By the Crefs of Chrif 33 love God, mutt needs know by confiant fadexperience, that the world is thegreat with- drawer or hinderer of that love. When he fets himfelf in any holy imployment to mount his foul into a more heavenly frame, and to get a little nearer God, he feeleth himfelf too much entangled with inferiour objeâs ; thefe are the weight that preffeth down, and the water that quencheth the facred flames ; and were is not for thefe , O howmuch higher might our fouls attain , -and how much freer might we be for God. For it is a thingmoll certain to us by our confiant experience , that the more of theworld is upon our hearts , the lets is there of God ; and the more of God, the lets of the world. So that thefe two means alone, The fincere Intending of God, and Glo- ry as our End , and dailyobfervation of our own hearts, will eafily convince us that the world is our great enemy. And when we throughly apprehend it to be our enemy, we have begun to crucifie it. z. The neat aft by which the world is crucified, is, A deep ha- bilitatedapprehenfionof itsWorthlefnefs and infufficieney. As the oppofing world mull be taken for an enemy., fo the Promifing al- luringWorld mull be taken, as it is, for an empty thing, The Life and Reign of the world in the unfant}ified, lieth first in their too high eflimation of it. They think of it as Good and Good to them, and as a matter of fome confiderable worth, and though they will fay with their tongues that heaven is better, yet all things confidered , they take the world to be more fuitable to them, and therefore they delire it more. For Heaven is out of fight, and beyond their apprehenfion and of edion, and as they imagine, it is not focertain as the things which they fee, and fed, and poffefs. And therefore they refolve to grafpas much of the creature as they can, and take that which they can get in hand, and then if there be anheaven they hope they may have their part in it, as well as others. But faving Illuminationdoth put men into another mind. It makes them lee, that the Invifible things are of greater Certainty then the vifible and that a promife without poffeffion , is better fecurity then poffef ion without a promife ; and that for theWorth and Goodnefs,between Eternal things and Temporal , there can benocomparifon. If the world would have been content to have kept its place, and to have borrowed all its honour anddeemfrom God and Glory 1~ as
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