1 27 XL Deceit, by minding f u. ture good,to neglect pre - lent. I Salmi o.7.- Neh.:.6.T Verfe;. X I I. Deceit. Perking of the Handmaid a- 'bore the tree. The deceit fulnef of Mans heart. are the leaft riling and tempting orcafions offered to our eyes,eares,or other fenfes,but we are caught prefently. The eleventh deceit is, by holding us occupied in thinking of fome good thing to come, to make us negli ct our preCent duty. Here wee fhould remem- ber that laying of Samuel to Saul, When this Ad/ cans, to pi / /e, namely thy kingdome, doe that which cozies next hand. It is a folly to leave certainties for uncertainties. Thou haft certainty of that which is prefcnt. If thou wilt lay hold upon the prefent oc- c :ffon thou may ft; But as for that which is to come, thou art wholly uncertaine, thou knoweft not whe. t'aerthere will ever be any occafion ofgood for thee to lay hold of, or no. Herein me thinks the de- ceic of our heart is like the praûice of Tobieh and sanballat,againf Nehemiah,who would have drawn him away fror the repairing of the City by calling him to conference, and confultation with them - felves;fo our hearts do often divert us from the pro - fecution of many good purpofes, by cafting other odde impertinent matters in our way, like as in a cafe farre unlike,the Philifiimes deverted Saud from the purfuic of David, or as the Fox diverts the huntsman fomecimes from following the Hare. But in this cafe we mutt be wife to anfwer out hearts,as Nehemiah did his crafty adverlaries , I have a great workto doe and I cannot come down? : wbj fhor& thewadi cea fe, while I leave it,and come toyou. The twelfth deceit is,when admittance being got. ten for fomthing,becaufe of fome other thing whet_ on it fhould wait, as a Handmaid on her Miftretl'e, yet
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