H4 Book .IV. 1£.0Jlting unto j}eftt5. Chap. 5 .Sect 9 . =_;____ a_s_c-om-m-:ifii-::t:-lo-n_o_f_e_v""il_·_O_m_y foul, whofelmage i;~h~ ?is·ir rl~~aoe~f Clu·ift or PCai.Jo~. 1. 1\om. s. 29, Tit.2.14. ·Senec.ep.u. of ~aihan? If the w~rft Schohr i~ t~e School fl10uld writethus unro~ardly afre; [Jis copy, would be not be aflJa,rt~ed ( 1f m AJy heart nnd life I obferve fo many blots and {bins·, fo great inconformioy; · and. dilllmilit.Qde to the l.ikof Chrirt; bow ihould I but liein d1e dull? 0 woe is me f what a va[l difproponi011 is betwixt Chri!l's life and mine? why thus 0 ,'1'Y foul, ihouldft tflou humble rhy felf; each morning, each prayer, each med•rmon? ea'cb felf-exa~ination, flwuldft..dlOu fetch new, 6;elh, dear panicub1· caufes; occafwns, matters of. humiliation: ~~ rhus. loc thc.c the evennefs' gravity, g_racioufi1efs..,. :.unioormity, hQlinels, .fpiritualities, di;inenefs, hcavenlinefs of Jefi1s Chnft ;, .Ioe tl1efe the fragrant zeal, dear love, render pity, confl:ant in. d.ufl:ry, .u~weaned pains, patience, admita:ble fdf.den(al, conrempt of .the world in J efu. Chnfl:; loe there thofe many, yea continual devour; divine llrearhino< of foul after_ God his Fathers glory, after the fpiritual and immortal good of the.precfbus Jouls of hisredeemed ones ; Oh an the admirable rneeknefs, m~rcifulnefs, cleJneucy, ~brity, wah all other excell~nt rem perarure, rare compofure, wonderful order of his hlef. fed foul! Q ~he f';Veer exprelllons, gracious converfation! 0 the glorio·us lhi~~' blef– fed lufrre ofl'hts ~IVlne Soul! Oh the fweer countenance, facr.d difcourfe, ravifl 1ing de. meanour, wmmng de~ortment of ]efus Chnfl: ! and now .I r.eflec't upon my: felf, oli f.las ! Ob the total, wide, va!l, Utter dlffer.ence. dlfl:ance, dtfproporrion of mine there– from! i.ihould pundual/y anfwer, perfe.'lly refemble, accurately imitate, exactly wnform to !!his life of Cbrifl:, but ah my unevennefs, lighrnefs, vanity1 Ah my rude– nefs, grofsnefs, deformity, odioufnefs , lleightnefs, conremptiblenefs; execreblenefs! Abmy fenfuality ,brurifhnefs,devi!ifl,nefs.l haw clearly are rhefe, and all orher my enormities difcovered, difcerned, made ovidenr, and plain by rbe blelfed and holy life of Je. fus? fo true is that rule, Contrariajuxta fe pofita magi> cluccfcunt. · 3. Lpt us quicken, provO"ke, and incenfc our lluggi01, drou!ie fouls ro conform to Cbrill:. If 1ve will bur fl:ridly obferve our beans, we flJall find them very backward to this duty, and thereforelet us call upon our fouls as Davitl did, Blc(s the Lord 0 my foul, and!# all that iJ witl;inme b!efs hi> holy Name; let us work upon our fouls by rea– Coning with our own hearts, as if we difcour[ed with them thu., 0 my heart, or o my foHI, if in the deep councel1 of ererniry this was Gods great defign to make his Son like thee, that thou alfo mighre[l he like his Son, how then ihouldefl: thou bur endeavour to couform? •and what fayes the Apoftle? For whom he did forekp01v, he alfodidpudefti– nate, i-6v~-'conformcd to the Image of hi> Son : this was one of l1is great purpofes from eternity; this law God fet down, before he made the world, that I ihould conform to his SGn, and what, ·O my foul, would'!! thou break the eternal bands of predellinati– on? 0, God forbid! Again, if this was one of the ends of Chritl's coming, to de!lroy the works of rhe devil, to deface all Sathan·s works, efpecially his work in me; his Image in me, and to fer his own !lamp on my foul; bow then ihould I bur endeavour to con– form? I read but of two ends of Chrill's coming into the world in relation to us, whereof the ·firfl was ro redeem his people, and the other was to purifie his people; Hegave himfe/f for!", that he might redeem llf frorJ all iniq"ity, and purift•."nto hfm{elf, a pem. liarpe•plc, z.ealom ofgood work;: the one is the work of his mem, which goeth up• ward, to the.farisfaction of-:J>is Father; the other is the work of h•s Spmt and grace, wlucl• goeth downwards to the fanctificarion of his Church ; in the one he bet\oweth his righteoufnefs on us by imputation, on the other hefafltioneth his Image in us by r(nova– tion: and ·w&ar, 0 my foul, would'ft thou deftroy the end of Chri!l's coming in the :llefl1'? or woutd'!l: thou mifs of that end for which Chrifl: came in relation to thy good; 0, God fol'bid! Again, confider rhe example of rhe Saints before thee; if this was theit' Mlo/ a~ibition ro be like their Jefus, emulate them in this, for this is a bleffed emu– lation. 1 ·linislobfervable how the heathens rhemfelves had lrarnr a rule very near to rlus; Sencci·i<f~i(lkl rhat evtr.y.man ihould propound to himfelf, the example of fo~e wife, aud·vertliOils'perfonage, ~s Cato, or Socrates, or the hke; and really to take htsl!fe_ as the diretlionof all their acrions · but is notthe life of J efus far more precious, and m– finitelymoi'e>wonhy.of imitatio~? we read in hifl:ory of one Cecilia a Virgin, who ac– tulJ;ome~'her felf ro the beholding of Chrift for imira.rion, and to that purpofe /),e ever eat'ried m f1er breaft fome gieces of the .Gofpel,, wluch fl1e had gat~ere~ out of all the Evangelllls-, and thereon night and day !he was etther read1ng, or m.<dltating; th1s ;vork fl1e carried on in filch ·a circulation, that at !aft !he grew.perfed llllt, and fo enJoyed Ghl'i!l: and ~he Gofpel;; nor:only in her brea!l, buralfo in thefecrm of her heart ; asap- . peared
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