take us from God but what we love better And though there is no felicity to be compared to Piety nor any diversions so delightful as Devotion when we love God and serve him with sincerity yet we mind it not enough that mind it most too much no man can LXXIV WE are naturally apt to cozen our selves with thinking we believe what we do not believe and for want of due consideration of all our ways we run on in such undiscernible errors as must offend God while we think we serve him best and this by indulging many kinds of innocent diversions until they become crimes though we know that vain and idle thoughts do often grow to foul suggestions which pious men should therefore not admit of LXXV WE are often misled by thinking too much of what may be and too little of what must be in providing too much for our uncertain hope of living from year to year with too little regard â—o our assured death that must come as if our moments here were of more value then our Eternity in Heaven though we do know that nothing in this World is worthy to entertain our Immortal Souls with true delight but by making ready to go unto God with chearful hearts of which few men do think enough and none can think too much because it is the greatest felicity that our Piety can reach and a sure mark that the Holy Ghost is working in us which no habitual sinner is capable of LXXVI NO man can want a subject for Meditation nor have a more useful entertainment than frequently and seriously to consider and examine his own life by recollecting what mercies what blessings and deliverances he has had from God and to enquire of his own heart how little obedience gratitude and love he has return'd what vows made in sickness dangers and in times of trouble but never kept And above all to consider how often God has knocked at our hearts for entrance and been denied or delayed to admit of some more pleasing Guest or whenever permitted to enter how coldly received and slightly treated until thrust out again to make room for some darling sin that must be welcomed This if fully considered may bring us to a sense of our offences and shame to think how unfit we are for our Death-beds and Eternity to come with the amazing terrors to think how we can call on our so much offended God for mercy which He could never prevail with us to accept of and what hope then can such insolent contemners of God have in their last day But on the contrary this Meditation will bring comfort to a Regeneâ—ate man who has entertain'd Christ in a chearful heart with sincere integrity to such a joyful trust in God's love by his fixed Faith that no carnal affections can remove his transports for Heaven the expectation whereof is delightful to him above the terrors of death to lessen LXXVII THe sum of all the great Lessons we can learn is to shew that a faithful penitent sinner who is become so Regenerate as to forsake all his iniquities and can perform an universal obedience to all God's Laws with such Evangelical sincerity as to make a total resignation of himself with all his Interests into God's hands must be led by the Spirit of God which will keep up his heart to Heaven in a constant concern for God's favour where Satan dares not appear to tempt when he sees us so united unto Christ and this will bring a Penitent to endure his Pilgrimage through all the storms of this World and defend him from the glittering vanities also so as to know no fear nor joy to interrupt his expectation of Heaven and the happy hour to breath out his Soul into the Bosom of God which holy ambition will entertain his heart here with more present happiness than all the Worlds wealth can afford to a wilful habitual sinner LXXVIII A Prayer LOrd I beseech thee let thy Holy Spirit direct my prayers in my approaches to thy Throne of Mercy and there pray within me that so guided I may find grace from Heaven to support me in my passage out of this World unto thy habitation of Eternal Bliss And now wean me from longer wandering in the vain Labyrinths and Glories here by having ever in mind that all the greatness and various pleasures I have seen and shared in are vanished like a Dream and thereby find that nothing is so delightful to a Regenerate reconciled sinner as a retired habitation free from the noise of Worldly affairs where by thy Grace peace of conscience may encourage me to be ever ready at thy call O God! with a joyful heart to make my last step into the glorious Eternity I hope for by the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ. LXXIX WHen the Holy Ghost dwells in our hearts we shall find new principles of a Divine Nature producing there an universal Victory over all our carnal appetites and an universal obedience to all God's Laws with trust in his Providence and such Faith in Christ's Merits and Intercession as will assure us of all God's promises as if now actually in our possession from whence will arise continual comforts with hearty gratitude for such love and mercy to penitent sinners And by this first Resurrection from Sin to Grace be assured of our second to Glory so that to be thus sanctified by the Holy Ghost we are united unto Christ brought home to God the Father as his adopted Children and do begin to enter on our everlasting happiness even in this World by our continual Meditations and Prayers so to raise this Holy flame as high as here we can reach without presumption so to fix in our hearts the joyful practice of such a Divine Life and Divine Love to God as will produce Divine joys here and for ever in Heaven which no carnal fruitions can attain And thus we are led by the Spirit of God and do become the adopted Sons of God LXXX IF the most voluptuous sinners could discern the felicity of an Holy life what constant elevated joys the peace of a quiet conscience brings to those who can wean their minds from the fading pleasurâ—s and drudgeries of this World to fix their hearts on things above sinners would make hast to become Regenerate For if we consider right of Eternity we must know that our Immortal Souls when freed from the slavish appetites of flesh and bloud can have no transports like those immortal joys they find when settled in their Centre God's Bosom from whence they came so that our Souls can relish no felicity like the hope of Heaven nor be much concerned for any thing less then Eternal Bliss which though of our selves we cannot reach yet if we give our hearts to God we cannot miss it But if in contempt of God we live and die in endless sinning we may justly fear that our Eternity will be in scorching flames We ought also to consider
hearts be inriched with some portion thereof to carry us to heaven and in our way thither so to arm us here that no approaching evils may divert us We are also to consider that the Gospel does not invite us to forsake the pleasures of this World to go into a Dungeon which were a hard lesson but to remove from hence to inhabit Heaven with all its glory to Eternity yet this natural cowardly disease of fearing to die being born with us is without cure until the Holy Ghost do fall so on us and dwell so in us as to overcome our frailty by his grace and to make us see and understand how to value our Interest in Heaven on Christs account and by that faith to raise in us such holy courage as to pass through the Grave with joy to our Eternal Bliss which requires a Divine valour beyond the reach of a Natural mans fancy with assistance from above VI. MOst men do forget that our greatest affair on Earth is to serve God frequently diligently and publickly to own him in the first place to secure our blessed Eternity by his favour while we have time to do it And in the second place to follow our Callings for a Subsistance by his providence prospering our labour during our abode here But we do often invert this by doing quite contrary all our Lives by hungring and thirsting after perishing Goods and serving God at spare times only as our least concern until the Agonies of a Death-bed shews our mistake too late For it is a great presumption to neglect God all our days and expect a Crown of Glory at our last gasp as a reward for our neglect it is dangerous to provoke God so VII IF we did set our hearts to take pleasure in Piety as we do to improve our delight in other things we should find that Heaven Gates would fly open to our sincere addresses and perceived the Spirit of God working in our hearts with Divine transports full of unexpressible joys while that Sacred flame burns bright within us And such Emanations from the Holy Ghost are the greatest invitations we can have to encourage us to prepare for a place in Heaven and to make us esteem those Celestial joys above all the glories of this world where the greatest Princes terminate their highest ambition to die the Sons of God or should do so VIII WHat God hath revealed to us at Mid-night alone shall be our portions in the next World And if we can repeat the same Communication with joy in the day-time which we had with Christ in the night we may entertain a comfortable assurance that the Holy Ghost was at first and is at last enkindling those Divine flames within us to raise our elevated transported Souls to Heaven IX THe greatest Epicure cannot have so much pleasure in satisfying all his Appetites as a regenerate man has in his conversation with God during his devout Addresses in which he finds the Holy Ghost raising up his heart to an assurance of his favour with God and giving his Soul a delight far above all Carnal fruitions by the very victory over them But this is only intelligible by Pious hearts and requires a Divine Valour to encounter and overcome in such skirmishes with Satan and to relish the Felicity and Glory of such triumphant joys as follow every such victory X. IF we consider that God asks nothing of man for all his benefits bestowed but the heart of man and that nothing but man can give the heart to God and that we ever heard nor read of any man that ever made that sincere Present to God but did receive it back infinitely enlightned and enriched with treasures of never fading blessedness who then can believe this and omit to make so advantagious a Present of his whole heart unto God To shew his Faith his Love and Obedience as his greatest happiness on Earth For we may in a way of speaking and I hope without offence suppose the heart of man was made Triangular as three Seats for God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost who are all one God as the three Corners are one Heart which can no more be divided than the Godhead Who will so fiâ— when he dwells therein as to leave no place for the World the Flesh or the Devil to abide there And from hence it is that God forsakes us when we forsake him When we deliver up his Habitation in our hearts unto his enemies when we thrust him out to admit of any of those Rivals into any corner of our hearts we then affront the whole Trinity and drive away all them all him to entertain and court a destroying Guest instead of the Lord of Life XI GOd will not suffer those that are his to live in the dark for if God be with us he will make us see that he is with us and will never go out of our sight until he has brought us where we shall never go out of his and will sometimes make us start with a surprizing joy to find he is so near us as to give our hearts a taste of the same joy we shall have in Heaven though infinitely increased then and superinvested with Glory How great comfort then must this be when long habitual sinners are thus Blessed thus Converted and thus reconciled to God by faith in Christ's blood when God does so eminently manifest his glorious goodness in visiting the Souls of sinners and powerfully calling us great Criminals to become chosen Vessels where himself vouchsafes to dwell To think fully of this is to think of nothing else in comparison of this our great concern which now begins and now assures our Eternity with God which is above all earthly Felicities that pass away like Dreams As what signifies the Persian Grecian or the Roman Empires now Where are those Great Glorious Glistering Bubbles now Never worthy to come into competition with the higher aims of regenerate men indued with Divine love whose Immortal Souls are fed with such Celestial joys as can only flow from their Immortal object God on whom their ambitious hearts are fixed with such a lively Faith as doth create a contempt of all earthly Fruitions and stand ever ready as adopted Sons of God with joy to pass through the Grave to an immediate possession of a Crown of Glory for when God is pleased so to descend and dwell with us here it is to assure our Souls they shall ascend and dwell with him in Heaven XII HE that has heard the Bell Toll for him to the Grave and lives after it will do well to call to mind what Agonies he then felt and what Vows he then made to God on his Recovery and now every day to examine his heart how well he has performed those Vows and how much fitter he now is for his next Summons thither For every Bell that he hears now Toll for others is his Alarm to make ready for his day
momentary touch of a sharp Lancet that makes him bleed for future health So that men prepar'd for Heaven may change the terrible aspect of a grisly Death into a Divine Angelical form fit to be courted with a most hearty welcome who is sent by God to conduct us unto Him where every wise good man desires to be and this is a great â—ark of the Holy Ghost on the hearts of men to bring sinners to such an Evangelical felicity to live so in Gods favour as to rejoyce to ride on Deaths Chariot in Triumph into Heaven XXIV A Pious man is never alone when most alone but then takes more delight in his approaches to God then this World can afford the greatest Epicure for his devout heart is ever on the wing towards the Throne of mercy from whence his Soul is filled with Divine comforts beyond expression for God never fails to entertain a sincere Soul with high consolations XXV WAtch thy first waking thoughts which will declare thy Soul unto thy self whether Carnally minded or Spirituallized for then is thy fancy fresh unclogg'd with Worldly affairs and then the time to blow up thy flaming gratitude to God in some proportion towards what thou hast received from Him in mercies and in blessings though short in point of merit yet such holy aimes such pious ambitious contests God allows of and is well pleased to see such use made of his grace by such Divine emulations in the hearts of men who do endeavour to raise up their gratitude in competition with his benefits But this must be in such humble Addresses as doth become Dust and Ashes who can do nothing of our selves that is good nor think beyond what we receive and must thank God for the thanks we give him For it is the Holy Ghost that excites and enables us to such a frequent and free conversation with our Great Maker by which elevated zeal and sincere affection in our daily acknowledgments we â—hew that we have some taste of that joy and some glimpse of that glory here which we expect in Heaven and is some Testimony that we have not received the grace of God altogether in vain For no Man can give effectual thanks to God for his mercies until he find some assurance of his reconciliation by the Bloud of Iesus Christ which is the Fountain of all mercies and the great argument for our gratitude to the Father of mercies who forgives transgressions to raise our gratitude to Love XXVI WHoever has so much Faith as to create true notions of the Holy Trinity and Gods eternal habitation of Glory and Bliss in Heaven where he believes that Christ has purchased places for all penitent reconciled sinners that man cannot chuse but wish and indeavour to be one of that blessed number so redeemed from Hell and raised to everlasting Glory on Christs account But how to attain unto this felicity and to find in our hearts that we have attained it is our greatest work in this World and our most joyful entertainment here which is a pre-possession of Heaven as much as our frail nature is capable of with the Divine assistance of the Holy Ghost So then we must observe if our hearts are become so Regenerate as to find more pleasure in our approaches to God and our devout conversation with Him then all the fruitions this world can afford us for then we shall find an inward dependance on God in our own hearts such as will guide us by his Divine guiding Light unto the means and methods of attaining our wished salvation and within a little time certainly grow to a much more habitual delight in Piety then our forsaken sins formerly were and will hold our hearts up to Heaven ever ready to enter in when Death comes to conduct us thither and it will be great joy to pass the pangs of a Death-bed and â—errors of the Grave with an assurance that our Souls shall be with God the moment that we depart from this World if we live Righteously in it XXVII IF we give our whole hearts to God wherever we are whatever we do our minds will be fixed on Him the only Centre of our Souls intrinsick happiness 't is like a man forced from his beloved companion by some great affair he dispatches it quickly and with speed returns where he left his heart And thus we may try our hearty Love to God But when trivial objects and vain diversions do easily withdraw us from his converse and then detain us whole days in idleness so as to afford God but some few moments for our morning and evening Sacrifices we may reckon that our Love bears the same proportion with the time spent in his service we may also find on a strict search that we are mistaken in the Donation of our hearts to God by keeping of a small corner of our hearts in reserve for diversions only to gratifie some fair-faced appetites which do insensibly rob the major part until that corner have ingrossed the whole heart by which we fool our selves to think our All-seeing God will be mocked with such thin Vizards on our hearts Take heed therefore of idle diversions and pray for grace to become Regenerate to set thy heart on things above which begets true Love to God with Blessedness here and for ever which eternity can never be too much thought on nor the Lord who disposes of Eternity be too much loved or too much feared and if when we lye down to sleep we could but learn to think that we might wake in the other World we should labour to live close up to God so that Satan may find no time to come between to tempt and then such reconciled sinners would discern their conversion to be a sure Testimony of God's mercy and the Spirit of Faith fixing the foundation of true Piety by which we must ascend as the first step of that Ladder towards Heaven XXVIII IT is a stupendious thing to think how our corrupt Dust and Ashes may be exalted when the Spirit of God is at work in the heart of man when a great sinner is cleansed from his pollutions and all his past transgressions are so wiped off by the Holy Ghost in the receiving of the Sacrament that he finds Christ born within him and his Soul filled with a new kind of Divine transports which raise him in Meditations up to Heaven by such devout Addresses as grow higher and higher in ambitious zeal to be near God until he obtain to be owned an Adopted Son and while he remains on Earth by Faith to share with Angels in some degree of Heavenly joy and to perceive some beams of their Glory which he shall participate of at the Resurrection and until then be here feasted with such devout Celestial delights as will give him an assurance that these are the marks of his Election to comfort and to fix his heart on God who will guide his Soul through his Pilgrimage on Earth
life may be assaulted and diverted by such surprizing temptations as he cannot at first sight so resist and reject but that Satan may pursue until he drives a Regenerate Soul from all its Out-works into its Cittadel in Heaven where God does never fail to give such powerful Aids as make the invading Enemy retire and vanish LXI LEt a long habitual sinner that repents manifest his conversion to himself by frequent sincere retirements with God and then set his whole heart to raise and fix his collected thoughts on things above which will create a delight in the Lord more then in all his Creatures and by such custom he will grow to grudge all time as lost that diverts him from the pleasant conversation of this new gain'd acquaintance with his gracious God who also likes to have him wholly to Himself when he desires to be so and when this Convert doth obtain grace to arrive at this felicity of favour here he cannot rest so but will raise his ambitious Zeal to such pure Love as to hunger and thirst aâ—ter the sight of God's face in Glory For if thus enlightned by the Holy Spirit his Faith will increase and cherish such Divine flames with joy and gratitude as the surest marks of his Reconciliation and Adoption and will encourage him to proceed with vigour in his Advance towards Heaven LXII DO nothing in private in God's sight that thou darest not do in the view of all the World and own at the day of Iudgment and keep this resolution ever in thy mind and constantly pray for Grace to do so by which thou wilt avoid many sins LXIII THere is nothing more deceitfully prejudicial to a new converted sinner then to believe himself a favourite of Gods upon his first serious thoughts and inclination to Piety with some light flashes of Spiritual joys in Devotion which novelty an habitual sinner mistakes for a possession of Heaven at first sight and in too much hast thinks himself an Adopted Son which time and perseverance can only make legitimate and must also be tryed by a nice and serious examination of our hearts such as is seldom understood by new Converts who may rejoyce to find they have discarded some presumptuous sins and yet be far from a just pretence and tiâ—le to a place in Heaven For instance a man may resolve well and pray with zealous sincerity repent too with sighs and tears and have a great proportion of Faith Hope and Charity with Humility also but if he want the true Christian purity of heart the rest will not prove a full acceptable Sacrifice to God who only sets his seal on our whole hearts resigned unto Him So that if we keep a reserve but of one corner for unlawful diversions to bestow on our fellow Creatures or on carnal sinful appetites all the rest will not be accepted for God will admit of no sharer nor endure competitors So then we are to consider if the value of such a small reserve be worth the losing of the whole purchase we pretend to and next what kind of Salvation it would be if God deal with us accordingly if He should accept of so much of our hearts as we are pleased to spare Him and leave the remaining reserved part for Satan For though God designs a full perfect Eternal happiness unto all that give their whole hearts to him and affords his Divine guiding Light with power to find the way to Heaven for all those who pray to be so guided with sinceriâ—y and Faith yet the smoak of our parcel Sacrifices from our divided hearts will not ascend half way to Heaven LXIV IF we believe there is so great joy and happiness in Heaven why are we so lazie and cold in our approaches thither why do we not prefer that glorious Crown of Immortality before the perishing Goods of this World for which our hearts can have no rest until obtain'd which is a sad consideration to think how we neglect our greatest concern by delaying our reconciliation to God as if time were at our dispose either to recall or adjouâ—n and do not consider how every moment that we carelesly mis-spend carries us on to our last step inâ—o the Grave and our first step into Eternity but if we did think frequently and seriously of Heaven as we ought and that the Grave is the way thither we should not dread Death as we do nor fear to go where we desire to be but such Holy Valour does only belong to Righteous men and not to habitual sinners LXV MAny men fear to die because they are better acquainted with this World then the next which they want Faith for or else are loth to part from their beloved sins and fear God's anger for such crimes as they fear God's anger for yet will run that risque rather then forsake their sins until they die Though all men know that the best way to triumph o're the Grave is to live so well as ever to have in mind the two Eternities of Bliss and Torments to one of which Death conveys us So that it is no wonder if we tremble at the sight of Death when we prepare not for it by considering that every moment leads us on to what we so much dread and yet so much neglect And also men should consider that the youngest and most healthy do stand every minute on the brink of Eternity to perswade them to be ready for their summons thither So that unless we want Faith in Christ's merits and doubt God's promises that if we become so truly Pious as to love God so much above all his Creatures that we cannot fear to part with them to go to Him So that nothing can more concern mankind then frequent thoughts of our preparation to step into our Eternity when we all know there is no true Rest but that which is Eternal Is it not then great folly to know that we cannot live ever here and must be gone for ever and yet do still set our hearts on these moments and prefer them before that for ever Thus to fear petty troubles here and not be at all concerned for endless Torments and this for want of thinking seriously that we carry Immortal Souls within us and should have Immortal Aims and Immortal Ends when we consider that our Eternity begins with our Birth and we that moment do begin to die and so are dying until we are dead and gone for ever which words FOR EVER ought to ring ever in our ears to mind us to live ever ready for that For Ever which will make us not to fear death when we consider that we have a merciful God who when mans conversion begins His displeasure makes a period So that 't is want of Piety and Faith that makes us fear to die LXVI IF we believe all we have that is good does come from God we ought in all our enjoyments to give Him continual thanks so to keep up our hearts to Heaven
our own hearts strictly how they stand towards God and with what sincere delight we serve him in our Devotions for the bright flaming zeal of a sincere sigh will pierce Heaven when luke-warm words uttered aloud can find no entrance nor is at all regarded by Almighty God who allows us to knock hard at Heaven gates for entrance when our groaning hearts express our desires for He loves to be pressed with violence for his favours to shew that we value what we pray for XCIX ENdeavour above all things while thy Soul is in communion with God to keep thy affection up to Him and strive not so much for long eloquent language as to be heart-wounded in thy Petitions for when thy Devotion flags thy Prayer is done We ought always to pray as if we were that moment to die which will keep our hearts intent on the great work we are about And he that in praying can adorn his sorrow for past sins with penitential tears before he parts from God will wash them off with tears of joy for that sorrow C. THere is nothing in our view more destructful to the Souls of men then the false opinion that Christianity does impose slavish Laws upon us as if Piety only consisted in heavy burthens to be poor miserable dejected Cyphers in the World made up for sorrows and sufferings with self-denial vows against all humane natural fruitions and felicities For most men being bred up in these mistaken prejudices cannot easily be perswaded that the true Christian Gospel Rules for a Spiritual life does exceed those carnal appetites we so much struggle for and the Regenerate man as much despises in comparison of his Souls continual feasting on the expectation of Heaven whose firm belief of his Eternal joy as an adopted Son of God is a felicity above all the fading enjoyments this World can afford the most ambitious luxurious person who has all that his heart can wish that way So that no man can have a more chearful Soul then he whose faith in Christ and trust in God makes participate of all the lawful pleasures this World affords and when piously used is a delight far above what the wicked can pretend to when the terrors of an evil conscience must imbitter his fruitions And this no man can so well judge of as a converted sinner become Regenerate who has tasted and forsaken the most voluptuous pleasures this World has for the present joys his Soul finds by Faith in his Eternal Bliss which shews that a good Christian lives more pleasantly in this World then a vitious man can do CI. WHen Christ has wrought his great miracle of Conversion in the hearts of the most obdurate sinners those near lost men by his grace becoming truly Regenerate such Evangelical sincerity will grow in their hearts towards God as to take more pleasure in his service then all their past carnal fruitions did afford them So that whoever is enriched with this Grace will find Divine comforts in their retirements to be alone with God such as will beget Heavenly Raptures and preserve their hearts the whole day after from Satanical assaults and by the custom of such early Morning exercise will in time beget an habitual delight to begin the day with God and never forget those high Ejaculations until they meet the Lord again to renew and confirm their commerce for Heaven But it is no wonder that men generally great sinners are so hard to be converted because they cannot set a true value on what they understand not But most wretched those who have been thus enlightned and for some moments rais'd to Heaven yet are so frail by nature and by custom prone to evil as to forsake these Seraphick joys and return to fordid Earthly fruitions rather then continue in the assured everlasting joys of Heaven by persevering in that Righteousness which they have tasted and like not CII THough David did commit some great faults he was a man after God's own heart after that and one of the best patterns in Holy Writ fit for us to imitate for his love and gratitude to God who by custom grew to such a pious friendship with his great Maker that much of his life was spent with God alone in his retirements with whom he consulted all his affairs made all his complaints to and humbly begged whatever his needs were with such a familiar trust in God as his only support and only delight So that if we now consider David's great affairs as a King full of troubles ever in Wars though glorious by his Atchievements yet in frequent dangers vexed by a stubborn People hard to govern besides the disorders of his own Family so that we may think he omitted no opportunity to be with God that hath left so many Psalms full of such high Divine Raptures extant to manifest his great piety that it is a wonder he could get so much time for so many prayers praises and contemplations By which we may learn that in what calling so ever God has set us and what troubles so ever He appoints for us we may find time to converse with God by day and night So that if we repent confess and forsake our sins with hearts as servent towards God as David did no doubt we shall be as well received though neither Kings nor Prophets We may also call to mind that David as the least considerable person of his Family had the lowest imployment to keep his Fathers Sheep yet his heart was then set high on God or he might have been devoured by that Lion or that Bear he slew if God had not been with him And we may also think that he was better acquainted with God at his Flock then Saul was on his Throne else he had not escaped Saul's surious malice and so soon ascended that Throne By which we may see that the greatest King and meanest man may learn of David to love serve honour worship and trust in God with such a delight as will grow to a friendship with his Creator and raise his Soul up unto Heaven whatsoever his imployment on Earth is and those hours and years of our life which we trifle away as a burthen to be rid of not knowing how to spend idly enough we may imploy as David did and never be alone when most alone Thus we may enjoy a happy and blessed security on Earth and have a true courage above all such accidents as make ill men tremble And thus a pioâ—â— man enjoys a present communion with God and Christ by a lively Faith to such a degree as doth assure his Soul of Eternal Bliss in Heaven and when Satan finds us always in such company he will have small hopes to get an Audience for his Addresses to destroy us So that if we can live thus like David we may hope to die in God's favour like him and as chearfully resign our Souls into God's hands who loves us more then we can love him
no Conversation no diversions can come into competition with a Divine Life and Divine Love to God So to fix our Interest in this world and the next for we shall fall as we live and shall rise to everlasting Judgment as we fall For though Christ came into the world to call and to enable the greatest of sinners to become capable of this Felicity here and Salvation after We must repent and forsake our Iniquities or can have no part in him CX WE cannot make too strict a Covenant with our Eyes and Hearts to waâ—ch the deceitfulness of Sin And observe how every look and every thought is naturally apt insensibly to convert innocent intentions into evil before we discern the subtle enemy undermining of our Souls with the fair appearances of harmless diversions if too much indulged until they become destroying Snares CXI GOd often treats his professed Lovers as we do one another when we find that a professed friend has some concealed Jewel that he prizes above his professions though he offer up all the rest which we desire not we reject his Complement and still desire to have that reserved beloved Jewel which he values above our Favours And so God rejects all our Complemental Services until our reserved darling Lust be offered up to him as the Jewel we most prize and the only sacrifice he will accept Then in return of our whole hearts he will give himself to us for ever CXII LEt him that thinks he stands most fixed in Heaven take heed lest he fall and remember that David and Solomon both of them Gods Favorites could not stand longer then by his Grace supported nor were our Saviours beloved Disciples all free from stumbling by which and many more examples we are taught not to presume on our own righteousness but to look on our Frailties as inherent to us lest Dust and Ashes should presume on our own performances without continual Addresses to God for such Supplies as we do every moment need And we may also think that God permits some good men to some relapses to awaken and quicken them to the frequent duty of his Worship so to own him that no man may hope to serve him as he ought without him For Satan is most busie and ambitious to reduce a Convert out of Christs flock to become his slave again rather then to continue his Celestial freedom such a victory he accounts his Master-piece so to subdue careless men who too much trust unto their own Integrity and take no heed how they stand lest they fall CXIII WE cannot Pray too often because frequent sincere Prayers do bring down Blessings from Heaven but when we makâ— negligent Addresses they shew such a disrespect that the Glorious Majesty we approach turns from us in contempt of such careless Petitions For when we are excited to Divine Worship by the Holy Ghost God looks for such intention of Spirit with vigour in our Devotion that shews how much we value what we pray for He admits of our frequent zeal at all times though he sees our unworthiness and never fails to cherish an humble contrite Spirit when he rejects a presumptuous Babbler So that when we approach to Pray our first Petition should be for Grace to prevent all diversions from Satan and our selves who where his publick temptations fail is ever busie to disturb our Devotions with frivolous or foul suggestions CXIV HOw can we think that God doth believe the frequent Professions we make that we love Him above all things when we forsake him so often for trivial and vain fruitions for though no man is free from such Frailties as we ought to Watch and Pray for amendment of by Grace from above For to be absolutely perfect is impossible because our Nature will not admit of such Angelical perfection yet no man ought to question his sincerity because he cannot do that which is impossible for men to do CXV WE spend much of our time in laying foundations for Happiness on Earth when our Happiness is that we have none here but what we can raise from our Hopes to find in Heaven which we are seldom inclined to think on but when we find we are not so well provided for here as we Hope to be there CXVI ALl men know that every moment of our Lives every step we make does advance us towards the Grave but we do not seriously enough consider of this our greatest concern while we march on with merry hearts towards our Eternal Habitation of Rest and happiness in Heaven as we think but in our careless journey thither do entertain our Souls with such worthless Vanities or such known Wickedness for our Diversions that we do often mistake the way if not quite lose it and so arrive at a dismal Habitation of Woe before we see whither we are going CXVII WE cannot Love or Fear God too much we cannot Thank Him or Trust in Him too much nor Think of Him too often from whom we have all that we enjoy and on whose free Mercy our Eternal Doom depends and this Moment may be that Doom to every one of us So then he is the most Happy man in this World that Lives ever the most ready to Die With a sincere desire to be with God which is a sure mark of his Reconciliation and Adoption To love God thus and to be thus beloved of Him will bring us to delight in God above all his Creatures which is the highest Felicity our Pâ—ety can aim at CXVIII A Prayer LOrd Enrich all Hearts with Divine Love that desire it and inflame their Souls with such desires towards Thee as to Live Righteously and to value such enlightning Comforts as flow from those Transports thou doest afford unto Reconciled sinners become Regenerate so to encourage them to Inform and Reclaim such as go Astray by seeing the vast delights that do attend thine Adopted Sons in their way to Heaven And by that bright Light from above to judge of thy Celestial joys prepared for them there CXIX NOt to think at all is impossible and to think too much of what we ought not to think of is too Natural to us but to think of the Everlasting Torments in Hell comparatively with our peâ—ty short Pains here will Fright us into some Care not to offend God so as to send us thither Puâ— to think of the Ioys of Heaven as we ought and by our Faith in Christ to bring us thither with our Love to God our Christian Charity our Purity of Heart and our Humility to God and Man Which is the Divine Lovers part who is ever thinking on his Eternal Bliss and how to please God most so to prepare for Heaven which he sees every moment is at hand and the joyful expectation of that Happy Hour is his Souls continual Consolation as those will find who do Sincerely labour for it CXX IT is one of the Devils chief Arts to cheat men into a belief that it is a
and gives sufficient grace accordingly at the hour of Death CXXXIII A Great Reprobate by the Grace of God become Regenerate can experimentally judge how much the felicity of Piety doth exceed his former Epicurisms Men in this World without putting Eternity into the Scales against moments and observes that the continual tranquility of a quiet Conscience is much more pleasant then all his past unlawful Fruitions attended with such Terrors as a guilty Soul is loaded with CXXXIV EVery Pious man that has forsaken his sins for fear to offend God who he pretends to love also does begin well And when God sees his sincerity to obey him in all things He will not let him rest there but adds Faith and Grace till his heart longs for a nearer Communion with Christ in Heaven and by a daily custom of such elevated Meditations God will bring this Pious man to despise this World and to overcome the Terrors of the Grave by his expecâ—ation of Heaven where his Soul longs to be CXXXV WE must not desire to die to be rid of affliction here But if we can obtain Grace for so Divine a Love to God as to be glad to go to Him when He calls for us That will be enough and such holy courage at the hour of death will bring great Joy to our expiring Souls CXXXVI THe Souls of Righteous men are said to be with God the moment they expire But to what degree of Bliss they are admitted before the Resurrection is not revealed unto men But it is enough for us to believe that God takes care of those Souls that served and trusted in Him as well as for his departed Saints We need to desire no more then to be with them CXXXVII THe Design of Reading the Scriptures Preaching Praying and Fasting is to bring us to lead such Pious Lives as may shew our Faith and Love to God And so to divert our hearts from Worldly vanities by constant Meditations on the Ioys of Heaven to invite us thither And also encourage our timerous Souls with grace from above to contemn the Grave where they shall not rest one moment Which if well considered our Holy Resolutions would scorn to fear and shrink back from the last step we must make to take possession of the Crown we seem to labour for which will shew that we have but cold desires to be with God CXXXVIII NO Regenerate man can be mistaken in Gods Service who sets his Hâ—art sincerely to that workâ— for God who sees our hearâ—s throughout will not lose such a Votarrâ— but will Sanctify his zeal and make hâ—m see that an humble contriâ—e heart is the Sacâ—ifice He likes And will shew by his 〈◊〉 of Comfort and Consolation to such a man that his Soul will be transported with Raptures of joy in his Divine Contemplations when he finds such inward assurance of Godâ— favor that he cannot doubt of his Reconciliation when thus enriched with Grace and thus led by the Holy Ghost his devout heart will rise higher with bright flames of Love aspiring to get into Christs bosom CXXXIX WE should in our Meditations often reflect on the unquiet and uncertain wealth and Honours of this World and how unworthy such fleeting fruitions are to be preferred before Eternal felicities that so we may not set our hearts and spend our time on such vain acquisitions when immortal happiness will be had on easier and more certain terms and we surely become the Sons of God CXL THe greatest business of our Lives is to learn to die with holy courage and not to start from the Grave nor repine at such means and methods as our kind God appoints to make us willing to come to Him and by such gentle corrections to withdraw us from the World that our hearts may be always working up towards his Throne of Mercy where Christ has purchased places for converted sinners amongst the Angels and has appointed his Holy Spirit to invite and conduct us thither by his inward comforts which grow from the Gospel-promises and is the Christian Faith that repented sins forsaken shall not be charged on us in this World nor the next which is the foundation of Divine valour in a dying convert CXLI THe generality of mankind are naturally inclined to love those who love them and to judge of Friendship and Hatred by the assisting or crossing our designs in this World and the universal object herein is Death So then we are to consider the real effects of this great Monarchs power that controuls the World and see whether he be a more general Friend or Enemy to mankind For as he cuts down some in their first Buds others in the prime Blossoms of their youth and surprizes many of ripeâ— years by hurrying them into unexpected destruction from such Wealth and Honours as their carnal hearts were most delighted with yet the same Death is kind to the most of men who are oppressed with various sorts of Agonies both of mind and body beyond the cure of the best Remedies until by Death released from all degrees of maladies and miseries Now if all this be well considered we may bring our selves to such an acquaintance with this mighty Monarch Death by a daily conversation and preparation for our submission to his unresistable command so as to rejoyce when we are freed from future evils and by Death conducted to our Eternal Rest. And the same moment that our Souls expire we shall conquer Him who conquers all the World and for ever Triumph over his Victories over us So that 't is our weak Faith and frail Nature that makes Death seem so terrible an Enemy unto unrighteous men only CXLII THe true joy of a good Soul in this World is the very joy in Heaven only there 't is superinvested with Glory which a Righteous man enjoys that moment he dies without any stop by the way CXLIII THere is nothing more worthy of our continual thoughts our utmost endeavours and hearty prayers then to obtain the Blessedness to become Regenerate For when the Holy Ghost sanctifies the heart of such a man with the comfortable marks of his Reconciliation and Adoption that man will soon find the continual feast of a good conscience while he lives to be more pleasant then all other things which this World affords and at his hour of death the felieity of his Adoption will fill his Soul with holy valour and accompany him to his Everlasting Glory Which joy no mortal fancy can conceive and is the highest works of our strongest Faith to think on and to prepare for CXLIV HE that can upon examination find such comfort in his Soul as to be ever ready and willing to appear at the day of Judgment must be enlightned and guided by the Holy Ghost and sanctified by a Spiritual Resurrection from sin to grace and from all worldly temptations so as his chief delight will be in a Divine conversation with God by frequent approaches for the continuance
labouring to change our conditions still aiming to get what we have not though the last acquisition rarely brings more satisfaction then what we had before Whereas a contented man has all that he desires and enjoys what he has because allotted to him by the Divine Providence who doth chuse better for those that do relie on Him then we can for our selves CLXXXIV WE ought not to repine at crosses nor to murmur at sickness or any other affliction whatever because they are God's Cordial Antidotes to repell the poison of such sins as He sees do use to infect our Souls with malignant diseases such as create a despairing conscience when we die and hazard Eternal Torments in the next World we are therefore to kiss the Rod that works so great a cure and that Hand that smites us in Love to make us fit for his Mercy by repentance and conversion from being great sinners to become his Adopted Sons and so above the venom of future biting afflictions for He only hath perfect peace whose mind is stayed on God the Rock of our Salvation CLXXXV NO man can do all that he should do but all men may do as much as they can do and God requires no more to obtain his Love here and Salvation hereafter But we are naturally so prone to flatter our selves in this point that when we think our hearts most safe we are often surprized by a forsaken sin and shamefully subdued by it For when we make a Covenant with our Eyes and Hearts not to go astray though we cannot hinder the first look or thought that is amiss we may so check them at first appearance as they shall not invade us a second time nor bite on to harm us so that if we do stumble heedlesly we may prevent wilful tumbling into Relapses and wallowing in them for which there is no excuse CLXXXVI IT is worthy of observing how some men by a long customed and settled habit of living ill have so Naturalized their sins to themselves and themselves to the Devil as in time they grow to think it a point of honour and conscience to be constant to that profession and are asham'd to quit Satans black Livery which they prefer before their first engagement to God in Baptism I have heard a Gentleman say that when he had lived many years in great Iniquities it pleased God by a long sickness to beget such remorse in his heart as upon his recovery to become a Convert But for a long time after he did conceal this change as asham'd to practise his conversion by a publick new course of life so much out of fashion and did many times in conversatioâ— seem to like what he liked not to avoid being thought an Hypocrite until he consider'd how much greater a shame it was to serve God in a corner so to smother his highest Act of Mercy towards him in not daring to own the thoughts of his Salvation and how unworthy he was to become an Adopted Son of God while he feared to declare his Hope of so high an Advancement On which account he did take courage to profess his Conversion which he thought not fully to manifest until the hour of his death By which we may see how dangerous it is to run on in habitual sins until we grow ashamed to forsake them CLXXXVII IT is a wonder to consider that mankind should be so universally bred up from our Infancy to study and by laborious callings to imploy our Talents of Sense and Reason in the acquisition of such perishing goods as the World affords and generally so late begin to inform our selves of our Souls intrinsick value being created for a participation of God's Glory when ascended into Heaven how unworthy an exchange then do we make who believe this and yet do violently labour for the short-liv'd vanities and indeed the nothingness of this World in comparison with Eternity at the immense price of our Immortal Souls loss and our Eternal joys in Heaven for everlasting flames in Hell And this because we do not consider that God did not make the World to mock man with fallacious delights in the enjoyment of his Creatures but intended it for our entertainment and diversions in our Journey to Heaven and therefore has given us rational Souls such as by living virtuously we may enjoy the World and Him together and so advance our selves by gratitude and love here to a confirmation of a full â—ruition of Him at the Resurrection Thus if we would sincerely study virtue and set a true value on the perfection of Righteousness we might enjoy this World with double pleasure and have Heaven hereafter with all its Glory also CLXXXVIII WE do mistake nothing in this World more then our pleasures which we do compell our fancies to comply in and do often take more pains to justifie those vanities then any delight we find in such short-liv'd fruitions Whereas if our hearts were set on God and our Souls raised to serious thoughts of our Eternal Bliss such Divine entertainments would grow to a continual feast â—ull of surprizing joys and such Heavenly delights that we should with pain suffer and with remorse endure our vain diversions and lament to see that our Nature does require such frequent relaxes from our most rarified and ratified Devotions CLXXXIX WE cannot want Arguments for Meditation if we call to mind our Christianity that is diligently examine if we do participate of Christs Righteousuess to such a degree that our conversion from sin and our natural corruptions be changed into such an Evangelical habit of Holiness as to manifest our Spiritual Resurrection and Election to our own hearts for then nothing can engage us unto higher gratitude and love then a true sense of so great a benefit received which when seriously considered will mount up our Souls to frequent extasies of blessed Joy by our devout approaches in Adoration of God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost who are all three always working us up to our Salvation Then which nothing can be more worthy of our Meditation and sincere examination that we may be ready for the day of Judgment which no man can be that does not live so as to be chearfully ready to die for it is a much greater business to go out of the World then to live in it CXC NO other man can cozen us so much as we cozen our selves in what we like because we naturally raise fallacious reasonings against true reason to justifie our unlawful desires and do very easily perswade our selves to comply with our most idle fancies and eagerest appetites to what we know is against all Reason and Religion too thinking that our frailty is excuse enough to follow our blind inclinations to evil and do also indulge our aversion to goodness on the same account so long as our endeavours do prosper in wickedness But when we are Thunder-struck by some surprizing affliction then we can begin to think and