The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded

That all true Believers whose Minds are Spiritually renewed have a singular Delight, in all the Institutions and Ordinances of Divine Worship is fully evident both in the Examples of the Saints in the Scripture, and their own Experience, which they will never forego. For this hath been the greatest Cause of their suffering Persecution; and Martyrdom it self in all Ages. of the Primitive Christians under the Power of the Pagan▪ Emperors, or the Witnesses for Christ under the Antichristian Apostasy, would, or could have omitted the Observance If them (according to the Advice and practice of the Gnostics) they might have escaped the rage of their Adversaries. But they loved not their Lives, in comparison unto that delight which they had in the Observance of the Commands of Christ, as unto the Duties of Evangelical Worship. David gives us frequently an Instance hereof in himself, Psal. 42.1, 2, 3, 4. As the Hart panteth after the Water-Brooks, so panteth my Soul after thee, O God. My Soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: When shall I come and appear before God. My tears have been my Meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my Soul in me; for I had gone with the ⟨p. 232⟩multitude, I went with them to the House of God; with the voice of Joy and Praise, with a multitude that kept Holy-Day. Psal. 63.1, 2, 3, 4, 5. O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee, my Soul thirsteth for thee, my Flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty Land, where no Water is: To see thy Power and thy Glory, so as I have seen thee in thy Sanctuary. Because thy Loving Kindness is better than Life: my Lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live. I will lift up my hands in thy Name. My Soul shall be satisfied as with Marrow and Fatness, and my Mouth shall praise thee with joyful Lips. Psal. 84.1, 2, 3, 4. How amiable are thy Tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts! My Soul longeth, yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord: my Heart crieth out for the Living God. Yea, the Sparrow hath found an house, and the Swallow a Nest for her self, where she may lay her Young, even thy Alters, O Lord of Hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy House: they will be still praising thee. Selah.