IN THE SANCTIFICAT ways, that it is natural and easy to it to bear them, and to be engaged in them. And it will be found, by expe- rience, that the more intermissionsof duties of any sort we fall under, the more difficulty we shall find in the performance of them. (3.) It engaged' the assistance of Christ and his Spirit. It is the divine nature, the new creature, which the Lord Christ eareth for; in and by its actings in all duties of obedience doth its lifeconsist: therein also is it strengthened and improved. For this cause doth the Lord Christ continually come in by the supplies of his Spirit unto its assistance. And when the strength of Christ is engaged, then and there is his yoke easy, and his burden light. Sect. 38 Some, perhaps, will say, that they find not this facility or easiness in the course of obedience, and in the duties ofit. They meet with secret unwill- ingnesses in themselves, and great oppositions on other accounts, whence they are apt to be faint and weary, yea, are almost ready to give over. It is hard to them to pray continually, and not to faint; to stand in their watch night and day against the inroads of their spirit- ual adversaries, to keep themselves from the insinua- tions of the world, and up unto those sacrifices of charity and bounty that are so well- pleasing to God: many weights and burdens are upon them in their course; many difficulties press them, and they are ready to be beset round about, every moment. Wherefore, they think that the principle of grace and holiness doth not give the facility and easiness mentioned, or that they were never made partakers of it. I answer, (1.) Let these persons examine themselves, and duly consider whence these obstructions and diffi- culties they complain of do arise: if they are from the inward inclinations of their souls, and unwillingness to bear the yoke of Christ, only they are kept up unto it by their convictions, which they cannot cast off; then is their condition to be bewailed; but if themselves are sensible, and convinced, that they arise from principles which, as far as they are within them, they hate and abhor, and long to be freed from; and, as they are from without, are such as they look on as enemies unto them, and do watch against them; then whatthey com- plain of is no more, but what, in one degree or other, all that believe have experience of. And if their impe- diments do arise from what they know themselves to be opposite unto them, and that principle whereby they 4 E ION OF BELIE4En3. 295 are actuated, then, notwithstanding this objection, it maybe in the nature of the principle of holiness to give facility in all the duties of it. Sect. 39. (2.) Let inquiry be made, whether they have been constant and assiduous in the performance of all those duties which they now complain that they find sa much difficulty in? The principle of grace and holi- ness gives facility in all duties of obedience, but in the proper way and order. It first gives constancy and assi- duity, and then easiness. If men comply not with its guidance and inclination in the former, it is in vain for them to expect the latter. If we are not constant in all acts of obedience, none of themwill ever be easy unto us. Let not those who can omit proper and due sea- sons of meditation, prayer, hearing, charity, modera- tion in all things, patience, meekness, and the like, at their pleasure, on the least occasions, excuses, or di- versions, ever think or hope to have the ways of obedi- ence smooth, its paths pleasant, or its duties easy. Let him never think to attain any readiness, delight, or fa- cility, in any art or science, who is always beginning at it, touching upon it sometimes. As this is the way, in all sorts of things, natural and spiritual, to be always learning, and never come to the knowledgeof the truth, so, in the practice of holy obedience, if men are, as it were, always beginning, one while performing, another intermitting the duties of it, fearing, or being unwilling to engage into a constant, equal, assiduous discharge of them, they will be always striving, but never comeunto any readiness or facility in them. (3.) The difficulty and burdensomeness complained of, may proceed frbm the interposition of perplexing temptations, which weary, disquiet, and distract the mind. This may be, and frequently is so, and yet our assertion not impeached. We only say, that set aside extraordinaryoccasions, andsinfulneglects, this principle of graceand holiness doth give that suitableness to the mind unto all duties of obedience, that constancy in them, that love unto them, as make them both easy and pleasant. Sect. 40. By these things we may inquire after the habit or principle of holiness in our own minds, that we be not deceived by any thing that falsely pretendeth thereunto: As, (1.) Let us take heed, that we deceive not ourselves, as though it would suffice unto gospel- holiness, that we 29
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