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conduceth to the acquifition of one, SECT.III. can never bear an unfavourable afpect towards the other; and folitude will be found the best nurse of fanctity, more particularly as it confifteth in the exercife of mortification.

THIS is a work which no man can fet about, until he knoweth what those failings are, to which he is subject. And fuch is the power of felf-love, that the perfon concerned is generally the last who comes to a knowlege of this most important point. If neither the fidelity of his friends nor the malice of his enemies let him into the fecret, there is only a third way in which it is poffible for him to become mafter of it, which is felf-examination, conftantly, fincerely, and thoroughly practifed. And this requireth ftated feafons of retirement; for want of which, we fee those, who are engaged in a circle of business, or pleasures, living entire strangers to themfelves and their own infirmities, though intimately acquainted with the follies and foibles of all around them. "In "the night," the pfalmift tells us, he "communed with his own heart, and "his

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SECT.III." his fpirit made diligent fearch "." Then filence and folitude afforded him an opportunity of fcrutinizing the tempers of his foul, of discovering the maladies to which he was inclined, and of applying the proper remedies to each.

THAT medicines may be adminiftered with fuccefs, it is neceffary to cut off the provifions, which nourish and increase the diforder. The world, in the cafe before us, is full of fuch provifions; and therefore the patient must withdraw, for a while, from the influence of it's temptations. "Where "no wood is, the fire goeth out "." Remove the object, and the paffion will by degrees die away. In folitude, the pleasures and glories of the world no longer strike upon the fenfes, and folicit the affections. The foul, therefore, in this fituation, like one efcaped out of a battle to a place of fecurity, hath leifure to reflect upon her condition, and to provide for her future fafety. By looking into herself, the perceiveth how much the ftandeth in need of mercy

a Pf. lxxvii. 6.

Prov. xxvi. 20.

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and grace; and then fhe is naturally SECT.III. led to look up to heaven, as the only place from whence they are to be obtained. The former of these prospects filleth her with compunction, and causeth her to mourn for her fins with that godly forrow which worketh a repentance never to be repented of; the latter encourageth her to pour forth herself in continual prayer to the God of her falvation, until he have mercy upon her. St. Peter, when reminded of his offence by the crowing of the cock, and the affectionate look of an abjured Master, went out from the high priest's hall where he was, and in folitude, with ftrong crying and tears, made supplication for pardon and peace. In retirement it is, that we find ourselves best able to practise all the holy arts of abftinence and felf-denial, fo needful for the perfecting repentance by mortifying the whole body of fin.

WHEN men cannot be induced voluntarily to take this course, they are often forced into it by Providence vifiting them with fome heavy calamity, which by a stroke, like the amputation

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SECT.III. of a limb, fevere but falutary, separa

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ting them at once from the world, shall oblige them to converse first with themfelves, and then with God. Thus was Babylon's haughty monarch driven, in an extraordinary manner, from fociety, to learn humility in the fields and woods, until he acknowledged the power and the righteousness of the King of heaven. And thus the idolatrous and fuperlatively wicked Manasseh became a finceré and hearty penitent in the folitude of a Chaldean prifon. Nor can we but admire, upon this occafion, the wifdom and goodness of God in fending fickness, as a preparative for death. Sicknefs takes a man, as it were, out of this fcene of things, to fit him for another. It draws the curtain between him and the world, fhutting out all it's cares, and all it's pleafures. It puts away his idle and noify acquaintance far from him; and having thus fecured his attention to the one thing needful, gives him ideas of the nature of fin, and the importance of death, the vanities of time, and the glories of eternity, to which he was before an utter stranger.

Now

Now appear to him, in their proper SECT.III. colours and natural deformity, the diabolical nature of pride and envy, the brutality of intemperance, the folly and torment of lasciviousness, the wretchednefs of avarice, and the ftupidity of floth. Now he hath no longer any unlawful defires, and grieves that he ever had fuch. Now he is what he always ought to have been, and what retirement, at proper feafons, fhould and would have made him.

IN morality, as in husbandry, the preparation of the foil is a great step towards the production of a plentiful harvest. If carnal defires are dead in us, all things belonging to the Spirit will live and grow in us. If the affections are difengaged from things on earth, the difficulty of the work is over; they will readily and eagerly lay hold on things above, when proposed to them. If the fnare of concupifcence be broken, and the foul be delivered out of it, the will presently fly away, on the wings of faith and charity, towards heaven. They who have duly practised mortification in the school of retirement, will,

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