and be wrought upon by these threatenings; who would not fear thee, O King of nations, who art thus terrible in thy judgments; who would not love and obey thee, who art so gracious in thy promises! Teach me, I beseech thee, so to place my fear upon the former, that I may still fix my hope upon the latter; that though I fear thy dreadful curses, yet I may never despair of thy tender mercies! RESOLUTION VI. I am resolved, by the grace of God, to arm myself with that spiritual courage and magnanimity, as to press through all duties and difficulties whatsoever, for the advancement of God's glory, and my own happiness. CHRISTIANITY is well termed a warfare, for a warfare it is, wherein no danger can be prevented, no enemy conquered, no victory obtained, without much courage and resolution. I have not only many outward enemies to grapple with, but I have myself, my worst enemy to encounter and subdue. As for those enemies which are not near me, by the assistance of God's Spirit, I can make pretty good shift to keep them at the sword's point: but this enemy, that has got within me, has so often foiled and disarmed me, that I have reason to say, as David did of his enemies, "It is too strong for me;" and as he said of the chief of them, "I shall one day fall by the hands of Saul:" so I have too much ocča‹sion to say, I shall fall by myself, as being myself concerns. the greatest enemy to my own spiritual interest and How necessary is it, then, that I should raise and muster up all my force and courage, put on my spiritual armour, and make myself strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might? I know I must strive, before I can enter in at the strait gate; I must win the crown, before I can wear it, and be a member of the church militant, before I can be admitted into the church triumphant. In a word, I must go through a solitary wilderness, and conquer many enemies, before I come to the land of Canaan, or else I must never be possessed of it. What then? Shall I lose my glory, to balk my duty? Shall I let go my glorious and eternal possession, to save myself from a seeming hardship, which the devil would persuade me to be a trouble and affliction? Alas! if Christ had laid aside the great work of my redemption, to avoid the undergoing of God's anger and man's malice, what a miserable condition had I been in! And, therefore, whatever taunts and reproaches I meet with from the presumptuous and profane, the infidel and atheistical reprobates of the age; let them laugh at my profession, or mock at what they are pleased to call preciseness; let them defraud me of my just rights, or traduce and bereave me of my good name and reputation; let them vent the utmost of their poisonous malice and envy against me,-I have this comfortable reflection still to support me, that if I suffer all this for Christ's sake, it is in the cause of one who suffered a thousand times more for mine: hence, it ought to be matter of joy and triumph, rather than of grief and dejection to me; especially, considering "that these my light afflictions, which are but for a moment, will work out for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Upon the prospect of which, I firmly resolve, notwithstanding the growing strength of sin, and the overbearing prevalency of my own corrupt affections, to undertake all duties, and undergo all miseries, that God in his infinite wisdom, thinks fit to lay upon me, or exercise my patience in. RESOLUTION VII. I am resolved, by the grace of God, so to be angry, as not to sin; and, therefore, to be angry at nothing but sin. THE former part of the resolution is founded in the express command of St. Paul, "Be ye angry, and sin not." And the latter is an explication of, as well as an inference drawn from it. For, if anger be not only lawful, but a duty, as is here supposed, when it does not involve us in sin; the only difficulty is, to know how that passion ought to be qualified, to justify the exercise of it without being guilty of sin: and the circumstances or qualifications required for this, are first, That it be placed upon a due object; and, secondly, That it do not exceed its proper bounds. Now, as nothing can deserve my anger, but what is disagreeable to my nature, and offensive to the author of it, so nothing but sin can properly be called its object. The chief thing that I am to aim at in my actions, is the honouring, serving and pleasing of God; and how can I serve and please God in being angry at any thing but what I know is displeasing to him? I may be scorned, reproached, and vilified among my equals; or accused, condemned, and punished by my superiors; and these are treatments that are but too apt to raise and transport men into anger and revenge: but then, before I suffer this passion to boil up in me, I ought to consider whether I have not behaved myself so as to deserve this sort of treatment. If I have, then there is no injury or injustice done me thereby, and therefore, I ought not to be angry at it: If I have not, I must not be angry at the persons who act thus falsely and unjustly against me, but only at their sin; for, to speak properly, it is not the person that of fends me, but the sin. And this, not because it is injurious to me, but because it is offensive and displeasing to God himself: for to be angry at any thing but what displeases God, is to displease God in being angry. Whenever, therefore, I receive any affronts or provocations of this nature, I am resolved, by God's grace assisting my endeavours, never to be moved or troubled at them, farther than they are in their own nature sinful; and at the same time abstracting the sin from the persons, to pray for the pardon of those that are guilty of it and not only so, but, according to the command and example of my Saviour, even to love them too. But, how shall I be sure to be angry at nothing but sin, and so not to sin in my anger, when every petty trifle or cross accident is so apt to raise this passion in me? Why, the best method I can take, is, that which the wise man directs me to, 66 not to be hasty in my spirit," but to defer my anger according to discretion. So that, whensoever any. thing happens, that may incense and inflame my passion, I must immediately stop its career, and suspend the acts of it, till I have duly considered the motives and occasions that raised it. And as this will be a very good means to regulate the object of my anger, so likewise the measure of it: for, he that is slow to wrath, takes time to consider, and by consequence, puts his passion under the conduct of his reason; and, whoever does so, it will never suffer it to be transported beyond its proper bounds: whereas he whose anger is like tinder, that catches as soon as the spark is upon it, and who uses no means to stop its spreading, is presently blown up into a furious flame, which, before it is extinguished, do more mischief than he is ever able to repair; for, no man knows whither his anger may hurry him, when once it has got the mastery of him. In order, therefore, to prevent the fatal consequences of this passion, I now resolve never to speak, or do any thing, while I am under the influence of it, but take time to consider with myself, and reflect upon the several circumstances of the action or object it arises from, as well as the occasion and tendency of it; and, as oft as I find any thing in it displeasing to God, to be regularly angry at that, to correct, rebuke, and reprove it, with a zeal and fervour of spirit, suitable to the occasion; but still, to keep within the bounds of the truly Christian temper, which is always distinguished by love and charity, and exercises itself in meekness and moderation. And, O! what a sedate and contented spirit will may |