derstanding. The light within us is but dim and feeble, and even this we quickly extinguish by our negligence. Oftentimes also we are not fenfible, how exceeding blind we are inwardly. We often act ill, and excufe it worse. We are fometimes pushed on by paffion, and mistake it for zeal. We cenfure fmall faults in others, and pafs over much greater in our felves. We are ready enough to refent, and to fcan exactly, what we fuffer at the hands of others; but how much they fuffer from us, we confider not. Let but a man well and impartially examin his own actions, and he will fee little reason to judge hardly of another.

II. The man that walketh inwardly prefers the care of himself before all other cares; and he that is ftrictly watchful over himself, finds no difficulty in forbearing to talk of other people. Thou wilt never be an internal, that is, a truly fpiritual and devout man, till thou haft learnt to be filent as to other mens affairs, and to regard thy felf principally. If thou attendeft wholly unto GoD and thyfelf, what thou feeft and hearest abroad, will very little affect thee. Where art thou, when thou art not with thyself? And when thou haft run over all things, if thou haft forgot thy felf, wherein art thou

profited?

profited? If thou wouldest have peace of heart, and true union with God, thou must throw all other things behind thee, and keep thy felf only in view.

III. Thou fhalt therefore profit much, if thou keep thy felf free from the care of all temporal things. On the other hand, thou wilt lofe ground exceedingly, if thou value any thing that is temporal. Let nothing appear to thee great, nothing high, nothing pleasant, nothing worth defiring, but purely GoD, or the things that be of GOD. Count it all vain, whatsoever confolation cometh from any creature. A foul enamour'd of Gop, defpifeth all things: fhort of GOD. The eternal and infinite GOD alone, that filleth all things, is the comfort of the foul, and true joy of the heart.

I.

CHAP. VI.

Of the Joy of a good Confcience.

HE glory of a good man, is the teftimony of a good confcience. Keep

"TH

a good confcience, and thou fhalt ever have

L 3

joy,

joy. A good confcience is able to bear a great deal, and is very chearful in the midst of croffes and afflictions. An evil confcience is always full of fear, and difquietude. Thou fhalt enjoy a fweet repofe and tranquillity of fpirit, if thy heart reproach thee not. Never rejoice, except only when thou hast done well. The finner hath never any true joy, nor taste of inward peace: Because there is no peace to the wicked, faith the Lord". And if they fhould fay, we are in peace; there fhall no evil come upon us; and who fball dare to hurt us? believe them not; for the fury of the Lord fhall rife up all of a fudden against them, and all their devices fhall vanish like fmoke, and their thoughts fhall perish with them.

II. To glory in tribulation, is no difficult thing to the lover; for fo to glory, is to glory in the cross of our Lord Jefus Chrift. Short is that glory, which men give and receive from one another. The glory of the world is always accompanied with fadnefs. The glory of good men lies in their own confciences, and not in the mouth of men. The joy of the juft is from GOD, and

• Ifa. lvii. 21.

b Rom. v. 3.

c Gal. vi. 14.

in GOD: And their rejoicing is founded upon truth. The man that defireth true and eternal glory, values not that which is temporal. And the man that feeketh temporal glory, or that defpifes it not from his heart, gives a fufficient proof of his not loving, as he ought, that which is heavenly and eternal. Great peace and tranquillity of heart is the portion of that man, who is moved neither with praises nor difpraises,

. III. The man whofe confcience is clean and pure, is contented in any condition; and calm and compofed under any treatment. Thou art not the holier, for being praised; nor the less valuable for being vilified. What thou art, that art thou; neither can the world make thee greater, than what thou art in the fight of God. If thou attend to what thou art in thy felf inwardly, thou wilt not care what men fay of thee. Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. Man confidereth the action, but God weigheth the intention. To be always doing well, and to think meanly of his own performances, is an argument of an humble foul. To refuse

dr Sam. xvi. 7.

to be comforted by any created thing, is a mark of fingular purity, and of an internal affurance.

IV. The man that feeketh not any outward teftimony for himself, gives a manifest proof of his having committed himself wholly to Gov. For not he that commendeth himfelf, is approved (faith bleffed Paul,) but whom the Lord commendeth. To walk with God inwardly, and not to be taken up with any defire or affection outwardly; this is the ftate of the internal man.

CHAP. VII.

· Of the Love of Jefus above all things.

I.

BL

Leffed is the man that understandeth what it is to love Jefus, and to defpife himself for the fake of Jefus. Thou muft quit whatever thou loveft for this Beloved; becaufe Jefus requires us to love him alone above all things. The Love of the creature is deceitful and unftable: The Love of Jefus is faithful, and eternal. He

* 2 Cor. x. 18.

that