Direll. 7 • §· It• Direlt. 7• Avoid aUtmneccffary {olitartne(r, and bear mttch ai pnf!ible in honrjt chearful comp.:- ny. You have need of others; and are nor fuffiC!ent for your felves: And God will ufc and honour others, .as his hands, to deliver us his blefiings. SolitarinefS'is to thofe that are fit for it, an excel– lent feafon for meditation and convcr[e with God and wirh our hearts: But toyou, it is the feafon of temptation, and danger; if Smn tempted Chrift himfclf,_ when he had him fajfing and {ulitary in a wi)dernefs; mud~ more w1ll he take thts as hts opportunity agamfi you. Solitude is the fcafon of mufings and thoughtfulntfi, which are the things which you mufi fly from, ifyou will not be deprived of all. Dird/. g, 9· 12· DireCt. S. When blajjhemol« or dij!urbing thoughu look.. in or fruitlrfs mujing,, ptr[<mly mm thfm and ufl that authority of Rttt{on which i.r left you, to caft th'em and command them out. If you have not lofi it, Reafo" and the wiU have a command over the tho1tgbts as ~ell as over the rongue, or hands, or feet. And as.yon would be afhamed to run up and down, or fight with your hands and fay, Icqmwt hdp it; or to let your tongue run all day, and ,Cay, I cannot }fop it; fo !hould y~u be a!hamed to let your Thoughts run at random, or on hunful thtngs, and fay, I c11nnot help it. Do you do the ?cfi yo?- can to help it? Cannot you bid them be gone? Cannot you turn your thoughts to fomethmg d{, I Orcannot you rowze up your felf, and !hake them olf? Some by cafiing a little cold water i~ their own facts, or bidding another do it, can rowze themfelves from melancholy mufings as from tltep. Or cannot you get out of the room, and fet your fdfabout fame b~tfimfi which will di~ vert you ? You might do more than you do, if you were but willing, and knew how much it is your duty. Direl1. 9 , 9· 13· Direct. 9· Whm you d.thinlz •f any holy thingI, let it br of tbr be]! thin~ I; of God and Grace aHd Chdft and Heaven : Or vfyaur brtthrrn, or the Church ; and carry aUyo~er meditation/ outw3 rd; but be [ure yJu pore ~tot on ) our [elves! and Jftnd. not your thought! upon your thoughts. As we have need to call the Thoughts ot cartlefs fmners mward1, and turn them from the Creature and fin upon thernfdvcs ; fo we have need to call the 1'houghuof felf-perplcxing melancholy perfons outwards ~ For it is their.difeafe to be llill grinding upon themfdves. Remember that it is a far higher, nobkr and fwt:eter work to think of God, and Ch,-ifl, and Heaven, than of fuch worms as we our felves are. when we go up to God, we go to Love, and Light, and Liberty : But when we look down into our felves, we look into a dungeon, a pri~on, a wiiderncfs, a place ofdarknefs, horror, filthinefs, mifery and confufion. Therefore ( though {uch thoughts be needful fo far as without them our Repentance and due watchfulnefs cannot be maintained) yet they arc grievous, ignoble, yea and barren in comparifon of our thoughts of God. When you are poring on your hearts, (o (carch whether'the Love of God be there or no, it were wifer to be thinking of the infinite Amiabltncfi of God; and that will caufe it, whether it were there before or not. So infiead of.poring on your hearts to know whether they are fct on Heaven, lift up your thought! to H~aven, and think of its Glory,,and that will r~ife: them thither, and give you, and !h(:w you that wh1ch you were: fearching for. Bellow that time in- plan~ing_ holy delires in d~e garden of your hearts, which you bellow in routing and puzling your {elves in (earching wherher 1t be there already. We are fuch1dark confufed things, that the fight of our (elves is enough to raife a loathing and a horror in our minds, and make them melan– choly, But in God and Glory, there is nothing to difcourage our thoughts, but all to delight them if Satan do not rnit:reprcfent him to us. ) Direlt. 10 • ?· 14· Di1ill. zo. Overlook.,tJol the Miracle of Love, 'WhiciJ Gt~d bath flJcrved Zlf in the wonderful incamation, office, Jife, deatb, refurre!Jion, afcentiM and rtign of our Redeemtr : But ftup your thou,htJ mofl in. thcfe ,.,nderr of mercy, profofed by God to be the chief matm ofY''"r thoughtJ, You fhguld in tcafon lay out tmmy thoughts ot Chrijt atld Grace, .fot om that you lay out on your fin and mife– ry• GQd rcquireth you .to tee your fi? and miflry, but fo much as tendeth to magnitie the remedy, and caufe you ro accept It : Never thmk of fin and HeU alone; but as the way to the thoughts of Chri}t and Gr.Jct. This is the duty even of the worfi. Are your ji111 t.Ver before you? why is not pardoning grace in Chrifi before you? Is HeUopen before you? Why is nor the Redeemer allobefore you ? Do you fay, Becaufe that fin and H~U are yours, but C~rijl, and Halinr[r, and HeJvtn are.none of yours? I anfwer you,Jt is· then becau{cyJtt wiU have it fo: If you would n0t have it fo, iris not fo. God hath fet Life hrfi before you, and not only Death. He hath put Cbrijf, and Holimfi and )oh.l .16. Heaven in hil end of the ballance; and the D ..vil puts rhc pleaflere of tin fur a feafon in the other t John S· '· 0' c:nd : That which you ciJoofe unfeignedly is yours : For God hath given you your choice. Nothing fs Rev. z.:. 1 ;;_t. truer, than that God hath fo far made over Cbrijl and Life to all, that hear the Gofpel, that nothing John 5 . 40 . but their final obfiinate refufal can condemn them : Chrijt and Life are brought to the wiU and choice of all, though all have not wiU, to accrpl and choofe him. And if you wo11ld not have Chrij! and Life and f:l.olinc[I, what would you rather have? And why complain you? Dire11• 11o 9· 1)· Dir<Ct. 11. 1hinlz and [peak.. a< much of the Mrrcy which yo11 h>vermivrd, "' of tbr fiit yo:c havecommiutd ; aud of the mercy which i1 offeredyou, ,nof. n:h.1t you wam. You dare not fay :hat the mercy you have received, is no more worthy to be rernembrcd and mentioned than all your hns ? Shall God do fo much for you, and 01all it be overlooked, extenuated and made nothing of' As if his mercies had been a bare bone, or a barren wilderncfs, which would yield no fultenance to your . thoughts? Be not guilty of fo great unthankfulnefs. Thoughts of Love and mercy, would breed Loveand fweetne[s in the foul: while thoughts of fin and wratb only breed averfeneji, terror, binete ncfi, ptrplexity, and drive away the heart ftom God. . Virttl• 12 , . §· 16. Direct. 12· 1it yoHr felvutlaily to [pendas great a part of your 1ime in yonr prtJycrJ, in tbe conftjJing of mercy mtivcd, "'ill <anfrjJing fin committed: and in tht I'raifrs of God, ., in tl1f lamtn· IJJig
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