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.

[Page 5]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 [Page 6] 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 [Page 7] 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 [Page 8] 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 [Page 9] 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 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 [Page 10] 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 [Page 11] 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 [Page 12] 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 [Page 13] 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, [Page 14] 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 [Page 51] 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, [Page 16] 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 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 [Page 17] 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.

[Page 18]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: Ʋnless 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 [Page 19] 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 1 [...]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 [Page 21] 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 [Page 22] 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, [Page 23] 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 highest degree, the very Cream, Flower and Top of your Affection. I do not mean in respect of the passionateness of it (for your love to Creatures [Page 24] may be more passionate) but in re­spect of the high estimation of him, adhering to him, and readiness to forego all for him, you must value the Interest of God in Christ above your own, nothing must have more of your heart. Christ must be above self, and above every thing else in the heart; nothing else must be suffered to creep into the Bed of Love.

3. If there be any thing else that lies nearer the heart than Christ, the Fountain of your spiritual life, it will hinder your Union with him, and li­ving in him. The least Chip that falls betwixt the graft and the joynt hin­ders its knitting to the stock, and maketh the graft to die. Let no­thing then lie in the joynt betwixt Christ and your Heart, to prevent and hinder your happy and blessed Union, and keep you from closing with him, embracing of him and li­ving in him.

4. There may be in an Unrege­nerate Person a true love to God and Christ. I mean such a true love, as is [Page 25] not dissembling love, but yet it fails in the degree; there's other love to self that pirks above it and over-tops it, and so damps this affection that it never flames out to God and Christ.

4. Now that you may get this su­perlative love to God and Christ wrought in you, you must take pains with your own heart, otherwise you will not bring it up to this high pitch. Strike the flint hard to bring out Fire, and pray to Christ to take his Bellows and his Fan to blow up the small sparks in the dead ashes, that they may grow into a flame of Love.

5. Take also a prospect of those Treasures of Transcendent goodness, those heaps of Infinite Perfections, that are stored up in God, the im­mense Ocean of love and sweetness, that fills every creek of Being; and look not upon a naked Christ, but as Invested with Personal Excellencies beyond compare, and so you will see how infinitely amiable he is in him­self.

[Page 26]6. But further take a sweet view of the love of God in Christ, offering Pardon and Salvation to you with others, upon condition of believing, that so you may find your heart move reciprocally in love to God and Christ, and when once you find this in the heart, then you may conclude his speciall Love to you, which will fur­ther increase your love to him. I do not say that your first Love to God must be kindled by the flames of his special Love to you, no, it is the prospect of his goodness in himself, and of his common love and mercy to Sinners in tendring a Saviour, and not of his special saving Love to you, as actually enjoyed by you, that is the Incentive of your first love to him; for though you be bound to love God with a special Love, yet you are not bound to love him as one that specially loveth you, untill you be indeed so beloved by him; other­wise you were bound to believe a falsity, and to love God for that which is not. But if you once find [Page 27] the special saving Love of God shi­ning in your heart, working h [...]i Grace in you, this will fire up your love to him, then you will be ready to say to your self, what shall there be a Noon-day Sun-shine of Love and Grace upon me, a poor clod of Earth, and no reflexion of a Sun-beam? shall there be hot flamings forth from his Breast towards me, a worthless Worm, and not a spark in mine towards him? shall I not be most ingrateful if I do not offer up to him a flaming Sacrifice.

CHAP. VI. Of Ʋniversal Obedience.

1. LIve in Universal Obedience to the Laws of God. This will follow upon that Love to God now Commended to you, as being the Daughter of it. Hence that speech of our Saviour. If ye love me, keep my Commandments; John 14.15. Imi­tate that good Woman before men­tioned [Page 28] (whose Name you bear) of whom it is said, that she walk'd in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless, Luk. 1.6. It's re­quired of poor weak Women, that they diligently follow every good Work, 1 Tim. 5.10. The sound and healthy Christian refuseth no kind of Work that God enjoyns, be it never so hard and difficult, whereas the un­sound crazy Hypocrisie, like a Man that hath some sore Disease about him, will only set upon some easie Work, some slight duties of Religi­on, but as for the more hard and difficult ones, as Wrestling with the Old Man, running the Christian Race, Mortification, Self-denial and strict Holiness, he passeth them over, here he makes a baulk in his Obedience, like a Husbandman that pulls aside his Plough when he comes to a hard or stiff piece of Ground. How ma­ny are there that will comply with those duties that are suitable to their own mind, and their own ends, who in others are very backward and [Page 29] take their liberty? These are crook­ed Sticks, that will not touch with Gods measure, they will pick and chuse, it may be they will not be Wanton, but yet they will be Proud, they will not be unjust dealers, but yet they will be hard-hearted towards the Poor; it may be they will be Zealous in Worship, but yet Censorious and Uncharitable. Such give to God Bankrupt payment, a Noble in the Pound, part of his due.

2. Those that are thus scant and partial in their Obedience, are guilty of the breach of the whole Law: For whosoever shall keep the whole Law and offend in one Point, is guilty of all. Jam 2 10. Because there is the same Authority in every Command, in one as well as another. One Condi­tion not observed forfeiteth the whole Lease. O that this Principle may be Engraven in your Heart, that unless you be throughout Religious, your Religion is Vain!

3. In your Obedience therefore [Page 30] take in the whole Compass and La­titude of Religion, both First and Second Table, and as Holy David, Have respect to all God's Command­ments, Psal. 119.6. A gracious Heart answers the Law of God, as a Copy doth the Original, line for line, syl­lable for syllable, letter for letter, and would not willingly receive or ad­mit any Errata's; it's universally con­formable to every Word of God. If you have a Gracious Spirit, you will not make any exception, you will not defalcate, or cut off any known Duty, you will not designedly clip off any part of God s Coin, any piece of that Service which hath Gods Stamp, and Superscription on it.

CHAP. VII. Of Circumspect Walking.

1. SEE that you walk circumspectly, Eph. 5.15. It's not enough to walk in a good way, in an Universal course of duties, as to the matter of them, but [Page 31] you must do it accurately and exact­ly in a right manner. It's necessary that there be an Accurateness and Circumspection observed in your Walking in the way to Heaven. Mind then your way very well, make it your work 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, [Page 32] 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 [Page 33] 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 [Page 34] 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 [Page 35] 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 [Page 36] 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 [Page 37] 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 not an easie grief or a mourn­ing of the Eye only, but it's a mourn­ing of the heart, which is the heart of mourning. It's not superficial tears, but the deep sorrow of the heart, that will wash away sin. I have read a Story, that one of the Questions which the Queen of Sheba pro­pounded [Page 39] to King Solomon was this; She having brought before him a company of Children, both Males and Females, all alike apparelled, de­manded of him which were the Boys, and which were the Girls, which he thus decided; he caused them all to wash in a Bason of Water, and ob­serv'd which rubb'd more hard, and those he set aside for the Boys; and those that washt more tenderly and softly, he determined to be the Girls. Those that would wash away the filth of sin, must not, like those of that softer Sex, do it easily and tenderly, but must exercise a masculine spirit, and rub hard (like those of the harder and rougher Sex) to scour the Soul. It's not to be done by a slight Re­pentance; there must be a great deal of pains taken to cleanse the heart from sin. And therefore Repentance is generally mistaken, while it is thought to be nothing else, but a being sorry for sins committed, and a wishing they had not been done. Such slight Penitents can be sorry to day, [Page 40] and sin again to morrow, and yet think they have truly repented.

2. Mourning after a godly manner is a grief springing from the bowels of love to God: the stronger the stream is, the more there is of the fountain; and the stronger the sor­row for sin is, the more there is of God. A true Penitent finds a prin­ciple within him, that carries him out to a mourning for sin: But an unre­generate man is rather forced upon it, by some extrinsick motives, as fear of Hell, than carried to it out of the proper and peculiar inclination of his own heart.

3. It's such a sorrow as changes the heart and life; there's a sanctifi­cation of the inward man, and a re­formation of the outward conversa­tion going along with it. This sor­row for sin consumes the sin that bred it, as the Worm doth the Wood that bred it.

4. It's accompanied with an uni­versal hatred of sin, an utter abhor­rency of every iniquity. The Dove [Page 41] (as they say) which hates the Hawk, hates every Feather of it. A true Pe­nitent so abhors sin, that he hates eve­ry plume and feather, every branch of it, he would have the very me­mory of Amalek, blotted out; he hath a deadly hatred to the whole tribe of sin, the whole stock and kind, to every member of that cursed family of sin; he hates the very occasions of sin, which are only the harbingers and spokes-men of it, and will give them no entertainment, but thrusts them out of doors: He so hates sin, that he longs to be rid of it. The Apostle cries out as one tied to a dead carcass, or tired with the Chains of a grievous bondage; O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death! Rom. 7.14. He here cries out against the sinfulness of Nature, and hates, and would be rid of that, as well as sinfulness of Life. If you mourn only for actual sins, you only cleanse the streams, and let the spring continue muddy and noisome, which will soon send forth new streams of the same nature.

[Page 42]But further; Repentance is not only a mourning for sins past, but a fiducial Resolution to forsake all for the future. I call it a fiducial Reso­lution, i. e. a Resolution of Faith; for it is not an ordinary Resolution that will prove one to be a true Pe­nitent; we have very revolting, slip­pery hearts, apt to return to sin, and therefore had need to take up strong and fiducial Resolutions in the strength of Christ, to fortifie our hearts against sin. Crazy Timber in a Building must be well Crampt with Iron Bars to keep it from yielding: And broken Bones had need of strong filleting to bind them toge­ther.

Take heed that you do not defer your Repentance, or adjourn it to another day: It's very dangerous so to do: Therefore I desire you with all possible earnestness, for the Love of God, and of your precious Souls, set upon this duty presently. Do not say within your self, I am young, and it's time enough to do it hereafter. [Page 43] Remember Death comes riding Post, and though sometimes he change Horses, first come on one Disease, and leaving that, after come on ano­ther; yet oftentimes he doth not change, but comes on one single Horse, and takes away at the first Sickness; and then, as you will but have little time to repent, so little aptness or disposition thereunto, when Sickness hath once arrested you. Oh how unfit will you then be to turn to God, when you can scarce turn your self in your Bed! Let me therefore give you the Counsel that a Rabbin gave one of his Scholars, Repent a day before you die; and the Scholar thereupon thinking, that he should have time enough, then he bade him repent to day, for thou knowest not but thou mayest be dead to morrow.

But is not this (it may be said) a hard painful Life to be every day re­penting? No, when it is done every day, it soon grows an easie work. The good Huswife that scours her [Page 44] Plate often, hath an easier task of it every day than other.

But is not this a sad and melancho­ly Life for to be always mourning and repenting? No, Tears of Repen­tance, saith holy Bernard, are sweeter than all worldly Joy. Repentance is a most sweet Grace, and hath much comfort in it. The day of Expiation in the Old Law was a day of mourn­ing, yet the Jubilee was always to be proclaimed on that day. The day of mourning for sin is a day of Expiation of sin, and God then proclaims a Ju­bilee to the Soul in the pardon of it. But further to take off this Objection, and to give a fuller Answer thereun­to, I shall add the next following Advice.

CHAP. X. Of making Religion a delight.

MAke Religion your great de­light and Recreation. Delight your self in the Lord, Psal. 37.4. Or as the Apostle enjoyns, Rejoyce in the [Page 45] Lord alway, and again I say rejoyce, Phil. 4.4. 1 Thes. 5.16. Take delight in God himself, in his infinite Excel­lencies and Perfections, in his Good­ness, Love, and Mercy, in his Word and Works, in his Commands, and in his Promises, in his Ways, and in his Heaven, which he hath prepared for Souls. This, and my last Advice for a daily mourning for sin, are no way inconsistent, but lovingly meet and kiss each other. Chrysostom ob­serves, that David the great mourner in Israel, was also the chief finger in Israel. As with one Eye we look down to our sins, so we mourn; but as with the other Eye, i. e. the Eye of Faith, we look up to God, and his Mercy pardoning sin upon Repen­tance, so we rejoyce. Godly sorrow makes pardoning Mercy taste the sweeter, and causeth greater joy and 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 [Page 46] 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.

[Page 47]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.

[Page 48]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 [Page 49] 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, [Page 50] 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 [Page 51] 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.

[Page 52]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 Qui [...] ▪ 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 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 [Page 53] 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, [Page 54] 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. [Page 55] 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 [Page 56] 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. [Page 57] 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 [Page 59] 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 [Page 60] 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 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; [Page 61] 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 [Page 62] 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; [Page 63] 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. [Page 64] 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 Mo [...]e in [Page 65] 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 Shib [...]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 [Page 66] 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 [Page 67] 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 [Page 68] 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 [Page 69] 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 [Page 70] 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 [Page 71] 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, [Page 72] 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 [Page 73] 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 Christi [...], extracting a spiritual Quintessence out of these earthly and drossy things; thus you turn Dung and Dross into Gold and Pearls, mean and con­temptible [Page 74] 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 Hour­glass 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: [Page 75] Flatter not your self with dreams of having a Rest in carnal pleasures here, and everlasting Rest hereafter also.

CHAP. XVIII. How to manage an Afflicted Condition.

1. USE your best endeavours to get good by all the Afflicti­ons and Crosses that shall befal you. I know indeed it may be with Chri­stians as with Meats; some are pre­served in Sugar, as Cherries and Plums, &c. others (as Beef) are pre­served in Brine. But yet I think, you have more reason to fear the sweet­ness of a prosperous, rather than the sharp Brine of an adverse condition. Bees are killed with Honey, but quickened with Vinegar. If you read your Bible through, you shall find that few of God's Children have gone through a prosperous condition, with­out being ensnared thereby, and rare­ly find any but have been bettered by adversity. In the Summer of prospe­rity it's well if you be not Fly-blown. [Page 76] In the budding Spring, and in the blooming Summer, then Pride and Vanity, Formality in Religion, and Satisfaction in Creature comforts will be apt to sprout forth and taint you; but the sharp Winter of Affliction will kill these Vermin. Sharp and bit­ter things are abstersive, and cleanse the body from many noxious and phlegmatick humours; whereas sweet things, much used, do stuff up the passages of the body, and create many obstructions. It's a high Character that is given of that Noble Person, that Mirrour of your Sex, the Lady Jane Gray, that she so managed an af­flicted condition, that she made Mise­ry it self seem amiable, and the Night-cloths of Adversity did as much be­come her as her Day-dressing. God's Children are his Jewels, his rich Plate, which being scoured by Afflictions, look brighter; their Souls are bleacht and whitened in the Waters of Af­flictions. These are the sharp Lem­mon that take off their Mill-dews. Christians seldom come to be great [Page 77] Scholars in the School of Christ with­out the Rod of Afflictions. Learn to value Afflictions as you do Physick, not according to the tast and rellish, but according to the profitable effects that it works. That is to be accounted a blessed Feaver that preserves the Soul from everlasting burnings.

2. If you be not better'd by God's Rod when he sends it, take heed lest he turn not his Rod into a Serpent, as Moses Rod was. Is it not to be thought a dangerous symptom of God's rejection and that the Physician of our Souls is leaving us, when Af­flictions, which usually are God's Physick to purge out our Disease, do cooperate therewith, and so encrease it? it's then to be feared that we shall hardly recover.

3. Improve all Afflictions for your spiritual good by Prayers, and actings of Faith in a Promise. 1. By Prayer. Is any afflicted? let him pray, Jam. 5.13. Afflictions may be said to be improv'd by Prayer, these two ways; 1. By mak­ing them a motive to put your self on [Page 78] Prayer. The Rod then doth the Child good, when it brings his stub­born heart to his knees. God there­fore lays his People on their backs, that he may make them to look up to Heaven. Every Cross is an un­sanctified Cross, that is not attended with Prayer. 2. By using Prayer as a means to help you against those sins, which are apt to accompany an af­flicted condition, as Impatience, Dis­content, &c. and to fetch in those graces which you have most need of therein, as Faith, Humility, Repen­tance, Contentment, Joy, and Sub­mission to the Will of God. Prayer will cause these precious fruits to grow on the Cross, and so it will be sanctified to you.

2. Improve Afflictions by actings of Faith in the Promises. Afflictions are sweetned to Believers, they are rolled up in Sugar, they are steept in Honey, sanctified by the word of the Promise, that they shall work toge­ther for good, Rom. 8.28. and yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness, [Page 79] Heb. 12.1. The Promise gives them a most delicious rellish to Faith. Faith can make a soveraign Oil of these Scorpions to heal the Soul. Faith can turn Water into Wine, even the bit­ter Waters of Marah into the Wine of Comfort.

CHAP. XIX. How to manage your Relative Condition.

1. BE earnest in Prayer to the God of all Grace, to furnish you with suitable Grace for the Relations you stand in. Hath God called you to be a Wife? pray for the spirit of a Wife. There's no Relation that we enter into, but it calls for new duties from us. No Relation but hath its pe­culiar temptations and sins, to which it is prone. Consider then what are your Relation-temptations, and your Relation-sins, and what are your Re­lation-duties, and pray for strength against those particular temptations and sins, and for those particular [Page 80] duties. No duties are more momen­tous, and yet none less observed usu­ally. It's a common fault to neglect our own work, and too much to com­plain of others neglecting theirs; and so like Planets we eclipse one ano­ther. Many Wives are apt to pick quarrels, because their Husbands do not their duties, when themselves omit their own. And so many unna­tural Children complain of their Pa­rents for being so, when it is next door to an impossibility for a Patent to be unnatural. O mind well your Relation defects, and be very careful that Religion may form and mould your demeanour towards all your Re­lations whatsoever. This will be your excellency; thus will you be like a fixed Star, shining in that proper Orb, in that very sphere and station, where God hath fixt you, without ec­centrick motions.

2. If you would know how the case stands betwixt God and your Soul, consider what you are in all your se­veral Relations, and how you manage [Page 81] them. Judge not your self so much by your praying, and hearing, and other duties of Religion in your general Calling, as a Christian, as by the pra­ctice of your Religion at home in your Relations Observe specially how your Religion works in your Relative con­dition, and the temptations thereof. She is not a good Woman, that is not a good Wife, or not a good Daughter.

3. Live in a free and chearful sub­mission and obedience to your Hus­band: You have this command given in several places of Scripture. Wives submit your selves to your own Husbands, as unto the Lord; Eph. 5.22. Col. 3.18. 1 Pet. 3.1. This submission includes both Reverence and Obedience to the Husband, and this Obedience must be shewed both to his commands, his de­sires, his restraints, and his rebukes; nay, if his rebukes should turn to re­vilings, the Wife may not revile again; for that would be to shoot with the Devil in his own Bow; but she may sweetly admonish him in things that she certainly knows to be sinful and [Page 82] hurtful. Your subjection doth not hinder you from provoking him to love and good works, as the Apostle useth the phrase; Heb. 10 24. but yet even this provocation must be with­out passion: You may lovingly admo­nish him thereunto, but with a care, that in so doing, you provoke him not to wrath, lest you do like those, who take hot water to heat the Sto­mach, and thereby enflame the Liver. The Wife in Nathan's Parable is called a Lamb; she must be a Lamb for 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, [Page 83] 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 [Page 84] 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 [Page 85] 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, [Page 86] 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, [Page 87] 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 [Page 88] 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 [Page 89] 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 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. [Page 90] 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.

[Page 91]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.

[Page 92]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 [Page 94] 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 [Page 95] to a right point of the Compass, you will make a bad Voyage.

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 [Page 109] 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 [Page 110] 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) [Page 111] 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 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 [Page 112] 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 [Page 113] 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 [Page 114] 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, its 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 [Page 115] 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 [Page 116] 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 [Page 117] 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 [Page 118] 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, 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 [Page 119] 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, [Page 120] 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 [Page 121] 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 [Page 122] 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 [Page 123] 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 [Page 124] 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 [Page 125] 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 [Page 126] 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 [Page 127] 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 [Page 128] 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 [Page 129] 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 [Page 130] 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 [Page 131] 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 [Page 132] 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, [Page 133] 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, [Page 134] 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. [Page 135] 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 [Page 136] 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 [Page 137] 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 [Page 138] 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 [Page 139] 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.
• [Page 140]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 [Page 141] 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, [Page 142] 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, [Page 143] 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.

[Page 144]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 [Page 145] 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 [Page 146] 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 [Page 147] 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, [Page 148] 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 [Page 149] 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 thr [...]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 [Page 150] 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 [Page 151] 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 [Page 152] 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 [Page 153] 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 [...]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, [Page 154] 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 [Page 156] 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 th [...]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 [Page 157] 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, [Page 158] 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 [Page 159] 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 [Page 160] 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 [Page 161] 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 [Page 162] 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 [Page 163] 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.

[Page 164]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 [Page 165] 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 [Page 166] 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, [Page 167] 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 [Page 168] 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 [Page 170] 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 [Page 171] 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 the Heart, that those affections that were warm­ed and heated there, be not cooled again. Let not those sweet gales of Devotion, that did blow within you, at the Lords Table, be presently driven away with a counterblast from Satan or the World. Satan will now be most ready to Way-lay you, for to rob you of your Jewels, these pretious Love-tokens of Peace, and Joy, and holy Vigour, which you received from your blessed Lord at his Table, and therefore you have more need after you have been there to look well about you, and to walk more circumspectly, and to live more orderly. A disorderly Diet after Physick received will do more hurt than before. Live ever after as one that hath been at the Table of the Lord, then shall you at the [Page 172] end of your life be welcomed to the Supper of the Lamb, in the kingdom of Glory, and the Cloath never drawn to all Eternity.