177 / 808
V
H
R.18
Epherzarla,Chap. i.
165
derftanding,as the fpirit
of
Chrift,which
is
the foúle of
all 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
to
doegand all thefe are here to
be conceived,becaufethe
end
which
the Apoftle doth aime at,cannot be attainedwithout
them.
To
comfort
weak ones who know
but
any
thing,ifit be
in
truth,
fo
Ili
1.
as
it maketh
them endeavour
more confcionably to
obey. Hadit thou
long
been without fight, fhouldit thou
but
be able
to
difcerne
thy
hand
:held
juft
before
thine
eyes,it would
glad
thee,
becaufe it
is a
token
of
fight now comming on thee
; fo this little fight,
when the heart
is
con.
fcionablely affected,
is a
pledge
of
more returning to us,
who
are
dark
-
neffe
it
felfe,quite devoid
of
Paving
knowledge bynature.
This
muff make
us
ftillfollow God,
and
life
all
meanes
to be
further
V/
2.
inlightned: Were
our
eyes
fore,
and
the
fight
of
them not perifhed,but
depraved onely
or
diminifhed,what would
we
not doeto get
helpee
yea,
we
would abide
ftrong fmaning waters, but we would
"mend
this
de-
feet in
them
;
how
much more fhould we
feeke
to
amend
all
defects
in
the
eyes
of
our nnderftandings
Obferve fecondly from hence, that he
doth
pray
that they might
know their hope, the
matter
of
their inheritance
;
that
even true belee-
vers
know
not
at firft, in any
meafure,
thofe
hopes
which
are kept
in
heaven
for them
:
Naturally
we know nothing
of
the hope to
come
;
When
God
doth
now regenerate
to
thefe hopes, we doe know them
in
fome meafure,but
nothing
as
we
ought,
and
may come
to know them,
if
we be
not
wanting
to
our
felves
:
Even
as
earthly
heires
in
their mino-
rity,through want
of
earthly
1*,7ifdome,
they
know
in
generall
that they
have
inheritances,
&
where they
ly,but they
do
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
;
fo
it
is
with
us
:
We
doe
at firft
know things very
con-
fufedly,a
nd
the
neerer we
grow to
our falvation,the more we come
into
the
underftanding
of
thefe
things.
Now
the reafon
why thefe hopes
are
not
fo
knowne,
is
partly
in
the
excellency
ofthem,and
the glorious
light which
is
in
them
;
if
the Law
hath
his
wonders
in
it, Pfal.
119.18. what
a
wonderfull thing
is
this,
which
is
the
upfhot
of
all, the
Gofpell!
Againe, the weak fight we
fee
of
younglings
in
Chriftianitie,is not proportioned
and fitted
as
yet,to
fo
high
an
object
as
this
is.
Bring
the light
of
a
candle neere to
the
natu-
rall
babe,
and
it cannot endure
to looke
up againft it.
Thirdly,
even
as
children are fo taken up
with their
childifh
common wealth, that they
cannot bend themfelves
to the
more
ferious
confideration
of
more im-
portant matters
;
fo
beleevers are
a
great while
fo
carnally
affeéted,
that
they cannot
Pet
themfelves
to
purpofe about
this
contemplation. Fourth-
ly
and
la
lily,
as
heires
in
earth want not crafty companions about them,
who
will keepe
them fromknowing the worth
of
things which belong
to
them,fo the Devils
doth
labour nothingmore then to
keepe
us
hood-
winked this way.
The