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as a Stranger to Loyal Principles: And well may God, who is All-wife, and can do nothing that's unreasonable, expect Submiffion to a Precept fo great, fo good, so advantageous both to Soul and Body, as will appear in the Sequel. Confider your ways, is a Law which God (to fhew he is in good earneft) inculcates twice in the fame Prophecy, Hagg. 1. 5, 7. And for that the dream is doubled, it is because the thing is established by God, said Jofeph to Pharaoh, Gen. 41.32. The fame may we fay of repeated Exhortations. And indeed, when the famous Mofes bids the People, under his Charge and Care, to keep the Statutes and Commandments which God had graciously vouchsafed them, that it might go well with them, and with their Children after them; the great Preparative he requires for this Religious Frame, is Confideration, Deuteron. 4. 39, 40. as if, without this, al attempts of Obedience were vain, and all endeavours to ferve God in Spirit and Truth, were no more but Water fpilt upon the ground. As if without this, the Thunders of Mount Sinai, the Voice of God, the Love wherewith he loved them, the Tenderness he fhewed them, the Signs, the Wonders, the mighty Hand, the ftretched-out Arm, the great Terror God brought upon the Nation round about them, would be no Motives to Serioufuefs. It was upon the fame account that St. Paul, as quickfighted as the other, peremptorily tells the Romans, That they would never practically approve that good, and acceptable, and perfect Will of God, without they were transformed

by

by the renewing of their Mind, i. e. made a new improvement of their Minds by Confideration. For Confideration rebuilds the House that's fallen to the ground, makes the Mind new, removes old Prejudices against a ferious Life, and transforms the Judgment into other Thoughts and conceptions, carries away the Rubbish which oppreffed the Soul, and leaves it not till it becomes a new Creature: Rom. 12. 2. What can St. Peter 1 Pet. 1. 13. mean, when he prefles the Christians of those days, to gird up the Loins of their Minds, but this great Duty we discourse of? Confideration, as it is a convocation of our Thoughts, fo it ties and unites thofe Thoughts to the great Object, the one thing neceffary, and, as it were, girds the Soul, that it may keep within the Rules of the Word of God, and may not run out into ftrange Defires, or inordinate Affections, but be more expedite and nimble in her Travels to the Land of Promise.

The Truth is, from the Mind, as from Aaron's Head, the precious Ointment runs down to the Skirts of our Garments. From that Mountain of Zion descends this Dew of Hermon, for there the Lord commands the Bleffing, even Life for evermore. From that Holy Hill roll down all those drops of Gold that enrich the immortal Soul, and from that Store-house comes all the Plenty that makes rational Creatures happy. This is the great Wheel, which fets the leffer Orbs a going, and if it be once impregnated with Principles of Goodness and Seriousness, and these enlarged and spread by Confideration, the Will and the

Affe

Affections will foon be perfwaded to follow that Star, till it brings them to Bethlehem, the House of Mercy. In our Civil Affairs, it's the Mind must first be fully perfwaded, either of the neceffity, or conveniency, or danger, or advantage of things, before any wife Refolution can be taken; and we may juftly conclude, that, in Spiritual Concerns, Men begin at the wrong end, if they do not season their Minds with fuch Reflections, as may make a deep impreffion on the Will, and Affections. For that these may refolve to follow God, and may be ravished with his Love, and apply themielves to his Ways, and may hate every falfe Path, and deteft their former Exorbitances and Deviations, we must neceffarily fuppofe there must be some Spring to feed them, which Spring can be nothing else but Confideration. And, as in Sin, it's the Mind that first represents the unlawful Pleasure of it to the Sinner, and this inflames his Affections; this imbibes the subtle Poyfon; and spreads it through the groffer Parts, and fecretly conveys it to all the Vital Spirts, till the whole Head doth ake, and the whole Heart grows fick. So in its Antidote, or Cure, it's the Mind that must be chafed with Arguments, which may render the Sin deteftable, odious, and prejudicial to Soul and Body; and this will foon put the Affections into a Holy Rage to fecure God's Favour: Which was the reason, no doubt, why that Father left his Estate and Money to his Son, with this condition, That he fhould every day Think a quarter of an Hour, because he knew that would at last, by the Grace of God, work upon

the

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the Will, and engage the Affections to embrace a nobler Object.

And because the more Objects, the more Flowers, this Confideration feeds upon, the more effe ctual it is, and the greater Seriousness it produces, and the more fignal Change it works; the Holy Ghost therefore in order to this end, particularizes feveral things, and commands them to be taken in, as promoters of this excellent Work. Hence it is, that we are fometimes called upon to confider our Latter End, Deut. 32. 29. because the Man that thinks much of his Death, is most likely to die to the Vanities of the World, and to value those things at a very low rate, which when he comes to die, can give him no folid fatisfaction. Sometimes the works of God, Ecclef. 7. 13. because reflecting on their Beauty, Excellency, and the Wisdom of God, that fhines in them, will oblige us to admire him whofe Hand hath made all this, and to pay him that Refpect and Reverence which such tranfcendent Goodness challenggeth. Sometimes the Lillies of the Field, Mat. 6.28. that thefe dum Creatures may lead us to a spotless Innocence, and enflame our Hearts with a Holy Ambition, to be one of those that shall walk with the Son of God in white. Sometimes the Laft

Judgment, or the great Account Men must give of their Works, whether they have been good, or whether they have been evil, Pfal. 50. 22. for this will fright a Man away from himself, make him fight against his Lufts, and walk by Rule, and prescribe Limits to his unruly Paffions. Sometimes the Teftimonies of God, the Sweetness,

Beauty,

Beauty, Perfection, Worth and Excellency of them, Pfal. 119.95. because they are fo agreeable to the Truth imprinted on our Minds, fo futable to the Notions of God written on the Tables of our Hearts, that we cannot but close with them, and take them for our Heritage for ever. Sometimes the future Reward that God hath promised to them that fear him, 2 Tim. 2. 7. because if our Souls be not Judicially stupified, and, in the Pfalmists's Phrase, as fat as Greafe, this will attract them into Abstinence from Worldly Lufts, which war against the Soul. Sometimes the Holy Life, Example, and Christian Conftancy and Magnanimity of Jefus Chrift, Heb. 12. 3. because Examples naturally enliven and encourage the Soul to imitation, and fo great a Pattern at once infuses and commands inclination to follow it. Sometimes Gods Correction and Chastizement,together with our Sins, Hab. 2. 15. because these reprefented to the Mind, will fhew us our Ingratitude, and how much we are to blame, that God's Favour hath made no kindlier Impreffions upon, us and how necessary it is to make hafte, and remove the curfed thing that is in the midst of us, that we do not lofe our Crown. And all, because the more Candles there are lighted, and fet up, the brighter the Room will be, and the better the Soul will discover her Spots and Errors, and confequently the greater will be her earnestness to wipe them away, and remove them.

Nay, of that neceffity doth the Holy Ghost make this Confideration, that it feems, God (fuch a Lover he is of the Happiness of Mankind) is F

not

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