on r Peter 3. z r :. 147 ilnd have fonieway detained the truth in itñrighteoufnefr, making, as it were, a prifoner of it, and fetting a guard of corrupt affections about it ; when fuch come again to enquire at Confcience, what they Mall do in this, or that particular, they may juffly get fuch an anfwer, as is given, Prov. t. 24. Becaufe I called, and ye re f ufed, I ftretched out my hand, and no man regarded ; but ye fet . at nought all my counfel, and would none of my reproof : 1' will laugh at your calamity. They Pall call, but I will not anfwer : I gave you anfwers before, and ye thwarted with them ; therefore, when ye leek again, ye íhall get none. And hence floweth much blindnefs, and benum- mednefs of Confcience in men and women, becaufe they put out the eyes thereof, and frequently repel, and beat back what it Pays, or anfwers; fo that it becometh tau. terized, and the feeling of it weareth almoff, if not alto-. gether, away ; and it fpeaketh very little, or none at allf to them, being fo much baffled and blunted with many repulíes. VVe may add this third way, how it is pro- yoked, and that is, When its askings are flighted; It asketh us, why we do fuch and fuch a thing, and forbear fuch and fuch another ? and we flight what it faith, and ly frill in fin : Is it not juff that Confcience pay us home in our own meafure, and refufe to anfwer us when we ask it ? A fourth finfui caule on our part, of the file-nce of Confcience, is, When men come not Tingly and in a fpiritual frame to Confcience, to Peek its anfwer and advice ; but either have an idol let up before their eyes, and are almoff already determined in the thing ; or elfe, they bring with them fotne one or other lisíf unrepentecd of: Hence it comes to pats, that, tho' they think them- felves fubmiflìve in that particular, and poffibly may fomeway be fo; yet, not being ahfalutely lubmifl.ve in all, Confcience Keeps filent. To the former, the Lord fomeway Pays, as he did to thefe men, by the pro- phet Ezekiel, chap. iq.. 2, 3. Son of man, thefe have let tip their idols in their hearts, and put the Mumbling - block . of their iniquity before their face; fiould I be enquired at all by them ? When men come to Peek light, and brine their idols with them, the Lord that 4 eaketh by the
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