_ 2. Men may be delighted in the performance of outward duties
426 OF SPIRITUAL MINDEDNESS. [PART I.
of divine worship, because in them they comply with and give some kind of satisfaction unto their convictions. When conscience is awakened unto a sense of the necessity of such duties,—namely, of those wherein divine worship doth consist,—it will give the mind no rest or peace in the neglect of them. Let them be attended unto in the seasons which light, conviction, and custom call for, it will be so far satisfied as that the mind shall find present ease and refresh- ment in it. And when the soul is wonted unto this relief, it will not. only be diligent in the performance of such duties, it will not only not omit them, but it will delight in them as those which bring it in great advantage. Hence many will not omit the duty of prayer every morning, who upon the matter are resolved to live in sin all the day long. And there are but few who sedulously endea- vour to live and walk in the frame of their hearts and ways answer- able unto their own prayers; yet all that is in our prayers beyond our endeavours to answer it in a conformity of heart and life, is but the exercise of gifts in answer to convictions. Others find an allay of troubles in them, like that which sick persons may find by drink- ing cold water in a fever, whose flames are assuaged for a season by it. They make them as an antidote against the poison and sting of sin, which allayeth its rage but cannot expel its venom.
Or these duties are unto them lke the sacrifices for sin wnder the law. They gave a guilty person present ease: but, as the apostle speaks, they made not men perfect; they took not away utterly a conscience condemning for sin. Presently, on the first omission of duty, a sense of sin again returned on them, and that not only as the fact, but as the person himself, was condemned by the law. Then were the sacrifices to be repeated, for a renewed propitiation. This gave that carnal people such delight and satisfaction in those sacri- fices that they trusted unto them for righteousness, life, and salva- tion. So it is with persons who are constant in spiritual duties merely from conviction. The performance of those duties gives them a present relief and ease ; though it heals not their wound, it assuageth their pain and dispelleth their present fears. Hence are they fre- quent in them, and that ofttimes not without delight, because they find ease thereby. And their condition is somewhat dangerous who, upon the sense of the guilt of any sin, do betake themselves for re- lief unto their prayers, which having discharged, they are mtich at ease in their minds and consciences, although they. have obtained no real sense of the pardon of sin nor any strength against it.
Tt will be said, “Do not all men, the best of men, perform all spiritual duties out of a conviction of their necessity? do not they know it would be their sin to omit them, and so find satisfaction in their minds upon their performance?” I say, They do: but it is one
CHAP. XIV.] DELIGHT IN THE DUTIES OF DIVINE WORSHIP. 427
thing to perform a duty out of conviction of a necessity as it is God’s ordinance, which conviction respects only the duty itself; another thing to perform it to give satisfaction unto convictions of other sins, or to quiet conscience under its trouble about them; which latter we speak unto. This begins and ends in self; self-satisfaction is the sole design of it. By it men aim at some rest and quietness in their own minds, which otherwise they cannot attain. But in the performance of duties in faith, from a conviction of their necessity as God’s ordi- nance, and their use in the way of his grace, the soul begins and ends in God. It seeks no satisfaction én them, nor finds it from them, but in and from God alone by them.
3. The principal reason why men whose affections are only changed,
not spiritually renewed, do delight in holy duties of divine worship, is, because they place their righteousness before God in them, whereon they hope to be accepted with him. They know not, they seek not after, any other righteousness but what is of their own working out. Whatever notions they may have of the righteousness of faith, of the righteousness of Christ, that which they practically trust unto is their own: and it discovers itself.so to be in their own consciences on every trial that befalls them; yea, when they ery unto the Lord, and pretend unto faith in Christ, they quickly make it evident that their principal trust is resolved into themselves. Now, in all that they can plead in a way of duties or obedience, nothing carrieth a fairer pretence unto a righteousness than what they do in the wor- ship of God, and the exercise of the acts of religion towards him. This is that which he expects at their hands, what is due unto him in the light of their consciences, the best that they, can do to please him; which therefore they must put their trust in, or nothing. They secretly suppose not only that there is.a righteousness in these things which will answer for itself, but such also «as will make compensation in some measure for their sins; and therefore, whereas they cannot but frequently fall into sin, they relieve themselves from the reflec- tion of their consciences by a multiplication of duties, and renewed diligence in them. - It is inconceivable what delight and satisfaction men will take in any thing that seems to contribute so much unto a righteousness of their own; for it is suitable unto and pleaseth all the principles of nature as corrupt, after it is brought under the power of a conviction concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment.