God for you is that you might be saved and thereupon I do Travel in Birth for you till Christ be form'd in you Wherefore as Paul wrote to Philemon though I might be bold in Christ to enjoyn you yet for Loves sake I rather beseech you being such a one as your Father the Aged and a Servant of Jesus Christ I beseech you not as he for an One Simus but for your self whom I have begotten and O that I could say had begotten again though it were in my bonds and so could in this respect further say in the words of that Apostle there Thou owest unto me even thine own self yea Daughter let me have joy of you in the Lord refresh my Bowels in the Lord which you will do if I may have confidence in your Obedience that you will do what I say which I may the more expect from you sith the Counsel I here give you is no other than what I have received from mine and your Heavenly Father and therefore I may say confidently of it what was said of Ahitophels that it is as if one had inquired of the Oracles of God for it is such as I had from the Word of God which is called the Oracles of God And though I be your Father yet I could willingly go down upon my knees to you begging of you for your Souls sake that you would embrace it which if you do then blessed are you among Women for God will guide you with his Counsel and afterwards receive you to Glory But if you refuse it you reject the Counsel of God against your self and this paper will rise up in Judgement against you CHAP. I. Of Covenanting with God in Christ 1. IN the first place I do beseech you in the Bowels of a tender Father and as you will answer the denyal of so reasonable a request at the Tribunal of God before the Soveraign Judge of Men and Angels that you would seriously intirely and unreservedly make an oblation of your self in Covenant a solemn Dedication of all your faculties both of Soul and Body to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost as your only God Redeemer and Sanctifier binding your self thereby to forsake that malicious Trinity the World the Flesh the Devil Resign up and make over your self wholly and intirely to the Lord to the obedience of him Subscribe to all his Laws bid an utter defiance to all his enemies out-brave all opposition and Triumph over all in the Lord. 2. Here let me remind you that this is that which I solemnly Covenanted in your behalf at your Baptism and you being come to Age are bound to perform and make good which if you should not do but recede from that engagement I should tremble to think how sad your case would be Had you died in your Childhood as my other Children did then you had reaped the benefit of the Covenant according to the faith of your own Parents but now you must stand or fall by your own faith sincere consent thereunto as the Child while an Infant is carried in the Mothers or Nurses Arms but when grown up must stand upon its own legs 3. I intreat you therefore I warn you as a Father do that first which must needs be done and is of greatest Importance the most momentous concern be sure that your Soul be safe and secure as to its everlasting condition Act Maries part by looking after the one thing necessary and therefore get to be in Covenant with God in Christ by your hearty consent thereunto for this is the true condition and certain evidence of your interest in the Covenant your Title to all the rich Legacies thereof as namely to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost as your Reconciled God and Father Redeemer and Sanctifier and consequently to all the saving Blessings and Priviledges both of the Kingdom of Grace and Glory which are all couched therein In the Covenant God the Father consents or enters into Bond in the sight and presence of Angels and glorified Souls to be our God Jesus Christ to be our Saviour and the Holy Ghost to be our Sanctifier in which compendious and immense grant all things are comprized that you can ask or think If you then reciprocally consent and engage your self to take God the Father to be your only God the Son to be your Saviour to save you from Sin as well as from Hell and the Holy Ghost to be your Sanctifier to make you by degrees perfectly holy then the Covenant is complete your Interest therein secure and your Title good to all the rich Blessings laid up in this Ark of the Covenant provided your consent be such as doth blossom forth into the duties which you consent unto and produce a renouncing of the World the Flesh and the Devil which is involved and enwrapped therein for you do not take God to be your God if you take him only to receive his pay and not to fight under his Banner against those his malicious enemies You do not take him to be your God unless you take him to be your All and be ready to renounce and forsake all for him and prefer him in your love and esteem above all things so as to let him turn the ballance and his interest to weigh down the Scales against all the World and unless you set him alone in the Throne in the highest Chariot to ride Triumphantly in the Soul over all enemies How readily doth the Wise Merchant in the Gospel sell all for the Pearl that is more precious than Rocks of Rubies and Mountains of Diamonds Thus it will be with you if your Covenant consent be not weak and languid but strong and well fixed Indeed a small rub may turn aside a Bowl that hath but a weak Byass but if it hath a strong one it will recover and get into its way again See then that your consent be so strong and full as may pass you under the bond of the Covenant and carry you over to God and Christ against all opposition But think it not enough that this Covenant be once made it must be often renewed and followed with an answerable practice 4. This is my first and grand advice yea the very Abridgment and Summ of all your duty this entring into keeping faithfully the Baptismal Covenant is your very Christianity real Godliness it 's your building upon a Rock your doing the one thing necessary and your giving to God the things that are Gods It 's a denying of your self taking up the Cross and following the Lord Jesus it 's a delivering of your self over to the Lord Jesus to be Married to him a taking him as your Husband to Love Honour and Obey him above all And to this Match you have my full and free consent yea my daily prayers for it O that as a spokesman for Christ I could tell how to woe for him and use such Rhetorick that I might prevail look
of any delight in them 5. In this account ask your self what have my Receivings been from God this day what Talents and Mercies have I had from him and how have I laid them out for him what Mercies have I received and what returns have I made for them 10. Close your eyes at night with some thoughts of God and Christ When you are composing your self to sleep commit your self then both Body and Soul into his hands to keep them for you while you sleep as the Child when it goes to Bed gives its Mother what it would have kept safely Or going to Bed you may suitably meditate on Death whose Image and Picture Sleep is Look upon your Bed as upon your Grave think to die as often as you fall asleep Sleep is a short Death and Death is nothing else but a long sleep the Bed is a grave for one night and the grave is a Bed for many Ages We expect to awaken from our Beds and we hope to rise again from our graves If you seriously follow this course every night you will have Jesus Christ lie all night as a bundle of Myrrh betwixt your breasts and will find your heart in a good frame when you awake If you thus rake up the fire over night you will find it in in the morning Solomon's virtuous Woman lets not her Candle go out by night Prov. 31.18 Let your Lamp be well trimm'd your Grace well lighted and put in exercise when you compose your self to rest and like a good Watch-candle you will find it burning when you awake O how many are there that lie down as the Beasts in their Straw without so much as bidding their Souls good night Ejaculations which may be used at night before sleep I Will both lay me down and sleep for thou Lord make stme dwell in safety Psal 4.8 When thou liest down thou shalt not be afraid yea thou shalt lie down and thy sleep shall be sweet Prov. 3.24 Lord I commit my self both Body and Soul into thy hands who art the keeper of Israel and neither slumbers nor sleeps The Lord is my keeper the Lord is my defence who neither slumbers nor sleeps Psal 21.4 5. 11. If there be any interceptions any interruptions or breaches of sleep in the night fill up those vacancies with meditations on some Sermon lately heard or on what you read the day before in the Bible or some other good Book or else with some Parenthetical Ejaculations as devout Souls those spiritual Crickets of the night have used to do Ejaculations that may be used in the Night in breaches of sleep BY night upon my bed I sought him whom my Soul loveth Cant. 3.1 O let me not have occasion to say I sought him but I found him not or to go about as the Spouse there did in a dark night of desertion crying out like a desolate Widdow Saw ye him whom my Soul loveth With my Soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early Isa 26.9 My Soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips while I remember thee on my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches Psal 63.5 6. O when shall I come and appear in the presence of God in the City of the New Jerusalem which hath no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the glory of God doth lighten it and tke Lamb is the light thereof And there shall be no Night there and they need no Candle neither Light of the Sun for the Lord God giveth them Light and they shall reign for ever and ever Rev. 21.23 O when shall my Soul be received into the number of that heavenly Chore that sing for ever Hallelujahs that rest not day and night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Rev. 4.8 I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel my reins also my inward thoughts instruct me in the night season Psal 16.7 CHAP. XXIII How to spend the Lord's Day IN general Be a curious spender of your time on the Lord's Day This will be a holy curiosity Let this day be your delight spend it wholly in walking in the Spouses Garden amongst Duties and Ordinances with a sweet and holy pleasure where there is so great variety that you may go like a diligent Bee from one Flower to another from one Duty to another and never take surfeit It 's the whole day that God commans to be sanctified and therefore the whole must be spent in holy exercises Therefore do not think it sufficient for the sanctification thereof that you have been at the Publick Worship in the Assembly unless the whole day were spent there as was antiently done by the Primitive Christians in their Publick Assemblies almost from morning to night On other days of the week Duties call for time but time calls for Duties on the Lord's Day If I were to pass my Judgment on the Religion of any person I would take my measures from the manner of their observation or the Lord's Day 2. Before you go to the Publick Worship spend what time you can in private beside Duty in the Family that so you may be better prepared for the Publick for private Devotion before will be a great means to prevent worldly thoughts and distractions when you are in the Assembly Worldly thoughts and cares do play the part of little Children if they cannot keep the Mother from going abroad they will cry to go along with her and these if they cannot keep you from Church they will strive to go thither with you but solemn preparation before lays a restraint on them gives them a discharge to prevent and hinder their accompanying of you 3. Be a constant diligent and reverent Attendant on the Publick Ordinances and make the best improvement of them for your Soul This is a frequenting the Royal Exchange of Christians and would exceedingly tend to the Souls advantage Christ's presence is most to be found in the Publick Ordinances he walks in the midst of the golden Candlesticks here the whole Assembly with united and concentricated Forces do besiege the Throne of Grace and so their prayers have more power with God Musick in Consort is the most pleasant That is the sweetest Posie that is made of most Flowers The prayers of many smell sweetest with God Besides Affections are more wrought on in publick than in private which some great Naturalists have observed as one of Natures great Mysteries and where Affections are most raised there God usually confers the greater blessing Indeed sometimes it falls out that Christians are more dull under the publick means which may be in Judgment when they either put too much confidence in such places or are fallen to a loathing or slighting of that spiritual food either because they have it so oft or by reason of
of Christ look by Faith beyond these outward Elements and say Lord thou dost here send me a covered Dish of Royal Cheer from Heaven from thine own Table as to a Beloved Friend or Dear Child Teach me to take off the outward Cover and to see plainly and clearly the rare Delicates that are laid in it Let me so imploy my outward Senses in minding the out-side of the Sacrament so as to raise my Spiritual Senses to see and discern the inside thereof and the Glorious Mysteries couched in it And here exercise further longing desires after those vailed Mysteries and say As the Heart pants after the Water-Brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God my Soul is athirst for God yea even for the Living God When you see the Bread broken and the Wine poured out then you see the lively Spectacle of a Dying Saviour Let then Repentance be renewed Faith Love and Resolutions for New Obedience and Holy Desires also Acted and Elevated in the Soul Represent now to your self in this Mystery what our Lord Jesus endured when he hung upon his painful Bed of Sorrows the Cross and say to your self canst thou look upon a broken Saviour without a broken Heart upon a bleeding Christ without a bleeding Soul Upon a pierced Jesus without a Heart pierced thorow with Godly sorrow for thy Sins that pierced him Doth not every Orifice made by the Nayls the Thorns and the Spear in that pretious tormented and pained Body and every drop of Blood that issued thence call aloud to thee for Repentance of those Sins that caused these Torments I do therefore here Vow and Covenant to take a revenge upon my Sins and give them their mortal wound and cause them to Bleed to Death using them as they used my Dear Lord and Saviour O what Streams of matchless Love were these that flowed from a Dying Saviour laying down his Life for me and do not these call for streamings of Love back again from my Breast towards him O that my Soul may be sprinkled with that Blood which issued from that Fountain of infinite Love O that it may be Bathed in that Blessed Bath set open for Sin and for Uncleanness Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there 's none upon Earth that I can desire besides thee my bleeding Saviour When the Minister comes and delivers to you the Bread or Wine look on him as doing it in Christs Name and here stir up Faith and Love to God Think with admiring Love how God in Christ delivers up himself in Covenant to you offering to be your God your Reconciled Father and Redeemer And believe with Joy and Thankfulness that you hear Christ by the Minister saying to your Faith Take my Body and Blood all the Riches of that Covenant which was Sealed with my Blood all the Blessings coucht in that Blessed Charter of the Gospel When you take these at the Ministers hands then let the Hand of Faith stretch forth it self to reach God and stir up your self to take hold on him and put forth intire Resolutions of New Obedience and say Lord by taking this I do Covenant with thee that I take thee with my whole Heart to be my Lord to be ruled and governed as well as saved by thee and I do here seriously devote my self both Body and Soul to the intire Obedience of thee When you are eating the Bread then lift up your Heart by Faith to God and say I believe Lord that thy flesh is meat indeed thou that didst Dye for me art the Bread of Life that shall nourish my Soul to eternal Life My Soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my Mouth shall praise thee with joyful Lips And here by eating this Bread I do Covenant with thee to be thy Servant and Obedient Child for ever And when you are drinking of the Wine or immediately upon it say Lord thy Blood is Drink indeed O that my Soul may tast the refreshings of this Heavenly Wine O stay me with Flagons Comfort me with thy Love which is better than Wine I believe that thy Blood was shed for the Remission of Sins O that I may be washt from all mine in that Holy Laver And that I may hear the soft Voice of thy Spirit whispering to my Soul Daughter be of good Cheer thy Sins be forgiven thee Bless the Lord O my Soul and that is within me bless his Holy Name who forgiveth all thine Iniquities and healeth all thy Diseases When you look upon the Communicants receiving with you exercise Love to the Saints and say where the Carcass is where the Crucified Body of my Saviour is thither will the believing Eagles be gathered together and shall not I be joyned in love with all that Heavenly Flock and Holy Society These Eagles do all feed on Blood the Blood of a Crucified Christ and hath not this a Cementing Virtue to unite Affections These are the Friends of the Bride groom and shall not I make them my Friends Shall not the Beloved of my Saviour be the Beloved Ones of my Soul CHAP. XXXV What is to be done after the Administration is ended VVHEN the solemnity is over go home with a glad heart and a chearful Spirit and say to your self what did Haman go from Esthers Banquet of Wine with a glad Heart glorying in the honour of his being there And shall not I much more rejoyce and glory who have been in the Spouses banqueting House where his Banner over me was love and have been royally entertain'd by the King of Saints with the choicest delicates of Heaven When you are come home retire your self into privacy for a little time and ask your self what your demeanour was at the Lords Table and what happy fruit you have found of your being there What meltings or softnings of Heart What glimpses of Love What cherishing Beams of the Spirit What strength vigor and liveliness of Soul What secret springings and elevations of Spirit What spiritual quicknings and refreshings have you had at that Feast of Fat Things and refined Wines And according as you find it with your Heart upon this short tryal so do you answerably make your addresses unto God If you have found the efficacy of the Ordinance and sweet satisfaction there bless God for it and sing glory to God in the highest and pray earnestly to him that it may abide upon your Soul but if you find no Divine relishes no drops of sweetness but are come away with an earthy and drossy Soul then humble your self before God and labour to find out the Sin that was the obstruction and remove it 3. Be watchful afterwards lest the World or any trifling occasions damp those influences which you found at the Sacrament All persons are most careful of themselves after they come out of a hot Bath lest they shouid take cold When you have been at this Spiritual Bath of the Sacrament be exceeding careful that cold get not info
is it not pitty such ingenious youths should be lost for want of Instruction and Correction Let Parents and Governours Tremble lest the Blood of Relations Souls should lye at their Door and both be Tormented for wilful neglects Even Heathens had great care of Childrens Education it was actionable in the Law-Courts among the Romans to neglect this yea if the Son was Debauched the Father was sued since it was supposed the Sons Miscarriage was through the Fathers Default But that might be a mistake Yet God that sees all things and whose Judgment is always according to truth will Commence a Suit against and Condemn the careless Parent Lord when will Parents have as much care of their Childrens Souls as Bodies Yea express as much tenderness to a Child as to a Beast You labour hard to provide for them Food and Rayment to put them into callings that they may live like Men in the World and are their Souls of no Worth Is there not another World worth thinking of looking after Have you not many helps the Bible Catechismes good Books Ministers to Move Admonish and instruct you in training up your Children Do you not promise to do this for them at their Baptism Could you be content to see a Mastiff Dog drag away your Child pull out his Entrals feed upon him and not stir a foot speak a word to rescue him O miserable parents O Cruel Tygers Worse than Sea monsters Lam. 4â— that draw out the Breasts they give suck to their young ones and have not you a word to speak not a breath to breathe in Prayer not a Hand to reach out to them to pluck them from this Gerberus this Dog of Hell Oh where 's Grace yea where is Nature The Lord pitty these merciless Parents For shame learn your Duty and do it and take this Book for an help And you that are Children if Parents neglected their Duty do not you neglect God and your Souls They lookt no further than your Preferment in the World but do you look after an Everlasting Happiness in the other World Some commended Patricius Augustines Father for Educating his Son a Scholar who became so Famous a Father in the Church Alas said he my Father sought only to make me a Rhetorician not a Christian for he was an Heathen But whatever your Parents Trained you up for Law or Physick or a Trade Study Christianity If thy Parents were Carnal Lament it Act Faith in Christ to get Guilt taken off thy Fathers House and double thy Diligence for thy own Soul and for thy Seed If thy Parents were godly devoted thee to God set thee a good Example instructed prayed for thee O make much of the Covenant of Parents plead it embrace it and see thy Heart and Life be Squared by it Else thy Priviledges will be a Testimony against thee another Day 〈…〉 â—â—shop of Millain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that in the primitive 〈…〉 or white Garâ—â—â— was put upon the party Baptized and the Minister 〈◊〉 take this white and immaculate Vestment and see thou king it forth without Spot at the Judgment Seat of Christ Withal he tells of one Elpidophorus being Baptized afterwards proving a prophane Wretch the Minister produced this Garment saying This Linnen shall 〈◊〉 thee at Christs coming which is witness of thy â—…tacy You young people make a great account that you were made Christians in Baptism and indeed it stands in good stead in your Infant-State by vertue of your Parents Covenant but being grown up you stand upon your own Legs and must personally renew your Baptismal Covenant or expect no benefit by it Baptism will not save you without the Answer of a good Conscience 1 Pet. 3.21 Tit. 3. â— The lover of Regeneration will not avail to Adult Persons without the renewing of the Holy Ghost You must be born again of water and of the Spirit or you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Joh. 3.5 To which Austin Subscribes saying Nihil profuit Simoni Mago visibilis Baptismus cui Sanctificatio invisibilis desit you know Simon Magus was in the Gall of Bitterness and Bond of Iniquity Act. 8.13.22 though he was Baptized You are to thank God for External Priviledges and Religious Education they are Signal Mercies not common to all Bucholzer thankt God that he was Bred up under Melancthon Mr. Whately under Mr. Dod yea a Plato that he was Pupil to Socrates But rest not here be not satisfied except the unfeigned faith dwell in thee 2 Tim 1.5 also that was in thy pious Auncestors Mind their Godly Examples and do not contradict them A King of Poland was wont to carry the Picture of his Renowned Father in a â—â—ate of God about his Neck when he went about any notable Exploit kissing it he said God grant I may 〈◊〉 nothing Remissely 〈…〉 of so 〈…〉 you 〈…〉 Heb. 6.12 who through Faith and patience do now inherit the promises 〈…〉 to be â—pish imitators of their outward Acts but see you have the same Spirit of Faith Love fear of God Repentance and nâ—w Obedience Think you hear your Dying Parents charging you as Mr. Bolâ—â—â—â— did his Children that 〈◊〉 of you dare to meet them at the great Day without a Wedding Garment To this 〈◊〉 attend daily at a 〈◊〉 Ministry examine your Consciences by the Word of God pray much in Secret be Humble and Dâ—cible Disdain not to learn Catechisms watch against Occasions of Sin got into and improve Christian Society keep Conscience void of Offence towards God and Man Read Meditate on labour to and stand and practice Scripture Truths and Rules Study to do all the good you can and be useful in your Generation But I shall detain you no longre in the Porch I humbly desire you to Read and Study this ensuing Treatise which though short is yet Pithy Accurate and Sententious and will like a Clew lead thee through the Labyrinths and Meanders of the World Omit the reading of it and thou are a loser read it slightly and thou gainest no good contradict it at thy peril these Sheets will rise up in Judgment against thee another Day My earnest Prayer shall follow this and other Soul-helps that the God of all Grace would stamp his own Blessed Image on the Souls of the Rising Generation awake their Consciences inlighten their Minds renew their Natures subdue their Wills raise their Affections to Heavenly Objects that they may fill up our vacancies when our Heads are laid in the Silent Dust and may see better Ways and have better Heads to improve all Occurrences to better purpose than we that are now going off the Stage And thus good Reader I take leave wishing thee much content and Advantage in perusing this sweet Posy of Spiritual Flowers gathered out of the Scripture Garden As That Soul-Friend and Servant in Christ O. H. A PARENTS ADVICE to his CHILD How to Live well The Introduction Daughter MY hearts desire and prayer to
upon the height of his Stature like Saul among the People there is none like him View him in all his excellencies he is white and ruddy the Chiefest among ten thousand fairer than all the Children of Men and your self will be complete in him Know for your encouragement that you shall have the richest Dowry in all the World for all that Christ and Heaven is worth shall be yours the Wife being interested in all her Husbands Goods he will advance you to a Kingdom and Feoffe you in all the riches of it Say then Lord if I had Ten Thousand selves I would give them all up to thee who hast shewed to me such wonderful Love as to offer to give up thy self to me I will take thee with all my heart I give my free and hearty consent let the Match be made and assure your self then that it shall be made up the Spirit of Christ will be assistant to Faith in Tying the Marriage knot CHAP. II. Of Living the Life of Faith 1. LIve the Life of Faith in a continual dependence upon God in Christ for all things necessary especially for the Soul Six hundred and Thirteen precepts have been observed to be in the Law of Moses by some of the Hebrew Doctors who had the leisure to number them and they tell us that they are all wrapt up by the Prophet Habakkuk in that one short sentence The just shall live by Faith Sure it is a very pregnant and comprehensive duty for Faith is an Obediential Affiance and so is a pair of Compasses one foot whereof viz. Affiance being pitch'd upon the Center which is God the other goes round in a perfect Circle of all holy Duties Faith surveys the whole Land of promise searches it out throughly spies out all the rich Treasures that lye in the golden mines of the promises and finds suitable provision in every case both for Soul and for Body which in it can fetch in time of need and so it hath work enough daily for a constant and continued employment because every moment we are under some spiritual want 2. As for temporal good things live by Faith in a holy dependency and indifferency resting contented with the will of God whatsoever it be A believer though the Bill of fare be short lives on the wise powerful and gracious providence of God not doubting but he shall have enough to pay for his passage thorugh the Sea of this World to Heaven How many live on the Trencher of Gods Providence in their maintenance who never live on that providence in a gracious dependance or by actings of Faith in a promise Do not most Persons live wholly by their Friends by their Credit and Interest in the World but where is the Man or Woman that Lives by Faith 3 Fetch in provision for your Soul daily by actings of Faith Let Faith make out to Christ for new supplies of spiritual strength grace and comfort in all your need Faith is our Purveyor till we come to the Mount of God and goes a Catering for us till we come to that Land that flows with Milk and Hony God is a rich Mine of Wisdom and Grace which can never be digged to the bottom and hath inexhaustible Treasures lock'd up in Christ continually lying ready by him only stays for Faith to come and fetch them He is not pleased to give us in a full supply of all at once but crumbles out his mercies and gives his blessings by retail to teach us by Faith to live upon him daily Manna fell every morning God could if he had pleased have given them as much at once as should have served them all the time that they were to be in the Wilderness but he would teach them by his daily gift to depend upon his Providence for it daily Thus God is pleased to deliver out to his dear Children every day a set allowance it may be but a Crum of hidden Manna a tast of his special Love when he could fill an Omer of it if he pleased it may be he reaches forth to a believer only some Grapes of the Heavenly Canaan when he could throw clusters thereof into his Lap. He could have so form'd the new-born Babe in Christ and have cast it into such a Mould in the New-birth as that it should have been perfect in that instant as Adam was in the moment of Creation but he will have this Babe of grace to go by degrees from Faith to Faith from Strength to Strength till it come to full perfection The king appointed a daily Provision of his meat and of the Wine which he drank to certain of the Children of Israel Dan. 1.5 Thus doth the King of Heaven he will not give all grace at once out of his Store-house nor let the Pot of hidden Manna be in our keeping he doth not think fit we should have his Royal Wine of spiritual Joy and Comfort in our own Cellars to go to when we please lest we should drink and forget our selves yea and him too lest it should fume up and make our Heads giddy or our Blood too rank our Spirits too high proud for it is no easie matter to carry the brim-full Cup of Consolation steddily and equally though the Soul have rich joy to day yet it may have none to morrow unless he please to send a draught of this Cordial Wine from his own Table And why is all this but to teach us to live by Faith and wait continually upon him for new Influences The wise Father keeps the stock in his own hands and gives not all at once to keep his Son in a dependence CHAP. III. Of the Life of Holiness LIve the Life of Holiness This directly follows the Life of Faith for all holiness springs from Faith and the more you live the Life of Faith the more you will live the Life of holiness Now if you would live this Holy Life you must do these five things 1. Get a principle of holiness you cannot live a Life of holiness unless there be first a principle of holiness within Can the Body stir or move without a principle of Life how can there be actual holiness in the Life where there is not first habitual holiness in the Heart 2. Make holiness the very work of your Life or devote your self to the work of holiness he lives a Students life or the life of a Scholar who devotes himself to his Studies You do then live a Holy Life when you make holiness the very business of your Life when the Course and Tenor and main Imployment of your Life is Holiness when you make a Trade of it Do you only perform Holy Duties by fits and starts do you make stops and pauses are you off and on and act holily only occasionally or in some certain good moods or on some Holy days this is not to live a Life of Holiness You must constantly imploy your self therein and follow after it in the
delight in God Musick upon the Water sounds louder and is much sweeter than upon the Land Joy upon the Waters of Godly Sorrow is most sweet and pleasant Chrysostom calls sorrow for sin the Mother of Joy I assure you God never commanded sorrow for sin barely for it self but only in order unto joy 2. God would not have any of his People lead sad drooping and melancholy Lives for thereby they would dishonour their heavenly Father and disparage his House keeping as if there were not Bread enough in their Fathers house but rather a want of Necessaries there Yea it would make the World ready to think that he were a hard Master toward them and Jesus Christ an unkind Husband If a Wife be always sad and sit puling and whining will not every one be ready to say that she hath a bad Husband This Sackcloth doth not become the Court of the King of Saints nor beseem those that live within it Spiritual Chearfulnese is that which becomes Religion sets a gloss thereon and makes it shine gloriously and look most amiably in the Eyes of the World and may cause them to fall to love with it 3. But whatsoever the Wor think of Religion it is not of a melancholy temper but of a sanguine complexion It may well say to them Call me no more Marah i. e. Bitterness but call me Naomi which signifies Pleasantness for it is of all others the most pleasant and delightsom Life i. e. in respect of inward complacency and gladness though not in respect of passionate joy or mirth All her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace Prov. 3.17 Thus the way of Religion is strawed with Roses with inward peace and tranquillity Walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comforts of the Holy Ghost are claspt and laid together Acts 9.31 Christians have meat to eat that the World knows not of What means this Musick said the Elder Brother of the returning Prodigal There 's the White-Stone and the New Name that none know but they that have it Rev. 2.17 There 's hidden Mannah for their Souls to feast upon 4. And indeed how can a believing Soul that walks closely with God chuse but rejoyce when it is always in the presence of God and Christ Can the Children of the Bride-chamber mourn while the Bridegroom is with them Matth. 9.15 It is reported that our Saviour when he was on the Earth had such a chearful Countenance that the Jews that lived in his days when they found themselves sad and melancholy would say to one another Come let us go and look upon Mary 's Son that we may be chearful How true that is I know not but this I am sure that looking upon Jesus Christ by an Eye of Faith will make a Soul rejoyce abundantly Tho' now you see him not yet believing you rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 Joy comes in by believing Actings of Faith will cause Jesus Christ to set abroach this Royal Wine of Joy for you which will never be a-tilt but alway run fresh while you act Faith to draw A believing Soul hath a Bird in its own bosom that makes most sweet and pleasant Melody Faith spies out God's Love in all things sees all providential Dispensations come from God as a Token of Love and so rejoyceth in all When a Wife receiveth but a small thing from her Husband abroad as a Token of Love she rejoyceth more in it than in forty times more which she had at home before But most of all Faith sees Love of God shine forth in the Gifts of Grace and Priviledges of Heaven Hath God given you the rich Jewel of Grace a Patent for Heaven a Grant of the Priviledges of his Court the Right of Adoption to the being a Daughter of God You have abundant cause to rejoyce and triumph in him and to glory in the God of your Salvation 5. You see what kind of joy and delight it is that I have here commended to you It is not an Enthusiastick joy or delight through irrational raptures which reason can give no account of but it 's a rational solid complacency of the Soul in God nor is it a meer sensual joy It 's not the joy of those merry ones of the Age that spend their Life in vain and sinful pleasures whose mirth is madness as the Wise man calls it Eccles 2.2 Mad men will laugh and hoop and hollow as if they were full of joy but who knows not that their condition is very sad In the midst of laughter the heart is sad and the end of that mirth is heaviness Prov. 14.13 Do not the jolliest sinners find a damp after all their mirth and alas their mirth will last but a while their feast will be soon over the cloth will be shortly drawn the musick shall cease to play at their doors and then nothing shall be heard but lamentable out-cries bitter wailing and gnashing of the Teeth for ever I have been the longer on this that I might keep you from that prejudice against Religion which is in the hearts of most as if it were a sad and a melancholy life as if the bitter herb of Grace would poison the flower of all their Mirth And for the same reason I shall add another Advice a-kin to this CHAP. XI Of Praise and Thankfulness to God 1. LIve a Life of Praise and Thankfulness to God This inclines the Soul to a holy rejoycing in God Let him have your admiring Praises continually O steep your thoughts in the Love and Mercies of God! Say often with your self O what hath God done for me what great Mercies hath he offered and tendred to my Soul what a mercy is it that I am alive that he hath bore with me thus long and waited for my Repentance what astonishing riches of Love and Free Grace is it that I am on this side Hell and that there is an Alsufficient Saviour provided for me I 'll therefore live to the praise of his Glory and bear witness to his transcendent Excellency 2. Give God both tongue and heart to praise him Anatomists observe that the tongue of man is tyed to the heart by a double string May not this intimate that God would have the tongue as well as the heart a stringed Instrument of his Praise But yet he regards not the Praises of the tongue at all if you do not make melody in your heart unto him What doth God require of you for all his mercies and loving-kindnesses but only praise Some hold their Lands by paying the Rent of a Pepper-corn or the like We hold all that we have from God who requires only that we should pay this poor Quiâ— rent a Pepper-corn of Thankfulness which if we pay daily to him he will give in more mercies Trumpeters delight to sound where they may have an Eccho and God to give where he may have an Eccho of Prase God is
Cannon-shot that damps the fiercest anger CHAP. XIV Of Living in Love and Charity to all 1. LIve in Love and Charity to your Neighbour Be careful to get this grace engraven on your breast and as it were moulded into your very Nature Live in this Element of Love let the acting thereof be so natural and familiar to you that he that runs may read this New Commandment which Christ left of loving one another written in you as it were in Letters of Gold Oh how main a part of Religion and Holiness lies in this duty of Love I do not know through all the New Testament any one duty so much inculcated and prest on as this of Love no string so much beat upon as if it made the best Musick and sweetest Harmony in Christian Religion 2. You must love all even the most wicked in the World as having the natural Image of God or the marks of his Perfection in the Rational Soul David indeed profest his hatred of God's Enemies but it was according to the ordinary gloss of their sins not of their persons That effect of Lightning in breaking the Sword and not bruising the Scabbard is accounted as one of Natures great Mysteries But this heavenly flame of Love and Charity seems much more mysterious and admirable in its operations whilst it would by all means keep safe and preserve the person of our vicious Neighbour and Enemy when it hath a deadly hatred unto and a desire to destroy his Vices 3. Though you love all yet your best and choicest Love must be to the Saints in whom the Moral Image of God which consists in righteousness and true hollness and is the special Loadstone of Love doth shine and sparkle forth In the parallel Lines which are drawn from the Circumference to the Center they all draw to it and the nearer the Center the nearer they are to one another God is the Center of Love and the nearer we come to him the nearer are we to one another in spiritual Affection There 's a Consanguinity of Graces among the Saints and therefore the greatest Love as there is among persons of the same blood and kindred They are all the Children of God by Faith 4. Let this Love put you upon being ready to do all the good you can as you have opportunity but especially to those that are of the houshold of Faith Let the Errand on which Jesse sent David be your great business in the World Look how thy Brethren fare Consider the Poor so as to relieve them Deny your self Superfluities that you may supply the Poor with Necessaries The Poor are God's Wardrobe you cannot hang up your Riament in a better place CHAP. XV. How to manage your Converse in Company 1. LET that grace of Love and Charity commended to you in the former Chapter steer and influence you in your Civil Converse in all Companies Let it be as a bridle to your tongue to restrain your speaking evil of others and to curb all censuring Take him saith holy Mr. Baxter that speaks evil of another to you to be Satan's Messenger intreating you to hate your Brother or to abate your Love Let me then warn and caution you not to run upon Satans Errand or to do his Message And consider that this speaking evil of others is the great Make-bate the grand Incendiary that raiseth up flames kindles hatred and malice and damps all Love and Affection It 's the Sluce of dissention and discord the great Inlet of jarrs and animosities of quarrels and contentions in all Companies And as for censuring of others how familiar is it with those of your Sex when they come together to run division in the Censures of other persons either for their entertainments their garb and dressing their outward behaviour and gestures or some such trifles alway finding fault and often making as Coneys do holes in the Rocks where they cannot find therefore do you mind your self only look within your self within your own heart in this respect keep at home like a good Huswife be much within doors within your own bosom to spy what fault there is and go not abroad in uncharitable Censures of others In the Twilight we can see to read without doors when we cannot within We cannot see the swellings in our own hearts when we can easily spy small Pimples in another we can see the Moâ—e in anothers Eye when we cannot the Beam in our own 2. Be watchful when you are in Company that you contract no harm thereby The Bee in the midst of the Hive full of clinging stuff yet keeps her wings untoucht with it Indeed vain Company hath usually a very strong force to make us imitate their gestures words and actions we usually learn our Pronunciation our Shibâ—â—â—â—th and our Gestures and Gate by our Company You can scarce come any where but there is some white Wall or some black Hood so that you shall carry something away with you But the greatest danger is from carnal Friends and Relations these indeed are the great Impediments in the way to Heaven Many in all probability had been holy and gracious persons if they had had better Kindred and lived where Godliness had been encouraged and good Examples given thereunto O it is a very sad thing to be near to them whose nearness will remove you further from God! Be therefore exceeding careful to keep your spiritual Watch in your Company and labour so to live in the World as not to partake of the corrupt and sinful humours of it As Mother Pearls live in the Sea not taking in one drop of Salt Water into their Shells 3. But yet as much as possible may be avoid joyning your self with any Acquaintance except such by whom you may be made better The Royal Psalmist begins his first Psalm with the blessedness of that person who hath not walkt in the company of the ungodly Diamonds will not cement with Rubbish 4. In all Converse in any Company let some good words fall from you that may tend to make them better Let your Lips like the Spouses in the Canticles drop as the Honey-comb distil some sweetness some savoury and wholsom words A word spoken in season may thro' God's blessing tend to the eternal welfare of a Soul A good Woman riding with her Husband in a great Thunder which much affrighted him and being askt by him what the reason was why she was not at all afraid returned this sweet and holy Answer Because it is my Fathers Voice And this one seasonable word proved the occasion of his Conversion to God 5. Be sure to avoid all vain discourse and idle chatt which is the feminine malady and let your words be few and well considered before you speak Remember that astonishing speech Mat. 12.36 That of every idle word that you shall speak you shall give an account thereof at the day of Judgment CHAP. XVI How to manage Solitariness 1. VVHen you are solitary and alone
take heed of the creeping in of vain thoughts which are then most apt to swarm Oh it is incredible to think what a multitude of vain thoughts run through the vain mind in an hour perhaps as many as there be Sands in an Hour-glass O what pity is it that this noble Soul should be so idle either doing nothing or to so little purpose It 's an evil heart that like Jett draws to it self nothing but Straws O how much is it to be lamented that this golden Mill of the Soul should spend it self in grinding Chaff for its Enemy the great destroyer of Mankind O wash thy heart from wickedness how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee Jer. 4.14 2. Entertain some short discourses with God or with your self when you are alone You never need complain of Melancholy and Solitariness in want of Company when you may make your self company enough for you may then hold discourse with God and your own Soul A Child of God is never less alone than when most alone because he hath God usually with him who is the best company That good Heathen Philosopher Epictetus could solace himself in his Solitariness in Banishment with these thoughts that Divine Colloquies and Conferences were to be had every where with God O learn to converse with God in your most solitary Retirements Say to God I will set thee always before me Psal 16.8 Or you may profitably use some discourses with your self some Divine Soliloquies you may call your Soul aside to her withdrawing Room you may commune with your own heart in your Chamber as the Psalmist expresseth it Psal 4.4 But not as the Fool in the Gospel did singing a secure lullaby to his Soul Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years eat drink and be merry Luk. 12.19 But after the example of the devout Psalmist singing a holy rest to his Soul Return unto thy Rest O my Soul for God hath dealt bountifully with thee Psal 116.7 Or if you have a troubled spirit then you may talk to your self in a way of challenge or chiding expostulation Why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me As he did Psal 42.5 11. where he rallies up his Soul in that awakening Enquiry And if after you see reason to alter your Note and to give thanks for the scattering of that sad Cloud by the Sun-shine of Pardoning Mercy and Love then you may set your Affections in the same Key in which the same holy Man's were in another Soliloquy saying with him Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name who forgiveth all thine iniquities and healeth all thy diseases Psal 103.1 2 3. 3. This course will much improve you in Piety and Holiness and this Retirement will help you to the most excellent Company to the Fellowship of God and Christ who will dwell in you and the innumerable company of Angels and just men made perfect will be of the same Society with you She that is not permitted to speak in the Church may thus preach to her self in her own private Chapel to her great benefit I mean that Sacred Chapel which her Devotion hath built in her own heart CHAP. XVII How to live in a Prosperous Condition 1. LIve above withering Vanities above all the smiles and blandishments of the World let not your heart be glued to any creature comforts look on them all as withered flowers as dead things let your heart be crucified to the World and the World to it looking upon it as a dead carcass that hath no beauty or loveliness in it If you profess your self a Christian live at a higher rate than others How unbecoming is it a Child of God to be puzling her self about the World A sense of the Love of God would lift up your Soul above the sweetest flowers and delights upon Earth in all which there will be found nothing but Wormwood and Gall in the latter end nothing but vanity and vexation of spirit It 's only the Rose of Sharon that is without prickles 2. Proportion your duties according to your mercies the greater Receivings or Incomes you have from God the greater must your Disbursments and Layings out for him be Your Accounts must be according to the number and weight of your Talents Matth. 25. The Servant should proportion his work according to his wages The Tree brings forth fruit proportionable to the juyce and nourishment that the root sucks from the Earth and to the cost that is bestowed upon it In the Ceremonial Law God required more costly Sacrifices from the Rich than from the Poor A pair of Turtle Doves or two young Pigeons would have been accepted from the Poor but not from the Rich. God was displeased with Hezekiah because he rendred not according to the benefits received 2 Chron. 23.25 3. Improve all your prosperity and lawful pleasures to the furthering of your delight in God If that a prosperous condition should afford you all the variety of Objects which might be most delectable to the several senses use them only as Stirrops or as the advantage of a higher ground to raise up your self by to the thoughts of Heaven and the delights thereof Let your Soul take occasion and advantage thence to carry it self up to the delightful thoughts of God the giver of all these as the Bird from the Tree takes the further flight And so far as you can make use of all your delight in creature comforts to promote your delight in the Lord and to drive away those black Clouds of carnal fears and sadnesses of spirits which are Enemies to your spiritual joy and delight Thus you will prove your self a good Chymical Christiâ—â— extracting a spiritual Quintessence out of these earthly and drossy things thus you turn Dung and Dross into Gold and Pearls mean and contemptible matters into high and glorious things and gain to your self such an Elixir as will refresh the Soul and fill it with Cordial Spirits When you perceive and tast the sweetness and pleasantness of these outward mercies think seriously if these be so sweet and delightsom how much more sweet is God himself who put all that sweetness and pleasantness therein 4. As you love your Soul let not your life be a life of pleasure and vanity If the Devil can but take you up with one pleasure one day and another vanity another till the Hour-glass of your time be run out he hath his end and you are ruin'd for ever Remember Dives his life was a continual feast of pleasure Luk. 16.19 but death soon brought the Voider and the Devil took away O do not ride to Hell upon the back of pleasure Can any think to dance with the Devil all day and to sup with Christ at night Quies which signifies Rest wants the plural number Flatter not your self with dreams of having a Rest in carnal pleasures here and everlasting Rest
meekness The Apostle Peter having said Ye were as Sheep going astray but are now returned unto the Shepherd of your Souls 1 Pet. 2.25 He immediately adds in the next words Ye Wives be in subjection to your own Husbands Wives are Christs Sheep and must not be the Devils Shrews 4. Is God calling you to be a Mother having formed a work in you unseen to any other Eye but his take great care that you give up and seriously devote and dedicate the fruit of your womb to God to be his Servants so that all the Children that God shall give you may be as Bathsheba called Solomon Children of your Vows And in the educating of them see that you be continually instilling and dropping into them the Milk of wholsom Instructions that so it may be said of you as of Solomon's virtuous Woman her Children rise up and call her blessed Prov. 31.28 How careful have holy Women been in these cases While Monica the Mother of Saint Austin was with Child with him she did often devote him to the Christian Religion and the Service of the great God and afterwards in his Education she so affectionately tendred the good of his Soul that he was called the Child of her Prayers and Tears It was Timothy's happiness that he had a good Mother and a good Grand-mother for so he learned the Scriptures from a Child And the Mother of holy Bernard as soon as her Children were born gave them up to the Lord Jesus to be his Servants And no less careful was she of of their Instructions as soon as they came to be capable thereof and the success was happy in that all of them became holy Children of God Children while young are most with the Mother and in her company and usually have the most love to her and therefore are the most likely to take her Instructions therefore be you careful to improve that advantage And begin betimes with them so soon as you see the first buddings of reason Gardiners begin to graft at the first rising of the Sap in the Spring and when the Bud of the Stock first begins to swell and enlarge The Wax while it is soft and tender will easily take Impression Labour by all means to imprint upon the Children that God shall give you a stamp of Holiness Philip King of Macedon gave to one a piece of Metal without any stamp who after returned it again to the King with his Son Alexander's Picture engraven on it which very much pleased the King You will receive your Children from God unpolisht without any form see that you return them back to him with his Son Christs Image on them which is the Image of Holiness 5. How sadly accented an account have those Mothers to give to God who neglect giving of good Instructions to their Children betimes What a terrible speech was that of a dying Lady to her ungodly Mother It 's too late now to speak of God to me I am going to Hell before and you will certainly follow after CHAP. XX. How to manage all Natural and Civil actions religiously 1. MAnage all your Natural and Civil actions by the Rules of Religion making the very drift and scope of them all to be the pleasing and glorifying of God Let the Needle in the Compass of your Soul stand directly and steddily to this Pole God's Glory and then you will steer your course aright Mind this end not only in acts of Devotion and the direct duties of Religion but in the course of your civil conversation 2. And do not satisfie your self with making God your end in the general course of your life but mind this end actually and expresly in every solemn action of every day If you eat or drink do it not to gratifie your carnal sense or appetite but to preserve your health that by your health and strength you may be better enabled to do God service And so in all your domestick affairs level your Arrow at the same mark aim at this White chiefly and ultimately the Glory of God Thus you will make both your Natural and Civil actions to slide into Religion and become parts of God's service Thus you will serve God in your lying down and in your rising up in your eating drinking sleeping visiting journeying and all other your lawful actions 3. But I do not here bid you to mind this end actually in every ordinary action throughout the whole day or in every bit of Bread that you put in your mouth this cannot be done but yet you may do it in every solemn action of the day you may at every meal when you sit down actually and observedly mind this end though not in every bit you eat Or in a morning when you rise you may have a resolved intention to do all that day in the Name of God and for his Glory and you may by a ready unobserved act of a strong habit order all particulars that day to the same end which you did actually propound to your self at first rising in the morning and still all the day do propound to your self in the general habitual disposition frame and purpose of the heart Thus then though the Glory of God and good of the Soul cannot be distinctly and actually intended in every single action of the day yet a sincere habitual intention of God's Glory well fixed and rivetted within will be sufficient to steer and influence all the particulars of that day into that end As a man that sets forward in a Journey with a full intention to go to London though he do not actually think of London in every step that he takes yet by virtue of the first settled intention every particular step is ordered to that end CHAP. XXI Of spending of Time 1. NEver do any thing meerly to pass the time away Neither make any Visits nor set upon any thing called Recreation barely on that account Time is too precious a Jewel too valuable a Treasure to study how to get rid of it as some do of an old Commodity that lies on their hands that they cannot tell what to do with God never gave us the least pittance or moment of good to trifle away but that we might do some time therein What can you have any time to pass away when many would give all they are worth but to draw out their breath one hour longer As a great Lady that cryed out on her Death-bed All too late a world of wealth for an inch of time 2. Avoid all such occasions whatsoever as are expensive of much time to no good purpose as vain trickings and trimmings tirings and dressings too long needless visits perusal of idle Books or Treatises of vanity and folly vain thoughts fruitless discourse unnecessary sleep useless Recreations and idle Games But it may be askt Are not these things lawful This one Question sends many to Hell May I not do this For we are most of all in danger by the use of
13. ult Put on the New Man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Eph. 4.24 Be you cloathed with humility foâ— God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble 1 Pet. 5.5 This Garment is very neat but how much more comely and glorious is the Wedding Garment of Souls the Robe of Christ's Righteousness which is put on by Faith Oh what a blessed time will that be when I shall be arrayed with the perfect beauty of Holiness with the white Garments of perfect Light and Glory then shall be the Marriage of the Lamb. Am I not now garnishing a Body which may in a few days turn to rottenness O what shall this vile Body be deckt as a dead Body stuck with flowers and the precious Soul be neglected 3. When you have got your cloaths on then solemnly retire into your Closet for Devotion if no other necessary business call you unto something else before which may often happen when you have a Family which when you have then if occasion be first settle affairs therein for the fore-noon work and then having sounded a retreat in your heart to temporal affairs you may after retire into your Closet with more freedom from domestick cares and without fear of interruption whereas if you went to your private Devotion before you would be forced to cut it shorter to curt and clip that duty 4. Manage your domestick affairs with prudence and diligence but not with sollicitous eagerness and vexing care Solomon's virtuous Woman looketh well to the affairs of her houshold and eateth not the bread of idleness Prov. 31.27 A wise woman buildeth her house Prov. 14.2 she studies in every business how to set every thing in order as the Carpenter studies how to set every part of the frame in joynt But yet herein be not like Martha while she played the good huswife cumbred about many things And if many things fall out together dispatch them in a prudent order and not with too much haste and eagerness Those things are seldom well done that are done over-hastily The Drones flie about more hastily than the Bees but they make no Honey but Combs only 5. At your meals reflect upon God turn your eyes to see his mercies towards you Thus will you enjoy God in all A carnal heart regards no more than the bare enjoyment of these outward mercies but looks not to the spring from whence they come as a gracious heart doth who finds the greatest sweetness of them to be their coming from the Love of God Besides you may then reflect on God by raising up your thoughts to the delights in him think seriously in your heart if this meat be so sweet to my tast how much more sweet is Christ and hidden Mannah Here you may take occasion like him that sate at meat with Christ Luk. 14.15 to raise up your thoughts to the blessedness of him that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God Thus you will feast your Soul while you are feeding your Body Thus you may so sweeten your Meat and spice your Cup with the rellishes of the Love of God as may make your Table better and more pleasant to you than the Tables of the greatest Ladies in the World 6. In the midst of all your domestick over-sight of affairs when you shall have any eye Gods Providence casting all your care upon him and so he will bless your endeavours And often retire to God by Ejaculations short Addresses and holy Breathings of Soul after him By these you may sanctifie both your walking riding and journeying which are usually vainly spent in multitudes of idle thoughts that signifie nothing and all your affairs also whatsoever This was Nehemiah's practice when he was before the King he then prayed to the God of Heaven Chap. 2.4 I do not believe that he then went into some place by himself to pray no he sent up only some short Ejaculations to God while he was in the King's presence It 's reported of holy Mr. Dod that he never got up upon his Horse but he prayed before he alighted off In every corner there is a Throne of Grace therefore often every day improve this priviledge be often looking up to God and casting your eyes to Heaven and so you may bring down Heaven to you As often as you want direction in any sudden case and affair or relief in any need by one lift or sudden glance of the Eye of Faith to Jesus Christ you may have it And in such cases you may use as an Ejaculatory Prayer that of honourable Jabez O that thou wouldst bless me indeed and that thy hand may be with me and that thou wouldst keep me from evil that it may not grieve me 1 Chron. 4.10 which was so pleasing to God that it 's added there and God granted him that which he requested 7. Besides those short Ejaculations now mentioned you must make solemn Addresses to God twice a day at least The Soul must have her set meals or a set service to God twice every day at least Twice every day the Clock must necessarily be wound up Aaron lighted the Lamps and burned Incense evening and morning Exod. 30.7 8. Reading of Scripture is to us as his burning the Lamps and praying is as his burning Incense these two must go both together like eating and drinking If you do solemnly address your self to God in the morning you shall be in a better frame and temper of heart all the day after and if you do it at night you will find a better appetite to it again next morning But I do not limit you to twice a day it will be best to do it as often as with any conveniency you can Holy David did it thrice a day evening and morning and at noon Psal 55.17 so did Daniel ch 6. v. 10. 8. Fill up all the intervals and vacancies of your time every day those Parentheses or breathing times betwixt one employment and another with reading some good and profitable Books necessary Recreations for your health charitable Visits of the Poor friendly Courtesies neighbourly Civilities or some profitable Discourse or Recourses to God in Prayer beside your evening and morning Addresses 9 Every night before you go to Bed retire your self and call your self seriously to an account in an impartial survey of all the remarkable actions and also of the mercies of the past day And for your better direction therein you may ask your self these following questions 1. What time have I lost or trifled away this day 2. What particular duties have I omitted 3. What sins have I committed this day 4. Out of what principle have I performed my duties whether out of an inward byass of Love to God or from some outward Poises and Motives Have not the wheels been oiled by some sinister orespects in duty Hath not my perfâ—rmance of duties been more out of custom or to stop the mouth of natural Conscience than out
some circumstances in Worship which they like not 4. When you come home from the Publick be careful to spend your time in Religious Exercises Meditate on what you have heard and having like a diligent Bee gathered abroad in the Publick Assembly the sweet of heavenly Flowers work your Honey-comb within your own Hive Digest well by private Meditation that spiritual meat which was set before you in the Dishes of the Publick Ordinances Meditate also on the Attributes of God the Works of God and especially the Mercies of God that you may be stirred up to holy rejoycings praises and thanksgivings which are the most proper work of the day which is a day of thanksgiving and commemoration of the Mercies of God especially of the Resurrection of Christ and the great work of Redemption 5. Be careful that your Servants do not prophane or mis-spend this day as being tender of their Souls as well as your own Solomon's virtuous Woman gave a portion of holy Instructions as well as of Food to her Servants and Maidens Prov 31.15 26. CHAP. XXIV Of Holy Duties in general 1. BEfore you go to any Duty address your self to Jesus Christ for a supply of grace for the performance thereof If you be to go to a new act of praying or hearing or receiving the Sacraments you must eye Jesus Christ again put forth a new act of Faith towards him and labour for new Influences and a fresh supply of Spirit from him 2. Do not only number your Duties but weigh your Duties how many how many look only how oft they go to Duties but never seriously how or in what manner they perform them and so cheat themselves everlastingly concluding themselves to be in a state of Grace because of their constancy in Duties but miscarry everlastingly for want of a right manner of performing them as out of a right spring and principle and to a right end and with sincerity and fervency of affection Though the Tree bear many large and fair fruits yet it is not much valued unless they have a good rellish If the fruits that your Soul brings forth have not a good tast through the sincerity and right ends thereof or tast not of the Love of God they will not be acceptable unto God Let all your works be done in Love 1 Cor. 16.14 3. Do not only perform holy duties but love holy duties so they will be more acceptable to the God of Love An ungodly Man or Woman may often go to prayer but they love it not they may hear the Word but they receive not the Truth in the love of it But a good heart loves duties So long as you cannot find any rellish in Ordinances or private Duties but are in an indifferency whether you perform them or no or have your frequent intermissions of these meals so that sometimes you take them and sometimes you let them alone it is a sign you are not sound within or if you do constantly take them if it be without an appetite and perform holy duties only to stop the mouth of Conscience it s an argument your Soul is not in health Till you find sweetness in Ordinances the case is not well with you as it should be the Soul is out of frame If once you love duties they will be a delight and refreshment to you All the ways of Christ are Beds of Spices and Roses and can you walk on such and not be requited for it with sweet and fragrant smells Those that carry bundles of Spices from Arabia have their Spirits refresht with the sweet Odours that breathe from them A good Christian is refresht in duty the Soul can sing at her work Love turns all pains into pleasures Though the Mother take a great deal of pains in tending the Child yet she finds a sweet delight in it because of her love to it A good Christian can say with David O how I love thy Law Psal 119.97 And I delight to do thy Will O my God! Psal 40.8 CHAP. XXV Of Prayer 1. DO not rush on Prayer presently without some serious consideration before Read therefore some portion of Scripture before you pray This will afford you matter of meditation which will furnish you with matter for Prayer for so you may turn what you have read into Prayer A good Heart is by one Duty quickned and prepared for another as the Wild Bores by whetting their Tusks with their other Teeth make them sharp and so every Tooth mutually sets an edge on another If therefore you be to read Pray before by some short Address to God if to Pray read before Yea Pray also before Prayer that God would Assist you in Prayer and deliver you from the Evil Infirmities of your Prayer Holy David Prays for his own Prayers Psal 141.1 2. 2. Look not upon Prayer as a task but as a priviledge O! what a great and glorious priviledge is it that the poorest Saint may with boldness have access to God! Eph. 3.18 Rom. 5.1 2. Is it not a Royal Priviledge to have a Key in our keeping that opens Heaven Gates and lets into the Presence Chamber of the King of Glory To speak with him at any time If you would thus look upon it I should not need to perswade you to go to Prayer constantly Morning and Evening This would be in stead of a hundred Arguments that Prayer is so High and so Royal a Priviledge that you may thereby go boldly to the Throne of Grace draw near to God himself and lay your Petition in his Bosom and plead your Cause before him and fill your Mouth with Arguments and Reason out your great Concernments with him and receive his Answers 3. Pray Earnestly Lazy Devotion and Key-cold Prayers will never prevail You must wrestle with God in Prayer like Holy Jacob that you may prevail In wrestling one single Person strives with another so the Devout Soul with God they go to it singly as it were Hand to Hand and have as it were a single Combat in private The Devout Saint loves to wrestle with God in the Closet when no Body is present the Door being shut he loves not to have Spectators of it he then comes up close to God and gets within him takes hold of his Everlasting Arms. Thus the Woman of Canaan Wrestled with Christ she stands to it though she had many Repulses from him The Soul thus Wrestles with God as a Child with the Father who is much delighted and pleased to let it get the better on him to encourage it and after takes it up from its Knees into his Arms when you go to Prayer you must set all your faculties on work you must open and spread the Sails open and spread forth your Affections as wide as you can that they may gather wind enough to waft you over to the Land of Promise 4. See that your Prayers be followed with Diligent and Serious Endeavours for effecting of that which you have Prayed for
more but that you may be affected more 4. Hear the Word attentively and diligently because it is your Life Deut. 32.46 The things spoken do concern the Soul and are most Momentous how slightly and carelesly do multitudes of People hear the word Preached as if it were a matter of small concern Which might justly cause God to take away the word from us when the Mother sees that the Child doth but play with the Breasts she puts them up 5. Labour to be affected with the word I mean not with some elegant Expressions or pleasing Comparisons that are brought in a Sermon to tickle the fancy of a Delicate Hearer If these only affect you you get no good but suck wind rather than Nourishment The Bee lights not on the Rose which hath the freshest Colour and sweetest Smell but on the Thyme which is an Herb of little beauty A Devout Soul rests not on Truths curiously deckt with Eloquence but upon plain naked Truths to fetch Honey from It likes the most saving weighty and powerful Truths the Spiritualness of the matter the Holiness of Soul-Searching Doctrines such Doctrines as beat down Lust and Corruption But a formalist is only delighted with the History the Elegance of Language the quaint Notions or the Rational Evidence of the Discourse and so rests in the outward shell and tasts not the Kernell If these things only do affect you in hearing you did never yet really tast the goodness of Sermon-Milk or the sweetness and pretiousness of Christ in a Sermon which if once you had tasted how would your Heart be affected and ravisht with it It 's only the tasting of the Hony-Comb that makes one affected with it and to long after more 6. Ponder upon what you hear lay it up in your Heart so as to retain it Thus did Mary by Christs sayings she kept them all and pondered them in her Heart Luke 2.19 The word is a Jewel lock it up in the Cabinet of your Heart It 's pondering on the word in the Heart that doth make it Nourishment to you by Digesting of it and turning it into the Blood and Spirits of Holiness This is the Squeezing of the Hony-Comb of the word into the Heart which makes it yield abundant store of refreshing sweetness Yea and presseth it so that it slides down deep into the Heart so as it is made to abide there When the Minister hath laid on a healing plaister Meditation binds it fast on makes it stick and abide which otherwise would rub off again presently without doing any good it fastens on our Hearts the truths which we have heard 7. If you would profit by the word preached then pray for the Minister before you go to Church Col. 4.3 Eph 6 19. Pray to God to direct him to speak a word in Season to you that might be suitable to your Condition and work upon your Heart I am perswaded that one reason why People reap no more benefit by the word is because they do not before pray for the Minister or for a Blessing on the word that he shall preach to them Consider that thus praying for him you pray for your self if the Mother have a full Breast it is the benefit of the Child St. Austin praised God for furnishing his Nurse with Milk when he had perished without it O pray to God constantly before you go to Church that he would enable the Minister to do the work of a Spiritual Nurse well and then you will find that you will have matter to praise God for the good that you shall reap after by his Church Nursery 8. When you come home retire your self a little and repeat over to your self the most practical truths which you have heard make Application of them to your self and press them home upon your own Heart Think not how the Doctrine you have heard doth fit others this hinders your profiting by the word but think how it fits your self CHAP. XXIX Of Receiving the Sacrament of the Lords Supper 1. NEglect no opportunity of being a guest at this Sacred Feast of the Lords Supper and take care that in all your Approaches to it you come worthily This would be a prime and most Soveraign means to your living well which is the design of all the Advice that I have given you O what Excellent and Heavenly Lives did the Primitive Christians lead while they received the Sacrament every day or every Lords Day They were thereby inflamed with such Zeal and Holy Courage that they were said to come from the Sacrament like Lyons breathing fire and hence in Cyprians time they had it every day that they might be the more animated to lay out their Blood for Christ This Sacrament saith Chrysostom is for the Noble Eagles that would have their thoughts on high it helps Souls mightily to mount up with wings as Eagles to run and not be weary to fly swiftly through difficulties and duties and to make them ascend up in a fiery Chariot of Love Christians may hereby be brought unto and preserved in a Holy Galantry of Spirit and briskness and liveliness in well doing and to move as in the Chariots of Aminadab with nimble vigor The Elixir of Christs Blood in the Sacrament will make the believer full of Life and Spirits Hereby a Christian saith Bernard is made more meek to be reproved more patient to labour more fervent to love more ready to obey and more Devout to give God thanks In a word your Heart by this feast of fat things and refined Wines will be more strengthned to the practice of all Holy Virtues to the mastery of all Corruptions and to the Conquest of all Temptations and support to go on in its work and way without sinking under its burthen 2. Besides how could you think that you live well if you should live in the neglect or omission of so great a Duty as this of Receiving the Sacrament which was the Request and Legacy of your dying Saviour with strict Command appendant and annext thereunto Do thus in Remembrance of me Would not that be a living in Rebellion against his Law a slighting of his Body and Blood while you have a Command to Communicate therein Unpreparedness may be your Sin but cannot be a warrantable plea for abstaining 3. Now that you may so make your Addresses hereunto as to come worthily be careful of these four following particulars 1. To know and understand the Nature and Ends of this Feast 2. To be such a Person as the Master of the Feast would have his guests to be 3. To make your self ready before you come to it 4. To behave your self so at it as becomes a guest at that Royal Banquet CHAP. XXX Of the Nature of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper ENdeavour to get a right understanding of the Nature of this Divine Mystery so as to know what you feed on there All People love to have light when they are at a Feast to see
what they eat If you have not the light of knowledge so as to see what you eat in the Lords Supper which is the great Mystery of our Religion you do not then discern the Lords Body and so cannot be a worthy Receiver Now as for the Nature of this Holy Sacrament consider both the outside and also the inside of it The outside contains 1. The Sacramental Elements Bread and Wine 2. The Sacramental Rites or Actions The Sacramental Elements are Bread and Wine which being duly Consecrated are plain and visible Representations and Divine Memorials of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ But yet they are not bare Representations thereof they are not meer shadowy Significations and Resemblances For God doth not nourish and feed our Souls with thin and empty Shadows weak and languishing Representations or naked Emblems And therefore we must further look on them as real Pledges and Seals or Instruments of Conveyance of Christ and the fruits of his Death in a Mystical manner to the Faith of his People which comes to pass by Virtue of our Lords Institution whereupon he that duly receives the Elements receives the thing signified by them and vail'd therein As among Men a pledge confirms a contract and a Seal conveys an Estate House or Land by Virtue of the Law of the Land So by Virtue of Christs Institution the Covenant of grace is by the Sacramental Elements confirm'd betwixt God and the worthy Receiver and Jesus Christ with all his benefits truly exhibited and conveyed from God to the believing Communicant though not as through a Conduit Pipe as if they were Locally contained therein yet as an Estate is Conveyed from the Giver by Wax and Seal which is delivered by the Hand of his Messenger or as the Possession of a House is delivered by a Key and of Land by a Sod or Turf And so when Christ saith by the Minister Take This is my Body or my Blood he doth as much as say Take these they are to thee my Body and Blood i. e. real Pledges together with which I give thee my self according as a Man in worldly Matters doth by Pledges give the thing signified thereby as if he that 's about giving possession of a House should give a Key and say Take it here is possession of my House or delivering an Evidence Sealed should say Take this here is my Land And upon this account the Cup is called by the Apostle the Communion of the Blood of Christ and the Bread broken the Communion of the Body of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 where the Apostle signifies to us that the Eating and Drinking of Believers in the Lords Supper is a real Communication in his Meritorious Death and All-sufficient Sacrifice and a true Participation of the Blessed Fruits of the Cross As among the Jews those that did eat of the Sacrifice did partake of the Altar ver 18. that is of the Sacrifice offered upon the Altar So among Christians to Eat and Drink by Faith in the Lords Supper is to be partaker of his Immaculate Sacrifice once for all offered up upon the Altar of the Cross The Covenant is as the Deed that intitles us to all the Riches of Grace and Regions of Glory but the Sacrament is the Instrument that doth Invest us therein The Sacramental Actions or Rites are on the Ministers part 1. The Consecration by Blessing and giving thanks 2. Breaking and Delivering And then on the Communicants part the Actions or Rites are Taking Eating and Drinking The inside of the Sacrament or the Spiritual thing Signified and Couched in the outward Sacrament this is Christ himself as offered up upon Mount Calvary together with the precious Fruits of the Cross which bare better Fruits to us than all the Trees of Paradise did as Olives of Peace and Reconciliation with God Clusters of the Grapes of Canaan Righteousness and Grace Joy and Gladness Life and Salvation The Elements of the Bread and Wine signifie the Body and Blood of Christ with the pretious Fruits thereof and the breaking of the Bread signifies the Crucifying or Sacrificing of Christ And the Delivery of the Bread and Wine Christs Delivering of himself with his Benefits And the Taking Eating and Drinking point forth the Communicants thankful accepting and using that pretious gift Here 's the glory and divinity of the mystery CHAP. XXXI Of the Ends of the Sacrament ENdeavour to understand well the Ends of this Sacrament Now for your more clear and distinct understanding hereof I shall premise this one thing viz. That this Sacrament of the Lords Supper in the true notion of it is a Feast and particularly a Feast upon a Sacrifice or a Feast upon that which was once offered up in Sacrifice to God namely the Body and Blood of Christ which are represented in the outward Elements of Bread and Wine And thus it is parallel unto or bears proportion with the Jewish Feasts under the Law which were made upon those things which they had first offered up in Sacrifice to God for it was an antient custom among the Jews as also generally among the Heathen to link Feasting and Sacrificing together and to Eat of the things which themselves had Sacrificed and so had a Communion therein This they did to signifie a Foederal or Covenanting Rite and solemnity betwixt God and Them as also a Covenanting League of friendship among themselves who did eat thereof This being premised you may more plainly understand the ends of this Sacrament which are these following The first end of this Sacrament is to be nourishment to our inward man or that the Divine Nature in us might thrive The end of a Feast is nourishment This Sacred Feast was instituted to nourish and feed the Soul to strengthen and increase its Graces Hence it 's exprest by Eating and Drinking 1 Cor. 11.24 25. Christ comes to the Soul as Melchisedeck to Abraham with Bread and Wine The very Body and Blood of Christ which were a Sacrifice as they were offered up to God in that one full and sufficient oblation upon the Cross are Meat and Drink for the Souls nourishment as they are offered unto us and set before us in the Dishes of the outward Sacrament and so Christ Crucified is truly and really but Spiritually and Mystically given to us in the Lords Supper to be our Nutriment as he was given for us in the Sacrifice and Oblation upon the Cross to be our propitiation and atonement Christs Flesh is Meat indeed and his Blood Drink indeed and do become one with us spiritually for our nourishment as our Bodily Meat and Drink do being turn'd into our substance here there is a kind of Divine Coalition into the same Nature hence our Saviour said He that eateth me shall live by me Joh. 6.57 It 's storied of Artemisia that she so dearly loved her Husband Mausolus that after he was dead she took the Ashes of his Urn and mingled them with her Drink and so
intomb'd her dead Husband in her living body A faithful Soul that is espoused to Christ doth this at the Sacrament Eating and Drinking there of her crucified Saviour by a Spiritual Commessation thus she lives by him and hath him as it were intomb'd in her Heart Therefore whensoever you come to this Heavenly Banquet come with this end that your Soul may receive increase and nourishment in Grace thereby that you may have Christ become one with you as your food doth whereby you thrive and grow But yet you must not think to get any nourishment from the out-side of the Sacrament from the outward Rynd or Bark or Skin of the Ordinance or by feeding on the outward Elements if you rest there This would be to scrape or lick the Dish only or out-side of the Cup to play with the Trencher and let the Meat alone and to go away whole and untoucht from the Table The second end for which this Sacrament was instituted is a solemn Commemoration of Christ and him Crucified or the celebrating a memorial of him in the Church thrâ—ughout all Ages Publick Feasts were usually made for the perserving the memory of some great Benefactor Now this Sacrament of the Passion is a publick Feast for the whole Church of God in all Ages and was it not instituted for to keep a perpetual memory of the Founder of it our dear Lord and infinite Benefactor This will appear by his own words at the first Institution do this in remembrance of me Luk. 22.19 i. e. of me as Crucified and Dying as Saint Paul expresly interprets it 1 Cor. 11.16 For as oft as ye do eat this Bread and Drink this Cup ye do shew forth the Lords Death till he come and therefore it was purposely ordain'd for the retaining a more special Memory of his Death and Passion For the Sacrament as I premised was a feast upon a Sacrifice and so it was ordain'd by Christ more particularly and specially to commemorate that oblation of himself upon the Cross for the Redemption of the World till he come to Judgment to eternize the memory of his great and infinite love and goodness in dying for us and to transmit it to all succeeding Ages and Generations The Lord hath so done this marvellous work that it ought to be had in everlasting remembrance Therefore in all your addresses to this Sacrament of the Passion come for this end to keep in a thankful and affectionate memory the great and infinite sufferings of Christ for our Sins Remember his Death and Passion through the whole Sacramental Action and that with the most enlarged and enravisht affections and meltings of Heart and the immortal hatred of those sins that put him upon dying for us and the shedding of His most precious blood one drop whereof is of more value than a Mountain of Pearl as big as the whole Earth The third End of the Lords Supper is a solemn renewing of the Baptismal Covenant The Feasts antiently made upon Sacrifices were generally used as I observed before to signifie thereby a Covenanting with God Therefore this Supper of the Lord being in the true notion of it as I said a feast upon the bloody Sacrifice offered by Christ upon the Cross for us it doth clearly insinuate to us that it was appointed to be a mutual stipulation or covenanting betwixt God and his Communicants hence Christ said concerning the Cup This is the New Testament or Covenant in my Blood i. e. the Rite or Solemnity of the New Covenant to declare and signifie the consent of parties thereunto and resolution to perform the duties of it insinuating thereby that as the Legal Sacrifices on which the People did eat were as Rites of an old superannuated Covenant so was this Sacrament a Rite of a New Covenant by using whereof we do testifie our engagements to perform it as God doth his for making us partakers of all the Blessings couched in it So that this Sacrament on Gods part doth signifie a solemn delivery of Jesus Christ his pretious Body and Blood together with remission of sins for which that blessed Body was broken and torn and that Blood spilt and all other fruits of his Death And on our part it signifies a free acceptance thereof and a hearty delivery of our selves up to the intire obedience of him as we ingaged in the New Covenant to do so that consequently one great End of this Sacrament is to be a pledge of our happy participation of the Body and Blood of Christ with remission of Sins Justification Adoption and Title to the Regions of Bliss and all other the inestimable benefits thereof Hence it 's called the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 where the Apostle doth plainly declare than the Sacramental Bread and Cup are assured pledges of our Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ i. e. of the Communication thereof to us if duely received Therefore in all your Addresses to the Lords Table go with this â—cope and End that you may have a part and portion in Christs Body and Blood remission of sins and reconciliation thereby with all other merits of the Blood of the Cross which God hath Covenanted to make over to you And go also with this intent that you may renew the ingagement and declare that you will stand to the terms of the Baptismal Covenant that you will keep firm and constant to that holy League and stand out in a holy War against all the Enemies of Christ and never revolt or go to the Enemies quarters but as a faithful confederate with him will alway fight under his Banner against the World the Flesh and the Devil and continue to be on Christs side or of his Religion to your lifes end The fourth End of this Sacrament is to be a pledge and improvement of that love unity and concord that ought to be among Christians Those that did feast upon the Sacrifices antiently as I before hinted did use to enter into a Covenant of friendship among themselves as well as betwixt God and Them And it hath been an universal custom throughout the World to make Covenants or Leagues of Friendship by Eating and Drinking together This blessed Supper of the Lord is really and truly a publick Love-feast and was designed by our Saviour for this end the promoting Love and Union among all his People and to shew that they should all cleave together in one Spirit as they have all been partakers of one Bread 1 Cor. 10.17 If then it was a Love-feast and the feast still remain let not the love be excommunicated CHAP. XXXII Of Habitual Qualifications of the Communicants BEfore you make Addresses to this Heavenly Banquet see that you be habitually such a person as the Master of the Feast our Lord Jesus Christ would have his guests to be Therefore you must set some portion of time apart before the Feast Day to examin your self whether you be such a
person or no i. e. whether you be a Real and Serious Christian one that is truly and in good earnest Godly When the King saw one amongst his Guests that had not on a Wedding Garment that was not Vested with the Robes of Christs Righteousness for Justification nor of Inherent Righteousness for Sanctification he commanded to take him and bind him Hand and Foot and to cast him into utter Darkness Math. 22.13 The Wrath of God will be up against such unworthy Guests as the King 's was against Haman at the Banquet of Wine and will give Sentence against them accordingly The Indians when they first came into these Northern Countreys thought Roses had been Fire Surely the Rose of Sharon will be really a Consuming Fire a devouring Flame to unworthy Communicants He that Eats and Drinks unworthily Eats and Drinks his own Damnation 1 Cor. 11.29 it 's as if the Apostle should say he swallows Damnation and this is more thâ—n to swallow down Flames here in the World It would be well for such if this Sacrament proved only an empty Feast to them but it proves mortal Poyson and like Poyson taken in Wine works with the fiercest Violence If you be an unworthy Guest at the Lords Table you will be guilty of the Body and blood of the Lord 1 Cor. 11.27 your Soul will be diepred in Blood I mention not this to dishearten you from going to that Blessed Feast for you ought to go but to persuade you to go as a worthy Guest that your going may be for your Everlasting Comfort and not for your Confusion CHAP. XXXIII Of Actual Qualifications MAke your self actually ready to come to this great Solemnity this Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper It 's not enough that you be habitually unlese you be actually prepared If you were invited to a Feast by some great Person you would not satisfie your self to go in your ordinary Dress though it were neat and handsom but you would put your self to some more than ordinary pains to spruce and trim up your self so as not to have a Hair amiss And ought you not to be more careful to Beautifie Deck and Trim up your Soul afresh by Special and more than Ordinary Devotions and Actions of Piety before you come to this High and Majestick Solemnity this Tremendous Mystery as Chrysostom calls it Before Meat it 's good to use some Exercise as Physicians say to stir up the Natural Heat for to promote Digestion And so before this Spiritual Feast it 's good to Exercise our Souls for the stirring up our Spiritual Appetite thereunto for the warming heating and quickning of all those Graces and Affections that are necessary for a worthy Communicant which are Faith Repentance Hungring Desires Love to God and our Neighbour Joy Thankfulness and Resolutions of New Obedience You must not only have the habit of these Graces but they must be made ready new scoured and prepared so as they may work more kindly at the Sacrament there must be a tuning of the Viol and a winding up of the Strings the several Faculties of the Soul Now you must rally up all your Affections all the Forces of your Soul and get them all in a ready Frame and due Posture for exercising themselves at this Sacred Solemnity You must premeditate before you go of all the work that you are to do at the Sacrament and so thereby fit your self for the better doing of it when you come there CHAP. XXXIV Of Suitable Behaviour at the Table of the Lord. BE careful so to behave your self at this Divine Feast as becomes one of the Lords Guests It 's not sufficient to get your Heart into a Devout Frame before you Approach to this Table of the Lord but it is requisite also that it be kept up in a Holy Tune in a right Disposition and suitable Deportment during the whole Solemnity It 's not enough to Trim up ones self to go to the Table of some Noble Person but there must be also a becoming Behaviour there lest Offence be given by any undecencies And therefore that your Demeanour here may be proper and becoming I shall instruct you how and in what particular Seasons or Passages of the Administration your Sacramental Graces respectively are to be exercised I hinted to you in the former Chapter which are those Graces that are most proper to be exercised at the Sacrament and shall now shew you in what Order and Method and in what season they are aptly and pertinently to be acted there When you are called up by the Minister to draw near to the Table of Blessing think you hear Christ himself by his Minister calling you up and bidding you welcom And then Exercise Humble Thankfulness and Joy together with hungring desires and let your Heart say Lord what am I that thou shouldst so far condescend as to invite me a poor Worm thy worthless Hand-maid to thy Royal Table And to admit such a wretched Creature to the Banquet of Spiced Wine who have deserved nothing but Gall and Vinegar to Drink My Soul therefore doth Magnifie the Lord and my Spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour for he hath regarded the Lowliness of his Hand-Maid from henceforth all the powers of my Soul shall call thee Blessed Lord hast thou now called me into thy Banquetting-House I do promise here that while the King sitteth at the Table and I there with him my Spicknard shall send forth the smell thereof My Faith Desires Love and Thankfulness Yea all my Graces shall send forth a sweet and holy Perfure to please him O that the same Love that hath prepared a Table for me and now called me to it would prepare me for it and refresh my Soul with Love and Sweetness there At the Ministers reciting the words of Institution Separating and Blessing of the Bread and Wine whereby they are Consecrated Exercise Faith and Thankfulness and fervent Desires to God the Father and say Lord out of thine infinite Love thou didst separate and set apart the Lord Jesus from all Eternity and appointed him for our Redeemer and didst bless him with the Spirit above measure making him the rich Treasury and common Stock of Grace a Fountain over-flowing to the supply of all Believers Let him not be to me a lockt Treasure or a Fountain Sealed up but Bless and Sanctifie these Creatures of Bread and Wine to me that they may be the Body and Blood of Christ in effect to me for my Attonement Peace and Propitiation and pardon of all my Sins and convey Spiritual Life Nourishment and Comfort to me abundantly O let my Soul be steept in sweetness and let the Rock pour out Oyl into me even the Oyl of Grace and of Joy and Gladness also When you look upon the Bread and Wine after Consecration Exercise Faith to discern the Lords Body and look now upon them not as common Bread and Wine but as Sacramental Representations Spiritually Exhibiting the Body and Blood