§ 19. (8.) Ever keep thy soul possessed with believing thoughts of the infinite love of God. Love is the attractive of love. Few so vile, but will love those that love them. No doubt it is the death of our heavenly life, to have hard thoughts of God, to conceive of him as one that would rather damn, than save us. This is to put the blessed God into the similitude of Satan. When our ignorance and unbelief have drawn the most deformed picture of God in our imaginations, then we complain, that we cannot love him, nor delight in him. This is the case of many thousand Christians. Alas, that we should thus blaspheme God, and blast our own joys! Scripture assures us, that _God is love_;[343] that _fury is not in him_;[344] that _he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live_.[345] Much more hath he testified his love to his chosen, and his full resolution effectually to save them. O that we could always think of God, as we do of a friend; as of one that unfeignedly loves us, even more than we do ourselves; whose very heart is set upon us to do us good, and hath therefore provided for us an everlasting dwelling with himself; it would not then be so hard to have our hearts ever with him! Where we love most heartily, we shall think most sweetly, and most freely. I fear most Christians think higher of the love of a hearty friend, than of the love of God; and what wonder then if they love their friends better than God, and trust them more confidently than God, and had rather live with them than with God?
[Footnote 343] 1 John iv, 16.
[Footnote 344] Isaiah xxvii, 4.
[Footnote 345] Ezekiel xxxiii, 11.
§ 20. (9.) Carefully observe and cherish the motions of the Spirit of God. If ever thy soul get above this earth, and get acquainted with this heavenly life, the Spirit of God must be to thee, as the chariot to Elijah; yea, the very living principle by which thou must move and ascend. O then, grieve not thy guide, quench not thy life, knock not off thy chariot wheels! You little think how much the life of all your graces, and the happiness of your souls, depend upon your ready and cordial obedience to the Spirit. When the Spirit urges thee to secret prayer; or forbids thee thy known transgressions; or points out to thee the way in which thou shouldst go: and thou wilt not regard, no wonder if heaven and thy soul be strange. If thou wilt not follow the Spirit, while it would draw thee to Christ and thy duty; how should it lead thee to heaven, and bring thy heart into the presence of God? What supernatural help, what bold access, shall the soul find in its approaches to the Almighty, that constantly obeys the Spirit? And how backward, how dull, how ashamed, will he be in these addresses, who hath often broke away from the Spirit that would have guided him? Christian reader, dost thou not feel sometimes a strong impression to retire from the world, and draw near to God? Do not disobey, but take the offer, and hoist up thy sails while this blessed gale may be had. The more of the Spirit we resist, the deeper will it wound; and the more we obey, the speedier will be our pace.
§ 21. (10.) I advise thee as a farther help to this heavenly life, not to neglect the due care of thy bodily health. Thy body is an useful servant, if thou give it its due, and no more than its due; but it is a most devouring tyrant, if thou suffer it to have what it unreasonably desires; and it is as a blunted knife, if thou unjustly deny it what is necessary to its support. When we consider, how frequently men offend on both extremes, and how few use their bodies aright, we cannot wonder if they be much hindered in their converse with heaven. Most men are slaves to their appetite, and can scarce deny any thing to the flesh, and are therefore willingly carried by it to their sports, or profits, or vain companions, when they should raise their minds to God and heaven. As you love your souls, _make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof_;[346] but remember, _to be carnally minded, is death; because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live._[347] There are a few, who much hinder their heavenly joy, by denying the body its necessaries, and so making it unable to serve them: If such wronged their flesh only, it would be no great matter; but they wrong their souls also; as he that spoils the house, injures the inhabitants. When the body is sick, and the spirits languish, how heavily do we move in the thoughts and joys of heaven.
[Footnote 346] Romans xiii, 14.
[Footnote 347] Romans viii, 6-8, 12, 13.