much delighted with the praises of his People he likes well a thankful frame of heart and indeed the heart is never in a better frame than when it 's tuned into a thankful Note 3. Labour very much to get your self moulded into this excellent frame of a thankful and praiseful spirit Do you love and affect mirth and pleasure let me then prevail with you to endeavour seriously to get this Truth engraven as a Principle in your breast that you will never find more pure and clarified pleasure more sweet delight more ravishing joy than when you are in a God-praising and a Christ-admiring frame David's mouth is filled as with marrow and fatness i. e. with the most sweet and delicious pleasure when he praises the Lord Psal 62.5 Yea this will be blessedness to you Blessed saith that holy Psalmist are they that dwell in thy house for they will be still praising thee Psal 84.4 By being thus employed you will hold a Consort with Heaven and fill up the Musick there 4. And because you are unable by all your Songs of Thanks and Praise to reach unto that height of Praise which the Love and Mercies of God call for from you even a Note above Ela such a high Note as would crack all your Strings all your Faculties to get up unto therefore call to Angels and Arch-Angels and all the Quire in the Cathedral of Heaven to sing glory honour and praise to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever CHAP. XII Of Humility 1. LEarn to live humbly before God This will help very much to advance that Praise and Thankfulness that I have now been praising to you The humble Canaanitish how thankful would she be for a Crum falling from the Table of Mercy Matth. 15. A dram of Mercy will then weigh very heavy with you when you look upon your self as the very dust of the ballance 2. The Prophet Micah chap. 6.8 declaring what is good and what the Lord requires of us gives this Instruction Walk humbly with thy God We put on our best Robes when we are to be taken into familiar converse with great persons And therefore that you may walk with the great God and converse with him be clothed with Humility as the Apostle Peter exhorts 1 Pet. 5.5 This is a plain but a very comely and neat Sute of Apparel The Greek word that the Apostle useth in that place seems to allude to the Knots or Ribbands that Women tie about them for Ornament Humility is an excellent Ribband that doth not only adorn the Soul but ties all the Graces together on a knot it 's the string of all those precious and goodly Pearls which if it break they are all scattered If you suffer Pride to break this string your lose all your Virtues When the low Violet of Humility withers all your other Flowers will die Hence Bernard who calls Faith the Mother stiles Humility the Nurse of all Graces God will give all Grace to the humble 1 Pet. 5.5 The richest Wine is laid up in the lowest Cellars The graces and comforts of the Spirit are not laid in the high and lofty heart It 's said of Sancta Clara that she was but once in all her life tickled with the thoughts of Pride and she felt not the comforts of the Spirit of twenty years after Without this Garment of of Humility the Soul is naked and thread-bare It 's a Grace of the greatest worth and yet it will cost you the least to keep it 9. Shew your Humility by your sweet contentedness with that condition which the Wisdom of God shall assign you shew it by your being so far from over-valuing your self that you do entertain mean and low thoughts of your self and let it also appear by your setting light by the esteem of others and by patient bearing all their slights It 's hard indeed to be cut in this Vein and not to bleed very sore if not deadly Shew your Humility also by abandoning bravery or costliness of Apparel for ostentation 4. Now that you may become humble and keep your self so study much the Corruption of Nature and to know your self Say often to your self O what a vile sinful Nature have I how full of corruption which makes my life full of sin how empty am I of all good in what a Bankrupt condition is my poor Soul And if you would in this case take a right and impartial view of your self there is one false Glass which you must avoid which is the Glass of Self-love this will represent all fair to you and make you seem to your self better than you are This is it which makes ones own pride and vanity and unbelief and unholiness seem to be a little sin a tolerable fault and not to deserve damnation It will make every common Grace appear to be saving Grace and a state of Godliness and every Duty a true mark of Regeneracy CHAP. XIII Of Meekness 1. EXercise a meek spirit in all your converse in the World Would you be richly adorned the Apostle Peter will tell you how it may best be and what is the best fashion and that is the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit 1 Pet. 3.3 4 5. You may perhaps think that such a meek deportment would be a derogation from your Credit but see there how God counts it an Ornament better than that of wearing of Gold or putting on of costly Apparel yea such an Ornament as is in his sight of great price And it is the best fashion also v. 5. for so holy women of old adorned themselves 2. Gratifie me your Father in this small request Never provoke others unto Passion neither be you by others provoked thereunto But what shall I be trampled upon no it will be your greatest glory and honour to pass by an affront A cool spirit is an excellent spirit according as it is in the marginal reading of Prov. 17. v. 27. But shall I not then be accounted a Fool No it will be your best Wisdom For the Wisdom which is from above is gentle peaceable easie to be intreated Jam. 3.17 A gracious meek spirit will put up many an affront and never rage Full Vessels will bear many a knock and stroke and yet make no noise But if there be envying and strife in you are you not carnal 1 Cor. 3.3 This wisdom comes not from above but is earthly sensual devilish Jam. 3.15 These overflowings of the Gall are caused by corrupt and noxious humours within Let me perswade you then to take this gentle Medicine this grace of Meekness which will stop those bitter overflowings and effectually cure the burning Feaver of Passion which is caused thereby and readily heal an angry Sore This cool spirit will either prevent sparks from kindling or soon quench them Meekness is a soft and gentle breath a smooth and pleasant fann that cools the Passions It 's soft Wooll that breaks the force of
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
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
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
whole course of your Life And therefore let me now bespeak you in the words of a Holy Man now with the Lord. Let Holiness sit in your Lips and season all your Speech with Grace let it dwell in your Heart let it be your companion in your Closet let it Travel with you in your Journey let it lye down and rise up with you let it close your Eyes in the Evening and call you out of your Bed in the Morning 3. Make holiness the main design and end of your Life Then indeed you live the Life of Holiness when holiness which is the main design of Christianity is the great design of your Life when the very drift purport and intent of your Life is to live to God 4. Spend all the time of your Life that you can redeem from other occasions in the duties of holiness while others steal time from holy duties for their Worldly business and pleasures do you borrow all the time that you can from those things yea from your sleep for holy duties 5. Put forth your Vital Power your Life your Vigor and Strength in Exercises of Holiness Summon in all the powers of your soul let none be wanting Whatsoever your Heart findeth to do in the Work of Religion do it with all your might ply your Oars hoise up your Sails put forward with all your power and strength with might and main in your course toward Heaven By thus doing you will certainly live the Life of Holiness It may be you may meet with some scoffs amongst some Ishmaels for such a Holy Life bat yet let not this discourage or take you off from following the ways of holiness and uprightness What if a Lame Man should laugh at your upright walking would you therefore go lamely But for your better encouragement I shall propound to you one Motive Consider that unless you live the Life of holiness you can never live the Life of glory Vnless you be Regenerated and Born again you can never enter into the Kingdom of God John 3.3 It 's only the New Creature that must be admitted into the New Jerusalem You will never be a Flower in the Paradise of Heaven unless you first be Transplanted out of the common field of Nature into Christ's holy Garden Without Holiness no one shall ever see the Lord. Heb. 12.14 It 's this that fits the very Angels for Heaven and therefore without it how can you ever think to come there It 's not the Angelical Nature but their Holiness that makes them fit for Heaven and therefore it 's more excellent than the very Nature of the Angels considered in it self for it is the Image of God as a bright beam of the Divine Nature and so makes us capable of Heaven My Heart therefore yearns for you my Bowels rowl within me out of tender affection to your Soul lest you should come short of Holiness and thereby come short of Heaven Moral Virtues without Holiness will never be a Jacobs Ladder to reach Heaven how near soever they may come to it O what pity is it that an Ingenuous Nature should by some Moral accomplishments come near to Heaven and yet never come there that Rachel should dye when it was but a little way to come to Ephrath Be sure therefore to add the practice and power of Godliness as a full figure to your Cyphers For unless you do this I shall never have hope to see your Face in Heaven which is an undefiled Inheritance CHAP. IV. Of Living as in Gods Presence 1. LIve always as in the presence of God and as under his jealousie Thus did good Elizabeth in the Gospel of whom it is said That she was Righteous before God or in the Eyes of the Lord as the Vulgar Latin reads it Luke 1.6 It was good counsel of one of the Rabbins that we should always think that there was an Eye that saw all an Ear hearing all and an Hand writing all Often repeat the 1â—9 Psalm to your self and seriously consider that God is in all places and not only in the place where you are but within you in your very Breast and Bosom viewing all your thoughts and intentions not with a bare beholding but with a critical Eye and as a Judge to censure them to approve or Condemn them Whereupon his eye-lids are said to try the Children of Men Psal 11.4 You cannot shut the Heart so close but he hath a Key to unlock it he draws the Curtain and sees what is within he spies out what is Cabinetted and lock'd up in the most secret Corner and private Drawer there The bright and piercing Eye of Omniscience sees the very inward Conceptions before they come to the Birth the first eruptions and ebullitions of a Thought or Intention 2. If you do all things as believing that this Eye is upon you it will have a great influence on your Life What a holy trembling and quivering disposition would this create in you lest you should offend so Glorious an Eye What a Curb and Bridle would it be to restrain from all Sin even from secret Hypocrisie What a sharp Goad and Spur to all Uprightness The Masters Eye makes the Servant work Do but serve God faithfully while he sees you and it is enough I have read of one that committing a foul Sin said to himself No Eye sees me but presently there appear'd an Eye on the Wall with this Inscription But this Eye sees thee If you did always keep within you fresh apprehensions of God as present you would not admit a dishonourable thought of him in your Heart nor let an evil word have passage through the door of your Lips 3. Know for your encouragement that if you thus live as in Gods awful Presence you shall enjoy very much his gracious Presence here and his Glorious Presence hereafter to all Eternity CHAP. V. Of Living in Love to God and Christ 1. LIve in love to God and Jesus Christ do all things out of a principle of Love to God your Father and Jesus Christ the only Saviour God must be loved as your ultimate end the enjoyment of whom is the Souls everlasting blessedness and Christ as Mediator must be loved as the only way whereby we are reconciled to God and come to obtain that blessedness If you live not in the love of God how can you ever expect to live in his favour or that he will either accept you or your Services for it is this Love that perfumes all our actions and makes them a sweet Odour unto God Love to God is the very Life and Soul of all Natural Religion and Love to Christ is the Spirit and Vital principle that animates all Evangelical Duties which are required by the New Covenant and therefore no duty will be acceptible without it 2. Look well to it that your love to God and Christ be a singular superlative transcendent Love a Love that out-ballanceth all other Love whatsoever It must be the
and business to go on in the Way so as that you neither stumble in it nor step awry into by-paths Observe exactly the steps of our fore-runner the Lord Jesus Christ and tread therein Walk by this Clue alone in this dark World if you would neither go aside nor go crookedly in the way The Mariner must know every Point of his Compass otherwise he may endanger all In your passage through the Sea of this World you must mind the Word of God and steer the Ship of your Soul by this Compass exactly you must mind this Rule in all things that you do you must Pray by Rule Read Hear Meditate give Alms and examine your self by Rule Yea you must Eat Drink Sleep Dress and Recreate your self and do every thing in every part of your conversation exactly by Rule 2. Those that are for their Latitude for their vagaries and extravagancies they will cry out against all this strictness and preciseness as a being Righteous over-much and against all Zeal as too feaverish and will tell you that to be thus strait-lac'd cannot be good for the spiritual birth but alas these never knew what this Scripture meant Walk Circumspectly i. e. Strictly or Precisely Does not God who hath prescribed you this strictness know what is best and most necessary for you Let People think what they will certainly without strictness they can never be saved The way to Heaven is a strait gate and there must be a striving to enter into it Luke 13.24 Salvation is not to be got with a wet finger you cannot climb to Heaven with a little lazy and yawning Devotion It 's very dangerous trifling in Religion and doing the Work of God to halves Cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully or negligently Jer. 48.10 If you may have too much godliness then you may have too much of Heaven and Blessedness 3. It requires a great deal of circumspection and care to walk aright in the way to Heaven You must be so exact here as to avoid all occasions and appearance of evil 1 Thes 5.22 and to keep your self unspotted from the World Jam. 1.27 You must be so careful as not to contract any stain or spot upon your Soul A neat Lady in the dirty Streets goes very cautiously and circumspectly observes her feet picks out the cleanest way takes accurate care to avoid every foul step holds up her Garment that it may not be soil'd or get the least spot of dirt Thus a neat Soul makes strait paths for its feet it makes strait steps and goes by a strait Rule considers its ways and desires God to order them looks to its Garments so as not to defile them or get the least spot thereon Are we not all under the exact and curious Eye of Omniscience which marks all our steps and ponders all our goings had we not need therefore to walk circumspectly and to abstain from all appearance of evil CHAP. VIII Of Dying daily 1. DIE daily unto sin This is an excellent way to live well Mortifie your corruptions crucifie sin within you That your Soul may be in health you must be in a continued course of Physick all your life for so long as you have this body of sin this corrupt nature about you you will still have matter to purge out 2. Now that you may do this work of Mortification thoroughly you must strike at the whole body of sin the whole corrupt frame of heart commonly called Original Sin which most persons so little look at and so little confess to God as if they had no cause to be humbled for it The sharp Knife of mortifying Grace doth not only cut off some members or acts of sin but endeavours to cut off the very body of sin to take out the Core so that the Ulcer may not break out again You may restrain actual sins but you never mortifie them till corrupt nature within be subdued Restraining actual sins alone is but violently to keep the Bladder under water which will be mounting up again but let corrupt Nature be wounded and then you prick the bladder of sin and so it will sink Mortifying Grace makes such a wound within that the very life of corrupt Nature runs out by degrees If an Imposthume breaks there 's an endeavour not only to bring up all the matter in it but to get hold of the very Bag also otherwise the Patient may die of it presently or it may gather again When you become sensible of sin and seriously convinced of it the Imposthume begins to break oh labour then to pluck up Original Sin or Corrupt Nature which is the very Bag of the Imposthume that if possible it may not gather again This is the very heart and root of sin If the heart be wounded and die all the members die with it If the root be grubb'd up all the branches wither 3. Think not that your Soul is in a healthy condition till you find every sin dying in you In true Mortification every sin consumes and pines away As in a Hectick there is a Consumption not only of one member but of all The Physick that Christ gives to make sin die in us is not an Elective that purgeth out one humour only but it 's an Universal Medicine that works on all If you leave one sin and have a heart hankering after another you are but in Benhadad's condition who recovered of one Disease but fell into another that proved mortal It 's the Custom of some Indians to value themselves by the number of heads which they have cut off If you would judge aright of your self see how many heads of sin you have cut off whether you have so cut off the head of every sin that it reign no more in you 4. In your endeavour after the death of every sin you must especially labour after the death and mortification of spiritual sins which like a Hectick are most dangerous because most difficultly discovered these lie close in the heart unseen Pride of heart and Self-love which is the very heart and quintessence of Unregeneracy as are an Imposthume more dangerous because so inward and indiscernible When the Imposthume is within the breast you cannot think to cure it by laying a Plaister to the skin your application must here be made to the heart Ignorant Patients complain more of that Disease which is most apparent than they do of that which is most malignant CHAP. IX Of Repentance EXercise daily Repentance from dead works I add this to the former Advice because it is by Repentance unto life as the Apostle calls it Acts 11.18 that sin is mortified and made to die Now this Repentance is a mourning after a godly manner for sins past and revolving fiducially in the strength of Christ to forsake all sin hereafter I say it is a mourning after a godly manner which hath these following properties in it 1. It is a great and bitter mourning it 's
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
lawful things being here most apt to go beyond our bounds There are more killed by Wine than there are by Poison But why may not I do as the most persons do that are of my rank and quality No do not you set your Watch by the Town Clock but by the Sun-Dial of the Scripture the true and perfect Dial of the increated Sun Make not your Neighbours but the Scriptures the Rule of your Life If you eye what others do and direct your course of Life accordingly you do steer by a Planet and not by the Pole-Star and will never so come at the heavenly Harbour the Port of Eternal bliss and happiness I do not advise you against necessary Recreations for your health But those that spend much time in Playing Carding Dicing or such kind of Games against which I hope I need not much caution you do but nick-name it when they call it Recreation and are like such that have a nice stomach who feed more on sauce than they do on meat 3. Make every day a working-day for Heaven and every day a Sabbath from sin I mean a resting-day from it Be every day working out your Salvation with fear and trembling your time is short and your work is great and your Salvation lies at stake therefore fall hard to your work set on it with all your might and hoard up all the time that possibly you can for it 4. Remember often that Immortality and Eternity hangs upon the spending of your time and according as you spend this so it will be with you to all eternity either for happiness or misery I have read a Story of a certain Gentlewoman who used to spend much time in playing at Cards and such Games coming once from that Pastime late in the night and finding her Waiting-Maid reading a good Book cast her Eyes over the Maids shoulder and spake words to this effect Thou poor melancholy Soul what alway reading and spending thy time in this manner wilt thou take no comfort in thy life But the Gentlewoman being soon after got to Bed could take no rest but lay groaning and sighing bitterly The Maid lying in the same Room and hearing it desired to know the reason of it to whom her Mistress replied I read this word Eternity in thy Book which hath so pierced my heart that I believe I shall never sleep more till I have a better Assurance of my Eternity Lastly Consider seriously that you must at the great Day of the Lord give an account for all your time It 's said of Ignatius that whensoever he heard a Clock strike he would say Here is now one hour more past which I have to answer for O what a heart-affecting consideration is the loss of time with the account to be given for it Holy Mr. Baxter tells us he familiarly knew a most holy grave and Reverend Divine who was so affected with the words of a godly Woman who at her death did often and vehemently cry out O call time again O call time again that the sense of it seemed to remain on his heart and appear in his Praying Preaching and Conversation to his death O that the reading of her words here might have the like happy Influence on your Heart and Conversation CHAP. XXII Of the Order and Method of Duties every Week-day 1. AS soon as you are awake in the morning lift up your heart in some good thought to God Let your heart be raised up in thankfulness to God for the mercies of the former night and by fiducial reliance on him for his Providence over you that day following Set forth in the morning in the Name of God resolving to do all things that day in that Name Col. 3.17 and for his Glory and that you will so spend it for God And likewise fortifie and arm your self against all the temptations that you foresee you are likely to meet with occasionally that day And if any thought about any worldly concern shall present it self to you striving to get first in check it with the words of our Saviour in another case Touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father I have not yet raised up my heart to God Thoughts will stand about your heart in a morning as a company of Clients about the door and that which first enters hath usually most to do all that day Satan will first croud in if possible by some worldly or vain thought to get the first entrance in the morn he is like a greedy and restless stomach-worm that keeps a coyl to have his break-fast before his Master be served Therefore let it be your diligent care as soon as you awake to fill your heart with some thoughts of God which will be the best break-fast to keep out the wind of a temptation And if you thus perfume the Soul in the morning with such sweet odours you will the better keep out ill scents all the day Let your heart be as the Sun-Dial that early receives the Sun-beams and goes along with it till the evening Let it receive the Beams of the Sun of Righteousness freely in the morning and he will shine on it all the day If you do not at first set out to a right point of the Compass you will make a bad Voyage Ejaculations which may be used when you awake in or toward the Morning MY voice shalt thou hear in the morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up Psal 5.3 How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God how great is the sum of them If I would count them they are more in number than the Sand. When I awake I am still with thee Psal 139.17 18. My Soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning I say more than they that watch for the morning Psal 130.6 O when shall the day dawn and the day-star arise in my heart It is of the Lords mercies that I am not consumed because his compassions fail not they are new every morning Lam. 3.22 23. Therefore my thanks shall never fail but be new and fresh every morning also 2. Let not your morning hours which are the very flower and cream of time the most precious of all the day for any work or duty be spent in Bed or vainly out of Bed And while you are dressing let some one if you can conveniently read to you or else you may employ your time in thinking of the last Sermon you heard or some other good thoughts as of the Soul's Wedding Garment Matth. 22.11 or of the durable Cloathing Ezek. 23.18 in comparison of which all the best Apparel is but a Cobweb Tiffany a fine worthlese Nothing or you may use such Ejaculations and Meditations as these following Ejaculations and Meditations which may be used while you are dressing PVT on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof Rom.
otherwise they will be Fruitless If you pray for Knowledge and never take pains by Reading and Study to get it or for the Mortification of Sin and never Labour to Subdue and Kill it or for Reformation of your Life and never set about the Reforming of it your Prayers will be to little purpose It 's as if a Man should pray to be Cured of a Disease and yet never use Physick nor Dyet or Exercise to Cure it Or like such as the Greek Heathen Orator speaks of who seeing great Hailstones falling down on their Heads Prayed to be secured from them but would not stir a foot Gods usual way is to give in Blessings to us concurring with him in the use of means and he will not vary from his Ordinary Method unless upon most special Occasions 5. Look after your Prayers to see what becomes of them and what returns what Answer you have of them Thus did David Ps 5.3 and 58.8 Habackuck having Prayed stands upon his watch sets himself on his Tower to see what God would say to him There are many times such Dispensations of God towards us which we might see did Ecchoe to our Prayers if we did well observe them Do not then shoot out your Prayers as Children do their Arrows who shoot them away and never look after them more But rather as Archers that shoot them up into the Air and stand still waiting for their coming down again 6. In all your Prayers let Prayers be mixt and have a good share and due proportion in them Do not shuffle up Praeiss into a Corner of your Prayers do not croud nor huddle them up into a scant and narrow Compass as most do or thrust them into the very End and Conclusion of your Prayers But let them bear a part throughout the whole Duty CAAP. XXVI Of Desiring the Sincere Milk of the Word AS a New-Born Babe desire the Sincere Milk of the Word that you may grow thereby The Word is as Milk go then to it as Children to the Breast with an Appetite but be sure it be Milk that you desire and not Froth Power and Virtue not the Froth of empty words of Rhetorick which are not to be accounted as Sermon Milk it 's plain song always that makes the best Musick Desire that Milk alway which is most wholsom not that which is most luscious and best pleases a dainty or curious Pallat. 2. Do not satisfie your self with some weak Velleities and faint wishings or whimperings after the Breasts of the Word but let your desires after this sincere Milk be strong and earnest accompanyed with Diligent Endeavours after it and suck the Breasts well that you may have it desire it by the effectual fervent Prayer of Faith This is indeed that real and spiritual sucking which is required of Newborn Babes in Christ The Prayer of Faith is the Mouth or the two Lips whereby we suck Spiritual Milk and draw in Heavenly influences and Divine Sweetness from the Word Ask and ye shall have Math. 7.7 8. but then this asking must be in Faith The Mother opens the Breast when the Child Cryes after it If you thirst after this Heavenly Milk of the Word God will give it his Spirit will Communicate sweet Inflows to your Soul he sometimes lays Wormwood to the Breasts of Providence to wean us from Creature-Comforts but he would never have us wean'd from the Milk of the Word while we are in this Life but would have us lye continually at the Breast of the two Testaments Children while they are in health are almost continually Sucking and never satisfied but while they are at the Breast If your Soul be in a good healthy Condition you will not be well satisfied but while you are lying at the Dugs of Ordinances at these Spiritual Milk-pales as Job calls the Breasts 3. If after you have lyen long at the Breasts waited long at the Ordinances you find nothing come no Inflows no virtue no refreshments or comfort from them so that they seem to be dry Breasts yet give them not over as some are too apt to do thinking it in vain to wait any longer when as the fault is in themselves not in the Word and Ordinances they are full Breasts but these poor Creatures cannot act faith to draw God may see cause sometime to with-hold this Spiritual Milk to withdraw his influences and put forth no virtue or efficacy in the Word yet do not give over waiting continue still in the diligent use of the means of Grace he will please to let down this Milk in the end what you do not find at one time you may at another he will at length smile on you in the Ordinances and let you have Evangelical Fruitions If you did live much by Faith you would find these full Breasts flow plentifully 4. Think that while you are in this World you will have need of this Milk of the Word need of Ordinances There are some fond Christians that think they are above Ordinances which are only for Babes and Punies that they are past the Milk of the Word and are grown too old to suck the breasts I wish they were ever new-born Babes in Christ which is to be feared they never were tho' they conceit themselves to be tall and perfect Men and Women in Christ I have read of one Philinus that never fed of any other meat or drink all his life but only Milk All the true Children of God must certainly while they live here feed on no other food but only Scripture-milk God will not nourish our Souls by immediate influences and communications from himself till we come to the heavenly Land that flows with Milk and Honey and to sit at God's own Table at the Supper of the Lamb in the Kingdom of Glory When the new-born Babes are grown to a perfect stature and are perfectly wean'd from the World which will not be till this Mortal shall have put on Immortality then and not till then shall we have immediate communion with God which is the very sweet of Heaven The Pot of Manna must continue in the Ark of the Church till we come to the Celestial Canaan 5. The end of desiring this Milk must be that you may grow thereby We are nourisht and made to grow by the same things whereby we were first bred The Milk by which the Infant is nourisht is but the blood of which it was framed in the womb further concocted in the breasts and turn'd white there So it is only the same Word by which we were spiritually begot that doth cause us spiritually to grow For indeed all the Ordinances which are the Souls nourishment are nothing else but the Word it self in several forms or the subject matter of the Word The Sacrament of the Lords Supper which was specially appointed for the Souls nourishment and growth in grace is but the Word in a more sensible form or as the same meat otherwise drest and
cookt to make another Dish The Sacrament is but the Word visibly prepared to the Eye by an exuberance of mercy which was barely set forth to the Ear in Reading and Preaching that our Eye might affect our Heart and the whole Man might be fed with more apt and suitable congruity by such visible signs If you be new born you must not satisfie your self with that but you must further look to it that you grow up in Christ It is a shrowd sign that that person is not in Christ who is well contented with present grace without endeavouring after growth therein Be not like Luther's Changeling ever sucking never thriving Try then whether you grow in Holiness Do you perform duties with more heart and life than formerly Are you now not only for personal Holiness but Relation Holiness CHAP. XXVII Of Reading the Word REad every day some portion of Scripture either out of the Old or New Testament but especially out of the New Make use of both these Breasts for your spiritual nourishment prize both Law and Gospel highly value and study both The Child likes to lie sometimes at the one breast sometimes at the other but yet the Gospel is the better breast and Faith loves most to lie thereat it finds most sweetness in the Gospel Honey-comb it gets Honey in every little Cell of it tasts sweetness in every word or tittle of the Gospel 2. Read the Scripture understandingly see when you read that you understand the substance and sense the drift and scope of the H. Ghost in that Scripture which you read otherwise you read unprofitably I speak now of those places of Scripture which contain either some Article of Faith or matters of practical Godliness such as are incumbent upon Christians to learn to observe and practise But as for those places that contain meer speculative and controversial matter or hard questionable Points in Divinity an ordinary Christian need not be curious for a distinct understanding of them 3. When you begin to read any portion of Scripture pray unto God that he would enlighten you by his Spirit that you may understand it and read it with reverence as the Word of the most holy God and when any thing affects you pray to God that he would work that particular passage on your heart before you read any further 4. In reading take special notice of and mark those places of Scripture which you find most suitable and beneficial to you and read them over oftner than others Let your heart like a diligent Bee sit longest on those Flowers that will afford you most Honey and yet if you stay thereon as long as you can you shall never get out all the sweetness you may afterwards return to read again and find more and though the Soul have even laded her self she leaves them as the Bee her Flowers as whole as she found them A good serious Christian may perhaps have read a Chapter twenty times over before yet afterwards in the reading of it God may discover something to him a new so that he then gathers that thence which he never did before and tasts a new and fresh sweetness there 5. Read the Scriptures with this end and intent that you may know what God would have you to do and what he would have you forbear that the word of God may dwell in you richly in all Wisdom as the Apostle speaks Col. 3.16 i. e. that you may be so wise as know to apply it to know how to use such an Example and such a reproof It 's the Wisdom of a Tradesman to know how to use such a Tool such an Instrument or Engin and of a Christian to know how to use such a portion of Scripture to remember what Christ did in such a Temptation what Abraham David and Job did in such a Case Look into the Word of God as into an excellent Glass whereby to know how to dress your self Look into it that you may see all your spots and whatsoever is amiss and out of order that you may amend and redress the same yea that you may behold in this Glass the Glory of the Lord and be changed into the same Image as from Glory to Glory i. e. into the Beauty of Holiness which this Glass is proper for 2 Cor. 3.18 CHAP. XXVIII Of Hearing the Word Profitably VVHen the Word is Preached do not stay at home no not to read good Books They are strange Children that when the Nurse holds out the Breast will cry out for the Sucking-Bottle God is pleased to put forth his Spirit in the Preaching of the Word more effectually than in the reading it The same Milk is more Effectual and Nourishing when it is taken warm immediately from the Breast than when it hath been Milkt out and stood a while and when it can be had you make no use of the Bottle or Spoon Though a Printed Sermon be as good as that which is heard from the Ministers Mouth yet it hath not pleased God ordinarily to work Conversion by Printed Sermons at such times when the Word might be heard Preached Though Abana and Pharpar had as good water as Jordan yet it would not heal Naamans Leprosie That Honey tasts sweetest which is suckt immediately out of the Comb and much better than that which is eaten out of a Dish and that Word is sweeter to the Souls Pallat which drops immediately from the Ministers Mouth and came directly from his Heart thither than that which is read out of a Book That which comes warm from the Heart of the Preacher is most likely to go to the Heart of the Hearer That person which will not go to hear the word Preached but will rather stay at home to Read is like a sullen Child that will not eat his Meat unless he himself may cut it You may expect that God will give a Blessing to the endeavours of his Faithful Laborious Ministers We use to feed our Nurses well that our Children may fare the better 2. Mark the Doctrine Design and Drift of the Preacher all along that you may understand the Sermon and observe his Method that you may remember it For so it will be the more portable for the memory 3. Go not to hear the word with a common frame of Heart or with the same end that you go to hear another kind of Discourse But go that you may be made Holy otherwise you go not to the Word as a New-born Babe with an Appetite to the Milk of it You must come to these Golden Pipes Zach. 4.2 that they may empty Golden Oyl into you or they will do you no good Canaan it self that flows with Milk and Honey would be but a Desert a Hony-Comb without Honey meer Wax if Christ were not there Therefore go to the Word to find something of Christ there to get some influences from him and not barely to hear a Man speak go to hear not so much that you may know
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
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