Goodwin - BV4500 G66 1650

94 The Tryag them : Thefe are uítwo leverai! wayes he hath oflaying it out : And fo fometimes he fhewes his grace in keeping thofe of leffe grace, and againe in letting thofe of more to ftruggle with their lulu : and fuch fickneflès are not to death, or to weaken them, but for the glory of God, and their further growth ; for this will be the effea and confequent of fuch ftirrings in growne Chriftians, that as their fits ofcorruptions furring are great, fo `their humblings will be greater : Grace being much in them, will thew it felfe that way ; great fits of finning have intermin- gled with them great exercifes of repentìngs ; and the growth of their grace will fhew it felfe in them, and appeare in them ; even as in men that are cheerful! naturally, but fometimes op- prefed with melancholy ; when thole pretfur,. s are over they are molt merry, their fpirirs breaking forth being at liberty, they Phew themfelves as much on the contrary in mirth : fo is it here, whengrace gets above againe. As it is in the body, when the fpiritsare not weak, but onely are kept under by humours, when they doe once get up, they then Phew their ftrength in canting the body to grow the more : as in many young men, after a lick- nele where firength of nature is ; and fo thereby they become after often the better, and more lively ; but if the natural! fpirits be weak, it is not fo. Lithitation. A fecond limitation is, that though one of leffe growth inmor- tification may fometimes by warchfulnefle keep underhis lofts more, and aa that little gracehe hath, more thenhaply he Both, who bath yet radically more grace: therefore (ayes the Apoftle, Stir up thegift that u in thee : To Timothy he fpeakes it, and he exhorts, Gal. 5. even young Chriftians to walkle, in the iirit : that is, to have the fpirìt kept above the flefh, fo as a man fhall have great hand over his corruptions, that they breake not forth : Now I fay, that this exhortation doth belong unto, and concern- eth theyoung&Chriftians. For he fpeakes to all that have fpi- ritual I lifebegun in them, ver. 25. If we live in the Spirit, let uu, fayes he, walke in the Spirit, and then we /hallnotfulfill the luflt of theflefh, ver.16. Aweake body, thoughweake, yet if he ufeth care, may keepe himfelfe from diftempers, as much as fome man who is ftrong , but grows carelefe , and neglects his health. But yet though one of leffe grace be thus actually more watchful!,

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