a love and desire for them, as the new-born babe desires the milk? Am I led to them as the sweet and delightful channels through which God communicates his grace to me, and I enjoy communion with him? Do I seek his presence in them, seek edification and growth under them; and can I not be contented with mere bodily exercise, but lament that duty and ordinance as lost, in which God is not enjoyed, and grace exercised? Do I at times sweetly experience in them a holy nearness to God, and gracious communications of light, life, love, and joy from him? Are such seasons exceeding sweet, and is one hour thus enjoyed better than a thousand? Are none of all the entertainments of sense to be compared with one of those divine and spiritual repasts? Is heaven on the wing of these golden moments, and is it my only grief that they are

• Christians should frequently examine themselves by this text of scripture. The spiritual life has its characteristic propensities as truly as the natural. If nature is seen in the eagerness of the newly-born babe for the mother's breast; grace is as exactly displayed in the appetite of the regenerate mind for the word of God. Nor is the parent's milk more congenial to the taste, and conducive to the nourishment of the infant body, than the scriptures are agreeable to the spiritual taste and subservient to the growth of religion in the soul. This endears the ordinances of the Gospel to real Christians, because there the word of God is administered, whether in the devotions that are offered to God, or the preaching of the truth to men.

so soon over and gone? Could I be glad to lie down in these green pastures, and beside these still waters; and have nothing to do with this world more, either with its business, or with its employments? And when I am obliged to quit those delightful seasons, and to intermit for a while those precious duties, in which so much of heaven and God is enjoyed, to attend the neces sary engagements of life, is it my greatest joy to think of spending an eternity thus, and am I longing to enter upon it? Unwilling and loth to come from the closet, from the house, and from the table of the Lord, which has been as a mount of transfiguration, a place of divine manifestations and enjoyments, and go forth again into the world, do I wish for the approach of that happy period, when I shall go up to those mountains of spices, to come down no more, and shall be fixed as a pillar in the temple of my God, and go no more out?

§ 6. Am I led to behold sin with the greatest abhorrence? Do I behold it with an abhorrence far greater than the delight which I once took in it, when my heart and my life were led captive by it? Do I now abhor myself on account of it, and does it grieve me to the heart to reflect how much and how long I was under the cursed power of it? Is it the object of my abhorrence, not merely on account of its dreadful conse

quence, to myself, in the shame, guilt, and misery it has brought upon my soul; but am I chiefly led to hate it on account of its deformity, baseness, and malignity; as committed against a God of infinite love and goodness, to whom I owe my very being, and all the unnumbered blessings of it, and whose laws are all holy, just, and good; as committed against a bleeding and dying Jesus, and as the procuring cause of all his groans and tears, his bitter pains and sufferings? Does this abhorrence of sin engage me to a steady and vigorous, a constant and universal war with it? Is no sin, no not the least allowed and indulged by me; but am I led sincerely to hate, watch, strive, and pray against all sin, and more especially that sin which does most easily beset me? Does every degree of victory over it give me the greatest pleasure, and excite the greatest thankfulness; and while I carry the remainders of sin about me, do I groan under it as my greatest burden, sigh after a complete deliverance as the greatest mercy, and rejoice in the hope of it through Jesus Christ?

§ 7. Am I led to love and delight in holiness? Do I see holiness to be the health and beauty, the perfection and felicity of my soul? Do I see an inexpressible glory in a holy God, a holy Jesus, a holy Bible, and a holy life? Had I infinitely rather be the poorest and most afflicted saint,

than the richest and most prosperous sinner? Is holiness the great object of my aim, my labour, and my prayer? Am I more earnest with God for sanctifying grace, than for any temporal mercy, and more joyful and thankful to find I grow in grace, than that I increase in my wordly substance? Do I attend on divine ordinances to improve me in holiness, and do I sincerely desire every providence may be sanctified to the same end? And can I welcome those afflictions which my heavenly Father sends, that make me more partaker of his holiness? Am I thankful above all things for the least degree of holiness, and do I rejoice in it as my begun happiness; yet, not contented with the greatest present attainments, is my soul enlarged, and does it long for nothing short of being filled with all the fulness of God? Do I lament more the imperfection of my graces, than all the troubles of life; and long more for heaven, as a state of perfect and everlasting holiness, than of freedom from pain and trouble? Is this the heaven I long for, to behold the face of God in righteousness; and shall I then be satisfied, and not till then, when I awake with his complete likeness.

§ 8. Am I led to an unfeigned and universal love and benevolence? Is my heart freed from those disquieting, as well as deformed passions,

malice, hatred, and envy? and is it full of sweet, kind, and tender affections? Am I led to breathe forth my warmest wishes and prayers for the prosperity of others, and do I feel a joy in the sight of their prosperity? Am I led tenderly to sympathize with those who are in affliction, and does it give me the most sensible pleasure to alleviate their burdens, or rather to be the instrument of lightening them, and do I desire from my heart to adore the divine goodness to me in the opportunity? Is my love diffused to all mankind? not confined to one sect or party, to one people or kingdom, but spread wide as the whole world, wishing the temporal and everlasting happiness of all, and springing forward with the greatest delight to promote the bodily or spiritual welfare of any fellow-creature, without respect of persons? Is my heart often meditating benevolent schemes, often devising liberal things; and is it matter of the greatest joy and thankfulness when I can accomplish them? Am I ambitious of no greater glory, do I seek no greater pleasure in life than in doing good? And is this in my esteem the greatest plea

f Many who are poor in this world, though rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which God hath promised to them that love him, may on putting this question to themselves be grieved to find that they are not devising liberal things. But they should ask themselves, whether they are occupied with those