prove of and consent to every duty that is comprehended in a through resolution of amendment. And if when we are about to resolve, we find upon a strict examination any secret reserve or exception in our wills, if there be any lust which they are not throughly persuaded to part with, or any duty to which they are not fully reconciled, we ought for that time to forbear resolving, and to go on in the exercise of the preparatory duties, till we find our reluctant wills throughly conquered and persuaded by them. For if there be any leak left open in our resolution for any sin to creep in at, that will be sure to insinuate in the next storm of temptation; and if it should not let in other sins after it, as it is a thousand to one but it will, it will by its own single weight sink us into eternal perdition. Wherefore before ever we enter into the resolution of amendments, we ought to be very careful that our wills be throughly prepared for it; that they be reduced to a fair compliance with the matter we are resolving upon, and effectually dissuaded out of all resolution to the contrary; and when this is done, we may cheerfully proceed to the forming of our good resolution.

Which ought to be performed by us, between God and ourselves, with the greatest seriousness and solemnity. For now our hearts being ready, we are to betake ourselves to our knees, and in these or such like words to devote ourselves to God: "O thou "blessed Author of my being, I am now fully con"vinced that I owe myself to thee by a thousand "ties and obligations, and am infinitely sorry and "ashamed that I have so long sequestered and with"drawn myself from thee to serve my own base lusts " and affections. Wherefore now in thy dread pre

"sence, and in that of thy holy angels, I here entirely

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resign up myself unto thee, and do resolve, without

"more.

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any reserve or exception, that whatsoever tempta"tions I may meet with for the future, I will never wilfully withdraw or alienate myself from thee From henceforth I heartily renounce all my sins, and particularly those that have been "most dear and pleasant to me, and do faithfully promise to continue thy true and loyal subject as long as I breathe, and that whatsoever invitations "I may have to the contrary, I will never revoke "the resolution I now make, or any part of it. So help me, O my God."

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And having thus solemnly resolved, it will be highly necessary that for the farther ratification of it, we should yet more solemnly repeat it in the holy sacrament; wherein, according to the custom of feasts upon sacrifices, God and every faithful communicant do mutually re-oblige themselves to one another, and upon the sacred symbols of the body and blood of Jesus do ratify to each other each other's part of that everlasting covenant, which by the federal rite of his meritorious death and sacrifice was inviolably sealed and confirmed. So that when we take those holy elements into our hands, which the priest in God's stead presents and offers to us, we do in effect make this solemn dedication of ourselves to God: "Here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, our"selves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable,

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holy, and lively sacrifice unto thee; and here we "call to witness his sacred blood that redeemed us, "and those vocal wounds which do now intercede "for us, that from henceforth we oblige ourselves "never to start from thy service, what difficulties

"soever we may encounter in it, or what tempta"tions soever we may have to forsake it." And having thus resolved and confirmed our resolution by the body and blood of our Saviour, and taken the sacrament upon it, not to depart from what we have resolved, we have actually listed and engaged ourselves in a warfare against sin, the world, and the Devil, upon the final success whereof our everlasting fate depends. And thus you see what duty is implied in the beginning or entrance of this warfaring part of the life of a Christian.

SECT. II.

Wherein some motives are urged to persuade men to the practice of those duties that are proper to the beginning of the Christian warfare.

HAVING in the former section given a brief account of those duties which are necessary to the well beginning of our Christian warfare, I shall now, for a close of that argument, endeavour to press and persuade those who have not as yet begun, to enter immediately upon it, by putting in practice these initial duties of it. You who have been hitherto warring against God, and striving against your duty and your happiness, be at last persuaded to make a stand for a while, and to listen to the voice of reason and religion, which do both call aloud to you to face about, to desert the party wherein you are engaged, and come over to the side of virtue. And that I may, if possible, prevail, I do here earnestly beseech you, even by all that is dear and precious to you, by the love of God, and by the lives of your souls, and

by all your hopes of happiness in the world to come, seriously to consider with me these following motives.

1. That there is a vast necessity of beginning this our spiritual warfare one time or other.

2. That it is unspeakably most secure and advantageous for us to begin it now.

3. That the final success of it doth very much depend upon the well beginning of it.

4. That when once we have well begun it, the main difficulty of it is conquered.

I. Consider the vast necessity there is of beginning this spiritual warfare one time or other. For that which is necessary for us to accomplish at last, is necessary to be undertaken by us one time or other. Now it is as necessary for us to oppose and vanquish the temptations of the world, and the corruptions of our own nature, as it is not to go to hell, or not to miss of heaven. For in this great battle the everlasting fate of our souls is to be decided; and if we come off victors, we are made; if vanquished, we are undone to eternity. So that in this spiritual warfare we do not contend, like the warriors of this world, for a triumphal wreath that will wither upon our brows, or for fame and renown, which is nothing but the breath of a company of talking people, or for the enlarging of our empire over the next handful of a turf; but we are contending with enemies that are pursuing us to hell, and binding us in chains of everlasting darkness. We are to fight for our immortality, for all our hopes of happiness and well-being in a never-ending life: and when so much depends upon the success of our conflict, and we must conquer and be crowned, or die;

win the field and heaven, or yield ourselves captives to eternal misery; I leave you to judge, whether we are not obliged, under the vastest necessity, one time or other to begin. And if we must begin one time or other, why not now as well as hereafter? And to what purpose should we defer entering upon that work, which we all confess we must at last not only begin, but accomplish? For to have accomplished a necessary work, especially when it is difficult and important, is a great satisfaction to the mind: and whereas while it is yet to do, the prospect of the pain and labour of it creates in us a great deal of trouble and anxiety; when once it is done, or the main difficulty of it is over, every reflection on our past pains sweetens our present repose, and crowns it with joy and triumph. And thus it is in our entrance into the Christian life, which we all confess to be both necessary and difficult; and it being so, what do we else by our delaying it, but only prolong the pain and trouble of it? And whereas by one brave attempt we might ease ourselves, and set our souls at rest for ever; we languish away our life in misery, and are sick with the fear of our remedy. Just like poor men that are under the torment of the stone: they know they must be cut or die; but out of a frightful apprehension of their remedy, they put it off from time to time; they promise they will endure it, rather than lose their lives; but when they come to the trial, their hearts fail, and they must needs have a little longer respite; but all the while they endure not only the pain of their disease, but also the apprehensions of their cure, which at last they must also actually endure, or death, which is much more terrible to them. Whereas had they been cut