66 / 808
Vie
r.
Pie
z.
Doli.
Ephefians,Chap.
i.
VE
R.
4.
lovedplants,
birds,beafts,men,not onely
thus farre
that
they
fhould
have
a
being,but that they
fhould
grow
up, and attain
to
a
perfect flare
in this
life
and
being,towhich
he
bath chofen
us.
Let
us
then confideringthis , be ftirred
up
to
thinke
of
the Lords
ex-
ceeding love.
We
fee
men
though they are
lame, know
painful! lives
in
fome meafure
more tollerable,yet they thinke
life
a
benefit, counting
it
a
mercy
to
live,
though
for manner
leffe
comfortable
:
So
here,
had
God
taken
us
to
have fuch
a
life
of
Grace
as
here we leade,
it
had
been
mercy,though we
know ficknefte and lameneffe
with
it
;
but
to choofe
us
to come
unto fuch a ftate, wherein we
(hall
be pure
without
any fpot
or
defecì,not
only
to
ordain
us
to
finde life,
but
life
in abundance
in
Chrift,this
is
the
riches
of
his
mercy.
This ferveth
to
ftrengthen our Faith
in
apprehending and
attaining
our
perfect redemption from
the
relickes
of
finne and
death
,
when
we finde
that
we cannot get ground
of
corruption
as
we
would,
what
mutt
we doe efpeake
to God:Say,Lord,
if
the
attaining perfect
holinefle
did
lye upon
my hand,I know there were
no
hope;I
finde
thefe
workes
of
the Devil!
too ftrongforme
;
but thou haft chofen me even
to
this
that
I
fhould be
without fpot;Lord execute
thy
owne
pleafure
more
and
more,purge me,and
fanclifie
me,&in
thy
time
poffeffe
me
of
that
ftate
to
which thou haft chofen me. Even
in
earthly
Princes
their choyce
is
o.
perative.If the
King
choofe one
Chamberlain,or Treafurer,his choyce
maketh him
thatto
which
hee
is
chofen
;
Wherefore
let
no good
foule
who ftriveth againft any imperfeótions be difmayed:
Looke
as
furely
as
thou
haft received
this perfection
of
thy
humane nature ,
thou
I fay,
whom
God
did
choofe,not only
to
be born but
to
live
to full manhood;
fo
furely
(hall all
of
you
,
who
have true faithand love,
attain
to
the
perfection
of
this Divine
nature;for God
hash
chofen you
to
beholy,and
without fpot
in
it. And
howbeit
men are here,taken away
in
their
fpirituall being,
as
in their natural!, force fo
Toone as
they
are borne
of
God,
as
the Theefe
on
the Croffe
was no fooner converted then
tran.
Elated,
force
in
youth,
Come
in
the
aged progrefl'e
of
fanctification, yet
!hall
not
this hinder;
for
hee
who
is
no fooner begotten to
God,then
he
is
hence remooved,even hefhall
in
thatday,wherein
all
of
us
(hall
grow
to
a
perfecì man
in
Chrift,attain
this ftate
of
perfection
,
as that
naturall
creature
which
is
carried out from birth to
burial!
,
!hall
at
laft day
be
railed
up,not
in infancy
(which entreth
as a
prefenr
penalty
of
finne) but
in
the
full
ftature,which
befeemeth
fuch
a
nature.
The
third
thing
followeth,
viz.
that
God hath
taken
us
of
grace
to
this,that
we
(hall live in his
glorious
pretence:
had hee given
us a
perfelì
life
without thowing
us
himfelfe
as
it were face to face,it had been much
favour, but to choofe
us
to this
moftneere communion with
him ,
is
the
height
of
his
grace,and our
happinefle
;
There
is a
being before God
in
farre
ofgrace,fuch
as
now we have:Thus
Noah,thus Abraham,Hezekiah,
Zachary, Elizabeth,
are
faid,
to
have
walked
before
the Lord; and it
is
no
fmall priviledgethat wee may
convene
n
his
pretence
after
any manner:
but
all wee fee
of
him
here,
is
but
as it
were
the
reledion of
him
in a
glatte