be wanting in affection to God, let such a one be assured, that this coldness proceeds from his neglect and thoughtlessness. For every one who will be at the pains to consider, will easily find himself so highly indebted to God, that all he can do in this service is little enough, and much less than is owing him in return. It is true indeed all men's engagements in this point are not the same: nor hath God distributed his blessings with a perfectly even hand; but they that have least have more than they can lay claim to, more than they can ever be sufficiently grateful for. Admitting then that a man be not furnished even with all those graces which are necessary to salvation, yet will not this bear such a one out in murmuring against Providence, or charging God foolishly. For God is wise and just in all his dispensations: he proceeds upon measures, which, though unknown to us, are yet most reasonable in themselves. He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will be hardeneth. And being no man's debtor, but absolutely master of his own favours, he may give where he sees fit, and resume what he had given, when and from whom he sees fit, without being accountable for either. Let him, therefore, who hath not those gifts, lament his own misfortune with humility, and labour after them, and pray for them most earnestly; and let him, who hath them, make a just estimate of the mighty blessing, and give all diligence to be truly thankful to God for it.

MEDITATION XLIV.

Love of God in the death of Christ.

FOR my own part I do most humbly confess, that the benefits I have received from thee, my Lord and my God, are immeasurably great, are innumerably many: so many and so great, that I should be of all creatures the most unworthy and insensible, should I not always love and always praise thee for them. For whatever good thing I am now, or ever was, or ever shall be possessed of, is from thee, the Supreme Good, from whom all that is good proceeds. And yet there is one thing still behind, which I must own inflames my heart, and excites my affection, more powerfully than all the rest. For never was any instance of thy kindness so engaging, so irresistible, as that most shameful and most bitter death, which thou, O blessed Jesus, didst submit to for the accomplishment of the most glorious work of our redemption. This singly, or at least this with the rest, lays indisputable claim to all our life, to all our labours, to all our obedience, to all our love. This, I say, is the consideration, which, of all others, excites our devotion most frequently, entertains it most agreeably, and raises it to the loftiest pitch. For in this great design the great Creator of the world takes pains, and seems to have retrieved the fabric of his own framing with much more difficulty than he at first built it all out of nothing. With what ease that was done, the Psalmist very lively expresses. He spake the word

and they were made, he commanded and they were created; but for the restitution of lost men, gracious God! how many, how grievous, how long a series of labours and sorrows didst thou undergo! Come hither then, my soul, and behold what manner of love thy Saviour hath bestowed on thee; who, without any manner of necessity to compel him, without any prospect of profit to induce him, but purely of his own free mercy, was content to suffer such hardships, such barbarous indignities for thy sake! Well might I say, that this single act of goodness is an overbalance to all the rest. For though it be a great kindness to lay out what we have for another's advantage, yet what we have bears no proportion to what we are; nor ought that to be compared with the giving a man's own self. And if the most exalted friendship of which we ever heard, can go no higher than one friend's laying down his life for another, how much more noble was that charity of which the Son of God left us this unexampled proof, in his laying down his life for his enemies. And that this was our condition the Apostle declares, When we were enemies, says he, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; and again, scarcely for a righteous man will one die, but God herein commendeth his love towards us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us; the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. He removed down from the mansions of bliss in heaven, that he might carry us back thither with him. O unspeakable love! O most amazing condescension! that God for the sake of man should be made man, that God for man should die in the flesh, that he should submit to be tempted in all things like as we are, only without sin. See

at how inestimable a price, see with what difficulty man was redeemed; who had forfeited and enslaved himself to the devil; and had he not been ransomed at so vast an expense, must unavoidably have suffered eternal damnation, with that tyrannical master of his own choosing. These reflections will show thee, O man, how much thou art bound to love God; and if he calls thee to it, how patiently, how willingly, nay, with how cheerful and eager zeal thou oughtest to endure hardships, and pain, and tortures, for him who hath endured so much incomparably greater for thee. For it is through much tribulation that we must enter into the kingdom of God. And therefore let my soul gladly embrace her crucified Jesus; let her, my sweetest Saviour, drink deep into thy heavenly Spirit; let this most moving theme be her constant meditation, that I may never one moment be unmindful of him that died for me. I am determined from henceforth not to know any thing save Jesus Christ, and him crucified; lest other vain mistaken notions should draw my knowledge off from the firm bottom of saving faith and O, let this wonderful love of thine take possession of all the love I am capable of, lest any rival passion insinuate itself into my heart, and I be swallowed up with a torrent of worldly affections.

In thus devoting my whole self to thee, I shall consult not my duty only, but my happiness too. For those hearts of which the sweetness of thy love hath taken full possession, are all tranquillity and joy there is no place for fear to damp them, or lust to defile them, or anger to distract them, or pride to swell them, or vain-glory to blow them about, or ambition to gall them, or covetousness to

narrow them, or sorrow to deject them, or envy to emaciate them; in short, no disorderly vice disturbs their peace, or corrupts their joy, but they continue firm and calm, like those upper regions, where clouds and storms have no power. And what can we imagine God will give, or what will he not give hereafter to those good men who taste so largely of his bounty here? For even the best of those gifts men have in hand are temporal : but those which he hath promised to bestow upon them that love him, in the next world, are eternal, and consequently so much more desirable than any temporal advantages, that even to make a comparison between them were to injure and disparage them. For this is a condition common to all temporal advantages; that they are very hardly got, and very easily lost again; that, while we have them in possession, they are kept at the expense of a great deal of anxious care, and parted with to our great grief; and if ever retrieved again, yet not without a great deal of toil and trouble. But the happiness of the next world is not capable of loss or diminution; the enjoyment of it is pleasure without allay, and ease without fraud or disturbance; the desires of it are always keen, and the delights of possession always new. No man receives them but with full security, that they shall no more be taken from him against his will, than he shall ever have the will to divest himself of them.