382 The deceitfialneffe of Mass heart. muff not needs in the very middeft of his aaions reafon thus with himfelfe ? Anon all this which now I doe,mufc very narrowly be looked over, if it bee nor done faithfully and fincerely, I (hall fmart cor it then; O the wrings and fecrec pinches which mine owne heart will give.me;yea,thelafhes which by mine own covenant I am tied to give my Celle, in cafe my work bee found blurred with by- pocrifie ! It ffands mee in hand therefore to look ro it,that though my work, by reafon of my weake skill, be but meane, yet k may be clean ; though it be not fine, yet it may not be foule,being foyled and ilubbèred with the flurre of a rotten heart. A ehirdi eaner, is true Humiliation of fpirit. For where this is,there muff needs be the denial] ofour 'elves. And where there is true denial of our felves; there is not hypocrite, which teftifiech a man even in Peeking God, to Peek himfelfe, and in preaching Ch,iff, to preach himfelfe. And therefore the Apo. (Ile oppúfing his own fincere, to others deceitfull 1 pre chin g,faith ;We preach Prot o;vr felves,but the Lord refits, This is the ground ofall unfbundneffe in reli- gion, this want of humbling and denyingourfelves. h or,hence it comes to paffe,that we are fo carried & wayed,even in our heft anions, with the reI'peCts of our own praife and profit. Therefore S. bike notes that the wile builder, that is, the fincere Chriftian. Luke 6448. digger deep; natmely, in a deep humiliation of his own Soule; whereas the foolifh builder, that is, the hypocrite, builds without fougdation,that is, enters upon the profeflion of Religion without ever being truely humbled and caft down for his times. And hence
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=