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better than a madman, that should ask, why man should not fly as well as the bird, and swim as well as the fish, and run as fast as the hart: since that one faculty of reason, wherewith he is furnished, is more worth, than all the brutish excellencies of the world put together. O my God, thou, that hast enriched me with a reasonable soul, whom thou mightest have made the brutest of thy creatures, give me the grace so to improve thy gift, as may be most to the glory and advantage of thy own Name: let me, in the name and behalf of all my brute fellowcreatures, bless thee for them; and, both for them and myself, in a ravishment of spirit, cry out, with the Psalmist, O Lord my God, how wonderful and excellent are thy works; in wisdom hast thou made them all.

XXIII.

THE BODY OF SUBJECTION.

Bodily exercise, saith the Apostle, profits little; 1 Tim. iv. 8. little, sure, in respect of any worth, that it hath in itself; or any thank, that it can expect from the Almighty. For, what is it to that good and great God, whether I be full or fasting; whether I wake or sleep; whether my skin be smooth or rough, ruddy or pale, white or discoloured; whether my hand be hard with labour, or soft with ease; whether my bed be hard, or yielding; whether my diet be coarse, or delicate? But, though in itself it avail little, yet so it may be, and hath been, and ought to be improved, as that it may be found exceedingly beneficial to the soul: else, the same Apostle would not have said, I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away; 1 Cor. ix. 27. In all the records of history, whom do we find more noted for holiness, than those, who have been most austere in the restraints of bodily pleasures and contentments? In the Mount of Tabor, who should meet with our Saviour in his Transfiguration, but those two eminent Saints, which had fasted an equal number of days with himself? And, our experience tells us, that what is detracted from the body is added to the soul: for the flesh and spirit are not more partners, than enemies: one gains by the other's loss: the pampering of the flesh, is the starving of the soul. I find an unavoidable emulation between these two parts of myself: O God, teach me to hold an equal hand betwixt them both: let me so use them, as holding the one my favourite, the other my drudge; not so humouring the worse part, as to discontent the better; nor so wholly regarding the better, as altogether to discourage the worse. Both are thine; both by gift, and purchase: enable thou me to give each of them their dues; so as the one may be fitted, with all humble

obsequiousness to serve; the other, to rule and command, with all just authority and moderation.

XXIV.

THE GROUND OF UNPROFICIENCY.

WHERE there is defect in the principles, there can be no possibility of prevailing in any kind. Should a man be so foolish as to persuade his horse, that it is not safe for him to drink in the extremity of his heat; or to advise a child, that it is good for him to be whipt, or, in a case of mortal danger, to have a fontinel made in his flesh; how fondly should he misspend his breath! because the one wants the faculty, the other the use, of reason. So, if a man shall sadly tell a wild sensualist, that it is good for him, to bear the yoke in his youth; that it is meet for him, to curb and cross his unruly appetite; that the bitterest cup of afflictions ought to be freely taken off, as the most sovereign medicine of the soul; that we ought to bleed and die for the name of Christ; that all the sufferings of the present times are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us; Rom. viii. 18. his labour is no less lost, than if he had made an eloquent oration to a deaf man: because this carnal hearer lacks that principle of grace and regeneration, which only can enable him to apprehend and relish these divine counsels. I see, O God, I see too well, how it comes to pass, that thy word sounds so loud, and prevails so little; even because it is not joined with faith in the hearers the right principle is missing, which should make the soul capable of thy divine mysteries. Faith is no less essential to the true Christian, than reason is to man, or sense to a beast. Oh, do thou furnish my soul with this heavenly grace of thine; and then all thy Sacred Oracles shall be as clear to my understanding, as any visible object is to my sense.

XXV.

THE SURE REFUGE.

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof, saith our Saviour: lo, every day hath its evil, and that evil is load enough for the present, without the further charge of our anticipated cares. Surely, the life of man is conflicted with such a world of crosses succeeding each other, that, if he have not a sure refuge to flee unto, he cannot chuse but be quite over-laid with miseries: one while, his estate suffers, whether through casualty or oppression; another while, his children miscarry, whether by sickness, or death, or disorder: one while, his good name is impeached; another while, his body languishes: one while, his mind is perplexed with irksome suits; another while,

his soul is wounded with the sting of some secret sin: one while, he is fretted with domestical discontents; another while, distempered with the public broils: one while, the sense of evil torments him; another while, the expectation. Miserable is the case of that man, who, when he is pursued with whole troops of mischiefs, hath not a fort wherein to succour himself; and safe and happy is that soul, that hath a sure and impregnable hold, whereto he may resort. O the noble example of holy David! never man could be more perplexed than he was, at his Ziklag; his city burnt, his whole stock plundered, his wives carried away, his people cursing, his soldiers mutinying, pursued by Saul, cast off by the Philistines, helpless, hopeless: But David fortified himself in the Lord his God; 1 Sam. xxx. 6. There, there, O Lord, is a sure help, in the time of trouble: a safe protection, in the time of danger; a most certain remedy of all complaints: let my dove get once into the holes of that rock, in vain shall all the birds of prey hover over me for my destruction.

XXVI.

THE LIGHT BURDEN.

WHY do we complain of the difficulty of a Christian profession, when we hear our Saviour say, My yoke is easy, and my burden is light? Certainly, he, that imposed it, hath exactly poised it; and knows the weight of it to the full. It is our fault, if we make or account that heavy, which he knows to be light. If this yoke and burden be heavy, to our sullen nature; yet, to grace, they are, if they be heavy to fear, yet they are light to love. What is more sweet and easy, than to love; and love is all the burden we need to take up; for, Love is the fulfilling of the Law; and the Evangelical Law is all the burden of my Saviour. O Blessed Jesu, how willingly do I stoop under thy commands! It is no other than my happiness, that thou requirest: I shall be, therefore, my own enemy, if I be not thy servant. Hadst thou not bidden me to love thee, to obey thee, thine infinite goodness and perfection of divine beauty would have attracted my heart, to be spiritually enamoured of thee: now thou biddest me to do that which I should have wished to be commanded, how gladly do I yield up my soul to thee! Lay on what load thou pleasest: since, the more I bear the more thou enablest me to bear, and the more I shall desire to bear. The world hath so clogged me this while, with his worthless and base lumber, that I have been ready to sink under the weight; and what have I got by it, but a lame shoulder and a galled back? Oh, do thou free me from this unprofitable

So the old editions: but may it not rather be," our fullen nature?"-H.

and painful luggage; and ease my soul, with the happy change of thy gracious impositions: so shall thy yoke not be easy only, but pleasing; so shall thy fulfilled will be so far from a burden to me, that it shall be my greatest delight upon earth, and my surest and comfortablest evidence for heaven.

XXVII.

JOY INTERMITTED.

WHAT a lightsomeness of heart do I now feel in myself, for the present, out of a comfortable sense of thy presence, O my God, and the apprehension of my interest in thee! Why should it not be thus always with me? Surely thine Apostle bids me rejoice continually; and, who would not wish to do so? For, there is little difference betwixt joy and happiness: neither was it guessed ill by him, that defined that man only to be happy, that is always delighted; and, certainly, there is just cause, why I should be thus always affected. Thus, O my God, thou art still and always the same: yea, the same to me, in all thy gracious relations, of a merciful Father, a loving Saviour, a sweet Comforter: yea, thou art my Head, and I am a limb of thy Mystical Body. Such I am, and shall ever be. Thou canst no more change, than not be; and, for me, my crosses and my sins are so far from separating me from thee, that they make me hold of thee the faster. But, alas, though the just grounds of my joy be steady, yet my weak disposition is subject to variableness. While I carry this flesh about me, my soul cannot but be much swayed with the temper of my body; which sometimes inclines me to a dull listlessness, and a dump7 ish heaviness of heart and sadness of spirit: so as, I am utterly unapt to all cheerful thoughts; and find work enough, to pull my affections out of this stiff clay of the earth, and to raise them up to heaven. Besides, this joy of the Holy Ghost is a gift of thy divine bounty, which thou dispensest when and how thou pleasest; not always alike to thy best favourites on earth: thou, that givest thy sun and rain, dost not command thy clouds always to be dropping, nor those beams to shine continually upon any face: there would be no difference, betwixt the proceeding of nature and grace, if both produced their effects in a set and constant regularity; and what difference should I find, betwixt my pilgrimage and my home, if I should here be taken up with a perpetuity of heavenly joy? Should I always thus feelingly enjoy thee, my life of faith should be changed into a life of sense, It is enough for me, O God, that above, in those regions of bliss, my joy in thee shall be full and permanent; if, in the mean while, it may please thee, that but some flashes of that celestial light of joy may frequently glance into my soul. It shall suffice, if thou give me but a taste of those heavenly

pleasures, whereon I shall once liberally feast with thee to all eternity.

XXVIII.

UNIVERSAL INTEREST.

It was a noble praise that was given to that wise heathen (Cato), that he so carried himself, as if he thought himself born for all the world. Surely, the more universal a Man's beneficence is, so much is it more commendable; and comes so much nearer to the bounty of that great God, who openeth his hand, and filleth all things living with plenteousness. There are too many selfish men, whose spirits, as in a close retort, are cooped up, within the compass of their own concernments; whose narrow hearts think they are born for none but themselves: others, that would seem good natured men, are willing enough to enlarge themselves to their kindred; whom they are careful to advance, with neglect of all others, however deserving some yet, more liberal-minded, can be content to be kind and openhanded to their neighbours: and some, perhaps, reach so far, as to profess a readiness to do all good offices to their countrymen; but here their largeness finds its utmost bounds. All these dispositions are but inclosures: give me the open champain, of a general and illimited benefacture. Is he rich? he scatters his seed abroad, by whole handfuls, over the whole ridge; and doth not drop it down, between his fingers, into the several furrows: his bread is cast upon the waters also. Is he knowing and learned? he smothers not his skill in his bosom ; but freely lays it out upon the common stock: not so much regarding his private contentment, as the public proficiency. Is he deeply wise? he is ready to improve all his cares and counsels, to the advancement and preservation of peace, justice, and good order amongst men. Now, although it is not in the power of any, but persons placed in the highest orb of authority, actually to oblige the world to them; yet nothing hinders, but that men of meaner rank may have the will to be thus universally beneficent, and may, in preparation of mind, be zealously affected to lay themselves forth upon the common good. O Lord, if thou hast given me but a private and short hand, yet give me a large and public heart.

XXIX.

THE SPIRITUAL BEDLAM.

HE, that, with wise Solomon, affects to know not wisdom only, but madness and folly, let him, after a serious observation of the sober part of the world, obtain of himself to visit Bedlam; and to look into the several cells of distracted persons: where,

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