Head t. TIJe mind i!!unJinated. 16 I fu., makes the fiars to hide their heads:. acd fo it e:;g?ges tlz_e merchant .j)~tJn to felt all that he hath, to buy the one pearl o(great price, Matth. xiii. 45, 46. makes the foul \Yell content, ~o take Chrift for all, and int1ead of all. Eveo as an ur.fkilful merchant, to whom one dft!reth a pfarl of great price for his petty wares, dares not venture- on the bargain ; for · tho' he thini<s, that one pearl may be mote -wonh than all he has, yet he is not fure of it: but wten a jeweller comes to him, and a{fUtes him, it is worth double all his wares; he then greedily embraceth the bargain, and chearfully parts with ail that hehas for that pearl Fined(;', Th is illumination io the l<.nowledge of Ch!ift, coovincir.g.ly d .fcovereth to men a fulnefs in him,' fufficient for the fup– ply of all their wants; enoogh to fatidy the boundlds cidire~ of an immortal foul. They :ore rerfuaded fl1c-h fu-tnefs is in him, and that in order to be comn:u nica· e : ~hey depend upon it as a certain truth; and therefore their fouls t ;< ke up tbei r etet nal' rdl in him. . 5. The man is in{hutl:ed in the kno~dedgt> of the vani~y of the world, . Pjal. cxix. 96 I .6az:1' feen an_et;d of ail perfelii?n. Regenerating grace eJevates the foul_, fets it, as. it were, amongft the H;;r!, from whence this earth can– IIOt but appear a little, yea, a very little thing : even as hea'ven appeared l>efore, while the foul was i111merfed in the earth. Grace brings a mar~ into a new wcrld ; ~: here this wor!d is reputed but a fiage of V<lnity, ;m ho v.-ling wildern e f~, a valley of te;1rs. God hath hung the.fi go of vanity at the door of ali creared enjoyments: yet ho,\v do men .hrong into the rwufe, calling and looking for 'fame– what that is fatisfying ,; tven af1er it has been a dwui<1nd times told them, ther.; is no fucb thing in it , it -is not to be got there, ljcdvii. I o. 7ho1t art wearied in thegreatn~(j of ,thy 'VP.I)'; p ·t faidejlthvu not, There iJ no·hope. \\ hy are men fo foolifh ? rh_e tru th cf the m;;tter Les here, they d? not fee by. the lighf of grace, they do not fp irirually dtfcern that. f1gn of vanity. They have often indeed made a rattOnal di(covery of it : but can that truly \Vettn a heart from the world? Nay, no more th:~n painted fire nn bur'n _~ff the prifoner's , bands. But the Ji!>ht of gra~..e is _the l1g.ht of life, powe1 ful and t fficacious Lc-fl!y, (To furn up all in one word) in ·regeneral.i-on the 0 3 · mind
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