Decline idleness, the very rust and canker of the soul, the devil’s cushion, pillow, chief reposal; his very tide-time of temptation, as it were, wherein he carries with much ease, and without all contradiction, the current of our corrupt affections to any cursed sin. Be diligent, with conscience and faithfulness, in some lawful, honest, particular calling, (a good testimony, if other saving marks concur of truth, and true-heartedness, in thy general calling of Christianity) not so much to gather gold and engross wealth, as for necessary and moderate provision for family and posterity; and in conscience and obedience to that common charge, laid upon all the sons and daughters of Adam to the world’s end, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground,” Gen 3:19. 1. But ever go about the affairs of thy calling with a heavenly mind, seasoned and sanctified with habitual prayer, ejaculatory elevations, and willingness, if God so please, to be dissolved, and to be with Christ; filled with heavenly matter and meditation, picked out of the passages of thy present business. For instance, let the husbandman, in seedtime, collect this sacred soliloquy and heavenly thought:—If I now take not the season, I shall have no harvest, but starve in winter; so, proportionably, if I gather not grace in this sunshine of the gospel, and day of my visitation, I shall find nothing but horror upon my bed of death, and burn in hell for ever hereafter, etc. 2. In all the civil businesses of thy personal calling, let thy eye and aim be upon God’s glory, as the prime and principal end of allthy actions, 1 Cor 10:31, and in them seek and serve the glorious end of God’s honour, not so much in procuring thine own, as the good of the church, commonwealth, neighbours, and family. 3. By earthly employments do not become an earthworm. In using the world, grow not a worldling, and such a one as finds more sweetness and pleasure in worldly dealings, and the coming-in of thy profits, than in thy heavenly traffic and treasures through the practice and business of Christianity.
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PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS.

These preparatives thus premised, I proceed to some general directions for a more comfortable walking in the way that is called holy.

I. ON FAMILY DUTIES.

First, and before all other things, have a special eye and attendance to a sincere, constant, and fruitful performance of holy duties, of God’s services. I say nothing particularly at this time of private reading the Scriptures, public hearing the word, personal prayer, and with thy yokefellow, if thou live in that state, singing of psalms, meditation, conference, days of humiliation, etc., of which thou must proportionably make conscience in their due place, observing also in them the ensuing cautions; for a known gross customary neglect of any holy duty, religious exercise, divine ordinance, in its season, may bring a damp upon the rest, and a consumption upon the whole body of Christianity. To leave these and the like, in their courses and turns also, to be performed with all good conscience and following cautions, I only at this time purposely advise, for the better sanctifying thyself and all about thee to a more comfortable and successful managing of all affairs, businesses, and undertakings, either spiritual or civil, that thou, being master of a family, (for I single out such a one for instance) be ever sure to glorify God amidst thy family, by morning and evening sacrifices of prayers and praises to his heavenly Highness.

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1. Look that thou livest not in any one known sin against thy conscience, hating to be reformed. Do not cherish, allow, or go on in any lust, corruption, or lewd way in thine heart, life, or calling. Suffer not any work of darkness, or service of Satan, to reign and domineer in thee; for, if so, thou art so far from ability, or possibility of walking with God, or delighting in him, that thou wearest the devil’s brand, and art yet most certainly one of his. See and search the true meaning of such places as these 1 John 3:3,6,8-9; James 2:10; Ezek 18:21,30; Ps 66:18, and Ps 119:6,101; Matt 18:8-9; 2 Cor 7:1.

Suitable hereunto is the concurrent judgment and doctrine of our best divines and worthiest writers, graciously instructed unto the kingdom of heaven. These are their several assertions to the same sense, in their own words:

1. “A man can have no peace in his conscience that favoureth and retaineth any one sin in himself against his conscience.”

2. “A man is in a damnable state, whatsoever good deeds seem to be in him, if he yield not to the work of the Holy Ghost, for the leaving but of any one known sin, which fighteth against peace of conscience.”

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SOME

GENERAL DIRECTIONS

FOR A

COMFORTABLE WALKING WITH GOD.

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BUT NOAH FOUND GRACE IN THE EYES OF THE LORD. THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF NOAH: NOAH WAS A JUST MAN AND PERFECT IN HIS GENERATIONS, AND NOAH WALKED WITH GOD.—Gen 6:8-9.

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In this dreadful and dismal story of the old world’s degeneracy and destruction, falling away, and final ruin, here stands in my text a right orient and illustrious star, shining full fair with singularity of heavenly light, spiritual goodness, and God’s sincere service, in the darkest midnight of Satan’s universal reign, and amidst the strangest confusions, idolatrous corruptions, cruelties, oppressions, and lust, that ever the earth bore. Noah, a very precious man, and preacher of righteousness, and his family, were alone excepted. The true worship of God was confined to them, when all the world besides lay drowned in idolatry and paganism, ready to be swallowed up in a universal grave of waters, which was already fashioned in the clouds by the angry, irresistible hand of the all-powerful God, who was now so implacably, but most justly, provoked by those rebellious and cruel generations, that he would not suffer his Spirit to strive any more with them; but inexorably resolved to open the windows or floodgates of heaven, giving extraordinary strength of influence above, and abundance to the fountains of the great deep, commanding them to cast out the whole treasure and heap of their waters; and taking away the retentive power from the clouds, that they might pour down immeasurably, for the burying of all living creatures which breathed in the air. From whence, by the way, before I break into my text, take this note.

Doctrine. The servants of God are men of singularity. I mean it not in respect of any fantasticalness of opinion, furiousness of zeal, or turbulency of faction, truly so called; but in respect of abstinence from sin,
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Beginning a new series:

[Comment from 1837 editor —]

[In this edition the obsolete words have been exchanged for others of the same meaning, and a few sentences, unsuitable for modern readers, have been omitted.]

General Directions

for a

Comfortable Walking

with God
by

Robert Bolton, B.D.

Minister of the Gospel

AD 1626

TO

THE RIGHT HON. AND TRULY NOBLE,

EDWARD, LORD MONTAGUE,

OF BOUGHTON:

A fruitful increase of all heavenly graces; and all watchful preparation for the glory that shall be revealed.

Much honoured and noble lord,

Although the eminence of your other personal worth, great wisdom, and noble parts, a sufficient attractive to every honest heart, by reason of the particular interest it hath in the common state of goodness; or your special bounty to myself, which ought to stir up an ingenuous mind to apprehend any opportunity of due and deserved acknowledgment; or your public deportment in the face of our country, so worthy and honourable; and managed, with such true honesty, grave moderation, and of spirit, which cannot but draw from every heart truly sound to our great Lord in heaven, and his royal deputy our highest sovereign upon earth, a great deal of reverence and love; I say, though any of these severally might draw from me a more exact and able demonstration of the thankful devotions of my heart, yet, my lord, (and you may believe me,) there is another thing besides all these, which was the strongest and most predominant motive to quicken me to this duty and dedication, even your sincere and invincible affection to the gospel of Jesus Christ, his faithful ministers, and most precious ways. And this, to tell you the truth, is far the fairest and most orient flower in the garland of all your goodness, and incomparably above all your greatness, were you advanced even to desert, nay, to the highest top of all earthly felicities and mortal honour. For, however the world, ever beside itself in point of salvation, and stark blind in the right apprehension of heavenly things, doth dote upon gilded miseries, stinging vanities, golden fetters; and wickedly deems pursuit of purity the height of folly; yet I can assure you, in the word of life and truth, the richest and rarest confluence of all human happiness, the most exquisite and variety of the greatest worldly pomp and that ever the sun saw since the first moment of its creation, or shall look upon while it shines in heaven, is but dust in the balance to one grain of grace; it is but dross to an humble mind, enlightened with a foretaste but of the least glimpse of that incomprehensible endless glory which shall shortly be revealed. It is all, in the true valuation, but as a vain smoke, which doth not only vanish as it riseth, and utterly loseth itself at the highest, but also draws tears from a man’s eyes; nay, at last wrings the very heartstrings of every impenitent soul with that extreme everlasting horror which would burst ten thousand hearts, seriously and sensibly to think upon beforehand.

It is not only “vanity,” but also “vexation of spirit.” Let worldly wisdom say what it will, and hold them melancholy and mad, who, by the help of the Holy Ghost, hold a constant countermotion to the course of the world, and corruptions of the time,—that they may keep a good conscience, (the richest treasure and dearest jewel that ever the heart of man was acquainted with;) who infinitely desire rather to be religious, than rich; to be good, than great; to enjoy the favour of God, than the sovereignty and pleasures of all the kingdoms of the earth;—yet assuredly, when all is said, and truly summed up, it is only the true fear of God’s blessed name, a zealous forwardness for his glory, (at this day, unhappily, and to the ruin of immortal souls, called by the world , and too much preciseness,) which can truly beautify and adorn both all other personal , and indeed sanctify and bless all public and services of state.

For the first. A professor, even something popish, doth yet truly teach, that ” nobility is an illustrious eminency shining in a man by the heavenly infusions of supernatural grace, whereby he is made by adoption the son of God, the spouse of Christ, the temple of the Holy Ghost; without which all other nobilities are nothing.” Suppose a fair and goodly horse to the eye, as exquisitely featured, coloured, paced, as that feigned by Bartas to be managed by Cain, yet if he wanted mettle, he were worth nothing to a man of spirit. The most magnificent glorious that ever trod upon earthly , richly crowned with all the ornaments and of nature, art, policy, preferment, or what heart can wish besides, yet without the life of grace to animate and ennoble them, he were to the eye of heavenly wisdom but as a rotten carcass stuck over with flowers, magnified dross, gilded rottenness, golden damnation! And that which is more dreadful, when the sun of his short summer’s day is set, the hot gleam of transitory prosperity past, and the bitter tempestuous winter’s night of death approaches, from which all the gold and pearl of east and west can no more deliver him than can a handful of dust; I say, then shall be poured upon his head a terrible shower of snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest, 11:6. His soul sinks in a moment into the depth of misery, and is desperately plunged for ever into the bottom of the burning lake. His body descends into the grave as into a dungeon of rottenness and horror, arrested, as it were, by the second death, in the devil’s name; and, at length, hailed and dragged unto the terror of that great and last day, where no creature can rescue him, no mountain cover him, from that unquenchable wrath, and never-dying worm, which shall everlastingly, day and night, feed upon his soul and flesh. Whereas now, on the other side, that poor neglected one, who hath in truth given his name unto Christ and his profitable service, perhaps by the world most disdainfully and contemptuously trampled upon, even into the dust, with the feet of cruelty and pride; at least, most certainly ever made extremely vile and contemptible by the villainy of tongues, and cruel , yet is such a one as the world is not worthy of, 11:36-38. In the mean time, in the meaning of the Holy Ghost, a crown of glory in the hand of Jehovah, 6:1-3, as beautiful and amiable as the blood of Christ and his righteous robe can make him, crowned full gloriously with God’s own comeliness which he hath put upon him, 16:14, designed from all eternity in due time, for so his sanctification now assures him, to wear an everlasting crown of bliss. And when his pilgrimage is past, death is to him the daybreak of eternal brightness. Upon his last bed, his blessed soul shall find that fresh-bleeding fountain for sin and for uncleanness set wide open unto it, by the hand of faith, ready now at its departure to raze out the last sinful stain. It may confidently, in the name of Christ, cast itself into the open arms, enlarged bosom, and dearest of the Father of all mercies; it may feel the glorious presence of the sweetest Comforter, presenting unto it a foretaste of heavenly joys; it shall have the last sweetness, and triumphant truth of all the promises of life, able to confront and confound the utmost rage of all the powers of darkness, made good unto it: a mighty guard of blessed angels shall attend upon it, waiting with longing and joy to bear it triumphantly into the bosom of Abraham. His body shall go into the grave as into a chamber of rest, and bed of down, sweetly perfumed unto it by the sacred body of the Son of God lying in the grave; locked there full fast with the bars of the earth, and fenced with the omnipotent arm of God, as a rich jewel in a casket of gold, until the resurrection of the just. And then, after their meeting and glorious reunion, they shall both be for ever filled with all those unmixed pleasures, blessed , and crowned joys, which the dwellingplace of God, the glory of heaven, and the fountain of all bliss, Jehovah himself blessed for ever, can afford.

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