pride in a ci-owd, or hazarding their present carnal interest by any contest and scuffle. ' But the}' sliall not be able,' that is, ' to enter;' because their carnal, cowardly hearts sliall not be able to strive ; so that take Christians under the notion of 'seekers,' and, by Christ's own words, there are many ; but consider them under the notion of ' strivers,' such as stand ready shod with a holy reso- lution, to strive even to blood, if such trials meet them in the waj' to heaven, rather than not enter, and then the number of Christian soldiers will shrink, like Gideon's goodly host, to a little troop. O how easy were it to instance in several sorts of Christians, so called in a large sense, that have not this gospel- shoe to their foot, and therefore sure to founder and falter, when once they be brought to go u))on sharp stones !
Section I. — First, The ignorant Christian, what work is he like to make of suffering for Christ and his gospel? And they are not the least number in many congregations ; they who have not so much light of knowledge in their imder- standing as to know who Christ is, and what he has done for them, will they have so much heat of love as to march cheerfully after him, when every step they take must fetch blood from them ? Nabal thought he gave a rational answer to David's servants, that asked some relief of him in their present strait, when he said, ' Shall I take my bread, and my water, and my flesh, that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men I know not whence they be?' 1 Sam, XXV. He thought it too much to part with, upon so little acquaintance. And will the ignorant person, think you, be ready to part, not only with his bread, and flesh out of the pot, a little of his estate I mean, but the flesh of his own body, if called to sutFer, and all this at the command of Christ, who is one he knows not whence he is ? Paul gives this as the reason why he suffered, and was not ashamed ; for, saith he, ' I know whom I have believed,' 2 Tim. i. 12. Stories tell us of the Samaritans, a mongrel kind of people, both in their descent and religion, that when it went well with the people of God, the Is- raelites, then they would claim kindred with them, and be Jews ; but when the chinxh of God was under any outward affliction, then they would disclaim it again. And we may the less wonder at this base, cowardly spirit in them, if we read the character Christ gives of them, to be a people ' that worshipped they knew not what,' John iv. 22. Religion hath but loose hold of them that have no better hold of it than a blind man's hand.
Secondly, Carnal gospellers, who keep possession of their lusts, while they make profession of Christ. A generation these are, that have nothing to prove themselves Christians by, but their baptism, and a Christian name which they have obtained thereby ; such as, were they to live among Turks and heathens, their language and conversations, did they but conceal whence they came, would never betray them to be Christians; can it now be i-ationally thought that these are the men and women who stand ready to suffer for Christ and his gospel? No, sure, they who will not wear Christ's yoke, will much less bear his burden. If the yoke of the command be thought grievous that binds them to duty, they will much more think the burden of the cross insupportable. He that will not do for Christ, will not die for Christ. That servant is very unlike to fight to blood in his master's quarrel, that will not work for him so as to sweat in his service.
Thirdly, The politic professor, a fimdamental article in whose creed is to save himself not from sin, but from danger; and therefore he studies the times more than ihe Scriptures, and is often looking what corner the wind lies in, that accordingly he may shape his course and order his profession, which, like the hedgehog's house, ever opens towards the warm side.
Fourthly, The covetous professor, whose heart and head are so full of worldly projects, that suffering for Christ must needs be very unwelcome to him, and find him far enough from such a disposition. You know what tiie Egyptians said of the Israelites, 'They are entangled in the land; the wilderness hath shut them in,' Exod. xiv. l.'j. More true it is of this sort of professors, they are entangled in the world ; this wilderness hath shut them in. A man wljose foot is in a snare, is as fit to walk and nm, as they to follow Christ, when to do it may prejudice their worldly interest. Our Saviour, speaking of the miseries that were to come on Jerusalem, 'Woe,' saith he, 'unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those daj^s,' Matt. xxiv. 10 ; because it
^J2 AND YOUR FEET SHOD WITH