By the crofsof Chrif. the caute goes for it, be it righe or wrong. Either they will not read Inch long and tedious difcourfes as are againft them,or they find fome paffage prefently to quarrel with,that's too difpleaßng, and makes them call away the reft : Or if they read the whole, or hear you to the laft, it is with a refilling fpirit all the while Before they know what yôu will lay, they have confuted you s For they have refolved to believe that your reafons are infuffici- ent, and their caute is good. They read and hear not only with a prejudice anfwerable to the reafons that formerly refolved them, but with an oppofing enmity and fixednefsof will. Had we only their underffandixgs to difpute with, it were the lefs : but our main difpute is with w, /land Pafon,avhichhave no ears, nor eyes, nor brains, though fenfr enough. Their deceiving baits firft catch the fenfual part; and fo come to bribe the Intellect and the will ; and their ftrongeft root is fill in the bruitlfh part where it begun, which will hear no reafon. When Paul was told of the truth of that Doctrine which he before had perfecuted, and mutt himfelf be perfecuted if he fhould entertain it he fucks not at that, but immediately confulteth not with flefh and blood , but falls to work, Gal. t. tó. But there men will fcarce do any thing but flefh and blood muff be confulted with. The Word was `Da- vid, Counfellor; and the world is theirs. Their firft queflion'ic, Is it for my honour or difhonour, my profit or difprofit,my plea- fore or my trouble.: and as it relhfhethwith their flefh, fo is it efteemedofand concluded. And which is+more, their Carnal In- rerell fo blinds their eyes that they fee not oft tithes their molt palpabledelufions. When their ations are fuck as unprejudiced llanders by do'blufh at, and the wifeft and faithfulieft of their friends lament , and the (hame of them is open to the view of the world, yet fiefh doth fo befool them , tharthey fee not their nakednefs, bur glory in their fhame : Commod ty cannot blufh e The applaufe of flatterers juftifieth their crimes againfi the ac.. cufations of God and all good men. Have theft men Crucified the world indeed ? A Chriflian looketh fo much to his Rule as well as his End that he dare not fay ofHeaven it felf, that every Means is lawful which feemeth to conduce to it. But thefemen think that any ,thing is lawful that brings them gain, or makes them great. And as for the improvement of their talents for God; What is N to 89
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