Refolutions make it fo; the neceffity of which Confideration is the next thing I must endeavour to demonstrate.

СНАР. III.

The abfolute Neceffity of Confideration, in order to a ferious Life. God's frequent Commands to that purpofe. Our Reafon, and the Power of Confideration we are furnished or endued with, proved to be given us for this end. Without it, Men have caufe to fufpect that their Reformation is Counterfeit.

W

HAT we have faid hitherto, is not a thing indifferent, left to our Liberty or Difcretion to mind or neglect it as we fhall fee occafion. It is not of the nature of Meat offered to Idols, not of the nature of a Holy-day, which Men may neglect, or make confcience of, as they fee it expedient, for the edifying of their Brethren. It is not of the nature of Civil Actions, of buying or felling, of fitting or riding, of staying in a place or travelling, which are things left to our Will and Pleasure, and may be ufed, or fuperfeded, according as we see it convenient or inconvenient, If labouring after a better Life, if endeavouring to get a fhare in the incorruptible Crown of Glory, if attempts to compafs the eternal Felicity of our Souls, if ftudying how we may be admitted into the Choir of Angels, and enjoy the Society of the Firft-born which are written

in Heaven, if contriving how we may arrive to that fulness of Joy God hath both revealed and promised, be indifpenfibly neceffary, this Confideration must be fo too. If Self-prefervation be not a thing indifferent, Confideration cannot poffibly be fo: For the great Object of this Confideration is, how we may preferve our felves from being undone for ever; how we may guard our Souls from everlasting Perdition; how we may avoid the fecond Death; and how we may make our Happiness lasting and durable, Proof against the Gates of Hell, and the Affaults of the roaring Lion, which walks about feeking whom he may devour.

God, that commands all the Powers of Light and Darkness; and hath the fame Power over us that the Potter hath over his Veffel; and hath made us capable of being govern'd by Moral Laws; and hath created us on purpose to be ready at his beck; and may force us into Obedience by Plagues and Thunders, if we are loth to be courted by Smiles and Favours : God, who owes no Man any thing; who gives Life to all; who hath made all things for his Glory; who is in all Places, and All in All; who can be present by Vengeance, where he is not prefent by Grace; who can be felt, but cannot be feen; who holds all things, fills all things, furrounds all things, excels all things, fuftains all things, and afar off fees all the Dangers we are fubject to, and knows what Armies of Enemies lie in ambush, and watch our Fall; it's he that peremptorily commands this Confideration. A Sovereign Prince expects to be obeyed,

and

and he that dares refufe or flight his reasonable Command, is juftly looked upon as a Stranger to Loyal Principles: And well may God, who is All-wife, and can do nothing that's unreafonable, expect Submiffion to a Precept fo great, fo good, fo advantageous both to Soul and Body,as will appear in the Sequel. Confider your ways, is a Law which God (to fhew he is in good earnest) inculcates twice in the fame Prophecy, Hagg. 1. 5, 7. And for that the dream is doubled, it is becaufe the thing is established by God,faid Jofeph to Pharaoh, Gen. 41. 32. The fame may we fay of repeated Exhortations. And indeed, when the famous Mofes bids the People, under his Charge and Care, to keep the Statutes and Commandments which God had graciously vouchsafed them, that it might go well with them; and with their Children after them; the great Preparative he requires for this Religious Frame, is Confideration, Deut. 4. 39, 40. as if, without this, all attempts of Obedience were vain, and all endeavours to ferve God in Spirit and Truth, were no more but Water fpilt upon the Ground. As if without this, the Thunder of Mount Sinai, the Voice of God, the Love wherewith he loved them, the Tenderness he fhewed them, the Signs, the Wonders, the mighty Hand, the ftretch'd-out Arm, the great Terror God brought upon the Nations round about them, would be no Motives to Serioufnefs. It was upon the fame Account that St. Paul, as quick-fighted as the other, peremptorily tells the Romans, That they would never practically approve that good, and accep

table,

table, and perfect Will of God, without they were transformed by the renewing of their Mind, i.e. made a new improvement of their Minds by Confideration. For Confideration rebuilds the Houfe that's fallen to the ground, makes the Mind new, removes old Prejudices against a ferious Life, and transforms the Judgment into other Thoughts and Conceptions, carries away the Rubbish which oppreffed the Soul, and leaves it not till it becomes a new Creature, Rom. 12.2. What can St. Peter, 1 Pet. 1. 13. mean, when he preffes the Chriftians of thofe days to gird up the Loins of their Minds, but this great Duty we difcourfe of? Confideration, as it is a Convocation of our Thoughts, fo it ties and unites thofe Thoughts to the great Object, the one thing neceffary, and, as it were, girds the Soul, that it may keep within the Rules of the Word of God, and may not run out into ftrange Defires or inordinate Affections, but be more expedite and nimble in her Travels to the Land of Promise.

The Truth is, from the Mind, as from Aaron's Head, the precious Ointment runs down to the Skirts of our Garments. From that Mountain of Zion defcends this Dew of Hermon, for there the Lord commands the Bleffing, even Life for evermore. From that holy Hill roll down all thofe drops of Gold that enrich the immortal Soul, and from that Store-house comes all the Plenty that makes rational Creatures happy. This is the great Wheel, which fets the leffer Orbs a going, and if it be once impregnated with Principles of Goodness and Seriousness,

and

and thefe enlarged and spread by Confideration, the Will and the Affections will foon be perfuaded to follow that Star, till it brings them to Bethlehem, the Houfe of Mercy. In our Civil Affairs, it's the Mind must first be fully perfuaded, either of the neceffity, or conveniency, or danger, or advantage of things, before any wife Refolution can be taken; and we may juftly conclude, that, in Spiritual Concerns, Men begin at the wrong end, if they do not feason their Minds with fuch Reflections, as may make a deep impreffion on the Will and Affections. For that thefe may refolve to follow God, and may be ravished with his Love, and apply themselves to his Ways, and may hate every falfe Path, and deteft their former Exorbitances and Deviations, we must neceffarily fuppose there must be fome Spring to feed them, which Spring can be nothing elfe but Confideration. And, as in Sin, it's the Mind that first reprefents the unlawful Pleasure of it to the Sinner, and this inflames his Affections; this imbibes the fubtile Poifon, and spreads it through the groffer Parts, and fecretly conveys it to all the Vital Spirits, till the whole Head doth ake, and the whole Heart grows fick. So in its Antidote or Cure, it's the Mind that must be chafed with Arguments, which may render the Sin Deteftable, Odious, and Prejudicial to Soul and Body; and this will foon put the Affections into a holy Rage to fecure God's Favour. Which was the reafon, no doubt, why that Father left his Eftate and Money to his Son, with this Condition, That he should every day Think a quarter ofan

hour;