And are there not many such to be found in every place ? For, (1.) How difficult is it to persuade many of you to any duty that hath loss or hazard attending on it ? Doth not the sincere heart stand inclinable and disposed to all the known will of God.? Psalm cxix. 6. Do Christians use to enquire more what is cheap, easy, and safe for them, or v.hat is their duty ? Gal. i. 16. Speak conscience, for to thee do I appeal ; art thou not conscious of some reserves limi- tations, and exceptions ? Doth not the man, like Naaman, desire the Lord to excuse and pardon him in this or that thing ? 2 Kings v.
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17. And thinkest thou that this is consistent with sincere obedience, which excepts no duty, nor quarrels with any command, because they all flow equally from the sovereignty of God, Jam. ii. 11. and so doth what it doth intuitu vohmtatus, upon the siglit of God's will. Say conscience, are there not great strugglings, disputes, and contests betwixt thee and fleshly interests in such cases ? And art thou not frequditly over-borne ? O search your hearts in this particular.
Yea, secondly, I appeal to you, whether there be not many among you that choose sin rather than affliction ? This is always the hypo- crite's option and choice : He judges sufferings the greatest evils, and so orders himself in his election. It was merely to avoid persecution that those hypocrites. Gal. vi. 12. constrained others to be cir- cumcised only to gratify the Jews ; that so by a sinful compliance with them, the offence of the cross might cease. If Paul would have done so, he might have avoided it too, but he durst not whatever he suffered. Gal. v. 11. O this is a shrewd sign of a false heart. Job xxxvi. 21. And the contrary disposition is always found in the up- right heart, Heb. xi. 25.
Nay, are there not some that have, and others that are ready to throw up their professions, when they see into what difficulties it in- volves them ? Whilst they could live upon the profession of truth, they entertained it ; but when truth comes to live upon them, thev thrust it out, and cry, aw^ay with this profession, it will beggar and undo us : They then repent of their forwardness, and secretly wish they had never engaged in it. O examine whether your hearts be not thus turned back, and your steps dechned. If so, it is manifest you are hypocritical professors, and that it was some outward self-re- spect at first engaged you in your profession, but can never enable you to hold out when difficult days come. I say it is manifest by this departure from your profession, that some outward self-respect at first allured you to it. As now, when I behold the artificial mo- tions of the wheels in a watch, and see how regularly the needle marks the journal-hours of the sun upon the flat of the quadrant, and see nothing that moves or guides it; it would cause admiration if I had never seen it before, or did not understand the cause and motion ; but when I look upon the other side, and there find wheels, ressorts, and counterpoises, and a spring that causes all those motions, I cease to wonder. Certainly some lust or other was the spring of all thy re- ligious motions; stop or take off that, and motion ceases-: And if it be so, this scab of hypocrisy will at last break out into that botch of apostasy. Thou canst never hold out long under trials, Matth. xiii. 21. Oh how many such sad sights may we live to see as trials come I Difficult times are coming on, 2 Tim. iii. 1. And woe to such then as want sincerity at the bottom of their profession.
2. And as these have no habitual readiness for sufferings, and, consequently, must be ruined by them, so there are others that may
7'i prwEPAiiATioxs Fon sufferings; or,
be truly godly, and have the root of the matter in them, who are yet far from an actual readiness, and so continuing, are like to be a reproach to religion when their trial comes : for it is not a little grace in the sleepy habit that will secure you from falling scandalously by the hand of temptation : and although that seed of God which is in you vnW recover you again, and prevent total and final apostasy, yet. Oh, consider what a sad thing it is to enter into, and be conquered by temptation, to be led away in triumph by the tempter, and made a reproach to Christ. O it is a sad consideration to think how many there be amongst the people of God, that discover little or no actual preparations for sufferings : As first,
1. Upon how many of the saints is the spirit of slumber poured out ? Even the wise, as well as foolish, seem now to be asleep. There is a twofold spiritual sleep, the first is total, upon wicked men : and it is one of God's sorest and dreadfullest strokes upon their souls, Isa. xxix. 10. * The Hebrew word there is the same with that which is used of Adam, when God cast him into that deep sleep whilst he took out his rib. And in 2 Tim. ii. 26. it signifies such a sleep as that which is occasioned by drunkenness ; out of such a sleep doth the Lord awaken all that are saved, and they never fall into it any more. The other is partial, Cant v. 2. and is incident to the people of God, Matth. xxv. 5. This is nothing else but the torpor or slug- gishness of Spirit which seizeth upon the saints; and never did it pre- vail, I fear, among them more than now. For where is their activity for God ? Where is he that stirreth up himself to take hold of God ? Isa. Ixiv. 7. Where is there such a generation as that, Psal. xxiv. 6. We pray, confer, and hear, for the most part, but, as men speak, be- twixt sleeping and waking. Where can you find, except here and there one, that hath a quick and lively sense of God's indignation upon him, or that trembles at his judgments ? Is not that the very case of the most ^. hich God describes, Isa. xlii. ult.
2. How many are seized by a private and worldly Spirit, every man turning to his own house, and eagerly pursuing the world? Hab. i. 9. Jer. xlv. 4, 5. Oh ! how are we intangled in the wilderness ? How doth the world eat up our time, and eat out our zeal, cowar- dize and soften our spirits, and render us utterly unfit for the yoke and burden of Christ.? You that see so much beauty, and taste so much sweetness in the creature, you will have an hard task when called to deny it : You are not yet prepared to drink of the cup, or take up the cross of Christ.
3. How many poor Christians are of a low and timorous Spirit, ready to tremble at the shaking of a leaf.? Ah poor hearts ! how un- fit are you for bonds or death I This passion of fear that so predomi- nates in you, is the very passion which Satan assaults, and lays siege to in the hour of temptation, as was before noted : And commonly
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