r conformity to eligion; and that counterfeits and

sappear for ever. at piece of vanity erfeit speculative sitive, prying into he secrets of prees and method of e mean time, they is of, the relation us soul bears unto opened within the ystery of salvation a true Christian. e observed in many ng, when men seek r coat of arms, and he other by a gown ng in the register of he accomplishments r scholars. A like in many pretenders God's decretals, to book of life, when God's name written the Lord" engraven usy examining themout them; when they and prints of God ne have their religion. ich should be the law of the heart: some

glory in the bulk of their duties, and in the multitude of their pompous performances, and religious achievements, crying, with Jehu, "Come, see here my zeal for the Lord;" whereas it were much more excellent, if one could see their likeness to the Lord, and the characters of divine beauty and holiness drawn upon their hearts and lives. But we, if we would judge rightly of our religious state, must view ourselves in God, who is the fountain of all goodness and holiness, and the rule of all perfection. Value yourselves by your souls, and not by your bodies, estates, friends, or any outward accomplishments, as most men do: but that is not enough; if men rest there, they make an idol of the fairest of God's creatures, even their own souls; therefore, value your souls themselves by what they have of God in them. To study the blessed and glorious God in his word, and to converse with him in his works, is indeed an excellent and honourable employment; but O what a blessed study is it to view him in the communications of himself, and the impressions of his grace upon our own souls! All the thin and subtile speculations which the most eminent philosophers have of the essence and nature of God, are a poor, and low, and beggarly employment and attainment, in comparison of those blessed visions of God which a godly soul hath in itself, when it finds itself partaker of a divine nature, and living a divine life. O labour to view God and his divine perfections in your own souls, in those copies and transcripts of them which his Holy Spirit draws upon the hearts of all godly men. This is the most excellent discovery of God that any soul is capable of: it is

better and more desirable than that famous discovery that was made to Moses in the cleft of the rock. Nay, I should much rather desire to see the real impression of a godlike nature upon my own soul, to see the crucifying of my own pride and self-will, the mortifying of the mere sensual life, and a divine life springing up in my soul instead of it; I would much rather desire to see my soul glorified in the image and beauty of God put upon it, which is indeed a pledge, yea, and a part of eternal glory, than to have a vision from the Almighty, or hear a voice witnessing from heaven, and saying, "Thou art my beloved Son, in whom my soul is well pleased.” This that I am speaking of is a true foundation of heaven itself in the soul, a real beginning of happiness for happiness, heaven itself, is nothing else but a perfect conformity, a cheerful and eternal compliance of all the powers of the soul with the will of God so that, as far as a godly soul is thus conformed to God, and filled with his fulness, so far is he glorified upon earth.

2. Let wisdom then be justified of her children; let the children of God, those that are his genuine offspring, rise up and call him blessed, in imitation of their Lord and Saviour, that eldest Son of God, that "first-born amongst many brethren," who rejoiced in spirit, and said, "I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast revealed these things," or, according to the style of the Apostle Peter, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again!" There is no greater contradiction in the world, than a man

pretending religion, and yet ascribing it to himself; whereas, pure religion is purely of a divine original: besides, religion doth principally consist in the subduing of self-will, in conformity to, and compliance with, the divine will, in serving the interest of God's glory in the world. Then, and not till then, may a soul be truly called religious, when God becomes greatest of all to it and in it, and the interest of God is so powerfully planted in it, that no other interest, no self-interest, no creature-love, no particular private end, can grow by it, no more than the magicians could stand before Moses, when he came in the power of God to work wonders. So that what Solomon saith of self-seeking, "For men to seek their own glory is not glory;" the like I may safely say, upon that double ground that I have laid down, self-religion, is not religion. How vainly, and madly, do men dream of their self-religion carrying them to heaven: when heaven itself is nothing else but the perfection of self-denial, and God's becoming all things to the saints, 1 Cor. xv. 28. Instead of advancing men towards heaven, there is nothing in the world that doth more directly make war against heaven, than that proud and petulant spirit of selfwill, that rules in the children of disobedience. So that when the Holy Ghost would describe David one of the best men, to the best advantage, he describes him with opposition to self, and self-will, “a man after God's own heart;" and again, “he served the will of God in his generation."

There have been of old a great number of philosophical men, who being raised up above the speculation of their own souls, to a contemplation of a

Deity; and being purged by a lower kind of virtue and moral goodness, from the pollutions that are in this world through lust, did yet ultimately settle into themselves, and their own self-love. They were full indeed, but it was not with the "fulness of God," as the Apostle speaks, but with a selfsufficiency; the leaven of self-love lying at the bottom did make them swell with pride and self-conceit. Now these men, though they were free from gross external enormities, yet did not attain to a true knowledge of God, nor any true religion, because they set up themselves to be their own idols, and carried such an image of themselves continually before their eyes, that they had no clear and spiritual discernment of God. They did, as it is storied of one of the Persian kings, enshrine themselves in a temple of their own. But what speak I of Heathen philosophers? Is there not the same unclean spirit of self-adoration to be found amongst many Christians, yea, and teachers of Christianity too? witness that whole brood, those men, who, whilst they hang the grace of God upon man's free-will, do utterly rob him of his glory. Some of these have impudently given a short, but unsavoury answer to the Apostle's question, "Who maketh you to differ from another?" I make myself to differ. These men, whilst they pretend to high attainments, discover a low and most ignoble spirit: to fasten and feed upon any thing in the creature, is the part of a low and degenerate spirit; on the other hand, it is the greatest perfection of the creature, not to be its own, not to be any thing in itself, or any way distinct from the blessed God, the Father and Fountain