on the Excellency of the Soul. 307 intends to fave, hee fhew3 unto them what this falvation is; !nee fhews them from what it is they are to bee faved, that fo they may not run away vvith (the meet word (Salvation) and fa ing of fouls) now God reveals this in his Word, and when hee intends to fave a foul, bee Both by his Spirit air it up o j yn with the Word of God, and work thofe things upon its felt, fo as to bee made fenfible of them. M thus, the foul being folicitous how it fhould come to bee faved, it fearches the Scripture, and there it findes how wee are by nature the children ofwrath; there it findes that God had made man according to his own Image at fir1l , but man hath finned againfl God , and broken the covenant upon which his eternal flare did depend, and in the fin of the firfl man all men have finned, and are deprived of the glory of God , and now are conceived in fin, and brought forth in iniquity, fo that there is a moll dreadful breach be- tween God and the foul, and that man by nature is become_ an enemy to the Infinite God : That now bee bath the feeds of all kind of fin in him, and that all his life, while hee continues in his natural elate here, is nothing elfe but a fighting againft God, a flying in the very face of God : Hee findes that by fin hee is brought under a moll dreadful curie, the curie of the Law, and that hee is bound over by the bonds of the Law, even to death, to eternal death, as the wages of fin; thefe things the foul findes in Scripture ; now if thou woul dell bee faved, when thou findeft God re- vealing fuch things, labour thorowly to convince thy foul of the truth of them; and are there things fo indeed ? is this my condition ? am i thus and thus naturally ? Oh what good then will it do to mee to have all the world, and bee in fuch a condition as this is ? Oh my foul ! when wert thou fenfible of this condition? doll thou walk as it becomes one that is fenfible of fuch a loft elate as this is ? Oh ! la- bour to drink in there truth. ;, and to work them upon thy heart, and cry ro God to fet them borne upon thy fpirit , to make thy foul thorowly fenfible of them, as bee ufes-to make thofe whom hee bath a purpo4 -e to fav . Here's the firfl thing. Qq 2 Md
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