290 / 504
ít.
Dolt-
ot`SCs
Perfev- its
ufefulnetfe to
promote
Go/pen-Obedience
.
234 had
no
underflanding,
heabode
not, but
became
like the
beafl
that
perifheth;
was
it not
in
their power
to
perfevere
in
that
condition if they would
?
Did
they
want any
meanes
that
were ufefull
thereunto?
And
what
hope
is
there
1
om.7.
left
to
me,
in
whom there
dwelleth
nogood
thing,
who
am
fold
under the
pow-
er
offinne, and
encompaffed with
a
world
of
temptations, that
I fhall
endure
unto the
end
?
I fee
thoufands before mine
eyes
, partakers
of
the fame
hea-
venly calling with
my felfe,
of
the
fame Grace
in
Jefus
Chrift,
every day fall-
ing into irrecoverable perdition ;
There
is
not
any
Purpofe
of
God , that
r
fhould be preferved, nor
Promife
that
I [hall
never
depart
from him, no
prayer
of
Chri
ft,
that
my Faith may
not
falle,
but
I
am rolled upon mine
own
hand,
and
what
will be
the end
of
this
wholeundertaking
of
mine,
in
the
.wayes
of
God,
I
know
not. Let, I
fay, a
man be
exercifed
with
fuch
thoughts
as
theft,
and then try
if
any
thing under
heaven
can
bring
his
foule
to
any potlible
compofure, untill
it
be
ca
fl into the
mould
of
that
DoElrine,which
bath
been
deli-
vered;
But
of
this more
direly
afterwards,
when we come
to
treat
of
the
Confolation,
which from
the breaft
of
it doth
flow.
4:
n,
2.
It
is
exceedingly fuited
to
the
deliverance
of
the
Soules
of
the
Saints
from
all fuch
hard
thoughts
of
God,
is
are apt
to
impaire and weaken
their
Love
towards him,
and delight
in
him:
fo
fettuig the two
principles
of
all their
Obedience
(Faith and
Love)
at
liberty, and
free from their intanglements,
to
a&
in
the duties they are called
unto;
He
that
had
hard
thoughts
of
his
ab-
fent
Lord,
as
an auflere
tetan,
though he
was
not
excufed
in
his
difobedience
by
it,
yet
he was
evidently
di
fcouraged, as
to
his
Obedience;
When
men !hall
be
taught, that
God takes no more care
of
his
Children
in
his
family,
but
that
the
Dwell
may
enter
in
among
them,and and take
them
away,
makingthem
Children
of
Hell, when
he might with
the
greateff Advantage
of
Glory
and Honour
to
himfelfeimaginable,prevent
it
?
That
the Lord
Jefus Chrift,
the
great
Shepheard
of
the Sheep,takes
no more care
of
his flock and
fold, but
that the Lion , Beares, and
Wolves
mayenter
in, and make havocke, and
fpoile
at their pleafure
?
May they
not think that God
is
little
concerned
in
the
Salvation
of
his
?and
that
all
that,
which
is
fo Glorioufly expreflèd
of
his
peculiar and
fpeciall
Love, carries
nothing
but
an
empty
noife,
the
burthen
of
their prefervation
being
thrown
foly
upon
theirowne
fhoulders? And are
not
fuch
thoughts
fitte only
to
calf
water upon their
flames
of
Love
to God,
and
infenfibly
to
weaken
that
delight,
which
they ought
alwayes
to
take
in
the
riches
of
his
G
race
and
Lover
Is
there
any
thing
pofíible more indearing
to
the heart
of
a
Creature, then to
heare
filch
a
tefrimony,
as
that.
Zeph.3.17.
concerning
the
!lability
of the
Love
of
God, and
its excellency,
The
Lord
thy
God
in the
midfl
of
thee
is
mighty,
he
millPave,
he
will
rejoyce
over thee with joy,
he
willreil
in
his Love,
he
will joy
over
thee with
fnging;
Gods
re fling
in
his
Love
towards
his
Saints,
fixes
their
foules
in
their
Love
to
him.
4.
s2.
3.
It puts
high and unfpeakable
Obligations
on
the
Saints
to
live
to
God,
and
to
perfely
Holineffe
in
the
feare
of
the
Lord;
saints we
fuppofe
to
have their
Birth from
above,to be
begotten
of
the Will
of
God,through the
immortal/feed
of
the
Word,
and
to be
quickened with
a
Noble Child-like Ingenuity,
befitting
the
family
of
God; Neither
is
any
thing more injurious to
the
worke
of
God's
Grace, then
to
fuppofe,
that
thofe, whom God calls
Children,Friends,
Heirs ofHeaven
andGlot'y,
his
Crowne,
his Diadem, Brethren
of
his
only
sonne,
are
to
be dealt withall,
or that
God
deales with
them,
as
if
they were
wholly
a&ed
by
a
fervile,
flavifh
Principle,
and
were wholly under
the
power
of
fuch
an
unworthy difpofition.
;ss:13.
There
are
two
things ufually fpoken
to the
prejudice and
difadvantage
oef
th