tAfr. Lye's ar sermon- Auguft. 17. 189 but ifwe fhould to keep communion with you,loofe our commu- nionwithGod, this is the ready way to have all our labour and pain loft, but as DavidWO ( and oh that / could fp.eak it with as good hopes as David ) Zadock, carry back the Ark of God ifI fhould findfavour i;z the eies of the Lord, he will bring me again, and Phew me both it and his hahitations, but ifhe tbusfizy, 'have no delight in thee, behold here am I, let him do to me as feemethgood unto him, 2 Sam.15. 24. Blether) I could do very much for the love I bare to you, but 1 daLe not fin : I know they will reel you, this is prideand peevifh- neffe in us, and that we have preached againft it, and are tender of our reputation, and we would fain all be Bifhops, and forty things more : but the Lord be witnef7i between them and us in- this. Beloved, /prefer my Wifeand Children before a blafi of air ofpeoples talk, I am very fenfible what it is to be reduced to a morfel ofbread: let the God of Heaven and Earth do what he will with me, if I could have fubfcribed with a good confcience I would,l would do any thing tokeep my felfe in the work of God but to fin againft my God, I dare not do it. 3. M1 Jo) andCrown, therefore my dearly beloved and longed for, any)) and Crown, my prefent joy and future crown : my joy which I value more than a Crown, my principle joy. Hence ob- ferve this Doetrine that The fixed ffanding fiourijhing growth of Saints in G, f,bel-praelife, andGolpel-obedience, is or ought to be matter of tranfeendent joy to their Paffors. It was fo to the Apoille Paul; Paul heard how they flood ; though there was a plagae among, them, yet they were not infe6ted : and though he was in the- Goal ready to be beheaded, yet this was his joy and Crown, that hispeople did Itand : and / hope my brethren it will be our joy and crown to hear ofyour ftanding and growth in Gofpel-know-- ledge, andGo( el-profeffion. And . Ifthis be fo, as John Paid. Irejoyced greatly that I found of thy children walking in the truth : it fhould be theorayers and' endeavours ofall Paftors really co love the fouls of their people, and to pray for them : that when they cannot look after the fouls of their children, yet that good Nturres may be looked out for them : what a joy was it that Moles mother was made his Nude, and who can tell, it may be thought, not out ofany merit ofours: yet oftheirown clemency our Governours may give us to be nurfes over our own children: but if nitrfe-1 my child 'my fell, /will wilt' it well, and as good a nurfe as I can ; far be it, that thole that are to fleeced fhould not profper ; Lord, it alai be theprayers ofthy servant, that thole that are to ii!eceed may B b 3 hue-
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