A supplement to The Morning-exercise at Cripple-Gate, or, Several more cases of conscience practically…

2. Knowledge will be most useful for the Avoiding of sin. The more knowledge you have of the nature of sin, the abundance of it in your selves, its offensiveness to God: The more knowledge you have of the rule, the exactness, the purity, the Spirituality and extent of the Law: and so the better able you are to judge what sin is, and what its consequences are: the better you may escape it. The clearer your knowledge, and the stronger your convictions are of the evil of sin, the more Arguments you are furnished with to persuade your hearts against it. A good treasure of Spiritual knowledge will best help you to maintain your Spiritual warfare. When you know not only your Leader and your weapons, and your reward; but your Enemies too, and their stratagems and way of lighting: you are like then to be most courageous in your combat

2. Knowledge will be most useful for the Avoiding of sin. The more knowledg you have of the nature of sin, the abundance of it in your selves, its offensiveness to God: The more knowledg you have of the rule, the exactness, the purity, the Spirituality and extent of the Law: and so the better able you are to judge what sin is, and what its consequences are: the better you may escape it. The clearer your knowledg, and the stronger your convictions are of the evil of sin, the more Arguments you are furnished with to perswade your hearts against it. A good treasure of Spiritual knowledg will best help you to maintain your Spiritual warfare. When you know not only your Leader and your weapons, and your reward; but your Enemies too, and their stratagems and way of lighting: you are like then to be most couragious in your combate

3. Knowledge will be greatly useful to you for your Profiting by ordinances. The better you understand the nature and use and ends of them, the more good you are like to get by them. The more you know of the word, the more you will still learn by it. If the foundation of Spiritual knowledge be well laid, Ordinances will more easily build you up. Not only the work of Ministers would be more easy; if their hearers were better Catechized, there would not be such danger of missing the mark, by shooting over peoples heads, they would not lose so much labour nor spend so much strength in vain, they should not need so much to study plainness, and be inculcating principles, and lisping out the first rudiments of Religion as to those that are but babes in knowledge: But hearers likewise would receive the word with more profit; they would more easily be brought down under convictions, feel the power of Exhortations, be quickened to duties, yield to reproofs, entertain admonitions, and taste the sweetness of God's consolations, and so more easily obtain the end of their hearing. To conclude, if your understandings were more enlightened, your affections would either be sooner warmed, or their heat be more regular; if more truth were known, more duty would be done; if our doctrine were better understood, our application would be more effectual.