Grace, to be careless of that holy Watch that was once fet up in thine Heart, and didft not keep Centinel there, as formerly, for God's Glory, and thy own Peace; the restless Enemy of Man's Good quickly took Advantage of this Slackness, and often furprized thee with Temptations, whofe Suitableness to thy Inclinations, made his Conqueft over thee not difficult.

In short, thou dift omit to take up Chrift's holy Yoke, to bear thy daily Crofs; thou waft careless of thy Affections, and kept no Journal or Check upon thy Actions; but didft decline to audit Accounts, in thy own Confcience, with Christ thy Light, the great Bishop of thy Soul, and Judge of thy Works, whereby the holy Fear decayed, and Love waxed cold; Vanity abounded, and Duty became burdenfome. Then up came Formality, inftead of the Power of Godliness; Superftition, in Place of Chrift's Inftitution: And whereas Chrift's Bufinefs was to draw off the Minds of his Difciples from an outward Temple, and carnal Rites and Services, to the inward and fpiritual Worship of God, fuitable to the Nature of Divinity, a worldly, human, pompous Worship is brought in again, and a worldly Priesthood, Temple and Altar are re-established. Now it was, that the Sons of God once more faw the Daughters of Gen. 6. 2. Men were fair: That is, the pure Eye grew dim, which Repentance had opened, that faw no Comliness out of Christ; and the Eye of Luft became unclofed again, by the God of

the

the World; and thofe worldly Pleasures, that make fuch as love them forget God, though once defpifed for the Sake of Chrift, began now to recover their old Beauty and Intereft in thy Affections; and from liking them, to be the Study, Care, and Pleasure of thy Life.

True, there ftill remained the exterior Forms of Worship, and a nominal and oral Reverence to God and Chrift; but that was all: For the Offence of the holy Crofs ceased, the Power of Godliness was denied, Self-denial loft; and though fruitful in the Invention of ceremonious Ornaments, yet barren in the bleffed Fruits of the Spirit. And a thousand Shells cannot make one Kernel, or many dead Corps one living Man.

§. IX. Thus Religion fell from Experience. to Tradition; and Worship, from Power to Form, from Life to Letter; that inftead of putting up lively and powerful Requefts, animated by the deep Senfe of Want, and the Afliftance of the holy Spirit, by which the Ancients prayed, wrestled and prevailed with God; behold, a by-rote Mumpfimus, a dull and infipid Formality, made up of corporeal Bowings and Cringings, Garments and Furnitures, Perfumes, Voices and Mufick; fitter for the Reception of fome earthly Prince, than the heavenly Worship of the only true and immortal God, who is an eternal, invifible Spirit.

But thy Heart growing carnal, thy Religion did fo too; and not liking it as it was, thou fashion

fashionedft it to thy Liking; forgetting what the holy Prophet faid, The Sacrifice of the Prov. 15Wicked is an Abomination to the Lord; and 8. what James faith, Ye afk, and ye receive not, James 4.3. Why? because ye afk amifs: That is, with an Heart that is not right, but infincere, unmortified, not in the Faith that purifies the Soul, and therefore can never receive what is afk'd: So that a Man may fay with Truth, thy Condition is worle by thy Religion, because thou art tempted to think thyfelf the better for it, and art not.

§. X. Well! by this Profpect that is given thee, of thy foul Fall from primitive Chriftianity, and the true Caufe of it, to wit, a Neglect of the daily Crofs of Chrift, it may be eafy for thee, to inform thyfelf of the Way of thy Recovery.

For look at what Door thou wenteft out, at that Door thou must come in: And as letting fall, and forbearing the daily Cross loft thee; fo taking up, and enduring the daily Crofs, muft recover thee. It is the fame Way, by which the Sinners and Apoftates become the Difciples of Jefus. Whosoever, fays Christ, Mat. 16. will come after me, and be my Difciple, let bim 24. deny himself, and take up his daily Crofs, and Luke 14 follow me. Nothing fhort of this will do; 27. mark that; for as it is fuflicient, fo it is indifpenfible: No Crown, but by the Crofs: No Life eternal, but through Death: And it is but juft, that thofe evil and barbarous Affections, that crucified Chrift afresh, should, by his holy

Mark8.34

Crofs,

Crofs, be crucified.

Blood requires Blood;

his Crofs is the Death of Sin, that caused his Death; and he the Death of Death, according Hof. 13. to that Paffage, O Death, 1 will be thy Death.

14.

CHA P. III.

§. 1. What the Cross of Chrift is? A figurative Speech, but truly, the divine Power, that mortifies the World. §. 2. It is fo called by the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians. §. 3. Where is it the Cross appears and must be borne? Within; where the Lufts are, there they must be crucified. §. 4. Experience teaches every one this; to be fure, Chrift afferts it, From within comes Murder, &c. and that is the Houfe where the ftrong Man must be bound. §. 5. How is the Crofs to be borne? The Way is fpiritual, a Denial of Self the Pleasure of Sin; to please God, and obey his Will, as manifefted to the Soul by the Light be gives it. §. 6. This shows the Difficulty, yet the Neceffity of the Crofs.

T

HE daily Crofs being then, and ftill, O Christendom! the Way to Glory; that the fucceeding Matter, which wholly relates to the Doctrine of it, may come with most Evidence and Advantage upon thy Confcience, it is moft seriously to be confidered by thee.

First, What the Crofs of Chrift is?

Secondly,

Secondly, Where the Crofs of Chrift is to be taken up?

Thirdly, How, and after what Manner it is to be borne ?

Fourthly, What is the great Work and Bufinefs of the Crofs? In which, the Sins it crucifies, with the Mischiefs that attend them, will be at large exprefs'd.

Fifthly and lastly, I fhall add many Testimonies from living and dying Perfons, of great Reputation either for their Quality, Learning, or Piety, as a general Confirmation of the whole Tract.

To the first, What is the Cross of Chrift?

§. I. The Cross of Christ is a figurative Speech, borrowed from the outward Tree, or wooden Crofs, on which Chrift fubmitted to the Will of God, in permitting him to fuffer Death at the Hands of evil Men. So that the Cross myftical, is that divine Grace and Power which croffeth the carnal Wills of Men, and gives a Contradiction to their corrupt Affections, and that conftantly oppofeth itself to the inordinate and fleshly Appetite of their Minds, and fo may be justly termed the Inftrument of Man's wholly dying to the World, and being made conformable to the Will of God. For nothing else can mortify Sin, or make it easy for us to fubmit to the divine Will, in Things other wife very contrary to our own.

§. II. The Preaching of the Crofs, therefore, in primitive Times, was fitly called by Paul, that famous and fkilful Apoftle in fpiritual

Things,