4. And then, brethren, seeing we have, in the next place, felt de- cays in the midst of the performance of multiplied duties, labour to bring spirituality into your duties.
" What is that," you will say, " and wherein doth it consist?" It is the due exercise of every grace that is required to the dis- charge of that duty. Let every such grace be in its due exercise, and that is to be spiritual in duty. As, for instance, would a man be spiritual in all his prayers? — let him, then, consider what grace and what exercise of grace is required to this duty. A clue fear and rever- ence of the name of God ; faith, love, and delight in him ; an humble sense of his own wants, earnest desires of supply, dependence upon God for guidance, and the like; — we all know that these are the graces required to the discharge of this duty of praying by the Holy Ghost. And let these graces be in a due exercise, and then you are spiritual in this duty. Is the duty charity, — giving a supply to the poor? There is to be a ready mind, a compassionateness of heart,
372 RECOVERY FROM SPIRITUAL DECAY.
and obedience unto the command of Christ in that particular. These are the graces required to the discharge of that duty, and to watch against the contrary vices. So that if we would bring spirituality into duty, it is to exercise the graces that are required by the rule to the performance of that duty.
I shall only farther give you this one caution, — have a care that your head in notion and your tongue in talk do not too fast empty your hearts of truth. We are apt to lay it up in our heads by notions, and bring it forth in talk, and not let it be in our hearts; and this weakens spiritual life greatly. Ye hear the word preached ; and it is of great concernment what account we shall give of the word that hath been preached unto you : for we that preach must give an account of our preaching, and so must you of what you hear ; and many a good word is spoken, truly, and yet we see but little fruit of it. And the reason of this is, that some, when they hear it, take no farther regard of it, but " let it slip," as the apostle speaks, Heb. ii. 1. And if we complain of the treacherousness of our memories, — it is the most harmless way of the slipping out of the word. It is not the treachery of our memories, but of our hearts and affections, that makes the heart like a broken vessel, — that makes all the rents in it where the water runs out, as the comparison is. The word slips out by putting your affections into carnal exercise ; and it quickly finds its way to depart from the heart that gives it no better entertain- ment. We talk away a sermon and the sense of it ; which robs us both of the sermon and the fruit of it. A man hears a good word of truth, and, instead of taking the power of it into his heart, he takes the notion of it into his mind, and is satisfied therewith. But this is not the way to thrive. God grant that we may never preach to you any thing but what we may labour to have an experience of the power of it in our own hearts, and to profit ourselves by the word wherewith we design to profit others ! And I pray God grant that you also may have some profit by the word dispensed to you, — that it slip not out through carnal affections, and be not drawn out through notions and talk, with a regardlessness to treasure it up in your hearts !
These things we are diligently to attend unto, if we would recover our spiritual losses that we are complaining of, and that not without just cause.
THE GROUND OF AN APPLICATION TO CHRIST. 373
DISCOURSE V.1
Question. It was queried by some, how we may make our appli- cation unto Christ; not in general, but under what notion and apprehension of the person of Christ ?
Answer. Because some seem to apprehend there might be danger in terminating our worship upon the nature of Christ as a creature, I shall give you my thoughts and directions in it. And, —
First. You must observe we are to have no conceptions, in our act- ing of any duty, towards Christ or about him, but with respect unto his person as he is God and man in one person. It is not lawful for us to have any apprehensions of Christ, to make any application to him, as man only ; nor is it lawful for us to have any apprehensions of him as God only : but all our apprehensions of Christ, and all our addresses unto him, must be as God and man in one person. So he is, and so he will be to all eternity. The union is insejmrabie and indissoluble; and for any man to make his application unto Christ either as God or as man, is to set up a false Christ. Christ is God and man in one person, and no other. So, in all our actings of faith upon him, and applications unto him, we ought to consider him as he was " the seed of David," and as " God over all, blessed for ever," in one person. This makes the great idolatry among the Papists; — in the image of Christ they represent the human nature of Christ separated from his Deity; for they can make no representation of one that is God and man in one person: hereby they become guilty of double idolatry, referring the mind unto one that is a man, and no more, — and doing it by means of an image.