to me, and to engage mine, I then renounced "the Devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, and the carnal desires of the flesh." I now remember those my engagements, and grieve that I have not kept them; and therefore will hate you the more, that you made me forget my promises, and break my holy vows. Now will I be revenged of you, ye proud and ambitious designs, lustful thoughts, greedy desires of wealth; I will now kill and crucify you. Henceforth it shall be my honour that I am a servant of JESUS; it shall be my delight and pleasure that I am a lover of JESUS; and it shall be my wealth that He is mine as I am His. JESUs hath done and suffered much to declare His love and to deserve mine; He hath come down from heaven, and humbled Himself to my mean and low condition; He hath lived poor and depised; He hath been afflicted and persecuted; He hath died for me. "Hereby I know that He loved me, because He laid down His life for me;" but ye, His unworthy rivals, never gave me any assurance of your affection; never did or suffered anything for me. JESUS

exposed Himself to shame, that I might become glorious; endured pains that I might have pleasure; He became poor, that I might be enriched but covetousness offers me riches, to pierce me through with many sorrows; lust enticeth me, to wound me, when I have consented to it; and pride promiseth me honours, to cumber me and expose me to envy. JESUS is infinitely lovely, He is all perfection and goodness; and He desires to be loved, not for any advantage of His own, but to make His lovers entirely and eternally happy; but you painted idols of abused mortals are in yourselves ugly, and even loathsome: though at a great distance, ye may seem somewhat fair, yet near at hand, ye are nothing but deformity; ye always prove vain and vexatious: ye seek to enter men's hearts, only to tyrannize and torment them, and betray them to eternal sorrows. JESUS is a true and constant lover; He ever owns His friends; He never fails them that love Him; He helps them in their distresses; He comforts them in their sorrows; and when they die, He stands by them: but ye temporal, deceitful pleasures, are false and inconstant; ye forsake

your friends in their greatest need; ye flatter them for a few summer days, while the sun shines kindly upon them; but in the rigours of winter, when an unprosperous storm ariseth, you are gone, you leave them to die comfortless; they carry nothing of you, when they go from hence, but the bitter remembrance of your treacherousness. JESUS is a most grateful lover; He ever returns love for love; He is ever found of them that seek Him: to them that desire Him He ever gives Himself: every true lover of JESUS is sure to enjoy Him; but you, worldly enjoyments, are generally most unkind to your most passionate lovers: ye flee from them that run after you; ye grieve and vex your greatest admirers; ye are ever uncertain, false and ungrateful. I will therefore never love you again; nay, I resolve to hate and persecute you; to mortify and watch against my lusts, my pride, and covetous desires. But JESUS shall reign in my heart; Him will I love; Him will I serve; Him will I endeavour to please in all things. I will be wholly His; therefore I renounce all friendship with you that are His enemies: there can be no agreement betwixt the Holy JESUS

and this sinful world. "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 John ii., 15. "LORD, we beseech Thee, grant Thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and with pure hearts and minds to follow Thee the only GoD; through JESUS CHRIST our LORD. Amen."

CHAPTER XXIII.

That the Love of JESUS and the Love of Sin can never consist together.

URTHER, consider O my soul, that JESUS,

FUR

my blessed Master, is the Prince of Purity; He will never abide in the same heart with intemperance and fleshly lusts. He is meek and lowly, pride cannot follow Him. By works of mercy and charity He calls us to the possession of heavenly treasures; therefore greedy worldly mindedness can never entertain nor prefer His promise. Lust, pride, covetousness can never abide with the love of CHRIST; they can never be reconciled: JESUS and they are mortal enemies. Mortal, I may call them, because He died to put them to death. "We were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from our vain conversation, but with the precious Blood of CHRIST." 1 Peter i., 18. JESUS shed His Blood to redeem us, as