Yatter for good Tbottghtr. ordinances, in your relations and callings. His mercies are innumerable, and yet do You_r meditationr want matter ro fupply them ! If I iliould but recite the words of David in many thankful Pfalms, you would think Mercy found hi< Thoughts employment. . . , . ~, 1 6. Direct. 16. Fortfee that exall and rzghteotts JUdgement, wbzcb (IJortly ygu have to undergo, Diretl. r6~ and it wiD do mucb to find you employment for yortr tboug6ts. Aman that mull give :in 3:cco~nt to 16. Theac-. God of all that he hath done ~oth good and evil, and knoweth not how foon, for ought he ltnoWs coum :u before to morrow, me thinks fhould find him fomething better than vanity to think on! Is it nothi!lg Judgement, to beready for fa great aday? To have your jullification ready ! your accounts rriade rip ! Your Confcicnces deanfed and quietted on good grounds! To know what an(wcr to rhake for your lelves againfi the accufer ! To be dear and fure that you are indeed Regenerate, and have a part in ChriH, and are wailied in his blood, and reconciled to God, and £hall not prove hypocrites and felf-deteivets in that trying day! when it is a fentence that mull finally decide the quefiion, whether we fl1>ll be faved or darnntd; and mufl:dcte_rrnine·~s toHea~en or !f~U for ever~ and you have fo fl:lort arid uncertain a time for your preparauon, w1ll not th1s admmtfier matter to your Thoughts! If yon were going to a Judgement for your live1. Qr all.your.efloter, you would think it fufficient to provide; you matter for your thougbtJ by the w~y! How much more this final dreadfol judgement ! 9· 1 7. Dire6t. 17. If all thir will not forve the turn, it's flr11nge if God caD itoi home ymr thought!, Direl1: 17 • by jharp affliliionr: and methiHitJ the improveme~t of them, a11d the rem~val of them, Jho,ld find [ome h· Our At~ empkymeilt for your thoHghu. It's time then to [tarcb and try your ways, and turn again lmto Otaions, the Lord, lam. 3. 4· To lind out the Acha11 that troubleth your peace, and know the voice of the rod, and what God is angry at, and what it is that hecalleth rou to mind! To know what root it is that bearcth thefe bitterfruirs: and how thrymay be fancrihed to make you <Onfotmable to Chrill, and parta1,.ersof his holinefs, Heb. 12· to. Befides the cxercifc of holy puienceand fubmillion, there is a great ,deal of work. to be done ia [Hjfering< ; to exercife faith, and honour God and the good caufe of our fuffeiing; and to humble our !<Ives for the tvil caufe; and to get the benefit. And if yoi1 will not meditate of the Duty, you £hall meditate of the pain whether you will or not; and fay as Lam. 3• 17, 18, tl), 20· I forgate pro[perity, and I faid, My ftrmgtb and my hope is P"iJhed from the Lord ; Remembring mim afflil1ion and my mifery, the wormwood and the gaU : My foul bat» them jtiU in remembrance, and is bumbled in me. Put not God to remtmber you by his [pur, and help your meditations by fo lharp a means! Pfal. 78. 33,34,3 5· 1ber;fore did beconfumt their days in vd.~ ,;~,and their years in trouble: RJben he flew them then they fougbt him, and they returne4 and enquired tarly after God: and they remembred that Godwas their :kock,., and tbe high God their Redeemer. t 9· aS. DireCt. 18. Be diligent inyonr caUiHgr, and ffiend nQ time in idlene[l, and perform yaur tabour! Dirtll. iSi A'itb holy mind1, to the glory of God, anti. in obedience to bi1 commands, and then jour thoughts wilf18. The bufi· have the lcfs leifurc aud liberty for vanity or idlenefr. Employmetits of the body will employ the c~t your J:houghts: They that have much to do have much to thinlto~t : for they murt do it phidehtly ana a lngs. skillfully and carfully, that they may do it /itccefsfuUy : and therefore mull thinlz how td do it: And the urgency and necellity of bufinefs will almoll nmffi<att the thoughts, and lo carry ihem orl and find them work (Though fome cmployments more than others ) And let none think that theft Thoughts arc bad or vain becaufe they are about worldly things: For if our Labours themfel~es be not bad or vain then neither are thofe tbeughts which are needful to the well-doing of our work. Nor let any worldling pleafc himfelf with this, and IQy, My thougbtJ are tal<!n HP about my calling : For his calling it felf is perverted by him, and made acarnal wor"- to ca_mal end1, When it lhould be fanllified: That the thoughts about your labours may be good, 1. Your labours themfelves mull be good, performed in obedience to Cod, and for the good of others, and to his glory. 2· Your la~ bouts and thoughts muI\ keep their bounds, and the higher things mu(I be fiill prtferred, arid fought and thought on in the firft place: And your labours f!JUll fo far efnploy your thoughts a< is needful . !O the well-doing of them: but better things mull be tboughi on, in {itch labours as leave a vacancy to the Thoughts. But diligence in your calling is a very great help to keep out ]inful tbiugbls, and to furni!h us with thoughuwhich in their plact are good. ' 9· 19• Direct. 19. YoH havt all God1 {piritual belpt and holy ordinancti to fud your meditationi, Dirt/1. '9• ·~:Nd 10 qMid~.m thtm, which jhould be u[ed whtn"}our mi1tds grow dull or barren. When }tbur minds 19o All Ord~ art empty, and you cannot pump up plentiful matter fur holy thoughts, the reai:llng of a feafon:i- nance• and ble book_, or confer~rlce with a full expe.r~en~ed Chrifiia~, will furhi!h you with. matter ; fo,will ~;:~;.of the heanng of a prohtable Sermon ; and fomettme prayer will do more than meditiliton~ And weakheaded perlons, ol fmall knowledge and £hallow memories, mull fetch the matter of their meditations thus more frequently from reading and confertnce than others need to do: As they can hold but a little at a time, fo they mull go the ofter: As he that goeth to the Water with a Spoon or a Oia,, mull go ofter than they that go with a more capacious vefrd. Others can carry a fiore~hou[e of meditation fiill about them; but perfons of very fmall knowledge and metiwry, mull haVe their meditations ted by others, as intants by the fpoon. Therefore a little and often, is the liell way both for ~heir Reading or blaring, and for their h~ly tbougbtt. How g~eat a mere}' is it, that w:eak Chrifiiails have fuch fiore of helps? that when thm heads are empty, they have book.J and friendt that aie not empty, . from whence they may fetch help as they want it : and that their heartt are i10t empty of the Love of Gotl, wpich enclineth them to do m.ore, itian their p•rts eitab/i thdn t0 do1
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