Advice to a Friend, Part 6
VI.
BUT that your mind may not grow quite dull, when your bodily ſpirits begin to ſink, and to be flat and liſtleſs, Obſerve, My Friend, what it was that firſt begat devotion and lively affections in you, towards God and Goodneſs: for that will be moſt effectual to continue them. It is an ordinary Maxime in Phyſick, that we are nouriſhed out of the ſame things, of which we conſiſt. Liquid things agree beſt with a Child, while its Fleſh is ſoft, and but newly come from ſwimming in its Mothers Womb. Every Lamb runs to the Ewe that yean'd it, and layes hold of her teates; which are near the place where it lately lay. And ſo may we hope to ſuck both moſt ſweetneſs and moſt proper ſuſtenance, from thoſe truths which firſt affected our hearts, and wherein we have been wont to find the greateſt relliſh. It is obſervable that Iron, which naturally moves towards the Load-ſtone, when it hath once ſaluted it, and hath been received into its embraces, is more poſſeſſed with a magnetick love, and grows more ſenſible of its attractions, and more deſirous of an union with it, than it was before that touch, which made it feel how it could awaken and enliven it. Even juſt ſo it is with our hearts; which when they feel the kind influence and invigorating power of any thing upon them, are the more diſpoſed to receive the touches and impreſſions of it again, and naturally open themſelves, and wiſh for it with greater paſſion, than they did before they had that acquaintance with it.
If it was the lovelineſs and beauty then of the Divine Nature and Perfections, which firſt awakened your Heart, think of that, and turn your eyes towards it; for it is not at all withered or decayed. How doth a fair Image ſometimes ſlip through a Mans eyes into his heart, and ingrave it ſelf ſo deeply there, that it is paſt his power to raſe it out? And will not a ſenſe of God and the light of his countenance, if it ſhine upon us, leave ſuch a laſting remembrance of it in our Souls; that we ſhall like him, and love him longer than a Day? And if the firſt glance of him be ſo ſurpriſing, and make us, that we cannot eaſily forget how amiable he is; O how infinitely more affecting will a ſerious and conſtant contemplation of him prove? If a little ray from his face, that glided into our hearts, we know not how, was ſo ſtriking and glorious; how ſhall we be inamoured, when we ſtedfaſtly, and on purpoſe fix our minds and affection on Him, deſiring to be better acquainted with his Excellencies? It is impoſſible but you ſhould find your heart more powerfully ſtirred toward Him; when you conſider likewiſe, that you can never diſcover all of him, but new beauties will every Day preſent themſelves, and ſhine upon you, while you feelingly converſe with him. You will not endure your ſelf, if you ſhould love him the leſs, becauſe he admits of your love, and every day appears more lovely and deſirable.
But it was a ſenſe of his love to you perhaps (which is far more common) that begat in you the affection of love to him. Then there cannot be a more delightful ſubject for your thoughts: nor can Religion commend it ſelf by any thing more than this, that it is love, begot by love. And there is nothing ſurer than that you ſhall be conſtant and unwearied in your duty, if Gods mercies and kindneſſes can affect your heart, for they are conſtantly and unweariedly poured forth upon you. The new ones you enjoy daily are ſo many, that you may know by them the old ones are innumerable. You can turn your eyes no way, but you ſee your ſelf incircled with them, and hear ſomething calling for your love. All his works declare, not only the excellence of his Nature, but his goodneſs likewiſe and bounty towards you. For every one of them doth you ſome office of love. They all wait upon you at the command of your Heavenly Father; and they would inſtantly deny their Service, did not he continue it by the Word of his Power. He muſt be blind and never ſaw the Sun, who ſees not God and his goodneſs every where: What beauties doth not that great Luminary create? What fruits and flowers doth it not produce? What Liquors doth it not generate? How doth it cheriſh all Creatures? How doth it fill your eyes and eares, and all your Senſes with its Heavenly influences? And how many of thoſe good things, which you behold by its light, hath God beſtowed on you for your portion? Rather than not love ſome higher Being, one would be tempted to fall down and worſhip this. The poor Perſians of old, knowing nothing more glorious, had their hearts wounded with the Raies of the Sun, and the light and warmth of its beames ſeemed ſo admirable, that they adored and loved it as their God. Shall not we then love him moſt heartily, who made that, and all things elſe: who hath opened to us alſo another World (as I have told you) by our Lord Jeſus, far more beautiful and glorious than this, to make us love him? You can never want matter to feed your thoughts, and to recreate your mind with delightful Meditations, and your heart with Heavenly affections; when his goodneſs is ſo largely diffuſed, beyond the bounds of all things viſible. Or if, when you would meditate on his innumerable favours, you find that your thoughts ſtand ſtill, and will not ſtir, or that they go backward and ſtart aſide to ſomething elſe: Your heart will even then burſt forth into admiration and great expreſſions of love, to think that his goodneſs ſhould be ſo great to us, who can ſcarce thank him for it, or conſider it.
But ſuppoſe it was a ſenſe of ſin, and the evil of it, which moſt ſtartled your mind, when you began to be Religious; then every thing you ſee, every thing you can think of, will help to aggravate it. And the more you heighten its malignity, and repreſent to your ſelf its formidable nature; or reflect only on its baſeneſs and diſingenuity, together with its pride and arrogance; the more you will unavoidably be rouſed out of the ſin of ſlumber and ſtupidity.
Or if it was the promiſe of Heaven, and the belief of immortal life (that I may name no more inducements) which firſt invited you to od; that is a thing ſo vaſt, that your deſires and hopes of enjoying it, will not let you be weary of thinking of it. Immortal Life! What a good is that, will you ſay to your ſelf? On what ſhould I fix my eyes ſo much, and with ſo much pleaſure, as on that bleſſedneſs? Who would loſe his Portion in Immortal Life, for all the dying pleaſures and poſſeſſions of this World; though he could be ſure to enjoy them to the end of his days? Immortal Life! I am not yet awake ſure; or elſe the very Name of it would make my Heart leap, and quicken this dull and ſluggiſh Spirit, to the moſt earneſt and chearful purſuit of it, in all the exerciſes of Chriſtian godlineſs. What ſhould make me move ſo heavily in the ways of God, unleſs it be, that I forget to look continually towards this Immortal Life? And what is that ſhould make me forget it? How come I to loſe that ſenſe, and let go my hopes of Immortal Life? O wonderful Love! O patient goodneſs! which ſtill waits and attends upon me, to remind my Soul of its everlaſting bliſs. May I after ſo long a time of ſleep, and ſuch forgetfulneſs, be favoured with a ſight of it? Will my love and free obedience be yet accepted? Awake, awake then all the hidden powers of my Soul; riſe up and call him bleſſed. Who can with-hold his heart from devoting it ſelf affectionately to him? With what pleaſures can I entertain my ſelf, comparable to thoſe which grow out of the hope of Immortal Life? Or what ſervice can be unpleaſant, which is undertaken for ſo great an happineſs? The thoughts of it make my Soul light and aërial, even under the burden of this Body. I feel it drawing me up above: from whence when I look down upon all the men of this lower World, how do they appear, but as ſo many little Ants, buſily creeping on a Mole-hill; while I ſit upon the holy Hill of God? O that my mind could dwell there! Or, ſince I cannot reach ſo high a felicity, it may never deſcend from thence, but with a lively remembrance of the joys of that Celeſtial Hope; which may bear me up above all the petty temptations of this World! For what is it that I labour and toil, with ſuch reſtleſs thoughts and deſires? For what am I troubled and diſcontented? Can any thing make him abſolutely unhappy, who hopes to live for ever with God? No; I will rejoyce in my Lord always, again I ſay, I will rejoyce. I will bear at leaſt, even all my dulneſs and liſtleſneſs to my duty, with a quiet and compoſed mind, in hope one day to be more full of life.
Here my Pen is very forward, and would be running on further than my deſign will allow. And therefore I muſt reſtrain it, and abbreviate alſo the remaining Counſels, having been ſo long in ſome of the foregoing: leſt inſtead of a little Book to carry about with you and refreſh you, I ſhould ſend you a tedious Volume that will quite tire you. Let me only annex, before I leave this, a Prayer to God, which relates to what hath been now ſaid, and with which you are not unacquainted.
A PRAYER.
O Moſt Holy, and bleſſed for ever more. Who art the moſt excellent Nature, the Perfection of beauty; happy in thy ſelf alone, and needeſt not the Company of any of thy Creatures, to make thee happier than thou art. It is we poor beggarly things, that stand in need of thy continued grace and love; who art the Father of our ſpirits, the only hope and stay of our hearts, the joy and comfort of our life, that filling and ſatisfying good, in whom alone our deſires can meet, with perfect reſt and repoſe. The moſt glorious of all the Heavenly Hoſt can find no higher pleaſures, than thoſe of loving and praiſing, and obeying thee; whoſe Miniſters they are and delight to be, in executing the commands of thy holy will in every thing. For thy will is guided by the beſt and moſt excellent reaſon, and is ſo propenſe, we ſee, to goodneſs, benignity, and charity, that all its commands muſt needs be reaſonable and good too, and intend the greateſt kindneſs to thoſe that are obedient to them. Every Creature in Heaven and Earth, and under the Earth, and in the Sea, obeys thy Almighty Word; declaring thee to be as good as thou art great,Rev. 5.13. and giving not only glory and power, but bleſſing and honour, unto thy Divine Majeſty, and our Lord and Saviour Jeſus Chriſt. Yea, that bleſſed Son of thy love, when he came into the World, freely choſe to do thy will and not his own, ſaying, I delight to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy Law is within my heart, Pſal. XL. 7.
What is there then in Heaven or Earth, that I can wiſh, but to be united in hearty, devout and chearful affection, together with my deareſt Saviour, and all the Saints and Heavenly Hoſt, to that moſt holy will of thine, by a free and conſtant obedience to it. It is infinitely fit and deſirable, I am ſure, that we, above all the reſt of thy Creatures, ſhould take a perfect contentment and pleaſure in ſerving thee, who haſt not only gratified all our ſenſes with great and delightful variety of good things in this World; but alſo ſent thy Son from Heaven to entertain our Spirits, with joyful hopes, of having our weak and ſhort obedience here, rewarded with great and endleſs pleaſures at thy right hand, in the World to come.
Lord, what is man that thou ſhouldeſt have ſuch a regard unto him? And what hearts have we, if after all thy grace we ſhould delight in any thing more than thee; or be weary and faint in our minds, while we are doing thy bleſſed will? O how deeply ſhould we have been indebted to thee, if thou hadſt only admitted us to the happineſs of knowing and loving thee, and complying with thy good will, while we dwell in this body! But that thou ſhouldeſt deſign, when we expire, to recompenſe the meer diſcharge of our duty here, with the continued happineſs of being with thee, and enjoying thee for ever; is an expreſſion of thy bounty that exceeds all our wonder and admiration. If a full ſenſe of this thy stupendious goodneſs, ſhould now poſſeſs our ſpirits, they would grow, I believe, too big and large for our bodies; and burſting forth in paſſionate love, would make their way into Eternity, which only is wide and long enough, to admire, and love and praiſe thee in.
But be pleaſed, O Lord of love, in thy infinite goodneſs, to give me at preſent ſuch a true and lively feeling of it, as may make me think of nothing ſo much, or with ſo much delight and ſatisfaction of heart: and as may inflame me with ſuch a fervent love unto thee, that it may melt and diſſolve my will into thine, and conſume all my corrupt deſires, and abate, at leaſt, the chilneſs and indifference of my ſpirit, and offer me up a whole burnt Sacrifice, to thee, my God. And then stay, I moſt humbly beſeech thee, for the fulneſs of my love, and praiſes, and joyful acknowledgments, till I come to that happy liberty, of having nothing elſe to do, but to love, and thank and magnifie thy Name for ever and ever.
It is my daily and repeated deſire, according as our Lord hath taught us, that thy will may be done in Earth, as it is in Heaven; to which, both now and ever, I ſay moſt heartily, Amen. O purge and refine my nature to ſuch a degree of vertue and goodneſs, that I may at leaſt delight to do thy will, as thoſe heavenly Creatures do. O that thoſe little, little acts of Piety and Charity, which I am able to exerciſe in this World, may never want this complacence in the performance of them; which is the only thing, that can give any value to them. It is a ſhame, that I ſhould groan, or go heavily, under the ſweet, the eaſie and gentle Yoke, of my moſt loving Saviour; none of whoſe Commandments are grievous, but all his wayes, pleaſantneſs; and his pathes, peace. But there is nothing more frightful than to think, that I have at any time oppoſed his will, and thrown off the light burden of obedience, which he layeth on me. I adore thy pardoning mercy: and wait on thee likewiſe for power from above, to ſave me from reproaching his Religion, by ſo much as any unwillingneſs to obey him. I implore thy Divine Inſpirations, to preſerve in my heart that delightful ſenſe of Thee, which may render it no leſs my contentment than my duty, to follow Jeſus, in his humility and condeſcenſion of ſpirit; in his meekneſs and patience; in his kindneſs and tenderneſs; in his holineſs and purity; in his love to thee, and to all man-kind; in doing good, and ſuffering evil; in reſolved denyal of my own will, when contrary to thine; and in every thing giving thanks to thee, O Father of Mercies, which is thy will concerning us in Chriſt Jeſus: To whom be Glory for ever and ever.
Amen.