. to perfona! fafling~ &c. 34:.) .us not up hence.' Sin hath defiled evefy thi'ng t<> us : and however promifing any -worldly flare,. con..l dit'ion, ·ot thitig wh-affoever, may appear in our eyes; yef if we have not the prefenc'e of God i-n it, ·and his bleffing upon if, to purify it uhto us, we'll be· myr'd· i'n , h, and find· a fnare and a trap, if not a curfe, t'he'l'e'in,' to us. !Jlevent!ily, When one, havin·g fome ~'extraordinary difficulty to eric-otmter, is·in hazard of beiHg enfnared either into fin or clariger. On fuch an occafion \vas the foterne:ntioned faH at Shu(ban kept; Eflher jeo– parding her life, i11 ' going · ir'l> ·unto" the king in the inner· court ;' not cailed by him, Ellh.· iv. r 1, 16. ·Th'e fhi 1 p has need ·to be well balafied, that .fa·iJs while the wi'nd blO\VS nigh : and in a difficult·and enfi1ar– h1g time, there's l~eed of fafiing a nu• p'Fa'y€r for nea:. ven's fafe conduct through it. Mens tru.fiing to them~ felves in fuch a cafe, cannot mifs of betraying them into fnares. · LtJjlly, When one bath in view, fom~ fpecialfolemn. approach unto God; in which cafe a fpecial prepar– ation is req'uifite.. Thus 'Jacob called his family to . fuch preparation,· ih the exercife of repentance, ir1 · otdet to their appearing before the · LoPd at· Bethe/:) Gem xx:xv .. 2, 3· The lfrdelites were caUed ro the fame, in order to t!he awful .folemnity ofthe ,giving-of the law on mount Sinai, Exod. xix.. Io, 11, rs. And ."tis o~fervable, that whereas the fe;afl ifiaberna~_les was the mdfr:: joyful of a11 the feaRs the··Jews had th.roughout tihe year, a folemr't fafi was appointed of Cod to be obfet;ved always before it, · four free· -~ays only intetveeaing, Lev. xxiii: 27,· 34• For., in the . method ofgrace, none fiand fo fair for a . liftiltg up, as thofe who are moll: deeply humbled, ifa. xl.:4. Luke _ · · xviii •.q .• J arhe$ iv. 1 o. . Wherefore, 'tis a laudable practice ofour church, that coogregations k~ep a , congregational fall:, beFore the_ celebration of the feafi., of the facrament of the ·Lord's fupper7, among •
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