How to delight i11 God. denyittg them, the things which they hate, or fer fo light by, as to prefer • Jufi before it> If they wuc not h. 1 terJ of God and Holincji, they would never be fo averfe even ro the Delights' which they fhould have wirh him. ' 1· 9 • Direll:. 8. Takg heed of a Mtlancholy habit of body: For Melancholy people c>n fc>rce dt!ight Dire[!. g in any thing at all, and therefore not in God. Delight is as hard to them, as it is to a pained mem~ • ber to find pleafiue, or a fick flomack to Jetjght in the food which it !oaths. They can think of God wirh trouble, and (e11r, and horr~r, and defpair ; but not with delight. . ~· 10 • Direct. 9· TaJtt bud of an impatient pievijh jtlj.tormrnting mind, that ca1t bear nocrofi; and Dtrcfr, 9· of overvaluing eartbly thin;,J~ which cau[eth impat~ence in. the want of them. M~k._e not too great a mat~ tt:r of jlejhly pai1J or pleafitre ; <fherwife your mmds Will be called to a cootmual attendance on the flt0 1 , and eaken Up with continual drfiru, ur caru, or fiarr, orgriefs, or ple.1]Ure{; and will not be permiued to {Qlace them[elvcs with God. The foul that would have pure an~ h.igh Delightr, mult a(lfirall: it fclf from the oonccrnmcnts of the flelh, and look on your body as rf " were the body of another, whofe pain or pleafure you can choofe whether you wtll feel: when Paul was rapt up into the third Heaven, and faw the things unutterable, he was fo far freed from the prifon of !Cnfe, that he knew not whethet he was in the Body, or out of it. As the ftparatcd fouls t~at fee the face of God and the Redeemer, do leave the Body to be buried and to rot in darknefs, and feel not all this to the interrupting of their joys; fo .f.;iJh can imitate fuch aDeath to the world, a11d fuch a neglect of the fle0 1 and fome kind of elevating feparation of the mind, to the things above. If in this near con· junclion you cannot leave the Body to rejoyce or foifcr alone, yet, as it felf is but a fervant to the foul> fo let nor its pain or pleafttre be predominant, and controll the high operations of the foul. A manly valiant believing foul) though it cannol abate the pain at all, nor reconcile the flejh to i!s calamiry, yet it can_do more, notwithttanding the pain, tu itr own delig?t, than Hrangers will believe. §. 11 , Some rtomen and paffionate wtaJdPirited men; cfpecially iu ficl.z;r~eji, are fo picvirh and of fuch irnpatienc minds, that their daily work is to djfquirt and torment themftlvu. One can fcarce tell how to Jpca"-. ro them, or loo"-. at them but it offendcrh them. And the world is fo full of occafions of provocation, that fuch perfons are like to have little quietnefs. It is unlike thlt thefe thould de– .Ji~bt in God, who keep their minds in a continual ulcerated galled Hate, uncapable of any delights at all, and ceafe not their {elf-tormenting. 9· I 2· Direll:. I 0· It uonly alift of faitb, that wiU bt a life of holy heavenly Delight: Extrcife yo11r DirrU. IO• fdvn tbcuforc in believing conttmRlationi of the things unfeen. It muH not he now and then a glance. . of the eye of the foul towards God, or a feldom falutation which you would give a tlranger; but a walking with him, and fr(quent addreffes of the foul unto him, which mufi help you to the DeligiJtl wbich Beli,vers find in their communion with him. 9· I3· Direlt. II• EfPecialJy let faith go freqrtently to Heaven for renewed matter ~~ delight, and Direa. IT. freqmntly think.. n:h.zt God will be to you there for tver, a11d n'ith rtbat fuU etlcrlajling delight he will {atiate )'our fouls. As Heaven is the place of our full delight, fo the fvrtfigbt and foretajf of it is the highejf delight, which on earth is to be attained. And a foul that is firange to the forefight of Heaven> \Yill be as Change to the true Delighu of faith. ~· 14 • Diiec:t. u. It i1 a great adv.mtage to Holy Delight, to be mrtch in the moft Delightful partr ofDirctl. 12 • rvorjhip; M iit Th.znk.fgiving and .Prai[e, and a. dut cefebr~tion of the Sacrame1tt of tin Body and blood of C/Jrift: Of which I have fpoken m the foregomg D~teClron~. . §. 15· D\rell:. 13· A skjUful txp.el'imced Paftor, whois able to •f'" the treafitrie of the Go[pel, and Dire[/. , 3 • publickJ.y and privately to dlrtl1 lnr flock._ m tbe wor~ vf felftxs.mtnauon and the he~Jvenly exacifos of faith, is a great help to Chriftianr {piritual delight. The expenences of believers teach them this: How oft do they go away refre01cd and revived, who came to the aff~mbly or to their pa!lors in great di£\refs, and allmofi in delpair. See Job 33· 23. 2 Cor. 1. 3, 4· It is the office and delight of the Minifiers of ChriH, to be belpers of his peoples faitb and jay. 2 Cor. r. 2'f· Phil. r. 4, 25. 1 Thef. 2· oo. §. I 6. Di1eCl. 14·. Ma"-.< ufe of aU that Pro[pcrity and lar:f•l ple.jim, )Ybich God givetb you. in aut- Dire[/. 14 , 'lf!ard thiugJ, for the zncreafe and advantage ofyvur Deltght m God. Though corrupted nature IS aptcr to abufe Profierity and earthly dtlights, than any other fiate, to thedivening of the heart from God; and allmoll all the Devils poyfon is given in [ugered or guilded allectives l yet the primitive natural ufe of profperiry, of health, and plenty, and honour, and peace, is to lead up the mind to God, and give us a ran of his fpiritual delights ! That the ~eighbourhood of the Body might be the foul; advamage ; and chat God, who in this life will be feen by u~ but in a glafs, and will give om his comforts by his appointed means, might make advantage of fenfitive delights, for his own reception, and the communications of his Love and pleafure unto man : That a.s Coon as the eye or ear or taf\: perceiverl1 the d<lightfulnefs of their feveral objet'l:s, the holy foul might pztfemly rake the hint and moti~n, and be carried up to delightful thoughts of him that giveth us all thele delights. And doubtlefs fo far as We can make ufe of a Delight in friendr, or food, or health, or babit.:ticmi or any accomodations of our Bodir:r, to furtller our Delight in God) or to remove thofe mcllncholy fears or forrows, which wo.uld hinder this fpi~itual Delight, it is not only Lawful , but our dmy to uft: them, with that moderauon as tenderh to th1s end. · 9· 17· DiieCt. 15• Ma~~ ufe fJf ajjliaio1: M a great advantage fo~ yo~t· purcft and mtmixt d£1ig1Jt in DirlCl. 154 God. The [ervants of Chnl\ have ufually never fo much of the JOY m the Holy Ghofi:, as in their grearefi fuflcrings : efpecially if they be for his fake. The foul never retireth fo readily and delight· tully to God, as when it hath no one clfe that will receive it, or that it can take any comfort from. God
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