Object.' But it is grievous to one that hath been used to much company, to be alone.'

Answ. Company may so use you, that it may be more grievous to you not to be alone. The society of wasps and serpents may be spared; and bees themselves have such stings as make some that have felt them think they bought the honey dear.

But can you say you are alone while you are with God? Is his presence nothing to you? doth it not signify more than the company of all men in the world? Saith Hierom, Sapiens nunquam solus esse potest; habet enim secum omnes qui sunt, et qui fuerunt boni et si hominum sit inopia, liquitur cum Deo:' viz. A wise man cannot be alone; for he hath with him the good men that are or have been and if there be a want of men, he speaketh with God.' He should rather have said, There can be no want of man, when we may speak with God; and were it not that God is here revealed to us as in a glass, and that we do converse with God in man, we should think human converse little worth.

Object. O but solitude is disconsolate to a sociable mind.'

Answ. But the most desirable society is no solitude. Saith Hierom, 'Infinita erimi vastitas te terret? sed tu Paradisum mente deambula; quotiescunque cogitatione ac mente illuc conscenderis, toties in erema non eris:' that is, 'Doth the infinite vastness of the wilderness terrify thee? but do thou (ascend) in mind and walk in Paradise; as oft as thou ascendest thither in thought and mind, so oft thou shalt not be in the wilderness.' If God be nothing to thee, thou art not a Christian but an atheist. If God be God to thee, he is all in all to thee; and then should not his presence be instead of all? O that I might get one step nearer unto God, though I receded many from all the world! O that I could find that place on earth, where a soul may have nearest access unto him, and fullest knowledge and enjoyment of him, though I never more saw the face of friends! I should cheerfully say with my blessed Saviour, "I am not alone, for the Father is with me." And should say so for these reasons following.

1. If God be with me, the Maker, and Ruler, and Disposer of all is with me; so that all things are virtually with

me in him. I have that in gold and jewels which I seem to want in silver, lead and dross. I can want no friend, if God vouchsafe to be my friend; and I can enjoy no benefit by all my friends, if God be my enemy: I need not fear the greatest enemies, if God be reconciled to me. I shall not miss the light of the candle, if I have this blessed sun. The creature is nothing but what it is from God, and in God; and it is worth nothing, or good for nothing, but what it is worth in order unto God, as it declareth him, and helps the soul to know him, serve him, or draw nearer to him. As it is idolatry in the unhappy worldling to thirst after the creature with the neglect of God, and so to make the world his God; so doth it savour of the same heinous sin to lament our loss of creatures more than the displeasure of God. If God be my enemy, or I am fallen under his indignatian, I have then so much greater matters to lament than the loss, or absence, or frowns of man, as should almost make me forget that there is such a thing as man to be regarded; but if God be my Father, and my Friend in Christ, I have then so much to think of with delight, and to recreate and concontent my soul, as will proclaim it most incongruous and absurd to lament inordinately the absence of a worm, while I have his love and presence who is all in all. If God cannot content me, and be not enough for me, how is he then my God? or how shall he be my heaven and everlasting happiness?

2. If God be with me, he is with me to whom I am absolutely devoted. I am wholly his, and have acknowledged his interest in me, and long ago disclaimed all usurpers, and repented of alienations, and unreservedly resigned myself to him; and where should I dwell but with him that is my Owner, and with whom I have made the most solemn covenant that ever I made? I never gave myself to any other, but in subordination to him, and with a' salvo' for his highest, inviolable right. Where should my goods be but in my own house? With whom should a servant dwell but with his master? and a wife, but with her husband? and children, but with their father? I am more nearly related to my God, and to my Saviour, than I am to my relations in this world. I owe more to him than to all the world; I have renounced all the world, as they stand in competition or comparison with him; and can I want their company then,

while I am with him? How shall I hate father and mother, and wife and children, and brother and sister for his sake, if I cannot spare them, or be without them to enjoy him? To hate them is but to use them as men do hated things, that is, to cast them away with contempt, as they would alienate me from Christ, and to cleave to him, and be satisfied in him alone. I am now married to Christ, and therefore must cheerfully leave father and mother, and my native place, and all, to cleave to him; and with whom should I now delight to dwell, but with him who hath taken me into so near relation, to be, as it were, one flesh with him! O my dear Lord, hide not thou thy face from an unkind, an unworthy sinner! let me but dwell with thee and see thy face, and feel the gracious embracements of thy love, and then let me be cast off by all the world, if thou seest it meetest for me; or let all other friends be where they will, so that my soul may be with thee; I have agreed for thy sake to forsake all, even the dearest that shall stand against thee; and I resolve by thy grace to stand to this agreement.

3. If God be with me, I am not alone, for he is with me that loveth me best. The love of all the friends on earth is nothing to his love. O how plainly hath he declared that he loveth me, in the strange condescension, the sufferings, death, and intercession of his Son! What love hath he declared in the communications of his Spirit, and the operations of his grace, and the near relations into which he brought me! What love hath he declared in the course of his providences! in many and wonderful preservations and deliverances! in the conduct of his wisdom, and in a life of mercies! What love appeareth in his precious promises, and the glorious provisions he hath made for me with himself to all eternity! O my Lord, I am ashamed that thy love is so much lost; that it hath no better return from an unkind, unthankful heart; that I am no more delighted in thee, and swallowed up in the contemplation of thy love; I can contentedly let go the society and converse of all others, for the converse of some one bosom friend, that is dearer to me than they all, as Jonathan to David. And can I not much more be satisfied in thee alone, and let go all, if I may continue with thee? My very dog will gladly forsake all the town, and all persons in the world, to follow me

alone! And have I not yet found so much love and goodness in thee, my dear and blessed God, as to be willing to converse alone with thee? All men delight most in the company of those that love them best; they choose not to converse with the multitude when they look for solace and content, but with their dearest friends. And should any be so near to me as God? O were not thy love unworthily neglected by an unthankful heart, I should never be so unsatisfied in thee, but should take up, or seek my comforts in thee; I should then say, "Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none on earth that I desire besides thee!" Though not only my friends, but my flesh and heart themselves should fail me, it is thou that wilt still be the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever; it is good therefore for me to draw near to thee, how far soever I am from man. Olet me there dwell where thou wilt not be strange, for thy loving-kind ness is better than life; instead of the multitude of my turmoiling thoughts, let me be taken up in the believing views of thy reconciled face, and in the glad attendance of thy grace; or at least in the multitude of my thoughts within me, let thy celestial comforts delight my soul. Let me dwell as in thy family; and when I awake, let me be still with thee! Let me go no where but where I am still following thee; let me do nothing but thy work, nor serve any other, but when I may truly call it a serving thee; let me hear nothing but thy voice, and let me know thy voice by whatever instrument thou shalt speak; let me never see any thing but thyself, and the glass that representeth thee, and the books in which I may read thy name; and let me never play with the outside, and gaze on words and letters as insignificant, and not observe thy name which is the sense, Whether it be in company or in solitude, let me be continually with thee, and do thou vouchsafe to hold me by my right hand; and guide me with thy counsel, and afterwards receive me unto thy glory. (Psal. Ixxiii. 23-26; lxiii. 3.)

4. If God be with me I am not alone; for I shall be. with him whose love is of greater use and benefit to me, than the love of all my friends in the world. Their love may perhaps be some little comfort, as it floweth from his; but it is his love by which, and upon which I live. It is his love that gives me life and time, and health and food, and preserva

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tion; that gives me books, and giveth me understanding: that giveth me provision, and saveth me from turning it to pernicious fleshliness and excess; that giveth me even my friends themselves, and saveth me from that abuse which might make them to me worse than enemies. The sun, the earth, the air, is not so useful or needful to me as his love. The love of all my friends cannot make me well when I am sick it cannot forgive the smallest of my sins; nor yet assure me of God's forgiveness: it cannot heal the maladies of my soul, nor give a solid, lasting peace to the conscience which is troubled: if all my friends stand about me when I am dying, they cannot take away the fears of death, nor secure my passage to everlasting life; death will be death still, and danger will be danger, when all my friends have done their best. But my Almighty Friend is allsufficient; he can prevent my sicknesss, or rebuke and cure it, or make it so good to me, that I shall thank him for it: he can blot out my transgressions, and forgive all my sin; and justify me when the world and my conscience do condemn me: he can teach me to believe, to repent, to pray, to hope, to suffer, and to overcome: he can quiet my soul in the midst of trouble, and give me a well-grounded, everlasting peace, and a joy that no man can take from me, He can deliver me from all the corruptions and distempers of my froward heart; and ease me and secure me in the troublesome war which is daily managed in my breast. He can make it as easy a thing to die, as to lie down and take my rest when I am weary, or to undress me at night and go to bed. He can teach death to lay by its terrible aspect, and speak with a mild and comfortable voice, and to me the most joyful tidings that ever came unto my ears; and to preach to me the last and sweetest sermon, even the same that our Saviour preached on the cross; "Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with Christ in Paradise." (Luke xxiii. 43.)

And is this the difference between the love of man and of God? And yet do I lament the loss of man! And yet am I so backward to converse with God, and to be satisfied in his love alone! Ah, my God, how justly mayest thou withhold that love which I thus undervalue; and refuse that converse which I have first refused! and turn me over to man, to silly man, to sinful man, whose converse I so much desire, till I have learnt by dear experience the difference be