Baxter - HP BV4647 .S4 B39 1660

102 inordinate Appetite to be denied, fo be it they be not °many other account unlawful. 3. We may de the Creatures for delight, when that Delight it felf is a means to fit us for the work of God, and is fincerely fought for that intent. But we may not ufe them for any other De- lighr, but that which it felf is nectifary or ufeful to Gods fer- vice. Reafons are evident. i. Becaufe we fhould die make that Delight our ultimate end, which is as bad as brutifb ; for either it mutt be anEnd, or Mean,. If it be nor ufed as a means to God as our ultimate end, it mutt be our ultimate end it fell*, which is no better then to take his place. z. That aftion is idle, and confequently a finful misimploying of our faculties which doth not conduce to the end that we were made for, and live for. 3. It is a misimploying of Gods creatures, and a fin- ful calling them away to ufe them for any end which is not it felf a means to thegreat end ofour lives. All is loft that is no way ufeful to God and our falvation. It is contrary to the end of their Creation and of ours. 4. It is a finful robbing God of the ufe of his talents, if we Die them for any end that is not fubfervient to himfelf as the chief end. For certainly he made all things for himfelf, and that which is not employed for him, is taken from him injurioufly. All men mutt anfwer for the mercies which they have received ; whether they have fo ufed them for God, as that they can give him his own with the im- provement. 5. The lenitive Appetite by reafon of its inordinacy; is grown a Rebel againft Godand Reafon; and an enemy to him and to our hives. And no man fhould unneceffarily pleafe or feed fo dangerous an enemy. Sin doth moil make its entrance this way ; and moll men lie in finbefore our eyes, by pleating their fenfes : And fhall we run our (elves on fuch a great and vifible danger, againft the warning of fo many experiences ? Yea we know that we have been often this way overtaken our (elves, and that abundance of finbath crept in at thefe paffages; tadyet that! we plead for liberty to undoour felves ? The godly are fo confcious of their weaknefs and pronefs to fin , that they are jealous of themfelves ; and therefore it befeemeth not fuch to doany thing needlefly that may tempt them to it, and is fo likely to prove a fnare. If Paidmeifi beat acrd tams Init body

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=