Cap. 24. fold, that they fhould go one and one, as a Lamb bleating alone in the wilde wilderness: take heed you do not bring it upon your felves.

Danger of Again, there is a great deal of danger in this folitafolitarinefs. rinefs of fpirit.

1.

2.

3.

2.

First, there will foon grow a wonderful drinefs,and barrenness of spirit: It is juft with God to deprive men of gifts, that have not hearts to improve the gifts that God hath given them.

Again, you will be ready to run into error, and ftrange conceits; for if you obferve the workings of your hearts, you have strange opinions of things, and think you are fure of them, and when you come amongst others, though you could not fee the weaknefs of your opinions, others can quickly fee them, whereas if you will not come amongst them, but be stiff in your opinions, you may run into

errors.

Again, you will be lyable to the temptations of Satan; immoderate folitarinefs, is joyned with immoderate melancholy, which is the common fhop of the Devil for to forge his temptations in, and it is a great evil to keep the Devils temptations clofe and therefore come into communion with the Saints.

And fecondly, when you do come into communion, take heed of pride; pride fometimes keeps away from communion, and pride is a great hinderance to the benefit of communion: As round things do not joyn but onely in one point, but take flat things, and they joyn in every point; and so hearts fwoln with pride cannot joyn with others, but onely in fuch particulars as will ferve their turns, but if we

have plain hearts, we will clofe in all things. If a Cap.24. bladder be blown with wind, when you touch it or handle it, it goes away, but when it is pricked, it falls, and you may handle it: fo hearts that are fwoln with pride, will not clofe as low humble hearts will. A fwoln member is fit for nothing, but all members muft ferve that; As a gouty leg, all the members must tend that, but it is unfit to be serviceable to any and fo a proud heart, it expects every one should attend it,but when it comes to be serviceable to any, it is unfit.

up

Thirdly, take heed of envying at the gifts and graces of one another; the wicked men of the world do envy one another,because the good they look on as their last end, is fo ftrait, that if one have much room, the other is ftraitned; but the godly need not be straitned, their good is in God, and they have place enough to expatiate themselves, and fatisfie themselves. If men were riding or failing in a narrow paffage, they would envy him that were failing before them, that hinders; but in the Sea they do not envy them, because they have room enough to fail: So in Chriftians that place their happiness in God, where there is room enough, there should not be envy:

Fourthly,take heed of pettishness,and frowardness, or paffions, thefe do darken communion: the meck fpirit is fit for communion. Mofes fuffered much for communion with Gods people, and indeed he was fit to get good, and to do good by communion, he was the meekeft man upon earth.

Fifthly, take heed of felf-ends in communion: when men are fo politick, as to wheel about their

X 4

own

3.

4.

5.

Cap.24. own ends, and not feem to aym at such things, this hinders the fweetness of communion, and though fuch may carry things a while, as not to be difcerned, yet at laft they will be difcerned to have felf-ends, and all will be fhy of them. If you would have fweet communion indeed, labor for open hearts to one another, that you may truft one another.

6.

cum ad il

Sixthly, labor so to improve your communion now, as every time you do enjoy it, it may make your hearts to fpring, putting you in minde of that blef fed communion you fhall have with God, and his people; and think thus, If we finde fo much joy, in enjoying communion with Gods people here, what will there be in that communion our fouls fhall have in Heaven, when we shall not onely have communion with fome few of Gods fervants, but with all, Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, and all the O pracla- Prophets, and Patriarchs? As Cicero hath a norum diem table fpeech concerning the happiness of his death; lud animo- O famous day, that I fhall go to the counfels of ri Concili thofe famous men, that I fhall go from this rout of people, and quc profi and converfe with those famous go cifcarmen! But brethren,for us to think that we through cum ex hac Gods mercy, here have communion with Gods colluvione people, and fhall hereafter enjoy communion with difcedam: the Saints of God for ever, what is it worth the enproficifcar during? if it were but the enjoying of communion with Mofes alone, it were worth all you have folum viros endured; and therefore comfort your felves for the ante dixi, prefent in that you have, and let your hearts be raifed in hope of better things hereafter, when you ad Catonem fhall have them perfect. Now we rejoyce that we Cicero de are with Gods people, if they be conferring about

um cœtum

turba &

enim non

ad cos

meum,&c.

fene&ute.

any

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any thing of God and Chrift; but hereafter we Cap. 24. fhall fee nothing but God in his Saints, we shall fee the full glory of God fhining in them, then the very bodies of the Saints fhall fhine more glorious then the Sun, How glorious fhall their fouls be then? There shall then be no more danger of fallings out, and frampold carriages, no more jealoufies and fufpitions, but we fhall fee the image of God perfectly in them; and we shall have perfect love to rejoyce in the falvation of any as in your own salvation, and then we shall be with them in all holy exercises: It is good to be with Gods people, to trade with them, but better to be with them to pray with them, to receive Sacraments with them; the better the exercise is, the better it is to be with them: Then what is it to enjoy communion with them, and to be always in holy exercifes, always finging praifes to the Lamb, and giving glory to him that fitteth on the Throne for evermore, bleffing God for the great Mystery of the Gofpel? And therefore improve your communion so here, as not onely to put you in minde of your communion hereafter, but to prepare and fit your fouls for it: And thus is this point finished; and now we are come to the feventh and laft Dotrinal point, out of Mofes his Choice, which is from the last words of the Verse, Then to enjoy the pleafures of fin for a feafon.

The Doctrinal Conclufion is this:

CHAP.

Cap.25.

Doct.7.

Μίσχου πονύτων.

CHAP. XXV.

What foever is but for a feafon, cannot fatis
fie a graci
ous heart.

Hat whatsoever is but for a season, cannot satisfie a gracious beart: Or, Nothing but that which is eternal, can fatisfie a gracious heart. Mofes, if he would have been fatisfied with any thing that abided but for a season, he might have had fatisfaction enough, but his heart was fet upon eternity, and therefore could have no fatisfaction in things that were but for a feafon. St. Paul fays in 2 Cor.4.18. We look not at things that are seen, but at the things which are not feen; for the things which are feen are temporal, but the things which are not feen are eternal. We do not fo much as look at things feen, for they are temporal, but there are other things that our hearts are upon, which are eternal; we look not at things that are feen, but at things not feen: The word notes these two things efpecially, not onely that we believe things that are not feen, eternal things, but we look at them, we minde them; we do not much minde things that are temporal, but eternal things are minded of us.

Secondly, we do not make things that are feen, that are temporal, to be our fcope and aim; that which fatisfies the heart, is that which is looked at as the end, and aim, and scope of the fpirit: fo that if a man could look at things feen as his aim and scope, they would fatisfie him, but nothing that is feen can be the scope and aim of a gracious heart, but eternal things are his fcope and aim, and therefore they fatisfié him.

That