Infer. 2. What a singular and choice mercy is a tender con- science ! A conscience yielding obedience to conviction ! A drop of such tenderness in the conscience is better than a sea of specu- lative knowledge in the head, 1 Cor. xii. 31. Many poor Chris- tians are ashamed to see themselves so out-stripped and excelled by others in gifts, and apt to be discouraged ; but if God has blessed thee with a tender and obediential heart to the will of God, so far as he is pleased to manifest it to thee, thou hast no reason to be discouraged for want of those excellent gifts and parts others do enjoy. You cannot discourse ^ori(%, or dispute suhtilely ; but can you obey conscientiously, and comply with the manifested will of God tenderly ? Then happy art thou. Oh ! it is far better to feel a trutli, than merely to know it. It was the high commendation of the Romans, that they obeyed from the heart that form of gos- pel-docti'ine which was delivered them, Rom. vi. 17*. or rather mto which they were delivered, as melted metals into the moulds. Two learned divines travelling to the Council of Con- stance, were affected, even to tears, at the sight of a shepherd in the fields, mourning and melting at the sight of a toad, and bles- sing God that he had not made him such a loathsome creature ; whereupon they applied Austin''s words to themselves, surgunt in" docti, (^c. The unlearned will rise and take heaven from the learn- ed. Thy little knowledge made effectual by obedience, is more sanctified, more sweet, and more saving- than other men's ; and therefore of much greater value. It is more sanctified ; for the bles- sing of God is upon it, Gal. iv. 16. It is more sweet ; for you re* lish the goodness f as well as discern the truth of gospel-doctrines, Psal. cxix. 103. It is not an insipid, dry speculation. And then it is more saving, being one of those better things that accompany salvation, as it is, Heb. vi. 9.
Irifer. 3. Learn hence, in the third place, What an uncomfortable life, hnowing, hut unregenerate men and women do live : They are J'requently in wars and combats with their own consciences. Isa. xlvi. 22. " There is no peace to the wicked, saith my God." They and their consciences are ever and anon at daggers drawing, they have little pleasure in sin, and none at all in religion ; they have none in religion, because they obey not its rules ; and littJe in sin, be- cause their consciences are still galling and terrifying them for im- prisoning their convictions.
It is true, some men's consciences are seared as with an hot iron, 1 Tim. iv. 2. but most have grumbling, and some have raging, and roaring consciences ; they seldom come under the word, or rod, but their consciences lash them : And when death approaches, the
^92 AN APPENDIX TO EXGLAXd's DUTY.
terrors of the Almighty do shake and terrify tliem. Altogether to neglect duty, they dare not, and how to escape a lash from their consciences, they know not : Fain they would have the pleasures of sin, but then, like Balaam, they meet a sword in the way ; they plunge themselves into earthly diversions, like Cain, to be rid of a fury within them, but all will not do. Is this a life for thee, reader, to live ? No peace with God, nor any with thyself? No ; expect no peace whilst thy convictions lie bound, and imprisoned in thy conscience. Sin for a moment is sweet in thy mouth, but it is presently turned into the gall of asps within thee, Job xx. 14. O that you did but know the pleasures of a pure, peaceable conscience, and how much it excels all the delights of sense and sin !
Infer. 4. Ministers had need often to repeat, and inculcate the same truths to their hearers ; for the worli is not half done, when truth is got into the, minds and consciences of men.
Our work sticks at the heart, more than at the head; the luider- standing is many times opened, when the heart and will are locked, and fast barred against it : To open the passages betwixt the head and heart is the greatest difficulty ; this is the work of Almighty power. There is knowledge enough in some men's heads to save them, but it hath not its liberty ; restrained truth cannot do its office. It is much easier to convince the mind than to change the heart, or bow the will. The hardest part of the ministerial work is to preach truths into the hearts and lives of men. This makes the frequent inculcations of the same truths necessary and safe to the people's souls. Phil. iii. 1. "To write the same things unto " you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.
Infer. 5. How astonishing and wonderful is the power and strength of sin, which can hold men fast after their eyes are opened to see the misery aiid danger it hath involved them in.
One would think, if a man's eyes were but once opened to see the moral evil that is in sin, and the everlasting train o^ penal evils that follow sin, together with a way of escape from both ; it should be impossible to hold that sinner a day longer in such a state of bondage : the work were then as good as done : But, alas ! we are mistaken ; sin can hold those men and women fast that see all this. They know it is an horrid violation of God's just and holy laws ; they know it brings them under his wrath and curse, and will damn them to all eternity if they continue in it ; they know Christ is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, and that he is as willing as he is able ; and yet no arguments can prevail with them to part with sin. Shew but a beast a flame of fire, and you cannot drive him into it, if he see any way to es- cape it. Tell a man this is rank poison, and will kill him ; and you cannot make him swallow it, though wrapt up in sugar, or put into
tlie most pleasant vehicle. But let a sinner see death and destruc- tion before him, and sin can make him rush on, *' as a horse into " the battle,'" Jer. viii. 9. He goes as an ox to the slaughter; his heart is fully set in him to do evil, Eccl. viii. 11. as one said, when his yliys'tc'ian told him, ' If he followed such a course of sin * he would in a little time lose his eyes ; then, saith he. Vale lumen ' amicum.i P'arewell, sweet light; I cannot part wi;h this practice:' So it is with others, rather than forego their pleasures, and break their customs in sin, farewell heaven, Christ, and all. O the enchanting efficacy of sin ! Jer. xviii. 11, 12. " And they said, there is no " hope, but we will walk after our own devices."* When a man considers what visions of misery and wrath convictions give men, he may wonder that all convinced men are not converted ; and, on the other side, when he considers the strong holds sin hath gotten upon the hearts of sinners, it may justly seem as great a wonder that any are converted.