Without the power and assistance of special grace, thou hast power to attend religious duties and services; thou hast power to turn thy back upon the infectious and dangerous society of wicked and ungodly men; thou hast power to keep at a distance from the 'harlot's door,' thou hast power to keep thy mouth of blasphemy shut, thou hast power to keep thy hands from stealing, and thy feet from being swift to shed innocent blood;' thou hast power to bring thy body to an ordinance, though thou hast not power to bring thy soul to the ordinance.1 The noble Bereans brought their bodies to the ordinance, and they took the heads of the apostle's sermon, and compared them with the Scripture, and yet they were in an unrenewed and unsanctified estate, Acts xvii. 11, 12. O sirs, you have power to come to public ordinances, and to set yourselves under the droppings of a gospel powerful ministry; you have power to lie at the pool of Bethesda, and there to wait till the cure be wrought; but where is the unsanctified soul that improves the power he has? Tell me, O vain man, why should God trust thee with a greater power, when thou makest no conscience of improving that power thou hast? Why should God trust thee with ten talents, when thou hast no heart to improve the two that he has already trusted thee withal? What wise father or master will trust that child or servant with hundreds or thousands, who makes no conscience of improving far lesser sums to the honour and advantage of the father or the master? How dost thou know, O man, but that upon the faithful improvement of that power thou hast, God may add a greater power to thee? If thou wilt but go that two miles thou canst, God may strike in with thee, and enable thee to go ten. It is a dangerous thing to neglect the doing of that which thou canst do, because that thou canst not do everything that thou shouldst do. Suppose a father or a master should say to his son or servant, Take such and such wares and commodities, and carry them to such and such places, for such and such chapmen; and the son or servant should say, Well, though there be some small light burdens that I can well enough carry, yet there are many heavy burdens that I cannot carry, and therefore I will carry none at all: may not the father of such a son, or the master of such a servant, in much justice and righteousness severely punish such a son or servant? Doubtless yes. Why, this is the very case of all unsanctified souls. God commands them to believe and repent, and to love him with all their hearts, and to set him up as the object of their fear, and to give him the pre-eminence in all things, &c. But these are supernatural acts, beyond their power; and he commands them to attend on the means of grace, and to wait at wisdom's door. He commands them to apply themselves to public ordinances, and to keep close to family duties, and to turn their backs upon such and such vicious societies, &c., and these are things they can do; and yet because they cannot do the former, they wilfully and wickedly refuse to do the latter; because they cannot bear the heaviest burden, they are resolved they will bear none at all; and because they cannot do everything they should, they will do nothing at all, except it be to complain that God is a hard master, and expects to reap where he does not sow. Now how just and righteous a thing it

1 James iii. 10; Eph. iv. 28; Rom. iii. 15.

is with God to deal severely with such, I will leave you to judge. And let this suffice for answer to the first objection.

Object. 2. But hereafter may be time enough to look after holiness; I may yet pursue after the pleasures and profits of the world, I may yet spend some years in gratifying mine own lusts, and in walking after the course of the world; I have time enough before me, and therefore some years hence may be time enough to look after holiness. Now to this objection I shall give these answers:

1. First, Thou wilt not say that thou canst be saved too soon, nor happy too soon, nor blessed too soon, nor pardoned too soon, nor in the favour of God too soon, nor out of the danger of wrath, hell, and everlasting burnings too soon; and if so, then certainly thou canst not be holy too soon; for thou canst never be truly happy till thou art truly holy. No man will be so foolish and mad as to say he may be rich too soon, and great too soon, and high and honourable in the world too soon, and in favour and esteem with men, especially with great men, too soon; and why then shouldst thou be so mad and foolish, as practically to say that thou canst be holy too soon? and yet thus much thou dost proclaim upon the house-top, when thou criest out, Hereafter, hereafter will be time enough to seek after holiness. But,

2. Secondly, I answer, That it is thy wisdom and thy work to set one may-be against another; thou sayest now, that hereafter may be time enough to look after holiness, Eccles. vii. 14. Oh, set another may-be against this may-be, and say, If I now neglect this season of grace, may-be I shall never have another, Isa. lv. 6; if I now slight the offers of mercy, it may be I shall never have such offers more; if I now despise this day of salvation, it may be I shall never have such another day; if I now withstand the tenders of Christ, it may be Christ will never make a tender to me more; if I now resist the strivings of the Spirit, it may be the Spirit will never strive with my soul more, and then woe, woe to me that ever I was born! Oh, don't put off God, don't put off thy soul, don't put off the thoughts of holiness, don't put off eternity with may-bes, lest 'the Lord should swear in his wrath, that thou shalt never enter into his rest,' Heb. iii. 18; and seeing that thou wilt not suffer holiness to enter into thee, thou shalt never enter into thy master's joy. Oh, why shouldst thou put off thy poor soul, so as thou wouldst not have God to put it off? Thou wouldst not have God to put off thy soul with may-bes; as with a may-be I will pardon thee, it may be I will lift up the light of my countenance upon thee, it may be I will change thy nature and save thy soul, it may be I will fill thee with my Spirit and adorn thee with my grace, it may be I will bring thee to my kingdom and glory. Oh, thou wouldst not have God to put thee off with such may-bes! and why then shouldst thou deal more hardly and cruelly with thine own soul than thou wouldst have God to deal with thee? But,

3. Thirdly, I answer, It is a clear argument that thou art not truly nor throughly sensible of thy present condition and danger, who thus objectest. Wert thou but truly sensible of thy lost and undone estate out of Christ; didst thou but indeed know what it is to live one hour in a Christless and graceless condition; didst thou but see that wrath 1 Prov. i. 20-33; Heb. ii. 1-3; Luke xix. 41-45; Gen. vi. 3.

that hangs over thy head; didst thou but read the curses that are pronounced in the book of God against thee; didst thou but behold how hell gapes to devour thee; didst thou but see how far off thou art from God, Christ, the covenant, and all the glory and happiness of another world; ah, how wouldst thou every day cry out, Give me holiness or I die, give me holiness or I eternally die! Acts ii. 39; Eph. ii. 12. The patient that is truly sensible of his disease will not say, hereafter will be time enough to send for the physician; nor the wounded man will not say, hereafter will be time enough to fetch the surgeon; nor the condemned man will not say, hereafter will be time enough to sue for a pardon; nor the needy man will not say, hereafter will be time enough to look for relief; nor the fallen man will not say, hereafter will be time enough to lift me up; nor the drowning man will not say, hereafter will be time enough to bring a boat to save my life. Now this is the very case of all unsanctified persons in the world; and why then should they cry out, hereafter, hereafter will be time enough to be holy? The boar in the fable, being questioned why he stood whetting his teeth so when nobody was near to hurt him, wisely answered, that it would then be too late to whet them when he was to use them, and therefore he whetted them so before danger that he might have them ready in danger. Ah, sirs, there is nothing more dangerous than for you to have your holiness to seek, when temporal, spiritual, and eternal dangers are at your heels. There is no wisdom to that which leads men forth to a present pursuit after holiness, nor no hell to that for a man to have his holiness to seek when he should use it.

4. Fourthly, I answer, That the brevity, shortness, and preciousness of time, calls aloud upon thee to pursue after holiness without delay. Time past is irrecoverable, time to come is uncertain, the present time is the only time, and on this moment of time depends eternity. This very day is a day of grace; oh that thou hadst but grace to take notice of it. This very time is an acceptable time; oh that thou hadst but a heart to accept of it, and to improve it. He that hath a great way to go, and a great deal of work to do in a little time, had not need to trifle away his time; and this is the case of every unsanctified soul. Oh, the sins that such a soul has to repent of! oh, the graces that such a soul has to seek! oh, the evidences for heaven that such a soul has to secure! oh, the miseries that such a soul has to escape! oh, the mercies that such a soul has to press after, &c.; and therefore of all men in the world, it stands upon unsanctified persons well to husband and improve their present time. Oh, it is a dangerous thing to put off that work to another day which must be done to-day, or else thou mayest be eternally undone to-morrow. The old saying was, Nunc aut nunquam: Now or never; if not now done, it may be never done, and if so, then thou art undone for ever. Many sinners are now in hell, who when they were on earth were wont to put off the motions of the Spirit by crying out, cras, cras, to-morrow, to-morrow. Time is so precious a thing that mountains of gold and rocks of pearl cannot redeem one lost moment; which that great lady [Queen Elizabeth] well understood, when on her death-bed she cried out, Call time

1 Sumptus pretiosissimus tempus.-Theophrastus.

again, call time again; a world of wealth for an inch of time.' Ah, what a precious and gainful commodity would time be in hell, where for one day to repent, yea, for one hour to seek after holiness, a man would give ten thousand worlds, were they in his hands to dispose of. Time is so costly a jewel that few know how to value it and prize it at a due rate. Witness that sad and frequent complaint among many, Oh, what shall we do to drive away the time? come, let's go to cards to drive away the time! or let's go to tables to drive away the time! or let's go to the tavern, and take a pint and a pipe to drive away the time! or let's go and take a walk in the fields to drive away the time! &c. Thus most are lavishly and profusely prodigal of that precious time which is their greatest interest to redeem. Time is a precious talent, and the non-improvement of it God will charge upon men at last, as he did upon Jezebel, Rev. ii. 20, 21, especially upon such who trifle away, who play away, who idle away, yea, who grossly sin away their precious time. How many are there like children, who play till their candle be out, and then they go to bed in the dark! So these play and fool away their precious time, till the candle of life be out, and then they go to their beds, they go to their graves in sorrow, yea, they go to hell in the dark. I have read of a young man who, living vainly and loosely, was very fearful of being in the dark, who after falling sick and could not sleep, cried out, 'Oh, if this darkness be so terrible, what is eternal darkness !'1 He that makes no conscience of trifling away his precious time, shall one day experience the terribleness of eternal darkness. The poets paint time with wings, to shew the volubility 2 and swiftness of it.3 O sirs, if the one sense of the brevity, shortness, and preciousness of time did but lie in its full weight upon your spirits, it would certainly put you upon a speedy and earnest pursuit after holiness! Oh, then you would never say, hereafter, hereafter will be time enough to seek after holiness; but you would address yourselves to a fervent and a constant pressing after holiness as the one thing necessary, and be restless in your own spirits, till you had experienced the power and sweetness that is in holiness! But,

5. Fifthly and lastly, I answer, That it is the greatest folly and madness in the world for thee to put off the great God and the great concernments of thy soul, so as thou darest not put off thy superiors. Where is the subject that dares put off a lawful duty urged upon him by his prince with a may-be, or with a hereafter it may be I will do it, or hereafter I will do it? or where is that servant that dares put off his lord's present commands with a may-be, or with a hereafter it may be I will do it, or hereafter I will do it? or where is the ingenuous child that dares put off a present duty pressed upon him by his parents with a may-be, or with a hereafter it may be I will do it, or hereafter I will do it? or where is the affectionate wife that dares put off the just desires and requests of her husband with a may-be, or with a hereafter it may be I will answer your desires, or hereafter I will answer your requests? O sirs, you dare not put off your superiors 1 Drexellius. ['Considerations on Eternity,' a favourite of the Puritans, as translated by Winterton.-G.] Rapidity.-G. Sophocles, Phocilides, &c. [As before.-G.]

with may-bes, or with hereafters, and how then do you dare to put off the King of kings and the Lord of lords, with may-bes and with hereafters? it may be I will look after holiness, it may be I will study holiness, it may be I will prize holiness, or hereafter I will press after holiness, I will pursue after holiness, hereafter I will follow hard after holiness. Oh, remember that as there is nothing that does more incense, enrage, and provoke a prince against his subjects, a lord against his servants, a father against his child, and a husband against his wife, than the putting off of their services and commands with may-bes or with hereafters; so there is nothing that does more incense, inflame, and provoke the great God, than to put him off with may-bes, or with hereafters; as you may see by comparing the scriptures in the margin together.1 And oh that for time to come you would tremble at the very thoughts of a may-be, and at the very mentioning of a hereafter, that so you may never put off the commands of God, to pursue after holiness with a may-be, or with a hereafter any more. And let this suffice for answer to this second objection.

Object. 3. Thirdly, But if we should thus press and pursue after holiness, then we must take our farewell of all joy and comfort, of all delight and pleasure, and never expect to enjoy one merry day more, for we observe that there are no persons under heaven that live such a melancholy, sad, sorrowful, pensive life, as those who press most after holiness, and who make most stir and noise about holiness, and therefore if we should resolve to follow after holiness, we must resolve to spend our days in sorrow and sadness, in sighing and mourning, and this we had as lief die as do, &c.

Now to this grand objection, I shall give these eight answers:

1. First, It may be thou lookest only on the dark side of the cloud, and not on the bright; thou lookest only on thy left hand, where the mourners in Zion stand, but didst thou but cast an eye on thy right hand, there thou wouldst see many of the precious sons and daughters of Zion rejoicing and triumphing.2 Now thus to look, what is it but to look for a straw to thrust out thine own eyes with. O sirs, it is neither wisdom nor righteousness to look only upon those who mourn, and not upon those that rejoice, upon those that sigh, but not upon those that sing, Isa. lii. 8, 9; Jer. xxxi. 7, 12. Before you pass a judgment upon the people of God, or the good ways of God, look on both hands, I say again, look on both hands, and then you will be sure to see some saints in their wedding attire, as well as others in their mourning weeds; no man in his wits will argue thus, because such and such men of such a calling or trade are in their mourning weeds, therefore all men of that calling or trade are in their mourning weeds; and yet so witless are many men as thus to argue against the people of God, and the ways of God. But,

2. Secondly, I answer, As there are tears of sorrow, so there are tears of joy. Jacob weeps over Joseph, but it was with tears of exceeding joy. The sweetest joy is from the sourest tears. Tears are

1 Ps. xcv. 6, to the end. Heb. iii. 7, to the end.

2 Isa. lxi. 1-3, 10, 11, and xxxv. 10.

3 Compare these scriptures together; Gen. xliii. 30, xlv. 2, and xlvi. 29, 30; 1 Sam. i. 13-20.