eject it It is not easy to bring the Soul back again into the State in which it was before it contracted Guilt XXXV Anger is seldom innocent I have no reason to trust my Anger it is not so just and righteous as it sometimes seems to be Anger is apt to blind my Mind and then Tyrannize over it There is in it something of Rage and Violence It stirs me up to act but takes away my Rule by which I should act I find an Aptness to credit my Passion and that foments it And when I am under the Power of Passion I have cause to suspect my own Apprehensions For Passion is blind and cannot judg it is furious and hath no leisure to debate and consider Giving way to it makes me unfit to act or receive Grace Though Anger should serve the Interest of Religion and so be good yet it being a strong and fierce Motion of the Spirit it must be used with great Advice and Caution XXXVI It is very hard and difficult to give God his due Glory under cross Providences XXXVII There is a Chain of Graces It is most certain there is a Chain of Graces inseparably link'd together and they who have one have all in some good measure They who have a lively Hope have fervent Love to God and they who love God love their Neighbours and they who love God and their Neighbours hate Sin and they who hate Sin sorrow for it and they who sorrow for Sin will avoid the Occasions of it and they that are thus watchful will pray fervently and they who pray will meditate and they who pray and meditate at home will joyn seriously in the Publick Worship of God Thus Graces are combined and holy Duties link'd together and no Grace is alone It is not with Graces as with Gifts to one is given this and to another that XXXVIII To be impartial in Piety and Mortification is very difficult It is a most difficult thing to withdraw Love from every Sin To proceed a little way in Religion is not hard But it is really so to go to the Extent of Mortification and Piety something of Religion may be embraced and our own Hearts Satan and the World not offended Some Morality and an outside-Devotion is not tedious to Flesh and Blood neither doth it shake Satan's Kingdom nor trouble the most of them we converse with But when we come once to engage in a close walking with God and to live by Rule in every part of Life resolving seriously to indulge no Sin whatever we pull the Kingdom of Darkness upon our Heads Then Corruption will strive Satan will rage the World will scoff watch for our halting and glory in our Miscarriages and we shall find it difficult to run against the course of Nature oppose Satan and go contrary to Men But of necessity this all this must be for any Sin indulged will divorce us from Christ XXXIX To trust in God is a Christian 's necessary Duty I find trusting in God my most necessary Duty My Condition is such that I cannot see before me I know not what a day may bring forth I find my self weak and impotent unable to do or suffer as I ought I cannot preserve my Soul Life Health or any thing dear to me And without trusting in God I cannot expect God should fulfil any Promise it being the Condition of the Promise XL. Trusting in God produces real Comfort I find it comfortable to trust in God it raises my Hope and gives me present Rest and Quiet and holy Contentation Trusting in God like many other Duties is my Work and my Ways XLI To trust in God is one of our most difficult Duties I find it difficult to trust in God at all times When Providences cross my Expectation they discourage me and prove a Temptation through my Weakness I have but feeble Apprehensions of the Power and Goodnese of God when I come to make use of them for my particular Security and Benefit I think I may say it is easier to obey and act for God than to trust in him XLII Faith is the Root of other Graces Faith is the Principle of Spiritual Life and Motion every true good Work and Exercise of Grace take their Rise and Vigor from Faith A Christian prays reads and meditates hears hopes loves is zealous for God and doth good to others Why because he believes What is Repentance and godly Sorrow but the Soul acted by Faith upon the Belief of the Sinfulness of Sin its Opposition and Contradiction to God and of the high Obligations we are under to avoid it and of the Misery we run into by venturing upon it and of the Madness and Folly of ruining our selves by it I find Faith most necessary and that I cannot be without it Where can I go or what can I undertake wherein Faith will not be necessary If I pray or meditate it will be a strange Exercise if Faith be wanting If I read or hear the Word it will not profit me unless I mix it with Faith would I hope in any Promise I must call forth my Faith Would I be heavenly-minded it is Faith must raise me above the World Would I be zealous for God Zeal will not gather Heat unless Faith blows the Fire Would I have Peace and Joy they must be had by believing Nay I can do nothing in my more ordinary Affairs without Faith I must know and believe my Design is good and centers in my great Design which is the Glory of God And the means I employ must be known and believed to be regular and holy or I dare not make use of them And then I must be able to cast my Care upon God and to commit the Event and Issue to him or else my Business becomes burdensom to me and I have no Rest in my self XLIII The Devil is a mighty but not an invincible Enemy I have a powerfull subtile watchful and malicious Enemy to encounter with But he is a known Enemy the Word hath discovered him and his Power is limited God hath promised me Victory over him nay my Lord hath already conquered him And I am not alone in this Warfare against Satan I fight not against him singly there is a whole Army engaged in the Quarrel The whole Church prayes and fights against him the Saints collectively make War upon him All the Prayers of the Church go up to Heaven for my Assistance so that I have help against Temptation from every Corner all strike this Dart into his Side Lord lead us not into Temptation And we all fight under our Victorious Captain Christ Jesus The Honour of God and of Christ my Head is bound up in my Safety and therefore I shall conquer nay his very Temptations shall turn to my good All these Considerations are my Encouragement XLIV The Things which the Holy Ghost teacheth The Holy Spirit teacheth every gracious Soul to regard the Immortal Spirit above the Body
Testament without which Knowledg the Heart cannot be good nor the Life purified or suitable to the Christian Profession wherefore we are directed to search the Scriptures S. John 5.39 To incline our Ears to Wisdom to apply our Hearts to Understanding to cry after Knowledg and lift up our Voice for Understanding to seek hit as Silver and search for her as for hid Treasures Prov. 2.2 3 4. And certainly the Wickedness of the most of Men among us is greatly imputable to their utter Ignorance of these things or a very slight and inconsiderable Knowledg of them For Ignorance of God Christ and his holy Spirit and of his Attributes and providence prevents all Inclination to Piety Ignorance of the Rules for managing our Lives prevents all that Regularity in Conversation that is required Ignorance of the Promises suppresses all the Incourgement to it and Ignorance of the Threatnings hides all that which should move that Fear that is necessary to engage us in it And all this Ignorance proceeds from Slothfulness and Unwillingness to use Diligence in scearching and understanding the Scriptures in which are the Treasures of all needful Knowledg And therefore the first thing in this Work of the Lord enjoyn'd us is an industrious Endeavour after Knowledg by being conversant in the Scriptures by reading or at least diligently hearing them 2. There is included in it all that belongs to Repentance towards God consisting in a deep Sense of our many Sins against God Christ his Holy Spirit our Neighbours and our own Souls by which God hath been dishonoured Christ slighted his Holy Spirit grieved our Neighbours injured and our own Souls polluted debased and exposed to the Wrath of God as also in confessing them with Shame and Grief offering the Sacrifice of a broken and contrite Heart and in an hatred of them all attended with sincere forsaking them denying Ungodlinss and worldly Lusts and suffering no Sin to reign in our mortal Bodies being able to attest that upon making a diligent search there is no known Sin of Omission or Commission allowed loved or favoured by us But that every such Sin is opposed by our Purposes Prayers and true Endeavours 3. To this must also be refer'd all that is included in Faith And that comprehends a settled Belief of the Being and All-Governing Providence of God and of the Truth or Divine Authority of the Scriptures A continual depending on the Power Wisdom and Goodness of God and the receiving his Son Jesus Christ in all his Offices as a Prophet Priest and King And as the Lord our Righteousness our Advocate with the Father the Propitiation for our Sins the End of the Law for Righteousness to them that believe and as made of God unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption And this we do when designing Salvation by Him we search the Scriptures considered as the Word of Christ with dependance on the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of the Son that we may understand the way of Salvation and know the things of our Peace and when apprehending our Guilt and Danger by Sin we seek the Pacification of our Consciences and the appeasing of God by believing meditating upon and applying his Death and Blood as a Sacrifice and Satisfaction for Sin and when we commend all our Requests to God with Dependance on his Intercession and when apprehending his Exaltation we become earnestly obedient to him and depend upon him for Grace and Strength against all our spiritual Enemies and hope to receive from him the Crown of a blessed Immortality and a miraculous glorious Resurrection 4. To this pertains all that the Scriptures intend by Holiness consisting in the Imitation of the Divine Imitable Perfection viz. the Wisdom Righteousness Purity Faithfulness Goodness and Mercy of our Creator in cleansing our Hands and purifying our Hearts in sincerely attending the Duties of both Tables of the Law with respect to God and our Neighbour and in mortifying all those Lusts that war against the Soul as the Lusts of the Flesh including Intemperance and Uncleanness The Lusts of the Eye which are Avarice and Covetousness and the Pride of Life i.e. The ambitious pursuit of Honour and Applause and the affecting the Pomp and Bravery of the World and in filling our Minds with all the Divine Graces and holy Affections of Fear Love Trust and Hope towards God and of Love Meekness Humility and Kindness towards Men And in obeying the Laws of Christ and following his Example in being in a great measure holy harmless undefiled and separated from Sinners In doing Good reproving Sin delighting to do our Father's Will and submitting to his holy Pleasure in all things willingly drinking the Cup he putteth into our hands and in glorifying him on Earth that he may glorify us in Heaven 5. To this belongs all that the Scripture chargeth upon us in those full and comprehensive Precepts of fearing God departing from Evil loving Him with all the Heart Mind and Might keeping his Charge doing his Will walking in his Counsel chusing the narrow Way and exceeding the Righteousness of Scribes and Pharises by being impartial in our Obedience and chiefly attending the weightier matters of the Law and by being sincere and humble not glorying in our pious Attainments and Actions but rather hiding them excepting those things which for Example's sake must be publick and such as the concealing them proceeds from Cowardise and fear of Reproach 6. There is included in it the faithful managing of our particular Callings as the Magistrates being just and ruling over Men in the Fear of God the Ministers Care of Souls praying for the People and shewing them the right way endeavouring to turn many to Righteousness The Peoples revering cheerfully attending and obeying them that watch for their Souls The Parents care and bringing up Children in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord the Child's Obedience the Master's Justice and Kindness the Servant's Diligence and Faithfulness and the Subjects unspotted Allegiance and Obedience for Conscience sake And all other our Duties in our several Places Stations Employments and Relations 7. There must be added as pertaining to it all the most serious part of the Christian Life employed in fervent Prayers and Thanksgiving Self-Examination serious and Divine Meditations and solemn and fruitful attending the Publick Worship of God consisting chiefly in the Word preached and in Prayer and Sacraments Lastly To this must be joyned the most refined and spiritual part of Religion consisting in suppressing the most inward Motions of Vanity Pride Envy Malice Unbelief worldly inordinate Love carnal Affections and Desires in keeping the Mind as much as may be intent and without Wandrings in Prayer and other devout Exercises of Religion and in attending in them to more than a natural Fervour and Devotion in the Imagination only moved by well composed and fit Words even to a Devotion consisting in the real Exercise of Faith Humility holy Love and Fear and other Graces and in
raising our Minds above the World and things of this Life to the Desires Hopes and Expectation of the Joys and Pleasures of Eternity and in maintaining a real and delightful Converse with God daily and in a careful thankful acknowledging Him in all the Good that befalleth us and insensibly apprehending that our Happiness consisteth in the Knowledg of Him and his Love and Favour towards us in Christ All this is our Duty and included in the Work of the Lord and we may not willingly omit any thing of it By which we may perceive that though in some respects Christ's Yoke is easy and his Burden light viz. being considered with its Reward and the Assistances of Divine Grace and compared with the wicked Man's Way and End considered together yet it is not altogether easy since so much is to be done Religion and Godliness have their Difficulties and he must be diligent that would not fall short of the Glory of God since the Duties besides that they are great are so numerous as hath been now represented according to the Scriptures II. All this must be endeavoured and practised with much Steadiness Having thus begun in the Spirit we must not end in the Flesh Having put our Hand to the Plough we may not draw it back and make our selves unworthy of the Kingdom of God Whatever may be the Rage of Satan and whatever Objections may arise in our own Hearts against any part of our Duty we may not quit it But considering that the Eye of God is upon us and that it is necessary to persevere to the end and looking at the Joy that is before us and imploring the Aids of the Holy Ghost we must break those Bonds of Temptation to Sin in sunder and cast away such Cords from us and remain fixed in Piety constant to Godliness unmoveably resolved to abide in it Cleaving to God with purpose of Heart Acts 11.23 and avoiding that Reprehension in Hos 6.4 Your Goodness is as a Morning Cloud and as the early Dew it goeth away And that we may be the more animated to Constancy in Religion and Godliness let us consider the many glorious Examples of this Steadiness Noah continued firm in his Obedience to God in the midst of a very wicked World Gen. 7.1 Thee have I seen Righteous in this Generation Lot in the midst of the polluted Sodomites preserved himself and mightily regretted their Wickedness Joseph in Pharaoh's Court and Moses in the Court of another of that Name Obadiah in Ahab's David in Saul's Daniel Ezra and Nehemiah in the Courts of the Persian Emperors remained steady in Holiness notwithstanding varieties of Temptations both of the alluring and affrighting kind The holy Apostles and Primtive Christians and the Antient and Modern Martyrs preserved their Integrity in the midst of violent Temptations to desert Religion They stood like unmoveable Rocks in raging Seas and turned back the Force of Temptations as they do the insulting Waves Wherefore let this be our firm Resolution in the Strength of God That the World shall never gain nor force us to revolt from Him and his holy Ways but that whatever Changes may come we will be the same and though the Mountains should be removed and the Hills carried into the midst of the Seas we will still keep Faith and a good Conscience being stedfast and unmoveable in the Work of the Lord. III. We ought not only to be stedfast but also perpetually progressive in all this Duty like the shining Light shining more and more to the perfect Day Our Repentance must be increased and perfected by greater degrees of Mortification Our Faith must grow aiming at the Patriarch's Degree who was strong in Faith giving Glory to God and who against Hope believed in Hope Rom. 4.18 20. Our Love must be more intense our Obedience more exact willing and chearful our Charity more compleat and every Grace ascending and aspiring after greater Degrees going on conquering and to conquer which thing is very possible for Grace is as capable of Growth and Increase as the Plants in the Field or the Cloud of an hand 's breadth It is compared to a Grain of Mustard Seed Which from the least of Seeds grows up into the greatest of Herbs St. Mat. 13.31 32. We may assuredly if we earnestly design it mightily advance in Grace and become much more humble holy obedient mortified patient and heavenly and may add much to our present Attainments and may carry our Victories over Temptations much further to higher degrees of Conquest and Triumph even on this side Heaven And as we may so we ought for this God requires of us That we should bring forth much Fruit that from Babes we should advance to a more perfect stature in Christ and encrease with all the Encreases of God And that in proportion to our Means Mercies Chastisements Experience and Time offered us we should grow in Grace and in the Knowledg and Love of God and Christ to which there is no Encouragement wanting For IV. The Recompence will abundantly answer the Labour which shall not be in vain We shall find a sure and sufficient Reward partly in Peace of Mind Serenity of Conscience and present Joy in the Holy Ghost and chiefly in the future State For 1. Having been stedfast and abounding in our Duty when our Souls shall leave these Tabernacles of Clay whose Foundations are in the Dust as their first Principle Angels shall convey them to Heaven and there Christ will receive them and God the Father will acknowledg them and being entred into that blessed Place we shall have all the Happiness our Souls are capable of in the State of Separation from the Body And this is no less than an entire Deliverance from Sin Sorrow Fear Temptations and Afflictions with the Acquisition of perfect Grace and likeness to the Angels in Humility Purity Zeal Reverential Fear of God delight in Him and Charity one to another Moreover We shall be little less than equal to them in Peace and Joy and the Enjoyment of God in a Vision of Him by Intellectual Sight far transcending our best Knowledg of Him here by Faith For now we see him by Faith only in his Works Providence and Word all which amounts comparatively but to the seeing him through a Glass darkly but in Heaven we shall see Him face to face and know Him in some sort as we are known 1 Cor. 13.12 2. Having been stedfast and abounding in Piety and Holiness we shall in the end of the World recover our Bodies again with advantage for they shall be raised again in Incorruption Glory and Power being made Spiritual Bodies vers 42 43 44. This Corruptible shall then put on Incorruption and this Mortal shall put on Immortality and Death shall be swallowed up in Victory And who can express the Joy and Pleasure that will arise from the Soul 's re-entring into the new-raised Body As a Prince that leaves an old Palace till it be
Concerns of their Souls though of meaner Rank and Condition in the World To such she would speak wisely hear them patiently and treat them compassionately when under Temptations and Disquiet of Mind One of her own Servants coming to her Closet upon this account and beginning to open to her the Grief of her Heart She required her for that time to forget she was a Servant and discoursing with her with great Tenderness and Prudence in reference to her Temptations dismissed her comforted and much revived And very many others she received with the greatest Freedom ministring spiritual Comfort to them That part of Religion which is peculiarly stiled Devotion was the Joy of her Life and the Delight of her Soul A very considerable Portion of her Time was daily employed in Prayer searching the Scriptures and in holy Meditations These things were her proper Element and in them she would often profess she found her greatest Refreshments in these she conversed with God and was then least alone when most alone For she did not meerly perform these Duties nor generally engage in them as a Task but observed the frame of her Spirit in them and commanded the Affections of her Soul to wait upon God not being satisfied without some Emotions of Mind suitable to these holy Exercises as she hath often professed and which I gathered from her complaining sometimes of her Infirmities and of the Difficulty of Praying aright and of preserving throughout that Duty a due Sence of God The Christian Sabbath was also her Delight and a Day in God's Courts better to her than a thousand elsewhere and her Enjoyment of God in the Publick Ordinances and Services of that Day was to her as a little Heaven upon Earth And the Impressions she received by attending those holy Institutions were such as that she long'd in the Week for the return of the Sabbath And great was her Affliction when her Hearing was so impaired that she could not attend the Publick Worship of God though few were better furnished to supply that Want by private Exercises and Closet Devotions And having so eminently prized and improved the Lord's-Days it pleased God on the Evening of one of them to take her to himself there to keep an Everlasting Sabbath in his most immediate and glorious Presence in the Arms of Christ the Beloved of her Soul and in the Assembly of Angels Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs and all departed Saints And which deserves Admiration in the midst of all these Attainments Vertues and Graces she was greatly humble and clothed with the Ornament of a Lowly Spirit and while many admired the Example she gave in the World She apprehended that others excelled her in Grace and Godliness and continually reckoned her self among the least of Saints For notwithstanding her Quality in the World her exquisite Knowledge eminent Grace and the mighty Value her Friends had justly for her I could never observe in the whole Course of eighteen Years Converse the least Indication of vain Glory or self-Admiration in her And her Humility was of an excellent kind the Fruit of great Knowledg proceeding also from a deep Sense of the Fall the Corruption of Man's Nature the Imperfection of Mortification in this present State and the Remains of Sin in them that are sanctified and was nourished by a great Sight of God and Acquaintance with him and frequent Self-Examinations and by observing how Sin mingles it self in our best Actions and most holy Duties and by a diligent comparing her Self and her Actions with the exact Rules of the Scriptures Which Grace of Christian Humility was the more illustrious in her by the Accession of the Vertue of Courtesy which she had in a high degree entertaining all Persons with Civilities proper to their several Qualities so that she obliged all though she was evermore careful that nothing in Conversation might border upon those Freedoms that dishonour God and blemish the Christian Profession by this means adorning the Gospel and shewing that Religion though it requires great Strictness yet it doth not necessarily introduce either Melancholly or Moroseness And which is a much greater thing than to be courteous in the highest degree as a real Disciple of Christ she had learned to deny her self and could abridge her own Right that she might thereby promote the Glory of God benefit others avoid Offence and maintain Love and Peace And which may properly be subjoyned to her Self-denial as a Grace equal to it she industriously avoided Censoriousness disliking it in others and endeavoured to make the best Interpretation of both Words and Actions not lightly speaking Evil of any nor readily receiving an evil Report And above all things she abhorred to be Censorious in reference to Preachers and Sermons of which she was a most candid and equal Hearer Judicious and Critical enough but not Captious in the least If but Truth were spoken and Piety urged in any ordinary method she was satisfied so as not to find fault But the Sermons which she preferred were either Discourses greatly Rational or such as did particularly illustrate the sense of the Scriptures or discover the Excellency of the Gospel or such as displayed Christ in his Person Undertaking and Offices or such as discovered the difference between the Real and Almost Christian and such as did most nearly approach the Conscience and urge the Exacted Conversation and the governing the Heart Thoughts and inward Affections In all her Relations she demeaned her self as a Christian She was a faithful dutiful loving and prudent Wife And the Heart of her Husband safely trusted in her She was a most affectionate tender Wife and watchful Mother restraining her Children from Evil according to her power and bringing them up in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord most constantly endeavouring to inftil into their Minds the Principles of Justice Holiness and Charity To them that became her Children by marrying into her Family she was most kinde and treated them as her own To her Servants and Tenants she was just and kind and to her Neighbours all that they could desire To her particular Friends she was endeared by her Prudence Fidelity and almost Excesses of Love and improving of Friendship to serve the great Ends of Religion which are the honouring of God and the bettering one another She was also a Loyal Subject to her Prince of which there is full Evidence in this following Relation which was communicated to me by one of her intimate Friends When his late Majesty was in his Enemies Hands and they were preparing for the horrid Murther of that Excellent Prince she was most passionately concerned and being very earnestly desirous that an Hand from Heaven might have prevented that Wickedness kept a private Fast in her Closet on his behalf And when she knew that God in just Judgment to the Nation had permitted Men to take away his precious Life she resented it with the Passions of a Mother professing that the loss
Temptations and Mischiefs When our Call is clear our Way is safe Moreover the Practice of this leads me into much Acquaintance with God my very praying is an acquainting with Him And if in every thing I pray I shall in every thing give Thanks and this still brings me into more Acquaintance with him By this means my Life will be filled up with a going to and returning from God X. The real Christian loves Solitude Solitude is no Burden to a real Christian he is least alone when alone His Solitude is as busy and laborious as any part of his Life It is impossible to be Religious indeed and not to love Solitude in some measure for all Duties of Religion cannot be performed in Publick It is also a thing as noble as 't is necessary to love to converse with our own Thoughts The vain Mind doth not more naturally love Company than the Divine Mind doth frequent retiring Such have Work to do and Meat to eat the World know not of Their Pleasures are secret and their chiefest Delight is between God and themselves The most pleasant part of their Life is not in but out of the World XI There is more necessary to the rendring us truly Religious than a mere external Revelation of Truth True Religion is Heaven born for to the perfecting of it in any Soul not only the outward Revelation is necessary but also an inward Secret and particular Divine Impression The savouring of Divine Things is from the Power of the Highest over-shadowing the Mind for till God makes this inward Impression Men are not able to perceive the Things of God There must be a Light within us as well as without us otherwise the Gospel may be hid even where it shines so that whoever conclude aright that they are under the Power of Religion must experience something very supernatural something that is the Work of God and not of Man something above all their own or the Power of the whole World XII Religion in the Practice of it is most highly Rational Religion makes a Man live up to his Reason So far as a Man is a Christian so far is Reason exalted sitteth in the Throne and governs and commands all the Powers of the Soul Religion enlightens and strengthens Reason and Reason helps and serves Religion Reason is inseparable from the Soul we shall be rational in Heaven and Grace is the Recovery of right Reason The whole Practice of Godliness both in Divine and Moral Duties and the frame of a Christian's Spirit is but the Rational Consequence of two great Principles which the Christian hideth and embraceth in his Heart viz. That there is a God and that the Scripture is his Word The Inferences from these two and the Life of a Christian are the same XIII Religion in the Practice of it is a living in and conversing with God True Relion makes a Man not only live above the World and in Converse with his own Reason but also to live out of himself in God conversing much with him A real Christian will deny himself for God quit all Self-interest and resign to him in all Points of Duty and Service God's Glory is his End his Work his Direction He takes no Pleasure in himself nor in any thing without himself further than he seeth the Stamp of God upon it He forgets himself and minds nothing but the Will of God triumpheth in nothing more than in his own Nothingness and God's All-sufficiency and Fulness This is having nothing and yet possessing all things This is Divine Life and the heighth of Religion to know and perceive that not only as to our Natural Life we depend upon Providence and live and move in God But that also as to our Spiritual Life we receive all of his Fulness and are acted by a Life in and from him Of this I desire to be still more and continually sensible XIV Religion gives us a real Enjoyment of God The true Christian liveth above himself not only in a way of Self-denial but in the very Enjoyment of God His Fellowship is with the Father and with the Son He every where and in every thing seeketh out God in Ordinances Duties and Providences whether prosperous or adverse nothing pleaseth unless God may be found in it or admitted into it That is to him an Ordinance indeed wherein he meeteth God That is a merciful Providence indeed in which appears much of the Finger of God God is nearer to the true Christian than to others for there is an inward feeling an Intellectual Touch which Carnal Men have not And herein is the very Soul of Religion and the Quintessence of it that it unites us in a nearness to God and gives us already to enjoy him XV. Religion gives a Man the power of himself who by Nature is his own worst Enemy True Religion gives a Man a great Command of and restores him to a just Power and Dominion over himself by subduing in him his own Will and Passions Man in his depraved Condition is himself his greatest Enemy For the Devil and World prevail against him not by their own Strength but by the Treachery and Baseness of his own Heart The Destruction of Souls is of themselves Ignorance and neglect of God takes away Fear and there is in him such an Inclination to Sin as leads him to a delightful Entertainment of Temptations so that it is not so much the Devil and the World without as the Devil and the World within not the Baits of Honour Wealth and Pleasure without but Ambition Covetousness and Sensuality within which prevail upon Men. Wherefore unto purified Souls and mortified Minds many Temptations do in a great measure cease to be Temptations XVI Self-denial bears a great part in the practice of true Religion The great Property of true Religion is that it teaches Self-dental which Self-denial is indeed the Foundation of Religion and the Sum of all the Precepts of the Gospel Every true Christian sincerely though imperfectly denies himself and makes a Free-will Offering of himself to God in resigning to him his Will And indeed we can never have Peace in Prosperity unless our Will as to Action be swallowed up in the Divine Will nor can we have Contentment in Adversity except our Will be complying with God's Will This is the great Victory to conquer our selves and to him that thus overcomes is the Promise given of sitting with Christ in his Throne XVII We glorify God not by giving to him but by receiving from him I know I can add nothing to God's Glory I glorify him by receiving from him the Impress of his Glory upon me rather than by communicating any Glory to him When the frame of my Mind and Life is according to his Prescription when I am most like to him when a Spirit of Holiness and Love runneth through all my Actions then I glorify him God seeketh his own Glory by communicating Grace and Happiness to me and
to our Probation State And thus Death is ours LV. Formality in Holy Things must be avoided Every Real Christian hates to act in Divine Things out of Custom and Formality and the least mixture of a By-end is to him troublesome and afflicting His Actions are with Consideration and good Design He will not only pray but consider to whom and why And doth it either in obedience to a Command or as the paying of Homage to God or as an Instance of Trust Dependance and Love or as a Means of obtaining some Blessing or as an Ordinance that brings him near into the Presence of God And when he waits upon the Publick Worship it is that thereby he may make open Profession of Faith and Holiness and that he may draw nigh to God LVI The Government of our Thoughts is necessary It is no little Self-denial to manage our Thoughts strictly yet it is the most reasonable part of Religion and not properly the Heighth of Piety but the Foundation of it without which it cannot stand He that can blush at his Thoughts and endeavours to suppress them who dares not entertain the least Sin no not so much as in his Imagination looking upon God and Conscience as more than a thousand Witnesses This Man is Religious indeed This manage of the Thoughts is of great Service to a Christian it is a vast Security against many Temptations For Thoughts breed Desires and Desires increase into Passion and Passions will grow strong and being grown strong they abuse Reason and throw the Soul headlong and render it exposed to divers Temptations LVII The End of our Actions must be good Great Care must be had concerning the End of our Actions for this like the Altar sanctifies the Gift A Man's End hath a mighty Influence upon him as is the End such is the Man He whose End is worldly is himself earthly But if God be a Man's End it makes him God-like LVIII We must beware of Spiritual Sloth Spiritual Sloth brings Spiritual Poverty To have Affections in Holy Duties requires much force to which Nature is averse Corrupt Nature doth not always discover its opposition to that which is good by passionate contradicting but oftentimes effectually enough by Sloth and sluggishness LIX Detraction must be avoided We are naturally prone to speak evil of others with delight and to aggravate their Faults This Sin persisted in will shut out of Heaven as well as Murder or Theft And there is a secret Plague attending it in this Life for the way of Divine Providence is frequently Retaliation LX. The Promises are full of Support and Comfort but God must illuminate our Minds to discern what is treasured up in them The Promises which are the Covenant of Grace display'd are most precious in the matter of them and most necessary and useful to the Christian's Spiritual Life they help and support when all other things fail The Satisfaction they bring is a real true Pleasure yet their Glory and Excellency is not to be seen till God opens the Christian's Eyes and gives him a new Light There is a Vail upon the Promises or rather a Film upon the Eye of the Soul and until that is removed the Promises are dark and they have no Form or Comliness in them And though they be great and precious in themselves yet they cannot be so to us unless God and the Promise come in together The Spirit must move upon the face of the Waters before they become refreshing Streams to make glad the Heart The Christian's own Arm will not reach Comfort from them For this God must be sought and the Promise must be our Meditation LXI The Holy Ghost proceeds in his Operations gradually The Spirit of God operates gradually He teaches first one Truth and then another He brings us first to make Conscience of a Duty and then of the manner of performing it The Holy Spirit lays a Foundation in the Heart for the whole of Religion and then draws us on gradually to more and more Rules for Practice I. LET Love and Charity be Universal For no pretence whatever no not of Religion and Zeal for God can justifie your not loving any Person in the World Treat all Men with Kindness and wish them well Do them good according to their Necessity and your Power and Opportunity If Persons be above you express your Love to them by paying them the Honour and Observance their Place and Authority call for If they are in Worldly Respects beneath you manifest your Love by Kindness Affability and vouchsafing an easy Address to you If they excel in Natural or Acquired Endowments of Mind express your Love to them by a due esteem of them If they be rather wanting than excelling shew your Love by pitying them and despise not their weakness If any be in Misery compassionate them pray for them comfort them with your Presence if you can reach them relieve them according to your power If any be defamed shew your Love by stopping and rebuking the Defamation II. Be very careful not to harbour any evil Affection in your Heart against any one what-ever For though you are far from intending any actual Mischief yet you tempt God to let loose your Corruption and his Providence to permit you an Opportunity and so before you are aware you may be drawn to an Act you never thought of before Moreover by an evil Affection harboured in your Mind you will prevent the blessed Illapses of the Spirit of God and open a wide Door for the Devil to enter into you And indeed an unkind disposition towards any Man is so much akin to Satan that if you admit the one you cannot exclude the other III. Despise none for Love never rides in Triumph over Inferiours IV. Look upon all unavoidable Temptations as Opportunities for an high exercise of Grace Are you injured be sorry for him that hath done it and bless God for the opportunity of shewing your self hereby a Christian by patient bearing forgiving doing Good against Evil treating him with Meekness and breaking his Heart with Love Every Provocation is a Price in your Hand get an Heart to improve it V. Put a due value upon your Name and Reputation But be not over solicitous about it for that discovers some unmortified Lust at the bottom VI. Pursue Piety under the notion of an Imitation of God and then so great a Pleasure will result from it that neither Men nor Devils shall be able to make you question God's Being and Attributes This will raise an Esteem of it and render it lovely and make the several Duties of Religion more facile and easie and it will gradually wear out the Remains of Unbelief and unkind Jealousies of God VII Let Humility be the constant covering of your Soul and let Repentance follow all your Performances This will demonstrate your Religion is inward For if Religion be suffered to enter deep into the Heart it will always find Work for Repentance