An Expofttion 'of the Epiftle ------~ ~h carts at one time not at another, have a light of Spiritual things at one time not &r, XX. at another; the Eye is the fame, but it is the Holy Gho!t t~at openeth and !hue– ~ teth this dark Lanthorn (as I mar focall!t) as heopene~h lt Wider, or contrJicts it or lhutteth it narrower, and !omet1mes he lhuttcth lt wholly, and theq thll Soul is in darknefs,though the Soul have never fo good an Eye., Therefo(\) as the Al?o!\le prayetl1 for an Eye, fo he praye.th for Light, Tbat be wottldgive them eyes of rh:ir Mitid etttighttted. And fo much for the G1ft, h~re is the fubj,ect of it the Mmd or the Heart, that was the firll ; Secondly here 1s the G1fr, to give ·tlem mJOye, togive them Ligbt, eys i11ligbtned• . 3· Here is the Act, both of this Eye and of .this Light, that is, To !wow, ,:r,: Miv<~ To kttow, faith he. To every act of Spmtual Knowledg that } OU have in any thing ( my Brethren) there.is aGivirtgyott m; eye to fee it,, and there is Gi– vi1tgyott a ruw L tgbt to fee 1t With. It IS a (jlift of. tbe Ho'! Gboji, nor only to give you a Light and to g1ve you an Eye, but 1t IS a g1ft for h1m to draw forth the . Act of Knowledge, to give you for you to know,(o the Word is in the Original ,;, .,;,;J'i,••· It reti:rreth to give, with the 17verjr, even this as well as the 0~ ther. Our dependence upon th.e Holy Gbo!t .' co~fider what it is, in all Spiritual things. It is fir!t te'have a new Eye; 1t ~s m the fecond place to have a new Light from the.Holy Ghoft ~o actuate, to mform that Eye, to lhme upon it to irradiate it: and thirdly, to draw forth the Act of Knowledge. In Phtl: 2. 11. ItuGo'd (fait); he) T!J,ztgivetbtbeWill; tbatgiveth .,:"':"~";the very Act of the Will is from him; and here .,:,.;J'i,., an Act ofKnowledge is his too, it JS a Gift too: Saith our Saviour Chrill, Toyou it is givm to k11ow, Ji.m., "'"'"' it is gt· vm to know, the very Act of Knowledge it is a Gift. We fee, I fay my Bre– thren, the great depeod.ance we have upon the Holy Gholl,not only mull he give us an Eye and give us L1ght; but he mull g•ve us to know too. It 1s a mighty exprelfion that in 1. Cor. 3· )· faith he, we are ttot able of o11r [elves to tbmk a good tbo 11 ght, he doth not fay we are n~t abl; to do, asChn!t fa1d before him, Wttho11t me)'' ca11 do trothmg,. but he fa~th Te,cm~11~t thmk, 1f you co.me to fpiri– tual things, No, Tou cmmot tbmk,ofall thmgs elfe 1t IS the eafieHto thmk,yet this mu!tbegiventoo. Prov,2o. 12. Tbehearmgear, andtbejeemgeye the Lord hatb made both of them, Is it true in naturals, that not only the Eye is made but the feeing too? it is certainly much more true in Spirituals. The fcope of So!omo11 there is to let us fee (as Cartwrigbt well obferveth) that in the fmallell thing, in the very applying offight to an acto! feein~, The heariftg e'!r a11dthe {eeittg eyeare of the Lord; fo lt 1s much more m Spmtuals, he mu!t g1ve you an 'Eye and he mu!tgive you a Light, and he mull draw forth that Gift too, elfe we have no fufficiency to do it, We are 11ot able to think a goodthought, but allour jit[ficimcy is of God; and there cannot a greater in!tancc be given that, All our ]ufficie11c)' is of God, when we cannot fo much as tbwk onegood thougbt elfe. So much now for t11e giving them both an Eye and Light and the Act of know– ledge. Here is a Fourth thing, and that is the Perfons, for To11 to k11ow, for fo indeed it is in theOriginal. He mentioneth you no lefs than three times. Tbat he might givetoy·ott ver. 17. thet)'eso(yottr mind; thaty·ottmay /wow ver. 18. All that I obferve out of it is this, which fome againll the Papill h;ve done out of the fame Text, again!t Implicite Faith. What do the Papifls fay? They would have you lee with other men_s eyes; they would have you beleive the greatell thing in the World, and bele!Ve 1t becaufe the Pope faith it. No, faith the A· pollle, I would have you fee With your own eyes, I would have him give you,the t)'tS of your mi11dm!ightened, tbat yott may k11ow. There all rhefe three Totts in it. The jttjl (ha/J ltve l?y bis Faith, and nobodies Faith elfe.And fo much for that. I divided the Words into thefe Two parts. Fir!t into Spirit11a! Know!ellge, that he prayeth for; that you fee I have d1fpatd1ed. The next (which is that [ now come to) is the Objects he prayed they.m1ght knoll', which I told you were three
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