left without excuse for not improving that light and being obedient to it How much more inexcusable shall they be who have the light of Life shining upon them do not believe the Supernatural Truths revealed by it and will rather charge the Doctrines of the Gospel with Impossibility than acknowledge the narrowness of their understandings Converse with some real Christians in a way of Experience is greatly laid aside feasting discoursing the common affairs of the Nation the recommendation of Self-notions in Religion and the disparaging of others are put in the room of such Conference that the serious Christian putting in sentences of experimental Religion is immediately repulsed with the pleasing though lazy Excuse of Experiences being too nice and dangerous to be talk'd of which perhaps is found so when either triflingly observed or biassed with the vicious design of applause and mutual instruction and comfort out of the Soul's aim Printing therefore I have made choice of It s commonness and unsucccssfulness in the hands of the most Learned and most Holy of God's Children had greatly discourag'd me if God's special method of discovering Himself and his Word to my Soul and that in so short a while had not put me under a greater obligation than ordinary to witness for him when so many bear false witness against his Attributes and Revealed Will. And therein I design not to debate the Reality of Inward Religion being come blessed be his Name to full establishment and assurance thereof but to tell you That Christianity is somewhat else than an outward Profession more powerful in its dominion than the by-ends of Applause outward Interest or the strength of Education and never to be understood by corrupt Reason alone without the help of Divine Revelation and a Divine Spirit and to convince hereof I design not sensible demonstration but first of all to give you a Narrative of some Mysteries experienc'd I formerly was unacquainted with as Evidences of an inward change and of the life of Religion to be between God and the Soul my outward Conversation while under the power of Education having been in great measure as unblameable in appearance as now 2. To tell you the Means made effectual to enlighten my dark mind to understand the reality of Divine Spiritual Mysteries that so you walking in the same road may meet with the same knowledge of God and his Word as true and then you 'll bid adieu to all your spreading Errors and find them rather confirmation to Christianity than shaking to your Faith Resemblance being generally a Companion to Reality you 'll be chang'd from co-operating with Satan to the pleasing of him and your own inward Lust to the working together with God pleasing of him and the obtaining Salvation to your Souls Farewell Page 137. after Line 3. add what here follows A second Argument to persuade to the Duty of Observation is That it is introductory to greater matter of Observation 'T is known to all observing Christians That the more they have observed the greater things have been brought to their view and lesser Providences remark'd have led to greater the smallest step a Christian makes toward God it 's greatly encouraged by him and he will enable us to further Progress in his ways How evident is this from Christ's words to Nathanael Believest thou because I said I saw thee under the fig-tree thou shalt see greater things heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man By the observation of outward Providences you will see God in the Blessings he bestows Jacob when he met his Brother Esau Gen. 33.10 says with a Rapture of Affection I have seen thy face as tho I had seen the face of God This at first view looks almost like Blasphemy but in Esau's reconciled face to him he saw the Face Presence and Favour of God the principal Object was not so much Esau's reconciliation to him as the Favour and Hand of God in bringing it about this raised his Spirit to such an Exclamation Such a sight of God in the going forth of his Divine Providence necessarily supposes its Observation Is it therefore possible to observe means probable of bringing forth such designs but made unsuccessful The contrivances of the Wise brought to other ends than they purposed The evil Craftiness of others to their Dishonour and Ruin when design'd for their Honour and Preferment Yea means in appearance tending to hurt bringing forth great good Is it possible I say to observe these things and not to discover another Power above Human Policy to contrive or Human Strength to effectuate Even the Sovereign Power of an Infinite God who many times determines Events contrary to mens designs but still for the bringing forth his own THE Private Christian's Witness for CHRISTIANITY c. THE following Discourse I divide into Two Parts The First Contains an Historical Account of my self under no other Religion than that of Education with the outward Providences and inward Workings of a Divine Spirit changing me from thence to a sensible feeling of a more inward powerful Principle than that of Education opening a door of Knowledge of God of Divine Mysteries of my own State before and of my present State thus Inlightened The Second Contains an Application thereof to the Prophane and meer Professor or unto the real though lazy Christian First I begin with the Narrative and take this Account of my self under no other power of Christianity than the effect of Religious Education One Born within the Pale of the Church instructed in the knowledge of the True Principles of the Christian Religion and enabled to discourse of them with the Character of knowing the Things of God tho' but Notionally then Trained up with the continued Example of performing all the Duties of Hearing Reading and Praying with that powerful influence that publick or private Devotion were seldom neglected but not diligent and serious in the perusal of the Scriptures Besides all this under the advantage of Religious Conversation and Holy Practice was so powerfully impressing that in the course of my Life never one single act of the common Vices of Drinking Swearing or Uncleanness tainted my Conversation Yea the impression continued so strong as after my departure from under this strictness of instruction and example still the same exactness in Duties and Conversation remain'd tho' Youthful Temptations surrounded me God's restraining Grace was my preservative and my natural desire to be in Business was a means of preventing the impression of Temptations yet still I was in the dark as to the saving knowledge of True Christianity or the inward power of Grace sensibly acting in the Soul my natural disposition inclining me more to Observation than to much Talk in Conversation led me not only to observe the Discourse and Actions of others but even to remark the Events attending my Life with Reflections thereupon without any regard to it as Duty or productive of the
benefits which the Son of God purchas'd and the Spirit applies to the Souls of unfeigned Believers Is it possible that one in a violent hot Countrey unacquainted with the blowing of Wind Is it possible that one that never tasted Honey Is it possible I say that the first and latter from the description either of the blowing of the Wind or of the nature of Honey in the most perspicuous words can so well understand or so firmly believe the blowing and refreshing effects of the Wind or the nature and the sweetness of the Honey as those who have enjoy'd of the first and tasted of the latter This is a true resemblance of their condition who are void of the real inward knowledge of Religion and their slighting and disbelief of the spiritual efficacy of the Ordinances cannot weaken the Faith of Believers who have experienced the reality thereof upon their Souls but give them greater establishment and afford them matter of repeated exercise of love to him who past by some and calls others and advances them to a further reliance upon him in the due use of means for the obtaining a richer abundance of the communications of the Holy Spirit When the Errors of the prophane and meerly professing Christians endanger the staggering of any real and true Christian it is often my fear least that Christian has been too careless of his Duties and has not improved the pure motions and assistance of the Spirit within and the advantage of the external means of Grace for else he would be above the impression of the objections of carnal persons against his own feeling Is it possible that force of the most powerful Argument of the greatest Rationalist covered with the finest dress of words against the sweetness of Honey can shake the Faith of any one that has tasted thereof perhaps he cannot discover the Sophistry of the Allegation but he knows it's false like the poor Woman when oppos'd by the enemies of Truth her Faith was firm in her Saviour and she answered all Arguments with these words I cannot dispute for Christ but I can die for him A sincere Christian can say I cannot perhaps demonstrate with rational arguing the Being of the Spirit of God and his effects of renewing the Soul conforming it to Christ's Image and spiritualizing its frame in Duties but I am well assured of it against all the Infidels on earth Let what I have said move thee O prophane and meer professing Christian to the use of observation and right performance of Prayer as helps by which you may experience the reality of inward Christian Religion yea let it move you O lazy Christian who know not so much of God in the Soul and of inward Religion as is attainable by you be more serious and constant in converse with God in the use of his means that you may enjoy what others have been acquainted with The wise and serious observer of Gods dealings with his Soul who frequently reflects upon them will better understand the harmonious agreement between the revelation of God in the Scripture the workings of the Holy Spirit and the divine disposals of things in this low life than another sincere Christian who does not acquaint himself so intimately with God by a constant application of himself to him in all the ways wherein he draws near to us It is the hand of the diligent in the use of means that makes rich so is it the mind of the diligent Christian in the use of means that is fill'd with knowledge God's private Councils are not to be div'd into but what is suitable to his Word is to be sought after and may be found out It 's the trial of his Word that brings Experience and Experience brings hope and it is the not trying the Truths of God that makes so many doubtings and shakings in a Christian's Faith and so much of unsetled hope of their inheritance above I return from the lazy Christian again to the meer Professor and Prophane and beg you 'd be entreated to join the easy and advantageous Duty of Prayer to all your endeavours not contenting your selves with the cold forms of words but mixing holy affections which are the life of Prayer and observing the gracious return of Prayer when perform'd by the assistance of the Spirit of Grace This is a Priviledge provided for you and to be obtain'd by you in the use and continued use of right means the reason you miss the Divine Bounty is because you don't present your self in God's way If a Beggar expects the Alms of a Prince he will endeavour to be in the same street he passes thorough and as near him as ever is possible he will neither go to a contrary street nor to the opposite side of the same street neither will he plead his Poverty alone but express all his Wants one after another as so many Motives to move charitable Compassion All Beggars keep not to the same form of words but open their Cries differently according to the different Sore Lameness Blindness or the like wherewithal they are afflicted sensibly with Prayer is God's way wherein a poor Creature may draw near to him without hindrance of this or the other diversion between his Soul and his King and when a Christian is once sensible of his Wants and of the All-sufficiency and Condescention that is in God it is not Form or fine words but fervent serious pouring out the desires that moves the compassionate Father in Christ A Closet-Prayer is oftentimes the opportunity of receiving great mercies from God and is many times the setling of a disquieted mind and the change of a carnal earthly frame to a spiritual heavenly one It allays our Sorrows and gives peace under sharp Afflictions This Duty spiritually and constantly perform'd will make you happy by Experience and to resolve with the Psalmist It 's good for me to draw near to God But to discourse more particularly concerning Prayer spiritually perform'd be pleas'd to remember the many Experiences in the forepart of this Discourse concerning spirituality in Prayer as evidential of its right performance yea God's acceptance thereof and of God's returning what was askt therein I hope with an humble rejoicing I may say that since ever I begun to experience a real heavenly frame in Prayer when my Soul therein has been carri'd forth to God with high spirituality concerning any one particular Event with full quiet of mind and sensible exercise of resignation at the time concerning it a return to that Address has never as yet failed me and that when my desire has been in exercise towards any one thing that God would not bestow I found my self by the strictest observation under a constraint from this spiritual frame yea sometimes from words to utter any Petition or when words have been utter'd it has been in the same manner as when I was altogether unacquainted with inward Religion These and other Experiences are built upon no
feeling in the Soul be believing The days have been when in all the outward parts of God's Worship I have made a specious show but from no other principle than that of Education being altogether ignorant of any inward Comfort in Duties and without longing after it imagining it to be more talkt of than really enjoy'd This cannot have been my case alone but I dare say the case of many professing Christians who have had Religious Education and therefore my method has been not only to show the evidences of a Change but the steps of God's way thereto and the few easie means made use of by my self and successfully blessed by the Divine Spirit And if this be not the fruit of my labour to bring you to the use of these means that you may lay your self in the way of receiving Divine Influences my Experience will make but small impression but if the Lord accompany your sincere endeavour in these few means believe me the internal sweetness of inward Religion of fellowship with God in Prayer of Reading the Scriptures with improvement of observing God's Dispensations with Reliance upon him for all things will so affect you that you will need no other motive to persevere in the use of means and you will abstain from all carnal Diversions that alienate the Heart from Communion with God The preserving a spiritual frame in the Soul every day keeps us watchful lest Temptations should break in and Corruptions break out This affords us a foretaste of Heaven and an assurance of it who can doubt of the Hell that is reveal'd in Scripture who feels the tormenting fire of guilt and extends his Fears to Eternity These are the beginnings of Sorrow Who can doubt of the Heaven reveal'd in the Gospel who has felt in his Soul a Joy unspeakable and glorious and differing from the Joy in Heaven only in the degree and the manner of Divine Fruition I do believe the Conceptions of prophane stupid Sinners concerning spiritual Comfort in the Soul and concerning inward Agonies for Sin are as doubtful as they are of the reality of Heaven and Hell in the future State Oh! Therefore let not Christians be discouraged by the Atheism the Infidelity and Wickedness of this Age but let them pray and labour to obtain a more full experimental sense of things reveal'd by the Word of God which will be a powerful preservative from the Errors and Vices of the infectious World and will make them admire Divine Grace that distinguishes them from others and will make them compassionate those who are careless of things that concern their precious and immortal Souls And to preserve a spiritual frame in its liveliness and vigour let those be our chosen and intimate Friends in whom the Image of God shines who partake of a Divine Nature that declares it self in spiritual Communion where we may be confirm'd and comforted in the serious practice of Godliness and prepared for the Joy that flows from the Divine presence above to the blessed Celestial Society Besides these three means of right Observation right Prayer and right Reading of the Scriptures there are other means of God's own appointment such as the Hearing of God's Word the Participation of the Lord's Supper and Communion with Saints but I have confin'd my self to these three upon the following Accounts First Because Observation was the means of my own sensible Conversion and the other two the special means of further growth in Grace Secondly By reason of the Christian's tendency to the right and continued performance of the other means when excited and allured by the Enjoyments that attend the right performance of those three Thirdly That my invitation to the prophane and meer professing Christian may meet the sooner with successful acceptance the apprehension of the difficulty and of the burthen of real Christianity as if it were inconsistent with natural pleasant enjoyments frights many from the acceptance of the Gospel and Obedience to it the falshood whereof I have endeavoured to shew in that spiritual Religion allows a modest temperate use of sensitive Pleasures and Religion when seriously practised sweetens those Duties which to Carnalists are so uneasie for when the Soul is cleans'd from sinful Affections and chang'd into the Divine likeness the suitableness between the Duties of Religion and the Soul causes the purest pleasure Since our Redeemer had reconciled God by his Meritorious Sufferings and Mediation and has obtain'd such precious privileges for all that will accept of him our present Pardon and future Glory Holiness and Happiness in perfection How can reasonable Creatures neglect the great Salvation so dearly bought and so freely offered to them in the use of so easie and few means Methinks we should hear convinc'd and alarm'd Sinners cry out What shall we do to be saved and apply themselves to the Redeemer to obtain spiritual and eternal Life by him The Pearl of Price is offered to all that sincerely accept of it To press the Duties of Christianity upon a prophane and meer professing Christian is as if Food was offered to a Dead Body to receive and digest as if the carrying of heavy Burthens were recommended in exchange with an easie quiet and pleasant course of life The prophane Creature is Dead in Sin though his Ear be open as the effect of natural Life yet his Soul is shut from the reception of spiritual Truths as the effect of a spiritual Death Now to shut up all I 'll give you my repeated Exhortation with some Reflections annexed to it respecting the foregoing Discourse Be exhorted therefore O prophane meer professor and careless Christian to walk in the use of the three means mention'd and take an estimate of your performance from the extensiveness of your observing the passages of Providence from the spirituality of your Prayer solemn or ejaculatory from the strictness of your conformity to God's Word the Rule of Obedience and you will obtain the first life of Grace and an experimental encrease of Holiness and Joy The world is blinded and secure from Lusts that darken the Mind and from tempting objects in the world that divert from the serious thoughts of the righteous God who is terrible against Rebellious Sinners Now the observing of visible Vengeance that often falls upon the wicked will strike men with the fear of God which is the first motive to fly to his Mercy Or men are blinded and secure upon the account of external profession and outward performance of Christian Duties and a notional Knowledge of the Gospel The remedy of this destructive delusion is the frequent and serious addressing to God by Prayer to obtain a living principle of Holiness that will be permanent and powerful in the Soul There are real Christians who by neglect of their Duty decline from God and disparage their Profession Let such be excited to a constant and serious use of those means whereby Grace is convey'd into our Souls If they will observe God in
THE Private Christian's WITNESS FOR Christianity In Opposition to the Notional and Erroneous Apprehensions OF THE Arminian Socinian and Deist of the AGE With the Easy and True Means leading the Prophane Meer Professor and Lazy Christian to the same Experience as Preservative against the Infection of each and against the ill Example of the Practical Blemishes in Lazy Christians Conversation LONDON Printed for Thomas Cockerill at the Three Legs in the Poultry 1697. THE PREFACE BY A Friend of the Author 's SINCE the Fall of Man by his Rebellious Sin he incurr'd the forfeiture of his Felicity that principally consisted in Communion with God The Divine Goodness is like a sealed Fountain all comforting Emanations are obstructed Divine Justice is a consuming Fire to all guilty and polluted Creatures The Son of God by his precious Merits and Intercession is a Mediator of Reconciliation and Communion All our Ascents to God in spiritual Duties and his Descents to us by communicating Graces and Comforts are through Christ He introduces our Persons into the Divine Presence he purifies our Services from their Defilements and Defects and presents them with acceptance to his Father Our Communion with God is managed by the Influences of the Holy Spirit into the Soul and the returns of the Soul to God by the Energy and Efficacy of the Spirit In all the parts of Divine Worship the Spirit composes the Mind with the Reverence of God's invisible and adorable Majesty He encourages our trust in his Mercy and raises our Affections from Earth to Heaven This is a difficult heighth which the carnal Nature cannot arrive to Prayer is a Duty of daily Revolution but cannot be performed in an acceptable manner without the Spirit 's Assistance The Holy Spirit is the Seal of God's Love to Believers that can never be cancell'd that distinguishes them from the unrenewed World and appropriates them to God He first works those Graces in the Soul wherein the Image of God consists and by illustrating them in the view of Conscience witnesses that they are God's Children He is therefore styled the Spirit of Adoption The Spirit ratifies the Truth of the Gospel to those who have felt his sanctifying and comsorting Operations There are some Doctrines in the Gospel of impossible discovery by the light of Reason and when reveal'd are incomprehensible Now there is such Evidence beyond all exception That the Gospel is a Divine Revelation that any Doctrine declared in it though sublime and supernatural and contrary to our carnal Prejudices and Passions justly requires our assent to it We must distinguish between the evidence of the Object and the evidence of the testimony An Object is evident by its own Light and the impression it makes immediately on the Mind Thus it discerns between Truth and Falshood between what is fair and what is fraudulent as the Eye sees the difference between the day and night The Evidence of the Testimony is when the proof of the Truth is resolved into the Veracity and Authority of God who is Infallible For he cannot be deceived nor deceive Now of the Gospel's Divine Original there are external Characters and Signs and internal Of the external Characters Miracles are the most conspicuous Of the internal the sanctifying and comforting Operations of the Spirit in the Souls of Men are most sensible and convincing For certainly humane Nature tho' assisted by Moral Counsels and Constancy could never produce such Divine Effects The Holiness and Comfort that the Spirit in Concomitancy with the Gospel works in sincere Christians produces a more clear and strong assurance of its Truth than the sight of Miracles For Holiness is an Attribute as truly Divine as Power and has a nearer Affinity with the Nature of God 't is his peculiar Glory The cleansing and changing the Heart of a Sinner the calming of the afflicted Conscience are a more eminent effect of Power than the turning of a Wilderness into a Paradise or the laying Storms and Tempests The sanctifying and comforting Virtue of the Spirit by the Word is a more inward and lasting proof than Miracles A Miracle like a sudden flash of Lightning astonishes Men at the present and causes them to consider what is proposed but when the surprize is over they may neglect their Duty But real Holiness in the heart and life like the Sun irradiates the Mind with a constant light He that believes has the witness within himself Inward Experimental Religion is perceived by the Sense of them that have it and cannot be so clearly demonstrated by Words Who can see a Taste From hence many ignorant and prophane Persons expose the Operations of the Spirit to ignominy and contempt as the dotages of Enthusiasts And Doctrinal Professors who owe their Religion to Tradition and Education and are meerly Titular Christians cannot understand and believe what the Saints really enjoy They are hardned in their Unbelief because many have father'd the bastards of their deluded fancies upon the Spirit But to shew the unreasonableness of this pretence consider It were strange that the low life of Sense has perceptive Faculties that living Creatures feel that they live and the spiritual Life more raised and excellent than the rational should not perceive it self Is it possible there should be such a Prodigy that the Soul should live the life of Holiness and Joy like a Plant without the knowledge of it Or Because many are deceived with a false Light and pleased with a Delusion does it follow that those who have vital Experience of Religion are deceived One may Dream that he is Awake but a Man that is Awake knows himself to be so The Delusion of one doth not weaken the assurance of another If it be enquir'd How shall we distinguish between the Genuine Operations of the Spirit and the Spurious and Counterfeit A clear answer may be given 1. By the light of the Spirit we may discover and know his Operations This is no vicious Circle I know I have a reasonable Soul by the light of Reason For the Understanding that discovers other objects in the direct act is the object of it self in the reflective act Thus I know that I have the Holy Spirit as a principle of Divine life acting in me by the light of the Spirit 2. It is the peculiar Character of the Spirit 's Operations they are all in Consent and Congruity with the Word of God for he is the Inditer of the Word and cannot contradict himself They make Men more Holy and Heavenly and as the Star directed the Wise-Men to Christ the light of the Spirit always directs us to him as the Fountain of Grace and Salvation And for the satisfaction of those who desire to know when the Blessings they receive are obtain'd by Prayer and are not the effects of God's general Providence I shall only desire them to consider whether their Prayers are by the Spirit 's Influence which is known by the frame of the Soul in
his own strength could afford yet he shall not attain that height of free utterance so Heavenly a Style or so familiar and near an approach to God in Prayer as sometimes suddenly in the twinkling of an Eye he shall be brought to and that by the blowings afresh of Christ's Divine Influences I have my self while under no other power than that of Education stood in a maze to hear Ministers express Communion with God in Duties the Influences of Christ's Spirit and the like imagining these as words chosen to set off Religion and to make it the more amiable to Souls till experience discover'd the reality thereof and since the discovery thereof to my self I have often with great concern of Soul heard Christ's Spirit mockt at Emanations and Influences from him so ridiculed that I could not but exercise Compassion comparing their Words to my own Thoughts while under the same circumstance of ignorance of Experimental Religion and the inward power of Christianity no less instruction being capable of illuminating such dark Minds than what is an emanation and influence of that Spirit so revil'd and set at nought in their Thoughts such a one and the Creature setting Christ in his Divine Nature at nought I place in the same Categorical line To this Fifth Experience I subjoin the following instance of an Undertaking where the Eyes Hands and Wishes of many were against me and no probable hope of success in a rational way but what I had from the marvellous frame of Soul and near access to God concerning it and like a Miracle the use of means obtain'd and the desired end was brought forth Here I subjoin the Experience of humble Awe and Fear always attending the clearest Heavenly frame and most satisfied quiet of Mind I ever had concerning any one thing confidence looking to me too much ominous of somewhat of Satan and commonly proves a mean of security and of less diligence in petitioning Heaven and depending upon God than when the Soul has an humble Awe going along with its erperience of God's approach to its Soul A Sixth Experience of God's Spirit carrying forth the Soul to Petition according to what God was to bestow was not only by changing of the Souls frame concerning any one Event but even by changing the verbal Petitions in the change of circumstances in the same thing As for instance At the first discovery of my inward change my words in Prayer for any undertaking would run upon its success and hardly upon the use of means to which the condescention of my Heavenly Father complied by numerous and continual returns of success tho' my endeavours at my first acquaintance with and observation of God's Ways were not so exact but upon further knowledge of his ways and greater progress and reliance upon God for conduct to the use and right use of means then my words were chang'd running out in Prayer after Divine Assistance in the performance of Duty resigning the issue to his Will answerable to which a more diligent watch over my self in the use of means and the less anxiety concerning the event appeared an experience greatly helping the Soul against mistaking God or themselves when his Ways run not in the same stream towards them their advancement in strength being gradual and many times according to the different steps of growth in Grace so God walks in different steps round them requiring a constant observation of his ways admiring their variety and bringing forth suitable improvement of knowledge of God love to him and dependance upon him How infinite therefore is the Wisdom of our Blessed God who knows the various Constitutions and the things their Thoughts are most fixt to that his breathing Divine Influence thereupon may be his readier mean to bring them to a serious discovery of God and their selves thereby How infinite is the Wisdom Love and Tenderness of our blessed Husband-man in the gradual growth of all the young tender Branches in his Vineyard and in training up his Babes in the first knowledge of him feeding the one with Milk and the other with Meat knowing well what each stand in need of and can bear either of his Smiles or correcting Stripes ordering each by degrees to the perfecting of Grace in the Soul and making it mete for Eternal Glory The Experience whereof helps the Soul to answer the Objection of some serious Christians but not exact Observers who will reply upon imparting a particular method of God with a Soul by way of caution You must be careful not to depend upon that particular way God acts with you in lest Satan make it a temptation to unbelief and distrust of God and your selves when he shall please to walk in another road with your Soul but general and strict Observers find God's Ways to be thus That according to the infancy or manhood of the Soul in Christianity or according to the different steps of advancing the Soul towards this Manhood so God's Ways to be various and according to his different ends so his courses leading thereto usually to be different marvellous argument indeed of infinite Wisdom Love and Compassion in our great God! instruction enough to make us stand off from prescribing methods according to our Inclinations or Expectations but instruction to keep our selves close in the observation of his Ways in continual Prayer for a sight of his design and the obtaining the establishment of Faith tho' the method of God be never so various with us Hereto relates my Experience of God with my own Soul that according to the beginnings and progress of my Faith of Reliance so God's Method has varied for while in the beginning of this Trust to God I think I may say That never a Prayer Spiritually perform'd wanted its return immediately and that exactly suitable to my words in Prayer but upon further strength of this Grace of Reliance upon God I have found the return of my Prayer longer defer'd yea sometimes to the last pinch of extremity but still answerable to the frame of Soul and Words utter'd in Prayer when this frame and utterance were above my own strength thorough Divine Influence argument enough of Divine Wisdom adapting his various Ways to the various Circumstances of his Childrens weakness and strength of Divine Love establishing their Trust to himself and trying their Reliance upon him as a comfortable evidence of that strength of Grace and thereby to lead them to the Sacrifice of continual Praise Admiration and Love to him How different was Christ's carriage to the Leper from his acting with the Woman of Canaan whose Faith far exceeded the other The Leper much weaker in Faith had the return of his Prayer immediately but she much stronger in Faith has the return greatly defer'd with the intermixture of many trying passages of Christ with his own silence to her own Petition and with his calling her a Dog as if she were unworthy to be taken notice of much less to receive of
disappointing my diligent use of Means commonly leading to such Ends But discovering God's design yea infinite love in my own disappointments and my Meditations thereupon were thus Did the Lord strengthen me eminently after my Fit of Sickness and continually in most if not all my Addresses to Heaven since that time to ask for advance of this Reliance And has the Lord return'd this Petition by sensible Reliance upon himself never formerly acquainted with and that in a mysterious conduct of outward Providence shall I therefore bring forth this ill improvement of not working with God or of trusting God only in the enjoyments of smiling Favours when difficulties sensibly have tended to the increasing my dependance upon God or trust God only when other things are of no use or when Means producing such Events naturally or probably turn their course and prove ineffectual No that should be no less than height of Ingratitude and what my loving God has prevented by his Spirit 's accompanying his method of special outward Providence and therefore have great Reason to walk in a Road of Constant Dependance upon him crying out Oh the height and depth of the Love of God in first designing me such a mercy of Reliance in bringing it about and that in a method of outward Providence evidencing it sensibly to my self as well as really working it in the Soul by his Spirit going along with his outward Providences and in preserving this Reliance notwithstanding the Soul's unwillingness when Duty and Interest went hand in hand at the same time This very Experience is enough to answer all the ignorant Cavils of the Irreligious and the Doubtings of some Christians who with the Psalmist are perplext how to understand rightly the inequality of Divine Providence towards the prophane and the gracious Christian the first abounding in worldly Pleasure while the other appears under crossing afflicting Providences The private Christian's inward observ'd experience of God's method with himself affords knowledge of God and his Ways and strength to resist corrupt and Satanical Suggestions and peace and comfort even in the enjoyment of outward disappointments when their Friends are in concern on their very account or others in their circumstances ready to stagger as to God's favour to them and that by reason of these things which appear to the observing Christian the greatest tokens of Divine special Love For the better understanding of this I would have you consider First That a Christian renewed from original Corruption to Grace is received under a special conduct of God's Providence without as well as his Spirit within and that greatly different from the common Providence that attend the wicked of the Earth Psal 4.3 But know that the Lord has set apart him that is Godly for himself Exod. 11.7 The outward Providence of God was so special towards the Children of Israel That the very Dogs were not to Bark at them besides to be witness to three or four private Christians imparting God's special conduct remarkt round each one of themselves one would think that the Narrative of each argued so much of Speciality as if each had been the alone beloved Child of God about whom he had spent his special loving Care whereas those round whom is the alone conduct of common Providence they can reach no higher than the general power of a great and merciful God as Creator and Preserver of all Things but not as their God and Father or their Providences attending them as the Fruits of their peculiar Interest in him through Christ and as Heirs of his Kingdom enjoying the earnest thereof in the special outward Providences and inward workings of a Divine Spirit attending their life Great loss therefore that Christian incurs who tho' under the special conduct of outward Providence yet wants the sense thereof unless in remarkable instances of it and that for want of a general observation of all the steps of God's Ways with himself from his first Conversion to a full establishment in all the Graces of God's Spirit A Christian that has been observant of God's outward and inward conduct not only witnesses a speciality of Providence regarding God's own children but he will patiently bear afflicting Dispensations that are designed to make him sensible of his neglect of God's dealings with him and of his neglect or careless performance of particular Duties and may change his nature from secure cold and lazy to spiritual heavenly and zealous and to make him more watchful and diligent in the resisting Temptations and mortifying Corruptions and in the exercise of every Grace that may preserve him from the power of the Tempter A Christian under the same special conduct of God's care but without the strict observation of it in all the steps of God's Providence has neither the knowledge nor the strength that the observing Christian has convey'd to his Soul as the true effects of so desirable a Duty but is ready to droop in his Spirit when afflicted not knowing God's design in particular tho' relying on that blessed Word That all things work together for good to them that love God yet missing God's particular design in the present want of his Soul the present Mercy thereby to be bestowed he becomes in danger of Satan's tempting him to Despondency of a Melancholly carriage in Religion and of passing his Pilgrimage State under Clouds Secondly That since God's own Children are under the special conduct of Providence then they alone must best judge of God's Wise procedure and witness for God that what the carnal World is apt to charge against God upon the account of the present Afflictions of his Children is from Ignorance For Afflictions are the certain Evidences of his Wisdom and Love as a Father and a Physician to purge them from Sin to make them more holy and heavenly on Earth and to make them more prepared to reign with him above Tho' those who are only led by sense see not Good in Afflictions yet sincere Believers who from constant observation and by the help of a Divine Spirit have improved Afflictions they are ready to comply with God's End so soon as it appears and earnestly pray for and rejoyce in the hope of a blessed Issue If Christians were serious in searching out their Sins before or in the time of Afflictions and how defective they are in the exercise of the Graces of the Spirit they would be assured not only from Divine Revelation but from their happy Experiences of God's Mercy in all that the peaceable Fruit of Righteousness will outweigh all their Sufferings and Sorrows A Fifth Method of God to advance Reliance upon himself was by immediate specialty of a Divine Hand in passages of Providence in laying matters of great success in my way and that in the following instances First By bringing them about without the operation of second causes commonly made use of having in many instances experienced such things laid in my way wherein I have hardly been
in this Ordinance that I might feel therein what others do or what I have felt in other Duties I should be satisfied if I should never enjoy it there again unbelief still working in me It pleased God in his wonderful Condescention to comply with this desire and thereby to discover the greatness of my weakness as well as the advantage of Reliance upon God in the use of means without limiting him to our desires for in the participating of the next Sacrament I was admitted to such a sweet ravishing Enjoyment that I never had before Experienc'd in that Duty which persuaded me of the Truth of what I have often heard but such a disquieting darkness was consequent both in my Mind and outward Affairs that I by the rich Mercy and Power of God was then help'd sweetly to resign my desire to his Will and to supplicate for his influences as he pleased to dispense them never limiting God to things or times further than as suitable to his Omniscient Will by this Experience I was helpt in all my concerns less as well as greater to cast them at Heaven's Gate to hope in his Mercy for them with this desire only that I might by the Spirit of Grace and Supplication be assisted to make known my Requests to God with Faith and Resignation so as to be accepted of him and in this I find my Hearts Ease I have since esteem'd it Duty and had ardent Desire of Partaking the Lord's Supper every Month. While my Religion was merely from Education I thought once in a year or two enough to partake of this Ordinance but since my regard to my Sovereign's and Saviour's Command Do this in remembrance of me and my performance in Obedience to this Command I have enjoy'd ravishing sweetness in Communion with Christ in this Duty And I shall add That the frequent repeating of this Ordinance is attended with great advantage for by Preparatory Examination I am more fully acquainted with my Spiritual State with my present Corruptions and Graces stronger or weaker and the way how God makes this Duty a mean to suppress the one and raise the other with my Defects in the performance of this Duty and I have a fuller sight of Christ in all-sufficient merits in his Treasures of Grace that are open'd to all that come with Holy Affections to him The serious and frequent renewing our Covenant with Christ in this Ordinance will endear him to us and engage us to live to him who died for us and the warm impression of his love will be maintain'd in our Souls which is too apt to cool and decline unless fed and reviv'd by the frequent Contemplation of our Crucified Saviour Seventhly In the beginning of the Celebration of this Ordinance I have oft been in a cold frame but at the approach of the Elements this frame has chang'd and my Soul has been sweetly carried forth to petition for the imparting the Priviledges of Christ's Body broken and Benefits annext to it and I have found from receiving the Elements the strengthening power of the Spirit verifying our Saviour's Words That his flesh is meat indeed and his blood drink indeed This has been a means to preserve me from Anxieties and to persevere in the frequent Commemorating of Christ's Death prescrib'd in his last Will I also find that the more frequent renewing my Vows makes me more careful to perform them and that it 's more easie to take an account of our Faithfulness to God and our Souls or of our Neglects once every Month than when there is a greater distance between the time of our Receiving and Examining our selves how correspondent our Conversations have been to our Covenant seal'd in that Ordinance Eighthly At the time of partaking this Ordinance I have often desir'd with ardent Affections two Things That I might be spiritually-minded in the whole course of my life and that Holiness may be advancing in my Soul till I arrive at perfection This will be attended with solid Comfort according to the Promise Great peace to those who keep thy law And altho' we are to seek the shining face of God the joyful assurance of his love in the use of his Ordinances yet since the shedding abroad in the Soul the clear Evidences of God's Love is a free Dispensation according to the Divine Pleasure my principal request has been to have a pure Heart and Holy Conversation depending upon God for inward Comfort From which Experiences you may upon good ground fear that when the excuse of neglecting the Sacrament is because of its being a Solemn Ordinance and therefore to be seldom receiv'd is an Error of the Carnal Mind and a Temptation of Satan to divert us from using frequently that means of Grace which confirms our Faith inflames our Love and secures our hope of Glory and makes us more exact and constant and comfortable in the everlasting way I shall conclude this with Advice to those who have not felt those Joyful Emanations in this Ordinance which they have expected and others of the Saints have enjoy'd Be not discourag'd from your Duty but with unfainting perseverance continue in the use of the means of Grace The Lord waits to be gracious to bestow his Comforts in the best season There is sweet Peace in our Obedience to the Divine Commands tho' we have not raptures of Joy And our Obedience is more pleasing to God when notwithstanding all difficulties and discouragements it 's with Conscience to his commanding-Will perform'd than when it 's made easie by sensible Comforts THE APPLICATORY AND SECOND PART OF This Discourse CHristianity as is described in the Gospel is Experienc'd in the Souls of Real Christians in different degrees of Knowledge and Power but the most who are Christians in Profession are strangers to its vital Efficacy The reason of this diversity is Because the most rest in the speculative Notion of the Christian Religion and are contented with the external Character of others others are cleansed and changed by the Truths of the Gospel and are inward Christians Among Christians in Title there are various Divisions and contrary Sentiments according to the Principles of the Education which often cause violent Contentions among them Among real Christians there are Differences but not of so deep a nature Some Christians are weaker by damping of this powerful Principle of Regeneration through too long omission of the means of Grace or by too deep mixing the Thoughts and Affections in the Business of the World or by a levity of Mind in their indulging too free a use of sensitive Pleasures that are innocent in their nature And from these Reasons it is that spiritual Influences are obstructed and the Divine Nature in Christians is not so lively and vigorous as in others who regard their Souls and internal things with great application and diligence sometimes carnal Pride insinuates into those who are real Christians and to maintain their Parties and to be distinguish'd from others
Christians yea Nations and Churches to great imminent Dangers before he pours out his Smiles on purpose to make us sensible of that regard of God we ought to have in his Providences round us of our Duty to cry unto him in Publick and Closet-Addresses And if these were the Effects of our Troubles at this day if we were brought to far greater Pinches of Extremity than we are or can be at I should not doubt but to behold the Returns of Providential Smiles upon our outward things and spiritual Influences upon our Souls with Riches and inward Peace amongst Christians yet in our Land It was but this Summer when God providentially by the great and continued Rains threatned Scarcity of Bread and in merciful Condescention suffer'd it to fall out when a Fast was appointed to be kept for Success to our KING that at the same time by the Rains visible before us we might join in Prayers to Goâ— for the one as well as the other otherwise we might perhaps have been brought nearer to an Extremity Before we had publickly â—ought God on that account an additional stâ—p 〈…〉 the other was in God's 〈…〉 Rains immediately as 〈…〉 very Evening of the 〈…〉 weather By 〈…〉 thus with us 〈…〉 see God in his Pâ—oviâ—â—â—â—â—◠〈…〉 in the use of 〈…〉 such 〈…〉 the following 〈…〉 for not going 〈…〉 we may know what that blessed Duty of Dependance upon God means and may taste of its blessed fruits both upon Souls and Bodies In this discovery of a Divine Hand in the out-going of Pâ—ovidences a fair reproof arises First To the Prophane who reject the impression of a Divine Providence and will not observe his ways of it lest they be brought to a Sense of the just Power above and be under terrour for despising his Laws that are not pleasing to the Carnal Appetites Secondly To the meer Professor and lazy Christian who would limit God in his Providence to matters of great moment and not extend it to all events tho' the Scripture as well as Christian Experience bears sufficient Testimony thereto The Scripture tells us Matthew 10.30 Luk. 12.7 That the very hairs of our heads are all numbred and that consequently his Divine Providence influenceth the most minute things by upholding and ordering the world If this be true as to a general Providence over the whole Earth How is it much more clear as to a special Providence respecting his own Children in their Pilgrimage and Warfare here below even then that as it 's said by our Saviour Luk 21.18 One hair of his Disciples heads should not perish Christian Experience confirms this Truth That in the most mean Events God's over-ruling Hand is greatly discover'd and Prayers put up for small matters are return'd with such full discovery of him in the bringing them about that the observation thereof afford greater inward Comfort in the enjoyment of the outward benefit were this more firmly rooted in the Hearts of professing Christians we should have less talk of Fortune and Chance and less Trust to Humane Endeavours distinct from a Divine Influence Secondly By the Observation of outward Providences you may not only discover God therein but even from thence be led to a Dependance upon and a Trust to him and that for matters of great moment and also for your smallest concern on Earth you will say with the Psalmist Thy right hand saved us and as in the 6th verse I will therefore not trust in bow and as in the 8th verse I will boast in God all the day long and praise his name for ever You wont with the Prophane confine the acknowledgment of God your Address to him and Reliance upon him to pinches of extremity when Evils seem nigh at hand forcing the Creature by the very light of Nature to cry out for help from God or to desire those they have formerly mockt at as Religious to supplicate Heaven to withhold the Evil or that God would have Mercy upon them in it You wont with the meer Professor express only your trust to God's over-ruling Providence in Words censuring those that deny it and yet live as without the sense of a God therein by doing Evil privately without considering his All-seeing Eye or endeavour to obtain things desired in the use of ill means without considering his over-ruling Power in the bringing forth of all Events You wont with the lazy Christian limit his governing-hand but clearly know the extension of his Power towards all things determining small Events in the lawful use of means as well as greater and that God's conduct of his Children in their small concerns as much honours his condescending Goodness as his regard of them in their most difficult concerns glorifies his Power and Godhead The exact Observers of his special Providence find as truly his Compassionate Care in answering their Requests for smaller things as in the greatest concerns of their Life Yea that when matteas of small moment has been manag'd in the use of means with Dependance and Resignation to him they have then had both a better Event than if the whole strength of humane Power and Policy had been trusted to or ill means made use of for its obtaining And that the honouring of God so faithfully in the diligent use of means and true Reliance upon him for the Event of a small concern has been encourag'd by God's laying a greater matter in their way and greatly Honouring them therein It is therefore your Duty to trust God in all circumstances afflicting or smiling in your Souls and in small as well as greater things that concern our Temporal State and give up the least concern of your life to his conduct address him for his Guidance in it and depend upon him for the Events This is to be recommended to all To the Prophane who mind not God in the goings forth of his Providence and to the meer Professor who acknowledge him in Word but in Action deny his over-ruling Power and even to the lazy Christian who minds not God in matters of small concern and gives not God the same Tribute of real Reliance for such things as for matters of weighty concern and this many times causes a slight and formal performance of our Duties to God which is a dishonouring of God as truly as the more visible Sins of those who are Strangers to the Covenant Thirdly By the observation of outward Providences and of God therein with a reliance upon him you are in the way of obtaining a discovery of the inward workings of Christ's Spirit in the Soul an enjoyment making you sensible of what formerly you could not give credit to though exactly describ'd in his Word and making you bless his Name that he ever put it in your thoughts to practise that excellent and greatly neglected Duty of observation that is the promise of Christ To him that hath shall be given The conscientious regard of external Providences will lead us to a discovery of greater
means by which much of God's Spirit may be communicated to their Souls and thereby God's Word experienc'd as certain and their Reliance upon it as the foundation of their Faith evidently to themselves and others brought forth Such I say seem more necessary than the Sermon or Book inlarging upon a Divine Truth with such fine Oratorical and Philosophical Style as may itch the Ear of the Christian with establishment of its own Notions in Religious Theory and of the illiterate with an opinion of the Preacher or Writer's great and learned Gifts indangering both through obtain'd applause not only of Pride but of keeping Reason out of its due place and if this has not brought forth many unneccessary Heats at this day I am greatly mistaken Reason is that noble Principle distinguishing us from all other inferiour Creatures and tho' Corrupted yet capable of being restor'd to greater Perfection and Stability than when Man was Created at first perfect but capable of falling God has made provision of suitable helps to advance and to bring forth this Perfection but the Pride of Corrupted Man is such that as at first it prompted him to affect an Equality with God so now it prompts him to the vain imagination of himself as sufficient without Divine helps to regain his perfect State and obtain by his own knowledge the understanding of all necessary Divine Truths and by his own strength the performance of all necessary Duties And if this has not brought forth the undervaluing of Reveal'd Religion by the Deists the undervaluing of Christ by the Socinians and the undervaluing of a Divine Spirit exposing him as no help neither his Spiritual Influences as strength to work out our Salvation by I am as much mistaken Experimental Religion cuts off all these difficulties For the more a Christian observes of himself in his experienced failures the less room and lower station self-strength obtains in his Affections the more he finds of Christ's Spirit unexpectedly and powerfully bearing home Scripture-Truths to his personal experience formerly unacquainted with tho' often Notionally heard of the lower esteem Reason must have as by its self incapable rightly to understand Gospel Mysteries And tho' in our day we have some so openly confident as in Print to tell us That nothing is Mysterious in the Gospel against God's own Word the Seals of Martyrdom and against the Experience of all the Saints of the Earth endeavouring thereby to act Factorship for Satan by whose pleasing suggestion of Mans Reason and Strength in himself to be relied on without any other help to believe or to do what is necessary for the obtaining Heaven hereafter and a secure undisturb'd quiet of Mind here I must believe that that Creature has never yet been under any other discovery of Gospel-Truth than what was the effect of notional Knowledge and that continuing in the same State he can hardly expect to be a Member of that Triumphant Society whose Eternity will be taken up in the Admiration and the Praise of that Mysterious method of Redeeming Man from a state of Corruption and Misery to a state of Perfection and Glory above the prospect whereof we only now enjoy darkly through a Glass and yet the views thereof that upon this Earth we sometimes experimentally have are known by all Experiencing Christians both to be Mysterious far above Nature's foresight or enjoyment through it self and rendring the Creature unexpressible astonishment in its approach upon the Soul though the Protestant Nations abound with such Errors yet they neither derogate from God and his Word or afford darkness to Christian Professors who have experienc'd the reality of both upon their Souls but expose themselves to them as Christians certainly ignorant of God and his Word whatever fine Notional Flourishes in Print or Discourse they express and also draw forth Christians pity towards them and help Believers to advance their praising God who has made them in the use of means to differ from others Experimental Religion makes us become as little Children and esteem our selves so low as to lay all our depraved Faculties at God's Footstool and using them not alone by way of Reliance but with the help of God's Divine Spirit in the use of means We have for many years enjoyed so much of the Gospel but alas in Notion only that I have stood in a maze to hear the Discourse of some illiterate People concerning the Notions of Christianity and to see their Zeal debating their Preachers Notions with that hear as if they had been throwing Fire-Balls one to another till Fire has been kindled amongst Assemblies of Professors when at the same time experimental Religion has never been called in as a help to unloose their difficulties At the time of hearing some such differences my own Experience in Christianity has made me discover that either their Debates could be resolv'd in various Words or that if means made use of by God as helps to the People or Preachers Soul for their experiencing of Divine Mysteries had been more prest upon the People with that enlargement which their own Experience might have afforded no such Debates would have risen and People and Preachers should be better known in our day and whether God's Honour the establishment of his Truth self-applause or outward Interest were at the foundation of such hot Zeal When once in the use of means a Christian finds the evidences of Sanctification he shall then make the current of his Zeal run towards further evidence of its reality and further growth in it advising others not to debate whether Justification or Sanctification precede whether certain Conditions must precede qualifying to be united to Christ or union to Christ before any thing of Holiness in our nature appear but to walk in the use of God's means and in them to obtain the application of Christ and all his Priviledges by the help of his blessed Spirit and so both Conditions themselves and a renew'd State by your Union to Christ may sensibly appear at the same time By the observation of the means thus blessed and the steps of advancement in this newness of Nature is brought forth not only establishment to themselves but a capacity of instructing and comfirming others upon surer ground than that of stretch of Wit and Notional Theory Our Debates concerning Free-Grace and Works carry along with them too much of Self and too little of Divine Experience and I 'm sure too much of fiery Constitution the experienc'd Christian finds enough in himself to keep both in their just Bounds according to Scripture Rule and imagines the Debates unneccessary and bringing forth of no other Fruit than that of Faction Dishonouring God and exposing Christianity as uncertain to those that are ignorant thereof The Experiencing Christian finds that the more of the Free-Grace of God in Christ appear in his Experience the more love to God is kindled in his Soul the more of true Sanctified Love the greater desire he
finds to please and to obey him in all his preceptive Commands and that his Experience of Free-Grace no ways tend to a Licentious Life Whatever the Notional Knowledge of Free-Grace may do amongst those who know nothing of a real Faith and experience of God's Grace in their Soul and where unstrictness and unholiness of life appears in the greatest Zealot for Free Grace it savours of nothing more than its Notion in their Brain Again the Experiencing Christian finds that when he sets himself to be most diligent to perform Good Works and Religious Duties yet in the first he is often overtaken with faults and in the latter constant failures â—â—â—ur wandering Thoughts therein discomposure of Mind from some disquiet falling in before or some suggestion from Satan or corruption within rising up at the time which forces the Soul to lay by trust to Self-sufficiency and to have recourse to the Free-Grace of God in Christ that through his Divine Spirit supplies may be conveyed enabling of us to do Works though our own yet perform'd by Christ's supplies enabling of us and accepted from us thorough his Merits perfuming them that being our alone argument to obtain both for the sake of the multitude of his tender Mercies the opening and pouring forth of which we owe to our Blessed Redeemer who has remov'd the flaming Sword and given us access to the Throne of Free-Grace but still in the use of the blessed mean of Prayer And I think it more a Soul 's concern to try the Truth of access to the Throne of Grace by Prayer in our own endeavour and observation if return'd that being a mean of obtaining of Prayer in Christ's Strength than before the trial of Prayer to pursue first the Knowledge whether Justification be previously necessary before access to this Grace as is set down in the first verse of the fifth chapter of the Romans Alas While we are a striving which things go first we are in danger of missing all while we are debating about the Notions of Religion we suffer the Truths of God in their Experience to drop Oh that our Debates were more at home with our inward Corruption sighting it with the continued use of means capable by Christ's Strength meeting us in them to overcome it and to fructifie Grace in its room and less with our fellow Christians unless in point of strict and Holy Lives Christianity needs no other bulwark from us than the true plain meaning of Scripture-truth and putting Souls in the use of such Means as God conveys the experience in and where the power of Christianity is felt let him be Church of England or Dissenter under all its Subdivisions he becomes the Object of my love because of the Impression the Divine Spirit seems to have stamp'd upon him Of their being such we may easily have discovery in discourse one with another and that without any extraordinary gift of discerning However others think of this Gospel-priviledge there is such a difference between the Nature of Notional and Experienc'd Christianity between the way and words of a meer Notional Professor though never so outwardly strict and of an experiencing Christian that to my self I find not the least difficulty And it is greatly suitable to the forecited Text in the Hebrews where it is said That it is the priviledge of grown Christians to discern good and evil and these Christians are such who have grown thereto by use and experience And where I can discover nothing of this whatever Party he is of let his Notions and Zeal in spreading them fly never so high I am always afraid that the Motive of Self bears too much room in his witnessing for God and his Truth Let all therefore be reprov'd who set up Variance with those that bear Christ's Image upon their Hearts and Lives and only differ in their Notions and Conceptions about the Truths of God Let Holy Lives and Acquaintance in Conversation with their experiencing Christianity in their Souls be the Touchstone of trying and esteeming them By the denying familiarity with such upon such differences you pinch the great evidence of loving the Brethren and shew to the world that such an one is laid aside or introduc'd to your Favour from having a name of being one of such a Party and so give occasion of producing Proselites in profession to such a Party to obtain interest and encourage thereby others to ridicule Christianity because of such Professors blemishes through the want of Christianity's power in their Souls though these inward enjoyments into which observation of outward Providences lead as a mean are incomprehensible by the prophane and meer Professor while in that state yet they are outward passages greatly discovering God bringing forth good where all evil is ominous if observ'd by meer Professors It is experimentally known that a passage of Providence dark and afflicting in its first approach has many times had in its bosom a rich mercy There is a known passage of one who broke his Leg in his Journey to go a Ship-board a dark and afflicting Providence both by reason of his breaking his Leg and the disappointment of his Voyage but in its bosom was that great mercy of saving his life the Ship being lost in which he was to have gone It is not long ago since a Wind hindring our Fleet to go forth was afflicting but in it was that great mercy of the preventing of a French Invasion such passages the prophane and meer Professor cannot dive into and if each were but observant of such like they would be reckon'd by Millions round Nations and People and all with a discovery of God the Governor of all things and would help us against repining for disappointments and advance a reliance upon him in all things by committing them to a Divine Conduct by Prayer and diligently using means providentially laid in our ways Again Is it not known with experimental Christians that the Lord many times introduces a rich spiritual mercy by a dark Providence a spiritual instruction for their establishment by an afflicting Providence It has oft been their experience to be brought under an outward disquiet on purpose to free them from a cold lazy frame of mind and to introduce a sweet heavenly posture of Soul who therefore from continued observation of this experience will not forbear repining and exercise patience till the discovery of God's design therein appears yea work together with him for the same end by addressing the Lord for strength to stand firm in the exercise of reliance and love to him which greatly establishes the Soul in the exercise of these Graces and therein honours God and is even met many times with a visible reward suited to that particular Action tho' performed by his own Divine strength the observation whereof has oft brought that Scripture to my thoughts Psal 31. Great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them
and admiration of God and to a meetness for that Heaven wherein in all his Childrens Servants shall be spiritual and heavenly A Prayer spiritually perform'd seems to fly with wings by the gale of Christ's Spirit blowing upon the Soul making it sail towards God with such words and thoughts as appear more the fruit of a Divine Spirit than of great memory and judgment Let us but make observation of one man's Prayer at one time and another when the judgment 〈…〉 are left only at the helm how 〈◊〉 and faintly does his words drop though never â—o fine but when God breathes suddenly and freely upon the Soul his frame is visibly chang'd is more affecting to the hearer and is admitted to plead with God in greater familiarity with greater power and readier expression It is experimentally known how much more pleasing and affecting a spiritual Prayer is though perform'd by an illiterate hand than the Prayer perform'd by the most ingenious but unspiritual There needs no other way to converse with the experienced Christians but by bringing Experiences to their memories but for others unacquainted with experimental Christianity I hope the use of the means treated of will bring you to the same Experience and then your arguings upon Air will vanish and they 'll find the Christian Religion solid and true and filled with all solid comfort and establishment to your Souls Abandon therefore Circumstantial Niceties as evidential of your right-perform'd Prayer restrict your self to no place in performing the Duty or in debating concerning Prayer but where you find most privacy and greatest assistance towards a good frame of Soul confine your self not to morning or evening Prayer only but throughout the whole day upon any occurrency of affair or company you are call'd to distrust your self without begging God's conduct therein and if under constraint from Set-Prayer endeavour after a good frame of mind in ejaculating a Petition to God which will issue in as sweet and remarkable a return by which means the frame of your mind is kept in a continual seriousness to answer that Command of praying without ceasing as was said before and as a mean to repel forgetfulness of God And to hinder the danger of running to an extreme in lawful diversion which at this day is an occasion leading to much evil even amongst real Christians lengthen out your Prayer according to your Suits you find you stand in need of or are sensible of at the time and if you are heavenly you will lengthen it out with pleasure use form or extemporariness not because you have been so educated or because those of your Party do and plead for it but try both and then use what you find most serviceable towards a good frame of Soul These Errors being remov'd I come to give you my Experience of right perform'd Prayer not by Philosophical Definition or Distinctions there being sufficiency thereof by excellent hands already in Print but by Enlargement according to my method of experiencing the gradual steps of knowledge God was pleas'd to afford concerning Prayer in the performance and continuance of it In general therefore judge of your right performance in Prayer by the following marks which were the two I was first of all made sensible of tho' afterward others of which you shall hear in the repetition of the same two with the addition of others occur'd But I chose rather to keep them in the method of time as well as matter that they were experienced in not so much for grown Christians who have experienced the same with my self and therefore may be comfortably established thereby but for the sake of the illiterate and meer Professors though notionally learned that they and all unacquainted with Experience may be led step by step to the right knowledge and performance thereof First You may judge of your right performance of Prayer by the frame of your mind in it if spiritual and heavenly if your thoughts are carri'd upwards with sincerity and fervency the same time your words pass your lips the power of Instruction Custom or Applause having small room as Motives thereto but the obedience of God's Command the sense of your need of and insufficiency to bring about what you ask The sense of power in God and of his willingness to bestow if for your good moving you to address him after the experience whereof and strict continuance in the use of set and ejaculatory Prayer with observation of what occurs therein you will find more knowledge and enjoyment creep upon you than all the Divines on earth that ever I have met with has been able to express or impart Secondly You may judge of your right and acceptable performance by returns to your Prayers Such objections that a return may come to a Prayer and the Christian not know it to be the return or that a return may be so long deferr'd as when it comes in the Prayer that Petition'd it being out of the Christians Thoughts he is in danger of mistake by imagining the Prayers not being spiritually perform'd not accepted of God or return'd by him when the Prayer has been perform'd aright God pleased with it and yet answer'd Such Objections shall fully be answer'd in further discoursing concerning Prayer Only give me leave to say that when a return comes to a Prayer and the return not known to be such it is certain argument to me of laziness in that Christian and that a general and exact observation of the Enjoyments accompanying spiritual and continued Prayer has not been the practice of that Soul and that that Prayer has not at first been remarkt God's ways between the Praying and its return not exactly observ'd and reflected upon and consequently the return given iâ— not compar'd but unsuitably applied to notion and fancy the neglect of the observation of this God's common method extreamly hinders the knowledge of a Prayer right perform'd and really return'd and is the true and often â—â—â—â—sion of false and erroneous Thoughts both of God and our selves Again It has 〈◊〉 been my own Experience 〈◊〉 the return of a Prayer has been to 〈…〉 that at the time of the performance I have had an 〈◊〉 pâ—werful sense of God's acceptance thereof 〈◊〉 it was God's work and not my own from its sudden and powerful fixedness in my Soul neither the work of Satan or inward Corruption by reason of its effect in the Soul afterward abiding even full pleasedness and quiet of Mind concerning the Event tho' the return was deferred neither any repine but continued exercise of Resignation Love to and Reliance upon God which clearly discovers the power of a Divine Spirit these going along takes off the Thoughts of Prayers being unspiritual unacceptable or not to be return'd tho' the return be deferr'd There are many at this day under no other advancement in Christianity than its meer Profession who are constant to their Duty of Prayer but either reflect not or in reflecting upon
the method bringing it about loses thereby the actual excitement of the excellent Graces and so miss of much comfort and light that others enjoy Fourthly You may judge of the intercession of Christ's Spirit in your Prayer by the never-failing correspondency between a Prayer perform'd as is exprest and a return thereto This is according to God's own Word and the Experience of diligent true observing Christians And if it were not so I doubt not but amongst thousands of Experiences training me to the knowledge thereof and establishment therein I should have met with one contradicting it I know I have met with many passages upon my advancement in the knowledge of God's ways that at first view seem'd greatly opposing of this and if a strict observation had been intermitted the shaking of my Faith or mistake therein had been the consequence but keeping strict to observation of Providences present and reflection upon past ones with patient waiting the full sight of the return to Prayer appear'd with that improvement of being more serious and considerate in the observation and comparing God's ways of Providence and inward workings of his Spirit according to his revealed Will. I would subjoin to these few marks of Prayer with the intercession of Christ's Spirit some things you are to beware of as occasions of mistaking this Prayer and deluding you with a false resemblance of it and something I would advise your observation of that may be a means to lead you into the performance of Prayer aright and thereby an opportunity of obtaining Christ's Spiritual influences therein I begin with the latter First Be advised to enter upon private Prayer without any discomposure of Spirit from the things Temporal that pleasantly affect us The thoughts of them will be ready to rush themselves upon your remembrance I could easily set down the many Prayers I have had spoil'd by such things rushing upon my thoughts at the time but circumstances will not permit Secondly Without any vexation upon your Spirit unless you use Prayer in such a circumstance as a help to quiet your mind and to suppress the further rise of corrupt motions for which end I dare recommend private Prayer as a healing means Thirdly Have your thoughts as free of worldly Persons and Things as possibly you can otherways passing immediately from Conversation with the world you will be apt to cast a lingring look back upon the world and to have thoughts stealing into you which will hinder the Spirit 's assistance to pray in the manner before charecteriz'd Fourthly Do not cursorily perform the Duty of Prayer to satisfie your mind that you have discharg'd the Duty and till night you are not to return to it but consider that Prayer is not only a Duty but a heavenly Priviledge wherein we may with a filial freedom address our selves to the Lord Almighty as our Father who from the infinite treasures of his love will supply all our wants and satisfie all our regular desires Therefore let us be liberal in the time for that Duty By continuance in Prayer our Hearts are more fully possest with God and by wrestling with him we get a holy heat of Affection tho' in our entrance into the Duty we were but coldly affected These are some of the hindrances which a Christian is to watch against and there are many other which the observing Christian will discover and endeavour to prevent Concerning the other to wit the occasions of mistaking the natural workings of the Affections for the Spirit 's work in Prayer I shall first in general say That the not considering the state of the Soul first designing to Pray in Praying and after Prayer leads into many mistakes According to the inward and habitual frame of the Soul such is the exercise of the Affections in that Duty and usually such are the influences of the Holy Spirit Secondly The judging that common seriousness in Christian Duties is all the spirituality that is necessary or attainable may be an occasion of mistake For this will make them content without seeking for supernatural influences and without the perception of them Close walking with God in the often use of Prayer is the best help to train this Soul in the further knowledge of the Breathings of Christ's Spirit Thirdly A more than ordinary seriousness from the ardent desire of obtaining the thing petition'd for may impose upon some with its resemblance to spirituality as also a Christian's indifferency in obtaining a thing pray'd for may impose a resemblance to the Souls of straitning in Prayer thorough Christ's withdrawings Fourthly The rational hope of obtaining our Petitions or the rational improbability of obtaining may sometimes impose a resemblance of spirituality and constraint in Prayer An Experience whereof I have had concerning Friends dangerously Ill who in my thoughts and in the judgment of their Physitians have been Dying from which seeming certainty of their Dying I have had an unwillingness as being altogether needless to pray for them I remember of a Child who was dangerously Ill without sensible pulse cold as clay and in the opinion of all Dying or Dead which rational conjecture so imprest me as to restrain me from Prayer concerning it But next morning in my Closet Prayers not designing a Petition for the Child supposing it then assuredly Dead a sudden seriousness and spirituality seized me carrying me forth in Prayer for this Child which at first astonish'd my Thoughts till sending to know if alive I heard of its life and great amendment To the praise of the infinite condescention of God I shall mention two directions as preventive of Error and Mistakes in the observation of Prayer and the enjoyments accompanying it and that as an encouragement to weak Christians to use these means without fear or doubting of God's wise and loving conduct of them to preserve them from Error unless God's permission thereof be for the Christian's good taking that way to establish Grace stronger in the Soul First His impressing me at the time with the true state of the matter that never to my remembrance was I under false resemblances of spirituality or constraint in Prayer but at the time I had some discovery of it Secondly Such dangers never occur'd to my Experience till God had establish'd my right knowledge both of spirituality and constraint in Prayer and that by Experiences in abundance a part of which is laid down in the Historical part of this Discourse I say this as a witness for God's Condescension and Wisdom in training the sincere diligent Christian groaning after the true knowledge of God's ways in the right use of means yet I say it not to encourage laziness either in the beginning or more grown Christian but excite them to more serious and strict observation of their Souls that they may not be deceived I find it more common with private Christians than formerly to observe enlargement in Prayer and constraint therein as forerunners of their injoying or not
be debated first but rather let your arguings succeed to your experience unless they be such Mysteries as are meerly to be credited according to Divine Revelation and uncapable of man's comprehension in this life and then in God's method of working and watering Grace you 'll obtain a full discovery of Self-insufficiency the need of a Redeemer to look to and depend upon God's revealed Word in conjunction with his Divine Spirit as your chief helps hereto An Arminian to plead his own power is like the prophane and meer Professor mocking and doubting of fellowship with God in Prayer It is the Arminian's want of Grace or at least the want of the observation of steps that has led to their Grace and its growth that keeps them still exalting of Self and it 's the others never experiencing communion with God in Prayer that make them ridicule it Put Self to the tryal Arminian whether you can in your strength work Grace try it and do not delay till a dying hour And if you find you can't then bring to the tryal another strength even that of a Divine Spirit in the use of means recorded in this applicatory part and then you 'll follow Christ's Command and become as a little Child obedient in the use of God's means to help forward the right knowledge of him and your selves and shall be enabled to get out of Self-confidence into a reliance upon a more Divine Foundation even Christ's Spirit the Gift given to the Christians in the world upon Christ's leaving the Earth and his Ascension to Heaven By Prayer and Observation therewith you will soon discover Socinianisms Falshood as it has sprung from Arminianism by so much exalting Self so the discovery of the vanity of the latter soon lays open in Christian experience the delusion of the former Let a Christian but observe the difficulty of laying aside Self-trust even after God's most establishing Experiences dethroning it and the proneness of his mind to admix Self in Duties rightly perform'd The difficulty of putting on Self-denial and of being cloath'd with that glorious Grace of Faith yea the means made use of by God to uncloath us of the one and to adorn us with the other The Observation I say of all these in a Christian will soon convince us of our insufficiency and encline us to exalt Christ as the Object of the Soul's trust and adoration for the destroying of that branch of Socinianism even the denial of the Godhead of our blessed Redeemer Besides Scripture plainness the attributing to Christ all the uncommunicable perfections of the Deity is proof against them Will all the Socinians Sophistry on earth make me disbelieve his Godhead when I have experienc'd that in the worship and adoration of Christ the Grace of God that has converted me from Sin to Holiness is then in exercise GOD is a jealous GOD and will not part with that Prerogative of Adoration no more to meer man than to vain Images and yet Who are the sanctified ones in Christ who are the Persons Paul judg'd meet to write unto in his first v. of his first ch of his first Epistle to the Corinthians even such who call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord not nominally so but such a Lord as is made the object of Adoration in the Gospel Churches none else being fit Members to make up a Christian Church and all denying Christ's Godhead and this Adoration due to his Name exclude themselves from being fit matter for a Gospel Church My Adoration of Christ as God I observe most solemn and with an intire trust in him when I am in a heavenly frame of Soul in private Prayer being then certain that the exercise of Adoration to Christ is the true effect of God's Divine Spirit influencing my Soul Often in meditation in participating the Lord's Supper the admiration and adoration of Christ as God blessed for ever has been kept up with great warmth and spirituality in the Soul To the Socinians I would put this Question If ever in a private Prayer to God in participation of the Lord's Supper or upon a sick and in appearance dying Bed they experienced a heavenly ravishing frame of Soul and if they have what exercise of thought in either of these three Circumstances concerning Christ and themselves then seiz'd them I dare answer That if really influenced with a heavenly frame Arminius with honour to Self and Socinus with his disparagement of Christ were low as the dust in their Opinion then How unsuitable are those who deny Christ this Tribute on earth to reign with him in Heaven when the Mystery of the Trinity the Mystery of Redemption by God the Son and the Mystery of Conversion by God the Spirit shall be perfectly unfolded when the admiration and adoration of God for his infinitely wise and condescending Mercy in delivering man must be in frequent exercise This is the most excellent beneficial and comfortable object of a Christian's Faith Contemplation and Affection We can only see it here through a Glass darkly in the full sight is the perfection and felicity of the Saints in Glory But the serious thoughts of redeeming love in our present state fills the Soul with a Joy unspeakable and glorious God constituted man at first with all the necessary faculties of Body and Mind and with their beautiful Ornaments that man by considering the excellent Goodness of his Maker might Glorifie him and not meerly please himself in his own Perfections and the fruition of Paradise In like manner a gracious Soul is renewed to Christ's Image in Conversion not that the doing of it may be proclaim'd as his own work and Glory thereby derogated from the Godhead of Christ and his Blessed Spirit Man is made meet for Heaven by Grace growing in his Soul on Earth And does he pass that perfecting change at the day of Judgment and is he admitted to these glorious Visions in Heaven for the admiration of himself No He will know that as the Creation of Man was the product of the Counsel and Power of the Deity as it 's declared in these words Let us make man so the Conversion of man from the power of Sin to Holiness is the sole effect of the free Mercy and Power of God and for the honour of his Grace Pride first discover'd it self in our fatal fall and has continued to show it self in arrogating to our selves what is entirely due to God but the perfected Spirits of Just men know how unworthy and unprepared they were to see God in his full Glory They continually pay the humble Homage of Praise to him that sits upon the Throne whose Spirit sanctified them and to the Lamb by whose Sacrifice and Satisfaction Heaven was opened to them Can a meer man receive the Hallelujahs above and rob the Father of the Praise of the Triumphant Saints in Heaven With what faces will those who deny the Deity of Christ look upon a Redeemer glorified as
Religion I do really acknowledge that from reading a Chapter with Mr. Pool's Annotations concerning a point I have had more clear knowledge and confirmation than by reading Controversial Books And I do believe it one of the most common failures of Youth under Religious Education not reading the Scriptures with Annotations which greatly fixes the Thoughts upon ones self and God's Divine Rule if conform unto it either in Heart or Life Be advised therefore to begin your knowledge of Spiritual Things right and not to end where you should have begun and to read but one Chapter with Annotations and Observation rather than many slightly remarking that part of Scripture your Thoughts at the time of reading mostly fix to and observe the method of Providence afterward appearing and perhaps you may discover its correspondency to the matter remarkt either as Instruction or Comfort Secondly I advise grown Professors who busie themselves with Controversies and with Books Eloquently written or of high Notions but still are without an affectionate vital knowledge of Divine Truths and in danger of being infected with this or the other new-sprung Error I say to such That I am afraid the advice given to younger Persons has not been follow'd by them I therefore earnestly exhort them to read the Scriptures with a design to be enlightned and sanctified by them and with the assistance of a sound Expositor that their imperfect and unsetled Conceptions of Divine Things may be rectified and strongly imprest within them and the power of them may be visible in their lives If you cannot enjoy full measure of time once a day do it by parts Many sit in their Shops waiting for their Customers and Reading of Books of no value or thinking upon what they can give no account of afterward that have great opportunity of using this method Many might detract from their great time spent in Dressings and Visitings and thereby might have more leisure for this profitable and â—ounding work I am hopeful if this method was once in use there might be an excellent foundation laid for your Knowledge of God the Lawgiver and of your own Loyalty and Duty to him in Heart and Life The delight the Soul would taste in Reading the Word would cause us to disrelish all other Books tho' never so pleasing to the carnal Fancy and Desires that govern the unrenewed part of Mankind I have often thought upon the fancy so delighted with variety and have pitied some such who would be taken with every new thing but did not Experimentally know the varieties of things in the Scriptures greatly alluring worth the reading and the contemplating and the varieties of impressions affecting the mind in reading the same Scripture at various times But I have observ'd the better the Duty is the more instruction and comfort abound therein inward corruption and Satan keeps the Soul the more backward from it And let any experiencing Christian reflect upon the days of their Ignorance and the Beginnings of their spiritual Knowledge they 'll find When Hearing and Prayer has been practised by them yet serious Reading was greatly neglected especially with an Expositor A Duty establishing and comforting a Christian is the Duty Satan loses most by to Read matter indifferent overcomes neither Satan nor Corruption but Scripture-Revelation discovers both in their natural Colours and a way to escape the Tyranny of either I remember the neglect of Reading the Scripture while only under the power of Religious Education kept me in darkness and security for not bringing the false hopes of the goodness of my spiritual State to the Touch I presum'd that I was in a safe condition but by serious Reading the Scripture I had a true discovery of God and my self and I delighted in the discovery and the blessed means of it That which before was so unpleasant to the corrupt Nature was sweeter than the Honey-Comb This is the usual Reward that is joyn'd with our Obedience to the Divine Command Of searching the Scriptures I am afraid the neglect of this Duty keeps not only prophane and meer professing Christians from a change to a state of real Christianity but even real Christians in a careless neglect of their Conversations The serious Reading a Chapter in the morning would so fix the matter upon the Christian's Thoughts that now and then he would be reflecting whether he has stept aside from Conformity to what he had Read in the morning and would make him watchful against Temptations that surrounded him lest he be surprised by them How sad is the carelesness even of real Christians with respect to the inward frame of their Souls and their outward Conversation which I do believe may in some measure proceed from the neglect or at least the unserious performance of this Duty and the not considering that God sees them in their Companies in their Families in their Closets and in their Hearts and their neglect of serious yielding themselves to the conduct of the Holy Spirit thorough the day I remember a passage I heard of a Minister who had neglected his serious morning-Prayer before his going forth upon that Sacred Work of Preaching and after Reading his Text was stopt that he could go on no further and another was forc'd to supply in his room and upon review found that his neglect of Praying for Divine Assistance and dependance upon it was the cause why he was so deserted If Christians were more concerned to have their morning Duties strictly perform'd their Conversations would be strict and spiritual thorough the day they would not disparage their Profession and dishonour God by so many blemishes in their Actions they would not so harden the prophane and meer titular Christians in their sinful state whereas Prayer joyn'd with the Reading the Word in the morning is a blessed means to maintain our Communion with God in all the business and lawful refreshments of the day If innocent Recreations by fixing our thoughts upon them or by reason of the length of time we are in them lessen our seriousness we should be less frequent and shorter in them let the Conversation be never so innocent and the Company never so dear they must not deprive us of communion with Heaven we must so use the world as we may enjoy God I think visiting of Friends a Duty as well as diversion but prolonged to a day or an afternoon meddling in others affairs censuring some and commending others perhaps without reason is grieving to a spiritual-minded Christian unless where he may either do or receive some spiritual good The serious exercise of our minds upon spiritual things and discourse of them preserves the sacred fire burning in our breasts Spiritual Conversation is as rare amongst Christians as it 's profitable it 's the beginning of Heaven and reduces friendship to the state of Paradise But we are so sadly declin'd that unless he is a person of eminent holiness and gravity that interposes divine discourse in Conversation
all his ways more strictly and pray more frequently and fervently and read and hear the Word with more application they will feel the power of Godliness reviving in their Souls and will shew forth the beauty of Holiness in their Conversation which will be convincing of others that Religion is a Divine disposition productive of fruits suitable to it A holy habit of Soul may be preserv'd in the business and diversions of the world by our constant converse with Heaven every day You have two excellent motives to this Exhortation First Because it may be done without any hindrance to your business and lawful diversions How easie is it in the morning before you enter into worldly Affairs to read a Chapter with Pool's Annotations and to give your selves and all your concerns by Prayer to the conduct of a Divine Hand to direct and succeed your lawful Endeavours How easie is it thorough the day while in the midst and course of your lawful business to direct an ejaculatory desire Lord Let my endeavour be according to Duty on my part and accompanied with a discovery of Mercy in the Event and according to the many endeavours you are active in throughout a day so many Ejaculatory Petitions in a serious frame to be repeated which you 'll observe to issue in great inward Knowledge and perhaps great success to business as an occasion of turning your many and various Ejaculatory Petitions to one solemn Duty of Praise in the evening How easy is it in an evening in your Shops or Closets to record that in such an endeavour you were kept serious with God in your thoughts and you were blest accordingly The remembrance whereof will make you ready in all your Affairs to pray for the Divine Blessing and depend upon God in doing your Duty and thankful for his succeeding your endeavours The second is That this constant looking to God in Prayer ejaculatory or solemn with the use of means will enable us to perform the works of our ordinary Callings with less trouble to our Mind and toil to our Bodies This will cure the anxiety of our Minds concerning the Event and consequently make us more moderate and orderly in the use of means It is the anxious desire of obtaining an Event the great fear of losing it that sets peoples minds on the rack to contrive means and their Bodies on the hurry to use these means and how often does unsuccessfulness accompany both Whereas by Observation of God the Governor of all things access to him for his favour in any thing is discovered to the Soul and that the dutiful use of means is successful by his favour when the eager pursuit of a desir'd thing has been ineffectual This has been verified to all by many Experiences and therefore shall add this Advice as the sum of all To use means with the same diligence as if by them alone without a Divine Hand Events were to be obtain'd To eye God with a reliance upon him for Events as much as if they were to be brought forth by him without the use of means By which Rule I would reprove the Censures against God's Children who from their dutiful diligence in business without the intermixture of pleasure in fear of losing providential opportunities in it are reputed Covetous And advise others to judge themselves by their inward aims if conform to God's Will and whatever be the Censure of Men they thereby prevent the condemning sentence of Christ the Redeemer and Judge It is neither the Character or Censure of any that ought to bound our Endeavours but the being in Duty or out of Duty and the regarding of the Lord in all our ways Reflections that must naturally follow the perusal of what is written First THAT the Author having felt such Experience of an inward change upon his Soul without any other hand of his own therein than the use of the means above recited Ought I not to believe there is a Knowledge above human Judgment and a power above natural Strength for otherwise he had continued in the same ignorance of God then appearing sufficient knowledge wherein he was involv'd for many years tho' enjoying the outward dispensation of the Gospel Secondly That it was but suitable to Christian Affection in him to endeavour that others may tread in the same steps with the same success especially finding some Ministers in their Sermons to run from plainness and experience to Rhetorick and Notion and finding the care of Christians more to run out upon arguing the Notions of Religion than the confirming Divine Truths and the establishing the Minds of others by the Seals of their own Experience If experimental Religion was more Taught in Sermons and Discourst of amongst Christians the performance of Holy Duties wherein it 's obtain'd would not be thought a meer fancy and the light and beauty of Grace would more shine in the Church of Christ A Third Meditation ensuing upon the second may be Whether you have not some longings after the same establishing Experiences If you have these longings may be kindled by the consideration of their being attainable I was once so carnal as only to look to things seen and thought the Reliance upon an unseen Superiour power to be a vain imagination but God in his excellent Mercy has convinc'd me beyond all doubt of his governing Providence that disposes of Events for the good of those who wait upon him and the same goodness will be extended to all that sincerely seek his face for ever We must regard the Word as our Rule the Spirit as our Guide to direct us by that Rule and the Dispensations of Providence correspondent to that Rule and we shall be preserv'd from the Atheistical neglect of God and from the fancies and phrensies of those who pretend to Inspiration from above and from doing those things which are directly and scandalously contrary to the reveal'd Will of God O that Christians would earnestly pray for the Holy Spirit that by his directing-light they may understand the Scriptures and by his warm impressing them on their Hearts they may feel their cleansing and comforting power but truly Christians in our day are not much concerned to mind and try the work of God in their own Souls nor seek after knowledge of him by his Operations in others The Observations of our selves and the Communion of Saints are rare Duties We live at a distance from our selves and in converse with others the subject of our discourse is the present World or Notional Religion which occasions Dissention and Faction whereas the mutual communicating of Christians to one another what God has done for their Souls and how variously according to their wants their desires their sorrows and fears he has attempered his Dispensations would be an excellent means to raise their admiration of his condescending and compassionate Goodness and of his Wisdom and establish their joyful trust in him Fourthly If you have any longing and find it