Ambrose - BT200 A42 1658

sno Book.IV .Part.V. Lookingunto1efm. Chap.2.Sed 9 with things futable to 'its Original. As it is with a child'that hath a noble birth; iftranfporred into another Country, and there ufed like a Oave , there fet to rake channels , or (as tl:re Prodigal) to feed fwine ; while he is there , and knowes not his Original, he mindes nQthing but to get viduals, and to do . his work that heisfet about; but if once he come to know from whence he was , that he is indeed bo ~n heir to fuch a Frince in fuch a Country; 0 then his thoughts, and minde, and longings will be altered; 0 that I were in m; own Country! 0 that 1 were ..,ith my f ather in hu Court ! Even fo it is with the foules of the fonoes ofmen, they are the birth (as I may fo fpeak) of the great King ofheaven and earth , and though by the fall of man they came to ·be as flaves to Satan , yet when God is pleafed to convert the foul ; then he difcovers thus, oh man, thou art born from on high, thy foul is ( as it were) a fparkje of god bimfolfe, thou art come from god , and thou art capable of ' communionwithGod, even with God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Hol]Ghoft. 0 confider of thy Country whence thou cllmeft at Jirfl, cert.tinly thou never hadft'fuch a divine and excellent being given thee to delight one!y in the 1qefh, to be ferviceable onely to thy body;O look_up unto'fe[us ! why ,this it is that turns the heart and fets the converfation on heavenly things. · 2. Becaufe their heft and choice things are already in heaven. /' As their Father is in heaven, and their Saviour is in heaven , ,.thither he afcended , and there now he fits at the right hand of God; their Husband is in heaven, their Elder Brother is in heaven, their King is in heaven; their Treafure is in heaven, their Inheritance is in heaven, their Hope is in heaven, their Manfion is in heaven , their chief Friends are in heaven , their Subftance is.in heaven, their Reward is in heaven, their W.a.ges are in heaven: and all thefe things· being in heaven, no mar~ vaile their converfations be in heaven. 3. Becaufe they are going cowards heaven even whiles yce they are on earth. If the Nobleman, . (as we formerly fuppofed) do once know his condition , and begins his travel homeward towards his fathers Court, will he not every morning that he rites , converfe with them that come from his father to conduet him home? doth it not do him good to hear any man I peak of his fathers Coull(ry ? ~~ !~ !_1~~ !~ ~!~ ~~oughts, i~ ~is tal~, ' ' 10

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