Burgess - Houston-Packer Collection BT715 .B85 1652

S a e T. XT. inGodtStatntes,.and keeping hic yudgements. 535 be damned in ignorance; forifunderftanding, knowing men, who receive the wordwith attention and knowledge yet if they linde it noc changing their inwardman, come fhort of grace, where muffthe ignorant manappear ? Thirdly, The retainingof the Word of God in the memory, .that is not thisgrace in the inward parts: That indeed is very laudable ; and a forgetful hearer is blamedby the Scripture, ?awes 1.25. Davids refolution is, To hide the word on his heart : And this is a great caufe tomake it work fodeeply ; for a man can- notcarry coalsoffire long in his bofom, but they will (et all .or: a flame ; yet themeet retaining it there, Both not attain to the inward parts in the Text. Fourthly, Thetranfteut andfuddain Working upon the jet-lionsand heart,áenot alfothe putting of hisfpirit Within em, or the writing of the Law in their inward parts: This comes neared, but they want rootand continuance, and fo at fait wither. Iabns hearers did for a feafon rejoye in his light ; the temporary Be- liever Both receive the word with joy, and yet he bath no root t This is a two edged (word , this truth makes divilions between the fecret and hidden things of the heart : Oh how nicea point is that, wherein the temporary and the true convert differ I both pray with forma, both hear with joy, both per- form duties with fome inlargements and fweetnefs : Similifete POE eg,,C, UM eer; Paid Calvin : Yet as two high hillsmay feem very near together at the top,when their bottomsare far diffant one from anot her.; fo thefe inlargements, affecti- ons, may feem verynear, when the bottom and rootdo much differ. Oh the Miniller of God fhould never be upon this point, -bit even horror fhould take hold on thehearer,and hebe like one that looketh down an high pinacle,& erem- bleth to fee hew eafily, and yet dangeroufly he may fall; andyet looking upon thebattlements he holds upon, the grace of God, and the promife of God, which hisfoul hach had experience of, have hope; fo put faith and trembling together ! Laftly, The meer external cleanfingofámans life, fromformer lefts andgrole 4 impieties, is not thisputting the fpirit Within to f As the Angels, when they took humanebodies, they didbut teem to eat, and feem to do vital allions oflife; they could not indeed, becaufe they were not perfonallyunited co the affumed body : fo all men who have their lives cleanfed, and they fer up a form ofRe- ligion, they do not thefe things as vital allions of grace; theymove, as the wheel of the mill is moved , by the force of the water, not by an inward principle of life: Thefe are compared to Swine wafhed in the water, but re- turning afterwards to the mire : Though the Swine be made as white as the fheep, yet becaufe not inwardlymade a fheep, therefore the corneal at l aft to her former impurity; but I hint onely thefe things, becaufe treated on be- fore. What this in- Let us in the next place cometo confider pofitively,what this inward deep work Ward deep of grace is, wherein itdothconf[ft: And wank ofgrace Fi[ft, It is thenfulfilled in as, When the things of Chrift, his Glory, Will and is. Command lie clofeft and neareftto the heart : For that is indeed within a man, a. and intimate, which is next to his heart, as we fay ; and this our Saviour re- quireth inevery Difciple, He that loveth father or mother more then me, is not Worthy of me,Mat.i8.37. We knowthe loveof father and mother is a moftna- tural thing, it comes not by teaching, by cuflom, its inbred in us as loon as we are born ; and yet the love of Chtift, his Glory, and his Commandments fbould bemore intimate then this. Hence the Apoflle, to exprefs this innate and inward life, faith, I no longer live, bet ChrifI in me, the life anal live is by faith in Chrift, Gal.z.zo. What an emphatical expreflion is this, I do not live, but Chrift; Ilive not the life of fenfe, I eat not, I drink not, I breathe not bodily breath ; that is, comparatively to the lifeof faith : So that you fee ourvery natural life which is the molt inward and deep thing in a man that is, is faid not tobe lived t inrefpelt of this life:ofgrace, which is more in- ward

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