The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded

1. Observe the especial Calls of Providence and apply your minds unto Thoughts of the Duties required in them and by them. There is a voice in all signal Dispensations of Providence. The voice of the Lord crieth unto the City, the men of wisdom shall see thy Name; hear ye the rod and who hath appointed it. Mic. 6.9. There is a Call, a Cry in every Rod of God, in every chastising Providence; and therein makes a Declaration of his Name, his Holiness, his Power, his Greatness. This every wise substantial man will labour to discern and so comply with the call. God is greatly provoked when ⟨p. 62⟩it is otherwise. Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see, but they shall see and be ashamed. Isa. 26.11. If therefore we would apply our selves unto our present Duty, we are wisely to consider what is the voice of God, in his present providential Dispensations in the World. Hearken not unto any who would give another Interpretation of them, but that they are plain Declarations of his Displeasure and Indignation against the sins of men. Is not his wrath in them revealed from Heaven against the ungodliness of men, especially such as detain the Truth in unrighteousness, or false Hypocritical Professors of the Gospel? Doth he not also signally declare the uncertainty and instability of Earthly Enjoyments, from Life it self to a Shoo-latchet? As also, how vain and foolish it is to adhere inordinately unto them. The fingers that appeared writing on the Wall the Doom of Belshazzar, did it in Characters that none read, and words that none could understand but Daniel. But the present Call of God in these things is made plain upon Tables, that he may run who readeth it. If the Heavens gather blackness with Clouds, and it thunder over us, if any that are on their Journey will not believe that there is a Storm a coming, they must bear the severity of it.

1. Observe the especial Calls of Providence and apply your minds unto Thoughts of the Duties required in them and by them. There is a voice in all signal Dispensations of Providence. The voice of the Lord cryeth unto the City, the men of wisdom shall see thy Name; hear ye the rod and who hath appointed it. Mic. 6.9