757 / 808
V
E
R.
IO.
Epbefans,
Chap.6.
777
Oijedf;
rlrsfw.
:
4:
Secondly,
a
girdle
doth
tie othercloathes about to
us,
coofe
to
us,
which otherwife the winde would blow about
,
and would hang but
lode
upon
us
:
fo
this
girdle
of
truth
doth
containe and hold together
all
other
graces, wherewith the
foule
is
arrayed;
and
without truth
to
keepe
them
together,
in
time
all
of
them are borne
away with
winds
of
temptation.
tjtat.r3.ao,zr.
That
grace that was not
knit
together
with honefty
of
heart,came to nothing
in
theend:as
appeares
in
the Parable.
Thirdly,
a
girdle truffing
up
the loynes
ofa
man
moderately, doth
ftrengthen
a
man
; whence
is
the exhortation
to often ufed
ofgirding
up the loynes
:
fo
this grace addeth great ftrength to the inner man,
as
we
may fee
in
lob;
who when God fcemed,
and men did fight a-
gainft
him, when heaven and earth feemed to confpire
againft
him,
yetthis did flick by him,
Chap.
27.
s. Umili
I die
,
I will
never take
away
mine
innocency from my
fclfe.
Now
the works
of
it are
exer-
cifed in our daily courfe,
or
in
the
evil(
times of greater exercife then
ordinary. Daily
it
doth
make
us
ftrike
at the roots
of
hypocrite,
we
difcerne
in
us, and
retft
the temptations
of
the
devil(,
which
tend
to
make
us
corrupt our
actions
in
their
end ,
or
manner
of
performance
:
but efpecially
it
do th
ftrengthenusin the
evil
time, when
the
Devils
(hall be
ready
to
beare
us
downe,
that
we have
beetle
but hypocrites.
Now
for the third thing,
The
Devi&
dash by
fore
manes
e/pecially
fake
to
wipe
tea
of
thú girdle.
He
will
from
the
example
of
athers,
reafon thus
:
Such,
and fuch,
as
iadac,
have had
greater things then you,
and
gone further then you
yet they were but hypocrites
;
How
caná
thou
tell
a
is
it othertvife
with thee
a
Many
fiat
are
laft,
&c.
.4nfw.
We
mutt
avoid this
objeCtioa,
by
learning
to
diflingnifb
trae
conflates
grace,
fret);
Pined
and temporary:
which
is
fitly
doneby
theft
two differences.
First, the wicked have fireames
of
graces
often, but they
have
no
ommunion
with Chrift
as
the godly
pave;
and therefore their graces
wither when
heat
commeth.
Ephef.3.r7.
his
a
true living faith
that
maketh
Chrift to
dwell
in
the
heart,
and
this
is
the
caufe
why our
grace lafteth
:
as
we
finde
by daylie
experience
ebbes. And this wa-
ter runneth
exceeding low
:
yet having the
well
-head
in
us,
and
re:
newing our faith on him
the
quickning
Spirit,
rivers doe afrefh runne
out
of
our bellies, and the current
of
grace
as
high
as
before.The tem.
porifer, though
he have
a
ftrcame
of
grace, yet wanting the
fountain
to
feede
it,
it
mull
needs
dry away;
as
thefe firearms, or
ponds
which
have no fpring, nor
head
of
water to maintaine
them,
cannot con-
tinue.
Secondly, thefe hypocrites
receive the grace
they have, retayning
fome notorious
fin,
or
courfe
in
fact
evils, wherein
they hate refor-
mation:
as
Herod,
c.9Kat.
8.
Now
this tnaketh grace
it
cannot bee
held with
them. For
as
a
ftomach
ill
affcded through choler,though
never fo
wholfome
meats
be
received into
it,yet
it
cannot
hold them,
S
ff
but