3. From hence it follows, that therefore you must receive and close with Christ entirely, in his whole office, as he is to accomplish all these works, or else you cannot be united to him. He will not be divided: you shall not have Christ as a justifier of you, if you will not have him as a guide, and ruler, and sanctifier of you. He will not be a partial Saviour: if you will not consent that he shall save you from your sins, he will not consent to save you from hell.

4. Understand, and note that Christ will look to his Father's interest and honour, and his own, as well as to your salvation; yea, and before it. And therefore you must not hope for any mercy from him, in any way that is dishonourable to him, or that is inconsistent with his own blessed ends and interest. And therefore do not look for any such grace from him as shall discharge you from your duty, or give you liberty to dishonour or disobey him; nor do not think that you shall have him related to you only for your own ends, but on terms of highest honour to God and your Redeemer. And do not think that your grace is ever the less free, because God's honour is thus preferred: for if you are Christians indeed, you will take God's interest, as your own highest interest, and will confess, that you could not have your own ends and welfare any other way.

5. Understand and note also, that as all your mercies are in the hand of Christ, so Christ hath appointed in his Gospel a certain way and course of means, in which he will bestow it and you cannot expect it from him, in any other way but his own. As God hath made Christ the way, and no man cometh unto the Father but by him, so Christ hath ordained a standing course of means, which are his way for the making over of his benefits; and here you must have them or go without them.

6. Understand and note, that there are some of Christ's ends and benefits, that the very natural man desires, and some that corrupted nature is against. Now it is therefore the established way of Christ to promise us those which we can desire, on condition that we will also accept of, and submit to, those that we are against. Not but that his grace doth dispose men to the performance of such conditions; but his grace worketh by means: and a conditional promise is his established means to draw men's hearts to the performance of the condition (which well considered, is a sufficient

answer to the arguments that are commonly urged against the conditionality of the promise). As the Spirit doth powerfully work within; so he useth that word from without, as his instrument, which worketh sapientially and powerfully to the same work. If a physician have two medicines to give his patient, as necessary for his cure, the one very sweet, and the other bitter; the one which he loves, and the other which he loathes, he will promise him the sweeter, if he will take the bitter one; that by the love of one, he may prevail against the loathing of the other, and may entice it down. He will not promise the bitter one which is loathed, and make the taking of the sweet one the condition: he will not say, 'I will give thee this aloes, on condition thou wilt take this sugar;' but contrary, 'I will give thee the sweeter, if thou wilt take the bitter.'

In Christ's ends, and works, 1. We naturally are more willing of that which makes for ourselves directly, than of that which makes directly for the honour of God and the Redeemer. We prefer our own ends before God's glory. And, therefore, Christ hath so ordered the condition of his promises, that unless we will take him in his relations of dignity as King and Lord, and will make the glory and pleasing of God our principal end, we shall have none of him, or his saving benefits. For he came not to fulfil our selfish desires, but to fetch us off from ourselves, and recover us to God, that he might have his own. And if we will not have our all in God, we shall have nothing. 2. And naturally we are willing, as to our own benefits, to be pardoned, and freed from the curse of the law, and the flames of hell, and natural death, and punishment. And, therefore, we are thus far naturally willing of free justification; but we are unwilling to let go the seeming profit, and credit, and pleasure of sin, and to deny the flesh, and forsake the world; and we are averse to the spiritual felicity of the saints, and to the holiness of heart, and life, that is the way to it. And, therefore, Christ hath most wisely so ordered it, in the tenor of his promises, that our repentance and faith shall be the condition of our justification and deliverance from death and hell. And this faith is the believing in him, and accepting him entirely in his whole office, to sanctify us, and rule us, as well as to justify us. And thus we must take him wholly, or we shall have none of him, And the accepting him as

our teacher, and sanctifier, and king, is as much (at least the condition of our justification, and pardon, and deliverance from hell) as the accepting him as a justifier of us is. He that had the power in his own hands, and that made the free promise, or deed of gift, hath put in such conditions, as his own wisdom saw best; and they are such as suit most congruously to all his ends; even the glory of God, in all his attributes, and the Redeemer's glory, and our own, and most full and free salvation. And on his conditions must we have his benefits, or we shall never have them.

7. Lastly, understand and note, that the means which Christ hath resolved on for teaching and ruling us, ordinarily, are his word, his ministers, and his Spirit; all must be submitted to together, where they may be had, and none of them laid by, by separation. His word is the grammar, or book, as it were, that we must learn. His ministers must teach us this book; and his Spirit (who, in the apostles and prophets, indited and sealed it) must inwardly teach us, by powerful illumination. The word is God's laws. The ministers are his ambassadors, or heralds to proclaim them, and command obedience in his name; and his Spirit must open men's hearts to entertain them. The word is God's seed ; the ministers are the husbandmen, or servants that sow it; and the Spirit must give the increase, without which, our planting, and watering will do nothing. He, therefore, that takes Christ for his master and king, must resolve to be taught and ruled by his established means, even by his word and ministers, and Spirit conjunct. For he that refuseth and despiseth these, doth refuse and despise Christ; and consequently the Father that sent him; Luke x. 16. 1 Thess. iv. 8. For it was never the meaning of Christ, when he became the Teacher and King of the church, to stay on earth, and personally, and visibly to teach them himself; but these three are his means, which all must submit to, that will be his subjects and disciples. And he that despiseth the word, shall be destroyed: Prov. xiii. 13. He that will not have the word, ministry, and Spirit teach him, will not have Christ teach him. And he that refuseth to be ruled by these three, shall be destroyed as a rebel against Christ himself; Luke xix. 27. Still it is supposed that ministers must teach and rule, according to this word.

And the society in which Christ will teach and govern

us, is his church. As members, therefore, of the universal church, and in communion with his particular church where we live and have opportunity, we must wait on Christ for his teaching and benefits. For this is his school, where his disciples must diligently attend and learn.

Lay all this together, and this is the sum. The object of justifying, saving faith, is one only undivided Christ, one in person but of two natures, God and man; in office the Mediator between God and man, who hath already done the work of satisfaction, and merit, and is authorized further to bestow the benefits. By the Gospel grant he hath given himself as Head and Husband, Teacher, King, and Saviour, to all that will entirely and heartily accept him; and with himself he giveth justification by the promise; sanctification by the word, ministry, and Spirit; and final absolution, and everlasting life. If ever then you will have Christ, and life, you must accept him in all these essentials of his person, and offices, and that to the ends which his redemption was intended for. You must be willing to be sanctified by him, as well as to be justified. You must at once unfeignedly become his disciples, his subjects, his members, if you would become his saved ones. You must consent, that as your Teacher, and your Lord, he shall teach and rule your heart, and life, by his word, ministers, and Spirit, in communion with his church. No bar or exception must be put in, nor reservation made against any one of these parts of his office. If

you yield not to these parts of his saving work, that tend but to the completive growth, you sin, and deprive yourselves of the benefit; but if you yield not to those that must make you truly sanctified, and justified men, you cannot be saved. The essentials of Christ's person, and office, do constitute him the Christ, and if he be not received in all those essentials, he is not received as Christ.

And thus I have given you the sum of the Gospel, and the description of faith, and true Christianity in this Direction for a right closing with the Lord Jesus Christ. And experience of most that I discourse with, persuades me to think this Direction of great necessity, and to entreat you thoroughly to peruse and consider it. I find abundance of ignorant people, that talk much of Christ, but know very little of him; that can scarce tell us whether he be God or man, or which person in the Trinity he is, nor to what end

he was incarnated, and died, nor what relation he stands in to us, or what use he is of, or what he now is, or what he is engaged to do for us. But if we ask them about their hopes of salvation, they almost overlook the redemption by Christ, and tell us of nothing but God's mercies, and their own good meanings and endeavours. And I am afraid too many professors of piety, (do look) almost all, at the natural part of religion, and the meaning of their own hearts, and lives, (and I would this were better done) while they forget the supernatural parts, and little are affected with the infinite love of God in Christ. I desire such to consider these things: 1. You overlook the sum of your religion, which is Christ crucified, besides whom Paul desired to know nothing. 2. You overlook the fountain of your own life, and the author of your supplies; and you strive in vain for sanctification, or justification, if you seek them not from a crucified Christ. 3. You leave undone the principal part of your work, and live like moral heathens, while you have the name of Christians. Your daily work is to study God in the face of his Son; and to labour with all saints to comprehend the height, and breadth, and length, and depth, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge; Eph. iii. 18, 19. All your graces should be daily quickened, and set a work by the light of faith, in the contemplation of the Redeemer, and his blessed work. This is the weight that must set all the wheels a going. You do God no service, that he can accept, if you serve him not in this Gospel work, of loving, trusting, and admiring, and praising him in the Redeemer, and for his redemption. 4. And so you rob God of the principal part of his glory, which you are to give him; which is for his most glorious work of our redemption. I pray you read over again the ends of this work, which I laid down in the beginning of this Direction. 5. Moreover, you rob yourselves of your principal comfort, which must all come in by living upon Christ. 6. And you harden the Antinomians and Libertines, and tempt men to their extremes, that run from us as Legalists, and as men that savour not the doctrine of free grace, and are not of a Gospel spirit and conversation. I would our great neglect of Christ had not been a snare to these mistaken souls, and a stumbling-block in their way.

O sirs, if a thought of your hearts, if a word of your