perishing by Multitudes round about you and not once open your Mouths to help them Is this to love your Neighbours as your selves 3. In a word I tell you 't is your duty to take all opportunities wherever you come or with whomsoever you converse to do good to Souls I do not mean that sacred Things should be exposed by rashness indiscretion or imprudent management nor Pearls cast before Swine who will turn again and rent you But one thing I will tell you as bad as the World is the Names of Holiness Justice Purity Religion c. are still honourable among Men and the contrary Vices are accounted odious No Man would be look'd upon as an impious profane unrighteous Villian Now this gives you some advantage and a willing Mind may find many ooportunities to bring in good Discourse and that in such a way as the woâ—st of Men should scarce dare to contradict it There is somewhat in serious Religion which commands Awe and Reverence even from them that hate it Herod feared John the Baptist knowing that he was a just Man and an holy Mark 6.20 As for those that are civilized or moralized as some speak the difficulty is next to nothing to bring in some edifying Discourse among them and to leave some good savour behind you Christians should be the Salt of the Earth Mat. 5.13 And to let them know that the Life of Religion is somewhat more than they seem to place it in Can you not gently and prudently reprove the Sins of others where you think it may do good I know that this is a Duty that goes as much against the Grain as almost any but the Scripture is plain Lev. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine Heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin to the upon him Or as the words may be rendered that thou bear not Sin for him you make your selves Partakers with other Men in their Sins if you endeavour not to prevent them In short God will own those that own him and stand up for his Cause and if that be not enough see where you can find a better Patron Moreover as for those that are poor and low in the World you might make way for doing good to their Souls by shewing Kindness to their Bodies if you thought it worth the while to be at any expence for the interest of Christ in the World I say no more than this if it were possible that Grief could have any place in Heaven this sure would be the matter of it to remember how little we had done for God on Earth Direct 6. Be much in the exercise of those Graces and Duties which tend most directly Heaven-ward and are nearest a kin to that blessed State This is the way to make you ripe for Glory You need not stay for all of Heaven till you come thither there are great Foretasts of it to be enjoyed on Earth if you be not wanting to your selves You may feast your Souls upon the Provisions which Christ hath made for your present support and more especially upon those discoveries which he has given you of the Glory intended for you and you have need so to do lest you faint by the way I may say to you as the Angel to Elijah 1. King 19.7 Arise and eat because the Journey is too great for thee 1. Live by Faith upon the great Promises of the Gospel whereby the Heavenly Glory is made sure unto true Believers realize those Promises there remaineth a Rest for the People of God Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord c. If any Man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my Servant be If any Man serve me him will my Father honour These are the true Sayings of God Rev. 19.9 How comes it to pass that they are no more considered and lived upon What tho at present we have not the satisfaction of immediate intuition know ye not that Faith is to be instead of sight till we come to Heaven Heb. 11.1 But alas how apt are we to take up with some dark dreaming confused Notions and Thoughts instead of the lively Exercise of such a Faith 2. Labour to stir up in your selves earnest Longings after this blessed State How can we say we love our Lord if our Hearâ—s be not with him Should we not set our Affections on things above where Christ sitteth on the right Hand of God Col. 3.1 2. Ouâ— Lord is there our Inheritance is there many of our Friends and Acquaintance are gone before how ill doth it become us to suffer our Hearts to flag as if we were indifferent whether we followed them or no Surely we should groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our House which is from Heaven 2 Cor. 5.2 Do but observe how eager and intent Worldlings are upon empty Vanities things that cannot profit And shall we be so cold and heartless in the Tendencies of our Souls towards that Happiness which is solid and substantial Were our Hearts more set upon Heaven it would put Life and Savour into all our Duties it would support us under Afflictions and enable us to baffle Temptations it would be an Evidence of our Sincerity and raise us above the slavish Fears of Death But I proceed 3. Be much in the exercise of a lively well grounded Hope Faith presents the heavenly Glory to the view of the Soul Desire reacheth forth towards it Hope lays hold upon it To this we are begotten again 1 Pet. 1.3 By this we are saved Rom. 8.24 See first that your Hopes be rightly grounded and then that they be duly exercised 4. And now it is time that your Souls should be affected with spiritual Joy Faith and Hope must both contribute to this Thus we read of Joy in believing and of rejoicing in Hope Read Psal 32.11 Phil. 4.4 1 Thess 5.16 You are over and over commanded to rejoice 't is not left to you as a Matter indifferent 'T is as truly a Duty in its place as Godly Sorrow Humiliation and Repentance are in theirs And 't is more noble as appertaining to the primitive and principal Part of Holiness whereas the other belong to the medicinal healing part thereof 5. Above all things strive to keep up the Warmth and Vigour of holy Love to God and your Redeemer Let every other Grace do its part to promote this Labour still to get nearer to God more inward with him and that your Hearts may move more naturally towards him God is Love Direct 7. Observe narrowly the Temper and Behaviour of those Persons who seem ripest for Heaven and take them for your Examples Converse much with such He that walketh with the Wise shall be wise In such you may observe manifold Appearances of those inward gracious Principles by which they are acted In them you may observe great Humility and Condescension toward such as are their Inferiours Great tenderness for the Honour and Interest of God in the World Great delight in making mention familiarly of those that are gone to Heaven before them An excellent composure of Gravity and Chearfulness a weighty Seriousness and Warmth in the Duties of Gods holy Worship In a word you may see plainly enough whither they are going and how beautiful a thing Holiness is thus growing up towards its Perfection FINIS
uneasy to our selves and to all about us till we be reduced and set right again So then this sensual corrupt Self-Love must be mortified but lawful and just Self-Love must be improved as was said before 6. In assigning the Notion of our chief or ultimate End God's Glory and our own Salvation must not be separated For our intention must take in both but then the latter must be considered as in full Subordination to the former We may and ought to desire our own Eternal Happiness that God may be glorified therein who is well pleased and delighted in the Welfare and Perfection of his holy ones Our supreme End must fall in with his who made all things for himself that he alone may have the Glory 7. Therefore to love God only or chiefly for our selves as a means to our own Happiness is greatly to affront and dishonour him by preferring our selves before him the Creature before the Creator the silly Interest of a crawling Worm before the glorious all-comprehending Interest of the supreme infinite Majesty 'T is to invert the order of things while we make our selves the end and consider him but as a means in order thereto As if we were better or more amiable than he or our Happiness more valuable than his Glory Such Profaneness is not to be endured but abhorred Know ye not that the whole Creation has no worth in it but what is derived from God and to be measured by its Relation to him 8. To love God with a pure raised transcendent superlative Love for himself as the most amiable and perfect Good from by and to whom we and all things else are And then to love our selves and all other Objects for him as the supreme ultimate End of all this is the true Method of holy Love towards greater Measures whereof the best of us should be ever aspiring Is it not highly reasonable that he who is best should be most loved That he who is the Author of our Beings should be our End That we should aim at and intend him in all in a word that the love of our selves should be subjected to the highest and purest Love of God Urge these things upon your selves take pains with your own Hearts to bring them to such a Frame plead the Cause of God with your Souls till the Fire kindle and ye be carried up above Self to Him and all by the help of the Holy Spirit 'T is true indeed he needs not you nor your Love neither can ye be profitable to him thereby Job 22.2 3. Your Goodness extendeth not to him Psal 16.2 The advantage is like to be your own and should not the Glory be his As carnal inordinate self-seeking is no better than self-destroying So to go our of our selves and to be as it were estrange I from and lost to our selves that we may seek God live in him and enjoy Communion with him this I say is the true way to advance our own Interest while we seem to overlook it because by this Means we shall find our selves and our All in God with infinâ—te advantage How much some of the People of God have been carried out in holy Zeal for his Honour â—bove their own particular Self-Interest ye may see Exod 32.32 Numb 14.12 Rom. 9.3 Which places I must not now stay to enlarge upon 9 But here it must be remembred that God being immaterial and invisible is not an Object of Sense nor directly of sensitive passiâ—nate Love Therefore the Heart may be inwardly deeply predominantly and therefore sincerely for God tho as to the passionate part we may find our selves more sensibly carried out towards other Objects Because the nearness and sensibleness of the Creature promoteth such sensible workings in the lower sensitive Faculties and corporeal Spirits As for example A sincere Christian may be more feelingly affected towards a dear Friend or Relation or some other Creature-enjoyment than towards God himself yet doth it not therefore follow that his Heart is more for these things than for God because were he put to trial he would forsake all these Enjoyments rather than forsake God or quit his Interest in him whereby it appears that his Mind and Wiâ—l are more for God tho the lower sensitive Appetite work most feelingly toward sensible Objects 10. Therefore tho it be essential to Holiness to love God for himself as our absolutely ultimate End and therefore better than our selves yet there may be some secret conception or beginning of this Love in a Soul long before the Person in whom it is perceives it Because we are apt to judg of our selves by what appears most sensibly in us and to overlook what lies more deep and inward Now as was said before love to self and to the Creatures operates in a more sensible passionate feeling manner than holy intellectual Love doth Because God being a Spirit is not so near to our Senses and Passions as the Creature is Therefore because I would not make sad the Hearts of any whom God would not have made sad Ezek. 13.22 nor give an advantage to Satan to disquiet the Soul of the weakest sincere Christian Let me say to such as follows Supposing that ye are satisfied that God as God is infinitely more amiable than your selves and that he is your absolutely supreme chief or ultimate End and therefore that ye ought to love him as such above your selves Again if ye do earnestly desire that Happiness which consists in so loving him above any other Happiness whatsoever Tho in the mean time ye dare not say that ye love God for himself above your selves but are it may be more sensibly and feelingly concerned for your own Welfare that ye may escape the Wrath to come than for his Glory Yet ye he wail this and desire an Heart to love God more for himself And to refer your own Interest and all to him Why if the Case be thus with you I would not have ye be discouraged or cast down For it seems to me that ye have the seeds and beginnings of this holy Love to God for himself whereof we have been speaking And our Lord will not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax. Let me therefore earnestly beseech you to pray hard for further Influences of the Spirit of Love and take pains with your own Hearts to raise them more above self unto God that your Spark may become a Flame and that ye may be even swallowed up of holy Love So will ye find that Comfort Peace and Assurance which ye are so pensively seeking and enquiring after O learn at length to pore less upon your own poor dark drooping Souls and look more at him who is LIGHT and in whom there is no Darkness at all As for the common sort of the ignorant Pretenders to the Love of God and Holiness all this will seem to them more ado than needs Nor is it difficult to confound their Pretences without going thus high
our Souls towards God and the serious Discharge of Religious Duties To conclude this Head Be not so intent upon any one part of Duty as to overlook the rest Then shall we not be ashamed when we have respect unto all God's Commandments Psal 119.6 I esteem thy Precepts concerning all things to be right and I hate every false way vers 128. 4. Continue instant in Prayer The People of God are called in Scripture a Generation of Seekers Psal 24.6 So Psal 27.8 When thou saidst Seek ye my Face my Hâ—aâ—t said uâ—to thee Thy Face Lord will I seek How 〈◊〉 do we find this Duty press'd upon us Pray always pray and faint not watch unto Prayer Pray to your Father which seeth in secret Pray every where pray without ceasing c. Yea we find the holiest Persons frequently employed in this holy Duty Psal 55.17 Evening and Morning and at Noon will I pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my Voice Psal 109.4 I prayer so it is in the Hebrew As if he were made up of Prayer It were easy to heap up more Examples but I forbear O Sirs it is on our Knees that we must get Strength to walk with God The actuating of holy Desires and presenting them to God must needs tend in its own Nature to strengthen those Habits of Grace from which such Desires proceed Besides as it is the performance of an undeniable Duty should not a People seek unto their God a most reasonable piece of Service so an answerable Blessing may be expected upon it God is the Rewarder of them that diligently seek him Open thy Mouth wide and I will fill it Psal 81.10 Ask for great things and with great Earnestness come not with mean poor narrow thoughts of the Divine Goodness be not cold nor lazy in your Requests Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled Mat. 5. A learned Divine mentions secret Prayer in the fore-front of those Duties to which our Souls are naturally most backward Mr. Baxter Now one would think our own Necessities should even constrain us to it Alas how should we live without it and how much doth it concern us to strive against our Indisposition to it How sweet is a Duty when rescued out of the Hands of Difficulties O Sirs whence is it that God hears no oftner from us and with no greater fervency Surely frequent and earnest Approaches to the most holy God would be a great means to make us more like him Remember God has ways enow to bring you to your Knees What if dark Clouds should arise upon you or some sharp Affliction befal you then 't is likely you would come crying after him and seek him early Hos 5.15 But why not without so much ado why should not gentler Methods prevail with you Be but acquainted with your own Hearts and you need not want either Matter or Motives for this great Duty Never expect to grow in Grace without keeping up Life and Fervency in Prayer Give me leave to shut up this Head with a Passage which I lately met with in the Life of the Excellent Mr. Philip Henry To the Publisher whereof I here return my most humble Thanks 'T is as follows Pag. 75. Be sure you look to secret Duty keep that up whatever you do the Soul cannot prosper in the neglect of it Apostacy generally begins at the Closer-door secret Prayer is first neglected and carelessly performed then frequently omitted and after a while wholly cast off and then farewel God and Christ and all Religion 5. Learn the Art of holy Meditation 'T is by this that we draw in Life Strength and Sweetness from those great Gospel-Truths which inconsiderate Persons lay by as if they were dead or useless things 'T is this that enlargeth our Knowledg and clears our Apprehensions in spiritual Matters and sets on work our Resolutions Affections and all the Faculties and Powers of our Souls 't is a Soul-improving Duty indeed Nor can you want Matter for such Meditation if you will but see your Thoughts at work and keep them close to it Meditate upon the glorious Excellencies and Perfections of the blessed God his Power Wisdom Goodness Holiness Truth All-sufficiency Think I say on these and think again till becoming Impressions be wrought upon your own Spirits changing you from Glory to Glory 2 Cor. 3.18 Think not upon God in a slighty or ordinary manner but with the greatest Reverence and Admiration lest you take his Name in vain whereof you may be guilty in thought as well as in words Let every Thought of God be mighty upon you and participate in some sutable Measure of the greatness of its Almighty Object Think much on your blessed Redeemer who he was what he did what he suffered and why as also what he has further promised to do Thus let Christ dwell in your Hearts Think on the Holy Spirit of Grace call to mind his Influences and Operations upon your Souls how infinitely you are obliged to him how much you have still to do with him How direct and explicite you ought to be in your actings of Faith upon him as well as upon the Father and the Son And how careful you should be to carry becomingly towards him Think on the Holiness Purity and Perfection of the Divine Law how sweet how reasonable how advantageous that Obedience is which God has required of us O how I love thy Law it is my Meditation all the Day Psal 119.97 Think on the Heavenly Perfection what the Saints in Glory and the blessed Angels are doing what they are enjoying till your Souls be on the Wing longing to be joined to that holy and happy Society Think on the Graces wherein you are most defective consider the reasonableness and necessity of them and how ill you can live without them or without greater degrees of them Plead the cause of every Grace with your own Hearts and in the midst of your Meditations lift up your Eyes and your Souls to Heaven for help therein O that you would be perswaded to try this Course to engage your selves in the frequent and solemn Exercise of this great Duty of Meditation the advantage would be great every way And that you may be the fitter for this more stated Exercise of Meditation it will be very useful in the midst of your Employments and Business in the World to be often sending up a Thought or Ejaculation towards Heaven Direct 3. If your Endeavours thus far prove successful so that you find more Grace and Strength coming in thereby lay out your selves so much the morâ— for God Much is expected from them to whom much is given Your Talents are to be traded with noâ— hidden in a Napkin As the Goodness of God abounds toward you you must endeavour to abound in the Work of the Lord that so it may appear that the Grace bestowed upon you is not in vain 1 Cor. 15.10.58 Surely 't