F 5 O Wherein are we endangered by lawf ull things ? Serm. 21.. are at command ; and his ferv.7nts ye are to whom ye obey, Rpm, 6, 16. When the foul is even as the fervant that looks to the hand of the Mailer with an obediential eye, Pfd. iß,3.2. eapeCtingacommand and ready to yeeld obedience, fuch a comfort is a fin and a curfe to you. Chrift calls to us to deny our 'elves, Moth. 16.24. Profits, plea fures, carnal! advantages fav, rather deny Chrifis command. Who is obeyed ? Chrifl faith mortifie your lofts ; luf} faith grarifie us, con- fider who is obeyed ? If tami(y duties, and perfonall private duties; if praying, holy meditation, fecret dole communion wi,h God be negkded, becaufe multitude of worldly bufineis and full and great Trade in the world commands you another way, and requires die love, and zeal, and flrength, and care of the heart to another atten- dance, then you are under another Sovere*gn than Chrift. The obedience of the heart is carried to another Law, other Lords rule over you. Now the foul that is under the command of the creature, as 1 hare 'hewed, that comfort becomes a fin which ufurps the throne of the heart. 4. When the foul growech very tender and compalfionate to- wards fuch a comfort, and begins to fpare that above other things, then that becomes a lull, and lull is very tender and delicate, and mull be tenderly ufed : right eyes arc very tender, the leaf} touch fercheth tears ; when thou canil not endure that either the Word of God, or the Rod of God fhotUld come too near,or fo much as touch upon fuch a carnali contentment, fuch a comfort, fuch a Huf- band, fuch a Wife or Child, thou canil not indure that the Lord fhould (mite thee in any of the fe : but thou cryefl out, Oh are tkie, as David concerning his Abfalom, 2 Sam. 18.4,5. Oh tender the puff man, pray deal gently with him ; and as old f acob with his Benjamin, He could more eafily J)'are hid other children than him, he looked with a very .tender compaf ovate eye ono him. What ever thou doll enjoy with fuch a tender bleeding heart and eye, it bath ravifhed thy heart very far, and it is become thy Idol, and beloved very far, and thy fin 5. When the care, anxiety, and folic: tub of the foul runs out of ter the comforts of this life, faying, what (hall I ear, what than I drink, how flail I live and maintain my Wife and Children, what !hall I do to get, to keep fuch or fuch a thing ? when the thoughts of the heart are taken up for proteáion, for provifion, to get and hold the things of this life ; fuch comforts as are fo go.ten, and fo enjoyed, they are f afully obtain;d and ttiaintained, 41d this our Lord
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