is through the faith of Christ that being made conformable unto his death I may attain to the Resurrection of the dead and may by him be presented without spot or blemish My God thou hast encouraged my fearful soul by the multitude of thy mercies as well as by thy promises to trust thee and yield it self to thee Thou hast filled up all my dayes with mercy Every place that I have lived in and every relation and all that I have had to do with in the world are the witnesses of thy Love and mercy to me Thy eyes beheld my substance being yet imperfect and all my members were written in thy Book My parents were instructed by thee to educate me and all things commanded by thee to serve for my preservation comfort and salvation Thou hast brought me forth in a land and age of mercies and caused me to hear and see the things which others have not seen or heard The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places My life hath not been spent in a howling wilderness nor in banishment from thy Sanctuary or the communion of thy Saints nor hath it been wholly consumed in darkness and sorrow and unserviceable barrenness But often have I heard the joyful sound and I have gone with the multitude to the house of God and there have seen the light of thy countenance and drank of the Rivers of thy pleasure even of the waters of life and have been solaced with the voice of joy and praise How oft have I cryed unto thee in my trouble and thou hast delivered me out of my distresses When for my folly and transgression I was afflicted thou broughtst me out of darkness and the shadow of death Thou renewedst my age as Hezekiahs and causedst the shadow of my Dyal to go back and hast set me at liberty to praise thee for thy Goodness and declare thy Psal. 107. 8. 15 Psal. 50. 15. 2 Cor. 1. 9 10. Psal. 23. Psal. 139. 17 18. Heb. 13. 5. John 13. 1. Psal 57. 10. 108. 4. 36. 5. 103. 17. 136. Psal. 63. 3. Phil. 1. 23. Luke 2. 29 30. 2 Cor. 1. 2 3 4 5 7 8. works to the children of men In the day of trouble I called upon thee and thou didst deliver me that I might glorifie thee Thou causedst me to receive the sentence of death that I might trust in God that raiseth the dead My Shepheard hath led me in his pleasant pastures by the silent streams He restored my soul and conducted me in the paths of righteousness How pretious are thy thoughts unto me O God! how great is the summ of them If I should count them they are more in number than the sand And will that mercy now forsake me which hath abounded to me and supported me so long Thou hast said I will never fail thee nor forsake thee Having loved thy own that are in the world thou wilt love them to the end For thy mercy is great and reacheth to the Heavens and it endureth for ever O therefore when I awake let me be with thee And as thy loving kindness is better than Life and to depart and be with Christ is far better than the best condition upon earth so let thy servant depart in peace his eye of faith beholding thy salvation And when my earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved let me have that building of God the house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Let my present burden of sin and suffering make me more earnestly to groan not to be unclothed but to be clothed upon that mortality may be swallowed up of life that being absent from the body I may be present with the Lord. And seeing this Cup may not pass from me and I must not look for the Chariot of Elias to carry me unto Heaven let thy Will be done and let me rest therein and let death be the gain and advantage of my soul And Phil. 1 21. 2 Cor. 4. 16 â—8 1 Kings 19. 4. while this outward man is perishing let the inner man be renewed from day to day For what am I better than my Fathers and all thy Saints and the generations of mankind that I should think of any other passage than this of Death to the world of immortality O let this fainting heart be glad and let my glory rejoyce and in Love and Ioy in Thankfulness and Praise let me pass into the world of Love and Ioy where Thanksgiving and Praise shall be my work for ever And though my flesh and heart will fail Psal. 73. 26. be thou the strength of my heart O God and my portion for ever Though I must walk through the valley of the shadow of death let me fear no evil But be thou still with me and let me be comforted by thy rod Psal. 23. 4 5 6. and staff Let the goodness and mercy which hath followed me thus far all my dayes receive me at the last that I may dwell with thee for ever For it is the will of my Redeemer that those which thou hast given him be with him where he is to behold the glory which thou hast given him And that his servants John 17. 24. John 12. 26. Acts 7. 59. Luke 23. 43. John 20. 17. Joh. 14. 1 2 3. Psal. 16. 11 12. should follow him that where he is there also may his servants be Amen Lord Iesus Good is thy Will and the Word which thou hast spoken Into thy hands I commend my Spirit which thou hast Redeemed Receive it and let me be with thee in Paradise O thou that hast called us thy Brethren when thou didst ascend to thy Father and our Father and to thy God and our God take up this poor unworthy soul to the mansions which thou hast prepared for us that I may be with thee where thou art And though this flesh must perish let it rest in hope and be but sowed as a grain of wheat till thy powerful Call shall raise it from the dust and this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality and this 1 Cor. 15. 53 54 55. natural body shall be raised a spiritual body and death shall be swallowed up in Victory For though I be dead my life is hid with Christ in God And when thou appearest who art my Life then let me appear with Col. 3. 3 4 5. 2 Thess. 1. 10 11. thee in glory O hasten that appearance and come with thy holy glorious Angels to be glorified in thy Saints and admired in and by Believers When thou wilt change our vile bodies and make them like to thy Glorious Body by the mighty working by which thou canst subdue even all things to thy self Hast Phil. 3. 21. Rev. 2â— 20 17 Eph. 5. 26 27. 1 Cor. 15. 45. Acts 3. 5. John 14. 19. Rev. 14. 13. Matth. 10. 30. Luke 21. 18. Heb. 12. 22 23 Rev. 1. 6. Rom. 11. 36. Rev.
Holy Ghost Read Luke 19. 27. Some think it strange that any men should be called Haters of God And I believe you will find it hard to meet with that man that will confess it by himself till converting Grace or Hell constrain him And indeed if God himself had not charged men with that sin and called them by that name we should scarce have found belief or patience when we had endeavoured to convince the world of it Intreat but the worst of men to repent of Hating God and try how they will take it Yet they may read that name in Scripture Rom. 1. 30. Psal. 81. 15. Luke 19. 14. Did not the Iews hate Christ think you when they murdered him and when they hated all his followers for his sake Matth. 10. 22. Mar. 13. 13. And doth not Christ say that they shall be hated for his sake not only of the Jews but also of all Nations and all men Matth. 24. 9. 10. 22. Even by the world Iohn 17. 14. 15 17 18 19 c. And this was a hating both Christ and his Father Iohn 15. 23 24. But you will say It is not possible that any man can hate God I answer How then come the Devils to hate him Yea every ungodly man hateth God Indeed no man hateth him as Good or as Merciful to them But they hate him as Holy and Iust as one that will not let them have the pleasure of sin without damning them as one engaged in justice to cast them into Hell if they dye without conversion and as one that hath made so pure and precise a Law to govern them and convinceth them of sin and calls them to that repentance and Holiness which they hate Why did the world hate Christ himself He tells you John 7. 7. The world cannot hate you but me it hateth because I testifie against it that the works thereof are evil John 3. 19. This is the condemnation that Light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil Nay it is a wonder of blindness that this God-hating world and age should not perceive that they are God-haters while they hate his servants to the death and implacably rage against them and hate his holy wayes and Kingdom and bend all their power and interest in most of the Kingdoms of the world against his interest and his people upon earth While the Devil fighteth his battels against Christ through the world by their hands they will yet confess the Devils malice against God but deny their own as if he used their hands without their hearts Well poor wretched worms instead of denying your enmity to him lament it and know that he also taketh you for his enemies and will prove too hard for you when you have done your worst Read Psal. 2. and tremble and submit This is especially the case of persecutors and open enemies but in their measure also of all that would not have him to reign over them And therefore Christ came to Reconcile us unto God and God to us and it is only the sanctified that are Reconciled to him See Col. 1. 21. Phil. 3. 18. 1 Cor. 15. 25. Rom. 5. 10. The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God nor indeed can be Rom. 8. 7. Mark that Text well § 2. 2. As long as you are unsanctified you are unjustified and unpardoned you are under the guilt of all the sins that ever you committed Every sinful thought word and deed of which the least deserveth Hell is on your score to be answered for by your self And what this signifieth the threatnings of the Law will tell you See Acts 26. 18. Mar. 4. 12. Col. 1. 14. There is no sin forgiven to an impenitent unconverted sinner § 3. 3. And no wonder when the unconverted have no special interest in Christ. The pardon and life that is given by God is given in and with the Son God hath given us eternal life and this life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 John 5. 10 Rom. 8. 9. 11 12. Till we are members of Christ we have no part in the pardon and salvation purchased by him And ungodly sinners are not his members So that Jesus Christ who is the hope and life of all his own doth leave thee as he found thee and that is not the worst for § 4. 4. It will be far worse with the impenitent rejecters of the grace of Christ than if they had never heard of a Redeemer For it cannot be that God having provided so precious a Remedy for sinful miserable souls should suffer it to be despised and rejected without encreased punishment Was it not enough that you had disobeyed your Great Creator but you must also set light by a most Gracious Redeemer that offered you pardon purchased by his blood if you would but have come to God by him Yea the Saviour that you despised shall be himself your judge and the Grace and Mercy which you set so light by shall be the heaviest aggravation of your sin and misery For how shall you escape if you neglect so great salvation Heb. 2. 3. And of how much sorer punishment then the despisers of Moses Law shall they be thought worthy who have trodden under foot the Son of God c. Heb. 10. 29. § 5. 5. The very prayers and sacrifice of the wicked are abominable to God except such as contain their returning from their wickedness So that terror ariseth to you from that which you expect should be your help See Prov. 15. 8. 21. 27. Isa. 1. 13. § 6. 6. Your common Mercies do but increase your sin and misery till you return to God Your carnal hearts turn all to sin Tit. 1. 15. Unto the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled § 7. 7. While you are unsanctified you are impotent and dead to any holy acceptable work when you should redeem your time and prepare for eternity and try your states or pray or meditate or do good to others you have no heart to any such spiritual works your minds are byassed against them Rom. 8. 7. And it is not the excusable impotency of such as would do good but cannot but it is the malicious impotency of the wicked the same with that of Devils that cannot do good because they will not and will not because they have blind malicious and ungodly hearts which makes their sin so much the greater Tit. 1. 16. § 8. 8. While you have unsanctified hearts you have at all times the seed and disposition unto every sin And if you commit not the worst it is because some providence restraining the Tempter hindereth you No thanks to you that you do not daily commit Idolatry Blasphemy Theft
more for Heaven or Earth And therefore that thou art capable of self-judging in this case Perhaps you will say that while I am directing you to be Holy I suppose you to be Holy first For all this seemeth to go far towards it But I must profess that I see not any thing in all these suppositions but what I may suppose to be in a Heathen And that I think all this is but supposing thee to have the use of thy Reason in the points in hand Speak freely Is there any one of all these points that thou canst or darest deny I think there is not And therefore if Heathens and wicked men deny them in their practise that doth but shew that sin doth bruitifie them and that as men asleep or in a crowd of business they have not the use of the Reason which they possess in the matters which their minds are turned from § 21. 18. Yea one thing more I think I may suppose in all or most that will read this Book 18. That most among us profess to believe in Christ and confess the Gospel to be true c. that you take on you also to believe in Iesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost the Sanctifier and that the Scriptures are the Word of God And if you do so indeed I may then hope that my work is in a manner done before I begin it But if you do it but opinionatively and uneffectually yet God and man may plead with you the truths which you profess § 22. Having told you what I presuppose in you I proceed now to the Directions But I again intreat and charge thee Reader as thou lovest thy soul and wouldst not be condemned for Hypocrisie and sloth that thou dost not refuse to put in practise what is taught thee and shew thereby that Abâ—â—nt omâ—ia â—â—d oâ—ta sunt Câ—â— in Cat. Maj. Dii immortales sparserunt animos iâ— corpora humana ut essâ—nt qui terras tuerentur quique coelestem ordinem contemplantes imitarentur eum vitae â—odo atque Constantia Câ—c in Cato majore Ex terrâ sunt homines non ut iâ—colae habitatores sed quasi spectatores superarum rerum atque 〈…〉 tium quâ—â—um spâ—ctacuâ—um ad nullum aliud genus animantium pertinet Cicero 2. de Nat. Deor. Sic habeto te non esse mortalem sed 〈…〉 us hoc Idem Somn. Scip. Cum natura caeteras animantes abjecisset ad pastum solum hominâ—m erexit ad coeli quasi cognationis doâ—â—ciâ—iique pristini conspectum excâ—tavit tum speciem ita formavit oris ut in ea penitus reconditos mores effingeret Cic. 1. de Legib. Nisi Deus 〈◊〉 tâ— coâ—poris custodiis liberaverit ad coelum aditus patere non potest Cicero Somn. Scip. Animi omnium sunt immortales sed bonorum diâ—iâ—i Cic. 2. de â—egib Boaorum mentes mihi divinae atque aeternae videntur ex hominum vita ad deorum religionem sanctimoniamque migrare Idem Animus est ingeneâ—atus à Deo ex quo vere vel agnatio nobis cum coelestibus vel genus vel stirps appellaâ—i potest Idem 1. de Leg. whatever thou pretendest thou are not willing to do thy part for thy own salvation no not in the most reasonable necessary things Direction 1. IF thou be truly willing to be sanctified and a child of God Remain not in a state of Ignorance Direct 1. but do thy best to come into the light and understand the Word of God in the matters of salvation § 1. If knowledge be unnecessary why have we Understanding And wherein doth a man excell Qui seipsâ—m cognoverit cogno â—â—t in sâ— omnia Deum ad cujus imaâ—iâ—â—â—â— factus est M 〈…〉 d on câ—jus si â—ula 〈…〉 n geâ—it 〈…〉 as omnes cum quibus symboâ—â—m habet Paul Scaligeâ— Thes. p. 72â— a Beast If any knowledge at all be necessary certainly it must be the knowledge of the greatest and most necessary things And nothing is so great and necessary as to Obey thy Maker and to save thy soul. Knowledge is to be valued according to its Usefulness If it be a matter of as great concernment to know how to do your worldly business and to trade and gather worldly wealth and to understand the Laws and to maintain your honour as it is to know how to be reconciled unto God to be pardoned and justified to please your Creator to prepare in time for death and judgement and an endless life then let worldly wisdom have the preheminence But if all earthly things be dreams and shadows and valuable only as they serve us in the way to Heaven then surely the Heavenly Wisdom is the best Alas how far is that man from being wise that is acquainted with all the punctilio's of the Law that is excellent in the knowledge of all the Languages Sciences and Arts and yet knoweth not how to Live to God to mortifie the flesh to conquer sin to deny himself nor to answer in Judgement for his fleshly life nor to escape damnation As far is such a Learned man from being wise as he is from being happy § 2. Two sorts among us do quietly live in damning ignorance First Abundance of poor people who think they may continue in it because they were bred in it and that because they are not Book-learned therefore they need not learn how to be saved and because their Parents neglected to teach them when they were young therefore they may neglect themselves ever after and need not learn the things they were made for Alas Sirs What have you your lives your time and Reason for Do you think it is only to know how to do your worldly business Or is it to prepare for a better world It is better that you knew not how to eat or drink or speak or go or dress your selves than that you know not the will of God and the way to your salvation Hear what the Holy Ghost saith 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. But if our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them Darkness is unsafe and full of fears the Light is safe and comfortable A man in ignorance is never like to hit his way Nor can he know whether he be in or out nor what enemy or danger he is near It is the Devil that is the Prince of Darkness and his Kingdom is a Kingdom of darkness and his works are works of darkness See Ephes. 6. 12. Col. 1. 13. 1 Iohn 2. 11. Luke 11. 34 35. Grace turneth men from darkness to light Acts 26. 18. and causeth them to cast off the works of darkness Rom. 13. 12. Because we are the children of light and of the day and not of darkness or of night 1
is here a great encouragement to the soul to think that Jesus our great High Priest doth make all his Children Priests to God They are a chosen generation a royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar people that they should shew forth the prayses of him that hath called them out of darkness into his marvellâ—us light An holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Iesus Christ 1 Pet. 2. 5 â— Even their broken hearts and contrite Spirits are a sacrifice which God will not despâ—se Psal. 51. 17. He knoweth the meaning of the Spirits groans Rom. 8. 26 27. § 19. 16. The strength of corruptions which molest the soul and are too often strugling with it and too much prevail doth greatly discourage us in our approach to that God that hateth all the workers of iniquity And here faith may find relief in Christ not only as he pardoneth us but as he hath conquered the Devil and the world himself and bid us be of good cheer because he hath conquered and hath all power given him in Heaven and Earth and can give us victorious grace in the season and measure which he seeth meetest for us We can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth us Go to him then by faith and prayer and you shall find that his grace is sufficient for you § 20. 17. The thoughts of God are the less delightful to the soul because that Death and the Grave do interpose and we must pass through them before we can enjoy him And it is unpleasing to nature to think of a separation of soul and body and to think that our flesh must rot in darkness But against this faith hath wonderful relieâ— in Iesus Christ. For asmuch as we were partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part with us that he might destroy through death him that had the power of death even the Devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Hâ—b 2. 14 15. O what an encouragement it is to faith to observe that Christ once dyed himself and that he rose from the dead and reigneth with the Father it being impossible that death should hâ—ld him And having conquered that which seemed to conquer him it no more hath dominion over him but he hath the Keyes of Death and Hell we may now entertain death as a disarmed enemy and say O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Yea it is sanctified by him to be our friend even an entrance into our Masters joy it being best for us to depart and be with Christ Phil. 1. 23. and therefore death is become our gain v. 21. O what abundance of strength and sweetness may faith perceive from that promise of Christ John 12. 26. If any man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my servant be As he was dead but now liveth for evermore so hath he promised that because he liveth therefore shall we live also John 14. 19. But of this I have written two Treatises of Death already § 21. 18. The terror of the day of Iudgement and of our particular doom at death doth make the thoughts of God less pleasing and delectable to us And here what a relief is it for faith to apprehend that Iesus Christ must be our Judge And will he condemn the members of his body Shall we be afraid to be judged by our dearest friend by him that hath justified us himself already even at the price of his own blood § 22. 19. The very strangeness of the soul to the world unseen and to the inhabitants and employments there doth greatly stop the soul in its desires and in its delightful approaches unto God Had we seen the world where God must be enjoyed the thoughts of it would be more familiar and sweet But faith can look to Christ and say My head is there he seeth it for me he knoweth what he possesseth prepareth and promiseth to me and I will quietly rest in his acquaintance with it § 23. 20. Nay the Godhead it self is so infinitely above us that in it self it is inaccessible and it is ready to amaze and overwhelm us to think of coming to the incomprehensible Majesty But it emboldneth the soul to think of our Glorified Nature in Christ and that even in Heaven God will everlastingly condescend to us in the Mediator For the Mediation of Redemption and acquisition shall be ended and thus he shall deliver up the Kingdom to the Father yet it seems that a Mediation of fruition shall continue For Christ said to his Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory John 17. 24. We shall rejoyce when the marriage of the Lamb is come Rev. 19. 7. They are blessed that are called to his Marriage Supper v. 9. The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple and the Light of the New Ierusalem Rev. 21. 22 23. Heaven would not be so familiar or so sweet to my thoughts if it were not that our glorified Lord is there in whose Love and Glory we must live for ever O Christian as ever thou wouldst walk with God in comfortable communion with him study and exercise this Life of faith in the daily use and improvement of Christ who is our Life and Hope and All. DIRECT III. Gr. Dir. 3. Understand well what it is to believe in the Holy Ghost and see that he dwell To believe in the Holy Ghost and live upon his Grace and operate in thee as the Life of thy soul and that thou do not resist or quench the Spirit but thankfully obey him § 1. EAch person in the Trinity is so believed in by Christians as that in Baptism they enter Scrutari temeritas est credere pietas nesse vita Bernard de consid ad Eâ—geâ— l. 5. distinctly into Covenant with them which is to Accept the Mercies of and perform the 〈…〉 each person distinctly As to take God for Our God is more than to believe that there is a God â—nd to take Christ for Our Saviour is more than barely to believe that he is the Messiah so to Believe in the Holy Ghost is to take him for Christs Agent or Advocate with our souls and for our Guide and Sanctifier and Comforter and not only to believe that he is the third person in the Trinity This therefore is a most practical Article of our Belief § 2. If the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost be the unpardonable sin then all sin against the Holy Ghost must needs have a special aggravation by being such And if the sin against the Holy Ghost be the greatest sin then our duty towards the Holy Ghost is certainly none of our smallest duties Therefore the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit and our duty towards him and sin against him deserve not the least or
soul came from him and therefore naturally should tend to him It is from him and for him and therefore must Rest in him or have no Rest. We delight in the house where we were born and in our Native country and in our parents and every thing inclineth to its own Original And so should the soul to its Creator § 8. Direct 7. Corrupt not your Minds and appetites with contrary delights Addict not your selves to fleshly pleasures Tast nothing that is forbidden Sorrow it self is not such an enemy to spiritual Delights as sensual sinful pleasures are O leave your beastly and your childish pleasures and come and feast your souls on God Isa. 55. 1 2 3. Away with the Delights of lust and pridâ— and covetousness and vain sports and gluttony and drunkenness if ever you would have the solid and durable Delights Think not of joyning both together Bethink your selves Can it be any thing but the disease and wickedness of thy heart that can make a play or a feast or drunken wanton company more pleasant to thee than God What a heart is that which thinketh it a toil to meditate on God and Heaven and thinks it a pleasure to think of the baits of pride and covetousness What a heart is that which thinks that sensuality wantonness and vanity are the pleasure of their families which must not be turned out and that Godliness and Heavenly discourse and exercises would be the sadness and trouble of their families which must not be brought in lest it maâ—r their mirth That think it an intollerable toil and slavery to Love God and Holiness and Heaven and to be imployed for them and thinks it a delightful thing to Love a whore or excess of meat or drink or sports Can you say any thing of a man that is more disgraceful unless you say he is a Devil It were not so vile for a child to Delight more in a Dog than in his Parents or a Husband to delight more in the ugliest Harlot than in his Wife as it is for a man to delight more in fleshly vanities than in God Will you be licking up this dung when you should be solacing your souls in Angelical pleasures and foretasting the delights of Heaven O how justly will God thrust away such wretches from his everlasting presence who so abhor his ways and him Can they blame him for denying them the things which they hate or set so light by as to prefer a lust before it If they were not haters of God and Holiness they would never be so averse even to the Delights which they should have with him § 9. Direct 8. Take heed of a Melancholy habit of body For Melancholy people can scarce delight Direct 8. in any thing at all and therefore not in God Delight is as hard to them as it is to a pained member to find pleasure or a sick stomack to delight in the food which it loaths They can think of God with trouble and fear and horror and despair but not with delight § 10. Direct 9. Take heed of an impatient pievish self-tormenting mind that can bear no cross and Direct 9. of overvaluing earthly things which causeth impatience in the want of them Make not too great a matter of fleshly pain or pleasure Otherwise your minds will be called to a continual attendance on the flesh and taken up with continual desires or cares or fears or griefs or pleasures and will not be permitted to solace themselves with God The soul that would have pure and high Delights must abstract it self from the concernments of the flesh and look on your body as if it were the body of another whose pain or pleasure you can choose whether you will feel when Paul was rapt up into the third Heaven and saw the things unutterable he was so far freed from the prison of sense that he knew not whether he was in the Body or out of it As the separated souls that see the face of God and the Redeemer do leave the Body to be buried and to rot in darkness and feel not all this to the interrupting of their joys so faith can imitate such a Death to the world and such a neglect of the flesh and some kind of elevating separation of the mind to the things above If in this near conjunction you cannot leave the Body to rejoyce or suffer alone yet as it self is but a servant to the soul so let not its pain or pleasure be predominant and controll the high operations of the soul. A manly valiant believing soul though it cannot abate the pain at all nor reconcile the flesh to its calamity yet it can do more notwithstanding the pain to its own delight than strangers will believe § 11. Some women and passionate weak-spirited men especially in sickness are so pievish and of such impatient minds that their daily work is to disquiet and torment themselves One can scarce tell how to speak to them or look at them but it offendeth them And the world is so full of occasions of provocation that such persons are like to have little quietness It is unlike that these should delight in God who keep their minds in a continual ulcerated galled state uncapable of any delights at all and cease not their self-tormenting § 12. Direct 10. It is only a life of faith that will be a life of holy heavenly Delight Exercise your Direct 10. selves therefore in believing contemplations of the things unseen It must not be now and then a glance of the eye of the soul towards God or a seldom salutation which you would give a stranger but a walking with him and frequent addresses of the soul unto him which must help you to the Delights which Believers find in their communion with him § 13. Direct 11. Especially let faith go frequently to Heaven for renewed matter of delight and Direct 11. frequently think what God will be to you there for ever and with what full everlasting delight he will satiate your souls As Heaven is the place of our full delight so the foresight and foretast of it is the highest delight which on earth is to be attained And a soul that is strange to the foresight of Heaven will be as strange to the true Delights of faith § 14. Direct 12. It is a great advantage to Holy Delight to be much in the most Delightful parts of Direct 12. worship as in Thanksgiving and Praise and a due celebration of the Sacrament of the Body and blood of Christ Of which I have spoken in the foregoing Directions § 15. Direct 13. A skillful experienced Pastor who is able to open the treasurie of the Gospel and Direct 13. publickly and privately to direct his flock in the work of self-examination and the heavenly exercises of faith is a great help to Christians spiritual delight The experiences of believers teach them this How oft do they go away refreshed and