and care oflhir People underTemptation. :271 and that he is the childofGod, And there is the faith of Acknowledgment; whereby a man doesown, and acknow- ledgethe Caufe, and Truth of Chria. I than now fpend fome time, and thew ye, How Satan ftrikes at all thefe faiths : and withal labour to thewyou, How we may bare off his blows, that fo we may Eland in the time oftempta- tion, and our faith maynot fail. Firft, For the faith of Reliance: Satan does fometimes firike at the faith of Reliance in the Saints, by hiding from them theirformer Experiences of Gods gracious dealing with them. So longas a man hath the fight, and viewof his Experien- ces of Gods gracious dealingwith him before, he doesrelye on God, and he faies, I will for ever raft upon God, and relye upon God inChria, for thus and thus he hath dealt wth me heretofore. Now therfore, Satan doeslabour in the time oftemptation,to hide the Experiences of the Saints from them, and fo does ftrike at their faith, and labours tomake their faith faile. But then, How fhouldwe bare offthis b ? Thus, Take heed thatye never refit upon ihe promifebarely, or only becaufe ofyour Experience; but rather deal withyour Experi- ence becaufe of the promife. It is a good thing for a man to come up to the Promife by the ladder of. Experience : but it'sbetterfor a man to godawn to the promife by his Ex- perience. And ifye look into the I 06. Pfalm, ye Ihall end, that when a man does reit upon the Promife, barely by reafon of his Experience, hisfaith will loon fail. The wa- ters covered their enemies (at the i t. verfe, 'tis fpokenof the Ifraelites when they came through the red lea) there was not one of them left. Verfe the I a. Then beleeved they his words. (Mark) now becaufeoftheir Experience; now they belee- ved Gods word, now they beleeved his promife by reafon oftheir Experience ; Then beleevedthey hiswords, they fang his Praife. But what became ofthis ? Reade the next words : They foon forgate his works,they waitednotfor his counfel. So that.I fay, take heed that ye don't ref upon the promife barely, andonly becaufeofyour Experience, for if your e e 2 Expe 'nue 2,!eft. Anftr.
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