may rife to thee, with healing in his wings, to ca fhier thy darknefs and diftempers, and to fertilize thy foul, fo that thou mayeft abound in all the fruits of righteoufnefs and true holiness: that I may not only be abfolved from my fins, but fanctified in my foul, and renewed in the very fpirit of my mind, and wrought up to fuch a holy habit, fuch a spiritu al frame and heavenly difpofition, that I may ap prove myself the fame that I should be, in all holy converfation and godlinefs. O let me be uneafy, and in pain to be freed from the bondage, and cleanfed from the pollution of my fins; and to have the bleffed image after which I was created, new drawn upon my foul: yea, that I may grow in grace, and be fill increafing with the increase of God. 0 that I may never lofe my appetite to the bread of life; nor grow indifpofed to the heavenly manna: nor only entertain fome faint velleities, and transient wishes after the faving good; nor begin to defire grace, only after that I have finned away all the fea fons of grace, but have fo keen a ftomach, to the proper nutriment of my foul, that I may feek in the firft place, and never be put off the craving humour, till in myfelf I find the promise happily verified, that I am filled!

Let the fwine tread over perils, and the beafts of the people naufeat angels food; and all the worldly carnal herd, only hunt after meat for their lufts, and be all in a flame, to devour up thofe enjoyments, that fhall never quench their thirst, but at lait, poi fon and destroy their fouls: O my foul, open thy mouth wide after fomewhat elfe, that he who fills the hungry with good things, may fatiate thy defires with better attainments. Olothe thyfelf, as long as thou lotheft the heavenly repafts. Let Chrift and his grace be fo precious in thy efteem; that thou counteft all things but lofs and dung, to obtain them. Let me not only go over the words, [that the

reft

rest of my life may be pure and holy] but fo pray them with my heart, that nothing in the world I may be fo much fet upon, as to tread down my fins, and find all things belonging to the fpirit, live and grow in my foul; that I may be as holy as I can, where I cannot be fo as I would; and at laft may reach to fee the new heaven and earth, where dwelleth righte oufnefs, and God's holy place, where none of the filth that now annoys the world fhall any more be found, but righteousness and holiness compleat fhall be the garb and mean of every inhabitant, and even as the air, in which they all live and breathe. O bleffed ftate, and joyful time, to all that now groan under the body of this death: and would fo fain perfect holiness in the fear of God!

O my foul, canft thou content thyfelf, with the wretched gratifications, which the most here do take up with, to prefer puddle-water and trafh, before a banquet of wine, and god-like entertainments? O pity the mean fouls that look no higher, and fare no better. And fhew that thou art born of the Spirit, in being spiritually minded; and that thou art a new creature, by feeking after new delights; yea, the child of the Moft High; because nothing will relifh with thee, like the pleafures of thy Father's houfe, For alas, thou art not paffed from death to life; but ftill even dead, if thy pulfe do not thus beat. Whereas thy good appetite will discover, not only thy life, but thy health; and that health will be the very joy of thy life, and the fure earnest of a better life, that is quite above the reach of all death. For thou wilt be accepted, with thy willing mind. Yea, thy will to it, qualifies thee, "to drink of the water of life freely." Rev. xxii. 7. The many fins then, that would ftop thee out, fhall be forgiven, when thou loveft much. And didft thou not indeed fo love, thou wouldst not fo defire. (Take that for thy comfort:) for what are defires, but fruits that fpring from

the

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the root of love? then cheer up, my foul, and doubt not, but that he who favours fuch defires, will once fulfil them; and answer thee in those wishes of thy heart, which are really the breathings of his own Spirit. And what thou wanteft now of fatisfaction to thy mind, fhall then be made up to the full, when thou awakeft with his likeness; and comeft to the fountain head; even to the absolute fulness of all, that ever thou haft defired and tafted; where defires will ceafe; and the panting foul fweetly lofe all its annihilation, in everlasting fruition.

I

DESIRE to be filled with more fervent defires, εσ after thee, my God, and the great things of "thy kingdom; to feel ftronger paffions this way, than any way elfe in the world. O divert my "thirst, from broken cifterns, to the fountain of living waters. Dull my appetite to the vanities "which this world affords; and inflame my longa "ings after the true, holy, faving good, which thy "word recommends. May it be the defire of my "foul fuch to be, and fo to do, as thou wouldest "have me, and the defires which thou, Lord, in

spieft into me, O make them efficacious, to pro"mote the bleffed ends defired by me: that I may "not only with, but come to enjoy, all the glorious "acquifitions of thy kingdom everlasting. Amen.",

VOL. I.

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MEDI

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MEDITATION LXXX.

Of growing in Grace.

Y foul, there must be life, before there can be growth: and the beginnings of spiritual, as well as natural life, ufe to be very fmall, and fcarce perceivable at first. There is the day break, and twilight, before the perfect day, and clear light. And there is the embryo, the infant, the child, the youth, before the ftrong and perfect man. There is a feed of life fown in the renewed foul: and that feed is like the little muftard feed; that makes a very poor appearance, when there it enters: yet he that defpifes not the day of finall things, which himself has planted, looks upon it with a watchful eye, and will follow it with an efpecial bleffing. O what great matter of gladness and thankfulness then is it, to perceive any change, and translation here from a natural state, to a ftate of grace. To have Chrift formed in us, or but any rudiments of the new creature drawn upon us: to come to fee our fins, and fee death and hell in them, and refolve against them, and break off from them: to fee all the pomp and pleafures, and fulness of this world, as empty and beggarly and difgraceful in our eyes; and the eternal things of another world, most amazing and worthy of all our highest regard, to find and bewail the want of grace, and fo admire and prize it, as ftill to breathe and long after it; to favour and relish the things of the Spirit of God, which once we did not care for; and ftand well affected to all that is holy and heavenly, to have our faces fet towards the new Jerufalem,

as

as thofe that are in earnest bound for heaven. Thefe are the good beginnings, that accompany falvation; and look hopeful and promifing, for a bleffed conclufion. For God's deareft children were little, before they became great in his kingdom; and low in grace before they attained to be high in his favour. He graciously accepts of the defires of the humble; the groans of their fpirits, the purposes of their hearts, the weak endeavours of their hands; and he will not fee the new principle overwhelmed and loft; but will cherish and improve it, till it rife up victorious over all that oppose it.

But yet, my foul, thou must not think it enough, to be got into that better ftate, where thou haft the truth of grace, nor there lay down thy staff, and set up thy reft; but roufe thyfelf, and get forward, to make thy progrefs and profiting appear: and ftir up the grace of God that is in thee; and make thy ufe and benefit of the price put into thy hands. If thou haft done any thing well, yet muft thou not think that fufficient; nor be weary of well doing, but prefs on towards the mark, increase with the increase of God; and abound in the work of the Lord. And though the grace, (it is true,) is the gift of God, yet haft thou thy part here to act, and must strive to enter the gate of life, and work out thy own falvation; and not hide thy talents in the earth, but trade with them, for the glory of thy Lord, and to promote thy own comfortable accounts. O let not the precious ftock then lie dead upon thy hands, but lay it out both for thy own and others advantage, and labour more abundantly, though it is not thou, but the "grace of God, that is with thee," 1 Cor. xv. 10. And not thy pains, but his pound, that gains the ten pounds, Luke xix. 10. Nor think it enough to feel fome full tides of better defires, and flowing af fections: butfet it in thy heart, to grow ftrong in the grace that is in Chrift Jefus; to bear much fruit, to

do