A Goodly Heritage

He looks not to what he might do, but what he should. Justice is his first guide; the second law of his actions is expedience. He had rather complain than offend; and hates sin more for the indignity of it, than the danger; his simple uprightness works in him that confidence which oft times wrongs him, and gives advantage to the subtle, when he rather pities their faithlessness, than repents of his credulity. He hath but one heart, and that lies open to sight; and were it not for discretion, he never thinks ought whereof he would avoid a witness: his word is his parchment, and his yea his oath, which he will not violate for fear or for loss. The mishaps of following events may cause him to blame his providence, can never cause him to eat his promise; neither saith he, This I saw not, but, This I said. When he is made his friend's executor, he defrayeth debts, payeth legacies, and scorneth to gain by orphans, or to ransack graves: and therefore will be true to a dead friend, b...

How far may a person judge of the strength or weakness of his faith by the brightness or darkness of his frames? The growth of grace in the heart of a true believer is a very mysterious thing; and there is scarcely any particular whereby Christians in general are more puzzled, and wherein they are more frequently mistaken, than in judging of the strength and weakness of their graces. It is very common for those to judge themselves declining in spiritual experience, who are really growing apace in the divine life; and for those to esteem themselves improving, who are in reality decaying and withering. I cannot but apprehend that the foundation of these mistakes lies in their not properly distinguishing between faith and frames. We are apt to judge of the former by the latter; accounting our faith and other graces to be strong, when are frames are comfortable and lively: and thinking that faith must certainly be weak, when these our frames are very dark and distressing. But, were this ...

How may a deserted believer find out the particular sin or sins, whereby he has grieved the spirit of God? This is doubtless a most searching and experimental question, wherein there is a necessity for the greatest faithfulness to be used, both by him who resolves it, and by him who attempts to make use of it for himself. In many cases it seems very difficult to point out to a soul under declensions, what is the particular reason of the Spirit's withdrawment. However, I shall attempt to this matter as close home as I possibly can, recommending myself to every man's conscience in the sight of God. We must indeed acknowledge, that the Lord may, for wise and holy ends, withdraw from his people those comforts and quickenings which they have been favored with, and that without any immediate respect unto any particular sin or sins committed by them. Sometimes this withdrawment is rather for the prevention of sin, or for the discovery of sin, than as a punishment for it. But gen...

"What is it to bring sin to Christ's cross, and to crucify it there?" I answer, it contains the following things: -- 1. To behold the sinfulness of sin in the death of Christ. You may see much of the evil of it by looking into the holy law, and observing its polluting effect upon your own hearts: but such sights of sin, by themselves, will not subdue it. Look upon the cross of Christ; behold him suffering, bleeding, dying, and under his Father's withdrawment for sin imputed to him: there you may look and wonder, look and mourn, look and raise your indignation against sin in the strongest manner. This will be a most effectual means of making you to be truly ashamed of it, and to mourn for it with a godly, an evangelical sorrow. 2. To account every indulged sin in you as crucifying the Son of God afresh. By giving way to iniquity, by harboring it in your bosoms, or by casting a pleasing glance upon the abominable thing, you are guilty, not only of breaking the...

 How sad are the consequences of grieving the Spirit! It must be acknowledged, that he is very often grieved by us; but, blessed be his name, he does not always take the advantage against us; does not always resent the affronts we cast upon his gracious or comforting influences, by undervaluing or overvaluing them. If he did, the people of God would be perpetually in a deserted, uncomfortable condition. But when he is once provoked to such a degree as actually to withdraw, O what sad effects follow! Now the graces of the Spirit seem to lie dead, now nothing but sin and corruption seem to reign, now we are exposed to fall a ready prey to our spiritual enemies, and we may be obliged to pray and wait a long time before there be any comfortable return. Let us therefore be very cautious and watchful, lest we dishonor and offend him; for when we begin to fall, we know not how low we may fall, or how dismal our case may be, before he returns, and we are revived.  How ungove...

 How gradually does sin make its entry into our souls! We perhaps at first only begin to perform a duty in a slight manner, then we proceed to an occasional neglect of it, then to an almost total neglect; whereby the door is set open for sin and Satan to enter, and our hearts grow more and more hard, our thoughts more vain, and our souls weak to withstand any temptation, or engage in any duty.  How sad are the consequences of grieving the Spirit! It must be acknowledged, that he is very often grieved by us; but, blessed be his name, he does not always take the advantage against us; does not always resent the affronts we cast upon his gracious or comforting influences, by undervaluing or overvaluing them. If he did, the people of God would be perpetually in a deserted, uncomfortable condition. But when he is once provoked to such a degree as actually to withdraw, O what sad effects follow! Now the graces of the Spirit seem to lie dead, now nothing but sin and corruption s...

 How ignorant are they of the nature of true religion, who think it at their option to be pious, holy, and spiritual at pleasure! They who think so, betray their weakness, ignorance and unbelief. For, if the spiritual Christian, a person that has tasted of divine grace, finds his corruptions so untameable, his affections so irregular, and his thoughts so ungovernable; how can it be, that unbelievers should have any strength so much as to think a truly good thought? What a plain rule may we collect from this subject to judge of the progress or declension of spiritual grace in our soul! We may easily judge how things go with us, only by observing how strong or how weak, how frequent or how seldom the meditations of our hearts are upon spiritual subjects. The more advanced a Christian is in the spiritual life, the more his heart can dwell upon divine subjects with pleasure and self application, and the more natural it is to him really to meditate in the midst of the duties bo...