Bates - BT775 B274 1675

in CDntrcbing 'l]' an' IfiQaeYTiption. 63 2. 'Tis Spiritual, and there muff be a divineDifpo- Chap. IV. fition of the Soul, before it is capable of it. The pure .! in heart can only fee thepure God. The Felicity above mac. ç O. is that which Eye hath not feen, nor Ear heard, neither a cor. 2, 9. path it entered into theheart ofman to conceive. Now the carnal Man is only affe&ed withgro(.r and corporeal things. The certainty, immenfty, and immortalityof the Heavenly Reward doth not prevail with him to leek after it. He bathnopalate for Spiritual PleaCures, 'tis vitiated by lufcious Vanities, and can't relifh ra- tional and refined joys. 'Till the temper ofthe Soul bealtered, the breadof Angels is diflafteful to it. For the Appetite is according to the difpofitionof the Sto- mach, and when that is corrupted, it longs for things hurtful and reje&s wholfome food. If a carnal Man were tranflated to Heaven, where the Love of God reigns, and where the brighteft and fweeteft difcoveries of his Glory appear, he would not find Paradife in Heaven it fell. For Delight arifes not meerly from the excellency of the objet , but from the proportionable- nefs to the Faculty. Though God is an infiniteGood in himfelf, yet if he is not conceiv'd as the Supreane Good to Man, hecannot makehimhappy. Suppofe Come flight Convi&ions to be in the Mind, that happinefs confifts in the enjoyment of God, yet this being offer'd upon the terms ofquitting all fen fual Lufts, the carnal Man efteems the condition im- poffible, and therefore is difcourag'd from dingany en- deavours to obtain it For to excite Hope 'tis not fufficient to propofe a Reward that is real and excel- lent, but that is attainable. For althoughHope bath its tendency to a difficult Good, as its proper objeïl, and the difficulty is fo far from difcouraging, that it quickens theSoul,and. draws,forth all theallive Powers, by rendering it greater in our efteem; yet when the difficulty

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