Epislte Dedicatory

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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