Put on the whole Armour ofGod. 83 time, doth it not behove the to look about thee, left he take thy graceat one time or other napping ? what he mifl'eth now by thy watchfulneffe, he may gain anon by thy negligence. In- deed he hopes thou wilt be tired out with continual duty : Sure. ly,faith Satan, (when he fees the Chriflian up, and fervent in duty) this will not hold long. When he findes hiyi tender of confcience, and fcrupulous of occafions to fin, This is but for a while, ere long I (hail have him unbend his bowe, and unbuckle his armour, and then have at him. Satan knows what orders thou keepeft in thy houfe and clofet, and though he bath not a key to thy heart, yet he can Rand in the next room to it, and lightly hear what is whifpered there. He hunts the Chriftian by the fent of his own feet, and if once he doth but fmdl which way thy heart enclines, he knows how to take the him; ifbut one door be unbolted, one work unmann'd, one grace of its car-, riage here is advantage enough. I hirdly, becaufe it is fo awky a bufineffe, and hard a work, to recover the aftivity ofgrace once loft; and to revive a duty in difufe : 1 hive put ofmy coat, faith the Spoufe, Cant. 5. 3. She had given way to a lazy diftemper, was laid upon her bed of floth, and how hard is it to raife her ? her beloved is at thedoor, befeeching her by all the names of love, which might bring to her remembrance the near relation between them: ![y Sifter, my Love, my 'Dove, open to me, and yet fhe rifeth not; he tells her, hit lock! are filled with the drop of the night ; yet the iiirs not. What is the matter?her coat was off,and the is loath to put it on; the had given way to her floth, and now the knows not how to shake it off, the could have been glad to have her Belo- veds company, ifhimfelf would have opened the door ; and he defired as much hers, lithewould rice to let him in; and upon thefe termes they part. The longer a foule bath neglected duty, the more ado there is to get it taken up : partly through shame , the foul having played the truant, now knows not how to lookGod on the face; and partly from the difficulty of the work, 'beingdouble to what another findes, that walks in the exercife ofhis grace; here is all out of order. It requires more time and pains for him to tune his inftrurnent, then for another to play the leffon. He goes to duty as to a new work, as a Scho- lar that bath not look't on his book Tome while, his leffon isal- M 2 molt
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=