•· till I have obtained your Grace~s favour. With which carriage he di.dovercome him. With fuch a ref~ lution do thou throw thy fdf at the feet of God : 'Tis for thy lif~!, and therefo~e follow him, and give not over: Refolve thou wilt not be put off with bones, with cotnmon metcies. What though God do not prefently open to thee? Is n<;>t grace worth the waiting for ? Knock, and wait ; and no doubt but, fooner or later, mercy will come. . And this know, That thou haft thevery fame en· couragement to feek and wait, that the Saints now in glory <?nee had ; fer they were once in t~y very cafe. And have they fped fo well, and wilt thou not go to the fame door, andwait uponGod in the fame courfe ? Direct. XV. Forfa~e thy .evil c~mpany, Prov. 9· 6. and forbear the occafions of fin, Prov. 3 3. 3 I. Thou wilt never be turned from fin, till thou wilt decline and forego the temptations of fin. I never expeCt thy converfion'· from fin, unlefs thou art brought to fotne ielf-denial, a5 to fly the · occafions. If thou wilt be nibling at the bait, and playing on the brink, and tampering and medling with the fnare, thy foul will furely be taken. Where God doth expofe men in his ~rovidence, unavoid– ably, to temptation, and the occafions are fuch as we cannot remove, we ntay expect fpecial affi– fiance in the ufeof his means : But when we tempt God, by.-- running intodanger, he will not engage to fupport us when we are tempted. And of all temptations, one of the moft fatal and pernicious, is evil company. Oh, 'Vhat hopeful beginnings have th~f~ often ftifled! Oh, t'he fouls, the ~fiates, the famtltes, the t-owns, that thefe have rqined l How many a po<?r- finner hath been enlightned, and ~onviriced, and hath been juft ready .to give the Devil.the Oip, and hath even efcaped his fnare, AQd
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=