Grosse - Houston-Packer Collection BT268 .G91 1632

Charatiers of Self-denyall. CoptivationofSel f-reafon. 153 Ch AI', VIII. Eeing this felf-denyall is a worke fo necefláry, fa excel- lent, offuch great profit, fo rare, and few partakers ofit, it slay be demanded how a man may difcerne it, and affu- redly know himfelfe to have attained to it ? Whereunto I anfwer, that Chriftian, gracious, and truc felfè-denyall may bee dífcerned by there enfuing marks or chara- ecers : I. Captivation ofamans rune rsafon,YVifiaroms,andrill: Self - denyall emptiethmanoffelf-wifedomc and felf-wil : He that denyes hin felft not rife orne eytt, or wife in him- felfe, but all his witedotne is in Chrift, he hath a very low opinion of his owne underfanding, he reputes his owne wifedome tube folly, his owne knowledge tobe ignorance, his owne reafon to be blind and carnal( ; he complaines, abated), and Thames }simfelfe before the Lord for his igne- rance ; he confefleth and faith with Ágnr, furely I am more bruti/J, then any man , and have not the underffandinn of a man. I neither learned wifedome, nor have the know- ledge of the holy. He that abounds moft in faving know- ledge, is mil fenfible of his ignorance, and hath the low- eft opinion of his owne wifedome : The more a man is taught of God, the more he fees his ignorance ofGod ; he that hath high thoughts of his owne underktanding is far from tha leaft and weakeft beginnings of Chriftian lear- ning ; he never truly learned Chrift in the Cofpell that hath not denyed his owns humane reafon. When the Sun appeareth and fends his light into the houfe, the light of the candle which lightened thehoufe before the dawningof the day goeth out and apoeares as no light ; when Chrift the Sunne of ,161-httoufnefJe (hineth into the heart, then mans humane reafon, and the wifedome of the flefh (the only light of the fc;uie before the dawning and appearanee ofChrift there) goeth out, and is lookt upon as darkneffe. it Chsraeters of Sel;denyall I.Captivarion of Self-reafon. 1 Rom.), s.,16.

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