When the difference shall be visibly put between those that delighted in God and them that never did, when thou shalt be marked out as one that didst in heart depart from him all thy days, and be thereupon abandoned to the society of that horrid accursed crew, in whom only thou didst delight,-surely, thou wilt not then say, thy transgression was small.

CHAPTER IV.

Appeal to such as disuse or neglect the holy Practice of delighting in God.

We are now to expostulate with another sort; who though they are not altogether unacquainted with this heavenly exercise of delighting in God, yet too much disuse it, and apply not themselves to it with that constancy and intention of soul, which the matter requires. And these we are to put upon the consideration of such evils, as either are included in this neglect, or are allied to it as either causing it, or being caused by it.

Those whom we now address, are to bethink themselves, what evil is included in their neglect of this part of holy practice. You are to judge of the evil of it, by its disagreement with those known and usual measures, to which our practice should be suitable, and by which, in reason and justice, it is to be estimated or censured; as, for instance, the divine law, conscience, experience, obligation by kindness,

stipulation, relation, profession, tendency of the new nature, dictates of God's Spirit, the course and drift of his design;-with all which it will be found to have very ill accord.

• How directly opposite is it to the law of God! not only to his express written precept, but to that immutable eternal law which arises from our very natures, when referred to his! The binding force of that law doth not so much consist in this, that the thing to be done is such whereto our natures were originally inclined, -which yet is of great weight, they having been thus inclined and determined by our Maker himself, so that our inclination was in this case expressive of his will,-as in the natural unchangeable congruity of the thing itself. Therefore as to the things, whose constant fitness would render them matter of duty to us at all times, it was provided, that inclinations suitable to them should be planted in our natures from the beginning but about things that were to be matter of duty for a time, having only a present fitness to some present juncture or state of affairs, it was sufficient that the divine pleasure should be signified in some way more suitable to their occasional and temporary use, and that it might not so certainly extend to all men and all times.

The great law of love to God, which comprehends this of delighting in him, is, you may be sure, of that former sort; it being impossible there should be a reasonable creature in being, but it will immediately and always be his

duty to love God supremely and above all things; that, you must know, is the most fundamental of all such laws. Therefore when, because original impressions were become so obscure and illegible in our natures, it became necessary there should be a new and more express edition of them in God's written word, this is placed in the very front of them, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me." And when our Saviour was to tell which was the first and great commandment, he gives it thus, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind."a The thing enjoined by this law is most substantial, the life and soul of all other duty, and without which all that we can do besides is but mere shadow; for whatsoever we are enjoined to do else, we must understand enjoined to be done out of love to God, as the principle whence it must proceed; and if it proceed not thence, the moral goodness of it vanishes as a beam cut off from the sun. For on this-with the other which is like unto it, and which also hangs upon this,-hang all the law and the prophets. What-durst thou who knowest God, or rather art known by him, neglect so great and substantial a duty? This is not like the command of wearing fringe on the borders of the garment, or of not wearing a garment of linen and woollen,-wherein, surely, they whom it concerned should have been very undutiful to have disobeyed,but it is the very

a Mat. xxii. 37.

greatest among the great things of the law, a duty upon which all duty depends even for life and breath. Should not this have obtained in thy practice, to run through and animate all the rest? Was it fit, it should lie dead and bound up in the habitual principle, and not go forth into act and exercise? Didst thou do thy duty herein by being only inclined to do it? Would not the inclination, if it were right, infer suitable exercise? Why was so express a law neglected?-a law so often enjoined in the sacred volume,-the practice of it mentioned with approbation, the neglect of it animadverted upon with abhorrence. How could you turn over the leaves of that book, and not often meet with such words, "Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous;"a" Rejoice in the Lord, and again I say unto you, rejoice?" Should not so frequent inculcations of the same thing have been answered by the frequency and continuedness of your practice of it? Or was it enough, now and then, as it were casually and by chance to hit upon the doing of what is so momentous a part of your religion, and what ought to be the business of your life? Ought it not to cut your heart, to find yourself herein convicted of a disobedient omission? and when the great God exacts that stated homage from you, a frequent practical explicit recognition and owning of him as the supreme delight, the great solace and rest of your souls, that you have been so little

a Ps. xxxiii. 1. b Phil. iii. 1. iv. 4.

awed with the apprehension of his authority and right in this case? and that such has been your omission, when He hath mercifully chosen to make that the matter of his command and claim, wherein your own advantage satisfaction and content so entirely consist? That your practice is herein disagreeable to a law, speaks it sinful; that it transgresses so great a law, highly aggravates your sin;-a law so important, upon which so much depends, so express and plain, legible in the very nature of things, and in reference whereto the very excellency of the object should suffice to dictate to you your duty, even if no command had been otherwise given in the case. Surely the neglect of such a law cannot have been without great transgression.

It

Your own conscience, you will acknowledge, ought to be a rule to you, when it manifestly agrees with that former rule, the supreme and royal law. Do you not find yourselves herein to have offended against that? It may be your sleeping conscience did not find yourself to offend but do you not find yourself to have offended it, now beginning to awake? This is not a doubtful and disputable matter; surely, you will not make a scruple of it, a difficult case of conscience, whether you should take the Lord of heaven and earth for your God, whether you should choose Him for your portion, seek rest in Him, and place upon Him your delight and love? If, in so plain a case, your conscience hath not expressed itself offended, you have offended