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brave in the service of God, notwithstanding all dangers and difficulties, is a soul left of God to much blindness and hardness.

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Rem. 4. Consider, that religious duties, holy and heavenly exercises, are only difficult to the ignoble part of a saint; they are not to the noble and better part, the soul, and renewed affections of a saint: holy exercises are a heavenly pleasure and recreation, as the apostle speaks, I delight in the law of God, after the inward man: with my mind I serve the Law of God.' To the noble part of a saint, Christ's yoke is easy, and his burden is light; all the commands and ways of Christ, (even those that tend to the pulling out right eyes, and cutting off right hands) are joyous, and not grievous; all the ways and services of Christ, are pleasantness (in the abstract) to the better part of a saint. A saint, so far as he is renewed, is always best when he sees and tastes most of God, when he is highest in the enjoyments of God, and most warm and lively in his service. Oh! saith the saint, that it might be always thus: Oh! that my strength were the strength of stones, and my flesh as brass, that my worse part might be more serviceable to my noble part, that I might act by an unwearied power in that service, that is a pleasure, a Paradise to me.

* As every flower hath its sweet savour. so every good duty carries meat in the mouth, and comfort in the per.. formance of it.

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Rem. 5. Solemnly consider, the great reward and glorious recompense that attend those who cleave to the service of the Lord, in the face of all difficulties and discouragements; though the work be hard, yet the reward is great: heaven will make amends for all: yes, one hour in heaven, will abundantly recompense you for cleaving to the Lord and his ways, in the face of all difficulties. This carried the apostle through the greatest difficulties: He had an eye to the recompense of reward; he looked for a house that had foundations, whose builder and maker is God, and for a heavenly country,' yea, this bore up the spirit of Christ, in the face of all difficulties and discouragements. Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.'

Christians that would hold on in the service of the Lord, must look more upon the crown, than the cross; more upon their future glory, than their present misery; more upon their encouragements, than their discouragements.— God's very service is wages; his ways are strew

*Basil speaks of some martyrs that were cast out all night naked, in a cold frosty time, and were to be burned the next day, how they comforted themselves in this manner, the winter is sharp, but Paradise is sweet; here we shiver for cold, but the bosom of Abraham will make amends for all.

ed with roses, and paved with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory; and with peace that passeth understanding. Some degree of comfort follows every good action; as heat accompanies fire, and as beams and influences issue from the sun. . Moreover, by them is thy servant warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward;' not for keeping, but in keeping of them, there is great reward; the joy, the refreshing, the comforts, the contents, the smiles, the incomes that saints now enjoy in the ways of God, are so precious and glorious in their eyes, that they would not exchange them for ten thousand worlds. Ah! if the vails be thus sweet and glorious before pay-day come, what will be that glory that Christ will crown his saints with, for cleaving to his service in the face of all difficulties: when he shall say to his Father, Lo, here am I, and the children which thou hast given me!' If there be so much to be had in a wilderness, what then shall be had in Paradise? &c.

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CHAPTER IV.

The fourth Device that Satan hath to keep souls from holy exercises and religious services, is,

BY leading them to make false inferences from those blessed and glorious things that

Christ hath done. As that Jesus Christ hath done all for us, therefore there is nothing for us to do, but to joy and rejoice; he hath perfectly justified us, and fulfilled the law, and satisfied divine justice, and pacified his Father's wrath, and is gone to heaven to prepare a place for us, and in the mean time to intercede for us, and therefore away with praying, and mourning, and hearing, &c. Ah! what a world of professors hath Satan drawn in these days from religious services, by leaving them to make such sad, wild and strange inferences, from the sweet and excellent things the Lord Jesus hath done for his people.-Now the remedies against this device, are these:

Remedy 1. Against this device of Satan, dwell as much on those scriptures that shew you the duties and services that Christ requires of you, as upon those that declare to you the precious and glorious things that Christ hath done for you. It is a sad and a dangerous thing to have two eyes to behold our dignity and privileges, and not one to see our duties and services. I should look with one eye upon the choice and excellent things that Christ hath done for me, to raise up my heart to love Christ with the purest love, and to joy in Christ with the strongest joy, and to exalt Christ above all, who hath made himself to be my all: and I should look with the other eye, upon those services and duties that the scriptures require of those for whom Christ

hath done such blessed things: as upon that of the apostle, 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.' And that, 1 Cor. xv. 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." And that, And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.' And that of the apostle, Rejoice always, and pray without ceasing.' And that in the Philipians, Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.' And that, 'This do till I come.' And that, 'Let us consider one another, to provoke one another to love, and to good works; not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as you see the day approaching,' Phil. ii. 12, 13. 1 Cor. xi. 26. Heb. x. 24, 25. Now a soul that would not be drawn away by this device of Satan, he must not look obliquely upon these blessed scriptures, and abundance more of like import,* but he must dwell upon them, and make

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* The Jews were much in turning over the leaves of the scripture, but they did not weigh the matter of them. John v. 39.

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