Christian Keader! — Some preachers in our days are like Herac- litus, who was called the dark doctor,^ hecause he affected dark speeches ; so they affect sublime notions, obscure expressions, uncouth phrases: making plain truths difficult, and easy truths hard, &c. They * darken counsel by words without knowledge,' Job xxxviii. 2. Men of abstract conceits and wise speculations are but wise fools: like the lark that soareth up on high, peering and peering, but at last falleth into the net of the fowler. Such persons commonly are as censorious as they are curious, and do Christ and his church but very, very little service in this world.
The heathenish priests had their mythologies and strange canting expressions, of their imaginary unaccessible deities, to amaze and amuse 2 their blind superstitious followers ; and thereby to hold up their Popish and apish idolatries in greater veneration. The prudent reader can tell how to make application.
If thou affectest high strains of wit, or larded, pompous, and high- flown expressions, or eloquent trappings, or fine new notions, or such things that thou mayst rather wonder at than understand, I shall not encourage thee to the perusal of this treatise. But,
First, If thou wouldst be furnished with sovereign antidotes against the most dangerous errors that are rampant in these days, then seri- ously peruse this treatise : 2 Pet. iii. 16 ; 1 John iv. 1-3 ; 2 John 7-11.
Secondly, If thou wouldst be established, strengthened, settled, and confirmed in the grand points of the gospel, then seriously peruse this treatise : 1 Pet. v. 10. But,
Thirdly, If thou wouldst know what that faith is that gives thee an interest in Christ and in all that fundamental good that comes by Christ, then seriously peruse this treatise: John i. 12, iii. 16, and v. 24. But,
Fourthly, If thou wouldst have thy judgment rightly informed in some great truths, about which several men of note have been mis- taken, then seriously peruse this treatise: 1 Cor. ii. 6, 7; Ps. cxix. 18. But,
1 Heraclitus was a philosopher of Ephesus ; he was surnamed I^KOTeivhs, Obscurus, because he affected dark speeches. * As before : see Glossary, s. v. — G.
FifMy, If thou wouldst know what safe and excellent pleas to make to those ten scriptures that refer to the general judgment, and to thy particular day of judgment, then seriously peruse this treatise: 2 Cor. V. 10 ; Heb. ix. 27. But, ^ , . .
Sixthly, If thou wouldst have thy heart brought and kept m a humble, broken, bleeding, melting, tender frame, then seriously peruse this treatise : Ps. xxxiv. 18 ; Isa. Ivii. 15 ; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 27. But,
Seventhly, If thou wouldst always come to the Lord's table with such a frame of spirit, as Christ may take a delight to meet thee, to bless thee, to bid thee welcome, and to seal up his love and thy pardon to thee, then seriously peruse this treatise, especially that part of it where the dreadful and amazing sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ, both in body and soul, are at large set forth : Mat. xxvi. 26-28 ; Luke xxii. 19, 20 ; 1 Cor. xi. 23-30. But,
Eighthly, If thou wouldst have a clear sight of the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of the love of Christ, then seriously peruse this treatise : Eph. iii. 18 ; Ps. cxlvi. 8. But,
Ninthly, If thou wouldst have thy love to Christ tried, raised, acted, inflamed, discovered, and augmented, &c., then seriously peruse this treatise : Cant. i. 7, and viii. 5-7. But,
Tenthly, If thou art a strong man in Christ Jesus, and wouldst have thy head and heart exercised in the great things of God, and in the deep things of God, and in the mysterious things of God, then seriously peruse this treatise : 2 Tim. ii. 1 ; Heb. v. 14 ; 1 Cor. ii. 6, 7 ; 1 John ii. 14. But,
Eleventhly, If thou art but a weak Christian, a babe, a little child, a shrub, a dwarf in grace, holiness, and communion with God, and in thy spiritual attainments, enjoyments, and experiences, then seriously peruse this treatise, especially the first part of it : 1 Cor. iii. 1 ; Heb. V. 13; 1 Pet. ii. 2; 1 John ii. 1, 12, 13. But,
Twelfthly, If thou wouldst know whether thou art an indulger of sin, and if thou wouldst be stocked with singular remedies against thy special sins, then seriously peruse the former part of this treatise : Job XX. 11-14; Micah vi. 6, 7; Kom. xiii. 14; James iv. 3. But,
Thirteenthly , If thou wouldst be rooted, grounded, strengthened, and settled in those two grand points of the gospel, viz., the active and passive obedience of Christ, and be daily refreshed with those pleasant streams, with those waters of life that flow from thence, then seriously peruse this treatise: 1 Pet. v. 10; Isa. liii. ; Heb. x. 10, 12, 14; Gal. iv. 4, 5; Kom. viii. 3, 4; 2 Cor. v. 21. But,
Fourteenthly, If thou wouldst be throughly acquainted with the sufferings of Christ, in liis body and soul, with their greatness and grievousness, &c., and if thou wouldst understand the mighty advan- tages we have by his sufferings, then seriously peruse this treatise : Isa. liii. and Ixiii. 2; 1 Pet. ii. 21-24; John x. 11, 15, 17, 18. But,
Fifteenthly, If thou wouldst be able strongly to prove, against the Socmians and the high atheists of the day, and such as make so great a noise about a light within them, that there is a hell, a place of tor- ment, provided and prepared for all wicked and ungodly persons, then seriously peruse this treatise: Mat. xxv. 41; Ps. ix. 17- Prov v 5 But,
Sixteenthhj, If thou wouldst, in a scripture-glass, see the torments of hell, and know how to avoid them, and what divine improvements to make of them, and be resolved in several questions concerning hell and hellish torments, then seriously peruse this treatise. But,
Seventeenthly , If thou wouldst be able strenuously to maintain and defend Christ's eternal deity and manhood against all corrupt teachers and gainsayers, then seriously peruse this treatise : 1 John i. 2, 14 ; 1 Tim. ii. 5. But,
Eighteenthly, If thou wouldst be rooted and grounded in that great doctrine of the imputed righteousness of Christ, and be warmed, re- freshed, cheered, comforted, and delighted with those choice and sin- gular consolations that flow from thence, then seriously peruse this treatise: Jer. xxiii. 6; Isa. xlv. 24, and Ixi. 10; 1 Cor. i. 30. But,
Nineteenthly , If thou wouldst be set at liberty from many fears and doubts and disputes that often arise in thy soul about thy internal and eternal estate, then seriously peruse this treatise: Ps. xlii. 5, 11, and Iv. 5; 2 Cor. vii. 5. But,