and the spectator is at once entertained with instruction and pleasing wonder. II. Another thing that gave me an esteem of this work, was the account that is given of an evangelical conversion, after the author had been long struggling with sharp convictions of conscience, and labouring under sharp agonies and terrors. He had been fighting with guilt and corrupt nature to attain holiness, pardon, and peace, by all the methods that the reason of man would naturally suggest, and by the doctrines and duties of the gospel itself, used in a more legal way and manner; and found his labours repeated and vain, and his work still to begin. Here he describes at large the utter insufficiency of all convictions and awakening words and providences, all tears and repentance, all religious duties of worship, public and private, all vows and promises, covenants and bonds with which he bound his soul to God; and how sin prevailed and triumphed over them all when they were practised only in a legal manner, as a mere task of conscience, and without the delightful taste of the grace of the gospel. All these left him still under guilt, under the power of sin, and in the utmost confusion, near to despair, till it pleased God to open his eyes to behold the mercy and comfort of the gospel as the way to holiness and peace; till divine grace brought him as a dying sinner, empty of all good, and helpless, to the full salvation that is in Christ, and sweetly constrained him to receive peace and holiness together; till he learned the way of sanctification by faith and hope in a pardoning God, a God reconciling sinners to himself, through Jesus the Redeemer. This overwhelmed his soul at once with deep humility and repentance, with wonder and holy joy, with hope and love, and constrained him to pleasant obedience. This renewed his nature, this wrought in him all the powers and principles of Christian holiness, and raised and supported them in a glorious degree. Now, though I dare not confine the workings of the blessed Spirit, who is infinitely free and various in his operations, and he hath carried thousands to salvation in a more legal way, and doth daily conform his divine workings in many souls to their lower degrees of light and evangelical knowledge, as well as to their natural tempers and their temptations; yet it is my judgment that such a conversion of sinners as this Author experienced, is always more frequent where the Gospel obtains in its purest light, and its divinest glory, and seems to be more akin to the spirit of Christianity. III. The last thing that I shall mention, that I remark in this work, is the full confirmation that is given to our holy religion, and to this noble method of divine grace, not only in the most watchful and holy life, but also in the most joyful and glorious death of this good man. Death takes off every possible disguise, and makes us think and speak sincerely; and yet you see him still the same. Here we find reason and learning giving their testimony to the Gospel, and to the power of godliness, with a living pen and with dying lips. Though this book may be of great use to all that will read it with an humble and serious temper, yet the persons to whom I would chiefly recommend it, are these, namely— First, To my younger brethren in the ministry. Perhaps they may learn from these papers, the way of suiting their discourses, in public and in private, with a more happy turn for the relief and salvation of souls. I am persuaded, if we all consulted the workings of the Spirit of God on the hearts of Christians, and the various devices of corrupt nature, and the wiles of Satan, as they appear in such memoirs as these, we should learn better how to deal with the consciences of men, in order to their sanctification and comfort, and put the doctrines of the Gospel to their proper use. We should all preach the abounding grace of Christ, in order to lead sinners to delight in the law of God, and more effectually direct and draw them to the practice of that “faith that works by love." Next, I would recommend it also to those persons, that are awakened to a sense of their sin and danger, and seeking the way of salvation, that they may not run into mistaken methods, nor follow the false and flattering dictates of a mere natural conscience, lest, with their Bibles in their hands, and the Gospel on their lips, they seek righteousness and peace" as it were by the works of the law." Here they will find, that hope is the surest and kindest spring of holiness, and that there is no solid and lasting peace but what is built on the clear discoveries of forgiving grace; and that faith only can purify the heart. I would recommend it, in the third place, to poor melancholy souls, who walk watchfully and mournfully before God in every duty, and labour in religion, and travel on in heaviness all their days. They dare not indulge their hopes, nor scarce admit any degrees of comfort, because their holiness is so imperfect. Let them learn, from this example, to try whether they would not sooner arrive at great degrees of sanctification, by going farther out of themselves to fetch their comforts, and by letting their hope live on the freest and richest promises of the covenant of grace, wherein repentance and holiness are promised, as well as pardon and happiness. Let them try, whether an humble trust in Christ, as their righteousness and their strength together, would not fill them with powerful constraints of love, and lead them to a sweet delight in every duty; and thus that good word would be fulfilled unto them, "The joy of the Lord shall be your strength." I would commend it also to those Christians that have begun to walk with God cheerfully in the ways of his gospel-grace. Here they may be assured, that all the glorious grace of the Gospel will by no means excuse them from daily labour, and care, and watchfulness, from constant and earnest prayer, and universal diligence, in all the duties of godliness: for if these be omitted, sin will prevail, and Satan gain many advantages to bring them back to guilt and bondage again. Sin prevailing will spread a temporary darkness and death over all the vigour and beauty of their religion; but when they are fallen into such degrees of backsliding and decay, they may learn here, that the only way of their recovery is by faith and hope in the Gospel; by trusting, as undone sinners, in an all-sufficient Saviour; and their only security all along the road to heaven, is by joining diligence and dependence together. May the blessed Spirit, who formed the soul of this Author to the divine model of his Gospel, form the heart of every reader by the same perfect rule, and raise them to equal or to higher degrees of faith and holiness, that they may be living witnesses and honours to the name of Christ; and let them join with me to adore my God and Saviour, who, though he hath secluded me from service in his house, by long sickness, yet honours me to stand as a figure on his high-way, to direct travellers in the road; and while he restrains my tongue from its delightful work, he is pleased to use me as a silent finger to point to the footsteps of a faithful shepherd, and by them to guide the flock in their way to heaven. I. WATTS. Theobalds in Hertfordshire, } |