launch out and break all his Fences of this kind. And when he hath done fo, it is odds but he goes farther, and lets fall thofe very Refolutions he made of neceffary indifpenfible Virtue and Holiness. Certainly the being false to his Vows of one kind, will mightily difpofe him to be so to thofe of the other, fince he hath obliged himself equally to both. And fad Experience fhews, that this indeed too often comes to pafs. If therefore a Man thinks of tying up himself as to these indifferent Matters, as believing that the fo doing will be a good Guard to his Virtue, let him take good Advice before he doth it; and efpecially let him oblige himself but for a little Time, fince, if he finds his Refolutions expedient, he may repeat them when he pleases. But if he make Refolutions for a long Time, he cannot, if he finds them inconvenient, fo easily undo them again.

What I have hitherto faid, has been wholly concerning the forming of our Refolutions of Virtue and an holy Life. But there are fome Things that concern the Government of ourfelves after we have actually taken up thofe Refolutions, that are every whit as neceffary to the good Succefs of them, as the former Points.

II. To give you fome Account of these, is the fecond Point I undertook in this Difcourfe; of which I fhall speak very briefly. T 4

1. In

1. In the firft Place therefore, let us not think it fufficient to have made wife, and ftrong, and good Refolutions once for all, unless we frequently renew them. The firmeft and the beft contrived Purposes will, in Time and by Degrees, grow very feeble, and languid, and lofe all the Force they fhould have upon us, if we do not take Care to put new Life into them, by over and over again impreffing them upon our own Minds, and repeating all the Arguments and Confiderations that at firft prevailed with us to take them up. It will therefore highly concern us, after we are once entred into hearty and fettled Refolutions to ferve God, never to let them cool, but to keep up the Fire that is kindled in our Hearts, by conftantly miniftring Fuel to it. To this End, let us every Day we rife, enter into a ferious Confideration of the Obligations we have laid upon ourfelves.

Let us ask our Hearts how they now ftand inclined towards them. They were very forward at firft to undertake the Service of God; Do they ftill continue fo? Are they as full of Hatred and Deteftation of Sin, and as vigorously bent to pursue the Paths of Virtue and Religion, as they were when they lately enter'd into Covenant with God? If we find that they flag and waver, and cannot anfwer us with that Briskness that before they did; We will be good, we will live virtuously, we will ferve

God.

God. Let us ply them with Arguments; let us lay before them the mighty Obligations they had at firft to undertake this great Work, and convince them, that they have the fame Obligations to persevere in it. Let us beg of them to confider how infinitely good God is in himself, and how infinitely kind and bountiful he hath been to us every Moment of our Lives; and confequently how juft and reasonable it is, that we should for ever give up ourselves to the Service of him. Let us represent to them, how righteous, how good, how equitable all his Laws are; how much the Obfervance of them tends to our Advantage; infomuch that it is infinitely more our Intereft than God's, that we should yield a due Obedience to them. Let us perfuade them of the great Folly and Vanity, and the intolerable Mischiefs and Inconveniencies that do attend those Courses we have formerly purfued, and which it feems they have now a Defire to return to again. Let us lay before them how much Pain, and Grief, and Anguish, and Sorrow it coft our Bleffed Saviour to redeem us from our vain Converfation; and to purchafe for us the Pardon of thofe curfed Sins of ours, which we are now meditating to take again into our Bofom. If all this will not work upon our Hearts, let them be further remembred that they are now actually engaged in God's Service, and

have,

have, by the moft folemn Vows in the World, obliged themfelves to continue in it, and therefore it is now too late to look back. To be guilty of fo base a Perfidioufnefs, as it will be a moft horrid Crime, fo will the Vengeance of God not fail to purfue us for it. Befides, now we are in a fair Way to attain Heaven and eternal Happiness, a good Beginning being in a manner half the Work: But if we fall back, we have loft all the Pains we have already taken in raifing up ourselves to this Pitch, and are but just where we were before we begun this Bufinefs. And who knows whether we fhall ever be able to begin it again? Who knows whether ever God will again afford us either the Grace or the Means to do it? If, notwithstanding all this, your Hearts are yet heavy, and untoward, and unwilling to go on in this Work, you must tell them plainly, that they must go on, there is an abfolute Necefhty for it. This is a Bufinefs that concerns you as much as your Souls are worth. Your everlasting Salvation or Damnation depends upon it, and therefore there is no dallying in the Matter. In a Word, we must never leave ourselves till we have fo fired our Hearts, that they refolve with all Alacrity to go on as they have begun that they tell us peremptorily, I will go to my Father. I will be good whatever it cofts me. I will fland to my Vows what Oppofition foever I

meet

meet with.

I will never forfake the Service of my God; and particularly this following Day I will fo take heed to all my Ways, that I will not offend against any of my Purposes.

Oh! my Brethren, if we would but thus frequently commune with our own Hearts, and daily thus reinforce our good Refolutions, how eafy would it be for us to be good! How eafy to vanquish all our evil Habits, and to triumph over every Thing that oppofeth us! Nay, I may fay, how hard a Matter would it be for us to be bad! We should fubvert all Difficulties, and every Day grow better and better, till at last we had got as obftinate confirmed Habits of Virtue and Goodness, as other Men now have, or we ourselves before had, of Vice and Sin.

2. Efpecially if we join another Thing, which I come now to mention, viz. If we mean our Refolutions fhould bring forth thofe good Fruits we make them for, we muft remember that there is another neceffary Duty to be performed by us, and that is, daily and conftant Prayer to God Almighty, for his Grace and Holy Spirit to go along with us in the great Work we have undertaken. Alas! we are of our felves poor frail Creatures. The firmeft Refolutions we have made, the strongest Guard we have placed about ourselves, will not protect us from the Deceitfulness of

our