IX. Thus religion fell from experience to tradition, and worship from power to form, from life to letter; and, instead of putting up lively and powerful requests, animated by a deep sense of want and the assistance of the Holy Spirit,--by which the ancients prayed, wrestled, and prevailed with God,--behold a by-rote _mumpsimus_, a dull and insipid formality, made up of corporeal bowings and cringings, garments and furnitures, perfumes, voices, and music, fitter for the reception of some earthly prince than the heavenly worship of the one true and immortal God, who is an eternal, invisible Spirit. But thy heart growing carnal, thy religion did so too; and, not liking it as it was, thou fashionedst it to thy liking: forgetting what the holy prophet said, "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord," (Prov. xv. 8,) and what St. James saith, "Ye ask, and receive not." (James, iv. 3.) Why? "Because ye ask amiss;" that is, with a heart that is not right, but insincere, unmortified, not in the faith that purifies the soul, and therefore can never receive what is asked: so that a man may say with truth, thy condition is worse by thy religion, because thou art tempted to think thyself better for it, and art not. X. Well; by this prospect that is given thee of thy foul fall from primitive Christianity, and the true cause of it,--to wit, a neglect of the daily cross of Christ,--it may be easy for thee to inform thyself of the way of thy recovery. For, look, at what door thou wentest out, at that door thou must come in; and, as letting fall and forbearing the daily cross lost thee, so taking up and enduring the daily cross must recover thee. It is the same way by which the sinners and apostates become the disciples of Jesus. "Whosoever," says Christ, "will come after me and be my disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his daily cross and follow me." (Matthew, xvi. 24; Mark, viii. 34; Luke, xiv. 27.) Nothing short of this will do; mark that! for, as it is sufficient, so it is indispensable; no crown but by the cross, no life eternal but through death; and it is but just that those evil and barbarous affections that crucified Christ afresh, should, by his holy cross, be crucified. CHAPTER III. 1. What the cross of Christ is. A figurative speech, but truly the Divine power that mortifies the world.--2. It is so called by the apostle Paul to the Corinthians.--3. Where it is the cross appears, and must be borne? Within; where the lusts are, there they must be crucified.--4. Experience teaches every one this; to be sure Christ asserts it, from within comes murder, &c., and that is the house where the strong man must be bound.--5. How is the cross to be borne? The way is spiritual, a denial of self, of the pleasure of sin; to please God, and obey his will as manifested to the soul by the light He gives it.--6. This shows the difficulty, yet the necessity of the cross.