The excellency of the rightecufte1Je sf .'ß; Rif cation. 289 himfelfe, the foule now comes into relation, into nee re union with the Father, when God made man at tirft, he did not only give him a body and a foule, but he put a principle of enjoying communion with him, for herein lyes mans happinetìe, that he is made capeable of enjoying communion with God, but now this happinefíe is loft, man by his fall is now become a flranger unto God, and when God converts the foule this is reftored, at the firft worke of converfion the foule is made neere unto God who was before afarre off, he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit, and now the foule comes to be fitted for Com- munion with fo hig'. a good, for no creature is fit for com- munion with God -bbut Angels and men; now there muff be a futablenetfe of lives in thofe that enjoy communion, there can- not be communion where there is an unfutableneffe in living : As a man cannot have communionwith the beafls,becaufe they live not the fame life, and the beafts cannot have commuuion with the plant, becaufe they live a contrary life, a naturali man cannot have communion with God, becaufe he lives not the fame life that God doth, but a Saint comes to enjoy communi- on wich the Lord by vertue of this righteoufneffe, before thou wandredft from God and foughtefl after vanity,& never knew what it was to enjoy communion with God : Communion with' God it was but a light thing to thee, before thou didetl looke upon it as a thing that had not much in ir, it was but a notion to thee, thou dideft heare of fuch a thing, and thou couldeft re- late it, but there was no worth in it to thee, thou didfl not prize it; but now the foule comes to enjoy that which is more worth then a thoufand worlds to it, and the more righteouf- neffe the foule bath, the more communion it bath with God, and this is the reafon that the foule hungers and thirlls after more righteoufneffe, for the more it enjoyes of God the more fw eetneffe it finds. Eleventhly, This righteoufneffe is that which fanftifesall our aflions unto God, and puts a worth upon them,before our aStions they were not accepted, they were look't upon as fil- thy polluted things : To the pure all thins are pure, óut to the defiled and polluted, all things are filthy, fo God lookes upon P p them
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