Neither all the devils in hell, nor all the temptations of the world, can hurt that man that keeps himfelf humble and depending on Chrift.

It is no humiliation to aggravate fin above Chrift's faving power.

Defpair is a corruption of humiliation, it is a counterfeit humility, a fullen pride, the covert of a hardened fpirit.

That is true humiliation, which (like a harbinger) makes way for Chrift, and throws the foul at his feet.

Our Saviour was a preacher and pattern of humility he did fo admire it, that he fet them in the highest form, that had the loweft hearts. None fo high and glorious as Christ, yet none fo meek and lowly.

OF CONTENTMENT.

Humility is the mother of contentment. The deeper your felf-abhorrence, the eafier is felf-refignation.

They that deferve nothing fhould be content with any thing.

Blefs God for what you have, and truft God for what you want.

We must commit our fouls to God's keeping, and fubmit ourfelves to God's difpofing.

We should obey his revealed will, and then be refigned to his providential will.

If we cannot bring our condition to our mind we muft labor to bring our mind to our condition.

Neither contentment, nor difcontentment, arifes from the outward condition, but from the inward difpofition.

If a man is not content in that ftate he is in, he will not be content in any ftate he would be in.

OF PRIDE.

To be fure a man is proud of that, which he fcorns another for the want of.

That which a man envies in another, he would be proud of, if he had it him felf.

Pride is founded on error and felf-ignorance. Some are proud of what they are, others of what they are not.

There is a fullen pride in not acknowledging benefits.

A man may be poor in purse, yet proud in fpirit.

There may be pride in rags, in a folemn look and lowly carriage.

God had rather his people fhould fare poorly, than live proudly.

How canft thou be judge of another's heart, that doft not know thine own?

As the firft ftep heaven-ward is humility, fo the firft ftep hell-ward is pride.

Pride counts the gofpel foolishness, but the gofpel always fhews pride to be fo.

Pride is a fin that will rife out of the afhes of other fins.

Folly is the beginning of pride, and fhame fhall be the end of it; either penitent fhame, or penal fhame; either temporal repentance, or eternal punishment.

Shall the finner be proud that is going to hell? Shall the faint be proud that is newly faved from it ?

Thou that canft call nothing thine own but

fin and fhame, art thou proud? Duft and afhes, proud? A worm, and proud? Emptinefs, and proud? Perifhing, and proud?

It is unreasonable for the creature to be proud much more the finner.

OF HYPOCRISY.

A hypocrite is one that neither is what he feems, nor feems what he is.

A hypocrite is the picture of a faint; but his paint fhall be wafhed off, and he fhall appear

in his own colours.

God is good in earneft with us, we ought therefore to be fo with him.

A hypocrite is hated of the world for feeming a chriftian, and hated of God for not being

one.

OF IDLENESS.

Idleness is the mother of many wanton children.

They that do nothing, are in the ready way to do that which is worse than nothing.

If we hide our talent in the earth, we fhall lofe our treasure in heaven.

A chriftian fhould never fay, he hath nothing to do.

It was not for nothing that we were called out of nothing.

OF THE SOUL.

It matters not what a man lofes, if he faves his foul; but if he lofe his foul, it matters not what he faves..

They that are leaft fenfible of their foul's wants are moft miferable.

It is our greatest wifdom to be tenderly watch

ful over the frame of our fpirits; to obferve what helps it, and what injures it.

If you lose your time, you lofe your hopes; and if you lose your hopes, you lose your fouls, and when your fouls are loft, they fhall never be ranfomed; when your hopes are loft, they fhall never be recovered; and when your time is loft, it fhall never be redeemed.

OF THE HEART AND CONSCIENCE.

The foft mercies of God will break the hard heart of man.

A hard heart is not fo foon broken, as a broken heart is bound up.

It is better to have a good confcience, and be cenfured, than to have a bad one, and be flattered.

We must hear the warnings of confcience, or we fhall feel the woundings of confcience.

A word from God, a look from Chrift, a touch from the fpirit will break the heart.

OF GRACE.

The notion of free-grace, may make perfons diffolute, but a fenfe of it reftrains from fin. The goodness of God refpects our emptiness, the grace of God our finfulness, and the mercy of God our unworthiness.

What fin is there which grace cannot pardon? What heart is there, which grace cannot foften? What foul is there, which grace cannot fave?

All grace flows from Chrift united to the foul; as all life flows from the foul united to the body.

The more God's juftice was declared towards

his fon, the more was his mercy magnified towards the finner.

God humbled his fon to exalt his grace.

Saul was not fo free in perfecuting Chrift, as Chrift was in pardoning Paul.

Blefs God for Chrift, Christ for the spirit, and the fpirit for grace.

Poffibly a chriftian's enemies may spoil him of his common mercies; but they shall never rob him of his covenant mercies.

God's faithfulness performed what his mercy promised.

Mercy drew the covenant; faithfulness keeps it; mercy called us: faithfulness will not caft us off.

Common mercies may be fweet, but cove nant mercies are sure.

Abusers of mercy are treafurers up of wrath. If thou wert worthy, thou couldest have no mercy.

There is grace in the defire of grace, as there is fin in the defire of fin.

You that have found mercy, fhew mercy. Though God in mercy hath done great things you, yet confider what in juftice he might have done to you.

for

Whilft we carry a fenfe of grace in our confcience to comfort us, let us carry a fenfe of fin in our memory to humble us..

We can never blefs God enough for his patience, that hath kept us fo long out of hell; nor for his mercy, that fo earneftly invites us to heaven.

All that are chofen are veffels of mercy; all that are regenerate, are patterns of mercy; all