loved thee set thy heart upon him, who sets his upon thee; seek him who hath so solicitously sought thee; whose goodness hath prevented thee, and is the cause of thine. He is the merit, he the reward, he the fruit and the end of thy love, Conform thyself therefore in all things to him ; let his care excite thine, his leisure entertain thine, be clean with the clean, and holy with the holy. Such as thou presentest thyself before God, such apprehensions it is plain thou entertainest concerning him. If thou believest him full of meekness and goodness and mercy, thou canst not but conclude, that he expects all his children should be gentle and kind, compassionate and humble. Strive to be like him then, and let this likeness prove, (for nothing else can prove it) that thou dost truly love him, whose compassion brought thee out of the mire and clay, and drew thee back from the bottomless pit of destruction.

Choose him for thy friend, and prefer him before all other friends, who when all other confidences forsook and betrayed thee, was the only one that stuck close to thee in thy extremity. In the day of thy death, when no friend else will or can do thee service, he will not desert thee: then will this kind Saviour be sure to stand by thee, and save thee from the reproof of him that would eat thee up; deliver thy soul from those roaring lions that wait ready to tear it in pieces, and carry it up on high through unknown ways; bring thee to the heavenly Jerusalem, and place thee amongst angels in his own presence, where thou shalt hear that heavenly song, holy, holy, holy, &c. There is the voice of joy and health, of thanksgiving and praise, and never-ceasing hallelujahs: there is the perfection of happiness, and glory, and gladness, and every thing desirable and good.

Pant eagerly, my soul, and let all thy desires loose after this blessed place: that thou mayest

T

come into that city above, of which such glorious things are spoken. And love will carry thee thither, how steep soever the ascent may seem. For this surmounts all difficulties, and leaves nothing impossible to the person actuated by it. This takes frequent flights thither even while upon earth, and walks with great freedom through the streets of Jerusalem above; it visits the patriarchs and prophets and apostles, beholds with wonder the regular armies of martyrs and confessors, and the beauty of chaste and holy virgins. In short, both heaven and earth, and every thing in each, are ever inculcating this duty; that I ought to love the Lord my God with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul, and with all my strength. (Mat. xxii. 37.)

But, were not this necessary in point of duty, yet it is absolutely so in point of interest and prudence. For when the heart of man is not fixed upon this object, it is never fixed any where! but roves about perpetually from one thing to another, seeking rest where it is never to be found. Now the reason why it can never meet with satisfaction in any of these frail and transitory matters, which captivate its affections, is because the soul is above them all, and of a condition so excellent, that no good but the supreme good can answer its desires, or prove its adequate happiness. For God hath endued it with such a principle of liberty, that it cannot be compelled to the commission of any sin. And therefore every man's salvation or damnation turns at last upon his own choice. Hence no man can bring a richer present to God, than an honest and good heart. This brings God down to us, and carries us up to him. By this we love God, and choose God, and arrive at him, and attain to the enjoyment of him.

This is the thing, that by the assistance of Divine grace renews us, and restores our primitive likeness to God: this is of so great account with him,

that his Spirit will not dwell with them that have it not. This engages him to be with us, and reign in us, and makes the soul a receptacle for the majesty of the whole Trinity. The wisdom of God enlightens it to the knowledge of the truth. The love of God inflames it with a desire of his goodness; and the fatherly affection of God preserves his own creature, that the holy motions he inspires, and the person inspired by them, should not perish.

CHAP. XII.

Of the Knowledge of the Truth.

UT what is it to know the truth, and by what steps do we come to it? The first is, for a man to be thoroughly acquainted with himself, to make it his business to be what he ought to be, and to correct and reform whatever he finds amiss in himself. The next is to know and to love the God that made him for this is the whole, the duty and the happiness of man. Now, in order hereunto, we shall do well to observe, how exceeding good God hath been to us, and what obligations we have to love him in return. He made us out of nothing, when we had no being; and all we have received ever since we came into being is his gift. But, because we are degenerated in our affections, and loved the gift more than the Giver, the creature more than the Creator, we fell into the snare of the tempter, and became the servants of sin and the devil. When we were reduced to this miserable condition, God looked upon us with an eye of pity, and sent his Son to break our chains, and release us from our slavery. He sent his Holy Spirit too, the Spirit of adoption, and exalted his servants to the dignity of sons. He gave his Son to be our ransom, and his Holy Spirit to be the pledge of his

love, and he reserves the whole of himself for our future reward and inheritance.

Thus God in infinite compassion and kindness, for the exceeding tenderness he bore to mankind, hath not only been liberal in his blessings, but hath even laid out himself for our advantage; that he might restore lost man, not so much to God, who could not suffer by that loss, as to his own self, who must have been otherwise irreparably undone by it. That men might be born of God, God condescended to be born of man. And what heart is so insensible, so hard and flinty, as not to be softened with such astonishing advances of love; a love which began entirely on God's part, and was so strangely great, that he vouchsafed to become man, purely for the sake and benefit of man? Who can hate any other man, whose nature and likeness he sees in the Son of God made man? Certain it is, that he who hates his brother, does by necessary consequence hate God; and he who hates God, will find that all his pretended good works are nothing worth.

Now God was made man for our sakes, that he who had been our Creator might be our Redeemer also, and that the human nature might contribute to its own redemption. Again, God appeared in the likeness of man, that by his condescension man might be better acquainted with God, and love him with a more free and tender affection, whom he saw stoop down to the same level, and a sort of equality with himself. Thus all the faculties of our souls are made happy in the contemplation of him: Those of the rational, in his Divine perfections, and those of the sensitive, in his human body. So admirably contrived is this mystery of godliness to engage our affections, that man in every capacity might meet with objects suitable to him; and, whether he go in or out, might find pasture in his God and Saviour.

Such are the benefits of the Son of God in our flesh, all which are more complete by the mission of the Holy Spirit. The Son was born, and crucified, and died for us, that by that death of his he might destroy the death which before had dominion over us. Now, when the grape of flesh was squeezed in the wine-press of the cross, the Spirit of grace was sent to cleanse our hearts that we might be vessels prepared, and meet for our Master's use, and new wine might be put into new bottles. This was necessary, first, that our hearts being purged, the liquor put into them might not be tainted; and then, that being sealed up, what they contained might not be lost. They are cleansed, when they cease to rejoice in, and have no longer any relish for sin, and they are sealed up, when fortified against temptations, and the seducements of vain and worldly delights. For that which is good could not be received by them, till that which was evil was first taken away. The love of sin pollutes, the love of vanity spills the wine; the former fouls the vessel, the latter makes it leaky.

The love of sin makes us delight in that which is evil the love of vanity engages our affections to things unprofitable and of no continuance. Put away therefore the evil, that you may make room for the good: pour out the bitter and the vapid, that you may be filled with the generous and delicious. The Holy Ghost is joy and love: cast out the spirit of the devil and of this world, and you shall receive the Spirit of God. The spirit of the devil disposes us to love sin, the spirit of this world to delight in empty and imaginary joys. These are both evil; for the former is directly vicious, and the other hath a tendency to vice: but when these spirits are dispossessed, the Spirit of God will succeed into their place. He will enter into the tabernacle of thy heart, and produce holy joy and holy love. The love of the world allures, and