Of EleClio!l. 247 to help h11nfelf as to Salvation; to have all Valleys fill'd, Htlls cafi down, all '"'-.A./\ Condttwns laid level in mens eyes; thefe ore and were proper fruits of Elc- Ch1p4• dion, and pieces of true Calling: And when our Saviour preacht, .Mattb. 5"· ~ (.7obu h •v,ng prepared a People f~r lum) obferve but what he at fir(\ preached to that poor prepared Peopl :, who had, I fay, (John hav:ng fpoken to them of him) "ithal iOmo fpark, of Faith in 1hem towards him; Now , how doth Chri(\ apply h imfclf to thefe? B Je[Jed, fays he, ,~re the poor 111 SpH·Jt: He fpcaks to rhef" very Hearers and Converts of Job,, (as fame of hiS Apo(lles h•d bt"en) that were utterly emptied, and the emment Grace appeanng i11 them, was this_emp•mefs and poverty of fpirit likewife: Bteffed arnbofe that mot~rn, in that they have finnd agamfi a holy God,and from whom now they are a feekmg pardon and forgivcnefs: And bte[Jed are thof< tbat bt111ger rmd I hirfl afur rtgbttortjuejJ; for the) law no righteoufnefs of their own to rely upon. And b!tffed are tbe meek; they lay at God's feet, and at his di, fpofe; they put thm mouths in the dull, if there might be hope God might do any thing with them, and they not reptr.e. So alfo Ble[Jed ewe the 'Pe•ce-. maktrs; that is, fuch as having feen t;,em{elvcs to have been in a fhte of wrorh from and•with t l•e great God, and :e,king peoce and pardon at his hands for their own Souls, do out of pity unto o:hers , whom they fee ro conti· nue in that Condition, endeavour ro convert tl.cir Souls unto God, to make peaa with hrm. as he in _7o6 (peak;. Such d<fpofltions as thefo wuc the eminent Effeds and fmpref!ions from the B:Jptrfl's Mioi(lry, and preparatory unto their being baptized with the Spirit by C hrifi as lire; wd yet they rofe net up toprevat!m? fattb, and righteoufn~fs was nor dj(lindly brought forth to victory, Jobn pointed them to Chri(l, as .Atls 1 9· tello, and t"eir Faith had him in their eye, but was not bloomed; and in the mean time thefe di· ljJofitions were wrought, and they were etfedualiy called. Now then fuppofe ( as it falls out ordinarily) that mens minds, at the:r firft being wrought. upon, are apt to be fointent upon it for a wliile, as thereby to be retorded in their going out of tLe,nfelves fo fully to ~hrifi, and that a great deal ofLegaliiy cloth accompany the work in t!l•m, yet flill there's the root of the marrer a working up m them; and although Self. love moy be fo much flirted in a man together, and mixt with thefe ad:ings, that a man cannot difcern the difference, and that a kgality alfo cleaveth to t t1em, that ~oth much divert the Soul, or at leafi obflrud: it in the clear, and pure, and abflrad adings of Faith, as jufiifying upon Chrifi: Yet thefe inlaid pronciples have their fpiritual workings proper to them; and being in their fpring a, d root Evangelical , do work themfclves out of that leg•lity , and felt, and come in the end to breath in the open, pure, and free Air of free-grace, and Ju(lification in Chrifi, C!ic. Thefe Hearers of ]oh11 had received all thing< belonging unto life, and god- . li~e(< in their lirft work, and their Calling began with the le Difpofitioos fore~. mentioned, and yet a great legalnefs of fpirit cleaved to them, and much darknefs about Chrifi and his righteott{nt.fJ: And we fee nowadays, men that are called and converted, what ado they have to get themfclves out of them– felves, and out of Self:righreoufnef•,Ability, or from acting trom them.felves, and their own Graces, as a new Nature in ihem, and from doating in an'{ manner upon rhat new Grace they have received, and long it is e're Chrill: comes to be formed in them, and yet there is a true fpiritual Gofpel-root chat fhall and will work it [elf out of alL !\nd in the mean time thrre is :t rroe fpi– rirual difference in thOfe its adings from all workings whatfoever in any other, though mingled and covered with fo much of telf and legal drofs, as bath kept them from a delr emergency, and working of them out of themfelve. w·th. a prevailing victory ; but they lye in fuch difpJfitions as tho(e afore-fpecified,iri whicl1fp:ritual life WOi ks like a Mole under ground, that is flill heaving and calling up the Earth it is covered withal, until it gets above ground. . Only I add this, That th•:v receive little certain comfort in any or nil of thefc, till Chr;ft cloth come more fenfibly into their hearts, and urtil fa ith. ihat is in the bud, mixt with all t~efe, begins to blow, as we fay : As indeed Faith did not in t hofe Hearers of Jobn Baptifl, un.til Cbrifi himfclf came, an'd_ preaclfed
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