32 Heart? Where there is no Faith, there is no Submiffion; where there is a weak Faith, there is but a weak Submiffion. We may expect that he will fay to us, Be it unto you according to your Faith. We are not likely to endure well, without feeing him that is invifible. And then our Submiffion will be in Proportion to what we difcern in God by Faith, and what we expect from him by Hope. If ye will not believe, ye fhall not be established; neither in Grace nor in Comfort: But to him that believeth all Things are poffible, as it engages his Help, to whom all Things are easy. As all the Pulfes in the moft diftant Veins of the Body depend upon that of the Heart, fo it is with the Movements of the Soul: As a Man's Heart is, fo is be; whether it be a Heart of Faith and Patience, or an evil Heart of Unbelief. Unbelief fays, God's Hand is fhortned that he cannot fave, or his Goodness leffened that he will not; and this indifpofes us to put ourselves under his Protection. Unbelief fays, that his Bowels are closed up; and why then fhould we caft ourselves upon his Mercy? How can a Man part with beloved Relations, who does not believe that he shall either meet them again, or not miss them? Why art thou caft down, O my Soul, and why art thou difquieted within me? fays David, why? Whatever was the Caufe, the Remedy was Faith and Hope. Hope thou in God, for I fhall yet praise him. They who have not Faith to believe that all Things fhall work ९ work together for Good, muft needs be a miferable Prey to the Grief of Difappointments. They who cannot hope in God when their Soul is caft down and difquieted, cannot enter into this Reft, because of Unbelief. Exceffive Mourning is mourning as thofe without Hope. Self-will, or an Eagerness for our own Will, is a great Hindrance to Submission. A Man who is impatient of crofs Words or Contradiction, as if born to have always his own Will, always humoured and pleafed, is greatly unprepared for Trials, and likely to fret against God. Pharaoh is not the only Man whofe Language has been, Who is the Lord, that I should obey him?" I own no Throne higher than my "own; nor will I receive Law from any other, "God or Man." The fame fays every one that difputes the Supremacy with God, in contending whofe Will fhall be done. No People have their Will less than those who are for having it always: They draw more Troubles upon them, and feel them deeper. Generally this Temper is its own Punishment to a great Degree. A Root of Bitterness, from which a thoufand Vexations fpring up, that would have had no Exiftence, or would have been far lefs affictive to thofe who make a Sacrifice of their Will to the Will of God. Take away Self-will, and there would be no Sin, no Hell, no 'Kingdom of Satan. Take away Self-will, and you take away a thousand Sorrows which it only creates to itself, and which are Sect. VI. are escaped by the yielding Will of Refignation *. We promise ourselves too much from this World, and from all our Relations and Conditions in it: And the higher we rife in our Expectations and Opinions of Things, the lower we fall in the Vexations of Disappointment. Men launch into the World in as unaccountable a Manner as we fhould think of thofe Seamen, who, because it is fair Weather when they fet fail, make no Provifion for a Storm. What Confufion muft they be in when the Storm comes down? We must not promise ourselves an Exemption from thofe Troubles that are common to all Mankind. We must not flatter ourselves to attain what we have in Profpect, or hold long what we have in Poffeffion. Great Affections make way for great Afflictions, and make Submiffion to Providence the harder. The Advice of the Apostle is very well fuited to a World, the Fabion or Scheme of which paffeth away. This I fay, Brethren, the Time is short: It remains, that both they who bave Wives be as though they had none'; and they that weep the Lofs of them, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as they that possessed not; and *Ceffet voluntas propria, et non erit Infernus. Civitas Diaboli incipit ab amore fui. BERN. If God would fludy a clofe, quick, and certain Way of being revenged on a Man, he need but open his Stores, and bid him choose for himself, Mr S. FORD. and they that use this World, as not abufing it; for the Fafbion of this World paffeth away, I Cor. 7:29-31. Did not I know it was hastning to an End? Why did I fet my Heart upon it, as if it was more durable? Why did I make the Parting more afflictive, and the Resignation more difficult, by the Intemperance of my Affection? The Jews had a Custom at their Wedding Feafts, for the married Couple to drink in the fame Glafs together, and then to break it in Pieces; teaching them by that Emblem, that whatever Felicity they expected together, their Lives, upon which it all depended, were frail and brittle as Glafs. No fooner joined, but they were warned to prepare for Separation. So in our Form of Matrimony, the Claufe, UNTIL DEATH DO US PART, is a Memento to the fame Purpose, It it as much my Duty to pray, that I may be willing and able to part with any dear Comfort of Life, in a right Manner, as to pray for its Continuance. We are apt to be most earnest for their Continuance; as if it was a greater Thing for God to please us, than for us to please God. The Grace that fays, Thy Will be done, is infinitely more neceffary to me than any good Thing God can take away, to try that Grace, and fhow me that I have it. Mourner." Oh Lord, thou knoweft how "near that Perfon lay to my Heart; but thou "knowest that thy Favour is neareft ftill. I "would not fear fo much the lofing any Thing, "as of offending thee. Thou wilt furely grant my ૯. my Requeft in one of these two Things; either "to continue the Mercy I enjoy, or help me to resign it at thy Call, in the Manner thou shalt cc approve : And then, whatever Lofs there may "be in fuch a Removal, I am fure the Senfe of "thine Approbation is fuch a Gain as can ne"ver coft me too dear." He that will die well muft die daily, and practise upon the Forefight of it. So he that will refign well, and with a becoming Grace, muft practise upon Refignation, and frequently put Cafes to himself. What if I fhould return Home this Evening, and find my House in Flames? That fair Eftate which is now to fupply my Wants, and fupport my Figure; what if it fhould take Wings and fly away? What if the Defire of mine Eyes fhould be taken off with a Stroke? Or I fhould fee that pretty Child lie a dead Corps? hat which I now lay in my Bofom, I fhall not be able to bear in my Sight? What fhould I then do? How fhould I behave? Am I prepared for fuch a Cafe? If not, I have the more Reafon to think of it beforehand. If I am prepared for it, then I can better bear to think of it now; or elfe, how fhall I bear the Thing itfelf, when by refufing to think of it at all, I continue to make it more intolerable. · As hard as this Practice feems to be, it is much harder to be furprized without ever having thought of the Matter, or preparing for it. Though hard, it is designed to make that eafier, which otherwife is one of the hardest Things |