Divine Meditations and Holy Contemplations

1. That man has made good progress in religion who has a high esteem of the ordinances of God. Though perhaps he finds himself dead and dull, yet the best things have left such a taste and relish in his soul that he cannot be long without them. This is a sign of a sound disposition of soul.

2. A wife, when she marries a husband, gives up her will to him. So does every Christian when he is married to Christ. He gives up his will and all that he has to him, and says, “Lord, I have nothing that you shall not have back again if you call for it.”

3. When we come to religion, we do not lose our sweetness; we transfer it. Perhaps before, we fed on profane authors; now we feed on holy truths. A Christian never knows what comfort there is in religion until he gives himself to it wholeheartedly. As Augustine says, “Lord, I have lacked your sweetness too long; all my former life was nothing but husks.”

4. God takes care of poor, weak Christians who are struggling with temptations and corruptions. Christ carries them in his arms. All Christ’s sheep are diseased, and therefore he will take tender care of them (Isa 40:11).

5. Whatever is good for God’s children, they shall have, for everything is theirs, to further them on their way to heaven. Therefore, if poverty is good, they shall have it; if disgrace is good, they shall have it; if crosses are good, they shall have them; if misery is good, they shall have it; for everything is ours, to serve our chief good.

6. God’s children have these outward things together with God himself. They are like conduits that convey his favor to us. The same love that moved God to give us heaven and happiness moves him to give us daily bread.

7. The whole life of a Christian should be nothing but praise and thanks to God. We should not eat, or drink, or sleep except to God. We should eat to God, and sleep to God, and work to God, and talk to God, and do everything to his glory and praise.

8. Though God does not deliver us out of trouble, yet he delivers us from the evil in trouble, from despair in trouble, by supporting the spirit. Indeed, he delivers us by trouble, for he sanctifies the trouble to cure the soul, and by lesser troubles he delivers us from greater.

9. What are we but a model of God’s favors? What do we see, or what do we taste, but evidence of the mercies of God? The miseries of others should give us matter for praise. The sins of others should make us praise God and say, “Lord, it might have been my case; it might have happened to me.”

10. God pities our weakness in all our troubles and afflictions. He will not delay too long, lest out of weakness we turn our hands to some expedient. He will not allow the rod of the wicked to rest upon the lot of the righteous (Ps 125:3).

11. Would it not be unreasonable for a man to say at midnight that it will never be day? It is just as unreasonable for someone in trouble to say, “O Lord, I will never get out of this! It will always be like this with me.”

12. Do the wicked think they can shame or frighten good men? No; a spirit of grace and glory shall rest upon them. Not only shall a spirit of grace rest upon them, but a spirit of glory, so that their faces shall shine as Stephen’s did when he was stoned (Acts 6:15).

13. If God hides his face from us, what will become of our souls? We are like the poor flower that opens and shuts with the sun. If God shines on a man’s heart, it opens; but if he withdraws himself, we hang down our heads: “Thou turnedst away thy face, and I was troubled” (Ps 30:7).

14. When we have given ourselves up to God, let us comfort our souls that God is our God. When riches, and treasures, and men, and our lives fail, God is still ours. We are now God’s Davids, and God’s Pauls, and God’s Abrahams; we have an everlasting being in him.

15. A special cause of excessive dejection is a lack of resolution in good things, when we limp in religion. For as limping is a deformed and troublesome gait, so in religion limping is always joined with trouble and disquiet.

16. God has made even the poorest man a governor of himself, and has set judgment to rule against passion, and conscience against sin. Therefore reason should not be a slave to passion.

17. It is the distinctive wisdom of a Christian to pick arguments out of his worst condition to make him thankful. And if he is thankful, he will be joyful; and as long as he is joyful, he cannot be miserable.

18. God has made himself ours, and therefore it is no presumption to claim him as our God. Once we have a share in God, he thinks nothing too good for us. He is not satisfied with giving us the blessings of this life; he gives himself to us.

19. As we receive everything from God, so we should lay everything at his feet and say, “I will not live in a course of sin that is inconsistent with the favor of my God.” For he will not lodge in a heart that has a purpose to sin.

20. God’s people have sweet fellowship with God in their callings. When we look for comfort, we shall find it either in hearing, reading, praying, and the like, or else in our callings.

21. We glorify God when we exalt him in our souls above all creatures in the world, when we give him the highest place in our love and in our joy, when all our affections are set on him as the chief good. This is also seen by its opposite, when we will not offend God for the sake of any creature, when we can ask our affections, “Whom have I in heaven but thee?” (Ps 73:25).

22. There is no true zeal for God’s glory that is not joined with true love for men. Therefore let men who are violent, abusive, and insolent never talk of glorifying God so long as they despise poor men.

23. If we do not find that we are the people of God’s delight, let us attend on the means of salvation and wait for God’s good time. Let us not stand disputing, “Perhaps God has no purpose to save me,” but set ourselves to obedience, casting ourselves into the arms of Christ, and say, “If I perish, I will perish here.”

24. The love of God in Christ is no barren kindness. It is a love that reaches from everlasting to everlasting, from love in choosing us to love in glorifying us. In all the miseries of the world, one beam of this loving-kindness of the Lord will scatter them all.

25. Our desires are holy if they are exercised about spiritual things. David does not desire to be great, to be rich in the world, or to have power to take revenge on his enemies, but that he may “dwell in the house of the Lord,” and enjoy his ordinances (Ps 27:4).

26. Desires show the frame of the soul more than anything else. Where there is a spring, it reveals itself by the vapors that rise from it; so the breathing of these desires shows that there is a spring of grace in the heart.

27. Desires spring from the will; and since the will is, as it were, the whole man, it moves all the other powers to do their duty and to see to the accomplishing of what it desires. Therefore, when people claim to have good desires and yet neglect all the means and live scandalously, theirs is only a sluggish desire.

28. A hypocrite will not pray always, but a child of God never gives up, because he sees an excellence, a necessity, and a possibility of obtaining what he desires. He has a promise for it: “The Lord will fulfill the desires of them that fear him” (Ps 145:19).

29. Prayer exercises all the graces of the Spirit. We cannot pray without exercising our faith, our love, our patience. This makes us set a high price on what we seek after, and use it well.

30. God takes it unkindly if we weep too much, and grieve too much over the loss of a wife, child, or friend, or over any cross in the things of this life. For it is a sign that we do not draw from him the comfort that we should and may. Indeed, even when our weeping is for our sins, we must keep moderation in that. We must look on our sins with one eye, and with the other eye look on God’s mercy in Christ. Therefore, if the best grief must be moderated, how much more must the other?

31. The religious affections of God’s people are mixed, for they mingle their joy with weeping and their weeping with joy. A carnal heart, by contrast, is wholly unmixed. If he rejoices, he goes wild; if he is sorrowful, the sorrow sinks him unless it is restrained. But grace always tempers the joy and sorrow of a Christian, because he always has something to rejoice in and something to grieve for.

32. We are members of two worlds. While we live here, we must use this world, for how many things this poor life of ours needs! We are passing away, and in this passage of ours we must have necessities. Yet we must use the world as though we did not use it, for there is a danger that our affections will cling to the things of this life.

33. It is a smallness of spirit in a Christian to be overjoyed or overgrieved over things beneath us. If a man has any grace, the whole world is inferior to him. What smallness of spirit it is, then, to be overjoyed or excessively grieved, when all things are fading and vanish away. Let us therefore keep continually in mind that all things here below are subordinate.

34. A sincere heart that is burdened with sin does not desire heaven so much for anything else as for this: it is the place where that person will be free from sin and will have the image of God and Christ perfected in the soul. And therefore a sincere spirit comes to hear the word, not so much because an eloquent man is preaching, as to hear divine truths, because the evidence of the Spirit goes with the word to work those graces. You cannot quiet a child with anything but the breast; so you cannot quiet the desires of a Christian except with divine truths, as it is written, “The desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee” (Isa 26:8).

35. There are a thousand things that may hinder good success in our affairs. What person can bring all things to a fitting outcome and remove everything that may hinder? Who can take account of persons, times, places, advantages and disadvantages? And when we do see these things, a passion naturally arises that robs us of our knowledge. For example, when someone sees any danger, there is such fear or anger that they are in a mist. So unless God gives a particular success, there is none. It is as with the frame of a human body: it stands on many joints, and if any one of them is out of place, it hinders all the rest.

36. If we mean to hold out, let us labor to have our hearts broken more and more, because the failure lies in lacking a deep sense of the misery we are in by nature. It was through this very fault that the stony ground spoken of in the Gospel lacked root. Therefore it is Christian wisdom to let our souls be humbled as deeply as possible, so that there may be soil enough. Otherwise there may be great joy in divine truths, and they may be comforting, but if the joy is not rooted, all of it will be dried up like dew when persecution comes.

37. Why is it that God’s children do not sink to hell when troubles are upon them? Because they have an inward presence strengthening them. For the Holy Spirit helps our weaknesses, not only to pray but to bear crosses, sweetening them with some glimpse of his gracious face. For what supports our faith in prayer but inward strength from God?

38. Prosperity, or the time after some deliverance, is the fittest time for praise, because then our spirits are raised up and cheered by the evidence of God’s favor. For the greater the cross from which we have been delivered, the more our spirits will be enlarged to praise God.

39. Whenever we receive any good for our souls or for our bodies, whoever the instrument may be, let us look to the principal giver. With the gifts we receive, we look not to the one who brings them but to the one who sends them.

40. Beware of Satan’s strategy when he suggests, “God has forgotten me because I am in extremity.” No; rather, that is when God will show mercy, for now is the special time of mercy. Therefore beat Satan back with his own weapons.

41. Whatever God takes away from his children, he either makes up for it with a great earthly favor or else with strength to bear the loss. God charges others to take care of the fatherless and the widow; will he neglect them himself?

42. Spiritual knowledge is the knowledge that alters the taste and relish of the soul. For we must understand that there is a bitter opposition in our nature against all saving truths. There is a contradiction between our nature and the doctrine that teaches us that we must deny ourselves (Titus 2:12) and be saved by another. Therefore the soul must first be brought to relish the truth before it can digest it: there must first be a holy harmony between our nature and the truth.

43. If we are to walk rightly in God’s ways, let us keep heaven daily in our eye, along with the day of judgment and the times to come. This will steer the course of our lives, and breed love in the use of the means, and patience to undergo all conditions. Let us, with Moses, keep our eye on him who is invisible (Heb 11:27).

44. A person may know that they love the world if they are more careful to get than to use. For we are only stewards, and we should consider, “I must be as careful in distributing as in getting.” When we are all for getting and nothing for distributing, we are worldlings. Even if such a person is moderate in getting and wrongs no one, the world has still gotten their heart, because they do not make the use of it that they should.

45. It is a senseless notion to think that we can fit ourselves for grace, as if a child in the womb could hasten its own natural birth. If God has made us men, let us not make ourselves gods.

46. As natural life preserves itself by repelling whatever is contrary to it, so wherever the life of grace is, there is a principle of skill, of power and of strength to repel whatever is contrary to it.

47. It is the nature of the soul that when it sees better things to come after these, it makes the world seem cheap. When it sees another condition, one not liable to change, then it has a sanctified judgment to value things as they really are, and so it overcomes the world.

48. In the covenant of grace God intends the glory of his grace above all. Now faith is fitted for this, because it has a uniting power to knit us to the Mediator and to lay hold of something outside itself. It empties the soul of every notion of worth, or strength, or excellence in the creature, and so it gives all the glory to God and Christ.

49. Whatever we are afraid to speak before others, or to do for fear of danger, let us be afraid to think before God. Therefore we should stifle all evil thoughts at their very conception, at their very rising. Let them be treated as rebels and traitors and smothered at the first.

50. Until a person is a believer, the heart is in a wavering condition; it is never at peace. And therefore it is the happiness of the creature to be satisfied and to have rest, for perplexity makes a person miserable. If someone has even a small scruple in their conscience, they are like a ship at sea, tossed by contrary winds, unable to reach the haven.

51. The righteousness of works leaves the soul in perplexity. Any righteousness that comes by any other means than by Christ leaves the soul unsettled, because the law of God promises life only upon absolute and personal performance. Now a person’s heart says that they have not done this, and that they have left such and such duties undone. This breeds perplexity, because the heart has nothing on which to rest itself.

52. Glory follows afflictions, not as the day follows the night, but as spring follows winter. For winter prepares the earth for spring; so sanctified afflictions prepare the soul for glory.

53. This life is not a life for the body but for the soul. Therefore the soul should speak to the body and say, “Wait, body! If you move me to fulfill your desires now, you will lose both me and yourself hereafter.” But if the body is given up to Christ, then the soul will speak a good word for it in heaven, as if it were saying, “Lord, there is a body of mine on earth that fasted for me and prayed with me.” It will speak for the body as Pharaoh’s butler spoke to the king for Joseph (Gen 41:9).

54. Afflictions make a divorce and separation between the soul and sin. It is no small thing that will work sin out of the soul; it must be the spirit of burning, the fire of sanctified afflictions. Heaven is for holiness, and afflictions work out everything contrary to holiness, and so they frame the soul for a further communion with God.

55. When the soul wonders at spiritual things, it is then in a holy frame, and as long as it does so it will not stoop to any base comfort. We should therefore labor to keep our souls in a state of holy wonder.

56. To all those whom Christ saves by virtue of his merit and payment, he reveals their wretched condition, and, in place of it, a better one to be attained. He shows by whom we are redeemed, and from what, and to what condition, the Spirit informing us thoroughly that God enters into covenant with us.

57. Spiritual duties are as opposite to flesh and blood as fire is to water. But as anointing makes the limbs nimble and strong and cheerful, so where the Spirit of God is in anyone, he makes that person nimble and strong and cheerful in good duties. But when we are dragged to them like a bear to the stake, out of fear or from an inbred natural custom, this is not from the Spirit. For where the Spirit is, duties are performed without force, fear or hopes. A child needs no outside motive to make him please his father, because doing so is inbred and natural to him.

58. As the weights of a clock make all the wheels go, so artificial Christians are moved by things outside them, for they lack this inward principle to make them do good things freely. But where the Spirit of God is, he works a kind of natural freedom.

59. Under the law, when a woman was forced by any man, if she cried out she was blameless. So if we sincerely cry out to Christ and complain of our corruptions, that they are too strong for us, this will witness to our hearts that we are not hypocrites.

60. Good duties come from unsound Christians like fire struck out of a flint, but they flow from a child of God like water out of a spring. Yet because there is flesh in God’s children as well as spirit, every duty must be gotten out of the fire. And yet there is a liberty, because there is a principle in them that resists the flesh.

61. God’s children are hindered in good duties by an unavoidable weakness in nature, as with drowsiness after labor. Therefore the spirit may be willing when the flesh is weak (Matt 26:41). So if we strive against this deadness and dullness, Christ is ready to make excuse for us, if the heart is right, as he did for his disciples.

62. A child of God is at once the freest of all and the best servant, even as Christ was the best servant and yet none was so free. And the greater the portion of his Spirit anyone has, the freer the disposition they have to serve everyone in love.

63. Sight is the noblest sense. It is quick: it can see from earth to heaven in a moment. It is large: it can take in the hemisphere of the heavens at one view. It is sure and certain, whereas in hearing we may be deceived. And lastly, it is the most moving of the senses. Even so faith is the quickest, the largest, the most certain and the most moving. It is like an eagle in the clouds: at one view it sees Christ in heaven and looks down into the world. It sees backward and forward: it sees things past, present and to come. And that is why faith is expressed by beholding.

64. A veil or covering had two uses among the Jews. One was subjection, and therefore the women were veiled; the other was obscurity, and therefore there was the veil on Moses’s face. Both of these are now taken away in Christ, for we serve God as “sons,” and as a spouse serves her husband. We are still in subjection, but not servile; and now also with “open face” we behold the glory of the Lord (2 Cor 3:18). We behold the things themselves. They are now clearly laid open; the veil is taken away.

65. Our happiness consists in our subordination and conformity to Christ. Therefore let us labor to conduct ourselves as he did toward his Father, toward his friends, and toward his enemies. In the days of his flesh he prayed whole nights to his Father. How holy and heavenly-minded he was, who took occasion from vines, and stones, and sheep to be heavenly-minded! And when he rose from the dead, his talk was only of things concerning the kingdom of God. As for his conduct toward his friends, he would not quench the smoking flax, nor break the bruised reed (Matt 12:20). He did not throw Peter’s denial in his face. He had a winning disposition, ready to gain everyone. As for his conduct toward his enemies, he did not call for fire from heaven to destroy them, but shed many tears for those who shed his blood: “O Jerusalem…” (Matt 23:37); and upon the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). So if we want to be minded like Christ, let us consider how he carried himself toward his Father, toward his friends, toward his enemies, yes, toward the devil himself. When the devil comes to us through a wife, children, friends, and the like, we must do as Christ did and bid him, “Avoid, Satan” (Matt 4:10). And when we have to deal with those who have the spirit of the devil in them, we must not return reproach for reproach, but answer them, “It is written.”

66. When we find any grace worked in us, we should have a holy esteem of ourselves, as when we are tempted to sin. What! Shall I, who am an heir of heaven, a king, a conqueror, the son of God, a free man, stain myself? God has put a crown upon my soul, and shall I throw my crown into the dirt? No; I will be more honorable than that. These are not proud thoughts, but thoughts befitting our estate.

67. Those who are infatuated with the false luster of the world lack spiritual light. Christ himself, when he was here upon the earth, lived a hidden life; only at certain times did some beams break out. So let it comfort us that our glory is hidden in Christ. Now it is clouded by the malice of wicked men and by our own weaknesses. But let us comfort ourselves with this: we are glorious in the eyes of God and his angels.

68. As people grow a great deal after a bout of sickness, so God’s children grow, especially after their falls, sometimes in humility, sometimes in patience. We may observe that plants and herbs grow at the root in winter, in the leaf in summer, and in the seed in autumn. So it is with Christians: sometimes they appear humble, sometimes spiritual and joyful, and sometimes they grow in spiritual courage.

69. What we drew from the first Adam was the displeasure of God, but we draw from the second Adam the favor of God. From the first Adam we drew corruption; from the second Adam we draw grace. From the first Adam we drew misery and death, and all the miseries that follow death; we draw from the second Adam life and happiness. Whatever we had from the first Adam, we have it repaid more abundantly in the second.

70. Grace makes us glorious, because it puts glory upon the soul. It carries the soul above all earthly things. It tramples the world under her feet. It prevails against the corruptions that defeat ordinary people. A Christian who has grace is as far above other men as a man is above the beasts.

71. It is evidence that we are gracious people if we can look upon the lives of others who are better than we are, and love them and esteem them as glorious. A person may look at grace in others with a malicious eye. Natural people are so vainglorious that when they see the lives of others outshine their own, instead of imitating them, they darken them. Whatever grace they will not imitate, they will slander. Therefore, when people can see grace in others and honor it in them, it is a sign that they have grace themselves. People can tolerate goodness in books, and can bear to hear good of those who are dead, but they cannot bear goodness in the lives of others before their eyes, especially when they come to compare themselves with them. They do not love to be outshone.

72. The sun runs its course, though we cannot see it move, and plants and herbs grow, though we cannot perceive them growing. In the same way, it does not follow that a Christian is not growing because he cannot see himself grow. But if Christians decline in their first love, or in some other grace, it is so that some other grace may grow and increase, such as their humility or their brokenness of heart. Sometimes they do not grow outward, so that they may grow at the root. After a setback, grace breaks out all the more; as we say, after a hard winter there usually follows a glorious spring.

73. God’s children never hate corruption more than when they have been overcome by it. The best people living have some corruptions which they do not see until temptations bring them out. Now when our corruptions are made known to us, this stirs up our hatred; hatred stirs up effort, and effort stirs up revenge. So God’s children should not be discouraged by their falls.

74. When the truth of grace is worked in a Christian, his desires go beyond his strength, and his prayers match his desires. That is why young Christians often call their condition into question: they cannot bring heaven down to earth; they cannot be perfect. But God wants us to depend upon him for the increase of grace, in daily expectation.

75. Christ is our pattern, whom we must strive to imitate. Our pattern must be exact, so that we may see our imperfections, be humbled for them, and live by faith in our sanctification.

76. Consider Christ upon the cross as a public person: when he was crucified and when he died, he died for my sins. This knowledge of Christ will be a crucifying knowledge. It will stir up my heart to treat my corruptions as my sins treated Christ. As he hated my sin, so this knowledge will work the same disposition in me, to hate this body of death and to treat it as it treated Christ, in like manner. As we see this clearly, it will transform us.

77. Let us join this kind of reasoning to our contemplation. God so hated pride that he became humble to the death of the cross to redeem me from it; and shall I be proud? And when we are stirred up to revenge, let us consider that Christ prayed for his enemies. When we are tempted to disobedience, let us think, God in my nature was obedient to the death; and shall I hold out for terms? And when we grow hard-hearted, let us consider that Christ became man so that he might show the tender compassion of his mercy. Let us reason like this whenever we are tempted to any sin, and it will be a means to transform us from our own cursed likeness into the likeness of Christ.

78. When we see God blasphemed, or anything like it, let us think: How would Christ feel about this if he were here? When he was here upon earth, how zealous he was against profaneness; and shall I be so cold? When he saw the multitude wandering like sheep without a shepherd, his heart yearned over them (Matt 9:36); and shall we see so many poor souls living in darkness, and our hearts not yearn?

79. We must look upon Christ not only for healing but as a perfect pattern to imitate. Why else did he live so long upon earth, but to show us an example? And let us know that we will be accountable for the good examples we have from others. There is not one example of a humble, holy, and industrious life that will not be laid to our charge, for God purposely lets such examples shine in our eyes so that we may take example by them.

80. As the spirits in the arteries quicken the blood in the veins, so the Spirit of God goes along with the word and makes it work. Paul speaks to Lydia, but the Spirit speaks to her heart. As it was with Christ himself, so it is with his members. He was conceived by the Spirit, anointed by the Spirit, sealed by the Spirit. He was led into the wilderness by the Spirit. He offered himself up by the Spirit, and by the Spirit he was raised from the dead. In the same way, the members of Christ correspond to Christ himself. All is by the Spirit: we are conceived by the Spirit. The same Spirit who sanctified him sanctifies us. But first we receive the Spirit by way of union, and then anointing follows after. When we are knit to Christ by the Spirit, then the Spirit works the same in us as in him.

81. When a proud wit and supernatural truths meet, such a man will insist on having something of his own. Therefore, in reading and studying heavenly truths, especially the gospel, we must come to God for his Spirit, and not venture on notions drawn from our own abilities, for God will curse such proud attempts.

82. Many people think that the knowledge of divine truths will make them divine, whereas it is the Holy Spirit alone who gives a taste and relish; for without the Spirit, their hearts will rise up when the word comes to them in particular and tells them, “You must deny yourself and venture your life for his truth.”

83. When people understand the Scriptures and yet are proud and malicious, we must not let it make us stumble, for their hearts were never subdued. They understand supernatural things by human reason, and not by divine light.

84. Those who survey land are very exact in everything, but the poor man who owns it knows the use of the ground better and delights in it more, because it is his own. So it is with ministers who can speak exactly of heavenly truths yet have no share in them; but the poor soul who hears them rejoices and says, “These things are mine.”

85. This life is a life of faith, for God will test the truth of our faith, so that the world may see that God has servants who will depend on his bare word. It would be nothing to be a Christian if we saw everything here. But God will have his children live by faith and take the promises upon his word.

86. The nature of hope is to expect what faith believes. What could the joys of heaven do for us if it were not for our hope? Hope is the anchor of the soul. Cast into heaven, it steadies the soul in all the troubles, upheavals, and confusions that we meet with daily.

87. It is too much curiosity to search into particulars, such as what the glory of the soul will be, and what the glory of the body will be. Rather, let us study to make a gracious use of them, and in humility say, “Lord, what is sinful man, that thou shouldst so advance him?” (Ps 8:4). The consideration of this should make us humble ourselves and in humility give thanks beforehand, as Peter did (1 Pet 1:3-4). When he thought of an inheritance that is immortal and undefiled and does not fade, he gave thanks: “Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us…”

88. When we see people look big and swell with the things of this life, let us, with a kind of holy dignity, think of our happiness in heaven and carry ourselves accordingly. If we see anything in this world, let us say to our souls, “This is not what I look for.” Or when we hear of anything that is good, let us say, “I can hear this, and therefore this is not what I look for.” Or when we understand anything here below, let us say, “This is not the thing I look for, ‘but for things that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor that ever entered into the heart of man’” (1 Cor 2:9).

89. There are four things to observe in the nature of love: first, a high estimation of the one beloved; second, a desire to be joined to him; third, a settled contentment; and fourth, a desire to please the one beloved in all things. So in every Christian there is, first, a high estimation of God and of Christ. He chooses him above all things and speaks freely in his praise. Second, he desires to be united to him, and where this desire is, there is fellowship. He will open his mind to him in prayer and go to him for counsel in everything he deliberates. Third, he places his contentment in him alone, for in his worst conditions he is at peace and quiet if he may have God’s face shine upon him. Fourth, he seeks to please him, for he labors to be in such a condition that God may delight in him. His love stirs up his soul to remove everything distasteful. It goes seeking, as David did: “Is there never a one left of the house of Saul to whom I may do good for Jonathan’s sake?” (2 Sam 9:1).

90. Infirmities in God’s children preserve their grace. That is why, in God’s Scripture, where God honors the saints, their weaknesses are made known. Jacob wrestled with God and prevailed (Gen 32:24), but he limped. And to Peter it was said, “Upon this rock will I build my church” (Matt 16:18); yet also, “Get thee behind me, Satan” (Matt 16:23). Paul was exalted above measure with revelations, but he had the messenger of Satan to buffet him (2 Cor 12:7).

91. It is the poisonous nature of man to quench a great deal of good for the sake of a little evil. But Christ cherishes a little grace, though there is a great deal of corruption with it, which is nevertheless as offensive to him as smoke. Therefore we should labor to win all we can by love and meekness.

92. Christians find their corruptions more offensive to them than they did when they were in the state of nature, and that is why they think their condition is not good. But the corruption boils up more now because it is restrained.

93. The more will, the more sin. When we venture on sinful courses deliberately, it wastes our comfort exceedingly. When we fall into sin against conscience and abuse our Christian liberty, God brings us back again by some severe affliction. There will be a cloud between God’s face and us, and he will withhold his comforts for a long time. Therefore let no one venture on sin, for God will take a course with him that will be little to his ease.

94. The reason ordinary Christians have more loving souls than people of greater abilities is that great people have corruptions to match their abilities. Great gifts, great doubts. They are entangled with arguments and study to inform their brains, while others are warmed with affection. A poor Christian does not care for cold disputes. Instead of disputing, he loves; and that is why a poor soul goes to heaven with more joy while others are entangled.

95. Many people are troubled with cold affections, and then they think to work love out of their own hearts, which are like a barren wilderness. But we must beg of God the Spirit of love. We must not bring love to God, but fetch love from him.

96. When we love things baser than ourselves, it is like a sweet stream running into a sewer. Since our love, then, is the best thing we have, and no one deserves it more than God, let him have our love, yes, the strength of our love, so that we may love him “with all our souls, and with all our mind, and with all our strength” (Mark 12:30).

97. As the sun, once it has climbed to any height, scatters the clouds, so a Christian is at his best when he can scatter doubts and fears, when in distress he can do as David did and comfort himself in the Lord his God.

98. Many people would like to be in Canaan as soon as they are out of Egypt; they would be at the highest point immediately. But God will lead us through the wilderness of temptations and afflictions until we come to heaven. And it is part of our Christian meekness to submit to God, and not to grumble because we are not yet as we would like to be. Let us rather magnify the mercies of God, which work in us any love of good things, and praise him that he grants us any beginnings at all.

99. As noblemen’s children have tutors to guide them, so God’s children have the Spirit telling them, “This you should do, and that you should not do.” The Spirit not only changes us, but leads us forward into holiness. Wicked people have the Spirit knocking and longing to enter, but they will not listen; God’s children, however, have the Spirit dwelling in them.

100. A Christian is now still under age, and therefore not fit to possess everything he has a title to. Yet so much is allotted to him as will guide him and give him passage to heaven. So if he is in want, he has contentment; in suffering, he has patience; and so on. All things are his, what he lacks as well as what he has.

101. The word of God is truly in our hearts when it rules in the soul, when it rules our thoughts, affections, and conduct, so that we dare not do anything contrary to it without being checked. Who can get out what God’s finger has written in our hearts? No fire, no stake, no temptation whatever.

102. We will never be satisfied, to our comfort, that the Scripture is the word of God unless we know it from itself, by its own light. And it shows itself abundantly to a believer in humbling the soul and changing the mind and conduct. When the word is only in the brain, then if a temptation comes that is stronger than our faith, we despair. The word is far from those who can only discuss and talk about it, when they see it only as a natural truth, when they look on holy things in a human way rather than a divine one.

103. When the word dwells in the heart as a close companion, to direct, counsel, and comfort, that is a sign it is there. The devil knows what is good and hates it; therefore knowledge alone is nothing. But when the promise changes the very temper of the heart, then it is engrafted.

104. God excludes no one, if we do not exclude ourselves. Therefore you, and you, whoever you are, man or woman: if you will come and take Christ on his own terms, as your Lord and husband, for better for worse, with persecutions, afflictions, crosses, and all the rest, take Christ this way, and take him forever, and then you will be saved.

105. When we believe divine truths by the Spirit, they work on the heart and draw the affections after them. Therefore, if we believe the story of the gospel spiritually, our souls will be carried to love it and embrace it with joy and comfort.

106. We may be brought very low, but we will not be confounded. Yet we will be brought as near to confusion as may be, to show us the emptiness of created things. In the judgment of the world we may be confounded, but a hand of mercy will lift us up again. Let the depth of misery and desolation be what it will, we will not be put to shame.

107. The reason God’s children often doubt their salvation with great perplexity is that they have a principle of nature in them as well as a principle of grace. Corruption will breed doubts. As rotten wood breeds worms, and as vermin come out of putrefaction, so doubts and fears come from the remainder of corruption.

108. For lack of watchfulness, God often gives us up to such a perplexed condition that we will not know that we are in grace. Though we may have a principle of grace in us, we will not see it, and may even go out of the world in darkness.

109. We ought never to deny the truth, yet neither are we to confess it at all times. For good actions and graces are like princes who come out attended by their retinue of circumstances; and if the right circumstances are lacking in our confession, the action is spoiled. What is true of words is true of actions: “A word spoken in season is like apples of gold with pictures of silver” (Prov 25:11). Therefore discretion must be our guide, for speech is good only when it is better than silence.

110. It is not lawful for any weak believer to be present at the Mass. Dinah ventured abroad and came home ruined. It is just of God that those who trifle with these things should be caught, as many idle travelers are. It is only fitting that those who love danger should perish in it.

111. Whoever will not deny himself now in a lust, in a lawless desire, will not deny himself where his life is at stake in a time of trial. Whoever has not learned to mortify the flesh in a time of peace will hardly be brought to it in a time of trouble.

112. We must not only stand for the truth, but stand for it in a holy manner, and not swagger for it as proud people do. We must observe what Peter says in his first epistle (1 Pet 3:15), that we are to do it “in meekness and fear.” We must not bring passion to God’s cause, nor must our lives give our tongues the lie.

113. There is such a distance between corrupt nature and grace that we need a great deal of preparation. And though there is nothing in preparation to bring the soul to have grace, yet it brings the soul nearer than those who are still wild in their natural state.

114. Nature cannot work above its own powers, just as vapors cannot rise higher than the sun draws them. Our hearts are naturally shut, and God opens them by his Spirit in the use of the means. The children of Israel in the wilderness saw wonder upon wonder, and yet when they came to be tested, they could not believe.

115. It is God’s free love that has placed us in these happy times of the gospel, and it is his further love that chooses some and refuses others. This should therefore teach us sound humility, considering that God must open our hearts, or else we are eternally shut.

116. Since grace is not of our own getting, this should teach us patience toward those who are under us, waiting to see whether God will at any time give them repentance. Though God does not work the first time, or the second time, we must still wait, like the man who lay at the pool of Bethesda waiting for the moving of the water.

117. One who attends to the word of God does not only know the words, which are only the shell; he knows the things themselves. He has spiritual light to know what faith and repentance are. At such a time there is a spiritual echo in the soul, as in Psalm 27:8: “When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart answered, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.” Therefore people must judge their profit from the word not by carrying it in their memories, but by how much better it enables them to bear a cross and to resist temptation, and so on.

118. There should be no intimate familiarity except where we judge people faithful. And toward those whom we judge faithful on good grounds, we must be gentle and easy to be entreated; we wrong them if we act as strangers toward them.

119. True faith works love, and then it works by love. When it has produced that holy affection, it works by it; just as when a plant is grafted and takes, it grows at once and shows its growth in the fruit.

120. The word of God is older than the Scripture, for the first word of Scripture was the promise, the seed of the woman should break the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15). The Scripture is only the manner of conveying the word of God. This Scripture is the rule by which we must walk, and also the judge of all controversies of religion; and in spite of the Church of Rome, it will judge them. Saint Augustine has an excellent discourse on this: “When there is contention between brothers, witnesses are brought; but in the end the words, the will of the dead man, are brought forth, and these words decide. Now, shall the words of a dead man be of force, and shall not the word of Christ decide? Therefore look to the Scripture.”

121. All idolaters who worship images, who trust in “broken cisterns” (Jer 2:13), will be ashamed. Let those be ashamed who trust in their own wits and schemes. All who puff themselves up over any earthly thing will be ashamed, for these crutches will be taken away, and then they will fall. These false reports will put them all to shame.

122. This is the way faith is brought into the heart. First, there must be a judicious, convincing knowledge of the emptiness of everything within us and outside us that seems to give the soul any support; and then the soul is carried to lay hold on Christ. As David says, “I have seen an end of all perfection” (Ps 119:96). Second, the soul must be convinced that there is an excellence in religion above everything in the world, or else it will not rest, for the heart of man will choose the best; and when it is persuaded that the gain in religion is above the world, then it yields. Third, there must be a consideration of the firmness of the ground on which the promise is built. Hold God to it, therefore: he must either make his promise good or disappoint us. And he will be sure to make it good, in forgiving our sin, in our progress in grace, and in strength against temptations in time of trouble.

123. Man is naturally of a hasty spirit, so that if he does not have what he wants, when he wants it, he gives up and throws off everything. Nothing marks a greater difference between a child of God and one who lacks faith than this hastiness. Such people, though they may be outwardly respectable, are of this mind: they will labor to be sure of something here; they must have present pleasures and present profits. If God will save them in that way, well and good; if not, they will take their chances.

124. There are many things that hinder this grace of waiting. There is a great deal of tedious time, and we meet many crosses, such as the scorn and reproach of this world, and many other trials. God also seems to be doing anything but performing his promise. But let us comfort ourselves with this: he waits to do good to those who wait on him.

125. We should labor to agree together in love, for whatever distinguishes one Christian from another is only a matter of petty things. Grace knows no difference; the worms know no difference; the day of judgment knows no difference. In the worst things we are all equally base, and in the best things we are all equally happy. Only in this world will God have distinctions, for order’s sake; otherwise there is no difference.

126. Christians are like many people of great wealth who do not know how to make use of it. We do not live up to who we are. Bring a large faith, and we will have large grace and comfort. We are cramped in our own hearts; therefore labor to have a large faith, answerable to our large riches. And though Christians are low enough in outward things, and often poorer than others, yet they are rich, for Christ is rich to them in their crosses and humiliations. What they lack in this world will be made up to them in grace and glory hereafter.

127. We ought daily to imitate Christ in our callings and be good to all, as the apostle says: “Be abundant always in the works of the Lord” (1 Cor 15:58). Let us labor to have large hearts, so that we may do good seasonably, abundantly, and tirelessly. The love of Christ will produce in us the same impression that was in him.

128. No one comes to God without Christ; no one comes to Christ without faith; no one comes to faith without the means; no one enjoys the means except where God has sent them. Therefore, where there were no means of salvation before the coming of Christ, there was no visible intention on God’s part, ordinarily, to save those people.

129. Preventing mercy, the mercy that goes before us, is the greatest. How many favors God bestows on us before we ever ask! We never asked for our being, nor for the tender love our parents bore toward us in our tender years. We never asked for our baptism and our being grafted into Christ. What a motive this is to stir us up, so that when we come of age we may plead with the Lord and say, “You cared for me before I had any being; therefore you will care much more now for me, whom you have reconciled to yourself, and remember me in mercy for the time to come.”

130. If God’s mercy could be overcome by our sins, we would overcome it every day. It must be a rich mercy that can satisfy; and therefore the apostle never speaks of it without the dimensions of love, the height and depth (Eph 3:18). We lack words, we lack thoughts, to conceive of it. We should therefore labor to shape our souls to have rich and large thoughts and conceptions of so large a mercy.

131. God is rich in mercy, not only to our souls, but in providing everything we need. He keeps us from harm, and so he is called a “buckler”; he gives all good things, and so he is called a “sun.” He keeps us in a good condition and advances us higher, as far as our nature is capable.

132. The sun shines on the moon and stars, and they shine on the earth. In the same way God shines in goodness on us, so that we might shine on others by extending goodness to them, especially to those of the household of faith.

133. Scripture calls us good and righteous because our understandings, our wills, and our affections are our own; but so far as they are holy, they are the Holy Spirit’s. We are the principal agents in our actions, considered simply as actions; but the Holy Spirit is the principal agent of the holiness of the action. The gracious government of the new creature comes from the Spirit. If the Holy Spirit withdraws his government, and does not guide and assist us in every holy action, we come to a standstill and can go no further.

134. Every man by nature is a god to himself. He is so not only in turning everything back upon himself, but in undertaking divine things in his own strength, as if he were the principal agent in his own actions, coming to them in the strength of his own wits and in the strength of his own reason. This seed is in all men by nature, until God has turned a man out of himself by the power of the Holy Spirit.

135. Those who do not care for the word are strangers to the Spirit; and those who do not care for the Spirit never make right use of the word. The word is nothing without the Spirit; it is animated and quickened by the Spirit. The Spirit and the word are like the veins and arteries in the body, which give quickening and life to the whole body. Therefore where the word is most revealed, there is the most Spirit; but where Christ is not opened in the gospel, there the Spirit is not visible at all.

136. When Christ comes into the soul by the Spirit, he deals with it familiarly, disclosing the secrets of God the Father and showing what love there is in God toward us. The Spirit teaches us how to conduct ourselves whenever we are neglected, and when we are at a loss it opens a way for us. It resolves our doubts, comforts us in our discouragements, and makes us go boldly to God in all our needs.

137. We may know who lives in a house by observing who goes in and who comes out. In the same way we may know that the Spirit dwells in us by observing what sanctified speech he sends out, what delight he has worked in us toward things that are special, and what value we set on them. A carnal man, by contrast, lowers the value of spiritual things, because his soul clings to something he takes more joy in; and this is why he slights the directions and comforts of the word. But those in whom the Spirit dwells will consult with it. They will not regard what flesh and blood says, but will follow the directions of the word and Spirit.

138. A Christian will not do ordinary things without first sanctifying them and dedicating himself, his person, and his actions to God; and so he sees God in all things. A carnal man sees only reason in everything he does; but a Christian sees God in the crosses that come to humble him, and he makes everything spiritual. Yet because there is a double principle in him, there will be some stirring of the flesh in his actions, and sometimes the worse part will appear most. But here is the excellence of a Christian’s condition: the Spirit will work it out at last. It will never leave his heart and conscience alone until it is worked out little by little.

139. The Spirit of God may be known to be in weak Christians. As the soul is known to be in the body by the pulse, so the Spirit reveals itself in them by pulses: by groaning, sighing, and complaining that things are as they are with them and that they are no better, so that they are out of love with themselves. This is a good sign that the Spirit is there in some measure.

140. Where the Spirit dwells richly in anyone, there is boldness in God’s cause and a contempt of the world: He can do all things through Christ that strengthens him (Phil 4:13). His mind is content and settled. He can bear with the weaknesses of others and not be offended, for it is the weak in spirit who take offense. He is ready in his desires to say, “Come, Lord Jesus; come quickly” (Rev 22:20). But where corruption holds sway, the cry is, “Oh stay a little, that I may recover my strength” (Ps 39:13); that is, wait a while so that I may repent. For the soul is not fit to appear before God except where the Spirit dwells in grace and comfort.

141. When we are young, carnal delights lead us, and when we are old, covetousness drowns us; so if our knowledge is not spiritual, we will never hold out. And the reason so many despair at the hour of death is that they had knowledge without the Spirit.

142. God gives comforts in the exercise and practice of grace. We must not, therefore, snatch at comforts before we are fit for them. When we perform his precepts, God performs his comforts. If we want to prove indeed that we love God, we must keep his commandments. We must not keep one, but all. It must be universal obedience, drawn from the root of the heart, and that out of love.

143. It is a true rule in divinity that God never takes away any blessing from his people without giving them a better one. When Elijah was taken from Elisha into heaven, God doubled his Spirit upon Elisha. If God takes away a wife or children, he gives better things in their place. The disciples parted with Christ’s bodily presence, but he sent them the Holy Spirit.

144. God wants to be known by us in those things in which it is our comfort to know him. In all our devotions, the whole council of heaven comforts us jointly. The second Person prays to the Father, and he sends the third; and as they have distinct titles, so they all agree in their love and care to comfort us.

145. In trouble, we are prone to forget everything we have heard and read that serves for our comfort. Why is it, then, that a man comes to think of something he would otherwise never have called to mind? The Holy Spirit brings it to his remembrance. He is a Comforter, bringing useful things to mind at the very times when we most need them.

146. Those who do not care for the word of God reject their own comfort. All comfort must be drawn from the Scriptures, which are the breasts of consolation. Many are so brought up by their education that they know the truth and are able to talk about it, but they lack the Spirit of truth. That is why all their knowledge vanishes in a time of trial and temptation.

147. No one is a true theologian but the child of God. He alone knows holy things by a holy light and life. Other men may speak of these things, yet they do not know them. Take the most mysterious points in religion, such as justification, adoption, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, the sweet benefit of the communion of saints, the excellent condition of a Christian in extremity, knowing what is to be done on every occasion, and inward sight of and sorrow for sin: they do not know what these things mean. For however they may talk about them, the things themselves are mysteries. Repentance is a mystery; joy in the Holy Spirit is a mystery. No natural man, however great a scholar he may be, knows these things by experience. He knows them as physicians know medicine, from their books, but not as a sick man knows it by experience.

148. It is a great scandal to religion that men of great learning and gifts are wicked men. Because of this, the world comes to think that religion is nothing but an empty name. Without this inward anointing, such men never see spiritual things by experience. Though they know these things in their heads, secretly in their hearts they scorn conversion and mortification. And though by virtue of his calling such a man may speak of these things excellently and with admiration, yet in his own case he has no power of them in his heart.

149. It is good and comforting to compare our condition with the condition of the people of the world. However much they may excel in riches and learning, we have cause to bless God, as Christ says in Matthew 11:25: “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” In all outward discouragements, when things are not going well with us, it is good to reason with ourselves this way: Would you exchange your condition for that of the people of the world? God has raised you to a higher order. Let them have their greatness. Alas, they are miserable creatures, in spite of all they enjoy.

150. If we desire to have the Spirit, we must wait while doing good, as the apostles waited many days before the Comforter came. We must also empty our souls of self-love and of love for the things of the world, and willingly welcome those crosses that bring our souls out of love with them. The children of Israel in the wilderness had no manna until they had used up their onions and garlic; so this world must fall out of favor with us before we can be spiritual. Let us therefore labor to see the excellence of spiritual things, and how cheap and poor all the glory of the world is compared with them. Thinking about these things and considering them will make us more and more spiritual.

151. The Holy Spirit would not come until Christ had reconciled his Father by his death, and after that had risen again as evidence of full satisfaction. This was because the Holy Spirit is the best gift of God, and whatever grace or comfort was received before was received by virtue of this gift. So the sending of the Holy Spirit is the best fruit of God’s reconciliation.

152. Let some particular judgment come upon any man, and immediately his conscience calls back to mind the sins he has committed. This awakening of conscience shows that we are sinful creatures.

153. Every man by nature, even the wisest, until he is in Christ, is a slave to the devil, who misuses his wits and gifts and makes him work out his own damnation. This is not the condition of a few fools, but of the greatest and wisest in the world. Satan leads them to honors and pleasures as a sheep is led by a green bough. He goes with the current of man’s nature, and so he is never noticed.

154. Picture a man who is called before a judgment seat, guilty of many crimes. Yet the judge offers him his book, intending to save him by that means; but he cannot read. Now he is condemned, partly for his former crimes, but especially because he cannot read and so cannot have the benefit of the law. So it is with a wicked man who does not believe in Christ: he is condemned because the remedy is prepared and he takes no hold of it. In this sense, as some theologians put it, no sin but unbelief condemns a man; for if a man could believe and repent, no sin would be harmful to his salvation. We need, therefore, to look to our faith, since lack of belief seals a man up under sin. A man is imprisoned in his conscience until he comes to Christ, and his conscience is his jailer. His conscience, enlightened by the law, tells him that he is guilty of such and such sins, and on that ground holds him for further judgment.

155. There is a miserable deceit in sin. By nature, men will deny sin or else play it down, as Adam did, and as Saul did when Samuel came to convict him. “I have,” he says, “done the commandment of the Lord.” When he was driven from that, he said he had only spared them for sacrifice. But when nothing would satisfy, he said, “then, I pray thee, honor me before the people” (1 Sam 15:30). Things we cannot justify we will still excuse, unless God comes by his Spirit. We are ready to shift them off. But when the Spirit comes and takes away all these fig leaves, he convicts a man of his miserable condition, and not only in general; beyond that, the Spirit, working together with the word, brings him to confess, “I am the man.”

156. The affections of grief and sorrow follow the discovery of sin through the ministry of the word. Where the judgment is convinced, the affections are stirred up with hatred against that sin; and where this is not so, there is no real conviction. When a man cries for mercy as for his life, this is evidence of a sound condition. Whoever is truly convicted will be as glad of a pardon as a condemned criminal standing at the bar.

157. It is the devil’s strategy to labor to make us think lightly of the gracious work of conviction. He knows that whatever is built on a false foundation will come to nothing, and therefore he makes us think lightly of the work of examining and searching ourselves. But be careless here, and you will be careless in everything; for if you are careless in searching and examining yourself, you will also be careless in your repentance and obedience.

158. By nature, men labor to smother every check of conscience with sensuality. Men are unwilling to know themselves as they really are. They are of the devil’s mind: they do not want to be tormented before their time (Matt 8:29). When such men are alone, they are afraid of themselves. As the elephant will not come near the water because it has an ugly shape and does not want to see itself, so men by nature will not come near the light, for fear that they would see their ugly deformities. For nature is so foul that when a man sees himself, unless he is brought into a better condition, it will drive him to despair.

159. We ought to have especially high thoughts of the lordship of Christ, as the supreme Lord over all our enemies, the fear of death and the wrath of God; yes, over whatever is truly terrible. He has freed us from the fear of it.

160. No sin is so great but the satisfaction of Christ and his mercy is greater. His mercy is beyond comparison with that of a father or mother. Their mercies are only rays and trails to lead us up to the mercy of God in Christ.

161. The greatest grievance of a carnal man is that he cannot go to heaven in his full swing, that he cannot enjoy his full liberty. And therefore he labors to suppress all the ordinances of God as much as he can.

162. The quintessence and the spirit of the things we ask for in prayer are in God, such as joy, peace and contentment. For without this joy and peace, what are all the things in the world? And when we lack these outward things, if we have him we have all, because the spirit of all things is in him.

163. Prayer is a venting of our desires to God from a sense of our own wants, and whoever is aware of his own wants is empty. “A poor man speaks supplications” (Prov 18:23).

164. Praying is not as easy a matter as people think, and that because of the unspiritualness of our nature compared with the duty itself, which is to draw near to a holy God. We cannot bear to separate ourselves from our lusts. There is also a great rebellion in our hearts against anything that is good. Satan, too, is a special enemy; for when we go to God in prayer, he knows we are going to fetch help and strength against him, and therefore he opposes it all he can. But though many people mumble over a few prayers, in truth no one can pray as he ought except the one who is within the covenant of grace.

165. A child of God may pray and not be heard, because at that time he may be a child of anger. If any sin lies unrepented of, we are in no fit condition to pray. Will a king regard the petition of a traitor who intends to go on in his rebellion? Therefore, when we come to God, we should renew our resolve to please him better. Then we should remember the Scripture and search out all the promises as part of our best riches. And when we have them, we should hold God to his promise. This will make us strong and faithful in our prayers, since we know that we never pray to him in vain.

166. When we pray, God often refuses to give us comfort because we are not on good terms with him. Therefore we should always look back over our past life. Perhaps God sees you running to this or that sin, and before he will hear you, you must renew your repentance for that sin. For our nature is such that it will knock at every door and search every corner before we will come to God, like the woman in the Gospel who sold all before she came to Christ (Mark 5:25-27). So God will not hear us until we forsake all helps and all false dependence on the creature. Then he gets the greatest glory, and we have the greatest sweetness in our souls. The water that comes from the fountain is the sweetest; and so divine comforts are sweetest when we see nothing in the creature. And he is the best judge of the fittest time to give us comfort.

167. When God intends to bestow any blessing on his church or his children, he will pour out on them the Spirit of prayer; and as all pray for each one, so each one prays for all. This is a great comfort to weak Christians: when they cannot pray, the prayers of others will prevail for them.

168. A fool’s eye is in every corner, and fools’ affections are scattered. The only object of the soul is that “one thing needful” (Luke 10:42), and this will fill every corner of it. When a man has sucked the pleasure out of worldly comforts, they are then nothing but dead things; but grace is always fresh, and always yields fresh and full satisfaction.

169. Desires are the spiritual pulse of the soul, always beating to and fro and showing its condition. They are therefore the distinguishing marks of a Christian, and show more truly what he is than his actions do.

170. In the ark there was manna, which was a type of our sacraments; the Testament, which was a type of the word preached; and the rod of Aaron, which was a type of government. Wherever, therefore, there is spiritual manna, the word preached, and the rod of Aaron in the government, there is a true church, though there may be many personal corruptions.

171. The bitterest things in religion are sweet. There is a sweetness in reproofs, when God deals with our corruptions and whispers to us that this and that are dangerous, and that if we cherish them, they will bring us to hell. The word of God is sweet to a Christian whose heart has been touched. Is not pardon sweet to a condemned man, and riches sweet to a poor man, and favor sweet to a man in disgrace, and liberty sweet to a man in captivity? So everything that comes from God is sweet to a Christian whose heart has been touched with the sense of sin.

172. It is not seeing that is happiness, but sight together with enjoyment and possession. There are only two powers of the soul, understanding and will. When both of these have their perfection, that is happiness: when the understanding sees, and the will draws the affections after it. So these things come together to make up our everlasting happiness: the excellence of the thing, together with the sight of it and possession of it.

173. We see by experience that one love succeeds another. He who loves for beauty will despise his first love when he sees a better. So it is in the soul between heavenly and earthly things. When the soul sees more excellence and more fruitfulness in heavenly things, then the love of earthly things falls away in the heart. As Saint Paul says, “I account all things dross and dung in comparison of Christ” (Phil 3:8).

174. In prayer we tempt God if we ask for what we do not labor for. Our effort must back up our devotion. For to ask for a livelihood and not put our hands to the work is like knocking at the door and yet pulling the door toward us so that it does not open. So in this case, if we pray for grace and neglect the spring from which it comes, how can our prayer succeed? It was a rule in ancient times, “Lay your hand on the plow, and then pray.” No one should pray without plowing, or plow without praying.

175. Wisdom is gained by experience in a variety of conditions. Someone who is carried along in one condition has no wisdom to judge another person’s state, or to know how to conduct himself toward a Christian in another condition. Because he was never brought low himself, he looks down on him very loftily. And therefore, so that we may conduct ourselves as Christians, meekly, lovingly and tenderly toward others, God will have us go to heaven through a variety of conditions, not in one uniform condition, as regards outward things.

176. There is no condition out of which a Christian does not pick good material, as a good craftsman will sometimes make a fine piece of work out of a poor piece of material, to show his skill. A gracious man is not overly dejected when brought low, nor overly lifted up by abundance, but carries himself in an even manner, as becomes a Christian, in all conditions. By contrast, those who have not been brought up in Christ’s school, nor trained in a variety of conditions, learn to do nothing. If they abound, they are proud; if they are cast down, they murmur and fret and are dejected, as if there were no providence to rule the world.

177. There is a venom and a vanity in everything without grace, and we are tainted with it. But when grace comes, it takes the sting out of all evil, and then it finds a good in the worst.

178. Christianity is a busy trade. If we look up to God, what a world of things is required of a Christian to carry himself as he should: a spirit of faith, a spirit of love, a spirit of joy and delight in him above all. And if we look to people, a Christian has duties to his superiors, a spirit of submission; toward equals he must carry a spirit of love; and toward those beneath him, a spirit of pity and generosity. If we look to Satan, we have a commandment to resist him and to watch against the tempter. If we look to the world, it is full of snares; there must be a great deal of spiritual watchfulness so that we are not caught by surprise. If we look to ourselves, many duties are required: to carry our vessels in honor and to walk within the bounds of the Holy Spirit, to preserve the peace of our consciences, and to walk in a way that matches our worth, as sons of God and co-heirs with Christ. A Christian must allow himself no sin; he must be a vessel prepared for every good work; he must shirk no service that God calls him to. And therefore the life of a Christian is a busy trade.

179. Sincerity is the perfection of Christians. So let us not allow Satan to deceive us. We do all things when we endeavor to do all things, and purpose to do all things, and are grieved when we cannot do better; then in some measure we do all things.

180. A Christian is able to do great things, but it is in Christ who strengthens him. The understanding is ours, the affections are ours, the will is ours; but the sanctifying of these, and the carrying of them on supernaturally so that we act spiritually, is not ours but Christ’s.

181. We have from Christ not only the life of grace at the first, and then a spiritual power corresponding to it in turn, by which our powers are renewed so that we are able to do something in our will; we also have the deed itself. The doing is from Christ: he strengthens us for the performance of all good.

182. God preserves his own work by his Spirit. First he moves us to act, and then he preserves us in acting and arms us against the obstacles.

183. Though Christ is a head of influence that flows into every member, yet he is a voluntary head, acting according to his own good pleasure and the needs of his members. Sometimes we need more grace, and then it flows into us from him accordingly. Sometimes we need to know our own weakness, and then he leaves us to ourselves. He does this so that we may know that without him we cannot stand, and may know, through the sense of our imperfections, how necessary his guidance to heaven is, and may see weakness and corruptions in us that we thought we did not have. So Moses, a meek man, was tempted by God’s permission to murmur, and David, a mild man, to cruelty; they thought they did not have those corruptions in them.

184. God is forced to put our sins to death by afflictions, because we do not put them to death by the Spirit. In the use of holy means, God does us favors out of his own tender heart; but corrections and judgments are always forced from him.

185. For the most part we may read the cause of any judgment in the judgment itself. If the judgment is shame, then the cause was pride. If the judgment is want, then our sin was in abundance: we did not learn to abound as we should when we had plenty.

186. We say of those who make bold with their bodies, who use them hard and rush into this thing and that thing, that in their youth they may bear it out, but the debt will come due afterward; they will feel it in their bones when they are old. So one may say of venturous people who make no conscience of running into sin: these things will come due to them another day. They will hear of them in time of sickness, or in the hour of death. Therefore take heed of sinning on the vain hope that you will wear it out, for at one time or another it will stick to you.

187. When God visits us with sickness, we should think that our business lies more in heaven with God than with men or medicine. When David dealt directly and plainly with God and confessed his sins, God forgave him and healed his body too (Ps 32:5).

188. It would be a thousand times better for many people to be cast on a bed of sickness and to be God’s prisoners than to use the health they have so scandalously and unfruitfully.

189. It is an art in which we should labor to become expert: to consider God’s gracious dealing in the midst of his corrections, so that in the midst of them we may have thankful, cheerful and fruitful hearts. We will not have such hearts unless we have some matter for thankfulness. Consider, therefore: Does God make me weak? He might have struck me with death. Or, if he had not taken away my mortal life, he might still have given me up to a spiritual death, to a hard heart, to despair.

190. In this latter age of the world God does not use the same dispensation. He does not always visit sin outwardly, for his government is now more inward. Therefore we should take all the more heed, for he may give us up to blindness, to deadness, to complacency, which are the greatest judgments that can befall us.

191. We should labor to judge ourselves for the things the world takes no notice of, for spiritual and inward things: for stirrings of pride, of worldliness, of revenge, of complacency, of unthankfulness and similar unkindness toward God, and for barrenness in good duties, which the world cannot see. Let these humble our hearts. For when we make no conscience of spiritual sins, God gives us up to open breaches that stain and blemish our profession.

192. Many people set aside the power of grace and rest in common civil things, in outward performances. But when we do not regard the manner, God does not regard the matter of the things we do. And therefore he often punishes even for the performance of good duties, as we see in 1 Corinthians 11:30-31.

193. Our whole life under the gospel should be nothing but thankfulness and fruitfulness. Take heed, therefore, of turning the grace of God into license. The state of the gospel requires that we should deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and live righteously and soberly and godly in the present world (Titus 2:12). Therefore, when we find ourselves otherwise, we should think, “Oh, this is not the life of a Christian under the gospel! The gospel requires a more fruitful, a more zealous way of life, more love to Christ.”

194. If someone grows angry when another person points out a spot on his garment, so ill-mannered is he, will we not judge him an unreasonable man? So too, when someone is told, “This will hinder your comfort another day,” would people swell with anger against the one who tells them, if they were not spiritually stupefied? Therefore let us take the benefit of the judgment of others among whom we live. This was David’s disposition when he was told of the danger as he was going to kill Nabal and his household. So we should bless God, and bless those who labor by their good counsel and advice to hinder us from any sinful course, whatever it is.

195. Those who gird up the loins of their souls and are careful of their ways are the only sound Christians. They are the only Christians who have true comfort, who can think of every condition and every estate with comfort.

196. It is a bad time to get grace when we should be using grace. Therefore, so that we may have less to do when we have enough to struggle with in sickness, and so that we may have nothing else to do when we die but to die and comfortably yield up our souls to God, let us be exact in our accounts every day.

197. God takes a safe course with his children, so that they may not be condemned with the world. He makes the world condemn them, so that they may not love the world. He makes the world hate them, so that they may not love the world but be crucified to the world. He makes the world to be crucified to them. Therefore they meet with crosses, abuses and wrongs in the world. Because he will not have them perish with the world, he sends them afflictions in the world and by the world.

198. If God did not meet us with timely correction, we would shame religion and shame Christ. And therefore God in mercy corrects us with fatherly correction.

199. In the governing of a Christian life we are naturally carried to second causes, whereas they are all only rods in God’s hands. Look, therefore, to the hand that strikes; look to God in everything. He chastens us, as David says in the matter of Shimei (2 Sam 16:10), and as Job says, “It is the Lord that hath given, and the Lord that hath taken away” (Job 1:21).

200. We often have occasion to bless God more for crosses than for comforts. There is a blessing hidden in the worst things for God’s children, as there is a cross in the best things for the wicked. There is a blessing in death, a blessing in sickness, a blessing in the hatred of our enemies, a blessing in all losses whatever. Therefore in our affections we should not only justify God, but glorify and magnify him for his mercy, that rather than let us be condemned with the world, he will take this course with us.

201. Though our salvation is sure, and we shall not be condemned with the world, the knowledge of this does not make us careless. For though God does not damn us with the world, he will sharply correct us here. And by a careful, sober life we might obtain many blessings, prevent many judgments and make our pilgrimage more comfortable. Therefore it shows neither grace nor sense to reason, “Because God will save me, I will take liberty.” No; though God will save you, he will take such a course with you, and you will endure such sharpness for your sin, that it will be more bitter than the sweetest of it was pleasant.

202. Gracious people in times of peace and quiet often underrate themselves and the graces of God in them, thinking that they lack faith, patience and love. Yet when God calls them out to the cross, they shine forth in the eyes of others in the example of a meek and quiet submission.

203. God often makes wicked people friends to his children without changing their disposition, by putting into their hearts some notion for the time that inclines them to favor. So in Nehemiah 2:8, God put it into the king’s heart to favor his people. So in Genesis 33:4, Esau was not changed; only God for the time changed his affections to favor Jacob. So God puts it into the hearts of many who are fundamentally wicked to favor the best people.

204. Usually, in the measure that we inordinately let loose our affections in times of peace and liberty, in that same measure we are cast down, or sunk even deeper in discomfort. When our adulterous hearts cleave to things more than becomes chaste hearts, it makes the cross sharper and more extreme.

205. A man is indeed never overcome, however much anyone vexes him in the world, until his conscience is cracked. If his conscience and his cause stand upright, he conquers, and is more than a conqueror.

206. Partial obedience is no obedience at all. Some will single out easy things that do not oppose their lusts and are not against their reputation, and in these they will do more than they need. But our obedience must be universal, to all God’s commandments, and that because he commands us.

207. In every evil work we are tempted to, we need delivering grace, just as in every good work we need assisting grace.

208. A Christian who knows in his own soul that he has good intentions to abstain from all evil may presume that God will help him against all evil works in the time to come.

209. We should watch and labor daily to continue in prayer, strengthening and backing our prayers with arguments from the word and promises, and marking how our prayers fare. When we shoot an arrow, we watch where it falls. When we send a ship to sea, we look for its return. When we sow seed, we look for a harvest. And so, when we sow our prayers into God’s bosom, shall we not look for an answer and observe how we fare? It is a seed of atheism to pray and not to look how we fare. But a sincere Christian will pray, and wait, and strengthen his heart with promises out of the word, and never leave off until God gives him a gracious answer.

210. Take a Christian: whatever he does, he does in fear. If he calls God Father, it is in fear. He eats and drinks in fear, as Saint Jude speaks of those who eat “without fear” (Jude 12). The true servant of God has fear accompanying him in all his actions, in his speech and recreations, in his food and drink. But the one who does not have this fear, how bold he is in wicked courses, and how loose in all his conduct! But observe a true Christian, and you will always see in him some expressions of a holy fear.

211. The relation of servant is of great consequence to put us in mind of our duty. If we will be God’s servants, we must make it good by obedience. We must resolve to come under his government and be at his command, or else he will say to us what he said to those in Judges 10:14: Go to the gods whom you have served. Therefore empty relations are worth nothing. If we profess ourselves God’s servants and do not show it by our obedience, it is only an empty title. Therefore let us make our relations good, at least in our affections, so that we may be able to say, “I desire to fear thy name” (Nehemiah 1:11).

212. In reading the Scriptures, let us compare experiences with rules, such as Nehemiah 1:8-9: If you sin, you shall be scattered; and if you return again, I will be merciful. We should practice this in our lives, to see how God has made good his threatenings in our corrections and his promises in our comforts.

213. Those who have had sweet communion with God and have lost it count every day as ten thousand until they have recovered it. And when Christ leaves his spouse, he does not forsake her altogether, but leaves something on her heart that makes her long after him. He absents himself so that he may enlarge the desires of the soul, and after the soul has him again, it will not let him go. He comes for our good, and he leaves us for our good. We should therefore judge rightly of our condition, and not think we are forsaken by God when we are in a time of desertion.

214. When people can find no comfort, yet when they set themselves to teach weaker Christians, they receive comfort themselves by reflection. So God rewards the conscientious performance of this duty of discourse: the things we did not understand so sweetly before, we understand better by discourse. This should teach us to love holy conversation, for besides the good we do to others, we are much bettered ourselves.

215. We may use God’s creatures, but not scrupulously or superstitiously, singling out one creature from another; nor yet may we use them as we please. There is a difference between a right and the use of a right. The magistrate may restrain the use of our right, and so may our weak brother, where our use would cause him to stumble. So although all things are ours, yet in using them we must be sober, not eating or drinking immoderately, nor using anything uncharitably so that others may take offense. For although we have a right to God’s bounty, our right and our use must be sanctified by the word and prayer.

216. Many people fall to questioning: “Oh, that I had assurance of my salvation! Oh, that I were a child of God!” Why, man, turn to obedience. “Yes, but I cannot, for it is the Spirit that enables.” Even so, come to holy exercises, though we do not have the Spirit; for many times in the midst of holy exercises God gives the Spirit. Therefore attend on the means until we have strength to obey. Wait on God’s ordinances until he stirs in your soul. All you who love your souls, attend on the means, and take care to sanctify the Lord’s Day: John was ravished in the Spirit on the Lord’s day (Rev 1:10).

217. God takes nothing away from his children without giving them something better in its place. Happy is the self-denial that is made up with joy in God. Happy is the poverty that is made up with grace and comfort. Therefore let us not fear anything God shall call us to in this world. It is hard to persuade flesh and blood of this; but those who find the experience of it as Christians also find particular comforts flowing from the presence of Christ’s Spirit. Saint Paul would not have gone without his whippings, if that meant missing his comforts.

218. Christ chiefly manifests himself to the Christian soul in times of affliction, because then the soul unites itself most to Christ. For in time of prosperity the soul scatters and loses itself in created things, but there is a uniting power in afflictions that makes the soul gather itself to God.

219. Christ took our nature on himself, and in that nature he suffered hunger and was subject to all infirmities. Therefore, when we are put to pains in our callings, to troubles for a good conscience, or to any hardship in the world, we must labor for contentment, because it is only with difficulty that we are made conformable to Christ.

220. There is no thing or condition that befalls a Christian in this life for which there is not a general rule in Scripture, and this rule is quickened by example, because it is practical knowledge. God does not only write his law in bare commandments, but he enlivens them with the practice of one or another of his servants. Who can read David’s Psalms and not read himself in them? He cannot be in any trouble but David is in the same.

221. As children in the womb have eyes and ears, not for that place but for a life in society afterward among people, where they will have use of all their members, so our life here is not for this world only, but for another. We have large capacities, large memories, large affections, large expectations. God does not give us large capacities and large affections for this world, but for heaven and heavenly things.

222. Take a Christian who has studied mortification, and you will see the life of Jesus in his sickness, in a great deal of patience and heavenly-mindedness, when his condition is above his power, and his strength above his condition.

223. As people cherish young plants at first and fence them about with hedges and other things to keep them from harm, but when they are grown remove these and leave them to the wind and weather, so God first surrounds his children with props of inward comforts, but afterward exposes them to storms and winds, because they are better able to bear it. Therefore let no one think himself the better because he is free from troubles. It is because God sees that he is not fit to bear greater ones.

224. When we read the Scriptures, we should read in order to take something out of them for ourselves. When we read any promise, we should say, “This is mine.” When we read of any privilege, we should say, “This is mine; it was written for me.” As the apostle says, “Whatsoever was written aforetime was written for our learning” (Rom 15:4).

225. As the Spirit is necessary to work faith at the first, so he is also necessary to every act of faith. Faith cannot act when the occasion comes except by the Spirit. Therefore we should not attempt to do or to suffer anything rashly. We should beg for the Spirit of God and wait for his assistance, because our faith must be increased according to the increase of our troubles. The life of a Christian is not only to have the Spirit work faith at first, but also to have him raise up our former graces on every occasion. For faith stirs up all the other graces and holds every grace to the word, and as long as faith continues, we keep all the other graces in exercise.

226. There is no true Christian who does not have a public spirit that seeks the good of others. As soon as a person is a Christian, he labors for self-denial. He knows he must give up himself and all he has to God, so that his spirit is enlarged in some measure toward God and toward the church. Therefore the greater the portion of the Spirit of Christ a man has, the more he seeks the good of others.

227. If we want hearts that praise God, we must labor to see everything we receive from God as coming from grace, and from an abundance of grace answering to the degrees of good. Whatever we have beyond nature is abundant grace. Whatever we have as Christians, even though we are poor and distressed on our way to heaven, is abundant grace.

228. There are three main parts of our salvation: first, a true knowledge of our misery; second, the knowledge of our deliverance; and then, a life that answers to it. Only the Holy Spirit can work these. He alone convicts of sin, and where he truly convicts of sin, he convicts also of righteousness, and then of judgments.

229. For us to be convicted of sin, the Spirit must work a clear and commanding demonstration of our condition in nature. It therefore takes away all quibbles, turnings, and windings, just as when we see the sun shine we know it is day. The Spirit convicts us not only in general, that we are all sinners, but in particular, and that strongly: “Thou art the man” (2 Sam 12:7). This conviction is also universal. It convicts of sins of nature and sins of life; of sins of the understanding, of the will, and of the affections; of the misery of sin, the danger of sin, the folly and madness of sin; and of sins committed against so many motives and so many favors. Proud nature arms itself with cleverness, with strong shifting of the blame, and with strong excuses. It is necessary, therefore, that the Holy Spirit join with people’s consciences to make them confess, “I am the man.”

230. The Spirit’s conviction may be distinguished from the common conviction of conscience by this: natural conviction is weak, like a little spark, and convicts only of breaches of the second table of the law, not of sins against the gospel. Again, common conviction is against a man’s will. It does not make him a better man; he is only tortured and tormented. But a man who is convicted by the Spirit joins with the Spirit against himself. He accuses himself; he takes God’s side against himself. He is willing to be laid open, so that he may find the greater mercy.

231. It is not enough to know that there is a righteousness of Christ. The Spirit must open the eyes of the soul to see it, or else we will have only a natural knowledge of supernatural things. We need a supernatural sight to see supernatural things in such a way that the soul is changed. Therefore only the Spirit works the faith that sees that Christ is mine. Further, only the Spirit can bring the conscience to quiet, because he is greater than the conscience and can answer all the inward objections and quibbles of flesh and blood. Therefore, unless the Holy Spirit applies what Christ has done, the conscience will not be satisfied.

232. The best people in the state of grace would be in darkness and would call their state into question if the Holy Spirit did not convict them and answer all quibbles for them. Therefore we must be convicted by the Spirit not only at the first, but throughout our continued course of Christianity. This, then, should make us come to God’s ordinances with holy devotion: “O Lord, grant me the Spirit of revelation, and take the scales from my eyes, so that, as these things are truths, they may be truths to me! Sway my soul, so that I may cast myself on your mercy in Christ!”

233. The Spirit’s convicting is not total in this life. It always leaves some dregs of doubting in the heart, though the soul is safe in the main. A ship that rides at anchor is tossed and troubled, but the anchor holds it. So it is with the soul that is only weakly convinced: it is sure of the main thing, yet it is tossed with many doubts and fears. But the anchor is in heaven.

234. The Spirit of God convinces every Christian of the righteousness of Christ so far as to preserve in him enough power of grace to cast himself on the mercy of God. God will send his Spirit so far into the heart that it will not give itself up to despair. He will let such a beam into the soul that all the powers of hell cannot quench it.

235. When we neglect prayer and set about our duties in our own strength and in confidence in our own abilities, then, if we belong to God, we will be sure to fail, though another man perhaps may prosper. Therefore we should depend continually on God for his direction and his blessing in whatever we undertake.

236. Many women, because they will not endure the pain of childbirth, kill their children in the womb. In the same way, many men who will not be troubled with holy actions stifle holy stirrings. Therefore let us take care not to murder the stirrings of the Holy Spirit. Let us welcome them instead, so that when they are kindled they may turn into resolution, and resolution into practice.

237. It is a common rule that we cannot keep company with those who are not spiritual without this result: if they do not vex us, they will taint us, unless our callings place us among them. We should therefore choose our company with special care and walk in continual watchfulness.

238. It is rebellion against God for a man to take his own life. Even the heathen could say that we must not leave our post until we are called. “Cast thyself down” (Matt 4:6) is the voice of Satan. But what does Paul say to the jailer? “Do thyself no harm, for we are all here” (Acts 16:28). We should conduct ourselves so that we are content to stay here until God has done the work he has to do in us and by us. Then he will call us away at the best time.

239. He is a valiant man who can command himself to be miserable. If a man cannot command himself to endure some bondage and disgrace in the world, it shows weakness. Christ could have come down from the cross, but he showed his strength and power by enduring their reproaches and torments.

240. The reason many Christians waver and are so full of doubts is that they are idle and do not labor to grow in grace. Therefore we should labor to grow in knowledge and in mortification, for that is the way we come to assurance.

241. Whatever good there is in a natural man is corrupted by a selfish aim. Self-love rules all his actions. He keeps within himself and works for himself. He is a god to himself; God is only his idol. This is true of all natural people in the world. They make themselves their ultimate end, and where the end is corrupted, the whole course is corrupted.

242. The sense of assured hope cannot be maintained without a great deal of effort, diligence, and watchfulness. “Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure” (2 Pet 1:10) implies that assurance will not be had without diligence. It is the diligent and watchful Christian who has this assurance. Otherwise, if we do not stir up the graces of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit will allow us to fall into dejection and lie under a cloud. It is grace in exercise, and love in exercise, that is a pledge, and so too faith and hope in exercise are a pledge. If grace is asleep, you may have grace and not know it. Therefore we should labor to put our graces into exercise.

243. Those who have assurance of their salvation often have troublesome distractions, because they do not always stay on their guard. Sometimes they are lifted up to heaven, and sometimes cast down even to hell. Yet even in the worst condition there is always something left in the soul that suggests to it that it is not utterly cast off.

244. Whoever finds this pilgrimage too sweet does not love his homeland. Yet the pleasures of this life suit our nature so well that we would settle down beside them, if God did not follow us with various crosses. Therefore let us take any cross in good part, because it is out of heavenly love that we are exercised, so that we do not surfeit on things here below.

245. In melancholy disorders, especially when guilt of spirit goes along with them, we can see nothing but darkness in wife, children, friends, possessions, and so on. This is a pitiful darkness, when body and soul and conscience and everything are disordered. Now let a Christian see God in his nature and promises. Though he cannot live by sight in such a disorder, let him then live by faith.

246. Though God plays the part of an enemy, faith still sees a fatherly nature in him. It lays hold of some beams of comfort. Though there is no sense or feeling, the Spirit works a power in the heart by which the soul is able to cling to God and to plead his word and his nature against him.

247. The reason the world does not see the happy condition of God’s children is that their bodies are subject to the same infirmities as those of the worst of men, and they are not exempt from troubles. They are also liable to fall into gross sins. So worldly people think, “Are these the people who are happier than we are?” They see their crosses but not their crowns; they see their infirmities but not their graces; they see their miseries but not their inward joy and peace of conscience.

248. To walk by faith is to be active in our walking. It is not doing as we please; it is moving by a rule. Since the fall we have lost our hold on God, and we must be brought back to God by the same way we fell from him. We fell by unbelief, and we must be brought back by faith, and must lead our lives on the grounds that faith provides. We must walk by faith, looking to God’s promise, God’s call, and God’s commandments, and not live by opinion, example, and reason.

249. In the work of our callings, when we think we will do no good and everything seems against us, faith still says, “God has set me here; I will cast in my net at your command” (Luke 5:5). Let us look to God, see what he commands, and then cast ourselves on him.

250. A Christian has a sense and experience of God’s love together with his faith. His is not a bare faith without any taste. But the sense and experience we have here are given to strengthen faith for the time to come. Therefore, when we have any sweet feelings, we must not rest in them. We must remember that they are given to encourage us on our way and to make us look for fullness in another world.

251. There is a double act of faith. First there is the direct act, by which I cast myself on Christ. Then there is a reflex act, by which I know from the fruits of the Spirit that I am in a state of grace. It is by the first act that we are saved. Feelings are often separated from the first act. God may enable a man to cast himself on Christ, and yet for certain purposes not let him know it, because he intends to humble him. God gives the reflex act, which is assured hope, as a reward for careful walking, but we must rely on that first, direct act of faith as the act that saves us. We ought to live by this direct act of faith until we come to heaven. But add this: no one who walks by faith lacks comfort.

252. God often delays helping his children until they are in extremity, until they are at their wits’ end, because he wants them to live by faith and not by sight. So it was with good Jehoshaphat: “We know not what to do, but our eyes are towards thee” (2 Chr 20:12). So too Paul received the sentence of death in himself, so that he might trust in the living God (2 Cor 1:9). This is the cause of divine desertions, the reason God leaves his children in desperate straits and seems to be an enemy to them: he wants us to live by faith, and when we live by it, he rewards us.

253. However things appear to sight, we should give God the honor of trusting his promises. Though his dealings with us seem to be like his dealings with reprobates, let us still believe his word. He cannot deny it. Say, “Lord, remember thy promise to thy servant, wherein thou hast caused me to trust” (Ps 119:49). Therefore wrestle with God, for in this way he conveys secret strength to his children, so that they may be able to overcome him.

254. The reason many people are full of fears and doubts at the hour of death, with hearts full of misgivings, is that in their lifetime they have not been exercised in living by faith.

255. Confidence truly arises from faith when troubles make it stronger. Therefore it is a true evidence when confidence increases with opposition, great troubles breeding great confidence. Again, it is a sign that a man’s confidence is rightly bred when he can carry himself evenly in all conditions, when he has learned both to be in want and to abound. It takes a strong head to drink much strong liquor. So when a man has an even spirit, content in all conditions, it shows a well-grounded confidence.

256. No one can be truly confident except God’s children. Other people’s confidence is like a madman’s strength. He may have the strength of two or three men for a time, but it is a false strength. Their confidence comes when they are lifted up on the wings of ambition and the favor of men, but in the time of trial these men sink: “The hope of the hypocrite shall perish” (Job 8:13).

257. Wicked men leave this world like criminals who are unwilling to go out of prison. But when God’s children die, they die in obedience: “Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word” (Luke 2:29). To be in the body is a good condition, because we live by faith; but it is better to be with the Lord, because then we will live by sight.

258. An ambitious man undermines others, and if anyone stands in his way, he will make his way through blood; he will tread on his friends to get to honor. In the same way, a soul that is graciously ambitious considers what stands in its way. Such a person hates father and mother, yes, even his own life. He pulls out his right eye, he cuts off his right hand, he does violence to everything that stands between him and his God.

259. We should study the Scriptures so that we may find what is acceptable to God and to Christ. Now, what pleases God most is holiness; so do grace and mercy. Therefore we should make it our study to be holy, gracious and merciful. “This is the will of God,” says the apostle, “even your sanctification” (1 Thess 4:3), that is, to be holy as God is holy. Those who would be acceptable to God must be good in private, in their closet, because sincerity takes for granted that God sees everything. They must be humbled for the first stirrings of sin, because Christ sees these things with grief and hatred.

260. If we are as religious as we should be in our recreations and other lawful things, we will keep Christ in our eye and ask, “How may this further me in his service, or how may it hinder me?” For the most glorious actions of religion are no service at all if they are not done in faith and with regard to Christ.

261. Let no one be discouraged from doing good actions, even though those who do them may otherwise be bad men with no interest in Christ. For insofar as any outward action is outwardly good, it will be rewarded. The scribes and Pharisees had the praise of men for their reward. The Romans were exact and strict in their civil government, and God so blessed them for it that their commonwealth flourished for many hundreds of years. Let people be what they will; if they live upright, moral lives, they will have a reward suited to the good they do. As for heaven and happiness in another world, they do not care for it; yet every man will have his “penny” (Matt 20:13).

262. It is a great art of faith to lay hold of Christ in a way suited to our present condition. When we have fallen into sin, we should think of the terrors of the law; but when we are broken-hearted, we should present him to ourselves as a sweet Savior, inviting all to come to him. In this way Christ will not be dishonored, nor will our souls be wronged.

263. It is greatly to be desired that all people had the love to teach what they know, and that others had the humility to be taught what they do not know. God humbles great persons to learn from lesser ones. It is our duty to embrace the truth, whoever brings it; and often humble people are instruments of comfort to those greater than themselves, as Aquila and Priscilla instructed Apollos (Acts 18:26).

264. He who sought us before we sought him, will he refuse us when we seek after him? Therefore let no one despair or be discouraged. If there is in you the height and depth, the length and breadth of sin, there is also much more the height and depth, the length and breadth of mercy in God. And though we have played the harlot with many lovers, yet return again (Jer 3:1), for his thoughts are not as ours, and his mercies are the mercies of a reconciled God.

265. When we are under a cloud of temptations, let us beware of resisting our comforts. For that wrongs Christ’s intention, since he would not have us be without comfort at any time. Besides, while we are in such a condition, we are unfit to glorify God, for fear binds up the soul and leaves it in a palsied, trembling state. We are not fit to do anything as we ought without some love and some joy. And though we are under a cloud at present, the sun is always the same. We may therefore for a time lack the light of his gracious countenance, but never his sweet influence.

266. Most people, if they could, would live here forever. But whoever shares in Christ’s resurrection finds that his mind at once ascends. And here we are always enlarging our desires, because we are in a state of imperfection.

267. Many who make a profession of religion are like kites, which fly high but look low. But those who look high as they rise high are risen with Christ. For once a Christian is in the state of grace, he forgets what is behind and sets his eyes on rising higher and higher until he reaches his place of happiness. And as there was an earthquake at Christ’s rising, so those who are risen with him find a commotion and division between the flesh and the spirit.

268. Christ has a special care for his children when, because of the guilt of sin, they have most cause to be disconsolate. Therefore, where anyone’s heart is upright toward God, words cannot express how tenderly Christ bears with such a poor sinner. For though Peter had denied him, yet in Mark 16:7 we read, “Go tell his disciples, and tell Peter.” So Christ took great care to assure him of his love, though Peter had denied him most shamefully.

269. God has not taken the name of Father upon himself in vain, and he fills it up to the full. It is a name of tender indulgence, a name of hope, a name of provision, a name of protection. It implies that punishment will be softened, for a little is enough from a father. Therefore in all temptations it should teach us to fly by prayer under the wings of our heavenly Father, and to expect from him all that a father should do for his child: provision, protection, indulgence, yes, and seasonable corrections too, which are as necessary for us as our daily bread. And when we die, we may expect our inheritance, because he is our Father. Yet we must also understand that the name of Father is a word of relation; he also expects something from us. We must therefore reverence him as a Father, and that reverence consists in fear and love. He is a great God, and therefore we ought to fear him. He is also merciful, yes, full of tender compassion, and therefore we ought to love him. If we tremble before him, we do not know that he is loving; and if we are overbold, we forget that he is a great God. Therefore we should go boldly to him, with reverence and godly fear.

270. Those who are at peace in their own consciences will be peaceable toward others. A busy, contentious, complaining disposition shows that it never felt peace from God. And though many think it commendable to criticize the weaknesses of others, it actually shows their own weakness. For it is a sign of strength to bear with people’s weaknesses where we see any good in them. Who was more tender and forbearing than Christ? He bore with the weaknesses of his disciples time after time. Therefore we should strive to conduct ourselves lovingly toward those who are weak. We should know that nothing ought to raise us so high in our own esteem above others that we forget they are our brothers, since the weaknesses we see in them will be buried with them.

271. Many people will make much of eminent persons and those of excellent gifts, but there may be a great deal of hypocrisy in that. Therefore the truth of our love is tested by this: whether we bear a sincere affection to all the saints (Eph 6:18).

272. We must beware of coming to God in our own person or worthiness; in all things we must look at God in Christ. If we look at God as a Father, we must first see him as Christ’s Father. If we see ourselves acquitted of our sins, let us first look at Christ risen. If we think of glorification in heaven, let us first see Christ glorified. And when we consider any spiritual blessing, let us consider it first in Christ. All the promises are made to Christ. He receives them first from God the Father and conveys them to us by his Spirit. The first fullness is in God, and then he empties himself into Christ: “And of his fulness we all receive grace” (John 1:16).

273. God is said to be our God, or to be a God to us, when he applies the all-sufficiency that is in himself for the good of his creature. God is our God by covenant, because he has made himself over to us. Every believing Christian has the title deed signed over to him, so that God is his portion and his inheritance. There is more comfort in this, that God is our God, than the heart of man can conceive. It is larger than his heart. Therefore, though we cannot say that riches or honors or friends and the like are ours, yet if by the Spirit of faith we are able to say that God is ours, then we have everything in him. His wisdom is ours, to find out a way to do us good. If we are in danger, his power is ours to bring us out. If we are under the guilt of sin, his mercy is ours to forgive us. If we are in any need, his all-sufficiency is ours to supply it or make it good. If God is ours, then whatever God can do is ours, and whatever God has is ours.

274. God is the God and Father of all the elect, and he is also a God and a Father to each one of the elect. God belongs wholly and entirely to every saint. Just as the sun belongs wholly to every person, so does God. He cares for all as if they were one, and for each one as if he had only one.

275. There is not only a mystery but a depth in the mystery, as in election and reprobation, so in providence. No reason can be given why some of God’s children are at rest and others are troubled, why one should be poor and another rich. In Psalm 97:2, “clouds and darkness are round about him.” You cannot see him; he is hidden in a cloud. Yes, but righteousness and judgment are the foundation of his throne. However he may wrap himself in a thick cloud so that no one can see him, he is still just and righteous. Therefore, when something befalls us for which we can see no reason, we must still reverence him, adore his counsels, and think him wiser than we are.

276. When we are diligent in our calling, keeping a good conscience and striving for conduct answerable to it, when these three meet together (calling, standing and wise conduct), then whatever befalls us we may say with comfort, “The will of the Lord be done” (Acts 21:14). We are now in his way, and we may then expect a guard of angels without and a guard of his Spirit within.

277. All the contention between the flesh and the spirit comes down to this: whether God will have his will or we will have ours. Now God’s will is straight, but ours is crooked. Therefore, if God will have us offer up our Isaac, we must submit to him and even drown ourselves in the will of God. Then the more we are emptied of ourselves, the freer we are, in proportion as we are made subject to God. For in whatever measure we part with anything for him, we will receive a hundredfold even in this world, in joy and peace and the like.

278. Whatever outward good things we have, we should use them reverently, knowing that our liberty to enjoy them was purchased with the blood of Christ. So David, when he thirsted for the water of Bethlehem, would not drink it, because it was the blood of his three mighty men (2 Sam 23:15-17). So though we have free use of created things, we must still be careful to use them with moderation and reverence.

279. There is nothing of God that can please the world, because the best things are presented to the heart of a carnal man as foolishness. Above all things, human nature would avoid being charged with folly, and rather than be counted a fool, a man will slander the ways of God as foolishness. Now the law of Christ constrains us and makes us do many things for which the world thinks we are out of our minds. Therefore we should labor to set our hearts free, and count it a greater favor from God when the Michals of this world scoff at us for our goodness (2 Sam 6:22); for when they are offended at us, God is delighted with us.

280. To discern our state in grace, let us look chiefly to our affections, for they are inward and not subject to hypocrisy. Men of great gifts know much, and so does the devil, but he lacks love. In a fire, everything may be painted except the heat. So all good actions may be done by a hypocrite, but there is a heat of love which he does not have. We should therefore chiefly examine the truth and sincerity of our affections.

281. We may apprehend the love of God, but we cannot comprehend it. All the fruits of his love pass our common understanding, and therefore we have the Holy Spirit given to us to take away the veil and to make report of it to the soul. Then, as soon as this love of Christ is apprehended, it constrains us to all holy duties, not as fire is struck out of flint, but as water flows out of a spring. A wife’s love for her husband may begin with the supply of her needs, but afterward she may love him also for the sweetness of his person. So the soul first loves Christ for salvation, but when she is brought to him and finds the sweetness that is in him, then she loves him for himself.

282. It should be our continual care to show the sincerity of our hearts to God in our various places and callings. This is done when we look to God in every action and endeavor to yield our whole soul to the whole will of God, serving him in our spirits and performing the works of our callings by his Spirit, according to his word, and for his glory. If we labor in this way to approve ourselves to him, then whatever the outcome, we shall be endowed with a holy boldness, with inward peace and comfort, having conducted ourselves as in the sight of God.

283. To be fit to persuade others, a man must have love for their persons, a clear knowledge of the cause, and grace, so that he may be able to speak with wisdom to their souls and consciences. As we are saved by love, so we are persuaded by the arguments of love, which are most agreeable to the nature of man, since he is led by persuasion, not by compulsion. Men may be compelled to use the means, but not to believe. Many labor only to open up the Scriptures for the increase of their knowledge, so that they may be able to discourse, whereas the special purpose of the ministry is to work upon the heart and affections.

284. As we must approve ourselves to God and to our own consciences, so we must also approve ourselves to the consciences of others (not to their whims and fancies), so that they may bear witness for us that we love them and deal faithfully with them. We should labor to do all the good we can, especially to the souls of men, who are redeemed with the blood of Christ. If we deserve well of them, they will give evidence for us; but if we walk scandalously, they will give evidence that by our evil courses and examples we drew them into evil courses and hardened them in evil. It should be our care, therefore, to approve ourselves to the consciences of men, so that we may have them to witness for us, and that those of whom we have deserved well may be our crown at the last day.

285. A man keeps a good conscience in relation to others when he makes it plain that he can deny himself to do them good; when the consciences of other men think this: “Such a man regards my good more than his own. He seeks no advantage for himself. He lives in such a way that the world may see he is in good earnest. He speaks in such a way that he makes it good by his life.” Now if our care is to walk like this, we shall approve ourselves to the consciences of men.

286. There are many who will give some ground to divine truths, but they keep back some sin in reserve. When Herodias is once touched, then John the Baptist’s head must come off (Matt 14:6). Truths that come near make them fret, because their conscience tells them they cannot yield obedience to all. The lust of some sins has gained such dominion over their affections that conscience says, “I cannot do this.” Then the hatred that should be turned upon the sin is turned upon the word and the minister. Like some vermin that, when they are driven into a corner, will fly in a man’s face, so these men, when they see they must yield, grow malicious, so that what they will not follow, they will reproach. Therefore it should be our care at all times to yield obedience according to what we know.

287. There is a generation of churlish people who watch for offenses, because they would go to hell with some reason. They will not see who are weak and who are hypocrites, but they cast reproach upon all. And therefore God often, in justice toward them, allows good men to fall, so that such people may take offense at them to their own ruin.

288. A man may know that the word has worked upon his conscience when he comes to it in order to hear and learn and reform. A man whose heart is without guile is glad to hear the sharpest reproofs, because he knows that sin is his greatest enemy. But if we live in a course that we are loath to have touched, it is a sign that our hearts are full of guile. Corrupt men mold their teachers and fashion them to their lusts; but a good and upright heart is willing that divine truths should have their full authority in the soul, giving way to our duty, however contrary it may be to flesh and blood.

289. It is the duty of ministers to labor to forestall objections that may arise in the hearts of the people and hinder the passage of their doctrine. And so that truths may come more readily into the heart, we should labor for a good liking of the person, for secret suspicions are stones to stumble at. Therefore both ministers and people should be careful to remove them.

290. A man ought not to commend himself except in some special cases. First, pride and envy in others will not endure it. Secondly, it touches upon God’s glory, and therefore we should take heed. Thirdly, it deprives us of comfort and hinders others from making our defense. The heathen could say that the praising of a man’s self is a burdensome hearing. Let us take heed, therefore, that we do not snatch our right out of God’s hand. But on the other hand, in some cases we may praise and commend ourselves, as when we have a just calling to speak in our own defense and to convict those who unjustly speak evil of us. Secondly, we may speak well of ourselves by way of example to others, as parents do to their children. And this becomes them well, because it is not out of pride or vainglory, since its purpose is shown to come from love for them.

291. It is the duty of those who are God’s children, when they have just occasion, to take on themselves the defense of others. So did the blind man (John 9:30): he defended Christ against the Pharisees. And Jonathan spoke to his father on behalf of David. Though he was the son of a rebellious woman (1 Sam 20:30), yet he knew that he owed this to the truth. God has a cause in the world that must be owned; and therefore, when the cause of religion is brought upon the stage, God seems to say, as Jehu did, “Who is on my side, who?” (2 Kgs 9:32). God commends his cause and his children to us, and therefore: “Curse ye Meroz, saith the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty” (Judg 5:23). So a curse lies upon those who, when the truth suffers, have not a word to say in its defense.

292. Usually those who defame others are proud, vainglorious persons. If anyone would search for the spirit of the devil in men, let him look for it among vainglorious teachers, heretics, and superstitious persons. The ground of it is the nearness of two contraries. There the opposition is strongest, as fire and water make the strongest opposition when they are near. And who are so near God’s children as vainglorious teachers who are of the same profession? Pilate, a heathen, showed more favor to Christ than the Pharisees did. And this is the use we should make of it: not to be offended when we see one minister disparage another, for it has been so, and will be so to the end of the world.

293. All things apart from God are but grass. When we rejoice in anything apart from God, it is a childish joy, as if we rejoiced in flowers which we cast away after we have drawn out their sweetness. All outward things are common to castaways as well as to us, and without grace they will prove snares. At the hour of death, what comfort can we have in them, except so far as we have had humility and love to use them well? Therefore, if we would have our hearts seasoned with true joy, let us labor to be faithful in our places, and endeavor, according to the gifts we have, to glorify God.

294. To glory in anything whatsoever is idolatry, because the mind sets up something to glory in which is not God. Secondly, it is spiritual adultery to cleave to anything more than God. Thirdly, it is bearing false witness to ascribe excellence where there is none. We have a prohibition: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the rich man in his riches” (Jer 9:23). God will not give his glory to another; and therefore, when men will be meddling with glory, which belongs to God alone, he blasts them and sets them aside as broken vessels, and disdains to use them.

295. A Christian rejoices rightly when his joy proceeds from right principles, from judgment and conscience, not from fancy and imagination; when judgment and conscience will bear him out; when there are good terms between God and him. For our joy must spring from peace: “Being justified by faith, we have peace towards God” (Rom 5:1). The apostles begin their Epistles with mercy, grace, and peace: mercy in forgiveness, grace to renew our natures, and peace of conscience here. These are things to be gloried in. If we find our sins pardoned, our persons accepted, and our natures altered, then we may take comfort in anything (in health, in wealth, in wife, in children, in anything), because all come from the favor of God.

We may rejoice in afflictions, because there is a blessing in the worst things to further our eternal happiness. And though we cannot rejoice in affliction itself, since it is contrary to our nature, yet we may rejoice in the outcome. So we rejoice rightly when, having a share in God, we glory in the testimony of a good conscience; when, looking inward, we find all at peace; when we can say on good grounds, “God is mine, and therefore all is mine, both life and death and all things, so far as they may serve for good.”

296. The hearts of men, yes, even of good men, are apt to be taken up with outward things. When the weak disciples had cast out devils, they were ready to be proud; but Christ quickly spots it and admonishes them not to rejoice that the devils were subject to them, but that their names were written in the book of life (Luke 10:20). Therefore, when we find the least stirrings to glory in anything, we must check ourselves and consider what grace we have to temper them, and what love we have to turn these things to the common good. For whatever a man has, if he does not also have humility and love to use it rightly, it will turn to his ruin.

297. It is an old accusation to charge men of the greatest wisdom and sobriety with being out of their minds. John the Baptist was accused of having a devil, Christ of being beside himself, the apostles of being full of new wine, and Paul of being mad. The reason for this is that, as religion is a mystical and spiritual thing, so its tenets seem like paradoxes to carnal men. For example, first, that a Christian is the only free man, and other men are slaves; that he is the only rich man, however lowly he may be in the world; that he is the only beautiful man, however deformed he may be outwardly; that he is the only happy man in the midst of all his miseries. Now these things, however true in themselves, seem strange to natural men. And then again, when they see men earnest against sin, or making conscience of sin, they wonder at all this commotion over trifles, as if we made tragedies out of toys.

But these men go on in a course of their own and make it the measure of everything. Those who are below them are profane, and those who are above them are indiscreet. By their fancies and affections they create excellencies, and then cry down spiritual things as folly. They have principles of their own: to love themselves, to love others only for their own sakes, to hold to the strongest side, and by no means to expose themselves to danger. But when men begin to be religious, they deny all their own aims, and that makes their course seem madness to the world. And therefore the world labors to breed an ill opinion of them, as if they were madmen and fools.

298. God’s children are neither madmen nor fools, as they are accounted. That is only a slander cast upon them by the madmen of the world. They are the only wise men, if the matter is well considered. First, they make the highest end their aim, which is to be a child of God here and a saint hereafter in heaven. Secondly, they aim to be found wise men at their death, and therefore are always making their accounts ready. Thirdly, they labor to live in a way that answers to their rules. They observe the rule of the word, to be governed by it. Fourthly, they improve every advantage to advance their end; they labor to grow better by blessings and crosses, and to make a sanctified use of everything. Fifthly, they swim against the stream of the times. Though they eat and drink and sleep as others do, yet, like the stars, they have a secret course and motion of their own which the world cannot discern. Therefore a man must be changed and set in a higher rank before he can have a sanctified judgment of the ways of God.

299. Those who lay the charge of folly and madness on God’s children will be found to be fools and madmen themselves. Is not he a fool who cannot make a right choice of things? And how do carnal men make their choice, when they embrace perishing things as the best? Secondly, a carnal man does not have the capacity to apprehend spiritual things rightly. He cannot see things invisible. Thirdly, in his heart he counts it a vain thing to serve the Lord. Fourthly, he judges his enemies to be his best friends, and his best friends to be his worst enemies. Fifthly, the principles of all his actions are rotten, because they are not directed to the right object. Therefore all his affections are mad: his joy, his love, his delight. His love is but lust, his anger vexation. As for his confidence, he calls God’s love into question; but if a false suggestion comes from the devil, that he embraces. Is he not, then, a madman? And this is the condition of all natural men in the world.

300. True freedom is when the heart is enlarged and made subordinate to God in Christ. A man is in a sweet frame of soul when his heart is made subject to God; for God, being larger than the soul, sets it at liberty. God would have us make his glory our aim, so that he may bestow himself upon us.

301. When the love of Christ is made known to me, and my love to Christ in return is worked in me by the Spirit, this fills the soul with wonder as it considers what wonderful love is in Christ. And when the Spirit witnesses that this love of Christ is set upon me, the soul begins to marvel: “Lord, wherefore wilt thou show thyself to us, and not to the world?” (John 14:22). Why do you love me, and not others? When the soul has been with God on the mount, and has been turned away from earthly things, it sees nothing but love and mercy; and this constrains us to do all things out of love to God and to others.

302. When Joshua cursed the man who should rebuild the walls of Jericho, he was not in a commotion or a fury, but in a peaceable temper (Josh 6:26). So when a curse comes from such a person, he is an instrument that declares God’s curse and conveys it. Therefore not everyone may take it upon himself to curse. People often curse where they should bless, and such a curse is an arrow shot straight up, which falls back down upon the shooter’s own head. But those who come in the name of the Lord, and are qualified for that purpose, are to have their cursings or blessings taken seriously, for they are often a means of conveying God’s blessings or his curses upon us.

303. It is overly curious to demand to know the first beginnings of grace, because grace falls by degrees, like the dew, without being noticed. Further, there is great wisdom as well as power in the working of grace. God does no violence to the soul, but works sweetly yet strongly, and strongly yet sweetly. He goes along with our nature so far that we come to delight in grace freely. So now the man sees great reason why he should change his course. God does not overthrow nature. The stream is only changed; the man is the same.

304. When the soul desires the forgiveness of sin, but not grace to lead a new life, that desire is hypocritical; for a true Christian desires power against sin as well as pardon for it. If we do not have sanctifying grace, we do not have pardoning grace. Christ came by water to regenerate as well as by blood to justify. It should therefore be our continual care and endeavor to grow and increase in grace, because without it we shall never come to heaven. Without this endeavor our sacrifices are not accepted. Without it we cannot withstand our enemies or bear any cross. Without it we cannot go on comfortably in our course. Without it we cannot do anything acceptable and pleasing to God.

305. God will be “as the dew unto Israel, and he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon” (Hos 14:5). These are not words wastefully spent. We have great need of such promises, especially in a distressed state, for then our spirits are apt to sink and our hearts to faint; and therefore we need to have the same comforts often repeated. Profane hearts think, “What need is there for all this?” But if you are ever touched in conscience for your sins, you will be far from finding fault when God uses all the secrets in the book of nature, and translates them, to assure us of his mercy and love.

306. God’s children are strengthened by their falls. They learn to stand by their falls. Like tall cedars, the more they are blown, the deeper they are rooted. What people think is the overthrow of God’s children only roots them deeper. So after all their outward storms and inward declines, this is the outcome: “They take root downward, and bring forth fruit upwards” (Isa 37:31).

307. A Christian in his right condition is compared to the best of everything: if to a lily, the fairest; if to a cedar, the tallest; if to an olive tree, the most fruitful. “And his smell shall be as Lebanon” (Hos 14:6). We should therefore make use of all natural things and apply them to spiritual things. If we see a lily, let us think of God’s promise and our duty: we shall grow as lilies. When we see a tall tree, let us think, “I must grow higher in grace.” And when we see a vine, let us think, “I must grow in fruitfulness.” When we go into our orchards or gardens, let the sight of these things raise our thoughts higher, to consider what is required of us.

308. As it is the glory of the olive tree to be fruitful, so it is the glory of a Christian to be fruitful in his place and calling; and the way to be fruitful is to count fruitfulness a glory. It is a gracious sight to see a Christian live up to his profession and flourish in his own station, being fruitful and shining in good works. When ability, opportunity, and a heart equal to them all come together for doing good, this is glorious.

309. When we go about any action or business, let us always ask our souls this question: “Is this suitable to my calling, to my hopes? And if not, why do I do it? I am a king, meant to rule over my lusts; does this agree with my condition? This base act, this base company: shall a man like me do this?” When a man brings his heart to reason with itself like this, it will produce Ephraim’s resolution: “What have I any more to do with idols?” (Hos 14:8). And in walking circumspectly like this, we shall find a warmth of comfort accompanying every good action, and a sweet relish left upon the conscience, with humility and thankfulness, as we acknowledge that all the strength we have comes from the dew of his grace.

310. In times of calamity, God will take care of his fruitful trees, just as the Israelites were commanded not to destroy the trees that bore fruit (Deut 20:19). So though God’s judgments come among us, God will take special care of his children who are fruitful, but his judgments will fall heavily upon barren trees. And though God may bear with barrenness where the means of grace are lacking, he will not bear with it where the means are in use. A bramble would be better off in the wilderness than in an orchard. Nothing will carry us through but fruitfulness.

311. It may be observed that old men seem not to grow, nor to be as zealous as many young Christians. But the reason is that young Christians have a greater strength of natural abilities, which shows itself and makes a great display. Aged men, however, grow in strength and stability, and are more refined. Their knowledge is clearer, their actions purer, their zeal more refined and not mixed with wildfire. And therefore, though old Christians are not carried along with a full stream, they are more stable and judicious, more heavenly-minded, and more mortified. They grow in humility, out of a clearer sight of their own corruptions.

312. In true conversion the soul is changed to be of the same mind as Christ: as he is disposed, so the soul of such a person is disposed. And as he loathes all evil, so on this ground there must be a loathing of whatever is evil. But a carnal man is like a wolf driven away from the sheep, which still keeps its wolfish nature. So it is with those who are driven from their sins only by terror of conscience: they are frightened by sin, but they do not hate it. Therefore a loathing of evil is required as well as the leaving of it.

313. If we want to make it evident that our conversion is sound, we must loathe and hate sin from the heart. Now, a man may know that his hatred of evil is true by these marks. First, it is universal: he who hates sin truly hates all sin. Second, where there is true hatred, it cannot be appeased; there is no appeasing it except by abolishing the thing it hates. Third, hatred is a more deeply rooted affection than anger. Anger may be appeased, but hatred is against the whole kind.

Fourth, if our hatred is true, it hates all evil in ourselves first, and then in others. He who hates a toad hates it most in his own bosom. Many, like Judah, are severe in censuring others but partial to themselves. Fifth, he who hates sin truly hates the greatest sin in the greatest measure; he hates it in just proportion. Sixth, our hatred is right if we can bear admonition and reproof for sin, and do not fly into a rage at the one who tells us of it. Therefore those who swell up against reproof do not hate sin. Only, this caution must be added: reproof may be given with such indiscretion and self-love that a man may hate the proud manner of it. Therefore, in showing our hatred of sin in others, we must consider our calling. It must be done in a sweet temper, keeping due respect for those to whom we show our dislike, so that it may come from true zeal and not from wildfire.

314. All love and associations that are not begun on good terms will end in hatred. We should take care whom we join with in league and friendship. Before we set our affections on anyone, let us consider what kind of people they are. If we see any signs of grace, it is good; but if not, there will be a rupture. Throughout our whole life this ought to be our rule: we should labor in all company either to do good or to receive good, and where we can neither do good nor receive it, we should beware of such acquaintance. Let people therefore consider, and take care how they stand in alliance with wicked persons.

315. “Whosoever will live godly in Christ Jesus, must suffer persecution” (2 Tim 3:12). Such a person must have his nature changed and set his hatred against every contrary course; and therefore to frame a religion that brings no trouble with it is to frame an idol. Neutrals in religion are like bats, which people can scarcely tell apart from mice or from birds, because they resemble both. Beware, therefore, of neutrality in religion. After the first heat many become lukewarm, and from that they fall into coldness. Let us therefore look to our beginnings. Pure affection in religion must also be zealous.

316. Wise men will do nothing without great ends, and the wiser they are, the greater their ends. Shall we attribute this to men, and not to the wisdom of God? Christ would never have appeared in our nature and suffered death except for some great end. Shall we think that this mystery of God taking flesh upon himself was for a slight purpose? Now, the end of his coming was to save sinners (1 Tim 1:15). He came to bring us to God (1 Pet 3:18). But he who will save us must first bring us out of Satan’s bondage; therefore Christ came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). It must therefore follow that the salvation of our souls is of great consequence, since it was for this end alone that Christ took our nature upon himself and suffered for us.

317. Christ came to destroy the works of the devil in us, and yet he makes us kings under him, to fight his battles. As he destroys the works of the devil by his Spirit in us, so he does it through the exercise of all the powers and parts of soul and body, and by exercising the graces of his Spirit in us. “He hath made us kings and priests” (Rev 1:6), not so that we should do nothing, but so that we should fight, and in fighting overcome. The chief grace that God exercises in overcoming our corruptions is faith. We fell by unbelief and disobedience. Now Christ comes and uproots unbelief, and in its place he plants faith, which unites us to him. Then, by a divine skill, faith draws a particular strength from Christ to fight his battles against corruption.

318. Temptations at first are like Elijah’s cloud, no bigger than a man’s hand; but if we give way to them, they spread over the whole soul. Satan nestles in when we dwell on thoughts of sin. We cannot withstand sudden risings within us, but by grace we can keep them from staying there long. Let us therefore labor as much as we can to be in good company and in good courses; for as the Holy Spirit works by these advantages, so we should wisely make use of them.

319. It is hard to tell the working of Satan apart from our own corruptions, because for the most part he goes secretly along with them. He is like a pirate at sea: he attacks us flying our own colors; he comes as a friend. That is why he is hard to discern. Yet he can partly be seen in the eagerness of our lusts, when they are sudden, strong, and strange, so strange sometimes that even nature itself abhors them. The Spirit of God leads sweetly, but the devil hurries a man along like a tempest, so that he will hear no reason, as we see in Amnon with his sister Tamar.

Again, when we shake off the promptings of God’s Spirit, dislike his government, and give way to passion, then the devil enters. Let a man be rashly angry, and the devil will make him envious and set him seeking revenge. When the passions are let loose, they are chariots in which the devil rides. Some by nature are prone to distrust, and some to overconfidence. The devil joins with these tendencies and so draws people on further. He broods over our corruptions. He lies, as it were, upon the souls of men, and there he broods over and hatches every sin whatsoever. Yet all the devils in hell cannot force us to sin. He works by suggestions, stirring up our moods and fancies, but he cannot work upon the will. We betray ourselves by yielding before he can do us any harm; even so, he ripens sin.

320. There are some sins that let Satan loose upon us. First, pride, as we see in Paul (2 Cor 12:7). Second, conceit and presumption, as we may see in Peter (Matt 26:33). Third, complacency, which is always the forerunner of some great punishment or some great sin (and that sin is itself a punishment), as we see in David. Fourth, idleness: when a man is not about God’s business, it is the hour of temptation. Fifth, intemperance, whether in loose eating and drinking or in some other way. Therefore Christ commands us to be “sober, and watch” (1 Pet 4:7), and to keep to sobriety in our use of created things.

Sixth, there is a subtler intemperance of passion: to whatever degree we give way to wrath and revenge and covetousness, to that degree Satan has an advantage against us. Seventh, when a man will not believe and submit to revealed truths, even if it is only a natural truth. That is why God gave them up to vile affections (Rom 1:26): because they would not cherish the light of nature. How much more, then, when we do not cherish the light of grace!

321. As Christ worked out our salvation in a state of lowliness, so on our way to glory we must be conformed to our Head and pass through a state of lowliness. We are chosen to a portion of afflictions as well as to grace and glory. God also sees that it is necessary, because we cannot easily digest a flourishing condition. We are naturally inclined to love outward excellence. When we are trusted with great things, we are apt to forget God and our duty to others. This should therefore teach us to acknowledge that God is just whenever we are brought low in any way in the world.

322. There are a great many poor people who are nevertheless exceedingly proud. But God sanctifies outward poverty to his children in such a way that it makes way for poverty of spirit, so that as they are poor, they also hold a low opinion of themselves. It makes them inwardly more humble and more teachable. Therefore, when we are under any cross, let us observe how it works in us, and see whether or not we are joining with God. When he afflicts us outwardly, are we becoming more humble inwardly? When he humbles us and makes us poor, are we also becoming poor in spirit? When God sets about taking us down, we should labor to take ourselves down.

323. Poverty of spirit should go with us all our life long, to let us see that we have no righteousness of our own for our sanctification, and that all the grace we have comes from outside ourselves, even for the performance of every holy duty. For though we have grace, we cannot bring that grace into action without new grace, just as trees have a fitness to bear fruit but cannot do so without the influence of heaven. What often makes us miscarry in the work of our calling is that we think we have strength and wisdom enough; and then what is begun in self-confidence ends in shame. We set about our duties in our own pride and in the strength of our natural gifts, and we meet with success to match. Therefore it is a sign that God will bless our efforts when, out of a sense of our own weakness, we water our business with prayer and tears.

324. It is not enough for a Christian to have habitual grace. No vine can bring forth fruit without the influence of heaven, even though it is rooted; so we cannot bring forth fruit unless God blows upon us. Our former strength will not serve when a new temptation comes. It is not enough to have grace; we must use it. We must exercise our faith, love, patience, and humility, and for this purpose God has furnished us with the Spirit of all grace. Let us therefore remember, whenever we have any duty to do, to pray to Christ to blow upon us with his Spirit.

325. God does not look so much at our infirmities as at our uprightness and sincerity. Therefore, when we are out of temptation, we should consider and examine what God has worked in us. Then, though there are infirmities and failings, yet if our hearts are upright, God will pardon them, as we find that David and others were counted upright and yet had many imperfections.

326. Watching is an exercise of all the graces of the soul, and these graces are given to keep our souls awake. We have enemies around us that are not asleep, and our worst enemy is within us, and all the worse because it is so near. We also live in a world full of temptations, and wicked men are full of malice. We are passing through our enemy’s country, and therefore we need to keep our wits about us. The devil, too, stands at one end of every good action, and therefore we need to keep all our graces in constant exercise. We should watch with a jealous fear, guarding against a spirit of drowsiness, and laboring also to keep ourselves unspotted by the world.

327. It may be asked, how shall we know that the Scripture is the word of God? In answer: only grant, first, that there is a God. It will follow, then, that he must be worshiped and served, and that this service must be revealed to us, so that we may know what he requires. Then let us compare and see what, besides the word of God, can come anywhere near to being that revelation. Besides this, God has blessed the superstition of the Jews, who were very strict in this regard, so as to preserve the Scripture for us. And since the days of the early church the heretics have watched one another so closely that no other word could be put in place of this one.

But now we must further understand that we must have something in our souls answering to the truths contained in Scripture before we can truly and savingly believe it to be the word of God. For example, we find that it has power to work upon our hearts and affections: “Did not our hearts burn within us, when he opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:32). Again, it has a divine working to warm and quiet the soul, and a power to make a Felix tremble. It has a searching quality, able to divide between the marrow and the bone.

We do not, then, believe the Scriptures to be the word of God only because some man says so, or because the church says so, but also, and chiefly, because I find by experience that it works in me the same effects that it speaks of in itself. And therefore let us never rest until, when we hear a promise, we have something in us, worked by the sanctifying Spirit, that answers to it. That will assure us that this word alone informs us of God’s good pleasure toward us and of our duty to him.

328. There is in God a fatherly anger. He retains it after our conversion, and this fatherly anger is turned away when we humble ourselves in sincerity. Someone has put it well: “A child of anger, and a child under anger.” God’s children are not children of wrath, but sometimes they are under wrath: when they do not conduct themselves as sons, when they venture on sins against conscience, and so on. But if they humble themselves and reform, and flee to God for mercy, then they come into favor again and recover the rights of sons.

329. We may know that God loves us when by his Spirit he speaks in a friendly way to our souls, and we by prayer speak in a friendly way to him again; when we have communion and familiarity with him. To those whom God loves, he reveals his secrets, even secrets the soul never knew before. He reveals them to us when our hearts are brought to a frank confession of sin, and when we have no comfort but from heaven. Just as a father shows his tenderest affection most to his child when it is sick, so God reserves the revelation of his love above all for the time when we renounce all fleshly confidence. Therefore, if we can assure our souls that God loves us, let us be ready for anything that may happen to us in this world, whether disgrace or contempt or anything else. For we may draw patience and contentment from this: that God’s love supplies every want whatsoever.

330. After a gracious pardon for sin, two things remain in us: infirmities and weaknesses. Infirmities are corruptions stirred up, which hinder us from good and push us toward evil, yet are so far resisted and subdued that they do not break out into action. Weakness is when we allow an infirmity to break out for lack of watchfulness. If a man is subject to passion, for example, then while it is stirring up disturbance in his mind, it is infirmity; but when, for lack of watchfulness, it breaks out into action, it is weakness.

These diseases are permitted in us to remind us of the bitter root of sin. For if we did not sometimes break out into sin, we would think that our nature was cured. Who would have thought that Moses, so meek a man, could have broken out into passion as he did? We see it also in David, and Peter, and others; and this shows that the corruption of nature in them was not fully healed.

But there is this difference between the slips and falls of God’s children and those of other men. When other men fall, it settles them on their dregs. But when God’s children fall, they see their weaknesses; they see the bitter root of sin and hate it the more, and they are never at rest until it is cast out by the strength of grace and repentance. Therefore let no one be too much cast down by his infirmities, so long as they are resisted, for from this comes a fresh hatred of corruption. God does not look upon any sin except sin that is not grieved over and not resisted. Otherwise, God has a holy purpose in permitting sin to remain in us: to keep us from worse things.

331. No one who gives himself sincerely to holy conversation fails to gain by it. Many people ask questions and are curious to know, but not so that they may put what they learn into practice. This is only a proud desire to taste of the tree of knowledge. But the desire of sincerely affected Christians is to know so that they may seek Christ. We often gain by talking with those who are mere beginners in religion. Paul desires to meet with the Romans, though they were his converts, so that he might be strengthened by their mutual faith (Rom 1:12).

332. Once the Spirit fastens the wrath of God upon the conscience of someone he means to save, the painful affections of grief and shame follow. From these come a dislike and hatred of sin, and here begins a divorce between the soul and its beloved sin. So where sin once held the scepter in the soul, God now begins to dispossess that strong man. Then follows a strong desire to be better, and a holy desperation: if God in Christ is not merciful, then the soul says, “What will become of me!” And as the Spirit lets in some terrors, so he also lets in some hopes, as in “What shall I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). This implies a surrender of the will to take any course at all, provided the soul may be saved. And then it would give all the world for one drop of mercy.

333. Christ never comes into any heart except where he is valued and esteemed; yet he does not delight to hide himself from his poor creature. When we are fit, when we truly judge ourselves unworthy of any favor, then he receives us. Here, therefore, is comfort for the worst of men: if they will come in and submit to God’s ordinances, those ordinances will be effective to subdue our corruptions. And once God has taken up the heart of man for his temple, he will bring into it all his treasures. There will be a mutual fellowship between God and the soul once we are subdued.

334. God is so powerful an agent that he can overthrow everything. He can overthrow the fleshly principles of reason that every natural man holds in the fortress of his soul. He sets before people the condition they are in by nature and lets in a taste of his vengeance. When God in his ordinances shows greater reasons for goodness than Satan can show for his fleshly ways, then everything falls down. Therefore, let those who are not yet fully subdued still come to the ordinances, for then they are within God’s reach. When the word of God reveals the baseness, vileness, and danger of sin, then the soul bows. Therefore let no one despair; for though your heart is stone, God can still work powerfully. With infinite power nothing is difficult; but it is a divine work to pull down a wicked sinner.

335. However much we take pains in our callings, the ability and the blessing still come from God. We pray for daily bread, and he gives it, even though we labor for it. There is a gift of success, and unless it is given to us from above, we will, with the disciples, “catch nothing” (Luke 5:5).

336. Gifts are for grace, and grace is for glory. Gifts belong peculiarly to some people, but grace is common to all Christians. Gifts are found in many, and are common even to those who are not good. Gifts are joined with great sins, but grace has love and humility to bring the soul low. The devil has lost little of his sharpness, and yet he remains mischievous. In the same way, many men have great abilities, but they also have a devilish spirit. Grace comes from a more special love, and yet people would rather be counted devils than fools. Call them men of great abilities, and then call them whatever else you like.

337. It is a hard matter to tell the least measure of grace from the greatest degree of formality. For as a painting often surpasses the thing itself, so a hypocrite often makes a greater show. But the least measure of saving grace lies in desires. And these desires are known to be saving if they proceed from a taste of the thing itself, and not merely from the object. We must therefore distinguish between affections that are stirred up and the inward frame of the heart, for affections that are suddenly stirred up soon return to what they were. The waters of a hot spring have a natural heat, but water that has been heated will return to its former coldness.

338. Though we are sure of victory over our spiritual enemies, we must still fight. The conquered kings must be fought. Christ, who fights for us, fights with us and in us, and crowns us when all is done. And the time will come before long when we shall say of our enemies what Moses said of the Egyptians: “Those enemies that we now see, we shall see them no more for ever” (Exod 14:13). “Be strong therefore in the Lord, and in the power of his might” (Eph 6:10).