(' 24') the preJuminence ? Which bath had the life of your affectio~s and endeavours ? Which of them was yot:u: end ? and abou1 whic~ ~ath ~een the chief buu?e_fs that you !1ave.-mofi carefully and ddtgently carrycd on? Th1s ts the great quefiton. You cannot have two mafters, though you may have many in- ,flruments and fellow-fervllnts :You cannot acceptably ferve God if you ferve M.zmmo1J: Every wickfd man may do fomthing i~ Religion, 1tndevery good_ man may do fe,mething that is contrary to Religion : A carnal man may do fomething for God , and for his foul;, anda fpiritual man ought to do fomething fubordinately for hts body, and too often, alas , dot~ fomething for it imrdi– nately: But which bears the j\VAy ? and which is firft fought ? and which comes behind f and bath but the leavings of the other? ,. Be not deceived : God u not mockfd : what{oevtr a man foweth, that foall be reap : !f ym fow to the ~efh, of the flefh you foal! reap corruption : but if you fow to the JPirit, of the JPirit yeu /halt re~rp tverlajling life : Gal. 6. 7, 8. Lovenot the world, nor the thinJ;s .that are in the World ,( for themfelves): for if any man love the world, (with his chiefefi Love) the Lo-ue of the Father is not in him, I {ohn 2. I). Is it not a wonder that any reafonable man can be fuch .a {hanger to himfelf, as no£ to know what be lives for, and what bath had his heart, and what bath been the principal bufinefs of his life ? Some by-matters you may eafily forget or over-look: bunan you do fo by your end, which bath been your chiefeft care and hufinefs? · .Jf indeed you no more know your 6Wn minds, nor what you have all this while been doing in the world, ask thofe that you have converfed with; and judge by the ejfe&s and jigns : Others can tell what you have mofi[erioufly talk.§dof: They may con– jecture by their obfervation, what you have rnofl: carefully fought, and refolutely adhered to. Whether it be God or the fle{h ; tbisworld or Heaven ? The One thing Needful, or the ma– ny troubling trifles in your way: It is like that wife andgod{] ob– fervers can help you to difcern it ; thoughJenfualiftswill but de-: ceive you. · . . A mans Love, at leaft his chiefe fl Love, cannot be h1d, but W11l appear in his behaviour : If you Love Godabove the world, you willfeek._him and his Glory before the world : and if you ~o fo,. it may partly be difcerned, if you ~~v~ ~o~ver~ed wtth ~tfcernmg - - -- · men:
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=