scudderpage179

that man's heart is not upright in him, saith God, Hab. ii. 4. Lastly, when your eye is single, and your heart one, and undivided, you will not allow yourself to be in part for God, and in part for mammon, Matt. vi. 22 - 24, in part for God, and in part for your lusts, whether of the flesh, or of the world, or of the pride of life; you will not give your name and lips to God, and reserve your heart for the world, the flesh, or the devil; but, by your will, God shall be all in all unto you.

Fourthly, If you would be in earnest and in truth against sin, and for goodness, you must represent sin to your thoughts as the most hurtful, hateful, and most loathsome thing in the world, Gen. xxxix. 9; and must represent the obeying and doing of God's will unto your mind, as the best and most profitable, most amiable, most sweet and excellent thing in the world, Psa. xix. 7, 8, 11, cxix. 72. Hereby you may affect your heart with a thorough hatred and loathing of sin, and with an hearty love and delight in God's commandments, Psa. cxix. 97. If you do thus, you cannot choose but shun sin, and follow after that which is good, not in pretence only, but in deed and in truth, with all your heart. For, a man is always hearty against what he truly hates, and for what he dearly loves.

Fifthly, If you would be sincere, and do all your actions for God's glory, and for his sake, you must, by the light of God's word and works, fully inform and persuade yourself of God's sovereignty and absoluteness, and that, because he is the first absolute and chief good, he must needs be the last, the absolute and chief end of all ends. For he, that is the Alpha, must needs be the Omega, of all things, Rev. i. 8. Since all things are of God, Rom. xi. 36, and since he made all things for himself, Rev. iv. 11, therefore you should, in all things you do, be upright, intending God's glory as your principal and ultimate end in all things, 1 Cor. x. 28, 31.

Sixthly, Consider often and seriously, that how close and secret soever hypocrisy may lurk, yet it