V H R.18 Epherzarla,Chap. i. 165 derftanding,as the fpirit ofChrift,which is the foúle ofall he body my- flick, which doth caufe-fight in us.Wedoe every thing but fecondarily and inftrumentally , it being God who givech principally both to will and todoegand all thefe are here tobe conceived,becaufethe end which the Apoftle doth aime at,cannot be attainedwithout them. To comfort weak ones who know but any thing,ifit bein truth, fo Ili 1. as it maketh them endeavour more confcionably toobey. Hadit thou long been without fight, fhouldit thou but be able todifcerne thy hand :held juft before thine eyes,it would glad thee, becaufe itis atoken of fight now comming on thee ; fo this little fight, when the heart is con. fcionablely affected, is a pledge ofmore returning to us, who are dark- neffe it felfe,quite devoidofPaving knowledge bynature. This muff make us ftillfollow God, and life all meanes to befurther V/ 2. inlightned: Were our eyes fore, and the fight of them not perifhed,but depraved onelyor diminifhed,what wouldwe not doeto get helpeeyea, we would abide ftrong fmaning waters, but we would "mend this de- feet in them ; howmuch more fhould we feeke to amendall defectsin the eyes ofour nnderftandings Obferve fecondly from hence, that he doth pray that they might know their hope, thematter of their inheritance ; that even true belee- vers know not at firft, in any meafure, thofe hopes whichare kept in heaven for them : Naturally we know nothing of the hope tocome ; When God doth now regenerate to thefe hopes, we doe know them in fome meafure,but nothingas we ought, and may come to know them, ifwe be not wanting to our felves : Even as earthly heires in their mino- rity,through want ofearthly 1*,7ifdome, theyknow in generall that they have inheritances, &where they ly,but theydo not particularly and ex- a 11y know the feverall Lordfhips which belong to them, the worth of them, &c. yet the nearer they come to age, the more theywinde Out fuch particulars ; foit is with us : We doe at firft know things very con- fufedly,andthe neerer we grow toour falvation,the more we come into the underftanding ofthefe things. Now the reafonwhy thefe hopes are not fo knowne, is partly in the excellency ofthem,and the glorious light which is in them ; ifthe Law hathhis wonders in it, Pfal. 119.18. what a wonderfull thing is this, which is the upfhot ofall, the Gofpell! Againe, the weak fight we fee ofyounglings inChriftianitie,is not proportioned and fitted as yet,to fo high an object asthis is. Bring the light ofa candle neere to the natu- rall babe, and it cannot endure to looke up againft it. Thirdly, even as children are fo taken upwith their childifh common wealth, that they cannot bend themfelves to the more ferious confiderationofmore im- portant matters ; fobeleevers areagreat while fo carnally affeéted, that they cannotPet themfelves topurpofe about thiscontemplation. Fourth- ly and la lily,asheires in earth want not crafty companions about them, who will keepe them fromknowing the worth ofthings which belong to them,fo the Devils doth labour nothingmore then tokeepe us hood- winked this way. The
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