Caryl - Houston-Packer Collection BS1415 .C37 v10

Chap. 34.. An Expofition upon the Bock of J o B. Yerf.27. tame the funimeof all duty. That, God hath made man and gi- ven him a being, that, he placed man in the highefi forme of his vifible creation, fhould draw man after him. We ought to follow God becaufe we are his creatures, becatafe we have our all from him, or becaufe in him ì tee live,andmove, and haveour being, as the Apoflle fpeakes of mankind in generali , even of the hea- thens (Alts 17. 213.) And forafmuch as we are his of fprinn ( v. 29. ) our hearts fhould fpring,or rife up tohim in lave and thankfullnefs; as the rivers, becaufe they come from the Sea, Roe back thither : fo we being the off-fpring ofGod, and derived fromhim, fhould be alwayes returning tohim. This nature tells us ; And therefore the Aponte faith ( ,flits xi. 27.) God hath made ofone bloodall nations ofmen, that they fhould feekafter him, &c. The light of nature, though dim anddark, (hews that amatt should feele after God, as a man in the dark doth after his way. And if all men ought to followGod, becaufe they havetheir na- turall life and breath from him ; much more ihould believers, who have anew,a fpirituall life breathed into them,and bellowed upon them, be alwayes following after God And the truth is where truefaith, or the life of grace is, that foule canner live without dayly returnings backto and breathings after God , even as meere carnal men, who are alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, are dayly turning backe. from him. Hence thirdly, Note. Thewhole 'lifeof every unconverted foule, and notoriotas !inner, is a turning fromGod. TheywhoCet their faces fin-ward, turn their backs God-ward, Theywho purfuetheir has, their covetous, their ambitious pur. poles, they whogratifie thefiefh, their pride, their luxury, their wantonnefs, their malice, what doe anyof them, what doe all of theem, but turn back fromGod ? The bell of Saints have their turnings fromGod,but they doe not make it their bufinefs ro turn fromhim; their bufinefs is, to draw near, to keep clafe to God, to keep as it were in his eye;but as for the naturall manand profs ginner, his bufinefs is a departing from God ( Heb: 3. I a, ) 7akeheed (faith the Apof}le) left there be in any ofyou an evill heart ofHnbelief in departing from the living God. He gives Cau- tion 703

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