SPIRITUAL PEACE AND COMFORT. 423 back, and the devil is hindering you. And is it not so in toogreat a measure with the best on earth? Remember what Christ said to his own apostles. When they should have done him one of their last services; as to the attendance of his body on earth, and should have comforted him in his agony, they are all asleep. Again and again he comes to them, and findeth 'them asleep : Christ is praying and sweating blood, and they are still sleeping, though he warned them to watch and pray, that they enter not into tempta- tion. But what doth God say to them for it? Why, he useth this same distinction between humiliation for sin, and doubtingof sincerity and salvation, and he helps them to the former, and helps them against thelatter. "Could ye not watch with me one hour? " saith he. There he convinceth them of the sin, that they may be humbled for it. " The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak," saith he. There he utterly resisteth their doubtings, or preventeth them; showing them wherein sincere grace consisteth, even in the spirit's willingness ; and telling them that they had that grace ; and then telling them whence came their sin, even from the weakness of the flesh. 2. I have showed you that as every man's will is but partly sanctified, (as to the degree of holiness,) and so far as it is imper- fect, it will be unwilling ; so that there is something in the duties of secret prayer, meditation and reproof, which makes most men mote backward to them than other duties. The last doth so cross our fleshly interests, and the two former are so spiritual, and re- quire so purè and spiritual a soul, and set a man so immediately before the living God, as if we were speaking to him face to face, and have nothing of external pomp to draw us, that it is no won- der, if while there is flesh within us, we are backward to them !. Especially while we are so unacquainted with , God, and while strangeness and consciousness of sin doth.make-us draw back: be- sides that, thedevil will more busily hinderus here than any where. 3. The question, therefore, is not, whether you have an unwill- ingness and backwardness to good ; for so have all. Nor yet, whether you have any cold, ineffectual wishes; for so have the ungodly. But, whether your willingness be not more than your unwillingness ; and in that, 1. It must not be in every single act of duty ; for a godly man maybe actuallymore unwilling to a duty at this particular time, than willing, and thereupon may omit it ; but it must be about your habitual willingness, manifested in ordi- nary, actual willingness. 2. You must not exclude any of those motives which God hash given you to make you willing to duty. He bath commanded it; and his authority should move you. He bath threatened you, and therefore fear should move you; or else he would never have threatened. He hath made promises of re-
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