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of these Directions for Love, to shew you how, by such pleadings with yourselves, to affect your hearts, and kindle love.

And O that this might be the happy fruit of these Directions with thee that art now reading or hearing them! That thou wouldst but offer up thy flaming heart to Jesus Christ our great High Priest, to be presented an acceptable sacrifice to God. Or, if it flame not in love as thou desirest, yet give it up to the Holy Spirit to increase the flames. Thou little knowest how much God setteth by a heart. He calleth to thee himself, "My son, give me thy heart"." Without it, he cares not for any thing that thou canst give him: he cares not for thy fairest words without it: he cares not for thy loudest prayers without it: he cares not for thy costliest alms or sacrifices, if he have not thy heart. "If thou give all thy goods to feed the poor, and give thy body to be burned, and have not love, it will profit thee nothing. If thou speak with the tongue of men and angels, and hast not love, thou art but as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. If thou canst prophesy, and preach to admiration, and understand all mysteries and knowledge, and hast faith to do miracles, and have not love, thou art nothing." Thou hast but a shadow, and wantest that which is the substance and life of all. Come then, and make an agreement with God, and resolve now to offer him thy heart. He asketh thee for nothing which thou hast not: it is not for riches and lands that he seeketh to thee; for then the poor might say as Peter, "silver and gold have I none:" give him but such as thou hast, and it sufficeth. He knoweth that it is a polluted, sinful heart; but give it him, and he will make it clean. He knoweth that it is an unkind heart, that hath stood out too long; but give it him yet, and he will pardon and accept it. He knoweth that it is an unworthy heart; but give it him, and he will be its worth only see that you give it him entirely and unreservedly; for he will not bargain with the devil, or the world, for the dividing of thy heart between them. A half-heart and a hollow-heart, that is but lent him till fleshly interest or necessity shall call for it again, he will not accept. Only resign it to him, and do but consent that thy heart be his, and entirely and absolutely

d Prov. xxiii. 26.

• 1 Cor. xiii. 1-3.

his, and he will take it and use it as his own.

It is his own

by title: let it be also so by thy consent. If God have it not, who shall have it? Shall the world, or pride, or fleshly lust? Did they make it, or did they purchase it? Will they be better to thee in the time of thy extremity? Do they bid more for thy heart than God will give thee? He will give thee his Son, and his Spirit, and image, and the forgiveness of all thy sins if the greatest gain, or honour, or pleasure will win it and purchase it, he will have it: if heaven will buy it, he will not break with thee for the price. Have the world and sin a greater price than this to give thee? And what dost thou think that he will do with thy heart? and how will he use it, that thou art loath to give it him? Will he blind it, and deceive it, and corrupt it, and abuse it, and at last torment it, as satan will do? No; he will more iluminate it, and cleanse it, and quicken itf: he will make it new, and heal and save it: he will advance and honour it with the highest relations, employments, and delights: for Christ hath said, "If any man serve me, let him follow me'; and where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my Father honour "." He will love it, and govern it, and comfort it, and the heart that is delivered to him shall be kept near unto his own. "For the Father himself loveth you," saith Christ," because you have loved mei." Whereas, if thou deliver not thy heart to him, it will feed on the poison of luscious vanity, which will gripe and tear it when it is down: it will be like a house that nothing dwelleth in, but dogs, and flies, and worms, and snakes: it will be like one that is lost in the wilderness, or in the night, that tireth himself in seeking the way home, and the longer the worse despair and restlesness will be its companions for ever. Let me now once more in the name of God bespeak thy heart. I will not use his commands or threatenings to thee now, though these, as seconds, must be used, because that love must have attractive arguments, and is not raised by mere authority or fear. If there be not love and goodness enough in God, to deserve the highest affections of every reasonable creature, then let him go, and give thy heart to one that is better. Hear how God pleadeth his

Psal. li. 10. Ephes. ii. 1. Jer. xxiv. 7.

h John xii. 26.

Ezek. xxxvi. 26. 2 Cor. v. 17.
John xxvi. 27.

own cause with an unkind, unthankful people, “Hear O ye mountains the Lord's controversy. O my people what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me." What is there in him to turn away thy heart? Let malice itself say the worst, without notorious impudence, against him: what hath he ever done that deserveth thy disaffection and neglect? What wouldst thou have to win a heart that is not in him? For which of his mercies or excellencies is it, that thou thus contemnest and abusest him? What dost thou want that he cannot, yea, or will not give thee? Doth not thy tongue speak honourably of his goodness, while thy heart contradicteth it, and denieth all? What hast thou found that will prove better to thee? Is it sin or God that must be thy glory, rest, and joy, if thou wilt not be a fire-brand of restlessness and misery for ever? What sayst thou yet sinner? Shall God, or the world and fleshly pleasures have thy heart? Art thou not yet convinced which best deserveth it, and which will be best to it? Canst thou be a loser by him? Will he make it worse, and sin make it better? Or wilt thou ever have cause to repent of giving it up to God, as thou hast of giving it to the world and sin? I tell thee, if God have not thy heart, it were well for thee if thou hadst no heart.-I had a thousand times rather have the heart of a dog, or the basest creature, than that man's heart that followeth his fleshly lusts, and is not unfeignedly delivered up to God, through Christ.

If I have not prevailed with your hearts for God, by all that I have said, your consciences shall yet bear me witness, that I shewed you God's title, and love, and goodness, and said that which ought to have prevailed: and you shall find ere long, who it is that will have the worst of it: but if you resolve and give them presently to God, he will entertain them, and sanctify, and save them: and this happy day and work will be the angels joy: and it will be my joy, and especially your own everlasting joy.

Grand Direct. x11. Trust God with that soul and body which thou hast delivered up and dedicated to him; and

* Mic. vi. 2, 5.

quiet thy mind in his love and faithfulness, whatever shall appear unto thee, or befall thee in the world.'

I shall here briefly shew you, 1. What is the Nature of this trust in God'. 2. What are the Contraries to it. 3. What are the Counterfeits of it. 4. The Usefulness of it. And then 5. I shall give you some Directions how to attain and exercise it.

I. To trust in God, is, upon the apprehension of the allsufficiency, goodness, and faithfulness of God, to quiet our hearts in the expectation of the safety or benefits from him which we desire, rejecting the cares, and fears, and griefs that would disquiet them, if they had not the refuge of these hopes. It containeth in it a crediting the Word or nature of God, or judging it to be a sufficient ground of our security and expectation: and then security and expectation built upon that ground, make up the rest of the nature of trust. Looking for the benefit, and finding a complacency and quietness of mind in the ground discovered, and ceasing all other cares and fears, which would else disquiet us. Aquinas and other school-men, often call affiance, ' spes roborata,' a confirmed hope. There is a two-fold trust in God: one is, for that which he hath not promised to do, but yet we think that we find reason sufficient, from his nature itself, and relations, to expect: this may be more or less certain and strong, as our collection of the will of God, from his nature, is more or less sure and clear. The other is, when we have not only God's nature, but his promise also to trust upon and this giveth us a certainty, if we certainly understand his promise. To the last sort I may reduce that trust in God for particular benefits, when we have only a promise in general, which maketh not the particulars known and certain to us: as the promise, that all shall work together for our good, doth give us but a probability of health or outward protection and deliverances, because we are uncertain how far they are for our good. All that is promised is sure: but whether this or that be good for us, must be otherwise known. But those general promises which contain

1 Of the nature of Affiance and Faith, I have written more fully in my disputation with Dr. Barlow, of Saving Faith.

m SOLA fide Deo SOLI constanter adhære. Peucerus's Distich, in his ten years imprisonment.

A SOLO cunctis eripiere malis.
Scult. Curric. p. 22.

particulars as surely known as the promise itself, do make every one of the particular benefits as sure, by promise, as the general: as, the promise of the pardon of all our sins, ascertaineth us of the pardon of every sin in particular. Where there is a promise, we trust God's faithfulness as well as his nature; but where there is none, we trust his nature only. As a child doth quietly trust his parents, without a promise, that they will not kill, or torment, or forsake him. But because man is apt to make false collections of God's will from his nature, he hath given us such clear expressions of it in his Word, as may bring us above uncertain probabilities, and are sufficient for faith to ground upon (supposing God's properties) for our government and peace. And it is certain that all collections of God's will, which are contrary to his Word, are the errors of the collector.

In what I have said in this Direction, I desire you chiefly to observe these three things: 1. That God's nature and love, are the sufficient, general security to the 'soul. 2. That his promise is the sufficient, particular security. 3. And that our unfeigned, self-dedication to him, is our sufficient evidence of our interest in his love and covenant, which may warrant our special trust and expectations.

II. The Contraries to trust in God, are: 1. Privative: not trusting him: not seeing the ground of just security in his love and promise: not crediting what is seen: not ceasing disquietness and distrustful cares and fears. 2. Positive distrust: supposing the allsufficiency, goodness, and promises of God, are not sufficient grounds of our expectation and security; and thereupon disquieting our minds with sinful fears, and griefs, and cares, and shifting endeavours for ourselves some other way. And this hath various degrees: in some it is predominant; in others not. 3. Opposite or adverse: when we trust ourselves, or friends, or wealth, or something else instead of God, either against him, without him, or in co-ordination with him.

III. The Counterfeits of this trust are these: 1. When indeed we trust in our wit, or power, or shifts, or friends, or in some means or creatures only, or in co-ordination with God; but pretend and think that we do it but in subordination to him, and that our primary trust is in him alone. The detection of this is by trying how we can trust God

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