7o 1pt Corr;;ption-'().f the Will. · 'tate n~- .. their mil2ds, is pleafant and taking; but wha:t tecomnrends ' holinefs to .their unholy -hearts; makes 'heir fpi1itsdulJ and ' fi;-i't, What pleafme will they find in reading of a profane ball ad, or Jlory·bo'Okt to whom.-- the Bible is tafielef~, as ·the white pf an egg? Many lay by their b1bles with their ' fabba,:th-days cloaths; and whatever ufe they ·have ' for their cloaths, they have none for their bibles, till the re· turn of the fabbath. Ala~ :1 the dufl or finery ,about yom - bibles, is_"a witners now, and wi-ll, at the Jafr day, be a wit>~ Ilefs of the ;enmity of your hearts againfi Chr-ifi, as a Pro· phet. Befidt:s all this,--among thefe who ordinarily read the fcriptures, how fewaa 'there that.read it·as the word of ihe Lord to their foQl!!, and keep up communion with him in it. They do not make his flamtes their counfdlors, .nor doth th~h: particular cafe fend them to their bibles. They are flrangers to the folid comfort of thefC'1'iptur es. Aod if at' any ·time they be dejetted, it ·is fomethiHg elfe than the word that revive.s them : as Ahab was cured of bis fullen £t, cy the _fe~uriog of 1\Tabosh:s.. vine~ard for him~ I 0 · ( 2.) Chntl: s word p.re t! ched IS defptfed. The eotertam ~ ment moft of th'e world, to whom it has come, lnve: al– ·)Yays gi·ven:it.' is' tha~ wbich "is ~entioned Matt h. xxii: 5o They matie hght of tl, ·.And fo.r 1ts fake they a_re defptfcct whom he has employed to preach it; whate:ver other face - men put upon their c~ntempt of the minifiry. John xv. 20• •The forvant is not greater-tban the·}-,ord: ifi t.be)' hav~ perfecutedme, they wit/ aifoperfocuteyou: ifthe_yhque kept 7llJ'/aJ•ings, they will keep_yours dlfo-. But all theje t,~ingJ will the)' do . fl-hlo you jor my name'1 fake. T hat Levi was ·.the fon· of the hated, feetns not to have been withcut a my- · Hery, which tbe world in all 'ages, hath undddled. . But tiio' the t:arthen vtJfel, wher,eio God has pm the trt:<~fu re, be turned, with many, ·into vejfds '"JJh'erein there is m pifaji$re;: yet why is. the treafur-e i.tfeJf. flighted ? , But 11ighted it is, - aod that with a witnefs this day. Lord, •u!ho hath believed our report? To whom fl1all we.fpeak? •Meo car., without lemorfe, make to t bemielves fi lent fabbaths, one ;}fter an– o.ther. And al as ! when they come to ordir.ances, for th!– moil part, it is but to appear (as thl:! wo1d is, to be feen) bd~re the ~ord, and to tr ead his courts, namely,· <.~·acom– pany oJ hea.lis would do,: if they were .driven. imo . -them,- lja.• ',
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=