culty arifes, He would be pleased to make it plain and easy to your Apprehension.

II. Shew forth your Knowledge by your Works, and correfpond to divine Inftruction. After having informed our Mind with the Knowledge of our Duty, the next Step must be to put it courageoufly in Execution. Alas! what Improvement have you made of that Light God has conveyed to your Underftanding? Of those holy Difpofitions with which He has enlivened your Will? If he had bestowed fuch Favours upon others, they would have made a better Ufe of them, and by this Time have attained large Degrees of Piety; which Reflection ought to confound thy Sloth and Negligence.

God has done his Part when he enlightens our Minds, and influences our Affections; but it is our Bufinefs to walk as the Children of Light. He has fufficiently declared his good Will towards us, by furnishing us with fo many Means of Grace, our Care must be to make a right Use of them; for by the Abuse of them we shall be anfwerable, not only for the Grace we have neglected, but for those further Degrees God had prepared for us, if we had received as we ought his firft Favours. Grieve not therefore the Holy Spirit, who is the Author of Peace and Joy, but render thyfelf obedient to his holy Infpirations.

III. Neglect not the leaft Degree of Grace God beftoweth upon you. If thou understoodst

the Value of the leaft of his Favours, and of thofe good Thoughts which pafs unregarded by thee, thou wouldst certainly esteem them very highly, and not render them ineffectual by thy ftupid Careleffnefs. Every Spark of a good Thought fhould be blown into a Flame, and produce a fuitable Practice in thy Life and Converfation. God ftands knocking at the Door of your Heart, do not refufe to open it and let Him in; but remember always, that he bestows his Grace in Proportion to our Ufe of it. A right Improvement of the firft Degree, prepares us for a larger Communication; and the Contempt of his firft Offers, makes us ftill more unworthy of his merciful Compaffion towards us: To him that hath fhall be given, and to him that hath not, fhall be taken away even that which he hath. If any Man love me, fays our Saviour, John xiv. 23. he will keep my IVords, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our Abode with him.

IV. Be careful to diftinguish the Motions of God's Spirit from thofe of the evil One's. The Devil can transform himfelf into an Angel of Light, and gild over his Bait with fpecious Pretences to deceive thee. The Thoughts that offer themselves, and the Season of them, must be nicely obferved, that we may not be impofed upon.

This Direction is very important. For Example, when an Opportunity offers of

practising

practifing an A&t of Mortification, of Humility, of Charity, or of Patience, &c. you may be prevailed upon, by a falfe Perfuafion, to think that that Act of Virtue cannot, or ought not to be performed at that Time; that it is unfeafonable, and though good in itself, may better be adjourned to another Opportunity; and fo instead of complying with that holy Motion which folicits you to Good, by liftening to the Deceit of the evil One, you are diverted from it. Thus in our Prayers, when our Minds thould be fixed upon God, to whom we addrefs, and upon thofe Things we defire to be fupplied with, our Thoughts will fometimes be taken up in projecting fome Work of Charity, and the Means of accomplishing it. Now this, though good in itself, must at that Time be rejected, as an Art the Devil makes ufe of to divert us from a right Performance of our Devotions. Thus neceffary is it, that we should attend to our Thoughts, and the right Seafon of encouraging them when they are good.

V. Often confult with your fpiritual Guide. We are all apt to be too partial to ourselves, and are too prefumptuous when we lean too much to our own Understandings. Befides, the Guidance of our Paftor is one of the Means God affords for our Improvement, and his Affiftance is very neceffary to preferve us from being impofed upon. Let him be acquainted with the State of thy Soul, with

thofe

thofe Temptations and Difficulties that affault thee, with thofe Doubts that opprefs thee,' with the Sin that does most easily befet thee, and with thofe Frailties that moft frequently overcome thee. Let him know the Pofture of thy Mind in thy Devotions; how thou employeft thy Time, when at Leifure, and when bufy; how thou governeft thy Family; how thou difchargeft thy Calling; and how frequent thy Mind is refreshed with devout Thoughts.

VI. Faithfully difcharge your Duty. Let it be no fmall Part of your Reflection to examine with what Care you perform the Obligations you lie under,

1. Towards God.

The Service of God ought to have the Preference in all our Actions; fee therefore, whether Sloth, or too eager a Concern for the Things of the World, does not make you omit paying him that Devotion and Attendance which he requires from you.

2. Towards yourself. Would it not be an unpardonable Folly, fo to mind others, as to neglect one's felf? Are you careful to make a daily progrefs in Virtue? Dou you perform all your Actions with Exactnefs and Regularity? Are the Duties of your Relation and Calling discharged with their due Perfection?

3. Towards others. If you have a Family under your Government; what Care do you take in the Education of your Children, in

the

the Inftruction of your Servants, and in every Thing that relates to the temporal and fpiritual Affairs of it? If you have the Cure of Souls; what Zeal do you fhew in the Dif charge of your facred Functions? What Concern appears to fpare thofe for whom Chrift died? If you are a Judge or Civil Magiftrate; what Impartiality in diftributing Juftice? What Diligence and Fidelity in executing the Truft committed to you? &c.

Remember always, that as every State and Condition has its Advantages, fo it is not without its Difficulties and Temptations. It is in Heaven only that we fhall be placed beyond the Reach of Danger, and the Fear of any Relapfe. Confider therefore the particular Temptations of your Circumstances, and in what Manner they may be apt to hinder your Increafe in Piety; reflect upon thofe Faults that moft frequently occur to People in your Condition, and endeavour carefully to avoid them, that you may, by the Mercy of God, be numbered among his Saints in Glory everlasting.

CHAP.