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Matth. vii. and xv.

When thou feeleft thy Heart burn with Love and Devotion, return thy Thanks to God for kindling these holy Fires. I did it, not because thou art worthy of fuch Grace, but because I had Compaffion on thy Weakness and thy Wants. When thou findeft thy felf cold and infenfible in Religious Duties, double thy Diligence and thy Prayers, lament thy Deadness, and continue knocking. For if thou perfevere, and wilt take no Denial, thou fhalt not ask in vain, but be fed, at leaft with the Crumbs that fall from thy Master's Table. Thou ftandeft in need of Me, but I have none of Thee. It is for thy Benefit, not my own, that I vouchfafe to meet thee at this Sacrament. Thou comeft hither to be filled, and strengthened, and fanctified, to return better than thou cameft, to receive Increase of Grace, to be One with me, and dwell in me; and thofe, who come fincerely difpofed to receive me, and amend their Life, I will in no wife fend empty away. Do not then neglect those precious Opportunities; Do not abfent, or come carelefly; but make me room in thy Heart, and let it be a clean and fit Reception for fo pure a Gueft, and He whom thou loveft, will go home with thee to thy Houfe.

But then obferve, that there is the fame Neceffity of Care and Watchfulness after this Sacrament, as of Prayer and Preparation before it. For a conftant virtuous Life, and ftrict Guard over a Man's felf, are the best and most effectual Preparation to every Sacrament, and the fureft Means of obtaining more and greater Degrees of Grace. A Man, who prefently returns to the World, and gives himself a loose to the Liberties and Affections, the Bufinefs and the Pleafures of it, undoes what he had taken Pains to do before; and defeats the good Effects of his moft folemn Preparation. Be not fond of Variety of Company and Diverfions; nor lavish and unwary in thy

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Difcourfe; but rather chufe to retire into thy Chamber, and converse much with God in Solitude and Silence. When thou haft Him, thou haft a Treasure which nothing can take from thee. I am worthy of thee all, and I expect thee all. Divide not thy felf between Me and the World, but let Me be thy Love, thy Joy, thy Defire. So fhall thy Life be hid

with Chrift in God; and, tho' thou can'ft Colos. iii. not live in thy Self, yet thou fhalt live in Me; full of Tranquility and Peace, far above the diforderly Paffions, and ruffling Cares, of fenfual and earthly-minded Men.

CHAP.

XIII.

The Soul's Defire of Union with Chrift.

Disciple.] I

Hear thy gracious Words, my dearest Lord, and easily believe the inexpreffible Happiness of Them, whofe Souls thy heavenly Prefence fills. But how, O! how fhall I attain that Blifs? How fhall I feek and find my God alone? How open my Heart to entertain thee, fo as to exclude all other intruding Guests? O! that no Man, no Creature, might from henceforth find place in my Affections and Defires, fo as to interrupt my Converfation with Thee! When fhall I break loofe from Company and Care, and Enjoy and Talk with Thee alone, in Language free and kind, as that of dearest Friends; and foft and tender, fweet and charming, as the unreserved Retirements and endearing Whispers of the moft paffionate Lovers? This is my earnest Wish, This my conftant Prayer, that my Heart may be knit entirely to Thee; and, weaned from every earthly and fenfual Delight, learn to tafte heavenly and eterY

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Book IV. nal Joys, by frequent Returns to thy Holy Communion. Ah when, my God, fhall I be wholly thine, regardlefs of my felf, fwallowed up quite in a blissful indiffoluble Union with Chrift? Thou, Lord, in Me, and I in Thee; and thus may we continue One for ever!

John xvii.

Thou verily art my Beloved, my Chofen, the Chiefeft among Ten Thousand, the Friend of my Bofom, with whom I defire to dwell all the Days of my Life. Thou art my Peace, and only Comfort; Without thee I find nothing but Labour and Sorrow, Vexation, and Torment, and Mifery infupportable. Thou art a God, that hideft thy felf; Not dealing thy Bleffings promifcuoufly, but, with wife and just Distinction, fatisfying the Humble and Meek with the Pleafures of thy Word, while thou concealeft thy Counsel from the Wicked, and leavest them to groan and howl, in the Anguish and Horror of their guilty Souls! O how great is thy Bounty! how fweet thy Mercy! who refreshest thy hungry Servants with the delicious Bread, which came down from Heaven; that thy Faithful might eat thereof and not die. Surely there is no Nation under Heaven, which hath God fo near to them, as the Lord our God is unto Us, in all that we call upon him for. For he healeth the broken in Heart, he cxxxviii,cxiii. bath respect unto the Lowly; he lifteth the Simple out of the Duft, and raiseth the Needy from the Dunghil, to fet them with Princes, to equal them with Angels; nay, to give them his Flesh for the fatisfying their Hunger, and, when they are thirsty, the Wine of his Blood to drink.

John vi.
Deut. iv.

Pfalm cxlvii,

What Society of Men can boaft of Privileges, worthy to be named with thofe of the Chriftian Church? What Creature is there under Heaven, whofe Excellence and Happiness is comparable to that of the Pious and Devout Soul, where God takes up his Refidence,and

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327 fuftains the Heart that entertains him, with his own glorious Body? O Grace unfpeakable! O Condefcenfion moft amazing! O Love unmeasurable! Lord, what is Man, that thou fhould'ft thus vifit him? Or what can he render unto his God for these ineftimable Be nefits? Alas! I have no Return to make, but a poor worthlefs Heart. And this is yet a farther Inftance of thy Goodness, that thou expecteft no other Teftimony of Gratitude, but my felf, and my fincere Affecti on. Thus haft thou made our Duty our greatest Hap piness For then fhall my Soul be glad, and all that is within me leap for Joy, when my Heart is perfectly united to my God. Then fhalt thou fay, If thou wilt be mine, I will live and dwell with thee for ever: And I with humbly Joy reply, Difdain not, Lord, this mean and homely dwelling, for I moft willingly, moft thankfully embrace the Offer. Lo I am thine entirely from this Moment, and, above all things, wish, and pray, That the In timacy and Friendship thus contracted, may continue firm and inviolable, that nothing may abate our Love and the Delights of it, or ever part our Perfons any more.

GHA P. XIV.

An Act of Exciting Devotion by the Example of Others.

Disciple." How plentiful is thy Good-
Difciple.nes, which thou hast laid

Pfal. xxxi. up for them that fear thee! When I reflect with what ardent Piety, with what affectionate Devotion, with what an eager Zeal, thy Saints approach this heavenly Supper; Shame and Confufion overwhelm me quite, confcious of my own, but lukewarm at the best, and too often perfectly ftupid and frozen, Heart;

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with what Indifference and Coldness I approach thy Myfteries, and how unaffected with thy Mercies, how unprofitable under the gracious Difpenfation, I return. What a Reproach is it, that my Heart fhould not be all inflamed with the Excefs of thy Love; that I should have no Sense, no Apprehenfion, of my greateft Happiness, no Hungrings and Thirstings after it? But, notwithstanding the moving Examples of many excellent Perfons, fhould still continue void of all Impreffions; fo fcandaloufly unlike thofe pious Souls, whofe Zeal overflow'd in Tears of Joy, whofe Hearts, as well as Mouths, drink greedily at this Fountain of Life, whofe Appetites were fo ftrong as never to be fatisfied, till they had filled themselves with thy bleffed Body, and fed liberally, and with a fort of holy Luxury indulged, at the Celestial Banquet.

Luke xxiv.

A Faith fo eager, fo exalted, plainly confefs'd they felt thy gracious Prefence; and, that their Lord was known to them, as heretofore to the Difciples at Emmaus, in breaking of Bread. The burning of their Hearts within them was an irrefregable Teftimony of it. But how far fhort, alas! do I come to their Zeal and Devotion? Look mercifully, Lord, upon my Infirmities. And, if an equal Portion of thy Grace be too great a Favour for thy poor unworthy Servant; yet grant me fuch a Degree, fuch a Senfe of thy Goodnefs and wonderful Love, that I may be as fincerely, tho' not fo ftrongly, affected with it. If Raptures and Extafies of Delight may not be my Portion, yet deny me not Improvement. But let my Faith be ftrengthened, my Hope confirmed, my Love fo warmed with this Sacrament, that, after having once tafted this heavenly Manna, I may never more defire the Onions and Garlick of Egypt, nor in my Heart turn back from fo good a God.

I know thy Mercy and thy Power, to which nothing is impoffible, nothing hard. I know thou canft,

and

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