SOUL CONFERENCE.

The Rules of Direction, &c.

1. Breathe forth thy complaints unto Christ in prayer; for the life thou hast is from the quickening power of his grace; and therefore he who died that thou mightest live will preserve the life which he hath given. But then thou must beg it by prayer. And at once to quicken thy prayer, and strengthen thy faith, hear his promise, and own his love, "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." What parent is it who hearing his child, hungry and fainting, cry out for bread can restrain his heart from pity, or his hand from relief? And far more compassionate is thy Saviour, far more tender is his love. He is, indeed, love itself: he is the fountain, as of life, so of love. The love thou bearest to him proceeds from him ; and certainly he would not make thee to love him if thou were not first beloved of him. Wherefore take heart in thy dejections, convert his promise into prayer; plead with thy God in the right of his own bond, and his Son's blood; urge the grace of his own promise, the law of his own covenant; say with David, "Make good, O Lord, thy word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope." Yea, let me bespeak thee, as the Prophet does Zion, "Let tears run down like a river;" not in the impatience of distrust, but the importunity of devotion. In this let not the apple of thine eye keep silence; every tear, every sigh, hath a voice to implore mercy, and to importune grace. Yea, seeing thou canst not follow the spotless Lamb without thy spots of sin, thy daily

tears shall obtain the blood of the Lamb to cleanse thy guilt; and doubt not but in due time thy heart thus melted, like wax when softened or metals dissolved, shall become pliable and yielding to some new impressions of grace and gracious formings of the Spirit, to an enlarging thy delight and quickening thy zeal in the duties of holiness.

2. Consult the judgment of some faithful Minister, as thy spiritual guide, for the better ordering thy duties of devotion. For as there are some who, careless of offending God, rob him of his due through unseasonable recreations, unnecessary employments, or needless ease, willing to admit any excuse to stop the mouth of conscience in the neglect of their daily devotions; so again there are others who, very tender of offending God, become much disquieted in conscience, and afflicted in mind, because they are taken off from the frequency, and cooled in the fervour of their religious performances: though it be by the urgency of their lawful employments, the change of their worldly condition, the sickliness of their bodily temper, or some other just consideration, and warrantable avocation. Yea, some there are whom superstition hath made prodigal of devotion; such devotion, as fancy not faith; human opinion, not divine institution, hath prescribed and warranted; and therefore do such persons entangle themselves in their own nets, disquiet themselves in their own inventions, engaging themselves in such rules and forms, such methods and performances as their present state and condition will not admit. Wherefore, for the ease of thy conscience and the improvement of thy devotions, consult some spiritual guide to assist thee in the better regulating thy duties of holiness.

3. Beware of a misguided zeal, it being that whereby Satan, through his subtlety, hath prevailed upon the consciences of many religious dispositions, to involve them in a maze of perplexities. By this misguided zeal Satan prompts many to a trying and wearying themselves with duties, secretly persuading them that all time is lost which is not religiously employed, and thereby how have many wasted their estates, impaired their health, neglected their callings, and even ruined their families, carried away with a misguided zeal of being still religiously employed! But what, can a man be too religious? Yes, in the outward action, not in the inward affection. A man may give alms to his undoing, yet never be undone with charity; he may fast to his famishing, yet never hurt his soul with devotion. But what, is it not a paradox, think you, that Satan should prompt men to be religious, that the devil should spur a man on to fastings, to watchings, to sermons, &c.? Yes, know even in the zealous and unadvised prosecution and performance of these holy duties, there may be much of Satan transformed into an Angel of light, and especially when those duties of piety are inconsistent with the duties of charity or of justice. To instance in some particulars-when watchings and fastings destroy the body; though, rightly ordered, they are holy duties, yet thus disordered, as they are not profitable to the soul so nor are they acceptable to God who saith, "I will have mercy and not sacrifice." As, then, to be immoderately indulgent to nature is sluggish and profane, so to be immoderately oppressing nature is merciless and cruel. Again to run after sermons, and daily to post from one side of the country

to another, (as the manner of some is,) to godly meetings, (as they call them,) in the mean time to have the calling neglected, and the family pined, this is so far from godliness that the Apostle brands it with worse than heathenism, "He who provideth not for his own family is worse than an infidel." One instance more-it is a temptation of Satan, and a snare to the soul, for a servant to rob his master of that time he justly owes his service, and in a blind zeal to bestow it upon God's worship; this is to sacrifice unto God a lamb that is stolen, to offer what is not our own, a thing God is so far from accepting that he hates it. We must not, then, cause the duties of the first table to make a breach upon the duties of the second; our duty to God must not thwart or suppress our duty to our neighbour. Though communion with God be the soul's delight, and so closet devotions the sweetest services, yet, as a part of self-denial, we must with Moses quit the mount when God hath work for us in the valley. And therefore the Jewish Corban is no Christian plea. Piety and charity may, yea must, consist together, like the two wings of the eagle; with both together, not one alone, we take our flight to heaven.

4. Let thy piety be regulated by prudence, and discretion become tutoress to devotion. What is the reason we see so many monsters in religion? Is it not because zeal brings forth before knowledge hath formed the conception? "A good man," says David, "will order his affairs," much more his duties of holiness, "with discretion." And St. Paul is very careful in behalf of his Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, &c., that God would give them knowledge, and

judgment, and wisdom, and a spiritual understanding; and all to this end, that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all well pleasing, so approving those things that are excellent, as that they do prove those things that are different. Now in the exercise of our Christian prudence, as to the duties of holiness a respect is to be had to the temper of body, to the quality of condition, to the opportunity of time, to the benefit of means, and the like, knowing this that where much is given much shall be required. And again, God accepts according to that a man hath, not according to that he hath not. They whose birth, breeding, and estates have freed them from what is servile, God requires of them more expence of time in his service; devotion must be their trade, and their closet their shop; where, freed from the drudgery of the world, they are to trafic for heaven, and so hold a more frequent commerce with the angels. Further, a respect is to be had to extraordinary occasions, that we do something all of us, according to our ability, in an extraordinary service, whether it be under private afflictions or public calamities, particular disquiets or general distresses. At such times "prayer without ceasing," then " fastings and watchings," and what other duties may be most suitable to the occasion and consistent with our condition will be all seasonable and requisite in their performance. Further yet, it will be a part of our Christian prudence to observe that excess in the outward duties in religion is the right-hand error; less danger there is in pinching than in pampering the flesh, less danger and damage in overworking than in too much indulging the outward man for where one sails his course of piety