_Direct._ XI. Be not a stranger to, or neglectful disregarder of, the wonders of providence in God's administrations in the world, and thou wilt find store of matter for thy thoughts. The dreadfulness of judgments, the delightfulness of mercies, the mysteriousness of all, will be matter of daily search and admiration to thee. Think of the strange preservations of the church; of a people hated by all the world! how such a flock of lambs is kept in safety, among so many ravenous wolves. Think of God's sharp afflictions of his offending people; of his severe consuming judgments exercised sometimes upon the wicked, when he means to set up here and there a monument of his justice, for the warning of presumptuous sinners. Go see how the wicked are deceived by befooling pleasures, and how the prosperity of fools destroyeth them, Prov. i. 32; how they flourish to-day as a green bay-tree, Psal. xxxvii. 35, or as the flower of the field; and then go into the sanctuary and see their end, how to-morrow they are cut down and withered, and the place of their abode doth know them no more. Go see how God delighteth to abase the proud, and to "scatter them in the imagination of their hearts; to put down the mighty from their seats, and to exalt them of low degree; to fill the hungry with good things, and to send the rich empty away," Luke i. 51-53. "How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom," Dan. iv. 3. "He ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will," ver. 26, 32. "For wisdom and might are his: and he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding. He revealeth the deep and secret things; he knoweth what is in darkness, and the light dwelleth with him," Dan. ii. 20-22. "The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth; the wicked is snared in the work of his own hand," Psal. ix. 16. Mark how the upright are afflicted daily, and how the feet of violence trample on them; and yet how they rejoice, and adhere to that God who doth afflict them, and pity and pray for their miserable persecutors and oppressors; and how "all things do work together for their good," Rom. viii. 28. "Wonderful are all the works of God, sought out of them that have pleasure therein," Psal. cxi. 2. The histories of former ages, and the observation of the present, may show thee a world of matter for thy thought.[306]
[Sidenote: God's image.]
_Direct._ XII. Understand all the lineaments and beauty of God's image upon a holy soul, the excellency and use of every grace, and the harmony of all; and thou wilt have store of profitable matter for thy thoughts. Know the nature of every grace, and the place and order of it, and the office, use, and exercise of it; and the means and motives, the opposites, dangers, and preservatives of it: know it as God's image, and see and love thy Maker, and Redeemer, and Regenerator in it: know how God loveth it, and how useful it is to our serving and honouring him in the world; and how deformed and vile a thing the soul is, that is without it: know well what faith is; what wisdom and prudence are; what repentance, and humility, and mortification are; what hope, and fear, and desire, and obedience, and meekness, and temperance, and sobriety, and chastity, and contentation, and justice, and self-denial are; especially know the nature and force of love to God, and to his servants, and to neighbours, and to enemies: know what a holy resignation and devotedness to God are; and what are watchfulness, diligence, zeal, fortitude, and perseverance, patience, submission, and peace: know what the worth, and use, the helps, and hinderances of all these are, and then your thoughts will not be idle.
[Sidenote: The daily motions of the Spirit.]
_Direct._ XIII. If thou be not a stranger to the Spirit of grace, or a neglecter of his daily motions, and persuasions, and operations on thy heart, the attendance and improvement of them will keep thy thoughts from rusty idleness and a vagrant course. It is not a small matter to be daily entertaining so noble a guest, and daily observing the offers and motions of so great a Benefactor; and daily receiving the gifts of so bountiful a Lord, and daily accepting his necessary helps; and daily obeying the saving precepts of so great and beneficent a God. If you know how insufficient you are without him, to will or to do, to perform, or to think, or purpose any good, and that all your sufficiency is of him.[307] If you knew that it is the great skill and diligence requisite in all that will sail successively to the desired land of rest, to know the winds of the Spirit's helps, and to set all your sails to the right improvement of them, and to bestir you while such gales continue, you would find greater work than wandering for your thoughts.
[Sidenote: All our duty to God and man.]