CHAP.I. upan the Epiftle of JAM B s. 5•16. Letyour light fo flii'ne before men, that they {eeingyontgood workh may glorifie, not you, b.ut,your Father 'Which is inheaven, If you fee a candle burn bnghtly and purely, rememb€r .. twas lighted and inkindled by God; if there be any light in them., a fight and fenfe of the myfieties ofcheGofpel,if they be burning and jhininr lights, if they give out the flame of an holy converfation, nm re}l1ember they do but difcover that lufire and glory they re– ceivenfremabove. Wdl then, ifGodbe t~e Father {If Lights, 1. It prdfech you to apply your felves to God ; if you want the light ofgrace, or knowledg, or comrort, you mufi fhine in his beam, and be kindled at his flame; we are dark bodies, till the Lord fill us with his own glory : Oh how uncomfortable l.bould we be without God 1 In the night there is nothingbut terror and error ; and fo it is in -the Soul, without the light of the divine pre– fence : Wh~n the Sun is gone, the herb-s wither; and when God, Vv.ho is the SunofSpirits, is withdrawn, there is nothing but dif ... comfort,anda fad languiiliing in the Soul : Oh pray then, that God would Chine in upon your Sou.l, not byfl4hes, buc with aconftant light: ·ns too often thus with us in point ofcomfort and grace; holy thoughts arife, and, likaafhili of lightning, make the mcm bright, but the lig:htning i£ gone, and we are as dark as ever:. But when God l.bineth in by a confi.ant light, then iliall we give out the lufire of an holy converfation;'"-if M.. 6o, I, Arife andjbi;,e,for thy light is come,andtheg;iory -of the Lord u rife_nupon thee: We like the Moon, are dark bodies, aod have no light rooted within . our {elves, the Lordmull: arife upon us ere we can fhine. So alfo in point ofcomfort, P{itl. 34•). They l9ok.!d to him, andwer-e lightned; th~irface W.u not confounded. • .. 2. It Lheweth the reafon why wicked men hate God: -~<Light John 3·19, u came into the world, andmen love~dar'k.,_ncfs r,1ther then light : lo, u. And again, They come not to the light, for their deeds are evil. Men that delight in da.rk.nefs cannot endure God, nor any thing that reprefemetn God; Rachel Col:llcl not endure Laban's fearch, nor wicked mernGods eye; he is the Fati'Jer tFf Lights, he hatha difcerning eye, and adifcoveringbeam. . . . _ ~ • Toprefs the child-r~n ef Q~d fo walk in all purity and iVJoo.. cency : Te ttre chi.ldrenpf light-, 'Walk.Jn the tix,ht, Eph~f. ; . S. Walk ~a, ~s you m3y refemble the gloryof y~ru: Eal(!ber ; faults -itt you, likefpots m the M-A~A, a.r~ {o(';}n:difc~m~d .. you that are the · - s ~ ·· · · Lights
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