so great, that the angels of God did rejoice to see it? Sure, then, the mercy of my salvation will be so great, that the same angels will congratulate my felicity. This grace is but a spark that is raked up in the ashes. It is covered with flesh from the sight of the world, and covered with corruption sometimes from mine own sight; but my everlasting glory will not be so clouded, nor my light be under a bushel, but upon a hill, even upon Sion, the mount of God. 6 Sect. XIV. 12. Lastly, Compare the joys which thou shalt have above, with those foretastes of it, which the Spirit hath given thee here. Judge of the lion by the paw, and of the ocean of joy by that drop which thou hast tasted." Thou hast here thy strongest refreshing comforts, but as that man in hell would have had the water to cool him, a little upon the tip of the finger for thy tongue to taste, yet by this little thou mayest conjecture at the quality of the whole. Hath not God sometimes revealed himself extraordinarily to thy soul, and let a drop of glory fall upon it? Hast thou not been ready to say, 'Oh, that it might be thus with my soul continually, and that I might always feel what I feel sometimes! Dist thou never cry out with the martyr after thy long and doleful expectations, He is come; he is come?' Didst thou never, in a lively sermon of heaven, nor in thy retired contemplations on that blessed state, perceive thy drooping spirits revive, and thy dejected heart to lift up the head and the light of heaven to break forth to thy soul, as a morning star, or as the dawning of the day? Didst thou never perceive thy heart in these duties, to be as the child that Elisha revived? to wax warm within thee, and to recover life? Why, think with thyself, then, what is the earnest to this full inheritance? Alas! all this light that so amazeth and rejoiceth me, is but a candle lighted from heaven, to lead me thither through this world of darkness! If the light of a star in the night be such, or the little glimmering at the break of the day, what then is the light of the sun at noontide? If some godly men that we Ibi non gustabunt quam suavis sit Deus, sed implebuntur et satiabuntur dulcedine mirifica. Nihil eis deerit; nihil aberit: omne desiderium eorum Christus præsens implebit. Non senescent, non tabescent, non putrescent amplius. Perpetua sanitas, foelix æternitas, beatitudinis illius sufficientiam confirmabunt. Non erit concupiscentia in membris, non ultra ulla exsurget rebellio carnis: sed totus status hominis pacificus, sine omni macula et ruga permanebit. Cyprian. de Laude Martyr. Quæcunque supra cœlum sunt mentes et formæ, Olympici illius habitaculi cives, si non eadem atque Deus, illi tamen dignitate et natura proximum conditionem acceperunt.-Fernel, de Abdit. Rerum Causis, cap. 9. ex Platone, read of, have been overwhelmed with joy, till they have cried out, Hold, Lord, stay thy hand; I can bear no more!' like weak eyes that cannot endure too great a light; O what will then be my joys in heaven, when, as the object of my joy shall be the most glorious God, so my soul shall be made capable of seeing and enjoying him, And though the light be ten thousand times greater than the sun's, yet my eyes shall be able for ever to behold it. Or, if thou be one that hast not felt yet these sweet foretastes, (for every believer hath not felt them), then make use of the former delights which thou hast felt, that thou mayest the better discern what hereafter thou shalt feel. And thus I have done with the fifth part of this directory, and showed you on what grounds to advance your meditations, and how to get them to quicken your affections, by comparing the unseen delights of heaven with those smaller which you have seen and felt in the flesh. CHAP. XII. How to manage and watch over the Heart through the SECT. 1. Sixthly: The sixth and last part of this directory is, to guide you in the managing of your hearts through this work, and to show you wherein you have need to be exceeding watchful. I have showed before what must be done with your hearts in your preparations to the work, and in your setting upon it; I shall now show it you in respect of the time of performance. Our chief work will here be, to discover to you the danger, and that will direct you to the fittest remedy. Let me therefore here acquaint you beforehand, that, whenever you set upon this heavenly employment, you shall find your own hearts your greatest hinderer, and they will prove false to you in one or all of these four degrees. First, They will hold off, that you will hardly get them to the work. Secondly, Or else they will betray you by their idleness in the work, pretending to do it, when they do it not. Or, Thirdly, They will interrupt the work by their frequent excursions, and turning aside to every object. Or, Fourthly, They will spoil the work by cutting it short, and be gone before you have done any good on it. Therefore I here forewarn you, as you value the invaluable comfort of this work, that you faithfully resist these four dangerous evils, or else all that I have said hitherto is in vain. 1. Thou shalt find thy heart as backward to this, I think, as to any work in the world. O what excuses it will make; what evasions it will find out; and what delays and demurs, when it is never so much convinced! Either it will question whether it be a duty or not; or if it be so to others, yet whether it be so to thee. It will take up any thing like reason to plead against it; it will tell thee that this is a work for ministers that have nothing else to study on; or for cloisterers or persons that have more leisure than thou hast. If thou be a minister, it will tell thee, This is the duty of the people; it is enough for thee to meditate for the instructing of them, and let them meditate on what they have heard; as if it were thy duty only to cook their meat, and serve it up, and perhaps a little to taste the sweetness, by licking thy fingers while thou art dressing it for others; but it is they only that must eat it, digest it, and live upon it. Indeed, the smell may a little refresh thee, but it must be digesting it that must maintain thy strength and life. If all this will not serve, thy heart will tell thee of other business; thou hast this company stays for thee, or that business must be done. It may be, it will set thee upon some other duty, and so make one duty shut out another; for it had rather go to any duty than to this. Perhaps it will tell thee that other duties are greater, and therefore this must give place to them, because thou hast not time for both. Public business is of more concernment; to study, to preach for the saving of souls, must be preferred before these private contemplations as if thou hadst no time to see to the saving of thine own soul, for looking after others; or thy charity to others were so great, that it draws thee to neglect thy comfort and salvation; or, as if there were any better way to fit us to be useful to others, than to make this experience of our doctrine ourselves! Certainly heaven, where is the Father of lights, is the best fire to light our candle at, and the best book for a preacher to study; and, if they would be persuaded to study that more, the church would be provided of more heavenly lights; and when their studies are divine, and their spirits divine, their preaching will then be also divine, and they may be fitly called divines indeed: or if thy heart have nothing to say against the work, then it will trifle away the time in delays, and promise this day and the next, but still keep off from the doing. of the business: or lastly, If thou wilt not be so baffled with excuses or delays, thy heart will give thee a flat denial, and oppose its own unwillingness to thy reason; thou shalt find it come to the work as a bear to the stake, and draw back with all the strength it hath. I speak all this of the heart so far as it is carnal, (which in too great a measure is in the best) for I know so far as the heart is spiritual, it will judge this work the sweetest in the world. Well, then, what is to be done in the forementioned case? Wilt thou do it, if I tell thee? Why, what wouldst thou do with a servant that were thus backward to his work or to thy beast that should draw back when thou wouldst have him go forward? Wouldst thou not first persuade, and then chide, and then spur him, and force him on; and take no denial, nor let him alone till thou hadst got him closely to fall to his work? Wouldst thou not say, Why, what should I do with a servant that will not work; or with an ox or horse that will not travel or labour? Shall I keep them to look on?' Wilt thou then faithfully deal thus with thy heart? If thou be not a lazy, selfdeluding hypocrite, say, I will, by the help of God, I will.' Set upon thy heart roundly, persuade it to the work, take no denial; chide it for its backwardness; use violence with it; bring it to the service, willing or not willing. Art thou the master of thy flesh, or art thou a servant to it? Hast thou no command of thy own thoughts? Cannot thy will choose the subject of thy meditations, especially when thy judgment thus directeth thy will? I am sure God once gave thee mastery over thy flesh, and some power to govern thy own thoughts; hast thou lost thy authority? art thou become a slave to thy depraved nature? Take up the authority again which God hath given thee; command thy heart; if it rebel, use violence with it; if thou be too weak, call in the Spirit of Christ to thine assistance. He is never backward to so good a work, nor will deny his help to so just a cause. God will be ready to help thee, if thou be not unwilling to help thyself. Say to him, Why, Lord, thou gavest my reason the command of my thoughts and affections; the authority I have received over them is from thee, and now, behold they refuse to obey thine authority. Thou commandest me to set them to the work of heavenly meditation, but they rebel and stubbornly refuse the duty. Wilt thou not assist me to execute that authority which thou hast given me? Oh, send me down thy Spirit and power, that I may enforce thy commands, and effectually compel them to obey thy will.' And thus doing, thou shalt see thy heart will submit; its resistance will be brought under, and its backwardness will be turned to a yielding compliance. Sect. II. 2. When thou hast got thy heart to the work, beware lest it delude thee by a loitering formality; lest it say, ' I go,' and go not; lest it trifle out the time, while it should be effectually employed meditating. Certainly, the heart is as likely to betray thee in this, as in any one particular about the duty; when thou hast perhaps but an hour's time for thy meditation, the time will be spent before thy heart will be serious. This doing of duty as if we did it not, doth undo as many as the flat omission of it. To rub out the hour in a bare, lazy thinking of heaven, is but to lose that hour, and delude thyself. Well, what is to be done in this case? Why, do here also as you do by a loitering servant; keep thine eye always upon thy heart; look not so much to the time it spendeth in the duty, as to the quantity and quality of the work that is done. You can tell by his work whether your servant hath been painful; ask, 'What affections have yet been acted; how much am I yet got nearer heaven?' Verily, many a man's heart must be followed as close in this duty of meditation, as a horse in a mill, or an ox at the plough, that will go no longer than you are calling or scourging. If you cease driving but a moment, the heart will stand still; and perhaps the best hearts have much of this temper. : I would not have thee of the judgment of those, who think that while they are so backward, it is better let it alone and that if mere love will not bring them to the duty, but there must be all this violence used to compel it, that then the service is worse than the omission. These men understand not, First, That this argument would certainly cashier all spiritual obedience, because the hearts of the best being but partly sanctified, will still be resisting so far as they are carnal: Secondly, Nor do they understand well the corruptness of their own natures: Thirdly, Nor, that their sinful undisposedness will not baffle or suspend the commands of God: Fourthly, Nor one sin excuse another: Fifthly, Especially they little know the way of God to excite their affections; and that the love which should compel them, must itself be first compelled, in the same sense as it is said to compel. Love, I know, is a most precious grace, and should have the chief interest in all our duties: but there are means appointed by God to procure this love; and shall I not use those means, till I can use them from love? That were |