'Dire8ions. IJV!Y 011 ["rift alone. work to mortifie them, and bring them clean over to the Mind and TViU of God which is their Ruft and Eud. Ifyou feel any conceits arifing in you that are contrary !O the Scripture, and quarrcll with the WOrd ofGod, fuppn:fs them as rebellious, and giVe them not liberty to cavil with your Maker and maleper.tly d~fpute with your Govcrnour and Judge; but filence it, and force it reverently t~ fubmit : If you feel any WiU in you cont.rary ~o your Creator's. Will, and that there is fomething which you would bave or do, wh1ch God IS agamfi, and hath forbtd you, remember how how great a part of your work it is, to fly for help to the Spirit ofGraee, and to ddlroy all fuch rebellious defires: Think it not enough, that you can bear the denyal of thofe defires ; but ptefently deOroy thedtfim themjilvtJ. For if you let alonethe dejiw, they may at Jail lay hold upon their prey, before you are aware: Or if you fhould be guilty of nothing but the Dtfim themfelves, it is no fmall iniquity ; being the corruption of the Heart, and the Rebellion a'nd Adultery of the principal faculty, which fhould be kept loyal and challe to God. The crofmcjf of thy WiV to the WiU ofGod, is the fumm of all the im– piety and evil of the foul : And the fubjection and conformity of thyWiU to bi4, is the Heart of the New Creature, and of thy Rectitud-e and Sa.nd:ification. Favour not therefore any felf-conceitedne[t orfilf-wiUcdnef!, nor any rcbellioufnefs again£\ the Mind and WiUofGod, any more than you would bear with the dif-jointing ofyour bones, which 'V'ill be little for your cafe or ufe, till they are reduced to their proper place. Ditrll. 20· Dired:ion 20· LAfily, Be {ure tbat y~u rmounce aU co11ceit offtlf.JUfficiency or merit in any tbi~tg ~'oH do , aud whoUy rely on the Lord Je[U< Cbrift , as yottr Head, and Life, and Sa~io11r, a~td ]nJerccjfor with tbe Father. §. 1. Remember that witbottt him you ca11 donothing, John •5· 5· Nor can any thing you do be RC– ctptable to God, any other way than in him, th~ beloved Son, in whom he is well pleafed. As your perfons had never been accepted but in him, no more canany of your fervices: All your repentings, if you had wept out )'OUr eyes for fin, would not have fiJ.tistied the Jufiice of God, nor procured yo~ pardon and jufiification without the fatisfaction and merit of Chrifi. If he had not firfi taken away the tins of the world, and reconciled them fo far to God, as to procure and tender them the pardon 3nd falvation contained in his Covenant, there had beell no place for your Repentance, nor faith, nor prayers, nor endeavours, as to any hope ofyour falvation. Your Believing would not have faved you, nor indeed had any ju!lifying object, if he had not purchafed you thepromife and gift ofpardon and[al– vation to all BelievEr!· 9· 2 • Objection. But perhaps you'l fay, That if we had Loved God, without (J Saviour, we foou/4 have ben: faved: f or Ged cannot hate 11nd damn tbf!fe thllt Love him: To which I anfwer, You cosldnJJI have Lovtd God M God, without a Saviour: To have Loved him as the giver of your worldly prclpe– rity, with a Love fubordinate. to the Love_of fin and your carnal ~elve~, and to Love him as o~e that you imagine fo unholy and unJufi, as to gtve you leave to fin agamll him, and.prefer every Vanay be– fore him this is not to Love God, but to Love an Image of your own fantafie:, nor will it at all pro– cure yo~r falvatio~. But to L?ve him as y our <?od_and Happineji, with a J~tptrlativc Love, you could never have done Without a SaviOur. For I• Objcl1tvely; God bei11g not your ReconciledFather, but your enemy, engaged in Juftice to damn you for ever, you could not Love him as thus related to )'OU, becaufe he could not feem amiable to you: and therefore the damned hate him as their dellroyer, as the Thief or Murderer hates the Judge. 2· And as ro the Efficitncy; your bli11ded mindt, and depraved wiV 1 could never have been refiored fo far to their rectitude, as eohave Loved God 1ff God, without the teaching of Chrifi, and the renewing iandifying work of his Spirit. And without aSaviour you could never have expected this gift of the Holy Ghoil. So that your fuppofition it felf is groundlefs. ~· 3 • Indeed Convirfim is your implanting into Chr~ll, and your unicing to him, and marriage wich him, that he may be your life, and brlp,and hope. He IS the way, the truth and the life: and no man comcth to the Fatber, btu by him. John 14· 6. Godbath p,ivtn m eternal lift, and thil lift i1 in hi1 Son : He that bath tbt Son, batb life ; and he tbat bath not the Son, bath not lift. 1 John 5· 1 r, 12· He U tbr Vine, and we are the bra1zcbCJ: A.r the branch c.111not btar fi"uit of it [cif, except it abide in theViHt, fo neither can we, except we abide in him: He that ab.idtth not in <:~rift,. i1 cajf forth aJ.a branc~J •Hd withcrtd, to be bumcd: John 1 5· 4, 5, 6. AIJ your hfe and help JS m h1m, and from htm: WJthout Chrifl: you cannot Believe in the Fatber, as in one that will Chew you any faving Mercy, but only as the Devils that believe himJuft, and tremble at his ]uftice; without Chrifi you cannot LoveCod,norhave any lively apprehenfions of his Love. Without Chri!l you <an have no Hope of Heaven, and therefore no rndeavours for it. Without him you cannot come near to God in prayer, as having no confi-. dence, becaufe no admittance, acceptance or hope. Withouc him how terrible are the thoughts of death which in him we may fee as a c;onquered thing: and when we remember that he was dead and is no,:, alive, and the Lord of life, and hath the Kcyes of Death and Hell, with what boldnefs may · we Jay down this fl<fh, and fuffer death toundrcfs our fouls? It is only in Chrii\ that we can corn· fOrtably think of rhe world to come; when we remember that he mull be ourJudge, and that in our Nature glorified he is now in the Higheil, Lord of all; and that he is prep.ringa place for m, and JJ'ill come again to ta"'-e uJ to him[elf, that where he is, there we may be alfo, John 1 4• 3. Alas, without Chrifi, we know noc how to live an hour ; nor can have hope or peace in any thing we have or do; nor look with comfort either upward or downward, to God or the Crmure, nor think without terrors
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