Chapter 17

Decayes in Spiritual Affections, with the Causes and Danger of them. Advice to them who are sensible of the Evil of Spiritual Decays.

IT must be acknowledged, that there is yet that which is worse than what we have yet insisted on, and more opposite to the Growth of Affections in Conformity to Heavenly things, which is the proper Character of those that are Spiritually renewed. And this is their Spiritual Decay manifesting it self in sensible and visible Effects.

Some there are, yea many, who upon the Beginning of a Profession of their Conversion to God, have made a great appearance of vigorous, active, Spiritual Affections; yea, it is so with most, it may be, all who are really so converted. God takes notice of the Love of the Youth in his People, of the Love of their Espousals.

In some, this vigiour of Spiritual Affections is from the real Power of Grace, exerting its Efficacy on their Hearts and in their Minds. In others, it is from other Causes, as for Instance, Relief from Conviction by Spiritual Illumination, will produce this Effect. And this falls out to their Advantage of such Persons that generally a Change is wrought in their younger dayes. For then their Affections in their natural Powers are active, and bear great sway in the whole Soul. Wherefore the Change that is made, is most eminent in them, be it what it will. But as men Increase in Age, and thereon grow up in Carnal Wisdom, and a great valuation of Earthly things, with their Care about them and Converse in them, they abate and decay in their Spiritual Affections every day. They will abide in their Profession, but have lost their first Love.

It is a shame and folly unutterable, that it should be so with any who make Profession of that Religion, wherein there are so many incomparable Excellencies to endear and ingage them to it more and more; but why should we hide what Experience makes manifest in the Sight of the Sun; and what multitudes proclaim concerning themselves? Wherefore I look upon it as a great Evidence, if not absolutely of the Sincerity of Grace, yet of the Life and Growth of it, when men as they grow up in age, do grow in an Undervaluation of present things, in contempt of the World, in Duties of Charity and Bounty, and decay not in any of them. But I say, it is usual that the Entrances of Mens Profession of Religion and Conversation to God, are attended with vigorous active Affections towards Spiritual things. Of them who really and sincerely believed, it is said that on their believing, they rejoyced with Joy unspeakable, and full of Glory. And of those who only had a work of Conviction on them, improved by temporary Faith, that they received the Word with Joy, and did many things gladly.

In this State do many abide and thrive, until their Affections be wholly transformed into the Image and likeness of things above. But with many of all sorts it is not so; they fall into woful Decayes as to their Affections about Spiritual things, and consequently in their whole Profession and Conversation, their Moisture becomes as the drought in Summer. They have no Experience of the Life and Actings of them in themselves, nor any Comfort, or Refreshment from them; they honor not the Gospel with any Fruits of Love, Zeal, or Delight, nor are useful any way to others by their Example. Some of them have had seeming Recoveries, and are yet again taken into a lifeless Frame: Warnings, Aflictions, Sicknesses, the Word have awakened them, but they are fallen again into a dead Sleep; so as that they seem to be Trees whose Fruit withers, without Fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the Roots.

Some things must be spoken to this woful Condition in general, as that which is directly opposite to the Grace and Duty of being Spiritually Minded; and contrary to, and obstructive of the Growth of Spiritual Affections in an Assimulation to Heavenly things. And what shall be spoken may be applied to all the Degrees of these Decayes, though all of them are not alike dangerous or perillous.

First, There may be a time of Temptation, wherein a Soul may apprehend in it self not only a Decay in, but an utter Loss of all Spiritual Affections, when yet it is not so. As Believers may apprehend and Judge that the Lord has forsaken and forgotten them when he has not done so, Isaiah 49:14, 15. So they may under their Temptations apprehend, that they have forsaken God, when they have not done so: As a man in the Night may apprehend he has lost his way, and be in great Distress, when he is in his proper Road. For Temptation brings Darkness and Amazement, and leads into Mistakes and a false Judgement in all things. They find not, it may be, Grace working in Love, Joy, and Delight as formerly, nor that Activity of Heart and Mind in Holy Duties which Spiritual Affections gave to them. But yet it may be, the same Grace works in Godly Sorrow, by Mourning, Humiliation, and Self-Abasement, no less effectually, nor less acceptably to God. Such as these I seperate from the present Consideration.

Secondly, There may be a Decay in Affections themselves as to their actings towards any Objects whatever; at least as to the outward Symptoms and Effects of them, and on this ground, their Opperations towards Spiritual things may be less sensible. So men in their younger days may be more ready to express their Sorrow by tears, and their Joy by sensible Exaltation and Motion of their Spirits, than in riper Years. And this may be so, when there is no Decay of Grace in the Affections as renewed. But

(1) When it is so, it is a Burthen to them in whom it is. They cannot but mourn and have a Godly-Jealousy over themselves, least the Decayes they find, should not be in the Outward, but the Inward, not in the natural, but the Spiritual Man. And they will labor that in all Duties, and at all times it may be with them, as in Dayes of old, although they cannot attain Strength in them that vigour of Spirit, that Life, Joy, Peace, and Comfort which any have had Experience of.

Secondly, There will be in such Persons, no Decayes in Holiness of Life, nor as to Diligence in all Religious Duties. If the Decay be really of Grace in the Affections, it will be accompanied with a proportionable Decay in all other things, wherein the Life of God is concerned. But if it be only as to the sensible Actings of natural Affections, no such Decay will ensue.

Thirdly, Grace will in this case more vigorously act it self in the other Faculties and Powers of the Soul, as the Judgment and the Will in their Approbation of, and firm adherence to Spiritual things. But

Fourthly, When men find, or may find their Affections yet quick, active, and intent on other things, as the lawful Enjoyments and Comforts of this Life, it is in vain for them to relieve themselves, that the Decayes they find, are in their Affections as natural, and not as they ought to be gratious. If we see a man in his old age grow more in Love with the things of this World, and less in Love with the things of God, it is not through the weakness of nature, but through the strength of Sin.

On these, and it may be, some other the like Occasions, there may be an Apprehension of a Decay in Spiritual Affections, when it may not be so, at least not to the Degree that is apprehended. But when it is so really, as it is evidently with many, I had almost said with the most in these Dayes, it is a woful Frame of Heart, and never enough to be lamented. It is that which lies in direct Contradiction to that Spiritual-Mindedness which is Life and Peace. It is a Consumption of the Soul which threatens it with Death every day.

It belongs not to my Design to treat of it in particular; yet I cannot let it pass without some remarks upon it, it being an Evil almost epidemical among Professors, and prevalent in some to such a Degree, as that they seem to be utterly forsaken of all Powers of Spiritual Life.

Now besides all that Folly and Sin which we before discovered as the Causes of the want of the Growth of our Affections in Spirituality and Heavenliness, which in this case of their Decay are more abominable, there is a multiplication of Evils wherewith this State of Heart and Mind is accompanied. For

First, It is that which of all things, the Lord Christ is most displeased with in Churches or Professors. He pitties them in their Temptations, he suffers with them in their Persecution, he interceeds for them on their Surprizal but threatens them under their Spiritual Decayes Rev. 2:4, 5. Chapter 3:2. This he cannot bear with, as that which both reflects Dishonour upon himself, and which he knows to be ruinous to those in whom it is. He will longer bear with them who are utterly dead, than with those who abide under these Decayes, Rev. 3:15, 16. This is the only Case wherein he threatens to reject and cast off a Professing Church, to take away his Candlestick from it, unless it be that of False Worship and Idolatry. He that spoke thus to the Churches of old, speaks now the same to us; for he lives for ever, and is always the same, and his Word is living and unchangeable. There is not one of us who are under this Frame, but the Lord Christ by his Word and Spirit testifys his displeasure against us; and if he be against us, who shall plead for us. Consider what he says in this Case, Revel. 2.5. Chapter 3.3. O who can stand before these dreadful Intimations of his Displeasure! The Lord help us to mind it, least he in whom we profess to place our only trust, be in our Tryal found our greatest Enemy. Take heed of such sins as Christ himself our only Advocate has put a mark upon, as those which he will not save us in.

Secondly, It is that wherewith above all things the Holy Spirit is grieved. His work it is to give Grace an Encrease and Progress in our Souls. He begins it, and he carries it on. And there can be no greater grief to a wise and gratious Worker, than to have his work decay and go backward under his hand. This is the Occasion of those Complaints of God which we find in the Scripture, of the unprofitableness and backsliding of Men after the use of means and remedies for their Fruitfulness and Cure. What, saith he, could I have done more for my Vineyard than I have done? Why then, when I looked for Grapes, did it bring forth wild Grapes. Can any thing be apprehended to be such a just matter of Grief and Complaint to the Holy Spirit, to see and find those whom he had once raised up to Holy and Heavenly Affections, so as that their Delights were in, and their Thoughts much upon the things that are above, to become Earthly or sensual, to have no sensible Actings of any of his Graces in them which is the State of them who are under the Power of Spiritual Decayes. And this is the only cause wherein God speaks to men in the way of complaint and Expostulation; and uss all sorts of Arguments to convince them of their Folly herein.

When a wise, tender, and careful Parent, has been diligent in the use of all means for the Education of his Child, and he for some time has given good hopes of himself, finds him to slacken in his diligence, to be careless in his calling, to delight in evil Company, how solicitous is his heart about him, how much is he grieved, and affected with his miscarriage. The heart of the Spirit of God is infinitely more tender towards us, than that of the most affectionate Parent can be towards an only Child. And when he with Cost and Care has nourished, and brought us up to some Growth and Progress in Spiritual Affections, wherein all his Concerns in us do lye, for us to grow cold, dul, earthly-Minded, to cleave to the Pleasures, or Lusts of this World, how is he grieved, how is he provoked. It may be this Consideration of grieving the Holy Spirit, is of no great weight with some; they should have little Concernment herein, if they could well free themselves in other Respects; but let such Persons know, it is impossible for them to give a greater Evidence of a profligate hardness in Sin.

Thirdly, This is that which in an especial manner provoks the Judgements of God against any Church, as was intimated before When in the Order of Profession and Worship, any Church has a Name to live, but as to the Power of Grace acting in the Affections, is dead: when it is not so cold as to forsake the external Institutions of Worship, nor so hot as to enliven their Duties with Spiritual Affections, the Lord Christ will not long bear with them; yea, Judgement, will suddenly break out towards such an House of God.

Fourthly, It is absolutely inconsistent with all Comfortable Assurance of the Love of God. Whatever Persons under the Power of such a Frame, pretend to of that kind, it is sinful Security, not gracious Assurance or Peace. And constantly as Professors grow cold and decay in their Spiritual Affections, Stupidity of Conscience, and Security of Mind do grow also uon them. It is so, I say, unless they are sometimes surprised or overtaken with some greater Sin, which reflects severely on their Consciences, and casts them for a time under Troubles and Distresses. But that Peace with God, and a comfortable Assurance of Salvation, should be consistent with an habitual Decay in Grace, especially in those Graces which should act themselves in our Affections, is contrary to the whole Tenour and Testimony of the Scripture; and the Supposition of it would be the Bane and Poyson of Religion. I do not say that our Assurance and Peace with God, do arise wholly from the Actings of Grace in us; there are other Causes of them, whereinto they are principally resolved: But this I say, under an habitual Declension, or Decay of Grace in the Spirituality of our Affections, no man can keep or maintain a gracious Sense of the Love of God, or of Peace with him. And therefore there is no Duty more severely to be pressed on all at this Day, than a diligent Examination and Trial of the grounds of their Peace; least it should be with any of them as it was with Luodicen, who was satisfyed in her good State and Condition, when it was most miserable, and almost desperate. Yea, I must say, that it is impossible that many Professors, whom we see and converse withal, should have any solid Peace with God. Do men gather Figs from Thorns, or Grapes from Thistles? It is a Fruit that will not grow on a vain, earthly, selfish Frame of Mind and Conversation. And therefore such Persons whatever they pretend, are either asleep in a sinful Security, or live on most uncertain Hopes, which probably may deceive them. Nothing can be so ruinous to our Profession as once to suppose it is an easy Matter, a thing of Course, to maintain our Peace with God. God forbid but that our utmost Diligence, and continued Endeavours to thrive in every Grace should be required thereunto. The whole Beauty and Glory of our Religion depends hereon. To be Spiritually-Minded is Life and Peace.

5. Such a decay as that described, is a dangerous Symtom of an Evil State and Condition, and that those in whom it is, will at last be found to be but Hypocrites. I know such Persons will, or may have pretended Evidences to the contrary, and that they are well enough satisfyed of, and with their own Sincerity in many things; so as that it is impossible to fix upon the the Sense and Conviction of being but Hypocrites. But this Apprehension ariss from a false notion of Hypocrisy. No man they suppose is an Hypocrite, but he that generally, or universally pretends himself in Religion to be what he is not, and what he knows himself not to be, or at least, might easily do so. And it is true, that this is the broadest Notion of Pharisaical Hypocrisy. But take an Hypoerite for him, who under Light, Profession, Gifts, Duties, does habitually and willingly fail in any Point of sincerity, he is no less a perishing Hypocrite than the former, and it may alter the Case with them. I do not say that every one in whom there is this prevalent Decay in Spiritual Affections, is an Hypocrite; God forbid: I only say that where it continues without Remedy, it is such a Symtome of Hypocrisy, as that he who is wise, and has a care of his Soul, will not rest until he has searched it to the bottom. For it seemes as if it were thus with such Persons. They have had a false or imperfect Work in that Conversion to God which they have professed. Conviction of Sin, Communication of Spiritual Light and Gifts, Alteration upon the Affections, Change of Socicty and Conversation, have made it up. Now it is the nature of such a Work greatly to flourish for a Season, in all the principal Parts and Duties of Profession. But it is in its Nature also gradually to decay, until it be quite withered away. In some it is lost by the Power of some vigorous Temptations, and particular Lusts indulged to, ending in Worldliness and Sensuality; but in the most it decayes gradually, until it has lost all its Savour and Sap, see Joh. 15:3. Wherefore, whil'st men find this Decay in themselves, unless they are fallen under the Power of a destructive Security, unless thay are hardned through be Deceitfulness of Sin, they cannot but think it their Duty to examine how things stand with them, whether they ever effectually closed with Christ, and had the Faith of Gods Elect, which works by Love; seeing it is with them, as though they had only a work of another nature. For a Saving Work in its own nature, and in the diligent use of Means, Thrives, and Grows, as the whole Scripture testifys: but it is this false and imperfect working, that has no Root, and is thus subject to withering.

Sixthly, Persons in such an Estate are apt to deceive themselves with false Hopes and Notions, whereby the Deceitfulness of Sin does put forth its Power, to harden them to their Ruine. Two ways there are whereby this pernitious Effect is produced. The one by the prevalency of a particular Lust or Sin, the other by a neglect of Spiritual Duties, and a vain Conversation in the World, under which the Soul pines away and consumes.

As to the first of these, there are three false Notions, whereby the Deceitfulness of Sin, deludes the Souls of Men.

The First is, that it is that one Sin alone wherein they would be indulged. Let them be spared in this one thing, and in all other they will be exact enough. This is the Composition that Naaman would have made in the Matters of Religion, 2 Kings 5:18. And it is that which many trust to. Hence it has by the Event been made to appear, that some Persons have lived long in the Practice of some gross Sins, and yet all the while used a Semblance of great diligence in other Duties of Religion. This is a false Notion whereby poor Sinners delude their own Souls. For suppose it possible that a man should give himself up to any Lust, or be under the Power of it, and yet be observant of all other Duties, yet this would give him no Relief as to the Eternal Condition of his Soul. The Rule is peremptory to this purpose, Jam. 2:10, 11. One Sin willingly lived in, is as able to destroy a Mans Soul, as a thousand. Besides, it is practically false. There is no man that lives in any one known Sin, but he really lives in more, though that only bears the chiefest Sway. With some such Persons, these Sins appear to others, who observe their Frame and Spirit, though they appear not to themselves; In some they are manifest in themselves, although they are hidden from others, Tim. 5:24. But let no man relieve himself with thoughts that it is but one Sin, whil'st that one Sin keeps him in a constant Neglect of God. Hence,

Secondly, They deceive themselves hereby, for they Judge that although they cannot as yet shake off their Sin, yet they will continue still to love God, and abound in the Duties of his Worship. They will not become Haters of God and his Ways, and Persecutors for all the World, and therefore hope that notwithstanding this one Zoar, this lesser Sin, which their Constitution and their Circumstances ingage them in, that it may be well with them at the last. This also is a false Notion, a meer Instrument in the hand of Sin to act its Deceit by. For no man that willingly livs in any Sin, can love God at all, as is evident in that Rule, Joh. 2:15. It is but a false Pretence of Love to God, that any man has, who livs in any known Sin. Where God is not loved above all, he is not loved at all: And he is not so where men will not part with one Cursed Lust for his Sake. Let not your Light deceive you, nor your Gifts, nor your Duties, nor your Profession; if you live in Sin, you love not God.

Thirdly, They determine that at such or such a Season on time, after such Satisfaction given to their Lusts or Pleasures, they will utterly give over, so as that Iniquity shall not be their Ruine. But this is a false Notion also, an effectual Instrument of the Deceitfulness of Sin. He that will not now give over, who will not imediately upon the Discovery of the Prevalency of any Sin, and warning about it, endeavor sincerely and constantly its Relinquishment, say what he will, and pretend what he will, he never intends to give over; nor is it probable in an ordinary way, that ever he will do so. When mens Decays are from the Prevalency of particular Sins, by these and the like false Notions do they harden themselves to Ruine.

For those who are pining away under Hectical Consumption, a general Decay of the vital Spirits of Religion, they have also false Notions, whereby they deceive themselves. As

First, that although they have some Cause to mistrust themselves, yet indeed their Condition is not so bad as some may apprehend it, or as they are warned it is. And this ariss from hence, that they have not as yet been overtaken with any enormous Sin, which has filled their Consciences with Terror and Disquietment. But this is a false Notion also; for every Decay is dangerous, especially, such as the Mind is ready to plead for, and to countenance it self in.

Secondly, They are prone to suppose that this Decay does not arise from themselves, and the Evil of their own Hearts; but from their Circumstances, Business, present Occasion, and State of Life, which when they are freed from, they will at least return to their former Love, and Delight in Spiritual things. But this is a false Notion also, by vertue of that Rule, Heb. 3:12. Let mens Circumstances and Occasions of Life be what they will, all their Departures from God, are from an Evil Heart of Unbelief.

Thirdly, They judge it no hard matter to retrive themselves out of this State, but that which they can easily do, when there is an absolute Necessity of it. But this is a false Notion also. Recovery from backsliding is the hardest task in Christian Religion, and which few make either comfortable, or honourable work of.

In this State, I say, men are apt by such false reasonings to deceive themselves to their eternal Ruine; which makes the consideration of it the more necessary.

Wherefore, I say, lastly upon the whole, that who so find themselves under the Power of this wretched Frame, who are sensible in themselves, or at least make it evident to others, that they are under a Decay in their Spiritual Condition; if they rest in that State, without groaning, labouring, endeavouring for deliverance from it, they can have no well grounded hopes in themselves of Life and Immortality; yea, they are in those Paths which go down to the Chambers of Death.

I cannot let this pass without something of advice to them who find themselves under such decayes, are sensible of them, and would be delivered from them, and I shall give it in a few Words.

First, Remember former things, call to mind how it was with you in the Spring and vigour of your Affections, and compare your present State, Enjoyment, Peace and Quiet with what they were then. This will be a great Principle of Return to God, Hos. 2:7. And to put a little weight upon it, we may consider.

First, God himself makes it on his part a ground and reason of his Return to us, in a way of Mercy, and of the Continuance of his Love, Jer. 2:2. Even when a People are under manifold Decays, whil'st yet they are within the Bounds of Gods Covenant and Mercy, he will remember their first Love with the Fruits and Actings of it in Tryals and Temptations, which moves his Compassion towards them. And the way to have God thus remember it, is for us to remember with Delight and longing of Soul that it were with us as in those Dayes of old, when we had the Love of Espousals for God in Christ, Jeremiah 31:18, 19, 20.

Secondly, It is the way whereby the Saints of old have refreshed and encouraged themselves under their greatest Despondencies. So does the Psalmist in many places, as for Instance, Psal. 42:6. O my God, my Soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember you from the Land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the Hill Missar. David in the time of his Persecution by Saul, when he wandred up and down in Deserts, Wildernesses, and Solitudes, had under his Fears, Distresses, and Exercise, great, holy, Spiritual Communion with God, as many of his Psalms composed on such Occasions do testify. And the greater his distresses were, the more fervent were his Affections in all his Adresses to God. And he was never in greater than when he escaped out of the Cave at Adullam, and went thence to Mizpheh of Moab, to get shelter for his Parents, 1 Sam. 22.13. Then was he in the Land of the Hermonites, the Hill Hermon, being the boundary eastward of the Israelites Possession next to Moab, Deut. 3:8, 9. There no doubt David had a blessed Exercise of his Faith, and of all his Affections towards God, wherein his Soul found great Refreshment. Being now in great Distress and Disconsolation of Spirit, among other things under a Sense that God had forgotten him, vers. 9. He calls to mind the blessed Experience he had of Communion with God in the Land of the Hermonites, wherein he now found Support and Refreshment. So at other times, he called to remembrance the Dayes of old, and in them his Song in the Night, or the sweet Refreshment he had in Spiritual Converse with God in former times. I have known one in the depth of distress and darkness of Mind, who going through Temptation to destroy himself, was re[••]eved and delivered in the instant of Ruine, by a sudden Remembrance that at such a time, and in such a place, he had prayed fervently with the ingagement of all his Affections to God.

Wherefore you that are sensible of these Decayes, or ought so to be, take the Advice of our Savior, Remember whence you are fallen; call to mind the former days; consider if it were not better with you than now; when in your lying down, and your rising up, you had many thoughts of God, and of the things of God, and they were sweet and pretious to your Souls? when you rejoyced at the Remembrance of his Holiness? When you had Zeal for his Glory, Delight in his Worship, and were glad when they said, Let us go to the House of God together? When you poured forth your Soules with Freedom, and enlarged Affections before him, and were sensible of the Visits and Refreshments of his Love? Remember what Peace, what Tranquility of Mind, what Joy you had whil'st it was so with you. And consider what you have gotten since you have forsaken God, in any Measure or Degree. Dare to deal plainly with your selves. Is not all wherein you have now to do with God, either Form, Custom, and Selfishness, or attended with Trouble, Disquietment, and Fears? Do you truely know, either how to live, or how to die? Are you not sometimes a Terrour to yourselves? It must be so, unless you are hardened through the Deceitfulness of Sin. What have all your Lovers done for you, that you have entertained in the room of God in Christ, and Spiritual things? Speak plainly, have they not defiled you, wounded you, weakened you, and brought you into that Condition, that you know not what you are, nor to whom ye do belong? What are your thoughts when you are most awake, when you are most your selves? Do you not sometimes part within your selves, and say, O that it were with us as in former Dayes.

And it you can be no way affected with the Remembrance of former things; then one of these two great Evils, you are certainly under. For either, (1) you never had a true and real Work on your Souls, whatever you professed; and so never had true and real Communion with God in any Duties. You had only a temporary Work, which excited your Affections for a season, which now it is worn off, leaves no sweet Remembrance of it self upon your Minds. Had your Faith and Love been sincere in what you did, it were impossible but that the Remembrance of their Actings in some especial Instances, should be sweet and refreshing to you. Or else,

(2) You are hardened through the Deceitfulness of Sin, and there is no way left to give a Sense or Impression of Spiritual things upon your Minds. You have truely nothing left in Religion, but the Fear of Hell, and trouble of Duties. I speak not to such at present.

As to those to whom this Frame is a Burden; there is no more effectual means to stir them to Endeavours for Deliverance, than a continual Remembrance of former things, and Experiences they have had of holy Entercourse and Communion with God. This will revive, quicken, and strengthen the things that are ready to dye, and beget a Self-Abhorrency in them, in consideration of that woful Frame and temper of Mind, which by their Sins and Negligence they have brought themselves into.

2dly. Consider that as there are many things dreadfully pronounced in the Scripture against Backsliding and Backsliders in heart, as it is with you, yet also there are especial Calls and Promises given and proposed to those in your Condition. And know assuredly, that upon your Compliance or non-Compliance with them, depends your everlasting Blessedness or Woe.

Consider both Call and Promise in that Word of Gods Grace, Jer. 3:12, 13, 14. Go and proclaim these Words towards the North, and say, Return you Backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not cause mine Anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, faith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever. Only acknowledge yours Iniquity that you have transgressed against the Lord your God, and hast scattered your ways to the Strangers under every green Tree, and ye have not obeyed my Voice, saith the Lord. Turn, O backsliding Children, saith the Lord, for I am married to you: and I will take you one of a City, and two of a Family, and I will bring you to Zion. Add thereunto this blessed Promise, Hos. 14:4. I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from them. If you design to live and not die, it must be by yielding Obedience to this Call, and pleading this Promise before God, mixing it with Faith. Your Return must be by the Word, Isai. 57.18, 19. Here lies your great Encouragement and Direction, herein lys your only Relief. As you value your Souls, defer not the Duty you are called to one moment. You know not how soon you may be without the reach of Calls and Promises. And he that can hear them without stirring up himself in Sincerity to comply with them, has made already a great Progress towards that length.

(3) As to those who on these and the like Considerations, do not only desire, but will endeavor also to retrieve themselves from this Condition, I shall give no advice at present but this; be in good earnest. As the Prophet speaks in another Case; if you will return, return and come, make through work of it. You must do so at one time or another or you will perish. Why not now? Why is not this the best Season? Who knows but it may be the only time you will have for it? It were easy to multiply all sorts of Arguments to this purpose. Trifling Endeavours, Occasional Resolutions and Attempts like the early Cloud, and morning Dew, shifting with Warnings and Convictions, by renewed Duties until their Impressions are worn out, will ruine your Souls. Unless there be universal Diligence and Permanency in your Endeavours, you are undone. Then shall ye know the Lord, if you follow on to know him.

But now to return. These things I say, through our Sloth, Negligence, and Sin may befal us, as to our Spiritually renewed Affections. Their Progress in Conformity to Spiritual and Heavenly things, may be slow, imperceptible, yea, totally obstructed for a season; and not only so, but they may fall under Decays, and the Soul therein be guilty of backsliding from God. But this is that which they are capacitated for by their Renovation; this is that whereby the Grace wherewith they are renewed does lead to; this is that which in the diligent use of means, they will grow up to, whereon our Comfort and Peace do depend; namely, an holy Assimulation to those Spiritual and heavenly things which they are set and fixed on, wherein they are renewed and made more Spiritual and Heavenly every day.

The delight of believers in the holy ordinances of worship. The grounds and reasons for that delight. How this delight evidences a spiritually minded state.

That all true believers whose minds are spiritually renewed have a singular delight in all the ordinances and institutions of worship is fully evident both in the examples of the saints in Scripture and in their own experience — something they would never willingly give up. It was the greatest cause of their suffering persecution and martyrdom itself in every age. The early Christians under the pagan emperors, and the witnesses for Christ during the period of apostasy, could have avoided the rage of their enemies if they had been willing to omit observing those ordinances (as the Gnostics advised and practiced). But they did not count their lives precious compared to the delight they had in keeping the commands of Christ regarding the duties of worship. David gives us frequent examples of this in his own experience, as in Psalm 42:1-4: "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long, 'Where is your God?' These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, with the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival." And in Psalm 63:1-5: "O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips." And in Psalm 84:1-4: "How lovely are Your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts! My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. The bird also has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even Your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. How blessed are those who dwell in Your house! They are ever praising You. Selah."

But there is one greater than David here. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, on every occasion, declared His delight in and zeal for all the ordinances of worship that were then in force by divine institution and command. He severely rebuked and rejected everything that people had added to worship under the pretense of extra strictness or outward order, placing all such additions under that solemn sentence: "Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted" and thrown into the fire. Yet with respect to what was divinely appointed, His delight in it was singular and set an example for all His disciples. It was said of Him that the zeal for God's house had consumed Him — because of the grief in His spirit at seeing its worship neglected, polluted, and despised. This led Him to cleanse the temple, the seat of divine worship, of its defilers and defilements — not long before His sufferings, openly and to the great provocation of all His enemies. With deep longing He desired to celebrate His last Passover, as Luke 22:15 shows: "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." And the apostle makes plain in Hebrews 10:25-27 the expected practice of His disciples regarding the duties of worship He appointed — saying that neglect of them is a reliable sign of an unsound condition, one that tends toward final and cursed apostasy.

These things are clear and beyond question. But our present inquiry is specifically this: what is it that believers delight in within the ordinances and institutions of Gospel worship, and what draws their hearts and minds into diligent observance of them? And in general I say their delight in all ordinances of worship — as the passages already cited make evident — is in Christ Himself, or God in Christ. He alone is what they seek, what they cling to, and in whom they find their satisfaction. They make use of the streams only as channels of communication from the spring. When people are truly renewed in the spirit of their minds, this is how it is. Their regard for the ordinances and duties of worship is as God-appointed means of communion and interchange between Himself in Christ and their souls. Through these Christ communicates His love and grace to us; through them we exercise faith and love toward Him. It is like the treasure hidden in a field — when a man finds it, he sells everything to buy the field, but it is the treasure he is after, not the field itself, as Matthew 13:44 shows. This field is the Gospel and all its ordinances. People sometimes purchase it at great cost — even at the loss of everything they have. But if they obtain only the field and miss the treasure, they have little cause to rejoice in their purchase. It is Christ the treasure alone — that pearl of great price — who will eternally enrich the soul. The field is to be used only as the means of finding and uncovering the treasure within it. I say, it is Christ alone that renewed affections cling to as the treasure in the preaching of the Gospel — and they cling to all other things in proportion to their relationship to Him or their participation in Him. Therefore, in all the duties of religion and all the ordinances of worship, their search is for the one their souls love, as Song of Songs 1:7 says.

But we must treat these things in more specific detail. Those whose affections are spiritually renewed love, cling to, and delight in the ordinances of worship and the duties of service for the following grounds and reasons.

First, in general, they do so because in and through those ordinances they find faith, love, and delight in God through Christ stirred up and exercised. This is the immediate purpose for which the ordinances were instituted. It is a serious mistake to suppose that any outward duty of worship — whether hearing the Word, prayer, or the sacraments — is appointed for its own sake or accepted for its own sake.

The Jews of old held this kind of thinking about their sacrifices — that the sacrifices were appointed for their own sake and were acceptable service to God purely on their own account. To free them from this dangerous error, God repeatedly declared that He had never appointed them for any such end, as in Jeremiah 7:22-23 and Isaiah 1:12-14. And now, under the Gospel, several things destructive to the souls of people have proceeded from the same mistake. Some have always satisfied and contented themselves with the outward observance of the ordinances, without seeking or striving for any holy communion with God in them or through them. This describes the condition mentioned in Revelation 3:1. By following this path, most Christians wander off the right way — they cannot give up the ordinances, yet they do not know how to use them to their advantage — until they come fully to that miserable state described in Isaiah 29:13. And some, to entrench this deception further, have taught that there is far more in the outward performance of these duties than God ever placed in them, and that they are made holy simply by the act of performing them.

But all the duties that fall under the second commandment — as indeed all the instituted ordinances of worship — are simply means to express and exercise the graces of the first commandment: faith, love, fear, trust, and delight in God. Their whole purpose is that through them we may act those graces toward God in Christ. When this purpose is not kept in view — when people do not apply themselves to this exercise of grace in them — their outward performance, however solemn, however diligent, however earnest and apparently delightful, is neither acceptable to God nor beneficial to themselves, as Isaiah 1:11 makes plain. This, then, is the first and foundational reason why believers — those whose affections are spiritually renewed — love the ordinances of worship and delight in them. They have found by experience that through those ordinances their faith and love are stirred to active exercise toward God in Christ. When they do not find it working this way, they can find no rest in their souls. For this purpose the ordinances are ordained, set apart, and blessed by God — and therefore they are effective means to that end when their effectiveness is not defeated by unbelief.

Those who have no experience of this in their attendance at the ordinances fall into dangerous extremes, as was said. Some continue their observance with little real regard for God — in a cursed formality — and so make the ordinances a means of their ruin by giving them a false sense of security.

Others reject the ordinances entirely — at least the most solemn of them — and in doing so reject the wisdom, grace, and authority of God who appointed them, because through the power of their own unbelief they find nothing in them.

Since this is the immediate purpose of all divine institutions, since this is the only way we can give glory to God in observing them (which is their ultimate end in this world), and since this is the general aim of believers in the obedience they render to the Lord Christ by their diligent observance of them — we may now consider how and by what means those whose affections are spiritually renewed do and ought to apply their minds and souls to that observance. We can consider two things: first, what they aim at; and then, what they seek to be found exercising and practicing in their use and enjoyment of the ordinances.

First, they come to the ordinances with this desire, aim, and expectation: to be enabled, directed, and stirred up through them to the exercise of divine faith and love. Where this aim is absent, those who attend the ordinances are in varying degrees taking the name of God in vain. These ordinances are what Scripture calls approaches to God — ways of drawing near to Him. To suppose that drawing near to God can consist merely in the outward performance of a duty — whatever its solemnity — is to throw away all due reverence of Him. "Because this people draws near with its words and honors Me with its lips, but its heart is far from Me," says the Lord in Isaiah 29:13. The mouth and lips represent by a figure of speech all the means of outward worship and honor. People may use and diligently attend to all of these while their hearts remain far from God — that is, when they are not truly drawing near to Him through faith and love. But all such worship is rejected by God with the clearest signs of His displeasure and indignation against it.

Our souls have no way of approach to God in worship except through faith; no way of clinging and holding fast to Him except through love; no way of remaining in Him except through fear, reverence, and delight. Whenever these are not active, outward duties of worship are far from being a means of approach to God — rather, they leave us at a greater distance from Him than before, and are utterly useless and fruitless to us. This is how it is for most who come to worship — they do not know why they come, and they behave in a way that shows they do not care — and there is no evil in the hearts and ways of people about which God complains more in His Word, since it is accompanied by the highest contempt of Him. Because these ordinances of worship are the means that God's wisdom and grace have appointed for the exercise and growth of divine faith and love — and He therefore sets them apart and blesses them for that purpose — I do not believe that those who despise or neglect these great means of grace have any genuine delight in exercising those graces, or any real desire to grow in them.

I have seen people abandon the means of public worship for various reasons: claiming they have attained such a level of faith, light, and love that they no longer need it; holding the foolish view that the ordinances ceased with the giving of the Spirit, who was in fact sent to make them useful and effective; nursing some real or imagined offense and taking revenge on public ministry by neglecting it; or simply giving way to lazy peace and carelessness in difficult times, which is how some people end up forsaking the gathering of the saints, as Hebrews 10:25 warns. Yet I have never seen this end in anything other than a great decay — if not a complete loss — of all the exercise of faith and love, and sometimes in outright ungodliness. Such people despise the ways and means that God in His infinite wisdom and goodness has appointed for the exercise and growth of those graces — and that will not prosper. We would do well to remember that the chief way to honor God's name in all the duties of worship, and to obtain their benefit for our own souls, is to approach them conscientiously with a holy desire and aim to be found exercising faith and love toward God in Christ, and to be helped and guided in that exercise through them.

Being actively shaped by this aim is the best preparation for any duty. This is how David expressed his delight in the worship of God: "How lovely are Your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts! My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God," as Psalm 84:1-2 says. He longed for the tabernacle and its courts, but what he desired and sought was the enjoyment of God Himself — the living God. This was what made him so fervent in his desires for those ordinances. He expresses it this way in Psalm 63:2: "To see Your power and Your glory, as I have seen You in the sanctuary." David had enjoyed deep communion with God and great delight in Him through faith and love in the solemn duties of worship. And it was that experience which fired him with desire for renewed opportunities to the same end.

Second, this aim is not vague, passive, or idle. Those with spiritually renewed affections diligently endeavor, through their use of and attendance at the ordinances, to be found exercising these graces. They not only have a prior intention to do so, but actively strive to that end — not allowing their minds to be pulled away from that pursuit by anything, as Ecclesiastes 5:1 implies. Whatever experience of the ordinances is not quickened and enlivened by this, they count as utterly lost. Neither outward administration nor order will satisfy them when this inward exercise is absent in themselves. Without the inward activity of the life of faith, the outward administration of the ordinances is a dead thing. No believer can find real satisfaction in them or refreshment through them without an inward experience of faith and love working in and through them. This is what we should be constantly mindful of, if we are wise. A watchful Christian will be careful not to lose any duty by settling for its empty shell. And the danger of doing so is not small. Our affections are renewed only in part. As they are still liable to be pulled away and seduced from spiritual engagement in worship — even by earthly and fleshly things, through the corruption that remains in them — there is also a tendency remaining in them to be pleased with the outward elements of religious duties, the very things that satisfy those, as we showed earlier, who have received no gracious renewal at all. The charm and eloquence of a preacher — especially in these days when flowery language, even in sacred things, is so widely celebrated — the orderliness and external circumstances of other duties, and loyalty to a particular party or tradition, are all apt to work their way into our affections with great ease, insofar as those affections remain unrenewed. These things expose the real reasons why the ordinances of worship are so unprofitable to many who appear to attend them diligently. The reasons can be summed up under three headings.

First, they do not come to the ordinances as the means appointed by God for the exercise of faith and love toward Christ — they do not make that their aim in approaching them — without which everything said about benefit in and through other duties is entirely lost.

Second, they do not strive, in and under the ordinances, to stir up faith and love to their proper exercise.

Third, they allow their minds to be drawn away from the exercise of these graces — partly by occasional temptations, and partly by preoccupation with what is merely outward in the ordinances themselves.

Spiritual affections find no place of rest in any of these things; what they seek and settle in are presentations of God in Christ, of His will and their own duty, that draw out their faith, love, godly fear, and delight into active exercise.

There are two things alone that faith regards in all duties of worship with respect to their outward administration — one absolutely, the other comparatively — both with reference to the end already mentioned: the exercise, growth, and increase of grace in us. The first is that the ordinances must be of divine appointment. Where their origin and observance is traced back to divine authority, there and there alone will they carry divine power and effectiveness. In all these things, faith looks to nothing but divine commands and promises. Whatever looks to anything else is not faith but imagination. This is why the many uncommanded religious duties in the Roman church — so numerous that if not the whole, at least all the principal parts of their worship consist in them — are such that genuine faith cannot be properly exercised in their performance. The second thing faith regards, comparatively, is the spiritual gifts of those entrusted with the administration of the Gospel ordinances in the public worship of the church. With respect to these gifts, believers may have more delight and satisfaction in the ministry of one person than another, as was mentioned earlier. But this is not because one is more learned, more eloquent, more gifted in speech, or more forceful in delivery than another — it is because they find one person's gifts more suited and more effective in stirring up faith and love to holy exercise in their minds and hearts than others. Therefore they have a particular appreciation for and delight in the ministry of such people, especially when they can enjoy it in good order and without causing offense to others. And ministers who are wise will, in their ministry, set aside everything else and attend to this alone: how they can be genuinely helpful to the faith, love, and joy of believers — so far as those believers are the object of their ministry.

This is the first reason and ground on which spiritually renewed affections cling to the ordinances of worship with delight and satisfaction: namely, because they are the means appointed and blessed by God for the exercise and increase of faith and love, and believers have experienced their effectiveness toward that end.

Second, spiritually renewed affections cling to the ordinances because they are the means through which believers receive a sense of divine love and fresh supplies of divine grace. As far as our affections are renewed, this is the most powerful attraction drawing us to cling to the ordinances with delight and satisfaction.

As was noted, the ordinances are the ways by which we draw near to God. Now we do not approach God as a dry hearth or a barren wilderness where no refreshment is to be found. To claim to be coming to God while expecting nothing good or great from Him is to despise God Himself, to overturn the very nature of the duty, and to deprive our own souls of all benefit from it. The absence of this expectation is what makes the worship of most people useless and fruitless to themselves. We must always come to God as to an eternal spring of goodness, grace, and mercy — of all that our souls need, of all we could desire for our everlasting blessing — and for believers, all of this can be gathered under the two headings mentioned.

First, they come for the communication of a sense of God's love in Jesus Christ. On this alone depends all our peace, consolation, and joy; all our encouragement to do and suffer according to God's will; all our support in our sufferings. In this our souls live, and without it we are of all people the most miserable.

It is the Holy Spirit who is the immediate cause of all these things in us. He pours out the love of God in our hearts, as Romans 5:5 says. He bears witness to our adoption, as Romans 8:15-16 says. And through that adoption He gives us a share in the love of the Father — God as He is love. But the outward way and means through which He communicates and produces these things in us is ordinarily by the dispensation of the Gospel — the preaching of it. He does the same work also in prayer and often in other holy ordinances. For this purpose — to participate in this grace and these mercies — believers come to God through them. They use them as means to draw water from the wells of salvation and to receive that spiritual sense of divine love which God communicates through them.

So Christ, by His Word, knocks at the door of the heart — and if it is opened by faith, He comes in and dines with them, giving them gracious refreshment through the testimony of His own love and the love of the Father, as Revelation 3:20 and John 14:23 show. This is what believers look for in the ordinances, and what they receive through them in various measures. And though some, through fears and temptations, are not consciously aware of receiving anything, they are still secretly receiving these blessed supplies of grace by which their souls are kept alive — without which they would waste away and perish. So Christ deals with them, as Song of Songs 4:5-6 and Song of Songs 7:12 describe: these ordinances are the gardens and galleries of Christ in which He gives us of His love. Those who are humble and sincere know how often their souls have been refreshed in the ordinances, and how long the impressions of divine grace and love received there have sometimes remained with them, to their unspeakable consolation. They remember what they have received in the opening and application of the exceedingly great and precious promises — how by these they are gradually made more and more partakers of the divine nature; how many times they have received light in darkness, refreshment under despair, and relief in their conflicts with dangers and temptations. This is why spiritually renewed affections cling to the ordinances. Who could help but love and delight in that which he has found by experience to be the means of communicating to him the most priceless mercy and the most invaluable benefit available to him in this life? The man who has found a hidden treasure will always value the place where he found it, even if he could take all of it away at once. But if the nature of the treasure is such that no more can be taken at one time than is sufficient for the present need — yet it is so full and boundless that every time he returns to seek it he is certain to receive fresh supply — he will always prize that place and make it his regular resort. Such is the treasure of grace and divine love that is in the ordinances of worship.

If we are strangers to these things — if we have never received real, effective communications of divine love to our souls in and through the duties of worship — we cannot love them and delight in them as we should. What do people come to hear the Word of God for? What do they pray for? What do they expect to receive from God? Do they come to God as the eternal fountain of living water — as the God of all grace, peace, and consolation? Or do they come to worship without any real purpose, as though approaching an empty spectacle? Do they fight uncertainly in these things — like men swinging at air? Or do they think they bring something to God but expect nothing back from Him — that the best outcome is to please Him by doing what He commands, but that receiving anything from Him is neither expected nor even examined afterward? People who walk in such ways will never attain genuine delight in the ordinances of worship.

Believers have other aims in worship, and chief among them is this: that they may receive fresh and comforting assurances of God's love in Christ — and through them, renewed assurance of their adoption, the forgiveness of their sins, and their acceptance before God. The extent to which they find these things in the duties of holy worship — public or private — will directly shape how much they love, value, and cling to those duties. Some people are so filled with other thoughts and affections that these things are not their primary aim or desire; or they are content with whatever measure they suppose they have already attained; or they simply are not aware of how much they need fresh communications of divine love made to their souls each day. Some are so ignorant of what they ought to seek in the duties of Gospel worship that genuine aim in them is impossible. Many among the more serious class of professing Christians are too negligent in this regard. They do not long and pant inwardly for renewed pledges of God's love. They do not consider how much they need such things to be encouraged and strengthened for all other duties of obedience. They do not prepare their minds to receive them, nor come with expectation that they will be communicated. They do not rightly fix their faith on this truth: that these holy ordinances and duties are appointed by God first of all as the ways and means of conveying His love and a sense of it to our souls. From this neglect springs all the lukewarmness, coldness, and indifference toward the duties of holy worship that are growing among us. For if people have lost the primary aim of faith in the ordinances, and have come to undervalue the greatest benefit to be obtained through them, where could zeal for them, delight in them, or diligence in attending them possibly come from? Let no one comfort themselves under the power of such spiritual decline — these are unmistakable signs of their inward condition. Such people will grow cold, careless, and negligent toward the duties of public worship; they will put themselves to neither expense nor effort on their account; every circumstance of life will easily divert them and be welcomed as an excuse. And when they do attend, they do so with great indifference and disengagement. Yet they would have it thought that all is still well within — that they have as much regard for religion as anyone. But these things expose an advanced spiritual disease in the souls of such people as plainly as if it were written across their foreheads: whatever they may claim to the contrary, they are under the power of a devastating decay from all due regard for spiritual and eternal things. I would avoid the company of such people as those who carry an infectious disease — except for the purpose of helping them toward a cure.

But here is where spiritually renewed affections show themselves. When we delight in and value the duties of God's worship because we have found by experience that they are and have been means of communicating a sense of — and renewed assurances of — God's love in Christ, along with all the benefits and privileges that depend on it, then our affections have been renewed by the Holy Spirit.

Second, believers come to the ordinances for fresh supplies of inward, sanctifying, and strengthening grace. This is the second great aim of believers when they draw near to God in worship. They feel the lack of this grace in themselves — in degree and measure — and are keenly aware of it. Indeed, this is one of the great burdens of believers' souls in this world. Everything we do in the life of God can be reduced to two headings.

First, the keeping of all the duties of obedience.

Second, the conflict with and conquest over temptations. We are continually occupied with these two things. Therefore, the great thing we desire, labor for, and long after is spiritual strength and ability to carry out our responsibilities in both areas. This is what every true believer groans after inwardly, and what he values infinitely above all earthly things. If only he may have sufficient grace in some adequate measure for these ends, he asks for nothing more in this world, whatever else may befall him. God in Christ is the only fountain of all this grace — not a drop of it is to be obtained from anywhere else. And while He communicates it to us of His own sovereign goodness and pleasure, the ordinary way and means by which He does so are the duties of worship, as Isaiah 40:28-31 declares: "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary."

All grace and spiritual strength have their original source in the nature of God, as verse 28 says. But what comfort does that offer to us who are weak, frail, and ready to faint? He will act in accordance with His nature in communicating this grace and power, as verse 29 says. But how do we gain access to this grace and these workings? By waiting on Him in the ordinances of worship, as verse 31 says. The Word as preached is the food of our souls by which God administers growth and strength to them, as John 17:17 and 1 Peter 2:2 indicate. "Desire the pure milk of the word," Peter says, "so that by it you may grow." And what encouragement is there for this? "If so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious" — if through the ministry of the Word you have had experience of God's grace, goodness, and kindness to your soul, you cannot help but desire it and delight in it. Otherwise, you will not. When people have sat for a good while under the preaching of the Word and the enjoyment of other ordinances, without tasting in and through them that the Lord is gracious, they will grow weary of it all. Prayer, therefore, is His appointed way for us to bring our souls to Him and obtain a share in all needful grace — which He has set before us in the promises of the covenant, so that we may know what to ask for and how to plead for it. In the sacraments, those same promises are sealed to us, and the grace represented in them is effectively given. Meditation confirms our souls in the exercise of faith regarding these things, and is a special opening of the heart to receive them. By these means, I say, God communicates all supplies of renewing, strengthening, and sanctifying grace to us — so that we may live for Him in all holy obedience and overcome our temptations. Under this understanding do believers approach God in the ordinances of worship. They come to them as the means by which God communicates to their souls. Therefore they cling to them with delight, as far as their affections are renewed. So the bride in Song of Songs 2:3 testifies: "I sat down under his shade with great delight." In the ordinances is the protecting and refreshing presence of Christ — and in this she rested with great delight.

As believers come to the ordinances with these aims and expectations, they also experience the spiritual benefits and advantages they receive through them — and this more and more binds their affections to them in love and delight. All these things are foreign to those whose affections have been changed but not spiritually renewed. They have neither the aim just described in coming to the ordinances, nor any experience of the effectiveness just set out in attending them. But these benefits are real and great. When people find the worth and effect of the preached Word on their souls — its enlightening, refreshing, strengthening, transforming power; when they find their hearts warmed, their graces stirred and strengthened, their love for God increased, their despairing spirits under trials and temptations relieved, and their whole souls gradually more and more conformed to Christ; when they find themselves delivered through it from snares, doubts, fears, and temptations, and brought to satisfaction and rest — they cannot help but delight in its ministry and rejoice in it as the food of their souls. And it is a great hindrance to spiritual growth, and a block to fruitfulness, thankfulness, and consolation, when we are negligent about reflecting on the benefits we receive from the Word and the advantages we have through it. For as long as we are that way, we can neither value the grace of God in granting us this invaluable privilege, nor perform any duty with respect to it in a right manner. This is what makes the Word a special object of spiritually renewed affections. That hidden love for and heavenly delight in the statutes and testimonies of God that David expresses throughout Psalm 119 sprang from the spiritual benefit and advantage he received through them — as he constantly declares. And conversely, the only reason people grow so careless, negligent, and cold in their attendance to the preaching of the Word is that they have no experience of any spiritual benefit or advantage from it. They were drawn to it by one means or another — mostly by a sense of duty. Their minds were variously affected by it, moved to joy in hearing it and readiness for various duties of obedience. But after a while, when the sense of those temporary impressions has faded and they find no real spiritual benefit in it, they lose all delight in it and become completely indifferent to it. The condition such people eventually arrive at is described in Malachi 1:13 and 3:14. And nothing can give clearer evidence of the decay of all grace in a person — or of their being entirely without saving grace — than when they fall away from some degree of zeal for and delight in the ministry of God's Word, sinking into that cursed indifference that overtakes so many. It cannot be otherwise. Because this is a way and means of the exercise of all grace, it will not be neglected except where there is a decay of all grace — whatever excuses people may tell themselves. And once people are caught in this decline, every foolish prejudice, every offense taken, every careless opinion and whim will confirm and deepen their gradual backsliding.

And what is true for believers with respect to hearing the Word in general is also true with respect to the degree of benefit they find in it. When people have enjoyed the ministry of the Word in a particularly spiritual and effective way, and yet are willing to settle for something colder and more lifeless — as long as it fills the same time slot and maintains the same outward form — that is not a strong sign that their souls are prospering. It is therefore only those who have a sense of the Word's power on their souls and consciences — toward all its holy ends — who cling to it with spiritual love and delight. They continually remember what holy impressions it has made on them, what commitments it has drawn their souls into, what encouragements to faith and obedience it has given them — and they long for renewed experience of its riches. When we do not find in ourselves this foundation of spiritual delight in the ministry of the Gospel, we have little evidence that our affections have been renewed.

The same is true of prayer and meditation. When a believer's soul has experienced the communion it has had with God in these duties — the spiritual refreshment received through them, the benefits and mercies obtained by them — in recovery from temptations, snares, and despair; in victory over sin and Satan; through spiritual impressions that have shaped the soul into a holy, watchful frame that has remained with it in other areas and occasions — along with all the other advantages that accompany fervent, effective prayer and sincere heavenly meditation — it cannot help but love these duties and delight in them. But if we truly have no experience of these things, if we find no such advantages in and through these duties, they cannot help but be a burden to us, serving no purpose beyond satisfying our conscience. A person who has experienced the benefit of clean, healthful air during recovery from many illnesses — and has had his health preserved through it — will love and prize that air. So too will the person who has been a partaker of any of these saving mercies and privileges love the duties through which they came. Some have been delivered from the worst temptations, and from the nearest point of being overcome by them — nearly to the point of destroying themselves — by a sudden remembrance of the frame of their soul and the intimations of God's love received in some prayer, at some particular time. Others have experienced similar deliverance from temptations to sin when they were being carried away under the power of their corruptions and all circumstances seemed to conspire against them — a sudden recollection of some prayer or meditation, and of the commitments made to God in it, has caused every weapon sin held to drop from its hands, and every appealing feature of its enticements to disappear.

When others have been under the power of such despondency and discouragement that no present offer of relief could reach them, they have been suddenly lifted and refreshed by the memory of the intimate love and tenderness between Christ and their souls that had shown itself in past seasons of duty. Multitudes in fears, distress, and temptation have found relief for their spirits and encouragement for their faith in remembering the answers they received to earlier prayers in similar distress. These are the grounds for spiritual delight in these duties.

Empty, lifeless, wordy prayer — the product of mere conviction, spiritual gifts, custom, or outward occasion — however frequently repeated and however devout it may appear, will never engage spiritual affections. When these things are absent — when the soul has no experience of them — prayer is nothing but a lifeless form, a dead shell, which would be a torment to a spiritually alive soul to be tied to. There may be seasons, of course, when God seems to hide Himself from believers in their prayers, so that they find neither the life in themselves they once knew, nor any sense of gracious communication from Him — but this is only for a time, and is primarily meant to stir them up to the kind of fervor and perseverance in prayer that will restore them to their former condition, or to one even better. The same can be said about all other duties of religion and ordinances of worship.

Fourth, believers whose affections are spiritually renewed delight greatly in the duties of worship because those duties are the great appointed way for them to give glory to God. This is the first and chief purpose of all religious duties as they relate to divine appointment: to ascribe and render to God the glory that is His due. For in all these duties, acknowledgment is made of all the glorious excellencies of the divine nature, our dependence on Him, and our relationship to Him. And this is what believers aim at first in all the duties of worship. The pattern given by our blessed Savior in the prayer He taught His disciples directs us to this: all its opening petitions concern directly the glory of God and its advancement — in which, in fact, all the blessing and safety of the church is also included. Those who fail in this aim err in everything they do and never move toward the goal set before them. But this is what primarily animates the souls of believers in all their duties — their universal relationship to God and the love that relationship produces makes it necessary. Therefore, the way and means by which they can directly and solemnly ascribe and give glory to God is precious and delightful to them. And all the duties of divine worship are exactly that. These are some of the ways in which the relationship of spiritually renewed affections to the ordinances and duties of worship differs from the activity of affections toward the same objects when they have not been sanctified and renewed.

There are yet other things that further evidence the difference between spiritually renewed affections and those in which only a general change has been worked through conviction and outward circumstances — which I must address in one or two more instances, along with related cases that arise from them. My aim here is not only to identify when minds are spiritually renewed, but also to describe the nature and operation of the affections by which we are made and identified as spiritually minded — which is the subject of our whole inquiry. We will now proceed to that.