Ruler e' d helps to,.chrifiian meeneff e, out of hell, thus thou cana go on perhaps,in prayer, or it may be in company a -long time fpeaking thus againft thy felfe ; and yet as foon as thou- half done if any body croffe thee thou canft be as froward and as angry as any elfe; what. art xt ou the mail or woman that but a while fine, a few hours or a day ágowert before God acknowledging how vild , l }nftril , and wicked thou wert,and that thou did'ft wonder thou wert out of hell Al this while,art thou the man or woman that did'fl :acknowledge this, and when thou conieft to any croffe in the world thou art not able to beare it ! thou fayeft thou deferv`f} het, but.. it a child, or fervant, or wife, or husband, or friend doe croffe thee thou cana not beare it; if thou could'ft but look backe to thine exprell ons before God in prayer, it would caúfe thee to be vile in thine ovine eyes; and fo ro ` have thy heart to fall down when thypallïon begins to rife : Thou that bait a palfi- onate froward heart, either in the morning thou doeft pray to God or thou doeft not, If thou dolt not pray, thou fhewefl thy felfe to be A:.heifiical, if thou dolt pray, I fuppofe.one fpecial part of thy prayer is. the acknowledging of thy wretchednetlè, Iinfúlneffe, and vileneffe, why haft thou done that in, the mor- ning if When any temptation comes to pa lion in the day time thou yeeldeft to it, now if thou couldef but.have the power over thy felfe as to think of thyprayer, and tothinke how un- furable this carriage-of thine is to "all thole acknowledgements -of thine, of thy-uiinfulnefle and wretchednefle, - it would tame thee in the midil of thy unruly pad on: There ihouldnow have been mentioned -Lev .rall forts of people that fhould efpecially labour for this grace of meeknefs: It concernes us all, but force more then others, Ile only speak a wo d to thofethatare in.anaffliceted condition, therefore the. Hebre,nes have the fame word thatfignilies;affliOted, -for meek, meekneffe and affli &ion in the Hebrew tongue are exprelfed lb y the fame word, to note that fuch as are- under aIPliCfion,. they fl iould be of meek and Ciùiet fpirits, for the hand, of . God äs then upon theme And yet it falls out; quite contrary ordinari- ly, that fuch as are molt aflli tied are molt -froward, as many times ihofe that are liick, whenthey are fick they are more pet- F f z. rtfh
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