"which I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they 66 are Life.

Difciple.] Thefe, Bleffed Jefus, are thy Words, on which my Soul fecurely refts it felf, becaufe my Sa viour who is Eternal Truth, hath spoken them; Thefe the gracious and condefcending Invitations, which I find scattered in Holy Scripture, are Occafions offered for making them. These therefore I will receive with holy Gratitude, with humble but entire Confidence; and grave them upon my Soul in deep and indelible Characters. For tho' they be thine, as the Author; yet do I claim a Property in them, and juftly call them Mine too, as a Perfon, for whofe Benefit and Salvation thou wert pleased to utter them. Most gladly therefore will I receive them at thy Mouth, that the Authority of the Divine Speaker may make the more Effectual Impreffion. And ftupid I must be beyond imagination, if Encouragements fo fweet, fo kind, do not awaken, and very fenfibly affect me. But, alas at the fame time, that thy Call inclines me to come, my own grievous Tranfgreffions fly in my Face,and the Terrors of a Guilty Confcience keep ine away. Thy Goodness, I own, imps my Wings, and bids me boldly attempt the raifing my Soul to Heaven and Happiness; but I feel the bitter Remembrance of my Sins checking thofe Flights, laying me proftrate upon Earth, reproaching my better Hopes, and nobler Intentions with Prefumption; and ever weighing down my Mind with the intolerable Burthen of heinous numberless Offences, which render me unworthy the leaft of all thy Mercies.

In this Perplexity of Thought thou haft moft feafonably interpofed with thy reviving Comforts; haft made that Faith and Truft a Virtue and a Duty, which I hould have fhunned as a Crime, and, confcious of my own Vilenefs, durft not have entertained. Thou bidft me raife my dejected Looks, and direct my Steps

to

to Heaven; and I seriously defire, (as who indeed can but defire?) Life and Glory. Thou exhorteft me to begin to live immediately, by taking the sweet Foretafts of Immortality, in that isread which is the Food of Souls. Thy kind Invitation therefore I greedily attend to, Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. O charming Sound in the Ears of a Sinner! How joyful is the News to a poor, loft, impotent Wretch! One, who in a due Senfe of his own Vileness, thinks even the meaneft of thy Gifts which conduce to his bodily Suftenance too good for him; To be invited to eat of thy most Bleffed Body, and admitted to partake of the lively Figures of thy Divine Blood; the Commemorations of thy Death, and fure Pledges of Salvation! Lord! what am I, that Ifhould thus be fuffered to approach thee? nay, rather, that thou fhould'ft come to me, and dwell under my Roof? O unspeakable Condefcenfion! O unexampled Kindness! Behold the Heaven, and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee, and yet thou vouchfafest to take up thy abode with Man, that is a Worm! The Angels are not pure in thy fight, and yet thou fayeft to wretched Sinners, Come unto me, ye that travel, and are heavy laden.

I find my felf at a lofs, whence fuch astonishing Kindness fhould proceed, or what may be the meaning of fo friendly an Invitation. My Mifdeeds teftify against me, and I am but too fenfible, that no Merit of mine could induce my Lord to make it. So far from that, that, even now it is made, I know not with what Face, I can either approach my God and Saviour, or bring him to Me, or hope to keep him there; Him, whom I have fo often, fo grievoufly provoked, fo juftly made my Enemy for ever. But, were there no Demerits of my own to difcourage this Attempt, yet, Who am I, that the Majefty of Heaven and Earth fhould ftoop fo low, as to enter under my Roof? Be

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hold Angels and Archangels, Principalities and Powers fall down and worship thee; Behold, the brightest Saints, and Spirits of juft Men made perfect, tremble at thy Prefence, and yet thou fayeft, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden. Had this been spoke by any Mouth but thine, Men could not have believed it; Had not thy own Command inspired this Confidence, Sinners durft not have attempted to move towards thee, but would have rather used their utmost Induftry, to flee from the Prefence of their Master and Judge. But be it fo; We are commanded to come to Thee; and thou vouchfafeft to come to Us. Yet what Solemnity, what Preparation can be fufficient for thy Reception? Noah, that righteous Person, employed a hundred Years, in building an Ark by God's Direction, for the faving himself and a very few Souls befides; and how fhall I be qualify'd, by the Application of an Hour or two only, to entertain the Maker of the Universe, and meet him with that humble Reverence, which is due to fo terrible, fo glorious a Creator, from the vileft and most unworthy of all his Creatures? Thy Servant Mofes, admitted into familiar Converfation with thee, by a Privilege, not imparted to the reft of Mankind, framed an Ark of Cedar-wood, and overlaid it with pure Gold, to be a fit Repofitory for the Tables of the Law and fhall I, wretched rotten Trunk, take upon me without Ceremony to receive the Almighty Maker and Giver of that Law? Solomon, the wifeft of Princes, fpent feven Years in building a Magnificent Temple to the Honour of thy Name; Eight Days were taken up in the Dedication of it; a thoufand Peace-offerings were then facrificed upon the new erected Altars; and the Ark of the Covenant with Sound of Trumpet, and much other holy Pomp, was conducted into the Place appointed to receive it; And how unlike to these great Saints am I, Duft and Ashes, Chief

of

of Sinners and Meaneft of Men? How fhall I pretend to invite thee my God into my Houfe, who am fo far from spending a number of Years or Days, that I can very hardly afford one poor Half hour; Nay, would to God that wretched Remnant of one poor Half hour were but employed, as attentively, as devoutly as it ought to be, to provide thee a clear and acceptable Apartment in this homely Cottage of my Heart. How eager, O my God, how perfevering was the Zeal of thofe Ancient Worthies? how cold, how fhort is mine, when I fet my felf to prepare for meeting and receiving thee? My Thoughts, alas! are very rarely confiftent, but thousand Wandrings and impertinent Distractions intrude upon me; and hardly can I collect the Powers of my Soul into fo compofed a frame, as becomes our more immediate Addreffes to Thee. I am not unmindful of thy Prefence, then more peculiar than at other times; I reflect upon the Indecency and Sin of fuffering my Heart to divide it felf; I know, that when an Honour fo great is intended me, as that of Receiving the Lord of Men and Angels, it ought to enlarge and devote its whole Capacity to thee; and yet I cannot fix and fill it with this one Object; but in defpight of all my Endeavours,and Self-reproaches, Frailty will prevail.

Nay, the fame Care and Reverence were much too little, where the Dignity of the Thing is fo much greater. For what Comparison can there be, between an Ark with its Ceremonial Symbols, and the Myftical Body of my Bleffed Saviour, with all the wondrous Effects of his Paffion? How poor and defpicable were thofe Legal Sacrifices, whofe greatest Excellence and Commendation was, that they typified and foretold That One only perfect and fufficient Sacrifice upon the Crofs,which in this Sacrament we at once commemorate and apply the Virtue of to our felves? If then the Patriarchs and Prophets heretofore expreft

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their Zeal and Devotion, by all the Marks of Reverence and profound Refpect, to thofe Figures of the Divine Prefence,and Shadows ofGood Things to come; fhall I be negligent in my Preparations to meet my God himself; Shall I not indeed, as much exceed their great Solicitude and pious Affection, which Kings and Peasants, Rich and Poor, univerfally exprefs'd, as the fpiritual Participation of my Lord's Body and Blood, and the moft precious Pledges of his Love and my Salvation excel the Carnal Difpenfation of a figurative Tabernacle, and the very diftant and dark Significations of future Bleffings? They adored the Reprefentation, and fhall I difregard the Subftance, the End, the Perfection of all the Levitical Inftitution, the Sum of all God's Mercies, and Man's Hopes? If even David thought it no Difparagement to his Royal Character, to lay out his Time, his Study, his Strength, in the Service of the Tabernacle; to compofe Pfalms for the Worfhip of God, to ftring his own Harp, and himself join and prefide in the Confort; Nay, even to dance be fore the Ark, when brought up to its Place, and by his own Example teach his Subjects to exert their utmoft Might, and employ every Faculty of Body and Soul, in expreffing their Zeal and Joy: What holy Gladness then is due,what enflamed Devotion, to Him, whom David in Spirit called Lord? What Songs of Praise and Thanks fhould adorn that Solemn Feaft, where Chrift exhibits to us the heavenly Manna, the Food of Souls? How fhould we labour to omit no Teftimony of our Reverence, no fign of a hearty Welcome, and an humble Senfe of the unspeakable honour this King of Heaven does us, when he vouchfafes to come home, and dwell in our Hearts; and, by the confecrated Elements, verily and indeed to give and unite himself to every Faithful Soul?

See with what eager Zeal vain Men make long Pilgrimages, and fly to the remoteft Corners of the

World,