You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
e not directly named, but only his praying, yet it is very clearly implied; for<br />
his soul is first made sorrowful with bitter meditations on his sufferings and<br />
death, and then he poureth it out in prayer. So that Christ had his accustomed<br />
place, and consequently accustomed duty; and so must we: he hath a place<br />
that is solitary, whither he retireth, even from his own disciples; and so must<br />
we: his meditations go further than his thoughts; they affect and pierce his<br />
heart and soul; and so must ours. Only there is a wide difference in the<br />
object: Christ meditates on the sufferings that our sins had deserved, so that<br />
the wrath of his Father passed through all his soul; but we are to meditate on<br />
the glory he hath purchased, that the love of the Father and the joy of the<br />
Spirit may enter our thoughts, and revive our affections, and overflow our<br />
souls.<br />
Thirdly. I am next to advise thee concerning the PREPARATION OF<br />
THY HEART for this heavenly contemplation. <strong>The</strong> success of the work<br />
much depends on the frame of thy heart. When man's heart had nothing in it<br />
to grieve the Spirit, it was then the delightful habitation of his Maker. God<br />
did not quit his residence there till man expelled him by unworthy<br />
provocations. <strong>The</strong>re was no shyness or reserve till the heart grew sinful, and<br />
too loathsome a dungeon for God to delight in. And were this soul reduced to<br />
its former innocency, God would quickly return to his former habitation; yea,<br />
so far as it is renewed and repaired by the Spirit, and purged from its lusts,<br />
and beautified with his image, the Lord will yet acknowledge it as his own:<br />
Christ will manifest himself unto it, and the Spirit will take it for his temple<br />
and residence. So far as the heart is qualified for conversing with God, so far<br />
it usually enjoys him. <strong>The</strong>refore, "with all diligence keep thy heart, for out of<br />
it are the issues of life." More particularly,<br />
1. Get thy heart as clear from the world as thou canst. Wholly lay by the<br />
thoughts of thy business, troubles, enjoyments, and every thing that may take<br />
up any room in thy soul. Get it as empty as thou possibly canst, that it may<br />
be the more capable of being filled with God. If thou couldst perform some<br />
222
Change language