Advice to a Friend, Part 7
VII.
AND having thus poured forth your Soul to God, you may feel your ſelf ſometimes ſo mightily moved; that your heart runs out, with much pleaſure, in abundance of pious thoughts and holy affections, which you are not wont to find at other times. And then, My Friend, let me tell you, it would be of ſingular uſe, if you would ſet down thoſe extraordinary thoughts and paſſionate effuſions of your Soul, which you feel in your greater enlargements. Theſe are as ſo many Records, which you have to ſhow of the Spirits prevalency and triumph over the dull fleſh. They are the flights of your Soul, whereby you ſee to what it aſpires; and how great and happy it may be, when God pleaſes. They are the tokens of Gods love, whereby he would indear himſelf to your heart. And you may look upon them, as if they were Golden Chains let down from Heaven, to draw and attract you thither; and bind you faſt, but willingly, to your duty. It is great pity to throw away ſuch ſweet flowers, after once ſmelling of them: to lay by ſuch good thoughts, as we do a common Book after the firſt reading. I would wiſh you to find ſome ſafe repoſitory for them, and to lay up carefully ſuch expreſſions of your mind in Meditation or Prayer, as are moſt lively and affecting; and to fetch them out for your uſe, when any dulneſs or ſtraitneſs ſhall oppreſs you.
As a good Student when he reads a Book, though he may let paſs the moſt of it which he knew before, yet, remarks and preſerves in his Notes the choiceſt parts, in which he finds great ſtrength of reaſon, or ſharpneſs of wit, or may be any ways uſeful to him in his deſign: ſo would I have you mark thoſe paſſages in your converſe with God and Divine things, which have in them ſome fulneſs of ſenſe, ſome livelineſs of conceit, ſome elevation of mind, and are ſo much beyond the ordinary ſtrain of thinking; as if they were ſome beam of light darted from an higher hand, or the utmoſt endeavour of the Soul to be with God. When you find, I ſay, your conceptions ſo fit and proper, that you ſeem to behold the bare face of truth, when ſome thing ſmites your heart with ſuch a force of reaſon, that you are conſtrained to yield, or when ſuch an holy breath comes into you, that your Soul ſwells and grows too big for your body; let them be noted as carefully as the MonethMonth and the Day was, by your Parents, which brought you into the World; or as you remember the happy time, when God beſtowed ſome ſingular bleſſing on you, which made this World a more comfortable place, than otherwiſe you ſhould have found it.
Examples you know are wont to move us much; and therefore of what power may we ſuppoſe it to be, when we can propound our ſelves for an Example to us? This Copy, as I may call it, of our ſelves, beſides that it will make us bluſh at another time, to ſee how unlike we are to our ſelves, will alſo excite us to recover the ſame countenance and aſpect that once we had; and make ſome colour come into our Faces and warmth into our Spirits, when we are pale and cold in the ſervice of God. It will remember us likewiſe of the pleaſurable motions, that were then in our hearts; and remembrance is the way to call them back again. It will furniſh us alſo with ſome matter for our thoughts, when they are barren, and can bring forth nothing. For, though reading of ſome good Book, in this caſe, may be very advantageous to us, yet nothing can more aſſiſt us than a Book of our own making; the births, as I may term them, of our own mind: Both becauſe they beſt ſute with our notions, and can ſoon find the place where they lay before, and becauſe they will remember us alſo of Gods grace and goodneſs to us; ſo that either ſhame, or love, or hope will make us ſtrain to do the ſame again, or to excel our ſelves. When no thoughts will ſtir within, we muſt call for ſome helps without to move us; and what is there that will ſo eaſily enter, as that which was once within us before? Nothing ſure can better fit us, than that which our own Souls have cut out and ſhaped for themſelves.
As a Chymiſt therefore that is drawing out the more retired ſpirits of things, if he grows faint in his work, takes a drop or two of his own extracts, to bring his Soul back again: ſo ſhould we do, when our livelineſs begins to forſake us, and our Soul complains of its weak and fainting Fits. We muſt pour in ſome of thoſe thoughts which we have formerly drawn out of our hearts; which are, as it were, the quinteſſence of our Souls, and the very ſpirits of our Devotion, that they may recall the life that is flying away. And tell me, I beſeech you, what a reviving it is, but to think that we once had ſuch thoughts in our mind? What a Cordial is it, to the languiſhing Soul to feed, as I may ſay, upon its own Honey, and taſte of its own ſweetneſs? How greedily will it embrace, and how gladly will it ſmile upon the Children of its own Womb? How pleaſant will it be but to hope, that it may become fruitful again, as well as it was before? to behold the Picture of what it may be, as well as of what it hath been in former times?
Save therefore ſome of theſe; and let them not all be ſpilt, as they diſtill from your Soul. Lay them up in ſtore; conſidering the time may come when your Soul will be glad to have them reſtored to it, and will receive them as ſo many drops of Balm. Keep them by you, as you do ſome precious Liquor; which by long labour, and many Operations, you have fetcht out of a number of excellent Herbs or Spices, or other rare Ingredients. For, though you muſt not have recourſe to them every day, yet there may be a ſeaſon, you ſee, when they will do you ſo high a pleaſure, that you may owe your life or your chearfulneſs to them. They may ſtand you, at leaſt, in ſo much ſtead, as to preſerve you from utter diſtaſt of your ſelf, and deſpair of Gods favour; when you are apt to droop, nay ſink under the weight of your Body, or any other load that lies very heavy upon you.
Chear up your Soul then with ſome of its own ſublimer thoughts; and turning your ſelf to the Father of Mercies, ſay;
A PRAYER.
O My God; What pledges of thy Love are theſe which I have received already from Thee! How precious are thy thoughts towards me! and how dear and precious have they been in mine eyes! O how great is the ſumme of them! I ſee, I ſee, how gracious thou art. I am not without many tokens of thy readineſs to help me; and of thy kind intentions to promote me, by patient continuance in my duty, to everlaſting happineſs. O how ſweet is the remembrance of that time, when thou waſt pleaſed to viſit me, and inſpire my heart with devout affections to thee? How joyful haſt thou made me with the light of thy countenance, which is better than life it ſelf?
Accept of ſuch thanks, as I am now able to offer thee, for thy abundant goodneſs to me. Bleſſed be thy goodneſs; that I have not lived all my days, as a ſtranger to thee! that my Soul hath not always grovelled on the earth, but been lifted up ſometime unto Heaven! Bleſſed be thy goodneſs; that it hath not lay'n continually as a barren Wilderneſs, but been fruitful in ſome good thoughts, and pious affections, and zealous reſolutions, and worthy deſigns to do thee honour and ſervice in the World. O that this remembrance of thy paſt loving-kindneſs, and of the powerful operations of thy holy Spirit in my heart, may at this time mightily move and excite me to the like devout expreſſions of my love to thee. O that I may feel it renewing my strength; or reviving my Spirit, at leaſt, to a comfortable hope in thee, that thou wilt never utterly forſake me. There is all reaſon, I confeſs moſt thankfully, that I ſhould confide in thee: and wait upon thee still, with a ſtedfaſt faith, for freſh influences from Heaven, to make me, howſoever, perſevere with a conſtant mind, notwithſtanding all the diſcouragements I conflict withall, in a careful and exact obſervance of all thy commands.
This I know is the beſt proof of my love to thee. And therefore help me, as to pray always ſo, to exerciſe my ſelf in works of mercy, to do juſtly, to be clothed with humility, to preſerve my body and ſoul in purity, and to diſcharge all the duties of my place and relations with an upright heart & willing mind. And when thou graciouſly vouchſafeſt to enlarge my Spirit, in abundance of delightful thoughts of thee, and to raiſe me to the higheſt pitch of love to thee; O that it may not only pleaſe me, but make me better. Lift me up thereby above all the temptations of this World; and quicken me to be the more fruitful in all good works, and to excell in vertue: to increaſe eſpecially and abound ſo much in love towards my Brethren, and towards all Men, that my Heart may be eſtabliſhed unblameable in Holineſs, before Thee, my God and Father, 1 Theſſ. 3.12.at the coming of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt, with all his Saints.
Amen.