18 The spiritual life, andIn-being things that the youth of godliners is taken with ? Whether do ye not find, that ye are leffe ful3;eEt to be offended now, than youwere heretofore ? And are you not more grown off from your own Ptighteoufnefs ? Yes, I muff needs lay this,through the Lords goodnes and mercy to me ; though I am not grown ingrace as I defire, yet I am more grown off frommy own Righteoufnes than I was heretofore : and am not fo cubic& to be offended at the good ways of God and the people of God,as heretofore : And (I praife God) I can live off from thole things that the youth of godlineffe is takenwithal: Wel,be ofgood comfort,thouart grown, and thou art not the painted child, but,for ought 1 know, thou mayeft be the livingchild, dear and precious with the Lord thy father. Objel't. Eta there is one thingy et flickr withme, andmake.s me afraid that I amyet dead in rnyfins trefPares, and that I am not made partaker ofthis Spiritual life, and that is this ; I amalive to the World : Can a man live unto God and to the World too ? when Igo into the world, andupon my worldly occafions, thenI am very lively ; but when I come to Duty, thenI amdead, and my heart dead, and therefore Iam afraid that lam not alive to God, and madepartaker of this Spiritual life. An ThisOf true) is very it : for I find in that x 3. ofMatthew (theparable ofthe feed) that there are Three falfe grounds, unto one true ground ; three unfound hearts, toone found that liveunder the Golpel,and the preaching of the Word; And that ground that goes the furtheft and yet falls short of the truth, is the ground that received the Word ; the thorny ground, & the thorns choak'd it : 'Tis theworldly Profeffor. Three to one, falfe ; and the worldly Profeffor goes the furtheft, fuch aone as is choak'd inDuty with the world. But yet notwithftanding, let metell ye this : Every man is not alive to the World, or a worldly man ; that does ufe the things of the world, or that is aEtive, and chearfull in the way oThis Calling: For the things of theworld, they are the materials ofour grace, that ourgrace workes upon while weare here below. Yea,
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=