When thou settest to the work, look up toward Heaven, let thine eye lead thee as near as it can; remember that there is thine Everlasting Rest; study its excellency, study its reality, till thy unbelief be silenced, and thy Faith prevail▪ If thy judgment be not yet drawn to admiration, use those sensible helps and advantages which were even now laid down. Compare thy heavenly joys, with the choicest on earth, and so rise up from Sense to Faith: If yet this mere consideration prevail not (which yet hath much force, as is before expressed,) then fall a pleading the case with thy heart: Preach upon this Text of Heaven to thy self; convince, inform, confute, instruct, reprove, examine, admonish, encourage, and comfort thy own soul from this Celestial Doctrine; draw forth those several considerations of thy Rest, on which thy several affections may work, especially that Affection or Grace which thou intendest to act. If it be Love which thou wouldst act, show it the loveliness of Heaven, and how suitable it is to thy condition; if it be Desire, consider of thy absence from this lovely object; if it be Hope, consider the possibility and probability of obtaining it; if it be Courage, consider the singular assistance and encouragements which thou mayest receive from God; the weakness of the enemy, and the necessity of prevailing; if it be Joy, consider of its excellent ravishing glory, of thy interest in it, and of its certainty, and the nearness of the time when thou must possess it. Urge these considerations home to thy heart; whet them with all possible seriousness upon each affection: If thy heart draw back, force it to the work; if it loiter, spur it on; if it step aside, command it in again; if it would slip away, and leave the work, use thine authority; keep it close to the business, till thou have obtained ⟨p. 789⟩thine end: Stir not away, if it may be, till thy Love do flame, till thy Joy be raised, or till thy Desire or other Graces be lively acted. Call in assistance also from God; mix Ejaculations with thy Cogitations and Soliloquies: Till having seriously pleaded the case with thy heart, and reverently pleaded the case with God; thou have pleaded thy self from a clod to a flame, from a forgetful sinner, to a mindful lover; from a lover of the world, to a thirster after God; from a fearful coward, to a resolved Christian;
When thou setst to the work, look up toward Heaven, let thine eie lead thee as neer as it can; remember that there is thine Everlasting Rest; study its excellency, study its reality, till thy unbelief be silenced, and thy Faith prevail▪ If thy judgment be not yet drawn to admiration, use those sensible helps and advantages which were even now laid down. Compare thy heavenly joyes, with the choicest on earth, and so rise up from Sense to Faith: If yet this meer consideration prevail not (which yet hath much force, as is before expressed,) then fall a pleading the case with thy heart: Preach upon this Text of Heaven to thy self; convince, inform, confute, instruct, reprove, examine, admonish, encourage, and comfort thy own soul from this Celestial Doctrine; draw forth those several considerations of thy Rest, on which thy several affections may work, especially that Affection or Grace which thou intendest to act. If it be Love which thou wouldst act, shew it the loveliness of Heaven, and how suitable it is to thy condition; if it be Desire, consider of thy absence from this lovely object; if it be Hope, consider the possibility and probability of obtaining it; if it be Courage, consider the singular assistance and encouragements which thou maist receive from God; the weakness of the enemy, and the necessity of prevailing; if it be Joy, consider of its excellent ravishing glory, of thy interest in it, and of its certainty, and the neerness of the time when thou must possess it. Urge these considerations home to thy heart; whet them with all possible seriousness upon each affection: If thy heart draw back, force it to the work; if it loyter, spur it on; if it step aside, command it in again; if it would slip away, and leave the work, use thine authority; keep it close to the business, till thou have obtained ⟨p. 789⟩thine end: Stir not away, if it may be, till thy Love do flame, till thy Joy be raised, or till thy Desire or other Graces be lively acted. Call in assistance also from God; mix Ejaculations with thy Cogitations and Soliloquies: Till having seriously pleaded the case with thy heart, and reverently pleaded the case with God; thou have pleaded thy self from a clod to a flame, from a forgetful sinner, to a mindful lover; from a lover of the world, to a thirster after God; from a fearful coward, to a resolved Christian;
