6. And then again, by Uttle and Uttle, not only to be inured to the yoke of religion, but likewise to endure difficulties, opposition, and hardship; as the apostle stands upon it to Timothy, ' to endui-e hardship and afflictions from the beginning,' 2 Tim. ii. 3. If the thing be good and warrantable, neglect the speeches of the world. What are the speeches of a company of men in the state of nature, in their miserable condition, to regard them, BO as not to endure hardship in such things, of the goodness whereof we are convinced ? But in these days men take up a delicate profession of religion. Men will be rehgious, but they will suffer nothing, not a taunt or a scofl'. They wUl part with nothing ; be at no loss ; suffer no cross ; be at no pains with religion further than may stand with all earthly content of this world. This delicate profession, if anything among us, threateneth
96 BOWELS OPENED. [SeEMON "Vlff,
the removing of the gospel and blessed truths we enjoy, because we will not part with any pleasure now. How will they suffer afflictions for the gos- pel, if such times come, that will not part with a vain oath, a corrupt fashion of life, a superfluity, that will not part with a rotten unsavoury discourse, which discovereth a rotten spirit, and infecteth others ? Here is a profession of rehgion, indeed, that cannot have so much mastery of the corrupt heart as to deny and overcome itself in things that are grossly ill ! How will a man part with his blood and life, that wiU not part with things that he should part withal ? not only with something to the poor and to good uses, but to part with some sinful course of life, and wicked and un- godly lusts that fight against the soul ; who will not endure not so much as a check ; who, rather than they will go under that censure wherewith the world is pleased to disgrace rehgion, they will live and die hke atheists. This extreme tenderness in the matters of God and of salvation is the cause why many eternally perish.
7. Again, to cut off all vain excuses, let tis oft have in thoufjht ofonr heart ivhat ive should be, and tvhat we should all aim at, and how far we come all short of it. A Christian that hopes of good of his religion should live by faith, and depend upon God in the use of lawful means. If he be as he should be, he ought to walk with God, keep his watch with him, and do nothing unbeseeming the eye of God. When his corruption draws him to be careless, then he is not as he should be ; for in a right temper, he ought to be fitted to every good work, ready for all opportunities of doing any- thing that is good, because the time of this life is the seedtime, the time of doing good. The time of reaping is in the world to come. When, there- fore, the heart is shut, when any opportunity is offered of doing good, he may conclude certainly, I am cold and dull ; pretend what I will, I am not as I should be. A Chiistian ought to ' abound in the work of the Lord,' 1 Cor. XV. 58, especially having such abundance of encouragements as we have. What a world of encouragements hath a Christian ! There are none to * those of religion, from the inward content that it brings here, at the hour of death, and in glory hereafter. When we are drawn to be scanty, nig- gardly, and base to things that are good, surely this is not as it should be. Pretend what we will to the contrary, this is a fault. A Christian should at all times be fit to yield and to lender up his soul unto God, because our life is uncertain. When, therefore, we are moved by corruption to hve in a state that we cannot abide to die in, because we are under the guilt of some sin, then certainly, pretend what we will, our state is so far naught, as far as there is unfitness and unwillingness to die. Let us have in the eye of our soul, therefore, what a Christian should be, aim at it, and think that when we stop at a lower measure and pitch, that, pretend what we will, all is but from carnal wit and policy, the greatest enemy that rehgion hath.
We pray in the Lord's Prayer, ' Thy kingdom come ; thy will be done in earth, as it is done in heaven : ' great desires, and which should be the desires of all our hearts. But herein we play the hypocrites. Whilst we pray thus, that the kingdom of God may come, that Christ may rule in our hearts over lusts and desires ; yet notwithstanding, we pretend this and that excuse, whereby we may be led with this and that lust. We cross our own prayers. Yet it sheweth what pitch we should aspire to, ' To sanctify the Lord in our hearts,' to delight in him, and trust in him above all. When we do not this, we fall short of our own prayers. And when * That is, ' there are no encouragements compared with.' — En.