Father's House are thy Longings and Delight; and as the Hart panteth after the Water-fprings, fo Pfal. xlii. doth thy Soul pant and thirst after me. But as yet thou art not ripe for thefe Joys; that happy Hour is not come; for this Life is the Time of Warfare, and Action, and Trial, and not of Reft, and Joy, and Triumph; and thou must be content to wait with Patience, till the Kingdom of God fhall come in Perfection.

The Condition of Mortals upon Earth, is that Exercife and Difcipline; the Joys they feel are Comforts and Supports, not full and perfect Happiness; they are given not to fatisfy, but only to fuftain them. And therefore receive them as they are, and use them to their proper Purposes; that by them thy Conftancy and Patience may be preferv'd from finking under the weight of any Difficulties, which either the doing or fuffering Things, to which Frail and Corrupt Nature is averfe, may at any time expofe thee. For the Change of a Man's felf is a very laborious Undertaking, and yet this must be done. The Flesh with its Lufts must be crucified, a New Heart and a New Spirit introduced, many Things done, which offer Violence to a Man's Inclinations, many forgone and let alone, to which he is strongly difpofed. Others thou fhalt often obferve crown'd with Succefs, when thy own no lefs painful Endeavours are defeated and disappointed: Others look'd upon as Oracles, when thy better and wifer Advice is difregarded and defpifed! Others will fuffer long, and at laft obtain their Defire; Thou, perhaps, tho' equally patient, equally fervent and zealous in thy Application, difmift with a Repulfe; Others be great in Fame and general Efteem, while thy more deferving Virtues are pafs'd over in Silence; Others careffed, preferr'd, trusted in Matters of Confequence, and looked upon as ufeful and neceffary, while thou art reputed a useless and infignificant Person. These Mitaken or partial Judgments of Men, will grate hard

upon Human Nature; but even these will turn to good account, if born with Meekness, and Modesty and Silence. For these are the very Methods by which God brings the Fidelity of his Servants to the Touch; 'tis thus that he discovers, whether they have gained a Conqueft over Nature and themselves. And no Sort of Mortification is of happier Confequence, than that which expofes Men to the Sight and Suffering of Things, to which their own Minds are most violently averfe. Efpecially, when what they cannot but conceive most unfit, moft abfurd and odd, constrains them to go against their own Senfe, and fubmit to a higher Power, without any referve to the private Judgment of their own Reafon in the Cafe. This is indeed hard, and a Perfection of Submiffion not easy to be compafs'd; but, did Men well confider, how vaft the Advantages of a Temper fo refigned are at prefent, how glorious the Reward of it hereafter, and how quickly the Troubles it exposes them to will end in that Reward; the Comforts of fuch Difcipline would be fenfible and great, and they would even enjoy their Afflictions and Temptations, fuftained with fo pure, fo bright a Profpect, of the mighty, the approaching Recompence.

For this fhort empty Pleasure, which now thou chufeft for my Sake to decline, fhall be compenfated with folid and everlasting Joy in Heaven: And there thy largest Wishes fhall be gratified. There fhall be Plenty of every Thing that is good. Fruition perfect and fecure, free from the leaft Allay of Fear, or Poffibility of future Loffes. Between thy Will and mine fhall then be perfect Harmony; no Opposition there, no Obftruction; but every thing fhall confpire to fulfil all thy Heart's Defire, and render thy Happiness as exquifite,as a Finite Nature is capable of. Thy prefent Ignominy, born with Patience, fhall there be paid with brighter Glory; thy Mourning Weeds exchanged for Robes

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of Light and Joy; and he who fits here in the loweft Place, fhall there be feated on an Eternal Throne. Let it not then be grievous to thee, to humble and fubmit thy felf to the capricious Humours of Men, with whom thou conversest in this World; but rather fo compofe thy Mind, and order all thy Actions, as readily and meekly to comply with the Commands of thy Superiors, the Defires of thy Equals, the Requefts of thy Inferiors, to do for all what lawfully thou mayeft, and to endure patiently whatever they fhall, but ought not, to do to thee. Let Vain Men pursue Vanity, leave them to their own Methods. Let them place their Glory and Happiness in fuch Objects, as their own mistaken Judgments fhall determine them to. Let them admire, and above all Things covet, a celebrated Name, and popular Applaufe: But do thou place thy Excellence and Honour in the Contempt of thy felf, thy Diligence in dif charging my Commands, thy Zeal in feeking and advancing my Honour and Kingdom; and let this be first and chief in thy Defires, That whether thou live, thou mayft live unto the Lord; or whether thou die, thou may'ft die unto the Lord; fo that whether by Life or Death, the Lord Je fus may be magnified in thy Body.

Rom. xiv.

Pfal.i. 20.

CHAP. LV.

An Act of Refignation to God, in Time of

Disciple. B

Adverfity.

Leffed be that Wisdom and Goodness, O holy Father, which performs all thy Will for what thy Will decrees, cannot be otherwife than good and wife. Give me Grace, I befeech

thee,

thee, to rejoice, not in my felf, or any other, but in Thee alone; for thou only art my Hope and Crown, my Joy and Glory. All I have is received at thy bountiful Hand; bountiful to a moft unworthy Creature, who neither could procure, nor deferve the leaft of all thy Mercies: And thou, by giving and compleating, haft not loft thy Property and Right in all, which by thy means I enjoy or do. For what am I, alas! but a weak helpless Wretch? acquainted with Mifery from my very Cradle, and wafted with Trouble and Vexation; my Face grown old with Tears, and my Heart perplexed and broken with Doubts, and Sorrows, and vehement Paffions. I beg and long moft earneftly for the Bleffing of Peace, that Peace and inward Confolation, which thy Children feed and feaft upon. If thou fhalt fill my Soul with this, it will overflow with Joy and Praife, and continually breathe out holy Hymns to the Honour of thy Name. But if thou turn away thy Face, as fometimes thou feeft fit to do," I find my self unable to run in the Way of thy Commandments; and, proftrating my felf in the Anguifh of my Soul, I beat my Breaft, and wring my Hands, for the Lofs of that Light and Comfort, that Strength and Protection, which I enjoyed, while under the Shadow of thy Wings, and defended from the Affaults of Sorrow and Adverfity,

Righteous Father, (then fay I) the Time is come when thou art pleafed to try me, but even at this Time, and at all others, praifed be thy Name. Dear eft Father, it is very meet, that now thou call'ft me to it, I fhould fuffer in Obedience to thy Will. Moft Honoured Father, this is thy Hour, even that impor tant Hour, which thou from all Eternity haft ordained, to be the Seafon of my outward Oppreffion and Difcomfort becoming the Inftrument of endlefs Life and Joy to me: But though this Heavinefs may endure for a Night, yet Light and Glory will return

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in the Morning, This, holy Father, is thy own Appointment, and what thou willeft thou never willeft in vain. For even this Suffering in the prefent Life is a Mark of thy Favour and Friendship; the Returns, the Inftruments, the Manner, the Continuance of my Afflictions, are all of thy permitting, for nothing is or can be done, without thy Providence and Direction, without fome wife and excellent Defign. Even I my felf am fenfible, how good it is for me Pfal. cxix. to have been afflicted, that I might learn thy ftatutes, and utterly difcard all Pride and Carnal Confidences. The Shame and Self-reproach I laboured under, hath taught me to expect Relief from God, and not from Man. And all my Afflictions put me upon contemplating the unfearchable Depths of thy Providence, which, with a wonderful Temper of Juftice and Equity, layeth thefe Burdens upon Bad and Good, without any Nice or Difcriminating Marks of Love or Hatred in this prefent World.

I will therefore render the most unfeigned Thankfgiving to my God, for that in marvellous Kindness he hath not spared the Rod, when it was convenient for me: I acknowledge his Mercy, even in the Pains and Croffes, and Sorrows I have endured, whether of Mind, or Body, or Eftate; and yet much more, for thofe Refreshments and Remedies, which thou alone haft afforded me. For vain is all the Help of Man ; but thou art the true, the powerful Phyfician of Souls, thou woundest and healeft; thou bringeft Deut. xxxii. down to the Gates of Hell, and raifeft up again. Thy Chaftifenient fhall teach me Wifdom; thou fhalt beat me with the Rod, and I fhall not die. Behold me, Lord, moft willingly fubmitting to thy Difcipline; O ftrike, and fpare not, fo thou bend my ftubborn Heart, and bring down my high Spirit, and make me tractable and obedient. I, Lord, and Mine are at thy Difpofal, put forth thy Hand and touch them as thou plea