Of E!eUion, 453 Secondly, thou may!\ further make a very lair Tale Jor thy felf, out ~ of it, and fay to him, Thou Lord h.1f!givm me this Lrght into, mid i11ck- Chap. 8. lmJ about thy 'Darn;; Thy Word tells me, that thts Inhtritrmceof Hra-~ vm u ejlated, 1111d brque,uhed6y thee to thr Children of th; Chi!tfren; and th,,t thou h,lfl delighted to drr~w thiue E!dl through the Loi11J of thine E!eCI; anti jo, thy Promifes ru1l much to them : fo thrrefore, 0 Lord, thy Servant pre(mts htmje!f hfore l'hee, ar OIU Of thofe , and extraCied ortt of (uch , and fo not knowi11g 6ut that thu Bf!ate may belong to me; tllld do come to thee who keepejl thef• Rtcords, jo to find out wh11her fuch atJ Ejlare be befa!n me. I pray thee thereforr that thou wotddfl look tmd fuwch thy Book, and the Series cf thy 'Dtcrees; look into thmeown Hrart, and call to mi11d thr tmfaigtud Faith that dwt!t m my PareRts, a11d which I hope thou haft ord4med to bt i11 me a!fo, And do thot~ cotJjider , thrtt thou h<lj/ further fot my Heart awork to feek thee, and more fpecirt!ly invited me; mtdh"fl certtjitdmt, that I jhatl be doubb welcome: Being thrrefore hereby em6o!dntd, to I am come to ask a bold Qfte{lioll of thee: 'Do tbo11 refo!ve mt Lord, am not I one whom thou ha(/ fet thy heart upon ? Is 110t my Name in I he Ltf/ of I by beloved ones ? Am not I 011t of thy EleCI too? JPtak Lord, mzfwer me plaiu!y, and jpetdi!y. And whilft thou art urging God thus, and putting him to it with what he knows is true, and fpeakefi his very Heart, he ( as one that cannot deny it) plain– ly grants it , and will tell thee fo. My Brethren, there is an art of getting out Gods Secrets thus. And thus, though to be Child to fuch a Parent is not to be confiderecl as the attractive that draws Gods Heart to thee; it was not as the Bur– ning Glafs to draw and unite the Beams of his love in thee; yet it may be ., the Cranny through which thofe Beams may Shioe into thee, With– out prejudice to his Free Grace : And fo, the Eye of thy Faith may have recourfe to it , as unto a Chink through which his Love may fpie and meet thee. And do thou lay thy Eye to fuch a Promife, and through it look unto God ; and ere thou art aware the Light of his Countenance, his Free Love will lhine in upon thee this way. Thus did the Jews plead the Covenant of their Fathers, lfai. 6~. 1 ~· ( whil!\ they did not boWer themfelves up by it, and think , that therefore God would fave them) and it prevailed. So Jacob pleads it , Gmrf. p.. 9· 0 God of my Fathtr Abraham, and my Father Ifaac. Ill. General Head of Vfes. The third fort of Ufes /hall be unto Godly Parents. Vfo 1. That Goqly Parents lhould value this Blel1ing ( efpecially when they live to fee tbis promife take hold upon their Children before their Eyes) as the greatefi Blel1ing that can befall them and for their comfort, next unto their own Salvation. It is more than to have thy Child a Mo– narch of the whole World , thou wouldft think that an infinite priviledge, as V aviddid when his houfe was raifed up to be as one of the great ones of the Earth: This is much more, for it is to fuch Parents , not an out– ward, but a fpiritual Blel1ing, and in fome refpeds an eternal Blel1ing, and the comfort of it may upon fome good ground be fuppofed to lafi unto e– ternity. For this is certaiA , that look what fpiritual atfed:Jons there are in perfons between whom there are carnal relations by reafon 9~ thofe bonds and relations, they will laft and continue; whatfoever IS .fpmtual w1ll be eternal. If a Man do good to his Wife, /he /hall love h1m eternally by re•fon of it· indeed the llefhly relation between them was the occafion whereby he'came to do her good. At th~ latter day thofc that Minifiers do convert unto God, they are their Crowns (as Paul faith, 1 The[. 1. 19.) it is a fpiritual mercy that lafieth and holdeth them, When God made this promife unto A6raham, that he lhould be the Father of the Fatthful, was the comfort of it only for the prefcnt l ( For d~rabam faw no more but
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