all his parts, and the utmost of his diligence to manage it skilfully. I add therefore, that whereas in my younger days I was never tempted to doubt the truth of the Scripture, but all my fear was exercised at home, about my own sincerity, and this was it which I called unbelief; since that time my worst assaults have been on the other side; and such they were, that had I been void of inward experience, and had I not discerned more reason for my religion than I did before, I had certainly apostatised to infidelity. I am now, therefore, much more apprehensive of the necessity of well grounding men in their religion, and especially of the witness of the in-dwelling Spirit; for I more sensibly perceive that the Spirit is the great witness of Christ in the world. And though the folly of fanatics tempted me long to overlook the strength of this testimony of the Spirit, while they placed it in a certain internal assertion, or enthusiastic inspiration, yet I now see that the Holy Ghost in another manner is the witness of Christ, and his agent in the world. The Spirit, by the sanctification and consolation assimilating the soul to Christ, is the continued witness to all true believers. There is many a one that hideth his temptations to infidelity, because he thinketh it a shame to open them, and because it may create doubts in others; but I fear the imperfection of most men's care of their salvation, and of their diligence in a holy life, comes from the imperfection of their belief in a life to come. For my part I must confess, that when my belief of things eternal is most clear, all goeth accordingly in my soul; and all temptations to sinful compliances with the world and flesh signify worse to me than an invitation to the stocks or Bedlam: and no petition seems more necessary to me than, "Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief." abundance of scholastic superstructures, and at last will find cause to study more soundly their religion itself, as well as I have done. The better causes are these: 1. I value all things according to their use and end; and I find by my daily experience, that the knowledge of God, and Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and of a holy life, is of more use than all speculation. 2. I know that every man must grow (as trees) downwards and upwards at once; and that the roots increase as the trunk and branches do. 3. Being the nearer eternity, I the more regard those things which my everlasting life or death depends on. 4. Having most to do with ignorant, miserable people, I am commanded, by my charity and reason, to treat with them of that which their salvation lieth on, and not to dispute with them of niceties, when the question is presently to be determined, whether they shall dwell for ever in heaven or in hell. In a word, my meditations must be upon the matters of my interest; and as the seeking after eternal life is the matter of my interest, so must it be of my meditation. That is the best study which makes men better, and tends to make them happy. I abhor the folly of those unlearned persons, who revile learning because they know not what it is; and I take not any piece of true learning to be useless; and yet my soul approves the resolution of St. Paul, who determined to know nothing among his bearers (that is, comparatively to value and exhibit no other wisdom) but Christ crucified. I would persuade my reader to live upon the essential doctrines of Christianity; and that he may know that my testimony is somewhat regardable, I presume to say, that in this I gainsay my natural inclination to subtilty; and I think that if he lived among infidels, he would find that to make good the doctrine of faith and life eternal, were not only his most useful study, but also that which would require the exercise of In my younger years my trouble for sin was most about my actual comfort to be much in heaven in our thoughts, but that it must animate all other duties, and fortify us against all temptations, and that a man is no more a Christian than he is heavenly. I was once wont to meditate most on my own heart, and look little higher; but now, though I I am greatly convinced of the necessity of heart-acquaintance, yet I see more need of a higher work, and that I should look oftener upon Christ and heaven, than upon my own heart. At home I find distempers to trouble me, and some evidences of my peace: but it is above I must find matter of delight. I would, therefore, have one thought upon myself, and many on beatifying objects. Formerly, I knew much less than now; and yet was not half so much acquainted with my ignorance. I had great delight in the daily new discoveries which I made, but I knew little either how imperfectly I understood those very points, whose discovery so much delighted me, nor how much might be said against them, nor to how many things I was yet a stranger. But now I find far greater darkness upon all things; and perceive how very little it is that we know in comparison of that which we know not; and I have far meaner thoughts of my own understanding; though. I must needs know that it is better furnished than it was then. Accordingly, I had once a higher opinion of learned persons and books than I have now; and what I wanted myself, I thought every reverend divine had attained, and was familiarly acquainted with; and what books I understood not by reason of the strangeness of the terms or matter, I the more admired, and thought that others understood their worth. But experience has constrained me against my will to know, that learned men are imperfect, and know but little as well as I; especially those that think themselves the wisest. And the more I am acquainted with them, the more I perceive that we are all yet in the failings in thought, word, and action; except hardness of heart, of which more hereafter. But now I am much more troubled for inward defects, and omission or want of the vital duties or graces in the soul. My daily trouble is so much for my ignorance of God, want of love to him, and strangeness to the life to come, and for want of greater willingness to die, and longing to be in heaven, that I take not some immoralities, though very great, to be in themselves so great and odious sius, if they could be found separate from these. Had I all the world, how gladly would I give it for a fuller knowledge and belief and love of God. Once I placed much of my religion in tenderness of heart, and sorrow for sin, and less of it in the study of the love of God, and in his praises, than I now do. I was little sensible of the greatness and excellency of love and praise, though I coldly spake the same words in its commendation which I now do. And now I am less troubled for want of grief and tears, (though I more value humility, and refuse not needful humiliation :) but my conscience now looketh at love of and delight in God, and praising him, as the height of my religious duties, for which it is that I value and use the rest. My judgment is more for frequent and serious meditation on the heavenly state than it was once. I then thought that a sermon on the attributes of God and the joys above was not the most excellent; and used to say, every body knows that God is great, and heaven a blessed place; I had rather hear how I may attain it. And nothing pleased me so well as the doctrine of regeneration, and the marks of sincerity; which indeed was suitable to me in that state; but now I had rather meditate, hear, and read, on God and heaven, than on any other subject. For I perceive that it is the object that alters and elevates the mind, which will be as that is on which it habitually feeds; and that it is not only to our dark; and the more I am acquainted with holy men, that are all for heaven, and pretend not to subtilties, the more I value and honour them. And when I have studied hard to understand some abstruse book, I have but attained the knowledge of human imperfection, and to see that the author is but a man as well as I. At first I took more upon my author's credit, than now I can do; and when an author was highly commended to me by others, or pleased me in some part, I was ready to entertain the whole; whereas now I take and leave in the same author, and dissent from him whom I like best, as well as from others. At first I much inclined to go with the highest in controversy, on one side or other; but now I can so easily see what to say against both extremes, that I am far more disposed to reconciling principles. And whereas I once thought conciliators were but ignorant men, that were willing to please all, and would pretend to reconcile the world by principles which they themselves understood not, I have since perceived that even if the loveliness of peace had no hand in the business, yet greater light and judgment usually is with the reconciler, than with either of the contending parties; though I know that moderation may be a pretext of error. I now see more good, and more evil, in all men, than I once did. I see that good men are not so good, as I formerly thought they were, but have more imperfections, and that nearer approach and fuller trial make the best appear more weak and faulty, than their admirers at a distance think. And I find that few are so bad, as either their malicious enemies, or censorious separating professors, imagine. In some I find that human nature is corrupted into a greater likeness to devils, than I thought once any on earth had been. But even in the wicked, there is usually more for grace to make advantage of, and more to testify for God, than once I believed there had been. I less admire gifts prehensive than ever of the great need of ecclesiastical discipline, and what a sin it is to make no distinction but by bare names and sacraments; and what a great dishonour it is to Christ, when the church shall be as vicious as the assemblies of pagans, and shall only differ from them in ceremony and name. I am more sensible of the evil of schism, and of a separating humour; for the effects have shewn us more of the mischiefs. I am far more sensible how prone many young professors are to spiritual pride, self-conceit, and unruliness; and so proving the grief of their teachers, and firebrands in the church and how much of a minister's work lieth in preventing this, and humbling and confirming such young unexperienced professors, and keeping them in order in their religious progress. Yet am I more sensible of the sin of using men cruelly in matters of religion. Such as are guilty of this know not their own infirmity, nor the nature of pastoral government, which ought to be paternal, and by love. My soul is much more afflicted with the thoughts of this miserable world, and more drawn out in a desire for its conversion, than heretofore. I was wont to look little farther than England in my prayers; but now I better understand the case of mankind, and the method of the Lord's Prayer. No part of my prayers is so deeply serious as that for the conversion of the infidel and ungodly world. Yet am I not so much inclined to pass a peremptory sentence of damnation upon all that never heard of Christ; having more reason than I knew of before, to think that God's dealing with such is much unknown to us; and that the ungodly here among us Christians are in far worse case than they. My censures of the papists much differ from what they were at first. I then thought that their errors in doctrine were their most dangerous mistakes. But I am now assured that their misexpressions and misunderstanding us, with our mistaking of them, and inconveniently stating our own opinions, hath made the differences in controversial points to seem much greater than they are; and that in some it is next to none at all. But the great and irreconcileable differences lie in their church tyranny and usurpations, in their corruption and desecration of God's worship, together with their befriending ignorance and vice. At first I thought that it had been proved that a papist cannot go beyond a reprobate; but now I doubt not but that God has many sanctified ones among them, who have received Christianity so practically, that their contradictory errors prevail not against them to hinder their salvation; but that their errors are like a conquerable draught of poison which nature doth overcome. I can never believe that a man may not be saved by that religion which brings him to a heavenly mind and life; nor that God will ever cast a soul into hell that truly loves him. Nor, as once, does it condemn any doctrine with me to hear it call. ed popish; for I have learned to dislike men for bad doctrine, rather than the doctrine for the men; and to know that even Satan can use the name of Antichrist against truth. I am more deeply afflicted for the dissensions of Christians than when I was a younger Christian. Yet am I farther than ever I was from expecting great matters of unity, splendour, or prosperity, to the church on earth; or that saints should dream of a kingdom of this world, or flatter themselves with the hopes of a golden age; till their be a new heaven and a new earth.' And on the contrary I am more apprehensive that suffering must be the church's most ordinary lot; and Christians indeed must be self-denying cross-bearers, even when there are none but formal nominal Christians to be the cross-makers. And though ordinarily God would have vicissitudes of summer and winter, that the church may grow exten sively in the summer of prosperity and radically in the winter of adversity; yet usually its night is longer than its day; and the day itself has its tempests. For, 1. The church will be still imperfect, and its diseases need this bitter remedy. 2. Rich men will be rulers of this world, and they will be generally far from true godliness, that they may reach heaven by human impossibilities, as a camel goes through a needle's eye. 3. The ungodly will ever hate the image of God; and brotherhood will not keep a Cain from killing an Abel who offers a more acceptable sacrifice than himself; and the guilty will still hate the light, and make a prey to their pride and malice of their conscientious reprovers. 4. Many pastors will be troubling the church with their pride, and avarice, and contentiousness; and the worst will be seeking to be the greatest, and they that seek it are likeliest to attain it. 5. Those that are truly judicious will still be comparatively few; and consequently, the troublers and dividers will be the multitude; and a judicious reconciler will be disliked by both extremes. 6. The tenor of the Gospel is fitted to people in a suffering state; 7. And the graces of God in a believer are mostly suited to such a state. 8. Christians must imitate Christ, and suffer with him before they reign with him. 9. Observation of God's dealing hitherto with his church in all ages confirms me, and the disappointment of such as have dreamed of glorious times. It was such dreams as infatuated, among others, our English fanatics, who seemed determined to set up Christ in his kingdom whether he would or not. Many of the German protestants once expected the golden age; but in a very short time, either the death of some of their princely supporters, or war, or back-slidings, exposed all their expectations to scorn, and laid them lower than before. I do not lay so great stress upon the external modes of religion, as many young professors do. I have suspected, that this is from a cooling of my former zeal; but I find that judgment and charity are the causes of it, as far as I can discover. I cannot be so narrow in my principles of church communion as many are, who are, for instance, so much for a liturgy, or so much against it, that they can agree with no church that is not of their mind.--I am less regardful of the approbation of man, and set much lighter by contempt or applause, than I did once. I am oft suspicious that this is not only from the increase of self-denial and humility, but partly from my being surfeited with human applause; and all worldly things appear most unsatisfactory when we have tried thein most. But though I feel that this has some hand in the effect, yet, as far as I can perceive, the knowledge of man's nothingness, and God's transcendant greatness, with whom it is that I have most to do, and the sense of the brevity of human things, and the nearness of eternity, are the principal causes of this effect; which some have imputed to self-conceit and moroseness. (To be continued.) To the Editor of the Christian Observer. IT has often been urged, that the pronoun THAT, in Ephes. ii. 8.*, cannot refer to the word FAITH, as its antecedent, because the corresponding Greek pronoun is of the neuter gender, whereas the word rendered faith is feminine. I own, that, considering some very common grammatical principles, I could never allow much force to this argument. But I have lately met with an authority upon the subject, which will be admitted to be great, and which I will beg you to lay before your readers; only For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that (δια της πίσεως" και τότο, &c ) not of yourselves: it is the gift of God." |