The Life of Faith, 557 2. By commanding us toforces them, a Thef 3, 7, 9. For your flues know howye ought to fofow no .-----To make our (elves an example foryou to follow ter, Phil. 3.17. Be [ewers together of axe, and mark them that fo walk, as ye have us for an enfample, a Cor. 4. 16. l befeettbyru be followers cf me, i Thef. t. 6. Te became followersof us, and of the Lord : So well arc both ex- amples confiftent. 2. The likenrfsof other mens cafes to ours, is greatly ufeful to our direaion and encouragement. Ifwe arc to travel in dán- gerous waits, we will be glad to hear howothers have fped be- fore us i and if we were to deal with a crafty deceiver, we would willingly advifc with others that have dealt with him. Uwe be to learn any Trade or Artifice, we would learn it of them who with belt fuccefs have padded it before us. If we arcfckofany difeaf, we are glad to talk with them that have had the fame, and have been cured of it; to hear what means they ufcd for their cure. In all filch cafes reafon teacheth us, both to obferve how others were affet`ed ; whether their cafe and ours were the fame; what courfe they took; and how they fped ; cfpeciallyf they were perlonsknown to us, and the likenefs of their cafe well known ; and if theywere Poch as for wifdom and fidelity we could truft : Sp is it in this great bufincfs ofour falvation. We have nothing to do, but what many thoufands have done before us; nothing to fuller but what they have fuffc red ; no temptation to refill, but what they have been affaulted with, and overcame, a Cor, r o. T5. and wewant no grace, no help or comfort, but what they did attain t And the glory which we feeble and hope for, they pof- fefs. To 1,ok to them thcrclorc, mutt needs be ufeful tous in this our wildernefsftate. 3. And as experience is a powerful Teacher ; fo to be the Matter ofother mens experiences, and fomony, and fo wife, and in lushvaric tes cafes, and in fo many ages, mull needs be very ufeful to us. We that are born in the lati ages of 'the world, have the benefit of the experience of all the world that have gone before us t Therefore is tl,e Scripture written fo much hiftorically ; that a.! who ?rc there mentioned, may flill be our ititirudors. Even the haft brethren that were boon into the world, were fo plain a datcovery of the nature of fin and A a se 3 .: gracrn
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