 
 first preached ; when Pharisaism or Sadducism reigned 
 throughout the one, and the most impure idolatry, pro- 
 pagated from age to age, triumphed in the other ; sup- 
 oose that in this situation you had heard an apostle of 
 
lbt> COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 the Lord call aloud upon you, commanding you in the 
 name of God to confess the sinfulness of your sin, and 
 to flee for refuge from deserved wrath to Jesus Christ ; 
 that this apostle, instead of concealing the meanness and 
 weakness in which Jesus Christ lived, the shame and 
 pain in which he died, told you that on his cross he 
 made atonement for sin, bought you with the price of 
 his blood, that you might live in subjection to him as 
 your Sovereign Lord; that he possessed irresistible 
 power to save or to destroy, and unsearchable riches 
 to reward and bless his faithful people ; suppose that he 
 concluded with a most solemn asseveration, that if you 
 refused the call you heard, and were not united to this 
 man, Christ Jesus, as your only Savior, you must feel 
 indignation and wrath from God for evermore. Instant- 
 ly upon such a declaration your heart tells you, that in 
 the circumstances above described, bitter and disdain- 
 ful prejudice would have shown itself against the mes- 
 senger. The life of Jesus, which innumerable slanders 
 had represented as infamous, his death, in your appre- 
 hension, to the last degree ignominious, would have 
 made you treat the report as the most palpable lie ever 
 forged to deceive. Accustomed from childhood to wor- 
 ship either false gods, or to trust in the true God with- 
 out a Mediator, a sacred horror must have chilled your 
 blood upon hearing your idols blasphemed, or Jesus 
 glorified as one with God ; whilst every desire remain- 
 ing in your soul, of esteem with men, of sinful pleasure, 
 or of happiness from the world, must have inflamed 
 your rage against a doctrine which, if received, was 
 sure, like a pestilential wind, to blast them altogether. 
 To penetrate through such a cloud of darkness, what is 
 the light of reason 1 To balance against such bitter pre- 
 judice, what the force of moral persuasion 1 To make 
 such a sacrifice of wealth, of ease, of character, and be- 
 come as it were the offscouring of all things, even to be 
 
OFFICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 167 
 
 deemed a curse upon the earth that bears you, what the 
 power of human resolution 1* Yet all this sacrifice was 
 understood and considered; it was a certain conse- 
 quence evident before the eyes of all who joined them- 
 selves unto the Lord Jesus Christ ; who, on account 
 of the odium cast upon his name in every place where 
 the Gospel first came, is styled, " He whom the nation 
 abhorreth." 
 
 Not only to counteract, but entirely to eradicate this 
 deep-rooted enmity against the Redeemer, the Gospel 
 was to be preached with the Holy Ghost sent down 
 from heaven. The apostles were to receive power, 
 after that the Holy Ghost was come upon them. Thus 
 ajmied, they were to be witnesses unto Jesus, that is 
 of the redemption that is in him, both in Jerusalem, 
 and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the utter- 
 most parts of the earth. This eternal and almighty 
 Spirit, by imparting to them miraculous gifts, bore down 
 the opposition of prejudice, of education, and of world- 
 ly interest ; and exerting his gracious influence on the 
 mind, at the time he was appealing by miracles to the 
 evidence of sense, he made the glory of the Lord ap- 
 pear with such transcendent brightness, that thousands 
 were added to his church, and ready to suffer death for 
 his name's sake 
 
 Thus in an outward and visible manner the Holy 
 Ghost fulfilled the Redeemer's promise, whilst he laid 
 the foundation of true faith in the soul of every one 
 that believed. In this manner he testified of Jesus ; he 
 glorified him. In this manner he reproved the world of 
 
 * The unlearned reader is to be informed, that all the primitive 
 apologists for our most holy faith take notice of the charge brought 
 against the christians, as the procuring cause of all the public cala- 
 mities inflicted on the pagans; and that these, in their blind and 
 cruel superstition, thought they did their gods service in putting 
 them to death. 
 
168 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 stw, in their contemptuous refusal to believe in Jesus as 
 the only Savior; of righteousness in the person and 
 cause of Christ, since God hath borne such testimony 
 to him ; of the excellency of that righteousness he ac- 
 complished, living and dying in obedience to the law 
 of God ; and of the necessity of it, as imputed to be- 
 lievers for their complete justification. He convinced 
 the world of judgment, in giving them to behold with 
 their own eyes the throne of Satan cast down; his col- 
 lusive oracles silenced, his temples deserted, abhorred, 
 and thousands upon thousands of his miserable captives 
 set at liberty. 
 
 This great effect must not be supposed to have been 
 produced by the mere display of miracles to the senseaj 
 it evidently discovered a positive influence exercised upon 
 the mind. This is exemplified in the prayer of the great 
 apostle for the church at Ephesus. By the miracles 
 wrought before them, they were so far impressed with 
 a knowledge of the truth of the Gospel, as highly to es- 
 teem the much-despised, much persecuted name of its 
 ever-blessed Author. Nevertheless, the apostle makes 
 a clear distinction between this effect, flowing from the 
 evidence of the miracles which were wrought in attes- 
 tation of the Gospel, and the internal gracious influence 
 of the Holy Ghost on the mind. He prays therefore 
 that God would grant unto them the grace of his Spirit, 
 M that the eyes of their understanding being enlighten- 
 ed, they might know what was the hope of his calling, 
 and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in 
 the saints, and the exceeding greatness of his power to 
 us-ward, who believe." This goes much deeper than 
 the force of miracles alone could reach. It implies a 
 transforming knowledge of those sublime truths which 
 miracles alone can never produce, and a happy experi- 
 ence of the certainty of the words of truth from their 
 vital operation within. 
 
OFFICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 169 
 
 It is evident, then, that it was the power of the Holy 
 Ghost which produced conviction and faith in the minds 
 of those who heard the Gospel preached by the apostles, 
 and which laid the foundation of the primitive church. 
 
 But it may be said, " There does not exist in the pre- 
 wit day the same necessity for his agency. The circum- 
 stances of the christian world are quite different. Now, 
 instead of. blasphemous revilings cast on the name of 
 Jesus, he is adored as God in all our churches. Instead 
 of suffering persecution from our relations, because we 
 profess ourselves the disciples of Christ, we should give 
 offence to them were we not to do so. This alteration 
 in the state of the world has therefore removed the ne- 
 cessity which before existed for the agency of the Holy 
 Ghost. We accordingly no longer see a single miracle 
 wrought in confirmation of the truth of the Gospel, now 
 that its own establishment, the most convincing of all 
 miracles, has taken place." 
 
 Thus, because the extraordinary operations of the 
 Holy Ghost have ceased, the necessity and efficacy of 
 his influence at present is absolutely denied by some, 
 and received with doubt and suspicion by many $ and 
 all that has been so plainly inculcated in Scripture of 
 his teaching, his strength and his comforts, has been 
 injuriously restricted to former ages. A mistake this, 
 destructive of all real religion ; — a mistake proceeding 
 from an utter ignorance or impious disbelief of the na- 
 tural blindness of men to the truths of God, and of his 
 aversion to receive them with an obedient heart. For 
 if the Scripture account of the blindness of the human 
 understanding and the depravity of the heart is received, 
 it must follow that man of himself cannot receive and 
 come into subjection to the truth of God, though the 
 rage of Jews and gentiles were supposed to be entirely 
 removed, and the truth of the Gospel revelation to be 
 allowed. " The natural man," — the man who acts only 
 
 Duty of Man. " 
 
170 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 upon the principles of natural reason, and seeks no illu- 
 mination in his understanding from the Holy Ghost, — 
 M receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; for they 
 are foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them, 
 because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Cor. 2 : 14*. In 
 their divine truth, excellence and glory, they can he 
 discovered by none who are not enlightened by the Spi- 
 rit of God. It follows from this declaration, that a true 
 knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of salvation by 
 him, must be the production of the Holy Ghost as much 
 at this very hour, as when the apostles first planted 
 churches in the name of Jesus. The Holy Ghost must 
 take of the things which are Christ's, and by his power- 
 ful effectual teaching " show them " unto us. Otherwise 
 the Redeemer will never be exalted and extolled, nor 
 receive any heartfelt adoration for all his kindness to- 
 wards us. What the work of the Holy Ghost was im- 
 mediately after our Lord's ascension, is still his work 
 with every one that believes to the saving of his soul ; 
 the exhibition of the external miracles, which accom- 
 panied it in old time, only excepted. 
 
 The proof of this assertion, so much questioned now, 
 and so often vilified as enthusiasm, I shall endeavor to 
 evince from that most instructive text on this subject, 
 John, 16 : 8, which has been already considered in its 
 primary sense, and as it related to the apostolic age. 
 
 " When the Comforter is come, he will reprove the 
 world of sin, because they believe not on me." The sin 
 of overlooking the Son of God, so as to exercise no de- 
 pendence on him for righteousness and strength, is not 
 perceived by man till renewed by the Holy Ghost, 
 though he may acknowledge the truth of the christian 
 creed. Deceit and fraud, envy and malice, with the 
 crimes destructive to society, are generally reprobated 
 and their evil is manifest But the great sin of enter- 
 taining such thoughts of ourselves and of our own vir- 
 
OFFICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 171 
 
 tues as do in fact render all the names of honor we give 
 unto Christ merely titular: this sin, most injurious to 
 the perfections of God, you never see in the catalogue 
 which unenlightened man draws up against himself. He 
 can approach the holy, the jealous God, in prayer, with- 
 out fear or suspicion of his displeasure, though he ne- 
 ver committed his cause to the appointed Mediator, nor 
 laid his sacrifice upon that altar which alone can sanc- 
 tify it in the sight of God. 
 
 To reprove for this sin in particular is the work of 
 the Holy Ghost. He it is who must open your eyes, if 
 they are ever opened, to see your own sinfulness ; and 
 to loathe yourself before your Maker, for the mean 
 thoughts, the grovelling apprehensions, which, notwith- 
 standing the declarations of the Bible, and your pre- 
 tended belief of it, you have had concerning the Lord's 
 Christ, the Rock of ages, the Beloved of the Father. It 
 is " by the Holy Ghost " you must be enabled to say, 
 with firm reliance on him, that " Jesus Christ is Lord, 
 to the glory of God the Father." By his influence it is 
 that you ever so behold the Savior as to believe in your 
 heart, and to confess with your mouth, " That if any man 
 love not the Lord Jesus Christ," that man is •' anathe- 
 ma, maran-atha," — accursed of God ; and unless he re- 
 pents of this great wickedness, is sure to be condemned 
 by the Lord when he cometh to judge the world. When 
 the sin of not depending on Jesus, and not honoring 
 him as the Father is honored, is thus clearly perceiv- 
 ed and heartily detested ; it is not flesh and blood that 
 has made the revelation ; no, nor barely the written 
 word of God, (for long after that was allowed by you 
 to be the truth, no such effect followed ;) it is owing to 
 the Spirit of truth, who has communicated to you this 
 most precious knowledge. 
 
 Again, "When the Comforter is come," saith our 
 Lord, " he shall reprove the world of righteousness, be- 
 
172 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 cause I go to my Father." To be received into favor 
 with God by virtue of what another has done ; and to 
 confess that the life and death of Jesus is of such 
 efficacy as to bring down blessing and salvation to 
 every sincere dependent upon him for righteousness, is 
 a mystery offensive to the haughty spirit of man in its 
 natural state. Still, if left to ourselves, though the Bible 
 is in our hands, though we profess a sacred regard to 
 its dictates, we shall go about to establish our own 
 righteousness ; we shall stand upon our own personal 
 worth before God as the foundation of our eternal 
 hopes. Under the accusations of conscience, we shall 
 have recourse to our own frailty and the strength of 
 temptation as our advocates ; to our repentance and 
 amendment, as our propitiation. For so inveterately, 
 through the corruption of our natures, are we prepos- 
 sessed in favor of our own virtues, and even of our 
 feeblest attempts to be virtuous, that we can be as confi- 
 dent as if we were as holy as the law of God requires 
 us to be. 
 
 It is the work of the Holy Ghost to reprove the world 
 for this self-exalting lie ; for this hateful over-rating our 
 poor tainted performances, our much-blemished obedi- 
 ence. The eternal Spirit only can overthrow such vain 
 confidence, and can establish a persuasion in the mind 
 directly opposite to it ; namely, that Jesus was deliver- 
 ed for our offences, and raised again for our justifica- 
 tion ; that in consequence of this we are always accept- 
 ed, even after our highest possible advancement in holi- 
 ness on earth, not for our own sake, but for the sake of 
 Christ ; and that his going to the Father, in the charac- 
 ter of Mediator, is all our hope ; that though unfeigned 
 repentance, sincere love to God, and universal obedi- 
 ence to his commandments, are and must be our vouch- 
 ers that we belong to Christ, yet neither singly nor al- 
 together do they make reconciliation for the least of 
 
OFFICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 173 
 
 our sins ; that Jesus alone accomplished this work, im- 
 possible to any creature, too mighty even for angels to 
 attempt, when he bled on the cross, and cried out, " It 
 is finished." 
 
 But till the Holy Ghost convince us of the necessity 
 and glory of this righteousness, it is an offensive sub- 
 ject. Such exaltation of the Savior's obedience and 
 death will be construed into a disparagement of personal 
 virtue. The seeking the gift of justification unto eternal 
 life, M freely through the redemption that is in Jesus," 
 will be deemed a contempt of good works. The Spirit 
 of truth must exert his gracious influence to remove 
 this natural blindness, and master this stubborn preju- 
 dice ; and then, that merit which Jesus ever lives to 
 plead before the Father, for the church purchased by 
 his own blood, will be all your salvation and all your 
 desire. 
 
 In one instance more, the text under consideration 
 declares the work and influence of the Holy Ghost : 
 "He shall reprove the world of judgment, because the 
 prince of this world is judged :" that is, he shall con- 
 vince men of the complete victory which Jesus has ob- 
 tained over sin, the world and Satan ; in order to make 
 all who believe in him happy partakers of the same. 
 
 Subjection to sin, although the vilest servitude and 
 basest vassalage, is too often earnestly contended for. 
 Every man in the world, it is said, in the language of 
 politeness, has his foible ; that is, some sin, or evil tem- 
 per, that lords it over him. Like the dastardly unbe- 
 lieving spies sent into the land of Canaan, men magnify 
 to an enormous size the force of temptation and the 
 weakness of the flesh, forgetting the power of God ; and 
 then say, Who can stand before these 1 
 
 The Holy Ghost, who is the grand agent for the glory 
 of Christ, convinces us that we err in this matter, not 
 considering the power of the Redeemer. It is his office 
 
174 ' COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 to assure the heart that " the prince of this world is 
 judged," already dethroned, and vanquished by Jesus : 
 to persuade us that the working of his Spirit, which 
 worketh mightily in them that believe, is infinitely 
 stronger than the combined force of all outward oppo- 
 sition, and of all inward corruption ; to demonstrate to 
 us, that if we are doing what is forbidden, if we are en- 
 slaved by pride or discontent, intemperance or unclean- 
 ness, covetousness or envy, it is because we will not in 
 earnest seek deliverance from such hateful tyrants. 
 
 In this manner, as in the apostles' days, the Holy 
 Ghost now, and at all times, operates on the mind of 
 every one that believes in Jesus. Now, as then, a man 
 cannot enter into the kingdom of grace except he be 
 first *- born of water and of the Spirit." 
 
 And whilst the Holy Ghost testifies of Christ, and 
 glorifies him in his person and undertaking ; his influ 
 ence, we must observe, is a thing quite distinct from 
 those means by which it is conveyed ; so that wherever 
 proper convictions of the Kedeemer's person and salva- 
 tion are cordially received, it is not to the means, but 
 to the Spirit working by them, that we must attribute the 
 enlightening and renewing of the mind. This important 
 doctrine is repeated again and again in Scripture, and 
 must therefore never be overlooked by us. Thus it is 
 written of the degenerate idolatrous Israelites, " Hear 
 ye indeed, but understand not ; and see ye indeed, but 
 perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and 
 their ears heavy, and shut their eyes ; lest they see with 
 their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with 
 their heart, and convert, and be healed." Isaiah, 6 : 9, 
 10. Here is the outward call of the word on the one 
 hand, but on the other a refusal of the inward and spi- 
 ritual grace, on account of their insupportable provoca- 
 tions. The alarming expressions, " Make the heart of 
 this people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut their 
 
OFFICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 175 
 
 eyes," cannot possibly mean that God actually inspired 
 Israel with contempt for his holy word, or disaffection 
 towards it ; but they mean that such hardness of heart 
 and disaffection must always follow, where the Spirit 
 of grace is withdrawn ] because he alone opens the eyes 
 of the understanding, and unstops the ears which are 
 deaf to the words of God's book. 
 
 In confirmation of the same truth, it is recorded that 
 God " opened the heart of Lydia, that she attended to 
 the things which were spoken of Paul." Acts, 16 : 14>. 
 In this instance you very distinctly mark the inspired 
 preacher on the one hand, declaring the whole counsel 
 of God, and offering the knowledge of all that is exter- 
 nally needful to the conversion of the soul ; and on the 
 other, you observe the God of all grace exercising his 
 blessed and powerful influence, by which the apostle's 
 discourse was successful, and attained the end for which 
 it was delivered. And lest these declarations should be 
 considered as extraordinary, St. Paul teaches us gene- 
 rally to distinguish between the means and instruments, 
 and the grace of the Holy Spirit, from whom all their 
 beneficial effects proceed. He puts this interrogation : 
 " Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers, 
 by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every 
 man 1 I have planted, Apollos watered j but God gave 
 the increase." 1 Cor. 3 : 5, 6. Mark here how totally 
 distinct from each other are the means of grace, and 
 the eternal Spirit to which they owe their efficacy. By 
 consequence, you must allow that the foundation of the 
 christian religion is laid by the power of the Holy Ghost 
 in every believer ; and that his work and influence is at 
 this hour as real and successful with believers, as it was 
 when signs and wonders were done by him through the 
 hands of the apostles. 
 
 From what has been offered, we may understand 
 clearly the permanent work and internal operation of 
 
176 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 the Holy Ghost ; and know whether we are the happy 
 subjects of it ourselves, by considering what impre* 
 sions the word of truth has made upon our minds. 
 
 But besides this, the Scripture teaches us to look 
 upon the Holy Ghost as the author of the sanctification 
 which is wrought in the hearts, and appears in the lives 
 of believers j and that, by this sanctification, his in- 
 dwelling presence and effectual working may be known. 
 If you have sincere love to God for sending his Son 
 into the world as the propitiation for sin, this love is no 
 more the natural growth of your heart, or acquired 
 simply by your own reflections and contemplations, 
 than the grain which clothes our fields is spontaneous- 
 ly produced without seed or culture — M it is shed 
 abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost given unto you." 
 If the effect of this love is joy in God, this, in honor 
 of its divine and gracious Author, is called "Joy in the 
 Holy Ghost." If you possess an internal settled tran- 
 quillity, whilst God and eternal judgment are in your 
 thoughts, through Jesus Christ, by whom you have re- 
 ceived the atonement ; in the place of that guilty un- 
 easiness, or stupid insensibility, which you showed 
 before, at the mention of such awful subjects ; the mar- 
 vellous change claims a divine parent, and is expressly 
 declared to be " The fruit of the Spirit." If possessing 
 in your heart the heavenly treasure of love, peace and 
 joy, you are patient under repeated injuries, gentle un- 
 der exasperating provocations, kind according to your 
 ability, meek so as to evidence the humble opinion you 
 entertain of yourself, and the good-will you feel to- 
 wards all men ; this union of amiable tempers " cometh 
 from above." It is the image and superscription of one 
 sanctified by the Spirit, and expressly said to be his 
 fruit. 
 
 There is not a duty we are called to perform, not an 
 evil temper we are required to vanquish, but we are di 
 
OFFICE OF THE HOL¥ SPIRIT. 177 
 
 rected in Scripture to seek for the aid of the Spirit of 
 God, that our endeavors may be crowned with suc- 
 cess. We are taught that " He helps our infirmities " 
 in prayer ; that on this account he is called " The Spirit 
 of grace and supplication." We are commanded w to 
 pray in the Holy Ghost :" which plainly implies, that as 
 in prayer we must seek his sanctifying grace, m order 
 to do all other duties, so must we acknowledge and de- 
 pend upon his assistance for the right discharge of the 
 duty of prayer itself. This is plainly marked in the 
 Scripture account of the acceptance of our holy duties. 
 It teaches us, that all true christians have access to the 
 Father through the Mediator " by one Spirit," Ephes. 2: 
 18. So in discharging the duty of praise, when chris- 
 tians are exhorted to be much employed in the praises 
 of God, they are exhorted to be " filled with the Holy 
 Ghost." And their being thus filled with the Holy 
 Ghost is not spoken of merely as a privilege which God 
 promises, but a duty which he requires. From whence 
 it is evident, that without him all our services will want 
 the very soul which should animate them, and be as a 
 maimed sacrifice. In a word, it is to denote the never- 
 ceasing influence and operation of the Holy Ghost on 
 the hearts of all the faithful in Christ Jesus, that their 
 life is expressed in these terms, " Being," — y Walking," 
 --"Living,"— "In the Spirit." 
 
178 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 THE HOElf SPIRIT.— continued. 
 
 THE PROPERTIES OF THE SPIRIT'S INFLUENCE. 
 
 We have already discoursed upon the personality and 
 nature of the Holy Spirit ; we have also endeavored to 
 learn from Scripture what purposes his influence is de- 
 signed to effect. It remains now that we should explain 
 the properties of his operation ; at once to detect the 
 delusions of enthusiasts, and to expose the impious 
 though too prevalent error of denying the reality of his 
 agency upon the hearts of them that believe. 
 
 First, then, this influence of the Holy Ghost is secret, 
 and discernible only by its fruits. The Spirit is not 
 to be conceived of as using violence or constraint on 
 man, but as acting in a way similar to what we observe 
 in the established course of nature. Accordingly, the 
 prophets, the apostles, and the Son of God, refer us to 
 the growth of the vegetable world for the illustration 
 of the Spirit's influence. As the juices of the earth are 
 first absorbed by the root, from whence they gradually 
 ascend the trunk, and thence are diffused to the branch- 
 es, producing blossoms and fruits to the admiration of 
 every spectator, though the most penetrating eye can- 
 not discern how; so it is with the agency of the Spirit. 
 The life of holiness in the soul of one born of the Spirit 
 appears in his actions, discourse, desires, affections and 
 most secret thoughts. Every one that diligently ob- 
 serves him can perceive the excellent fruits of his life, 
 but the Author of it is invisible, and the method by 
 which it has been produced and maintained is incom- 
 prehensible. 
 
the spirit's influence. 179 
 
 Secondly. Though the Spirit's influence is secret, 
 silent, and not to be observed but by its fruits, yet it is 
 nv)st powerful in the effects produced. The new creature 
 in Christ Jesus is born to conflict, toil and labor. Born 
 for fight, and intended for victory ; but not at present 
 formed to enjoy so much as to act. A power, therefore, 
 proportioned to the difficulties with which a christian 
 has to struggle, and to the enemies with whom he has 
 to contend, must be continually supplied. And this is 
 granted: " Whosoever is born of God, overcometh the 
 world ;" the love of its pleasures cannot corrupt him, 
 nor the fear of its frowns dismay him; he marches on 
 in the strength of God, and will not be turned out of 
 the path of his duty. But the influence by which such 
 a victory is maintained must be full of energy ; and 
 those who stand in this condition must be " kept by the 
 power of God, through faith, unto salvation." 
 
 Thirdly. The influence of the Holy Ghost is always 
 exactly correspondent to the written word, and preserved 
 and increased in the use of the means of grace. He 
 makes no new revelations, but gives success and effica- 
 cy to what is already revealed. He accomplishes no 
 other change in the habits, sentiments and feelings of 
 the soul than what the sacred oracles point out, and 
 such as to unprejudiced reason must appear excellent 
 and desirable. He works by means apt and suitable in 
 themselves for the maintenance and increase of holi- 
 ness, though his influence is entirely distinct in itself 
 from those means. As the life of the body, though up- 
 held by a divine power from moment to moment, is not 
 maintained miraculously, but in the use of food, rest 
 and sleep ; so the soul of the regenerate, who walks in 
 the Spirit and lives in the Spirit, " desires the sincere 
 milk of the word, that he may grow thereby;" he 
 prays and watches ; and by the use of his enlightened 
 sanctified reason, he avoids what would endanger his 
 
180 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 soul, and chooses that by which it can be profited. 
 
 Fourthly. The influence of the Holy Ghost is various 
 in the degrees of its communication and operation. All 
 who are the blessed partakers of the Holy Ghost, not 
 only differ from others who share the same privilege / 
 but from themselves at different seasons in the degree 
 of benefit they receive. Some have much more light 
 and joy, strength and vigor than others ; and there is 
 often a quick succession of peace and trouble, of tran- 
 quillity and conflict. But this variety respecting those 
 who are under the government of the same Spirit, is 
 generally owing to the different degrees of watchfulness, 
 diligence, and fidelity in the use of the talents already 
 committed to their care. The Spirit, we are taught, is 
 often " grieved," and in a degree " quenched " by care- 
 lessness, neglect, and still more by a fall into some 
 known sin. In such cases the paternal justice of God 
 requires that proper rebukes should be given ; that his 
 children, feeling their own leanness and deadness, may 
 be more vigilant for the time to come, and learn to 
 prize the light of God's countenance above every bless- 
 ing. For the same reason, in order to encourage and 
 graciously reward the zealous obedience of those who 
 faithfully consecrate themselves to him, studying to 
 serve him with their whole hearts ; the Father and Son 
 will abundantly manifest their favor to them by the 
 Holy Spirit, and come and make their abode with them. 
 
 We have now explained with sufficient copiousness 
 the nature of the Holy Spirit's influence : it remains 
 only that we should conclude this subject with a remark 
 upon the impiety of the opinions but too fashionable in 
 the present day, which vilify his gracious operation as 
 the chimera of a heated brain and the reverie of enthu- 
 siasts. To cover the impiety of such opinions, it is com- 
 mon to urge the bold and shameless pretences of enthu- 
 siasts to the* influence of the Holy Ghost, and to appeal 
 
181 
 
 to our ignorance of any such influence on our own 
 minds. Arguments these as frivolous and vain as the 
 opinion they are urged to justify is impious in the sight 
 of God. For what can possibly be conceived more weak 
 than to ridicule and explode a doctrine merely because 
 it has been abused to purposes totally opposite to its 
 real tendency 1 If there is any force in this argument, 
 we must renounce the use of reason, no less than the 
 belief of the peculiar doctrines of Christianity. For what 
 can be more hurtful to society, what more injurious to 
 the honor of God and the well-being of man, than that 
 licentiousness which many of the loudest declaimers 
 upon the excellence of reason have recommended in her 
 name! If the jargon used by visionaries, who falsely 
 lay claim to the Spirit's influence, to cover their pride 
 or screen their crimes, will justify the total denial of 
 any operation of the Spirit on the hearts of believers ; 
 then surely we must also allow that the execrable blas- 
 phemies uttered against God's most holy word by those 
 who pique themselves on being eminently rational, 
 would vindicate the suppression of the exercise of the 
 rational faculty; or at least would give ground to re- 
 present it as mischievous in itself, and ever to be sus- 
 pected. But does not every intelligent person in this 
 case distinguish the use from the abuse of reason] 
 Surely, then, reason, candor, and the authority of the 
 Almighty, require you to judge in the same way con- 
 cerning the work of the Spirit, and not to condemn the 
 genuine offspring of the Holy Ghost by confounding it 
 with the base counterfeit that may in some points 
 slightly resemble it. And whoever refuses to be at the 
 pains of examining by scripture marks and evidences, 
 before he determines what is the work of the Spirit, it 
 is plain that the corruption of his heart has filled him 
 with enmity to the doctrine of the Spirit's influence; 
 and therefore, with criminal rashness, he confounds 
 
182 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 things which are essentially different, — the spirit of de- 
 lusion with the Spirit of truth. 
 
 The other argument urged by many with an air of 
 confidence against the influence of the Holy Ghost on 
 the heart, is as frivolous ; namely, their ignorance of 
 any such operation upon their own minds. " We expe- 
 rience," exclaim the careless and the proud, the gay 
 and the voluptuous, "nothing of this kind; therefore, 
 argue as you please concerning it, we cannot believe it 
 to be any thing more than the creature of imagination." 
 But what palpable absurdity is this! In every other in 
 stance you would condemn it as weak reasoning. Were 
 a man to tell you that he would never believe that there 
 is in another any excellency superior to what he him- 
 self possesses, because he does not experience it, would 
 you not think his stupidity too great to deserve an an- 
 swer'? We do not esteem brutes capable of judging of 
 the properties of man $ nor one man, in some instances, 
 more capable of judging of the perfections of another. 
 Such as have exercised themselves with success in phi- 
 losophical studies, are conscious of pleasure in them, 
 to which others are absolute strangers. Now, should a 
 clown, in the grossness of his ignorance and the nar- 
 rowness of his understanding, scoff at the mention of 
 such pleasures, and be confident there was no reality 
 in them, surely it would be accounted a piece of folly 
 too gross to need a formal confutation. But the differ- 
 ence between the spiritual man and the man who appre- 
 hends no more than what his own reason can teach him, 
 is much greater than what subsists between the most 
 illiteiate peasant and the most renowned philosopher. 
 The difference between those that are born after the 
 Spirit, and those that are born only after the flesh, is de- 
 scribed in Scripture by these strong terms : ■! a passing 
 from death to life ; out of darkness into marvellous 
 -ight j" it implies the exercise of the faculties and affec- 
 
183 
 
 tions of the mind with esteem, frequency and delight, on 
 what before was neglected, despised, abhorred. 
 For men therefore to say, We will not admit there is 
 now any operation of the Holy Ghost on the soul, be- 
 cause we feel not his influence on our own, is to make 
 their knowledge the measure of all reality ; the folly 
 and fallacy of which is obvious. They may know, in- 
 deed, how the case is with themselves \ that there is 
 no such thing as the work of the Holy Ghost on their 
 hearts j no enlightening of their understanding ; no 
 change in their own affections, no desire of nearer and 
 still nearer approach to God, no thirsting after his pre- 
 sence, no heavenly joy and consolation in Christ Jesus. 
 This all men, who are destitute of repentance and faith 
 in Jesus, may with the greatest truth affirm of them- 
 selves, for the Scripture declares it of them. But posi- 
 tively and confidently to assert that this must be the 
 case with all others likewise, is to reject the essential 
 difference on earth between the heirs of salvation and the 
 children of the wicked one. It is impudently to deny the 
 work of the Spirit, and the life maintained by him ; though 
 in Scripture there is a clear, full and distinct account of 
 this work, and of the life produced in the soul by him, of 
 its nature and operations, its pains and enjoyments, its 
 declensions and revivals. To deny therefore the reality 
 of these things, is to lie against the Holy Ghost, and to 
 prove manifestly that you have no share in him. It is to 
 lie against him ; because if there be no work and opera- 
 tion of the Holy Ghost, then the Scriptures, which holy 
 men of old wrote through his inspiration, and which give a 
 particular account of his continual presence and influence 
 with the church, are no better than a fabulous tale. And 
 it proves that you have no share in him, since you could not 
 speak with malicious words against this divine Agent, who 
 impresses the truth of God on the heart, unless you were 
 yourself, alas! " earthly, sensual, having not the Spirit." 
 
184) COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 REPEJrTdLWCE 
 
 THE NATURE OF TRUE REPENTANCE. 
 
 It is a truth fully revealed in Scripture, that without 
 repentance no one can enter into life. But too often it 
 happens, that those who are convinced of this deceive 
 themselves by calling something by the name of repent- 
 ance which bears only a superficial resemblance to it : 
 and then flatter themselves with the vain imagination 
 that this base counterfeit shall be entitled to the bless- 
 ings promised to the divine original. 
 
 To compare therefore, and distinguish true repent- 
 ance from the false ; to show why every one, ere he can 
 be saved, must experience the change it implies, and to 
 discover the way to attain it, is a point of great import- 
 ance. It will tend, through the blessing of God, to dis- 
 cover prevailing errors which lie at the root of all care- 
 less and profane living, and to awaken every reader to 
 self-examination on this important point. 
 
 First, then, let it be observed, that false repentance 
 flows from a sense of danger, and a fear of impending 
 wrath. When the conscience of a sinner is alarmed 
 with a sense of his dreadful guilt and danger, it must 
 of necessity loudly remonstrate against those sins which 
 threaten him with eternal destruction: hence those 
 alarms and terrors which are frequently found amongst 
 men under apprehensions of death. At such times their 
 sins, some grosser enormities especially, confront them, 
 and all their aggravations are remembered with bitter 
 
NATURE OF TRUE REPENTANCE. 185 
 
 nessj conscience draws up the indictment, and sets 
 home the charge against them ; the law passes the sen- 
 tence and condemns them without mercy. And what 
 have they now in prospect but a fearful looking-for of 
 fiery indignation to consume them ! Now with distress 
 they cry out and howl upon their beds for the greatness 
 of their sin ! With amazement they expect the dreadful 
 issue of their sinful practices. How ready are they now 
 to make resolutions of beginning an humble, watchful, 
 holy life I In this their terror, conscience, like a flaming 
 sword, keeps them from their former course of impiety 
 and sensuality. 
 
 But what is this repentance more than the fear of the 
 worm that never dieth, and of the fire that never shall 
 be quenched 1 Let but conscience be pacified, and the 
 tempest of the troubled mind allayed, and this false peni- 
 tent will return with the dog to his vomit again, till 
 some new alarm revive his convictions of sin and dan- 
 ger, and with them the same process of repentance. 
 Thus too many will sin and repent, and repent and sin, 
 all their lives. 
 
 In some instances, indeed, distress of conscience 
 makes a deeper impression, and fixes such an abiding 
 dread of particular gross sins, that there appears a visi- 
 ble reformation. Yet in this case the sinner's lusts may 
 be only dammed up by his fears: and, were the dam 
 broken down, they would immediately run again in 
 their former channel with renewed force. It is true, 
 this terror is often a preparative to true repentance 5 but 
 if it proceed no further, it is still a fallacious sign of 
 safety. 
 
 Here r however, it is necessary to observe, that though 
 there may be much terror and external reformation with- 
 out true repentance, yet it is desirable to be even thus 
 far convicted of sin. The greater part of true penitents 
 have been at first in similar distress, and were thus 
 
186 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 warned to flee from the wrath to come. Instead there- 
 fore of construing what is said against false repentance, 
 as if all was lost because you fear your repentance is 
 not of the right kind ; let your ruin by sin constrain you 
 to trust in Christ, and excite you to prayer, that those 
 terrors which are in themselves no certain proofs of the 
 sincerity of your repentance, may issue in what undoubt- 
 edly are such proofs. 
 
 False repentance then flows merely from a sense of 
 danger, and a fear of impending wrath. The character 
 of true repentance is quite opposite. Here sin itselj 'be- 
 comes the greatest burden and object of aversion j sor- 
 row springs from an affecting humbling sense of the 
 dishonor and injury which the penitent feels he has 
 done to God ; not merely from a selfish concern for his 
 own safety, but from a regard to God, to which he was 
 before a stranger j — from a conviction that his whole 
 deportment and the ruling tempers of his heart have 
 been evil and desperately wicked. The language of a 
 true Scripture penitent is such as this \ " I acknowledge 
 my transgression, and my sin is ever before me : mine 
 iniquities are gone over my head j as a heavy burden, 
 they are too heavy for me. Deliver me from all my 
 transgressions ; let not my sins have dominion over me. 
 Innumerable evils have compassed me about j mine ini- 
 quities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able 
 to look up : they are more than the hairs of mine head, 
 therefore my heart faileth me. Be pleased, Lord, to 
 deliver me. Lord, make haste to help me." The true 
 penitent mourns on account of all his lusts, and hates 
 them all ; he is not willing that any should be spared, 
 though they were dear as a right hand or a right eye. 
 
 How great and apparent is the difference between be- 
 ing struck with fear, restrained by terror, or driven 
 from a course of sinning by the lashes of an awakened 
 conscience : — between this, I say, and loathing ourselves 
 
NATURE OF TRUE REPENTANCE. 187 
 
 in our own sight for all our iniquities, vehemently de- 
 siring grace and strength to conquer and mortify cor- 
 ruption, and to be delivered from the tyrannous rule of 
 sin! The former is merely the sordid fruit of self-love, 
 which compels the soul to flee from danger j the latter, 
 the exercise of a vital principle, which separates the 
 soul from sin, and engages the whole man in a perse- 
 vering opposition to it. 
 
 Secondly. False repentance dishonors God, by refus- 
 ing, under all its distracting fears, to trust to his mercy. 
 It is full of unbelief, though the Gospel has provided a 
 glorious relief for every guilty, ruined sinner, and opened 
 a blessed door of hope even for those whose sins are 
 red as scarlet ; though pardon and salvation are freely 
 offered to every one that is weary and heavy laden with 
 the guilt and defilement of sin ; though the blood of 
 Christ is sufficient to cleanse from all sins, however cir- 
 cumstanced, however aggravated they may be : the false 
 penitent, alas! sees no safety in this refuge. The law 
 of God challenges his obedience and condemns his dis- 
 obedience ) conscience concurs both with the precept 
 and sentence of the law. To pacify conscience, to sa- 
 tisfy God's justice, and to lay a foundation of future 
 hope, he has recourse to resolutions, to promises, to at- 
 tempts of new and better obedience, to penances, and 
 to a variety of self-righteous schemes. The defect of his 
 endeavors and attainments creates new terrors ; these 
 terrors excite new endeavors j and thus the false peni- 
 tent goes on, notwithstanding the greatness of his sor- 
 row and the pain of his conviction, seeking righteous- 
 ness by his own works, and afraid to trust in the mercy 
 of God through the blood of his Son. He may, it is 
 true, have some sort of feeble regard to Christ, so as to 
 use his name in his prayers for pardon, though he dare 
 not depend upon the merits of his blood, and upon the 
 love of God manifested in him for the remission of his 
 
188 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 sins. Yet even this regard itself is built upon the secret 
 hope that his reformation and performances will come 
 in aid to purchase the favor of God, which he cannot 
 confide in as freely promised, for Christ's sake, to every 
 humbled sinner. It is in effect a disparagement of the 
 Redeemer, as if he knew not how to have compassion 
 on him till he was recommended by some attainments 
 in holiness. 
 
 Now take a view of true repentance, and you will 
 find the character of it to be directly opposite to that 
 mentioned above. The true penitent approaches God 
 with a deep impression of his guilt, and of his just de- 
 sert of eternal rejection: but then he comes before a 
 mercy-seat, though he acknowledges that if God should 
 mark iniquity he could not stand before him ; he re- 
 members that M with God there is forgiveness that he 
 may be feared ;" and that "with him there is plenteous 
 redemption." He looks to the blood of Christ as alone 
 able to cleanse his soul, and take away the curse due 
 to his numerous and aggravated sins, and from this he 
 takes encouragement to mourn before God, expressing 
 himself in the Psalmist's language, " Wash me thorough- 
 ly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin ; — 
 purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me 
 and I shall be whiter than snow." This is the prayer 
 which both encourages his cries for mercy and embit- 
 ters to him all his sins ; this it is which makes him 
 loathe them all and long for deliverance from them. 
 
 "Is God infinitely merciful and ready to forgive," 
 (saith the true penitent,) n and have I been so basely 
 ungrateful as to sin against such astonishing goodness, 
 to affront and abuse such mercy and love \ Is sin so 
 hateful to God that he punished it even in the person 
 of his dear Son when he made him an atonement for 
 sin 1 How vile and abominable must I appear in the 
 eyes of his holiness and justice, who am nothing but 
 
NATURE OF TRUE REPENTANCE. 189 
 
 defilement and guilt ! Has the Messed Savior suffered 
 the Father's wrath for my sins] Have they nailed him 
 to the cross and brought him under the agonies of an 
 accursed death ; and shall I be ever reconciled to my 
 lusts any more 1 Have I dishonored God so much al- 
 ready, loaded his dear Son with so many horrible indig- 
 nities, and brought such a weight of guilt upon myself j 
 and is it not now high time to divorce my most beloved 
 lusts, those great enemies to God and my own soul 1" 
 
 Here you must perceive the great difference, and 
 even contrariety, between a guilty fleeing from God, like 
 that of Adam after his fall, and an humbling self-con- 
 demning approach to God's pardoning mercy, like the 
 prodigal's, when returning to his much-injured father: 
 between slavish and proud endeavors to atone for your 
 sins, and make your peace with God by your own righ- 
 teousness, and repairing only to the blood of Christ to 
 cleanse you from all sin ; between mourning for your 
 guilt and danger, and mourning for your sins as the 
 basest injury to God and Christ, to mercy and love 
 manifested in the most endearing manner : in a word, 
 between attempting a new life by the strength of your 
 own resolutions and endeavors, and looking only to 
 the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for grace and 
 strength, as well as for pardon and freedom from 
 condemnation. 
 
 Thirdly. In false repentance there still remains an 
 aversion to God and his holy law ; but in true repent- 
 ance there is a love to both. The distress and terror 
 which awakened sinners feel arise from dreadful appre- 
 hensions of God and his justice : they know that they 
 have greatly provoked him ; they are afraid of his wrath, 
 and therefore want some covert : they might before, 
 perhaps, have had some pleasing apprehensions of God, 
 while they considered him as altogether mercy, and so 
 long as they could hope for pardon, and yet live in their 
 
190 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 sins ; but now that they have some idea of his holiness 
 and justice, he appears an infinite enemy. They are 
 consulting, therefore, some way to be at peace with 
 him, because they are afraid the controversy will issue 
 in their destruction. Upon this account they resolve on 
 new obedience from the same motives that slaves obey 
 their severe tyrannical masters, though the rule of their 
 obedience is directly contrary to the inclinations of 
 their minds. Were the penalty of the law taken away, 
 their aversion to it would quickly appear. They would 
 soon again embrace their beloved lusts with the same 
 pleasure and delight as formerly. Is not the truth of 
 this assertion frequently, alas ! exemplified in those 
 who wear off their convictions and reformations toge- 
 ther ; and, notwithstanding their appearances of reli- 
 gion, discover the alienation of their hearts from God 
 and his law, and show themselves, as the apostle ex- 
 presses it, M enemies in their minds, by wicked works V 
 The true penitent, on the contrary, sees an admirable 
 beauty and excellency in a life of holiness, and there- 
 fore strives for higher attainments in it. He is sensible 
 how much he has transgressed the law of God, and 
 how very far he has departed from the purity and holi- 
 ness of the divine nature : this is the burden of his soul ; 
 hence it is that he walks in heaviness. He mourns, not 
 because the law is so strict or the penalty so severe, for 
 he esteems the law to be holy, and the commandment 
 holy, just and good : but he mourns, that though the 
 law is spiritual he is carnal, sold under sin ; he mourns 
 that his nature is so contrary to God, that his practice 
 has been so opposite to his will, and that he makes no 
 better progress in mortifying the deeds of the flesh, 
 and in regulating his affections by the word of God. 
 The true penitent is breathing with the same earnest- 
 ness after sanctification, as after deliverance from the 
 wrath revealed from heaven against all unrighteous- 
 
NATURE OF TRUE REPENTANCE. ; 191 
 
 ness : he wants not to have the law bend to his corrup- 
 tions, but to have his heart and life fully subjected to 
 the law of God ; there is nothing he so much desires, 
 after an interest in Christ and the favor of God, as a 
 freedom from sin, a proficiency in faith and holiness, 
 a life of communion and fellowship with God. " What 
 a corrupt, evil heart (he says) have I : so estranged from 
 the holy nature of God and his righteous law ! what a 
 most guilty wretch have I been, who have walked so 
 contrary to the glorious God, who have trampled upon 
 his excellent perfections and have made so near an ap- 
 proach to the practice and spirit of a devil ! Create a 
 clean heart, God ! and renew a right spirit within 
 me ; purify this sink of pollution, and sanctify these 
 depraved affections of my soul. that my ways were 
 made so direct that I might keep thy statutes ! let 
 me not wander from thy commandments ; but deal 
 bountifully with thy servant, that I may live and keep 
 thy word," 
 
 Such as these are the desires of every true penitent , 
 and from hence you may plainly discover the great dif 
 ference between him and a false penitent. The one 
 looks upon God with dread, terror and aversion ; the 
 other mourns his distance from him, and earnestly de- 
 sires to be transformed into his likeness. The one still 
 loves his sins in his heart, though he mourns there is a 
 law to punish them ; the other hates all his sins without 
 reserve, and is weary under the burden of them, because 
 they are contrary to God and his holy law. The obe- 
 dience of the one is by mere constraint ; the imperfec- 
 tions of the other are matter of continual humiliation, 
 so as to make him aspire after greater degrees of grace 
 and holiness. The one can find no inward and abiding 
 complacency in the service of God ; the other accounts 
 it his happiness, and thinks no joy equal to that of pure 
 obedience. 
 
192 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 HEPEJYT&WCE.— continued. 
 
 ITS NATURE FURTHER EXPLAINED. 
 
 True repentance being the foundation of all christian 
 piety, it is a matter of great importance that we should 
 be thoroughly instructed in its nature. We have en- 
 deavored therefore to make you fully acquainted with 
 it, by contrasting it with that false repentance which is 
 principally liable to be confounded with it. False re- 
 pentance, we have observed, is excited by terror j true 
 repentance is the effect of a just sense of the evil of 
 sin, and a love to the blessed God. False repentance is 
 full of unbelief: true, is animated with confidence by 
 a Savior's promises, and inspired with gratitude to him. 
 False repentance is consistent with an aversion to God 
 and his law, while the true sees an infinite beauty in 
 holiness, and loves the commandments of God. Thus 
 in their origin and nature they differ essentially from 
 each other, nor shall we perceive a difference less 
 striking if we attend to the progress and effects of 
 each. 
 
 1. False repentance wears off with the alarming con- 
 victions which gave occasion to it ; but true repentance 
 is permanent. We have many sad instances of persons 
 who appear for a season under the greatest remorse for 
 their sins ; yet all these impressions are soon effaced, 
 and they return to. the same course of impiety or sen- 
 suality, which, they confess, produced so much distress 
 and terror. They declare to the world that their good 
 
NATURE OF TRUE REPENTANCE. 193 
 
 resolutions were but as a morning cloud, or as an early 
 dew. Besides these, there are many of another charac- 
 ter, who quiet their consciences and speak peace to their 
 souls, from their having been in distress and terror for 
 their sins, from their reformation of some grosser im- 
 moralities, and from a formal course of duty. They 
 have repented, they think, and therefore conclude them- 
 selves at peace with God, and seem to have no great 
 care and concern either about their former impieties or 
 their daily transgressions. They conclude themselves 
 in a converted state, and are therefore lukewarm and 
 secure. Many of these may think, and perhaps speak 
 loudly of their experiences, and be even elated with 
 joyful apprehensions of their safe state; whilst, alas ! 
 they have no impressions of their sins, no mourning 
 after pardon, no humiliation under remaining and mani- 
 fold corruptions, imperfect duties, and renewed provo- 
 cations against God. There are many also, it might 
 still further be added, who, while under the stings of an 
 awakened conscience, are driven to maintain a diligent 
 watch over their hearts and lives, to be afraid of every 
 sin, to be careful to attend to every known duty, and to 
 be serious and earnest in the performance of it ; but by 
 their supposed progress in religion they gradually es- 
 cape from the terrors of the law, and then their watch- 
 fulness and tenderness of conscience are forgotten. 
 They perform their duties in a careless manner, with a 
 trifling remiss frame of soul; whilst the all-important 
 realities of an eternal world are but little in their minds, 
 and all their religion is reduced to a mere cold formali- 
 ty. They still maintain the form, but are unconcerned 
 about the power of godliness. In some such manner 
 false repentance leaves the soul destitute of that entire 
 change and renovation without which no man shall see 
 the Lord. 
 
 On the other hand, true repentance is a lasting princi- 
 
 D-itv of Man. " 
 
i94< COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 pie of humble self-abasing mourning for sin, and abhor- 
 rence of all remaining corruption. A true penitent does 
 not forget his past sins, and grow unconcerned about 
 them as soon as he obtains peace in his conscience and 
 a comfortable hope that he is reconciled to God ; on 
 the contrary, the clearer the evidence he obtains of the 
 divine favor, the more does he loathe, abhor, and con- 
 demn himself for his sins; the more aggravated and 
 enormous do they appear to him. He not only continues 
 to abhor himself on account of his past guilt and defile 
 ment, but he finds daily cause to renew his repentance 
 before God : he observes so much deadness, formality 
 and hypocrisy, mixing themselves with his holy duties ; 
 such frequent workings of a carnal, worldly, unbeliev- 
 ing spirit ; so much difficulty in obtaining a perfect mas- 
 tery over the sin which easily besets him, that he can- 
 not but " groan, being burdened." Repentance, there- 
 fore, is a daily continued exercise till mortality is swal- 
 lowed up of life; he will not cease to repent till he 
 ceases to carry about with him so many imperfections 
 and failures, and that will not be till he departs from 
 this fallen world. " Have I hope (says he) that God has 
 pardoned my sins 1 What an instance of mercy is this ! 
 How adorable is that marvellous grace which has pluck- 
 ed such a brand out of the fire ! And am I still so cold, 
 so formal and lifeless, doing so little for him who has 
 done so much for me ! Ah, vile, sinful heart ! Ah, 
 base ingratitude to such amazing goodness ! O that I 
 could obtain more victory over my corruptions, more 
 thankfulness for such mercies as I have received, a 
 frame of mind more spiritual and heavenly. How Jong 
 have I been mourning over my infirmities, and must 1 
 yet have cause to mourn over the same defects ! How 
 often designing and pursuing a closer communion with 
 God ; but what a poor progress do I yet make, save in 
 desires and endeavors! How long would the iniquities 
 
NATURE OF TRUE REPENTANCE. 195 
 
 of my best duties separate betwixt God and my soul for 
 ever, had I not the Redeemer's merits to plead! What 
 need have I every day to have this polluted soul washed 
 in the blood of Christ, and to repair to the glorious 
 Advocate with the Father for the benefit of his interces- 
 sion ! .Not a step can I take in my spiritual progress 
 without fresh supplies from the Fountain of grace and 
 strength ; and yet how often am I provoking him to 
 withdraw his influence, in whom is all my hope and con- 
 fidence ! wretched man that I am, who shall deliver 
 me from the body of this death !" 
 
 Thus, the true penitent, in his highest attainments of 
 holiness, comfort and joy, will find cause to be deeply 
 humbled before God, and to make earnest application 
 for fresh pardon and new supplies of strengthening and 
 quickening grace. The difference, therefore, betwixt 
 these two sorts of penitents is very apparent : it is as 
 great as that between the running of water in the paths 
 after a violent shower, and the streams which flow from 
 a living fountain. A false repentance has grief of mind 
 and humiliation only for great and glaring offences, or 
 till it supposes pardon for them obtained. True repent- 
 ance is a continued war against all the defilements of 
 sin, till death sounds the retreat. 
 
 2. Again, false repentance, at most, produces only a 
 partial reformation ; but the true repentance is a change 
 of heart, a universal turning from sin to God. As some 
 particular or more gross iniquity generally excites that 
 distress and terror which is the life of false repentance, 
 so a reformation with respect to those sins too fre- 
 quently wears off the impression and gives rest to the 
 troubled conscience without any further change. Or at 
 best there will be some darling lust retained, some right 
 hand or right eye spared. . If the false penitent is afraid 
 of sins of commission, he will still live in the omission 
 or careless performance of known duty, and feel no 
 
196 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 guilt. Or if he be very zealous for the duties respecting 
 the immediate worship of God, he will live in strife, in- 
 justice and uncharitableness towards men. If he show 
 some activity in contending earnestly for the truth of 
 the Gospel, he will still have his heart and affections 
 riveted to the world, and pursue it as the object of his 
 chief desire and delight. If he should make conscience 
 of opposing all open actual sins ; yet he little regards 
 the sins of his heart, — silent envy, secret pride, self- 
 preference, unbelief, or some such heart-defiling sins. 
 To finish his character ; whatever progress he may 
 seem to make in religion, his heart is still estranged 
 from the power of godliness, and, like the Laodiceans, 
 he is neither hot nor cold. 
 
 If we proceed to take a view of the character of a 
 true penitent, it is directly contrary to this. He finds 
 indeed (as has been observed) continual occasion to la- 
 ment the great imperfections of his heart and life, and 
 accordingly seeks renewed pardon in the blood of Christ. 
 But though he has not already attained, neither is al- 
 ready perfect, yet he is pressing towards perfection. 
 He is watching and striving against all his corruptions, 
 and laboring after further conformity to God in all holy 
 conversation and godliness. He does not renounce one 
 lust and retain another ; or satisfy himself with devo- 
 tional duties whilst he undervalues scrupulous honesty 
 and unfeigned benevolence: he cannot rest till this is 
 his rejoicing, " even the testimony of his conscience, 
 that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly 
 wisdom, but by the grace of God, he has his conversa- 
 tion in the world." All the workings of his mind, as well 
 as his external conduct, fall under his cognizance and 
 inspection, and his daily exercise and desire is to ap- 
 prove himself unto Him who knows his thoughts afar 
 off. His reformation extends not only to the devotion 
 of the church, but to that of his family and closet ; not 
 
NATURE OF TRUE REPENTANCE. 197 
 
 only to his conversation, but to his tempers and affec- 
 tions, and to the duties of every relation he sustains 
 among men. His repentance brings forth its " meet " 
 fruits, — heavenly-mindedness, humility, meekness, cha- 
 rity, patience, forgiveness of injuries, self-denial j and is 
 accompanied with all other graces of the blessed Spirit. 
 
 " It is the desire of my soul (saith the true penitent) 
 to refrain my feet from every evil way, and walk within 
 my house with a perfect heart. I know I have to do 
 with a God that trieth the heart, and hath pleasure in 
 uprightness ; I would, therefore, set the Lord always 
 before me. I know that my heart is deceitful above all 
 things and desperately wicked, for which I am humbled 
 in mine own eyes; but yet my desire is before the Lord, 
 and my groaning is not hid from him. I can truly say 
 that I hate vain thoughts, but God's law do I love. 
 that God would give me understanding that I may keep 
 his law, and observe it with my whole heart. I would 
 serve God without any reserve, for I esteem his precepts 
 concerning all things to be right, and I have inclined my 
 heart to keep his statutes always, even unto the end." 
 
 3. Once more : false repentance basely yields to the 
 fear of man ; whilst true repentance is full of boldness 
 and courage for God. Thousands, in obedience to the 
 calls and warnings they have received, begin seeming- 
 ly to repent ; but, loving the praise of men, and not be- 
 ing able to endure the contempt and revilings of the 
 hypocritical and profane, for their attachment to God, 
 turn aside from the holy commandment. Their own 
 family, the persons with whom they are connected, or 
 on whom they depend, must at all hazards be respected 
 and pleased. No sinful ways therefore must be con- 
 demned with abhorrence that may risk the favor of 
 those who can do them so much service or injury in 
 the world. 
 
 The true penitent, on the contrary, will carefully 
 
198 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 avoid every temptation to past offences, and every oc- 
 casion that might endanger a relapse. He will not dis- 
 semble, he will not conform so far to the world as to 
 be found where temptation appears in its most inviting 
 forms j and where the studied end of the assembly or 
 amusement is such as diverts the thoughts from God 
 and eternity. In like manner, for conscience, sake he 
 will forego temporal advantages : and break through 
 the ties even of sweetest friendship, and of nearest kin- 
 dred, rather than be drawn back by either into his for- 
 mer neglect and contempt of duty. He will walk cir- 
 cumspectly, with a godly jealousy over all things and 
 persons connected with him, lest any of them should 
 prove a snare or a hinderance to him in the way to eter- 
 nal life, now opened before his eyes. It is his steadfast 
 purpose, lose or suffer what he may, to wage eternal 
 war with the prevailing errors and favorite sins that 
 abound in the world, and to say to all the insinuating 
 advocates for them, " Depart from me, ye wicked, I 
 will keep the commandments of my God." 
 
 •In short, in these important particulars lies the differ- 
 ence between false and true repentance. The former is 
 only an external reformation, destitute of all the graces 
 of the blessed Spirit : the latter, a change of the heart, 
 will and affections, as well as of the outward conversa- 
 tion ; a change which is attended with all the fruits and 
 graces of the Spirit of God. False repentance aims at 
 just so much religion as will keep the mind easy and calm 
 the awakened conscience : true repentance aims ever to 
 walk before God in an humble, watchful, believing frame 
 of soul. The former will obey the law and command of 
 God just as far as the world will permit without perse- 
 cution or reproach : the latter, with an invincible regard 
 to the glory of God, is willing to go through evil report 
 and good report, content with the approbation of God, 
 let men think or say what they please. 
 
OBLIGATION TO REPENTANCE. 199 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 REJREJVT&JVCE.—con Untied. 
 
 fTS UNIVERSAL OBLIGATION, AND DIRECTIONS TO ATTAIN IT. 
 
 • 
 
 If the word of God were received with that degree 
 of deference which is so justly due to it, there would 
 be no necessity for stating more than the simple decla- 
 ration of Scripture which requires all men to repent, in 
 order to show the universal obligation of true repent- 
 ance. But, alas ! it is too common to form our judg- 
 ment of duty from the general practice of a careless 
 world, or from hasty and erroneous conceptions of the 
 nature of virtue, rather than from the oracles of truth. 
 In direct contradiction to the Scripture declarations, it 
 has been a prevailing opinion, that those alone need re- 
 pentance, whose abominations every eye can see, whose 
 lewdness or drunkenness, dishonesty or profaneness, 
 are open and excessive. Ignorant of the natural depra 
 vity and apostacy of the whole human race from God, 
 or proudly prejudiced against this doctrine, the world 
 supposes that much evil must actually be practised be- 
 fore a total change of hea*t and life can become abso- 
 lutely necessary. 
 
 To speak more particularly ; a young gentleman who 
 has been sober and dutiful to his parents, well esteemed 
 abroad and commended at home, kept by the affluence 
 of his station from the temptation of doing what is ac- 
 counted base before men, is apt so to over-rate his own 
 sober conduct as to suppose he has no occasion for any 
 godly sorrow or trouble of mind in the view of his own 
 transgressions. He is apt to conclude that you degrade 
 
200 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 his character by calling him to the exercise of serious 
 repentance. 
 
 In the same manner, a young lady, born to inherit 
 wealth, educated to be affable and polite, to love peace 
 and harmony, cannot be guilty of any thing the world 
 calls sinful, except by doing violence to all the restraints 
 of modesty, decency and character- Of consequence, 
 self-pleasing thoughts of her own innocency and good- 
 ness hold a firm possession of her mind. She cannot 
 believe that it is necessary for a person of her good 
 character to feel shame and sorrow for sin, and a broken 
 contrite heart, or to seek after any such change as scrip 
 tural repentance mems. 
 
 But notwithstanding the attempts of many celebrated 
 and learned advocates for the innocency of such amiable 
 characters, the Scripture, which must prevail at last as 
 the only true standard of what is excellent, — the Scrip- 
 ture "has concluded all under sin." It is therefore a 
 most certain truth that sober, decent and dutiful as you 
 may be in the eyes of parents, relations and friends ; 
 yet if you are ignorant of any divine change, and a 
 stranger to those inward effectual workings which con- 
 stitute Scripture repentance, you are far from being in 
 a state of innocency or safety : a charge of great guilt 
 stands in full force against you, — a charge which makes 
 repentance as absolutely needful for you as if your ini- 
 quities were of a more glaring kind. This charge shall 
 now be made good. 
 
 Let it then be supposed that you are a young person, 
 m the eyes of the world lovely in your whole deport- 
 ment ; let it be supposed that not a relation or a friend 
 sees any thing in you to be amended; yet consider, O 
 much admired youth ! how your heart is affected to- 
 wards Him who made, preserves and blesses you ; from 
 whose bounty you have received all those endowments, 
 the cultivation of which makes you the agreeable person 
 
OBLIGATION TO REPENTANCE. 201 
 
 you are. L)o you fear and do you love him 1 Do you 
 make conscience of employing your time, your talents, 
 your influence, as he has commanded you to do ! Are 
 you afraid of conformity to the manners and tempers of 
 the world, and jealous of friendship with it as enmity 
 against God 1 Do you hear his word with reverence, 
 and in the solemn time of prayer labor to check every 
 impertinent vain thought \ Are you restrained in your 
 conversation by his law, from giving in to that fashion- 
 able way of discourse, which at once indulges and 
 strengthens pride, sensuality or covetousness 1 Are you 
 desirous to live in subjection to God, and careful to in- 
 form yourself what he would have you to do 1 Is your 
 dependence continually upon the Lord Jesus Christ for 
 righteousness and strength 1 
 
 If conscience witnesses against you that you are a 
 stranger to such intentions and dispositions, (and thus 
 it does witness, unless you have truly repented,) then, 
 however admired, however in reality more serious and 
 sober than those of your own age, certainly your whole 
 life has been sin and provocation, perpetually repeated : 
 because it has been entirely under the guidance of a 
 depraved mind. Your study and aim has been to please 
 yourself, and to please men, whilst the holy will of 
 God and his honor have scarce had any place in your 
 thoughts. In the midst of all the decent regard you 
 have been paying to every one about you, God has 
 cause to complain that he only has been treated by you 
 with dissimulation and neglect, if not with scorn. But 
 now, if the fact really be so, that you have dissembled 
 with God, neglected and despised him; is it not a vain 
 plea against the necessity of repentance, to say that 
 you are innocent of the common vices of youth, and 
 have an unblemished character 1 For is not this charge 
 of sinfulness in your behavior towards the Most High 
 God sufficiently comprehensive, both in the eye of 
 
 9* 
 
202 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 reason and Scripture, to prove the necessity of your 
 feeling deep humiliation and self-abhorrence'? Does it 
 not make an entire renovation of mind absolutely need 
 ful 1 or can any one be absurd enough to suppose that 
 the guilt of withholding all esteem, desire and affection 
 from God, is in a manner cancelled by an amiable de- 
 portment to .brothers or sisters, relations or friends! 
 If a sense of your obligations to God as your Creator, 
 Redeemer and Sanctifier, has no share in directing your 
 pursuits and modelling your affections ; the difference 
 with respect to God must be of very little account, 
 whether your reigning self-love be gratified in a way 
 more reputable amongst men, rather than in one which 
 would expose you as well to shame here, as to the 
 wrath of God hereafter. In the one case as well as the 
 ot4ier, there is no sense of God, no practice of your du- 
 ty towards him ; and, therefore, unless true repentance 
 takes place, you still remain an apostate creature, in- 
 volved in all the capital guilt and misery of the fall ; 
 you remain a creature setting up your own will above 
 the law of God; consequently if you die under the pow- 
 er of such a spirit you must perish for ever. 
 
 Equally vain and frivolous is it (though so deplorably 
 frequent) for men to confide in the fidelity and justice 
 with which they trade, or in the general benevolence of 
 their character, as if this were to supersede in their case 
 the necessity of repentance. For you may detest every 
 species of dishonesty and villany, of cruel and oppres- 
 sive deportment, whilst pride and self-sufficiency reign 
 undisturbed in your soul ; whilst every temper by which 
 due homage is paid to God is a stranger to your heart. 
 Honesty and benevolence, upon whatever principle they 
 are exercised, are sure to be applauded by selfish men, 
 yet must these dispositions be the offspring of an hum- 
 ble heart before they can find acceptance with God. 
 Though I give all my goods to the poor, unless this love 
 
OBLIGATION TO REPENTANCE. 203 
 
 of my neighbor spring from love to God (which be- 
 fore true repentance can have nO place in my heart) it 
 profiteth me nothing ; it will not be found a virtue when 
 weighed in the balance of the sanctuary. So far, indeed, 
 is the practice of social duties from rendering godly 
 sorrow, hufniliation for sin, and absolute dependence 
 upon the blood of Christ unnecessary ; that the haughty 
 profane imagination of its doing so, as much needs 
 mercy to pardon it as the grossest act of injustice 
 towards men : since it proves the whole head and 
 heart, which could give place to such a thought, utter 
 ly depraved. 
 
 You have now been instructed in the nature of true 
 repentance, and the indispensable necessity there is 
 that every fallen creature should experience that entire 
 change of judgment, practice and affections which true 
 repentance implies. I would flatter myself, therefore, 
 that your conscience is now in some degree awakened ; 
 I would flatter myself that you have an earnest desire 
 to be informed what course you must take to be brought 
 into a state of true repentance : if this be your desire, 
 instead of multiplying directions, it will suffice to press 
 you to observe the few following : 
 
 First. Frequently read the Scripture with seriousness 
 and unfeigned submission to it as the method prescribed 
 by God himself for your recovery, and let your thoughts 
 dwell on what immediately respects your own case, 
 that is, the nature and workings of true repentance. 
 The fifty-first Psalm will unfold to you the heart of the 
 penitent contrite David ; and the fifteenth of St. Luke 
 the affecting return of a sinner in your own condition 
 to his much-injured father. The same inward and entire 
 change of heart is described at large in the fifth chapter 
 of the Ephesians, and in the sixth also, to the 17th verse. 
 Upon these and similar portions of Scripture you must 
 carefully meditate. In this study of the Scriptures, 
 
204> COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 humbly imploring the teaching of the Holy Spirit, you 
 may hope to receive his enlightening influences, to find 
 desires after God springing up in your soul, and to 
 feel the working of those very dispositions towards 
 him, which, as you have learned from his own word, 
 denote true repentance. 
 
 Secondly. Consider the corruption of your nature, and 
 the many sins you have actually committed. Only com- 
 mune with your own heart, and you will immediately 
 find your inclinations strongly bent to many things 
 which your conscience tells you ought not to be done : 
 and that you have a great aversion to other things 
 which are in themselves excellent, and ought to be done 
 by you j you will observe a miserable confusion and in- 
 consistency in your thoughts, a perverseness in youi 
 will, and a prevailing sensuality in your affections. 
 
 The fruit of this universal depravity you must also 
 carefully observe, as it has appeared in the multitude 
 of your transgressions. Think of the several places 
 you have lived in, and what, in each of these, your sins 
 have been: take an account of your offences against 
 those with whom you have transacted business or con- 
 versed with intimacy and friendship, or those on whom 
 you should have had compassion and exercised the 
 most tender love : mark those sins which have arisen 
 from your outward circumstances ; and above all, reflect 
 deeply on what is, strictly speaking, your own iniquity, 
 the sin to which you are most enslaved, whether pas- 
 sion, envy, unchastity, pride and self-conceit, lying, the 
 love of money or of esteem : take notice in how many 
 instances it has broken out, so as to leave uneasy im- 
 pressions on your mind, and yet has been again and 
 again repeated : after this, think how often you have 
 stifled convictions; how often turned away from the 
 offers of grace and calls to repentance : think of your 
 sins against a Redeemer ; reflect how long you have 
 
OBLIGATION TO REPENTANCE. 205 
 
 willingly lived in ignorance of his undertaking, disre- 
 garding his obedience unto death, his atoning sacrifice 
 for sin ; think of the despite you have done against the 
 Holy Spirit, resisting his motions, and excusing your- 
 self from a compliance with his secret suggestions. 
 And then, at the end of all, reckon up the several aggra- 
 vations of your sin, the judgments and afflictions, the 
 mercies and deliverances, the counsels and reproofs, 
 the light and knowledge, the vows and promises against 
 which you have sinned. 
 
 Thirdly. You must pray to the God of all grace, to 
 give you repentance unto life. Naturally you suppose 
 that you will have a disposition to repent just when 
 you please ; at least you suppose the alarming circum- 
 stances of sickness and approaching death will of them- 
 selves induce you to repent. But this is a vain and 
 proud opinion, which experience daily proclaims to be 
 without foundation, and which the Bible exposes as 
 false to every attentive reader, by calling repentance 
 "the gift of God." For to produce in the heart an abid- 
 ing sense and detestation of our own vileness, with 
 confidence in the pardoning mercy of God through 
 Christ, with a zeal for his glory expressing itself in 
 newness of life, (which alone is what the Bible means 
 by repentance,) to produce a change of this nature be 
 .ongeth only to the effectual working of God's Holy 
 Spirit. Self-love and pride, with all their force, with- 
 stand the charge of sinfulness ', every natural inclina- 
 tion of the soul rises up in arms, and opposes with all 
 its might true humiliation. At the same time, without 
 divine light and supernatural teaching, we shall never 
 discover any such loveliness in a just and sin-hating 
 God, or in obedience to his law, as to create abhorrence 
 of sinful lusts, too long cherished and indulged as the 
 sources of gratification and pleasure. Therefore it is 
 from the grace of God alone, the fountain of every 
 
206 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 good and perfect gift, that you must receive repentance 
 unto life. It is your part, as a reasonable and immortal 
 creature, to hear the command of God to repent ; and, 
 as a helpless sinner, insufficient to every good work, to 
 rely on the aids of his almighty Spirit, that you may be 
 obedient to it. It is your part meekly to confess the 
 aversion of your heart to glorify God by true repent- 
 ance, and to beg of him in whose hands are the hearts 
 of all men, that you may be turned to him, seeing and 
 bewailing the sin of your nature as well as of your 
 practice, of your heart as well as of your life, and de- 
 siring grace to approve yourself to God, in newness of 
 spirit, a sincere penitent. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 VHRISTI&JV CfR^CJES dLJVJD 
 nisp OSITIOJVS. 
 
 DISPOSITIONS OF A CHRISTIAN TOWARDS GOD GODLY FEAR 
 
 OBEDIENCE GRATITUDE TRUST GLORIFYING GOD 
 
 PURITY OF HEART. 
 
 As God is altogether lovely in himself, and in his be- 
 nefits towards us inexpressibly great, so nothing can be 
 more evident than that he ought to reign in our affec- 
 tions without a rival. But to yield this most rightful 
 worship to his Creator, man is naturally averse : and it 
 is owing only to the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel, 
 enforced by the power of the Holy Spirit, that the 
 christian renounces his natural disaffection to his Cre« 
 ator, and glorifies him as God. 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS GOD. 207 
 
 "The grace of God," saith the Scripture, "which 
 bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men j" not 
 merely enjoining them by the force of a command, but 
 " teaching them," that is, by the communication of di- 
 vine knowledge, " to deny ungodliness and worldly 
 lusts;" to loathe the very thought of insulting any more 
 their adorable Benefactor by rebellion, or of dishonor- 
 ing him by neglect. The doctrines of grace, like an 
 affectionate tutor, form men to obedience ; and when 
 clearly manifested to the understanding tfnd cordially 
 embraced, they make every duty we owe to our "Cre- 
 ator appear both rational and easy. They give us a 
 heart, a hand, and sufficient ability to exercise our- 
 selves unto universal godliness. 
 
 Having, therefore, already explained and established 
 those doctrines of grace which constitute the divine 
 knowledge peculiar and essential to a christian, I now 
 proceed to a particular delineation of that most excel- 
 lent practice, by which he differs from the enslaved mul- 
 titude of unbelieving sinners: that practice which he 
 esteems his bounden duty, and by which he shows forth 
 the praises of his God and Savior, who hath called him 
 out* of darkness into his marvellous light. 
 
 We begin with those various dispositions towards 
 the ever-blessed God, of which the habitual exercise is 
 to be found in the heart of every real christian. 
 
 1. The first disposition of this kind is godly fear. 
 This is one of those great springs of action by which 
 rational creatures are influenced. It is of the highest 
 importance, therefore, to have this affection exercised 
 upon some just object, so that the mind may, on the 
 one hand, be armed against vain terrors, and, on the 
 other, be duly impressed by those things which ought 
 to be dreaded. In this excellent manner the affection 
 of fear is regulated in the christian's breast. Temporal 
 evils of every kind he discerns to be nothing more than 
 
208 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 instruments in the hand of God, wholly subserving his 
 pleasure, and unable to affect man's most important 
 interest. Therefore he " sanctifies the Lord God in his 
 heart ;" and regards as " his fear and his dread," Him 
 who is too wise to be deceived, too just to be biassed, 
 too mighty to be resisted, and too majestic to be contem 
 plated without reverence and self-abasement. Very dif- 
 ferent is his fear of- the Most High from the terror of a 
 slave, that uneasy feeling which causes the object of it 
 to be considered with pain. His is the fear of a rational 
 creature towards its all-perfect Creator, of a servant to- 
 wards a tender master, of a child towards its wise and 
 merciful father. Therefore, in the same proportion as 
 he increases in the knowledge of God, he increases also 
 in the fear of him. And so essential is such a temper 
 of mind towards God, where his attributes are known, 
 that the bright inhabitants of heaven express themselves 
 as if they could not suppose it possible there should be 
 a reasonable being void of such a disposition ; for they 
 say, " Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God 
 Almighty ; just and true are thy ways, King of 
 saints ! Who shall not fear thee, Lord, and glorify 
 thy name, for thou art holy 1" 
 
 A christian fears the Lord, so as to stand in awe : he 
 can neither be bribed nor intimidated wilfully to sin 
 against him. But as he is encompassed with infirmities, 
 snares and temptations, so he finds it necessary at 
 some seasons, to the end of his life, to repel solicita- 
 tions to evil by reflecting upon the severity of God's 
 vengeance on impenitent sinners; and by meditating 
 upon the wrath of God revealed from heaven against 
 all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. In this 
 fear of the Lord is safety; and the longer he lives 
 under its influence the more it becomes a generous 
 filial fear. 
 
 2. Thi» fear, therefore, does not hinder, but promote 
 
 

 DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS GOD. 209 
 
 the exercise of another disposition towards God, which 
 is most conspicuous in every real christian, namely, a 
 readiness to obey God without reserve. He beholds his 
 Maker's absolute dominion over him founded in his 
 very being. Every faculty of his soul, and every mem- 
 ber of his body is a witness of his Maker's righteous 
 claim to his life and to his labors ; when he requires 
 them to be employed in his service, he does but appoint 
 the use of what is his own absolute property. Ever 
 conscious of this, he resolutely regards the authority 
 of God in a world which despises it : he uniformly per- 
 sists in obedience to him, though his natural corrup- 
 tions, his worldly interest, and the prevailing customs 
 of the world should oppose it. In his judgment the 
 command of God alone constitutes a practice reason- 
 able and necessary. He wants no higher authority to 
 confirm it; nor can any objections from selfish consi- 
 derations induce him to evade its force, or prevaricate 
 with respect to the obligation of the command.. He 
 makes his prayer unto the God of his life, to teach him 
 his statutes ; to set his heart at liberty from every evil 
 bias, that he may run the way of his commanjlments. He 
 says unto God, " I am thine, ! save me, for I have 
 sought thy commandments." And when, through sur- 
 prise, he has been drawn aside, shame, sorrow and in- 
 dignation succeed his transgression, and he becomes 
 more humble and more vigilant also against temptation 
 for the future. 
 
 3. Gratitude to God is also a distinguishing part of the 
 christian disposition. Where there is any degree of ho- 
 nesty and generosity of mind, there will necessarily be 
 a desire also of testifying a due sense of favors re- 
 ceived ; an eagerness to embrace the first opportunity 
 of convincing our Friend and Benefactor that we feel 
 our obligations. In the case of benefits and favors con- 
 ferred by man upon man, all acknowledge the duty of 
 
210 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 this grateful return, and all are ready to brand with ig- 
 nominy the ingrate who repays with ill-will or neglect 
 his liberal patron. But, alas ! where the obligation is 
 the greatest possible, it is often the least felt, and men 
 scruple not to treat with neglect the supreme Benefac- 
 tor of the human race. From this detestable crime the 
 real christian alone stands exempted. He perceives co- 
 gent and continual reasons for gratitude to God, and 
 Is impressed by them. He is deeply sensible of the 
 bounty of his Maker in all the providences relating both 
 to his body and to his soul. Food and raiment, health 
 and strength, he day by day receives as undeserved in- 
 stances of the loving-kindness of his God; and all these 
 common blessings keep alive a glow of gratitude to God 
 within him. But much more is he excited to thankful- 
 ness upon considering the mercies relating to his eter- 
 nal interest. He freely acknowledges that God might 
 have justly cut him off whilst he was living in rebellion 
 against his law ; or have left him to continue under that 
 dreadful hardness and blindness of heart which so long 
 had power over him. Instead of this, he can say, " He 
 hath opened my eyes and changed my heart ; conquered 
 the stubbornness of my own will, and given me an un- 
 feigned desire to be conformed to his ; made me a mem- 
 ber of Christ ; persuaded me by his Spirit of the truth 
 and absolute necessity of redemption by the Son of God. 
 I am able, in some degree, to comprehend with all saints 
 the length and breadth, the height and depth of the love 
 of Christ. I have a distinct view of that long train of 
 reproaches, miseries and torments, which my salvation 
 cost the Lord of life and glory. I behold on the one 
 hand the fathomless abyss of wo from which he has res- 
 cued me ; on the other, the eternal glory he has pro- 
 mised for my inheritance. Whilst I meditate upon ah 
 these things, and grow more and more intimately ac- 
 quainted with their truth, I feel upon my mind an in- 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS GOD. 211 
 
 creasing conviction that the Lord hath dealt bountifully 
 with me. I am glad to confess that no slave can be so 
 absolutely the property of his master, as I am of God ; 
 nor any pensioner, though supported by the most rich 
 and undeserved bounty, so strongly engaged to grati- 
 tude, as I am to glorify God, both with my body and 
 with my soul, which are his." 
 
 That such is the prevailing sentiment of a christian is 
 evident from the apostle's declaration. When he is 
 showing the powerful motive which influenced him, 
 and all the followers of the Lamb, to such eminent zeal 
 in his service, he says, " The love of Christ constraineth 
 us;" with a pleasing force it bears down all opposition 
 before it, like a mighty torrent, and carries forth our 
 souls in all the actings of an ingenuous gratitude and 
 thankfulness towards God. 
 
 4. Another eminent part of the christian disposition 
 is trust in God. The sin of unbelief, though so often 
 upbraided in Scripture, so dishonorable to God, and so 
 hurtful to ourselves, is still the sin which naturally pre- 
 vails in all men : and even the christian is sometimes as- 
 saulted and greatly perplexed by it. But though he must 
 confess that, in seasons of great difficulty and danger, 
 he is sometimes afraid ; he can say, with equal truth, 
 " Yet will I put my trust in God." He can and does ha- 
 bitually pay to his Maker that most acceptable homage 
 of placing his supreme confidence in him. He, and he 
 alone, can do this ; because he not only knows in gene- 
 ral that " great is the Lord, and great is his power, yea 
 and his wisdom is infinite :" but he has positive and ex- 
 press promises of grace, mercy and peace, made to 
 him. For as true repentance, humiliation and faith in 
 Jesus, have taken possession of his heart, and are ha- 
 bitually exercised by him ; so when he looks into the 
 holy volume, he sees God always described as full of 
 compassion, and abundant in mercy and truth to all 
 
212 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 repenting and believing sinners. The sight of this 
 constantly invigorates his hope and increases his 
 ;onfidence. 
 
 Besides, he is persuaded that God has given his dear 
 Son, not only as a pledge of his affection towards sin- 
 ners, but as a sin-offering for them. On the merit of this 
 sacrifice he builds his confidence j he fixes his depend- 
 ence, where alone it ought to be, on the God of his sal- 
 vation. " God hath promised," says hej " to bring every 
 one to glory who receives his only begotten Son and 
 trusts on his arm. He hath confirmed this promise 
 even with an oath : he has engaged himself by a cove 
 nant, ratified in the blood of his Son. This Son, as Me- 
 diator and High-priest of his church, now appears per- 
 petually before the throne of glory for all who come to 
 God by him ; he makes effectual intercession for the 
 relief of their wants, and for the gift of all things which 
 can edify, comfort, and make them meet for heaven." 
 Filled with this knowledge, and emboldened by it, he 
 trusts in the Lord, and stays himself upon his God. 
 " Though it would be presumption," he says, " and en- 
 thusiasm in me to expect to receive from God what he 
 has no where promised, or what he has promised in a 
 way different from what he has prescribed ; yet whilst 
 I am living by faith in the Son of God, and testifying 
 my unfeigned subjection to him as my sovereign Lord, 
 I cannot but rejoice in the thought that God is faithful, 
 who has given us exceeding great and precious pro- 
 mises, and that he is able to do exceedingly above all 
 that I can ask or think." 
 
 And as the christian first exercises trust in God, en- 
 couraged by the revelation he has made of himself in 
 the Gospel, and the promises he has freely given, which 
 none besides himself receive with sincerity j so upon 
 every advance he makes in knowledge and grace, the 
 grounds of his confidence in God grow clearer and 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS GOD. 213 
 
 stronger. His own happy experience confirms the truth 
 of every promise which at first engaged his dependence. 
 The truth of the word of the Lord is tried to the utter- 
 most by a vast variety of temptations and enemies, that 
 it may be made manifest whether there is any deceit in 
 it j but the experiment, though ever so often repeated, 
 .tlways confirms its value. He beholds his vile affections 
 weakened and mortified, the violence of his enemies re- 
 strained, the pleasures and hopes of his spiritual life all 
 exactly corresponding with the account given in the 
 holy word of God. Therefore, from this complete evi- 
 dence of its truth, he sees that it is good for him to 
 hold fast by God, and to put his trust in the Lord God. 
 And though whilst he remains in this fallen world, and 
 has the principle of corruption in his heart, he may 
 often find evil propensities and the workings of unbelief j 
 yet he is grieved, ashamed and confounded at their ap- 
 pearance ; he complains of himself unto God ; he cries, 
 Lord, increase my faith, deliver me from an evil heart 
 of unbelief! And thus he is enabled with boldness to 
 say, "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not 
 be afraid ; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my 
 song, he also is become my salvation." Isaiah, 12 : 2. 
 
 But what completes the christian's trust in God, even 
 under the most afflictive visitations, is the promise from 
 himself, repeated upon various occasions, to this effect : 
 >f That all things shall w r ork together for good to them 
 that love God." Rom. 8 : 28. His afflictions, therefore, 
 he believes are so far from being the scourge of an ene- 
 my, or the wound of a cruel one ; so far from coming 
 by chance, or upon a design of vengeance, that they 
 are sent with a view to his welfare. It is " for our pro- 
 fit " that God afflicts, to make us "partakers of his ho- 
 liness." A lively persuasion of this truth prevents the 
 cross from galling, though it does not remove it ; it 
 gives to every suffering a kind and friendly appearance. 
 
214 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 " Thou. O God, of very faithfulness hast caused me to 
 be troubled. — It is the cup which my Father hath given 
 me, shall I not drink it 1" 
 
 5. It is a distinguishing part of the christian's temper 
 in all things to give glory to God. We give glory to 
 another, when, with high esteem and cordial regard, we 
 declare the excellencies he possesses. The christian 
 constantly endeavors in this manner to glorify God ; to 
 convince all who observe his deportment, that he looks 
 upon the goodness, wisdom, holiness and sovereign do- 
 minion of God in such an amiable light, as cheerfully to 
 employ all his powers and faculties in his service. The 
 false motives, the spurious principles which gave birth 
 to so many fair appearances and seemingly good works, 
 have no rule in his heart. He is not restrained from 
 evil through the fear of shame or loss ; nor is it the 
 love of praise or self-applause which excites him to do 
 well : it is a sense of duty towards his Maker, and a 
 regard to his command. He offers all his social virtues 
 and all his religious performances unto God, with a pre- 
 dominant desire that his glorious Majesty may receive 
 more and more homage and service from himself and 
 all around him. The utility of actions is the only point 
 regarded by the world : they care not from what prin- 
 ciple they flow, provided good accrues from them to 
 society. But the christian knows that God sees not as 
 man sees ; that he regards chiefly the disposition of 
 mind from whence our actions arise, and above every 
 thing, the respect they have to himself. " God hath 
 commanded me," saith he, M to do whatever I do, hear- 
 tily, as unto the Lord, and not as unto men. When I 
 am discharging, therefore, and fulfilling the duties of 
 any particular relation in life, as a servant or master, a 
 husband or a son, a tradesman or a magistrate, it is my 
 unfeigned desire that all may perceive me to act con- 
 scientiously, because I esteem all God's precepts con- 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS GOD. 215 
 
 cerning all things to oe right, and am persuaded that he 
 has given us a law in these respects which ought not 
 to be broken. It is this holy aim, I know, which can 
 alone consecrate my conduct, make it truly religious, 
 and therefore good and acceptable in the sight of God 
 our Savior." 
 
 6. Inseparable from this design in the christian to 
 give glory to God, is a studious concern to approve 
 himself sincere before him by the purity of his heart. 
 He has a much nobler and higher aim than the hypocrite 
 or the mere moralist. They both can be satisfied with 
 a freedom from gross offences, and think God's authori- 
 ty sufficiently regarded, if the practice of all outward 
 wickedness be carefully avoided. The work and labor 
 of a christian, on the contrary, is within: to prevent 
 the deadly fruit of sin in the branches, by opposing and 
 mortifying it in the root. Though he cannot totally 
 suppress the rising of evil thoughts, nor eradicate all 
 •sensibility to bad impressions from outward objects or 
 inward corruptions, he is alarmed at their intrusion; 
 and with such an emotion as a sovereign feels at the 
 first appearance of rebellion in his kingdom, he cries 
 unto God to rise to his succor, and immediately to ex- 
 pel his enemies. What was at first an involuntary mo- 
 tion in his mind, (sad indication of his evil nature !) 
 he will not suffer to grow more exceeding sinful by 
 cherishing it, or by being at peace with it. For this 
 he regards as a plain mark of remaining love for sin, 
 which he is only restrained from committing by selfish 
 fear or prudence. 
 
 To illustrate this excellent disposition still more dis- 
 tinctly ? the christian, in youth and health, does much 
 more than avoid licentiousness. He is offended at wan- 
 ton jesting; he loathes the pictures a corrupt imagina- 
 tion would be painting before him, and resists the way- 
 ward desires of his heart. In business and merchandise 
 
216 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 he does more than renounce the bag of deceitful weights 
 and the frauds of villany ; he renounces the love of mo- 
 ney as becomes one who is a stranger upon earth, and 
 adopted into the family of God. In his behavior to 
 wards his competitors and his enemies, he does not 
 content himself with abstaining from vilifying them by 
 slander, or assaulting them with railing. He condemns 
 and watches against silent envy, secret animosity, and 
 injurious surmises. He appears vindictive and malicious 
 in his own eyes, whenever he detects himself listening 
 with pleasure to others who are speaking evil of his 
 foes, though the charge be founded on truth. He be- 
 wails so plain a proof of the power of irregular self- 
 love and uncharitableness in his heart. To mention no 
 more instances, the christian is not satisfied in refrain- 
 ing from speaking vainly and proudly of his own accom- 
 plishments and advantages, (this good sense will check, 
 and good manners teach us to be irksome to others ;) 
 but he maintains an obstinate conflict with self-admira- 
 tion and self-complacency in his own breast ; not de- 
 sisting till he has put these grand enemies to the glory 
 of God and his grace to flight before him. In each of 
 these, and many other instances, he ascribes unto God 
 the honor due unto his name, as the Lord of conscience, 
 as the God " who searcheth the heart and trieth the 
 reins, and requireth truth in the inward parts." He 
 " sets the Lord always before him ;" and this is the 
 purport of his constant desire, observed by the omnis- 
 cient Judge ; — rt Search me, O God, and know my heart ; 
 try me, and know my thoughts: see if there be any 
 wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlast- 
 ing." Psalm 139 : 23, 24. 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS GOD. 217 
 
 / 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 CHRISTI.1JV GRACES AJVlf DISPO- 
 SITIONS. — com, tinned* 
 
 IMITATION OF GOD LOVE OF GOD DEVOTION 
 
 SELF-ABASEMENT. 
 
 True religion has the honor and glory of God for its 
 object. It brings man back to his allegiance to his 
 Creator ; it implants in his mind every holy and gene- 
 rous disposition which tends to glorify God. Thus we 
 have seen that it teaches him to regard God with holy 
 fear ; it requires a cheerful and universal obedience to 
 his authority ; it inspires him with gratitude ; animates 
 him with confidence towards his Creator; induces him 
 always to aim at the promotion of his glory ; and leads 
 him to cultivate a purity of motive in all his actions. 
 Such are the dispositions, as they respect God, which 
 it is the object of Christianity to form in man. Besides 
 these, there are also others equally excellent, which it 
 is my design at present to set before you ; in all which 
 you will discover the same supreme regard to the Crea- 
 tor, and ascription of that honor and glory which so 
 justly belong to him. 
 
 7. To proceed, therefore, with this subject, I observe 
 that care to imitate God, in what he is the proper object 
 of imitation, forms a principal feature in the christian's 
 disposition. He prays and labors to have transcribed 
 into his own heart, and to express in his life the holi- 
 ness and righteousness of God ; his forbearance, mercy 
 and communicative goodness. And in order to behold 
 
 Duty of Man. 
 
218 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 these attributes where they shine with the greatest 
 clearness and most transforming efficacy, he contem- 
 plates them living and breathing in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, who in this, as well as every other sense, is rt the 
 brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image 
 of his person." Upon this all-perfect pattern he stead- 
 fastly fixes his eye, as a painter upon a portrait, when 
 copying from an invaluable original. He labors with 
 carefulness and persevering attention to bring himself 
 to a more perfect likeness of his God and Savior. It 
 is the work of his life to advance in this resemblance ; 
 strongly excited to it by the incomparable excellency 
 of the life and character of Jesus. For he beholds all 
 its parts exhibiting to his view a mind unpolluted with 
 any defilement, though inhabiting an earthly tabernacle; 
 a mind adorned with the most lovely dispositions; full 
 of all goodness, righteousness and truth ; not judging 
 by the sight of the eye, or charmed with what is most 
 grateful to the voluptuous ear; full of pity towards a 
 wretched sinful world, compassionate to its calamities, 
 unprovoked by its sharpest injuries, and bent upon do- 
 ing the greatest good, though suffering for it the most 
 cruel treatment. 
 
 In such a character there is every thing which de- 
 mands veneration ; and it is not possible constantly to 
 behold, as the real christian does, this fair beauty of 
 the Lord, without desiring to possess a measure of the 
 same excellencies. 
 
 The imitation of the life of Jesus has been enjoined 
 by his own command, to which the christian pays the 
 most cordial submission. " Ye call me Master and 
 Lord : and ye say well : for so I am. If I then, your 
 Lord and Master, have washed your feet : ye also ought 
 to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an 
 example, that ye should do as I have done to you." 
 John, 13 : 13, 14, 15. The force of this injunction makes 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS GOD. 219 
 
 all contrariety of temper to the mind that was in Jesus 
 Christ appear, to the apprehension of the true believer, 
 though found in himself, deformed and criminal. This 
 opens his eyes to see the glaring delusion of being call- 
 ed after the name of Christ, without " walking even as 
 he walked j" without " purifying himself even as Christ 
 is pure;" that is, without being endued with such a 
 conformity to the image of the Son of God, as includes 
 the whole chain of those graces which shone in him; 
 and implies an abhorrence, not of one kind of evil only, 
 or of another, but of the whole body of sin. Hence he 
 is in truth an imitator of his Lord ; inasmuch as every 
 excellent temper, which without measure dwelt in him, 
 has its real though limited and imperfect influence in 
 all the living members of his church. It is a declaration 
 descriptive of all real christians; "We all beholding," 
 in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, " as in a glass, 
 the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, 
 from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 
 2 Cor. 3 : 18. 
 
 This desire of imitating the life and character of 
 Jesus is strengthened exceedingly by the love the chris- 
 tian bears towards him. We imperceptibly imitate the 
 manners of those we admire ; without any studied de- 
 sign on our part, we resemble those who have gained 
 our affections by the greatness of their generosity, and 
 who justify our regard by the degree of their excel- 
 lence. It is so between man and man, though the rich- 
 est favors conferred below are small in value, and the 
 most consummate human character but the shadow of 
 perfection. How strongly, then, must the christian's 
 heart, which is exercised daily in fixing his attention on 
 the riches of the Savior's love, and the unspeakable 
 kindness expressed in the work of redemption, be excited 
 to imitate so divine a character — the character of him 
 who is his peace, his hope, his life, his God, and his all ! 
 
220 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN 
 
 8 The disposition of a christian is also distinguished 
 in a very eminent degree from the spirit of the world, 
 by the affectionate love he bears to God, and the su- 
 preme delight and joy he receives from the knowledge 
 of him. Man, sunk into bodily appetites, lifts not up 
 the heavy eye of his mind to God, nor understands 
 that he can be to the faithful soul a fund of present 
 comfort and happiness, richer than money, grandeur, 
 sensual gratification, or books of learning prove to their 
 several devoted admirers. Hence all expressions of 
 fervent love to God, though free from enthusiastic 
 nights, fall under the censure of the world. They assert 
 that they are nothing but fictitious representations j or, 
 that if any warmth of affection is really felt, it is to be 
 accounted for physically, as owing to the temperature 
 of the body, to a freer circulation of the blood, or to 
 .the powers of a warm imagination. The christian, on 
 the contrary, loves the invisible God with as much sin- 
 cerity of affection as the covetous love their possessions, 
 or the sensualist the joys of voluptuousness. 
 
 He loves God as that blessed Being who is infinitely 
 glorious in himself, in whom all excellencies meet to- 
 gether, and who possesses them all without the possi- 
 bility of ever suffering them to be impaired or sullied. 
 Enlightened by the Scriptures and the Holy Ghost, he 
 beholds such goodness in God as disparages whatever 
 bears the name of it amongst creatures. Almighty 
 power and unerring wisdom, unblemished truth, spot- 
 less holiness, and tender mercies ; every thing fit to 
 raise the admiration of an intelligent being he perceives 
 in God. His glory shines out in the works of creation 
 and of providence, and manifests itself in the redemp- 
 tion of sinners by Jesus Christ in its strongest light. 
 From these views he is excited to love God, and he ex- 
 presses that love by discovering high and admiring 
 thoughts of him ; by reflecting with pleasure on his per- 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS GOD. 221 
 
 fections as they appear in the works of nature, the won- 
 ders of grace, or the prospects of glory. This love of 
 God for his own perfections, though not ordinarily dis- 
 cerned in the christian at the first, yet as he grows in 
 knowledge and faith, becomes indisputably evident. It 
 is discovered even whilst he is in doubt about his own 
 interest in God: because he will yet esteem and value 
 him, be careful to commend his precepts, be faithful in 
 his service, and speak good of his name. 
 
 Besides the incomparable excellency of God, a chris- 
 tian has also other motives to love him. He loves God 
 as his chief good. " God alone," says he, " can be a 
 heart-satisfying portion to me. In his favor is my life, 
 whilst all beneath or beside him is replete with vanity 
 and disappointment, too mean and too transient fully to 
 satisfy even one appetite : but God is all-sufficient . 
 ! Whom have I in heaven but thee 1 and there is none 
 upon earth that I desire besides thee.' " 
 
 This love of God expresses itself in frequent longings 
 that he may share in his pardoning mercy, and be happy 
 for ever in his acceptance. For this he is content to 
 part with all ; the love of God is to him above every 
 thing. He can say with David, " I entreated thy favor 
 with my whole heart : Lord, lift thou up the light of 
 thy countenance upon me." He cannot be easy while a 
 cloud obscures his Father's face. The apprehension of 
 his displeasure is most grievous to him ; nor can he be 
 satisfied till God be reconciled. He cries with vehe- 
 mence, like David, {i Cast me not away from thy presence, 
 and take not thy Holy Spirit from me : restore unto me 
 the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free 
 Spirit." He discovers also the sincerity of his love to 
 God by a delight in him, no less than by desires after 
 him. His soul is at rest whilst he can call God his God. 
 In such a view he rejoices in the divine favor more 
 than he would in calling the -vhole world his own. It 
 
222 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 animates him in the highest degree to think that God is 
 " his portion." 
 
 And so truly does he rejoice in God, and delight in 
 him with sincere affection, as to be satisfied under all 
 the troubles to which he can be exposed. Amidst 
 shame and reproach he can support and solace himself 
 in the thought that God knoweth his innocency and ap- 
 proves of him. In necessities, distresses and afflictions, 
 it is a strong consolation that in this state the Lord 
 " knoweth his path," and that M when he is tried, he 
 shall come forth as gold." Even in the most perilous 
 and dismaying circumstances, when the judgments of 
 an incensed God are spreading consternation over whole 
 countries, the christian in his love to God still finds a 
 spring to cheer and refresh his soul, to which none but 
 himself has access. •* God is my refuge and strength," 
 says he, M a very present help in trouble. Therefore 
 will I not fear, though the earth be removed, and though 
 the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 
 though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though 
 the mountains shake with the swelling thereof." For in 
 the midst of all this fiery indignation issuing forth 
 against his adversaries, he still beholds God in Christ 
 Jesus, reconciled to him and to every humbled sinner. 
 
 Such as these were the glorious expressions of love 
 to God, even before the Lord Jesus Christ had ascend- 
 ed up on high, " leading captivity captive;" it cannot 
 therefore reasonably be supposed that the more expli- 
 cit knowledge of salvation which we enjoy should not 
 be more than equal to such a blessed effect. If the in- 
 spired Habakkuk could find such love to God in his heart 
 as to say, "Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, 
 neither shall fruit be in the vines ; the labor of the olive 
 shall fail, and the fields yield no meat ; the flocks shall 
 be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the 
 stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will joy in the 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS GOD. 223 
 
 God of my salvation;" — if a man of like passions with 
 ourselves could so love God as to find comfort in him 
 amidst the horrors of an universal dearth ; certainly we 
 may conclude that now the Messenger of the covenant, 
 the Day-spring from on high, hath visited the church, 
 the love which a real christian hears to his God will 
 enable his soul to feel at least as high a delight and 
 exultation in his favor And though, alas ! few are ob- 
 served in our own day to love God in a degree so fer- 
 vent and intense as this, yet the endeavor and desire 
 of all who are christians in sincerity is to do so. And 
 they discover a principle of love the very same as this 
 in kind, by their opposing the first tendencies in them- 
 selves to complain, though in a season of great tribula- 
 tion ; by rebuking themselves for the defectiveness of 
 their delight in God ; saying, " Why art thou cast down, 
 O my soul 1 and why art thou disquieted within me 1 
 Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him for the 
 help of his countenance." Psalm 42 : 5. 
 
 Whether, therefore, the christian be weak or strong, 
 still it is apparent that he delights himself in the Lord. 
 When he rejoices and triumphs in the midst of outward 
 troubles, his delight in God flames forth with vigor and 
 brightness. And when it is his grief and heavy burden 
 that he cannot do so, this is still as true an expression 
 of love to God, struggling in a sore conflict under the 
 weight of oppression. For, were it not the very joy of 
 his heart to be glad in the Lord and in every thing to 
 give thanks, he would not, in the time of tribulation, 
 be dejected and mourn on account of his want of joy 
 in God. Such delight in God, even in the midst of 
 prosperity, is a thing unintelligible to the world ; and 
 the utmost they can conceive attainable by man, is to 
 bear distressing troubles with calmness, therefore the 
 very desire of a christian to be " strengthened with all 
 might, according to God's glorious power, unto all pa- 
 
224 COMPLETE DUTiT OF MAN. 
 
 tience and long-suffering with joyfulness;" that is, to 
 bear afflictions with holy triumphs, in consideration of 
 what God is to him and has done, for him, is a demon- 
 stration that he delights in God. 
 
 9. It is an eminent part of the disposition of a chris- 
 tian towards God, to engage with diligence and pleasure 
 in all the various exercises of devotion and the use of the 
 means of grace. Men have naturally a strong aversion 
 to confession of sin, to prayer and praise, to hearing and 
 reading God's word, and coming to the table of the 
 Lord. They engage in these duties only from custom^ 
 or are diagged to them merely to pacify conscience 
 They are, therefore, as little employed in this mannei 
 as may he, being weary of the irksome employment 
 Hence all the devotion of the natural man is generally 
 comprised in a few minutes' vain repetition each morn- 
 ing or evening, and in an attendance at church on Sun- 
 days, in which he is conscious of no more pleasure 
 than a child feels when repeating by rote, words of 
 which he understands not the meaning. Or should 
 there be more outward practice of devotion than this, 
 it may spring from the popish notion that religious du 
 ties have in them an atoning virtue, and constitute a 
 man holy when punctually performed. 
 
 How different the temper of a christian ! He lives m 
 the constant exercise of a devout spirit. His recollec- 
 tion of the sinfulness of his past life $ of that hateful 
 period, when tf all the imaginations of the thoughts of 
 his heart were only evil continually j" when self was 
 his god, and God was nothing to him but a name ; and 
 at the same time his consciousness of blindness and 
 depravity still too much remaining, render it a relief to 
 his soul to po,ur out before God complaints against him- 
 self. As he increases in the knowledge of God and his 
 own duty, the more strong are his desires to prostrate 
 himself before the greatness of eternal Excellency, and 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS GOD. 225 
 
 to be filled with holy shame and confusion at his own 
 sin and defilement. Sometimes he finds the springs of 
 ingenuous sorrow opened within, and tastes a most 
 solid satisfaction in giving glory to the holiness of God 
 and his law. And when his affections are not thus in- 
 fluenced, he still engages diligently in the confession 
 of his sin as a means of beholding more clearly its enor- 
 mity and guilt, and of being impressed with a more 
 steadfast hatred of it. With pleasure also he addresses 
 his prayer to the Father of lights, from whom every 
 good and perfect gift cometh, that divine grace may 
 be imparted to him ; because he is fully persuaded that 
 the strength and the increase of grace must be main- 
 tained by God, and not by himself. Human virtues and 
 social qualities will grow, he sees, in nature's garden : 
 but trust in God, spiritual obedience, delight in him, and 
 all the tempers becoming a creature and a sinner, must 
 be the workmanship of God by his Spirit, which is given 
 only to them that ask it. Therefore, as natural hunger 
 and thirst seek their proper gratification, and the desire 
 of every living soul is always turned towards that 
 which it apprehends as its chiefest good : so is it his 
 hunger and thirst to receive out of the fulness there is 
 in Christ " grace for grace." So far, therefore, from 
 thinking prayer a burden, or performing it merely as a 
 duty, at particular times and seasons, the christian may 
 be said to *' pray without ceasing." All places, as well 
 as his closet and his church, are witnesses of the fel 
 lowship he maintains in this manner with an invisible 
 God. If his sleep depart from him, he is awake to the 
 sublime sensations of prayer and devotion. " With my 
 soul, O God," says he, " have I desired thee in the 
 night, yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee 
 early." 
 
 From the same love to God springs a real joy to 
 praise and extol him. " It becometh well the just," 
 10* 
 
226 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 says he, " to be thankful. Praise the Lord, my soul, 
 and all that is within me, praise his holy name. For he 
 hath delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from 
 tears, and my feet from falling. My mouth shall, there- 
 fore, be filled as it were with marrow and fatness, while 
 I am praising thee with joyful lips. This spiritual en- 
 tertainment shall prove as delicious to my mind as the 
 feast of the epicure to his taste, though combining the 
 richest dainties which luxury can procure." 
 
 And from the same love which the real christian 
 bears to his God and Savior, all things which belong to 
 God, his words, his institutions and ordinances, will be 
 objects of his pleasure and delight. " Hath God " (says 
 he) M written a book of knowledge and grace for the 
 use of man, and shall I not be glad to read and hear the 
 interesting contents of it X Shall I not converse most 
 frequently with those divine notices of himself, which 
 God has sent us from heaven] Yes, my delight is 
 placed on this book of God; ! how I love thy law ! 
 it is my meditation all the day." 
 
 Has the glorious God appointed a method of wor- 
 ship, and required men to assemble in multitudes to ad- 
 dress his divine Majesty 1 "I love," says the real 
 christian, " the habitation of thine house, and the place 
 where thine honor dwelleth : one day in thy courts is 
 better than a thousand." 
 
 Has God appointed pastors and teachers for the 
 work of the ministry, for the perfecting his saints, 
 for the edifying his body the church ; and promised to 
 bless and succeed their faithful discourses, and to be 
 with them always, to the end of the world! "It is with 
 raised expectations and steady attention," says the 
 christian, "that I will hear the ministers of the Lord; 
 and look through the infirmities of the speaker to the 
 appointment and promise of the God of all grace, who 
 has seen fit to choose men to be instruments and min- 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS GOD. 227 
 
 isters of grace to men their hearers. And has He, who 
 was dead for my sins, and is alive again, and liveth for 
 evermore, left with his church the memorial of his 
 abundant goodness and bleeding love, commanding his 
 people to feast upon it, that his sacrifice might grow 
 more precious in their eyes 1 I will, with solemn joy 
 and gratitude, join the faithful company who eat of 
 that bread and drink of that cup, as a public testis 
 mony that every blessing I have received of God, and 
 every benefit I hope for, does and will descend upon 
 me only through the atoning death of Jesus Christ the 
 righteous." 
 
 And though it must be confessed that it is not in the 
 christian's power to be always full of delight in holy 
 duties ; though he has too often cause to bemoan the 
 want of a more devout and spiritual frame of mind 
 when he is using the means of grace ; yet the godly 
 disposition of his soul suffers no such change. God is 
 still the constant object of his reverence and trust, of 
 his gratitude and love ; and therefore, whether he ex- 
 periences more or less pleasure in the solemn acts of 
 devotion, he is still punctual in them ; he grows not 
 weary of them, — but of the body of sin, which proves 
 so heavy an incumbrance, when he would have his soul 
 full of fervent adoration of God. 
 
 10. Humility is another peculiar and most distin- 
 guishing part of the disposition of a christian. By his 
 humility, is not meant his entertaining a worse opinion 
 of himself, or abasing himself lowes than he really 
 ought to do ; but his living under a constant sense and 
 acknowledgment of his own weakness, corruption and 
 sin, in the sight of God. All beside the christian dis- 
 semble and offend God in this matter. For though 
 some confess their own weakness, they magnify their 
 attainments, and over-rate what they own to be the gift 
 of God, because it belongs to themselves. They will 
 
228 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 not allow, that after all they have done, and all they 
 have received, their plea must still be this ; " God be 
 merciful to me a sinner !" The christian has learned 
 better the poverty and sin of fallen man, even in his 
 best estate. As the man who improves in learning, sees 
 more of his own ignorance when he has made a con- 
 siderable progress, than when he first began j so the 
 christian, the more he advances in the illumination of 
 his mind, and in a clear view of the extent of his duty 
 towards God, becomes more sensible of defects which 
 had hitherto escaped his notice, and is humbled for 
 them. " The commandment of God," he exclaims, " re- 
 quires in every the minutest instance, that I do nothing 
 forbidden by it, nor leave undone, in heart or life, any 
 one thing which it enjoins : that I should ever exercise 
 a perfect regularity of affection and desire, and ever 
 maintain a perfect rectitude of temper and of thought." 
 Having his eye fixed upon this purity, and acknow 
 ledging that God ought in this manner to be obeyed by 
 every intelligent being, he clearly discerns his own in- 
 numerable failures, and his inherent depravity is with- 
 out a covering. Therefore, when his deportment is, in 
 the eyes of men, unblameable and unrepro-vable, and 
 adorns the doctrine of God his Savior in all things, still 
 the sentiment of his heart is, living and dying, " Behold, 
 I am vile: Enter not into judgment with thy servant, 
 O Lord, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified." 
 Thus is the christian kept humble by his knowledge 
 of the law ; and no less so by the knowledge of the 
 Gospel. " Have my sins," says he, " rendered me so 
 abominable in the eyes of God, that it would reflect 
 dishonor upon his Majesty to receive my prayers, or 
 admit me to any share in his pardoning mercy upon a 
 (ess consideration than the death and intercession of 
 his own Son for me ; and can I in this state regard my- 
 self as any thing better than a guilty sinner 1 Shall I 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS GOD. 229 
 
 presume upon my own holiness, as perfectly free from 
 blemish and defilement, when I am not permitted so 
 much as to ask pardon, without imploring the mediation 
 of the Redeemer, that I may be heard!" Thus deeply 
 laid is the foundation of christian humility : a grace, 
 above all others, the very antidote to the first-born sin 
 of man, and to every delusion of Satan. By it the 
 christian is made meet for that world where God is all 
 in all : where the most exalted spirits maintain a perpe- 
 tual sense of their infinite distance from God, and abase 
 themselves before him continually in the midst of all 
 the transporting manifestations of glory which they en- 
 joy. " The four and twenty elders fall down before Him 
 that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for 
 ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne." 
 Rev. 4: 10. 
 
 These several particulars present those excellent dis- 
 positions respecting God which rule and govern every 
 real christian. Now if you, who have read this descrip- 
 tion, live destitute of any one of these dispositions to- 
 wards God your Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, here 
 enumerated, you assume a character, in calling your- 
 self a christian, to which you have no scriptural title. 
 It is true these several dispositions are possessed in 
 very different degrees by the members of Christ's body 
 shining forth in some with brighter lustre, in others 
 with less, as one star differeth from another star in 
 glory j yet the joint influence of them all is essential to 
 the very being of a real christian, as the union of the 
 soul and body is to the constitution of every individual 
 man. And with as much propriety and truth may a life 
 less corpse be called a member of society, as the soul 
 which is void of any of these dispositions be numbered 
 amongst the members of the mystical body of Christ 
 For what can be conceived more monstrous than a 
 christian who has no fear of God j a christian who pays 
 
230 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 no absolute submission to his authority : a christian 
 who is ungrateful, unbelieving, and altogether selfish ; 
 a christian without love to God and Christ, without 
 piety, without humility 1 Take away one of these dispo- 
 sitions, and you deprive the soul of that which is a part 
 of its spiritual life, and without which it must expire 
 
 Examine, therefore, and prove yourself whether you 
 belong to Christ. "If a man say he hath faith, and hath 
 not works," — that is, the tempers by which alone the 
 influence and power of faith can be discerned, can that 
 faith save him 1 You may omit or add what you please 
 in the character of one you choose to call a christian j 
 you may describe him as one who merely worships 
 among christians, or gives his assent to the truth, that 
 Jesus is the Son of God, the Christ that should come 
 into the world, — but the only genuine standard of a 
 christian is the written word of God. Now this speaks 
 aloud to men at all times and in all ages : it makes no 
 difference ; it allows of no abatement ; it affirms in the 
 most positive manner, and affirms it in a variety of dif- 
 ferent expressions, that ? they that are Christ's have 
 crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." Gal. 
 5 : 24. That " if any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a 
 new creature:" his heart, once profane, now pays a 
 supreme regard to God ; is willing to obey and submit 
 to him in every thing ; seeks his honor and approba- 
 tion ; loves him in Christ Jesus, and delights continually 
 in nearer and nearer approaches to him. 
 
 This, this alone is the genuine character of a chris- 
 tian, even were it not to be found in one of a million, 
 nor in one of a nation. To delude yourself with notions 
 and fancies, however popular, however supported by the 
 great and learned, that you shall partake of the benefits 
 of Christ in the eternal world, without being thus con- 
 formed to his precepts and example in this, is to make 
 Christianity deservedly the jest of infidels, and the scorn 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS MEN. 231 
 
 of all who can distinguish what is really excellent from a 
 pompous useless profession. As you prize, therefore, the 
 salvation of your own soul ; as you would not be found a 
 hypocrite in the day when the secrets of all hearts shall 
 be disclosed ; as you would not be the cause of infidels 
 blaspheming that worthy name whereby you are ci-led ; 
 ! take good heed to yourself, and see that for your 
 own part you are found a worshipper of God in spirit 
 and in truth: see that the most exact observer of your 
 manners and tempers shall be forced, if he judge with 
 candor, to confess that the name of God is great in 
 vour eyes, and his glory all your aim. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 CHRISTItlJV GRACES AJTU JDISJP€h 
 SITIOJTS.—con tinned. 
 
 THE TEMPERS OF A CHRISTIAN TOWARDS MEN 
 
 SINCERITY JUSTICE. 
 
 The Scripture teaches us that God has made all things 
 for himself. Yet notwithstanding the supreme regard 
 which the Lord Almighty ever bears to his own glory 
 he is so far from requiring any sort of homage from us 
 which is detrimental to the interests of society, that it 
 is impossible to please God without exercising every be- 
 nevolent temper towards man : for no parent ever more 
 affectionately studied the happiness of his own offspring, 
 
232 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 or delighted in their harmony, than the Father of the 
 spirits of all flesh delights in seeing us obey his great 
 command of loving one another without dissimulation. 
 
 And were the divine commands in this respect uni- 
 versally obeyed, the church of Christ would be a per- 
 fect picture of the heavenly world, one perpetual inter- 
 course of brotherly kindness. It is, alas ! too notorious, 
 that few in comparison of professed believers have ever 
 been subject to this law of love. Nevertheless, it is the 
 noble peculiarity of a real christian to be found in the 
 constant practice of those tempers which every man 
 living would have others exercise towards himself; and 
 to stand as much distinguished by the excellency of his 
 deportment towards his fellow-creatures, as he does by 
 faith, devotion and zeal towards God. 
 
 I shall therefore now make it my business to deline 
 ate those several lovely tempers, by means of which the 
 christian proves an invaluable blessing to society. And 
 with respect to each temper, I shall point out the scrip 
 tural motives which excite and maintain its exercise 
 
 May the God of christians make this representation 
 of their duty towards men effectual, to convince every 
 reader that if he has at heart the welfare of society, it 
 can only be promoted to the utmost, where the faith of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ is sincerely embraced. 
 
 1. In delineating the tempers of a christian towards his 
 fellow-creatures I shall begin with that eminent one, Sin 
 cerity. As a christian, then, you will esteem it your du- 
 ty constantly to speak the truth, according to the in- 
 formation you have received, in all the affairs and oc- 
 currences of life. You will lay a charge upon your con- 
 science to give no commendations where you think they 
 are not due; not to flatter any as possessed of excel- 
 lencies which you see not in them ; nor to speak as if 
 you regarded them with peculiar respect, when you 
 only design by this means to pay your court, to please 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS MEN. 233 
 
 the vanity of the human heart, or to deceive. For 
 though in the commerce of the world and amongst the 
 refinements of the polite, such artifice is valued as an 
 accomplishment, it is, in fact, a horrid perversion of lan- 
 guage, a piece of dissimulation which christian simpli- 
 city abhors. And as sincerity will be conspicuous in all 
 your conversation with respect to persons and things, 
 so the same excellent temper will display its influence 
 with respect to all your promises and engagements. 
 When you have bound yourself by a promise to do any 
 good office, or confer any benefit, the right of the thing 
 promised hath, in the court of conscience and before 
 the God of truth, passed over from you to the person 
 receiving the promise j wherefore you have, without his 
 leave, no more power to recall or reverse it, than if you 
 had given him a legal bond. Consequently you will es- 
 teem yourself obliged to stand to the performance of 
 your word, though it may be much to your own pre- 
 judice. And this in every instance where you have 
 made a promise, unless some conditions were specified 
 which have not been fulfilled, or something has af- 
 terwards come to light which annuls its obligation. 
 Above all, you will show an inviolable attachment to 
 sincerity when your testimony is required in a court 
 of judicature, and in decision of matters of right. Here, 
 divesting yourself of affection on the one hand, and pre- 
 judice on the other, you will explain the true state of 
 the case, and represent every thing without disguise, as 
 it has fallen under your notice. 
 
 In these several important particulars, and in all simi- 
 lar to them, you will pay a conscientious regard to sin- 
 cerity. Your motives also will be distinct from those 
 of the mere moralist, and infinitely more cogent. He 
 may be an advocate for truth and sincerity, and would 
 have all men practise it, because it is the cement of so- 
 ciety and the only foundation of mutual confidence. 
 
234? COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 Feeble motives, alas! when opposed to the natural sel- 
 fishness of man, and to those violent temptations which 
 allure the indigent, and dependent, to obtain money and 
 serve their private interest. 
 
 The consideration of the character of the great and 
 glorious God is, on the contrary, your encouragement 
 and support, O christian, in the exercise of this temper 
 He is himself the God of truth ; and it is, you know, 
 what he commands, and what he delights in. " These 
 are the things that ye shall do," saith he, " Speak ye 
 every man truth to his neighbor." Zech. 8 : 16. The 
 want of sincerity he stigmatizes with reproach, and 
 threatens every false tongue with eternal wo. In the 
 character which your God gives of an heir of heaven, 
 you are assured that he is one that " hateth lying," 
 Prov. 13:5; that •' speaketh the truth in his heart," 
 Psalm 15 : 2. "Lying lips," you read, "are abomina- 
 tion to the Lord." Prov. 12 : 22. A mark, that men 
 " are of their father the devil, and the lusts of their fa- 
 ther they will do." John, 8 : 44. And, we are warned 
 that "all liars shall have their part in the lake which 
 burneth with fire and brimstone." Rev. 21:8. 
 
 In you, therefore, these motives will unite their force ; 
 namely, a desire to please God, and dwell for ever in 
 his presence, and a fear of despising his high and ami- 
 able authority, of incurring his severe displeasure, and 
 the just punishment of everlasting misery. These mo- 
 tives will arm you so completely that you can meet 
 with no evil great enough to deter, nor with any bribe 
 sufficient to allure you from the practice of sincerity. 
 Add to this that the Holy Ghost, which every true be- 
 liever in Jesus Christ receives, is called " the Spirit of 
 truth ;" and his fruit "is in all goodness, righteousness 
 and truth." It is impossible, therefore, to be a christian 
 and at the same time to live under the dominion of a 
 false and deceitful tongue. 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS MEN. 235 
 
 If your conscience, therefore, accuses you in this 
 matter, O cease to flatter yourself that you are in any 
 degree righteous on account of all you may boast or 
 glory in beside. No ; unless you abhor falsehood, and 
 delight in sincerity and truth, be assured it is not mak- 
 ing many prayers, it is not extolling the riches of free 
 grace, or attempting to cover yourself with the robe of 
 the Savior's righteousness that will either excuse or 
 screen your heinous wickedness. On the contrary, if 
 you can thus monstrously abuse the grace of God it 
 only proves that your idea of him is infinitely low; 
 that you conceive of him, as if he could be pleased with 
 what would even kindle your own resentment, with de- 
 ceitful compliment and unmeaning adulation ; as if he 
 would regard words or speculative notions, whilst in the 
 weighty matters of his law you set at nought his coun- 
 sel. No : sincerity and truth are the very essence of 
 christian practice ; and if you are a believer you will 
 eminently possess these shining qualities. 
 
 2. It is the temper of a christian constantly to act to- 
 towards his fellow-creatures with Justice. Has the pro- 
 vidence of God placed you in some public post, invest- 
 ing you with the dignity of a magistrate, a senator, or 
 a judge] you will vigorously oppose oppression, and 
 punish the oppressor: you will be active to put salutary 
 laws in execution, to establish tranquillity and pro- 
 mote peace : you will be mindful of God, the high or- 
 dainer of all civil government, to whom every one en- 
 trusted with the discharge of -any part of it stands as 
 strictly accountable as the steward to his master. What 
 God so solemnly commands will form your public cha- 
 racter : " Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judg- 
 ment. Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, 
 nor honor the person of the mighty ; but in righteous- 
 ness shalt thou judge thy neighbor." Levit. 19 : 15. 
 " He that ruleth over men," (like the Prince of Peace, 
 
236 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 to whom the words primarily refer,) " must be just, 
 ruling in the fear of God : and he shall be as the light 
 of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning 
 without clouds j as the tender grass springeth ^out of 
 the earth by clear shining after rain." 2 Sam. 23 : 3, 4. 
 
 Have you riches in such abundance as to create nu- 
 merous dependents ? you will exercise christian justice 
 towards them all : you will scorn to grasp after the ut- 
 most farthing your estates can produce, till your ten- 
 ants, wedded as it were to the place of their nativity, 
 groan beneath the load of rents unreasonably advanced : 
 you will perceive an inexpressible degree of injustice 
 also in the fashionable custom of owing large sums for 
 your furniture, equipage and dress, whilst your trades- 
 men are almost at their wits' end to pay for the things 
 you call your own ; whilst they are daily tortured with 
 the dilemma of bankruptcy, if they recover not their 
 debts j or of ruin through the cruel resentment of their 
 opulent creditors, if they do. 
 
 Your rule is positive and express, " Owe no man any 
 thing, but to love one another j" and the opposite prac- 
 tice, though punishable in the rich by no human law 
 (except in extreme cases,) is marked as the object of 
 God's abhorrence, and the certain way to fall under 
 the severity of his displeasure. " Behold, the hire of 
 the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which 
 is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of 
 them which have reaped are entered into the ears of 
 the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the 
 earth, and been wanton." James, 5: 4, 5. The applica- 
 tion of this Scripture, from the day-laborer to every 
 person in trade, whose money is unreasonably withheld, 
 will be obvious and effectual to you, who regard the re- 
 proofs of God in his holy word. 
 
 But are you occupied yourself in trade or merchandise, 
 then the energy of your christian principles will show 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS MEN. 237 
 
 itself in a still stronger light. You will not suffer the 
 love of money to bias or corrupt your conscience. You 
 will take no advantage either of the ignorance or ne- 
 cessity of those you deal with, to put bad things into 
 their hands for good, or to exact an exorbitant price. 
 You will neither take, nor use, nor detain through force 
 or fraud, what is your neighbor's property. 
 
 Now if any one should say, it is not possible to live 
 so honestly in the present state of the world ; that the 
 righteous man, by dealing so conscientiously in the 
 midst of those who have no conscience, would make 
 himself a prey, and therefore must either leave his 
 trade or starve in it : I answer, that violent as the 
 temptations, and plausible as the pleas are, to conform 
 to general custom, in conniving at breaches of hones- 
 ty, and in living upon the wages of iniquity ; yet the 
 motives for you to be punctually just and righteous in 
 all your dealings, if you have any title to the character 
 of a christian, must still preponderate. For (whatever 
 is the case with others, who have never received the 
 word of God in deed and in truth) you know how ex- 
 press and peremptory is the command of your God in 
 this matter. You know that God, who indispensably 
 requires you to be honest, leaves no foundation for the 
 worldly and infidel excuses constantly urged to palliate 
 cheating, viz. the necessity of being dishonest in order 
 to prosper : for he pledges his own most sacred word 
 for your provision, if you will deal uprightly. Thus 
 saith the Lord the most high God, possessor of heaven 
 and earth, V Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers 
 weights, a great and a small, (that is, one to buy and 
 another to sell with.) Thou shalt not have in thine 
 house divers measures, a great and a small But thou 
 shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just 
 measure shalt thou have : that thy days may be length- 
 ened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 
 
238 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 For all that do such things, and all that do unrigrrt* 
 eously, are an abomination to the Lord thy God." Deut. 
 25 : 13-16. You hear him expressing his abhorrence 
 of the iniquity, so customary in trade, in the most 
 alarming manner: "Are there yet the treasures of 
 wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant 
 measure, that is abominable 1 Shall I count them pure 
 with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful 
 weights % For the rich men thereof are full of violence, 
 and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their 
 tongue is deceitful in their mouth. Therefore also will 
 I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee deso- 
 late because of thy sins." Micah, 6 : 10-13. 
 
 Should it be supposed that regard for yourself and 
 family will gain the ascendency, and be prompting you 
 to use common arts of fraud j I answer, that even this 
 pressing temptation will be counteracted by the un- 
 alterable declarations of your God: "Wo unto him 
 that buildeth his house with unrighteousness, and his 
 chambers by wrong." Jer. 22 : 13. "Be not deceived: 
 — neither thieves, nor covetous, — nor extortioners, — 
 shall inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Cor. 6 : 9, 10. 
 Besides, the Lord that bought you with his own blood, 
 and from whose grace alone you expect the gift of sal- 
 vation, has commanded you to conform in your whole 
 conduct to the following rule : " Therefore, all things 
 whatsoever you would that men should do unto you, 
 even so do unto them, for this is the law and the 
 prophets." 
 
 Were you, therefore, after these full instructions, 
 which you receive as the irrevocable righteous decrees 
 of the Almighty, were you to do any thing unjustly, you 
 know you must renounce both the authority of God 
 and your interest in the redemption which is in Jesus. 
 You know, that the very day you determine to follov\ 
 the evil customs of the world in this point, you must 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS .MEN. 239 
 
 bid farewell to all solid peace of conscience, forfeit that 
 delightful communion with God, which has been the 
 sweetest enjoyment of your life, and give up the pleas- 
 ing expectation of a blessed immortality j for remorse, 
 for fear, or what is worse, for a conscience past feeling 
 
 Comparing, therefore, things spiritual with things tem- 
 poral, you will determine that honesty is always the best 
 policy. And though you know that injustice and fraud 
 possess so powerful an influence over the world, that 
 you may " run to. and fro through the streets," and 
 ?•' seek to find a man, if there be any, that executeth 
 judgment j" yet, unseduced and uncorrupted by the 
 multitude of sinners, you will pity those who purchase 
 gain at the expense of their integrity. " Surely," you 
 will say, " they have made their faces harder than a 
 rock. Surely, — they know not the way of the Lord, 
 nor the judgment of their God." Jer. 5 : 3, 4. 
 
 Further, Are you the head of a family 1 you will then 
 regard it as a grand branch of your christian duty, to 
 give unto your servants that which is just and equal. 
 You will not treat them with haughtiness, because of 
 their dependent state : you will recede from no engage- 
 ment into which you have entered with them, nor with- 
 hold wages which are due : you will make a conscience 
 of not exacting from them harder labor than they are 
 well able to perform. In case of slight misdemeanors, 
 you will not provoke them with threatenings, nor gall 
 them with words of abuse j nor, when you observe them 
 faithful in your service, be backward to give them suit- 
 able encouragement. Above all, you will abhor that 
 custom which is an indelible reproach to a civilized, 
 much more to a christian country, of abandoning them 
 in the time of their sickness ; and through fear of pay- 
 ing for their cure, turning them out without money, 
 without friends, when their condition loudly calls for 
 medicine, for attendance and compassion. 
 
240 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 The command of your God respecting the justice 
 due from masters to their servants is most express, and 
 the care he has taken to procure for them a benevolent 
 regard, from all who reverence his authority, is very 
 remarkable. You hear him, in their behalf, thus ad- 
 dressing you: "Thou shalt not oppress an hired ser- 
 vant that is poor and needy — lest he cry against thee 
 to the Lord, and it be sin unto thee." Deut. 24 : 14-, 15. 
 You are assured that the God of heaven and earth, like 
 an impartial loving father, equally resents the wrong 
 done to any of his offspring ; and with him is no re- 
 spect of persons. The knowledge of this will lead you 
 to regard your domestic dependents in a respectful 
 light ; it will lead you to repress the emotions of a self- 
 ish, hasty spirit, as the faithful Job was wont to do: r< If 
 I did despise the cause of my man-servant or of my 
 maid-servant, when they contended with me :" — that is, 
 if in any matter of debate betwixt them and myself, 1 
 paid little regard to justice, condemning and accusing 
 them when guiltless, or treating them with harshness 
 because in my power ; — "what shall I then do when 
 'God riseth upl and when he visiteth, what shall I an- 
 swer him? Did not he that made me in the womb, 
 make him 3 and did not one fashion us in the womb V 
 Job, 31 : 13-15. Thus the awful thought that you have 
 a Master in heaven, will regulate your deportment to- 
 wards your fellow-creatures, over whom his providence 
 has given you authority. 
 
 So essential to the character of a real christian is this 
 part of justice, which is due from all masters to their 
 servants, that whosoever lives in the violation of this 
 duty does but expose himself and the faith of Jesus to 
 derision, by pretending a regard for it. For what can 
 be more absurd, what more odious, than a man pretend- 
 ing to be a follower of Jesus, who is a tyrant in his 
 house, and frantic towards his servants '! One of the 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS MEN. 241 
 
 most melancholy objects on earth is a passionate go- 
 vernor of a family, calling himself a believer, and valu 
 ing himself on his relation to Christ. All the servants 
 who are connected with him, and all who observe his 
 carriage towards them, will be led to despise and to re- 
 vile that religion which they see joined with such loath 
 some hypocrisy. Out of regard, therefore, to the name 
 and Gospel of Jesus, that it may not through you be 
 blasphemed, as well as from a sense of interest and a 
 love to the commands of your Savior, you, O christian ! 
 will give no occasion for your servants to complain of 
 your unjust deportment towards them. 
 
 But if, instead of the place of authority and govern- 
 ment, the all-wise God has fixed you in that of subjec- 
 tion, as a servant or an apprentice, you will faithfully 
 follow the directions which the Scripture gives you 
 for the exercise of justice in that condition of life. You 
 will abhor the thought of wasting, embezzling, or se- 
 creting to your own use any of your master's money, 
 goods or provisions. You will neither do this yourself 
 nor basely connive at others who are wicked enough to 
 do it. You will not see things spoiled before your eyes; 
 nor give away to tattlers and busy-bodies what is not 
 your own to give. You will not be idle and slothful 
 because those are absent who are to overlook you and 
 force you to diligence. You will think it your duty to 
 consult the interest of your master, and to make it in 
 some sense your own. 
 
 The motives which influence you, if you have any 
 title to be called a christian, to do so much more in 
 this respect than it is common to find other servants 
 doing, are peculiar and mighty in operation. You will 
 act thus from a principle of conscience — concerned to 
 be approved by God in your behavior, and determined 
 to do nothing knowingly and wilfully that is offensive 
 to him, whether any besides himself are present to ob- 
 
 Dntv of Wan. I * 
 
242 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN 
 
 serve you, or not. From a desire also to adorn and 
 recommend to others that Gospel of which you know 
 the excellency, you will be uniform in the practice of 
 honesty and justice. In this substantial manner you 
 will evidence that your faith is more than a barren no* 
 tion ; by proving that it makes you worthy of all the 
 confidence your master can place in you, and that it 
 preserves you from falling into those lies or frauds so 
 generally the practice of servants in almost every fami- 
 ly. This conscientious honesty you will regard as one 
 of the most substantial proofs that you know God. 
 You will judge that your master must necessarily mock 
 at your religion, and with justice too, however zealous 
 you may seem, if he should find that you pilfer as 
 others, and that you are not to be trusted when re- 
 moved from his inspection. 
 
 Now whatever opposition and hatred you may incur 
 by such conscientious deportment, you will patiently 
 endure ; assured that in doing your duty in this man- 
 ner, and upon these principles, you shall receive from 
 God the gracious reward of an everlasting inheritance. 
 And though the value of your services, or the things in 
 which you discover your integrity, be little in the judg- 
 ment of the world j you know they shall witness for 
 you that you were faithful and obedient, and like the 
 widow's mite, be as much in the sight of God as greatei 
 services : since he, where there is a willing mind, ac 
 cepteth according to what a man hath, and not accord 
 i/ig to what he hath not. 
 
 But lest such promises should not alone prove sufrV 
 cient to animate you to the practice of justice, you 
 know from the infallible word of God that no fraud, 
 however common, however slightly thought of, either 
 in wasting your master's substance or neglecting his 
 business, much less in purloining his goods, if persisted 
 in, will be overlooked ; that H every one that dooth 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS MEN. 243 
 
 wrong, shall receive for the wrong that he doeth," whe- 
 ther poor or rich, master or servant. 
 
 Another important instance in which every real chris- 
 tian manifests his impartial love of justice, is by pay- 
 ing those customs or duties which are by law enacted. 
 This very thing is expressly mentioned and enjoined 
 by the command of your God. You are to give " tri- 
 bute to whom tribute, and custom to whom custom is 
 due." Besides this most express command, you have 
 the example of your Redeemer. When he had neither 
 silver nor gold, he wrought a miracle that he might 
 pay the tribute exacted of him and his poor disciple. 
 He did this, rather than seem to countenance the ini- 
 quity of defrauding the crown of its just revenues. 
 You will therefore renounce the custom too common 
 in trade, of attempting either to bribe the public offi- 
 cers to betray their trust, or to elude their utmost 
 vigilance. You will renounce such practices as utterly 
 irreconcilable with any regard to christian duty. 
 
 The last instance of justice which I shall insist on, 
 is that of restitution to all whom you have wilfully in- 
 jured, either in their souls or their bodies, their estate 
 or reputation. Have you led any friend or acquaint- 
 ance into error, or tempted them to sin? Have you 
 solicited and obtained their compliance to some base 
 and guilty practice 1 The first step you will necessa- 
 rily take, when you yourself repent and believe in 
 Jesus, will be to endeavor to recover from danger 
 your companions in iniquity; and, as far as lieth in 
 you, to make them sensible of the crimes in which 
 you have shared, alas ! so deeply with them. In case 
 you have defrauded any one, you will (like Zaccheus 
 upon his first receiving the Savior) make what restitu- 
 tion you are able ; esteeming it a baseness provoking 
 in the sight of God and man, to live yourself in super- 
 fluities, whilst others are suffering loss through your 
 
24)4 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 former injustice. All evidences of the truth of your 
 faith you must esteem utterly deceitful, if you can 
 enjoy the spoils of which you have defrauded your 
 neighbor. 
 
 Further, as a good name is rather to be chosen than 
 great riches, if at any time, through private resentment 
 or licentiousness of speech, you have been either the 
 inventor or propagator of a falsehood to the injury of 
 your neighbor; you will think it a part of justice to 
 make a particular retraction of the calumny you advan- 
 ced. For though it may be prejudicial to your own 
 reputation thus to point out the truth ; though it may 
 make the world abate the esteem which they at present 
 have for you ; this esteem belongs not to you, but to 
 the person you have injured ; and to him you must re- 
 turn it, though you expose yourself. For however mor- 
 tifying this procedure may appear, it is absolutely ne- 
 cessary ; and is the only proof that you repent, and 
 abhor the falsehood and licentiousness of your tongue. 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS MEN. 245 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 CHJfclSTI&Jr GRACES AJVJD DISPO- 
 SITIONS*— con tinned* 
 
 MERCY MEEKNESS. 
 
 Of sincerity and justice, as essentially requisite to 
 the character of a christian, we have already spoken. 
 These virtues, when practised in the degree in which 
 they have been here explained, are too often thought, 
 to comprehend all that can be required of man. It must 
 however be remembered that these are but the least 
 considerable of the branches which spring from the 
 root of faith in Christ. Where this root is fixed in the 
 heart, such negative righteousness towards men will in 
 no wise be deemed sufficient, nor will you rest satisfied 
 with bare freedom from wilfully injuring, or deceiving 
 any of your fellow-creatures; on the contrary, to the con- 
 scientious observance of truth and justice you will add, 
 
 3. The love and practice of Mercy. Whenever the 
 providence of God places the miserable before your 
 eyes, as it did of old the wounded traveller before the 
 priest and Levite, you will be moved to compassion. 
 Their pains and diseases of body, their troubles and 
 distresses of mind, their necessitous circumstances, 
 their unjust sufferings from others, and even the mise- 
 ries brought upon themselves by their own iniquity, 
 will excite in you a fellow-feeling for them. So that if 
 you have wealth, such objects will receive liberal relief 
 from your bounty. After the example of Job, because 
 actuated by the same spirit, you will become in the 
 distribution of your alms, " eyes to the blind, feet to 
 
246 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 the lame, and a father " to the afflicted poor. " The 
 blessing of Him that was ready to perish will daily 
 come upon you, and you will cause the widow's heart 
 to sing for joy." 
 
 But if you are not in circumstances to give plente 
 ously, still the temper of your heart will be no less 
 friendly and charitable than if you were. Though poor, 
 your bowels will yearn towards the distressed ; and 
 though you have neither bread of your own to deal to 
 the hungry, nor know where to make application for 
 their relief, there still remains one way in which your 
 merciful disposition will evidence itself — a way pleas- 
 ing to God and profitable to men ; — you will make 
 your intercession to the Father of all mercies and the 
 God of all consolation, to put an end to their afflictions, 
 or to support them under the pressure. 
 
 Further, you will exercise mercy, if you are a fol- 
 lower of the Lord Jesus Christ, towards those whom 
 either the injuries they have done you, or the debts for 
 which they stand answerable, have put in your power 
 to punish. In such cases, where mercy to the wretched 
 individual will not prove a barbarous lenity to the com- 
 munity in general, you will relax in your demands, and 
 waive the rigorous execution of the law. More espe- 
 cially, and without exception, where the appointments 
 of God's providence have disabled those indebted to 
 you from answering your legal demands, you will 
 abhor the thought of afflicting him M whom God hath 
 wounded." You will reject with indignation the world- 
 ly maxim of seeking some sort of satisfaction in lieu 
 of your debt, by causing the man by whom you suffer 
 to lie in a jail. For the same reason, you will in all 
 cases where the innocent must suffer with the guilty, 
 choose rather to be a sufferer in some degree yourself, 
 than bring many, for the fault of one, into misery, by 
 taking away the support of a whole family. 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS MEN. 247 
 
 Besides these cases, there is one in which a Chris- 
 tian's merciful temper shines with the greatest lustre ; I 
 mean in tenderly regarding the spiritual miseries and 
 dangers of the human race. It is, I confess, generous 
 and noble to alleviate and remove the sufferings of the 
 body, and to take a pleasure in doing good to them who 
 are in adversity, by liberal gifts. Yet how limited, how 
 partial, how transient are the benefits ! What can alms 
 avail to comfort, where every distemper of the mind 
 still rages 1 Pride, envy, hatred, wrath, malice, strife, 
 or sensuality destroy all good, all enjoyment of com- 
 fort in families. You relieve the family day by day, but 
 the husband abuses his wife, beats and terrifies his 
 children ; or the proud imperious wife vexes her hus- 
 band, drives him into drunkenness as a refuge from her 
 unworthy conduct ; or the children, after the bad exam 
 pies they see at home, grow in wickedness as in stature, 
 and are trained to mischief and to increase the guilt 
 and wretchedness of the world by their evil tempers. 
 In every station and walk of life, immortal souls are 
 provoking their adorable Maker and Benefactor to jea 
 lousy; spurning his counsel and his salvation, and heap 
 ing up wrath against the day of wrath. These are the 
 great objects which, louder than even widows or or- 
 phans, call for mercy, and the most active exertions of 
 our pity. These things will awaken a lively pity in 
 your heart if you are a christian in truth. You cannot 
 without a tender sorrow, see immortal souls provoking 
 the great God to jealousy, and spurning the offers of 
 his salvation. As you firmly believe all the realities of 
 the invisible world, you must be much affected with 
 such a melancholy spectacle ; M I beheld," you will 
 say, " the transgressors, and was grieved because men 
 kept not thy law." 
 
 And this compassion to the souls of men will inspire 
 you with activity and zeal to save them from ruin 
 
248 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 You will labor to turn sinners from the error of their 
 ways ; — by private entreaties and winning persuasions, 
 by faithful and strong declarations of their danger, 
 where there is an opportunity of speaking, any ear to 
 hear, or lucid interval of reflection; — by distributing 
 heart-searching books, and by assisting those who are 
 engaged in the important work of spreading the know- 
 ledge of the Lord. 
 
 If you ask, what is there peculiar to the real chris- 
 tian by which a disposition so extensively merciful is 
 excited and maintained! I answer, the reverence he 
 pays to the command of God, and the full persuasion 
 he enjoys of the truth of his promises; but still more, 
 the sense he h is of his own redemption by Christ, and 
 the agency of the Holy Ghost on his heart. 
 
 The command of God to be merciful is most express 
 and frequent : " If there be among you a poor man of 
 one of thy brethren, — thou shalt not harden thy heart, 
 nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother ; but thou 
 shalt open thine hand wide unto him. Beware that thine 
 eye be not evil against thy poor brother ; and thou 
 givest him nought, and he cry unto the Lord against 
 thee, and it be sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely give 
 him." Deut. 15 : 7-10. In every description of the tem- 
 pers which God enjoins us to show to our fellow-crea- 
 tures, the merciful temper bears a very distinguished 
 part. " He hath shown thee, O man, what is good : and 
 what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, 
 and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God 1" 
 Micah, 6:8. In his estimate, " pure and undefiled reli- 
 gion," as it respects our fellow-creatures, " is to visit 
 the widow and the fatherless in their affliction." No 
 duty is more frequently urged than this: "Be ye there- 
 fore merciful, as your heavenly Father also is merciful." 
 Luke, 6 : 36. "Be ye all of one mind, having compas- 
 sion one of another." 1 Pet. 3 : 8. 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS MEN. 249 
 
 And as these commands of God prove the necessity 
 of a merciful temper in all who are approved by him, so 
 do his repeated promises invite and encourage the chris- 
 tian to the practice of it. For though none of these pro- 
 mises imply any worth in a merciful temper, where it 
 subsists together with love of sin, or enmity to the cross 
 of Christ 5 though they are not to be construed as if 
 mercy would be rewarded independently of faith in the 
 Redeemer j yet are they of great efficacy to remove 
 the objections which are generally made by our world- 
 ly hearts against the exercise of love and bounty: since 
 they so fully assure us, that all acts of beneficence 
 which spring from faith, from love to God, and an obe- 
 dient heart, are well-pleasing to him, and shall be 
 honored through his grace with an immense reward. 
 " Blessed are the merciful : for they shall obtain mer- 
 cy." Matt. 5:7. " He which converteth a sinner from 
 the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and 
 hide a multitude of sins." James, 5 : 20. " A new com- 
 mandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; 
 as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By 
 this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye 
 have love one to another." John, 13:34, 35. Add to 
 this that astonishing declaration of the Redeemer's re 
 gard to this excellent temper, even from his throne of 
 judgment, and in the presence of the whole universe. 
 He will then reward every exercise of mercy, as if it 
 had been conferred immediately on himself, as if the 
 afflictions it relieved had been sustained in his own per- 
 son ; as if he alone had received benefit and consolation 
 from it ; — " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of 
 the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto 
 me." Matt. 25 : 40. 
 
 But still even beyond the force of these powerful pre- 
 cepts and promises, your own sense of redemption by the 
 blood of the cross will excite and maintain in you a rea- 
 11* 
 
250 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 diness and delight in every kind of mercy. You remem- 
 ber your npostacy from God to have been such, by na- 
 tural disposition, and to have been so confirmed by 
 practice, that it would have been just had God destroy 
 ed you, both body and soul, in hell. But, instead of this 
 insupportable doom, you, christian, know that God 
 " commended his love towards us, in that whilst we 
 were yet sinners Christ died for us." An instance of 
 mercy absolutely without a parallel, both in itself and 
 its beneficial efficacy to the church of God. This, you 
 know, is the only foundation of your peace and hope J 
 this is all your salvation and all your desire. In conse- 
 quence of your living under affecting views of such 
 transcendent grace, by which you are reconciled to 
 God and made his heir, the love of Christ will con- 
 strain you ; with a pleasing energy it will urge you to 
 all the various exercises of brotherly-kindness and cha- 
 rity. A delightful emotion of mind, resulting from these 
 news, peculiar to true believers, will impel you, even 
 without an immediate regard either to the command or 
 promises of God, to this practical conclusion, — M Be- 
 loved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one 
 another." 1 John, 4: 11. 
 
 Further, besides these awful commands and these 
 inviting promises, besides the warmth and strength of 
 God's mercy towards men, manifested in the death of 
 Jesus, the mighty influence also of the Holy Ghost is 
 promised to dwell with the christian. By his agency, 
 through the means of motives offered in the written 
 word, he is delivered from the unfeeling selfishness or 
 the partial good-will natural to the human heart. For 
 the fruit of that Spirit which distinguishes and infinitely 
 ennobles every true believer in Jesus, is expressly af- 
 firmed to be love, and to be in all goodness. 
 
 4. Meekness is an essential branch of the christian 
 temper. 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS MEN. 251 
 
 If you are a believer in Jesus you will not hastily 
 take offence, or yield to the suggestions of pride and 
 self-love. A trivial injury, a reproachful word, a small 
 indiscretion, or a casual loss will not inflame your mind. 
 Nay, supposing you are tried by some great provoca- 
 tion, you will watch over your own selfish spirit with 
 a godly jealousy ; lest you should be hurried into pas- 
 sion by ill-usage, or drawn by the misconduct of others 
 to dishonor your holy profession, to bring guilt upon 
 your own soul, and grieve the Spirit of God. Even 
 when you suffer such considerable injuries as render it 
 a duty to seek redress, you will still exercise meekness. 
 You will first use every mild method to bring, if possi- 
 ble, your adversary to reason. You will be disposed to 
 try arguments before punishment, conference before 
 law, and private admonition before you proceed to 
 make public example. And, if at length your own se- 
 curity or the common good compel you to seek relief 
 from the interference of public justice, even this will 
 be done by you with calmness, without passionate ex- 
 clamations or bitter reflections upon your enemy. 
 
 Further : You must, as a real christian, show the 
 meekness of your spirit by carefully avoiding just cause 
 of offence to others. For this excellent grace does not 
 more effectually support under provocations than enable 
 men to deny their own inclinations rather than give un- 
 easiness. It will make you cautious that neither your 
 words nor actions carry with them any provocation. 
 You will not be overbearing in company, nor positive 
 and warm in asserting your own opinion and sense of 
 things. You will be civil and respectful to every one. 
 Men generally know how to do all this where they 
 think it necessary to serve their temporal interests : 
 from better principles and from higher views you will 
 make it the habitual exercise of your life towards 
 every one. 
 
252 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 And to mention no more instances in which your 
 christian meekness will eminently discover itself, you 
 will show that you are under the government of this 
 temper in your religion. Instead of overflowing with 
 the gall of bitterness against those who depart from the 
 undoubted essentials of Christianity, you will endeavor 
 their recovery by calmly producing the strongest argu- 
 ments in demonstration of the truth ; and by cordially 
 praying that they may have understanding and a sincere 
 heart to perceive their force. You will abhor the thought 
 of covering your private resentment with the venerable 
 name of zeal for God's glory and for the good of man. 
 You will not think that contempt of your erring brother, 
 or passion against him, can be justified by any means, 
 or on any account whatsoever. Therefore, though it is 
 so common for those who call themselves christians, to 
 vent their rage against the adversaries of our most holy 
 faith, you " in meekness will instruct those that oppose 
 themselves ; if God peradventure will give them repent- 
 ance to the acknowledgment of the truth." 2 Tim. 2 : 25. 
 Thus extensive is the grace of meekness, that emi- 
 nent branch of the christian temper, as it respects our 
 fellow-men. 
 
 Now the peculiar motives which will excite and sup- 
 port its influence in your heart, if you are a christian, 
 are such as the philosophers of old, and their unbeliev- 
 ing successors at this day know nothing of; though in 
 both there has often been a resemblance of this amiable 
 temper. You will not be meek from a love of ease, 
 which leads some to submit to the ill humors of others, 
 rather than bear the trouble of contention, and by which 
 they gain the credit of sweetness of temper j nor from 
 a proud disdain of appearing to be hurt by malice or 
 perverseness, which would imply a feebleness and weak- 
 ness in your own mind ; but you will be meek because 
 this is the will of God concerning you. He commands 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS MEN. 253 
 
 you to " be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meek- 
 ness unto all men," Tit. 3 : 2 ; to put off anger, wrath, 
 hatred, variance, emulation, and strife ; and to put on 
 kindness, meekness, long-suffering." Your Savior, the 
 foundation of all your hope and access to God with con- 
 fidence, denounces a severe threatening against every 
 sally of unbridled passion ; " Whosoever," says he, " is 
 angry with his brother without a cause," that is, through 
 a selfish passionate spirit, " shall be in danger of the 
 judgment," shall fall under the anger of God : " and 
 whosoever shall say to him, Raca," — or thou worthless 
 fellow, — suffering himself to mock and deride others, 
 shall be still more severely punished, " shall be in dan- 
 ger of the council ; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool," 
 that is, shall allow himself to be so far transported by 
 his passion as to revile another, to represent him not 
 only as fit to be despised, but even to be abhorred, he 
 shall meet with still sorer punishment, " he shall be in 
 danger of hell-fire." So awful are the denunciations by 
 which you, O christian, are warned to watch against 
 every violation of meekness, and to regard anger as one 
 of the worst enemies to your soul. Besides the express 
 and repeated command of God, proving the absolute ne- 
 cessity of meekness, such honor is put upon this grace 
 as must make it the ambition of every christian to pos- 
 sess it : " He that is slow to anger is better than the 
 mighty ; and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh 
 a city." Prov. 16 : 32. The meek are pronounced bless- 
 ed, and the inheritance of the good land, wherein dwell- 
 eth righteousness, is promised to them. Matt. 5 : 5. 
 Meekness is distinguished as the principal w ornament " 
 of a christian, and as being " of great price " in the 
 sight of God. 1 Pet. 3 : 4. 
 
 Added to all these motives, there is one still more 
 powerful, — the astonishing meekness of that adorable per' 
 son , the Author and Finisher of our salvation. The in- 
 
 
254 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 spired writers always remind us of this great pattern, 
 and fix our attention on the cross of Christ, when they 
 would make us sensible of the hatefulness of an impe 
 tuous, quarrelsome or angry temper. " Let all bitterness, 
 and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil-speaking, b* 
 put away from you, with all malice ; and be ye kin*' 
 one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another 
 even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." 
 " Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we 
 should follow his steps ; who did no sin, neither was 
 guile found in his mouth ; who, when he was reviled, 
 reviled not again: when he suffered, he threatened not: 
 who his own self bore our sins in his own body on 
 the tree," that he might bring us to God. He, your 
 Lord and Master, was oppressed and afflicted, yet he 
 opened not his mouth. I must go, therefore, you will 
 say, and implore grace from God to imitate this perfect 
 pattern; since it is written, " He that saith, he abideth 
 in him," that is in Christ, " ought himself also so to 
 walk even as he walked." 1 John, 2 : 6. 
 
 A still more effectual means than any yet named, 
 which disposes every real christian to the exercise of 
 meekness, is what has passed in his own heart. Self- 
 abasement and shame for sin are inseparable from re- 
 pentance and true faith in Jesus Christ. A kind of 
 knowledge this, which greatly subdues haughtiness of 
 spirit ; and by so doing makes it easy to pass by those 
 provocations which set the proud and self-admiring in 
 a flame. Just as persons who have committed some 
 enormous crime, when truly penitent, find no resent- 
 ment of passion, whatever is said of them, or whatever 
 is done to them : so to your heart, when humbled for 
 your sin before God, this thought will readily occur, 
 under every provocation to wrath, M Of far worse treat- 
 ment am I deserving, and of a much severer trial of my 
 patience." 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS MEN. 255 
 
 This powerful inducement to suppress all sinful anger, 
 and prevent every violation of the law of meekness, St. 
 Paul urges in its full force. He founds his exhortation 
 solely on the sinful state in which we are all by nature 
 involved, as every true believer in Christ most clearly 
 knows. " Put them in mind," says he, fi to be gentle, 
 showing all meekness unto all men. For we ourselves 
 also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, ser- 
 ving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and 
 envy, hateful and hating one another." Titus, 3 : 2, 3. 
 
 As you make progress in the knowledge and practice 
 of true religion, fresh evidences of your own corrup- 
 tion will discover themselves, and prove so many re- 
 peated admonitions to pray for and exercise meekness ; 
 knowing with what rich forbearance God endures the 
 multitude of your own failings. For though the domi- 
 nion of sin be destroyed, the struggle between the flesh 
 and the spirit still remains, and consequently sufficient 
 cause for humbling yourself, till mortality is swallowed 
 up of life. 
 
256 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 CHRIS TMJV GH.1CJES ^IJVMf &ISI*0- 
 SITIOJVS.— continued* 
 
 CANDOR FORGIVENESS OF ENEMIES HUMILITY. 
 
 In delineating the character of a real christian, as it 
 respects the tempers he exercises towards his fellow- 
 creatures, we have already described him as sincere and 
 just in all his dealings, as merciful and kind towards all 
 men, meek and patient under all provocations. But, be- 
 sides these, other graces are still requisite to complete 
 his character. These I proceed to enumerate. 
 
 5. Candor is an essential branch of the christian tem- 
 per: it discovers itself by the charitable judgment which 
 it passes on the actions, the characters, and the inten- 
 tions of our fellow-creatures. 
 
 By these actions you are not to understand such as 
 are plainly condemned in the word of God, and declared 
 positively to expose men to the wrath of God : because 
 so far is it from any act of charity to strengthen the 
 drunkard or the fornicator,* the fraudulent or liar, the 
 covetous, the profane, or the careless, by flattering them, 
 or leaving them to flatter themselves that they shall es- 
 cape for their wickedness, unless they become new 
 creatures ; that it is joining with their invisible adver- 
 sary the devil, and giving him your aid, to delude their 
 souls till they are lost for ever. But besides the multi- 
 tude of evil actions and tempers, distinguished in Scrip- 
 ture by the name of sins, which " go before men to 
 judgment ;" there is a considerable part of human 
 conduct of a doubtful aspect. Now here is the pecu- 
 liar province for the exercise of charitable judgment : 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS MEN. 257 
 
 and in this place, O christian, you will esteem it your 
 bounden duty, and make it your practice. You will 
 watch over your tongue, to restrain it from condemn- 
 ing men without proofs, or merely upon the slight evi- 
 dence of a single report. You will be careful to inform 
 yourself of the particular circumstances connected with 
 the action in question : and when no sufficient light ap- 
 pears to justify a peremptory verdict, you will conclude 
 as candor and love direct. Thus, in the numberless jars 
 between near relations, and in contests about matters 
 of property, it is common to hear violent accusations, 
 which have no foundation, and plausible misrepresenta- 
 tions of each other by both the parties concerned 5 in the 
 midst of which very few can know any thing with cer- 
 tainty, and therefore all are bound to suspend their judg- 
 ment, and receive no ill impression from common fame. 
 With regard also to the characters of men, you will be 
 charitable in your judgment. The commission of a sin- 
 gle crime contrary to the tenor of the delinquent's life, 
 you will never cruelly construe into an impeachment of 
 his sincerity. You will not brand a man as an incorrigi- 
 ble villain ever after, because he was once guilty of a 
 dishonest action towards yourself ; nor proclaim another 
 to be a mere hypocrite in religion, because you have 
 once detected him in some wicked practice. You will 
 not immediately, as the manner of a vindictive man is, 
 cry out, that all pretence of conscience in such is only 
 cant ; and profession of the fear of God only a snare to 
 entrap the simple, or a cloak to cover iniquity. On the 
 contrary, you will remember how often the violence of 
 temptation, suited to your constitutional sin, has been 
 too mighty for you, or brought you to the very point of 
 yielding. You will call to mind, that the best of men, 
 even, those whom God himself has characterized as his 
 faithful followers, did not always persevere in the path 
 of duty without a blemish or a fall j they were overtak- 
 
258 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 en with faults, though they soon abhorred themselves 
 for them, and vanquished in future the assaults of sin. 
 You will acknowledge it very possible for such frail 
 creatures as men are, in their best state, to make a slip 
 contrary to habitual practice and acknowledged duty 
 
 Fair evidences, therefore, of repentance, will demand, 
 in your opinion, a favorable judgment of those who have 
 dishonored their christian profession ; and lead you to 
 conclude, that inward shame and secret sorrow for their 
 fall has exceeded all the open reproach which, as back- 
 sliders, they have brought upon themselves and religion. 
 
 With regard to the intentions of men, as in most cases 
 they can with certainty be known to God only, you will 
 esteem it your bounden duty to impute no evil, where it 
 is not manifest, nor dare to allow the injurious surmise 
 that such and such things spring from a bad design, 
 when you have no proof to substantiate the charge. 
 
 In these, and in many other similar points, you will 
 exercise a charitable judgment, because the command 
 of your God and Savior is most plain that you should. 
 " Judge not," (that is, in cases where you cannot have 
 a competent knowledge, and where God's law is silent,) 
 " that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye 
 judge, ye shall be judged : and with what measure ye 
 mete, it shall be measured to you again." Matt. 7 : 1, 2. 
 
 Your obedience to this command will appear most 
 reasonable, and be made easy by a witness in your own 
 heart. For you are conscious how often you have act- 
 ed uprightly, and yet have been charged with evil in- 
 tentions. Your own conduct has often been cruelly 
 misconstrued, often condemned, as being of quite an 
 other complexion than what you knew it to have been 
 You remember also how often you have done what you 
 ought not, — what you promised and vowed you would 
 not : that many prayers, much watchfulness and obsti- 
 nate conflicts were scarcely sufficient to gain you an 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS MEN. 259 
 
 established victory over your own wickedness. 5fou 
 know that when you fell, the fall was instantly lament- 
 ed j and though in fact wounded grievously, you rose 
 to renew the combat, earnestly striving to obtain de- 
 liverance from the power of your adversary. There- 
 fore, though you may be now a conqueror in the fight, 
 you will feel for others in the situation in which you 
 were once yourself: assured that men may really de- 
 sign nothing but the glory of God, and good-will to 
 their fellow-creatures, though they may sometimes be 
 betrayed into a breach of duty. 
 
 Such sentiments deeply impressed on your own heart, 
 will form in you a habit of judging of your fellow-crea- 
 tures with tenderness and mercy. 
 
 6. It is a very distinguishing part of the temper of a 
 real christian, to forgive and love his enemies. There- 
 fore, if you are entitled to the name you bear, your be- 
 havior under provocations will be quite opposite to the 
 custom of the world and the impulse of corrupt nature. 
 Is your character basely vilified 1 you will refute the 
 malicious slander, should it need an answer, without 
 retaliating abuse for abuse, or blackening your de- 
 famers. Should your foes proceed from ill language to 
 ill usage, you will still forgive, and prove the reality of 
 your good-will towards them, by pitying them in their 
 distress, by even serving them as occasion offers. And 
 though in some cases the very grievous wrongs with 
 which you may be oppressed, may justify and demand 
 legal redress, your heart will burn with no animosity 
 against your foes, whose violence has forced you to 
 this method of self-defence. And to advance still one 
 step higher, were the case ever to happen that you 
 should be left in the power of bloody persecutors who 
 are determined, unless you will renounce the christian 
 faith, to take away your life ; yet, even here, so sublime 
 is the holiness flowing from christian principles, you 
 
260 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 would feel a benevolent compassion towards your per- 
 secutors. You would pray for them to that God, before 
 whom it is equally dangerous and impious to dissemble. 
 You would entreat him to give them repentance to the 
 acknowledgment of the truth, that their sin may be pai 
 doned, and the joy of heaven finally become their portioD 
 
 Thus complete is the nature, and thus wide the ex 
 tent of the forgiveness and love which you will exer 
 cise, christian, towards your enemies. 
 
 The arguments which convince you of the reason 
 ableness and absolute necessity of this temper, are, as 
 they need to be, remarkably strong and affecting. Your 
 knowledge of God in his government and redemption 
 of the world, will lead you utterly to condemn and to 
 oppose the first risings of malice, or of hatred, even 
 against your bitterest foes. For you are thoroughly 
 sensible what manner of affronts and insults the great 
 God daily receives. You consider the condition of the 
 persons who offer them, and the obligations they are 
 under to him. You remember the glory of the Most 
 High, the ample means he has in his power instantly to 
 avenge his injured name, and to destroy his daring ad- 
 versaries in a moment. At the same time you behold 
 him slow to anger, full of long-suffering, and of great 
 mercy ; not willing that any should perish, but waiting 
 for many months, nay, many years, in patient compas- 
 sion towards them that hate him. 
 
 This adorable temper in the God of heaven, so con- 
 spicuous in the government of his providence, shines 
 still brighter to your mind in the plan of mart's redemp- 
 tion. By serious meditation on this scheme, you will be 
 led, christian, to reason thus with yourself; "Had 
 God been provoked with his enemies, as I am so impa- 
 tiently inclined to be with mine ; had he been prone to 
 resentment, or wanting in the riches of mercy, what had 
 become of us all 1 of a world in arms against him 1 Had 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS MEN. 261 
 
 God loved those only who first loved him, or waited to 
 give his inestimable blessing till we sinners had made 
 the first advance, where had been the means of grace ] 
 where the glad tidings of salvation 1 God, on the con- 
 trary, commendeth his love to us, in that wher. we were 
 yet enemies, Christ died for us. How inexcusable then, 
 how desperately wicked must it be in me, to want love 
 for a fellow-servant, though a fellow-sinner, since God 
 has had so much compassion on us all." 
 
 Farther, The force of this argument in proof of the 
 reasonableness of loving your enemies, is still consider- 
 ably more increased by your own experience of God's 
 grace and tender mercy to yourself. 
 
 You remember how long you lived in forgetfulness 
 and in horrid contempt of God ; as if you had been in- 
 dependent of him, or he unworthy of your notice : how 
 long you were seeking your happiness in the pursuits of 
 vanity, without inquiring, Where is God my Maker 1 
 You know he suffered you to survive all this insolence 
 of affront to him. In the midst of it, his mercy was not 
 estranged from you; he still protected, still provided 
 for you : he preserved you from dying in a reprobate 
 condition. At length he crowned his goodness towards 
 you, by giving you grace to see the guilt of sin, and the 
 efficacy of the Savior, and by forgiving and forgetting 
 all the evil you had done against him. This very long, 
 and very gracious indulgence of your heavenly Father 
 towards you, manifests the hideous deformity of a vin- 
 dictive spirit, and enables you to see how monstrous it 
 rrust be in you to listen to its dictates ; or not to return 
 love, whatever injuries you have received, when the God 
 of glory both has dealt, and still continues to deal so 
 graciously with you. 
 
 Therefore, though some violent provocations may 
 suddenly kindle resentment, and prompt you to cherish 
 the thought of returning evil for evil, soon the convic- 
 
262 COMPLETE DUTY Oi' MAN. 
 
 tion of God's patience and love towards yourself, will 
 make the transient intention appear full of injustice and 
 ingratitude to God, and totally unbecoming your guilty 
 state before him. Thus the hell-engendered spark of re- 
 venge will quickly expire, and love, instead of resent 
 ment, reign within. 
 
 Besides these arguments, the full credit which you 
 christian! give to every Scripture declaration, will 
 dispose you to resist every rising sentiment of ill-will 
 against your enemies. You are assured by the Lord Je- 
 sus Christ himself, that no one who harbors the least 
 degree of malice or hatred in his heart, can stand within 
 the limits of mercy till that detestable spirit is subdued. 
 So highly offensive is it to God, whenever found in such 
 guilty, sinful creatures as we are, that it renders us in- 
 capable even of praying, without increasing our sin : for 
 the tongue which holds any correspondence with a heart 
 envenomed by hatred, does but call for a curse, when it 
 calls upon God in those words which Christ has taught 
 us, *? Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that 
 trespass against usj" the man who does not forgive his 
 enemies, calls in these words for justice on himself in- 
 stead of compassion. The petition, dreadfully inverted, 
 sounds thus in the ears of God, M Forgive not me my 
 trespasses, as / do not forgive them that trespass against 
 me." And if any man persist in hatred of his foes, God 
 will answer him according to this true meaning of his 
 prayer. 
 
 In euch a forcible manner are you taught, O christian, 
 to forgive and love your enemies. And whilst these con- 
 siderations prove to you beyond question both the rea- 
 sonableness and the absolute necessity of the duty, the 
 grace of God is promised to your prayer, that what with 
 man is impossible, may, through the Spirit's influence, be 
 accomplished by you. For though injuries so affect, so 
 irritate our selfish hearts, that it seems an impracticable 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS MEN. 263 
 
 task to attempt to extinguish animosity towards our 
 foes, yet by the Holy Ghost there is given to every true 
 believer in Christ " a spirit of love, and of power, and 
 of a sound mind j" so that, through Christ strengthening 
 him, he can do all things.* 
 
 7. By continuing in the faith of Christ, and growing 
 in his grace, you will at length obtain true humility, 
 preferring every one before yourself. This indeed is 
 the crowning attainment of a real christian. An attain- 
 ment not barely surpassing what the world thinks re- 
 quisite to form a complete character, but even appear- 
 ing to the proud, big with absurdity and contradiction. 
 I shall show therefore in what sense, and on what ac- 
 count, you will prefer every one before yourself, if you 
 are advanced in christian holiness. You will do this, 
 not because you regard yourself as living in the com- 
 mission of sin as much as others ; for irresistible evi- 
 dence shows you the contrary. Neither does this pre- 
 ference which you give to every one before yourself, 
 imply any denial of the real change wrought in your 
 soul by the grace of God : much less does it suppose 
 that you might as well have continued, like the world 
 at large, in servitude to sin. Where it is so understood, 
 I should allow the objections made against this part of 
 the christian temper by men of superficial virtue and 
 predominant self-conceit. Then indeed it might justly 
 be said, " Is it possible to be so blind as not to perceive 
 
 * What gratitude is due to God for his word which teaches, and 
 for his grace which enables all who receive it to copy his example 
 in that most arduous work of overcoming evil with good ! The 
 highest degree of forgiveness at which Plato, the wise and renown- 
 ed, thought it possible to arrive, was to efface the very idea of his 
 enemy out of his mind : thus taking, by such annihilating scorn, a 
 secret but a proud revenge. How nobly superior the christian ! he 
 shows the most generous compassion to his bitterest foes : their in 
 juries he forgets, whilst he remembers their persons with good-will, 
 and is glad to show them he does so, when occasion offers. 
 
264 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN 
 
 the vast difference there is in the characters of men 1 
 And if I am allowed to see it in regard to others, how 
 can it be wrong to acknowledge as much with regard 
 to myself? What violence should I offer to my reason, 
 to attempt to persuade myself that a man who loves 
 righteousness and hates iniquity, is not to prefer him- 
 self to the disobedient and the lawless % v But let the 
 case be properly stated, and then I trust there will ap- 
 pear very sufficient grounds for a christian to take the 
 lowest place. 
 
 It is certain then, if you are much advanced in the 
 knowledge and practice of the religion of Jesus (which 
 is the case supposed) that you are sensible of much 
 corruption in your heart ; for to imagine otherwise, is 
 the effect of pride reigning and blinding the eyes of the 
 mind. It is certain also, that you are conscious of many 
 instances of unfaithfulness to the grace you have re- 
 ceived ; that you have many known omissions, and ma- 
 ny negligences in the service of God, to bewail before 
 him; and much defectiveness in those holy tempers 
 which ought to have been improved to a much higher 
 degree than you find they are in your own soul. At the 
 same time you clearly perceive what excellent advan- 
 tages and mercies you have enjoyed, demanding suit- 
 able returns of faith, love and obedience. You remem- 
 ber the alarming calls, the affectionate warnings, which 
 have made strong impressions on your heart ; the an- 
 swers which have been given to your prayers ; the 
 troubles, the dangers, the enemies from which you have 
 been delivered; together with the peace, the comfort 
 and joy you have so often experienced in communion 
 with your God. In a word, you are fully convinced 
 that much, very much indeed, has been done for you, 
 sufficient to have made you a shining pattern of holi- 
 ness. In this view, therefore, every thing betraying in 
 sensibility to God ; every secret sinful disorder of your 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS MEN. 265 
 
 affections, — which, with many who account themselves 
 religious, passes for nothing, — will necessarily wear 
 quite a different aspect in your eye $ it will afflict and 
 abase you. 
 
 Things being thus circumstanced with the humble 
 and advanced christian, I would now ask, where is the 
 palpable absurdity, where the fancied impossibility, that 
 each person of this character should judge himself, all 
 things considered, inferior to other men] or that he 
 should believe there is no other person who, had he 
 been blessed with equal helps and advantages, would 
 not have so adorned his christian profession as to sur- 
 pass his attainments % 
 
 The whole difficulty of conceiving that this temper 
 can actually subsist in the heart, arises from the self- 
 conceit so general and abounding, which is puffed up 
 with the least shadow of supposed pre-eminence above, 
 others. This hateful disposition it is, which makes men 
 so apt to prefer themselves to others on'account of their 
 own goodness, without considering how much more fa- 
 vored they have been, and without comparing the pro- 
 gress they have made with the means put into their hands. 
 
 The advanced christian is of a more humble and rea- 
 sonable mind : he blushes at his manifold and great de- 
 fects; he is ashamed for his faults, in the remembrance 
 of the rich grace of God bestowed upon him, and the 
 consideration of the excellency of his majesty. He is 
 too candid to think that others have been guilty in the 
 same degree ; the transition then is easy to prefer every 
 one before himself. 
 
 Besides this inward testimony, which will lead you, 
 if you are much advanced in the religion of Jesus, to 
 this humble estimation of yourself, the command is po- 
 sitive ; "In lowliness of mind let each esteem other bet- 
 ter than themselves." Phil. 2 : 3. A command express- 
 ly enjoined, as the only effectual preventive of " vain 
 
 OntV of M:in. 12 
 
%66 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 glory." And that this admonition is not to be interpreted 
 as relating to those only who walk worthy of their chris- 
 tian profession, appears evidently from a parable which 
 our Savior spoke on purpose to expose the sin of self- 
 preference He sets before our eyes a Pharisee and a 
 Publican. The former is a man honest, strictly consci- 
 entious, and very devout. These virtues he acknow- 
 ledges to be the free gifts of God j and he only prefers 
 himself on their account to the wicked and abandoned. 
 One of them he mentions in his prayer, without any 
 personal aversion, merely because he saw him in the 
 temple, and thanks his God that he was not so wicked 
 and base as this Publican. You know the judgment of 
 God in this case. The Pharisee was left in his sins, 
 highly offensive in the eyes of his Maker, because he 
 exalted himself above the Publican: " Because," says 
 our Lord, "he trusted in himself that he was righteous, 
 w.nd despised others," that is, in comparison of himself. 
 A fuller proof you cannot desire of the necessity of 
 entertaining the lowest esteem of yourself. This exam- 
 ple therefore will lead you, O christian, to understand, 
 that all who prefer themselves to others, adopt in fact 
 the sentiments of the Pharisee, tread in his steps, and 
 must have done just as he did, had the same thing oc- 
 curred to them. It will teach you, that as there were 
 none in common repute more wicked than the Publi- 
 cans, so there are none so wicked as to justify your 
 placing yourself above them. Hence you will learn to 
 be constantly on your guard against self-complacency, 
 as a dangerous though subtle enemy to your soul. You 
 will repel its vile insinuations, to which you will find 
 yourself exposed, whenever you hear of the faults or see 
 the wickedness of others. You will be jealous lest pride 
 should grow out of the consciousness of what God has 
 done for you ; and be afraid of nothing more than the 
 vanity of your own mind : remember that Truth itseH 
 
DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS MEN. 267 
 
 has thrice proclaimed, " He that exalteth himself shall 
 be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.' 
 From this true representation of the tempers of a 
 christian towards his fellow-creatures, it is evident that 
 he must prove an inestimable blessing to all in connec- 
 tion with him. For what a delightful union is found in 
 his heart, of useful and excellent qualities ! Who would 
 not rejoice to have that man for his superior or relation, 
 his neighbor or acquaintance, in whom sincerity and 
 justice, mercy and meekness, candor and universal be 
 nevolence, shine with continued lustre 1 Who must not 
 admire a man habitually exercising all these virtues, yet 
 taking himself the lowest place ; not soothing the vanity 
 of his mind by the applause he receives, or by any com- 
 parison of himself with others; but doing this one thing, 
 pressing forward, ashamed of his small progress. Such 
 is not the idle picture of what a christian should be, but 
 the practice of thousands who are living by faith in the 
 Son of God, as their atoning sacrifice and the Lord their 
 righteousness. In fact, every one who has a Scripture 
 title to the character of a christian, will thus walk in 
 this world, and be thus zealous of good works. 
 
268 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 HEUITIYE DUTIES. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN IN A MARRIED STATE 
 
 In the preceding chapters we took a view of the real 
 christian exercising sincerity, justice and mercy, meek- 
 ness, candor, love and humility towards all his fellow- 
 creatures. We now come to consider him discharging 
 those peculiar duties which are incumbent upon him in 
 the married state. 
 
 The mutual duties of christian husbands and wives are 
 fidelity and love ; the separate duties, support and 
 government, on the husband's part ; on the wife's, as- 
 sistance and obedience. 
 
 Fidelity to the marriage-bed is equally enjoined by 
 the matrimonial covenant, on both parties; because in 
 virtue of this union they become each other's property. 
 So that it is not possible for either to violate the nuptial 
 vow without a crime punishable in every well-ordered 
 society ; without disannulling the covenant of marriage ; 
 without justifying a divorce ; without incurring the wrath 
 of the righteous God, who hath said, tf Whoremongers 
 and adulterers he will judge." 
 
 In the eyes of all, therefore, who form their sentiments 
 by the Scriptures of God, adultery is abhorred as the 
 blackest villany. And so far must christian husbands 
 and wives be from injuring each other by violating the 
 marriage-bed, that they must be free from every thing 
 in their air, dress or discourse, which would encourage 
 wanton desires. Whatever has this tendency, however 
 polite and fashionable, they must shun as a hateful vio- 
 lation of the spirit of the marriage-contract. In their 
 
THE MARRIED STATE. 269 
 
 judgment, it must be no sufficient observation of con- 
 jugal fidelity, barely to be innocent of adulterous com- 
 merce ; they must maintain a purity of heart undefiled 
 by any unhallowed desire, or any lascivious jesting, 
 which discovers at least an appearance of it. Nothing 
 less than this is necessary, on the man's part, to keep his 
 marriage vow inviolate, and on the woman's " to show 
 a chaste conversation." A duty equally incumbent on 
 both: and for either to transgress here, is audaciously 
 to rebel against the plain command of the Lord God Al- 
 mighty, against his benevolent and everlasting ordinance. 
 
 To fidelity must be added mutual tender love. For love 
 is the life of marriage ; without which it differs as much 
 from the happy society the gracious God intended to 
 establish by it, as a state of servitude from one of free- 
 dom. When this union was first made in Paradise, it 
 was immediately declared, that the bonds of marriage 
 should prove stronger than the bonds of nature ; so that 
 a man should " forsake even his father and mother," 
 from whom he instrumentally derived his being, " and 
 cleave to his wife." 
 
 From hence it follows, that husbands and. wives, 
 though irreproachable, even in their own consciences, 
 in point of conjugal fidelity, are still greatly guilty if 
 they live in indifference, or slight regard to each other. 
 It is true, a failure in point of love does not, as adultery, 
 break the marriage-bond ; but then it defeats one prin 
 cipal purpose of its institution. For it was designed to 
 unite the hearts of the married pair as well as their 
 hands ; and to produce the delicious fruit of the most 
 perfect friendship, from the pleasing combination of two 
 persons, whose interests were by this means made inva- 
 riably the same. But, instead of these advantages, want 
 of love in either of the parties will pervert the state of 
 marriage into the most grievous infelicity and burden 
 of life. 
 
270 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 For this reason great stress is laid in God's holy word 
 on this matter. Husbands and wives are not only com- 
 manded to preserve the bed undefiled, but to maintain 
 also a most affectionate regard for each other. The 
 precept indeed is immediately addressed to husbar ds, 
 but the force of it must equally reach both parties en 
 gaged in the nuptial union ; ** So ought men to love their 
 wives, as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, 
 loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh ; 
 but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the 
 church." Ephes. 5 : 28, 29. The quick feeling which 
 every man has of the least injury done to his own body, 
 the invincible aversion to every thing painful to it, the 
 incessant desire of possessing it in health and comfort, 
 form the image here used to represent the strength, the 
 delicacy, and the perpetuity of conjugal affection. And 
 as our bodies do not partake less of our care and love, 
 on account of their weakness, deformity, or disease ; or 
 because they prove much more burdensome to us than 
 others of a healthier habit find theirs to be ; so no disa- 
 greeable qualities, no perverse humors on either side, 
 can justify the other party in withholding the tribute of 
 love. These faults indeed will make it more difficult to 
 deport ourselves with proper tenderness and affection ; 
 but, though severe trials of our faith and patience, they 
 by no means vacate the obligation of the married state. 
 
 This truth is imperatively urged upon the husband in 
 the conclusion of the precept, by directing him to copy 
 the tender love of the Savior towards his ohurch, in his 
 own behavior to his wife. As if it had been said, y You 
 yourself abundantly experience the care of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ over you, and observe it exercised over 
 your fellow-christians ; you see how he bears with your 
 negligences and your infirmities, — with many things 
 blameable and exceedingly distasteful to him : yet he 
 gfows not cold to your welfare, nor rejects you from 
 
THE MARRIED STATE. 271 
 
 among his children. Show you therefore the same ten- 
 derness one towards another, as the whole church ex- 
 periences from its head ; and never think you are either 
 of you at liberty to yield to moroseness, or to be void 
 of love." 
 
 Further ; christian husbands and wives must not only 
 preserve inviolate their mutual engagement of fidelity 
 and love, but their conjugal affection must be spiritual 
 also, both in its foundation and in its exercise. It must 
 not be built only on beauty ; for this is one of the most 
 fleeting things in nature, incapable, even while it lasts, 
 of maintaining its enchanting power. Hence those 
 who come together with rapture, enamored with each 
 other's form, often grow cold, and soon become dis- 
 tasteful to one another. At least there can be no se- 
 curity that this will not sooner or later prove the me- 
 lancholy event, when the foundation of love is so super- 
 ficial, so sensual. 
 
 But suppose that even good sense, good manners, 
 and the appearance of a temper formed for the dearest 
 friendship, engage the parties in a married union ; even 
 these amiable accomplishments, without Divine grace, 
 may leave them in great danger of estrangement from 
 each other ; for these excellencies do not subdue either 
 pride, or a love of independence, or of the world. Hus- 
 bands and wives, therefore, who have no better founda- 
 tion of their love than these charms, with which they 
 were at first struck, by finding more restraint in the 
 married state than was expected, or less reality of ami- 
 able tempers, often in fact lose the love they once had; 
 especially where the bitterness of misfortune produces 
 a change in worldly circumstances. It is too frequent 
 to see the well-bred, the sensible, the sweet-tempered 
 husband or wife, changed by the loss of fortune into a 
 fretful, complaining, irksome companion. Indeed, the 
 reason why this is not the case much oftener, is owino 
 
272 COMPLETE DUT5T OF MAN. 
 
 to the providence of God, which keeps men out of those 
 trials they are not strong enough to bear. 
 
 The affection of christian husbands and wives must 
 be established upon a firmer basis. The husband must 
 love his wife, not only for the charms of her person, 
 the sweetness of her manners, or even the affection he 
 knows she bears him ; but, above all, because their su- 
 preme Benefactor, the Lord of heaven and earth, hath 
 said, " Husbands, love your wives." The christian wife 
 must also love her husband principally in obedience to 
 the divine will; not on account of the superiority of his 
 understanding, the applause he receives, the honor of 
 his condition, or the cordiality of his affections towards 
 herself. For if conjugal love be not secured by con- 
 science towards God, a thousand various incidents may 
 make that union miserable which was happy before. 
 Some sudden storm of contention may arise, violent 
 enough to tear up natural affection by the roots. Some 
 bitter expressions may escape in the heat of passion, 
 which shall eat in secret as a canker, and- destroy all 
 confidence and peace. 
 
 Husbands and wives, on the contrary, in whose hearts 
 the love and authority of God reign, will be united to- 
 gether by the common object of their highest adoration 
 and all-sufficient happiness ; they will find their affec- 
 tion, like the law of their God, which has bound them 
 in so close an alliance, constant and unalterable. 
 
 And as the ground of affection between christian hus- 
 bands and wives must be spiritual, so must also be the 
 various exercises of it. To be solicitous to procure a 
 comfortable provision for your wife ; to abhor the 
 thoughts of leaving her in distress or dependence, 
 when your diligence or frugality may prevent it, is what 
 every married man must feel who is not sunk beneath 
 the level of humanity. On the other hand, for the wife 
 to express her love to her husband by a diligent dis- 
 
THE MARRIED STATE. 273 
 
 creet management of his family, by cheerfully joining in 
 every thing for their common good, and by studying to 
 make his life and home agreeable to him, is an expres- 
 sion of affection which may subsist in a heart altogether 
 void of the least savor of Christianity. Mutual and ear- 
 nest endeavors to be pleasing to each other, are often 
 found where the parties can see and hear each other do 
 a thousand things in open defiance of God's authority : 
 and where, instead of disapproving silence, and meek 
 remonstrance, on either side, they remain perfectly well 
 satisfied with each other. A most perfidious kind of 
 love is this, though every where prevalent ; a ruinous 
 confederacy against the cause of God and truth, in 
 which they encourage and strengthen one another, and 
 are the principal instruments of each other's everlasting 
 condemnation. 
 
 In a manner totally different from this must the affec- 
 tion which christian husbands and wives bear towards 
 each other, show itself. They must be most concerned 
 for each other's spiritual welfare : they must be kind 
 and tender-hearted inspectors of each other's conduct, 
 meekly pointing out errors, and with love admonishing 
 for faults which otherwise would have escaped notice. 
 They must converse together of the power, the glory, 
 the mightiness of God's kingdom, to kindle and increase 
 their mutual love towards him. They must prompt each 
 other to holy vigilance, and a frequent use of the means 
 of grace : they must associate chiefly with that sort of 
 company which tends to increase carefulness for the 
 soul, faith in Jesus, love to God, and all the graces of a 
 christian life. As the nuptial union gives each of the par- 
 ties much influence, which may prove either greatly ser- 
 viceable or terribly hurtful to each other's everlasting in- 
 terests, they must look upon themselves as bound in con- 
 science to use it all, against the corruptions of the heart, 
 against pride and unbelief, and the dominion of this world. 
 12* 
 
274 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 In this manner, with unspeakable advantage and de- 
 light, christian husbands and wives prove the spiritual 
 nature of their conjugal affection; and then they will be 
 sure to find it equally constant in youth and age, sick- 
 ness and health, indigence and plenty, lasting as theii 
 abode together in this world, and redounding to their 
 advancement in glory in that which is eternal. 
 
 Now real christians are the only persons capable of 
 dwelling together in the mutual exercise of such spirit- 
 ual and permanent affection; because they alone confess 
 their own innate depravity in the sight of God ; and, un- 
 der this humbling sense of themselves, use the means 
 of grace aright. They alone are constant and persever- 
 ing in prayer, for daily remission of each other's sins ; 
 for the Holy Ghost to help each other's infirmities, and 
 to grant daily supplies of strength against occurring 
 temptations. 
 
 These humble exercises of heart prove a fruitful source 
 of mutual endearment. They deeply impress each party 
 with a sense that they are connected by ties far more 
 noble even than those of wedlock : that they are children 
 of one heavenly Father, servants of one gracious Lord, 
 members of one body, and heirs of one glorious kingdom. 
 The lively sense of these inestimable privileges, and of 
 a common interest in them, has power to unite, even at 
 the first interview, those who were strangers to each 
 other's persons. Judge then how much more effectual 
 it will be, when increased and enlightened by daily 
 prayer, to prevent coldness and alienation of love in 
 those who are already united in fervent affection ! 
 
 Again ; it is satiety which often proves the bane of 
 conjugal affection. The parties by long acquaintance 
 grow insipid to each other; the husband grows more 
 reserved, or the wife loses her vivacity, and disregard 
 ensues. But the spiritual course in which believers in 
 Jesus are engaged, prevents this satiety : the infinite 
 
THE MARRIED STATE. 275 
 
 grandeur of the objects of their common faith, the im- 
 portance of their nuptial union with respect to those ob- 
 jects, joined to a mutual desire of obtaining salvation, 
 will not suffer that stagnation to take place in the mar- 
 ried state, in which otherwise it is frequently found to 
 exist. 
 
 Further : Strife and contention first cool, and then de- 
 stroy all conjugal affection. But the devout exercises 
 in which the faithful in Christ Jesus are employed, are 
 of great efficacy to prevent variance J or when in any 
 measure it happens, to heal it. For when they appear 
 before God, seeing and lamenting their own defects, 
 renouncing themselves, and praying that their repeated 
 offences may not be imputed to them, but remitted for 
 the sake of Jesus, how easy will they find it to confess 
 their own proneness to passion, to make merciful allow- 
 ances for each other, and to divide the blame, instead of 
 imputing it wholly to one side, after the manner of pride 
 and self-sufficiency ! By these concessions the conten- 
 tion will cease, and the difference end in a mutual self- 
 condemnation, and in earnest desire of greater vigi- 
 lance against any disagreement for the future. 
 
 Though the height and ardor, therefore, of natural 
 love, which usually precedes the nuptial union, and 
 flourishes after it for a time, may wear off and subside ; 
 husbands and wives, who are united in christian know- 
 ledge and principles, may be certain that a solid tender 
 affection will ever remain ; an affection far more ex- 
 alted, sufficient to produce all the happiness the mar- 
 riage state was intended to afford, and ripening more 
 and more as they grow in grace and every divine 
 attainment. 
 
 Besides mutual fidelity and love, which are branches 
 of duty common to both parties in the married state, 
 there are some also peculiar to the husband, others to 
 
27b COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 the wife ; and the conscientious discharge of these re- 
 spectively, will be regarded as matter of strict duty by 
 the faithful in Christ Jesus. 
 
 The province of the husband is to govern. " For the 
 husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the 
 head of the church." Ephes. 5 : 23. Therefore, when 
 the husband ceases to preside, giving up without just 
 reason the authority to the wife, he transgresses no less 
 than an officer in an army would do who surrenders his 
 command to the importunity and ambition of an in- 
 ferior. But then, as the head has no interest of its own, 
 distinct from the rest of the body, nor any advantage 
 over the other parts, (unless the care of directing and 
 providing for them be deemed an advantage,) so the 
 husband has no interest separate from his wife, nor any 
 private advantage flowing from his superiority. For the 
 authority entrusted with the husband by almighty God 
 is designed for the direction, the preservation and well- 
 being of the wife, and therefore can never be exercised 
 by any husband, who fears God, but with this view, and 
 to this excellent end : not with such arbitrary poAver as 
 men rule their slaves, but with such a benign influence 
 as the soul exerts over the body, presiding over and 
 governing it ; for the command, in the christian rule 
 of conduct, is, that M husbands dwell with their wives 
 according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as 
 unto the weaker vessel," 1 Pet. 3:7; that is, making 
 the superiority which God hath ordained and given 
 them, a reason, not of insolence and abuse, but of in- 
 dulgent tenderness. So that the authority lodged in the 
 husband, by being managed with propriety, instead of 
 proving a galling yoke to the wife, shall be found a real 
 source of greater ease and happiness to both. 
 
 Another peculiar branch of the husband's duty to his 
 wife, is to provide her with all things necessary, con- 
 venient and comfortable, according to his own rank 
 
THE MARRIED STATE. 277 
 
 and condition of life. He must express an alacrity in 
 letting her share in all the advantages he possesses, 
 and by evident marks of joy convince her, that he takes 
 pleasure in seeing her use, within the limits which God 
 has prescribed, all the worldly accommodations he en- 
 joys. And though conjugal affection renders any com- 
 mand for the husband to communicate in his joys with 
 his wife less needful, it is still necessarily included in 
 that sacred injunction, " So ought men to love their 
 wives, as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, 
 loveth himself, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh ; 
 but nourisheth and cherisheth it." Ephes. 5 : 28, 29. 
 
 The duty of the christian wife, and which for con- 
 science towards God she will observe, is to give aid 
 and comfort to her husband in the midst of his business 
 and labor. The good management of a family is a thing 
 quite different from making a provision for the support 
 of it. The former, in general, depends chiefly on the 
 wife j the latter is the husband's province. In this man- 
 ner the labor of life is divided, and if either neglect 
 their respective duty, much confusion may be expected 
 which it was one design of the nuptial union to prevent. 
 A christian wife, therefore, instead of affecting to be 
 above the care of a family, as if she was only made to 
 dress, visit, and be admired, like a statue or a picture, 
 for her shape or face, will M look well to the ways of 
 her household, and eat not the bread of idleness." Thus 
 will she give her husband a solid testimony of her re- 
 gard for him, by being careful to see that the fruit of his 
 labor, or his income, is not wasted through extrava- 
 gance, or consumed for want of female inspection and 
 order at home. 
 
 A second instance of the duty peculiar to the wife, is 
 obedience to the will of her husband. When Eve, the 
 mother of the human race, sinned through a vain desire 
 of knowledge, the most holy God was pleased to punish 
 
278 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN 
 
 that vanity with a disappointment of the very end at 
 which it aimed, by making that desire of pre-eminence 
 a reason of her subjection. It pleased God therefore to 
 declare that from thence forward her desires should be 
 referred to the will of her husband, either to reject or 
 comply with them in things lawful, as he thought pro- 
 per : " And thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he 
 shall rule over thee." Gen. 3:16 
 
 It is therefore nothing less than an open resistance of 
 the ordinance of God ; it is nothing less than a proud, 
 self-exalting contempt of the word of God, in a wife to 
 affect to rule, or to refuse to submit to the authority of 
 her husband. For this submission is ordained of God, 
 even from the fall of man ; and is confirmed again by 
 the command of the inspired apostle, that, " as the 
 church is subject to Christ j" acknowledging his power, 
 and submitting to his authority, though contrary to na- 
 tural inclination : " so let the wives be to their own hus- 
 bands, in every thing." Eph. 5 : 24. The plain meaning 
 must be, that in every instance where the command of 
 the husband does not interfere with duty to God, the 
 wife is obliged to comply, and give up her own will 
 without murmuring. 
 
 If it be urged, that the wife has frequently more un- 
 derstanding and ability to govern than the husband, 
 and therefore on this account may think herself excused 
 from paying obedience and living in subjection, the an- 
 swer is obvious : she has liberty to use her superior 
 wisdom in giving counsel, in producing such strong 
 reasons as are proper to correct a mistaken judgment, 
 and persuade to a change of sentiment or conduct. But 
 if the force of her persuasions prove ineffectual, sub 
 jection is her wisely appointed duty. Indeed, if more 
 than the liberty to advise were allowed on account of 
 greater talents, it must follow that authority is founded 
 on the superiority of intellectual endowments : a notion 
 
THE MARRIED STATE. 279 
 
 big with confusion and ruin to society. For suppose a 
 servant endued with more capacity and grace too (as 
 often is the case) than his master ; still how manifestly 
 incongruous would it appear, should this be urged as a 
 reason for his refusing to be under the control to which 
 it was indisputably his duty to submit; his duty, because 
 though allowed to be superior in understanding, he is 
 inferior in station. To attempt, therefore, to gain the 
 place of authority, or contend for it on account of gifts 
 and parts, is to abuse them to the subverting that order 
 which the sovereign Giver of them has himself estab- 
 lished. The christian rule is positive against such usur- 
 pation. It speaks thus : M Let the wife see that she re- 
 verence her husband ;" that is, in opposition to the vio- 
 lent pride and selfishness of human nature, let her with 
 carefulness watch her own heart, that she may not be 
 found wanting in submission to him ; for if she is, her 
 deportment is most unbecoming a woman professing 
 godliness. Let her look through her husband to God, 
 the author of the marriage union, and habitually call to 
 mind the holy appointment so plainly made known in 
 his word. 
 
 It is a case which too frequently happens, that one 
 party is brought to the knowledge of God and Christ Je- 
 sus, whilst the other remains in natural unbelief and 
 bitter prejudice against the power of godliness. Here 
 much of the comfort of the nuptial union must be pre- 
 vented : here, instead of animating and assisting each 
 other in their best interests, the believing husband or 
 wife will find a severe cross in the vain company, the 
 foolish discourse, the favorite pleasures, and the low 
 pursuits, in which alone the unconverted party can de- 
 light. Yet in these trying circumstances, the power of 
 christian faith will display itself to great advantage. It 
 will produce a persevering meekness, and patient wait- 
 ing in love, if God, peradventure, shall give repentance 
 
280 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 to the acknowledgment of the truth. It will excite to 
 greater circumspection in adorning the Gospel, so that 
 the mind disaffected to God and his great salvation may 
 be won over even "without the word." 1 Pet. 3:1. It 
 will provoke to earnest intercession with God to crown 
 his loving-kindness by making those who are already 
 united by the marriage tie, one spirit in the Lord 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 UEL^TIJ^JE DUTIES.— continued. 
 
 OF PARENTS TOWARDS THEIR CHILDREN. 
 
 The nearest connection in life after the nuptial union, 
 is that which subsists between parents and their chil- 
 dren. From this connection arise various duties, both 
 of a temporal and a spiritual kind, to the discharge of 
 which every christian will conscientiously attend. 
 
 1. It is a duty all parents owe their children, to ac- 
 custom them to early habits of industry ; and to inspire 
 them with a contempt and abhorrence of idleness, as 
 the great corrupter of the human mind, and inlet to 
 every vice. The poor must strongly insist upon their 
 children's giving themselves diligently to work, not only 
 as necessary to procure themselves bread, but as the 
 means of preventing temptations to pilfering and theft, 
 and keeping them from infamy and the gallows. The 
 children of the rich stand in no less need of being ex- 
 
THE DUTY OF PARENTS. 281 
 
 cited to industrious application of their time and talents. 
 From their earliest years they should hear that neither 
 wealth nor a large estate, nor even nobility of birth, can 
 preserve them from being despicable and noxious to so- 
 ciety, if they take no pains to acquire what will improve 
 the mind and give them ability to perform their duty ; 
 that without love of employment suited to their sta- 
 tion, like truant school-boys, they must seek men as 
 idle as themselves for their companions ; and, to kill 
 time, must be eager in the pursuit of foolish and puerile 
 amusements ; and even be tempted to sink into mean- 
 ness and the wickedness of a debauched life, merely to 
 free themselves from the languor and misery of sloth. 
 On the contrary, that by cultivating the love of study 
 and fine writers, by being active and useful, by im 
 proving their advantages of station, they will never feel 
 time a burden on their hands. They will always be do- 
 ing good, and be honorable in their generation. These 
 instructions, enforced by the example of the very con- 
 duct they inculcate, will work as a powerful antidote to 
 the intoxicating pride which wealth and grandeur na- 
 turally inspire : enforced, I say, by the example of the 
 conduct they inculcate ; for if the persons who give 
 these instructions violate them, they can have no effect. 
 Children must necessarily believe that their parents 
 judge that to be the way of happiness in which they 
 see them continually walk, because they do it out of 
 choice ; and if they did not think it best, why should 
 they choose it 1 As it would, therefore, appear cruel in 
 parents to correct or reprove for tempers and practices 
 their children learn from themselves, so it would be 
 absurd to expect that precept or reproof should profit 
 them, when the persons from whom they come are not 
 themselves acting under their influence. 
 
 2. It is the duty of parents to make a provision foi , 
 their children, sufficient, if they can, to enable them, by 
 
282 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 honest industry, or some liberal profession, to support 
 themselves^ and be useful members of society. For what 
 can be more contrary to the feelings of parental love, than, 
 by idleness or extravagance, to expose their offspring 
 to poverty, or to force them to settle in a station of life 
 much beneath that in which they were born — a cause 
 frequently of much vexation to them, and a bitter dis- 
 appointment which few are able to bear. But with regard 
 to what may properly be called a provision, — reason, not 
 fashion, — the word of God, not blind affection, — must 
 determine. When persons who were born to no estate, 
 think it incumbent on them to amass wealth sufficient 
 to raise their children above the need of any employ- 
 ment or profession, scanty must be their charities, and 
 strong their love of money. And so far is opulence 
 from being any real benefit to children, that (a few in- 
 stances excepted) it proves a corrupter of their hearts, 
 a pander to their lusts j fixing them in habits of vanity, 
 extravagance and luxury. 
 
 3. But the duty which, above all others, is incumbent 
 on parents, is to provide, as far as lies in them, for the 
 spiritual and everlasting welfare of their offspring. And 
 here let me request the most serious attention of every 
 parent. I am at a loss for words strong enough to de- 
 scribe the importance of this duty. Parents ought to 
 consider themselves as chiefly living for the proper dis- 
 charge of it, and as in the most solemn manner account- 
 able to God for their conduct herein. Let them attend 
 to the many and strong obligations by which they are 
 bound to the performance of it. 
 
 This is clearly the command of God: " These words," 
 saith he, " which I command thee this day shall be m 
 thine heart : and thou shalt teach them diligently unto 
 thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest 
 in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and 
 when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." Deut 
 
THE DUTY OF PARENTS. 283 
 
 6 : 6, 7. " He established a testimony in Jacob, and ap- 
 Domted a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers 
 that they should make them known to their children : 
 that the generation to come might know them, even the 
 children which should be born ; who should arise and 
 declare them to their children : that they might set their 
 hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but 
 keep his commandments." Psalm 78 : 5-7. The New 
 Testament enforces the same duty, and calls upon fa- 
 thers to bring up their children " in the nurture and ad- 
 monition of the Lord. Ephes. 6 : 4. The command of 
 God thus to educate their children in the service, and 
 for the honor of their Maker and Redeemer, is univer- 
 sally acknowledged by pious parents. 
 
 Again, natural affection should influence christian pa- 
 rents to be solicitous for the salvation of their children. 
 That they know they have immortal souls is taken for 
 granted ; therefore if they neglect the cultivation and 
 improvement of them, anxious only to heap up wealth, 
 to provide them with temporal subsistence, this is but a 
 brutish fondness, not a rational, much less a christian 
 kind of love. A rational, a christian affection for chil- 
 dren, must make parents reason thus with themselves: 
 
 " These tender plants, sprung from our own bodies, 
 are endued with an immortal spirit : they possess a ca- 
 pacity of serving, loving and enjoying the favor of the 
 blessed God for ever. And if they do not serve, love 
 and enjoy him for ever, their being, instead of a bless- 
 ing, will prove an insupportable curse. We, their pa- 
 rents, feel such love for them as impels us to think no 
 pains too great to provide for their present comfort. 
 But what avails it to secure them, were we able, from 
 the evils of transient sickness, pain and poverty, if 
 woes of endless duration are to be their final portion 1 
 What avails the most ardent affection, which reaches 
 only to the mortal part, if all that lieth in our power is 
 
284 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 not done, that after their passage through the present 
 short-lived scene of things, they may enter into eter- 
 nity in the favor of God 1" 
 
 A small degree of natural affection, where there is 
 any persuasion of the certainty of another world, must 
 excite such reasonings as this in the breast of parents, 
 and be followed with some correspondent care in the 
 education of their offspring. 
 
 But those parents, who are in truth what they profess 
 to be, christians, have a clear view by faith of the reali- 
 ties of the invisible world. They feel their unspeakable 
 importance ; and such is their love, to God, that, were 
 it in their power, there would not remain one rebel upon 
 the face of the earth, one slave to sin. They are grieved 
 to see any perishing, whilst Jesus, mighty to save, and 
 merciful to pardon, stands ready, with open arms, to 
 receive all who will come to him for life. With what 
 greater force, then, must these principles and sentiments 
 work in them toward their own offspring. How solicit- 
 ous, how active must they be, to secure their spiritual 
 welfare. 
 
 Further, the aptitude of children to receive either 
 good or bad impressions, which can scarcely be after- 
 wards effaced, forms another powerful argument for in- 
 structing them with the utmost care in the knowledge 
 of God. Should this noble opportunity to season their 
 minds with excellent sentiments, and to furnish them 
 with just notions, be lost, all future methods of instruc- 
 tion or means of grace are likely to be without effect. 
 For children very soon and very justly conclude, that 
 whatever their parents inculcate with seriousness and 
 frequency must be worthy of their remembrance ,* and, 
 on the contrary, that the things in which they have 
 never or very seldom been instructed, must be of little 
 or no advantage to their happiness. Hence young peo- 
 ple who have never been taught at home the excellent 
 
THE DUTY OF PARENTS. 285 
 
 majesty of the Lord our God; our absolute dependence 
 upon him, and his unwearied mercy towards us ; attend 
 i\e public worship of his name with most offensive 
 lenity and profaneness of carriage. What mere bab- 
 blmg also must their secret prayers be (if they are di- 
 rected to pray at all) if they have never been instructed 
 in whe nature and qualities of sin, never been taught the 
 worth of the soul or the weakness and depravity of 
 ma a, on which is founded the necessity of prayer 
 and the aids of grace ! What an invincible obstacle, 
 humanly speaking, to the success of the preacher of 
 the Gospel must be found in the hearts of young peo- 
 ple > whose natural ignorance, pride and unbelief, like 
 poisonous plants, have been nourished by their parents' 
 principles, or suffered to strengthen by their criminal 
 neglect. Nay, even the calls of God in the voice of 
 his providence, by the death of relations, by misfor- 
 tunes and afflictions in the family, are likely to lose their 
 intended benefit where no care has been taken to teach 
 children, that these are monitors from God to lead men 
 to consider their ways and repent of their transgressions. 
 
 It is true (blessed be the free grace of God and the 
 power of his Spirit) that children who were utterly 
 neglected, and even became vicious through their pa- 
 rents' neglect, have been and are daily brought to the 
 knowledge of salvation by Christ. Nevertheless, it is 
 certain that the prevalence both of empty formality and 
 open profaneness is in a great measure owing to parents 
 neglecting their duty to their children, and by them it 
 must be answered for. 
 
 Another reason which should engage parents to care 
 for the salvation of their children is, that God takes par- 
 ticular notice of their behavior in this matter. Abraham, 
 the father of the faithful and friend of God, stands 
 greatly distinguished on this very account: "And the 
 Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I 
 
286 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and 
 a mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be 
 blessed in him! For I know him, that he will command 
 his children and his household after him." Other shin- 
 ing excellencies in Abraham might have been mention 
 ed ; but the Lord God, you observe, selects and holds 
 forth to our notice as a peculiar excellency in which he 
 delighted, and names it in conjunction with the inesti- 
 mable promise of the Savior, that Abraham would above 
 all things regard the salvation of his children, and the 
 honor of God in his family. 
 
 On the other hand, how awful does the Scripture re- 
 present the indignation of the Almighty against the 
 negligence of parents with respect to their children's 
 spiritual welfare. Behold he does a thing in Israel at 
 which both the ears of every one that heareth it do 
 tingle. The aged Eli, though piously disposed himself, 
 yet ri because his sons made themselves vile, and he 
 restrained them not j" because he mildly admonished 
 when he should have rebuked with all severity; ex- 
 pressed only his disapprobation of their conduct, when 
 he should have threatened them at their peril to per- 
 sist, and upon their obstinacy have delivered them up 
 to the punishment of the law: for this neglect he is 
 branded as in some degree an accessary to their ini- 
 quity ; he is charged with " kicking at the sacrifice of 
 God," and " honoring his sons above him." He must 
 hear the doom of his family, that they should be cut oft' 
 from the altar, and that the iniquity of his house, should 
 not be purged. M For them that honor me," saith the 
 Lord God, " I will honor ; and they that despise me 
 shall be lightly esteemed." 1 Sam. 2 : 30. From both 
 these instances judge how much it is the duty and in- 
 terest of parents to be very diligent in training up their 
 children in the knowledge and love of God. 
 
 The state of children, exposed to the most alarming 
 
 
THE DUTY OF PARENTS 287 
 
 dangers, also loudly calls upon parents to be solici- 
 tous for their salvation. Their case demands compas- 
 sion, for they are wholly estranged from God. How 
 much grief, anger and vexation do you see them feel, 
 even in their very childhood, from their natural stub- 
 bornness, passion, envy, pride and selfishness. And do 
 you not know what these disorders portend] What 
 greater troubles, what severer conflicts, what more fre- 
 quent vexations await them as their certain portion, 
 unless the strength of these baleful passions is sub- 
 dued 1 Are you not conscious what latent seeds of 
 various lusts are to be found in their hearts, which will 
 ripen by time and occasion to a terrible harvest of cor- 
 ruption unless prevented by you] Can you think of 
 this, and be negligent or dilatory in commending their 
 case to the great physician of souls, and teaching them 
 how much they need and ought to seek for his power 
 to heal them ] 
 
 Were a parent to leave his child alone in paths beset 
 with beasts of prey, and full of covert precipices, would 
 not his scandalous negligence or wanton barbarity shock 
 every humane heart 1 But do you act a better part, O 
 parent, if you leave your child to walk through this 
 world filled with seducing objects, infested with a 
 subtle watchful adversary, and lying in wickedness — to 
 walk through such a world, without the light of faith, 
 the defence of God, the influences of his Spirit j igno- 
 rant of the grounds of justice, truth, sobriety, chastity 
 and a christian life j by what strength they are to be 
 practised ; why they are so absolutely required ; and 
 what the irreparable misery of violating these holy du 
 ties ] A young man or woman entering upon the stage 
 of life, ignorant of these things, is like a child deserted 
 by its unnatural parent in the howling wilderness, and 
 is not more likely to escape destruction. 
 
 Again, were you content, O parent! to see your 
 
288 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 child hastening to poverty, to a jail, and an infamous 
 death, — and use no methods to reclaim him, — what 
 words could express your guilt 1 Be not deceived: you 
 are in effect as guilty whilst you are negligent about 
 their spiritual welfare. For go now, and inquire of poor 
 imprisoned debtors, what deprived them of the sweets 
 of liberty, and their family and society of the benefit of 
 their labor ; the answer in general from that place of 
 wretchedness would be this : " Not the cruel rigor of 
 our creditors towards us 3 not any unavoidable losses 
 in trade ; but early vice and headstrong passions, never 
 controlled in our education by religious instructions, 
 never disciplined by the fear of God, brought us to this 
 shameful house of our prison. Our parents were the 
 first, and the most effectual instruments of our ruin. 
 Some of them live to see it ; and groan under the con- 
 viction of this heart-breaking truth. Amidst all the 
 other instances of their affection, the grand one still 
 was wanting, to give conscience authority, by teaching 
 us the word of God. This would have made us tremble 
 at those sins which have destroyed our possessions, 
 our peace and our character." 
 
 Consider, ye parents, with yourselves, how such an 
 accusation could be borne by any of you from the 
 mouths of those who were intrusted by God to your 
 care, that you might early instil into their minds the 
 important principles of the christian faith, and guide 
 them into the path of righteousness. 
 
 But should there be any parents so hardened in j.io- 
 faneness, as not to care what may become of their off- 
 spring hereafter, provided they escape poverty, and 
 prosper in this world; let them know and hear once 
 more, whether they will attend to the awful truth or 
 no, that there is a day coming when they will see that 
 their relation to their children was constituted for far 
 higher purposes than to secure them advantages in this 
 
THE DUTY OF PARENTS. 2S9 
 
 world, or to keep them from its misfortunes. Then how 
 insupportable will it be to them to hear their own chil- 
 dren calling out for justice on them, imputing their 
 damnation, in a great measure, to their cruelty. They 
 kept the dreadful danger out of sight, they suffered 
 their passions to rule, they joined in extolling pleasure, 
 riches, honor and power ; but never exposed the mis- 
 chief, infamy and ruin, inseparable from obstinate dis- 
 obedience to God. How insufferable the anguish, when 
 children, with bitter imprecations, will rage against 
 their father and mother, and curse the day in which 
 they were born to them, — born finally to aggravate 
 their misery, by perishing together with them. 
 
 The united force, therefore, of these various obliga- 
 tions, and these heart-affecting considerations, must 
 make all christian parents active and solicitous, above 
 every thing, to do what lies in their power, as instru- 
 ments, to prepare their offspring to receive the truth 
 of God to the saving of their souls; and to use those 
 methods in which they may expect his grace to work 
 with them, and give them the desired efficacy. 
 
 Duty of Man. 13 
 
290 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 RJEJL^ TIVE JO ZrTIJES.—contimted. 
 
 ON THE METHOD OF INSTRUCTING CHILDREN. 
 
 The duty of christian parents to instruct their chil- 
 dren in the knowledge of God and of Christ has heen 
 laid before you. But as the condition and capacities of 
 men are very different, it is accordingly the duty of 
 some, — and what God will undoubtedly require at their 
 hands, — to bestow much more pains in this matter, and 
 to use a greater variety of methods with their children 
 than others. 
 
 The poor will discharge their duty to their childrerj 
 by correcting them from their early childhood for lying, 
 for pilfering, even in the smallest degree ; for swear- 
 ing, for quarrelling, and for every mark of a cruel dis- 
 position : by frequently declaring to them that it is a 
 good and gracious God who gives their parents strength 
 to provide food for their offspring ; that he is their 
 Maker, whose eyes are ever over all ; that he will give 
 unto every one according to his doings, when he shall 
 call the whole world before his tribunal ; that this glo- 
 rious God will ever bless, love and comfort those that 
 fear and love him ; but that he will punish with incon- 
 ceivable pain all wicked and ungodly persons who do 
 the things and indulge the tempers which he hates. 
 
 The poor who fear God themselves, have it further 
 in their power to guide their children to pray morning 
 and evening ; to tell them that the Bible is the word of 
 God, which they must believe and love ; to carry them 
 to the sanctuary on the Lord's day, and to keep them 
 
INSTRUCTING CHILDREN. * 291 
 
 from profaning it. And when these things are enforced 
 by a good example accompanied by prayer, there is 
 little doubt but that their children will be greatly bless- 
 ed; and, generally speaking, tread in the steps of their 
 godly and excellent parents. And where so much time 
 must be employed in hard labor, and the understanding 
 can be so little improved, such a course as this may, 
 I apprehend, be deemed a conscientious discharge of 
 their duty towards their children whilst they are young. 
 
 But when years have opened the minds of their off- 
 spring, all that believe in Jesus, however poor, will de- 
 light to enlarge their instructions. They will tell them 
 that their own guilty consciences never found peace till 
 they depended on the atoning blood of Jesus shed on 
 the cross, and pleaded that alone for their pardon be- 
 fore God ; that they obtained deliverance from their 
 strongest sins only by praying for the power and in- 
 dwelling presence of God's Spirit ; that they have been 
 kept in peace from worldly fears, and from anxiety for 
 a subsistence, by casting all their care upon God, recon 
 ciled to them in his dear Son. 
 
 In the middle ranks of life, where superior education 
 has better qualified parents, and leisure has made them 
 capable of taking more pains with their children, it is 
 certainly their duty to go far beyond the poor in this 
 important matter. They must, therefore, not only use 
 the same care as the poor in all the things already men- 
 tioned, by impressing them with a regard for truth, jus- 
 tice, and mercy, but study also the most probable me- 
 thods of making divine knowledge pleasant to the souls 
 of their children. A successful method of doing this, I 
 apprehend, will be to watch the opportunities for giving 
 life to religious instruction by an appeal to outward 
 things and particular providences. Now, by a proper 
 attention, this may be done by parents in so great a 
 variety of instances as to tak<» in all the particulai 
 
292 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 branches of divine knowledge in which children should 
 be established. 
 
 To explain myself at large : the first thing in which 
 all children should be thoroughly instructed, is, that God 
 is good and gracious, and that the earth is full of his 
 goodness. To give force to this truth, which you must 
 be often telling to your children, point out to them, in 
 the spring, when the whole country is arrayed in all its 
 beauty, what their eyes attest, the wide-extended boun- 
 ty of God ; tell them, they are his clouds which drop 
 fatness; that it is his sun which imparts its genial 
 warmth to make the ground fruitful ; that he causeth 
 the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the ser- 
 vice of man, and bread to strengthen man's heart, and 
 oil and wine to make him of a cheerful countenance ; 
 that could they see the extent of God's bounty, they 
 would see innumerable millions of creatures in heaven 
 above, in earth beneath, and in the waters under the 
 earth, sustained by his daily, his incessant communica- 
 tions of good. In autumn, when the fields stand thick 
 with shocks of corn, and the trees bend under their 
 load of fruit ; amidst this delightful scene, draw aside 
 the veil of ignorance, and fix their attention upon God, 
 as the invisible yet only cause of all the plenty and 
 beneficence around them. 
 
 In winter, you will have frequent opportunities of 
 bringing the elements to bear witness to the glory of 
 their Maker. In this dreary season of the year, when 
 frost has made the earth as iron, and congealed the 
 flowing streams into solid ice, lead your children to ob. 
 serve how passive the whole creation is in the hand of 
 its eternal Maker. When the cold is so intense as to 
 become in some degree distressing, and its continuance 
 would prove hurtful, then observe to them how instant- 
 ly he changes the scene ; he bloweth with his wind, and 
 the waters flow again. At another time, when the deep 
 
INSTRUCTING CHILDREN. 293 
 
 snow falls, and covers every object with its fleeces; 
 teach them how suddenly at his word it totally dis- 
 appears, having answered the purpose for which it 
 was sent. 
 
 Pursuing the same method, when you have told your 
 children of the power of God, and what a dreadful thing 
 it is to have him for their enemy, repeat the instruction 
 just after his thunder has shaken your dwelling, and the 
 arrows of his lightning have glared before their eyes ; 
 or just after the tempestuous wind has left in the neigh- 
 borhood some traces of its fury. That is the time to 
 assure them that fire and vapor, snow and hail, storm 
 and tempest, — wild and outrageous as they seem to 
 us, — move only as and where God appoints their course, 
 with infinitely more exactness than the best disciplined 
 troops obey the signals of their leader ; and that though 
 the earth should be moved, and the hills be carried into 
 the midst of the sea, the Lord of hosts is with his obe- 
 dient people, and is their refuge and trust. 
 
 Thus by pointing out to your children the invisible 
 God, as working in all these most sensible changes ; and 
 by furnishing their minds with those sublime Scriptures, 
 in which he asserts his immediate and absolute domi- 
 nion over all the elements of fire and water, earth and 
 air ; you will make the creation a school of instruction 
 to them. By this manner of teaching you will give a 
 body and substance to the truth, which otherwise is too 
 abstracted for their clear apprehension. Lectures of this 
 kind, repeated not too frequently, (lest they should sur- 
 feit children, a thing greatly to be guarded against,) but 
 at such intervals as these various appearances occur, 
 will early form your children to adore their great Crea- 
 tor, and impress them with a sense of his presence and 
 agency in every place. Thus, in the most rational man- 
 ner, and in obedience to your Maker's command, you 
 will talk of him, and his works, and truth, when you go 
 
294 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 out, and when you come in, when you sit down, and 
 when you rise up. 
 
 Another truth of great importance, which young chil- 
 dren are capable of being taught, is, that health and 
 strength are the gifts of God. This you must frequently 
 assure them is the truth. But more effectually to realize 
 this truth, watch some opportunity, and regard it as the 
 noblest employ, to carry them to the bed of a brother, 
 a sister, or play-fellow, who is sick and in pain. Imme- 
 diately after the visit, take them aside to tell them you 
 waited for this opportunity to persuade them of the 
 truth of what you have often taught them, that it is God 
 who maketh sick and maketh well : that it is owing to 
 his sovereign and infinitely wise appointment, that some 
 are on a bed of languishing, crying out through strong 
 pain, others decked with health, and smiling with joyj 
 and conclude with observing how thankful you are to 
 God, that they are still preserved by him in strength. 
 The very same instruction may also be brought to their 
 remembrance with a still more powerful application 
 when they themselves feel the blessing of ease after the 
 smart of pain. 
 
 It is of great benefit early to teach your children also 
 that life and death, as well as sickness and pain, are at 
 the supreme disposal of God. The proper season to 
 rivet this instruction is when a domestic, a friend or 
 neighbor, known to your children, has just expired and 
 the awful report is brought to their ears. Then the cir- 
 cumstances of the deceased immediately before death, 
 the medicines used, the help of physicians, the sorrows, 
 sighs and tears of friends and relations, are to be urged 
 as sensible proofs that it is God that taketh away our 
 breath in infancy, youth, or riper years, just as he sees 
 fit, and that none can deliver out of his hand. 
 
 At the same time especially, you should be careful to 
 instruct your children what is meant by the news just 
 
INSTRUCTING CHILDREN. 295 
 
 brought to their ears, Such a one is dead. Then assure 
 them that to die is to pass out of a changing world into 
 one unchangeable : that it is the removal of an immor- 
 tal soul out of a corruptible body, to be happy or mise- 
 rable in an extreme degree, according to what it has 
 done in this life : that to* every proud, every wicked, 
 every unbelieving man or woman, whether rich or poor, 
 a king or a beggar, death is the beginning of endless 
 sorrow ; but that to every one who has loved God, and 
 lived and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, death is 
 the door to endless joys, and the perfection of glory. 
 
 And if it should please God ever to bring your own 
 children into extreme danger of death ? and yet restore 
 them again to your arms, it would be a very criminal 
 neglect in you to omit telling them that you hung 
 over their bed with tears, and felt for their pains, but 
 could give them no ease ; that you made your prayer 
 to God, and by his power alone they were relieved and 
 made whole. Suppose, also, that either of you their pa- 
 rents have been recovered from the borders of the grave 
 and brought again with joy to see your offspring • then 
 is the season to impress them with the truth that God 
 is the Lord of life and death ; that it is he who hath 
 spared you in tender mercy to be still the guide of their 
 youth and a place of refuge for them. 
 
 All these methods of instruction should be used, all 
 these religious truths you ought to inculcate upon your 
 children in their early childhood. As they advance to 
 the period of youth, they are capable of being reasoned 
 with • capable of perceiving the force of all those ca- 
 pital arguments, upon which a godly and christian life 
 is supported, against all opposition from without or 
 within. Now their faculties are strong enough to re- 
 ceive those important doctrines, which before they 
 were scarcely able to understand. The duty of parents, 
 therefore, now requires them to proceed in more fully 
 
296 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 inculcating christian principles ; in representing to them 
 the excellency and absolute necessity of loving God, 
 and delighting in his word and service ; the sin of be 
 ing peevish and discontented, passionate and proud, en 
 vious or revengeful, unchaste, worldly or covetous. 
 
 By this time your children will have committed so 
 many faults, have been so often corrected or reproved 
 for them, and only restrained, contrary to natural incli- 
 nation, from committing many more and greater ; that 
 you will have various striking proofs to convince them 
 that they are creatures corrupted in their nature, dis- 
 affected to the government and will of the glorious 
 God, and full of vile propensities. Now show them the 
 Scripture character of fallen man. Produce that awful 
 passage, " Yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full 
 of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live." 
 Eccles. 9 : 3. And that parallel to it, " We all like 
 sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to 
 his own way." Isa. 53 : 6. In full confirmation that 
 they themselves are included in those Scriptures, and 
 that their depravity is such as is here set forth, you may 
 tell them what pains, what correction, what restraints 
 you have been using with them from their very infancy 
 on account of their faults, to conquer their evil tem- 
 pers and inspire them with love to God and man : and 
 then appeal to their consciences, whether they do not 
 find contrary tempers still rising and getting the mas- 
 tery within, though they dare not suffer them to break 
 out. Whilst you are thus unanswerably proving their 
 innate corruption, it is, however, your duty to do it 
 with* tender expressions of love, lest by seeming to up- 
 braid, pride and prejudice should be excited. 
 
 The use you are immediately to make of this disco- 
 very is to prove to them the great need of the Redeem- 
 er's interposition and merits. For, after having fixed a 
 conviction upon their consciences, that they have often 
 
INSTRUCTING CHILDREN. 297 
 
 knowingly done what God has forbidden, what their 
 own hearts condemned them for, and that they have 
 taken pleasure therein, having proved that there has 
 been a complication of injustice, ingratitude and rebel- 
 lion in their conduct towards God, you may draw witl* 
 great force this important conclusion, that it did not 
 become him, " by whom are all things," to pardon and 
 receive into his favor such sinful creatures without 
 an atonement, without some sufficient and everlasting 
 demonstration of his infinite abhorrence of their sin, 
 whilst he shews an astonishing degree of love for their 
 persons ; that without shedding of blood there can be 
 no remission ; nor any other way than through Christ 
 Jesus, for the wisdom, justice and mercy of God to act 
 harmoniously in the salvation of sinners ; and that it is 
 upon account of what Jesus did and suffered that they 
 have been spared, and never yet punished as their 
 provocations deserved. 
 
 Now, also, is the time to bring to their mind the 
 great doctrines which the Scriptures reveal ; that the 
 Kedeemer, who was in the form of God, and thought it 
 no robbery to be equal with God, took upon him the 
 form of a servant, and died on the cross, that all who 
 believe in him might be pardoned, sanctified and saved 
 From this it will be easy to observe further to youi 
 children, that no morality, no religion, can be accept- 
 able to him, however applauded and extolled by men, 
 but that which is exercised in an entire dependence 
 upon Jesus Christ, which proceeds out of a believing, 
 humble heart, and which consists in a constant exercise 
 of all those tempers towards the world, our fellow-crea- 
 tures and our God, which were in Christ Jesus. 
 
 One point more with respect to Scripture doctrines, 
 
 which your children are now very capable of being 
 
 taught, is, their weakness and inability, unaided from on 
 
 high, to live up to what the law of God justly requires 
 
 13* 
 
298 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 You may observe to them how often they have been 
 breaking their resolutions, acting against their convic- 
 tions, sorry for doing amiss, wishing and striving in 
 their own fancied power to make themselves better, yet 
 still defeated, still only the more entangled vexed and 
 guilty in their own eyes. Tell them that this must ever 
 be the case if they ask not for the Spirit of God, if they 
 place not their trust wholly in his power and influence : 
 that God, knowing our weakness, has promised this 
 Spirit, and commanded us to implore his continual aid 
 and guidance. Desire them to make the experiment 
 for themselves ; to have done with placing confidence 
 in their vows, promises and good resolutions ; to rely 
 alone on Christ, and to pray, as creatures ruined by 
 sin and utterly depraved, for the Spirit of God to work 
 effectually in them: and conclude with assuring them 
 that in this very manner you yourselves make applica- 
 tion for strength to lead a christian life ; and that what- 
 ever conformity to the will of God they see in your 
 own behavior towards themselves or others, is wholly 
 owing, not to any goodness of yours, but to the grace 
 of God which is in you. 
 
 Other methods of forming their children after the 
 Scripture model may be used by parents, who have 
 much leisure and a good understanding, when their 
 offspring grow up to a state of manhood. At this sea- 
 son of life it will be of excellent use to inform them 
 that the unhappy creatures, whose crimes are made 
 public, and whose persons are doomed to an ignomini- 
 ous death, were very early the despisers of God's word, 
 his Son and his grace; wherefore they were left to 
 themselves, and their sin soon grew to such a horrid 
 size. Help them to trace the gay pleasure-loving young 
 woman from her first contempt of serious godliness and 
 Scripture to the loss of her honor, the disgrace of her 
 friends, the irreparable ruin of her character, perhaps 
 
INSTRUCTING CHILDREN. 299 
 
 to the imbruing her hands in the blood of her own off- 
 spring. Point out to them the robber, the thief, perhaps 
 the assassin — in the young man of spirit, infected with 
 the plague of uncleanness, the love of gaming, or the 
 proud desire of appearing above his circumstances. 
 Mark out to them the course and issue of ungovernable 
 passion and revenge, from its impatience of the con- 
 trol of God's word and the meek religion of Jesus, till 
 it presents itself unmasked, delivering up the man of 
 sense, of education, perhaps of noble birth, into the 
 hands of the common hangman. It is your duty, in this 
 alarming manner, not only to warn your children against 
 licentiousness, extravagance, passion and revenge; but 
 above all things, to labor to persuade them that those 
 .persons, and those alone can be absolutely safe from 
 the tyranny of sin, who live by faith on the Son of 
 God. In full confirmation of this truth, your own know- 
 ledge of the world will enable you to point out to them 
 many examples, where fine parts are utterly disgraced, 
 where every shining accomplishment which nature and 
 education can give, are rendered pernicious, even in a 
 high degree, by an union with unchastity or intempe- 
 rance, avarice, or a proud impatient spirit ; which abo- 
 minable tempers, be most careful to assure your off- 
 spring, maintain their tyranny, because the principles 
 of the Gospel and the truths of God are set at nought, 
 tell them that the christian alone is freed from the do- 
 minion of sin. This will gradually inspire them with 
 the highest veneration for the knowledge of God in his 
 word and Son, as the only bulwark (which in fact it 
 is) against all the wickedness of the human heart : be- 
 cause only a knowledge of Christ and a belief in the 
 Bible can create a jealousy of the first workings of cor- 
 ruption, and excite a fervent application to God for 
 power to control and subdue it. 
 
 The last method of instruction I shall mention, which 
 
300 „ COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 is of equal benefit with those already stated, is to re 
 mark to your children, now capable of observation, tht 
 amiable, behavior of real christians. I suppose you to be 
 acquainted with some who justify their title to this glo- 
 rious appellation. Remark the tranquillity of their coun- 
 tenance and the modesty of their conversation ; observe 
 how free they are from passion and positiveness, from 
 ill-natured wit or ostentation ; how far from despising 
 those who want their advantages, either of education, 
 birth, or riches ; how careful to give no pain or uneasi- 
 ness to any one. In further commendation of true Chris- 
 tianity, it will be of peculiar benefit to let your children, 
 when grown up, see the behavior of sincere believers 
 in the midst of their severest trials. If you are a chris 
 tian yourself in spirit and in truth, it is most probable 
 you will know persons of the same character. When 
 they are in affliction or tribulation of any kind, carry 
 your children to hear for themselves the meek, patient 
 sufferers blessing God for all their afflictions : not faint- 
 ing nor discouraged, but quietly enduring chastisement. 
 Their discourse, their very countenance will edify. This 
 will irresistibly convince them of the value and sub- 
 stance of the knowledge of Christ, and open their eyes 
 to see that it is as much to be desired for present sup- 
 port and consolation in a trying hour, as to secure sal- 
 vation in the eternal world. Then assure them that true 
 faith in Jesus, showing itself in unfeigned subjection to 
 his Gospel, leads all to the same blessed acquaintance 
 with God, and cheerful submission to his holy will. 
 
 And if an opportunity could be found of bringing your 
 son or daughter to the bed-side of a departing saint, it 
 will infinitely exceed the force of all instruction, to let 
 them see with their own eyes, and hear with their own 
 ears, the faithful servant of God speaking good of his 
 name, declaring how true the Lord his strength is, pro- 
 claiming the peace of his own mind under the pains of 
 
INSTRUCTING CHILDREN. 301 
 
 approaching dissolution, whilst he is looking for the 
 mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ unto 
 eternal life. 
 
 Persons of rank, or of easy fortune ; those also of the 
 ministerial, and various other professions, with mer- 
 chants, and tradesmen of wealth, have opportunity of 
 using these and many other methods of the same kind 
 with their dear children before they arrive at man's 
 estate. And if in their own hearts they infinitely prefer 
 the favor of God before the praise of men, the happi- 
 ness of eternity before the poor satisfaction of time — 
 if they know there is no other way of salvation for their 
 offspring than that which is marked out by the Spirit 
 of God in his word, then such attention to the everlast- 
 ing welfare of their children will not be irksome but 
 delightful. Their reward, generally speaking, will be 
 "with them" in their labors of love, and their hearts 
 gladdened by seeing considerable impressions made 
 upon their children. 
 
 But if instead of this attention, custom and fashion 
 are taken for the rule and measure of what you, pa- 
 rents, will account a sufficient care of your children's 
 education : if hours upon hours, from day to day, are 
 consumed in amusements and mere sensual gratifica- 
 tion, hurtful to yourselves and others, whilst your chil- 
 dren hear from you no wholesome lectures, and see in 
 you no prevailing concern for the honor of God and the 
 salvation of their souls, your conduct is dreadful in- 
 deed : your regard to Scripture is worthless, whatever 
 you profess ; and your ignorance of the excellency of 
 God, and the only way of true happiness as gross as 
 that of an Indian savage. Examine, therefore, and prove 
 your christian faith by your works. The care you take 
 for the salvation of your offspring or your neglect of 
 them, is the surest test of what you e&teem your su 
 preme good, — God or the world. 
 
 
302 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 I shall only add farther on this head of the duty of 
 christian parents towards their children, that it is ab- 
 solutely necessary that the pains to instruct should be 
 accompanied by constant prayer to God in their behalf. 
 Without his grace their best concerted efforts will be 
 ineffectual, and all their counsels vain; for it is God 
 who giveth the increase. You may take as much pains 
 as it is possible to make your offspring christians alto- 
 gether; but still those who receive the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, are born not of blood, nor of the flesh, nor of 
 the will of man, but of God. Therefore you are the 
 mqre earnestly, humbly, and incessantly to pray unto 
 God to implant early in them his grace, and give power 
 and success to your attempts; that as by them the in- 
 habitants of the world are increased, an addition also 
 may be made by their names to the church of the living 
 God and the inhabitants of heaven. 
 
 
THE DUTY OF CHILDREN. 3U3 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 RELATIVE DUTIES. - continued. 
 
 OF CHILDREN, SERVANTS, AND MASTERS. 
 
 Having considered the domestic duties* of husbands 
 and wives to each other, and of parents towards their 
 children j it remains now that we complete those which 
 concern a family, by stating such as relate to children, 
 to servants, and to masters. 
 
 The duty of children towards their parents is, 
 1. To honor them by respectful language ; by ab- 
 staining from every thing that may reasonably give 
 them the least offence or disquiet. All young people 
 who receive the Scripture as the rule of their behavior 
 will esteem it their duty to be exact and conscientious 
 in this respect : because in the Scripture God requires 
 children to honor their father and mother, promising 
 his blessing to all who do so. This homage is expressly 
 said to be " well-pleasing unto the Lord." Col. 3 : 20. 
 The crime of disobedience to parents is marked as the 
 just object of the curse and judgments of God: for 
 vou read that immediately after the prohibition of idol- 
 itry, a sin levelled directly against the glory of God 
 nimself, and after appointing all Israel to pronounce 
 the idolater accursed : the very next offence, which at 
 the same time is held forth as the object of universal 
 execration, is the neglect of paying a dutiful regard to 
 parents : " Cursed be he that setteth light by his father 
 or mother, and all the people shall say Amen." Deut. 
 27 : 16. And in case any child was "stubborn and re- 
 bellious," refusing to obey the voice of his father, or of 
 
304 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 his mother, after correction ; it was the special appoint- 
 ment of the Most High God, that his father and his 
 mother should " lay hold on him, and bring him out 
 unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his 
 place ; and they were to say unto the elders of his 
 city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will 
 not obey our voice ; he is a glutton and a drunkard 
 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, 
 that he die : so shalt thou put evil away from among 
 you ; and alHsrael shall hear and fear." Deut. 21 : 18-21 
 What strong conceptions of the great guilt of dis- 
 obedience to parents, must this ordinance raise in the 
 minds of all who regard the word of God 1 For though 
 this civil and political law is not now in force against 
 rebellious children, it remains still a sufficient proof of 
 the detestation with which God regards the disobedi- 
 ence of children towards their parents. 
 
 2. It is the duty of children to conceal and extenuate 
 the imperfections of their parents, so far as truth and 
 justice will admit. This is but a small return for the 
 great benefits which they have received ; and if, instead 
 of thus acting tenderly, they join in reproaching their 
 parents, in exposing voluntarily either their sins or 
 their indiscretions, they are very criminal in the sight 
 of God. It was the sin of publishing and ridiculing, 
 instead of covering his father's shame, which brought 
 down a signal judgment upon Ham, the son of the righ- 
 teous Noah. 
 
 3. It is the duty of children to requite their parents, 
 as far as lies in their power, for all the comforts and 
 benefits by their means bestowed upon them. Ingrati 
 tude is the only sin which never found one single advo- 
 cate : yet of all ingratitude, the negligence of children 
 in supporting and comforting their parents, is by far the 
 most black and abominable that can be practised by 
 man towards man. For what care and expense, what 
 
THE DUTY OF CHILDREN. 305 
 
 solicitude and labor for the welfare of their offspring 
 are not parents usually wont cheerfully to bear 1 Now 
 when, in the course of God's providence, parents stand 
 in need of some returns of the same tender disposition 
 towards themselves — when the infirmities of age, or the 
 burden of affliction come upon them, what child, that is 
 not without feeling, as well as without any tincture of 
 Christianity, but must rejoice to be as helpful to them, 
 now going out of the world, as his parents were to 
 himself when he first came into it 1 This exercise of 
 gratitude is marked in Scripture as the bounden duty 
 of children towards their parents, and a neglect of it is 
 considered not only as a renunciation of the Gospel, 
 whatever zealous professions of love for it may be pre 
 tended ; but as a crime, which even pagans, void of the 
 light and advantage of God's word, would many of them 
 abhor. " If any provide not for his own," (his own near 
 relations, and especially his own aged parents,) "he 
 hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." 
 1 Tim. 5 : 8. 
 
 The exact proportion, indeed, which a child ought to 
 set apart for the discharge of this duty to his parents, 
 must be various according to the condition of life. But 
 if it be inadequate to the income of the child, God will 
 regard it as a vile and despicable offering. And this 
 rule may always be observed, that if a child can be la- 
 vish in the pursuit of pleasure, and live in expensive 
 splendor, whilst he is satisfied with assigning to his 
 parents a strait and bare subsistence, a sense of duty is 
 certainly not felt ; and what is given, is given rather 
 from a fear of scandal, or from dread of remorse, than 
 from love to God, or affection to his own parents. 
 
 4. The last duty I shall mention due from children 
 to their parents is obedience ; obedience in all cases 
 which lie within the proper scope and influence of the 
 authority of parents; where their commands do not 
 
 
306 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 lead their children to oppose what God has required, 
 to do violence in matters of conscience to their own 
 minds, or to transgress the laws of their country. 
 
 These are the duties which children are oound, from 
 their relation to their parents, to observe. And those 
 children who obey the Scripture will be found dutiful 
 and affectionate, and very observant of these things 
 Indeed, those parents who are neglected or despised by 
 their children, may generally impute it to themselves. 
 It is the effect and punishment of their own sin. They 
 fostered, when they should have corrected wicked tem- 
 pers, in their children's earliest years ; they shamefully 
 sacrificed parental authority to a froward mind; and ab- 
 jectly submitted to be governed by those over whom 
 they were appointed governors, in the order of nature, 
 and by the command of God. Or where this most fool- 
 ish and cruel fondness has not been the cause of unduti- 
 fulness to parents, a profane education, in ignorance of 
 christian principles, often has ; for this encourages a 
 proud, independent spirit, which, as it fears not God, 
 will not pay reverence to man, neither feeling obliga- 
 tion nor bearing restraint. Excepting, therefore, a few 
 cases, christian parents, through the grace of God pros- 
 pering their endeavors, will reap as they have sown ; 
 and enjoy, even before they leave this world, the fruit 
 of those cares and pains with which they have studied 
 to promote the salvation of their children, and will 
 often die in the pleasing expectation of meeting them 
 in endless glory. 
 
 There is still another domestic relation, namely that 
 which subsists between masters and servants. And the 
 believer in Jesus is furnished with ample directions and 
 cogent motives to discharge his duty in either station 
 with comfort to himself and those around him. 
 
 Servants, who receive the word of God, must in the 
 
THE DUTY OF SERVANTS. 307 
 
 first place be faithful and honesty free themselves from 
 deceit, and incapable of suffering their masters to be 
 injured in their sight. This has been observed in a pre- 
 ceding chapter, as part of their character as christians. 
 Besides this, they must obey their masters without that 
 surly, sullen behavior which renders their persons offen- 
 sive and their services disagreeable. It is ever a sure 
 proof of prevailing pride, when subjection, though ever 
 so reasonable, is galling. They must obey their mas- 
 ters in all things, provided that nothing is required op- 
 pressive or dishonest. A surly spirit in servants chiefly 
 shows itself in families where the lucre of the place is 
 comparatively small, and the servant is wanted not for 
 show or luxury of living, but for usefulness and labor. 
 It is in these instances therefore, especially, that the be- 
 neficial influence of christian doctrine is to manifest 
 itself in the behavior of servants. Christian servants 
 will remember that their duty towards their master or 
 mistress is not to be measured by the splendor of the 
 family or the gains of the place, but by the order of 
 God, who requires them " with good will to do service, 
 as to the Lord, and not to men." Ephes. 6 : 7, and 
 Col. 3 : 22. 
 
 2. It is the duty of servants patiently to bear reproof. 
 The pride of human nature rises with eagerness in self- 
 vindication, and is backward to own itself deserving of 
 any blame. From this spirit servants are ever apt to 
 impute the admonitions they receive to ill-nature or 
 peevishness in their superiors ; and if they bear with- 
 out a visible contempt what is said, they look upon 
 themselves at liberty to pay no more regard to it than 
 is necessary to keep their place if it be a profitable one. 
 But no servant who receives the word of God can act 
 in this unreasonable manner. It is expressly required 
 >f them " to adorn the Gospel of God our Savior in all 
 dngs j" but if they show themselves deaf to just 
 
308 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 admonition, and hardened against reasonable remon 
 strances, they utterly disgrace their holy profession 
 and make their religious pretences contemptible. Be 
 sides, if they are not ready to acknowledge their faults, 
 and will not patiently bear to be reproved for them, 
 they must be void of humility, without which no man 
 can possibly belong to Christ ; since this is the direc- 
 tion particularly given to them in Scripture, M to be 
 obedient unto their own masters, and to please them 
 well in all things ; not answering again." Titus, 2 : 9. 
 
 And as servants who regard their christian duty must 
 be faithful and just to their masters, must obey them 
 with cheerfulness, receive their reproofs with meek- 
 ness, and be careful to amend what is faulty ; so must 
 masters who are in subjection to Christ conscientiously 
 perform all parts of their duty towards their servants. 
 
 1. With respect to the justice, the mildness, the 
 gentleness, and real good-will which masters must ex- 
 ercise towards their servants, these tempers were men- 
 tioned before as necessary to every christian. I shall 
 speak now, therefore, only of those duties which are 
 peculiar to those who preside in families. The first of 
 which is, to be careful of the behavior of their servants. 
 The head of every family is obliged to watch over those 
 who are subject to his authority. We blame magistrates 
 when they suffer irreligion and dissoluteness of man- 
 ners among the people. And can masters of families be 
 guiltless who connive at domestic irregularities, when 
 with far less difficulty they might govern their little 
 commonwealth 1 They ought, therefore, to look upon 
 their servants, not as they do upon their cattle, merely 
 considering the labor and service they can do, but a? 
 fellow-creatures capable of the knowledge of God, and 
 as candidates equally with themselves for his eternal 
 kingdom. In this view it is their duty, and a part of 
 
THE DUTY OF SERVANTS. 309 
 
 christian benevolence, to suffer no immorality, nor any- 
 open violation of God's holy law in them — to oblige 
 their servants to a regular attendance on the public 
 worship of God on the Lord's day, and to insist on their 
 not profaning it — to put books into their hands, written 
 to awaken the conscience, and bring them to the know- 
 ledge of Christ — and, if the nature of business does not 
 in fact render it impracticable, to call the members of 
 the household to join in the daily worship of God, who 
 is the fountain of all family mercies and blessings. 
 
 2. It is the duty of those who preside in a family, to 
 set a christian example to servants ; to be constant in wor- 
 shipping God on his own day at church, and religious- 
 ly to abstain in it from both business and diversion — to 
 convince them that you act honestly, as in the sight of 
 God, in all your dealings — to show them that you are 
 innocent of those common yet presumptuous sins, of 
 speaking loosely, swearing profanely, and living without 
 any secret worship of God. By this example, as far as 
 means alone can be effectual, you will restrain from 
 much evil, and prove a powerful monitor to stir up 
 ignorant sinful creatures to seek after God; at least 
 you will be pure from their blood if they obstinately 
 persist in their sin. 
 
 3. The last duty of masters which I shall mention, is 
 to encourage and reward their servants for well-doing. 
 Kind expressions quicken ingenuous minds to diligence 
 and attention ; encouragement, therefore, ought to be 
 given on this principle. Further, when a servant has 
 laid out his whole time and strength in his master's ser- 
 vice, and made it his study to consult his interest ; the 
 master is bound, by the ties of justice and gratitude, 
 where there is a sufficient fortune, to remember such a 
 faithful servant in the decline of life. And the cases of 
 sickness, or accidental loss of limbs in service, which 
 disable from labor, and are sometimes even more cala- 
 
310 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 mitous than the infirmities of old age, call for equal 
 compassion. A christian master will consider how much 
 others have lost by the dishonesty of those about them 
 how much trouble, anxiety and vexation they have suf- 
 fered, whilst he has committed, with composure and 
 confidence, his affairs into the hands of a good and faith- 
 ful servant, and has received no damage ; — how much 
 of his comfort in this life has been owing to this ma- 
 terial circumstance. Where then would be his chris- 
 tian love, his generosity, or his humanity, if he did not 
 take pleasure in showing kindness in return 1 
 
 Thus having pointed out the several duties of a chris- 
 tian in his domestic relations, I will conclude the sub- 
 ject with a faithful picture of the good order of a family, 
 in which each member conscientiously discharges the 
 duty of his station, as every real christian will desire 
 and strive to do. 
 
 Look at those who preside in it ! they love, and are 
 cordially beloved by each other 5 they both, with true 
 benevolence, watch over their children, ambitious to 
 educate them for immortality ; they therefore discoun- 
 tenance every thing wrong and corrupt, at its first ap- 
 pearance. Both, with impartial affection for their whole 
 offspring, gladly give them every innocent gratification, 
 every liberty and joy, which innocence and safety will 
 permit. Look upon their children ! what respect, what 
 affiance toward their parents, what pleasure in their 
 company, what cheerful obedience to their authority ! 
 Look upon the servants! faithful to their office, and 
 prudent in their deportment, they are treated with re- 
 spect. Whilst parents, children and servants meet to- 
 gether each day with one heart to magnify the name 
 of God, and to confess that it is he who maketh them 
 that dwell together in one house to be thus united and 
 harmonious. Whilst all are looking forward according 
 
INTEMPERANCE. 311 
 
 w> the strength of their faith, to the place which Jesus 
 is gone before to prepare for them, where, without and 
 further trials or any remainder of corruption, they shall 
 dwell together in love and in sinless perfection. The 
 age in which we live is not void of some such families; 
 and it is only the neglect of the Bible, and the low 
 notions of modern Christianity, which make them so 
 scarce, and prevent innumerable individuals from be- 
 coming subject to the power and grace of Jesus Christ, 
 and enjoying that peace in him which passeth all un- 
 derstanding. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 OF SELtF-nEJYlJlJL 
 
 INTEMPERANCE. 
 
 False teachers court the favor of men by preaching 
 to them nattering doctrines ; but Jesus, the true witness, 
 abhors such base compliance with our corrupt passions. 
 He places therefore in the very front, as it were, of his 
 camp, before the eyes of every one assaying to enter 
 into his service, this searching test of courage and fideli- 
 ty : " Except a man deny himself, and take up his cross 
 daily, and follow me, he cannot be my disciple." 
 
 No doubt then can be made, whether self-denial is 
 the duty of a real christian. But what the ground of this 
 grace is, and what are the important particulars in which 
 it is exercised, are points of very useful and necessary 
 consideration. The more so, because superstition has 
 
312 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 long done much to make this doctrine contemptible, 
 and enthusiasm is ever ready to place self-denial in 
 things absurd or frivolous, whilst the substantial mat- 
 ters, about which in reality it is concerned, are little 
 regarded. Each of these points, therefore, I purpose to 
 discuss. Thus every duty respecting himself, which 
 the christian is obliged and enabled to discharge, may 
 be sufficiently explained. 
 
 The origin of self-denial is to be traced to the cor- 
 ruption of our nature by the fall of Adam. If there 
 were no innate propensity in all his offspring to evil, 
 we might, then, indeed have been warned not to debase 
 our dignity by complying with iniquity ; but supposing 
 that we possessed an untainted purity of nature, so far 
 would the abstaining from sin be from deserving the 
 name of self-denial, that it would be the highest self- 
 gratification. In this case a total opposition to trans- 
 gression of every kind would be perfectly undisturbed 
 by any thing within of a contrary tendency. The na- 
 tive bent of the soul would then incline it with all its 
 power, and with the highest relish, to perform duty in 
 its full extent. This we necessarily conceive to be the 
 state with those angels who are sent forth to minister 
 to them that shall be heirs of salvation, and who con- 
 sequently must be witnesses of what passes in our 
 world. For to connect the idea of self-denial with 
 their abstaining from the pollutions of which they are 
 spectators, would be to destroy the very perfection 
 of their state. 
 
 But the present condition of man is directly opposite 
 to that of superior beings who never fell from God. A 
 corrupt bias prevails in his heart, which instead of ap- 
 pearing to him detestable, as it ought, is loved and che- 
 rished ; so loved, that to be deaf to its tender pleadings 
 for indulgence, and to sacrifice it in obedience to God, 
 is compared by him who knew what was in man, to cut 
 
INTEMPERANCE 313 
 
 ting off a right hand and plucking out a right eye. For 
 though happiness is in fact inseparable from an uniform 
 subjection to the truth of God, yet our corruptions re- 
 present these as things distinct, and even incompatible. 
 Hence men naturally fight against the prohibition of 
 God for their favorite selfish enjoyments, as subjects for 
 their native rights against a tyrant : nor can they ever 
 submit to it without doing violence to their own de 
 praved appetites. 
 
 This being our natural state, the Lord Jesus Christ 
 assures us in the most unreserved manner, that, if we 
 ever become partakers of his great salvation, we must 
 not only oppose the prevalent wickedness of the world 
 around us, but those very inclinations too which are 
 interwoven with our present frame, and therefore may 
 properly be called a part of ourselves. 
 
 Having thus briefly observed what is the origin of 
 self-denial, 1 proceed to point out the particulars in 
 which this grace is to be exercised. Now as our na- 
 tural dispositions make that an instance to some of 
 great self-denial, which is scarcely any to others 5 as 
 there are cases also, where decency, reputation and 
 worldly interest create and maintain a kind of self-de- 
 nial; and other instances, in which the power of chris- 
 tian godliness only is sufficient ; I shall, therefore, be- 
 gin with such instances of it as, generally speaking, are 
 most easy to practise, and then ascend to those in 
 which the sincerity and eminence of christian self-de- 
 nial shines forth, and most redounds to the honor of God 
 
 First then, Temperance with respect to our food, is not 
 to be practised without self-denial. Few, indeed, find 
 much difficulty in abstaining so far from this bodily in- 
 dulgence as to escape the censure of gluttony or epi- 
 curism ; yet to be so abstemious with regard to the 
 pleasures of the table as not to infringe upon the grace 
 of christian temperance, calls for some mortification in 
 
 Dutv of Man. 14? 
 
314 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN 
 
 most people, and in many for a great deal. Without 
 practising this we shall be often guilty of being " over- 
 charged with surfeiting," so far at least that our desire 
 after eternal blessings and our delight in them shall be 
 greatly abated, if not extinguished for a time. With a 
 reputation for temperance, we may indulge at our table 
 till indolence takes full possession of us, till neither 
 body nor mind are disposed for any rational, much less 
 any spiritual employment. To the want of self-denial, 
 in respect to this low appetite, is owing that strong un- 
 easiness and vexation often discovered, though more 
 frequently concealed, when the gratification of the pa- 
 late in the parlor is disappointed by ignorance or ne- 
 glect in the kitchen ; to this are owing the many sen- 
 sual remarks made in conversation, upon what deserves 
 no more notice than the husks the swine devour. These 
 things, so frequently occurring, are sufficient proofs 
 that there is need of self-denial even with respect to 
 our food. Indeed, he that receives any other pleasures 
 than what health and hunger will make the common 
 provisions of his table afford, has already begun to yield 
 to intemperance, and is a transgressor of his christian 
 duty. He is shamefully giving encouragement to an 
 appetite which must exceedingly sensualize his soul, 
 enthral it to bodily gratification, and of consequence 
 render it averse to suffering in any degree for the sake 
 of truth and conscience. So that those who allow them- 
 selves to eat immoderately, and permit their thoughts 
 to dwell with delight on the luxury of the palate, are 
 so far from taking heed, as christians are required, to 
 M make no provision for the flesh," that they are evi- 
 dently pampering it : so far from being temperate, as is 
 absolutely necessary for all who run the race Christ has 
 set before us, that they remain slaves to sensuality 
 None are capable of relishing, much less of making a 
 progress in any thing so spiritual and divine as chris* 
 
INTEMPERANCE. 3 15 
 
 tianity, till, in the language of holy writ, they rf put a 
 knife to the throat " when dainties are set before them: 
 that is, strike at the root of that carnal gratification 
 which arises merely from the pleasure of feasting. 
 
 A second instance of self-denial included under the 
 head of temperance is, the strictly avoiding any degree 
 of excess in drinking. It is necessary to speak distinctly 
 on this subject, because, to the reproach of our species, 
 self-indulgence in this respect is by many placed in the 
 number only of venial infirmities, and amongst the slight 
 misdemeanors, for which other good qualities will amply 
 atone. 
 
 To prove, therefore, the absolute necessity of self-de- 
 nial, with respect to this sin, consider what provocation 
 it bears ! It is a waste of that plenty which God design- 
 ed to supply the wants of mankind. Now what can you 
 conceive more contrary to reason, to humanity, and to 
 the Providence of our common Father, than that one 
 man should be inflaming his body with pernicious 
 draughts even to excess, whilst another wants the very 
 necessaries of life 1 that one should be swallowing down 
 his poisonous cups in riot, the expense of which, if pro- 
 perly applied, would support the languishing, and revive 
 the health of those who are fainting for the want of it ] 
 Suppose you had yourself several children settled in some 
 distant province, some of them prosperous, and others, 
 through unavoidable misfortune, in a destitute condi- 
 tion ; suppose the former were void of all feeling, giv- 
 ing themselves up to rioting and excess, refusing to re- 
 trench in the least degree in order to relieve their neces- 
 sitous brethren, what mingled grief and indignation 
 would the report of this raise in your breast ! Yet this 
 is the very case in the eye of our common Fathe^ 
 whenever the man, who has riches, consumes upon the 
 extravagant gratification of his base appetites what 
 
316 COMPLETE DUTV OF MAN. 
 
 might have been applied to the relief of the poor and 
 needy. Even allowing the intemperate man to have the 
 means, and, in the language of the world, liberty to live 
 as he pleases, still his conduct is chargeable with inhu- 
 manity and cruelty to those who are in want before his 
 eyes j or who are at least so near him, that if he was 
 not wilfully deaf or blind, he must hear their groans and 
 see their distress. 
 
 But when the man who indulges in intemperance and 
 drunkenness is poor, or one whose business or income 
 is but just enough, with frugality, to support himself and 
 his family, his guilt is still more aggravated. For then, 
 whilst he is gratifying himself, and rejoicing in his cups, 
 he is breaking through the tenderest ties of nature. He 
 is stripping his children of that which is necessary to 
 defend them from the cold : he is snatching the bread 
 from the mouth of his little ones, ready to famish for 
 want of food ; and making his wife suffer to extremity 
 for his sensuality. Therefore, though his besotted com- 
 panions may extol him for his honesty and good-nature, 
 and some be so stupid as to call him no man's enemy 
 but his own 5 he is, in the eye of truth and of God, a 
 monster of cruelty and villany. The Father of us all sees 
 no one of his creatures more horridly rebelling against 
 his benevolent laws, or more injurious to those who are 
 miserable enough to be in close connection with him, 
 than the drunkard. 
 
 Further, we owe much thankfulness to God for our 
 reason. By this we become capable of knowing him in 
 his word and works here, and of enjoying him for ever 
 hereafter. We are happy in ourselves, and useful to 
 others, just in proportion as our reason is improved, by 
 the due exercise and cultivation of it, through the know- 
 ledge of Scripture and the grace of God. We may 
 therefore safely say, that one of the sorest evils which 
 can befal us in this world, is the loss of our reason 
 
 
INTEMPERANCE. 317 
 
 What guilt then must be chargeable on every drunkard, 
 who presumptuously, only for the poor pleasures of 
 gratifying the lowest appetite of his nature, suspends 
 the use and exercise of his reason, who reduces himself 
 to such a state that he knows neither what he does nor 
 what he says. And as we are commanded to be always 
 on our guard in our discourse, and warned of the ac- 
 count we must give of it to God, what can be a more 
 audacious offence than for a man to intoxicate himself 
 till his " mouth poureth out foolishness ;" till there is 
 nothing so filthy or so blasphemous he will not utter. 
 
 Besides, it is our duty to mortify all our depraved ap 
 petites, and to bring them into subjection to the law of 
 God. What a total violation of this comprehensive ob- 
 ligation is it, to strengthen, by intemperate drinking, 
 every evil propensity, and inflame it to the utmost ! 
 Yet this is the certain effect of this sin. It provokes to 
 anger, passion and quarrelling ; it begets insolence and 
 increases pride ; it not only often separates between the 
 greatest friends, but hurries them into duels and trans- 
 ports of bloody revenge upon each other. Licentious 
 passions it also inflames beyond measure, and gives 
 them unbridled rage. 
 
 Now, so shameful a violence against reason, so pro 
 voking an abuse of plenty, so daring an act of rebellion 
 against God, must, without repentance, certainly ex- 
 clude every one guilty of it from any share in God's 
 favor, as it demonstrates him to be void of any degree 
 of his grace. Accordingly we are taught, in different 
 yet most alarming ways, the insupportable doom of 
 drunkards, and of those who inflame themselves with 
 wine. Drunkards are enumerated in the black catalogue 
 of transgressors, who, as the apostle solemnly declares 
 to the Corinthians, " cannot inherit the kingdom of 
 God." 1 Cor. 6 : 10. Most emphatically is described 
 the dreadful end of this self-indulgence by our Savior : 
 
318 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 " But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my 
 Lord delay eth his coming ; and shall begin to smite his 
 fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; 
 the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he 
 looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware 
 of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his por^ 
 tion with the hypocrites : there shall be weeping and 
 gnashing of teeth." Matt. 24 : 48-51. 
 
 Thus not only the train of present evils which intem- 
 perance draws after it, but the wages of this shameful 
 iniquity in the eternal world, are revealed in Scripture, 
 to alarm the conscience, and give us full conviction of 
 the sinfulness of this common sin : so that either we 
 must take heed and beware of it, or give up all reason- 
 able hope of salvation and the favor of God. The 
 thought of losing the favor of God is worse than 
 death to every one who truly believes the Scripture ; 
 every christian therefore, however he may naturally 
 incline to the use of intoxicating drinks, or be tempted 
 to it by company, or allured to it by a hope of recom- 
 mending himself to his worldly advantage, will guard 
 against all these temptations, and persevere in an invio- 
 lable regard to that sobriety and abstinence upon which 
 his safety so much depends. 
 
IMPURITY. 319 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 SJEZjJF-DEJl*I*&JL—con, tinned. 
 
 IMPURITY. 
 
 Man, in his fallen state, is so constituted that there 
 is not one natural passion, however useful and excel- 
 lent it may be when properly regulated, which does 
 not become an occasion of sin, and require to be re- 
 sisted and mortified. We have already seen how much 
 this is the case with respect to the appetite for food 
 and drink ; the natural love of the sexes is another ex- 
 ample of the same kind. This impulse, though neces- 
 sary for the propagation of mankind, and useful in 
 wedlock to several excellent ends, will prove in single 
 persons, unless constantly restrained, a seducer of the 
 soul into much sin, and the cause of the most extensive 
 evil. At its instigation, what time, what talents, what 
 influence are daily prostituted to the shameful business 
 of inveigling and debauching young women ! Men of 
 the finest sense and best education, for the poor perish- 
 ing gratification of an hour, will be guilty of what is 
 shocking to every mind that retains the least fear of 
 God, or compassion for its fellow-creatures: guilty 
 of bringing a heedless virgin to indelible shame, her 
 parents to grief as torturing as it is undeserved and 
 hopeless ; guilty of offering the ruined individual such 
 an injury, as if done to a sister, a daughter, or any near 
 relation of their own, they would revenge with the 
 point of the sword. Instigated by lust, they will be ac- 
 cessary even in opening the way to adultery and all 
 its train of mischiefs ; for those seldom prove chaste 
 
«5'20 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 after wedlock, who before it have fallen a prey to lewd- 
 ness : accessary, as far as lies in their power, in filling 
 the world with a class of individuals, at once its plague 
 and scourge ; creatures abandoned to every detestable 
 practice, corrupters of youth, pushing them headlong 
 into desperate courses, as the price of their infectious 
 embraces. 
 
 These consequences, in a greater or less degree, cer- 
 tainly follow the indulgence of this vice. But bad as 
 these consequences are, they are but a part of the evil 
 produced. No pen is able fully to unfold what the soul 
 suffers from this sin. Where any sense of modesty or 
 of duty prevails, it is instantly, on the first commission, 
 punished with the secret stings and horrors of a guilty 
 mind. By frequent repetition of the crime, all sense of 
 religion is extinguished, and all intercourse with God 
 ceases. Associations with those who are hardened in 
 lewdness are sought after as a refuge from conscience : 
 till at length the secret offender against chastity con- 
 tracts a brow of brass, and becomes an infamous plead- 
 er for the lust of concupiscence ; till, in one word, his 
 conscience is seared, the captive hugs his chains, and 
 glories in his shame. 
 
 Add to this catalogue of dreadful evils the bloody 
 quarrels amongst the lewd, and the murders which they 
 are led to commit ; murder of children yet unborn, 
 loading the mind with guilt, and embittering life be- 
 yond conception ; murder often of the new-born babe, 
 which the law avenges by the infamous death of its san- 
 guinary parent. Instead, therefore, of saying (as liber- 
 tines impudently speak) where is the harm of taking a 
 little pleasure out of the way ; you will perceive that 
 thieves and robbers are harmless and honorable com- 
 pared with the lewd. Injuries from these open foes 
 have very soon an end, in most instances are borne 
 with ease, and may be redressed : they do not strike at 
 

 IMPURITY. 321 
 
 our immortal interest. But the seducer of a female 
 destroys her reputation, tears her away from her family 
 and friends, banishes her from the society of virtuous 
 women, and entangles her, in the bloom of her years, 
 with a snare which will soon reduce her to the most ab 
 ject of all conditions, so that the very mention, or even 
 remembrance of her name, shall afresh excite grief in 
 her family and relations — grief unassuaged by the least 
 ray of hope in her death or eternal state. 
 
 Upon this fair representation of the case, ask any young 
 woman into whose hands she had better fall, into those 
 of the seducer, or of the robber 1 " Into their hands," she 
 would say, "who will only take my property, and fill 
 me with momentary terrors; not into the libertine's, 
 who will plunge me into infamy, lingering wretched- 
 ness, abandoned vice and eternal misery." Such pests 
 to society are men of gallantry and pleasure ! How 
 astonishing, that ruin of the innocent and unsuspecting, 
 dishonor of families, heart-breaking injuries done to 
 worthy aged parents, with a variety of crimes, the cer- 
 tain effects of uncontrolled passion, should be lightly 
 passed over as nothing vile, under the magic name of 
 love and gallantry! When will a public spirit and 
 generous concern to prevent such heavy woes excite 
 men to brand every word spoken in favor of unchastity, 
 as they do what is spoken to lessen our abhorrence of 
 perjury and assassination 1 When will men have under- 
 standing to perceive that the affection between the 
 sexes, regulated by the law of God, like a river flowing 
 in its proper channel, blesses wherever it flows ; but, 
 bursting those sacred banks, becomes an inundation of 
 miseries ; and that he never more tenderly consulted 
 the good of his rational creatures than in absolutely 
 forbidding every degree of impurity. 
 
 There is, indeed, little reason to hope that young 
 men will present to themselves such a view as is here 
 
 14* 
 
322 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 given of the evil of this sin; but it is the inestimable 
 benefit of Scripture that it is done there already in the 
 most striking manner, and by an authority that must 
 not be trifled with. The rise, the progress, and fatal 
 end of lewdness is there contrasted with all the various 
 allurements that lead to it. There the lips of the harlot 
 are painted " dropping sweets like the honey-comb, and 
 her mouth smoother than oil :" but instantly, to quench 
 the least rising of unlawful desire, her end, we are taught 
 of God, is "bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two- 
 edged sword." Prov. 5 : 3, 4. The simple young man she 
 invites with " much fair speech, to take his fill of love 
 till the morning :" but immediately the treacherous offer 
 is laid bare, and under the thin veil of a fleeting plea- 
 sure, an injured body with an upbraiding conscience is 
 discovered, pouring out that sad confession, " How have 
 I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof!" 
 
 Still further, lest a brutish love of pleasure should 
 tempt the young to imagine they might easily make a 
 retreat after yielding a little to this sin, or that it is not 
 a sin of such high offence, God has most emphatically 
 expressed both its infatuating power, and the doom of 
 those who live in subjection to it. " He," that is, the lewd 
 young man, " goeth after her straightway, as an ox 
 goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of 
 the stocks ;" — that is, utterly stupid and incorrigible, 
 V till a dart striketh through his liver; as a bird hasteth 
 to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life." 
 Prov. 7 : 22, 23. ? Why wilt thou embrace the bosom 
 of a stranger 1 for the ways of a man are before the eyes 
 of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings. His own 
 iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be 
 holden with the cords of his sins. He shall die without 
 instruction : and in the greatness of his folly he shall go 
 astray." Prov. 5 : 20-23. 
 
 To finish the testimony of God's abhorrence of the 
 
 
IMPURITY. 323 
 
 sin of fornication published in the Old Testament, let it 
 be observed, that it was made a capital offence by the 
 sentence of his own law ; and the most abominable of 
 vices is itself included in the same prohibition with that 
 of fornication ; designing, I apprehend, to teach us to 
 what horrid lengths lewdness, indulged, will lead, and 
 to create a dread of that sin, which is forbidden togeth- 
 er with one so infamous, f| There shall be no whore of 
 the daughters of Israel, nor a Sodomite of the sons of 
 Israel." Deut. 23:17. 
 
 I have been full in producing the law of God in old 
 time against the sin of fornication, in order to silence 
 the ignorance of some who are foolish enough to wax 
 bold in sin, vaunting that there is only a passage or two 
 in the New Testament positive in condemning their 
 darling crimes. Indeed were it so, this would be suffi- 
 cient ; for a single declaration from God of his will 
 claims from us no less regard and obedience, than if it 
 was often repeated. But instead of a passage or two 
 only in the New Testament, which absolutely condemns 
 fornication, it is not possible to name a sin (that of con- 
 tempt of Christ excepted) which is so generally men- 
 tioned in Scripture, or so constantly marked as the 
 object of God's wrath. Not only our Redeemer and 
 Judge ranks this with sins of the most malignant kind, 
 and as a peculiar provocation of divine wrath, (Matt. 15 : 
 19 j Mark, 7:21,) but his great apostle scarcely writes a 
 single epistle without some alarming prohibition against 
 it. In one place St. Paul beautifully opposes marriage 
 to the terrible condition of the unchaste : " Marriage is 
 honorable in all, and the bed undefiled : but whoremon- 
 gers and adulterers God will judge." Heb. 13:4. In an- 
 other, he not only affirms that M adultery, fornication, 
 lasciviousness, and uncleanness, are the works of the 
 flesh," the fruit of our corrupted nature : but, with re- 
 markable vehemence, he presses us to lay it to heart, 
 
324 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 that each of these sins is absolutely inconsistent with a 
 state of salvation : ' f Of the which I tell you before, as I 
 have also told you in time past, that they which do such 
 things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.'''' Gal. 5:21. 
 
 Such is the light and power accompanying the Gospel, 
 wherever duly received, that, in the judgment of the 
 apostle, it should put an end to the very being of this 
 enormity within the pale of the christian church : "For- 
 nication and all uncleanness — let it not once be named 
 amongst you, as becometh saints ; — for this ye know, 
 that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, hath any 
 inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." 
 Ephes. 5:3, 5. And lest the plausible ways of talking 
 in defence of lewdness, in which men, debauched them- 
 selves, are often very expert, should stagger any weak 
 believer, and seduce him to imagine fornication may be 
 practised with impunity, this awful caution is given : 
 " Let no man deceive you with vain words : for because 
 of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the chil- 
 dren of disobedience. Be ye not therefore partakers with 
 them." Ephes. 5 : 6, 7. The same doctrine is as strongly 
 inculcated upon the christians at Colosse, and those at 
 Thessalonica : " This is the will of God, even your sanc- 
 tification ; that ye should abstain from fornication, that 
 every one of you should know how to possess his vessel 
 in sanctification and honor ; not in the lust of concu- 
 piscence, as the Gentiles which know not God ; for God 
 hath not called us to uncleanness, but unto holiness. 
 He, therefore, that despiseth (what is said of the evil 
 and danger of fornication, and of the absolute necessity 
 of purity) despiseth not man, but God." 
 
 St. John, taught by inspiration of God, exposes no 
 less clearly the greatness of the sin of fornication ; for 
 those who practise it, he declares, are shut out of the 
 gates of the heavenly city. Rev. 22 : 15. " Whore- 
 mongers " have their part assigned them " in the lake 
 
IMPURITY. 
 
 325 
 
 which burnetii with fire and brimstone : which is the 
 second death." Rev. 21 : 8. 
 
 But of all the Scriptures written on purpose to in 
 spire a horror of fornication, those animated interro- 
 gations to the believers at Corinth are perhaps most 
 striking : " Know ye not that your bodies are the mem- 
 bers of Christ V Do you not profess to belong to him, 
 and that he is your life-giving head! "Shall I then 
 take the members of Christ and make them the mem- 
 bers of an harlot 1 God forbid." Would it not be mon- 
 strous to make such a vile use of them as to alienate 
 them from his service ; and, rending them off, as it were 
 from him, to turn them into the members of a lewd wo- 
 man by committing whoredom with her'? "What, 
 know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy 
 Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye 
 are not your own!" 1 Cor. 6 : 19. Appropriated to 
 God, you have no right to abuse your bodies by grati- 
 fying a brutal desire of pleasure. This is the worst 
 kind of sacrilege : this is the most dreadful of all pro- 
 fanations, the turning what is consecrated a temple for 
 the living God into an habitation for the spirit of 
 uncleanness. 
 
 Sum up now what has been offered in proof of the 
 great sinfulness of fornication. Consider the present 
 evils so evidently connected with it that no infidel can 
 deny them : consider the repeated declarations of God's 
 displeasure against this sin, from his first making it a 
 capital offence under the old law, to his denouncing 
 against it everlasting punishment again and again in the 
 last revelation of his will. Consider that this his un- 
 changeable purpose is so openly, so strongly proclaim- 
 ed, that either we have nothing to fear from any sin we 
 can possibly commit, or fornication must be confessed 
 to be a damnable one. Weigh these things, and you 
 must acknowledge how much it is the duty of every 
 
326 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 christian, as he loves God, as he reverences his word, 
 nay, as he regards his own salvation, to deny himself in 
 every propensity he feels to commit fornication, and to 
 flee from it as he would from the face of a serpent. 
 
 Know, therefore, that you must either turn apostate 
 from the christian faith, renouncing every hope of find 
 ing mercy from God ; or you must " mortify your mem- 
 bers which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness ;" 
 and be fully persuaded that this sin alone, supposing it 
 were possible to subsist with the discharge of christian 
 duty in other respects, (which it cannot,) would drown 
 the soul in perdition. This full persuasion of the evil 
 and sinfulness of fornication is of great use to secure 
 you, in the early and most important season of life, from 
 what is, in many cases, the first instance of premeditated 
 rebellion against God; the first means of riveting on 
 the sinner that chain which drags down its thousands 
 and ten thousands to the prison of hell ! 
 
 Further ; whenever any end is proposed, or duty en- 
 joined, the means necessary to maintain the one, and to 
 perform the other, are tacitly included in the general 
 precept ; and whatever in itself renders the practice of 
 the duty very precarious, is virtually forbidden, where 
 it can be avoided. Now from this most evident princi- 
 ple, a christian is obliged to carry his self-denial much 
 farther than a mere abstinence from the gross acts of 
 fornication or uncleanness ; for this may be done when 
 there is no true chastity. A christian must resolutely 
 shun all representations to the eye, and every thing that 
 by the medium of the senses can be offered to his mind, 
 exciting impure desire, or defiling the imagination. 
 Thtis the chastity of Job is expressed by his making a 
 covenant with his eyes, absolutely to check them from 
 gazing on any inflaming object ; and our Lord brands 
 as the adultery of the heart, " the looking upon a wo- 
 man to lust after her." In short, the same divine au 
 
IMPURITY. 327 
 
 thority which condemns all gross lewdness, condemns 
 every species and appearance of it also in word or 
 thought. Therefore all light, wanton and obscene 
 ways of talking, however fashionable, are impure in 
 such a degree as every christian must detest. And as it 
 is the temper of the heart which stamps the real cha- 
 racter, no one can be said truly to mortify his sinful ap- 
 petite who cherishes any unclean thoughts, has the 
 least pleasure in them, or can suffer a lascivious idea 
 to rest upon his mind, or a sound exciting it to play 
 upon his ear. For were it a renewed mind, were it a 
 filial fear of God, were it a sense of the evil of sin, 
 which restrained him from the commission of open 
 lewdness ; then the same principle must equally restrain 
 from all near approaches to it, and from every thing 
 savoring of it. Indeed, where only a fear of shame, or 
 of the temporal mischiefs which may follow lewdness 
 prevails, there a superficial self-denial extending to 
 ^ross acts only will be all the effect. On the contrary, 
 where there is a real desire to be approved of God, and 
 to walk worthy of his kingdom and glory, there purity 
 in the most secret thoughts will be cultivated with all 
 jarefulness, and every person, jest or object injurious 
 to it, will be conscientiously avoided. 
 
 Here then behold a noble province for christian self- 
 denial opens ! here the spiritual warfare, in which every 
 believer in Jesus daily fights, becomes most visible — 
 most visible in opposing all the licensed honorable ways, 
 invented by the world, to gratify the lewdness of the 
 heart. In the number of these licensed and honorable 
 ways of cherishing defilement, are all wanton glances 
 of the eye, that mirror of the mind ; the singing soft 
 and amorous songs ; double entendres, mixed dancings, 
 reading novels : and above all, the frequenting the play- 
 house. For in this innocent amusement, as the world 
 will have it called in defiance of our holy faith, of our 
 
328 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 reason and of experience, whatever can corrupt the 
 mind is set off to the greatest advantage. Is there a 
 lewd allusion, or stroke of impure wit ; the air, the voice 
 of the actor labor to give it the highest emphasis ; whilst 
 the greater part of the audience loudly applaud the en- 
 tertainment. Nay, if by chance some piece should gain 
 admittance on the stage free from a filthy tincture j the 
 house must still have their prurient humor gratified by 
 an epilogue or a farce full of innuendoes, intimating that 
 the happiness of the human race must stand or fall 
 with those things N they know naturally and as brute 
 beasts."* 
 
 Now to live in the world, and thus, in direct opposi 
 tion to its favorite taste, to preserve true chastity ot 
 mind, is a fruit of faith in Christ, and a part of self-de 
 nial indispensably required from all christians. 
 
 * If the reader should be tempted to censure this remark on the 
 stage, the author is supported in it by some of the greatest writers 
 in the nation, particularly by archbishop Tillotson, who was never 
 deemed either a rigorous or an enthusiastic divine. And those who 
 resent the absolute condemnation of this fashionable amusement, 
 would do well to consider what this distinguished prelate says upoD 
 this subject. 
 
 " As the stage now is, plays are intolerable, and not fit to be per- 
 mitted in any civilized, much less a christian nation. They do mosf 
 notoriously minister both to infidelity and vice. By their profane- 
 ness they are apt to instil bad principles, and by their lewdness to 
 dispose to lewd and dissolute practice, and therefore I do not see 
 how any person pretending to sobriety and virtue, and especially to 
 the pure and holy religion of our blessed Savior, can, without great 
 guilt and open contradiction to his holy profession, be present at 
 such lewd and immodest plays; much less frequent them, as too 
 many do, who would yet take it very ill to be shut out of the com- 
 munion of christians, as they certainly would have been in the first 
 ages of Christianity." — Sermon on the Evil of Corrupt. Communication. 
 
329 
 
 DESIRE OF WEALTH. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 SELF-nE3% % I*lXj*—c<m Untied, 
 
 COVETOUSNESS — INORDINATE AFFECTION THE LOVE 
 
 OF PRAISE. 
 
 It is a remarkable proof of the corruption of human 
 nature, that all the passions which are natural to the 
 human race require to be restrained and mortified. If 
 we look into the world, we do not find men in general 
 so impressed by love to God, by delight in spiritual 
 things, by ardent benevolence, as that attention and 
 caution are required lest those virtues should be carried 
 to excess, (if there could be excess in them,) and lest 
 the business of this life should be neglected. As the 
 bias lies on the other side, the danger is, lest religion 
 should be neglected ; lest the love of the world and the 
 lusts of the flesh should be cherished. Religion, there- 
 fore, supposes human nature to be corrupt. It is in 
 fact nothing but a system of restraint upon man: it 
 prevents his doing what he is strongly inclined to do, 
 and requires him to do what else he would not think of 
 performing. We have already seen how much self-de- 
 nial is requisite with respect to intemperance and un- 
 chastity ; we now observe, that corrupt self must be 
 denied in its propensity to covetousncss. 
 
 This propensity there is in us all ; for though we 
 may feel no inclination to be fraudulent, in order to in- 
 crease our gain ; still are we naturally apt to desire 
 wealth, and to place our happiness in amassing money. 
 Commerce and custom perpetually cherish this corrupt 
 principle ; and the world sees no evil in being intent on 
 getting as much as it is possible to gain with a fair cha- 
 
330 
 
 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 racter. By this means, what at first setting out in trade 
 was no more than an innocent . desire of providing ho- 
 nestly for ourselves and our family, soon grows into a 
 very mischievous and wicked passion. 
 
 This propensity to love money it is the duty of a 
 christian to resist in its first workings 3 for it is entirely 
 opposite to the temper of mind required in a christian, 
 and it is declared by Scripture to be ruinous to the soul 
 wherever it prevails 
 
 It is opposite to the temper of mind required in a 
 christian 5 for he is called to seek after a better, that 
 is, a heavenly country, and to stand always ready for 
 an immediate separation from all things visible. Bat 
 the propensity to covetousness, unless denied, will, on 
 the contrary, utterly benumb all sense of futurity, suf- 
 fering to think of nothing with frequency or earnest- 
 ness but. wealth and its present advantages. It will 
 possess his mind with a strong delusion, that money is 
 the chief good of man on earth ; and utterly exclude 
 all just apprehensions of the religion which cometh 
 from God, whose characteristic is, that it overcometh 
 «tll worldly lusts. 
 
 Besides, the Gospel is revealed to fix us, through our 
 knowledge of the grace of God, in a state of full resig- 
 nation to his will ; so that in want, or in affluence, we 
 should be able to say, " We know how to be abased, 
 and how to abound ; every where and in all things we 
 are instructed bot'u to be full and to be hungry, both to 
 abound and to suffer need." But a covetous spirit can 
 only conform itself to the will of God so long as his 
 providence is favorable. If God give prosperity, then a 
 man tinctured with covetousness may possibly find him- 
 self inclined, in some degree, to serve and adore his 
 Maker; but should misfortune upon misfortune scourge 
 him, he will be fretful, murmuring and inconsolable. 
 
 The Gospel makes the truth and substance of religion 
 
DESIRE OF WEALTH. 331 
 
 to be a firm trust in God, and a delight in him as our 
 chief happiness. But avarice says unto gold, "Thou 
 art my confidence ; thou art the god whose presence 
 brings with it the greatest blessing, and whose absence 
 cs the greatest curse." The Gospel is given on purpose 
 to raise our desires with increasing fervor towards God, 
 to fix our affections with immoveable steadfastness on 
 things above, and to engage us in the constant pursuit 
 of them with an ardor in some degree suited to their 
 worth. The covetous person, by making wealth the ob- 
 ject of his chief desire, has no warmth of affection left 
 for God, nothing more than the husk of heartless duties ; 
 he forms no idea of the blessedness of being with God, 
 in any other view than as a sort of refuge, when death 
 comes, and riches can be no longer possessed. 
 
 And to mention no more instances of the contrariety 
 of a covetous spirit to the state of a real believer ; it 
 hardens the heart towards our fellow-beings, and either 
 from a fear of lessening our treasure, or a desire of in- 
 creasing it, will esteem charity a low subordinate duty ; 
 and leave our neighbor, partaker of our own flesh, to 
 struggle with sickness and with want, even to perish un- 
 assisted. Directly opposite to this selfish one is the dis- 
 position of a christian : he is M ready to distribute, will- 
 ing to communicate," putting on bowels of mercy, and 
 feeling love unfeigned. He remembers with joy, that it 
 is the will of God that those who are rich should give 
 plenteously, as stewards and not proprietors of their 
 wealth : that by this means the great abundance of some 
 may prove a supply to the want of others ; that those 
 who have much should have nothing over, and they that 
 have nothing should feel no lack. 
 
 In this view, the sin of covetousness as it respects 
 God and man, is most evident ; and by consequence the 
 duty of self-denial, in resisting every motion we feel 
 tending towards it in our breasts. 
 
332 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 To enforce this self-denial, it is necessary to consider 
 further the Scripture representation of covetousness as 
 ruinous to the soul. 
 
 And here it is remarkable that the covetousness a- 
 gainst which we are so earnestly warned in God's word, 
 is not of the kind generally deemed scandalous, but 
 such as may govern the heart of a man who is esteemed 
 virtuous and excellent by the world. In the tenth Psalm, 
 the covetous, whom the Lord is there said to abhor, are 
 the very persons of whom the wicked speak well : which 
 could never be the case, did their love of money make 
 them either villanous in their practice, or miserably pe- 
 nurious in their temper ; for men of this stamp none 
 commend. The same thing is observable in that solemn 
 caution given by our Redeemer, " Take heed, and be- 
 ware of covetousness ;" by which it is evident that he 
 meant a rooted persuasion that the comfort of life con- 
 sists in abundance ; and desiring from such a persuasion, 
 to be rich : this was the covetousness our Lord con- 
 demns. And that his admonition might sink the deeper, 
 he represents the workings of that avarice which he 
 condemns, in a case which passes every day before our 
 eyes. It is this : 
 
 A man grows rich in his business, not through fraud 
 or extortion, but by the blessing of God upon his own 
 labor and skill. As is usual, he is highly delighted with 
 his success; he exults in the prospect of being master, 
 in a few years, of an independent fortune ! in the mean 
 time he is determined to be frugal and diligent, till he 
 takes his final leave of business to enjoy all the sweets 
 of ease and splendor. Now, where are the people, go- 
 verned by the common maxims and principles of h.man 
 nature, who see any thing to blame in this man's senti- 
 ment or conduct 1 who do not applaud and imitate it 
 themselves 1 Yet this very man our Lord sets before our 
 eyes as the picture of one engrossed by a covetous de- 
 

 p DESIRE OF WEALTH. 333 
 
 sire of the things of this world. This very man he re- 
 presents as summoned in the midst of all his golden 
 hopes tc appear a guilty criminal at the bar of his Ma- 
 ker. Lo ! this is the man whom our Lord exposes as a 
 miserable wretch, for all others to take warning by, and 
 resist covetousness : A So," — such a fool and such a 
 sinner as this, — "is he that layeth up treasure for him- 
 self," that is, every earthly-minded man, who seeks af- 
 ter wealth as if it were the foundation of happiness, 
 " and is not rich towards God," — rich in faith, hope 
 and holiness. Luke, 12 : 21. 
 
 St. Paul, in perfect harmony with his Lord, forbids the 
 desire of wealth as a criminal effect of avarice. M Let 
 your conversation be without covetousness, and be con- 
 tent with such things' as ye have : for he hath said, I will 
 never leave thee nor forsake thee." Heb. 13:5. And 
 where, instead of this self-denied temper, a desire of in- 
 creasing in wealth is cherished ; there snares, defile 
 ment and ruin are declared to be the certain conse- 
 quences ; for " they that will " (the original signifies the 
 simple desire) " be rich, fall into temptation and a snare, 
 and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown 
 men in destruction and perdition. For the love of mo- 
 ney is the root of all evil : which while some coveted 
 after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced them- 
 selves through with many sorrows." 1 Tim. 6:9, 10. 
 
 Now, however easy and common it may seem to de- 
 spise that sordid spirit of avarice which alone meets 
 with contempt from the world ; the accumulating of 
 riches by every questionable method ; and, for fear of 
 expense, the refusing afterwards to make any use of 
 therr. ; — yet to resist the workings of covetousness, 
 according to the Scripture definition of that depraved 
 temper, must be confessed to be a most heroic instance 
 of self-denial. For suppose men to be engaged in busi- 
 ness, how strong are their natural fears of failing, and 
 
334 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. * 
 
 their desire to prosper! how dependent must they be 
 at first on those who employ them ! Consider the con- 
 stant language of the world in calling wealth a blessing 
 and a reward ; its custom of treating men with respect, 
 and paying court to them, exactly in proportion to 
 their moneyed worth. Weigh these things, and then say 
 whether any thing can be more contrary to our natural 
 selfishness than to renounce all love of money 1 — than 
 to be quite satisfied with using constant industry and 
 all our skill (which God commands us to do) in our 
 trade or profession ; and when that is done, to cast all 
 our care upon him, cheerfully leaving it to his own 
 most wise and gracious will in what degree we shall 
 grow rich, or whether ever at all j assured that if we 
 " dwell in the land and are doing good," by an uniform 
 subjection to God's word, he will bring it to pass, that 
 upon the whole our condition shall be appointed to us 
 in richest mercy 1 What more difficult self-denial can 
 be conceived, than to live in the temple of the god of 
 riches, (as this world may too justly be called,) hearing 
 high and low, priests and people, all paying their ado- 
 ration to this mammon of unrighteousness, and yet 
 remain uninfected by thirst for money 1 This can be 
 obtained only by unintermitted discipline exercised 
 over our own hearts, and by possession of the true 
 riches in the knowledge of God and Christ. 
 
 If it should be said, do you mean, then, to affirm 
 that it is wrong for any man to rise to a state of great 
 wealth 1 The Scripture, I answer, condemns only the 
 desire of riches and the passion for them, as defiling 
 and sinful. Therefore, if whilst your whole heart is 
 given to God, he is pleased to prosper whatever you 
 take in hand, and to give you an abundant increase, 
 then your wealth is evidently as much the gift of God 
 as if it came to you by legacy or inheritance. It i* 
 God's own act and deed to call you up, who were cor 
 
DESIKE OF WEALTH, 335 
 
 tent to sit down in a low place ; and to intrust you 
 with more talents to improve for his glory. Now the 
 difference between possessing wealth, thus put into 
 your hands, and desiring to grow rich, is as great as 
 that between a worthless ambitious intruder into a 
 place of honor, seeking nothing but his own base in 
 terest, and a man sought out for his worth, and invest 
 ed with the same office for the public good. And those 
 who can see no material, no necessary distinction in the 
 two cases, are already blinded by the love of money. 
 
 Nor let any one deem it useless or severe to exercise 
 so strict a self-denial over the covetous propensity of 
 his heart. Useless it is not, because we can never 
 be secure from the dominion of sin, unless we guard 
 against its first plausible insinuations to gain admis- 
 sion. But if we were allowed to give place to wishes 
 and desires of being richer than the providence of God, 
 unsolicited by us, sees fit to make us ; what a suspicion 
 must this imply of his love for us, and how soon must 
 it insensibly betray us into sinful schemes of gratifying 
 our predominant desire ! Whereas, by commanding us 
 to rest with a full confidence on his providential good 
 ness and fatherly affection, in a way of diligence and 
 duty, all the avenues by which temptation would ap- 
 proach to enslave us are shut up; and by resolutely re- 
 fusing all correspondence with the enemy, we are safe 
 from his treachery as well as from his open assaults. 
 
 Neither is such strict self-denial, as forbids our enter- 
 taining a wish or desire to have more than is sufficient 
 for our present provision, severe and irksome to prac- 
 tise. Because as sin is most powerful, and grace weak- 
 est, when we are but just within the verge of salvation 
 and the limits of what is lawful ; so is the liberty and 
 pleasure of the soul enlarged in proportion as it moves 
 out of the neighborhood of sin : when, instead of turn 
 ing back to its paths as paths of pleasantness, we flee 
 
336 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 from them as utterly detestable, as the ways of de 
 struction and misery. Add to this, so far is the desire 
 of riches from constituting the pleasure of them, that 
 it really fills the mind with anxiety ; so far from aug- 
 menting the comfort of those who cherish it, that it 
 turns every little loss or disappointment into a grievous 
 burden, and creates vexation of spirit on a thousand 
 occasions without cause or end. 
 
 Self must be denied also in the use and enjoyment 
 even of things lawful. Intemperance, lewdness and 
 covetousness are in every degree defiling and sinful: 
 nothing can be urged in their defence by those who 
 will reason justly, or who believe sincerely the word 
 of God. But when we have subdued these corruptions 
 of the heart, there still remains much exercise for self- 
 denial with respect to the comforts and conveniences 
 we possess. We must be careful to use them so as not 
 to abuse them. We must keep our hearts disengaged 
 from those temporal blessings which have no intrinsic 
 worth, and which others, better than ourselves, often 
 want. By this self-denial we shall receive all the bene- 
 fit outward comforts were intended to confer on their 
 possessors, without putting our peace in their power, 
 in case the providence of God should deprive us of 
 them. Now, considering how very uncertain all our 
 outward comforts are, and how impossible to be abso- 
 lutely secured to us for any time, to hold them as un- 
 certain is certainly wise and necessary. 
 
 Amongst these lawful things in which self must be 
 denied, our nearest and dearest relatives are included. 
 For though much love is due to them, and a tenderness 
 of affection which will make our connection a source 
 of true pleasure, still God alone must possess the su- 
 preme place in our hearts. But unless we are much 
 upon our guard, and very jealous of ourselves, where 
 
DESIRE OF WEALTH. 337 
 
 we love as we ought, we shall soon love as we ought 
 not. The affection which should be kept subordinate, 
 will intrench upon what we owe to God, and render us 
 by degrees cold towards him. What neither intemper- 
 ance, nor lust, nor covetousness could effect, a passion- 
 ate fondness for a husband, a wife or a child, will often 
 produce. It will alienate the affections from God, by 
 substituting an idol in his place ; an idol which we shall 
 more studiously seek to please, and be more fearful to 
 offend than our God : an idol in whose precarious life 
 all our happiness will centre, and whose death will 
 prove a stroke too heavy to bear with christian sub- 
 mission. 
 
 The danger of this inordinate affection is mentioned 
 in Scripture, and self-denial in this instance is peculiar- 
 ly enjoined. n If a'ny man come to me, and hate not 
 his father and mother, and wife, and children," that is, 
 so far as they would interfere with a supreme affection 
 for Christ, and hinder faithfulness in his service ; if he 
 does not in these respects as much renounce all his 
 fondness for them, as if he had an actual hatred to- 
 wards their persons, " he cannot be my disciple ; he 
 cannot stand when brought to the fiery trial ; and 
 though that should never be the case, his heart can- 
 not be whole with me." Luke, 14 : 26. 
 
 The same doctrine of self-denial is inculcated by St. 
 Paul, and founded upon an abiding reason. "Brethren, 
 (says he,) the time is short : it remaineth, that both 
 they that have wives be as though they had none ', and 
 they that weep, as though they wept not ; and they that 
 rejoice, as though they rejoiced not ; and they that buy, 
 as though they possessed not ; and they that use this 
 world, as not abusing it : for the fashion of this world 
 passeth away." 1 Cor. 7 : 29-31. Short-lived as we 
 are ourselves, and still shorter in duration as our best 
 earthly comforts so often prove, we only act according 
 
 Duty of man. * ** 
 
338 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 to the truth of our condition, as well as in obedience 
 to God, by limiting our affections towards them. By 
 this means we shall still be happy in a separation from 
 them, no less than in their possession. God, who is with- 
 out any variableness, will be our joy, and the failure of 
 the cisterns too many hew out for themselves, will the 
 more enhance to us the fountain of living waters. To 
 perceive the excellency of being thus disengaged from 
 inordinate affection towards objects which it is not un- 
 lawful to regard with peculiar love, look upon the fond 
 mother, stupid and dumb with grief ; like "Rachel weep- 
 ing for her children, and refusing to be comforted be- 
 cause they are not;" observe the settled melancholy 
 under which thousands are oppressed, through a separa- 
 tion from the husband or wife of their youth, with whom 
 they promised themselves a length of joyous years. 
 Behold all their happiness shivered in pieces, all inter- 
 red with the idol on which they doated! The whole 
 creation is now become as the barren wilderness, and 
 no prospect of ease before them, but in the gloomy 
 thought of dying soon themselves. 
 
 Consider this afflicting scene occurring daily, and 
 you will be compelled to own that no self-denial can be 
 more reasonable or more necessary than that of sup- 
 pressing all inordinate affection towards those dear ob- 
 jects which may be torn in a moment from us; and 
 which, when delighted in beyond measure, are sure to 
 pierce us far more deeply with anguish for their loss 
 than ever they could repay our excessive love with joy 
 by their presence. 
 
 Corrupt self must also be denied in our love of the 
 praise of men. It is evident, that Unless something no- 
 bler than what earth can give, is the grand object of 
 pursuit, praise is as delightful to the mind as sounds 
 exquisitely harmonious are to the ear, or the most de- 
 
LOVE OF PRAISE. 339 
 
 licious flavors to the taste. The heathens avowed the 
 love of praise to be the spring of all that gave a lustre 
 to their names. Thus Themistocles owned, that being 
 pointed at in the public meetings, afforded him a plea 
 sure which amply rewarded him for all the great ex» 
 ploits he had done for his country. And Tully is not 
 ashamed to publish to the whole world his vanity, that 
 he rose up in defence of Rome against her unnatural 
 conspirators, not from a spirit of patriotism, but to 
 erect to himself a monument of glory. The same prin- 
 ciple gave birth to the austerities of the Pharisees, and 
 to the duties of religion they performed; all their works 
 they did to be seen of men. That in this respect human 
 nature is always the same, is evident from the pain men 
 feel whenever they meet with expressions of disgrace 
 and scorn ; how keenly do they pierce, how greatly 
 provoke ! It is evident also from the visible pleasure 
 with which men generally listen to their own commen- 
 dation, and incite every designing flatterer to offer to 
 them his incense. 
 
 Now this strong innate love of the praise of men, it 
 is the duty of a christian to deny. He must not suffer 
 it to direct his actions. Were so false a principle to 
 govern him, the judgment of the world would be his 
 rule of life, in contempt of God, his maker and his judge. 
 He would judge of the extent of his duty not from the 
 plain command of God, but from what was reputable or 
 otherwise. What will the world think of me 1 would 
 be an alarming suggestion, fatal to every purpose of 
 living as a real christian must : and the fear of an ap- 
 pearance of enthusiasm in abstaining from fashionable 
 vices, would reconcile him to practices glaringly op- 
 posite to his duty. Whatever knowledge and convic- 
 tion of the truth he might have more than others, fond- 
 ness for applause from men would compel him to hold 
 the truth in unrighteousness; and to resist his con- 
 
340 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 victions, in order to enjoy the approbation of the world. 
 
 Further j this principle, if not effectually resisted, not 
 only leads to evil, but corrupts what has the appearance 
 of being good. It influences you to do all things from 
 mere selfishness, that you may stand high in reputation. 
 In a word, as base parasites at court know no other 
 standard of good or evil than their prince's humor ; so 
 the love of praise, if not mortified, will suffer you to 
 avow neither doctrine, sentiment nor practice, but what 
 is in good repute with the world, however strongly it 
 maybe enforced in Scripture as the truth, and inwardly 
 believed by you to be such. 
 
 The love of praise, therefore, being so opposite to 
 our obedience to God, all its soft treacherous insinua- 
 tions must be denied. For as there is nothing necessa- 
 ry to our salvation, but what is taught us in the Bible, 
 and nothing there enjoined but what is necessary and 
 infinitely beneficial too, we must conform to that infal- 
 lible rule. This must be our only ambition, this our 
 single aim, to walk before God to all well-pleasing; re- 
 gardless of our character amongst men, whether ap- 
 proved or condemned, whilst we act conscientiously. 
 If, in the discharge of our duty, we meet with praise, 
 as we may from real christians, we may take encou- 
 ragement from it, and be thankful to God for his grace : 
 if, on the contrary, we meet with obloquy and detrac- 
 tion, unmoved by it, we must steadily persevere to give 
 offence to those who are wayward enough to take it, on 
 account of our fidelity to God. Whatever reluctance 
 we feel, we must bid defiance to all attempts to make 
 our love of character operate to the suppressing or 
 damping our zeal for the truth of God. 
 
 This is a noble species of self-denial, of which none 
 but christians in reality have any knowledge. But 
 though the love of praise is naturally as sweet to them 
 as to others, they have sufficient motives to wean them 
 
LOVE OF PRAISE. 341 
 
 from seeking it. Jesus Christ, the great object of their 
 hope and confidence, of their love and delight, ever 
 since they believed, is present to their minds. They 
 frequently meditate on his life, who was not only de- 
 spised, but suffered outrage for their sakes ; who hid 
 not his face from shame and spitting, who gave his back 
 to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off 
 the hair. In contemplation of this amazing fact, the 
 love of the praise of men loses its bewitching power ; 
 whilst a deep veneration and a most affectionate regard 
 for one who was despised and rejected of men, though 
 infinitely deserving the highest adoration, reconciles 
 the believer's mind to abstain from seeking praise from 
 the world. 
 
 Besides this weighty motive to deny self in not seek 
 ing the praise of men, christians are taught to expect 
 contempt on account of their religion, and exhorted in 
 no degree to marvel at it, or to be discouraged by it. 
 In the thirty-seventh Psalm, written when all the pro- 
 fessing people of God used the same religious mode 
 of worship, when there was no opposition on account 
 of any supposed innovation in religious tenets ; in this 
 Psalm, full of consolation to the faithful, the enmity in- 
 curred by a truly conscientious behavior is thus strong- 
 ly marked, n The wicked plotteth against the just, and 
 gnasheth upon him with his teeth. The wicked have 
 drawn out the sword, and bent the bow, to slay such as 
 be of upright conversation." As the publication of the 
 Gospel drew near, the Almighty exhorts all who should 
 be disposed to receive it, not to suffer their love of 
 praise, or their fear of shame, to make them conceal or 
 dissemble their faith : " Hearken unto me," saith the 
 Lord, "ye that know righteousness, the people in 
 whose heart is my law ; fear ye not the reproach of 
 men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings." Isa. 51 : 7. 
 When Jesus himself appears and publishes a complete 
 
342 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 delineation of the spirit of all his faithful followers ; 
 that humility, meekness and zeal for God ; that purity 
 and mercy which were to rule in their hearts, and to 
 constitute their essential character; he immediately 
 declares, how insupportable the character, lovely as it 
 is in itself, would prove to men of corrupt minds. He 
 assures his followers, therefore, that they are blessed 
 who are slandered and even persecuted for the sake of 
 this righteousness; a righteousness the imitation of his 
 own, therefore both upbraiding and galling to men of 
 partial and superficial virtue. 
 
 Now these instructions come strongly in aid of a 
 sense of duty, to love the praise of God, and to seek 
 only that honor that cometh of him. They are of great 
 efficacy to cool the heart that would otherwise burn 
 for reputation. And whilst christians are only studying 
 to be found approved of God, their eye being thus 
 " single ; their whole body," according to that gracious 
 promise, Luke, 11 : 34, " is full of light," — of the light 
 of truth, holiness and comfort : in this they enjoy more 
 than a counterbalance to the loss of human praise, 
 more than a recompense for all aspersions cast upon 
 their understanding, choice and conduct. 
 

 % 
 
 FALSE SHAME. 343 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 SEIsF-DEWI&Is.—con tinned. 
 
 FALSE SHAME SUFFERING FOR RELIGION PRIDE OF REASON 
 
 SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS. 
 
 We have seen the necessity of exercising self-denial 
 with respect to our sensual appetites, with respect also 
 to the inclinations natural to man, for wealth, the com- 
 forts of life, and the praise of our fellow-creatures. But 
 religion, which teaches us the necessity of self-denial, 
 is itself also the occasion of opening to us a new scene 
 for its exercise. The profession of a higher degree of 
 religion than is common in the world, subjects us to 
 a loss of reputation; to bear which, without being 
 ashamed or hurt, will require no trifling exertion of 
 self-denial. We all naturally follow the custom and 
 fashion of the world around us, and though not fired 
 with the love of fame, we still feel it grievous to be 
 reproached as bigots, fools or enthusiasts. When, 
 therefore, we observe that our attachment to Scripture 
 principles, in condemnation of corrupt practices and 
 fashionable errors, will render us disagreeable and unfit 
 for the company of the polite, pride will begin strongly 
 to plead within, to dissemble and not appear more at- 
 tached to religion than others; it will be swaying us 
 to seem at least to approve what all the company ap- 
 proves, though we condemn it in our hearts. Therefore, 
 
 This Evil Shame in all its workings, must be denied ; 
 because nothing can be more base, more encouraging 
 to wickedness, or more destructive to our own souls. 
 
 Nothing can be more base than such a dastardly ob» 
 
34?4 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 sequiousness to the opinions of men ; since, besides the 
 reigning cowardice it betrays, what a return is this for 
 the inestimable blessing of the knowledge of the truth 
 Was it for this end, do you think, that God gave you 
 the knowledge of his truth, to which others are stran- 
 gers, only that you might show him the greater indig- 
 nity, by preferring to his favor your reputation 1 Was 
 the light of life kindled within you, that you should in- 
 dustriously conceal it, choosing to appear dark in your 
 understanding, rather than bear the censure or ridicule 
 of those who you well know are enemies to the light, 
 only because their deeds are evil 1 Were an officer to 
 be found thus ashamed of his king or his service, how 
 must he appear 1 yet what fidelity does he owe to his 
 king, or what advantages does he receive in his service, 
 worthy to be named with the benefits God pours out 
 upon us 1 Hence both gratitude and justice require us all, 
 as far as we know the truth, and our duty towards God, 
 to avow religion, and not to be ashamed of being account- 
 ed righteous over-much by those who neither have, nor 
 can bear, more than the senseless form of godliness. 
 Indeed, unless we deny ourselves, and in a manner 
 suited to our station in life appear open advocates for 
 the cause of God, we contribute to the increase of wick- 
 edness j for where there is no opposition, sinners both 
 grow bolder and multiply the faster. What all men 
 either do themselves, or express no abhorrence against 
 in others, it is naturally concluded, can have no great 
 harm in it : thus all sense of the necessity of real reli- 
 gion is banished from society, and profaneness, from its 
 general prevalency, loses its guilt in the judgment of 
 men. But such a general prevalency of evil would be 
 prevented if the appearance of it were resolutely checked 
 by a disapproving silence and cool reserve ; or, where 
 age and condition of life authorize it, by an open rebuke 
 This would serve to keep up the distinction between 
 
FEAR OF SUFFERING FOR CHRIST. 345 
 
 good and evil ; this would remind men of their depend- 
 ance upon God, and often prove, through divine grace, 
 an effectual monitor to awaken the conscience and pro- 
 duce a change of sentiments and manners. But if, 
 through a mean fear of injuring our paltry reputation 
 with ungodly men, we refuse to signify, by any of these 
 methods, our sense of God's authority and government, 
 of his hatred to sin, and his love of christian holiness ; 
 we are then accessaries to the abounding of iniquity, we 
 become sharers in the guilt by being tame spectators of 
 the insult offered to our God, and by listening, without 
 expressing our disapprobation, to the hard speeches 
 which ungodly sinners are wont to speak against him. 
 But if neither a sense of gratitude nor a fear of con- 
 tributing to the propagation of iniquity can prevail with 
 us to overcome our natural cowardice in the cause of 
 God, let us at least consider the destruction it will bring 
 upon our souls : — let us therefore oppose fear to fear, 
 and weigh the insufferable pain of contempt from God 
 and angels, against the shame of being branded for reli- 
 gion here before men. For immediately after the injunc- 
 tion of that self-denial, without which it is impossible 
 to follow Christ, the trying instance of being content to 
 lose our character for his sake is pointed out: " Whoso- 
 ever therefore shall be ashamed of me and my words in 
 this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall 
 the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glo- 
 ry of his Father, with the holy angels. — But whosoever 
 shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my 
 Father which is in heaven."— Mark, 8 : 38 ; Matt. 10:33 
 
 Self-denial must further be exercised with respect 
 to the fear of suffering for the sake of God and his 
 truth. In the inferior ranks of life all persons are called, 
 more or less, to this exercise through their necessary 
 dependance upon the rich. For when a person begins 
 
 15* 
 
346 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 business, or enters upon his profession of law, physic 
 or divinity, how desirable is the favor of the great and 
 opulent to him ! To have their smile, to be admitted a 
 guest at their table, is deemed an honor ; and whilst 
 their interest procures preferment, their custom brings 
 the tradesman the largest return of gain. Hence a vio- 
 lent temptation arises to be esteemed no more religious 
 than is agreeable to the rich, or their principal domes- 
 tics, on whose favor so much depends. Are they, there- 
 fore, profane 1 every dependant will be tempted to say, 
 why should I appear a friend to godliness 1 Are they 
 lewd and intemperate 1 why should I hurt my interest 
 by refusing to join with them in excess of wine, or in 
 lasciviousness, or by appearing to condemn such vile 
 practices 1 Should conscience remonstrate, self-interest 
 will lead a man industriously to stifle every conviction, 
 afraid of losing the best of his customers, or his only 
 patron by being offensively religious. 
 
 Every one knows how much the principal inhabitants 
 in all places keep their inferiors in awe by the tie of 
 worldly gain ; and where their example is profane they 
 spread on every side a dreadful contagion. 
 
 In such a situation christian self-denial displays its 
 energy. The believer will dare to show a conscientious 
 regard to the law and truth of God in the view of his 
 superiors, though sensible that his conduct will gall 
 and irritate. Fear of poverty will not make him belie 
 his better judgment, or deny his God in order to gain 
 favor with men. And whilst discretion and humility on 
 one hand set bounds to his advice or reproof, and direct 
 him as to the time and manner of applying them ; his 
 fear and love of God, on the other, will certainly lead 
 him to discover his true character, and his abhorrence 
 of all iniquity. 
 
 The weight which eternal things have upon the be- 
 liever's mind, the sting which he has often felt in his 
 
PRIDE OF REASON. 347 
 
 conscience for seeming to approve what God condemns, 
 the express command to make a public profession of 
 Efodliness, and the disinterested manner in which the 
 Redeemer has suffered to purchase his everlasting salva* 
 ,ion, all join their influence, and are of great force to 
 enable him to risk the loss of all things, rather than be 
 ashamed of God and his word. 
 
 Now though such an opposition to custom, and to our 
 natural fear of suffering in our worldly circumstances, 
 extremely terrifies the mind of man ; yet those who 
 deny themselves, and forsake all, leaving it to God in 
 the way of diligence and truth to provide for them, 
 generally prosper even in this world. And no won- 
 der; for they are heirs of that all-sufficient promise, 
 " Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye 
 separate, and I will receive you ; and I will be a Father 
 unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith 
 the Lord Almighty." 2 Cor. 6 : 17, 18. And if any 
 man, professing himself a christian, dare not thus rely 
 upon God for a temporal provision, when it seems to be 
 endangered by his adherence to duty, it is certain that 
 man can place no trust in his God for eternal salvation j 
 but whilst he makes professions of believing in God he 
 is an infidel in his heart. Nay, further, he entertains 
 an idea of the character of God, such as if any one were 
 to conceive of himself he would esteem most degrad- 
 ing, viz. that God can unconcerned see his own chil- 
 dren brought into distress through a dutiful attachment 
 to him, when all power is in his hand to reward and 
 bless such fidelity. Such a God as this, thou fearful 
 unbelieving professor! thou coneeivest the God of 
 heaven and earth to be. 
 
 Self-denial must likewise be exercised with respect 
 to the pride, of reason in submitting without disputing to 
 the written word of G<fd. A kind of restraint this no 
 
348 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 less difficult for men of superior understanding to prac 
 tise than for the sensual to be chaste, or the covetous 
 charitable. Yet, in requiring such submission to his bare 
 authority, God requires from us nothing unreasonable ; 
 because the objects he reveals to us are both above hu- 
 man comprehension, and at present only revealed in 
 part. "We preach (saith the apostle) the wisdom of 
 God in a mystery ;" and therefore the doctrines of 
 Scripture must not be rejected under a pretence that 
 they surpass our comprehension. Instead of indulging, 
 we must repel that insolent inquiry, " How can these 
 things be 1" For, as ignorant creatures, it is our duty, 
 and as christians, our profession to rest satisfied with 
 what God has declared to be the truth. When this de- 
 claration is once known, we are to shut our eyes against 
 numberless difficulties relating to the truth, which hu- 
 man wit or human ignorance may start. This is our 
 duty, though infinitely mortifying to the proud and arro- 
 gant. This is also rational : for how can any one reason- 
 ably deny that to be true, if it involves no palpable con- 
 tradiction, which hath this decisive evidence, that God 
 in his revelation has declared it 1 And how can any one 
 be sure that there is a real contradiction in things 
 which it is confessed he cannot thoroughly compre- 
 hend] Though reason, therefore, is of signal service 
 in teaching us to a certain degree the knowledge of 
 causes and effects ; and, within its proper limits, is 
 never to be disparaged ; yet, when it is puffed up with a 
 false conceit of its own power, it must be denied no 
 less than any other depraved part of our nature. Other- 
 wise we shall soon think ourselves at liberty to disdain 
 implicit faith even in God himself. Instead of proving 
 doctrines to be unscriptural, it will lead us to urge 
 their apparent absurdity as sufficient reason to reject 
 them. Thus one part of revealed truth after another 
 will be renounced : first the Tfinity, then the doctrine 
 
PRIDE OF REASON. 349 
 
 of Christ's atonement, next our fall and natural corrup- 
 tion j till at length there is nothing in the Bible allowed 
 to be true but what a pagan might subscribe and a deist 
 receive. 
 
 If it should be said, such implicit obedience will ex 
 pose us to receive real absurdities under a pretence of 
 reverence for the authority of God ; the answer is ob- 
 vious. A distinction must be made between our obedi- 
 ence before we are persuaded the Bible is the word of 
 God, and after. Before this firm conviction, the human 
 understanding is bound to canvass, and put to the se- 
 verest trial all the witnesses which demonstrate Jesus to 
 be the Christ, and the Bible to be the revelation of God. 
 Every man of capacity for this work should do this; 
 because these proofs depend on incontestable maxims, 
 and make their appeal concerning facts to the faculty 
 of judgment which is less impaired by the sin of the 
 fall than any other. 
 
 During the whole time, therefore, that these outward 
 evidences are under consideration, reason is to act in 
 the full exercise of her powers. But when once the 
 Scripture record is received, as it always must be, if 
 men inquire honestly, it immediately claims an abso- 
 lute submission. Then should reason offer to cavil at 
 any thing contained in the book which it acknowledges 
 to be of God, it is self-condemned. Because it is the 
 height of arrogance to urge our want of comprehending 
 the fitness of what is taught against the veracity of an 
 infallible teacher. On the contrary, it immediately be- 
 comes the highest act of reason wholly to rely upon 
 the testimony of Scripture, and to receive implicitly 
 all it declares. 
 
 That it is the duty of a christian in this manner to mor- 
 tify his intellectual pride, there are many Scriptures to 
 prove. To this purpose is that remarkable declaration 
 of God, " I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and 
 
350 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 
 Where is the wise 1 where is the scribe 1 where is the 
 disputer of this world ? hath not God made foolish the 
 wisdom of this world ?" 1 Cor 1 : 19, 20. To the same 
 purpose is that positive assertion of the absolute con- 
 trariety of Scripture truth to what the wisest men in 
 their natural state conceive is fit for God to reveal j 
 " The wisdom of God is foolishness to men." In con- 
 firmation of the same doctrine, so mortifying to the 
 pride of the human understanding, our Savior, we are 
 assured, rejoiced in spirit that whilst men who idolized 
 their own reason were incapable of beholding the truth 
 of God, those who submitted their understanding to him 
 enjoyed the unspeakable blessing of it. "I thank thee, 
 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast 
 hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast 
 revealed them unto babes;" that is, to such as with 
 humble acquiescence, like little children, receive what 
 is taught them of God. Matt. 11 : 25. 
 
 St. Paul inculcates the same denial of intellectual 
 self, when he declares, "If any man think himself wise, 
 let him become a fool," (that is, in his own estimation, 
 as much in need of teaching,) " that he may be wise." 
 With the same view he assures us that the effect of the 
 apostolic preaching, wherever it succeeded to the sal- 
 vation of the hearer, was to "cast down imaginations" 
 (xoyi<r[At}s, corrupt reasonings ; corrupt because impious, 
 where the word of God has once decided) " and every 
 high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of 
 God, and to bring into captivity every thought to the 
 obedience of Christ." 2 Cor. 10 : 5. 
 
 Such Scriptures evidently control that sceptical and 
 daring spirit which too many dignify as the privilege 
 and just exercise of reason. Nor would such Scriptures 
 have been given to us, unless we had a propensity, when 
 we possess an understanding or learning superior to 
 
SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS. 35 1 
 
 others, to make a creed for ourselves ; when in fact we 
 can know nothing of the things of God but as we are 
 taught them by himself. Against this pride of reason 
 believers must be constantly upon their guard, and not 
 dare, through difficulties which may be started, to dis- 
 pute or question the plain doctrine of God's word 
 
 Now the absolute necessity of this submission of the 
 understanding to the authority of God's revelation is 
 most evident. A man cannot be a christian without it, 
 since all the doctrines which by way of distinction are 
 called christian, have confessedly great difficulties in 
 them. From our fall in Adam, to the complete salva- 
 tion of the soul by Christ at the last day, there is 
 abundant room for cavil, if men choose to erect them- 
 selves into judges upon the counsel of God. A small 
 degree of wit with much pride will furnish out endless 
 matter for arraigning the Scripture in the account of 
 the origin of our misery ; in the character it gives of 
 the Redeemer and his incarnation ; in the way of re- 
 ceiving benefit from him ; in the Spirit's influence on 
 the heart ; in the penalty denounced upon every degree 
 of disobedience, and the punishment of the damned. 
 These several important articles of our creed, which 
 are the very soul of Christianity, must be received 
 upon the mere credit of their voucher, the word of 
 God. And those who disdain to be persuaded by such 
 evidence, do in fact give up the faith of Christ, though 
 it may be convenient for them to retain the name of 
 christian, and to remain in the bosom of Christ's church. 
 
 Lastly, self-denial must be exercised with respect to 
 our opinion of our own righteousness ; a severer in- 
 stance of mortification to us all than any yet mentioned. 
 But it must be submitted to. "Whatever our good qua- 
 lities are, we must confess ourselves criminals before 
 God, whose condemnation would be inevitable, should 
 
352 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 he execute justice instead of showing compassion to- 
 wards us. How is it possible we can honor the sacrifice 
 of Chr st on the cross, as God would have it honored, 
 if we imagine our goodness can absolve us from guilt 1 
 how can we fly for refuge to the Savior, unless our 
 hearts condemn us as lost, without his merit 1 or how 
 abide in this city of refuge, unless we perceive our- 
 selves exposed to the avenger of blood 1 How can we 
 bow down in self-abasing gratitude to God for imputing 
 to us the righteousness of another, if we renounce not 
 our own as utterly insufficient to answer for us 1 how 
 place our full dependence on the beloved of the Father 
 for acceptance through him, unless we are conscious 
 of the defilement of our corrupt nature cleaving to us 
 to the very last moment of life on earth, and rendering 
 us in ourselves unworthy of notice from God 1 
 
 Upon all these accounts it is a necessary part of 
 christian self-denial to renounce all confidence in our 
 own virtues and attainments, as if they could justify us 
 in the sight of God, or bear the trial of his holy law. 
 This kind of self-denial, directly opposite to every 
 earth-born system of religion, is the essence of the 
 religion of Jesus. And though this very humbling es- 
 timation of our moral excellence be most difficult to 
 attain, yet Scripture, both by example and doctrine, 
 strongly urges it upon us. Thus Job, in the bitterness 
 of self-reproach, cries out, " Behold, I am vile — I abhor 
 myself." Upon inquiry into the character of this com 
 plainer against himself, we find that he had no equal in 
 goodness upon the whole earth, even in the judgment 
 of tne Omniscient ; yet the fault which he here bewail- 
 ed, and the guilt that extorted this confession, we find 
 to have been too high an opinion of his own character ; 
 he had said, " I am clean without transgression, I am 
 innocent : neither is there iniquity in me." Job, 33 : 9. 
 For thus over-rating his spiritual attainments Job ab- 
 
 
SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS. 353 
 
 hors himself. And who, after Job, that receives the 
 Scripture record, shall think himself less sullied in his 
 character, or less defective in point of practical holi- 
 ness, than this illustrious servant of God ] 
 
 What Job was in old time, St. Paul appears to have 
 been under the New Testament. For who in labors or 
 in sufferings for the glory of God and the good of man ; 
 who, in purity of heart and extensive usefulness, was to 
 be compared to him 1 Yet so far was this most distin- 
 guished saint from confiding in his own goodness as a fit 
 object of the divine complacency, that he mentions both 
 what he had attained in moral and religious obedience, 
 and what he had suffered for Christ's sake, on purpose 
 that he might pour contempt upon it all ; that he might 
 call it " loss and dung," in comparison of being found 
 in Christ ; M not having his own righteousness, which is 
 of the law," — that is, not trusting in his own personal 
 obedience for justification before God ; but having that 
 righteousness " which is through the faith of Christ, the 
 righteousness which is of God by faith." Phil. 3 : 9. 
 
 What these and others of the most excellent of the 
 earth, by their own confession declare in disparagement 
 of human righteousness, as a title to justification before 
 God, or as a ground of self-conceit, is confirmed by many 
 places of Scripture. Thus the poor and needy are re- 
 presented as the only objects of the Redeemer's grace, 
 Psalm 72 : 13, whilst the good and virtuous in their own 
 sight are scattered in the proud imaginations of their 
 hearts, and sent empty away. Luke, 1:51. Lowliness of 
 mind, in the estimation of our own obedience, is de- 
 scribed as the only temper becoming our christian pro- 
 fession ; whilst the haughtiness which prompts men to 
 plead their own righteousness as a title to God's favor 
 is exposed as the cause of excluding from salvation 
 those who had even a zeal for God. Rom. 10. 
 
 Both by doctrine and example, therefore, the disciple 
 
354 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 of Jesus is led to call himself vile in the midst of his 
 highest attainments, and constantly to regard himself 
 as a needy, impotent vessel of mercy, who has nothing 
 to delight in but the name of the Lord, and no ground 
 of confidence towards God but His righteousness only. 
 
 Such is christian self-denial : compare it in this ex* 
 tensive view with what either enthusiasm or supersti- 
 tion have, under that name, enjoined, and the contrast is 
 striking indeed! How frivolous and weak is it to make 
 self-denial consist merely in the shape or color of our 
 clothes, in demure looks and precise behavior, or ab- 
 staining only from fashionable diversions ! These things 
 hypocrites may do, and shine as patterns of such morti- 
 fication, whilst self, in its worst tempers, is fully indulg- 
 ed. The self-denial which stern superstition enjoins, is 
 worse: it imprisons for life men and women, endued 
 with active powers, and formed for society ; it makes 
 them move like clock-work in a round of religious rites ; 
 it clothes them with sackcloth, and orders them to prac- 
 tise many useless severities upon the body ,* it calls 
 them to desert the station in which Providence had fixed 
 their lot, and buries even the excellencies they have in 
 a cloister and a cell. 
 
 Examined by the rule of Scripture, how mistaken, 
 how pitiable, how unprofitable is the zeal of such devo- 
 tees ! — On the contrary, what a correct understanding, 
 what fortitude of mind, what personal and public bene- 
 fits are conspicuous in christian self-denial ! It teaches 
 us to use the abundance of meats and drinks given us by 
 divine bounty, without any abuse of them ; thus con- 
 fronting by our example, and severely condemning, all 
 excess. It is the source and guardian of domestic peace 
 and happiness. It enables us to carry on trade without 
 covetousness, though every incitement to that sordid 
 passion surround us. In the reciprocal exercise of ten- 
 
 
SELF-EIGHTEOUSNESS. 355 
 
 der affection between dearest relations and friends, it 
 secures the supreme love of the heart for God. It em- 
 boldens us to avow his cause, and adhere to it, in con- 
 tempt of our worldly interest, our honor, and our cha- 
 racter. It teaches us to sacrifice our prying curiosity- 
 and our desire of comprehending fully the truths of God 
 before we believe them, to the veneration we owe his 
 oracles. And after an intrepid venture of all for his 
 sake, it teaches us, instead of eyeing with self-compla- 
 cency our moral excellence, to cry, M Enter not into 
 judgment with thy servant, O Lord !" 
 
 This extensive, most noble self-denial, is sufficient. 
 Away then with the unnatural life of the convent ; away 
 with the inventions of will-worship, total solitude, hair 
 shirts, iron girdles, and the coarsest food ; away with 
 whimsical singularities in dress, and the fashion of the 
 exterior man, which enthusiasts so violently press. It is 
 far severer self-denial to mortify every evil and corrupt 
 desire natural to the heart. It is more courageous to fight 
 till we die, than flee from the battle. It is more profita- 
 ble to mankind to shine, a light before their eyes, than 
 to be immured with a select company, as if piety could 
 not live in the commerce of the world. And it is infi- 
 nitely more for the glory of Christ, that the new heart 
 and new spirit which he hath given should be known 
 and seen of all men, than be buried in perpetual conceal- 
 ment. Most useful, honorable, and excellent are they 
 who deny all the cravings of corrupt self in the midst 
 of forbidden objects. They, and they alone, prove the 
 efficacy of the Savior's prayer in their behalf: " Father, 
 take them not out of the world, but keep them from the 
 evil." 
 
356 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 OJl m PRJIYXW. 
 
 NATURE AND SUBJECT. 
 
 Whenever the practice and spirit essential to believ 
 ers in Christ Jesus are explained, many, instead of at- 
 tempting to come up to them, object, — If these be ab- 
 solutely requisite, who then shall be saved 1 But there 
 is really no place for this desponding objection in the 
 christian scheme ; because, though the natural weakness 
 and corruption of man is much greater than such object- 
 ors believe, still all the obedience required as the fruit 
 of faith, grows from a root which is able to produce it : 
 for such light, power and consolation are promised by 
 God to all who properly seek them, as are adequate 
 to maintain all christian graces in the measure indis- 
 pensably required. 
 
 The means which must be used diligently in order to 
 obtain the continuance of these supernatural supplies, 
 are by way of distinction called Devotional Duties : and 
 they are so essential to religion, that it cannot subsist 
 without them. Their importance is indeed generally 
 allowed, yet through sad abuse these exercises are fre- 
 quently turned into a mere religious formality, by which 
 God is dishonored, nominal christians lulled into a false 
 peace, and the profane hardened in their contempt of 
 devotion. 
 
 To guard against this errror, so pernicious to the 
 christian church, I shall treat at large of the nature of 
 devotional duties,' and the proper method of discharging 
 them j principally confining myself to treat of secret 
 
ON PRAYER. 357 
 
 prayer and reading the word of God ; leaving it to the 
 reader to apply what is said of them to the public ordi- 
 nances and means of grace. 
 
 1. With respect to prayer, the object of it is God only.. 
 The end of prayer is to obtain deliverance or preserva- 
 tion from evil, or the possession and continuance of 
 good. Our application, therefore, must be made to Him 
 who is the almighty Source of every good and perfect 
 gift j who orders all things according to the counsel of 
 his own will 5 who, in spite of all opposition, can com- 
 pletely bless us j and without whose favor every being 
 in the whole creation, though leagued in our defence, 
 could afford us no protection. He also to whom pray- 
 er is addressed must be omniscient and omnipresent. 
 Otherwise, how is it possible that, amidst so many con- 
 stant supplicants, none should be overlooked; amidst so 
 many millions of petitions offered up in the same in- 
 stant throughout the world, none be lost ; amidst such 
 a numberless variety of complicated cases the things 
 best for each individual, and those only, should be con 
 ferred. The most transcendant mercy and love also 
 ought to be inherent in Him to whom we offer our 
 prayers, in order to forgive our sins, to overcome our 
 fears, and to encourage our petitions, conscious as we 
 must be of our own vileness, even in our happiest ap- 
 proaches to him. 
 
 It thus appears from the nature of things that God 
 alone can, on account of his essential perfections, be 
 the object of true prayer. "We find him, therefore, con- 
 stantly represented in Scripture under this most glo- 
 rious character: "Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in 
 Sion ; and unto thee shall the vow be performed. O 
 thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come." 
 Psalm 65 : 1, 2. " t am the Lord thy God, thou shalt 
 have none other gods but me: thou shalt not make to 
 thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of any thing 
 
358 COMPLETE DUTY OF B1AN. 
 
 that is in heaven above, nor in the earth beneath, nor in 
 the water under the earth : thou shalt not bow down 
 to them, nor worship them \ for I, the Lord thy God, 
 am a jealous God." Exod. 20 : 2-5. 
 
 A truth this so plain, so important, and so often re- 
 peated in Scripture, that it calls for our astonishment as 
 well as our lamentation to see the monstrous corrup- 
 tion of worship introduced by popish innovations. Pa- 
 pists, instead of making God the only object of their 
 trust, have, besides him, innumerable angels and saints 
 in heaven, in whom, they tell us, we are to repose confi- 
 dence ; to whom we are to address our prayers, not only 
 for temporal blessings, but for the pardon of our sins, 
 for our increase of grace, and even for the gift of eter- 
 nal life. They tell us, that there are in heaven particu- 
 lar advocates for all exigencies and occasions, protec- 
 tors against all sorts of dangers and diseases, patrons 
 for all graces and virtues. They tell us that we are to 
 apply to these patrons, without troubling God and the 
 Kedeemer, who is God over all, blessed for ever, by pre- 
 suming upon every occasion to make our immediate 
 address to him. 
 
 In full confutation of this horrid superstition, it is 
 enough to know what perfections are requisite in him 
 who is the proper object of our prayer. For, if almighty 
 power, omniscience, omnipresence, and the most trans- 
 cendent mercy, be essential to such an object, then 
 what can be more absurd or more impious than to call 
 on those for help, who by nature are no gods ; who are 
 so limited in the excellencies imparted to them, as to be 
 necessarily incapable of knowing what we want, or of 
 bestowing what we ask 1 
 
 To follow exactly the Scripture plan, as we ought to 
 do, the tenor of our prayer should be generally* ad- 
 
 * I say generally, for there are numerous instances of prayer ad- 
 
ON PRAYER. 359 
 
 dressed to the Father, in dependence upon the merit 
 and intercession of the Son, and the influence and grace 
 of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 By this manner of address the distinct part which 
 each person of the blessed and undivided Trinity bears 
 in the salvation of sinners is justly acknowledged; and 
 the inviolable holiness of God, and our guilt, even after 
 all we have done or received, are most forcibly repre- 
 sented. These are points of such moment, that all 
 Scripture labors to impress them on our minds. 
 
 2. Now as God is the only object of prayer, so its 
 nature consists in offering up to him the wants of the 
 heart. Without this, the best chosen petitions, punc- 
 tually repeated morning and evening out of a book, or 
 the most fluent addresses in language of our own con- 
 ception, are no more than the mimicry of prayer: a 
 sort of devotion, which pride and self-sufficiency can 
 practise ; on which formality and superstition can erect 
 their absurd pretences to religion, whilst the spirit and 
 the truth of prayer are unexperienced and neglected 
 For as the needy only can stoop to ask the relief of 
 alms, so then only can we begin to pray when we feel 
 ourselves necessitous ; when we long to receive from 
 God what we beg of him, knowing that without the 
 gift of it we must be miserable. 
 
 This sensibility of our real want, both scriptural re- 
 presentations and scriptural examples prove to be essen- 
 tial to true prayer. Scriptural representations instruct 
 
 dressed to Jesus Christ. The disciples prayed to him, " Lord, in- 
 crease our faith ;" — the dying malefactor, to save his soul. Stephen, 
 with his dying breath, commended himself into his hands. Paul be- 
 sought him thrice to take away the thorn in his flesh, and styles him 
 Lord over all, rich in mercy to all that call upon him ; for, whoso- 
 ever calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved. These are pre- 
 cedents (never to be set aside) proving that each member of the 
 christian church may and will say, as Thomas did unto Jesus, " My 
 Lord and my God." 
 
360 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 us thus : " If thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt 
 find him ; if thou seekest him with all thy heart and with 
 all thy soul." Deut. 4 : 29. " Trust in him at all times ; 
 ye people, pour out your hearts before him." Psalm 62 : 
 8. ff The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, 
 to all that call upon him in truth." Psalm 145 : 18. 
 When the inspired Solomon exhorts us to pray for spi- 
 ritual wisdom, he takes care to mark, with the utmost 
 energy of expression, the need we must at the same 
 time feel of it in our hearts : " If thou criest," says he, 
 " after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for under- 
 standing; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest 
 for her as for hid treasures." Prov. 2 : 3, 4. The same 
 feeling of our wants our Lord points out as essential 
 to prayer, describing it by the united terms of asking, 
 seeking, knocking ; terms most expressive of an urgent 
 need of immediate succor. And St. James leads us to 
 the very same conception of the thing, by ascribing 
 success to u fervent" prayer. James, 5 : 16. 
 
 What the Scripture thus defines to be prayer, is fully 
 illustrated by the practice of the most approved ser- 
 vants of God. They were penetrated with a feeling of 
 their necessities when they came before the throne 
 of grace. " With my whole heart," says one, have I 
 sought thy favor. " Evening, and morning, and at noon, 
 will I pray," says David, u and thou shalt hear my 
 voice." Another makes his supplication with all the 
 heartfelt importunity of a distressed petitioner; "Out 
 of the depths have I cried unto thee, Lord : Lord, 
 hear my voice. O let thine ears be attentive to the 
 voice of my supplication." In the address also of Daniel 
 the greatly beloved, every syllable breathes a sense of 
 want, which scarce knows how to bear with denial or 
 delay ; tf Lord," says he, " hear, Lord, forgive, O 
 Lord, hearken and do, defer not, for thy name's sake, 
 O my God." 
 
ON PRAYER. 361 
 
 From this scriptural representation of prayer, that it 
 is the want of the heart offered up to God, it appears 
 plain that all men naturally stand upon a level with re- 
 spect to their ability of praying truly. Outward circum- 
 stances in this case make no difference. The ignorant 
 clown and the polished scholar, those who have been 
 most piously trained, and those who have been misera- 
 bly neglected in their education, those who have been 
 restrained from sinful excesses, and those who have 
 plunged the deepest into them, remain alike without the 
 grace of God, strangers to real prayer. Notwithstand- 
 ing the grossest ignorance, the worst education, and 
 the most profligate life, yet as soon as the guilt, the 
 strength and tyranny of sin are felt to oppress the soul, 
 we flee to God for refuge; and prayers and cries, like 
 incense, will ascend up before him from the troubled 
 and the humbled heart. On the contrary, if the guilt, 
 the strength, and defilement of sin are not felt and la- 
 mented, neither learning, nor the most pious education, 
 nor abstinence from every gross vice, though united, 
 can create the least measure of the spirit of prayer. In 
 many instances these advantages flatter and blind with 
 their specious appearance, instead of producing any 
 just sensibility of the guilt of sin, or any alarming ap- 
 prehension of its issue, unless pardoned and subdued. 
 In fact, all true knowledge and just apprehensions of 
 sin, wherever found, are owing to an infinitely higher 
 cause : they are the effect of a firm belief in God's word 
 declaring the sinfulness of sin, and of a heart humbled 
 so as to plead guilty to the charge of it. But this firm 
 belief of God's word, and this conviction of sin, are in 
 no instance the fruits of education, much less the effect 
 of learning, but the inestimable gift of God ; gifts no 
 sooner received than all impediments to prayer are re- 
 moved Want will immediately make the stammering 
 tongue of the most unlearned, or of those who have 
 
 Duty of Man. 16 
 
362 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 been in time past the most abominably wicked, speak 
 plain enough in the ears of God. Want will make the 
 heart, which was before too gross to perceive any ex- 
 cellency in the things of God, seek after them with 
 strong cries and lasting importunity. And whatever dif- 
 ference a good understanding, a pious education, or ge- 
 neral abstinence from vice (which are, on other ac- 
 counts, invaluable blessings) may make in the matter 
 of confession, in the degrees of guilt, or in the choice 
 of devout phrases 5 still the prayer, by which God is 
 honored and the soul blessed, will be exactly the same 
 in the less sinner as in the greater, in the poor as in 
 the rich, in the very lowest and weakest of the people, 
 as in the most accomplished preacher of God's truth 
 May this scriptural account of the nature of true 
 prayer undeceive those who presume that they stand 
 accepted with God, merely on account of their multi- 
 plying exercises of devotion ; whilst at the same time, 
 instead of feeling themselves the poor, guilty, impotent 
 creatures their own prayers represent them to be, they 
 swell with conceit of superior excellence, or fancy them- 
 selves righteous, because they pray so punctually aftei 
 their formal manner ! May this encourage all who are 
 humble and contrite, to pour out their complaints be- 
 fore God when they feel their own vileness, though 
 their utterance and their knowledge may be in the sight 
 of man very contemptible, and their past lives may have 
 been awfully profligate ! May this also convince the 
 poor, that there can be no excuse more frivolous than 
 to pretend they cannot pray, because destitute of book- 
 learning : since, in fact, nothing but contempt of God's 
 written word, nothing but a denial of the truth of our 
 own condition as represented in it, can leave either 
 learned or unlearned under such hardness of heart, as 
 to feel no want of the grace, mercy and salvation of God j 
 and, consequently, to remain incapable of real prayer. 
 
ON PRAYER. 363 
 
 We may observe further, from the very nature of 
 prayer, as it means the offering up the wants of the 
 heart to God, that whenever there is any real concern 
 for salvation, it cannot be confined only to certain set 
 and stated times. It will be found in the midst of our 
 business, and when we are in company, as well as when 
 we are alone, and have retired to our closet : frequent 
 ejaculations, known only to Him who searcheth the 
 heart, will discover where our treasure is, and will 
 prove that we feel the want of the one thing needful. 
 
 3. From the nature of prayer we are led to consider 
 the subject of it, or what it is we are to ask of God. 
 Certainly it must be what it becomes him to supply, 
 what we are warranted by his own word to request, and 
 assured by his own promise either absolutely, or with 
 some limitation, that he will grant. 
 
 We may ask temporal blessings : for instance, ease 
 when we are racked with pain, health when taken off 
 from our employment by languishing sickness, or main- 
 tenance when we are left destitute. We may ask the 
 continuance of our own lives and those of our dearest 
 relations when sick, or in danger of death. For each 
 of these benefits, prayer may be made to God, because 
 instances of each kind are recorded in Scripture ; be- 
 cause by prayer for them God is exalted as the sove- 
 reign Lord both of life and all its comforts ; our depend- 
 ance upon him as such is confirmed, and our gratitude 
 towards him is increased. 
 
 But though we may pray for any of these benefits, we 
 must always do it with entire submission to the will of 
 God, whether he sees it best to give, to continue, or 
 remove them. We should always remember that things 
 of this kind are not promised without limitation, but 
 only upon condition that they are for our good, and for 
 the glory of God. We should ask for them with a sense 
 upon our hearts, that ease, health, maintenance, friends, 
 
364 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 and life itself, are things unspeakably mean, compared 
 to spiritual and eternal blessings. 
 
 Blessings of a spiritual and eternal nature must there- 
 fore make up the principal subject-matter of the prayer 
 of christians. They must ask for more knowledge of the 
 Lord that bought them, for more dependance upon his 
 name, for pardon of their sins through his blood, morti- 
 fication of their vile affections through his Spirit, and a 
 more perfect conformity to his example. 
 
 These are the things in general of which all chris- 
 tians feel their want ; which they pursue with a per- 
 severing ardor of mind, and wait daily upon God to re- 
 ceive from him in a more abundant measure. 
 
 But besides this general matter of prayer, common 
 to the whole church of Christ, each private believer 
 finds particular matter of prayer suggested from his 
 own peculiar trials, from the changing frame of his own 
 mind, and from the appointments of God's providence 
 in his external condition. Every alteration in each of 
 these particulars produces some inward correspondent 
 change in the man. By consequence, as real prayer is 
 the want of the heart offered up to God, the matter of 
 prayer which may be very proper to-day, may be quite 
 unsuitable to our case to-morrow; and those petitions 
 which in certain circumstances were sufficient, in op- 
 posite ones will be found deplorably defective. The pri- 
 vate matter, therefore, of prayer in christians, must take 
 its mould from the objects and occurrences around us, 
 and the impressions these make upon us. For, as dif- 
 ferent temptations present themselves, different will be 
 the inward actings of corruption : sometimes they will 
 be felt in the risings of pride, envy, and self-preference j 
 at others, in discontent and peevishness ; now in im- 
 pure desire j then in the love of money or of praise, 
 in evil surmisings or uncharitable censures. According 
 to these frequent and most important variations, our pe- 
 
ON PRAYER. 365 
 
 titions must be adapted for pardon, and the immediate 
 succors of grace. 
 
 Particular assistances are also needful according to 
 our station in life, and the peculiar snares to which we 
 are from thence exposed. The rich and the noble are 
 liable to dangers peculiar to themselves ; men of trade 
 and merchandise have very much to fear from their em- 
 ployments j whilst pastors and teachers, in order to be 
 innocent and pure from the blood of those committed 
 to their charge, stand in need of extraordinary wisdom, 
 zeal and love. It is therefore by no means sufficient 
 that we ask chiefly for spiritual blessings, or seek in 
 general for the things we are taught to ask, and which 
 God has promised to give, unless we also particularly 
 specify what we want — unless we derive our petitions, 
 not only from the Bible, or a knowledge of the things 
 necessary for men, but from our own sense and feeling 5 
 for if the state of our hearts does not thus dictate the 
 matter of our secret prayer, there is little reason to be- 
 lieve that our corruptions give us any real concern, or 
 that they are confessed with true humiliation. If they 
 were, we should so feel them as to make a particular 
 mention of them, and implore forgiveness ; and little 
 ground is there to hope those iniquities will be subdued 
 in us, which do not appear odious enough to ourselves 
 to excite particular requests to God to be delivered 
 from them. 
 
 Besides, we cannot take a more effectual method to 
 guard against formality in prayer, than by making it 
 arise out of our present condition ; by making it a sim- 
 ple, constant application to God for the supply of our 
 own peculiar wants and necessities. And though all 
 have not ability to adapt the matter of prayer to their 
 particular circumstances in the presence and hearing of 
 others, yet every one is sufficiently qualified to do this 
 alone before his God, who seeth in secret : because in 
 
366 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 this case frequent hesitations are not in the least either 
 detrimental or inconvenient ; nor phrases, at which men 
 might take offence, improper when well meant. The 
 same God who prepares the heart to call upon him, will 
 hearken thereto. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 JPJR«f YE JR.— continued . 
 
 THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER. 
 
 The object, the nature, and the subject of true prayer 
 have already been considered: but ignorance, alas! in 
 this case is but the weakest obstacle with which we have 
 to contend ; the natural profaneness of the human heart, 
 and its aversion to every truly spiritual exercise, are far 
 more difficult to overcome. However, for this purpose 
 let us consider in what manner the holy Scripture ex- 
 presses the necessity of prayer. 
 
 It is enforced there by the practice of the most vene- 
 rable persons ; it is laid down as the indispensable means 
 of obtaining grace ; it is required by the express com- 
 mand of the Lord God Almighty. 
 
 It is enforced by the most venerable names ; for Abra- 
 ham, Isaac and Jacob, David, Daniel, Peter and Paul, 
 in a word, all those who stand the highest of the human 
 race for their excellency in the sight of God, were most 
 eminent and abundant in the exercise of prayer: by this 
 their graces were enlivened and brightened to superior 
 lustre. Now their diligence in prayer is recorded, not 
 
ON PRAYER. 367 
 
 for their sakes, to give them the trifling honor of a post- 
 humous fame, but for substantial use, as patterns which 
 we are to copy : that if we hope to be with them in the 
 kingdom in the end, we should walk in their good paths, 
 and be " followers of them who through faith and pa- 
 tience inherit the promises." So that whilst we have 
 any real reverence for the word of God, it is impossible 
 we should neglect and think slightly of a duty which 
 was of such unspeakable importance in the judgment of 
 the most eminent Scripture saints. 
 
 But if the example of all the Scripture saints proves 
 the necessity of prayer, how much more the practice of 
 the Savior ; before the brightness of whose glory, pro- 
 phets, apostles and martyrs are eclipsed, as the stars in 
 the firmament by the rising sun. He was holy, harmless, 
 undefiled, separate from sinners ; nevertheless prayer 
 still employed a considerable portion of his time. Fa- 
 tigued as he was wont to be with travelling from place 
 to place to preach the Gospel, and thronged by crowds 
 who pressed upon him to hear the gracious words which 
 proceeded out of his lips, always therefore in need of 
 the rest of the whole night ; yet would he sometimes 
 rise up a great while before it was day, to retire to a 
 mountain or solitary place apart to pray ; sometimes 
 the moon and the stars beheld him, through the whole 
 night, an earnest supplicant and devout intercessor ; 
 whilst the rest of the world were taking their full rest 
 in their beds. 
 
 After this record, can any one, professing himself a 
 christian, admit a doubt of the absolute necessity of 
 prayer 1 If the Master of the house, who had no guile, 
 nor slightest stain of depravity, prayed, how much more 
 must they of his household, who are both weak and 
 wicked 1 If the Lord from heaven, when he took upon 
 him our flesh, lifted up his eyes and prayed, how much 
 more must his servants 1 Should any one imagine him- 
 
368 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 self excused from this duty, what stronger reproof need 
 to be given to his audacious impiety, than to reply — 
 The prophets, the apostles, the martyrs, Jesus himself, 
 our Redeemer, prayed; whom makest thou thyself 1 
 
 Further, The universal necessity of prayer will be 
 made still more evident by proving it to be the indis* 
 pensable means of obtaining mercy and grace. Houses 
 and possessions, honors and titles, with all the glitter- 
 ing advantages the world covets, may seem to be given 
 promiscuously, as much to those who never bend the 
 knee to God, as to those who diligently seek him. But 
 it is not so with any blessing pertaining to the life and 
 salvation of the soul. God never, in any one instance, 
 pardons sin, or delivers from its accursed tyranny, till 
 prayer is made for such inestimable benefits. The un- 
 changeable ordinance of heaven runs thus : If thou 
 shalt pray unto God he shall be favorable unto thee. Job, 
 33 : 26. " Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive, 
 and plenteous in mercy ;" — but observe to whom ; not 
 to all persons indiscriminately, not to the profane, not 
 to the self-sufficient, but — unto all them that call upon 
 thee." Psalm 86 : 5. Omniscient and full of compassion 
 as the Lord Jehovah is, he promises no cognizance of 
 our spiritual necessities to supply them, or of our dan- 
 gers to interpose and save us from them, till by prayer 
 and supplication we make our requests known unto him. 
 " Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee 
 great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." Jer. 
 33 : 3. Our Redeemer in the fullest manner teaches us 
 that prayer is the necessary means of obtaining mercy 
 and finding grace to help, when he gives us this exhor- 
 tation ; M Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall 
 find, knock and it shall be opened unto you :" which is 
 as? much as to affirm, that without asking, seeking and 
 knocking, we can receive of God no spiritual blessing. 
 3y consequence, not to pray, and to remain utterly des- 
 
THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER. 369 
 
 titute of any share in the blessings which accompany 
 sanation, is one and the same thing. 
 
 Every one, therefore, who despises this channel, in 
 which God sees fit to convey to the soul its necessary 
 supplies for eternal life, whether through a confidence 
 in the sufficiency of his own strength, in the excellen- 
 cies of his virtues, or a pretended reliance on the finish- 
 ed work of Christ, must unavoidably remain under the 
 power and guilt of sin. His fancied goodness, in which 
 he confides, will necessarily be scanty and partial ; some 
 ruling passion will still prevail over him, witnessing the 
 impossibility of attaining real righteousness without di- 
 vine aid. Thus you may frequently observe a profane 
 man, wmS prides himself in his moral worth, and pours 
 contempt upon devotional duties, miserably chagrined 
 by every trifling disappointment, or for the least fan- 
 cied provocation breathing revenge. You may fre- 
 quently observe a contemner of prayer, who is much 
 caressed and self-applauded for good-nature and hu- 
 manity, studiously injuring virgin innocence for the 
 gratification of merely animal appetites. Too often also 
 you may see a warm advocate for the doctrines of 
 grace and the honor of Christ, deceitful, covetous, and 
 a slave to sin, through an habitual neglect of prayer. 
 The truth is, that the union of all virtues is wholly 
 owing to the grace of God given to the prayer of faith ; 
 therefore he only of all the children of me^v can pay an 
 uniform obedience, who goes out of himself, and places 
 his dependance upon the aids of grace promised and 
 given to him that asks for them. 
 
 Lastly, The absolute necessity of prayer is put out 
 of all doubt by the plain command of God. No man is 
 left at liberty whether he will pray or no ; or can ne- 
 glect prayer, without suffering much more than the loss 
 of those supplies he might procure by it. For he who 
 does not pray, contracts additional guilt, and sets at de 
 16* 
 
370 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 fiance the ordinance of God ; since he has not more 
 expressly required us to ' show mercy to our fellow- 
 creatures, than to worship himself. We are taught, 
 "Men ought always to pray," and to "continue in 
 prayer." In vain, therefore, do we plead a strict regard 
 to the substantial duties of temperance, of justice and 
 of mercy, as any exemption from the obligation of 
 prayer. To neglect prayer is actually to live in the 
 commission of the basest theft, — defrauding our God of 
 his due, by refusing to render to him that tribute which 
 he demands. With equal reason, and with as little 
 affront to him, may we refuse to obey his law in being 
 just to men, as refuse to honor him by real prayer. 
 
 Regarding the holy duty of prayer in this light, none 
 will be safe from the contagion of the world, who either 
 neglects prayer, or deplorably trifles and dissembles 
 with God in it. You will perceive the neglect of it to be 
 the most odious species of injustice, though often lurk- 
 ing under the captivating appearance of great integrity 
 of morals and of high pretences to honor j you will re- 
 gard it as a violation of one of the most important du- 
 ties ; a duty immediately resulting from the relation of 
 the creature to the Creator, and enjoined by all the au- 
 thority of the one Lawgiver, able to save and to destroy. 
 
 Now this contempt of God, expressed by neglecting 
 prayer for his favor, grace and Spirit, is a sin which no 
 excellencies that the world applauds can at all compen- 
 sate. Like rebellion in the state, wherever it is, it can- 
 cels all pretences to any good qualities. As the kings 
 of the earth do not acquit a rebel, though rebellion may 
 be his only crime, much less does the King of kings, 
 whose name is jealous, overlook contumely thrown 
 upon himself, because the person guilty of it abstains 
 from all fraud and injustice towards men. To imagine 
 that God will overlook such an affront, is to entertain 
 the most frivolous idea of the divine character 5 it is 
 
THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER. 371 
 
 *rith the Epicureans of old, to enthrone God in heaven 
 indeed, but at the same time to regard him as quite in- 
 different whether he is held in reverence or in contempt 
 on earth. But such a god is no more like the God of 
 the christians than Baal or Moloch. The God of chris- 
 tians is a God jealous and terrible : jealous, not to allow 
 his honor to be given to another, or denied to himself j 
 terrible, to avenge himself of his adversaries, who with- 
 hold that homage which appertains to him as the Lord 
 of the universe, in whom we all live, and move, and 
 have our being. This God hath commanded his servants 
 and messengers, by every form of expression that can 
 engage the attention, to teach men, that to serve him 
 with godly fear and reverence is the one thing needful. 
 By consequence, a despiser and neglecter of prayer, 
 though adorned with all the amiable qualities the world 
 can admire, still wants that which must hallow his gene- 
 rosity, his benevolence, and all that is extolled as virtue. 
 For though social good qualities are idolized by the 
 multitude, they weigh nothing in the balance of the 
 sanctuary, unless they spring from religious affections: 
 " For them that honor me," says the Almighty, " I will 
 honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteem- 
 ed." 1 Samuel, 2 : 30. In other words, nothing shall ex- 
 cuse or palliate the guilt of attempting to supersede the 
 necessity of devotional duties, by affecting to magnify 
 moral honesty and social virtues as the sum and sub- 
 stance of man's duty. 
 
 The profane indeed attempt to vindicate themselves 
 in a neglect of prayer, by pretending to sublimer ideas 
 of true religion than those who are governed by the 
 simple declarations of God's own word. " The Supreme 
 Being," say they, V knows all things ; what need is 
 there then for us to tell him our wants 1 He is loving 
 unto every man ; therefore he will give us, without our 
 request, that which is upon the whole best for us : he 
 
372 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 lays not a stress on our making many prayers : pure 
 and undefined religion before him is to do justice and 
 love mercy." From the confidence of this assertion one 
 would be tempted to suppose that the persons who 
 make it perfectly knew the mind of God ; when, in fact, 
 it is not possible that they should have any just know- 
 ledge of it. For as skill in human sciences is only to be 
 acquired by application to them, so the knowledge of 
 God is only to be obtained by prayer, and by meditation 
 on his own revelation of himself } both which such per- 
 sons totally neglect : therefore professing themselves 
 wise, they betray the most stupM ignorance in these 
 objections against the necessity of prayer. If indeed we 
 were called upon to pray, in order to inform God of 
 what he knew not before, or to excite in him a benevo- 
 lence to which his heart was a stranger till our petitions 
 gave it birth, then the objections would be as pertinent 
 and conclusive as they are common in the mouths of 
 the profane. But how vain do they appear, when it is 
 considered that our very encouragement to pray is the 
 previous assurance that God knows all our wants, and 
 that because he loves us therefore he will hear us. 
 
 The absolute necessity, then, of prayer, remains in- 
 disputable, on the grounds already mentioned, namely, 
 as having been the practice of the saints of God and 
 of the Savior himself, — as the indispensable means of 
 obtaining grace, — as being enjoined by God's express 
 command. To these may be added one argument more, 
 that there is no other way to preserve upon our minds a 
 clear knowledge of our own wants, a lasting sense of 
 our entire dependence upon God, or a lively gratitude 
 for his mercies, than by such a solemn constant repre- 
 sentation of our desires and necessities before him as 
 is always done in real prayer. The conclusion, there- 
 fore, is evident, that neither the multiplicity of busi- 
 ness nor the practice of social duties must be pleaded, 
 
THE REQUISITES OF PRAYER. 373 
 
 either in justification of a contempt of prayer, or in ex- 
 cuse for praying seldom or coldly. Prayer must be 
 habitually fervent and persevering. Whatever the world 
 at large may do, thus must every real believer in Jesus 
 worship and serve the God of his salvation. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 JPJR*1 ITJEIt,— continued. 
 
 THE REQUISITES OF TRUE PRAYER AND ITS SUCCESS. 
 
 We have taken a view of the object, the nature, the 
 matter and the necessity of prayer : what further re- 
 lates to this important subject respects the requisites 
 of true prayer, and its infallible success where they are 
 found. 
 
 1. The first requisite in all acceptable prayer is a 
 real intention to observe and do what God commands. 
 For if, out of regard to worldly interest, or for the sake 
 of some evil gratification, we refuse to submit to his 
 authority, flattering ourselves that multiplied devotions 
 or obedience in all points, except where the darling ini- 
 quity interferes, is sufficient ; then our prayers, instead 
 of finding acceptance, will be the highest provocation. 
 What can be more base than for a man to pretend to 
 honor God by prayer, whilst he is giving the most sub- 
 stantial proof of real contempt of him in his wilful dis- 
 obedience % What can be more offensive than to pre- 
 tend to implore pardon when we are determined not yet 
 
37* COMPLETE DUTY OF MAJS. 
 
 to give up sin ; or to entreat to be set at liberty, as if 
 we were unwillingly enslaved, when we really love our 
 bondage 1 If we thus " regard iniquity in our heart," 
 though we make many prayers, the Lord will not hear 
 as ; though we are most passionate in our devotions, he 
 will hide his face from us: "for God heareth not sin- 
 ners ; but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth 
 his will, him he heareth." 
 
 It must, however, be observed with peculiar caution 
 in this place, that no one, though in actual subjection to 
 sin, ought on this account to be discouraged from pray- 
 ing, provided he longs for deliverance from it ; for at 
 the throne of grace it is that he must receive this bless 
 ing. Nor should any one be deterred from prayer to 
 God, though the combat with old sins should remain 
 severe and dubious; and even though he should be 
 once and again hurried into his former wickedness. In 
 this case, if the sinner finds shame, sorrow and self- 
 abhorrence, with a desire, notwithstanding the dreadful 
 power of his corruptions, to serve God in truth, he is 
 immediately to make his complaint to him more bitter- 
 ly, and to bewail his miserable bondage more deeply ; 
 and then he will know there is a God who looketh 
 down from heaven to hear the groanings of such as are 
 in captivity to their sins, and to deliver the souls in 
 their own apprehension appointed unto death. Nay, 
 where relapses are frequent, though it is indeed a de- 
 plorable condition, yet let not prayer be discontinued; 
 for this would be forsaking our remedy and giving up 
 all hope. Wherever any really strive against sin, with 
 undissembled prayer for deliverance as well as mercy, 1 
 would encourage such to maintain the fight, and to per- 
 severe in their humiliations, for they have assurance 
 from the promises of God that he will hear their cry, 
 and will help them. 
 2. A second requisite in prayer is humility. We must 
 
THE REQUISITES OF PRAYER. 375 
 
 pray under a sense of our guilt and of our depravity, as 
 well as of our weakness and wants. We must pray 
 with self-abasing sentiments, conscious that we are not 
 worthy to lift up our eyes to God, much less to receive 
 from him pardon, peace and salvation ; we must pray 
 as mere suppliants for mercy, who would have no cause 
 at all to complain of injustice if our sins were avenged 
 upon us. Great stress is laid in Scripture upon this hu- 
 miliation in prayer : " The Lord is nigh unto them that 
 are of a broken heart ] and saveth such as be of a con- 
 trite spirit." Psalm 34 : 18. And when the divine Ma- 
 jesty is described with all possible sublimity, this requi- 
 site of an acceptable worshipper is specified : " Thus 
 saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, 
 whose name is Holy ; I dwell in the high and holy 
 place ; with him also that is of a contrite and humble 
 spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive 
 the heart of the contrite ones." Isaiah, 57 : 15. St- 
 James also very strongly urges the necessity of this 
 humiliation: he addresses himself to those who were 
 formalists in devotion ; constant enough in their prayers, 
 but very easy and thoughtless about their guilt. Af- 
 ter reproving them, therefore, for asking amiss, that 
 they might consume it upon their lusts, he directs them 
 to a successful manner of praying : " God," says he, 
 "resisteth the proud; but giveth grace unto the humble. 
 Be afflicted, and mourn and weep : let your laughter be 
 turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble 
 yourselves in the sight of the Lord," — that is, with the 
 lowest prostration and self-abasement confess your guilt 
 and your desert in his sight, — " and he shall lift you 
 up." James, 4 : 9, 10. 
 
 3. This sense of our own vileness must accompany 
 our prayer, in opposition to Pharisaic self-conceit j and 
 in proof of our abiding consciousness that we can never 
 be justified before God through our own works. But 
 
376 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 with this humiliation must be joined a filial trust m 
 God, and a holy boldness in approaching him. When 
 we ask, we must not fluctuate between hope and des- 
 pondency, but assure ourselves that we shall be as cer- 
 tainly succored, and as certainly enriched with all that 
 our souls need, as if the power and blessings we im 
 plore were already in our possession. For instance, 
 when we confess our sin with sorrow, shame and hu- 
 miliation, begging for mercy through the atonement, 
 we must be fully persuaded that we do obtain mercy. 
 When we pray for the mastery over our natural cor- 
 ruptions, we must assure ourselves they shall be sub- 
 dued. When in perplexity of mind and in great tri- 
 bulation, we beg of God support and deliverance, we 
 must not entertain a fear that perhaps he will not hear 
 us. For by giving way to distrust, questioning and 
 jealousies whether God will perform the gracious pro- 
 mises which he hath made to the poor and needy, we 
 greatly dishonor him ; and in the very act of solemn 
 address to him as the Almighty, betray a disbelief of 
 his veracity, or power, or love to them that call on 
 his name. 
 
 For this cause we are warned in Scripture to take 
 heed, that when we come to God in prayer, we resist 
 every doubt that may arise about his relieving oui 
 wants. ,f Jesus answering saith unto them, have faith 
 in God," that is, depend upon his almighty power for 
 the performance of every thing that he encourages you 
 to expect from him: "for verily I say unto you, that 
 whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou re- 
 moved, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not 
 doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things 
 which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have what- 
 soever he saith;" that is, how great soever any diffi- 
 culty may seem, which you have to overcome in the 
 way of duty, even though it were as unlikely to be ef- 
 
THE REQUISITES OF PRAYER. 373 
 
 fected as that you should root up a mountain by a word 
 of command, it shall be brought to pass, provided that 
 ye have an humble and unshaken trust in the divine 
 power and promises. Mark, 11 : 22,23. And in proof 
 that this confidence in prayer was not to be peculiar to 
 the apostles, but a necessary requisite in all christians, 
 St. James gives this unchangeable direction to the 
 christian church ; " If any one of you lack wisdom, let 
 him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and 
 upbraideth not ; and it shall be given him. But let him 
 ask in faith, nothing wavering ; for he that wavereth is 
 like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. 
 For let not that man think that he shall receive any 
 thing of the Lord." James, 1 : 5, 6, 7. 
 
 From these passages it appears that trust in God is 
 a principal requisite in acceptable prayer; that we ought 
 to have recourse to God with the same liberty and con- 
 fidence as to a father, a brother or a bosom friend. The 
 delightful communion between him and believers is, 
 therefore, thus emphatically expressed: "We have not 
 received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but we have 
 received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, 
 Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spi- 
 rit that we are the children of God :" that is, the law 
 of worship and submission to the eternal Majesty is 
 softened into a holy familiarity ; and converted, through 
 the abundant manifestations of his grace, into a sweet 
 and childlike dependence upon his care and love for us. 
 Romans, 8 : 15, 16. 
 
 4. It is indeed difficult to conceive how such confi- 
 dence in God, such assurance of receiving from him 
 whatever we ask for the good of our souls, can consist 
 with a consciousness of our own vileness ; or how we 
 can conquer the fear that must arise from a sense of 
 the multitude of our defects, so as not to ask with a 
 faltering tongue. This difficulty is removed by another 
 
378 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 grand requisite of prayer, without which it can have no 
 success j I mean the offering it up to God in dependance 
 on the sacrifice, righteousness and intercession of Jesus, 
 as the great High-priest of his church. 
 
 By this we acknowledge that our own duties are so 
 far from having any merit to procure for us a favorable 
 regard from God, that we do not even presume to offer 
 to him his due homage without having respect to our 
 accepted surety, the all-perfect Mediator between God 
 and man. By this we confess that the death of Jesus 
 for our transgressions, in vindication of the justice of 
 God, and his appearance in heaven as our intercessor, 
 are our encouragement to draw nigh to God in full as- 
 surance of faith, notwithstanding the absolute purity of 
 his nature, and the tokens of his indignation against sin. 
 
 And when Jesus is thus our hope, and his atoning 
 blood and righteousness all our confidence, there is no 
 room for confusion or distrust, notwithstanding our 
 own vileness. He is ordained of God for this very pur- 
 pose, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people 
 Both by office and by love he stands engaged to me- 
 diate in favor of all that come to God by him, and to 
 accomplish all their just and lawful desires. The com- 
 mand from heaven therefore is express, that we should, 
 in consideration of his character and office, " come 
 boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy 
 and find grace to help in time of need." Heb. 4> : 16. 
 
 The offering up of our prayers in the name of Christ 
 is so necessary a requisite, that to omit it, is a capital 
 offence in the sight of God. Should any man dare to 
 say or think thus with himself: " The essential mercy of 
 God is a sufficient encouragement to me to pray : I es- 
 teem it a disparagement to his goodness to apply to him 
 by a mediator : I need no one to intercede for me, nor 
 will I be beholden to any thing but my own good quali- 
 ties and fitness for pardon to make my peace with God, 
 
THE REQUISITES OF PRAYER. 379 
 
 and to give acceptance to my devotions " — Prayer of- 
 fered up by him upon such principles, would be as bad 
 as if he had " blessed an idol." It would be an open 
 censure of the divine constitution in the method of 
 saving sinners and rebels : it would be a dethroning, as 
 far as lies in man's power, of the Son of God from that 
 high office of unspeakable benevolence which he sus- 
 tains and discharges in heaven for his church : it would 
 be loading the revelation of God with scorn : because 
 the most conspicuous and important doctrine in it is 
 undoubtedly this, that Jesus Christ is the one Mediator 
 between God and man, an Advocate for us with the 
 Father, and a propitiation for sin, through faith in his 
 blood, that God might be just, and yet the justifier of 
 all that believe in Jesus. 
 
 There is an absolute necessity, therefore, that in all 
 our approaches to God, we " should honor the Son 
 even as we honor the Father ;" that we should solemnly 
 express our need of his favor, and of an interest in his 
 righteousness and intercession as the way to partake of 
 the Father's love. Nor is it sufficient that we ask mere- 
 ly as disciples of Christ ; that is, as those who receive 
 him as a prophet sent from God, without an humble 
 and cordial trust in his atonement and intercession ; for 
 such an address, instead of meeting with acceptance, 
 will be rejected as the effect of pride and infidelity 
 reigning in our hearts. Nothing but pride and infidelity 
 can lead us directly to contradict the Scriptures, which 
 peremptorily affirm that there is no other name given 
 under heaven whereby we can be saved but that of 
 Jesus ; and no way of coming to the Father but by him. 
 Nothing but pride and infidelity can lead men to sup- 
 pose that they may come before God in their own 
 name, provided they really intend to live a moral life, 
 with assurance that they shall be accepted of God. 
 Were such a doctrine universally to prevail, it must in 
 
380 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 a short time root the Gospel out of the earth. No won* 
 der, therefore, that so much stress is laid in holy writ 
 on this as a grand requisite in acceptable prayer, that it 
 be offered up to God in the name of Jesus. 
 
 From what has now been said, it appears that a real 
 intention to obey God, an humble sense of our own pol- 
 luted condition before him, a firm assurance that wo 
 shall be heard, and a constant dependance upon the 
 mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, are requisites 
 which must unite in all acceptable prayer. In fact they 
 are found in the prayer of all real believers, though in 
 different degrees : at first faintly, afterwards more dis 
 tinctly perceptible, and, as they grow in grace, they 
 are more and more conscious that in this manner they 
 worship the God of their salvation. With the same 
 spirit of true devotion they acknowledge it is their 
 duty, and they make it their practice to worship God 
 in public as well as in private ; at church as well as in 
 the closet : and in every ordinance in which God has 
 promised to meet his faithful people, and to bless them. 
 
 Believers are encouraged diligently to use all these 
 means of grace, from the knowledge they have of the 
 certain success of prayer. The infallible grounds on 
 which this knowledge is built, are the source of prayer 
 in the heart of fallen man ; the promises of God ; the 
 intercession of his Son ; and the experience of all the 
 obedient children of God. 
 
 1. The success of true prayer is most certain from 
 considering the source of it in the heart of fallen man. 
 We are taught in Scripture that we are not sufficient to 
 think a good thought of ourselves ; it follows therefore, 
 that no one can feel a real intention to glorify God by 
 uniform obedience, or a holy shame and sorrow for 
 sin; — no one can come to God as a child in want to 
 his heavenly Father, or trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, — 
 
THE REQUISITES OF PRAYER. 381 
 
 without an actual gift of grace, without a divine influ 
 ence and drawing from the Father. Now can it be sup- 
 posed that this gift is bestowed in vain % Can it be 
 thought that any one will be so much enlightened from 
 above, as to desire to be kept from every wilful offence, 
 to know, and to live in obedience to the Gospel, and 
 that he will be stirred up in prayer, humbly to make 
 request unto God, trusting in the merits of Christ, that 
 he may be enabled to do so, — and yet not be heard 1 
 Shall such a supplicant fall down on his knees before 
 God, only to rise up with confusion at the rejection of 
 his suit 1 Certainly not. God, gracious and merciful, is 
 not wont thus to grieve the contrite spirit, or to disap- 
 point the holy expectations excited in the heart by his" 
 own divine agency. On the contrary, a real desire of 
 receiving spiritual mercy, is a pledge of obtaining it j 
 for since " every good and every perfect gift," in every 
 degree of it, " cometh from above, from the Father of 
 lights, in whom is no variableness, neither shadow of 
 turning, who of his own will begat us by the word of 
 his truth ;" we must assuredly conclude, that if he hath 
 inclined our hearts to seek him, he will be found of us. 
 James, 1 : 17, 18. 
 
 2. This most comfortable truth is positively estab- 
 lished, by many declarations of God's delight to hear 
 and answer all that call upon him. Thus in one place 
 he describes himself as looking into the inmost recesses 
 of the heart, waiting to see the first dawning of prayer, 
 and to answer it before it has put on the direct form of 
 a petition: M and it shall come to pass, before they call, 
 1 will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will 
 hear." Isaiah, 65 : 24<. In another, he commands one of 
 his prophets to publish the immediate acceptance of 
 his own petition, the moment he steadfastly purposed to 
 offer it unto him : " I said I will confess my transgres- 
 sions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of 
 
382 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 my sin." Psalm 32 : 5. And that we might harbor no 
 suspicion of the success of prayer, our Redeemer com- 
 pares the readiness of God to succor the poor and 
 needy, who call upon him, to that which parents feel 
 with regard to their own offspring : " What man is 
 there," says he, " of you, whom if his son ask bread, 
 will he give him a stone 1 or if he ask a fish, will he 
 give him a serpent] If ye then being evil" (corrupt 
 and vitiated in your nature) are still by the force of 
 instinct drawn gladly to supply the necessities of your 
 children, " how much more shall your heavenly Father 
 give good things to them that ask him 1" 
 
 3. If it should be objected, that the undutifulness 
 which the very best men too often manifest towards their 
 heavenly Father, and their violations of his law in time 
 past, may well justify doubts whether God can hear 
 them consistently with the honor of his perfections ; this 
 perplexity is removed by the assurance that Jesus ap- 
 pears, with his own blood, in the presence of God, as an 
 intercessor for all who call upon him in his name. He ap- 
 pears as an advocate in the behalf of the guilty, alleging 
 what satisfies the law and absolves the humbled delin- 
 quent. The memorial of his abundant mercy in dying 
 on the cross, is perpetually represented in the presence 
 of God ; and the Mediator declares it to be his no less 
 earnest than just request, that, for his sake, the penitent 
 acknowledgments of those who believe on him, and 
 their prayers, should be accepted ; their sins blotted out, 
 and increase of grace bestowed upon them; for "he 
 ever liveth to make intercession." 
 
 In the book of the Eevelation (ch. 8 : 1-5) there is a 
 most magnificent representation of this truth, so very 
 interesting to every member of the church of Christ. 
 The beloved John, we there read, was favored with a 
 vision of the things which are done in heaven. In this 
 vision he perceived that all the melodious choir of an- 
 
THE REQUISITES OF PRAYER. 383 
 
 gels ceased from uttering their heart-felt alleluias : 
 " There was silence in heaven for the space of half an 
 hour." But wherefore do the praises, for ever and for 
 ever due, cease to ascend before the throne 1 The evan- 
 gelist, who saw the vision, teaches us it was that their 
 whole attention might be fixed on the Angel, the mes- 
 senger of the covenant ; who, just as the high-priest on 
 the great day of atonement, was wont to carry more 
 than usual incense in a golden censer, and burn it in the 
 holy of holies before the Lord ; so now Jesus, the glo- 
 rious angel of God's presence, appeared as the High- 
 priest of his church, standing in a ministering posture 
 before the altar of burnt-offering, to signify the atone- 
 ment he had made by his blood. K And there was given 
 unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the 
 prayers of all saints, upon the golden altar which was be- 
 fore the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which 
 came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before 
 God, out of the angel's hand :" that is, as the perfuming 
 smoke of incense, composed of the finest spices, ascend- 
 ed up like a cloud to heaven with the prayers of the 
 congregation of Israel, that were offered at the same 
 time ; so a representation was made here of the virtue 
 of Christ's sacrifice, which mingled, like the most fra- 
 grant odor, with the prayers of holy worshippers ; and, 
 like the incense which passed through the hands of the 
 high-priest, was presented together with them before 
 God by the Mediator, to cover their imperfections, and 
 to procure for them the divine audience and acceptance. 
 And what makes this magnificent representation of 
 our great High-priest a still more encouraging proof of 
 the infallible success of true prayer, is this : It is pur- 
 posely introduced just before the most desolating judg- 
 ments are going to be poured out on the apostate unbe- 
 lieving world. God thus assuring us that when he whets 
 his glittering sword, and cries, " Aha! I will rid myself 
 
384? COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 of my adversaries," — there is not one humble supplicant 
 who approaches him by Jesus Christ, who shall have 
 cause to fear that his prayers are not answered. How 
 dishonorable, then, how injurious both to the Father and 
 the Son, to doubt of the success of prayer ! For if, as 
 Jesus declared to his first and immediate followers, 
 " the Father loveth you because ye have loved me, and 
 believed that I came forth from him ;" how much more 
 shall those who possess the same precious faith, assure 
 themselves they shall be regarded, when there is all the 
 interest and intercession of Jesus, at the right hand of 
 God, employed in favor of those prayers suggested by 
 the influence of the Holy Ghost ! 
 
 4. To strengthen our assurance of the success of 
 prayer, nothing further can be needed than the confir- 
 mation of fact and experience. If all who have made 
 their prayer to God in the way he has himself appoint- 
 ed, and for the blessings he has promised, have received 
 the things they asked for from him, then there cannot 
 be a more complete demonstration of any truth, than of 
 the infallible success of prayer. Now the word of God 
 abounds with proofs of the Almighty's pleasure to make 
 his power, as it were, tributary to the prayer of his 
 faithful people. Thus the prayer of Joshua stopped the 
 sun in his course ; and that of Elijah, though a man of 
 like passions with ourselves, opened and shut the springs 
 which water the earth. The prayer of the three chil- 
 dren preserved them in the fiery furnace from being 
 hurt ; and that of Daniel saved him from the devouring 
 Jons. The time, indeed, would fail to mention what we 
 find recorded in Scripture of the wonders wrought 
 through the power of prayer. Now if, in extraordinary 
 cases, for the vindication of God's truth and manifesta- 
 tion of his glory, the effect of prayer was thus miracu- 
 lous; how much more may we conclude it to be effec- 
 tual, when it only seeks deliverance from sin, and the 
 
THE REQUISITES OF PRAYER. 385 
 
 gift of those graces by which God may be glorified 
 on earth 1 
 
 There is indeed no age without a cloud of witnesses 
 of the infallible efficacy of prayer. Ask those distin- 
 guished persons in our generation, who most faithfully 
 conform to the christian rule, and copy the example of 
 their Lord, what has given them such mastery over 
 their passions, such sweet complacency and good-will 
 towards all men, such a readiness to be directed and 
 governed by the word of God through unfeigned love to 
 him and delight in his service ; and they will unani- 
 mously declare, — that not by their own power, wisdom, 
 or resolution ; not through any original excellence of 
 their temper, or the advantage of education, but through 
 the grace of God, obtained by prayer, they are what 
 they are. They began in earnest, they persevered with 
 importunity, in calling upon the Lord, and according to 
 his promise he heard them ; they made their supplica- 
 tion to him, and were not disappointed.* 
 
 On the contrary, there is not a slave to sin within the 
 pale of the christian church 5 not one defiled by the lust 
 of uncleanness or the love of money; not one tyran 
 nized over by angry, peevish, or turbulent dispositions, 
 but is condemned in his own conscience either as an ut- 
 ter despiser of prayer, or as a mere formal trifler in it : 
 
 * Many illustrious confirmations of the prevalence of christian 
 prayer with God, are to be found in the lives of the excellent of the 
 earth : but a more pleasing and honorable one is scarce to be met 
 with than that recorded in the life of the most celebrated physician 
 Boerhaave. A friend of his who had often admired his patience un- 
 der the greatest provocations, asked him by what means he had so 
 entirely suppressed that impetuous, ungovernable passion, anger 1 
 The doctor answered, with the utmost frankness and sincerity, that 
 naturally he was quick of resentment, but by daily prayer he at- 
 tained that mastery over himself. — Burton's Life of Boerhaave. 
 
 It was bis custom, never violated, to spend the first hour of every 
 day in prayer, though patients from every country in Europe ap- 
 plied to him for advice. 
 
 17 
 Duty »f Man. * ' 
 
386 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 such a one, therefore, experiences no deliverance from 
 the power of evil tempers, nor does he gain the least 
 ground against them. 
 
 Real christians, therefore, must value prayer, and be 
 constant and unwearied in it 5 so will the same bountiful 
 God, whose ears are ever open to the prayers of his 
 faithful people, open heaven in the end to receive their 
 persons. He will give them an abundant entrance into 
 that kingdom where petitions will be no more ; because 
 neither weakness nor want, fear nor trial, will remain j 
 but every feeling of the soul be perfect felicity, and 
 every expression of it perfect praise 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 TJEiJE JIOiF SCKIJPTUJR1Z. 
 
 STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURE. 
 
 Having considered the nature of prayer as a principal 
 exercise of devotion, I now proceed to state another 
 duty equally important, equally binding upon christians, 
 and equally necessary to maintain a holy life 5 — the 
 study of the Holy Scripture. 
 
 As the Scripture was given by inspiration of God, and 
 its great design is to instruct men in the knowledge 
 of him, so it contains repeated commands to search into, 
 and meditate upon its sacred contents. M These words." 
 says God, "which I command thee, shall be in thy heart, 
 and thou shalt bind them as a sign upon thy hand, 
 
STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURE. 387 
 
 and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, and 
 thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and 
 upon thy gates." Deut. 6:8, 9 j that is, thou shalt most 
 familiarly converse with them, and most carefully trea- 
 sure them up in thy mind. St. Paul, speaking of the 
 Old Testament, tells us that " whatsoever things were 
 written aforetime, were written for our learning and for 
 our admonition." Of the New Testament we are told 
 that it was written " that we might believe that Jesus 
 is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing, we 
 might have life through his name." John, 20:31. St. 
 Peter instructs us, that he wrote both his Epistles to 
 M stir up the pure minds of christians by way of remem- 
 brance," and to put them in mind " of the words which 
 were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the 
 commandments of the apostles of the Lord and Savior." 
 2 Pet. 3:1,2. Now as these are the ends for which the 
 Scriptures were inspired of God and directed to us, so 
 do they lay an obligation upon all into whose hands 
 they are put to acquaint themselves with them. And 
 not to read what God has written and directed to us, 
 is in fact a profane contempt both of his authority and 
 mercy ; it looks as if we either thought him such an 
 insignificant being, or ourselves so little to need his in- 
 formation, that it is not worth our while to peruse with 
 care and frequency the contents of those sacred books, 
 which by his inspired penmen he hath vouchsafed to 
 send us. 
 
 Further, the infinite concern which we all have in 
 the subject-matter of holy writ, most evidently obliges 
 us to read and acquaint ourselves with it. For what 
 the Scripture contains is, by the unanimous confession 
 of all christians, of everlasting moment : it proposes ar- 
 ticles of faith under the most awful sanctions ; eternal, 
 life, if we receive them; death eternal, if we reject 
 them. It prescribes a rule of duty essential to our 
 
388 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 peace, comfort and safety. It holds forth promises tx 
 ceeding great, to excite our diligence and encourage 
 our hope, and threatenings of such misery as infinitely 
 exceeds all evil in this world ; that at all times we may 
 hear and fear, and never commit iniquity. He, there* 
 fore, who neglects to study and search the Scripture, 
 betrays his unbelief and scorn of his Maker, and 
 proves that, like a brute, he only desires what can do 
 his body good. 
 
 Indeed the will of God is so plainly revealed in this 
 matter, that no one but an infidel will justify a total ne- 
 glect of the Bible. Many, however, who profess to be- 
 lieve in it, read it so carelessly or so seldom, as to de- 
 rive little advantage from it. Allowance no doubt must 
 be made for different capacities and different situations 
 in life j yet after this allowance too many will still be 
 found guilty of trifling with the word of God. The 
 principal thing which men of all stations should avoid 
 is a formal, careless way of reading. This has been, 
 in all ages, a general fault, and a great one indeed ; for 
 we may read the Scripture in this way every day of our 
 lives, and be in no degree wiser or better. To derive 
 spiritual benefit, therefore, from the Bible, the following 
 rules must necessarily be observed : 
 
 1. Whenever we open the sacred book of God, we 
 should lift up our hearts to him, to teach us the true 
 meaning of what we are going to read. This is neces- 
 sary, because those doctrines, which are its very glory, 
 offend our natural pride, and its precepts contradict our 
 dearest lusts. To receive the one, therefore, with humi- 
 lity and thankfulness, and to submit to be governed by 
 the other, requires assistance from heaven, and a bless- 
 ing from the Father and Fountain of lights. Accordingly 
 .in the Bible we are frequently taught that we cannot 
 know the excellency of its doctrines, nor rely on them 
 ,vith such a persuasion as to honor God by it, unless 
 
STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURE. 389 
 
 he opens our understandings; for "no man," saith St 
 Paul, "can say that Jesus Christ is Lord, but by the 
 Holy Ghost." And when the apostle speaks of those 
 believers in Christ who knew the things which were 
 freely given of God to them, he declares, they received 
 " the spirit which is of God, that they might know 
 them." So deeply sensible were the holy men of old, 
 of their own natural incapacity of reaping any profit- 
 able knowledge from the Scripture without the teach- 
 ings of God, obtained by prayer, that with the Bible 
 open before them they continually made request foi 
 illumination of their minds to understand it aright 
 "lama stranger upon earth, O hide not thy command 
 ments from me. — I am thy servant, give me under- 
 standing that I may know thy statutes. Open thou 
 mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of 
 thy law." These blessed servants of God we must 
 imitate, and depend on the Spirit for light and instruc- 
 tion when we read God's word. Not, indeed, expecting 
 a new light, that is, any new doctrine, either distinct 
 from the Scripture rule, or supplemental to it; nor 
 laying aside our reason and understanding, relying 
 upon an immediate inspiration to interpret Scripture. 
 Either of these things is weak enthusiasm. But with 
 the greatest sobriety we may expect, and ought to pray 
 for the Spirit's help, to give us real advantage and 
 improvement whilst we are reading the word of God. 
 Because the Spirit is promised to abide with the church 
 for ever, as a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the 
 knowledge of the tnings of God . nor shaL we evei 
 know them so as to feel their power and authority on 
 the heart, without internal illumination. 
 
 There is, I readily grant, a knowledge of Scripture 
 truths, which men of parts and penetration attain at 
 once, upon turning their attention to them ; so that 
 they can talk and preach about them without detection 
 
390 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 amongst the multitude, whilst they themselves are 
 workers of iniquity, blind and dead in their sins. But 
 then this knowledge is speculative, worthless, resting in 
 the head, and never changing the heart. And so must 
 all knowledge of divine things be, unless the influence 
 of the Spirit of God give it power to command and sway 
 the soul. Because, by whatever method we attain the 
 knowledge of any thing contrary to the bent of our own 
 wicked hearts, we need much more than the most con- 
 vincing external evidence of the truth of the thing, to 
 determine our will against its own strong and corrupt 
 propensity. If you demand a proof of this, consider the 
 remarkable case of the Jews at Mount Horeb. Could 
 any one of them doubt that the authority, which avouch- 
 ed the law given to them, was decisive 1 Nevertheless, 
 how daringly did they rush into idolatry ! They did it 
 not only against the express letter of the law, but whilst 
 the terrible voice, in which it was delivered, one would 
 think, was still sounding in their ears. And though they 
 could not doubt the authority of God, yet their rebel- 
 lions are imputed to their infidelity. " How long," saith 
 the Lord God, " will this people provoke me 1 how long 
 will it be ere they believe me 1" Num. H : 11. The 
 very same is the case with ourselves. We turn aside 
 from the known commandments of our God ; we prefer 
 the service of some vile lust to our bounden duty, though 
 we allow the Scripture to be a divine revelation, and 
 read it as such ; till we read it with prayer, imploring 
 the God whose word it is, to grant, by the illumination 
 of his Spirit, that his word may be put into our mind 
 and exert a sovereign sway over it. 
 
 This doctrine is of the utmost importance ; for, if you 
 take away the influence of the Holy Spirit from the 
 members of the church, then the very Gospel of Christ 
 will be no more than a sublime speculation, as ineffec- 
 tual to change the heart or reform the world as the 
 
STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURE. 391 
 
 pagan philosophy. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter,, is 
 the inestimable promise made to the church ; if there- 
 fore we would read the Bible for our reproof, our cor- 
 rection, our instruction in righteousness, we must be- 
 fore, and as we read, pray to God for his influence and 
 teaching. 
 
 2. A second rule, no less worthy of our constant and 
 careful observation, is not hastily to read too large a por- 
 tion at one time. Some set themselves a certain quan- 
 tity, suppose two or three chapters, to read at stated 
 hours of every day ; a much larger portion this than 
 they can sufficiently attend to, except it be in some of 
 the historical parts of the Bible. Hence, though they 
 converse much in this manner with the word of God, 
 they remain as shamefully ignorant of its contents, at 
 least as much unrenewed in their minds, as those who 
 never look into it. We must by no means, therefore, 
 content ourselves with having the words and expres- 
 sions of God before our eyes, or in our mouths. On the 
 contrary, we must pause and deliberate much on the 
 things signified by the words : we must labor to fix the 
 true import of the divine expressions deep in our minds; 
 so that the very spirit of the Bible may be, as it were, 
 transcribed into them. 
 
 It is true that by this method we shall read but a 
 little, and our progress in going through all the princi- 
 pal ports of the sacred volume will be slow, compared 
 with those who can read many chapters in a day. But 
 then the singular benefit of such a method will amply 
 reward our pains, and prove its superiority ; for whilst 
 in much recollection and silent meditation we take the 
 word of God into ou/ hands, and place ourselves, as it 
 were, before him for instruction, we shall find the mean- 
 ing of it beautifully unfolding ; and the knowledge of 
 what we gain in this manner will come with a transform- 
 ing efficacy. It will also remain with us, and be our own, 
 
392 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 for use and recollection at all times j whilst the com- 
 ments and explanations of other men, and our own hasty- 
 readings, however they may seem to instruct us, are 
 soon forgotten, because they have no root in us. Not- 
 withstanding therefore that we may be strongly opposed, 
 in this method of reading the word of God, by our sloth 
 and natural aversion deeply to attend to spiritual things, 
 we must overcome this indisposition; a little persever- 
 ance will master all the difficulty ; and will enable each 
 of us to say, " The law of the Lord is more precious to 
 me than thousands of gold and silver ; in that law do I 
 exercise myself day and night." 
 
 3. Nearly allied to this careful meditation on the word 
 of God is another important rule, which we must ob- 
 serve when we read any principal part of it ; that is, to 
 exact of ourselves correspondent affections $ and if we 
 do not experience them, to lament and bewail the po- 
 verty and misery of our condition. 
 
 For instance, when the character of God is before us ; 
 when we are reading such passages as describe him in- 
 finite in power, glorious in holiness, continually adored 
 by the host of heaven, yet more tender and affectionate 
 than any father to the faithful in Christ Jesus, and inter- 
 esting himself in all the most minute circumstances that 
 can affect the welfare of those that love him: to read 
 such descriptions of God will be to very little purpose, 
 unless we pause and ask ourselves; — whether we in this 
 manner really behold the glory of the Lord, and the ex- 
 cellency of our God ; — whether we have such views of 
 nim who is thus represented, as to make him indeed our 
 delight ; as to satisfy us of his good and gracious inten 
 iions towards ourselves in particular, and to lead us 
 with comfort to rely on him for all we want 1 
 
 In like manner, when we read the scripture represen- 
 tations of the glory, the offices, and the character of 
 the Redeemer, with the inestimable promises he makes 
 
STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURE. 393 
 
 to them who trust in his name ; little will it profit us 
 unless we also at the same time search and try our 
 souls, whether these representations make us eager to 
 embrace a Savior thus altogether lovely ; — unfeignedly 
 thankful to God for this unspeakable gift ; — and able, 
 without doubt or wavering, to yield ourselves up to his 
 service, and to trust him as the guardian of our eternal 
 interests. 
 
 When we meet with Scripture assertions of the weak- 
 ness, blindness, guilt, and depravity of fallen man; in 
 vain shall we assent to them, because found in the book 
 of God, if we do not trace each of these branches of na- 
 tural corruption as they have discovered themselves in 
 our behavior, and behold some remains of them still in 
 ourselves. When the self-denying tempers of the faithful 
 in Christ, their deliverance from the dominion of worldly 
 hopes and fears, their unfeigned love to God and man, 
 and their real imitation of Jesus in the abhorrence of 
 all evil, is the subject before us ; — in vain shall we read 
 of these spiritual attainments, unless we examine in 
 what degree the infinitely desirable transformation has 
 taken place in our own hearts. 
 
 Unless we thus read all Scripture with self-application, 
 we shall do just enough to flatter and deceive ourselves 
 that we are something, when we are nothing j enough 
 to make us imagine we have a great regard to Scripture, 
 when in fact it has no weight at all with us to form oui 
 judgment, or to determine us in the grand object of oui 
 pursuit. 
 
 It is our duty, therefore, not only to read the word of 
 God with frequency ; but like men in earnest, who 
 know that every thing is to be determined by its decla- 
 rations; — like men who know that he only is blessed 
 whom that word blesses ; and that he is most assuredly 
 cursed whom that word curses. It is our duty to labor 
 and pray, that we may have the lively signatures of 
 17* 
 
394 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 Scripture impressed in all our sentiments, breathing m 
 all our desires, realized in all our conduct ; so that all 
 may see, and we ourselves most delightfully prove, that 
 the word of the Lord is pure, converting our souls. 
 
 4. Lastly, It is well to read the more devotional and 
 practical portions of Scripture most frequently. As, in 
 the frame of our body, God has ordained some parts to 
 be absolutely necessary to its life, others to its comfort 
 and ease, and others again to its ornament j in the same 
 manner is the Scripture composed. As 'our greatest re- 
 gard therefore is to such parts of the body as are most 
 vital, so our most frequent contemplation must be fixed 
 on those parts of Scripture which most nearly concern 
 the glory of God, our own eternal salvation, and the 
 good of others. The Scriptures therefore which de- 
 lineate the perfections of God, his jealous regard of his 
 own honor, the necessity of living in willing subjection 
 to his authority, the certain insupportable miseries of 
 the unconverted and unbelieving, the earthly and the 
 sensual, call for our frequent perusal : for in such a 
 world as this, and with hearts disposed as ours are, in 
 vain we attempt to observe the commands of God, if 
 we are not immoveably persuaded of these truths, and 
 constantly reminded of them. The Scriptures also, 
 which describe the miseries of our fallen state, the evil 
 bias that is upon our will, our utter impotence on this 
 very account to recover ourselves, are in a very eminent 
 degree deserving of our frequent meditation. Of the 
 same important nature are all those passages in holy 
 writ which declare what the Savior is in his own per- 
 sonal excellency ; what he has done and suffered on 
 earth ; what he is now doing in heaven for his church ; 
 which acquaint us with his gracious calls and his tender 
 expostulations ; which instruct us in the knowledge 
 of our own indispensable need of him in his offices of 
 prophet, priest and king. No one can look into the 
 
STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURE. 395 
 
 Bible without perceiving with what peculiar emphasis 
 these subjects are treated j how they project to our 
 view, and are insisted upon and extolled as the glorious 
 display of God's wisdom and love. A deep, intimate ac- 
 quaintance, therefore, with these things, is a principal 
 end for which Scripture was given, and therefore should 
 be our object in perusing it. 
 
 What is said also of the influences and operations of 
 the Spirit, must be closely attended to by us, that we 
 may know whether we are led by the Spirit, or walk 
 according to the influence of our corrupt nature. For 
 the true knowledge and firm belief of the doctrine of 
 the Spirit's influence, is the only means of supporting a 
 christian practice and temper. What relates to his ope- 
 rations on the soul, must frequently be made the sub- 
 ject of our meditation ; because in the apostolic wri- 
 tings they are always insisted upon with earnestness, 
 as the infallible evidences of our being alive to God, 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord. Unless the nature of 
 these operations be well understood by us, we shall be 
 in danger of imposing upon ourselves, or of being de- 
 ceived by the virtues of the world, which only counter- 
 feit Christianity, as politeness does real humility and 
 love ; we shall rest in the outward action, without re- 
 gard to the internal motive from which it ought to 
 spring. 
 
 Other rules might be added for direction in reading 
 the word of God, but these are sufficient for. edification, 
 exhortation and comfort ; sufficient to make all who 
 conform to them wise in the knowledge of God, his 
 Son, and Spirit, unto salvation. 
 
COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 CHRISTIdLJV JTOlf. 
 
 ITS SOURCES. 
 
 It is too general an opinion, that men cannot be so 
 happy in the present world, by submitting in all things 
 to the rules of the christian faith, as by allowing them- 
 selves more liberty than it permits : that if we are to be 
 entirely subject to the law of God, we must give up 
 every present gratification, and, like the superstitious 
 recluses of the convent, pass our time in melancholy, or 
 at least under very irksome restraints. A falsehood this, 
 which is at once full of impiety and mischief. Full of 
 impiety ; for it represents the life of faith and the ser- 
 vice of God as irksome, and only to be endured in the 
 view of some reward, or through fear of some evil in 
 another worlc^j when, in point of gratification, they have 
 " the promise of this world, as well as of that which 
 is to come." The slander also is big with mischief, 
 because if men imagine christian obedience an uncom- 
 fortable service, their violent propensity to present plea 
 sure, joined with their faint belief of eternal things, may 
 be expected to lead them to indulge in transitory volup- 
 tuousness ; risking any loss they may sustain beyond the 
 grave, since that is distant and invisible. 
 
 The system, therefore, of doctrinal and practical Chris- 
 tianity, contained in this volume, cannot more properly 
 be concluded than with a representation of several sources 
 of happiness peculiar to the faithful in Christ Jesus; and 
 with some unanswerable proofs of the reasonableness, 
 certainty and necessity of those evangelical consola- 
 tions. From whence the conclusion will be evident, that 
 
SOURCES OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 397 
 
 there are no pleasures upon earth worthy, to be named 
 with those enjoyed by the obedient children of God ; 
 who are often pitied as miserable and melancholy per- 
 sons on account of the strictness of their religion. 
 
 1. The first source, then, of happiness peculiar to the 
 faithful in Christ Jesus, is the excellent knowledge they 
 have attained. God the Father in all his adorable per- 
 fections, in the works he has made, and in the word he 
 has caused to be written, in the redemption he has pro- 
 vided, and in the blessings he has promised ; God the 
 Son in his original glory and marvellous humiliation, in 
 all the parts and most benevolent purposes of his media- 
 tion; God the Holy Ghost in all his influences, gifts 
 and graces ; with the realities of the invisible, eternal 
 world, constitute the pleasing subjects of meditation to 
 the true believer. Nominal christians, it is true, hear of 
 all these subjects, perhaps profess constantly to believe 
 in them ; but they can neither find time to take any ex- 
 act survey of them, nor to ponder them in their hearts ; 
 therefore " seeing they see, and do not perceive, and 
 hearing they hear, and do not understand." The know- 
 ledge of the things of God, on the contrary, which real 
 believers possess, is lively, penetrating, and of course 
 delightful. 
 
 No one can question the pleasures of the understand- 
 ing, since thousands toil for no other reward. In the 
 eyes of all the votaries of science, the discovery of truth 
 has the most bewitching charms, even though the truth 
 only relates to something in this perishing world, and is 
 without any power to produce the dispositions essential 
 to peace of mind. Is such knowledge pleasant 1 How 
 much more, then, the discovery of truths, which, be- 
 sides their novelty, have a grandeur capable of engaging 
 the whole mind, and filling it with admiration ! The 
 grandeur is no sooner apprehended than the truths of 
 God necessarily become a source of delight. Before 
 
398 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 they were either despised or suspected, or blindly as- 
 sented to from the force of education j now they act like 
 themselves — they inspire new resolutions, they kindle 
 ardent desires, they excite abundant hope : in a word, 
 by their spiritual knowledge believers are brought into 
 a new and glorious world, where objects interesting be- 
 yond measure, and tending to their honor and exalta- 
 tion, surround them. 
 
 It is indeed most worthy of observation, that the very 
 same language which is used to denote the joyful change 
 from night to day, is chosen by the Holy Ghost to ex- 
 press the change made in the minds of believers by the 
 knowledge they are taught of God. Of them it is said, 
 in contradistinction to their condition by nature : M Ye 
 were sometimes darkness, but now ye are light in the 
 Lord." Ephes. 5:8. " For God, who commanded the 
 light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, 
 to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God 
 in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. 4 : 6. 
 
 This pleasure, which true believers enjoy from their 
 first acquaintance with divine truth, increases as they 
 advance. There is a very sensible progress in divine, 
 no less than in human science : first a faint or confused 
 view of the truths of God, then a clear perception of 
 their matchless excellence and various usefulness j first 
 a dependence upon them, mixed with hesitation and 
 fear, afterwards a full assurance of understanding and 
 hope, a comprehending the breadth, and length, and 
 height, and depth of what before was very superficially 
 known. Such a progress is inseparable from persever- 
 ance in the faith of Christ, and a diligent use of the 
 word of God and of prayer, and it never fails to prove 
 a spring of fresh and increasing delight. 
 
 Further : this knowledge proves in a peculiar manner 
 pleasant to those who possess it, from the solid benefits 
 which it constantly confers. For whilst all other sub- 
 
SOURCES OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 399 
 
 jects which employ the minds of men, leave them, after 
 their highest attainments, painfully sensible how little 
 there is in them to satisfy their wants, to subdue their 
 passions, to guard against various evils, or to support 
 them, much less to profit them, when they leave the 
 present scene ; believers experience in their know- 
 ledge contentment in every condition, a preservative 
 from the force of unruly passions, a shield against the 
 assaults of their worst enemies. By this they are in- 
 spired with a supernatural firmness of mind, by this 
 cheered in the hour of distress ; still sure to find its 
 immense value most, when they depart out of this 
 mortal life. 
 
 Knowledge, thus supremely excellent, enriches the 
 souls of all real believers in Christ Jesus. Even the 
 poorest and meanest, who truly receive and faithfully 
 serve the Lord Jesus, stand not one single degree more 
 distant from the attainment of it than men of talents and 
 education. For as it is God alone who communicates 
 this knowledge, so all who make application for it in 
 prayer, are equally sure to attain it. And the pure 
 delight with which it replenishes the mind, is at once 
 thus positively asserted and emphatically recommend- 
 ed: "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the 
 man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise 
 of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the 
 gain thereof than fine gold. Her ways are ways of 
 pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree 
 of life to them that lay hold upon her : and happy is 
 every one that retaineth her." Prov. 3 : 13, 14, 17, 18. 
 
 Who can give any real credit to this positive as- 
 sertion of holy writ, or consider the nature and quali 
 ties of christian knowledge, and not see that real chris- 
 tians are the happiest people upon earth 1 Who can 
 impartially weigh these things, and for a moment ques- 
 tion who are the persons that now pass their time in 
 
400 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 the most pleasant and truly joyous manner ; — whether 
 they are the libertines who scoff at divine truth, the 
 formalists who know nothing of its power, or sincere 
 believers who experimentally know the sweetness and 
 excellence of the christian doctrine 1 
 
 2. But this knowledge of the truth is always connect- 
 ed with the possession of the richest spiritual blessings j 
 particularly the peace of God. 
 
 No sooner are believers brought to the knowledge of 
 Christ, so as to depend upon his works and mediation, 
 than they are assured by the promise and the oath of 
 God, "that there is no condemnation to them that are 
 in him, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spi- 
 rit." To this truth the prophets, the apostles and the 
 Redeemer continually bear witness. In the same pro 
 portion, therefore, as they receive it, their conscience 
 is justly quieted, and from a sharp accuser is turned 
 into an encouraging friend. It now no longer upbraids 
 them with their folly, but commends their wisdom in 
 flying to the strong-hold which God hath provided ; no 
 longer haunts them with apprehensions of approaching 
 punishment, but registers and attests their cordial ac- 
 ceptance of the Lord who is mighty to save ; they have 
 now the answer of a good conscience towards God by 
 the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. In this super- 
 natural fact they can perceive that the indictment, which 
 was against them for their transgressions of the law, is 
 taken out of the way, and they have boldness to enter 
 into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. 
 
 The infinite superiority of delight which such persons 
 must feel on account of their gracious acceptance with 
 God, no one can question, who considers what different 
 ideas from the rest of mankind true believers entertain, 
 both of the essential holiness of God, and of the demerit 
 of their own sin. The only reason why the pardoning 
 mercy of God is not universally coveted more than 
 
SOURCES OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 401 
 
 either wealth and honor, is that men are generally hard- 
 ened through presumption and infidelity. But suppose 
 that your guilt, which never before grievously afflicted 
 you, were now placed before you in its true light j sup- 
 pose, wherever you went, whatever you were doing, this 
 most awful thought forced itself upon you : — " I have 
 been an enemy to God in practically denying his go- 
 vernment and robbing him of his glory ; I have abused 
 his goodness, wearied his patience, and provoked his 
 justice to shut me out of heaven and his favor ; what 
 must I do to be saved 1 ." Suppose in this distress your 
 understanding were enlightened, and your heart brought 
 to rely upon God manifest in the flesh, who came to 
 seek and save that which was lost through sin : — can 
 you conceive any joy equal to that experienced in the 
 change from fear to a good hope ! Can you imagine a 
 more pleasing alteration of circumstances, than to have 
 grace, mercy and peace from God the Father, and from 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, succeed the black clouds of ven 
 geance which were threatening every moment to break 
 over your head 1 In this case, though the blessing is 
 purely spiritual, and therefore accounted light as air by 
 the multitude, who were never in fear for themselves, 
 nor in pain for their guilt ; yet to you it must certainly 
 prove a source of delight, as much beyond any temporal 
 mercy as the salvation of the soul is more desired by 
 them who know its worth, than any fading good of this 
 world, however useful or valuable in its place. 
 
 3. Another blessing accompanying the knowledge of 
 Christ, is the privilege of adoption into the family of 
 God. To give some just idea of the delight arising from 
 this peculiar privilege of believers, it is necessary to 
 explain the nature of adoption, as the practice of it an- 
 ciently obtained. It was customary, especially in the 
 Grecian and Roman states, for a man of wealth, in de- 
 fault of issue from his own body, to make choice of some 
 
402 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 person upon whom he put his name, requiring him to 
 relinquish his own family and dwell from that time in 
 his, and proclaiming him publicly his heir. In this act 
 there was an imitation of nature, and the afflictive fail- 
 ure of offspring was supplied as far as possible. The 
 person thus adopted was by law entitled to the inherit- 
 ance, upon the decease of his adopter ; and, however 
 before void of all claim to such a benefit, or of expecta- 
 tion of it, was invested with the same privileges as if he 
 had been born heir to his benefactor. Suppose, then, this 
 act of adoption taking place in favor of some desolate 
 orphan, how conspicuous would be his exaltation ! how 
 delightful the change of his condition ! how happy, in 
 the judgment of the world, the object of such a pros- 
 perous providence ! 
 
 But worse than that of the most destitute orphan is 
 our natural state. Our great Redeemer teaches us that 
 we are " wretched and miserable, poor, and blind, and 
 naked," — till our relation to him by a living faith en- 
 riches us with all spiritual blessings. Though the truth 
 of this representation should be disallowed by the world, 
 yet all believers in Christ Jesus acknowledge it to be a 
 faithful picture of their own case. In this condition it 
 was, they heard, and understood, and believed that the 
 most merciful God " sent his own Son, made of a wo- 
 man, made under the law, to redeem them that were 
 under the law, that they might receive the adoption of 
 sons j" that by tbis means, through faith in his name, 
 they might become fellow-citizens with the saints, and 
 of the household of God: " for to as many as received 
 him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God." 
 
 Have not those persons, then, who attain to this hea- 
 venly gift, a source of delight above all others in the 
 world] Have they not the utmost cause to cry out in 
 joyful admiration, M Behold what manner of love the 
 Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called 
 
SOURCES OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 403 
 
 sons of God !" what an height of honor ! what an acqui- 
 sition of true riches ! for sinners to be adopted by the 
 Lord God Almighty into a relation with himself, which 
 at once entitles them to all things. " For all things," 
 says God, speaking by his apostle to true believers, ft are 
 yours ; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas," — that is, 
 all means, ordinances, or ministers ; " or the world," all 
 the creatures and things in it, as far as they can be of 
 any real service ; " or life," as long as its continuance 
 can redound to your good ; " or death," which will be 
 your everlasting gain : in a word, " things present, and 
 things to come ;" that is, all temporal and eternal 
 mercies, " are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ 
 is God's." 
 
 how immensely large, how inexhaustibly rich is this 
 inheritance, to which real believers in Jesus Christ are 
 adopted ! It is impossible, therefore, for them to read 
 with understanding the Scripture, to believe the promises 
 of God made to all the living members of the church of 
 Christ, purchased with his blood, knowing at the same 
 time that they are of that number, and not rejoice. 
 
 This joy is inspired and supported by the spirit of 
 adoption. Through the fall of our first father we have 
 been separated at a great distance from God, and our 
 alienation from him is still more increased by the offen- 
 ces of which our consciences accuse us. Now, as it is 
 most common that the aggressor can hardly ever believe 
 that the party he has injured fully forgives him, so after 
 our trespasses against God, we are naturally suspicious 
 of his intentions concerning us. This distrust aggra- 
 vates our misery, and prevents/ our receiving any con- 
 solation from God when we most need it. Hence men 
 in their distress, instead of flying to him on the wings 
 of confidence and love as their Father, their God and 
 their strong salvation ; approach him, compelled, as it 
 were, by their extremity, with a very faltering tongue, 
 
404 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 and a very timorous heart. Daily observation too strong 
 ly proves this to be the gloomy condition of the multi 
 tude with respect to God : for, did they trust in him as 
 their father or their friend, they would not, as they do, 
 sink and be dismayed under troubles, or be unwilling to 
 think much about him j much less would they tremble 
 and be afraid of him. 
 
 With real believers the case is far otherwise : they 
 *> have not received again the spirit of bondage to fear, 
 but they have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby 
 they cry, Abba, Father : the Spirit itself beareth witness 
 with their spirit, that they are the children of God." In 
 other words, they look up to God with the sweet confi- 
 dence which children place in their affectionate parents : 
 not overawed by his infinite majesty, not intimidated by 
 the consciousness of their guilt, as if it should be visited 
 and avenged upon them ; not in darkness and doubt 
 about the disposition of the Almighty towards them ,* 
 but assured by his own word, ratified by his Spirit, that 
 he is their God, and that they are his people. Or, even 
 though they feel doubts of his love towards them ris- 
 ing within their breasts, they still exercise the spirit of 
 adoption ; for they lament with a holy shame their un- 
 belief, they tell him all they want, they patiently wait 
 in humility till ne sees fit to help them. 
 
 Search now all the boasted sources of human gratifi- 
 cation. You cannot produce a delight arising from them 
 which can stand in competition with a child-like trust 
 in God ; with a heart free from any other care but how 
 to please him in our station, knowing he is our best and 
 all-sufficient friend. No one who was ever conscious of 
 such a spirit of adoption, but will avow the complacency, 
 the blessed satisfaction he felt from it. Now the more 
 believers grow in grace, and in the love and knowledge 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ, — the more will they enjoy of 
 this' spirit, both in its strength and in its duration. 
 
SOURCES OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 405 
 
 4. Inseparably joined with the knowledge and privi- 
 leges already mentioned, there is another source of pe- 
 culiar delight to real believers, namely, the exercise of 
 the christian graces wrought in them by the Holy Ghost. 
 
 In their repentance (how discouraging an aspect soever 
 repentance may wear in the eyes of the world) pleasure 
 still mingles with their tears ; because they are tears 
 which flow from a just and sacred principle within. They 
 love to abase themselves before God, to give his holi- 
 ness, justice and majesty their due honor ; they are hap- 
 py whilst they feel deep relentings for their past ill con- 
 duct towards him, who does not stand over them with a 
 rod of iron, to execute vengeance on them as they de- 
 serve j but holds forth the sceptre of his grace, that they 
 may approach him and live. There is an inconceivable 
 delight felt, when the believer, returning to God, can 
 say.; " Lo ! I come to thee j thou art the Lord whom I 
 will serve ; what have- been so long, by the basest sac- 
 rilege, alienated from thy blessed service, presence, and 
 communion, I now desire to bring back to thee. Take 
 all the powers of my soul and body ; possess and em- 
 ploy *hem only in thy work and to thy glory." "When 
 believers in this manner disclaim their own base inter- 
 ests, unreservedly, without intending to keep any thing 
 from G^d ; absolutely, without making any conditions of 
 their own, accepting his with all thankfulness ; peremp- 
 torily, without halting between two opinions, as if they 
 were inclined to retract the surrender of themselves 
 which they have made ; there is much delight interwoven 
 in these exercises of repentance towards God. 
 
 But still much more in acts of faith towards the Lord 
 Jesus Christ ; for in these there is a lively acknowledg- 
 ment and habitual consideration of the highest benefits, 
 of the strongest motives to love and obedience, as well 
 as the strongest ground of joy and triumph. What can 
 you imagine more delightful than for men, who see 
 
406 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 themselves all sin and misery, to look unto Jesus, who 
 says he will " deliver the poor and needy when they 
 cry unto him, and them that have no helper 1" Their 
 own emptiness they feel, and know his fulness for their 
 relief; they bow at his footstool ready to perish, and he 
 receives them as the father the returning prodigal, to 
 put upon them the best robe ; they confess their desert 
 ^of nothing but wrath, and he freely grants them pardon ; 
 they know that without his interposition they must have 
 sunk into hell, but behold he has exalted them into chil- 
 dren of God and heirs of glory. What pleasing emo- 
 tions must such views of themselves and of him excite 
 in their minds ! 
 
 These, reader, are the permanent sources of peculiar 
 delight with which all real believers are in some mea- 
 sure acquainted ! Hence they stand quite independent 
 of the world for their best joys, and can be happy in 
 spite of all disappointments from it. 
 
 But further, there are seasons in which God is pleased 
 in a more extraordinary manner to grant them "joy un- 
 speakable and full of glory." This he does commonly 
 before they are called to any severe trial, or when they 
 are preparing for more extensive usefulness : then in a 
 remarkable degree God is " their exceeding joy." There 
 are also seasons of devotion, both public and secret, 
 
 V 
 
 When their souls, 
 Snatch'd by the Spirit's power from their cells 
 Of fleshly thraldom, feel themselves up-borne 
 On plumes of ecstasy, and boldly spring 
 Up to the porch of heaven. 
 
 Let us sum up now what have been insisted on as the 
 several sources of happiness peculiar to real christians 
 
 They only possess that excellent knowledge which 
 brings with it the peace of God and the blessings of re- 
 demption : they only are the children of God by adop- 
 
SOURCES OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 407 
 
 tion and grace, and have the disposition of children 
 towards him : they only are conscious of the exercises 
 of repentance and faith, love and hope, and of every 
 grace in which the renovation of the mind after the 
 image of God consists : they only experience pleasure 
 in communion with God ; and sometimes feel a trans- 
 port which is remembered with lively thankfulness 
 long after the delightful sensation which first excited it 
 is worn off. 
 
 " Let not the wise man then glory in his wisdom, 
 neither let the mighty man glory in his might ; let not 
 the rich man glory in his riches ;" — for neither learning, 
 nor power, nor wealth are the sources of happiness or- 
 dained for men ; " but let him that glorieth, glory in 
 this, that he understandeth and knoweth God ;" who, 
 though he hath his throne in heaven, doth indeed dwell 
 with the faithful on earth, and in their behalf exerciseth 
 especial loving-kindness, judgment and righteousness j 
 " for in these things I delight, saith the Lord." Jer. 
 9 : 23, 24. 
 
 Judge no longer then after the flesh concerning the 
 sources of true happiness ; for they are no more per- 
 ceptible by sense than are the excellencies of the mind, 
 or the pleasures of learning and genius. As you would 
 justly meet with contempt from the world for your 
 ignorance and stupidity, should you dare to say that 
 there is no delight in studying the fine arts, or in 
 making discoveries in nature by philosophical penetra- 
 tion ; because these things are not adapted to the taste, 
 or within the comprehension of the vulgar; because 
 they are neither showy nor palpable, like the pleasures 
 of the sensualist : so you may equally betray your own 
 miserable ignorance in the sight of all the excellent of 
 the earth, when you dare to deny the present delight 
 enjoyed by those who believe to the saving of their 
 souls. 
 
4-08 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 Pray, therefore, for divine knowledge to correct your 
 depraved apprehensions, and to remove your grossness 
 and unbelief of heart. Then you will perceive that 
 christians are not more distinguished by purity of prac- 
 tice, than by their superior pleasures : then you will 
 understand (contrary to the low thoughts entertained 
 of the christian's choice, contrary to the impious pre- 
 judices abounding every where against it) that among 
 all the objects of sense, the eye never saw any thing so 
 grand and beautiful, the ear never heard any thing so 
 delightful and advantageous ; amongst all the branches 
 of science, the thoughts of man did never comprehend 
 any thing so completely adapted to bless the whole 
 soul, "as the things which God hath prepared for them 
 that love him," — even " before the sons of men:" which 
 things are given to them on this side the grave, as a 
 pledge of what they shall possess in the perfection of 
 glory to all eternity. 1 Cor. 2:9. Ps. 31 : 19. 
 
CHRISTIAN JOY. 40S 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 CimiSTI*lJr SOW— continued* 
 
 THE REASONABLENESS OF EXPECTING IT. 
 
 There is nothing perhaps, at first view, more unac- 
 countable than the strong prejudices which are enter- 
 tained against the peculiar delights which spring from 
 the knowledge of Christ. That the doctrines of the 
 Gospel should offend is no wonder, for the haughty- 
 spirit of man cannot brook the self-abasement they re- 
 quire. That its precepts should be complained of, it is 
 easy to suppose from the self-denial they enjoin. But 
 that men, who call themselves christians, should quarrel 
 even with the joys of their own religion ; that they 
 should contemn them as at variance with solid reason 
 and sound judgment, is indeed a most surprising fact : 
 since upon the bare report of such sources of joy, our 
 natural desire of happiness, one would conclude, must 
 strongly prompt us to wish them real ; and frequent 
 disappointment from the world must incline us to think 
 it also reasonable, that there should be some friendly 
 sanctuary appointed for man, in which true joy and 
 peace might be found. 
 
 But upon closer inquiry we shall discover the ground 
 of these violent prejudices against the joys of the chris- 
 tian faith. If these joys were allowed to be real, then 
 those who have no experience of them must, by their 
 own confession, discover that they themselves are des- 
 titute of true Christianity ; they must be compelled to 
 own how low their own religion is, which consists in 
 
 Duty :,f Man. 1 8 
 
* 
 4' 10 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 assenting to Scripture truths without feeling their 
 power 5 in a round of duties without spiritual life ; in 
 being honest, sober and harmless, without any more 
 delight in God than professed infidels experience. The 
 character, peace and security, therefore, of all nominal 
 christians are at stake, and they are concerned for their 
 own sakes to cry down that joy as enthusiastic, to 
 which they are themselves strangers. Add to this that 
 " the spirit that lusteth in us to envy," cannot allow 
 others to receive tokens of the favorable laving-kind 
 ness of God, of which we do not partake ourselves. 
 
 From these causes, enforced perhaps by a few in 
 stances of real delusion, we may fairly account for the 
 general prejudice against one of the noblest privileges 
 of a christian, delight and joy in God. 
 
 In vindication, therefore, of this privilege, I shall 
 prove it reasonable to conclude that real christians may 
 experience, from the sources of joy already mentioned, 
 peculiar happiness j and that it is certain they in fact do. 
 
 1. First then, It is most reasonable to conclude that 
 real christians may experience peculiar happiness, be- 
 cause the infinitely glorious God always proposes him- 
 self, in his own blessed word, to our conceptions, under 
 the character of a Father to the faithful in Christ, in a 
 sense to which none besides themselves can lay claim. 
 It would be endless to cite all the passages which assert 
 this important distinction. The Redeemer, in the plain- 
 est manner possible, distinguishes all believers, to the 
 end of time, from the rest of mankind : •' For whoso- 
 ever," says he, " shall do the will of my Father which 
 is in heaven," — that is, in believing reverential regard to 
 me, — " the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. " 
 And when he was going into heaven he said unto the 
 representatives of the whole body of believers, " I as- 
 cend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God 
 and yomr God." The apostle makes the very same dis- 
 
CHRISTIAN JOY. 411 
 
 tinction, and exhorts those who were wavering whether 
 they should separate and come out from the world or 
 not, to shun all conformity to the ungodly from this 
 very motive, that then God would w receive them and 
 be a Father unto them, that they should be his sons and 
 daughters." 2 Cor. 6: 17, 18. 
 
 As the great God then stands in this relation of a Fa 
 ther peculiarly to true believers, we may assuredly con- 
 clude from thence, notwithstanding the distance between 
 him and us, that his affection towards these his children 
 far surpasses the love of earthly parents towards their 
 own offspring. But where is the parent worthy of that 
 tender name, who does not manifest his delight in all his 
 dutiful children — who does not make their state of sub- 
 jection a pleasure to them by numerous tokens of pa 
 rental love 1 Is it not reasonable then to conclude that 
 the eternal Father may make as sensible a difference 
 between believers and hypocrites, as we do between our 
 duteous children, who deserve and want encouragement 
 from us, and stubborn ones who must be kept under a 
 frown 1— that he should manifest himself to the one as 
 he doth not to the other 1 — that, to use his own words, 
 "his secret should be with them that fear him, and that 
 he should show them his covenant," whilst others re- 
 main in a state of distance from him 1 — whilst utter 
 strangers to spiritual light, they are left to grovel in the 
 pleasures of sin and the things of time, which they are 
 base enough to prefer to God, and to the riches of his 
 grace 1 Certainly this is a most rational conclusion; es 
 pecially when it is considered that believers are declar 
 ed through the whole Bible to be the delight ar d the 
 treasure of God. 
 
 Nor is this to be objected against, as implying on the 
 one hand too great a humiliation in the God of glory, or 
 on the other, making men of too great importance with 
 him; because this Scripture account of the connection 
 
412 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 between God and believers necessarily supposes such 
 condescension and regard to be paid to them. He there- 
 fore, who, upon either of these presumptions, is ready 
 to deride the peculiar joy of believers, despiseth not 
 man, but his adorable Creator, who expressly says of 
 the faithful, M I will dwell in them, and walk in them ; 
 and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." 
 2 Cor. 6 : 16. 
 
 2. Further; The reasonableness of supposing that be- 
 lievers may experience peculiar delight, will appear 
 more evident, from considering in what manner a tender 
 father treats his children, who from their relation to him 
 are exposed to the persecution of his foes. Here all the 
 fire of parental love blazes out; here it is the parent's 
 highest gratification to caress his suffering children with 
 all possible demonstrations of his delight in them. If we 
 then, to use our Lord's inference, being evil, know how 
 in such cases to reward, by an overflowing of affection, 
 our children ; how much more shall our heavenly Father 
 in some better manner give tokens of his delight in them 
 who are sufferers through zeal to his truth, and love to 
 his name 1 But who can be a christian, according to the 
 Scripture definition of that character, and not suffer for 
 it, whilst the world lieth in wickedness % Who can ab- 
 stain from all profaneness and carelessness, without 
 meeting immediately with much to exercise his patience, 
 to try his courage, and to prove his christian fidelity! 
 What young person especially, (and a very great part of 
 the servants of God devote themselves to him in the 
 days of their youth,) what young person, I say, shall dare 
 to be more godly than those about him choose to be 
 themselves, without experiencing a persecution, which, 
 though domestic and little observed, is very grievous to 
 flesh and blood to bear 1 In such cases does not sound 
 reason justify the Scripture assertion, and teach us to 
 conclude, that God will afford some immediate counter- 
 
CHRISTIAN JOY. 413 
 
 balance to what is inflicted upon these confessors of his 
 name and truth 1 that he will enlighten the eyes of their 
 understanding to !' know what is the hope of their call- 
 ing, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance 
 in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his 
 power towards them that believe," to save and defend 
 them 1 Where is the enthusiasm of supposing that in 
 such cases this Scripture is fulfilled to the joy of every 
 believer's heart \ n how great is thy goodness," 
 God, "which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; 
 which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee be 
 fore the sons of men! Thou shalt hide them in the se- 
 cret of thy presence from the pride of man : thou shah 
 keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of 
 tongues." Psalm 31 : 19, 20. In this passage the Al- 
 mighty is represented as giving his faithful people such 
 a. lively sense of his favorable presence with them as 
 shall keep them from growing weary of his service, and 
 from repenting of their boldness for his truth : for by the 
 secret communication of his grace and comfort to them, 
 they shall pass their time as in a pavilion or tent, a 
 place made on purpose for delight, though the strife of 
 opposing or reviling tongues be heard around them. 
 
 Which position, then, is most reasonable and conso 
 nant to the Scripture character of God, — to assert that 
 he does, or that he does not in this manner care for 
 hose that love him 1 And if it be allowed that he exer- 
 cises all the favor promised to them in the Bible, it may 
 be asked, Which is the absurd position, to affirm that 
 they may, or to be peremptory that they do not enjoy, 
 in the midst of their self-denied obedience, such delight 
 as others know not of, and which is far better than all 
 the joys of the world ! 
 
 3. It is most reasonable also to conclude, that believ- 
 ers in Christ Jesus may experience very peculiar de- 
 Zight, because they seek their joy from God alone. The 
 
414> COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 acquisition of riches will not satisfy them, nor the en- 
 joyment of health, or honor, or long life. M Lord," they 
 cry, " who is like unto thee 1 Lift thou up the light of 
 thy countenance upon us ; this will put more joy into 
 our hearts than the increase of corn and wine." What 
 then is there savoring of enthusiasm in supposing that 
 God, who both deserves such supreme love, and strictly 
 requires it, should answer those, who thus give unto 
 him the honor due unto his name, according to the de- 
 sires of their hearts 1 — what more reasonable, than to 
 conclude that all those who are so divinely changed as 
 to prefer infinitely the delight of communion with God, 
 to every thing earthly and sensual, should each of them 
 have immediate cause to say, " The word of our God 
 is true ; he hath done unto me according to the decla- 
 ration of his grace, in which he caused me to put ray- 
 trust!" " I love them," saith the Lord, " that love me, 
 and they that seek me early (earnestly) shall find me. 
 Riches and honor are with me, yea, durable riches and 
 righteousness ; that I may cause those who love me to 
 inherit substance, and I will fill their treasures." Prov. 
 S: 17, 18, 21. 
 
 4. Again : It is highly reasonable to conclude that 
 real christians may enjoy peculiar happiness in this life, 
 because shortly their eternal state will be so immensely 
 different from that of the careless and ungodly. The 
 latter, alas ! hardened even unto death, then meet with a 
 full reward for their deeds in the frown of an angry God, 
 and in the feelings of a conscience that can know no 
 rest. The former are no sooner absent from the body 
 than we are assured they shall be present with the Lord. 
 
 I would ask then, Is it not most reasonable to suppose 
 that some kind of anticipation of this bliss is enjoyed 
 before the fulness of it is revealed to their transported 
 souls 1 — that those blessed heirs of salvation who are 
 soon to inherit the promises, should have a delightful 
 
CHRISTIAN JOY. 4> 15 
 
 acquaintance with their meaning and appropriation be- 
 forehand, and some degree of joy in their God, the 
 same in kind with what is reserved for them in heaven 1 
 that those, whom the King of kings will confess before 
 men and angels, and reward with everlasting honors, 
 should in their own consciences rejoice in the hope of 
 glory, and, as the Scripture affirms, should be 5 sealed " 
 of God, and have the earnest of the Spirit in their 
 hearts'? Is not this much more reasonable than the 
 supposition, that those who are very soon to be as 
 widely distant from each other as heaven from hell, 
 should be at present alike destitute of any sensible en- 
 joyment of the divine favor 1 — that both should be left 
 to go on till the day of death and final separation ; the 
 one no more than the other experiencing the comfort 
 of God's Spirit, the light of his countenance, and the 
 joy of his salvation 1 Certainly there can be no greater 
 absurdity than to imagine this. 
 
 What has been said may suffice to prove, that it is not 
 in the least degree enthusiastic to conclude that the 
 faithful in Christ Jesus may have peculiar gratifications 
 of their own ; and it may convince us that the experience 
 of these delights, too often exploded as delusive, will 
 appear, upon closer examination, to be perfectly rational. 
 
 5. But it is not merely upon its reasonableness that 
 we rest the belief of a christian's enjoying superior 
 delights : the Scripture, our only unerring guide, has 
 taught us to expect it : it has been foretold by the pro- 
 phets and promised by the Redeemer. By the prophets 
 it is foretold with as much clearness, and in as strong 
 terms, as either the holiness of christians or the glory 
 of their Redeemer. Thus in Psalm 89 : 15, 16, 17, the 
 whole body of believers is in this manner characterized: 
 " Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound ; they 
 shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. In 
 thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy 
 
416 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 righteousness shall they be exalted: for thou art the 
 glory of their strength, and in thy favor our horn shall 
 be exalted. For the Lord is our defence, and the Holy 
 One of Israel is our King." In what stronger colors 
 than these could any person, whose life was one con- 
 tinued scene of enjoyment, be represented'? For what 
 first strikes the eye as the principal feature in this 
 painting, is the peculiar delight of believers in Christ j 
 delight arising merely from their knowledge and clear 
 understanding of the everlasting Gospel, called in this 
 passage, M The joyful sound." 
 
 Full of the same spirit of inspiration, Isaiah describes 
 the christian church as rejoicing before God " accord- 
 ing to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they 
 divide the spoil :" and the cause of their exultation is, 
 that "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: 
 and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, 
 The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince 
 of Peace." Isaiah, 9 : 6. In another part of his writings 
 christian believers are represented under the image of 
 persons brought by the Lord of hosts to a festivity 
 where pleasures are crowded to give entertainment to 
 each of the senses ; where every thing that can regale, 
 gratify and exhilarate, is poured forth in the greatest 
 abundance. Isaiah, 25 : 6. In other passages they are 
 spoken of as returning to Sion " with songs and ever- 
 lasting joy upon their heads :" — "as going out with joy, 
 and led forth with peace." Isa. 35 : 10 ; 55 : 12. Every 
 one of these passages, and many more that might be 
 produced, relate wholly to the joyful frame of mind 
 with which the church of Christ was to receive his 
 Gospel. But what likeness doth the picture bear to the 
 persons for whom it was drawn, unless believers enjoy 
 much spiritual delight ] Between mere nominal chris- 
 tians, who are made no happier by their faith, and true 
 i bristians thus represented by the prophets, there is no 
 
CHRISTIAN JOY. 417 
 
 resemblance. Yet surely we cannot but observe, that 
 so positive is the prophetic description that such shall 
 be the enjoyment of Christ's faithful people, that the 
 veracity of God stands engaged to make good the de- 
 lightful prediction. Unless therefore, with the Saddu- 
 cees, we deny the authority of the prophetic books, we 
 must allow that christians certainly possess incom- 
 parable joys. 
 
 Further, What the prophets foretold with one voice, 
 the Redeemer himself has confirmed by his own express 
 declarations and promises. On account of the blessings 
 which his Gospel, as soon as it is truly believed, puts a 
 man in possession of, and the joy with which it inspires 
 and fills his soul, he says, *' The kingdom of heaven is 
 like unto a treasure hid in a field : the which when a 
 man hath found he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth 
 and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." 
 Matt. 13 : 44. We know how the news of an estate un- 
 expectedly bequeathed to us elevates the heart : in the 
 very same manner Christ in this passage declares, that 
 a clear view of the glory of the Gospel affects the be- 
 liever. In another place he represents the immediate 
 effect of believing in his name to be such an abundant 
 satisfaction to the soul, as to extinguish its restless ap- 
 petite for the things of the world, and to cause fresh 
 supports and consolations to spring up to an overflow 
 ing fulness, till all the believer's wants are entirely re- 
 moved, and all his desires completely satisfied in the 
 enjoyment of eternal life : " Whosoever drinketh of the 
 water that I shall give him shall never thirst ; but the 
 water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of 
 water springing up into everlasting life." John, 4 : 14. 
 "He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said 
 out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But 
 this spake Jesus of the Spirit, which they that believe 
 on him should receive." John, 7 : 38, 39. 
 IS* 
 
4fl8 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 In what more express terms, by what more lively- 
 images could the possession of peace and joy by his true 
 disciples be asserted] And this is not confined to the 
 more eminent followers of the Lamb, but is the common 
 privilege of every one who drinketh of the water which 
 Christ giveth, of every one that believeth on his name 
 What the woman of Samaria thus heard in private at one 
 time from the mouth of Jesus, and the vast concourse 
 of Jewish people at another, of the happiness of believ- 
 ing on his name, under the figure of a fountain, and ri- 
 vers of living waters, he plainly and literally affirms to 
 nis apostles in his affectionate and parting conversation 
 with them. "He that hath my commandments," — who 
 understands, receives and embraces them all, " and keep- 
 eth them," — not only extols, but will not violate them, 
 whatever loss or suffering they may expose him to ; 
 " he it is that loveth me : and he that loveth me shall 
 be loved of my Father, and I will love him and manifest 
 myself to him :" he shall not only be the object of my 
 delight and of my affections, but live under the sensible 
 manifestations of my glory, faithfulness and grace. One 
 of his disciples, clearly understanding the Redeemer to 
 mean some inestimable favor which was to be enjoyed 
 by them, and not by the world, asks him, " How is it 
 that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the 
 world % Jesus answered and said unto him, If any man 
 love me he will keep my words, and my Father will love 
 him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode 
 with him ;" not leaving him, as one friend does another, 
 after a transient visit, sorrowing the more for his ab- 
 sence, but as a fixed inhabitant, whose presence shall be 
 experienced in light and strength, comfort and joy. Lest 
 this evidence should not be sufficient to overcome the 
 unbelief of the human heart, with respect to the enjoy- 
 ment of such spiritual delight in the service of Christ, 
 he says again, " Peace I leave with you, my peace," such 
 
CHRISTIAN JOY. 419 
 
 as I myself enjoy, as well as bestow, '* I give unto you." 
 And lest it should be thought his followers in distant 
 ages of the world were not so much interested in these 
 promises as his immediate disciples, he comprehends 
 the apostles, and all that should ever believe in him 
 through their word, in one and the same all-prevailing 
 prayer, which concludes with these words, equally ap- 
 plicable to his whole church, which shall be saved, 
 " That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be 
 in them, and I in them." John, 17 : 26. 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 CmHSTI^lJV J OF- continued. 
 
 ITS CERTAINTY AND BENEFITS. 
 
 It is of so much importance to give a just impression 
 of the happiness of the service of our Redeemer, that 
 we have been very full in explaining the sources from 
 which it arises, and the reasonableness of expecting it ; 
 but however reasonable it may be that christians should 
 expect it, still it will be inquired, whether, in point of 
 fact, they do enjoy it. This inquiry 1 shall now answer 
 
 And here let me first refer you to the example of the 
 primitive christians. Immediately after that great con- 
 version on the day of Pentecost, their behavior is de- 
 scribed in several particulars, and their state of mind, 
 which indeed showed itself in their actions, is suffi- 
 ciently signified by two words, lf gladness " or exultation, 
 and " singleness " of heart. In the same book of the 
 
420 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 Acts, after Philip's preaching in the city of Samaria is 
 mentioned, it is remarked, " There was great joy in that 
 city." When the jailor who had St. Paul in custody, 
 had heard him once speak the word of the Lord j be- 
 sides his actions, which plainly implied great alacrity of 
 heart, it is expressly added in the close, that "he rejoic* 
 ed." The same account is given of the Ethiopian eunuch. 
 As soon as Philip had preached Jesus unto him, he was 
 baptized ; and though his heaven-appointed guide was 
 snatched from him, yet the doctrine taking place in his 
 heart, " he went on his way," it is not said reasoning, 
 or deeply meditating only, but " rejoicing." Indeed we 
 have reason to think that all who heard the Gospel to 
 any good purpose, heard it with the same sentiments 
 of joy. They acted at first like persons quite amazed 
 and surprised with the grace of God. Before habit or 
 improvement could have had time, as yet, to manifest 
 themselves, they were raised by the pure joy of the Gos- 
 pel above this world, and ready in its defence to em- 
 brace the martyr's stake. Now if, when the Gospel was 
 first published, the genuine effect of it in every place 
 was gladness of heart, you must either affirm that the 
 christians who lived at the first promulgation of the Gos- 
 pel, were of a quite different species from those who now 
 sincerely profess the same faith, or you must grant it to 
 be a certain fact, that all real christians " rejoice in the 
 Lord, and joy in the God of their salvation." 
 
 To evade this conclusion, it has been urged, that the 
 persecutions which took place in the first ages of Chris- 
 tianity called for such manifestations of God's love ; but 
 that now they are no longer needed, and therefore not to 
 be expected. As this assertion is become very general, 
 and its influence extremely pernicious, it shall receive 
 a full refutation. 
 
 Adopt, then, this false notion, and Scripture itself must 
 lose its chief value. For we may say with as much rea* 
 
CHRISTIAN JOY. 421 
 
 son of the whole, as of those passages which have been 
 urged above, that they were delivered to particular per- 
 sons on particular occasions. Wherefore, if Scripture 
 belongs to those to whom it was first addressed, in a 
 sense in which it belongs not to the church in every 
 age, then the Bible, instead of being a system of eternal 
 truth, and an invariable rule of life, equally obligatory 
 on all christians, will dwindle into an antiquated, obso- 
 lete book. It will absolutely require a discrimination 
 to be settled between the Scripture designed for the 
 comfort and joy of the first believers in Christ, and that 
 which those who live in after ages may claim : just as 
 some papists divide the practical part of the New Tes- 
 tament into absolute' commands, which belong to all, 
 and counsels of perfection given only to a few. 
 
 Besides, this notion is contrary to Scripture. St. John 
 declares, the end for which he labored to establish Chris- 
 tianity, was not merely the belief of the miracles, death 
 and resurrection of Christ, but " that ye," saith he, 
 " might have fellowship with us," i. e. an equal share 
 in all the high privileges, holy influences and divine 
 consolations which belong to that one body, the church 
 of which Christ himself, full of power and glory, is the 
 head. But we flatly contradict the apostle, when we 
 affirm that there is a difference in point of spiritual pri- 
 vileges between even the chosen twelve, and those who 
 have obtained like precious faith with them to the end 
 of time. 
 
 But the absurdity of this popular notion is no less 
 gross than its contradiction to Scripture. For, have not 
 all christians one faith 1 The truth that saves them, is 
 it not invariably the same 1 Have they not one Spirit 
 to teach this truth to the mind, and make it effectual 1 
 Is not the practice of duty in the same extent required! 
 the same sacrifice of worldly interests ] the cutting off 
 the right hand, and plucking out the right eye 1 And is 
 
4*22 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 not one heaven the everlasting habitation of all true 
 christians % As there is a perfect parity, then, in all these 
 most interesting points, what reason can there be to 
 suppose that there should arise such a vast dispropor- 
 tion in the matter of present joy and delight, from the 
 influence of the same truth, the same hope, and the 
 same Spirit 1 Especially, since the word of God informs 
 us, that all who are ever disposed to embrace the hea- 
 venly Physician must first feel the sickness of their 
 souls, and their danger of eternal death; that all who 
 will be saved, must be first weary and heavy-laden with 
 the burden of their guilt. This conviction annihilates, 
 as it were, all the distance of time, and all difference 
 of external circumstances between the contemporaries 
 with Christ and his apostles, and succeeding believers, 
 to the end of the world : because without this conviction 
 of sin, though Paul were preaching, or Jesus himself 
 working miracles before our eyes, his salvation must be 
 rejected; and with it, the record God has given of his 
 Son becomes precious, he is altogether lovely and full 
 of glory. 
 
 But besides the united testimony of prophets, apos- 
 tles, and the Savior himself, in proof that real believers 
 in his name do actually enjoy peculiar delight in his 
 service, there is the evidence of daily fact. For how can 
 we otherwise account for the total alteration both of 
 choice and conduct in some persons of all ranks, and 
 of all ages, and of all tempers, as soon as they really 
 behold the glory of the Gospel 1 All these are unani- 
 mous in avowing that they never knew what true hap- 
 piness meant before they believed. Whatever they 
 found formerly from the pleasures of sin, they confess 
 has been rendered comparatively worthless in their 
 view by their spiritual joy. Hence, long after the ter- 
 rors of the Lord have ceased to awaken their fears, 
 they keep at a distance from sin and vanity, from per- 
 
CHRISTIAN JOY. 423 
 
 sons, things, and amusements on which they once 
 doted, in order to enjoy more of what now makes them 
 happy. Nor can this be owing to notions put into their 
 heads, or to the force of imagination exciting fantastic 
 joy, because great numbers have had no idea that there 
 was any such thing as delight in God, till it sprung up 
 in their own hearts, at once the object of their surprise 
 and the cause of their preference of the service of the 
 Lord to all other things. Add to this that many who, 
 notwithstanding their meek and prudent deportment, 
 fall under the displeasure of their relatives for their 
 godliness, and are treated with hardship on that ac- 
 count, are still far from desiring to make their peace 
 at the expense of becoming gay, foolish and careless, 
 as they once were. They can find a sweetness in se- 
 cret prayer, reading and meditation, which is better to 
 them than all their former idle mirth and loud laughter, 
 with the friendship and good countenance of the family 
 to reward it. 
 
 If it be asked, Who knows such instances % I answer, 
 the history of the church attests that there have been 
 such in all ages. The most serious and godly part of 
 the christian world at this very day, young as well as 
 old, are all witnesses of this truth ; whilst on account 
 of the better pleasure they are acquainted with, and not 
 from any cynical humor, they have lost their taste for 
 the trash and folly in which they themselves had once as 
 *nuch joy as others. Unless, therefore, we will shut our 
 ^ars against the plain voice of Scripture, and our eyes 
 against what is daily to be seen, we must confess that 
 the persons who enjoy the best pleasures upon earth, 
 are those who receive and obey the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Now as believers do in fact enjoy such delight, who 
 can but observe the grace and kindness of their Re- 
 deemer in ordering that it should be so I Were men 
 born with a different constitution, or placed in a situa- 
 
424 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 tion more favorable to obedience, it might secure then 
 fidelity plainly to mark out the line of duty, and to en 
 force the observance of it with rewards too great U 
 be brought into comparison with any pleasure or gain 
 arising from transgression. But when we consider out 
 nature, what is so visible as that we are all greedy of 
 present gratification'? — and that our inclinations from 
 our very birth impetuously hurry us on to take pleasure 
 in things which are forbidden of God] Look upon the 
 youth of each sex, how continually are they prompted 
 from within, how powerfully solicited from without, to 
 forsake the path of duty from the very first moment 
 they enter on the stage of the world ! how fatally in- 
 clined to prefer every entertainment of folly and sin to 
 the most beneficial employment of their time ; and with 
 strong disgust to hear of God's authority, which would 
 interfere with their favorite pleasures ! The female sex, 
 though in youth more restrained from gross vice, place 
 their delight in indulging vanity, in obtaining distinc- 
 tion for elegance of form, gaudy attire or a splendid 
 appearance : pleased to walk with " stretched forth 
 necks and wanton eyes," fond above measure of levity 
 and dissipation, and of course equally averse to the 
 rule of duty. In the next stage of life, though the ob 
 jects of gratification somewhat vary, still the inordinate 
 affection towards them is as vehement as ever; stil? 
 ambition, luxury or the pride of life are cherished and 
 indulged, as the chief means of happiness. 
 
 Such is our natural disposition : unwilling to ex- 
 change sensual gratifications and earthly pursuits for 
 the claims of the Gospel, however rich and glorious 
 may be its future reward. Alas ! this reward is only to 
 be received through the hands of death, which all men 
 naturally choose to put at a distance from them. Make 
 now, on the contrary, the proposal with which the Re- 
 deemer invites us into his service ; prove that " there 
 
CHRISTIAN JOY. 425 
 
 is no man that hath left houses, or brethren, or sister, 
 or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for 
 his sake and the Gospel's, but (in a spiritual sense, 
 through the consolations of God with him, and the fa- 
 vor of his peculiar providence) he shall receive an hun- 
 dred fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and 
 sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with per- 
 secution, and in the world to come eternal life." Mark, 
 10 : 29, 30. Here is presented a gracious and abundant 
 reward for any sacrifice made in obedience and love to 
 Christ. Here is not mere authority to overawe us, as it 
 were, into obedience ; but such spiritual delight ar 
 makes us entirely approve of our choice, and freely 
 confess, to the glory of God, that we were utterly blind 
 for not embracing it before. 
 
 And as this present spiritual joy becomes an en- 
 couragement to believers to engage in the service of 
 Christ, so is it likewise to discharge the duties required 
 at their hands. For to them are the commands ad- 
 dressed, " In every thing give thanks ; — rejoice in the 
 Lord evermore : be content with such things as ye 
 have : — be patient in tribulation." All these dispositions 
 of mind are but a just acknowledgment of the mercies 
 of redemption, and a proper gratitude for "the abun- 
 dance of the gift of grace and justification unto eternal 
 life." These dispositions can have their residence only 
 where the soul is elevated by the power of a divine 
 faith, and habituated to such views of the great salva- 
 tion of God as excite to thanksgiving : such views as 
 reduce sufferings, which to the eye of sense and reason 
 are most formidable, into light afflictions ; and self-de- 
 nials, which are to nature most grievous, into welcome 
 tests of the believer's sincerity towards God. Take 
 away all such' views, and it would be impossible to 
 have joy in God in time of trouble, and under every 
 cross befalling us to give thanks. But if we are indeed 
 
426 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 risen with Christ, if our life be hid with Christ in God, 
 if we already joy in him, and have this hope, that when 
 He who is our life shall appear, we shall appear also 
 with him in glory, this will give us the victory over our 
 natural fears, and contentment in our most trying cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 These evidences in proof of the reasonableness, cer« 
 tainty and benefits of the joy of believers, are sufficient 
 to satisfy all, I trust, who will submit to the authority 
 of Scripture, and to deductions clearly drawn from it. 
 I shall add therefore nothing more but a caution against 
 the wrong use of this doctrine, and an exhortation to all 
 persons, as they love their own happiness, to seek, in the 
 first place, the enjoyment of the blessings of the Gospel. 
 
 It must be remembered then, that the delight of 
 christians is various in its degree, according to men's 
 respective characters. The weak in faith enjoy but 
 little in comparison of the strong. Keproaches, pains 
 and pressures, which are almost too heavy for the one, 
 are borne by the other with alacrity. A small storm is 
 apt to affright the weak in faith, and make them dread 
 a shipwreck ; whilst the strong, by a more clear know- 
 ledge of God's word and will, and more experience of 
 his dealings, can trust without fear the care of their 
 heavenly Pilot, though the tempest rage, and neither 
 sun, nor moon, nor stars be visible for many days. 
 Some are apt soon to yield to discouraging thoughts, 
 if they be not speedily delivered from the perils and 
 alarms attendant on the spiritual combat ; whilst others, 
 like veteran soldiers, can follow the Captain of their sal- 
 vation, and endure hardships without fainting in their 
 minds. Some, who are but babes in Christ, ignorant of 
 the discipline of their heavenly Father's house, find it 
 difficult to believe that they are his children when they 
 feel the strength of their corruptions, or lose the sensi- 
 ble sweetness of communion with him ; whilst others, 
 

 CHRISTIAN JOY. 427 
 
 who understand the loving-kindness of the Lord, no 
 longer estimate their safety, or the favor of God to- 
 wards them, solely by their own present sense and feel- 
 ing. Some of very tender consciences and vehement 
 desires to be holy, are ready to despond upon the dis- 
 covery of the infirmities and defects which are found 
 in all real christians; whilst others of a sounder judg- 
 ment only sink, at the sight of them, deeper into humi- 
 lity, cleave still more steadfastly to the Lord their hope, 
 and so hold fast the confidence of their rejoicing. 
 
 In the same persons, also, at different times spiritual 
 delight must be different, varying both according to 
 their temptations, their faithfulness to God, their dili- 
 gence in holy duties, and the good pleasure of Him 
 from whose presence all consolation comes. Whilst 
 therefore it must be strenuously maintained as a noble 
 privilege of real christians, that they rejoice in the sal- 
 vation of God, still the precise degree as well as conti- 
 nuance of that joy must not be absolutely fixed and 
 made the test of all saving faith ; for then we shall 
 often make sad the hearts of the righteous, whom God 
 would not have made sad ; and beat down the weak, in 
 stead of strengthening and encouraging them. 
 
 Nevertheless, if persons making a profession of reli- 
 gion be habitually strangers to the delight so much 
 spoken of throughout the Bible, they have reason to 
 suspect the soundness of their faith; — abundant cause 
 there is indeed for a thorough examination whether 
 there is not some worldliness of temper, or some idol, 
 as money or forbidden pleasure, which robs God of the 
 supreme love he requires ; or whether they have not 
 mean thoughts of Christ's grace and power, but high 
 ones of their own obedience. This scrutiny is necessary, 
 and ought to be repeated, where no spiritual delight is 
 experienced ; because certainly the proper and abiding 
 state of believers is that of delight in God; his kingdom 
 
428 COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 within them is a kingdom of " righteousness and peace, 
 and joy in the Holy Ghost." 
 
 Since then the present advantages of true faith are so 
 great, who can have the lowest feelings of humanity, 
 and not breathe out to God the apostle's ardent prayer 
 that all who hear the sound of the Gospel this day 
 were "not almost, but altogether" christians! — O that 
 the tongues of men and angels were employed, and the 
 arm of the Lord revealed, to compel our fellow-sinners 
 to come in, that his house might be filled. 
 
 Ye young and gay, ye rich and noble, be no longer 
 prejudiced against the Gospel of Christ, as if it were too 
 strict a rule of duty for you to walk by, consistently with 
 happiness. Examine it more closely, and make a fair 
 trial of submission to it ; you will then find it an em- 
 bassy of peace and reconciliation from the God of love 
 to a world of rebels in arms against him ; an assemblage 
 of promises, privileges and delights, suitable to all your 
 wants, and adequate to your desires : designed to knit 
 your hearts unto him, that you may ever love his name • 
 of delights, which though not always the same, yet at 
 their lowest ebb are superior to every thing the world 
 can afford. 
 
 Cease for ever, ye deluded men, to indulge your love 
 of licentiousness and mirth, of wealth and honor, as if 
 you must be miserable or melancholy if deprived of 
 these sources of gratification. Hearken and be persuad- 
 ed ! The Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, 
 makes a marriage-supper for his Son ; that Son says, 
 respecting such as you, "I stand at the door ar*d knock; 
 if any man open, I will come in to him, and will sup with 
 him, and he with me ;" — that is, we will dwell *ogethei 
 on terms of the most intimate friendship and affection, 
 and cheerfully feast together in token of reciprocal love 
 Consider this as you ought. I urge not upon you what 
 must be your future doom, if you will not receive Him 
 
CHRISTIAN JOY. 429 
 
 that thus speaketh from heaven: I dwell not on that tre- 
 mendous hour that will come, too soon alas! when all 
 your polluted sources of joy will be terribly transformed 
 into your everlasting tormentors: I do not attempt to 
 lay open the horrors of that Tophet, tf which is deep 
 and large, the pile thereof is fire and much wood, and 
 the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth 
 kindle it ;" but I beseech you by the consolations that 
 are in Christ, by the comforts of love, by the fellowship 
 of the Holy Ghost, call upon God, that you may lay 
 aside all wickedness and superfluity of naughtiness ; that 
 these inestimable blessings may immediately be your 
 portion, and have place in your hearts. Deal not so 
 madly any longer as to prefer licentious indulgence, or 
 the cup of intemperance, to that fountain of joy which 
 makes glad the whole church of God in heaven and 
 earth: — a state of pagan ignorance and estrangement 
 from God, to the light of life shining in your souls; — or 
 the love of the world, and the things of the world, to 
 the pledge and earnest of everlasting glory. Consider 
 what a cloud of witnesses are ready to appear against 
 you, to confront and confound you ; they felt so much 
 immediate delight in the Lord Jesus, as to be glad to 
 renounce every comfort of life for his sake, to take joy- 
 fully the spoiling of their goods, and to meet death in 
 its most hideous forms. The very same Jesus, not more 
 impaired in his excellency or love by length of days, 
 than the sun in its brightness, offers himself to you in 
 the Gospel. And will you be such despicable dupes to 
 your passions and to the errors of the world as to be 
 afraid of coming into full subjection to Christ, lest you 
 should be sufferers in point of present happiness 1 — Suf- 
 ferers! impossible! for all you are required to give up is 
 sordid vice, and the very prostitution of your souls to 
 Satan ! Be assured, of all the gross falsehoods he ever 
 makes men credulous enough to receive, this is the 
 
430 COMILETE DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 greatest, to imagine any joy equal to that of knowing 
 and loving Christ. 
 
 Finally, receive instruction, ye decent, self-justifying 
 professors of religion. Go no more about miserably to 
 glean some grains of satisfaction from a good 'opinion 
 of yourselves, nor labor to walk in the sparks of comfort 
 which can be kindled from the works which you perforin, 
 and the principles from which they proceed. No longer 
 tread the tiresome round of duties as a penance enjoin* 
 ed of God to escape damnation, and to gain his favor 
 Uncomfortable, senseless service ! To such serious, but 
 grievously mistaken souls, God thus speaks in his 
 word: ""Wherefore do ye spend money for that which 
 is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not 1 
 Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is 
 good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness ; for I 
 will give you the sure mercies of David," that is, Christ. 
 " Behold I have given him for a witness " (of my free 
 grace and love) " to the people, a leader and command 
 er to the people." Make him the Alpha and the Omega, 
 the first and the last, the beginning and the end of all 
 your religion, and great will be your peace. You shall 
 delight yourself in the Lord, and he shall give you your 
 heart's desire : then shall you have cause to say, with all 
 that are called to be one body in Christ, what Moses in 
 triumph spoke of the church of God in old time : " What 
 nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, 
 as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon 
 him fori Happy art thou, O Israel; who is like unto 
 thee, people, saved by the Lord 1" 
 
 THE END. 
 
 
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