establish our refolution more than any thing else. Faith is the root, fear the guard, and hope the fpur of all our virtues. Faith convinces us what is our duty; fear makes us impartial, diligent, and watchful; hope, refolved and active in the profecution of it. It being thus clear what our spiritual ftrength confifts in, it will be easy to dif cern by what means we are to gain it. But I can here only fuggeft those hints and intimations which the reader must upon occafion, as he needs, enlarge and improve.

1. Meditation is the first thing neceffary. We must often furvey the grounds and foundations of our faith; we must confider frequently and feriously the fcripture topicks of hope and fear, fuch are the death of Jefus, a judgment to come, the holiness and juftice, and the omniprefence of God: we muft diligently obferve the wiles and ftratagems of Satan, the arts and infinuations of the world and flesh, and mark the progrefs of fin from its very beginning to maturity; and all this with a particular regard to the corruption of our own nature, and the deceitfulness of our own hearts. We must often ponder upon the beauty and peace of holiness, the love of God and of Jefus, the virtues, fufferings, and crowns of martyrs. And, finally, if we will increase in strength,

we must practise this duty of meditation often, and we must not fuffer our felves to be withdrawn from it, or be prevailed with to intermit it on any flight and trivial pretences. And because we are not always masters of our own affairs, nor confequently of our time; therefore ought we to have ever ready at hand, a good collection of texts, which contain, in few words, the power and fpirit of gospel motives, the perfection and beauty of duties, and the substance of advice and counfel: and to fix thefe fo in our memory, that they may ferve as a field for us to oppofe, as our Saviour did, against the darts of the devil, and as a fupply of excellent and useful thoughts upon a fudden: fo that in all the little interruptions of bufinefs, and the many little vacancies of the day, the mind, which is an active and bufy fpirit, may never want a proper Subject to work upon; much lefs lofe it felf in wild and lazy amusements, or defile itself by vain or vicious thoughts. But we muft not only take care that meditation be frequent, but alfo that it be not loofe and roving. To which end it will be neceffary to ftudy our felves as well as the fcriptures, and to be intimately acquainted with the advantages and disadvantages of our conftitution, and our ftate; fo that in our meditations on the

fcriptures,

feriptures, we may more particularly have an eye to thofe vices we are most obnoxious to, and thofe virtues which are either more neceffary, or more feeble and undergrown.

Next after meditation must follow prayer. Great is the power of prayer in promoting Christian strength and fortitude; whether we confider its prevalence upon God, or its natural influence upon our felves. If we confider the latter, what divine force and energy is there in the confidences of faith, the joys of hope, the earneft longings and defires of love, the tender forrows of contrition, the delight of praifes and thanksgivings, the adorations and felf-depreffions of a profound humility, and the refolutions and vows of a perfect abhorrence of, and holy zeal and indignation against fin! how do these things mellow and enrich the foul! how do they raise it higher and higher above the corruption which is in the world through luft! how do they renew it daily, and make it a partaker of the divine Nature! the repetition of the fame acts naturally begets an habit; an habit is the ftrength and perfection of the foul; for it is a difpofition ripened and confirmed by cuftom. How naturally then muft prayer fortify the mind, ripen good difpofitions, or add ftrength and perfection to good habits! fince it is

I 2

nothing

nothing else but a repeated exercise of almoft all the graces of the gofpel, repentance, faith, hope, charity, and the like: and it ought to be observed, that prayer gives us a frequent opportunity of exercifing thofe virtues, which we fhould not otherwife be fo often obliged to do. If, fecondly, we enquire into the prevalence of prayer with God, we fhall have further reafons yet to refolve, that it is a moft effectual means of increafing our spiritual strength. What will God deny to the prayer of a righteous man? He may deny him temporal things, because they are not good for him. He may refuse to

remove a

temptation, because this is often an occafion of his own glory, and his fervant's reward; but he will never refuse him grace to conquer it. He will no more deny his Spirit to one that earnestly and fincerely begs it, than the natural parent will bread to his hungry and craving child. And no wonder, fince grace is as neceffary to the fpiritual life as bread to the natural; the goodness of God is more tender and compaffionate than any instinct in human nature; and the purity and perfection of God more zealously follicitous for the holiness and immortality of his children, than earthly parents can be for a fickly perifhing life of theirs. Thus then 'tis plain, that prayer contributes wonderfully to the Strengthening

ftrengthening and establishing the mind of man in goodness. But then we must remember, that it must have these two qualifications; it must be frequent and inceffantly importunate. 1. It must be frequent. I would have this rule complied with as far as it may, even in our ftated, regular, and folemn addresses to God. But becaufe business, and feveral obligations we lie under to the world, do often prefs hard upon us; therefore muft I give the fame counfel bere, which I did before under the head of meditation; that is, to have always ready and imprinted in our memory feveral texts of fcripture, containing the moft weighty and important truths, in the most piercing and moving language; that we may be able to form thefe on a fudden into ejaculations, in which our fouls may mount up into heaven, amidst the ardours and tranfports of defires and praise, as the angel did, in the flame of Manoab's facrifice. 2. Prayer must be inceffantly importunate. Importunate it will be, if the foul be prepared and difpofed as it ought; that is, if it be difengaged from this world, and poffeffed entirely with the belief and earneft expectation of a better; if it be humbled in itself, disclaim all ftrength and merit of its own, and rest wholly on the goodness and all-fufficiency of God. I add inceffantly, in conformity I 3.

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